Ballistic transmission through quasi-periodic shape barrier resonant tunneling structures

A theoretical model is proposed to study the ballistic electron transport for a quasi-periodic multibarrier structure where two different barrier shapes are arranged according to the Thue–Morse sequence. Important tunneling features are revealed form such arrangements. It is noted that the tunneling band spectrum could be fragmented by tailoring the shape of the barriers in the structure. Results for the transmission coefficients and the current densities are compared with the corresponding periodic and single shape barrier arrangements. The quasi-periodic structure consisting of the rectangular and triangular barrier shapes is suggested to be more suitable for the electronic and opto-electronic devices due to its high negative differential conducting effect.     

Low dissipative entropy stable schemes using third order WENO and TVD reconstructions

A low dissipative framework is given to construct high order entropy stable flux by addition of suitable numerical diffusion operator into entropy conservative flux. The framework is robust in the sense that it allows the use of high order reconstructions which satisfy the sign property only across the discontinuities. The third order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) interpolations and high order total variation diminishing (TVD) reconstructions are shown to satisfy the sign property across discontinuities. Third order accurate entropy stable schemes are constructed by using third order WENO and high order TVD reconstructions procedures in the diffusion operator. These schemes are efficient and less diffusive since the diffusion is actuated only in the sign stability region of the used reconstruction which includes discontinuities. Numerical results with constructed schemes for various test problems are given which show the third order accuracy and less dissipative nature of the schemes.     

Infinite horizon risk-sensitive control of diffusions without any blanket stability assumptions

We consider the infinite horizon risk-sensitive problem for nondegenerate diffusions with a compact action space, and controlled through the drift. We only impose a structural assumption on the running cost function, namely near-monotonicity, and show that there always exists a solution to the risk-sensitive Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation, and that any minimizer in the Hamiltonian is optimal in the class of stationary Markov controls. Under the additional hypothesis that the coefficients of the diffusion are bounded, and satisfy a condition that limits (even though it still allows) transient behavior, we show that any minimizer in the Hamiltonian is optimal in the class of all admissible controls. In addition, we present a sufficient condition, under which the solution of the HJB is unique (up to a multiplicative constant), and establish the usual verification result. We also present some new results concerning the multiplicative Poisson equation for elliptic operators in ${\mathbb{R}}^d$.     

Uranium in ground water of Rajnandgaon District of Central India

The present study highlights uranium levels, associated health effects, and physicochemical properties of ground water samples collected from Rajnandgaon District of Chhattisgarh State, Central India. Uranium concentrations of ground water samples are found to exceed than 30 µg/L (United States Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organisation recommended limit) at two villages in summer and at one village in winter while it is found higher than 60 µg/L (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Department of Atomic Energy, India recommended limit) at only one village in summer. Correlation analysis between uranium and physicochemical parameters suggest that Ca²⁺ ion and total alkalinity play an important role in uranium contamination of ground water.

     

Strategic engineering of alkyl spacer length for a pH-tolerant lysosome marker and dual organelle localization

Long-term visualization of lysosomal properties is extremely crucial to evaluate diseases related to their dysfunction. However, many of the reported lysotrackers are less conducive to imaging lysosomes precisely because they suffer from fluorescence quenching and other inherent drawbacks such as pH-sensitivity, polarity insensitivity, water insolubility, slow diffusibility, and poor photostability. To overcome these limitations, we have utilized an alkyl chain length engineering strategy and synthesized a series of lysosome targeting fluorescent derivatives namely NIMCs by attaching a morpholine moiety at the peri position of the 1,8-naphthalimide (NI) ring through varying alkyl spacers between morpholine and 1,8-naphthalimide. The structural and optical properties of the synthesized NIMCs were explored by ¹H-NMR, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Afterward, optical spectroscopic measurements were carefully performed to identify a pH-tolerant, polarity sensitive, and highly photostable fluoroprobes for further live-cell imaging applications. NIMC6 displayed excellent pH-tolerant and polarity-sensitive properties. Consequently, all NIMCs were employed in kidney fibroblast cells (BHK-21) to investigate their applicability for lysosome targeting and probing lysosomal micropolarity. Interestingly, a switching of localization from lysosomes to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) was also achieved by controlling the linker length and this phenomenon was subsequently applied in determining ER micropolarity. Additionally, the selected probe NIMC6 was also employed in BHK-21 cells for 3-D spheroid imaging and in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) for in vivo imaging, to evaluate its efficacy for imaging animal models.

A series naphthalimide-based fluorophores were designed by alkyl spacer length engineering to discover a pH-tolerant lysosomal marker. This approach also allows to probe lysosome-related organelles in C. elegans and communication between organelles.     

Synthesis, spectroscopic characterization and magnetic properties of homo- and heterodinuclear complexes of transition and non-transition metal ions with a new Schiff base ligand

Four homodinuclear complexes of Ni(II)-Ni(II), Cu(II)-Cu(II), Co(II)-Co(II) and Co(III)-Co(II) and five heterodinuclear complexes of Co(III)-Zn(II), Co(III)-Cu(II), Co(III)-Ni(II), Cu(II)-Zn(II) and Zn(II)-Cu(II) with the octadentate Schiff base compartmental ligand 1,8-N-bis(3-carboxy)disalicylidene-3,6-diazaoctane-1,8-diamine (H4fsatrien) have been synthesized. The complexes have been characterized with the help of elemental analyses, molecular weights, molar conductances, magnetic susceptibilities and spectroscopic (UV-vis, IR, ESR) data. Cryomagnetic data also helped to elucidate the structural features of the Cu(II) complexes.     

A facile synthesis of highly water-soluble, core–shell organo-silica nanoparticles with controllable size via sol–gel process

A series of highly water-soluble organo-silica nanoparticles, ranging from 2 to 10 nm in diameter, were synthesized by the cohydrolysis and copolycondensation reactions. ω-methoxy(polyethyleneoxy)propyltrimethoxysilane (PEG6-9) and hydroxymethyltriethoxysilane (HMTEOS) mixtures were catalyzed by sodium hydroxide in the presence of surfactant benzethonium chloride (BTC) with various ratios of PEG6-9/HMTEOS at room temperature. The synthesized organo-silica nanoparticles possess a core–shell structure with a core of organo-silica resulting from HMTEOS and a monolayer shell of PEG6-9. The chemo-physical characteristics of the particles were studied by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ²⁹Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The molecular weight and particle size of the particles increased with increasing HMTEOS molar ratios. The richest HMTEOS composition for the water-soluble particles was found to be HMTEOS:PEG6-9 = 80:20, where the particles had a 6 nm diameter core and a 0.8 nm thick shell. We propose that these water-soluble organo-silica nanoparticles will be suitable for biomedical applications.     

Two-photon absorption enhancement of polymer-templated porphyrin-based J-aggregates

Supramolecular structures based on organized assemblies of macrocyclic chromophores, particularly porphyrin-based dyes, have attracted widespread interest as components of molecular devices with potential applications in molecular electronics, artificial light harvesting, and pharmacology. We report the formation of J-aggregates of two porphyrin-based dyes, 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin (TSPP, 4) and an amino tris-sulfonate analogue (5) in water using a functionalized norbornene-based homopolymer, synthesized by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). Ionic interactions of the cationic side chains (ammonium groups) of the polymer under acidic conditions with the negatively charged sulfonate groups of the porphyrins facilitated polymer template enhanced J-aggregation of the porphyrin dyes. J-Aggregation behavior was investigated photophysically by UV-vis absorption along with steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence studies. Two-photon absorption (2PA) was enhanced by about an order of magnitude for the J-aggregated TSPP relative to its free base. Significantly, the 2PA cross section of the polymer-templated TSPP J-aggregate was up to three times higher than the J-aggregated TSPP in the absence of the polymer template while the 2PA cross section for polymer-templated J-aggregates of 5 increased substantially, up to ca. 10,000 GM, suggesting a prominent role of polymer-templating to facilitate porphyrin aggregation and greatly enhance nonlinear absorption.     

Two-dimensional supramolecular assembly of phenylmercury(II) and cadmium(II) complexes with a tridentate thiohydrazone NNS donor ligand: Synthesis,coordination behavior and crystal structure

The reaction of phenylmercury(II) acetate and cadmium(II) acetate with a refluxed solution of diacetylmonoxime and morpholine N-thiohydrazide formed a novel phenylmercury(II) complex, [PhHg(Hdammthiol)] (1) and a cadmium(II) complex, [Cd(Hdammthiol)₂] (2), respectively (where H₂dammthiol is the thiol form of diacetylmonoximemorpholine N-thiohydrazone (Hdammth) formed by the condensation of diacetylmonoxime and morpholine N-thiohydrazide in the presence of phenylmercury(II) and cadmium(II) ions). The complexes were characterised by elemental analyses and spectral data (electronic, infrared and ¹H NMR) and also by X-ray crystal structure analysis. The X-ray crystallography shows that the phenylmercury(II) complex attained a tricoordinated distorted T-shaped structure, while the cadmium(II) complex attained a trapezoidal bipyramidal geometry. The phenylmercury(II) complex forms a two-dimensional sheet via C–H?O and O–H?N hydrogen bonding and also forms a two-dimensional supramolecular dimer, having C–H?π synthons. Intermolecular C–H?O and O–H?O hydrogen bonding of the cadmium(II) complex forms a two-dimensional supramolecular sheet along the bc plane and posses an impressively short intermolecular C(sp³)?O(sp³) contact.