A nanocup, or semishell, is an asymmetric plasmonic "Janus" nanoparticle with electric and magnetic plasmon modes; the latter scatters light in a direction controlled by nanoparticle orientation, making it the nanoscale analog of a parabolic antenna. Here we report a method for transferring nanocups from their growth substrate to oxide-terminated ...

A facile solvothermal epitaxial growth combined with a mild oxidation route has been developed for the fabrication of a magnetically recyclable Fe(3) O(4) /WO(3) core-shell visible-light photocatalyst. In this core-shell structured photocatalyst, visible-light-active WO(3) nanoplates (the shells) with high surface area are used as a medium to harvest absorbed photons ...

This Letter reports on the fabrication of hybrid white-light-emitting diodes made of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) integrated on InGaN/GaN LEDs. Using core type and core/shell type CdSe NCs, the white light properties are systematically engineered for white light generation with high color rendering index (CRI). Unlike CdSe/ZnS core/shell NCs, which exhibited ...

We investigate the impact of nanoparticles (NP) on the fragility and cooperative stringlike motion in a model glass-forming polymer melt by molecular dynamics simulation. The NP cause significant changes to both the fragility and the average length of stringlike motion, where the effect depends on the NP-polymer interaction and NP ...

TaON modified by polyaniline (PANI), was prepared through a facile chemisorption process. PANI-modified TaON composites with good stabilities exhibit significantly higher photocatalytic activities than that of neat TaON on degradation of RhB under visible light irradiation, which may result from an enhancement of electron-hole separation between PANI and TaON.

The forward scattering of light in a conventional inverted optical microscope by nanoparticles ranging in diameter from 10 to 50 nm has been used to automatically and quantitatively identify and track their location in three-dimensions with a temporal resolution of 200 ms. The standard deviation of the location of nominally stationary 50-nm-diameter ...

A dynamic light scattering sensor for Pb(2+) was constructed with oligonucleotide-modified gold nanoparticles based upon its cleavage property for DNAzyme.

In recent years nano-metaloxides which easily penetrate into the cells with special interest due to their higher chemical reactivity as compared to that of similar materials in the bulk form. Of particular interest are nano-TiO(2) and ZnO, which have been widely used for their bactericidal and anticancerous properties. The aim ...

We report the observation of broad-spectrum fluorescence from single CdSe nanocrystals. Individual semiconductor nanocrystals typically have a narrower emission spectrum than that of an ensemble. However, our experiments show that the ensemble white-light emission observed in ultrasmall CdSe nanocrystals is the result of many single CdSe nanocrystals, each emitting over ...

Plasmonic nanostructures offer a great potential to enhance light-matter interaction at the nanometer scale. The response upon illumination at a given wavelength and polarization is governed by the characteristic lengths associated to the shape and size of the nanostructure. Here, we propose the use of engineered fractal plasmonic structures to ...

The enhancement of out-coupling efficiency of organic light emitting diode (OLED) using SiO2-polymer composite layers was investigated. The SiO2-polymer composite was made from a SiO2 nanopowder and commercial UV-hardeners. The composite layer was coated on glass by dip-coating method in a SiO2 suspension, followed by spin-coating of 1 microm thick ...

We investigate the light transmission properties of double-overlapped annular apertures in a silver film with the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. It has been found that the transmission peaks are attributed to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of nanocavities and the surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) of the nanoparticles. The peaks ...

For the first time, the TiO2 nanorod arrays have been prepared on ITO substrates at room temperature by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. These TiO2 nanorods have a preferred orientation along the (220) direction and are perpendicular to the ITO substrate. Both the X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering measurements show ...

The radiative emission properties of the Dy³⁺ ions in an oxyfluoride glass and glass-ceramics have been studied for the generation of white light. The x-ray diffraction pattern of the glass-ceramics shows the formation of CaF₂ fluorite-type nanocrystals in the glass matrix after a suitable thermal treatment of the precursor glass, ...

At present, the photovoltaic performance of quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) is still much lower than conventional DSCs. Appropriate porous TiO(2) photoanodes for QDSCs need to be further investigated, and optimization of the nanoparticle-based photoanodes is highly desirable as well. In this article, the influence of the structural properties of ...

C-doped TiO(2) nanoparticles prepared by partial oxidation of TiC were modified with Pt species by impregnation-calcination method in order to enhance the visible light photocatalytic activity. The physicochemical properties of as-prepared samples were characterized by various techniques in detail. The results indicated that a novel Pt/C-doped TiO(2)/PtCl(4) three-component nanojunction system ...

We propose a compound system consisting of a dielectric grating and a plasmonic resonance cavity embedded in the grating. Based on the interference effect between the surface mode supported by the dielectric grating and the plasmonic-induced cavity mode, this system could achieve slow light with group index more than 200 ...

A supramolecular assembly for visible light responsive release of cargo molecules is presented. Sulforhodamine 101 was loaded inside the mesopores of mercaptopropyl-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MP-MSN) and entrapped by mercaptopropyl-coordinated Ru(bpy)(2)(PPh(3))-moieties. Irradiation with visible light triggers the release of capping species and loaded molecules.

Photosensitive nanoparticles (NPs) were fabricated by employing chitosan hydrochloride (CHC) and photosensitive 4-oxo-4-(pyren-4-ylmethoxy) butanoic acid (PYBA) through ionic self-assembly. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images showed that the average diameter of the complex NPs depended on the charge molar ratio of PYBA to CHC. The photosensitive properties of the NPs were ...

I-doped titanium dioxide nanospheres (I-TNSs) were synthesized via a two-step hydrothermal synthesis route, their potential for the efficient utilization of visible light was evaluated. The prepared anatase-phase I-TNSs had a bimodal porous size distribution with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of 76 m2/g, a crystallite size of approximately 14 nm calculated ...

Environmental stimuli that co-occur with tobacco use come to evoke drug-related conditioned responses (CRs) that appear involved in continued use of nicotine-containing products. In rats, nicotine can serve as a conditional stimulus (CS) for non-drug unconditioned stimuli (USs), prompting the question of whether the nicotine CS can compete with, or ...

To examine the effect of dopamine depletion in nucleus accumbens on trace conditioning; to distinguish the role of core and shell sub-regions, as far as possible. 6-hydroxydopamine was used to lesion dopamine terminals within the core and shell accumbens. Experiment 1 assessed conditioning to a tone conditioned stimulus that had ...

We have previously demonstrated that rats trained on a two-duration peak procedure in which two modal signals (i.e., tone and houselight) predicted probabilistic reinforcement availability at two times (10 s and 20 s) would respond in a scalar manner at a time between the trained durations in response to the ...

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of the size of the light exposed pupil in one eye on the pupillary light reflex of the other eye. Method: Using a monochromatic pupillometer, the left eye in each of 10 healthy subjects was exposed to 20 s of monochromatic light of luminance 300 cd/m(2), first ...

Observers presented with pairs of figures differing in area (SIZE) or aspect ratio (SHAPE) spontaneously make use of both height and width differences. whether or not they are forced to do so by between-interval jittering or even instructed to do so. SHAPE discrimination is considerably better than SIZE discrimination. The ...

A circular zero-time-averaged power component, coupling the forward (dielectric) and backward (metal) power channels of Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs), is shown to be the core ingredient for the slow-light characteristic of SPPs at the surface plasmon frequency, for both a lossless and lossy metal. Additional slow-light regimes emerging in configurations ...

Co-precipitation of 1,4-bis(2-phenyl-1-propen-1-yl)benzene (1) and 2-(4-(2-(4-(3,6-di-tert-butyl-9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)ethynyl)benzylidene) malononitrile (2) that individually form blue-emitting and orange-emitting nanoparticles, respectively, results in the formation of composite fluorescent organic nanoparticles that emit white light. The two components likely align in the head-to-tail fashion in nanoparticles, creating two parallel and strongly coupled transition dipoles. The emission ...

This Perspective is focused on the photocatalytic activity of gold nanoparticles supported on titania (Au/TiO(2)). Titania is the most widely used photocatalyst, but its limited activity under visible light irradiation has motivated the quest for modified titania materials absorbing visible light. The review starts by justifying how doping with metallic ...

The aim of the four present experiments was to explore how different schedules of reinforcement influence schedule-induced behavior, their impact on evaluative ratings given to conditioned stimuli associated with each schedule through evaluative conditioning, and the transfer of these evaluations through derived stimulus networks. Experiment 1 compared two contrasting response ...

The Eu(3+) doped TiO2-SiO2 photocatalysts, as a reclaimed visible-light responsive photocatalyst, were prepared by sol-gel method with TEOS, TBT and europium nitrate as precursors, by keeping the molar of TEOS:TBT constant at 1:1 and with different europium doping content. The resulting photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, SEM, EDX, UV-VIS ...

In the first condition in Experiment 1, 6 rats were exposed to concurrent variable ratio (VR) 30, variable interval (VI) 30-sec schedules. In the next two conditions, the subjects were exposed to concurrent VI VI schedules and concurrent tandem VI-differential-reinforcement-of-high-rate VI schedules. For the latter conditions, the overall and relative ...

It is commonly assumed that, whereas auditory and olfactory learning take place already during fetal development, visual experience and learning are not possible before birth. This paper explores the conditions for visual experience in the last two months of human gestation, when the fetal visual system is mature enough to ...

A new Pavlovian conditioning preparation was developed using the nictitating membrane of the restrained pigeon. Either visual or auditory stimuli served as conditioned stimuli (CSs) with an unconditioned stimulus (US) of a puff of air to the cornea. Movement of the nictitating membrane constituted the conditioned and unconditioned responses (CR ...

Conceptual and practical advantages of pavlovian eyelid conditioning facilitate analysis of cerebellar computation and learning. Even so, eyelid conditioning procedures are unrealistic in an important way. The error signal to the olivocerebellar system does not decrease as learning adapts response amplitude or gain. This inherently limits the utility of eyelid ...

The role of contingency awareness in classical conditioning experiments using human subjects is currently under debate. This study took a novel approach to manipulating contingency awareness in a differential Pavlovian conditioning paradigm. Complex sine wave gratings were used as visual conditional stimuli (CS). By manipulating the fundamental spatial frequency of ...

In this review, we discuss the use of inorganic nanoparticles, mainly zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2), for sunscreen applications considering their intrinsic physical properties and the Mie theory. These properties cause, from one side, attenuation of the ultraviolet light by absorption and scattering (dependent on a particle size), ...

Oxytocin reportedly decreases anxious feelings in humans and may therefore have therapeutic value for anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As PTSD patients have exaggerated startle responses, a fear-potentiated startle paradigm in rats may have face validity as an animal model to examine the efficacy of oxytocin in ...

Resurgence typically refers to the recovery of a previously reinforced response when a more recently reinforced response is extinguished. Under conditions of punishment, Wilson and Hayes (1996) observed the recovery of derived stimulus relations that never had been correlated with differential consequences. The present study systematically replicated the findings of ...

In Pavlovian overshadowing, a stimulus that predicts a biologically important event reduces conditioning to another, equally predictive stimulus. We tested the effects of an opioid antagonist and dopamine agonist on the ability of a salient white noise to overshadow a less salient light. Rats were conditioned to fear a light ...

Three experiments examined the role of the dorsal hippocampus (dHIPP) in occasion setting with diffuse contextual and discrete light stimuli serving as occasion setters in classical fear conditioning with rats. Both sham-operated and dHIPP-lesioned animals readily learned a L→T+, T- serial feature-positive discrimination in which a light (L) "set the ...

How constant is the Weber fraction (WF) for brief time intervals? This question was assessed in three experiments with two base durations (BDs), 0.2 and 1 sec, and with different ways of estimating the WF. In Experiment 1, the psychometric functions were drawn on the basis of 4, 8, or ...

We studied the learning produced by simple exposures to a stimulus. Exposures depressed orienting and subsequent conditioned freezing in rats. A remotely preexposed conditioned stimulus (CS) conditioned better and overshadowed a novel CS more than a recently preexposed CS. Additional preexposures reversed these effects: a remotely preexposed CS elicited more ...

A behavior-based theory identified 2 characteristics of voluntary acts. The first, extensively explored in operant-conditioning experiments, is that voluntary responses produce the reinforcers that control them. This bidirectional relationship-in which reinforcer depends on response and response on reinforcer-demonstrates the functional nature of the voluntary act. The present article focuses on ...

Bright light was an effective aversive stimulus for Wistar rats in punishment, escape, and avoidance paradigms. Contingent punishment of lever pressing maintained by concurrent schedules of food delivery shifted presses to an alternate lever, and depressed overall response rates. Periodic non-contingent presentation of the light prompted escape responding (head entry ...

Past studies using the concurrent-chain procedure showed that pigeons and humans generally prefer an unsegmented schedule to a segmented schedule. This finding is ostensibly inconsistent with theories of conditioned reinforcement such as delay-reduction theory. In the present study with humans, two changes in the basic segmented schedule were implemented to ...

Observing responses are those that produce stimuli correlated with the availability (S+) or non-availability (S-) of reinforcement but that has no influence on the actual delivery or timing of reinforcement. Prior research has shown that observing is maintained by the occasional production of the S+ ("good news") and not by ...

Contrary to the law of effect and optimal foraging theory, pigeons show suboptimal choice behavior by choosing an alternative that provides 20% reinforcement over another that provides 50% reinforcement. They choose the 20% reinforcement alternative--in which 20% of the time, that choice results in a stimulus that always predicts reinforcement, ...

One way to minimize excitation acquired by the conditioned stimulus (CS) is to introduce intertrial presentations of the unconditioned stimulus (US). However, even in the presence of frequent intertrial USs, Experiments 1a and 1b found that rats anticipated the customary arrival time of a food pellet US when it occurred ...

Drug addiction is a chronic disorder associated with recurrent craving and relapse often precipitated by the presence of drug-associated stimuli. Pharmacological and behavioral treatments that disrupt drug-associated stimulus memories could be beneficial in the treatment of addictive disorders. Memory restabilization (or reconsolidation) following retrieval of drug-paired stimuli depends upon the ...

Results from studies of observing responses have suggested that stimuli maintain observing owing to their special relationship to primary reinforcement (the conditioned-reinforcement hypothesis), and not because they predict the availability and nonavailability of reinforcement (the information hypothesis). The present article first reviews a study that challenges that conclusion and then ...