Influence of electric field on the hydrogen bond network of methanol

The understanding of the structure of hydrogen (H) bonding liquids in electric (E) fields is important in the context of several areas of research, such as electrochemistry, surface science, and thermodynamics of electrolyte solutions. We had earlier presented a general thermodynamic framework for this purpose, and had shown that the application of E field enhances H-bond interactions among water molecules. The present investigation with methanol suggests a different result-the H-bond structure, as indicated by the average number of H bonds per molecule, goes through a maxima with increasing field strength. This result is explained based on the symmetry in the location of the H-bonding sites in the two types of molecules.     

Enhanced soft X-ray emission from carbon nanofibers irradiated with ultra-short laser pulses

A comparative experimental study of the X-ray emission in the water-window spectral region has been performed using carbon nanofibers (CNFs) of different sizes and graphite plate targets, irradiated with ultra-short (Ti:sapphire) laser pulses. More than an order of magnitude enhancement in the X-ray yield is observed from CNFs of 60-nm diameter with respect to graphite targets. The X-ray emission from CNFs of 160-nm diameter was also high. The integrated X-ray yield of these carbon-based targets scales with the laser intensity (I _L) as I_L ^{~ 1.3-1.4}I_{\mathrm{L}}^{\sim 1.3-1.4} in the intensity range of 4×10¹⁶–4×10¹⁷ W/cm². The effect of the laser pulse duration on the X-ray emission from the CNFs was also studied by varying the pulse duration from 45 fs up to 3 ps at a constant fluence of 2×10⁴ J/cm². The optimum laser pulse duration for maximum X-ray emission increases with the diameter of the CNFs used. The results are explained from physical considerations of heating and hydrodynamic expansion of the CNF plasma in which resonance field enhancement takes place while passing through two times the critical density. The results add to the efforts towards achieving an efficient low-cost water-window X-ray source for microscopy.     

Some cyclic codes of length 2<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Superscript>

Explicit expressions for 4n + 2 primitive idempotents in the semi-simple group ring $R_{2p^{n}}\equiv \frac{GF(q)[x]}{p and q are distinct odd primes; n ≥ 1 is an integer and q has order \fracf(2pⁿ)2{\frac{\phi(2p^{n})}{2}} modulo 2p ⁿ . The generator polynomials, the dimension, the minimum distance of the minimal cyclic codes of length 2p ⁿ generated by these 4n + 2 primitive idempotents are discussed. For n = 1, the properties of some (2p, p) cyclic codes, containing the above minimal cyclic codes are analyzed in particular. The minimum weight of some subset of each of these (2p, p) codes are observed to satisfy a square root bound.     

A nonparametric test for a two-sample scale problem based on subsample medians

A nonparametric test for the two-sample scale problem is proposed by considering the subsample medians of three observations. The proposed statistic has the advantage of not requiring the two distribution functions to have a common median, but rather requiring them to have any common quantile of order α,0≤α≤1 (not necessarily 1/2), which is assumed to be known. Pitman efficiency considerations indicate that the proposed test performs well relative to tests already existing in the literature for heavy tailed distributions.     

Complexation of nevirapine with β-cyclodextrins in the presence and absence of Tween 80: characterization,thermodynamic parameters,and permeability flux

The work is undertaken to evaluate the effect of Tween 80 on the complexing ability of β-cyclodextrins to encapsulate the poorly soluble antiretroviral agent, nevirapine. The phase solubility diagram indicates 1:1 stoichiometry and is supported by electronspray ionization mass spectrometry. The complexes were characterized by DSC, FT-IR, and XRD in the solid state. The ternary systems were autoclaved before being lyophilized for the best results. Proton NMR suggests that the methyl pyridine ring of the drug is involved in inclusion and enters from the wider side of the cavity which was confirmed by COESY NMR. Solution calorimetry, a direct method to determine the thermodynamic parameters, was used to determine the complexation constant (K) and other thermodynamic properties. The process is associated with negative ∆H and positive ∆S indicating a stable inclusion complex. The value of K follows the order β-CD < HP-β-CD < M-β-CD. The molar enthalpy of solution in autoclaved solid formulation is less endothermic as compared to additive molar enthalpy of solution obtained by summation of enthalpy of solution of individual components suggesting synergistic interaction between the drug and its constituents. A threefold increase of the in vitro permeability flux was observed for binary systems which was elevated to fourfold for autoclaved ternary complexes.     

Cloud computing approaches to accelerate drug discovery value chain

Continued advancements in the area of technology have helped high throughput screening (HTS) evolve from a linear to parallel approach by performing system level screening. Advanced experimental methods used for HTS at various steps of drug discovery (i.e. target identification, target validation, lead identification and lead validation) can generate data of the order of terabytes. As a consequence, there is pressing need to store, manage, mine and analyze this data to identify informational tags. This need is again posing challenges to computer scientists to offer the matching hardware and software infrastructure, while managing the varying degree of desired computational power. Therefore, the potential of "On-Demand Hardware" and "Software as a Service (SAAS)" delivery mechanisms cannot be denied. This on-demand computing, largely referred to as Cloud Computing, is now transforming the drug discovery research. Also, integration of Cloud computing with parallel computing is certainly expanding its footprint in the life sciences community. The speed, efficiency and cost effectiveness have made cloud computing a 'good to have tool' for researchers, providing them significant flexibility, allowing them to focus on the 'what' of science and not the 'how'. Once reached to its maturity, Discovery-Cloud would fit best to manage drug discovery and clinical development data, generated using advanced HTS techniques, hence supporting the vision of personalized medicine.     

Polymeric stabilization of hybrid nanocomposites: a comparison between in situ and ex situ-grown CuInS2 in poly(3-hexylthiophene) polymer

CuInS₂ (CIS) particles were directly synthesized in P3HT matrix with different concentrations ratio of P3HT and CIS (1:2, 1:4, and 1:8) by decomposition of copper indium xanthate (CIX). Here, copper indium xanthate and P3HT were mixed homogeneously in o-dichlorobenzene (DCB), which induced the formation of the CIS nanoparticles by the thermal decomposition of the precursor compound in situ at temperatures as low as 110 °C. The effects of the precursor concentration on the size of the CIS nanoparticles was studied by microstructure investigations (TEM, AFM, XRD) and UV–vis measurements show that these CIS composites possess a direct bandgap energy higher than 1.45 eV depending on the concentration of P3HT. PL quenching of P3HT polymer (i.e., higher accessible fraction of fluorophores) was found to be more for in situ rather than ex situ conditions for comparable CIX concentrations or particle size. This can be attributed to the fact that in in situ synthesis, P3HT act as surface directing template for CIS nanoparticles which is not so in the case of ex situ synthesis. Due to this, the polymeric stabilization of the CIS nanocomposites is better realized for in situ synthesis as compared to ex situ synthesis.     

Organic Synthesis Using Ptc-41: Synthesis of Cyclic Ethers Using Phase Transfer Catalysis

The reaction of (1) and (2) uith (3a)² 2nd (3b)³ under liquid-liquid (L-L) and solid-liquid (3-L) phase transfer (PT) conditions furnish the corresponding (4) and (6) respectively and the reaction of (2) with (5) gives dioxolane derivative (7)     

Assessment of natural radioactivity in soil samples and comparison of direct and indirect measurement of environmental air kerma rate

This study presents the high purity germanium (HPGe) gamma spectrometric measurement of natural radioactivity mainly due to ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in soil samples collected in Ferozepur and Faridkot district of Punjab, India. ²²⁶Ra activity varied from 28.6 to 51.1 Bq kg⁻¹ with the mean of 39.7 Bq kg⁻¹. The range and mean activity of ²³²Th were 42.9–73.2 and 58.2 Bq kg⁻¹, respectively. ⁴⁰K activity was in the range of 470.9–754.9 Bq kg⁻¹ with the mean of 595.2 Bq kg⁻¹. The air kerma rate (AKR) at 1 m height from the ground was also measured using gamma survey meter in all the sampling locations, which was ranging from 92.1 to 122.8 nGy h⁻¹ with the mean of 110.6 nGy h⁻¹. The radiological parameters such as Ra_eq and activity index of the soil samples were also evaluated, which are the tools to assess the external radiation hazard due to building materials. The mean and range of the Ra_eq values were 168.7 and 132.9–210.4 Bq kg⁻¹, respectively, whereas the activity index varied from 0.5 to 0.8 with the mean value of 0.62. These indices show that the indoor external dose due to natural radioactivity in the soil used for the construction will not exceed the dose criteria. The AKR was also evaluated from soil activity concentration and altitude correction of cosmic radiation contribution. The statistical tests such as Pearson correlation, spearman rank correlation, box and whisker plot, the Wilcoxon/Mann–Whitney test and chi-square test, were used to compare the measured AKR with evaluated AKR, which indicates good correlation.     

Detection-theoretic analysis of the observer-based psychophysical procedure

The observer-based procedure, used in research applications to measure the hearing sensitivity of young infants, is analyzed within the framework of a two-stage (infant-judge) detection model involving a minimum number of assumptions. The model is taken to develop convergence theorems useful for estimating the number of judges and/or trials required to achieve a desired level of accuracy using the procedure. The model is also used to consider ways in which bias in estimates, known to be associated with the procedure, might be evaluated and reduced. Finally, a method is proposed by which the results of the analysis and different procedural variations designed to improve estimates can be evaluated empirically.