Alkali earth metal (Ca, Sr, Ba) based thermostable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for proton conduction

Three new alkaline earth metal based MOFs have been synthesized by using 4,4'-sulfobisbenzoic acid (SBBA) and alkaline earth metal salts M(NO(3))(2), M = Ca, Sr, Ba. These MOFs exhibit interesting structural diversity, variable chemical stability as well as proton conductivity.     

Reversible phase transformation in proton conducting Strandberg-type POM based metal organic material

A Cu(II)-phenanthroline connected Strandberg-type polyoxometalate based proton conducting MOF, Cu(3)Mo(5)P(2), that contains one dimensional parallel water channels has been reported. Cu(3)Mo(5)P(2) shows proton conduction at room temperature as well as elevated temperature.     

One-dimensional confinement of a nanosized metal organic framework in carbon nanofibers for improved gas adsorption

The loading of a Zn-terephthalate based MOF in the inner cavity as well as on the outer walls of a hollow carbon nanofiber (CNF) creates MOF@CNF hybrids. This hybrid 'MOF@CNF' displayed improved thermal stability as well as gas adsorption compared to the individual counterparts.     

High-efficiency 10 J diode pumped cryogenic gas cooled Yb:YAG multislab amplifier

We report on the first demonstration of a diode-pumped, gas cooled, cryogenic multislab Yb:YAG amplifier. The performance was characterized over a temperature range from 88 to 175 K. A maximum small-signal single-pass longitudinal gain of 11.0 was measured at 88 K. When amplifying nanosecond pulses, recorded output energies were 10.1 J at 1 Hz in a four-pass extraction geometry and 6.4 J at 10 Hz in a three-pass setup, corresponding to optical to optical conversion efficiencies of 21% and 16%, respectively. To our knowledge, this represents the highest pulse energy so far obtained from a cryo-cooled Yb-laser and the highest efficiency from a multijoule diode pumped solid-state laser system.     

Can Neutrino Viscosity Drive the Late Time Cosmic Acceleration?

In this paper it has been shown that the neutrino bulk viscous stresses can give rise to the late time acceleration of the universe. It is found that a number of spatially flat FRW models with a negative deceleration parameter can be constructed using neutrino viscosity and one of them mimics a ΛCDM model. This does not require any exotic dark energy component or any modification of gravity.     

Probing the Interior of Self-Assembled Caffeine Dimer at Various Temperatures

The self-assembly of non-toxic well-consumed small caffeine molecules into well-defined structures has important implications for future medical applications seeking to target the transport of small drugs in human body. Particularly, the solvation of the microenvironments of the self assembly ultimately dictates the interaction with the drug molecules and their therapeutic efficacy. We present femtosecond-resolved studies of the dynamics of aqueous solvation within self-assembled dimeric structure of caffeine molecules. We have placed small hydrophobic probes 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl) 4H-pyran (DCM), coumarin 500 (C500) into the caffeine dimer to enable spectroscopic examinations of the interior. While molecular modeling and NMR studies of the probes in the caffeine dimers reveal a well-defined location (stacked in between two caffeine molecules), dynamical light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, densimetric and sonometric experiments explore the structural evolution of the dimer upon complexation with the probes. We have extended our studies in various temperatures in order to explore structural evolution of the self assembled structure and consequently the dynamics of solvation in the interior of the dimer. Picoseconds/femtosecond resolved dynamics and the polarization gated spectroscopic studies unravel the hydration and energetics associated with activated viscous flow of the confined probes. Our studies indicate that the interior of the caffeine dimer is well-solvated; however, the dynamics of solvation is retarted significantly compared to that in bulk water, clearly revealing the dimers maintain some ordered water molecules. We have also explored the consequence of the retarded dynamics of solvation on the photo-induced electron transfer (ET) reaction of a model probe, 2-(p-toluidino) naphthalene-6-sulfonate (TNS) encapsulated in the dimer.     

Emergent bistability: Effects of additive and multiplicative noise

Positive feedback and cooperativity in the regulation of gene expression are generally considered to be necessary for obtaining bistable expression states. Recently, a novel mechanism of bistability termed emergent bistability has been proposed which involves only positive feedback and no cooperativity in the regulation. An additional positive feedback loop is effectively generated due to the inhibition of cellular growth by the synthesized proteins. The mechanism, demonstrated for a synthetic circuit, may be prevalent in natural systems also as some recent experimental results appear to suggest. In this paper, we study the effects of additive and multiplicative noise on the dynamics governing emergent bistability. The calculational scheme employed is based on the Langevin and Fokker-Planck formalisms. The steady state probability distributions of protein levels and the mean first passage times are computed for different noise strengths and system parameters. In the region of bistability, the bimodal probability distribution is shown to be a linear combination of a lognormal and a Gaussian distribution. The variances of the individual distributions and the relative weights of the distributions are further calculated for varying noise strengths and system parameters. The experimental relevance of the model results is also pointed out.     

Cu(II)‐catalyzed oxidation of thiols by superoxide ligated to CoIII2

Copper(II) dramatically catalyzes the oxidation of thiols by a superoxide bridging two Co^III ions. The catalyzed path overwhelmingly dominates over the uncatalysed path and is first order in the superoxo complex concentration. The first‐order rate constants show a first‐order dependence in [Cu²⁺], a second‐order dependence in [thiol] and linearly varies with [H⁺]^?3. On the basis of observed kinetics reported here, it is proposed that Cu(II) reacts with two thiol molecules to form a Cu^II(thiol)₂ complex, an electron is transferred from one ligated thiol to the Cu^II center to form Cu^I(thiol) and a thiyl radical. The copper(I)‐thiol complex is oxidized by the conjugate base of the title complex to regenerate Cu^II(thiol). A Cu^II/I catalytic cycle is thus believed to be responsible for the observed catalysis. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Macro-scale observation of curl-free vector potential: A manifestation of quantum modulation of the de Broglie wave

Experimental results are presented here reporting the detection of a curl-free vector potential on the macro-scale as contrasted with the detection on the micro-scale à la Aharonov-Bohm. Such a detection is attributed to the ‘quantum modulation’ of the plane wave state of the guiding centre motion of a charged particle in a magnetic field, which is generated concomitantly with the excitation of its Landau levels in a scattering episode, through the mechanism of quantum entanglement between the parallel and perpendicular degrees of freedom of the particle. Such a ‘quantum modulation’ is also a matter wave, but on the macro-scale, and leads to the ‘sensing’ of the curl-free vector potential on the macro-scale. Thus while the Aharonov-Bohm effect is attributed to the sensing of the curl-free vector potential by the de Broglie wave, its sensing on the macro-scale is attributed to the modulation of the de Broglie wave.