Spark plasma sintering of novel ZrB2-SiC-TiSi2 composites with better mechanical properties

We report here the development of ultrafine grained ZrB2-SiC composites using TiSi2 as the sintering aid and spark plasma sintering (SPS) as the processing technique. It was observed that the presence of TiSi2 improved the sinterability of the composites, such that near theoretical densification (99.9%) could be achieved for ZrB2-18 wt.% SiC-5 wt.% TiSi2 composites after SPS at 1600 degrees C for 10 min at 50 MPa. Use of innovative multi stage sintering (MSS) route, which involved holding the samples at lower (intermediate) temperatures for some time before holding at the final temperature, while keeping the net holding time to 10 min, allowed attainment of full densification of ZrB2-18 wt.% SiC-2.5 wt.% TiSi2 at a still lower final temperature of 1500 degrees C at 30 MPa. TEM observations, which revealed the presence of anisotropic ZrB2 grains with faceted grain boundaries and TiSi2 at the intergranular regions, suggested the occurrence of liquid phase sintering in the presence of TiSi2. No additional phase was detected in XRD as well as TEM, which confirmed the absence of any sintering reaction. The as developed composites possessed an excellent combination of Vickers hardness and indentation toughness, both of which increased with increase in TiSi2 content, such that the ZrBi2-18 wt.% SiC-5 wt.% TiSi2 (SPS processed at 1600 degrees C) possessed hardness of similar to 20 GPa and indentation toughness of similar to 5 MPa m(1/2). The use of MSS SPS at 1500 degrees C for ZrBi2-18 wt.% SiC-2.5 wt.% TiSi2 composite resulted in improvement in hardness of up to similar to 27 GPa and attainment of high flexural strength of similar to 455 MPa. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Smart polymer mediated purification and recovery of active proteins from inclusion bodies

Obtaining correctly folded proteins from inclusion bodies of recombinant proteins expressed in bacterial hosts requires solubilization with denaturants and a refolding step. Aggregation competes with the second step. Refolding of eight different proteins was carried out by precipitation with smart polymers. These proteins have different molecular weights, different number of disulfide bridges and some of these are known to be highly prone to aggregation. A high throughput refolding screen based upon fluorescence emission maximum around 340 nm (for correctly folded proteins) was developed to identify the suitable smart polymer. The proteins could be dissociated and recovered after the refolding step. The refolding could be scaled up and high refolding yields in the range of 8 mg L-1 (for CD4D12, the first two domains of human CD4) to 58 mg L-1 (for malETrx, thioredoxin fused with signal peptide of maltose binding protein) were obtained. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) showed that polymer if chosen correctly acted as a pseuclochaperonin and bound to the proteins. It also showed that the time for maximum binding was about 50 min which coincided with the time required for incubation (with the polymer) before precipitation for maximum recovery of folded proteins. The refolded proteins were characterized by fluorescence emission spectra, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, melting temperature (T-m), and surface hydrophobicity measurement by ANS (8-anilinol-naphthalene sulfonic acid) fluorescence. Biological activity assay for thioredoxin and fluorescence based assay in case of maltose binding protein (MBP) were also carried out to confirm correct refolding. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermal diffusivity measurements on ternary Ge-Te-Tl glasses using Photo-thermal Deflection method: Effect of thallium addition

Photo-thermal Deflection (PTD) technique is used to investigate the thermal diffusivity (alpha) of Ge17Te83 - xTlx (0 <= x <= 13) glasses as a function of composition. The thermal diffusivity of these glasses is found to lie in the range 0.020 to 0.048 cm(2)/s, which is consistent with the memory type of electrical switching exhibited by these samples. Further, it is found that alpha shows an initial increase with Tl addition, followed by a decrease. The observed composition dependence of thermal diffusivity has been understood on the basis that the thallium atoms are incorporated as a covalent species for lower values of x, increasing the network rigidity; however, they enter as ionic species for higher x values, fragmenting the network. The initial increase in a is due to the increasing network rigidity and the subsequent decrease is because of the fragmentation of the network. Also, there is a strong correlation between the composition dependence of switching voltages observed earlier and the variation with composition of electrical resistivity and thermal diffusivity of Ge17Te83 - xTlx glasses obtained in the present study. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Surface ferromagnetism and superconducting properties of nanocrystalline niobium nitride

Nanocrystalline delta-NbNx samples have been synthesized by reacting NbCl5 and urea at three different temperatures. A comparison of their structural, magnetic, transport and thermal properties is reported in the present study. The size of the particles and their agglomeration extent increase with increasing reaction temperature. The sample prepared at 900 degrees C showed the highest superconducting transition temperature (T-c) of 16.2 K with a transition width, similar to 1.8 K, as obtained from the resistivity measurement on cold-pressed bars. Above T-c, magnetization measurements revealed the presence of surface ferromagnetism which coexists with superconductivity below T-c. Heat capacity measurements confirm superconductivity with strong electron-phonon coupling constant. The sample prepared at 800 degrees C shows a lower T-c (10 K) while that prepared at 700 degrees C exhibit no superconductivity down to the lowest temperature (3 K) measured.

Enhancing fluorescence signals from aluminium thin films and foils using polyelectrolyte multilayers

In this paper we investigate the application of polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) coated metal slides in enhancing fluorescence signal. We observed around eight-fold enhancement in fluorescence for protein incubated on PEM coated on aluminium mirror surface with respect to that of functionalized bare glass slides. The fluorescence intensities were also compared with commercially available FAST (R) slides (Whatman) offering 3D immobilization of proteins and the results were found to be comparable. We also showed that PEM coated on low-cost and commonly available aluminium foils also results in comparable fluorescence enhancement as sputtered aluminium mirrors. Immunoassay was also performed, using model proteins, on aluminium mirror as well as on aluminium foil based devices to confirm the activity of proteins. This work demonstrated the potential of PEMs in the large-scale, roll-to-roll manufacturing of fluorescence enhancements substrates for developing disposable, low-cost devices for fluorescence based diagnostic methods.

Constraints on Be-10 and Ca-41 distribution in the early solar system from Al-26 and Be-10 studies of Efremovka CAIs

Three refractory coarse grained CAIs from the Efremovka CV3 chondrite, one (E65) previously shown to have formed with live Ca-41, were studied by ion microprobe for their Al-26-Mg-26 and Be-10-B-10 systematic in order to better understand the origin of Be-10. The high precision Al-Mg data and the inferred Al-26/Al-27 values attest that the precursors of the three CAIs evolved in the solar nebula over a period of few hundred thousand years before last melting-crystallization events. The initial Be-10/Be-9 ratios and delta B-10 values defined by the Be-10 isochrons for the three Efremovka CAIs are similar within errors. The CAI Be-10 abundance in published data underscores the large range for initial Be-10/Be-9 ratios. This is contrary to the relatively small range of Al-26/Al-27 variations in CAIs around the canonical ratio. Two models that could explain the origin of this large Be-10/Be-9 range are assessed from the collateral variations predicted for the initial delta B-10 values: (i) closed system decay of Be-10 from a ``canonical'' Be-10/Be-9 ratio and (ii) formation of CAIs from a mixture of solid precursors and nebula gas irradiated during up to a few hundred thousand years. The second scenario is shown to be the most consistent with the data. This shows that the major fraction of Be-10 in CAIs was produced by irradiation of refractory grains, while contributions of galactic cosmic rays trapping and early solar wind irradiation are less dominant. The case for Be-10 production by solar cosmic rays irradiation of solid refractory precursors poses a conundrum for Ca-41 because the latter is easily produced by irradiation and should be more abundant than what is observed in CAIs. Be-10 production by irradiation from solar energetic particles requires high Ca-41 abundance in early solar system, however, this is not observed in CAIs. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Role of substrate temperature on the properties of Na-doped ZnO thin film nanorods and performance of ammonia gas sensors using nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique

Sodium doped zinc oxide (Na:ZnO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates at substrate temperatures 300,400 and 500 degrees C by a novel nebulizer spray method. X-ray diffraction shows that all the films are polycrystalline in nature having hexagonal structure with high preferential orientation along (0 0 2) plane. High resolution SEM studies reveal the formation of Na-doped ZnO films having uniformly distributed nano-rods over the entire surface of the substrates at 400 degrees C. The complex impedance of the ZnO nano-rods shows two distinguished semicircles and the diameter of the arcs got decreased in diameter as the temperature increases from 170 to 270 degrees C and thereafter slightly increased. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vertical electric field induced bacterial growth inactivation on amorphous carbon electrodes

The objective of the present work is to understand the vertical electric field stimulation of the bacterial cells, when grown on amorphous carbon substrates in vitro. In particular, the antibacterial activity against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli are studied using MTTassay, live/dead assay and inner membrane permeabilization assays. In our experiments, the carbon substrate acts as one electrode and the counter electrode is positioned outside the culture medium, thus suppressing the current, electrokinetic motions and chemical reactions. Guided by similar experiments conducted in our group on neuroblastoma cells, the present experimental results further establish the interdependence of field strength and exposure duration towards bacterial growth inactivation in vitro. Importantly, significant reduction in bacterial viability was recorded at the 2.5 V/cm electric field stimulation conditions, which does not reduce the neural cell viability to any significant extent on an identical substrate. Following electrical stimulation, the bacterial growth is significantly inhibited for S. aureus bacterial strain in an exposure time dependent manner. In summary, our experiments establish the effectiveness of the vertical electric field towards bacterial growth inactivation on amorphous carbon substrates, which is a cell type dependent phenomenon (Gram-positive vs. Gram-negative). (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of hydrogen bonding on amide-proton chemical shift anisotropy in a proline-containing model peptide

Longitudinal relaxation due to cross-correlation between dipolar ((HN-1H alpha)-H-1) and amide-proton chemical shift anisotropy (H-1(N) CSA) has been measured in a model tripeptide Piv-(L)Pro-(L)Pro-(L)Phe-OMe. The peptide bond across diproline segment is known to undergo cis/trans isomerization and only in the cis form does the lone Phe amide-proton become involved in intramolecular hydrogen bonding. The strength of the cross correlated relaxation interference is found to be significantly different between cis and trans forms, and this difference is shown as an influence of intramolecular hydrogen bonding on the amide-proton CSA. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anomalous transport at weak coupling

We evaluate the contribution of chiral fermions in d = 2, 4, 6, chiral bosons, a chiral gravitino like theory in d = 2 and chiral gravitinos in d = 6 to all the leading parity odd transport coefficients at one loop. This is done by using finite temperature field theory to evaluate the relevant Kubo formulae. For chiral fermions and chiral bosons the relation between the parity odd transport coefficient and the microscopic anomalies including gravitational anomalies agree with that found by using the general methods of hydrodynamics and the argument involving the consistency of the Euclidean vacuum. For the gravitino like theory in d = 2 and chiral gravitinos in d = 6, we show that relation between the pure gravitational anomaly and parity odd transport breaks down. From the perturbative calculation we clearly identify the terms that contribute to the anomaly polynomial, but not to the transport coefficient for gravitinos. We also develop a simple method for evaluating the angular integrals in the one loop diagrams involved in the Kubo formulae. Finally we show that charge diffusion mode of an ideal 2 dimensional Weyl gas in the presence of a finite chemical potential acquires a speed, which is equal to half the speed of light.

Use of polydispersity index as control parameter to study melting/freezing of Lennard-Jones system: Comparison among predictions of bifurcation theory with Lindemann criterion, inherent structure analysis and Hansen-Verlet rule

Using polydispersity index as an additional order parameter we investigate freezing/melting transition of Lennard-Jones polydisperse systems (with Gaussian polydispersity in size), especially to gain insight into the origin of the terminal polydispersity. The average inherent structure (IS) energy and root mean square displacement (RMSD) of the solid before melting both exhibit quite similar polydispersity dependence including a discontinuity at solid-liquid transition point. Lindemann ratio, obtained from RMSD, is found to be dependent on temperature. At a given number density, there exists a value of polydispersity index (delta (P)) above which no crystalline solid is stable. This transition value of polydispersity(termed as transition polydispersity, delta (P) ) is found to depend strongly on temperature, a feature missed in hard sphere model systems. Additionally, for a particular temperature when number density is increased, delta (P) shifts to higher values. This temperature and number density dependent value of delta (P) saturates surprisingly to a value which is found to be nearly the same for all temperatures, known as terminal polydispersity (delta (TP)). This value (delta (TP) similar to 0.11) is in excellent agreement with the experimental value of 0.12, but differs from hard sphere transition where this limiting value is only 0.048. Terminal polydispersity (delta (TP)) thus has a quasiuniversal character. Interestingly, the bifurcation diagram obtained from non-linear integral equation theories of freezing seems to provide an explanation of the existence of unique terminal polydispersity in polydisperse systems. Global bond orientational order parameter is calculated to obtain further insights into mechanism for melting.