Renewable resource of carbon-free energy is crucial in the current scenario of global warming and our growing energy needs. Besides, the significance of safer energy resources has been underscored by many nuclear mishaps, including the recently crippled Fukushima Nuclear power plant in Japan. Sunlight is the most promising alternative to nuclear fuels and greenhouse-gas-emitting fossil and alco...

Double-shelled Au/Ag hollow nanoboxes with precisely controlled interior nanogaps (1 to 16 nm) were synthesized for gap-tunable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The double-shelled nanoboxes were prepared via a two-step galvanic replacement reaction approach using Ag nanocubes as the templates, while 4-aminothiolphenol (4-ATP) as SERS probe molecules were loaded between the two shells. ...

Most lizards feed on a variety of food items that may differ dramatically in their physical and behavioral characteristics. Several lizard families are known to feed upon hard-shelled prey (durophagy). Yet, specializations toward true molluscivory have been documented for only a few species. As snails are hard and brittle food items, it has been suggested that a specialized cranial morphology, ...

Surface modes of spherical objects subject to ultrasound excitation have been recently proposed to explain experimental measurements of scattering from microspheres and ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs). In this work, the relationship between surface modes and resonance frequencies of microspheres and UCAs is investigated. A finite-element model, built upon the fundamentals of wave propagation ...

The criticisms presented in the preceding letter from Cantù et al. are essentially attributable to a serious misunderstanding of the structural parameters shown by Hirai et al. (1996a). This is evidently derived from some unsuitable expressions in a part of the structural parameters (scattering densities) in the above paper, which should be corrected by Hirai et al. Such corrections of the expr...

Diagnostic ultrasound (US) is safer, quicker and cheaper than other diagnostic imaging modalities. Over the past two decades, the applications of US imaging has been widened due to the development of injectable, compressible and encapsulated microbubbles (MBs) that provide an opportunity to improve conventional echocardiographic imaging, blood flow assessment and molecular imaging. The encapsul...

Wheat distillers dried grains with solubles (WDDGS) is a by-product that can be an alternative feed ingredient for poultry. However, WDDGS contains non-starch polysaccharides which limit its dietary inclusion. The objective of the current trial was to evaluate the effect of WDDGS with or without Endofeed W on egg quality and performance of laying hens. Endofeed W is a commercial enzyme includin...

To study the design method and pressure relief effect of mitigation structure a shell under action thermal stimulation, systematic research theoretical calculation-simulation-experimental verification was established. Taking shelled PBX charge as test material, area that can effectively reduce reaction intensity is obtained by calculation. The influence hole area, distribution mode, other facto...

The intertidal snail Littorina saxatilis has repeatedly evolved two parallel ecotypes assumed to be wave adapted and predatory shore crab adapted, but the magnitude and targets of predator-driven selection are unknown. In Spain, a small, wave ecotype with a large aperture from the lower shore and a large, thick-shelled crab ecotype from the upper shore meet in the mid-shore and show partial siz...