利用激光冲击波检测碳纤维材料中的粘接质量

碳纤维增强复合材料(CFRP)由于具有出色的力学性能而越来越多地受到关注,但是由于对这种材料粘接结构缺乏有效的无损检测方法而导致其应用受到了局限。发展了一种基于激光冲击波的碳纤维增强复合材料粘接质量无损检测方法。对于一个碳纤维增强复合材料粘接结构,当激光作用在样品表面时,会产生一个冲击波在其中传播,冲击波到达样品后表面时会反射一个稀疏波,并在材料内部形成拉伸。在适当的激光强度下,好的粘接质量将不会受影响;而差的粘接质量将会造成损伤。实验过程中,对样品自由面的速度历史进行了测量,该信号可以反映粘接层的内部损伤情况。这一结论也通过对回收样品的激光超声检测得到了证实。这项技术的发展将使未来碳纤维增强复合材料粘接结构的在线检测成为可能。     

Assessment of Acetylcholinesterase Activity Using Indoxylacetate and Comparison with the Standard Ellman's Method

Assay of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity plays an important role in diagnostic, detection of pesticides and nerve agents, in vitro characterization of toxins and drugs including potential treatments for Alzheimer's disease. These experiments were done in order to determine whether indoxylacetate could be an adequate chromogenic reactant for AChE assay evaluation. Moreover, the results were compared to the standard Ellman's method. We calculated Michaelis constant Km (2.06 × 10(-4) mol/L for acetylthiocholine and 3.21 × 10(-3) mol/L for indoxylacetate) maximum reaction velocity V(max) (4.97 × 10(-7) kat for acetylcholine and 7.71 × 10(-8) kat for indoxylacetate) for electric eel AChE. In a second part, inhibition values were plotted for paraoxon, and reactivation efficacy was measured for some standard oxime reactivators: obidoxime, pralidoxime (2-PAM) and HI-6. Though indoxylacetate is split with lower turnover rate, this compound appears as a very attractive reactant since it does not show any chemical reactivity with oxime antidots and thiol used for the Ellman's method. Thus it can be advantageously used for accurate measurement of AChE activity. Suitability of assay for butyrylcholinesterase activity assessment is also discussed.     

Discriminating biomolecules with coherent control strategies

The activity of the GAP-Biophotonics research group at the University of Geneva in the field of coherent control for discriminating similar biomolecules, such as flavins, proteins and DNA bases, is presented and future developments are discussed.     

Sulfonylthiadiazoles with an unusual binding mode as partial dual peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) γ/δ agonists with high potency and in vivo efficacy

Compounds that simultaneously activate the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) subtypes PPARγ and PPARδ have the potential to effectively target dyslipidemia and type?II diabetes in a single pharmaceutically active molecule. The frequently observed side effects of selective PPARγ agonists, such as edema and weight gain, are expected to be overcome by using partial instead of full agonists for this nuclear receptor family. Herein we report the discovery, synthesis, and optimization of a novel series of sulfonylthiadiazoles that are active as partial agonists. The initial compound 6 was discovered by high-throughput screening as a moderate partial PPARδ agonist; its optimization was based on the X-ray crystal structure in complex with PPARδ. In contrast to other PPARδ agonists, this ligand does not interact directly with residues from the activation helix AF-2, which might be linked to its partial agonistic effect. Interestingly, the thiadiazole moiety fills a novel subpocket, which becomes accessible after moderate conformational rearrangement. The optimization was focused on introducing conformational constraints and replacing intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions. Highly potent molecules with activity as dual partial PPARγ/δ agonists in the low nanomolar range were then identified. One of the most active members, compound 20?a, displayed EC?? values of 1.6 and 336?nM for PPARδ and γ, respectively. The X-ray crystal structure of its complex with PPARδ confirms our design hypothesis. Compound 20?a clearly displayed in?vivo activity in two chronic mice studies. Lipids were modified in a beneficial way in normolipidemic mice, and the development of overt diabetes could be prevented in pre-diabetic db/db mice. However, body weight gain was similar to that observed with the PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone. Hence, active compounds from this series can be considered as valuable tools to elucidate the complex roles of dual PPARγ/δ agonists for potential treatment of metabolic syndrome.     

A protected annealing strategy to enhanced light emission and photostability of YAG:Ce nanoparticle-based films

A significant obstacle in the development of YAG:Ce nanoparticles as light converters in white LEDs and as biological labels is associated with the difficulty of finding preparative conditions that allow simultaneous control of structure, particle size and size distribution, while maintaining the optical properties of bulk samples. Preparation conditions frequently involve high-temperature treatments of precursors (up to 1400 °C), which result in increased particle size and aggregation, and lead to oxidation of Ce(iii) to Ce(iv). We report here a process that we term protected annealing, that allows the thermal treatment of preformed precursor particles at temperatures up to 1000 °C while preserving their small size and state of dispersion. In a first step, pristine nanoparticles are prepared by a glycothermal reaction, leading to a mixture of YAG and boehmite crystalline phases. The preformed nanoparticles are then dispersed in a porous silica. Annealing of the composite material at 1000 °C is followed by dissolution of the amorphous silica by hydrofluoric acid to recover the annealed particles as a colloidal dispersion. This simple process allows completion of YAG crystallization while preserving their small size. The redox state of Ce ions can be controlled through the annealing atmosphere. The obtained particles of YAG:Ce (60 ± 10 nm in size) can be dispersed as nearly transparent aqueous suspensions, with a luminescence quantum yield of 60%. Transparent YAG:Ce nanoparticle-based films of micron thickness can be deposited on glass substrates using aerosol spraying. Films formed from particles prepared by the protected annealing strategy display significantly improved photostability over particles that have not been subject to such annealing.     

Synthesis of YAG:Ce/TiO2 nanocomposite films

Our work is devoted to the development of YAG:Ce³⁺ phosphor nanoparticle-based converter layer for white LEDs. To avoid losses due to scattering effects, the strategy is to control separately the down-conversion and the extraction of light instead of using micron-sized luminescent particles acting simultaneously as both converter and scatterer. YAG:Ce nanoparticles were synthesized by a glycothermal method in autoclave at low temperature (300 °C). Y₃Al₅O₁₂ garnet phase with a crystallite size of 25 nm was obtained, as verified by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. The quantum yield of nanoparticles is 55%. The colloidal nanoparticles are finally incorporated into a sol-gel matrix of TiO₂. The small difference in refractive index between particles and matrix and the nanosize of the particles contribute to the transparency of the converter films. The surface of these layers can be periodically patterned by soft nano-imprint lithography. The diffraction due to the obtained photonic crystal at the surface may offer the opportunity to compensate the absence of scattering to extract the converted light.     

Photoredox catalysis for polymerization reactions

Photoredox catalysis is now well-known in organic synthesis for the formation of free radicals under very soft irradiations conditions (e.g. sunlight, household fluorescence or LED bulbs, Xe lamp). This method has been introduced here to the polymer chemistry area to initiate ring opening polymerizations (ROP) or free radical polymerizations (FRP). The present paper will give an up-to date situation of the photocatalyst achievements in FRP and ROP.     

Analytical formulation for the deformations of I-shapes and RHS at the plastic strain ultimate limit state

The development of “full plastic hinges” in the most stressed cross-sections is a common hypothesis considered in the elastic-plastic design of steel structures. The equations for the internal forces at the plastic limit state are then based on equilibrium conditions only, and they do not allow the global deformations corresponding to each combination of internal forces at this ultimate limit state to be estimated.This paper presents a simplified analytical model for the elastic-plastic analysis of rectangular hollow sections and bisymmetrical I-sections bent about their strong axis. This model states the relations between the global deformations (axial deformation and bending curvature) and the corresponding internal forces (axial force and bending moment) at the cross-section plastic strain ultimate limit state. It allows a realistic evaluation of the cross-section ductility, based on a relevant strain limitation at the most strained cross-section fibres.     

Characterization of ultrathin SOI film and application to short channel MOSFETs

In this study, a very dilute solution (NH(4)OH:H(2)O(2):H(2)O 1:8:64 mixture) was employed to reduce the thickness of commercially available SOI wafers down to 3?nm. The etch rate is precisely controlled at 0.11???s(-1) based on the self-limited etching speed of the solution. The thickness uniformity of the thin film, evaluated by spectroscopic ellipsometry and by high-resolution x-ray reflectivity, remains constant through the thinning process. Moreover, the film roughness, analyzed by atomic force microscopy, slightly improves during the thinning process. The residual stress in the thin film is much smaller than that obtained by sacrificial oxidation. Mobility, measured by means of a bridge-type Hall bar on 15?nm film, is not significantly reduced compared to the value of bulk silicon. Finally, the thinned SOI wafers were used to fabricate Schottky-barrier metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors with a gate length down to 30?nm, featuring state-of-the-art current drive performance.