Ellen L. Heeley

Experiment proposals at synchrotron facilities serve as the primary gateway for instrument access. They currently lack the standardized and granular topic metadata necessary for tasks such as classification and review, and, broadly speaking, reuse. This paper defines and tests the feasibility of a real-time topic classification service for experiment proposals using an open-source machine-learning model and domain experts for the evaluation phase. We applied the OpenAlex topic classification model to 5384 experiment proposals and selected 209 of them to each be independently evaluated by three domain experts to assess the performance and utility of the model. Analysis of the evaluations reveals a general consensus among the reviewers regarding the model's predictions, with a Krippendorff's alpha of 0.572. We also find that 74.2% of the proposals had at least one topic that was unanimously deemed relevant, which suggests that the model performs well enough to be used in a live setting with real-time verification. However, we do not recommend using it in automated environments without human oversight, given the proposal-based precision score of 56.0%. By aligning the data infrastructure of photon and neutron facilities with the OpenAlex ecosystem, we also lay the groundwork for the eventual inclusion of proposals and experiment reports into OpenAlex, which is necessary for a complete record of a research activity.

The bromination of poly(isobutylene-co-isoprene) rubber introduces a small amount of bromide groups (1–2 mol%) to the elastomer backbone and creates new opportunities for functionalisation, as compared to other saturated and diene elastomers.

In this work, the effect of an expansin‐like cerato‐platanin (CP) protein as a pre‐treatment for the enzymatic hydrolysis of bacterial cellulose (BC) is investigated. To this scope, cellulases from Trichoderma reesei are used as hydrolyzing agent using different enzyme/BC formulations. Turbidity experiments reveal that for the higher enzyme concentrations (formulations 0.5:1 and 1:1) the enzymatic hydrolysis of BC show similar hydrolysis kinetics and is not dependent of the CP. However, at higher BC concentrations (formulations 0.25:1 and 0.33:1), the hydrolysis of BC is hindered by the non‐catalytic protein, as confirmed by the lower content of cellobiose and glucose in the presence of CP. Light scattering experiments show that the addition of CP led to an increase of the BC particle size from (445–630 nm) to (890–1.26 μm) for the formulation 1:1, which is also corroborated by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy analyses. These results suggest that CP did not positively affect the hydrolysis of BC, in contrast to what was previously observed for plant‐derived cellulose. This work for the first time investigates the anomalous behavior of cerato platanin family members with regard to its loosening activity on the structure of bacterial cellulose.

The morphology, polar phase content and conductivity of PVDF nanofibres were enhanced by adding ionic substances to the electrospinning solution.

The self-assembly and crystal packing of a unique series of nanocrystalline fluoride ion-encapsulated polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (F-POSS) compounds, with substituted electron-withdrawing group (EWG) perfluorinated alkyl chain arms of varying lengths, were investigated. The fluorine-encapsulated T₈[(CH₂)_n-EWG]₈F⁻-18-crown-6-ether-M⁺ and T₈[(CH₂)_n-EWG]₈F⁻-tetrabutyl ammonium TBA⁺ compounds with fluorinated alkyl chain arms were synthesized and subsequently analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and simultaneous small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) techniques. DSC and TGA of the compounds showed that the melting temperatures occurred below 100 °C and the compounds were thermally stable above their melting temperatures. SAXS/WAXS data probed the crystalline structure and self-assembly of the nanocrystalline compounds. At ambient temperatures, the crystalline structures of the compounds were seen to be complex with triclinic unit cells. On cooling from the melt, the self-assembly of the compounds with shorter fluorinated alkyl chain arms is dominated by the ionic attraction between the cages such that the arms form a disordered state that only reorder on standing. In contrast, the self-assembly of the compounds with longer fluorinated alkyl chain arms is dominated by the alignment of the arms into rod-like morphologies such that a fully ordered solid is formed from the melt. Electrical characterization has revealed that the POSS cages exhibited an insulating behavior. The POSS cages with or without fluoride ion encapsulation had similar AC conductivities but cages without fluoride ion encapsulation have the highest relative permittivity. The results show that due to the inorganic–organic-ionic nature of the F-POSS ion encapsulated compounds and nanocrystalline self-assembly, they have great potential as interfacial compatibilizers enhancing the miscibility of polymer composites and aiding interactions between polar and non-polar solvents as ionic liquids.

Stress oscillation has been observed in a number of linear thermoplastic polymers during the cold-drawing process, where the polymers exhibit periodic self-excited oscillatory neck propagation. However, the origin of the mechanical stress oscillation process and its relationship with the crystalline morphology of the polymer are still under debate. In this work, we revisit the stress oscillation behavior by studying a semi-crystalline polyester, poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), a biodegradable polymer suitable for biomedical and packaging applications. Stress oscillation of PBS is observed when deformed at a range of elongation rates from 10 to 200 mm min⁻¹, and the fluctuation magnitude decays as the deformation temperature increases from 23 to 100 °C. Periodic transparent/opaque bands form during necking of PBS, which consists of alternating regions of highly oriented crystalline zones and microcavities due to crazing and voiding, although the degree of crystallinity did not change significantly in the bands. Simultaneous small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering confirms that the alternating stress increases, as shown in the stress–strain curves, correspond to the appearance of the transparent bands in the sample, and the abrupt drop of the stress is the result of voiding during the neck propagation. The voiding and cavitation are ultimately responsible for the stress oscillation process in PBS. The in-depth analysis of this work is important in understanding and controlling the occurrence of instabilities/cavitation during polymer processing such as film blowing, biaxial stretching and injection moulding of biodegradable polymer materials.