Durable antibacterial Ag/polyacrylonitrile (Ag/PAN) hybrid nanofibers prepared by atmospheric plasma treatment and electrospinning

Durable antibacterial Ag/polyacrylonitrile (Ag/PAN) hybrid nanofibers were prepared by atmospheric plasma treatment and electrospinning. Atmospheric helium plasma treatment was first used to reduce the AgNO₃ precursor in pre-electrospinning solutions into metallic silver nanoparticles, followed by electrospinning into continuous and smooth nanofibers with Ag nanoparticles embedded in the matrix. SEM, TEM, and EDX spectra were used to study the structure and surface elemental composition of the nanofibers. Silver nanoparticles, with diameters ranging between 3 and 6 nm, were found to be uniformly dispersed in the nanofiber matrix. The Ag/PAN nanofibers exhibited slow and long-lasting silver ion release, which provided robust antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive Bacillus cereus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli microorganisms.     

Modeling the geometric, electronic, and redox properties of iron(III)-containing amphiphiles with asymmetric [NN'O] headgroups

Two iron(III)-containing amphiphiles 1 and 2 have been synthesized with the [NN'O] ligands HL(tBu-ODA) (2-((octadecyl(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)amino)methyl)-4,6-di-tert-butylphenol) and HL(I-ODA) (2-((octadecyl(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)amino)methyl)-4,6-diiodophenol), respectively. Compound 1 is monometallic, whereas EXAFS data suggest that 2 is a mixture of mono- and bimetallic species. The archetypical [Fe(III)(L(NN'O))(2)](+) complexes 3-9 have been isolated and characterized in order to understand the geometric, electronic, and redox properties of the amphiphiles. Preference for a monometallic or bimetallic nuclearity is dependent on (i) the nature of the solvent used for synthesis and (ii) the type of the substituent in the phenol moiety. In methanol, the tert-butyl-, methoxy-, and chloro-substituted 3, 4, and 5 are monometallic species, whereas the bromo- and iodo-substituted 6 and 7 form bimetallic complexes taking advantage of stabilizing methoxo bridges generated by solvent deprotonation. In dichloromethane, the bromo- and iodo-substituted 8 and 9 are monometallic species; however, these species favor meridional coordination in opposition to the facial coordination observed for the tert-butyl- and methoxy-substituted compounds. Molecular structures for species 5, 7, 8, and 9 have been solved by X-ray diffraction. Furthermore, the electronic spectrum of the amphiphile 1 was expected to be similar to those of facial/cis archetypes with similar substituents, but close resemblance was observed with the profile for those meridional/cis species, suggesting a similar coordination mode. This trend is discussed based on DFT calculations, where preference for the meridional/cis coordination mode appears related to the presence of tertiary amine nitrogen on the ligand, as when a long alkyl chain is attached to the [NN'O] headgroup.     

Hydrogen bonding in the hexagonal ice surface

A recently developed technique in sum frequency generation spectroscopy, polarization angle null (or PAN-SFG), is applied to two orientations of the prism face of hexagonal ice. It is found that the vibrational modes of the surface are similar in different faces. As in the basal face, the prism face of ice contains five dominant resonances: 3096, 3146, 3205, 3253, and 3386 cm(-1). On the basal face, the reddest resonance occurs at 3098 cm(-1); within the bandwidth, the same as the prism face. On both the prism and basal faces, this mode contains a significant quadrupole component and is assigned to the bilayer stitching hydrogen bonds. The bluest of the resonances, 3386 cm(-1), occurs slightly blue-shifted at 3393 cm(-1) in the basal face. The prism face has two orientations: one with the optic or c axis in the input plane (the plane formed by the surface normal and the interrogating beam propagation) and one with the c axis perpendicular to the input plane. The 3386 cm(-1) mode has significant intensity only with the c axis in the input plane. On the basis of these orientation characteristics, the 3386 cm(-1) mode is assigned to double-donor molecules in either the top half bilayer or in the lower half bilayer. On the basis of frequency considerations, it is assigned to double-donor molecules in the top half bilayer. These are water molecules containing a nonbonded lone pair. In addition to identification of the components of the broad hydrogen-bonded region, PAN-SFG measures the tangential vs longitudinal content of the vibrational modes. In accord with previous suggestions, the lower frequency modes are predominantly tangential, whereas the higher frequency modes are mainly longitudinal. On the prism face, the 3386 cm(-1) mode is entirely longitudinal.     

Casbane diterpene as a promising natural antimicrobial agent against biofilm-associated infections

Croton nepetaefolius is a native plant from northeastern Brazil that belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family. The biological action of this plant has been extensively explored, being the secondary metabolites responsible for its properties alkaloids, diterpenes, and triterpenes. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of casbane diterpene (CD), isolated from the ethanolic extract of C. nepetaefolius, to inhibit microbial growth and biofilm formation of several clinical relevant species (bacteria and yeasts). It was found that CD possessed biocidal and biostatic activity against the majority of the species screened, with minimal active concentrations ranging between 125 and 500 μg/mL. In addition, it was observed that biofilm formation was inhibited even when the planktonic growth was not significantly affected. In conclusion, CD showed potential to be a natural tool for the treatment of diseases caused by different infectious microorganisms.     

Variational Analysis Perspective on Linear Convergence of Some First Order Methods for Nonsmooth Convex Optimization Problems

Set-Valued and Variational Analysis - We study linear convergence of some first-order methods such as the proximal gradient method (PGM), the proximal alternating linearized minimization (PALM)...     

The Development of Comprehension of Chance Language: Evaluation and Interpretation

Comprehension of chance language, such as is found in newspapers, is a fundamental aspect of statistical literacy. In this study, students' understandings of chance language were explored through responses to two items in surveys administered to 2,726 students from grades 5 to 11. One item involved evaluating the chance expressed in phrases from newspaper headlines using a number line, and responses were described in four levels of chance language evaluation. The other item involved interpreting, in context, an expression of percent chance, and responses were described in four levels of chance language interpretation. Students in higher grades were more likely to demonstrate higher levels of both evaluation and interpretation. The association between levels of evaluation and interpretation was further explored generally and in relation to one of the headlines involving percent. Implications for mathematics educators in relation to chance language in the curriculum across the years of schooling are discussed.     

Necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints

In this paper we consider a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) formulated as a mathematical program with complementarity constraints. Various stationary conditions for MPECs exist in literature due to different reformulations. We give a simple proof to the M-stationary condition and show that it is sufficient for global or local optimality under some MPEC generalized convexity assumptions. Moreover, we propose new constraint qualifications for M-stationary conditions to hold. These new constraint qualifications include piecewise MFCQ, piecewise Slater condition, MPEC weak reverse convex constraint qualification, MPEC Arrow-Hurwicz-Uzawa constraint qualification, MPEC Zangwill constraint qualification, MPEC Kuhn-Tucker constraint qualification, and MPEC Abadie constraint qualification.