Application of Carrageenan extract from red seaweed (Rhodophyta) in cosmetic products: A review

Cosmetic industries have expanded globally and will continue to increase as there are consumers. Nowadays, the interest starts to incline towards cosmetics formulated using plant-based ingredients. Marine plants such as seaweed possess numerous natural polysaccharides. Carrageenan is one of the compounds that can be extracted from red seaweed (Rhodophyta). This natural polysaccharide is widely known to act as a thickener, stabilizer, and water-binding agent as well as have diverse biological activities that make it a suitable active ingredient in cosmetic products. The review paper is organized by starting with discussing the significant aspects related to carrageenan which are the source, structure, as well as general and biological properties of carrageenan that make it appropriate to be applied in cosmetics. This paper also highlighted the applications of carrageenan in cosmetics, followed by the extraction method and instrument used.     

Reducing soiling issues on photovoltaic panels using hydrophobic self-cleaning coating

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - Surfaces that simultaneously exhibit hydrophobicity, high contact angle, and high transmission of visible light are of interest for many applications...     

Physical,optical and radiative properties of CaSO4–B2O3–P2O5 glasses doped with Sm3+ ions

Trivalent rare earth ions doped borosulfophosphate glasses are in high demand owing to their several unique attributes that are advantageous for applications in diverse photonic devices. Thus, Sm³⁺ ion doped calcium sulfoborophosphate glasses with composition of 25CaSO₄–30B₂O₃–(45?x)P₂O₅–xSm₂O₃ (where x?=?0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 mol%) were synthesized using melt-quenching technique. X-ray diffraction confirmed the amorphous nature of the prepared glass samples. Differential thermal analyses show transition peaks for melting temperature, glass transition and crystallization temperature. The glass stability is found in the range 91?°C to 116?°C which shows increased stability with addition of Sm₂O₃ concentration. The Fourier transform infrared spectral measurements carried out showed the presence of vibration bands due to PO linkage, BO_3, BO₄, PO₄, POP, OPO, SOB, and BOB unit. Glass density showed increase in value from 2.179 to 2.251?g cm^?3 with increase in Sm₂O₃ concentration. The direct, indirect band gap and Urbach energy calculated were found to be within 4.368–4.184?eV, 3.641–3.488?eV and 0.323–0.282?eV energy ranges, respectively. The absorption spectra revealed ten prominent peaks centered at 365, 400, 471, 941, 1075, 1228, 1375, 1477, 1528 and 1597?nm corresponding to ⁴D_3/2,⁶H_5/2→⁴I_11/2,⁶P_3/2, ⁶F_11/2, ⁶F_9/2, ⁶F_7/2, ⁶F_5/2, ⁶F_3/2, ⁶H_15/2 and ⁶F_1/2 transitions respectively. Photoluminescence spectra monitored at the excitation of 398?nm exhibits four emission bands positioned at 559, 596,643 and 709?nm corresponding to ⁴G_5/2→⁶H_5/2, ⁶H_7/2, ⁶H_9/2 and ⁶H_11/2 transitions respectively. The nephelauxetic parameters calculated showed good influence on the local environment within the samarium ions site and the state of the SmO bond. The Judd–Ofelt intensity parameters calculated for all glass samples revealed that Ω_6?>?Ω_4?>?Ω₂. The emission cross-section and the branching ratios values obtained for ⁴G_5/2→⁶H_7/2 transition indicate its suitability for LEDs and solid-state laser application.     

Generalized squeezed states

Squeezed states are one of the most useful quantum optical models having various applications in different areas, especially in quantum information processing. Generalized squeezed states are even more interesting since, sometimes, they provide additional degrees of freedom in the system. However, they are very difficult to construct and, therefore, people explore such states for individual setting and, thus, a generic analytical expression for generalized squeezed states is yet inadequate in the literature. In this article, we propose a method for the generalization of such states, which can be utilized to construct the squeezed states for any kind of quantum models. Our protocol works accurately for the case of the trigonometric Rosen–Morse potential, which we have considered as an example. Presumably, the scheme should also work for any other quantum mechanical model. In order to verify our results, we have studied the nonclassicality of the given system using several standard mechanisms. Among them, the Wigner function turns out to be the most challenging from the computational point of view. We, thus, also explore a generalization of the Wigner function and indicate how to compute it for a general system like the trigonometric Rosen–Morse potential with a reduced computation time.     

Nano emulsion binders for paper coating synthesis and application

The key objectives of coating papers and paperboards are to improve their aesthetic appearance and printability. Coatings offer smoothness, gloss, brightness, and opacity to the base papers and provide them with enhanced printability, which requires resistance to ink splitting forces, smoothness, ink holdout and gloss, etc. Styrene acrylate latexes were synthesized, via emulsion polymerization, and were formulated as coats for white and brown recycled papers. Both processes were characterized specifically for offset printing. The prepared latexes showed enhanced solid content, viscosity, zeta potential and appropriate glass transition temperature for paper coating formulation. The porosity, gloss and Cobb60 values of coated papers increased with the increased addition of nano-emulsion modified latexes. The formulations afforded high printability (print gloss and print density) with local ground calcium carbonate compared with that of the imported pigment (kaolin). Furthermore, the synthesized binder had higher water resistance than the commercial one; which can tightly be correlated with print quality, printability and productivity and most significantly, permits usage of low viscous ink. Coated recycled brown base gave promising results with respect to print quality although offset printing was utilized. The novelty of this work was not only in employing the local alternative binder and local pigment but also in achieving compatibility with environmental regulations since oil-based inks and recycled papers were also used.     

Repeated dose 28-days oral toxicity study of Carica papaya L. leaf extract in Sprague Dawley rats

Carica papaya L. leaves have been used in ethnomedicine for the treatment of fevers and cancers. Despite its benefits, very few studies on their potential toxicity have been described. The aim of the present study was to characterize the chemical composition of the leaf extract from 'Sekaki' C. papaya cultivar by UPLC-TripleTOF-ESI-MS and to investigate the sub-acute oral toxicity in Sprague Dawley rats at doses of 0.01, 0.14 and 2 g/kg by examining the general behavior, clinical signs, hematological parameters, serum biochemistry and histopathology changes. A total of twelve compounds consisting of one piperidine alkaloid, two organic acids, six malic acid derivatives, and four flavonol glycosides were characterized or tentatively identified in the C. papaya leaf extract. In the sub-acute study, the C. papaya extract did not cause mortality nor were treatment-related changes in body weight, food intake, water level, and hematological parameters observed between treatment and control groups. Some biochemical parameters such as the total protein, HDL-cholesterol, AST, ALT and ALP were elevated in a non-dose dependent manner. Histopathological examination of all organs including liver did not reveal morphological alteration. Other parameters showed non-significant differences between treatment and control groups. The present results suggest that C. papaya leaf extract at a dose up to fourteen times the levels employed in practical use in traditional medicine in Malaysia could be considered safe as a medicinal agent.     

Polarized IR and Raman spectra and ab initio calculations for bis(guanidine) zirconium bis(nitrilotriacetate) hydrate single crystal [C(NH2)3]2[Zr[N(CH2COO)3]2](H2O)--the new laser Raman converter

Fourier transform polarized IR and Raman spectra of bis(guanidine) zirconium bis(nitrilotriacetate) hydrate single crystal [C(NH(2))(3)](2)[Zr[N(CH(2)COO)(3)](2)](H(2)O) have been measured in the regions 30-4000 and 80-4000 cm(-1) and correlated with X-ray structural data. The factor group analysis has been applied in the discussion of the dichroic dependence of the vibrational modes. The assignment of the internal vibrations for the [Zr(nitrilotriacetate)2]2- complex ion has been based on the ab initio quantum chemical calculations. The usefulness of the studied crystal as Raman laser converter was analyzed basing on the comparison of the spontaneous and stimulated Raman spectra.     

Invariant four-vectors underE(3, 1) and some of its subgroups

Necessary and sufficient conditions ofinvariance on four-vectors under the Poincaré group E(3, 1) and its subgroups are exploited. As an example the Euclidean group in three dimensions and its subgroups are explicitly considered. Their invariant “potentials” are systematically derived.