An Investigation on Decay Modes and Half-Life of Nobelium Isotopes

Physics of Atomic Nuclei - Relativistic Mean Field (RMF) theory with density-dependent forces (DD-ME2 and DD-PC1) was utilized to investigate decay modes and half-life of superheavy...     

Comparative Study of Biosorption of Heavy Metals Using Living Green Algae Scenedesmus quadricauda and Neochloris pseudoalveolaris: Equilibrium and Kinetics

The biosorption of several heavy metals such as cobalt(II), chromium(III), lead(II), cadmium(II), nickel(II), and manganese(II) from aqueous systems on living microalgae cultures, Scenedesmus quadricauda and Neochloris pseudoalveolaris were studied under laboratories conditions. The kinetic and statistical parameters were calculated by using the data obtained from batch cultivation and well fitted a pseudo-first-order rate equation. The initial metal concentrations in solution were about 5–40 mg · L^?1. According to the pseudo-second-order model, the biosorption capacities of Scenedesmus quadricauda for Co(II), Cr(III), Pb(II), Cd(II), Ni(II), and Mn(II) ions were found in the ranges of 2.14–52.48, 1.98–81.98, 8.05–4.26, 7.81–24.96, 2.17–55.71, and 3.54–75.20 mg g^?1, respectively. Kinetic studies revealed that the metal uptake capacity of each living green algae was rather fast. It was also observed that the biosorption kinetic rate decreased with increasing concentration for both microalgae. The application of diffusion-controlled models to the experimental results indicated that the contribution of intraparticle diffusion to the overall sorption kinetics was not very important. Results showed that Co(II), Cr(III), Pb(II), Cd(II), Ni(II), and Mn(II) ions could effectively be absorbed by using living microalga cultures from aqueous solutions.     

Screening of Plant Pollen Sources,Polyphenolic Compounds,Fatty Acids and Antioxidant/Antimicrobial Activity from Bee Pollen

In this study, the botanical origin, total flavonoid and phenolic content, antioxidant activity, phenolic profile and fatty acid composition of mixed bee pollen loads collected in Bayburt, Turkey, were determined. In addition to these assays, antibacterial activity of bee-collected pollen extract (BCPE) against a variety of food-borne pathogenic bacteria was determined in vitro. Pollen loads were classified into five botanical families based on their color: Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Campanulaceae, Cistaceae and Rosaceae. Total flavonoid, total phenolic, CUPRAC and CERAC concentrations were 173.52 mg GAE/g, 79.21 mg QE/g, 85.59 mg Trolox/g and 118.13 mg Trolox/g, respectively. Twenty-three phenolic compounds were scanned in bee pollen extract by LC-MS/MS, with rutin being the most abundant. Cis-4,7,10,13,16,19 docosahexaenoic acid was the predominant fatty acid, followed by cis-11-eicosenoic acid, palmitic acid, and alfa linolenic acid. In addition, the agar well diffusion (AWD) and micro-broth dilution methods were used to determine of the antibacterial activity of the BCPE sample. MIC values were observed to vary between 2.5–5 mg/mL for Gram-positive bacteria and 5–10 mg/mL for Gram-negative bacteria. These findings indicate that bee pollen could be a potential source of antioxidants and antimicrobials.     

Efficient one-pot three-component method for the synthesis of highly fluorescent coumarin-containing 3,5-disubstituted-2,6-dicyanoaniline derivatives under microwave irradiation

A simple and concise approach to the synthesis of coumarin-containing highly fluorescent asymmetric/symmetric 3,5-diaryl/heteroaryl-2,6-dicyanoaniline derivatives are reported. The compounds were synthesized through base catalyzed three-component one-pot synthesis reaction of 2-(1-(7-(diethylamino)-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)ethylidene)malononitrile, aliphatic, aromatic/heteroaromatic aldehydes, and malononitrile in solvent-free reaction medium, catalyzed by piperidine under microwave irradiation method. The reaction gave the novel, highly fluorescent coumarin-containing 3,5-disubstituted-2,6-dicyanoaniline derivatives in good yields at 300?W, 80?°C in 2?min. This method provides several advantages; such as shorter reaction time, environmental friendliness, simple workup procedure, lower energy consumption and, generally, good yields with high purity. In addition, the synthesized compounds are fluorescently active dyes even in day light, except for compounds including nitro substituent, and show maximum absorption wavelengths (λ_abs.max) in the visible region in DMSO at room temperature. Thermal properties of all the synthesized compounds were also evaluated with thermal gravimetric analysis for usability as optic dye. Optical and thermal screening studies of the compounds showed that the dyes have excellent photophysical and thermal stability properties.     

Photoluminescence analyses of hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride thin films

Silicon-rich hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiN_x:H) films were grown by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with different r=NH₃/SiH₄ gas flow ratios. The optical absorption characteristics were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV-visible transmittance spectroscopies. The recombination properties were investigated via photoluminescence (PL) measurements. As r was increased from 2 to 9, the PL emission color could be adjusted from red to blue with the emission intensity high enough to be perceived by naked eye at room temperature. The behaviors of the PL peak energy and the PL band broadness with respect to the optical constants were discussed in the frame of electron-phonon coupling and band tail recombination models. A semiquantitative analysis supported the band tail recombination model, where the recombination was found to be favored when the carriers thermalize to an energy level at which the band tail density of states (DOS) reduces to some fraction of the relevant band edge DOS. For the PL efficiency comparison of the samples with different nitrogen contents, the PL intensity was corrected for the absorbed intensity fraction of the incident PL excitation source. The resulted correlation between the PL efficiency and the subgap absorption tail width further supported the band tail recombination model.     

Phase diagrams in mixed spin-3/2 and spin-2 Ising system with two alternative layers within the effective-field theory

The phase diagrams in the mixed spin-3/2 and spin-2 Ising system with two alternative layers on a honeycomb lattice are investigated and discussed by the use of the effective-field theory with correlations. The interaction of the nearest-neighbour spins of each layer is taken to be positive (ferromagnetic interaction) and the interaction of the adjacent spins of the nearest-neighbour layers is considered to be either positive or negative (ferromagnetic or anti-ferromagnetic interaction). The temperature dependence of the layer magnetizations of the system is examined to characterize the nature (continuous or discontinuous) of the phase transitions and obtain the phase transition temperatures. The system exhibits both second-and first-order phase transitions besides triple point (T P ), critical end point (E), multicritical point (A), isolated critical point (C) and reentrant behaviour depending on the interaction parameters. We have also studied the temperature dependence of the total magnetization to find the compensation points, as well as to determine the type of behaviour, and N-type behaviour in N′eel classification nomenclature existing in the system. The phase diagrams are constructed in eight different planes and it is found that the system also presents the compensation phenomena depending on the sign of the bilinear exchange interactions.     

Three-dimensional polarization-independent visible-frequency carpet invisibility cloak

We miniaturize all features in a previously introduced polarization-independent three-dimensional carpet invisibility cloak by more than a factor of 2. This leads to operation wavelengths in the visible. The structures are characterized by electron and optical microscopy. In contrast to our previous work at IR wavelengths, we can directly measure two-dimensional images at visible frequencies, perform control experiments from the backside, and compare the images with theory. We find excellent agreement. Furthermore, we study the wavelength dependence in the range from 900 nm down to 500 nm. Cloaking action deteriorates as the woodpile stop band at around 575 nm is approached.     

Stochastic models for strategic resource allocation in nonprofit foreclosed housing acquisitions

Increased rates of mortgage foreclosures in the U.S. have had devastating social and economic impacts during and after the 2008 financial crisis. As part of the response to this problem, nonprofit organizations such as community development corporations (CDCs) have been trying to mitigate the negative impacts of mortgage foreclosures by acquiring and redeveloping foreclosed properties. We consider the strategic resource allocation decisions for these organizations which involve budget allocations to different neighborhoods under cost and return uncertainty. Based on interactions with a CDC, we develop stochastic integer programming based frameworks for this decision problem, and assess the practical value of the models by using real-world data. Both policy-related and computational analyses are performed, and several insights such as the trade-offs between different objectives, and the efficiency of different solution approaches are presented.