From superhydrophobic‐ to superhydrophilic‐patterned poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐chlorotrifluoroethylene) architectures as a novel platform for biotechnological applications

The manufacture of three‐dimensional patterned electroactive poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐chlorotrifluoroethylene) microstructures with tailored architecture, morphology, and wettability is presented. The patterned microstructures are fabricated using a simple, effective, low cost, and reproducible technique based on microfluidic technology. These novel structures can represent innovative platforms for advanced strategies in a wide range of biotechnological applications, including tissue engineering, drug delivery, microfluidic, and sensors and actuators devices. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 1802–1810     

The QCD pomeron in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions: II. Heavy quark production

The heavy quark production in ultraperipheral heavy ion collisions is investigated, with particular emphasis on the results from the coherent interactions given by the two-photon process. One addresses the heavy quark total cross sections at photon level considering the saturation model and the BFKL dynamics in the color dipole picture. The corresponding cross sections at nuclear level are presented. It is verified that the QCD dynamics implies an enhancement of the cross section in comparison with previous calculations. Received: 30 January 2003 / Revised version: 26 March 2003 / Published online: 13 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: barros@ufpel.tche.br RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: magnus@if.ufrgs.br     

Higher order symmetric spaces and the roots of the identity in a Lie group

Let denote the set of all -roots of the identity in a Lie group . We show that is always an embedded submanifold of , having the conjugacy classes of its elements as open submanifolds. These conjugacy classes are examples of -symmetric spaces and we show, more generally, that every -symmetric space of a Lie group is a covering manifold of an embedded submanifold of . We compute also the Hessian of the inclusions of and into , relative to the natural connection on the domain and to the symmetric connection on .

     

Use of diffusion‐ordered NMR spectroscopy and HPLC–UV–SPE–NMR to identify undeclared synthetic drugs in medicines illegally sold as phytotherapies

The informal (and/or illegal) e‐commerce of pharmaceutical formulations causes problems that governmental health agencies find hard to control, one of which concerns formulas sold as natural products. The purpose of this work was to explore the advantages and limitations of DOSY and HPLC–UV–SPE–NMR. These techniques were used to identify the components of a formula illegally marketed in Brazil as an herbal medicine possessing anti‐inflammatory and analgesic properties. DOSY was able to detect the major components present at higher concentrations. Complete characterization was achieved using HPLC–UV–SPE–NMR, and 1D and 2D NMR analyses enabled the identification of known synthetic drugs. These were ranitidine and a mixture of orphenadrine citrate, piroxicam, and dexamethasone, which are co‐formulated in a remedy called Rheumazim that is used to relieve severe pain, but it is prohibited in Brazil because of a lack of sufficient pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic information. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Calculation of fractional derivatives of noisy data with genetic algorithms

This paper addresses the calculation of derivatives of fractional order for non-smooth data. The noise is avoided by adopting an optimization formulation using genetic algorithms (GA). Given the flexibility of the evolutionary schemes, a hierarchical GA composed by a series of two GAs, each one with a distinct fitness function, is established.

     

Hard diffractive quarkonium hadroproduction at high energies

We present a study of heavy quarkonium production in hard diffractive processes by pomeron exchange for Tevatron and LHC energies. The numerical results are computed using a recent experimental determination of the diffractive parton density functions in the pomeron and these are corrected by unitarity corrections through the gap survival probability factor. We give predictions for single as well as central diffractive ratios. These processes are sensitive to the gluon content of the pomeron at small Bjorken variable x and may be particularly useful in studying small-xphysics. They may also be a good place to test the different available mechanisms for quarkonium production at hadron colliders. PACS 13.60.Hb; 12.38.Bx; 12.40.Nn; 13.85.Ni; 14.40.Gx     

A New Indirect Electroanalytical Method to Monitor the Contamination of Natural Waters with 4‐Nitrophenol Using Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes

The electrochemical detection of the hazardous pollutant 4‐nitrophenol (4‐NP) at low potentials, in order to avoid matrix interferences, is an important research challenge. This study describes the development, electrochemical characterization and utilization of a multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) film electrode for the quantitative determination of 4‐NP in natural water. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements showed that the modified surface exhibits a decrease of ca. 13 times in the charge transfer resistance when compared with a bare glassy carbon (GC) surface. Voltammetric experiments showed the possibility to oxidize a hydroxylamine layer (produced by the electrochemical reduction of 4‐NP on the GC/MWNCT surface) in a potential region which is approximately 700 mV less positive than that needed to oxidize 4‐NP, thus minimizing the interference of matrix components. The limit of detection for 4‐NP obtained using square‐wave voltammetry (0.12 μmol L^?1) was lower than the value advised by EPA. A natural water sample from a dam located in São Carlos (Brazil) was spiked with 4‐NP and analyzed by the standard addition method using the GC/MWCNT electrode, without any further purification step. The recovery procedure yielded a value of 96.5% for such sample, thus confirming the suitability of the developed method to determine 4‐NP in natural water samples. The electrochemical determination was compared with that obtained by HPLC with UV‐vis detection.