Fabrication of magnetic gold nanorod particles for immunomagnetic separation and SERS application

The preparation and application of rod-shaped core–shell structured Fe₃O₄–Au nanoparticles for immunomagnetic separation and sensing were described for the first time with this study. To synthesize magnetic gold nanorod particles, the seed-mediated synthetic method was carried out and the resulting nanoparticles were characterized with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Magnetic properties of the nanoparticles were also examined. Characterization of the magnetic gold nanorod particles has proven that the resulting nanoparticles were composed of Fe₃O₄ core and the gold shell. The rod-shaped gold-coated iron nanoparticles have an average diameter of 16 ± 2 nm and an average length of about 50 ± 5 nm (corresponding aspect ratio of 3). The saturation magnetization value for the magnetic gold nanorod particles was found to be 37 emu/g at 300 K. Rapid and room temperature reaction synthesis of magnetic gold nanorod particles and subsequent surface modification with E. coli antibodies provide immunomagnetic separation and SERS application. The analytical performance of the SERS-based homogenous sandwich immunoassay system with respect to linear range, detection limit, and response time is also presented.     

Persistence and coexistence of infinite attractors in a fractal Josephson junction resonator with unharmonic current phase relation considering feedback flux effect

Josephson junction resonators are the devices which exhibit complex behaviours as a consequence of their inductive properties. Even though the insulating medium between Josephson junctions (JJs) is normally considered homogeneous, the fact that lithography is used to form the layer, it has fractal substrates. Such JJs are identified as fractal Josephson junctions (FJJs). In this paper, a new chaotic oscillator based on memristor and FJJ has been investigated. Superconductor properties can dramatically change its operating points especially voltage and heat that are related to Josephson tunnelling. Some changes in the operating points can cause the Josephson tunnelling junctions to oscillate in different oscillation modes in very high frequencies. This can be achieved by considering the potential across the junction with its flux feedback. In order to model the magnetic flux effect, we use a memristor whose memductance function is considered as an exponential function. By varying the type of the bias current, we could observe the property of infinitely coexisting attractors in the memristor-fractal Josephson junction oscillator, which is considered as a rare phenomenon in physical circuits. The proposed Josephson-Memristor circuit model is developed, and its equilibrium points, bifurcation and Lyapunov exponents are computed. As an engineering application, modelling the trajectories of the moving object has been realized. First, the SURF algorithm, which is not affected by the scale and rotations of the object, is used in the images to identify an object that tracks the states of the proposed Josephson-Memristor circuit. In this way, the coordinates of the orbits on which the object moves were determined on the image. In order to reproduce the orbits of the specified object, the coordinate information of the object has been trained to the artificial neural network model and the orbits of the object have been reproduced.

     

The Paul wavelet algorithm: an alternative approach to calculate the refractive index dispersion of a dielectric film from transmittance spectrum

A new application of the Paul wavelet algorithm was presented to determine the refractive index dispersion of a dielectric film from transmittance spectrum in the visible and near infrared region. The developed algorithm was tested by simulated data and experimentally applied to a sample of mica. The obtained refractive index dispersion determined by the Paul wavelet algorithm was compared with the refractive index values determined by the envelope and fringe counting methods, and also with the established result. It was shown that the degree of the Paul wavelet has a major effect on the outcome of a refractive index determination. The noise immunity of the presented method was shown by the simulation study.     

Kinetic and mechanistic features of carbon dioxide reforming of methane over Co–Ce/ZrO2 catalysts

Carbon dioxide reforming of methane (CDRM) is an effective route to utilize CO₂ and CH₄, the most abundant, thermodynamically stable and hazardous greenhouse gases. To overcome the economical impediments to favor CDRM's industrial applicability, its mechanistic features need to be revealed both for developing efficient catalysts and optimizing operational conditions. In this context, this work aims to obtain power-law type CDRM kinetic expressions over 5%Co–2%Ce/ZrO₂ and 10%Co–2%Ce/ZrO₂ catalysts and compare and analyze mechanistic routes to elucidate the effect of the Co:Ce ratio on kinetics. The empirical power-law type rate expressions were estimated with the reaction orders of 1.63 and 1.12 for CH₄ and 0.29 and –0.12 for CO₂ for 5%Co–2%Ce/ZrO₂ and 10%Co–2%Ce/ZrO₂ catalysts, respectively. Limited CH₄ activation and, thus, carbon formation due to low Co loading lead to accumulation of surface oxygen on ZrO₂ as redox ability of Ce becomes suppressed. This causes higher CO₂ activation barrier. The presence of H₂ in the feed slows down mechanistic steps involving CH_x. The reactions including CH₄ activation, most probably reversible direct CH₄ dissociation, are found to be rate determining.     

Optimal investment with random endowments and transaction costs: duality theory and shadow prices

This paper studies the utility maximization on the terminal wealth with random endowments and proportional transaction costs. To deal with unbounded random payoffs from some illiquid claims, we propose to work with the acceptable portfolios defined via the consistent price system such that the liquidation value processes stay above some stochastic thresholds. In the market consisting of one riskless bond and one risky asset, we obtain a type of super-hedging result. Based on this characterization of the primal space, the existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution for the utility maximization problem are established using the duality approach. As an important application of the duality theorem, we provide some sufficient conditions for the existence of a shadow price process with random endowments in a generalized form similar to Czichowsky and Schachermayer (Ann Appl Probab 26(3):1888–1941, 2016) as well as in the usual sense using acceptable portfolios.

     

TIMP-2 gene transfer by positively charged PEG-lated monosized polycationic carrier to smooth muscle cells

Remodeling of the extracellular matrix resulting from increased secretion of metalloproteinase enzymes is implicated in restenosis following balloon angioplasty. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases play an essential role in both normal and pathological extracellular matrix degradation. Tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-2 is the most extensively studied tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases in myocardial tissue in animal models and clinical examples of cardiac disease; therefore it is selected for this study. Gene transfer of tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-2 may have a therapeutic potential by inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase activity. We have used PEG-lated nanoparticles poly(St/PEG-EEM/DMAPM) which were synthesized previously in our laboratory. The nanoparticles, with an average size of 77.6 ± 2.05 nm with a zeta potential of +64. 4 ± 1.14 mV and 201.9 ± 1.83 nm with +54.2 ± 0.77 mV were used in the transfection studies. Zeta Potential values and size of polyplex were appropriate for an effective transfection. TIMP-2 expression was detected by western blotting. Increased protein level in smooth muscle cells according to non-transfected smooth muscle cells confirms the successful delivery and expression of the tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-2 gene with the non-viral vector transfection approach.     

Measurement of the absolute branching fraction of D+→K0e+ve via K0→π0π0

By analyzing 2.93 fb^-1 data collected at the center-of-mass energy √s=3.773 GeV with the BESIII detector, we measure the absolute branching fraction of the semileptonic decay D⁺→K⁰e⁺v_e to be B(D⁺→K⁰e⁺v_e)=(8.59±0.14±0.21)% using K⁰→K_S⁰→π⁰π⁰, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. Our result is consistent with previous measurements within uncertainties..     

Thermal entanglement in the anisotropic Heisenberg model with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in an inhomogeneous magnetic field

The thermal entanglement of a two-qubit anisotropic Heisenberg XXZ chain with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction in an inhomogeneous magnetic field was studied in detail. The effects of the DM parameter, external magnetic field (B), a parameter b which controls the inhomogeneity of B and the bilinear interaction parameters J_x = J_y ≠ J_z (the anisotropic case) on the concurrence (C) was formulated and studied in detail. The behaviors of the concurrences for the cases between (J = J_z = 1) and (J = -1,J_z = 1) and, (J = J_z = -1) and (J = 1,J_z = -1) at the ground state and at the thermal equilibrium are exactly the same. It was found that for the antiferromagnetic (AFM) case the entanglements persist to higher temperatures in comparison with the ferromagnetic (FM) case. In addition, the AFM case presents a special point at which the nonzero concurrences are all equal at some special temperatures. The further properties will be given in the text.     

Crystallographic and Conformational Analysis of [(Z)-2-ethoxy-6-[(2-hydroxyphenylamino)methylene]cyclohexa-2,4-dienone]

Abstract  The single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of the title compound, C₁₅H₁₅NO₃, shows that the structure is adopted to its NH tautomeric form and crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group P bcn with a = 21.2424(15) ?, b = 12.7696(9) ?, c = 9.3605(10) ?, Z = 8, V = 2539.1(4) ?³, D _c  = 1.346 g/cm³. The molecular conformation in the crystal is stabilized by an intramolecular H-bond and the crystal structure is stabilized by the bifurcated O–H···O type intermolecular H-bonds. In order to understand the effects on conformational flexibility of the title molecule, molecular energy profile was calculated as a function of the selected torsion angle by means of AM1 semi-empirical method. Index Abstract  Molecular and crystal structure of [(Z)-2-ethoxy-6-[(2-hydroxyphenylamino)methylene]cyclohexa-2,4-dienone], C₁₅H₁₅NO₃, have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction study, and conformational analysis of the title molecule with respect to the selected torsion angle has been achieved by AM1 semi-empirical calculations.      

An inventory sharing and allocation method for a multi-location service parts logistics network with time-based service levels

We consider a model to allocate stock levels at warehouses in a service parts logistics network. The network is a two-echelon distribution system with one central warehouse with infinite capacity and a number of local warehouses, each facing Poisson demands from geographically dispersed customers. Each local warehouse uses a potentially different base stock policy. The warehouses are collectively required to satisfy time-based service targets: Certain percentages of overall demand need to be satisfied from facilities within specified time windows. These service levels not only depend on the distance between customers and the warehouses, but also depend on the part availabilities at the warehouses. Moreover, the warehouses share their inventory as a way to increase achieved service levels, i.e., when a local warehouse is out of stock, demand is satisfied with an emergency shipment from another close-by warehouse. Observing that the problem of finding minimum-cost stock levels is an integer non-linear program, we develop an implicit enumeration-based method which adapts an existing inventory sharing model from the literature, prioritizes the warehouses for emergency shipments, and makes use of a lower bound. The results show that the proposed inventory sharing strategy results in considerable cost reduction when compared to the no-sharing case and the method is quite efficient for the considered test problems.