Photopyroelectric measurement of thermal effusivity of liquids by sample's thickness scan

A method based on the sample's thickness scan of the amplitude of the photopyroelectric (PPE) signal is proposed as an alternative for thermal effusivity measurement of liquids. The proposed method uses a combined amplitude-phase information and needs the knowledge of the absolute values of the sample's thickness and phase of the signal. The accuracy of the method is similar with that of previously reported frequency-scanned methods, provided an accurate control of the cell's (sample's) thickness is performed. A 479 Ws^1/2/m²K room temperature value for the thermal effusivity of silicon oil was found, with a 0.1 μm step thickness control.     

On degenerate surface patches

A local construction of aGC ¹ interpolating surface to given scattered data in ³ can give rise to degenerate Bernstein-Bézier patches. This means that the parametrization at vertices is not regular in the sense that the length of the tangent vector to any curve passing through a vertex is zero at that vertex. This implies that the curvature of these curves tends to infinity whenever one approaches a vertex. This fact seems not to have a negative influence on the shape of the surface.     

Striking Features of DPH Electronic Spectra as a Function of Multicomponent Solvent Nature

1,6-Diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene is one of the most used fluorescent labels in cell membrane fluidity studies. However, its solubility in aqueous biological media is low and an initial solubilizing step is necessary. In this study, the authors present spectroscopic and computational results in order to explain the striking displacement observed in electronic spectra (absorption and fluorescence) in different solvents. The experimental results were correlated with those obtained by molecular dynamics simulations of multicomponent solutions, which revealed non-homogenous microscopic regions formation in the ternary aqueous DPH solutions.     

Competitive Binding of Tolmetin to β-Cyclodextrin and Human Serum Albumin: <Superscript>1</Superscript>H NMR and Fluorescence Spectroscopy Studies

The host–guest interaction of tolmetin (TOL) with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and the influence of human serum albumin (HSA) on the formation of the inclusion complex were studied by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. The TOL/β-CD inclusion complex formed at a molar ratio of 1:1 with a binding constant value of 2164.5 L·mol^?1. Data analysis showed that the addition of 10 μmol·L^?1 of HSA weakened the strength of TOL binding to β-CD (K _a = 1493 L·mol^?1). The interaction of TOL with HSA in the absence and presence of β-CD was studied by analyzing the fluorescence quenching data. The Stern–Volmer quenching constants and the binding constants are found to be smaller in the presence of β-CD, suggesting that β-CD hinders the strong interaction of TOL with HSA by complex formation. Additionally, the presence of β-CD does not induce conformational and microenvironmental changes on HSA.     

A thermo-fluid analysis in magnetic hyperthermia

In the last years, hyperthermia induced by the heating of magnetic nanoparticles （MNPs） in an alternating magnetic field received considerable attention in cancer therapy. The thermal effects could be automatically controlled by using MNPs with selective magnetic absorption properties. In this paper, we analyze the temperature field determined by the heating of MNPs, injected in a malignant tissue, subjected to an alternating magnetic field. The main parameters which have a strong influence on temperature field are analyzed. The temperature evolution within healthy and tumor tissues are analyzed by finite element method （FEM） simulations in a thermo-fluid model. The cooling effect produced by blood flow in blood vessels from the tumor is considered. A thermal analysis is conducted under different distributions of MNP injection sites. The interdependence between the optimum dose of the nanoparticles and various types of tumors is investigated in order to understand their thermal effect on hyperthermia therapy. The control of the temperature field in the tumor and healthy tissues is an important step in the healing treatment.     

EPR of Fe3+ ion and symmetry of [AIF5·H2O]2? complex ion in (NH4)2AIF5·H2O single crystals

We used the spin-Hamiltonian method for the analysis of the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum of Fe³⁺ as a probe ion in (NH₄)₂AlF₅·H₂O single crystalline basic material. The theoretical expressions for the magnetic field (at which the fine structure transition lines appear) versus the angle between the magnetic field and the axis of symmetry of the magnetic complex are also given. These values were calculated by applying the perturbation theory to the second-order terms. From the experimental results (at 300 K and 9.21 GHz), the spin-Hamiltonian parameters were deduced:D=(668±10)·10⁻⁴ T,E=(−56±10)·10⁻⁴ T,a=(−54±10)·10⁻⁴ T,F=(30±10)·10⁻⁴ T. An isotropic superhyperfine structure was evidenced for the five fluorine ions. The obtained EPR data were used to determine the local symmetry of the Al³⁺ ion. A good agreement with X-ray diffraction measurements was found.     

Thermal stability, antioxidant activity, and photo-oxidation of natural polyphenols

The thermal stability (60°C, 80°C, 100°C), antioxidant activity, and ultraviolet C light (UV-C) stability of standard polyphenols solutions (catechin, gallic acid, and vanillic acid) and of vegetal extracts from spruce bark and grape seeds were investigated. Exposure of the standard solutions and vegetal extracts to high temperatures revealed that phenolic compounds were also relatively stable (degradations ranged from 15 % to 30 % after 4 h of exposure). The highest antioxidant activity was obtained for ascorbic acid and gallic acid followed by catechin and caffeic acid and the grape seeds. The results show that, after 3 h of UV-C exposure, approximately 40 % of vanillic acid, 50 % of gallic acid, and 83 % of catechin were removed. Similar degradation rates were observed for vegetal extracts, with the exception of the degradation of catechin (40 %) from grape seeds. In addition, the photo-oxidation of polyphenols in the presence of food constituents such as citric acid, ascorbic acid, sodium chloride, and sodium nitrate was assessed.     

Pore resealing inactivation in electroporated erythrocyte membrane irradiated with electrons.

The changes in the electroporation process of human erythrocytes membrane due to the direct action of high energy electron radiation were investigated. To avoid the indirect effects caused by radiolytic products of water, the irradiation was performed at liquid nitrogen temperature. The irradiated cells have been exposed to square-wave electric pulses at 4 degrees C in isotonic suspensions to induce membrane electropores. The pores resealing were quantified by monitoring the cell hemolysis. A significant decrease of the resealing process was found for irradiation doses higher than 100 Gy. The mass of molecular structures affected by the direct action of radiation was estimated using the target analysis method. We found a molecular weight Mm approximately 930 kDa roughly corresponding to spectrin tetramer of the cytoskeleton. This suggests that spectrin network plays an important role in the pores resealing of the electropermeabilized erythrocyte membrane.     

Delaunay configurations and multivariate splines: A generalization of a result of B. N. Delaunay

In the 1920s, B. N. Delaunay proved that the dual graph of the Voronoi diagram of a discrete set of points in a Euclidean space gives rise to a collection of simplices, whose circumspheres contain no points from this set in their interior. Such Delaunay simplices tessellate the convex hull of these points. An equivalent formulation of this property is that the characteristic functions of the Delaunay simplices form a partition of unity. In the paper this result is generalized to the so-called Delaunay configurations. These are defined by considering all simplices for which the interiors of their circumspheres contain a fixed number of points from the given set, in contrast to the Delaunay simplices, whose circumspheres are empty. It is proved that every family of Delaunay configurations generates a partition of unity, formed by the so-called simplex splines. These are compactly supported piecewise polynomial functions which are multivariate analogs of the well-known univariate B-splines. It is also shown that the linear span of the simplex splines contains all algebraic polynomials of degree not exceeding the degree of the splines.