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    Mechanics of Materials: Mechanics of Interfaces and Evolving Microstructure
    (Zürich : EMS Publ. House, 2016) McDowell, David L.; Müller, Stefan; Werner, Ewald A.
    Emphasis in modern day efforts in mechanics of materials is increasingly directed towards integration with computational materials science, which itself rests on solid physical and mathematical foundations in thermodynamics and kinetics of processes. Practical applications demand attention to length and time scales which are sufficiently large to preclude direct application of quantum mechanics approaches; accordingly, there are numerous pathways to mathematical modelling of the complexity of material structure during processing and in service. The conventional mathematical machinery of energy minimization provides guidance but has limited direct applicability to material systems evolving away from equilibrium. Material response depends on driving forces, whether arising from mechanical, electromagnetic, or thermal fields. When microstructures evolve, as during plastic deformation, progressive damage and fracture, corrosion, stress-assisted diffusion, migration or chemical/thermal aging, the associated classical mathematical frameworks are often ad hoc and heuristic. Advancing new and improved methods is a major focus of 21st century mechanics of materials of interfaces and evolving microstructure.
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    Effect of Alloying Elements in Melt Spun Mg-alloys for Hydrogen Storage
    (São Carlos : SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online, 2016) Rozenberg, Silvia; Saporiti, Fabiana; Lang, Julien; Audebert, Fernando; Botta, Pablo; Stoica, Mihai; Huot, Jacques; Eckert, Jürgen
    In this paper we report the effect of alloying elements on hydrogen storage properties of melt-spun Mg-based alloys. The base alloys Mg90Si10, Mg90Cu10, Mg65Cu35 (at%) were studied. We also investigated the effect of rare earths (using MM: mischmetal) and Al in Mg65Cu25Al10, Mg65Cu25MM10 and Mg65Cu10Al15MM10 alloys. All the melt-spun alloys without MM show a crystalline structure, and the Mg65Cu25MM10 and Mg65Cu10Al15MM10 alloys showed an amorphous and partially amorphous structure respectively. At 350˚C all the alloys had a crystalline structure during the hydrogen absorption-desorption tests. It was observed that Si and Cu in the binaries alloys hindered completely the activation of the hydrogen absorption. The partial substitution of Cu by MM or Al allowed activation. The combined substitution of Cu by MM and Al showed the best results with the fastest absorption and desorption kinetics, which suggests that this combination can be used for new Mg-alloys to improve hydrogen storage properties.
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    Sugar-Modified Poly(propylene imine) Dendrimers Stimulate the NF-κB Pathway in a Myeloid Cell Line
    (Dordrecht [u.a.] : Springer Science + Business Media B.V, 2016) Jatczak-Pawlik, Izabela; Gorzkiewicz, Michal; Studzian, Maciej; Appelhans, Dietmar; Voit, Brigitte; Pulaski, Lukasz; Klajnert-Maculewicz, Barbara
    Purpose: Fourth-generation poly(propylene imine) dendrimers fully surface-modified by maltose (dense shell, PPI-m DS) were shown to be biocompatible in cellular models, which is important for their application in drug delivery. We decided to verify also their inherent bioactivity, including immunomodulatory activity, for potential clinical applications. We tested their effects on the THP-1 monocytic cell line model of innate immunity effectors. Methods: To estimate the cytotoxicity of dendrimers the reasazurin assay was performed. The expression level of NF-κB targets: IGFBP3, TNFAIP3 and TNF was determined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Measurement of NF-κB p65 translocation from cytoplasm to nucleus was conducted with a high-content screening platform and binding of NF-κB to a consensus DNA probe was determined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. The cytokine assay was performed to measure protein concentration of TNFalpha and IL-4. Results: We found that PPI-m DS did not impact THP-1 viability and growth even at high concentrations (up to 100 μM). They also did not induce expression of genes for important signaling pathways: Jak/STAT, Keap1/Nrf2 and ER stress. However, high concentrations of 4th generation PPI-m DS (25–100 μM), but not their 3rd generation counterparts, induced nuclear translocation of p65 NF-κB protein and its DNA-binding activity, leading to NF-κB-dependent increased expression of mRNA for NF-κB targets: IGFBP3, TNFAIP3 and TNF. However, no increase in pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion was detected. Conclusion: We conclude that maltose-modified PPI dendrimers of specific size could exert a modest immunomodulatory effect, which may be advantageous in clinical applications (e.g. adjuvant effect in anti-cancer vaccines).
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    Inner solar system material discovered in the Oort cloud
    (Washington, DC [u.a.] : Assoc., 2016) Meech, Karen J.; Yang, Bin; Kleyna, Jan; Hainaut, Olivier R.; Berdyugina, Svetlana; Keane, Jacqueline V.; Micheli, Marco; Morbidelli, Alessandro; Wainscoat, Richard J.
    We have observed C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS), a recently discovered object on a cometary orbit coming from the Oort cloud that is physically similar to an inner main belt rocky S-type asteroid. Recent dynamical models successfully reproduce the key characteristics of our current solar system; some of these models require significant migration of the giant planets, whereas others do not. These models provide different predictions on the presence of rocky material expelled from the inner solar system in the Oort cloud. C/2014 S3 could be the key to verifying these predictions of the migration-based dynamical models. Furthermore, this object displays a very faint, weak level of comet-like activity, five to six orders of magnitude less than that of typical ice-rich comets on similar Orbits coming from the Oort cloud. For the nearly tailless appearance, we are calling C/2014 S3 a Manx object. Various arguments convince us that this activity is produced by sublimation of volatile ice, that is, normal cometary activity. The activity implies that C/2014 S3 has retained a tiny fraction of the water that is expected to be present at its formation distance in the inner solar system. We may be looking at fresh inner solar system Earth-forming material that was ejected from the inner solar system and preserved for billions of years in the Oort cloud.
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    Influence of Viscosity in Fluid Atomization with Surface Acoustic Waves
    (Irvine, CA : Scientific Research Publishing, 2016) Winkler, Andreas; Bergelt, Paul; Hillemann, Lars; Menzel, Siegfried
    In this work, aqueous glycerol solutions are atomized to investigate the influence of the viscosity on the droplet size and the general atomization behavior in a setup using standing surface acoustic waves (sSAW) and a fluid supply at the boundary of the acoustic path. Depending on the fluid viscosity, the produced aerosols have a monomodal or polymodal size distribution. The mean droplet size in the dominant droplet fraction, however, decreases with increasing viscosity. Our results also indicate that the local wavefield conditions are crucial for the atomization process.
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    Kinematic origin for near-zero energy structures in mid-IR strong field ionization
    (Bristol : IOP Publ., 2016) Pisanty, Emilio; Ivanov, Misha
    We propose and discuss a kinematic mechanism underlying the recently discovered 'near-zero energy structure' in the photoionization of atoms in strong mid-infrared laser fields, based on trajectories which revisit the ion at low velocities exactly analogous to the series responsible for low-energy structures. The different scaling of the new series, as $E\sim {I}_{p}^{2}/{U}_{p}$, suggests that the near-zero energy structure can be lifted to higher energies, where it can be better resolved and studied, using harder targets with higher ionization potential.
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    Changes of temperature-related agroclimatic indices in Poland
    (Heidelberg : Springer Verlag, 2016) Graczyk, D.; Kundzewicz, Z.W.
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    Magnetic domain wall gratings for magnetization reversal tuning and confined dynamic mode localization
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2016) Trützschler, Julia; Sentosun, Kadir; Mozooni, Babak; Mattheis, Roland; McCord, Jeffrey
    High density magnetic domain wall gratings are imprinted in ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic thin films by local ion irradiation by which alternating head-to-tail-to-head-to-tail and head-to-head-to-tail-to-tail spatially overlapping domain wall networks are formed. Unique magnetic domain processes result from the interaction of anchored domain walls. Non-linear magnetization response is introduced by the laterally distributed magnetic anisotropy phases. The locally varying magnetic charge distribution gives rise to localized and guided magnetization spin-wave modes directly constrained by the narrow domain wall cores. The exchange coupled multiphase material structure leads to unprecedented static and locally modified dynamic magnetic material properties.
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    Copolymerization of zinc-activated isoindigo- and naphthalene-diimide based monomers: an efficient route to low bandgap π-conjugated random copolymers with tunable properties
    (Cambridge : RSC Publ., 2016) Karpov, Yevhen; Maiti, Jatindranath; Tkachov, Roman; Beryozkina, Tetyana; Bakulev, Vasiliy; Liu, Wei; Komber, Hartmut; Lappan, Uwe; Al-Hussein, Mahmoud; Stamm, Manfred; Voit, Brigitte; Kiriy, Anton
    The present work aims at the extension of the scope of a recently discovered polycondensation of AB-type anion-radical monomers. To this end, we investigate the polymerization of isoindigo-based monomer and its copolymerization with the naphthalenediimide-based monomer. Although polycondensations of parent naphthalenediimide- and perylenediimide-based monomers involve chain-growth mechanism, we found that the corresponding isoindigo-based monomer polymerizes in a step-growth manner under the same reaction conditions. In contrast to Stille, Suzuki and direct arylation polycondensations which require prolonged stirring at high temperatures, the polymerization approach we employed in this study proceeds fast at room temperature. It was found that near statistical copolymerization of isoindigo-based anion-radical monomers with corresponding naphtalenediimide-based monomers proceeds smoothly resulting in a library of copolymers with varying composition and properties depending on the ratio of the monomers.
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    Abrupt sand-dune accumulation at the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau challenges the wet MIS3a inferred from numerous lake-highstands
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2016) Long, Hao; Fuchs, Markus; Yang, Linhai; Cheng, Hongyi
    We report on hollow shell-shell nanogels with two polymer shells that have different volume phase transition temperatures. By means of small angle neutron scattering (SANS) employing contrast variation and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations we show that hollow shell-shell nanocontainers are ideal systems for controlled drug delivery: The temperature responsive swelling of the inner shell controls the uptake and release, while the thermoresponsive swelling of the outer shell controls the size of the void and the colloidal stability. At temperatures between 32 °C < T < 42 °C, the hollow nanocontainers provide a significant void, which is even larger than the initial core size of the template and they possess a high colloidal stability due to the steric stabilization of the swollen outer shell. Computer simulations showed, that temperature induced switching of the permeability of the inner shell allows for the encapsulation in and release of molecules from the cavity.