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n‐peri‐Acenes (n‐PAs) have gained interest as model systems of zigzag‐edged graphene nanoribbons for potential applications in nanoelectronics and spintronics. However, the synthesis of n‐PAs larger than peri‐tetracene remains challenging because of their intrinsic open‐shell character and high reactivity. Presented here is the synthesis of a hitherto unknown n‐PA, that is, peri‐heptacene (7‐PA), in which the reactive zigzag edges are kinetically protected with eight 4‐tBu‐C6H4 groups. The formation of 7‐PA is validated by high‐resolution mass spectrometry and in situ FT‐Raman spectroscopy. 7‐PA displays a narrow optical energy gap of 1.01 eV and exhibits persistent stability (t 1/2≈25 min) under inert conditions. Moreover, electron‐spin resonance measurements and theoretical studies reveal that 7‐PA exhibits an open‐shell feature and a significant tetraradical character. This strategy could be considered a modular approach for the construction of next‐generation (3 N+1)‐PAs (where N≥3)., The synthesis of the hitherto unknown peri‐heptacene 7‐PA is demonstrated by a rational molecular design strategy in which the reactive zigzag edges are kinetically protected. The formation of 7‐PA is validated by high‐resolution mass spectrometry and in situ FT‐Raman spectroscopy. The open‐shell 7‐PA displays a narrow optical energy gap of 1.01 eV and exhibits a persistent stability (half‐life ≈25 min) under inert conditions.

Nanographenes (NGs) with tunable electronic and magnetic properties have attracted enormous attention in the realm of carbon-based nanoelectronics. In particular, NGs with biradical character at the ground state are promising building units for molecular spintronics. However, most of the biradicaloids are susceptible to oxidation under ambient conditions and photolytic degradation, which hamper their further applications. Herein, we demonstrated the feasibility of tuning the magnetic properties of zigzag-edged NGs in order to enhance their stability via the controlled Diels-Alder reactions of peri-tetracene (4-PA). The unstable 4-PA (y0 =0.72; half-life, t1/2 =3 h) was transformed into the unprecedented benzo-peri-tetracenes (BPTs) by a one-side Diels-Alder reaction, which featured a biradical character at the ground state (y0 =0.60) and exhibited remarkable stability under ambient conditions for several months. In addition, the fully zigzag-edged circumanthracenes (CAs) were achieved by two-fold or stepwise Diels-Alder reactions of 4-PA, in which the magnetic properties could be controlled by employing the corresponding dienophiles. Our work reported herein opens avenues for the synthesis of novel zigzag-edged NGs with tailor-made magnetic properties.

A series of pyran based Donor-π-Acceptor (D-π-A) systems have been synthesized and used as sensitizer in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC), in which phenothiazine (PH), triphenylamine (TPA), methoxy phenyl amino styryl (ATPA), diethyl aniline (EA) and carbazole (CA) were used as electron donors and barbituric acid as electron acceptor. The optical, electrochemical, theoretical and photovoltaic studies are carried out. The devise with PHPBA as sensitizer achieved the highest solar energy-to-electricity conversion efficiency (η) of 1.16%.

The synthesis of heterogeneous supported sensitizers has gained much attention in recent times and has found various applications in areas including photosensitized disinfection of waste water, taking into account their advantages over the homogeneous photosensitizers. Among the heterogeneous sensitizers, silica gel supported organic dyes have received great attention. In this paper we report the synthesis of heterogeneous supported sensitizers in which triazatriangulenium cation is covalently anchored on silica. The singlet oxygen sensitization capability of the triazatriangulenium-silica composites was monitored using the singlet oxygen probe disodium-9, 10-anthracenedipropionic acid (ADPA). The study of disinfection of water containing pathogenic bacteria was also carried out to determine the effectiveness of the prepared triazatriangulenium-silica composites for the waste water treatment. All the four types of synthesized triazatriangulenium-silica composites produced singlet oxygen, as it is evident from the photobleaching of singlet oxygen probe ADPA. The results of the disinfection studies using the four types of prepared triazatriangulenium-silica composites shows that these materials are effective in the killing of bacterial pathogens when used with light.

The 2011 Joplin, Missouri, tornado was one of the deadliest and costliest tornadoes in US history, damaging approximately 8,000 structures and causing more than $2 billion in economic damag...

Phototropins, the UVA-blue light photoreceptors, endow plants to detect the direction of light and optimize photosynthesis by regulating chloroplasts positioning and stomatal gas exchange. Little is known about their functions in other developmental responses. A tomato Non-phototropic seedling1 (Nps1) mutant, bearing an Arg495His substitution in the vicinity of LOV2 domain in phototropin1, dominant-negatively blocks phot1 and phot2 responses. The fruits of Nps1 mutant were enriched in carotenoids, particularly lycopene, than its parent, Ailsa Craig. Contrarily, CRISPR/CAS9-edited loss of function phototropin1 mutants displayed subdued carotenoids than the parent. The enrichment of carotenoids in Nps1 fruits is genetically linked with the mutation and exerted in a dominant-negative fashion. Nps1 also altered volatile profiles with high levels of lycopene-derived 6-methyl 5-hepten2-one. The transcript levels of several MEP and carotenogenesis pathways genes were upregulated in Nps1. Nps1 fruits showed altered hormonal profiles with subdued ethylene emission and reduced respiration. Proteome profiles showed a causal link between higher carotenogenesis and increased levels of protein protection machinery, which may stabilize proteins contributing to MEP and carotenogenesis pathways. Given the enhancement of carotenoid content by Nps1 in a dominant-negative fashion, it offers a potential tool for high lycopene-bearing hybrid tomatoes.One-sentence summaryA dominant-negative phototropin1 mutation enhances carotenoid levels, alters metabolite homeostasis, and protein quality control machinery in tomato fruits.

Organic radical monolayers (r-MLs) bonded to metal surfaces are potential materials for the development of molecular (spin)electronics. Typically, stable radicals bearing surface anchoring groups are used to generate r-MLs. Following a recent theoretical proposal based on a model system, we report the first experimental realization of a metal surface-induced r-ML, where a rationally chosen closed-shell precursor 3,5-dichloro-4-[bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)methylen]cyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-one (1) transforms into a stable neutral open-shell species (1•) via chemisorption on the Ag(111) surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that the >C═O group of 1 reacts with the surface, forming a C–O–Ag linkage that induces an electronic rearrangement that transforms 1 to 1•. We further show that surface reactivity is an important factor in this process whereby Au(111) is inert towards 1, whereas the Cu(111) surface leads to dehalogenation reactions. The radical nature of the Ag(111)-bound monolayer was further confirmed by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and electronic structure calculations, which provide evidence of the emergence of the singly occupied molecular orbital (SOMO) of 1•., This work was funded by ERC StG 2012-306826 e-GAMES, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the program Interreg V-A España-Francia-Andorra (contract no. EFA 194/16 TNSI), the Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials, and Nanomedicine (CIBERBBN), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO/FEDER) through projects FANCY CTQ2016-80030-R, RTI2018-095460-B-I00 and MAT2016-78293-C6-2-R, the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0496 and SEV-2017-0706), and the “Maria de Maeztu” program for Spanish Structures of Excellence (MDM-2017-0767). This research was also supported in part by Generalitat de Catalunya (grants 2017SGR13 and 2017SGR918). Computational time was provided by through grants from the Red Española de Supercomputacion. I.A. acknowledges the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion Cultura y Deporte for an FPU Ph.D. scholarship, and F.I. acknowledges additional support from a 2015 ICREA Academia Award. This research was also funded by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. C.M. was supported by the Agency for Management of University and Research grants (AGAUR) of the Catalan government through the FP7 framework program of the European Commission under Marie Curie COFUND action 600385.

This paper seeks to calibrate an existing analytical framework to develop building repair fragility models using a restoration dataset collected through a longitudinal field study in the ci...

Background The health burden in developing world informal settlements often coincides with a lack of spatial data that could be used to guide intervention strategies. Spatial video (SV) has proven to be a useful tool to collect environmental and social data at a granular scale, though the effort required to turn these spatially encoded video frames into maps limits sustainability and scalability. In this paper we explore the use of convolution neural networks (CNN) to solve this problem by automatically identifying disease related environmental risks in a series of SV collected from Haiti. Our objective is to determine the potential of machine learning in health risk mapping for these environments by assessing the challenges faced in adequately training the required classification models. Results We show that SV can be a suitable source for automatically identifying and extracting health risk features using machine learning. While well-defined objects such as drains, buckets, tires and animals can be efficiently classified, more amorphous masses such as trash or standing water are difficult to classify. Our results further show that variations in the number of image frames selected, the image resolution, and combinations of these can be used to improve the overall model performance. Conclusion Machine learning in combination with spatial video can be used to automatically identify environmental risks associated with common health problems in informal settlements, though there are likely to be variations in the type of data needed for training based on location. Success based on the risk type being identified are also likely to vary geographically. However, we are confident in identifying a series of best practices for data collection, model training and performance in these settings. We also discuss the next step of testing these findings in other environments, and how adding in the simultaneously collected geographic data could be used to create an automatic health risk mapping tool.

Presented here is a comprehensive study of highly oxidized multiple‐decker complexes composed of TbIII and CdII ions and two to five phthalocyaninato ligands, which are stabilized by electron‐donating n‐butoxy groups. From X‐ray structural analyses, all the complexes become axially compressed upon ligand oxidation, resulting in bowl‐shaped distortions of the ligands. In addition, unusual coexistence of square antiprism and square prism geometries around metal ions was observed in +4e charged species. From paramagnetic 1H NMR studies on the resulting series of triple, quadruple and quintuple‐decker complexes, ligand oxidation leads to a decrease in the magnetic anisotropy, as predicted from theoretical calculations. Unusual paramagnetic shifts were observed in the spectra of the +2e charged quadruple and quintuple‐decker complexes, indicating that those two species are actually unexpected triplet biradicals. Magnetic measurements revealed that the series of complexes show single‐molecule magnet properties, which are controlled by the multi‐step redox induced structural changes., This work was financially supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP14J02656 (Y.H.), JP20225003 (M.Y.), JP15K05467 (K.K.), JP24750119 (K.K.), 18K14242 (Y.H.), 19K05401(Y.K), Tohoku University Molecule & Material Synthesis Platform in Nanotechnology Platform Project, CREST, JST JPMJCR12L3 (M.Y.), PhD scholarship from the Beilstein‐Institut zur Förderung der Chemischen Wissenschaften (M.D.), the German‐Japanese University Consortium (HeKKSaGOn), the state of Baden‐Württemberg through bwHPC and the German Research Foundation (DFG) through grant no INST 40/467‐1 FUGG (JUSTUS cluster), European Union (ERC StG 2012–306826 e‐GAMES), Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials, and Nanomedicine (CIBER‐BBN), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (projects FANCY CTQ2016‐80030‐R, MOTHER MAT2016‐80826‐R and the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D, SEV‐2015‐0496), Generalitat de Catalunya (2017SGR918), 111 Project (B18030) from China (M.Y.), the scientific grants R‐143‐000‐A80‐114, R‐143‐000‐A65‐133 from the National University of Singapore. We thank Dr. Norihisa Hoshino for EPR measurements, Dr. Tetsuko Nakaniwa and Prof. Dr. Genji Kurisu and Dr. Takefumi Yoshida for SCXRD measurements. This paper is Contribution No. 62 from the Research Center for Thermal and Entropic Science.

The first successful Buchwald–Hartwig reaction at the naphthalenediimide core is reported, leading to the coupling of diverse secondary aromatic amines including dendritic donors. The G1-dendrimer-based donor exhibit blackish color, providing access to black absorbing systems. λonset values up to 1070 nm was achieved, which is the maximum from a single NDI scaffold. These dyes also manifest multielectron reservoir properties. A total of eight-redox states with a band gap of ∼0.95 eV was accomplished.

We report a new class of multi-electron acceptors by integrating for the first time multiple π-cations at the naphthalenediimide-core. These polyions present a remarkably low-lying LUMO with water stability, seven-redox states in a narrow window of ∼1 V and excellent reversibility. Extended conjugation is manifest in mixed valence states with NIR absorption. X-ray crystallography revealed appealing multiple anion-π interactions.

Data from the American Community Survey (ACS) provides a wealth of information useful for learning more about social determinants of health and their spatial distributions within a defined region. Although available data includes quantified indicators of uncertainty in aggregated location-specific estimates for a range of variables, this uncertainty is often ignored, the consequences of which may include estimate bias and reduced statistical power. Fortunately, the measurement error literature provides a range of useful tools for handling such error. We propose and demonstrate a new application of existing, well-supported measurement error models to spatial regression models. We show that the existing solution of ignoring the measurement error inherent in these data precludes precise effect estimation and that straightforward modifications to traditional estimators can be made to correct for this error. We intend for this work to establish the basic principles of error correction in spatial data and a new method for applying corrected regression estimators to such data.

Anaerobic microbial communities in the anoxic zones degrade organic matter in estuarine sediments. Thermodynamic energy yield for the oxidation reactions with various electron acceptors decreases in the order of O2> NO3- > Mn4+> Fe3+> SO42- > CO2. The predominant terminal electron accepting (TEA) process has an influence on the biogeochemical cycles of nutrients as well as the production of important greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide and methane from estuarine sediments. The research questions of this study were (1) what are the environmental factors (pH, salinity, organic carbon, sulphate, redox potential) explaining variability in TEA activities such as nitrate reduction rate (NRR), iron reduction rate (IRR), sulphate reduction rate (SRR) and methane production rate (MPR) and (2) which is the predominant TEA process during degradation of organic matter. To determine the TEA activities, sediment samples collected from 13 sampling stations of Ashtamudi estuary during monsoon 2014 and summer 2015 were incubated with sulphate depleted artificial seawater, under anaerobic conditions for 72 h, in microcosms. Spatial variations dominated temporal variations for environmental variables. Nevertheless, biogeochemical processes showed a distinct seasonal variation. Total TEA activity was higher during summer than monsoon, indicating the higher heterotrophic microbial activity favored by high temperature. Individually, SRR was the maximum during summer, while NRR, IRR and MPR were the maximum during monsoon. Sulphate reduction was observed to be the predominant electron accepting process in all sampling stations with cumulative values of 3125.79 and 4046.07 nmol cm-3 day-1 during monsoon and summer respectively. This was followed by NRR, IRR and MPR. Although thermodynamically more favorable, NRR could not predominate due to scarcity of nitrate in sediments. Nevertheless, two-fold and five-fold increase in methanogenesis and denitrification were observed respectively during monsoon in sampling stations, which cannot be ignored, owing to the importance of methane and nitrous oxide as a potent greenhouse gas.

Plant density and optimum fertilization are two important agronomic practices to enhance productivity of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) varieties. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of high density planting (HDPS) and fertilization rate, especially their interactions, on yield, yield components of cotton varieties in sub-tropical India. Split-split plot design was adopted and replicated thrice. The main plots were assigned to low, medium and high plant densities (16.7, 13.3 and 11.1 plants/m2). Pre released cotton varieties TCH-1705 and LH-2298 were tested in low, moderate and high rates of fertilizers recommended for the region (100, 125 and 150 %) in sub-sub plots. Significantly higher seed cotton yield (1148 kg/ha) was achieved in narrow inter row spaced at 60 cm over normal plant row spacing of 90 cm (1025 kg/ha). Compact genotype TCH-1705 was out yielded (1146 kg/ha) over LH 2298(1044 kg/ha). Application of fertilizers at higher rate improved seed cotton yield (1232 kg/ha) Leaf area index (3.8) and light interception (0.98) over blanket recommendation. The results of the study inferred that seed cotton yield improvement was possible under HDPS production system with compact varieties grown at narrow spacing and higher fertilizer dose.

A family of geophysical lineaments have been identified in ∼15,000 km 2 in central Kerala between 9°30′N to 10°45′N and 76°00′E to 77°30′E, integrating geophysical data with geological and geomorphological features. The characteristics of these lineaments in the magnetic and gravity fields and their derivatives have been analysed. The evolution of the lineaments has been traced to the temporal phases of global evolution of the region. A group of these faults have formed by reactivation of the deep-seated distensional fractures associated with and accompanying dyke emplacements during the episodic breakup of Gondwana at ∼90 and 65 Ma under distinctive mantle thermal regimes. It is possible that reactivation of these distensional faults may have started during the cooling interval of time between the two distensions in the 90 and 65 Ma and post 65 Ma periods and later in the Cenozoic, when the lineaments were enlarged to their present dimension, possibly under the influence of forces that led to the uplift of the western Ghats. These may extend down to the crust-mantle interface. A cluster of younger geophysical lineaments has been generated by reactivation along the weak planes of transformation of the charnockitic rocks of the Precambrian. They seem to have a strike-slip character. They are devoid of any dyke association and were formed on a cold crust. They may be confined to the upper-middle crust. They were generated in the high intensity intra-plate palaeo-stress fields of the triple forces arising from (1) the back-thrust from the Himalayan Collision; (2) the impact of epeirogenic forces and related isostatic uplift of the Western Ghats and (3) the flexural isostatic uplifts due to surface loads of late Mesozoic basaltic lavas and Cenozoic sedimentation in the coastal rifted basins in late Cenozoic, probably in the time span of 20 Ma to the present, when the palaeostress fields were most intense.

Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid and White) Chitwood a calamitous plant pathogen affects almost all the commercial crops, especially medicinal plants viz. Bacopa monnieri L. In this study, the efficacy of indigenous chitinolytic microbes against M. incognita in B. monnieri was evaluated under sterilised and natural soil conditions. The plant growth was observed for various parameters viz. nutrient uptake, phytochemical activities and secondary metabolites (bacoside). In the natural soil under green house conditions, the isolates significantly (P ≤ 0.05) reduced M. incognita infestation (1.38–2.78-folds) with significant increase in secondary metabolites (1.28–1.88-fold) over the untreated control. The potential strains were identified through 16S-rRNA as Streptomyces sp., Microbacterium arabinogalactanolyticum, Cellulosimicrobium cellulans, Actinomycetales bacterium, Chitiniphilus sp. and Flavobacterium johnsoniae. These findings thus highlight the potential of indigenous chitinolytic microbes that can be utilised for overall fitness of the plant along with the reduced root-knot nematode infestation in B. monnieri.

Sewage sludge used as agriculture fertilizers contains a conspicuous amount of potentially toxic metals. In order to prevent the contamination in the food chain, there is an urgent need for the development of sewage sludge clean up technology. The use of non-food, multi-harvest aromatic crops for phytoremediation of sewage sludge has many benefits. Besides the eco-friendly approach, plant biomass generated can be used to extract economically important essential oil free of heavy metals. Cymbopogon martinii was grown in soil (s) amended with different ratios of sewage sludge (ss), that is, 100s:0ss (control), 80s:20ss, 60s:40ss, 40s:60ss, 20s:80ss, and 0s:100ss. The experiment was conducted in a plastic sack under an open environment for 1 year and harvesting was done thrice. Plant growth and essential oil yield were significantly increased with the increasing dose of sewage sludge. Accumulation of toxic metal (Cd, Cr, Pb, Ni) and micronutrient (Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn) increased significantly in the shoot tissues confirmed by estimation of bioaccumulation and bioconcentration, and scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microanalyses. Soil enzyme activities were significantly improved with the plant growth period and increased doses of sludge. Results showed C. martinii acts as hyper-accumulator and thus could be used for phytoremediation of sewage sludge.

A molecular chameleon, having D-π-A architecture with phenothiazine donor and rhodanine-3-acetic acid acceptor (PRAA) was synthesized and demonstrated its use as a fluorescent sensor to toxic metals ions. PRAA is highly selective and sensitive to Ag+, Hg2+ and Pb2+ ions and its selectivity can be tuned by solvent polarity. The chameleonic behavior is attributed to the intramolecular charge transfer and variation in the electron density at the ligand atom as a function of solvent polarity. The mechanism of binding and the stoichiometry of interaction is established by experimental and theoretical methods. How PRAA can be used as a probe in aqueous solutions for the detection of Ag+ and Hg2+ ions by using an anionic surfactant medium is convincingly established.

Indium selenide (γ-In 2 Se 3 ) crystals have been grown by the closed tube sublimation process in the absence of seed crystals and chemical transporting agents. The composition, structure and morphology of the samples grown under different vacuum conditions were examined by energy dispersive analysis, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscope. Structural features of the crystals obtained in a vacuum of 10 −3 mbar exhibited a few reflections not belonging to γ phase, whereas X-ray diffraction spectra of the crystals deposited under a vacuum of 10 −6 mbar revealed evidence of sharp peaks with high intensities of γ-In 2 Se 3 crystalline phase. When growth runs were performed for 72 h, voids were observed on the surface whereas for a duration of 120 h, platelet crystals were obtained. Optical properties of these samples were investigated using the FT-IR and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The average transmittance of the platelets in the visible and near infrared region of solar spectrum was found to be ∼81% and an optical band gap of ∼2.05 eV was computed from the transmission spectrum. Photoluminescence spectra of the grown In 2 Se 3 crystals recorded at room temperature using an excitation laser of wavelength 355 nm showed a peak in the near band edge emission (NBE) corresponding to an energy of 2.01 eV. Under an illumination power of 12 mW/cm 2 , the photocurrent increased linearly with applied voltage and the dark current was found to be ~2.5×10 −9 A for 10 V. These results suggest that the as-grown γ-In 2 Se 3 platelets crystallized from vapor deposition, possess superior optoelectronic properties than the other phases for solar cell applications.

Andrographolide and neoandrographolide are major bioactive molecules of Andrographis paniculata, a well-known medicinal plant. These molecules exhibited varying degrees of anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities in-vitro and in-vivo. Role of begomovirus protein C2/TrAP in biosynthesis of andrographolide was identified through molecular modeling, docking and predicted results were substantiated by in vitro studies. Homology molecular modeling and molecular docking were performed to study the binding conformations and different bonding behaviors, in order to reveal the possible mechanism of action behind higher accumulation of andrographolide. It was concluded that C2/TrAP inhibit the activation of SNF1-Related Protein Kinase-1 (SnRK1) in terpenoid pathway and removes the negative regulation of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) by SnRK1, leading to higher accumulation of andrographolide and neoandrographolide in begomovirus infected plants. The binding site residues of SnRK1 docked with C2/TrAP were found to be associated with ATP binding site, substrate binding site and activation loop. Predicted results were also validated by HPTLC. This study provides important insights into understanding the role of viral protein in altering the regulation of biosynthesis of andrographolide and could be used in future research to develop biomimetic methods for increasing the production of such phytometabolites having anti-cancerous and anti-inflammatory properties.

Homogeneous and stoichiometric samples of InBi1−xSbx (x = 0, 0.1) crystals have been directionally solidified to explore their suitability for optoelectronic applications. Prior to the growth, the temperature distribution of an indigenously fabricated horizontal furnace has been analysed and optimized to conduct the growth experiments on the basis of phase diagram of the material. Systematic trials have been carried out for several growth runs (48, 60 and 72 h) by maintaining an axial temperature gradient of 4, 6 and 8 °C/cm with the aid of a temperature controller mechanism. The key parameters governing the growth mechanism, composition, phase, and structure of the grown InBi1−xSbx crystals were investigated via X-ray diffraction, scanning electron and atomic force microscopy, Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The presence of secondary phases was ruled out and the average congruent melting points of InBi and InBi0.9Sb0.1 samples were confirmed as 109.43 and 121.13 °C respectively, by employing differential scanning calorimetric analysis. Investigations on the optical, electrical and mechanical properties of these materials were carried out. Vickers microhardness was found to increase with the Sb incorporation. The average optical band gap computed from the IR transmission spectra was found to be 0.165 eV. The results obtained promise that InBi1−xSbx crystals grown by directional solidification are favourable candidates than those grown by other melt methods.

Objective: The aim of present study was to establish near infrared-chemometric methods that could be effectively used for quality profiling through identification and quantification of amoxicillin (AMOX) in formulated capsule which were similar to commercial products. In order to evaluate a large number of market products easily and quickly, these methods were modeled. Materials and Methods: Thermo Scientific Antaris II near infrared analyzer with TQ Analyst Chemometric Software were used for the development and validation of the identification and quantification models. Several AMOX formulations were composed with four excipients microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate, croscarmellose sodium and colloidal silicon dioxide. Development includes quadratic mixture formulation design, near infrared spectrum acquisition, spectral pretreatment and outlier detection. According to prescribed guidelines by International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) and European Medicine Agency (EMA) developed methods were validated in terms of specificity, accuracy, precision, linearity, and robustness. Results: On diffuse reflectance mode, an identification model based on discriminant analysis was successfully processed with 76 formulations; and same samples were also used for quantitative analysis using partial least square algorithm with four latent variables and 0.9937 correlation of coefficient followed by 2.17% root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC), 2.38% root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP), 2.43% root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV). Conclusion: Proposed model established a good relationship between the spectral information and AMOX identity as well as content. Resulted values show the performance of the proposed models which offers alternate choice for AMOX capsule evaluation, relative to that of well-established high-performance liquid chromatography method. Ultimately three commercial products were successfully evaluated using developed methods.

Zinc Oxide thin films are deposited on the glass substrate of different concentration of zinc and their effect on the structural and morphological properties were investigated. Zinc acetate dehydrate, di-ethanolamine and ethanol were used as the precursor, stabilizer and solvent respectively. A molar ratio of 1:1 is maintained between Di-ethanolamine to Zinc acetate. XRD was used to analyze the crystal structure and orientation of the films. The patterns in the XRD show that the ZnO films were polycrystalline with wurtzite hexagonal structure. The ZnO thin film with 0.75M concentration has the better crystalanity as in intrinsic nature a constituent atoms, ions or molecules will be in definite arrangement. The surface morphology of the ZnO thin film was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The SEM images show that they are homogenous, continuous and spindle like shape. Multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) thin film was deposited on a glass substrate and their effects on structural and morphological properties were investigated. MWCNT was dissolved in Di-Methyl Formamide. Using scanning electron microscope (SEM) surface morphology of MWCNT thin film was observed.

Zigzag-edged nanographene with two rows of fused linear acenes, called as n-peri-acene (n-PA), is considered as a potential building unit in the arena of organic electronics. n-PAs with four (peri-tetracene, 4-PA), five (peri-pentacene, 5-PA) or more benzene rings in a row have been predicted to show open-shell character, which would be attractive for the development of unprecedented molecular spintronics. However, solution-based synthesis of open-shell n-PA has thus far not been successful because of the poor chemical stability. Herein we demonstrated the synthesis and characterization of the hitherto unknown 4-PA by a rational strategy in which steric protection of the zigzag edges playing a pivotal role. The obtained 4-PA possesses a singlet biradical character (y0 = 72%) and exhibits remarkable persistent stability with a half-life time (t1/2) of ∼3 h under ambient conditions. UV–vis–NIR and electrochemical measurements reveal a narrow optical/electrochemical energy gap (1.11 eV) for 4-PA. Moreover, t...

With social media becoming increasingly location-based, there has been a greater push from researchers across various domains including social science, public health, and disaster management, to tap in the spatial, temporal, and textual data available from these sources to analyze public response during extreme events such as an epidemic outbreak or a natural disaster. Studies based on demographics and other socio-economic factors suggests that social media data could be highly skewed based on the variations of population density with respect to place. To capture the spatio-temporal variations in public response during extreme events we have developed the Socio-Environmental Data Explorer (SEDE). SEDE collects and integrates social media, news and environmental data to support exploration and assessment of public response to extreme events. For this study, using SEDE, we conduct spatio-temporal social media response analysis on four major extreme events in the United States including the “North American storm complex” in December 2015, the “snowstorm Jonas” in January 2016, the “West Virginia floods” in June 2016, and the “Hurricane Matthew” in October 2016. Analysis is conducted on geo-tagged social media data from Twitter and warnings from the storm events database provided by National Centers For Environmental Information (NCEI) for analysis. Results demonstrate that, to support complex social media analyses, spatial and population-based normalization and filtering is necessary. The implications of these results suggests that, while developing software solutions to support analysis of non-conventional data sources such as social media, it is quintessential to identify the inherent biases associated with the data sources, and adapt techniques and enhance capabilities to mitigate the bias. The normalization strategies that we have developed and incorporated to SEDE will be helpful in reducing the population bias associated with social media data and will be useful for researchers and decision makers to enhance their analysis on spatio-temporal social media responses during extreme events.

In this work, the deposition of a persistent organic radical by thermal evaporation on gold, platinum and graphene is performed. The impact of the deposition parameters and the nature of the substrate on the molecular organization within the deposited film are investigated. The non-planarity of the molecule and the role of the molecule-molecule and molecule-substrate interactions are discussed. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy experiments demonstrate that the radical character, and hence its magnetic and redox properties, is preserved on the three surfaces. The optimized films are electrically characterized by top-contacting the film/substrate system using a liquid metal which permits to achieve a soft-contact avoiding damaging the layer. The hysteretic current versus voltage curves obtained from the electrical characterization points to the potential applicability of the studied system as an organic memory. Moreover, the demonstrated feasibility of using a liquid metal is an appealing approach towards the preparation of flexible devices., We thank Dr. Raphael Pfattner for the fruitful discussions. We thank Dr. Guillaume Sauthier from the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) for the XPS measurements. This work was supported by MINECO through the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0496) and the FUNMAT-FIP projects, the European Research Council (ERC) StG 2012-306826 e-GAMES project. The authors also thank the CIBER-BBN, the Dirección General de Investigación (DGI) (Spain) project FANCY CTQ2016-80030-R and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017-SGR-918).

This paper presents the first observational results from an Indian station on the long-term changes in surface ozone (O3)—a major environmental pollutant and green house gas—over a period of about 40 years. It is based on the in situ measurements carried out during 1973–1975, 1983–1985, 1997–1998 and 2004–2014 at the tropical coastal station, Thiruvananthapuram. From 1973 to 1997, surface O3 shows a slow increase of ~ 0.1 ppb year−1 and a faster increase of 0.4 ppb year−1 afterwards till 2009 after which it showed a levelling off till 2012 followed by a minor decrease. The highest rate of increase is observed during 2005 to 2009 (2 ppb year−1), and the overall increase from 1973 to 2012 is ~ 10 ppb. The increase in day time O3 (peak O3) is estimated as 0.42 ppb year−1 during 1997–2012 and 2.93 ppb year−1 during 2006–2012. Interestingly, the long-term trend in O3 showed seasonal dependence which is more pronounced during O3 peaking seasons (winter/summer). The observed trends were analysed in the light of the changes in NO2, a major outcome of anthropogenic activities and methane which has both natural and anthropogenic sources and also meteorological parameters. Surface O3 and NO x exhibited positive association, but with varying rate of increase of O3 for NO x 4 ppb. Methane, a precursor of O3 also showed increase in tune with O3. Unlike many other high-latitude locations, meteorology plays a significant role in the long-term trends in O3 at this tropical site with water vapour abundance and strong solar irradiance which favour photochemistry. A comparison with the corresponding changes in the satellite-retrieved tropospheric column O3 (TCO) also showed an increase of 0.03 DU year−1 during 1996–2005 which enhanced to 0.12 DU year−1 after 2005. Both surface O3 and satellite-retrieved TCO were positively correlated with daily maximum temperature, increasing at the rate of 1.54 ppb °C−1 and 1.9 DU °C−1, respectively, on yearly basis. Surface O3 is found to be negatively correlated with water vapour content (ρv) at this tropical site, but at higher levels of ρv, O3 shows a positive trend.

Thin films of the organic semiconductor meso-diphenyl tetrathia[22]annulene[2,1,2,1] (DPTTA) are prepared for the first time employing solution-based techniques to fabricate organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Homogeneous and crystalline films of this semiconductor are achieved, thanks to the synergic approach of employing blends of this material with polystyrene (PS) and the high throughput technique bar-assisted meniscus shearing (BAMS) with a hydrophobic bar. The resulting active layers exhibit state-of-the-art OFET performance with an average mobility of 1 cm2 V−1 s−1, threshold voltage close to 0 V, high on/off ratio, and sharp switch on. Furthermore, a DPTTA:PS formulation is optimized to prepare films suitable for their integration in electrolyte-gated field effect transistors operating in ultrapure water and 0.5 m NaCl aqueous solution. Such devices also reveal excellent performance with mobility values above 0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1, potentiometric sensitivity ≈200 µV, time response ≈9 ms, and long term stability in ultrapure water. Hence, this work supports the strategy of combining organic semiconductor:polymer blends with BAMS as a powerful route for achieving high performing devices, and also points out DPTTA as a highly promising material to be integrated in organic electronic devices., A.C., Q.Z. and M.R.A. equally contributed to this work. The authors thank the ERC StG2012-306826 e-GAMES project, the DGI (Spain) with project, FANCY CTQ2016-80030-R, the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014-SGR-17), the Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0496). Q.Z. acknowledges the China Scholarship Council, the National Natural Science Foundation (NSF) of China (11404266), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. XDJK2014C081). F.L. gratefully acknowledges the “Juan de la Cierva” programme. A.C. and Q.Z. are enrolled in the Materials Science PhD Program of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

In the spirit of the renewed interest in mixed stack charge-transfer (CT) crystals, made up by alternating π electron-donor and acceptor molecules, we focus attention on a forgotten donor, 1,1,4,4-tetrathiabutadiene (TTB), synthesized more than 35 years ago. We present a spectroscopic and computational characterization of the neutral TTB, and fully characterize the CT crystal with TCNQ. TTB-TCNQ is a mixed stack crystal, with limited degree of CT (about 0.1), despite TTB electron donating strength is only a little smaller than that of the famous TTF. This finding is explained by the small value of the Madelung energy, that we evaluate by a well tested computational approach., We thank the late Prof. Daniel J. Sandman for his help with the synthesis. We acknowledge the support of the EU with ERC StG2012-306826e-GAMES and of the MINECO of the Spanish Government (CTQ2016- 80030-R and SEV-2015-0496).

The functionalisation of surfaces with organic radicals, such as perchlorotriphenylmethyl (PTM) radicals or tris(2,4,6-trichloro-phenyl)methyl (TTM) radicals, is appealing for the development of molecular spintronic devices. Conventionally, organic radicals are chemisorbed to metal substrates by using long alkyl or aromatic spacers resulting in a weak spin–electron coupling between the radical and the substrate. To circumvent this problem, here we have employed a new design strategy for the fabrication of radical self-assembled monolayers (r-SAMs). This newly designed radical–anchor (R–A) molecule, a TTM based radical disulfide (1), can be easily synthesized and it was here characterized by electron spin resonance (ESR), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry (SQUID). We have succeeded in fabricating TTM based r-SAMs by using thiolate bonds (Au–S and Ag–S) where the TTM cores are only one-atom distance from the metal surface for the first time. The resultant robust 1/Au and 1/Ag r-SAMs were well characterized, and the electrochemical and the magnetic properties were unambiguously confirmed, proving the persistence of the molecular spin., This work was funded by ERC StG 2012-306826 e-GAMES. The authors also thank ITN iSwitch 642196 project, the Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), DGI (Spain) BE-WELL CTQ2013-40480- R and FANCY CTQ2016-80030-R, and Generalitat de Catalunya 2014-SGR-17. The authors also acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015- 0496). We thank Dr V. Lloveras for ESR spectroscopy characterization, Mr A. Bernab´e for MALDI-TOF measurements and Dr G. Sauthier from ICN2 for XPS and UPS measurements. We also thank Dr N. Crivillers for useful discussions. S. T. B. and I. A. acknowledge support from the Spanish MINECO grant CTQ2015-64618-R grant and, in part, by Generalitat de Catalunya grants 2014SGR97 and XRQTC. IA acknowledges the Spanish Ministerio de Educaci´on Cultura y Deporte for a FPU PhD scholarship. Access to supercomputer resources as provided through grants from the Red Espanola de Supercomputación is also acknowledged.

This paper deals with the temporal changes in the altitude distribution of tropospheric ozone (O3) based on the measurements by balloon-borne O3-sondes during 2011–2014, conducted at the tropical, coastal site Thiruvananthapuram on the south west coast of India. This is the first study from this region addressing the highly dynamic nature of tropospheric O3 profiles (in terms of their vertical structure and short-term changes) and attempting to categorise them based on 121 in-situ measured O3 profiles. The tropospheric O3 profiles could be categorised into four major groups namely (i) those with steady O3 mixing ratio (ii) with increasing mixing ratio, (iii) with mid-tropospheric enhancement and (iv) with multiple layers/laminar nature. The causative mechanisms of these different categories were examined. The observed differences in the tropospheric O3 distribution are attributed to meteorological conditions in particular the synoptic scale systems, long range transport, intrusion from stratosphere and photochemistry, most importantly, the effect of water vapour content. Water vapour and O3 showed complex dependence with positive and negative association depending on the precursor levels and availability of water vapour. The altitudinal changes in O3 also exhibited close association with those of potential temperature and equivalent potential temperature. An analysis of the seasonal characteristics of vertical distribution of tropospheric O3 also carried out along with the altitude-dependent seasonal behaviour. In general, the total column O3 estimated by the integration of O3-sonde retrieved profiles differed by about ±10% with those retrieved by satellite-based measurements. The TCO contributes to about 16% (34 DU) of the total column O3, with minimum of 9% in October and maximum of 27% on March. In general, the OMI retrievals under-estimates the O3-sonde derived TCO by 5–10 DU in all the seasons.

Microbial interference plays an imperative role in plant development and response to various stresses. However, its involvement in mitigation of oxidative stress generated by plant parasitic nematode in plants remains elusive. In the present investigation, the efficacy of microbe's viz., Chitiniphilus sp. MTN22 and Streptomyces sp. MTN14 single and in combinations was examined to mitigate oxidative stress generated by M. incognita in medicinal plant, Bacopa monnieri. Microbial combination with and without pathogen also enhanced the growth parameters along with secondary metabolites (bacoside) of B. monnieri than the pathogen inoculated control. The study showed that initially the production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was higher in dual microbes infected with pathogen which further declined over M. incognita inoculated control plants. Superoxide dismutase and free radical scavenging activity were also highest in the same treatment which was linearly related with least lipid peroxidation and root gall formation in B. monnieri under the biotic stress. Microscopic visualization of total reactive oxygen species (ROS), H2O2, superoxide radical and programmed cell death in host plant further extended our knowledge and corroborated well with the above findings. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy confirmed good microbial colonization on the host root surface around nematode penetration sites in plants treated with dual microbes under pathogenic stress. The findings offer novel insight into the mechanism adopted by the synergistic microbial strains in mitigating oxidative stress and simultaneously stimulating bacoside production under pathogenic stress.

In the last few years exciting advances have been achieved in developing printing techniques for organic semiconductors, and impressive mobility values have been reported for the resulting organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). However, not all these techniques are scalable and some of them require additional crystallization steps. This study reports on the fabrication of OFETs employing blends of four benchmark organic semiconductors with polystyrene and demonstrates that applying the same formulation and experimental conditions for printing them, highly reproducible and uniform crystalline films exhibiting high OFET performance are successfully achieved. It is noted that the mobility values achieved here are not the highest reported for the studied materials; however, they are state-of-the-art values and could be regarded as exceptional considering the low cost and fast speed of the fabrication process involved here., This work was mainly funded by the ERC StG 2012 306826 e GAMES and ERC PoC 2014 640120 LAB TECH projects. The authors also thank the Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER BBN), the DGI (Spain) project BE WELL CTQ2013 40480 R, the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014 SGR 17) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV 2015 0496). The authors would like to thank the ICTS "NANBIOSIS", more specifically to the Nanotechnology Platform, unit of CIBER BBN at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) for their assistance in ToF SIMS analyses. I. T. acknowledges FPU fellowship from the Ministery and the Materials Science PhD Program of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. F. G. D. P. thanks Universidad Técnica de Ambato and Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación for funding through a doctoral scholarship “Convocatoria abierta 2010”.

Piezoresistive pressure sensor is a significant transduction mechanism for measuring pressure due to the fact that it is simpler to integrate with electronics, its response is more linear, they are inherently shielded from RF noise and fabrication is easy compared to other transduction mechanism. In this paper, piezoresistive transduction mechanism is employed for design of a pressure sensor. The diaphragm of the proposed sensor is designed using n-type Silicon with p-type Silicon piezoresistors placed on the surface of a diaphragm in a Wheatstone bridge configuration at the most sensitive region of the diaphragm. The proposed design is analyzed to study the deflection of the diaphragm and the output voltage across the bridge. The effect of change in piezoresistor length on the output voltage is also investigated. The results reveal that the proposed sensor provides highest sensitivity for the piezoresistor length of 50um.

Amongst various transduction principles of pressure sensor, piezoresistive method provides high sensitivity and linear operation over a wide range of pressure. In this paper, piezorestive transduction mechanism is employed for design of a pressure sensor. The diaphragm of the proposed sensor is designed using n-type of Si with copper material used as a connecting arms for the p-type meander shaped piezoresistors placed on the surface of the diaphragm in a Wheatstone bridge configuration at the high strain region of the diaphragm. Meander shape piezoresistors of different length are simulated, in order to find out the best configuration for high sensitivity and linearity. The proposed design is analysed to study the deflection of the diaphragm and output voltage across the bridge. Results reveal that the 50 µm length of piezoresistors is found to have the best sensitivity.

PbS Quantum dots are promising materials for photovoltaic applications due to their absorption in the NIR region. In this work monodisperse lead sulfide quantum dots are synthesized using colloidal procedures using oleic acid and oleylamine as the stabilizing agents and 1-octadecene as the non-coordinating solvent. Heterojunction solar cell with FTO/TiO2/PbS/Au structure is fabricated and characterized. The current-voltage characteristics shows the roll-over effect that refers to the saturation of photocurrent in forward bias and crossover effect which occurs when the light and dark J-V curves intersect.

Detailed magnetic and gravity surveys in the Periyar Plateau and adjoining coastal tract (central Kerala) have brought to light a family of four major geophysical lineaments. These include the NNW-SSE trending Idamalayar lineament (LM-1) and the Kerala lineament (LM-2); both housing gabbroic and doleritic dykes dated ~90 Ma and geochemically related to the Marion plume and the NW trending Periyar lineament (LM-3) and Todupuzha lineament (LM-4) housing in part dolerite dykes dated 65 Ma and chemically related to the Reunion plume. The lineaments largely cut across the litho-tectonic framework of the Precambrian basement. Integrating geological evolution of the region, these lineaments seem to have been formed by reactivation of the deep-seated distensional fractures, that facilitated magmatic emplacements during the episodic breakup of Gondwanaland under distinctive mantle thermal regimes of the Late Mesozoic. Possibly, later in the Cenozoic, these lineaments were enlarged to their present dimensions during the uplift of Western Ghats.