Resilient and agile engineering solutions to address societal challenges such as coronavirus pandemic

The world is witnessing tumultuous times as major economic powers including the US, UK, Russia, India, and most of Europe continue to be in a state of lockdown. The worst-hit sectors due to this lockdown are sales, production (manufacturing), transport (aerospace and automotive) and tourism. Lockdowns became necessary as a preventive measure to avoid the spread of the contagious and infectious “Coronavirus Disease 2019” (COVID-19). This newly identified disease is caused by a new strain of the virus being referred to as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV). We review the current medical and manufacturing response to COVID-19, including advances in instrumentation, sensing, use of lasers, fumigation chambers and development of novel tools such as lab-on-the-chip using combinatorial additive and subtractive manufacturing techniques and use of molecular modelling and molecular docking in drug and vaccine discovery. We also offer perspectives on future considerations on climate change, outsourced versus indigenous manufacturing, automation, and antimicrobial resistance. Overall, this paper attempts to identify key areas where manufacturing can be employed to address societal challenges such as COVID-19.     

Stimuli‐Responsive Naphthalene Diimide as Invisible Ink: A Rewritable Fluorescent Platform for Anti‐Counterfeiting

Herein, we report an approach to combat counterfeiting and storage of valuable information based on the solid‐state fluorescence switching behavior of isoniazid functionalized naphthalene diimide (ISO_NDI) in response to an external stimuli (i. e., HCl vapor). The unique feature of ISO_NDI is further utilized to develop an invisible ink (ISO_NDI‐PVA) with commercial polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). A solid‐state fluorescence recovery was observed while loading with HCl vapors. This exclusive property of the material could be applied directly as a security ink for confidential data storage purpose. Based on above strategy, we successfully realized the rewritable application by using ISO_NDI‐PVA ink and confirm its practical efficacy on various substrates by creating different patterns. The solid‐state fluorescence switching behavior of ISO_NDI‐PVA ink exhibited reversible on/off signal for multiple cycles under the influence of HCl/NH₃ vapors. Mechanistic investigation supports a clear participation of intermolecular charge transfer (ICT) phenomenon in the solid‐state fluorescence switching property. The ease of fabricating the ink with invisible to visible characteristics in response to HCl vapors provides new opportunities for exploring the application of ISO_NDI‐PVA as invisible ink for targeted security applications.     

Regioselective Arylation and Alkynylation of 2,3‐Dibromo‐1H‐inden‐1‐one by Suzuki?Miyaura and Sonogashira Cross‐Coupling Reactions

Suzuki? Miyaura reactions of 2,3‐dibromo‐1H‐inden‐1‐one afforded a wide range of arylated 1H‐inden‐1‐ones. Sonogashira cross‐coupling reactions gave alkynylated indenones. The reactions proceeded with very good regioselectivity in the less sterically hindered and more electron‐deficient position 3.     

Intraband effects on ultrafast pulse propagation in semiconductor optical amplifier

High bit-rate (>10 Gb/s) signals are composed of very short pulses and propagation of such pulses through a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) requires consideration of intraband phenomena. Due to the intraband effects, the propagating pulse sees a fast recovering nonlinear gain which introduces less distortion in the pulse shape and spectrum of the output pulse but introduces a positive chirping at the trailing edge of the pulse.     

APPROXIMATING COMMON FIXED POINTS OF NEARLY ASYMPTOTICALLY NONEXPANSIVE MAPPINGS

We use an iteration scheme to approximate common fixed points of nearly asymptotically nonexpansive mappings.We generalize corresponding theorems of [1] to the case of two nearly asymptotically nonexpansive mappings and those of [9] not only to a larger class of mappings but also with better rate of convergence.     

Effect of denaturation of DNA on the molecular organization of a fluorescent dye in ultra thin films

Acridine Orange (AO) forms H-dimer in solid state and in ultra thin films. However, H dimer of AO reduces its efficiency as a usefull material for fluorescence probe. In the present work detailed investigations has been done on the interaction of AO with different forms of DNA in order to check the effectiveness in controlling the dimeric sites of AO in the Layer by Layer (LbL) self assembled film. It was found that single stranded DNA (ssDNA) is most effective than the dsDNA and coil-shaped DNA in controlling the dimeric sites of AO in LbL film.     

Anomalous momentum dependence of the quasiparticle scattering rate in overdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8

The question of the anisotropy of the electron scattering in high temperature superconductors is investigated using high resolution angle-resolved photoemission data from Pb-doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (Bi2212) with suppressed superstructure. The scattering rate of low energy electrons along two bilayer-split pieces of the Fermi surface is measured (via the quasiparticle peak width), and no increase of scattering towards the antinode (pi,0) region is observed, contradicting the expectation from Q=(pi,pi) scattering. The results put a limit on the effects of Q=(pi,pi) scattering on the electronic structure of this overdoped superconductor with still very high T(c).     

Novel cycloartane saponins from Corchorus depressus L

Two novel bidesmosidic cycloartane-type glycosides, depressosides C and D were isolated from Corchorus depressus L. Their structures were elucidated as (22R)-16beta,22-epoxy-3beta,26-dihydroxy-9,19-cyclolanost-++ +24E-ene 3, 26-di-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside and (22R,24S)-22,25-epoxy-3beta,16beta,24-trihydroxy-9,19-cyclolano stane 3, 24-di-O-beta-glucopyranoside, respectively on the basis of chemical evidence and detailed spectroscopic studies.     

Transition metal complexes of hydrotris(imidazolyl)borate anion

The preparation and characterization of the ligand potassium hydrotris(imidazolyl)borate and some of its complexes with transition metals is reported. These complexes have apparently an octahedral structure except the Cu(II) complex which seems to have a square planar geometry. The values of the ligand field parameters 10Dq, B and β have been evaluated for most of these complexes.     

Gold(I)-selenium bond: synthesis and x-ray structure of chloro(triphenylphosphine selenide)gold(I)

The crystal and molecular structures of chloro(triphenylphosphineselenide)gold(I), [(C₆H₅)₃PSe]AuCl, have been determined from three-dimensional X-ray intensity data collected on a CAD4 diffractometer. The compound crystallizes in the triclinic space groupPl witha=9.322(3),b=10.639(5),c=9.252(3) Å, =104.74(4), =99.52(3), =76.97(3)°, andZ=2. Atomic parameters were refined by full-matrix least-squares to anR value of 5.7% for 2591 observed reflections. This is one of the few known examples of linear gold(I) complexes having an Au-Se linkage. The Se-Au-Cl angle is 178.6(1)°, and the Au-Se and Au-Cl distances are 2.371(2) and 2.277(6) Å, respectively. As expected, the Au-Se bond length is 0.10–0.18 Å longer than the Au-S bond length observed in similar two-coordinate linear gold(I) complexes.