Poly[(methylene oxide) oligo(ethylene oxide)] vs. poly(ethylene oxide) as hosts for neodymium compounds

In view of the residual crystallinity in PEO found to limit the solubility of some Nd³⁺-compounds, amorphous PEO (aPEO) was synthesized for exploration as an alternative host. Complexation, solubility limit, morphology, and response to moisture absorption in the doped systems were investigated using FTIR, DSC, TGA, and WAXD techniques. Representing a perturbation to the structural regularity present in PEO, aPEO was found to present lower solubilities for dopants (Nd(act)₃ and Nd(acac)₃, both characterized by a weak Nd³⁺–ether oxygen interaction. On the other hand, no difference in solubility was observed for dopant Nd(NO₃)₃, characterized by a strong Nd³⁺–ether oxygen interaction. Laser interferometry was employed to assess film homogeneity of the Nd(NO₃)₃-doped systems across a 20-mm diameter, and the measured peak-to-valley distortion values were observed to be encouraging for practical applications. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Electroweak corrections to monojet production at the Tevatron and the LHC

The first LHC results seem to disfavor, from the point of view of naturalness, any constrained MSSM realization with universal conditions at the SUSY-breaking scale. A more motivated scenario is given by split-family SUSY, in which the first two generations of squarks are heavy, compatible with a U(2)³ flavor symmetry. We consider this flavor symmetry to be broken at a very high scale and study the consequences at low energies through its RGE evolution. Initial conditions compatible with a split scenario are found, and the preservation of correlations from minimal U(2)³ breaking are checked. The various chiral operators in ΔF=2 processes are analyzed, and we show that, due to LHC gluino bounds, the (LL)(RR) operators cannot always be neglected. Finally, we also study a possible extension of the U(2)³ model compatible with the lepton sector.     

Feature Based Retention Time Alignment for Improved HDX MS Analysis

An algorithm for retention time alignment of mass shifted hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) data based on an iterative distance minimization procedure is described. The algorithm performs pairwise comparisons in an iterative fashion between a list of features from a reference file and a file to be time aligned to calculate a retention time mapping function. Features are characterized by their charge, retention time and mass of the monoisotopic peak. The algorithm is able to align datasets with mass shifted features, which is a prerequisite for aligning hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry datasets. Confidence assignments from the fully automated processing of a commercial HDX software package are shown to benefit significantly from retention time alignment prior to extraction of deuterium incorporation values.      

A simplified quantum energy-transport model for semiconductors

The existence of global-in-time weak solutions to a quantum energy-transport model for semiconductors is proved. The equations are formally derived from the quantum hydrodynamic model in the large-time and small-velocity regime. They consist of a nonlinear parabolic fourth-order equation for the electron density, including temperature gradients; an elliptic nonlinear heat equation for the electron temperature; and the Poisson equation for the electric potential. The equations are solved in a bounded domain with periodic boundary conditions. The existence proof is based on an entropy-type estimate, exponential variable transformations, and a fixed-point argument. Furthermore, we discretize the equations by central finite differences and present some numerical simulations of a one-dimensional ballistic diode.     

Solid polymers doped with rare earth metal salts. II. Thermal behavior and morphology of the neodymium acetate–poly(ethylene oxide) system

Samples of poly(ethylene oxide), PEO, doped with neodymium acetate, Nd (Act)₃, were prepared and found to be microphase separated. At an EO/Nd (Act)₃ molar ratio no less than 4, wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) data suggest that bulk Nd (Act)₃ and ionic clusters are both absent. It is inferred from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermograms that in the presence of PEO, Nd (Act)₃ forms an amorphous phase which is different from the amorphous phase formed by Nd (Act)₃ alone. The tighter binding of CH₃COO^- to Nd³⁺, in comparison to Cl^-, appears to be responsible for the lack of true dissolution of Nd (Act)₃ in PEO, a behavior clearly distinct from a number of polymer-metal salt complexes reported in the literature. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Semi-discretization in time and numerical convergence of solutions of a nonlinear cross-diffusion population model

Summary. A positivity-preserving numerical scheme for a strongly coupled cross-diffusion model for two competing species is presented, based on a semi-discretization in time. The variables are the population densities of the species. Existence of strictly positive weak solutions to the semidiscrete problem is proved. Moreover, it is shown that the semidiscrete solutions converge to a non-negative solution of the continuous system in one space dimension. The proofs are based on a symmetrization of the problem via an exponential transformation of variables and the use of an entropy functional. Received September 10, 2001 / Revised version received February 25, 2002 / Published online June 17, 2002     

Microdroplets: a sea of applications?

The exploitation of microdroplets produced within microfluidic environments has recently emerged as a new and exciting technological platform for applications within the chemical and biological sciences. Interest in microfluidic systems has been stimulated by a range of fundamental features that accompany system miniaturization. Such features include the ability to process and handle small volumes of fluid, improved analytical performance when compared to macroscale analogues, reduced instrumental footprints, low unit cost, facile integration of functional components and the exploitation of atypical fluid dynamics to control molecules in both time and space. Moreover, microfluidic systems that generate and utilize a stream of sub-nanolitre droplets dispersed within an immiscible continuous phase have the added advantage of allowing ultra-high throughput experimentation and being able to mimic conditions similar to that of a single cell (in terms of volume, pH, and salt concentration) thereby compartmentalizing biological and chemical reactions. This review provides an overview of methods for generating, controlling and manipulating droplets. Furthermore, we discuss key fields of use in which such systems may make a significant impact, with particular emphasis on novel applications in the biological and physical sciences.