Enhancement of the properties and mesophases stability after the electron beam irradiation on a racemic anti-ferroelectric liquid crystalline mixture

The display parameters and the stability of the various mesophases of a newly synthesised racemic mixture of anti-ferroelectric liquid crystals (AFLCs) have been boosted with the help of the electron beam irradiation. The mixture has phase sequence of isotropic–smectic C–smectic C_A crystal. The effective macroscopic polarisation and transition temperatures of the various mesophases of the irradiated mixture have increased as compared with the pure mixture. The macroscopic polarisation of the mixture has increased from 21 to 27 nC/cm² due to the irradiation. From various studies, we have observed that the temperature range of the smectic C_A phase has increased by 20.6°C with marginal decrease in the temperature range of the smectic C phase.     

Organic–inorganic nanocomposite films made from polyurethane dispersions and colloidal silica particles

Polyurethane/silica nanocomposites were prepared by solution blending of polyurethane water dispersion (PUD) based on polycarbonate macrodiol with colloidal silica aqueous sol LUDOX TMA. Because of mixing PUDs made from linear polyurethane with the nanofiller, only physical polymer/filler type of interface formed by hydrogen bonds was obtained. As a result the materials were possible to reuse after dissolution in acetone followed by dispersion in water. The effect of colloidal silica content on mechanical, thermal, morphological, and swelling properties of obtained films was tested by tensile test, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, thermogravimertic analysis, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and swelling analyses. The nanocomposites were classified in three groups differing in the internal structure and functional properties: organic matrix filled with inorganic nanofiller (up to 10 wt% of silica), bicontinous systems (25 and 32 wt% of silica) and inorganic matrix filled with polyurethane (50 and 60 wt% of silica). Only small amount of colloidal silica (up to 10 wt%) improves thermo-mechanical properties, smoothes the materials, and suppresses extent of swelling without changing of the films transparency.     

Behaviour of selected pesticide residues in blackcurrants (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Ribes nigrum</Emphasis>) during technological processing monitored by liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

In this experiment, the behaviour of ten pesticides on field-sprayed blackcurrants (Ribes nigrum) after washing, juicing and cooking was investigated. The concentration level changes in two acaricides (fenazaquin, propargite), three insecticides (alpha-cypermethrin, deltamethrin and lambdacyhalothrin) and five fungicides (boscalid, bupirimate, difenoconazole, pyraclostrobin, thiophanate-methyl) were quantified. Analysis was carried out using the QuEChERS method followed by chromatographic analysis based on LC-MS/MS. The matrix effects ranged from —(17.4 ± 8.1) % to (15.9 ± 7.8) %. The limits of detection and limits of quantification were 0.003 mg kg^?1 and 0.01 mg kg^?1, respectively. The mean recoveries of the analytes ranged between 71 % and 109 %. The processing factors of all the blackcurrant products were determined. Washing reduced the pesticide residues up to 71 %. Juicing significantly reduced all the pesticide residues (processing factors (PFs) ranged 0.14–0.47). Cooking resulted in a decrease in residues up to 82 %. The residue levels of alpha-cypermethrin, deltamethrin and lambda-cyhalothrin in blackcurrant jam increased, and PFs > 1 were noted as PF = 1.38, 1.66 and 1.04, respectively. Cluster analysis was performed to find any similarity in the behaviour of pesticides after processing. The results confirmed that solubility, polarity and mode of action could be used to explain differences in the behaviour of pesticides.     

1–D Framework l-arginine zinc(II) units bridged by oxalate: synthesis,structure, properties,and theoretical studies

We synthesized a l-arginine containing Zn²⁺ complex and oxalate ions. {[Zn₂(l-Arg)₂(ox)₂]·8H₂O}_n (1) (l-Arg =l-arginine, ox = oxalate) crystallize in the monoclinic space group P2₁ with a = 8.979(2), b = 9.840(2) (Å), c = 18.509(3) (Å), β = 95.58(3) (Å), V = 1627.6(6) ų, and Z = 2. The zinc centers are six-coordinate via one l-arginine zwitterion and two bridging oxalates. The binuclear [Zn₂(l-Arg)₂(ox)₂] units are linked via oxalate and form 1-D “stair-like” linear chains. The complex was characterized using FT-IR, FT-Raman, UV–vis spectroscopy, and thermal analysis techniques, as well as DFT methods. Electronic bands above 31,000 cm^?1 originate in ^1,3A_u (n→π*) transitions within oxalate ions. Theoretical studies were performed for the model compound {[Zn(l-Arg)(Hox)₂]·4H₂O} using the fragment of the crystallographic structure of 1. The interaction energy (ΔE) values for l-arginine and two oxalate ions are comparable at -145 kcal mol^?1. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis of the electronic structure and bonding is also discussed.     

Antimicrobial properties of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles studied by flow cytometry and related techniques

This work reports the effect of silver bionanoparticles (Bio(AgNPs) synthesized by Actinobacteria CGG 11n on selected Gram (+) and Gram (–) bacteria. Flow cytometry, classical antibiogram method and fluorescent microscopy approach was used for evaluation of antimicrobial activity of Bio(AgNPs) and their combination with antibiotics. Furthermore, the performed research specified the capacity of flow cytometry method as an alternative to the standard ones and as a complementary method to electromigration techniques. The study showed antibacterial activity of both BioAgNPs and the combination of antibiotics/BioAgNPs against all the tested bacteria strains in comparison with a diffusion, dilution and bioautographic methods. The synergistic effect of antibiotics/BioAgNPs combination (e.g. kanamycin, ampicillin, neomycin and streptomycin) was found to be more notable against Pseudomonas aeruginosa representing a prototype of multi‐drug resistant “superbugs” for which effective therapeutic options are very limited.     

Stability of equilibrium points of demand-inventory model with stock-dependent demand

A model of demand and inventory of a product in one echelon of supply chain is considered. The model is formulated as a system of difference equations, in which every equilibrium point is nonhyperbolic. A positive invariant set of the system is constructed. An analysis of properties of equilibrium points of the system is based on the Lyapunov method or reducing it to the family of systems of difference equations with hyperbolic equilibrium points.     

Analysis of phenolic acids in fruits by HPLC with monolithic columns

Reversed-phase HPLC was optimised for simultaneous determination of several derivatives of benzoic and hydroxycinnamic acids (so-called phenolic acids) in plums using a commercially available monolithic column. Mobile phase pH and concentration of organic modifier (methanol and acetonitrile) were tested in order to obtain the best resolution. Satisfactory separation was achieved in gradient mode with a mobile phase consisting of 50 mM phosphate buffer at pH 2.2 (solvent A) and acetonitrile (solvent B). The limits of detection for a UV detector ranged between 0.098 and 2.04 microg/mL for vanillic acid and p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, respectively. The developed method was used for monitoring the content of polyphenolic acids in plums during their ripening process. The presence of these constituents was confirmed by checking their MS spectra.     

Synthesis and structure of novel copper(II) complexes with pyrazole derived ligands and metal–ligand interaction in solution

Two new ligands of the coumarin type have been synthesized and characterized by ¹H, ¹³C NMR, IR and MS. The crystal and molecular structures of ligand 2, determined by the X-ray diffraction method, are presented. With copper(II) these ligands create solid complexes of the type CuLCl₂, where L is 5-(2-hydroxybenzoyl)-3-methyl-1-(2-pyridinyl)pyrazol-4-carboxylic acid methyl ester (2) or 3-methyl-1-(2-pyridinyl)-1H-chromene[4,3-c]pyrazol-4-on (3). The new copper(II) complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis and solid state FT-IR. The protonation constants of ligands 2 and 3 have been determined in 5% v/v 1,4-dioxane–water solution (25 °C). The coordination modes in the complexes with copper(II) are discussed for 2 on the basis of potentiometric and UV–Vis data.     

On the best constants in noncommutative Khintchine-type inequalities

We obtain new proofs with improved constants of the Khintchine-type inequality with matrix coefficients in two cases. The first case is the Pisier and Lust-Piquard noncommutative Khintchine inequality for p=1, where we obtain the sharp lower bound of in the complex Gaussian case and for the sequence of functions . The second case is Junge's recent Khintchine-type inequality for subspaces of the operator space RC, which he used to construct a cb-embedding of the operator Hilbert space OH into the predual of a hyperfinite factor. Also in this case, we obtain a sharp lower bound of . As a consequence, it follows that any subspace of a quotient of (RC)^* is cb-isomorphic to a subspace of the predual of the hyperfinite factor of type III₁, with cb-isomorphism constant. In particular, the operator Hilbert space OH has this property.