Translational-energy spectroscopy of NO+ and NO2+

High-resolution translational-energy spectroscopy (up to 0.1 eV) has been carried out on 8

V beams of NO^? and NO^2?. Several features in the spectrum of NO⁴ are assigned to the transitions within the triplet manifold of this ion. The observed transitions originate in several excited electronic states, indicating long lifetimes (> 10 μs) for the states involved. Two electronic transitions in NO²' have been observed at low energies which are attributed to excitations to the first two excited states of this ion.     

Synthesis, characterization, and preliminary intramolecular energy transfer studies of rigid, emissive, rhenium-linked porphyrin dimers

The reaction of pyridyl functionalized porphyrins with Re(CO)(5)Cl in THF results in the formation of porphyrin dimers which, despite incorporation of rhenium into the assemblies, remain fluorescent. The rigid compounds provide an efficient geometry and/or orbital pathway for singlet energy transfer, rendering these compounds suitable, in principle, for the study of both through-bond and through-space energy transfer. Derivatives containing both metallated and freebase porphyrins connected via the metal corners display efficient porphyrin-porphyrin energy transfer. The photophysical properties of the assemblies have been studied by both steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence techniques, yielding approximate rates and efficiencies for porphyrin-porphyrin energy transfer.     

Infrared intensities of liquids XXV: Dielectric constants, molar polarizabilities and integrated intensities of liquid toluene at 25 °C between 4800 and 400 cm

The main purpose of this paper is to present accurate infrared integrated intensities of liquid toluene, C₆H₅CH₃, at 25 °C. Also presented are the decadic molar absorption coefficients, E_m, the real and imaginary dielectric constants, ε′ and ε″, and the real and imaginary molar polarizabilities, ^′_m and ^″_m. Integrated intensities were determined as C_j, the area under bands in the spectrum, for all bands between 4800 and 440 cm⁻¹. The contributions from the different bands were separated by fitting the spectrum with classical damped harmonic oscillator bands. The uncertainties in the integrated intensities of most bands are estimated to be 5–10%, with the uncertainties in very weak bands and in shoulders possibly up to 100%. The intensity that should be assigned to the fundamentals is more difficult to estimate due to Fermi resonance with overtone and combination bands, and a best estimate is given. The integrated intensities of the fundamental vibrations and the corresponding transition dipole moments are summarized and are compared with literature values for the gas.     

Simple all-microwave entangling gate for fixed-frequency superconducting qubits

We demonstrate an all-microwave two-qubit gate on superconducting qubits which are fixed in frequency at optimal bias points. The gate requires no additional subcircuitry and is tunable via the amplitude of microwave irradiation on one qubit at the transition frequency of the other. We use the gate to generate entangled states with a maximal extracted concurrence of 0.88, and quantum process tomography reveals a gate fidelity of 81%.     

Graphical Representations of Speed: Obstacles Preservice K‐8 Teachers Experience

This study examines the difficulties college students experience when creating and interpreting graphs in which speed is one of the variables. Nineteen students, all preservice elementary or middle school teachers, completed an upper‐level course exploring algebraic concepts. Although all of these preservice teachers had previously completed several mathematics courses, including calculus, they demonstrated widespread misconceptions about the variable speed. This study identifies four cognitive obstacles held by the students, provides excerpts of their graphical constructions and verbal interpretations, and discusses potential causes for the confusion. In particular, misconceptions arose when students interpreted the behavior and nature of speed within a graphical context, as well as in situations where they were required to construct a graph involving speed as a variable. The study concludes by offering implications for the teaching and learning of speed and its interpretation within a graphical setting.     

Covalent selection of the thiol proteome on activated thiol sepharose: A robust tool for redox proteomics

Protein thiols contribute significantly to antioxidant defence and selective oxidation of cysteines is important in signal transduction even in sub-stress scenarios. However, cysteine is the second rarest residue in proteins and it can be difficult to target low-abundance thiol (-SH)-containing proteins in proteomic separations. Activated thiol sepharose (ATS) allows covalent selection of -SH-containing proteins which can then be recovered by reduction with mercaptoethanol or dithiothreitol. This is a robust method for enriching -SH-containing proteins. We have used ATS to estimate the percentage (by weight) of thiol-containing proteins in cell extracts from a range of biological sources: a bacterium, Escherichia coli; a fungus, Trichoderma harzianum; and a bivalve mollusc Mytilus edulis. -SH-containing proteins account for 2.52% (E. coli), 1.4% (T. harzianum) and 1.4% (M. edulis) of total protein. Exposure to pro-oxidants did not materially alter these values. On removal of low M_r thiols such as glutathione, the values for M. edulis did not significantly change but those for T. harzianum increased threefold. The two-dimensional electrophoresis profiles of ATS-selected proteins for each organism were compared in control and pro-oxidant-exposed preparations. This revealed that some proteins present in controls were absent in pro-oxidant-treated extracts which we attribute to thiol oxidation. ATS has significant potential in enrichment for -SH-containing proteins in redox proteomics.     

Distortion product otoacoustic emission suppression tuning and acoustic admittance in human infants: birth through 6 months

Previous work has reported non-adultlike distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) suppression in human newborns at f2=6000 Hz, indicating an immaturity in peripheral auditory function. In this study, DPOAE suppression tuning curves (STCs) were recorded as a measure of cochlear function and acoustic admittance/reflectance (YR) in the ear canal recorded as a measure of middle-ear function, in the same 20 infants at birth and through 6 months of age. DPOAE STCs changed little from birth through 6 months, showing excessively narrow and sharp tuning throughout the test period. In contrast, several middle-ear indices at corresponding frequencies shifted systematically with increasing age, although they also remained non-adultlike at 6 months. Linear correlations were conducted between YR and DPOAE suppression features. Only two correlations out of 76 were significant, and all but three YR variables accounted for <10% of the variance in DPOAE suppression tuning. The strongest correlation was noted between admittance phase at 5700 Hz and STC tip-to-tail (R=0.49). The association between middle-ear variables and DPOAE suppression may be stronger during other developmental time periods. Study of older infants and children is needed to fully define postnatal immaturity of human peripheral auditory function.     

Integrated cavity output spectroscopy measurements of NO levels in breath with a pulsed room-temperature QCL

A cavity-enhanced spectrometer is developed for detection of exhaled nitric oxide in human breath. A thermoelectrically cooled, pulsed, quantum cascade laser, coupled to a high-finesse cavity, is used for trace-gas measurements. The trace-gas analyzer operates at 5.2 microns and utilizes integrated cavity output spectroscopy. Effective optical path lengths of 1.5 km are achieved in a 50-cm-length cell with a sample volume of 60 mL. The instrument is also capable of simultaneously measuringCO2 concentration in exhaled breath. Measurements were performed on human breath samples as well as simulated breath samples. Here we report a detection limit of ≤ 1 ppbv in 4 s for NO in human breath samples.     

The first experimental observation of electronic transitions in C2+ and C2D+

High-resolution translational energy spectroscopy (up to 0.1 eV) has been carried out on 8 kV of C₂⁺ and C₂D⁺. The spetra obtained with C₂⁺ formed by different methods show considerable differences which are attributed to the formation of different spin states of the ion. Tentative assignments for the observed transitions have been made including one corresponding to excitation of the ⁴∑_g^? —X ⁴∑_g^? system, which may be useful as a probe of interstellar C₂⁺. Two broad transitions have been seen in the translational energy spectrum of C₂D⁺ which are in reasonable agreement with existing theoretical calculations. Tentative assignments are proposed for these transitions.