Extremely cold positrons for antihydrogen production

The storage of extremely cold (4 K) antiprotons in a Penning trap is an important step toward the creation and study of cold antihydrogen. The other required ingredient, the largest possible number of comparably cold positrons, is still lacking. These would be recombined in a high vacuum with the trapped antiprotons, already stored at a pressure below 5×10⁻¹⁷ Torr, thereby avoiding annihilation of the antihydrogen atoms before they can be used in high accuracy measurements or in controlled collision experiments. In an exploratory experiment, positrons from a 18 mCi²²Na source follow fringing field lines of a 6 T superconducting solenoid through tiny apertures in the electrodes of a Penning trap to strike a tungsten (reflection) moderator. The positron beam is chopped mechanically and a lock-in directly detects a positron current of 2.5×10⁶e⁺/s on the moderator. The use of a moderator, unlike an earlier experiment in which < 100 positrons were confined in vacuum, should greatly increase the number of positrons trapped in high vacuum.     

Priority-based parameter optimization strategy for reducing the effects of four-wave mixing on WDM system

In order to meet the ultra high speed and ultra long-haul transmission distance in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems, the nonlinear impairment affecting the overall spectral efficiency and system performance should be minimized. This paper proposes a strategy to mitigate the four-wave mixing (FWM) effect in WDM system. The strategy determines the effect of both single and combined effects of second, third, and fourth optimization priority parameters such as fiber length, input power, dispersion, channel spacing, and effective area on FWM power. A comparison study was made under different types of optical fiber such as single-mode fiber (SMF), dispersion shifted fiber, non-zero dispersion fiber, and non-zero dispersion shifted fiber. In addition, the system performance in term of bit-error-rate was calculated in the case of single priority (impact of effective area) and combined priority (impact of effective area, input power, fiber length and channel spacing). The results show that the FWM effect was reduced based on the transmission parameters order of optimization, i.e., priority selection proposed. Moreover, the results indicated that increasing sequentially the effective area, fiber length; channel spacing and decreasing the input power provide the most significant sequence in suppressing the effects of FWM. This priority sequence brought the suppression ratio to approximately 26.3% in SMF, which suppressed the FWM effects up to −50 dBm. In term of BER; the combined priority introduces improvement in BER of 2.31 × 10⁻²⁵ in comparison with single priority that has value of BER 4 × 10⁻¹⁴. Finally, this work suggests that the proposed priority-based parameter optimization strategy is an ideal solution for optimum performance of WDM system.     

Aggregation and microenvironmental properties of gemini and conventional mixed surfactants systems: A fluorometric study

Aggregation behavior of cationic gemini (hexanediyl-1,5-bis(dimethylcettylammonium bromide) (16-5-16)) surfactant with conventional single chain surfactants cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) were studied with the help of fluorescence measurements. Fluorescence probe is a proficient technique for examining the surfactant-surfactant interaction and aggregation. The micelle aggregation number (N _agg) was measured using steady-state fluorescence quenching method. The micelle aggregation numbers of binary combinations fall between those of constituent surfactants. The micropolarity (I ₁/I ₃), binding constant (K _sv) and dielectric constant (D _exp) of mixed systems were determined from the ratio of peaks intensity in the pyrene fluorescence spectrum. The I ₁/I ₃ values were found to be more than >1, showing more polar environment around pyrene in the mixed micelle as compared to the pure micelles.     

High-gain erbium-doped fiber amplifier incorporating a double-pass amplification technique as a preamplifier

We present a high-gain erbium-doped fiber amplifier to be utilized as a preamplifier. A double-pass amplification technique is used in the first-stage amplifier together with a tunable bandpass filter. The secondstage amplifier is a counter-pumped configuration and another tunable bandpass filter is utilized to filter out amplified spontaneous emission from the first-stage amplifier. This design is able to produce a high gain of 55.6 dB and a noise figure of 6.02 dB at 1530 nm with a signal power of ?45 dBm. The receiver sensitivity measurement shows that the proposed amplifier improves the minimum detectable power from ?33.7 to ?40.8 dBm for a bit-error rate of 10^?11 at 155 Mbps.

     

Flexible carbon nanostructures with electrospun nickel oxide as a lithium-ion battery anode

Carbon nanostructures (CNS) with high electrical conductivity and unique branched structure of carbon nanotubes combined with NiO nanofibers (NFs) were used as anode for lithium-ion batteries. CNS works as a framework substrate for the anodic conversion reaction of nickel oxide (NiO). Electrochemical performance and behavior of CNS/NiO anodes is compared with the conventional carbon (C)/NiO anodes. CNS/NiO NF-based anode retains high specific capacity under different current densities compared to C/NiO anode. Moreover, specific capacity as high as 450 mAh/g for CNS/NiO NF anode is observed compared to only 90 mAh/g for C/NiO NFs using a current density of 500 mA/g after 500 cycles. This improved performance is attributed to the highly conductive network of CNS leading to efficient charge transfer. The high porosity, electrical conductivity as well as the branched and networked nature of CNS reveal to be of critical importance to allow the electrochemical conversion reactions.     

Antibacterial Activity of a Novel Oligosaccharide from Streptomyces californics against Erwinia carotovora subsp. Carotovora

The present study aims to characterize and predict models for antibacterial activity of a novel oligosaccharide from Streptomyces californics against Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system and an artificial neural network. The mathematical predication models were used to determine the optimal conditions to produce oligosaccharide and determine the relationship between the factors (pH, temperature, and time). The characteristics of the purified antibacterial agent were determined using ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV/Vis), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H- and ¹³C-NMR), and mass spectrometry (MS). The best performances for the model were 39.45 and 35.16 recorded at epoch 1 for E. carotovora Erw₅ and E. carotovora EMCC 1687, respectively. The coefficient (R²) of the training was more than 0.90. The highest antimicrobial production was recorded after 9 days at 25 °C and a pH of 6.2, at which more than 17 mm of the inhibition zone was obtained. The mass spectrum of antimicrobial agent (peak at R.T. = 3.433 of fraction 6) recorded two molecular ion peaks at m/z = 703.70 and m/z = 338.30, corresponding to molecular weights of 703.70 and 338.30 g/mol, respectively. The two molecular ion peaks matched well with the molecular formulas C₂₉H₅₃NO₁₈ and C₁₄H₂₆O₉, respectively, which were obtained from the elemental analysis result. A novel oligosaccharide from Streptomyces californics with potential activity against E. carotovora EMCC 1687 and E. carotovora Erw₅ was successfully isolated, purified, and characterized.     

Green and Cost Effective Synthesis of Fluorescent Carbon Quantum Dots for Dopamine Detection

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) due to its high fluorescent output is evolving as novel sensing material and is considered as future building blocks for nano sensing devices. Hence, in this investigation we report microwave assisted preparation and multi sensing application of CQDs. The microwave derived CQDs are characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) experiment and Fourier Infrared spectra (FTIR) to investigate the size distribution and chemical purity respectively. Fluorescent emission spectra recorded at varying pH shows varying fluorescence emission intensities. Further, emission spectra recorded at different temperatures shows that fluorescence emission of CQDs greatly depends on temperature. Therefore, we demonstrate the pH and temperature sensing characteristics of CQDs by fluorescence quenching behaviour. In addition, the interaction and sensing behaviour of CQDs for dopamine is also presented in this work with a detection limit of 0.2 mM. The steady state and time-resolved methods have been employed in fluorescence quenching methods for sensing dopamine through CQDs at room temperature. The bimolecular quenching rate constants for different concentration have been measured. The interaction between CQDs and dopamine indicates fluorescence quenching method is an elegant process for detecting dopamine through CQDs.     

The virtual mass of an oblate-ellipsoidal bubble

A semi-analytical solution is presented for the virtual mass coefficient of an oblate-ellipsoidal bubble rising in liquid. The solution was found to be a function of Weber number. The present solution compared well with the numerical solution of the lattice Boltzmann method and the analytical solutions of other investigators.