ZrO2-Graphene-Chitosan nanocomposite modified carbon paste sensor for sensitive and selective determination of dopamine

A sensitive and stable electrochemical sensor was developed by modification of carbon paste electrode with ZrO₂/graphene/chitosan nanocomposite. The modified sensor served as a potential electrocatalytic platform for dopamine. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies indicated reduction of charge transfer resistance at the modified electrode surface thereby facilitating the electron transfer process which resulted in higher current response to dopamine. The electrochemical behavior of dopamine at the modified electrode was studied using cyclic and square wave voltammetry. The maximum current response for the electro-oxidation of dopamine was observed at pH 7.4 and the process was realized to be diffusion controlled. The modified sensor demonstrated linearity in the range 1000–5000 nM, with high sensitivity (22 nA/nM), detection limit of 11.3 nM and selectivity for dopamine in the presence of ascorbic and uric acid which are found to co-exist with dopamine in physiological media. The method was employed for quantification of dopamine in a pharmaceutical formulation.     

Numerical analysis for slugging of steam-water stratified two-phase flow in horizontal duct

Thermalhydraulic transient phenomena of a steam-water two-phase flow was calculated numerically in order to investigate the onset of slugging from a stratified flow in a horizontal duct. Conservation equations were solved by the finite difference method using a two-phase flow analyzer ‘MINCS’. The analysis was performed to investigate the initiation of slugging with and without phase change, or condensation. The present instability criteria for the onset of slugging with no condensation agreed well with that of the Mishima–Ishii relation while it was much lower than that defined by the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability criteria. However, as the temperature difference between phases increased, steam velocity became higher for the onset of slugging condition. The characteristics of flow reversal and water hammering which were the consequences of slugging with condensation, were investigated and described. It is expected that this modeling could be well applied to complicated thermalhydraulic phenomena accompanied by flow reversal and water hammering in power plants.     

Effects of compatibilization on rheological properties of PS/PB blends and investigation of Doi–Ohta scaling relationship in double start-up of shear experiments

The rheological properties for the blends of polystyrene and polybutadiene were investigated and the effect of compatibilizer styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), on the blends were studied and the results compared with the non-compatibilized blends. The frequency sweep, step shear strain and shear stress growth experiments were carried out for the blends. The results showed that with addition of compatibilizer the changes in behavior of the rheological properties of blends are observed. These rheological variations could be related to the reduction of interfacial tension and size of dispersed phase. Furthermore, the validity of Doi–Ohta scaling relationship in double start-up experiments was studied. It is shown that this scaling relationship becomes more reliable with increasing the amount of PB and compatibilizer.     

Circumferential strain measurement for a concrete cylinder in uniaxial compression by a fiber optic sensor

This paper deals with circumferential strain measurement for concrete in uniaxial compression by using a fiber optic sensing system. A fiber optic sensing system was employed to measure the elongation of the optical fiber for a cylindrical concrete specimen in uniaxial compression by using white light interferometry. A theoretical model describing the relationship between the elongation of the fiber glass and the circumferential strain of cylindrical concrete specimen in uniaxial compression is proposed. Some tests were performed to verify the measurement method. The results indicate that the proposed method is valid.     

Mapping Polyamide–DNA Interactions in Human Cells Reveals a New Design Strategy for Effective Targeting of Genomic Sites

Targeting the genome with sequence‐specific synthetic molecules is a major goal at the interface of chemistry, biology, and personalized medicine. Pyrrole/imidazole‐based polyamides can be rationally designed to target specific DNA sequences with exquisite precision in vitro; yet, the biological outcomes are often difficult to interpret using current models of binding energetics. To directly identify the binding sites of polyamides across the genome, we designed, synthesized, and tested polyamide derivatives that enabled covalent crosslinking and localization of polyamide–DNA interaction sites in live human cells. Bioinformatic analysis of the data reveals that clustered binding sites, spanning a broad range of affinities, best predict occupancy in cells. In contrast to the prevailing paradigm of targeting single high‐affinity sites, our results point to a new design principle to deploy polyamides and perhaps other synthetic molecules to effectively target desired genomic sites in vivo.     

Label-Free Electrochemical Sensor Based on Manganese Doped Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles for Myoglobin Detection: Biomarker for Acute Myocardial Infarction

A label free electrochemical sensor based on pure titanium oxide and manganese (Mn)-doped titanium oxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles are fabricated and characterized for the sensitive detection of myoglobin (Mb) levels to analyze the cardiovascular infarction. Pristine and Mn-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized via the sol-gel method and characterized in order to understand their structure, morphologies, composition and optical properties. The structural properties revealed that the pure- and doped-TiO₂ nanoparticles possess different TiO₂ planes. FTIR studies confirm the formation of metal oxide nanoparticles by exhibiting a well-defined peak in the range of 600–650 cm⁻¹. The values of the optical band gap, estimated from UV-Vis spectroscopy, are decreased for the Mn-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles. UV-Vis spectra in the presence of myoglobin (Mb) indicated interaction between the TiO₂ nanoparticles and myoglobin. The SPE electrodes were then fabricated by printing powder film over the working electrode and tested for label-free electrochemical detection of myoglobin (Mb) in the concentration range of 0–15 nM Mb. The fabricated electrochemical sensor exhibited a high sensitivity of 100.40 μA-cm^−2/nM with a lowest detection limit of 0.013 nM (0.22 ng/mL) and a response time of ≤10 ms for sample S3. An interference study with cyt-c and Human Serum Albumin (HSA) of the sensors show the selective response towards Mb in 1:1 mixture.     

Studying the buckling and vibration characteristics of single-walled zinc oxide nanotubes using a nanoscale finite element model

The free vibration and axial buckling of achiral zinc oxide nanotubes (ZnONTs) are studied in this paper based on a three-dimensional finite-element model in which bonds are modeled using beam elements and mass elements are placed at the joints of beams instead of atoms. To determine the mechanical properties of the nanotubes, a linkage is established between molecular mechanics and density functional theory. The fundamental frequency and critical buckling load of ZnONTs with different geometries, chiralities and boundary conditions are calculated. It is shown that zigzag nanotubes are more stable than armchair ones. Investigating the effect of aspect ratio on the critical force shows that longer nanotubes are less stable. Also, it is indicated that increasing the length of the nanotubes will result in decreasing the frequency. Moreover, as the aspect ratio increases, the effect of end conditions diminishes.     

Recession methods for generalized vector equilibrium problems

By using the recession method, we give some necessary and/or sufficient condition of solutions of generalized vector equilibrium problems.     

Geometric Properties and Coincidence Theorems with Applications to Generalized Vector Equilibrium Problems

The present paper is divided into two parts. In the first part, we derive a Fan-KKM type theorem and establish some Fan type geometric properties of convex spaces. By applying our results, we also obtain some coincidence theorems and fixed-point theorems in the setting of convex spaces. The second part deals with the applications of our coincidence theorem to establish some existence results for a solution to the generalized vector equilibrium problems.     

Sliding on DNA: From Peptides to Small Molecules

Many DNA binding proteins utilize one‐dimensional (1D) diffusion along DNA to accelerate their DNA target recognition. Although 1D diffusion of proteins along DNA has been studied for decades, a quantitative understanding is only beginning to emerge and few chemical tools are available to apply 1D diffusion as a design principle. Recently, we discovered that peptides can bind and slide along DNA—even transporting cargo along DNA. Such molecules are known as molecular sleds. Here, to advance our understanding of structure–function relationships governing sequence nonspecific DNA interaction of natural molecular sleds and to explore the potential for controlling sliding activity, we test the DNA binding and sliding activities of chemically modified peptides and analogs, and show that synthetic small molecules can slide on DNA. We found new ways to control molecular sled activity, novel small‐molecule synthetic sleds, and molecular sled activity in N‐methylpyrrole/N‐methylimidazole polyamides that helps explain how these molecules locate rare target sites.