Synthetic Communication: Synthesis of Optically Pure Analogues of D-Arginine Methyl Ester with Antiarrhythmic Activity

The synthesis of the methyl esters of optically pure trans and cis 4-guanidinocyclohexylglycine as rigid analogues of D-arginine methyl ester are described.     

Atomistic simulation of InGaN/GaN quantum disk LEDs

In this work electronic and optoelectronic properties of InGaN/GaN nanocolumn quantum disk LEDs have been studied with the multiscale simulation tool tiberCAD. Calculations have been performed with an atomistic tight-binding model. Results shows that emission energies have a minor dependence on the nanocolumn dimension while In concentration in the active region is a critical parameter.     

Edge linking and image segmentation by combining optical and digital methods

We present a hybrid method for segmentation of intensity images, which combines an optical contouring technique and digital algorithms for linking edge points or image segmentation. In a first stage, the digital image to be processed is displayed in a twisted-nematic liquid-crystal display (LCD), which is placed between a polarizer–analyzer pair at 45 deg (instead of 90 deg as occurs in standard LCDs). It is not difficult to demonstrate that the proposed setup produces a resultant image with very pronounced dark contours at middle intensity. After the optical preprocessing, two different digital algorithms are applied: an edge linking algorithm (modified chain code) and a simple thresholding technique for image segmentation. The proposed procedure works well with monochromatic and color images. The method could be useful as a robust technique for segmentation of large images in real-time, which presents potential applications in medical and biological imaging.     

Approximation of planar BV homeomorphisms by diffeomorphisms

We show that a planar BV homeomorphism can be approximated in the area strict sense, together with its inverse, with smooth or piecewise affine homeomorphisms.     

Dye solar cells efficiency maps: a parametric study

In this work we present a numerical simulation of a dye solar cell efficiency using a drift-diffusion model for the complete cell. The physical parameters such as the active layer thickness, the electron mobility and the dye spectrum are varied systematically in a range of values individuated experimentally, in order to obtain efficiency maps that reveal interesting features in this kind of devices.     

Synthesis and characterization of PMMA-based superhydrophobic surfaces

Recently, superhydrophobic surfaces are gaining much interest because they may be employed in a series of applications, spanning from the realization of self-cleaning surfaces to microfluidics to special water-impermeable tissues allowing perspiration. It is well-known that superhydrophobicity strictly depends on the combination of superficial micro- and nano-structures. Then, key factors in the process of surface synthesis are the parameters which will define the surface conformation. In this work, we deal with the fabrication of polymer-based superhydrophobic surfaces. We developed a new method to have a good control of the structure of the synthesised surface. A high stability of the superhydrophobic character during time was obtained. Moreover, the synthesis process is green and easily transferable to industry for large production.