Ligand exchange based paraoxon imprınted QCM sensor

In the present work, a paraoxon imprinted QCM sensor has been developed for the determination of paraoxon based on the modification of paraoxon imprinted film onto a quartz crystal combining the advantages of high selectivity of the piezoelectric microgravimetry using MIP film technique and high sensitivity of QCM detection. The paraoxon selective memories have formed on QCM electrode surface by using a new metal–chelate interaction based on pre-organized monomer and the paraoxon recognition activity of these molecular memories was investigated. Molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) film for the detection of paraoxon was developed and the analytical performance of paraoxon imprinted sensor was studied. The molecular imprinted polymer were characterized by FTIR measurements. Paraoxon imprinted sensor was characterized with AFM and ellipsometer. The study also includes the measurement of binding interaction of paraoxon imprinted quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor, selectivity experiments and analytical performance of QCM electrode. The detection limit and the affinity constant (K_affinity) were found to be 0.06 μM and 2.25 × 10⁴ M^? 1 for paraoxon [MAAP–Cu(II)–paraoxon] based thin film, respectively. Also, it has been observed that the selectivity of the prepared paraoxon imprinted sensor is high compared to a similar chemical structure which is parathion.     

Epicardial fat thickness is associated with impaired coronary flow reserve in hemodialysis patients

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Epicardial fat tissue (EFT) is a new risk factor in CVD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between EFT and coronary artery flow reserve (CFR), which is an early indicator of endothelial dysfunction in coronary vessels of HD patients. We performed a cross‐sectional study including 71 chronic HD patients and 65 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls. Epicardial fat tissue was significantly higher in HD patients when compared to healthy controls (6.53 ± 1.01 mm vs. 5.79 ± 1.06 mm, respectively, P < 0.001). On transthoracic Doppler echocardiography, CFR values were significantly lower in HD patients when compared to healthy controls (1.73 ± 0.11 vs. 2.32 ± 0.28, P < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed CFR values to be inversely correlated with EFT (r = ?0.287, P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to define independent determinants of EFT in HD patients. Artery flow reserve, age, body mass index and total cholesterol levels were independently correlated with EFT thickness. This study demonstrated that EFT was significantly higher among HD patients compared to healthy controls. In addition, this study was the first to demonstrate an inverse correlation between EFT and CFR in this patient population.     

Analysis of Serum Advanced Glycation Endproducts Reveals Methylglyoxal-Derived Advanced Glycation MG-H1 Free Adduct Is a Risk Marker in Non-Diabetic and Diabetic Chronic Kidney Disease

Accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) is linked to decline in renal function, particularly in patients with diabetes. Major forms of AGEs in serum are protein-bound AGEs and AGE free adducts. In this study, we assessed levels of AGEs in subjects with and without diabetes, with normal renal function and stages 2 to 4 chronic kidney disease (CKD), to identify which AGE has the greatest progressive change with decline in renal function and change in diabetes. We performed a cross-sectional study of patients with stages 2–4 CKD, with and without diabetes, and healthy controls (n = 135). Nine protein-bound and free adduct AGEs were quantified in serum. Most protein-bound AGEs increased moderately through stages 2–4 CKD whereas AGE free adducts increased markedly. Methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolone MG-H1 free adduct was the AGE most responsive to CKD status, increasing 8-fold and 30-fold in stage 4 CKD in patients without and with diabetes, respectively. MG-H1 Glomerular filtration flux was increased 5-fold in diabetes, likely reflecting increased methylglyoxal glycation status. We conclude that serum MG-H1 free adduct concentration was strongly related to stage of CKD and increased in diabetes status. Serum MG-H1 free adduct is a candidate AGE risk marker of non-diabetic and diabetic CKD.     

Pathways to controlled 3D deformation of graphene: Manipulating the motion of topological defects

Functional properties of 2D materials like graphene can be tailored by designing their 3D structure at the Angstrom to nanometer scale. While there are routes to tailoring 3D structure at larger scales, achieving controllable sub-micron 3D deformations has remained an elusive goal since the original discovery of graphene. In this contribution, we summarize the state-of-the-art in controllable 3D structures, and present our perspective on pathways to realizing atomic-scale control. We propose an approach based on strategic application of mechanical load to precisely relocate and position topological defects that give rise to curvature and corrugation to achieve a desired 3D structure. Realizing this approach requires establishing the detailed nature of defect migration and pathways in response to applied load. From a computational perspective, the key needed advances lie in the identification of defect migration mechanisms. These needed advances define new forward and inverse problems: when a fixed stress or strain field is applied, along which pathways will defects migrate?, and vice versa. We provide a formal statement of these forward and inverse problems, and review recent methods that may enable solving them. The forward problem is addressed by determining the potential energy surface of allowable topological configurations through Monte Carlo and Gaussian process models to determine defect migration paths through dynamic programming algorithms or Monte Carlo tree search. Two inverse models are suggested, one based on genetic algorithms and another on convolutional neural networks, to predict the applied loads that induce migration and position defects to achieve desired curvature and corrugation. The realization of controllable 3D structures enables a vast design space at multiple scales to enable new functionality in flexible electronics, soft robotics, biomimetics, optics, and other application areas.     

Electrolyte and solvent effects of electrocoated polycarbazole thin films on carbon fiber microelectrodes

Carbazole was electrochemically synthesized on carbon fiber microelectrodes (CFMEs) in different electrolyte and solvent media. The characterization of polycarbazole thin films formed on micron sized carbon fiber electrodes was performed by electrochemical methods (i.e., cyclic voltammetric measurements, solid state conductivity measurements (four point probe), spectrophotometric methods (ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), ex situ spectroelectrochemistry, fourier transform infrared reflectance spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR)) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The best electrolyte and solvent in regards to yield, conductivity and charge for the electro-grafting was sodium perchlorate in acetonitrile, whose conductivity was 3.60 mS cm⁻¹, had a yield of 89% and had a charge of 5.50C. The effects of scan rate, feed ratio, supporting electrolyte and solvent type on the electropolymerization are discussed.     

In situ image processing capabilities of ARM-based micro-controllers

Dealing with visual data is the key for environmental monitoring tasks in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs). Tasks such as object detection, recognition, and/or tracking do require extracting and using the right information from the inherently large amount of visual data. The widely accepted solution of legacy WSNs, transmitting the acquired data to a central base station for further processing, would render a WMSN totally useless because of the unacceptable use of bandwidth and energy. Therefore, we consider the in situ processing as a viable solution for WMSNs. However, processing power and memory capacity restrictions of existing multimedia sensor nodes along with their power consumption are the limiting factors for wide-spread use of in situ processing. Nevertheless, recent technological improvements and introduction of the new ARM cores encourage us to evaluate the image processing capabilities of ARM7/ARM9/ARM11 based micro-controllers for in situ processing in WMSNs. In this work, we first discussed the architectural design differences among the various ARM cores. Then we classified image processing algorithms into three categories. Then, we evaluated the performance of each microcontroller by running a set of basic image processing algorithms necessary for object detection, recognition, and/or tracking. The test results show that ARM11 runs up to 6–30 times faster than ARM9 and ARM7, respectively. Besides, ARM11 consumes up to 5–7 times less energy than ARM9 and ARM7 for the same type of operations.     

Vibrational Energy Transport in Hybrid Ordered/Disordered Nanocomposites: Hybridization and Avoided Crossings of Localized and Delocalized Modes

Vibrational energy transport in disordered media is of fundamental importance to several fields spanning from sustainable energy to biomedicine to thermal management. This work investigates hybrid ordered/disordered nanocomposites that consist of crystalline membranes decorated by regularly patterned disordered regions formed by ion beam irradiation. The presence of the disordered regions results in reduced thermal conductivity, rendering these systems of interest for use as nanostructured thermoelectrics and thermal device components, yet their vibrational properties are not well understood. Here, the mechanism of vibrational transport and the reason underlying the observed reduction is established in detail. The hybrid systems are found to exhibit glass‐crystal duality in vibrational transport. Lattice dynamics reveals substantial hybridization between the localized and delocalized modes, which induces avoided crossings and harmonic broadening in the dispersion. Allen/Feldman theory shows that the hybridization and avoided crossings are the dominant drivers of the reduction. Anharmonic scattering is also enhanced in the patterned nanocomposites, further contributing to the reduction. The systems exhibit features reminiscent of both nanophononic materials and locally resonant nanophononic metamaterials, but operate in a manner distinct to both. These findings indicate that such “patterned disorder” can be a promising strategy to tailor vibrational transport through hybrid nanostructures.     

Research, protection and restoration studies on the historical fabric of Isparta, using Aya Baniya Church as an example

Turkey is a country that bears the tracks of many civilizations because of its geographic location and its characteristics that come from its deeply rooted history. So it contains historical and cultural items of value that are quite rich and can be characterized as intensely universal. Thanks to these valuable items, it has always drawn the attention of the world. Isparta is a city that houses quite a few historical, archaeological and cultural items of value in its structure. Protecting the historical buildings that carry the cultural and historical traces of a period and making a contribution to its reuse for the future of all humanity are a truth of international importance. In this connection, with this study, essential work was carried out and certain suggestions made about St. Baniya Church, which is one of the most important structures of the historically, archaeologically and culturally valuable items that make up the historical fabric of Isparta and especially, the historical and cultural potential of Isparta.     

Investigation of mean glandular dose versus compressed breast thickness relationship for mammography

The relationship between the mean glandular dose (MGD) and the compressed breast thickness (CBT) is commonly used for the presentation of mammographic dose survey results and could also be useful for the assessment of individual breast doses retrospectively in case of lack of necessary dosimetric instrumentation. The high data scattering from the best fit reduces the reliability of this technique. The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of this relationship using the data collected from a patient survey and phantom experiment. Patients were divided into three different groups according to their breast glandularities, which were predicted from the inspection of previous mammograms. X-ray beam qualities that will be used in patient examinations were determined according to breast thickness and predicted glandularities. The MGD versus CBT relationship for all the examined patients resulted in a poor correlation (R(2) = 0.28). This relationship was separately obtained for each glandularity group and also for sub-groups of specific beam qualities. The best correlation (R(2) = 0.73) was obtained for the fatty breast group and Mo/Mo combination. A low correlation (R(2) = 0.34) was observed in the mid-glandularity group due to inclusion of a wide range of glandularities in this group. In the case of the dense breast group, although the glandularity range was narrow, there were e still high data scattering (R(2) = 0.25). This was probably due to the use of Mo/Rh and Mo/Mo combinations. This is validated by obtaining the MGD-CBT relationship specific to Mo/Mo combination (R(2) = 0.61).