Modified classification of non-self-adjoint second-order difference equations

This paper is concerned with the classification of non-self-adjoint second-order difference equations. The relationship between the number of summable solutions of non-self-adjoint difference equations and that of the discrete linear Hamiltonian system is discussed. A classification for non-self-adjoint second-order difference equations is established, which is independent of the choice of the rotated half plane and the fixed point.     

Effect of nanoclay and barium sulfate nanoparticles on the thermal and morphological properties of polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposites

The thermal, morphological and optical studies of BaSO₄ and MMT (nanoclay) embedded in PVDF were investigated. Nanocomposites samples of PVDF–BaSO₄–MMT were prepared by varying the loadings (1–4 mass%) in case of BaSO₄ and MMT nanomaterials, respectively. Polyvinylidene fluoride–barium sulfate-montmorillonite (PVDF–BaSO₄–MMT) nanocomposites were prepared by solvent-mixing technique. Nanoparticles were synthesized by in situ deposition technique with the help of nonionic polymeric surfactant, and the particle size of nanoparticles was recognized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis which confirms that the particle has diameter of 80–90 nm. As prepared, nanocomposites films (thickness, 25 μm) were characterized by Fourier transform infrared microscopy (FTIR), SEM and electron diffraction spectroscopy (EDS). FTIR shows that all the chemical constituents were present in the nanocomposites, whereas SEM analysis suggested that the nanofillers dispersed well in polymer matrix and EDS showed the elemental composition of nanocomposite samples. Thermal properties of nanocomposites were studied by using TG/DTA/DTG. TG/DTA studies showed decomposition temperature of pure PVDF is 473.5 °C. The decomposition temperature (T _d) of nanocomposites was increased by 93 °C in case of nanocomposites with addition of both BaSO₄ and MMT nanomaterials. The difference in the thermal degradation temperature was found to be 1.2% higher in case of addition of BaSO₄ nanoparticle as compared to nanoclay. The obtained transparent nanocomposite films were characterized by using UV–Vis spectrophotometer which shows that transparencies of nanocomposites are maintained in visible region, the intensity of absorption band in UV region is increased with the addition of BaSO₄ nanoparticles, while in case of addition of nanoclay the UV region does not show drastic changes. Addition of both nanoparticle and nanoclay shows higher absorption in comparison with the individual samples. But further, doubling the amount of nanoparticle and nanoclay shows decrease in UV absorption. Overall, the results of thermal studies show that the incorporation of BaSO₄ and MMT could significantly improve the thermal properties of nanocomposites.     

An innovative extensional viscometer for low-viscosity and low-elasticity liquids

A spinline-type extensional viscometer is described in which an innovative method of tensile stress measurement is employed. A limited amount of liquid flows through a vertical capillary at a constant flow rate under the influence of a constant pressure head. The drainage time decreases when the liquid stream leaving the capillary is stretched by the application of vacuum. These drainage times are measured in a manner similar to that used for intrinsic viscosity measurements. The measured difference in drainage times, with and without stretching, is trivially related to the extensional stress at the capillary exit, and this provides a very simple method of accurately determining fluid stretching forces having a magnitude as low as 10^-4 N; stresses at other axial locations in the stretched liquid jet are obtained by means of a force balance in the usual manner. The validity of the proposed technique is demonstrated by obtaining the expected results for a Newtonian oil having a shear viscosity of 56.2 mPa-s. Also presented are preliminary data on polyethylene oxide-in-water solutions having an even lower shear viscosity.     

A novel piezoelectric immunosensor for the detection of malarial Plasmodium falciparum histidine rich protein-2 antigen

A novel piezoelectric (PZ) immunosensor for the direct detection of malarial Plasmodium falciparum histidine rich protein-2 (PfHRP-2) antigen was developed. The mixed self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of thioctic acid and 1-dodecanethiol were formed on gold surface of quartz crystal. Cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and surface Raman spectroscopy techniques were used to characterize the mixed SAMs. The rabbit anti-PfHRP-2 antibodies were coupled on mixed SAM modified gold surface of quartz crystal via NHS/EDC activation method. The PZ immunosensor was applied to detect PfHRP-2 in the linear range of 15-60 ng/ml with a detection limit of 12 ng/ml. It was also found that even after 14 days of storage, 50% of the activity still remained. Clinical human serum samples were tested with this method, and the results were in agreement with those obtained from commercially available ICT kit (NOW^® Malaria).     

Simulating infrared spectra and hydrogen bonding in cellulose Iβ at elevated temperatures

We have modeled the transformation of cellulose Iβ to a high temperature (550 K) structure, which is considered to be the first step in cellulose pyrolysis. We have performed molecular dynamics simulations at constant pressure using the GROMOS 45a4 united atom forcefield. To test the forcefield, we computed the density, thermal expansion coefficient, total dipole moment, and dielectric constant of cellulose Iβ, finding broad agreement with experimental results. We computed infrared (IR) spectra of cellulose Iβ over the range 300-550 K as a probe of hydrogen bonding. Computed IR spectra were found to agree semi-quantitatively with experiment, especially in the O-H stretching region. We assigned O-H stretches using a novel synthesis of normal mode analysis and power spectrum methods. Simulated IR spectra at elevated temperatures suggest a structural transformation above 450 K, a result in agreement with experimental IR results. The low-temperature (300-400 K) structure of cellulose Iβ is dominated by intrachain hydrogen bonds, whereas in the high-temperature structure (450-550 K), many of these transform to longer, weaker interchain hydrogen bonds. A three-dimensional hydrogen bonding network emerges at high temperatures due to formation of new interchain hydrogen bonds, which may explain the stability of the cellulose structure at such high temperatures.     

Deciphering the molecular details for the binding of the prion protein to main ganglioside GM1 of neuronal membranes

The prion protein (PrP) resides in lipid rafts in?vivo, and lipids modulate misfolding of the protein to infectious isoforms. Here we demonstrate that binding of recombinant PrP to model raft membranes requires the presence of ganglioside GM1. A combination of liquid- and solid-state NMR revealed the binding sites of PrP to the saccharide head group of GM1. The binding epitope for GM1 was mapped to the folded C-terminal domain of PrP, and docking simulations identified key residues in the C-terminal region of helix C and the loop between strand S2 and helix B. Crucially, this region of PrP is linked to prion resistance in?vivo, and structural changes caused by lipid binding in this region may explain the requirement for lipids in the generation of infectious prions in?vitro.     

Extension of Caristi’s fixed point theorem to vector valued metric spaces

The paper deals with the classical Caristi fixed point theorem in vector valued metric spaces. The results obtained seem to be new in this setting.     

Impulsive semilinear neutral functional differential inclusions with multivalued jumps

In this paper we establish sufficient conditions for the existence of mild solutions and extremal mild solutions for some densely defined impulsive semilinear neutral functional differential inclusions in separable Banach spaces. We rely on a fixed point theorem for the sum of completely continuous and contraction operators.     

A note on higher-order nondifferentiable symmetric duality in multiobjective programming

In this work, we establish a strong duality theorem for Mond–Weir type multiobjective higher-order nondifferentiable symmetric dual programs. This fills some gaps in the work of Chen [X. Chen, Higher-order symmetric duality in nondifferentiable multiobjective programming problems, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 290 (2004) 423–435].