An efficient magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent with a high R2 relaxivity value is achieved by controlling the shape of iron oxide to rod like morphology with a length of 30-70 nm and diameter of 4-12 nm. Fe3O4 nanorods of 70 nm length, encapsulated with polyethyleneimine show a very high R2 relaxivity value of 608 mM(-1) s(-1). The enhanced MRI contrast of nanorods is attributed t...

Static and dynamic light scattering experiments show that the mixed micelles of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cocoamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) undergo a sphere-to-rod transition at unexpectedly low total surfactant concentrations, about 10 mM. The lowest transition concentration is observed at molar fraction 0.8 of CAPB in the surfactant mixture. The transition brings about a sharp increase in...

The influence of nanoparticle shape, in particular the sphere to rod transition, on surface forces and consequently the properties of colloidal fluids is an interesting but not well investigated phenomenon. Here, the surface force behaviour of concentrated surfactant solutions containing cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and sodium salicylate with micelle shapes varying from slightly prolate to hi...

To improve the insulation strength, larger electrodes, often in the shape of sphere and toroid, are used. In practical applications, the surface of such a large electrode may often be “damaged” by holes or protrusions, intentionally or unintentionally. In order to take such effects into the consideration during the design, there is a need to study the “damaged” electrodes. This paper presents t...

We present a modification to our recently published statistical associating fluid theory-based classical density functional theory for water. We have recently developed and tested a functional for the averaged radial distribution function at contact of the hard-sphere fluid that is dramatically more accurate at interfaces than earlier approximations. We now incorporate this improved functional ...

In many bacteria, inhibition of cell wall synthesis leads to cell death and lysis. The pathways and enzymes that mediate cell lysis after exposure to cell wall-acting antibiotics (e.g. beta lactams) are incompletely understood, but the activities of enzymes that degrade the cell wall ('autolysins') are thought to be critical. Here, we report that Vibrio cholerae, the cholera pathogen, is tolera...

In the blocking phase of three experiments, rats had to find a submerged platform beneath a spherical landmark in one corner of a triangular pool. Prior to this treatment, they were required to find the platform relative to either a sphere above it (blocking groups) or a rod attached to it (control groups). The position of the platform changed from trial to trial for the initial training. The s...

Mixtures of nanometric rods and spherical micelles that are dominated by excluded volume (entropic) interactions tend to de-mix into sphere- rod-rich mesophases. Here we report the observation hybrid mesophases formed mixtures polymer-decorated sulfuric-acid-hydrolyzed cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs, rod-like particles), at high CNCs concentrations (7 wt%) where native suspensions bi-phasic (isot...

The buckling behavior of rod strings in wellbore is one of the key issues in petroleum engineering. The slender rod strings in vertical wellbore were selected as research objects. Based on the energy method, the critical load formulas of sinusoidal and helical buckling were derived for the string with the bottom of the wellbore pressure. According to the sinusoidal and helical buckling’s geomet...

The morphological description of microplastic particles is mostly based on subjective descriptors. However, data intercomparison requires unambiguous classifications. This work presents a the lengths smallest enclosing orthogonal parallelepiped. Three dimensionless parameters, namely equancy, platiness and elongation describe any particle shape with reference basic 3D (sphere), 2D (plate) 1D (r...