Non-stick droplet surgery with a superhydrophobic scalpel

Cutting of nonstick droplets with a double-faced superhydrophobic blade is reported first. The process of manufacturing the superhydrophobic scalpel is presented. Cutting of water marbles and droplets deposited on a superhydrophobic surface is possible when the velocity of the blade is higher than a certain critical value. An estimation of the critical blade velocity coinciding with experimental findings is presented. Cutting of Janus and glycerol-based marbles is discussed. Coalescence of glycerol nonstick drops and marbles under cutting is treated.     

Critical phenomena in discrete-time interconnection networks

We present theoretical and numerical results for the performance of a multiprocessor network modeled as a ring and as a toroidal square lattice of nodes with local processors that generate messages for output ports/buffers. The output buffers are assumed to have infinite capacity, and the service time is deterministic. Two models are considered. One assumes that every processor generates messages with rate λ per time slot and per output port/buffer. The other model considers that the generation rate of a node depends on the intensity of the flow of arriving messages. Explicit expressions for the distribution of queue lengths, the average number of messages in the buffers, the average latency, and the critical network load depending on the distance between the source and the destination are obtained. Simulation results show excellent agreement with theoretical predictions based on the assumption of independent queues.     

The use of FTIR microscopy for evaluation of herpes viruses infection development kinetics

The kinetics of Herpes simplex infection development was studied using an FTIR microscopy (FTIR-M) method. The family of herpes viruses includes several members like H. simplex types I and II (HSV I, II), Varicella zoster (VZV) viruses which are involved in various human and animal infections of different parts of the body. In our previous study, we found significant spectral differences between normal uninfected cells in cultures and cells infected with herpes viruses at early stages of the infection. In the present study, cells in cultures were infected with either HSV-I or VZV and at various times post-infection they were examined either by optical microscopy or by advanced FTIR-M. Spectroscopic measurements show a consistent decrease in the intensity of the carbohydrate peak in correlation with the viral infection development, observed by optical microscopy. This decrease in cellular carbohydrate level was used as indicator for herpes viruses infection kinetics. This parameter could be used as a basis for applying a spectroscopic method for the evaluation of herpes virus infection development. Our results show also that the development kinetics of viral infection has an exponential character for these viruses.     

A method for determination of dimethyl benzoylphenyl urea (BPU) in human plasma by using LC/UV

Dimethyl benzoylphenyl urea (BPU) inhibited tubulin polymerization, caused microtubule depolymerization in vitro and demonstrated activity against solid tumors. BPU is being tested in phase I clinical trials. A rapid and specific method using LC/UV has been developed for quantitation of BPU in human heparin-containing plasma to perform pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies. BPU is extracted from plasma into acetonitrile:n-butyl-chloride using paclitaxel as the internal standard and separated on a Waters Symmetry C18 (3.9 x 150 mm, 5 microm) column with acetonitrile-water mobile phase (70:30, v/v) using isocratic flow at 1 mL/min for a run time of 5 min. Ultraviolet detection was utilized and performed at 225 nm for BPU and paclitaxel. The retention times were 1.9 min for paclitaxel and 4.1 min for BPU. Calibration curves were generated over the range of 0.01-10 microg/mL with coefficient of determination of > 0.99. The values for within-day and between-day precision were < or = 17.0% at the LLOQ and < or = 7.4% at the low, medium and high quality controls; accuracy was +/- 5.4%. Following administration of BPU 320 mg as a weekly oral dose to a patient with advanced solid tumor malignancies, the maximum plasma concentration was 2 micro g/mL and concentrations were quantifiable up to 168 h after administration. The lower limit of quantitation of 0.01 microg/mL allows for successful measurement of plasma concentrations in patients.     

The reversible giant change in the contact angle on the polysulfone and polyethersulfone films exposed to UV irradiation

Water contact angles on polysulfone and polyethersulfone films exposed to UV irradiation have been found to decrease dramatically. We relate this phenomenon to the formation and release of disulfonic acid from the irradiated films, a well-known surfactant. The phenomenon appears to be reversible, namely, cleansed surfaces retained their initial contact angle. The revealed phenomenon may provide a means of controlling the spreading of liquids on polysulfone and polyethersulfone films and seems promising for use in microfluidics applications.     

Synthesis and self-assembly of novel fluorous cationic amphiphiles with a 3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-pyridone spacer

The synthesis of fluorous (highly fluorinated) 3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-pyridone-5-carboxylate cationic amphiphiles have been described, where the dihydropyridone serves as a spacer and either a pyridinium bromide or a triphenylphosphonium bromide form the polar cationic head group. The in water self-assembled aggregates have been observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS).     

On the Mechanism of Floating and Sliding of Liquid Marbles

Little hovercrafts: The mechanisms of floating and sliding of liquid marbles (see picture) are elucidated. It is demonstrated that floating and sliding liquid marbles are separated from their supporting media by an air layer, resembling Leidenfrost drops. An ESEM study of the marble surface shows a rugged surface facilitating the trapping of air.

     

Patterning in rapidly evaporated polymer solutions: formation of annular structures under evaporation of the poor solvent

Patterning in the intensively evaporated polymer solutions based on polystyrene and poor solvent (acetone) was investigated. SEM and AFM studies demonstrated that annular elements of the surface topography are formed in this case, in contrast to the honeycomb patterns obtained under the evaporation of the good solvent (chloroform). The authors suggest that the theory of viscous dewetting developed by de Gennes explains the phenomenon satisfactorily.     

A stealth supersymmetry sampler

Journal of High Energy Physics - In the context of (2+1)-dimensional Chern-Simons SL(N, $ mathbb{R} $ ) × SL(N, $ mathbb{R} $ ) gauge fields and spin N black holes we compute the on-shell...