Bacteria-Responsive Multidrug Delivery Nanosystem for Combating Long-Term Biofilm-Associated Infections

Microbial biofilm formation on implantable devices causes chronic infections that cannot be treated with existing antimicrobials. Quorum sensing inhibitors (QSIs) have recently emerged as novel antimicrobials for the prevention of biofilm formation. But blocking QS alone is insufficient to inhibit biofilm-associated chronic infections. Herein, chitosan hollow nanospheres are capped by bacteria-responsive β-casein to form a synergistic antifouling nanosystem consisting of a QSI and bactericide. β-casein is degraded by protease in a bacteria-colonized microenvironment in situ thus, QSI and bactericide are released sequentially. The release of QSI sensitises bacteria effectively through reduction of surface hydrophobicity, eDNA content, and lipopolysaccharide production in biofilms, amplifying the chemotherapeutic action of the bactericide. Compared to the uncoated surface, the coated surface inhibits biofilm formation and removes preformed biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by 1.8 logs and 1.9 logs of biomass inhibition, respectively. The coated catheters are found to stay clean for 30 days under artificial urine flow, while the uncoated catheters are clogged by bacterial biofilms within 5 days. Finally, the long term antifouling activity in vivo is confirmed. Overall, the nanosystem is devoted to making urinary catheters resistant to bacterial biofilm formation for the long term.     

Use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to study ageing characteristics of asphalt binders

The present study aims at studying ageing characteristics of conventional bitumen, polymer modified bitumen (PMB) and warm mix asphalt (WMA) by using FTIR. Results of obtained FTIR spectrum were quantified by calculating different indices and finally based on these indices ageing index of the binders for short- and long-term ageing were calculated. Results showed ageing increased amount of complex and high molecular weight components of the binders. PMB was found to have greater ageing resistance than conventional asphalt binders. In case of WMA, results found to be inconclusive, requiring further investigation.     

Bayes estimation of the linear hazard-rate model

In life testing, the failure-time distributions are often specified by choosing an appropriate hazard-rate function. The class of life-time distribution characterized by a linear hazard-rate includes the one-parameter exponential and Rayleigh distributions. Usually the parameters of the linear hazard-rate model are estimated by the method of least squares. This work is concerned with Bayes estimation of the two-parameters from a type-2 censored sample. Monte Carlo simulation is used to compare the Bayes risk of the regression estimator with the minimum Bayes risk. Discrete mixtures of decreasing failure rate distributions are known to have decreasing failure rates. The authors prove that the result holds for continuous mixtures as well     

Effects of strain on the high speed modulation of GaAs- andInP-based quantum-well lasers

A small-signal numerical analysis of pseudomorphic GaAs- and InP-based Fabry-Perot quantum-well lasers using calculated optical gain spectra with strain effects included is reported. Examination of the effect of lifetime broadening shows that the resonance frequency increases at a rate of ~250-MHz/meV reduction in the lifetime broadening for a GaAs-based strained layer laser. The modulation speed is limited by either device heating or facet damage. If the limitation is imposed by the optical power then the modulation speed increases as the laser cavity becomes shorter and the number of quantum wells increases. If the limitation is imposed by the injection current density, however, then the modulation speed decreases for the laser with shorter cavity length. The highest modulation speed is given by an optimum well number. A resonance frequency of ~16 GHz is predicted for a pseudomorphic GaAs-based laser with 30% excess In and average output power of ~5 mW     

Shrunken estimators of Weibull shape parameter from type-IIcensored samples

A shrunken estimator of the Weibull shape parameter for failure censored samples is suggested. This shrunken estimator is compared with shrunken estimators previously given. Even for sample sizes of five and ten this shrunken estimator, based on failure data censored at only three and four, respectively, can be used with advantage when one has a reasonable guess for the shape parameter. This estimator has higher efficiency and nearness than other estimators     

Estimation of average life for negative exponential distribution

This paper deals with the problem of average life estimation when the life times follow negative exponential distribution. A minimum mean square error estimator belonging to the class of linear combination of complete sufficient statistics has been obtained. The estimator thus obtained requires knowledge of coefficient of variation. The effect of using a guessed value of coefficient of variation on the estimator has also been studied.     

Enumeration of minimal cutsets from matrix representation of directed/undirected networks

This paper describes an algorithm for finding the minimal cutsets between a specified source and terminal nodes of directed/undirected networks. Adjacent nodes of a source node/merged node are determined by the collection of node numbers of columns corresponding to non-zero elements of the first row of the adjacency matrix to form the reduced adjacency matrix (RAM) corresponding to merged nodes. Connectivity of RAM has been checked to obtain the minimal cutsets.     

Correction of T2 distortion in multi-excitation RARE sequence

Correction schemes have been implemented to correct for T2 distortions in a multiexcitation RARE (rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement) sequence where data from multiple echoes and multiple excitations are combined. Computer simulation studies and human imaging studies have been conducted to develop and test the correction procedures. A direct method and an iterative technique have been investigated. The direct technique utilizes Hermitian symmetry of the T2 weighted data and is shown to reduce distortions in T2 weighted images. The iterative scheme begins with an estimation of T2, wherefrom k-space data are computed and compared to the true data to provide error images. The error images are then used to refine iteratively the reconstructed images at a specified echo time. The iterative procedure has been used to improve T1 weighted images acquired through a sequence based on acquisition of two half-plane Fourier samples. These correction techniques should enable a practical implementation of RARE for producing T1 and T2 weighted images comparable to standard spin echo images.     

A model for electroluminescence in SrS:Ce ACTFEL display devices

An analytical model for electroluminescence in SrS:Ce AC thin-film electroluminescent display devices is presented. The model incorporates an exact calculation of the electric field and the effect of activator ionization and bulk traps. Activator ionization is needed to explain several features of luminescence behavior in SrS:Ce devices. These features include the second luminescence peak at the trailing edge of the voltage pulse and the time lag between the luminescence and the applied voltage when the applied voltage consists of bipolar trapezoidal pulses and rectangular pulses of low voltage amplitudes. As a mechanism for the ionization of activators, field-assisted tunneling is shown to be more likely than impact ionization by hot electrons. Physical processes are described in terms of rate equations, and field, current, and luminescence waveforms are calculated for one set of device parameters. The calculated and experimental luminescence waveforms agree     

A fast-settling GaAs-enhanced frequency synthesizer

An indirect, phase-locked-loop (PLL), GaAs-enhanced frequency synthesizer with 700 ns loop settling time has been developed. The two-chip GaAs insertion reduced the size of an existing synthesizer from 90 in³ to only 30 in³. The 6.0 in×5.5 in.×0.9 in module contains a 400 gate GaAs programmable divider and a sample and hold (S/H) which improved the settling time by 77% and reduced the size by 67% over the current state-of-the-art synthesizer. Furthermore, the divider reduced power dissipation by 9.7 W and the S/H reduced power dissipation by 1.3 W