Search results for: philosophy of quantum mechanics

Authors: T. P. Yu, J. J. Liu, X. L. Zhu, Y. Yin, W. Q. Wang, J. M. Ouyang, F. Q. Shao

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A strong electromagnetic field with E>1015V/m can be supplied by an intense laser such as ELI and HiPER in the near future. Exposing in such a strong laser field, laser-matter interaction enters into the near quantum electrodynamics (QED) regime and highly non-linear physics may occur during the laser-matter interaction. Recently, the multi-photon Breit-Wheeler (BW) process attracts increasing attention because it is capable to produce abundant positrons and it enhances the positron generation efficiency significantly. Here, we propose an all-optical scheme for bright gamma rays and dense positrons generation by irradiating a 1022 W/cm2 laser pulse onto an Al cone filled with near-critical-density plasmas. Two-dimensional (2D) QED particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations show that, the radiation damping force becomes large enough to compensate for the Lorentz force in the cone, causing radiation-reaction trapping of a dense electron bunch in the laser field. The trapped electrons oscillate in the laser electric field and emits high-energy gamma photons in two ways: (1) nonlinear Compton scattering due to the oscillation of electrons in the laser fields, and (2) Compton backwardscattering resulting from the bunch colliding with the reflected laser by the cone tip. The multi-photon Breit-Wheeler process is thus initiated and abundant electron-positron pairs are generated with a positron density ~1027m-3. The scheme is finally demonstrated by full 3D PIC simulations, which indicate the positron flux is up to 109. This compact gamma ray and positron source may have promising applications in future.

Keywords: BW process, electron-positron pairs, gamma rays emission, ultra-intense laser

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Authors: M.J. Seddighi, A. Moradchelleh, M. Keyvan

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The ultimate goal in building a city is to provide pleasant, comfortable and nurturing environment as a context of public life. City environment establishes strong connection with people and their surrounding habitant, acting as relevance in social interactions between citizens itself. Urban environment and appropriate municipal facilities are the only way for proper communication between city and citizens and also citizens themselves. There is a need for complement elements between buildings and constructions to settling city life through which the move, comfort, reactions and anxiety will adjust and reflect the spirit to the city. In the surging development of society, urban’ spaces are encountered evolution, sometimes causing the symbols to fade and waste, and as a result, leading to destroy belongs among humans and their physical liquidate. Houses and living spaces exhibit materialistic reflection of life style. In other words, way of life makes the symbolic essence of living spaces. In addition, it is of sociocultural factor of lifestyle, consisting the concepts and culture, morality, worldview, and national character. Culture is responsible for some crucial meaningful needs which can be wide because they depend on various causes such as perception and interpretation of believes, philosophy of life, interaction with neighbors and protection against climate and enemies. The bilateral relationship between human and nature is the main factor that needs to be properly addressed. It is because of the fact that the approach which is taken against landscape and nature has a pertinent influence on creation and shaping the structure of a house. The first response of human in tackling the environment is to build a “shelter” and place as dwelling. This has been a crucial factor in all time periods. In the proposed study, dwelling in Khorasgan’ Stream, as an area located in one of the important historical city of Iran, has been studied. Khorasgan’ Stream is the basic constituent elements of the present architectural form of Isfahan. The influence of Islamic spiritual culture and neighborhood with the historical elements on the dwelling of the selected location, subsequently on other regions of the town are presented.

Keywords: historical architectural elements, dwelling' neighborhood, Khorasgan’ Stream of Isfahan, architecture

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Authors: Naima Guenifi, Shiromani Balmukund Rahi, Amina Bechka

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Tunnel FET is one of the most suitable alternatives FET devices for conventional CMOS technology for low-power electronics and applications. Due to its lower subthreshold swing (SS) value, it is a strong follower of low power applications. It is a quantum FET device that follows the band to band (B2B) tunneling transport phenomena of charge carriers. Due to band to band tunneling, tunnel FET is suffering from a lower switching current than conventional metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). For improvement of device features and limitations, the newly invented negative capacitance concept of ferroelectric material is implemented in conventional Tunnel FET structure popularly known as NC TFET. The present research work has implemented the idea of high-k gate dielectric added with ferroelectric material on double gate Tunnel FET for implementation of negative capacitance. It has been observed that the idea of negative capacitance further improves device features like SS value. It helps to reduce power dissipation and switching energy. An extensive investigation for circularity uses for digital, analog/RF and linearity features of double gate NCTFET have been adopted here for research work. Several essential designs paraments for analog/RF and linearity parameters like transconductance(gm), transconductance generation factor (gm/IDS), its high-order derivatives (gm2, gm3), cut-off frequency (fT), gain-bandwidth product (GBW), transconductance generation factor (gm/IDS) has been investigated for low power RF applications. The VIP₂, VIP₃, IMD₃, IIP₃, distortion characteristics (HD2, HD3), 1-dB, the compression point, delay and power delay product performance have also been thoroughly studied.

Keywords: analog/digital, ferroelectric, linearity, negative capacitance, Tunnel FET, transconductance

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Authors: Bandana Bhattacharya

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‘Buddhism’, as such signifies the ‘ism’ that is based on Buddha’s life and teachings or that is concerned with the gospel of Buddha as recorded in the literature available in Pali, Sanskrit, Buddhist Sanskrit, Prakrit and even in the other non-Indian languages wherein it has been described a very abstruse, complex and lofty philosophy of life or ‘the way of life’ preached by Him (Buddha). It has another side too, i.e., the applicability of the tenets of Buddha according to the needs of the present society, where human life and outlook has been totally changed. Applied Buddhism signifies the applicability of the Buddha’s noble tenets. Along with the theological exposition and textual criticism of the Buddha’s discourses, it has now become almost obligatory for the Buddhist scholars to re-interpret Buddhism from modern perspectives. Basically Applied Buddhism defined a ‘way of life’ which may transform the higher quality of life or essence of life due to changed circumstances, places and time. Nowadays, if we observe the present situation of the world, we will find the current problems such as health, economic, politic, global warming, population explosion, pollution of all types including cultural scarcity essential commodities and indiscriminate use of human, natural and water resources are becoming more and more pronounced day by day, under such a backdrop of world situation. Applied Buddhism rather Buddhism may be the only instrument left now for mankind to address all such human achievements, lapses, and problems. Buddha’s doctrine is itself called ‘akālika, timeless’. On the eve of the Mahāparinibbāṇa at Kusinara, the Blessed One allows His disciples to change, modify and alter His minor teachings according to the needs of the future, although He has made some utterances, which would eternally remain fresh. Hence Buddhism has been able to occupy a prominent place in modern life, because of its timeless applicability, emanating from a set of eternal values. The logical and scientific outlook of Buddha may be traced in His very first sermon named the Dhammacakkapavattana-Sutta where He suggested to avoid the two extremes, namely, constantly attachment to sensual pleasures (Kāmasukhallikānuyoga) and devotion to self-mortification that is painful as well as unprofitable and asked to adopt Majjhimapaṭipadā, ‘Middle path’, which is very much applicable even today in every spheres of human life; and the absence of which is the root cause of all problems event at present. This paper will be a humble attempt to highlight the relevance of Buddhism in the present society.

Keywords: applied Buddhism, ecology, self-awareness, value

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Authors: Fang Liu, Jia Jia Yao, Guan Lin Wu, Ren Jie Liu, Zhuang Guo

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Leveraging plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) on c-plane free-standing GaN substrates, this work demonstrates high-performance AlN/GaN double-barrier resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) featuring stable and repeatable negative differential resistance (NDR) characteristics at room temperature. By scaling down the barrier thickness of AlN and the lateral mesa size of collector, a record peak current density of 1551 kA/cm2 is achieved, accompanied by a peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) of 1.24. This can be attributed to the reduced resonant tunneling time under thinner AlN barrier and the suppressed external incoherent valley current by reducing the dislocation number contained in the RTD device with the smaller size of collector. Statistical analysis of the NDR performance of RTD devices with different AlN barrier thicknesses reveals that, as the AlN barrier thickness decreases from 1.5 nm to 1.25 nm, the average peak current density increases from 145.7 kA/cm2 to 1215.1 kA/cm2, while the average PVCR decreases from 1.45 to 1.1, and the peak voltage drops from 6.89 V to 5.49 V. The peak current density obtained in this work represents the highest value reported for nitride-based RTDs to date, while maintaining a high PVCR value simultaneously. This illustrates that an ultra-scaled RTD based on a vertical quantum-well structure and lateral collector size is a valuable approach for the development of nitride-based RTDs with excellent NDR characteristics, revealing their great potential applications in high-frequency oscillation sources and high-speed switch circuits.

Keywords: GaN resonant tunneling diode, peak current density, peak-to-valley current ratio, negative differential resistance

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Authors: Soumya Chaturvedi

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Ever since India opened its doors for the world economy to enter, there has not been a single instance of recoil. A consequence of this move by the government of India resulted in India evolving as a consumer-driven market and in order to survive in this era of extreme competition, the corporate houses have employed every possible means to reach out and hit onto the sentiments of the consumers. The most obvious way to ensure a strong perseverance towards the specific product or brand is through celebrity endorsements. In a country like India, whose film industry accounts for the largest sales and output, it is indeed appalling to acknowledge the fact that it lacks an effective mechanism of protection of the commercial exploitation of celebrities’ attributes under the ambit of law. The western half of the globe has very well accepted and recognized the rights of the celebrities to decide upon the quantum of commercial exploitation of their own attributes and earn profit out of the same. However, the eastern half seems to be a little reluctant in accepting and enforcing these views per se. A celebrity has a right to publicity over the traits of his personality which involves voice, autographs, reputation, and style, so on and so forth as it is these attributes that are responsible for huge trade profits concerning the products to which such traits are attributed to. This clearly involves the right of the celebrity to benefit himself by commercially exploiting the same and refraining the unauthorized gain to third parties. The market is making it nearly impossible to proceed further with such weak laws considering the escalating rate of celebrity endorsements in the nation. This paper discusses the lacunae in law per se to identify a right as such by a celebrity over his traits that are potentially under the circle of commercial exploitation and the need of a definite legislation that would ensure a change in the paradigm of the Courts in India. Also, it discusses the only remedy available currently for violation, which is, a suit for passing off by Indian Courts under Trademark and Copyright laws and a comparison of the same with the mechanisms adopted by the legal systems across the globe.

Keywords: celebrity, rights, intellectual property, trademark, copyrights

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Authors: Abenezer Nigussie

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Strategic control practice is a critical exercise, as it provides a sturdy influence towards firms or production partners to achieve the full implementation of effective predetermined plans. The importance of strategic control in a company is often measured by observing the relationship between strategic management and organizational performance. The conventional philosophy of strategic control in academia and the industry places significant emphasis on the ability to plan and execute initiatives. In contrast, the same emphasis on strategic management has received less attention in the housing industry. Although the pressures of project performance can often obscure the wider social, economic, and professional context in which strategic management is undertaken, it is these broad contextual areas that make strategic control a vital issue for construction businesses. Rapidly changing social and technological issues are creating an informed environment that will appear very different in the coming decades from what is experienced in today’s companies. Construction project activity is not adequately led by strategic management tools; projects are mostly executed through simple plans and schedules. The issues that this thesis addresses and solves involve the successful accompaniment of the construction project process through these strategic management tools. The second important aspect is an evaluation of project activity, which is mostly done through simple economic and technical valuation. However, during this research, effective strategic management tools are evaluated and suggested for the assessment of project activities. The research introduces a study of the current strategic management practices of construction companies and also presents the concept of strategic management and the areas that companies need to address to compete in the global market. A summary of an industry survey is documented along with the historical research that prompted the investigation of these topics with a focus on the implementation of tools. Strategic management is a concept that concerns making decisions and taking corrective actions to achieve the future goals and objectives of a company. The objective of this paper is to review the practice of strategic management in construction companies. Questionnaires were distributed to major construction companies listed under categories of each project capable of specifying the complete expression of strategic management tools. Findings of the research showed that the majority of development companies practice strategic management tools in the process and implementation of each tool.

Keywords: strategic management, management, analysis, project management

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Authors: Ivana Prochazkova

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Cognitive linguistics offers biblical scholarship a specific methodological tool for analysis and interpretation of metaphorical expressions. Its methodology makes it possible to study processes involved in constructing the meaning of individual metaphorical expressions and whole conceptual metaphors; to analyze their function in the text; to follow the semantic development of concepts and conceptual domains, and to trace semantic changes and their motivation. The legal language in the Hebrew canon is extremely specific and formalized. Especially in the preambles to the collections of laws in the Pentateuch, more general considerations of the motif of keeping and breaking the law are encountered. This is also true in the psalms and wisdom literature. Legal theory and the philosophy of law deal with these motifs today. Metaphors play an important role in texts that reflect on more general issues. The purpose of this conference contribution is to write all over the central metaphorical concept, conceptual metaphor ךרד תורה (TORAH/LAW IS A JOURNEY), its function in the Torah and principal trends of the further development in the Prophets and the Writings. The conceptual metaphor תורה ךרד (TORAH/LAW IS A JOURNEY) constitutes a coherent system in conjunction with other metaphors that include e.g., conceptual metaphors נחה תורה (TORAH/LAW LEADS); its variant רעה תורה (TORAH IS A SHEPHERD/GUIDE); מקור תורה (TORAH/LAW IS A FOUNTAIN/A SOURCE OF LIFE). Some conceptual metaphors are well known, and their using are conventional (עשׁר תורה TORAH/LAW IS RICHES, שׂשׂון תורה TORAH/LAW IS DELIGHT, דבשׁ תורה TORAH/LAW IS HONEY, שׁמשׁ תורה TORAH/LAW IS SUN ). But some conceptual metaphors are by its occurrence innovative and unique (e.g., שׁריון תורה TORAH /LAW IS BODY ARMOR, כובע תורה TORAH /LAW IS A HELMET, בגד תורה TORAH/LAW IS A GARMENT, etc.). There will be given examples. Conceptual metaphors will be described by means of some 'metaphorical vehicles,' which are Hebrew expressions in the source domain that are repeatedly used in metaphorical conceptualizations of the target domain(s). Conceptual metaphors will be further described by means of 'generic narrative structures,' which are the particular aspects of a conceptual metaphor that emerge during the metaphorical structuring of concepts. They are the units of the metaphorical vehicles – the Hebrew expressions in the source domain – that structure concepts in much the same way that the conceptual metaphor in the target domain does. And finally, they will be described by means of the network of correspondences that exist between metaphorical vehicles – or generic metaphorical structures – and the Hebrew expressions in the target domain.

Keywords: cognitive theology, conceptual metaphor in the Old Testament, conceptual metaphors of the Torah, conceptual domain of law, righteousness, and justice

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Authors: Batuhan Kocaoglu

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Nowadays digital transformation is a hot topic both in service and production business. For the companies who want to stay alive in the following years, they should change how they do their business. Industry leaders started to improve their ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) like backbone technologies to digital advances such as analytics, mobility, sensor-embedded smart devices, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and more. Selecting the appropriate technology for the related business problem also is a hot topic. Besides this, to operate in the modern environment and fulfill rapidly changing customer expectations, a digital transformation of the business is required and change the way the business runs, affect how they do their business. Even the digital transformation term is trendy the literature is limited and covers just the philosophy instead of a solid implementation plan. Current studies urge firms to start their digital transformation, but few tell us how to do. The huge investments scare companies with blur definitions and concepts. The aim of this paper to solidify the steps of the digital transformation and offer a roadmap for the companies and academicians. The proposed roadmap is developed based upon insights from the literature review, semi-structured interviews, and expert views to explore and identify crucial steps. We introduced our roadmap in the form of 8 main steps: Awareness; Planning; Operations; Implementation; Go-live; Optimization; Autonomation; Business Transformation; including a total of 11 sub-steps with examples. This study also emphasizes four dimensions of the digital transformation mainly: Readiness assessment; Building organizational infrastructure; Building technical infrastructure; Maturity assessment. Finally, roadmap corresponds the steps with three main terms used in digital transformation literacy as Digitization; Digitalization; and Digital Transformation. The resulted model shows that 'business process' and 'organizational issues' should be resolved before technology decisions and 'digitization'. Companies can start their journey with the solid steps, using the proposed roadmap to increase the success of their project implementation. Our roadmap is also adaptable for relevant Industry 4.0 and enterprise application projects. This roadmap will be useful for companies to persuade their top management for investments. Our results can be used as a baseline for further researches related to readiness assessment and maturity assessment studies.

Keywords: digital transformation, digital business, ERP, roadmap

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Authors: Wai Ha Leung

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Mother tongue language (MTL) curriculum is core to school education in most countries/regions' school curriculum. Through mother tongue language learning, students are expected to enhance their understanding of the nation's culture and foster the sense of cultural and ethnic identity. However, MTL education in Hong Kong is complicated by the colonial history. This study examines Hong Kong Chinese language teachers' perceptions of MTL education, and the implication on MTL curriculum development. The questionnaire was administrated to 97 teachers, and interviews were carried out on 17 teachers. Usually, MTL is both the tool with which knowledge and skills are taught and learned and the vehicle for students to learn about the traditions of the countries' literature and culture. In Hong Kong, 95% of the population is of Chinese descent. Traditionally, education in China was a mixture of philosophy, history, politics and literacy. Chinese as an MTL subject in pre-colonial Hong Kong has always been assigned the mission of developing students' cultural identity in addition to the development of linguistic proficiency. During the colonial period, the Chinese Language curriculum shifted to be more language skills based with less emphasis on Chinese culture and moral education. After the sovereignty of Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, although a new curriculum was implemented in 2002, teaching and learning in school as well as public examinations seem to be remaining language skills oriented instead of culturally based. This deviation from the trend of both Chinese traditional education and global mother tongue language education makes some Chinese language teachers feel confused. In addition, there is comment that in general Hong Kong students' Chinese language proficiency is becoming weaker and weaker in recent years. Thus, effectiveness of the skills oriented language curriculum has come under question. How a language teacher views the aims and objectives of the language subject he or she is teaching has a direct effect on the curriculum delivery and pedagogies used. It is, therefore, important to investigate what is the language teachers' perception of MTL education, and whether the current school curriculum can meet the teachers' expectation as well as achieve the aims of MTL education. Given this context, this study explored the views of Hong Kong Chinese language teachers on MTL education. The data indicate that teachers showed a strong resentment towards the current curriculum. Results may have implications on mother tongue language curriculum development.

Keywords: Chinese language education, curriculum development, mother tongue language education, teachers' perception

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Authors: Khadijat Olabisi Abdulwahab, Mohammad Azad Malik, Paul O'Brien, Grigore Timco, Floriana Tuna

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The synthesis of spinel ferrite nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution is very crucial in their numerous applications including information storage, hyperthermia treatment, drug delivery, contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging, catalysis, sensors, and environmental remediation. Ferrites have the general formula MFe₂O₄ (M = Fe, Co, Mn, Ni, Zn e.t.c) and possess remarkable electrical and magnetic properties which depend on the cations, method of preparation, size and their site occupancies. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports on the use of a single source precursor to synthesise quaternary ferrite nanoparticles. Here in, we demonstrated the use of trimetallic iron pivalate cluster [CrCoFeO(O₂CᵗBu)₆(HO₂CᵗBu)₃] as a single source precursor to synthesise monodisperse cobalt chromium ferrite (FeCoCrO₄) nanoparticles by the hot injection thermolysis method. The precursor was thermolysed in oleylamine, oleic acid, with diphenyl ether as solvent at 260 °C. The effect of reaction time on the stoichiometry, phases or morphology of the nanoparticles was studied. The p-XRD patterns of the nanoparticles obtained after one hour was pure phase of cubic iron cobalt chromium ferrite (FeCoCrO₄). TEM showed that a more monodispersed spherical ferrite nanoparticles were obtained after one hour. Magnetic measurements revealed that the ferrite particles are superparamagnetic at room temperature. The nanoparticles were characterised by Powder X-ray Diffraction (p-XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Super Conducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID).

Keywords: cobalt chromium ferrite, colloidal, hot injection thermolysis, monodisperse, reaction time, single source precursor, quaternary ferrite nanoparticles

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Authors: Hoa Thi Hoang, Stephan Sass, Michael U. Kumke

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Concanavalin A (conA) is a protein has been widely used in sensor system based on its specific binding to α-D-Glucose or α-D-Manose. For glucose sensor using conA, either fluoresence based techniques with intensity based or lifetime based are used. In this research, liposomes made from phospholipids were used as a biomimetic membrane system. In a first step, novel building blocks containing perylene labeled glucose units were added to the system and used to decorate the surface of the liposomes. Upon the binding between rhodamine labeled con A to the glucose units at the biomimetic membrane surface, a Förster resonance energy transfer system can be formed which combines unique fluorescence properties of perylene (e.g., high fluorescence quantum yield, no triplet formation) and its high hydrophobicity for efficient anchoring in membranes to form a novel probe for the investigation of sugar-driven binding reactions at biomimetic surfaces. Two glucose-labeled perylene derivatives were synthesized with different spacer length between the perylene and glucose unit in order to probe the binding of conA. The binding interaction was fully characterized by using high-end fluorescence techniques. Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence techniques (e.g., fluorescence depolarization) in combination with single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy techniques (fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, FCS) were used to monitor the interaction with conA. Base on the fluorescence depolarization, the rotational correlation times and the alteration in the diffusion coefficient (determined by FCS) the binding of the conA to the liposomes carrying the probe was studied. Moreover, single pair FRET experiments using pulsed interleaved excitation are used to characterize in detail the binding of conA to the liposome on a single molecule level avoiding averaging out effects.

Keywords: concanavalin A, FRET, sensor, biomimetic membrane

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Authors: Choukri Lekbir, Mira Mokhtari

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Hydrogen-Materials interaction and mechanisms can be modeled at nano scale by quantum methods. In this work, the effect of hydrogen on the electronic properties of a cluster material model «nickel» has been studied by using of density functional theoretical (DFT) method. Two types of clusters are optimized: Nickel and hydrogen-nickel system. In the case of nickel clusters (n = 1-6) without presence of hydrogen, three types of electronic structures (neutral, cationic and anionic), have been optimized according to three basis sets calculations (B3LYP/LANL2DZ, PW91PW91/DGDZVP2, PBE/DGDZVP2). The comparison of binding energies and bond lengths of the three structures of nickel clusters (neutral, cationic and anionic) obtained by those basis sets, shows that the results of neutral and anionic nickel clusters are in good agreement with the experimental results. In the case of neutral and anionic nickel clusters, comparing energies and bond lengths obtained by the three bases, shows that the basis set PBE/DGDZVP2 is most suitable to experimental results. In the case of anionic nickel clusters (n = 1-6) with presence of hydrogen, the optimization of the hydrogen-nickel (anionic) structures by using of the basis set PBE/DGDZVP2, shows that the binding energies and bond lengths increase compared to those obtained in the case of anionic nickel clusters without the presence of hydrogen, that reveals the armor effect exerted by hydrogen on the electronic structure of nickel, which due to the storing of hydrogen energy within nickel clusters structures. The comparison between the bond lengths for both clusters shows the expansion effect of clusters geometry which due to hydrogen presence.

Keywords: binding energies, bond lengths, density functional theoretical, geometry optimization, hydrogen energy, nickel cluster

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Authors: K. Swapna

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A Series of Alkali-Earth Boro Tellurite (AEBT) glasses doped with different concentrations of Dy³⁺ ions have been prepared by using melt quenching technique and characterized through spectroscopic techniques such as optical absorption, excitation, emission and photoluminescence decay to understand their utility in optoelectronic devices such as lasers and white light emitting diodes (w-LEDs). Raman spectrum recorded for an undoped glass is used to measure the phonon energy of the host glass and various functional groups present in the host glass (AEBT). The intensities of the electronic transitions and the ligand environment around the Dy³⁺ ions were studied by applying Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory to the recorded absorption spectra of the glasses. The evaluated J-O parameters are subsequently used to measure various radiative parameters such as transition probability (AR), radiative branching ratio (βR) and radiative lifetimes (τR) for the prominent fluorescent levels of Dy³⁺ ions in the as-prepared glasses. The luminescence spectra recorded at 387 nm excitation show three emission transitions (⁴F9/2→⁶H15/2 (blue), ⁴F9/2→⁶H13/2 (yellow) and ⁴F9/2 → ⁶H11/2 (red)) of which the yellow transition observed at 575 nm is found to be highly intense. The experimental branching ratio (βexp) and stimulated emission crosssection (σse) were measured from luminescence spectra. The experimental lifetimes (τexp) measured from the decay spectral profiles are combined with radiative lifetimes to measure quantum efficiencies of the as-prepared glasses. The yellow to blue intensity ratios and chromaticity color coordinates are found to vary with Dy³⁺ ion concentrations. The aforementioned results reveal that these glasses are aptly suitable for w-LEDs and laser devices.

Keywords: glasses, J-O parameters, photoluminescence, I-H model

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Authors: Suman Dutta, Manish Agrawal, C. S. Jog

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Accurate computation of hydrodynamic forces on floating structures and their deformation finds application in the ocean and naval engineering and wave energy harvesting. This manuscript presents a monolithic, finite element strategy for fluid-structure interaction involving hyper-elastic solids partly submerged in an incompressible fluid. A velocity-based Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation has been used for the fluid and a displacement-based Lagrangian approach has been used for the solid. The flexibility of the ALE technique permits us to treat the free surface of the fluid as a Lagrangian entity. At the interface, the continuity of displacement, velocity and traction are enforced using the mortar method. In the mortar method, the constraints are enforced in a weak sense using the Lagrange multiplier method. In the literature, the mortar method has been shown to be robust in solving various contact mechanics problems. The time-stepping strategy used in this work reduces to the generalized trapezoidal rule in the Eulerian setting. In the Lagrangian limit, in the absence of external load, the algorithm conserves the linear and angular momentum and the total energy of the system. The use of monolithic coupling with an energy-conserving time-stepping strategy gives an unconditionally stable algorithm and allows the user to take large time steps. All the governing equations and boundary conditions have been mapped to the reference configuration. The use of the exact tangent stiffness matrix ensures that the algorithm converges quadratically within each time step. The robustness and good performance of the proposed method are demonstrated by solving benchmark problems from the literature.

Keywords: ALE, floating body, fluid-structure interaction, monolithic, mortar method

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Authors: Dilliram Paudyal

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The history of taxation in Nepal dates back to antiquity. However, the modern tax system gained its momentum after the establishment of democracy in 1951, which initially focused only land tax and tariff on foreign trade. In the due time, several taxes were introduced, such as direct taxes, indirect taxes, and non-taxes. However, the tax structure in Nepal is heavily dominated by indirect taxes that contribute more than 60 % of the total revenue. The government has been mobilizing revenues through a series of tax reforms during the Tenth Five-year Plan (2002 – 2007) and successive Three-year Interim Development Plans by introducing several tax measures. However, these reforms are regressive in nature, which does not lead the overall economy towards short-run stability as well as in the long run development. Based on the literature review and discussion among government officials and few taxpayers individually and groups, this paper aims to major issues and challenges that hinder the tax reform effective in Nepal. Additionally, this paper identifies potential way and process of tax reform in Nepal. The results of the study indicate that transparency in a major problem in Nepalese tax system in Nepal, where serious structural constraints with administrative and procedural complexities envisaged in the Income Tax Act and taxpayers are often unaware of the specific size of tax which is to comply them. Some other issues include high tax rate, limited tax base, leakages in tax collection, rigid and complex Income Tax Act, inefficient and corrupt tax administration, limited potentialities of direct taxes and negative responsiveness of land tax with higher administrative costs. In the context, modality of tax structure and mobilize additional resources is to be rectified on a greater quantum by establishing an effective, dynamic and highly power driven Autonomous Revenue Board.

Keywords: corrupt, development, inefficient, taxation

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Authors: Ginger Egberts, Marianne Schaaphok, Fred Vermolen, Paul van Zuijlen

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A few years ago, a promising morphoelastic model was developed for the simulation of contraction formation after burn injuries. Contraction can lead to a serious reduction in physical mobility, like a reduction in the range-of-motion of joints. If this is the case in a healing burn wound, then this is referred to as a contracture that needs medical intervention. The morphoelastic model consists of a set of partial differential equations describing both a chemical part and a mechanical part in dermal wound healing. These equations are solved with the numerical finite element method (FEM). In this method, many calculations are required on each of the chosen elements. In general, the more elements, the more accurate the solution. However, the number of elements increases rapidly if simulations are performed in 2D and 3D. In that case, it not only takes longer before a prediction is available, the computation also becomes more expensive. It is therefore important to investigate alternative possibilities to generate the same results, based on the input parameters only. In this study, a surrogate neural network has been designed to mimic the results of the one-dimensional morphoelastic model. The neural network generates predictions quickly, is easy to implement, and there is freedom in the choice of input and output. Because a neural network requires extensive training and a data set, it is ideal that the one-dimensional FEM code generates output quickly. These feed-forward-type neural network results are very promising. Not only can the network give faster predictions, but it also has a performance of over 99%. It reports on the relative surface area of the wound/scar, the total strain energy density, and the evolutions of the densities of the chemicals and mechanics. It is, therefore, interesting to investigate the applicability of a neural network for the two- and three-dimensional morphoelastic model for contraction after burn injuries.

Keywords: biomechanics, burns, feasibility, feed-forward NN, morphoelasticity, neural network, relative surface area wound

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Authors: Khadijat O. Abdulwahab, Mohammad A. Malik, Paul O’Brien, Grigore A. Timco, Floriana Tuna

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The synthesis of spinel ferrite nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution is very crucial in their numerous applications including information storage, hyperthermia treatment, drug delivery, contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging, catalysis, sensors, and environmental remediation. Ferrites have the general formula MFe2O4 (M = Fe, Co, Mn, Ni, Zn etc.) and possess remarkable electrical and magnetic properties which depend on the cations, method of preparation, size and their site occupancies. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports on the use of a single source precursor to synthesise quaternary ferrite nanoparticles. Herein, we demonstrated the use of trimetallic iron pivalate cluster [CrCoFeO(O2CtBu)6(HO2CtBu)3] as a single source precursor to synthesise monodisperse cobalt chromium ferrite (FeCoCrO4) nanoparticles by the hot injection thermolysis method. The precursor was thermolysed in oleylamine, oleic acid, with diphenyl ether as solvent at its boiling point (260°C). The effect of concentration on the stoichiometry, phases or morphology of the nanoparticles was studied. The p-XRD patterns of the nanoparticles obtained at both concentrations were matched with cubic iron cobalt chromium ferrite (FeCoCrO4). TEM showed that a more monodispersed spherical ferrite nanoparticles of average diameter 4.0 ± 0.4 nm were obtained at higher precursor concentration. Magnetic measurements revealed that all the ferrite particles are superparamagnetic at room temperature. The nanoparticles were characterised by Powder X-ray Diffraction (p-XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Super Conducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID).

Keywords: quaternary ferrite nanoparticles, single source precursor, monodisperse, cobalt chromium ferrite, colloidal, hot injection thermolysis

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Authors: Manuela S. Tolentino, John G. Nepomuceno

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The purpose of this investigation was to assess the implementation of inclusive education (IE) in 6 elementary and 5 secondary public schools in the City Schools Division of Dasmarinas. Participants in this study were 11 school heads, 73 teachers, 22 parents and 22 students (regular and with special needs) who were selected using purposive sampling. A 30-item questionnaire was used to gather data on the extent of the implementation of IE in the division while focus group discussion (FGD) was used to gather insights on what facilitate and hinder the implementation of the IE program. This study assessed the following variables: school culture and environment, inclusive education policy implementation, and curriculum design and practices. Data were analyzed using frequency count, mean and ranking. Results revealed that participants have similar assessment on the extent of the implementation of IE. School heads rated school culture and environment as highest in terms of implementation while teachers and pupils chose curriculum design and practices. On the other hand, parents felt that inclusive education policies are implemented best. School culture and environment are given high ratings. Participants perceived that the IE program in the division is making everyone feel welcome regardless of age, sex, social status, physical, mental and emotional state; students with or without disability are equally valued, and students help each. However, some aspects of the IE program implementation are given low ratings namely: partnership between staff, parents and caregivers, school’s effort to minimize discriminatory practice, and stakeholders sharing the philosophy of inclusion. As regards education policy implementation, indicators with the highest ranks were school’s effort to admit students from the locality especially students with special needs, and the implementation of the child protection policy and anti-bullying policy. The results of the FGD revealed that both school heads and teachers possessed the welcoming gesture to accommodate students with special needs. This can be linked to the increasing enrolment of SNE in the division. However, limitations of the teachers’ knowledge on handling learners, facilities and collaboration among stakeholders hinder the implementation of IE program. Based on the findings, inclusion program framework was developed for program enhancement. This will be the basis for the improvement of the program’s efficiency, the relationship between stakeholders, and formulation of solutions.

Keywords: inclusion, inclusive education, framework, special education

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Authors: Mohammad Karimi, Magnus Heurlin, Lars Samuelson, Magnus Borgstrom, Hakan Pettersson

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Nanowire semiconductors are promising candidates for optoelectronic applications such as solar cells, photodetectors and lasers due to their quasi-1D geometry and large surface to volume ratio. The functional wavelength range of NW-based detectors is typically limited to the visible/near-infrared region. In this work, we present electrical and optical properties of IR photodetectors based on large square millimeter ensembles (>1million) of vertically processed semiconductor heterostructure nanowires (NWs) grown on InP substrates which operate in longer wavelengths. InP NWs comprising single or multiple (20) InAs/InAsP QDics axially embedded in an n-i-n geometry, have been grown on InP substrates using metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). The NWs are contacted in vertical direction by atomic layer deposition (ALD) deposition of 50 nm SiO2 as an insulating layer followed by sputtering of indium tin oxide (ITO) and evaporation of Ti and Au as top contact layer. In order to extend the sensitivity range to the mid-wavelength and long-wavelength regions, the intersubband transition within conduction band of InAsP QDisc is suggested. We present first experimental indications of intersubband photocurrent in NW geometry and discuss important design parameters for realization of intersubband detectors. Key advantages with the proposed design include large degree of freedom in choice of materials compositions, possible enhanced optical resonance effects due to periodically ordered NW arrays and the compatibility with silicon substrates. We believe that the proposed detector design offers the route towards monolithic integration of compact and sensitive III-V NW long wavelength detectors with Si technology.

Keywords: intersubband photodetector, infrared, nanowire, quantum disc

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Authors: Gabriele Ciasca, Tanya E. Sassun, Eleonora Minelli, Manila Antonelli, Massimiliano Papi, Antonio Santoro, Felice Giangaspero, Roberto Delfini, Marco De Spirito

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Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an extremely aggressive brain tumor, characterized by a diffuse infiltration of neoplastic cells into the brain parenchyma. Although rarely considered, mechanical cues play a key role in the infiltration process that is extensively mediated by the tumor microenvironment stiffness and, more in general, by the occurrence of aberrant interactions between neoplastic cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM). Here we provide a nano-mechanical characterization of the viscoelastic response of human GBM tissues by indentation-type atomic force microscopy. High-resolution elasticity maps show a large difference between the biomechanics of GBM tissues and the healthy peritumoral regions, opening possibilities to optimize the tumor resection area. Moreover, we unveil the nanomechanical signature of necrotic regions and anomalous vasculature, that are two major hallmarks useful for glioma staging. Actually, the morphological grading of GBM relies mainly on histopathological findings that make extensive use of qualitative parameters. Our findings have the potential to positively impact on the development of novel quantitative methods to assess the tumor grade, which can be used in combination with conventional histopathological examinations. In order to provide a more in-depth description of the role of mechanical cues in tumor progression, we compared the nano-mechanical fingerprint of GBM tissues with that of grade-I (WHO) meningioma, a benign lesion characterized by a completely different growth pathway with the respect to GBM, that, in turn hints at a completely different role of the biomechanical interactions.

Keywords: AFM, nano-mechanics, nanomedicine, brain tumors, glioblastoma

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Authors: Luedech Girdwichai, Withaya Mekhum

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This research intended to develop the model of community management for sustainable utilization by investigating on 2 groups of population, the family heads and the community management team. The population of the former group consisted of family heads from 511 families in 12 areas to complete the questionnaires which were returned at 479 sets. The latter group consisted of the community management team of 12 areas with 1 representative from each area to give the interview. The questionnaires for the family heads consisted of 2 main parts; general information such as occupations, etc. in the form of checklist. The second part dealt with the data on self reliance community development based on 4P Framework, i.e., People (human resource) development, Place (area) development, Product (economic and income source) development, and Plan (community plan) development in the form of rating scales. Data in the 1st part were calculated to find frequency and percentage while those in the 2nd part were analyzed to find arithmetic mean and SD. Data from the 2nd group of population or the community management team were derived from focus group to find factors influencing successful management together with the in depth interview which were analyzed by descriptive statistics. The results showed that 479 family heads reported that the aspect on the implementation of community plan to self reliance community activities based on Sufficient Economy Philosophy and the 4P was at the average of 3.28 or moderate level. When considering in details, it was found that the 1st aspect was on the area development with the mean of 3.71 or high level followed by human resource development with the mean of 3.44 or moderate level, then, economic and source of income development with the mean of 3.09 or moderate level. The last aspect was community plan development with the mean of 2.89. The results from the small group discussion revealed some factors and guidelines for successful community management as follows: 1) on the People (human resource) development aspect, there was a project to support and develop community leaders. 2) On the aspect of Place (area) development, there was a development on conservative tourism areas. 3) On the aspect of Product (economic and source of income) development, the community leaders promoted the setting of occupational group, saving group, and product processing group. 4) On the aspect of Plan (community plan) development, there was a prioritization through public hearing.

Keywords: model of community management, sustainable utilization, family heads, community management team

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Authors: Gerald Steyn

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Sub-Saharan Africa is the world's fastest urbanizing region, but approximately 60 to 70 percent of urban African households are poor and living in slums. Although influential global institutions such as the World Bank propagate a new approach to housing and land policies, sustainable African urban concepts have yet to be applied significantly or even convincingly conceptualized. Most African city planners, urban designers, architects, policymakers, and developers have been trained in Western curriculums and continue to practice and plan according to such formal paradigms. Only a few activists promote Post-Colonial Afrocentric urbanism, recognizing the imperative of foregrounding the needs of low-income people. There is a vast body of authoritative literature on analyzing poverty and slums in sub-Saharan Africa and on promoting the need for land and city planning reform. However, of the latter, only a few venture beyond advising and sometimes outlining policy changes. The current study moves beyond a purely theoretical discourse into the realm of practice by designing replicable diagrammatic concepts at different urban scales. The guiding philosophy was that land-use concepts and urban requirements favoring low-income households must be fully integrated into the larger conurbation. Information was derived from intensive research over two decades, involving literature surveys and observations during regular travels into East and Southern Africa. Appropriate existing urban patterns, particularly vernacular and informal, were subsequently analyzed and reimagined as precedents to inform and underpin the represented design concepts. Five interrelated concepts are proposed, ranging in scale from (1) regional to (2) cities and (3) urban villages to (4) neighborhoods and (5) streets. Each concept is described, first in terms of its context and associated issues of concern, followed by a discussion of the patterns available to inform a possible solution, and finally, an explanation and graphic illustration of the proposal. Since each of the five concepts is unfolded from existing informal and vernacular practices studied in situ, the approach is entirely bottom-up. Contrary to an idealized vision of the African city, this study proposes actual concepts for critical assessment by peers in the tradition of architectural research in design.

Keywords: african urban concepts, post-colonial afrocentric urbanism, sub-saharan africa, sustainable african urban design

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Authors: David A. Harness

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Natural evolution of ATP cognitive systems is to meet AI peer review standards. ATP process of axiom selection from Mizar to prove a conjecture would be further refined, as in all human and machine learning, by solving the real world problem of the proposed AI peer review challenge: Determine which conjecture forms the higher confidence level constructive proof between Standard Model of Physics SU(n) lattice gauge group operation vs. present non-standard 4D GEM EOS SU(n) lattice gauge group spatially extended operation in which the photon and electron are the first two trace angular momentum invariants of a gravitoelectromagnetic (GEM) energy momentum density tensor wavetrain integration spin-stress pressure-volume equation of state (EOS), initiated via 32 lines of Mathematica code. Resulting gravitoelectromagnetic spectrum ranges from compressive through rarefactive of the central cosmological constant vacuum energy density in units of pascals. Said self-adjoint group operation exclusively operates on the stress energy momentum tensor of the Einstein field equations, introducing quantization directly on the 4D spacetime level, essentially reformulating the Yang-Mills virtual superpositioned particle compounded lattice gauge groups quantization of the vacuum—into a single hyper-complex multi-valued GEM U(1) × SU(1,3) lattice gauge group Planck spacetime mesh quantization of the vacuum. Thus the Mizar corpus already contains all of the axioms required for relevant DeepMath premise selection and unambiguous formal natural language parsing in context deep learning.

Keywords: automated theorem proving, constructive quantum field theory, information theory, neural networks

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Authors: Anwar ul Haq

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Muhammad Iqbal was arguably the most significant South Asian Islamic philosopher of the last two centuries. While he is the most revered philosopher of the region, particularly in Pakistan, he is probably the least studied philosopher outside the region. The paper offers a philosophical reconstruction of Iqbal’s view of human agency; it has three sections. Section 1 focuses on Iqbal’s starting point of reflection in practical philosophy (inspired by Kant): our consciousness of ourselves as free agents. The paper brings out Iqbal’s continuity with Kant but also his divergence, in particular his non-Kantian view that we possess a non-sensory intuition of ourselves as free personal causes. It also offer an argument on Iqbal’s behalf for this claim, which is meant as a defense against a Kantian objection to the possibility of intuition of freedom and a skeptic’s challenge to the possibility of freedom in general. Remaining part of the paper offers a reconstruction of Iqbal’s two preconditions of the possibility of free agency. Section 2 discusses the first precondition, namely, the unity of consciousness involved in thought (this is a precondition of agency whether or not it is free). The unity has two aspects, a quantitative (or numerical) aspect and a qualitative (or rational) one. Section 2 offers a defense of these two aspects of the unity of consciousness presupposed by agency by focusing, with Iqbal, on the case of inference.Section 3 discusses a second precondition of the possibility of free agency, that thought and will must be identical in a free agent. Iqbal offers this condition in relief against Bergson’s view. Bergson (on Iqbal’s reading of him) argues that freedom of the will is possible only if the will’s ends are entirely its own and are wholly undetermined by anything from without, not even by thought. Iqbal observes that Bergson’s position ends in an insurmountable dualism of will and thought. Bergson’s view, Iqbal argues in particular, rests on an untenable conception of what an end consists in. An end, correctly understood, is framed by a thinking faculty, the intellect, and not by an extra-rational faculty. The present section outlines Iqbal’s argument for this claim, which rests on the premise that ends possess a certain unity which is intrinsic to particular ends and holds together different ends, and this unity is none other than the quantitative and qualitative unity of a thinking consciousness but in its practical application. Having secured the rational origin of ends, Iqbal argues that a free will must be identical with thought, or else it will be determined from without and won’t be free on that account. Freedom of the self is not a freedom from thought but a freedom in thought: it involves the ability to live a thoughtful life.

Keywords: iqbal, freedom, will, self

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Authors: Marina Petrova

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Language policy issues related to the preservation and development of the native languages of the Russian peoples and the state languages of the national republics are increasingly becoming the focus of recent attention of educators and parents, public and national figures. Is it legal to teach the national language or the mother tongue as the state language? Due to that dispute language phobia moods easily evolve into xenophobia among the population. However, a civilized, intelligent multicultural personality can only be formed if the country develops bilingualism and multilingualism, and languages as a political tool help to find ‘keys’ to sufficiently closed national communities both within a poly-ethnic state and in internal relations of multilingual countries. The purpose of this study is to design and theoretically substantiate an efficient model of language education in the innovatively developing Republic of Sakha. 800 participants from different educational institutions of Yakutia worked at developing a multilingual model of education. This investigation is of considerable practical importance because researchers could build a methodical system designed to create conditions for the formation of a cultural language personality and the development of the multilingual communicative competence of Yakut youth, necessary for communication in native, Russian and foreign languages. The selected methodology of humane-personal and competence approaches is reliable and valid. Researchers used a variety of sources of information, including access to related scientific fields (philosophy of education, sociology, humane and social pedagogy, psychology, effective psychotherapy, methods of teaching Russian, psycholinguistics, socio-cultural education, ethnoculturology, ethnopsychology). Of special note is the application of theoretical and empirical research methods, a combination of academic analysis of the problem and experienced training, positive results of experimental work, representative series, correct processing and statistical reliability of the obtained data. It ensures the validity of the investigation’s findings as well as their broad introduction into practice of life-long language education.

Keywords: intercultural communication, language policy, multilingual and multicultural education, the Sakha Republic of Yakutia

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Authors: H. F. Shi, C. L. Zhang

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Visible-light-responsive g-C3N4/NaNbO3 nanowires photocatalysts were fabricated by introducing polymeric g-C3N4 on NaNbO3 nanowires. The microscopic mechanisms of interface interaction, charge transfer and separation, as well as the influence on the photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4/NaNbO3 composite were systematic investigated. The HR-TEM revealed that an intimate interface between C3N4 and NaNbO3 nanowires formed in the g-C3N4/NaNbO3 heterojunctions. The photocatalytic performance of photocatalysts was evaluated for CO2 reduction under visible-light illumination. Significantly, the activity of g-C3N4/NaNbO3 composite photocatalyst for photoreduction of CO2 was higher than that of either single-phase g-C3N4 or NaNbO3. Such a remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic activity was mainly ascribed to the improved separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs at the intimate interface of g-C3N4/NaNbO3 heterojunctions, which originated from the well-aligned overlapping band structures of C3N4 and NaNbO3. Pt loaded NaNbO3-xNx (Pt-NNON), a visible-light-sensitive photocatalyst, was synthesized by an in situ photodeposition method from H2PtCl6•6H2O onto NaNbO3-xNx (NNON) sample. Pt-NNON exhibited a much higher photocatalytic activity for gaseous 2-propanol (IPA) degradation under visible-light irradiation in contrast to NNON. The apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of Pt-NNON sample for IPA photodegradation achieved up to 8.6% at the wavelength of 419 nm. The notably enhanced photocatalytic performance was attributed to the promoted charge separation and transfer capability in the Pt-NNON system. This work suggests that surface nanosteps possibly play an important role as an electron transfer at high way, which facilitates to the charge carrier collection onto Pt rich zones and thus suppresses recombination between photogenerated electrons and holes. This method can thus be considered as an excellent strategy to enhance photocatalytic activity of organic decomposition in addition to the commonly applied noble metal doping method.

Keywords: CO2 reduction, NaNbO3, nanowires, g-C3N4

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Authors: D. Berg, N. Hartley, L. Nasr

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This paper presents a conceptual model of human-robot interaction within service encounters and the effect on the well-being of both consumers and service providers. In this paper, service providers are those employees who work alongside frontline service robots. The significance of this paper lies in the knowledge created which outlines how frontline service robots can be effectively utilized in service encounters for the benefit of organizations and society as a whole. As this paper is conceptual in nature, the main methodologies employed are theoretical, namely problematization and theory building. The significance of this paper is underpinned by the shift of service robots from manufacturing plants and factory floors to consumer-facing service environments. This service environment places robots in direct contact with frontline employees and consumers creating a hybrid workplace where humans work alongside service robots. This change from back-end to front-end roles may have implications not only on the physical environment, servicescape, design, and strategy of service offerings and encounters but also on the human parties of the service encounter itself. Questions such as ‘how are frontline service robots impacting and changing the service encounter?’ and ‘what effect are such changes having on the well-being of the human actors in a service encounter?’ spring to mind. These questions form the research question of this paper. To truly understand social service robots, an interdisciplinary perspective is required. Besides understanding the function, system, design or mechanics of a service robot, it is also necessary to understand human-robot interaction. However not simply human-robot interaction, but particularly what happens when such robots are placed in commercial settings and when human-robot interaction becomes consumer-robot interaction and employee-robot interaction? A service robot in this paper is characterized by two main factors; its social characteristics and the consumer-facing environment within which it operates. The conceptual framework presented in this paper contributes to interdisciplinary discussions surrounding social robotics, service, and technology’s impact on consumer and service provider well-being, and hopes that such knowledge will help improve services, as well as the prosperity and well-being of society.

Keywords: frontline service robots, human-robot interaction, service encounters, well-being

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Authors: Ebenezer O. Ige, Funmilayo H. Oyelami, Joshua Olutayo-Irheren, Joseph T. Okunlola

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Hyperthermia therapy is an adjuvant procedure during which perfused body tissues is subjected to elevated range of temperature in bid to achieve improved drug potency and efficacy of cancer treatment. While a selected class of hyperthermia techniques is shouldered on the thermal radiations derived from single-sourced electro-radiation measures, there are deliberations on conjugating dual radiation field sources in an attempt to improve the delivery of therapy procedure. This paper numerically explores the thermal effectiveness of combined infrared hyperemia having nanoparticle recirculation in the vicinity of imposed magnetic field on subcutaneous strata of a model lesion as ablation scheme. An elaborate Spectral relaxation method (SRM) was formulated to handle equation of coupled momentum and thermal equilibrium in the blood-perfused tissue domain of a spongy fibrous tissue. Thermal diffusion regimes in the presence of external magnetic field imposition were described leveraging on the renowned Roseland diffusion approximation to delineate the impact of radiative flux within the computational domain. The contribution of tissue sponginess was examined using mechanics of pore-scale porosity over a selected of clinical informed scenarios. Our observations showed for a substantial depth of spongy lesion, magnetic field architecture constitute the control regimes of hemodynamics in the blood-tissue interface while facilitating thermal transport across the depth of the model lesion. This parameter-indicator could be utilized to control the dispensing of hyperthermia treatment in intravenous perfused tissue.

Keywords: spectra relaxation scheme, thermal equilibrium, Roseland diffusion approximation, hyperthermia therapy

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Authors: Mireille Vonlanthen, Pasquale Porcu, Ernesto Rivera

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Dendritic macromolecules are presenting unique physical and chemical properties. One of them is the faculty of transferring energy from a donor moiety introduced at the periphery to an acceptor moiety at the core, mimicking the antenna effect of the process of photosynthesis. The mechanism of energy transfer is based on the Förster resonance energy exchange and requires some overlap between the emission spectrum of the donor and the absorption spectrum of the acceptor. Since it requires a coupling of transition dipole but no overlap of the physical wavefunctions, the energy transfer by Förster mechanism can occur over quite long distances from 1 to a maximum of 10 nm. However, the efficiency of the transfer depends strongly on distance. The Förster radius is the distance at which 50% of the donor’s emission is deactivated by FRET. In this work, we synthesized and characterized a novel series of dendrimers bearing pyrene moieties at the periphery and a Ru (II) complex at the core. The optical and photophysical properties of these compounds were studied by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. Pyrene is a well-studied chromophore that has the particularity to present monomer as well as excimer fluorescence emission. The coordination compounds of Ru (II) are red emitters with low quantum yield and long excited lifetime. We observed an efficient singulet to singulet energy transfer in such constructs. Moreover, it is known that the energy of the MLCT emitting state of Ru (II) can be tuned to become almost isoenegetic with respect to the triplet state of pyrene, leading to an extended phosphorescence lifetime. Using dendrimers bearing pyrene moieties as ligands for Ru (II), we could combine the antenna effect of dendrimers as well as its protection effect to the quenching by dioxygen with lifetime increase due to triplet-triplet equilibrium.

Keywords: dendritic molecules, energy transfer, pyrene, ru-trisbipyridine complex

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