TOWARDS ELUCIDATION OF THE MECHANISM OF BIOLOGICAL NANOMOTORS

Biological functions such as cell mitosis, bacterial binary fission, DNA replication or repair, homologous recombination, Holliday junction resolution, viral genome packaging, and cell entry all involve biomotor-driven DNA translocation. In the past, the ubiquitous biological nanomotors were classified into two categories: linear and rotation motors. In 2013, we discovered a third type of biomotor, revolving motor without rotation. The revolving motion is further found to be widespread among many biological systems. In addition, the detailed sequential action mechanism of the ATPase ring in the phi29 dsDNA packaging motor has been elucidated: ATP binding induces a conformational entropy alternation of ATPase to a high affinity toward dsDNA; ATP hydrolysis triggers another conformational entropy change in ATPase to a low DNA affinity, by which the dsDNA substrate is pushed toward an adjacent ATPase subunit. The subunit communication is regulated by an arginine finger that extends from one ATPase subunit to the adjacent unit, resulting in an asymmetrical hexameric organization. Continuation of this process promotes the movement and revolving of the dsDNA within the hexameric ATPase ring. Coordination of all the motor components facilitate the motion direction control of the viral DNA packaging motors, and make it unusually powerful and effective

Hierarchical Complexity and Corporate Opaqueness

This thesis examines the impact of hierarchical complexity on corporate opaqueness and how this relationship varies under the moderating effect of corporate diversification, quality of the home country institutional environment and the host country institutional environment. I hypothesize that increases in firms’ hierarchical complexity are related to greater corporate opaqueness between the firm and outside investors on the capital market. Using a sample of US firms spanning 5 years from 2012 to 2016, I find a statistically and economically significant, positive relationship between hierarchical complexity and corporate opaqueness. The results of the thesis further imply that the impact of hierarchical complexity on opaqueness is alleviated when there is related corporate diversification and an increasing quality of the host country institutional environment.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 201

Analysis of contact mechanics in micro flexible rolling

Micro flexible rolling is a new microforming method by online controlling and adjusting the roll gap to make various strip thickness in the submillimeter range. The micro flexibly rolled strips can be divided into three zones of the thicker zone, the thinner zone and the transition zone after experiencing the upward and downward rolling processes. However, it is tough to achieve the final target thickness especially in the transition zone due to a number of issues relating to the contact mechanics such as the change in the central neutral point/zone, the touch at the edges of the work rolls, the elastic deformation of the work rolls, the roll bite arc modifications in real time and the tribological conditions. All of these factors have significant influences on flatness, profile and surface finish of the rolled products, as well as the rolling forces. In the current work, a new model has been developed in order to clarify the micro flexible rolling process. This model considers a non-circular contact arc which includes an elastic loading region at the start of the roll gap, a plastic reduction region with backward slip, a central flattened region without slip, the plastic reduction region with forward slip, and an elastic unloading region at the end of the roll gap. In this study, the effect of speed ratio (the ratio of the lifting speed and the rolling speed) on the dimensions and the rolling forces along the transition zones is investigated. The contact mechanics in the micro flexible rolling are systematically analysed. The simulation results are found to be in line with the experimental ones, which means that the developed model with high precision is suitable for the analysis of the micro flexible rolling process

Analysis of surface roughness evolution of ferritic stainless steel using crystal plasticity finite element method

In order to evaluate the surface quality of ferritic stainless steel (FSS) sheets tensile deformation, a crystal plasticity (CP) model, in which the constitutive laws were incorporated with the consideration of the heterogeneous distribution of the properties of grains, was established to analyse the effect of texture, grain sizes and initial surface roughness on the surface roughness evolution of FSS sheets. The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) tests were performed to characterise the texture and the grains. A tensile test of the represent volume was simulated and further verified by experimental results. The numerical simulation results indicate that the surface roughness is dependent almost linearly on the average grain size. The {001}(110) and the {112}(110) components induce remarkable undulation on the surface of FSS sheets during uniaxial tension. The surface topology of FSS sheets after tensile deformation are obtained using 3D laser scanning microscope, which shows an agreement with the simulated results

Biological Nanomotors with a Revolution, Linear, or Rotation Motion Mechanism

The ubiquitous biological nanomotors were classified into two categories in the past: linear and rotation motors. In 2013, a third type of biomotor, revolution without rotation (http://rnanano.osu.edu/movie.html), was discovered and found to be widespread among bacteria, eukaryotic viruses, and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) bacteriophages. This review focuses on recent findings about various aspects of motors, including chirality, stoichiometry, channel size, entropy, conformational change, and energy usage rate, in a variety of well-studied motors, including FoF1 ATPase, helicases, viral dsDNA-packaging motors, bacterial chromosome translocases, myosin, kinesin, and dynein. In particular, dsDNA translocases are used to illustrate how these features relate to the motion mechanism and how nature elegantly evolved a revolution mechanism to avoid coiling and tangling during lengthy dsDNA genome transportation in cell division. Motor chirality and channel size are two factors that distinguish rotation motors from revolution motors. Rotation motors use right-handed channels to drive the right-handed dsDNA, similar to the way a nut drives the bolt with threads in same orientation; revolution motors use left-handed motor channels to revolve the right-handed dsDNA. Rotation motors use small channels (\u3c 2 nm in diameter) for the close contact of the channel wall with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) or the 2-nm dsDNA bolt; revolution motors use larger channels (\u3e 3 nm) with room for the bolt to revolve. Binding and hydrolysis of ATP are linked to different conformational entropy changes in the motor that lead to altered affinity for the substrate and allow work to be done, for example, helicase unwinding of DNA or translocase directional movement of DNA

Effect of directional solidification rate on the microstructure and properties of deformation-processed Cu-7Cr-0.1Ag in situ composites

The influence of directional solidification rate on the microstructure, mechanical properties and conductivity of deformation-processed Cu-7Cr-0.1Ag in situ composites produced by thermo-mechanical processing was systematically investigated. The microstructure was analyzed by optical microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy. The mechanical properties and conductivity were evaluated by tensile-testing machine and micro-ohmmeter, respectively. The results indicate that the size, shape and distribution of second-phase Cr grains are significantly different in the Cu-7Cr-0.1Ag alloys with different growth rates. At a growth rate of 200 μm s-1, the Cr grains transform into fine Cr fiber-like grains parallel to the pulling direction from the Cr dendrites. The tensile strength of the Cu-7Cr-0.1Ag in situ composites from the directional solidification (DS) alloys is significantly higher than that from the as-cast alloy, while the conductivity of the in situ composites from the DS alloys is slightly lower than that from the as-cast alloy. The following combinations of tensile strength, elongation to fracture and conductivity of the Cu-7Cr-0.1Ag in situ composites from the DS alloy with a growth rate of 200 μm s-1 and a cumulative cold deformation strain of 8 after isochronic aging treatment for 1 h can be obtained respectively as: (i) 1067 MPa, 2.9% and 74.9% IACS; or (ii) 1018 MPa, 3.0%, and 76.0% IACS or (iii) 906 MPa, 3.3% and 77.6% IACS

Study on micro hydro-mechanical deep drawing using finite element method

A numerical model was established to investigate the micro hydro-mechanical deep drawing process of austenitic stainless steel 304 foil (0.05 mm thickness). Due to the miniaturisation of the specimen size, the effect of grain size, gap distance and radial pressure during drawing process could be prominent. The results indicate that the appropriate radial pressure and gap distance could improve the limit drawing ratio (LDR) of manufactured cylindrical cups by reducing the friction resistance. The maximum LDR obtained in the present work reaches 3.2, which is much higher than that obtained by conventional deep drawing process

Effects of oil-in-water based nanolubricant containing TiO2 nanoparticles in hot rolling of 304 stainless steel

Energy saving and improvement of product quality are of crucial importance in hot rolling of 304 stainless steel. In this paper, oil-in-water (O/W) based nanolubricants containing TiO2 nanoparticles were developed to reduce the rolling force and improve the surface quality of rolled 304 stainless steel product. Practical hot rolling tests with and without application of lubricant were conducted to systematically investigate the effects of the developed O/W based nanolubricants on the rolling force, surface roughness, oxide scale thickness and tribological behaviour. The obtained results indicate that the nanoparticles can enter the deform zone with oil droplets to take a lubrication effect. The optimal lubrication effect can be achieved when the O/W (1% oil mass fraction) based nanolubricant with a TiO2 mass fraction of 1.5% was applied. The novel nanolubricant has a great potential to be applied in the hot steel rolling, to realise the cost-effective and environmental-friendly manufacturing process