Contrast Enhancement of Optical Coherence Tomography Images Using Branched Gold Nanoparticles

We propose the use of branched gold nanoparticles (B-GNPs) as a contrast agent for optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. Our results show that even when the central source of our OCT (1325 nm) is too far from the maximum peak of the plasmon resonance, branched nanoparticles scatter light very efficiently at this wavelength. B-GNPs were tested as a contrast agent in water and agarose-TiO2 tissue phantoms; the estimated increments in contrast were 9.19 dB and 15.07 dB for branched nanoparticles in water with concentrations of 2.2×109 NPs/mL and 6.6×109 NPs/mL, respectively, while for agarose-TiO2 tissue phantoms the estimated value was 3.17 dB. These results show the promising application of B-GNPs as a contrast agent for tissue imaging using OCT, not only for sources at 1325 nm but also at other central wavelengths located between 800 and 1000 nm

Sulfur-Modulated Tin Sites Enable Highly Selective Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Formate

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR) to formate provides an avenue to the synthesis of value-added carbon-based fuels and feedstocks powered using renewable electricity. Here, we hypothesized that the presence of sulfur atoms in the catalyst surface could promote undercoordinated sites, and thereby improve the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate. We explored, using density functional theory, how the incorporation of sulfur into tin may favor formate generation. We used atomic layer deposition of SnSx followed by a reduction process to synthesize sulfur-modulated tin (Sn(S)) catalysts. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) studies reveal higher oxidation states in Sn(S) compared with that of tin in Sn nanoparticles. Sn(S)/Au accelerates CO2RR at geometric current densities of 55 mA cm−2 at −0.75 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode with a Faradaic efficiency of 93%. Furthermore, Sn(S) catalysts show excellent stability without deactivation (<2% productivity change) following more than 40 hours of operation. With rapid advances in the efficient and cost-effective conversion of sunlight to electrical power, the development of storage technologies for renewable energy is even more urgent. Using renewable electricity to convert CO2 into formate simultaneously addresses the need for storage of intermittent renewable energy sources and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We report an increase of greater than 4-fold in the current density (hence the rate of reaction) in formate electrosynthesis compared with relevant controls. Our catalysts also show excellent stability without deactivation (<2% productivity change) following more than 40 hours of operation. The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR) offers a compelling route to energy storage and high-value chemical manufacture. The presence of sulfur atoms in catalyst surfaces promotes undercoordinated sites, thereby improving the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate. The resulting sulfur-modulated tin catalysts accelerate CO2RR at geometric current densities of 55 mA cm−2 at −0.75 V versus RHE with a Faradaic efficiency of 93%

Study of idfferential protein expression in healthy human skeletal muscles using electrophoresis bidimentional

Comunicaciones a congreso

Composition of essential oils from the species Ardisia humilis and Myrsine lineata (Primulaceae).

Poster 2015. SBOE 2015

Collective behavior in nuclear interactions and shower development

The mechanism of hadronic interactions at very high energies is still unclear. Available accelerator data constrain weakly the forward rapidity region which determines the development of atmospheric showers. This ignorance is one of the main sources of uncertainty in the determination of the energy and composition of the primary in hadron-induced atmospheric showers. In this paper we examine the effect on the shower development of two kinds of collective effects in high-energy hadronic interactions which modify the production of secondary particles. The first mechanism, modeled as string fusion, affects strongly the central rapidity region but only slightly the forward region and is shown to have very little effect on the shower development. The second mechanism implies a very strong stopping; it affects modestly the profile of shower maximum but broadens considerably the number distribution of muons at ground. For the latter mechanism, the development of air showers is faster mimicking a heavier projectile. On the other hand, the number of muons at ground is lowered, resembling a shower generated by a lighter primary.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure

HodgeRank as a new tool to explore the structure of a social representation

Social representation theory is a branch of social psychology that aims to identify the framework of concepts, ideas, opinions, beliefs, or feelings shared by the individuals within a social group, regarding a social object. Two main problems arise in this theory. The first concerns the identification of the content of the representation, which is the set of cognitive elements shared by the group; the second concerns its structure, which is the way these elements are organized and related among themselves. It is desirable that the methods to address these problems be simple, in regards to the feasibility of the data collection, and reliable, in the sense that they should provide a clear picture of the content and the structure of the representation. No single method proposed in the literature until now fully satisfies these features at the same time. Here we propose the use of HodgeRank, a global ranking method based on the Hodge combinatorial theory, as a new tool to explore the structure of a social representation. In this proposal, the input data is the same as those required for the hierarchical word associations, which is the main method in the field of social representations. However, the HodgeRank provides richer results when compared to the usual approach to analysing this kind of data, based on the Vergés’ double-entry table. The main outcome of the HodgeRank is a graph, analogous to an electric circuit, from which some structural elements of the representation can already be identified. Moreover, the HodgeRank technique identifies the sources of inconsistencies between the global ranking and the aggregated answers within the social group. We interpret such inconsistencies in terms of the stability of the representation and use them to raise conjectures about the potential dynamics of the representation. We illustrate the application of this method in the study of a social representation of COVID-19 within a group of students and also within a group of faculty members from higher education institutions in Brazil

On the Spiral Structure of the Milky Way Galaxy

We consider the possible pattern of the overall spiral structure of the Galaxy, using data on the distribution of neutral (atomic), molecular, and ionized hydrogen, on the base of the hypothesis of the spiral structure being symmetric, i.e. the assumption that spiral arms are translated into each other for a rotation around the galactic center by 180{\deg} (a two-arm pattern) or by 90{\deg} (a four-arm pattern). We demonstrate that, for the inner region, the observations are best represented with a four-arm scheme of the spiral pattern, associated with all-Galaxy spiral density waves. The basic position is that of the Carina arm, reliably determined from distances to HII regions and from HI and H2 radial velocities. This pattern is continued in the quadrants III and IV with weak outer HI arms; from their morphology, the Galaxy should be considered an asymmetric multi-arm spiral. The kneed shape of the outer arms that consist of straight segments can indicate that these arms are transient formations that appeared due to a gravitational instability in the gas disk. The distances between HI superclouds in the two arms that are the brightest in neutral hydrogen, the Carina arm and the Cygnus (Outer) arm, concentrate to two values, permitting to assume the presence of a regular magnetic field in these arms.Comment: 21 pages, 14 fugures; accepted for publication in Astronomichesky Journal (Astron. Rep.

Milky Way Disk-Halo Transition in HI: Properties of the Cloud Population

Using 21cm HI observations from the Parkes Radio Telescope's Galactic All-Sky Survey, we measure 255 HI clouds in the lower Galactic halo that are located near the tangent points at 16.9 < l < 35.3 degrees and |b| < 20 degrees. The clouds have a median mass of 700 Msun and a median distance from the Galactic plane of 660 pc. This first Galactic quadrant (QI) region is symmetric to a region of the fourth quadrant (QIV) studied previously using the same data set and measurement criteria. The properties of the individual clouds in the two quadrants are quite similar suggesting that they belong to the same population, and both populations have a line of sight cloud-cloud velocity dispersion of sigma_cc ~ 16 km/s. However, there are three times as many disk-halo clouds at the QI tangent points and their scale height, at h=800 pc, is twice as large as in QIV. Thus the observed line of sight random cloud motions are not connected to the cloud scale height or its variation around the Galaxy. The surface density of clouds is nearly constant over the QI tangent point region but is peaked near R~4 kpc in QIV. We ascribe all of these differences to the coincidental location of the QI region at the tip of the Milky Way's bar, where it merges with a major spiral arm. The QIV tangent point region, in contrast, covers only a segment of a minor spiral arm. The disk-halo HI cloud population is thus likely tied to and driven by large-scale star formation processes, possibly through the mechanism of supershells and feedback.Comment: 14 pages, 20 figures, to be published in ApJ (accepted August 3 2010