Tunable variation of optical properties of polymer capped gold nanoparticles

Optical properties of polymer capped gold nanoparticles of various sizes (diameter 3-6 nm) have been studied. We present a new scheme to extract size dependent variation of total dielectric function of gold nanoparticles from measured UV-Vis absorption data. The new scheme can also be used, in principle, for other related systems as well. We show how quantum effect, surface atomic co - ordination and polymer - nanoparticle interface morphology leads to a systematic variation in inter band part of the dielectric function of gold nanoparticles, obtained from the analysis using our new scheme. Careful analysis enables identification of the possible changes to the electronic band structure in such nanoparticles.Comment: 13 pages,7 figures, 1 tabl

Contribuição ao estudo da interrelação flúor-manganês em ratos

Devido a numerosas discrepâncias nos resultados de estudos experimentais relativos à interação flúor-manganês, propusemo-nos a verificar se a adição de manganês 5 água fluoretada (1 ppm), em diferentes proporções fluor-manganês, levaria a uma diferente fixaçao do halogênio. Para tanto, 24 ratos Wistar, recém-desmamados, foram mantidos em dieta padrão de caseína a 27%, recebendo na sua água de consumo: 1) H2O destilada (controle); 2) 1,0 ppm de flúor: 3) 1,0 ppm de flúor + 0,5 ppm de manganês (F:Mn = 2,0); 4) 1,0 ppm de flúor +1,0 ppm de manganês (F: Mn = 1,0). Foram anotados o peso ganho e o consumo de alimento e água, durante os 60 dias de experimento, após o qual as patas traseiras, dos animais sacrificados, foram autoclavadas e desossadas, e os femures retirados. Posteriormente, foram estes submetidos à secagem, extração da gordura, pulverização e analise do flúor fixado. Também foram efetuadas analises da composição centesimal da ração e de flúor e manganês nesta e nas diferentes águas de consumo. Os resultados de percentagem do flúor ingerido fixado nos femures, foram analisados estatisticamente pelo teste não-paramétrico de Kruskal-Wallis (níveis de 1% e 5%) mostrando que, para as proporções consideradas, o flúor na taxa de 1 ppm, o manganês, quando administrado após o desmame, parece não afetar a fixaçao do flúor. Contudo, faz-se necessário dar continuidade aos estudos com novas proporções e taxas mais elevadas de flúor e manganês.An experiment to determine the effects of varying the manganese concentration of the diet on the fluorine retention in the femur of rats was made. Four groups of weaning rats were fed ad libitum a 27% casein synthetic diet and were provided with water as follows: 1) distilled (control); 2) containing 1 ppm of fluorine (F); 3) 1,0 ppm F + 0,5 ppm Mn; 4) 1 ppm F + 1 ppm Mn. The weight gain and food and water consumption were measured during 60 days. The results indicated that manganese does not seem to affect the proportional fixation of fluorine in the femur. The authors think that more data should be available before a definite conclusion on the influence of the ratio F:Mn on the fluorine retention could be drawn

Search for lepton-flavor violation at HERA

A search for lepton-flavor-violating interactions $e p \to \mu X$ and $e p\to \tau X$ has been performed with the ZEUS detector using the entire HERA I data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 130 pb^{-1}. The data were taken at center-of-mass energies, $\sqrt{s}$, of 300 and 318 GeV. No evidence of lepton-flavor violation was found, and constraints were derived on leptoquarks (LQs) that could mediate such interactions. For LQ masses below $\sqrt{s}$, limits were set on $\lambda_{eq_1} \sqrt{\beta_{\ell q}}$, where $\lambda_{eq_1}$ is the coupling of the LQ to an electron and a first-generation quark $q_1$, and $\beta_{\ell q}$ is the branching ratio of the LQ to the final-state lepton $\ell$ ($\mu$ or $\tau$) and a quark $q$. For LQ masses much larger than $\sqrt{s}$, limits were set on the four-fermion interaction term $\lambda_{e q_\alpha} \lambda_{\ell q_\beta} / M_{\mathrm{LQ}}^2$ for LQs that couple to an electron and a quark $q_\alpha$ and to a lepton $\ell$ and a quark $q_\beta$, where $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are quark generation indices. Some of the limits are also applicable to lepton-flavor-violating processes mediated by squarks in $R$-Parity-violating supersymmetric models. In some cases, especially when a higher-generation quark is involved and for the process $e p\to \tau X$, the ZEUS limits are the most stringent to date.Comment: 37 pages, 10 figures, Accepted by EPJC. References and 1 figure (Fig. 6) adde

Multijet production in neutral current deep inelastic scattering at HERA and determination of alpha_s

Multijet production rates in neutral current deep inelastic scattering have been measured in the range of exchanged boson virtualities 10 < Q2 < 5000 GeV2. The data were taken at the ep collider HERA with centre-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 318 GeV using the ZEUS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 82.2 pb-1. Jets were identified in the Breit frame using the k_T cluster algorithm in the longitudinally invariant inclusive mode. Measurements of differential dijet and trijet cross sections are presented as functions of jet transverse energy E_{T,B}{jet}, pseudorapidity eta_{LAB}{jet} and Q2 with E_{T,B}{jet} > 5 GeV and -1 < eta_{LAB}{jet} < 2.5. Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations describe the data well. The value of the strong coupling constant alpha_s(M_Z), determined from the ratio of the trijet to dijet cross sections, is alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1179 pm 0.0013(stat.) {+0.0028}_{-0.0046}(exp.) {+0.0064}_{-0.0046}(th.)Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

Measurement of charm fragmentation ratios and fractions in photoproduction at HERA

The production of D^*+, D^0, D^+, D_s^+ and Lambda_c^+ charm hadrons and their antiparticles in ep scattering at HERA was measured with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 79 pb^-1. The measurement has been performed in the photoproduction regime with the exchanged-photon virtuality Q^2 < 1 GeV^2 and for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies in the range 130 < W < 300 GeV. The charm hadrons were reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum p_T(D, Lambda_c) > 3.8 GeV and pseudorapidity |eta(D, Lambda_c)| < 1.6. The production cross sections were used to determine the ratio of neutral and charged D-meson production rates, R_u/d, the strangeness-suppression factor, gamma_s, and the fraction of charged D mesons produced in a vector state, P_v^d. The measured R_u/d and gamma_s values agree with those obtained in deep inelastic scattering and in e^+e^- annihilations. The measured P_v^d value is smaller than, but consistent with, the previous measurements. The fractions of c quarks hadronising as a particular charm hadron, f(c -> D, Lambda_c), were derived in the given kinematic range. The measured open-charm fragmentation fractions are consistent with previous results, although the measured f(c -> D^*+) is smaller and f(c -> Lambda_c^+) is larger than those obtained in e^+e^- annihilations. These results generally support the hypothesis that fragmentation proceeds independently of the hard sub-process.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures, 6 tables; minor text revision

Women with bulimic eating disorders: when do they receive treatment for an eating problem?

Variables associated with the use of health services were examined in a prospective, community-based study of women with bulimic-type eating disorders who did (n = 33) or did not (n = 58) receive treatment for an eating problem during a 12-month follow-up period. Participants who received treatment for an eating problem differed from those who did not in several respects, including higher body weight, higher levels of eating disorder psychopathology, general psychological distress, and impairment in role functioning, deficits in specific aspects of coping style, greater awareness of an eating problem, and greater likelihood of prior treatment for a problem with weight. However, the variables most strongly associated with treatment seeking were greater perceived impairment in role functioning specifically associated with an eating problem and greater perceived inability to suppress emotional difficulties. These were the only variables that were significantly associated with treatment seeking in multivariable analysis. The findings suggest that individuals’ recognition of the adverse effects of eating-disordered behavior on quality of life may need to be addressed in prevention and early intervention programs for eating disorders