Effect of Mono and Di-rhamnolipids on Biofilms Pre-formed by Bacillus subtilis BBK006.

Different microbial inhibition strategies based on the planktonic bacterial physiology have been known to have limited efficacy on the growth of biofilms communities. This problem can be exacerbated by the emergence of increasingly resistant clinical strains. Biosurfactants have merited renewed interest in both clinical and hygienic sectors due to their potential to disperse microbial biofilms. In this work, we explore the aspects of Bacillus subtilis BBK006 biofilms and examine the contribution of biologically derived surface-active agents (rhamnolipids) to the disruption or inhibition of microbial biofilms produced by Bacillus subtilis BBK006. The ability of mono-rhamnolipids (Rha-C10-C10) produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027 and the di-rhamnolipids (Rha-Rha-C14-C14) produced by Burkholderia thailandensis E264, and phosphate-buffered saline to disrupt biofilm of Bacillus subtilis BBK006 was evaluated. The biofilm produced by Bacillus subtilis BBK006 was more sensitive to the di-rhamnolipids (0.4 g/L) produced by Burkholderia thailandensis than the mono-rhamnolipids (0.4 g/L) produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027. Rhamnolipids are biologically produced compounds safe for human use. This makes them ideal candidates for use in new generations of bacterial dispersal agents and useful for use as adjuvants for existing microbial suppression or eradication strategies

A two-dimensional free vibration analysis of functionally graded sandwich beams under thermal environment

In this article, free vibration analysis of elastically supported sandwich beams with functionally graded face sheets subjected to thermal environment is presented. In order to accurately include the transverse shear deformation and the inertia effects, two-dimensional elasticity theory is used to formulate the problem. The layerwise theory in conjunction with the differential quadrature method is employed to discretize the governing equations in the thickness and axial directions, respectively. The material properties of functionally graded face sheets are assumed to be temperature-dependent and graded in the thickness direction according to a power-law distribution. For the purpose of comparison, the problem under consideration is also solved using two-dimensional finite element method and the first-order shear deformation theory. The accuracy, convergence, and versatility of the method are demonstrated by comparing the results with those of the two aforementioned approaches and also with the existing solutions in literature. Eventually, some new numerical results are presented which depict the effects of different material and geometrical parameters on natural frequencies and mode shapes of the beam. </jats:p