Decoding the Chemical Language of Motile Bacteria by Using High‐Throughput Microfluidic Assays

Motile bacteria navigate chemical environments by using chemoreceptors. The output of these protein sensors is linked to motility machinery and enables bacteria to follow chemical gradients. Understanding the chemical specificity of different families of chemoreceptors is essential for predicting and controlling bacterial behavior in ecological niches, including symbiotic and pathogenic interactions with plants and mammals. The identification of chemical(s) recognized by specific families of receptors is limited by the low throughput and complexity of chemotaxis assays. To address this challenge, we developed a microfluidic‐based chemotaxis assay that is quantitative, simple, and enables high‐throughput measurements of bacterial response to different chemicals. Using the model bacterium Escherichia coli, we demonstrated a strategy for identifying molecules that activate chemoreceptors from a diverse compound library and for determining how global behavioral strategies are tuned to chemical environments.     

Experimental Determination of the Mechanical Behaviour of Compacted Exfoliated Vermiculite

A series of compacted exfoliated vermiculite samples were prepared, and their mechanical behaviour was experimentally studied. The vermiculite was first exfoliated and after compacted in order to obtain a material with good thermal and mechanical properties. The as‐prepared samples have been tested under compressive loading. Some parameters effect was studied, as the porosity and the type of the compacted exfoliated vermiculite. The samples of this porous media display two steps for the stress–strain behaviour under uniaxial compressive loading, that is initial nonlinear deformation, strain‐hardening ‘pseudo‐platform’ stage.     

Fatigue behaviour and life estimation of Mg/Al ultrasonic spot weld bonding welds

Mg/Al dissimilar joints with favourable static and dynamic mechanical properties were obtained utilising ultrasonic spot welding and ultrasonic spot weld bonding technology. The fatigue behaviour, fatigue failure mode, and typical fatigue fracture surface morphology of Mg/Al ultrasonic spot welding and ultrasonic spot weld bonding joints were compared and observed to get a better understanding of the fatigue failure mechanism. In general, the Mg/Al ultrasonic spot weld bonding joint exhibited better fatigue performance than the ultrasonic spot welding joint. The two kinds of joints presented different fatigue failure modes with decreasing applied load level. A fatigue life prediction model was established, and the fatigue life prediction results were in good agreement with the experimental fatigue results.     

Intangible Asset Dynamics and Firm Behaviour

We study the adoption of different patterns of intangible asset (IA) accumulation in manufacturing firms. Contrary to most of the previous literature, we find such patterns to be highly differentiated. In particular, we identify three types of firm behaviour: high and persistent, low and persistent, and discontinuous. We link the capability-based view of the firm to theories of asset complementarities and market signalling to explain how firm-specific traits affect such behaviours. We obtain the following results: first, the persistent accumulation of IAs is favoured by the internal availability of highly skilled personnel; second, firms with (a) large IA base and (b) high propensity to exploit complementarities in the asset stocks are more likely to persistently accumulate IAs than to discontinuously or never accumulate IAs and third, the adoption of quality management standards facilitates the accumulation of IAs, especially if this is done discontinuously. This paper adds to the previous literature in two ways: first, it highlights the existence of great heterogeneity in the dynamics of IA accumulation and, second, it provides an explanation for such heterogeneity.     

内嵌砖墙穿斗木结构振动台试验研究

为研究南方地区传统砖木结构民居的抗震性能,设计制作了一个1∶2缩尺的内嵌砖墙穿斗木结构模型,通过振动台试验对模型结构的破坏形态、动力特性、加速度及位移响应进行了分析。结果表明：7度多遇地震时,木构架与内嵌砖墙连接良好,内嵌砖墙显著增加了木构架的抗侧刚度,结构位移反应显著减小,纵、横向最大位移角分别为1/1360和1/1381,远小于《木结构设计标准》(GB 50005—2017)中弹性位移角限值要求;7度罕遇地震时,木构件与内嵌砖墙连接基本失效,且砖墙受损严重,结构抗侧刚度显著降低,频率下降严重,纵、横向最大位移角分别为1/54和1/72,满足相关规范要求;7度(0.15g)罕遇地震时,模型结构最大位移角均达到约1/44时,木构架自身未发生明显损伤,内隔墙发生平面外倒塌,符合罕遇地震下“墙倒屋不塌”的宏观震害现象。文中提出的内嵌砖墙平面外承载力计算方法与试验结果吻合较好。     

Tensile,creep and fatigue behaviours of short fibre reinforced polymer composites at elevated temperatures: a literature survey

Polymer composites are suitable alternatives to metals in some applications as they are cost effective, lightweight and corrosion resistant. Short fibre reinforced polymer composites (SFRPCs) are typically subjected to complex loadings in applications, including static, cyclic, thermal and their combinations. These applications may also involve harsh environmental conditions such as elevated temperature and moisture which can dramatically affect mechanical properties. In this paper, a broad survey of the literature on mechanical behaviour of SFRPCs at elevated temperatures is presented. The mechanical behaviours included consist of tensile, creep, isothermal fatigue, thermo‐mechanical fatigue and creep–fatigue interaction. Environmental effects such as moisture and ageing at elevated temperatures are also included. The studies reviewed include experimental works, modelling works and failure mechanisms studies. A critical assessment of the information from the literature presented for each type of behaviour is also provided.     

Influence of chromium on microstructure and etching behaviour of new Ni–Fe–Al based alloy

In the present study, the influence of chromium on the microstructure and etching behaviour of the polycrystalline alloy Ni–13Fe–8Al–4Ti (at-%) has been examined. The alloy was recently designed for nanomembrane fabrication, but although it showed the necessary γ/γ′ microstructure with cubic, well aligned γ′ precipitates, it proved to be unsuitable for nanomembrane fabrication as the γ matrix was dissolved during chemical etching. To obtain the passivation of the γ matrix, chromium has been added in further modifications containing 1, 2, 3 and 4 at-% chromium. Moreover, the influence of heat treatment and the different cooling rates of heat treatment in air/vacuum have been investigated. For chemical phase extraction, the application of the chemical etchants MoO₃ acid and ‘G’ etchant has been examined, the formability was characterised by Vickers hardness testing. The main purpose of the present study, namely the passivation of the γ matrix, could be achieved by the addition of 4 at-% chromium and etching with ‘G’ etchant.     

Effect of primary alpha phase variation on mechanical behaviour of Ti–6Al–4V alloy

Small punch tests (SPTs) have been carried out at room temperature to correlate the microstructural variation of Ti–6Al–4V alloy with that of SPT parameters. Microstructural variation in terms of different volume fractions of primary alpha phase of Ti–6Al–4V alloy has been introduced as a result of solution annealing at different temperatures followed by thermal aging. Small punch test parameters, i.e. total area under the load vs displacement curve, area under the zone of elastic bending, plastic bending and plastic instability have been found to increase from the content of 10% primary alpha phase to 20% primary alpha phase and then these are decreasing from the content of 20% primary alpha phase to 30% primary alpha phase.     

表面活性剂对Cu-H_2O和ZrO_2-H_2O纳米流体稳定性的影响

通过添加表面活性剂制备了Cu-H2O和Zr O2-H2O纳米流体,研究了十二烷基苯磺酸钠、十六烷基三甲基溴化铵和辛基苯基聚氧乙烯醚等表面活性剂对Cu-H2O和Zr O2-H2O纳米流体分散稳定性的影响;并利用分子动力学方法计算出不同表面活性剂分子与Cu/Zr O2颗粒表面的相互作用能。结果发现添加表面活性剂可较大程度地提升纳米流体的稳定性,而尤以添加十二烷基苯磺酸钠的效果最为明显,计算结果也显示十二烷基苯磺酸钠分子与Cu/Zr O2间的吸附作用最强。此外,还模拟了SDBS与Cu-H2O纳米流体中Cu颗粒的吸附行为。     

An improved specimen preparation method for marine shallow gas-bearing sand sediments and its validations

Instabilities of shallow gas-charged seabed are potential geological hazards in ocean engineering.In practice,the conventional field sampling techniques failed to obtain undisturbed gas-bearing sediments from the seabed for laboratory mechanical testing because of sensitive gas exsolution and escape from sediments.However,preparation of representative remoulded gas-charged specimens is a challenging issue,because it is rather difficult to quantitatively control the gas content and obtain uniform distribution of gas bubbles within the specimen.Given the above problems,this work proposes a reliable approach to reconstitute the high-saturation specimen of gas-charged sediments in the laboratory by an improved multifunction integrated triaxial apparatus(MITA).This apparatus is developed based on an advanced stress path triaxial system by introducing a temperature-controlled system and a wavemonitoring system.The temperature-controlled system is used to accurately mimic the in situ environments of sediments in the seabed.The wave-monitoring system is utilized to identify exsolution point of free gas and examine the disturbance of gas to specimens during gas exsolution.The detailed procedure of gassy specimen preparation is introduced.Then,the quality of prepared specimens using our improved apparatus is validated by the high-resolution micro-X-ray computed tomography(μCT)scanning test,from which bubble occurrence and size distribution within the gassy sand specimen can be obtained;and preliminary mechanical tests on gassy sand specimens with various initial saturation degrees are performed.The proposed specimen preparation procedure succeeds in proving the postulated occurrence state of gas bubbles in coarse-grained sediments and accurately controlling the gas content.