Biological synthesis of fluorescent nanoparticles by cadmium and tellurite resistant Antarctic bacteria: exploring novel natural nanofactories

Indexación: Web of ScienceBackground: Fluorescent nanoparticles or quantum dots (QDs) have been intensely studied for basic and applied research due to their unique size-dependent properties. There is an increasing interest in developing ecofriendly methods to synthesize these nanoparticles since they improve biocompatibility and avoid the generation of toxic byproducts. The use of biological systems, particularly prokaryotes, has emerged as a promising alternative. Recent studies indicate that QDs biosynthesis is related to factors such as cellular redox status and antioxidant defenses. Based on this, the mixture of extreme conditions of Antarctica would allow the development of natural QDs producing bacteria. Results: In this study we isolated and characterized cadmium and tellurite resistant Antarctic bacteria capable of synthesizing CdS and CdTe QDs when exposed to these oxidizing heavy metals. A time dependent change in fluorescence emission color, moving from green to red, was determined on bacterial cells exposed to metals. Biosynthesis was observed in cells grown at different temperatures and high metal concentrations. Electron microscopy analysis of treated cells revealed nanometric electron-dense elements and structures resembling membrane vesicles mostly associated to periplasmic space. Purified biosynthesized QDs displayed broad absorption and emission spectra characteristic of biogenic Cd nanoparticles. Conclusions: Our work presents a novel and simple biological approach to produce QDs at room temperature by using heavy metal resistant Antarctic bacteria, highlighting the unique properties of these microorganisms as potent natural producers of nano-scale materials and promising candidates for bioremediation purposes.http://microbialcellfactories.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12934-016-0477-

On the stability analysis of periodic sine-Gordon traveling waves

We study the spectral stability properties of periodic traveling waves in the sine-Gordon equation, including waves of both subluminal and superluminal propagation velocities as well as waves of both librational and rotational types. We prove that only subluminal rotational waves are spectrally stable and establish exponential instability in the other three cases. Our proof corrects a frequently cited one given by Scott.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Energy Distribution in disordered elastic Networks

Disordered networks are found in many natural and artificial materials, from gels or cytoskeletal structures to metallic foams or bones. Here, the energy distribution in this type of networks is modeled, taking into account the orientation of the struts. A correlation between the orientation and the energy per unit volume is found and described as a function of the connectivity in the network and the relative bending stiffness of the struts. If one or both parameters have relatively large values, the struts aligned in the loading direction present the highest values of energy. On the contrary, if these have relatively small values, the highest values of energy can be reached in the struts oriented transversally. This result allows explaining in a simple way remodeling processes in biological materials, for example, the remodeling of trabecular bone and the reorganization in the cytoskeleton. Additionally, the correlation between the orientation, the affinity, and the bending-stretching ratio in the network is discussed

Influence of Flood Pulse on Termite Diversity (INSECTA: ISOPTERA) in the Pantanal

This research aimed to associate termite diversity to flood pulse by Paraguay River, and with savannas and pasture areas. The study was conducted nearby the town of Cáceres, in Pantanal - Mato Grosso, on six livestock farms subject to Paraguay River flood pulse. Types of land use sampled were native savanna and cultivated pasture. Flooded and dry plots were selected, both the savanna and the pasture in each sampling area. Termite richness and abundance was analysed based on the  environments as an explanatory variable (FP – flooded pasture, DP – dry pasture, FS – flooded savanna, DS – dry savanna) through GLM; Tukey’s test was subsequently performed to determine whether land use and/or flood pulse can significantly affect the termite community. There were 37 termite species and 19 genera. Richness and abundance of termite species cannot be explain by flooding pulse, but were explained only by land use (pasture and savanna). The similarity analysis also identified that species composition was quite affected by flood in grazing areas, but this disturbance does not affect the savanna areas. In conclusion, flood pulse is not a determining factor for savannas or pasture termite richness, but change the composition of the termite fauna in the environment

Excitability in a nonlinear magnetoacoustic resonator

We report a nonlinear acoustic system displaying excitability. The considered system is a magnetostrictive material where acoustic waves are parametrically generated. For a set of parameters, the system presents homoclinic and heteroclinic dynamics, whose boundaries define a excitability domain. The excitable behaviour is characterized by analyzing the response of the system to different external stimuli. Single spiking and bursting regimes have been identified.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Photoluminescence-free photoreflectance spectra using dual frequency modulation

The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 102.9 (2007): 093507 and may be found at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2802991Photoreflectance (PR) spectra are usually obtained by measuring the relative change on the reflectivity of a semiconducting sample induced by a chopped laser beam. The laser beam can also produce photoluminescence (PL) emission at the sample surface which, detected at its same frequency, could appear as an offset distorting the PR spectrum. This parasitic and intrinsically noisy PL signal, not easily discriminated electronically nor optically filtered, can become the dominant part of the PR spectrum at low sample temperatures, hiding spectrum features under its associated noise, or even avoiding data acquisition. An alternative method for PL signal discrimination is proposed in this work, using a different chopping frequency for each light beam: PL and reflected signals will appear each one at its own chopping frequency, while PR signal will be detected at its frequency sum, allowing signal separation by frequency. Both experimental setups are compared using a highly luminescent quantum well structure at low temperatures. While the standard setup suffers the PL limitation, the proposed method overcomes this constraint, allowing good quality spectra to be measured at temperatures as low as 12

Exploring the influence of facial verification software on student academic performance in online learning environments

In spite of the advances in technology in the e-learning field during the last decades, there is still a gap of software and tools that actually improve the assessment of this kind of education by preventing students from cheating when they perform their activities online. Currently, most learning management systems do not offer enough tools or characteristics to check that students are who they assure when they carry out their exercises or online tests. Facial verification software can be considered an interesting tool to answer this need. This facial software helps to verify the identity of the students when they perform their activities, with the intention of confirming whether they are who they claim to be. However, its use could modify the academic results of the students due to psychological factors (e.g. they could feel spied, ashamed or too controlled). The aim of this article is to investigate whether the utilization of facial verification software can modify the academic performance of students in their online activities. In this work, the grades of 70 master students were analyzed and the conclusions pointed out that the academic performance obtained by the students is similar for both groups: those who have used facial authentication and those who did not use it