Host-Assisted Delivery of a Model Drug to Genomic DNA: Key Information from Ultrafast Spectroscopy and in silico Study

Drug delivery to a target without adverse effects is one of the major criteria for clinical use. Herein, we have made an attempt to explore the delivery efficacy of SDS surfactant in a monomer and micellar stage during the delivery of the model drug, Toluidine Blue (TB) from the micellar cavity to DNA. Molecular recognition of pre-micellar SDS encapsulated TB with DNA occurs at a rate constant of k₁ ∼652 s⁻¹. However, no significant release of encapsulated TB at micellar concentration was observed within the experimental time frame. This originated from the higher binding affinity of TB towards the nano-cavity of SDS at micellar concentration which does not allow the delivery of TB from the nano-cavity of SDS micelles to DNA. Thus, molecular recognition controls the extent of DNA recognition by TB which in turn modulates the rate of delivery of TB from SDS in a concentration-dependent manner.     

Role of additives in fabrication of soy-based rigid polyurethane foam for structural and thermal insulation applications

Environmental concerns continue to pose the challenge to replace petroleum-based products with renewable ones completely or at least partially while maintaining comparable properties. Herein, rigid polyurethane (PU) foams were prepared using soy-based polyol for structural and thermal insulation applications. Cell size, density, thermal resistivity, and compression force deflection (CFD) values were evaluated and compared with that of petroleum-based PU foam Baydur 683. The roles of different additives, that is, catalyst, blowing agent, surfactants, and different functionalities of polyol on the properties of fabricated foam were also investigated. For this study, dibutyltin dilaurate was employed as catalyst and water as environment friendly blowing agent. Their competitive effect on density and cell size of the PU foams were evaluated. Five different silicone-based surfactants were employed to study the effect of surface tension on cell size of foam. It was also found that 5 g of surfactant per 100 g of polyol produced a foam with minimum surface tension and highest thermal resistivity (R value: 26.11 m²·K/W). However, CFD values were compromised for higher surfactant loading. Additionally, blending of 5 g of higher functionality soy-based polyol improved the CFD values to 328.19 kPa, which was comparable to that of petroleum-based foam Baydur 683.     

Mechanical and surface properties of corona-treated titanium dioxide-embedded opaque white low-density/Linear low-density polyethylene film

This study encompasses the characterization of corona-treated milky white co-extruded polyethylene films. The surface energies developed at various applied voltages were investigated by standard wetting (dyne) solutions of binary liquid mixtures. A maximum treatment of 40 dynes/cm was achieved at 3.0 kW of the applied load. Maximum heat seal joint strength of 1.05 kN/m was achieved only when an untreated/untreated surface combination was sealed, while a treated/treated surface combination exhibited the minimum heat seal joint strength of 0.98 kN/m. Standard Scotch tape method was employed for testing peel adhesion. An applied load of more than 3.0 kW shows a decreasing trend in surface energy. The coefficient of friction on the treated surface was also investigated. Aging under different environmental conditions had hardly any impact on the treatment levels within the time period under study. A sufficiently opaque (Opacity—99%) white film at Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) loading of 7.5% resulted in a very good barrier film.     

Expert system, fuzzy logic, and neural network applications inpower electronics and motion control

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as expert systems, fuzzy logic, and neural networks are expected to usher a new era in power electronics and motion control in the coming decades. Although these technologies have advanced significantly and have found wide applications, they have hardly touched the power electronics and machine drives area. The paper describes these AI tools and their application in the area of power electronics and motion control. The body of the paper is subdivided into three sections which describe, respectively, the principles and applications of expert systems, fuzzy logic, and neural networks. The theoretical portion of each topic is of direct relevance to the application of power electronics. The example applications in the paper are taken from the published literature     

Neural classification of Lamb wave ultrasonic weld testing signalsusing wavelet coefficients

This paper presents an ultrasonic nondestructive weld testing method based on the wavelet transform (WT) of inspection signals and their classification by a neural network (NN). The use of Lamb waves generated by an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) as a probe allows us to test metallic welds. In this work, the case of an aluminum weld is treated. The feature extraction is made by using a method of analysis based on the WT of the ultrasonic testing signals; a classification process of the features based on a neural classifier to interpret the results in terms of weld quality concludes the process. The aim of this complete process of analysis and classification of the testing ultrasonic signals is to lead to an automated system of weld or structure testing. Results of real-world ultrasonic Lamb wave signal analysis and classifications for an aluminum weld are presented; these demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method     

Photoluminescence and heavy doping effects in InP

Photoluminescence (PL) studies on LPE-grown InP layers doped with selenium and having carrier concentrations from 1 × 10¹⁸ to 1 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³ have been reported in this paper. Measurements at 300 and 77 K showed that the band to band recombination peak energy shifts to values as high as 1·7 eV with increasing doping, the increase being sharp beyond 4 × 10¹⁹ cm⁻³. These results have been explained as being the result of the Burstein shift and the band-gap shrinkage.