Facile synthesis of highly luminescent ZnSe(S) alloyed quantum dot for biomedical imaging

An alloyed complex of zinc, sulphur and selenium was synthesized in a controlled fashion using 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) surfactant to obtain a new class of biocompatible, highly luminescent imaging probes. These ZnSe(S) alloyed quantum dots (QDs) exhibited a five fold enhancement in photoluminescence over the native ZnSe nanocrystals. The enhancement in photoluminescence was brought about without any post-preparative surface treatments, under ambient conditions. 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) was found to optimally stabilize the ZnSe(S) alloyed system. The incorporation of S^2? from MPA after prolonged refluxing time enabled the formation of ZnSe(S) alloyed QDs with low cytotoxicity. The in vitro assays revealed the synergistic enhancement of photoluminescence with enhancement in dispersibility and high biocompatibility for the ZnSe(S) system. The experimental findings give us a novel range of blue-emitting, Zn-based high luminescence QDs for development of nano-probes for bioimaging applications.     

A transformation‐free HOC scheme for incompressible viscous flows on nonuniform polar grids

We recently proposed a transformation‐free higher‐order compact (HOC) scheme for two‐dimensional (2‐D) steady convection–diffusion equations on nonuniform Cartesian grids (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids 2004; 44 :33–53). As the scheme was equipped to handle only constant coefficients for the second‐order derivatives, it could not be extended directly to curvilinear coordinates, where they invariably occur as variables. In this paper, we extend the scheme to cylindrical polar coordinates for the 2‐D convection–diffusion equations and more specifically to the 2‐D incompressible viscous flows governed by the Navier–Stokes (N–S) equations. We first apply the formulation to a problem having analytical solution and demonstrate its fourth‐order spatial accuracy. We then apply it to the flow past an impulsively started circular cylinder problem and finally to the driven polar cavity problem. We present our numerical results and compare them with established numerical and analytical and experimental results whenever available. This new approach is seen to produce excellent comparison in all the cases. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Systematic study of deformation effects on fusion cross-sections using various proximity potentials

The influence of static quadrupole and hexadecapole (positive & negative) deformation of targets are studied using eleven different versions of nuclear potentials. The height and position of the interaction barrier for the reactions induced by spherical projectile (¹⁶O) on the deformed targets such as ¹⁶⁶Er, ¹⁵⁴Sm and ¹⁷⁶Yb have been estimated. It is found that the nucleus-nucleus potential strongly depends on the value of the deformation parameters and orientation of the target. The experimental fusion cross-section of the reactions ¹⁶O + ¹⁷⁶Yb, ¹⁶O +¹⁶⁶Er and ¹⁶O +¹⁵⁴Sm are investigated by applyingWong’s formula using various parameterizations of the proximity potential as well as an assessment of the results of a multi-dimensional barrier penetration model (BPM). The fusion cross-sections by Prox 77, Prox 88, Prox 00, Prox 00DP, Denisov DP, Bass 80, CW 76 and AW 95 potentials are found to be better than the rest in comparison to experimental data.     

Ultrasonication--a complementary 'green chemistry' tool to biocatalysis: a laboratory-scale study of lycopene extraction

Lycopene is bequeathed with multiple bio-protective roles, primarily attributed to its unique molecular structure. The concomitant exploitation of two of the green chemistry tools viz., sonication and biocatalysis is reported here for the laboratory scale extraction of lycopene from tomato peel. The coupled system improved the extraction by 662%, 225% and 150% times over the unaided, only cellulase ‘Onozuka R-10’ treated and only sonication treated samples respectively. The sonication parameters (duration, cycle and amplitude) during the coupled operation were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Derivative UV-visible spectra (i.e., dA/dλ and d²A/dλ² against λ), FTIR analysis, and DPPH scavenging test suggested that the reported extraction protocol did not affect the molecular structure and bioactivity of the extracted lycopene. The influence of sonication on the probable structural modulation (through UV-visible spectral analysis) and activity of the enzyme were also analyzed. A plausible mechanism is proposed for the enhanced extraction achieved via the coupled system.     

Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions in the synthesis of complex annelated quinolines, α-carbolines and coumarins

In this study, we report the synthesis of several novel dihydroisoxazole-, tetrahydroisoxazole- and dihydropyrazole-fused pyrido[2,3-b]quinolines, α-carbolines, and pyrido[2,3-c]coumarins, respectively, from simple precursors and by exploring intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions involving nitrile oxides, nitrones, and nitrile imines as 1,3-dipoles.     

Late time cosmic acceleration of a flat matter dominated universe with constant vacuum energy

Matter and radiation densities are compared with a constant vacuum energy density of positive cosmological constant, from a few seconds of the universe till the present epoch. Epoch of acceleration is calculated by estimating baryonic density from consideration of finite thickness of last scattering surface and dark matter density from inflationary flatness condition. The calculated epoch of acceleration is found to be in good agreement with recent supernova observations.     

Displacive magnetic phase transitions upon spin ordering in magnets with strong single-ion anisotropy

Physics of the Solid State - This paper reports on the results of investigations into the magnetic ordering of magnets with integer spins of ions and sufficiently strong easy-plane single-ion...     

The role of defects in the formation of the multidomain state of easy-plane antiferromagnets with magnetoelastic interaction

We analyzed the field dependences of forced magnetostriction in the multidomain state of the easy-plane antiferromagnet CoCl₂ obtained in the following cycles: the introduction-removal of a magnetic field lying in the easy plane, the introduction-removal of a magnetic field lying in the easy plane and directed normally to that introduced earlier, etc. The magnetostriction of the crystal in the multidomain state was shown to contain two components. First, the component reversible in the cycle magnetic field introduction-removal, which makes the major contribution in the crystal under consideration, and, second, a comparatively small irreversible component, that is, the contribution retained after magnetic field removal. In low fields, the reversible magnetostriction component was proportional to the square of the applied magnetic field. Field-induced rearrangement of the multidomain antiferromagnetic state was found to be responsible for singularities of the field dependence of crystal magnetization. In particular, in a near-zero field that lay in the easy plane, the transverse susceptibility decreased twofold compared with its value in fields in which the crystal is already in the monodomain state. At the same time, close to the “monodomainization” field, transverse magnetic susceptibility was maximum. Defects were shown to favor the formation of the reversible multidomain state. Determining factors in this process were elastic and magnetoelastic interactions. The multidomain state of antiferromagnets was described using the domain distribution function over the orientations of domain antiferromagnetic vectors with respect to the magnetic field direction and the magnetic field dependence of this function. The results of our analysis were in close agreement with the experimental data on CoCl₂.