Real-time quantification of viable bacteria in liquid medium using infrared thermography

Quantifying viable bacteria in liquids is important in environmental, food processing, manufacturing, and medical applications. Since vegetative bacteria generate heat as a result of biochemical reactions associated with cellular functions, thermal sensing techniques, including infrared thermography (IRT), have been used to detect viable cells in biologic samples. We developed a novel method that extends the dynamic range and improves the sensitivity of bacterial quantification by IRT. The approach uses IRT video, thermodynamics laws, and heat transfer mechanisms to directly measure, in real-time, the amount of energy lost as heat from the surface of a liquid sample containing bacteria when the specimen cools to a lower temperature over 2 min. We show that the Energy Content (EC) of liquid media containing as few as 120 colony-forming units (CFU) of Escherichia coli per ml was significantly higher than that of sterile media (P < 0.0001), and that EC and viable counts were strongly positively correlated (r = 0.986) over a range of 120 to approximately 5 × 10⁸ CFU/ml. Our IRT approach is a unique non-contact method that provides real-time bacterial enumeration over a wide dynamic range without the need for sample concentration, modification, or destruction. The approach could be adapted to quantify other living cells in a liquid milieu and has the potential for automation and high throughput.     

Plasma Treatment of Polymers

Abstract

Plasma treatment of polymers encompasses a variety of plasma technologies and polymeric materials for a wide range of applications and dates back to at least the 1960s. In this article we provide a brief review of the United States patent literature on plasma surface modification technologies and a brief review of the scientific literature on investigations of the effects of plasma treatment, the nature of the plasma environment, and the mechanisms that drive the plasma–surface interaction. We then discuss low‐radio‐frequency capacitively coupled nitrogen plasmas and their characteristics, suggesting that they provide significant plasma densities and populations of reactive species for effective plasma treatments on a variety of materials, particularly when placing the sample surface in the cathode sheath region. We further discuss surface chemical characterization of treated polymers, including some results on polyesters treated in capacitively coupled nitrogen plasmas driven at 40 kHz. Finally, we connect plasma characterization with surface chemical analysis by applying a surface sites model to nitrogen uptake of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) treated in a 40 kHz nitrogen plasma. This example serves to suggest an interesting practical approach to comparisons of plasma treatments. In addition, it suggests an approach to defining the investigations required to conclusively identify the underlying treatment mechanisms.     

Difluoroalkylamines from high temperature vapor phase reactions of nitrogen trifluoride with alkanes, ethers and benzene

At temperatures around 400 °C, nitrogen trifluoride (NF₃) readily reacts with alkanes and benzene as well as ethers. In all cases, products were N,N-difluoroamines. This is in contrast to difluoroamination of benzylic substrates where the initial N,N-difluoroamines underwent eliminations or rearrangements and were not isolated. Cyclic and acyclic alkanes generated N,N-difluoroaminoalkanes. Benzene substituted on the ring to form N,N-difluoroaniline. Ethers reacted to generate α-N,N-difluoroamino ethers. Little direct fluorination was observed.     

Using PDMS coated TFC-RO membranes for CO2/N2 gas separation: Experimental study,modeling and optimization

Thin film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes are semipermeable membranes that are utilized in water purification or water desalination systems. Discarding these membranes after end-of-life leads to environmental problems. Reusing old TFC-RO membranes is one way to solve this problem. For this reason, in this study, used TFC-RO membranes were coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for CO₂/N₂ gas separation application. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) was utilized to confirm the crosslinking of coated PDMS. The morphology of PDMS/TFC-RO membranes was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The parameters that can affect performance of prepared membranes (N₂ permeance and CO₂/N₂ selectivity) are concentration of PDMS solution, coating time, solvent evaporation time and curing temperature and time. Given that the used membranes don't have uniform surfaces, the first step of this study was to investigate the effect of the above mentioned factors on virgin membranes using fractional factorial design (FFD) of experiments. The results obtained showed that PDMS concentration is the most significant factor that has a negative effect on N₂ permeance and positive effect on CO₂/N₂ selectivity. The reported CO₂/N₂ selectivity of PDMS membranes was 11–12, but this selectivity for prepared PDMS/TFC-RO membranes was in the range of 6.7–22.5. After determining optimum conditions, the gas separation performance of PDMS coated used TFC-RO membrane under these conditions was finally determined. The results showed that the used membranes had a better performance than virgin membranes.     

Nitrogen-fluorine compounds

The experimental and theoretical chemistry of nitrogen-fluorine compounds is an area that has seen considerable renaissance over the past decade. This review is not exhaustive in scope but rather focuses on and highlights certain aspects in this field. In particular (but not exclusively), the chemistry of binary N-F species is discussed.     

A generalized Dedekind-Mertens lemma and its converse

We study content ideals of polynomials and their behavior under multiplication. We give a generalization of the Lemma of Dedekind-Mertens and prove the converse under suitable dimensionality restrictions.

     

Reaction of dichloromaleic anhydride with 1,8-diaminonaphthalene: Synthesis and X-ray diffraction structure of 8,9-dichloropyrrolo[1,2-a]perimidin-10-one

The reaction of dichloromaleic anhydride with 1,8-diaminonaphthalene in refluxing toluene or 1,2-dichloroethane produces the new heterocyclic compound 8,9-dichloropyrrolo[1,2-a]perimidin-10-one in low yields. 8,9-Dichloropyrrolo[1,2-a]perimidin-10-one has been isolated by column chromatography and characterized in solution by IR, ¹H NMR, and UV/vis spectroscopies. The solid-state structure was unequivocally established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. 8,9-Dichloropyrrolo[1,2-a]perimidin-10-one crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2 ₁/c, a = 7.475(1)Å, b = 10.650(2)Å, c = 14.468(2)Å, = 94.478(2)°, V = 1148.3(3) ų, Z = 4, and d _calc = 1.672 Mg/m³; R = 0.0289, R _w = 0.0762 for 1644 reflections with I > 2(I). The nature of the HOMO and LUMO in 8,9-dichloropyrrolo[1,2-a]perimidin-10-one has been determined by extended Hückel molecular orbital calculations, and these data are discussed relative to the cyclic voltammetric data obtained at a platinum electrode.     

Evaluation of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in conjunction with chemometric resolution for identification of nitrogen compounds in crude oil

A chemometric resolution method is described for the identification of nitrogen compounds in crude oil. Prefractionation of crude oil into discrete chemical classes was performed by adsorption column chromatography using small quantities of neutral aluminum oxide and silicic acid. Subsequent high-resolution separation of individual components was achieved by using capillary column gas chromatography, and compound types were detected by mass spectrometer. In conjunction with a combined chemometric method, each principal chemical class was further resolved and separated, which made it possible to identify some nitrogen compounds in the investigated oils. To a certain extent, this method could relieve classical analysis of difficulty in identifying those species with poorly low contents or partially chromatographic overlaps, particularly in the cases where authentic standards were not available for addition into the unknown analytical systems to reveal what indeed existed in them.     

三氯化氮气体喷射自发分解实验研究

 在气体流动管中对三氯化氮气体喷射自发分解的现象进行了初步实验研究。在一根长80 cm，直径4 cm的圆柱形石英玻璃管中，用喷嘴向气体流动管内喷射NCl₃/He混合气体，观察到了NCl₃喷射分解时的红色火焰。测量了火焰光谱并进行了归属，认为该光谱是Cl₂(B→X)辐射跃迁。NCl­₃的喷射自发分解本质上是激波诱导发生的，即分子的动能转化为分子内能而引起的，生成的Cl原子及NCl₂自由基与NCl₃分子反应，从而得到持续燃烧火焰。实验结果表明了NCl₃自发分解反应可代替放电或燃烧作为Cl原子的来源。     

Corrosion behavior of low energy,high temperature nitrogen ion-implanted AISI 304 stainless steel

This work presents the results of a low-energy nitrogen ion implantation of AISI 304 type stainless steel (SS) at a moderate temperature of about 500°C. The nitrogen ions are extracted from a Kauffman-type ion source at an energy of 30 keV, and ion current density of 100 μA cm⁻². Nitrogen ion concentration of 6 × 10¹⁷, 8 × 10¹⁷ and 10¹⁸ ions cm⁻², were selected for our study. The X-ray diffraction results show the formation of CrN polycrystalline phase after nitrogen bombardment and a change of crystallinity due to the change in nitrogen ion concentration. The secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) results show the formation of CrN phases too. Corrosion test has shown that corrosion resistance is enhanced by increasing nitrogen ion concentration.