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Ti2−xNiCoSnSb (x = 0.125, 0.250, 0.375, and 0.500) half Heusler (HH) high-entropy thermoelectric alloys were synthesized by the arc melting—ball milling—spark plasma sintering route. The impact of secondary phase content on the thermoelectric properties in these alloys was examined. Ni-rich intermetallic (Ni3Sn2, Ni3Sn4) compounds were observed; the intermetallic content increased for lower Ti content, e.g., Ti1.5NiCoSnSb. A Ni-rich full Heusler (FH) secondary phase was also observed. These results were consistent with first-principles calculations that show that the formation enthalpy of Ti1.5NiCoSnSb was higher than that of Ti2NiCoSnSb and the full Heusler (FH) TiNi2Sn phase. In lower Ti content samples, the electrical conductivity increased, and lattice thermal conductivity decreased at the expense of thermopower owing to higher FH and the Ni3Sn2 phase content. Ti1.5NiCoSnSb exhibited lower lattice thermal conductivity of 3.5 W/mK, compared to 5.4 W/mK at 823 K for Ti2NiCoSnSb due to increased phonon scattering at HH/Ni3Sn2 interfaces. But considering the decreasing power factor with lower Ti content, the maximum ZT obtained in Ti1.875NiCoSnSb (0.171 at 973 K) was only marginally higher than the value for Ti2NiCoSnSb. Further, compositional tuning is hence necessary to maximize the power factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have recently been shown to be clinically effective as a novel method of stroke rehabilitation. In many BCI-based studies, the activation of the ipsilesional hemisphere was considered a key factor required for motor recovery after stroke. However, emerging evidence suggests that the contralesional hemisphere also plays a role in motor function rehabilitation. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the BCI in detecting motor imagery of the affected hand from contralesional hemisphere. We analyzed a large EEG dataset from 136 stroke patients who performed motor imagery of their stroke-impaired hand. BCI features were extracted from channels covering either the ipsilesional, contralesional or bilateral hemisphere, and the offline BCI accuracy was computed using 10 × 10-fold cross-validations. Our results showed that most stroke patients can operate the BCI using either their contralesional or ipsilesional hemisphere. Those with the ipsilesional BCI accuracy of less than 60% had significantly higher motor impairments than those with the ipsilesional BCI accuracy above 80%. Interestingly, those with the ipsilesional BCI accuracy of less than 60% achieved a significantly higher contralesional BCI accuracy, whereas those with the ipsilesional BCI accuracy more than 80% had significantly poorer contralesional BCI accuracy. This study suggests that contralesional BCI may be a useful approach for those with a high motor impairment who cannot accurately generate signals from ipsilesional hemisphere to effectively operate BCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]