Atualmente, decorrente da cultura estética onde há o culto aos corpos esbeltos com aparência saudável e pele lisa, macia e viçosa, a hidrolipodistrofia ginóide, conhecida como celulite, tem sido um dos desafios para os dermatologistas e cirurgiões plásticos. Assim, temse testado diferentes formas de tratamentos entre as quais estão aplicações de cremes à base de xantinas visando a atenuação dos sintomas. O conhecimento das propriedades físicoquímicas de tais formulações é essencial para otimizar as condições de produção e liberação do ativo na pele, além de prover elegância cosmética do produto desenvolvido. Os objetivos desse trabalho foram obter e avaliar a estabilidade de emulsões O/A contendo fase líquida cristalina, adicionada de cafeína, para aplicação no tratamento da hidrolipodistrofia ginóide, bem como avaliar o perfil de liberação da substância ativa in vitro com intuito de determinar sua disponibilidade. A emulsão O/A contendo como fase oleosa, óleos vegetais naturais (óleo de urucum, de café e de melaleuca) foi desenvolvida através da utilização do Sistema Equilíbrio Hidrófilo- Lipófilo (EHL). Utilizando os tensoativos não-iônicos Ceteareth 5 e Steareth 2 nas concentrações de 10,0 e 15,0% foi possível obter fases líquidas cristalinas lamelares. A adição de cafeína a 1,0% foi conseguida em emulsão contendo 15,0% da mistura de tensoativos e com auxílio na solubilização através do uso de benzoato de sódio na mesma concentração (1,0%). As emulsões foram consideradas estáveis segundo as condições experimentais e parâmetros analisados. O perfil de liberação da substância ativa apresentou fase inicial de liberação mais rápida seguida de outra mais lenta. A eletroforese capilar mostrou-se ferramenta mais adequada para quantificação do ativo. Os resultados sugerem que os cristais líquidos lamelares estejam atuando provavelmente como veículo de liberação lenta. / Nowadays, due to aesthetic culture that there is the cult to slim body with health appearance and smooth, vigorous skin, the gynoid hydrolipodystrophy, known as cellulite, has been one of the challenges for dermatologists and plastic surgeons. Thus, different kinds of treatments have been tested, and among them, the application of xantines-based creams in order to attenuate the symptoms. The knowledge of the physicochemical properties of such formulations is essential to optimize the production conditions and active skin delivery, besides promoting cosmetic elegance of the developed product. The aims of this research were to attain and to evaluate the stability of O/W emulsions containing liquid crystalline phase, with the addition of caffeine, to be used on the gynoid hydrolipodystrophy treatment, as well as evaluate the release profile of the active in vitro in order to determine its availability. The O/W emulsion containing natural vegetable oils (annatto oil, coffee oil and tea tree oil) as oily phase was developed through the utilization of Hydrophilic Lipophilic Balance System (HLB). When using the non-ionic surfactants Ceteareth 5 and Steareth 2 in the 10.0 and 15.0% concentrations it was possible to obtain lamellar liquid crystalline phases. The addition of caffeine 1.0% was attained in emulsion containing 15.0% of the surfactant mixture and its solubility was improved through the sodium benzoate use in the same concentration. The emulsions were considered stable according to the experimental conditions and evaluated parameters. The release profile of the active agent presented a faster initial phase followed by a slower one. The capillary electrophoresis showed a more suitable tool to quantify the active. The results suggest that the lamellar liquid crystals are probably acting as slow delivery vehicle.

Esta dissertação apresenta os resultados obtidos na caracterização reológica, utilizando ensaios rotacionais e oscilatórios, de sistemas de cristais líquidos liotrópicos nemáticos e colestéricos à base de cloreto de decilamônio (CDA). Os sistemas colestéricos foram obtidos pela adição às matrizes nemáticas de indutores quirais hidrofóbico (Colesterol) ou hidrofilico (D-(+)Manose) que conferem à estrutura liquidocristalina um arranjo helicoidal. Procuramos analisar os efeitos da concentração do indutor no comportamento reológico, bem como da sua natureza e da quantidade de solvente presentes nestes sistemas mesomórficos. Os ensaios rotacionais foram realizados utilizando-se taxas de cisalhamento constante e variadas. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que ocorre uma mudança no comportamento reológico dependente da natureza do indutor quiral. Fases com indutor hidrofóbico têm sua viscosidade diminuída com a adição de colesterol, enquanto as fases com D-(+)-Manose têm sua viscosidade aumentada. Também foram observadas mudanças no comportamento reológico segundo a quantidade de solvente presente na mesofase. Para sistemas com colesterol e com maior quantidade de água em sua composição, a viscosidade aumenta ao longo do tempo até atingir um valor máximo, seguido de uma diminuição. Este comportamento deve indicar que nestes sistemas, as fases devem primeiro sofrer uma deformação atingindo um máximo de tensão, a partir da qual começa a ocorrer uma melhor acomodação da sua estrutura, provocando a diminuição da viscosidade. Nos sistemas com indutor hidrofóbico e com menor. quantidade de solvente, a viscosidade diminui até atingir um valor mínimo. Pode-se observar que quanto maior for a concentração de indutor, maior é o tempo necessário para se atingir este mínimo. A partir deste ponto há um aumento da viscosidade até um valor constante. Isto sugere a ocorrência de uma quebra da estrutura do sistema, seguida por sua reorientação por fluxo. Em sistemas em que o indutor é D-(+)-Manose, o comportamento reológico observado é semelhante tanto em fases com maior ou menor quantidade de solvente, ou seja, aumento da viscosidade até um valor máximo, seguido pela sua diminuição. A diferença observada é que em sistemas com maior quantidade de solvente, o máximo é atingido mais cedo. O aumento da viscosidade deve caracterizar uma deformação da estn1tura que após atingir uma tensão máxima, começa a se orientar em uma direção preferencial, causando a diminuição da viscosidade sem quebra do edifício colestérico. A determinação da entalpia livre de ativação de fluxo (ΔH≠) mostra que para os sistemas em que o colesterol foi usado como indutor, a energia diminui com o aumento da concentração de indutor, quando D-(+)-Manose é utilizado, a energia aumenta. No caso do indutor hidrofóbico, a força quiral auxiliaria na orientação por fluxo das micelas, pois ao se movimentar uma micela, as outras seriam arrastadas pelas forças elásticas, diminuindo a entalpia de ativação de fluxo. Quando o indutor utilizado é hidrofílico, a entalpia de ativação aumenta, possivelmente devido à natureza do indutor, que possui uma interação maior com o solvente, agindo como uma barreira para a movimentação e orientação das micelas por fluxo. Os ensaios oscilatórios, por sua vez, mostram que a capacidade de armazenamento e devolução de energia, determinada pelo valor do módulo de armazenamento (G\') é maior que capacidade de dissipação desta por calor ou difusão das partículas, obtida pelo módulo de perda (G\"). Ambos os módulos apresentam uma dependência em relação quantidade de indutor, natureza de indutor e quantidade de água disponível, porém não foi possível se determinar nenhuma relação direta entre esses fatores. Esse sistema liotrópico pode ser descrito pelo modelo de Burger, contanto que seja levado em consideração que a componente elástica do elemento de Maxwell possua uma dependência temporal. Esse efeito provavelmente é devido à própria inércia do sistema. / This dissertation shows the results obtained on the rheological characterization, using rotation and oscillatory essays, for nematics and cholesterics lyotropic liquid crystals based on decylammonium chloride (CDA). The cholesteric systems were obtained adding chiral inductors, hydrophobic (Cholesterol) or hydrophilic (D-(+)-Mannose) to nematic matrixes, inducing a helical arrangement on the liquid crystalline stn1cture. The effect of the inductor concentration besides of its nature and the amount of solvent in these mesomorphic systems were correlated to the rheological properties obtained. The rotation essays were done using constant and varied shear rates. The obtained results showed a change in the rheological behavior dependent of the chiral inductor nature. Phases with hydrophobic inductor presented viscosity decreased with the increase of cholesterol concentration, while the increase of D-(+)-Mannose concentration leads to the viscosity increase. Changes in the rheological behavior were also observed according to the amount of solvent present on the phase. For systems with cholesterol and larger amount of water, the viscosity increases along the time until reaching a maximum value, followed by a decrease. This behavior should indicate that in these systems, the phases should suffer some kind of deformation until reaching a maximum of tension. After that, an accommodation process of the structure causes the viscosity decrease. For the systems with hydrophobic inductor and with smaller amount of solvent, the viscosity decreases until reach a minimum value, that is reached later as larger it is the inductor concentration. After that, there is an increase of the viscosity until a constant value be obtained. It suggests the occurrence of a breakdown of the stn1cture, proceeded by its reorientation by flow. For the systems with D-(+)-Mannose, the rheological behavior observed is quite similar for phases with larger or smaller amount of solvent, i.e., increase of the viscosity to a maximum value, followed proceeded by its decrease. The difference is that in systems with larger amount of solvent, the maximum is reached earlier. The increase of the viscosity should characterize a deformation of the stn1cture that after reaching a maximum tension, it will be orientated in a preferential direction, causing the decrease of the viscosity without break of the cholesteric building. The flow activation free enthalpy (ΔH≠) determination shows a decrease of energy value for increase of inductor concentration in lyotropic cholesteric liquid crystal that used cholesterol as inductor. When D-(+)-Mannose was used, the flow activation free enthalpy value increases. In the systems that hydrophobic inductor is used, the chiral forces should help in micelles flow orientation process, seemingly, after the movement of a micelle, the others would be dragged by the elastic forces, decreasing the flow activation enthalpy. When it is used a hydrophilic inductor, flow activation enthalpy increases with increases of inductor concentration, probably because the inductor nature that has a greater interaction with the solvent, acting as a barrier against the micelles flow orientation. The oscillatory essays show that the storage energy capacity, determined by the value of the storage modulus (G\') is larger than heat or diffusion dissipation capacity of the particles, obtained by the loss modulus (G\"). Both modulus (G\' and G\") decrease for the phases with smaller amount of available water and stay constant for the systems with larger amount of water. The lyotropic mesophase studied can be described by a Burger model modified by taken into account a temporary dependence to the elastic Maxwell component. This effect should be probably due to the inertia of the system.

Modifying photopolymer structure on the molecular and nanoscale level permits tailoring materials for use in a wide variety of applications. Understanding the fundamentals behind polymer structure at these levels permits the control of material properties. This work gains insight into the modification of structure on two levels, the nanoscale by use of structure templates and the molecular scale through the modification of polymer network formation. Lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) are a type of self-assembling surfactant system, which in combination with photopolymerization can be used to template ordered nanostructure within polymer materials. This structure can be controlled and utilized to influence the properties of a polymer material. This research examines materials used as templating agents and the types of nanostructures that may be obtained. Additionally, their effects upon the LLC templating process and material properties is determined. Structured polymers are created using LLC templates in pursuit of materials for use in water purification processes and electrochemical devices. Through a more complete understanding of the fundamentals of the templating process, the work presented here extends the LLC templating technique to a greater variety of materials and applications in the water remediation and energy storage fields. The second portion of this research is the use of reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) to modify photopolymer networks. RAFT agents are utilized to control the propagation reaction to create networks with increased homogeneity between network crosslinks. By increasing the uniformity of the polymer network, increases in polymer elongation and toughness as well as decreases in polymer modulus are observed. The effects of RAFT agent addition on the network formation and the final properties of the photopolymer is examined. By understanding the mechanisms behind this modification technique, photopolymers can be extended into new applications where increased elongation and toughness is valued.

The goal of the research in this dissertation is to design and characterize embedded passive components, interconnects, and circuits in inhomogeneous, multi-layer liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) substrates. The attenuation properties of inhomogeneous multi-layer LCP substrates were extracted up to 40 GHz. This is the first result for an inhomogeneous LCP stack-up that has been reported. The characterization results show excellent loss characteristics, much better than FR-4-based technology, and they are similar to LTCC and homogeneous LCP-based technology. A two-port characterization method based on measurements of multiple arrays of vias is proposed. The method overcomes the drawbacks of the one-port and other two-port characterizations. Model-to-hardware correlation was verified using multi-layer model in Agilent ADS and measurement-based via model using arrays of the vias. The resulting correlations show that this method can be readily applied to other vertical interconnect structures besides via structures. Comprehensive characterizations have been conducted for the efficient 3D integration of high-Q passives using a balanced LCP substrate. At two different locations from three different large M-LCP panels, 76 inductors and 16 3D capacitors were designed and measured. The parameters for the measurement-based inductor model were extracted from the measured results. The results validate the large panel process of the M-LCP substrate. To reduce the lateral size, multi-layer 3D capacitors were designed. The designed 3D capacitors with inductors can provide optimized solutions for more efficient RF front-end module integration. In addition, the parameters for the measurement-based capacitor model were extracted. Various RF front-end modules have been designed and implemented using high-Q embedded passive components in inhomogeneous multi-layer LCP substrates. A C-band filter using lumped elements has been designed and measured. The lumped baluns were used to design a double balnced-mixer for 5 GHz WLAN application and a doubly double-balanced mixer for 1.78 GHz CDMA receiver miniaturization. Finally, to overcome the limitations of the lumped component circuits, a 30 GHz gap-coupled band-pass filter in inhomogeneous multi-layer LCP substrates, and the measured results using SOLT and TRL calibrations have been compared to the simulation results.

No description available.

No description available.

Paskutiniais dešimtmečiais puslaidininkių fizika vaidino svarbų vaidmenį beveik kiekvienoje šiuolaikinių technologijų srityje. Šiame greitai besikeičiančiame pasaulyje mūsų jau nebetenkina supantys buities ir darbo prietaisai, valdomi naudojantis elektronais. Mums reikalingas didesnis kompiuterių operatyvumas, didesnė atminties talpa, greitesnis telekomunikacinis ryšys, ir todėl reikalingos naujos technologijos bei sprendimai. Naujas žingsnis fotoninės struktūros. Žinių ir technologijų pasiekimai leidžia fotoninių sturktūrų savybes taikyti šviesos valdymui. Dabartiniame optinės fizikos tyrinėjimų etape šviesos sąveika su medžiaga labai aktuali: ji gali atrodyti universali ir invariantiška, kadangi šviesa jau kontroliuojama pasitelkus hibridinius fotoninius kristalus. Šių darinių tyrimai patrauklūs tiek fundamentaliam, tiek taikomajam mokslui. Į opalą infiltravę skystąjį kristalą, gauname hibridinį fotoninį kristalą. Jo optines savybes galima keisti priklausomai nuo infiltruotos medžiagos lūžio rodiklio. Fotoniniai kristalai, reikia tikėtis, bus taikomi ateities fotoniniuose įrenginiuose, telekomunikacijoje. Su šia sritimi siejamos tokios pat ar net didesnės viltys, kokios buvo siejamos su prieš 50 metų išrastu puslaidininkiniu tranzistoriumi, pakeitusiu techniką ir davusiu impulsą naujoms mokslo kryptims. Teoriškai fotoninių kristalų egzistavimą nepriklausomai vienas nuo kito 1987 metais pirmieji aprašė E.Jablonovičius ir S. Johnas. Tačiau prireikė dar dešimt metų, kol buvo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / We live in the rapidly developing technological world. However, fields of communication, computer memory, and data processing require considerable improvements. The speed of data transportation is acceptable but capacity is low. There is a growing need for new technologies that rapidly detect and treat diseases at an early stage or even pre-stage. When we get accustomed to the advance, we demand more compact, energy-efficient, rapidly-responding and environmentally-safe technologies. During the last century this problem was solved by switching to transportation of electronic data, which connected people around the world. This approach had changed our lives, but about twenty years ago this technology reached its limits, while need for an even higher transportation capacity increases. Now we need faster computers and other state-of-the-art technological solutions: electrons are too slow and we have to use photons. Over the last decade, the steady progress regarding ability to fabricate hybrid photonic nanostructures led to a rich variety of different one-, two-, and three-dimensional dielectric/organic and/or metallic periodic structures. They demonstrate qualitatively new and fascinating linear-optical, nonlinear-optical, and quantum-optical features which provide an unprecedented control of light propagation and light-matter interaction. Photonic-based technology, coupled with nanotechnology, can meet many of these challenges. In this work fabrication of hybrid photonic... [to full text]

In this study, we have synthesized two families of new carbohydrate-based amphiphilic derivatives: a series of alkyl glucoside ethers varying in terms of chain length and position on the sugar, and a series of glucosteroids varying in terms of alkyl spacer and, for the disutibstuted systems, in terms of alkyl side chain length. By the means of analytical methods, such as NMR spectroscopy, mass spectroscopy and elementary analysis, the structure of all the compounds was carefully established, as well as their purity. Their liquid crystalline behaviors were studied by the means of transmission light microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The two families of compounds which have been studied illustrate how much the behavior can be essentially related to polar interactions (H-bonding), therefore to the sugar moiety, for the ether series, or to hydrophobic interactions (lipid-lipid) in the glucosteroid series. In this latter series, preference for either steroid-stroid or steroid alkyl packing appears as an insight in understanding the behavior of complex lipids, showing potentially more than one conformational structure with important consequences on the supramolecular level, therefore to their potential biological role. This could be regarded as "lipid denaturation" by analogy to the protein denaturation. Also, when we see that compounds like the glycosteroids having an long chain ester -CAG, BbGL-I, are found to exist in Nature, and how much glycolipid-cholesterol interactions were recently shown to be critical in some biological processes, it is hoped that our observations can provide a new vision angle for the study of complex lipids and glycolipids. As a start to develop new probes targeting the "lipid raft" microdomain in membranes, we also explored a sequence towards carbohydrate laurdan hybrids. Further development of this strategy and evaluation of the biological properties is programmed within new collaborative projects.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.); Submitted to Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (US); 12 Dec 2003. / Published through the Information Bridge: DOE Scientific and Technical Information. "IS-T 2100" Gang Li. 12/12/2003. Report is also available in paper and microfiche from NTIS.