Polypyrrole nanotube modified by gold nanoparticles for improving the neural microelectrodes

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - High selectivity and low impedance are preferred properties for neural microelectrodes. The localized and controlled release of drugs from the...     

Skin‐worn Soft Microfluidic Potentiometric Detection System

A flexible skin‐mounted microfluidic potentiometric device for simultaneous electrochemical monitoring of sodium and potassium in sweat is presented. The wearable device allows efficient natural sweat pumping to the potentiometric detection chamber, containing solid‐contact ion‐selective Na⁺ and K⁺ electrodes, during exercise activity. The fabricated microchip electrolyte‐sensing device displays good analytical performance and addresses sweat mixing and carry‐over issues of early epidermal potentiometric sensors. Such soft skin‐worn microchip platform integrates potentiometric measurement, microfluidic technologies with flexible electronics for real‐time wireless data transmission to mobile devices. The new fully integrated microfluidic electrolyte‐detection device paves the way for practical fitness and health monitoring applications.     

Experimental investigation of paraffin nano-encapsulated phase change material on heat transfer enhancement of pulsating heat pipe

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this study, a mixture of nano-encapsulated phase change materials in water has been used as the working fluid in a pulsating heat pipe in order to...     

Organometallic assembling of chitosan‐Iron oxide nanoparticles with their antifungal evaluation against Rhizopus oryzae

The ever‐increasing resistance of plant microbes towards fungicides and bactericides has been causing serious threat to plant production in recent years. For the development of an effective antifungal agent, we introduce a novel hydrothermal protocol for synthesis of chitosan iron oxide nanoparticles (CH‐Fe₂O₃ NPs) using acetate buffer of low pH 5.0 for intermolecular interaction of Fe₂O₃ NPs and CH. The composite structure and elemental elucidation were carried out by using X‐ray power diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X‐ray (EDX), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Ultraviolet Visible Absorption Spectroscopy (UV–vis spectroscopy). Additionally, antifungal activity was evaluated both In vitro and In vivo against Rhizopus oryzae which is causing fruit rot disease of strawberry. We compared different concentrations (0.25%, 0.50%, 075% and 1%) of CH‐Fe₂O₃ NPs and 50% synthetic fungicide (Matalyxal Mancozab) to figure out suitable concentration for application in the field. XRD analysis showed a high crystalline nature of the NPs with average size of 52 nanometer (nm). SEM images revealed spherical shape with size range of 50–70 nm, whereas, TEM also revealed spherical shape, size ranging from 0 nm to 80 nm. EDX and FTIR results revealed presence of CH on surface of Fe₂O₃ NPs. The band gap measurement showed peak 317–318 nm for bare Fe₂O₃ NPs and CH‐Fe₂O₃ NPs respectively. Antifungal activity in both In vitro and In vivo significantly increased with increase in concentration. The overall results revealed high synergetic antifungal potential of organometallic CH‐Fe₂O₃ NPs against Rhizopus oryzae and suggest the use of CH‐Fe₂O₃ NPs against other Phyto‐pathological diseases due to biodegradable nature.     

Numerical study of flow-induced vibrations of cylinders under the action of nonlinear energy sinks (NESs)

An isolated two-dimensional circular cylinder with two linear degrees of freedom, parallel and perpendicular to the free-stream direction, and owning a nonlinear energy sink (NES) is investigated by fluid–structure interaction (FSI) simulations to assess vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) at moderate Reynolds numbers. Subsequently, the wake-induced vibration (WIV) of a pair of identical cylinders under the action of two NES in a tandem arrangement and in a proximity–wake interference regime is explored using the same approach. The NES parameters (mass, nonlinear stiffness and damping) are investigated to determine their effects on the dynamic response of a single degree of freedom (in transverse flow direction) coupled system by a reduced-order model based on an experimentally validated van der Pol oscillator. The CFD model coupled with FSI method is also validated against VIV experimental data for an isolated cylinder in a uniform flow. The study is aimed to investigate the effect of the passive suppression NES device on VIV and WIV. The amplitude response, trajectories of cylinder motion and temporal evolutions of vortex shedding are obtained by conducting a series of numerical simulations. It is found that placing a tuned NES in the cylinders can provide good suppression effect; however, the effectiveness is function of the reduced velocity.     

The Aluffi algebra of hypersurfaces with isolated singularities

The Alu? algebra is an algebraic definition of a characteristic cycle of a hypersurface in intersection theory. In this paper, we study the Alu? algebra of quasi-homogeneous and locally Eulerian hypersurfaces with only isolated singularities. We prove that the Jacobian ideal of an a?ne hypersurface with isolated singularities is of linear type if and only if it is locally Eulerian. We show that the gradient ideal of a projective hypersurface with only isolated singularities is of linear type if and only if the a?ne curve in each a?ne chart associated to singular points is locally Eulerian. We show that the gradient ideal of Nodal and Cuspidal projective plane curves are of linear type.     

Single-walled boron nitride nanotube as nano-sensor

Nowadays, the eye-catching characteristics of boron nitride nanotubes, in particular, the capability of sensing nano-objects, have opened up new prospects to develop the bio-/nano-sensing technologies. This research deals with physically affected single-walled boron nitride nanotubes (SWBNNT) as nano-sensors for sensing attached nanoscale objects. Three different boundary conditions including simply supported at both ends, clamped-free and clamped-clamped are considered to illustrate the vibrational behaviour of SWBNNTs as nano-sensor. The Rayleigh and Timoshenko beam theories are employed to model the SWBNNT. Also, the nonlocal strain gradient model is utilized to capture the size-dependent effects. One of the major factors in the scrutiny of mass nano-sensors is pertinent to the variation in frequency shift magnitudes against the number and mass weight values of attached nanoparticles. Herein, the effects of the nonlocal and material length scale parameters, the number and location of nano-objects, the rotary inertia and mass weight magnitudes of attached nanoparticles, the aspect ratio of SWBNNT, electrical potential and different boundary conditions on the variation in frequency shift and resonant frequency are analysed.     

Photoinduced Birefringence in Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) Polymeric Thin Films Doped with Di-Azo Sudan G

Photoinduced birefringence in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), polymeric thin films doped with di-azo Sudan G was investigated. A pump-probe method was used to study the dynamic behavior of the birefringence. The mechanism for the inducement of birefringence is discussed in terms of the photoisomerization of the di-azo Sudan G molecules. The results showed that the dynamic evolution of the photoinduced birefringence was such that the average birefringence increased, saturated, and then decreased with respect to the laser pump intensity. Also, an exponential-like relationship was observed between both the saturation and the isotropic states of the averaged transmitted probe beam (expressing the residual anisotropy) and the birefringence on one hand, and the intensity amplitudes of the pumping powers on the other hand.     

Intraspecific competition of predator for prey with variable rates in protected areas

Nonlinear Dynamics - In this present study, we systematically explore the periodicity (almost periodic nature) of a dynamical system in time-varying environment, which portrays a special case of...