Water‐Filtered Infrared Radiation Decreases the Generation of Photodermatoses Dependent on Ultraviolet and Visible Radiation

The potential role of infrared radiation in photodermatoses has received very little attention, even though the main sources of radiation used for photobiological studies (UVA, UVB and visible light) include infrared radiation. The objective of the work was to assess whether infrared radiation is involved in the development of skin lesions in patients with different types of photodermatoses. Twenty patients with different photodermatoses were exposed to UVA, UVB and visible radiation using a high‐pressure mercury UVA lamp, a fluorescent broadband UVB lamp, a tungsten bulb and a slide projector for visible radiation. Part of the radiation emitted by these lamps was water‐filtered to block infrared radiation above 1300 nm. All 20 patients developed lesions when exposed to different light sources used for phototest. When exposed to same sources without infrared radiation, 17 patients (85%) did not develop any lesions and the other three (15%) developed less severe lesions than in the area exposed to unfiltered light. Our results show that infrared radiation was necessary for the development of skin lesions in 85% of the patients with photodermatoses in our study. We believe that infrared radiation studies should be included in standard photobiology protocols.     

Understanding electrochemical performance of Ni(OH)2 films: a study contributions to energy storage

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Nanostructured Ni(OH)2 was grown on the surface of a Ti plate via electrodeposition method. Analytical methods were employed to characterize the structure,...     

On the structure of the stochastic process of mortgages in Spain

Summary  The number of mortgages in Spain is a counting process that can be modelled as a doubly stochastic Poisson process (DSPP). A modelling method for the intensity of a DSPP is proposed. A first step consists on estimating discrete sample paths of it from observed ones of the DSPP, then a continuous modelling is derived by means of Functional Principal Component Analysis. The method is validated by a simulation. Finally, it is applied to the real process of the mortgages in Spain discussing the interpretation of the principal components and factors.     

Structural,magnetic, and vibrational properties of stoichiometric clusters of CrN

We performed density‐functional‐theoretic calculations to investigate the structural, magnetic and vibrational properties of the stoichiometric clusters (CrN)_n ( ). We show that the building block of the ground‐state structures of these clusters is a square CrNCrN unit; the only exception with n > 2 occurs for (CrN)₃, but this cluster has an isomer not very far in energy from the ground state consisting of a pair of CrNCrN squares sharing a CrN bond. In the smaller CrN, (CrN)₂, and (CrN)₃ clusters the magnetic moments of the N atoms are non‐negligible and antiparallel to those of the Cr atoms, but for the larger species (CrN)₄, (CrN)₅, (CrN)₆, and (CrN)₉ the cluster magnetic moments are almost entirely due to the Cr atoms. Lack of imaginary vibrational frequencies in the predicted ground‐state structures of (CrN)_n ( ) confirms that they are mechanically stable equilibrium states. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effect of lithium salt on the stability of dispersions of fumed silica in the ionic liquid BMImBF4

We have investigated the stability and interactions in dispersions of colloidal fumed silica, Aerosil 200, and the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetraflouroborate (BMImBF(4)) as a function of the Li salt concentration (LiBF(4)). Photon correlation spectroscopy was used to study the aggregation behavior at low silica concentrations, and Raman spectroscopy was used to investigate the interactions in the ionic liquid and with the silica surface. We find that the addition of LiBF(4) increases the stability of the dispersions, with smaller agglomerates of silica particles and higher gelation concentrations in the presence of Li salt. The increased stability with the addition of Li salt is explained by the formation of a more stable solvation layer, where Li ions accumulate on the surface. This leads to an increased interaction between lithium ions and the BF(4)(-) anions in the solvation layer, as seen by Raman spectroscopy. Upon gelation, the Li ions are expelled from the surface because hydrogen bonding between the silica particles are formed. For both neat BMImBF(4) and Li-salt-doped BMImBF(4)/silica dispersions, a weak gel phase was found preceding the formation of a strong gel at slightly higher silica concentrations.     

Influence of particle size on the in vitro digestibility of protein-coated lipid nanoparticles

The development of new materials for water purification is of universal importance. Among these types of materials are layered double hydroxides (LDHs). Non-ionic materials pose a significant problem as pollutants. The interaction of methyl orange (MO) and acidic scarlet GR (GR) adsorption on hydrocalumite (Ca/Al-LDH-Cl) was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (MIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR). The XRD results revealed that the basal spacing of Ca/Al-LDH-MO was expanded to 2.45 nm, and the MO molecules were intercalated with a interpenetrating bilayer model in the gallery of LDH, with 49° tilting angle. Yet, Ca/Al-LDH-GR was kept the same d-value as Ca/Al-LDH-Cl. The NIR spectrum for Ca/Al-LDH-MO showed a prominent band around 5994 cm(-1), assigned to the combination result of the NH stretching vibrations, which was considered as a mark to assess MO(-) ion intercalation into Ca/Al-LDH-Cl interlayers. From SEM images, the particle morphology of Ca/Al-LDH-MO mainly changed to irregular platelets, with a "honey-comb" like structure. Yet, the Ca/Al-LDH-GR maintained regular hexagon platelets, which was similar to that of Ca/Al-LDH-Cl. All results indicated that MO(-) ion was intercalated into Ca/Al-LDH-Cl interlayers, and acidic scarlet GR was only adsorbed upon Ca/Al-LDH-Cl surfaces.     

13C and 1H NMR of 2,6-diaryl-1-hydroxy piperidin-4-one oximes; substituent effects on cis/trans ratio and conformational equilibria

The reaction of substituted diarylidene acetones with hydroxylamine hydrochloride affords isomeric N-hydroxy diaryl piperidinone oximes as main products. The structures as well as conformational equilibria of these products were established by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and further studied by variable temperature NMR. It was found that the cis/trans ratio of 2,6-substituted piperidine derivatives depended on the position of the substituent on the aromatic ring.     

Pseudo-steady-state solutions for solidification in a wedge

Polubarinova-Kochina's analytical differential equation methodis used to determine the pseudo-steady-state solution to problemsinvolving the freezing (solidification) of wedges of liquidwhich are initially at their fusion temperature. In particular,we consider four distinct problems for wedges which are: freezingwith the same constant boundary temperature, freezing with thesame constant boundary heat fluxes, freezing with distinct constantboundary temperatures and freezing with distinct constant fluxesat the boundaries. For the last two problems, a Heun's differentialequation with an unknown singularity is derived, which in bothcases admits a particularly elegant simple solution for thespecial case when the wedge angle is . The moving boundariesobtained are shown pictorially.