THERMODYNAMIC AND PARTICLE-DYNAMIC STUDIES ON SYNTHESIS OF SILICA NANOPARTICLES USING MICROWAVE-INDUCED PLASMA CVD

1. Introduction1.1 Silica nanoparticles and synthesis methods Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles are widely used in industry asan active filler for polymer reinforcement, a rheologicaladditive in fluids, a free flow agent in powders, and anagent for chemical mechanical polishing during IC (inte-grated circuit) fabrication (Sniegowski & de Boer, 2000).Silica powder is also used for producing silicon carbide(Koc & Cattamanchi, 1998) or opaque silica aerosols (Leeet al., 1995). Many methods can …     

Non-invasive vibrational SFG spectroscopy reveals that bacterial adhesion can alter the conformation of grafted "brush" chains on SAM

Understanding bacterial adhesion on a surface is a crucial step to design new materials with improved properties or to control biofilm formation and eradication. Sum Frequency Generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy has been employed to study in situ the conformational response of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of octadecanethiol (ODT) on a gold film to the adhesion of hydrophilic and hydrophobic ovococcoid model bacteria. The present work highlights vibrational SFG spectroscopy as a powerful and unique non-invasive biophysical technique to probe and control bacteria interaction with ordered surfaces. Indeed, the SFG vibrational spectral changes reveal different ODT SAM conformations in air and upon exposure to aqueous solution or bacterial adhesion. Furthermore, this effect depends on the bacterial cell surface properties. The SFG spectral modeling demonstrates that hydrophobic bacteria flatten the ODT SAM alkyl chain terminal part, whereas the hydrophilic ones raise this ODT SAM terminal part. Microorganism-induced alteration of grafted chains can thus affect the desired interfacial functionality, a result that should be considered for the design of new reactive materials.     

Nonlinear compression of optical solitons

In this paper, we consider nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations, both in the anomalous and normal dispersive regimes, which govern the propagation of a single field in a fiber medium with phase modulation and fibre gain (or loss). The integrability conditions are arrived from linear eigen value problem. The variable transformations which connect the integrable form of modified NLS equations are presented. We succeed in Hirota bilinearzing the equations and on solving, exact bright and dark soliton solutions are obtained. From the results, we show that the soliton is alive, i.e. pulse area can be conserved by the inclusion of gain (or loss) and phase modulation effects.     

Symplectic supercuspidal representations and related problems

In this paper, we summarize the basic structures and properties of irreducible symplectic supercuspidal representations of GLn(F) over a p-adic local field F with characteristic zero, and explore possible topics for further investigation.     

Determination of the van der Waals, electron donor and electron acceptor surface tension components of static Gram-positive microbial biofilms

A large number of studies have shown the influence of the physico-chemical properties of a surface on microbial adhesion phenomenon. In this study, we considered that the presence of a bacterial biofilm may be regarded as a “conditioning film” that may modify the physico-chemical characteristics of the support, and thus the adhesion capability of planktonic micro-organisms coming into contact with this substratum. In this context, we adapted a protocol for biofilm formation that allows, under our experimental conditions, contact angle measurements, the reference method to determine the energetic surface properties of a substratum. This made it possible to determine the van der Waals, electron acceptor and electron donor properties of static biofilms grown at 25°C on stainless-steel slides with six Gram-positive bacteria isolated in dairy plants. A variance analysis indicated significant effects (P<0.05) of the bacterial strains and of the physiological state of the micro-organisms (planktonic or sessile) on the contact angles. To link the energetic properties of the six biofilms with direct adhesion experiments, we measured the affinity of fluorescent carboxylate-modified polystyrene beads for the different biofilm surfaces. The results correlated best with the electron-acceptor components of the biofilm surface energies, stressing the importance of Lewis acid–base interactions in adhesion mechanisms.     

Surface properties and adhesion of Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis to polyurethane - Influence of growth temperature

We sought to determine the influence of the growth temperature on the surface physicochemical properties and adhesion of Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis. Growth temperature did not affect the surface characteristics of Bacillus cereus. With respect to the surface characteristics of the bacteria, water contact angle values indicated a hydrophilic nature for the vegetative forms of Bacillus subtilis with the exception of vegetative form cultured at 44^°C which, like the sporulated forms of the two species, was more hydrophobia When Bacillus subtilis was cultured at a temperature other than the optimum growth temperature, its global charge was increased; the more distant the culture temperature from the optimum temperature (30^°C), the higher the negative charge. Furthermore, using a tensiometric method, we demonstrated a production of surfactant by Bacillus subtilis. The rate of production rose the closer the growth temperature was to the optimum temperature. In line with the forecasts made on the basis of bacterial energy characteristics and those of a polyurethane surface, the growth and adhesion temperature only had a slight influence on the number of adherent cells.     

Ultra-low-frequency dust-electromagnetic modes in self-gravitating magnetized dusty plasmas

Obliquely propagating altra-low-frequency dust-electromagnetic waves in a self-gravitating, warm, magnetized, two fluid dusty plasma system have been investigated. Two special cases, namely, dust-Alfvén mode propagating parallel to the external magnetic field and dustmagnetosonic mode propagating perpendicular to the external magnetic field have also been considered. It has been shown that effects of self-gravitational field, dust fluid temperature, and obliqueness significantly modify the dispersion properties of these ultra-low-frequency dust-electromagnetic modes. It is also found that in parallel propagating dust-Alfvén mode these effects play no role, but in obliquely propagating dust-Alfvén mode or perpendicular propagating dust-magnetosonic mode the effect of self-gravitational field plays destabilizing role whereas the effect of dust/ion fluid temperature plays stabilizing role.     

Radical polymerization and preliminary microbiological investigation of new polymer derived from myrtenol

A new methacrylic monomer derived from myrtenol, an essential oil possessing biocidal properties extracted from Myrtus communis L., was prepared in one step and named myrtenyl methacrylate. Conventional radical polymerization was performed in solution with 2,2′-azobis(2-methylpropionitrile) as thermal initiator in the temperature range 60–80 °C. Influences of reaction time, temperature and initiator concentration on monomer conversion and molar masses were studied. Controlled radical polymerization experiments were performed using the Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization techniques, leading to the formation of polymers with controlled molar masses and narrow molar mass distribution. Microbiological tests of these (macro)molecules were carried out using planktonic and adhesion tests with gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria in order to evaluate their antibacterial properties.     

Capillary force required to detach micron-sized particles from solid surfaces—Validation with bubbles circulating in water and 2 μm-diameter latex spheres

The adhesion forces holding micron-sized particles to solid surfaces can be studied through the detachment forces developed by the transit of an air–liquid interface in a capillary. Two key variables affect the direction and magnitude of the capillary detachment force: (i) the thickness of the liquid film between the bubble and the capillary walls, and (ii) the effective angle of the triple phase contact between the particles and the interface. Variations in film thickness were calculated using a two-phase flow model. Film thickness was used to determine the time-variation of the capillary force during transit of the bubble. The curve for particle detachment was predicted from the calculated force. This curve proved to be non-linear and gave in situ information on the effective contact angle developing at the particle–bubble interface during detachment. This approach allowed an accurate determination of the detachment force. This theoretical approach was validated using latex particles 2 μm in diameter.