Coarsening of cracks in a uniaxially strained solid

We discuss the stress relaxation in a uniaxially strained solid due to the coarsening of a system of parallel cracks. We emphasize similarities and differences of this process to Ostwald ripening in a first order phase transition. A conventional mean-field approximation breaks down and several independent length scales have to be taken into account. Strong elastic interactions between the cracks determine the growth behavior. We derive scaling laws for the coarsening of the different length scales involved and the time evolution of stress relaxation, finally leading to the equilibrium state of a fractured body. The characteristic size of the cracks grows linearly in time which is much faster than in usual Ostwald ripening.     

Effect of short-wavelength Langmuir turbulence on the Brillouin backscattering and filamentation instabilities in homogeneous plasmas

The Brillouin backscattering and the filamentation instabilities in the presence of short-wavelength Langmuir turbulence are investigated for a homogeneous plasma. Analytical results for the growth rates and thresholds are obtained. It is shown that the threshold for Brillouin backscattering can be significantly increased because of the anomalous damping of ion-acoustic perturbations by Langmuir turbulence. For the filamentation instability an enhancement of the growth rate is obtained. The effect of short-wavelength ion wave turbulence is also discussed.     

UV LASER INDUCED RNA-PROTEIN CROSSLINKS AND RNA CHAIN BREAKS IN TOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUS RNA in situ

The efficiency of RNA-protein crosslink and RNA chain break formation under nanosecond or picosecond UV-laser pulse irradiation of tobacco mosaic virus was determined. It was found that on high-intensity UV-laser irradiation the quantum yields of both reactions increase considerably as compared to the usual (low-intensity) UV-irradiation. The RNA-protein crosslink quantum yield was found to be 1.8 x 10(-5) and 1.2 x 10(-4) and that of RNA chain breaks 1.7 x 10(-4) and 8.9 x 10(-4) for nanosecond and picosecond irradiation, respectively.     

Application of Precipitation-based and Nanoparticle-based Techniques for Fabrication of Potentiometric Sensors for Nano Molar Determination of Chitosan and Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone in Pharmaceutical Formulations and Biological Fluids

Chitosan (CH) is one of the most abundant biopolymers with multiple applications. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) has specific binding and detoxification properties that are of great interest in health care. Hence, it arises a crucial urge to develop economic sensors to analyze CH and PVP in pharmaceutical formulations and biological samples. Two portable sensors were fabricated using precipitation-based technique, and nanoparticles-based technique, for determination of CH and PVP in sensor 1 and 2; respectively. Linear responses of 10⁻⁵ to10⁻⁷ M and 10⁻² to10⁻⁷ M at pH 3.6–4.8 and 7.2–8.4, with ideal Nernstian slopes of 60.00 and 59.83 mV /decade, and nanomolar LODs of 94.90 and 81.20 nM were observed for CH and PVP; respectively. The percentage recoveries were 100.40±1.03 and 100.19±0.64 for sensors 1 and 2; respectively. Both sensors were successfully applied in biological fluids without pre-treatment. Accurate results were obtained using sensor 1, in pure form, pharmaceutical formulations, human plasma, rat liver and rat brain, as well as sensor 2, in pure form, pharmaceutical formulations and urine samples. The results were statistically compared with the reported methods and no significant difference was observed.     

Co-dimension two bifurcation analysis for two-dimensional plasma convection

The plasma flow model of resistive interchange modes in a toroidally confined plasma is similar to the well known two-dimensional hydrodynamic Bénard–Rayleigh convection paradigm. A co-dimension two bifurcation analysis of the plasma problem is presented at a marginal point where two different wavelengths become simultaneously unstable. The weakly nonlinear interaction of convection cells is observed, and the hydrodynamic and plasma physics model systems are compared. With increasing magnetic shear, the dynamics of the resistive interchange model deviates significantly from the shearless hydrodynamic Bénard–Rayleigh convection predictions. The analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulations.     

An analytical study of the static state of multi-junctions in a multi-phase field model

We investigate the properties of the multi-order parameter phase field model of Steinbach and Pezzolla [I. Steinbach, F. Pezzolla, A generalized field method for multi-phase transformations using interface fields, Physica D 134 (1999) 385–393] with respect to the behavior in triple and higher order junctions. From the structure of this model, it was speculated that “dynamical” solutions may exist in the triple junction, which could lead to a violation of Young’s law. Here we confirm analytically recent numerical simulations showing that such dynamical states do not exist, and that an equilibrium solution therefore does indeed correspond to a minimum of the free energy; this implies that Young’s law must be satisfied in the framework of the model. We show that Young’s law is a consequence of the interface kinetic equilibrium and not due to a mechanical force balance, in agreement with earlier predictions [C. Caroli, C. Misbah, On static and dynamical Young’s condition at a trijunction, J. Phys. I France 7 (1997) 1259–1265].