Ferroelastic domain structure and phase transition in single-crystalline [PbZn1/3Nb2/3O3]1-x[PbTiO3]x observed via in situ x-ray microbeam

(1-x)Pb(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-xPbTiO₃ ((1-x)PZN-xPT in short) is one of the most important piezoelectric materials. In this work, we extensively investigated (1-x)PZN-xPT (x = 0.07–0.11) ferroelectric single crystals using in-situ synchrotron μXRD, complemented by TEM and PFM, to correlate microstructures with phase transitions. The results reveal that (i) at 25 °C, the equilibrium state of (1-x)PZN-xPT is a metastable orthorhombic phase for x = 0.07 and 0.08, while it shows coexistence of orthorhombic and tetragonal phases for x = 0.09 and x = 0.11, with all ferroelectric phases accompanied by ferroelastic domains; (ii) upon heating, the phase transformation in x = 0.07 is Orthorhombic → Monoclinic → Tetragonal → Cubic. The coexistence of ferroelectric tetragonal and paraelectric cubic phases was in-situ observed in x = 0.08 above Curie temperature (T_C), and (iii) phase transition can be explained by the evolution of the ferroelectric and ferroelastic domains. These results disclose that (1-x)PZN-xPT are in an unstable regime, which is possible factor for its anomalous dielectric response and high piezoelectric coefficient.     

Development of porous defects in plasma membranes of adenosine triphosphate-depleted Madin-Darby canine kidney cells and its inhibition by glycine

Studies during the past decade have led to the recognition of a fundamental, widely expressed mechanism of structural damage in energy-deprived cells, which is suppressed by physiologic levels of glycine and is independent of Ca2+ availability or alterations of cytosolic free Ca2+. To gain insight into this process, Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells were depleted of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by a mitochondrial uncoupler in glucose-free medium, and intracellular free Ca2+ was clamped at 100 nM to avoid calcium cytotoxicity. Although the ATP-depleted cells swelled and blebbed and their plasma membranes appeared to be under tension, they nevertheless became permeable to macromolecules. The plasma membranes of these cells retained structural continuity, as determined by morphologic observations, and confocal microscopy of a plasma membrane protein label (Biotin: Ultra Avidin-Texas Red) and a lipid label (NBD-sphingomyelin). Using fluoresceinated dextrans of graded molecular size, membrane permselectivity was examined noninvasively by confocal microscopy. Measured as inside/outside ratios of fluorescence intensity, the permeability indices showed progressively greater restriction to diffusion of increasingly larger dextran molecules across plasma membranes, with sharp break-points between 70,000 and 145,000 daltons (d). The results indicated that the membranes behaved as if they were perforated by water-filled channels or "pores," with size-exclusion limits of molecular dimensions. The membrane defects evolved from small pores permeable only to propidium iodide (668 d) and the smallest dextran (4,000 d), before enlarging with time to become permeable to larger dextrans. Inclusion of glycine during ATP depletion did not affect cell swelling or blebbing but completely prevented the development of permeability defects. Treatment of cells before ATP depletion with a membrane-impermeant homobifunctional "nearest neighbor" cross-linking agent, 3,3' dithiobis(sulfosuccinimidylpropionate), suppressed the development of permeability defects, even in the absence of glycine. These observations suggest that the cellular abnormality that is suppressed by glycine involves rearrangement of plasma membrane proteins to form water-filled pores large enough to leak macromolecules.     

Synthesis and characterization of castor oil urethane triamine networks

Castor oil was polymerized with diisocyanate and crosslinked with primary triamine (Jeffamine T-403) to form networks. The effect of triamine as a crosslinking agent on rubbery castor oil urethane elastomer was determined by measuring network parameters such as average molecular weight between crosslinks (MC) number of polymer chains per unit volume (N), tensile strength, and modulus of the networks. The crosslinking density was varied by varying the ratio of NCO : NH₂ from 0.60 to 0.95. The results indicated the formation of highly crosslinked elastomers at all NCO : NH₂ ratios employed. The tensile stregth and modulus increased with increasing crosslink density up to a value of NCO : NH₂ 0.85 and after this there was no significant change, indicating the maximum limit of improvement attainble in terms of network characteristics.     

Parameter Selection Based on Surface Finish in High-Speed End-Milling Using Differential Evolution

Selection of cutting parameters in high-speed machining is one of the most important tasks to achieve the required level of quality. Evolutionary algorithms are often used to obtain the optimal parameters corresponding to a single value of surface finish. In most practical applications, it is necessary to determine the cutting speed, feed, and depth of cut to meet the required surface finish. In the present work, high-speed end-milling has been studied, and an objective function for surface finish is obtained by Response Surface Methodology using results of carefully designed experiments. Testing of differential evolution and genetic algorithms using the classical Himmelblau function reveals that the performance of differential evolution is better. Therefore, differential evolution is used in the present work with a newly proposed objective function, and the machining parameters for the required surface finish are obtained.     

Parasitic capacitance removal of sub-100 nm p-MOSFETs using capacitance–voltage measurements

Capacitance–voltage measurements are performed on sub-100 nm high-k/metal gate p-MOSFETs to extract the intrinsic capacitance per gate length. This is then repeated on simulated devices using finite element modeling to compare to the experimental results. The intrinsic channel capacitance for the simulated devices is isolated from the parasitic capacitance, allowing for the comparison of analytic models of parasitic capacitances to the simulation.     

Critical issues related to transfersomes - novel vesicular system

It has become increasingly apparent that vesicular drug delivery elicits modest possessions in drug targeting. Transfersomes are a form of elastic or deformable vesicle, which were first introduced in the early 1990s. Elasticity can be achieved by using an edge activator in the lipid bilayer structure. Molecules greater than 500 Da normally do not cross the skin. This prevents epicutaneous delivery of the high molecular weight therapeutics as well as non-invasive transcutaneous immunisation. Transdermal route will always remain a lucrative area for drug delivery. With the advent of new categories of drugs like peptides this route has captured more focus to combat the problems related to their delivery through oral route. But the transdermal route is equally filled with the hopes and disappointments as the transport of drug through this route faces many problems especially for the large molecules. To answer this problem many approaches were adopted. One of the very recent approaches is the use of ultra-deformable carrier systems (transfersomes). They have been used as drug carriers for a range of small molecules, peptides, proteins and vaccines, both in vitro and in vivo. Transfersomes penetrate through the pores of stratum corneum which are smaller than its size and get into the underlying viable skin in intact form. This is because of its deformable nature. The aim of this article is explanation the formation of micelle and vesicles, various types of vesicles, specifically focusing on transfersomes.     

Investigation of fatigue crack incubation and growth in cast MAR-M247 subjected to low cycle fatigue at room temperature

MC carbide particles (with Hafnium and/or Tantalum as constituent metallic element, M) were observed to crack extensively in a cast polycrystalline nickel-base superalloy, MAR-M247, when subjected to low-cycle fatigue loading at room temperature. High resolution secondary electron images taken on the surface of a double edge notch test specimen revealed that approximately half the carbide particles cracked in the highly-strained notch section of the specimen. These images further illustrated that the average surface area of cracked particles was approximately three times that of the uncracked particles. Additional analysis illustrated that the cracks within a large number of particles aligned nearly perpendicular to the loading direction. However, high aspect ratio particles (with aspect ratio \({>}3\)) were prone to incubate cracks aligned along its major axis, independent of the loading direction. Additionally, forward-scattered imaging often showed a high density of slip bands interaction with most of the particles which cracked. The life limiting crack growth in MAR-M247 was observed to be crystallographic in nature, as the crack grew along slip bands as measured by high-resolution electron backscatter diffraction, even after spanning many grains. Statistically representative microstructure models of MAR-M247 were generated and used in the crystal plasticity finite element simulations. As expected, there was a significant variation in the computed stress state among constituent carbide particles. The stress state of the carbide particles was found to be heavily influenced by the stress in surrounding grains and the orientation of the major axis of the particles with respect to applied load direction. For particles that intersect the free-surface, stress was found to be highly concentrated at the free surface and a positive correlation between the magnitude of free-surface area and the maximum principal stress was found. Additionally, high stress concentrations were observed in regions where carbide particles intersect grain boundaries.     

Facile synthesis of noble-metal free polygonal Zn2TiO4 nanostructures for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under solar light irradiation

Designing of noble-metal free and morphologically controlled advanced photocatalysts for photocatalytic water splitting using solar light is of huge interest today. In the present work, novel polygonal Zn₂TiO₄ (ZTO) nanostructures have been synthesized by citricacid assisted solid state method for the first time and synthesized nanostructures were characterized by using various techniques like PXRD, UV-Vis-DRS, PL, FT-IR, BET, FE-SEM and TEM for their structural, optical, chemical, surface and morphological properties. The PXRD and UV-Vis-DRS analysis show the existence of cubic and tetragonal phases. FE-SEM and TEM results confirm the formation of polygonal ZTO nanostructures. Synthesised ZTO nanostructures have been potentially applied for solar light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen evaluation from water splitting and compare the photocatalytic activity with synthesized conventional Zn₂TiO₄ and commercially available TiO₂, ZnO photocatalysts. A high rate of 529 μmolh^?1g^?1 solar light-driven photocatalytic H₂ evolution has been achieved by using a small amount (5 mg) of polygonal Zn₂TiO₄ nanostructures from glycerol-water solution. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of the polygonal Zn₂TiO₄ nanostructures compare to conventional Zn₂TiO₄ under solar light irradiation is due to the large surface area and low recombination rate. However having the same bandgap, the polygonal Zn₂TiO₄ nanostructures have shown enhanced photocatalytic performance than that of commercially available TiO₂, ZnO photocatalysts.     

Investigations into high-speed rough and finish end-milling of hardened EN24 steel for implementation of control strategies

High-speed end-milling is used for production of variety of parts, dies, and molds made of hardened EN24 steel which are widely used in power and transport industries. Since desired productivity and quality are important in these industries, different strategies are needed for rough and finish end-milling operations. In this paper, a framework is presented for integrating different requirements of high-speed end-milling. In flat end-milling experiments, slots are machined in hardened EN24 steel using single insert cutter under different sets of cutting parameters for roughing and finishing operations. For rough end-milling, the responses such as material removal volume, tool wear and cutting forces are measured with respect to cutting time. A response surface is developed to predict material removal volume and a set of cutting parameters is selected for a given range of material removal volume using differential evolution (DE) algorithm till the tool wear reaches certain value. The experimental data is also used to develop Bayesian-based artificial neural network (ANN) model. Using this ANN model, reference values for cutting force and cutting time are generated for rough end-milling. Similarly, DE is used to predict a set of cutting parameters for a given range of surface roughness using response surface model. The reference cutting force is obtained for finish end-milling using ANN model. These reference values are useful in the monitoring and implementation of control strategy for the high-speed end-milling operations.