Spatiotemporal traveling and solitary wave solutions to the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with single- and dual-power law nonlinearity

Nonlinear Dynamics - We generalize previously obtained solutions to the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) with cubic-quintic nonlinearity and distributed coefficients to obtain...     

Influence of UV irradiation and subsequent chemical grafting on the surface properties of cellulose

Cellulose - This work is devoted to the study of surface properties of cellulose before and after a surface modification. Surface modification of polymeric materials was carried out in two steps:...     

Homological Algebra for Persistence Modules

Foundations of Computational Mathematics - We develop some aspects of the homological algebra of persistence modules, in both the one-parameter and multi-parameter settings, considered as either...     

Radiofluorination of a Pre‐formed Gallium(III) Aza‐macrocyclic Complex: Towards Next‐Generation Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Imaging Agents

As part of a study to investigate the factors influencing the development of new, more effective metal‐complex‐based positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agents, the distorted octahedral complex, [GaCl(L)]?2 H₂O has been prepared by reaction of 1‐benzyl‐1,4,7‐triazacyclononane‐4,7‐dicarboxylic acid hydrochloride (H₂L?HCl) with Ga(NO₃)₃?9 H₂O, which is a convenient source of Ga^III for reactions in water. Spectroscopic and crystallographic data for [GaCl(L)]?2 H₂O are described, together with the crystal structure of [GaCl(L)]?MeCN. Fluorination of this complex by Cl^?/F^? exchange was achieved in high yield by treatment with KF in water at room temperature over 90 minutes, although the reaction was complete in approximately 30 minutes if heated to 80 °C, giving [GaF(L)]?2 H₂O in good yield. The same complex was obtained by hydrothermal synthesis from GaF₃?3 H₂O and Li₂L, and has been characterised by single‐crystal X‐ray analysis, IR, ¹H and ¹⁹F{¹H} NMR spectroscopy and ESI⁺ MS. Radiofluorination of the pre‐formed [GaCl(L)]?2 H₂O has been demonstrated on a 210 nanomolar scale in aqueous NaOAc at pH 4 by using carrier‐free ¹⁸F^?, leading to 60–70 % ¹⁸F‐incorporation after heating to 80 °C for 30 minutes. The resulting radioproduct was purified easily by using a solid‐phase extraction (SPE) cartridge, leading to 98–99 % radiochemical purity. The [Ga¹⁸F(L)] is stable for at least 90 minutes in 10 % EtOH/NaOAc solution at pH 6, but defluorinates over this time scale at pH of approximately 7.5 in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) or human serum albumin (HSA). The subtle role of the Group 13 metal ion and co‐ligand donor set in influencing the pH dependence of this system is discussed in the context of developing potential new imaging agents for PET.     

Direct Potentiometric Study of Cationic and Nonionic Surfactants in Disinfectants and Personal Care Products by New Surfactant Sensor Based on 1,3-Dihexadecyl−1H-benzo[d]imidazol−3-ium

A novel, simple, low-cost, and user-friendly potentiometric surfactant sensor based on the new 1,3-dihexadecyl−1H-benzo[d]imidazol−3-ium-tetraphenylborate (DHBI–TPB) ion-pair for the detection of cationic surfactants in personal care products and disinfectants is presented here. The new cationic surfactant DHBI-Br was successfully synthesized and characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry, liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) and elemental analysis and was further employed for DHBI–TPB ion-pair preparation. The sensor gave excellent response characteristics for CTAB, CPC and Hyamine with a Nernstian slope (57.1 to 59.1 mV/decade) whereas the lowest limit of detection (LOD) value was measured for CTAB (0.3 × 10⁻⁶ M). The sensor exhibited a fast dynamic response to dodecyl sulfate (DDS) and TPB. High sensor performances stayed intact regardless of the employment of inorganic and organic cations and in a broad pH range (2−11). Titration of cationic and etoxylated (EO)-nonionic surfactant (NSs) (in Ba²⁺) mixtures with TPB revealed the first inflexion point for a cationic surfactant and the second for an EO-nonionic surfactant. The increased concentration of EO-nonionic surfactants and the number of EO groups had a negative influence on titration curves and signal change. The sensor was successfully applied for the quantification of technical-grade cationic surfactants and in 12 personal care products and disinfectants. The results showed good agreement with the measurements obtained by a commercial surfactant sensor and by a two-phase titration. A good recovery for the standard addition method (98–102%) was observed.     

Postbiotics,Metabolic Signaling,and Cancer

Postbiotics are health-promoting microbial metabolites delivered as a functional food or a food supplement. They either directly influence signaling pathways of the body or indirectly manipulate metabolism and the composition of intestinal microflora. Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and even though the prognosis of patients is improving, it is still poor in the substantial part of the cases. The preventable nature of cancer and the importance of a complex multi-level approach in anticancer therapy motivate the search for novel avenues of establishing the anticancer environment in the human body. This review summarizes the principal findings demonstrating the usefulness of both natural and synthetic sources of postbotics in the prevention and therapy of cancer. Specifically, the effects of crude cell-free supernatants, the short-chain fatty acid butyrate, lactic acid, hydrogen sulfide, and β-glucans are described. Contradictory roles of postbiotics in healthy and tumor tissues are highlighted. In conclusion, the application of postbiotics is an efficient complementary strategy to combat cancer.     

Ultra-stable microwave generation with a diode-pumped solid-state laser in the 1.5-μm range

We demonstrate the first ultra-stable microwave generation based on a 1.5-μm diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) frequency comb. Our system relies on optical-to-microwave frequency division from a planar-waveguide external cavity laser referenced to an ultra-stable Fabry–Perot cavity. The evaluation of the microwave signal at ~10 GHz uses the transportable ultra-low-instability signal source ULISS^®, which employs a cryo-cooled sapphire oscillator. With the DPSSL comb, we measured ?125 dBc/Hz phase noise at 1 kHz offset frequency, likely limited by the photo-detection shot-noise or by the noise floor of the reference cryo-cooled sapphire oscillator. For comparison, we also generated low-noise microwave using a commercial Er:fiber comb stabilized in similar conditions and observed >20 dB lower phase noise in the microwave generated from the DPSSL comb. Our results confirm the high potential of the DPSSL technology for low-noise comb applications.     

Optimization of cubic GaN/AlGaN quantum cascade structures for negative refraction in the THz spectral range

In this work we theoretically investigate a possibility to use cubic nitride based multi-layer periodic nanostructure as a semiconductor metamaterial. The structure design is based on an active region of a quantum cascade laser optimized to achieve optical gain in the Terahertz (THz) spectral range. In particular, we test the GaN/AlGaN quantum well configurations, which should exhibit important advantages compared to GaAs-based structures, namely room temperature operation without the assistance of magnetic field and lower doping densities. Our numerical rate-equations model is solved self-consistently and it takes into account electron-longitudinal optical phonon scattering between all the relevant states among the adjacent periods of the structure. A global optimization routine, specifically genetic algorithm is then used to generate new gain-optimized structures. This work confirms the advantages of cubic GaN designs over GaAs ones, namely feasibility of negative refraction at room temperature without the assistance of magnetic field while keeping the doping densities of the same order of magnitude.