Elastic properties of the RIV-RIII rotator phases of alkanes

A model free energy has been constructed to describe the R_IV-R_III rotator phase transition in alkanes in terms of the elastic strains and order parameter. The conditions for the R_IV-R_III phase transition are discussed. From the free energy, the order parameter and the elastic strains are determined. The model free energy describes the first or second order character of the R_IV-R_III transition depending on the strength of the coupling. The elastic properties in the vicinity of the R_IV-R_III transition are discussed on the basis of a free energy expansion. The temperature dependence of the elastic constants is calculated on both sides of the transition. The coupling between the order parameter and elastic stains is shown to have a crucial influence on the phase behavior and the order of the transition.     

Iron sulphide formation in the ferric stearate Langmuir-Blodgett films

Ferric stearate (FeSt) Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films have been reacted chemically with H₂S gas for making iron sulphide within the organic matrix. Films, before and after the reaction with H₂S, have been analyzed with the X-ray reflectivity (XRR), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies. After sulphidation, more ‘pinhole’ defects form which changes the film morphology and the number of layers increases due to the rearrangement of the molecules. Formation of less ordered iron sulphide within the stearic acid multilayers after sulphidation increases the interfacial roughness that decreases the reflectivity. XPS analysis shows that polysulphide forms within the microenvironment of the FeSt LB films after reaction with H₂S whereas both mono and polysulphide are produced when the reaction occurs with FeSt in bulk.     

Role of crystal orientation on the magnetic properties of CoFe2O4 thin films grown on Si (1 0 0) and Al2O3 (0 0 0 1) substrates using pulsed laser deposition

We report the influence of crystal orientation on the magnetic properties of CoFe₂O₄ (CFO) thin films grown on single crystal Si (1 0 0) and c-cut sapphire (Al₂O₃) (0 0 0 1) substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The thickness was varied from 200 to 50 nm for CFO films grown on Si substrates, while it was fixed at 200 nm for CFO films grown on Al₂O₃ substrates. We observed that the 200 and 100 nm thick CFO-Si films grew in both (1 1 1) and (3 1 1) directions and displayed out-of-plane anisotropy, whereas the 50 nm thick CFO-Si film showed only an (1 1 1) orientation and an in-plane anisotropy. The 200 nm thick CFO film grown on an Al₂O₃ substrate was also found to show a complete (1 1 1) orientation and a strong in-plane anisotropy. These observations pointed to a definite relation between the crystalline orientation and the observed magnetic anisotropy in the CFO thin films.     

Incomplete fusion reactions in 16O+165Ho

Excitation functions for evaporation residues of the system ¹⁶O + ¹⁶⁵Ho have been measured up to 100 MeV. Recoil range distribution of long lived reaction products were measured at ¹⁶O beam energy of 100 MeV. Detailed Monte Carlo simulation of recoil range distributions of products were performed with the help of PACE2 code, in order to extract the contributions of incomplete fusion in the individual channels. The results clearly show the incomplete fusion contributions in the tantalum and thulium products. This is confirmed by the predictions of breakup fusion model of the incomplete fusion.     

Numerical investigation of fluid–particle interactions for embolic stroke

Roughly one-third of all strokes are caused by an embolus traveling to a cerebral artery and blocking blood flow in the brain. The objective of this study is to gain a detailed understanding of the dynamics of embolic particles within arteries. Patient computed tomography image is used to construct a three-dimensional model of the carotid bifurcation. An idealized carotid bifurcation model of same vessel diameters was also constructed for comparison. Blood flow velocities and embolic particle trajectories are resolved using a coupled Euler–Lagrange approach. Blood is modeled as a Newtonian fluid, discretized using the finite volume method, with physiologically appropriate inflow and outflow boundary conditions. The embolus trajectory is modeled using Lagrangian particle equations accounting for embolus interaction with blood as well as vessel wall. Both one- and two-way fluid–particle coupling are considered, the latter being implemented using momentum sources augmented to the discretized flow equations. It was observed that for small-to-moderate particle sizes (relative to vessel diameters), the estimated particle distribution ratio—with and without the inclusion of two-way fluid–particle momentum exchange—were found to be similar. The maximum observed differences in distribution ratio with and without the coupling were found to be higher for the idealized bifurcation model. Additionally, the distribution was found to be reasonably matching the volumetric flow distribution for the idealized model, while a notable deviation from volumetric flow was observed in the anatomical model. It was also observed from an analysis of particle path lines that particle interaction with helical flow, characteristic of anatomical vasculature models, could play a prominent role in transport of embolic particle. The results indicate therefore that flow helicity could be an important hemodynamic indicator for analysis of embolus particle transport. Additionally, in the presence of helical flow, and vessel curvature, inclusion of two-way momentum exchange was found to have a secondary effect for transporting small to moderate embolus particles—and one-way coupling could be used as a reasonable approximation, thereby causing substantial savings in computational resources.     

Monitoring the accumulation of lipofuscin in aging murine eyes by fluorescence spectroscopy

The integrated fluorescence of murine eyes is collected as a function of age. This fluorescence is attributed to pigments generally referred to as lipofuscin and is observed to increase with age. No difference in fluorescence intensity is observed between the eyes of males or females. This work provides a benchmark for further studies that are planned in order to use such signatures as markers of central nervous system (CNS) tissue or even of diseased CNS tissue and provides a basis for determining the age of a healthy animal.     

Harvesting of a prey–predator fishery in the presence of toxicity

In this model we discuss the bioeconomic harvesting of a prey–predator fishery in which both the species are infected by some toxicants released by some other species. Here both the species are harvested where we use the usual catch-per-unit-effort hypothesis. The dynamical behaviour of the exploited system is examined. The possibility of existence of a bionomic equilibrium is considered. The optimal harvesting policy is studied by using Pontryagin’s maximal principle. Some numerical examples and the corresponding solution curves are studied to illustrate the results of the model. Finally, the existence of limit cycle is discussed.     

Photoacidic behavior of small phenolics in micellar media

The present work demonstrates the photophysical characterization of the interaction of two antibacterial and antimicrobial compounds, thymol and its isomer, carvacrol with different biomimetic micellar nanocavities having varying surface charge characteristics. These types of molecules are reported to be photoacids and this behavior is remarkably exhibited upon interaction with the macromolecular assemblies of micellar systems in the presence of inorganic and organic quencher molecules (silver nitrate and diethylamine) and is manifested through significant modulations of the bimolecular quenching constant values.     

Controlled delocalization of electronic states in a multi-strand quasiperiodic lattice

Finite strips, composed of a periodic stacking of infinite quasiperiodic Fibonacci chains, have been investigated in terms of their electronic properties. The system is described by a tight binding Hamiltonian. The eigenvalue spectrum of such a multi-strand quasiperiodic network is found to be sensitive on the mutual values of the intra-strand and inter-strand tunnel hoppings, whose distribution displays a unique three-subband self-similar pattern in a parameter subspace. In addition, it is observed that special numerical correlations between the nearest and the next-nearest neighbor hopping integrals can render a substantial part of the energy spectrum absolutely continuous. Extended, Bloch like functions populate the above continuous zones, signalling a complete delocalization of single particle states even in such a non-translationally invariant system, and more importantly, a phenomenon that can be engineered by tuning the relative strengths of the hopping parameters. A commutation relation between the potential and the hopping matrices enables us to work out the precise correlation which helps to engineer the extended eigenfunctions and determine the band positions at will.     

Rapid synthesis of an electron-deficient t-BuPHOX ligand: cross-coupling of aryl bromides with secondary phosphine oxides

Herein an efficient and direct copper-catalyzed coupling of oxazoline-containing aryl bromides with electron-deficient secondary phosphine oxides is reported. The resulting tertiary phosphine oxides can be reduced to prepare a range of PHOX ligands. The presented strategy is a useful alternative to known methods for constructing PHOX derivatives.