Equilibrium Fluctuations in Lysozyme and Myoglobin

Hyperfine Interactions - The angular dependencies of inelastic intensities of Rayleigh scattering of Mössbauer radiation were measured for lysozyme and myoglobin (for different degrees of...     

Synthesis of methacrylate-containing oligosilsesquioxanes via acidic hydrolytic polycondensation in the medium of methacrylate monomers

Methacrylate-containing oligosilsesquioxanes with a molecular mass of 700–4000 are synthesized via the acidic hydrolytic polycondensation of γ-methacryloxy-propyltrimethoxysilane (A-174) in the medium of methyl methacrylate or in a mixture of bis(methacrylates). The structure of the oligomers is studied by ¹Н and ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.     

Immobilization of Invertase in Copolymer of 2,5-Di(thiophen-2-yl)-1-p-Tolyl-1H-Pyrrole with Pyrrole

Immobilization of invertase in conducting copolymer matrix of 2,5-di(thiophen-2-yl)-1-p-tolyl-1H-pyrrole with pyrrole (poly(DDTP-co-Py)) was achieved via electrochemical polymerization. Kinetic parameters, Michaelis-Menten constant, K_m and the maximum reaction rate, V_max were investigated. Operational stability and temperature optimization of the enzyme electrodes were also examined.

Immobilized invertase reveals maximum activity at 50°C and; pH 8 and pH 4 for two copolymer matrices. Although the same two monomers are utilized for the copolymer synthesis, the way the copolymer is produced results in quite different responses in terms of enzyme activity, optimum pH and kinetic parameters. Excellent operational stability of the enzyme electrodes enables their repetitive use in the determination of invert sugar.     

Sol-gel thin films with anti-reflective and self-cleaning properties

Self-cleaning photocatalytic TiO₂ films are beneficial since they reduce the maintenance cost and enhance the efficiency of various optical systems, especially thermal and photovoltaic solar systems. However, the presence of a TiO₂ layer on glass reduces the transmission of incident light, which leads to a decrease in efficiency. This drawback can be overcome by applying a layer of anti-reflective coating beneath the TiO₂ layer. Generally, the anti-reflective layer is porous silica. The presence of the anti-reflective layer compensates for the loss of light transmittance caused by the photocatalytic TiO₂ top layer. This paper reviews some of the previous and the latest fundamental studies in the literature on anti-reflective, self-cleaning and multi-functional films.     

3D sensitivity encoded ellipsoidal MR spectroscopic imaging of gliomas at 3T

Purpose

The goal of this study was to implement time efficient data acquisition and reconstruction methods for 3D magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) of gliomas at a field strength of 3T using parallel imaging techniques.

Methods

The point spread functions, signal to noise ratio (SNR), spatial resolution, metabolite intensity distributions and Cho:NAA ratio of 3D ellipsoidal, 3D sensitivity encoding (SENSE) and 3D combined ellipsoidal and SENSE (e-SENSE) k-space sampling schemes were compared with conventional k-space data acquisition methods.

Results

The 3D SENSE and e-SENSE methods resulted in similar spectral patterns as the conventional MRSI methods. The Cho:NAA ratios were highly correlated (P<.05 for SENSE and P<.001 for e-SENSE) with the ellipsoidal method and all methods exhibited significantly different spectral patterns in tumor regions compared to normal appearing white matter. The geometry factors ranged between 1.2 and 1.3 for both the SENSE and e-SENSE spectra. When corrected for these factors and for differences in data acquisition times, the empirical SNRs were similar to values expected based upon theoretical grounds. The effective spatial resolution of the SENSE spectra was estimated to be same as the corresponding fully sampled k-space data, while the spectra acquired with ellipsoidal and e-SENSE k-space samplings were estimated to have a 2.36–2.47-fold loss in spatial resolution due to the differences in their point spread functions.

Conclusion

The 3D SENSE method retained the same spatial resolution as full k-space sampling but with a 4-fold reduction in scan time and an acquisition time of 9.28 min. The 3D e-SENSE method had a similar spatial resolution as the corresponding ellipsoidal sampling with a scan time of 4:36 min. Both parallel imaging methods provided clinically interpretable spectra with volumetric coverage and adequate SNR for evaluating Cho, Cr and NAA.     

Nonlinear optical properties of asymmetric n-type double <Emphasis Type="Italic">δ</Emphasis>-doped GaAs quantum well under intense laser field

The effect of non-resonant intense laser field on the intersubband-related optical absorption coefficient and refractive index change in the asymmetric n-type double δ-doped GaAs quantum well is theoretically investigated. The confined energy levels and corresponding wave functions of this structure are calculated by solving the Schrödinger equation in the laser-dressed confinement potential within the framework of effective mass approximation. The optical responses are reported as a function of the δ-doped impurities density and the applied non-resonant intense laser field. Additionally, the calculated results also reveal that the non-resonant intense laser field can be used as a way to control the electronic and optical properties of the low dimensional semiconductor nano-structures.     

Rheology of polydimethylsiloxane swollen with supercritical carbon dioxide

Viscosity curves were measured for polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) melts swollen with dissolved carbon dioxide at 50 and 80°C for shear rates ranging from 40 to 2300 s⁻¹, and for carbon dioxide contents ranging from 0 to 21 wt %. The measurements were performed with a capillary extrusion rheometer modified for sealed, high-pressure operation to prevent degassing of the melt during extrusion. The concentration-dependent viscosity curves for these systems are self-similar in shape, exhibiting low-shear rate Newtonian plateau regions followed by shear-thinning “power-law” regions. Considerable reduction of viscosity is observed as the carbon dioxide content is increased. Classical viscoelastic scaling methods, employing a composition-dependent shift factor to scale both viscosity and shear rate, were used to reduce the viscosity data to a master curve at each temperature. The dependence of the shift factors on polymer chain density and free volume were investigated by comparing the shift factors for PDMS-CO₂ systems to those obtained by iso-free volume dilutions of high molecular weight PDMS. This comparison suggests that the free volume added to PDMS upon swelling with dissolved carbon dioxide is the predominant mechanism for viscosity reduction in those systems. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys, 35: 523–534, 1997