Electric‐Field‐Controlled Alignment of Rod‐Shaped Fluorescent Nanocrystals in Smectic Liquid Crystal Defect Arrays

Periodic micro‐arrays of straight linear defects containing nanoparticles can be created over large surface areas at the transition from the nematic to smectic‐A phase in a nanoparticle–liquid crystal (LC) composite material confined under the effect of conflicting anchoring conditions (unidirectional planar vs normal) and electric fields. Anisomeric dichroic dye molecules and rod‐shaped fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals (dot‐in‐rods) with large permanent electric dipole and high linearly polarized photoluminescence quantum yield align parallel to the local LC molecular director and follow its reorientation under application of the electric field. In the nano‐sized core regions of linear defects, where the director is undefined, anisotropic particles align parallel to the defect whereas spherical quantum dots do not show any particular interaction with the defect. Under application of an electric field, ferroelectric semiconductor nanoparticles in the core region align along the field, perpendicular to the defect direction, whereas dichroic dyes remain parallel to the defect. This study provides useful insights into the complex interaction of anisotropic nanoparticles and anisotropic soft materials such as LCs in the presence of external fields, which may help the development of field‐responsive nanoparticle‐based functional materials.     

Polymer derived ceramic materials from Si,B and MoSiB filler-loaded perhydropolysilazane precursor for oxidation protection

Silica-based coating systems were developed using polymer derived ceramics (PDCs) technology. Ceramic composites on the base of a SiO₂ and SiNO matrix and homogeneously distributed Mo₅SiB₂, SiB₆, Si and B fillers were manufactured. The coating systems have low porosity and provide a high oxidation resistance up to 100 h at 800 °C and 1100 °C in air. The influence of temperature and atmosphere of pyrolysis on the polymer precursor, the volume fraction of filler materials on the chemical composition of compacts as well as their high-temperature oxidation protection was investigated.     

Stem Cell Therapy Enhances Motor Activity of Triceps Surae Muscle in Mice with Hereditary Peripheral Neuropathy

Impaired motor and sensory functions are the main features of Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) therapy is one of the possible treatments for this disease. It was assumed that MSCs therapy can improve the contractile properties of the triceps surae (TS) muscles in mice with hereditary peripheral neuropathy. Murine adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (AD-MSCs) were obtained for transplantation into TS muscles of FVB-C-Tg(GFPU)5Nagy/J mice. Three months after AD-MSCs transplantation, animals were subjected to electrophysiological investigations. Parameters of TS muscle tension after intermittent high frequency electrical sciatic nerve stimulations were analyzed. It was found that force of TS muscle tension contraction in animals after AD-MSCs treatment was two-time higher than in untreated mice. Normalized values of force muscle contraction in different phases of electrical stimulation were 0.3 ± 0.01 vs. 0.18 ± 0.01 and 0.26 ± 0.03 vs. 0.13 ± 0.03 for treated and untreated animals, respectively. It is assumed that the two-fold increase in TS muscle strength was caused by stem cell therapy. Apparently, AD-MSCs therapy can promote nerve regeneration and partial restoration of muscle function, and thus can be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of peripheral neuropathies.     

Corrosion Resistance of MgZn Alloy Covered by Chitosan-Based Coatings

Chitosan coatings are deposited on the surface of Mg20Zn magnesium alloy by means of the spin coating technique. Their structure was investigated using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The surface morphology of the magnesium alloy substrate and chitosan coatings was determined using Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) analysis. Corrosion tests (linear sweep voltamperometry and chronoamperometry) were performed on uncoated and coated magnesium alloy in the Hank’s solution. In both cases, the hydrogen evolution method was used to calculate the corrosion rate after 7-days immersion in the Hank’s solution at 37 °C. It was found that the corrosion rate is 3.2 mm/year and 1.2 mm/year for uncoated and coated substrates, respectively. High corrosion resistance of Mg20Zn alloy covered by multilayer coating (CaP coating + chitosan water glass) is caused by formation of CaSiO₃ and Ca₃(PO₄)₂ compounds on its surface.     

Potentiometric sensor for the indomethacin determination

A potentiometric indomethacin-selective sensor based on Rhodamine B indomethacinate ion-pair (IP) as a membrane carrier is reported. Influences of the membrane composition, pH, and possible interfering ions were investigated on the response properties of the electrode. The sensor exhibits significantly enhanced response toward indomethacinate ions over the concentration range 1 × 10^? 4 mol L^? 1 to 5 × 10^? 2 mol L^? 1 with a lower detection limit (LDL) of 3 × 10^? 5 mol L^? 1 and a slope of ? 60 mV decade^? 1. Fast and stable response, good reproducibility, long-term stability, applicability over a pH range of 6–10 is demonstrated. The proposed electrode shows good discrimination of indomethacin from several inorganic and organic ions. The proposed sensor has been applied for the direct potentiometric determination of indomethacin in pharmaceutical preparations.     

Statistical and electrical properties of the conduction electrons of a metal nanosphere in the region of metal-insulator transition

Statistical and electrical properties of the conduction electrons of a silver or gold sphere with a radius from 1 to 2 nm are shown to differ drastically from the properties of electrons in a bulk metal sample. If the radius of a noble metal sphere decreases from 10 to 1 nm, its conductivity oscillates around the bulk metal value with increasing amplitude and drops at the ''magic’ numbers of electrons. These numbers are equal to 186, 198, 254, 338, 440, 556, 676, 832, 912, 1,284, 1,502, and 1,760, in agreement with various experimental data. We show that the conductivity and capacitance of a metal nanosphere can be changed by several orders of magnitude by adding or removing just a few electrons.     

Object-based analysis and change detection of major wetland cover types and their classification uncertainty during the low water period at Poyang Lake, China

Productive wetland systems at land-water interfaces that provide unique ecosystem services are challenging to study because of water dynamics, complex surface cover and constrained field access. We applied object-based image analysis and supervised classification to four 32-m Beijing-1 microsatellite images to examine broad-scale surface cover composition and its change during November 2007-March 2008 low water season at Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake-wetland system in China (> 4000 km²). We proposed a novel method for semi-automated selection of training objects in this heterogeneous landscape using extreme values of spectral indices (SIs) estimated from satellite data. Dynamics of the major wetland cover types (Water, Mudflat, Vegetation and Sand) were investigated both as transitions among primary classes based on maximum membership value, and as changes in memberships to all classes even under no change in a primary class. Fuzzy classification accuracy was evaluated as match frequencies between classification outcome and a) the best reference candidate class (MAX function) and b) any acceptable reference class (RIGHT function). MAX-based accuracy was relatively high for Vegetation (≥ 90%), Water (≥ 82%), Mudflat (≥ 76%) and the smallest-area Sand (≥ 75%) in all scenes; these scores improved with the RIGHT function to 87-100%. Classification uncertainty assessed as the proportion of fuzzy object area within a class at a given fuzzy threshold value was the highest for all classes in November 2007, and consistently higher for Mudflat than for other classes in all scenes. Vegetation was the dominant class in all scenes, occupying 41.2-49.3% of the study area. Object memberships to Vegetation mostly declined from November 2007 to February 2008 and increased substantially only in February-March 2008, possibly reflecting growing season conditions and grazing. Spatial extent of Water both declined and increased during the study period, reflecting precipitation and hydrological events. The “fuzziest” Mudflat class was involved in major detected transitions among classes and declined in classification accuracy by March 2008, representing a key target for finer-scale research. Future work should introduce Vegetation sub-classes reflecting differences in phenology and alternative methods to discriminate Mudflat from other classes. Results can be used to guide field sampling and top-down landscape analyses in this wetland.     

Compensation for subpixel roughness effects in thermal infrared images

Emissivity spectra recovered from spectral radiance images may have lowered spectral contrast due to irradiance from nearby surface elements (‘cavity effect’). For analysis based only on photointerpretation or Reststrahlen band identification, it is not always necessary to account for cavity effects, but for full spectral analysis it may be desirable. We present an approach to compensate thermal infrared (TIR) images for cavity radiation. This approach is based on optical estimates of subpixel surface roughness and estimation of cavity contribution for different natural surfaces using a TIR radiosity model. It was tested using tripod-mounted Hyper-Cam (Telops, Inc., Quebec City, Canada) hyperspectral TIR images of natural targets from the Mojave Desert, California, USA, along with centimetre-scale digital elevation models of similar targets measured by ground lidar. For remote subpixel roughness estimation, Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) nadir- and aft-looking (27.6°) near-infrared (NIR) brightness ratios, as well as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images calibrated to roughness root mean square (RMS), were used. The TIR compensation approach is adaptable for different spectral resolutions, including hyperspectral.     

Photoalignment dynamics of azo dyes series with different coordination metals

There are many photoaligned azo dyes that can be used for orientation of liquid crystals in various display devices. However, the structure of these compounds needs to be optimized to increase the rate of the process of molecule photoalignment, as well as to spread the application of these compounds. The main coordination metal that presents in the molecules of azo dyes is sodium derivatives. The use of other alkali metals remains an open question. We used quantum‐chemical computation methods and reversible intermolecular bonding model to determine the effect of metal coordination on the velocity of photoalignment. The theoretical predictions were experimentally verified using sodium, potassium, lithium, and cesium salts of the model azo dye synthesized by us. We conclude that potassium azo derivatives are the fastest, ceteris paribus.