In analyzing the mission of the European Court of Human Rights, it is common to distinguish between what is akin to “individual justice” and what is more akin to “constitutional justice.” The way in which the Court combines the two depends on its “judicial policy.” In this contribution, we will examine how the “systemic” nature of the violations complained of affects the “judicial policy.”

Inequities in HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use persist in the United States. Although scientific advancement in delivery options and social acceptance of PrEP has occurred in the past decade, gaps remain in ensuring that this sexual health program is available to all. Components of what a national PrEP program for all would look like are discussed.

In Australia, free-range egg production pullets are typically reared indoors, but adult layers get outdoor access. This new environment may be challenging to adapt to, which could impair egg production and/or egg quality. Adaptation might be enhanced through rearing enrichments. We reared 1386 Hy-Line Brown® chicks indoors with three treatments across 16 weeks: (1) a control group with standard litter housing conditions, (2) a novelty group providing novel objects that changed weekly, and (3) a structural enrichment group with custom-designed structures to partially impair visibility across the pen and allow for vertical movement. Pullets were transferred to a free-range system at 16 weeks of age with daily outdoor access provided from 25 until 64 weeks. Daily egg production at different laying locations (large nests, small nests and floor), weekly egg weights and egg abnormalities were recorded from 18 to 64 weeks old. External and internal egg quality parameters of egg weight, shell reflectivity, albumen height, haugh unit, yolk colour score, shell weight and shell thickness were measured at 44, 52, 60 and 64 weeks. There was a significant interaction between rearing treatment and nest box use on hen-day production from weeks 18 to 25 (P < 0.0001) with the novelty hens laying the most eggs and the control hens the fewest eggs in the nest box. Similarly, from 26 to 64 weeks, the novelty hens laid more eggs in the large nest boxes and fewer eggs on the floor than both the structural and control hens (P < 0.0001). Egg weight and abnormalities increased with age (P < 0.0001), but rearing treatment had no effect on either measure (both P ≥ 0.19). Rearing treatment affected shell reflectivity and yolk colour with the control hens showing paler colours across time relative to the changes observed in the eggs from enriched hens. The novelty hens may have established nest box laying patterns as they were more accustomed to exploring new environments. The differences in egg quality could be related to stress adaptability or ranging behaviour. This study shows that enriching environments during rearing can have some impacts on production parameters in free-range hens.

This contribution reports on the biosynthesis of nickel oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles (NiO-NPs & ZnO-NPs) via a natural extract from Moringa Oleifera leaves as an effective chelating and/or oxidizing/reduction agent of nickel nitrate hexahydrate and zinc nitrate hexahydrate. The structural and optical properties of these two types of semiconductors obtained in a similar procedure are investigated using X-rays Diffraction (XRD), Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR), diffuse reflectance UV-Visible-NIR and Photoluminescence (PL) techniques. The structural analysis shows the formation of pure cubic NiO-NPs and pure wurtzite ZnO-NPs with an average crystallite size of 17.80 nm and 10.81 nm respectively. Their band gaps, calculated from the diffuse reflectance analysis were found to be 4.28 eV and 3.35 eV respectively.

Biosynthesized Zincite nanoparticles have been successfully demonstrated by a completely green process mediated aqueous extract of rosemary leaves acting as both reducing and stabilizing agents and zinc nitrate hexahydrate as the precursor. The synthesis was free of solvents and surfactants to adhere to green chemistry principles and the impartation of environmental benignity. To achieve our objective, structural and optical investigations of ZnO annealed at 500°C for 2hrs were carried-out using complementary techniques. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) revealed the self-assembled, highly agglomerated quasi-hexagonal shaped NPs and the average particle size was found to peak at 15.62 ± 0.22 nm. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) exhibited several diffraction rings with clear diffraction spots confirming their polycrystallinity and the purity of ZnO NPs with a wurtzite structure. Furthermore, the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) substantiated the presence of Zn and O in the sample and attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) illustrated the Zn-O chemical bonds. From UV-Vis-NIR, the optical band gap was amounted to 3.2 eV and photoluminescence (PL) emission spectrum to 2.9eV with high surface defects and oxygen vacancies. Through these results, the use of rosemary leaves extract is hereby shown to be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to synthesize Zincite nanoparticles (ZnO NPs).

A novel tetragonal B2CO structure (tP16-B2CO), formed by strong covalent sp2–sp3 B–C and B–O bonds, was predicted with aid of an unbiased structure searching method. With the energy lower than those of previously proposed candidates, except oI16-B2CO, tP16-B2CO was identified as the thermodynamic metastable phase for B2CO compound. The elastic matrix and phonon dispersion spectra declare that tP16-B2CO is mechanically and dynamically stable. The electronic band structure calculation at ambient pressure and a series of high pressure has manifested the indirect semiconducting and band gap increases first and then decreases with pressure increases. The calculation of mechanical properties such as hardness and stress–strain relations of tP16 structure revealed its common hard nature with high hardness of 23.19 GPa and anisotropy with the max stress along [001] is far higher than that along [100].

Predicting the structural response of advanced multiphase alloys and understanding the underlying microscopic mechanisms that are responsible for it are two critically important roles that modeling plays in alloy development. The demonstration of superior properties of an alloy, such as high strength, creep resistance, high ductility, and fracture toughness, is not sufficient to secure its use in widespread applications. Still, a good model is needed to take measurable alloy properties, such as microstructure and chemical composition, and forecast how the alloy will perform in specified mechanical deformation conditions, including temperature, time, and rate. Here, we highlight recent achievements using multiscale modeling in elucidating the coupled effects of alloying, microstructure, and mechanism dynamics on the mechanical properties of polycrystalline alloys. Much of the understanding gained by these efforts relies on the integration of computational tools that vary over many length scales and time scales, from first-principles density functional theory, atomistic simulation methods, dislocation and defect theory, micromechanics, phase-field modeling, single crystal plasticity, and polycrystalline plasticity.

Lithium-rich layered oxides such as Li2MnO3 have shown great potential as cathodes in Li-ion batteries, mainly because of their large capacities. However, these materials still suffer from structural degradation as the battery is cycled, reducing the average voltage and capacity of the cell. The voltage fade is believed to be related to the migration of transition metals into the lithium layer, linked to the formation of O-O dimers with a short bond length, which in turn is driven by the presence of oxygen holes due to the participation of oxygen in the redox process. We investigate the formation of O-O dimers for partially charged O1-Li2MnO3 using a first-principles density functional theory approach by calculating the reaction energy and kinetic barriers for dimer formation. Next, we perform similar calculations for partially charged O1-Li2IrO3, a Li-rich material for which the voltage fade was not observed during cycling. When we compare the stability of the oxygen framework, we conclude that the formation of O-O dimers is both thermodynamically and kinetically viable for O1-Li0.5MnO3. For O1-Li0.5IrO3, we observe that the oxygen lattice is much more stable, either returning to its original state when perturbed, or resulting in a structure with an O-O dimer that is much higher in energy. This can be explained by the mixed redox process for Li2IrO3, which is also shown from the calculated magnetic moments. The lack of O-O dimer formation in O1-Li0.5IrO3 provides valuable insight as to why Li2IrO3 does not demonstrate a voltage fade as the battery is cycled, which can be used to design Li-rich battery cathodes with an improved cycling performance.

The stability of the Ti50Pd50-xRux alloy was investigated using first-principles density functional theory within the plane-wave pseudopotential method. Firstly, the Ti50Pd50 gave equilibrium lattice parameter and lowest heats of formation in better agreement with experimental data to within 3%. The heat of formation decreases with an increase in Ru concentration, consistent with the trend of the density of states which is lowered at the Fermi level as Ru content is increased which suggests stability. It was also found that from the calculated elastic constants the structures showed positive shear modulus above 20 at. % Ru, condition of stability. Furthermore, the addition of Ru was found to strengthen the Ti50Pd50-xRux system at higher concentrations. The thermal coefficients of linear expansion for the Ti50Pd31.25Ru18. 75 are higher at low temperature, and that the TiPd-Ru system tends to expand more at low content of 18.75 at. % Ru than at higher content. Partial substitution of Pd with Ru was found more effective as a strengthening element and may enhance the martensitic transformation temperature of the Ti50Pd50 alloy.

It is well known that various elements substitute for a certain sub-lattice of intermetallic compounds. There have been various experimental investigations of the effects of substituted elements on mechanical properties, however, there are few reports describing the effects of multi-element substitution. In the present study, L12-type compounds A3B (Ni3Al and Co3(Al,W)) were selected as model compounds because their substitution behavior is well known. It was reported that various elements such as Ni, Co, Cu, Pd and Pt occupy the A-site, whereas Al, Si, Ga, Ge, Ti, V, Nb, Ta, Mo, and W occupy the B-site. These elements are expected to introduce local lattice distortion, which may affect the motion of dislocations over a wide range of temperatures. Several alloys composed of five or more elements including Ni, Co, Al, Mo, and W, were prepared using an Ar-arc melting machine and heat-treated. Several alloys were found to include an (Ni, Co)3(Al, Mo, W, …)-L12 compound as a constituent phase. The nano-hardness of these L12 phases was higher than that of the high-strength Co3(Al,W)-L12 compound, confirming that multi-element substitution is an effective way to improve the mechanical properties of an intermetallic compound without decreasing the phase stability.

Low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) lattices occupy a unique area of property space. With such a system, it is possible to achieve relatively high stiffness, with opportunities to combine low thermal expansion and with a range of advantageous properties. Possibilities include combinations that are not rivaled by any bulk material, e.g., low CTE and high melting temperature, and low CTE with low conductivity. One design in particular, the UCSB Lattice, has biaxial stiffness very near theoretical upper bounds when the joints are pinned. Bonded lattices are found to inherit the near optimal performance of the parent pin-jointed design. Despite near optimal performance, however, stiffnesses and strengths are limited to a few percent of the relative property of the constituents. The local deformations necessary to accommodate low net CTE are similar to those of auxetic lattices, with similar behavior, having a low, zero, or negative tunable Poisson’s ratio. An investigative framework, including experiments, finite element, and analytical formulas, is used to construct these assessments.

The dynamic response of structured materials, such as regular lattices, is nontrivial partly due to the interaction of mechanical waves throughout the structure and free surfaces as the material is dynamically compressed. The existence of an elastic precursor wave in additively manufactured lattices was recently shown to match theoretical predictions and simulation results. Following up on this work, we have investigated the behavior of the elastic precursor with propagation distance, impact speed, and impact material. Through a series of gas gun experiments coupled to X-ray phase contrast imaging measurements and complementary simulations, the elastic precursor wavespeed appears to be nearly independent of impact speed and impact material. We observed evidence for the sustained elastic wave propagation through many unit cells at four significantly different impact conditions. We compared these results with direct numerical simulations of the experiments and found good agreement.