Metallic glasses are known for their outstanding mechanical strength. However, the microscopic mechanism of failure in metallic glasses is not well-understood. In this article we discuss elastic, anelastic and plastic behaviors of metallic glasses from the atomistic point of view, based upon recent results by simulations and experiments. Strong structural disorder affects all properties of meta...

Biological structures are stabilized by a variety of noncovalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonds, π –stacking, salt bridges or hydrophobic interactions. Besides hydrogen bonds and π– stacking, cation–π interactions between aromatic rings and positively charged groups have emerged as one of the most important interactions in structural biology. Although the role and energetic characteristic...

We have investigated the structure, interaction energy, electronic properties, and IR spectra of the ammonia-water cation (NH(3)H(2)O)(+) using density functional theory (DFT) and high-level ab initio theory. The ammonia-water cation has three minimum-energy structures of (a) H(2)NH(+)...OH(2), (b) H(3)N(+)...OH(2), and (c) H(3)NH(+)...OH. The lowest-energy structure is (a), followed by (c) and...

The heating of porous dielectrics, beef–air (b/a) and beef–oil (b/o), attached with ceramic, metallic or ceramic–metallic composite supports, has been studied analytically using microwaves. Three test porosities were considered, 0.3, 0.45 and 0.6. A preliminary understanding of enhanced heating and power absorption within the material was obtained from the average power vs slab depth plots. The...

The metallic corrosion is a spontaneous process that causes damage in almost all sectors of human activity. Among the most affected structures stand out the pipes for oil transportation. The biocorrosion occurs due to the fixation of bacteria, release of metabolites and formation of biofilms that induce or accelerate the corrosion process. Among the groups of bacteria involved in the corrosion ...

This study was designed to evaluate localized muscular fatigue induced during visual display terminal (VDT) tasks. In the experimental paradigm used, electromyography (EMG) signals were not recorded during the VDT task but during isometric contractions in which the load imposed on the shoulder muscle was kept constant. The change in mean power frequency (MPF) and the root mean square values of ...