Transition Parameters Research Articles

Development of In Situ Intranasal System Based on Chitosan Formate

We studied the potential of using a salt form of chitosan as a pH-sensitive in situ matrix. Among common chitosan salts obtained by heterogeneous synthesis, chitosan formate exhibiting the highest pH-sensitivity was selected. However, the low mucoadhesion strength of the composition, as well as high pH required for the phase transition necessitate designing a polycomponent compound with a poloxamer to additionally provide a thermosensitive phase transition. Compared with the use of pure poloxamer, the chitosan complex demonstrated improved mucoadhesion in in vitro studies, and the phase transition parameters were optimal for intranasal administration. An in vivo study revealed no locally irritating effect of the composition, which allows its further development.

<sup>137</sup>Cs IN THE ORGANISMS OF MOUSE-LIKE RODENTS INHABITED THE AREA OF NUCLEAR WEAPON TESTING

The paper presents the results of researching 137Cs radionuclide concentration in the organisms of mouse-like rodents (organisms of jerboa (Allactaga major Kerr and Allactaga saltator Eversmann) and marmots (Citellus erythrogenus Brandt)) living in the field of nuclear-weapon testing at the Semipalatinsk test site and the parameters of 137Cs radionuclide transition to organisms of studied animals. It is revealed that relatively elevated magnitudes of 137Cs activity concentration in organisms of jerboa and marmots are observed on the assumption of their residence in local contamination sites. With venturing from contamination sites at the distance exceeding the radius of animal activity, high values of radionuclides’ activity concentration are not reported. Despite the fact that animals live in the environment which components display high activity concentration of radionuclides, the extremely high concentration of radionuclide in these animals’ organisms has not identified.The midpoint measures (AM±SD) of CRmuscl of 137Cs radionuclide for the muscle tissue of Allactaga saltator Eversmann amounted (2.1±1.3)×10−3 (n-11), for muscle tissue of Allactaga major Kerr – (4.7±2.7)×10−3 (n-9), for the muscle tissue of Citellus Erythrogenus Brandt – (7.0±5.6)×10−3 (n-6).

Spectroscopic characterization of Eu3+-doped KSrYSi2O7 phosphor for NUV LEDs: Estimation of the Judd Ofelt parameter

In this study, a series of Eu3+-doped KSrYSi2O7 phosphors were synthesized by employing the conventional combustion method. Phase confirmation revealed that the synthesized phosphor had a monoclinic structure with the P21/m phase group. For studying the effect of doping on the bandgap, the effect has been observed by applying the Kubelka-Munk function. The emission profile of the synthesized phosphor was recorded by stimulation with radiation of 239 nm. The recorded profile reveals the characteristics of the Eu3+ ions, which are concomitant with the f-f transitions. In addition, studying the quenching phenomenon, optical transition parameters corresponding to the Eu3+ ions were estimated using the Judd-Ofelt theory to validate the local symmetry properties. The thermal stability of the synthesized phosphor was also thoroughly studied. The temperature-dependent emission spectra of the prepared phosphors revealed the good thermal stability of the present phosphors, with a high activation energy of around 0.24 eV. The excellent color purity of 90.4% and thermal stability, along with the Commission International del’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (x = 0.551 and y = 0.436), suggest the suitability of the phosphor for use in different light-emitting applications.

Study of Transitional Dynamics Towards the Non-Culturable State of Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli Cells

Background. It is known that bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics in response to their presence and tend to maintain it for a long time. In addition, microbes can remain viable by passing into an uncultivated state that is not detected by microbiological methods. This state of the population is characterized by cell resistance to various stresses, including the effects of antibiotics.Aim. To study the parameters of transition into an uncultivated state in E.coli M-17 cells resistant to an antibiotic.Material and methods. Resistant E.coli M-17 cells were obtained by culturing the initial population in media with increasing concentrations of ampicillin (up to 50 µg/mL). Seed cultures were prepared from sensitive and resistant substrains, from which the cells were transferred to a hyperosmotic, «starvation» medium — artificial sea water. The resulting populations were incubated for a long time, samples were periodically taken to conduct the assessment of viability parameters.Results. The experiments on long-term incubation of sensitive and resistant populations of E.coli M-17 showed that ampicillin-resistant substrain of the studied culture transitioned into an uncultivated state significantly faster and quantitatively higher than its sensitive variant. The presence of the antibiotic in the inoculum increased the time for the transition of resistant R2 bacteria to a viable uncultivated state to a level of >90% compared to R1. The R1 population at the beginning of the stress exposure massively (up to 77.7%) transitioned into viable but non-culturable cells (VBNCs) in the medium without an antibiotic in a similar seed culture. Periods of cell death were noted during the observation, with those cells becoming a substrate for the living part of the population and could lead to secondary growth of bacteria or partial restoration of dormant cells.Conclusion. Cells resistant to the antibiotic quickly transitioned into the non-culturable state compared to sensitive cells of the studied strain. The addition of an antibiotic to the medium for obtaining a seed culture slowed down the transition of cells to an uncultivated state.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF OBSERVATIONS OF THE SELECTED EXOPLANET TRANSITS OBTAINED AT THE KYIV COMET STATION WITH THE DATABASE OF THE ORBITAL TELESCOPES TESS AND KEPLER

We present a comparative analysis of observations of the selected exoplanet transits obtained at the Kyiv Comet station with the database of the TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and Kepler space telescopes. The light curves obtained by the TESS and Kepler orbital telescopes were processed using a program based on the Python package Lightcurve 2.3v which is freely available in the MUST archive (Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes). The ground based observations were carried out with the 70-cm telescope AZT- 8 (Lisnyky). Photometric processing of the ground based observation was performed by using the Muniwin program. The light curves and parameters of the observed transits as well as the exoplanet orbital parameters obtained from ground based observations were published in the ETD (Exoplanet Transit Database). Determined transit parameters were compared with the results of the TESS command, which are stored in the MUST archive. Here we presents a comparison of the parameters of transit phenomena (period, depth, transit duration) and some orbital parameters obtained from two independent sets of observations, terrestrial and orbital, performed in different epochs.

Homogeneity versus Parsimony in Markov Manpower Models: A Hidden Markov Chain Approach

We aim at tackling the problem of inadequate specification of a Markov manpower model in this paper, by formulating a procedure for validating the inclusion or non-inclusion of some transition parameters in the model. The mover-stayer principle and its extensions are employed to incorporate hidden classes in the model to achieve more homogeneity and this is compared with the model without the hidden classes, which is more parsimonious, using Likelihood ratio statistic, Akaike Information Criterion and Bayesian Information Criterion. The illustration shows a case of manpower data where, up to a certain level of hidden states, homogeneity is more important than parsimony.

Effective potential of the Polyakov loop in the Hamiltonian approach to QCD

We investigate the effective potential of the Polyakov loop, which is the order parameter for the deconfinement phase transition in finite temperature QCD. Our work is based on the Hamiltonian approach in Coulomb gauge where finite temperature $T$ is introduced by compactifying one space direction. We briefly review this approach and extend earlier work in the Yang-Mills sector by including dynamical quarks. In a first approximation, we follow the usual functional approach and include only 1-loop contributions to the energy, with the finite temperature propagators replaced by their $T=0$ counterparts. It is found that this gives a poor description of the phase transition, in particular for the case of full QCD with ${N}_{f}=3$ light flavors. The physical reasons for this unexpected result are discussed, and pinned down to a relative weakness of gluon confinement compared to the deconfining tendency of the quarks. We attempt to overcome this issue by including the relevant gluon contributions from the 2-loop terms to the energy. We find that the 2-loop corrections have indeed a tendency to strengthen the gluon confinement and weaken the unphysical effects in the confining phase, while slightly increasing the (pseudo)critical temperature ${T}^{*}$ at the same time. To fully suppress artifacts in the confining phase, we must tune the parameters to rather large values, increasing the critical temperature to ${T}^{*}\ensuremath{\approx}340\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$ for $G=SU(2)$.

Requirements for a maritime transition in line with the Paris Agreement.

The shipping industry is a hard-to-abate sector in today's society. Although past studies have looked at levels of carbon pricing, fuel savings, and the upscaling of green fuel availability separately, we combine these critical parameters for a green transition of the shipping industry to show what it takes to reach sectoral emissions reduction targets in line with the Paris Agreement. We utilize a least-cost optimization model drawing on data on, e.g., emissions with lifecycle elements and the costs of green fuel production. We find that reaching maritime reduction targets for a green transition requires high growth rates for green fuel availability, carbon pricing beyond 300EUR/tCO2eq, and at least 50% in fuel demand savings compared to today's demand projection for 2050. The results show the importance of immediate climate action if maritime emissions reduction goals are to be achieved.

Successive phase transitions of the spin–orbit-coupled metal Cd2Re2O7 probed by high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction

The 5d pyrochlore oxide superconductor Cd2Re2O7 (CRO) has attracted significant interest as a spin–orbit-coupled metal (SOCM) that spontaneously undergoes a phase transition to an odd-parity multipole phase by breaking the spatial inversion symmetry due to the Fermi liquid instability caused by strong spin–orbit coupling. Despite the significance of structural information during the transition, previous experimental results regarding lattice deformation have been elusive. We have conducted ultra-high resolution synchrotron radiation x-ray diffraction experiments on a high-quality CRO single crystal. The temperature-dependent splitting of the 0 0 16 and 0 0 14 reflections, which are allowed and forbidden, respectively, in the high-temperature cubic phase I (space group Fd–3m), has been clearly observed and reveals the following significant facts: inversion symmetry breaking and tetragonal distortion occur simultaneously at T s1 = 201.5(1) K; the previously believed first-order transition between phase II (I–4m2) and phase III (I4122) at T s2 ∼120 K consists of two close second-order transitions at T s2 = 115.4(1) K and T s3 ∼ 100 K; there is a new orthorhombic phase XI (F222) in between. The order parameters (OPs) of these continuous transitions are uniquely represented by a two-dimensional irreducible representation Eu of the Oh point group, and the OPs of phase XI are a linear combination of those of phases II and III. Each phase is believed to correspond to a distinct odd-parity multipole order, and the complex successive transitions observed may be the result of an electronic phase transition that resolves the Fermi liquid instability in the SOCM.

Nano-bio-film flow of Williamson fluid due to a non-linearly extending/contracting surface with non-uniform physical properties

The major goal of this paper is to investigate a conceptual framework for nano-biofilm of Williamson fluid over an enlarging/compressing sheet. The impact of activation energy, magnetic field, and bioconvection are studied. Here, the analysis is carried out with varying physical properties such as viscosity, microorganism diffusivity, and thermal conductivity to be depending upon the concentration of nano-particles. The fluid's changing transport properties, dynamic viscosity, heat conductivity, and nano-particle mass diffusivity are calculated. This work's outcomes have applications in dense thermal transit devices such as heat exchangers, nuclear plants, and electronics. Non-linear systems of partial differential equations are transformed into non-linear fundamental differential equations via a similarity transformation. The shooting approach and RK-4 techniques are used to generate observations. The visual depictions of the impacts of various fluid transport characteristics and distinguishing factors on patterns of velocity, temperature, the concentration of nanoparticles, and motile density. Variable transit parameters , , and enhance dispersions of velocity, temperature, concentration and motile density. As the power law index m goes up, the fluid velocity improves, while the heat, concentration and motile intensity profiles decline. This work is useful in devices of dense thermal transportation such as nuclear plants, electronics, and heat exchangers.

Octenyl succinylated potato starch-based film reinforced by honey-bee products: Structural and functional properties

Edible films were developed from native or octenyl succinylated potato starches and extracts from the following honey-bee products: multifloral honey, buckwheat honey, bee-pollen, bee-bread or propolis. Pasting and rheology properties of film-forming suspensions as well as structural characteristic and physical properties of the produced films were studied. The results showed that esterified starch and the honey-bee extracts (HBE) changed film properties in a different way, depending on the type of the extract. The pasting and rheological properties were improved as a result of both starch esterification and incorporation of the HBE. The FTIR-ATR spectroscopy of films indicated that some molecular interactions between the starch and the HBE may have occurred. The films made from the esterified starch showed significantly lower tensile strength, elasticity, thermal transition parameters (enthalpy - ΔH and onset - To, peak - Tp, end - Te temperatures), as well as higher swelling as compared to the native starch films. All films were characterized by a high structural integrity, however films based on esterified starch and reinforced with HBE exhibited a rough and folding surface. Bee-bread and propolis extracts seem to be the most promising HBE for production of films due to the ability to reduce solubility and thermal transition parameters as well as to improve mechanical properties of the films.

Identification and Successful Targeting of a Larger Than Expected Health Literacy Gap in Young People with Sickle Cell Disease Transitioning from Pediatric to Adult Care

Young people living with long-term medical conditions growing into adulthood face significant challenges inherent in the necessary new-found autonomy and unprecedented responsibility for their health along with understanding the interfaces with adult health services. Data from the United Kingdom has found that amongst people living with Sickle cell disease (SCD), young adults aged 20-29 years have the highest rates of emergency hospital admissions. This is associated with a significant increase in mortality amongst patients with SCD of this age group. It is well recognized that those who don't understand health information are less likely to seek out healthcare support appropriately and are more likely to have significant ill-health. Furnishing young people with the skills to improve their health literacy is therefore the cornerstone of any transition preparedness programme. Ready Steady Go (RSG) is a UK National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) endorsed generic transition programme that may be used to support children with long-term conditions. It comprehensively addresses the full range of issues for good transition and facilitates discussion in greater depth of any areas of need to support young people with chronic medical conditions so that they might more effectively manage the needs of their medical condition and navigate entry into adult life with confidence. Data were compared between responses of 147 young people with chronic conditions transitioning to adult care at each of the Ready, Steady and Go timepoints. Age-appropriate questionnaires were offered as part of routine patient care and 4451 unique responses to each of the questions on the age-appropriate RSG questionnaires were obtained including responses related to knowledge and understanding of the condition, its treatment and the composition of the healthcare team, capacity for self-advocacy, assessment of understanding of general adolescent health issues including sexual health, exercise and diet, educational, independence and vocational domains, psychosocial aspects and the understanding of the concept of transitional care. Experience using these questionnaires in clinical practice has taught us that often the questions not answered are at least as informative as those answered as 'need more help' and are often areas with the highest need so we elected to include questions without a response in our evaluation. Analysis revealed that at all stages the young people with SCD (n = 42) were significantly less likely to report confidence in important transition parameters compared to those living with other long-term conditions (n = 105) (figure A). This was most pronounced in questions that assessed knowledge and understanding of their medications and how they worked and ownership of taking their own medications without parental assistance (79.9% SCD vs 89.9% other chronic conditions) with low reported rates of requesting and picking up their own repeat prescriptions (13.9% SCD vs 47.4%) (figure B). Patients with SCD were more likely to report that they needed more help 'dealing with unwelcome comments or bullying' (26.1% SCD vs 3.5%) and less likely to 'feel happy with life' (73.8% SCD vs 86.4%) (figure C). They were also more likely to reply that they did not feel able to 'tell others of their condition' (36.8% SCD vs 11.8%) and were less likely to say that they were 'happy with the way they looked to others' (77.8% SCD vs 86.4%). Our data also suggested that their social support was less with 24% of respondents with SCD saying they did not 'know someone I can talk to when I feel sad or fed up' vs 8.3% of respondents with diabetes. 23.8% of young people with SCD reported they did not see friends outside of school vs 15.5% of young people with diabetes. In response to these data, a bespoke, bite-sized, animated SCD transition education package was developed (figure D). It was offered to young people living with SCD peri-transition and demonstrated an uplift in confidence and understanding from 47.8% to 84.6% after engagement with the resource (figure E). This data analysis and reflexive action research shows that there is a significant health literacy gap in young people with SCD transitioning to adult care, larger than that seen in young people with other chronic conditions and that targeted digital health education interventions are effective at increasing a young person's health literacy, engagement and confidence. Figure 1View largeDownload PPTFigure 1View largeDownload PPT Close modal

Berry Phase of Two Impurity Qubits as a Signature of Dicke Quantum Phase Transition

In this paper, we investigate the effect of the Dicke quantum phase transition on the Berry phase of the two impurity qubits. The two impurity qubits only have dispersive interactions with the optical field of the Dicke quantum system. Therefore, the two impurity qubits do not affect the ground state energy of the Dicke Hamiltonian. We find that the Berry phase of the two impurity qubits has a sudden change at the Dicke quantum phase transition point. Therefore, the Berry phase of the two impurity qubits can be used as a phase transition signal for the Dicke quantum phase transition. In addition, the two impurity qubits change differently near the phase transition point at different times. We explain the reason for the different variations by studying the variation of the Berry phase of the two impurity qubits with the phase transition parameters and time. Finally, we investigated the variation of the Berry phases of the two impurity qubits with their initial conditions, and we found that their Berry phases also have abrupt changes with the initial conditions. Since the Dicke quantum phase transition is already experimentally executable, the research in this paper helps to provide a means for manipulating the Berry phase of the two impurity qubits.

Extended Calculations of Atomic Structure Parameters for Na-like Ar, Kr and Xe Ions Using Relativistic MCDHF and MBPT Methods

In this study, comprehensive calculations of energies, hyperfine structure constants, Landé gJ factors and isotope shifts have been performed for the lowest 71 states of Na-like Ar7+, Kr25+ and Xe43+ ions. Radiative parameters viz., wavelengths, transition rates, oscillator strengths and lifetimes are estimated for the electric dipole E1 transitions among these levels. The states under consideration include 1s22s22p6nl for n = 3–9, l = 0–6, and the fully relativistic multiconfiguration Dirac–Hartree–Fock (MCDHF) method integrated in the latest version of the general-purpose relativistic atomic structure package (GRASP2018) is used for the calculations. The additional corrections, such as the Breit interaction and quantum electrodynamics effects are included in the relativistic configuration interaction calculations, and their effects on energies and other parameters are analysed. We examined the impact of including the core–core and core–valence correlations on level energies. Furthermore, to inspect the reliability of our MCDHF results, we performed another set of calculations using the many-body perturbation theory built into the Flexible Atomic Code (FAC). Moreover, we estimated the uncertainties in the computed lifetimes and transition parameters and assigned their accuracy class. A thorough comparison between the two obtained calculations and with the previous theoretical and experimental results, wherever available, is carried out and a good agreement is observed.

Investigations of temperature dependence of the thermal shifts in Sm2+-doped SrFCl crystal

Temperature dependences of thermal shifts for all transitions in Sm2+-doped SrFCl crystal were investigated by using a full expression including both the static effect and the vibrational effect at temperature ranges 87 and 610 K. The Debye temperatures, the electron-phonon coupling parameters and the static parameters (A) for each electronic transitions are derived by fit the obtained analytical expression to experimental data. We have compared our results with experimental data, and our results were found to be satisfactory

Relationships between phase transition and quality characteristics of cooked rice during storage

The objective of this study was to determine crystalline structures, phase transitions, textural properties, and morphological characteristics of cooked rice with different amylose contents during storage at 4 °C for 14 days. Moisture content of cooked rice decreased from 64.8% to 60.2% during storage. Relative crystallinity increased during storage, indicating an increase in ordered structure by starch recrystallization. During the storage, ice freezing and ice melting enthalpies of cooked rice decreased and glass transition temperature ( T g ′) increased. Inner structure of cooked rice showed smaller holes and a thicker surrounding matrix in waxy or non-waxy rice varieties and polyhedral structure in high-amylose variety. Ice melting enthalpy of cooked rice was positively and negatively correlated with hardness and adhesiveness, respectively. T g ′ was positively correlated with adhesiveness. These results indicate that phase transitions of cooked rice with different amylose contents were significantly related to their crystalline structures, morphologies, and textures during storage. • Relationship between phase transition and quality characteristics of cooked rice was investigated. • Cooked rice with higher amylose had a thick matrix with a rod-shaped structure during storage. • Cooked rice with high palatability had low relative crystallinity and ice melting temperature. • Phase transition parameters of cooked rice were correlated with textural properties.

Effect of negatively biased electrode on two ion species plasma–wall transition, ion drag force, and levitation of dust particle

The effect of negatively biased electrodes on two ion species (argon and xenon) magnetized plasma–wall transition characteristics and the levitation of an isolated dust particle in the sheath region has been investigated using the kinetic trajectory simulation method based on a kinetic theory. It is found that the electrode biasing affects the transition parameters: space charge density, sheath potential, evolution of phase-space, and particle flux toward the electrode. The scale length of the Debye sheath region becomes widened for the increase in negative biasing and the presence of magnetic field as well. The biasing voltage and size of the dust particle have significant effect on the evolution of the dust charge, ion drag force, and levitation of a charged dust grain in the transition region. The dust particle is negatively charged at the particle injection side, and it acquires a positive charge for higher biasing voltage close to the electrode owing to electron depletion in that region. The distance of stable levitation from the electrode increases with the increase in the negative voltage applied to the electrode. Furthermore, the volumetric composition of two species of positive ions influence the dust charging process with the negative charge of the dust particle increasing as the concentration of xenon ions increases.

A Mirage or an Oasis? Water Vapor in the Atmosphere of the Warm Neptune TOI-674 b

We report observations of the recently discovered warm Neptune TOI-674 b (5.25 R ⊕, 23.6 M ⊕) with the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 instrument. TOI-674 b is in the Neptune desert, an observed paucity of Neptune-size exoplanets at short orbital periods. Planets in the desert are thought to have complex evolutionary histories due to photoevaporative mass loss or orbital migration, making identifying the constituents of their atmospheres critical to understanding their origins. We obtained near-infrared transmission spectroscopy of the planet’s atmosphere with the G141 grism. After extracting, detrending, and fitting the spectral light curves to measure the planet’s transmission spectrum, we used the petitRADTRANS atmospheric spectral synthesis code to perform retrievals on the planet’s atmosphere to identify which absorbers are present. These results show moderate evidence for increased absorption at 1.4 μm due to water vapor at 2.9σ (Bayes factor = 15.8), as well as weak evidence for the presence of clouds at 2.2σ (Bayes factor = 4.0). TOI-674 b is a strong candidate for further study to refine the water abundance, which is poorly constrained by our data. We also incorporated new TESS short-cadence optical photometry, as well as Spitzer/IRAC data, and refit the transit parameters for the planet. We find the planet to have the following transit parameters: R p /R * = 0.1135 ± 0.0006, T 0 = 2458544.523792 ± 0.000452 BJD, and P = 1.977198 ± 0.00007 day. These measurements refine the planet radius estimate and improve the orbital ephemerides for future transit spectroscopy observations of this highly intriguing warm Neptune.

Thermodynamic analysis on wetting state transitions of rough surfaces with 3D irregular microstructure

Exploring the conditions and mechanisms of wetting state transition from the Cassie state to the Wenzel state and determining the final equilibrium wetting state of the system has always been one of most actively studied topics in the field of superhydrophobic behavior of rough surfaces. A three-dimensional (3D) thermodynamic analysis model of an irregular micro-texture surface (IMS) is established for the first time in this research. The IMS is composed of six different protrusions (cone, cylinder, positive truncated cone, inverted truncated cone, paraboloid, and spherical crown) randomly arranged on a hexagonal honeycomb structure. Based on the Gibbs free energy principle and the actual three-phase contact line (TCL) with droplet motion, generalized theoretical expressions for determining the free energy (FE) and free energy barrier (FEB) for equilibrium wetting states have been derived. Evaluating the critical geometric parameter for the Cassie-Wenzel transition has also been inferred. To a considerable extent, the transition mechanism is closely related to the height and maximum diameter of micro protrusions. This study provides a breakthrough theoretical support for the industrial preparation of robust solid superhydrophobic surfaces.

Regime recovery using implied volatility in Markov modulated market model

AbstractIn the regime switching extension of Black–Scholes–Merton model of asset price dynamics, one assumes that the volatility coefficient evolves as a hidden pure jump process. Under the assumption of Markov regime switching, we have considered the locally risk minimizing theoretical price of European vanilla options. By pretending these prices or their numerical approximations as traded prices, we have first computed the implied volatility (IV) of the underlying asset. Then by performing several numerical experiments on ternary regime models we have investigated the dependence of IV on the time to maturity (TTM) and strike price of the vanilla options. We have observed a clear dependence that is at par with the empirically observed stylized facts. Furthermore, we have experimentally validated that IV time series, obtained from contracts with moneyness and TTM varying in a particular narrow range, can recover the transition instances of the hidden Markov chain having three states. Such regime recovery for any arbitrary state‐space and transition parameters has also been established in a theoretical setting. Moreover, the novel scheme for computing option price is shown to be stable.