Green's function approach to study the propagation of SH‐wave in piezoelectric layer influenced by a point source

Green's function technique serves as a powerful tool to find the particle displacements due to SH‐wave propagation in layer of a shape different from the space between two parallel planes. Therefore, the present paper undertook to study the propagation of SH‐wave in a transversely isotropic piezoelectric layer under the influence of a point source and overlying a heterogeneous substrate using Green's function technique. The coupled electromechanical field equations are solved with the aid of Green's function technique. Expression for displacements in both layer and substrate, scalar potential and finally the dispersion relation is obtained analytically for the case when wave propagates along the direction of layering. Numerical computations are carried out and demonstrated with the aid of graphs for six different piezoelectric materials namely PZT‐5H ceramics, Barium titanate (BaTiO₃) ceramics, Silicon dioxide (SiO₂) glass, Borosilicate glass, Cobalt Iron Oxide (CoFe₂O₄), and Aluminum Nitride (AlN). The effects of heterogeneity, piezoelectric and dielectric constants on the dispersion curve are highlighted. Moreover, comparative study is carried out taking the phase velocity for different piezoelectric materials on one hand and isotropic case on the other. Dispersion relation is reduced to well‐known classical Love wave equation with a view to illuminate the authenticity of problem. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On some spectral spaces associated to tensor triangulated categories

We consider a closure operator c of finite type on the space \(SMod(\mathcal M)\) of thick \(\mathcal K\)-submodules of a triangulated category \(\mathcal M\) that is a module over a tensor triangulated category \((\mathcal K,\otimes ,1)\). Our purpose is to show that the space \(SMod^c(\mathcal M)\) of fixed points of the operator c is a spectral space that also carries the structure of a topological monoid.     

Zinc-mediated synthesis of 3-alkynyl-3-hydroxyindolin-2-ones by addition of iodoalkynes to isatins

An efficient and economical method was developed for synthesis of 3 alkynyl-3-hydroxyindolin-2-ones by addition of iodoalkynes to isatins using zinc dust.     

Autonomously-triggered microfluidic cooling using thermo-responsive hydrogels

We present autonomously-triggered on-chip microfluidic cooling devices that utilize thermo-responsive hydrogels to adapt to local environmental temperatures. An external rotating magnetic stirrer couples with an in situ fabricated nickel impeller in these centrifugal-based microfluidic cooling devices to recirculate cooler water. Temperature-responsive hydrogels, which exhibit volumetric expansion and contraction, are integrated at the axle of the impeller. In this design, the hydrogels behave similar to an automotive clutch, to autonomously control the impeller's rotation as a function of the local environmental temperature. Therefore, the hydrogels act as both sensors and actuators and help take away the necessity for additional temperature sensing, feedback, and/or control units here. Cooling devices capable of on-chip thermal management at multiple predetermined onset operation points are realized by changes to the composition of hydrogel to alter its lowest critical solution temperature (LCST). Furthermore, the effect of magnetic stirrer frequency on the fluid cooling and flowrates for different two-blade nickel impeller designs are presented.     

Evaluation of enzymatic activity on nanoscale polystyrene-block-polymethylmethacrylate diblock copolymer domains

Understanding structural and functional changes of polymeric surface-bound proteins is extremely important as polymers play an increasingly significant role as arrays and substrates in proteomics applications. We carried out, for the first time, quantitative activity measurements of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzymes immobilized selectively on the polystyrene domains of microphase-separated polystyrene-block-polymethylmethacrylate ultrathin films. The specific enzymatic activity of HRP adsorbed on the diblock copolymer surface was evaluated and compared to that of HRP in free solution. We demonstrate that the polymeric surface-bound HRP molecules maintain approximately 85% of their activity in free solution. The unique advantages of diblock copolymer templates, involving nanoscale self-assembly and largely retained protein functionality, make the spontaneously constructed enzyme nanoarrays highly suitable as proteomics substrates. Our novel assembly method of providing functional enzymes on diblock copolymer thin films can be greatly beneficial for high-throughput and high-density protein assays.     

Amine and nitramine functionalization of imidazole-triazine and triazole-triazine skeletons: Exploring for potential multipurpose energetic materials

A series of five and six-membered C-C bonded energetic materials ( 2 – 7 ) based on a combination of imidazole-triazine and triazole-triazine backbones were designed, synthesized, and characterized using NMR, IR, Mass spectrometry, and TGA-DSC studies. Further, the structure of compound 4 was supported by single-crystal X-ray analysis. All the newly synthesized energetic compounds exhibit good density, excellent thermal stability, good detonation performance, and low mechanical sensitivity toward impact and friction. Among all, the nitrate salt 4 exhibits balanced properties, including high density (1.80 g cm⁻³), excellent thermal stability (254°C), good detonation velocity (8178 m s⁻¹), and low sensitivity towards impact and friction. The facile synthetic feasibility, thermal stability, energetic performance, and insensitivity of all the molecules suggest they can be used as an insensitive secondary explosive in various defense and civilian applications.     

Surface anchoring effect on guest–host ferroelectric liquid crystal response time – an electro-optical investigation

The effect is reported of surface anchoring on various electro-optical parameters of a pure ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) and five mixtures with different concentrations of dye. The Anthraquinone D5 dye was used as guest entity, whereas Felix 17-000 was used as host in this investigation. The presence of dye molecules in the FLC dramatically affects the electro-optical properties compared with those of the pure system. Electro-optical parameters such as spontaneous polarization and rotational viscosity not only change with the addition of dye but they are also strongly dependent on the concentration of dye in pure FLC. The effect of dye molecules on the anchoring energy of the pure FLC system was also investigated. Due to strong anchoring energy on FLC substrate, its effect on response time was also studied. An improvement in the contrast ratio after dye doping was observed. The value of spontaneous polarization increases due to addition of dye, suggesting that molecular alignment improves, which is very useful from the application point of view.     

Relay placement for fault tolerance in wireless networks in higher dimensions

In this paper we consider the problem of adding the smallest number of additional (relay) nodes to a network of static nodes with limited communication range so that the induced communication graph is 2-connected (we consider both edge and vertex connectivity). The problem is NP-hard. We develop algorithms that find close to optimal solutions for both edge and vertex connectivity. We prove the algorithms have an approximation ratio of 2M for nodes distributed in a d-dimensional Euclidean space, where M is the maximum node degree of a Minimum Spanning Tree in d dimensions using Euclidean metrics. In addition, our methods extend with the same approximation guarantees to a generalization when the locations of relays are required to avoid certain polygonal regions (obstacles).     

Isomeric complexes of [RuII(trpy)(L)Cl] (trpy=2,2':6',2'-terpyridine and HL=quinaldic acid): preference of isomeric structural form in catalytic chemoselective epoxidation process

The present work deals with the isomeric complexes of the molecular composition [Ru(II)(trpy)(L)Cl] in 1 and 2 (trpy = 2,2':6',2'-terpyridine, L = deprotonated form of quinaldic acid, HL). Isomeric identities of 1 and 2 have been established by their single-crystal X-ray structures, which reveal that under the meridional configuration of trpy, O(-) and N donors of the unsymmetrical L are in trans, cis and cis, trans configurations, respectively, with respect to the Ru-Cl bond. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibit appreciable differences in bond distances involving Ru-Cl and Ru-O1/Ru-N1 associated with L on the basis of their isomeric structural features. In relation to isomer 2, the isomeric complex 1 exhibits a slightly lower Ru(II)-Ru(III) oxidation potential [0.35 (1), 0.38 (2) V versus SCE in CH(3)CN] as well as lower energy MLCT transitions [559 nm and 417 nm (1) and 533 nm and 378 nm (2)]. This has also been reflected in the DFT calculation where a lower HOMO-LUMO gap of 2.59 eV in 1 compared to 2.71 eV in 2 is found. The isomeric structural effect in 1 and 2 has also been prominent in their (1)H NMR spectral profiles. The relatively longer Ru-Cl bond in 1 (2.408(2) ?) as compared to 2 (2.3813(9) ?) due to the trans effect of the anionic O(-) of coordinated L makes it labile, which in turn facilitates the transformation of [Ru(II)(trpy)(L)(Cl)] (1) to the solvate species, [Ru(II)(trpy)(L)(CH(3)CN)](Cl) (1a) while crystallizing 1 from the coordinating CH(3)CN solvent. The formation of 1a has been authenticated by its single-crystal X-ray structure. However, no such exchange of "Cl(-)" by the solvent molecule occurs in 2 during the crystallization process from the coordinating CH(3)CN solvent. The labile Ru-Cl bond in 1 makes it a much superior precatalyst for the epoxidation of alkene functionalities. Compound 1 is found to function as an excellent precatalyst for the epoxidation of a wide variety of alkene functionalities under environmentally benign conditions using H(2)O(2) as an oxidant and EtOH as a solvent, while isomer 2 remains almost ineffective under identical reaction conditions. The remarkable differences in catalytic performances of 1 and 2 based on their isomeric structural aspects have been addressed.     

Synthesis and optical properties of acidochromic amine-substituted benzo[a]phenazines

A new series of alkylamine- or arylamine-substituted benzo[a]phenazines have been synthesized from 1,2-naphthoquinones by employing simple sequential Michael-type addition with a variety of primary and secondary amines and the condensation reaction of the resulting amine-substituted 1,2-naphthoquinones with o-phenylenediamine. They exhibited absorption peaks originating from the charge transfer transition between the amine and pyrazine segments and benzo[a]phenazine localized π-π* transitions. Although the absorption spectra of the dyes were not significantly influenced by the nature of the solvents, addition of TFA led to a prominent red-shift in the absorption spectra owing to the protonation at the quinoxaline segment which enhanced the electron-accepting ability. The qualitative trends observed in the optical properties and acidochromism were supported by density functional theoretical computations. The dyes displayed positive solvatochromism in the emission spectra suggestive of a more polar excited state. The dyes were also characterized by a quasi-reversible reduction couple originating from the pyrazine segment which underwent shifts corresponding to electron-donating strength of the amine segment.