NiTi is an increasingly applied material in industrial applications. However, the difficulties faced when welding and joining is required, limits its broader use in the production of complex shaped ...components. The main weldability problems associated with NiTi are: strength reduction, formation of intermetallic compounds, modification of phase transformation and transformation temperatures, as well as, changes in both superelastic and shape memory effects. Additionally, NiTi is envisaged to be joined to other materials, in dissimilar joints with more complex problems depending on the other base material. Thus, intensive research in welding and its effects on the joints performance has been conducted since the early stages of NiTi. This paper presents a detailed review of welding and joining processes applied to NiTi, in similar and dissimilar combinations considering both fusion and solid-state processes. Since laser is the most studied and applied welding process, a special section is devoted to this technique.
Abstract Porous artificial bone substitutes, especially bone scaffolds coupled with osteobiologics, have been developed as an alternative to the traditional bone grafts. The bone scaffold should have ...a set of properties to provide mechanical support and simultaneously promote tissue regeneration. Among these properties, scaffold permeability is a determinant factor as it plays a major role in the ability for cells to penetrate the porous media and for nutrients to diffuse. Thus, the aim of this work is to characterize the permeability of the scaffold microstructure, using both computational and experimental methods. Computationally, permeability was estimated by homogenization methods applied to the problem of a fluid flow through a porous media. These homogenized permeability properties are compared with those obtained experimentally. For this purpose a simple experimental setup was used to test scaffolds built using Solid Free Form techniques. The obtained results show a linear correlation between the computational and the experimental permeability. Also, this study showed that permeability encompasses the influence of both porosity and pore size on mass transport, thus indicating its importance as a design parameter. This work indicates that the mathematical approach used to determine permeability may be useful as a scaffold design tool.
The main purpose of this study was to use Partial Least Squares – Path Modeling (PLS-PM) to quantify the contributions of natural and human-induced threats to biodiversity loss in rural and urban ...watersheds. The study area comprised the Sabor and Ave river basins, located in northern Portugal. The Sabor is rural and sparsely populated while the Ave is urbanized, industrialized and densely populated. Within PLS-PM, threats are called exogenous latent variables while the ultimate environmental consequence (biodiversity loss) is termed endogenous latent variable. Latent variables are concepts represented by numerical parameters called formative variables. The selected latent variables were given the names “pressures”, “contamination” and “ecological integrity”. The most important “pressures” were the wildfire risk, the percentage of urban area in sub-catchments, the diffuse emissions of livestock nitrogen (N) and agriculture/forest phosphorus (P), and the point source emissions of urban N, P and biochemical oxygen demand, as well as of industrial N. The latent variable called “contamination” was primarily represented by stream water concentrations of phosphate, suspended solids and dissolved oxygen. And finally, the “ecological integrity” was represented by the he North Invertebrate Portuguese Index. The results unequivocally showed that point source emissions in the Sabor (except industrial N) and stream water contamination in the Ave determine biodiversity loss. These contrasting influences suggest that Ave basin has evolved from a catchment where man once produced localized negative effects on stream ecological integrity (a condition still observed in the Sabor basin) to a catchment where the dense human occupation has covered the entire area with urban contaminant sources, somewhat generalizing the local effects. The attribution of local effects to biodiversity loss in the rural catchment and of regional effects in the urban catchment is confirmed by the results of a study covering the entire planet.
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•Partial Least Squares – Path Modeling is used to relate environmental descriptors.•Results link ecological integrity declines to inefficient treatment of domestic sewage.•In the rural watershed (Sabor), biodiversity loss is localized and of low magnitude.•In the urban watershed (Ave), biodiversity loss is generalized and of high magnitude.•Pressures and water contamination describe biodiversity loss in the Sabor and Ave.
Abstract
Unconventional superconductors often feature competing orders, small superfluid density, and nodal electronic pairing. While unusual superconductivity has been proposed in the kagome metals
...A
V
3
Sb
5
, key spectroscopic evidence has remained elusive. Here we utilize pressure-tuned and ultra-low temperature muon spin spectroscopy to uncover the unconventional nature of superconductivity in RbV
3
Sb
5
and KV
3
Sb
5
. At ambient pressure, we observed time-reversal symmetry breaking charge order below
$${T}_{{{\rm{1}}}^{*}\simeq$$
T
1
*
≃
110 K in RbV
3
Sb
5
with an additional transition at
$${T}_{{{\rm{2}}}^{*}\simeq$$
T
2
*
≃
50 K. Remarkably, the superconducting state displays a nodal energy gap and a reduced superfluid density, which can be attributed to the competition with the charge order. Upon applying pressure, the charge-order transitions are suppressed, the superfluid density increases, and the superconducting state progressively evolves from nodal to nodeless. Once optimal superconductivity is achieved, we find a superconducting pairing state that is not only fully gapped, but also spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry. Our results point to unprecedented tunable nodal kagome superconductivity competing with time-reversal symmetry-breaking charge order and offer unique insights into the nature of the pairing state.
Joining NiTi to Ti6Al4V is of great interest for applications in the biomedical and aerospace fields. Despite the importance, no joining techniques have been developed that avoid the formation of ...brittle intermetallics to produce high strength joints. In this work, Niobium was used as an interlayer to prevent the formation of these brittle phases when joining NiTi to Ti6Al4V. The presence of this interlayer ensured that crack free welds were obtained and no brittle intermetallic compounds were observed. The Niobium interlayer was of a much higher melting temperature than the base materials so the bulk Niobium did not melt during the joining process, acting as a diffusion barrier between the NiTi and Ti6Al4V. The laser was focused on the Ti6Al4V side of the joint, which joined the Ti6Al4V and Niobium by fusion welding. At this interface a (Ti, Nb) region was formed due to dilution of the Niobium and mixing with the Ti6Al4V. At the NiTi–Nb interface a eutectic reaction was responsible for joining. Mechanical testing of the joints revealed that the minimum tensile strength matched the ultimate tensile strength of the weakest material, Niobium. These results highlight new possibilities for the use of high melting point filler materials when joining NiTi to dissimilar materials, so that the formation of undesired phases can be avoided.
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Asphalt rubber mixtures are often described as environmentally friendly mixtures due to the incorporation of recycled rubber from used tires and due to their improved service life. In fact, their ...fatigue cracking and rut resistance properties are better than those of conventional asphalt concrete mixtures. However, asphalt rubber mixtures demand higher production temperatures than conventional mixtures due to the higher viscosity of the asphalt rubber binder. The objective of this paper is to assess the efficiency of using a surfactant based additive in the production of warm mix asphalts, by lowering the mixing temperatures of asphalt rubber and asphalt concrete mixtures without changing their performance. Several laboratory tests were carried out on asphalt rubber and asphalt concrete mixtures, with and without the additive, in order to evaluate and compare the performance of the mixtures. It was concluded that the incorporation of small amounts of a surfactant based additive allowed reducing the production temperatures of both types of mixture by 30 °C without compromising their performance, and this can be seen as a great step forward towards the production of cleaner asphalt rubber mixtures.
► The surfactant based additive used barely change the properties of the binder. ► A reduction of 30 °C was obtained with just 0.3–0.5% surfactant WMA additive. ► The additive improved the water sensitivity of both AR and AC mixtures. ► WMA mixtures have shown similar or improved performance in comparison with HMAs. ► Cleaner production conditions were obtained with incorporation of the WMA additive.
Although the existence of nematic order in iron-based superconductors is now a well-established experimental fact, its origin remains controversial. Nematic order breaks the discrete lattice ...rotational symmetry by making the x and y directions in the iron plane non-equivalent. This can happen because of a regular structural transition or as the result of an electronically driven instability -- in particular, orbital order or spin-driven Ising-nematic order. The latter is a magnetic state that breaks rotational symmetry but preserves time-reversal symmetry. Symmetry dictates that the development of one of these orders immediately induces the other two, making the origin of nematicity a physics realization of the 'chicken and egg problem'. In this Review, we argue that the evidence strongly points to an electronic mechanism of nematicity, placing nematic order in the class of correlation-driven electronic instabilities, like superconductivity and density-wave transitions. We discuss different microscopic models for nematicity and link them to the properties of the magnetic and superconducting states, providing a unified perspective on the phase diagram of the iron pnictides.
A Partial Least Squares-Path Model (PLS-PM) was developed for the Ave River Basin (North of Portugal), and the results used in a scenario analysis. The data for PLS-PM comprised a set of ...anthropogenic pressures, water quality parameters, and a macroinvertebrate-based biodiversity index (IPtIN) used to assess the ecological status of streams. These groups of measured parameters (called latent variables) were given the names “Pressures”, “Contamination” and “Ecological Integrity”. Besides, latent variables were connected through path coefficients representing potential causal effects among them. In a large portion of Ave the ecological status of streams is currently bad or poor. Nitrate and coliforms were the most weighted measured variables of latent variable “Contamination”, with w ≈ 0.7 and w ≈ 0.2, respectively. The highest “Pressures” weights were ascribed to livestock farming (0.7) and population density (0.4). The connections “Pressures”—“Contamination” and “Contamination” — “Ecological Integrity” exposed a sequence of direct negative effects between the three variables, expressed in the corresponding path coefficients (pc = 0.87 and pc = −1.11). Paradoxically, a direct negative effect of “Pressures” over “Ecological Integrity” was absent (pc = 0.29). Therefore, the poor ecological status of local stream waters might not be directly related to the presence of potentially threatening contaminant sources (the “Pressures”), but to ineffective monitoring of livestock farming and wastewater treatment activities that potentiate (accidental) releases of contaminants into the streams. The lack of a direct link “Pressures” — “Ecological Integrity” supported the results of pressure change versus IPtIN change scenarios. Regardless of some significant reductions of anthropogenic activity and population density until 2027, announced by the Portuguese Environmental Agency, the scenarios could not predict improvement of ecological status beyond the “moderate” category. The study recommendations were therefore to prevent contamination through proper implementation and monitoring of existing watershed management plans. The adequate treatment of domestic effluents and the control of livestock farming residues are urgent.
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•Partial Least Squares – Path Modeling is used to connect environmental descriptors.•Poor ecological status in Ave streams is a direct consequence of water contamination.•Pollution of Ave streams is mostly caused by domestic sewage and livestock farming.
The in-plane resistivity anisotropy is studied in strain-detwinned single crystals of FeSe. In contrast to other iron-based superconductors, FeSe does not develop long-range magnetic order below the ...tetragonal-to-orthorhombic transition at T_{s}≈90 K. This allows for the disentanglement of the contributions to the resistivity anisotropy due to nematic and magnetic orders. Comparing direct transport and elastoresistivity measurements, we extract the intrinsic resistivity anisotropy of strain-free samples. The anisotropy peaks slightly below T_{s} and decreases to nearly zero on cooling down to the superconducting transition. This behavior is consistent with a scenario in which the in-plane resistivity anisotropy is dominated by inelastic scattering by anisotropic spin fluctuations.
Abstract A stem cell's microenvironment, or “niche,” is a critical regulator of its behaviour. In the adult mammalian spinal cord, central canal ependymal cells possess latent neural stem cell ...properties, but the ependymal cell niche has not yet been described. Here, we identify important similarities and differences between the central canal ependymal zone and the forebrain subventricular zone (SVZ), a well-characterized niche of neural stem cells. First, direct immunohistochemical comparison of the spinal cord ependymal zone and the forebrain SVZ revealed distinct patterns of neural precursor marker expression. In particular, ependymal cells in the spinal cord were found to be bordered by a previously uncharacterized sub-ependymal layer, which is relatively less elaborate than that of the SVZ and comprised of small numbers of astrocytes, oligodendrocyte progenitors and neurons. Cell proliferation surrounding the central canal occurs in close association with blood vessels, but unlike in the SVZ, involves mainly ependymal rather than sub-ependymal cells. These proliferating ependymal cells typically self-renew rather than produce transit-amplifying progenitors, as they generate doublets of progeny that remain within the ependymal layer and show no evidence of a lineage relationship to sub-ependymal cells. Interestingly, the dorsal pole of the central canal was found to possess a sub-population of tanycyte-like cells that express markers of both ependymal cells and neural precursors, and their presence correlates with higher numbers of dorsally proliferating ependymal cells. Together, these data identify key features of the spinal cord ependymal cell niche, and suggest that dorsal ependymal cells possess the potential for stem cell activity. This work provides a foundation for future studies aimed at understanding ependymal cell regulation under normal and pathological conditions.
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