Improved photocatalytic properties of doped titanium-based nanometric oxides

Photocatalysis is considered one of the most promising technologies for applications in the environmental field especially in the abatement of water-soluble organic pollutants. In this field, titanium dioxide nanoparticles have drawn much attention recently; however, the use of this oxide presents some limitation since it allows to obtain high photoresponse and degradation efficiency only under UV light irradiation, that represents the 3 to 4% of the solar radiation, so preventing its environmental large-scale applications under diffuse daylight. In this work the photocatalytic efficiencyoftitanium-based oxides systems containing alkaline earth metals such as barium and strontium, prepared by a simple sol-gel method was investigated, evaluating the degradation of methylene blue as model compound under UV and visible light irradiation. The results were compared with those obtained with Degussa P25 titanium dioxide. The achieved degradation percentage of methylene blue are very promising showing that under visible light irradiation it is possible to obtain a maximum dye removal percentage ~ 50 % higher than that obtained with the Degussa P25

Proteomic analysis of the bovine and human ciliary zonule

PURPOSE: The zonule of Zinn (ciliary zonule) is a system of fibers that centers the crystalline lens on the optical axis of the eye. Mutations in zonule components underlie syndromic conditions associated with a broad range of ocular pathologies, including microspherophakia and ectopia lentis. Here, we used HPLC–mass spectrometry to determine the molecular composition of the zonule. METHODS: Tryptic digests of human and bovine zonular samples were analyzed by HPLC–mass spectrometry. The distribution of selected components was confirmed by immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. In bovine samples, the composition of the equatorial zonule was compared to that of the hyaloid zonule and vitreous humor. RESULTS: The 52 proteins common to the zonules of both species accounted for >95% of the zonular protein. Glycoproteins constituted the main structural components, with two proteins, FBN1 and LTBP2, constituting 70%–80% of the protein. Other abundant components were MFAP2, EMILIN-1, and ADAMTSL-6. Lysyl oxidase-like 1, a crosslinking enzyme implicated in collagen and elastin biogenesis, was detected at significant levels. The equatorial and hyaloid zonular samples were compositionally similar to each other, although the hyaloid sample was relatively enriched in the proteoglycan opticin and the fibrillar collagens COL2A1, COL11A1, COL5A2, and COL5A3. CONCLUSIONS: The zonular proteome was surprisingly complex. In addition to structural components, it contained signaling proteins, protease inhibitors, and crosslinking enzymes. The equatorial and hyaloid zonules were similar in composition, but the latter may form part of a composite structure, the hyaloid membrane, that stabilizes the vitreous face

Smoking Habits: Like Father, Like Son, Like Mother, Like Daughter

We use instrumental variable methods to investigate whether the impact of parental smoking habits on their children’s smoking decisions is a causal one. We find evidence of same-sex role models in two-parent households: mothers play a crucial role in determining their daughters’ smoking decisions, while fathers’ smoking habits are primarily imitated by their sons.youth smoking, intergenerational habit transmission, multivariate probit, instrumental variables

A classification of special 2-fold coverings

Starting with an O(2)-principal fibration over a closed oriented surface F_g, g>=1, a 2-fold covering of the total space is said to be special when the monodromy sends the fiber SO(2) = S^1 to the nontrivial element of Z_2. Adapting D Jonhson's method [Spin structures and quadratic forms on surfaces, J London Math Soc, 22 (1980) 365-373] we define an action of Sp(Z_2,2g), the group of symplectic isomorphisms of (H_1(F_g;Z_2),.), on the set of special 2-fold coverings which has two orbits, one with 2^{g-1}(2^g+1) elements and one with 2^{g-1}(2^g-1) elements. These two orbits are obtained by considering Arf-invariants and some congruence of the derived matrices coming from Fox Calculus. Sp(Z_2,2g) is described as the union of conjugacy classes of two subgroups, each of them fixing a special 2-fold covering. Generators of these two subgroups are made explicit.Comment: This is the version published by Geometry & Topology Monographs on 29 April 200

Bank involvement with SMEs : beyond relationship lending

The"conventional wisdom"in academic and policy circles argues that, while large and foreign banks are generally not interested in serving SMEs, small and niche banks have an advantage in doing so because they can overcome SME opaqueness through relationship lending. This paper shows that there is a gap between this view and what banks actually do. Banks perceive SMEs as a core and strategic business and seem well positioned to expand their links with SMEs. The recent intensification of bank involvement with SMEs in various emerging markets documented in this paper is neither led by small or niche banks nor highly dependent on relationship lending. Rather, all types of banks are catering to SMEs and larger, multiple-service banks have in fact a comparative advantage in offering a wide range of products and services on a large scale, through the use of new technologies, business models, and risk management systems.Banks&Banking Reform,Access to Finance,,Financial Intermediation,Debt Markets

Different intra- and inter-molecular hydrogen-bonding patterns in (3S,4aS,8aS)-2-[(2R,3S)-3-(2,5-X2-benzamido)-2-(2,5-X2-benzo-yloxy)-4-phenyl-butyl]-N-tert-butyldeca-hydro-iso-quinoline-3-carboxamides (X = H or Cl) : compounds with moderate aspartyl protease inhibition activity

We thank the EPSRC National Crystallography Service (University of Southampton) for the X-ray data collections.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Alien Registration- De Salle, Maria L. (Rumford, Oxford County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/12683/thumbnail.jp

Nostalgia and iPhone Camera Apps: An Ethnographic Visual Approach to iPhoneography

The iPhone is the most popular smartphone and camera on social media. iPhoneography, the photography taken or edited with the iPhone, has set the trend of nostalgic photography on social media during the 2010s; thus, the iPhone, a high-tech camera, produces low-tech-looking images. This dissertation attempts to find out why iPhone photographers (iPhoneographers) take, edit, and share images that mimic photographs taken with analog photographic equipment. I argue that nostalgia allows iPhoneographers to use the iPhone as a creative tool and to belong to a community. Based on the arguments of Vilém Flusser—who suggested that photographers are more interested in the camera and the process of taking pictures than in the photographs produced—this work focuses first on the iPhone camera and the camera apps. (This work also considers the writings of Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, and W. J. T. Mitchell, as they pertain to photography and iPhoneography.) It traces the beginning of the nostalgic photograph style to 2008, when the Apple App Store offered apps that behaved like toy cameras and rendered images similar to those produced by toy and Polaroid cameras. The Hipstamatic app set the trend in 2009, and Instagram made it mainstream. Nostalgia is more a source of inspiration and creativity than a source of melancholy and longing for the past. The iPhoneography community on Facebook tends to form small groups that share and curate specific topics, such as clouds, portraits, flowers, and images produced with Hipstamatic. A small survey of the iPhoneography community shows that the community considers iPhoneography an art