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Acute intraperitoneal infection with a hypervirulent Acinetobacter baumannii isolate in mice
No full textAcinetobacter baumannii infection has become a major cause of healthcare-associated infection and a critical pathogen in the WHO antimicrobial resistance research and development priority list. Catheter-related septicemia is one of the major clinical manifestations of A. baumannii infection associated with high morbidity and mortality. In this study, we used a clinical A. baumannii strain (LAC-4) that is hypervirulent to immunocompetent C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice and established a mouse model of intraperitoneal (i.p.) A. baumannii infection. Our study showed that i.p. LAC-4 infection of C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice induces a lethal or sublethal infection with high bacterial burdens in peritoneal cavity, blood and tissues and the infected mice either succumbed to the infection within 24\u2009hours or completely recovered from the infection. The infection induces acute peritoneal recruitment of neutrophils and other innate immune cells, and the local and systemic production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines (IL-1\u3b2, IL-5, IL-6, TNF-\u3b1, RANTES, MIP-1\u3b2, MCP-1, KC and IL-10). Mechanistic studies suggest an important role of macrophages in the host innate defense in this model in that in vitro stimulation of peritoneal macrophages with killed LAC-4 induced a similar pattern of cytokine/chemokine responses to those in the infected mice, and depletion of peritoneal macrophages rendered the mice significantly more susceptible to the infection. Thus, this mouse infection model will provide an alternative and useful tool for future pathogenesis studies of A. baumannii-associated septicemia and identification and characterization of important virulence factors, as well as serve as a surrogate model for rapid evaluation of novel therapeutics and vaccines for this emerging infectious agent.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
A hybrid modeling approach for characterization and simulation of cryogenic machining of Ti\u20136Al\u20134V alloy
No full textA hybrid modeling approach based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element method (FEM) is presented to simulate and study cryogenic machining (CM) of Ti\u20136Al\u20134V alloy. CFD analysis was carried out to study the characteristics of the fluid flow and heat transfer process of liquid nitrogen (LN2) jet used as a coolant in turning operation. The velocity, turbulence, gas volume fraction, and temperature of the impingement jet were investigated. Based on the analysis results, the coefficient of heat transfer (CHT) between the LN2 and cutting tool/insert was obtained and used in the FEM analysis to model the heat transfer process between the LN2 and the tool/chip/workpiece. A three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model was developed to simulate a real CM operation. CM tests were carried out to validate the 3D FE model by comparing cutting forces and chip temperature. To evaluate LN2 cooling effect on tool temperature and tool wear, a two-dimensional (2D) FE model was developed for steady-state thermal analysis of cryogenic and dry machining. Based on the predicted temperatures, the tool wear was estimated, showing that LN2 cooling can significantly improve tool life.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
An impedimetric biosensor for E. coli O157:H7 based on the use of\ua0self-assembled gold nanoparticles and protein G
No full textTwo kinds of electrochemical impedimetric biosensors for the detection of E. coli O157:H7 are described and compared. They were fabricated using self-assembled layers of thiolated protein G (PrG-thiol) on (i) planar gold electrodes and (ii) gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) modified gold electrodes. The fabrications of the biosensors were characterized using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy techniques. The modification of the planar gold electrode by Au NPs via self-assembled monolayer of 1,6-hexadithiol as a linker molecule increased the electrochemically active surface area by about 2.2 times. The concentration of PrG-thiol and its incubation time, as well as the concentration of IgG were optimized. The Au NP-based biosensor exhibited a limit of detection of 48 colony forming unit (cfu mL 121) which is 3 times lower than that of the planar gold electrode biosensor (140 cfu mL 121). It also showed a wider dynamic range (up to 107 cfu mL 121) and sensitivity. The improved analytical performance of the Au NP-modified biosensor is ascribed to the synergistic effect between the Au NPs and the PrG-thiol scaffold. The biosensor exhibited high selectivity for E. coli O157:H7 over other bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
Application of multifunctional mechanical metamaterials
No full textMechanical metamaterials have attracted great interest due their ability to attain material properties outside the bounds of those found in natural materials. Many promising mechanical metamaterials have been designed, fabricated, and tested, however, these metamaterials have not been subjected to the rigorous requirements needed to certify their use in demanding industrial applications that require multifunctional behavior. This paper details an auxetic multifunctional metamaterial that has been optimized to outperform conventional designs for cooling systems commonly used in the space, the transportation, the energy and the nuclear industry. Experimental tests performed to certify this material for use in gas turbines have shown that in comparison to conventional designs, the metamaterial increases structural life by orders of magnitude while also providing more efficient cooling and maintaining similar acoustic damping characteristics. This metamaterial offers an agile and economical solution for the realization of next generation components.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
Droplet activation behaviour of atmospheric black carbon particles in fog as a function of their size and mixing state
No full textAmong the variety of particle types present in the atmosphere, black carbon (BC), emitted by combustion processes, is uniquely associated with harmful effects to the human body and substantial radiative forcing of the Earth. Pure BC is known to be non-hygroscopic, but its ability to acquire a coating of hygroscopic organic and inorganic material leads to increased diameter and hygroscopicity, facilitating droplet activation. This affects BC radiative forcing through aerosol\u2013cloud interactions (ACIs) and BC life cycle. To gain insights into these processes, we performed a field campaign in winter 2015\u20132016 in a residential area of Zurich which aimed at establishing relations between the size and mixing state of BC particles and their activation to form droplets in fog. This was achieved by operating a CCN counter (CCNC), a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS), a single-particle soot photometer (SP2) and an aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM) behind a combination of a total- and an interstitial-aerosol inlet. Our results indicate that in the morning hours of weekdays, the enhanced traffic emissions caused peaks in the number fraction of externally mixed BC particles, which do not act as CCN within the CCNC. The very low effective peak supersaturations (SSpeak) occurring in fog (between approximately 0.03\u2009% and 0.06\u2009% during this campaign) restrict droplet activation to a minor fraction of the aerosol burden (around 0.5\u2009% to 1\u2009% of total particle number concentration between 20 and 593\u2009nm) leading to very selective criteria on diameter and chemical composition. We show that bare BC cores are unable to activate to fog droplets at such low SSpeak, while BC particles surrounded by thick coating have very similar activation behaviour to BC-free particles. Using simplified \u3ba-K\uf6hler theory combined with the ZSR mixing rule assuming spherical core\u2013shell particle geometry constrained with single-particle measurements of respective volumes, we found good agreement between the predicted and the directly observed size- and mixing-state-resolved droplet activation behaviour of BC-containing particles in fog. This successful closure demonstrates the predictability of their droplet activation in fog with a simplified theoretical model only requiring size and mixing state information, which can also be applied in a consistent manner in model simulations.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
Grating couplers fabricated by e-beam lithography for long-range surface plasmon waveguides embedded in a fluoropolymer
No full textLong-range surface plasmon polariton waveguides consisting of Au stripes integrated with input and output grating couplers embedded in thick Cytop claddings are proposed and demonstrated experimentally. Under the right conditions, grating couplers enable broadside (top) coupling with good efficiency while producing a low level of background light. The scheme does not require high-quality input and output edge facets, and it simplifies optical alignments. We demonstrate coupling using a cleaved bow-tie fiber and a lensed fiber, and we determine the grating coupling efficiencies in both cases over a broad operating wavelength range. The lensed fiber produces a better overlap with the long-range surface plasmon mode of interest and thus results in a better coupling efficiency with essentially no background light as observed on an infrared camera. The measurements are compared with theoretical results obtained using a realistic model of the structures, including out-of-plane curvature in the grating profile resulting from our fabrication process. The coupling scheme along with the surface plasmon waveguides hold strong potential for biosensing applications.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
Manipulating redox conditions to enhance in situ bioremediation of RDX in groundwater at a contaminated site
No full textSurficial application of waste glycerol (WG) for enhanced bioremediation was tested in situ at an old military range site to address hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) contaminated groundwater. This treatment was effective in inducing strong reducing conditions (range: 124 to 12205\u202fmV) and increasing the concentrations of organic carbon (from 10 to 729\u202fmg/L) and fatty acids (from 0 to 940\u202fmg/L) concomitantly with a decrease in RDX concentrations (range: 17 to 143\u202f\u3bcg/L) to below detection limits (0.1\u202f\u3bcg/L) in 2 of the 3 monitoring wells (MWs) evaluated. None of these changes were observed in the control MW. RDX disappeared without the detection of any common anaerobic nitroso degradation intermediates, with the exception of one MW where the concentration of organics did not significantly increase (range: 10 to 20\u202fmg/L), suggesting the conditions were not favourable for biodegradation. Ecotoxicological analysis suggested that the use of WG may have some dose-related deleterious effects on different soil and aquatic receptors. Analysis of the microbial community composition, using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences, which provided insight into whether the process design had selected for and stimulated the optimal microbial populations, indicated co-existence of numerous Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) belonging to groups known to be capable of RDX degradation under anaerobic conditions, with a positive link between Geobacter spp. enrichment and the presence of RDX nitroso metabolites. Overall, the results from this field test show that this treatment process can provide an effective long-term, semi-passive remediation option for RDX contaminated groundwater.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye
