Consumption of edible insects has been widely suggested as an environmentally sustainable substitute for meat to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the novel research field for edible insects relies on the content of bioactive ingredients and on the ability to induce a functional effect in humans. The goal of this manuscript is to review the available body of evidence on the properties of edible insects in modulating oxidative and inflammatory stress, platelet aggregation, lipid and glucose metabolism and weight control. A search for literature investigating the functional role of edible insects was carried out in the PubMed database using specific keywords. A total of 55 studies, meeting inclusion criteria after screening, were divided on the basis of the experimental approach: in vitro studies, cellular models/ex vivo studies or in vivo studies. In the majority of the studies, insects demonstrated the ability to reduce oxidative stress, modulate antioxidant status, restore the impaired activity of antioxidant enzymes and reduce markers of oxidative damage. Edible insects displayed anti-inflammatory activity reducing cytokines and modulating specific transcription factors. Results from animal studies suggest that edible insects can modulate lipid and glucose metabolism. The limited number of studies focused on the assessment of anti-coagulation activity of edible insects makes it difficult to draw conclusions. More evidence from dietary intervention studies in humans is needed to support the promising evidence from in vitro and animal models about the functional role of edible insect consumption.

In this article various constructions of English with the form A + N are considered, with particular reference to stress patterns. It is shown that there are several such patterns, and that stress patterns do not correlate with fixed effects. It is also argued that a simple division between compound and phrase does not seem to provide a motivation for the patterns found. The patterns seem to be determined partly by factors which are known to influence stress patterns in N + N constructions, and partly by lexical class, though variability in which expression belongs to which class is acknowledged. It is concluded that this is an area of English grammar that needs further research.

The synthesis of antibacterial biomaterial with specific functions responsive to specific bacterial growth environments is of significant importance to achieve effective sterilization and reduce the resistant bacteria. Herein, inspired by biomineralization, we develop a one-pot, threonine (Thr)-mediated biomineralization method using a CO2 bubbling procedure to green, simply and quickly prepare vaterite CaCO3 microspheres as a platform for antibacterial Sanguinarine (SAN) delivery. The loading capacity of vaterite CaCO3 microspheres for SAN drugs reached 159.8 mg/g, corresponding to the loading efficiency of 83.7%. And for the first time, a novel Sanguinarine@calcium carbonate (SAN@CaCO3) organic–inorganic hybrid antibacterial biofilm was constructed by using vaterite CaCO3 microspheres with pH-responsive and high SAN drug-loading. Importantly, the film showed bacteria-triggered, pH-responsive SAN release properties and strong bactericidal ability (96.19%) for Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Meanwhile, it also had antibacterial capabilities in real environments. In 7 days, it can significantly inhibit the adhesion and growth of bacteria in the air. The biomineralized synthetic vaterite CaCO3 microspheres and the application in the construction of pH-responsive antibacterial biofilm have bright future in resisting bacterial infections and reducing the production of resistant bacteria.

Melting, solidification and solid-state transformation of the intermetallic Ni3Sn compound were investigated in situ using synchrotron high-energy X-ray diffraction. It was observed that the compound undergoes a hexagonal to cubic transition before melting. In solidification, a disordered cubic phase crystallizes from the liquid at a large undercooling but it is reordered prior to bulk solidification. In melting and solidification, forced or natural flows are active bringing about significant changes of crystal orientations. These in situ observations provided insights into phase transformations of Ni3Sn at elevated temperatures and their roles in formation of metastable microstructure consisting of coarse grains and subgrains.

This article studies the emergence of a grammatical pattern, the proper noun modifier construction shown in the Obama administration, an Edinburgh restaurant. The only dedicated historical corpus study, by Rosenbach (2007, 2010), is limited in terms of time depth and data included, and suggests that only proper noun modifiers denoting places such as Edinburgh are found in the early seventeenth century. Using corpus data that span the full history of English, we trace the construction back to two Old English precursors, genitival modifiers without inflectional marking, e.g. Jericho feldes ‘the fields of Jericho’, and compounds, e.g. Easter æfen ‘Easter eve’. We combine macro-level visualisations of distributions and qualitative micro-analyses to show how these source constructions developed into the present-day English construction. The development defies simplistic views on grammatical change, but illustrates that grammatical patterns develop out of multiple sources under the influence of a multiplicity of factors. New patterns only emerge gradually and exploit existing ambiguities in the language.

In this work, two types of zinc adipate β-nucleating agents, Adi-Zn(OH)2 (1:1) and Adi-ZnO (1:1), for polypropylene (PP) were prepared and their performances were evaluated and compared with commercial β-nucleating agent (named CNA). Results showed that Adi-Zn(OH)2 (1:1) was more effective in promoting PP to form β-crystals and improving the impact strength of PP in the range of nucleating agent addition (0–0.4 wt%). Based on these findings, the ratio of adipic acid to zinc hydroxide and the nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of the optimum ratio of adipic acid to zinc hydroxide were systematically studied; results showed that at 0.2 wt%, Adi-Zn(OH)2 (1:2), the nucleated PP displayed the highest impact strength, which was 2.6 times that of pure PP and 42% higher than that of CNA. Besides, Adi-Zn(OH)2 (1:2) could also afford to induce the formation of a high content of β-crystals and shorten the crystallization half time (t1/2) and accelerate the crystallization of PP.

Ternary Sn-Sb-S thin films with remarkable optical, electrical and structural properties were developed by chemical bath deposition. Tin and antimony chlorides and thioacetamide were used as tin, antimony, and sulfur ion sources, respectively, while tartaric acid was used as a complexing agent. XRD analysis of as-deposited films showed a combination of binary phases of SnS, Sn2S3, and Sb2S3, while after thermal treatment in nitrogen at 400 °C, the films became crystalline showing well-defined reflections of the ternary SnSb2S4. The heating also influenced the morphology, compactness, and thickness of the films. On the other hand, all the films showed an absorption coefficient higher than 104 cm-1, while the optical band gap of the as-deposited film decreased from 1.49 to 1.37 eV after heating at 400 °C. In addition, the photoconductivity of the films prior to heating was of 10-9 Ω-1 cm-1, while after that at 400 °C was of 10-7 Ω-1 cm-1. The evaluation of the ternary film in solar cells gave an open-circuit voltage Voc of 448 mV and short-circuit current density of Jsc of 2.4 mA/cm2.

The study of the relationship among the manufacturing process, the structure and the property of materials can help to develop the new materials. The material images contain the microstructures of materials, therefore, the quantitative analysis for the material images is the important means to study the characteristics of material structures. Generally, the quantitative analysis for the material microstructures is based on the exact segmentation of the materials images. However, most material microstructures are shown with various shapes and complex textures in images, and they seriously hinder the exact segmentation of the component elements. In this research, machine learning method and complex networks method are adopted to the challenge of automatic material image segmentation. Two segmentation tasks are completed: on the one hand, the images of the titanium alloy are segmented based on the pixel-level classification through feature extraction and machine learning algorithm; on the other hand, the ceramic images are segmented with the complex networks theory. In the first task, texture and shape features near each pixel in titanium alloy image are calculated, such as Gabor filters, Hu moments and GLCM (Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix) etc.. The feature vector for the pixel can be obtained by arraying these features. Then, classification is performed with the random forest model. Once each pixel is classified, the image segmentation is completed. In the second task, a complex network structure is built for the ceramic image. Then, a clustering algorithm of complex network is used to obtain network connection area. Finally, the clustered network structure is mapped back to the image and getting the contours among the component elements. The experimental results demonstrate that these methods can accurately segment material images.

Effect of Ni:Al blending ratio on porous structure of porous nickel aluminides fabricated through reactive synthesis with space holder particles were investigated. Fabricated porous nickel aluminides had large pores derived from NaCl space holder particles and small pores derived from reactions between Ni and Al. Porosity and size of the small pores increased with increasing Al content in the raw powder mixture. Compressive property of porous NiAl are also investigated. porous NiAl exhibited good energy-absorption properties with relatively high plateau stress, high plateau end strain, and relatively flat plateau stress. This study suggests the possibility of intermetallic-based porous materials as high-performance energy absorber.

It is well known that various elements substitute for a certain sub-lattice of intermetallic compounds. There have been various experimental investigations of the effects of substituted elements on mechanical properties, however, there are few reports describing the effects of multi-element substitution. In the present study, L12-type compounds A3B (Ni3Al and Co3(Al,W)) were selected as model compounds because their substitution behavior is well known. It was reported that various elements such as Ni, Co, Cu, Pd and Pt occupy the A-site, whereas Al, Si, Ga, Ge, Ti, V, Nb, Ta, Mo, and W occupy the B-site. These elements are expected to introduce local lattice distortion, which may affect the motion of dislocations over a wide range of temperatures. Several alloys composed of five or more elements including Ni, Co, Al, Mo, and W, were prepared using an Ar-arc melting machine and heat-treated. Several alloys were found to include an (Ni, Co)3(Al, Mo, W, …)-L12 compound as a constituent phase. The nano-hardness of these L12 phases was higher than that of the high-strength Co3(Al,W)-L12 compound, confirming that multi-element substitution is an effective way to improve the mechanical properties of an intermetallic compound without decreasing the phase stability.

A novel synthesis of Al (1xxx)/carbonised coconut shell (CCS) nanoparticles using a ball milling technique was investigated. Initial Al/0.1%CCS powders of an average size of 51.06μm was milled for a period of 70 h. The milled particles at 16, 46 and 70 h were characterized using X-ray diffractomer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Result revealed that the calculated particle crystallite size from XRD aided with Scherrer’s equation is consistent with particle image sizes obtained from SEM aided with software. TEM image depicted variation in orientation and appearance of the Al 1xxx/0.1% CCS nanoparticles at different milling time. The wide variation in the particle size is attributable to different ball impacts on the individual powders during the ball milling process. Increased maximum absorbance observed with the milled particles when compared with the initial powders is an indication of quantum/nanosizing effect due to ball milling.

In this study, AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMTs with a p-GaN cap layer and ALD deposited Al2O3 gate insulator were fabricated. Devices with two different thicknesses of p-GaN cap layers were investigated and compared. AlGaN/GaN MIS-HEMT with an 8-nm p-GaN cap showed a better DC characteristics than device with a 5-nm p-GaN cap. The drain current of 662.9 mA/mm, a high on/off current ratio of 2.67×109 and a breakdown voltage of 672 V were measured in device with an 8-nm p-GaN cap. In addition, lateral leakage current was investigated by using adjacent MIS gate structures with a separation of 3 μm to investigate the leakage current.

The use of crystals other than silicon for x-ray optics is becoming more common for many challenging experiments such as resonant inelastic x-ray scattering and nuclear resonant scattering. As more—and more specialized—spectrometers become available at many synchrotron radiation facilities, interest in pushing the limits of experimental energy resolution has increased. The potentially large improvements in resolution and efficiency that nonsilicon optics offer are beginning to be realized. This article covers the background and state of the art for nonsilicon crystal optics with a focus on a resolution of 10 meV or better, concentrating on compounds that form trigonal crystals, including sapphire, quartz, and lithium niobate, rather than the more conventional cubic materials, including silicon, diamond, and germanium.

Zr–Co–Al alloys possess prospects of wide applications in the field of nuclear reactor cladding materials and biomedical materials. (Zr0.5Co0.5)100−x Al x (x = 1, 2, 3 at.%) alloys were prepared by the water-cooling copper mold suction casting technique, and the microstructure and compression mechanical properties of the alloys were investigated. The results showed that the as-cast Zr–Co–Al alloys mainly consisted of the B2 ZrCo phase with columnar or equiaxed grains and a small quantity of intermetallic compounds, i.e., Co2Zr and Zr2Co. The yield strength of Zr–Co–Al alloys increased with increasing Al content, but the plasticity decreased at the same time. The as-cast Zr49.5Co49.5Al1 alloy attained the highest ultimate compression strength up to 2.57 ± 0.02 GPa and the largest compression strain up to ∼54.7%. The B2 to B33 martensitic transformation that occurred during the deformation process was investigated using high resolution transmission electron microscopy. It was concluded that the enhanced plasticity of Zr49.5Co49.5Al1 alloy can be attributed to the transformation induced plasticity associated with the deformation-induced martensitic transformation.

LaFe13−xSix compounds display a giant magnetocaloric effect near 200 K. The insertion of light elements (H, C) is used to improve the Curie temperature near ambient temperature for magnetic refrigeration applications. We have developed a synthesis method with a short annealing treatment compared to classical melting techniques. The parent intermetallic alloys were synthesized by high energy ball milling. The insertion of H atoms was carried out using a Sievert apparatus and the carbon atom was inserted by solid/solid reaction. Moreover, structural and magnetic results were carried out by neutron diffraction and Mössbauer spectrometry for H content (y = 0.7,1.5) and C content (y = 0.7). The cell parameter and the Fe magnetic moments versus temperature are determined. The misunderstanding on interstitial site is clarified. The magnetovolume effect on the Curie temperature is explained by combination of the structural and magnetic properties. The advantages and drawbacks of each type of element insertion are discussed.

Al3Nb is known as a high oxidation resistant material, while it is quite brittle. As the fracture toughness of Al3Nb single crystal and its dependence on the composition are not obtained, the micro-sized fracture testing proposed by Suzuki et al. was performed. Al3Nb single crystal micron-order size cantilevers with a chevron-notch were fabricated in a grain of two-phase polycrystalline alloys by using FIB (Focused Ion Beam). From the load-displacement curves during the bending by a nanoindenter, the average value of fracture toughness of Nb-rich Al3Nb is evaluated to be 2.90 MPam1/2, while the fracture toughness of Al-rich Al3Nb is also evaluated to be 2.82 MPam1/2. From this result, the fracture toughness of Al3Nb is less dependent on its Al/Nb ratio. Furthermore the fracture toughness of Al3 (Nb, V) was evaluated to be 2.82 MPam1/2.The fracture toughness of Al3Nb is seemingly insensitive to V addition.

Methods used in informatics require input data that are in a machine-readable, structured format. Materials data, in particular, can be exceedingly complex, so defining data formats to store any and all materials-related information is a daunting task. In this article, we discuss a hierarchical data structure used for storing materials data called the physical information file (PIF). The PIF is a flexible schema for storing the structure, processing history, and properties of materials, devices, and physical systems. In addition to a general discussion of the schema, we give examples of its use in representing complex materials systems. We also describe open-source tools that have been developed for building and reading files using the PIF schema.

This paper critically evaluates methods used to synthesize boride compounds with emphasis on diborides of the early transition metals. The earliest reports of the synthesis of boride ceramics used impure elemental powders to produce multiphase reaction products; phase-pure borides were only synthesized after processes were established to purify elemental boron. Carbothermal reduction of the corresponding transition metal oxides emerged as a viable production route and continues to be the primary method for the synthesis of commercial transition metal diboride powders. Even though reaction-based processes and chemical synthesis methods are mainly used for research studies, they are powerful tools for producing diborides because they provide the ability to tailor purity and particle size. The choice of synthesis method requires balancing factors that include cost, purity, and particle size with the performance needed in expected applications.