The impact of manufacturing complexity drivers on performance-a preliminary study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huah Leang, Suh; Mahmood, Wan Hasrulnizzam Wan; Rahman, Muhamad Arfauz A.

2018-03-01

Manufacturing systems, in pursuit of cost, time and flexibility optimisation are becoming more and more complex, exhibiting a dynamic and nonlinear behaviour. Unpredictability is a distinct characteristic of such behaviour and effects production planning significantly. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the priority level and current achievement of manufacturing performance in Malaysia’s manufacturing industry and the complexity drivers on manufacturing productivity performance. The results showed that Malaysia’s manufacturing industry prioritised product quality and they managed to achieve a good on time delivery performance. However, for other manufacturing performance, there was a difference where the current achievement of manufacturing performances in Malaysia’s manufacturing industry is slightly lower than the priority given to them. The strong correlation of significant value for priority status was observed between efficient production levelling (finished goods) and finish product management while the strong correlation of significant value for current achievement was minimised the number of workstation and factory transportation system. This indicates that complexity drivers have an impact towards manufacturing performance. Consequently, it is necessary to identify complexity drivers to achieve well manufacturing performance.

Spray Dried Chitosan Microparticles for Intravesical Delivery of Celecoxib: Preparation and Characterization.

PubMed

Lopedota, Angela; Cutrignelli, Annalisa; Laquintana, Valentino; Denora, Nunzio; Iacobazzi, Rosa Maria; Perrone, Mara; Fanizza, Elisabetta; Mastrodonato, Maria; Mentino, Donatella; Lopalco, Antonio; Depalo, Nicoletta; Franco, Massimo

2016-09-01

Chitosan microparticles containing celecoxib (CB), were developed as chemoprevention of bladder cancer. Furthermore two inclusion complexes of CB with methyl-β-cyclodextrin (C1 and C2) were prepared to improve the solubility of the drug. C1 and C2 were obtained by freeze-drying and characterized in the solid state and in solution. Microparticles loaded with CB or C1 or C2 were prepared by spray drying and fully characterized. The yield and encapsulation efficiencies of microparticles depended by both the viscosity and the presence of the inclusion complex in the feed medium nebulised. Generally, the microparticles exhibited a spherical shape with mean diameter of approximately 2 μm which was compatible with local intravesical administration using a catheter. The CB release studies from the microparticles allowed us to identify both immediate release systems (microparticles including the complexes) and prolonged release systems (microparticles including CB alone). The latter exhibited good adhesion to the bladder mucosa, as highlighted by a mucoadhesion study. Histological studies revealed a desquamation of the superficial cells when the bladder mucosa was treated with microparticles loaded with CB, while the morphology of the urothelium did not change when it was treated with microparticles loaded with the inclusion complex. A new CB intravesical formulation than can easily be administered with a catheter and is able to release the drug at the target site for several hours was realized. This new delivery system could be a good alternative to classic oral CB administration.

Hybrid copper complex-derived conductive patterns printed on polyimide substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Byoungyoon; Jeong, Sooncheol; Kim, Yoonhyun; Jeong, Inbum; Woo, Kyoohee; Moon, Jooho

2012-06-01

We synthesized new copper complexes that can be readily converted into highly conductive Cu film. Mechanochemical milling of copper (I) oxide suspended in formic acid resulted in the submicron-sized Cu formate together Cu nanoparticles. The submicrometer-sized Cu formates are reactive toward inter-particle sintering and metallic Cu seeds present in the Cu complexes assist their decomposition and the nucleation of Cu. The hybrid copper complex film printed on polyimide substrate is decomposed into dense and uniform Cu layer after annealing at 250 °C for 30 min under nitrogen atmosphere. The resulting Cu film exhibited a low resistivity of 8.2 μΩ·cm and good adhesion characteristics.

Synthesis, structure, luminescence and photocatalytic properties of an uranyl-2,5-pyridinedicarboxylate coordination polymer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Si, Zhen-Xiu; Xu, Wei, E-mail: xuwei@nbu.edu.cn; Zheng, Yue-Qing, E-mail: yqzhengmc@163.com

2016-07-15

An uranium coordination polymer, namely [(UO{sub 2}(pydc)(H{sub 2}O)]·H{sub 2}O (1) (H{sub 2}pydc=2,5-pyridinedicarboxylic acid), has been obtained by hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray single crystal structure determination. Structural analysis reveals that complex 1 exhibits 1D chain coordination polymer, in which UO{sub 2}{sup 2+} ions are bridged by 2,5-pyridinedicarboxylate ligands and the chains are connected into a 3D supramolecular network by O–H···O hydrogen bond interactions and π–π stacking interactions. The photocatalytic properties of 1 for degradation of methylene blue (MB), Rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) under Hg-lamp irradiation have been performed, and the amount of the catalyst as wellmore » as Hg-lamp irradiation with different power on the photodegradation efficiency of MB have been investigated. Elemental analyses, infrared spectroscopy, TG-DTA analyses and luminescence properties were also discussed. - Graphical abstract: Complex 1 exhibits 1D chain coordination polymer in which UO{sub 2}{sup 2+} ions are bridged by 2,5-pyridinedicarboxylate ligand. Photoluminescence studies reveal that complex 1 exhibits characteristic emissions of uranyl centers. The compound is selective to degraded dye and displays good photocatalytic activities for the degradation of MB under Hg-lamp. Display Omitted - Highlights: • Complex 1 exhibits 1D chain coordination polymer. • Complex 1 could degrade methylene blue and Rhodamine B under Hg-lamp irradiation. • Luminescent property of 1 has been studied.« less

C,N-bipyrazole receptor grafted onto a porous silica surface as a novel adsorbent based polymer hybrid.

PubMed

Radi, Smaail; Attayibat, Ahmed; El-Massaoudi, Mohamed; Bacquet, Maryse; Jodeh, Shehdeh; Warad, Ismail; Al-Showiman, Salim S; Mabkhot, Yahia N

2015-10-01

A simple heterogeneous synthesis of pure adsorbent based polymer hybrid made by condensing a functionalized C,N-bipyrazole with a 3-glycidoxypropyl-trimethoxysilane silylant agent, previously anchored on a silica surface was developed. The formed material (SG2P) was characterized through elemental analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, (13)C NMR of solid state, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and was studied and evaluated by determination of the surface area using the BET equation, the adsorption and desorption capability using the isotherm of nitrogen and B.J.H. pore sizes. The new material exhibits good thermal stability determined by thermogravimetry curves and good chemical stability was examined in various acidic and buffer solutions (pH 1-7). The binding and adsorption abilities of SG2P were investigated for Hg(2+), Cd(2+), Pb(2+), Zn(2+), K(+), Na(+) and Li(+) cations and compared to the results of classical liquid-liquid extraction with the unbound C,N-bipyrazole compound. The grafting at the surface of silica does not affect complexing properties of the ligand and the SG2P exhibits a high selectivity toward Hg(2+) ion with no complexation being observed towards zinc and alkali metals. The extracted and the complexing cation percentages were determined by atomic absorption measurements. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Crystal Violet Lactone Salicylaldehyde Hydrazone Zn(II) Complex: a Reversible Photochromic Material both in Solution and in Solid Matrix

PubMed Central

Li, Kai; Li, Yuanyuan; Tao, Jing; Liu, Lu; Wang, Lili; Hou, Hongwei; Tong, Aijun

2015-01-01

Crystal violet lactone (CVL) is a classic halochromic dye which has been widely used as chromogenic reagent in thermochromic and piezochromic systems. In this work, a very first example of CVL-based reversible photochromic compound was developed, which showed distinct color change upon UV-visible light irradiation both in solution and in solid matrix. Moreover, metal complex of CVL salicylaldehyde hydrozone was facilely synthesized, exhibiting reversible photochromic properties with good fatigue resistance. It was served as promising solid material for photo-patterning. PMID:26412101

The Simultaneous Electrochemical Detection of Catechol and Hydroquinone with [Cu(Sal-β-Ala)(3,5-DMPz)2]/SWCNTs/GCE

PubMed Central

Alshahrani, Lina Abdullah; Li, Xi; Luo, Hui; Yang, Linlin; Wang, Mengmeng; Yan, Songling; Liu, Peng; Yang, Yuqin; Li, Quanhua

2014-01-01

A glassy carbon electrode was modified with a copper(II) complex [Cu(Sal-β-Ala) (3,5-DMPz)2] (Sal = salicylaldehyde, β-Ala = β-alanine, 3,5-DMPz = 3,5-dimethylpyrazole) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The modified electrode was used to detect catechol (CT) and hydroquinone (HQ) and exhibited good electrocatalytic activities toward the oxidation of CT and HQ. The peak currents were linear with the CT and HQ concentrations over the range of 5–215 μmol·L−1 and 5–370 μmol·L−1 with corresponding detection limits of 3.5 μmol·L−1 and 1.46 μmol·L−1 (S/N = 3) respectively. Moreover, the modified electrode exhibited good sensitivity, stability and reproducibility for the determination of CT and HQ, indicating the promising applications of the modified electrode in real sample analysis. PMID:25429411

Cd(II) complexes with different nuclearity and dimensionality based on 3-hydrazino-4-amino-1,2,4-triazole

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xu, Cai-Xia; Zhang, Jian-Guo, E-mail: zjgbit@bit.edu.cn; Yin, Xin

2015-03-15

A series of zero- to two-dimensional Cd(II) coordination compounds have been synthesized by the reaction of Cd(II) salts and 3-hydrazino-4-amino-1,2,4-triazole di-hydrochloride (HATr·2HCl). [CdCl{sub 2}(HATr){sub 2}] (1) and [Cd{sub 2}Cl{sub 4}(HATr){sub 2}(H{sub 2}O){sub 2}] (2) have discrete mononuclear and binuclear structures, respectively. [Cd(HATr){sub 2}(ClO{sub 4}){sub 2}]{sub n} (3) presents polymeric 1-D chain and [Cd{sub 2}(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}Cl{sub 2}(HATr){sub 2}]{sub n} (4) shows 2-D frameworks. All Cd(II) ions exhibit distorted octahedral configurations in 1–3, whilst both hexa and heptacoordinated Cd(II) are formed in 4. The HATr ligands adopt chelating coordinated mode in 1, while tri-dentate bridging–chelating mode in 2–4. The chloride ionmore » is a mono-coordinated ligand in 1 and 2, but it bridges two adjacent metal ions in 4. Furthermore, thermal behaviors have been investigated and the results reveal that all complexes have good thermal stability. The impact sensitivity test indicates that complex 3 is sensitive to impact stimuli. - Graphical abstract: Four Cd(II) complexes based on 3-hydrazino-4-amino-1,2,4-triazole ligands exhibit diverse structures from mononuclear to 2D networks. - Highlights: • Cd(II) complexes containing 3-hydrazino-4-amino-1,2,4-triazole ligands. • Mononuclear, binuclear, 1-D and 2-D structures. • Good thermal stability. • Thermal decomposition kinetics.« less

Synthesis, characterization and antibacterial activity of a new calcium complex using sodium 2-mercaptobenzothiazole and 1, 10-phenanthroline as ligands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gulab, Hussain; Shah, Zarbad; Mahmood, Mazhar; Shah, Syed Raza; Ali, Sajid; Iqbal, Muhammad; Khan, Muhammad Naeem; Flörke, Ulrich; Khan, Shahid Ali

2018-02-01

A new Ca-complex (Ca (H2 O)4 (C12 H8 N2)2)(C7 H4 N S2)2 has been synthesized by the reaction of calcium chloride, sodium 2-mercaptobenzothiazole and 1,10-phenanthroline. The complex was characterized by using X-ray crystallography and FT-IR spectroscopy. The complex was tested against different bacterial strains i.e. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumanni, Providencia stuartii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The complex was found to exhibit remarkable anti-bacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa with an inhibition zone of 25 mm and good anti-bacterial activity against Acinetobacter baumanni with a zone of inhibition of 16 mm comparable to the Levofloxacin standard (zone of inhibition of 25 mm).

Adsorption and photocatalytic properties of transition metal Zinc(II) complex based on 5-(4-(tetrazol-5-yl)phenyl)isophthalic acid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiao, Yu; Ren, Shan-Shan; Liu, Li-Hui; Guan, Wei-Sheng; Li, Zhi-Min; Che, Guang-Bo; Liu, Chun-Bo; Wang, Yan-Yan; Wang, Qing-Wei; Li, Xiu-Ying; Zhu, En-Wei

2018-06-01

A new coordination polymeric zinc(II) complex, namely, [Zn2(L)(H2O)3]n·nNO3(1), (H3L = 5-(4-(tetrazol-5-yl)phenyl)isophthalic acid) has been synthesized under solvothermal conditions and structurally characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and powder X-ray diffraction. Complex 1 exhibits a three-dimensional structure with a Schläfli symbol of 44•69•82 topologies, constructed from two crystallographically independent five and six coordinated mode with metal center and connected H3L ligands. The complex has good thermal stability and excellent photoluminescent property. Furthermore, by comparing the photoluminescent and photocatalytic mutation results induced by interconversion of metal ions, we confirm that the properties mutation induced by metal ions is much controllable and obvious. In addition, the complex exhibits significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity for methylene blue (MB) under UV light irradiation (λ < 400 nm), and the degradation rate could reach 75% in 80 min. Meanwhile trapping experiments indicated that the •O2- and h+ are the main activated species.

Bio-important antipyrine derived Schiff bases and their transition metal complexes: Synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, antimicrobial, anthelmintic and DNA cleavage investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manjunath, M.; Kulkarni, Ajaykumar D.; Bagihalli, Gangadhar B.; Malladi, Shridhar; Patil, Sangamesh A.

2017-01-01

Spectroscopic (IR, NMR, UV-vis, ESR, ESI-mass), magnetic and TGA studies suggests octahedral geometry for all the CoII, NiII and CuII complexes of the Schiff bases, derived from 4-aminoantipyrine and 8-formyl-7-Hydroxy-4-methylcoumarin/5-formyl-6-hydroxycoumarin, coordinated through ONO donor sites. Antibacterial (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi), antifungal (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Cladosporium) and DNA cleavage properties of the metal complexes are investigated. The results suggested that some of the synthesized compounds are potential antimicrobials. The synthesized compounds tested for their anthelmintic activities and it was found that CoII and NiII complexes exhibited good anthelmintic properties.

Space activities - A review and a look ahead

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Durrani, S. H.

1984-01-01

The paper reviews the progress made in manned and unmanned space programs during the last 25 years and names several major accomplishments. The ingredients of success are identified as good engineering, good technology, and good management of a very complex enterprise. An argument is made that the pace of progress will be governed not by technological advances, which can be very rapid, but rather by future institutional arrangements, which are much slower to evolve. It is predicted that the most likely space activities for the next 20 years will be those relating to space commercialization, and several examples are cited. A hope is expressed that policy makers and entrepreneurs will match the spirit of adventure and risk-taking exhibited by engineers in exploring uncharted territory.

Hairpin-shaped tetranuclear palladium(II) complex: synthesis, crystal structure, DNA binding and cytotoxicity activity studies.

PubMed

Gao, En-Jun; Wang, Ke-Hua; Zhu, Ming-Chang; Liu, Lei

2010-07-01

A novel tetranuclear palladium(II) complex [Pd(4)(phen)(4) (micro-pydc)(4)].10H(2)O (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, pydc = pyridine-3,4-dicarboxylate) has been synthesized and characterized. In the tetranuclear complex, two pairs of dipalladated [Pd(phen)] moieties are bridged together by four pydc, presenting a hairpin molecular shape. The binding of the title complex with fish sperm DNA (FS-DNA) has been investigated by UV spectrum and fluorescence spectrum. All the results indicate that the complex bind to DNA in an intercalative mode and considerating the molecular shape and size, the dipalladated phenanthroline moieties bisintercalate to the base pairs of DNA. Agarose gel electrophoresis assay demonstrates the ability of the complex to cleave the pBR322 plasmid DNA. Cytotoxic activity studies show the complex exhibited good cytotoxic activity against four different cancer cell lines. Crown Copyright (c) 2010. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Circularly Polarized Luminescence in Enantiopure Europium and Terbium Complexes with Modular, All-Oxygen Donor Ligands

PubMed Central

Seitz, Michael; Do, King; Ingram, Andrew J.; Moore, Evan G.; Muller, Gilles; Raymond, Kenneth N.

2009-01-01

Abstract: Circulaly polarized luminescence from terbium(III) complexed and excited by chiral antenna ligands gives strong emission The modular synthesis of three new octadentate, enantiopure ligands are reported - one with the bidentate chelating unit 2-hydroxyisophthalamide (IAM) and two with 1-hydroxy-2-pyridinone (1,2-HOPO) units. A new design principle is introduced for the chiral, non-racemic hexamines which constitute the central backbones for the presented class of ligands. The terbium(III) complex of the IAM ligand, as well as the europium(III) complexes of the 1,2-HOPO ligands are synthesized and characterized by various techniques (NMR, UV, CD, luminescence spectroscopy). All species exhibit excellent stability and moderate to high luminescence efficiency (quantum yields ΦEu = 0.05–0.08 and ΦTb = 0.30–0.57) in aqueous solution at physiological pH. Special focus is put onto the properties of the complexes in regard to circularly polarized luminescence (CPL). The maximum luminescence dissymmetry factors (glum) in aqueous solution are high with |glum|max = 0.08 – 0.40. Together with the very favorable general properties (good stability, high quantum yields, long lifetimes), the presented lanthanide complexes can be considered as good candidates for analytical probes based on CPL in biologically relevant environments. PMID:19639983

Carbohydrate linked organotin(IV) complexes as human topoisomerase Iα inhibitor and their antiproliferative effects against the human carcinoma cell line.

PubMed

Khan, Rais Ahmad; Yadav, Shipra; Hussain, Zahid; Arjmand, Farukh; Tabassum, Sartaj

2014-02-14

Dimethyltin(IV) complexes with ethanolamine (1) and biologically significant N-glycosides (2 and 3) were designed and synthesized. The structural elucidation of complexes 1-3 was done using elemental and spectroscopic methods; in addition, complex 1 was studied by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. The in vitro DNA binding profile of complexes 2 and 3 was carried out by employing different biophysical methods to ascertain the feasibility of glycosylated complexes. Further, the cleaving ability of 2 and 3 was investigated by the agarose gel electrophoretic mobility assay with supercoiled pBR322 DNA, and demonstrated significantly good nuclease activity. Furthermore, both the complexes exhibited significant inhibitory effects on the catalytic activity of human Topo I at lower concentration than standard drugs. Computer-aided molecular docking techniques were used to ascertain the mode and mechanism of action towards the molecular target DNA and Topo I. The cytotoxicity of 2 and 3 against human hepatoma cancer cells (Huh7) was evaluated, which revealed significant regression in cancerous cells as compared with the standard drug. The antiproliferative activities of 2 and 3 were tested against human hepatoma cancer cells (Huh7), and results showed significantly good activity. Additionally, to validate the remarkable antiproliferative activity of complexes 2 and 3, specific regulatory gene expression (MMP-2 and TGF-β) was obtained by real time PCR.

Substitutional impact on biological activity of new water soluble Ni(II) complexes: Preparation, spectral characterization, X-ray crystallography, DNA/protein binding, antibacterial activity and in vitro cytotoxicity.

PubMed

Umadevi, C; Kalaivani, P; Puschmann, H; Murugan, S; Mohan, P S; Prabhakaran, R

2017-02-01

A series of new water soluble nickel(II) complexes containing triphenylphosphine and 4-methoxysalicylaldehyde-4(N)-substituted thiosemicarbazones were synthesized and characterized. Crystallographic investigations confirmed the structure of the complexes (1-4) having the general structure [Ni(4-Msal-Rtsc)(PPh 3 )] (Where R=H (1); CH 3 (2); C 2 H 5 (3); C 6 H 5 (4)) which showed that thiosemicarbazone ligands coordinated to nickel(II) ion as ONS tridentate bibasic donor. DNA/BSA protein binding ability of the ligands and their new complexes were studied by taking calf-thymus DNA (CT-DNA) and Bovine serum albumin (BSA) through absorption and emission titrations. Ethidium bromide (EB) displacement study showed the intercalative binding trend of the complexes to DNA. From the albumin binding studies, the mechanism of quenching was found as static and the alterations in the secondary structure of BSA by the compounds were confirmed with synchronous spectral studies. The binding affinity of the complexes to CT-DNA and BSA has the order of [Ni(4-Msal-etsc)(PPh 3 )] (3) >[Ni(4-Msal-mtsc)(PPh 3 )] (2) >[Ni(4-Msal-tsc)(PPh 3 )] (1) >[Ni(4-Msal-ptsc)(PPh 3 )] (4). In vitro cytotoxicity of the complexes was tested on human lung cancer cells (A549), human cervical cancer cells (HeLa), human liver carcinoma cells (Hep G2). All the complexes exhibited significant activity against three cancer cells. Among them, complex 4 exhibited almost 2.5 fold activity than cisplatin in A549 and HepG2 cell lines. In HeLa cell line, the complexes exhibited significant activity which is less than cisplatin. While comparing the activity of the complexes in A549 and HepG2 cell lines it falls in the order 4>1>2>3>cisplatin. The results obtained from DNA, protein binding and cytotoxicity studies, it is concluded that the cytotoxicity of the complexes as determined by MTT assay were not unduly influenced by the complexes having different binding efficiency with DNA and protein. The complexes exhibited good spectrum of antibacterial activity against four pathogenic bacteria such as E. faecalis (gram +ve), S. aureus (gram +ve), E. coli (gram -ve) and P. aeruginosa (gram -ve). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Semiclassical description of resonance-assisted tunneling in one-dimensional integrable models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Deunff, Jérémy; Mouchet, Amaury; Schlagheck, Peter

2013-10-01

Resonance-assisted tunneling is investigated within the framework of one-dimensional integrable systems. We present a systematic recipe, based on Hamiltonian normal forms, to construct one-dimensional integrable models that exhibit resonance island chain structures with accurately controlled sizes and positions of the islands. Using complex classical trajectories that evolve along suitably defined paths in the complex time domain, we construct a semiclassical theory of the resonance-assisted tunneling process. This semiclassical approach yields a compact analytical expression for tunnelling-induced level splittings which is found to be in very good agreement with the exact splittings obtained through numerical diagonalization.

New method for rekindling the nonlinear solitary waves in Maxwellian complex space plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, G. C.; Sarma, Ridip

2018-04-01

Our interest is to study the nonlinear wave phenomena in complex plasma constituents with Maxwellian electrons and ions. The main reason for this consideration is to exhibit the effects of dust charge fluctuations on acoustic modes evaluated by the use of a new method. A special method (G'/G) has been developed to yield the coherent features of nonlinear waves augmented through the derivation of a Korteweg-de Vries equation and found successfully the different nature of solitons recognized in space plasmas. Evolutions have shown with the input of appropriate typical plasma parameters to support our theoretical observations in space plasmas. All conclusions are in good accordance with the actual occurrences and could be of interest to further the investigations in experiments and satellite observations in space. In this paper, we present not only the model that exhibited nonlinear solitary wave propagation but also a new mathematical method to the execution.

Nickel-quinolones interaction. Part 4. Structure and biological evaluation of nickel(II)-enrofloxacin complexes compared to zinc(II) analogues.

PubMed

Skyrianou, Kalliopi C; Psycharis, Vassilis; Raptopoulou, Catherine P; Kessissoglou, Dimitris P; Psomas, George

2011-01-01

The nickel(II) complexes with the second-generation quinolone antibacterial agent enrofloxacin in the presence or absence of the nitrogen-donor heterocyclic ligands 1,10-phenanthroline, 2,2'-bipyridine or pyridine have been synthesized and characterized. Enrofloxacin acts as bidentate ligand coordinated to Ni(II) ion through the ketone oxygen and a carboxylato oxygen. The crystal structure of (1,10-phenanthroline)bis(enrofloxacinato)nickel(II) has been determined by X-ray crystallography. UV study of the interaction of the complexes with calf-thymus DNA (CT DNA) has shown that they bind to CT DNA and bis(pyridine)bis(enrofloxacinato)nickel(II) exhibits the highest binding constant to CT DNA. The cyclic voltammograms of the complexes have shown that in the presence of CT DNA the complexes can bind to CT DNA by the intercalative binding mode which has also been verified by DNA solution viscosity measurements. Competitive study with ethidium bromide (EB) has shown that the complexes can displace the DNA-bound EB indicating that they bind to DNA in strong competition with EB. The complexes exhibit good binding propensity to human or bovine serum albumin protein having relatively high binding constant values. The biological properties of the complexes have been evaluated in comparison to the corresponding Zn(II) enrofloxacinato complexes as well as Ni(II) complexes with the first-generation quinolone oxolinic acid. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

(E)-4-Methyl-N-((quinolin-2-yl)ethylidene)aniline as ligand for IIB supramolecular complexes: synthesis, structure, aggregation-induced emission enhancement and application in PMMA-doped hybrid material.

PubMed

Wang, Ani; Fan, Ruiqing; Dong, Yuwei; Chen, Wei; Song, Yang; Wang, Ping; Hao, Sue; Liu, Zhigang; Yang, Yulin

2016-12-20

Judicious structural design employing 2-quinolinecarboxaldehyde and 4-methylaniline was used to generate the Schiff base ligand (E)-4-methyl-N-((quinolin-2-yl)ethylidene)aniline (L). Five IIB complexes, namely, [ZnLCl 2 ] (1), [ZnL(NO 3 ) 2 ] (2), [ZnL(OAc) 2 ] 3 (3), [CdL(OAc) 2 ] 3 (4), and [HgLCl 2 ] (5) have been synthesized based on L. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that complexes 1, 3 and 4 exhibit 3D networks, whereas 2 and 5 form 2D layers and 1D chains, respectively. TD-DFT calculations show a good correlation with the UV-vis absorption assigned to π → π* intraligand transitions. Furthermore, complexes 1-5 displayed strong greenish luminescent emissions (518-524 nm) in the aggregate state but weak emissions in solution (aggregation-induced emission enhancement), which may be due to the existence of C-HCl/O hydrogen bonding and ππ stacking interactions, resulting in restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR). Variable-concentration 1 H NMR studies suggested that the aggregates undergo intramolecular changes in conformation due to intermolecular interactions. Moreover, the emission intensity and lifetime exhibited obvious increases induced by mechanical grinding and temperature reduction, which were also attributed to AIEE properties. Subsequently, complex 1 was incorporated into poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), whereby 1-PMMA exhibited enhanced emission intensity (20-fold increase in comparison with that of 1), which offers opportunities for use in plastic greenhouses to increase leaf photosynthesis.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mukherji, Debashish; Stuehn, Torsten; Kremer, Kurt

Smart polymers are a modern class of polymeric materials that often exhibit unpredictable behavior in mixtures of solvents. One such phenomenon is co-non-solvency. Co-non-solvency occurs when two (perfectly) miscible and competing good solvents, for a given polymer, are mixed together. As a result, the same polymer collapses into a compact globule within intermediate mixing ratios. More interestingly, polymer collapses when the solvent quality remains good and even gets increasingly better by the addition of the better cosolvent. This is a puzzling phenomenon that is driven by strong local concentration fluctuations. Because of the discrete particle based nature of the interactions,more » Flory-Huggins type mean field arguments become unsuitable. In this work, we extend the analysis of the co-non-solvency effect presented earlier [D. Mukherji et al., Nat. Commun. 5, 4882 (2014)]. We explain why co-non-solvency is a generic phenomenon, which can only be understood by the thermodynamic treatment of the competitive displacement of (co)solvent components. This competition can result in a polymer collapse upon improvement of the solvent quality. Specific chemical details are not required to understand these complex conformational transitions. Therefore, a broad range of polymers are expected to exhibit similar reentrant coil-globule-coil transitions in competing good solvents.« less

N-(2,2-Dimethyl-1-(quinolin-2-yl)propylidene) arylaminonickel Complexes and Their Ethylene Oligomerization.

PubMed

Suo, Hongyi; Zhao, Tong; Wang, Yiqing; Ban, Qing; Sun, Wen-Hua

2017-04-13

A series of N -(2,2-dimethyl-1-(quinolin-2-yl)propylidene) arylamines was sophisticatedly synthesized and reacted with nickel(II) bromine for the formation of the corresponding nickel complexes. All the organic compounds were characterized by IR, NMR spectra and elemental analysis, while all the nickel complexes were characterized by IR spectra and elemental analysis. On activation with ethylaluminium sesquichloride (EASC) and modified methylaluminoxane (MMAO), all nickel precatalysts exhibited good activities toward ethylene oligomerization, indicating the positive efficiency of gem-dimethyl substitutents; in which major hexenes were obtained with MMAO. The catalytic parameters were verified, and the steric and electronic influences of substituents with ligands were observed, with a slight change of activities under different ethylene pressures.

Advances in Rotor Performance and Turbulent Wake Simulation Using DES and Adaptive Mesh Refinement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chaderjian, Neal M.

2012-01-01

Time-dependent Navier-Stokes simulations have been carried out for a rigid V22 rotor in hover, and a flexible UH-60A rotor in forward flight. Emphasis is placed on understanding and characterizing the effects of high-order spatial differencing, grid resolution, and Spalart-Allmaras (SA) detached eddy simulation (DES) in predicting the rotor figure of merit (FM) and resolving the turbulent rotor wake. The FM was accurately predicted within experimental error using SA-DES. Moreover, a new adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) procedure revealed a complex and more realistic turbulent rotor wake, including the formation of turbulent structures resembling vortical worms. Time-dependent flow visualization played a crucial role in understanding the physical mechanisms involved in these complex viscous flows. The predicted vortex core growth with wake age was in good agreement with experiment. High-resolution wakes for the UH-60A in forward flight exhibited complex turbulent interactions and turbulent worms, similar to the V22. The normal force and pitching moment coefficients were in good agreement with flight-test data.

A series of binuclear lanthanide(III) complexes: Crystallography, antimicrobial activity and thermochemistry properties studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ying-Ying; Ren, Ning; Xu, Su-Ling; Zhang, Jian-Jun; Zhang, Da-Hai

2015-02-01

A series of novel lanthanide complexes with the general formula [Ln(3,4-DClBA)3phen]2 (Ln = Ho(1), Nd(2), Sm(3), Dy(4), Eu(5), Tb(6), Yb(7) and Er(8), 3,4-DClBA = 3,4-dichlorobenzoate, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) were prepared at room temperature and characterized. The crystal structures of complexes 1-8 have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. These complexes are isomorphous and lanthanide ions are all eight-coordinated to oxygen atoms and nitrogen atoms with distorted square-antiprism geometry. The thermal decomposition mechanism and TG-FTIR spectra of gaseous products of thermal decomposition processes for complexes 1-8 were acquired through TG/DSC-FTIR system. The heat capacities of complexes 1-8 were measured using DSC technology and fitted to a polynomial equation by the least-squares method. Complexes 3-6 display characteristic lanthanide emission bands in the visible region. Meanwhile, these complexes exhibit in good antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureu.

Reduction-responsive multifunctional hyperbranched polyaminoglycosides with excellent antibacterial activity, biocompatibility and gene transfection capability.

PubMed

Huang, Yajun; Ding, Xiaokang; Qi, Yu; Yu, Bingran; Xu, Fu-Jian

2016-11-01

There is an increasing demand in developing of multifunctional materials with good antibacterial activity, biocompatibility and drug/gene delivery capability for next-generation biomedical applications. To achieve this purpose, in this work series of hydroxyl-rich hyperbranched polyaminoglycosides of gentamicin, tobramycin, and neomycin (HP and SS-HP with redox-responsive disulfide bonds) were readily synthesized via ring-opening reactions in a one-pot manner. Both HP and SS-HP exhibit high antibacterial activity toward Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Meanwhile, the hemolysis assay of the above materials shows good biocompatibility. Moreover, SS-HPs show excellent gene transfection efficiency in vitro due to the breakdown of reduction-responsive disulfide bonds. For an in vivo anti-tumor assay, the SS-HP/p53 complexes exhibit potent inhibition capability to the growth of tumors. This study provides a promising approach for the design of next-generation multifunctional biomedical materials. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discrete Cu(i) complexes for azide-alkyne annulations of small molecules inside mammalian cells.

PubMed

Miguel-Ávila, Joan; Tomás-Gamasa, María; Olmos, Andrea; Pérez, Pedro J; Mascareñas, José L

2018-02-21

The archetype reaction of "click" chemistry, namely, the copper-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), has found an impressive number of applications in biological chemistry. However, methods for promoting intermolecular annulations of exogenous, small azides and alkynes in the complex interior of mammalian cells, are essentially unknown. Herein we demonstrate that isolated, well-defined copper(i)-tris(triazolyl) complexes featuring designed ligands can readily enter mammalian cells and promote intracellular CuAAC annulations of small, freely diffusible molecules. In addition to simplifying protocols and avoiding the addition of "non-innocent" reductants, the use of these premade copper complexes leads to more efficient processes than with the alternative, in situ made copper species prepared from Cu(ii) sources, tris(triazole) ligands and sodium ascorbate. Under the reaction conditions, the well-defined copper complexes exhibit very good cell penetration properties, and do not present significant toxicities.

Two supramolecular complexes based on polyoxometalates and Co-EDTA units via covalent connection or non-covalent interaction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Teng, Chunlin; Xiao, Hanxi; Cai, Qing

Two new 3D network organic-inorganic hybrid supramolecular complexes ([Na{sub 6}(CoEDTA){sub 2}(H{sub 2}O){sub 13}]·(H{sub 2}SiW{sub 12}O{sub 40})·xH{sub 2}O)n (1) and [CoH{sub 4}EDTA(H{sub 2}O)]{sub 2}(SiW{sub 12}O{sub 40})·15H{sub 2}O (2) (H{sub 4}EDTA=Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid) have been successfully synthesized by solution method, and characterized by infrared spectrum (IR), thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and single{sup −}crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). Both of the complexes are the supramolecules, but with different liking mode, they are two representative models of supramolecule. complex (1) is a 3D infinite network supramolecular coordination polymer with a rare multi-metal sturcture of sodium-cobalt-containing, which is mainly linked through coordinate-covalent bonds.more » While complex (2) is normal supramolecule, which linked by non-covalent interactions, such as H-bonding interaction, electrostatic interaction and van der waals force. Both of complex (1) and (2) exhibit good catalytic activities for catalytic oxidation of methanol, when the initial concentration of methanol is 3.0 g m{sup −3}, flow rate is 10 mL min{sup −1}, and the quality of catalyst is 0.2 g, for complex (1) and complex (2) the maximum elimination rates of methanol are 85% (150 °C) and 92% (120 °C), respectively. - Graphical abstract: Two new organic-inorganic hybrid supramolecular complexes based on Co-EDTA, and Keggin polyanions have been successfully synthesized with different pH value by solution method. They are attributed to two representative models of supramolecule. Complex(1) is an infinite coordination polymer with a rare multi-metal sturcture of sodium-cobalt-containing, which is mainly linked through covalent bonds. Complex (2) is a normal supramolecule, which linked by non-covalent interactions of H-bonding interaction, electrostatic interaction and van der waals force. - Highlights: • Two supramolecules are linked by covalent or non-covalent interactions. • They are attributed to two representative models of supramolecule. • A rare multi-metal infinite supramolecular coordination polymer was formed. • They exhibit good catalytic activities for catalytic oxidation of methanol.« less

Stochastic resonance algorithm applied to quantitative analysis for weak chromatographic signals of alkyl halides and alkyl benzenes in water samples.

PubMed

Xiang, Suyun; Wang, Wei; Xia, Jia; Xiang, Bingren; Ouyang, Pingkai

2009-09-01

The stochastic resonance algorithm is applied to the trace analysis of alkyl halides and alkyl benzenes in water samples. Compared to encountering a single signal when applying the algorithm, the optimization of system parameters for a multicomponent is more complex. In this article, the resolution of adjacent chromatographic peaks is first involved in the optimization of parameters. With the optimized parameters, the algorithm gave an ideal output with good resolution as well as enhanced signal-to-noise ratio. Applying the enhanced signals, the method extended the limit of detection and exhibited good linearity, which ensures accurate determination of the multicomponent.

Carbon nanotube-lipase hybrid nanoflowers with enhanced enzyme activity and enantioselectivity.

PubMed

Li, Kai; Wang, Jianhua; He, Yaojia; Abdulrazaq, Miaad Adnan; Yan, Yunjun

2018-06-19

Various nanoflowers are synthesized as supports for different methods of enzyme immobilization; however, the activities of these immobilized enzymes are limited because of their confinement in the nanoflowers. In order to increase the performance of nanoflowers, in this study, different protein-phosphate hybrid nanostructures were successfully synthesized and further enhanced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under the same conditions. Only Cu 3 (PO 4 ) 2 complex nanostructures exhibited flower-like structures and showed excellent results after enhancement with CNTs in this framework. An esterification reaction between lauric acid and 1-dodecanol was used to test enzyme activity during immobilization, revealing that the Cu 3 (PO 4 ) 2 /CNT/protein complex exhibited 68-fold higher activity relative to free lipase and 51-fold higher than that of Cu 3 (PO 4 ) 2 /Burkholderia cepacia lipase hybrid nanoflowers in the absence of CNTs. All three hybrid nanostructures showed good performance and exhibited excellent reusability in resolution reactions between 1-phenylethanol and vinyl acetate. Additionally, the substrate enantiomeric excess (ee s ) reached 98% in only 10 min, and the corresponding Cu 3 (PO 4 ) 2 /CNT/protein complex could be recycled eight times without obvious loss of activity. This approach involving nanoflowers enhanced with CNTs will be highly beneficial for decreasing mass-transfer resistance and providing enhanced enzyme loading along with promising potential for industrial application. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rare earth element scavenging in seawater

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byrne, Robert H.; Kim, Ki-Hyun

1990-10-01

Examinations of rare earth element (REE) adsorption in seawater, using a variety of surface-types, indicated that, for most surfaces, light rare earth elements (LREEs) are preferentially adsorbed compared to the heavy rare earths (HREEs). Exceptions to this behavior were observed only for silica phases (glass surfaces, acid-cleaned diatomaceous earth, and synthetic SiO 2). The affinity of the rare earths for surfaces can be strongly affected by thin organic coatings. Glass surfaces which acquired an organic coating through immersion in Tampa Bay exhibited adsorptive behavior typical of organic-rich, rather than glass, surfaces. Models of rare earth distributions between seawater and carboxylate-rich surfaces indicate that scavenging processes which involve such surfaces should exhibit a strong dependence on pH and carbonate complexation. Scavenging models involving carboxylate surfaces produce relative REE abundance patterns in good general agreement with observed shale-normalized REE abundances in seawater. Scavenging by carboxylate-rich surfaces should produce HREE enrichments in seawater relative to the LREEs and may produce enrichments of lanthanum relative to its immediate trivalent neighbors. Due to the origin of distribution coefficients as a difference between REE solution complexation (which increases strongly with atomic number) and surface complexation (which apparently also increases with atomic number) the relative solution abundance patterns of the REEs produced by scavenging reactions can be quite complex.

Transferrin-functionalized nanographene oxide for delivery of platinum complexes to enhance cancer-cell selectivity and apoptosis-inducing efficacy.

PubMed

Zhu, Hai; Zhou, Binwei; Chan, Leung; Du, Yanxin; Chen, Tianfeng

2017-01-01

Rational design and construction of delivery nanosystems for anticancer metal complexes is a crucial strategy to improve solubility under physiological conditions and permeability and retention behavior in tumor cells. Therefore, in this study, we designed and synthesize a transferrin (Tf)-conjugated nanographene oxide (NGO) nanosystem as a cancer-targeted nanocarrier of Pt complexes (Tf-NGO@Pt). This nanodelivery system exhibited good solubility under physiological conditions. Moreover, Tf-NGO@Pt showed higher anticancer efficacy against MCF human breast cancer cells than the free Pt complex, and effectively inhibited cancer-cell migration and invasion, with involvement of reactive oxygen species overproduction. In addition, nanolization also enhanced the penetration ability and inhibitory effect of the Pt complex toward MCF7 breast cancer-cell tumor spheroids. The enhancement of anticancer efficacy was positively correlated with increased cellular uptake and cellular drug retention. This study provides a new strategy to facilitate the future application of metal complexes in cancer therapy.

Synthesis, crystal structure, antimicrobial activity and DNA-binding of hydrogen-bonded proton-transfer complex of 2,6-diaminopyridine with picric acid.

PubMed

Khan, Ishaat M; Ahmad, Afaq; Ullah, M F

2011-04-04

A proton-transfer (charge transfer) complex formed on the reaction between 2,6-diaminopyridine (donor) and picric acid (acceptor) was synthesized and characterized by FTIR, (1)H NMR, thermal and elemental analysis. The crystal structure determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction indicates that cation and anion are joined together by strong N(+)-H- -O(-) type hydrogen bonds. The hydrogen-bonded charge transfer (HBCT) complex was screened for its pharmacology such as antimicrobial activity against various fungal and bacterial strains and Calf thymus DNA-binding. The results showed that HBCT complex (100μg/ml) exhibited good antibacterial antifungal activity as that of standard antibiotics Tetracycline and Nystatin. A molecular frame work through H-bonding interactions between neighboring moieties is found to be responsible for high melting point of resulting complex. This has been attributed to the formation of 1:1 HBCT complex. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterization of new functionalized calcium carbonate-polycaprolactone composite material for application in geometry-constrained drug release formulation development.

PubMed

Wagner-Hattler, Leonie; Schoelkopf, Joachim; Huwyler, Jörg; Puchkov, Maxim

2017-10-01

A new mineral-polymer composite (FCC-PCL) performance was assessed to produce complex geometries to aid in development of controlled release tablet formulations. The mechanical characteristics of a developed material such as compactibility, compressibility and elastoplastic deformation were measured. The results and comparative analysis versus other common excipients suggest efficient formation of a complex, stable and impermeable geometries for constrained drug release modifications under compression. The performance of the proposed composite material has been tested by compacting it into a geometrically altered tablet (Tablet-In-Cup, TIC) and the drug release was compared to commercially available product. The TIC device exhibited a uniform surface, showed high physical stability, and showed absence of friability. FCC-PCL composite had good binding properties and good compactibility. It was possible to reveal an enhanced plasticity characteristic of a new material which was not present in the individual components. The presented FCC-PCL composite mixture has the potential to become a successful tool to formulate controlled-release dosage solid forms.

Evaluation of DNA, BSA binding, and antimicrobial activity of new synthesized neodymium complex containing 29-dimethyl 110-phenanthroline.

PubMed

Moradi, Zohreh; Khorasani-Motlagh, Mozhgan; Rezvani, Ali Reza; Noroozifar, Meissam

2018-02-01

In order to evaluate biological potential of a novel synthesized complex [Nd(dmp) 2 Cl 3 .OH 2 ] where dmp is 29-dimethyl 110-phenanthroline, the DNA-binding, cleavage, BSA binding, and antimicrobial activity properties of the complex are investigated by multispectroscopic techniques study in physiological buffer (pH 7.2).The intrinsic binding constant (K b ) for interaction of Nd(III) complex and FS-DNA is calculated by UV-Vis (K b  = 2.7 ± 0.07 × 10 5 ) and fluorescence spectroscopy (K b  = 1.13 ± 0.03 × 10 5 ). The Stern-Volmer constant (K SV ), thermodynamic parameters including free energy change (ΔG°), enthalpy change (∆H°), and entropy change (∆S°), are calculated by fluorescent data and Vant' Hoff equation. The experimental results show that the complex can bind to FS-DNA and the major binding mode is groove binding. Meanwhile, the interaction of Nd(III) complex with protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA), has also been studied by using absorption and emission spectroscopic tools. The experimental results show that the complex exhibits good binding propensity to BSA. The positive ΔH° and ∆S° values indicate that the hydrophobic interaction is main force in the binding of the Nd(III) complex to BSA, and the complex can quench the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA remarkably through a static quenching process. Also, DNA cleavage was investigated by agarose gel electrophoresis that according to the results cleavage of DNA increased with increasing of concentration of the complex. Antimicrobial screening test gives good results in the presence of Nd(III) complex system.

Comparison of the colloidal stability, bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity of corn protein hydrolysate and sodium caseinate stabilized curcumin nanoparticles.

PubMed

Wang, Yong-Hui; Yuan, Yang; Yang, Xiao-Quan; Wang, Jin-Mei; Guo, Jian; Lin, Yuan

2016-07-01

The aims of this work were to construct corn protein hydrolysate (CPH)-based curcumin nanoparticles (Cur NPs) and to compare the colloidal stability, bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity of the Cur NPs stabilized CPH and sodium caseinate (NaCas) respectively. The results indicated that Cur solubility could be considerably improved after the Cur NPs fabrication. The spectroscopy results demonstrated that the solubilization of Cur should be attributed to its complexation with CPH or NaCas. The Cur NPs exhibited good colloidal stability after 1 week's storage but showed smaller (40 nm) size in CPH than in NaCas (100 nm). After lyophilization, the Cur NPs powders showed good rehydration properties and chemical stability, and compared with NaCas, the size of Cur NPs stabilized by CPH was still smaller. Additionally, the Cur NPs exhibited higher chemical stability against the temperature compared with free Cur, and the CPH could protect Cur from degradation more efficiently. Comparing with NaCas, the Cur NPs stabilized by CPH exhibited better bioaccessibility and antioxidant activity. This study demonstrated that CPH may be better than NaCas in Cur NPs fabrication and it opens up the possibility of using hydrophobic protein hydrolysate to construct the NPs delivery system.

Construction of two microporous metal-organic frameworks with flu and pyr topologies based on Zn4(μ3-OH)2(CO2)6 and Zn6(μ6-O)(CO2)6 secondary building units.

PubMed

Li, Xing-Jun; Jiang, Fei-Long; Wu, Ming-Yan; Chen, Lian; Qian, Jin-Jie; Zhou, Kang; Yuan, Da-Qiang; Hong, Mao-Chun

2014-01-21

By employment of a tripodal phosphoric carboxylate ligand, tris(4-carboxylphenyl)phosphine oxide (H3TPO), two novel porous metal-organic frameworks, namely, [Zn4(μ3-OH)2(TPO)2(H2O)2] (1) and [Zn6(μ6-O)(TPO)2](NO3)4·3H2O (2), have been synthesized by solvothermal methods. Complexes 1 and 2 exhibit three-dimensional microporous frameworks with flu and pyr topologies and possess rare butterfly-shaped Zn4(μ3-OH)2(CO2)6 and octahedral Zn6(μ6-O)(CO2)6 secondary building units, respectively. Large cavities and one-dimensional channels are observed in these two frameworks. Gas-sorption measurements indicate that complex 2 has a good H2 uptake capacity of 171.9 cm(3) g(-1) (1.53 wt %) at 77 K and 1.08 bar, and its ideal adsorbed solution theory calculation predicts highly selective adsorption of CO2 over N2 and CH4. Furthermore, complexes 1 and 2 exhibit excellent blue emission at room temperature.

Core-Shell Coating Silicon Anode Interfaces with Coordination Complex for Stable Lithium-Ion Batteries.

PubMed

Zhou, Jinqiu; Qian, Tao; Wang, Mengfan; Xu, Na; Zhang, Qi; Li, Qun; Yan, Chenglin

2016-03-02

In situ core-shell coating was used to improve the electrochemical performance of Si-based anodes with polypyrrole-Fe coordination complex. The vast functional groups in the organometallic coordination complex easily formed hydrogen bonds when in situ modifying commercial Si nanoparticles. The incorporation of polypyrrole-Fe resulted in the conformal conductive coating surrounding each Si nanoparticle, not only providing good electrical connection to the particles but also promoting the formation of a stable solid-electrolyte-interface layer on the Si electrode surface, enhancing the cycling properties. As an anode material for Li-ion batteries, modified silicon powders exhibited high reversible capacity (3567 mAh/g at 0.3 A/g), good rate property (549.12 mAh/g at 12 A/g), and excellent cycling performance (reversible capacity of 1500 mAh/g after 800 cycles at 1.2 A/g). The constructed novel concept of core-shell coating Si particles presented a promising route for facile and large-scale production of Si-based anodes for extremely durable Li-ion batteries, which provided a wide range of applications in the field of energy storage of the renewable energy derived from the solar energy, hydropower, tidal energy, and geothermal heat.

Preparation and Humidity Sensing Properties of KCl/MCM-41 Composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Li; Kou, Li-Ying; Zhong, Zhi-Cheng; Wang, Lian-Yuan; Liu, Li-Fang; Li, Wei

2010-05-01

KCl/mobil composition of matter-41 (MCM-41) composite has been synthesized via a heat-treating process and characterized by x-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms. In contrast with pure MCM-41, KCl/MCM-41 composite exhibits improved humidity sensing properties within the relative humidity range of 11-95%. The impedance of KCl/MCM-41 composite changes by about four orders of magnitude over the whole humidity range with the response time and the recovery times are about 30 s and 35 s, respectively. Small humidity hysteresis and good stability are also observed based on our product. These results make our product a good candidate in fabricating humidity sensors with high performances and low synthetic complexity.

Weak interactions and cooperativity effects on disiloxane: a look at the building block of silicones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martín-Fernández, Carlos; Montero-Campillo, M. Merced; Alkorta, Ibon; Elguero, José

2018-06-01

The behaviour of disiloxane 1 towards a set of Lewis acids (LA) and Lewis bases (LB) forming complexes through its oxygen and silicon atoms, respectively, was studied at the MP2/aug‧-cc-pVTZ level of theory, exploring a wide variety of non-covalent interactions. Disiloxane is a moderate electron acceptor and a good electron donor, exhibiting in the latter case binding energies up to almost -100 kJ/mol with BeCl2. Cooperativity effects were also analysed by looking at ternary 1:LA:LB complexes. Shorter intermolecular distances than in the corresponding binary complexes and a negative contribution of the three-body term to the binding energy indicate that the non-covalent interactions allowed by disiloxane through its acid and basic centres cooperate between them to reinforce both donor-acceptor pairs. These effects are particularly strong in complexes involving beryllium and triel bonds, but are also relevant for complexes containing hydrogen bonds.

Discrete Cu(i) complexes for azide–alkyne annulations of small molecules inside mammalian cells† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc04643j

PubMed Central

Miguel-Ávila, Joan; Tomás-Gamasa, María; Olmos, Andrea

2018-01-01

The archetype reaction of “click” chemistry, namely, the copper-promoted azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), has found an impressive number of applications in biological chemistry. However, methods for promoting intermolecular annulations of exogenous, small azides and alkynes in the complex interior of mammalian cells, are essentially unknown. Herein we demonstrate that isolated, well-defined copper(i)–tris(triazolyl) complexes featuring designed ligands can readily enter mammalian cells and promote intracellular CuAAC annulations of small, freely diffusible molecules. In addition to simplifying protocols and avoiding the addition of “non-innocent” reductants, the use of these premade copper complexes leads to more efficient processes than with the alternative, in situ made copper species prepared from Cu(ii) sources, tris(triazole) ligands and sodium ascorbate. Under the reaction conditions, the well-defined copper complexes exhibit very good cell penetration properties, and do not present significant toxicities. PMID:29675241

Influence of the Ligand Field on the Slow Relaxation of Magnetization of Unsymmetrical Monomeric Lanthanide Complexes: Synthesis and Theoretical Studies.

PubMed

Upadhyay, Apoorva; Vignesh, Kuduva R; Das, Chinmoy; Singh, Saurabh Kumar; Rajaraman, Gopalan; Shanmugam, Maheswaran

2017-11-20

A series of monomeric lanthanide Schiff base complexes with the molecular formulas [Ce(HL) 3 (NO 3 ) 3 ] (1) and [Ln(HL) 2 (NO 3 ) 3 ], where Ln III = Tb (2), Ho (3), Er (4), and Lu (5), were isolated and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). Single-crystal XRD reveals that, except for 1, all complexes possess two crystallographically distinct molecules within the unit cell. Both of these crystallographically distinct molecules possess the same molecular formula, but the orientation of the coordinating ligand distinctly differs from those in complexes 2-5. Alternating-current magnetic susceptibility measurement reveals that complexes 1-3 exhibit slow relaxation of magnetization in the presence of an optimum external magnetic field. In contrast to 1-3, complex 4 shows a blockade of magnetization in the absence of an external magnetic field, a signature characteristic of a single-ion magnet (SIM). The distinct magnetic behavior observed in 4 compared to other complexes is correlated to the suitable ligand field around a prolate Er III ion. Although the ligand field stabilizes an easy axis of anisotropy, quantum tunnelling of magnetization (QTM) is still predominant in 4 because of the low symmetry of the complex. The combination of low symmetry and an unsuitable ligand-field environment in complexes 1-3 triggers faster magnetization relaxation; hence, these complexes exhibit field-induced SIM behavior. In order to understand the electronic structures of complexes 1-4 and the distinct magnetic behavior observed, ab initio calculations were performed. Using the crystal structure of the complexes, magnetic susceptibility data were computed for all of the complexes. The computed susceptibility and magnetization are in good agreement with the experimental magnetic data [χ M T(T) and M(H)] and this offers confidence on the reliability of the extracted parameters. A tentative mechanism of magnetization relaxation observed in these complexes is also discussed in detail.

Polyelectrolyte Complexes of Low Molecular Weight PEI and Citric Acid as Efficient and Nontoxic Vectors for in Vitro and in Vivo Gene Delivery.

PubMed

Giron-Gonzalez, M Dolores; Salto-Gonzalez, Rafael; Lopez-Jaramillo, F Javier; Salinas-Castillo, Alfonso; Jodar-Reyes, Ana Belen; Ortega-Muñoz, Mariano; Hernandez-Mateo, Fernando; Santoyo-Gonzalez, Francisco

2016-03-16

Gene transfection mediated by the cationic polymer polyethylenimine (PEI) is considered a standard methodology. However, while highly branched PEIs form smaller polyplexes with DNA that exhibit high transfection efficiencies, they have significant cell toxicity. Conversely, low molecular weight PEIs (LMW-PEIs) with favorable cytotoxicity profiles display minimum transfection activities as a result of inadequate DNA complexation and protection. To solve this paradox, a novel polyelectrolyte complex was prepared by the ionic cross-linking of branched 1.8 kDa PEI with citric acid (CA). This system synergistically exploits the good cytotoxicity profile exhibited by LMW-PEI with the high transfection efficiencies shown by highly branched and high molecular weight PEIs. The polyectrolyte complex (1.8 kDa-PEI@CA) was obtained by a simple synthetic protocol based on the microwave irradiation of a solution of 1.8 kDa PEI and CA. Upon complexation with DNA, intrinsic properties of the resulting particles (size and surface charge) were measured and their ability to form stable polyplexes was determined. Compared with unmodified PEIs the new complexes behave as efficient gene vectors and showed enhanced DNA binding capability associated with facilitated intracellular DNA release and enhanced DNA protection from endonuclease degradation. In addition, while transfection values for LMW-PEIs are almost null, transfection efficiencies of the new reagent range from 2.5- to 3.8-fold to those of Lipofectamine 2000 and 25 kDa PEI in several cell lines in culture such as CHO-k1, FTO2B hepatomas, L6 myoblasts, or NRK cells, simultaneously showing a negligible toxicity. Furthermore, the 1.8 kDa-PEI@CA polyelectrolyte complexes retained the capability to transfect eukaryotic cells in the presence of serum and exhibited the capability to promote in vivo transfection in mouse (as an animal model) with an enhanced efficiency compared to 25 kDa PEI. Results support the polyelectrolyte complex of LMW-PEI and CA as promising generic nonviral gene carriers.

Morphology-controlled synthesis and novel microwave electromagnetic properties of hollow urchin-like chain Fe-doped MnO 2 under 10 T high magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuping, Duan; Jia, Zhang; Hui, Jing; Shunhua, Liu

2011-05-01

Fe-doped MnO 2 with a hollow sea urchin-like ball chain shape was first synthesized under a high magnetic field of 10 T. The formation mechanism was investigated and discussed in detail. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EMPA, and vector network analysis. By doping MnO 2 with Fe, the relative complex permittivity of MnO 2 and its corresponding loss tangent clearly decreases, but its relative complex permeability and its corresponding loss tangent markedly increases. Moreover, the theoretically calculated values of reflection loss show that with increasing the Fe content, the as-prepared Fe-doped MnO 2 exhibits good microwave absorption capability.

Highly fluorescent carbon quantum dots as nanoprobes for sensitive and selective determination of mercury (II) in surface waters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hua, Jianhao; Yang, Jian; Zhu, Yan; Zhao, Chunxi; Yang, Yaling

2017-12-01

A novel carbon quantum dots (CQDs) was successfully prepared through one-step green hydrothermal method using polyacrylamide as carbon source. The prepared CQDs were characterized using TEM, XRD, XPS, FT-IR, UV-Vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy. The CQDs was demonstrated as nanoprobes for mercury ion detection, moreover, it demonstrated excitation-dependent and superior stability in acidic and alkaline media. Besides, the probe exhibited a good linearity range (0.25-50 μM) and a low detection limit (13.48 nM). These attractive properties indicated that this novel CQDs can adapt to a variety of complex pH environment, which had extensive prospect and promising application for detection of mercury ions in complex water samples.

3D Printed Silicones with Shape Memory

DOE PAGES

Wu, Amanda S.; Small IV, Ward; Bryson, Taylor M.; ...

2017-07-05

Direct ink writing enables the layer-by-layer manufacture of ordered, porous structures whose mechanical behavior is driven by architecture and material properties. Here, we incorporate two different gas filled microsphere pore formers to evaluate the effect of shell stiffness and T g on compressive behavior and compression set in siloxane matrix printed structures. The lower T g microsphere structures exhibit substantial compression set when heated near and above T g, with full structural recovery upon reheating without constraint. By contrast, the higher T g microsphere structures exhibit reduced compression set with no recovery upon reheating. Aside from their role in tuningmore » the mechanical behavior of direct ink write structures, polymer microspheres are good candidates for shape memory elastomers requiring structural complexity, with potential applications toward tandem shape memory polymers.« less

3D Printed Silicones with Shape Memory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, Amanda S.; Small IV, Ward; Bryson, Taylor M.

Direct ink writing enables the layer-by-layer manufacture of ordered, porous structures whose mechanical behavior is driven by architecture and material properties. Here, we incorporate two different gas filled microsphere pore formers to evaluate the effect of shell stiffness and T g on compressive behavior and compression set in siloxane matrix printed structures. The lower T g microsphere structures exhibit substantial compression set when heated near and above T g, with full structural recovery upon reheating without constraint. By contrast, the higher T g microsphere structures exhibit reduced compression set with no recovery upon reheating. Aside from their role in tuningmore » the mechanical behavior of direct ink write structures, polymer microspheres are good candidates for shape memory elastomers requiring structural complexity, with potential applications toward tandem shape memory polymers.« less

A sandwich-type optical immunosensor based on the alkaline phosphatase enzyme for Salmonella thypimurium detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widyastuti, E.; Puspitasari Schonherr, M. F.; Masruroh, A.; Anggraeni, R. A.; Nisak, Y. K.; Mursidah, S.

2018-03-01

Salmonella is pathogenic bacteria that caused foodborne diseases which being called Salmonellosis. Prevalence of Salmonellosis that being caused by Salmonella thypimurium in Indonesia is quite high. However, detection of Salmonella bacteria in food still limited, complicated, and required a lot time. Sensitive optical assay for Salmonella thypimurium paper based detection has been developed by integrating sandwich assay between antibody-antigen complex and alkaline phosphatase enzyme that produce visible bluish-purple colour with presence of NBT-BCIP substrate. The results showed that Limit of Quantitation of detection is 105 CFU mL-1 with detection time 15 minutes. Linearity test between Colour intensity that produced from Salmonella concentration presence on samples showed that detection has good linearity. Selectivity test exhibited excellent sensitivity with good discrimination against Escherichia coli.

A Monte Carlo model for the gardening of the lunar regolith

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arnold, J. R.

1975-01-01

The processes of movement and turnover of the lunar regolith are described by a Monte Carlo model. The movement of material by the direct cratering process is the dominant mode, but slumping is also included for angles exceeding the static angle of repose. Using a group of interrelated computer programs, a large number of properties are calculated, including topography, formation of layers, depth of the disturbed layer, nuclear-track distributions, and cosmogenic nuclides. In the most complex program, the history of a 36-point square array is followed for times up to 400 million years. The histories generated are complex and exhibit great variety. Because a crater covers much less area than its ejecta blanket, there is a tendency for the height change at a test point to exhibit periods of slow accumulation followed by sudden excavation. In general, the agreement with experiment and observation seems good, but two areas of disagreement stand out. First, the calculated surface is rougher than that observed. Second, the observed bombardment ages, of the order 400 million are shorter than expected (by perhaps a factor of 5).

Sensitive and selective spectrophotometric assay of piroxicam in pure form, capsule and human blood serum samples via ion-pair complex formation.

PubMed

Alizadeh, Nina; Keyhanian, Fereshteh

2014-09-15

A simple, accurate and highly sensitive spectrophotometric method has been developed for the rapid determination of piroxicam (PX) in pure and pharmaceutical formulations. The proposed method involves formation of stable yellow colored ion-pair complexes of the amino derivative (basic nitrogen) of PX with three sulphonphthalein acid dyes namely; bromocresol green (BCG), bromothymol blue (BTB), bromophenol blue (BPB) in acidic medium. The colored species exhibited absorption maxima at 438, 429 and 432 nm with molar absorptivity values of 9.400×10(3), 1.218×10(3) and 1.02×10(4) L mol(-1) cm(-1) for PX-BCG, PX-BTB and PX-BPB complexes, respectively. The effect of optimum conditions via acidity, reagent concentration, time and solvent were studied. The reactions were extremely rapid at room temperature and the absorbance values remained constant for 48h. Beer's law was obeyed with a good correlation coefficient in the concentration ranges 1-100 μg mL(-1) for BCG, BTB complexes and 1-95 μg mL(-1) for BPB complex. The composition ratio of the ion-pair complexes were found to be 1:1 in all cases as established by Job's method. No interference was observed from common additives and excipients which may be present in the pharmaceutical preparations. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of PX in capsule and human blood serum samples with good accuracy and precision. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Synthesis, crystal structure, antibacterial activity and theoretical studies on a novel mononuclear cobalt(II) complex based on 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine ligand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maghami, Mahboobeh; Farzaneh, Faezeh; Simpson, Jim; Ghiasi, Mina; Azarkish, Mohammad

2015-08-01

A cobalt complex was prepared from CoCl2·6H2O and 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine (tptz) in methanol and designated as [Co(tptz)(CH3OH)Cl2]·CH3OH·0.5H2O (1). It was characterized by several techniques including TGA analysis and FT-IR, UV-Vis and 1H NMR spectral studies. The crystal structure of 1 was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The Co(II) metal center in 1 is six coordinated with a distorted octahedral geometry. The tptz ligand is tridentate and coordinates to the cobalt through coplanar nitrogen atoms from the triazine and two pyridyl rings. Two chloride anions and a methanol molecule complete the inner coordination sphere of the metal ion. The optimized geometrical parameters obtained by DFT calculation are in good agreement with single XRD data. The in vitro antibacterial activity of various tptz complexes of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Mn(II) and Rh(III) were evaluated against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. Whereas all complexes exhibited good activity in comparison to standard antibacterial drugs, the inhibitory effects of complexes were found to be more than that of the parent ligand. Overall, the obtained results strongly suggest that the cobalt(II) complex is a suitable candidate for counteracting antibiotic resistant microorganisms.

Two New Preyssler-Type Polyoxometalate-Based Coordination Polymers and Their Application in Horseradish Peroxidase Immobilization.

PubMed

Du, Jing; Cao, Mei-Da; Feng, Shu-Li; Su, Fang; Sang, Xiao-Jing; Zhang, Lan-Cui; You, Wan-Sheng; Yang, Mei; Zhu, Zai-Ming

2017-10-17

Enzyme immobilization is of increasing importance for biocatalysis, for which good supports are critical. Herein, two new Preyssler-type polyoxometalate (POM)-based coordination polymers, namely, {[Cu(H 2 biim) 2 ][{Cu(H 2 biim) 2 (μ-H 2 O)} 2 Cu(H 2 biim)(H 2 O) 2 ]H[({Cu(H 2 biim)(H 2 O) 2 } 0.5 ) 2 ((μ-C 3 HN 2 Cl 2 ){Cu(H 2 biim)} 2 ){Z(H 2 O)P 5 W 30 O 110 }]⋅x H 2 O} n (1: Z=Na, x=9; 2: Z=Ag, x=10; H 2 biim=2,2'-biimidazole) were designed and synthesized. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibit the same skeletons, which contain multiple Cu II complex fragments and penta-supported {ZP 5 W 30 } (Z=Na, Ag) clusters. They were first employed to immobilize horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Results show that compounds 1 and 2 are good supports for HRP immobilization, and exhibit higher enzyme loading, lower loading times, and excellent reusability. The immobilized HRP (HRP/1 or HRP/2) was further applied to detect H 2 O 2 , and good sensitivity, wide linear range, low detection limit, and fast response were achieved. This work shows that POM-based hybrid materials are a new kind of promising support for enzyme immobilization. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Enzymes immobilized on amine-terminated ionic liquid-functionalized carbon nanotube for hydrogen peroxide determination.

PubMed

Liu, Xiuhui; Bu, Caihong; Nan, Zhihan; Zheng, Lichun; Qiu, Yu; Lu, Xiaoquan

2013-02-15

We report on a new approach for the electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) based on Cytochrome C (Cyt c) immobilized ionic liquid (IL)-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) modified glass carbon electrode (GCE). Functionalization of multi-walled carbon nanotube with amine-terminated ionic liquid materials was characterized using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-vis spectra, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and the results showed that the covalent modification of MWCNTs with ILs exhibited a high surface area for enzyme immobilization and provided a good microenvironment for Cyt c to retain its bioelectrocatalytic activity toward H2O2. Amperometry was used to evaluate the catalytic activity of the cyt c towards H2O2. The proposed biosensor exhibited a wide linear response range nearly 4 orders of magnitude of H2O2 (4.0 × 10(-8)M-1.0 × 10(-4)M) with a good linearity (0.9980) and a low detection limit of 1.3 × 10(-8)M (based on S/N=3). Furthermore, the biosensor also displays some other excellent characteristics such as high selectivity, good reproducibility and long-term stability. Thus, the biosensor constructed in this study has great potential for detecting H2O2 in the complex biosystems. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of Encapsulation on Antimicrobial Activity of
Herbal Extracts with Lysozyme

PubMed Central

Matouskova, Petra; Bokrova, Jitka; Benesova, Pavla

2016-01-01

Summary Resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics has increased. The use of natural components with antimicrobial properties can be of great significance to reduce this problem. The presented work is focused on the study of the effect of encapsulation of selected plant and animal antimicrobial substances (herbs, spices, lysozyme and nisin) on their activity and stability. Antimicrobial components were packaged into liposomes and polysaccharide particles (alginate, chitosan and starch). Antimicrobial activity was tested against two Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis and Micrococcus luteus) and two Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens) bacteria. Encapsulation was successful in all types of polysaccharide particles and liposomes. The prepared particles exhibited very good long-term stability, especially in aqueous conditions. Antimicrobial activity was retained in all types of particles. Liposomes with encapsulated herb and spice extracts exhibited very good inhibitory effect against all tested bacterial strains. Most of herbal extracts had very good antimicrobial effect against the tested Gram-negative bacterial strains, while Gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive to lysozyme particles. Thus, particles with co-encapsulated herbs and lysozyme are more active against different types of bacteria, and more stable and more effective during long-term storage. Particles with encapsulated mixture of selected plant extracts and lysozyme could be used as complex antimicrobial preparation with controlled release in the production of food and food supplements, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. PMID:27956862

A ruthenium(II) complex as turn-on Cu(II) luminescent sensor based on oxidative cyclization mechanism and its application in vivo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yunfei; Liu, Zonglun; Yang, Kui; Zhang, Yi; Xu, Yongqian; Li, Hongjuan; Wang, Chaoxia; Lu, Aiping; Sun, Shiguo

2015-02-01

Copper ions play a vital role in a variety of fundamental physiological processes not only in human beings and plants, but also for extensive insects and microorganisms. In this paper, a novel water-soluble ruthenium(II) complex as a turn-on copper(II) ions luminescent sensor based on o-(phenylazo)aniline was designed and synthesized. The azo group would undergo a specific oxidative cyclization reaction with copper(II) ions and turn into high luminescent benzotriazole, triggering significant luminescent increasements which were linear to the concentrations of copper(II) ions. The sensor distinguished by its high sensitivity (over 80-fold luminescent switch-on response), good selectivity (the changes of the emission intensity in the presence of other metal ions or amino acids were negligible) and low detection limit (4.42 nM) in water. Moreover, the copper(II) luminescent sensor exhibited good photostability under light irradiation. Furthermore, the applicability of the proposed sensor in biological samples assay was also studied and imaged copper(II) ions in living pea aphids successfully.

Dramatically Promoted Swelling of a Hydrogel by Pillar[6]arene-Ferrocene Complexation with Multistimuli Responsiveness.

PubMed

Ni, Mengfei; Zhang, Ning; Xia, Wei; Wu, Xuan; Yao, Chenhao; Liu, Xin; Hu, Xiao-Yu; Lin, Chen; Wang, Leyong

2016-05-25

The swelling-shrinking transition of hydrogels is crucial for their wide applications such as actuators and drug delivery. We hereby fabricated a smart hydrogel with ferrocene groups on pendant of polymer networks. While it was immersed in the water-soluble pillar[6]arene (WP6) aqueous solution, the hydrogel was dramatically swollen, which was an approximately 11-fold promotion in weight compared with that in pure water, due to the formation of the inclusion complexes between WP6 and ferrocene groups in the hydrogel. In particular, the well-swollen hydrogel exhibited good responsiveness to multistimuli including temperature, pH, redox, and competitive guests by tuning the dissociation/formation of WP6-ferrocene inclusion complexes or the strength of their charges. Meanwhile, potential application of such a smart hydrogel in pH-responsive drug release was demonstrated as well.

Synthesis and crystal structure determination of copper(II)-complex: In vitro DNA and HSA binding, pBR322 plasmid cleavage, cell imaging and cytotoxic studies.

PubMed

Tabassum, Sartaj; Zaki, Mehvash; Ahmad, Musheer; Afzal, Mohd; Srivastav, Saurabh; Srikrishna, Saripella; Arjmand, Farukh

2014-08-18

New Cu(II) complex 1 of indole-3-propionic acid and 1,10-phenanthroline was synthesized and characterized by analytical, spectroscopic and single crystal X-ray diffraction. In vitro DNA binding studies of 1 was performed by employing UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques. The binding affinity towards human serum albumin (HSA) was also investigated to understand the carrier role in body system, as the time dependent HPLC experiment of 1 revealed that bonded drug with protein releases slowly in presence of DNA. Complex 1 exhibited good anti-tumor activity (GI50 values <10 μg/ml), and to elucidate the mechanism of tumor inhibition, topoisomerase I enzymatic activity was carried out and further validated by cell imaging studies which clearly showed its nuclear localization. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Investigation on biomolecular interactions of nickel(II) complexes with monoanionic bidentate ligands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jayamani, Arumugam; Sethupathi, Murugan; Ojwach, Stephen O.; Sengottuvelan, Nallathambi

2018-01-01

Reactions of monoanionic bidentate ligands 5-methylsalicylaldehyde (5-msal), 5-bromosalicylaldehyde (5-brsal), 5-nitrosalicylaldehyde (5-nsal) and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde (2-hnap) with nickel perchlorate hexahydrate produced nickel(II) complexes 1-4, respectively. Single crystal X-ray analyses of complexes 1 and 2 confirmed bidentate mode of the ligands with O˄O coordination to give square planar geometry around nickel atoms. Complexes 1-4 showed one quasi-reversible redox peak at cathodic region (-0.67 to -0.80 V) and one redox peak at anodic region (+1.08 to +1.44 V) assignable to the Ni(II)/Ni(I) and Ni(II)/Ni(III) redox couples, respectively. The complexes exhibited good bovine serum albumin (BSA) binding abilities with a maximum binding constant of 1.96 × 105 M-1. The binding of complexes with calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) showed that the binding affinity is consistent with an increase in steric bulk of the ligands. The nuclease activity of the complexes showed efficient oxidative cleavage in the presence of hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizing agent. The complexes showed higher zone of inhibition when screened for antimicrobial activity against bacteria and human pathogenic fungi.

Fe (III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes of schiff bases based-on glycine and phenylalanine: Synthesis, magnetic/thermal properties and antimicrobial activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sevgi, Fatih; Bagkesici, Ugur; Kursunlu, Ahmed Nuri; Guler, Ersin

2018-02-01

Zinc (II), copper (II), nickel (II), cobalt (II) and iron (III) complexes of Schiff bases (LG, LP) derived from 2-hydroxynaphthaldehyde with glycine and phenylalanine were reported and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, elemental analyses, melting point, FT-IR, magnetic susceptibility and thermal analyses (TGA). TGA data show that iron and cobalt include to the coordinated water and metal:ligand ratio is 1:2 while the complex stoichiometry for Ni (II), Cu (II) and Zn (II) complexes is 1:1. As expected, Ni (II) and Zn (II) complexes are diamagnetic; Cu (II), Co (II) and Fe (III) complexes are paramagnetic character due to a strong ligand of LG and LP. The LG, LP and their metal complexes were screened for their antimicrobial activities against five Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Bacillus cereus, Streptococcus mutans and Enterococcus faecalis) and three Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and one fungi (Candida albicans) by using broth microdilution techniques. The activity data show that ligands and their metal complexes exhibited moderate to good activity against Gram-positive bacteria and fungi.

Metal based pharmacologically active complexes of Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II): synthesis, spectral, XRD, antimicrobial screening, DNA interaction and cleavage investigation.

PubMed

Raman, Natarajan; Mahalakshmi, Rajkumar; Arun, T; Packianathan, S; Rajkumar, R

2014-09-05

The present contribution reports a thorough characterization of newly obtained metallointercalators incorporating Schiff bases, formed by the condensation of N-acetoacetyl-o-toluidine with 1-amino-4-nitrobenzene (L(1))/1-amino-4-chlorobenzene (L(2)) as main ligand and 1,10-phenanthroline as co-ligand respectively. The characterization of newly formed metallointercalators has been done by (1)H NMR, UV-Vis, IR, EPR spectroscopy and molar conductivity studies. X-ray powder diffraction illustrates that they are crystalline nature. Binding interaction of these complexes with calf thymus (CT-DNA) has been investigated by emission, absorption, viscosity, cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. DNA binding experiments results reveal that the synthesized complexes interact with DNA through intercalative mode. The in vitro antibacterial and antifungal assay indicate that these complexes are good antimicrobial agents against various pathogens. The DNA cleavage exhibits that they act as efficient cleaving agents. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DL-3-n-butylphthalide-Edaravone hybrids as novel dual inhibitors of amyloid-β aggregation and monoamine oxidases with high antioxidant potency for Alzheimer's therapy.

PubMed

Qiang, Xiaoming; Li, Yan; Yang, Xia; Luo, Li; Xu, Rui; Zheng, Yunxiaozhu; Cao, Zhongcheng; Tan, Zhenghuai; Deng, Yong

2017-02-15

Considering the complex etiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), multifunctional agents may be beneficial for the treatment of this disease. A series of DL-3-n-butylphthalide-Edaravone hybrids were designed, synthesized and evaluated as novel dual inhibitors of amyloid-β aggregation and monoamine oxidases. Among them, compounds 9a-d exhibited good inhibition of self-induced Aβ 1-42 aggregation with inhibition ratio 57.7-71.5%. For MAO, these new hybrids exhibited good balance of inhibition for MAO-A and MAO-B. In addition, all target compounds retained the antioxidant activity of edaravone, showed equal or better antioxidant activity than edaravone. The results of the parallel artificial membrane permeability assay for blood-brain barrier indicated that compounds 9a-d would be able to cross the blood-brain barrier and reach their biological targets in the central nervous system. The promising results in all assays demonstrated that the strategy behind the designing of compounds was rational and favourable. Taken together, these preliminary findings suggested that the compounds with the strongest bioactivity deserves further investigated for pharmacological development in AD therapy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hydrogen-impurity complexes in III V semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ulrici, W.

2004-12-01

This review summarizes the presently available knowledge concerning hydrogen-impurity complexes in III-V compounds. The impurities form shallow acceptors on group III sites (Be, Zn, Cd) and on group V sites (C, Si, Ge) as well as shallow donors on group V sites (S, Se, Te) and on group III sites (Si, Sn). These complexes are mainly revealed by their hydrogen stretching modes. Therefore, nearly all information about their structure and dynamic properties is derived from vibrational spectroscopy. The complexes of shallow impurities with hydrogen have been most extensively investigated in GaAs, GaP and InP. This holds also for Mg-H in GaN. The complexes exhibit a different microscopic structure, which is discussed in detail. The isoelectronic impurity nitrogen, complexed with one hydrogen atom, is investigated in detail in GaAs and GaP. Those complexes can exist in different charge states. The experimental results such as vibrational frequencies, the microscopic structure and the activation energy for reorientation for many of these complexes are in very good agreement with results of ab initio calculations. Different types of oxygen-hydrogen complexes in GaAs and GaP are described, with one hydrogen atom or two hydrogen atoms bonded to oxygen. Three of these complexes in GaAs were found to be electrically active.

Preparation and self-sterilizing properties of Ag@TiO2-styrene-acrylic complex coatings.

PubMed

Zhou, Xiang-dong; Chen, Feng; Yang, Jin-tao; Yan, Xiao-hui; Zhong, Ming-qiang

2013-04-01

In this study, we report a simple and cost-effective method for self-sterilized complex coatings obtained by Ag@TiO2 particle incorporation into styrene-acrylic latex. The Ag@TiO2 particles were prepared via a coupling agent modification process. The composite latices characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study were highly homogeneous at the nanometric scale, and the Ag@TiO2 particles were well dispersed and exhibited an intimate contact between both the organic and inorganic components. The Ag@TiO2 nanoparticles significantly enhanced the absorption in the visible region and engendered a good heat-insulating effect of the complex coatings. Moreover, the Ag@TiO2 nanoparticle incorporation into this polymer matrix renders self-sterilized nanocomposite materials upon light excitation, which are tested against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The complex coatings display an impressive performance in the killing of all micro-organisms with a maximum for a Ag@TiO2 loading concentration of 2-5 wt.%. The weathering endurance of the complex coating was also measured. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Polyethyleneimine-lipid conjugate-based pH-sensitive micellar carrier for gene delivery

PubMed Central

Sawant, Rupa R.; Sriraman, Shravan Kumar; Navarro, Gemma; Biswas, Swati; Dalvi, Riddhi A.; Torchilin, Vladimir P.

2012-01-01

A low molecular weight polyethyleneimine (PEI 1.8 kDa) was modified with dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (PE) to form the PEI-PE conjugate investigated as a transfection vector. The optimized PEI-PE/pDNA complexes at an N/P ratio of 16 had a particle size of 225 nm, a surface charge of +31 mV, and protected the pDNA from the action of DNase I. The PEI-PE conjugate had a critical micelle concentration (CMC) of about 34 μg/ml and exhibited no toxicity compared to a high molecular weight PEI (PEI 25 kDa) as tested with B16-F10 melanoma cells. The B16-F10 cells transfected with PEI-PE/pEGFP complexes showed protein expression levels higher than with PEI-1.8 or PEI-25 vectors. Complexes prepared with YOYO 1-labeled pEGFP confirmed the enhanced delivery of the plasmid with PEI-PE compared to PEI-1.8 and PEI-25. The PEI-PE/pDNA complexes were also mixed with various amounts of micelle-forming material, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-PE to improve biocompatibility. The resulting particles exhibited a neutral surface charge, resistance to salt-induced aggregation, and good transfection activity in the presence of serum in complete media. The use of the low-pH-degradable PEG-hydrazone-PE produced particles with transfection activity sensitive to changes in pH consistent with the relatively acidic tumor environment. PMID:22365809

Transposition Complex with Aortic Arch Obstruction: Outcomes of One-Stage Repair Over 10 Years.

PubMed

Choi, Kwang Ho; Sung, Si Chan; Kim, Hyungtae; Lee, Hyung Doo; Ban, Gil Ho; Kim, Geena; Kim, Hee Young

2016-01-01

The surgical management of transposition complex with aortic arch obstruction remains technically demanding due to anatomic complexity. Even in the recent surgical era, there are centers that address this anomaly with a staged strategy. This report presents our experiences with a one-stage repair of transposition complexes with aortic arch obstructions more than the last 10 years. Since 2003, 19 patients with a transposition of the great arteries (TGA, 2 patients) or a double outlet of the right ventricle (DORV, 17 patients) and aortic arch obstruction have undergone one-stage repair of their anomalies. The mean age was 6.7 ± 2.3 days, and the mean body weight was 3.4 ± 0.3 kg. The 2 patients with TGA exhibited coarctation of the aorta. The 17 patients with DORV all exhibited the Taussig-Bing type. The great artery relationships were anteroposterior in 4 patients (21.1%). The coronary artery anatomies were usual (1LCx; 2R) in 8 patients (42.1%). There were 2 early deaths (10.5%). Seven patients (36.8%) required percutaneous interventions. One patient required re-operation for pulmonary valvar stenosis and left pulmonary artery patch angioplasty. The overall survival was 84.2%. The freedom from mortality was 83.5% at 5 years, and the freedom from intervention was 54.4% at 5 years. The one-stage repair of transposition complexes with aortic arch obstructions resulted in an acceptable survival rate and a relatively high incidence of postoperative catheter interventions. Postoperative catheter interventions are highly effective. Transposition complexes combined with aortic arch obstructions can be managed by one-stage repair with good early and midterm results.

Antioxidant, antinociceptive, and anti-inflammatory effects of carotenoids extracted from dried pepper (Capsicum annuum L.).

PubMed

Hernández-Ortega, Marcela; Ortiz-Moreno, Alicia; Hernández-Navarro, María Dolores; Chamorro-Cevallos, Germán; Dorantes-Alvarez, Lidia; Necoechea-Mondragón, Hugo

2012-01-01

Carotenoids extracted from dried peppers were evaluated for their antioxidant, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activities. Peppers had a substantial carotenoid content: guajillo 3406 ± 4 μg/g, pasilla 2933 ± 1 μg/g, and ancho 1437 ± 6 μg/g of sample in dry weight basis. A complex mixture of carotenoids was discovered in each pepper extract. The TLC analysis revealed the presence of chlorophylls in the pigment extract from pasilla and ancho peppers. Guajillo pepper carotenoid extracts exhibited good antioxidant activity and had the best scavenging capacity for the DPPH(+) cation (24.2%). They also exhibited significant peripheral analgesic activity at 5, 20, and 80 mg/kg and induced central analgesia at 80 mg/kg. The results suggest that the carotenoids in dried guajillo peppers have significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory benefits and could be useful for pain and inflammation relief.

Antioxidant, Antinociceptive, and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Carotenoids Extracted from Dried Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

PubMed Central

Hernández-Ortega, Marcela; Ortiz-Moreno, Alicia; Hernández-Navarro, María Dolores; Chamorro-Cevallos, Germán; Dorantes-Alvarez, Lidia; Necoechea-Mondragón, Hugo

2012-01-01

Carotenoids extracted from dried peppers were evaluated for their antioxidant, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activities. Peppers had a substantial carotenoid content: guajillo 3406 ± 4 μg/g, pasilla 2933 ± 1 μg/g, and ancho 1437 ± 6 μg/g of sample in dry weight basis. A complex mixture of carotenoids was discovered in each pepper extract. The TLC analysis revealed the presence of chlorophylls in the pigment extract from pasilla and ancho peppers. Guajillo pepper carotenoid extracts exhibited good antioxidant activity and had the best scavenging capacity for the DPPH+ cation (24.2%). They also exhibited significant peripheral analgesic activity at 5, 20, and 80 mg/kg and induced central analgesia at 80 mg/kg. The results suggest that the carotenoids in dried guajillo peppers have significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory benefits and could be useful for pain and inflammation relief. PMID:23091348

Complex refractive index measurements for BaF 2 and CaF 2 via single-angle infrared reflectance spectroscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kelly-Gorham, Molly Rose K.; DeVetter, Brent M.; Brauer, Carolyn S.

We have re-investigated the optical constants n and k for the homologous series of inorganic salts barium fluoride (BaF2) and calcium fluoride (CaF2) using a single-angle near-normal incidence reflectance device in combination with a calibrated Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer. Our results are in good qualitative agreement with most previous works. However, certain features of the previously published data near the reststrahlen band exhibit distinct differences in spectral characteristics. Notably, our measurements of BaF2 do not include a spectral feature in the ~250 cm-1 reststrahlen band that was previously published. Additionally, CaF2 exhibits a distinct wavelength shift relative to themore » model derived from previously published data. We confirmed our results with recently published works that use significantly more modern instrumentation and data reduction techniques« less

MRI-guided targeting delivery of doxorubicin with reduction-responsive lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles.

PubMed

Wu, Bo; Lu, Shu-Ting; Deng, Kai; Yu, Hui; Cui, Can; Zhang, Yang; Wu, Ming; Zhuo, Ren-Xi; Xu, Hai-Bo; Huang, Shi-Wen

2017-01-01

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in developing a multifunctional nanoscale platform for cancer monitoring and chemotherapy. However, there is still a big challenge for current clinic contrast agents to improve their poor tumor selectivity and response. Herein, we report a new kind of Gd complex and folate-coated redox-sensitive lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticle (Gd-FLPNP) for tumor-targeted magnetic resonance imaging and therapy. Gd-FLPNPs can simultaneously accomplish diagnostic imaging, and specific targeting and controlled release of doxorubicin (DOX). They exhibit good monodispersity, excellent size stability, and a well-defined core-shell structure. Paramagnetic nanoparticles based on gadolinium-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid-bis-cetylamine have paramagnetic properties with an approximately two-fold enhancement in the longitudinal relaxivity compared to clinical used Magnevist. For targeted and reduction-sensitive drug delivery, Gd-FLPNPs released DOX faster and enhanced cell uptake in vitro, and exhibited better antitumor effect both in vitro and in vivo.

Study of blood flow in several benchmark micro-channels using a two-fluid approach.

PubMed

Wu, Wei-Tao; Yang, Fang; Antaki, James F; Aubry, Nadine; Massoudi, Mehrdad

2015-10-01

It is known that in a vessel whose characteristic dimension (e.g., its diameter) is in the range of 20 to 500 microns, blood behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid, exhibiting complex phenomena, such as shear-thinning, stress relaxation, and also multi-component behaviors, such as the Fahraeus effect, plasma-skimming, etc. For describing these non-Newtonian and multi-component characteristics of blood, using the framework of mixture theory, a two-fluid model is applied, where the plasma is treated as a Newtonian fluid and the red blood cells (RBCs) are treated as shear-thinning fluid. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation incorporating the constitutive model was implemented using OpenFOAM® in which benchmark problems including a sudden expansion and various driven slots and crevices were studied numerically. The numerical results exhibited good agreement with the experimental observations with respect to both the velocity field and the volume fraction distribution of RBCs.

Separation and screening of short-chain chlorinated paraffins in environmental samples using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with micro electron capture detection.

PubMed

Xia, Dan; Gao, Lirong; Zhu, Shuai; Zheng, Minghui

2014-11-01

Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) are highly complex technical mixtures with thousands of isomers and numerous homologs. They are classified as priority candidate persistent organic pollutants under the Stockholm Convention for their persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. Analyzing SCCPs is challenging because of the complexity of the mixtures. Chromatograms of SCCPs acquired using one-dimensional (1D) gas chromatography (GC) contain a large characteristic "peak" with a broad and unresolved profile. Comprehensive two-dimensional GC (GC×GC) shows excellent potential for separating complex mixtures. In this study, GC×GC coupled with micro electron capture detection (μECD) was used to separate and screen SCCPs. The chromatographic parameters, including the GC column types, oven temperature program, and modulation period, were systematically optimized. The SCCP congeners were separated into groups using a DM-1 column connected to a BPX-50 column. The SCCP congeners in technical mixtures were separated according to the number of chlorine substituents for a given carbon chain length and according to the number of carbon atoms plus chlorine atoms for different carbon chain lengths. A fish tissue sample was analyzed to illustrate the feasibility of the GC×GC-μECD method in analyzing biological samples. Over 1,500 compounds were identified in the fish extract, significantly more than were identified using 1D GC. The detection limits for five selected SCCP congeners were between 1 and 5 pg/L using the GC×GC method, and these were significantly lower than those achieved using 1D GC. This method is a good choice for analysis of SCCPs in environmental samples, exhibiting good separation and good sensitivity.

A dual-responsive colorimetric and fluorescent chemosensor based on diketopyrrolopyrrole derivative for naked-eye detection of Fe3 + and its practical application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Shanshan; Sun, Tao; Xiao, Dejun; Yuan, Fang; Li, Tianduo; Wang, Enhua; Liu, Haixia; Niu, Qingfen

2018-01-01

A novel dual-responsive colorimetric and fluorescent chemosensor L based on diketopyrrolopyrrole derivative for Fe3 + detection was designed and synthesized. In presence of Fe3 +, sensor L displayed strong colorimetric response as amaranth to rose pink and significant fluorescence enhancement and chromogenic change, which served as a naked-eye indicator by an obvious color change from purple to red. The binding constant for L-Fe3 + complex was found as 2.4 × 104 with the lower detection limit of 14.3 nM. The sensing mechanism was investigated in detail by fluorescence measurements, IR and 1H NMR spectra. Sensor L for Fe3 + detection also exhibited high anti-interference performance, good reversibility, wide pH response range and instantaneous response time. Furthermore, the sensor L has been used to quantify Fe3 + ions in practical water samples with good recovery.

Preparation, characterization, and biodistribution of letrozole loaded PLGA nanoparticles in Ehrlich Ascites tumor bearing mice.

PubMed

Mondal, Nita; Halder, Kamal Krishna; Kamila, Madan Mohan; Debnath, Mita Chatterjee; Pal, Tapan K; Ghosal, Saroj K; Sarkar, Bharat R; Ganguly, Shantanu

2010-09-15

Letrozole (LTZ) incorporated PLGA nanoparticles were prepared by solvent displacement technique and characterized by transmission electron microscopy, poly-dispersity index and zeta potential measurement. Radiolabeling of free LTZ and LTZ-loaded PLGA NPs was performed with technetium-99m with high labeling efficiency. The labeled complex showed good in vitro stability as verified by DTPA challenge test. The labeled complexes also showed significant in vivo stability when incubated in rat serum for 24 h. Biodistribution studies of (99m)Tc-labeled complexes were performed after intravenous administration in normal mice and Ehrlich Ascites tumor bearing mice. Compared to free LTZ, LTZ-loaded PLGA NPs exhibited significantly lower uptake by the organs of RES. The tumor concentration of LTZ-loaded PLGA NPs was 4.65 times higher than that of free LTZ at 4 h post-injection. This study indicates the capability of PLGA nanopartcles in enhancing the tumor uptake of letrozole. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

SPR imaging based electronic tongue via landscape images for complex mixture analysis.

PubMed

Genua, Maria; Garçon, Laurie-Amandine; Mounier, Violette; Wehry, Hillary; Buhot, Arnaud; Billon, Martial; Calemczuk, Roberto; Bonnaffé, David; Hou, Yanxia; Livache, Thierry

2014-12-01

Electronic noses/tongues (eN/eT) have emerged as promising alternatives for analysis of complex mixtures in the domain of food and beverage quality control. We have recently developed an electronic tongue by combining surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) with an array of non-specific and cross-reactive receptors prepared by simply mixing two small molecules in varying and controlled proportions and allowing the mixtures to self-assemble on the SPRi prism surface. The obtained eT generated novel and unique 2D continuous evolution profiles (CEPs) and 3D continuous evolution landscapes (CELs) based on which the differentiation of complex mixtures such as red wine, beer and milk were successful. The preliminary experiments performed for monitoring the deterioration of UHT milk demonstrated its potential for quality control applications. Furthermore, the eT exhibited good repeatability and stability, capable of operating after a minimum storage period of 5 months. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long conducting polymer nanonecklaces with a `beads-on-a-string' morphology: DNA nanotube-template synthesis and electrical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Guofang; Mao, Chengde

2016-05-01

Complex and functional nanostructures are always desired. Herein, we present the synthesis of novel long conducting polymer nanonecklaces with a `beads-on-a-string' morphology by the DNA nanotube-template approach and in situ oxidative polymerization of the 3-methylthiophene monomer with FeCl3 as the oxidant/catalyst. The length of the nanonecklaces is up to 60 μm, and the polymer beads of around 20-25 nm in diameter are closely packed along the axis of the DNA nanotube template with a density of ca. 45 particles per μm. The formation of porous DNA nanotubes impregnated with FeCl3 was also demonstrated as intermediate nanostructures. The mechanisms for the formation of both the porous DNA nanotubes and the conducting polymer nanonecklaces are discussed in detail. The as-synthesized polymer/DNA nanonecklaces exhibit good electrical properties.Complex and functional nanostructures are always desired. Herein, we present the synthesis of novel long conducting polymer nanonecklaces with a `beads-on-a-string' morphology by the DNA nanotube-template approach and in situ oxidative polymerization of the 3-methylthiophene monomer with FeCl3 as the oxidant/catalyst. The length of the nanonecklaces is up to 60 μm, and the polymer beads of around 20-25 nm in diameter are closely packed along the axis of the DNA nanotube template with a density of ca. 45 particles per μm. The formation of porous DNA nanotubes impregnated with FeCl3 was also demonstrated as intermediate nanostructures. The mechanisms for the formation of both the porous DNA nanotubes and the conducting polymer nanonecklaces are discussed in detail. The as-synthesized polymer/DNA nanonecklaces exhibit good electrical properties. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6nr01603k

Semiconducting compounds and devices incorporating same

DOEpatents

Marks, Tobin J; Facchetti, Antonio; Boudreault, Pierre-Luc; Miyauchi, Hiroyuki

2014-06-17

Disclosed are molecular and polymeric compounds having desirable properties as semiconducting materials. Such compounds can exhibit desirable electronic properties and possess processing advantages including solution-processability and/or good stability. Organic transistor and photovoltaic devices incorporating the present compounds as the active layer exhibit good device performance.

Semiconducting compounds and devices incorporating same

DOEpatents

Marks, Tobin J.; Facchetti, Antonio; Boudreault, Pierre-Luc; Miyauchi, Hiroyuki

2016-01-19

Disclosed are molecular and polymeric compounds having desirable properties as semiconducting materials. Such compounds can exhibit desirable electronic properties and possess processing advantages including solution-processability and/or good stability. Organic transistor and photovoltaic devices incorporating the present compounds as the active layer exhibit good device performance.

Linear quadratic Gaussian and feedforward controllers for the DSS-13 antenna

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gawronski, W. K.; Racho, C. S.; Mellstrom, J. A.

1994-01-01

The controller development and the tracking performance evaluation for the DSS-13 antenna are presented. A trajectory preprocessor, linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller, feedforward controller, and their combination were designed, built, analyzed, and tested. The antenna exhibits nonlinear behavior when the input to the antenna and/or the derivative of this input exceeds the imposed limits; for slewing and acquisition commands, these limits are typically violated. A trajectory preprocessor was designed to ensure that the antenna behaves linearly, just to prevent nonlinear limit cycling. The estimator model for the LQG controller was identified from the data obtained from the field test. Based on an LQG balanced representation, a reduced-order LQG controller was obtained. The feedforward controller and the combination of the LQG and feedforward controller were also investigated. The performance of the controllers was evaluated with the tracking errors (due to following a trajectory) and the disturbance errors (due to the disturbances acting on the antenna). The LQG controller has good disturbance rejection properties and satisfactory tracking errors. The feedforward controller has small tracking errors but poor disturbance rejection properties. The combined LQG and feedforward controller exhibits small tracking errors as well as good disturbance rejection properties. However, the cost for this performance is the complexity of the controller.

Shuttle structural dynamics characteristics: The analysis and verification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Modlin, C. T., Jr.; Zupp, G. A., Jr.

1985-01-01

The space shuttle introduced a new dimension in the complexity of the structural dynamics of a space vehicle. The four-body configuration exhibited structural frequencies as low as 2 hertz with a model density on the order of 10 modes per hertz. In the verification process, certain mode shapes and frequencies were identified by the users as more important than others and, as such, the test objectives were oriented toward experimentally extracting those modes and frequencies for analysis and test correlation purposes. To provide the necessary experimental data, a series of ground vibration tests (GVT's) was conducted using test articles ranging from the 1/4-scale structural replica of the space shuttle to the full-scale vehicle. The vibration test and analysis program revealed that the mode shapes and frequency correlations below 10 hertz were good. The quality of correlation of modes between 10 and 20 hertz ranged from good to fair and that of modes above 20 hertz ranged from poor to good. Since the most important modes, based on user preference, were below 10 hertz, it was judged that the shuttle structural dynamic models were adequate for flight certifications.

Nitric oxide production by visible light irradiation of aqueous solution of nitrosyl ruthenium complexes.

PubMed

Sauaia, Marília Gama; de Lima, Renata Galvão; Tedesco, Antonio Claudio; da Silva, Roberto Santana

2005-12-26

[Ru(II)L(NH(3))(4)(pz)Ru(II)(bpy)(2)(NO)](PF(6))(5) (L is NH(3), py, or 4-acpy) was prepared with good yields in a straightforward way by mixing an equimolar ratio of cis-[Ru(NO(2))(bpy)(2)(NO)](PF(6))(2), sodium azide (NaN(3)), and trans-[RuL(NH(3))(4)(pz)] (PF(6))(2) in acetone. These binuclear compounds display nu(NO) at ca. 1945 cm(-)(1), indicating that the nitrosyl group exhibits a sufficiently high degree of nitrosonium ion (NO(+)). The electronic spectrum of the [Ru(II)L(NH(3))(4)(pz)Ru(II)(bpy)(2)(NO)](5+) complex in aqueous solution displays the bands in the ultraviolet and visible regions typical of intraligand and metal-to-ligand charge transfers, respectively. Cyclic voltammograms of the binuclear complexes in acetonitrile give evidence of three one-electron redox processes consisting of one oxidation due to the Ru(2+/3+) redox couple and two reductions concerning the nitrosyl ligand. Flash photolysis of the [Ru(II)L(NH(3))(4)(pz)Ru(II)(bpy)(2)(NO)](5+) complex is capable of releasing nitric oxide (NO) upon irradiation at 355 and 532 nm. NO production was detected and quantified by an amperometric technique with a selective electrode (NOmeter). The irradiation at 532 nm leads to NO release as a consequence of a photoinduced electron transfer. All species exhibit similar photochemical behavior, a feature that makes their study extremely important for their future application in the upgrade of photodynamic therapy in living organisms.

Data decomposition method for parallel polygon rasterization considering load balancing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Chen; Chen, Zhenjie; Liu, Yongxue; Li, Feixue; Cheng, Liang; Zhu, A.-xing; Li, Manchun

2015-12-01

It is essential to adopt parallel computing technology to rapidly rasterize massive polygon data. In parallel rasterization, it is difficult to design an effective data decomposition method. Conventional methods ignore load balancing of polygon complexity in parallel rasterization and thus fail to achieve high parallel efficiency. In this paper, a novel data decomposition method based on polygon complexity (DMPC) is proposed. First, four factors that possibly affect the rasterization efficiency were investigated. Then, a metric represented by the boundary number and raster pixel number in the minimum bounding rectangle was developed to calculate the complexity of each polygon. Using this metric, polygons were rationally allocated according to the polygon complexity, and each process could achieve balanced loads of polygon complexity. To validate the efficiency of DMPC, it was used to parallelize different polygon rasterization algorithms and tested on different datasets. Experimental results showed that DMPC could effectively parallelize polygon rasterization algorithms. Furthermore, the implemented parallel algorithms with DMPC could achieve good speedup ratios of at least 15.69 and generally outperformed conventional decomposition methods in terms of parallel efficiency and load balancing. In addition, the results showed that DMPC exhibited consistently better performance for different spatial distributions of polygons.

Pd (II) complexes of bidentate chalcone ligands: Synthesis, spectral, thermal, antitumor, antioxidant, antimicrobial, DFT and SAR studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaber, Mohamed; Awad, Mohamed K.; Atlam, Faten M.

2018-05-01

The ligation behavior of two chalcone ligands namely, (E)-3-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(pyridin-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one (L1) and (E)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-(pyridin-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one (L2), towards the Pd(II) ion is determined. The structures of the complexes are elucidated by elemental analysis, spectral methods (IR, electronic and NMR spectra) as well as the conductance measurements and thermal analysis. The metal complexes exhibit a square planar geometrical arrangement. The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters for some selected decomposition steps have been calculated. The antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer activities of the chalcones and their Pd(II) complexes have been evaluated. Molecular orbital computations are performed using DFT at B3LYP level with 6-31 + G(d) and LANL2DZ basis sets to access reliable results to the experimental values. The calculations are performed to obtain the optimized molecular geometry, charge density distribution, extent of distortion from regular geometry. Thermodynamic parameters for the investigated compounds are also studied. The calculations confirm that the investigated complexes have square planner geometry, which is in a good agreement with the experimental observation.

Crystal structure, DNA binding, cleavage, antioxidant and antibacterial studies of Cu(II), Ni(II) and Co(III) complexes with 2-((furan-2-yl)methylimino)methyl)-6-ethoxyphenol Schiff base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venkateswarlu, Kadtala; Kumar, Marri Pradeep; Rambabu, Aveli; Vamsikrishna, Narendrula; Daravath, Sreenu; Rangan, Krishnan; Shivaraj

2018-05-01

Three novel binary metal complexes; 1 [Cu(L)2], 2 [Ni(L)2] and 3 [Co(L)3] where, L (2-(((furan-2-yl) methylimino)methyl)-6-ethoxyphenol, C14H15NO3), were synthesized and characterized by various spectral techniques. Based on spectral studies square planar geometry is assigned for Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes, whereas Co(III) owned octahedral geometry. Ligand, [Cu(L)2] and [Ni(L)2] are crystallized and found to be monoclinic crystal systems. CT-DNA absorption binding studies revealed that the complexes show good binding propensity (Kb = 5.02 × 103 M-1, 2.77 × 103 M-1, 1.63 × 104 M-1 for 1, 2 and 3 respectively). The role of these complexes in the oxidative and photolytic cleavage of supercoiled pBR322 DNA was studied and found that the complexes cleave the pBR322 DNA effectively. The catalytic ability of 1, 2 and 3 follows the order: 3 > 1 >2. Antioxidant studies of the new complexes revealed that they exhibit significant antioxidant activity against DPPH radical. The Schiff base and its metal complexes have been screened for antibacterial studies by Minimum Inhibitory Concentration method. It is observed that all metal complexes showed more activity than free ligand.

Novel ion imprinted magnetic mesoporous silica for selective magnetic solid phase extraction of trace Cd followed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Bingshan; He, Man; Chen, Beibei; Hu, Bin

2015-05-01

Determination of trace Cd in environmental, biological and food samples is of great significance to toxicological research and environmental pollution monitoring. While the direct determination of Cd in real-world samples is difficult due to its low concentration and the complex matrix. Herein, a novel Cd(II)-ion imprinted magnetic mesoporous silica (Cd(II)-II-MMS) was prepared and was employed as a selective magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) material for extraction of trace Cd in real-world samples followed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) detection. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limit of the proposed method was 6.1 ng L- 1 for Cd with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of 4.0% (c = 50 ng L- 1, n = 7), and the enrichment factor was 50-fold. To validate the proposed method, Certified Reference Materials of GSBZ 50009-88 environmental water, ZK018-1 lyophilized human urine and NIES10-b rice flour were analyzed and the determined values were in a good agreement with the certified values. The proposed method exhibited a robust anti-interference ability due to the good selectivity of Cd(II)-II-MMS toward Cd(II). It was successfully employed for the determination of trace Cd(II) in environmental water, human urine and rice samples with recoveries of 89.3-116%, demonstrating that the proposed method has good application potential in real world samples with complex matrix.

Gallium-based anti-infectives: targeting microbial iron-uptake mechanisms.

PubMed

Kelson, Andrew B; Carnevali, Maia; Truong-Le, Vu

2013-10-01

Microbes have evolved elaborate iron-acquisition systems to sequester iron from the host environment using siderophores and heme uptake systems. Gallium(III) is structurally similar to iron(III), except that it cannot be reduced under physiological conditions, therefore gallium has the potential to serve as an iron analog, and thus an anti-microbial. Because Ga(III) can bind to virtually any complex that binds Fe(III), simple gallium salts as well as more complex siderophores and hemes are potential carriers to deliver Ga(III) to the microbes. These gallium complexes represent a new class of anti-infectives that is different in mechanism of action from conventional antibiotics. Simple gallium salts such as gallium nitrate, maltolate, and simple gallium siderophore complexes such as gallium citrate have shown good antibacterial activities. The most studied complex has been gallium citrate, which exhibits broad activity against many Gram negative bacteria at ∼1-5μg/ml MICs, strong biofilm activity, low drug resistance, and efficacy in vivo. Using the structural features of specific siderophore and heme made by pathogenic bacteria and fungi, researchers have begun to evaluate new gallium complexes to target key pathogens. This review will summarize potential iron-acquisition system targets and recent research on gallium-based anti-infectives. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Synthesis, photophysical properties, and computational studies of four-coordinate copper(I) complexes based on benzimidazolylidene N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands bearing aryl substituents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Shengxian; Wang, Jinglan; Liu, Shaobo; Zhao, Feng; Xia, Hongying; Wang, Yibo

2018-02-01

Three four-coordinate N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) copper(I) complexes, [Cu(Ph-BenIm-Py)(POP)]PF6 (1), [Cu(Naph-BenIm-Py)(POP)]PF6 (2), and [Cu(Anthr-BenIm-Py)(POP)]PF6 (3) (Ph-BenIm-Py = 3-benzyl-1-(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-benzimidazolylidene, Naph-BenIm-Py = 3-(naphthalen-2-yl-1-(pyridin-2-yl)-1H- benzimidazolylidene, Anthr-BenIm-Py = 3-(anthracen-9-yl)-1-(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-benzimidazolylidene, and POP = bis[2-diphenylphosphino]-phenyl)ether) have been synthesized and characterized. The different aryl substituents (phenyl, naphthyl, and anthracyl groups) were introduced into NHC ligands and the corresponding photophysical properties of the complexes were systematically investigated. The absorption spectra of all NHCsbnd Cu(I) complexes show a characteristic feature of metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) in the lower-energy region. Complex 1 exhibited good photoluminescence (PL) properties companying with the high quantum yields and long excited-state lifetimes, whereas 2 and 3 with naphthyl and anthracyl groups show the low PL efficiency caused by the strong π-π stacking interactions. Density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations were employed to rationalize the photophysical properties of the NHCsbnd Cu(I) complexes.

Structural, electronic, and optical properties of representative Cu-flavonoid complexes.

PubMed

Lekka, Ch E; Ren, Jun; Meng, Sheng; Kaxiras, Efthimios

2009-05-07

We present density functional theory (DFT) results on the structural, electronic, and optical properties of Cu-flavonoid complexes for molar ratios 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3. We find that the preferred chelating site is close to the 4-oxo group and in particular the 3-4 site followed by the 3'-4' dihydroxy group in ring B. For the Cu-quercetin complexes, the large bathochromic shift of the first absorbance band upon complexation, which is in good agreement with experimental UV-vis spectra, results from the reduction of the electronic energy gap. The HOMO states for these complexes are characterized by pi-bonding between the Cu d orbitals and the C, O p orbitals except for the case of 1:1 complex (spin minority), which corresponds to sigma-type bonds. The LUMO states are attributed to the contribution of Cu p(z) orbitals. Consequently, the main features of the first optical absorption maxima are essentially due to pi --> pi transitions, while the 1:1 complex exhibits also sigma --> pi transitions. Our optical absorption calculations based on time-dependent DFT demonstrate that the 1:1 complex is responsible for the spectroscopic features at pH 5.5, whereas the 1:2 complex is mainly the one responsible for the characteristic spectra at pH 7.4. These theoretical predictions explain in detail the behavior of the optical absorption for the Cu-flavonoid complexes observed in experiments and are thus useful in elucidating the complexation mechanism and antioxidant activity of flavonoids.

Novel semisynthetic antibiotics from caprazamycins A-G: caprazene derivatives and their antibacterial activity.

PubMed

Takahashi, Yoshiaki; Igarashi, Masayuki; Miyake, Toshiaki; Soutome, Hiromi; Ishikawa, Kanae; Komatsuki, Yasuhiro; Koyama, Yoshiko; Nakagawa, Naoko; Hattori, Seiko; Inoue, Kunio; Doi, Norio; Akamatsu, Yuzuru

2013-03-01

Acidic treatment of a mixture of caprazamycins (CPZs) A-G isolated from a screen of novel antimycobacterial agents gave caprazene, a core structure of CPZs, in high yield. Chemical modification of the resulting caprazene was performed to give its various derivatives. The structure-activity relationships of the caprazene derivatives against several mycobacterial species and pathogenic Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were studied. Although caprazene showed no antibacterial activity, the antibacterial activity was restored for its 1'''-alkylamide, 1'''-anilide and 1'''-ester derivatives. Compounds 4b (CPZEN-45), 4d (CPZEN-48), 4f and 4g (CPZEN-51) exhibited more potent activities against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. avium complex strains than CPZ-B. These results suggest that caprazene would be a good precursor from which novel semisynthetic antibacterial antibiotics can be designed for the treatment of mycobacterial diseases such as tuberculosis and M. avium complex infection.

Complex Dynamics of Wetland Ecosystem with Nonlinear Harvesting: Application to Chilika Lake in Odisha, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Upadhyay, Ranjit Kumar; Tiwari, S. K.; Roy, Parimita

2015-06-01

In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the spatial and temporal dynamical interactions among the species of wetland ecosystem through a mathematical model. The model represents the population dynamics of phytoplankton, zooplankton and fish species found in Chilika lake, Odisha, India. Nonlinear stability analysis of both the temporal and spatial models has been carried out. Maximum sustainable yield and optimal harvesting policy have been studied for a nonspatial model system. Numerical simulation has been performed to figure out the parameters responsible for the complex dynamics of the wetland system. Significant outcomes of our numerical findings and their interpretations from an ecological point of view are provided in this paper. Numerical simulation of spatial model exhibits some interesting and beautiful patterns. We have also pointed out the parameters that are responsible for the good health of wetland ecosystem.

Crystallization process of a three-dimensional complex plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinmüller, Benjamin; Dietz, Christopher; Kretschmer, Michael; Thoma, Markus H.

2018-05-01

Characteristic timescales and length scales for phase transitions of real materials are in ranges where a direct visualization is unfeasible. Therefore, model systems can be useful. Here, the crystallization process of a three-dimensional complex plasma under gravity conditions is considered where the system ranges up to a large extent into the bulk plasma. Time-resolved measurements exhibit the process down to a single-particle level. Primary clusters, consisting of particles in the solid state, grow vertically and, secondarily, horizontally. The box-counting method shows a fractal dimension of df≈2.72 for the clusters. This value gives a hint that the formation process is a combination of local epitaxial and diffusion-limited growth. The particle density and the interparticle distance to the nearest neighbor remain constant within the clusters during crystallization. All results are in good agreement with former observations of a single-particle layer.

DNA Cleavage, Cytotoxic Activities, and Antimicrobial Studies of Ternary Copper(II) Complexes of Isoxazole Schiff Base and Heterocyclic Compounds

PubMed Central

Chityala, Vijay Kumar; Sathish Kumar, K.; Macha, Ramesh; Tigulla, Parthasarathy; Shivaraj

2014-01-01

Novel mixed ligand bivalent copper complexes [Cu. L. A. ClO 4] and [Cu. L. A] where “L” is Schiff bases, namely 2-((3,4-dimethylisoxazol-5-ylimino)methyl)-4-bromophenol (DMIIMBP)/2-((3,4-dimethylisoxazol-5-ylimino)methyl)-4-chlorophenol (DMIIMCP), and “A” is heterocyclic compound, such as 1,10-phenanthroline (phen)/2,21-bipyridyl (bipy)/8-hydroxyquinoline (oxine)/5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinoline (5-Cl-oxine), have been synthesized. These complexes have been characterized by IR, UV-Vis, ESR, elemental analysis, magnetic moments, TG, and DTA. On the basis of spectral studies and analytical data, five-coordinated square pyramidal/four-coordinated square planar geometry is assigned to all complexes. The ligands and their ternary complexes with Cu(II) have been screened for antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi by paper disc method. The antimicrobial studies of Schiff bases and their metal complexes showed significant activity and further it is observed that the metal complexes showed more activity than corresponding Schiff bases. In vitro antitumor activity of Cu(II) complexes was assayed against human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cancer cells and it was observed that few complexes exhibit good antitumor activity on HeLa cell lines. The DNA cleavage studies have also been carried out on pBR 322 and it is observed that these Cu(II) complexes are capable of cleaving supercoiled plasmid DNA in the presence of H2O2 and UV light. PMID:24895493

Real-Time Tracking the Synthesis and Degradation of Albumin in Complex Biological Systems with a near-Infrared Fluorescent Probe.

PubMed

Jin, Qiang; Feng, Lei; Zhang, Shui-Jun; Wang, Dan-Dan; Wang, Fang-Jun; Zhang, Yi; Cui, Jing-Nan; Guo, Wen-Zhi; Ge, Guang-Bo; Yang, Ling

2017-09-19

In this study, a novel fluorescent detection system for biological sensing of human albumin (HA) was developed on the basis of the pseudoesterase activity and substrate preference of HA. The designed near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe (DDAP) could be effectively hydrolyzed by HA, accompanied by significant changes in both color and fluorescence spectrum. The sensing mechanism was fully investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy, NMR, and mass spectra. DDAP exhibited excellent selectivity and sensitivity toward HA over a variety of human plasma proteins, hydrolases, and abundant biomolecules found in human body. The probe has been successfully applied to measure native HA in diluted plasma samples and the secreted HA in the hepatocyte culture supernatant. DDAP has also been used for fluorescence imaging of HA reabsorption in living renal cells, and the results show that the probe exhibits good cell permeability, low cytotoxicity and high imaging resolution. Furthermore, DDAP has been successfully used for real-time tracking the uptaking and degradation of albumin in ex vivo mouse kidney models for the first time. All these results clearly demonstrated that DDAP-based assay held great promise for real-time sensing and tracking HA in complex biological systems, which would be very useful for basic researches and clinical diagnosis of HA-associated diseases.

Rice husks as a sustainable silica source for hierarchical flower-like metal silicate architectures assembled into ultrathin nanosheets for adsorption and catalysis.

PubMed

Zhang, Shouwei; Gao, Huihui; Li, Jiaxing; Huang, Yongshun; Alsaedi, Ahmed; Hayat, Tasawar; Xu, Xijin; Wang, Xiangke

2017-01-05

Metal silicates have attracted extensive interests due to their unique structure and promising properties in adsorption and catalysis. However, their applications were hampered by the complex and expensive synthesis. In this paper, three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical flower-like metal silicate, including magnesium silicate, zinc silicate, nickel silicate and cobalt silicate, were for the first time prepared by using rice husks as a sustainable silicon source. The flower-like morphology, interconnected ultrathin nanosheets structure and high specific surface area endowed them with versatile applications. Magnesium silicate was used as an adsorbent with the maximum adsorption capacities of 557.9, 381.3, and 482.8mg/g for Pb 2+ , tetracycline (TC), and UO 2 2+ , respectively. Ni nanoparticles/silica (Ni NPs/SiO 2 ) exhibited high catalytic activity and good stability for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction within only ∼160s, which can be attributed to the ultra-small particle size (∼6.8nm), good dispersion and high loading capacity of Ni NPs. Considering the abundance and renewability of rice husks, metal silicate with complex architecture can be easily produced at a large scale and become a sustainable and reliable resource for multifunctional applications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Curcumin-Zn(II) complex for enhanced solubility and stability: an approach for improved delivery and pharmacodynamic effects.

PubMed

Sareen, Rashmi; Jain, Nitin; Dhar, K L

2016-08-01

The aim of present investigation was to prepare Curcumin-Zn(II) complex in a view to enhance solubility, stability and pharmacodynamic effect in experimentally induced ulcerative colitis. Curcumin-Zn(II) complex was prepared by stirring curcumin with anhydrous zinc chloride at a molar ratio of 1:1. The prepared curcumin metallocomplex was characterized by TLC, FTIR, UV spectroscopy and (1)H NMR. In vitro kinetic degradation and solubility of Curcumin and Curcumin-Zn(II) complex was analyzed spectrophotometrically. Pharmacodynamic evaluation of curcumin and its metal complex was assessed in ulcerative colitis in mice. Curcumin showed chelation with zinc ion as confirmed by the TLC, FTIR, UV spectroscopy and (1)H NMR. The results of TLC [Rf value], IR Spectroscopy [shifting of stretching vibrations of υ(C=C) and υ(C=O)], UV spectra [deconvoluted with absorption band at 432-466.4 nm] of Curcumin-Zn(II) complex compared to curcumin confirmed the formation of metallocomplex. (1)HNMR spectra of Curcumin-Zn(II) showed the upfield shift of Ha and Hb. Kinetic stability studies showed metallocomplex with zinc exhibited good stability. In vivo study revealed significant reduction in severity and extent of colonic damage with Curcumin-Zn(II) which were further confirmed by histopathological study. This study recognizes higher solubility and stability of Curcumin-Zn(II) complex and suggested better pharmacodynamic effects.

Biological potential of oxo-vanadium salicylediene amino-acid complexes as cytotoxic, antimicrobial, antioxidant and DNA interaction.

PubMed

Adam, Mohamed Shaker S; Elsawy, Hany

2018-05-04

New series of oxo-vanadium N-salicyledieneamino acid Schiff base complexes are synthesized and characterized. They are synthesized from the reaction of sodium salicylaldehyde-5-sulfonate, some amino acids, alanine (VOHL1), leucine (VOHL2) or glycine (VOHL3) in an aqueous media, and leucine (VOHLpy1) or tryptophan (VOHLpy2) in pyridine with vanadyl acetylacetonate. The complexes are characterized by EA, TGA, IR, UV-Visible and mass spectra, conductivity and magnetic measurements. The biological activity of the VO-complexes shows that VOHL1, VOHL2 and VOHL3 exhibit anti-proliferative effect and may be used as anticancer drugs. VO-complexes manifest high toxicity, except VOHL2 is less toxic, and could be applied for the human being. VOHL1, VOHL2 and VOHL3 display remarkable SOD like potential and act as high inhibiting reagents. VOHLpy1 and VOHLpy2 show low inhibiting potentials. VO-complexes have good anti-oxidant effect, in which VOHL3 affords the best antioxidant activity. The interaction between VO-complexes and DNA is studied spectrophotometrically and by gel electrophoresis. Binding constants and spectrophotometric parameters indicate a strong interaction between VO-complexes and DNA. VO-complexes have respectable anti-bacterial and antifungal activities, where VOHL3 shows the maximum potential. DFT calculations of VOHL1 and VOHL3 were discussed in the light of their biological activity, which are convenient with the obtained results. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Synthesis, spectroscopic, photoluminescence properties and biological evaluation of novel Zn(II) and Al(III) complexes of NOON tetradentate Schiff bases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdel Aziz, Ayman A.; Badr, Ibrahim H. A.; El-Sayed, Ibrahim S. A.

2012-11-01

Novel mononuclear Zn(II) and Al(III) complexes were synthesized from the reactions of Zn(OAc)2·2H2O and anhydrous AlCl3 with neutral N2O2 donor tetradentate Schiff bases; N,N'bis(salicylaldehyde)4,5-dimethyl-1,2-phenylenediamine (H2L1) and N,N'bis(salicylaldehyde)4,5-dichloro-1,2-phenylenediamine (H2L2). The new complexes were fully characterized by using micro analyses (CHN), FT-IR, 1H NMR, UV-Vis spectra and thermal analysis. The analytical data have been showed that, the stoichiometry of the complexes is 1:1. Spectroscopic data suggested tetrahedral and square pyramidal geometries for Zn(II) and Al(III) complexes, respectively. The synthesized Zn(II), and Al(III) complexes exhibited intense fluorescence emission in the visible region upon UV-excitation in methylene chloride solution at ambient temperature. This high fluorescence emission was assigned to the strong coordination of the ligands to the small and the highly charged Zn(II) and Al(III) ions. Such strong coordination seems to extend the π-conjugation of the complexes. Thermal analysis measurements indicated that the complexes have good thermal stability. As a potential application the biological activity (e.g., antimicrobial action) of the prepared ligands and complexes was assessed by in-vitro testing of their effect on the growth of various strains of bacteria and fungi.

Synthesis, spectroscopic, photoluminescence properties and biological evaluation of novel Zn(II) and Al(III) complexes of NOON tetradentate Schiff bases.

PubMed

Abdel Aziz, Ayman A; Badr, Ibrahim H A; El-Sayed, Ibrahim S A

2012-11-01

Novel mononuclear Zn(II) and Al(III) complexes were synthesized from the reactions of Zn(OAc)(2).2H(2)O and anhydrous AlCl(3) with neutral N2O2 donor tetradentate Schiff bases; N,N'bis(salicylaldehyde)4,5-dimethyl-1,2-phenylenediamine (H(2)L(1)) and N,N'bis(salicylaldehyde)4,5-dichloro-1,2-phenylenediamine (H(2)L(2)). The new complexes were fully characterized by using micro analyses (CHN), FT-IR, (1)H NMR, UV-Vis spectra and thermal analysis. The analytical data have been showed that, the stoichiometry of the complexes is 1:1. Spectroscopic data suggested tetrahedral and square pyramidal geometries for Zn(II) and Al(III) complexes, respectively. The synthesized Zn(II), and Al(III) complexes exhibited intense fluorescence emission in the visible region upon UV-excitation in methylene chloride solution at ambient temperature. This high fluorescence emission was assigned to the strong coordination of the ligands to the small and the highly charged Zn(II) and Al(III) ions. Such strong coordination seems to extend the π-conjugation of the complexes. Thermal analysis measurements indicated that the complexes have good thermal stability. As a potential application the biological activity (e.g., antimicrobial action) of the prepared ligands and complexes was assessed by in-vitro testing of their effect on the growth of various strains of bacteria and fungi. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Synthesis of iron oxides nanoparticles with very high saturation magnetization form TEA-Fe(III) complex via electrochemical deposition for supercapacitor applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elrouby, Mahmoud; Abdel-Mawgoud, A. M.; El-Rahman, Rehab Abd

2017-11-01

This work is devoted to the synthesis of magnetic iron oxides nanoparticles with very high saturation magnetization to be qualified for supercapacitor applications using, a simple electrodeposition technique. It is found that the electrochemical reduction process depends on concentration, temperature, deposition potential and the scan rate of potential. The nature of electrodeposition process has been characterized via voltammetric and chronoamperometric techniques. The morphology of the electrodeposits has been investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The structure and phase content of these investigated electrodeposits have been examined and calculated. The obtained iron oxides show a high saturation magnetization (Ms) of about 229 emu g-1. The data exhibited a relation between Ms of electrodeposited iron oxide and specific capacitance. This relation exhibits that the highest Ms value of electrodeposited iron oxides gives also highest specific capacitance of about 725 Fg-1. Moreover, the electrodeposited iron oxides exhibit a very good stability. The new characteristics of the electro synthesized iron oxides at our optimized conditions, strongly qualify them as a valuable material for high-performance supercapacitor applications.

Interfacial synthesis of polyethyleneimine-protected copper nanoclusters: Size-dependent tunable photoluminescence, pH sensor and bioimaging.

PubMed

Wang, Chan; Yao, Yagang; Song, Qijun

2016-04-01

The copper nanoclusters (CuNCs) offer excellent potential as functional biological probes due to their unique photoluminescence (PL) properties. Herein, CuNCs capped with hyperbranched polyethylenimine (PEI) were prepared by the interfacial etching approach. The resultant PEI-CuNCs exhibited good dispersion and strong fluorescence with high quantum yields (QYs, up to 7.5%), which would be endowed for bioimaging system. By changing the reaction temperatures from 25 to 150 °C, the size of PEI-CuNCs changed from 1.8 to 3.5 nm, and thus tunable PL were achieved, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imagings and PL spectra. Besides, PEI-CuNCs had smart absorption characteristics that the color changes from colorless to blue with changing the pH value from 2.0 to 13.2, and thus they could be used as color indicator for pH detection. In addition, the PEI-CuNCs exhibited good biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity to 293T cells through MTT assay. Owing to the positively charged of PEI-CuNCs surface, they had the ability to capture DNA, and the PEI-CuNCs/DNA complexes could get access to cells for efficient gene expression. Armed with these attractive properties, the synthesized PEI-CuNCs are quite promising in biological applications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Highly active anticancer curcumin analogues.

PubMed

Mosley, Cara A; Liotta, Dennis C; Snyder, James P

2007-01-01

Curcumin, a compound in the human food supply, represents a near-perfect starting point for drug discovery. Consequently, a number of research groups have taken the natural product as a starting point to prepare and biologically evaluate a wide variety of curcumin analogues. One widely used structural modification truncates the central conjugated beta-diketone in curcumin to the monocarbonyl dienone. A diverse array of the latter compounds exhibit cytotoxicities against an equally diverse set of cancer-related cell lines. Importantly, these compounds still retain toxicity profiles in rodents comparable to the parent natural product, whereas some analogues (e.g., EF-24, 41) exhibit good oral bioavailability and good pharmacokinetics in mice. Thiol conjugates of EF-24 analogues have been prepared that address stability and solubility issues while demonstrating cellular activities similar to the unmodified dienones. In parallel experiments, the factor VIIa-tissue factor complex (fVIIa-TF) has been exploited to develop a targeting strategy for the analogues. In particular, the EF24-FFRck-fVIIa protein conjugate is not only somewhat more effective relative to the drug alone against breast cancer and melanocyte cells. Both simple curcumin analogues and the protein conjugate evidence antiangiogenic activity in cell culture. The implication is that the fVIIa-TF targeting process, like the dienone drugs, permits a double-pronged attack with the potential to destroy a tumor directly by apoptosis.

Efficient interrupting skills of amino acid metallointercalators with DNA at physiological pH: Evaluation of biological assays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raman, Natarajan; Selvaganapathy, Muthusamy; Radhakrishnan, Srinivasan

2014-06-01

The 4-aminoantipyrine derivatives (sbnd NO2, sbnd OCH3) and their mixed-ligand complexes with amino acids have been synthesized and investigated for their binding with CT DNA using UV-visible spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and viscosity measurements under physiological conditions of pH (stomach 4.7; blood 7.4). The results from all techniques i.e. binding constant (Kb), and free energy change (ΔG) were in good agreement and inferred spontaneous compound-DNA complexes formation via intercalation. Among all the compounds 1 and 4 showed comparatively greater binding at pH 7.4 as evident from its greater Kb values. All the complexes exhibit oxidative cleavage of supercoiled (SC) pBR322 plasmid DNA in the presence of H2O2 as an activator. It is remarkable that at 25 μM concentration 1 and 4 completely degrade SC DNA into undetectable minor fragments and thus they act as efficient chemical nucleases. Among the new complexes, complexes 1 and 4 have highest potential against all the microorganisms tested. The results of the above biological experiments also reveal that the choice of different metal ions has little influence on the DNA binding, DNA cleavage and antimicrobial assay.

Indigo Carmine-Cu complex probe exhibiting dual colorimetric/fluorimetric sensing for selective determination of mono hydrogen phosphate ion and its logic behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tavallali, Hossein; Deilamy-Rad, Gohar; Moaddeli, Ali; Asghari, Khadijeh

2017-08-01

A new selective probe based on copper complex of Indigo Carmine (IC-Cu2) for colorimetric, naked-eye, and fluorimetric recognition of mono hydrogen phosphate (MHP) ion in H2O/DMSO (4:1 v/v, 1.0 mmol L- 1 HEPES buffer solution pH 7.5) was developed. Detection limit of HPO42 - determination, achieved by fluorimetric and 3lorimetric method, are 0.071 and 1.46 μmol L- 1, respectively. Potential, therefore is clearly available in IC-Cu2 complex to detect HPO42 - in micromolar range via dual visible color change and fluorescence response. Present method shows high selectivity toward HPO42 - over other phosphate species and other anions and was successfully utilized for analysis of P2O5 content of a fertilizer sample. The results obtained by proposed chemosensor presented good agreement with those obtained the colorimetric reference method. INHIBIT and IMPLICATION logic gates operating at molecular level have been achieved using Cu2 + and HPO42 - as chemical inputs and UV-Vis absorbance signal as output.

Are Interactional Behaviors Exhibited When the Self-Reported Health Question is Asked Associated with Health Status?*

PubMed Central

Garbarski, Dana; Schaeffer, Nora Cate; Dykema, Jennifer

2011-01-01

The self-reported health question summarizes information about health status across several domains of health and is widely used to measure health because it predicts mortality well. We examine whether interactional behaviors produced by respondents and interviewers during the self-reported health question-answer sequence reflect complexities in the respondent’s health history. We observed more problematic interactional behaviors during question-answer sequences in which respondents reported worse health. Furthermore, these behaviors were more likely to occur when there were inconsistencies in the respondent’s health history, even after controlling for the respondent’s answer to the self-reported health question, cognitive ability, and sociodemographic characteristics. We also found that among respondents who reported “excellent” health, and to a lesser extent among those who reported their health was “very good,” problematic interactional behaviors were associated with health inconsistencies. Overall, we find evidence that the interactional behaviors exhibited during the question-answer sequence are associated with respondents’ health status. PMID:21927518

Study of blood flow in several benchmark micro-channels using a two-fluid approach

PubMed Central

Wu, Wei-Tao; Yang, Fang; Antaki, James F.; Aubry, Nadine; Massoudi, Mehrdad

2015-01-01

It is known that in a vessel whose characteristic dimension (e.g., its diameter) is in the range of 20 to 500 microns, blood behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid, exhibiting complex phenomena, such as shear-thinning, stress relaxation, and also multi-component behaviors, such as the Fahraeus effect, plasma-skimming, etc. For describing these non-Newtonian and multi-component characteristics of blood, using the framework of mixture theory, a two-fluid model is applied, where the plasma is treated as a Newtonian fluid and the red blood cells (RBCs) are treated as shear-thinning fluid. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation incorporating the constitutive model was implemented using OpenFOAM® in which benchmark problems including a sudden expansion and various driven slots and crevices were studied numerically. The numerical results exhibited good agreement with the experimental observations with respect to both the velocity field and the volume fraction distribution of RBCs. PMID:26240438

Efficient adsorption of Au(CN)2- from gold cyanidation with graphene oxide-polyethylenimine hydrogel as adsorbent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Lang; Jia, Feifei; Yang, Bingqiao; Song, Shaoxian

The adsorption of gold cyanide complex ion (Au(CN)2-) on graphene oxide-polyethylenimine hydrogel (GO/PEI hydrogel) from gold cyanidation has been studied to explore the possibility of the application of GO/PEI hydrogel in gold cyanidation process for extracting gold from ores. The adsorption was carried out in artificial Au(CN)2- aqueous solution with GO/PEI hydrogel as adsorbent. The experimental results, as well as IR, XPS and SEM-EDS, have shown that GO/PEI hydrogel exhibited a high adsorption capacity and a fast adsorption rate of Au(CN)2-, suggesting that GO/PEI hydrogel might be a good adsorbent for the recovery of Au(CN)2-. The adsorption of Au(CN)2- on GO/PEI hydrogel obeyed the Langmuir isotherm model and fitted well with the pseudo second order model. The good recovery of Au(CN)2- was largely related to the porous structure, large specific surface area, as well as the oxygenous functional groups on the surface of GO/PEI hydrogel.

A comparison of three developmental stage scoring systems.

PubMed

Dawson, Theo Linda

2002-01-01

In social psychological research the stage metaphor has fallen into disfavor due to concerns about bias, reliability, and validity. To address some of these issues, I employ a multidimensional partial credit analysis comparing moral judgment interviews scored with the Standard Issue Scoring System (SISS) (Colby and Kohlberg, 1987b), evaluative reasoning interviews scored with the Good Life Scoring System (GLSS) (Armon, 1984b), and Good Education interviews scored with the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System (HCSS) (Commons, Danaher, Miller, and Dawson, 2000). A total of 209 participants between the ages of 5 and 86 were interviewed. The multidimensional model reveals that even though the scoring systems rely upon different criteria and the data were collected using different methods and scored by different teams of raters, the SISS, GLSS, and HCSS all appear to measure the same latent variable. The HCSS exhibits more internal consistency than the SISS and GLSS, and solves some methodological problems introduced by the content dependency of the SISS and GLSS. These results and their implications are elaborated.

A dual-responsive colorimetric and fluorescent chemosensor based on diketopyrrolopyrrole derivative for naked-eye detection of Fe3+ and its practical application.

PubMed

Zhang, Shanshan; Sun, Tao; Xiao, Dejun; Yuan, Fang; Li, Tianduo; Wang, Enhua; Liu, Haixia; Niu, Qingfen

2018-01-15

A novel dual-responsive colorimetric and fluorescent chemosensor L based on diketopyrrolopyrrole derivative for Fe 3+ detection was designed and synthesized. In presence of Fe 3+ , sensor L displayed strong colorimetric response as amaranth to rose pink and significant fluorescence enhancement and chromogenic change, which served as a naked-eye indicator by an obvious color change from purple to red. The binding constant for L-Fe 3+ complex was found as 2.4×10 4 with the lower detection limit of 14.3nM. The sensing mechanism was investigated in detail by fluorescence measurements, IR and 1 H NMR spectra. Sensor L for Fe 3+ detection also exhibited high anti-interference performance, good reversibility, wide pH response range and instantaneous response time. Furthermore, the sensor L has been used to quantify Fe 3+ ions in practical water samples with good recovery. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Purification of metal finishing waste waters with zeolites and activated carbons.

PubMed

Leinonen, H; Lehto, J

2001-02-01

Sixteen zeolites and 5 activated carbons were tested for the removal of nickel, zinc, cadmium, copper, chromium, and cobalt from waste simulants mimicking effluents produced in metal plating plants. The best performances were obtained from 4 zeolites: A, X, L, and ferrierite types and from 2 carbon types made from lignite and peat. The distribution coefficients for these sorbents were in the range of 10,000-440,000 ml/g. Column experiments showed that the most effective zeolites for Zn, Ni, Cu, and Cd were A and X type zeolites. The activated carbons, Hydrodarco 3000 and Norit Row Supra, exhibited good sorption properties for metals in aqueous solutions containing complexing agents.

Heavily loaded ferrite-polymer composites to produce high refractive index materials at centimetre wavelengths

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parke, L.; Hooper, I. R.; Hicken, R. J.; Dancer, C. E. J.; Grant, P. S.; Youngs, I. J.; Sambles, J. R.; Hibbins, A. P.

2013-10-01

A cold-pressing technique has been developed for fabricating composites composed of a polytetrafluoroethylene-polymer matrix and a wide range of volume-fractions of MnZn-ferrite filler (0%-80%). The electromagnetic properties at centimetre wavelengths of all prepared composites exhibited good reproducibility, with the most heavily loaded composites possessing simultaneously high permittivity (180 ± 10) and permeability (23 ± 2). The natural logarithm of both the relative complex permittivity and permeability shows an approximately linear dependence with the volume fraction of ferrite. Thus, this simple method allows for the manufacture of bespoke materials required in the design and construction of devices based on the principles of transformation optics.

Spectro Analytical, Computational and In Vitro Biological Studies of Novel Substituted Quinolone Hydrazone and it's Metal Complexes.

PubMed

Nagula, Narsimha; Kunche, Sudeepa; Jaheer, Mohmed; Mudavath, Ravi; Sivan, Sreekanth; Ch, Sarala Devi

2018-01-01

Some novel transition metal [Cu (II), Ni (II) and Co (II)] complexes of nalidixic acid hydrazone have been prepared and characterized by employing spectro-analytical techniques viz: elemental analysis, 1 H-NMR, Mass, UV-Vis, IR, TGA-DTA, SEM-EDX, ESR and Spectrophotometry studies. The HyperChem 7.5 software was used for geometry optimization of title compound in its molecular and ionic forms. Quantum mechanical parameters, contour maps of highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) and corresponding binding energy values were computed using semi empirical single point PM3 method. The stoichiometric equilibrium studies of metal complexes carried out spectrophotometrically using Job's continuous variation and mole ratio methods inferred formation of 1:2 (ML 2 ) metal complexes in respective systems. The title compound and its metal complexes screened for antibacterial and antifungal properties, exemplified improved activity in metal complexes. The studies of nuclease activity for the cleavage of CT- DNA and MTT assay for in vitro cytotoxic properties involving metal complexes exhibited high activity. In addition, the DNA binding properties of Cu (II), Ni (II) and Co (II) complexes investigated by electronic absorption and fluorescence measurements revealed their good binding ability and commended agreement of K b values obtained from both the techniques. Molecular docking studies were also performed to find the binding affinity of synthesized compounds with DNA (PDB ID: 1N37) and "Thymidine phosphorylase from E.coli" (PDB ID: 4EAF) protein targets.

Carbohydrate-based heteronuclear complexes as topoisomerase Iα inhibitor: approach toward anticancer chemotherapeutics.

PubMed

Afzal, Mohd; Al-Lohedan, Hamad A; Usman, Mohammad; Tabassum, Sartaj

2018-04-18

Due to the critical role of cellular enzymes necessary for cell proliferation by deciphering topological hurdles in the process of DNA replication, topoisomerases have been one of the major targets in the anticancer drug development area. A need, therefore, arises for new metallodrugs that specifically recognizes DNA and inhibits the activity of topoisomerase enzymes, herein, we report the synthesis and characterization of new metal-based glycoconjugate entities containing heterobimetallic core Cu II -Sn IV (1) and Ni II -Sn IV (2) derived from N-glycoside ligand (L). The optimized structure of complex 1 and other significant vibrational modes have been explained using dispersion corrected B3LYP/DFT calculations. In vitro DNA binding profile of the L and both the complexes 1 and 2 were done by various biophysical studies. Complex 1 breaks pBR322 DNA via a hydrolytic means which was validated by T4 DNA enzymatic assay. To get a mechanistic insight of mode of action topoisomerase I (Topo I) inhibition assay was carried out. Also, we have taken the help of molecular modeling studies in accordance with experimental findings. In vitro cytotoxicity of the complex 1 was evaluated against a panel of cancer cells which exhibited remarkably good anticancer activity (GI 50 values <10 μg/ml). Moreover, intracellular localization of the complex 1 was visualized by confocal microscopy against HeLa cells.

Complex Genotype by Environment interactions and changing genetic architectures across thermal environments in the Australian field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Biologists studying adaptation under sexual selection have spent considerable effort assessing the relative importance of two groups of models, which hinge on the idea that females gain indirect benefits via mate discrimination. These are the good genes and genetic compatibility models. Quantitative genetic studies have advanced our understanding of these models by enabling assessment of whether the genetic architectures underlying focal phenotypes are congruent with either model. In this context, good genes models require underlying additive genetic variance, while compatibility models require non-additive variance. Currently, we know very little about how the expression of genotypes comprised of distinct parental haplotypes, or how levels and types of genetic variance underlying key phenotypes, change across environments. Such knowledge is important, however, because genotype-environment interactions can have major implications on the potential for evolutionary responses to selection. Results We used a full diallel breeding design to screen for complex genotype-environment interactions, and genetic architectures underlying key morphological traits, across two thermal environments (the lab standard 27°C, and the cooler 23°C) in the Australian field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus. In males, complex three-way interactions between sire and dam parental haplotypes and the rearing environment accounted for up to 23 per cent of the scaled phenotypic variance in the traits we measured (body mass, pronotum width and testes mass), and each trait harboured significant additive genetic variance in the standard temperature (27°C) only. In females, these three-way interactions were less important, with interactions between the paternal haplotype and rearing environment accounting for about ten per cent of the phenotypic variance (in body mass, pronotum width and ovary mass). Of the female traits measured, only ovary mass for crickets reared at the cooler temperature (23°C), exhibited significant levels of additive genetic variance. Conclusions Our results show that the genetics underlying phenotypic expression can be complex, context-dependent and different in each of the sexes. We discuss the implications of these results, particularly in terms of the evolutionary processes that hinge on good and compatible genes models. PMID:21791118

Evaluating Education and Science in the KSC Visitor Complex Exhibits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, Lance K.

2000-01-01

The continuing development of exhibits at the Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex is an excellent opportunity for NASA personnel to promote science and provide insight into NASA programs and projects for the approximately 3 million visitors that come to KSC annually. Stated goals for the Visitor Complex, in fact, emphasize science awareness and recommend broadening the appeal of the displays and exhibits for all age groups. To this end, this summer project seeks to evaluate the science content of planned exhibits/displays in relation to these developing opportunities and identify specific areas for enhancement of existing or planned exhibits and displays. To help expand the educational and science content within the developing exhibits at the Visitor Complex, this project was structured to implement the goals of the Visitor Center Director. To accomplish this, the exhibits and displays planned for completion within the year underwent review and evaluation for science content and educational direction. Planning emphasis for the individual displays was directed at combining the elements of effective education with fundamental scientific integrity, within an appealing format.

A multicenter examination and strategic revisions of the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale.

PubMed

McGuire, Joseph F; Piacentini, John; Storch, Eric A; Murphy, Tanya K; Ricketts, Emily J; Woods, Douglas W; Walkup, John W; Peterson, Alan L; Wilhelm, Sabine; Lewin, Adam B; McCracken, James T; Leckman, James F; Scahill, Lawrence

2018-05-08

To examine the internal consistency and distribution of the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) scores to inform modification of the measure. This cross-sectional study included 617 participants with a tic disorder (516 children and 101 adults), who completed an age-appropriate diagnostic interview and the YGTSS to evaluate tic symptom severity. The distributions of scores on YGTSS dimensions were evaluated for normality and skewness. For dimensions that were skewed across motor and phonic tics, a modified Delphi consensus process was used to revise selected anchor points. Children and adults had similar clinical characteristics, including tic symptom severity. All participants were examined together. Strong internal consistency was identified for the YGTSS Motor Tic score (α = 0.80), YGTSS Phonic Tic score (α = 0.87), and YGTSS Total Tic score (α = 0.82). The YGTSS Total Tic and Impairment scores exhibited relatively normal distributions. Several subscales and individual item scales departed from a normal distribution. Higher scores were more often used on the Motor Tic Number, Frequency, and Intensity dimensions and the Phonic Tic Frequency dimension. By contrast, lower scores were more often used on Motor Tic Complexity and Interference, and Phonic Tic Number, Intensity, Complexity, and Interference. The YGTSS exhibits good internal consistency across children and adults. The parallel findings across Motor and Phonic Frequency, Complexity, and Interference dimensions prompted minor revisions to the anchor point description to promote use of the full range of scores in each dimension. Specific minor revisions to the YGTSS Phonic Tic Symptom Checklist were also proposed. © 2018 American Academy of Neurology.

Complex Network Theory Applied to the Growth of Kuala Lumpur's Public Urban Rail Transit Network.

PubMed

Ding, Rui; Ujang, Norsidah; Hamid, Hussain Bin; Wu, Jianjun

2015-01-01

Recently, the number of studies involving complex network applications in transportation has increased steadily as scholars from various fields analyze traffic networks. Nonetheless, research on rail network growth is relatively rare. This research examines the evolution of the Public Urban Rail Transit Networks of Kuala Lumpur (PURTNoKL) based on complex network theory and covers both the topological structure of the rail system and future trends in network growth. In addition, network performance when facing different attack strategies is also assessed. Three topological network characteristics are considered: connections, clustering and centrality. In PURTNoKL, we found that the total number of nodes and edges exhibit a linear relationship and that the average degree stays within the interval [2.0488, 2.6774] with heavy-tailed distributions. The evolutionary process shows that the cumulative probability distribution (CPD) of degree and the average shortest path length show good fit with exponential distribution and normal distribution, respectively. Moreover, PURTNoKL exhibits clear cluster characteristics; most of the nodes have a 2-core value, and the CPDs of the centrality's closeness and betweenness follow a normal distribution function and an exponential distribution, respectively. Finally, we discuss four different types of network growth styles and the line extension process, which reveal that the rail network's growth is likely based on the nodes with the biggest lengths of the shortest path and that network protection should emphasize those nodes with the largest degrees and the highest betweenness values. This research may enhance the networkability of the rail system and better shape the future growth of public rail networks.

Picolinic acid based Cu(II) complexes with heterocyclic bases--crystal structure, DNA binding and cleavage studies.

PubMed

Pulimamidi, Rabindra Reddy; Nomula, Raju; Pallepogu, Raghavaiah; Shaik, Hussain

2014-05-22

In view of the importance of picolinic acid (PA) in preventing cell growth and arresting cell cycle, new PA based metallonucleases were designed with a view to study their DNA binding and cleavage abilities. Three new Cu(II) complexes [Cu(II)(DPPA)].4H2O (1),[Cu(II)(DPPA)(bpy)].5H2O (2) and [Cu(II)(DPPA)(phen)].5H2O (3), were synthesized using a picolinic acid based bifunctional ligand (DPPA) and heterocyclic bases (where DPPA: Pyridine-2-carboxylic acid {2-phenyl-1-[(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-carbonyl]-ethyl}-amide; bpy: 2, 2'-bipyridine and phen: 1, 10-phenanthroline). DPPA was obtained by coupling 2-picolinic acid and 2-picolyl amine with l-phenylalanine through amide bond‌‌. Complexes were structurally characterized by a single crystal X-ray crystallography. The molecular structure of 1 shows Cu(II) center essentially in a square planar coordination geometry, while complex 2 shows an approximate five coordinated square-pyramidal geometry. Eventhough we could not isolate single crystal for complex (3), its structure was established based on other techniques. The complex (3) also exhibits five coordinate square pyramidal geometry. The complexes show good binding affinity towards CT-DNA. The binding constants (Kb) decrease in the order 1.35 ± 0.01 × 10(5) (3) > 1.23 ± 0.01 × 10(5) (2) > 8.3 ± 0.01 × 10(4) (1) M(-1). They also exhibit efficient nuclease activity towards supercoiled pUC19 DNA both in the absence and presence of external agent (H2O2). The kinetic studies reveal that the hydrolytic cleavage reactions follow the pseudo first-order rate constant and the hydrolysis rates are in the range of (5.8-8.0) × 10(7) fold rate enhancement compared to non-catalyzed double stranded DNA (3.6 × 10(-8) h(-1)). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Rapid modeling of complex multi-fault ruptures with simplistic models from real-time GPS: Perspectives from the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crowell, B.; Melgar, D.

2017-12-01

The 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake is one of the most complex earthquakes in recent history, rupturing across at least 10 disparate faults with varying faulting styles, and exhibiting intricate surface deformation patterns. The complexity of this event has motivated the need for multidisciplinary geophysical studies to get at the underlying source physics to better inform earthquake hazards models in the future. However, events like Kaikoura beg the question of how well (or how poorly) such earthquakes can be modeled automatically in real-time and still satisfy the general public and emergency managers. To investigate this question, we perform a retrospective real-time GPS analysis of the Kaikoura earthquake with the G-FAST early warning module. We first perform simple point source models of the earthquake using peak ground displacement scaling and a coseismic offset based centroid moment tensor (CMT) inversion. We predict ground motions based on these point sources as well as simple finite faults determined from source scaling studies, and validate against true recordings of peak ground acceleration and velocity. Secondly, we perform a slip inversion based upon the CMT fault orientations and forward model near-field tsunami maximum expected wave heights to compare against available tide gauge records. We find remarkably good agreement between recorded and predicted ground motions when using a simple fault plane, with the majority of disagreement in ground motions being attributable to local site effects, not earthquake source complexity. Similarly, the near-field tsunami maximum amplitude predictions match tide gauge records well. We conclude that even though our models for the Kaikoura earthquake are devoid of rich source complexities, the CMT driven finite fault is a good enough "average" source and provides useful constraints for rapid forecasting of ground motion and near-field tsunami amplitudes.

76 FR 4929 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Entry of Articles for Exhibition.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-27

... Activities: Entry of Articles for Exhibition. AGENCY: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of... requirement concerning the Entry of Articles for Exhibition (19 CFR 147.11(c)). This request for comment is...: Title: Entry of Articles for Exhibition. OMB Number: 1651-0037. Form Number: None. Abstract: Goods...

A novel biliary stent coated with silver nanoparticles prolongs the unobstructed period and survival via anti-bacterial activity

PubMed Central

Yang, Fuchun; Ren, Zhigang; Chai, Qinming; Cui, Guangying; Jiang, Li; Chen, Hanjian; Feng, Zhiying; Chen, Xinhua; Ji, Jian; Zhou, Lin; Wang, Weilin; Zheng, Shusen

2016-01-01

Symptomatic biliary stricture causes life-threatening complications, such as jaundice, recurrent cholangitis and secondary biliary cirrhosis. Fully covered self-expanding metal stents (FCSEMSs) are gaining acceptance for treatments of benign biliary stricture and palliative management of malignant biliary obstructions. However, the high rate of FCSEMS obstruction limits their clinic use. In this study, we developed a novel biliary stent coated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and investigated its efficacy both in vitro and in vivo. We first identified properties of the AgNP complex using ultraviolet detection. The AgNP complex was stable without AgNP agglomeration, and Ag abundance was correspondingly increased with an increased bilayer number. The AgNP biliary stent demonstrated good performance in the spin-assembly method based on topographic observation. The AgNP biliary stent also exhibited a long-term anti-coagulation effect and a slow process of Ag+ release. In vitro anti-bacteria experiments indicated that the AgNP biliary stent exhibited high-efficiency anti-bacterial activity for both short- and long-term periods. Importantly, application of the AgNP biliary stent significantly prolonged the unobstructed period of the biliary system and improved survival in preclinical studies as a result of its anti-microbial activity and decreased granular tissue formation on the surface of the anastomotic biliary, providing a novel and effective treatment strategy for symptomatic biliary strictures. PMID:26883081

Spectroscopic, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties of Pt(ii) and Pd(ii) complexes of a chelating 1,10-phenanthroline appended perylene diimide.

PubMed

Işık Büyükekşi, Sebile; Şengül, Abdurrahman; Erdönmez, Seda; Altındal, Ahmet; Orman, Efe Baturhan; Özkaya, Ali Rıza

2018-02-20

In this study, a bis-chelating bridging perylene diimide ditopic ligand, namely N,N'-di(1,10-phenanthroline)-1,6,7,12-tetrakis-(4-methoxyphenoxy)perylene tetracarboxylic acid diimide (1), was synthesized and characterized. Further reactions of 1 with d 8 metal ions such as Pt(ii) and Pd(ii) having preferential square-planar geometry afforded the novel triads [(Cl 2 )M(ii)-(1)-M(ii)(Cl 2 )] where M(ii) = Pt(ii) (2), and Pd(ii) (3), respectively. The isolated triads and the key precursor were fully characterized by FT-IR, 1D-NMR ( 1 H NMR and 13 C DEPT NMR), 2D-NMR ( 1 H- 1 H COSY, 1 H- 13 C HSQC, 1 H- 13 C HMBC), MALDI-TOF mass and UV/Vis spectroscopy. The electrochemical properties of 1, 2 and 3 were investigated by cyclic voltammetry as well as in situ spectroelectrochemistry and also in situ electrocolorimetric measurements. These compounds were shown to exhibit net colour changes suitable for electrochromic applications. The compounds exhibited remarkably narrow HOMO-LUMO gaps, leading to their ease of reduction at low negative potentials. More importantly, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were also fabricated using 1-3 to clarify the potential use of these complexes as a sensitizer. Analysis of the experimental data indicated that 2 has good potential as a sensitizer material for DSSCs.

Impaired Word and Face Recognition in Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes.

PubMed

Jones, Nicola; Riby, Leigh M; Smith, Michael A

2016-07-01

Older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) exhibit accelerated decline in some domains of cognition including verbal episodic memory. Few studies have investigated the influence of DM2 status in older adults on recognition memory for more complex stimuli such as faces. In the present study we sought to compare recognition memory performance for words, objects and faces under conditions of relatively low and high cognitive load. Healthy older adults with good glucoregulatory control (n = 13) and older adults with DM2 (n = 24) were administered recognition memory tasks in which stimuli (faces, objects and words) were presented under conditions of either i) low (stimulus presented without a background pattern) or ii) high (stimulus presented against a background pattern) cognitive load. In a subsequent recognition phase, the DM2 group recognized fewer faces than healthy controls. Further, the DM2 group exhibited word recognition deficits in the low cognitive load condition. The recognition memory impairment observed in patients with DM2 has clear implications for day-to-day functioning. Although these deficits were not amplified under conditions of increased cognitive load, the present study emphasizes that recognition memory impairment for both words and more complex stimuli such as face are a feature of DM2 in older adults. Copyright © 2016 IMSS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Inkjet 3D printing of UV and thermal cure silicone elastomers for dielectric elastomer actuators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCoul, David; Rosset, Samuel; Schlatter, Samuel; Shea, Herbert

2017-12-01

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are an attractive form of electromechanical transducer, possessing high energy densities, an efficient design, mechanical compliance, high speed, and noiseless operation. They have been incorporated into a wide variety of devices, such as microfluidic systems, cell bioreactors, tunable optics, haptic displays, and actuators for soft robotics. Fabrication of DEA devices is complex, and the majority are inefficiently made by hand. 3D printing offers an automated and flexible manufacturing alternative that can fabricate complex, multi-material, integrated devices consistently and in high resolution. We present a novel additive manufacturing approach to DEA devices in which five commercially available, thermal and UV-cure DEA silicone rubber materials have been 3D printed with a drop-on-demand, piezoelectric inkjet system. Using this process, 3D structures and high-quality silicone dielectric elastomer membranes as thin as 2 μm have been printed that exhibit mechanical and actuation performance at least as good as conventionally blade-cast membranes. Printed silicone membranes exhibited maximum tensile strains of up to 727%, and DEAs with printed silicone dielectrics were actuated up to 6.1% area strain at a breakdown strength of 84 V μm-1 and also up to 130 V μm-1 at 2.4% strain. This approach holds great potential to manufacture reliable, high-performance DEA devices with high throughput.

Rational Design and Facile Synthesis of Boranophosphate Ionic Liquids as Hypergolic Rocket Fuels.

PubMed

Liu, Tianlin; Qi, Xiujuan; Wang, Binshen; Jin, Yunhe; Yan, Chao; Wang, Yi; Zhang, Qinghua

2018-05-14

The design and synthesis of new hypergolic ionic liquids (HILs) as replacements for toxic hydrazine derivatives have been the focus of current academic research in the field of liquid bipropellant fuels. In most cases, however, the requirements of excellent ignition performances, good hydrolytic stabilities, and low synthetic costs are often contradictory, which makes the development of high-performance HILs an enormous challenge. Here, we show how a fuel-rich boranophosphate ion was rationally designed and used to synthesize a series of high-performance HILs with excellent comprehensive properties. In the design strategy, we introduced the {BH 3 } moiety into the boranophosphate ion for improving the self-ignition property, whereas the complexation of boron and phosphite was used to improve the hydrolytic activity of the borohydride species. As a result, these boranophosphate HILs exhibited wide liquid operating ranges (>220 °C), high densities (1.00-1.10 g cm -3 ), good hydrolytic stabilities, and short ignition delay times (2.3-9.7 milliseconds) with white fuming nitric acid (WFNA) as the oxidizer. More importantly, these boranophosphate HILs could be readily prepared in high yields from commercial phosphite esters, avoiding complex and time-consuming synthetic routes. This work offers an effective strategy of designing boranophosphate HILs towards safer and greener hypergolic fuels for liquid bipropellant applications. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Theoretical Insight into the Influences of Molecular Ratios on Stabilities and Mechanical Properties, Solvent Effect of HMX/FOX-7 Cocrystal Explosive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Yan-Ju; Ren, Fu-De; Shi, Wen-Jing; Zhao, Qi

2016-10-01

A molecular dynamics method was employed to study the binding energies of the selected crystal planes of the 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazacyclooctane/1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene (HMX/FOX-7) cocrystal in different molecular molar ratios. Mechanical properties, densities, and detonation velocities of the cocrystals in different ratios were estimated. The intermolecular interactions and bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of the N-NO2 bond in the HMX:FOX-7 (1:1) complex were calculated using the B3LYP and MP2(full) methods at the 6-311++G (d,p) and 6-311++G(2df,2p) basis sets. Solvent effects on stability are discussed. The results indicate that HMX/FOX-7 cocrystals prefer cocrystalizing in a 1:1 molar ratio, which has good mechanical properties. The N-NO2 bond becomes strong upon the formation of a complex and the sensitivity of HMX might decrease in cocrystals. The sensitivity change of HMX/FOX-7 originates from not only the formation of intermolecular interaction but also the increment in the N-NO2 BDE. HMX/FOX-7 cocrystals exhibit good detonation performance and meet the requirements of high-density energetic materials. Solvents with low dielectric constants may be chosen to obtain stable HMX/FOX-7 cocrystals.

Design and evaluation of an economic taste-masked dispersible tablet of pyridostigmine bromide, a highly soluble drug with an extremely bitter taste.

PubMed

Tan, Qunyou; Zhang, Li; Zhang, Liangke; Teng, Yongzhen; Zhang, Jingqing

2012-01-01

Pyridostigmine bromide (PTB) is a highly soluble and extremely bitter drug. Here, an economic complexation technology combined with direct tablet compression method has been developed to meet the requirements of a patient friendly dosage known as taste-masked dispersible tablets loaded PTB (TPDPTs): (1) TPDPTs should have optimal disintegration and good physical resistance (hardness); (2) a low-cost, simple but practical preparation method suitable for industrial production is preferred from a cost perspective. Physicochemical properties of the inclusion complex of PTB with beta-cyclodextrin were investigated by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and UV spectroscopy. An orthogonal design was chosen to properly formulate TPDPTs. All volunteers regarded acceptable bitterness of TPDPTs. The properties including disintegration time, weight variation, friability, hardness, dispersible uniformity and drug content of TPDPTs were evaluated. The dissolution profile of TPDPTs in distilled water exhibited a fast rate. Pharmacokinetic results demonstrated that TPDPTs and the commercial tablets were bioequivalent.

A novel fluorescence "turn-on" sensor based on a photochromic diarylethene for the selective detection of Al(III)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Niansheng; Wang, Renjie; Tu, Yayi; Pu, Shouzhi; Liu, Gang

2018-05-01

A novel photochromic diarylethene with a triazole-containing 2-(2‧-phenoxymethyl)-benzothiazole group has been synthesized via "click" reaction. The diarylethene exhibited good photochromism and photoswitchable fluorescence. Its fluorescence emission intensity was enhanced 7-fold by acids, accompanied by the red-shift of emission peak from 526 nm to 566 nm and the concomitant color change from dark to bright flavogreen. The diarylethene selectively formed a 1:1 metal complex with Al3+, resulting in a "turn-on" fluorescence signal. The complexation - reaction between Al3+ and the diarylethene is reversible with the binding constant of 2.73 × 103 L mol-1. The limit of detection (LOD) of Al3+ was determined to be 5.94 × 10-8 mol L-1. Based on this unimolecular platform, a logic circuit was fabricated using the fluorescence emission intensity at 572 nm as the output and the combined stimuli of Al3+/EDTA and UV/Vis as the inputs.

A sensitive aptasensor for colorimetric detection of adenosine triphosphate based on the protective effect of ATP-aptamer complexes on unmodified gold nanoparticles.

PubMed

Huo, Yuan; Qi, Liang; Lv, Xiao-Jun; Lai, Ting; Zhang, Jing; Zhang, Zhi-Qi

2016-04-15

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the most direct source of energy in organisms. This study is the first to demonstrate that ATP-aptamer complexes provide greater protection for unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) against salt-induced aggregation than either aptamer or ATP alone. This protective effect was confirmed using transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, Zeta potential measurement, and fluorescence polarization techniques. Utilizing controlled particle aggregation/dispersion as a gauge, a sensitive and selective aptasensor for colorimetric detection of ATP was developed using ATP-binding aptamers as the identification element and unmodified AuNPs as the probe. This aptasensor exhibited a good linear relationship between the absorbance and the logarithm concentration of ATP within a 50-1000 nM range. ATP analogs such as guanosine triphosphate, uridine triphosphate and cytidine triphosphate resulted in little or no interference in the determination of ATP. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Variable sensory perception in autism.

PubMed

Haigh, Sarah M

2018-03-01

Autism is associated with sensory and cognitive abnormalities. Individuals with autism generally show normal or superior early sensory processing abilities compared to healthy controls, but deficits in complex sensory processing. In the current opinion paper, it will be argued that sensory abnormalities impact cognition by limiting the amount of signal that can be used to interpret and interact with environment. There is a growing body of literature showing that individuals with autism exhibit greater trial-to-trial variability in behavioural and cortical sensory responses. If multiple sensory signals that are highly variable are added together to process more complex sensory stimuli, then this might destabilise later perception and impair cognition. Methods to improve sensory processing have shown improvements in more general cognition. Studies that specifically investigate differences in sensory trial-to-trial variability in autism, and the potential changes in variability before and after treatment, could ascertain if trial-to-trial variability is a good mechanism to target for treatment in autism. © 2017 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Acid-Labile Poly(glycidyl methacrylate)-Based Star Gene Vectors.

PubMed

Yang, Yan-Yu; Hu, Hao; Wang, Xing; Yang, Fei; Shen, Hong; Xu, Fu-Jian; Wu, De-Cheng

2015-06-10

It was recently reported that ethanolamine-functionalized poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGEA) possesses great potential applications in gene therapy due to its good biocompatibility and high transfection efficiency. Importing responsivity into PGEA vectors would further improve their performances. Herein, a series of responsive star-shaped vectors, acetaled β-cyclodextrin-PGEAs (A-CD-PGEAs) consisting of a β-CD core and five PGEA arms linked by acid-labile acetal groups, were proposed and characterized as therapeutic pDNA vectors. The A-CD-PGEAs owned abundant hydroxyl groups to shield extra positive charges of A-CD-PGEAs/pDNA complexes, and the star structure could decrease charge density. The incorporation of acetal linkers endowed A-CD-PGEAs with pH responsivity and degradation. In weakly acidic endosome, the broken acetal linkers resulted in decomposition of A-CD-PGEAs and morphological transformation of A-CD-PGEAs/pDNA complexes, lowering cytotoxicity and accelerating release of pDNA. In comparison with control CD-PGEAs without acetal linkers, A-CD-PGEAs exhibited significantly better transfection performances.

NGS tools for traceability in candies as high processed food products: Ion Torrent PGM versus conventional PCR-cloning.

PubMed

Muñoz-Colmenero, Marta; Martínez, Jose Luis; Roca, Agustín; Garcia-Vazquez, Eva

2017-01-01

The Next Generation Sequencing methodologies are considered the next step within DNA-based methods and their applicability in different fields is being evaluated. Here, we tested the usefulness of the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM) in food traceability analyzing candies as a model of high processed foods, and compared the results with those obtained by PCR-cloning-sequencing (PCR-CS). The majority of samples exhibited consistency between methodologies, yielding more information and species per product from the PGM platform than PCR-CS. Significantly higher AT-content in sequences of the same species was also obtained from PGM. This together with some taxonomical discrepancies between methodologies suggest that the PGM platform is still pre-mature for its use in food traceability of complex highly processed products. It could be a good option for analysis of less complex food, saving time and cost per sample. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vectorized ferrocenes with estrogens and vitamin D2: synthesis, cytotoxic activity and docking studies†

PubMed Central

Vera, José; Gao, Li Ming; Santana, Alberto; Matta, Jaime

2015-01-01

Three ferrocene complexes vectorized with estrogens and vitamin D2 were synthesized and fully characterized by spectroscopic, electrochemical and computational methods. The synthesis of these esters was accomplished by reacting ferrocenoyl chloride with the corresponding ROH groups (R = ergocalciferol, estradiol, estrone). The cytotoxicity of these complexes in HT-29 colon cancer and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines was investigated in vitro. Only ferrocenoyl 17β-hydroxy-estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-3-olate showed good cytotoxic activity in both cell lines, exceeding those of ferrocenium and ferrocene. In MCF-7, ferrocenoyl 17β-hydroxy-estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-3-olate exhibited remarkable IC50, in the low micromolar range. This may be attributed to the presence of the estradiol vector. Docking studies between alpha-estrogen receptor ligand binding site and ferrocenoyl 17β-hydroxy-estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-3-olate revealed some key hydrophobic interactions that might explain the cytotoxic activity of this ester. PMID:21850331

Multi-electron oxygen reduction by a hybrid visible-light-photocatalyst consisting of metal-oxide semiconductor and self-assembled biomimetic complex.

PubMed

Naya, Shin-ichi; Niwa, Tadahiro; Negishi, Ryo; Kobayashi, Hisayoshi; Tada, Hiroaki

2014-12-08

Adsorption experiments and density functional theory (DFT) simulations indicated that Cu(acac)2 is chemisorbed on the monoclinic sheelite (ms)-BiVO4 surface to form an O2-bridged binuclear complex (OBBC/BiVO4) like hemocyanin. Multi-electron reduction of O2 is induced by the visible-light irradiation of the OBBC/BiVO4 in the same manner as a blue Cu enzyme. The drastic enhancement of the O2 reduction renders ms-BiVO4 to work as a good visible-light photocatalyst without any sacrificial reagents. As a model reaction, we show that this biomimetic hybrid photocatalyst exhibits a high level of activity for the aerobic oxidation of amines to aldehydes in aqueous solution and imines in THF solution at 25 °C giving selectivities above 99% under visible-light irradiation. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Synthesis and characterization of Cu(II)-based anticancer chemotherapeutic agent targeting topoisomerase Iα: in vitro DNA binding, pBR322 cleavage, molecular docking studies and cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines.

PubMed

Tabassum, Sartaj; Zaki, Mehvash; Afzal, Mohd; Arjmand, Farukh

2014-03-03

New metal-based anticancer chemotherapeutic drug candidates [Cu(phen)L](NO₃)₂ (1) and [Zn(phen)L](NO₃)₂ (2) were synthesized from ligand L (derived from pharmacophore scaffold barbituric acid and pyrazole). In vitro DNA binding studies of the L, 1 and 2 were carried out by various biophysical techniques revealing electrostatic mode. Complex 1 cleaves pBR322 DNA via oxidative pathway and recognizes major groove of DNA double helix. The molecular docking study was carried out to ascertain the mode of action towards the molecular target DNA and enzymes. The complex 1 exhibited remarkably good anticancer activity on a panel of human cancer cell lines (GI₅₀ values < 10 μg/ml), and to elucidate the mechanism of cancer inhibition, Topo-I enzymatic activity was carried out. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Dinuclear NHC-palladium complexes containing phosphine spacers: synthesis, X-ray structures and their catalytic activities towards the Hiyama coupling reaction.

PubMed

Yang, Jin; Li, Pinhua; Zhang, Yicheng; Wang, Lei

2014-05-21

Six dinuclear N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) palladium complexes, [PdCl2(IMes)]2(μ-dppe) (1), [PdCl2(IPr)]2(μ-dppe) (2), [PdCl2(IMes)]2(μ-dppb) (3), [PdCl2(IPr)]2(μ-dppb) (4), [PdCl2(IMes)]2(μ-dpph) (5), and [PdCl2(IPr)]2(μ-dpph) (6) [IMes = N,N'-bis-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene; IPr = N,N'-bis-(2,6-di(iso-propyl)phenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene; dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane, dppb = 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane; and dpph = 1,6-bis(diphenylphosphino)hexane], have been synthesized through bridge-cleavage reactions of chloro-bridged dimeric compounds, [Pd(μ-Cl)(Cl)(NHC)]2, with the corresponding diphosphine ligands. The obtained compounds were fully characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and (31)P NMR spectroscopy, FT-IR, elemental analysis and single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Moreover, further explorations of the catalytic potential of the dinuclear carbene palladium complexes as catalysts for the Pd-catalyzed transformations have been performed under microwave irradiation conditions, and the complexes exhibited moderate to good catalytic activity in the Hiyama coupling reaction of trimethoxyphenylsilane with aryl chlorides.

Dual photo- and pH-responsive supramolecular nanocarriers based on water-soluble pillar[6]arene and different azobenzene derivatives for intracellular anticancer drug delivery.

PubMed

Hu, Xiao-Yu; Jia, Keke; Cao, Yu; Li, Yan; Qin, Shan; Zhou, Fan; Lin, Chen; Zhang, Dongmei; Wang, Leyong

2015-01-12

Two novel types of supramolecular nanocarriers fabricated by the amphiphilic host-guest inclusion complex formed from water-soluble pillar[6]arene (WP6) and azobenzene derivatives G1 or G2 have been developed, in which G1 is structurally similar to G2 but has an extra phenoxy group in its hydrophobic region. Supramolecular micelles can be initially formed by WP6 with G1, which gradually transform into layered structures with liquid-crystalline properties, whereas stable supramolecular vesicles are obtained from WP6 and G2, which exhibit dual photo- and pH-responsiveness. Notably, the resulting WP6⊃G2 vesicles can efficiently encapsulate anticancer drug mitoxantrone (MTZ) to achieve MTZ-loaded vesicles, which maintain good stability in a simulated normal physiological environment, whereas in an acid environment similar to that of tumor cells or with external UV irradiation, the encapsulated drug is promptly released. More importantly, cytotoxicity assay indicates that such vesicles have good biocompatibility and the MTZ-loaded vesicles exhibit comparable anticancer activity to free MTZ, especially with additional UV stimulus, whereas its cytotoxicity for normal cells was remarkably reduced. Flow cytometric analysis further confirms that the cancer cell death caused by MTZ-loaded vesicles is associated with apoptosis. Therefore, the dual pH- and UV-responsive supramolecular vesicles are a potential platform for controlled release and targeted anticancer drug delivery. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Synthesis and electrophosphorescence of iridium complexes containing benzothiazole-based ligands.

PubMed

Liu, Di; Ren, Huicai; Deng, Lijun; Zhang, Ting

2013-06-12

Four heteroleptic bis-cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes containing 2-aryl-benzothiazole ligands, in which the aryl is dibenzofuran-2-yl [Ir(O-bt)2(acac)], dibenzothiophene-2-yl [Ir(S-bt)2(acac)], dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide-2-yl [Ir(SO2-bt)2(acac)] and 4-(diphenylphosphoryl)phenyl [Ir(PO-bt)2(acac)], have been synthesized and characterized for use in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). These complexes emit bright yellow (551 nm) to orange-red (598 nm) phosphorescence at room temperature, the peak wavelengths of which can be finely tuned depending upon the electronic properties of the aryl group in the 2-position of benzothiazole. The strong electron-withdrawing aryls such as dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide2-yl and 4-(diphenylphosphoryl)phenyl caused bathochromatic shift of the iridium complex phosphorescence. These iridium complexes were used as doped emitters to fabricate yellow to orange-red OLEDs and good performance was obtained. In particular, a maximum luminance efficiency of 58.4 cd A(-1) (corresponding to 30.6 lm W(-1) and 19%) with CIE coordinates of (0.45, 0.52) was achieved for Ir(O-bt)2(acac)-based yellow device. Furthermore, the yellow emitting Ir(S-bt)2(acac) was used to fabricate two-element white OLED that exhibited a high efficiency of 32.4 cd A(-1) with CIE coordinates of (0.28, 0.44).

Green synthesis of nano sized transition metal complexes containing heterocyclic Schiff base: Structural and morphology characterization and bioactivity study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jawoor, Shailaja S.; Patil, Sangamesh A.; Kumbar, Mahantesh; Ramawadgi, Prashant B.

2018-07-01

In the current involvement of our research work in coordination chemistry, novel transition metal complexes were synthesized from regular reflux method and hydrothermal method using Schiff base prepared via condensation of ethyl 2-amino-4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophene-3-carboxylate with 8-carbaldehyde-7-hydroxy-4-methylcoumarin. All the synthesized compounds were interpreted using different analytical, physicochemical and spectral methods such as magnetic moment measurement, FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR, GCMS/ESI-MS, UV/Vis spectroscopy and TGA. The size and morphology of the nano metal complexes were determined using atomic force microscope (AFM), field emission scanning electron spectroscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (PXRD). The non-electrolytic nature of the metal complexes was confirmed by molar conductance studies. The obtained FT-IR data supports the binding of metal ion to Schiff base. Elemental analysis study suggests [ML2(H2O)2] stoichiometry, here M = Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II), L = deprotonated ligand. Electronic spectral results reveal six-coordinated geometry for the synthesized metal complexes. All the tested compounds show good DNA cleavage (Calf Thymus DNA) and in vitro anticancer activity (PA-I cell line), the activity results for the tested compounds are prominent and compound 9 exhibited a little enhanced activity than the other tested compounds.

Metal based biologically active compounds: Design, synthesis, DNA binding and antidiabetic activity of 6-methyl-3-formyl chromone derived hydrazones and their metal (II) complexes.

PubMed

Philip, Jessica Elizabeth; Shahid, Muhammad; Prathapachandra Kurup, M R; Velayudhan, Mohanan Puzhavoorparambil

2017-10-01

Two chromone hydrazone ligands HL 1 and HL 2 were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, IR, 1 H NMR & 13 C NMR, electronic absorption and mass spectra. The reactions of the chromone hydrazones with transition metals such as Ni, Cu, and Zn (II) salts of acetate afforded mononuclear metal complexes. Characterization and structure elucidation of the prepared chromone hydrazone metal (II) complexes were done by elemental, IR, electronic, EPR spectra and thermo gravimetric analyses as well as conductivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The spectroscopic data showed that the ligand acts as a mono basic bidentate with coordination sites are azomethine nitrogen and hydrazonic oxygen, and they exhibited distorted geometry. The biological studies involved antidiabetic activity i.e. enzyme inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase, Calf Thymus - DNA (CT-DNA) interaction and molecular docking. Potential capacity of synthesized compounds to inhibit the α-amylase and α-glucosidase activity was assayed whereas DNA interaction studies were carried out with the help UV-Vis absorption titration and viscosity method. The docking studies of chromone hydrazones show that they are minor groove binders. Complexes were found to be good DNA - intercalates. Chromone hydrazones and its transition metal complexes have shown comparable antidiabetic activity with a standard drug acarbose. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnetic field tunable ac electrical transport of LaFeO3-wax nanocomposites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roy, Supratim; Mandal, S. K.; Debnath, Rajesh; Nath, Debajyoti; Dey, P.

2018-04-01

Single phase perovskite LaFeO3 nanoparticles have been prepared through chemical pyrophoric reaction process. It is further grinded with paraffin wax of quantity 0.5 wt% of total composition to obtain an organic composite 99.5%LaFeO3-0.5%Wax. Studies of ac electrical properties viz. complex impedance, dielectric response, loss coefficient have been done in presence of external dc magnetic field, which reveals a good magnetoimpedance (˜221%) and a negative magnetodielectric (˜ 64%). The value of impedance, its real and imaginary part is observed to increase with dc field. The composite exhibits high dielectric constant (˜4760). The ac conductivity is found to decrease with applied field and increase with ac frequency.

High-temperature protection of steel goods from gas corrosion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gerasimov, V.V.; Porfir`eva, R.T.; Peskov, A.V.

The feasibility of using phosphorus-containing compounds to activate the thermal diffusion impregnation of steels with aluminum was explored and substantiated by experiment. Volatile phosphorus formed from the thermal destruction of the phosphorus-containing substances and the resulting Al/P-type complexes, which provide a gas-transportation medium to take the aluminum to the article surface, were instrumental in the mechanism. The resultant thermal diffusion coatings enabled steel to be safely protected from gas corrosion at a temperature of 950{degrees}C. As a result of research on the structure of the protective layer using electron microscopy and X-ray phase analysis, coatings formed using a mixture containingmore » 1 wt.% iron glycerophosphate exhibited the optimum operating characteristics.« less

Preparation, structure and microbial evaluation of metal complexes of the second generation quinolone antibacterial drug lomefloxacin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadeek, Sadeek A.; El-Shwiniy, Walaa H.

2010-09-01

Lomefloxacinate of Y(III), Zr(IV) and U(VI) were isolated as solids with the general formula; [Y(LFX) 2Cl 2]Cl·12H 2O, [ZrO(LFX) 2Cl]Cl·15H 2O and [UO 2(LFX) 3](NO 3) 2·4H 2O. The new synthesized complexes were characterized with physicochemical and diverse spectroscopic techniques (IR, UV-Vis. and 1H NMR spectroscopies) as well as thermal analyses. In these complexes lomefloxacin act as bidentate ligand bound to the metal ions through the pyridone oxygen and one carboxylate oxygen. The kinetic parameters of thermogravimetric (TGA) and its differential (DTG), such as entropy of activation, activation energy, enthalpy of activation and Gibbs free energy evaluated by using Coats- Redfern and Horowitz- Metzger equations for free lomefloxacin and three complexes were carried out. The bond stretching force constant and length of the U dbnd O bond for the [UO 2(LFX) 3](NO 3) 2·4H 2O complex were calculated. The antimicrobial activity of lomefloxacin and its metal complexes was tested against different bacterial species, such as Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus), Escherichia coli ( E. coli) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( P. aeruginosa) as Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species and also against two species of antifungal, penicillium ( P. rotatum) and trichoderma ( T. sp.). The three complexes are of a good action against three bacterial species but the Y(III) complex exhibit excellent activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( P. aeruginosa), when compared to the free lomefloxacin.

Preparation of l-phenylalanine-imprinted solid-phase extraction sorbent by Pickering emulsion polymerization and the selective enrichment of l-phenylalanine from human urine.

PubMed

Li, Ji; Hu, Xiaoling; Guan, Ping; Zhang, Xiaoyan; Qian, Liwei; Zhang, Nan; Du, Chunbao; Song, Renyuan

2016-05-01

A novel l-phenylalanine molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction sorbent was synthesized by the combination of Pickering emulsion polymerization and ion-pair dummy template imprinting. Compared to other polymerization methods, the molecularly imprinted polymers thus prepared exhibit a high specific surface, large pore diameter, and appropriate particle size. The key parameters for solid-phase extraction were optimized, and the result indicated that the molecularly imprinted polymer thus prepared exhibits a good recovery of 98.9% for l-phenylalanine. Under the optimized conditions of the procedure, an analytical method for l-phenylalanine was well established. By comparing the performance of the molecularly imprinted polymer and a commercial reverse-phase silica gel, the obtained molecularly imprinted polymer as an solid-phase extraction sorbent is more suitable, exhibiting high precision (relative standard deviation 3.2%, n = 4) and a low limit of detection (60.0 ± 1.9 nmol·L(-1) ) for the isolation of l-phenylalanine. Based on these results, the combination of the Pickering emulsion polymerization and ion-pair dummy template imprinting is effective for preparing selective solid-phase extraction sorbents for the separation of amino acids and organic acids from complex biological samples. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Preparation and characterization of glycoprotein-resistant starch complex as a coating material for oral bioadhesive microparticles for colon-targeted polypeptide delivery.

PubMed

Situ, Wenbei; Li, Xiaoxi; Liu, Jia; Chen, Ling

2015-04-29

For effective oral delivery of polypeptide or protein and enhancement their oral bioavailability, a new resistant starch-glycoprotein complex bioadhesive carrier and an oral colon-targeted bioadhesive delivery microparticle system were developed. A glycoprotein, concanavalin A (Con A), was successfully conjugated to the molecules of resistant starch acetate (RSA), leading to the formation of resistant starch-glycoprotein complex. This Con A-conjugated RSA film as a coating material showed an excellent controlled-release property. In streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type II diabetic rats, the insulin-loaded microparticles coated with this Con A-conjugated RSA film exhibited good hypoglycemic response for keeping the plasma glucose level within the normal range for totally 44-52 h after oral administration with different insulin dosages. Oral glucose tolerance tests indicated that successive oral administration of these colon-targeted bioadhesive microparticles with insulin at a level of 50 IU/kg could achieve a hypoglycemic effect similar to that by injection of insulin at 35 IU/kg. Therefore, the potential of this new Con A-conjugated RSA film-coated microparticle system has been demonstrated to be capable of improving the oral bioavailability of bioactive proteins and peptides.

Optimization of Microporous Carbon Structures for Lithium-Sulfur Battery Applications in Carbonate-Based Electrolyte.

PubMed

Hu, Lei; Lu, Yue; Li, Xiaona; Liang, Jianwen; Huang, Tao; Zhu, Yongchun; Qian, Yitai

2017-03-01

Developing appropriate sulfur cathode materials in carbonate-based electrolyte is an important research subject for lithium-sulfur batteries. Although several microporous carbon materials as host for sulfur reveal the effect, methods for producing microporous carbon are neither easy nor well controllable. Moreover, due to the complexity and limitation of microporous carbon in their fabrication process, there has been rare investigation of influence on electrochemical behavior in the carbonate-based electrolyte for lithium-sulfur batteries by tuning different micropore size(0-2 nm) of carbon host. Here, we demonstrate an immediate carbonization process, self-activation strategy, which can produce microporous carbon for a sulfur host from alkali-complexes. Besides, by changing different alkali-ion in the previous complex, the obtained microporous carbon exhibits a major portion of ultramicropore (<0.7 nm, from 54.9% to 25.8%) and it is demonstrated that the micropore structure of the host material plays a vital role in confining sulfur molecule. When evaluated as cathode materials in a carbonate-based electrolyte for Li-S batteries, such microporous carbon/sulfur composite can provide high reversible capacity, cycling stability and good rate capability. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Luminescent molecular rods - transition-metal alkynyl complexes.

PubMed

Yam, Vivian Wing-Wah; Wong, Keith Man-Chung

2005-01-01

A number of transition-metal complexes have been reported to exhibit rich luminescence, usually originating from phosphorescence. Such luminescence properties of the triplet excited state with a large Stoke's shift, long lifetime, high luminescence quantum yield as well as lower excitation energy, are envisaged to serve as an ideal candidate in the area of potential applications for chemosensors, dye-sensitized solar cells, flat panel displays, optics, new materials and biological sciences. Organic alkynes (poly-ynes), with extended or conjugatedπ-systems and rigid structure with linear geometry, have become a significant research area due to their novel electronic and physical properties and their potential applications in nanotechnology. Owing to the presence of unsaturated sp-hybridized carbon atoms, the alkynyl unit can serve as a versatile building block in the construction of alkynyl transition-metal complexes, not only throughσ-bonding but also viaπ-bonding interactions. By incorporation of linear alkynyl groups into luminescent transition-metal complexes, the alkynyl moiety with goodσ-donor,π-donor andπ-acceptor abilities is envisaged to tune or perturb the emission behaviors, including emission energy (color), intensity and lifetime by its role as an auxiliary ligand as well as to govern the emission origin from its direct involvement. This review summarizes recent efforts on the synthesis of luminescent rod-like alkynyl complexes with different classes of transition metals and details the effects of the introduction of alkynyl groups on the luminescence properties of the complexes.

Flexible strain sensors with high performance based on metallic glass thin film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xian, H. J.; Cao, C. R.; Shi, J. A.; Zhu, X. S.; Hu, Y. C.; Huang, Y. F.; Meng, S.; Gu, L.; Liu, Y. H.; Bai, H. Y.; Wang, W. H.

2017-09-01

Searching strain sensitive materials for electronic skin is of crucial significance because of the restrictions of current materials such as poor electrical conductivity, large energy consumption, complex manufacturing process, and high cost. Here, we report a flexible strain sensor based on the Zr55Cu30Ni5Al10 metallic glass thin film which we name metallic glass skin. The metallic glass skin, synthesized by ion beam deposition, exhibits piezoresistance effects with a gauge factor of around 2.86, a large detectable strain range (˜1% or 180° bending angle), and good conductivity. Compared to other e-skin materials, the temperature coefficient of resistance of the metallic glass skin is extremely low (9.04 × 10-6 K-1), which is essential for the reduction in thermal drift. In addition, the metallic glass skin exhibits distinct antibacterial behavior desired for medical applications, also excellent reproducibility and repeatability (over 1000 times), nearly perfect linearity, low manufacturing cost, and negligible energy consumption, all of which are required for electronic skin for practical applications.

Relating dynamics of model unentangled, crystallizable polymeric liquids to their local structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Hong T.; Hoy, Robert S.

We study the liquid-state dynamics of a recently developed, crystallizable bead-spring polymer model. The model possesses a single ground state (NCP, wherein monomers close-pack and chains are nematically aligned) for all finite bending stiffnesses kb, but the solid morphologies formed under cooling vary strongly with kb, varying from NCP to amorphous. We find that systems with kb producing amorphous order are good glass-formers exhibiting the classic Vogel-Fulcher slowdown with decreasing temperature T. In contrast, systems with kb producing crystalline solids exhibit a simpler dynamics when kb is small. Larger kb produce more complex dynamics, but these are associated with the existence of an intermediate nematic liquid rather than glassy slowdown. We relate these differences to local, cluster-level structure measured via TCC analyses. Formation propensities and lifetimes of various clusters (associated with amorphous or crystalline order) vary strongly with kb and T. We relate these differences to those measured by the self-intermediate scattering function and other macroscopic measures of dynamics. Our results should aid in understanding the competition between crystallization and glass-formation in synthetic polymers.

Electrostatic redesign of the [myoglobin, cytochrome b5] interface to create a well-defined docked complex with rapid interprotein electron transfer.

PubMed

Xiong, Peng; Nocek, Judith M; Griffin, Amanda K K; Wang, Jingyun; Hoffman, Brian M

2009-05-27

Cyt b(5) is the electron-carrier "repair" protein that reduces met-Mb and met-Hb to their O(2)-carrying ferroheme forms. Studies of electron transfer (ET) between Mb and cyt b(5) revealed that they react on a "Dynamic Docking" (DD) energy landscape on which binding and reactivity are uncoupled: binding is weak and involves an ensemble of nearly isoenergetic configurations, only a few of which are reactive; those few contribute negligibly to binding. We set the task of redesigning the surface of Mb so that its reaction with cyt b(5) instead would occur on a conventional "simple docking" (SD) energy landscape, on which a complex exhibits a well-defined (set of) reactive binding configuration(s), with binding and reactivity thus no longer being decoupled. We prepared a myoglobin (Mb) triple mutant (D44K/D60K/E85K; Mb(+6)) substituted with Zn-deuteroporphyrin and monitored cytochrome b(5) (cyt b(5)) binding and electron transfer (ET) quenching of the (3)ZnMb(+6) triplet state. In contrast, to Mb(WT), the three charge reversals around the "front-face" heme edge of Mb(+6) have directed cyt b(5) to a surface area of Mb adjacent to its heme, created a well-defined, most-stable structure that supports good ET pathways, and apparently coupled binding and ET: both K(a) and k(et) are increased by the same factor of approximately 2 x 10(2), creating a complex that exhibits a large ET rate constant, k(et) = 10(6 1) s(-1), and is in slow exchange (k(off) < k(et)). In short, these mutations indeed appear to have created the sought-for conversion from DD to simple docking (SD) energy landscapes.

Sliding durability of candidate seal fiber materials in hydrogen from 25 to 900 C

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dellacorte, Christopher; Steinetz, Bruce M.

1992-01-01

Sliding durability studies of candidate ceramic fibers were conducted in hydrogen to support the high temperature seal development program at NASA LeRC. Pin-on-disk tests were used to measure the friction and durability of a tow or bundle of ceramic fibers in sliding against a superalloy disk. This procedure was used previously to test candidate fibers in an air environment. The fibers based upon mullite (Al2O3-SiO2) chemistry (Nextel 550, 440, and 312) exhibited better durability in hydrogen than in air. HPZ, a complex silicon carboxynitride fiber which showed good durabilty in air, however, showed a significant loss of durability in hot hydrogen. These results are consistent with recent thermodynamic and experimental studies of ceramic compatibility with hydrogen at elevated temperatures. These research results indicate that only oxide fibers display good durability in both air and hydrogen environments. Also, simple, low cost testing in air can provide an adequate data base for initial seal material screening and selection, especially for oxide fiber candidates. The findings of this research provide critical input to the seal design team.

Novel, compact, and simple ND:YVO4 laser with 12 W of CW optical output power and good beam quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimer, H.; Langer, B.; Wittrock, U.; Heine, F.; Hildebrandt, U.; Seel, S.; Lange, R.

2017-11-01

We present first, promising experiments with a novel, compact and simple Nd:YVO4 slab laser with 12 W of 1.06 μm optical output power and a beam quality factor M2 2.5. The laser is made of a diffusion-bonded YVO4/Nd:YVO4 composite crystal that exhibits two unique features. First, it ensures a one-dimensional heat removal from the laser crystal, which leads to a temperature profile without detrimental influence on the laser beam. Thus, the induced thermo-optical aberrations to the laser field are low, allowing power scaling with good beam quality. Second, the composite crystal itself acts as a waveguide for the 809 nm pump-light that is supplied from a diode laser bar. Pump-light shaping optics, e.g. fast- or slow-axis collimators can be omitted, reducing the complexity of the system. Pump-light redundancy can be easily achieved. Eventually, the investigated slab laser might be suitable for distortion-free high gain amplification of weak optical signals.

Determination of parabens using two microextraction methods coupled with capillary liquid chromatography-UV detection.

PubMed

Chen, Chen-Wen; Hsu, Wen-Chan; Lu, Ya-Chen; Weng, Jing-Ru; Feng, Chia-Hsien

2018-02-15

Parabens are common preservatives and environmental hormones. As such, possible detrimental health effects could be amplified through their widespread use in foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products. Thus, the determination of parabens in such products is of particular importance. This study explored vortex-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction techniques based on the solidification of a floating organic drop (VA-DLLME-SFO) and salt-assisted cloud point extraction (SA-CPE) for paraben extraction. Microanalysis was performed using a capillary liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection system. These techniques were modified successfully to determine four parabens in 19 commercial products. The regression equations of these parabens exhibited good linearity (r 2 =0.998, 0.1-10μg/mL), good precision (RSD<5%) and accuracy (RE<5%), reduced reagent consumption and reaction times (<6min), and excellent sample versatility. VA-DLLME-SFO was also particularly convenient due to the use of a solidified extract. Thus, the VA-DLLME-SFO technique was better suited to the extraction of parabens from complex matrices. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cart3D Simulations for the Second AIAA Sonic Boom Prediction Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, George R.; Aftosmis, Michael J.; Nemec, Marian

2017-01-01

Simulation results are presented for all test cases prescribed in the Second AIAA Sonic Boom Prediction Workshop. For each of the four nearfield test cases, we compute pressure signatures at specified distances and off-track angles, using an inviscid, embedded-boundary Cartesian-mesh flow solver with output-based mesh adaptation. The cases range in complexity from an axisymmetric body to a full low-boom aircraft configuration with a powered nacelle. For efficiency, boom carpets are decomposed into sets of independent meshes and computed in parallel. This also facilitates the use of more effective meshing strategies - each off-track angle is computed on a mesh with good azimuthal alignment, higher aspect ratio cells, and more tailored adaptation. The nearfield signatures generally exhibit good convergence with mesh refinement. We introduce a local error estimation procedure to highlight regions of the signatures most sensitive to mesh refinement. Results are also presented for the two propagation test cases, which investigate the effects of atmospheric profiles on ground noise. Propagation is handled with an augmented Burgers' equation method (NASA's sBOOM), and ground noise metrics are computed with LCASB.

Magnetic Graphene Nanosheet-Based Microfluidic Device for Homogeneous Real-Time Electronic Monitoring of Pyrophosphatase Activity Using Enzymatic Hydrolysate-Induced Release of Copper Ion.

PubMed

Lin, Youxiu; Zhou, Qian; Li, Juan; Shu, Jian; Qiu, Zhenli; Lin, Yuping; Tang, Dianping

2016-01-05

A novel flow-through microfluidic device based on a magneto-controlled graphene sensing platform was designed for homogeneous electronic monitoring of pyrophosphatase (PPase) activity; enzymatic hydrolysate-induced release of inorganic copper ion (Cu(2+)) from the Cu(2+)-coordinated pyrophosphate ions (Cu(2+)-PPi) complex was assessed to determine enzyme activity. Magnetic graphene nanosheets (MGNS) functionalized with negatively charged Nafion were synthesized by using the wet-chemistry method. The Cu(2+)-PPi complexes were prepared on the basis of the coordination reaction between copper ion and inorganic pyrophosphate ions. Upon target PPase introduction into the detection system, the analyte initially hydrolyzed pyrophosphate ions into phosphate ions and released the electroactive copper ions from Cu(2+)-PPi complexes. The released copper ions could be readily captured through the negatively charged Nafion on the magnetic graphene nanosheets, which could be quantitatively monitored by using the stripping voltammetry on the flow-through detection cell with an external magnet. Under optimal conditions, the obtained electrochemical signal exhibited a high dependence on PPase activity within a dynamic range from 0.1 to 20 mU mL(-1) and allowed the detection at a concentration as low as 0.05 mU mL(-1). Coefficients of variation for reproducibility of the intra-assay and interassay were below 7.6 and 9.8%, respectively. The inhibition efficiency of sodium fluoride (NaF) also received good results in pyrophosphatase inhibitor screening research. In addition, the methodology afforded good specificity and selectivity, simplification, and low cost without the need of sample separations and multiple washing steps, thus representing a user-friendly protocol for practical utilization in a quantitative PPase activity.

Temperature-dependent IR spectroscopic and structural study of 18-crown-6 chelating ligand in the complexation with sodium surfactant salts and potassium picrate.

PubMed

Mihelj, Tea; Tomašić, Vlasta; Biliškov, Nikola; Liu, Feng

2014-04-24

18-crown-6 ether (18C6) complexes with the following anionic surfactants: sodium n-dodecylsulfate (18C6-NaDS), sodium 4-(1-pentylheptyl)benzenesulfonate (18C6-NaDBS); and potassium picrate (18C6-KP) were synthesized and studied in terms of their thermal and structural properties. Physico-chemical properties of new solid 1:1 coordination complexes were characterized by infrared (IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and microscopic observations. The strength of coordination between Na(+) and oxygen atoms of 18C6 ligand does not depend on anionic part of the surfactant, as established by thermodynamical parameters obtained by temperature-dependent IR spectroscopy. Each of these complexes exhibit different kinds of endothermic transitions in heating scan. Diffraction maxima obtained by SAXS and WAXS, refer the behavior of the compounds 18C6-NaDS and 18C6-NaDBS as smectic liquid crystalline. Distortion of 18C6-NaDS and 18C6-KP complexes occurs in two steps. Temperature of the decomplexation of solid crystal complex 18C6-KP is considerably higher than of mesophase complexes, 18C6-NaDS, and 18C6-NaDBS. The structural and liquid crystalline properties of novel 18-crown-ether complexes are function of anionic molecule geometry, type of chosen cation (Na(+), K(+)), as well as architecture of self-organized aggregates. A good combination of crown ether unit and amphiphile may provide a possibility for preparing new functionalized materials, opening the research field of ion complexation and of host-guest type behavior. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Synthesis, characterisation and catalytic activity of 4, 5-imidazoledicarboxylate ligated Co(II) and Cd(II) metal-organic coordination complexes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gangu, Kranthi Kumar; Maddila, Suresh; Mukkamala, Saratchandra Babu; Jonnalagadda, Sreekantha B.

2017-09-01

Two mono nuclear coordination complexes, namely, [Co(4,5-Imdc)2 (H2O)2] (1) and [Cd(4,5-Imdc)2(H2O)3]·H2O (2) were constructed using Co(II) and Cd(II) metal salts with 4,5-Imidazoledicarboxylic acid (4,5-Imdc) as organic ligand. Both 1, 2 were structurally characterized by single crystal XRD and the results reveal that 1 belongs to P21/n space group with unit cell parameters [a = 5.0514(3) Å, b = 22.5786(9) Å, c = 6.5377(3) Å, β = 111.5°] whereas, 2 belongs to P21/c space group with unit cell parameters [a = 6.9116(1) Å, b = 17.4579(2) Å, c = 13.8941(2) Å, β = 97.7°]. While Co(II) in 1 exhibited a six coordination geometry with 4,5-Imdc and water molecules, Cd(II) ion in 2 showed a seven coordination with the same ligand and solvent. In both 1 and 2, the hydrogen bond interactions with mononuclear unit generated 3D-supramolecular structures. Both complexes exhibit solid state fluorescent emission at room temperature. The efficacy of both the complexes as heterogeneous catalysts was examined in the green synthesis of six pyrano[2,3,c]pyrazole derivatives with ethanol as solvent via one-pot reaction between four components, a mixture of aromatic aldehyde, malononitrile, hydrazine hydrate and dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate. Both 1 and 2 have produced pyrano [2,3,c]pyrazoles in impressive yields (92-98%) at room temperature in short interval of times (<20 min), with no need for any chromatographic separations. With good stability, ease of preparation and recovery plus reusability up to six cycles, both 1 and 2 prove to be excellent environmental friendly catalysts for the value-added organic transformations using green principles.

Shear bond strength of porcelain laminate veneers to enamel, dentine and enamel-dentine complex bonded with different adhesive luting systems.

PubMed

Öztürk, Elif; Bolay, Şükran; Hickel, Reinhard; Ilie, Nicoleta

2013-02-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the shear bond strength of porcelain laminate veneers to 3 different surfaces by means of enamel, dentine, and enamel-dentine complex. One hundred thirty-five extracted human maxillary central teeth were used, and the teeth were randomly divided into 9 groups (n=15). The teeth were prepared with 3 different levels for bonding surfaces of enamel (E), dentine (D), and enamel-dentine complex (E-D). Porcelain discs (IPS e.max Press, Ivoclar Vivadent) of 2mm in thickness and 4mm in diameter were luted to the tooth surfaces by using 2 light-curing (RelyX Veneer [RV], 3M ESPE; Variolink Veneer [VV], Ivoclar Vivadent) and a dual-curing (Variolink II [V2], Ivoclar Vivadent) adhesive systems according to the manufacturers' instructions. Shear bond strength test was performed in a universal testing machine at 0.5mm/min until bonding failure. Failure modes were determined under a stereomicroscope, and fracture surfaces were evaluated with a scanning electron microscope. The data were statistically analysed (SPSS 17.0) (p=0.05). Group RV-D exhibited the lowest bond strength value (5.42±6.6MPa). There was statistically no difference among RV-D, V2-D (13.78±8.8MPa) and VV-D (13.84±6.2MPa) groups (p>0.05). Group VV-E exhibited the highest bond strength value (24.76±8.8MPa). The type of tooth structure affected the shear bond strength of the porcelain laminate veneers to the 3 different types of tooth structures (enamel, dentine, and enamel-dentine complex). When dentine exposure is necessary during preparation, enough sound enamel must be protected as much as possible to maintain a good bonding; to obtain maximum bond strength, preparation margins should be on sound enamel. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Antimalarial, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, DNA interaction and SOD like activities of tetrahedral copper(II) complexes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehta, Jugal V.; Gajera, Sanjay B.; Patel, Mohan N.

2015-02-01

The mononuclear copper(II) complexes with P, O-donor ligand and different fluoroquinolones have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, electronic spectra, TGA, EPR, FT-IR and LC-MS spectroscopy. An antimicrobial efficiency of the complexes has been tested against five different microorganisms in terms of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and displays very good antimicrobial activity. The binding strength and binding mode of the complexes with Herring Sperm DNA (HS DNA) have been investigated by absorption titration and viscosity measurement studies. The studies suggest the classical intercalative mode of DNA binding. Gel electrophoresis assay determines the ability of the complexes to cleave the supercoiled form of pUC19 DNA. Synthesized complexes have been tested for their SOD mimic activity using nonenzymatic NBT/NADH/PMS system and found to have good antioxidant activity. All the complexes show good cytotoxic and in vitro antimalarial activities.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

A host robot, Starquester 2000, helps describe for visitors the accomplishments of unsung space heroes - space probes - and their role in space exploration. The walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit is part of the $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex. Other additions include a walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater, plus an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. Inaugurated three decades ago, the Visitor Complex is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Part of the $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex, the new information center welcomes visitors to the Gateway to the Universe. The five large video walls provide an orientation video, with an introduction to the range of activities and exhibits, and honor the center's namesake, President John F. Kennedy. Other new attractions are an information center, a walk- through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Pacopampa: Early evidence of violence at a ceremonial site in the northern Peruvian highlands.

PubMed

Nagaoka, Tomohito; Uzawa, Kazuhiro; Seki, Yuji; Morales Chocano, Daniel

2017-01-01

Pacopampa, a ceremonial complex in Peru's northern highlands, reveals early evidence of trauma in the Middle to Late Formative Period coinciding with the emergence of social stratification in the area. We examine the prevalence of trauma in human remains found at the site and present evidence of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of individuals who lived during the early stages of Andean civilization. The materials are the remains of 104 individuals (38 non-adult and 66 adult) from the Middle to Late Formative Periods. We explored trauma macroscopically and recorded patterns based on skeletons' locations, age at death, sex, social class, and chronology. We detected trauma in remains over the Middle to Late Formative Periods. While the prevalence of trauma was minimal in the Middle Formative Period, skeletons from the subsequent era exhibit more severe disturbances. However, all the skeletons show signs of healing and affected individuals experienced a low degree of trauma. Given the archaeological context (the remains were recovered from sites of ceremonial practices), as well as the equal distribution of trauma among both sexes and a lack of defensive architecture, it is plausible that rituals, rather than organized warfare or raids, caused most of the exhibited trauma. Pacopampa was home to a complex society founded on ritual activity in a ceremonial center: this is indicated by the presence of ritual violence in a society that built impressively large, ceremonial architecture and developed social stratification without any political control of surplus agricultural goods.

Fluorinated tripodal receptors for potentiometric chloride detection in biological fluids.

PubMed

Pankratova, Nadezda; Cuartero, Maria; Jowett, Laura A; Howe, Ethan N W; Gale, Philip A; Bakker, Eric; Crespo, Gastón A

2018-01-15

Fluorinated tripodal compounds were recently reported to be efficient transmembrane transporters for a series of inorganic anions. In particular, this class of receptors has been shown to be suitable for the effective complexation of chloride, nitrate, bicarbonate and sulfate anions via hydrogen bonding. The potentiometric properties of urea and thiourea-based fluorinated tripodal receptors are explored here for the first time, in light of the need for reliable sensors for chloride monitoring in undiluted biological fluids. The ion selective electrode (ISE) membranes with tren-based tris-urea bis(CF 3 ) tripodal compound (ionophore I) were found to exhibit the best selectivity for chloride over major lipophilic anions such as salicylate ( [Formula: see text] ) and thiocyanate ( [Formula: see text] ). Ionophore I-based ISEs were successfully applied for chloride determination in undiluted human serum as well as artificial serum sample, the slope of the linear calibration at the relevant background of interfering ions being close to Nernstian (49.8±1.7mV). The results of potentiometric measurements were confirmed by argentometric titration. Moreover, the ionophore I-based ISE membrane was shown to exhibit a very good long-term stability of potentiometric performance over the period of 10 weeks. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) titrations, potentiometric sandwich membrane experiments and density functional theory (DFT) computational studies were performed to determine the binding constants and suggest 1:1 complexation stoichiometry for the ionophore I with chloride as well as salicylate. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KSC-2014-3137

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The grand opening of the new Great Balls of Fire exhibit was held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The grand opening featured remarks by former NASA astronaut Tom Jones, and Therrin Protze, chief operating officer at Delaware North Parks and Resorts at the visitor complex. Informational displays about future NASA exploration missions are featured along the wall of the new exhibit. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

A common anchor facilitated GO-DNA nano-system for multiplex microRNA analysis in live cells.

PubMed

Yu, Jiantao; He, Sihui; Shao, Chen; Zhao, Haoran; Li, Jing; Tian, Leilei

2018-04-19

The design of a nano-system for the detection of intracellular microRNAs is challenging as it must fulfill complex requirements, i.e., it must have a high sensitivity to determine the dynamic expression level, a good reliability for multiplex and simultaneous detection, and a satisfactory biostability to work in biological environments. Instead of employing a commonly used physisorption or a full-conjugation strategy, here, a GO-DNA nano-system was developed under graft/base-pairing construction. The common anchor sequence was chemically grafted to GO to base-pair with various microRNA probes; and the hybridization with miRNAs drives the dyes on the probes to leave away from GO, resulting in "turned-on" fluorescence. This strategy not only simplifies the synthesis but also efficiently balances the loading yields of different probes. Moreover, the conjugation yield of GO with a base-paired hybrid has been improved by more than two-fold compared to that of the conjugation with a single strand. We demonstrated that base-paired DNA probes could be efficiently delivered into cells along with GO and are properly stabilized by the conjugated anchor sequence. The resultant GO-DNA nano-system exhibited high stability in a complex biological environment and good resistance to nucleases, and was able to accurately discriminate various miRNAs without cross-reaction. With all of these positive features, the GO-DNA nano-system can simultaneously detect three miRNAs and monitor their dynamic expression levels.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

The $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex includes a new International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. Other additions are a new information center, a walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

The $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex includes a new International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. Other additions are the new information center, a walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Wearable Wide-Range Strain Sensors Based on Ionic Liquids and Monitoring of Human Activities

PubMed Central

Zhang, Shao-Hui; Wang, Feng-Xia; Li, Jia-Jia; Peng, Hong-Dan; Yan, Jing-Hui; Pan, Ge-Bo

2017-01-01

Wearable sensors for detection of human activities have encouraged the development of highly elastic sensors. In particular, to capture subtle and large-scale body motion, stretchable and wide-range strain sensors are highly desired, but still a challenge. Herein, a highly stretchable and transparent stain sensor based on ionic liquids and elastic polymer has been developed. The as-obtained sensor exhibits impressive stretchability with wide-range strain (from 0.1% to 400%), good bending properties and high sensitivity, whose gauge factor can reach 7.9. Importantly, the sensors show excellent biological compatibility and succeed in monitoring the diverse human activities ranging from the complex large-scale multidimensional motions to subtle signals, including wrist, finger and elbow joint bending, finger touch, breath, speech, swallow behavior and pulse wave. PMID:29135928

Single-walled carbon nanotube/metalloporphyrin composites for the chemiresistive detection of amines and meat spoilage.

PubMed

Liu, Sophie F; Petty, Alexander R; Sazama, Graham T; Swager, Timothy M

2015-05-26

Chemiresistive detectors for amine vapors were made from single-walled carbon nanotubes by noncovalent modification with cobalt meso-arylporphyrin complexes. We show that through changes in the oxidation state of the metal, the electron-withdrawing character of the porphyrinato ligand, and the counteranion, the magnitude of the chemiresistive response to ammonia could be improved. The devices exhibited sub-ppm sensitivity and high selectivity toward amines as well as good stability to air, moisture, and time. The application of these chemiresistors in the detection of various biogenic amines (i.e. putrescine, cadaverine) and in the monitoring of spoilage in raw meat and fish samples (chicken, pork, salmon, cod) over several days was also demonstrated. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A Water-Soluble Fluorescent Probe for SO2 Derivatives in Aqueous Solution and Serum Based on Phenanthroimidazole Dye.

PubMed

Zhou, Yang; Wang, Ying; Xiao, Shuzhang; He, Xiafeng; Zhang, Nuonuo; Li, Dejiang; Zheng, Kaibo

2017-05-01

A water-soluble fluorescent SO 2 derivatives probe PI-SO 2 based on a phenanthroimidazole dye, and a sensitive SO 2 recognition site, aldehyde was constructed. The probe PI-SO 2 exhibits desirable properties such as high sensitivity, high selectivity and good water-solubility. Significantly, we have demonstrated that the probe PI-SO 2 is suitable for rapidly fluorescence detecting of SO 2 derivatives in aqueous solution and serum. The application of the novel probe PI-SO 2 proved that it was not only a useful tool for the detection of SO 2 derivatives in vitro, but also a potential assay for investigating the effects of SO 2 derivatives, and demonstrating its value in practical applicationin of complex biological samples.

Lead(II) coordination polymers based on rigid-flexible 3,5-bis-oxyacetate-benzoic acid: Structural transition driven by temperature control

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Yong-Qiang, E-mail: chenjzxy@126.com; Tian, Yuan

2017-03-15

Three Pb(II) complexes ([Pb{sub 3}(BOABA){sub 2}(H{sub 2}O)]·H{sub 2}O){sub n} (1), ([Pb{sub 4}(BOABA){sub 2}(µ{sub 4}-O)(H{sub 2}O){sub 2}]·H{sub 2}O){sub n} (2), and [Pb{sub 3}(BOABA){sub 2}(H{sub 2}O)]{sub n} (3) (H{sub 3}BOABA=3,5-bis-oxyacetate-benzoic acid) were obtained under the same reaction systems with different temperatures. Complexes 1 and 2 are two dimensional (2D) networks based on Pb-BOABA chains and Pb{sub 4}(µ{sub 4}-O)(COO){sub 6} SBUs, respectively. Complex 3 presents an interesting three dimensional (3D) framework, was obtained by increasing the reaction temperature. Structural transition of the crystallization products is largely dependent on the reaction temperature. Moreover, the fluorescence properties of complexes 1–3 have been investigated. - Graphicalmore » abstract: Three Pb(II) coordination polymers were obtained under the same reaction systems with different temperatures. Both of complexes 1 and 2 are 2D network. 3 presents a 3D framework based on Pb–O–C rods SBUs. The 2D to 3D structures transition between three complexes was achieved successfully by temperature control. - Highlights: • Three Pb(II) complexes were obtained under the same reaction systems with different temperatures. • Structural transition of the crystallization products is largely dependent on the reaction temperature. • The luminescence properties studies reveal that three complexes exhibit yellow fluorescence emission behavior, which might be good candidates for obtaining photoluminescent materials.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meng, Jiang Ping; Yan, Zhi Shuo; Long, Ji Ying

By using a rigid dicarboxylate ligand, 4,5-di(4′-carboxylphenyl)benzene (H{sub 2}L), two complexes formulated as SrL(DMF)(H{sub 2}O)·(CH{sub 3}CN) (DMF=N,N′-dimethylformamide) (1) and BaL(H{sub 2}O){sub 2} (2) were solvothermally synthesized and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Complexes 1 and 2 display two-dimensional (2D) layer structures. The two complexes exhibit different electrochemical and photoelectrochemical properties. Their thermal stabilities, cyclic voltammograms, UV–vis absorption and diffuse reflectance spectra and photoluminescence properties have been investigated. The band structures, the total density of states (TDOS) and partial density of states (PDOS) of the two complexes were calculated by CASTEP program. Complex 2 exhibits much higher photocurrent density thanmore » complex 1. The Mott–Schottky plots reveal that complexes 1 and 2 both are p-type semiconductors, which are in agreement with their band structure calculations. - Graphical abstract: Two alkaline earth metal(II) complexes with 2D layer structures are p-type semiconductors, they possess different band structures and density of states. And the Ba(II) complex 2 exhibits much higher photocurrent density than the Sr(II) complex 1.« less

Process consistency in models: The importance of system signatures, expert knowledge, and process complexity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hrachowitz, M.; Fovet, O.; Ruiz, L.; Euser, T.; Gharari, S.; Nijzink, R.; Freer, J.; Savenije, H. H. G.; Gascuel-Odoux, C.

2014-09-01

Hydrological models frequently suffer from limited predictive power despite adequate calibration performances. This can indicate insufficient representations of the underlying processes. Thus, ways are sought to increase model consistency while satisfying the contrasting priorities of increased model complexity and limited equifinality. In this study, the value of a systematic use of hydrological signatures and expert knowledge for increasing model consistency was tested. It was found that a simple conceptual model, constrained by four calibration objective functions, was able to adequately reproduce the hydrograph in the calibration period. The model, however, could not reproduce a suite of hydrological signatures, indicating a lack of model consistency. Subsequently, testing 11 models, model complexity was increased in a stepwise way and counter-balanced by "prior constraints," inferred from expert knowledge to ensure a model which behaves well with respect to the modeler's perception of the system. We showed that, in spite of unchanged calibration performance, the most complex model setup exhibited increased performance in the independent test period and skill to better reproduce all tested signatures, indicating a better system representation. The results suggest that a model may be inadequate despite good performance with respect to multiple calibration objectives and that increasing model complexity, if counter-balanced by prior constraints, can significantly increase predictive performance of a model and its skill to reproduce hydrological signatures. The results strongly illustrate the need to balance automated model calibration with a more expert-knowledge-driven strategy of constraining models.

Syntheses, structures and selective dye adsorption of five formic-based coordination polymers prepared by in-situ hydrolysis of N, N‧-dimethylformamide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Zheng; Meng, Xiang-min; Zhang, Dong-mei; Zhang, Xia; Wang, Mei; Jin, Fan; Fan, Yu-hua

2017-04-01

Five functional coordination polymers (formic-based CPs) namely: {[Cu2(CHOO)3(bibp)2]·CHOO}n (1), {[Co2(CHOO)3(bibp)2]·NO3·H2O}n (2), {[Ni2(CHOO)3(bibp)2]·NO3·H2O}n (3) [Co(CHOO)2(bbibp)]n (4) and [Zn(CHOO)2(bbibp)]n (5) (bibp=4,4‧-bis(imidazolyl)biphenyl, bbibp=4,4‧-bis(benzoimidazo-1-yl)biphenyl) have been successfully hydrothermally synthesized using the in-situ hydrolysis of N, N‧-dimethylformamide (DMF) as the source of formate. All of these five polymers were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR spectra, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. Complexes 1-3 have the similar three-dimensional 3D kag topological framework built from the bibp ligand as the support member between the neighboring formic planes. Both complexes 4 and 5 have the similar one-dimensional 1D linear chain which is further assembled into 3D supermolecular structure by C-H…O hydrogen bonds. The dyes adsorption experiments have also been investigated systematically. The results show that complexes 2 and 3 exhibit high selective adsorption ability towards anionic dyes in their aqueous solution. Moreover, complex 2 displays good reversibility in the process of the dyes adsorption-release. Meanwhile, the unusual blocking phenomenon was firstly observed when complex 2 was in MO/OIV aqueous solutions with different concentration.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yin, Fei; Chen, Jing; Liang, Yongfeng

Two coordination polymers [Co(dnbab){sub 2}(bimb)](H{sub 2}O){sub 4} (1) and [Zn(dnbab){sub 2}(bimb)](H{sub 2}O){sub 5} (2) (Hdnbab=4-[(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl)amino]benzoic acid, bimb=1,4-bis(1-imidazolyl) benzene) have been solvothermally synthesized. Their structures have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses and further characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and thermogravimetric (TG) analyses. Complexes 1 and 2 are isostructures and each displays an one-dimensional (1D) zigzag chain, which further forms a 3D supramolecular architecture with 1-D channels via inter-chain π–π interactions and hydrogen bonds. Moreover, the magnetic properties of 1 and fluorescent properties of 2 have been investigated. - Graphical abstract: Two coordination supramolecular frameworks [Co(dnbab){sub 2}(bimb)](H{sub 2}O){sub 4}(1)more » and [Zn(dnbab){sub 2}(bimb)](H{sub 2}O){sub 5}(2) (Hdnbab=4-[(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl)amino]benzoic acid, bimb=1,4-bis(1-imidazolyl) benzene) have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. Their thermal, magnetic and fluorescent properties have also been studied. - Highlights: • Two isomorphic Co(II)/Zn(II) complexes with the mixed-ligands have been synthesized. • Hydrogen bonds and π–π stacking interactions directed the final 3-D architecture assembly. • Both Co(II) and Zn(II) complexes show good thermal stability. • Co complex exhibits antiferromagnetic interaction. • The fluorescent property of Zn(II) complex has been investigated in the solid state.« less

Evaluating Education and Science at the KSC Visitor Complex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, Lance K.

2002-01-01

As part of a two-year NASA-ASEE project, a preliminary evaluation and subsequent recommendations were developed to improve the education and science content of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex exhibits. Recommendations for improvements in those exhibits were based on qualitative descriptions of the exhibits, on comparisons to similar exhibit collections, and on available evaluation processes. Because of the subjective nature of measuring content in a broad group of exhibits and displays, emphasis is placed on employing a survey format for a follow-on, more quantitative evaluation. The use of an external organization for this evaluation development is also recommended to reduce bias and increase validity.

Evaluating Education and Science at the KSC Visitor Complex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, Lance K.

2001-01-01

As part of a two-year NASA-ASEE project, a preliminary evaluation and subsequent recommendations were developed to improve the education and science content of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex exhibits. Recommendations for improvements in those exhibits were based on qualitative descriptions of the exhibits, on comparisons to similar exhibit collections, and on available evaluation processes. Because of the subjective nature of measuring content in a broad group of exhibits and displays, emphasis is placed on employing a survey format for a follow-on, more quantitative evaluation. The use of an external organization for this evaluation development is also recommended to reduce bias and increase validity.

Mixed micelles loaded with silybin-polyene phosphatidylcholine complex improve drug solubility

PubMed Central

Duan, Rui-ling; Sun, Xun; Liu, Jie; Gong, Tao; Zhang, Zhi-rong

2011-01-01

Aim: To prepare a novel formulation of phosphatidylcholine (PC)-bile salts (BS)-mixed micelles (MMs) loaded with silybin (SLB)-PC complex for parenteral applications. Methods: SLB-PC-BS-MMs were prepared using the co-precipitation method. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis was used to confirm the formation of the complex and several parameters were optimized to obtain a high quality formulation. The water-solubility, drug loading, particle size, zeta potential, morphology and in vivo properties of the SLB-PC-BS-MMs were determined. Results: The solubility of SLB in water was increased from 40.83±1.18 μg/mL to 10.14±0.36 mg/mL with a high drug loading (DL) of 14.43%±0.44% under optimized conditions. The SLB-PC-BS-MMs were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and showed spherical shapes. The particle size and zeta potential, as measured by photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS), were about 30±4.8 nm and −39±5.0 mV, respectively. In vivo studies showed that incorporation of the SLB-PC complex into PC-BS-MMs led to a prolonged circulation time of the drug. Conclusion: This novel formulation appears to be a good candidate for drug substances that exhibit poor solubility for parenteral administration. PMID:21170082

Structural, thermal, morphological and biological studies of proton-transfer complexes formed from 4-aminoantipyrine with quinol and picric acid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adam, Abdel Majid A.

2013-03-01

4-Aminoantipyrine (4AAP) is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, biochemical experiments and environmental monitoring. However, residual amounts of 4AAP in the environment may pose a threat to human health. To provide basic data that can be used to extract or eliminate 4AAP from the environment, the proton-transfer complexes of 4AAP with quinol (QL) and picric acid (PA) were synthesized and spectroscopically investigated. The interactions afforded two new proton-transfer salts named 1,5-dimethyl-3-oxo-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-aminium-4-hydroxyphenolate and 1,5-dimethyl-3-oxo-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-aminium-2,4,6-trinitrophenolate for QL and PA, respectively, via a 1:1 stoichiometry. Elemental analysis (CHN), electronic absorption, spectrophotometric titration, IR, Raman, 1H NMR and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the new products. The thermal stability of the synthesized CT complexes was investigated using thermogravimetric (TG) analyses, and the morphology and particle size of these complexes were obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that PA and 4AAP immediately formed a yellow precipitate with a remarkable sponge-like morphology and good thermal stability up to 180 °C. Finally, the biological activities of the newly synthesized CT complexes were tested for their antibacterial and antifungal activities. The results indicated that the [(4AAP)(QL)] complex exhibited strong antimicrobial activities against various bacterial and fungal strains compared with standard drugs.

Structural, thermal, morphological and biological studies of proton-transfer complexes formed from 4-aminoantipyrine with quinol and picric acid.

PubMed

Adam, Abdel Majid A

2013-03-01

4-Aminoantipyrine (4AAP) is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, biochemical experiments and environmental monitoring. However, residual amounts of 4AAP in the environment may pose a threat to human health. To provide basic data that can be used to extract or eliminate 4AAP from the environment, the proton-transfer complexes of 4AAP with quinol (QL) and picric acid (PA) were synthesized and spectroscopically investigated. The interactions afforded two new proton-transfer salts named 1,5-dimethyl-3-oxo-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-aminium-4-hydroxyphenolate and 1,5-dimethyl-3-oxo-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-4-aminium-2,4,6-trinitrophenolate for QL and PA, respectively, via a 1:1 stoichiometry. Elemental analysis (CHN), electronic absorption, spectrophotometric titration, IR, Raman, (1)H NMR and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the new products. The thermal stability of the synthesized CT complexes was investigated using thermogravimetric (TG) analyses, and the morphology and particle size of these complexes were obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that PA and 4AAP immediately formed a yellow precipitate with a remarkable sponge-like morphology and good thermal stability up to 180°C. Finally, the biological activities of the newly synthesized CT complexes were tested for their antibacterial and antifungal activities. The results indicated that the [(4AAP)(QL)] complex exhibited strong antimicrobial activities against various bacterial and fungal strains compared with standard drugs. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel fluorescence "turn-on" sensor based on a photochromic diarylethene for the selective detection of Al(III).

PubMed

Wang, Niansheng; Wang, Renjie; Tu, Yayi; Pu, Shouzhi; Liu, Gang

2018-05-05

A novel photochromic diarylethene with a triazole-containing 2-(2'-phenoxymethyl)-benzothiazole group has been synthesized via "click" reaction. The diarylethene exhibited good photochromism and photoswitchable fluorescence. Its fluorescence emission intensity was enhanced 7-fold by acids, accompanied by the red-shift of emission peak from 526nm to 566nm and the concomitant color change from dark to bright flavogreen. The diarylethene selectively formed a 1:1 metal complex with Al 3+ , resulting in a "turn-on" fluorescence signal. The complexation - reaction between Al 3+ and the diarylethene is reversible with the binding constant of 2.73×10 3 Lmol -1 . The limit of detection (LOD) of Al 3+ was determined to be 5.94×10 -8 molL -1 . Based on this unimolecular platform, a logic circuit was fabricated using the fluorescence emission intensity at 572nm as the output and the combined stimuli of Al 3+ /EDTA and UV/Vis as the inputs. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

CDP++.Italian: Modelling Sublexical and Supralexical Inconsistency in a Shallow Orthography

PubMed Central

Perry, Conrad; Ziegler, Johannes C.; Zorzi, Marco

2014-01-01

Most models of reading aloud have been constructed to explain data in relatively complex orthographies like English and French. Here, we created an Italian version of the Connectionist Dual Process Model of Reading Aloud (CDP++) to examine the extent to which the model could predict data in a language which has relatively simple orthography-phonology relationships but is relatively complex at a suprasegmental (word stress) level. We show that the model exhibits good quantitative performance and accounts for key phenomena observed in naming studies, including some apparently contradictory findings. These effects include stress regularity and stress consistency, both of which have been especially important in studies of word recognition and reading aloud in Italian. Overall, the results of the model compare favourably to an alternative connectionist model that can learn non-linear spelling-to-sound mappings. This suggests that CDP++ is currently the leading computational model of reading aloud in Italian, and that its simple linear learning mechanism adequately captures the statistical regularities of the spelling-to-sound mapping both at the segmental and supra-segmental levels. PMID:24740261

Logarithmic r-θ mapping for hybrid optical neural network filter for multiple objects recognition within cluttered scenes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kypraios, Ioannis; Young, Rupert C. D.; Chatwin, Chris R.; Birch, Phil M.

2009-04-01

θThe window unit in the design of the complex logarithmic r-θ mapping for hybrid optical neural network filter can allow multiple objects of the same class to be detected within the input image. Additionally, the architecture of the neural network unit of the complex logarithmic r-θ mapping for hybrid optical neural network filter becomes attractive for accommodating the recognition of multiple objects of different classes within the input image by modifying the output layer of the unit. We test the overall filter for multiple objects of the same and of different classes' recognition within cluttered input images and video sequences of cluttered scenes. Logarithmic r-θ mapping for hybrid optical neural network filter is shown to exhibit with a single pass over the input data simultaneously in-plane rotation, out-of-plane rotation, scale, log r-θ map translation and shift invariance, and good clutter tolerance by recognizing correctly the different objects within the cluttered scenes. We record in our results additional extracted information from the cluttered scenes about the objects' relative position, scale and in-plane rotation.

Blue emitting copper nanoclusters as colorimetric and fluorescent probe for the selective detection of bilirubin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

R. S., Aparna; J. S., Anjali Devi; John, Nebu; Abha, K.; S. S., Syamchand; George, Sony

2018-06-01

Hurdles to develop point of care diagnostic methods restrict the translation of progress in the health care sector from bench side to bedside. In this article a simple, cost effective fluorescent as well as colorimetric nanosensor was developed for the early and easy detection of hyperbilirubinemia. A stable, water soluble bovine serum albumin stabilised copper nanocluster (BSA CuNC) was used as the fluorescent probe which exhibited strong blue emission (404 nm) upon 330 nm excitation. The fluorescence of the BSA CuNC can be effectively quenched by the addition of bilirubin by the formation of copper-bilirubin complex. Meanwhile the copper-bilirubin complex resulted in an observable colour change from pale violet to green facilitating colorimetric detection. The prepared sensor displayed good selectivity and sensitivity over other co-existing molecules, and can be used for quantifying bilirubin with a detection limit down to 257 fM. Additionally, the as-prepared probe was coated on a paper strip to develop a portable paper strip sensor of bilirubin. Moreover, the method was successfully applied in real sample analysis and obtained promising result.

Pharmacophore based design of some multi-targeted compounds targeted against pathways of diabetic complications.

PubMed

Chadha, Navriti; Silakari, Om

2017-09-01

Diabetic complications is a complex metabolic disorder developed primarily due to prolonged hyperglycemia in the body. The complexity of the disease state as well as the unifying pathophysiology discussed in the literature reports exhibited that the use of multi-targeted agents with multiple complementary biological activities may offer promising therapy for the intervention of the disease over the single-target drugs. In the present study, novel thiazolidine-2,4-dione analogues were designed as multi-targeted agents implicated against the molecular pathways involved in diabetic complications using knowledge based as well as in-silico approaches such as pharmacophore mapping, molecular docking etc. The hit molecules were duly synthesized and biochemical estimation of these molecules against aldose reductase (ALR2), protein kinase Cβ (PKCβ) and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) led to identification of compound 2 that showed good potency against PARP-1 and ALR2 enzymes. These positive results support the progress of a low cost multi-targeted agent with putative roles in diabetic complications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Synthesis, characterization and solid state electrical properties of 1-D coordination polymer of the type [Cu{sub x}Ni{sub 1-x}(dadb){center_dot}yH{sub 2}O]{sub n}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prasad, R.L., E-mail: rlpjc@yahoo.co.in; Kushwaha, A.; Shrivastava, O.N.

2012-12-15

New heterobimetallic complexes [Cu{sub x}Ni{sub 1-x}(dadb){center_dot}yH{sub 2}O]{sub n} {l_brace}where dadb=2,5-Diamino-3,6-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone (1); x=1 (2), 0.5 (4), 0.25 (5), 0.125 (6), 0.0625 (7) and 0 (3); y=2; n=degree of polymerization{r_brace} were synthesized and characterized. Heterobimetallic complexes show normal magnetic moments, whereas, monometallic complexes exhibit magnetic moments less than the value due to spin only. Thermo-gravimetric analysis shows that degradation of the ligand dadb moiety is being controlled by the electronic environment of the Cu(II) ions in preference over Ni(II) in heterobimetallic complexes. Existence of the mixed valency/non-integral oxidation states of copper and nickel metal ions in the complex 4 has been attributedmore » from magnetic moment and ESR spectral results. Solid state dc electrical conductivity of all the complexes was investigated. Monometallic complexes were found to be semiconductors, whereas heterobimetallic coordination polymer 4 was found to exhibit metallic behaviour. Existence of mixed valency/ non-integral oxidation state of metal ions seems to be responsible for the metallic behaviour. - Graphical abstract: Contrast to the semiconductor monometallic complexes 2 and 3, the heterobimetallic complex 4 exhibits metallic behaviour attributed to the mixed valency/non-integral oxidation state of the metal ions concluded from magnetic and ESR spectral studies. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer 1-D coordination compounds of the type Cu{sub x}Ni{sub 1-x}(dadb){center_dot}yH{sub 2}O were synthesized and characterized. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Thermal degradation of the complexes provides an indication of long range electronic communication between metal to ligand. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer On inclusion of Ni(II) into 1-D coordination polymer of Cu(II). (a) Cu(II) and Ni(II) ions exhibit non-integral oxidation state. (b) resulting heterobimetallic complex 4 exhibits metallic behaviour at all temperature range of the present study whereas monometallic complexes are semiconductor.« less

Coexistence and chaos in complex ecologies [rapid communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sprott, J. C.; Vano, J. A.; Wildenberg, J. C.; Anderson, M. B.; Noel, J. K.

2005-02-01

Many complex dynamical systems in ecology, economics, neurology, and elsewhere, in which agents compete for limited resources, exhibit apparently chaotic fluctuations. This Letter proposes a purely deterministic mechanism for evolving robustly but weakly chaotic systems that exhibit adaptation, self-organization, sporadic volatility, and punctuated equilibria.

The structure of the yeast plasma membrane SNARE complex reveals destabilizing water-filled cavities.

PubMed

Strop, Pavel; Kaiser, Stephen E; Vrljic, Marija; Brunger, Axel T

2008-01-11

SNARE proteins form a complex that leads to membrane fusion between vesicles, organelles, and plasma membrane in all eukaryotic cells. We report the 1.7A resolution structure of the SNARE complex that mediates exocytosis at the plasma membrane in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Similar to its neuronal and endosomal homologues, the S. cerevisiae SNARE complex forms a parallel four-helix bundle in the center of which is an ionic layer. The S. cerevisiae SNARE complex exhibits increased helix bending near the ionic layer, contains water-filled cavities in the complex core, and exhibits reduced thermal stability relative to mammalian SNARE complexes. Mutagenesis experiments suggest that the water-filled cavities contribute to the lower stability of the S. cerevisiae complex.

Public good dynamics drive evolution of iron acquisition strategies in natural bacterioplankton populations.

PubMed

Cordero, Otto X; Ventouras, Laure-Anne; DeLong, Edward F; Polz, Martin F

2012-12-04

A common strategy among microbes living in iron-limited environments is the secretion of siderophores, which can bind poorly soluble iron and make it available to cells via active transport mechanisms. Such siderophore-iron complexes can be thought of as public goods that can be exploited by local communities and drive diversification, for example by the evolution of "cheating." However, it is unclear whether bacterial populations in the environment form stable enough communities such that social interactions significantly impact evolutionary dynamics. Here we show that public good games drive the evolution of iron acquisition strategies in wild populations of marine bacteria. We found that within nonclonal but ecologically cohesive genotypic clusters of closely related Vibrionaceae, only an intermediate percentage of genotypes are able to produce siderophores. Nonproducers within these clusters exhibited selective loss of siderophore biosynthetic pathways, whereas siderophore transport mechanisms were retained, suggesting that these nonproducers can act as cheaters that benefit from siderophore producers in their local environment. In support of this hypothesis, these nonproducers in iron-limited media suffer a significant decrease in growth, which can be alleviated by siderophores, presumably owing to the retention of transport mechanisms. Moreover, using ecological data of resource partitioning, we found that cheating coevolves with the ecological specialization toward association with larger particles in the water column, suggesting that these can harbor stable enough communities for dependencies among organisms to evolve.

Mathematics and complex systems.

PubMed

Foote, Richard

2007-10-19

Contemporary researchers strive to understand complex physical phenomena that involve many constituents, may be influenced by numerous forces, and may exhibit unexpected or emergent behavior. Often such "complex systems" are macroscopic manifestations of other systems that exhibit their own complex behavior and obey more elemental laws. This article proposes that areas of mathematics, even ones based on simple axiomatic foundations, have discernible layers, entirely unexpected "macroscopic" outcomes, and both mathematical and physical ramifications profoundly beyond their historical beginnings. In a larger sense, the study of mathematics itself, which is increasingly surpassing the capacity of researchers to verify "by hand," may be the ultimate complex system.

A novel tridentate coordination mode for the carbonatonickel system exhibited in an unusual hexanuclear nickel(II) mu3-carbonato-bridged complex.

PubMed

Anderson, James C; Blake, Alexander J; Moreno, Rafael Bou; Raynel, Guillaume; van Slageren, Joris

2009-11-14

The fixation of CO(2) at ambient temperature has been achieved by the reaction of Ni(cod)(2) and TMEDA in CO(2) saturated THF that yields a novel hexanuclear nickel(II) mu(3)-carbonato bridged complex [Ni(6)(mu(3)-CO(3))(4)(TMEDA)(6)(H(2)O)(12)](OH)(4) in 59% yield. The complex was characterised by MS analysis and the structure corroborated by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The complex exhibits a rare carbonato binding mode for Ni(II) complexes and moderately strong antiferromagnetic interactions.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yin, Wen-Yu; Zhuang, Guo-Yong; Huang, Zuo-Long

Three cadmium coordination polymers, [Cd(bismip)]{sub n} (1), {[Cd(bismip)(phen)]·H_2O}{sub n} (2) and {[Cd_2(bismip)_2(4,4′-bipy)]·2H_2O}{sub n} (3) (H{sub 2}bismip=5-(1H-benzoimidazol-2-ylsulfanylmethyl)-isophthalic acid, phen=1,10-phenanthroline, 4,4′-bipy=4,4′-bipyridine) have been prepared under solvothermal conditions. In 1, the [Cd{sub 4}(bismip){sub 3}] units are jointed by bismip ligands to afford a three-dimensional (3D) architecture. Complex 2 exhibits a 3D supramolecular framework based on the interconnection of 1D chains through hydrogen bonding interactions and π-π packing interactions. 3 is a two-fold interpenetrating 3D architecture with a (4·8{sup 2})(4{sup 2}·8{sup 4}) Schläfli symbol in which 2D layers are interlinked by 4,4′-bipy ligands. The diverse structures of compounds 1–3 indicate that the auxiliary ligandsmore » have significant effects on the final structures. The photoluminescent properties and photocatalytic properties of these coordination polymers in the solid state were also investigated. Remarkably, 3 shows the wide gap semiconductor nature and exhibit excellent photocatalytic performance. - Graphical abstract: Three cadmium coordination polymers with different architectures based on 5-(1H-benzoimidazol-2-ylsulfanylmethyl)-isophthalic acid have been prepared. Their photoluminescent properties were also investigated. - Highlights: • Three new Cd(II) Cps were synthesized based on H{sub 2}bismip. • Compounds 1 and 3 show 3D networks and 2 exhibits a 1D chain. • Compoud 3 exhibits good catalytic activity of methylene blue photodegradation.« less

A potential targeting gene vector based on biotinylated polyethyleneimine/avidin bioconjugates.

PubMed

Zeng, Xuan; Sun, Yun-Xia; Zhang, Xian-Zheng; Cheng, Si-Xue; Zhuo, Ren-Xi

2009-08-01

To improve the gene delivery efficiency and safety of non-viral vector in liver cells, avidin, which exhibited good biocompatibility and remarkable accumulation in liver, was bioconjugated with biotinylated polyethylenimine to obtain a novel gene vector. Biotinylated polyethyleneimine/avidin bioconjugate (ABP) was synthesized through grafting biotin to high molecular weight branched polyethylenimine (PEI, 25 kDa) and then bioconjugating with avidin by the biotin-avidin interaction. Physiochemical characteristics of ABP/pDNA complexes were analyzed, and in vitro cytotoxicity and transfection of ABP were also evaluated in HepG2, Hela and 293 T cells by using 25 kDa PEI as the control. It was found that ABP was able to condense pDNA efficiently at N/P ratio of 4. The particle sizes of ABP/pDNA complexes were less than 220 nm, and the average surface charges were around 27 mV at the N/P ratio ranging from 2 to 60. Among three different cell lines, ABP and its DNA complexes demonstrated much lower cytotoxicity and higher transfection efficacy in HepG2 cells as compared with 25 kDa PEI. ABP presented higher transfection efficacy and safety in HepG2 cells due to the biocompatibility of avidin and the specific interactions between avidin and HepG2 cells.

Nature-Inspired Strategy toward Superhydrophobic Fabrics for Versatile Oil/Water Separation.

PubMed

Zhou, Cailong; Chen, Zhaodan; Yang, Hao; Hou, Kun; Zeng, Xinjuan; Zheng, Yanfen; Cheng, Jiang

2017-03-15

Phytic acid, which is a naturally occurring component that is widely found in many plants, can strongly bond toxic mineral elements in the human body, because of its six phosphate groups. Some of the metal ions present the property of bonding with phytic acid to form insoluble coordination complexes aggregations, even at room temperature. Herein, a superhydrophobic cotton fabric was prepared using a novel and facile nature-inspired strategy that introduced phytic acid metal complex aggregations to generate rough hierarchical structures on a fabric surface, followed by PDMS modification. This superhydrophobic surface can be constructed not only on cotton fabric, but also on filter paper, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric, and sponge. Ag I , Fe III , Ce III , Zr IV , and Sn IV are very commendatory ions in our study. Taking phytic acid-Fe III -based superhydrophobic fabric as an example, it showed excellent resistance to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, high temperature, and organic solvent immersion, and it has good resistance to mechanical wear and abrasion. The superhydrophobic/superoleophilic fabric was successfully used to separate oil/water mixtures with separation efficiencies as high as 99.5%. We envision that these superantiwetting fabrics, modified with phytic acid-metal complexes and PDMS, are environmentally friendly, low cost, sustainable, and easy to scale up, and thereby exhibit great potentials in practical applications.

Facile synthesis, cytotoxicity and bioimaging of Fe(3+) selective fluorescent chemosensor.

PubMed

Saleem, Muhammad; Abdullah, Razack; Ali, Anser; Park, Bong Joo; Choi, Eun Ha; Hong, In Seok; Lee, Ki Hwan

2014-04-01

The designing and development of fluorescent chemosensors have recently been intensively explored for sensitive and specific detection of environmentally and biologically relevant metal ions in aqueous solution and living cells. Herein, we report the photophysical results of alanine substituted rhodamine B derivative 3 having specific binding affinity toward Fe(3+) with micro molar concentration level. Through fluorescence titration at 599nm, we were confirmed that ligand 3 exhibited ratiometric fluorescence response with remarkable enhancement in emission intensity by complexation between 3 and Fe(3+) while it appeared no emission in case of the competitive ions (Sc(3+), Yb(3+), In(3+), Ce(3+), Sm(3+), Cr(3+), Sn(2+), Pb(2+), Ni(2+), Co(2+), Cu(2+), Ba(2+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Ag(+), Cs(+), Cu(+), K(+)) in aqueous/methanol (60:40, v/v) at neutral pH. However, the fluorescence as well as colorimetric response of ligand-iron complex solution was quenched by addition of KCN which snatches the Fe(3+) from complex and turn off the sensor confirming the recognition process was reversible. Furthermore, bioimaging studies against L-929 cells (mouse fibroblast cells) and BHK-21 (hamster kidney fibroblast), through confocal fluorescence microscopic experiment indicated that ligand showed good permeability and minimum toxicity against the tested cell lines. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acoustic surface perception from naturally occurring step sounds of a dexterous hexapod robot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuneyitoglu Ozkul, Mine; Saranli, Afsar; Yazicioglu, Yigit

2013-10-01

Legged robots that exhibit dynamic dexterity naturally interact with the surface to generate complex acoustic signals carrying rich information on the surface as well as the robot platform itself. However, the nature of a legged robot, which is a complex, hybrid dynamic system, renders the more common approach of model-based system identification impractical. The present paper focuses on acoustic surface identification and proposes a non-model-based analysis and classification approach adopted from the speech processing literature. A novel feature set composed of spectral band energies augmented by their vector time derivatives and time-domain averaged zero crossing rate is proposed. Using a multi-dimensional vector classifier, these features carry enough information to accurately classify a range of commonly occurring indoor and outdoor surfaces without using of any mechanical system model. A comparative experimental study is carried out and classification performance and computational complexity are characterized. Different feature combinations, classifiers and changes in critical design parameters are investigated. A realistic and representative acoustic data set is collected with the robot moving at different speeds on a number of surfaces. The study demonstrates promising performance of this non-model-based approach, even in an acoustically uncontrolled environment. The approach also has good chance of performing in real-time.

Processing of Advanced Ceramics Which Have Potential for Use in Gas Turbine Aero Engines

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-02-01

reaons . Details on the availability of these publications may be obtained from: Graphics Section, National Research Council Canada, National...have been produced by hot isostatic pressing (HIP’ing) have good potential to be used as hot section components in gas turbine aero engines. This...Alumina, for example, maintains good corrosion resistance, good stiffness, and good strength at high temperatures, but exhibits very poor thermal shock

Ruthenium(II) arene complexes with chelating chloroquine analogue ligands: Synthesis, characterization and in vitro antimalarial activity†

PubMed Central

Glans, Lotta; Ehnbom, Andreas; de Kock, Carmen; Martínez, Alberto; Estrada, Jesús; Smith, Peter J.; Haukka, Matti; Sánchez-Delgado, Roberto A.; Nordlander, Ebbe

2012-01-01

Three new ruthenium complexes with bidentate chloroquine analogue ligands, [Ru(η6-cym)(L1)Cl]Cl (1, cym = p-cymene, L1 = N-(2-((pyridin-2-yl)methylamino)ethyl)-7-chloroquinolin-4-amine), [Ru(η6-cym)(L2)Cl]Cl (2, L2 = N-(2-((1-methyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)methylamino)ethyl)-7-chloroquinolin-4-amine) and [Ru(η6-cym)(L3)Cl] (3, L3 = N-(2-((2-hydroxyphenyl)methylimino)ethyl)-7-chloroquinolin-4-amine) have been synthesized and characterized. In addition, the X-ray crystal structure of 2 is reported. The antimalarial activity of complexes 1–3 and ligands L1, L2 and L3, as well as the compound N-(2-(bis((pyridin-2-yl)methyl)amino)ethyl)-7-chloroquinolin-4-amine (L4), against chloroquine sensitive and chloroquine resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria strains was evaluated. While 1 and 2 are less active than the corresponding ligands, 3 exhibits high antimalarial activity. The chloroquine analogue L2 also shows good activity against both the choloroquine sensitive and the chloroquine resistant strains. Heme aggregation inhibition activity (HAIA) at an aqueous buffer/n-octanol interface (HAIR50) and lipophilicity (D, as measured by water/n-octanol distribution coefficients) have been measured for all ligands and metal complexes. A direct correlation between the D and HAIR50 properties cannot be made because of the relative structural diversity of the complexes, but it may be noted that these properties are enhanced upon complexation of the inactive ligand L3 to ruthenium, to give a metal complex (3) with promising antimalarial activity. PMID:22249579

Europium, uranyl, and thorium-phenanthroline amide complexes in acetonitrile solution: an ESI-MS and DFT combined investigation.

PubMed

Xiao, Cheng-Liang; Wang, Cong-Zhi; Mei, Lei; Zhang, Xin-Rui; Wall, Nathalie; Zhao, Yu-Liang; Chai, Zhi-Fang; Shi, Wei-Qun

2015-08-28

The tetradentate N,N'-diethyl-N,N'-ditolyl-2,9-diamide-1,10-phenanthroline (Et-Tol-DAPhen) ligand with hard-soft donor atoms has been demonstrated to be promising for the group separation of actinides from highly acidic nuclear wastes. To identify the formed complexes of this ligand with actinides and lanthanides, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations was used to probe the possible complexation processes. The 1 : 2 Eu-L species ([EuL2(NO3)](2+)) can be observed in ESI-MS at low metal-to-ligand ([M]/[L]) ratios, whereas the 1 : 1 Eu-L species ([EuL(NO3)2](+)) can be observed when the [M]/[L] ratio is higher than 1.0. However, ([UO2L(NO3)](+)) is the only detected species for the uranyl complexes. The [ThL2(NO3)2](2+) species can be observed at low [M]/[L] ratios; the 1 : 2 species ([ThL2(NO3)](3+)) and a new 1 : 1 species ([ThL(NO3)3](+)) can be detected at high [M]/[L] ratios. Collision-induced dissociation (CID) results showed that Et-Tol-DAPhen ligands can coordinate strongly with metal ions, and the coordination moieties remain intact under CID conditions. Natural bond orbital (NBO), molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), electron localization function (ELF), atoms in molecules (AIM) and molecular orbital (MO) analyses indicated that the metal-ligand bonds of the actinide complexes exhibited more covalent character than those of the lanthanide complexes. In addition, according to thermodynamic analysis, the stable cationic M-L complexes in acetonitrile are found to be in good agreement with the ESI-MS results.

Low frequency complex dielectric (conductivity) response of dilute clay suspensions: Modeling and experiments.

PubMed

Hou, Chang-Yu; Feng, Ling; Seleznev, Nikita; Freed, Denise E

2018-09-01

In this work, we establish an effective medium model to describe the low-frequency complex dielectric (conductivity) dispersion of dilute clay suspensions. We use previously obtained low-frequency polarization coefficients for a charged oblate spheroidal particle immersed in an electrolyte as the building block for the Maxwell Garnett mixing formula to model the dilute clay suspension. The complex conductivity phase dispersion exhibits a near-resonance peak when the clay grains have a narrow size distribution. The peak frequency is associated with the size distribution as well as the shape of clay grains and is often referred to as the characteristic frequency. In contrast, if the size of the clay grains has a broad distribution, the phase peak is broadened and can disappear into the background of the canonical phase response of the brine. To benchmark our model, the low-frequency dispersion of the complex conductivity of dilute clay suspensions is measured using a four-point impedance measurement, which can be reliably calibrated in the frequency range between 0.1 Hz and 10 kHz. By using a minimal number of fitting parameters when reliable information is available as input for the model and carefully examining the issue of potential over-fitting, we found that our model can be used to fit the measured dispersion of the complex conductivity with reasonable parameters. The good match between the modeled and experimental complex conductivity dispersion allows us to argue that our simplified model captures the essential physics for describing the low-frequency dispersion of the complex conductivity of dilute clay suspensions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Three hundred and eight nanometer excimer light therapy for alopecia universalis that is resistant to other treatments: A clinical study of 11 patients.

PubMed

Arakawa, Yukiyasu; Nomiyama, Tomoko; Katoh, Norito

2016-12-01

Three hundred and eight nanometer excimer light therapy has recently been reported to be effective against patchy alopecia areata (AA) in several clinical studies. However, these studies only included a few patients with severe forms of AA, and all of them exhibited poor outcomes. We further investigated the use of excimer light as a therapeutic option for cases of alopecia universalis (AU) that are resistant to other treatments. Eleven treatment-resistant AU patients were treated with a 308-nm excimer light at 2-week intervals for more than 16 sessions. Four patients achieved good responses and two patients exhibited poor responses. Three patients had Japanese skin type 1 and all of them achieved good responses. The radiation dose was increased until the patients exhibited marked erythema. The patients with Japanese skin type 3 who achieved good responses exhibited strong pigmentation at the irradiated sites. In conclusion, 308-nm excimer light therapy has significant effects on some AU patients who are resistant to other treatments and may be an alternative therapeutic option for AU. During the treatment of AU, high doses of radiation should be administrated until a strong inflammatory skin reaction is seen. © 2016 Japanese Dermatological Association.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Part of the Robot Scouts exhibit in the $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex, this display offers a view of how data from robotic probes might be used to build a human habitat for Mars. Visitors witness a simulated Martian sunset. Other new additions include and information center, a walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater, plus an International Space Station- themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

KSC-2014-3131

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Lights flickered and balloons fell as former NASA astronaut Tom Jones, left, and Therrin Protze, chief operating officer of Delaware North Parks and Resorts at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, welcomed guests to the grand opening of the Great Balls of Fire exhibit at the visitor complex. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

KSC-2014-3136

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The grand opening of the new Great Balls of Fire exhibit was held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The grand opening featured remarks by former NASA astronaut Tom Jones, and Therrin Protze, chief operating officer at Delaware North Parks and Resorts at the visitor complex. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

KSC-2014-3134

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A real asteroid is on display at the new Great Balls of Fire exhibit at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The grand opening of the new attraction featured remarks by former NASA astronaut Tom Jones, and Therrin Protze, chief operating officer at Delaware North Parks and Resorts at the visitor complex. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Part of the $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex, the new information center welcomes visitors to the Gateway to the Universe. The five large video walls provide an orientation video, with an introduction to the range of activities and exhibits, and honor the center's namesake, President John F. Kennedy. Other additions include a walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater, plus an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Part of the $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex, the new information center welcomes visitors to the Gateway to the Universe. The five large video walls provide an orientation video, with an introduction to the range of activities and exhibits, and honor the center's namesake, President John F. Kennedy. Other new additions include a walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater, and an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ding, Ling; Zhong, Jie-Cen; Qiu, Xing-Tai

Two series of lanthanide-carboxylates, [Ln(2,2′-dtba)(2,2′-Hdtba)(EtOH)]{sub n} (I:Ln=Eu(1a), Dy(1b)) and [Ln(2,2′-dtba)(2,2′-Hdtba)(4,4′-bpy){sub 0.5}]{sub n} (II:Ln=Eu(2a), Dy(2b), Tb(2c) 2,2′-H{sub 2}dtba=2,2′-dithiodibenzoic acid, 4,4′-bpy=4,4′-bipyridine) have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. Interestingly, the H{sub 2}dtba organic ligand was generated by in situ S–S reaction of 2-mercaptobenzoic acid. Compounds I and II possess different 2D layered structures based on similar 1D [Ln(2,2′-dtba)]{sup +} chains. Photoluminescence studies reveal that compounds I and II exhibit strong lanthanide characteristic emission bands. Remarkably, Compounds 1b and 2a both exhibit good photocatalytic activity for degradation of Rhodamine-B (Rh-B) under the simulated sunlight irradiation. - Graphical abstract: Two series of lanthanide-carboxylates have beenmore » in situ synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. The lanthanide-carboxylates exhibit strong lanthanide characteristic emission bands and good photocatalytic activity for degradation of Rhodamine-B. - Highlights: • 2D layered lanthanide-carboxylates with 2,2′-dithiodibenzoic acid. • In situ S–S reaction of 2-mercaptobenzoic acid under hydrothermal condition. • The Emission spectra of I and II exhibit the characteristic transition of lanthanide ions. • Compounds 1b and 2a exhibit good photocatalytic activity for degradation of Rhodamine-B.« less

Complex and unexpected dynamics in simple genetic regulatory networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borg, Yanika; Ullner, Ekkehard; Alagha, Afnan; Alsaedi, Ahmed; Nesbeth, Darren; Zaikin, Alexey

2014-03-01

One aim of synthetic biology is to construct increasingly complex genetic networks from interconnected simpler ones to address challenges in medicine and biotechnology. However, as systems increase in size and complexity, emergent properties lead to unexpected and complex dynamics due to nonlinear and nonequilibrium properties from component interactions. We focus on four different studies of biological systems which exhibit complex and unexpected dynamics. Using simple synthetic genetic networks, small and large populations of phase-coupled quorum sensing repressilators, Goodwin oscillators, and bistable switches, we review how coupled and stochastic components can result in clustering, chaos, noise-induced coherence and speed-dependent decision making. A system of repressilators exhibits oscillations, limit cycles, steady states or chaos depending on the nature and strength of the coupling mechanism. In large repressilator networks, rich dynamics can also be exhibited, such as clustering and chaos. In populations of Goodwin oscillators, noise can induce coherent oscillations. In bistable systems, the speed with which incoming external signals reach steady state can bias the network towards particular attractors. These studies showcase the range of dynamical behavior that simple synthetic genetic networks can exhibit. In addition, they demonstrate the ability of mathematical modeling to analyze nonlinearity and inhomogeneity within these systems.

Lanthanide complexes with 2-(tosylamino)benzylidene-N-benzoylhydrazone, which exhibit high NIR emission.

PubMed

Utochnikova, V V; Kovalenko, A D; Burlov, A S; Marciniak, L; Ananyev, I V; Kalyakina, A S; Kurchavov, N A; Kuzmina, N P

2015-07-28

New NIR emitting materials were found among the lanthanide complexes with 2-(tosylamino)benzylidene-N-benzoylhydrazone. Complexes of Nd(3+), Er(3+) and Yb(3+), as well as Eu(3+), Gd(3+) and Lu(3+), were synthesized for the first time. Owing to the absence of vibration quenching the ytterbium complex was found to exhibit a photoluminescence quantum yield of 1.4%. Since the sensitization efficiency was calculated to be 55%, the losses in the quantum yield are probably due to Yb-Yb resonant energy transfer.

Structure-matched Phthalocyanine Ion Pair as a Red-emitting Fluorescent Optical Probe for the Analysis of Sodium Dodecylbenzenesulfonate with High Specificity and Sensitivity.

PubMed

Yu, Fei; Guo, Menglin; Deng, Yabin; Lu, Yin; Chen, Lin; Huang, Ping; Li, Donghui

2016-01-01

We have found that a positively charged cationic copper phthalocyanine, Alcian blue (Alcian blue 8GX), can efficiently quench the fluorescence of an oppositely charged red fluorescent phthalocyanine compound with a matched molecular structure, tetrasulfonated aluminum phthalocyanine (AlS4Pc), because of the formation of an ion pair complex (AlS4Pc-Alcian blue 8GX) that exhibits almost no fluorescence. An investigation was carried out on the fluorescence recovery of AlS4Pc-Alcian blue 8GX caused by a series of anionic surfactants containing a sulfonic group (sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS), sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)). The results showed that SDBS exhibited a significant response, and the highest sensitivity among the surfactants. Due to its high efficiency of fluorescence quenching and the high level of fluorescence recovery, direct observes can even be performed by the naked eye. The results revealed that the Alcian blue 8GX-AlS4Pc ion-pair complex fluorescent probe only responded to SDBS in the low-concentration range. Based on the new founding, this study proposed a novel principle and method of fluorescence enhancement to specifically measure the concentration of SDBS, thereby achieving a highly sensitive and highly specific determination of SDBS. Under the optimal conditions, the fluorescence intensity (I(f)) of the system and the concentration of SDBS in the range of 1 × 10(-7) - 1 × 10(-5) mol/dm(3) exhibited a good linear relationship. This method is highly sensitive, and the operation is simple and rapid. It had been applied for the quantitative analysis of SDBS in environmental water, while achieving satisfactory results compared with those of the standard method. This study developed a new application of the fluorescent phthalocyanine compounds used as molecular probes in analytical sciences.

Positively charged and bipolar layered poly(ether imide) nanofiltration membranes for water softening applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gassara, S.; Abdelkafi, A.; Quémener, D.; Amar, R. Ben; Deratani, A.

2015-07-01

Poly(ether imide) (PEI) ultrafiltration membranes were chemically modified with branched poly(ethyleneimine) to obtain nanofiltration (NF) membrane Cat PEI with a positive charge in the pH range below 9. An oppositely charged polyelectrolyte layer was deposited on the resulting membrane surface by using sodium polystyrene sulfonate (PSSNa) and sodium polyvinyl sulfonate (PVSNa) to prepare a bipolar layered membrane NF Cat PEI_PSS and Cat PEI_PVS having a negatively charged surface and positively charged pores. Cat PEI exhibited good performance to remove multivalent cations (more than 90% of Ca2+) from single salt solutions except in presence of sulfate ions. Adding an anionic polyelectrolyte layer onto the positively charged surface resulted in a significant enhancement of rejection performance even in presence of sulfate anions. Application of the prepared membranes in water softening of natural complex mixtures was successful for the different studied membranes and a large decrease of hardness was obtained. Moreover, Cat PEI_PSS showed a good selectivity for nitrate removal. Fouling experiments were carried out with bovine serum albumin, as model protein foulant. Cat PEI_PSS showed much better fouling resistance than Cat PEI with a quantitative flux recovery ratio.

Hybrid molecularly imprinted polymers synthesized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane-methacrylic acid monomer for miniaturized solid-phase extraction: A new and economical sample preparation strategy for determination of acyclovir in urine.

PubMed

Yan, Hongyuan; Wang, Mingyu; Han, Yehong; Qiao, Fengxia; Row, Kyung Ho

2014-06-13

The miniaturized molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (mini-MISPE) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography was proposed for the determination of acyclovir in urine. 1.5-mL tapered plastic centrifuge tube filled with hybrid molecularly imprinted polymers (HMIPs) was used as the cartridge of mini-MISPE, and the HMIPs synthesized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxy silane-methacrylic acid as monomer exhibited good recognition and selectivity for acyclovir. Under the optimized condition, good linear calibration was obtained in a range of 0.5-15μgmL(-1) with the correlation coefficient of 0.9994, and the recoveries at three spiked levels were 91.6-103.3% in urine with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of ≤3.5%. Excellent intra-day and inter-day repeatability were achieved with RSD of ≤2.6% and 4.0% in three different concentrations. This method combined the advantages of HMIPs and mini-MISPE, and it could become an alternative tool for analyzing the residues of acyclovir in complex urine matrices. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The fractal dimension of cell membrane correlates with its capacitance: A new fractal single-shell model

PubMed Central

Wang, Xujing; Becker, Frederick F.; Gascoyne, Peter R. C.

2010-01-01

The scale-invariant property of the cytoplasmic membrane of biological cells is examined by applying the Minkowski–Bouligand method to digitized scanning electron microscopy images of the cell surface. The membrane is found to exhibit fractal behavior, and the derived fractal dimension gives a good description of its morphological complexity. Furthermore, we found that this fractal dimension correlates well with the specific membrane dielectric capacitance derived from the electrorotation measurements. Based on these findings, we propose a new fractal single-shell model to describe the dielectrics of mammalian cells, and compare it with the conventional single-shell model (SSM). We found that while both models fit with experimental data well, the new model is able to eliminate the discrepancy between the measured dielectric property of cells and that predicted by the SSM. PMID:21198103

Electrochemically Reduced Graphene Oxide Multilayer Films as Efficient Counter Electrode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

PubMed Central

Xu, Xiaobao; Huang, Dekang; Cao, Kun; Wang, Mingkui; Zakeeruddin, Shaik M.; Grätzel, Michael

2013-01-01

We report on a new counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), which is prepared using layer-by-layer assembly of negatively charged graphene oxide and positively charged poly (diallyldimethylammonium chloride) followed by an electrochemical reduction procedure. The DSC devises using the heteroleptic Ru complex C106TBA as sensitizer and this new counter electrode reach power conversion efficiencies of 9.5% and 7.6% in conjunction with low volatility and solvent free ionic liquid electrolytes, respectively. The new counter electrode exhibits good durability (60°C for 1000 h in a solar simulator, 100 mW cm−2) during the accelerated tests when used in combination with an ionic liquid electrolyte. This work identifies a new class of electro-catalysts with potential for low cost photovoltaic devices. PMID:23508212

Magnetic Propulsion of Microswimmers with DNA-Based Flagellar Bundles.

PubMed

Maier, Alexander M; Weig, Cornelius; Oswald, Peter; Frey, Erwin; Fischer, Peer; Liedl, Tim

2016-02-10

We show that DNA-based self-assembly can serve as a general and flexible tool to construct artificial flagella of several micrometers in length and only tens of nanometers in diameter. By attaching the DNA flagella to biocompatible magnetic microparticles, we provide a proof of concept demonstration of hybrid structures that, when rotated in an external magnetic field, propel by means of a flagellar bundle, similar to self-propelling peritrichous bacteria. Our theoretical analysis predicts that flagellar bundles that possess a length-dependent bending stiffness should exhibit a superior swimming speed compared to swimmers with a single appendage. The DNA self-assembly method permits the realization of these improved flagellar bundles in good agreement with our quantitative model. DNA flagella with well-controlled shape could fundamentally increase the functionality of fully biocompatible nanorobots and extend the scope and complexity of active materials.

Facile synthesis of titanium (IV) ion immobilized adenosine triphosphate functionalized silica nanoparticles for highly specific enrichment and analysis of intact phosphoproteins.

PubMed

Wang, Hao; Tian, Zhixin

2018-06-06

Analysis of phosphoproteins always faces the challenge of low stoichiometry, which demands highly selective and efficient enrichment in the initial sample preparation. Here we report our synthesis of the novel titanium (IV) ion immobilized adenosine triphosphate functionalized silica nanoparticles (Ti 4+ -ATP-NPs) for efficient enrichment of intact phosphoproteins. The average diameter of Ti 4+ -ATP-NPs was about 128 nm with good dispersibility and the saturated adsorption capacity for β-casein was 1046.5 mg/g. In addition, Ti 4+ -ATP-NPs exhibited high specificity and selectivity in enriching phosphoproteins from both standard protein mixtures and complex biological samples (non-fat milk, chicken egg white and mouse heart tissue extract) as demonstrated by SDS-PAGE. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Graphite nanocomposites sensor for multiplex detection of antioxidants in food.

PubMed

Ng, Khan Loon; Tan, Guan Huat; Khor, Sook Mei

2017-12-15

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) are synthetic antioxidants used in the food industry. Herein, we describe the development of a novel graphite nanocomposite-based electrochemical sensor for the multiplex detection and measurement of BHA, BHT, and TBHQ levels in complex food samples using a linear sweep voltammetry technique. Moreover, our newly established analytical method exhibited good sensitivity, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, and selectivity. The accuracy and reliability of analytical results were challenged by method validation and comparison with the results of the liquid chromatography method, where a linear correlation of more than 0.99 was achieved. The addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate as supporting additive further enhanced the LSV response (anodic peak current, I pa ) of BHA and BHT by 2- and 20-times, respectively. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Value of Educators "On the Floor": Comparing Three Modes of Presenting Science on a Sphere®

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayward, Jeff; Hart, Jolene K.

2015-01-01

Exhibit experiences at most museums are designed to be self-guided rather than facilitated; and it's certainly a good goal to make exhibit interpretation clear enough to be understood on one's own. The primary rationale for not staffing exhibits is the ongoing personnel cost, but that should be weighed against the value of "on the floor"…

The Impact of Services on Economic Complexity: Service Sophistication as Route for Economic Growth.

PubMed

Stojkoski, Viktor; Utkovski, Zoran; Kocarev, Ljupco

2016-01-01

Economic complexity reflects the amount of knowledge that is embedded in the productive structure of an economy. By combining tools from network science and econometrics, a robust and stable relationship between a country's productive structure and its economic growth has been established. Here we report that not only goods but also services are important for predicting the rate at which countries will grow. By adopting a terminology which classifies manufactured goods and delivered services as products, we investigate the influence of services on the country's productive structure. In particular, we provide evidence that complexity indices for services are in general higher than those for goods, which is reflected in a general tendency to rank countries with developed service sector higher than countries with economy centred on manufacturing of goods. By focusing on country dynamics based on experimental data, we investigate the impact of services on the economic complexity of countries measured in the product space (consisting of both goods and services). Importantly, we show that diversification of service exports and its sophistication can provide an additional route for economic growth in both developing and developed countries.

The Impact of Services on Economic Complexity: Service Sophistication as Route for Economic Growth

PubMed Central

Utkovski, Zoran; Kocarev, Ljupco

2016-01-01

Economic complexity reflects the amount of knowledge that is embedded in the productive structure of an economy. By combining tools from network science and econometrics, a robust and stable relationship between a country’s productive structure and its economic growth has been established. Here we report that not only goods but also services are important for predicting the rate at which countries will grow. By adopting a terminology which classifies manufactured goods and delivered services as products, we investigate the influence of services on the country’s productive structure. In particular, we provide evidence that complexity indices for services are in general higher than those for goods, which is reflected in a general tendency to rank countries with developed service sector higher than countries with economy centred on manufacturing of goods. By focusing on country dynamics based on experimental data, we investigate the impact of services on the economic complexity of countries measured in the product space (consisting of both goods and services). Importantly, we show that diversification of service exports and its sophistication can provide an additional route for economic growth in both developing and developed countries. PMID:27560133

Support vector machine in crash prediction at the level of traffic analysis zones: Assessing the spatial proximity effects.

PubMed

Dong, Ni; Huang, Helai; Zheng, Liang

2015-09-01

In zone-level crash prediction, accounting for spatial dependence has become an extensively studied topic. This study proposes Support Vector Machine (SVM) model to address complex, large and multi-dimensional spatial data in crash prediction. Correlation-based Feature Selector (CFS) was applied to evaluate candidate factors possibly related to zonal crash frequency in handling high-dimension spatial data. To demonstrate the proposed approaches and to compare them with the Bayesian spatial model with conditional autoregressive prior (i.e., CAR), a dataset in Hillsborough county of Florida was employed. The results showed that SVM models accounting for spatial proximity outperform the non-spatial model in terms of model fitting and predictive performance, which indicates the reasonableness of considering cross-zonal spatial correlations. The best model predictive capability, relatively, is associated with the model considering proximity of the centroid distance by choosing the RBF kernel and setting the 10% of the whole dataset as the testing data, which further exhibits SVM models' capacity for addressing comparatively complex spatial data in regional crash prediction modeling. Moreover, SVM models exhibit the better goodness-of-fit compared with CAR models when utilizing the whole dataset as the samples. A sensitivity analysis of the centroid-distance-based spatial SVM models was conducted to capture the impacts of explanatory variables on the mean predicted probabilities for crash occurrence. While the results conform to the coefficient estimation in the CAR models, which supports the employment of the SVM model as an alternative in regional safety modeling. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pacopampa: Early evidence of violence at a ceremonial site in the northern Peruvian highlands

PubMed Central

Uzawa, Kazuhiro; Seki, Yuji; Morales Chocano, Daniel

2017-01-01

Objectives Pacopampa, a ceremonial complex in Peru’s northern highlands, reveals early evidence of trauma in the Middle to Late Formative Period coinciding with the emergence of social stratification in the area. We examine the prevalence of trauma in human remains found at the site and present evidence of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of individuals who lived during the early stages of Andean civilization. Materials and methods The materials are the remains of 104 individuals (38 non-adult and 66 adult) from the Middle to Late Formative Periods. We explored trauma macroscopically and recorded patterns based on skeletons’ locations, age at death, sex, social class, and chronology. Results We detected trauma in remains over the Middle to Late Formative Periods. While the prevalence of trauma was minimal in the Middle Formative Period, skeletons from the subsequent era exhibit more severe disturbances. However, all the skeletons show signs of healing and affected individuals experienced a low degree of trauma. Discussion Given the archaeological context (the remains were recovered from sites of ceremonial practices), as well as the equal distribution of trauma among both sexes and a lack of defensive architecture, it is plausible that rituals, rather than organized warfare or raids, caused most of the exhibited trauma. Pacopampa was home to a complex society founded on ritual activity in a ceremonial center: this is indicated by the presence of ritual violence in a society that built impressively large, ceremonial architecture and developed social stratification without any political control of surplus agricultural goods. PMID:28957380

KSC-2014-3130

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Former NASA astronaut Tom Jones, left, presses the button on a simulated model of an asteroid to mark the grand opening of the new Great Balls of Fire exhibit at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. To his right is Therrin Protze, chief operating officer with Delaware North Parks and Resorts at the visitor complex. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

KSC-2014-3135

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Samples of Earth rocks and real meteorites are featured in an interactive display at the new Great Balls of Fire exhibit at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. The grand opening featured remarks by former NASA astronaut Tom Jones, and Therrin Protze, chief operating officer at Delaware North Parks and Resorts at the visitor complex. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Part of the $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex, the new information center welcomes visitors to the Gateway to the Universe. The five large video walls provide an orientation video, shown here with photos of John Glenn in his historic Shuttle mission in October 1998, with an introduction to the range of activities and exhibits, plus honor the center's namesake, President John F. Kennedy. Other new additions include a walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater, plus an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Preparation and Characterization of Biomass-Derived Advanced Carbon Materials for Lithium-Ion Battery Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardiansyah, Andri; Chaldun, Elsy Rahimi; Nuryadin, Bebeh Wahid; Fikriyyah, Anti Khoerul; Subhan, Achmad; Ghozali, Muhammad; Purwasasmita, Bambang Sunendar

2018-04-01

In this study, carbon-based advanced materials for lithium-ion battery applications were prepared by using soybean waste-based biomass material, through a straightforward process of heat treatment followed by chemical modification processes. Various types of carbon-based advanced materials were developed. Physicochemical characteristics and electrochemical performance of the resultant materials were characterized systematically. Scanning electron microscopy observation revealed that the activated carbon and graphene exhibits wrinkles structures and porous morphology. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) revealed that both activated carbon and graphene-based material exhibited a good conductivity. For instance, the graphene-based material exhibited equivalent series resistance value of 25.9 Ω as measured by EIS. The graphene-based material also exhibited good reversibility and cyclic performance. Eventually, it would be anticipated that the utilization of soybean waste-based biomass material, which is conforming to the principles of green materials, could revolutionize the development of advanced material for high-performance energy storage applications, especially for lithium-ion batteries application.

Preparation and Characterization of Biomass-Derived Advanced Carbon Materials for Lithium-Ion Battery Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardiansyah, Andri; Chaldun, Elsy Rahimi; Nuryadin, Bebeh Wahid; Fikriyyah, Anti Khoerul; Subhan, Achmad; Ghozali, Muhammad; Purwasasmita, Bambang Sunendar

2018-07-01

In this study, carbon-based advanced materials for lithium-ion battery applications were prepared by using soybean waste-based biomass material, through a straightforward process of heat treatment followed by chemical modification processes. Various types of carbon-based advanced materials were developed. Physicochemical characteristics and electrochemical performance of the resultant materials were characterized systematically. Scanning electron microscopy observation revealed that the activated carbon and graphene exhibits wrinkles structures and porous morphology. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) revealed that both activated carbon and graphene-based material exhibited a good conductivity. For instance, the graphene-based material exhibited equivalent series resistance value of 25.9 Ω as measured by EIS. The graphene-based material also exhibited good reversibility and cyclic performance. Eventually, it would be anticipated that the utilization of soybean waste-based biomass material, which is conforming to the principles of green materials, could revolutionize the development of advanced material for high-performance energy storage applications, especially for lithium-ion batteries application.

Antibacterial Effects and Biocompatibility of Titania Nanotubes with Octenidine Dihydrochloride/Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid).

PubMed

Xu, Zhiqiang; Lai, Yingzhen; Wu, Dong; Huang, Wenxiu; Huang, Sijia; Zhou, Lin; Chen, Jiang

2015-01-01

Titanium (Ti) implants with long-term antibacterial ability and good biocompatibility are highly desirable materials that can be used to prevent implant-associated infections. In this study, titania nanotubes (TNTs) were synthesized on Ti surfaces through electrochemical anodization. Octenidine dihydrochloride (OCT)/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) was infiltrated into TNTs using a simple solvent-casting technique. OCT/PLGA-TNTs demonstrated sustained drug release and maintained the characteristic hollow structures of TNTs. TNTs (200 nm in diameter) alone exhibited slight antibacterial effect and good osteogenic activity but also evidently impaired adhesion and proliferation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). OCT/PLGA-TNTs (100 nm in diameter) supported BMSC adhesion and proliferation and showed good osteogenesis-inducing ability. OCT/PLGA-TNTs also exhibited good long-term antibacterial ability within the observation period of 7 d. The synthesized drug carrier with relatively long-term antibacterial ability and enhanced excellent biocompatibility demonstrated significant potential in bone implant applications.

Antibacterial Effects and Biocompatibility of Titania Nanotubes with Octenidine Dihydrochloride/Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)

PubMed Central

Xu, Zhiqiang; Lai, Yingzhen; Wu, Dong; Huang, Wenxiu; Huang, Sijia; Zhou, Lin; Chen, Jiang

2015-01-01

Titanium (Ti) implants with long-term antibacterial ability and good biocompatibility are highly desirable materials that can be used to prevent implant-associated infections. In this study, titania nanotubes (TNTs) were synthesized on Ti surfaces through electrochemical anodization. Octenidine dihydrochloride (OCT)/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) was infiltrated into TNTs using a simple solvent-casting technique. OCT/PLGA-TNTs demonstrated sustained drug release and maintained the characteristic hollow structures of TNTs. TNTs (200 nm in diameter) alone exhibited slight antibacterial effect and good osteogenic activity but also evidently impaired adhesion and proliferation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). OCT/PLGA-TNTs (100 nm in diameter) supported BMSC adhesion and proliferation and showed good osteogenesis-inducing ability. OCT/PLGA-TNTs also exhibited good long-term antibacterial ability within the observation period of 7 d. The synthesized drug carrier with relatively long-term antibacterial ability and enhanced excellent biocompatibility demonstrated significant potential in bone implant applications. PMID:26090449

Reversible photochromic system based on rhodamine B salicylaldehyde hydrazone metal complex.

PubMed

Li, Kai; Xiang, Yu; Wang, Xiaoyan; Li, Ji; Hu, Rongrong; Tong, Aijun; Tang, Ben Zhong

2014-01-29

Photochromic molecules are widely applied in chemistry, physics, biology, and materials science. Although a few photochromic systems have been developed before, their applications are still limited by complicated synthesis, low fatigue resistance, or incomplete light conversion. Rhodamine is a class of dyes with excellent optical properties including long-wavelength absorption, large absorption coefficient, and high photostability in its ring-open form. It is an ideal chromophore for the development of new photochromic systems. However, known photochromic rhodamine derivatives, such as amides, exhibit only millisecond lifetimes in their colored ring-open forms, making their application very limited and difficult. In this work, rhodamine B salicylaldehyde hydrazone metal complex was found to undergo intramolecular ring-open reactions upon UV irradiation, which led to a distinct color and fluorescence change both in solution and in solid matrix. The complex showed good fatigue resistance for the reversible photochromism and long lifetime for the ring-open state. Interestingly, the thermal bleaching rate was tunable by using different metal ions, temperatures, solvents, and chemical substitutions. It was proposed that UV light promoted isomerization of the rhodamine B derivative from enol-form to keto-form, which induced ring-opening of the rhodamine spirolactam in the complex to generate color. The photochromic system was successfully applied for photoprinting and UV strength measurement in the solid state. As compared to other reported photochromic molecules, the system in this study has its advantages of facile synthesis and tunable thermal bleaching rate, and also provides new insights into the development of photochromic materials based on metal complex and spirolactam-containing dyes.

Ternary complexes of Zn(II) and Cu(II) with 1-((2-hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)methylene)-4-phenylthiosemicarbazide in the presence of heterocyclic bases as auxiliary ligands: Synthesis, spectroscopic and structural characterization and antibacterial activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azarkish, Mohammad; Akbari, Alireza; Sedaghat, Tahereh; Simpson, Jim

2018-03-01

The new ternary complexes, ZnLL‧ [L = 1-((2-hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)methylene)-4-phenylthiosemicarbazide and L‧ = imidazole (1), 2, 2‧-bipyridine (2) and 2-methyimidazole (3)], Zn2L2L‧ [L‧ = 4, 4‧-bipy (4)] and CuLL‧ [L‧ = 2, 2‧-bipy (5)] have been synthesized by the reaction of a metal(II) acetate salt with the thiosemicarbazone and in presence of heterocyclic bases as auxiliary ligands. The synthesized compounds were investigated by elemental analysis and IR, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectroscopy and complex 5 was structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. The results indicate the thiosemicarbazone doubly deprotonated and coordinates to metal through the thiolate sulfur, imine nitrogen and phenolic oxygen atoms. The nitrogen atom(s) of the auxiliary ligand complete the coordination sphere. Complex 4 is binuclear with 4, 4‧-bipy acting as a bridging ligand. The structure of 5 is a distorted square pyramid with one of the bipyridine nitrogen atoms in the apical position. This compound creates an inversion dimer in solid state by intermolecular hydrogen bonds of Nsbnd H⋯S type. The in vitro antibacterial activity of the synthesized compounds were evaluated against Gram-positive (B. subtilis and S. aureus) and Gram-negative (P. aeruginosa) bacteria and is compared to that of standard antibacterial drugs. All complexes exhibit good inhibitory effects and are significantly more effective than the parent ligand.

Limited-path-length entanglement percolation in quantum complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuquet, Martí; Calsamiglia, John

2011-03-01

We study entanglement distribution in quantum complex networks where nodes are connected by bipartite entangled states. These networks are characterized by a complex structure, which dramatically affects how information is transmitted through them. For pure quantum state links, quantum networks exhibit a remarkable feature absent in classical networks: it is possible to effectively rewire the network by performing local operations on the nodes. We propose a family of such quantum operations that decrease the entanglement percolation threshold of the network and increase the size of the giant connected component. We provide analytic results for complex networks with an arbitrary (uncorrelated) degree distribution. These results are in good agreement with numerical simulations, which also show enhancement in correlated and real-world networks. The proposed quantum preprocessing strategies are not robust in the presence of noise. However, even when the links consist of (noisy) mixed-state links, one can send quantum information through a connecting path with a fidelity that decreases with the path length. In this noisy scenario, complex networks offer a clear advantage over regular lattices, namely, the fact that two arbitrary nodes can be connected through a relatively small number of steps, known as the small-world effect. We calculate the probability that two arbitrary nodes in the network can successfully communicate with a fidelity above a given threshold. This amounts to working out the classical problem of percolation with a limited path length. We find that this probability can be significant even for paths limited to few connections and that the results for standard (unlimited) percolation are soon recovered if the path length exceeds by a finite amount the average path length, which in complex networks generally scales logarithmically with the size of the network.

β-Tricalcium phosphate/poly(glycerol sebacate) scaffolds with robust mechanical property for bone tissue engineering.

PubMed

Yang, Kai; Zhang, Jing; Ma, Xiaoyu; Ma, Yifan; Kan, Chao; Ma, Haiyan; Li, Yulin; Yuan, Yuan; Liu, Changsheng

2015-11-01

Despite good biocompatibility and osteoconductivity, porous β-TCP scaffolds still lack the structural stability and mechanical robustness, which greatly limit their application in the field of bone regeneration. The hybridization of β-TCP with conventional synthetic biodegradable PLA and PCL only produced a limited toughening effect due to the plasticity of the polymers in nature. In this study, a β-TCP/poly(glycerol sebacate) scaffold (β-TCP/PGS) with well interconnected porous structure and robust mechanical property was prepared. Porous β-TCP scaffold was first prepared with polyurethane sponge as template and then impregnated into PGS pre-polymer solution with moderate viscosity, followed by in situ heat crosslinking and freezing-drying process. The results indicated that the freezing-drying under vacuum process could further facilitate crosslinking of PGS and formation of Ca(2+)-COO(-) ionic complexing and thus synergistically improved the mechanical strength of the β-TCP/PGS with in situ heat crosslinking. Particularly, the β-TCP/PGS with 15% PGS content after heat crosslinking at 130°C and freezing-drying at -50°C under vacuum exhibited an elongation at break of 375±25% and a compressive strength of 1.73MPa, 3.7-fold and 200-fold enhancement compared to the β-TCP, respectively. After the abrupt drop of compressive load, the β-TCP/PGS scaffolds exhibited a full recovery of their original shape. More importantly, the PGS polymer in the β-TCP/PGS scaffolds could direct the biomineralization of Ca/P from particulate shape into a nanofiber-interweaved structure. Furthermore, the β-TCP/PGS scaffolds allowed for cell penetration and proliferation, indicating a good cytobiocompatibility. It is believed that β-TCP/PGS scaffolds have great potential application in rigid tissue regeneration. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Why Bother to Calibrate? Model Consistency and the Value of Prior Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hrachowitz, Markus; Fovet, Ophelie; Ruiz, Laurent; Euser, Tanja; Gharari, Shervan; Nijzink, Remko; Savenije, Hubert; Gascuel-Odoux, Chantal

2015-04-01

Hydrological models frequently suffer from limited predictive power despite adequate calibration performances. This can indicate insufficient representations of the underlying processes. Thus ways are sought to increase model consistency while satisfying the contrasting priorities of increased model complexity and limited equifinality. In this study the value of a systematic use of hydrological signatures and expert knowledge for increasing model consistency was tested. It was found that a simple conceptual model, constrained by 4 calibration objective functions, was able to adequately reproduce the hydrograph in the calibration period. The model, however, could not reproduce 20 hydrological signatures, indicating a lack of model consistency. Subsequently, testing 11 models, model complexity was increased in a stepwise way and counter-balanced by using prior information about the system to impose "prior constraints", inferred from expert knowledge and to ensure a model which behaves well with respect to the modeller's perception of the system. We showed that, in spite of unchanged calibration performance, the most complex model set-up exhibited increased performance in the independent test period and skill to reproduce all 20 signatures, indicating a better system representation. The results suggest that a model may be inadequate despite good performance with respect to multiple calibration objectives and that increasing model complexity, if efficiently counter-balanced by available prior constraints, can increase predictive performance of a model and its skill to reproduce hydrological signatures. The results strongly illustrate the need to balance automated model calibration with a more expert-knowledge driven strategy of constraining models.

Why Bother and Calibrate? Model Consistency and the Value of Prior Information.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hrachowitz, M.; Fovet, O.; Ruiz, L.; Euser, T.; Gharari, S.; Nijzink, R.; Freer, J. E.; Savenije, H.; Gascuel-Odoux, C.

2014-12-01

Hydrological models frequently suffer from limited predictive power despite adequate calibration performances. This can indicate insufficient representations of the underlying processes. Thus ways are sought to increase model consistency while satisfying the contrasting priorities of increased model complexity and limited equifinality. In this study the value of a systematic use of hydrological signatures and expert knowledge for increasing model consistency was tested. It was found that a simple conceptual model, constrained by 4 calibration objective functions, was able to adequately reproduce the hydrograph in the calibration period. The model, however, could not reproduce 20 hydrological signatures, indicating a lack of model consistency. Subsequently, testing 11 models, model complexity was increased in a stepwise way and counter-balanced by using prior information about the system to impose "prior constraints", inferred from expert knowledge and to ensure a model which behaves well with respect to the modeller's perception of the system. We showed that, in spite of unchanged calibration performance, the most complex model set-up exhibited increased performance in the independent test period and skill to reproduce all 20 signatures, indicating a better system representation. The results suggest that a model may be inadequate despite good performance with respect to multiple calibration objectives and that increasing model complexity, if efficiently counter-balanced by available prior constraints, can increase predictive performance of a model and its skill to reproduce hydrological signatures. The results strongly illustrate the need to balance automated model calibration with a more expert-knowledge driven strategy of constraining models.

Antibacterial Loaded Spray Dried Chitosan Polyelectrolyte Complexes as Dry Powder Aerosol for the Treatment of Lung Infections

PubMed Central

Mishra, Brahmeshwar; Mishra, Madhusmita; Yadav, Sarita Kumari

2017-01-01

Inhalation delivery of aerosolized antibacterials is preferred over conventional methods of delivery for targeting lung infection. The present study is concerned with the development and characterization of a novel, spray dried, aerosolized, chitosan polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) based microparticles containing antibacterials for the treatment of lung infections. Chitosan polyelectrolyte complex microparticles were formulated by spray drying process. Prepared spray dried chitosan PEC microparticles were studied for surface morphology, drug encapsulation efficiency, moisture content, Carr’s index, solid state interaction by XRD, aerosolization behaviour and in-vitro drug release. In-vitro cytotoxicity studies of microparticles were carried out on H1299 alveolar cell lines. Antibacterial efficacy of microparticles was assessed on the basis of determination of pharmacokinetic parameters in bronchial alveolar lavage (BAL) of rats using PK/PD analysis. The PEC microparticles were mostly spherical and exhibited high drug encapsulation efficiency. Release profiles showed an initial burst phase followed by a secondary sustained release phase. Good aerosolization behaviour as dry powder inhaler was demonstrated by microparticles with high values of recovered dose, emitted dose, and fine particle fraction. No overt cytotoxicity of microparticles was detected against H1299 alveolar cell line. More than 8 to 9 folds higher Cmax values were obtained in BAL fluid with microparticles as compared to intravenously administered antibacterial solution. The findings of the study suggest that chitosan polyelectrolyte complex based microparticles as dry powder inhaler can be an efficient antibacterial delivery system for sustained and effective management of lung infection. PMID:28496463

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

At the grand opening of the newly expanded KSC Visitor Complex, Center Director Roy Bridges addresses guests and the media. The $13 million addition to the Visitor Complex includes an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks, a new information center, films, and exhibits. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Intermolecular ionic cross-linked sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) membranes containing diazafluorene for direct methanol fuel cell applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Yu; Gong, Chenliang; Qi, Zhigang; Li, Hui; Wu, Zhongying; Zhang, Yakui; Zhang, Shujiang; Li, Yanfeng

2015-06-01

A series of novel ionic cross-linking sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) membranes containing the diazafluorene functional group are synthesized to reduce the swelling ratio and methanol permeability for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications. The ionic cross-linking is realized by the interaction between sulfonic acid groups and pyridyl in diazafluorene. The prepared membranes exhibit good mechanical properties, adequate thermal stability, good oxidative stability, appropriate water uptake and low swelling ratio. Moreover, the ionic cross-linked membranes exhibit lower methanol permeability in the range between 0.56 × 10-7 cm2 s-1 and 1.8 × 10-7 cm2 s-1, which is lower than Nafion 117, and they exhibit higher selectivity than Nafion 117 at 30 °C on the basis of applicable proton conductivity.

Synthesis and biological screening of 2'-aryl/benzyl-2-aryl-4-methyl-4',5-bithiazolyls as possible anti-tubercular and antimicrobial agents.

PubMed

Abhale, Yogita K; Sasane, Amit V; Chavan, Abhijit P; Deshmukh, Keshav K; Kotapalli, Sudha Sravanti; Ummanni, Ramesh; Sayyad, Sadikali F; Mhaske, Pravin C

2015-04-13

A series of 2'-aryl/benzyl-2-aryl-4-methyl-4',5-bithiazolyl derivatives, 25-64 were synthesized and evaluated for inhibitory activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis MC(2) 155 strain and antimicrobial activities against four pathogenic bacteria Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Proteus vulgaris. Among them, compounds 40, 49, 50, and 54 exhibited moderate to good inhibition on the growth of the bacteria Mycobacterium smegmatis at the concentration of 30 μM. Compounds 26, 40, 44, 54 and 56 exhibited moderate to good antibacterial activity. Compound 5-(2'-(4-fluorobenzyl)thiazol-4'-yl)-2-(4-fluorophenyl)-4-methyl-thiazole (54) exhibited both antitubercular as well as antimicrobial activity against all tested strains. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Complexity matching in dyadic conversation.

PubMed

Abney, Drew H; Paxton, Alexandra; Dale, Rick; Kello, Christopher T

2014-12-01

Recent studies of dyadic interaction have examined phenomena of synchronization, entrainment, alignment, and convergence. All these forms of behavioral matching have been hypothesized to play a supportive role in establishing coordination and common ground between interlocutors. In the present study, evidence is found for a new kind of coordination termed complexity matching. Temporal dynamics in conversational speech signals were analyzed through time series of acoustic onset events. Timing in periods of acoustic energy was found to exhibit behavioral matching that reflects complementary timing in turn-taking. In addition, acoustic onset times were found to exhibit power law clustering across a range of timescales, and these power law functions were found to exhibit complexity matching that is distinct from behavioral matching. Complexity matching is discussed in terms of interactive alignment and other theoretical principles that lead to new hypotheses about information exchange in dyadic conversation and interaction in general. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

The newly added Robot Scouts exhibit at the KSC Visitor Complex is situated next to the Rocket Garden. Part of the $13 million expansion to the Visitor Complex, the exhibit helps describe for visitors the accomplishments of unsung space heroes - space probes - and their role in space exploration. It also includes a display of how data from robotic probes might be used to build a human habitat for Mars. Visitors can witness a simulated Martian sunset. Other additions include a new foyer, films, and an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Low-loss electromagnetic composites for RF and microwave applications.

PubMed

Wang, Hong; Yang, Haibo; Xiang, Feng; Yao, Xi

2011-09-01

Low-loss electromagnetic composites with high permittivity and permeability will benefit the miniaturization and multifunctional of RF devices. A kind of low-loss dielectric-magnetic ceramic-ceramic composite was developed by hybrid processing technology with the goal of integrating the dielectric properties and magnetic properties. The hybrid processing technology exhibits the advantage of lowered sintering temperatures for the composites while retaining good microstructure and high performance. By introducing elastomer as matrix, a kind of flexible low-loss dielectric-magnetic ceramic-polymer composite was prepared and studied. The obtained flexible dielectric-magnetic ceramic-polymer composite exhibited low loss and good mechanical properties. The results show good effects on lowering the dielectric loss and extending the cut-off magnetic frequency of the electromagnetic composite. Methods for tailoring the properties of the multifunctional composites were proposed and discussed.

Discounting of Delayed Rewards Is Not Hyperbolic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luhmann, Christian C.

2013-01-01

Delay discounting refers to decision-makers' tendency to value immediately available goods more than identical goods available only after some delay. In violation of standard economic theory, decision-makers frequently exhibit dynamic inconsistency; their preferences change simply due to the passage of time. The standard explanation for this…

KSC-98pc1059

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-08-06

This Shuttle/Gantry mockup and Post Show Dome anchor the northeast corner of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The Astronaut Memorial is located just above. Sprawling across 70 acres on Florida's Space Coast, the complex is located off State Road 405, NASA Parkway, six miles inside the Space Center entrance. The building at the upper left is the Theater Complex. Other exhibits and buildings on the site are the Center for Space Education, Cafeteria, Space Flight Exhibit Building, Souvenir Sales Building, Spaceport Central, Ticket Pavilion and Center for Space Education

Helical structures in vertically aligned dust particle chains in a complex plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hyde, Truell W.; Kong, Jie; Matthews, Lorin S.

2013-05-01

Self-assembly of structures from vertically aligned, charged dust particle bundles within a glass box placed on the lower, powered electrode of a Gaseous Electronics Conference rf reference cell were produced and examined experimentally. Self-organized formation of one-dimensional vertical chains, two-dimensional zigzag structures, and three-dimensional helical structures of triangular, quadrangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, and heptagonal symmetries are shown to occur. System evolution is shown to progress from a one-dimensional chain structure, through a zigzag transition to a two-dimensional, spindlelike structure, and then to various three-dimensional, helical structures exhibiting multiple symmetries. Stable configurations are found to be dependent upon the system confinement, γ2=ω0h/ω0v2 (where ω0h,v are the horizontal and vertical dust resonance frequencies), the total number of particles within a bundle, and the rf power. For clusters having fixed numbers of particles, the rf power at which structural phase transitions occur is repeatable and exhibits no observable hysteresis. The critical conditions for these structural phase transitions as well as the basic symmetry exhibited by the one-, two-, and three-dimensional structures that subsequently develop are in good agreement with the theoretically predicted configurations of minimum energy determined employing molecular dynamics simulations for charged dust particles confined in a prolate, spheroidal potential as presented theoretically by Kamimura and Ishihara [Kamimura and Ishihara, Phys. Rev. EPLEEE81063-651X10.1103/PhysRevE.85.016406 85, 016406 (2012)].

Polypyrrole-polyoxometalate/reduced graphene oxide ternary nanohybrids for flexible, all-solid-state supercapacitors.

PubMed

Chen, Yuyun; Han, Min; Tang, Yujia; Bao, Jianchun; Li, Shunli; Lan, Yaqian; Dai, Zhihui

2015-08-11

Novel polypyrrole-polyoxometalate/reduced graphene oxide ternary nanohybrids (TNHs) are synthesized via a one-pot redox relay strategy. The TNHs exhibit high areal specific capacitance (2.61 mF cm(-2)), and the fabricated solid device also exhibits good rate capability, excellent flexibility and mechanical stability.

34 CFR 101.74 - Exhibits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 34 Education 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Exhibits. 101.74 Section 101.74 Education Regulations of the Offices of the Department of Education OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION... objection thereto is filed prior to the hearing or unless good cause is shown at the hearing for failure to...

The medial prefrontal cortex exhibits money illusion

PubMed Central

Weber, Bernd; Rangel, Antonio; Wibral, Matthias; Falk, Armin

2009-01-01

Behavioral economists have proposed that money illusion, which is a deviation from rationality in which individuals engage in nominal evaluation, can explain a wide range of important economic and social phenomena. This proposition stands in sharp contrast to the standard economic assumption of rationality that requires individuals to judge the value of money only on the basis of the bundle of goods that it can buy—its real value—and not on the basis of the actual amount of currency—its nominal value. We used fMRI to investigate whether the brain's reward circuitry exhibits money illusion. Subjects received prizes in 2 different experimental conditions that were identical in real economic terms, but differed in nominal terms. Thus, in the absence of money illusion there should be no differences in activation in reward-related brain areas. In contrast, we found that areas of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), which have been previously associated with the processing of anticipatory and experienced rewards, and the valuation of goods, exhibited money illusion. We also found that the amount of money illusion exhibited by the vmPFC was correlated with the amount of money illusion exhibited in the evaluation of economic transactions. PMID:19307555

Spectral imaging and passive sampling to investigate particle sources in urban desert regions.

PubMed

Wagner, Jeff; Casuccio, Gary

2014-07-01

Two types of electron microscopy analyses were employed along with geographic information system (GIS) mapping to investigate potential sources of PM2.5 and PM10 (airborne particulate matter smaller than 2.5 and 10 μm, respectively) in two urbanized desert areas known to exhibit PM excursions. Integrated spectral imaging maps were obtained from scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analyses of 13 filters collected in Imperial Valley, California. Seven were from 24 h PM10 Federal Reference Method (FRM) samplers and six were from PM2.5 FRM samplers. This technique enabled extraction of information from particles collected on complex filter matrices, and indicated that all samples exhibited substantial proportions of crustal particles. Six Imperial PM2.5 and PM10 filters selected from unusually high-PM days exhibited more large particles (2.5-15 and 10-30 μm, respectively) than did filters from low-PM days, and were more consistent with soils analyzed from the region. High winds were present on three of the six high-PM days. One of the high-PM2.5 filters also exhibited substantial fine carbonaceous soot PM, suggesting significant contributions from a combustion source. Computer-controlled SEM/EDS (CCSEM/EDS) was conducted on PM collected with UNC Passive samplers from Phoenix, Arizona. The passive samplers showed good agreement with co-located FRM PM10 and PM2.5 measurements (μg m(-3)), and also enabled detailed individual particle analysis. The CCSEM/EDS data revealed mostly crustal particles in both the Phoenix fine and coarse PM10 fractions. GIS maps of multiple dust-related parameters confirm that both Imperial Valley and Phoenix possess favorable conditions for airborne crustal PM from natural and anthropogenic sources.

Synthesis, crystal structures, and luminescent properties of Cd(II) coordination polymers assembled from semi-rigid multi-dentate N-containing ligand

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yuan, Gang; Shao, Kui-Zhan; Chen, Lei

2012-12-15

Three new polymers, [Cd(L){sub 2}(H{sub 2}O){sub 2}]{sub n} (1), [Cd{sub 3}(L){sub 2}({mu}{sub 3}-OH){sub 2}({mu}{sub 2}-Cl){sub 2}(H{sub 2}O){sub 2}]{sub n} (2), {l_brace}[Cd{sub 2}(L){sub 2}(nic){sub 2}(H{sub 2}O){sub 2}]{center_dot}H{sub 2}O{r_brace}{sub n} (3) (HL=5-(4-((1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)methyl)phenyl)-1H-tetrazole, Hnic=nicotinic acid) have been prepared and structurally characterized. Compounds 1 and 2 display 2D monomolecular layers built by the inter-linking single helical chains and L{sup -} ligands connecting chain-like [Cd({mu}{sub 3}-OH)({mu}{sub 2}-Cl)]{sub n} secondary building units, respectively. Compound 3 is constructed from the mixed ligands and possesses a (3,4)-connected framework with (4{center_dot}8{sup 2})(4{center_dot}8{sup 2}{center_dot}10{sup 3}) topology. Moreover, the fluorescent properties of HL ligand and compounds 1-3 are also been investigated.more » - Graphical abstract: Three new coordination polymers based on the semi-rigid multidentate N-donor ligand have been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal reaction. Complexes 1 and 2 exhibit the 2D layers formed by inter-linking single helices and L{sup -} anions bridging 1D chain-like SBUs, respectively. Complex 3 is buit by L{sup -} and assistant nic{sup -} ligands connecting metal centers and possesses a (3,4)-connected framework with (4 Multiplication-Sign 8{sup 2})(4 Multiplication-Sign 8{sup 2} Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 3}) topology. Moreover, these complexes display fluorescent properties indicating that they may have potential applications as optical materials. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Three Cd-compounds were prepared from semi-rigid HL ligand with different N-containing groups. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer They exhibit diverse structures from 2D monomolecular layer to 3D covalent framework. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The HL ligands displayed various coordination modes under different reaction conditions. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer These compounds exhibit good luminescent properties.« less

Costing Complex Products, Operations & Support

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-10-19

last version of the Harrier II family introduced in the UK. As such it is similar to the U.S. Marine Corps’ AV-8B in basic structure , systems , and...ABSTRACT Complex products and systems (CoPS) are major capital goods in which customers play a central role from design through to disposal, such as...Complex products and systems (CoPS) are major capital goods in which customers play a central role from design through to disposal, such as large defense

KSC-2014-3129

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Former NASA astronaut Tom Jones welcomes visitors to the grand opening of the Great Balls of Fire exhibit at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

A Comparison of Cognitive Flexibility and Metalinguistic Skills in Adult Good and Poor Comprehenders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cartwright, Kelly B.; Bock, Allison M.; Coppage, Elizabeth A.; Hodgkiss, Melinda D.; Nelson, Marisa Isaac

2017-01-01

Good and poor comprehenders exhibit different profiles of cognitive abilities, despite comparable decoding skills. Recent work suggests that executive functions, particularly cognitive flexibility, may underlie poor comprehenders' difficulties in childhood and adulthood. However, metalinguistic skills that enable readers to reflect on various…

Development of the Mental Synthesis Evaluation Checklist (MSEC): A Parent-Report Tool for Mental Synthesis Ability Assessment in Children with Language Delay

PubMed Central

Braverman, Julia; Dunn, Rita

2018-01-01

Mental synthesis is the conscious purposeful process of synthesizing novel mental images from objects stored in memory. Mental synthesis ability is essential for understanding complex syntax, spatial prepositions, and verb tenses. In typical children, the timeline of mental synthesis acquisition is highly correlated with an increasing vocabulary. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), on the other hand, may learn hundreds of words but never acquire mental synthesis. In these individuals, tests assessing vocabulary comprehension may fail to demonstrate the profound deficit in mental synthesis. We developed a parent-reported Mental Synthesis Evaluation Checklist (MSEC) designed to assess mental synthesis acquisition in ASD children. The psychometric quality of MSEC was tested with 3715 parents of ASD children. Internal reliability of the 20-item MSEC was good (Cronbach’s alpha >0.9). MSEC exhibited adequate test–retest reliability; good construct validity, supported by a positive correlation with the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) Communication subscale; and good known group validity reflected by the difference in MSEC scores for children of different ASD severity levels. The MSEC questionnaire is copyright-free and can be used by researchers as a complimentary subscale for the ATEC evaluation. We hope that the addition of MSEC will make the combined assessment more sensitive to small steps in a child’s development. As MSEC does not rely on productive language, it may be an especially useful tool for assessing the development of nonverbal and minimally verbal children. PMID:29783788

2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)imidazole-based four-coordinate organoboron compounds with efficient deep blue photoluminescence and electroluminescence.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhenyu; Zhang, Zuolun; Zhang, Hongyu; Wang, Yue

2017-12-19

Two new four-coordinate organoboron compounds with 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)imidazole derivatives as the chelating ligands have been synthesized. They possess high thermal stability and are able to form an amorphous glass state. Crystallographic analyses indicate that the differences in ligand structure cause the change of ππ stacking character. The CH 2 Cl 2 solutions and thin films of these compounds display bright blue emission, and these compounds have appropriate HOMO and LUMO energy levels for carrier injection in OLEDs. By utilizing the good thermal and luminescent properties, as well as the proper frontier orbital energy levels, bright non-doped OLEDs with a simple structure have been realized. Notably, these simple devices show deep blue electroluminescence with the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) coordinate of ca. (0.16, 0.08), which is close to the CIE coordinate of (0.14, 0.08) for standard blue defined by the National Television System Committee. In addition, one of the devices exhibits good performance, showing brightness, current efficiency, power efficiency and external quantum efficiency up to 2692 cd m -2 , 2.50 cd A -1 , 1.81 lm W -1 and 3.63%, respectively. This study not only provides good deep-blue emitting OLED materials that are rarely achieved by using four-coordinate organoboron compounds, but also allows a deeper understanding of the structure-property relationship of 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)imidazole-based boron complexes, which benefits the further structural design of this type of material.

Polyelectrolyte complexes between (cross-linked) N-carboxyethylchitosan and (quaternized) poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate]: preparation, characterization, and antibacterial properties.

PubMed

Yancheva, Elena; Paneva, Dilyana; Maximova, Vera; Mespouille, Laetitia; Dubois, Philippe; Manolova, Nevena; Rashkov, Iliya

2007-03-01

Novel polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) between N-carboxyethylchitosan (CECh) and well-defined (quaternized) poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (PDMAEMA) have been obtained. The modification of chitosan into CECh allows the preparation of PECs in a pH range in which chitosan cannot form complexes. The CECh/PDMAEMA complex is formed in a narrow pH range around 7. The quaternization of the tertiary amino groups of PDMAEMA enables complex formation with CECh both in neutral and in alkaline medium. Cross-linked CECh is also capable of forming complexes with (quaternized) PDMAEMA. The antibacterial activity of (cross-linked) CECh, (quaternized) PDMAEMA, and their complexes against Escherichia coli has been evaluated. In contrast to (quaternized) PDMAEMA, (cross-linked) CECh exhibits no antibacterial activity. The complex formation between cross-linked CECh and (quaternized) PDMAEMA results in a loss of the inherent antibacterial activity of the latter in neutral medium. In acidic medium, the complexes exhibit strong antibacterial activity due to complex disintegration and release of (quaternized) PDMAEMA.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yuping, Duan, E-mail: duanyp@dlut.edu.c; Jia, Zhang; Hui, Jing

Fe-doped MnO{sub 2} with a hollow sea urchin-like ball chain shape was first synthesized under a high magnetic field of 10 T. The formation mechanism was investigated and discussed in detail. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EMPA, and vector network analysis. By doping MnO{sub 2} with Fe, the relative complex permittivity of MnO{sub 2} and its corresponding loss tangent clearly decreases, but its relative complex permeability and its corresponding loss tangent markedly increases. Moreover, the theoretically calculated values of reflection loss show that with increasing the Fe content, the as-prepared Fe-doped MnO{sub 2} exhibits good microwavemore » absorption capability. -- Graphical Abstract: Fe-doped MnO{sub 2} with a hollow sea urchin-like ball chain shape was first synthesized in a high magnetic field of 10 T via a simple chemical process. Display Omitted Highlights: {yields} Fe-doped MnO{sub 2} with a hollow sea urchin-like ball chain shape was first synthesized. {yields} We investigated formation mechanism and electromagnetic properties of the Fe-doped MnO{sub 2}. {yields} By doping MnO{sub 2} with Fe, the electromagnetic properties are improved obviously.« less

Experimental and computational approaches to reveal the potential of Ficus deltoidea leaves extract as α-amylase inhibitor.

PubMed

Abu Bakar, Amirul Ridzuan; Manaharan, Thamilvaani; Merican, Amir Feisal; Mohamad, Saharuddin Bin

2018-02-01

Ficus deltoidea leaves extract are known to have good therapeutic properties such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic. We showed that 50% ethanol-water extract of F. deltoidea leaves and its pungent compounds vitexin and isovitexin exhibited significant (p < 0.05) α-amylase inhibition with IC 50 (vitexin: 4.6 μM [0.02 μg/mL]; isovitexin: 0.06 μg/mL [13.8 μM] and DPPH scavenging with IC 50 (vitexin: 92.5 μM [0.4 μg/mL]; isovitexin: 0.5 μg/mL [115.4 μM]). Additionally, molecular docking analysis confirmed that vitexin has a higher binding affinity (-7.54 kcal/mol) towards α-amylase compared to isovitexin (-5.61 kcal/mol). On the other hand, the molecular dynamics findings showed that vitexin-α-amylase complex is more stable during the simulation of 20 ns when compared to the isovitexin-α-amylase complex. Our results suggest that vitexin is more potent and stable against α-amylase enzyme, thus it could develop as a therapeutic drug for the treatment of diabetes.

Spatiotemporal modeling of PM2.5 concentrations at the national scale combining land use regression and Bayesian maximum entropy in China.

PubMed

Chen, Li; Gao, Shuang; Zhang, Hui; Sun, Yanling; Ma, Zhenxing; Vedal, Sverre; Mao, Jian; Bai, Zhipeng

2018-05-03

Concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ) are relatively high in China. Estimation of PM 2.5 exposure is complex because PM 2.5 exhibits complex spatiotemporal patterns. To improve the validity of exposure predictions, several methods have been developed and applied worldwide. A hybrid approach combining a land use regression (LUR) model and Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) interpolation of the LUR space-time residuals were developed to estimate the PM 2.5 concentrations on a national scale in China. This hybrid model could potentially provide more valid predictions than a commonly-used LUR model. The LUR/BME model had good performance characteristics, with R 2  = 0.82 and root mean square error (RMSE) of 4.6 μg/m 3 . Prediction errors of the LUR/BME model were reduced by incorporating soft data accounting for data uncertainty, with the R 2 increasing by 6%. The performance of LUR/BME is better than OK/BME. The LUR/BME model is the most accurate fine spatial scale PM 2.5 model developed to date for China. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Complex Enzyme-Assisted Extraction Releases Antioxidative Phenolic Compositions from Guava Leaves.

PubMed

Wang, Lu; Wu, Yanan; Liu, Yan; Wu, Zhenqiang

2017-09-30

Phenolics in food and fruit tree leaves exist in free, soluble-conjugate, and insoluble-bound forms. In this study, in order to enhance the bioavailability of insoluble-bound phenolics from guava leaves (GL), the ability of enzyme-assisted extraction in improving the release of insoluble-bound phenolics was investigated. Compared to untreated GL, single xylanase-assisted extraction did not change the composition and yield of soluble phenolics, whereas single cellulase or β -glucosidase-assisted extraction significantly enhanced the soluble phenolics content of PGL. However, complex enzyme-assisted extraction (CEAE) greatly improved the soluble phenolics content, flavonoids content, ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP by 103.2%, 81.6%, 104.4%, 126.5%, and 90.3%, respectively. Interestingly, after CEAE, a major proportion of phenolics existed in the soluble form, and rarely in the insoluble-bound form. Especially, the contents of quercetin and kaempferol with higher bio-activity were enhanced by 3.5- and 2.2-fold, respectively. More importantly, total soluble phenolics extracts of GL following CEAE exhibited the highest antioxidant activity and protective effect against supercoiled DNA damage. This enzyme-assisted extraction technology can be useful for extracting biochemical components from plant matrix, and has good potential for use in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Development of antibacterial paper coated with sodium hyaluronate stabilized curcumin-Ag nanohybrid and chitosan via polyelectrolyte complexation for medical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao Kummara, Madhusudana; Kumar, Anuj; Soo, Han Sung

2017-11-01

Sodium hyaluronate (HA) stabilized curcumin-Ag (Cur-Ag) hybrid nanoparticles were prepared in the water-ethanol mixture under constant mechanical stirring condition. The obtained HA stabilized Cur-Ag hybrid nanoparticles were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction to confirm the formation and structural interactions. The obtained Cur-Ag hybrid nanoparticles showed spherical shape with their size range 5-12 nm that was increased with the increasing a amount of silver ions as confirmed by transmission electron microscopic analysis. Further, a fibrous cellulose filter paper was impregnated with these hybrid nanoparticles and chitosan (CS) as biopolymer via polyelectrolyte complexation. The morphological analysis confirmed the uniform distribution of hybrid nanoparticle system onto the cellulose fibers of the fibrous filter paper. As per disc diffusion method, the Cur-Ag hybrid nanoparticles impregnated CS-coated filter paper exhibited excellent antibacterial properties against gram-negative Escherichia coli (E.coli) bacteria compared to HA stabilized Cur only. Moreover, as prepared hybrid nanoparticles impregnated biocomposite system is eco-friendly with efficient antibacterial property and have good potential to be used in medical applications.

Microwave structure for the propiolic acid-formic acid complex.

PubMed

Kukolich, Stephen G; Mitchell, Erik G; Carey, Spencer J; Sun, Ming; Sargus, Bryan A

2013-10-03

New microwave spectra were measured to obtain rotational constants and centrifugal distortion constants for the DCCCOOH···HOOCH and HCCCOOD···DOOCH isotopologues. Rotational transitions were measured in the frequency range of 4.9-15.4 GHz, providing accurate rotational constants, which, combined with previous rotational constants, allowed an improved structural fit for the propiolic acid-formic acid complex. The new structural fit yields reasonably accurate orientations for both the propiolic and formic acid monomers in the complex and more accurate structural parameters describing the hydrogen bonding. The structure is planar, with a positive inertial defect of Δ = 1.33 amu Å(2). The experimental structure exhibits a greater asymmetry for the two hydrogen bond lengths than was obtained from the ab initio mp2 calculations. The best-fit hydrogen bond lengths have an r(O1-H1···O4) of 1.64 Å and an r(O3-H2···O2) of 1.87 Å. The average of the two hydrogen bond lengths is r(av)(exp) = 1.76 Å, in good agreement with r(av)(theory) = 1.72 Å. The center of mass separation of the monomers is R(CM) = 3.864 Å. Other structural parameters from the least-squares fit using the experimental rotational constants are compared with theoretical values. The spectra were obtained using two different pulsed beam Fourier transform microwave spectrometers.

Radiation damage buildup and dislocation evolution in Ni and equiatomic multicomponent Ni-based alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levo, E.; Granberg, F.; Fridlund, C.; Nordlund, K.; Djurabekova, F.

2017-07-01

Single-phase multicomponent alloys of equal atomic concentrations ("equiatomic") have proven to exhibit promising mechanical and corrosion resistance properties, that are sought after in materials intended for use in hazardous environments like next-generation nuclear reactors. In this article, we investigate the damage production and dislocation mobility by simulating irradiation of elemental Ni and the alloys NiCo, NiCoCr, NiCoFe and NiFe, to assess the effect of elemental composition. We compare the defect production and the evolution of dislocation networks in the simulation cells of two different sizes, for all five studied materials. We find that the trends in defect evolution are in good agreement between the different cell sizes. The damage is generally reduced with increased alloy complexity, and the dislocation evolution is specific to each material, depending on its complexity. We show that increasing complexity of the alloys does not always lead to decreased susceptibility to damage accumulation under irradiation. We show that, for instance, the NiCo alloy behaves very similarly to Ni, while presence of Fe or Cr in the alloy even as a third component reduces the saturated level of damage substantially. Moreover, we linked the defect evolution with the dislocation transformations in the alloys. Sudden drops in defect number and large defect fluctuations from the continuous irradiation can be explained from the dislocation activity.

Parameters Selection for Bivariate Multiscale Entropy Analysis of Postural Fluctuations in Fallers and Non-Fallers Older Adults.

PubMed

Ramdani, Sofiane; Bonnet, Vincent; Tallon, Guillaume; Lagarde, Julien; Bernard, Pierre Louis; Blain, Hubert

2016-08-01

Entropy measures are often used to quantify the regularity of postural sway time series. Recent methodological developments provided both multivariate and multiscale approaches allowing the extraction of complexity features from physiological signals; see "Dynamical complexity of human responses: A multivariate data-adaptive framework," in Bulletin of Polish Academy of Science and Technology, vol. 60, p. 433, 2012. The resulting entropy measures are good candidates for the analysis of bivariate postural sway signals exhibiting nonstationarity and multiscale properties. These methods are dependant on several input parameters such as embedding parameters. Using two data sets collected from institutionalized frail older adults, we numerically investigate the behavior of a recent multivariate and multiscale entropy estimator; see "Multivariate multiscale entropy: A tool for complexity analysis of multichannel data," Physics Review E, vol. 84, p. 061918, 2011. We propose criteria for the selection of the input parameters. Using these optimal parameters, we statistically compare the multivariate and multiscale entropy values of postural sway data of non-faller subjects to those of fallers. These two groups are discriminated by the resulting measures over multiple time scales. We also demonstrate that the typical parameter settings proposed in the literature lead to entropy measures that do not distinguish the two groups. This last result confirms the importance of the selection of appropriate input parameters.

Construction and Characterization of a Chitosan-Immobilized-Enzyme and β-Cyclodextrin-Included-Ferrocene-Based Electrochemical Biosensor for H₂O₂ Detection.

PubMed

Dong, Wenbo; Wang, Kaiyin; Chen, Yu; Li, Weiping; Ye, Yanchun; Jin, Shaohua

2017-07-28

An electrochemical detection biosensor was prepared with the chitosan-immobilized-enzyme (CTS-CAT) and β-cyclodextrin-included-ferrocene (β-CD-FE) complex for the determination of H₂O₂. Ferrocene (FE) was included in β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) to increase its stability. The structure of the β-CD-FE was characterized. The inclusion amount, inclusion rate, and electrochemical properties of inclusion complexes were determined to optimize the reaction conditions for the inclusion. CTS-CAT was prepared by a step-by-step immobilization method, which overcame the disadvantages of the conventional preparation methods. The immobilization conditions were optimized to obtain the desired enzyme activity. CTS-CAT/β-CD-FE composite electrodes were prepared by compositing the CTS-CAT with the β-CD-FE complex on a glassy carbon electrode and used for the electrochemical detection of H₂O₂. It was found that the CTS-CAT could produce a strong reduction peak current in response to H₂O₂ and the β-CD-FE could amplify the current signal. The peak current exhibited a linear relationship with the H₂O₂ concentration in the range of 1.0 × 10 -7 -6.0 × 10 -3 mol/L. Our work provided a novel method for the construction of electrochemical biosensors with a fast response, good stability, high sensitivity, and a wide linear response range based on the composite of chitosan and cyclodextrin.

Modeling epidemics on adaptively evolving networks: A data-mining perspective.

PubMed

Kattis, Assimakis A; Holiday, Alexander; Stoica, Ana-Andreea; Kevrekidis, Ioannis G

2016-01-01

The exploration of epidemic dynamics on dynamically evolving ("adaptive") networks poses nontrivial challenges to the modeler, such as the determination of a small number of informative statistics of the detailed network state (that is, a few "good observables") that usefully summarize the overall (macroscopic, systems-level) behavior. Obtaining reduced, small size accurate models in terms of these few statistical observables--that is, trying to coarse-grain the full network epidemic model to a small but useful macroscopic one--is even more daunting. Here we describe a data-based approach to solving the first challenge: the detection of a few informative collective observables of the detailed epidemic dynamics. This is accomplished through Diffusion Maps (DMAPS), a recently developed data-mining technique. We illustrate the approach through simulations of a simple mathematical model of epidemics on a network: a model known to exhibit complex temporal dynamics. We discuss potential extensions of the approach, as well as possible shortcomings.

Resonances in photoabsorption: Predissociation line shapes in the 3pπD{sup 1}Π{sup +}{sub u} ← Χ{sup 1}Σ{sub g}{sup +} system in H{sub 2}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mezei, J. Zs.; Laboratoire Ondes et Milieux Complexes, UMR-6294 CNRS and Université du Havre, 25, rue Philippe Lebon, BP 540, 76058, Le Havre France; Schneider, I. F.

2014-08-14

The predissociation of the 3pπD{sup 1}Π{sub u}{sup +},v≥3,N=1, N = 2, and N = 3 levels of diatomic hydrogen is calculated by ab initio multichannel quantum defect theory combined with a R-matrix type approach that accounts for interfering predissociation and autoionization. The theory yields absorption line widths and shapes that are in good agreement with those observed in the high-resolution synchrotron vacuum-ultraviolet absorption spectra obtained by Dickenson et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 133, 144317 (2010)] at the DESIRS beamline of the SOLEIL synchrotron. The theory predicts further that many of the D state resonances with v ⩾ 6 exhibit amore » complex fine structure which cannot be modeled by the Fano profile formula and which has not yet been observed experimentally.« less

Dielectric properties characterization of saline solutions by near-field microwave microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Sijia; Lin, Tianjun; Lasri, Tuami

2017-01-01

Saline solutions are of a great interest when characterizations of biological fluids are targeted. In this work a near-field microwave microscope is proposed for the characterization of liquids. An interferometric technique is suggested to enhance measurement sensitivity and accuracy. The validation of the setup and the measurement technique is conducted through the characterization of a large range of saline concentrations (0-160 mg ml-1). Based on the measured resonance frequency shift and quality factor, the complex permittivity is successfully extracted as exhibited by the good agreement found when comparing the results to data obtained from Cole-Cole model. We demonstrate that the near field microwave microscope (NFMM) brings a great advantage by offering the possibility to select a resonance frequency and a quality factor for a given concentration level. This method provides a very effective way to largely enhance the measurement sensitivity in high loss materials.

Semiconductor-Based Photoelectrochemical Conversion of Carbon Dioxide: Stepping Towards Artificial Photosynthesis.

PubMed

Pang, Hong; Masuda, Takuya; Ye, Jinhua

2018-01-18

The photoelectrochemical (PEC) carbon dioxide reduction process stands out as a promising avenue for the conversion of solar energy into chemical feedstocks, among various methods available for carbon dioxide mitigation. Semiconductors derived from cheap and abundant elements are interesting candidates for catalysis. Whether employed as intrinsic semiconductors or hybridized with metallic cocatalysts, biocatalysts, and metal molecular complexes, semiconductor photocathodes exhibit good performance and low overpotential during carbon dioxide reduction. Apart from focusing on carbon dioxide reduction materials and chemistry, PEC cells towards standalone devices that use photohybrid electrodes or solar cells have also been a hot topic in recent research. An overview of the state-of-the-art progress in PEC carbon dioxide reduction is presented and a deep understanding of the catalysts of carbon dioxide reduction is also given. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Shape Evolution of Highly Lattice-Mismatched InN/InGaN Nanowire Heterostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Lifan; Hazari, Arnab; Bhattacharya, Pallab; Millunchick, Joanna M.

2018-02-01

We have investigated the structure and shape of GaN-based nanowires grown on (001) Si substrates for optoelectronic device applications. The nanowire heterostructures contained InN disks and In0.4Ga0.6N barrier layers in the active region. The resulting nanowire array comprised two differently shaped nanowires: shorter pencil-like nanowires and longer bead-like nanowires. The two different nanowire shapes evolve due to a variation in the In incorporation rate, which was faster for the bead-like nanowires. Both types of nanowires exhibited evidence of significant migration of both Ga and In during growth. Ga tended to diffuse away and down along the sidewalls, resulting in a Ga-rich shell for all nanowires. Despite the complex structure and great variability in the In composition, the optical properties of the nanowire arrays were very good, with strong luminescence peaking at ˜ 1.63 μm.

Network-based stochastic semisupervised learning.

PubMed

Silva, Thiago Christiano; Zhao, Liang

2012-03-01

Semisupervised learning is a machine learning approach that is able to employ both labeled and unlabeled samples in the training process. In this paper, we propose a semisupervised data classification model based on a combined random-preferential walk of particles in a network (graph) constructed from the input dataset. The particles of the same class cooperate among themselves, while the particles of different classes compete with each other to propagate class labels to the whole network. A rigorous model definition is provided via a nonlinear stochastic dynamical system and a mathematical analysis of its behavior is carried out. A numerical validation presented in this paper confirms the theoretical predictions. An interesting feature brought by the competitive-cooperative mechanism is that the proposed model can achieve good classification rates while exhibiting low computational complexity order in comparison to other network-based semisupervised algorithms. Computer simulations conducted on synthetic and real-world datasets reveal the effectiveness of the model.

A tunable single-monochromator Raman system based on the supercontinuum laser and tunable filters for resonant Raman profile measurements.

PubMed

Liu, X-L; Liu, H-N; Tan, P-H

2017-08-01

Resonant Raman spectroscopy requires that the wavelength of the laser used is close to that of an electronic transition. A tunable laser source and a triple spectrometer are usually necessary for resonant Raman profile measurements. However, such a system is complex with low signal throughput, which limits its wide application by scientific community. Here, a tunable micro-Raman spectroscopy system based on the supercontinuum laser, transmission grating, tunable filters, and single-stage spectrometer is introduced to measure the resonant Raman profile. The supercontinuum laser in combination with transmission grating makes a tunable excitation source with a bandwidth of sub-nanometer. Such a system exhibits continuous excitation tunability and high signal throughput. Its good performance and flexible tunability are verified by resonant Raman profile measurement of twisted bilayer graphene, which demonstrates its potential application prospect for resonant Raman spectroscopy.

A strain-absorbing design for tissue-machine interfaces using a tunable adhesive gel.

PubMed

Lee, Sungwon; Inoue, Yusuke; Kim, Dongmin; Reuveny, Amir; Kuribara, Kazunori; Yokota, Tomoyuki; Reeder, Jonathan; Sekino, Masaki; Sekitani, Tsuyoshi; Abe, Yusuke; Someya, Takao

2014-12-19

To measure electrophysiological signals from the human body, it is essential to establish stable, gentle and nonallergic contacts between the targeted biological tissue and the electrical probes. However, it is difficult to form a stable interface between the two for long periods, especially when the surface of the biological tissue is wet and/or the tissue exhibits motion. Here we resolve this difficulty by designing and fabricating smart, stress-absorbing electronic devices that can adhere to wet and complex tissue surfaces and allow for reliable, long-term measurements of vital signals. We demonstrate a multielectrode array, which can be attached to the surface of a rat heart, resulting in good conformal contact for more than 3 h. Furthermore, we demonstrate arrays of highly sensitive, stretchable strain sensors using a similar design. Ultra-flexible electronics with enhanced adhesion to tissue could enable future applications in chronic in vivo monitoring of biological signals.

Mechanisms Underlying Helper T cell Plasticity: Implications for Immune-mediated Disease

PubMed Central

Hirahara, Kiyoshi; Poholek, Amanda; Vahedi, Golnaz; Laurence, Arian; Kanno, Yuka; Milner, Joshua D.; O’Shea, John J.

2013-01-01

CD4 helper T cells are critical for proper immune cell homeostasis and host defense, but are also major contributes to immune and inflammatory disease. Arising from a simple, biphasic model of differentiation, Th1 and Th2 cells, a bewildering number of fates seem to possible for helper T cells. To what extent different helper cell subsets maintain their characteristic gene expression profiles or exhibit functional plasticity is a hotly debated topic. In this review, we will discuss how the expression of “signature cytokines” and “master regulator” transcription factors do not neatly conform to a simple T helper paradigm. While this may seem confusing, the good news is that the newly recognized complexity fits better with our understanding of immunopathogenesis. Finally, we will discuss factors include epigenetic regulation and metabolic alterations that contribute to helper cell specific and plasticity. PMID:23622118

"Molecular beacon"-hosted thioflavin T: Applications for label-free fluorescent detection of iodide and logic operations.

PubMed

Li, Yan-Yun; Jiang, Xiao-Qin; Lu, Ling-Fei; Zhang, Min; Shi, Guoyue

2016-04-01

In this work, we presented a simple, label-free and rapid-responsive fluorescence assay for iodide (I(-)) detection based on "molecular beacon (MB)"-hosted thioflavin T (ThT), achieving a limit of detection as low as 158 nM. The proposed method exhibited very good selectivity to I(-) ions over other anions interference due to the strong binding force between I(-) ions with Hg(2+). Upon the addition of I(-) ions, it would capture Hg(2+) from a T-Hg(2+)-T complex belonging to the MB-like DNA hairpin structure, which eventually quenched the initial fluorescence as output. In addition, it was successfully applied for operation of an integrated DNA logic gate system and to the determination of I(-) in real samples such as human urine. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simple estimation of linear 1+1 D tsunami run-up

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuentes, M.; Campos, J. A.; Riquelme, S.

2016-12-01

An analytical expression is derived concerning the linear run-up for any given initial wave generated over a sloping bathymetry. Due to the simplicity of the linear formulation, complex transformations are unnecessay, because the shoreline motion is directly obtained in terms of the initial wave. This analytical result not only supports maximum run-up invariance between linear and non-linear theories, but also the time evolution of shoreline motion and velocity. The results exhibit good agreement with the non-linear theory. The present formulation also allows computing the shoreline motion numerically from a customised initial waveform, including non-smooth functions. This is useful for numerical tests, laboratory experiments or realistic cases in which the initial disturbance might be retrieved from seismic data rather than using a theoretical model. It is also shown that the real case studied is consistent with the field observations.

Evolutionary fuzzy modeling human diagnostic decisions.

PubMed

Peña-Reyes, Carlos Andrés

2004-05-01

Fuzzy CoCo is a methodology, combining fuzzy logic and evolutionary computation, for constructing systems able to accurately predict the outcome of a human decision-making process, while providing an understandable explanation of the underlying reasoning. Fuzzy logic provides a formal framework for constructing systems exhibiting both good numeric performance (accuracy) and linguistic representation (interpretability). However, fuzzy modeling--meaning the construction of fuzzy systems--is an arduous task, demanding the identification of many parameters. To solve it, we use evolutionary computation techniques (specifically cooperative coevolution), which are widely used to search for adequate solutions in complex spaces. We have successfully applied the algorithm to model the decision processes involved in two breast cancer diagnostic problems, the WBCD problem and the Catalonia mammography interpretation problem, obtaining systems both of high performance and high interpretability. For the Catalonia problem, an evolved system was embedded within a Web-based tool-called COBRA-for aiding radiologists in mammography interpretation.

The spectral cell method in nonlinear earthquake modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giraldo, Daniel; Restrepo, Doriam

2017-12-01

This study examines the applicability of the spectral cell method (SCM) to compute the nonlinear earthquake response of complex basins. SCM combines fictitious-domain concepts with the spectral-version of the finite element method to solve the wave equations in heterogeneous geophysical domains. Nonlinear behavior is considered by implementing the Mohr-Coulomb and Drucker-Prager yielding criteria. We illustrate the performance of SCM with numerical examples of nonlinear basins exhibiting physically and computationally challenging conditions. The numerical experiments are benchmarked with results from overkill solutions, and using MIDAS GTS NX, a finite element software for geotechnical applications. Our findings show good agreement between the two sets of results. Traditional spectral elements implementations allow points per wavelength as low as PPW = 4.5 for high-order polynomials. Our findings show that in the presence of nonlinearity, high-order polynomials (p ≥ 3) require mesh resolutions above of PPW ≥ 10 to ensure displacement errors below 10%.

A rhodamine-based fluorescent probe for colorimetric and fluorescence lighting-up determination of toxic thiophenols in environmental water and living cells.

PubMed

Wu, Juanjuan; Ye, Zhuo; Wu, Feng; Wang, Hongying; Zeng, Lintao; Bao, Guang-Ming

2018-05-01

Thiophenols are a class of highly toxic environmental pollutant, hence it is very necessary to monitor thiophenols in environment and living cells with an efficient and reliable method. Herein, a novel fluorescent probe for thiophenols has been developed, which exhibited a colorimetric and fluorescence turn-on dual response towards thiophenols with good selectivity and fast response. The sensing mechanism for thiophenols was attributed to nucleophilic substitution reaction, which was confirmed by HPLC. The probe exhibited good recovery (from 90% to 107%) and low limit of detection for thiophenols (37nM) in industrial wastewater. Moreover, the probe has been successfully employed to visualize thiophenol in living cells. Therefore, the fluorescent probe has good capability for monitoring thiophenols in environmental samples and biological systems. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Highly stable aluminum-based metal-organic frameworks as biosensing platforms for assessment of food safety.

PubMed

Liu, Chun-Sen; Sun, Chun-Xiao; Tian, Jia-Yue; Wang, Zhuo-Wei; Ji, Hong-Fei; Song, Ying-Pan; Zhang, Shuai; Zhang, Zhi-Hong; He, Ling-Hao; Du, Miao

2017-05-15

Two unique immunosensors made of aluminum-based metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), namely, 515- and 516-MOFs, with 4,4',4''-nitrilotribenzoic acid (H 3 NTB) were successfully obtained to efficiently assess food safety. The as-prepared 515- and 516-MOFs exhibited superior thermal and physicochemical stability, high electrochemical activity, and good biocompatibility. Among these immunosensors, 516-MOF showed a preferable biosensing ability toward analytes determined by electrochemical techniques. The developed 516-MOF-based electrochemical biosensor not only demonstrated high sensitivity with low detection limits of 0.70 and 0.40pgmL -1 toward vomitoxin and salbutamol, respectively, but also showed good selectivity in the presence of other interferences. Therefore, with the advantages of high sensitivity, good selectivity, and simple operation, this new strategy is believed to exhibit great potential for simple and convenient detection of poisonous and harmful residues in food. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Web-Based Student Art Galleries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burton, David

2010-01-01

Exhibition is an important part of the artistic process for students as well as professional artists, but finding enough good places to exhibit can be as difficult for student artists as for adult artists. Venues that are accessible, display art attractively, and provide adequate space for many artists are usually in short supply. There is an…

Aerial view of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

This Shuttle/Gantry mockup and Post Show Dome anchor the northeast corner of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The Astronaut Memorial is located just above. Sprawling across 70 acres on Florida's Space Coast, the complex is located off State Road 405, NASA Parkway, six miles inside the Space Center entrance. The building at the upper left is the Theater Complex. Other exhibits and buildings on the site are the Center for Space Education, Cafeteria, Space Flight Exhibit Building, Souvenir Sales Building, Spaceport Central, Ticket Pavilion and Center for Space Education.

Defect chaos and bursts: hexagonal rotating convection and the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation.

PubMed

Madruga, Santiago; Riecke, Hermann; Pesch, Werner

2006-02-24

We employ numerical computations of the full Navier-Stokes equations to investigate non-Boussinesq convection in a rotating system using water as the working fluid. We identify two regimes. For weak non-Boussinesq effects the Hopf bifurcation from steady to oscillating (whirling) hexagons is supercritical and typical states exhibit defect chaos that is systematically described by the cubic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. For stronger non-Boussinesq effects the Hopf bifurcation becomes subcritical and the oscillations exhibit localized chaotic bursting, which is modeled by a quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation.

Isolation of a new two-dimensional honeycomb carbonato-bridged copper(II) complex exhibiting long-range ferromagnetic ordering.

PubMed

Majumder, Arpi; Choudhury, Chirantan Roy; Mitra, Samiran; Rosair, Georgina M; El Fallah, M Salah; Ribas, Joan

2005-04-28

Atmospheric CO2 fixation by an aqueous solution containing Cu(ClO4)2.6H2O and 4-aminopyridine (4-apy) yields a novel example of a two-dimensional mu3-CO3 bridged copper(II) complex {[Cu(4-apy)2]3(mu3-CO3)2(ClO4)2.(1/2)CH3OH}n that has been characterized by IR, UV and X-ray crystallography; preliminary magnetic measurements show that complex exhibits long-range ordered ferromagnetic coupling.

Decreased resting-state brain activity complexity in schizophrenia characterized by both increased regularity and randomness.

PubMed

Yang, Albert C; Hong, Chen-Jee; Liou, Yin-Jay; Huang, Kai-Lin; Huang, Chu-Chung; Liu, Mu-En; Lo, Men-Tzung; Huang, Norden E; Peng, Chung-Kang; Lin, Ching-Po; Tsai, Shih-Jen

2015-06-01

Schizophrenia is characterized by heterogeneous pathophysiology. Using multiscale entropy (MSE) analysis, which enables capturing complex dynamics of time series, we characterized MSE patterns of blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals across different time scales and determined whether BOLD activity in patients with schizophrenia exhibits increased complexity (increased entropy in all time scales), decreased complexity toward regularity (decreased entropy in all time scales), or decreased complexity toward uncorrelated randomness (high entropy in short time scales followed by decayed entropy as the time scale increases). We recruited 105 patients with schizophrenia with an age of onset between 18 and 35 years and 210 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Results showed that MSE of BOLD signals in patients with schizophrenia exhibited two routes of decreased BOLD complexity toward either regular or random patterns. Reduced BOLD complexity toward regular patterns was observed in the cerebellum and temporal, middle, and superior frontal regions, and reduced BOLD complexity toward randomness was observed extensively in the inferior frontal, occipital, and postcentral cortices as well as in the insula and middle cingulum. Furthermore, we determined that the two types of complexity change were associated differently with psychopathology; specifically, the regular type of BOLD complexity change was associated with positive symptoms of schizophrenia, whereas the randomness type of BOLD complexity was associated with negative symptoms of the illness. These results collectively suggested that resting-state dynamics in schizophrenia exhibit two routes of pathologic change toward regular or random patterns, which contribute to the differences in syndrome domains of psychosis in patients with schizophrenia. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

KSC-2014-3126

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Former NASA astronaut Tom Jones, left, joins Andrea Farmer, senior public relations manager with Delaware North Parks and Resorts at NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, for the grand opening of the Great Balls of Fire exhibit. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

KSC-2014-3133

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Former NASA astronaut Tom Jones discusses the characteristics of asteroids and meteors with a young guest during the grand opening of the Great Balls of Fire exhibit at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

KSC-2014-3127

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Therrin Protze, chief operating officer with Delaware North Parks and Resorts at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, welcomes guests to the grand opening of the Great Balls of Fire exhibit. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

KSC-2014-3132

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Former NASA astronaut Tom Jones discusses the characteristics of asteroids and meteors with a young guest during the grand opening of the Great Balls of Fire exhibit at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

Design, synthesis, kinetic mechanism and molecular docking studies of novel 1-pentanoyl-3-arylthioureas as inhibitors of mushroom tyrosinase and free radical scavengers.

PubMed

Larik, Fayaz Ali; Saeed, Aamer; Channar, Pervaiz Ali; Muqadar, Urooj; Abbas, Qamar; Hassan, Mubashir; Seo, Sung-Yum; Bolte, Michael

2017-12-01

A series of novel 1-pentanoyl-3-arylthioureas was designed as new mushroom tyrosinase inhibitors and free radical scavengers. The title compounds were obtained in excellent yield and characterized by FTIR, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR and X-ray crystallography in case of compound (4a). The inhibitory effects on mushroom tyrosinase and DPPH were evaluated and it was observed that 1-Pentanoyl-3-(4-methoxyphenyl) thiourea (4f) showed tyrosinase inhibitory activity (IC 50 1.568 ± 0.01 mM) comparable to Kojic acid (IC 50 16.051 ± 1.27 mM). Interestingly compound 4f exhibited higher antioxidant potential compared to other derivatives. The docking studies of synthesized 1-Pentanoyl-3-arylthioureas analogues were also carried out against tyrosinase protein (PDBID 2ZMX) to compare the binding affinities with IC 50 values. The predicted binding affinities are in good agreement with the IC 50 values as compound (4f) showed highest binding affinity (-7.50 kcal/mol) compared to others derivatives. The kinetic mechanism analyzed by Line-weavere Burk plots exhibited that compound (4f) inhibit the enzyme inhibits the tyrosinase non-competitively to form an enzyme inhibitor complex. The inhibition constants Ki calculated from Dixon plots for compound (4f) is 1.10 μM. It was also found from kinetic analysis that derivative 4f irreversible enzyme inhibitor complex. It is proposed on the basis of our investigation that title compound (4f) may serve as lead structure for the design of more potent tyrosinase inhibitors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Fabrication of l-cysteine-capped CdTe quantum dots based ratiometric fluorescence nanosensor for onsite visual determination of trace TNT explosive.

PubMed

Qian, Jing; Hua, Mengjuan; Wang, Chengquan; Wang, Kan; Liu, Qian; Hao, Nan; Wang, Kun

2016-11-23

New strategies for onsite determination of trace 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) explosives have become a research hotspot for homeland security needs against terrorism and environmental concerns. Herein, we designed a ratiometric fluorescence nanohybrid comprising 3-mercaptopropionic acid-capped green-emitting CdTe quantum dots (gQDs) encapsulated into SiO 2 sphere and l-cysteine (Lcys)-capped red-emitting CdTe QDs (rQDs) conjugated onto SiO 2 surface. The surface Lcys can be used as not only the stabilizer of the rQDs but also the primary amine provider which can react with TNT to form Meisenheimer complexes. Without any additional surface modification procedure, the fluorescence of rQDs equipped with Lcys was selectively quenched by TNT because electrons of the rQDs transferred to TNT molecules due to the formation of Meisenheimer complexes. Meanwhile, the embedded gQDs always remained constant. Upon exposure to increasing amounts of TNT, the fluorescence of rQDs could be gradually quenched and consequently the logarithm of the dual emission intensity ratios exhibited a good linear negative correlation with TNT concentration over a range of 10 nM-8 μM with a low detection limit of 3.3 nM. One can perform onsite visual determination of TNT with high resolution because the ratiometric fluorescence nanosensing system exhibited obvious fluorescence color changes. This sensing strategy has been successfully applied in real samples and already integrated in a filter paper-based assay, which enables potential fields use application featuring easy handling and cost-effectiveness. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predicting radiotherapy outcomes using statistical learning techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Naqa, Issam; Bradley, Jeffrey D.; Lindsay, Patricia E.; Hope, Andrew J.; Deasy, Joseph O.

2009-09-01

Radiotherapy outcomes are determined by complex interactions between treatment, anatomical and patient-related variables. A common obstacle to building maximally predictive outcome models for clinical practice is the failure to capture potential complexity of heterogeneous variable interactions and applicability beyond institutional data. We describe a statistical learning methodology that can automatically screen for nonlinear relations among prognostic variables and generalize to unseen data before. In this work, several types of linear and nonlinear kernels to generate interaction terms and approximate the treatment-response function are evaluated. Examples of institutional datasets of esophagitis, pneumonitis and xerostomia endpoints were used. Furthermore, an independent RTOG dataset was used for 'generalizabilty' validation. We formulated the discrimination between risk groups as a supervised learning problem. The distribution of patient groups was initially analyzed using principle components analysis (PCA) to uncover potential nonlinear behavior. The performance of the different methods was evaluated using bivariate correlations and actuarial analysis. Over-fitting was controlled via cross-validation resampling. Our results suggest that a modified support vector machine (SVM) kernel method provided superior performance on leave-one-out testing compared to logistic regression and neural networks in cases where the data exhibited nonlinear behavior on PCA. For instance, in prediction of esophagitis and pneumonitis endpoints, which exhibited nonlinear behavior on PCA, the method provided 21% and 60% improvements, respectively. Furthermore, evaluation on the independent pneumonitis RTOG dataset demonstrated good generalizabilty beyond institutional data in contrast with other models. This indicates that the prediction of treatment response can be improved by utilizing nonlinear kernel methods for discovering important nonlinear interactions among model variables. These models have the capacity to predict on unseen data. Part of this work was first presented at the Seventh International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications, San Diego, CA, USA, 11-13 December 2008.

Silver(I) complexes of 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde-amino acid Schiff bases-Novel noncompetitive α-glucosidase inhibitors.

PubMed

Zheng, Jingwei; Ma, Lin

2015-01-01

A series of silver(I) complexes of 2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde-amino acid Schiff bases were designed and tested for α-glucosidase inhibition. Our results indicate that all the silver complexes (4a-18a) possessed strong inhibitory activity at μmolL(-1) level, especially glutamine (12a) and histidine (18a) Schiff base silver(I) complexes exhibited an IC50 value of less than 0.01μmolL(-1). This series of compounds exhibited noncompetitive inhibition characteristics in kinetic studies. In addition, we investigated the mechanism of inhibition and the structure-activity relationships of the amino acid Schiff base silver complexes. Our results reveal that Schiff base silver complexes may be explored for their therapeutic potential as alternatives of α-glucosidase inhibitors. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

miRNA oligonucleotide and sponge for miRNA-21 inhibition mediated by PEI-PLL in breast cancer therapy.

PubMed

Gao, Shiqian; Tian, Huayu; Guo, Ye; Li, Yuce; Guo, Zhaopei; Zhu, Xiaojuan; Chen, Xuesi

2015-10-01

MicroRNA-21 (miR-21) inhibition is a promising biological strategy for breast cancer therapy. However its application is limited by the lack of efficient miRNA inhibitor delivery systems. As a cationic polymer transfection material for nucleic acids, the poly (l-lysine)-modified polyethylenimine (PEI-PLL) copolymer combines the high transfection efficiency of polyethylenimine (PEI) and the good biodegradability of polyllysine (PLL). In this work, PEI-PLL was successfully synthesized and confirmed to transfect plasmid and oligonucleotide more effectively than PEI in MCF-7 cells (human breast cancer cells). In this regard, two kinds of miR-21 inhibitors, miR-21 sponge plasmid DNA (Sponge) and anti-miR-21 oligonucleotide (AMO), were transported into MCF-7 cells by PEI-PLL respectively. The miR-21 expression and the cellular physiology were determined post transfection. Compared with the negative control, PEI-PLL/Sponge or PEI-PLL/AMO groups exhibited lower miR-21 expression and cell viability. The anti-tumor mechanism of PEI-PLL/miR-21 inhibitors was further studied by cell cycle and western blot analyses. The results indicated that the miR-21 inhibition could induce the cell cycle arrest in G1 phase, upregulate the expression of Programmed Cell Death Protein 4 (PDCD4) and thus active the caspase-3 apoptosis pathway. Interestingly, the PEI-PLL/Sponge and PEI-PLL/AMO also sensitized the MCF-7 cells to anti-tumor drugs, doxorubicin (DOX) and cisplatin (CDDP). These results demonstrated that PEI-PLL/Sponge and PEI-PLL/AMO complexes would be two novel and promising gene delivery systems for breast cancer gene therapy based on miR-21 inhibition. This work was a combination of the high transfection efficiency of polyethylenimine (PEI), the good biodegradability of polyllysine (PLL) and the breast cancer-killing effect of miR-21 inhibitors. The poly (l-lysine)-modified polyethylenimine (PEI-PLL) copolymer was employed as the vector of miR-21 sponge plasmid DNA (Sponge) or anti-miR-21 oligonucleotide (AMO). PEI-PLL showed more transfection efficiency and lower cytotoxicity in human breast cancer cells than PEI. Moreover, the breast cancer cells exhibited significantly lower miR-21 expression and cell viability post transfection with sponge or AMO. Interestingly, the PEI-PLL/miR-21 inhibitor complexes also sensitized the cancer cells to anti-cancer chemotherapy drugs, doxorubicin (DOX) and cisplatin (CDDP). This synergistic effect provides a good application prospect of co-delivery miR-21 inhibitors and chemical drugs in breast cancer therapy. Copyright © 2015 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electrochemiluminescence detection of TNT by resonance energy transfer through the formation of a TNT-amine complex.

PubMed

Qi, Wenjing; Xu, Min; Pang, Lei; Liu, Zhongyuan; Zhang, Wei; Majeed, Saadat; Xu, Guobao

2014-04-14

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is a widely used nitroaromatic explosive with significant detrimental effects on the environment and human health. Its detection is of great importance. In this study, both electrochemiluminescence (ECL)-based detection of TNT through the formation of a TNT-amine complex and the detection of TNT through electrochemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (ECRET) are developed for the first time. 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)-modified [Ru(phen)3](2+) (phen=1,10-phenanthroline)-doped silica nanoparticles (RuSiNPs) with uniform sizes of (73±3) nm were synthesized. TNT can interact with APTES-modified RuSiNPs through charge transfer from electron-rich amines in the RuSiNPs to the electron-deficient aromatic ring of TNT to form a red TNT-amine complex. The absorption spectrum of this complex overlaps with the ECL spectrum of the APTES-modified RuSiNPs/triethylamine system. As a result, ECL signals of the APTES-modified RuSiNPs/triethylamine system are turned off in the presence of TNT owing to resonance energy transfer from electrochemically excited RuSiNPs to the TNT-amine complex. This ECRET method has been successfully applied for the sensitive determination of TNT with a linear range from 1×10(-9) to 1×10(-6) M with a fast response time within 1 min. The limit of detection is 0.3 nM. The method exhibits good selectivity towards 2,4-dinitrotoluene, p-nitrotoluene, nitrobenzene, phenol, p-quinone, 8-hydroxyquinoline, p-phenylenediamine, K3[Fe(CN)6], Fe(3+), NO3(-), NO2(-), Cr(3+), Fe(2+), Pb(2+), SO3(2-), formaldehyde, oxalate, proline, and glycine. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

3D MRI Modeling of Thin and Spatially Complex Soft Tissue Structures without Shrinkage: Lamprey Myosepta as an Example.

PubMed

Wood, Bradley M; Jia, Guang; Carmichael, Owen; McKlveen, Kevin; Homberger, Dominique G

2018-05-12

3D imaging techniques enable the non-destructive analysis and modeling of complex structures. Among these, MRI exhibits good soft tissue contrast, but is currently less commonly used for non-clinical research than x-ray CT, even though the latter requires contrast-staining that shrinks and distorts soft tissues. When the objective is the creation of a realistic and complete 3D model of soft tissue structures, MRI data are more demanding to acquire and visualize and require extensive post-processing because they comprise non-cubic voxels with dimensions that represent a trade-off between tissue contrast and image resolution. Therefore, thin soft tissue structures with complex spatial configurations are not always visible in a single MRI dataset, so that standard segmentation techniques are not sufficient for their complete visualization. By using the example of the thin and spatially complex connective tissue myosepta in lampreys, we developed a workflow protocol for the selection of the appropriate parameters for the acquisition of MRI data and for the visualization and 3D modeling of soft tissue structures. This protocol includes a novel recursive segmentation technique for supplementing missing data in one dataset with data from another dataset to produce realistic and complete 3D models. Such 3D models are needed for the modeling of dynamic processes, such as the biomechanics of fish locomotion. However, our methodology is applicable to the visualization of any thin soft tissue structures with complex spatial configurations, such as fasciae, aponeuroses, and small blood vessels and nerves, for clinical research and the further exploration of tensegrity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Structural, physicochemical characterization, theoretical studies of carboxamides and their Cu(II), Zn(II) complexes having antibacterial activities against E. coli

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aktan, Ebru; Gündüzalp, Ayla Balaban; Özmen, Ümmühan Özdemir

2017-01-01

The carboxamides; N,N‧-bis(thiophene-2-carboxamido)-1,3-diaminopropanol (L1) and N,N‧-bis(furan-2-carboxamido)-1,3-diaminopropanol (L2) were synthesized and characterized using 1H NMR, 13C NMR, LC-MS and FT-IR spectrum. The molecular geometries of these molecules were optimized by DFT/B3LYP method with 6-311G(d,p) basis set in Gaussian 09 software. The geometrical parameters, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) and molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) mapped surfaces were calculated by the same basis set. Dinuclear Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes having general formula as [MLCl]2Cl2.nH2O (in which M = Cu(II),Zn(II); n = 0,2) were also synthesized and characterized using LC-MS and FT-IR spectrum, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTA curves), magnetic moments and molar conductivities. Coordination was found to be through carbonyl oxygen and two chlorine atoms as bridging in distorted tetrahedral geometry. The optimized structures, geometrical parameters, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) and dipole moments of metal complexes were also obtained by DFT/B3LYP method with LanL2DZ basis set. Antibacterial activities of the compounds were screened against E. coli using microdilution method (MIC's in μg/mL). The activity results show that the corresponding compounds exhibit good to moderate antibacterial effects when compared with sulfamethoxazole and sulfisoxazole antibiotics as positive controls. Also, metal complexes have remarkable increase in their activities than parent ligands against E. coli which is mostly effected by [Cu(L2)Cl]2Cl2 complex as potential antibacterial agent.

Syntheses, structures and selective dye adsorption of five formic-based coordination polymers prepared by in-situ hydrolysis of N, N′-dimethylformamide

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhu, Zheng; Meng, Xiang-min; Zhang, Dong-mei

Five functional coordination polymers (formic-based CPs) namely: ([Cu{sub 2}(CHOO){sub 3}(bibp){sub 2}]·CHOO){sub n} (1), ([Co{sub 2}(CHOO){sub 3}(bibp){sub 2}]·NO{sub 3}·H{sub 2}O)n (2), ([Ni{sub 2}(CHOO){sub 3}(bibp){sub 2}]·NO{sub 3}·H{sub 2}O){sub n} (3) [Co(CHOO){sub 2}(bbibp)]{sub n} (4) and [Zn(CHOO){sub 2}(bbibp)]{sub n} (5) (bibp=4,4′-bis(imidazolyl)biphenyl, bbibp=4,4′-bis(benzoimidazo-1-yl)biphenyl) have been successfully hydrothermally synthesized using the in-situ hydrolysis of N, N′-dimethylformamide (DMF) as the source of formate. All of these five polymers were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR spectra, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. Complexes 1–3 have the similar three-dimensional 3D kag topological framework built from the bibp ligand as the support member betweenmore » the neighboring formic planes. Both complexes 4 and 5 have the similar one-dimensional 1D linear chain which is further assembled into 3D supermolecular structure by C–H…O hydrogen bonds. The dyes adsorption experiments have also been investigated systematically. The results show that complexes 2 and 3 exhibit high selective adsorption ability towards anionic dyes in their aqueous solution. Moreover, complex 2 displays good reversibility in the process of the dyes adsorption-release. Meanwhile, the unusual blocking phenomenon was firstly observed when complex 2 was in MO/OIV aqueous solutions with different concentration.« less

The sol-gel template synthesis of porous TiO2 for a high performance humidity sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhuyi; Shi, Liyi; Wu, Fengqing; Yuan, Shuai; Zhao, Yin; Zhang, Meihong

2011-07-01

This research develops a simple template assisted sol-gel process for preparing porous TiO2 for a high performance humidity sensor. Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as a template was directly introduced into TiO2 sol formed by the hydrolysis and condensation of titanium alkoxide; the following calcination led to the formation of TiO2-SiO2 composite, and the selective removal of SiO2 by dilute HF solution led to the formation of porous structure in TiO2. The resulting porous TiO2-based sensor exhibits high sensitivity and linear response in the wide relative humidity (RH) range of 11%-95%, with an impedance variation of four orders of magnitude to humidity change. Moreover, it exhibits a rapid and highly reversible response characterized by a very small hysteresis of < 1% RH and a short response-recovery time (5 s for adsorption and 8 s for desorption), and a 30-day stability test also confirms its long-term stability. Compared with pure TiO2 prepared by the conventional sol-gel method, our product shows remarkably improved performance and good prospect for a high performance humidity sensor. The complex impedance spectra were used to elucidate its humidity sensing mechanism in detail.

Physicochemical and Rheological Properties of a Dairy Dessert, Enriched with Chickpea Flour.

PubMed

Aguilar-Raymundo, Victoria Guadalupe; Vélez-Ruiz, Jorge Fernando

2018-02-18

Dairy desserts are complex mixtures and matrices including main components such as milk, sugar, starch, hydrocolloids, colorants and flavors, with a proteinaceous structure; they are widely consumed and present a semisolid consistency. In this work, the physicochemical and rheological properties of a dairy dessert with the addition of chickpea flour (raw and cooked, at four concentrations) were studied to determine the effect of the flour. The results indicated that luminosity (L*: 62.75-83.29), pH (6.35-7.11) and acidity (1.56-3.56) changed with the type of flour. The flow properties of the custards exhibited a non-Newtonian behavior that was well fitted by three flow models. The studied custard systems were stored for twelve days at 4 °C. The physicochemical and flow properties of the custards changed notably as a function of flour addition and storage time. From all samples, only four were analyzed with oscillatory tests, showing their mechanical spectra with elastic behavior. The dessert texture was also measured, founding that those formulated with Blanco Noroeste chickpea flour exhibited the highest values of hardness (0.356-0.391 Newton (N)) through the twelve days. It can be concluded that those custard systems with the highest content of flour presented a very good response as a potential new dairy product.

A Metabolomic Approach to Target Compounds from the Asteraceae Family for Dual COX and LOX Inhibition

PubMed Central

Chagas-Paula, Daniela A.; Zhang, Tong; Da Costa, Fernando B.; Edrada-Ebel, RuAngelie

2015-01-01

The application of metabolomics in phytochemical analysis is an innovative strategy for targeting active compounds from a complex plant extract. Species of the Asteraceae family are well-known to exhibit potent anti-inflammatory (AI) activity. Dual inhibition of the enzymes COX-1 and 5-LOX is essential for the treatment of several inflammatory diseases, but there is not much investigation reported in the literature for natural products. In this study, 57 leaf extracts (EtOH-H2O 7:3, v/v) from different genera and species of the Asteraceae family were tested against COX-1 and 5-LOX while HPLC-ESI-HRMS analysis of the extracts indicated high diversity in their chemical compositions. Using O2PLS-DA (R2 > 0.92; VIP > 1 and positive Y-correlation values), dual inhibition potential of low-abundance metabolites was determined. The O2PLS-DA results exhibited good validation values (cross-validation = Q2 > 0.7 and external validation = P2 > 0.6) with 0% of false positive predictions. The metabolomic approach determined biomarkers for the required biological activity and detected active compounds in the extracts displaying unique mechanisms of action. In addition, the PCA data also gave insights on the chemotaxonomy of the family Asteraceae across its diverse range of genera and tribes. PMID:26184333

Ceftaroline: A New Cephalosporin with Activity against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

PubMed Central

Duplessis, Christopher; Crum-Cianflone, Nancy F.

2011-01-01

Microbial resistance has reached alarming levels, threatening to outpace the ability to counter with more potent antimicrobial agents. In particular, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become a leading cause of skin and soft-tissue infections and PVL-positive strains have been associated with necrotizing pneumonia. Increasing reports of growing resistance to glycopeptides have been noted, further limiting the efficacy of standard antibiotics, such as vancomycin. Ceftaroline is a novel fifth-generation cephalosporin, which exhibits broad-spectrum activity against Gram-positive bacteria, including MRSA and extensively-resistant strains, such as vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA), heteroresistant VISA (hVISA), and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA). In addition to being an exciting new agent in the anti-MRSA armamentarium, ceftaroline provides efficacy against many respiratory pathogens including Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis. Ceftaroline (600 mg intravenously every 12 hours) has been shown effective in phase III studies in the treatment of complicated skin and soft tissue infections and community-acquired pneumonia. To date, this unique antibiotic exhibits a low propensity for inducing resistance and has a good safety profile, although further post-marketing data and clinical experience are needed. In summary, ceftaroline provides an additional option for the management of complex multidrug resistant infections, including MRSA. PMID:21785568

Assessment of imprinting- and genetic variation-dependent monoallelic expression using reciprocal allele descendants between human family trios.

PubMed

Chuang, Trees-Juen; Tseng, Yu-Hsiang; Chen, Chia-Ying; Wang, Yi-Da

2017-08-01

Genomic imprinting is an important epigenetic process that silences one of the parentally-inherited alleles of a gene and thereby exhibits allelic-specific expression (ASE). Detection of human imprinting events is hampered by the infeasibility of the reciprocal mating system in humans and the removal of ASE events arising from non-imprinting factors. Here, we describe a pipeline with the pattern of reciprocal allele descendants (RADs) through genotyping and transcriptome sequencing data across independent parent-offspring trios to discriminate between varied types of ASE (e.g., imprinting, genetic variation-dependent ASE, and random monoallelic expression (RME)). We show that the vast majority of ASE events are due to sequence-dependent genetic variant, which are evolutionarily conserved and may themselves play a cis-regulatory role. Particularly, 74% of non-RAD ASE events, even though they exhibit ASE biases toward the same parentally-inherited allele across different individuals, are derived from genetic variation but not imprinting. We further show that the RME effect may affect the effectiveness of the population-based method for detecting imprinting events and our pipeline can help to distinguish between these two ASE types. Taken together, this study provides a good indicator for categorization of different types of ASE, opening up this widespread and complex mechanism for comprehensive characterization.

Improved Bi Film Wrapped Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Ultrasensitive Electrochemical Detection of Trace Cr(VI).

PubMed

Ouyang, Ruizhuo; Zhang, Wangyao; Zhou, Shilin; Xue, Zi-Ling; Xu, Lina; Gu, Yingying; Miao, Yuqing

2013-12-15

We report here the successful fabrication of an improved Bi film wrapped single walled carbon nanotubes modified glassy carbon electrode (Bi/SWNTs/GCE) as a highly sensitive platform for ultratrace Cr(VI) detection through catalytic adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (AdCSV). The introduction of negatively charged SWNTs extraordinarily decreased the size of Bi particles to nanoscale due to electrostatic interaction which made Bi(III) cations easily attracted onto the surface of SWNTs in good order, leading to higher quality of Bi film deposition. The obtained Bi/SWNTs composite was well characterized with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the static water contact angle and the voltammetric measurements. The results demonstrates the improvements in the quality of Bi film deposited on the surface of SWNTs such as faster speed of electron transfer, more uniform and smoother morphology, better hydrophilicity and higher stripping signal. Using diethylene triaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) as complexing ligand, the fabricated electrode displays a well-defined and highly sensitive peak for the reduction of Cr(III)-DTPA complex at -1.06 V ( vs . Ag/AgCl) with a linear concentration range of 0-25 nM and a fairly low detection limit of 0.036 nM. No interference was found in the presence of coexisting ions, and good recoveries were achieved for the analysis of a river sample. In comparison to previous approaches using Bi film modified GCE, the newly designed electrode exhibits better reproducibility and repeatability towards aqueous detection of trace Cr(VI) and appears to be very promising as the basis of a highly sensitive and selective voltammetric procedure for Cr(VI) detection at trace level in real samples.

Linear-scaling time-dependent density-functional theory beyond the Tamm-Dancoff approximation: Obtaining efficiency and accuracy with in situ optimised local orbitals.

PubMed

Zuehlsdorff, T J; Hine, N D M; Payne, M C; Haynes, P D

2015-11-28

We present a solution of the full time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) eigenvalue equation in the linear response formalism exhibiting a linear-scaling computational complexity with system size, without relying on the simplifying Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA). The implementation relies on representing the occupied and unoccupied subspaces with two different sets of in situ optimised localised functions, yielding a very compact and efficient representation of the transition density matrix of the excitation with the accuracy associated with a systematic basis set. The TDDFT eigenvalue equation is solved using a preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm that is very memory-efficient. The algorithm is validated on a small test molecule and a good agreement with results obtained from standard quantum chemistry packages is found, with the preconditioner yielding a significant improvement in convergence rates. The method developed in this work is then used to reproduce experimental results of the absorption spectrum of bacteriochlorophyll in an organic solvent, where it is demonstrated that the TDA fails to reproduce the main features of the low energy spectrum, while the full TDDFT equation yields results in good qualitative agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, the need for explicitly including parts of the solvent into the TDDFT calculations is highlighted, making the treatment of large system sizes necessary that are well within reach of the capabilities of the algorithm introduced here. Finally, the linear-scaling properties of the algorithm are demonstrated by computing the lowest excitation energy of bacteriochlorophyll in solution. The largest systems considered in this work are of the same order of magnitude as a variety of widely studied pigment-protein complexes, opening up the possibility of studying their properties without having to resort to any semiclassical approximations to parts of the protein environment.

Improved Bi Film Wrapped Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes for Ultrasensitive Electrochemical Detection of Trace Cr(VI)

PubMed Central

Zhou, Shilin; Xue, Zi-Ling; Xu, Lina; Gu, Yingying; Miao, Yuqing

2014-01-01

We report here the successful fabrication of an improved Bi film wrapped single walled carbon nanotubes modified glassy carbon electrode (Bi/SWNTs/GCE) as a highly sensitive platform for ultratrace Cr(VI) detection through catalytic adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (AdCSV). The introduction of negatively charged SWNTs extraordinarily decreased the size of Bi particles to nanoscale due to electrostatic interaction which made Bi(III) cations easily attracted onto the surface of SWNTs in good order, leading to higher quality of Bi film deposition. The obtained Bi/SWNTs composite was well characterized with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the static water contact angle and the voltammetric measurements. The results demonstrates the improvements in the quality of Bi film deposited on the surface of SWNTs such as faster speed of electron transfer, more uniform and smoother morphology, better hydrophilicity and higher stripping signal. Using diethylene triaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) as complexing ligand, the fabricated electrode displays a well-defined and highly sensitive peak for the reduction of Cr(III)-DTPA complex at −1.06 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) with a linear concentration range of 0–25 nM and a fairly low detection limit of 0.036 nM. No interference was found in the presence of coexisting ions, and good recoveries were achieved for the analysis of a river sample. In comparison to previous approaches using Bi film modified GCE, the newly designed electrode exhibits better reproducibility and repeatability towards aqueous detection of trace Cr(VI) and appears to be very promising as the basis of a highly sensitive and selective voltammetric procedure for Cr(VI) detection at trace level in real samples. PMID:24771881

Toleration and Recognition: What Should We Teach?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Peter Nigel

2010-01-01

Generally we think it good to tolerate and to accord recognition. Yet both are complex phenomena and our teaching must acknowledge and cope with that complexity. We tolerate only what we object to, so our message to students cannot be simply, "promote the good and prevent the bad". Much advocacy of toleration is not what it pretends to be. Nor is…

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

The KSC Visitor Complex welcomes more than 2.75 million visitors each year. Featured are bus tours of the space center with up- close views of Space Shuttle launch facilities and International Space Station processing. The Visitor Complex has recently undergone a $13 million expansion, with new exhibits, films, and an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Novel pH responsive polymethacrylic acid-chitosan-polyethylene glycol nanoparticles for oral peptide delivery.

PubMed

Sajeesh, S; Sharma, Chandra P

2006-02-01

In present study, novel pH sensitive polymethacrylic acid-chitosan-polyethylene glycol (PCP) nanoparticles were prepared under mild aqueous conditions via polyelectrolyte complexation. Free radical polymerization of methacrylic acid (MAA) was carried out in presence of chitosan (CS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) using a water-soluble initiator and particles were obtained spontaneously during polymerization without using organic solvents or surfactants/steric stabilizers. Dried particles were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and particles dispersed in phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) were visualized under transmission electron microscope (TEM). SEM studies indicated that PCP particles have an aggregated and irregular morphology, however, TEM revealed that these aggregated particles were composed of smaller fragments with size less than 1 micron. Insulin and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as model proteins were incorporated into the nanoparticles by diffusion filling method and their in vitro release characteristics were evaluated at pH 1.2 and 7.4. PCP nanoparticles exhibited good protein encapsulation efficiency and pH responsive release profile was observed under in vitro conditions. Trypsin inhibitory effect of these PCP nanoparticles was studied using casein substrate and these particles displayed lesser inhibitory effect than reference polymer carbopol. Preliminary investigation suggests that these particles can serve as good candidate for oral peptide delivery. Copyright 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Degradation of complex carbohydrate: immobilization of pectinase from Bacillus licheniformis KIBGE-IB21 using calcium alginate as a support.

PubMed

Rehman, Haneef Ur; Aman, Afsheen; Silipo, Alba; Qader, Shah Ali Ul; Molinaro, Antonio; Ansari, Asma

2013-08-15

Pectinases are heterogeneous group of enzymes that catalyse the hydrolysis of pectin substances which is responsible for the turbidity and undesirable cloudiness in fruits juices. In current study, partially purified pectinase from Bacillus licheniformis KIBGE-IB21 was immobilized in calcium alginate beads. The effect of sodium alginate and calcium chloride concentration on immobilization was studied and it was found that the optimal sodium alginate and calcium chloride concentration was 3.0% and 0.2 M, respectively. It was found that immobilization increases the optimal reaction time for pectin degradation from 5 to 10 min and temperature from 45 to 55°C, whereas, the optimal pH remained same with reference to free enzyme. Thermal stability of enzyme increased after immobilization and immobilized pectinase retained more than 80% of its initial activity after 5 days at 30°C as compared with free enzyme which showed only 30% of residual activity. The immobilized enzyme also exhibited good operational stability and 65% of its initial activity was observed during third cycle. In term of pectinase immobilization efficiency and stability, this calcium alginate beads approach seemed to permit good results and can be used to make a bioreactor for various applications in food industries. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of metals and dithiolate ligands on structural, electronic and optical properties of [M(bipyridine)(dithiolate)] complexes: A theoretical study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samiee, Sepideh; Taghvaeian, Samira

2018-06-01

A series of [M(diimine)(dithiolate)] complexes of general formula [M(bpy)(dithiolate)] {bpy = 2,2‧-bipyridine;dithiolate = 1,2-benzenedithiolate (bdt2-), 3,4-toluenedithiolate (tdt2-) and 4-cyanobenzene-1,2-dithiolate (cbdt2-); M = Ni(II), Pd(II) and Pt(II)} have been studied by density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations. The geometries, stabilities, electronic structures, optical absorption spectra in different phases as well as thermodynamic parameters are explored. The changes of metal ion center and dithiolate ligands on some molecular properties are also discussed. These calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The bonding analyses show that the Msbnd S bond is covalent so that always polarized towards sulfur atom, whereas the Msbnd N bond exhibits a considerable amount of electrostatic interaction. Detailed NBO analysis indicates that these complexes can be easily oxidized than reduced, and acts as the reducing agent. The HOMO-LUMO energy gaps of all complexes under study are founded about 2 eV and the strong absorption from 400 to 700 nm which match with the solar spectra very well. Besides, the simulated absorption spectra are in accordance with the trends of energy gaps. Comparison of the absorption spectra in dichloromethane solution with those in gas phase show that the solvatochromic effect. The order of magnitude for light harvesting efficiencies (LHE) of all complexes is Pt > Pd > Ni and cbdt2- > bdt2- > tdt2-. Our results confirm the effect and role of metals and dithiolate ligands on enhancing the optical properties of these complexes. Thus, the result of this work can serve as a rational tool for the design and synthesis of diimine-dithiolate complexes and broadens the scope for further investigations into potential dyes for use in the field of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC).

Dinuclear rare-earth metal alkyl complexes supported by indolyl ligands in μ-η(2) :η(1) :η(1) hapticities and their high catalytic activity for isoprene 1,4-cis-polymerization.

PubMed

Zhang, Guangchao; Wei, Yun; Guo, Liping; Zhu, Xiancui; Wang, Shaowu; Zhou, Shuangliu; Mu, Xiaolong

2015-02-02

Two series of new dinuclear rare-earth metal alkyl complexes supported by indolyl ligands in novel μ-η(2) :η(1) :η(1) hapticities are synthesized and characterized. Treatment of [RE(CH2 SiMe3 )3 (thf)2 ] with 1 equivalent of 3-(tBuN=CH)C8 H5 NH (L1 ) in THF gives the dinuclear rare-earth metal alkyl complexes trans-[(μ-η(2) :η(1) :η(1) -3-{tBuNCH(CH2 SiMe3 )}Ind)RE(thf)(CH2 SiMe3 )]2 (Ind=indolyl, RE=Y, Dy, or Yb) in good yields. In the process, the indole unit of L1 is deprotonated by the metal alkyl species and the imino C=N group is transferred to the amido group by alkyl CH2 SiMe3 insertion, affording a new dianionic ligand that bridges two metal alkyl units in μ-η(2) :η(1) :η(1) bonding modes, forming the dinuclear rare-earth metal alkyl complexes. When L1 is reduced to 3-(tBuNHCH2 )C8 H5 NH (L2 ), the reaction of [Yb(CH2 SiMe3 )3 (thf)2 ] with 1 equivalent of L2 in THF, interestingly, generated the trans-[(μ-η(2) :η(1) :η(1) -3-{tBuNCH2 }Ind)Yb(thf)(CH2 SiMe3 )]2 (major) and cis-[(μ-η(2) :η(1) :η(1) -3-{tBuNCH2 }Ind)Yb(thf)(CH2 SiMe3 )]2 (minor) complexes. The catalytic activities of these dinuclear rare-earth metal alkyl complexes for isoprene polymerization were investigated; the yttrium and dysprosium complexes exhibited high catalytic activities and high regio- and stereoselectivities for isoprene 1,4-cis-polymerization. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

[Fe(bpb)(CN)2]- as a versatile building block for the design of novel low-dimensional heterobimetallic systems: synthesis, crystal structures, and magnetic properties of cyano-bridged Fe(III)-Ni(II) complexes [(bpb)(2-) = 1,2-bis(pyridine-2-carboxamido)benzenate].

PubMed

Ni, Zhong-Hai; Kou, Hui-Zhong; Zhao, Yi-Hua; Zheng, Lei; Wang, Ru-Ji; Cui, Ai-Li; Sato, Osamu

2005-03-21

A dicyano-containing [Fe(bpb)(CN)2]- building block has been employed for the synthesis of cyano-bridged heterometallic Ni(II)-Fe(III) complexes. The presence of steric bpb(2-) ligand around the iron ion results in the formation of low-dimensional species: five are neutral NiFe2 trimers and three are one-dimensional (1D). The structure of the 1D complexes consists of alternating [NiL]2+ and [Fe(bpb)(CN)2]- generating a cyano-bridged cationic polymeric chain and the perchlorate as the counteranion. In all complexes, the coordination geometry of the nickel ions is approximately octahedral with the cyano nitrogen atoms at the trans positions. Magnetic studies of seven complexes show the presence of ferromagnetic interaction between the metal ions through the cyano bridges. Variable temperature magnetic susceptibility investigations of the trimeric complexes yield the following J(NiFe) values (based on the spin exchange Hamiltonian H = -2J(NiFe) S(Ni) (S(Fe(1)) + S(Fe(2))): J(NiFe) = 6.40(5), 7.8(1), 8.9(2), and 6.03(4) cm(-1), respectively. The study of the magneto-structural correlation reveals that the cyanide-bridging bond angle is related to the strength of magnetic exchange coupling: the larger the Ni-N[triple bond]C bond angle, the stronger the Ni- - -Fe magnetic interaction. One 1D complex exhibits long-range antiferromagnetic ordering with T(N) = 3.5 K. Below T(N) (1.82 K), a metamagnetic behavior was observed with the critical field of approximately 6 kOe. The present research shows that the [Fe(bpb)(CN)2]- building block is a good candidate for the construction of low-dimensional magnetic materials.

Synthesis and structures of a pincer-type rhodium(iii) complex: reactivity toward biomolecules.

PubMed

Milutinović, Milan M; Bogojeski, Jovana V; Klisurić, Olivera; Scheurer, Andreas; Elmroth, Sofi K C; Bugarčić, Živadin D

2016-10-04

A novel rhodium(iii) complex [Rh III (H 2 L tBu )Cl 3 ] (1) (H 2 L tBu = 2,6-bis(5-tert-butyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)pyridine) containing a pincer type, tridentate nitrogen-donor chelate system was synthesized. Single crystal X-ray structure analysis revealed that 1 crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pbcn with a = 20.7982(6), b = 10.8952(4), c = 10.9832(4) Å, V = 2488.80(15) Å 3 , and eight molecules in the unit cell. The rhodium center in the complex [Rh III (H 2 L tBu )Cl 3 ] (1) is coordinated in a slightly distorted octahedral geometry by the tridentate N,N,N-donor and three chloro ligands, adopting a mer arrangement with an essentially planar ligand skeleton. Due to the tridentate coordination of the N,N,N-donor, the central nitrogen atom N1 is located closer to the Rh III center. The reactivity of the synthesized complex toward small biomolecules (l-methionine (l-Met), guanosine-5'-monophosphate (5'-GMP), l-histidine (l-His) and glutathione (GSH)) and to a series of duplex DNAs and RNA was investigated. The order of reactivity of the studied small biomolecules is: 5'-GMP > GSH > l-Met > l-His. Duplex RNA reacts faster with the [Rh III (H 2 L tBu )Cl 3 ] complex than duplex DNA, while shorter duplex DNA (15mer GG) reacts faster compared with 22mer GG duplex DNA. In addition, a higher reactivity is achieved with a DNA duplex with a centrally located GG-sequence than with a 22GTG duplex DNA, in which the GG-sequence is separated by a T base. Furthermore, the interaction of this metal complex 1 with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was examined by absorption (UV-Vis) and emission spectral studies (EthBr displacement studies). Overall, the studied complex exhibited good DNA and BSA interaction ability.

Specially-Made Lipid-Based Assemblies for Improving Transmembrane Gene Delivery: Comparison of Basic Amino Acid Residue Rich Periphery.

PubMed

Jiang, Qian; Yue, Dong; Nie, Yu; Xu, Xianghui; He, Yiyan; Zhang, Shiyong; Wagner, Ernst; Gu, Zhongwei

2016-06-06

Cationic lipid based assemblies provide a promising platform for effective gene condensation into nanosized particles, and the peripheral properties of the assemblies are vital for complexation and interaction with physical barriers. Here, we report three cationic twin head lipids, and each of them contains a dioleoyl-glutamate hydrophobic tail and a twin polar head of lysine, arginine, or histidine. Such lipids were proven to self-assemble in aqueous solution with well-defined nanostructures and residual amino-, guanidine-, or imidazole-rich periphery, showing strong buffering capacity and good liquidity. The assemblies with arginine (RL) or lysine (KL) periphery exhibited positive charges (∼+35 mV) and complete condensation of pDNA into nanosized complexes (∼120 nm). In contrast, assemblies composed of histidine-rich lipids (HL) showed relatively low cationic electric potential (∼+10 mV) and poor DNA binding ability. As expected, the designed RL assemblies with guanidine-rich periphery enhanced the in vitro gene transfection up to 190-fold as compared with the golden standard PEI25k and Lipofectamine 2000, especially in the presence of serum. Meanwhile, interaction with cell and endo/lysosome membrane also revealed the superiority of RL complexes, that the guanidine-rich surface efficiently promoted transmembrane process in cellular internalization and endosomal disruption. More importantly, RL complexes also succeeded beyond others in vivo with significantly (∼7-fold) enhanced expression in HepG2 tumor xenografts in mice, as well as stronger green fluorescence protein imaging in isolated tumors and tumor frozen sections.

Synthesis and characterization of Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes of a number of sulfadrug azodyes and their application for wastewater treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Baradie, K.; El-Sharkawy, R.; El-Ghamry, H.; Sakai, K.

2014-03-01

The azodye ligand (HL1) was synthesized from the coupling of sulfaguanidine diazonium salt with 2,4-dihydroxy-benzaldehyde while the two ligands, HL2 and HL3, were prepared by the coupling of sulfadiazine diazonium salt with salicylaldehyde (HL2) and 2,4-dihydroxy-benzaldehyde (HL3). The prepared ligands were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H NMR and mass spectra. Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes of the prepared ligands have been synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic techniques like IR, UV-Visible as well as magnetic and thermal (TG and DTA) measurements. It was found that all the ligands behave as a monobasic bidentate which coordinated to the metal center through the azo nitrogen and α-hydroxy oxygen atoms in the case of HL1 and HL3. HL2 coordinated to the metal center through sulfonamide oxygen and pyrimidine nitrogen. The applications of the prepared complexes in the oxidative degradation of indigo carmine dye exhibited good catalytic activity in the presence of H2O2 as an oxidant. The reactions followed first-order kinetics and the rate constants were determined. The degradation reaction involved the catalytic action of the azo-dye complexes toward H2O2 decomposition, which can lead to the generation of HOrad radicals as a highly efficient oxidant attacking the target dye. The detailed kinetic studies and the mechanism of these catalytic reactions are under consideration in our group.

Reversible Oxygenation of 2,4-Diaminobutanoic Acid-Co(II) Complexes

PubMed Central

Li, Hui; Yue, Fan; Wen, Hongmei

2016-01-01

This paper introduces the structural characterization and studies on reversible oxygenation behavior of a new oxygen carrier Co(II)-2,4-diaminobutanoic acid (DABA) complex in aqueous solution. The composition of the oxygenated complex was determined by gas volumetric method, molar ratio method, and mass spectrometry, and the formula of the oxygenated complex was determined to be [Co(DABA)2O2]. In aqueous solution, the complex can continuously uptake and release dioxygen and exhibit excellent reversibility of oxygenation and deoxygenation ability. This complex can maintain 50% of its original oxygenation capacity after 30 cycles in 24 h and retain 5% of the original oxygenation capacity after more than 260 cycles after 72 h. When a ligand analogue was linked to histidine (His), the new complex exhibited as excellent reversible oxygenation property as His-Co(II) complex. Insight into the relationship between structural detail and oxygenation properties will provide valuable suggestion for a new family of oxygen carriers. PMID:27648004

Band gaps and photocurrent responses of two novel alkaline earth metal(II) complexes based on 4,5-di(4‧-carboxylphenyl)benzene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Jiang Ping; Yan, Zhi Shuo; Long, Ji Ying; Gong, Yun; Lin, Jian Hua

2017-01-01

By using a rigid dicarboxylate ligand, 4,5-di(4‧-carboxylphenyl)benzene (H2L), two complexes formulated as SrL(DMF)(H2O)·(CH3CN) (DMF=N,N‧-dimethylformamide) (1) and BaL(H2O)2 (2) were solvothermally synthesized and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Complexes 1 and 2 display two-dimensional (2D) layer structures. The two complexes exhibit different electrochemical and photoelectrochemical properties. Their thermal stabilities, cyclic voltammograms, UV-vis absorption and diffuse reflectance spectra and photoluminescence properties have been investigated. The band structures, the total density of states (TDOS) and partial density of states (PDOS) of the two complexes were calculated by CASTEP program. Complex 2 exhibits much higher photocurrent density than complex 1. The Mott-Schottky plots reveal that complexes 1 and 2 both are p-type semiconductors, which are in agreement with their band structure calculations.

Positional effects of hydroxy groups on catalytic activity of proton-responsive half-sandwich Cp*Iridium(III) complexes

DOE PAGES

Suna, Yuki; Fujita, Etsuko; Ertem, Mehmed Z.; ...

2014-11-12

Proton-responsive half-sandwich Cp*Ir(III) complexes possessing a bipyridine ligand with two hydroxy groups at the 3,3'-, 4,4'-, 5,5'- or 6,6'-positions (3DHBP, 4DHBP, 5DHBP, or 6DHBP) were systematically investigated. UV-vis titration data provided average pK a values of the hydroxy groups on the ligands. Both hydroxy groups were found to deprotonate in the pH 4.6–5.6 range for the 4–6DHBP complexes. One of the hydroxy groups of the 3DHBP complex exhibited the low pK a value of < 0.4 because the deprotonation is facilitated by the strong intramolecular hydrogen bond formed between the generated oxyanion and the remaining hydroxy group, which in turnmore » leads to an elevated pK a value of ~13.6 for the second deprotonation step. The crystal structures of the 4– and 6DHBP complexes obtained from basic aqueous solutions revealed their deprotonated forms. The intramolecular hydrogen bond in the 3DHBP complex was also observed in the crystal structures. The catalytic activities of these complexes in aqueous phase reactions, at appropriate pH, for hydrogenation of carbon dioxide (pH 8.5), dehydrogenation of formic acid (pH 1.8), transfer hydrogenation reactions using formic acid/formate as a hydrogen source (pH 7.2 and 2.6) were investigated to compare the positional effects of the hydroxy groups. The 4– and 6DHBP complexes exhibited remarkably enhanced catalytic activities under basic conditions because of the resonance effect of the strong electrondonating oxyanions, whereas the 5DHBP complex exhibited negligible activity despite the presence of electron-donating groups. The 3DHBP complex exhibited relatively high catalytic activity at low pH owing to the one strong electron-donating oxyanion group stabilized by the intramolecular hydrogen bond. DFT calculations were employed to study the mechanism of CO₂ hydrogenation by the 4DHBP and 6DHBP complexes, and comparison of the activation free energies of the H₂ heterolysis and CO₂ insertion steps indicated that H₂ heterolysis is the rate-determining step for both complexes. The presence of a pendent base in the 6DHBP complex was found to facilitate the rate-determining step, and renders 6DHBP a more effective catalyst for formate production.« less

Frequency Effects on ESL Compositional Multi-Word Sequence Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Supasiraprapa, Sarut

2017-01-01

The current study investigated whether adult native English speakers and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners exhibit sensitivity to compositional English multi-word sequences, which have a meaning derivable from word parts (e.g., don't have to worry as opposed to sequences like He left the US for good, where for good cannot be taken apart…

KSC-2014-3128

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Therrin Protze, chief operating officer with Delaware North Parks and Resorts at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, welcomes guests to the grand opening of the Great Balls of Fire exhibit. To his left is former NASA astronaut Tom Jones. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

KSC-2014-3125

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-03

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Former NASA astronaut Tom Jones, left, joins Andrea Farmer, senior public relations manager, and Therrin Protze, chief operating officer, both with Delaware North Parks and Resorts at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, for the grand opening of the Great Balls of Fire exhibit. Great Balls of Fire shares the story of the origins of our solar system, asteroids and comets and their possible impacts and risks. The 1,500-square-foot exhibit, located in the East Gallery of the IMAX theatre at the visitor complex, features several interactive displays, real meteorites and replica asteroid models. The exhibit is a production of The Space Science Institute's National Center for Interactive Learning. It is a traveling exhibition that also receives funding from NASA and the National Science Foundation. Photo credit: NASA/Daniel Casper

Cobalt Complexes as Antiviral and Antibacterial Agents

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

observed. Complex 26 has antibacterial activity against E. coli, S. aureus and Micrococcus lysodeikiticus, showing better growth inhibitory activity in...complexes exhibited activity towards E. coli, B. subtilis, S. aureus and Micrococcus lysodeikiticus. Figure 15. Selenium containing and

Reversible mechanochromic luminescence at room temperature in cationic platinum(II) terpyridyl complexes.

PubMed

Han, Ali; Du, Pingwu; Sun, Zijun; Wu, Haotian; Jia, Hongxing; Zhang, Rui; Liang, Zhenning; Cao, Rui; Eisenberg, Richard

2014-04-07

Reversible mechanochromic luminescence in cationic platinum(II) terpyridyl complexes is described. The complexes [Pt(Nttpy)Cl]X2 (Nttpy = 4'-(p-nicotinamide-N-methylphenyl)-2,2':6',2″-terpyridine, X = PF6 (1), SbF6 (2), Cl (3), ClO4 (4), OTf (5), BF4 (6)) exhibit different colors under ambient light in the solid state, going from red to orange to yellow. All of these complexes are brightly luminescent at both room temperature and 77 K. Upon gentle grinding, the yellow complexes (4-6) turn orange and exhibit bright red luminescence. The red luminescence can be changed back to yellow by the addition of a few drops of acetonitrile to the sample. Crystallographic studies of the yellow and red forms of complex 5 suggest that the mechanochromic response is likely the result of a change in intermolecular Pt···Pt distances upon grinding.

DNA binding, anti-inflammatory and analgesic evaluation of metal complexes of N/S/O donor ligands; Synthesis, spectral characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar Naik, K. H.; Ashok, B.; Naik, Nagaraja; Mulla, Jameel Ahmed S.; Prakasha, Avinash

2015-04-01

Transition metal complexes containing tri-dentate NSN donor ligands i.e., 5-((1(aminomethyl)cyclohexyl)methyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine (AMTA) (2) and 5-(2-aminophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine (ATA) (4i-ii) have been synthesized. The newly synthesized ligands and their respective complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductance measurement and various spectral studies [infrared (IR), electronic, and NMR (for ligands only)]. Metal complexes are like [M(AMTA)2], [M(ATA)2] type, where M = Mn(II), Co(II) and Cu(II). The proposed geometries of the complexes are octahedral in nature. The synthesized ligands and their complexes were exhibits effective anti-inflammatory, analgesic and DNA binding activities. All the tested compounds exhibited significant analgesic activity, whereas the compound 4i, 4(ia) and 4(iib) is equipotent with Diclofenac sodium.

Quality of life and psychological health indicators in the national social life, health, and aging project.

PubMed

Shiovitz-Ezra, Sharon; Leitsch, Sara; Graber, Jessica; Karraker, Amelia

2009-11-01

The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) measures seven indicators of quality of life (QoL) and psychological health. The measures used for happiness, self-esteem, depression, and loneliness are well established in the literature. Conversely, measures of anxiety, stress, and self-reported emotional health were modified for their use in this unique project. The purpose of this paper is to provide (a) an overview of NSHAP's QoL assessment and (b) evidence for the adequacy of the modified measures. First, we examined the psychometric properties of the modified measures. Second, the established QoL measures were used to examine the concurrent validity of the modified measures. Finally, gender- and age-group differences were examined for each modified measure. The anxiety index exhibited good internal reliability and concurrent validity. Consistent with the literature, a single-factor structure best fit the data. Stress was satisfactory in terms of concurrent validity but with only fair internal consistency. Self-reported emotional health exhibited good concurrent validity and moderate external validity. The modified indices used in NSHAP tended to exhibit good internal reliability and concurrent validity. These measures can confidently be used in the exploration of QoL and psychological health in later life and its many correlates.

Assessment of the characteristics and biocompatibility of gelatin sponge scaffolds prepared by various crosslinking methods.

PubMed

Yang, Gang; Xiao, Zhenghua; Long, Haiyan; Ma, Kunlong; Zhang, Junpeng; Ren, Xiaomei; Zhang, Jiang

2018-01-25

This comparative study aims to identify a biocompatible and effective crosslinker for preparing gelatin sponges. Glutaraldehyde (GTA), genipin (GP), 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDC), and microbial transglutaminase (mTG) were used as crosslinking agents. The physical properties of the prepared samples were characterized, and material degradation was studied in vitro with various proteases and in vivo through subcutaneous implantation of the sponges in rats. Adipose-derived stromal stem cells (ADSCs) were cultured and inoculated onto the scaffolds to compare the cellular biocompatibility of the sponges. Cellular seeding efficiency and digestion time of the sponges were also evaluated. Cellular viability and proliferation in scaffolds were analyzed by fluorescence staining and MTT assay. All the samples exhibited high porosity, good swelling ratio, and hydrolysis properties; however, material strength, hydrolysis, and enzymolytic properties varied among the samples. GTA-sponge and GP-sponge possessed high compressive moduli, and EDC-sponge exhibited fast degradation performance. GTA and GP sponge implants exerted strong in vivo rejections, and the former showed poor cell growth. mTG-sponge exhibited the optimal comprehensive performance, with good porosity, compressive modulus, anti-degradation ability, and good biocompatibility. Hence, mTG-sponge can be used as a scaffold material for tissue engineering applications.

Respiration and substrate transport rates as well as reactive oxygen species production distinguish mitochondria from brain and liver.

PubMed

Gusdon, Aaron M; Fernandez-Bueno, Gabriel A; Wohlgemuth, Stephanie; Fernandez, Jenelle; Chen, Jing; Mathews, Clayton E

2015-09-10

Aberrant mitochondrial function, including excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of human diseases. The use of mitochondrial inhibitors to ascertain the sites in the electron transport chain (ETC) resulting in altered ROS production can be an important tool. However, the response of mouse mitochondria to ETC inhibitors has not been thoroughly assessed. Here we set out to characterize the differences in phenotypic response to ETC inhibitors between the more energetically demanding brain mitochondria and less energetically demanding liver mitochondria in commonly utilized C57BL/6J mice. We show that in contrast to brain mitochondria, inhibiting distally within complex I or within complex III does not increase liver mitochondrial ROS production supported by complex I substrates, and liver mitochondrial ROS production supported by complex II substrates occurred primarily independent of membrane potential. Complex I, II, and III enzymatic activities and membrane potential were equivalent between liver and brain and responded to ETC. inhibitors similarly. Brain mitochondria exhibited an approximately two-fold increase in complex I and II supported respiration compared with liver mitochondria while exhibiting similar responses to inhibitors. Elevated NADH transport and heightened complex II-III coupled activity accounted for increased complex I and II supported respiration, respectively in brain mitochondria. We conclude that important mechanistic differences exist between mouse liver and brain mitochondria and that mouse mitochondria exhibit phenotypic differences compared with mitochondria from other species.

Photoactive platinum(II) complexes of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug naproxen: Interaction with biological targets, antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity.

PubMed

Srivastava, Payal; Singh, Khushbu; Verma, Madhu; Sivakumar, Sri; Patra, Ashis K

2018-01-20

The effect on the therapeutic efficacy of Pt(II) complexes on combining non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is an attractive strategy to circumvent chronic inflammation mediated by cancer and metastasis. Two square-planar platinum(II) complexes: [Pt(dach)(nap)Cl] (1) and [Pt(dach)(nap) 2 ] (2), where dach = (1R,2R)-dichloro(cyclohexane-1,2-diamine) and NSAID drug naproxen (nap), have been designed for studying their biological activity. The naproxen bound to the Pt(II) centre get released upon photoirradiation with low-power UV-A light as confirmed by the significant enhancement in emission intensities of the complexes. The compounds were evaluated for their photophysical properties, photostability, reactivity with 5'-guanosine monophophosphate (5'-GMP), interactions with CT-DNA and BSA, antioxidant activity and reactive oxygen species mediated photo-induced DNA damage properties. ESI-MS studies demonstrated the formation of bis-adduct with 5'-GMP and the formation of Pt II -DNA crosslinks by gel electrophoretic mobility shift assay and ITC studies. The interaction of the complexes 1 and 2 with the CT-DNA exhibits potential binding affinity (K b  ∼ 10 4  M -1 , K app ∼ 10 5  M -1 ), implying intercalation to CT-DNA through planar naphthyl ring of the complexes. Both the complexes also exhibit strong binding affinity towards BSA (K BSA ∼ 10 5  M -1 ). The complexes exhibit efficient DNA damage activity on irradiation at 365 nm via formation of singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) and hydroxyl radical ( • OH) under physiological conditions. Both the complexes were cytotoxic in dark and exhibit significant enhancement of cytotoxicity upon photo-exposure against HeLa and HepG2 cancer cells giving IC 50 values ranging from 8 to 12 μM for 1 and 2. The cellular internalization data showed cytosolic and nuclear localization of the complexes in the HeLa cells. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Stimulus change detection in phasic auditory units in the frog midbrain: frequency and ear specific adaptation.

PubMed

Ponnath, Abhilash; Hoke, Kim L; Farris, Hamilton E

2013-04-01

Neural adaptation, a reduction in the response to a maintained stimulus, is an important mechanism for detecting stimulus change. Contributing to change detection is the fact that adaptation is often stimulus specific: adaptation to a particular stimulus reduces excitability to a specific subset of stimuli, while the ability to respond to other stimuli is unaffected. Phasic cells (e.g., cells responding to stimulus onset) are good candidates for detecting the most rapid changes in natural auditory scenes, as they exhibit fast and complete adaptation to an initial stimulus presentation. We made recordings of single phasic auditory units in the frog midbrain to determine if adaptation was specific to stimulus frequency and ear of input. In response to an instantaneous frequency step in a tone, 28% of phasic cells exhibited frequency specific adaptation based on a relative frequency change (delta-f=±16%). Frequency specific adaptation was not limited to frequency steps, however, as adaptation was also overcome during continuous frequency modulated stimuli and in response to spectral transients interrupting tones. The results suggest that adaptation is separated for peripheral (e.g., frequency) channels. This was tested directly using dichotic stimuli. In 45% of binaural phasic units, adaptation was ear specific: adaptation to stimulation of one ear did not affect responses to stimulation of the other ear. Thus, adaptation exhibited specificity for stimulus frequency and lateralization at the level of the midbrain. This mechanism could be employed to detect rapid stimulus change within and between sound sources in complex acoustic environments.

Stimulus change detection in phasic auditory units in the frog midbrain: frequency and ear specific adaptation

PubMed Central

Ponnath, Abhilash; Hoke, Kim L.

2013-01-01

Neural adaptation, a reduction in the response to a maintained stimulus, is an important mechanism for detecting stimulus change. Contributing to change detection is the fact that adaptation is often stimulus specific: adaptation to a particular stimulus reduces excitability to a specific subset of stimuli, while the ability to respond to other stimuli is unaffected. Phasic cells (e.g., cells responding to stimulus onset) are good candidates for detecting the most rapid changes in natural auditory scenes, as they exhibit fast and complete adaptation to an initial stimulus presentation. We made recordings of single phasic auditory units in the frog midbrain to determine if adaptation was specific to stimulus frequency and ear of input. In response to an instantaneous frequency step in a tone, 28 % of phasic cells exhibited frequency specific adaptation based on a relative frequency change (delta-f = ±16 %). Frequency specific adaptation was not limited to frequency steps, however, as adaptation was also overcome during continuous frequency modulated stimuli and in response to spectral transients interrupting tones. The results suggest that adaptation is separated for peripheral (e.g., frequency) channels. This was tested directly using dichotic stimuli. In 45 % of binaural phasic units, adaptation was ear specific: adaptation to stimulation of one ear did not affect responses to stimulation of the other ear. Thus, adaptation exhibited specificity for stimulus frequency and lateralization at the level of the midbrain. This mechanism could be employed to detect rapid stimulus change within and between sound sources in complex acoustic environments. PMID:23344947

Cooperative electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation with electron-proton-transfer mediators.

PubMed

Badalyan, Artavazd; Stahl, Shannon S

2016-07-21

The electrochemical oxidation of alcohols is a major focus of energy and chemical conversion efforts, with potential applications ranging from fuel cells to biomass utilization and fine-chemical synthesis. Small-molecule electrocatalysts for processes of this type are promising targets for further development, as demonstrated by recent advances in nickel catalysts for electrochemical production and oxidation of hydrogen. Complexes with tethered amines that resemble the active site of hydrogenases have been shown both to catalyse hydrogen production (from protons and electrons) with rates far exceeding those of such enzymes and to mediate reversible electrocatalytic hydrogen production and oxidation with enzyme-like performance. Progress in electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation has been more modest. Nickel complexes similar to those used for hydrogen oxidation have been shown to mediate efficient electrochemical oxidation of benzyl alcohol, with a turnover frequency of 2.1 per second. These compounds exhibit poor reactivity with ethanol and methanol, however. Organic nitroxyls, such as TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidine N-oxyl), are the most widely studied electrocatalysts for alcohol oxidation. These catalysts exhibit good activity (1–2 turnovers per second) with a wide range of alcohols and have great promise for electro-organic synthesis. Their use in energy-conversion applications, however, is limited by the high electrode potentials required to generate the reactive oxoammonium species. Here we report (2,2′-bipyridine)Cu/nitroxyl co-catalyst systems for electrochemical alcohol oxidation that proceed with much faster rates, while operating at an electrode potential a half-volt lower than that used for the TEMPO-only process. The (2,2′-bipyridine)Cu(II) and TEMPO redox partners exhibit cooperative reactivity and exploit the low-potential, proton-coupled TEMPO/TEMPOH redox process rather than the high-potential TEMPO/TEMPO+ process. The results show how electron-proton-transfer mediators, such as TEMPO, may be used in combination with first-row transition metals, such as copper, to achieve efficient two-electron electrochemical processes, thereby introducing a new concept for the development of non-precious-metal electrocatalysts.

Cooperative electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation with electron-proton-transfer mediators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badalyan, Artavazd; Stahl, Shannon S.

2016-07-01

The electrochemical oxidation of alcohols is a major focus of energy and chemical conversion efforts, with potential applications ranging from fuel cells to biomass utilization and fine-chemical synthesis. Small-molecule electrocatalysts for processes of this type are promising targets for further development, as demonstrated by recent advances in nickel catalysts for electrochemical production and oxidation of hydrogen. Complexes with tethered amines that resemble the active site of hydrogenases have been shown both to catalyse hydrogen production (from protons and electrons) with rates far exceeding those of such enzymes and to mediate reversible electrocatalytic hydrogen production and oxidation with enzyme-like performance. Progress in electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation has been more modest. Nickel complexes similar to those used for hydrogen oxidation have been shown to mediate efficient electrochemical oxidation of benzyl alcohol, with a turnover frequency of 2.1 per second. These compounds exhibit poor reactivity with ethanol and methanol, however. Organic nitroxyls, such as TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidine N-oxyl), are the most widely studied electrocatalysts for alcohol oxidation. These catalysts exhibit good activity (1-2 turnovers per second) with a wide range of alcohols and have great promise for electro-organic synthesis. Their use in energy-conversion applications, however, is limited by the high electrode potentials required to generate the reactive oxoammonium species. Here we report (2,2‧-bipyridine)Cu/nitroxyl co-catalyst systems for electrochemical alcohol oxidation that proceed with much faster rates, while operating at an electrode potential a half-volt lower than that used for the TEMPO-only process. The (2,2‧-bipyridine)Cu(II) and TEMPO redox partners exhibit cooperative reactivity and exploit the low-potential, proton-coupled TEMPO/TEMPOH redox process rather than the high-potential TEMPO/TEMPO+ process. The results show how electron-proton-transfer mediators, such as TEMPO, may be used in combination with first-row transition metals, such as copper, to achieve efficient two-electron electrochemical processes, thereby introducing a new concept for the development of non-precious-metal electrocatalysts.

Dynamic transverse shear modulus for a heterogeneous fluid-filled porous solid containing cylindrical inclusions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Yongjia; Hu, Hengshan; Rudnicki, John W.; Duan, Yunda

2016-09-01

An exact analytical solution is presented for the effective dynamic transverse shear modulus in a heterogeneous fluid-filled porous solid containing cylindrical inclusions. The complex and frequency-dependent properties of the dynamic shear modulus are caused by the physical mechanism of mesoscopic-scale wave-induced fluid flow whose scale is smaller than wavelength but larger than the size of pores. Our model consists of three phases: a long cylindrical inclusion, a cylindrical shell of poroelastic matrix material with different mechanical and/or hydraulic properties than the inclusion and an outer region of effective homogeneous medium of laterally infinite extent. The behavior of both the inclusion and the matrix is described by Biot's consolidation equations, whereas the surrounding effective medium which is used to describe the effective transverse shear properties of the inner poroelastic composite is assumed to be a viscoelastic solid whose complex transverse shear modulus needs to be determined. The determined effective transverse shear modulus is used to quantify the S-wave attenuation and velocity dispersion in heterogeneous fluid-filled poroelastic rocks. The calculation shows the relaxation frequency and relative position of various fluid saturation dispersion curves predicted by this study exhibit very good agreement with those of a previous 2-D finite-element simulation. For the double-porosity model (inclusions having a different solid frame than the matrix but the same pore fluid as the matrix) the effective shear modulus also exhibits a size-dependent characteristic that the relaxation frequency moves to lower frequencies by two orders of magnitude if the radius of the cylindrical poroelastic composite increases by one order of magnitude. For the patchy-saturation model (inclusions having the same solid frame as the matrix but with a different pore fluid from the matrix), the heterogeneity in pore fluid cannot cause any attenuation in the transverse shear modulus at all. A comparison with the case of spherical inclusions illustrates that the transverse shear modulus for the cylindrical inclusion exhibits more S-wave attenuation than spherical inclusions.

Solar chemistry of metal complexes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gray, H. B.; Maverick, A. W.

1981-12-01

Electronic excited states of certain transition metal complexes undergo oxidation-reduction reactions that store chemical energy. Such reactions have been extensively explored for mononuclear complexes. Two classes of polynuclear species exhibit similar properties, and these complexes are now being studied as possible homogeneous sensitizer-catalysts for hydrogen production from aqueous solutions.

High density polyethylene/graphite nano-composites for total hip joint replacements: processing and in vitro characterization.

PubMed

Fouad, H; Elleithy, Rabeh

2011-10-01

The main objective of the present study is to investigate how the thermal, rheological, mechanical and cytotoxicity behavior of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) can be changed by the addition of graphite nano particles (GNPs) at different contents. The HDPE/GNPs composites were prepared using melt blending in a co-rotating intermeshing twin screw extruder. The in vitro tests results showed that the original material (HDPE) and all HDPE/GNPs composites do not exhibit any cytotoxicity to the WISH cell line. The microscopic examination of the nano-composite tensile-fractured surface found a good distribution of GNPs in the HDPE matrix. The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) results indicated that the crystallization percentage increased by adding GNPs to HDPE up to 4%. The XRD patterns of the HDPE/GNPs composites showed an increase in peak intensity compared to neat HDPE. This increase echoed the crystallinity results obtained from DSC. The rheological tests showed that the complex viscosity of the HDPE increased as the percentage of GNPs increased due to the restriction of the molecular mobility. The tensile test results showed that with increasing the GNPs content, Young's modulus and the yield strength of the HDPE/GNPs composite increased while the strain at fracture decreased. Finally, the preliminary results of the abrasion test indicated that the abrasion rate decreased by increasing the GNPs ratio up to 4% content. The prepared HDPE/GNPs composites appear to have fairly good comprehensive properties that make them a good candidate as a bearing material for the total joint replacement. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preferential attachment in multiple trade networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foschi, Rachele; Riccaboni, Massimo; Schiavo, Stefano

2014-08-01

In this paper we develop a model for the evolution of multiple networks which is able to replicate the concentrated and sparse nature of world trade data. Our model is an extension of the preferential attachment growth model to the case of multiple networks. Countries trade a variety of goods of different complexity. Every country progressively evolves from trading less sophisticated to high-tech goods. The probabilities of capturing more trade opportunities at a given level of complexity and of starting to trade more complex goods are both proportional to the number of existing trade links. We provide a set of theoretical predictions and simulative results. A calibration exercise shows that our model replicates the same concentration level of world trade as well as the sparsity pattern of the trade matrix. We also discuss a set of numerical solutions to deal with large multiple networks.

Perceived role and its enhancing factors among the village health volunteers regarding malaria control in rural myanmar.

PubMed

Aung, P Linn; Silawan, Tassanee; Rawiworrakul, Tassanee; Min, Myo

2018-01-01

Village health volunteers (VHVs) are key agents for malaria control in community. The Myanmar Medical Association-Malaria (MMA-Malaria) Project has promoted effective malaria control in endemic and high-risk townships by supporting roles of VHVs. To assess the roles of VHVs on malaria control and factors enhancing their roles in rural Myanmar. A cross-sectional study was conducted in five townships where the MMA-Malaria Project has been implemented. One hundred and fifty VHVs were sampled from five townships by simple random sampling. Data were collected by trained interviewers using structured questionnaires, which covered sociodemographic, supportive, motivational factors, and roles of malaria control. Studied variables were described by proportions, means, and standard deviations and were analyzed for their association by odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and Chi-square tests. Most of VHVs (96%) expected to demonstrate good roles on malaria control, but only 44.0% exhibited current roles at a good level. Factors enhancing their roles were female (P = 0.037), family income ≥50,001 kyat/month (P < 0.015), time serving as a volunteer 1-2 years (P = 0.006), good knowledge of malaria control (P < 0.001), good family support (P < 0.001), good community support (P < 0.001), and good motivational factors (P = 0.002). VHVs are key agents for malaria control in community. Most of VHVs expected to demonstrate good roles on malaria control, but less than half of them exhibited current roles at a good level. The systems and program for improving VHVs' knowledge, encouraging family and community support, and promoting motivation are essential for their better roles.

New Synthesis Of Poly(1,3,4-Oxadiazoles)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connell, John W.; Hergenrother, Paul M.; Wolf, Peter

1992-01-01

Synthesis via aromatic nucleophilic displacement yields new high-molecular-weight polymers. Polymers exhibited good mechanical and thermal properties. Synthetic route provided high-molecular-weight POX of new chemical structure, potentially more economical. Availability of large variety of activated aromatic dihalides, facilitates variation of chemical structures. Exhibit properties making them useful as films. Also useful in coatings, adhesives, moldings, and composites.

Between Exoticism and Universalism: Educational Sections in Latin American Participation at International Exhibitions, 1860-1900

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dussel, Ines

2011-01-01

International exhibitions provide a good arena in which to study the circulation and transfer of educational ideas and practices in the second half of the nineteenth century. Structured around themes of industry, progress, and civilisation, and defined as ephemeral museums of the new world of commodities for the consumption of the masses, they…

Aminopropyl-functionalized ethane-bridged periodic mesoporous organosilica spheres: preparation and application in liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Li, Chun; Di, Bin; Hao, Weiqiang; Yan, Fang; Su, Mengxiang

2011-01-21

A synthetic approach for synthesizing spherical aminopropyl-functionalized ethane-bridged periodic mesoporous organosilicas (APEPMOs) is reported. The mesoporous material was prepared by a one-step co-condensation of 1,2-bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTSE) and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) using cetyltrimethylammonium chlorine (C(18)TACl) as a template with the aid of a co-solvent (methanol) in basic medium. The APEPMOs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption measurement, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and elemental analysis. It was shown that this material exhibited spherical morphology, ordered cubic mesostructure and good mechanical strength. The APEPMOs were tested as a potential stationary phase for liquid chromatography (LC) because the column exhibited reduced back pressure. Moreover, they exhibited good chemical stability in basic mobile phase, which can be ascribed to the ethane groups in the mesoporous framework. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Theoretical study of surface plasmon resonance sensors based on 2D bimetallic alloy grating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhibi, Abdelhak; Khemiri, Mehdi; Oumezzine, Mohamed

2016-11-01

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor based on 2D alloy grating with a high performance is proposed. The grating consists of homogeneous alloys of formula MxAg1-x, where M is gold, copper, platinum and palladium. Compared to the SPR sensors based a pure metal, the sensor based on angular interrogation with silver exhibits a sharper (i.e. larger depth-to-width ratio) reflectivity dip, which provides a big detection accuracy, whereas the sensor based on gold exhibits the broadest dips and the highest sensitivity. The detection accuracy of SPR sensor based a metal alloy is enhanced by the increase of silver composition. In addition, the composition of silver which is around 0.8 improves the sensitivity and the quality of SPR sensor of pure metal. Numerical simulations based on rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) show that the sensor based on a metal alloy not only has a high sensitivity and a high detection accuracy, but also exhibits a good linearity and a good quality.

The effect of precipitants on Ni-Al2O3 catalysts prepared by a co-precipitation method for internal reforming in molten carbonate fuel cells

PubMed Central

Jung, You-Shick; Yoon, Wang-Lai; Seo, Yong-Seog; Rhee, Young-Woo

2012-01-01

Ni-Al2O3 catalysts are prepared via the co-precipitation method using various precipitants: urea, Na2CO3, NaOH, K2CO3, KOH and NH4OH. The effects of the precipitants on the physicochemical properties and catalytic activities of the Ni-Al2O3 catalysts are investigated. The Ni50-urea catalyst displays the largest specific surface area and the highest pore volume. This catalyst also exhibits the highest Ni dispersion and the largest Ni surface area. Ni50-urea catalyst prepared with urea as precipitant and Ni50-K2CO3 catalyst prepared with K2CO3 as precipitant exhibit high pore volumes and good catalytic activities for methane steam reforming. The Ni50-urea catalyst exhibits the best physicochemical properties and shows good catalytic activity and a strong resistance to electrolyte contamination. PMID:22962548

Effects of the η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr Ligand on the Properties Exhibited by Its Tungsten Nitrosyl Complexes.

PubMed

Fabulyak, Diana; Baillie, Rhett A; Patrick, Brian O; Legzdins, Peter; Rosenfeld, Devon C

2016-02-15

Reaction of Na[η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr] with W(CO)6 in refluxing THF for 4 days generates a solution of Na[(η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr)W(CO)3] that when treated with N-methyl-N-nitroso-p-toluenesulfonamide at ambient temperatures affords (η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr)W(NO)(CO)2 (1) that is isolable in good yield as an analytically pure orange oil. Treatment of 1 with an equimolar amount of I2 in Et2O at ambient temperatures affords (η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr)W(NO)I2 (2) as a dark brown solid in excellent yield. Sequential treatment at low temperatures of 2 with 0.5 equiv of Mg(CH2CMe3)2 and Mg(CH2CH═CMe2)2 in Et2O produces the alkyl allyl complex, (η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr)W(NO)(CH2CMe3)(η(3)-CH2CHCMe2) (3), as a thermally sensitive yellow liquid. Complex 3 may also be synthesized, albeit in low yield, in one vessel at low temperatures by reacting 1 first with 1 equiv of PCl5 and then with the binary magnesium reagents specified above. Interestingly, similar treatment of 1 in Et2O with PCl5 and only 0.5 equiv of Mg(CH2CH═CMe2)2 results in the formation of the unusual complex (η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr)W(NO)(PCl2CMe2CH═CH2)Cl2 (4), which probably is formed via a metathesis reaction of the binary magnesium reagent with (η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr)W(NO)(PCl3)Cl2. The C-D activation of C6D6 by complex 3 has been investigated and compared to that exhibited by its η(5)-C5Me5, η(5)-C5Me4H, and η(5)-C5Me4(n)Pr analogues. Kinetic analyses of the various activations have established that the presence of the η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr ligand significantly increases the rate of the reaction, an outcome that can be attributed to a combination of steric and electronic factors. In addition, mechanistic studies have established that in solution 3 loses neopentane under ambient conditions to generate exclusively the 16e η(2)-diene intermediate complex (η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr)W(NO)(η(2)-CH2═CMeCH═CH2), which then effects the subsequent C-D activations. This behavior contrasts with that exhibited by the η(5)-C5Me5 analogue of 3 which forms both η(2)-diene and η(2)-allene intermediates upon thermolysis. Sixteen-electron (η(5)-C5H4(i)Pr)W(NO)(η(2)-CH2═CMeCH═CH2) has been isolated as its 18e PMe3 adduct. All new organometallic complexes have been characterized by conventional spectroscopic and analytical methods, and the solid-state molecular structures of two of them have been established by single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analyses.

Synthesis and characterization of nitrile functionalized silver(I)-N-heterocyclic carbene complexes: DNA binding, cleavage studies, antibacterial properties and mosquitocidal activity against the dengue vector, Aedes albopictus.

PubMed

Asekunowo, Patrick O; Haque, Rosenani A; Razali, Mohd R; Avicor, Silas W; Wajidi, Mustafa F F

2018-04-25

A series of four benzimidazolium based nitrile-functionalized mononuclear-Ag(I)-N-heterocyclic carbene and binuclear-Ag(I)-N-heterocyclic carbene (Ag(I)-NHC) hexafluorophosphate complexes (5b-8b) were synthesized by reacting the corresponding hexafluorophosphate salts (1b-4b) with Ag 2 O in acetonitrile, respectively. These compounds were characterized by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, IR, UV-visible spectroscopic techniques, elemental analyses and molar conductivity. Additionally, 8b was structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. Preliminary in vitro antibacterial evaluation was conducted for all the compounds against two standard bacteria; gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacterial strains. Most of the Ag(I)-NHC complexes (5b-8b) showed moderate to good antibacterial activity with MIC values in the range of 12.5-100 μg/mL. Especially, compound 8b exhibited promising anti-Staphylococcus aureus activity with a low MIC value (12.5 μg/mL). However, all the hexafluorophosphate salts (1b-4b) were inactive against the bacteria strains. The preliminary interactive investigation revealed that the most active compound, 8b, could effectively intercalate into DNA to form 8b-DNA complex which shows a better binding ability for DNA (K b  = 3.627 × 10 6 ) than the complexes 5b-7b (2.177 × 10 6 , 8.672 × 10 5 and 6.665 × 10 5 , respectively). Nuclease activity of the complexes on plasmid DNA and Aedes albopictus genomic DNA was time-dependent, although minimal. The complexes were larvicidal to the mosquito, with 5b, 6b and 8b being highly active. Developmental progression from the larval to the adult stage was affected by the complexes, progressively being toxic to the insect's development with increasing concentration. These indicate the potential use of these complexes as control agents against bacteria and the dengue mosquito Ae. albopictus. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Ethanol chemiresistor with enhanced discriminative ability from acetone based on Sr-doped SnO2 nanofibers.

PubMed

Jiang, Ziqiao; Jiang, Tingting; Wang, Jinfeng; Wang, Zhaojie; Xu, Xiuru; Wang, Zongxin; Zhao, Rui; Li, Zhenyu; Wang, Ce

2015-01-01

We demonstrated a new metal oxides based chemiresistor (MOC), which exhibits fast response/recovery behavior, large sensitivity, and good selectivity to ethanol, enabled by Sr-doped SnO2 nanofibers via simple electrospinning and followed by calcination. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) were carefully used to characterize their morphology, structure, and composition. The ethanol sensing performances based on Sr-doped SnO2 nanofibers were investigated. Comparing with the pristine SnO2 nanofibers, enhanced ethanol sensing performances (more rapid response/recovery behavior and larger response values) have been achieved owing to the basic SnO2 surface caused by Sr-doping, whereas the acetone sensing performances have been weakened. Thus, good discriminative ability to ethanol from acetone has been realized. Additionally, Sr-doped SnO2 nanofibers also exhibit good selectivity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Potent and Selective Amidopyrazole Inhibitors of IRAK4 That Are Efficacious in a Rodent Model of Inflammation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McElroy, William T.; Tan, Zheng; Ho, Ginny

IRAK4 is a critical upstream kinase in the IL-1R/TLR signaling pathway. Inhibition of IRAK4 is hypothesized to be beneficial in the treatment of autoimmune related disorders. A screening campaign identified a pyrazole class of IRAK4 inhibitors that were determined by X-ray crystallography to exhibit an unusual binding mode. SAR efforts focused on the identification of a potent and selective inhibitor with good aqueous solubility and rodent pharmacokinetics. Pyrazole C-3 piperidines were well tolerated, with N-sulfonyl analogues generally having good rodent oral exposure but poor solubility. N-Alkyl piperidines exhibited excellent solubility and reduced exposure. Pyrazoles possessing N-1 pyridine and fluorophenyl substituentsmore » were among the most active. Piperazine 32 was a potent enzyme inhibitor with good cellular activity. Compound 32 reduced the in vivo production of proinflammatory cytokines and was orally efficacious in a mouse antibody induced arthritis disease model of inflammation.« less

Aesthetic properties and message customization: navigating the dark side of web recruitment.

PubMed

Dineen, Brian R; Ling, Juan; Ash, Steven R; DelVecchio, Devon

2007-03-01

The authors examined recruitment message viewing time, information recall, and attraction in a Web-based context. In particular, they extended theory related to the cognitive processing of recruitment messages and found that the provision of customized information about likely fit related to increased viewing time and recall when good aesthetics were also present. A 3-way interaction among moderate-to low-fitting individuals further indicated that objective fit was most strongly related to attraction when messages included both good aesthetics and customized information. In particular, given this combination, the poorest fitting individuals exhibited lower attraction levels, whereas more moderately fitting individuals exhibited invariant attraction levels across combinations of aesthetics and customized information. The results suggest that, given good aesthetics, customized information exerts effects mostly by causing poorly fitting individuals to be less attracted, which further suggests a means of averting the "dark side" of Web recruitment that occurs when organizations receive too many applications from poorly fitting applicants. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Synthesis, chemical and biological studies on new Fe(3+)-glycosilated beta-diketo complexes for the treatment of iron deficiency.

PubMed

Arezzini, Beatrice; Ferrali, Marco; Ferrari, Erika; Frassineti, Chiara; Lazzari, Sandra; Marverti, Gaetano; Spagnolo, Ferdinando; Saladini, Monica

2008-11-01

A simple synthetic pathway to obtain glycosilated beta-diketo derivatives is proposed. These compounds show a good iron(III) affinity therefore we may suggest the use of their Fe(3+)-complexes as oral iron supplements in the treatment of anaemia. The glycosilated compounds (6-GlcH, 6-GlcOH and 6-GlcOCH(3)) are characterized by means of spectroscopic (UV, (1)H and (13)C NMR) and potentiometric techniques; they have a good water solubility, are kinetically stable in physiological condition (t(1/2)>100h) and show a low cytotoxicity also in high concentrations (IC(50)>400 microM). They are able to bind Fe(3+) ion in acid condition (pH approximately 2) forming complex species thermodynamically more stable than those of other ligands commonly used in the treatment of iron deficiency. The iron complexes show also a good kinetic stability both in acidic and physiological pH and have a good lypophilicity (logP>-0.7) that suggests an efficient gastrointestinal absorption in view of their possible use in oral therapy. In addition they demonstrate a poor affinity for competitive biological metal ion such as Ca(2+), and in particular 6-GlcOCH(3) is able to inhibit lipid peroxidation.

A Diastereoselective Multicomponent Reaction for Construction of Alkynylamide-Substituted α,β-Diamino Acid Derivatives To Hunt Hits.

PubMed

Lei, Ruirui; Wu, Yong; Dong, Suzhen; Jia, Kaili; Liu, Shunying; Hu, Wenhao

2017-03-17

A highly diasetereoselective Mannich-type multicomponent reaction was developed to rapidly construct alkynylamide-substituted α,β-diamino acid derivatives from simple starting materials under mild conditions in moderate to good yields for hit hunting. Most of the resulting products 4 exhibited good anticancer activity in HCT116, BEL7402, and SMMC7721 cells.

Synaptic Basis for Differential Orientation Selectivity between Complex and Simple Cells in Mouse Visual Cortex

PubMed Central

Li, Ya-tang; Liu, Bao-hua; Chou, Xiao-lin; Zhang, Li I.

2015-01-01

In the primary visual cortex (V1), orientation-selective neurons can be categorized into simple and complex cells primarily based on their receptive field (RF) structures. In mouse V1, although previous studies have examined the excitatory/inhibitory interplay underlying orientation selectivity (OS) of simple cells, the synaptic bases for that of complex cells have remained obscure. Here, by combining in vivo loose-patch and whole-cell recordings, we found that complex cells, identified by their overlapping on/off subfields, had significantly weaker OS than simple cells at both spiking and subthreshold membrane potential response levels. Voltage-clamp recordings further revealed that although excitatory inputs to complex and simple cells exhibited a similar degree of OS, inhibition in complex cells was more narrowly tuned than excitation, whereas in simple cells inhibition was more broadly tuned than excitation. The differential inhibitory tuning can primarily account for the difference in OS between complex and simple cells. Interestingly, the differential synaptic tuning correlated well with the spatial organization of synaptic input: the inhibitory visual RF in complex cells was more elongated in shape than its excitatory counterpart and also was more elongated than that in simple cells. Together, our results demonstrate that OS of complex and simple cells is differentially shaped by cortical inhibition based on its orientation tuning profile relative to excitation, which is contributed at least partially by the spatial organization of RFs of presynaptic inhibitory neurons. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Simple and complex cells, two classes of principal neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1), are generally thought to be equally selective for orientation. In mouse V1, we report that complex cells, identified by their overlapping on/off subfields, has significantly weaker orientation selectivity (OS) than simple cells. This can be primarily attributed to the differential tuning selectivity of inhibitory synaptic input: inhibition in complex cells is more narrowly tuned than excitation, whereas in simple cells inhibition is more broadly tuned than excitation. In addition, there is a good correlation between inhibitory tuning selectivity and the spatial organization of inhibitory inputs. These complex and simple cells with differential degree of OS may provide functionally distinct signals to different downstream targets. PMID:26245969

Synaptic Basis for Differential Orientation Selectivity between Complex and Simple Cells in Mouse Visual Cortex.

PubMed

Li, Ya-tang; Liu, Bao-hua; Chou, Xiao-lin; Zhang, Li I; Tao, Huizhong W

2015-08-05

In the primary visual cortex (V1), orientation-selective neurons can be categorized into simple and complex cells primarily based on their receptive field (RF) structures. In mouse V1, although previous studies have examined the excitatory/inhibitory interplay underlying orientation selectivity (OS) of simple cells, the synaptic bases for that of complex cells have remained obscure. Here, by combining in vivo loose-patch and whole-cell recordings, we found that complex cells, identified by their overlapping on/off subfields, had significantly weaker OS than simple cells at both spiking and subthreshold membrane potential response levels. Voltage-clamp recordings further revealed that although excitatory inputs to complex and simple cells exhibited a similar degree of OS, inhibition in complex cells was more narrowly tuned than excitation, whereas in simple cells inhibition was more broadly tuned than excitation. The differential inhibitory tuning can primarily account for the difference in OS between complex and simple cells. Interestingly, the differential synaptic tuning correlated well with the spatial organization of synaptic input: the inhibitory visual RF in complex cells was more elongated in shape than its excitatory counterpart and also was more elongated than that in simple cells. Together, our results demonstrate that OS of complex and simple cells is differentially shaped by cortical inhibition based on its orientation tuning profile relative to excitation, which is contributed at least partially by the spatial organization of RFs of presynaptic inhibitory neurons. Simple and complex cells, two classes of principal neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1), are generally thought to be equally selective for orientation. In mouse V1, we report that complex cells, identified by their overlapping on/off subfields, has significantly weaker orientation selectivity (OS) than simple cells. This can be primarily attributed to the differential tuning selectivity of inhibitory synaptic input: inhibition in complex cells is more narrowly tuned than excitation, whereas in simple cells inhibition is more broadly tuned than excitation. In addition, there is a good correlation between inhibitory tuning selectivity and the spatial organization of inhibitory inputs. These complex and simple cells with differential degree of OS may provide functionally distinct signals to different downstream targets. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3511081-13$15.00/0.

A new simulation system of traffic flow based on cellular automata principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shan, Junru

2017-05-01

Traffic flow is a complex system of multi-behavior so it is difficult to give a specific mathematical equation to express it. With the rapid development of computer technology, it is an important method to study the complex traffic behavior by simulating the interaction mechanism between vehicles and reproduce complex traffic behavior. Using the preset of multiple operating rules, cellular automata is a kind of power system which has discrete time and space. It can be a good simulation of the real traffic process and a good way to solve the traffic problems.

A heterobimetallic Ga/Yb-Schiff base complex for catalytic asymmetric alpha-addition of isocyanides to aldehydes.

PubMed

Mihara, Hisashi; Xu, Yingjie; Shepherd, Nicholas E; Matsunaga, Shigeki; Shibasaki, Masakatsu

2009-06-24

Development of a new heterobimetallic Ga(O-iPr)(3)/Yb(OTf)(3)/Schiff base 2d complex for catalytic asymmetric alpha-additions of isocyanides to aldehydes is described. Schiff base 2d derived from o-vanillin was suitable to utilize cationic rare earth metal triflates with good Lewis acidity in bimetallic Schiff base catalysis. The Ga(O-iPr)(3)/Yb(OTf)(3)/Schiff base 2d complex promoted asymmetric alpha-additions of alpha-isocyanoacetamides to aryl, heteroaryl, alkenyl, and alkyl aldehydes in good to excellent enantioselectivity (88-98% ee).

Competitive Binding to Cuprous Ions of Protein and BCA in the Bicinchoninic Acid Protein Assay

PubMed Central

Huang, Tao; Long, Mian; Huo, Bo

2010-01-01

Although Bicinchoninic acid (BCA) has been widely used to determine protein concentration, the mechanism of interaction between protein, copper ion and BCA in this assay is still not well known. Using the Micro BCA protein assay kit (Pierce Company), we measured the absorbance at 562 nm of BSA solutions with different concentrations of protein, and also varied the BCA concentration. When the concentration of protein was increased, the absorbance exhibited the known linear and nonlinear increase, and then reached an unexpected plateau followed by a gradual decrease. We introduced a model in which peptide chains competed with BCA for binding to cuprous ions. Formation of the well-known chromogenic complex of BCA-Cu1+-BCA was competed with the binding of two peptide bonds (NTPB) to cuprous ion, and there is the possibility of the existence of two new complexes. A simple equilibrium equation was established to describe the correlations between the substances in solution at equilibrium, and an empirical exponential function was introduced to describe the reduction reaction. Theoretical predictions of absorbance from the model were in good agreement with the measurements, which not only validated the competitive binding model, but also predicted a new complex of BCA-Cu1+-NTPB that might exist in the final solution. This work provides a new insight into understanding the chemical bases of the BCA protein assay and might extend the assay to higher protein concentration. PMID:21625379

Thermal and rheological properties of L-polylactide/polyethylene glycol/silicate nanocomposites films.

PubMed

Ahmed, Jasim; Varshney, Sunil K; Auras, Rafael; Hwang, Sung W

2010-10-01

The melt rheology and thermal properties of polylactide (PLA)-based nanocomposite films that were prepared by solvent casting method with L-PLA, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and montmorillonite clay were studied. The neat PLA showed predominantly solid-like behavior (G' > G″) and the complex viscosity (η*) decreased systematically as the temperature increased from 184 to 196 °C. The elastic modulus (G') of PLA/clay blend showed a significant improvement in the magnitude in the melt, while clay concentration was at 6% wt or higher. At similar condition, PEG dramatically reduced dynamic modulii and complex viscosity of PLA/PEG blend as function of concentration. A nanocomposite blend of PLA/PEG/clay (74/20/6) when compared to the neat polymer and PLA/PEG blend exhibited intermediate values of elastic modulus (G') and complex viscosity (η*) with excellent flexibility. Thermal analysis of different clay loading blends indicated that the melting temperature (T(m)) and glass transition temperature (T(g)) remained unaffected irrespective of clay concentration due to immobilization of polymer chain in the clay nanocomposite. PEG incorporation reduced the T(g) and the T(m) of the blends (PLA/PEG and PLA/PEG/clay) significantly, however, crystallinity increased in the similar condition. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of nanocomposite films indicated good compatibility between PLA and PEG, whereas clay was not thoroughly distributed in the PLA matrix and remained as clusters. The percent crystallinity obtained by X-ray was significantly higher than that of differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) data for PLA.

Cholesteryl oleate-loaded cationic solid lipid nanoparticles as carriers for efficient gene-silencing therapy

PubMed Central

Suñé-Pou, Marc; Prieto-Sánchez, Silvia; El Yousfi, Younes; Boyero-Corral, Sofía; Nardi-Ricart, Anna; Nofrerias-Roig, Isaac; Pérez-Lozano, Pilar; García-Montoya, Encarna; Miñarro-Carmona, Montserrat; Ticó, Josep Ramón; Suñé-Negre, Josep Mª; Hernández-Munain, Cristina; Suñé, Carlos

2018-01-01

Background Cationic solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) have been given considerable attention for therapeutic nucleic acid delivery owing to their advantages over viral and other nanoparticle delivery systems. However, poor delivery efficiency and complex formulations hinder the clinical translation of SLNs. Aim The aim of this study was to formulate and characterize SLNs incorporating the cholesterol derivative cholesteryl oleate to produce SLN–nucleic acid complexes with reduced cytotoxicity and more efficient cellular uptake. Methods Five cholesteryl oleate-containing formulations were prepared. Laser diffraction and laser Doppler microelectrophoresis were used to evaluate particle size and zeta potential, respectively. Nanoparticle morphology was analyzed using electron microscopy. Cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of lipoplexes were evaluated using flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. The gene inhibition capacity of the lipoplexes was assessed using siRNAs to block constitutive luciferase expression. Results We obtained nanoparticles with a mean diameter of approximately 150–200 nm in size and zeta potential values of 25–40 mV. SLN formulations with intermediate concentrations of cholesteryl oleate exhibited good stability and spherical structures with no aggregation. No cell toxicity of any reference SLN was observed. Finally, cellular uptake experiments with DNA-and RNA-SLNs were performed to select one reference with superior transient transfection efficiency that significantly decreased gene activity upon siRNA complexation. Conclusion The results indicate that cholesteryl oleate-loaded SLNs are a safe and effective platform for nonviral nucleic acid delivery. PMID:29881274

GESA--a two-dimensional processing system using knowledge base techniques.

PubMed

Rowlands, D G; Flook, A; Payne, P I; van Hoff, A; Niblett, T; McKee, S

1988-12-01

The successful analysis of two-dimensional (2-D) polyacrylamide electrophoresis gels demands considerable experience and understanding of the protein system under investigation as well as knowledge of the separation technique itself. The present work concerns the development of a computer system for analysing 2-D electrophoretic separations which incorporates concepts derived from artificial intelligence research such that non-experts can use the technique as a diagnostic or identification tool. Automatic analysis of 2-D gel separations has proved to be extremely difficult using statistical methods. Non-reproducibility of gel separations is also difficult to overcome using automatic systems. However, the human eye is extremely good at recognising patterns in images, and human intervention in semi-automatic computer systems can reduce the computational complexities of fully automatic systems. Moreover, the expertise and understanding of an "expert" is invaluable in reducing system complexity if it can be encapsulated satisfactorily in an expert system. The combination of user-intervention in the computer system together with the encapsulation of expert knowledge characterises the present system. The domain within which the system has been developed is that of wheat grain storage proteins (gliadins) which exhibit polymorphism to such an extent that cultivars can be uniquely identified by their gliadin patterns. The system can be adapted to other domains where a range of polymorpic protein sub-units exist. In its generalised form, the system can also be used for comparing more complex 2-D gel electrophoretic separations.

Construction and Characterization of a Chitosan-Immobilized-Enzyme and β-Cyclodextrin-Included-Ferrocene-Based Electrochemical Biosensor for H2O2 Detection

PubMed Central

Dong, Wenbo; Wang, Kaiyin; Chen, Yu; Li, Weiping; Ye, Yanchun; Jin, Shaohua

2017-01-01

An electrochemical detection biosensor was prepared with the chitosan-immobilized-enzyme (CTS-CAT) and β-cyclodextrin-included-ferrocene (β-CD-FE) complex for the determination of H2O2. Ferrocene (FE) was included in β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) to increase its stability. The structure of the β-CD-FE was characterized. The inclusion amount, inclusion rate, and electrochemical properties of inclusion complexes were determined to optimize the reaction conditions for the inclusion. CTS-CAT was prepared by a step-by-step immobilization method, which overcame the disadvantages of the conventional preparation methods. The immobilization conditions were optimized to obtain the desired enzyme activity. CTS-CAT/β-CD-FE composite electrodes were prepared by compositing the CTS-CAT with the β-CD-FE complex on a glassy carbon electrode and used for the electrochemical detection of H2O2. It was found that the CTS-CAT could produce a strong reduction peak current in response to H2O2 and the β-CD-FE could amplify the current signal. The peak current exhibited a linear relationship with the H2O2 concentration in the range of 1.0 × 10−7–6.0 × 10−3 mol/L. Our work provided a novel method for the construction of electrochemical biosensors with a fast response, good stability, high sensitivity, and a wide linear response range based on the composite of chitosan and cyclodextrin. PMID:28773229

Life-cycle and growth-phase-dependent regulation of the ubiquitin genes of Trypanosoma cruzi.

PubMed

Manning-Cela, Rebeca; Jaishankar, Sobha; Swindle, John

2006-07-01

Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, exhibits a complex life cycle that is accompanied by the stage-specific gene expression. At the molecular level, very little is known about gene regulation in trypanosomes. Complex gene organizations coupled with polycistronic transcription units make the analysis of regulated gene expression difficult in trypanosomes. The ubiquitin genes of T. cruzi are a good example of this complexity. They are organized as a single cluster containing five ubiquitin fusion (FUS) and five polyubiquitin (PUB) genes that are polycistronically transcribed but expressed differently in response to developmental and environmental changes. Gene replacements were used to study FUS and PUB gene expression at different stages of growth and at different points in the life cycle of T. cruzi. Based on the levels of reporter gene expression, it was determined that FUS1 expression was downregulated as the parasites approached stationary phase, whereas PUB12.5 polyubiquitin gene expression increased. Conversely, FUS1 expression increases when epimastigotes and amastigotes differentiate into trypomastigotes, whereas the expression of PUB12.5 decreases when epimastigotes differentiate into amastigotes and trypomastigotes. Although the level of CAT activity in logarithmic growing epimastigotes is six- to seven-fold higher when the gene was expressed from the FUS1 locus than when expressed from the PUB12.5 locus, the rate of transcription from the two loci was the same implying that post-transcriptional mechanisms play a dominant role in the regulation of gene expression.

Nonstent Combination Interventional Therapy for Treatment of Benign Cicatricial Airway Stenosis

PubMed Central

Qiu, Xiao-Jian; Zhang, Jie; Wang, Ting; Pei, Ying-Hua; Xu, Min

2015-01-01

Background: Benign cicatricial airway stenosis (BCAS) is a life-threatening disease. While there are numerous therapies, all have their defects, and stenosis can easily become recurrent. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and complications of nonstent combination interventional therapy (NSCIT) when used for the treatment of BCAS of different causes and types. Methods: This study enrolled a cohort of patients with BCAS resulting from tuberculosis, intubation, tracheotomy, and other origins. The patients were assigned to three groups determined by their type of stenosis: Web-like stenosis, granulation stenosis, and complex stenosis, and all patients received NSCIT. The efficacy and complications of treatment in each group of patients were observed. The Chi-square test, one-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the paired t-test were used to analyze different parameters. Results: The 10 patients with web-like stenosis and six patients with granulation stenosis exhibited durable remission rates of 100%. Among 41 patients with complex stenosis, 36 cases (88%) experienced remission and 29 cases (71%) experienced durable remission. When five patients with airway collapse were eliminated from the analysis, the overall remission rate was 97%. The average treatment durations for patients with web-like stenosis, granulation stenosis, and complex stenosis were 101, 21, and 110 days, respectively, and the average number of treatments was five, two, and five, respectively. Conclusions: NSCIT demonstrated good therapeutic efficacy and was associated with few complications. However, this approach was ineffective for treating patients with airway collapse or malacia. PMID:26265607

Nonstent Combination Interventional Therapy for Treatment of Benign Cicatricial Airway Stenosis.

PubMed

Qiu, Xiao-Jian; Zhang, Jie; Wang, Ting; Pei, Ying-Hua; Xu, Min

2015-08-20

Benign cicatricial airway stenosis (BCAS) is a life-threatening disease. While there are numerous therapies, all have their defects, and stenosis can easily become recurrent. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and complications of nonstent combination interventional therapy (NSCIT) when used for the treatment of BCAS of different causes and types. This study enrolled a cohort of patients with BCAS resulting from tuberculosis, intubation, tracheotomy, and other origins. The patients were assigned to three groups determined by their type of stenosis: Web-like stenosis, granulation stenosis, and complex stenosis, and all patients received NSCIT. The efficacy and complications of treatment in each group of patients were observed. The Chi-square test, one-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the paired t -test were used to analyze different parameters. The 10 patients with web-like stenosis and six patients with granulation stenosis exhibited durable remission rates of 100%. Among 41 patients with complex stenosis, 36 cases (88%) experienced remission and 29 cases (71%) experienced durable remission. When five patients with airway collapse were eliminated from the analysis, the overall remission rate was 97%. The average treatment durations for patients with web-like stenosis, granulation stenosis, and complex stenosis were 101, 21, and 110 days, respectively, and the average number of treatments was five, two, and five, respectively. NSCIT demonstrated good therapeutic efficacy and was associated with few complications. However, this approach was ineffective for treating patients with airway collapse or malacia.

Carboxylate ligands induced structural diversity of zinc(II) coordination polymers based on 3,6-bis(imidazol-1-yl)carbazole: Syntheses, structures and photocatalytic properties

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cheng, Hong-Jian, E-mail: hjcheng@cslg.cn; Tang, Hui-Xiang; Shen, Ya-Li

2015-12-15

Solvothermal reactions of Zn(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}·6H{sub 2}O with 3,6-bis(1-imidazolyl)carbazole (3,6-bmcz) and 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (1,4-H{sub 2}bdc), p-phenylenediacetic acid (p-H{sub 2}pda), benzophenone-4,4-dicarboxylic acid (H{sub 2}bpda) afforded three coordination polymers [Zn(1,4-bdc)(3,6-bmcz)]{sub n} (1), {[Zn(p-pda)(3,6-bmcz)]·1.5H_2O}{sub n} (2) and {[Zn(bpda)(3,6-bmcz)]·0.25H_2O}{sub n} (3). Complexes 1–3 were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, powder X-ray diffraction, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Complex 1 shows 3D structure with 2D nets inclined polycatenation. Complexes 2 and 3 possess an extended 3D supramolecular architecture based on their respective 2D layers through hydrogen-bonding interactions and the π···π stacking interactions. The solid state luminescent and optical properties of 1–3 at ambient temperature were alsomore » investigated. A comparative study on their photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of methylene blue in polluted water was explored. - Graphical abstract: Reactions of Zn(NO{sub 3}){sub 2} and 3,6-(1-imidazolyl)carbazole with 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, p-phenylenediacetic acid or benzophenone-4,4-dicarboxylic acid afforded three coordination polymers with different topologies and photocatalytic activity. - Highlights: • Reactions of 1,4-H{sub 2}bdc, p-H{sub 2}pda or H{sub 2}bpda with 3,6-bmcz and Zn(II) gave three CPs. • Complex 1 is a 3D entanglement. • Complex 2 or 3 is a 3D supramolecular structure based on different 2D layers. • Complex 2 exhibited good catalytic activity of methylene blue photodegradation.« less

Schools as social complex adaptive systems: a new way to understand the challenges of introducing the health promoting schools concept.

PubMed

Keshavarz, Nastaran; Nutbeam, Don; Rowling, Louise; Khavarpour, Freidoon

2010-05-01

Achieving system-wide implementation of health promotion programs in schools and sustaining both the program and its health related benefits have proved challenging. This paper reports on a qualitative study examining the implementation of health promoting schools programs in primary schools in Sydney, Australia. It draw upon insights from systems science to examine the relevance and usefulness of the concept of "complex adaptive systems" as a framework to better understand ways in which health promoting school interventions could be introduced and sustained. The primary data for the study were collected by semi-structured interviews with 26 school principals and teachers. Additional information was extracted from publicly available school management plans and annual reports. We examined the data from these sources to determine whether schools exhibit characteristics of complex adaptive systems. The results confirmed that schools do exhibit most, but not all of the characteristics of social complex adaptive systems, and exhibit significant differences with artificial and natural systems. Understanding schools as social complex adaptive systems may help to explain some of the challenges of introducing and sustaining change in schools. These insights may, in turn, lead us to adopt more sophisticated approaches to the diffusion of new programs in school systems that account for the diverse, complex and context specific nature of individual school systems. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Synthesis of New Five Coordinated Copper(II) and Nickel(II) Complexes of L-Valine and Kinetic Study of Copper(II) with Calf Thymus DNA

PubMed Central

Tak, Aijaz Ahmad; Arjmand, Farukh

2002-01-01

Five coordinated novel complexes of Cu II and Ni II have been synthesized from benzil and 1,3- diaminopropane- Cu II / Ni II complex and characterized by elemental analysis, i.r., n.m.r., e.p.r, molar conductance and u.v-vis, spectroscopy. The complexes are ionic in nature and exhibit pentaeoordinated geometry around the metal ion. The reaction kinetics of C 25 H 36 N 5 O 2 CuCl with calf thymus DNA was studied by u.v-vis, spectroscopy in aqueous medium. The complex after interaction with calf thymus DNA shows shift in the absorption spectrum and hypochromicity indicating an intercalative binding mode. The K obs values have been calculated under pseudo-first order conditions. The redox behaviour of complex C 25 H 36 N 5 O 2 CuCl in the presence and in the absence of calf thymus DNA in the aqueous solution has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The cyclic voitammogram exhibits one quasi-reversible redox wave corresponding to Cu II / Cu I redox couple with E 1 / 2 values of -0.377 and -0.237 V respectively at a scan rate of 0.1V s - 1 .On interaction with calf thymus DNA, the complex C 25 H 36 N 5 O 2 CuCl exhibits shifts in both E p as well as in E 1 / 2 values, indicating strong binding of the complex to the calf thymus DNA. PMID:18475428

PEG-template for surface modification of zeolite: A convenient material to the design of polypropylene based composite for packaging films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toommee, S.; Pratumpong, P.

2018-06-01

Zeolite was successfully modified by conventional synthetic route. Polyethylene glycol was employed for surface modification of zeolite. The surface of zeolite exhibited therefore hydrophobic properties. Less than 5 wt% of modified zeolites with uniform size and shape were integrated into polypropylene matrix. Mechanical properties of composite exhibited the similar trend compare to neat polypropylene. Oxygen transmission rate and water vapor transmission rate were evaluated and it exhibited the strong potential to be a good candidate material in active packaging.

Undecidability and Irreducibility Conditions for Open-Ended Evolution and Emergence.

PubMed

Hernández-Orozco, Santiago; Hernández-Quiroz, Francisco; Zenil, Hector

2018-01-01

Is undecidability a requirement for open-ended evolution (OEE)? Using methods derived from algorithmic complexity theory, we propose robust computational definitions of open-ended evolution and the adaptability of computable dynamical systems. Within this framework, we show that decidability imposes absolute limits on the stable growth of complexity in computable dynamical systems. Conversely, systems that exhibit (strong) open-ended evolution must be undecidable, establishing undecidability as a requirement for such systems. Complexity is assessed in terms of three measures: sophistication, coarse sophistication, and busy beaver logical depth. These three complexity measures assign low complexity values to random (incompressible) objects. As time grows, the stated complexity measures allow for the existence of complex states during the evolution of a computable dynamical system. We show, however, that finding these states involves undecidable computations. We conjecture that for similar complexity measures that assign low complexity values, decidability imposes comparable limits on the stable growth of complexity, and that such behavior is necessary for nontrivial evolutionary systems. We show that the undecidability of adapted states imposes novel and unpredictable behavior on the individuals or populations being modeled. Such behavior is irreducible. Finally, we offer an example of a system, first proposed by Chaitin, that exhibits strong OEE.

Quality control procedures for dynamic treatment delivery techniques involving couch motion.

PubMed

Yu, Victoria Y; Fahimian, Benjamin P; Xing, Lei; Hristov, Dimitre H

2014-08-01

In this study, the authors introduce and demonstrate quality control procedures for evaluating the geometric and dosimetric fidelity of dynamic treatment delivery techniques involving treatment couch motion synchronous with gantry and multileaf collimator (MLC). Tests were designed to evaluate positional accuracy, velocity constancy and accuracy for dynamic couch motion under a realistic weight load. A test evaluating the geometric accuracy of the system in delivering treatments over complex dynamic trajectories was also devised. Custom XML scripts that control the Varian TrueBeam™ STx (Serial #3) axes in Developer Mode were written to implement the delivery sequences for the tests. Delivered dose patterns were captured with radiographic film or the electronic portal imaging device. The couch translational accuracy in dynamic treatment mode was 0.01 cm. Rotational accuracy was within 0.3°, with 0.04 cm displacement of the rotational axis. Dose intensity profiles capturing the velocity constancy and accuracy for translations and rotation exhibited standard deviation and maximum deviations below 3%. For complex delivery involving MLC and couch motions, the overall translational accuracy for reproducing programmed patterns was within 0.06 cm. The authors conclude that in Developer Mode, TrueBeam™ is capable of delivering dynamic treatment delivery techniques involving couch motion with good geometric and dosimetric fidelity.

Highly anisotropic exchange interactions in a trigonal bipyramidal cyanide-bridged Ni(II)3Os(III)2 cluster.

PubMed

Palii, Andrei V; Reu, Oleg S; Ostrovsky, Sergei M; Klokishner, Sophia I; Tsukerblat, Boris S; Hilfiger, Matthew; Shatruk, Michael; Prosvirin, Andrey; Dunbar, Kim R

2009-06-25

This article is a part of our efforts to control the magnetic anisotropy in cyanide-based exchange-coupled systems with the eventual goal to obtain single-molecule magnets with higher blocking temperatures. We give the theoretical interpretation of the magnetic properties of the new pentanuclear complex {[Ni(II)(tmphen)(2)](3)[Os(III)(CN)(6)](2)} x 6 CH(3)CN (Ni(II)(3)Os(III)(2) cluster). Because the system contains the heavy Os(III) ions, spin-orbit coupling considerably exceeds the contributions from the low-symmetry crystal field and exchange coupling. The magnetic properties of the Ni(II)(3)Os(III)(2) cluster are described in the framework of a highly anisotropic pseudo-spin Hamiltonian that corresponds to the limit of strong spin-orbital coupling and takes into account the complex molecular structure. The model provides a good fit to the experimental data and allows the conclusion that the trigonal axis of the bipyramidal Ni(II)(3)Os(III)(2) cluster is a hard axis of magnetization. This explains the fact that in contrast with the isostructural trigonal bipyramidal Mn(III)(2)Mn(II)(3) cluster, the Ni(II)(3)Os(III)(2) system does not exhibit the single-molecule magnetic behavior.

Self-consistent field theory of polymer-ionic molecule complexation.

PubMed

Nakamura, Issei; Shi, An-Chang

2010-05-21

A self-consistent field theory is developed for polymers that are capable of binding small ionic molecules (adsorbates). The polymer-ionic molecule association is described by Ising-like binding variables, C(i) ((a))(kDelta)(=0 or 1), whose average determines the number of adsorbed molecules, n(BI). Polymer gelation can occur through polymer-ionic molecule complexation in our model. For polymer-polymer cross-links through the ionic molecules, three types of solutions for n(BI) are obtained, depending on the equilibrium constant of single-ion binding. Spinodal lines calculated from the mean-field free energy exhibit closed-loop regions where the homogeneous phase becomes unstable. This phase instability is driven by the excluded-volume interaction due to the single occupancy of ion-binding sites on the polymers. Moreover, sol-gel transitions are examined using a critical degree of conversion. A gel phase is induced when the concentration of adsorbates is increased. At a higher concentration of the adsorbates, however, a re-entrance from a gel phase into a sol phase arises from the correlation between unoccupied and occupied ion-binding sites. The theory is applied to a model system, poly(vinyl alcohol) and borate ion in aqueous solution with sodium chloride. Good agreement between theory and experiment is obtained.

Lead and selenite adsorption at water–goethite interfaces from first principles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Leung, Kevin; Criscenti, Louise J.

Here, the complexation of toxic and/or radioactive ions on to mineral surfaces is an important topic in geochemistry. We apply periodic-boundary-conditions density functional theory (DFT) molecular dynamics simulations to examine the coordination of Pb(II),more » $${\\rm SeO}_3^{2-}$$ , and their contact ion pairs to goethite (1 0 1) and (2 1 0) surfaces. The multitude of Pb(II) adsorption sites and possibility of Pb(II)-induced FeOH deprotonation make this a complex problem. At surface sites where Pb(II) is coordinated to three FeO and/or FeOH groups, and with judicious choices of FeOH surface group protonation states, the predicted Fe–Pb distances are in good agreement with EXAFS measurements. Trajectories where Pb(II) is in part coordinated to only two surface Fe–O groups exhibit larger fluctuations in Pb–O distances. Pb(II)/$${\\rm SeO}_3^{2-}$$ contact ion pairs are at least metastable on goethite (2 1 0) surfaces if the $${\\rm SeO}_3^{2-}$$ has a monodentate Se–O–Fe bond. Our DFT-based molecular dynamics calculations are a prerequisite for calculations of finite temperature equilibrium binding constants of Pb(II) and Pb(II)/$${\\rm SeO}_3^{2-}$$ ion pairs to goethite adsorption sites.« less

Lead and selenite adsorption at water–goethite interfaces from first principles

DOE PAGES

Leung, Kevin; Criscenti, Louise J.

2017-08-04

Here, the complexation of toxic and/or radioactive ions on to mineral surfaces is an important topic in geochemistry. We apply periodic-boundary-conditions density functional theory (DFT) molecular dynamics simulations to examine the coordination of Pb(II),more » $${\\rm SeO}_3^{2-}$$ , and their contact ion pairs to goethite (1 0 1) and (2 1 0) surfaces. The multitude of Pb(II) adsorption sites and possibility of Pb(II)-induced FeOH deprotonation make this a complex problem. At surface sites where Pb(II) is coordinated to three FeO and/or FeOH groups, and with judicious choices of FeOH surface group protonation states, the predicted Fe–Pb distances are in good agreement with EXAFS measurements. Trajectories where Pb(II) is in part coordinated to only two surface Fe–O groups exhibit larger fluctuations in Pb–O distances. Pb(II)/$${\\rm SeO}_3^{2-}$$ contact ion pairs are at least metastable on goethite (2 1 0) surfaces if the $${\\rm SeO}_3^{2-}$$ has a monodentate Se–O–Fe bond. Our DFT-based molecular dynamics calculations are a prerequisite for calculations of finite temperature equilibrium binding constants of Pb(II) and Pb(II)/$${\\rm SeO}_3^{2-}$$ ion pairs to goethite adsorption sites.« less

Thermodynamics of Host–Guest Interactions between Fullerenes and a Buckycatcher

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

1H NMR and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) experiments were employed to obtain reliable thermodynamic data for the formation of the 1:1 inclusion complexes of fullerenes C60 and C70 with the buckycatcher (C60H28). NMR measurements were done in toluene-d8 and chlorobenzene-d5 at 288, 298, and 308 K, while the ITC titrations were performed in toluene, chlorobenzene, o-dichlorobenzene, anisole, and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane at temperatures from 278 to 323 K. The association constants, Ka, obtained with both techniques are in very good agreement. The thermodynamic data obtained by ITC indicate that generally the host–guest association is enthalpy-driven. Interestingly, the entropy contributions are, with rare exceptions, slightly stabilizing or close to zero. Neither ΔH nor ΔS is constant over the temperature range studied, and these thermodynamic functions exhibit classical enthalpy/entropy compensation. The ΔCp values calculated from the temperature dependence of the calorimetric ΔH values are negative for the association of both fullerenes with the buckycatcher in toluene. The negative ΔCp values are consistent with some desolvation of the host-cavity and the guest in the inclusion complexes, C60@C60H28 and C70@C60H28. PMID:25248285

Associative learning performance is impaired in zebrafish (Danio rerio) by the NMDA-R antagonist MK-801

PubMed Central

Sison, Margarette; Gerlai, Robert

2011-01-01

The zebrafish is gaining popularity in behavioral neuroscience perhaps because of a promise of efficient large scale mutagenesis and drug screens that could identify a substantial number of yet undiscovered molecular players involved in complex traits. Learning and memory are complex functions of the brain and the analysis of their mechanisms may benefit from such large scale zebrafish screens. One bottleneck in this research is the paucity of appropriate behavioral screening paradigms, which may be due to the relatively uncharacterized nature of the behavior of this species. Here we show that zebrafish exhibit good learning performance in a task adapted from the mammalian literature, a plus maze in which zebrafish are required to associate a neutral visual stimulus with the presence of conspecifics, the rewarding unconditioned stimulus. Furthermore, we show that MK-801, a non-competitive NMDA-R antagonist, impairs memory performance in this maze when administered right after training or just before recall but not when given before training at a dose that does not impair motor function, perception or motivation. These results suggest that the plus maze associative learning paradigm has face and construct validity and that zebrafish may become an appropriate and translationally relevant study species for the analysis of the mechanisms of vertebrate, including mammalian, learning and memory. PMID:21596149

Enhancement of bioavailability by formulating rhEPO ionic complex with lysine into PEG-PLA micelle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Yanan; Sun, Fengying; Wang, Dan; Zhang, Renyu; Dou, Changlin; Liu, Wanhui; Sun, Kaoxiang; Li, Youxin

2013-10-01

A composite micelle of ionic complex encapsulated into poly(ethylene glycol)-poly( d, l-lactide) (PEG-PLA) di-block copolymeric micelles was used for protein drug delivery to improve its pharmacokinetic performance. In this study, recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO, as a model protein) was formulated with lysine into composite micelles at a diameter of 71.5 nm with narrow polydispersity indices (PDIs < 0.3). Only a trace amount of protein was in aggregate form. The zeta potential of the spherical micelles was ranging from -0.54 to 1.39 mv, and encapsulation efficiency is high (80 %). The stability of rhEPO was improved significantly in composite micelles in vitro. Pharmacokinetic studies in rats showed significant, enhanced plasma retention of the composite micelles in comparison with native rhEPO. Areas under curve (AUCs) of the rhEPO released from the composite micelles were 4.5- and 2.3-folds higher than those of the native rhEPO and rhEPO-loaded PEG-PLA micelle, respectively. In addition, the composite micelles exhibited good biocompatibility using MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay with human embryonic kidney (HEK293T) cells. All these features are preferable for utilizing the composite micelles as a novel protein delivery system.

Tripartite polyionic complex (PIC) micelles as non-viral vectors for mesenchymal stem cell siRNA transfection.

PubMed

Raisin, Sophie; Morille, Marie; Bony, Claire; Noël, Danièle; Devoisselle, Jean-Marie; Belamie, Emmanuel

2017-08-22

In the context of regenerative medicine, the use of RNA interference mechanisms has already proven its efficiency in targeting specific gene expression with the aim of enhancing, accelerating or, more generally, directing stem cell differentiation. However, achievement of good transfection levels requires the use of a gene vector. For in vivo applications, synthetic vectors are an interesting option to avoid possible issues associated with viral vectors (safety, production costs, etc.). Herein, we report on the design of tripartite polyionic complex micelles as original non-viral polymeric vectors suited for mesenchymal stem cell transfection with siRNA. Three micelle formulations were designed to exhibit pH-triggered disassembly in an acidic pH range comparable to that of endosomes. One formulation was selected as the most promising with the highest siRNA loading capacity while clearly maintaining pH-triggered disassembly properties. A thorough investigation of the internalization pathway of micelles into cells with tagged siRNA was made before showing an efficient inhibition of Runx2 expression in primary bone marrow-derived stem cells. This work evidenced PIC micelles as promising synthetic vectors that allow efficient MSC transfection and control over their behavior, from the perspective of their clinical use.

Highly sensitive SnO2 sensor via reactive laser-induced transfer

PubMed Central

Palla Papavlu, Alexandra; Mattle, Thomas; Temmel, Sandra; Lehmann, Ulrike; Hintennach, Andreas; Grisel, Alain; Wokaun, Alexander; Lippert, Thomas

2016-01-01

Gas sensors based on tin oxide (SnO2) and palladium doped SnO2 (Pd:SnO2) active materials are fabricated by a laser printing method, i.e. reactive laser-induced forward transfer (rLIFT). Thin films from tin based metal-complex precursors are prepared by spin coating and then laser transferred with high resolution onto sensor structures. The devices fabricated by rLIFT exhibit low ppm sensitivity towards ethanol and methane as well as good stability with respect to air, moisture, and time. Promising results are obtained by applying rLIFT to transfer metal-complex precursors onto uncoated commercial gas sensors. We could show that rLIFT onto commercial sensors is possible if the sensor structures are reinforced prior to printing. The rLIFT fabricated sensors show up to 4 times higher sensitivities then the commercial sensors (with inkjet printed SnO2). In addition, the selectivity towards CH4 of the Pd:SnO2 sensors is significantly enhanced compared to the pure SnO2 sensors. Our results indicate that the reactive laser transfer technique applied here represents an important technical step for the realization of improved gas detection systems with wide-ranging applications in environmental and health monitoring control. PMID:27118531

KSC-99pp0398

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-08

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Part of the $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex, the new information center welcomes visitors to the Gateway to the Universe. The five large video walls provide an orientation video, with an introduction to the range of activities and exhibits, and honor the center's namesake, President John F. Kennedy. Other new attractions are an information center, a walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Flexible Stoichiometry and Asymmetry of the PIDDosome Core Complex by Heteronuclear NMR Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry

PubMed Central

Nematollahi, Lily A.; Garza-Garcia, Acely; Bechara, Chérine; Esposito, Diego; Morgner, Nina; Robinson, Carol V.; Driscoll, Paul C.

2015-01-01

Homotypic death domain (DD)–DD interactions are important in the assembly of oligomeric signaling complexes such as the PIDDosome that acts as a platform for activation of caspase-2-dependent apoptotic signaling. The structure of the PIDDosome core complex exhibits an asymmetric three-layered arrangement containing five PIDD-DDs in one layer, five RAIDD-DDs in a second layer and an additional two RAIDD-DDs. We addressed complex formation between PIDD-DD and RAIDD-DD in solution using heteronuclear nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, nanoflow electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and size-exclusion chromatography with multi-angle light scattering. The DDs assemble into complexes displaying molecular masses in the range 130–158 kDa and RAIDD-DD:PIDD-DD stoichiometries of 5:5, 6:5 and 7:5. These data suggest that the crystal structure is representative of only the heaviest species in solution and that two RAIDD-DDs are loosely attached to the 5:5 core. Two-dimensional 1H,15N-NMR experiments exhibited signal loss upon complexation consistent with the formation of high-molecular-weight species. 13C-Methyl-transverse relaxation optimized spectroscopy measurements of the PIDDosome core exhibit signs of differential line broadening, cross-peak splitting and chemical shift heterogeneity that reflect the presence of non-equivalent sites at interfaces within an asymmetric complex. Experiments using a mutant RAIDD-DD that forms a monodisperse 5:5 complex with PIDD-DD show that the spectroscopic signature derives from the quasi- but non-exact equivalent environments of each DD. Since this characteristic was previously demonstrated for the complex between the DDs of CD95 and FADD, the NMR data for this system are consistent with the formation of a structure homologous to the PIDDosome core. PMID:25528640

The Candida albicans Inhibitory Activity of the Extract from Papaya (Carica papaya L.) Seed Relates to Mitochondria Dysfunction.

PubMed

Zhang, Tao; Chen, Weijun

2017-08-25

The inhibitory activity of the papaya seed extract (PSE) on Candida albicans ( C. albicans ) was determined by turbidimetry method. The inhibitory mechanisms were also evaluated from the prospective of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) decrease, and the activities of four complex enzymes in mitochondria respiratory chain. Results obtained from this study indicated that the PSE exhibited an effective inhibitory activity on C. albicans and induced significant accumulation of ROS and collapse of MMP. The Complex I and Complex III exhibited continues significant decrease in mitochondrial enzyme activity assays, but the Complex II and Complex IV activities were not positively correlated. Furthermore, the GC-MS analysis demonstrated that the PSE represents a rich and high-purity source of benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), which indicated the BITC may be responsible for the mitochondrial dysfunction.

Stomatal Complex Development and F-Actin Organization in Maize Leaf Epidermis Depend on Cellulose Synthesis.

PubMed

Panteris, Emmanuel; Achlati, Theonymphi; Daras, Gerasimos; Rigas, Stamatis

2018-06-06

Cellulose microfibrils reinforce the cell wall for morphogenesis in plants. Herein, we provide evidence on a series of defects regarding stomatal complex development and F-actin organization in Zea mays leaf epidermis, due to inhibition of cellulose synthesis. Formative cell divisions of stomatal complex ontogenesis were delayed or inhibited, resulting in lack of subsidiary cells and frequently in unicellular stomata, with an atypical stomatal pore. Guard cells failed to acquire a dumbbell shape, becoming rounded, while subsidiary cells, whenever present, exhibited aberrant morphogenesis. F-actin organization was also affected, since the stomatal complex-specific arrays were scarcely observed. At late developmental stages, the overall F-actin network was diminished in all epidermal cells, although thick actin bundles persisted. Taken together, stomatal complex development strongly depends on cell wall mechanical properties. Moreover, F-actin organization exhibits a tight relationship with the cell wall.

Method of improving system performance and survivability through changing function

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hinchey, Michael G. (Inventor); Vassev, Emil I. (Inventor)

2012-01-01

A biologically-inspired system and method is provided for self-adapting behavior of swarm-based exploration missions, whereby individual components, for example, spacecraft, in the system can sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the entire system. The swarm-based system can exhibit emergent self-adapting behavior. Each component can be configured to exhibit self-sacrifice behavior based on Autonomic System Specification Language (ASSL).

Exploring DNA binding and nucleolytic activity of few 4-aminoantipyrine based amino acid Schiff base complexes: A comparative approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raman, N.; Sakthivel, A.; Pravin, N.

A series of novel Co(II), Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) complexes were synthesized from Schiff base(s), obtained by the condensation of 4-aminoantipyrine with furfural and amino acid (glycine(L1)/alanine(L2)/valine(L3)) and respective metal(II) chloride. Their structural features and other properties were explored from the analytical and spectral methods. The binding behaviors of the complexes to calf thymus DNA were investigated by absorption spectra, viscosity measurements and cyclic voltammetry. The intrinsic binding constants for the above synthesized complexes are found to be in the order of 102 to 105 indicating that most of the synthesized complexes are good intercalators. The binding constant values (Kb) clearly indicate that valine Schiff-base complexes have more intercalating ability than alanine and glycine Schiff-base complexes. The results indicate that the complexes bind to DNA through intercalation and act as efficient cleaving agents. The in vitro antibacterial and antifungal assay indicates that these complexes are good antimicrobial agents against various pathogens. The IC50 values of [Ni(L1)2] and [Zn(L1)2] complexes imply that these complexes have preferable ability to scavenge hydroxyl radical.

Copper-Catalyzed Electrophilic Amination of Organoaluminum Nucleophiles with O-Benzoyl Hydroxylamines.

PubMed

Zhou, Shuangliu; Yang, Zhiyong; Chen, Xu; Li, Yimei; Zhang, Lijun; Fang, Hong; Wang, Wei; Zhu, Xiancui; Wang, Shaowu

2015-06-19

A copper-catalyzed electrophilic amination of aryl and heteroaryl aluminums with N,N-dialkyl-O-benzoyl hydroxylamines that affords the corresponding anilines in good yields has been developed. The catalytic reaction proceeds very smoothly under mild conditions and exhibits good substrate scope. Moreover, the developed catalytic system is also well suited for heteroaryl aluminum nucleophiles, providing facile access to heteroaryl amines.

Near-saturated red emitters: four-coordinate copper(i) halide complexes containing 8-(diphenylphosphino)quinoline and 1-(diphenylphosphino)naphthalene ligands.

PubMed

Liu, Li-Ping; Li, Qian; Xiang, Song-Po; Liu, Li; Zhong, Xin-Xin; Liang, Chen; Li, Guang Hua; Hayat, Tasawar; Alharbi, Njud S; Li, Fa-Bao; Zhu, Nian-Yong; Wong, Wai-Yeung; Qin, Hai-Mei; Wang, Lei

2018-06-07

Recently, highly emissive neutral copper halide complexes have received much attention. Here, a series of four-coordinate mononuclear Cu(i) halide complexes, [CuX(dpqu)(dpna)] (dpqu = 8-(diphenylphosphino)quinoline, dpna = 1-(diphenylphosphino)naphthalene, X = I (1), Br (2) and Cl (3)), were synthesized, and their molecular structures and photophysical properties were investigated. These complexes exhibit near-saturated red emission in the solid state at room temperature and have peak emission wavelengths at 669-691 nm with microsecond lifetimes (τ = 0.46-1.80 μs). Small S1-T1 energy gaps in the solid state indicate that the emission occurs from a thermally activated excited singlet state at ambient temperature. The emission of the complexes 1-3 mainly originates from MLCT transition. The solution-processed devices of complex 1 exhibit stable red emission with a CIE(x, y) of (0.62, 0.38) for a doped device and (0.63, 0.37) for a non-doped device.

N,N-dimethylbiguanide complexes displaying low cytotoxicity as potential large spectrum antimicrobial agents.

PubMed

Olar, Rodica; Badea, Mihaela; Marinescu, Dana; Chifiriuc, Mariana-Carmen; Bleotu, Coralia; Grecu, Maria Nicoleta; Iorgulescu, Emilia-Elena; Lazar, Veronica

2010-07-01

The new complexes M(DMBG)(2)(ClO(4))(2) (M:Mn, Ni, Cu and Zn; DMBG: N,N-dimethylbiguanide) have been synthesized and characterized by IR, EPR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR as well as electronic spectroscopy data. Complex [Ni(DMBG)(2)](ClO(4))(2).2DMF (DMF: N,N-dimethylformamide) crystallizes in the monoclinic P2(1)/c space group while [Cu(DMBG)(2)](ClO(4))(2) adopt monoclinic P21/c space group as X-ray single crystal data indicate. The redox behavior of complexes was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The metal-free N,N-dimethylbiguanide and complexes exhibit specific anti-infective properties as demonstrated the low MIC values, a large antimicrobial spectrum and also inhibit the ability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus strains to colonize the inert surfaces. The complexes exhibit also a low cytotoxicity levels on HeLa cells. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

High-energy coordination polymers (CPs) exhibiting good catalytic effect on the thermal decomposition of ammonium dinitramide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xin; Han, Jing; Zhang, Sheng; Zhai, Lianjie; Wang, Bozhou; Yang, Qi; Wei, Qing; Xie, Gang; Chen, Sanping; Gao, Shengli

2017-09-01

High-energy coordination polymers (CPs) not only exhibit good energetic performances but also have a good catalytic effect on the thermal decomposition of energetic materials. In this contribution, two high-energy CPs Cu2(DNBT)2(CH3OH)(H2O)3·3H2O (1) and [Cu3(DDT)2(H2O)2]n (2) (H2DNBT = 3,3‧-dinitro-5,5‧-bis(1H-1,2,4-triazole and H3DDT = 4,5-bis(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-2H-1,2,3-triazole) were synthesized and structurally characterized. Furthermore, 1 was thermos-dehydrated to produce Cu2(DNBT)2(CH3OH)(H2O)3 (1a). The thermal decomposition kinetics of 1, 1a and 2 were studied by Kissinger's method and Ozawa's method. Thermal analyses and sensitivity tests show that all compounds exhibit high thermal stability and low sensitivity for external stimuli. Meanwhile, all compounds have large positive enthalpy of formation, which are calculated as being (1067.67 ± 2.62) kJ mol-1 (1), (1464.12 ± 3.12) kJ mol-1 (1a) and (3877.82 ± 2.75) kJ mol-1 (2), respectively. The catalytic effects of 1a and 2 on the thermal decomposition of ammonium dinitramide (ADN) were also investigated.

Effects of structures of bidentate Schiff base type bonded-ligands derived from benzaldehyde on the photoluminescence performance of polymer-rare earth complexes.

PubMed

Gao, Baojiao; Zhang, Liqin; Zhang, Dandan

2018-02-07

Two kinds of bidentate Schiff base ligands derived from benzaldehyde, benzaldehyde/m-aminophenol (BAMA) type and benzaldehyde/glutamic acid (BAGL) type ligands, were synchronously synthesized and bonded on the backbone of polysulfone (PSF) through molecular design and by polymer reactions, and two functional polymers, PSF-BAMA and PSF-BAGL, were obtained. Then two series of novel luminescent Schiff base-type polymer-rare earth complexes were prepared via coordination reactions. In this work, the effects of the structures of the bonded ligands on the photoluminescence performance of the complexes were investigated in detail, and for the different photophysical properties of the prepared complexes, relevant theoretical explanations were given. The experimental results show that the bonded ligand BAMA can strongly sensitize the fluorescence emission of Eu(iii) ions, and the binary complex PSF-(BAMA) 3 -Eu(iii) emits strong red fluorescence under UV light. The reason for this lies in the fact that a larger conjugate π-bond system is contained in the structure of BAMA, and so the triplet state of BAMA can be matched with the resonant energy level of the Eu(iii) ion. While the bonded ligand BAGL can effectively sensitize the fluorescence emission of Tb(iii) ions, the binary complex PSF-(BAGL) 3 -Tb(iii) exhibits very strong green fluorescence under UV light. The reason is that a smaller conjugate π-bond system is contained in the structure of BAGL and there is a good energy level matching between the triplet state of BAGL and the resonant energy level of the Tb(iii) ion. The fluorescence intensities of the two ternary complexes, PSF-(BAMA) 3 -Eu(iii)-(Phen) 1 (phenanthroline, Phen) and PSF-(BAGL) 3 -Tb(iii)-(Phen) 1 , are much stronger than that of the corresponding binary complex because Phen as the second ligand has two effects, the effect of synergistic coordination with the first ligand and the effect of replacing the coordinated water around the central ion, and it has been confirmed by fluorescence spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis.

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Ru(II) and Pt(II) Complexes Bearing Carboxyl Groups as Potential Anticancer Targeted Drugs.

PubMed

Martínez, Ma Ángeles; Carranza, M Pilar; Massaguer, Anna; Santos, Lucia; Organero, Juan A; Aliende, Cristina; de Llorens, Rafael; Ng-Choi, Iteng; Feliu, Lidia; Planas, Marta; Rodríguez, Ana M; Manzano, Blanca R; Espino, Gustavo; Jalón, Félix A

2017-11-20

The synthesis and characterization of Pt(II) (1 and 2) and Ru(II) arene (3 and 4) or polypyridine (5 and 6) complexes is described. With the aim of having a functional group to form bioconjugates, one uncoordinated carboxyl group has been introduced in all complexes. Some of the complexes were selected for their potential in photodynamic therapy (PDT). The molecular structures of complexes 2 and 5, as well as that of the sodium salt of the 4'-(4-carboxyphenyl)-2,2':6',2″-terpyridine ligand (cptpy), were determined by X-ray diffraction. Different techniques were used to evaluate the binding capacity to model DNA molecules, and MTT cytotoxicity assays were performed against four cell lines. Compounds 3, 4, and 5 showed little tendency to bind to DNA and exhibited poor biological activity. Compound 2 behaves as bonded to DNA probably through a covalent interaction, although its cytotoxicity was very low. Compound 1 and possibly 6, both of which contain a cptpy ligand, were able to intercalate with DNA, but toxicity was not observed for 6. However, compound 1 was active in all cell lines tested. Clonogenic assays and apoptosis induction studies were also performed on the PC-3 line for 1. The photodynamic behavior for complexes 1, 5, and 6 indicated that their nuclease activity was enhanced after irradiation at λ = 447 nm. The cell viability was significantly reduced only in the case of 5. The different behavior in the absence or presence of light makes complex 5 a potential prodrug of interest in PDT. Molecular docking studies followed by molecular dynamics simulations for 1 and the counterpart without the carboxyl group confirmed the experimental data that pointed to an intercalation mechanism. The cytotoxicity of 1 and the potential of 5 in PDT make them good candidates for subsequent conjugation, through the carboxyl group, to "selected peptides" which could facilitate the selective vectorization of the complex toward receptors that are overexpressed in neoplastic cell lines.

Artist Concept of Atlantis' new home

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-01-18

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A full scale external tank and twin solid rocket booster replicas will stand at the Atlantis exhibit entrance at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, preparing to launch guests deep into the 30-year history of the Space Shuttle Program. A groundbreaking ceremony for the future home of Atlantis was held Jan. 18. For more information on this and other exhibits at the visitor complex, go to http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com. Artist rendering courtesy of PGAV Destinations for Delaware North Parks & Resorts

Synchronisation of chaos and its applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eroglu, Deniz; Lamb, Jeroen S. W.; Pereira, Tiago

2017-07-01

Dynamical networks are important models for the behaviour of complex systems, modelling physical, biological and societal systems, including the brain, food webs, epidemic disease in populations, power grids and many other. Such dynamical networks can exhibit behaviour in which deterministic chaos, exhibiting unpredictability and disorder, coexists with synchronisation, a classical paradigm of order. We survey the main theory behind complete, generalised and phase synchronisation phenomena in simple as well as complex networks and discuss applications to secure communications, parameter estimation and the anticipation of chaos.

Three-Level De-Multiplexed Dual-Branch Complex Delta-Sigma Transmitter.

PubMed

Arfi, Anis Ben; Elsayed, Fahmi; Aflaki, Pouya M; Morris, Brad; Ghannouchi, Fadhel M

2018-02-20

In this paper, a dual-branch topology driven by a Delta-Sigma Modulator (DSM) with a complex quantizer, also known as the Complex Delta Sigma Modulator (CxDSM), with a 3-level quantized output signal is proposed. By de-multiplexing the 3-level Delta-Sigma-quantized signal into two bi-level streams, an efficiency enhancement over the operational frequency range is achieved. The de-multiplexed signals drive a dual-branch amplification block composed of two switch-mode back-to-back power amplifiers working at peak power. A signal processing technique known as quantization noise reduction with In-band Filtering (QNRIF) is applied to each of the de-multiplexed streams to boost the overall performances; particularly the Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio (ACLR). After amplification, the two branches are combined using a non-isolated combiner, preserving the efficiency of the transmitter. A comprehensive study on the operation of this topology and signal characteristics used to drive the dual-branch Switch-Mode Power Amplifiers (SMPAs) was established. Moreover, this work proposes a highly efficient design of the amplification block based on a back-to-back power topology performing a dynamic load modulation exploiting the non-overlapping properties of the de-multiplexed Complex DSM signal. For experimental validation, the proposed de-multiplexed 3-level Delta-Sigma topology was implemented on the BEEcube™ platform followed by the back-to-back Class-E switch-mode power amplification block. The full transceiver is assessed using a 4th-Generation mobile communications standard LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard 1.4 MHz signal with a peak to average power ratio (PAPR) of 8 dB. The dual-branch topology exhibited a good linearity and a coding efficiency of the transmitter chain higher than 72% across the band of frequency from 1.8 GHz to 2.7 GHz.

Aptamer and 5-fluorouracil dual-loading Ag2S quantum dots used as a sensitive label-free probe for near-infrared photoluminescence turn-on detection of CA125 antigen.

PubMed

Jin, Hui; Gui, Rijun; Gong, Jun; Huang, Wenxue

2017-06-15

In this article, Ag 2 S quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by a facile aqueous synthesis method, using thiourea as a new sulfur precursor. Based on electrostatic interactions, 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) was combined with the aptamer of CA125 antigen to fabricate aptamer/5-Fu complex. The surface of as-prepared Ag 2 S QDs was modified with polyethylenimine, followed by combination with the aptamer/5-Fu complex to form Ag 2 S QDs/aptamer/5-Fu hybrids. During the combination of Ag 2 S QDs with aptamer/5-Fu complex, near-infrared (NIR) photoluminescence (PL) of QDs (peaked at 850nm) was markedly reduced under excitation at 625nm, attributed to photo-induced electron transfer from QDs to 5-Fu. However, the addition of CA125 induced obvious NIR PL recovery, which was ascribed to the strong binding affinity of CA125 with its aptamer, and the separation of aptamer/5-Fu complex from the surface of QDs. Hence, the Ag 2 S QDs/aptamer/5-Fu hybrids were developed as a novel NIR PL turn-on probe of CA125. In the concentration range of [CA125] from 0.1 to 10 6 ngmL -1 , there were a good linear relationship between NIR PL intensities of Ag 2 S QDs and Log[CA125], and a low limit of detection of 0.07ngmL -1 . Experimental results revealed the highly selective and sensitive NIR PL responses of this probe to CA125, over other potential interferences. In real human body fluids, this probe also exhibited superior analytical performance, together with high detection recoveries. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Novel imino thioether complexes of platinum(II): synthesis, structural investigation, and biological activity.

PubMed

Sgarbossa, Paolo; Sbovata, Silvia Mazzega; Bertani, Roberta; Mozzon, Mirto; Benetollo, Franco; Marzano, Cristina; Gandin, Valentina; Michelin, Rino A

2013-05-20

The reactions of the nitrile complexes cis- and trans-[PtCl2(NCR)2] (R = Me, Et, CH2Ph, Ph) with an excess of ethanethiol, EtSH, in the presence of a catalytic amount of n-BuLi in tetrahydrofuran (THF), afforded in good yield the bis-imino thioether derivatives cis-[PtCl2{E-N(H)═C(SEt)R}2] (R = Me (1), Et (2), CH2Ph (3), Ph (4)) and trans-[PtCl2{E-N(H)═C(SEt)R}2] (R = Me (5), Et (6), CH2Ph (7), Ph (8)). The imino thioether ligands assumed the E configuration corresponding to a cis addition of the thiol to the nitrile triple bond. The spectroscopic properties of these complexes have been reported along with the molecular structures of 1, 2, and 7 as established by X-ray crystallography which indicated that these compounds exhibit square-planar coordination geometry around the platinum center. Four N-H···Cl intermolecular contacts (N-H···Cl ca. 2.5-2.7 Å) between each chlorine atom and the N-H proton of the imino thioether ligand gave rise to "dimers" Pt2Cl4L4 (L = imino thioether) formed by two PtCl2L2 units. The cytotoxic properties of these new platinum(II) complexes were evaluated against various human cancer cell lines. Among all derivatives, trans-[PtCl2{E-N(H)═C(SEt)CH2Ph}2] showed the greatest in vitro cytotoxic activity being able to decrease cancer cell viability roughly 3-fold more effectively than cisplatin.

Lanthanide coordination polymers: Synthesis, diverse structure and luminescence properties

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Song, Xue-Qin, E-mail: songxq@mail.lzjtu.cn; Lei, Yao-Kun; Wang, Xiao-Run

2014-10-15

The new semirigid exo-bidentate ligand incorporating furfurysalicylamide terminal groups, namely, 1,4-bis([(2′-furfurylaminoformyl)phenoxyl]methyl)-2,5-bismethylbenzene (L) was synthesized and used as building blocks for constructing lanthanide coordination polymers with luminescent properties. The series of lanthanide nitrate complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis. The semirigid ligand L, as a bridging ligand, reacts with lanthanide nitrates forming three distinct structure types: chiral noninterpenetrated two-dimensional (2D) honeycomblike (6,3) (hcb, Schläfli symbol 6{sup 3}, vertex symbol 6 6 6) topological network as type I, 1D zigzag chain as type II and 1D trapezoid ladder-like chain as type III. The structural diversitiesmore » indicate that lanthanide contraction effect played significant roles in the structural self-assembled process. The luminescent properties of Eu{sup III}, Tb{sup III} and Dy{sup III} complexes are discussed in detail. Due to the good match between the lowest triplet state of the ligand and the resonant energy level of the lanthanide ion, the lanthanide ions in Eu{sup III}, Tb{sup III} and Dy{sup III} complexes can be efficiently sensitized by the ligand. - Graphical abstract: We present herein six lanthanide coordination polymers of a new semirigid exo-bidentate ligand which not only display diverse structures but also possess strong luminescence properties. - Highlights: • We present lanthanide coordination polymers of a new semirigid exo-bidentate ligand. • The lanthanide coordination polymers exhibit diverse structures. • The luminescent properties of Tb{sup III}, Eu{sup III} and Dy{sup III} complexes are discussed in detail.« less

Investigation and Evaluation of an in Situ Interpolymer Complex of Carbopol with Polyvinylpyrrolidone as a Matrix for Gastroretentive Tablets of Ranitidine Hydrochloride.

PubMed

Yusif, Rehab Mohammad; Abu Hashim, Irhan Ibrahim; Mohamed, Elham Abdelmonem; El Rakhawy, Mohamed Magdy

2016-01-01

Carbopol (CP) is a biocompatible bioadhesive polymer used as a matrix for gastroretentive (GR) tablets, however, its rapid hydration shortens its bioadhesion and floating when incorporated in effervescent formulae. The interpolymer complexation of CP with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) significantly reduced the excessive hydration of CP, prolonging floating and maintaining the mucoadhesiveness. In early attempts, a lengthy process was followed to prepare such an interpolymer complex. In this study, an in situ interpolymer complexation between CP and two grades of PVP (K25 and K90) in 0.1 N HCl was investigated and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Hence, directly compressed GR tablets of different combinations of PVP and CP with sodium bicarbonate (SB) as an effervescent agent were examined for prolonged gastroretention and sustained release of ranitidine hydrochloride (RHCl) as a model drug. Tablets were evaluated for in vitro buoyancy, bioadhesiveness, swelling, and drug release in 0.1 N HCl. All GR tablets containing PVP-CP combinations achieved more prolonged floating (>24 h) than CP tablets (5.2 h). Their bioadhesiveness, swelling, and drug release were dependent on the PVP molecular weight and its ratio to CP. Drug release profiles of all formulae followed non-Fickian diffusion. Formula containing the PVP K90-CP combination at a respective ratio of 1 : 3 (P90C13) was a promising system, exhibiting good floating and bioadhesive properties as well as sustained drug release. Abdominal X-ray imaging of P90C13 formula, loaded with barium sulfate, in six healthy volunteers showed a mean gastric retention period of 6.8±0.3 h.

Liberty Bell 7 Space Capsule Exhibit previews at Visitor Complex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Children on a tour at the KSC Visitor Complex get an early look at the Discovery Channel's Liberty Bell 7 Space Capsule Exhibit, which opens to the public on Saturday, June 17. They are on a re- creation of the deck of Ocean Project, the ship that located and recovered the space capsule from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Liberty Bell 7 launched U.S. Air Force Captain Virgil '''Gus''' Grissom July 21, 1961, on a mission that lasted 15 minutes and 37 seconds before sinking. It lay undetected for nearly four decades before a Discovery Channel expedition located it and recovered it. The space capsule, now restored and preserved, is part of an interactive exhibit touring science centers and museums in 12 cities throughout the United States until 2003. The exhibit also includes hands-on elements such as a capsule simulator, a centrifuge, and ROV pilot.

Carbohydrates

MedlinePlus

... include sugars added during food processing and refining. Complex carbohydrates include whole grain breads and cereals, starchy vegetables and legumes. Many of the complex carbohydrates are good sources of fiber. For a healthy ...

Magnetic adsorbent constructed from the loading of amino functionalized Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} on coordination complex modified polyoxometalates nanoparticle and its tetracycline adsorption removal property study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ou, Jinzhao; Mei, Mingliang; Xu, Xinxin, E-mail: xuxx@mail.neu.edu.cn

2016-06-15

A magnetic polyoxometalates based adsorbent has been synthesized successfully through the loading of amino functionalized Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} (NH{sub 2}-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}) on nanoparticle of a coordination complex modified polyoxometalates (CC/POMNP). FTIR illustrate there exist intense hydrogen bonds between NH{sub 2}-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} and CC/POMNP, which keep the stability of this adsorbent. At room temperature, this adsorbent exhibits ferromagnetic character with saturation magnetization of 8.19 emu g{sup −1}, which provides prerequisite for fast magnetic separation. Water treatment experiment illustrates this POM based magnetic adsorbent exhibits high adsorption capacity on tetracycline. The adsorption process can be described well with Temkin model,more » which illustrates the interaction between adsorbent and tetracycline plays the dominated role in tetracycline removal. The rapid, high efficient tetracycline adsorption ability suggests this POM based magnetic adsorbent exhibits promising prospect in medical and agriculture waste water purification. A magnetic polyoxometalates based adsorbent, which exhibits excellent tetracycline adsorption removal property has been synthesized through the loading of NH{sub 2}-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} on coordination complex modified polyoxometalates - Graphical abstract: A magnetic polyoxometalates based adsorbent, which exhibits excellent tetracycline adsorption removal property has been synthesized through the loading of NH{sub 2}-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} on coordination complex modified polyoxometalate. Display Omitted - Highlights: • A POM based magnetic adsorbent was fabricated through the loading of NH{sub 2}-Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} on POM nanoparticle. • This adsorbent possesses excellent tetracycline adsorption property. • Saturation magnetization value of this adsorbent is 8.19 emug−1, which is enough for magnetic separation.« less

Si/Ti2O3/Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries with Highly Enhanced Cyclic Stability.

PubMed

Park, A Reum; Son, Dae-Yong; Kim, Jung Sub; Lee, Jun Young; Park, Nam-Gyu; Park, Juhyun; Lee, Joong Kee; Yoo, Pil J

2015-08-26

Silicon (Si) has attracted tremendous attention as a high-capacity anode material for next generation Li-ion batteries (LIBs); unfortunately, it suffers from poor cyclic stability due to excessive volume expansion and reduced electrical conductivity after repeated cycles. To circumvent these issues, we propose that Si can be complexed with electrically conductive Ti2O3 to significantly enhance the reversible capacity and cyclic stability of Si-based anodes. We prepared a ternary nanocomposite of Si/Ti2O3/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) using mechanical blending and subsequent thermal reduction of the Si, TiO2 nanoparticles, and rGO nanosheets. As a result, the obtained ternary nanocomposite exhibited a specific capacity of 985 mAh/g and a Coulombic efficiency of 98.4% after 100 cycles at a current density of 100 mA/g. Furthermore, these ternary nanocomposite anodes exhibited outstanding rate capability characteristics, even with an increased current density of 10 A/g. This excellent electrochemical performance can be ascribed to the improved electron and ion transport provided by the Ti2O3 phase within the Si domains and the structurally reinforced conductive framework comprised of the rGO nanosheets. Therefore, it is expected that our approach can also be applied to other anode materials to enable large reversible capacity, excellent cyclic stability, and good rate capability for high-performance LIBs.

Preparation and application of in-fibre internal standardization solid-phase microextraction.

PubMed

Zhao, Wennan; Ouyang, Gangfeng; Pawliszyn, Janusz

2007-03-01

The in-fibre standardization method is a novel approach that has been developed for field sampling/sample preparation, in which an internal standard is pre-loaded onto a solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fibre for calibration of the extraction of target analytes in field samples. The same method can also be used for in-vial sample analysis. In this study, different techniques to load the standard to a non-porous SPME fibre were investigated. It was found that the appropriateness of the technique depends on the physical properties of the standards that are used for the analysis. Headspace extraction of the standard dissolved in pumping oil works well for volatile compounds. Conversely, headspace extraction of the pure standard is an effective approach for semi-volatile compounds. For compounds with low volatility, a syringe-fibre transfer method and direct extraction of the standard dissolved in a solvent exhibited a good reproducibility (<5% RSD). The main advantage of the approaches investigated in this study is that the standard generation vials can be reused for hundreds of analyses without exhibiting significant loss. Moreover, most of the standard loading processes studied can be performed automatically, which is efficient and precise. Finally, the standard loading technique and in-fibre standardization method were applied to a complex matrix (milk) and the results illustrated that the matrix effect can be effectively compensated for with this approach.

Benefits of Lactoferrin, Osteopontin and Milk Fat Globule Membranes for Infants.

PubMed

Demmelmair, Hans; Prell, Christine; Timby, Niklas; Lönnerdal, Bo

2017-07-28

The provision of essential and non-essential amino acids for breast-fed infants is the major function of milk proteins. In addition, breast-fed infants might benefit from bioactivities of milk proteins, which are exhibited in the intestine during the digestive phase and by absorption of intact proteins or derived peptides. For lactoferrin, osteopontin and milk fat globule membrane proteins/lipids, which have not until recently been included in substantial amounts in infant formulas, in vitro experiments and animal models provide a convincing base of evidence for bioactivities, which contribute to the protection of the infant from pathogens, improve nutrient absorption, support the development of the immune system and provide components for optimal neurodevelopment. Technologies have become available to obtain these compounds from cow´s milk and the bovine compounds also exhibit bioactivities in humans. Randomized clinical trials with experimental infant formulas incorporating lactoferrin, osteopontin, or milk fat globule membranes have already provided some evidence for clinical benefits. This review aims to compare findings from laboratory and animal experiments with outcomes of clinical studies. There is good justification from basic science and there are promising results from clinical studies for beneficial effects of lactoferrin, osteopontin and the milk fat globule membrane complex of proteins and lipids. Further studies should ideally be adequately powered to investigate effects on clinically relevant endpoints in healthy term infants.

Reversibly extracellular pH controlled cellular uptake and photothermal therapy by PEGylated mixed-charge gold nanostars.

PubMed

Wang, Shouju; Teng, Zhaogang; Huang, Peng; Liu, Dingbin; Liu, Ying; Tian, Ying; Sun, Jing; Li, Yanjun; Ju, Huangxian; Chen, Xiaoyuan; Lu, Guangming

2015-04-17

Shielding nanoparticles from nonspecific interactions with normal cells/tissues before they reach and after they leave tumors is crucial for the selective delivery of NPs into tumor cells. By utilizing the reversible protonation of weak electrolytic groups to pH changes, long-chain amine/carboxyl-terminated polyethylene glycol (PEG) decorated gold nanostars (GNSs) are designed, exhibiting reversible, significant, and sensitive response in cell affinity and therapeutic efficacy to the extracellular pH (pHe) gradient between normal tissues and tumors. This smart nanosystem shows good dispersity and unimpaired photothermal efficacy in complex bioenvironment at pH 6.4 and 7.4 even when their surface charge is neutral. One PEGylated mixed-charge GNSs with certain surface composition, GNS-N/C 4, exhibits high cell affinity and therapeutic efficacy at pH 6.4, and low affinity and almost "zero" damage to cells at pH 7.4. Remarkably, this significant and sensitive response in cell affinity and therapeutic efficacy is reversible as local pH alternated. In vivo, GNS-N/C 4 shows higher accumulation in tumors and improved photothermal therapeutic efficacy than pH-insensitive GNSs. This newly developed smart nanosystem, whose cell affinity reversibly transforms in response to pHe gradient with unimpaired biostability, provides a novel effective means of tumor-selective therapy. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Benefits of Lactoferrin, Osteopontin and Milk Fat Globule Membranes for Infants

PubMed Central

Prell, Christine; Timby, Niklas; Lönnerdal, Bo

2017-01-01

The provision of essential and non-essential amino acids for breast-fed infants is the major function of milk proteins. In addition, breast-fed infants might benefit from bioactivities of milk proteins, which are exhibited in the intestine during the digestive phase and by absorption of intact proteins or derived peptides. For lactoferrin, osteopontin and milk fat globule membrane proteins/lipids, which have not until recently been included in substantial amounts in infant formulas, in vitro experiments and animal models provide a convincing base of evidence for bioactivities, which contribute to the protection of the infant from pathogens, improve nutrient absorption, support the development of the immune system and provide components for optimal neurodevelopment. Technologies have become available to obtain these compounds from cow´s milk and the bovine compounds also exhibit bioactivities in humans. Randomized clinical trials with experimental infant formulas incorporating lactoferrin, osteopontin, or milk fat globule membranes have already provided some evidence for clinical benefits. This review aims to compare findings from laboratory and animal experiments with outcomes of clinical studies. There is good justification from basic science and there are promising results from clinical studies for beneficial effects of lactoferrin, osteopontin and the milk fat globule membrane complex of proteins and lipids. Further studies should ideally be adequately powered to investigate effects on clinically relevant endpoints in healthy term infants. PMID:28788066

Physicochemical and Rheological Properties of a Dairy Dessert, Enriched with Chickpea Flour

PubMed Central

Aguilar-Raymundo, Victoria Guadalupe; Vélez-Ruiz, Jorge Fernando

2018-01-01

Dairy desserts are complex mixtures and matrices including main components such as milk, sugar, starch, hydrocolloids, colorants and flavors, with a proteinaceous structure; they are widely consumed and present a semisolid consistency. In this work, the physicochemical and rheological properties of a dairy dessert with the addition of chickpea flour (raw and cooked, at four concentrations) were studied to determine the effect of the flour. The results indicated that luminosity (L*: 62.75–83.29), pH (6.35–7.11) and acidity (1.56–3.56) changed with the type of flour. The flow properties of the custards exhibited a non-Newtonian behavior that was well fitted by three flow models. The studied custard systems were stored for twelve days at 4 °C. The physicochemical and flow properties of the custards changed notably as a function of flour addition and storage time. From all samples, only four were analyzed with oscillatory tests, showing their mechanical spectra with elastic behavior. The dessert texture was also measured, founding that those formulated with Blanco Noroeste chickpea flour exhibited the highest values of hardness (0.356–0.391 N) through the twelve days. It can be concluded that those custard systems with the highest content of flour presented a very good response as a potential new dairy product. PMID:29463036

Reversible anionic redox chemistry in high-capacity layered-oxide electrodes.

PubMed

Sathiya, M; Rousse, G; Ramesha, K; Laisa, C P; Vezin, H; Sougrati, M T; Doublet, M-L; Foix, D; Gonbeau, D; Walker, W; Prakash, A S; Ben Hassine, M; Dupont, L; Tarascon, J-M

2013-09-01

Li-ion batteries have contributed to the commercial success of portable electronics and may soon dominate the electric transportation market provided that major scientific advances including new materials and concepts are developed. Classical positive electrodes for Li-ion technology operate mainly through an insertion-deinsertion redox process involving cationic species. However, this mechanism is insufficient to account for the high capacities exhibited by the new generation of Li-rich (Li(1+x)Ni(y)Co(z)Mn(1-x-y-z)O₂) layered oxides that present unusual Li reactivity. In an attempt to overcome both the inherent composition and the structural complexity of this class of oxides, we have designed structurally related Li₂Ru(1-y)Sn(y)O₃ materials that have a single redox cation and exhibit sustainable reversible capacities as high as 230 mA h g(-1). Moreover, they present good cycling behaviour with no signs of voltage decay and a small irreversible capacity. We also unambiguously show, on the basis of an arsenal of characterization techniques, that the reactivity of these high-capacity materials towards Li entails cumulative cationic (M(n+)→M((n+1)+)) and anionic (O(2-)→O₂(2-)) reversible redox processes, owing to the d-sp hybridization associated with a reductive coupling mechanism. Because Li₂MO₃ is a large family of compounds, this study opens the door to the exploration of a vast number of high-capacity materials.

Bounds on Block Error Probability for Multilevel Concatenated Codes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Shu; Moorthy, Hari T.; Stojanovic, Diana

1996-01-01

Maximum likelihood decoding of long block codes is not feasable due to large complexity. Some classes of codes are shown to be decomposable into multilevel concatenated codes (MLCC). For these codes, multistage decoding provides good trade-off between performance and complexity. In this paper, we derive an upper bound on the probability of block error for MLCC. We use this bound to evaluate difference in performance for different decompositions of some codes. Examples given show that a significant reduction in complexity can be achieved when increasing number of stages of decoding. Resulting performance degradation varies for different decompositions. A guideline is given for finding good m-level decompositions.

Interplay between Organic-Organometallic Electrophores within Bis(cyclopentadienyl)Molybdenum Dithiolene Tetrathiafulvalene Complexes.

PubMed

Bellec, Nathalie; Vacher, Antoine; Barrière, Frédéric; Xu, Zijun; Roisnel, Thierry; Lorcy, Dominique

2015-05-18

Tetrathiafulvalenes (TTF) and bis(cyclopentadienyl) molybdenum dithiolene complexes, Cp2Mo(dithiolene) complexes, are known separately to act as good electron donor molecules. For an investigation of the interaction between both electrophores, two types of complexes were synthesized and characterized. The first type has one Cp2Mo fragment coordinated to one TTF dithiolate ligand, and the second type has one TTF bis(dithiolate) bridging two Cp2Mo fragments. Comparisons of the electrochemical properties of these complexes with those of models of each separate electrophore provide evidence for their mutual influence. All of these complexes act as very good electron donors with a first oxidation potential 430 mV lower than the tetrakis(methylthio)TTF. DFT calculations suggest that the HOMO of the neutral complex and the SOMO of the cation are delocalized across the whole TTF dithiolate ligand. The X-ray crystal structure analyses of the neutral and the mono-oxidized Cp2Mo(dithiolene)(bismethylthio)TTF complexes are consistent with the delocalized assignment of the highest occupied frontier molecular orbitals. UV-vis-NIR spectroelectrochemical investigations confirm this electronic delocalization within the TTF dithiolate ligand.

Synthesis and Characterization of High-Dielectric-Constant Nanographite-Polyurethane Composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Praveen; Bhat, Badekai Ramachandra; Bhattacharya, B.; Mehra, R. M.

2018-05-01

In the face of ever-growing demand for capacitors and energy storage devices, development of high-dielectric-constant materials is of paramount importance. Among various dielectric materials available, polymer dielectrics are preferred for their good processability. We report herein synthesis and characterization of nanographite-polyurethane composite with high dielectric constant. Nanographite showed good dispersibility in the polyurethane matrix. The thermosetting nature of polyurethane gives the composite the ability to withstand higher temperature without melting. The resultant composite was studied for its dielectric constant (ɛ) as a function of frequency. The composite exhibited logarithmic variation of ɛ from 3000 at 100 Hz to 225 at 60 kHz. The material also exhibited stable dissipation factor (tan δ) across the applied frequencies, suggesting its ability to resist current leakage.

Reviews Exhibitions: Collider: Step inside the World's Greatest Experiment Equipment: Hero Steam Turbine Classroom Video: Most of Our Universe is Missing Book: Serving the Reich Book: Breakthrough to CLIL for Physics Book: The Good Research Guide Apps: Popplet Web Watch Apps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2014-03-01

WE RECOMMEND Collider: step inside the world's greatest experiment A great exhibition at the Science Museum in London Hero Steam Turbine Superb engine model gets up to 2500 rpm Most of Our Universe is Missing BBC video explores the dark truth Serving the Reich Science and morality in Nazi Germany The Good Research Guide A non-specialist book for teachers starting out in education research WORTH A LOOK Breakthrough to CLIL for Physics A book based on a physics curriculum for non-English students WEB WATCH Electric cycles online: patterns of use APPS The virtual laboratory advances personal skills

Spin exchange effects on the physicochemical properties of tetraoxolene-bridged bimetallic complexes.

PubMed

Guo, Dong; McCusker, James K

2007-04-16

The synthesis, physical, and spectroscopic properties of a series of metal complexes bridged by the redox-active chloranilate ligand are described. Compounds containing the (CAcat,cat)4- ligand, where (CAcat,cat)4- represents the fully reduced aromatic form of chloranilate, have been prepared by two different routes from H2CA and H4CA starting materials; the corresponding (CAsq,cat)3- analogue was obtained by one-electron oxidation with decamethylferrocenium tetrafluoroborate. Homo- and heterobimetallic complexes containing CrIII and GaIII with chloranilate have been prepared, yielding the following six complexes: [Ga2(tren)2(CAcat,cat)](BPh4)2 (1), [Ga2(tren)2(CAsq,cat)](BPh4)2(BF4) (2), [GaCr(tren)2(CAcat,cat)](BPh4)2 (3), [GaCr(tren)2(CAsq,cat)](BPh4)2(BF4) (4), [Cr2(tren)2(CAcat,cat)] (BPh4)2 (5), and [Cr2(tren)2(CAsq,cat)](BPh4)2(BF4) (6) (where tren is tris(2-aminoethyl)amine). Single-crystal X-ray structures have been obtained for complexes 1, 3, and 5; nearly identical C-C bond distances within the quinoidal ligand confirm the aromatic character of the bridge in each case. Complex 2 exhibits a temperature-independent magnetic moment of microeff = 1.64 +/- 0.04 microB in the solid state between 4 and 350 K, consistent with the CAsq,cat formulation of the ligand and an S = 1/2 ground state for complex 2. Complex 3 exhibits a value of microeff = 3.44 +/- 0.09 microB that is also temperature-independent, indicating an S = 3/2 ground state. Complexes 4-6 are all influenced by Heisenberg spin exchange. The temperature-independent behavior of complexes 4 and 6 indicate the presence of strong antiferromagnetic exchange between the CrIII and the (sq,cat) bridging radical yielding well-isolated ground states of S = 1 and 5/2 for 4 and 6, respectively. In contrast, complex 5 exhibits a weak intramolecular antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between the two CrIII centers (J = -2 cm-1 for H = -2Jŝ1.ŝ2) via superexchange through the diamagnetic CAcat,cat bridge. The absorption spectra of the CAsq,cat-containing complexes exhibit a number of sharp, relatively intense features in fluid solution. Group theoretical arguments coupled with a qualitative ligand-field analysis including the effects of Heisenberg spin exchange suggest that several of the observed transitions are a consequence of exchange interactions in both the ground- and excited-state manifolds of the compounds.

Why does high pressure destroy co-non-solvency of PNIPAm in aqueous methanol?

PubMed

de Oliveira, Tiago E; Netz, Paulo A; Mukherji, Debashish; Kremer, Kurt

2015-11-28

It is well known that poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) exhibits an interesting, yet puzzling, phenomenon of co-non-solvency. Co-non-solvency occurs when two competing good solvents for PNIPAm, such as water and alcohol, are mixed together. As a result, the same PNIPAm collapses within intermediate mixing ratios. This complex conformational transition is driven by preferential binding of methanol with PNIPAm. Interestingly, co-non-solvency can be destroyed when applying high hydrostatic pressures. In this work, using a large scale molecular dynamics simulation employing high pressures, we propose a microscopic picture behind the suppression of the co-non-solvency phenomenon. Based on thermodynamic and structural analysis, our results suggest that the preferential binding of methanol with PNIPAm gets partially lost at high pressures, making the background fluid reasonably homogeneous for the polymer. This is consistent with the hypothesis that the co-non-solvency phenomenon is driven by preferential binding and is not based on depletion effects.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thompson, J.; Nichols, John A.; Lee, Shinbuhm

Metal electrodes are a universal element of all electronic devices. Conducting SrRuO 3 (SRO) epitaxial thin films have been extensively used as electrodes in complex-oxide heterostructures due to good lattice mismatches with perovskite substrates. However, when compared to SRO single crystals, SRO thin films have shown reduced conductivity and Curie temperatures (T C), which can lead to higher Joule heating and energy loss in the devices. In this paper, we report that high-quality SRO thin films can be synthesized by controlling the plume dynamics and growth rate of pulsed laser epitaxy (PLE) with real-time optical spectroscopic monitoring. The SRO thinmore » films grown under the kinetically controlled conditions, down to ca. 16 nm in thickness, exhibit both enhanced conductivity and T C as compared to bulk values, due to their improved stoichiometry and a strain-mediated increase of the bandwidth of Ru 4d electrons. Finally, this result provides a direction for enhancing the physical properties of PLE-grown thin films and paves a way to improved device applications.« less

Highly Selective Enrichment of Glycopeptides Based on Zwitterionically Functionalized Soluble Nanopolymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Weiqian; Huang, Jiangming; Jiang, Biyun; Gao, Xing; Yang, Pengyuan

2016-07-01

Efficient glycopeptides enrichment prior to mass spectrometry analysis is essential for glycoproteome study. ZIC-HILIC (zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography) based glycopeptides enrichment approaches have been attracting more attention for several benefits like easy operating, high enrichment specificity and intact glycopeptide retained. In this study, Poly (amidoamine) dendrimer (PAMAM) was adopted for the synthesis of zwitterionically functionalized (ZICF) materials for glycopeptide enrichment. The multiple branched structure and good solubility of ZICF-PAMAM enables a sufficient interaction with glycopeptides. The ZICF-PAMAM combined with the FASP-mode enrichment strategy exhibits more superior performance compared with the existing methods. It has the minimum detectable concentration of femtomolar level and high recovery rate of over 90.01%, and can efficiently enrich glycopeptides from complex biological samples even for merely 0.1 μL human serum. The remarkable glycopeptides enrichment capacity of ZICF-PAMAM highlights the potential application in in-depth glycoproteome research, which may open up new opportunities for the development of glycoproteomics.

Highly Selective Enrichment of Glycopeptides Based on Zwitterionically Functionalized Soluble Nanopolymers.

PubMed

Cao, Weiqian; Huang, Jiangming; Jiang, Biyun; Gao, Xing; Yang, Pengyuan

2016-07-14

Efficient glycopeptides enrichment prior to mass spectrometry analysis is essential for glycoproteome study. ZIC-HILIC (zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography) based glycopeptides enrichment approaches have been attracting more attention for several benefits like easy operating, high enrichment specificity and intact glycopeptide retained. In this study, Poly (amidoamine) dendrimer (PAMAM) was adopted for the synthesis of zwitterionically functionalized (ZICF) materials for glycopeptide enrichment. The multiple branched structure and good solubility of ZICF-PAMAM enables a sufficient interaction with glycopeptides. The ZICF-PAMAM combined with the FASP-mode enrichment strategy exhibits more superior performance compared with the existing methods. It has the minimum detectable concentration of femtomolar level and high recovery rate of over 90.01%, and can efficiently enrich glycopeptides from complex biological samples even for merely 0.1 μL human serum. The remarkable glycopeptides enrichment capacity of ZICF-PAMAM highlights the potential application in in-depth glycoproteome research, which may open up new opportunities for the development of glycoproteomics.

Geometry definition and grid generation for a complete fighter aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, T. A.

1986-01-01

Recent advances in computing power and numerical solution procedures have enabled computational fluid dynamicists to attempt increasingly difficult problems. In particular, efforts are focusing on computations of complex three-dimensional flow fields about realistic aerodynamic bodies. To perform such computations, a very accurate and detailed description of the surface geometry must be provided, and a three-dimensional grid must be generated in the space around the body. The geometry must be supplied in a format compatible with the grid generation requirements, and must be verified to be free of inconsistencies. This paper presents a procedure for performing the geometry definition of a fighter aircraft that makes use of a commercial computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing system. Furthermore, visual representations of the geometry are generated using a computer graphics system for verification of the body definition. Finally, the three-dimensional grids for fighter-like aircraft are generated by means of an efficient new parabolic grid generation method. This method exhibits good control of grid quality.

Computation of aerodynamic interference effects on oscillating airfoils with controls in ventilated subsonic wind tunnels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fromme, J. A.; Golberg, M. A.

1979-01-01

Lift interference effects are discussed based on Bland's (1968) integral equation. A mathematical existence theory is utilized for which convergence of the numerical method has been proved for general (square-integrable) downwashes. Airloads are computed using orthogonal airfoil polynomial pairs in conjunction with a collocation method which is numerically equivalent to Galerkin's method and complex least squares. Convergence exhibits exponentially decreasing error with the number n of collocation points for smooth downwashes, whereas errors are proportional to 1/n for discontinuous downwashes. The latter can be reduced to 1/n to the m+1 power with mth-order Richardson extrapolation (by using m = 2, hundredfold error reductions were obtained with only a 13% increase of computer time). Numerical results are presented showing acoustic resonance, as well as the effect of Mach number, ventilation, height-to-chord ratio, and mode shape on wind-tunnel interference. Excellent agreement with experiment is obtained in steady flow, and good agreement is obtained for unsteady flow.

A facile and sensitive peptide-modulating graphene oxide nanoribbon catalytic nanoplasmon analytical platform for human chorionic gonadotropin.

PubMed

Liang, Aihui; Li, Chongning; Li, Dan; Luo, Yanghe; Wen, Guiqing; Jiang, Zhiliang

2017-01-01

The nanogold reaction between HAuCl 4 and citrate is very slow, and the catalyst graphene oxide nanoribbon (GONR) enhanced the nanoreaction greatly to produce gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) that exhibited strong surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption (Abs) at 550 nm and resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS) at 550 nm. Upon addition of the peptide of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), the peptide could adsorb on the GONR surface, which inhibited the catalysis. When hCG was added, peptides were separated from the GONR surface due to the formation of stable peptide-hCG complex, which led to the activation of GONR catalytic effect. With the increase in hCG concentration, the RRS and Abs signal enhanced linearly. The enhanced RRS value showed a good linear relationship with hCG concentration in the range of 0.2-20 ng/mL, with a detection limit of 70 pg/mL. Accordingly, two new GONR catalytic RRS/Abs methods were established for detecting hCG in serum samples.

Optical constants of solid methane and ethane from 10,000 to 450/cm. [in outer planets atmospheres

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pearl, J.; Ngoh, M.; Ospina, M.; Khanna, R.

1991-01-01

Near- and mid-IR spectra of thin films of crystalling phase I and phase II C2H6 are presented using a combined least squares and Kramers-Kronig analysis. Complex refractive indices derived from these data are also presented. To obtain material in phase I, samples are annealed at 33 K for about 30 min; phase II is obtained by recooling below the transition temperature of 20.4 K. The derived optical parameters are shown. The infrared spectrum of phase I CH4 exhibits broad structureless absorptions at about 1300 and 2600/cm. On cooling the sample below 20.4 K (phase II), the absorptions are sharpened, and each band develops fine structure. The present results and those of Roux et al. (1979) are compared. The agreement with the real parts is found to be excellent; given the difference in resolution, the agreement with the imaginary parts is also good.

Self-assembled three-dimensional hierarchical graphene/polypyrrole nanotube hybrid aerogel and its application for supercapacitors.

PubMed

Ye, Shibing; Feng, Jiachun

2014-06-25

A three-dimensional hierarchical graphene/polypyrrole aerogel (GPA) has been fabricated using graphene oxide (GO) and already synthesized one-dimensional hollow polypyrrole nanotubes (PNTs) as the feedstock. The amphiphilic GO is helpful in effectively promoting the dispersion of well-defined PNTs to result in a stable, homogeneous GO/PNT complex solution, while the PNTs not only provide a large accessible surface area for fast transport of hydrate ions but also act as spacers to prevent the restacking of graphene sheets. By a simple one-step reduction self-assembly process, hierarchically structured, low-density, highly compressible GPAs are easily obtained, which favorably combine the advantages of graphene and PNTs. The supercapacitor electrodes based on such materials exhibit excellent electrochemical performance, including a high specific capacitance up to 253 F g(-1), good rate performance, and outstanding cycle stability. Moreover, this method may be feasible to prepare other graphene-based hybrid aerogels with structure-controllable nanostructures in large scale, thereby holding enormous potential in many application fields.

Meniscus-assisted solution printing of large-grained perovskite films for high-efficiency solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Ming; Li, Bo; Cui, Xun; Jiang, Beibei; He, Yanjie; Chen, Yihuang; O'Neil, Daniel; Szymanski, Paul; Ei-Sayed, Mostafa A.; Huang, Jinsong; Lin, Zhiqun

2017-07-01

Control over morphology and crystallinity of metal halide perovskite films is of key importance to enable high-performance optoelectronics. However, this remains particularly challenging for solution-printed devices due to the complex crystallization kinetics of semiconductor materials within dynamic flow of inks. Here we report a simple yet effective meniscus-assisted solution printing (MASP) strategy to yield large-grained dense perovskite film with good crystallization and preferred orientation. Intriguingly, the outward convective flow triggered by fast solvent evaporation at the edge of the meniscus ink imparts the transport of perovskite solutes, thus facilitating the growth of micrometre-scale perovskite grains. The growth kinetics of perovskite crystals is scrutinized by in situ optical microscopy tracking to understand the crystallization mechanism. The perovskite films produced by MASP exhibit excellent optoelectronic properties with efficiencies approaching 20% in planar perovskite solar cells. This robust MASP strategy may in principle be easily extended to craft other solution-printed perovskite-based optoelectronics.

Design, Fabrication and Testing of a Crushable Energy Absorber for a Passive Earth Entry Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kellas, Sotiris; Corliss, James M. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A conceptual study was performed to investigate the impact response of a crushable energy absorber for a passive Earth entry vehicle. The spherical energy-absorbing concept consisted of a foam-filled composite cellular structure capable of omni-directional impact-load attenuation as well as penetration resistance. Five composite cellular samples of hemispherical geometry were fabricated and tested dynamically with impact speeds varying from 30 to 42 meters per second. Theoretical crush load predictions were obtained with the aid of a generalized theory which accounts for the energy dissipated during the folding deformation of the cell-walls. Excellent correlation was obtained between theoretical predictions and experimental tests on characteristic cell-web intersections. Good correlation of theory with experiment was also found to exist for the more complex spherical cellular structures. All preliminary design requirements were met by the cellular structure concept, which exhibited a near-ideal sustained crush-load and approximately 90% crush stroke.

Construction of Au@Pt core—satellite nanoparticles based on in-situ reduction of polymeric ionic liquid protected gold nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Wenlan; Li, Junbo; Zou, Sheng; Guo, Jinwu; Zhou, Huiyun

2017-03-01

A method of in-situ reduction to prepare Au@Pt core-satellite nanoparticles (NPs) is described by using Au NPs coating poly[1-methyl 3-(2-methacryloyloxy propylimidazolium bromine)] (PMMPImB-@-Au NPs) as the template. After electrostatic complex chloroplatinic acid with PMMPImB shell, the composite NP was directly reduced with N2H4 to produce Au@Pt core-satellite NPs. The characterization of composite and core-satellite NPs under different amounts of chloroplatinic acid were studied by DLS, UV-vis absorption spectrum and TEM. The satellite Pt NPs with a small size ( 2 nm) dotted around Au core, and the resulting Au@Pt core-satellite NPs showed a red-shift surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and a good dispersion due to effectively electrostatic repulsion providing by the polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) shell. Finally, Au@Pt core-satellite NPs exhibit an enhanced catalytic activity and cycled catalytic capability for the reduction of p-nitrophenol with NaBH4.

Improved tumor-targeting MRI contrast agents: Gd(DOTA) conjugates of a cycloalkane-based RGD peptide

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Park, Ji-Ae, E-mail: jpark@kirams.re.kr; Lee, Yong Jin; Ko, In Ok

2014-12-12

Highlights: • Development of improved tumor-targeting MRI contrast agents. • To increase the targeting ability of RGD, we developed cycloalkane-based RGD peptides. • Gd(DOTA) conjugates of cycloalkane-based RGD peptide show improved tumor signal enhancement in vivo MR images. - Abstract: Two new MRI contrast agents, Gd-DOTA-c(RGD-ACP-K) (1) and Gd-DOTA-c(RGD-ACH-K) (2), which were designed by incorporating aminocyclopentane (ACP)- or aminocyclohexane (ACH)-carboxylic acid into Gd-DOTA (gadolinium-tetraazacyclo dodecanetetraacetic acid) and cyclic RGDK peptides, were synthesized and evaluated for tumor-targeting ability in vitro and in vivo. Binding affinity studies showed that both 1 and 2 exhibited higher affinity for integrin receptors than cyclic RGDyKmore » peptides, which were used as a reference. These complexes showed high relaxivity and good stability in human serum and have the potential to improve target-specific signal enhancement in vivo MR images.« less

Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 5-fluorouracil-derived benzimidazoles as novel type of potential antimicrobial agents.

PubMed

Fang, Xue-Jie; Jeyakkumar, Ponmani; Avula, Srinivasa Rao; Zhou, Qian; Zhou, Cheng-He

2016-06-01

A series of 5-fluorouracil benzimidazoles as novel type of potential antimicrobial agents were designed and synthesized for the first time. Bioactive assay manifested that some of the prepared compounds exhibited good or even stronger antibacterial and antifungal activities against the tested strains in comparison with reference drugs norfloxacin, chloromycin and fluconazole. Noticeably, 3-fluorobenzyl benzimidazole derivative 5c gave remarkable antimicrobial activities against Saccharomyces cerevisiae, MRSA and Bacillus proteus with MIC values of 1, 2 and 4μg/mL, respectively. Experimental research revealed that compound 5c could effectively intercalate into calf thymus DNA to form compound 5c-DNA complex which might block DNA replication and thus exert antimicrobial activities. Molecular docking indicated that compound 5c should bind with DNA topoisomerase IA through three hydrogen bonds by the use of fluorine atom and oxygen atoms in 5-fluorouracil with the residue Lys 423. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tutorial: Neural networks and their potential application in nuclear power plants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Uhrig, R.E.

A neural network is a data processing system consisting of a number of simple, highly interconnected processing elements in an architecture inspired by the structure of the cerebral cortex portion of the brain. Hence, neural networks are often capable of doing things which humans or animals do well but which conventional computers often do poorly. Neural networks have emerged in the past few years as an area of unusual opportunity for research, development and application to a variety of real world problems. Indeed, neural networks exhibit characteristics and capabilities not provided by any other technology. Examples include reading Japanese Kanjimore » characters and human handwriting, reading a typewritten manuscript aloud, compensating for alignment errors in robots, interpreting very noise'' signals (e.g. electroencephalograms), modeling complex systems that cannot be modelled mathematically, and predicting whether proposed loans will be good or fail. This paper presents a brief tutorial on neural networks and describes research on the potential applications to nuclear power plants.« less

Application of graphene oxide/lanthanum-modified carbon paste electrode for the selective determination of dopamine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Fengying; Feng, Chenqi; Fu, Ning; Wu, Huihui; Jiang, Jibo; Han, Sheng

2015-12-01

A home-made carbon paste electrode (CPE) was reformed by graphene oxide (GO)/lanthanum (La) complexes, and a modified electrode, called GO-La/CPE, was fabricated for the selective determination of dopamine (DA) by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Several factors affecting the electrocatalytic performance of the modified sensor were investigated. Owning to the combination of GO and La ions, the GO-La/CPE sensor exhibited large surface area, well selectivity, good repeatability and stability in the oxidation reaction of DA. At optimal conditions, the response of the GO-La/CPE electrode for determining DA was linear in the region of 0.01-0.1 μM and 0.1-400.0 μM. The limit of detection was down to 0.32 nM (S/N = 3). In addition, this modified electrode was successfully applied to the detection of DA in real urine and serum samples by using standard adding method, showing its promising application in the electroanalysis of real samples.

Periodicity, Electronic Structures, and Bonding of Gold Tetrahalides [AuX4](-) (X = F, CI, Br, I, At, Uus)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Wan-Lu; Li, Yong; Xu, Congqiao

2015-12-07

Systematic theoretical and experimental investigations have been performed to understand the periodicity and electronic structures of trivalent-gold halides using gold tetrahalides [AuX4]⁻ anions (X = F, Cl, Br, I, At, Uus). The [AuX4]⁻ (X = Cl, Br, I) anions were produced in gas phase and their negative-ion photoelectron spectra were obtained, which exhibited rich and well-resolved spectral peaks. We calculated the adiabatic as well as vertical electron detachment energies using density functional methods with scalar and spin-orbit coupling relativistic effects. The simulated photoelectron spectra based on these calculations are in good agreement with the experimental spectra. Our results show thatmore » the trivalent Au(III) oxidation state becomes progressively less stable while Au(I) is preferred when the halides become heavier along the Period Table. This trend reveals that the oxidation state of metals in complexes can be manipulated through ligand design« less

Numerical modeling of interface displacement in heterogeneously wetting porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiller, T.; Brinkmann, M.; Herminghaus, S.

2013-12-01

We use the mesoscopic particle method stochastic rotation dynamics (SRD) to simulate immiscible multi-phase flow on the pore and sub-pore scale in three dimensions. As an extension to the standard SRD method, we present an approach on implementing complex wettability on heterogeneous surfaces. We use 3D SRD to simulate immiscible two-phase flow through a model porous medium (disordered packing of spherical beads) where the substrate exhibits different spatial wetting patterns. The simulations are designed to resemble experimental measurements of capillary pressure saturation. We show that the correlation length of the wetting patterns influences the temporal evolution of the interface and thus percolation, residual saturation and work dissipated during the fluid displacement. Our numerical results are in qualitatively good agreement with the experimental data. Besides of modeling flow in porous media, our SRD implementation allows us to address various questions of interfacial dynamics, e.g. the formation of capillary bridges between spherical beads or droplets in microfluidic applications to name only a few.

Geometry definition and grid generation for a complete fighter aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, Thomas A.

1986-01-01

Recent advances in computing power and numerical solution procedures have enabled computational fluid dynamicists to attempt increasingly difficult problems. In particular, efforts are focusing on computations of complex three-dimensional flow fields about realistic aerodynamic bodies. To perform such computations, a very accurate and detailed description of the surface geometry must be provided, and a three-dimensional grid must be generated in the space around the body. The geometry must be supplied in a format compatible with the grid generation requirements, and must be verified to be free of inconsistencies. A procedure for performing the geometry definition of a fighter aircraft that makes use of a commercial computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing system is presented. Furthermore, visual representations of the geometry are generated using a computer graphics system for verification of the body definition. Finally, the three-dimensional grids for fighter-like aircraft are generated by means of an efficient new parabolic grid generation method. This method exhibits good control of grid quality.

Interfacial self-assembled functional nanoparticle array: a facile surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensor for specific detection of trace analytes.

PubMed

Zhang, Kun; Ji, Ji; Li, Yixin; Liu, Baohong

2014-07-01

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has proven to be promising for the detection of trace analytes; however, the precise nanofabrication of a specific and sensitive plasmonic SERS-active substrate is still a major challenge that limits the scope of its applications. In this work, gold nanoparticles are self-assembled into densely packed two-dimensional arrays at a liquid/liquid interface between dimethyl carbonate and water in the absence of template controller molecules. Both the simulation and experiment results show that the particles within these film-like arrays exhibit strong electromagnetic coupling and enable large amplification of Raman signals. In order to realize the level of sensing specificity, the surface chemistry of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) is rationally tailored by incorporating an appropriate chemical moiety that specifically captures molecules of interest. The ease of fabrication and good uniformity make this platform ideal for in situ SERS sensing of trace targets in complex samples.

Incorporation of flow injection analysis with dual-wavelength overlapping resonance Rayleigh scattering for rapid determination of malachite green and its metabolite in fish.

PubMed

Zhu, Jinghui; Qin, Mingyou; Liu, Shaopu; Liu, Zhongfang; Yang, Jidong; Hu, Xiaoli

2014-09-15

A flow injection analysis (FIA) system combined with dual-wavelength overlapping resonance Rayleigh scattering (DWO-RRS) has been established and validated for rapid determination of malachite green (MG) and its metabolite in fish samples. Under experimental condition, MG would react with Erythrosin (Ery) to form ion-association complexes, resulting in the occurrence of two RRS peaks and a dramatic enhancement of RRS intensity. The maximum RRS peaks were located at 286 nm and 337 nm. It is noted that the increments of both of these two peaks were proportional to the concentration of MG. The detection limit of DWO-RRS was 1.5 ng/mL, which was comparable to several reported methods. Moreover, the results of real sample analysis exhibited an acceptable recovery between 97.5% and 103.6%, indicating that the method had good reproducibility. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Driving forces of researchers mobility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gargiulo, Floriana; Carletti, Timoteo

2014-05-01

Starting from the dataset of the publication corpus of the APS during the period 1955-2009, we reconstruct the individual researchers trajectories, namely the list of the consecutive affiliations for each scholar. Crossing this information with different geographic datasets we embed these trajectories in a spatial framework. Using methods from network theory and complex systems analysis we characterise these patterns in terms of topological network properties and we analyse the dependence of an academic path across different dimensions: the distance between two subsequent positions, the relative importance of the institutions (in terms of number of publications) and some socio-cultural traits. We show that distance is not always a good predictor for the next affiliation while other factors like ``the previous steps'' of the career of the researchers (in particular the first position) or the linguistic and historical similarity between two countries can have an important impact. Finally we show that the dataset exhibit a memory effect, hence the fate of a career strongly depends from the first two affiliations.

Polysiloxane-based luminescent elastomers prepared by thiol-ene "click" chemistry.

PubMed

Zuo, Yujing; Lu, Haifeng; Xue, Lei; Wang, Xianming; Wu, Lianfeng; Feng, Shengyu

2014-09-26

Side-chain vinyl poly(dimethylsiloxane) has been modified with mercaptopropionic acid, methyl 3-mercaptopropionate, and mercaptosuccinic acid. Coordinative bonding of Eu(III) to the functionalized polysiloxanes was then carried out and crosslinked silicone elastomers were prepared by thiol-ene curing reactions of these composites. All these europium complexes could be cast to form transparent, uniform, thin elastomers with good flexibility and thermal stability. The networks were characterized by FTIR, NMR, UV/Vis, and luminescence spectroscopy as well as by scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The europium elastomer luminophores exhibited intense red light at 617 nm under UV excitation at room temperature due to the (5)D0 →(7)F2 transition in Eu(III) ions. The newly synthesized luminescent materials offer many advantages, including the desired mechanical flexibility. They cannot be dissolved or fused, and so they have potential for use in optical and electronic applications. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Financial Time Series Prediction Using Elman Recurrent Random Neural Networks

PubMed Central

Wang, Jie; Wang, Jun; Fang, Wen; Niu, Hongli

2016-01-01

In recent years, financial market dynamics forecasting has been a focus of economic research. To predict the price indices of stock markets, we developed an architecture which combined Elman recurrent neural networks with stochastic time effective function. By analyzing the proposed model with the linear regression, complexity invariant distance (CID), and multiscale CID (MCID) analysis methods and taking the model compared with different models such as the backpropagation neural network (BPNN), the stochastic time effective neural network (STNN), and the Elman recurrent neural network (ERNN), the empirical results show that the proposed neural network displays the best performance among these neural networks in financial time series forecasting. Further, the empirical research is performed in testing the predictive effects of SSE, TWSE, KOSPI, and Nikkei225 with the established model, and the corresponding statistical comparisons of the above market indices are also exhibited. The experimental results show that this approach gives good performance in predicting the values from the stock market indices. PMID:27293423

Electronic structure of heavy fermion system CePt 2In 7 from angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

Shen, Bing; Yu, Li; Liu, Kai; ...

2017-06-01

We have carried out high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission measurements on the Cebased heavy fermion compound CePt 2In 7 that exhibits stronger two-dimensional character than the prototypical heavy fermion system CeCoIn 5. Multiple Fermi surface sheets and a complex band structure are clearly resolved. We have also performed detailed band structure calculations on CePt 2In 7. The good agreement found between our measurements and the calculations suggests that the band renormalization effect is rather weak in CePt 2In 7. A comparison of the common features of the electronic structure of CePt 2In 7 and CeCoIn5 indicates that CeCoIn 5 shows a muchmore » stronger band renormalization effect than CePt 2In 7. These results provide new information for understanding the heavy fermion behaviors and unconventional superconductivity in Ce-based heavy fermion systems.« less

Aerospace applications of sodium batteries using novel cathode materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ratnakumar, B. V.; Di Stefano, S.; Bankston, C. P.

1989-01-01

Preliminary fundamental investigations aimed at evaluating sodium metal chloride systems for future aerospace applications are described. Since the sodium metal chloride systems are relatively new, the approach has been to characterize their fundamental properties in order to understand their limitations. To this end, a series of fundamental electrochemical investigations have been carried out, the results of which are reported here. The metal chloride cathodes show high exchange current densities which corroborate their good reversibility in a battery application. The reduction mechanisms appear to be complex and involve multielectron transfer steps and intermediates. Such intermediates in the reaction mechanism have already been identified in the case of FeCl2. Similar mechanisms may be operative in the case of NiCl2. CuCl2, however, exhibits a second relaxation loop in the impedance plot at low frequencies and also a sloping discharge curve, unlike FeCl2 and NiCl2, which may indicate the existence of monovalent copper in the reduction mechanism.

Adsorption, oxidation, and reduction behavior of arsenic in the removal of aqueous As(III) by mesoporous Fe/Al bimetallic particles.

PubMed

Cheng, Zihang; Fu, Fenglian; Dionysiou, Dionysios D; Tang, Bing

2016-06-01

In this study, mesoporous iron/aluminum (Fe/Al) bimetallic particles were synthesized and employed for the removal of aqueous As(III). Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis method, Vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were employed to characterize the Fe/Al bimetals before and after reaction with As(III). The physical properties, compositions, and structures of Fe/Al bimetallic particles as well as the As(III) removal mechanism were investigated. The characterization of the bimetallic particles after the reaction has revealed the removal of As(III) is a complex process including surface adsorption and oxidation, and intraparticle reduction. The good As(III) removal capability and stability of the Fe/Al bimetallic particles exhibited its great potential as an effective and environmental friendly agent for As(III) removal from water. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Benchmarking of TALE- and CRISPR/dCas9-Based Transcriptional Regulators in Mammalian Cells for the Construction of Synthetic Genetic Circuits.

PubMed

Lebar, Tina; Jerala, Roman

2016-10-21

Transcriptional activator-like effector (TALE)- and CRISPR/Cas9-based designable recognition domains represent a technological breakthrough not only for genome editing but also for building designed genetic circuits. Both platforms are able to target rarely occurring DNA segments, even within complex genomes. TALE and dCas9 domains, genetically fused to transcriptional regulatory domains, can be used for the construction of engineered logic circuits. Here we benchmarked the performance of the two platforms, targeting the same DNA sequences, to compare their advantages for the construction of designed circuits in mammalian cells. Optimal targeting strands for repression and activation of dCas9-based designed transcription factors were identified; both platforms exhibited good orthogonality and were used to construct functionally complete NOR gates. Although the CRISPR/dCas9 system is clearly easier to construct, TALE-based activators were significantly stronger, and the TALE-based platform performed better, especially for the construction of layered circuits.

Emerging technologies for V&V of ISHM software for space exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feather, Martin S.; Markosian, Lawrence Z.

2006-01-01

Systems1,2 required to exhibit high operational reliability often rely on some form of fault protection to recognize and respond to faults, preventing faults' escalation to catastrophic failures. Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) extends the functionality of fault protection to both scale to more complex systems (and systems of systems), and to maintain capability rather than just avert catastrophe. Forms of ISHM have been utilized to good effect in the maintenance phase of systems' total lifecycles (often referred to as 'condition-based mainte-nance'), but less so in a 'fault protection' role during actual operations. One of the impediments to such use lies in the challenges of verification, validation and certification of ISHM systems themselves. This paper makes the case that state-of-the-practice V&V and certification techniques will not suffice for emerging forms of ISHM systems; however, a number of maturing software engineering assurance technologies show particular promise for addressing these ISHM V&V challenges.

A micrometer-sized europium(iii)-organic framework for selective sensing of the Cr2O72- anion and picric acid in water systems.

PubMed

He, Hongming; Chen, Si-Hang; Zhang, De-Yu; Hao, Rui; Zhang, Chao; Yang, En-Cui; Zhao, Xiao-Jun

2017-10-10

A micrometer-sized europium(iii)-organic framework with asymmetric binuclear metal subunits extended by 4,5-dichlorophthalaten (DCPA), [Eu 2 (H 2 O)(DCPA) 3 ] n , was easily obtained using a reverse microemulsion method. The framework exhibits good dispersibility, excellent thermal and environmental stability and easy regeneration ability. More importantly, the complex displays strong red emission and can selectively and sensitively detect both inorganic Cr 2 O 7 2- anions (K sv = 8.7 × 10 3 M -1 ) and organic picric acid contaminants (K sv = 1.07 × 10 4 M -1 ) in water systems through fluorescence quenching. A luminescent film of 1 was further prepared and successfully used to detect the Cr 2 O 7 2- anion in an aqueous system. These interesting results indicate that the well-dispersed europium(iii)-organic framework can serve as a promising dual-responsive luminescent sensor for environmental pollutant monitoring.

Financial Time Series Prediction Using Elman Recurrent Random Neural Networks.

PubMed

Wang, Jie; Wang, Jun; Fang, Wen; Niu, Hongli

2016-01-01

In recent years, financial market dynamics forecasting has been a focus of economic research. To predict the price indices of stock markets, we developed an architecture which combined Elman recurrent neural networks with stochastic time effective function. By analyzing the proposed model with the linear regression, complexity invariant distance (CID), and multiscale CID (MCID) analysis methods and taking the model compared with different models such as the backpropagation neural network (BPNN), the stochastic time effective neural network (STNN), and the Elman recurrent neural network (ERNN), the empirical results show that the proposed neural network displays the best performance among these neural networks in financial time series forecasting. Further, the empirical research is performed in testing the predictive effects of SSE, TWSE, KOSPI, and Nikkei225 with the established model, and the corresponding statistical comparisons of the above market indices are also exhibited. The experimental results show that this approach gives good performance in predicting the values from the stock market indices.

Applications of vitamin B6 cofactor pyridoxal 5‧-phosphate and pyridoxal 5‧-phosphate crowned gold nanoparticles for optical sensing of metal ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bothra, Shilpa; Upadhyay, Yachana; Kumar, Rajender; Sahoo, Suban K.

2017-03-01

Vitamin B6 cofactor pyridoxal 5‧-phosphate (PLP) and PLP crowned gold nanoparticles (PLP-AuNPs) was applied for the optical chemosensing of metal ions in aqueous medium. PLP showed a visually detectable colour change from colourless to yellow and 'turn-off' fluorescence in the presence of Fe3 +. The fluorescence intensity of PLP at 433 nm was also blue-shifted and enhanced at 395 nm upon addition of Al3 +. When the PLP was functionalized over AuNPs surface, the wine red colour of PLP-AuNPs was turned to purplish-blue and the SPR band at 525 nm was red-shifted upon addition of Al3 +, Cd2 + and Pb2 + due to the complexation-induced aggregation of nanoparticles. The developed sensing systems exhibited good selectivity and specificity for the detected analytes (Fe3 +, Al3 +, Cd2 + and Pb2 +).

Green synthesis of amphipathic graphene aerogel constructed by using the framework of polymer-surfactant complex for water remediation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Jingjing; Wang, Ziyuan; Yang, Xianhou; Tu, Jing; Wu, Ronglan; Wang, Wei

2018-06-01

Graphene aerogels have been extensively studied in water treatment and oil remediation. We report a mild and green method to prepare a 3D-columnar graphene aerogel. The aerogel was synthesized by using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and stearic acid (SA) as crosslinking agents to construct a framework of reduced graphene oxide (RGO). The interaction between PVA, SA, and stacked RGO sheets created a mechanically very robust aerogel. The aerogel possesses ultra-light performance with the destiny ranging from 4.9 to 10 mg cm-3. The aerogel also demonstrated ultrafast oil absorption, good fire-resistance, and excellent mechanical properties. The adsorptive capacities are in the range of 105-250 times of its original weight for various organic liquids after the absorption. The aerogel also exhibited a strong durability and reusability, and after ten cycles of absorbing-squeezing, the adsorptive capacity is nearly unchanged, indicating potential application in practical oil remediation.

Meniscus-assisted solution printing of large-grained perovskite films for high-efficiency solar cells

PubMed Central

He, Ming; Li, Bo; Cui, Xun; Jiang, Beibei; He, Yanjie; Chen, Yihuang; O’Neil, Daniel; Szymanski, Paul; EI-Sayed, Mostafa A.; Huang, Jinsong; Lin, Zhiqun

2017-01-01

Control over morphology and crystallinity of metal halide perovskite films is of key importance to enable high-performance optoelectronics. However, this remains particularly challenging for solution-printed devices due to the complex crystallization kinetics of semiconductor materials within dynamic flow of inks. Here we report a simple yet effective meniscus-assisted solution printing (MASP) strategy to yield large-grained dense perovskite film with good crystallization and preferred orientation. Intriguingly, the outward convective flow triggered by fast solvent evaporation at the edge of the meniscus ink imparts the transport of perovskite solutes, thus facilitating the growth of micrometre-scale perovskite grains. The growth kinetics of perovskite crystals is scrutinized by in situ optical microscopy tracking to understand the crystallization mechanism. The perovskite films produced by MASP exhibit excellent optoelectronic properties with efficiencies approaching 20% in planar perovskite solar cells. This robust MASP strategy may in principle be easily extended to craft other solution-printed perovskite-based optoelectronics. PMID:28685751

Fluorescence-enhanced europium complexes for the assessment of renal function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chinen, Lori K.; Galen, Karen P.; Kuan, K. T.; Dyszlewski, Mary E.; Ozaki, Hiroaki; Sawai, Hiroaki; Pandurangi, Raghootama S.; Jacobs, Frederick G.; Dorshow, Richard B.; Rajagopalan, Raghavan

2008-02-01

Real-time, non-invasive assessment of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is essential not only for monitoring critically ill patients at the bedside, but also for staging and monitoring patients with chronic kidney disease. In our pursuit to develop exogenous luminescent probes for dynamic optical monitoring of GFR, we have prepared and evaluated Eu 3+ complexes of several diethylenetriamine pentaacetate (DTPA)-monoamide ligands bearing molecular "antennae" to enhance metal fluorescence via the intramolecular ligand-metal fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) process. The results show that Eu-DTPA-monoamide complex 13a, which contains a quinoxanlinyl antenna, exhibits large (c.a. 2700-fold) Eu 3+ fluorescence enhancement over Eu-DTPA (4c). Indeed, complex 13a exhibits the highest fluorescent enhancement observed thus far in the DTPA-type metal complexes. The renal clearance profile of the corresponding radioactive 111In complex 13c is similar to that of 111In-DTPA, albeit 13c clears slower than 111In-DTPA. The biodistribution data indicates that 13c, and, by inference, 13a clear via a complex mechanism that includes glomerular filtration.

An aptasensor for staphylococcus aureus based on nicking enzyme amplification reaction and rolling circle amplification.

PubMed

Xu, Jingguo; Guo, Jia; Maina, Sarah Wanjiku; Yang, Yumeng; Hu, Yimin; Li, Xuanxuan; Qiu, Jiarong; Xin, Zhihong

2018-05-15

An ultra-sensitive aptamer-based biosensor for the detection of staphylococcus aureus was established by adopting the nicking enzyme amplification reaction (NEAR) and the rolling circle amplification (RCA) technologies. Aptamer-probe (AP), containing an aptamer and a probe sequence, was developed to act as the recognition unit of the biosensor, which was specifically bound to S. aureus. The probe was released from AP and initiated into the subsequent DNA amplification reactions where S. aureus was present, converting the detection of S. aureus to the investigation of probe oligonucleotide. The RCA amplification products contained a G-quadruplex motif and formed a three dimensional structure in presence of hemin. The G4/hemin complex showed horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-mimic activity and catalyzed the chemiluminescence reaction of luminol mediated by H 2 O 2 . The results showed that the established biosensor could detect S. aureus specifically with a good linear correlation at 5-10 4  CFU/mL. The signal values based on NEAR-RCA two-step cycle were boosted acutely, much higher than that relied on one-cycle magnification. The limit of detection (LoD) was determined to be as low as 5 CFU/mL. The established aptasensor exhibited a good discrimination of living against dead S. aureus, and can be applied to detect S. aureus in the food industry. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spectroscopic insights on selfassembly and excited state interactions between rhodamine and phthalocyanine molecules.

PubMed

Geng, Hao; Zhang, Xian-Fu

2015-03-15

The absorption and fluorescence spectra as well as fluorescence lifetimes of tetrasulfonated zinc phthalocyanine ZnPc(SO3Na)4 were measured in the absence and presence of four rhodamine dyes, Rhodamine B (RB), Ethyl rhodamine B (ERB), Rhodamine 6G (R6G), Rhodamine 110 (R110), and Pyronine B (PYB). The ground state complexes of phthalocyanine-(Rhodamine)2 were observed which exhibit new absorption bands. The binding constants are all very large (0.86×10(5)-0.22×10(8) M(-1)), suggesting rhodamine-phthalocyanine pairs are very good combinations for efficient selfassembly. Both the fluorescence intensity and the lifetime values of ZnPc(SO3Na)4 were decreased by the presence of rhodamines. The structural effect of rhodamines on selfassembly is significant. The ground state binding and dynamic quenching capability is PYB>R6G>ERB>RB>R110. The dynamic fluorescence quenching is due to the photoinduced electron transfer (PET). The PET rate constant is very large and in the order of 10(13) M(-1) s(-1), much greater than kf and kic (in the order of 10(8) M(-1) s(-1)), which means that the PET efficiency is almost 100%. Therefore the non-covalent Pc-rhodamine is a very good pair of donor/acceptor for potential efficient solar energy conversion. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling motor connectivity using TMS/PET and structural equation modeling

PubMed Central

Laird, Angela R.; Robbins, Jacob M.; Li, Karl; Price, Larry R.; Cykowski, Matthew D.; Narayana, Shalini; Laird, Robert W.; Franklin, Crystal; Fox, Peter T.

2010-01-01

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to positron emission tomographic (PET) images acquired during transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the primary motor cortex (M1hand). TMS was applied across a range of intensities, and responses both at the stimulation site and remotely connected brain regions covaried with stimulus intensity. Regions of interest (ROIs) were identified through an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of TMS studies. That these ROIs represented the network engaged by motor planning and execution was confirmed by an ALE meta-analysis of finger movement studies. Rather than postulate connections in the form of an a priori model (confirmatory approach), effective connectivity models were developed using a model-generating strategy based on improving tentatively specified models. This strategy exploited the experimentally-imposed causal relations: (1) that response variations were caused by stimulation variations, (2) that stimulation was unidirectionally applied to the M1hand region, and (3) that remote effects must be caused, either directly or indirectly, by the M1hand excitation. The path model thus derived exhibited an exceptional level of goodness (χ2=22.150, df = 38, P = 0.981, TLI=1.0). The regions and connections derived were in good agreement with the known anatomy of the human and primate motor system. The model-generating SEM strategy thus proved highly effective and successfully identified a complex set of causal relationships of motor connectivity. PMID:18387823

Polymer monolithic capillary microextraction on-line coupled with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry for the determination of trace Au and Pd in biological samples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Xiaolan; He, Man; Chen, Beibei; Hu, Bin

2014-11-01

A novel method based on on-line polymer monolithic capillary microextraction (CME)-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was developed for the determination of trace Au and Pd in biological samples. For this purpose, poly(glycidyl methacrylate-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolith was prepared and functionalized with mercapto groups. The prepared monolith exhibited good selectivity to Au and Pd, and good resistance to strong acid with a long life span. Factors affecting the extraction efficiency of CME, such as sample acidity, sample flow rate, eluent conditions and coexisting ion interference were investigated in detail. Under the optimal conditions, the limits of detection (LODs, 3σ) were 5.9 ng L- 1 for Au and 8.3 ng L- 1 for Pd, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs, c = 50 ng L-1, n = 7) were 6.5% for Au and 1.1% for Pd, respectively. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of Au and Pd in human urine and serum samples with the recovery in the range of 84-118% for spiked samples. The developed on-line polymer monolithic CME-ICP-MS method has the advantages of rapidity, simplicity, low sample/reagent consumption, high sensitivity and is suitable for the determination of trace Au and Pd in biological samples with limited amount available and complex matrix.

Amperometric immunosensor for α-fetoprotein antigen in human serum based on co-immobilizing dinuclear copper complex and gold nanoparticle doped chitosan film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gan, Ning; Meng, Ling Hua; Wang, Feng

2009-09-01

A sensitive amperometric immunosensor for α-fetoprotein (AFP), a tumor marker for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), was constructed, The immunosensor is prepared by co-immobilizing [Cu2(phen)2Cl2] (μ-Cl)2 (CuL), nano-Au/Chitosan(Chit) composite, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and AFP antibody(anti-AFP) on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Firstly, CuL was irreversibly absorb on GCE electrode through π-π stacking interaction; then nano-Au/Chit composite was immobilized onto the electrode because of its excellent membrane-forming ability, finally HRP and anti-AFP was adsorbed onto the surface of the gold nanoparticles to construct GCE | CuL/nanoAu-chit/HRP/anti-AFP immunosensor. The preparation procedure of the electrode was characterized by electrochemical and spectroscopy method. The results showed that this immunosensor exhibited an excellent electrocatalytic response to the reduction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) without the aid of an electron mediator, offers a high-sensitivity (1710 nA · ng-1 · ml-1) for the detection of AFP and has good correlation for detection of AFP in the range of 0.2 to 120.0 ng/ml with a detection limit of 0.05 ng/ml. The biosensor showed high selectivity as well as good stability and reproductivity.

Functionalized Sugarcane Bagasse for U(VI) Adsorption from Acid and Alkaline Conditions.

PubMed

Su, Shouzheng; Liu, Qi; Liu, Jingyuan; Zhang, Hongsen; Li, Rumin; Jing, Xiaoyan; Wang, Jun

2018-01-15

The highly efficient removal of uranium from mine tailings effluent, radioactive wastewater and enrichment from seawater is of great significance for the development of nuclear industry. In this work, we prepared an efficient U(VI) adsorbent by EDTA modified sugarcane bagasse (MESB) with a simple process. The prepared adsorbent preserves high adsorptive capacity for UO 2 2+ (pH 3.0) and uranyl complexes, such as UO 2 (OH) + , (UO 2 ) 2 (OH) 2 2+ and (UO 2 ) 3 (OH) 5 + (pH 4.0 and pH 5.0) and good repeatability in acidic environment. The maximum adsorption capacity for U(VI) at pH 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 is 578.0, 925.9 and 1394.1 mg/g and the adsorption capacity loss is only 7% after five cycles. With the pH from 3.0 to 5.0, the inhibitive effects of Na + and K + decreased but increased of Mg 2+ and Ca 2+ . MESB also exhibits good adsorption for [UO 2 (CO 3 ) 3 ] 4- at pH 8.3 from 10 mg/L to 3.3 μg/L. Moreover, MESB could effectively extract U(VI) from simulated seawater in the presence of other metals ions. This work provided a general and efficient uranyl enriched material for nuclear industry.

Poly(vinyl Alcohol) Borate Gel Polymer Electrolytes Prepared by Electrodeposition and Their Application in Electrochemical Supercapacitors.

PubMed

Jiang, Mengjin; Zhu, Jiadeng; Chen, Chen; Lu, Yao; Ge, Yeqian; Zhang, Xiangwu

2016-02-10

Gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) have been studied for preparing flexible and compact electrochemical energy storage devices. However, the preparation and use of GPEs are complex, and most GPEs prepared through traditional methods do not have good wettability with the electrodes, which retard them from achieving their performance potential. In this study, these problems are addressed by conceiving and implementing a simple, but effective, method of electrodepositing poly(vinyl alcohol) potassium borate (PVAPB) GPEs directly onto the surfaces of active carbon electrodes for electrochemical supercapacitors. PVAPB GPEs serve as both the electrolyte and the separator in the assembled supercapacitors, and their scale and shape are determined solely by the geometry of the electrodes. PVAPB GPEs have good bonding to the active electrode materials, leading to excellent and stable electrochemical performance of the supercapacitors. The electrochemical performance of PVAPB GPEs and supercapacitors can be manipulated simply by adjusting the concentration of KCl salt used during the electrodeposition process. With a 0.9 M KCl concentration, the as-prepared supercapacitors deliver a specific capacitance of 65.9 F g(-1) at a current density of 0.1 A g(-1) and retain more than 95% capacitance after 2000 charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 1 A g(-1). These supercapacitors also exhibit intelligent high voltage self-protection function due to the electrolysis-induced cross-linking effect of PVAPB GPEs.

l-Cysteine-modified silver-functionalized silica-based material as an efficient solid-phase extraction adsorbent for the determination of bisphenol A.

PubMed

Li, Yuanyuan; Zhu, Nan; Li, Bingxiang; Chen, Tong; Ma, Yulong; Li, Qiang

2018-02-01

A new silver-functionalized silica-based material with a core-shell structure based on silver nanoparticle-coated silica spheres was synthesized, and silver nanoparticles were modified using strongly bound l-cysteine. l-Cysteine-silver@silica was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy. Then, a solid-phase extraction method based on l-cysteine-silver@silica was developed and successfully used for bisphenol A determination prior to HPLC analysis. The results showed that the l-cysteine-silver@silica as an adsorbent exhibited good enrichment capability for bisphenol A, and the maximum adsorption saturation was 20.93 mg/g. Moreover, a short adsorption equilibrium time was obtained due to the presence of silver nanoparticles on the surface of the silica. The extraction efficiencies were then optimized by varying the eluents and pH. Under the optimized conditions, good linearity for bisphenol A was obtained in the range from 0.4 to 4.0 μM (R 2  > 0.99) with a low limit of detection (1.15 ng/mL). The spiked recoveries from tap water and milk samples were satisfactory (85-102%) with relative standard deviations below 5.2% (n = 3), which indicated that the method was suitable for the analysis of bisphenol A in complex samples. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Rapid and sensitive analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls and acrylamide in food samples using ionic liquid-based in situ dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction coupled to headspace gas chromatography.

PubMed

Zhang, Cheng; Cagliero, Cecilia; Pierson, Stephen A; Anderson, Jared L

2017-01-20

A simple and rapid ionic liquid (IL)-based in situ dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) method was developed and coupled to headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) employing electron capture (ECD) and mass spectrometry (MS) detection for the analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and acrylamide at trace levels from milk and coffee samples. The chemical structures of the halide-based ILs were tailored by introducing various functional groups to the cations to evaluate the effect of different structural features on the extraction efficiency of the target analytes. Extraction parameters including the molar ratio of IL to metathesis reagent and IL mass were optimized. The effects of HS oven temperature and the HS sample vial volume on the analyte response were also evaluated. The optimized in situ DLLME method exhibited good analytical precision, good linearity, and provided detection limits down to the low ppt level for PCBs and the low ppb level for acrylamide in aqueous samples. The matrix-compatibility of the developed method was also established by quantifying acrylamide in brewed coffee samples. This method is much simpler and faster compared to previously reported GC-MS methods using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) for the extraction/preconcentration of PCBs and acrylamide from complex food samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

No effect of intraspecific relatedness on public goods cooperation in a complex community

PubMed Central

O'Brien, Siobhán; Hesse, Elze; Luján, Adela; Hodgson, David J.; Gardner, Andy; Buckling, Angus

2018-01-01

Abstract Many organisms—notably microbes—are embedded within complex communities where cooperative behaviors in the form of excreted public goods can benefit other species. Under such circumstances, intraspecific interactions are likely to be less important in driving the evolution of cooperation. We first illustrate this idea with a simple theoretical model, showing that relatedness—the extent to which individuals with the same cooperative alleles interact with each other—has a reduced impact on the evolution of cooperation when public goods are shared between species. We test this empirically using strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that vary in their production of metal‐chelating siderophores in copper contaminated compost (an interspecific public good). We show that nonsiderophore producers grow poorly relative to producers under high relatedness, but this cost can be alleviated by the presence of the isogenic producer (low relatedness) and/or the compost microbial community. Hence, relatedness can become unimportant when public goods provide interspecific benefits. PMID:29611186

Health education in school children.

PubMed

Tragler, A

1991-05-01

A researcher compared responses to a pretest questionnaire with those a posttest questionnaire completed by 304 12-16 year old school children in India to assess health knowledge of school children. The children attended either a public school or a private school in Bombay or a rural school in Kazli operated by a charitable institution. The researcher administered the posttest 4 weeks after health education talks and demonstrations. Before the health education course, children at all 3 schools had limited health knowledge. For example, 19-52% of the children exhibited poor knowledge and only 2% exhibited good knowledge (all from the public school). After undergoing health education, 52% of the children in the public school had good knowledge and 37% had very good knowledge. These parallel figures for the private and rural schools were 67% and 23% and 76% respectively. Nutrition knowledge was considerably better than knowledge of immunization and hygiene before the health education course. 6% of the students at the private school had good knowledge of nutrition compared to only 2% for immunization and 1% for hygiene. Nutrition knowledge did increase after health education, but not as markedly as did immunization knowledge. For example, good and very good immunization knowledge was 60% for the public school, 76% for the private school, and 97% for the rural school compared to 0-3% prior to health education. Moreover health education cast away most of the misconceptions about the cause of worm infections and tetanus, the ability to beet roots to improve blood quality, and the ability of milk to sustain a health life during the 1st year.

Low Cost Fiber Optic Cable Assemblies for Local Distribution Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-04-01

coefficient of friction, and is chemically inert. PFA exhibits low water permeability and ab- sorption . FEP-100 and FEP-110 were initially extruded over T08...with FEP 110. To overcome these problems, Teflon PFA 9704 was evaluated. It exhibited good extrudability which allowed application of thin and thick...superior extrudability, in addition to meeting the optical characteristics required for a cladding material, Teflon PFA was considered a viable

Precursors to radiopharmaceutical agents for tissue imaging

DOEpatents

Srivastava, Prem C.; Knapp, Jr., Furn F.

1988-01-01

A class of radiolabeled compounds to be used in tissue imaging that exhibits rapid brain uptake, good brain:blood radioactivity ratios, and long retention times. The imaging agents are more specifically radioiodinated aromatic amines attached to dihydropyridine carriers, that exhibit heart as well as brain specificity. In addition to the radiolabeled compounds, classes of compounds are also described that are used as precursors and intermediates in the preparation of the imaging agents.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Zhe; Cao, Minhua, E-mail: caomh@bit.edu.cn; Key Laboratory of Cluster Science, Ministry of Education of China, Department of Chemistry, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081

Research highlights: {yields} Novel Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} hierarchical nanostructures self-assembled by nanorods are successfully synthesized in mild benzyl alcohol system under hydrothermal conditions. {yields} The hierarchical nanostructures exhibit a flower-like shape. {yields} PVP plays an important role for the formation of the hierarchical nanostructures. {yields} Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} film prepared from the flower-like hierarchical nanostructures exhibits good hydrophobic properties. -- Abstract: Novel Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} hierarchical nanostructures self-assembled by nanorods are successfully synthesized in mild benzyl alcohol system under hydrothermal conditions. The hierarchical nanostructures exhibit a flower-like shape. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmissionmore » electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) were used to characterize the as-synthesized samples. Meanwhile, the effect of various experimental parameters including the concentration of reagents and reaction time on final product has been investigated. In our experiment, PVP plays an important role for the formation of the hierarchical nanostructures and the possible mechanism was proposed. In addition, Bi{sub 2}S{sub 3} film prepared from the flower-like hierarchical nanostructures exhibits good hydrophobic properties, which may bring nontrivial functionalities and may have some promising applications in the future.« less

Pyruvate dehydrogenase complexes from the equine nematode, Parascaris equorum, and the canine cestode, Dipylidium caninum, helminths exhibiting anaerobic mitochondrial metabolism.

PubMed

Diaz, F; Komuniecki, R W

1994-10-01

The pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) has been purified to apparent homogeneity from 2 parasitic helminths exhibiting anaerobic mitochondrial metabolism, the equine nematode, Parascaris equorum, and the canine cestode, Dipylidium caninum. The P. equorum PDC yielded 7 major bands when separated by SDS-PAGE. The bands of 72, 55-53.5, 41 and 36 kDa corresponded to E2, E3, E1 alpha and E1 beta, respectively. The complex also contained additional unidentified proteins of 43 and 45 kDa. Incubation of the complex with [2-14C]pyruvate resulted in the acetylation of only E2. These results suggest that the P. equorum PDC lacks protein X and exhibits an altered subunit composition, as has been described previously for the PDC of the related nematode, Ascaris suum. In contrast, the D. caninum PDC yielded only four major bands after SDS-PAGE of 59, 58, 39 and 34 kDa, which corresponded to E3, E2, E1 alpha and E1 beta, respectively. Incubation of the D. caninum complex with [2-14C]pyruvate resulted in the acetylation of E2 and a second protein which comigrated with E3, suggesting that the D. caninum complex contained protein X and had a subunit composition similar to PDCs from other eukaryotic organisms. Both helminth complexes appeared less sensitive to inhibition by elevated NADH/NAD+ ratios than complexes isolated from aerobic organisms, as would be predicted for PDCs from organisms exploiting microaerobic habitats. These results suggest that although these helminths have similar anaerobic mitochondrial pathways, they contain significantly different PDCs.

A series of Ln-p-chlorobenzoic acid–terpyridine complexes: lanthanide contraction effects, supramolecular interactions and luminescent behavior

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carter, Korey P.; Pope, Simon J. A.; Cahill, Christopher L.

Fifteen new lanthanide p-chlorobenzoic acid complexes, [PrL3(terpy)(H2O)]2 (1), [LnL3(terpy)(H2O)]2 (Ln = Nd (2), Sm (3), and Eu (4)), and [LnL3(terpy)(H2O)] (Ln = Sm (3'), Eu (4'), Gd (5), Tb (6), Dy (7), Ho (8), Er (9), Tm (10), Yb (11), Lu (12), and Y (13); HL: p-chlorobenzoic acid; terpy: 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine), have been synthesized hydrothermally at varying temperatures and structurally characterized by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction. The series is comprised of binuclear molecular units (Pr–Eu) that give way to mononuclear molecular complexes (Sm–Y) as the lanthanide contraction takes effect. All fifteen complexes feature a tridentate terpyridine ligand, p-chlorobenzoic acidmore » ligands exhibiting multiple binding modes, bidentate, bridging bidentate, and monodentate, and a bound water molecule. Binuclear complexes 1–4 are stitched together via intermolecular interactions: aromatic–aromatic interactions for 1, halogen•••halogen interactions for 2–4, to form 1D chains. Mononuclear complexes 3', 4', and 5–13 utilize supramolecular hydrogen and halogen bonding to form 2D sheets. Visible and near-IR solid state luminescence studies were performed on complexes 2, 3, 3', 4, 4', 6, 7 and 11 and the characteristic visible luminescence of Sm(III), Eu(III), Tb(III), and Dy(III) was exhibited. The near-IR spectra of the Nd(III) and Yb(III) complexes exhibit weak characteristic luminescence, showing that terpy can act as a sensitizing chromophore in these systems.« less

KSC-99pp0400

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-04-08

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A host robot, Starquester 2000, helps describe for visitors the accomplishments of unsung space heroes space probes and their role in space exploration. The walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit is part of the $13 million expansion to KSC's Visitor Complex. Other additions include a walk-through Robot Scouts exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, and the film Quest for Life in a new 300-seat theater, plus an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks. Inaugurated three decades ago, the Visitor Complex is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Particle morphology influence on mechanical and biocompatibility properties of injection molded Ti alloy powder.

PubMed

Gülsoy, H Özkan; Gülsoy, Nagihan; Calışıcı, Rahmi

2014-01-01

Titanium and Titanium alloys exhibits properties that are excellent for various bio-applications. Metal injection molding is a processing route that offers reduction in costs, with the added advantage of near net-shape components. Different physical properties of Titanium alloy powders, shaped and processed via injection molding can achieve high complexity of part geometry with mechanical and bioactivity properties, similar or superior to wrought material. This study describes that the effect of particle morphology on the microstructural, mechanical and biocompatibility properties of injection molded Ti-6Al-4V (Ti64) alloy powder for biomaterials applications. Ti64 powders irregular and spherical in shape were injection molded with wax based binder. Binder debinding was performed in solvent and thermal method. After debinding the samples were sintered under high vacuum. Metallographic studies were determined to densification and the corresponding microstructural changes. Sintered samples were immersed in a simulated body fluid (SBF) with elemental concentrations that were comparable to those of human blood plasma for a total period of 15 days. Both materials were implanted in fibroblast culture for biocompatibility evaluations were carried out. The results show that spherical and irregular powder could be sintered to a maximum theoretical density. Maximum tensile strength was obtained for spherical shape powder sintered. The tensile strength of the irregular shape powder sintered at the same temperature was lower due to higher porosity. Finally, mechanical tests show that the irregular shape powder has lower mechanical properties than spherical shape powder. The sintered irregular Ti64 powder exhibited better biocompatibility than sintered spherical Ti64 powder. Results of study showed that sintered spherical and irregular Ti64 powders exhibited high mechanical properties and good biocompatibility properties.

Tetrakis-amido high flux membranes

DOEpatents

McCray, S.B.

1989-10-24

Composite RO membranes of a microporous polymeric support and a polyamide reaction product of a tetrakis-aminomethyl compound and a polyacylhalide are disclosed, said membranes exhibiting high flux and good chlorine resistance.

Tetrakis-amido high flux membranes

DOEpatents

McCray, Scott B.

1989-01-01

Composite RO membranes of a microporous polymeric support and a polyamide reaction product of a tetrakis-aminomethyl compound and a polyacylhalide are disclosed, said membranes exhibiting high flux and good chlorine resistance.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

At the grand opening of the newly expanded KSC Visitor Complex, Center Director Roy Bridges presents Deep Space Nine star Avery Brooks with a plaque, NASA jacket and hat. Brooks narrates the new film Quest for Life at the Visitor Center. Brooks was recognized for his contribution to advancing the public's understanding of NASA and the search for life elsewhere in the universe. The Complex now includes an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks, a new foyer, films, and exhibits. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

At the grand opening of the newly expanded KSC Visitor Complex, Center Director Roy Bridges presents Deep Space Nine star Avery Brooks with a plaque, recognizing his contribution to advancing the public's understanding of NASA and the search for life elsewhere in the universe. Brooks narrates the new film Quest for Life at the Visitor Center. The $ 13 million addition to the Visitor Complex now includes an International Space Station- themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks, a new information center, films, and exhibits. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Antibacterial activity of Hygrophila stricta and Peperomia pellucida.

PubMed

Khan, M R; Omoloso, A D

2002-06-01

The crude methanolic extracts of Hygrophila scricta and Peperomia pellucida were fractionated into petrol, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and butanol. All the crude extracts and the fractions exhibited a very good level of broad spectrum antibacterial activity. The fractions were more active than the crude extracts. The petrol fraction of H. stricta and the butanol fraction of P. pellucida were particularly good. No activity was noticed for the moulds tested.

Good practice in social care: the views of people with severe and complex needs and those who support them.

PubMed

Gridley, Kate; Brooks, Jenni; Glendinning, Caroline

2014-11-01

This paper reports findings drawn from a study of good practice in English social care for adults with disability and older people with severe and complex needs. People with severe and complex needs are a relatively small proportion of adult social care service users, but they are growing in numbers and have resource-intensive needs. The study involved qualitative research with adults with disability and older people with severe and complex needs, family carers and members of specialist organisations (n = 67), focusing on the features of social care services they considered to be good practice. Data were collected between August 2010 and June 2011. The approach to data collection was flexible, to accommodate participants' communication needs and preferences, including face-to-face and telephone interviews, Talking Mats(©) sessions and a focus group. Data were managed using Framework and analysed thematically. Features of good practice were considered at three levels: (i) everyday support; (ii) service organisation; and (iii) commissioning. Findings relating to the first two of these are presented here. Participants emphasised the importance of person-centred ways of working at all levels. Personalisation, as currently implemented in English social care, aims to shift power from professionals to service users through the allocation of personal budgets. This approach focuses very much on the role of the individual in directing his/her own support arrangements. However, participants in this study also stressed the importance of ongoing professional support, for example, from a specialist key worker or case manager to co-ordinate diverse services and ensure good practice at an organisational level. The paper argues that, despite the recent move to shift power from professionals to service users, people with the most complex needs still value support from professionals and appropriate organisational support. Without these, they risk being excluded from the benefits that personalisation, properly supported, could yield. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

In Vitro Assessment of Bioactivities of Lactobacillus Strains as Potential Probiotics for Humans and Chickens.

PubMed

Shokryazdan, P; Jahromi, M F; Liang, J B; Sieo, C C; Kalavathy, R; Idrus, Z; Ho, Y W

2017-11-01

Twelve previously isolated Lactobacillus strains were investigated for their in vitro bioactivities, including bile salt hydrolase (BSH), cholesterol-reducing and antioxidant activities, cytotoxic effects against cancer cells, enzyme activity, and biogenic amine production. Among them, only 4 strains showed relatively high BSH activity, whereas the rest exhibited low BSH activity. All 12 strains showed cholesterol-reducing and antioxidant activities, especially in their intact cells, which in most of the cases, the isolated strains were stronger in these activities than the tested commercial reference strains. None of the tested strains produced harmful enzymes (β-glucosidase and β-glucuronidase) or biogenic amines. Among the 12 strains, 3 strains were tested for their cytotoxic effects against 3 cancer cell lines, which exhibited strong cytotoxic effects, and they also showed selectivity in killing cancer cells when compared to normal cells. Hence, all 12 Lactobacillus strains could be considered good potential probiotic candidates because of their beneficial functional bioactivities. The Lactobacillus strains tested in this study could be considered good potential probiotic candidates for food/feed industry because of their beneficial functional bioactivities such as good cholesterol-reducing ability, high antioxidant activity, and good and selective cytotoxic effect against cancer cells. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Evaluation of the DCA Vantage analyzer for HbA 1c assay.

PubMed

Szymezak, Jean; Leroy, Nathalie; Lavalard, Emmanuelle; Gillery, Philippe

2008-01-01

Measurement of HbA 1c is key in monitoring diabetic patients in both laboratories and clinical units, where HbA 1c results are used as part of patient education. We have evaluated the DCA Vantage, a new device for immunological assay of HbA 1c. HbA 1c results obtained were evaluated in terms of precision, linearity, specificity and practicability, and were compared with results obtained by a Variant II HPLC method. The method exhibited intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation lower than 2.6% and 4.0%, respectively, and good correlation with the comparison HPLC method (r2=0.9776). No interference was noted in the presence of labile HbA 1c or carbamylated hemoglobin. The new device exhibited improved practicability characteristics and allowed better sample identification, better management of quality control routines and greater connectivity possibilities compared to the previous DCA 2000 analyzer. This new analyzer exhibited analytical and practical characteristics very suitable for HbA 1c assay for laboratory or point-of-care use according to good laboratory practice.

Copyright Information

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2013-03-25

... for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, and Internet web pages.   ... endorsement of commercial goods or services. If a NASA image includes an identifiable person, using the image for commercial purposes ...

The genetic basis of traits regulating sperm competition and polyandry: can selection favour the evolution of good- and sexy-sperm?

PubMed

Evans, Jonathan P; Simmons, Leigh W

2008-09-01

The good-sperm and sexy-sperm (GS-SS) hypotheses predict that female multiple mating (polyandry) can fuel sexual selection for heritable male traits that promote success in sperm competition. A major prediction generated by these models, therefore, is that polyandry will benefit females indirectly via their sons' enhanced fertilization success. Furthermore, like classic 'good genes' and 'sexy son' models for the evolution of female preferences, GS-SS processes predict a genetic correlation between genes for female mating frequency (analogous to the female preference) and those for traits influencing fertilization success (the sexually selected traits). We examine the premise for these predictions by exploring the genetic basis of traits thought to influence fertilization success and female mating frequency. We also highlight recent debates that stress the possible genetic constraints to evolution of traits influencing fertilization success via GS-SS processes, including sex-linked inheritance, nonadditive effects, interacting parental genotypes, and trade-offs between integrated ejaculate components. Despite these possible constraints, the available data suggest that male traits involved in sperm competition typically exhibit substantial additive genetic variance and rapid evolutionary responses to selection. Nevertheless, the limited data on the genetic variation in female mating frequency implicate strong genetic maternal effects, including X-linkage, which is inconsistent with GS-SS processes. Although the relative paucity of studies on the genetic basis of polyandry does not allow us to draw firm conclusions about the evolutionary origins of this trait, the emerging pattern of sex linkage in genes for polyandry is more consistent with an evolutionary history of antagonistic selection over mating frequency. We advocate further development of GS-SS theory to take account of the complex evolutionary dynamics imposed by sexual conflict over mating frequency.

Molecular structures of the inclusion complexes beta-cyclodextrin-1,2-bis(4-aminophenyl)ethane and beta-cyclodextrin-4,4'-diaminobiphenyl; packing of dimeric beta-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes.

PubMed

Giastas, Petros; Yannakopoulou, Konstantina; Mavridis, Irene M

2003-04-01

The present investigation is part of an ongoing study on the influence of the long end-functonalized guest molecules DBA and BNZ in the crystal packing of beta-cyclodextrin (betaCD) dimeric complexes. The title compounds are 2:2 host:guest complexes showing limited host-guest hydrogen bonding at the primary faces of the betaCD dimers. Within the betaCD cavity the guests exhibit mutual pi...pi interactions and between betaCD dimers perpendicular NH...pi interactions. The DBA guest molecule exhibits one extended and two bent conformations in the complex. The BNZ guest molecule is not planar inside betaCD, in contrast to the structure of BNZ itself, which indicates that the cavity isolates the molecules and forbids the pi...pi stacking of the aromatic rings. NMR spectroscopy studies show that in aqueous solution both DBA and BNZ form strong complexes that have 1:1 stoichiometry and structures similar to the solid state ones. The relative packing of the dimers is the same in both complexes. The axes of two adjacent dimers form an angle close to 20 degrees and have a lateral displacement approximately 2.45 A, both of which characterize the screw-channel mode of packing. Although the betaCD/BNZ complex indeed crystallizes in a space group characterizing the latter mode, the betaCD/DBA complex crystallizes in a space group with novel dimensions not resembling any of the packing modes reported so far. The new lattice is attributed to the three conformations exhibited by the guest in the crystals. However, this lattice can be transformed into another, which is isostructural to that of the betaCD/BNZ inclusion complex, if the conformation of the guest is not taken into account.

Relating Complexity and Error Rates of Ontology Concepts. More Complex NCIt Concepts Have More Errors.

PubMed

Min, Hua; Zheng, Ling; Perl, Yehoshua; Halper, Michael; De Coronado, Sherri; Ochs, Christopher

2017-05-18

Ontologies are knowledge structures that lend support to many health-information systems. A study is carried out to assess the quality of ontological concepts based on a measure of their complexity. The results show a relation between complexity of concepts and error rates of concepts. A measure of lateral complexity defined as the number of exhibited role types is used to distinguish between more complex and simpler concepts. Using a framework called an area taxonomy, a kind of abstraction network that summarizes the structural organization of an ontology, concepts are divided into two groups along these lines. Various concepts from each group are then subjected to a two-phase QA analysis to uncover and verify errors and inconsistencies in their modeling. A hierarchy of the National Cancer Institute thesaurus (NCIt) is used as our test-bed. A hypothesis pertaining to the expected error rates of the complex and simple concepts is tested. Our study was done on the NCIt's Biological Process hierarchy. Various errors, including missing roles, incorrect role targets, and incorrectly assigned roles, were discovered and verified in the two phases of our QA analysis. The overall findings confirmed our hypothesis by showing a statistically significant difference between the amounts of errors exhibited by more laterally complex concepts vis-à-vis simpler concepts. QA is an essential part of any ontology's maintenance regimen. In this paper, we reported on the results of a QA study targeting two groups of ontology concepts distinguished by their level of complexity, defined in terms of the number of exhibited role types. The study was carried out on a major component of an important ontology, the NCIt. The findings suggest that more complex concepts tend to have a higher error rate than simpler concepts. These findings can be utilized to guide ongoing efforts in ontology QA.

Preparation of highly stable fullerene C60 decorated graphene oxide nanocomposite and its sensitive electrochemical detection of dopamine in rat brain and pharmaceutical samples.

PubMed

Thirumalraj, Balamurugan; Palanisamy, Selvakumar; Chen, Shen-Ming; Lou, Bih-Show

2016-01-15

The research community has continuously paid much attention on the preparation of hybrid of carbon nanomaterials owing to combine their unique properties. Herein, we report the preparation of highly stable fullerene C60 (C60) wrapped graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite by using a simple sonication method. The fabricated GO-C60 nanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode shows a good sensitivity and lower oxidation overpotential towards dopamine (DA) than that of pristine GO and C60. The fabricated sensor detects the DA in the linear response range of 0.02-73.5μM. The limit of detection is estimated to be 0.008μM based on 3σ with a sensitivity of 4.23μAμM(-1)cm(-2). The fabricated sensor also exhibits other features such as good selectivity, stability, reproducibility and repeatability. The proposed sensor exhibits good practicality towards the detection of DA in rat brain and commercial DA injection samples. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Electrochemical immunosensor with NiAl-layered double hydroxide/graphene nanocomposites and hollow gold nanospheres double-assisted signal amplification.

PubMed

Qiao, Lu; Guo, Yemin; Sun, Xia; Jiao, Yancui; Wang, Xiangyou

2015-08-01

A sensitive electrochemical immunosensor based on NiAl-layered double hydroxide/graphene nanocomposites (NiAl-LDH/G) and hollow gold nanospheres (HGNs) was proposed for chlorpyrifos detection. The NiAl-LDH/G was prepared using a conventional coprecipitation process and reduction of the supporting graphene oxide. Subsequently, the nanocomposites were dispersed with chitosan (CS). The NiAl-LDH/G possessed good electrochemical behavior and high binding affinity to the electrode. The high surface areas of HGNs and the vast aminos and hydroxyls of CS provided a platform for the covalently crosslinking of antibody. Under optimal conditions, the immunosensor exhibited a wide linear range from 5 to 150 μg/mL and from 150 to 2 μg/mL, with a detection limit of 0.052 ng/mL. The detection results showed good agreement with standard gas chromatography method. The constructed immunosensor exhibited good reproducibility, high specificity, acceptable stability and regeneration performance, which provided a new promising tool for chlorpyrifos detection in real samples.

Constructing Free Standing Metal Organic Framework MIL-53 Membrane Based on Anodized Aluminum Oxide Precursor

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yunlu; Gao, Qiuming; Lin, Zhi; Zhang, Tao; Xu, Jiandong; Tan, Yanli; Tian, Weiqian; Jiang, Lei

2014-01-01

Metal organic framework (MOF) materials have attracted great attention due to their well-ordered and controllable pores possessing of prominent potentials for gas molecule sorption and separation performances. Organizing the MOF crystals to a continuous membrane with a certain scale will better exhibit their prominent potentials. Reports in recent years concentrate on well grown MOF membranes on specific substrates. Free standing MOF membranes could have more important applications since they are independent from the substrates. However, the method to prepare such a membrane has been a great challenge because good mechanical properties and stabilities are highly required. Here, we demonstrate a novel and facile technique for preparing the free standing membrane with a size as large as centimeter scale. The substrate we use proved itself not only a good skeleton but also an excellent precursor to fulfill the reaction. This kind of membrane owns a strong mechanical strength, based on the fact that it is much thinner than the composite membranes grown on substrates and it could exhibit good property of gas separation. PMID:24821299

Decreased Complexity in Alzheimer's Disease: Resting-State fMRI Evidence of Brain Entropy Mapping.

PubMed

Wang, Bin; Niu, Yan; Miao, Liwen; Cao, Rui; Yan, Pengfei; Guo, Hao; Li, Dandan; Guo, Yuxiang; Yan, Tianyi; Wu, Jinglong; Xiang, Jie; Zhang, Hui

2017-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a frequently observed, irreversible brain function disorder among elderly individuals. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) has been introduced as an alternative approach to assessing brain functional abnormalities in AD patients. However, alterations in the brain rs-fMRI signal complexities in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD patients remain unclear. Here, we described the novel application of permutation entropy (PE) to investigate the abnormal complexity of rs-fMRI signals in MCI and AD patients. The rs-fMRI signals of 30 normal controls (NCs), 33 early MCI (EMCI), 32 late MCI (LMCI), and 29 AD patients were obtained from the Alzheimer's disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. After preprocessing, whole-brain entropy maps of the four groups were extracted and subjected to Gaussian smoothing. We performed a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the brain entropy maps of the four groups. The results after adjusting for age and sex differences together revealed that the patients with AD exhibited lower complexity than did the MCI and NC controls. We found five clusters that exhibited significant differences and were distributed primarily in the occipital, frontal, and temporal lobes. The average PE of the five clusters exhibited a decreasing trend from MCI to AD. The AD group exhibited the least complexity. Additionally, the average PE of the five clusters was significantly positively correlated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores and significantly negatively correlated with Functional Assessment Questionnaire (FAQ) scores and global Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores in the patient groups. Significant correlations were also found between the PE and regional homogeneity (ReHo) in the patient groups. These results indicated that declines in PE might be related to changes in regional functional homogeneity in AD. These findings suggested that complexity analyses using PE in rs-fMRI signals can provide important information about the fMRI characteristics of cognitive impairments in MCI and AD.

Decreased Complexity in Alzheimer's Disease: Resting-State fMRI Evidence of Brain Entropy Mapping

PubMed Central

Wang, Bin; Niu, Yan; Miao, Liwen; Cao, Rui; Yan, Pengfei; Guo, Hao; Li, Dandan; Guo, Yuxiang; Yan, Tianyi; Wu, Jinglong; Xiang, Jie; Zhang, Hui

2017-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a frequently observed, irreversible brain function disorder among elderly individuals. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) has been introduced as an alternative approach to assessing brain functional abnormalities in AD patients. However, alterations in the brain rs-fMRI signal complexities in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD patients remain unclear. Here, we described the novel application of permutation entropy (PE) to investigate the abnormal complexity of rs-fMRI signals in MCI and AD patients. The rs-fMRI signals of 30 normal controls (NCs), 33 early MCI (EMCI), 32 late MCI (LMCI), and 29 AD patients were obtained from the Alzheimer's disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. After preprocessing, whole-brain entropy maps of the four groups were extracted and subjected to Gaussian smoothing. We performed a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the brain entropy maps of the four groups. The results after adjusting for age and sex differences together revealed that the patients with AD exhibited lower complexity than did the MCI and NC controls. We found five clusters that exhibited significant differences and were distributed primarily in the occipital, frontal, and temporal lobes. The average PE of the five clusters exhibited a decreasing trend from MCI to AD. The AD group exhibited the least complexity. Additionally, the average PE of the five clusters was significantly positively correlated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores and significantly negatively correlated with Functional Assessment Questionnaire (FAQ) scores and global Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores in the patient groups. Significant correlations were also found between the PE and regional homogeneity (ReHo) in the patient groups. These results indicated that declines in PE might be related to changes in regional functional homogeneity in AD. These findings suggested that complexity analyses using PE in rs-fMRI signals can provide important information about the fMRI characteristics of cognitive impairments in MCI and AD. PMID:29209199

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? The Dynamic Interplay between Educational Practice, Policy and Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Geert, Paul; Steenbeek, Henderien

2014-01-01

The notion of complexity--as in "education is a complex system"--has two different meanings. On the one hand, there is the epistemic connotation, with "Complex" meaning "difficult to understand, hard to control". On the other hand, complex has a technical meaning, referring to systems composed of many interacting…