Energy partition at the collapse of spherical cavitation bubbles.

Spherically collapsing cavitation bubbles produce a shock wave followed by a rebound bubble. Here we present a systematic investigation of the energy partition between the rebound and the shock. Highly spherical cavitation bubbles are produced in microgravity, which suppresses the buoyant pressure gradient that otherwise deteriorates the sphericity of the bubbles. We measure the radius of the rebound bubble and estimate the shock energy as a function of the initial bubble radius (2-5.6mm) and the liquid pressure (10-80kPa). Those measurements uncover a systematic pressure dependence of the energy partition between rebound and shock. We demonstrate that these observations agree with a physical model relying on a first-order approximation of the liquid compressibility and an adiabatic treatment of the noncondensable gas inside the bubble. Using this model we find that the energy partition between rebound and shock is dictated by a single nondimensional parameter ξ=Δpγ6/[p(g0)1/γ(ρc2)1-1/γ], where Δp=p∞ - pv is the driving pressure, p∞ is the static pressure in the liquid, pv is the vapor pressure, pg0 is the pressure of the noncondensable gas at the maximal bubble radius, γ is the adiabatic index of the noncondensable gas, ρ is the liquid density, and c is the speed of sound in the liquid.

Universal scaling law for jets of collapsing bubbles.

Cavitation bubbles collapsing and rebounding in a pressure gradient ∇p form a "microjet" enveloped by a "vapor jet." This Letter presents unprecedented observations of the vapor jets formed in a uniform gravity-induced ∇p, modulated aboard parabolic flights. The data uncover that the normalized jet volume is independent of the liquid density and viscosity and proportional to ζ ≡ |∇p|R(0)/Δp, where R(0) the maximal bubble radius and Δp is the driving pressure. A derivation inspired by "Kelvin-Blake" considerations confirms this law and reveals its negligible dependence of surface tension. We further conjecture that the jet only pierces the bubble boundary if ζ ≳ 4 × 10(-4).

Cavitation bubble dynamics inside liquid drops in microgravity.

We studied spark-generated cavitation bubbles inside water drops produced in microgravity. High-speed visualizations disclosed unique effects of the spherical and nearly isolated liquid volume. In particular, (1) toroidally collapsing bubbles generate two liquid jets escaping from the drop, and the "splash jet" discloses a remarkable broadening. (2) Shock waves induce a strong form of secondary cavitation due to the particular shock wave confinement. This feature offers a novel way to estimate integral shock wave energies in isolated volumes. (3) Bubble lifetimes in drops are shorter than in extended volumes in remarkable agreement with herein derived corrective terms for the Rayleigh-Plesset equation.

A homogeneous cell-based assay to measure nuclear translocation using beta-galactosidase enzyme fragment complementation.

Positional complementation describes the use of homogeneous assays using beta- galactosidase (beta gal) enzyme fragment complementation to detect cellular protein translocation. This phenomenon occurs when the protein of interest, recombinantly expressed as a fusion protein with a modified alpha fragment of beta gal, translocates to a cellular compartment expressing an enzyme acceptor fragment of the enzyme. When these fragments interact, high-affinity complementation occurs, and a signal is generated that is then detected upon cell lysis. In the present paper the use of positional complementation is exemplified by measuring nuclear translocation of the glucocorticoid receptor in Chinese hamster ovary-K1 cells. The approach thus provides for homogeneous protocols, in an endpoint microtiter plate assay format, without the use of either imaging or reporter gene techniques. Consequently, these characteristics suggest that the technique is suitable for automated instrumentation protocols used in high throughput screening campaigns designed to identify activators or inhibitors of nuclear translocation.

Global transcriptional response of Bacillus subtilis to heat shock.

In response to heat stress, Bacillus subtilis activates the transcription of well over 100 different genes. Many of these genes are members of a general stress response regulon controlled by the secondary sigma factor, sigma(B), while others are under control of the HrcA or CtsR heat shock regulators. We have used DNA microarrays to monitor the global transcriptional response to heat shock. We find strong induction of known sigma(B)-dependent genes with a characteristic rapid induction followed by a return to near prestimulus levels. The HrcA and CtsR regulons are also induced, but with somewhat slower kinetics. Analysis of DNA sequences proximal to newly identified heat-induced genes leads us to propose ~70 additional members of the sigma(B) regulon. We have also identified numerous heat-induced genes that are not members of known heat shock regulons. Notably, we observe very strong induction of arginine biosynthesis and transport operons. Induction of several genes was confirmed by quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. In addition, the transcriptional responses measured by microarray hybridization compare favorably with the numerous previous studies of heat shock in this organism. Since many different conditions elicit both specific and general stress responses, knowledge of the heat-induced general stress response reported here will be helpful for interpreting future microarray studies of other stress responses.