A Combined Immunofluorescence and Fluorescent Viability Cocktail Staining Procedure for Rapid Microscopic Detection and Enumeration of Live Legionella pneumophila

Journal of Fluorescence - This report describes a combined immunofluorescence and fluorescence viability stain applied as one staining solution for rapid detection of live Legionella...     

Experimental study on novel phase change composites for thermal energy storage

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this study, beeswax is studied as a phase change material (PCM) to store heat due to its high latent heat. The disadvantages of using beeswax were...     

Self‐assembled polyurea macromer nanodispersion and resulting hybrid polyurea‐acrylic emulsions and films

A polyurea macromer (PUM) was synthesized and dispersed in basic conditions to form self‐assembled nanoparticles (<20 nm dispersions, up to 30 wt % aq. soln.). These nanoparticles enabled surfactant‐free emulsion polymerization to form hybrid polyurea‐acrylic particles despite the absence of a measureable water‐soluble fraction. The T_g of the starting PUM material was a strong function of the PUM's extent of neutralization and hydration (varying between 100 °C and >175 °C) due to changes in hydrogen and ionic bonding. Two separate hybrid polyurea‐acrylic emulsion systems were prepared: one by direct polymerization of (meth)acrylic monomers in the presence of the nanodispersion and a second by a physical blend of PUM nanodispersion with an acrylic latex control. The direct polymerization method resulted in a hybrid emulsion particle size that developed by a mechanism resembling conventional emulsion polymerization and was unlike that described for seeded polyurethane dispersion systems. Film hardness was shown to increase with increasing coating thickness for the hybrid film prepared by direct polymerization. The resulting mechanical properties could be explained by applying mechanical models for a composite foam structure. These results were unprecedented for normal elastomer films. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 1373–1388     

On the global attractor of 2D incompressible turbulence with random forcing

This study revisits bounds on the projection of the global attractor in the energy–enstrophy plane for 2D incompressible turbulence [Dascaliuc, Foias, and Jolly, 2005, 2010]. In addition to providing more elegant proofs of some of the required nonlinear identities, the treatment is extended from the case of constant forcing to the more realistic case of random forcing. Numerical simulations in particular often use a stochastic white-noise forcing to achieve a prescribed mean energy injection rate. The analytical bounds are demonstrated numerically for the case of white-noise forcing.     

Media pressures on Welsh language preservation

Despite compulsory school instruction in the Welsh language and strong cultural incentives to acquire the language, the most recent UK Census showed a downward trend in the number of speakers. The asymmetry in explicit language acquisition incentives is here considered to be offset by the media dominance of the English language. This dominance is modeled by the introduction of time-dependent connectivity and infectivity among English speakers into an adapted epidemiological model. Extrapolations up to 2050 are made, this being the announced date of a Welsh Assembly language-planning target of one million Welsh speakers.     

Toward Uniform Optical Properties of Carbon Dots

Carbon dots possess versatile optical properties that have prompted their investigation in applications including photocatalysis, photovoltaics, imaging, and drug delivery, among others. However, the preparation of these nanodots is accompanied by the formation of fluorophores and intermediates, which can be difficult to separate. In the absence of thorough purification protocols, the reported optical properties are often heterogeneous, which hinders understanding of their physicochemical and optical properties and concrete application development. Here, two hydrophilic carbon dot systems starting with citric acid and diethylenetriamine are prepared. The impact of purification, including dialysis, ultrafiltration, and organic washes, on the properties of the dots is demonstrated. It is shown that monitoring the purification endpoint using near-infrared, fluorescence, and absorbance spectroscopies is possible. Moreover, it is demonstrated that fluorescence quantum yields can be a reliable tool to determine the purification endpoint. This work shows that even carbon dots derived from the same chemical precursors can have different purification profiles and purification requirements. However, the developed approach can be used to determine the proper purification procedure and endpoint for any carbon dot system regardless of the starting materials. Finally, it is envisioned that this work can be easily extended toward the purification of other hydrophilic nanomaterials.     

Experimental validation of internal model approach for tracking control of a MEMS micromirror without angular velocity measurement

Nonlinear Dynamics - This paper addresses the angular tracking control for an electromagnetic MEMS micromirror. The problem is formulated in the output regulation framework for output feedback...     

Structure of Amido Pyridinium Betaines: Persistent Intermolecular C−H⋅⋅⋅N Hydrogen Bonding in Solution

A hydrogen bond of the type C?H???X (X=O or N) is known to influence the structure and function of chemical and biological systems in solution. C?H???O hydrogen bonding in solution has been extensively studied, both experimentally and computationally, whereas the equivalent thermodynamic parameters have not been enumerated experimentally for C?H???N hydrogen bonds. This is, in part, due to the lack of systems that exhibit persistent C?H???N hydrogen bonds in solution. Herein, a class of molecule based on a biologically active norharman motif that exhibits unsupported intermolecular C?H???N hydrogen bonds in solution has been described. A pairwise interaction leads to dimerisation to give bond strengths of about 7 kJ mol^?1 per hydrogen bond, which is similar to chemically and biologically relevant C?H???O hydrogen bonding. The experimental data is supported by computational work, which provides additional insight into the hydrogen bonding by consideration of electrostatic and orbital interactions and allowed a comparison between calculated and extrapolated NMR chemical shifts.