Moment vanishing properties of harmonic Bergman functions

We show that Poisson integrals belonging to certain weighted harmonic Bergman spaces b_δ^p on the upper half-space must have the moment vanishing properties. As an application, we show that b₀^p, p?1, contains a dense subspace whose members have the horizontal moment vanishing properties. Also, we derive related weighted norm inequalities for Poisson integrals. As a consequence, we obtain a characterization for Poisson integrals of continuous functions with compact support in order to belong to b_δ^p.     

Sinh-Gordon boundary TBA and boundary Liouville reflection amplitude

The ground state energy of the sinh-Gordon model defined on the strip is studied using the boundary thermodynamic Bethe ansatz equation. Its ultraviolet (small width of the strip) behavior is compared with the one obtained from the boundary Liouville reflection amplitude. The results are in perfect agreement in the allowable range of the parameters and provide convincing support for both approaches. We also describe how the ultraviolet limit of the effective central charge can exceed one in the parameter range when the Liouville zero mode forms a bound state.     

Apis mellifera syriaca Venom: Evaluation of Its Anticoagulant Effect,Proteolytic Activity,and Cytotoxicity along with Its Two Main Compounds—MEL and PLA2—On HeLa Cancer Cells

Bee venom (BV) is one of the most remarkable natural products that has been a subject of studies since ancient times. Recent studies have shown that Apis mellifera syriaca venom possesses antibacterial as well as cytotoxic effects on cancer cell lines. The venom contains a variety of bioactive molecules—mainly melittin (MEL) and phospholipase A2 (PLA2), as well as other compounds that are not well characterized. In this work, we continue the biological characterization of A. mellifera syriaca venom by testing its anticoagulant effect on human plasma using the prothrombin time (PT) test, as well as assessing its proteolytic activity. In addition, the cytotoxicity of the crude venom—and of its two main components, MEL and PLA2—was tested on HeLa cancer cell lines for the first time. The results obtained showed the capacity of A. mellifera syriaca venom to increase clotting time, thereby proving its anticoagulant effect. Moreover, the venom did not demonstrate a significant proteolytic activity unless administrated at concentrations ≥ 5 mg/mL. Finally, we showed that crude A. mellifera syriaca venom, along with MEL, exhibit a strong in vitro cytotoxic effect on HeLa cancer cell lines, even at low concentrations. In summary, our findings could serve as a basis for the development of new natural-based drug candidates in the therapeutic field.     

Novel fabrication route for carbon-free and dense CuInSe2 (CIS) thin films via a non-vacuum process for solar cell application

Carbon-free CuInSe₂ (CIS) thin film with a dense microstructure has been prepared using a novel non-vacuum based fabrication route. Cu_xS_y and In₂Se₃ binary nanoparticles, approximately 10 nm in size, were synthesized by a low temperature colloidal process. The precursor film was deposited using the coating ink formulated with the binary nanoparticles and pyridine, and then annealed in the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) chamber at 540 °C for 15 min under selenium (Se) atmosphere. Scanning electron micrographs, X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman spectra showed a phase pure carbon-free and dense CIS thin film was prepared in this method. A solar cell device fabricated using this CIS thin film showed the following photovoltaic characteristics: V_OC = 350 mV, J_SC = 24.72 mA cm⁻², FF = 38.73% and η = 3.36% under standard AM 1.5 condition.     

Flavouring and odorant thiols from renewable natural resources by In-catalysed hydrothioacetylation and lipase-catalysed solvolysis

A chemoenzymatic access to thiol compounds, including ethyl 3-thiobutanoate, 3-thio-p-menthene and 8-thio-p-menthan-2-one, three compounds of interest in flavour and fragrance chemistry presenting various fruity notes, is proposed. It involves an indium(III)-catalysed hydrothioacetylation of renewable precursors followed by an enzymatic solvolysis of the obtained thioesters by lipases in aqueous or organic solvents.     

Surface-Modified Carbon Materials for CO2 Electroreduction

The electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals has attracted great attention in recent years. It is shown that surface-modified carbons catalyze the CO₂RR. This study reports a strategy to modify the surface of commercially available carbon materials by adding oxygen and nitrogen surface groups without modifying its graphitic structure. Clear differences in CO₂RR activity, selectivity and the turnover frequency between the surface-modified carbons were observed, and these differences were ascribed to the nature of the surface groups chemistry and the point of zero charge (PZC). The results show that nitrogen-containing surface groups are highly selective towards the formation of CO from the electroreduction of CO₂ in comparison with the oxygen-containing surface groups, and the carbon without surface groups. This demonstrates that the selectivity of carbon for CO₂RR can be rationally tuned by simply altering the surface chemistry via surface functionalization.     

Optimisation of alignment materials for minimising residual retardation in in-plane switching liquid crystal display

The light leakage in a black state of in-plane switching (IPS) liquid crystal display (LCD) associated with rubbing process has been investigated. The mechanical rubbing process with a cloth caused orientation disorders in the liquid crystal directors and these partial orientation disorders result in residual retardations of the IPS LCD, causing the light leakages at the black state. In this study, we theoretically estimated how the light leakage is associated with the rubbing uniformity using 2 × 2 Jones matrix equation and also experimentally confirmed how it is associated with structural properties of the alignment layer. The light leakage was clearly reduced in the alignment layer with reduced crystallinity and flexibility.     

Thom polynomials, symmetries and incidences of singularities

As an application of the generalized Pontryagin-Thom construction [RSz] here we introduce a new method to compute cohomological obstructions of removing singularities — i.e. Thom polynomials [T]. With the aid of this method we compute some sample results, such as the Thom polynomials associated to all stable singularities of codimension ≤8 between equal dimensional manifolds, and some other Thom polynomials associated to singularities of maps N ⁿ ?P ^n+k for k>0. We also give an application by reproving a weak form of the multiple point formulas of Herbert and Ronga ([H], [Ro2]). As a byproduct of the theory we define the incidence class of singularities, which — the author believes — may turn to be an interesting, useful and simple tool to study incidences of singularities. Oblatum 4-II-1999 & 19-VII-2000?Published online: 30 October 2000