DNA Antenna Tile‐Associated Deoxyribozyme Sensor with Improved Sensitivity

Some natural enzymes increase the rate of diffusion‐limited reactions by facilitating substrate flow to their active sites. Inspired by this natural phenomenon, we developed a strategy for efficient substrate delivery to a deoxyribozyme (DZ) catalytic sensor. This resulted in a three‐ to fourfold increase in sensitivity and up to a ninefold improvement in the detection limit. The reported strategy can be used to enhance catalytic efficiency of diffusion‐limited enzymes and to improve sensitivity of enzyme‐based biosensors.     

Aggregate effects and measuring regional dynamics

Empirical models of regional adjustment often control for aggregate effects when estimating the impact of region-specific shocks on local economies. It is, however, difficult to filter out the effects of aggregate shocks—such as oil shocks, uncertainty shocks, or national recessions—because the incidence of these shocks varies across space and time. We propose an improved econometric method to control for this form of spatiotemporal heterogeneity, thereby yielding more accurate estimation of the effects of local shocks on regional economies. Applying the method to US states, we find that labour demand shocks are mostly absorbed through changes in participation; the migration response to these shocks is limited; and recoveries are highly protracted     

Determination of the True Operational Range of a Piezoelectric Actuator

Piezoelectric multilayer actuators are technologically important devices used in numerous positioning and force generation applications. During operation, the actuator displacement and force are nonlinearly coupled to the applied electric field, which is often ignored during material characterization. In this study, a novel experimental arrangement is presented that acts like a virtual linear spring, allowing for characterization of the full operational range as a function of applied electric field as well as the true blocking force and impedance matching system stiffness. The macroscopic measurements are contrasted to previous experimental techniques, providing insight into the effect of path dependence on the blocking force.     

Sensitivity of Aerosol Refractive Index Retrievals Using Optical Spectroscopy

Accurate refractive index values are required to determine the effects of aerosol particles on direct radiative forcing. Theoretical retrievals using extinction data alone or extinction plus absorption data have been simulated to determine the sensitivity of each retrieval. A range of aerosol types with a range of different refractive indices were considered. The simulations showed that the extinction-only retrieval was not able to accurately or precisely retrieve refractive index values, even for purely scattering compounds, but the addition of a simulated absorption measurement greatly improved the retrieval.

Copyright 2014 American Association for Aerosol Research     

Guest editorial–special issue on ground control in mining in 2020

正Ground control is the science of studying and controlling the behavior of rock strata in response to mining operations.Ground-control-related research has seen significant advancements over the last 40 years, and these accomplishments are well documented in the proceedings of the annual International Conference on Ground Control in Mining (ICGCM)[1].     

Assembly and Characterization of Biocompatible Coenzyme Q10-Enriched Lipid Nanoparticles

Coenzyme Q₁₀ (CoQ₁₀) is a strongly hydrophobic lipid that functions in the electron transport chain and as an antioxidant. CoQ₁₀ was conferred with aqueous solubility by incorporation into nanoparticles containing phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) and apolipoprotein (apo) A-I. These particles, termed CoQ₁₀ nanodisks (ND), contain 1.0 mg CoQ₁₀/5 mg PtdCho/2 mg apoA-I (97% CoQ₁₀ solubilization efficiency). UV/Vis absorbance spectroscopy of CoQ₁₀ ND revealed a characteristic absorbance peak centered at 275 nm. Incorporation of CoQ₁₀ into ND resulted in quenching of apoA-I tryptophan fluorescence emission. Gel filtration chromatography of CoQ₁₀ ND gave rise to a single major absorbance peak and HPLC of material extracted from this peak confirmed the presence of CoQ₁₀. Incubation of cultured cells with CoQ₁₀ ND, but not empty ND, resulted in a significant increase in the CoQ₁₀ content of mitochondria as well as enhanced oxidative phosphorylation, as observed by a ~24% increase in maximal oxygen consumption rate. Collectively, a facile method to solubilize significant quantities of CoQ₁₀ in lipid nanoparticles has been developed. The availability of CoQ₁₀ ND provides a novel means to investigate biochemical aspects of CoQ₁₀ uptake by cells and/or administer it to subjects deficient in this key lipid as a result of inborn errors of metabolism, statin therapy, or otherwise.     

Simultaneous Enhancement of Fracture Toughness and Unipolar Strain in Pb(Zr,Ti)O3‐ZrO2 Composites Through Composition Adjustment

The influence of second phase zirconia particles on the electrical properties and fracture behavior of various polycrystalline soft Pb(Zr_1?xTi_x)O₃ (PZT) compositions was investigated. PZT composites with yttria‐stabilized tetragonal zirconia particles exhibited enhanced crack resistance in comparison to monolithic compositions, regardless of the PZT composition. The addition of zirconia, however, was found to change the PZT composition through the diffusion of zirconium, resulting in variations in the observed piezoelectric and ferroelectric responses. Through the tailoring of the PZT matrix composition, the large electromechanical response and enhanced fracture toughness could be retained. The variation in both small and large signal properties is contrasted to fracture results and crystal structure changes, as determined by X‐ray diffraction.     

Pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to reveal bacterial pathogen diversity in biosolids

Given the potential for a variety of bacterial pathogens to occur in variably stabilized sewage sludge (biosolids), an understanding of pathogen diversity and abundance is necessary for accurate assessment of infective risk when these products are land applied. 16S rDNA was PCR amplified from genomic DNA extracted from municipal wastewater residuals (mesophilic- and thermophilic-phased anaerobic digestion (MAD and TPAD), composting (COM)), and agricultural soil (SOIL), and these amplicons were sequenced using massively parallel pyrosequencing technology. Resulting libraries contained an average of 30,893 16S rDNA sequences per sample with an average length of 392 bases. FASTUNIFRAC-based comparisons of population phylogenetic distance demonstrated similarities between the populations of different treatment plants performing the same stabilization method (e.g. different MAD samples), and population differences among samples from different biosolids stabilization methods (COM, MAD, and TPAD). Based on a 0.03 Jukes-Cantor distance to 80 potential bacterial pathogens, all samples contained pathogens and enrichment ranged from 0.02% to 0.1% of sequences. Most (61%) species identified were opportunistic pathogens of the genera Clostridium and Mycobacterium. As risk sciences continue to evolve to address scenarios that include multiple pathogen exposure, the analysis described here can be used to determine the diversity of pathogens in an environmental sample. This work provides guidance for prioritizing subsequent culturable and quantitative analysis, and for the first time, ensuring that potentially significant pathogens are not left out of risk estimations.     

Fast reactions with nano- and micrometer aluminum: A study on oxidation versus fluorination

The use of fluorine as an oxidizing agent in aluminum (Al)-based thermite reactions yields higher peak pressures and an increase in gas production compared with oxygen-containing oxidizers, such as molybdenum trioxide (MoO₃). Thus fluorination reactions have the potential to excel in situations that require high pressures and flame speeds. This study compares the combustion behaviors of Al/Teflon, Al/MoO₃/Teflon, and Al/MoO₃ in an effort to determine the effects that the replacement of oxygen with fluorine has on the reaction dynamics in both open and confined burning configurations. Data were collected from pressure sensors and high-speed imaging. The mass percent of Al was varied from 10 to 90% to study the effects of composition. The composites were then further tested at the optimum stoichiometry using either 50 nm or 1-3 μm Al to examine the effect of Al particle size. The addition of Teflon in an open configuration hinders the reaction due to a loss of liberated gas. Confining the reaction enables the trapped gases to enhance convection, yielding increased flame speeds. For confined conditions, the reactions containing Teflon exhibit higher peak pressures but lower flame speeds than the reactions with MoO₃. These results imply that a direct relationship between generated gas pressures and flame speeds does not generally exist when comparing different oxidizers. The theoretically predicted relationship for the relative flame speed versus relative particle size based on the melt-dispersion mechanism agrees with experimental data for all Al particle sizes and for the fluorination reaction. Particle synthesis parameters are suggested that could be controlled to enable micrometer-scale Al particles to achieve the performance of nanoscale Al particles. This is of significant practical importance, because nanoparticles are 30 to 50 times more expensive than the micrometer particles.