Analytical Electromagnetic Solution for Bragg Mirrors With Graded Interfaces and Guidelines for Enhanced Reflectivity

Bragg mirrors, the key element of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, always present graded interfaces when current is pumped through them, so as to reduce their series resistance and related heating problems. We present here an analytical solution for the electromagnetic fields in graded Bragg mirrors. It allows to generate reference reflection and transmission coefficients that are compared with those obtained by the staircase approximation method. Graded mirrors are then analyzed in detail and it is shown that, with an optimized design, higher reflectivity than in the abrupt scheme can be achieved     

About P systems with symport/antiport

It is proved that four membranes suffice to a variant of P systems with symport/antiport with maximal parallelism to generate all recursively enumerable sets of numbers. P systems with symport/antiport without maximal parallelism are also studied, considering two termination criteria.     

Torque‐rheometry investigation of model transreactions involving condensation polymers. I. Polyesters

The chemical transformations taking place when poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) or poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) are blended in the melt with different low molar mass substances containing hydroxyl, carboxyl, or amine functional groups have been investigated as models of the transreactions, undergone by the polyesters in reactive blending operations. The polyester molecular weight changes caused by the alcoholysis, acidolysis, aminolysis, and esterolysis reactions have been monitored by torque‐rheometry, using a Brabender Plasticorder static mixer. The degradation of the polyesters by hydrolysis was also studied, under similar conditions, by the addition of a water‐releasing substance (wet polyamide‐6), and was shown to occur quite rapidly, although most of the added water was lost by flash vaporization caused by the high temperature of the polyester melt. It has been shown that the rate constants of the reactions leading to breakage of the inner ester bonds of the polyester macromolecules decrease in the following order: aminolysis (with aliphatic amines, either primary and secondary) > alcoholysis (with aliphatic alcohols) ≈ hydrolysis > acidolysis (with aromatic acids) ≥ acidolysis (with aliphatic acids) ? aminolysis (with aromatic amines) > alcoholysis (with phenols) ? esterolysis. POLYM. ENG. SCI. 46:139–152, 2006. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Influence of olive cultivars and period of harvest on the contents of Cu,Cd, Pb,and Zn in virgin olive oils

Levels of four of the major pollutant heavy metals were assessed by ICP-OES in virgin olive oil monocultivar samples. The data showed high variability within cultivars for lead and zinc, whereas, for cadmium and copper, no statistical difference was observed. The influence of the cultivar and the stage of ripening of olives on heavy metal content was assessed; zinc was the only metal with a great variability within the first and the second harvest. All olive samples were processed with the same milling apparatus.     

Combined approach to the analysis of recombinant protein drugs using hollow-fiber flow field-flow fractionation, mass spectrometry, and chemiluminescence detection

The impurities present in recombinant protein drugs produced by large-scale refolding processes can not only affect the product safety but also interact with the expressed protein. To relate the impurity profile to conformation and functionality of the protein drug, analytical methods able not to degrade the sample components should be preferred. In this work, an urate oxidase (uricase) drug from Aspergillus flavus expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and a reagent-grade uricase from Candida sphaerica expressed in Escherichia coli, are analyzed by combining hollow-fiber flow field-flow fractionation with matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI/TOFMS) and with chemiluminescence enzyme activity assay. Preliminary detection and identification of sample impurities is performed by means of conventional methods such as RP HPLC with electrospray ionization quadrupole-TOF MS and MALDI/TOFMS with SDS PAGE and 2D SDS PAGE. Results show that the recombinant uricase samples obtained from different microorganisms have different impurities and different enzymatic activity and that different uricase oligomers are present in solution.     

Prenatal THC Does Not Affect Female Mesolimbic Dopaminergic System in Preadolescent Rats

Cannabis use among pregnant women is increasing worldwide along with permissive sociocultural attitudes toward it. Prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE), however, is associated with adverse outcome among offspring, ranging from reduced birth weight to child psychopathology. We have previously shown that male rat offspring prenatally exposed to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a rat model of PCE, exhibit extensive molecular, cellular, and synaptic changes in dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), resulting in a susceptible mesolimbic dopamine system associated with a psychotic-like endophenotype. This phenotype only reveals itself upon a single exposure to THC in males but not females. Here, we characterized the impact of PCE on female behaviors and mesolimbic dopamine system function by combining in vivo single-unit extracellular recordings in anesthetized animals and ex vivo patch clamp recordings, along with neurochemical and behavioral analyses. We find that PCE female offspring do not show any spontaneous or THC-induced behavioral disease-relevant phenotypes. The THC-induced increase in dopamine levels in nucleus accumbens was reduced in PCE female offspring, even when VTA dopamine activity in vivo and ex vivo did not differ compared to control. These findings indicate that PCE impacts mesolimbic dopamine function and its related behavioral domains in a sex-dependent manner and warrant further investigations to decipher the mechanisms determining this sex-related protective effect from intrauterine THC exposure.     

Robust Single Molecule Magnet Monolayers on Graphene and Graphite with Magnetic Hysteresis up to 28 K

The chemical functionalization of fullerene single molecule magnet Tb₂@C₈₀(CH₂Ph) enables the facile preparation of robust monolayers on graphene and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite from solution without impairing their magnetic properties. Monolayers of endohedral fullerene functionalized with pyrene exhibit magnetic bistability up to a temperature of 28 K. The use of pyrene terminated linker molecules opens the way to devise integration of spin carrying units encapsulated by fullerene cages on graphitic substrates, be it single-molecule magnets or qubit candidates.     

On the adoption of blockchain for business process monitoring

Being the blockchain and distributed ledger technologies particularly suitable to create trusted environments where participants do not trust each other, business process management represents a proper setting in which these technologies can be adopted. In this direction, current research work primarily focuses on blockchain-oriented business process design, or on execution engines able to enact processes through smart contracts. Conversely, less attention has been paid to study if and how blockchains can be beneficial to business process monitoring. This work aims to fill this gap by (1) providing a reference architecture for enabling the adoption of blockchain technologies in business process monitoring solutions, (2) defining a set of relevant research challenges derived from this adoption, and (3) discussing the current approaches to address the aforementioned challenges.

     

Structural Determination and Occurrence in Ahiflower Oil of Stearidonic Acid Trans Fatty Acids

Several marine oils and seed oils on the market contain relevant quantities of stearidonic acid (18:4n‐3, SDA). The formation of 18:4n‐3 trans fatty acids (tFA) during the refining of these oils necessitates the development of a method for their quantification. In this study, 18:4n‐3 was isolated from Ahiflower and isomerized to obtain its 16 geometric isomers. The geometric isomers of 18:4n‐3 were isolated by silver ion HPLC (Ag⁺‐HPLC) and characterized by partial reduction with hydrazine followed by gas chromatography analysis. The elution order of all 16 isomers was established using a 100 m × 0.25 mm 100% poly(biscyanopropyl siloxane) capillary column and at the elution temperature of 180 °C. The 4 mono‐trans‐18:4n‐3 isomers produced during the refining of oils rich in 18:4n‐3 were chromatographically resolved from each other, but c6,t9,c12,c15‐18:4 coeluted with the tetra‐cis isomer. These 2 fatty acids (FA) were resolved by reducing the separation temperature to 150 °C, but this change caused tetra‐cis‐18:4n‐3 to coelute with t6,c9,c12,c15–18:4. Combining the results from 2 isothermal separations (180 and 150 °C) was necessary to quantify the 4 mono‐trans 18:4n‐3 FA in Ahiflower oil.     

Efficiency measurement and uncertainty discussion of an electric engine powered by a "self-breathing" and "self-humidified" proton exchange membrane fuel cell

The efficiency of an automotive engine based on a "self-breathing" and "self-humidified" proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack (PEM FC) connected to a dc brushless electrical motor was measured under variable power load conditions. Experiments have been carried out on a small scale 150 W engine model. After determining the fuel cell static polarization curve and the time response to power steps, the system was driven to copy on the test bench a "standard urban load cycle" and its instantaneous efficiencies were measured at an acquisition rate of 5 Hz. The integral system efficiency over the entire urban load cycle, comprising the losses of the unavoidable auxiliary components of the engine, was then calculated. The fuel cell stack was operated mainly in "partial" dead-end mode, with a periodic anode flow channel purging, and one test was carried out in "pure" dead-end mode, with no anode channel purging. An uncertainty analysis of the efficiencies was carried out, taking into account either type A and type B evaluation methods, strengthening the discussion about the outcomes obtained for a system based on this novel simplified FC type. For our small scale engine we measured over the standard urban cycle, on the basis of the H(2) high heating value (HHV), a tank-to-wheel integral efficiency of (18.2+/-0.8)%, when the fuel cell was operated with periodic flow channel purging, and of (21.5+/-1.3)% in complete dead-end operation mode.