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Highly ionic metal oxide nanostructures are attractive, not only for their physiochemical properties but also for antibacterial activity. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures are known to have inhibitory activity against many pathogens but very little is known about doping effects on it. The antibacterial activity of undoped ZnO and tin (Sn) doped ZnO nanostructures synthesized by a simple, versatile, and wet chemical technique have been investigated against Escherichia coli, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial strains. It has been interestingly observed that Sn doping enhanced the inhibitory activity of ZnO against S. aureus more efficiently than the other two bacterial strains. From cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production studies it is found that Sn doping concentration in ZnO does not alter the cytotoxicity and ROS production very much. It has also been observed that undoped and Sn doped ZnO nanostructures are biosafe and biocompatible materials towards SH-SY5Y Cells. The observed behavior of ZnO nanostructures with Sn doping is a new way to prevent bacterial infections of S. aureus, especially on skin, when using these nanostructures in creams or lotions in addition to their sunscreen property as an ultraviolet filter. Structural investigations have confirmed the formation of a single phase wurtzite structure of ZnO. The morphology of ZnO nanostructures is found to vary from spherical to rod shaped as a function of Sn doping. The excitation absorption peak of ZnO is observed to have a blue shift, with Sn doping leading toward a significant tuning in band gap.

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RESUMEN

There are several methods of measuring radon concentrations but nuclear track detector cylindrical dosimeters are widely employed. In this investigation, the consequence of effective volumes of the dosimeters on the registration of alpha tracks in a CR-39 detector was studied. In a series of experiments an optimum radius for a CR-39-based open cylindrical radon dosimeter was found to be about 3 cm. Monte Carlo simulation techniques have been employed to verify the experimental results. In this context, a computer code Monte Carlo simulation dosimetry (MOCSID) was developed. Monte Carlo simulation experiments gave the optimum radius of the dosimeters as 3.0 cm. The experimental results are in good agreement with those obtained by Monte Carlo design calculations. In addition to this, plate-out effects of radon progeny were also studied. It was observed that the contribution of radon progeny (218Po and 214Po) plated-out on the wall of the dosimeters increases with an increase of dosimeter radii and then decrease to 0 at a radius of about 3 cm if a point detector has been installed at the center of the dosimeter base. In the code MOCSID different types of random number generators were employed. The results of this research are very useful for designing an optimum size of radon dosimeters.

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Two different modes of nested wire array implosion driven by a 1-MA, 240-ns current pulse were observed, determined by the fraction of total current induced in the inner array. Penetration by the outer array through the inner with switching of current occurred if current in the inner array was initially suppressed. Simultaneous implosion of arrays with apparent compression of magnetic flux between the arrays was observed if approximately 20% of the current was in the inner array. In both cases the x-ray pulse rise time of approximately 10 ns (for 260-ns implosion time) was considerably smaller than for a single array.