Antibacterial and Chemical Characterization of Silica-Quercetin-PEG Hybrid Materials Synthesized by Sol–Gel Route

This paper aims to synthesize, via the sol–gel method, a biomaterial usable in the medical field. Here, the silica-PEG-quercetin system was evaluated in relation to the different concentrations of PEG (0, 6, 12, 24, 50 wt%) and quercetin (0, 5, 10, 15 wt%), respectively. In addition, Fourier Transform-Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Kirby–Bauer analyses were performed. FT-IR was used to evaluate the hybrid formation and the influence of both PEG and Quercetin in the hybrid synthesized materials, SEM was used to evaluate the morphological properties, while the Kirby–Bauer test was used to understand the ability of the materials to inhibit the growth of the assayed bacterial strains (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis, and Staphylococcus aureus).     

Intergrowth Phases of Tetragonal Rare Earth Boride Carbides

Tetragonal rare earth boride carbides with structure types derived from La₅B₂C₆ and Sc₃C₄, respectively, can intergrow coherently. Slabs of both types with various thicknesses from one unit‐cell parameter up to macroscopic domains may grow together, sharing a common square net of metal atoms. There is a tendency towards phase separation in order to achieve long‐range order. However, phasoid‐like crystallites have also been observed. Long‐range order is also achieved by the formation of ordered intergrowth compounds. They are characterised by a regular periodic sequence of lamellar slabs (each of one or a few unit cells thickness) of both basic structure types.     

Single and networked CuO nanowires for highly sensitive p‐type semiconductor gas sensor applications

Development of high‐performance p‐type semiconductor based gas sensors exhibiting fast‐response/recovery times with ultra‐high response are of major importance for gas sensing applications. Recent reports demonstrated the excellent properties of p‐type semiconducting oxide for various practical applications, especially for selective oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In this work, sensors based on CuO nanowire (NW) networks have been successfully fabricated via a simple thermal oxidation process on pre‐patterned Au/Cr pads. Our investigation demonstrates high impact of the process temperature on aspect ratio and density of copper oxide NWs. An optimal temperature for growth of thin and densely packed NWs was found to be at 425 °C. The fabricated sensors demonstrated ultra‐high gas response by a factor of 313 to ethanol vapour (100 ppm) at an operating temperature of 250 °C. High stability and repeatability of these sensors indicate the efficiency of p‐type oxide based gas sensors for selective detection of VOCs. A high‐performance nanodevice was fabricated in a FIB‐SEM system using a single CuO NW, demonstrating an ethanol response of 202 and rapid response and recovery of ～198 ms at room temperature. The involved gas sensing mechanism of CuO NW networks has been described. We consider that the presented results will be of a great interest for the development of higher‐performance p‐type semiconductor based sensors and bottom‐up nanotechnologies. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A Generalization of Entanglement to Convex Operational Theories: Entanglement Relative to a Subspace of Observables

We define what it means for a state in a convex cone of states on a space of observables to be generalized-entangled relative to a subspace of the observables, in a general ordered linear spaces framework for operational theories. This extends the notion of ordinary entanglement in quantum information theory to a much more general framework. Some important special cases are described, in which the distinguished observables are subspaces of the observables of a quantum system, leading to results like the identification of generalized unentangled states with Lie-group-theoretic coherent states when the special observables form an irreducibly represented Lie algebra. Some open problems, including that of generalizing the semigroup of local operations with classical communication to the convex cones case, are discussed. PACS: 03.65.Ud.     

Random decoupling schemes for quantum dynamical control and error suppression

We present a general control-theoretic framework for constructing and analyzing random decoupling schemes, applicable to quantum dynamical control of arbitrary finite-dimensional composite systems. The basic idea is to design the control propagator according to a random rather than deterministic path on a group. We characterize the performance of random decoupling protocols, and identify control scenarios where they can significantly weaken time scale requirements as compared to cyclic counterparts. Implications for reliable quantum computation are discussed.     

Dissipation,mass exchange and the microscopic time scale of heavy-ion collisions

The time scale provided by the nucleon exchange mechanism in heavy-ion reactions is employed to study kinetic energy damping. The experimental kinetic energy lost per nucleon exchanged in Kr- and Xe-induced reactions is observed to decrease linearly with the total kinetic energy loss. These results, which are consistent with energy dissipation and nucleon exchange occuring on a similar time scale, are compared with the predictions of a one-body dissipation mechanism and a diffusion model.     

Complete fusion studies of the 20Ne+235U system

The probability for complete fusion has been measured for the ²⁰Ne+²³⁵U system at bombarding energies of 175 and 252 MeV. The fission fragment angular correlation technique was used to obtain both the absolute cross section for complete fusion and relative cross sections for the ratio of complete fusion to incomplete fusion processes. Total reaction cross sections were also determined from elastic scattering measurements. Values of σ_R = 1900±40 and 2810 ± 140 mb were obtained at 175 and 252 MeV, respectively. These measurements yield if$\text{σ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>CF</mtext>}}\text{σ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>R</mtext>}}\text{= 0.74±0.05}\text{at}\text{175}\text{MeV and}\text{0.48 ±0.06}\text{at}\text{252}\text{MeV}$. The corresponding values of the critical angular momentum are compared with the predictions of several heavy-ion interaction models. It is observed that the l_c values obtained from these data agree well with the current models, although the energy dependence is not as strong as predicted. In addition, it is observed that these values of l_c exceed the limiting value for a charged rotating drop.     

Photophysical and photobiological behavior of antimalarial drugs in aqueous solutions

This article describes the results of a combined photophysical and photobiological study aimed at understanding the phototoxicity mechanism of the antimalarial drugs quinine (Q), quinacrine (QC) and mefloquine (MQ). Photophysical experiments were carried out in aqueous solutions by stationary and time-resolved fluorimetry and by laser flash photolysis to obtain information on the various decay pathways of the excited states of the drugs and on transient species formed on irradiation. The results obtained showed that fluorescence and intersystem crossing account for all the adsorbed quanta for Q and MQ (quantum yield of about 0.1 and 0.9, respectively) and only for 24% in the case of QC, which has a negligible fluorescence quantum yield (0.001). Laser flash photolysis experiments evidenced, for QC and MQ, the occurrence of photoionization processes leading to the formation of the radical cations of the drugs. The effects of tryptophan and histidine on the excited states and transient species of the three drugs were also investigated. In parallel, the photoactivity of the antimalarial drugs was investigated under UV irradiation on various biological targets through a series of in vitro assays in the presence and in the absence of oxygen. Phototoxicity on 3T3 cultured fibroblasts and lipid photoperoxidation were observed for all the drugs. The photodamage produced by the drugs was also evaluated on proteins by measuring the photosensitized cross-linking of spectrin. The combined approaches were proven to be useful for understanding the mechanism of phototoxicity induced by the antimalarial drugs.