Evidence for strain glass in the ferroelastic-martensitic system Ti(50-x)Ni(50+x)

We report here "strain glass," a new glassy phenomenon in ferroelastic-martensitic system of Ni-rich intermetallic Ti(50-x)Ni(50+x) (x > 1), where local strain is frozen in disordered configuration below a critical temperature Tg. The ac elastic modulus shows a minimum at Tg, which exhibits logarithmic frequency dependence following Vogel-Fulcher relationship, and the corresponding internal friction shows a frequency-dependent peak located at a lower temperature. In situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations reveal uncorrelated nanoclusters of martensiticlike phase, randomly frozen in the otherwise untransformed parentlike matrix. Being parallel to spin glass and relaxor, strain glass may shed new light on the fundamental physics of glass and lead to the discovery of novel properties.     

Structural and functional analogue of the active site of polysulfide reductase from Wolinella succinogenes

Synthesis of [PPh4]2[Mo(SPh)2(S2C2(CN)2)2] (2) from [PPh4]2[MoO(S2C2(CN)2)2] (1) has been achieved to mimic the postulated [Mo(S)6] core of polysulfide reductase with two thiolates and two bis(ene-dithiolate) ligands. Compound 2 reacts with polysulfide to yield H2S, modeling the function of polysulfide reductase. The facile conversion of 2 back to 1 in moist solvent suggests that the interconversion of the [MoIV = O] and [MoIV - X] (X = O-Ser, S-Cys, Se-Cys) moieties might occur in the DMSO reductase class of enzymes under appropriate hydrophobic/hydrophilic conditions.     

Skeletal muscle metabolism in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD): an in-vitro proton NMR spectroscopy study

The metabolic differences in the skeletal muscle of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and normal subjects (controls) were investigated using in-vitro high-resolution proton NMR spectroscopy. In all, 56 metabolites were unambiguously identified in the perchloric acid extract of muscle tissue using one- and two-dimensional NMR. The concentrations of glycolytic substrate glucose (Glc; p < 0.05), gluconeogenic amino acids such as glutamine (Gln; p < 0.05) and alanine (Ala; p < 0.05) and the glycolytic product lactate (Lac; p < 0.05) were statistically significantly lower in DMD patients as compared to controls. A significant reduction in the concentrations of total creatine (TCr; p < 0.05), glycerophosphoryl choline + phosphoryl choline + carnitine (GPC/PC/Car; p < 0.05), choline (Cho; p < 0.05) and acetate (Ace; p < 0.05) was also observed in these patients. Decrease in the level of glucose may be attributed to the reduction in the concentrations of gluconeogenic substrates or membrane abnormalities in degenerated muscle of DMD patients. Lower levels of choline containing compounds indicate membrane abnormalities. Decrease in the concentration of lactate in the muscle of DMD patients may be due to the reduction in anaerobic glycolytic activity or lower substrate concentration. The decrease in the concentration of acetate may reflect reduced transport of fatty acids into mitochondria due to decreased concentration of carnitine in DMD patients. Kreb's cycle intermediate alpha-ketoglutarate was observed only in the diseased muscle, which is suggestive of predominant oxidative metabolism for energy generation.     

Abel transform on PSL(2, ℝ) and some of its applications

We shall investigate the use of Abel transform on PSL₂(ℝ) as a tool beyond K-biinvariant setup, discuss its properties and show some applications.     

Relevance of thermally populated first excited state of 44Ti to the abundance problem of cassiopiea A: A model study

We examine the possible role of electron-capture on the thermally populated first 2⁺ excited state of ⁴⁴Ti in hot astrophysical environments pertaining to post explosive nucleosynthesis supernova debris. We find in a simple schematic model that the astrophysical weak interaction rate for electron-capture decay of ⁴⁴Ti can depend considerably on temperature and hence on time. We propose a time varying decay rate for the evolving supernova debris and demonstrate its consequence for the ⁴⁴Ti mass yield of the supernova Cas A, observed through the measured 1.157 MeV γ-ray flux from the electron-capture decay of ⁴⁴Ti.     

Gas-solid interaction force from direct numerical simulation (DNS) of binary systems with extreme diameter ratios

nding the large particles becomes less in case ofa bidisperse mixture, as compared to a monodisperse system with the same volume fraction. We further investigated this discrepancy by calculating the volume per particle by means of Voronoi tessellation.     

Analytic structure of ρ meson propagator at finite temperature

We analyse the structure of one-loop self-energy graphs for the ρ meson in real time formulation of finite temperature field theory. We find the discontinuities of these graphs across the unitary and the Landau cuts. These contributions are identified with different sources of medium modification discussed in the literature. We also calculate numerically the imaginary and the real parts of the self-energies and construct the spectral function of the ρ meson, which are compared with an earlier determination. A significant contribution arises from the unitary cut of the π ω loop, that was ignored so far in the literature.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel triazole-biscoumarin conjugates as potential antitubercular and anti-oxidant agents

Research on Chemical Intermediates - The synthesis of a new series of triazole-biscoumarin conjugates by using a molecular hybridization approach is described. The newly synthesized compounds...     

Perturbed angular correlation study of radiation-induced defects in Rh metal

Radiation-induced defects are studied in cubic rhodium metal, using the local probe technique ‘Time differential perturbed angular correlation’ (TDPAC) at liquid N₂ temperature. Isochronal annealing was done at 300, 1073 and 1473 K temperatures. The irradiated sample showed two quadrupole interaction frequencies at 1150 and 93 MHz. The low frequency disappeared at room-temperature annealing, which was assigned to In trapped at a vacancy, whereas the higher frequency remained up to high temperatures and was attributed to In trapped at Rh–C complexes in the Rh matrix.