Pulsed EPR Analysis of the Photo-Induced Triplet Radical Pair in the BLUF Protein SyPixD: Determination of the Protein–Protein Distance and Orientation in the Oligomeric Protein

A photo-induced radical pair of FADH^· and Y8^· and in BLUF protein SyPixD was studied by pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Blue light illumination at 150 K for 30 min followed by cooling to 50 K during illumination induced the stable radical pair. The EPR signal has been characterized by a Pake doublet signal with complete S = 1 spin state. The radical pair was utilized as a probe to analyze the oligomer of SyPixD. The relative arrangement of PixD proteins in the complex was investigated by pulsed electron–electron double resonance (PELDOR) with the orientation selection. Based on the decameric structure in the crystal, the possible structure for the PELDOR results was discussed.     

Electro- and magneto-optical switching of defect modes in one- dimensional photonic crystals

The transmission spectra of polarized light waves in a photonic crystal/liquid crystal (PC/LC) cell placed between crossed polarizers and controlled by an electric or magnetic field have been studied experimentally and theoretically. Electro- and magneto-optical switching based on the interference of polarized defect modes has been demonstrated. The transmission spectra of the PC/LC cell have been calculated as a function of the voltage applied to the LC layer and the magnetic field strength. The results of the calculations agree well with the experimental data.     

An Alternative to the Gauge Theoretic Setting

The standard formulation of quantum gauge theories results from the Lagrangian (functional integral) quantization of classical gauge theories. A more intrinsic quantum theoretical access in the spirit of Wigner’s representation theory shows that there is a fundamental clash between the pointlike localization of zero mass (vector, tensor) potentials and the Hilbert space (positivity, unitarity) structure of QT. The quantization approach has no other way than to stay with pointlike localization and sacrifice the Hilbert space whereas the approach built on the intrinsic quantum concept of modular localization keeps the Hilbert space and trades the conflict creating pointlike generation with the tightest consistent localization: semiinfinite spacelike string localization. Whereas these potentials in the presence of interactions stay quite close to associated pointlike field strengths, the interacting matter fields to which they are coupled bear the brunt of the nonlocal aspect in that they are string-generated in a way which cannot be undone by any differentiation.     

Photobleaching on Photonic Crystal Enhanced Fluorescence Surfaces

The effect of resonant fluorescent enhancement from a photonic crystal surface upon the fluorescent photobleaching rate of Cyanine-5 labeled protein has been investigated. We show that the enhanced excitation mechanism for photonic crystal enhanced fluorescence, in which the device surface resonantly couples light from an excitation laser, accelerates photobleaching in proportion to the coupling efficiency of the laser to the photonic crystal. We also show that the enhanced extraction mechanism, in which the photonic crystal directs emitted photons approximately normal to the surface, does not play a role in the rate of photobleaching. We show that the photobleaching rate of dye molecules on the photonic crystal surface is accelerated by 30x compared to an ordinary glass surface, but substantial signal gain is still evident, even after extended periods of continuous illumination at the resonant condition.     

Synthesis,characterization, and in vitro biological evaluation of highly stable diversely functionalized superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

In this article, we report the design and synthesis of a series of well-dispersed superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) using chitosan as a surface modifying agent to develop a potential T ₂ contrast probe for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The amine, carboxyl, hydroxyl, and thiol functionalities were introduced on chitosan-coated magnetic probe via simple reactions with small reactive organic molecules to afford a series of biofunctionalized nanoparticles. Physico-chemical characterizations of these functionalized nanoparticles were performed by TEM, XRD, DLS, FTIR, and VSM. The colloidal stability of these functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles was investigated in presence of phosphate buffer saline, high salt concentrations and different cell media for 1 week. MRI analysis of human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cell lines treated with nanoparticles elucidated that the amine-functionalized nanoparticles exhibited higher amount of signal darkening and lower T ₂ relaxation in comparison to the others. The cellular internalization efficacy of these functionalized SPIONs was also investigated with HeLa cancer cell line by magnetically activated cell sorting (MACS) and fluorescence microscopy and results established selectively higher internalization efficacy of amine-functionalized nanoparticles to cancer cells. These positive attributes demonstrated that these nanoconjugates can be used as a promising platform for further in vitro and in vivo biological evaluations.     

Warm-intermediate inflationary universe model in braneworld cosmologies

Warm-intermediate inflationary universe models in the context of braneworld cosmologies are studied. This study is done in the weak and strong dissipative regimes. We find that the scalar potentials and dissipation coefficients in terms of the scalar field evolve as type-power-law and powers of logarithms, respectively. General conditions required for these models to be realizable are derived and discussed. We also study the scalar and tensor perturbations for each regime. We use recent astronomical observations to constrain the parameters appearing in the braneworld models.     

Influence of processing time on nanoparticle generation during picosecond-pulsed fundamental and second harmonic laser ablation of metals in tetrahydrofuran

The influence of fundamental and second harmonic wavelength on ablation efficiency and nanoparticle properties is studied during picosecond laser ablation of silver, zinc, and magnesium in polymer-doped tetrahydrofuran. Laser ablation in stationary liquid involves simultaneously the fabrication of nanoparticles by ablation of the target material and fragmentation of dispersed nanoparticles by post irradiation. The ratio in which the laser pulse energy contributes to these processes depends on laser wavelength and colloidal properties. For plasmon absorbers (silver), using the second harmonic wavelength leads to a decrease of the nanoparticle productivity over process time along with exponential decrease in particle diameter, while using the fundamental wavelength results in a constant ablation rate and linear decrease in particle diameter. For colloids made of materials without plasmon absorption (zinc, magnesium), laser scattering is the colloidal property that limits nanoparticle productivity by Mie-scattering of dispersed nanoparticle clusters.     

Weak Convergence and Banach Space-Valued Functions: Improving the Stability Theory of Feynman’s Operational Calculi

In this paper we investigate the relation between weak convergence of a sequence \(\left\{ \mu_{n}\right\} \) of probability measures on a Polish space S converging weakly to the probability measure μ and continuous, norm-bounded functions into a Banach space X. We show that, given a norm-bounded continuous function f:S→X, it follows that \(\lim_{n\to\infty}\int_{S}f\, d\mu_{n}=\int_{S}f\, d\mu\)—the limit one has for bounded and continuous real (or complex)—valued functions on S. This result is then applied to the stability theory of Feynman’s operational calculus where it is shown that the theory can be significantly improved over previous results.     

Improvement of <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-ZnO/<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Si photodiodes by embedding of silver nanoparticles

The photo-current of n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction photodiodes was improved by embedding Ag nanoparticles in the interface (ZnO/nano-P_Ag/p-Si), and the ratio between photo- and dark-current increased by about three orders more than that of a n-ZnO/p-Si specimen. The improvement in the photo-current resulted from the light scattering of embedded Ag nanoparticles. The I–V curve of n-ZnO/p-Si degraded after thermal treatment (A-ZnO/p-Si) because the silicon robbed the oxygen from ZnO to form amorphous silicon dioxide and left an oxygen vacancy. Notably, the properties of ZnO/nano-P_Ag/p-Si were better in the time-dependent photoresponse under 10 V bias. Ag nanoparticles (15–20 nm) scattered the UV light randomly and increased the probability for the absorption of ZnO to enhance the properties of the photodiode.     

Pulsed spark-discharge assisted synthesis of colloidal gold nanoparticles in ethanol

A green method, using pulsed spark-discharge (PSD) to synthesize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in ethanol, is studied in this article. Unlike conventional methods for metal nanoparticles synthesis, the PSD method does not require the addition of chemical surfactants and stabilizers. The size of PSD–AuNPs is examined by transmission electron microscopy, with a range 5–50 nm. The chemical compounds, crystal structure, and surface plasmon resonance of PSD–AuNPs are studied using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and UV–Visible spectroscopy, respectively. Zeta potential analysis shows that a negative charge (−40 mV) on the surface of the PSD–AuNPs may be contributing to the stability of the suspension. During the gold electrodes discharge in the ethanol, under an intensive electric field and thermal energy, bulk metallic gold and ethanol may produce AuNPs and varieties of chemical derivatives, which are also studied by GC/MS and FTIR to investigate the suspension mechanism. The analysis results show that there is an oxidation reaction of ethanol occurring during the PSD process to produce ethanol derivatives, such as acetaldehyde, acetic acid, and ethyl acetate, which may modify the surface of AuNPs by coordination of oxygen atoms. However, only acetic acid can form a negative charge by the deprotonation of the carboxylic group of surface in ethanol, resulting in the creation of a repulsion force between the particles to form the stable colloid system. The experimental results indicate that PSD is an alternative green process to synthesize gold nanoparticles suspension in ethanol. Moreover, with a gold rod consumption rate of 15 mg/L, concentrations of gold nanoparticles ~9 ppm have been observed; therefore, the net production rate is around 60%.