Harnessing the killer micros: Applications from LLNL's massively parallel computing initiative

Recent developments in microprocessor technology have led to performance on scalar applications exceeding traditional supercomputers. This suggests that coupling hundreds or even thousands of these killer-micros (all working on a single physical problem) may lead to performance on vector applications in excess of vector supercomputers. Also, future generation killer-micros are expected to have vector floating point units as well. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the parallel computing environment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. However, the perspective is necessarily quite narrow and most of the examples are taken from the author's implementation of a large-scale molecular dynamics code on the BBN-TC2000 at LLNL. Parallelism is achieved through a geometric domain decomposition — each processor is assigned a distinct region of space and all atoms contained therein. As the atomic positions evolve, the processors must exchange ownership of specific atoms. This geometric domain decomposition proves to be quite general and we highlight its application to image processing and hydrodynamics simulations as well.Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract No. W-7405-ENG-48     

Chemical applications of group theory and topology

The following procedure is described for investigating the qualitative dynamics of simple chemical systems: 1) A so-called influence diagram is generated representing the relationships between the reference reactants (phase-determining intermediates); 2) This influence diagram is used to generate a truth table indicating possible transitions between state vectors representing the signs of the time derivatives of of the reference reactant concentrations; 3) The truth table is used to determine a state transition diagram representing the flow topology around unstable equilibrium points; 4) The characteristic equation of the adjacency matrix of the influence diagram is solved in order to determine the presence of such unstable equilibrium points. The two types of qualitative dynamics possible for chemical systems containing two reference reactants and one feedback circuit are bifurcation between two attracting regions (bistability) and limit cycle oscillation. However, in two reference reactant systems oscillation requires an additional self-activating loop to generate the unstable equilibrium point required for its realization. Bistability and limit cycle oscillation are also two of the possible types of qualitative dynamics for chemical systems containing three reference reactants. However, chemical systems with three reference reactants and two or more feedback circuits can also contain interlocking limit cycles, which can lead to toroidal oscillations or chaos. The influence diagrams are given for the systems exhibiting these various types of dynamic behavior along with a summary of the important properties of all 729 possible influences for simple chemical systems containing three reference reactants.     

Recent advances in the synthesis of well-defined glycopolymers

Glycopolymers are receiving increasing interest due to their application in areas, such as glycomics, medicine, biotechnology, sensors, and separation science. Consequently, new methods for their synthesis are constantly being developed, with an increasing emphasis on the preparation of well-defined polymers and on the production of complex macromolecular architectures such as stars. This review covers recent developments in the synthesis of glycopolymers, with a particular emphasis on (i) the use of controlled radical polymerization to prepare well-defined glycopolymers from unprotected monomers and (ii) postpolymerization modification strategies using reactive polymer precursors (including “click” reactions). Recent work on the production of glycosylated polypeptides, which are under investigation as mimics of naturally occurring glycoproteins, is also included. The authors offer some suggestions as to future developments and remaining challenges in this topical area of polymer chemistry. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci PartA: Polym Chem45: 2059–2072, 2007     

Laboratory investigation of biodegradability of a polyurethane foam under anaerobic conditions

Polyurethane (PU) foams can be used in many remediation applications as an isolation material to prevent the release of hazardous materials into the environment. The integrity of a PU foam was investigated in this study using short-term accelerated laboratory experiments including bioavailability assays, soil burial experiments, and accelerated bioreactors to determine the fate of PU foam in the soil where anaerobic processes are dominant. The experimental results have shown that the studied PU foam is likely not biodegradable under anaerobic conditions. Neither weight loss nor a change in the tensile strength of the PU material after biological exposure was observed. The FT-IR chemical signature of the PU foams was also nearly identical before and after biological exposure. The composition of the PU material (aromatic polyester and polyether PU) used in this study could have played a significant role in its resistance to microbial attack during the short-term accelerated experiments.     

Surface-grafted polystyrene beads with comb-like poly(ethylene glycol) chains: preparation and biological application

We prepared surface-grafted polystyrene (PS) beads with comb-like poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chains. To accomplish this, conventional gel-type PS beads (35-75 microm) were treated with ozone gas to introduce hydroperoxide groups onto the surface. Using these hydroperoxide groups, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA, Mn= 22,000-25,000) was grafted onto the surface of the PS beads. The ester groups of the grafted PMMA were reduced to hydroxyl groups with lithium aluminum hydride (LAH). After adding ethylene oxide (EO) to the hydroxyl groups, we obtained the PS-sg-PEG beads, which had a rugged surface and a diameter of 80-150 microm. We could obtain several kinds of the PS-sg-PEG beads by controlling the chain lengths of the grafted PMMA and the molecular weights of the PEG chains. The grafted PEG layer was about 30-50 microm thick, which was verified from the cross-sectioned views of the fluorescamine-labeled beads. These fluorescence images proved that the beads possessed a pellicular structure. Furthermore, we found that the surface-grafted PEG chains had the characteristic property of reducing non-specific protein adsorption on the beads.     

Electrochemical technique for the determination of fractal dimension of dental surfaces

Fractal dimension of a carious tooth surface was determined using an electrochemical method. The method was based on time-dependent diffusion towards electrode surfaces, which is one of the most useful and reliable methods for the determination of fractal dimension of electrode surfaces. For this purpose, the tooth was covered with a gold layer, which acted as an electrode in electrochemical experiments. It is suggested that the fractal dimension can be used as a quantitative measure of the state of dental surfaces. The method presented demonstrates the power of electrochemical techniques for the determination of fractal dimension of surface of non-conducting objects.     

Synthesis and characterization of biocompatible poly (L-lactide) using zinc (II) salen complex

Abstract

A biocompatible zinc (II) complex based on a tetradentate N,N,O,O-type salen ligand was synthesized, characterized and used for the solvent-free ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of L-lactide in bulk at 180?°C to prepare high molecular weight poly(L-lactide) (M_n : 82,600?Da; M_w : 140,000?Da; PDI: 1.70). Poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) was characterized using FTIR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, GPC, TGA, DSC, WAXD, and MALDI-ToF. Kinetic measurement was carried out and first-order behavior to monomer was observed. The k _app was found as 6?±?0.001?×?10^?4?s^?1. The biocompatibility of the PLLA was confirmed by in vitro cytotoxicity against NIH/3T3 fibroblast cell line and can be used in biomedical applications.     

环境扫描电镜及其应用

叙述了环境扫描电镜（ＥＳＥＭ）的成像原理———电子信号气体放大原理及其与常规扫描电镜（ＳＥＭ）的区别，介绍了我国第一台带高温台的ＥＳＥＭ．综述了近年来国外学者应用ＥＳＥＭ开展的一些研究工作．介绍了中国科学院化工冶金研究所应用ＫＹＫＹ１５００型ＥＳＥＭ对金属表面氧化反应中晶须／晶粒生长过程的研究     

Recent Progress on Infrared Photoacoustic Spectroscopy Techniques

Abstract

Analogous to most new methods in science, photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) grew out of an advance in technology, in this case the dramatic improvement in novel light sources, modulators, and acoustic detectors, as well as signal recovery electronics, which in turn was made possible by the development of modern PAS techniques. PAS is a promising technique that can be used to analyze and characterize a broad variety of objects (gaseous, solid, and liquid samples). In the present review, the recent development of infrared PAS limited to the general area of gas-phase analysis techniques since 1990 is summarized, with special emphasis on the development of new or enhanced analytical methodologies based on the use of the photoacoustic (PA) effect to improve the sensitivity of PAS by enhancing signal or reducing noise levels, with regard to PA systems, applications, and conclusions. The applications of these novel PA methods are mainly concerned with molecular spectroscopic, industrial, atmospheric, environmental, chemical and biological, and medical and clinical analysis. New prospects and challenges in various application fields of PAS technique are described.