Polymerization of butadiene on nanoparticles’ surfaces and formation of metal/polymer nanocomposites

In this paper, we demonstrate that laser vaporization of metals in the presence of a small concentration of butadiene vapor leads to the polymerization of butadiene and incorporation of the metal nanoparticles within the polymer matrix. The metal nanocomposites are characterized by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and EDX. The results from high pressure mass spectrometry indicate that multiple additions of butadiene molecules on the metal cations Fe⁺, Ni⁺ and Pt⁺, generated by laser vaporization, take place at room temperature thus providing an efficient means of initiating further polymerization reactions. The Pt⁺ reactions show extensive fragmentations and elimination steps generating hydrocarbon ions. The laser vaporization/polymerization method provides the ability to encapsulate several different metals or metal oxides which undoubtedly will play a significant role in tuning the various properties of the polymer composites.     

Analysis of combined conduction and radiation heat transfer in presence of participating medium by the development of hybrid method

The current study addresses the mathematical modeling aspects of coupled conductive and radiative heat transfer in the presence of absorbing, emitting and isotropic scattering gray medium within two-dimensional square enclosure. A blended method where the concepts of modified differential approximation employed by combining discrete ordinate method and spherical harmonics method, has been developed for modeling the radiative transport equation. The gray participating medium is bounded by isothermal walls of two-dimensional enclosure which are considered to be opaque, diffuse and gray. The effect of various influencing parameters i.e., radiation-conduction parameter, surface emissivity, single scattering albedo and optical thickness has been illustrated. The adaptability of the present method has also been addressed.     

Cytotoxic activity of marine algae and a cytotoxic principle of the brown alga Sargassum tortile.

Partition fractions of hexane, CCl4 and CHCl3 from methanolic extracts of marine algae were each examined for cytotoxic activities against cultured P-388 lymphocytic leukemia cells. Cytotoxic activities were found for partition fractions of 21 species of seaweed. Bioactivity-guided fractionation of the CCl4 partition fraction from Sargassum tortile, exhibiting the most prominent activity, afforded dihydroxysargaquinone (1) and sargatriol (2) previously isolated from this alga. The former was evaluated as a cytotoxic principle, and the latter, showing moderate activity, was suggested to be an artifact derived from 1 during the isolation procedure.     

Nanoscale surface of carbon nanotube fibers for medical applications: Structure and chemistry revealed by TOF-SIMS analysis

Surface structure and related chemistry understanding is a vital element in the design of high biocompatible materials since adsorption and adhesion of biological components are involved. These features are even more important in the case of nanostructured materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) fibers. In our preliminary work we synthesised CNTs based fibers for medical applications. This new hybrid system combines polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with CNTs and polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), a biodegradable copolymer. The surface properties of this material are investigated in order to guarantee a biocompatible response. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) was found to be an ideal tool for fiber characterisation owing to its capacity to provide chemical specificity combined with detection limits beyond the reach of techniques previously used. Complementary morphological information is provided by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The corroboration of both data enables us to define the chemistry and structure of this new formulation.     

Comparative Study on Large and Small Signal Theory for Intensity Modulation Response of Semiconductor Lasers Including Higher-Order Dispersion Terms

In this article, the comparison of large signal theory and small signal theory has been done with dispersive propagation of optical signal with IMDD (Intensity Modulation Direct Detection) systems for semiconductor lasers with higher-order dispersion terms. The expressions for an exact large signal theory and small signal theory including higher-order dispersion terms for propagation of an optical wave with sinusoidal amplitude and frequency modulation in a dispersive fiber have been derived. It is observed that small signal theory is more sensitive compared to large signal theory in terms of intensity modulation/direct detection systems. Also, it is reported that for large signal analysis the higher-order effects of dispersion can be ignored, whereas for small signal theory, the higher-order effects can be ignored for lower modulation frequencies only. The variation in the transfer function for various values of modulation indices are greater for small signal analysis than for large signal analysis. Also, as the intensity modulation index is increased, there is a decrease in the value of transfer function. The large signal model approximates the small signal model for lower values of the intensity modulation index.     

Growth Behavior of CdS Nanoparticles Embedded in Polymer and Sol-Gel Silica Matrices: Relationship with Surface-State Related Luminescence

Chemical techniques were employed to synthesize CdS nanoparticles embedded in polymer (PEG 300) and sol-gel silica matrices. Systematic growth of particles (radius 3–9 nm) was obtained by adjusting post-deposition annealing temperature and time to examine the dependence of surface-state–related luminescence on particle size. Photoluminescence (PL) peak energy showed a linear dependence with a gentle slope in the weak confinement region and a steep slope in the strong confinement region, the divergence being observed near the excitonic Bohr radius for CdS. The empirical relation proposed for the weak confinement region could be used for estimating chemically prepared CdS nanoparticle size with a high degree of reliability from PL peak energy.     

About the focal mechanism of Friuli earthquake occurred on May 6, 1976

Summary We are going to present the focal-mechanism solution of Fruili earthquake occurred on May 6, 1976, as it results from the analysis, on original seismograms, of the polarities of initial longitudinal waves obtained in 92 seismic stations. The polarities so obtained have been reported on the projection which represents the surface of the Earth and the solution has been drawn, directly, from the study of the resulting distribution, by establishing through Gr?fe's theory the two couples of forces considered as the sources of the seism at the focus. At last, a comparison has been carried out with the solution already obtained by other authors.

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Riassunto Si presenta la soluzione del meccanismo focale del terremoto del Fruili del 6/5/1976 ottenuta dallo studio, sui sismogrammi originali, della polarità delle onde longitudinali iniziali, quale si è presentata in 92 stazioni sismiche vicine e lontane. Le polarità ottenute sono state riportate sulla superficie della Terra e la soluzione è stata ricavata direttamente dallo studio della distribuzione così ottenuta, definendo mediante la teoria di Gr?fe le due coppie di forze che hanno agito all'ipocentro. Un confronto è stato infine eseguito con le soluzioni in precedenza ottenute da altri autori.

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Резюме Предлагается решение фокального механизма землетрясения, имевшего место в Фриули 6 мая 1976 г. Решение есть результат анализа исходных сейсмограмм, которые получены на 92 сейсмнческих, удаленнынных и близких. Полученные пояьрности представлены в проекции на поверхность Земли. Решение получено непосредственно из исследования результируюшего распределения, которое следует из теории Грефа для для двух пар сил, представляюших источники землетрясения в фокусе. В заключение проводится сравнение с решением, полученным ранее другими авторами.

     

Thee + e −→¯nn cross section predicted remarkably larger than thee + e −→¯pp one

It is shown that all global analyses of nucleon electromagnetic form factor data predict the electron-positron annihilation into neutron-antineutron cross section (for which there are no data till now) to be in a finite energy region substantially larger than the electron-positron annihilation into the proton-antiproton one.Dedicated to the memory of M. Gmitro.