Structural characteristics and cyclic voltammetric behaviour of Sonogel-Carbon tyrosinase biosensors. A detailed comparative study of three immobilization matrixes

Structural characteristics an cyclic voltammetry of three amperommetric biosensors based on immobilization of tyrosinase on a Sonogel-Carbon electrode for detection of phenols are described. Cyclic voltammetry was applied to study the electrochemical behaviour of the electrode and the electrochemical reaction on the electrode surface. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy were used for the structure characterization of the electrode surface, enzyme film and polymers coatings. The influence of additive-protective polymers, such as polyethylene glycol and perfluorinated-Nafion ion-exchanger on the surface of the biosensor were explored.     

Control of aqueous droplets using magnetic and electrostatic forces

Basic control operations were successfully performed on an aqueous droplet using both magnetic and electrostatic forces. In our droplet-based microfluidics, magnetic beads were incorporated in an aqueous droplet as a force mediator. This report describes droplet anchoring and separation of the beads from the droplet using a combination of magnetic and electrostatic forces. When an aqueous droplet is placed in an oil-filled reservoir, the droplet sinks to the bottom, under which an electrode had been placed. The droplet was adsorbed (or anchored) to the bottom surface on the electrode when a DC voltage was applied to the electrode. The magnetic beads were removed with magnetic force after the droplet had been anchored. Surfactant addition into droplet solution was very effective for the elimination of electric charge, which resulted in the stable adsorption of a droplet to hydrophobic substrate under an applied voltage of DC 0.5-3 kV. In a sequential process, small volume of aqueous liquid was successfully transferred using both magnetic and electrostatic forces.     

Preparation and nonlinear optical properties of novel Y-type polyesters with highly enhanced thermal stability of second harmonic generation

3,4-Di-(2′-hydroxyethoxy)benzylidenemalononitrile (3) was prepared and condensed with terephthaloyl chloride and adipoyl chloride to yield novel Y-type polyesters (4-5) containing 3,4-dioxybenzylidenemalononitrile groups as NLO-chromophores, which constituted parts of the polymer main-chains. The resulting polymers 4-5 are soluble in common organic solvents such as acetone and N,N-dimethylformamide. They showed thermal stability up to 300 °C in thermogravimetric analysis with glass-transition temperatures obtained from differential scanning calorimetry in the range 89-91 °C. The second harmonic generation (SHG) coefficients (d₃₃) of poled polymer films at the 1064 nm fundamental wavelength were around 2.47 pm/V. The dipole alignment exhibited high thermal stability even at 10 °C higher than T_g, and there is no SHG decay below 100 °C due to the partial main-chain character of polymer structure, which is acceptable for NLO device applications.     

A Reactive Molecular Dynamics Study of Chlorinated Organic Compounds. Part II: A ChemTraYzer Study of Chlorinated Dibenzofuran Formation and Decomposition Processes

In our two-paper series, we first present the development of ReaxFF CHOCl parameters using the recently published ParAMS parametrization tool. In this second part, we update the reactive Molecular Dynamics – Quantum Mechanics coupling scheme ChemTraYzer and combine it with our new ReaxFF parameters from Part I to study formation and decomposition processes of chlorinated dibenzofurans. We introduce a self-learning method for recovering failed transition-state searches that improves the overall ChemTraYzer transition-state search success rate by 10 percentage points to a total of 48 %. With ChemTraYzer, we automatically find and quantify more than 500 reactions using transition state theory and DFT. Among the discovered chlorinated dibenzofuran reactions are numerous reactions that are new to the literature. In three case studies, we discuss the set of reactions that are most relevant to the dibenzofuran literature: (i) bimolecular reactions of the chlorinated-dibenzofuran precursors phenoxy radical and 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene, (ii) dibenzofuran chlorination and pyrolysis, and (iii) oxidation of chlorinated dibenzofurans.     

Heterogeneous/homogeneous and inclined magnetic aspect of infinite shear rate viscosity model of Carreau fluid with nanoscale heat transport

The study of the inclined flow along with the heterogeneous/homogeneous reactions in the fluid has been widely used in many industrial and engineering applications, such as petrochemical, pharmaceutical, materials science, heat exchanger design, fluid flow through porous media, etc. The purpose of this study is to present an infinite shear rate viscosity model using the inclined Carreau fluid with nanoscale heat transport. The model considers the effect of inclined angle on the fluid’s viscosity and the transfer of heat at the nanoscale. The result shows that the viscosity of the fluid decreases by increasing the inclination angle and the coefficient of heat transfer also increases with the inclination. The model can be used to predict the viscosity and heat transfer fluid’s behavior in the inclined systems that is widely used in the industrial and engineering applications. The results provide a better understanding of the inclined flow behavior of fluids and the heat transfer at the nanoscale, which can be useful in heat exchanger design, fluid flow through porous media, etc. Greater Infinite shear rate viscosity parameter gives the higher magnitude of Carreau fluid velocity. Moreover, inclined magnetic field reduces the velocity due to Lorentz force. Two numerical schemes are used to solve the model, BVP4C and Shooting.     

Force approach to radiation reaction

The difficulty of the usual approach to deal with the radiation reaction is pointed out, and under the condition that the radiation force must be a function of the external force and is zero whenever the external force be zero, a new and straightforward approach to radiation reaction force and damping is proposed. Starting from the Larmor formula for the power radiated by an accelerated charged particle, written in terms of the applied force instead of the acceleration, an expression for the radiation force is established in general, and applied to the examples for the linear and circular motion of a charged particle. This expression is quadratic in the magnitude of the applied force, inversely proportional to the speed of the charged particle, and directed opposite to the velocity vector. This force approach may contribute to the solution of the very old problem of incorporating the radiation reaction to the motion of the charged particles, and future experiments may tell us whether or not this approach point is in the right direction.     

Combined piezoresponse force microscopy and Raman scattering investigation of domain boundaries in BiFeO3 ceramics

Domain structure of BiFeO₃ ceramics has been investigated using a combination of piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) and Raman scattering techniques. Both methods demonstrate the presence of ferroelastic domains, separated by almost parallel planar domain walls, as well as the presence of large homogeneous single ferroelastic domain regions. In addition to highly resolved domain pattern obtained by PFM, small frequency shifts of the Raman-active modes give us complementary information about the angle φ between the surface normal and the rhombohedral axis of the BiFeO₃ crystal for any measured position at the surface of the sample.     

A random forest application to contact‐state classification for robot programming by human demonstration

This paper addresses the non‐parametric estimation of the stochastic process related to the classification problem that arises in robot programming by demonstration of compliant motion tasks. Robot programming by demonstration is a robot programming paradigm in which a human operator demonstrates the task to be performed by the robot. In such demonstration, several observable variables, such as velocities and forces can be modeled, non‐parametrically, in order to classify the current state of a contact between an object manipulated by the robot and the environment in which it operates. Essential actions in compliant motion tasks are the contacts that take place, and therefore, it is important to understand the sequence of contact states made during a demonstration, called contact classification. We propose a contact classification algorithm based on the random forest algorithm. The main advantage of this approach is that it does not depend on the geometric model of the objects involved in the demonstration. Moreover, it does not rely on the kinestatic model of the contact interactions. The comparison with state‐of‐the‐art contact classifiers shows that random forest classifier is more accurate. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

KB scanning of X‐ray beam for Laue microdiffraction on accelero‐phobic samples: application to in situ mechanically loaded nanowires

A mapping technique has been developed where a sub‐micrometer focused polychromatic X‐ray beam is scanned across a stationary sample instead of scanning the sample in front of the X‐ray microbeam. This method is applied to a gold nanowire during its mechanical loading using the tip of an atomic force microscope. During the loading process, such a sample is `accelero‐phobic', i.e. the sample scanning stages must not to be moved to avoid parasitic additional load. Without beam scanning, only one single position within the sample can be probed during the test. The probed material point may even change because of drifts or movements induced by the test itself. The new scanning approach facilitates the in situ mapping of the entire wire giving access to the evolution of the wire shape as well as to the boundary conditions. This novel scanning technique opens promising perspectives for studies where sample motion is forbidden because of the sample environment.