Real‐Time Label‐Free Monitoring of Nanoparticle Cell Uptake

The surface plasmon resonance technique in combination with whole cell sensing is used for the first time for real‐time label‐free monitoring of nanoparticle cell uptake. The uptake kinetics of several types of nanoparticles relevant to drug delivery applications into HeLa cells is determined. The cell uptake of the nanoparticles is confirmed by confocal microscopy. The cell uptake of silica nanoparticles and polyethylenimine–plasmid DNA polyplexes is studied as a function of temperature, and the uptake energies are determined by Arrhenius plots. The phase transition temperature of the HeLa cell membrane is detected when monitoring cell uptake of silica nanoparticles at different temperatures. The HeLa cell uptake of the mesoporous silica nanoparticles is energy‐independent at temperatures slightly higher than the phase transition temperature of the HeLa cell membrane, while the uptake of polyethylenimine–DNA polyplexes is energy‐dependent and linear as a function of temperature with an activation energy of Ea = 62 ± 7 kJ mol^?1 = 15 ± 2 kcal mol^?1. The HeLa cell uptake of red blood cell derived extracellular vesicles is also studied as a function of the extracellular vesicle concentration. The results show a concentration dependent behavior reaching a saturation level of the extracellular vesicle uptake by HeLa cells.     

Thermal and electrical properties of aluminum nitride/boron nitride filled polyamide 6 hybrid polymer composites

The effects of boron nitride (BN) and aluminum nitride fillers on polyamide 6 (PA6) hybrid polymer composites were investigated. In particular, the thermal and electrical conductivity, thermal transition, thermal degradation, mechanical and morphological properties and chemical bonds characteristic of the materials with crystal structure of BN and aluminum nitride (AlN) filled PA6 prepared at different concentrations were characterized. Thermal conductivity of hybrid systems revealed a 1.6-fold gain compared to neat PA6. The highest thermal conductivity value was obtained for the composite containing 50 vol% additives (1.040 W/m K). A slight improvement in electrical conductive properties of composites appears and the highest value was obtained for the 50 vol% filled composite with only an increase by 3%. The microstructure of these composites revealed a homogeneous dispersion of AlN and BN additives in PA6 matrix. For all composites, one visible melting peak around 220°C related to the α-form crystals of PA6 was detected in correlation with the X-ray diffraction results. An improved thermal stability was obtained for 10 vol% AlN/BN filled PA6 composite (from 405.41°C to 409.68°C). The tensile strength results of all composites were found to be approximately 22% lower than pure PA6.     

The effect of the amine structure on photoinitiated free radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate using bisketocoumarin dye

Photoinitiation of the polymerization of methyl methacrylate by the bis-diethylaminocoumarin dye (BKC) in the presence of various amines was studied in order to determine the efficient amine that leads to the formation of the initiating radicals. RT-FTIR studies were also performed for multifunctional methacrylate. According to photoinduced polymerization and RT-FIR studies, N-methyldiethanol amine was the more efficient H-donor compared with the others.     

Effect of an Er,Cr:YSGG laser preparation on dentin bond strength of a universal adhesive

The aim of this study was to evaluate the bond strength of a universal adhesive system to dentin prepared with SiC paper or an Er,Cr:YSGG laser using different bonding strategies (etch-and-rinse versus self-etch mode). Ninety-six extracted caries-free, sound human molars were used. The teeth were longitudinally sectioned in the mesiodistal direction and were wet polished with 600-grit SiC paper to obtain a standardized flat dentin surface. All prepared teeth were randomly divided into two groups, according to the surface preparation method: GroupI:an erbium, chromium:yttrium,scandium, gallium, garnet laser; Group II: silicon carbide paper[SiC] (n = 48). Each group was then assigned into three subgroups according to the universal adhesive’s (Single Bond Universal) bonding strategies: (a) etch-and-rinse mode with phosphoric acid, (b) etch-and-rinse mode with a laser, (c) self-etch mode (n = 16). For surface preparation, the Er,Cr:YSGG laser was used at 3 W, 30 Hz with 140 μs pulse duration for 25 s. For etching mode, the laser was used at 1.5 W (60% air, 70% water). Cylinders of composite were fabricated on the bonding area and shear bond strength was determined using a universal testing machine. Failure modes were evaluated using a stereomicroscope. The data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni test (p < 0.05). Bonding strategies showed statistically significant differences in both the SiC-and laser-prepared groups (p < 0.05).Universal adhesive used in etch-and-rinse mode with acid showed significantly higher bond strength values than in self-etch mode (p < 0.05). The bond strength values did not differ according to the surface preparation method (p > 0.05). Irrespective of preparation method, using universal adhesive in etch-and-rinse mode with acid might improve dentin bond strength. Laser preparation did not affect the bond strength of the universal adhesive tested.     

Efficiently calculating inbreeding on large pedigrees databases

We consider pedigree data structured in the form of a directed acyclic graph, and use an encoding scheme, called NodeCodes, for expediting the evaluation of queries on pedigree graph structures. Inbreeding is the quantitative measure of the genetic relationship between two individuals. The inbreeding coefficient is related to the probability that both copies of any given gene are received from the same ancestor. In this paper we discuss the evaluation of the inbreeding coefficient of a given individual using NodeCodes and propose a new encoding scheme, Family NodeCodes, which is further optimized for pedigree graphs. We implemented and tested these approaches on both synthetic and real pedigree data in terms of performance and scalability. Experimental results show that the use of NodeCodes provides a good alternative for queries involving the inbreeding coefficient, with significant improvements over the traditional iterative evaluation methods (up to 10.1 times faster), and Family NodeCodes further improves this to 77.1 times faster while using 91% less space than regular NodeCodes.     

Bounding approaches for operation assignment and capacity allocation problem in flexible manufacturing systems

This study considers an operation assignment and capacity allocation problem that arises in flexible manufacturing systems. Automated machines are assumed to have scarce time and tool magazine capacities and the tools are available in limited quantities. The aim is to select a subset of operations with maximum total weight. The weight of an operation may represent its profit, processing load, relative priority. Several upper bounding procedures have been taken into account. The results of computational tests have revealed that the proposed upper bounding procedures produce satisfactory solutions in reasonable CPU times. We suggest using some of the bounds when the quality of the solutions is more important than the speed of achieving them and some others when the speed is more important than the quality.     

Coherent-array imaging using phased subarrays. Part I: basic principles

The front-end hardware complexity of a coherent array imaging system scales with the number of active array elements that are simultaneously used for transmission or reception of signals. Different imaging methods use different numbers of active channels and data collection strategies. Conventional full phased array (FPA) imaging produces the best image quality using all elements for both transmission and reception, and it has high front-end hardware complexity. In contrast, classical synthetic aperture (CSA) imaging only transmits on and receives from a single element at a time, minimizing the hardware complexity but achieving poor image quality. We propose a new coherent array imaging method--phased subarray (PSA) imaging--that performs partial transmit and receive beam-forming using a subset of adjacent elements at each firing step. This method reduces the number of active channels to the number of subarray elements; these channels are multiplexed across the full array and a reduced number of beams are acquired from each subarray. The low-resolution subarray images are laterally upsampled, interpolated, weighted, and coherently summed to form the final high-resolution PSA image. The PSA imaging reduces the complexity of the front-end hardware while achieving image quality approaching that of FPA imaging.     

Digital phased array beamforming using single-bit delta-sigma conversion with non-uniform oversampling

Digital beamforming based on oversampled delta-sigma (ΔΣ) analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion can reduce the overall cost, size, and power consumption of phased array front-end processing. The signal resampling involved in dynamic ΔΣ beamforming, however, disrupts synchronization between the modulators and demodulator, causing significant degradation in the signal-to-noise ratio. As a solution to this, we have explored a new digital beamforming approach based on non-uniform oversampling ΔΣ A/D conversion. Using this approach, the echo signals received by the transducer array are sampled at time instants determined by the beamforming timing and then digitized by single-bit ΔΣ A/D conversion prior to the coherent beam summation. The timing information involves a nonuniform sampling scheme employing different clocks at each array channel. The ΔΣ coded beamsums obtained by adding the delayed 1-bit coded RF echo signals are then processed through a decimation filter to produce final beamforming outputs. The performance and validity of the proposed beamforming approach are assessed by means of emulations using experimental raw RF data     

Deformation of NiTiCu shape memory single crystals in compression

Single-crystal orientations of NiTi10Cu alloys were studied under incremental, cyclic compression conditions to establish the pseudoelastic and shape memory response of this class of alloys. This material exhibits a two-step transformation involving cubic to orthorhombic martensite (B2 → B19) followed by orthorhombic to monoclinic martensite (B19 → B19′). The transformation parameters (shear magnitudes and directions for habit and twin planes) were determined associated with the B2 → B19 transformation. The growth of monoclinic martensite correspondent variant pairs (CVPs) emanating from the orthorhombic structure was also analyzed. The transformation strain for the B2 → B19 case was orientation dependent and lower than the B19 → B19′ transformation in compression for all orientations except those near the [001] pole. The experimental results show that the critical transformation stress is orientation dependent and is in the range 30 to 58 MPa. Orientations that exhibit lower transformation stress (or high resolved shear stress factors, [100] and [012]) produce higher recoverable strains (as high as 4 pct), while other orientations ([011], [111], and [123]) with lower resolved shear stress factors result in recoverable strains less than 3 pct. At higher strains, inelastic deformation develops, limiting recoverability. The recoverable strains are lower than the theoretical values for two main reasons: the transformation is curtailed first by austenite slip and subsequently by martensite slip, and the orthorhombic structure does not fully transform to the monoclinic martensite.