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A rapid, accurate and novel detection method of plant hormones abscisic acid at ultra-low concentrations in wheat leaves was proposed in this study. This surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy based method developed the substrate with the silver coated gold nanocomposites. This substrate exhibited excellent detection of rhodamine6G with an ultra-low concentration of 1 �� 10���12 M. And resulted in high-performance, well homogeneity and reproducibility against abscisic acid hormone detection with a limit of detection of 1 �� 10���9 M. This assay further measured abscisic acid hormones from the fresh leaves extract of wheat with the relative error of 3.72���10.66% compared with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay bioassay.

Angiogenesis is an essential process during development. Abnormal angiogenesis also contributes to many disease conditions such as tumor and retinal diseases. Previous studies have established the Hippo signaling pathway effector Yes-associated protein (YAP) as a crucial regulator of angiogenesis. In ECs, activated YAP promotes endothelial cell proliferation, migration and sprouting. YAP activity is regulated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and mechanical cues such as extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness. However, it is unclear how VEGF or ECM stiffness signal to YAP, especially how dephosphorylation of YAP occurs in response to VEGF stimulus or ECM stiffening. Here, we show that protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is required for this process. Blocking PP2A activity abolishes VEGF or ECM stiffening mediated YAP activation. Systemic administration of a PP2A inhibitor suppresses YAP activity in blood vessels in developmental and pathological angiogenesis mouse models. Consistently, PP2A inhibitor also inhibits sprouting angiogenesis. Mechanistically, PP2A directly interacts with YAP, and this interaction requires proper cytoskeleton dynamics. These findings identify PP2A as a crucial mediator of YAP activation in ECs and hence as an important regulator of angiogenesis. ispartof: FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY vol:9 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published

Genome instability is the fundamental hallmark of malignant tumors. Tumor suppressors often play a role in maintaining genome stability. Our previous genetic screen identified inositol polyphosphate 4-phosphatase type B (INPP4B), primarily hydrolyzing phosphatidylinositol 3, 4-disphosphate, is a potential tumor suppressor in lung cancer cells. How INPP4B regulates the genome stability of lung cancer cells is unclear. Here we report knockout of INPP4B in lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells by Crispr-Cas9 gene editing leads to sensitization to ionizing radiation (IR), PARP inhibitor olaparib and impaired DNA homologous recombination repair. Re-introduction of a Crispr-Cas9 resistant INPP4B gene in the INPP4B knockout cells partially restored their resistance to IR, indicating loss of INPP4B protein is relevant to the increased IR sensitivity. Furthermore, we showed ectopic expressed INPP4B in A549 cells responds to IR irradiation by redistribution from cytoplasm to nucleus and endogenous INPP4B protein interacts with Rad50, a crucial MRN complex component for tethering DNA double-strand breaks. Loss of INPP4B protein results in decreased stability of Rad50 in vivo, suggesting an unanticipated role of tumor suppressor INPP4B in maintaining genome integrity via facilitating Rad50 mediated DNA double-strand break repair. Taken together, our findings support a dual role of INPP4B in suppression of tumorigenesis by safeguarding genome stability, as well as inhibiting of PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling, and offer a new therapeutic strategy for personalized cancer treatment to patients with INPP4B defects or deficiency in the clinic.

Plant hormones are the molecules that control the vigorous development of plants and help to cope with the stress conditions efficiently due to vital and mechanized physiochemical regulations. Biologists and analytical chemists, both endorsed the extreme problems to quantify plant hormones due to their low level existence in plants and the technological support is devastatingly required to established reliable and efficient detection methods of plant hormones. Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) technology is becoming vigorously favored and can be used to accurately and specifically identify biological and chemical molecules. Subsistence molecular properties with varying excitation wavelength require the pertinent substrate to detect SERS signals from plant hormones. Three typical mechanisms of Raman signal enhancement have been discovered, electromagnetic, chemical and Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). Though, complex detection samples hinder in consistent and reproducible results of SERS-based technology. However, different algorithmic models applied on preprocessed data enhanced the prediction performances of Raman spectra by many folds and decreased the fluorescence value. By incorporating SERS measurements into the microfluidic platform, further highly repeatable SERS results can be obtained. This review paper tends to study the fundamental working principles, methods, applications of SERS systems and their execution in experiments of rapid determination of plant hormones as well as several ways of integrated SERS substrates. The challenges to develop an SERS-microfluidic framework with reproducible and accurate results for plant hormone detection are discussed comprehensively and highlighted the key areas for future investigation briefly.

Being important parameters of crop growth the precise measurements of available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) on site not only help the farmer to control his budget but also helps to keep the environmental pollution under control. Currently, the existing extractant cannot be applied to rapidly determine the concentrations of available NPK by soil chemical analysis methods, simultaneously. In the present paper, a universal extraction reagent consisting of 0.45 M NaHCO3 and 0.374 M Na2SO4 buffered at pH 8.5 in association with a portable multi-channel photoelectric system has been proposed. The present method provides the most useful indication for the rapid determination of available NPK concentrations in neutral and calcareous soil in field. A large number of soil samples were collected from crop planting zones in Henan province of central China for evaluating the effectiveness of this universal extractant. A portable multi-channel photoelectric system associated with this universal soil extractant was exclusively designed to provide reliable and reproducible available NPK concentrations in soil extracts. The experimental results showed that available NPK concentrations determined by this method are highly correlated with the laboratory-based methods. A ‘3414’ fertilizer scheme was applied to optimize the fertilizer recommendation for achieving the high targeted yield. The recommendation fertilizer system worked with a high correlation coefficient and fertilizer utilization rate has been established by this ‘3414’ fertilizer scheme. With advantage of portability, accuracy and low cost, the proposed method can help to cut down the economic burden of the farmer and also it helps to optimize the utilization of the fertilizers by limiting its excessive usage and hence control the environmental pollution.

A multi-channel localized surface plasmon resonance system is described for absorptiometric determination of abscisic acid (ABA). The system is making use of gold nanoparticles and consists of a broadband light source, a multi-channel alignment device, and a fiber spectrometer. The method is based on the specific interaction between an ABA-binding aptamer and ABA. This induces the growth of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) functionalized with a polyadenine-tailed aptamer that act as optical probes. Different concentrations of ABA give rise to varied morphologies of grown AuNPs. This causes a change of absorption spectra which is recorded by the system. ABA can be quantified by measurement of the peak wavelength shifts of grown AuNPs. Under optimized conditions, this method shows a linear relationship in the 1 nM to 10 μM ABA concentration range. The detection limit is 0.51 nM. The sensitivity of the ABA assay is strongly improved compared to the method based on salt-induced AuNP aggregation. This is attributed to the use of a poly-A-tailed aptamer and the catalytic ability of AuNPs. In the actual application, the ABA concentration of ABA in fresh leaves of rice is measured with the maximum relative error of 8.03% in comparison with the ELISA method. Graphical abstractSchematic representation of an absorptiometric approach for determination of abscisic acid based on the growth of polyA-tailed aptamer-AuNPs probes and a multi-channel localized surface plasmon resonance system.

The physico-chemical parameters including pH and viscosity, and the fluorescence signal induced by fluorescent compounds presenting in yogurts such as riboflavin and porphyrin were measured during one week’s storage at room temperature when five brands of yogurt samples were exposed to ambient air. The fluorescence spectra of yogurt showed four evident emission peaks, 525 nm, 633 nm, 661 nm, and 672 nm. To quantitatively investigate the quality of yogurt during deteriorating, a calculating method of the average rate of change (ARC) was proposed to study the relative change of fluorescence intensity in the spectral range of 600 to 750 nm associated with porphyrin and chlorin compounds. During the storage, the time evolution of two ARC, pH value, and viscosity were regular. Moreover, the ARC showed a good linear relationship with pH value and viscosity of yogurt. Further, multiple linear regression (MLR) models using two ARC as independent variables were developed to verify the dependence of fluorescence signal with pH value and viscosity, which showed a good linear relationship with an R-square of more than 85% for each class of yogurt. The results demonstrate that fluorescence spectra have a great potential to predict the quality of yogurt.

In recent years, there has been growing concern among consumers about pesticide contamination in fruits. Therefore, rapid, reliable, and consistent detection methods for OPPs, especially dimethoate, are crucially needed. The existing quantitative methods for detecting dimethoate are not suitable for rapid measuring system such as the dimethoate samples from two channels. Hence this paper examines the utilization of a dual-channel system for utilize the absorption variations of the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) bands of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were investigate for detection of dimethoate. Under optimized conditions, the relationship between concentrations of dimethoate and absorbance ratios (A(520)/A(640)) was linearly found in the concentration range of 10-100 nM. Result from the experiment shows that both channels exhibit a linear correlation coefficient as high as 0.97 and a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 5.5 nM. This LSPR detection system was characterized by testing the dimethoate in apple samples and the recovery rates were found to be in the range of 85.90% to 107.37%. The proposed dual-channel LSPR system for detecting dimethoate creating a new approach for detecting organophosphate insecticide in agricultural fields. It could lay the foundation for designing a high-throughput analysis of the insecticides using a wavelength division multiplexing switch (WDMS).

A biosensing system with optical fibers is proposed for the colorimetric detection of melamine in liquid milk samples by using the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The biosensing system consists of a broadband light source that covers the spectral range from 200 nm to 1700 nm, an optical attenuator, three types of 600 μm premium optical fibers with SMA905 connectors and a miniature spectrometer with a linear charge coupled device (CCD) array. The biosensing system with optical fibers is low-cost, simple and is well-proven for the detection of melamine. Its working principle is based on the color changes of AuNPs solution from wine-red to blue due to the inter-particle coupling effect that causes the shifts of wavelength and absorbance in LSPR band after the to-be-measured melamine samples were added. Under the optimized conditions, the detection response of the LSPR biosensing system was found to be linear in melamine detection in the concentration range from 0μM to 0.9 μM with a correlation coefficient (R2) 0.99 and a detection limit 33 nM. The experimental results obtained from the established LSPR biosensing system in the actual detection of melamine concentration in liquid milk samples show that this technique is highly specific and sensitive and would have a huge application prospects.

Abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in abiotic stress response and physiological signal transduction resisting to the adverse environment. Therefore, it is very essential for the quantitative detection of abscisic acid (ABA) due to its indispensable role in plant physiological activities. Herein, a new detection method based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) using aptamer-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is developed without using expensive instrument and antibody. In the presence of ABA, ABA specifically bind with their aptamers to form the ABA-aptamer complexes with G-quadruplex-like structure and lose the ability to stabilize AuNPs against NaCl-induced aggregation. Meanwhile, the changes of the LSPR spectra of AuNP solution occur and therefore the detection of ABA achieved. Under optimized conditions, this method showed a good linear range covering from 5×10-7 M to 5×10-5 M with a detection limit of 0.33 μM. In practice, the usage of this novel method has been demonstrated by its application to detect ABA from fresh leaves of rice with the relative error of 6.59%-7.93% compared with ELISA bioassay. The experimental results confirmed that this LSPR-based biosensor is simple, selective and sensitive for the detection of ABA. The proposed LSPR method could offer a new analytical platform for the detection of other plant hormones by changing the corresponding aptamer.

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrient indicators for the growth of crops, and is closely related to the chlorophyll content of leaves and thus influences the photosynthetic ability of the crops. In this study, five hybrid rice varieties were cultivated during one entire growing period in one experimental field supplied with six nitrogen fertilizer levels. Visible and near infrared (vis/NIR) reflectance spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis was used to identify hybrid rice varieties and nitrogen fertilizer levels, as well as to detect chlorophyll content associated with nitrogen levels. The support vector machine (SVM) algorithm was applied to identify five varieties of hybrid rice and six levels of nitrogen fertilizer. The results demonstrated that different varieties of hybrid rice for each nitrogen level can be well distinguished except for the highest nitrogen level, and no nitrogen level for each rice variety can be completely identified from the other five nitrogen levels. Further, 12 spectral indices combined with partial least square (PLS) analysis were applied for estimating chlorophyll content of rice leaves from plants subjected to different nitrogen levels, and a root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) of 0.506, a coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) of 97.8% and a ratio of performance to deviation (RPD) of 4.6 for all rice varieties indicated this as a preferable procedure. This study demonstrates that Vis/NIR spectroscopy can have a great potential for identification of rice varieties and evaluation of nitrogen fertilizer levels.

The purpose of this study was to develop a portable surface plasmon resonance (SPR) bioanalyzer for the sensitive detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in comparison with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The experimental setup mainly consisted of an integrated biosensor and a homemade microfluidic cell with a three-way solenoid valve. In order to detect Escherichia coli O157:H7 using the SPR immunoassay, 3-mercaptopropionic acid (3-MPA) was chemisorbed onto a gold surface via covalent bond for the immobilization of biological species. 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) were used as crosslinker reagents to enable the reaction between 3-MPA and Escherichia coli O157:H7 antibodies by covalent –CO–NH– amide bonding. The experimental results were obtained from the Escherichia coli O157:H7 positive samples prepared by 10-, 20-, 40-, 80-, and 160-fold dilution respectively, which show that a good linear relationship with the correlation coefficient R of 0.982 existed between the response units from the portable SPR bioanalyzer and the concentration of Escherichia coli O157:H7 positive samples. Moreover, the theoretical detection limit of 1.87 × 103 cfu/mL was calculated from the positive control samples. Compared with the Escherichia coli O157:H7 ELISA kit, the sensitivity of this portable SPR bioanalyzer is four orders of magnitude higher than the ELISA kit. The results demonstrate that the portable SPR bioanalyzer could provide an alternative method for the quantitative and sensitive determination of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in field.

Ethylene as an indicator for evaluating fruit ripening can be measured by very sensitive electrochemical gas sensors based on a high-resolution current produced by a bias potential applied to the electrodes. For this purpose, a measurement system for monitoring ethylene gas concentrations to evaluate fruit ripening by using the electrochemical ethylene sensor was successfully developed. Before the electrochemical ethylene sensor was used to measure the ethylene gas concentrations released from fruits, a calibration curve was established by the standard ethylene gases at concentrations of 2.99 ppm, 4.99 ppm, 8.01 ppm and 10 ppm, respectively, with a flow rate of 0.4 L·min(-1). From the calibration curve, the linear relationship between the responses and concentrations of ethylene gas was obtained in the range of 0-10 ppm with the correlation coefficient R² of 0.9976. The micropump and a novel signal conditioning circuit were implemented in this measurement, resulting in a rapid response in detecting ethylene concentrations down to 0.1 ppm in air and in under 50 s. In this experiment, three kinds of fruits-apples, pears and kiwifruits-were studied at a low concentration (under 0.8 ppm) of trace ethylene content in the air exhaled by fruits. The experimental results showed that a low cost, compact measurement system constructed by using an electrochemical ethylene sensor has a high sensitivity of 0.3907 V·ppm(-1) with a theoretical detection limit of 0.413 ppm, and is non-invasive and highly portable.

High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were used to examine the crystal structure of TiB ceramic powder synthesized by a Ti-Boronizing method. The HRTEM analysis revealed that the synthesized titanium boride has fcc crystal structure, with titanium and boron atoms alternatively arranged like Na and Cl ions in NaCl-type lattice. The crystal structure of this boride phase, denoted as fcc-TiB in the paper, was confirmed also by XRD analysis and agrees with the data reported in the card PDF # 06-641. This card is present in the powder diffraction file (PDF) database, but seldom quoted in literature because the typical crystal structure of TiB that forms in situ as a phase is orthorhombic. The present work reports new experimental data on the crystal properties of pure fcc-TiB not yet reported in the literature. The lattice parameter of fcc-TiB, calculated from XRD analysis, is a0=4.245 A.

Densification behavior and mechanical properties of Fe–Ni–Cu alloys prepared by carbusintering (CBS) and conventional sintering (CS) were studied. Carbusintering process showed the improved properties and high density compared with conventional sintering process. These differences can be explained by the microstructure and the diffusion of copper in iron powder. Microstructure observations indicated that the carbusintering process favored to refine grain size. Diffusion model analysis indicated that the diffusion coefficient of copper in iron was up to 0.63 × 10−14 m2/s during carbusintering process. After heat treatment, the hardness, impact energy and ultimate fracture strength of carbusintered compact are increased to 48HRC (484 HV), 13 J and 531 MPa, respectively. The use of CBS process was able to make process simple by taking sintering and carburizing as one step. The higher carbon content of the surface in P/M parts can be easily achieved compared to conventional carburizing.

A facile and simple method for the synthesis of biocompatible gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) at room temperature has been developed by using sodium borohydride as the reducing agent and employing an inexpensive water-soluble chondroitin sulfate (CS) biopolymer as the stabilizing agent. The as-prepared AuNPs were characterized with ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Additionally, the stability of AuNPs in aqueous solution was investigated as a function of the electrolyte sodium chloride concentration. The experimental results showed that even high sodium chloride concentration (1 M) also did not destabilize the colloidal gold solution. So it could be speculated that the high stability of AuNPs should be attributed to the electrostatic repulsion and steric hindrance between the AuNPs stabilized by CS molecules, which wrapped around the surface of as-prepared AuNPs and prevented their agglomeration, and simultaneously improve biocompatibility of AuNPs as well.

TiC–Ni cermets have been produced using direct laser fabrication on a low carbon steel substrate, with 20, 30 and 40 vol.% Ni, respectively. The effects of Ni content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of TiC–Ni cermets were investigated. The TiC particles were produced by an in-situ reaction of titanium and graphite during the direct laser fabrication, instead of being directly injected into the laser molten pool. The results showed that in the cermets only TiC and Ni were present as phases, indicating that TiC was synthesised by the in-situ reaction of Ti and C in the powder mixture and the amount of Ni content did not influence the presence of phases in the final products. Moreover, the results revealed that the increase of Ni content will result in the decrease of bending strength and micro-hardness.

Laser reactive sintering, i.e., laser-induced self-propagating reaction sintering synthesis was used for the preparation of nickel aluminide intermetallic compounds. The experimental parameters controlling the ignition step such as ignition time and adiabatic temperature were obtained both by experiment and calculation as a function of initial stoichiometry. Al mole ratio in initial powder mixture was varied from 25% to 50% for controlling adiabatic temperature. The increase in Al powder content resulted in the rise in adiabatic temperature and the morphology change of nickel aluminide compounds from needle-like to blocky.

Carbusintering (CBS) process was used to produce powder metallurgy (P/M) parts (Fe–2Ni–1.5Cu–xC). Influence of sintering parameters such as temperature on diffusion coefficient of carbon was investigated. The specimen with the porosity of 6–13% got the carbon content of the surface ranged from 1.23 to 1.32 wt.%. After heat treatment, the hardness and impact energy were enhanced to 48 HRC (484 HV) and 13 J, respectively. The change in carbon concentration along the case depth was determined quantitatively by means of chemical analysis. The carbon concentration profile was satisfactorily modeled by classical solution derived from Fick’s second law. An undesired acicular structure was observed in the specimen with low green compact density due to the high carbon content. CBS process can provide outstanding performance in surface hardening of P/M materials. The use of CBS process was able to make process simple by taking sintering and carburizing as one step. The higher carbon content of the surface in P/M parts can be easily achieved compared to conventional carburizing.

The effects of laser surface irradiation on microstructure of AISI 304 stainless steel were investigated. The stainless steel surface was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD patterns indicated that different oxides, such as chromium oxides and manganese oxides were fabricated successfully on the surface of the stainless steel by Nd:YAG pulsed laser irradiation. The effects of the growth conditions such as the laser power density on the morphologies of the different oxides have been investigated. From the FESEM, EDS (energy-dispersive spectrum) and TEM observations, the oxides with triangle-like, quadrangular and hexagonal morphologies have been fabricated successfully. The XPS was used to verify the formed oxides which had been detected by the XRD patterns. It was considered that laser power density had a critical role in the formation of different oxides.

New structure phenomena with the grain sizes of 60 nm to 1 μm would be expected on the stainless steel surface by Nd:YAG pulsed laser irradiation. Nano-structures with various shapes and sizes were formed mainly during the solidification and most shapes of particles were diversiform according to different distances from the center of the spot. The morphologies were of equiaxed nano-particles and faceted hexagons. The surface re-solidification velocities have been estimated according to the numeral simulation of the thermal conditions. It was proved by the XRD that they were mainly consisted of γ-Fe and manganese oxides. The XPS results confirmed the EDS results that on the surface the alloy elemental composition in the outermost layer were rich in Mn and poor in Fe and in reverse in the center of the laser spot. Through observation of morphologies grown on the laser irradiated surfaces, direct evidence of growth mode transition from a continuous form to a lateral form was provided in one laser spot.

In this paper, a simple and environmentally friendly electroless plating solution of chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for depositing gold film onto (3-aminopropyl)-trimethoxysilane (APTMS) -coated glass surface has been developed. APTMS as an adhesive reagent was used to attach the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) onto the glass substrate. These AuNPs could be regarded as the preferential nucleation or catalytic sites for gold electroless reduction, which accelerated the reduction of Au3+ on the glass surface and effectively prevented the formation of gold metal in the bulk solution. During the gold plating process, H2O2 as the reducing agent was thermodynamically capable of reducing Au3+ ions from the HAuCl4 precursor to gold atoms, which deposited onto the glass surface and finally formed the continuous gold film. The resulting gold film was characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively.

Laser reactive sintering, i.e., laser-induced self-propagating reaction sintering synthesis was used for the preparation of nickel aluminide intermetallic compounds. The experimental parameters controlling the ignition step such as ignition time and adiabatic temperature were calculated as a function of initial stoichiometry. Al mole ratio in initial powder mixture was varied from 25% to 50% for controlling adiabatic temperature. The increase in Al powder content resulted in the rise in adiabatic temperature and the morphology change of nickel aluminide compounds from needle-like to blocky.

Co-based alloy coating was deposited on tool steel by powder feeding laser cladding. Sections of such coatings were examined to reveal their microstructures and phases using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The results showed that the prime phase ( γ -Co dendrite) and other phases, including Cr 23 C 6 , Co 7 W 6 , and CrNi existed in the coatings. Some different solidification morphologies, such as planar (at the interface), cellular and dendrite formed, varying from the interface to the surface. Fine microstructures of γ -Co dendrite and lamellar eutectic in dendritical regions strengthened the coatings. Besides, the effects of aged treatment on the microstructure and microhardness of the surface coating were studied. Aged treatment led to the precipitations of some carbide particles (Cr 7 C 3 and Co 3 C) and boride particles (Co 4 B) from the cladded coating, causing an increase in microhardness in the laser-cladded coating.

The surface oxidation of Cr films by Nd:YAG pulsed laser was studied using a combination of SEM, FESEM, AFM and XRD. The oxide growth is near homogeneous by laser irradiation at the lower power density but it presents hill-like growth mode by the laser irradiation at the higher power density. The formation of the thermal groove that is harmful for the next processing step of etching was considered as the relaxation of the initial tensile stress in Cr film and the lower diffusion rate during laser oxidation at the lower temperature. It is harmful for the next processing step of etching. The hill-like oxide growth is due to the rapid outward diffusion of Cr ions by laser oxidation at high-power density induced high temperature.

Grey cast iron matrix composite reinforced with in situ synthesized TiC particles has been fabricated successfully from a precursor mixture of nickel, titanium and graphite (Ni–Ti–C) powders by laser cladding. TiC particles with various shapes and sizes were in situ formed mainly during the solidification and most shapes of TiC particles were diversiform according to different contents of Ti–C powder in the Ni–Ti–C system. The morphologies of TiC were of dendritic, flower-like and large blocky shapes. The growth mechanism of the blocky TiC particles with cores is nucleation-growth. Compared to those unreinforced grey cast iron matrix, the hardness and the wear resistance of TiC reinforced grey cast iron composite were significantly enhanced.

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) immunoassay with an immobilization of self-assembled molecular identification membrane for the detection of residual Clenbuterol Hydrochloride (CLB) in pork liver was systematically investigated and experimentally validated for its high performance. SPR immunoassay with a regular competitive inhibition assay cannot be directly verified to detect CLB residuals. In this study, the binding of Au film with mercaptopropionic acid was investigated using the known form of the strong S-Au covalent bonds formed by the chemical radical of the mercaptopropionic acid and the Au film. After that, the immunoglobulin IgG of swine (SwIgG-CLB) was bonded with the mercaptopropionic acid by covalent -CO-NH- amide bonding. The modified comprehensive analysis of how the membrane structure works was introduced together with the customized SPR bioanalyzer. In order to evaluate the performance of this biomembrane structure, the concentrations of CLB-contained solutions of 0 ng · mL(-1), 10 ng · mL(-1), 20 ng · mL(-1), 33.3 ng · mL(-1), and 40 ng · mL(-1) were prepared by adding CLB reagents into the solutions of CLB antibody (Clenbuterol Hydrochloride Antibody, CLB-Ab), successively and then the response unit (RU) was measured individually. Using the data collected from the linear CCD array, the fitting curve was established with the R-Square value of 0.9929. Correspondingly, the recovery rate ranged from 88.48% to 103.21% was experimented and the limit of detection of CLB in 1.26 ng · mL(-1) was obtained efficiently. It was concluded that the detection method associated with biomembrane properties is expected to contribute much to the determination of residual CLB in pork liver quantitatively by using the customized SPR bioanalyzer.

Pd–Ag alloy thin films have attracted much attention in view of their potential applications in sensing hydrogen. In this paper we report on a new method of deposition of a high quality homogeneous Pd–Ag thin film on an optical fibre. The deposition method is used to fabricate sensors, which can detect hydrogen at very low concentrations (below 4%), by depositing a Pd–Ag thin film on tapered optical fibres. The deposition method and the complete method for fabrication of the tapered optical fibre sensors are presented in detail, as well as measurements of the hydrogen concentration in a nitrogen atmosphere made using the fabricated sensors. The sensors show good sensitivity and the optical responses of the sensors are in good agreement with theory.

Surface microstructures of Cr films by Nd-YAG laser oxidation and annealing oxidation were studied by SEM, FESEM, AFM and XRD. Cr films with different grain sizes varying from 30 to 200 nm were obtained with the change of laser parameters. The calculated activation energy is of 1.13 eV and it was less than the lattice diffusion activation energy. Fick's law and average field method was applied to simulate the laser oxidation kinetics in Cr films. The differential form of homogeneous grain growth formula at equivalent constant temperature was used to establish laser oxidation kinetics. The inverse logarithm relation between oxidation rate and laser acting time was observed when the grain sizes of film were in 100–200 nm and it complied with Wagner theory and the parabola kinetics curve. The oxidation kinetics complied with Carbrea–Mott theory when the oxide film grain sizes were less than 100 nm. Cabrera–Mott oxidation kinetics was applied to not only the grain sizes within 10 nm, but also the grain sizes up to 100 nm. This result filled up the blank in the oxidation kinetics with grains sized of 10–100 nm. These results from the laser enhanced desorption which could reach rather deeper layer in the film under laser oxidation.

Surface oxidation of Cr films by laser was studied by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. Oxide growth is homogeneous with long pulse laser (100 μs pulse duration) but it has preferred orientation along (1 1 6) with short pulse laser irradiation (100 ns pulse duration). Lattice contraction results from internal growth stresses.

Grain sized (60–100 nm) Cr 2 O 3 thin films were prepared on Cr thin film surfaces by Nd-YAG laser photothermal oxidation process. Surface morphology study showed crack-free short plateau-like oxide films formed. Increase of dislocation density after pulsed laser irradiation was found. Thin film external surfaces, grain boundaries and dislocations are main paths of laser surface oxidation. Pinning and sealing of grain boundary was the reason that deeper oxidation did not produce. Grain growth and agglomeration of Cr sub-layer yielded tensile stress on the surface Cr 2 O 3 thin film. It was the reason that short plateau-like surface morphology formed and cracks appeared sometimes. In oxygen annealing at 700 °C, grain boundaries were considered not to be pinned at the surface, mixture diffusion was main mechanism in growth of oxide. Compression stress development in whole film led to extrusion of grains that was the reason that multiple appearances such as pyramid-like and nutshell-like morphology formed.

A sensitive and label-free analytical approach for the detection of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) instead of PCV2 antibody in serum sample was systematically investigated in this research based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) with an establishment of special molecular identification membrane. The experimental device for constructing the biosensing analyzer is composed of an integrated biosensor, a home-made microfluidic module, and an electrical control circuit incorporated with a photoelectric converter. In order to detect the PCV2 using the surface plasmon resonance immunoassay, the mercaptopropionic acid has been used to bind the Au film in advance through the known form of the strong S-Au covalent bonds formed by the chemical radical of the mercaptopropionic acid and the Au film. PCV2 antibodies were bonded with the mercaptopropionic acid by covalent -CO-NH- amide bonding. For the purpose of evaluating the performance of this approach, the known concentrations of PCV2 Cap protein of 10 µg/mL, 7.5 µg/mL, 5 µg/mL, 2.5 µg/mL, 1 µg/mL, and 0.5 µg/mL were prepared by diluting with PBS successively and then the delta response units (ΔRUs) were measured individually. Using the data collected from the linear CCD array, the ΔRUs gave a linear response over a wide concentration range of standard known concentrations of PCV2 Cap protein with the R-Squared value of 0.99625. The theoretical limit of detection was calculated to be 0.04 µg/mL for the surface plasmon resonance biosensing approach. Correspondingly, the recovery rate ranged from 81.0% to 89.3% was obtained. In contrast to the PCV2 detection kits, this surface plasmon resonance biosensing system was validated through linearity, precision and recovery, which demonstrated that the surface plasmon resonance immunoassay is reliable and robust. It was concluded that the detection method which is associated with biomembrane properties is expected to contribute much to determine the PCV2 in sample solutions instead of PCV2 antibody in serum samples quantitatively.

New advanced ceramic type fuel cells using natural salt and fluoride-based electrolytes have been demonstrated. Compared with conventional fuel cells, the natural salt and fluoride-based electrolyte fuel cells have shown a technical opportunity to develop intermediate temperature fuel cells for commercialisation in the near future.

Glyoxal (CHOCHO), as an indicator of photochemical “hot spots”, was for the first time the subject of a differential absorption lidar (DIAL) campaign. The strongest absorption line of glyoxal in the blue wavelength region – 455.1 nm – was chosen as the experimental absorption wavelength. In order to handle the effects of absorption cross-section variation of the interfering gas – nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – three-wavelength DIAL measurements simultaneously detecting glyoxal and NO2, were performed. The differential absorption curves, recorded in July 2012, indicate an extremely low glyoxal concentration in Lund, Sweden, although it is expected to be peaking at this time of the year.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only. (Less)

In the immunology, there are two important types of biomolecular interaction: an tigens-antibodies and receptors-ligands. Monitoring the response rate and affinity of biomolecular interaction can help analyze the protein function, drug discover, genomics and proteomics research. Moreover the association rate constant and dissociation rate constant of receptors-ligands are the important parameters for the study of signal transmission between cells. Recent advances in bioanalyzer instruments have greatly simplified the measurement of the kinetics of molecular interactions. Non-destructive and real-time monitoring the response to evaluate the parameters between antigens and antibodies can be performed by using optical surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor technology. This technology provides a quantitative analysis that is carried out rapidly with label-free high-throughput detection using the binding curves of antigens-antibodies. Consequently, the kinetic parameters of interaction between antigens and antibodies can be obtained. This article presents a low cost integrated SPR-based bioanalyzer (HPSPR-6000) designed by ourselves. This bioanalyzer is mainly composed of a biosensor TSPR1K23, a touch-screen monitor, a microprocessor PIC24F128, a microflow cell with three channels, a clamp and a photoelectric conversion device. To obtain the kinetic parameters, sensorgrams may be modeled using one of several binding mode ls provided with BIAevaluation software 3.0, SensiQ or Autolab. This allows calculation of the association rate consta nt (ka) and the dissociation rate constant (kd). The ratio of ka to kd can be used to estimate the equilibrium constant. Another kind is the analysis software OriginPro, which can process the obtained data by nonlinear fitting and then get some correlative parameters, but it can’t be embedded into the bioanalyzer, so the bioanalyzer don’t support the use of OriginPro. This paper proposes a novel method to evaluate the kinetic parameters of biomolecular interaction by using Newton Iteration Method and Least Squares Method. First, the pseudo first order kinetic model of biomolecular interaction was established. Then the data of molecular interaction of HBsAg and HBsAb was obtained by bioanalyzer. Finally, we used the optical SPR bioanalyzer software which was written by ourselves to make nonlinear fit about the association and dissociation curves. The correlation coefficient R-squared is 0.99229 and 0.99593, respectively. Furthermore, the kinetic parameters and affinity constants were evaluated using the obtained data from the fitting results. Keyword: Biomolecular interaction, kinetic model, cu rve fitting arithmetic, surface plasmon resonance

A technique of compounding green compacts with gradient composite which combines the processes of laser sintering was applied to produce Cu/Fe based gradient materials, the microstructure and properties of the materials were studied the results show that fruitful and complex phases were formed during laser sintering and good metallurgical bonding and properties were obtained.