Nonlinear microrheology with time-dependent forces: Application to recoils in viscoelastic fluids.

This work presents a theoretical analysis of the motion of a tracer colloid driven by a time-dependent force through a viscoelastic fluid. The recoil of the colloid after application of a strong force is determined. It provides insights into the elastic forces stored locally in the fluid and their weakening by plastic processes.

Active and passive microrheology with large tracers in hard colloids.

The dynamics of a tracer particle in a bath of quasi-hard colloidal spheres is studied by Langevin dynamics simulations and mode coupling theory (MCT); the tracer radius is varied from equal to up to seven times larger than the bath particles radius. In the simulations, two cases are considered: freely diffusing tracer (passive microrheology) and tracer pulled with a constant force (active microrheology). Both cases are connected by linear response theory for all tracer sizes.

Evaluation of "Caserotek" a low cost and effective artificial blood-feeding device for mosquitoes.

Entomological research studies on mosquito vector biology, vector competence, insecticide resistance, dispersal, and survival (using mark-release-recapture techniques) often rely on laboratory-reared mosquito colonies to produce large numbers of consistently reared, aged, and sized mosquitoes. We developed a low-cost blood feeding apparatus that supports temperatures consistent with warm blooded animals, using commonly available materials found in low resource environments. We compare our system ("Caserotek") to Hemotek and glass/membrane feeding methods.

Insight into the Viscoelasticity of Self-Assembling Smectic Liquid Crystals of Colloidal Rods from Active Microrheology Simulations.

The rheology of colloidal suspensions is of utmost importance in a wide variety of interdisciplinary applications in formulation technology, determining equally interesting questions in fundamental science. This is especially intriguing when colloids exhibit a degree of long-range positional or orientational ordering, as in liquid crystals (LCs) of elongated particles. Along with standard methods, microrheology (MR) has emerged in recent years as a tool to assess the mechanical properties of materials at the microscopic level.

Characterization of the heteropolysaccharides produced by Liquorilactobacillus sicerae CUPV261 and Secundilactobacillus collinoides CUPV237 isolated from cider.

Some lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains isolated from alcoholic beverages are able to produce exopolysaccharides (EPS). The present work focuses on the physico-chemical characterization of the heteropolysaccharides (HePS) produced by Liquorilactobacillus sicerae CUPV261T (formerly known as Lactobacillus sicerae) and Secundilactobacillus collinoides CUPV237 (formerly known as Lactobacillus collinoides) strains isolated from cider. Genome sequencing and assembly enabled the identification of at least four putative HePS gene clusters in each strain, which correlated with the ability of both strains to secrete EPS.