Treatment of Pea Seeds with Plasma Activated Water to Enhance Germination,Plant Growth,and Plant Composition

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - The present study has been carried to investigate the interaction and effect of plasma activated water (PAW) on pea seeds. PAW is produced with the...     

Microstructure dependent dynamic fracture analyses of trabecular bone based on nascent bone atomistic simulations

Trabecular bone fracture is closely related to the trabecular architecture, microdamage accumulation, and bone tissue properties. Primary constituents of trabecular tissue are hydroxyapatite (HA) mineralized type-I collagen fibers. In this research, dynamic fracture in two dimensional (2-D) micrographs of ovine (sheep) trabecular bone is modeled using the mesoscale cohesive finite element method (CFEM). The bone tissue fracture properties are obtained based on the atomistic strength analyses of a type-I collagen + HA interfacial arrangement using molecular dynamics (MD). Analyses show that the presented framework is capable of analyzing the architecture dependent fracture in 2-D micrographs of trabecular bone.     

Continuous-Wave Operation of a 460-GHz Second Harmonic Gyrotron Oscillator

We report the regulated continuous-wave (CW) operation of a second harmonic gyrotron oscillator at output power levels of over 8 W (12.4 kV and 135 mA beam voltage and current) in the TE(0,6,1) mode near 460 GHz. The gyrotron also operates in the second harmonic TE(2,6,1) mode at 456 GHz and in the TE(2,3,1) fundamental mode at 233 GHz. CW operation was demonstrated for a one-hour period in the TE(0,6,1) mode with better than 1% power stability, where the power was regulated using feedback control. Nonlinear simulations of the gyrotron operation agree with the experimentally measured output power and radio-frequency (RF) efficiency when cavity ohmic losses are included in the analysis. The output radiation pattern was measured using a pyroelectric camera and is highly Gaussian, with an ellipticity of 4%. The 460-GHz gyrotron will serve as a millimeter-wave source for sensitivity-enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance (dynamic nuclear polarization) experiments at a magnetic field of 16.4 T.     

Transversal-Free Translation Nets

Translation planes of order q ² containing non-Desarguesian Baer subplanes are used to construct transversal-free translation nets with very small deficiencies. Also, a generalization of the ideas of Bruen shows that any non-Desarguesian spread in PG(3, q) produces a transversal-free net of small deficiency.     

A bio-mechanical model for coupling cell contractility with focal adhesion formation

Focal adhesions (FAs) are large, multi-protein complexes that provide a mechanical link between the cytoskeletal contractile machinery and the extracellular matrix. They exhibit mechanosensitive properties; they self-assemble upon application of pulling forces and dissociate when these forces are decreased. We rationalize this mechano-sensitivity from thermodynamic considerations and develop a continuum framework in which the cytoskeletal contractile forces generated by stress fibers drive the assembly of the FA multi-protein complexes. The FA model has three essential features: (i) the low and high affinity integrins co-exist in thermodynamic equilibrium, (ii) the low affinity integrins within the plasma membrane are mobile, and (iii) the contractile forces generated by the stress fibers are in mechanical equilibrium and change the free energies of the integrins. A general two-dimensional framework is presented and the essential features of the model illustrated using one-dimensional examples. Consistent with observations, the coupled stress fiber and FA model predict that (a) the FAs concentrate around the periphery of the cell; (b) the fraction of the cell covered by FAs increases with decreasing cell size while the total FA intensity increases with increasing cell size; and (c) the FA intensity decreases substantially when cell contractility is curtailed.     

Why chaos is rarely observed in natural populations

An attempt has been made to understand why chaotic dynamics have received poor evidential support from field studies. Our study opens up the possibility that the cause of failure might not be poor quality of data, as pointed out by earlier authors, but an ecological reality. We have designed two model food chains to examine whether there is a biological basis for the crisis. This investigation is effected with the help of a new method which we introduce at an appropriate place in the text. The fact that chaos exists in a narrow range of parametric values in both the model systems suggests that the crisis indeed has a biological origin.     

LC-MS–MS Determination of Pregabalin in Human Plasma

A rapid, sensitive and specific method to quantify pregabalin in human plasma using metaxalone as the internal standard is described. Sample preparation involved simple protein precipitation by using acetronitrile as solvent. The extract was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS–MS). Chromatography was performed isocratically on Thermo Hypurity C₁₈ 5 μm analytical column, (50 mm × 4.6 mm i.d.). The assay of pegabalin was linear calibration curve over the range 10.000–10000.000 ng mL^?1. The lower limit of quantification was 10.000 ng mL^?1 in plasma. The method was successfully applied to the bioequivalence study of pregabalin capsules (150.0 mg) administered as a single oral dose.     

Superpositions of chiral states in the presence of electric dipole, magnetic dipole, and electric quadrupole interactions

This paper is a straightforward generalization of Maierle-Harris proposal regarding parity implications on the superpositions of chiral states of a molecule. It is shown that the inclusion of electric quadrupole and magnetic dipole interactions removes several of restrictions on the preparation of superpositions of mid R:L and mid R:R states of a chiral molecule. It is also found that the dephasing of mid R:L and mid R:R superpositions, due to the spontaneous emission from the chiral molecule, has opposing contributions from electric quadrupole-magnetic dipole and electric dipole interactions.     

Electronic detection of the enzymatic degradation of starch

[reaction: see text] The enzymatic degradation of starch can be monitored electronically using single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as semiconducting probes in field-effect transistors (FETs). Incubation of these devices in aqueous buffer solutions of amyloglucosidase (AMG) results in the removal of the starch from both the silicon surfaces and the side walls of the SWNTs in the FETs, as evidenced by direct imaging and electronic measurements.