Investigation of Micro-wear and Micro-friction Properties for Bionic Non-smooth Concave Components

Five kinds of 45^# steel samples with concave features on the surface were manufactured using Laser Texturing Technology (LIT). Optimum design theory was used to design the experiment, and a two-level orthogonal table-L16 (2^15) design was adopted , Micro-wear and micro-friction experienced by samples with concave surface features and samples with smooth surfaces were compared experimentally. The wear resistance of samples with concave surface features was increased most,and different surface morphologies had different effects on f~iction and wear properties.     

Influence of PVD-duplex-treated,Bionic Surface Structures on the Wetting Behavior for Sheet-Bulk Metal Forming Tools

Bionic surface structures,inspired by the flora,were developed for Sheet-Bulk Metal Forming (SBMF) in order to locally control the friction condition by adjusting the wetting behavior.Five bionic structures were micromilled on ASP(R)2023,in annealed as well as hardened and tempered conditions.Subsequently,the structured surfaces were plasma-nitrided and coated with a CrA1N thin film.The influence of the treatment method on the structural geometry was investigated with the aid of a scanning electron microscope and 3D-profilometer.The wetting behaviors of water and deep drawing oil (Berufluid ST6007) on bionic surfaces were evaluated using contact angle measurements.The resulting micro-milled structures exhibit an almost identical shape as their bionic models.However,the roughness of the structured surfaces is influenced by the microstructure.The combination of plasma-nitriding and Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) leads to an increase in roughness.All bionic structures possess higher contact angles than that of the unstructured surfaces when wetted by water.This can be explained by the fact that the structural elevations block the spreading.When the bionic surfaces are wetted by deep drawing oil,the lubricant spreads in the structural cavities,leading to smaller contact angles.Furthermore,the anisotropy of the structure has an influence on the wetting behavior.     

Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Bionic Non-Smooth Stainless Steel Surface by Laser Multiple Processing

Laser multiple processing, i.e. laser surface texturing and then Laser Shock Processing (LSP), is a new surface processingtechnology for the preparation of bionic non-smooth surfaces. Based on engineering bionics, samples of bionic non-smoothsurfaces of stainless steel 0Crl 8Ni9 were manufactured in the form of reseau structure by laser multiple processing. The mechanicalproperties (including microhardness, residual stress, surface roughness) and microstructure of the samples treated bylaser multiple processing were compared with those of the samples without LSP The results show that the mechanical propertiesof these samples by laser multiple processing were clearly improved in comparison with those of the samples without LSP Themechanisms underlying the improved surface microhardness and surface residual stress were analyzed, and the relations betweenhardness, comnressive residual stress and roughness were also presented.     

Gradient directed regularization for sparse Gaussian concentration graphs, with applications to inference of genetic networks

Large-scale microarray gene expression data provide the possibility of constructing genetic networks or biological pathways. Gaussian graphical models have been suggested to provide an effective method for constructing such genetic networks. However, most of the available methods for constructing Gaussian graphs do not account for the sparsity of the networks and are computationally more demanding or infeasible, especially in the settings of high dimension and low sample size. We introduce a threshold gradient descent (TGD) regularization procedure for estimating the sparse precision matrix in the setting of Gaussian graphical models and demonstrate its application to identifying genetic networks. Such a procedure is computationally feasible and can easily incorporate prior biological knowledge about the network structure. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method yields a better estimate of the precision matrix than the procedures that fail to account for the sparsity of the graphs. We also present the results on inference of a gene network for isoprenoid biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. These results demonstrate that the proposed procedure can indeed identify biologically meaningful genetic networks based on microarray gene expression data.     

A Preliminary Study of the Surface Properties of Earthworms and Their Relations to Non-Stain Behaviour

The surface properties of earthworms were studied using nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherm and dynamic contact angle measurement with the aim to understand their non-stain behaviour. The results obtained by applying dynamic contact angle technique using water, glycerol, cooking oil and dimethylsilicone show that the surface properties of earthworms are a function of time. The critical surface energy, calculated using advancing angle, is as low as 11 × 10~(-3) J·m~(-2). However this hydrophobic behaviour at the initial contact moment changes progressively into hydrophilic as time goes by. This behaviour together with the creeping movement of corrugated surface is believed to be responsible for the non-stain behaviour of earthworms. The nitrogen adsorption isotherm of dried skin of earthworms at 77.3 K exhibits more or less Type V isotherm with surface area of 13 m~2·g~(-1) calculated using the α_s plot. The Type V isotherm is the indication of weak interaction between nitrogen and the worm surface.     

Review of Some Interesting Surface Plasmon Resonance-enhanced Properties of Noble Metal Nanoparticles and Their Applications to Biosystems

Noble metal, especially gold (Au) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles exhibit unique and tunable optical properties on account of their surface plasmon resonance (SPR). In this review, we discuss the SPR-enhanced optical properties of noble metal nanoparticles, with an emphasis on the recent advances in the utility of these plasmonic properties in molecular-specific imaging and sensing, photo-diagnostics, and selective photothermal therapy. The strongly enhanced SPR scattering from Au nanoparticles makes them useful as bright optical tags for molecular-specific biological imaging and detection using simple dark-field optical microscopy. On the other hand, the SPR absorption of the nanoparticles has allowed their use in the selective laser photothermal therapy of cancer. We also discuss the sensitivity of the nanoparticle SPR frequency to the local medium dielectric constant, which has been successfully exploited for the optical sensing of chemical and biological analytes. Plasmon coupling between metal nanoparticle pairs is also discussed, which forms the basis for nanoparticle assembly-based biodiagnostics and the plasmon ruler for dynamic measurement of nanoscale distances in biological systems.     

Amide Coupling Reaction for the Synthesis of Bispyridine-based Ligands and Their Complexation to Platinum as Dinuclear Anticancer Agents

Amide coupling reactions can be used to synthesize bispyridine-based ligands for use as bridging linkers in multinuclear platinum anticancer drugs. Isonicotinic acid, or its derivatives, are coupled to variable length diaminoalkane chains under an inert atmosphere in anhydrous DMF or DMSO with the use of a weak base, triethylamine, and a coupling agent, 1-propylphosphonic anhydride. The products precipitate from solution upon formation or can be precipitated by the addition of water. If desired, the ligands can be further purified by recrystallization from hot water. Dinuclear platinum complex synthesis using the bispyridine ligands is done in hot water using transplatin. The most informative of the chemical characterization techniques to determine the structure and gross purity of both the bispyridine ligands and the final platinum complexes is ¹H NMR with particular analysis of the aromatic region of the spectra (7-9 ppm). The platinum complexes have potential application as anticancer agents and the synthesis method can be modified to produce trinuclear and other multinuclear complexes with different hydrogen bonding functionality in the bridging ligand.