Characterization and Wear Behavior of Plasma Nitrided Nickel Based Dental Alloy

In the present work, the plasma nitriding behavior of a nickel based dental alloy was investigated. Plasma nitriding experiments carried out under constant gas mixture (15% H₂?C85% N₂) for different process parameters including time (4, 6, 10, and 20 h) and temperature (400, 450, 500, and 550 °C). Depending on nitriding parameters, it was found that triple or double layers formed on the surface of the samples. Increasing of treatment time and temperature has resulted in a double layer. ??_N1 layer was in formed all nitrided samples. However, ??_N2 layer is formed only at low temperatures and in short times. Layer growth of nickel based alloys increases until a critical time or a critical temperature reached. Above these critical values, it is observed that the layer thickness decreases. It was also found that plasma nitriding not only increases the surface hardness but also improves the wear resistance of nickel based dental alloy. The maximum wear resistance was observed at 400 °C for 10 h due to the high hardness and thickness of the nitride layers.     

Crystallographic and Conformational Analysis of [(Z)-2-ethoxy-6-[(2-hydroxyphenylamino)methylene]cyclohexa-2,4-dienone]

Abstract  The single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of the title compound, C₁₅H₁₅NO₃, shows that the structure is adopted to its NH tautomeric form and crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group P bcn with a = 21.2424(15) ?, b = 12.7696(9) ?, c = 9.3605(10) ?, Z = 8, V = 2539.1(4) ?³, D _c  = 1.346 g/cm³. The molecular conformation in the crystal is stabilized by an intramolecular H-bond and the crystal structure is stabilized by the bifurcated O–H···O type intermolecular H-bonds. In order to understand the effects on conformational flexibility of the title molecule, molecular energy profile was calculated as a function of the selected torsion angle by means of AM1 semi-empirical method. Index Abstract  Molecular and crystal structure of [(Z)-2-ethoxy-6-[(2-hydroxyphenylamino)methylene]cyclohexa-2,4-dienone], C₁₅H₁₅NO₃, have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction study, and conformational analysis of the title molecule with respect to the selected torsion angle has been achieved by AM1 semi-empirical calculations.      

Effect of oxide thickness on the capacitance and conductance characteristics of MOS structures

In this work, the investigation of the interface states density and series resistance from capacitance–voltage (C–V) and conductance–voltage (G–V) characteristics in Au/SnO₂/n-Si (MOS) structures prepared at various SnO₂ layer thicknesses by spray deposition technique have been reported. It is fabricated five samples depending on deposition time. The thicknesses of SnO₂ films obtained from the measurement of the oxide capacitance in the strong accumulation region for MOS Schottky diodes are 37, 79, 274, 401, and 446 Å, for D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5 samples, respectively. The C–V and G–V measurements of Au/SnO₂/n-Si MOS structures are performed in the voltage range from −6 to +10 V and the frequency range from 500 Hz to 10 MHz at room temperature. It is observed that peaks in the forward C–V characteristics appeared because of the series resistance. It has been seen that the value of the series resistance R_s of samples D1 (47 Ω), D2 (64 Ω), D3 (98 Ω), D4 (151 Ω), and D5 (163 Ω) increases with increasing the oxide layer thickness. The interface state density D_it ranges from 2.40×10¹³ cm⁻² eV⁻¹ for D1 sample to 2.73×10¹² cm⁻² eV⁻¹ for D5 sample and increases with increasing the oxide layer thickness.     

Characterization of nucleobases in sea buckthorn leaves: An HPTLC approach

The present study aims to establish a high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC)-based comparative analysis, directed toward characterization of nucleobases in aqueous and alcoholic extracts of sea buckthorn leaves from three different varieties: Hippophae salicifolia, Hippophae rhamnoides mongolica, and Hippophae rhamnoides turkestanica. The alcoholic and aqueous leaf extracts from these sea buckthorn varieties were prepared using accelerated solvent extraction technique. A novel HPTLC method for separating and identifying six nucleobases, namely, guanosine, guanine, cytosine, adenine, uracil, and thymine were adopted. HPTLC analysis indicated the presence of one or more of these nucleobases in a total of six leaf extracts evaluated, their quantities varying from 0.23 to 7.76?µg nucleobase per mg of extract. Though a typical trend could not be observed in the values obtained, the extracts were found to be considerably rich with respect to nucleobase contents. The results acquired from HPTLC were subsequently validated by hyphenation with mass spectrometry and also by applying chemometric tools in form of heat maps, hierarchical cluster dendrograms, and principal component analysis. The presence of nucleobases in the leaf extracts was confirmed by HPLC as well but HPTLC proved to be a better approach for characterization of nucleobases in plant extracts, than high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).     

Santamarine Shows Anti-Photoaging Properties via Inhibition of MAPK/AP-1 and Stimulation of TGF-β/Smad Signaling in UVA-Irradiated HDFs

Chronic UVA exposure results in elevated reactive oxygen species in skin which leads to photoaging characterized as upregulated matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 and loss of collagen. Therefore, natural antioxidants are hailed as promising agents to be utilized against photoaging. In the current study, reynosin and santamarine, two known sesquiterpene lactones isolated from Artemisia scoparia, were analyzed for their anti-photoaging properties in UVA-irradiated human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs). Results showed that UVA irradiation (8 J/cm²) upregulated the MMP-1 secretion and expression, and suppressed collagen production, which were significantly reverted by santamarine treatment (10 µM). Although both reynosin and santamarine exhibited ROS scavenging abilities, reynosin failed to significantly diminish UVA-stimulated MMP-1 release. UVA-irradiated HDFs showed increased collagen production when treated with santamarine. As a mechanism to suppress MMP-1, santamarine significantly suppressed the UVA-induced phosphorylation of p38 and JNK and nuclear translocation of p-c-Fos and p-c-Jun. Santamarine promoted collagen I production via relieving the UVA-induced suppression on TGF-β and its downstream activator Smad2/3 complex. Antioxidant properties of santamarine were also shown to arise from stimulating Nrf2-dependent expression of antioxidant enzymes SOD-1 and HO-1 in UVA-irradiated HDFs. In conclusion, santamarine was found to be a promising natural antioxidant with anti-photoaging properties against UVA-induced damages in HDFs.     

Crystallographic and conformational analyses of zwitterionic form of (<Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis>)-2-methoxy-6-[(2-morpholinoethylimino)methyl]phenolate

The single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of the title compound, C₁₄H₂₀N₂O₃, reveals that the structure is adapted to its zwitterionic form and centrosymmetric dimers are formed by N⁺–H···O⁻ type ionic weak hydrogen bonds in the crystal structure. The title compound crystallizes in the triclinic space group P−1 with a = 5.9255(13) ?, b = 9.853(3) ?, c = 12.248(3) ?, α = 101.793(19)°, β = 94.941(17)°, γ = 104.36(2)°, Z = 2, D_x = 1.308 g/cm³, μ (Mo-K_α) = 0.092 mm⁻¹. The structure was solved by direct methods and refined to a final R = 0.0371 for 2183 reflections with I > 2σ (I). The crystal structure is stabilized by N⁺–H···O⁻ type intra-molecular hydrogen bonds and N⁺–H···O⁻ type packing interactions referred to as weak hydrogen bonds. To elucidate conformational flexibility of the title molecule, the selected torsion angle is varied from −180° to +180° in every 10° separately and then molecular energy profile is calculated and construed. In addition, charge-population analysis of the crystallographically observed structure confirms its zwitterionic form.     

Solubility and optical activity of Bi12SiO20 crystals

In this paper the solubility and optical activity of Bi₁₂SiO₂₀ (BSO) single crystals grown in aqueous NaOH under hydrothermal conditions were reported. BSO was found to have a positive solubility coefficient from 350 to 400 °C in 0.5–3 M NaOH, as well as a positive dependence on mineralizer concentration. The reason why additional SiO₂ should be introduced in the mineralizer to grow high quality BSO was analyzed. High quality and colorless BSO crystals were grown using 4 M NaOH as a mineralizer and additional 3 wt% SiO₂ introduced in the mineralizer. Results showed that the optical activity of hydrothermal colorless BSO was superior to that of BSO grown by the Czochralski (Cz) method.     

Cyclic codes over $${{\mathbb{F}}_2+u{\mathbb{F}}_2+v{\mathbb{F}}_2+uv{\mathbb{F}}_2}$$

In this work, we focus on cyclic codes over the ring \mathbbF₂+u\mathbbF₂+v\mathbbF₂+uv\mathbbF₂{{{\mathbb{F}}_2+u{\mathbb{F}}_2+v{\mathbb{F}}_2+uv{\mathbb{F}}_2}} , which is not a finite chain ring. We use ideas from group rings and works of AbuAlrub et.al. in (Des Codes Crypt 42:273–287, 2007) to characterize the ring (\mathbbF₂+u\mathbbF₂+v\mathbbF₂+uv\mathbbF₂)/(xⁿ-1){({{\mathbb{F}}_2+u{\mathbb{F}}_2+v{\mathbb{F}}_2+uv{\mathbb{F}}_2})/(x^n-1)} and cyclic codes of odd length. Some good binary codes are obtained as the images of cyclic codes over \mathbbF₂+u\mathbbF₂+v\mathbbF₂+uv\mathbbF₂{{{\mathbb{F}}_2+u{\mathbb{F}}_2+v{\mathbb{F}}_2+uv{\mathbb{F}}_2}} under two Gray maps that are defined. We also characterize the binary images of cyclic codes over \mathbbF₂+u\mathbbF₂+v\mathbbF₂+uv\mathbbF₂{{{\mathbb{F}}_2+u{\mathbb{F}}_2+v{\mathbb{F}}_2+uv{\mathbb{F}}_2}} in general.     

Interior-Point Methods for Nonconvex Nonlinear Programming: Filter Methods and Merit Functions

Recently, Fletcher and Leyffer proposed using filter methods instead of a merit function to control steplengths in a sequential quadratic programming algorithm. In this paper, we analyze possible ways to implement a filter-based approach in an interior-point algorithm. Extensive numerical testing shows that such an approach is more efficient than using a merit function alone.