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Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) play a critical role in detecting malicious assaults and threats in the network system. This research work proposed a network intrusion detection technique, which combines an Adversarial Sampling and Enhanced Deep Correlated Hierarchical Network for IDS. Initially, the proposed Enhanced Generative Adversarial Networks (EGAN) method is used to raise the minority sample. A balanced dataset can be created in this way, allowing the model to completely learn the properties of minority samples while also drastically minimizing the model training time. Then, create an Enhanced Deep Correlated Hierarchical Network model by using a Bi-Directional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) to collect temporal characteristics and Cross-correlated Convolution Neural Network (CCNN) to retrieve spatial characteristics. The softmax classifier at the end of BiLSTM is used to classify intrusion data. The traditional NSL-KDD dataset is utilized for the experimentation of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the characterization and preliminary comparison of gold nanoparticles of differing surface modification and shape when used as extrinsic Raman labels (ERLs) in high-sensitivity heterogeneous immunoassays based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). ERLs are gold nanoparticles coated with an adlayer of an intrinsically strong Raman scatterer, followed by a coating of a molecular recognition element (e.g., antibody). Three types of ERLs, all with a nominal size of ~30 nm, were fabricated by using spherical citrate-capped gold nanoparticles (sp-cit-Au NPs), spherical CTAB-capped gold nanoparticles (sp-CTAB-Au NPs), or cubelike CrAB-capped gold nanoparticles (cu-CrAB-Au NPs) as cores. The performance of these particles was assessed via a sandwich immunoassay for human IgG in phosphate buffered saline. The ERLs fabricated with sp-CTAB-Au NPs as cores proved to be more than 50 times more sensitive than those with sp-cit-Au NPs as cores; the same comparison showed that the ERLs with cu-CTAB-Au NPs as cores were close to 200 times more sensitive. Coupled with small differences in levels of nonspecific adsorption, these sensitivities translated to a limit of detection (LOD) of 94, 2.3, and 0.28 ng/mL, respectively, for the detection of human IgG in the case of sp-cit-Au NPs, sp-CrAB-Au NPs, and cu-CTAB-Au NPs. The LOD of the cu-CrAB-Au NPs is therefore ~340 times below that for the sp-cit-Au NPs. Potential applications of these labels to bioassays are briefly discussed.

Studies done on the stability and catalytic activity of the PVP-Pt nanoparticle during its catalytic function for the electron-transfer reaction between hexacyanoferrate(III) ions and thiosulfate ions is presented. Studies reveal that the hexacyanoferrate(III) ions alone dissolve the Pt from the nanoparticle surface to form a cyano complex, as expected from thermodynamic considerations whereas thiosulfate seems to bind to the nanoparticle surface.

Human Action Recognition (HAR) is a highly notable area of study in contemporary computer vision. Many investigations focused on recognizing a person's actions from video streams based on extracting features regarding orientation and motion. This article presents a Joints and Trajectory-pooled 3D-Deep Positional Attention (PA)-based Hierarchical Bidirectional Recurrent Convolutional Descriptors (JTDPAHBRD) approach which uses a PA-based Hierarchical Bidirectional Recurrent Neural Network (PAHBRNN) for enhancing the feature aggregation process. First, the entire video is segregated into multiple blocks and they are provided to the 2-stream bilinear Convolutional 3D (C3D) model which applies the PAHBRNN as feature aggregation. In PAHBRNN, the feature vectors related to the different parts of a human skeleton in a certain clip are hierarchically aggregated using the position-aware guidance vector. Then, 2 different streams in the C3D network are fused and trained end-to-end using the softmax loss to get the final video descriptor for a particular video sequence. Further, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier is applied to classify the resultant video descriptor to recognize the person's actions. At last, the investigational outcomes demonstrate the JTDPAHBRD achieves 99.6% better recognition accuracy than the classical state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sucrose concentration can be easily measured in the chemistry class using a liquid prism sucrosemeter, made from a hollow prism filled with liquids with different refractive indices from changes in sucrose concentration. Thirteen concentrations and one water solution are used in the experiment with a table of the experimental values provided.

A liquid-lens refractometer can be constructed at minimal cost by high-school and physics students to teach them about geometric optics and how to analyze research project sources of error. Students can experiment with both thin- and thick-lens formulas and develop their own graphs and tables to interpret the data. Construction and usage directions for the refractometer are provided.

The work on the effect of the shape of the colloidal nanocatalyst on the catalytic activity and the effect of the catalytic process on the shape and size of the colloidal transition metal of the nanocatalysts and their recycling potential is reviewed. It provides important clues on the mechanism of the reactions that is studied and can be very useful in the process of designing better catalysts in the future.

The synthesis and properties of individual nanoparticles is described. The richness and maturity that nanoscience and nanochemistry in particular has achieved in the past few years is demonstrated.

FTIR is used to examine the change in the vibrational frequencies of phenylboronic acid in the films with and without the addition of palladium nanoparticles. The FTIR studies provide proof the mode of binding that occurs in the nanoparticle surface for the first time and also confirms the mechanism of the Suzuki reaction.

The stability and catalytic activity of PAMAM-OH generation 4 dendrimer-capped Pd nanoparticles are examined and compared to those of the PVP-Pd nanoparticles. Thus, the ways in which the method of synthesizing the nanoparticles affects the particle growth process, how the capping agent affects the mechanism of the reaction, and how the size of the nanoparticles during the second cycle of the reaction affects the biphenyl product yield, are studied.

The activation energies for the electron-transfer reaction between hexacyanoferrate (III) ions and thiosulfate ions in a colloidal solution in which tetrahedral, cubic, or spherical nanoparticles are dominant. The tetrahedral and cubic shapes strive to become spherical, the thermodynamic reason for their shape changes during the catalytic reaction.

A study was conducted to examine and compare the shape stability of tetrahedral and cubic platinum nanoparticles used to catalyze the electron-transfer reaction between hexacyanoferrate ions and thiosulfate ions to form hexacyanoferrate ions and tetrathionate ions. The result confirms that the rate of dissolution of the surface platinum atoms is slower for the cubic shaped nanoparticles than for the tetrahedral shaped nanoparticles.

A self-assembly approach to lead selenide (PbSe) structures that have organized across multiple length scales and multiple dimensions has been achieved. These structures consist of angstrom-scale 0D PbSe crystals, synthesized via a hot solution process, which have stacked into 1D nanorods via aligned dipoles. These 1D nanorods have arranged into nanoscale 2D sheets via directional short-ranged attraction. The nanoscale 2D sheets then further aligned into larger 2D microscale planes. In this study, the authors have characterized the PbSe structures via normal and cryo-TEM and EDX showing that this multiscale multidimensional self-assembled alignment is not due to drying effects. These PbSe structures hold promise for applications in advanced materials—particularly electronic technologies, where alignment can aid in device performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An inexpensive refractometer for determining the lateral displacement of a light beam through various liquids can be used in both high school and introductory college chemistry courses as well as for a take-home experiment. The refractometer gives students practice in geometrical optics and ray tracing as well as assembling the refractometer itself. Construction and experiment directions are included.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has become a valuable tool for the characterization of trace quantities of environmental toxins. Utilizing established wet chemical synthetic protocols, dogbone-shaped colloidal gold nanoparticle substrates with sharp features were prepared with regions that exhibit significant SERS enhancement due to the lightning rod effect. These highly enhancing substrates were utilized for the quantitative determination of two dithiocarbamate fungicides by SERS in several complex matrices such as tap water, apple juice, and vegetable juice. Limits of detection and quantitation are reported and compared with Environmental Protection Agency mandated maximum allowable concentrations in tap water. In the case of tap water, limits of detection of 13.39 ± 3.89 nM for thiram and 1.78 ± 0.20 nM for ferbam was achieved. The sensitivity of the solution-based SERS method decreased with increasing complexity of the matrix in which the limit of detection achieved in apple juice is 47.22 nM for thiram and 11.88 ± 1.38 nM for ferbam and that for vegetable juice is 87.01 ± 2.88 nM for thiram and 36.72 ± 2.90 nM for ferbam. It was found that using the solution-based SERS method results in sensitivities that are greater than that required by Environmental Protection Agency mandated maximum allowable concentrations for complex matrices such as apple and vegetable juice. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two main classes of metallic nanoparticles: solid and hollow. Each type can be synthesized in different shapes and structures. Practical use of these nanoparticles depends on the properties they acquire on the nanoscale. Plasmonic nanoparticles of silver and gold are the most studied, with applications in the fields of sensing, medicine, photonics, and catalysis. In this Account, we review our group’s work to understand the catalytic properties of metallic nanoparticles of different shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing interest in applying green chemistry for nanocatalysis applications. On the basis of a Scifinder Scholar search, the field of applying green chemistry to catalysis with nanoparticles has undergone an explosive growth from year 2002 to present. It can be seen that green chemistry applied to nanocatalysis is a relatively hot area with much room for growth. I discuss several review articles written about the use of green nanocatalysts as well as green reactions. I discuss studies involving the synthesis of green nanocatalysts and application of metal nanocatalysts in green reactions. I have organized the discussion of green nanocatalysts by the type of nanoparticles that are synthesized and used as catalysts. I have organized discussions of green reactions by the type of green reaction that is being conducted. Overall, our review article discusses developments in new types of green nanocatalysts as well as developments in green catalytic reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The reaction of amino groups of protein and the carbonyl groups of reducing sugar molecules, non-enzymatically induce a series of chemical reactions that form a heterogeneous group of compounds known as advanced glycation end products (AGEs). The accumulation of AGEs is associated with various disease conditions that include complications in diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and aging. The current study monitored the extent of non-enzymatic glycation of human serum albumin (HSA) in order to estimate the formation of HSA related AGEs in the presence of 2nm gold nanoparticles. The rate of glycation was evaluated using several analytical methods. Physiological concentrations of HSA and glyceraldehyde mixtures, incubated with various concentrations of negatively charged 2nm gold nanoparticles, resulted in a lower reaction rate than mixtures without 2GNP. Moreover, increasing concentrations of gold nanoparticles exhibited a pronounced reduction in AGE formation. High performance liquid chromatography, UV–visible spectroscopy and circular dichroism analytical methods provide reliable techniques for evaluating AGE formation of HSA adducts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Since metal nanoparticles have a high surface-to-volume ratio and very active surface atoms, they are very attractive catalysts for a wide variety of organic and inorganic reactions, compared to bulk catalysts. Metal nanoparticles suspended in colloidal solutions and those adsorbed onto bulk supports have been used as catalysts for a wide variety of carbon-carbon bond formation reactions such as the Suzuki and Heck cross-coupling reactions. This review article highlights some of the latest advances in the application of noble metal nanoparticles as catalysts for these two industrially important classes of crosscoupling reactions. We will discuss several important advances in using metal nanocatalysts in Suzuki and Heck cross-coupling reactions such as investigations on the nanoparticle shape dependence on the catalytic activity, novel types of supported metal nanoparticles as nanocatalysts, and the use of bi-metallic, tri-metallic and multi-metallic nanoparticles as catalysts for the Suzuki and Heck cross-coupling reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The small size of nanoparticles makes them attractive in catalysis due to their large surfaceto-volume ratio. However, being small raises questions about their stability in the harsh chemical environment in which these nanoparticles find themselves during their catalytic function. In the present work, we studied the Suzuki reaction between phenylboronic acid and iodobenzene catalyzed by PVP-Pd nanoparticles to investigate the effect of catalysis, recycling, and the different individual chemicals on the stability and catalytic activity of the nanoparticles during this harsh reaction. The stability of the nanoparticles to the different perturbations is assessed using TEM, and the changes in the catalytic activity are assessed using HPLC analysis of the product yield. It was found that the process of refluxing the nanoparticles for 12 h during the Suzuki catalytic reaction increases the average size and the width of the distribution of the nanoparticles. This was attributed to Ostwald ripening in which the small nanoparticles dissolve to form larger nanoparticles. The kinetics of the change in the nanoparticle size during the 12 h period show that the nanoparticles increase in size during the beginning of the reaction and level off toward the end of the first cycle. When the nanoparticles are recycled for the second cycle, the average size decreases. This could be due to the larger nanoparticles aggregating and precipitating out of solution. This process could also explain the observed loss of the catalytic efficiency of the nanoparticles during the second cycle. It is also found that the addition of biphenyl to the reaction mixture results in it poisoning the active sites and giving rise to a low product yield. The addition of excess PVP stabilizer to the reaction mixture seems to lead to the stability of the nanoparticle surface and size, perhaps due to the inhibition of the Ostwald ripening process. This also decreases the catalytic efficiency of the... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a novel and up-to-date way of making photometry measurements in general physics laboratories. Benefits to physics teachers; Procedure used in making a photometry measurements.

We report the use of gold nanorods as solution-based SERS substrates for the detection of ultralow-levels of three different dithiocarbamate fungicides: thiram, ferbam and ziram. Gold nanorods are attractive to use as SERS substrates due to the ability to tune the surface plasmon resonance of the nanoparticles to the laser excitation wavelength of the Raman spectrometer equipped with a 785 nm diode laser. The gold nanorods are synthesized using a seed-mediated growth method and characterized using UV-Visible spectroscopy, zeta potential, and TEM. The gold nanorods have an aspect ratio of 2.19 ± 0.21 and have an average length of 37.81 ± 4.83 nm. SERS spectra are acquired at different concentrations of each fungicide and calibration curves are obtained by monitoring the intensity of the band arising from the ν(C-N) stretching mode coupled to the symmetric δ(CH(3)) motion. The limits of detection and limits of quantitation are obtained for each fungicide. The limits of detection are 11.00 ± 0.95 nM, 8.00 ± 1.01 nM, and 4.20 ± 1.22 nM for thiram, ferbam, and ziram respectively. The limits of quantitation are 34.43 ± 0.95 nM, 25.61 ± 1.01 nM, and 12.94 ± 1.22 nM for thiram, ferbam, and ziram respectively. It can be seen that the three different dithiocarbamates can be detected in the low nM range based on the limits of detection that are achieved.

We report the use of two different sizes of dogbone shaped gold nanoparticles as colloidal substrates for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based detection of ultra-low levels of thiram, a dithiocarbamate fungicide. We demonstrate the ability to use a solution based, direct readout SERS method as a quantitative tool for the detection of ultra-low levels of thiram. The two different sizes of dogbone shaped gold nanoparticles are synthesized by using the seed-mediated growth method and characterized by using UV-visible spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The smaller dogbone shaped nanoparticles have an average size of 43 ± 13 nm. The larger dogbone shaped gold nanoparticles have an average size of 65 ± 15 nm. The nanoparticle concentration is 1.25 × 10(11) nanoparticles per mL for the smaller dogbone shaped gold nanoparticles and is 1.13 × 10(11) nanoparticles per mL for the larger dogbone shaped gold nanoparticles. Different concentrations of thiram are allowed to bind to the two different sizes of dogbone shaped gold nanoparticles and the SERS spectra are obtained. From the calibration curve, the limit of detection for thiram is 43.9 ± 6.2 nM when the smaller dogbone shaped gold nanoparticles are used as colloidal SERS substrates In the case of the larger dogbone shaped gold nanoparticles, the limit of detection for thiram is 11.8 ± 3.2 nM. The lower limit of detection obtained by using the larger dogbone shaped gold nanoparticles as colloidal substrates is due to the lightning rod effect, higher contributions from the electromagnetic enhancement effect, and larger number of surface sites for thiram to bind.

Bioanalytical science is experiencing a period of unprecedented growth. Drivers behind this growth include the need to detect markers central to human and veterinary diagnostics at ever-lower levels and greater speeds. A set of parallel arguments applies to pathogens with respect to bioterrorism prevention and food and water safety. This tutorial review outlines our recent explorations on the use of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for detection of proteins, viruses, and microorganisms in heterogeneous immunoassays. It will detail the design and fabrication of the assay platform, including the capture substrate and nanoparticle-based labels. The latter, which is the cornerstone of our strategy, relies on the construction of gold nanoparticles modified with both an intrinsically strong Raman scatterer and an antibody. This labelling motif, referred to as extrinsic Raman labels (ERLs), takes advantage of the well-established signal enhancement of scatterers when coated on nanometre-sized gold particles, whereas the antibody imparts antigenic specificity. We will also examine the role of plasmon coupling between the ERLs and capture substrate, and challenges related to particle stability, nonspecific adsorption, and assay speed.

Raman studies are conducted to understand the specific interactions between the individual reactants and the platinum nanoparticle surface during the nanocatalyzed electron transfer reaction between hexacyanoferrate (III) ions and thiosulfate ions. When Pt nanoparticles are added to the thiosulfate ion solution, a shift in the symmetric SS stretching mode is observed compared to the frequency observed for the free thiosulfate ions in solution, suggesting that binding to the Pt nanoparticle surface occurs via the S- ion. It is also observed that there are no shifts in the symmetric and asymmetric OSO bending or SO stretching frequencies. This suggests that the thiosulfate ions do not bind to the nanoparticle surface via the O- ion. When platinum nanoparticles are added to the hexacyanoferrate(III) ion solution, evidence is found for both adsorbed hexacyanoferrate(III) ions and a platinum cyanide complex. For adsorbed hexacyanoferrate(III) ions, the CN stretching frequency is observed at 2101 cm(-1) and the Fe-C stretching frequency is found at 368 cm(-1). The observed CN stretching frequencies located at 2147 and 2167 cm(-1) provide strong evidence that there is a Pt(CN)4(2-) platinum cyanide complex formed. In addition, the Pt-CN band is also observed at 2054 cm(-1). These observed bands provide spectroscopic evidence that the hexacyanoferrate(III) ions dissolve by forming a complex with the surface platinum atoms of the nanoparticles. Raman spectra of the product mixtures are obtained after the completion of the reaction when carried out with higher reactant concentrations to observe the Raman spectra, but with a similar 10:1 ratio of thiosulfate to hexacyanoferrate(III) ions as used previously, with and without PVP-Pt nanoparticles at a correspondingly higher concentration. It is observed that there are no shifts in the characteristic Raman bands associated with hexacyanoferrate(II) ions and no evidence for the formation of adsorbed hexacyanoferrate(II) species or platinum cyanide complexes in the presence of the platinum nanoparticles. In addition, there is evidence for the shifted symmetric SS stretching mode, suggesting that some of the unreacted thiosulfate (present in large excess) is bound to the Pt nanoparticle surface. Thus, under the actual reaction conditions, the hexacyanoferrate(III) ions preferentially react with adsorbed thiosulfate ions to form the reaction products, and this supports the surface catalytic mechanism we proposed previously.

Dominantly tetrahedral shaped poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-platinum (PVP-Pt) nanoparticles are shown to catalyze the Suzuki reaction between phenylboronic acid and iodobenzene but are not as active as the spherical palladium nanoparticles studied previously. The dominantly tetrahedral PVP-Pt nanoparticles (55 +/- 4% regular tetrahedral, 22 +/- 2% distorted tetrahedral, and 23 +/- 2% spherical nanoparticles) are synthesized by using the hydrogen reduction method. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results show that a transformation of shape from tetrahedral to spherical Pt nanoparticles takes place 3 h into the first cycle of the reaction. After the first cycle, the spherical nanoparticles have a similar size distribution to that of the tetrahedral nanoparticles before the reaction and the observed shape distribution is 18 +/-6% regular tetrahedral, 28 +/- 5% distorted tetrahedral, and 54 +/- 5% spherical nanoparticles. After the second cycle of the Suzuki reaction, the shape distribution is 13 +/- 5% regular tetrahedral, 24 +/- 5% distorted tetrahedral, and 63 +/- 7% spherical nanoparticles. After the second cycle, the transformed spherical nanoparticles continue to grow, and this could be due to the strong capping action of the higher molecular weight PVP (M(w) = 360 000), which makes the nanoparticles more resistant to aggregation and precipitation, unlike the Pd nanoparticles capped with the lower molecular weight PVP (M(w) = 40 000) used previously. The transformation in shape also occurs when the nanoparticles are refluxed in the presence of the solvent, sodium acetate, and iodobenzene and results in spherical nanoparticles with a similar size distribution to that of the tetrahedral nanoparticles before any perturbations. However, in the presence of phenylboronic acid, the regular tetrahedral nanoparticles remain dominant (51 +/- 6%) and maintain their size. These results support our previous studies in which we proposed that phenylboronic acid binds to the nanoparticle surface and thus acts as a capping agent for the particle and reacts with the iodobenzene. Recycling the nanoparticles results in a drastic reduction of the catalytic activity, and this must be due to the transformation of shape from the dominantly tetrahedral to the larger dominantly spherical nanoparticles. This also supports results in the literature that show that spherical platinum nanoparticles do not catalyze this reaction.