Lithium ion battery is one of the most promising energy storage equipment due to its high energy density and long life cycle, and it has various applications in marine industry. Coupled diffusive-mechanical process during cycling has significant influence on ion diffusion and stress evolution. This may cause large deformation of electrodes which is the main reason of crack nucleation and propagation. As a consequence, this will have a negative effect on battery performance in terms of electrical capacity and thermal stability, and can cause failure of the battery. Hence, crack propagation and stress evolution during lithiation of the electrode plate is under investigation in this study. Peridynamics, as a new computational technique, is utilized for this purpose and various validation and demonstration cases were considered to demonstrate the capability of the developed framework.

Purpose To explore the correlation between hearing and speech recovery levels after cochlear implantation and examined the preoperative microstructure of auditory pathways and speech centre using DTI. Methods (1) Fifty-two SNHL children between 0 and 6 years and 19 age and gender matched normal hearing subjects had received 3.0 T-MRI examination of the brain.FA, axial diffusion coefficient ( λ ‖ ), radial diffusion coefficient ( λ ⊥ ), and MD values in the lateral lemniscus, inferior colliculus, medial geniculate bodies, auditory radiations, Brodmann areas 41, 42, 22, 44, 45, and 39 were all measured bilaterally. (2) CAP and SIR scores were assessed in fourty-six cochlear implantation children at 6 months post-implant. Correlations among deaf children ages, FA value of bilateral inferior colliculus FA values, BA22, BA44, and postoperative CAP, and SIR scores were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Results The preoperative standard partial regression age coefficient of deaf children (|bi′| = 0.404) was slightly greater than that of the inferior colliculus (|bi′| = 0.377) FA value. Conclusion Preoperative children ages and inferior colliculus FA values were important factors influencing postoperative CAP score. Inferior colliculus FA value is a vital influencing factor in rehabilitation after cochlear implantation.

In nanopharmaceutics, polymeric coating is a popular strategy for modifying the drug release kinetics and, thus, new methods for implementing the nanocoating processes are highly desired. In the present study, a modified coaxial electrospraying process was developed to formulate an ultra-thin layer of ethyl cellulose (EC) on a medicated composite core consisting of tamoxifen citrate (TAM) and EC. A traditional single-fluid blending electrospraying and its monolithic EC-TAM nanoparticles (NPs) were exploited to compare. The modified coaxial processes were demonstrated to be more continuous and robust. The created NPs with EC coating had a higher quality than the monolithic ones in terms of the shape, surface smoothness, and the uniform size distribution, as verified by the SEM and TEM results. XRD patterns suggested that TAM presented in all the NPs in an amorphous state thanks to the fine compatibility between EC and TAM, as indicated by the attenuated total reflection (ATR)-FTIR spectra. In vitro dissolution tests demonstrated that the NPs with EC coating required a time period of 7.58 h, 12.79 h, and 28.74 h for an accumulative release of 30%, 50%, and 90% of the loaded drug, respectively. The protocols reported here open a new way for developing novel medicated nanoparticles with functional coating.

In this study, the effect of small cracks on the dynamic propagation of a macrocrack is investigated by using a new continuum mechanics formulation, peridynamics. Various combinations of small cracks with different number, location and density are considered. Depending on the location, density and number of small cracks, the propagation speed of macrocrack differs. Some combinations of small cracks slows down the propagation of a macrocrack by 34%. Presented results show that this analysis can be useful for the design of new microstructurally toughened materials

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is widely used in hybrid marine propulsion systems due to its high power output, excellent emission control and wide fuel suitability. However, the operating temperature in SOFC will rise up to 800–1000 ℃ due to redox reaction among hydrogen and oxygen ions. This provides a suitable environment for ions transporting through ceramic materials. Under such operation temperatures, degradation may occur in the electrodes and electrolyte. As a result, unstable voltage, low capacity and cell failure may eventually occur. This study presents thermomechanical analysis of a porous SOFC cell plate which contains electrodes, electrolytes and pores. A microscale specimen in the shape of a plate is considered in order to maintain uniform temperature loading and increase the accuracy of estimation. A new computational technique, peridynamics, is utilized to calculate the deformations and stresses of the cell plate. Moreover, the crack formation and propagation are also obtained by using peridynamics. According to the numerical results, damage evolution depends on the electrolyte/electrode interface strength during the charging process. For weak interface strength case, damage emerges at the electrode/electrolyte interface. On the other hand, for stronger interface cases, damage emerges on pore boundaries especially with sharp corner