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Background: Stroke is a leading cause of mortality and disability with ischemic stroke being the most common type of stroke. Salvianolic acid C (SalC), a polyphenolic compound found in Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, has demonstrated therapeutic potential in the recovery phase of ischemic stroke. However, its pharmacological effects and underlying mechanisms during the early stages of ischemic stroke remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the potential mechanism of action of SalC during the early phase of ischemic stroke using network pharmacology strategies and RNA sequencing analysis. Methods: SalC effects on infarct volume, neurological deficits, and histopathological changes were assessed in a mouse model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). By integrating RNA sequencing data with a cerebral vascular disease (CVD)-related gene database, a cerebral ischemic disease (CID) network containing dysregulated genes from the tMCAO model was constructed. Network analysis algorithms were applied to evaluate the key nodes within the CID network. In vivo and in vitro validation of crucial targets within the identified pathways was conducted. Results: SalC treatment significantly reduced infarct volume, improved neurological deficits, and reversed pathological changes in the tMCAO mouse model. The integration of RNA sequencing data revealed an 80% gene reversion rate induced by SalC within the CID network. Among the reverted genes, 53.1% exhibited reversion rates exceeding 50%, emphasizing the comprehensive rebalancing effect of SalC within the CID network. Neuroinflammatory-related pathways regulated by SalC, including the toll-like-receptor 4 (TLR4)- triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (TREM1)-nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway, were identified. Further in vivo and in vitro experiments confirmed that TLR4-TREM1-NF-κB pathway was down-regulated by SalC in microglia, which was essential for its anti-inflammatory effect on ischemic stroke. Conclusions: SalC attenuated cerebral ischemic injury by inhibiting neuroinflammation mediated by microglia, primarily through the TLR4-TREM1-NF-κB pathway. These findings provide valuable insights into the potential therapeutic benefits of SalC in ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stroke is a leading cause of mortality and disability with ischemic stroke being the most common type of stroke. Salvianolic acid C (SalC), a polyphenolic compound found in Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, has demonstrated therapeutic potential in the recovery phase of ischemic stroke. However, its pharmacological effects and underlying mechanisms during the early stages of ischemic stroke remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the potential mechanism of action of SalC during the early phase of ischemic stroke using network pharmacology strategies and RNA sequencing analysis. Methods: SalC effects on infarct volume, neurological deficits, and histopathological changes were assessed in a mouse model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). By integrating RNA sequencing data with a cerebral vascular disease (CVD)-related gene database, a cerebral ischemic disease (CID) network containing dysregulated genes from the tMCAO model was constructed. Network analysis algorithms were applied to evaluate the key nodes within the CID network. In vivo and in vitro validation of crucial targets within the identified pathways was conducted. Results: SalC treatment significantly reduced infarct volume, improved neurological deficits, and reversed pathological changes in the tMCAO mouse model. The integration of RNA sequencing data revealed an 80% gene reversion rate induced by SalC within the CID network. Among the reverted genes, 53.1% exhibited reversion rates exceeding 50%, emphasizing the comprehensive rebalancing effect of SalC within the CID network. Neuroinflammatory-related pathways regulated by SalC, including the toll-like-receptor 4 (TLR4)- triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (TREM1)-nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway, were identified. Further in vivo and in vitro experiments confirmed that TLR4-TREM1-NF-κB pathway was down-regulated by SalC in microglia, which was essential for its anti-inflammatory effect on ischemic stroke. Conclusions: SalC attenuated cerebral ischemic injury by inhibiting neuroinflammation mediated by microglia, primarily through the TLR4-TREM1-NF-κB pathway. These findings provide valuable insights into the potential therapeutic benefits of SalC in ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microstructure and compressive properties of the 7xxx series aluminum alloy (Al – 12.44Zn – 3.22Mg – 1.13Cu – 0.19Zr – 0.12Sr) reinforced with SiC whiskers via squeeze casting are investigated after aging treatments T6-1, T6-2, T6I4-1, and T6I4-2. For this purpose, the effect of four kinds of aging heat treatments on the properties of the aluminum metal matrix composites (AMMCs) is studied systematically through Vickers hardness and room temperature compressive testing. The microstructure is analyzed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The experimental results show that the hardness of the AMMCs after four kinds of aging processes has different degrees of improvement compared to no-aging. After the T6-1, T6-2, T6I4-1, and T6I4-2 aging processes, the hardness of the composites is 325, 278, 306, and 345.8 HV, respectively. The additional T6-2 aging treatment provides the highest compressive strength and compressive strain, about 747 MPa and 7%, respectively, as well as a maximum dislocation strengthening of approximately 86.89 MPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2124Ti aluminum alloy powder was self-designed and fabricated as the matrix, with micro-B4Cp and nano-SiCp adding a certain amount of Ti as the reinforcement, and the 10% B4Cp–2% SiCp/2124Ti composite material was prepared by powder metallurgy. The effects of three multistage solid solutions (G1: 480°C × 2 h + 490°C × 2 h, G2: 480°C × 2 h + 490°C × 2 h + 500°C × 2 h and G3: 480°C × 2 h + 490°C × 2 h + 500°C × 2 h + 510°C × 2 h) on the organization and properties of the 10% B4Cp–2% SiCp/2124Ti composite were investigated, and the optimal aging time of the material was explored after the solid solution. The results show that the G3 solid solution process had the best effect on improving the material performance. With the increase of solid solution temperature and the increase of solid solution time, the hardness of composite material increased significantly after solid dissolution. After 12h of 185°C aging, the hardness reached the peak, which increased by 23.6~50.6 HV compared with the hardness before the solid solution. With the increase of solid dissolution degree, the material conductivity decreased. Moreover, the compressive strength of the composite material was greatly improved after three solid solutions and 12h of aging, which was 690, 750 and 765 MPa namely, but the toughness of the material declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove existence and uniqueness of solutions to a modified Boussinesq system with no temperature diffusion, where we modify the Biot–Savart law to make the velocity more singular. Our results are proven for solutions of low regularity, and allows, in particular, the transport of temperature patches with regular boundary. The main new tool is a commutator estimate that requires only a fractional derivative on the velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, new titanium matrix composites (TMCs) with in situ synthesized multiphase (TiB, TiC, Ti5Si3) hybrid reinforcement were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) using Ti555-type titanium alloy (Ti–5.4Al–4.03Mo–3.93V–2.37Cr–0.01Zr) and B4CP, CNT, and SiCP as primary powders. The effects of different reinforcements on the hot corrosion performance of the materials were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the corrosion weight gain, corrosion thickness and corrosion products were analyzed and tested. The results showed that the corrosion products of the base alloy, TMC1 (3.5 vol % B4CP) and TMC3 (3.5 vol % B4CP + 1.5 vol % CNT) were mainly Al2O3, TiO2, NaTiO2 and TiS2, while TMC2 (3.5 vol % B4CP + 1.5 vol % SiCP), in addition to the above products SiO2 was also detected, which has a good corrosion resistance. Furthermore, the corrosion weight gain and corrosion depth of the matrix, TMC1, TMC3, and TMC2 gradually decreased, with corrosion depths of 49, 37, 23, and 14 μm, respectively, indicating that the corrosion resistance of the composites gradually increased, with TMC2 having the best corrosion resistance and the lowest corrosion weight gain of 10.264 mg cm–2. Throughout the corrosion process, the excellent hot corrosion resistance the degree is TMC2 > TMC3 > TMC1 > matrix in order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from different sources show varied repopulating capacity, and HSCs lose their stemness after long‐time ex vivo culture. A deep understanding of these phenomena may provide helpful insights for HSCs. Methods: Here, we applied single‐cell RNA‐seq (scRNA‐seq) to analyse the naïve and stimulated human CD34+ cells from cord blood (CB) and mobilised peripheral blood (mPB). Results: We collected over 16 000 high‐quality single‐cell data to construct a comprehensive inference map and characterised the HSCs under a quiescent state on the hierarchy top. Then, we compared HSCs in CB with those in mPB and HSCs of naïve samples to those of cultured samples, and identified stemness‐related genes (SRGs) associated with cell source (CS‐SRGs) and culture time (CT‐SRGs), respectively. Interestingly, CS‐SRGs and CT‐SRGs share genes enriched in the signalling pathways such as mRNA catabolic process, translational initiation, ribonucleoprotein complex biogenesis and cotranslational protein targeting to membrane, suggesting dynamic protein translation and processing may be a common requirement for stemness maintenance. Meanwhile, CT‐SRGs are enriched in pathways involved in glucocorticoid and corticosteroid response that affect HSCs homing and engraftment. In contrast, CS‐SRGs specifically contain genes related to purine and ATP metabolic process, which is crucial for HSC homeostasis in the stress settings. Particularly, when CT‐SRGs are used as reference genes for the construction of the development trajectory of CD34+ cells, lymphoid and myeloid lineages are clearly separated after HSCs/MPPs. Finally, we presented an application through a small‐scale drug screening using Connectivity Map (CMap) against CT‐SRGs. A small molecule, cucurbitacin I, was found to efficiently expand HSCs ex vivo while maintaining its stemness. Conclusions: Our findings provide new perspectives for understanding HSCs, and the strategy to identify candidate molecules through SRGs may be applicable to study other stem cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a viscous fluid in a finite-depth domain of two dimensions, with a free moving boundary and a fixed solid boundary. The fluid dynamics are governed by gravity-driven incompressible micropolar equations, and the surface tension is neglected on the free surface. The main result of this paper is to prove the global well-posedness of the surface wave problem when the fluid domain is horizontally periodic. And the solutions decay to equilibrium at an almost exponential rate. This is achieved by establishing delicate estimates when dealing with the strong coupling of fluid velocity and micro-rotation velocity. Our proof relies on two-tier nonlinear energy method developed by Guo and Tice [17–19]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to improve the strength of fibrous porous ceramics dramatically under the premise of no sacrificing its low density and thermal conductivity has remained a challenge in the high-temperature thermal insulation field. In this paper, a new kind of high-strength mullite fiber-based ceramics composed of interlocked porous mullite fibers was prepared by nanoemulsion electrospinning and dry pressing method. Results show that as to the porous ceramics with the same density (∼ 0.8 g/cm3), the three-dimensional skeleton structure composed of porous mullite fibers was much denser than that composed of solid mullite fibers. Therefore, porous mullite fiber-based ceramics exhibited a higher compressive strength (5.53 MPa) than that of solid mullite fiber-based ceramics (3.21 MPa). In addition, porous mullite fiber-based ceramics exhibited a superior high-temperature heat insulation property because the porous structure in fibers could reduce the radiant heat conduction. This work provides new insight into the development of high-temperature thermal insulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To analyze the application and effect of sandplay therapy in higher vocational students' mental health. Method. 350 sophomores of 2019 in a higher vocational college were randomly selected, and 72 subjects of depressed students (SAS ≥ 50) were selected from 350 sophomores and randomly divided into the intervention group and the control group, each group 9, preparing one set of chamber equipment, adopting the same group before and after test experiment design. The intervention group was, respectively, given 8 individual box court game tutoring, once a week for each person. The control group did not intervene. By comparing the intervention group with the control group, the intervention effect of sandplay therapy on anxiety of experimental group members was investigated. Results. Among 350 respondents, 72 had SAS scores ≥ 50 , and the incidence of anxiety symptoms was 20.57%. Since there was only 1 case with SAS score ≥ 70 , it was incorporated into the group with SAS score ranging from 60 to 59. After treatment, SAS scores of students with mild to moderate anxiety in the intervention group decreased, and the difference was statistically significant. The difference before and after control group was not statistically significant. After sandplay therapy, the differences in SAS scores between the intervention group and the control group were found to be statistically significant for both mild and moderate anxiety. Conclusion. Sandplay therapy in the higher vocational college students' mental health education could promote the mental health of students, and it effectively improves students' psychological quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High‐efficiency multifunctional metal‐organic framework (MOF) phosphor is highly desired for various practical applications, such as in lighting, anticounterfeiting, sensing, and so on. Herein, a highly yellow‐emitting MOF (Zn‐TPPA) phosphor is prepared via mechanical grinding for application as white light‐emitting diode (LED) and composite films. Under UV or visible‐light excitation, Zn‐TPPA exhibits the intense cyan emission (λem = 497 nm) with a high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). Zn‐TPPA undergoes an intriguing reversible mechanochromic luminescence through mechanical stimuli (grinding). Notably, the grinding not only induces emissive color changes from cyan to yellow but also obviously enhances the luminescence.More significantly, upon excitation with blue light (λex = 460 nm), the PLQY of yellow light approaches as high as 92.7 (±1.8) %, which makes the yellow MOF phosphor potential as high‐performance white LED. In addition, the MOF‐based composite films exhibit dual emission and excitation‐dependent emission color due to the presence of two emission sources (TPPA monomer and aggregation state). Hence, Zn‐TPPA with reversible mechanochromic luminescence would have potentials in the fields of luminescence sensor, display, and anticounterfeiting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spatial second-order scheme for the nonlinear radiative transfer equations is introduced in this paper. The discretization scheme is based on the filtered spherical harmonics (F P N) method for the angular variable and the unified gas kinetic scheme (UGKS) framework for the spatial and temporal variables respectively. In order to keep the scheme positive and second-order accuracy, firstly, we use the implicit Monte Carlo (IMC) linearization method [7] in the construction of the UGKS numerical boundary fluxes. This is an essential point in the construction. Then, by carefully analyzing the constructed second-order fluxes involved in the macro-micro decomposition, which is induced by the F P N angular discretization, we establish the sufficient conditions that guarantee the positivity of the radiative energy density and material temperature. Finally, we employ linear scaling limiters for the angular variable in the P N reconstruction and for the spatial variable in the piecewise linear slopes reconstruction respectively, which are shown to be realizable and reasonable to enforce the sufficient conditions holding. Thus, the desired scheme, called the P P F P N -based UGKS, is obtained. Furthermore, we can show that in the regime ϵ ≪ 1 and the regime ϵ = O (1) , the second-order fluxes can be simplified. And, a simplified spatial second-order scheme, called the P P F P N -based SUGKS, is thus presented, which possesses all the properties of the non-simplified one. Inheriting the merit of UGKS, the proposed schemes are asymptotic preserving. By employing the F P N method for the angular variable, the proposed schemes are almost free of ray effects. Moreover, the above-mentioned way of imposing the positivity would not destroy both AP and second-order accuracy properties. To our best knowledge, this is the first time that spatial second-order, positive, asymptotic preserving and almost free of ray effects schemes are constructed for the nonlinear radiative transfer equations without operator splitting. Therefore, this paper improves our previous work on the first-order scheme [42] which could not be directly extended to high order, while keeping the solution positive. Various numerical experiments are included to validate the properties of the proposed schemes. • A spatial second-order FPN scheme with both AP and PP properties is developed for nonlinear radiative transfer equations. • The scheme is almost free of ray effects, and meanwhile can reduce the Gibbs phenomena in the PN approximation. • The IMC linearization method is used in the construction of the UGKS numerical fluxes to make the solution positive. • A simplified scheme with all properties of the non-simplified one is proposed in regimes ϵ ≪ 1 and ϵ = O (1) to reduce the computational costs. • Numerical experiments have validated the spatial second-order accuracy, AP, PP and almost ray effects free properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstarct: Background: Cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) dinucleotides has been used as adjuvants for cancer immunotherapy. However, unmodified CpG are not very efficient in clinical trials. Glucose, ligand of C-type lectin receptors (CLRs), can promote DC maturation and antigen presentation, which is the first step of induction of adaptive immune responses. Therefore, conjugation of type B CpG DNA to glucose-containing glycopolymers may enhance the therapeutic effects against tumor by CpG-based vaccine. Methods: gCpG was developed by chemical conjugation of type B CpG DNA to glucose-containing glycopolymers. The therapeutic effects of gCpG-based vaccine were tested in both murine primary melanoma model and its metastasis model. Results: gCpG based tumor vaccine inhibited both primary and metastasis of melanoma in mice which was dependent on CD8 + T cells and IFNγ. In tumor microenvironment, gCpG treatment increased Th1 and CTL infiltration, increased M1 macrophages, decreased Tregs and MDSCs populations, and promoted inflammatory milieu with enhanced secretion of IFNγ and TNFα. The anti-tumor efficacy of gCpG was dramatically enhanced when combined with anti-PD1 immunotherapy. Conclusions: We confirmed that gCpG was a promising adjuvant for vaccine formulation by activating both tumor-specific Th1 and Tc1 responses, and regulating tumor microenvironments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the inhomogeneous boundary value problem for the steady MHD system of a viscous incompressible fluid in an arbitrary bounded multiply connected domain. We prove the existence of generalized solutions of the steady MHD system with some smallness conditions on the boundary values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limonium sinuatum, a member of Plumbaginaceae commonly known as sea lavender, is widely used as dried flower. Five L. sinuatum varieties with different flower colors (White, Blue, Pink, Yellow, and Purple) are found in saline regions and are widely cultivated in gardens. In the current study, we evaluated the salt tolerance of these varieties under 250 mmol/L NaCl (salt-tolerance threshold) treatment to identify the optimal variety suitable for planting in saline lands. After the measurement of the fresh weight (FW), dry weight (DW), contents of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl−, malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, soluble sugars, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), relative water content, chlorophyll contents, net photosynthetic rate, and osmotic potential of whole plants, the salt-tolerance ability from strongest to weakest is identified as Pink, Yellow, Purple, White, and Blue. Photosynthetic rate was the most reliable and positive indicator of salt tolerance. The density of salt glands showed the greatest increase in Pink under NaCl treatment, indicating that Pink adapts to high-salt levels by enhancing salt gland formation. These results provide a theoretical basis for the large-scale planting of L. sinuatum in saline soils in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TB8 (Ti-13.58Mo-2.15Nb-3.27A1-0.21Si) is a metastable β titanium alloy with excellent mechanical properties. In this paper, TiC/TB8 and TiC + TiB/TB8 titanium matrix composites (TMCs) were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS). In addition, the cyclic oxidation interval measurement method was used to compare the high-temperature oxidation behavior of TB8 titanium alloys with different volume fractions of TiC and TiC + TiB reinforced TB8 composites. Studies have shown that after cyclic oxidation at 800 °C for 100 h, the oxidation law of TB8 is a mixture of linear and parabolic, while TMC1 (2.5 vol.% TiC), TMC3 (5 vol.% TiC) and TMC4 (3.5 vol.% TiC + 3.5 vol.% TiB) oxidation mainly follows the parabolic law. Moreover, the oxidation weight gain of TB8 after oxidation is as high as 9.83 mg/cm2, while the oxidation weight gain of TMC1, TMC3 and TMC4 is only 5.95 mg/cm2, 6.81 mg/cm2 and 2.83 mg/cm2. It shows that during the entire oxidation process, the order of excellent high-temperature oxidation resistance is TMC4 > TMC1 > TMC3 > TB8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the classical solutions to a model of two-dimensional incompressible inviscid Boussinesq–Bénard equations. Notice that, in the case when the source term of temperature equation in this model is the second component of velocity u 2 or no source term, there is no global-in-time existence result for the general initial data. Here, if the source term is only chosen as Δ u 2 , then we can obtain the global well-posedness, inviscid limit and some exponential decay estimates. Our key observation is the nice symmetrical structure hidden in the corresponding system, which plays an extremely important role in the global well-posedness studied here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chaetoceros debilis is considered one of the most abundant and widespread diatoms in the coastal marine phytoplankton, and is often used in research studies ranging from ecophysiology and molecular biology to oceanography and aquaculture. To clarify the species delineation of C. debilis and explore the diversity among C. debilis sensu lato taxa, monoclonal strains were established from different geographical regions, including the Danish coast, close to the type locality of C. debilis, the Denmark Strait (between Iceland and Greenland) as well as the Taiwan Strait, East China Sea and Daya Bay, South China Sea. Vegetative cells and resting spores were examined using light and electron microscopy. The hypervariable D1–D3 region of the nuclear large subunit ribosomal gene and the small subunit ribosomal gene were sequenced to address phylogenetic relationships. In both SSU and LSU trees, the C. debilis sensu lato strains clustered in four distinct clades. Culture material from the type locality was, along with molecular data, used to delineate and emend the description of C. debilis. Based on molecular data and detailed morphological features, one of the clades originating from Chinese waters was described as C. galeatus sp. nov., characterized by curved and helical chains, elliptical valves, and smooth and helmet‐shaped primary valves of the resting spores. The remaining two clades, which also represent two novel taxa, C. cf. debilis‐1 and C. cf. debilis‐2, were not formally described as new species due to the insufficient information on their morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scalelike coatings with MoSi 2 as emittance agent, flake fused quartz as coarse fillers, silica sol as dispersive medium of coating slurry, were prepared on rigid mullite fibrous ceramics to avoid fatal radial cracks and improve thermal shock resistance via combining slurry method with sol-gel method. And the particle size distribution of fused silica was changed to get different crack structure in scalelike coatings. Microstructure and phase composition of the coatings with different crack structure were investigated comprehensively. Contact damage resistance, thermal shock resistance and infrared radiating property were also studied. The results showed that only the coatings with mixing large and small particles of fused silica as coarse fillers could form crack network. The scalelike coatings with crack network went through 25 thermal cycles between 1500 °C and room temperature without peeling and spalling, and the bonding strength did not decrease after test. The scalelike structure with crack network also avoided radial cracks and exhibited some softness and less stiffness in Hertzian indentation test. The emissivity of coatings with different crack structure were all higher than 0.85; and the coatings with lower proportion of crack areas had higher emissivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equal-Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) was carried out on 7075 aluminum alloy with a process route of Bc mode, thus, achieving the aims of refining crystal grains and improving alloy plasticity. To save cost and optimize the ECAP process, DEFORM finite element simulation of the ECAP extrusion process was conducted to determine the ratio of die shear Angle to extrusion. The results show that the mold optimum process parameters are 135° for the shear angle (Φ) and λ = 2 the extrusion ratio. The deformation and processing stability of the alloy at the same time met the requirements. From the simulation and experimental results of the ECAP sample, the grain size of 7075 aluminum alloy after Bc-ECAP was obviously refined from 17.311 to 9.310 μm, and the grain shape more round. The equiaxed property of the grain was also improved, and the tissue distribution more uniform. Even though the strength of 7075 aluminum alloy slightly decreased, its plasticity increased significantly from 9.9 to 18.6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mixture of the Ti–Al–Sn–Zr matrix powder and SiC particles was used as a raw powder to fabricate an in situ TiC and Ti5Si3 reinforced titanium matrix composites (TMCs) via low energy ball milling–cold press forming–argon-protected sintering. The effects of various content of SiCp on the microstructure, phase composition and high-temperature oxidation behavior of the composites at 750 °C and 850 °C were studied. XRD results show that the oxidation phases were mainly composed of TiO2, Al2O3, SiO2 and α-Ti. According to the SEM images, the cross-sectional morphology of oxidation at 750 °C for 100 h shows that the oxide layer (20.00 μm) in the TMCs with 10.0 vol% SiCp after oxidation was denser and thinner and was 82.13% thinner than that of the matrix (98.00 μm). The parabolic rate constant (kp) of the oxidized composites decreases with the increase of SiCp content at 750 °C and 850 °C. In particular, the composites with 10 vol% SiCp content have smaller kp. All the results show that the addition of SiCp in TMCs can improve high-temperature oxidation resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The alloy has a maximum tensile strength of 828 MPa and an elongation of 8.1%. • Increasing solution temperature first increases the strength followed by a decrease. • Increasing solution temperature decreases the plasticity of the alloy. • Increasing solution temperature, the content of undissolved phase decreases. The aluminum alloy extrusion materials were treated by multi-stage solution aging, and the microstructure and mechanical properties were characterized and tested. The results show that with the increase in solid solution temperature and time, the strength shows a trend of increasing first and then decreasing, and reaches a maximum value in G3. Under the conditions of 450 °C × 2 h + 460 °C × 2 h + 470 °C × 2 h in solid solution process and 121 °C × 5 h + 133 °C × 16 h in the aging process, the aluminum alloy has excellent comprehensive properties, with a strength of 828.0 MPa and elongation of 8.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron tomography is a valuable three-dimensional characterization method, but the technique has so far been limited to a nanometer scale resolution, and therefore complementary two-dimensional structural analysis is generally performed using other techniques. In this paper, computer simulations of the latest transmission electron microscope technologies are performed on a CeO2 supercell to investigate the extension of electron tomography to the atomic scale resolution, from a tilt series of high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) images. We showed that high-voltage and aberration-corrected microscopes were both capable of retrieving adjacent oxygen and Ce atoms for a thickness up to 2.5 nm. In the case where only a few tilt angle projections are in zone-axis orientations, we introduced a hybrid tomography method, whereby a lattice-resolved tomogram obtained from a few zone-axis projections is combined with the external shape reconstruction of the crystal from binary projections. Finally, we discussed some experimental challenges related to the proposed HREM tomography technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mullite fiber-based porous ceramics is one of the most commonly used high-temperature insulation materials. However, how to further reduce the thermal conductivity and improve the strength of such materials has been a challenge in the field of high-temperature insulation. In this paper, mullite micro/nano fiber-based porous ceramic was prepared by introducing mullite nanofibers into mullite microfiber-based porous ceramics and the effect of microfiber/nanofiber weight ratio on the samples properties were characterized and analyzed. Results showed that the compressive strength and high-temperature thermal insulation properties of the porous ceramics increased significantly with an increase in the nanofiber content. For the porous ceramics with similar density (about 0.50 g/cm3), the compressive strength of the sample with a microfibers/nanofibers weight ratio of 1:2 was 1.43 MPa, which was much higher than that of the porous ceramics prepared with only microfibers (0.26 MPa). Meanwhile, the backside thermal equilibrium temperature of the sample with a microfiber/nanofiber weight ratio of 1:2 at 900 °C environment was 355.8 °C, which was much lower than that of the porous ceramic prepared with only microfibers (476.5 °C). In addition, in order to investigate the temperature resistance of mullite micro/nano fiber-based porous ceramics, the sintering temperatures was increased from 1400 °C to 1500 °C. Results shows that the high-temperature thermal insulation performance of mullite micro/nano fiber-based porous ceramics with high mullite nanofiber content decays more seriously. The back-temperature test showed that the thermal equilibrium temperature of the samples with a mullite micron/nanofiber weight ratio of 1:1 in 900 °C environment increased rapidly from 386.3 °C to 454.2 °C when the sintering temperature was increased from 1400 °C to 1500 °C. The preparation of mullite micro/nanofiber-based porous ceramics provides a new strategy to improve the performance of fiber-based porous ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mullite fiber-based porous ceramics is one of the most commonly used high-temperature insulation materials. However, how to further reduce the thermal conductivity and improve the strength of such materials has been a challenge in the field of high-temperature insulation. In this paper, mullite micro/nano fiber-based porous ceramic was prepared by introducing mullite nanofibers into mullite microfiber-based porous ceramics and the effect of microfiber/nanofiber weight ratio on the samples properties were characterized and analyzed. Results showed that the compressive strength and high-temperature thermal insulation properties of the porous ceramics increased significantly with an increase in the nanofiber content. For the porous ceramics with similar density (about 0.50 g/cm3), the compressive strength of the sample with a microfibers/nanofibers weight ratio of 1:2 was 1.43 MPa, which was much higher than that of the porous ceramics prepared with only microfibers (0.26 MPa). Meanwhile, the backside thermal equilibrium temperature of the sample with a microfiber/nanofiber weight ratio of 1:2 at 900 °C environment was 355.8 °C, which was much lower than that of the porous ceramic prepared with only microfibers (476.5 °C). In addition, in order to investigate the temperature resistance of mullite micro/nano fiber-based porous ceramics, the sintering temperatures was increased from 1400 °C to 1500 °C. Results shows that the high-temperature thermal insulation performance of mullite micro/nano fiber-based porous ceramics with high mullite nanofiber content decays more seriously. The back-temperature test showed that the thermal equilibrium temperature of the samples with a mullite micron/nanofiber weight ratio of 1:1 in 900 °C environment increased rapidly from 386.3 °C to 454.2 °C when the sintering temperature was increased from 1400 °C to 1500 °C. The preparation of mullite micro/nanofiber-based porous ceramics provides a new strategy to improve the performance of fiber-based porous ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inducing tumor-specific T cell responses and regulating suppressive tumor microenvironments have been a challenge for effective tumor therapy. CpG (ODN), the Toll-like receptor 9 agonist, has been widely used as adjuvants of cancer vaccines to induce T cell responses. We developed a novel adjuvant to improve the targeting of lymph nodes. CpG were modified with lipid and glycopolymers by the combination of photo-induced RAFT polymerization and click chemistry, and the novel adjuvant was termed as lipid-glycoadjuvant@AuNPs (LCpG). OVA protein was used as model antigen and melanoma model was established to test the immunotherapy effect of the adjuvant. In tumor model, the antitumor effect and mechanism of LCpG on the response of CTLs were examined by flow cytometry and cell cytotoxicity assay. The effects of LCpG on macrophage polarization and Tregs differentiation in tumor microenvironment were also studied by cell depletion assay and cytokine neutralization assay. We also tested the therapeutic effect of the combination of the adjuvant and anti-PD-1 treatment. LCpG could be rapidly transported to and retained longer in the lymphoid nodes than unmodified CpG. In melanoma model, LCpG controlled both primary tumor and its metastasis, and established long-term memory. In spleen and tumor draining lymphoid nodes, LCpG activated tumor-specific Tc1 responses, with increased CD8+ T-cell proliferation, antigen–specific Tc1 cytokine production and specific-tumor killing capacity. In tumor microenvironments, antigen-specific Tc1 induced by the LCpG promoted CTL infiltration, skewed tumor associated macrophages to M1 phenotype, regulated Treg and induced proinflammatory cytokines production in a CTL-derived IFN-γ-dependent manner. In vivo cell depletion and adoptive transfer experiments confirmed that antitumor activity of LCpG included vaccine was mainly dependent on CTL-derived IFN-γ. The anti-tumor efficacy of LCpG was dramatically enhanced when combined with anti-PD1 immunotherapy. LCpG was a promising adjuvant for vaccine formulation which could augment tumor-specific Tc1 activity, and regulate tumor microenvironments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper analyzes the finite-time stability of stochastic switched Boolean networks (SBNs) with impulsive effect. Using the algebraic state space representation (ASSR) approach, the dynamics of SBNs with impulsive effect is converted to an algebraic form. Based on the algebraic form, some necessary and sufficient conditions are presented for the finite-time stability of stochastic SBNs with impulsive effect, including probabilistic switching signal case and Markov jump switching signal case. The study of an illustrative example shows that the obtained new results are effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epithelioid inflammatory myofibroblastic sarcoma (EIMS), a specific subtype of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMT), is a relatively rare malignant mesenchymal tumor with clinical features of positive anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), high invasiveness, treatment resistance and poor prognosis. Therefore, ALK inhibitors represent specific effective drugs for patients with this type of tumor. However, acquired resistance remains inevitable without a clear mechanism of action and therapeutic strategy to counteract this. Herein, a chromosomal ALK-G1269A mutation was identified using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and the mutation was confirmed by Sanger sequencing in a patient with crizotinib-resistant EIMS who benefited from treatment with the second-generation ALK inhibitor AP26113. To the best of our knowledge, a few rare cases of crizotinib-resistance in IMTs have been reported, and there are no reported cases in EIMS. In this article, we present the case of a patient with a secondary mutation of ALK-G1269A in EIMS, and suggest that AP26113 (Brigatinib) may represent an ideal treatment for these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) contribute to antigen capture, uptake, presentation and activation of immune responses. We recently developed a new and lymph node (LN) targeting adjuvant (D-CpG) by chemical conjugation type B CpG DNA with FDA-approved dextran polymer for lymph node imaging. To elucidate the possible antitumor mechanisms of this adjuvant, prophylaxis and therapeutic models of melanoma were used in this study. Our results showed that D-CpG was an efficient adjuvant of protein-based tumor vaccine in both prophylaxis and therapeutic models. It enhanced the tumor-specific Th1 and CTL responses. It also facilitated the tumor infiltration of the T cells and promoted IFNγ and TNFα production of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. In therapeutic model, D-CpG included tumor vaccine decreased the percentage of CD11b+Gr1low+ MDSCs in spleen and inhibited their infiltration in tumor microenvironments. Administration of the D-CpG included vaccine significantly inhibited lung metastasis of the tumor through similar mechanisms. In conclusion, D-CpG used as tumor vaccine adjuvant can enhance both Th1 and CTL responses and inhibit CD11b+Gr1low MDSCs, which may have general applicability to the development of vaccines against tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we obtain the global existence and uniqueness results for the 2D Boussinesq equations with mixed partial temperature-dependent viscosity and thermal diffusivity. Because of the deficiency of the dissipation in some directions, there is not enough smooth effect in those directions, which makes the problem of regularity become more difficult. In order to overcome these difficulties, we construct some crucial inequalities and the global estimates for the higher fractional derivatives of temperature in the necessary directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the state/output synchronization of switched Boolean networks (SBNs) with impulsive effects via the algebraic state space representation (ASSR) approach. First, an algebraic form is established for SBNs with impulsive effects via ASSR. Second, based on the algebraic form, some necessary and sufficient conditions are presented for the state/output synchronization of SBNs with impulsive effects under arbitrary switching signals. Third, two special kinds of switching signals, that is, free switching signal and feedback switching signal, are considered for the state synchronization of SBNs with impulsive effects. Finally, two illustrative examples are worked out to show the effectiveness of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of our study was to assess, in a reader study, radiologists' performance in interpretation of automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) images with the aid of a computer-aided detection (CADe) system. Our study is a retrospective observer study with the purpose of investigating the effectiveness of using a CADe system as an aid for radiologists in interpretation of ABVS images. The multiple-reader, multiple-case study was designed to compare the diagnostic performance of radiologists with and without CADe. The study included 1000 cases selected from ABVS examinations in our institution in 2012. Among those cases were 206 malignant, 486 benign and 308 normal cases. The cancer cases were consecutive; the benign and normal cases were randomly selected. All malignant and benign cases were confirmed by biopsy or surgery, and normal cases were confirmed by 2-y follow-up. Reader performance was compared in terms of area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity and specificity. Additionally, the reading time per case for each reader was recorded. Nine radiologists from our institution participated in the study. Three had more than 8 y of ultrasound experience and more than 4 y of ABVS experience (group A); 3 had more than 5 y of ultrasound experience (group B), and 3 had more than 1 y of ultrasound experience (group C). Both group B and group C had no ABVS experience. The CADe system used was the QVCAD System (QView Medical, Inc., Los Altos, CA, USA). It is designed to aid radiologists in searching for suspicious areas in ABVS images. CADe results are presented to the reader simultaneously with the ABVS images; that is, the radiologists read the ABVS images concurrently with the CADe results. The cases were randomly assigned for each reader into two equal-size groups, 1 and 2. Initially the readers read their group 1 cases with the aid of CADe and their group 2 cases without CADe. After a 1-mo washout period, they re-read their group 1 cases without CADe and their group 2 cases with CADe. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of all readers were 0.784 for reading with CADe and 0.747 without CADe. Areas under the curves with and without CADe were 0.833 and 0.829 for group A, 0.757 and 0.696 for group B and 0.759 and 0.718 for group C. All differences in areas under the curve were statistically significant (p <0.05), except that for group A. The average reading time was 9.3% (p < < 0.05) faster with CADe for all readers. In summary, CADe improves radiologist performance with respect to both accuracy and reading time for the detection of breast cancer using the ABVS, with the greater benefit for those inexperienced with ABVS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the global regularity problem on the two-dimensional (2D) incompressible Boussinesq equations with fractional horizontal dissipation and thermal diffusion. The goal is to establish the global existence and regularity for the Boussinesq equations with minimal dissipation and thermal diffusion. By working with this general 1D fractional Laplacian dissipation, we are no longer constrained to the standard partial dissipation and this study will help understand the issue on how much dissipation is necessary for the global regularity. Due to the nonlocality of these 1D fractional operators, some of the standard energy estimate techniques such as integration by parts no longer apply and new tools including several anisotropic embedding and interpolation inequalities involving fractional derivatives are derived. These tools allow us to obtain very sharp upper bounds for the nonlinearities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of alloy composition (Zn/Mg ratio and Ti content) on the microstructure and properties of Al–3.5Mg–xZn–1.22Cu–0.2Zr–yTi aluminum alloy were studied in this paper. The results show that after solution treatment at 450°C × 2h + 460°C × 2h + 470°C × 2h + 475°C × 2h, when the Zn/Mg ratio of the alloy increases from 3.55 to 3.85, the grain size of the alloy increases, the insoluble phase increases, the dislocation decreases, and the intergranular corrosion resistance decreases gradually. Under the condition of T6 aging, the hardness and electrical conductivity of the alloy decreased at first and then increased, and the compressive strength at room temperature also decreased at first and then increased, and the hardness and compressive strength reached the maximum when the Zn/Mg ratio was 3.85. When Zn/Mg is constant, with the increase of Ti content (0–0.88 wt %), the recrystallization degree of the alloy decreases, the insoluble phase increases, the dislocation density and strengthening value gradually decrease, the inter-granular corrosion resistance decreases gradually, and the hardness, electrical conductivity and compressive strength of the alloy decrease gradually under T6 aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which accounts for 85–90% of primary liver cancer, is the fifth most common malignant tumor and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, but the pathological mechanism of HCC is still not fully elucidated. miRNAs are evolutionarily endogenous small noncoding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression via posttranscriptional inhibition or target mRNA degradation in several diseases, especially human cancer. Therefore, discovering the roles of miRNAs is appealing to scientific researchers. Emerging evidence has shown that the aberrant expressions of numerous miRNAs are involved in many HCC biological processes. In hepatocarcinogenesis, miRNAs with dysregulated expression can exert their function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors depending on their cellular target during the cell cycle, and in tumor development, differentiation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, metastasis, and progression of the tumor microenvironment. In this review, we summarize current findings on miRNAs and assess their functions to explore the molecular mechanisms of tumor progression in HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately one-third of individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancer have a family history of cancer, suggesting that CRCs may result from a heritable component. Despite the availability of current gene-identification techniques, only 5% of all CRCs emerge from well-identifiable inherited causes for predisposition, including polyposis and nonpolyposis syndromes. Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer represents a large proportion of cases, and robustly affected patients are at increased risk for early onset, synchronous, and metachronous colorectal malignancies and extracolonic malignancies. HNPCC encompasses several cancer syndromes, such as Lynch syndrome, Lynch-like syndrome, and familial colorectal cancer type X, which have remarkable clinical presentations and overlapping genetic profiles that make clinical diagnosis a challenging task. Therefore, distinguishing between the HNPCC disorders is crucial for physicians as an approach to tailor different recommendations for patients and their at-risk family members according to the risks for colonic and extracolonic cancer associated with each syndrome. Identification of these potential patients through epidemiological characteristics and new genetic testing can estimate the individual risk, which informs appropriate cancer screening, surveillance, and/or treatment strategies. In the past three years, many appealing and important advances have been made in our understanding of the relationship between HNPCC and CRC-associated syndromes. The knowledge from the genetic profile of cancer syndromes and unique genotype-phenotype profiles in the different syndromes has changed our cognition. Therefore, this review presents and discusses HNPCC and several common nonpolyposis syndromes with respect to molecular phenotype, histopathologic features, and clinical presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential direct load control (DLC) is an important type of demand response designed to reduce electricity consumption during peak hours through utility companies' control over the operation of certain household appliances. Despite many benefits of DLC, customers' concern for losing control has been hindering its adoption. This study aims to investigate U.S. residents' willingness to accept two popular A/C-related DLC programs in summertime with or without financial incentives or an override option, and to identify the socio-demographic characteristics associated with the decisions. Results of an online survey among 1482 U.S. residents indicate half of the participants are willing to accept DLC without any conditions; however, both an incentive of $30 and an override option boost acceptance rates. Importantly, the override option is more effective than the financial incentive. Residents who are younger, Democrats, non-Whites, have higher education levels, live in larger dwellings, and live with more people are more likely to adopt DLC than their counterparts. Residents who are older, Republicans, Whites, homeowners, and live in a house preferred an override option to financial incentives more often. The implications were discussed in terms of improving power system stability through better DLC program design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the output tracking problem of Boolean control networks (BCNs) with impulsive effects via the algebraic state‐space representation approach. The dynamics of BCNs with impulsive effects is converted to an algebraic form. Based on the algebraic form, some necessary and sufficient conditions are presented for the feedback output tracking control of BCNs with impulsive effects. These conditions contain constant reference signal case and time‐varying reference signal case. The study of an illustrative example shows that the obtained new results are effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is two-fold. Given a recollement ( T′, T, T″, i*, i, i, j, j*, j), where T′, T, T″ are triangulated categories with small coproducts and T is compactly generated. First, the authors show that the BBD-induction of compactly generated t-structures is compactly generated when i preserves compact objects. As a con-sequence, given a ladder ( T′, T, T″, T, T′) of height 2, then the certain BBD-induction of compactly generated t-structures is compactly generated. The authors apply them to the recollements induced by homological ring epimorphisms. This is the first part of their work. Given a recollement ( D( B-Mod), D( A-Mod), D( C-Mod), i*, i, i, j, j*, j) induced by a homological ring epimorphism, the last aim of this work is to show that if A is Gorenstein, B has finite projective dimension and j restricts to D( C-mod), then this recollement induces an unbounded ladder ( B- G proj, A- G proj, C- G proj) of stable categories of finitely generated Gorenstein-projective modules. Some examples are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incompressible Boussinesq equations serve as an important model in geophysics especially in the study of Rayleigh–Bénard convection. This paper focuses on the 2D incompressible inviscid Boussinesq equations with fractional diffusion (− Δ) β θ in bounded domain, equipping with the slip boundary condition for velocity vector field and Dirichlet boundary condition for temperature. We obtain the global existence and uniqueness of classical solutions in the range of β ∈ [ 3 / 4 , 1) and also show the local corresponding result for β ∈ [ 0 , 1). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper considering the Boussinesq equation with fractional diffusion in bounded domain. This result extends the work by K. Zhao (2010) to a fractional dissipation for temperature in bounded domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the two-dimensional (2D) incompressible Boussinesq equations with fractional Laplacian dissipation and thermal diffusion. Attention is focused on the subcritical case when the velocity dissipation dominates. More precisely, we establish the global regularity result of the 2D Boussinesq equations in a new range of fractional powers of the Laplacian, namely [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to test and enhance the antitumor activity against mice melanoma by NDV-modified tumor vaccine, a recombinant NDV expressing IL-15 (LX/(IL-15)) was generated by reverse genetics. Then, the expression level and biological activity of IL-15 were examined. Our results showed that mice tumor cell lines infected with LX/(IL-15) expressed IL-15 at a high level, and that expressed IL-15 was biologically active. Expression kinetics demonstrated that the highest expression level of IL-15 was at 48 h post infection. The cytotoxicity assay showed that murine melanoma cells modified with LX/(IL-15) could significantly enhance the antitumor immune response in vitro. In vivo study also showed that murine melanoma cells modified with LX/(IL-15) could prevent melanoma growth in mice. Taken together, our data strongly indicated that recombinant LX/(IL-15) is a promising agent for cancer immunotherapy both for human and animal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project addresses how and why behavior in a resource dilemma differs when one only knows the choices of others versus only knows the state of the resource. Study 1 suggested that resource information is more valuable than social information, in that if the resource can be monitored, whether or not others’ choices can also be monitored has no impact on behavior. However, if the state of the resource is not known, the ability to know what others are doing is critical for cooperation. This seems to be because resource information encourages planning and long-term thinking, and social information encourages comparative thinking. Study 2 replicated the behavior pattern, revealed—surprisingly—that warnings that a resource is critically low undermine (rather than promote) cooperation, and that such responses depend on the availability of social and environmental information. Discussion focuses on how incomplete information about a resource might be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The self-healing behavior of MoSi 2 /borosilicate glass composite was investigated by comparing the flexure strength of pre-scratched specimens before and after healing treatment. The post-healing strength partially recovered when healing temperature was higher than 800 °C, and the healing of the scratch was observed after healing treatment at 900 °C and 1400 °C. Two kinds of possible mechanisms were proposed on the basis of morphology and elemental analyses of healing areas. The specimen treated at 900 °C showed a porous healing area and the strength recovered 28.6% resulted from the oxidation of MoSi 2 into MoO 3 and SiO 2 . By contrast, the specimen treated at 1400 °C had a dense healing area and the strength recovered 86.9% due to the viscous flow of borosilicate glass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mullite fibrous ceramics with different types of binders (silica particles, SiO 2 -B 2 O 3 mixture and silicon particles) were successfully fabricated by a TBA-based gel-casting. The influence of the above three types of binder on the microstructure and properties of the ceramics were investigated. The results show the resource of the binders played an important role in tailoring the inner structure of the ceramics, consequently influencing the product properties. All products showed high porosity, low density and low thermal conductivity, attributed to the special 3D fibrous skeleton structure. The products with silica as binder sintered at 1500 °C exhibited relatively low compressive strength because of the high melting point of the silica particles. On the contrary, the products with silicon and SiO 2 -B 2 O 3 as the binder sintered at 1500 °C showed higher compressive strength owing to the low viscosity of the binders during the sintering process. Compared with the products SiO 2 -B 2 O 3 as the binder, the products with silicon as the binder was more suitable for being used in the high-temperature environment (above 1500 °C), since the silicon could transform into the silica phase with high melting point. Besides, with the increase of the silicon content, the compressive strength and the thermal conductivity of the products increased gradually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, Al 2 O 3 -ZrO 2 (Y 2 O 3 ) nanocomposites were prepared by hot pressing of nanocrystalline and amorphous powders; effects of starting powders on densification and microstructure were investigated. To obtain nanocomposites with relative densities of higher than 98%, the minimum hot pressing temperature for nanocrystal powders was 1200 °C, and the resulting grain sizes were about 200 nm; for amorphous powders, however, the hot pressing temperature was as low as 1000 °C, and the products exhibited finer grains of about 90 nm. It was confirmed that, amorphous powders could be hot pressed into dense nanocomposites at lower temperatures than nanocrystalline powders, and the easier densification of amorphous powders was attributed to the higher free energy and finer particle size of amorphous particles. This work could provide new guidance for preparing bulk nanocomposites by hot pressing in both experiment and theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is dedicated to the Oldroyd-B model with fractional dissipation (−Δ) α τ for any α > 0. We establish the global smooth solutions to the Oldroyd-B model in the corotational case with arbitrarily small fractional powers of the Laplacian in two spatial dimensions. Moreover, in the Appendix, we provide some a priori estimates to the Oldroyd-B model in the critical case, which may be useful and of interest for future improvement. Therefore, our result is closer to the resolution of the well-known global regularity issue on the critical 2D Oldroyd-B model. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MoSi 2 -borosilicate glass coating with MoSi 2 as emittance agent was prepared on mullite fibrous ceramics for enhanced superficial infrared radiation via an in-situ reaction method. The phase and structure evolutions during sintering were studied in detail. The infrared radiating property, impact resistance, thermal shock resistance and thermal endurance of the coating were investigated comprehensively. The results show that the coating was dense and flat, and it tightly adhered to the substrate by mechanical interlocking. During the sintering process, the low-temperature oxidation of MoSi 2 was restrained due to the package of binder phase formed below 500 °C, and the coating was fully densified via the viscous flow of molten Si. The total emissivity of the as-prepared coating was higher than 0.85 and the emissivity at low wavelength was higher than 0.9. The impact resistance was preferable attributed to the reinforced transition layer at the interface. The coating went through 30 thermal cycles between 1500 °C and 25 °C without cracking and spalling. The total emissivity declined merely by 4% after oxidation at 1500 °C for 50 h, which was influenced by the MoSi 2 content and the surface roughness of the coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we prove that temperature patch solutions to the subcritical Boussinesq–Navier–Stokes System with no diffusion preserve the Hölder regularity of their boundary for all time, which generalises the previously known result by Gancedo and García-Juárez (2017) [23] to the full range of subcritical viscosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the modification of surface of a copper alloy by friction stir surface processing (FSSP).Design/methodology/approach The metallographic condition of the surface modification was observed using microscopy. Electrochemical corrosion tests were carried out on the modified surface and the corroded surface was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).Findings The test results showed that FSSP resulted in refinement of the surface grains of the copper alloy. The degree of refinement was increased with rotation speed and increased in the descending distance of the stirring tool. The corrosion resistance of the modified surface was superior to the base metal except for the surface generated by a rotation speed of 800 rpm and a descending distance 0.1 mm. For the surface modification of the rotation speed of 800 rpm, its corrosion resistance was lower than for the other two rotation speeds. When the rotation speed is specified, the corrosion resistance is improved with increased descending distance. When the descending distance is specified, the corrosion resistance is improved with the rotation speed.Originality/value In this study, it was confirmed that the corrosion resistance of the surface modification was best at the rotation speed 1200 rpm and descending distance 0.2 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]