Synthesis, photophysical and photochemical properties of poly(oxyethylene)-substituted zinc phthalocyanines

The synthesis, photophysical and photochemical properties of the tetra- and octa-poly(oxyethylene)substituted zinc (II) phthalocyanines are reported for the first time. The new compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, electronic spectroscopy and mass spectra. General trends are described for photodegradation, singlet oxygen, triplet state and fluorescence quantum yields, and triplet and fluorescence lifetimes of these compounds in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). Photophysical and photochemical properties of phthalocyanine complexes are very useful for PDT applications. The effects of the substituents on the photophysical and photochemical parameters of the zinc(II) phthalocyanines (3a, 5a and 6a) are also reported. The singlet oxygen quantum yields (Phi(Delta)), which give an indication of the potential of the complexes as photosensitizers in applications where singlet oxygen is required (Type II mechanism) ranged from 0.60 to 0.72. Thus, these complexes show potential as Type II photosensitizers. The fluorescence of the complexes was quenched by benzoquinone (BQ).     

Lower limits of detection in speciation analysis by coupling high-performance liquid chromatography and chemical-vapor generation

Speciation studies are much more important than total element determination because toxicity of many elements depends on their chemical forms. Nobody can claim that a foodstuff is very dangerous to eat by determining total arsenic due to the possibility that the arsenic could be present in non-toxic forms. Hence, speciation studies are crucial in any matrix relevant to human beings.Trace-element speciation requires sufficiently sensitive procedures to monitor each species at trace levels. One way to increase the sensitivity for elements forming volatile species is coupling high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with chemical-vapor generation (CVG). This review aims to highlight not only development of HPLC-CVG techniques for ultratrace-elemental speciation in a variety of matrices but also their application. In addition, we discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of these techniques.     

Numerical analysis of progressive damage in nonwoven fibrous networks under tension

Understanding a mechanical behaviour of polymer-based nonwoven materials that include large-strain deformation and damage can help to evaluate a response of nonwoven fibrous networks to various loading conditions. Here, a nonwoven felt made by thermal bonding of polypropylene fibres was used as a model system. Its deformation and damage behaviour was analysed by means of experimental assessment of damage evolution based on single-fibre failure and finite-element simulations. Tensile tests of nonwoven fabrics were carried out to characterise their damage behaviour under in-plane mechanical loading. It was found that progressive failure of fibres led to localization of damage initiation and propagation, ultimately resulting in failure of the nonwoven felt. To obtain the criteria that control the onset and propagation of damage in these materials, tensile tests on single fibres, extracted from the felt with bond points attached to their ends, were performed. A finite-element model was developed to study damage initiation and propagation in nonwovens. In the model, structural randomness of a nonwoven fibrous network was implemented by means of direct introduction of fibres according to the orientation distribution function. The evolution of damage in the network was controlled by a single-fibre failure criterion obtained experimentally. The proposed numerical model not only captured the macroscopic response of the felt successfully but also reproduced the underlying mechanisms involved in deformation and damage of nonwovens.     

On the equivalence of Rolle's and generalized mean value theorems on time scales

In this note, by using elementary calculus on time scales, we recall the direct proof of the equivalence between Rolle's and generalized (Cauchy's) mean value theorems on time scales.     

A new approach to the reconstruction of contour lines extracted from topographic maps

It is known that after segmentation and morphological operations on topographic maps, gaps occur in contour lines. It is also well known that filling these gaps and reconstruction of contour lines with high accuracy is not an easy problem. In this paper, a nontrivial semi-automatic approach to solve this problem is proposed. The main idea of the proposed approach is based on local and geometric properties such as (1) parabolic and opposite directions, (2) the differences of y-ordinate of end points, (3) changing the directions of x-axis and y-ordinate to the nearest clockwise direction and (4) avoiding the use of the second end point of a small piece of any contour line in the same mask if its other end point is used. The proposed approach was implemented on the base of many topographic maps with different resolutions and complexity. The obtained results show that the proposed approach increases accuracy and performance.     

Aflatoxin species: their health effects and determination methods in different foodstuffs

Carcinogenic and mutagenic properties of aflatoxin species are known in literature. Their intake over a long time period might be health-dangerous for human even at trace levels. It is well known that different foodstuffs can be contaminated by aflatoxin species through growing and storage. Due to the serious health effects, sensitive determination of aflatoxin species in any matrices related with the human being is very crucial at trace levels. In literature, there are sensitive techniques to analyze the different samples for the contents of their aflatoxin species. Each technique has some advantages and disadvantages over the other techniques. This review aims to summarize the different health effects of aflatoxin species, development of analytical techniques and applications of developed techniques in a variety of matrices.      

Performance of IEEE 802.11 under Jamming

We study the performance of the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol under a range of jammers that covers both channel-oblivious and channel-aware jamming. We consider two channel-oblivious jammers: a periodic jammer that jams deterministically at a specified rate, and a memoryless jammer whose interfering signals arrive according to a Poisson process. We also develop new models for channel-aware jamming, including a reactive jammer that only jams non-colliding transmissions and an omniscient jammer that optimally adjusts its strategy according to current states of the participating nodes. Our study comprises of a theoretical analysis of the saturation throughput of 802.11 under jamming, an extensive simulation study, and a testbed to conduct real world experimentation of jamming IEEE 802.11 using a software defined radio (GNU Radio combined with USRP boards). In our theoretical analysis, we use a discrete-time Markov chain analysis to derive formula for the saturation throughput of 802.11 under memoryless, reactive and omniscient jamming. One of our key results is a characterization of optimal omniscient jamming that establishes a lower bound on the saturation throughput of 802.11 under arbitrary jammer attacks. We validate the theoretical analysis by means of Qualnet simulations. Finally, we measure the real-world performance of periodic, memoryless and reactive jammers using our GNURadio/ USRP aided experimentation testbed.     

Anticholinesterase activity screening of some novel dithiocarbamate derivatives including piperidine and piperazine moieties

The present study was undertaken to synthesize some novel lipophilic piperazine and piperidinedithiocarbamates and investigate their inhibitory potencies against cholinesterase enzymes. In the synthetic studies, 44 new compounds were isolated. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by spectroscopic analyses. Enzymatic studies were carried out using modified Ellman's assay against Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and Butrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes, and it was observed that some of the compounds selectively inhibit AChE. Theoretical ADME predictions were calculated for selected compounds in the series. Enzyme kinetics and molecular docking studies were performed for the most active compound C41 and nature of inhibition and interactions between enzyme and ligand were explained.