Highly ordered nanoporous thin films by blending of PSt‐b‐PMMA block copolymers and PEO additives as structure directing agents

Herein, we present a simple method for producing nanoporous templates with a high degree of lateral ordering by self‐assembly of block copolymers. A key feature of this approach is control of the orientation of polymeric microdomains through the use of hydrophilic additives as structure directing agents. Incorporation of hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) moieties into poly(styrene‐b‐methyl methacrylate) (PSt‐b‐PMMA) diblock copolymers gives vertical alignment of PMMA cylinders on the substrate after solvent annealing. Because of the miscibility between PEO and PMMA, PEO additives were selectively positioned within PMMA microdomains and by controlling the processing conditions, it was found that ordering of PSt‐b‐PMMA diblock copolymers could be achieved. The perpendicular orientation of PMMA cylinders was achieved by increasing the molecular size of the PEO additives leading to an increased hydrophilicity of the PMMA domains and consequently to control the orientation of microdomains in PSt‐b‐PMMA block copolymer thin films. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 8041–8048, 2008     

Substituted Pyrazolo[3,4‐d]pyrimidines: Microwave‐Assisted,Solvent‐Free Synthesis and Biological Evaluation

A simple and efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of various pyrazolo[3,4‐d]pyrimidines by using microwave irradiation under solvent‐free conditions. The advantages of applying microwave irradiation compared with the classical method were demonstrated. The structures of all the compounds were confirmed by the usual techniques and, in two cases, by X‐ray analysis. The compounds did not display appreciable ability to inhibit xanthine oxidase activity. Screening for antifungal activity showed that some derivatives were active against four fungi, with more significant results for Botrytis.     

Development of a flow injection method for monitoring cell membrane damage of wine lactic acid bacteria

A flow injection analysis (FIA) system was developed for the determination of phosphate efflux from wine lactic acid bacteria (Oenococus oeni and Lactobacillus hilgardii) as an indication of cell membrane damage. The system allowed the direct injection of the cell suspension, avoiding the filtration step, with minimum sample treatment and minimized reagent consumption. The developed system is characterized by a linear concentration zone between 3.23 × 10⁻⁵ and 4.84 × 10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹ PO₄ ³⁻ and repeatability better than 2.9%. Bacterial suspensions were exposed to a chemical stress with phenolic acids and injected in the FIA system at regular intervals. The extracellular concentration of phosphate was measured spectrophotometrically. The experimental results obtained indicate that hydroxycinnamic acids (p-coumaric, ferulic and caffeic) induced faster phosphate leakage rates than hydroxybenzoic acids (vanillic and p-hydroxybenzoic) in both strains tested, which could be related to their higher lipophilic character.     

Multiple voting location problems

The facility voting location problems arise from the application of criteria derived from the voting processes concerning the location of facilities. The multiple location problems are those location problems in which the alternative solutions are sets of points. This paper extends previous results and notions on single voting location problems to the location of a set of facility points. The application of linear programming techniques to solve multiple facility voting location problems is analyzed. We propose an algorithm to solve Simpson multiple location problems from which the solution procedures for other problems are derived.     

Photosynthetic activity and growth analysis of the plant Costus spicatus cultivated under different light conditions

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of different radiance levels (25%, 50% and 100% of full sunlight) in growth (height, leaf area, number of leaves) and photosynthetic activity of the plant Costus spicatus, popularly known in Brazil as Caninha do Brejo. Photoacoustic (PA) measurements were performed in order to evaluate comparatively the photosynthetic activity rate of plants submitted to different light intensity regimes. The results obtained show that plants maintained under low light intensity levels (25% of sunlight) presented higher height, leaf area and number of leaves, while plants grown under full sunlight presented higher radicular length. PA measurements indicated higher photosynthetic rate for plants grown under 50% of full sunlight, but plants developed under 25% of full sunlight (75% shading) presented the fastest response to light incidence (photosynthetic induction).     

Chitosan Cross-Linked Films for Drug Delivery Application

This work evaluated such a cross-linked chitosan based controlled release device to be later used for sustained drug release. Cross linking was required to control chitosan swelling/deswelling rate. Hexamethylene 1,6-Bis (aminocarboxysulfonate), a bisulfite blocked diisocyanate obtained by the reaction of 1,6 Hexamethylene Diisocyanate and Sodium bisulfite, was used as cross linking agent. Two films formulations were tested: 30 and 50% cross-linked, and they were prepared by solvent evaporation technique. Chitosan cross-linked films were characterized for cross linkage by FTIR, for hydrophilicity by Contact Angle and for swelling behavior by Gravimetric method. Cross linking reaction was confirmed by FTIR. Moreover, cross linking increased the hydrophilic character of cross-linked films and suppressed swelling. However, 30% cross-linked film swollen less than the 50% one, while 50% cross-linked film swollen less than chitosan film itself. This behavior was attributed to the hydrophilic character of the cross linking agent and to the polymeric network formation by cross linking.     

Forced synchronization of a self-sustained chaotic oscillator

This work presents a forced synchronization phenomenon like the asymptotic correlated behavior between chaotic oscillators forced by an external signal. Different kinds of forced synchronization are presented and given a theoretical justification explaining why it is possible to find some of them. Numerical results are presented for different cases such as antisymmetric, lag, phase, and identical forced synchronization.     

A simple method for estimating the length density of convoluted tubular systems

We present a new method for estimating the length density (L(v)) of convoluted tubular structures exhibiting an isotropic distribution. Although the traditional equation L(v)=2Q/A is used, the parameter Q is obtained by considering the collective perimeters of tubular sections. This measurement is converted to a standard model of the structure, assuming that all cross-sections are approximately circular and have an average perimeter similar to that of actual circular cross-sections observed in the same material. The accuracy of this method was tested in eight experiments using hollow macaroni bent into helical shapes. After measuring the length of the macaroni segments, they were boiled and randomly packed into cylindrical volumes along with an aqueous suspension of gelatin and India ink. The solidified blocks were cut into slices 1.0cm thick and 33.2cm(2) in area (A). The total perimeter of the macaroni cross-sections so revealed was stereologically estimated using a test system of straight parallel lines. Given L(v) and the reference volume, the total length of macaroni in each section could be estimated. Additional corrections were made for the changes induced by boiling, and the off-axis position of the thread used to measure length. No statistical difference was observed between the corrected estimated values and the actual lengths. This technique is useful for estimating the length of capillaries, renal tubules, and seminiferous tubules.     

Three-zone pupil filters

The performance of pupil filters consisting of three zones each of constant complex amplitude transmittance is investigated. For filters where the transmittance is real, different classes of potentially useful filter are identified. These include leaky filters with an inner zone of low amplitude transmittance, pure phase filters with phase change of π, and equal area filters.     

Two-zone pupil filters

The performance of pupil filters consisting of two zones each of constant complex amplitude transmittance is investigated. For filters where the transmittance is real, different classes of potentially useful filter are identified and optimized. These include leaky filters with an inner zone of low amplitude transmittance, pure phase filters with phase change of π, and equal area filters. The first of these minimizes the relative power in the outer rings for a given axial resolution, the second maximizes the Strehl ratio for a given transverse resolution, and the third minimizes the relative power in the outer rings for a given transverse resolution. Complex filters can give an axially shifted maximum in intensity: the performance parameters calculated relative to the true focus are investigated for some different classes of filter, but filters with phase change not equal to π are found to give inferior performance to the real value filters.