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The effects of surface and flexoelectricity have been found in the presence of strong size dependence and should be technically taken into account for nano-scaled dielectric structures. This paper proposes a Bernoulli–Euler beam model to investigate the electromechanical coupling response of piezoelectric nanostructures, in which the effects of surface elasticity, dielectricity and piezoelectricity as well as bulk flexoelectricity are all taken into consideration. The governing equations with non-classical boundary conditions are naturally derived from a variational principle. Then the present beam model is directly applied to solve the static bending problems of cantilever beams. Without considering the residual surface stresses, the bending rigidity can be defined the same as that in classical piezoelectricity theory. The bending rigidity is found to increase for silicon nanowires and decrease for silver nanowires. Also the flexoelectric effect in piezoelectric nanowires has a momentous influence on the bending rigidity. The residual surface stresses which are usually neglected are found to be more important than the surface elasticity for the bending of nanowires. However, this has no influence on the effective electromechanical coupling coefficient. The deflections reveal the significance of the residual surface stresses and the bulk flexoelectric effects. The effective electromechanical coupling coefficient for piezoelectric nanowires is dramatically enhanced, which demonstrates the significant effects of the bulk flexoelectricity and surface piezoelectricity. The effects of surface and flexoelectricity decrease with the increase of the beam thickness, and therefore these effects can be ignored for large-scale structures. This work is very helpful in designing cantilever-beam-based nano-electro-devices.

The flexoelectric effect is very strong and coupled with large strain gradients for nanoscale dielectrics. At the nanoscale, the electrostatic force cannot be ignored. In this paper, we have established the electric enthalpy variational principle for nanosized dielectrics with the strain gradient and the polarization gradient effect, as well as the effect of the electrostatic force. The complete governing equations, which include the effect of the electrostatic force, are derived from this variational principle, and based on the principle the generalized electrostatic stress is obtained, the generalized electrostatic stress contains the Maxwell stress corresponding to the polarization and strain, and stress related to the polarization gradient and strain gradient. This work provides the basis for the analysis and computations for the electromechanical problems in nanosized dielectric materials. flexoelectric effect, variational principle, governing equations, dielectrics, electrostatic stress, nanoscale PACS: 46.05.+b, 46.25.Hf, 62.25.+g, 68.35.Md

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSEThe histone acetyltransferase MOF is a member of the MYST family. In mammals, MOF plays critical roles by acetylating histone H4 at K16 and non-histone substrates such as p53. Here we have investigated the role of MOF in human lung cancer and possible new substrates of hMOF. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHSamples of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were used to correlate MOF with clinicopathological parameters and NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) downstream genes. 293T-cells were used to study interactions between MOF and Nrf2, and acetylation of Nrf2 by MOF. Mouse embryonic fibroblast and A549 cells were utilized to assess involvement of MOF in antioxidative and anti-drug responses. A549 cells were used to analysis the role of MOF in anti-drug response in vitro and in vivo. KEY RESULTShMOF was overexpressed in human NSCLC tissues and was associated with large tumour size, advanced disease stage and metastasis, and with poor prognosis. hMOF levels were positively correlated with Nrf2-downstream genes. MOF/hMOF physically interacted with and acetylated Nrf2 at Lys 588 . MOF-mediated acetylation increased nuclear retention of Nrf2 and transcription of its downstream genes. Importantly, MOF/hMOF was essential for anti-oxidative and anti-drug responses in vitro and regulated tumour growth and drug resistance in vivo in an Nrf2-dependent manner. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONShMOF was overexpressed in human NSCLC and was a predictor of poor survival. hMOF-mediated Nrf2 acetylation and nuclear retention are essential for anti-oxidative and anti-drug responses. hMOF may provide a therapeutic target for the treatment of NSCLC. AbbreviationsARE, antioxidant response element; CDDP, cis-diamminedichloroplatinum; GCLM, glutamate-cysteine ligase modifier subunit; HO-1, haem oxygenase 1; Keap1, Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1; MEF, mouse embryonic fibroblast; MOF, males absent on the first; MSL, male-specific lethal; Nrf2, NF-E2-related factor 2; NQO1, NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1; NSCLC, non-small cell lung cancer; 5-FU, 5-fluorouracil

Recently, dysregulation of microRNAs plays a critical role in cancer metastasis. Here, an in vivo selection approach was used to generate highly aggressive NSCLC sub-cell lines followed by comparing the microRNAs expression using microarrays. miR-124 was notably deregulated in both highly invasive sub-cell lines and node-positive NSCLC specimens. Over-expression of miR-124 robustly attenuated migration and metastatic ability of the aggressive cells. MYO10 was subsequently identified as a novel functional downstream target of miR-124, and was up-regulated in node-positive NSCLC tissues. Knockdown of MYO10 inhibited cell migration, whereas forced MYO10 expression markedly rescued miR-124-mediated suppression of cell metastasis. Additionally, we found an activated NF-κB-centered inflammatory loop in the highly aggressive cells leading to down-regulation of miR-124. These results suggest that NF-κB-regulated miR-124 targets MYO10, inhibits cell invasion and metastasis, and is down-regulated in node-positive NSCLC.

The MLPG method is the general basis for several variations of meshless methods presented in recent literature. The interrelation of the various meshless approaches is presented in this paper. Several variations of the meshless interpolation schemes are reviewed also. Recent developments and applications of the MLPG methods are surveyed.

Flexoelectricity (FE) refers to the two-way coupling between strain gradients and the electric field in dielectric materials, and is universal compared to piezoelectricity, which is restricted to dielectrics with noncentralsymmetric crystalline structure. Involving strain gradients makes the phenomenon of flexoelectricity size dependent and more important for nanoscale applications. However, strain gradients involve higher order spatial derivate of displacements and bring difficulties to the solution of flexoelectric problems. This dilemma impedes the application of such universal phenomenon in multiple fields, such as sensors, actuators, and nanogenerators. In this study, we develop a mixed finite element method (FEM) for the study of problems with both strain gradient elasticity (SGE) and flexoelectricity being taken into account. To use C0 continuous elements in mixed FEM, the kinematic relationship between displacement field and its gradient is enforced by Lagrangian multipliers. Besides, four types of 2D mixed finite elements are developed to study the flexoelectric effect. Verification as well as validation of the present mixed FEM is performed through comparing numerical results with analytical solutions for an infinite tube problem. Finally, mixed FEM is used to simulate the electromechanical behavior of a 2D block subjected to concentrated force or voltage. This study proves that the present mixed FEM is an effective tool to explore the electromechanical behaviors of materials with the consideration of flexoelectricity.

Flexoelectricity presents a strong size effect, and should not be ignored for nanodevices. By taking the flexoelectricity into account, an analytical solution is deduced for the piezoelectric potential generated in a bent ZnO nanowire (NW) cantilever. It is shown that the electric potential in the NW is not independent of z-coordinate, which is different from the results based on the classical piezoelectric theory. The results also show that the effect of flexoelectricity on the voltage is significant in a bent ZnO NW even though the flexoelectric coefficients are set to be the minimum. Moreover, we find that the flexoelectricity plays an important role in filling the gap between the results from the classical piezoelectric theory and experimental results. It is indicated that one can use the flexoelectricity to modify the transfer efficiency from mechanical energy to electrical energy through strain engineering.