Ultrasound-assisted immersion freezing reduces the structure and gel property deterioration of myofibrillar protein from chicken breast

The effects of air freezing (AF), immersion freezing (IF) and ultrasound-assisted immersion freezing (UF) at different power levels (125, 165, 205 and 245 W) on the structure and gel properties of the myofibrillar protein (MP) of chicken breast were investigated. UF at 165 W (UF-165) had no obvious negative impact on the primary structure of the MP and effectively reduced the change in the secondary and tertiary structure. In addition, UF-165 significantly reduced the losses in the elastic modulus (G′), gel strength, and gel water holding capacity (P < 0.05). According to low field nuclear magnetic resonance analysis, the T₂₁ and T₂₂ of the UF-165 MP gels were shorter than those of the AF and IF samples, which meant that the UF-165 reduced the mobility of the immobilized water and free water in MP gel. A scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the appropriate ultrasonic power promoted the formation of a compact and homogeneous protein gel network. These results suggested that the appropriate ultrasonic power maintained the MP structure and reduced the loss of gel quality.     

Strong Squeezing of Duffing Oscillator in a Highly Dissipative Optomechanical Cavity System

In the conventional scheme of generating strong mechanical squeezing by the joint effect between mechanical parametric amplification and sideband cooling, the resolved sideband condition is required so as to overcome the quantum backaction heating. In the unresolved sideband regime, to suppress the quantum backaction, a χ⁽²⁾ nonlinear medium is introduced to the cavity. The result shows that the quantum backaction heating effect caused by unwanted counter-rotating term can be completely removed. Hence, the strong mechanical squeezing can be obtained even for the system far from the resolved-sideband regime.     

Characterization and linear-time detection of minimal obstructions to concave-round graphs and the circular-ones property

A graph is concave-round if its vertices can be circularly enumerated so that the closed neighborhood of each vertex is an interval in the enumeration. In this study, we give a minimal forbidden induced subgraph characterization for the class of concave-round graphs, solving a problem posed by Bang-Jensen, Huang, and Yeo [SIAM J. Discrete Math., 13 (2000), pp. 179–193]. In addition, we show that it is possible to find one such forbidden induced subgraph in linear time in any given graph that is not concave-round. As part of the analysis, we obtain characterizations by minimal forbidden submatrices for the circular-ones property for rows and for the circular-ones property for rows and columns and show that, also for both variants of the property, one of the corresponding forbidden submatrices can be found (if present) in any given matrix in linear time. We make some final remarks regarding connections to some classes of circular-arc graphs.     

Theoretical investigation of the crystallographic structure,anisotropic elastic response,and electronic properties of the major borides in Ni-based superalloys

ABSTRACT

In Ni-based superalloys, it is usually found that borides can strengthen the grain boundaries, thereby resulting in an increase in mechanical strength and high-temperature creep properties. Due to their importance and prevalence in Ni-based superalloys, this study employs first-principles methods to investigate the crystallographic structure, anisotropic elastic response, and electronic properties of the major borides, such as M₂B, M₅B₃ and M₃B₂ (M: Cr, Mo, W), respectively, which is necessary for the assessment of complex mechanical responses of Ni-based superalloys. The results demonstrate that the studied borides are all thermodynamically and mechanically stable. Among the M _x B _y binary borides analysed, Cr _x B _y exhibits the largest shear modulus, Young’s modulus, and Vicker hardness values, and these properties increase with the increase of B contents. The studied borides display nearly isotropic elastic properties except for W₅B₃ and W₃B₂. The electronic structure analysis of M _x B _y shows that the strong hybridisation between M-d and B-p orbitals leads to these borides exhibiting higher theoretical hardness, and the overlapping peaks of M-d and B-p orbitals move to a lower energy area with the increase of B contents, which leads to the increase of shear and Young’s moduli of M _x B _y . Furthermore, for M₃B₂ borides, the Cr-B bonds and Cr–Cr bonds are much stronger than the W-B & Mo-B bonds, and W-W & Mo-Mo bonds, respectively, which leads to Cr _x B _y yielding the largest values of elastic moduli.     

Theoretical study on the catalytic properties of single-atom catalyst stabilised on silicon-doped graphene sheets

ABSTRACT

The stable configurations, electronic structures and catalytic activities of single-atom metal catalyst anchored silicon-doped graphene sheets (3Si-graphene-M, M?=?Ni and Pd) are investigated by using density functional theory calculations. Firstly, the adsorption stability and electronic property of different gas reactants (O₂, CO, 2CO, CO/O₂) on 3Si-graphene-M substrates are comparably analysed. It is found that the coadsorption of O₂/CO or 2CO molecules is more stable than that of the isolated O₂ or CO molecule. Meanwhile, the adsorbed species on 3Si-graphene-Ni sheet are more stable than those on the 3Si-graphene-Pd sheet. Secondly, the possible CO oxidation reactions on the 3Si-graphene-M are investigated through Eley–Rideal (ER), Langmuir–Hinshelwood (LH) and new termolecular Eley–Rideal (TER) mechanisms. Compared with the LH and TER mechanisms, the interaction between 2CO and O₂ molecules (O₂?+?CO → CO₃, CO₃?+?CO → 2CO₂) through ER reactions (< 0.2?eV) are an energetically more favourable. These results provide important reference for understanding the catalytic mechanism for CO oxidation on graphene-based catalyst.     

Free radical polymerization of caffeine‐containing methacrylate monomers

The incorporation of acrylic functionality into caffeine enables the preparation of a vast array of novel thermoplastics and thermosets. A two‐step derivatization provided a novel caffeine‐containing methacrylate monomer capable of free radical polymerization. Copolymers of 2‐ethylhexyl methacrylate and caffeine methacrylate (CMA) allowed for a systematic study of the effect of covalently bound caffeine on polymer properties. ¹H NMR and UV‐vis spectroscopy confirmed caffeine incorporation at 5 and 13 mol %, and SEC revealed the formation of high molecular weight (co)polymers (>40,000 g/mol). CMA incorporation resulted in a multistep degradation profile with initial mass loss closely correlating to caffeine content. Differential scanning calorimetry, rheological, and thermomechanical analysis demonstrated that relatively low levels of CMA increased the glass transition temperature, resulting in higher moduli and elucidating the benefits of incorporating caffeine into polymers. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 2829–2837     

On the low-temperature anomalies of specific heat in disordered carbon nanotubes

The low-temperature behavior of the specific heat in disordered nanotubes strongly depends on structure changes and is not explained by the phonon contribution. Expression for electronic specific heat is carried out taking into account the multiple elastic electron scattering on impurities and structural inhomogeneities of short-range order type. The calculated electronic specific heat depends on diameter of nanotube, concentration of impurities, parameters of short-range order (structural heterogeneity) and describes the peculiarities of low-temperature behavior of specific heat observed in disordered CNT.     

Microstructure evolution and mechanical property of pulsed laser welded Ni-based superalloy

For evaluating the microstructure evolution and mechanical property of Ni-based Hastelloy C-276 weld joint by the pulsed laser welding, the influence of pulsed laser welding on the microstructure and mechanical property of the weld joint is investigated by the analysis of the microstructure morphology, microhardness, phase structure and tensile property. The results indicate that, in the fusion zone three sections are divided on the basis of the patterns of grain structures. In the weld joint, the element segregation is found, but the trend of brittle phase׳s formation is weakened. The weld microhardness presents just a little higher than that of base metal, and there is no obvious the softened heat affected zone. Meanwhile in the weld joint, the phase structure is still the face-center cubic with the tiny shift of peak positions and widened Full Width at Half-Maximum. The yield strength of weld joint is the same as that of base metal, and the tensile strength is nearly 90% of that of base metal. The decreased tensile strength is mainly attributed to the dislocation piling-up.     

Fabrication and microstructural characterization of functionally graded porous acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and the effect of cellular morphology on creep behavior

The ability to control material properties in space and time for functionally graded viscoelastic materials makes them an asset where they can be adapted to different design requirements. The continuous microstructure makes them advantageous over conventional composite materials. Functionally graded porous structures have the added advantage over conventional functionally graded materials of offering a significant weight reduction compared to a minor drop in strength. Functionally graded porous structures of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) had been fabricated with a solid‐state constrained foaming process. Correlating the microstructure to material properties requires a deterministic analysis of the cellular structure. This is accomplished by analyzing the scanning electron microscopy images with a locally adaptive image threshold technique based on variational energy minimization. This characterization technique of the cellular morphology is analyst independent and works very well for porous structures. Inferences are drawn from the effect of processing on microstructure and then correlated to creep strain and creep compliance. Creep is strongly correlated to porosity and pore sizes but more associated to the size than to porosity. The results show the potential of controlling the cellular morphology and hence tailoring creep strain/compliance of ABS to some desired values. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 795–803     

Molecular scale simulations on thermoset polymers: A review

This article reviews the field of molecular simulations of thermoset polymers. This class of polymers is of interest in applications ranging from structural components for aerospace to electronics packaging and predictive simulations of their response is playing an increasing role in understanding the molecular origin of their properties and complementing experiments in the search for tailored materials for specific applications. It focuses on modeling and simulation of the process of curing to predict the molecular structure of these polymers and their thermomechanical response by all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. Results from Monte Carlo and coarse-grained simulations are briefly summarized. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 103–122