Improved Stretchable and Sensitive Fe Nanowire-Based Strain Sensor by Optimizing Areal Density of Nanowire Network

Flexible strain sensors, when considering high sensitivity and a large strain range, have become a key requirement for current robotic applications. However, it is still a thorny issue to take both factors into consideration at the same time. Here, we report a sandwich-structured strain sensor based on Fe nanowires (Fe NWs) that has a high GF (37–53) while taking into account a large strain range (15–57.5%), low hysteresis (2.45%), stability, and low cost with an areal density of Fe NWs of 4.4 mg/cm². Additionally, the relationship between the contact point of the conductive network, the output resistance, and the areal density of the sensing unit is analyzed. Microscopically, the contact points of the conductive network directly affect the sensor output resistance distribution, thereby affecting the gauge factor (GF) of the sensor. Macroscopically, the areal density and the output resistivity of the strain sensor have the opposite percolation theory, which affects its linearity performance. At the same time, there is a positive correlation between the areal density and the contact point: when the stretching amount is constant, it theoretically shows that the areal density affects the GF. When the areal density reaches this percolation threshold range, the sensing performance is the best. This will lay the foundation for rapid applications in wearable robots.     

Effect of Erosive Agents on Surface Characteristics of Nano-Fluorapatite Ceramic: An In-Vitro Study

Erosive beverages cause dissolution of natural teeth and intra-oral restorations, resulting in surface characteristic changes, particularly roughness and degradation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the surface roughness and topography of a dental ceramic following immersion in locally available erosive solutions. A total of 160 disc specimens of a nano-fluorapatite type ceramic (12 mm diameter and 2 mm thickness) were fabricated and equally distributed into two groups (n = 80) and then evenly distributed among the following five testing groups (n = 16): lemon juice, citrate buffer solution, 4% acetic acid, soft cola drink, and distilled water which served as a control. The surface roughness (Ra) and topography were evaluated using a profilometer and scanning electron microscope at baseline, 24 h, 96 h, and 168 h respectively. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparisons (p ≤ 0.05). Surface changes were observed upon exposure to all acidic beverages except distilled water. Amongst all immersion media, 4% acetic acid produced the most severe surface roughness across all time periods (i.e., baseline, 24 h, 96 h, and 168 h). A statistically significant difference in the surface roughness values between all immersion media and across all four time intervals was observed. Erosive agents had a negative effect on the surface roughness and topography of the tested ceramic. The surface roughness increased with increased storage time intervals.     

Numerical Study on an RBF-FD Tangent Plane Based Method for Convection–Diffusion Equations on Anisotropic Evolving Surfaces

In this paper, we present a fully Lagrangian method based on the radial basis function (RBF) finite difference (FD) method for solving convection–diffusion partial differential equations (PDEs) on evolving surfaces. Surface differential operators are discretized by the tangent plane approach using Gaussian RBFs augmented with two-dimensional (2D) polynomials. The main advantage of our method is the simplicity of calculating differentiation weights. Additionally, we couple the method with anisotropic RBFs (ARBFs) to obtain more accurate numerical solutions for the anisotropic growth of surfaces. In the ARBF interpolation, the Euclidean distance is replaced with a suitable metric that matches the anisotropic surface geometry. Therefore, it will lead to a good result on the aspects of stability and accuracy of the RBF-FD method for this type of problem. The performance of this method is shown for various convection–diffusion equations on evolving surfaces, which include the anisotropic growth of surfaces and growth coupled with the solutions of PDEs.     

Computational Insight into Biotransformation Profiles of Organophosphorus Flame Retardants to Their Diester Metabolites by Cytochrome P450

Biotransformation of organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) mediated by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) has a potential correlation with their toxicological effects on humans. In this work, we employed five typical OPFRs including tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCIPP), tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCIPP), tri(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), triethyl phosphate (TEP), and 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPHP), and performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to clarify the CYP-catalyzed biotransformation of five OPFRs to their diester metabolites. The DFT results show that the reaction mechanism consists of Cα-hydroxylation and O-dealkylation steps, and the biotransformation activities of five OPFRs may follow the order of TCEP ≈ TEP ≈ EHDPHP > TCIPP > TDCIPP. We further performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to unravel the binding interactions of five OPFRs in the CYP3A4 isoform. Binding mode analyses demonstrate that CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of TDCIPP, TCIPP, TCEP, and TEP can produce the diester metabolites, while EHDPHP metabolism may generate para-hydroxyEHDPHP as the primary metabolite. Moreover, the EHDPHP and TDCIPP have higher binding potential to CYP3A4 than TCIPP, TCEP, and TEP. This work reports the biotransformation profiles and binding features of five OPFRs in CYP, which can provide meaningful clues for the further studies of the metabolic fates of OPFRs and toxicological effects associated with the relevant metabolites.     

Bioactive Components and Anticancer Activities of Spray-Dried New Zealand Tamarillo Powder

Tamarillo fruit contains many phytochemicals that have beneficial therapeutic and nutritional properties. Spray-drying is widely used to preserve fruit puree in powder form. However, to obtain high-quality fruit powder, the optimisation of spray-drying conditions is necessary, as a high drying temperature can damage sensitive bioactive compounds. This study investigated the effects of spray-drying on the microstructure, polyphenolics, total flavonoids, total carotenoids, antioxidant activity, and anticancer capacity of tamarillo powder. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimise the spray-drying process to produce tamarillo powder. The independent variables were inlet drying temperature (120–160 °C), flow rate (1–5 g/mL), and maltodextrin concentration (0–10%). These variables influenced the microstructural attributes, bioactive components, and cytotoxicity of the spray-dried tamarillo powder. The increase in polyphenols and antioxidant activities were favoured under high-temperature spray drying conditions and a low carrier concentration. The optimised spray-drying conditions for producing tamarillo powder with high antioxidant and anticancer activities, high yield, and stable bioactive compounds were found to be at 146.8 °C inlet temperature, and a flow rate of 1.76 g/mL.     

New Cysteine-Containing PEG-Glycerolipid Increases the Bloodstream Circulation Time of Upconverting Nanoparticles

Upconverting nanoparticles have unique spectral and photophysical properties that make them suitable for development of theranostics for imaging and treating large and deep-seated tumors. Nanoparticles based on NaYF₄ crystals doped with lanthanides Yb³⁺ and Er³⁺ were obtained by the high-temperature decomposition of trifluoroacetates in oleic acid and 1-octadecene. Such particles have pronounced hydrophobic properties. Therefore, to obtain stable dispersions in aqueous media for the study of their properties in vivo and in vitro, the polyethylene glycol (PEG)-glycerolipids of various structures were obtained. To increase the circulation time of PEG-lipid coated nanoparticles in the bloodstream, long-chain substituents are needed to be attached to the glycerol backbone using ether bonds. To prevent nanoparticle aggregation, an L-cysteine-derived negatively charged carboxy group should be included in the lipid molecule.     

基于孔口出流模型的实验研究及理论分析

基于孔口出流模型对底部有小孔的圆柱体容器中液体液面高度随时间的变化规律进行了实验研究,并通过计入液体表面张力引起的孔口收缩和流体黏滞力导致的能量损失对实验结果进行了理论分析,与实验结果一致.     

Spectroscopy of light nuclei with skyrme-type interactions

Deformed Hartree-Fock calculations are performed for some light nuclei in a large configuration space consisting of first four major shells. The interaction employed is the modified Skyrme interaction in which the deformed density is replaced by the band averaged scalar density that makes the Hamiltonian rotationally invariant rendering the spectroscopic calculations feasible. It is shown that the introduction of density dependence spreads out the energy spectra and that the Skyrme variant SIV which has a weak density dependence gives best overall agreement for energy spectra and the available data for the electromagnetic properties of the nuclei studied. It is found that the maximum contribution to the energy of any state in the low lying spectrum comes from thes-state attractive ands-state repulsive parts of the Skyrme interaction. It is also shown that when two-body density dependent version of Skyrme interaction is used, the Koopmans theorem no longer holds.     

Preparation of nano-hydroxyapatite/poly(<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-lactide) biocomposite microspheres

Nano-hydroxyapatite (HA)/poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) composite microspheres with relatively uniform size distribution were prepared by a solid-in-oil-in-water (s/o/w) emusion solvent evaporation method. The encapsulation of the HA nanopaticles in microshperes was significantly improved by grafting PLLA on the surface of the HA nanoparticles (p-HA) during emulsion process. This procedure gave a possibility to obtain p-HA/PLLA composite microspheres with uniform morphology and the encapsulated p-HA nanoparticle loading reached up to 40 wt% (33 wt% of pure HA) in the p-HA/PLLA composite microspheres. The microstructure of composite microspheres from core-shell to single phase changed with the variation of p-HA to PLLA ratios. p-HA/PLLA composite microspheres with the diameter range of 2–3 μm were obtained. The entrapment efficiency of p-HA in microspheres could high up to 90 wt% and that of HA was only 13 wt%. Surface and bulk characterizations of the composite microspheres were performed by measurements such as wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).     

Effects of Organic Acids on the Release of Fruity Esters in Water: An Insight at the Molecular Level

It is well known that organic acids (OAs) could affect the flavour of fruit juices and beverages. However, the molecular mechanism of aroma release is still unclear. In this study, the effects of citric acid (CA), L-(-)-malic acid (MA) and L-lactic acid (LA) on the release of six selected esters and their sensory perception were investigated by means of HS-GC-MS analyses and odour detection threshold determination, respectively. Meanwhile, the density functional theory (DFT) calculation was employed to explore the interaction modes between esters and OAs. HS-GC-MS analyses showed that the concentration and the type of OAs regulated the release of esters. The results were basically consistent with the detection threshold change of those esters. The DFT calculation suggested that the main intermolecular interaction was hydrogen bonds, and several esters could form a ternary ring structure with OAs through hydrogen bonds. The interactions can induce the different release behaviours of esters in OAs water solution. The number of carboxyl functional groups in OAs and the spatial conformation of esters appeared to influence the magnitude of the interaction. The above results demonstrated the mechanism of OAs affecting the release of esters and indicated a possible flavour control way by using different OAs and OA concentrations.