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Pipelines sit at the heart of the global economy. When they are in good working order, they deliver fuel to meet the ever-growing demand for energy around the world. When they fail due to stress corrosion cracking, they can wreak environmental havoc. This book skillfully explains the fundamental science and engineering of pipeline stress corrosion cracking based on the latest research findings and actual case histories. The author explains how and why pipelines fall prey to stress corrosion cracking and then offers tested and proven strategies for preventing, detecting, and monitoring it in order to prevent pipeline failure. This book begins with a brief introduction and then explores general principals of stress corrosion cracking, including two detailed case studies of pipeline failure. Next, the author covers: Near-neutral pH stress corrosion cracking of pipelines; High pH stress corrosion cracking of pipelines; Stress corrosion cracking of pipelines in acidic soil environments; Stress corrosion cracking at pipeline welds; Stress corrosion cracking of high-strength pipeline steels.

Moiré superlattices host a rich variety of correlated electronic phases. However, the moiré potential is fixed by interlayer coupling, and it is dependent on the nature of carriers and valleys. In contrast, it has been predicted that twisted hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layers can impose a periodic electrostatic potential capable of engineering the properties of adjacent functional layers. Here, we show that this potential is described by a theory of electric polarization originating from the interfacial charge redistribution, validated by its dependence on supercell sizes and distance from the twisted interfaces. This enables controllability of the potential depth and profile by controlling the twist angles between the two interfaces. Employing this approach, we further demonstrate how the electrostatic potential from a twisted hBN substrate impedes exciton diffusion in semiconductor monolayers, suggesting opportunities for engineering the properties of adjacent functional layers using the surface potential of a twisted hBN substrate. The authors demonstrate that the electrostatic potential originating on the surface of twisted bilayer and multilayer hexagonal boron nitride can be used to generate a moiré potential modulation on adjacent semiconductor layers, enabling the possibility of controlling the properties of this adjacent layer.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation of tumor cells that selectively possess tumor initiation and self-renewal capacity and the ability to give rise to bulk populations of nontumorigenic cancer cell progeny through differentiation. As we discuss here, they have been prospectively identified in several human malignancies, and their relative abundance in clinical cancer specimens has been correlated with malignant disease progression in human patients. Furthermore, recent findings suggest that clinical cancer progression driven by CSCs may contribute to the failure of existing therapies to consistently eradicate malignant tumors. Therefore, CSC-directed therapeutic approaches might represent translationally relevant strategies to improve clinical cancer therapy, in particular for those malignancies that are currently refractory to conventional anticancer agents directed predominantly at tumor bulk populations.

This paper investigates the drivers and inhibitors of Internet privacy concern. Applying the Multidimensional Development Theory to the online environment, we identify the important factors under four dimensions—i.e., environmental, individual, information management, and interaction management. We tested our model using data from an online survey of 2417 individuals in Hong Kong. The results show that the factors under all four dimensions are significant in the formation of Internet privacy concern. Specifically, familiarity with government legislation, Internet knowledge, benefit of information disclosure, privacy protection, and social presence reduce Internet privacy concern, while individuals' previous privacy invasion experience, risk avoidance personality, and sensitivity of information requested by websites increase Internet privacy concern. We conducted an analysis of unobserved heterogeneity to confirm the significance of these factors. A follow-up moderation analysis shows that the individual factors (i.e., previous privacy invasion experience, risk avoidance personality, and Internet knowledge) moderate the effects of the information management factor (i.e., information sensitivity) and the interaction management factors (i.e., privacy protection and social presence). The findings provide an integrated understanding of the formation of Internet privacy concern.

This paper discusses the value of context in theory development in information systems (IS) research. We examine how prior research has incorporated context in theorizing and develop a framework to classify existing approaches to contextualization. In addition, we expound on a decomposition approach to contextualization and put forth a set of guidelines for developing context-specific models. We illustrate the application of the guidelines by constructing and comparing various context-specific variations of the technology acceptance model (TAM)-i.e., the decomposed TAM that incorporates interaction effects between context-specific factors, the extended TAM with context-specific antecedents, and the integrated TAM that incorporates mediated moderation and moderated mediation effects of context-specific factors. We tested the models on 972 individuals in two technology usage contexts: a digital library and an agile Web portal. The results show that the decomposed TAM provides a better understanding of the contexts by revealing the direct and interaction effects of context-specific factors on behavioral intention that are not mediated by the TAM constructs of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. This work contributes to the ongoing discussion about the importance of context in theory development and provides guidance for context-specific theorizing in IS research.

The formation of soap bubbles from thin films is accompanied by topological transitions. Here we show how a magnetic topological structure, a skyrmion bubble, can be generated in a solid-state system in a similar manner. Using an inhomogeneous in-plane current in a system with broken inversion symmetry, we experimentally \"blow\" magnetic skyrmion bubbles from a geometrical constriction. The presence of a spatially divergent spin-orbit torque gives rise to instabilities of the magnetic domain structures that are reminiscent of Rayleigh-Plateau instabilities in fluid flows. We determine a phase diagram for skyrmion formation and reveal the efficient manipulation of these dynamically created skyrmions, including depinning and motion. The demonstrated current-driven transformation from stripe domains to magnetic skyrmion bubbles could lead to progress in skyrmion-based spintronics.

This paper examines the role of parenting behaviors in influencing children’s Internet addiction and the consequences of children’s Internet addiction on parents’ job outcomes. First, we draw on attachment theory to theorize that five parenting behaviors (i.e., parental control, monitoring, unstructured time, dissuasion, and rationalization) affect children’s Internet addiction and their effects are moderated by the children’s views of parent–child attachment. Second, we draw on research on the work–family interface to theorize that children’s Internet addiction affects parents’ job outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work exhaustion) and the effects are mediated by family-to-work conflict. We tested our hypotheses using an integrated research approach that includes quantitative and qualitative data. We conducted an online survey to collect quantitative responses from 776 parent–child dyads. The results of our model showed that the effects of parenting behaviors on children’s Internet addiction, except for dissuasion, were moderated by the children’s views of parent–child attachment. Also, family-to-work conflict mediated the effects of children’s Internet addiction on parents’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and work exhaustion. We collected qualitative data via interviews from 50 parents to cross-validate the results from the quantitative study.

The spread of HIV between immune cells is greatly enhanced by cell-cell adhesions called virological synapses, although the underlying mechanisms have been unclear. With use of an infectious, fluorescent clone of HIV, we tracked the movement of Gag in live CD4 T cells and captured the direct translocation of HIV across the virological synapse. Quantitative, high-speed three-dimensional (3D) video microscopy revealed the rapid formation of micrometer-sized \"buttons\" containing oligomerized viral Gag protein. Electron microscopy showed that these buttons were packed with budding viral crescents. Viral transfer events were observed to form virus-laden internal compartments within target cells. Continuous time-lapse monitoring showed preferential infection through synapses. Thus, HIV dissemination may be enhanced by virological synapse-mediated cell adhesion coupled to viral endocytosis.

In this work, smart nanocontainers were prepared by polyelectrolyte deposition on SiO 2 nanoparticles to encapsulate corrosion inhibitors, i.e., benzotriazole (BTA). Various materials analysis techniques, including Fourier transform infrared, thermal gravity analysis and atomic force microscopy, were used to characterize the nanocontainers and confirm the loading of BTA. The pH selectivity for self-releasing of BTA out of the nanocontainers was determined by measurements of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. At either low or high pH value (e.g., pH 2 or 11), the inhibitors release to prevent a carbon steel from corrosion in chloride solutions. In near-neutral pH from 5 to 9, the nanocontainers remain closed. The BTA molecules follow the super-relaxational transport mechanism to release from the nanocontainers by swelling-controlled releasing processes. The inhibition efficiency is subject to the releasing kinetics of the inhibitors. The Korsmeyer–Peppas model provides estimation of the inhibitor-releasing rate.

The ATP-binding cassette superfamily member ABCB5 identifies a subset of skin-resident mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that exhibit potent immunomodulatory and wound healing-promoting capacities along with superior homing ability. The ABCB5+ MSCs can be easily accessed from discarded skin samples, expanded, and delivered as a highly homogenous medicinal product with standardized potency. A range of preclinical studies has suggested therapeutic efficacy of ABCB5+ MSCs in a variety of currently uncurable skin and non-skin inflammatory diseases, which has been substantiated thus far by distinct clinical trials in chronic skin wounds or recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Therefore, skin-derived ABCB5+ MSCs have the potential to provide a breakthrough at the forefront of MSC-based therapies striving to fulfill current unmet medical needs. The most recent milestones in this regard are the approval of a phase III pivotal trial of ABCB5+ MSCs for treatment of recessive dystrophic and junctional epidermolysis bullosa by the US Food and Drug Administration, and national market access of ABCB5+ MSCs (AMESANAR®) for therapy-refractory chronic venous ulcers under the national hospital exemption pathway in Germany.