Stimuli-Responsive Dynamic Metaholographic Displays with Designer Liquid Crystal Modulators

Flat optics, realized by the artificially created 2D material platform called optical metasurfaces, is currently undergoing a science-to-technology transition. However, “real-time” active operations of such flat optical devices remain yet unresolved. Here, liquid crystals (LCs)-integrated metaholograms for ultracompact dynamic holographic displays are proposed. The anisotropic nature of the LCs allows facile and repeatable manipulation of the polarization of light. Specifically designed (“designer”) LCs and efficient helicity-encoded metaholograms are combined to realize stimuli-responsive dynamic displays. The designer LC modulators are used as switches that enable a variety of external stimuli (e.g., electric field, heat, surface pressure) to operate holographic images in real-time. Such a dynamic metaholographic platform will provide a path to external stimuli-driven “smart” sensing and display applications such as hologram labels for temperature/pressure/touch monitoring and interactive holographic displays with haptic motion recognition.     

Dietary Supplementation of Tetracarpidium conophorum (African Walnut) Seed Enhances Muscle n‐3 Fatty Acids in Broiler Chickens

The influence of dietary Tetracarpidium conophorum (African Walnut) seed meal (TCSM) on fatty acids, productivity parameters, and physicochemical properties of breast and thigh muscles in broiler chickens are assessed. A total of 180, 28‐d‐old Arbor acre broiler chickens are randomly assigned to dietary treatments containing 0% (control), 2.5%, and 5% w/w TCSM, fed for 28 d, and euthanized. Dietary TCSM reduces (p < 0.05) feed intake, body weight gain (BWG), carcass weight, and abdominal fat. Diet does not affect feed efficiency and hematological parameters. The control birds have higher (p < 0.05) serum total cholesterol and triglycerides than do the supplemented birds. Diet has no effect on pH, water holding capacity, carbonyl and malondialdehyde contents, and organoleptic properties of breast and thigh muscles. The 5% TCSM has higher redness in breast muscle than do other treatments. Dietary TCSM improves (p < 0.05) the concentration of C18:3n‐3 (4.80–8.76% vs 1.56%), C20:5n‐3 (0.54–0.79% vs 0.39%), C22:5n‐3 (0.64–0.89% vs 0.18%), and C22:6n‐3 (0.75–0.97% vs 0.19%), and reduces (p <  0.05) the fat content (2.15–2.45% vs 3.15%) in breast and thigh muscles. Dietary TCSM enhances muscle n‐3 fatty acids without instigating oxidative deterioration, but reduces BWG in broiler chickens. Practical Application: Albeit that broiler meat is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), its omega 6 (n‐6)/omega 3 (n‐3) is >4. Elevated n‐6/n‐3 could have adverse effect on human physiology thereby promoting the pathogenesis of certain diseases. This heightens the need to enhance the n‐3 PUFA content of broiler meat. Dietary TCSM induced up to a fourfold increase in n‐3 PUFA content of the breast and thigh muscles in broiler chickens. Moreover, dietary TCSM induced up to a tenfold decrease in the n‐6/n‐3 of the breast and thigh muscles in broiler chickens. This finding assumes great significance because the health concerns regarding dietary fat are the foremost factors responsible for the bad image suffered by meat. These results provide insights on the potential of TCSM to improve the nutritional quality without compromising the oxidative shelf life, organoleptic traits, and physicochemical properties of broiler meat.     

Auto-recognition and part model complexity quantification of regular-freeform revolved surfaces through delta volume generations

Engineering with Computers - Vast research works implementing feature-based technology have successfully been devoted. However, work on recognition of revolved regular-freeform surfaces is still...     

On the Genesis of the Marshall-Olkin Family of Distributions via the T-<i>X</i> Family Approach: Statistical Modeling

In the last couple of years, there Has been an increased interest among the statisticians to define new families of distributions by adding one or more additional parameter(s) to the baseline distribution. In this regard, a number of families have been introduced and studied. One such example is the Marshall-Olkin family of distributions that is one of the most prominent approaches used to generalize the existing distributions. Whenever, we see a new method, the natural questions come in to mind are (i) what are the genesis of the newly proposed method and (ii) how did the proposed method is obtained. No doubt, the Marshall-Olkin family is a very useful method and has attracted the researchers. But, unfortunately, the authors failed to provide the explanation about the genesis of the method that how this family of distributions is obtained. To address this issue, in this article, an attempt Has been made to provide a straight forward computation about the genesis of the Marshall-Olkin family that somehow completes its derivation. The genesis of the Marshall-Olkin family is based on the T-X family approach. Furthermore, we have showed that other extensions of the Marshall-Olkin family can also be obtained via the T-X family method. Finally, a real-life application form insurance science is presented to illustrate the newly proposed extension of the Marshall-Olkin family.     

Regulation effect of osteoblasts towards osteocytes by silk fibroin encapsulation

Herein, the rational design micromilieus involved silk fibroin (SF)-based materials have been used to encapsulate the osteoblasts, forming an extracellular coated shell on the cells, which exhibited the high potential to shift the regulation of osteoblasts to osteocytes by encapsulation cues. SF coating treated cells showed a change in cell morphology from osteoblasts-like to osteocytes-like shape compared with untreated ones. Moreover, the expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), collagen I (Col I) and osteocalcin (OCN) further indicated a potential approach for inducing osteoblasts regulation, which typically accelerates calcium deposition and cell calcification, presenting a key role for the SF encapsulation in controlling osteoblasts behavior. This discovery showed that SF-based cell encapsulation could be used for osteoblasts behavior regulation, which offers a great potential to modulate mammalian cells’ phenotype involving alternating surrounding cues.     

Chromophore-Free Sealing and Repair of Soft Tissues Using Mid-Infrared Light-Activated Biosealants

Poor strength, infection, leakage, long procedure times, and inflammation limit the efficacy of common tissue sealing devices in surgeries and trauma. Light-activated sealing is attractive for tissue sealing and repair, and can be facilitated by the generation of local heat following absorption of nonionizing laser energy by chromophores. Here, the inherent ability of biomaterials is exploited to absorb nonionizing, mid-infrared (midIR) light in order to engender rapid photothermal sealing and repair of soft tissue wounds. In this approach, the biomaterial simultaneously acts as a photothermal convertor as well as a biosealant, which dispenses the need for exogeneous light-absorbing nanoparticles or dyes. Biomechanical recovery, mathematical modeling, histopathology analyses, tissue strain mapping using digital imaging correlation, and visualization of the biosealant-tissue interface using hyperspectral imaging indicate superior performance of midIR sealing in live mice compared to conventional sutures and glue. The midIR-biosealant approach demonstrates rapid sealing of soft tissues, improves cosmesis, lowers potential for scarring, obviates safety concerns because of the nonionizing light used, and allows adoption of a wide diversity of biomaterials. Taken together, the studies demonstrate a novel advance both in biomaterials for surgical sealing along with the use of nonionizing midIR light, with high potential for clinical translation.     

Optimized structure and electrochemical properties of sulfonated carbon nanotubes/Co–Ni bimetallic layered hydroxide composites for high-performance supercapacitors

Technical development in electronic devices is frequently stifled by their insufficient capacity and cyclic stability of energy-storage devices. The nano-structured materials have sensational importance for providing novel and optimized combination to overcome exiting boundaries and provide efficient energy storage systems. Metal hydroxide materials with high capacity for pseudo-capacitance properties have grabbed special attention. Lately, the blend of nickel and cobalt hydroxides has been considered as a favorable class of metallic hydroxide materials owing to their comparatively high capacitance and exceptional redox reversibility. The sulfonated carbon nanotube fluid (SCNTF) was prepared by the ion exchange method to be utilized as the exceptional templates due to astonishing specific surface area, ensuring the maximum utilization of the active material. The CoNi-layered double hydroxides (LDHs)/SCNTF core-shell nanocomposite was prepared by the simple solvothermal method. Structural analysis showed that the composite material had the high conductance of carbon materials, the pseudo-capacitance characteristics of metal hydroxides, and porous structure, which facilitates the ion shuttle when the electrolyte reacts with the active material. Electrochemical analysis results showed that CoNi-LDHs/SCNTF had excellent rate performance, reversible charge-discharge properties and cycle stability. It exhibited an extreme specific capacity of 1190.5 F g^?1 at a current density of 1 A g^?1; whereas specific capacity remained 953.7 F g^?1 at the current density was 10 A g^?1. In addition, the capacity retention rate after 5000 charge-discharge cycles at a current density of 20 A g^?1 was 81.0%. The results indicated that the CoNi-LDHs/SCNTF core-shell nanocomposite material is cost efficient and an effective substitute in energy storage applications.     

Infrared absorption spectroscopy and fluctuations induced conductivity (FIC) analysis of Be-doped TlBa2Ca2Cu3O10−δ superconductor

Be-doped TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ (y=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0) superconductor bulk samples were synthesized by solid state reaction and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), dc-resistivity {ρ (Ω cm)}, and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) absorption spectroscopy. Fluctuations induced conductivity (FIC) analysis is carried out on temperature dependent dc-resistivity data of as-prepared and oxygen post-annealed TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ superconductor samples by using Aslamazov–Larkin (AL) and Lawrence–Doniach (LD) models for excess conductivity. Different microscopic parameters such as zero temperature coherence length along c-axis {ξ_c(0)}, inter-layer coupling (J), inter-grain coupling (α), critical exponent (λ_D) and dimensionality of fluctuations are calculated for understanding the role of Be-doping on superconducting properties of TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ samples. The cross-over temperature (T_o) is shifted towards higher temperature values with the increase of Be contents in TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ samples. The increase in ξ_c(0) and J after Be-doping at Ca sites shows the improvement of inter-plane coupling in TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ samples. The increase in zero resistivity critical temperature {T_c(R=0) (K)} up to y=0.5 and then decrease for y=0.75, 1.00 fixed the Be-doping level for optimum increase of superconducting properties of TlBa₂(Ca_2−yBe_y)Cu₃O_10−δ samples. The appreciable changes in all the microscopic parameters extracted from the FIC analysis and the increase in relative intensity of almost all the oxygen phonon modes indicate the oxygen diffusion in the unit cell after oxygen post-annealing the samples. The oxygen diffusion can take place at both inter-granular and intra-granular sites, which increase the superconducting volume fraction by improving the grains size, inter-grain connectivity and carrier density.     

Toward the modeling of data provenance in scientific publications

In this paper, we implement a provenance-aware system for documenting publications, called PADS. It employs a three-layered provenance hierarchy, which can output diverse types of provenance data related to the research life cycle. From this, we generate different profiles for research ventures, reviewers, and authors. PADS employs the standard Open Provenance Model (OPM) specification for capturing provenance data, and stores this data as ontological instances. We show that data is retrieved without any apparent delay in the execution time of the queries. We also demonstrate how this data can be used to make useful recommendations to the organizers, in order to manage upcoming research ventures.     

The magnetic, structure and mechanical properties of rapidly solidified (Nd7Y2.5)-(Fe64.5Nb3)-B23 nanocomposite permanent magnet

The Nd₇Y_2.5Fe_64.5Nb₃B₂₃ nanocomposite permanent magnets in the form of rods with 2 mm in diameter have been developed by annealing the amorphous precursors produced by copper mold casting technique. The phase evolution, structure, magnetic and mechanical properties were investigated with X-ray diffractometry, differential scanning calorimetry, electron microscopy, magnetometry and universal uniaxial compression strength techniques. The heat treatment conditions under which the magnets attained maximum magnetic and mechanical properties have been established. The results indicate that magnet properties are sensitive to grain size and volume content of the magnetic phases present in the microstructure. The composite microstructure was mainly composed of soft α-Fe (20-30 nm) and hard Nd₂Fe₁₄B (45-65 nm) magnetic phase grains. The maximum coercivity of 959.18 kA/m was achieved with the magnets annealed at 760 °C whereas the highest remanence of 0.57 T was obtained with the magnets treated at 710 °C. The optimally annealed magnets possessed promising magnetic properties such as _jH_c of 891.52 kA/m, B_r of 0.57 T, M_r/M_s = 0.68, (BH)_max of 56.8 kJ/m³ as well as the micro-Vickers hardness (H_v) of 1138 ± 20 and compressive stress (σ_f) of 239 ± 10 MPa.