Selective Excitation of Band Extrema in Valley Photonic Crystals

Flexible control of building blocks of photonic crystals enables achieving desirable band structures. Exploration of photonic band extrema has brought many fantastic features to design artificial optical materials, such as Brillouin‐zone‐corner extrema for valley photonic materials and zone‐center extremum for zero‐index metamaterials. However, two such kinds of extrema are always found independently in different photonic crystals. In this work, a kind of valley photonic crystals possessing both zone‐center and zone‐corner band extrema almost at the same frequency is proposed. Inspired by antennas theory, a three‐antenna array (TAA) source is devoted to individually manipulate each extremum. The correlation coefficient is given to determine the coupling efficiency between the TAA source and extrema eigenmodes. By using a source with a high correlation coefficient, these extrema bulk states are selectively excited consistent with their eigenfields. Furthermore, three control cases are shown that multiple extrema points are simultaneously excited, in order to confirm the validity of the correlation coefficient. Finally, a potential application of a beam‐steering device is proposed through selective excitation of ternary extrema. This work develops binary valley states into ternary mix states, rendering more degrees of freedom for on‐chip optical information transport, particularly for beam steering and mode division multiplexing.     

Simultaneous quantification of levofloxacin,pefloxacin, ciprofloxacin and moxifloxacin in microvolumes of human plasma using high‐performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection

Levofloxacin, pefloxacin, ciprofloxacin and moxifloxacin are four fluoroquinolones used in the treatment of serious bacterial infections. The antibacterial activity of fluoroquinolones is concentration dependent. Therefore, therapeutic drug monitoring in daily clinical practice is warranted to ensure the therapy's efficacy and prevent bacterial resistance. The purpose of the present study was to develop a method using high‐pressure liquid chromatography with an ultraviolet detector for simultaneous quantification of these four fluoroquinolones in human plasma. A 50 μL aliquot of plasma was precipitated by 200 μL of methanol using gatifloxacin as internal standard. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Kinetex XB‐C₁₈ column using a mobile phase composed of a mixture of orthophosphoric acid 0.4% (v/v), acetonitrile and methanol at a flow rate of 1.2 mL/min. Dual UV wavelength mode was used, with levofloxacin and moxifloxacin monitored at 293 nm, and pefloxacin and ciprofloxacin monitored at 280 nm. The calibration was linear over the ranges of 0.125–25 mg/L for levofloxacin, 0.1–20mg/L for moxifloxacin and 0.05‐10 mg/L for both pefloxacin and ciprofloxacin. Inter‐ and intra‐day trueness and precision were <13% for all the compounds under study. The proposed method was simple, reliable, cost‐effective and suitable for therapeutic drug monitoring or pharmacokinetics studies.     

4D Printing based piezoelectric composite for medical applications

Additive manufacturing (AM), otherwise known as three‐dimensional (3D) printing, is driving major innovations in many areas, such as engineering, manufacturing, art, education, and medicine. Although a considerable amount of progress has been made in this field, additional research work is required to overcome various remaining challenges. Recently, one of the actively researched areas lies in the AM of smart materials and structures. Electroactive materials incorporated in 3D printing have given birth to 4D printing, where 3D printed structures can perform as actuating and/or sensing systems, making it possible to deliver electrical signals under external mechanical stimuli and vice versa. In this paper, we present a lightweight, low cost piezoelectric material based on the dispersion of inorganic ferroelectric submicron particles in a polymer matrix. We report on how the proposed material is compatible with the AM process. Finally, we discuss its potential applications for healthcare, especially in smart implants prostheses. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 109–115     

The Riemann–Hilbert analysis to the Pollaczek–Jacobi type orthogonal polynomials

In this paper, we study polynomials orthogonal with respect to a Pollaczek–Jacobi type weight The uniform asymptotic expansions for the monic orthogonal polynomials on the interval (0,1) and outside this interval are obtained. Moreover, near , the uniform asymptotic expansion involves Airy function as , and Bessel function of order α as in the neighborhood of , the uniform asymptotic expansion is associated with Bessel function of order β as . The recurrence coefficients and leading coefficient of the orthogonal polynomials are expressed in terms of a particular Painlevé III transcendent. We also obtain the limit of the kernel in the bulk of the spectrum. The double scaled logarithmic derivative of the Hankel determinant satisfies a σ‐form Painlevé III equation. The asymptotic analysis is based on the Deift and Zhou's steepest descent method.     

The Shephard Type Problems for General L_p-Centroid Bodies

In this paper, combining with the L_p-dual geominimal surface area and the general L_p-centroid bodies, we research the Shephard type problems for general L_p-centroid bodies.     

Self-similar asymptotic behavior for the solutions of a linear coagulation equation

In this paper we consider the long-time asymptotics of a linear version of the Smoluchowski equation which describes the evolution of a tagged particle moving in a random distribution of fixed particles. The volumes v of these particles are independently distributed according to a probability distribution which decays asymptotically as a power law $v^{?\sigma }$. The validity of the equation has been rigorously proved in [22] taking as a starting point a particle model and for values of the exponent $\sigma >3$, but the model can be expected to be valid, on heuristic grounds, for $\sigma >\frac{5}{3}$. The resulting equation is a non-local linear degenerate parabolic equation. The solutions of this equation display a rich structure of different asymptotic behaviors according to the different values of the exponent σ. Here we show that for $\frac{5}{3}<\sigma <2$ the linear Smoluchowski equation is well-posed and that there exists a unique self-similar profile which is asymptotically stable.     

Structural studies and biological evaluation of Co (II), Ni (II) and Cu (II) complexes of carbohydrazone derived from ethyl acetoacetate in addition to crystallographic description of La (III) or Sm (III) catalytic activity abnormal product

New carbohydrazone ligand derived from the condensation of carbohydrazide and ethyl acetoacetate, diethyl 3,3′‐(carbonylbis (hydrazin‐2‐yl‐1‐ylidene))(3E,3′E)‐dibutyrate (H₄EBC), and its divalent Co, Ni and Cu chelates have been isolated and characterized utilizing convenient methods. ¹H‐NMR spectrum of H₄EBC revealed the abundance of the enol isomer in solution, which was the opposite to what was shown by the solid IR. This was supported by comparing the theoretical IR of both keto and enol forms. In [Ni(H₄EBC)Cl₂(H₂O)]·2H₂O, H₄EBC acts as a neutral NON tridentate ligand via the (C=O)_carbonyl oxygen atom besides the two (C=N)_azomethine nitrogen atoms, while in [Co(H₄EBC)Cl₂(2H₂O)]·2H₂O, H₄EBC behaves as a neutral NN bidentate ligand through the two azomethine groups. Magnetic measurements inherent to their electronic spectra show that both Ni (II) and Co (II) chelates have octahedron coordination frameworks. On the other hand, the ligand behaves as a binegative tetradentate in [Cu₂(H₄EBC)Cl₂]·H₂O via the deprotonated (C=O)_carbonyl groups of the ethyl acetoacetate framework and the two (C=N)_azomethine groups. In the latter complex, the carbonyl group of the carbohydrazide moiety is converted to hydroxyl group. Cu (II) complex has a tetrahedral geometry according to ESR and electronic spectral data. The reaction of H₄EBC with SmCl₃·6H₂O or LnCl₃·7H₂O gave single crystals of abnormal product (C₁₆H₁₆N₄O₄). The packing diagram of this crystal has a chain structure. The photoluminescence spectra of [Cu ₂ (H ₄ EBC)Cl ₂ ]·H ₂ O , [Co(H ₄ EBC)Cl ₂ (H ₂ O) ₂ ]·2H ₂ O and [Ni(H ₄ EBC)Cl ₂ (H ₂ O)]·2H ₂ O display emission broad‐bands at 342, 321 and 337 nm, respectively. The microbial behavior of the synthesized moieties was investigated against various bacterial and fungal strains. [Cu₂(H₄EBC)Cl₂]·H₂O complex shows the same activity as ampicillin towards Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus with inhibition zones of 26 and 22 mm, respectively. Antioxidant activity is determined using bleomycin‐dependent DNA damage assay besides erythrocyte hemolysis. Finally, in vitro cytotoxic activities against two different cell lines have been examined.     

Hexanuclear 3d − 4f metal–organic cages assembled from a carboxylic acid‐functionalized tris‐triazamacrocycle for highly selective fluorescent sensing of picric acid

Two Ln^III ions are sandwiched by dinuclear Co^II building blocks derived from a tris‐triazamacrocyclic ligand bearing pendant carboxylic acid functionality, 1,3,5‐tris((4,7‐bis(2‐carboxyethyl)‐1,4,7‐triazacyclonon‐1‐yl)methyl)‐benzene (H₆L), giving rising to two nanoscale heterometallic metal–organic cages formulated as [Co₄Ln₂(LH_2.5)₂(H₂O)₄]·(ClO₄)₆·NO₃·nH₂O [Ln = Dy, n = 12 ( 1 ); Ln = Yb, n = 9 ( 2 )], whose internal cavity accommodates a guest NO₃^? anion. Their hexanuclear cage‐like architectures are maintained both in solution and solid states as confirmed by mass spectrum as well as X‐ray diffraction experiments. These two cages display ligand‐based fluorescence emissions and therefore both were chosen to be operated as fluorescent chemosensors for the detection of nitroaromatic compounds. Attractively, these metal–organic cages allow highly selective and sensitive detection of picric acid (PA) over other nitroaromatics in solution and suspension, and the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the cage probes and PA is mainly responsible for the remarkable detection efficiency.