Here, a new strategy for designing heterogeneous medium-entropy alloys with light-weight and excellent mechanical properties is proposed. Alx(CuFeMn)100-x (x = 0, 7.5, and 15 at%) alloys were ...developed by utilizing the immiscible nature of Cu–Fe alloys. The microstructures of the alloys show phase separation into Cu-rich and Fe-rich regions, and the addition of Al transforms the crystal structure from dual face-centered cubic to face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic. Phase separation of the microstructure into two domains enables further dissolution of Al into the matrix. The alloys exhibit high strength because of solid solution strengthening and hetero-deformation induced strengthening caused by heterogeneous microstructures. The presence of nano-scale twins and essential partially recrystallized microstructures also enhances the strength of the alloys. This new type of medium-entropy alloys is expected to expand the design window in physical metallurgy.
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Here, novel medium-entropy alloys with chemical compositions of Co17.5Cr12.5Fe55Ni10Mo4C1 and Co17.5Cr12.5Fe55Ni10Mo3C2 (at%) exhibiting excellent tensile properties at both room and liquid nitrogen ...temperatures have been developed. Precipitation of carbides changes the chemical composition and phase stability of the matrix, resulting in the controlled deformation-induced martensitic transformation from face-centered cubic to body-centered cubic of the alloys. The carbide precipitation, lattice distortion, and martensitic transformation led the alloy to have ultra-high yield strength of ~1 GPa and ultimate tensile strength of ~2 GPa with extra work hardening at liquid nitrogen temperature.
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The change of the precipitation characteristics over South Korea is investigated using long‐term (60 years) hourly precipitation records from surface stations focusing on extended summer ...(June–September) and rainy season (Changma). The precipitation characteristics including extreme events (>30 mm·h−1 or >100 mm·day−1) are also compared for the past (1961–1990) and recent (1991–2020) climatology. The amount of summer precipitation shows a notable increase over South Korea (2.6 mm·day−1·century−1) during the last 60 years (1961–2020) although it is smaller than recent 48‐year trend measured in North Korea (9.7 mm·day−1·century−1). Precipitation amounts are significantly increased than past climatology particularly in 70–100 and 200 mm·day−1 intensity ranges. The frequency of extreme precipitation also exhibits an increasing trend (1.0 frequency·century−1) during the last 60 years over South Korea. The frequency of extreme precipitation has been doubled in the recent climatology compared to the past climatology. Daily precipitations in top 1 percentile present clear increasing trends during the extended summer and Changma season in South Korea. Further investigation using gridded precipitation reveals that the similar mean and extreme precipitation increases are observed over the wider regions in East Asia, including central China and southern Japan. This result implies that the long‐term precipitation change over South Korea is related to a large‐scale circulation change in the East Asian summer monsoon.
(left) Horizontal distribution of trends in extreme precipitation (>100 mm day−1) highlighting increasing trends over the Korean Peninsula, central China, and southern Japan. (right) Decadal frequency and precipitation amount of flash flood events (>30 mm day−1) measured by stations in South Korea.
Interactions between membrane proteins are poorly understood despite their importance in cell signaling and drug development. Here, we present a co-immunoimmobilization assay (Co-II) enabling the ...direct observation of membrane protein interactions in single living cells that overcomes the limitations of currently prevalent proximity-based indirect methods. Using Co-II, we investigated the transient homodimerizations of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and beta-2 adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) in living cells, revealing the differential regulation of these receptors' dimerizations by molecular conformations and microenvironment in a plasma membrane. Co-II should provide a simple, rapid, and robust platform for visualizing both weak and strong protein interactions in the plasma membrane of living cells.
This paper proposes a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based method with which to predict bolt clamping force using the frequency response of bolted structures. The dynamic characteristics of the ...bolted structure change with the bolt clamping force, which is predicted using a CNN trained with massive frequency response data. Big data required for training the CNN is constructed using prestressed frequency response analysis according to the clamping force of individual bolts. The numerical efficiency is increased using the Krylov subspace-based model order reduction (MOR) method. The frequency response for each set of bolt clamping forces calculated from the MOR method is converted into form of the magnitude and shape (MS) similarity spectrum by using the MS similarity function. Finally, an MS similarity map is generated by stacking the MS similarity spectrum at several output points. A CNN that is trained using massive MS similarity maps as training data, is used to predict the clamping force of bolted structures. To validate the efficiency and accuracy of a trained CNN in practical applications, the prediction results of the trained network in terms of computation time and accuracy were compared according to the size of the training input data.
The skin is a very suitable organ for the induction of immune responses to vaccine antigens. Antigen delivery systems to the skin by needle and syringe directly deposit the antigen into the ...epidermal-dermal compartment, one of the most immunocompetent sites due to the presence of professional antigen-presenting cells aimed at the induction of antigen-specific T cells. In this study, we analyzed the amount of ovalbumin as an antigen delivered to the skin by a microneedle. When ovalbumin protein as an antigen was delivered to the skin of mice using a dissolving microneedle, it induced an immune response through the enhanced proliferation and cytokines production by the splenocytes and lymph nodes. Also, it effectively increased the ovalbumin-specific CD8+ T cell and CD4+ T cell population and induced an ovalbumin-specific CTL response against the graft of ovalbumin-expressing EG7 tumor cells in the immunized mice. Also, we identified the inhibition of tumor growth and prevention of tumor formation in the context of the therapeutic and prophylactic vaccine, respectively through EG-7 tumor mouse model. Finally, these data show the potential of patches as attractive antigen delivery vehicles.
Efforts have been made to intentionally activate multiple strengthening mechanisms in a single alloy because individual strengthening effects have not been sufficiently exhibited in previous alloys ...with multi-strengthening mechanisms. Here, we design a novel high-entropy alloy with multi-strengthening mechanisms through a stepwise design approach utilizing CALPHAD type thermodynamic calculation. The target strengthening mechanisms are introduced step by step, from solid solution strengthening, the addition of precipitation hardening and transformation-induced plasticity, based on the calculation. The finally designed Co21Cr11Fe49Mn4Ni4V2C1Mo3Si5 alloy simultaneously benefits from solid solution strengthening due to Mo and V addition, precipitation hardening from nanoscale precipitates, grain boundary strengthening by grain refinement, and transformation-induced plasticity by BCC deformation-induced martensite transformation. Individual strengthening effects is sufficiently exhibited in the designed alloy, which leads to an excellent combination of yield strength (732 MPa), ultimate tensile strength (1100 MPa), and ductility (47.5%).
Single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) has allowed the observation of various molecular structures in cells beyond the diffraction limit using organic dyes. In principle, the SMLM resolution ...depends on the precision of photoswitching fluorophore localization, which is inversely correlated with the square root of the number of photons released from the individual fluorophores. Thus, increasing the photon number by using highly bright fluorophores, such as quantum dots (QDs), can theoretically fundamentally overcome the current resolution limit of SMLM. However, the use of QDs in SMLM has been challenging because QDs have no photoswitching property, which is essential for SMLM, and they exhibit nonspecificity and multivalency, which complicate their use in fluorescence imaging. Here, we present a method to utilize QDs in SMLM to surpass the resolution limit of the current SMLM utilizing organic dyes. We confer monovalency, specificity, and photoswitchability on QDs by steric exclusion via passivation and ligand exchange with ptDNA, PEG, and casein as well as by DNA point accumulation for imaging in nanoscale topography (DNA-PAINT) via automatic thermally driven hybridization between target-bound docking and dye-bound complementary imager strands. QDs are made monovalent and photoswitchable to enable SMLM and show substantially better photophysical properties than Cy3, with higher fluorescence intensity and an improved resolution factor. QD-PAINT displays improved spatial resolution with a narrower full width at half maximum (FWHM) than DNA-PAINT with Cy3. In summary, QD-PAINT shows great promise as a next-generation SMLM method for overcoming the limited resolution of the current SMLM.
Osteoporosis, which is often associated with increased osteoclast activity due to menopause or aging, was the main focus of this study. We investigated the inhibitory effects of water extract of ...desalted
L. (WSE) on osteoclast differentiation and bone loss in ovariectomized mice. Our findings revealed that WSE effectively inhibited RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation, as demonstrated by TRAP staining, and also suppressed bone resorption and F-actin ring formation in a dose-dependent manner. The expression levels of genes related to osteoclast differentiation, including NFATc1, ACP5, Ctsk, and DCSTAMP, were downregulated by WSE. Oral administration of WSE improved bone density and structural parameters in ovariectomized mice. Dicaffeoylquinic acids (DCQAs) and saponins were detected in WSE, with 3,4-DCQA, 3,5-DCQA, and 4,5-DCQA being isolated and identified. All tested DCQAs, including the aforementioned types, inhibited osteoclast differentiation, bone resorption, and the expression of osteoclast-related genes. Furthermore, WSE and DCQAs reduced ROS production mediated by RANKL. These results indicate the potential of WSE and its components, DCQAs, as preventive or therapeutic agents against osteoporosis and related conditions.
Among the various existing layered compounds, silicon diselenide (SiSe2) possesses diverse chemical and physical properties, owing to its large interlayer spacing and interesting atomic arrangements. ...Despite the unique properties of layered SiSe2, it has not yet been used in energy applications. Herein, we introduce the synthesis of layered SiSe2 through a facile solid-state synthetic route and demonstrate its versatility as a sulfide solid electrolyte (SE) additive for all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) and as an anode material for Li-ion batteries (LIBs). Li-argyrodites with various compositions substituted with SiSe2 are synthesized and evaluated as sulfide SEs for ASSBs. SiSe2-substituted Li-argyrodites exhibit high ionic conductivities, low activation energies, and high air stabilities. In addition, when using a sulfide SE, the ASSB full cell exhibits a high discharge/charge capacity of 202/169 mAh g–1 with a high initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) of 83.7% and stable capacity retention at 1C after 100 cycles. Furthermore, the Li-storage properties of SiSe2 as an anode material for LIBs are evaluated, and its Li-pathway mechanism is explored by using various cutting-edge ex situ analytical tools. Moreover, the SiSe2 nanocomposite anode exhibits a high Li- insertion/extraction capacity of 950/775 mAh g–1, a high ICE of 81.6%, a fast rate capability, and stable capacity retention after 300 cycles. Accordingly, layered SiSe2 and its versatile applications as a sulfide SE additive for ASSBs and an anode material for LIBs are promising candidates in energy storage applications as well as myriad other applications.
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