Biomass feedstocks are densified to facilitate easy handling, transportation and storage. Densification is a process of transforming loose biomass into highly densified form by the application of mechanical pressure. The mechanism involved in the process of densification is difficult to understand from existing information. A comprehensive understanding of the densification process for biomass ...

The influence of synthesis and compaction parameters is investigated with regards to formation of high performance SrFe12O19 bulk magnets. The produced magnets consist of highly aligned, single-magnetic domain nanoplatelets of SrFe12O19. The relationship between the magnetic performance of the samples and their structural features is established through systematic characterization by Vibrating ...

We demonstrate compaction of DNA with nanoscale biomimetic constructs which are robust synthetic analogs of globular proteins. These constructs are approximately 15 nm in diameter, shell crosslinked knedel-like (SCKs) nanoparticles, which are prepared by covalent stabilization of amphiphilic di-block co-polymer micelles, self-assembled in an aqueous solution. This synthetic approach yields size...

We have investigated experimentally the influence of a magnetic interaction between the grains on the compaction dynamics of a granular pile submitted to a series of taps. The granular material used to perform this study is a mixture of metallic and glass grains. The packing is immersed in homogeneous external magnetic field. The magnetic field induces an interaction between the metallic grains...

While many proteins are involved in the assembly and (re)positioning of nucleosomes, the dynamics of protein-assisted nucleosome formation are not well understood. We study NAP1 (nucleosome assembly protein 1) assisted nucleosome formation at the single-molecule level using magnetic tweezers. This method allows to apply a well-defined stretching force and supercoiling density to a single DNA mo...

To investigate the dynamic compaction mechanism of loess-filled embankment, a computational model of unit volume compaction effort was proposed as compared with the compaction test. The energy level of dynamic compaction used in actual projects was also considered. The differences between the compaction test and the unit volume compaction effort in the actual projects were studied. And also, th...

Compaction of DNA in chromatin is a hallmark of the eukaryotic cell and unravelling its structure is required for an understanding of DNA involving processes. Despite strong experimental efforts, many questions concerning the DNA packing are open. In particular, it is heavily debated whether an ordered structure referred to as the "30 nm fibre" exist in vivo. Scanning probe microscopy has becom...

Many animals move within ground composed of granular media (GM); the resistive properties of such substrates can depend on water content and compaction, but little is known about how such parameters affect locomotion or the physics of drag and penetration. Using apparatus to control compaction of GM, our recent studies of movement in dry GM have revealed locomotion strategies of specialized dry...

How eukaryotic chromosomes are compacted during mitosis has been a leading question in cell biology since the nineteenth century. Non-histone proteins such as condensin complexes contribute to chromosome shaping, but appear not to be necessary for mitotic chromatin compaction. Histone modifications are known to affect chromatin structure. As histones undergo major changes in their post-translat...