Thermoluminescence of nanocrystalline LiF:Mg, Cu, P

Nanocrystalline LiF:Mg, Cu, P of rod shape (about 30-40 nm in diameter and 0.3-0.5 μm in length) has been prepared by the chemical co-precipitation method. Thermoluminescence (TL) and dosimetric characteristics of the nanocrystalline phosphor are studied and presented here. The formation of the material was confirmed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD). Its shape and size were also observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM). The TL glow curve of the nanocrystalline powder shows a single peak at 410 K along with four overlapping peaks of lesser intensities at around 570, 609, 638 and 663 K. The observed TL sensitivity of the prepared nanocrystalline powder is less than that of the commercially available “Harshaw TLD-700H hot-pressed chips” at low doses but it still around three times more than that of LiF:Mg, Ti (TLD-100) phosphor. The 410 K peak of the nanomaterial phosphor shows a very linear response with exposures increasing up to very high values (as high as 10 kGy), where all the other thermoluminesent dosimeters (TLD) phosphors show saturation. This linear response over a large span of exposures (0.1 Gy-10 kGy) along with negligible fading and its insensitivity to heating treatments makes the nanocrystalline phosphor useful for its application to estimate high exposures of γ-rays. The ‘tissue equivalence’ property of this material also makes it useful over a wide range of high-energy radiation.     

Crystal structure and electrical properties study of 4-aminopyridinium chloridobismuthate (III) (C5N2H7)4.HBi2Cl11

The crystal structure of (C₅N₂H₇)₄.HBi₂Cl₁₁ has been determined at room temperature by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The compound crystallizes in the triclinic system with Pī space group. The crystal structure consists of two asymmetric inequivalent molecules of 4-aminopyridinium and anionic HBi₂Cl₁₁ chains. The HBi₂Cl₁₁ anionic chains stacked along the a-axis are formed with Bi₂Cl₁₁ dimers connected to each other via hydrogen atoms. The crystal packing is stabilized with N–H...Cl hydrogen bonds connecting aminopyridinium units to the HBi₂Cl₁₁ anionic chains. The title compound exhibits an order–disorder phase transition at 338 K. The AC electrical conductivity properties of (C₅N₂H₇)₄.HBi₂Cl₁₁ compound have been investigated by means of impedance spectroscopy measurements over wide ranges of frequencies and temperatures, 200 Hz to 5 MHz and 303 to 418 K, respectively. Detailed analysis of the impedance spectrum suggests that the electrical properties of the material are strongly temperature dependent. The frequency-dependent conductivity data were fitted in the Jonscher's law: $ \sigma \left( \omega \right) = \sigma (0) + A{\omega^n} $ . The nature of variation of DC conductivity suggests Arrhenius type of electrical conductivity.     

Quantum Properties of Odd Excited Negative Binomial States of the Radiation Field

The odd excited negative binomial states are introduced using the photon creation operator by repeated application on negative binomialstates. These states interpolate between the odd displaced Fock states and the odd excited pure thermal states. In this paper both squeezing phenomena (normal squeezing and amplitude squared squeezing) are discussed. Besides discussion of the Glauber second-order correlation function, investigations are carried out for the quasi-probability distribution functions (Wigner function and Q-function). Finally the Pegg-Barnett phase probability distribution is computed for these states.     

The Antibacterial Activity of Egyptian Wasp Chitosan-Based Nanoparticles against Important Antibiotic-Resistant Pathogens

The current work discusses the production and characterization of new biodegradable nanoparticles for biomedical applications based on insect chitosan. Chitosan has numerous features due to the presence of primary amine groups in repeating units, such as antibacterial and anticancer activities. When polyanion tripolyphosphate is added to chitosan, it creates nanoparticles with higher antibacterial activity than the original chitosan. In this study, the ionic gelation technique was used to make wasp chitosan nanoparticles (WCSNPs) in which TEM and FTIR were used to investigate the physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles. In addition, the antibacterial activities of chitosan nanoparticles against extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)- and carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were evaluated. The extracted wasp chitosan exhibited high solubility in acetic acid and met all standard criteria of all characterization testes for nanoparticles; the zeta potential indicated stable WCSNPs capable of binding to cellular membrane and increasing the cellular uptake. The produced WCSNPs showed growth inhibition activity against all tested strains, and the bacterial count was lower than the initial count. The inhibition percent of WCSNPs showed that the lowest concentration of WCSNPs was found to be effective against tested strains. WCSNPs’ antibacterial activity implies that they could be used as novel, highly effective antibacterial agents in a variety of biological applications requiring antibacterial characteristics.     

Anisotropic parameter identification using inhomogeneous tensile test

In this contribution, an inverse identification strategy of constitutive laws for elastoplastic behaviour is presented. The proposed inverse algorithm is composed on an appropriate finite element calculation combined with an optimisation procedure. It is applied to identify material anisotropic coefficients using a set up of easy performed laboratory tests. The used experimental data are the plane tensile test and the off axes tensile tests. The identified behaviour models are mainly based on Hill's quadratic yield criterion. Two cases of this yield criterion have been considered: the transverse isotropic and the orthotropic one under an associated and non-associated flow rule assumptions for each case. The yield surface has been assumed to expand isotropically (isotropic strain hardening law) as a function of the plastic work.In order to better describe anisotropic plastic properties of the studied materials, a recently planar anisotropic yield function is used. It is a non-quadratic yield criterion which takes account of anisotropic yield stresses as well as anisotropic strain ratios. It is subsequently shown that the agreement between inverse identification results and experimental measurements were improved.We prove also that the presented strategy is a good alternative to the simplified homogeneous tests assumption, especially for the plane tensile test.     

Dielectric relaxation of chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) stabilized with cyanoguanidine

Dielectric spectra of CPVC stabilized with cyanoguanidine were studied in the temperature range 300–450 K and frequency range 10 kHz to 1 MHz. In these conditions, only one clear dielectric relaxation band (α-type) associated with dipolar polarization was observed. Dielectric losses was found to directly proportional to the number of dipoles (N) which reflects the orientational distribution of polymer chains in the amorphous region, at which dielectric losses concerned. Calculations of the dielectric modulus M′(T) at low temperature indicate that there is a role of the electrode polarization in the relaxation process. Dielectric loss data were used to calculate the activation enthalpy by two different methods, the obtained value was 450 kJ/mol.     

Temperature Effect on the Phase Behavior of the Systems Water/Sucrose Laurate/Ethoxylated‐mono‐di‐glyceride/Oil

The phase behavior of the systems water/sucrose laurate/ethoxylated mono‐di‐glyceride/oil was investigated as function of temperature and the weight ratio of EMDG in the mixed surfactants. The oils were R (+)‐limonene, isopropylmyristate, and caprylic‐capric triglyceride. This study demonstrates that the phase inversion temperature (PIT) decreases and the efficiency of the mixed surfactants (γ¯) increase as the weight ratio of the EMDG in the mixed surfactants increases. R (+)‐limonene gave lower phase inversion temperatures and higher efficiencies compared to isopropylmyristate, and caprylic‐capric triglyceride. The solubilization capacity of the system water/sucrose laurate/oil increased upon the addition of ethoxylated mono‐di‐ glyceride which stabilize the surfactant layer and increase the interfacial area.     

Optimum operating conditions for manufacturing ibuprofen tablets coated with polyethylene glycol by melt crystallization process

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The aim of this work is to apply the melt crystallization technology to manufacture ibuprofen tablets coated with polyethylene glycol in a single step....