Laser pulse heating of steel surface and flexural wave analysis

Laser gas-assisted material processing finds wide application in industry. The modelling of heating, elastic response of the substrate material, and the wave analysis gives insight into the laser workpiece interaction. In the present study, laser gas-assisted heating of steel is considered. The normal component of the thermal stress is taken as the source of load for the flexural wave generation in the material. The flexural wave generated is simulated and the wave characteristics are analyzed at four locations at the workpiece surface. The numerical scheme employing a control volume approach is introduced when solving the governing equations of flow and heat transfer while finite element and spectran element methods are used when solving the stress and wave equations. It is found that the normal component of the stress is tensile. The dispersion effect of the workpiece material, interference of the reflected beam, and partial overlapping of second mode of the travelling wave enable to identify a unique pattern in the travelling wave in the substrate.     

Reaction kinetics and pathway of hydrothermal decomposition of aspartic acid

The kinetics and pathway of hydrothermal decomposition of aspartic acid were studied using a continuous‐flow tubular reactor. The reaction was carried out in the temperature range of 200–260°C and at a pressure of 20 MPa. Deamination was the primary reaction, indicated by the presence of significant amount of ammonia, fumaric acid, or maleic acid in the products. Other reaction products were pyruvic acid, malic acid, and traces of succinic and lactic acid. Traces of alanine were also detected, showing the possibility of decomposing high‐molecular weight amino acids to obtain simple amino acids such as glycine or alanine. Results on the effect of reaction parameters demonstrated that decomposition of aspartic acid is highly temperature dependent under hydrothermal conditions. For a slight temperature difference of 60°C (from 200 to 260°C), the first‐order reaction rate constants of 0.003 significantly increased to 0.231 s^?1. The activation energy was 144 kJ/mol, as calculated by the Arrhenius equation. No significant effect was exhibited by other reaction parameters such as pH and pressure. The results are useful in controlling the hydrolysis of proteinaceous materials toward high yield of aspartic acid under hydrothermal conditions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 39: 175–180, 2007     

Sol-gel ZrO2 coatings for chemical protection of stainless steel

ZrO₂ coatings deposited on 316 L stainless steel sheets were synthesized by sol-gel method using Zr(OC₃H₇)₄ as precursor and isopropanol, glacial acetic acid, and water as solvents for application with ultrasounds. Different solutions for dip-coating were prepared with compositions varying between 0.025 and 0.9 mol/dm³ of ZrO₂. X-ray diffraction shows that the films densified at 800°C are crystalline with a tetragonal structure. The thickness of the coatings varied from 0.35–0.75 m. The influence of the ZrO₂ coatings on the corrosion behavior of stainless steel substrates in aqueous NaCl was studied through potentiodynamic polarization curves at 1 mV/s. The values of the electrochemical parameters allow for an explanation of the role of the films in the increased resistance of steel against corrosion in moderately aggressive environments.     

Densities and Excess Molar Volumes of Binary and Ternary Mixtures of Aqueous Solutions of 2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol with Acetone and Alcohols at the Temperature of 298.15 K and Pressure of 101 kPa

Excess molar volumes V_m^E of the binary mixtures of (trifluoroethanol + 1-propanol), (trifluoroethanol + 2-propanol), (acetone + water), (methanol + water), (ethanol + water), (1-propanol + water), (2-propanol + water), and the ternary mixtures of (trifluoroethanol + methanol + water), (trifluoroethanol + ethanol + water), (trifluoroethanol~+ 1-propanol + water), (trifluoroethanol + 2-propanol + water) and (trifluoroethanol + acetone + water) were measured with a vibrating tube densimeter at the temperature of 298.15 K and the pressure 101 kPa. The extrema in V_m^E of trifluoroethanol mixtures occur at –0.690 cm³-mol^–1 for (trifluoroethanol + 1-propanol), at –0.990~cm³-mol^–1 for (trifluoroethanol + 2-propanol); at 0.562 and –0.973 cm³-mol^–1 for (trifluoroethanol + methanol + water), at 0.629 and –0.973 cm³-mol^–1 for (trifluoroethanol + ethanol + water), at 1.082 and –0.659 cm³-mol^–1 for (trifluoroethanol~+ 1-propanol + water), at 0.998 and –0.991 cm³-mol^–1 for (trifluoroethanol~+ 2-propanol + water), and at 0.515 and –1.472 cm³-mol^–1 for (trifluoroethanol + acetone + water). The experimental ternary V_m^E values were predicted by empirical expressions using binary solution data.     

Design,Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Novel Dihydropyridine and Pyridine Analogs as Potent Human Tissue Nonspecific Alkaline Phosphatase Inhibitors with Anticancer Activity: ROS and DNA Damage-Induced Apoptosis

Small molecules with nitrogen-containing scaffolds have gained much attention due to their biological importance in the development of new anticancer agents. The present paper reports the synthesis of a library of new dihydropyridine and pyridine analogs with diverse pharmacophores. All compounds were tested against the human tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (h-TNAP) enzyme. Most of the compounds showed excellent enzyme inhibition against h-TNAP, having IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.49 ± 0.025 to 8.8 ± 0.53 µM, which is multi-fold higher than that of the standard inhibitor (levamisole = 22.65 ± 1.60 µM) of the h-TNAP enzyme. Furthermore, an MTT assay was carried out to evaluate cytotoxicity against the HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. Among the analogs, the most potent dihydropyridine-based compound 4d was selected to investigate pro-apoptotic behavior. The further analysis demonstrated that compound 4d played a significant role in inducing apoptosis through multiple mechanisms, including overproduction of reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damaging, and arrest of the cell cycle at the G1 phase by inhibiting CDK4/6. The apoptosis-inducing effect of compound 4d was studied through staining agents, microscopic, and flow cytometry techniques. Detailed structure–activity relationship (SAR) and molecular docking studies were carried out to identify the core structural features responsible for inhibiting the enzymatic activity of the h-TNAP enzyme. Moreover, fluorescence emission studies corroborated the binding interaction of compound 4d with DNA through a fluorescence titration experiment.     

Investigating microcrystalline cellulose crystallinity using Raman spectroscopy

Cellulose - Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is a semi-crystalline material with inherent variable crystallinity due to raw material source and variable manufacturing conditions. MCC crystallinity...     

Ku-band EMI shielding effectiveness and dielectric properties of Polyaniline-Y2O3 composites

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding has become a phenomenon of great concern and there is growing demand towards the synthesis of materials with better EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE). This work highlights the preparation of Polyaniline-Yttrium Oxide (PANI-Y₂O₃) composites for EMI shielding applications in the frequency range from 12.4 to 18 GHz (Ku-band). The structure and morphology of the composites were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). EMI SE, microwave absorption and reflection, dielectric properties of the composites are discussed in detail. All the computations were based on microwave scattering parameters measured by transmission line waveguide technique. The observed results show absorption dominant EMI shielding in these composites with EMI SE of ?19 to ?20 dB, which mainly depends on the dielectric loss of the composites. Through the results of our observations, we propose these composites to be potential materials for microwave absorption and EMI shielding applications.     

Momordica charantia Extract Protects against Diabetes-Related Spermatogenic Dysfunction in Male Rats: Molecular and Biochemical Study

More than 90% of diabetic patients suffer from sexual dysfunction, including diminished sperm count, sperm motility, and sperm viability, and low testosterone levels. The effects of Momordica charantia (MC) were studied by estimating the blood levels of insulin, glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), testosterone (TST), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH) in diabetic rats treated with 250 and 500 mg/kg b.w. of the total extract. Testicular antioxidants, epididymal sperm characteristics, testicular histopathology, and lesion scoring were also investigated. Testicular mRNA expression of apoptosis-related markers such as antiapoptotic B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and proapoptotic Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) were evaluated by real-time PCR. Furthermore, caspase-3 protein expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. MC administration resulted in a significant reduction in blood glucose and HbA1c and marked elevation of serum levels of insulin, TST, and gonadotropins in diabetic rats. It induced a significant recovery of testicular antioxidant enzymes, improved histopathological changes of the testes, and decreased spermatogenic and Sertoli cell apoptosis. MC effectively inhibited testicular apoptosis, as evidenced by upregulation of Bcl-2 and downregulation of Bax and caspase-3. Moreover, reduction in apoptotic potential in MC-treated groups was confirmed by reduction in the Bax/Bcl-2 mRNA expression ratio.