Noise from neighbours and the sound insulation of party walls in houses

Nine-hundred-and-seventeen residents in a sample of attached houses constructed since 1970 were interviewed in the course of a national survey dealing with nuisance occasioned by noise from neighbours. The airborne sound insulation of the party walls, measured prior to occupation, ranged from zero to 120 dB AAD. Two-thirds of the respondents heard noise from their neighbours and even at performance levels meeting or exceeding the minimum requirements of the Building Regulations nearly 50% did so. Of the total sample, some 18% were seriously bothered by neighbours' noise. Highly significant relationships were found between physical performance rated in dB AAD (Aggregate Adverse Deviation) and a variety of subjective responses. These include reports of hearing neighbours' noise, of being bothered by it, hearing neighbours' conversation, and, in particular, the direct rating of sound insulation quality by respondents, which last appears to provide the most reliable and consistent indication of the likelihood of experiencing nuisance from neighbours' noise. These results provide, for the first time, empirical validation of the U.K. performance rating procedure. In addition, the survey findings emphasize the importance of impact noises, not included in the standardized performance measurements, but which contribute substantially to nuisance, particularly between houses where airborne sound insulation is comparatively good. Other findings indicate that occupants were very satisfied with their general environment and only slightly less so with their homes. Poor sound insulation was a prominent criticism of the dwellings, being ranked third among spontaneous adverse comments and first in a ranking of nine commonly encountered building defects. These results indicate the importance of sound insulation to occupants of recently built houses, placing this aspect of design and construction within a wider context. The overall results of the survey provide a practical guide to estimating the consequences, in terms of occupants' attitudes to noise from neighbours, of raising or lowering standards of sound insulation performance between houses.     

Cryogenic photolysis of activated bleomycin to ferric bleomycin

Activated bleomycin (ABLM) is a drug--Fe(III)-hydroperoxide complex kinetically competent in DNA attack (via H4' abstraction). This intermediate is relatively stable, but its spontaneous conversion to ferric bleomycin (Fe(III).BLM) is poorly characterized because no observable intermediate product accumulates. Light was shown to trigger ABLM attack on DNA in liquid at -30 degrees C, so ABLM was irradiated (at its 350 nm ligand-to-metal charge-transfer transition) at 77 K to stabilize possible intermediates. ABLM photolysis (quantum yield, Phi = 0.005) generates two kinds of product: Fe(III).BLM (with no detectable intermediate) and one or more minor (1-2%) radical O-Fe-BLM byproduct, photostable at 77 K. Adding DNA, even without its target H4', increases the quantum yield of ABLM conversion >10-fold while suppressing the observed radical yield. Since cryogenic solid-phase reactions can entail only constrained local rearrangement, the reaction(s) converting ABLM to Fe(III).BLM must be similarly constrained.     

Water soluble quantum dot nanoclusters: energy migration in artifical materials

Energy migration in self-assembled, water soluble, quantum dot (QD) nanoclusters is reported. These spherical nanoclusters are composed of CdSe QDs bound together by pepsin, a digestive enzyme found in mammals. A structural model for the clusters is suggested, based on scanning transmission electron microscopy, as well as dynamic light scattering and small angle X-ray scattering. Cluster sizes range from 100 to 400 nm in diameter and show a close-packed interior structure. Optical characterization of the absorption and emission spectra of the clusters is reported, finding photoluminescence quantum yields of up to approximately 60% in water for clusters made from core-shell CdSe-ZnS QDs. Clusters prepared from two different size populations of CdSe QD samples (3 and 4 nm in diameter) demonstrate energy migration and trapping. Resonance energy transfer (RET), from small to large dots within the QD-pepsin cluster, is observed by monitoring the quenching of the small donor dot fluorescence along with enhancement of the large acceptor dot fluorescence.     

Physical mechanisms behind the SERS enhancement of pyramidal pit substrates

In this paper we theoretically consider the physical mechanisms behind the surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement produced by commercially available Klarite substrates, which consist of rectangular arrays of micrometre‐sized pyramidal pits in silicon with a thin gold coating. Full three‐dimensional numerical simulations of the pits are conducted for both a real gold metal coating and a perfect electrical conductor (PEC) to determine whether the SERS enhancement is due to diffraction or plasmon effects. The pit apex angle and metal coating thickness are also varied to determine whether it is possible to further enhance the SERS signal by optimising the structural parameters of these substrates. By decreasing the film thickness and adjusting the apex angle, it is possible to achieve an enhancement almost double that of a standard Klarite substrate. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Resonance energy transfer: Beyond the limits

In pursuit of a better understanding of how electronic excitation migrates within complex structures, the concept of resonance energy transfer is being extended and deployed in a wide range of applications. Utilizing knowledge of the quantum interactions that operate in natural photosynthetic systems, wide‐ranging molecular and solid‐state materials are explored in the cause of more efficient solar energy harvesting, while advances in theory are paving the way for the development and application of fundamentally new mechanisms. In this review, an introduction to the underlying processes that cause singlet‐singlet and triplet‐triplet energy transfer leads into a discussion of how a new conception of these fundamental processes has emerged over recent years. Illustrative examples relevant to laser science and photonics are described, including photosynthetic light‐harvesting, light‐activated sensors, processes of cooperative and accretive energy pooling and quantum cutting in rare earth‐doped crystals, and incoherent triplet‐triplet energy upconversion in molecular solutions.     

Interaction between excitons determines the non-linear response of nanocrystals

The non-linear response of semiconductor quantum dots is investigated using three-pulse photon echo peak shift (3PEPS) experiments and simulations. The third-order non-linear response is modeled by a three-level system, utilizing Brownian oscillators to model the line-broadening functions. Our results show that biexciton formation and exciton–exciton scattering significantly influence the non-linear response of quantum dots. The exciton to biexciton excited state absorption pathways are also investigated for quantum dots with different crystal structures. Our calculations suggest that the probability of excited state absorption to the biexcitonic state is higher for zinc-blende structured nanocrystals.     

Exciton-phonon coupling and disorder in the excited states of CdSe colloidal quantum dots

We study the origin of the spectral line shape in colloidal CdSe nanocrystal quantum dots. The three-pulse photon echo peak shift (3PEPS) data reveal a temperature-independent fast decay, obscuring the quantification of the homogeneous linewidth. The optical gap and Stokes shift are found to have an anomalous behavior with temperature, which is size, capping group, and surrounding polymer matrix independent. Using these results and combining them with simulations, we discuss the role of exciton-phonon coupling, static inhomogeneity, exciton fine structure, and exciton state disorder in the linewidth of the nanocrystal. In particular, our analysis shows that the disorder due to surface imperfections and finite temperature effects, as well as the relaxation within the fine structure, can have significant impact on the steady-state absorption spectrum, 3PEPS data, and dephasing processes.