Synthesis and morphological study on the nanocomposite hydrophilic coatings

Hydrophilic nanocomposite coatings based on epoxy silane were prepared with incorporation of aminoethylaminopropyltrimethoxysilane by a sol-gel process. It was found out that the hydrophilicity is affected remarkably in the presence of non-ionic surfactant. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Si mapping micrographs indicated that there is a uniform distribution of silica particles in the coatings with either lower or higher amounts of aminoethylaminopropyltrimethoxysilane. Furthermore, the effect of aminoethylaminopropyltrimethoxysilane on transparency of the coatings was evaluated in the absence and presence of surfactant. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) techniques were employed to study the different steps of nanocomposite hybrid coating synthesis. Surface topography of the coatings investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that the silica particles’ dimensions are at the nano-scale.     

A heuristic method to simulate the pulse propagation in nonlinear fiber bragg gratings

In this paper we simulated the pulse propagation and the switching effects in nonlinear fiber Bragg gratings using a combination of Fourier series analysis technique and Jacobi iterative method. The effects of nonlinearity and dispersion on the pulse propagation have been studied extensively. An all optical self switch was designed by this simulation. This switch is operated based on the input power.     

Multiproduct single-machine production system with stochastic scrapped production rate, partial backordering and service level constraint

In this paper, a multiproduct single-machine production system under economic production quantity (EPQ) model is studied in which the existence of only one machine causes a limited production capacity for the common cycle length of all products, the production defective rates are random variables, shortages are allowed and take a combination of backorder and lost sale, and there is a service rate constraint for the company. The aim of this research is to determine the optimal production quantity, the allowable shortage level, and the period length of each product such that the expected total cost, including holding, shortage, production, setup and defective items costs, is minimized. The mathematical model of the problem is derived for which the objective function is proved to be convex. Then, a derivative approach is utilized to obtain the optimal solution. Finally, two numerical examples in each of which a sensitivity analysis is performed on the model parameters, are provided to illustrate the practical usage of the proposed methodology.     

Dielectric inserts for sensitivity and RF magnetic field enhancement in NMR volume coils

A method for enhancing the signal to noise ratio (SNR) in NMR volume coils is described. By introducing inserts made of low-loss, high dielectric constant material into specific locations in the coil, the SNR can often be enhanced by up to 20%, while B₁ homogeneity is hardly affected. A model for predicting the limit of the SNR improvement is also presented. The model accurately predicts the SNR gain obtained in both numerical simulations and experiment. An experiment was conducted on a mini-MRI system. Experimental results are in very good agreement with the simulations in regard to both SNR improvement and B₁ enhancement in transmission. Inserts made of ultra high dielectric constant materials can be as thin as few millimeters, thus, conveniently fitting into existing coil-sample gaps in volume coils.     

A novel architecture of ultracompact pulse position modulator in photonic crystals

We propose and analyze a novel photonic crystal pulse position modulator utilizing a coupled cavity waveguide delay line. Also, a nonlinear photonic crystal directional coupler is used as an all-optical switch in the proposed structure. The input data acts as the control signal of the switch and activates the switching operation. We show that the device size can be reduced significantly by designing the delay line to achieve a reduced group velocity and a quasi-flat impurity band. The size of the designed modulator is 32a × 16a, where a represents the lattice constant of the photonic crystal. The characteristics of the device are investigated by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) and plane wave expansion (PWE) methods.     

Symmetry and uniqueness of solutions to some Liouville-type equations and systems

We prove symmetry and uniqueness results for three classes of Liouville-type problems arising in geometry and mathematical physics: asymmetric Sinh-Gordon equation, cosmic string equation and Toda system, under certain assumptions on the mass associated to these problems. The argument is in the spirit of the sphere covering inequality which for the first time is used in treating different exponential nonlinearities and systems.     

Static magnetic fields aggravate the effects of ionizing radiation on cell cycle progression in bone marrow stem cells

In order to evaluate the influence of static magnetic fields (SMF) on the progression of cell cycle as a monitor of presumptive genotoxicity of these fields, the effects of a 15 mT SMF on cell cycle progression in rat bone marrow stem cells (BMSC) were examined. The cells were divided into two groups. One group encountered SMF alone for 5 h continuously but the other group exposed with X ray before treatment with SMF. The population of cells did not show any significant difference in the first group but the second group that was exposed with acute radiation before encountering SMF showed a significant increase in the number of cells in G₂/M phase. So SMF has intensified the effects of X ray, where SMF alone, did not had any detectable influence on cell cycle.These findings suggest that magnetic fields (MF) play their role by increasing the effects of genotoxic agents and because of the greater concentration of free radicals in the presence of radical pair producers, this effect is better detectable.     

One-pot synthesis of $$\upgamma $$-spiroiminolactones and $$\upgamma $$-dispiroiminolactones using $$\textit{N}{,}{} \textit{N}^{\prime }$$N,N′-disubstituted parabanic acid and thioparabanic acid derivatives

A direct entry and simple process for the synthesis of \(\upgamma \)-spiroiminolactones present in a large number of natural products has been developed. In the first step, the synthesis of parabanic acid derivatives was commenced from the reaction of \(\textit{N}{,}{} \textit{N}^{\prime }\)-disubstituted urea and thiourea with oxalyl chloride, then a three-component reaction was carried out with isocyanides, acetylenic esters, and \(\textit{N}{,}{} \textit{N}^{\prime }\)-disubstituted parabanic acid derivatives. The method allows the construction of a variety of \(\upgamma \)-spiroiminolactone structures in good to high yields starting from readily available precursors. It was found that in the case of \(\textit{N}{,}{} \textit{N}^{\prime }\)-diphenyl thioparabanic acid, additional products of \(\upgamma \)-dispiroiminolactones have been formed due to the higher electrophilicity of \(\upalpha \)-dicarbonyl groups. The structures were fully established using spectroscopic analysis NMR, IR, and Mass spectrometry. The crystal structure of \(\upgamma \)-dispiroiminolactone was confirmed from single-crystal X-ray diffraction study.     

Catalytic Enantioselective Synthesis of Allylic Boronates Bearing a Trisubstituted Alkenyl Fluoride and Related Derivatives

The first catalytic method for diastereo‐ and enantioselective synthesis of allylic boronates bearing a Z‐trisubstituted alkenyl fluoride is disclosed. Boryl substitution is performed with either a Z‐ or E‐allyldifluoride and is catalyzed by bisphosphine/Cu complexes, affording products in up to 99 % yield with >98:2 Z/E selectivity and 99:1 enantiomeric ratio. A variety of subsequent modifications are feasible, and notable examples are diastereoselective additions to aldehydes/aldimines to access homoallylic alcohols/amines containing a fluorosubstituted stereogenic quaternary center.     

Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids-Free Extract from the Cell Culture of Lithospermum officinale with High Antioxidant Capacity

The benefits of Lithospermum officinale has encouraged people to continue using its extract (CAS 90063-58-4) in both medicinal and cosmetic industries despite the fact that chemical analysis confirms the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in the extract. While the cultivation of L. officinale takes, at least, 2 years to produce usable crops, its callus culture proliferated 8.3 times with 4.9-fold biomass in less than 30 days under the applied conditions in this study. Under the applied conditions, the cell extract contained no toxic PAs while phenylpropanoid pathway was active toward phenolic acids formation not toward naphthoquinone derivatives. Rosmarinic acid was produced as the main constituent. Total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of the proliferated cell extracts were similar to those of the extracts of the natural plant tissues, in particular from the root. These results support the idea that the extract of L. officinale cells can be a reliable substitute for the extract of the natural plant tissues.