Search results for "material"

Mechanisms of irreversible aquaporin-10 inhibition by organogold compounds studied by combined biophysical methods and atomistic simulations

2021

Abstract The inhibition of glycerol permeation via human aquaporin-10 (hAQP10) by organometallic gold complexes has been studied by stopped-flow fluorescence spectroscopy, and its mechanism has been described using molecular modelling and atomistic simulations. The most effective hAQP10 inhibitors are cyclometalated Au(III) C^N compounds known to efficiently react with cysteine residues leading to the formation of irreversible C–S bonds. Functional assays also demonstrate the irreversibility of the binding to hAQP10 by the organometallic complexes. The obtained computational results by metadynamics show that the local arylation of Cys209 in hAQP10 by one of the gold inhibitors is mapped int…

The Effect of Electrolytic Solution Composition on the Structure, Corrosion, and Wear Resistance of PEO Coatings on AZ31 Magnesium Alloy

2020

Plasma electrolytic oxidation coatings were prepared in aluminate, phosphate, and silicate-based electrolytic solutions using a soft-sparking regime in a multi-frequency stepped process to compare the structure, corrosion, and wear characteristics of the obtained coatings on AZ31 magnesium alloy. The XRD results indicated that all coatings consist of MgO and MgF2, while specific products such as Mg2SiO4, MgSiO3, Mg2P2O7, and MgAl2O4 were also present in specimens based on the selected solution. Surface morphology of the obtained coatings was strongly affected by the electrolyte composition. Aluminate-containing coating showed volcano-like, nodular particles and craters distributed over the …

Synergistic effect of W incorporation and pulsed current mode on wear and tribocorrosion resistance of coatings grown by plasma electrolytic oxidatio…

2019

Ceramic coatings were grown by plasma electrolytic oxidation on 7075 Al alloy using unipolar and bipolar pulsed current waveforms with 20 and 40% cathodic duty cycles, from a silicate-based bath without and with the addition of Na2WO4. Pancake-like morphology was dominant on the coatings grown by unipolar waveform, while the bipolar waveforms promoted volcano-like morphology, increased the roughness of the coating surface and the formation of more compact layers. The coatings produced using the bipolar waveforms provided higher resistances toward both tribocorrosion and dry sliding conditions, while further improvement was achieved by the presence of tungsten. The coatings produced in tungs…

Effect of Boron Doping on the Wear Behavior of the Growth and Nucleation Surfaces of Micro- and Nanocrystalline Diamond Films

2016

B-doped diamond has become the ultimate material for applications in the field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), which require both highly wear resistant and electrically conductive diamond films and microstructures. Despite the extensive research of the tribological properties of undoped diamond, to date there is very limited knowledge of the wear properties of highly B-doped diamond. Therefore, in this work a comprehensive investigation of the wear behavior of highly B-doped diamond is presented. Reciprocating sliding tests are performed on micro- and nanocrystalline diamond (MCD, NCD) films with varying B-doping levels and thicknesses. We demonstrate a linear dependency of the we…

Sbateyl.org: A Virtual Space for Effective Language Training

2016

AbstractThe paper presents an ongoing European cross-institutional project on teaching young language learners whose aim is to develop a web-based in-service teacher education programme with a school-based follow-up component. The main focus of the project is to bring researchers and teachers together to establish an innovative professional procedure blending theory and practice. Based on the strategic partnership between one local university and one primary school from each participant country, the project aims to foster the professional advancement and teaching practices of primary school teachers. The article initially outlines the main theoretical and methodological issues in the field …

Kinetics of phase separation in thin films: Lattice versus continuum models for solid binary mixtures

2008

A description of phase separation kinetics for solid binary (A,B) mixtures in thin film geometry based on the Kawasaki spin-exchange kinetic Ising model is presented in a discrete lattice molecular field formulation. It is shown that the model describes the interplay of wetting layer formation and lateral phase separation, which leads to a characteristic domain size $\ell(t)$ in the directions parallel to the confining walls that grows according to the Lifshitz-Slyozov $t^{1/3}$ law with time $t$ after the quench. Near the critical point of the model, the description is shown to be equivalent to the standard treatments based on Ginzburg-Landau models. Unlike the latter, the present treatmen…

IEEE Access Special Section Editorial: Exploiting the Benefits of Interference in Wireless Networks: Energy Harvesting and Security

2018

Interference used to be viewed as a harmful factor in wireless networks, which can reduce the quality of information transmission. To combat against interference, many interference management techniques have emerged. Due to the latest research advances, interference (or noise) can also be exploited to offer some benefits to wireless networks. The first aspect is that interference in multi-user networks can be collected as a green power supply for the transceivers, known as wireless energy harvesting. Another application is that one can generate artificial noise to disrupt the adversarial eavesdropping, and guarantee the security of wireless networks. Therefore, conventional interference man…

Underwater Multirobot Cooperative Intervention MAC Protocol

2020

This work introduces a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol designed to allow a group of underwater robots that share a wireless communication channel to effectively communicate with each other. The goal of the Underwater Multirobot Cooperative Intervention MAC (UMCI-MAC) protocol presented in this work is to minimize the end to end delay and the jitter. The access to the medium in UMCI-MAC follows a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) strategy which is arbitrated by a master, which also has the capability to prioritize the transmission of some nodes over the rest of the network. Two experiments have been carried out with a team of four Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) in order to comp…

Service-Oriented Wireless Virtualized Networks: An Intelligent Resource Management Approach

2022

Characterization of three-dimensional microstructure of composite materials by X-ray tomography

2016

Analysis methods for X-ray microtomographic images of short fibre composite materials were developed. The methods enable estimation of microstructural properties of the material, e.g., aspect ratio and orientation of fibres. Being based on X-ray microtomography and image analysis, the methods are nondestructive and do not require user intervention. In particular, a method for determination of the aspect ratio of fibres was first developed. The method contains an assumption about similarity of the shape of the fibres. The assumption was relaxed in an improved method that can estimate cross-sectional properties of fibres, too, e.g., cross-sectional area. Additionally, the effect of finite ima…