A self-consistent boundary element, parametric dislocation dynamics formulation of plastic flow in finite volumes

We present a self-consistent formulation of 3-D parametric dislocation dynamics (PDD) with the boundary element method (BEM) to describe dislocation motion, and hence microscopic plastic flow in finite volumes. We develop quantitative measures of the accuracy and convergence of the method by considering a comparison with known analytical solutions. It is shown that the method displays absolute convergence with increasing the number of quadrature points on the dislocation loop and the surface mesh density. The error in the image force on a screw dislocation approaching a free surface is shown to increase as the dislocation approaches the surface, but is nevertheless controllable. For example, at a distance of one lattice parameter from the surface, the relative error is less than 5% for a surface mesh with an element size of 1000×2000 (in units of lattice parameter), and 64 quadrature points. The Eshelby twist angle in a finite-length cylinder containing a coaxial screw dislocation is also used to benchmark the method. Finally, large scale 3-D simulation results of single slip behavior in cylindrical microcrystals are presented. Plastic flow characteristics and the stress-strain behavior of cylindrical microcrystals under compression are shown to be in agreement with experimental observations. It is shown that the mean length of dislocations trapped at the surface is the dominant factor in determining the size effects on hardening of single crystals. The influence of surface image fields on the flow stress is finally explored. It is shown that the flow stress is reduced by as much as 20% for small single crystals of size less than .     

Room Temperature Synthesis and Size Control of HKUST‐1

We report the synthesis of HKUST‐1 (Cu₃(btc)₂; btc=benzene‐1,3,5‐tricarboxylate) and its growth kinetics by dynamic light scattering completely at room temperature without prior nucleation‐induction steps. Upon an increase in concentration of the starting solutions, the generation of a pure phase requires adjustment of the H₂O/EtOH ratio. The presence of DMF is important to avoid competitive side phases. Replacement of DMF by a minimal amount of diethylamine resulted in the instantaneous formation of pure HKUST‐1 upon mixing at room temperature. Additionally, the synthesis parameters strongly influence the final crystallite size and porous properties.     

Highly specific revelation of rat serum glycopeptidome by boronic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica

Although the specific profiling of endogenous glycopeptides in serum is highly inclined towards the discovery of disease biomarkers, studies on the endogenous glycopeptides (glycopeptidome) have never been conducted because of several factors. These factors include the high dynamic range of serum proteins, the inadequacy of traditional sample preparation techniques in proteomics for low-molecular-weight (LMW) proteins, and the relatively low abundances of glycopeptides. Boronic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica was synthesized in this study to overcome the limitations of the state-of-the-art methods for glycopeptidome research. The boronic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica exhibited excellent selectivity by analyzing glycopeptides in the mixture of glycopeptides/non-glycopeptides at molar ratio of 1:100, extreme sensitivity (the limit of detection was at the fmol level), good binding capacity (40 mg g⁻¹), as well as the high post-enrichment recovery of glycopeptides (up to 88.10%). The as-prepared material possessing both glycopeptide-suitable pore size and glycopeptide-specific selectivity has shown special capability for enriching the endogenous glycopeptides. Fifteen unique glycosylation sites mapped to 15 different endogenous glycopeptides were identified in rat serum. The established protocol revealed for the first time the rat serum glycopeptidome.     

体积排阻高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子体质谱法测定海产贝类中镉的形态

运用体积排阻高效液相色谱-电感耦合等离子体质谱联用技术(SEC-HPLC-ICP-MS)分析了高镉积累扇贝和低镉积累菲律宾蛤仔中镉的存在形态,并结合体外全仿生消化技术,研究了在唾液、胃、肠无机物和有机物(含消化酶)作用下,扇贝和菲律宾蛤仔中镉的主要存在形态.结果发现:扇贝中Cd总量约为菲律宾蛤仔的10倍;在扇贝中检测到3种Cd形态:金属硫蛋白(MT)-Cd、谷胱甘肽(GSH) Cd和半胱氨酸(Cys)-Cd;在菲律宾蛤仔中检测到2种Cd形态:MT-Cd和GSH-Cd;以峰面积作参考进行比较,扇贝中MT-Cd和GSH-Cd含量分别约为菲律宾蛤仔的5 6和2.0倍.结合体外全仿生模型发现,在扇贝胃全仿生提取液中,检测到1种未知小分子有机镉形态(Cd-X),在扇贝肠全仿生提取液中检测到4种Cd形态,其中MT-Cd是主要形态;而在菲律宾蛤仔胃、肠全仿生提取液中均仅检测到1种未知小分子有机态镉(Cd-X).本实验证明贝类中的MT-Cd,GSH-Cd,Cys-Cd中络合的Cd在生物体胃肠消化液作用下会发生解离.     

Giant magnetoimpedance effect in sputtered single layered NiFe film and meander NiFe/Cu/NiFe film

Giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) effect on NiFe thin film is very promising due to its application in developing the magnetic field sensors with highly sensitivity and low cost. In this paper, the single layered NiFe thin film and NiFe/Cu/NiFe thin film with a meander structure are prepared by the MEMS technology. The influences of sputtering parameters, film structure and conductor layer width on GMI effect in NiFe single layer and meander NiFe/Cu/NiFe film are investigated. Maximum of the GMI ratio in single layer and sandwich film is 5% and 64%, respectively. The results obtained are useful for developing the high-performance magnetic sensors based on NiFe thin film.     

Spectral characterization of diffusion with chemical shift resolution: Highly concentrated water-in-oil emulsion

We present a modulated gradient spin-echo method, which uses a train of sinusoidally shaped gradient pulses separated by 180° radio-frequency (RF) pulses. The RF pulses efficiently refocus chemical shifts and de-phasing due to susceptibility differences, resulting in undistorted, high-resolution diffusion weighted spectra. This allows for the simultaneous spectral characterization of the diffusion of several molecular species with different chemical shifts. The technique is robust against susceptibility artifacts, field inhomogeneity and imperfections in the gradient generating equipment. The feasibility of the technique is demonstrated by measuring the diffusion of water, oil, and water-soluble salt in a highly concentrated water-in-oil emulsion. The diffusion of water and salt reveal precise information about the droplet size distribution below the μm-range. Common droplet size distribution explains both the data for water with finite long-range diffusion and the data for salt with negligible long-range diffusion. The results of water diffusion show that the technique is efficient in deconvolving the effects of molecular exchange between droplets and restricted diffusion within droplets. The effects of water exchange suggest that droplets of different sizes are uniformly distributed within the sample.     

Laser-assisted micro-forming process with miniaturised structures in sapphire dies

Current results will be presented on developing and miniaturising a novel laser-assisted forming process to manufacture microstructures in metals such as stainless steel and aluminum. Due to its mechanical and optical properties, sapphire is a well-suited material for the micro-forming tool. Because of its high band gap, radiation with small wavelengths in the UV range is required to reach the ablation threshold. Thus, excimer lasers are used for manufacturing the microstructures. On the other hand, its high transmittance for higher wavelengths allows heating of the work-piece through the sapphire die during the micro-forming process, which allows a better form filling. The main goal of these investigations is to identify the scaling effects on micro-formed structures that result from miniaturising microstructures on dies for the development of strategies to overcome obstacles caused by these miniaturisation effects.     

Water-soluble, cyclodextrin-functionalized semiconductor nanocrystals: Preparation and pH-dependent aggregation and emission properties

Using peramino-functionalized β-cyclodextrin molecules for phase.transfer of hydrophobic CdSe multishell nanocrystals into water, we obtained hydrophilic nanoparticles with high quantum yield (up to 50%). At pH > 9, the aqueous solution of these nanocrystals remained stable for several months. The nanoparticles showed a strong influence of the pH of the aqueous solution on the emission of the nanocrystals: the quantum yield varied reversible from ∼10% at pH=6 to ∼50% at pH=14, an effect which according to particle size characterization by dynamic light-scattering and asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation has mainly been attributed to reversible partial aggregation of the hydrophilic nanocrystals at lower pH-values. Additionally, prolonged irradiation in the presence of oxygen led to a strong enhancement of the photoluminescence intensity of the nanocrystals.