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Owing to the increasing demand for high performance and lightweight materials, fiber metal laminates (FMLs) have become the alternative materials to replace metallic alloys. When the environmental friendliness of the materials is taken into consideration, plant fibers have shown an excellent potential to be employed as the reinforcements in FMLs. This work describes the mechanical behavior of kenaf and pineapple leaf fibers (PALF) reinforced metal laminates with various fiber contents, ranging from 10 wt% to 50 wt%. Fiber metal laminates were formed through the coalescence of metallic skin layers with the composite as the core. The mechanical tests were then conducted to study the tensile, flexural and Charpy impact properties of the structures. From the findings, it was concluded that both the kenaf and PALF based FMLs showed the optimum mechanical properties when the fiber content was fixed at 30 wt%. In addition, PALF based FMLs had shown higher mechanical properties over kenaf based FMLs. At a fiber content of 30 wt%, the tensile and flexural strength of PALF based FMLs were respectively 6.18% and 3.44% higher than kenaf based FMLs. In terms of impact properties, the impact strength of PALF based FMLs was 5.06% and 40.73% higher than kenaf based FMLs in the flatwise and edgewise orientations.

With the development of the new medical science, the traditional traditional education mode of morphology is facing to weakness and challenges. Under the guidance of learning by doing, we constructed a 3D model workshop as an innovative teaching platform. The questionnaire investigation showed that students were approved by the learning mode of 3D model workshop, which was helpful to improve students capacity building in terms of skill and exploration.

Constructing metal-support interaction (MSI) is a strategy of wide interest to promote the electrocatalytic performance of oxygen evolution reaction (OER). However, studies helping to understand the electrocatalytic behavior of reactive centers affected by the metal support and investigations to guide the construction of catalysts based on MSI are scarce. In situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) provides spectral evidence of reactive intermediates and information on the structural evolution of catalysts, which can help investigate the reaction pathway of catalysts. In this work, Au@MnO2-IrOx core–shell nanoparticles (NPs), possessing a specific nanostructure of highly dispersed IrOx clusters on amorphous MnO2 shells, were prepared by a simple method under ambient conditions and exhibited a low overpotential of 230 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2, therefore outperforming the traditional Ir catalysts. The oxidation of Ir4+ and adsorption of *O on IrOx at a low potential were revealed by in situ SERS, which indicated the pre-activation of Ir centers and the facilitated formation of superoxide species: *O–O−. Combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we show that the MnO2 substrate optimizes binding energies of intermediates on IrOx, promoting O–O coupling and improving the OER rate. This work provides a strategy for utilizing in situ spectroscopy to investigate the OER mechanism and understand the electrocatalytic behavior impacted by MSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of rituximab combined with CHOP-like regimen with or without IFN in patients newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (DLBCL). METHODS From January 2003 to July 2008, 51 patients received CHOP-like chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide 750 mg/m2, epirubicin 80 mg/m2, vindesine 2.8 mg/m2 on day 1 , and prednisolone 100 mg/day on day 1 to day 5). Thirty- tne patients received CHOPR-like treatment (rituximab 375 mg/m2 1 day before CHOP-like chemotherapy). Twenty patients received CHOP-like regimen in combination with peginterferon (pegIFN) (1 μg/kg on day 5) and rituximab (on day 6). RESULTS The CR (complete remission) rate in the CHOPR-like (with or without pegIFN) group and in the CHOP-like group was 78.4% and 45.1% (P = 0.005), respectively. The estimated mean time of overall survival (OS) in the CHOPR-like group and CHOP-like group was 58.7 ± 2.8 and 36.4 ± 3.4 months, respectively (P = 0.002). The rates of CR and OR (overall remission) in CHOPR-like with IFN arm were 85.0% and 95.0%, and the rates of those in CHOPR-like without IFN arm were 74.2% and 87.0% (P > 0.05). The estimated mean time of 4-year-PFS (progression-free survival) in CHOPR-like with IFN arm and in CHOPR-like without IFN arm was 62.9 ± 3.0 months and 51.0 ± 4.6 months (P = 0.092), respectively. In the CHOPR-like with IFN arm, no patient relapsed after achieving CR, while the estimated rate of 4-year-DFS (disease-free survival) in the patients who reached CR in the CHOPR-like without IFN arm was (63.4 ± 19.3)% (P = 0.061). CONCLUSION Rituximab combined with CHOP-like chemotherapy improved the prognosis of DLBCL patients. The IFN may help to improve the quality and duration of response of DLBCL patients treated with rituximab and CHOP-like regimen.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of non-equiatomic (CuNi)100−xCox (x=15, 20, 25 and 30, at.%) medium-entropy alloys (MEAs) prepared by vacuum arc-melting were investigated. Results show that all the as-cast MEAs exhibit dual face-centered cubic (fcc) solid-solution phases with identical lattice constant, showing typical dendrite structure consisting of (Ni, Co)-rich phase in dendrites and Cu-rich phase in inter-dendrites. The positive enthalpy of mixing among Cu and Ni-Co elements is responsible for the segregation of Cu. With the increase of Co content, the volume fraction of (Ni, Co)-rich phase increases while the Cu-rich phase decreases, resulting in an increment of yield strength and a decrement of elongation for the (CuNi)100−xCox MEAs. Nano-indentation test results show a great difference of microhardness between the two fcc phases of the MEAs. The measured microhardness value of the (Ni, Co)-rich phase is almost twofold as compared to that of the Cu-rich phase in all the (CuNi)100−xCox MEAs. During the deformation of the MEAs, the Cu-rich phase bears the main plastic strain, whereas the (Ni, Co)-rich phase provides more pronounced strengthening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]