Solvent-induced acceleration of the rate of activation of a molecular reaction

An increase in the rates of activated processes with the coupling to the solvent has long been predicted through the phenomenological Langevin equation in the weak coupling regime. However, its direct observation in particle-based models has been elusive because the coupling typically places the processes in the spacial-diffusion limited regime wherein rates decrease with increasing friction. In this work, the forward and backward reaction rates of the LiNC<==>LiCN isomerization reaction in a bath of argon atoms at various densities have been calculated directly using molecular dynamics trajectories. The so-called Kramers turnover in the rate with microscopic friction is clearly visible, thus providing direct and unambiguous evidence for the energy-diffusion regime in which rates increase with friction.     

3He(e,e′pp) and 3He(e,e′pn) reactions at AmPS and MAMI

This paper reports on measurements of the ³He(e,e′pp) reaction measured at AmPS and the ³He(e,e′pn) reaction measured at MAMI. The measurements were performed in similar kinematics to allow a comparison to be made between the cross sections of the two reactions. Results are shown for both reactions together with a comparison for the ³He(e,e′pp) data with continuum Faddeev calculations.     

Asymmetrical hippocampal connectivity in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy: evidence from resting state fMRI

Background

Recent studies have shown that the human right-hemispheric auditory cortex is particularly sensitive to reduction in sound quality, with an increase in distortion resulting in an amplification of the auditory N1m response measured in the magnetoencephalography (MEG). Here, we examined whether this sensitivity is specific to the processing of acoustic properties of speech or whether it can be observed also in the processing of sounds with a simple spectral structure. We degraded speech stimuli (vowel /a/), complex non-speech stimuli (a composite of five sinusoidals), and sinusoidal tones by decreasing the amplitude resolution of the signal waveform. The amplitude resolution was impoverished by reducing the number of bits to represent the signal samples. Auditory evoked magnetic fields (AEFs) were measured in the left and right hemisphere of sixteen healthy subjects.

Results

We found that the AEF amplitudes increased significantly with stimulus distortion for all stimulus types, which indicates that the right-hemispheric N1m sensitivity is not related exclusively to degradation of acoustic properties of speech. In addition, the P1m and P2m responses were amplified with increasing distortion similarly in both hemispheres. The AEF latencies were not systematically affected by the distortion.

Conclusions

We propose that the increased activity of AEFs reflects cortical processing of acoustic properties common to both speech and non-speech stimuli. More specifically, the enhancement is most likely caused by spectral changes brought about by the decrease of amplitude resolution, in particular the introduction of periodic, signal-dependent distortion to the original sound. Converging evidence suggests that the observed AEF amplification could reflect cortical sensitivity to periodic sounds.     

Nonstandard methods for the convective transport equation with nonlinear reactions

A new nonstandard Lagrangian method is constructed for the one-dimensional, transient convective transport equation with nonlinear reaction terms. An “exact” time-stepping scheme is developed with zero local truncation error with respect to time. The scheme is based on nonlocal treatment of nonlinear reactions, and when applied at each spatial grid point gives the new fully discrete numerical method. This approach leads to solutions free from the numerical instabilities that arise because of incorrect modeling of derivatives and nonlinear reaction terms. Algorithms are developed that preserve the properties of the numerical solution in the case of variable velocity fields by using nonuniform spatial grids. Effects of different interpolation techniques are examined and numerical results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed new method. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 14: 467–485, 1998     

Lab on Fiber Technology for biological sensing applications

This review presents an overview of “Lab on Fiber” technologies and devices with special focus on the design and development of advanced fiber optic nanoprobes for biological applications. Depending on the specific location where functional materials at micro and nanoscale are integrated, “Lab on Fiber Technology” is classified into three main paradigms: Lab on Tip (where functional materials are integrated onto the optical fiber tip), Lab around Fiber (where functional materials are integrated on the outer surface of optical fibers), and Lab in Fiber (where functional materials are integrated within the holey structure of specialty optical fibers). This work reviews the strategies, the main achievements and related devices developed in the “Lab on Fiber” roadmap, discussing perspectives and challenges that lie ahead, with special focus on biological sensing applications.