Stripping of copper coatings from steel in Cr(VI)-free commercial bath

In this work the electrochemical characteristics of copper and steel in chromate, cyanide, and phosphate baths as well as in a commercial bath (ENSTRIP S-180), in the absence of chromium and cyanides were determined. Average rates of copper coatings stripping from steel in the above mentioned baths and the baths influence on the morphology of steel surfaces were described. It was found that the commercial bath ENSTRIP S-180 could be successfully used for stripping of copper coatings from steel elements.     

Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Thin Remote Microwave Plasma CVD a-Si:N:C Films from a Single-Source Precursor

Silicon carbonitride (a-Si:N:C) films produced by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) were investigated. Tetramethyldisilazane as a single-source precursor and (H₂+N₂) upstream gas mixture for plasma generation were used. The influence of the upstream gas composition on the structure, density, mechanical and tribological properties of the films deposited on p-type Si (001) wafers (both heated—T _s =300°C and unheated—T _s =30°C) are reported. The H₂ RP-CVD process was found to result in the formation of outstanding low friction (0.04) and high hardness (H=27-31 GPa) a-Si:N:C films exhibiting promisingly high H/E values.     

How many protein‐coding genes are there in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome?

We have compared the results of estimations of the total number of protein-coding genes in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome, which have been obtained by many laboratories since the yeast genome sequence was published in 1996. We propose that there are 5300-5400 genes in the genome. This makes the first estimation of the number of intronless ORFs longer than 100 codons, based on the features of the set of genes with phenotypes known in 1997 to be correct. This estimation assumed that the set of the first 2300 genes with known phenotypes was representative for the whole set of protein-coding genes in the genome. The same method used in this paper for the approximation of the total number of protein-coding sequences among more than 40 000 ORFs longer than 20 codons gives a result that is only slightly higher. This suggests that there are still some non-coding ORFs in the databases and a few dozen small ORFs, not yet annotated, which probably code for proteins.     

Solving Failing Queries through Cooperation and Collaboration

Sometime Query Answering Systems (QAS) for a Distributed Autonomous Information System (DAIS) may fail by returning the empty set of objects as an answer for a query q. Systems in DAIS can be incomplete, have hierarchical attributes, and the semantics of attributes and their values may differ between sites. Also, if there are no objects in S matching q, the query may fail when submitted to S. Alternatively, QAS for S may try to relax the query q as it was proposed in T. Gaasterland (IEEE Expert, 12(5), 1997, 48–59), P. Godfrey (International Journal of Cooperative Information Systems, 6(2), 1997, 95–149) and W. Chu et al. (Journal of Intelligent Information Systems, 6(2/3), 1996, 223–259). It means that q can be replaced by a new more general query. Clearly, the goal is to find possibly the smallest generalization of q which will not fail in S. Smaller generalizations guarantee higher confidence in objects returned by QAS. Such QAS is called cooperative (only one site is involved). Queries may also fail in S when some of the attributes listed in q are outside the domain of S. To resolve this type of queries, assuming that S is a part of DAIS, we may extract definitions of such attributes from information systems residing at some of the remote sites for S and next use them to approximate q in S. In order to do that successfully, we assume that all involved systems have to agree on the ontology of some of their common attributes Z.W. Raś and A. Dardzińska (Information Systems International Journal, 29(1), 2004, 47–58; Proceedings of FQAS 2004 Conference, LNCS/LNAI No. 3055, 2004, pp. 125–136); Z.W. Raś and S. Joshi, Fundamenta Informaticae Journal, 30(3/4), 1997, 313–324. QAS based on the above strategy is called collaborative (minimum two sites are involved). Similarly, a query may fail in S when the granularity of an attribute used in q is finer than the granularity of the same attribute in S. This paper shows how to use collaboration and cooperation approach to solve failing queries in DAIS assuming that attributes are hierarchical. Some aspects of a collaboration strategy dealing with failing query problem for non-hierarchical attributes have been presented in Z.W. Raś and A. Dardzińska (Information Systems International Journal, 29(1), 2004, 47–58; Proceedings of FQAS 2004 Conference, LNCS/LNAI No. 3055, 2004, pp. 125–136).     

Regularization of the inverse heat conduction problem by the discrete Fourier transform

Two methods of solving the inverse heat conduction problem with employment of the discrete Fournier transform are presented in this article. The first one operates similarly to the SVD algorithm and consists in reducing the number of components of the discrete Fournier transform which are taken into account to determine the solution to the inverse problem. The second method is related to the regularization of the solution to the inverse problem in the discrete Fournier transform domain. Those methods were illustrated by numerical examples. In the first example, an influence of the boundary conditions disturbance by a random error on the solution to the inverse problem (its stability) was examined. In the second example, the temperature distribution on the inner boundary of the multiply connected domain was determined. Results of calculations made in both ways brought very good outcomes and confirm the usefulness of applying the discrete Fournier transform to solving inverse problems.     

Assessment of cytotoxicity and immune compatibility of phytochemicals‐mediated biosynthesised silver nanoparticles using Cynara scolymus

The study was focused on the phytochemicals‐mediated biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using leaf extracts and infusions from Cynara scolymus. To identify the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content, the 1,1‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl and Folin–Ciocalteau methods were applied, respectively. The formation and stability of the reduced silver ions were monitored by UV–vis spectrophotometer. The particle sizes of the silver nanoparticles were characterised using the dynamic light scattering technique and scanning electron microscope. The phase composition of the obtained silver nanoparticles was characterised by X‐ray diffraction. The silver nanoparticles suspension, artichoke infusion, and silver ions were separately tested towards potential cytotoxicity and pro‐inflammatory effect using mouse fibroblasts and human monocytes cell line, respectively. The total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of ethanol extract and infusion were found significantly higher as compared to aqueous extract and infusion. The UV–visible spectrophotometric analysis revealed the presence of the characteristic absorption band of the Ag nanoparticles. Moreover, it was found that with the increasing volume of plant extract, the average size of particles was increased. Biocompatibility results evidently showed that silver nanoparticles do not induce monocyte activation, however in order to avoid their cytotoxicity suspension at a concentration <2 ppm should be applied.Inspec keywords: pharmaceuticals, health and safety, renewable materials, toxicology, organic compounds, antibacterial activity, X‐ray diffraction, nanomedicine, nanoparticles, nanofabrication, suspensions, ultraviolet spectra, visible spectra, scanning electron microscopy, silver, particle sizeOther keywords: phytochemicals‐mediated biosynthesis, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, dynamic light scattering technique, silver nanoparticles suspension, scanning electron microscopy, Cynara scolymus, 1,1 diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl method, cytotoxicity, immune compatibility, leaf extracts, UV‐vis spectrophotometry, particle size, Folin‐Ciocalteau methods, phase composition, X‐ray diffraction, artichoke infusion, pro‐inflammatory effect, mouse fibroblasts, human monocytes cell line, Ag     

Biofunctionalized upconverting CaF<Subscript>2</Subscript>:Yb,Tm nanoparticles for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Candida albicans</Emphasis> detection and imaging

Versatile optimization of the synthesis method and composition of Yb3+ and Tm3+ co-doped CaF2 nanoparticles as well as a novel biofunctionalization method were developed and evaluated.Through multistep synthesis,the luminescence intensity of the Tm3+ activator was enhanced by more than 10-fold compared to standard one-step synthesis.The proposed methods were used to homogenously distribute the doping ions within the nanoparticle's volume and thus reduce luminescence quenching.Optimization of dopant ions concentration led to the selection of the most efficient visible and near-infrared up-converting nanoparticles,which were CaF2 doped with 10％ Yb3+ 0.05％ Tm3+ and 20％ Yb3+ 0.5％ Tm3+,respectively.To illustrate the suitability of the synthesized nanoparticles as bio-labels,a dedicated biofunctionalization method was used,and the nanoparticles were applied for labeling and imaging of Candida albicans cells.This method shows great promise because of extremely low background and high specificity because of the presence of the attached molecules.     

Influence of aluminium electrode preparation on PCE values of polymeric solar cells based on P3HT and PCBM

The main goal of the paper was investigation of influence of aluminum electrode preparation via thermal evaporation (TE) and the magnetron sputtering (MS) on power conversion efficiency (PCE) of polymeric solar cells. The photovoltaic properties of such three kinds devices based on poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) as ITO/P3HT/Al, ITO/P3HT:PCBM (1:1, w/w)/Al and ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:PCBM (1:1, w/w)/Al were investigated. For the constructed devices impedance spectroscopy were analyzed. For devices lack of PEDOT:PSS layer or lack of PCBM, photovoltaic parameters were very low and similar to the parameters obtained for device with Al electrode prepared by magnetron sputtering. The devices comprising PEDOT:PSS with P3HT:PCBM showed the best photovoltaic parameters such as a V_OC of 0.60 V, J_SC of 4.61 mA/cm², FF of 0.21, and PCE of 5.7 × 10^?1%.