Biodegradability patterns of two PHAs: a polymer of 3-hydroxybutyric acid (3-PHB) and a copolymer of 3-hydroxybutyric and 3-hydroxyvaleric acids (3-PHB/3-PHV) containing 11
mol% of hydroxyvalerate, ...were studied in the tropical marine environment, in the South China Sea (Nha Trang, Vietnam). No significant differences have been observed between degradation rates of 3-PHB and 3-PHB/3-PHV specimens; it has been found that under study conditions, biodegradation is rather influenced by the shape of the polymer item and the preparation technique than by the chemical composition of the polymer. Biodegradation rates of polymer films in seawater have been found to be higher than those of compacted pellets. As 3-PHB and 3-PHB/3-PHV are degraded and the specimens lose their mass, molecular weight of both polymers is decreased, i.e. polymer chains get destroyed. The polydispersity index of the PHAs grows significantly. However, the degree of crystallinity of both PHAs remains unchanged, i.e. the amorphous phase and the crystalline one are equally disintegrated. PHA-degrading microorganisms were isolated using the clear-zone technique, by inoculating the isolates onto mineral agar that contained PHA as sole carbon source. Based on the 16S rRNA analysis, the PHA-degrading strains were identified as
Enterobacter sp. (four strains),
Bacillus sp. and
Gracilibacillus sp.
ABSTRACT
Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are massive stars that show strong spectral and photometric variability. The questions of what evolutionary stages they represent and what exactly drives their ...instability are still open, and thus it is important to understand whether LBVs without significant ongoing activity exist, and for how long such dormant LBVs may ‘sleep’. In this paper we investigate the long-term variability properties of the LBV candidate MN 112, by combining its optical and infrared spectral data covering 12 years with photometric data covering nearly a century, as acquired from both modern time-domain sky surveys and historical photographic plates. We analyse the spectra, derive the physical properties of the star by modelling its atmosphere, and use a new distance estimate from Gaia data release 3 (DR3) to determine the position of MN 112 both inside the Galaxy and in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. The distance estimation has almost doubled in comparison with Gaia DR2. Because of this, MN 112 moved to upper part of the diagram, and according to our modelling it lies on an evolutionary track for a star with initial mass $M_*=70~\rm M_\odot$ near the Humphreys–Davidson limit. Given the absence of any significant variability, we conclude that the star is a dormant LBV that has now been inactive for at least a century.
We study the influence of media on the interaction of ultra-fine plasmonic nanoparticles (≤ 8 nm) with radiation. The important role of the surface layer of the nanoparticles, with properties that ...differ from the ones in the inner part, is established. Using an atomistic representation of the nanoparticle material and its interaction with light, we find a highly inhomogeneous distribution of the electric field inside and around the particles. It is predicted that with an increase in the refractive index of the ambient medium, the extension of the surface layer of atoms increases, something that also is accompanied by an enhanced red shift of the plasmon resonance band compared to large particles in which the influence of this layer and its relative volume is reduced. It is shown that the physical origin for the formation of a surface layer of atoms near the nanoparticle boundary is related to the anisotropy of the local environment of atoms in this layer which changes the conditions for the interaction of neighboring atoms with each other and with the incident radiation. It is shown that a growth of the refractive index of the ambient medium results in an increase in the local field in the dielectric cavity in which a plasmonic nanoparticle is embedded and which is accompanied by a growth of the amplitude of the plasmon resonance. We predict that in the ultra-fine regime the refractive index sensitivity shows a decreasing trend with respect to size which is opposite to that for larger particles. With the applied atomistic model this work demonstrates close relations between field distributions and properties of ultra-fine nanoparticles.
From an atomistic representation of the nanoparticle material we show the importance of surface layer influence and media on the interaction of ultra-fine plasmonic nanoparticles (≤ 8 nm) with radiation.
The interaction of non-monochromatic radiation with arrays comprising plasmonic and dielectric nanoparticles has been studied using the finite-difference time-domain electrodynamics method. It is ...shown that LiNbO
, TiO
, GaAs, Si, and Ge all-dielectric nanoparticle arrays can provide a complete selective reflection of an incident plane wave within a narrow spectral line of collective lattice resonance with a Q-factor of 10
or larger at various spectral ranges, while plasmonic refractory TiN and chemically stable Au nanoparticle arrays provide high-Q resonances with moderate reflectivity. Arrays with fixed dimensional parameters make it possible to fine-tune the position of a selected resonant spectral line by tilting the array relative to the direction of the incident radiation. These effects provide grounds for engineering novel selective tunable optical high-Q filters in a wide range of wavelengths, from visible to middle-IR.
The dependence of plasmon resonance excitations in ultrafine (3-7 nm) gold nanoparticles on heating and melting is investigated. An integrated approach is adopted, where molecular dynamics ...simulations of the spatial and temporal development of the atoms constituting the nanoparticles generate trajectories out of which system conformations are sampled and extracted for calculations of plasmonic excitation cross sections which then are averaged over the sample configurations for the final result. The calculations of the plasmonic excitations, which take into account the temperature- and size-dependent relaxation of the plasmons, are carried out with a newly developed Extended Discrete Interaction Model (Ex-DIM) and complemented by multilayered Mie theory. The integrated approach clearly demonstrates the conditions for suppression of the plasmons starting at temperatures well below the melting point. We have found a strong inhomogeneous dependence of the atom mobility in the particle crystal lattice increasing from the center to its surface upon the temperature growth. The plasmon resonance suppression is associated with an increase of the mobility and in the amplitude of phonon vibrations of the lattice atoms accompanied by electron-phonon scattering. This leads to an increase in the relaxation constant impeding the plasmon excitation as the major source of the suppression, while the direct contribution from the increase in the lattice constant and its chaotization at melting is found to be minor. Experimental verification of the suppression of surface plasmon resonance is demonstrated for gold nanoparticles on a quartz substrate heated up to the melting temperature and above.
We have shown that suppression of the surface plasmon resonance in nanoparticle is associated with increase of the atom mobility in crystal lattice with strong radial dependence accompanied by electron-phonon scattering upon the temperature growth.
The molecular structure of 8-((4′′-((1
R
,4
S
)-4-butylcyclohexyl)-2′-chloro-1,1′,4′,1′′-terphenyl-4-yl)oxy)oct-1-
en
-3-one (TERPh-VK) and 6-((4′′-((1
R
,4
S
...)-4-butylcyclohexyl)-2′-chloro-1,1′:4′,1′′-terphenyl-4-yl)oxy) hexanoic acid (TERPh-COOH) is analyzed by FTIR spectroscopy. Vinyl ketone isolated from solution forms a thermodynamically unstable
cis
conformation due to probable peculiarities of the crystal structure formation. The heating of this substance above 100 °C results in the
cis
-
trans
transformation with the simultaneous opening of the vinyl double bond. The mixing of the above terphenyls in solution followed by the isolation of the solid product results in the formation of the TERPh-VK/TERPH-COOH associated species due to the H-bonding between ketone and carboxylic groups. The thermal transformation of the H-bond associated species resulted in the formation of the oligo (TERPh-VK)/TERPh-COOH associated species.
8-((4′′-((1
R
,4
S
)-4-butylcyclohexyl)-2′-chloro-1,1′,4′,1′′-terphenyl-4-yl)oxy)oct-1-
en
-3-one (TERPh-VK) and 6-((4′′-((1
R
,4
S
)-4-butylcyclohexyl)-2′-chloro-1,1′:4′,1′′-terphenyl-4-yl)oxy) hexanoic acid (TERPh-COOH) are, analyzed by FTIR spectroscopy.
Tunka-133: Results of 3 year operation Prosin, V.V.; Berezhnev, S.F.; Budnev, N.M. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
08/2014, Letnik:
756
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The EAS Cherenkov light array Tunka-133, with ~3km2 geometric area, is taking data since 2009. The array permits a detailed study of cosmic ray energy spectrum and mass composition in the PeV energy ...range. After a short description of the methods of EAS parameter reconstruction, we present the all-particle energy spectrum and results of studying CR composition, based on 3 seasons of array operation. In the last part of the paper, we discuss possible interpretations of the obtained results.
To explain the nature of the high reddening (A
V
≃ 10 mag) towards one of the most luminous stars in the Galaxy – Cyg OB2 #12 (B5 Ia-0), also known as MT304, we carried out spectrophotometric ...observations of 24 stars located in its vicinity. We included five new B-stars among the members of Cygnus OB2, and for five more photometrically selected stars we spectroscopically confirmed their membership. We constructed the map of interstellar extinction within 2.5 arcmin radius and found that interstellar extinction increases towards MT304. According to our results the most reddened OB-stars in the association after MT304 are J203240.35+411420.1 and J203239.90+411436.2, located about 15 arcsec away from it. Interstellar extinction towards these stars is about 9 mag. The increase of reddening towards MT304 suggests that the reddening excess may be caused by the circumstellar shell ejected by the star during its evolution. This shell absorbs 1 mag, but its chemical composition and temperature are unclear. We also report the detection of a second component of MT304, and discovery of an even fainter third component, based on data of speckle interferometric observations taken with the Russian 6-m telescope.
A
bstract
We present the study of the decay
J/ψ
→
ρπ
. The results are based on of 5.2 million
J/ψ
events collected by the KEDR detector at the VEPP-4M collider. The branching fractions are measured ...to be
B
(
J/ψ
→
ρπ
) = (2
.
072 ± 0
.
017 ± 0
.
062) ∙ 10
−
2
and
B
(
J/ψ
→
π
+
π
−
π
0
) = (1
.
878 ± 0
.
013 ± 0
.
051) ∙ 10
−
2
, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. Our results are more precise than the previous relative measurements.
Possibilities for optimizing the design of self-cooled radiators were investigated. The SIMP method can be used for topologically optimizing the steady-state thermal conductivity of a flat plate with ...the Dirichlet condition on the lateral edge and uniform heat release throughout the volume. A radiator with optimal topology geometry was constructed using wire EDM cutting technology. The results of the heat removal efficiency comparison for topologically optimized radiators and conventional finned radiators are presented in the form of their temperature fields. Studies have demonstrated the high efficiency of a topologically optimized radiator design heat removal in comparison with finned ones. Recommendations for the practical application of the results obtained are formulated.
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