Thermoluminescence characteristics of inorganically and organically capped ZnS:Cu nanophosphors

ZnS:Cu nanophosphors were prepared by wet chemical methods and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The typical morphologies of the nanophosphors were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermoluminescence (TL) properties of inorganically and organically passivated ZnS:Cu nanophosphors were investigated after γ-irradiation using a ⁶⁰Co source at room temperature. The TL glow curve of capped ZnS:Cu showed variation in TL peak and intensity as the capping agent was changed. Amongst the synthesized samples the TL glow curve of SiO₂ capped ZnS:Cu showed the highest TL intensity. It has been found that TL response of SiO₂ capped ZnS:Cu is linear in the range 10-550 Gy. A discussion of the obtained results is also presented.     

Resonance effects in the nonadiabatic nonlinear quantum dimer

In the presence of 1/f ^β noise, we investigate the logical stochastic resonance (LSR) in an asymmetric bistable model driven by various cycling combinations of two logic inputs. The probability of correct logic outputs is calculated according to true table of logic relationships. Two major results are presented. Firstly, it is shown that the LSR effect can be obtained by changing noise strength. Over entire range of noise variance, white noise can be considered to be better than 1/f noise or 1/f ² noise to obtain clean logic operation. At a smaller noise level, 1/f noise can realize higher output probability than white noise or 1/f ² noise. In the sense, 1/f noise can be considered to be better than white noise or 1/f ². On the other hand, the correct probability can evolves nonmonotonically as noise exponent β increases, and a kind of SR-like effect can be obtained as a result of β. At certain intermediate noise variance, the output probability is able to attain its minimum at β = 1. It is also shown that actually some finite β sometime can be better than β = 0 at small range of noise variance. The study might provide some potential complement to LSR effect in the presence of 1/f ^β noise.     

Synthesis and characterization of β-Ga2O3 nanostructures grown on GaAs substrates

β-Ga₂O₃ nanostructures including nanowires, nanoribbons and nanosheets were synthesized via thermal annealing of gold coated GaAs substrates in N₂ ambient. GaAs substrates with different dopants were taken as the starting material to study the effect of doping on the growth and photoluminescence properties of β-Ga₂O₃ nanostructures. The nanostructures were investigated by Grazing Incident X-ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, room temperature photoluminescence and optical absorbance. The selected area electron diffraction and High resolution-TEM observations suggest that both nanowires and nanobelts are single crystalline. Different growth directions were observed for nanowires and nanoribbons, indicating the different growth patterns of these nanostructures. The PL spectra of β-Ga₂O₃ nanostructures exhibit a strong UV-blue emission band centered at 410 nm, 415 nm and 450 nm for differently doped GaAs substrates respectively. A weak red luminescence peak at 710 nm was also observed in all the samples. The optical absorbance spectrum showed intense absorption features in the UV spectral region. The growth and luminescence mechanism in β-Ga₂O₃ nanostructures are also discussed.     

Dielectric relaxation in polyvinylidenefluoride–polysulfone blends

Dielectric properties of polymer blend of polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) and polysulfone (PSF) of different wt. % have been studied to understand the molecular motion and their relaxation behavior in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 10 kHz at different temperatures between 30 and 190 °C. The dielectric constant of the blend decreased with frequency and increased with the increasing temperature and PSF content in the blend. The magnitude of dielectric loss also increased with increase in temperature and PSF content. The observed characteristic has been consistently explained in terms of dipolar motions and the plasticization effect brought about by blending of PSF with PVDF. At constant frequency and temperature, the blend follows a linear relationship between logarithm of their dielectric constant and different ratios of blend. The appearance of a peak for each concentration in dielectric loss suggests the presence of relaxing dipoles in the blend. In addition of PSF with PVDF, the peak shifts toward higher frequency side suggesting the speed up the relaxation process. AC dielectric data is also combined with thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) data which is generally studied for low-frequency dielectric properties of polymers blends so as to produce the results in a wide frequency range. The glass transition temperature (T_g) of the blend was studied by differential scanning calorimetric technique (DSC), the T_g was compared and correlated with TSDC peak. The blend samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study the formation of blend and micro structural properties of the materials. The shifting of peak toward lower diffraction angle side confirms the reduction in particle size with increasing amorphous content in the blend.     

Deciding confluence of certain term rewriting systems in polynomial time

We present a characterization of confluence for term rewriting systems, which is then refined for special classes of rewriting systems. The refined characterization is used to obtain a polynomial time algorithm for deciding the confluence of ground term rewrite systems. The same approach also shows the decidability of confluence for shallow and linear term rewriting systems. The decision procedure has a polynomial time complexity under the assumption that the maximum arity of a function symbol in the signature is a constant.     

A quick and regioselective access of spirooxindole-oxazoline by reaction of isatin and isocyanoacetate “on water”

A greener, rapid and regioselective “on water” synthesis of spirooxindole-oxazoline by the reaction of isatin and isocyanoacetate at room temperature is described. The developed protocol has the advantage of being atom-economical, eco-friendly, and benign reaction conditions. Broader substrate scope, experimentally simple procedures, and easy purification of products with high yield further make this method attractive. The synthesized compounds have been fully characterized with spectral analysis.     

Electrocatalytic sensing of omeprazole

Ionics - A novel, simple, sensitive, and highly selective omeprazole sensor based on the synergistic effect of polyaniline (PANI) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) has been developed. The...     

Synthesis and bioactivity evaluation of eugenol hybrids obtained by Mannich and 1,3 dipolar cycloaddition reactions

Design, synthesis, and bioactivity evaluation of novel mannich bases ( 2a-2j ) and triazole-chalcone derivatives ( 7a-7k ) of Eugenol 1 were reported. Among all the derivatives tested for antiproliferative activity, di-amine manich derivative 2b (32.92 μM), and 4-methoxy chalcone triazole derivative 7d (33.05 μM) significantly inhibited HepG2 cell lines when compared to the standard doxorubicin (37.29 μM). Whereas most of the compounds such as diethylamine 2a (17.75 μM), (aminomethyl) methane diamine 2b (17.02 μM), and bis (chloromethyl) amine 2c (20.12 μM) showed moderate to better inhibition towards MCF-7 cell lines. The synthesized analogues were also tested for antidiabetic and antiobesity potentials. Compounds 2f (55.50%), 2c (54.34%), 7g (55.5%), and 2a (55.5%) have shown moderate inhibitory potentials toward intestinal α-glucosidase enzyme when compared to the standard Acarbose (72.86%). Likewise, compounds 7d (82.95%), 7f (76.19%), 7g (74.81%), 7e (74.81%), and 2g (72.50%) have shown significant to moderate inhibitory potentials toward Pancreatic lipase enzyme when compared to the standard orlistat (91.10%). ROS induces life-threatening diseases like diabetes, cancer, etc., and antioxidants play a major role in controlling their production. Compounds 2c (99.81%), 2i (99.80%), 2d (99.26%), 2g (98.79%), and 2f (98.42%) have shown significant antioxidant profiles in ABTS assay when compared to the standard Trolox (99.07%). Further, In silico Molecular docking and pharmacokinetic screening of the eugenol derivatives complemented the in vitro results indicating the drug likeness of the obtained active compounds.     

A novel chromone-substituted trimeric dihydroflavonol from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Anogeissus pendula</Emphasis>

A new chromone-substituted dihydrotriflavonol, (2S,3S)[6-{(3S) 3″,5″-dihydroxy-6″-methoxydihydrochromone}5,3′,4′,5′-tetrahydroxy-7-methoxy-3-O-8-dihydroflavone]₂ 3-O-8[6-{(3S) 3″,5″-dihydroxy-6″methoxydihydrochromone}3,5,3′,4′,5′-pentahydroxy-7-methoxydihydroflavonol] was isolated from the leaves of Anogeissus pendula. The structure was determined by UV, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, HMBC, and CD data.     

Performance limit for base-excited energy harvesting,and comparison with experiments

Nonlinear Dynamics - We consider the theoretical maximum extractable average power from an energy harvesting device attached to a vibrating table which provides a unidirectional displacement...