The path towards healthier societies,environments, and economies: a broader perspective for sustainable engineered nanomaterials

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Economic value is no longer adequate by itself as a proxy for the value-added benefits (VAB) assumed to be generated by emerging technologies such as...     

Behavior of bridge girders with corrugated webs under monotonic and cyclic loading

The focus of this study is to investigate the behavior of plate girders with trapezoidally corrugated webs under fatigue loading. Six girders were tested under both monotonic and cyclic four-point loading arrangements. A relationship between the stress range, F_r, and the number of cycles to failure, N, was developed for the girders. The results from the fatigue tests were related to the current AASHTO specifications and compared with the test results of different types of girders carried out by others. Nonlinear finite element analyses were conducted to study the effects of the different geometrical parameters of this type of girders on the stress concentrations at different locations and to explain the findings of the experimental study. Two sources of stress concentration leading to fatigue cracking were isolated and evaluated; one is dependent on the radius of curvature between the web folds and the other depends on the inclination angle of the inclined fold. An analytical technique based on fracture mechanics is also proposed to enable designers to determine the fatigue life of corrugated web steel girders.     

Solution Structure of the Leader Sequence of the Patellamide Precursor Peptide,PatE1–34

The solution structure of the leader sequence of the patellamide precursor peptide was analysed by using CD and determined with NOE‐restrained molecular dynamics calculations. This leader sequence is highly conserved in the precursor peptides of some other cyanobactins harbouring heterocycles, and is assumed to play a role in targeting the precursor peptide to the post‐translational machinery. The sequence was observed to form an α‐helix spanning residues 13–28 with a hydrophobic surface on one side of the helix. This hydrophobic surface is proposed to be the site of the initial binding with modifying enzymes.     

Assessing the Antimicrobial Activity of Polyisoprene Based Surfaces

There has been an intense research effort in the last decades in the field of biofouling prevention as it concerns many aspects of everyday life and causes problems to devices, the environment, and human health. Many different antifouling and antimicrobial materials have been developed to struggle against bacteria and other micro- and macro-organism attachment to different surfaces. However the “miracle solution” has still to be found. The research presented here concerns the synthesis of bio-based polymeric materials and the biological tests that showed their antifouling and, at the same time, antibacterial activity. The raw material used for the coating synthesis was natural rubber. The polyisoprene chains were fragmented to obtain oligomers, which had reactive chemical groups at their chain ends, therefore they could be modified to insert polymerizable and biocidal groups. Films were obtained by radical photopolymerization of the natural rubber derived oligomers and their structure was altered, in order to understand the mechanism of attachment inhibition and to increase the efficiency of the anti-biofouling action. The adhesion of three species of pathogenic bacteria and six strains of marine bacteria was studied. The coatings were able to inhibit bacterial attachment by contact, as it was verified that no detectable leaching of toxic molecules occurred.     

Effect of porosity and pressure on the PEM fuel cell performance

This paper presents a numerical modeling, provides an improved understanding of the fundamental transport phenomena inside the PEM fuel cell. The problem is stated in a steady-state, two-dimensional model and Cartesian coordinates system by using a single domain and a control volume method. The model consists of non-linear, coupled partial differential equations representing the conservation of mass, momentum, species, charges and energy with electrochemical reactions that are valid for gas diffusion electrodes, catalyst layers and membrane region. The modeling of bidirectional, non-isothermal and steady problem of PEMFC provides results concerning the species fraction, potential and temperature distribution in different domain.     

Electrochemical and photoelectrochemical behaviour of passivated niobium electrodes during hydrogen evolution

The electrochemical and photoelectrochemical behavior of niobium electrodes passivated in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ and 1 M HNO₃ has been investigated. High intensity pulse lasers were used as light sources. This technique allows photoelectrochemical measurements with light wavelengths smaller than the band gap of the semiconducting passive film. The donor concentration and the flat band potential of the passive films were calculated from capacity measurements. The effect of cathodic hydrogen evolution on the behaviour of the oxide film formed was found to depend on the time of the cathodic treatment of the electrode. The results showed that the behaviour of the passive film formed on niobium in nitric acid is different from that formed in sulphuric acid. The calculated donor concentrations and the extrapolated flat band potentials indicate that the nature of the passive film depends on the formation medium. The adsorption of hydrogen on the passivated Nb-electrode up to a time limit of 1 ms could be traced using photocharge measurements with excitation energies less than the band gap energy of the semiconducing oxide film.     

Influence of hydrostatic pressure on the electrical properties of unvulcanized FEF-loaded SBR

Styrene butadience rubber (SBR-1502) loaded with different concentrations of FEF carbon black was tested to find out the effect of pressure on its electrical properties during vulcanization. Using the thermodynamically calculated values of the pressure coefficient (K), the thermoelastic coefficient (L = ?T/?P) was also estimated and compared with that obtained by other workers. The thermoelastic coefficient was found to be strongly dependent on the carbon black concentration.     

Structure and antimicrobial activity relationship of quaternary N‐alkyl chitosan derivatives against some plant pathogens

In the present work, quaternary chitosans as water‐soluble compounds were prepared based on three‐step process. Schiff bases were firstly synthesized by the reaction between the amino groups of chitosan with aliphatic aldehydes followed by a reduction with sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) to form N‐(alkyl) chitosans. N,N,N‐(dimethyl alkyl) chitosans were then obtained by a reaction of chitosan containing N‐butyl, N‐pentyl, N‐hexyl, N‐heptyl, and N‐octyl substituents with methyl iodide. The compounds were characterized using IR and NMR spectroscopy. Subsequent experiments were conducted to test their antimicrobial activities against the most economic plant pathogenic bacteria of crown gall disease Agrobacterium tumefaciens, soft mold disease Erwinia carotovora, fungi of grey mold Botrytis cinerea, root rot disease Fusarium oxysporum, and damping off disease Pythium debaryanum. Quaternary chitosans enhanced the antibacterial activity and N,N,N‐(dimethyl pentyl) chitosan was the most active one with Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of 750 and 1225 mg/L against A. tumefaciens and E. carotovora, respectively. All quaternized chitosans gave stronger antifungal activities than chitosan where N,N,N‐(dimethyl pentyl) chitosan and N,N,N‐(dimethyl octyl) chitosan were significantly the highest in mycelial growth inhibiation against B. cinerea (EC₅₀ = 908 and 383 mg/L, respectively), F. oxysporum (EC₅₀ = 871 and 812 mg/L, respectively), and P. debaryanum (EC₅₀ = 624 and 440 mg/L, respectively). In addition, spore germination of B. cinerea and F. oxysporum was significantly affected with the compounds at the tested concentrations and the inhibition activity was increased with an increase in the chain length of the alkyl substituent. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010