Estimating the parameters of the Sgr A* black hole

The measurement of relativistic effects around the galactic center may allow in the near future to strongly constrain the parameters of the supermassive black hole likely present at the galactic center (Sgr A*). As a by-product of these measurements it would be possible to severely constrain, in addition, also the parameters of the mass-density distributions of both the innermost star cluster and the dark matter clump around the galactic center.     

Monophosphoramide derivatives: synthesis and crystal structure,theoretical and experimental studies of their biological effects

Molecular Diversity - Synthesizing new chemical compounds and studying their biological applications have been important issues in scientific research. In this investigation, we synthesized and...     

Locally convex quotient lattice cones

Walter Roth has investigated certain equivalence relations on locally convex cones in [W. Roth, Locally convex quotient cones, J. Convex Anal. 18, No. 4, 903–913 (2011)] which give rise to the definition of a locally convex quotient cone. In this paper, we investigate some special equivalence relations on a locally convex lattice cone by which the locally convex quotient cone becomes a lattice. In the case of a locally convex solid Riesz space, this reduces to the known concept of locally convex solid quotient Riesz space. We prove that the strict inductive limit of locally convex lattice cones is a locally convex lattice cone. We also study the concept of locally convex complete quotient lattice cones.     

Characterization of deep acceptor level in as-grown ZnO thin film by molecular beam epitaxy

We report deep level transient spectroscopy results from ZnO layers grown on silicon by molecular beam epitaxy(MBE). The hot probe measurements reveal mixed conductivity in the as-grown ZnO layers, and the current–voltage(I–V)measurements demonstrate a good quality p-type Schottky device. A new deep acceptor level is observed in the ZnO layer having activation energy of 0.49±0.03 eV and capture cross-section of 8.57×10-18cm2. Based on the results from Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) of the ZnO layer, the observed acceptor trap level is tentatively attributed to a nitrogen–zinc vacancy complex in ZnO.     

用聚(L-蛋氨酸)/纳米金修饰玻碳电极同时灵敏检测多巴胺和尿酸简

A novel electrochemical sensor was fabricated by electrodeposition of gold nanoparticles on a poly(L-methionine) (PMT)-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to form a nano-Au/PMT composite-modified GCE (nano-Au/PMT/GCE). Scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical techniques were used to characterize the composite electrode. The modified electrode exhibited considerable electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA) in phosphate buffer solution (pH = 7.00). Differential pulse voltammetry revealed that the electrocatalytic oxidation currents of DA and UA were linearly related to concentration over the range of 5.0×10^-8 to 10^-6 mol/L for DA and 7.0×10^-8 to 10^-6 mol/L for UA. The detection limits were 3.7×10^-8 mol/L for DA and 4.5×10^-8 mol/L for UA at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. According to our experimental results, nano-Au/PMT/GCE can be used as a sensitive and selective sensor for simultaneous determination of DA and UA.     

Application of Rosin–Rammler model for analysis of CSD in sugar crystallization

Crystal‐size distribution (CSD) is one of the most important parameters in sugar production. The objective is to grow crystals of uniform sizes or narrow CSD. CSD appears to be determined by the growth‐rate history of the crystals and the relative supersaturation (SS) of the solution from which crystals growth takes place. Three methods for preparation of nucleation seeds were described and used for industrial crystallization of raw and white sugars; these are wet milling filtered sugar (ML), agitating saturated solution (AS) and powdered sugars (PD). Rosin–Rammler (RR) and mathematical models were adopted to investigate CSD and the uniformity of the produced crystals. Higher uniformity coefficients were reported for the AS seeded crystals than the other two seeding methods. Furthermore, higher crystal contents were obtained for the AS seeded white sugar batches in comparison.     

Isothermal titration calorimetric study on the interaction of apo-human transferrin with sodium n-dodecyl sulfate

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) was utilized at conditions close to physiologic (50 mM HEPES buffer, pH 7.4 and 160 mM NaCl) and at various temperatures (20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 °C) to evaluate the enthalpy and heat capacity changes for the interactions of sodium n-dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as an anionic surfactant with apo-human transferrin (apo-hTf). The obtained results are very informative due to importance of heat capacity change as a major thermodynamic quantity that is one of the richest potential sources of information in physical terms. The obtained precise curves and heat capacity curves were interpreted in terms of molecular events such as specific and non-specific binding and the unfolding process. A three step mechanism for the interaction of SDS with apo-hTf has been figured out on basis of ITC studies: $ N \leftrightarrow I_{1} \leftrightarrow I_{2} \leftrightarrow D $ , where N, I, and D correspond to native, partially unfolded, and denatured states, respectively.     

Thermo- and Photocatalytic Activation of CO2 in Ionic Liquids Nanodomains

Ionic liquids (ILs) are considered to be potential material devices for CO₂ capturing and conversion to energy-adducts. They form a cage (confined-space) around the catalyst providing an ionic nano-container environment which serves as physical-chemical barrier that selectively controls the diffusion of reactants, intermediates, and products to the catalytic active sites via their hydrophobicity and contact ion pairs. Hence, the electronic properties of the catalysts in ILs can be tuned by the proper choice of the IL-cations and anions that strongly influence the residence time/diffusion of the reactants, intermediates, and products in the nano-environment. On the other hand, ILs provide driving force towards photocatalytic redox process to increase the CO₂ photoreduction. By combining ILs with the semiconductor, unique solid semiconductor-liquid commodities are generated that can lower the CO₂ activation energy barrier by modulating the electronic properties of the semiconductor surface. This mini-review provides a brief overview of the recent advances in IL assisted thermal conversion of CO₂ to hydrocarbons, formic acid, methanol, dimethyl carbonate, and cyclic carbonates as well as its photo-conversion to solar fuels.     

Computational prediction of absorbance maxima for a structurally diverse series of engineered green fluorescent protein chromophores

By virtue of its self-sufficiency to form a visible wavelength chromophore within the confines of its tertiary structure, the Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein (GFP) is single-handedly responsible for the ever-growing popularity of fluorescence imaging of recombinant fusion proteins in biological research. Engineered variants of GFP with altered excitation or emission wavelength maxima have helped to expand the range of applications of GFP. The engineering of the GFP variants is usually done empirically by genetic modifications of the chromophore structure and/or its environment in order to find variants with new photophysical properties. The process of identifying improved variants could be greatly facilitated if augmented or guided by computational studies of the chromophore ground and excited-state properties and dynamics. In pursuit of this goal, we now report a thorough investigation of computational methods for prediction of the absorbance maxima for an experimentally validated series of engineered GFP chromophore analogues. The experimental dataset is composed of absorption maxima for 10 chemically distinct GFP chromophore analogues, including a previously unreported Y66D variant, measured under identical denaturing conditions. For each chromophore analogue, excitation energies and oscillator strengths were calculated using configuration interaction with single excitations (CIS), CIS with perturbative correction for double substitutions [CIS(D)], and time-dependent density functional theory (TD DFT) using several density functionals with solvent effects included using a polarizable continuum model. Comparison of the experimental and computational results show generally poor quantitative agreement with all methods attempted. However, good linear correlations between the calculated and experimental excitation energies (R2>0.9) could be obtained. Oscillator strengths obtained with TD DFT using pure density functionals also correlate well with the experimental values. Interestingly, most of the computational methods used in this work fail in the case of nonaromatic Y66S and Y66L protein chromophores, which may be related to a significant contribution of double excitations to their excited-state wavefunctions. These results provide an important benchmark of the reliability of the computational methods as applied to GFP chromophore analogues and lays a foundation for the computational design of GFP variants with improved properties for use in biological imaging.