Local Mechanical Behavior of Steel Exposed to Nonlinear Harmonic Oscillation

The local mechanical behavior of fatigued steel specimens was probed using nanoindentation. High-carbon steel cantilevers were exposed to nonlinear harmonic oscillation. The indentation modulus on the beam surface and plastic work during indentation decreased as a function of cycles, which was attributed to grain fragmentation and reorientation as well as the continuous reduction in inherent energy dissipation capacity of the material. X-ray diffraction, electron backscatter diffraction, and atomic force microscopy were used to characterize this microstructural evolution during early stages of the beam fatigue life, which altered 1) the local mechanical properties and 2) the global structural dynamic response. The results provide insight into fatigue damage precursors and provides a framework for connecting materials evolution with nonlinear structural dynamics.     

Design, analysis and optimization of silicon-on-insulator photonic crystal dual band wavelength demultiplexer

A highly efficient photonic crystal dual band wavelength demultiplexer (DBWD) using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates is proposed for demultiplexing two optical communication wavelengths, 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm. Demultiplexing of two wavelength channels is obtained by modifying the propagation properties of guided modes in two arms of Y type photonic crystal structure. Propagation characteristics of proposed DBWD are analyzed utilizing 3D finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Enhancement in spectral response is further obtained by optimizing the Y junction of demultiplexer giving rise to high transmission and extinction ratio for the wavelengths, 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm. Hence it validates the efficiency of proposed optimized DBWD design for separating two optical communication wavelengths, 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm. Tolerance analysis was also performed to check the effect of variation of air hole radius, etch depth and refractive index on the transmission characteristics of the proposed design of SOI based photonic crystal DBWD.     

Radiation response behaviour of Al codoped germano-silicate SM fiber at high radiation dose

Radiation response behaviour of Ge + Al doped SM fiber fabricated by the solution doping process has been studied at room temperature with respect to 1310 nm transmission wavelength under three different dose rates of 200, 400 and 600 Rad/min to compare with that of standard Er doped as well as Ge doped SM fibers. Their radiation sensitivity has been observed with variation of dose rates, transmission wavelength along with their recovery nature. Radiation response behaviour of Al doped SM fiber is found to be slightly non-linear in nature with very low dose rate dependency. No saturation level was found upto 13 Krad cumulative dose. Thermobleaching as well as photobleaching phenomena have also been studied. Gamma irradiated Al doped preform shows an absorption peak at around 300 nm due to generation of Al (E′) defect center and gets annihilated after thermobleaching process. Gamma irradiated Al doped SM fiber shows prominent photobleaching effect on their optical attenuation with respect to the 850 nm transmission wavelength. From ESR study resonance signals for Al³⁺ related radiation-induced defect centers are not clearly observed in this study. A very weak hyperfine pattern has been observed for gamma irradiated Al doped preform sample. The high radiation sensitivity along with linear response behaviour, low recovery and almost dose rate independence behaviour of the material system of Ge + Al codoped SM core optical fiber under gamma radiation shows their potential for application as fiber optic radiation sensor in comparison to the universal standard erbium doped SM fiber.     

Surface modification of polyacrylonitrile fiber for immobilization of antibodies and detection of analyte

Pendent nitrile groups of multifilamentous polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers were reduced to amino groups using lithium aluminum hydride for different time of reduction and amine content was estimated by performing acid-base titrations. Attenuated total reflection-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) were used for the characterization of the generated amino groups and thermal properties of the reduced fibers, respectively. The surface morphology of the fibers after reduction and immobilization was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The newly formed amino groups of the fibers were activated by using glutaraldehyde for the covalent linking of Goat anti-Rabbit IgG-HRP (GAR-HRP) antibody enzyme conjugate. Modified PAN fibers were evaluated as a matrix for sandwich ELISA by using Goat anti-Rabbit antibody (GAR-IgG), Rabbit anti-Goat (RAG-IgG) as analyte and enzyme conjugate GAR-HRP. The fibers reduced for 24 h were able to detect the analyte RAG-IgG at a concentration as low as 3.75 ng mL⁻¹ with 12% skimmed milk as blocking reagent for the optimized concentration of primary antibody GAR-IgG 3 μg mL⁻¹ and peroxidase conjugate GAR-HRP dilution of 8000 fold. The sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of the developed immunoassay was further established with antibodies present in human blood using Rabbit anti-Human (RAH-IgG) antibody and the corresponding HRP enzyme conjugate. As low as 0.1 μL of human blood was sufficient to perform the assay with the modified fibers.     

Monitoring carbohydrate enzymatic reactions by quantitative in vitro microdialysis

On-line in vitro microdialysis (MD) sampling followed by HPLC separation and UV absorbance detection (HPLC-UV) was used to monitor carbohydrate enzyme systems. Fundamental parameters (i.e., K(m) and V(max)) of hydrolysis reactions of 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside, 4-nitrophenyl-beta-d-galactopyranoside, and 4-nitrophenyl-beta-D-xylopyranoside were determined for a model enzyme, almond beta-glucosidase. Accurate quantitation was achieved via internal standard methodology and compared to spectrophotometric data and literature K(m) values, which were found to be 2.6+/-0.5 mM (MD), 2.7+/-0.4 mM (spec), and 2.5 mM (lit), for the substrate 4-nitrophenyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside. A previously unpublished K(m) value for the substrate salicin was also determined by this method. An application is shown for monitoring the glycoside salicin and its hydrolysis product saligenin in a commercially available willow bark product that is used for making tea. This versatile method has far-reaching applications to monitoring a variety of carbohydrates in enzymatic processes without complex sample preparation procedures and without volume loss.     

Effect of counterions on the activity of lipase in cationic water-in-oil microemulsions

This paper delineates how the different counterions affect the physicochemical properties of the aqueous aggregates and thereby the lipase activities at the interface of cationic water-in-oil microemulsions. To this end, we have synthesized a series of cetyltrimethylammonium-based surfactants, 1-14, having aliphatic, aliphatic with aromatic substitution at the alpha position, and aromatic carboxylate anion as the counterion. The physicochemical characterizations of these aqueous aggregates were done by conductometric, tensiometric, fluorometric techniques to determine counterion binding (beta), critical micelle concentration (cmc), and micropolarity at the microenvironment. It has been found that the activity of lipase mainly increases with hydrophobicity (which is directly proportional to the counterion binding (beta) of the surfactant) of the counterion and reaches a maximum when the beta value is around 0.5. Increase in hydrophobicity as well as beta leads to the attachment of more counterions at interface resulting in enhancement of interfacial area. Consequently, the enzyme may attain flexible secondary conformation at the augmented surface area and also allow larger population of substrates and enzyme molecules at the interface leading to the enhancement in lipase activity. After an optimum value of beta, further increase probably produces a steric crowding at the interface, hindering the smooth occupancy of enzyme and the substrate in this region leading to decrease of enzyme activity, while molecular surface area of the counterion did not show any virtual influence on the lipase activity. Thus, the variation in the counterion structure and hydrophobicity plays a crucial role in modulating the lipase activity.     

Cooperative stochastic behavior in the onset of localized corrosion

Stochastic temporal and spatiotemporal models of metastable pitting on a metal surface are presented. A stochastic reaction-diffusion model accounts for the effects of local changes in concentration, potential drop, and oxide film damage on the nucleation of subsequent events. The cooperative interactions among events can lead to the formation of clusters of metastable pits and to an explosive growth in the total number of pits. Recent progress in the studies of such phenomena is reviewed. New results based on a mean-field analysis of the model and numerical simulations on critical nucleation effects are reported.     

Dual solutions in boundary layer flow of a moving fluid over a moving permeable surface in presence of prescribed surface temperature and thermal radiation

An analysis of the heat transfer for a boundary layer forced convective flow past a moving permeable flat surface parallel to a moving fluid is presented. Prescribed surface temperature at the boundary is considered. A thermal radiation term in the energy equation is considered. The similarity solutions for the problem are obtained and the reduced ordinary differential equations are solved numerically. To support the validity of the numerical results, a comparison is made with the available results for some particular cases of this study. Dual solutions exist when the surface and the fluid move in the opposite directions.     

Energy transfer--a tool for probing micellar media

The non-ionic polyoxyethylene chain-containing surfactant Triton X-100 (TX-100) forms well-defined micelles and reverse micelles in aqueous and hydrocarbon media, respectively. Nonradiative energy transfer between two charged fluorescent dyes, fluorescein (FL) and acridine orange (AO) has been used to probe the micelles and reverse micelles of TX-100. In the energy transfer system employed, FL acts as the donor and AO as the acceptor. This is borne out by the fluorescence spectral data. Time-resolved studies further corroborate the steady-state results. As the fluorescence emission spectra of the two dyes show a considerable amount of overlap, they are resolved into individual donor and acceptor components using the principal component analysis (PCA) method. This study also focuses on the more important role played by hydrophobic forces (compared with electrostatic interactions) in promoting energy transfer between charged species in micellar media.