Rotational spectrum of propylene oxide-neon

The free jet millimetre-wave absorption spectrum of the propylene oxide-Ne complex is reported for both the ²⁰Ne and ²²Ne isotopomers. The Ne atom lies on the same side as the methyl group (syn conformer) with respect to the plane of the COC ring. From the D_J centrifugal distortion constant the dissociation energy has been estimated to be about 1.1 kJ mol^?1.     

Search for low-energy resonances in 21Ne(p, γ)22Na and 22Ne(p, γ)23Na

The reactions ²¹Ne(p, γ)²²Na and ²²Ne(p, γ)²³Na have been investigated at E_p(lab) = 70–355keV. Neon gas enriched to 91% in ²¹Ne and to 99% in ²²Ne was recirculated in a differentially pumped gas target system of the extended-static and quasi-point supersonic jet type. For ²¹Ne(p, γ)²²Na, new resonances were found at E_p = 126, 272, 291 and 352 keV. The 291 keV resonance corresponds to a new unbound state in ²²Na. Excitation energies, γ-ray decay schemes, resonance widths and strengths as well as J^π assignments are reported for all the resonances. Information on low-lying states in ²²Na is also obtained. Of the 9 expected resonances in ²²Ne(p, γ)²³Na none has been observed. Upper limits on their ωγy strengths are presented. The astrophysical as well as the nulcear structure aspects of the results are discussed.     

Proton-induced direct capture on 21Ne and 22Ne

The direct capture process in the reactions ²¹Ne(p, γ)²²Na and ²²Ne(p, γ)²³Na has been investigated at E_p = 0.3–1.6 MeV using neon gas enriched to 91 % in ²¹Ne and to 99 % in ²²Ne, respectively. The gas was recirculated in a differentially pumped gas target system of the extended-static and quasi-point supersonic jet type. For ²²Ne(p, γ)²³Na, the direct capture process has been observed to several final states in ²³Na up to E_x = 8.83 MeV excitation energy. The deduced spectroscopic factors C²S are in fair agreement with the corresponding values from stripping reactions. The capture transition into the ²³Na ground state exhibits broad structures, which resemble Ericson fluctuations. The data remove the previously reported discrepancies in C²S for the ²³Na ground state. The excitation functions for the ²¹Ne(p, γ)²²Na reaction are dominated by broad and intense resonances, which hampered the measurement of the direct capture process. The nuclear and astrophysical aspects of the results are discussed.     

Stellar reaction rate of 20Ne(α, γ)24Mg

The reaction ²⁰Ne(α, γ)²⁴Mg has been investigated at E_α(lab) = 0.55–3.20 MeV. Neon gas enriched to 99.95% in ²⁰Ne was recirculated in differentially pumped gas target systems of the extended and quasipoint jet types. New resonances were found at E_α(lab) = 958, 1226, 1260, 1704 and 2277 keV, which correspond to known states in ²⁴Mg. Excitation energies, γ-ray decay schemes, γ-ray angular distributions, resonance widths and strengths as well as J^π and T-assignments are reported for all the resonances. Information on low-lying states in ²⁴Mg is also obtained. The nuclear and astrophysical aspects of the results are discussed.     

Study of N=20 shell gap with 1H(28Ne,27,28Ne) reactions

This paper reports on the ¹H(²⁸Ne,²⁸Ne) and ¹H(²⁸Ne,²⁷Ne) reactions studied at intermediate energy using a liquid hydrogen target. From the cross section populating the first 2⁺ excited state of ²⁸Ne, and using the previously determined B(E2) value, the neutron quadrupole transition matrix element has been calculated to be M_n=13.8 ±3.7 fm². In the neutron knock-out reaction, two low-lying excited states were populated in ²⁷Ne. Only one of them can be interpreted by the sd shell model while the additional state may intrude from the fp shell. These experimental observations are consistent with the presence of fp shell configurations at low excitation energy in ^27,28Ne nuclei caused by a vanishing N=20 shell gap at Z=10.     

Particle Mass Loading Effect on a Two-Phase Turbulent Downward Jet Flow

The particle mass loading effect on the flow structure of a two-phase turbulent jet flow was studied. A particle mass loading ratio ranging from 0 to 3.6 was used as the control parameter. The polystyrene solid particles used had nominal diameters of 210 and 780 μm. The flow Reynolds number, which was based on the pipe nozzle diameter and the fluid-phase centerline mean velocity, was 2 × 10⁴ in the current test. A two-color laser Doppler anemometer (LDA), combined with the amplitude discrimination method and the velocity filter method, was employed to measure the mean velocity distributions for the particle and fluid phases, and the turbulent intensities and Reynolds stresses of the flow. The two-phase jet flow field was measured from the initial pipe exit to 90 D downstream. Another one-component He? Ne laser LDA system was also applied to obtain the energy spectra and temporal correlations of the two-phase jet flow.     

Study of 16O, 20Ne, 22Ne, 28Si and 32S by inelastic scattering of polarized protons

Analyzing powers and cross sections have been measured for elastic and inelastic scattering of 24.5 MeV protons from ²⁰Ne and ²²Ne, and for ¹⁶O, ²⁸Si and ³²S at 30.3 MeV. The experimental results were analyzed in terms of the coupled-channels formalism using the rotational model and (for ³²S and ¹⁶O) the vibrational model. The results for ²⁰Ne, ²²Ne and ²⁸Si show a systematic trend of the hexadecapole deformation. Prolate shapes for ²⁰Ne and ²²Ne and an oblate shape for ²⁸Si are confirmed. The results for ³²S are almost equally well-reproduced by the vibrational or rotational model, and there is a slight preference for the prolate shape for this nucleus. The best fits for the analyzing power for all the nuclei were obtained by using the full Thomas form for the spin-orbit potential     

Three particle reactions observed from 10Ne + 12C at 160 MeV

Coincidences between light particles (Z ? 4) and heavy ions (A ? 9) have been measured for the ²⁰Ne + ¹²C reaction at $\text{E}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>lab</mtext>}}\text{(}{}^{20}\text{Ne}\text{) = 160}\text{MeV}$. α, ¹⁶O events from the ¹²C(²⁰Ne, α¹⁶O)¹²C reaction and α, ²⁰Ne events from ¹²C(²⁰Ne, α²⁰Ne)⁸Be have been found. Energy distributions and angular correlations of these events are consistent with α-decay from the intermediate nuclei ²⁰Ne and ²⁴Mg formed by inelastic scattering and α-transfer in a first reaction step.     

Drug delivery using novel nanoplexes against a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmonella</Emphasis> mouse infection model

A novel methodology for incorporating gentamicin into macromolecular complexes with anionic homo- and block copolymers via cooperative electrostatic interactions is described. Block copolymers of poly(ethylene oxide-b-sodium acrylate) (PEO-b-PAA^{− +}Na) or poly(ethylene oxide-b-sodium methacrylate) (PEO-b-PMA^{− +}Na) were blended with PAA⁻ Na⁺ and complexed with the polycationic antibiotic gentamicin. Gentamicin nanoplexes made with PEO-b-PMA^{− +}Na/PAA^{− +}Na (PMPG) and analogous nanoplexes with PEO-b-PAA^{− +}Na/PAA^{− +}Na (PAPG) had mean intensity average diameters of 120 and 90 nm, zeta potentials of −17 and −11 mv, and incorporated 26% and 23% by weight of gentamicin, respectively. Gentamicin release rates at physiological pH from nanoplexes were relatively slow. PAPG and PMPG as drug delivery systems for treating murine salmonellosis at doses similar to the free gentamicin experiments resulted in reduced numbers of viable bacteria in the liver and spleen. Polymeric nanoplexes developed by this methodology can potentially improve targeting of intracellular pathogens.