Many-body physics aims to understand emergent properties of systems made of many interacting objects. This review examines recent progress on the topic of radiative heat transfer in many-body systems ...consisting of thermal emitters interacting in the near-field regime. Near-field radiative heat transfer is a rapidly emerging field of research in which the cooperative behavior of emitters gives rise to peculiar effects that can be exploited to control heat flow at the nanoscale. Using an extension of the standard Polder and van Hove stochastic formalism to deal with thermally generated fields in N -body systems, along with their mutual interactions through multiple scattering, a generalized Landauer-like theory is derived to describe heat exchange mediated by thermal photons in arbitrary reciprocal and nonreciprocal multiterminal systems. In this review, this formalism is used to address both transport and dynamics in these systems from a unified perspective. The discussion covers (i) the description of nonadditivity of heat flux and its related effects, including fundamental limits as well as the role of nanostructuring and material choice; (ii) the study of equilibrium states and multistable states; (iii) the relaxation dynamics (thermalization) toward local and global equilibria; (iv) the analysis of heat transport regimes in ordered and disordered systems composed of a large number of objects, density, and range of interactions; and (v) the description of thermomagnetic effects in magneto-optical systems and heat transport mechanisms in non-Hermitian many-body systems. The review concludes with a listing of outstanding challenges and promising future research directions.
Electro-less deposition synthesized Al2O3 nanoparticles coated Ag with different weight percent (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10) were mixed with pure Cu powder to manufacture Cu–Al2O3 nanocomposite through ...powder metallurgy route. The effect of Al2O3 coated Ag nanoparticles weight fraction on the Microstructure, mechanical and wear behaviors of Cu–Al2O3 nanocomposite were investigated. The results showed that coating of Al2O3 nanoparticles with Ag helped for achieving excellent dispersion of Al2O3 nanoparticles at high weight percent. The EDX mapping images demonstrated that the Al2O3 reinforcement particles were homogeneously distributed into the Cu matrix for Cu–10%Al2O3 nanocomposite. Microstructural analysis showed that the addition of Al2O3 coated Ag nanoparticles improved density of the produced composites. The compressive strength was improved by increasing Al2O3 content up to 10% reaching 33% improvement in the strength compared to pure Cu. Moreover, the hardness of the produced nanocomposite increased from 63.9 to 165 HV as Al2O3 content increases from 0 to 10 wt.%. Additionally, the wear analysis showed that the wear resistance of the nanocomposites improved with the increment of nanoparticle content. This improvement was due to the presence of Al2O3 coated Ag nanoparticles, which increased the dislocation density and reduced the crystallite size of Cu structure. The increased dislocation density reduced the dislocation movement, which improved the hardness and compressive strength, and thus improve the wear rates.
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•Electroless-plating is an efficient technique to plate Ag nanoparticle over Al2O3 nanoparticles.•The microhardness increases with increasing Al2O3 percentage because of the strengthening of the Al2O3 hard ceramic.•The abrasive wear rate of the consolidated samples decreased by increasing Al2O3 content into the Cu matrix.
The process of thermalization in many-body systems is driven by complex interactions among subsystems and a surrounding environment. Here we lay the theoretical foundations for the active control of ...local thermal states in arbitrary nonreciprocal systems close to their equilibrium state. In particular we describe how to (i) force some part of the system to evolve according to a prescribed law during the relaxation process (i.e., thermal targeting probem), (ii) insulate some elements from the rest of the system, or (iii) synchronize their evolution during the relaxation process. We also derive the general conditions a system must fulfill in order that some parts relax toward a minimal temperature with a minimum energetic cost or relax toward a prescribed temperature with a minimum time. Finally, we consider several representative examples in the context of systems exchanging heat radiatively.
Motor stereotypies are common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability, or sensory deprivation, as well as in typically developing children ("primary" stereotypies, ...pCMS). The precise pathophysiological mechanism for motor stereotypies is unknown, although genetic etiologies have been suggested. In this study, we perform whole-exome DNA sequencing in 129 parent-child trios with pCMS and 853 control trios (118 cases and 750 controls after quality control). We report an increased rate of de novo predicted-damaging DNA coding variants in pCMS versus controls, identifying KDM5B as a high-confidence risk gene and estimating 184 genes conferring risk. Genes harboring de novo damaging variants in pCMS probands show significant overlap with those in Tourette syndrome, ASD, and those in ASD probands with high versus low stereotypy scores. An exploratory analysis of these pCMS gene expression patterns finds clustering within the cortex and striatum during early mid-fetal development. Exploratory gene ontology and network analyses highlight functional convergence in calcium ion transport, demethylation, cell signaling, cell cycle and development. Continued sequencing of pCMS trios will identify additional risk genes and provide greater insights into biological mechanisms of stereotypies across diagnostic boundaries.
Identifying the presence of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) within individual polymer types prior to extrusion has given us a unique perspective on which polymers may be problematic in meeting ...European Union (EU) low persistent organic pollutant (POP) content limits (LPCLs) and the potential for mixed engineering plastics (MEP) to be used as a viable recycled product. Our findings suggest that careful management of the polymer types within the feed chips prior to extrusion could deliver extruded polymer pellets that meet the EU LPCL values for POP-BFRs (i.e. <1000 mg/kg). Within this study, three fractions of extruded polymer pellets (“light”, “medium”, and “heavy” MEP) were created using density separation. Each fraction was characterised for 28 legacy and novel BFRs with brominated diphenyl ether-209 (BDE-209) (68–37,000 mg/kg) and tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A) (17–120,000 mg/kg) both predominant and ubiquitous. Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was utilised to measure Br in 120 individual MEP chips of various polymer types. Those chips that XRF flagged as having high Br concentrations (>2500 mg/kg) were subjected to further evaluation for BFR content via mass spectrometry analysis and the results compared with the XRF Br data. This revealed that in 22% of the 120 chips studied, XRF incorrectly identified the LPCL to be exceeded. Our data also identifies the presence of the novel BFRs decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) and 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy) ethane (BTBPE) in plastics derived from waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE). While the “light-MEP” samples contained POP-BFR concentrations below LPCLs, the “medium-MEP” and “heavy-MEP” fractions exceeded such limits. Management of the polymer chips by colour sorting resulted in significant reductions in concentrations of all BFRs in the clear polymers such that LPCL limits were not exceeded; however, concentration reductions in white polymers were insufficient to meet LPCLs.
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•WEEE polymer management yields pellets that meet EU low POP concentration limits.•Deca-BDE and TBBP-A predominant in waste mixed engineering plastics•Use of the light fraction would result in 9000 t/pa of extra recycled polymer.•Colour sorting significantly reduces concentrations of all BFRs.
Abstract
Testing the performance of the Acoustically Guided Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (AGUUV) prior to its deployment is essential to ensure its ability to perform the required tasks accurately. ...These systems can be deployed from boats or helicopters to scan areas of military and economic importance for threats. These threats such as aircrafts carriers, ships, submarines, divers, and autonomous surface vehicles. The problem of implementing a low-cost high-performance noise maker (LCNM) which is suitable for being used as a test target instead of different threats for AGUUVs is the motivation of this paper. Lab experiments and sea trials are performed using the proposed noise maker to demonstrate the proper operation of the AGUUV. Lab experiments showed that the radiated noise of the proposed noise maker has high power in the frequency band between 5 to 8 kHz. The measured signal to noise ratio (SNR) for the introduced LCNM is 30 dB in this band. The experimental results presented in this paper show the feasibility of using the proposed LCNM effectively to test the AGUUVs.
Cancer immunotherapy has transformed the treatment of cancer. However, increasing use of immune-based therapies, including the widely used class of agents known as immune checkpoint inhibitors, has ...exposed a discrete group of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Many of these are driven by the same immunologic mechanisms responsible for the drugs' therapeutic effects, namely blockade of inhibitory mechanisms that suppress the immune system and protect body tissues from an unconstrained acute or chronic immune response. Skin, gut, endocrine, lung and musculoskeletal irAEs are relatively common, whereas cardiovascular, hematologic, renal, neurologic and ophthalmologic irAEs occur much less frequently. The majority of irAEs are mild to moderate in severity; however, serious and occasionally life-threatening irAEs are reported in the literature, and treatment-related deaths occur in up to 2% of patients, varying by ICI. Immunotherapy-related irAEs typically have a delayed onset and prolonged duration compared to adverse events from chemotherapy, and effective management depends on early recognition and prompt intervention with immune suppression and/or immunomodulatory strategies. There is an urgent need for multidisciplinary guidance reflecting broad-based perspectives on how to recognize, report and manage organ-specific toxicities until evidence-based data are available to inform clinical decision-making. The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) established a multidisciplinary Toxicity Management Working Group, which met for a full-day workshop to develop recommendations to standardize management of irAEs. Here we present their consensus recommendations on managing toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
Interferometric and ellipsometric techniques are widely used in object characterization, investigation and testing. Both techniques are crucial for industrial sectors in manufacturing and production. ...In this work, an interferometric imaging ellipsometry method has been developed to measure the ellipsometric parameters
Ψ
,
Δ
and thickness t of native oxide layer formed on a copper thin film at wide angle of incidence 57.8–80.2º instantaneously. In this system, Michelson interferometer is illuminated with 45° polarized laser beam of 30 mm diameter. The produced fringes are split by a polarizing beam splitter (PBS) into
p
- and
s
- polarization fringes. The interferograms are captured separately by two CCD sensors at the reference and the measurement states without moving any parts in the optical system for each state. The detected
p
- and
s
- interferograms are analyzed using ImageJ software for mathematically calculating the values of
Ψ
,
Δ
and t of the oxide layer grown on copper thin film surface. The proposed method avoids the offset errors and the probable misalignment resulting from the beam and the optical components. In addition, it gathers the information of the interference pattern with the state of polarization of light for accurate, precise and real time contrast images. The oxide layer thickness is determined under controlled environment with high accuracy and low uncertainty. The results obtained by the proposed technique are consistent with the spectroscopic ellipsometer measurements.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder with a genetic risk component, yet identification of high-confidence risk genes has been challenging. In recent years, ...risk gene discovery in other complex psychiatric disorders has been achieved by studying rare de novo (DN) coding variants.
We performed whole-exome sequencing in 222 OCD parent-child trios (184 trios after quality control), comparing DN variant frequencies with 777 previously sequenced unaffected trios. We estimated the contribution of DN mutations to OCD risk and the number of genes involved. Finally, we looked for gene enrichment in other datasets and canonical pathways.
DN likely gene disrupting and predicted damaging missense variants are enriched in OCD probands (rate ratio, 1.52; p = .0005) and contribute to risk. We identified 2 high-confidence risk genes, each containing 2 DN damaging variants in unrelated probands: CHD8 and SCUBE1. We estimate that 34% of DN damaging variants in OCD contribute to risk and that DN damaging variants in approximately 335 genes contribute to risk in 22% of OCD cases. Furthermore, genes harboring DN damaging variants in OCD are enriched for those reported in neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly Tourette’s disorder and autism spectrum disorder. An exploratory network analysis reveals significant functional connectivity and enrichment in canonical pathways, biological processes, and disease networks.
Our findings show a pathway toward systematic gene discovery in OCD via identification of DN damaging variants. Sequencing larger cohorts of OCD parent-child trios will reveal more OCD risk genes and will provide needed insights into underlying disease biology.
This paper represents an analytical model to predict the influence of the fibre geometry on the pull-out behaviour of various geometrical hooked end steel fibres. The model is established based on ...the concept of a frictional pulley along with two, three and four plastic hinges to simulate the mechanical anchorage effect provided by the hook. The mechanical contribution of the hook is a function of the cold work needed to straighten the fibre during the pull-out. The input parameters used in this model are directly related to geometrical and mechanical properties of each fibre. Model predictions are validated against experimental results for single fibre pull-out tests, and very good agreement is shown.
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•The pull-out and straightening behaviour of various hooked end fibres in UHPM is determined and presented.•A simple model extended from the frictional pulley model is developed and mechanical anchorage effect simulated.•The model provides a good description of experimental pull-out results for the debonding and plastic straightening of the hook.
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