Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) have received recently considerable interest of photonic and photovoltaic communities. In this work, we report the optoelectronic properties of gold NPs (Au-NPs) obtained by depositing very thin gold layers on glass substrates through thermal evaporation electron-beam assisted process. The effect of mass thickness of the layer was evaluated. The polycrystalline Au-NPs, with grain sizes of 14 and 19 nm tend to be elongated in one direction as the mass thickness increase. A 2 nm layer deposited at 250 C led to the formation of Au-NPs with 10-20 nm average size, obtained by SEM images, while for a 5 nm layer the wide size elongates from 25 to 150 nm with a mean at 75 nm. In the near infrared region was observed an absorption enhancement of amorphous silicon films deposited onto the Au-NPs layers with a corresponding increase in the PL peak for the same wavelength region.

{Aluminophosphate glasses belonging to the Li2O-BaO-Al 2O3- La2O3-P2O 5 system doped with Tb3+ were prepared and investigated. Methods as Induced Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), Induced Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used to establish the elemental composition of these vitreous materials. The influence of the Tb3+ ions on the optical properties of the phosphate glasses has been investigated in relation with the structural characteristics of the vitreous matrix. The optical behavior has been studied by ultra-violet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, revealing electronic transitions specific for terbium ions. Fluorescence spectroscopy measurements have been performed by excitation in the UV and visible domains (377 nm and 488 nm) which resulted in the most significant fluorescence peaks in the Vis domain (540 and 547 nm). Structural information via vibration modes were provided by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) absorption spectra in the 400-4000 cm-1 range. Absorption peaks specific for the vitreous phosphate matrix were put in evidence as P-O-P symmetrical and asymmetrical stretching vibration modes, P-O-P bend, PO2- symmetrical and asymmetrical stretching vibration modes

This paper aims to study the influence of eco-innovation practices on eco-efficiency of business, which embraces environmental and economic performance. Four hypotheses are drawn up based on the existing literature in green supply chain and considering the business innovation. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data on a sample of {USA} and Portuguese innovative organizations. Multivariate statistics and Partial Least Squares ({PLS)} path modelling techniques were used to test the proposed hypothesis. The statistical analysis allows to conclude that there are differences between the eco-innovation practices deployed by organizations belonging to different sectors and with different sizes. Also, it was found that the level of implementation of the different eco-innovation practices by organizations influence the eco-efficiency of businesses.

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The close structural similarity between the two cyclooxygenase (COXs) isoforms and the absence of selective inhibitors without side effects continues to stimulate the development of novel approaches towards selective anti-inflammatory drugs. In the present study a small library of new indolic compounds involving two different substitutions patterns at the indole scaffold was synthesized. In order to establish a relation between the spatial distribution of known functional groups related with inhibitory activity, two substitution patterns were explored: one with substituents at N-1, C-3, C-5 positions and another at C-2, C-3 and C5 positions. Accordingly, indole positions C-5, C-3 and N-1 were substituted with: sulfonamide or methylsulfone at C-5, p-halo-benzyl group at C-3, and an alkyl chain with a trifluoromethyl group at N-1. Alternatively, a p-halo-benzyl group was introduced at C-2, leaving the indolic nitrogen free. Inhibitory studies were performed and the activity results obtained against both COXs isoforms were rationalized based on docking and NMR studies. Docking studies show that dialkyation at C-2 and C-3 favors a binding with an orientation similar to that of the known selective inhibitor SC-558. From the tested compounds, this substitution pattern is correlated with the highest inhibitory activity and selectivity: 70% COX-2 inhibition at 50 M, and low COX-1 inhibition (18±9%). Additionally, Saturation Transfer Difference NMR experiments reveal different interaction patterns with both COXs isoforms that may be related with different orientations of the sulfonamide group in the binding pocket. Despite the moderated inhibitory activities found, this study represents an innovative approach towards COXs inhibitory activity rationalization and to the design of anti-inflammatory drugs.

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Green and lean paradigms have been adopted by companies in order to manage their relationships with suppliers in a supply chain management context, but nearly always separately and with little understanding of their influence on company performance. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the analysis of the influence of green and lean upstream supply chain management practices on the sustainable development of businesses. To attend this objective, a set of performance measures covering economic (operational cost, environmental cost, and inventory cost), environmental (business wastage, green image, and CO2 emission), and social (corruption risk, supplier screening and local supplier) perspectives is proposed. An explanatory case study was conducted at a Portuguese automaker to test qualitatively the validity of the proposed theoretical framework. From the case study, a model is suggested, which encompasses the relationships between green and lean upstream supply chain practices and sustainable business development.

We present a generalization to symmetric optimization of interior-point methods for linear optimization based on kernel functions. Symmetric optimization covers the three most common conic optimization problems: linear, second-order cone and semi-definite optimization problems. Namely, we adapt the interior-point algorithm described in Peng et al. [Self-regularity: A New Paradigm for Primal–Dual Interior-point Algorithms. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2002.] for linear optimization to symmetric optimization. The analysis is performed through Euclidean Jordan algebraic tools and a complexity bound is derived.

Techniques for estimating the condition number of a nonsingular matrix are developed. It is shown that Hager's 1-norm condition number estimator is equivalent to the conditional gradient algorithm applied to the problem of maximizing the 1-norm of a matrix-vector product over the unit sphere in the 1-norm. By changing the constraint in this optimization problem from the unit sphere to the unit simplex, a new formulation is obtained which is the basis for both conditional gradient and projected gradient algorithms. In the test problems, the spectral projected gradient algorithm yields condition number estimates at least as good as those obtained by the previous approach. Moreover, in some cases, the spectral gradient projection algorithm, with a careful choice of the parameters, yields improved condition number estimates.