Material binding peptides for nanotechnology

Remarkable progress has been made to date in the discovery of material binding peptides and their utilization in nanotechnology, which has brought new challenges and opportunities. Nowadays phage display is a versatile tool, important for the selection of ligands for proteins and peptides. This combinatorial approach has also been adapted over the past decade to select material-specific peptides. Screening and selection of such phage displayed material binding peptides has attracted great interest, in particular because of their use in nanotechnology. Phage display selected peptides are either synthesized independently or expressed on phage coat protein. Selected phage particles are subsequently utilized in the synthesis of nanoparticles, in the assembly of nanostructures on inorganic surfaces, and oriented protein immobilization as fusion partners of proteins. In this paper, we present an overview on the research conducted on this area. In this review we not only focus on the selection process, but also on molecular binding characterization and utilization of peptides as molecular linkers, molecular assemblers and material synthesizers.     

Furan chemistry and ionic polymerization: Mechanisms and structures

The polymerization of furanic monomers using cationic and anionic initiators often leads to peculiar responses due to the specific chemistry of the heterocycle. The understanding of these mechanisms can help minimizing the problems encountered or, better still, exploiting them to synthesize novel macromolecular structures. The examples given here comprise the preparation of block copolymers and functionalized, polyconjugated or telechelic oligomers, the investigation of colour-forming and branching reactions and the elaboration of powerful Lewis-base resins.     

Amplitude Modulation of Nonlinear Waves in Fluid-Filled Tapered Tubes

We study the modulation of nonlinear waves in fluid-filled prestressed tapered tubes. For this, we obtain the nonlinear dynamical equations of motion of a prestressed tapered tube filled with an incompressible inviscid fluid. Assuming that the tapering angle is small and using the reductive perturbation method, we study the amplitude modulation of nonlinear waves and obtain the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with variable coefficients as the evolution equation. A traveling-wave type of solution of such a nonlinear equation with variable coefficients is obtained, and we observe that in contrast to the case of a constant tube radius, the speed of the wave is variable. Namely, the wave speed increases with distance for narrowing tubes and decreases for expanding tubes.     

Multiple time scale formalism and its application to long water waves

In the present work, by employing the multiple time scaling method, we studied the nonlinear waves in shallow-water problem and obtained a set of Korteweg–deVries equations governing the various order terms in the perturbation expansion. By seeking a travelling wave type of solutions for the evolution equations, we have obtained a set of wave speeds associated with each time parameter. It is shown that the speed corresponding to the lowest order time parameter given the wave speed of the conventional reductive perturbation method, whereas the wave speeds corresponding to the higher order time parameters give the speed correction terms. The result obtained here is exactly the same with that of Demiray [H. Demiray, Modified reductive perturbation method as applied to long water waves: Korteweg–deVries hierarchy, Int. J. Nonlinear Sci. 6 (2008) 11–20] who employed the modified reductive perturbation method.     

Reconstructing freeway travel times with a simplified network flow model alternating the adopted fundamental diagram

The present study summarises the travel time reconstruction performance of a network flow model by explicitly analysing the adopted fundamental diagram relation under congested and un-congested traffic patterns. The incorporated network flow model uses a discrete meso-simulation approach in which the anisotropic property of traffic flow and the uniform acceleration of vehicle packets are explicitly considered. The flow performances on link-route dynamics have been derived by reasonably alternating the adopted two-phase, i.e., congested and un-congested, fundamental relation of traffic flow. The linear speed–density relation with the creeping speed assumption is substituted with the triangular flow–density relation in order to investigate the performance of the network flow model in varying flow patterns. Applying the anisotropic mesoscopic model, the measure of travel time is obtained as a link performance from a simplified dynamic network loading process. Travel time reconstruction performance of the network flow model is sought considering the actual measures that are obtained by a probe vehicle, in addition to reconstructions by a macroscopic network flow model. The main improvements on travel time reconstruction process are encountered in terms of the computation load within the explicit analyses by the alternation of adopted two-phase fundamental diagram. Although the accuracies of the flow model with the adoption of two different fundamental diagrams are hard to differentiate, the computational burden of the simulation process by the triangular fundamental diagram is found to be considerably different.     

Stabilitäten von As(V) in Chlorokomplexen

The temperature dependent behaviour of PCl₄AsCl₆, PCl₄SbCl₆ and AsCl₄SbCl₆ has been investigated byRaman spectroscopy. The As(V) containing complexes decompose into homogeneous molecular melts consisting of AsCl₃, Cl₂ and PCl₅, respectively. In PCl₄SbCl₆ PCl₄ ⁺ and SbCl₆ ^– complex ions were found in the solid as well as in the molten state.

     

Modelling of bandgap and band offset properties in III-N related heterostructures

Reliable and precise knowledge about the strain and composition effects on the electronic properties is crucial for the optimization of III-nitride based heterostructures for electronic and optoelectronic device applications. Using the nearest neighbor semi-empirical tight binding formalism, we investigated the composition effects on bandgaps and offsets in pseudomorphic InGaN/GaN and GaAsN/GaAs heterostructures with zinc-blende structures. The strain effects are incorporated afterwards in a semi-empirical way. The model should be useful in understanding the effects of composition and strain on heterostructure energy band properties.     

A note on the exact travelling wave solution to the KdV–Burgers equation

In the present note, by use of the hyperbolic tangent method, a progressive wave solution to the Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers (KdVB) equation is presented. The solution we introduced here is less restrictive and comprises some solutions existing in the current literature (see [Wave Motion 11 (1989) 559; Wave Motion 14 (1991) 369]).     

Hexaconazole-Micelle Nanodelivery System Prepared Using Different Surfactants for Ganoderma Antifungal Application

Reports on fungicide-based agronanochemicals in combating disastrous basal stem rot disease in the oil palm industry are scant. Herein, we describe the potential of fungicide nanodelivery agents based on hexaconazole-micelle systems produced using three different surfactants; sodium dodecylbenze sulfonate (SDBS), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and Tween 80 (T80). The resulting nanodelivery systems were characterized and the results supported the encapsulation of the fungicide into the micelles of the surfactants. We have investigated in detail the size-dependent effects of the as-synthesized micelles towards the inhibition growth of Ganoderma Boninense fungi. All the nanodelivery systems indicate that their size decreased as the surfactant concentration was increased, and it directly affects the fungal inhibition. It was also found that Tween 80, a non-ionic surfactant gave the lowest effective concentration, the EC₅₀ value of 2, on the pathogenic fungus Ganoderma boninense compared to the other anionic surfactants; SDBS and SDS. This study opens up a new generation of agronanofungicide of better efficacy for Ganoderma disease treatment.