Broadband-cascaded four-wave mixing in a photonic crystal fiber around 1 μm

To our knowledge, efficient generation of broadband four-wave mixing cascades centered at 1 μm and spanning 600 nm is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. This frequency comb is generated from a two-tone seed with a maximum peak power of 25 W in a low-dispersion photonic crystal fiber. It consists of up to 44 new idler waves generated symmetrically around the seed.     

A Modular Approach to Atropisomeric Bisphosphines of Diversified Electronic Density on Phosphorus Atoms

The series of C₂-symmetric biaryl core-based non-racemic bisphosphines possessing substituents of different electronic properties: both EDG and EWG were obtained in a short sequence of good yielding transformations, started from commercial 1,3-dimethyl-2-nitrobenzene. Several different approaches leading to the desirable ligands were practically evaluated. Notably, the synthesis of the entire series of ligands could be performed with the utilization of a single early-stage precursor DIDAB (6,6′-diiodo-2,2′,4,4′-tetramethylbiphenyl-3,3′-diamine), which could be easily obtained in enantiomerically pure form. The obtained compounds at concentrations of 50 and 200 µM showed various biological activity against normal human dermal fibroblast, ranging from inactivity through time-dependent action and ending up with high toxicity.     

Diauxic behaviour for biological processes at various timescales

In the present paper, we provide the conditions guaranteeing the generalization of so-called diauxic behaviour of solutions of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). This behaviour was described by Monod in 1949 in the context of bacterial growth. Then, a similar behaviour was observed and described referring to dynamic of CDK1 protein activity during cell cycle. The diauxic behaviour is described in terms of inflection points.     

Equatorial water waves with underlying currents in the f-plane approximation

We present an exact solution to the governing equations for equatorial geophysical water waves which admit a constant underlying zonal current and a variable meridional current in the f-plane approximation. The solution is three-dimensional, nonlinear and explicit in Lagrangian formulation. We provide an analysis of the mean flow velocities and the related mass transport.     

Neobavaisoflavone May Modulate the Activity of Topoisomerase Inhibitors towards U-87 MG Cells: An In Vitro Study

Despite many advances in therapy, glioblastoma (GB) is still characterized by its poor prognosis. The main reason for this is unsuccessful treatment, which slightly extends the duration of remission; thus, new regimens are needed. One of many types of chemotherapeutics that are being investigated in this field is topoisomerase inhibitors, mainly in combination therapy with other drugs. On the other hand, the search for new anti-cancer substances continues. Neobavaisoflavone (NBIF) is a natural compound isolated from Psoralea corylifolia L., which possesses anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of NBIF in human U-87 MG glioblastoma cells in comparison to normal human NHA astrocytes, and to examine if it influences the activity of irinotecan, etoposide, and doxorubicin in this in vitro model. We demonstrated that NBIF decreases U-87 MG cells viability in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we found that it inhibits cell growth and causes glutathione (GSH) depletion more intensely in U-87 MG cells than in astrocytes. This study also provides, for the first time, evidence of the potentialization of the doxorubicin effect by NBIF, which was shown by the reduction in the viability in U-87 MG cells.     

Identification of friction in inerter with constant and variable inertance

Meccanica - This paper presents the experimental identification of the friction force in the inerter with constant and variable inertance. The change of intertance is possible due to the...     

Parametric polarization pulse shaping demonstrated for optimal control of NaK

We present a routine for calculating and producing customized/parametric femtosecond laser pulses for investigating molecular processes involving the polarization. It is applied on the ionization of NaK molecules by feedback-loop optimization using the recently introduced double-pass "serial setup" that is capable of phase, amplitude, and polarization modulation. The temporal subpulse encoding uses the parameters distance, intensity, zero order spectral phase, and polarization state.     

The RATIO method for time‐resolved Laue crystallography

A RATIO method for analysis of intensity changes in time‐resolved pump–probe Laue diffraction experiments is described. The method eliminates the need for scaling the data with a wavelength curve representing the spectral distribution of the source and removes the effect of possible anisotropic absorption. It does not require relative scaling of series of frames and removes errors due to all but very short term fluctuations in the synchrotron beam.     

Applications of the conformal transformation method in studies of composed superconducting systems

A framework for analytical studies of superconducting systems is presented and illustrated. The formalism, based on the conformal transformation of momentum space, allows one to study the effects of both the dispersion relation and the structure of the pairing interaction in two-dimensional anisotropic high-T _c superconductors. In this method, the number of employed degrees of freedom coincides with the dimension of the momentum space, which is different compared to that in the standard Van Hove scenario with a single degree of freedom. A new function, the kernel of the density of states, is defined and its relation to the standard density of states is explained. The versatility of the method is illustrated by analyzing coexistence and competition between spin-singlet and spin-triplet order parameters in superconducting systems with a tight-binding-type dispersion relation and an anisotropic pairing potential. Phase diagrams of stable superconducting states in the coordinates η (the ratio of hopping parameters) and n (the carrier concentration) are presented and discussed. Moreover, the role of attractive and repulsive on-site interactions for the stability of the s-wave order parameter is explained.