Effect of Cyclic Stress Reduction on the Creep Characteristics of AZ91 Magnesium Alloy

The creep deformation behavior of aged AZ91 magnesium alloy under the cyclic stress reduction has been investigated in the temperature range 353–383 K. The microstructural evolution of the AZ91 magnesium alloy at different heat treatment conditions has been studied using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The minimum strain rate, e_min, was found to be higher under cyclic stress reduction condition than that under static creep condition for the same maximum stress. Cyclic creep acceleration is interpreted using the interaction of moving dislocations with the existing b-phase(Mg17Al12) precipitates. The mean value of the activation energy of secondary creep stage was found to be equal to that quoted for lattice self-diffusion of magnesium mechanism.     

Microbubbles for optofluidics: controlled defects in bubble crystals

We use liquid–gas microfluidics as a low-cost, tunable microstructuring tool, for which applications can be envisioned in optics. In order to obtain relevant geometries for photonics, beyond simple self-assembled crystals, we propose an original approach that excludes bubbles from chosen zones thanks to tiny pillars. To assess the strength of the exclusion mechanism, we predict the behaviour of a single flattened bubble in front of a thin cylindrical pillar located in a rectangular microchannel. The model compares the hydrodynamic force F _fluid that pushes the bubble and the force F _s, due to surface tension, resulting from the surface augmentation when the bubble rises over the pillar. The resulting predictions have been confirmed by experimental results which showed that the bubble passes over the pillar if F _s < F _fluid and goes around it in other cases. Consistently with this model, dynamic bubble crystals with controlled lacuna defects of one, two, or a line of bubbles have been successfully produced. Defects can be switched on or off by changing the flow. Using a photosensitive polymer as a carrier liquid, static bubble crystals have also been produced.     

Growth, microstructure, optical and electrical properties of sprayed CuInSe2 polycrystalline films

Polycrystalline thin films of CuInSe₂ have been prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis technique as a function of Cu/In ratio. Incremental growth of the various ratios followed at different substrate temperatures ranging from 548 to 623 K. Characterizations by means of compositional analysis, X-ray diffraction and spectrophotometry measurements have been carried out. Voigt profile method has been used to determine the microstructure parameter (crystallite/domain size and macrostrain). The effect of Cu/In ratio as well as substrate temperature on the optical features (absorption coefficient and band gap) of these films has been investigated. The films of different Cu/In ratios (0.9–1.1) displayed a band gap from 0.92 to 1.025 eV for direct transition. The dark resistivity measurements at room temperature of Cu-rich samples show about five orders of magnitude higher than that of In-rich samples.     

Novel gold nanoparticles coated with somatostatin as a potential delivery system for targeting somatostatin receptors

Targeting of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) like somatostatin-14 (SST-14) could have a potential interest in delivery of anti-cancer agents to tumor cells. Attachment of SST to different nano-carriers e.g. polymeric nanoparticles is limited due to the difficulty of interaction between SST itself and those nano-carriers. Furthermore, the instability problems associated with the final formulation. Attaching of SST to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using the positive and negative charge of SST and citrate-AuNPs could be considered a new technique to get stable non-aggregated AuNPs coated with SST. Different analyses techniques have been performed to proof the principle of coating between AuNPs and SST. Furthermore, cellular uptake studies on HCC-1806, HELA and U-87 cell lines has been investigated to show the ability of AuNPs coated SST to enter the cells via SST receptors. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) indicated a successful coating of SST on the MUA-AuNPs surface. Furthermore, all the performed analysis including DLS, SDS-PAGE and UV-VIS absorption spectra indicated a successful coating of AuNPs with SST. Cellular uptake studies on HCC-1806, HELA and U-87 cell lines showed that the number of AuNPs-SST per cell is signiflcantly higher compared to citrate-AuNPs when quantified using inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy. Moreover, the binding of AuNPs-SST to cells can be suppressed by addition of antagonist, indicating that the binding of AuNPs-SST to cells is due to receptor-specific binding. In conclusion, AuNPs could be attached to SST via adsorption to get stable AuNPs coated SST. This new formulation has a potential to target SST receptors localized in many normal and tumor cells.     

Simultaneous Fusion and Denoising of Panchromatic and Multispectral Satellite Images

To identify objects in satellite images, multispectral (MS) images with high spectral resolution and low spatial resolution, and panchromatic (Pan) images with high spatial resolution and low spectral resolution need to be fused. Several fusion methods such as the intensity–hue–saturation (IHS), the discrete wavelet transform, the discrete wavelet frame transform (DWFT), and the principal component analysis have been proposed in recent years to obtain images with both high spectral and spatial resolutions. In this paper, a hybrid fusion method for satellite images comprising both the IHS transform and the DWFT is proposed. This method tries to achieve the highest possible spectral and spatial resolutions with as small distortion in the fused image as possible. A comparison study between the proposed hybrid method and the traditional methods is presented in this paper. Different MS and Pan images from Landsat-5, Spot, Landsat-7, and IKONOS satellites are used in this comparison. The effect of noise on the proposed hybrid fusion method as well as the traditional fusion methods is studied. Experimental results show the superiority of the proposed hybrid method to the traditional methods. The results show also that a wavelet denoising step is required when fusion is performed at low signal-to-noise ratios.     

Physical Interventions to Manipulate Texture and Tenderness of Fresh Meat: A Review

Meat tenderness is a major eating quality attribute that ensures consumer satisfaction and repeat purchase of red meat. The variability in meat tenderness is related to several factors that are spread across the production chain (biological, on farm, processing, and consumer factors), which can lead to inconsistent tenderness in fresh red meat products. The tenderization process is dictated by physical and biochemical factors, which appear to affect the proteases involved in protein degradation and, consequently, they regulate the rate and extend of tenderization in meat. Several physical, chemical, and biochemical interventions have been investigated to improve the tenderness of meat. The present review discusses the physical interventions used to manipulate the texture of meat and their mechanism of action, optimal tenderizing conditions, and their effects on other meat quality attributes (colour stability, lipid oxidation, and water holding capacity). Attention should be paid to other quality attributes for full evaluation of the differing interventions.