Fluorescence quenching effects of nanocrystalline diamond surfaces

Undoped diamond has conductive properties when terminated by hydrogen and exposed to air or aqueous solution. Here, it is shown that nanocrystalline diamond, fabricated with hydrogen termination and deposited on quartz substrates using chemical vapor deposition, significantly quenched the fluorescence of adsorbed, dye-labeled fibrinogen protein in aqueous solutions at near neutral pH. Smaller levels of quenching were observed from oxygen terminated NCD surfaces. We suggest that these near-surface fluorescence quenching effects may arise from surface conductance effects in hydrogen terminated NCD. It is also shown that despite bulk quenching effects, single molecules of fibrinogen could be imaged on nanocrystalline diamond surfaces using epi-fluorescence techniques.     

Safe and sound

When the ATEX Directives were released in 2003, the only clear point was that ex motors with converter supply had to be safe. Otherwise, the requirements in relevant standards were different for the motors depending on the protection type or voltage, and also, the installation standard was adding new guidelines. In addition, each country had its own history and practices, which confuse the end users and manufacturers. These ATEX Directives are the first attempt to harmonize the rules with respect to the past and the actual installed base.     

H-densities: a new concept for hydrated molecules

It is common to represent molecules by "ball-and-stick" models that represent static positions of atoms. However, the vibrational states of water molecules involved in hydrogen bonding have wide amplitudes, even in their ground states. Here we introduce a new representation of this wide-amplitude vibrational motion: H-density plots. These plots represent the delocalized zero-point vibrational motion of terminal hydrogen atoms of water molecules weakly bound to other molecules. They are a vibrational analogy to electron densities. Calculations of the H-densities for complexes of water with water, benzene, phenol, and DNA bases are presented. These are obtained using the quantum diffusion Monte Carlo method. Comparisons of measured and calculated rotational constants provide experimental evidence of the new concept.     

SRM 2460/2461 Standard Bullets and Casings Project

The National Institute of Standards and Technology Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2460/2461 standard bullets and casings project will provide support to firearms examiners and to the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) in the United States. The SRM bullet is designed as both a virtual and a physical bullet profile signature standard. The virtual standard is a set of six digitized bullet profile signatures originally traced from six master bullets fired at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). By using the virtual signature standard to control the tool path on a numerically controlled diamond turning machine, 40 SRM bullets were produced. A profile signature measurement system was established for the SRM bullets. The profile signature differences are quantified by the maximum of the cross correlation function and by the signature difference between pairs of compared profile signatures measured on different SRM bullets. Initial measurement results showed high reproducibility for both the measurement system and production process of the SRM bullets. A traceability scheme has been proposed to establish the measurement traceability for nationwide bullet signature measurements to NIST, ATF and FBI. Prototype SRM casings have also been developed.     

Bends in oversized rectangular waveguide

The use of rectangular oversized waveguides in the Main Transmission Lines of the Lower Hybrid Current Drive (LHCD) system of ITER, requires to investigate the problem of bends. The principal specifications that characterize the oversized bend design concern the minimization of the reflection of the fundamental mode and the maximization of its transmission, limiting at the same time its coupling to spurious modes that could propagate at the operational frequency. In this paper, the performances of bends with different geometries are compared. They are simulated using the commercial finite element software Ansoft HFSS. An innovative modified mitre-bend solution with trapezoidal-elements is proposed and analyzed.     

Superhydrophobic/highly oleophobic surfaces based on poly(3,4-propylenedioxythiophene) surface <Emphasis Type="Italic">post</Emphasis>-functionalization

Here, we report for the first time the use of poly(3,4-propylenedioxythiophene) as platform for surface post-functionalization using the Staudinger-Vilarrasa reaction in order to covalently link perfluorinated chains and obtain various hydrophobic/oleophobic properties. 3,4-propylenedioxythiophene with one or two azido groups are prepared, in order to determine the impact of the number of functional groups on the surface morphology and wettability. Here, we show the possibility to prepare parahydrophobic (high water adhesion) or superhydrophobic (low water adhesion) surfaces with highly oleophilic to highly oleophobic properties.     

Instability zones for isotropic and anisotropic multibladed rotor configurations

Helicopter ground resonance is an unstable dynamic phenomenon which can lead to the total destruction of the aircraft during take-off or landing phases. The earliest research in this domain was carried out by Coleman and Feingold during the decade of 60s. The instability was predicted by using classical procedures once the rotor was considered as isotropic, consequently, the periodic equations of motion could be simplified to a system with constant coefficients by introducing a change of variables, known as the Coleman Variable Transformation. The goal of the present work is to further comprehend the phenomenon and the influence of the anisotropic properties of rotors by analyzing the periodic set of equations of motion. For this, Floquet's Theory (Floquet's Method — FM) is used. The analysis for predicting the ground resonance phenomenon in isotropic and anisotropic rotor configurations is explored. The conclusions lead to verify the appearance of bifurcation points depending on the anisotropic characteristic present in the rotor. The temporal response analysis in the motion of helicopter with one asymmetric blade at unstable regions highlighted the presence of non symmetric rotor deformation shapes.