Maskless Preparation of Spatially-Resolved Plasmonic Nanoparticles on Polydimethylsiloxane via In Situ Fluoride-Assisted Synthesis

Here, a fluoride-assisted route for the controlled in-situ synthesis of metal nanoparticles (NPs) (i.e., AgNPs, AuNPs) on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is reported. The size and coverage of the NPs on the PDMS surface are modulated with time and over space during the synthetic process, leveraging the improved yield (10×) and faster kinetics (100×) of NP formation in the presence of F⁻ ions, compared to fluoride-free approaches. This enables the maskless preparation of both linear and step gradients and patterns of NPs in 1D and 2D on the PDMS surface. As an application in flexible plasmonics/photonics, continuous and step-wise spatial modulations of the plasmonic features of PDMS slabs with 1D and 2D AgNP gradients on the surface are demonstrated. An excellent spatially resolved tuning of key optical parameters, namely, optical density from zero to 5 and extinction ratio up to 100 dB, is achieved with AgNP gradients prepared in AgF solution for 12 minutes; the performance are comparable to those of commercial dielectric/interference filters. When used as a rejection filter in optical fluorescence microscopy, the AgNP-PDMS slabs are able to reject the excitation laser at 405 nm and retain the green fluorescence of microbeads (100 µm) used as test cases.     

Milk from cows fed a diet with a high forage:concentrate ratio improves inflammatory state,oxidative stress,and mitochondrial function in rats

Excessive energy intake may evoke complex biochemical processes characterized by inflammation, oxidative stress, and impairment of mitochondrial function that represent the main factors underlying noncommunicable diseases. Because cow milk is widely used for human nutrition and in food industry processing, the nutritional quality of milk is of special interest with respect to human health. In our study, we analyzed milk produced by dairy cows fed a diet characterized by a high forage:concentrate ratio (high forage milk, HFM). In view of the low n-6:n-3 ratio and high content of conjugated linoleic acid of HFM, we studied the effects of this milk on lipid metabolism, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress in a rat model. To this end, we supplemented for 4 wk the diet of male Wistar rats with HFM and with an isocaloric amount (82 kJ, 22 mL/d) of milk obtained from cows fed a diet with low forage:concentrate ratio, and analyzed the metabolic parameters of the animals. Our results indicate that HFM may positively affect lipid metabolism, leptin:adiponectin ratio, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress, providing the first evidence of the beneficial effects of HFM on rat metabolism.     

Electrical and optical properties of semi-insulating polycrystalline silicon thin films: the role of microstructure and doping

We have investigated the relationship between microstructure and electrical conductivity in semi-insulating polycrystalline silicon (SIPOS) with oxygen concentrations in the 2–35 at.% range and the effect of doping with boron, phosphorus, arsenic and erbium by ion implantation. SIPOS thin films are mixtures of silicon and silicon oxide phases. The chemical and morphological evolution of these phases upon annealing is emphasized. Electrical conductivity measurements are interpreted in terms of a physical model containing few free parameters related to the material microstructure. A direct extension of this model explains also the conductivity increase in SIPOS doped with elements of the third or the fifth group. In the last part of the paper, data of electroluminescence at 1.54 μm in Er-implanted SIPOS due to intra-4f transitions of the Er³⁺ ion are shown and discussed.     

What do we learn from binding features? Evidence for multilevel feature integration.

Four experiments were conducted to investigate the relationship between the binding of visual features (as measured by their aftereffects on subsequent binding) and the learning of feature-conjunction probabilities. Both binding and learning effects were obtained, but they did not interact. Interestingly, (shape-color) binding effects disappeared with increasing practice, presumably because of the fact that only 1 of the features involved was relevant to the task. However, this instability was only observed for arbitrary, not highly overlearned combinations of simple geometric features and not for real objects (colored pictures of a banana and strawberry), where binding effects were strong and resistant to practice. These findings suggest that learning has no direct impact on the strength or resistance of bindings or on speed with which features are bound; however, learning does affect the amount of attention particular feature dimensions attract, which again can influence which features are considered in binding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compositional constraints in the extremely GC-poor genome of Plasmodium falciparum

We have analyzed the compositional properties of coding (protein encoding) and non-coding sequences of Plasmodium falciparum, a unicellular parasite characterized by an extremely AT-rich genome. GC% levels, base and dinucleotide frequencies were studied. We found that among the various factors that contribute to the properties of the sequences analyzed, the most relevant are the compositional constraints which operate on the whole genome.     

Development of an undergraduate course – Internet-based instrumentation and control

The objective, strategy, and implementation details of a new undergraduate course, Internet-based Instrumentation and Control, are presented. The course has a companion laboratory that is supported by the National Science Foundation and industry. The combination is offered to senior-level undergraduate engineering students interested in sensing, instrumentation, control, and web programming that want to learn more about the integration of these technologies for solving real-world engineering problems. The course will also be offered to gifted high school seniors with similar interests and can serve as a vehicle to attract them to engineering disciplines. Preliminary assessment of the first offering of the course is encouraging and has shown that the course has achieved success in helping students understand concepts and master basic technologies for developing Internet-based automatic systems.     

Research advances in cognitive ultra wide band radio and their application to sensor networks

The paper illustrates the novel concept of Cognitive UWB Radio, a wireless system based on UWB transmission able to self-adapt to the characteristics of the surrounding environment. First, salient features of UWB transmission are reviewed, and then, application of UWB characteristics to the problem of cognitive radio systems is discussed. Current ongoing studies and achieved results on a possible physical layer based on Prolate Spheroidal Wave Functions and consistent with the Cognitive UWB Radio paradigm are presented and analyzed, and their application to the sensor network scenario is discussed.