Chitin and cuticle proteins form the cuticular layer in the spinning duct of silk-spinning arthropods

Chitin is found in the exoskeleton and peritrophic matrix of arthropods, but recent studies have also identified chitin in the spinning duct of silk-spinning arthropods. Here, we report the presence and function of chitin and cuticle proteins ASSCP1 and ASSCP2 in the spinning duct of silkworms. We show that chitin and these proteins are co-located in the cuticular layer of the spinning duct. Ultrastructural analysis indicates that the cuticular layer has a multilayer structure by layered stacking of the chitin laminae. After knocking down ASSCP1 and ASSCP2, the fine structure of this layer was disrupted, which had negative impacts on the mechanical properties of silk. This work clarifies the function of chitin in the spinning duct of silk-spinning arthropods. Chitin and cuticle proteins are the main components of the hard and rigid cuticular layer, providing the shearing stress during silk fibrillogenesis and regulating the final mechanical properties of silk.

Rheological Properties of Argillaceous Intercalation under the Combination of Static and Intermittent Dynamic Shear Loads

The construction and long-term operation stage of the rock slope with argillaceous interlayer will be subjected to intermittent dynamic loads, such as blasting and earthquake. For the argillaceous interlayer in the rock slope, its rheological properties are not only related to the initial stress state caused by the gravity of the overlying rock mass but also affected by intermittent dynamic loads. In order to investigate the rheological properties of argillaceous intercalation under the combination of static and intermittent dynamic shear loads, the rheological tests of argillic intercalated soil samples under static shear, static and cyclic dynamic shear, and static and intermittent dynamic shear were carried out, and the rheological deformation characteristics of soil samples under different shear conditions were analyzed. The results show that when the soil specimens in the static shear rheological process are disturbed by intermittent dynamic shearing load, the intermittent dynamic disturbances might have no remarkable influence on the rheological deformation of the specimens if the initial static shearing stress and intermittent dynamic shearing stress were comparatively low. However, low-intensity intermittent dynamic disturbances might accelerate the rheological deformation process of the specimens remarkably if the initial static shearing stress state was close to their shearing strength. There was a stress threshold when the soil specimens failed under the static and cycling dynamic shear and static and intermittent dynamic shear, which is determined by the sum of static shear stress and dynamic shear stress peak. For rock slopes controlled by rheological weak structural planes and influenced by long-term blasting vibrations, the transient and long-term dynamic stability should be comprehensively analyzed.

Effects of Cyclic Freezing and Thawing on the Shear Behaviors of an Expansive Soil under a Wide Range of Stress Levels

The focus of this paper is directed towards investigating the influence of multiple freeze-thaw (FT) cycles on the stress-strain relationships during undrained shearing for an expansive soil under a wide range of confining stresses (σc) from 0 to 300 kPa. Different numbers of FT cycles were applied to compacted specimens. The influence of FT cycles on the soil’s structure was investigated using mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests. FT impacted specimens were subjected to consolidated undrained (CU) shear tests with pore pressure measurement (σc = 10 to 300 kPa) and unconfined compression (UC) tests (σc = 0 kPa) to derive the shearing stress-strain relationships and the associated mechanical properties including (i) failure strength (qu), elastic modulus (Eu), effective and apparent cohesion (c’ and c), and effective and apparent friction angle (ϕ’ and ϕ) obtained from CU tests and (ii) qu and reloading modulus (E1%) and stress (Su1%) at 1% strain obtained from UC tests. Testing results show that FT cycles mainly influence the soil’s macropores with diameters between 5 and 250 microns. Cracks develop during FT cycles and result in slight swelling which contributes to an increase in the global volume of the soil specimens. There is a significant reduction in the investigated mechanical properties after FT cycles. They typically achieve equilibrium after about 6 cycles. The shearing stress-strain curves transits from strain-softening to strain-hardening as the confining stress increases. An empirical model is developed to describe the strain-softening behavior of the specimens under low confining stresses. The model is simple to use and well describes all stress-strain curves obtained in this study that show strain-softening characteristics.

Analysis for Stroke Etiology in Duplicated/Accessory MCA-Related Cerebral Infarction: Two Case Report and Brief Literature Review

Duplication and accessory of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) constitute a rare congenital variation. MCA anomalies are found at a lesser frequency than the vascular anomalies of the other major intracranial arteries. Duplicated/accessory MCA was usually noted incidentally with subarachnoid hemorrhage, due to resulted aneurysmal formation. However, duplicated/accessory MCA-related cerebral infarction is rarer. We report two cases of cerebral infarction due to dissection at the entry of the duplicate/accessory MCA. Both cases were similar in dissected site and clinical course, without headache or injury. In 20 previously reported cases and our two cases of duplicated/accessory MCA-related infarction, mean age (55.8 ± 21.2 years) was slightly younger for cerebral infarction, and stroke etiology was mainly embolism. The main etiologies of stroke were embolism and dissection. Considering embolism etiology, proximal site of arterial diameter changing lesion was a common site for embolism, as duplicated/accessory MCA was usually smaller than normal M1 segment. In cerebral dissection cases, the dissected site was similar to our cases. Numerous mechanisms of dissection were considered, but they mainly included dysfunction of the media and endothelium or shearing stress at the entry of duplication. As the detailed mechanisms of cerebral dissection remain unknown, clinicians should include a differential diagnosis for MCA dissection.

Shear Induced TiO2 Nano Structure Using Brush-Coating for Liquid Crystal Alignment

We have developed a very useful and cost-effective liquid crystal (LC) alignment layer of brush-coated TiO2 that is solution-processable for twisted nematic (TN) LC cells. TiO2 was prepared via the sol-gel method. The TiO2 solution was brush-coated on the substrate, followed by an annealing process. During the brush-coating process, a retracting force is generated on the deposited TiO solutions along the coating direction. The annealing process hardens the TiO2 and generates shearing stress arising from the retracting force along the brush-coating direction. The shearing stress created highly oriented nano/microstructure and uniformly aligned LCs with a stable pretilt angle of 0.6°. TN mode LC cells based on brush-coated TiO2 exhibited a performance of 12.5 ms of response and a threshold voltage of 1.8 V. Our brush-coated TiO2 incorporates two steps of the film deposition and alignment process into one step.