100,508 research outputs found
Au/SBA-15 Based Robust and Convenient- to-Use Nanopowder Material for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) with High SERS Enhancement Factor
No full textPowdered nanocomposite materials composed of SBA-15 mesoporous silica and different types of Au nanoparticles within the mesoporous channel pores (Au/SBA-15) are shown to serve as robust and efficient substrates for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Using the Au/SBA-15 samples as SERS substrates and 4-mercaptopyridine (4-Mpy) as SERS reporter molecule, SERS enhancement factors as high as ∼105 are obtained. The degree of SERS enhancement is found to depend on the size of the Au nanoparticles as well as the synthetic procedures employed to synthesize the Au/SBA-15 materials. The high SERS enhancement given by the Au/SBA-15 as compared to any other powered SERS substrates appears to be the result of the formation of SERS “hot spots” due to the side-by-side alignment of Au nanoparticles within the cylindrical channel pores of the SBA-15 mesoporous silica host. Because of their powdered forms, longevity, simple sample preparation procedures, easily tunable surface, and high SERS enhancement factors, Au/SBA-15 can also be expected to serve as simple and convenient-to-use substrates for SERS-based analysis of various analytes, besides 4-Mpy. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the synthesis of supported “naked” Au nanoparticles and their use as SERS substrate directly and without any further chemical modification
Letter, [Author unclear] to Paulina T. Merritt
No full textHandwritten letter to Paulina Merritt from an unknown author, October 1, 1876.
Near-IR absorbing solar cell sensitized with bacterial photosynthetic membranes
No full textCurrent interest in natural photosynthesis as a blueprint for solar energy conversion has led to the development of a biohybrid photovoltaic cell in which bacterial photosynthetic membrane vesicles (chromatophores) have been adsorbed to a gold electrode surface in conjunction with biological electrolytes (quinone [Q] and cytochrome c; Magis et al. [2010] Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1798, 637–645). Since light-driven current generation was dependent on an open circuit potential, we have tested whether this external potential could be replaced in an appropriately designed dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Herein, we show that a DSSC system in which the organic light-harvesting dye is replaced by robust chromatophores from Rhodospirillum rubrum, together with Q and cytochrome c as electrolytes, provides band energies between consecutive interfaces that facilitate a unidirectional flow of electrons. Solar I–V testing revealed a relatively high Isc (shortcircuit current) of 25 lA cm)2 and the cell was capable of generating a current utilizing abundant near-IR photons (maximum at ca 880 nm) with greater than eight-fold higher energy conversion efficiency than white light. These studies represent a powerful demonstration of the photoexcitation properties of a biological system in a closed solid-state device and its successful implementation in a functioning solar cell.Peer reviewedThis is the accepted version of the following article: Woronowicz, K., Ahmed, S., Biradar, A. A., Biradar, A. V., Birnie, D. P., Asefa, T. and Niederman, R. A. (2012), Near-IR Absorbing Solar Cell Sensitized With Bacterial Photosynthetic Membranes. Photochemistry and Photobiology, 88: 1467–1472. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-1097.2012.01190.x, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1751-1097.2012.01190.x/abstrac
Assessment of the Diuretic Effect of the Leaves of Cucumis Dipsaceus Ehrenb (Cucurbitaceae) in Rats: Using Aqueous and 80% Methanol Extracts
No full textLishan Asefa,1 Teshome Nedi2 1Department of Biomedical Science, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, Addis Ababa University, Bishoftu, Ethiopia; 2Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Lishan Asefa, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: The diuretic activity of the Cucumis dipsaceus leaf, which is used in indigenous medicine, has been claimed but has not yet undergone scientific evaluation.Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the diuretic activity of the aqueous and 80% methanol extracts derived from the leaves of Cucumis dipsaceus in rats.Methods: For the extraction process, the maceration technique was employed to obtain the aqueous and 80% methanol extracts from the Cucumis dipsaceus leaves. Male rats were then divided randomly into eight groups, with six rats in each group. These groups consisted of a negative control group, a positive control group, and three different groups for each extract at varying doses. The urine output volumes, the concentrations of urinary electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and chloride) and urinary pH, were measured and analysed to compare the results among the different groups.Results: Both the aqueous and 80% methanol extracts of Cucumis dipsaceus leaves demonstrated a significant increase in urinary output at doses of 200mg/kg body weight (p< 0.01) and 400mg/kg body weight (p< 0.001). When comparing the urinary electrolyte excretion with the negative control group, the groups treated with the 400mg/kg body weight dose of the aqueous extract showed significant differences in the urinary excretion of sodium (p< 0.05), chloride (p< 0.01), and K+ (p< 0.01). Similarly, the urinary excretion of K+ and Cl- also exhibited significant differences at moderate doses (K+: p< 0.01, Cl-: p< 0.05) and the highest doses (both: p< 0.01) of the 80% methanol extract. Furthermore, the highest doses of both the aqueous (p< 0.01) and 80% methanol (p< 0.01) extracts demonstrated significant differences in saluretic effect.Conclusion: Both crude extracts of C. dipsaceus leaves have significant diuretic activity, providing support for the traditional use of the plant as a diuretic agent.Keywords: Cucumis dipsaceus, diuretic activity, electrolyte excretion, Na+/K+ rati
Handwritten biographical information on Paulina T. McClung Merritt
No full textA handwritten biography of Paulina T. McClung Merritt by an unknown author, 1892.
Heterogeneous and tissue-specific regulation of effector T cell responses by IFN-gamma during Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection.
No full textIFN-γ and T cells are both required for the development of experimental cerebral malaria during Plasmodium berghei ANKA infection. Surprisingly, however, the role of IFN-γ in shaping the effector CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell response during this infection has not been examined in detail. To address this, we have compared the effector T cell responses in wild-type and IFN-γ(-/-) mice during P. berghei ANKA infection. The expansion of splenic CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells during P. berghei ANKA infection was unaffected by the absence of IFN-γ, but the contraction phase of the T cell response was significantly attenuated. Splenic T cell activation and effector function were essentially normal in IFN-γ(-/-) mice; however, the migration to, and accumulation of, effector CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells in the lung, liver, and brain was altered in IFN-γ(-/-) mice. Interestingly, activation and accumulation of T cells in various nonlymphoid organs was differently affected by lack of IFN-γ, suggesting that IFN-γ influences T cell effector function to varying levels in different anatomical locations. Importantly, control of splenic T cell numbers during P. berghei ANKA infection depended on active IFN-γ-dependent environmental signals--leading to T cell apoptosis--rather than upon intrinsic alterations in T cell programming. To our knowledge, this is the first study to fully investigate the role of IFN-γ in modulating T cell function during P. berghei ANKA infection and reveals that IFN-γ is required for efficient contraction of the pool of activated T cells
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Pelevin’s Trinity in the novel “t”: author – protagonist – reader
No full textThe article attempts to interpret Pelevin's artistic strategy in the novel "T" by exploring its subject organization and addressing the key problems of the author, the protagonist, and the reader as they are seen by the researcher. The article analyzes the peculiarities of constructing the narrative reality in the novel "T", and goes on to discuss Pelevin's philosophic models of the development of the humankind, and the emergence of his new anthropology
Measuring industry-science links through inventor-author relations: A profiling method
No full textIn this pilot study we examine the performance of text-based profiling in recovering a set of validated inventor-author links. In a first step we match patents and publications solely based on their similarity in content. Next, we compare inventor and author names on the highest ranked matches for the occurrence of name matches. Finally, we compare these candidate matches with the names listed in a validated set of inventor-author names. Our text-based profile methodology performs significantly better than a random matching of patents and publications, suggesting that text-based profiling is a valuable complementary tool to the name searches used in previous studies.innovation; industry-science links; text-based profiling;
Wave turbulence of a rotating array of quantized vortices in the T → 0 temperature limit
No full textThe dynamics of quantized vortices in the zero temperature limit is currently of great interest, particularly in the case of the Fermi superfluid He-B. Here we study wave turbulence, generated by the librating motion of a rotating cylindrical container filled with He-B, in the limit of vanishing viscous forces at temperatures . The polarization of the quantized vortices with respect to the axis of rotation is measured using non-invasive NMR techniques. We observe a decrease of the polarization when the librating motion is started, and a two-stage relaxation process when the modulation of the rotation velocity is stopped. The first relaxation process is associated with the dissipation of large-scale flow stored in inertial waves and the solid body rotation of the vortex array. From the decay of these energy reservoirs we determine the rate of energy dissipation of large-scale flow. The later second process is related to the relaxation of Kelvin waves on individual vortices. This process is monitored by the recovery of the polarization. The existence of a Kelvin wave cascade at the lowest temperatures is currently a central open question. We supply some evidence for the cascade
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