Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Strain Rate-Dependent Tensile Behavior of ZrB2–SiC Ceramic Composite

In this study,the strain rate-dependent dynamic tensile behavior of ZrB2-20%SiC ceramic composite was investigated using experimental and numerical approaches.The split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus was used to measure the dynamic splitting tensile response at strain rates of 17-67 s^?1.The experiment results demonstrate a significant strain rate dependence of the dynamic tensile behavior of the ZrB2-SiC ceramic composite.The dynamic tensile strength increased linearly with the strain rate,from 288 MPa at 17 s^?1to 654 MPa at 67 s^?1.Moreover,a strain rate-dependent tensile strength was introduced into a modified JH-2 model to describe the dynamic tensile behavior and fracture process of ZrB2-SiC ceramics.The numerical results of dynamic tensile strength agree well with the experimental result.Moreover,the fracture process of ZrB2-SiC ceramics under dynamic tension was further studied by combining high-speed images and numerical results.The effect of strain rate on the fracture process and failure patterns of the ZrB2-SiC ceramic composite could be verified by the modified JH-2 model.     

Interactions between Human Serum Albumin and Sulfadimethoxine Determined Using Spectroscopy and Molecular Docking

Sulfonamides are widely used antibiotics in agricultural production. However, the potential threat of these drugs to human health has increased global concern. Human serum albumin (HSA) is the main reservoir and transporter of exogenous small molecules in humans. In this study, the interaction between sulfadimethoxine (SMT) and human serum albumin (HSA) was studied using spectroscopy and computer simulation. Our results showed that the hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces drove SMT to enter the binding site I of HSA spontaneously and resulted in the fluorescence quenching of HSA. The stability of the HSA–SMT complex decreased with an increase in temperature. The binding of SMT to HSA induced alterations in the secondary structure of HSA, where the content of α-helix decreased from 61.0% of the free state to 59.0% of the compound state. The π–π, π–σ, and π–alkyl interactions between HSA and SMT were found to play important roles in maintaining the stability of the complex.     

Y掺杂空位石墨烯对NO及CO气体表面吸附的第一性原理研究

摘　要：基于第一性原理的计算方法,建立了本征石墨烯、空位石墨烯及钇( Y)掺杂空位石墨烯模型,并计算了CO、NO在三类石墨烯表面的吸附过程. 从表面能、吸附结构、吸附能和态密度四个方面进行分析讨论,研究掺杂Y对CO、NO气体吸附性能的影响. 结果表明：CO、NO与本征石墨烯之间的吸附为弱的物理吸附,掺杂Y后增强了材料表面对CO、NO的吸附效果,最大吸附能分别为7.414eV、6.702eV,属于化学吸附;掺杂Y使空位石墨烯费米能级附近有了更多的活跃电子,其吸附NO后体系由半金属转变为金属特性,该特性能为开发更加优良的石墨烯气敏材料提供理论支持.     

页岩矿物不同润湿性表征与吸附微观机理

无机矿物作为页岩气吸附的重要载体,其表面性质对甲烷吸附能力有着重要影响,而润湿性作为固体重要表面性质之一,对矿物气体吸附能力的影响不可忽视.文章以蒙脱石和石英作为研究对象,通过对矿物表面甲基化(-CH₃)和羟基化(-OH)处理来改变其润湿性,以探究无机矿物表面润湿性对甲烷吸附能力的影响.采用分子动力学方法研究矿物体系的润湿性,用接触角对润湿性进行定量表征,并构建纳米狭缝,结合巨正则蒙特卡罗方法模拟润湿性改变前后,CH₄在矿物中的吸附变化.研究结果表明,水滴在羟基化矿物表面迅速破裂并铺展在矿物表面,而在甲基化表面铺展程度较小,普遍呈半球形.羟基化蒙脱石和石英表面的润湿接触角分别为12.7°和26.5°,均小于其甲基化表面接触角62.5°和85.7°.甲基化矿物甲烷吸附量均高于其羟基化,气体几乎大都以吸附状态位于孔隙壁面,随着矿物亲水性的减弱,其对甲烷吸附能力增强.     

单原子Al修饰空位缺陷V2C（MXene）对H2气体表面吸附的第一性原理研究

基于第一性原理计算方法,对含空位缺陷的V₂C(MXene)在不同位点修饰单原子Al的相关性能进行系统研究.研究表明,几何优化后得到含空位缺陷的V₂C稳定结构表面能为-3075.53 J/m²,单原子Al修饰本征V₂C单原子的吸附能为1.5511eV、单原子Al修饰空位缺陷V₂C的吸附能为-2.0763 eV,这表明含空位缺陷的V₂C,由于单原子Al的修饰可以明显改善晶体结构稳定性.进一步从态密度、分波态密度、吸氢能力研究发现,各体系态密度和分波态密度均出现分波越过费米能级的现象,表现出较强的金属性;V₂C吸附H₂气体分子吸附能为-7.5867 eV,而空位缺陷V₂C和单原子Al修饰空位缺陷V₂C两个体系对H₂气体分子的吸附能仅为-0.9851 eV、-2.7130 eV,均未能进一步改善V₂C对H₂气体分...     

Reduction in Allergenicity and Induction of Oral Tolerance of Glycated Tropomyosin from Crab

Tropomyosin (TM) is an important crustacean (Scylla paramamosain) allergen. This study aimed to assess Maillard-reacted TM (TM-G) induction of allergenic responses with cell and mouse models. We analyzed the difference of sensitization and the ability to induce immune tolerance between TM and TM-G by in vitro and in vivo models, then we compared the relationship between glycation sites of TM-G and epitopes of TM. In the in vitro assay, we discovered that the sensitization of TM-G was lower than TM, and the ability to stimulate mast cell degranulation decreased from 55.07 ± 4.23% to 27.86 ± 3.21%. In the serum of sensitized Balb/c mice, the level of specific IgE produced by TM-G sensitized mice was significantly lower than TM, and the levels of interleukins 4 and interleukins 13 produced by Th2 cells in spleen lymphocytes decreased by 82.35 ± 5.88% and 83.64 ± 9.09%, respectively. In the oral tolerance model, the ratio of Th2/Th1 decreased from 4.05 ± 0.38 to 1.69 ± 0.19. Maillard reaction masked the B cell epitopes of TM and retained some T cell epitopes. Potentially, Maillard reaction products (MRPs) can be used as tolerance inducers for allergen-specific immunotherapy.     

Sizes,Components, Crystalline Structure,and Thermal Properties of Starches from Sweet Potato Varieties Originating from Different Countries

Sweet potato is a root tuber crop and an important starch source. There are hundreds of sweet potato varieties planted widely in the world. Starches from varieties with different genotype types and originating from different countries have not been compared for their physicochemical properties. In the research, starches from 44 sweet potato varieties originating from 15 countries but planted in the same growing conditions were investigated for their physicochemical properties to reveal the similarities and differences in varieties. The results showed that the 44 starches had granule size (D[4,3]) from 8.01 to 15.30 μm. Starches had different iodine absorption properties with OD680 from 0.259 to 0.382 and OD620/550 from 1.142 to 1.237. The 44 starches had apparent amylose content from 19.2% to 29.2% and true amylose content from 14.2% to 20.2%. The starches exhibited A-, C_A-, C_C-, or C_B-type X-ray diffraction patterns. The thermograms of 44 starches exhibited one-, two-, or three-peak curves, leading to a significantly different gelatinization temperature range from 13.1 to 29.2 °C. The significantly different starch properties divide the 44 sweet potato varieties into different groups due to their different genotype backgrounds. The research offers references for the utilization of sweet potato germplasm.     

Perovskite-type (Ba<Subscript>0.15</Subscript>Sr<Subscript>0.85</Subscript>)(B<Subscript>0.15</Subscript>Co<Subscript>0.85</Subscript>)O<Subscript>3 − δ</Subscript> (B = Ti,Nb) oxides: structural stability,oxygen nonstoichiometry,and oxygen sorption/desorption properties

The perovskite-type Ba- and Ti/Nb-doped (Ba_0.15Sr_0.85)(B_0.15Co_0.85)O_3 ? δ (B = Ti, Nb) oxides were synthesized successfully by the solid-state reaction method. Crystal structure, elemental compositions, and oxygen nonstoichiometry of the as-synthesized (Ba_0.15Sr_0.85)(B_0.15Co_0.85)O_3 ? δ (B = Ti, Nb) oxides were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-atomic emission spectrometry, thermogravimetry (TG), and iodometric titration. XRD results demonstrate that the as-obtained (Ba_0.15Sr_0.85)(B_0.15Co_0.85)O_3 ? δ (B = Ti, Nb) oxides possess purely cubic perovskite-type structures. The temperature-swing oxygen sorption/desorption properties of the as-synthesized (Ba_0.15Sr_0.85)(B_0.15Co_0.85)O_3 ? δ (B = Ti, Nb) perovskite-type oxides were studied by the dynamic TG. Results show that the structural stability of the co-doped (Ba_0.15Sr_0.85)(B_0.15Co_0.85)O_3 ? δ (B = Ti, Nb) oxides is improved greatly, and the high oxygen sorption capacity for the perovskite-type (Ba_0.15Sr_0.85)(B_0.15Co_0.85)O_3 ? δ (B = Ti, Nb) oxides is also obtained between 300 and 950 °C in air.     

Steady vortex patches near a nontrivial irrotational flow

In this paper, we study the vortex patch problem in an ideal fluid in a planar bounded domain. By solving a certain minimization problem and studying the limiting behavior of the minimizer, we prove that for any harmonic function q corresponding to a nontrivial irrotational flow, there exists a family of steady vortex patches approaching the set of extreme points of q on the boundary of the domain. Furthermore, we show that each finite collection of strict extreme points of q corresponds to a family of steady multiple vortex patches approaching it.     

Improvement of intelligibility of ideal binary-masked noisy speech by adding background noise

When a target-speech/masker mixture is processed with the signal-separation technique, ideal binary mask (IBM), intelligibility of target speech is remarkably improved in both normal-hearing listeners and hearing-impaired listeners. Intelligibility of speech can also be improved by filling in speech gaps with un-modulated broadband noise. This study investigated whether intelligibility of target speech in the IBM-treated target-speech/masker mixture can be further improved by adding a broadband-noise background. The results of this study show that following the IBM manipulation, which remarkably released target speech from speech-spectrum noise, foreign-speech, or native-speech masking (experiment 1), adding a broadband-noise background with the signal-to-noise ratio no less than 4 dB significantly improved intelligibility of target speech when the masker was either noise (experiment 2) or speech (experiment 3). The results suggest that since adding the noise background shallows the areas of silence in the time-frequency domain of the IBM-treated target-speech/masker mixture, the abruption of transient changes in the mixture is smoothed and the perceived continuity of target-speech components becomes enhanced, leading to improved target-speech intelligibility. The findings are useful for advancing computational auditory scene analysis, hearing-aid/cochlear-implant designs, and understanding of speech perception under "cocktail-party" conditions.