Single-Core Multiscale Residual Network for the Super Resolution of Liquid Metal Specimen Images

In a gravity-free or microgravity environment, liquid metals without crystalline nuclei achieve a deep undercooling state. The resulting melts exhibit unique properties, and the research of this phenomenon is critical for exploring new metastable materials. Owing to the rapid crystallization rates of deeply undercooled liquid metal droplets, as well as cost concerns, experimental systems meant for the study of liquid metal specimens usually use low-resolution, high-framerate, high-speed cameras, which result in low-resolution photographs. To facilitate subsequent studies by material scientists, it is necessary to use super-resolution techniques to increase the resolution of these photographs. However, existing super-resolution algorithms cannot quickly and accurately restore the details contained in images of deeply undercooled liquid metal specimens. To address this problem, we propose the single-core multiscale residual network (SCMSRN) algorithm for photographic images of liquid metal specimens. In this model, multiple cascaded filters are used to obtain feature information, and the multiscale features are then fused by a residual network. Compared to existing state-of-the-art artificial neural network super-resolution algorithms, such as SRCNN, VDSR and MSRN, our model was able to achieve higher PSNR and SSIM scores and reduce network size and training time.

The L-G Phase Transition in Binary Cu-Zr Metallic Liquids

The authors recently reported that undercooled liquid Ag and Ag-Cu alloys both exhibit a first-order phase transition from the homogeneous liquid (L-phase) to a heterogeneous solid-like G-phase under isothermal evolution....

A microscopic look at the Johari-Goldstein relaxation in a hydrogen-bonded glass-former

Understanding the glass transition requires getting the picture of the dynamical processes that intervene in it. Glass-forming liquids show a characteristic decoupling of relaxation processes when they are cooled down towards the glassy state. The faster (βJG) process is still under scrutiny, and its full explanation necessitates information at the microscopic scale. To this aim, nuclear γ-resonance time-domain interferometry (TDI) has been utilized to investigate 5-methyl-2-hexanol, a hydrogen-bonded liquid with a pronounced βJG process as measured by dielectric spectroscopy. TDI probes in fact the center-of-mass, molecular dynamics at scattering-vectors corresponding to both inter- and intra-molecular distances. Our measurements demonstrate that, in the undercooled liquid phase, the βJG relaxation can be visualized as a spatially-restricted rearrangement of molecules within the cage of their closest neighbours accompanied by larger excursions which reach out at least the inter-molecular scale and are related to cage-breaking events. In-cage rattling and cage-breaking processes therefore coexist in the βJG relaxation.

Emulsion Droplet Crystallinity Attenuates Postprandial Plasma Triacylglycerol Responses in Healthy Men: A Randomized Double-Blind Crossover Acute Meal Study

ABSTRACT Background The presence of triacylglycerol (TAG) cystallinity is assumed to influence digestibility and postprandial lipemia (PPL), although studies to date are limited. Objective This study aimed to investigate whether the presence of solid fat compared with undercooled liquid oil, specifically, plays a role in determining PPL by comparing emulsion droplets differing only in terms of physical state. Methods Ten percent palm stearin and 0.4% sorbitan monostearate emulsions were tempered to contain identically sized, charged, and shaped (spherical) undercooled liquid (LE) compared with partially crystalline solid (SE; mean ± SEM: 33.2% ± 0.03% solid fat at 37°C) droplets. Fifteen healthy fasting adult men (mean ± SD age: 27.5 ± 5.7 y; BMI: 24.1 ± 2.5 kg/m2) consumed 500 mL of each emulsion on separate occasions and plasma TAG concentrations, particle size of the plasma chylomicron-rich fraction (CMRF), and fatty acid (FA) composition of the CMRF-TAG were serially determined in a 6-h postprandial randomized double-blind crossover acute meal study. Changes from baseline values were analyzed by repeated-measures ANOVA. Results An earlier (2 compared with 3 h, P < 0.05) significant rise, a 39.9% higher mean postprandial TAG change from baseline (P = 0.08), and higher peak concentration (mean ± SEM: 1.47 ± 0.19 compared with 1.20 ± 0.15 mmol/L, P = 0.04) and iAUC (1.95 ± 0.39 compared with 1.45 ± 0.31 mmol/L × h, P = 0.03) values were observed for LE compared with SE. The compositions of the CMRF-TAG FAs shifted toward those of the ingested palm stearin by 4 h but did not differ between SE and LE (P = 0.90). Nor were there differences in postprandial changes in CMRF particle size (P = 0.79) or nonesterified FAs (P = 0.72) based on lipid physical state. Conclusions Despite their identical compositions and colloidal properties, differences in lipid absorption were observed between SE and LE in healthy adult men. This is direct evidence that TAG physical state contributes to PPL, with the presence of solid fat having an attenuating influence. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03515590.