Experimental investigations on silicon carbide mixed electric discharge machining

Silicon - In this study, silicon carbide mixed electrical discharge machining (SCMEDM) process has been developed and later on modelled also using an artificial neural network (ANN) based technique...     

Isotope Engineered Fluorinated Single and Bilayer Graphene: Insights into Fluorination Selectivity,Stability, and Defect Passivation

Tailoring the physicochemical properties of graphene through functionalization remains a major interest for next-generation technological applications. However, defect formation due to functionalization greatly endangers the intrinsic properties of graphene, which remains a serious concern. Despite numerous attempts to address this issue, a comprehensive analysis has not been conducted. This work reports a two-step fluorination process to stabilize the fluorinated graphene and obtain control over the fluorination-induced defects in graphene layers. The structural, electronic and isotope-mass-sensitive spectroscopic characterization unveils several not-yet-resolved facts, such as fluorination sites and C F bond stability in partially-fluorinated graphene (F-SLG). The stability of fluorine has been correlated to fluorine co-shared between two graphene layers in fluorinated-bilayer-graphene (F-BLG). The desorption energy of co-shared fluorine is an order of magnitude higher than the C F bond energy in F-SLG due to the electrostatic interaction and the inhibition of defluorination in the F-BLG. Additionally, F-BLG exhibits enhanced light–matter interaction, which has been utilized to design a proof-of-concept field-effect phototransistor that produces high photocurrent response at a time <200 µs. Thus, the study paves a new avenue for the in-depth understanding and practical utilization of fluorinated graphenic carbon.     

Single Molecule Localization Microscopy for Studying Small Extracellular Vesicles

Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are 30–200 nm nanovesicles enriched with unique cargoes of nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins. sEVs are released by all cell types and have emerged as a critical mediator of cell-to-cell communication. Although many studies have dealt with the role of sEVs in health and disease, the exact mechanism of sEVs biogenesis and uptake remain unexplored due to the lack of suitable imaging technologies. For sEVs functional studies, imaging has long relied on conventional fluorescence microscopy that has only 200–300 nm resolution, thereby generating blurred images. To break this resolution limit, recent developments in super-resolution microscopy techniques, specifically single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), expanded the understanding of subcellular details at the few nanometer level. SMLM success relies on the use of appropriate fluorophores with excellent blinking properties. In this review, the basic principle of SMLM is highlighted and the state of the art of SMLM use in sEV biology is summarized. Next, how SMLM techniques implemented for cell imaging can be translated to sEV imaging is discussed by applying different labeling strategies to study sEV biogenesis and their biomolecular interaction with the distant recipient cells.     

Impact of physico-chemical properties of nanocellulose on rheology of aqueous suspensions and its utility in multiple fields: A review

Nanocellulose (NC), due to its sustainable nature, high aspect ratio, superior mechanical strength, and availability of functionalizable  OH groups, has been widely utilized as reinforcement in numerous fluids/plastics. The physico-chemical properties of NC, like surface characteristics, dimensions/aspect ratio and their concentration, significantly impact the interparticle interactions, such as the extent of hydrogen bonding, van der Waal forces, hydrophobicity, electrostatic attraction/repulsion, and cellulose entanglement, and have been found to play a critical role in regulating the overall rheological characteristics of fluids. The functionalized NC aqueous suspension exhibited unique shear thinning properties, thixotropic behavior, and quick steady-state viscosity recovery and viscoelastic properties. However, upon adding functionalized NC to other fluids, a different impact was noticed. For instance, it improved the viscosity, G′ and mechanical stability of bio-ink; the setting time and mechanical strength of cementitious fluids; increased the filtration performance and provided a unique thermo-thickening impact in case of water-based drilling-fluid; enhanced viscosity with time and heat in case of oil recovery, and so forth. Keeping in view the notable dependence of the rheology of fluids on NC additives, in the present review article, the impact of various physico-chemical properties of NC additives on the rheological behavior of NC aqueous suspension and its utility as a rheology modifier in multiple advanced fields has been explored. This review article, compared to previous studies, warrants an update on the impact of recent NC surface functionalization/blending techniques employed and NC aspect ratio on specific properties of multiple advanced fluids.     

Thermal modeling of a dual-purposed snap biopsy acquisition procedure in a suspected cancerous lesion

The needle-based biopsy procedure is common in cancer detection and patient-specific targeted therapy, wherein a tissue sample from the potential diseased site is acquired and frozen instantly with the help of a coolant medium. While liquid nitrogen (LN₂) is the most widely used coolant for preserving the acquired sample and performing biopsy tests on the same at a later time, cold ischemia leads to inevitable cell degradation beyond a threshold time. In an effort to circumvent this challenge, here we aim to put forward the concept of an integrated biopsy sample acquisition and cryotherapy procedure, by incorporating an exclusively designed cooling circuit in a conventional biopsy-needle for freezing the sample in vivo as soon as it is acquired, while causing cryoablation in the surrounding tissues simultaneously. An enthalpy-based approach is employed to develop a bioheat transfer model for the cryotherapy design, with illustrative simulation data presented for breast cancer. Our model is demonstrated by considering a constant LN₂ cooling temperature of 77.15 K, and cooling powers ranging from 2 to 10 W. The model results elucidate procedure-specific insights such as the thermal penetration depth and the cooling time on being subjected to the cryoablation. The cooling rates thus obtained are further assessed from the simultaneous considerations of cryopreservation and cryosurgery, deriving critical insights on tissue survival and damage for acting as a precursor to patient-specific treatment planning.     

SyReNN: A tool for analyzing deep neural networks

International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer - Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are rapidly gaining popularity in a variety of important domains. Unfortunately, modern DNNs have been...     

Design,Synthesis, Drug-Likeness and In Silico Prediction of Polycyclic Aromatic Schiff base Tethered Organosilatranes

Silicon - The present article includes the generation of aromatic Schiff base tethered organosilatranes via two step synthetic pathways starting from anthracene-10-carbaldehyde and...