Scaling of electrokinetic transport in nanometer channels

Electrokinetic transport is a popular transport mechanism used in nanofluidic systems, and understanding its scaling behavior is important for the design and optimization of nanofluidic devices. In this article, we report on the scaling of electroosmotic flow and ionic conductivity in positively charged slit nanochannels by using continuum and atomistic simulations. The effects of confinement and surface charge are discussed in detail. In particular, we found that the viscosity of the interfacial water increases substantially as the surface charge density increases and the electrophoretic mobility of the interfacial ions decreases. We show that such effects can influence the scaling of the electrokinetic transport in confined nanochannels significantly.     

Effect of Protective Measures on Eye Exposure to Solar Ultraviolet Radiation

In this study, ocular biologically effective exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVBE) is investigated with six kinds of sun protective measures (spectacle lenses, sunglasses, cap, bonnet, straw hat and under parasol). Ocular UV exposure measurements were performed on manikins during the summer period in Shenyang city (41.64° N, 123.50° E, 66 m a.s.l.), China. The measurements include the ocular UV exposure of an unprotected eye and the ambient UV as a control concurrently. Based on the relative spectral weighting factors of the International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), the ocular biologically effective UV is calculated and compared with the 8‐h exposure limits of ICNIRP (30 J m^?2). The UV index (UVI) of the measurement days is 0–8, and the 8‐h (8:00–16:00 China Standard Time, CST) cumulated UVBE of the unprotected eye is 452.0 J m^?2. The 8‐h cumulated UVBE of the eye with spectacle lenses, sunglasses, cap, bonnet, straw hat and under parasol are 364.2, 69.1, 51.4, 49.0, 56.8 and 110.2 J m^?2, respectively. Importantly, it should be noted that the eye could be exposed to risk despite protective measures. The 8‐h cumulated UVBE of the eye with protection is ca 1.6–15.1 times the exposure limit, respectively. As indicated in the present study, during summer months, high exposure to the sun for more than 30 min without eye protection and more than 1 h with eye protection is not advisable. The protection measures could effectively reduce the UVBE reaching the eye, yet there is still a high degree of risk when compared with the ICNIRP 8‐h exposure limits.     

Numerical study of ductile failure morphology in solder joints under fast loading conditions

A numerical study is undertaken to investigate solder joint failure under fast loading conditions. The finite element model assumes a lap-shear testing configuration, where the solder joint is bonded to two copper substrates. A progressive ductile damage model is incorporated into the rate-dependent elastic-viscoplastic response of the tin (Sn)–silver (Ag)–copper (Cu) solder alloy, resulting in the capability of simulating damage evolution leading to eventual failure through crack formation. Attention is devoted to deformation under relative high strain rates (1–100 s⁻¹), mimicking those frequently encountered in drop and impact loading of the solder points. The effects of applied strain rate and loading mode on the overall ductility and failure pattern are specifically investigated. It is found that, under shear loading, the solder joint can actually become more ductile as the applied strain rate increases, which is due to the alteration of the crack path. Failure of the solder is very sensitive to the deformation mode, with a superimposed tension or compression on shear easily changing the crack path and tending to reduce the solder joint ductility.     

Design,Synthesis, and Biological Activity of New Bis-1,2,3-triazole Derivatives Bearing Thiophene-Chalcone Moiety

Russian Journal of General Chemistry - A series of novel 1,4-substituted bis-aralkyl and aryl 1,2,3-triazoles bearing thiophene chalcones are synthesized via the Claisen condensation of bis...     

Pumping of confined water in carbon nanotubes by rotation-translation coupling

Bidirectional single file water transport in a carbon nanotube is known to occur in "bursts" in short nanotubes. Here we show that in long carbon nanotubes, when the orientation of the water molecules is maintained along one direction, a net water transport along that direction can be attained due to coupling between rotational and translational motions. The rotations of the water molecules are correlated more with the translation of the neighboring water molecule with the acceptor oxygen than the neighbor with the donor hydrogen. This mechanism can be used to pump water through nanotubes.     

A compact four‐element MIMO antenna for WLAN/WiMAX/satellite applications

This paper presents a four‐element wideband monopole MIMO antenna. Initially, a single‐element wideband CPW‐fed antenna is designed operating in the range of 4.30 to 6.45 GHz. Using this design, an approach towards MIMO structure is studied. A two‐element structure is designed keeping them adjacent to each other, and the isolation between the antennas is observed. After which, a four‐element structure is designed having the best orientation in order to achieve good isolation between the antenna elements. The proposed antenna configuration has four identical CPW‐fed elements. The proposed configuration has a fractional bandwidth of 40.27% and has a simulated peak gain of 5.5 dBi. This antenna is intended to be used for WLAN, WiMAX, and satellite bands of range corresponding to 4.70–6.19, 5.5–5.7, and 5–6 GHz. All the necessary antenna simulations are simulated using Ansys HFSS and verified on NI AWR Design Environment. The fabricated model of the proposed design is measured for its performance parameters and validated.     

A domain adaptive stochastic collocation approach for analysis of MEMS under uncertainties

This work proposes a domain adaptive stochastic collocation approach for uncertainty quantification, suitable for effective handling of discontinuities or sharp variations in the random domain. The basic idea of the proposed methodology is to adaptively decompose the random domain into subdomains. Within each subdomain, a sparse grid interpolant is constructed using the classical Smolyak construction [S. Smolyak, Quadrature and interpolation formulas for tensor products of certain classes of functions, Soviet Math. Dokl. 4 (1963) 240–243], to approximate the stochastic solution locally. The adaptive strategy is governed by the hierarchical surpluses, which are computed as part of the interpolation procedure. These hierarchical surpluses then serve as an error indicator for each subdomain, and lead to subdivision whenever it becomes greater than a threshold value. The hierarchical surpluses also provide information about the more important dimensions, and accordingly the random elements can be split along those dimensions. The proposed adaptive approach is employed to quantify the effect of uncertainty in input parameters on the performance of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). Specifically, we study the effect of uncertain material properties and geometrical parameters on the pull-in behavior and actuation properties of a MEMS switch. Using the adaptive approach, we resolve the pull-in instability in MEMS switches. The results from the proposed approach are verified using Monte Carlo simulations and it is demonstrated that it computes the required statistics effectively.     

Hierarchical multiscale simulation of electrokinetic transport in silica nanochannels at the point of zero charge

Effects of nanoscale confinement and partial charges that stem from quantum calculations are investigated in silica slit channels filled with 1 M KCl at the point of zero charge by using a hierarchical multiscale simulation methodology. Partial charges of both bulk and surface atoms from ab initio quantum calculations that take into account bond polarization and electronegativity are used in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to obtain ion and water concentration profiles for channel widths of 1.1, 2.1, 2.75, and 4.1 nm. The interfacial electron density profiles of simulations matched well with that of recent X-ray reflectivity experiments. By simulating corresponding channels with no partial charges, it was observed that the partial charges affect the concentration profiles and transport properties such as diffusion coefficients and mobilities up to a distance of about 3 sigma(O)(-)(O) from the surface. Both in uncharged and partially charged cases, oscillations in concentration profiles of K(+) and Cl(-) ions give rise to an electro-osmotic flow in the presence of an external electric field, indicating the presence of an electric double layer at net zero surface charge, contrary to the expectations from classical continuum theory. I-V curves in a channel-bath system using ionic mobilities from MD simulations were significantly different for channels with and without partial charges for channel widths less than 4.1 nm.     

1,5-Benzothiazepine Derivatives: Green Synthesis,In Silico and In Vitro Evaluation as Anticancer Agents

Considering the importance of benzothiazepine pharmacophore, an attempt was carried out to synthesize novel 1,5-benzothiazepine derivatives using polyethylene glycol-400 (PEG-400)-mediated pathways. Initially, different chalcones were synthesized and then subjected to a cyclization step with benzothiazepine in the presence of bleaching clay and PEG-400. PEG-400-mediated synthesis resulted in a yield of more than 95% in less than an hour of reaction time. Synthesized compounds 2a–2j were investigated for their in vitro cytotoxic activity. Moreover, the same compounds were subjected to systematic in silico screening for the identification of target proteins such as human adenosine kinase, glycogen synthase kinase-3β, and human mitogen-activated protein kinase 1. The compounds showed promising results in cytotoxicity assays; among the tested compounds, 2c showed the most potent cytotoxic activity in the liver cancer cell line Hep G-2, with an IC₅₀ of 3.29 ± 0.15 µM, whereas the standard drug IC₅₀ was 4.68 ± 0.17 µM. In the prostate cancer cell line DU-145, the compounds displayed IC₅₀ ranges of 15.42 ± 0.16 to 41.34 ± 0.12 µM, while the standard drug had an IC₅₀ of 21.96 ± 0.15 µM. In terms of structural insights, the halogenated phenyl substitution on the second position of benzothiazepine was found to significantly improve the biological activity. This characteristic feature is supported by the binding patterns on the selected target proteins in docking simulations. In this study, 1,5-benzothiazepines have been identified as potential anticancer agents which can be further exploited for the development of more potent derivatives.