Unveiling Chirality: Exploring Nature's Blueprint for Engineering Nanostructured Materials

Chirality, the property of asymmetry, is of great importance in biological and physical phenomena. This prospective offers an overview of the emerging field of chiral bioinspired plasmonics and metamaterials, aiming to uncover nature's blueprint for engineering nanostructured materials. These materials possess unique chiral structures, resulting in fascinating optical properties and finding applications in sensing, photonics, and catalysis. The first part of the prospective focuses on the design and fabrication of chiral metamaterials that mimic intricate structures found in biological systems. By employing self-assembly and nanofabrication techniques, researchers have achieved remarkable control over the response to light, opening up new avenues for manipulating light and controlling polarization. Chiral metamaterials hold significant promise for sensing applications, as they can selectively interact with chiral molecules, allowing for highly sensitive detection and identification. The second part delves into the field of plasmonics nanostructures, which mediate enantioselective recognition through optical chirality enhancement. Plasmonic nanostructures, capable of confining and manipulating light at the nanoscale, offer a platform for amplifying and controlling chirality-related phenomena. Integrating plasmonic nanostructures with chiral molecules presents unprecedented opportunities for chiral sensing, enantioselective catalysis, and optoelectronic devices. By combining the principles of chiral bioinspired plasmonics and metamaterials, researchers are poised to unlock new frontiers in designing and engineering nanostructured materials with tailored chiroptical properties

Light depolarization effects during the Fréedericksz transition in nematic liquid crystals

This work is aimed to the photopolarimetric characterization of the disorder evolution occurring in homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystal films during the electrically induced Freedericksz transition. The molecular director dynamics and the transversal reorientation modes are investigated by the analysis of the depolarization of the light beam emerging from the sample. Our measurements reveal unexpected depolarization effects at the transition, which we interpret in terms of director field unhomogeneity and defects creation. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America

Thermo-recurrent nematic random laser

This experimental work is aimed to investigate the thermal behavior of random laser action in dye doped nematic liquid crystals. The study evidenced an important temperature dependence of the random lasing characteristics in the nematic phase and in close proximity of the nematic -isotropic (N-I) phase transition. A lowering of the laser emission intensity as the temperature increases is strictly related to the shift of the lasing threshold as function of the temperature even though the pump energy is kept fixed. The optical losses increasing owing to the thermal fluctuation enhanced scattering drive the input-output smoother behavior until the system stops to lase, because below threshold. The unexpected reoccurrence of random lasing at higher temperature, in proximity of N-I transition is found to be related to a different scattering mechanism, the micro-droplets nucleation and critical opalescence

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF ACLEES SP. CF. FOVEATUS AND FIRST RECOVERY OF AN ASSOCIATE BEAUVERIA BASSIANA STRAIN

Aclees sp. cf. foveatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is spreading in Central Italy, causing severe infestation on fig trees. There are very few information for this pest and no natural enemy is reported. Here, we report the first recovery of a natural enemy associated with this invasive weevil, a strain of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana. The potential use of entomopathogenic fungi and nematodes as biocontrol agents was tested against adults in laboratory trials. In agree with the detection in nature, only treatments with B. bassiana were able to control the insects. This result opens new frontiers for the environmental friendly control strategies against this weevil

Coherent backscattering and dynamical light localization in liquid crystals driven throughout chaotic regimes

An important effect of dynamical localization of light waves in liquid crystal electro-hydrodynamic instabilities is reported by investigating coherent backscattering effects. Recurrent multiple scattering in dynamic and chaotic complex fluids lead to a cone of enhanced backscattered light. The cone width and the related mean free path dependence on the dynamic scattering regimes emphasize the diverse light localization scales related to the internal structures present in the sample. The systems investigated up to now were mainly nano-powdered solutions or biological tissues, without any external control on the disorder. Here, an anisotropic complex fluid is "driven" throughout chaotic regimes by an external electric field, giving rise to dynamics that evolve through several spatio-temporal patterns

Leadership Strategies to Influence Employee Engagement in Health Care

Hospitals are in a precarious financial position with declining reimbursement, eroding profit margins, and low patient satisfaction. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 reform may decrease hospital reimbursement by $500 billion from 2010 to 2020, while low patient satisfaction may decrease profitability for hospitals by 27%. Employee disengagement may decrease patient satisfaction and consumer loyalty. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of health care leaders as they worked to engage employees and provide better patient care. Improving patient care provides opportunities to capture new market shares, which increases sustainability of health care organizations. Expectancy theory shaped the conceptual framework of this study. Inquiry consisted of personal interviews with 23 mid-level hospital managers. Data analysis occurred with a modified Van Kamm data analysis process, which entailed descriptive coding and sequential review of the interview transcripts. Member checks and data saturation ensured trustworthiness of the findings. The findings from these personal interviews led to discovery of 4 themes of leader-employee engagement to include psychological commitment, expectation realization, trust actualization, and reduction in the leadership power distance. By applying employee engagement strategies aligned with these themes, leaders may influence patient care. This study contributes to social change by increasing health care quality for patients leading to a positive influence on medical care and societal health

Soliton-assisted random lasing in optically-pumped liquid crystals

We demonstrate a guided-wave random laser configuration by exploiting the coexistence of optical gain and light self-localization in a reorientational nonlinear medium. A spatial soliton launched by a near-infrared beam in dye-doped nematic liquid crystals enhances and confines stimulated emission of visible light in the optically-pumped gain-medium, yielding random lasing with enhanced features.See also erratum at:Appl. Phys. Lett. 110, 019902 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4973864<br/