Gadolinium‐Doped Persistent Nanophosphors as Versatile Tool for Multimodal In Vivo Imaging

Recent breakthroughs in the rational development of multifunctional nanocarriers have highlightened the advantage of combining the complementary forces of several imaging modalities into one single nanotool fully dedicated to the biomedical field and diagnosis applications. A novel multimodal optical‐magnetic resonance imaging nanoprobe is introduced. Designed on the basis of a spinel zinc gallate structure doped with trivalent chromium and gadolinium, this nanocrystal bears the ability to serve as both a highly sensitive persistent luminescence nanoprobe for optical imaging, and a negative contrast agent for highly resolved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Additional proof is given that surface coverage can be modified in order to obtain stealth nanoparticles highly suitable for real‐time in vivo application in mice, showing delayed reticulo‐endothelial uptake and longer circulation time after systemic injection.     

Low-Programmable-Voltage Nonvolatile Memory Devices Based on Omega-shaped Gate Organic Ferroelectric P(VDF-TrFE) Field Effect Transistors Using p-type Silicon Nanowire Channels

Nano-Micro Letters - A facile approach was demonstrated for fabricating high-performance nonvolatile memory devices based on ferroelectric-gate field effect transistors using a p-type Si nanowire...     

Lead-free electrostrictive bismuth perovskite ceramics with thermally stable field-induced strains

Electric field-induced strain (EFIS) properties of Bi_1/2(Na_0.82K_0.18)_1/2TiO₃ (BNKT) ceramics modified with Sr(K_1/4Nb_3/4)O₃ (SKN) have been investigated as functions of composition and temperature. BNKT ceramics near a phase boundary revealed the coexistence of ferroelectric rhombohedral and tetragonal phases, resulting in a typical ferroelectric butterfly-shaped bipolar S–E loop at room temperature, whose normalized strain (S_max/E_max) showed a significant temperature coefficient of 0.38 pm/V/K. However, 5 mol% SKN-modified BNKT ceramics revealed a typical electrostrictive behaviour with a thermally stable electrostrictive coefficient, Q₃₃ = 0.021 m⁴/C², which is almost comparable to that of Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃ (PMN) ceramics that have been dominantly used as Pb-based electrostrictive materials over the last decades.     

Magnetic Fe(2)MO(4) (M:Fe, Mn) activated carbons: fabrication, characterization and heterogeneous Fenton oxidation of methyl orange

We present a simple and efficient method for the fabrication of magnetic Fe(2)MO(4) (M:Fe and Mn) activated carbons (Fe(2)MO(4)/AC-H, M:Fe and Mn) by impregnating the activated carbon with simultaneous magnetic precursor and carbon modifying agent followed by calcination. The obtained samples were characterized by nitrogen adsorption isotherms, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and the catalytic activity in heterogeneous Fenton oxidation of methyl orange (MO) was evaluated. The resulting Fe(2)MnO(4)/AC-H showed higher catalytic activity in the methyl orange oxidation than Fe(3)O(4)/AC-H. The effect of operational parameters (pH, catalyst loading H(2)O(2) dosage and initial MO concentration) on degradation performance of the oxidation process was investigated. Stability and reusability of selected catalyst were also tested.     

Environmental ecological modeling of human blood lead levels in East Asia

Environmental ecological modeling (EEM), which unifies models simulating transport of chemicals and exposure of humans to chemicals, was used to simulate long-term trends of female adult human blood lead levels (BLLs) and historical exposure to the atmospheric lead in four East Asian countries: Japan, Korea, China, and Vietnam. Anthropogenic lead emissions to the atmosphere in Vietnam were estimated from energy statistics to be 1931 t yr(-1). Calculated BLLs generally agreed with those observed in samples collected in these countries as the error factors were less than 2. The model results revealed that BLLs decreased significantly in Tokyo (by 58%) and Seoul (by 45%) in recent decades and confirmed the effects of efforts to reduce environmental lead in Japan and Korea. The model results also revealed that BLLs in Beijing did not decrease in this decade as much as in Tokyo and Seoul, despite the phasing out of leaded gasoline, and that the contribution from the atmospheric component was increasing (43% in 2009). Finally, we applied EEM to simulate BLLs of children in Hanoi. The probability of children having BLLs greater than 50 μg L(-1) was 7.5%, which was greater than those observed in developed countries.     

Fabrication of three-dimensional polymer quadratic nonlinear grating structures by layer-by-layer direct laser writing technique

We demonstrate the fabrication of a three-dimensional (3D) polymer quadratic nonlinear (χ(2)) grating structure. By performing layer-by-layer direct laser writing (DLW) and spin-coating approaches, desired photobleached grating patterns were embedded in the guest-host dispersed-red-1/poly(methylmethacrylate) (DR1/PMMA) active layers of an active-passive alternative multilayer structure through photobleaching of DR1 molecules. Polyvinyl-alcohol and SU8 thin films were deposited between DR1/PMMA layers serving as a passive layer to separate DR1/PMMA active layers. After applying the corona electric field poling to the multilayer structure, nonbleached DR1 molecules in the active layers formed polar distribution, and a 3D χ(2) grating structure was obtained. The χ(2) grating structures at different DR1/PMMA nonlinear layers were mapped by laser scanning second harmonic (SH) microscopy, and no cross talk was observed between SH images obtained from neighboring nonlinear layers. The layer-by-layer DLW technique is favorable to fabricating hierarchical 3D polymer nonlinear structures for optoelectronic applications with flexible structural design.     

A meshfree model without shear-locking for free vibration analysis of first-order shear deformable plates

Difficulty in imposing essential boundary conditions in the standard element-free Galerkin method (EFG) is due to the lack of Kronecker’s delta function property of shape functions generated by moving least square approximation (MLS). In this paper, we further apply a meshfree model based on the moving Kriging interpolation method (MK) to free vibration analysis of first-order shear deformable plates. The deflection and two rotation field variables of plate are approximated by the MK method, which is employed to construct the shape functions having the delta function property. With this approach, the drawback in enforcement of the boundary conditions caused by the MLS is now avoided. The present formulation is based on the first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) associated with an effective elimination of the shear-locking phenomenon completely, and hence the approach is applicable to both moderately thick and thin plates. Numerical examples considering various aspect ratios and different boundaries are examined and solutions on natural frequencies obtained by the present method are then compared with existing reference solutions, and very good agreements are observed.     

Mass transfer variation within a packed bed and its relation to liquid distribution

The limiting current method is applied to characterize the local mass transfer in the axial, radial and angular directions throughout a packed bed of Pall rings. This is expressed in terms of the particle-to-fluid mass transfer coefficient of ferricyanide ions obtained from the limiting currents measured during its reduction to ferrocyanide at different locations in the bed. Particular focus is placed on the variability of the mass transfer coefficient with position in terms of the quantity MT_VAR, equivalent to the normalized deviation of the function Sh/Sc^0.33. The results confirm those reported by other researchers using more traditional liquid collection and tracer methods. Mass transfer coefficients throughout the bed closely follow normal distributions for the range of Re values investigated. When a multipoint distributor is used, MT_VAR is already low at the lowest flow rate (Re=95) considered and remains unchanged with any further increase in flow rate. In the case of a single-point distributor, on the other hand, MT_VAR decreases with increasing flow rate, but always remains significantly higher than that observed with the multipoint distributor. Moreover, the MT_VAR value depends on whether irrigated or full flow conditions prevail and on the cross-sectional area of the sampling electrodes, suggesting that local mass transfer variations are caused by local liquid velocity variations once the Pall rings are sufficiently wetted.     

SHAPES: A novel approach for learning search heuristics inunder-constrained optimization problems

Although much research in machine learning has been carried out on acquiring knowledge for problem-solving in many problem domains, little effort has been focused on learning search-control knowledge for solving optimization problems. This paper reports on the development of SHAPES, a system that learns heuristic search guidance for solving optimization problems in intractable, under-constrained domains based on the Explanation-Based Learning (EBL) framework. The system embodies two new and novel approaches to machine learning. First, it makes use of explanations of varying levels of approximation as a mean for verifying heuristic-based decisions, allowing heuristic estimates to be revised and corrected during problem-solving. The provision of such a revision mechanism is particularly important when working in intractable and under-constrained domains, where heuristics tend to be highly over-generalized, and hence at times will give rise to incorrect results. Second, it employs a new linear and quadratic programming-based weight-assignment algorithm formulated to direct search toward optimal solutions under best-first search. The algorithm offers a direct method for assigning rule strengths and, in so doing, avoids the need to address the credit-assignment problem faced by other iterative weight-adjustment methods     

Determination of fruit origin by using 26S rDNA fingerprinting of yeast communities by PCR–DGGE: preliminary application to Physalis fruits from Egypt

The determination of geographical origin is a demand of the traceability system of import–export food products. One hypothesis for tracing the source of a product is by global analysis of the microbial communities of the food and statistical linkage of this analysis to the geographical origin of the food. For this purpose, a molecular technique employing 26S rDNA profiles generated by PCR–DGGE was used to detect the variation in yeast community structures of three species of Physalis fruit (Physalis ixocarpa Brat, Physalis pubescens L, Physalis pruinosa L) from four Egyptian regions (Qalyoubia, Minufiya, Beheira and Alexandria Governments). When the 26S rDNA profiles were analysed by multivariate analysis, distinct microbial communities were detected. The band profiles of Physalis yeasts from different Governments were specific for each location and could be used as a bar code to discriminate the origin of the fruits. This method is a new traceability tool which provides fruit products with a unique biological bar code and makes it possible to trace back the fruits to their original location. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.