Microstructure of Nickel Aluminides Formed in Situ in Aluminium Matrix Composites

Nickel aluminides formed in situ in aluminium matrix composites due to the interaction between nickel powder and the matrix were examined. The composite materials were obtained from mixtures of nickel powder and aluminium powder by hot pressing in vacuum in the temperature range of 500–640°C. Depending on hot pressing parameters, the morphology of nickel aluminide particles was layered or homogenous, and their size for the same precursor powder was growing as the pressing temperature increased. XRD, SEM, TEM and EDS characterization methods were used for the microstructure investigation.     

Dialgebra cohomology as a G-algebra

It is well known that the Hochschild cohomology of an associative algebra admits a G-algebra structure. In this paper we show that the dialgebra cohomology of an associative dialgebra has a similar structure, which is induced from a homotopy G-algebra structure on the dialgebra cochain complex .

     

Bel-Robinson Energy and Constant Mean Curvature Foliations

An energy estimate is proved for the Bel-Robinson energy along a constant mean curvature foliation in a spatially compact vacuum spacetime, assuming an bound on the second fundamental form, and a bound on a spacetime version of Bel-Robinson energy. Communicated by Sergiu KlainermanSubmitted 25/07/03, accepted 27/01/04     

Contents of Volume 2 (2003)

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 2 (2003)     

Water-compatible molecularly imprinted polymers obtained via high-throughput synthesis and experimental design

A technique allowing high-throughput synthesis and evaluation of molecularly imprinted polymer sorbents at a reduced scale (mini-MIPs) was developed and used for the optimization of MIPs for use in pure aqueous environments. The technique incorporated a 4-port liquid-handling robot for the rapid dispensing of monomers, templates, solvents and initiator into the reaction vessels of a 96-well plate. A library of 80 polymers, each ca. 50 mg, could thus be prepared in 24 h. The MIP rebinding capacity and selectivity could be rapidly assessed in the batch mode by quantifying nonbound fractions in parallel using a UV monochromator plate reader. This allowed a complete evaluation of the binding characteristics of an 80 polymer library in approximately 1 week. With the objective of optimizing a polymer imprinted with the local anaesthetic Bupivacaine for use in pure aqueous systems, a polymer library was prepared by varying the original poly(MAA-co-EDMA) MIP composition. The variable factors were the added amount of the hydrophilic comonomer, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), the cross-linking ratio, and the porogen. This optimization resulted in polymers showing high imprinting factors (IF = K(MIP)/K(NIP)) in water as a result, mainly, of reduced binding to the nonimprinted polymer. Normal scale batches of these materials showed strong retention of the template and low nonspecific binding when assessed as chromatographic stationary phases using pure phosphate buffer, pH 7.4, as mobile phase, by equilibrium batch rebinding experiments and as sorbents for extractions of the analyte from blood plasma samples.     

Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis by allele-specific primer extension with real-time bioluminescence detection in a microfluidic device

A microfluidic approach for rapid bioluminescent real-time detection of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is presented. The method is based on single-step primer extension using pyrosequencing chemistry to monitor nucleotide incorporations in real-time. The method takes advantage of the fact that the reaction kinetics differ between matched and mismatched primer-template configurations. We show here that monitoring the initial reaction in real time accurately scores SNPs by comparing the initial reaction kinetics between matched and mismatched configurations. Thus, no additional treatment is required to improve the sequence specificity of the extension, which has been the case for many allele-specific extension assays. The microfluidic approach was evaluated using four SNPs. Three of the SNPs included primer-template configurations that have been previously reported to be difficult to resolve by allele-specific primer extension. All SNPs investigated were successfully scored. Using the microfluidic device, the volume for the bioluminescent assay was reduced dramatically, thus offering a cost-effective and fast SNP analysis method.     

Structural and functional model of methane hydroxylase of membrane-bound methane monooxygenase from Methylococcus capsulatus (Bath)

Computer analysis of a wide range of primary sequences showed that -, -, and -peptides of membrane-bound methane hydroxylase contained 2, 7, and 6 transmembrane helices respectively. Conservative amino acid residues participating in complex formation were revealed. The - and -peptides are suggested to contain mononuclear copper ions with the ligand environment mainly consisting of His residues. The Cu sites are located in the hydrophilic region and are responsible for ESR signals. The active site of -peptide in which the activation of O₂ and oxidation of CH₄ occur is localized in the hydrophobic region close to the membrane surface. This site is formed by the amino acid residues of four transmembrane helices and one loop between them and is suggested to be a binuclear Cu—Fe or Fe—Fe center. The Cu site of -peptide transfers electrons to the active site of -peptide, and the Cu site of -peptide is either involved in this process or only stabilizes the protein structure.     

On a differential-algebraic problem

The method of quasilinearization is a procedure for obtaining approximate solutions of differential equations. In this paper, this technique is applied to a differential-algebraic problem. Under some natural assumptions, monotone sequences converge quadratically to a unique solution of our problem.     

Silicon detector technology development in India for the participation in international experiments

A specific research and development program has been carried out by BARC in India to develop the technology for large area silicon strip detectors for application in nuclear and high energy physics experiments. These strip detectors will be used as pre-shower detector in the CMS experiment at LHC, CERN for π ⁰/λ rejection. The fabrication technology to produce silicon strip detectors with very good uniformity over a large area of ∼40 cm², low leakage currents of the order of 10 nA/cm² per strip and high breakdown voltage of >500 V has been developed by BARC. The production of detectors is already under way to deliver 1000 detector modules for the CMS and 90% production is completed. In this paper, research and development work carried out to develop the detector fabrication technology is briefly described. The performance of the silicon strip detectors produced in India is presented. The present status of the detector technology is discussed.      

Photoswitched DNA-binding of a photochromic spiropyran

The dramatically different DNA-binding properties of the two isomeric forms of a photochromic spiropyran have been demonstrated, enabling photoswitched DNA binding. The closed, UV-absorbing form shows no signs of interaction with DNA. Upon UV exposure the spiropyran is isomerized to the open form that binds to DNA by intercalation. The process is fully reversible as the corresponding dissociation process is induced by visible light.