Sodium halides as the source of electrophilic halogens in green synthesis of 3-halo- and 3,n-dihalobenzo[b]thiophenes

A convenient methodology for the synthesis of mono- and di-halogenated benzo[b]thiophenes is described herein, which utilizes copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate and various sodium halides in the presence of substituted 2-alkynylthioanisoles. The proposed method is facile, uses ethanol as a green solvent, and results in uniquely substituted benzo[b]thiophene structures with isolated yields up to 96%. The most useful component of this methodology is the selective introduction of bromine atoms at every available position (2–7) around the benzo[b]thiophene ring, while keeping position 3 occupied by a specific halogen atom such as Cl, Br or I. Aromatic halogens are useful reactive handles; therefore, the selective introduction of halogens at specific positions would be valuable in the targeted synthesis of bioactive molecules and complex organic materials via metal-catalyzed cross coupling reactions. This work is a novel approach towards the synthesis of dihalo substituted benzo[b]thiophene core structures, which provides a superior alternative to the current methods discussed herein.     

Optical properties of Zn0.5Cd0.5Se thin films grown on InP by molecular beam epitaxy

We report photoluminescence (PL) and reflectivity measurements of Zn_0.5Cd_0.5Se epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on InP substrates. The low-temperature PL spectra are dominated by asymmetric lines, which can be deconvoluted into two Gaussian peaks with a separation of ∼8 meV. The behavior of these peaks is studied as a function of excitation intensity and temperature, revealing that these are free exciton (FE) and bound exciton emission lines. Two lower energy emission lines are also observed and assigned to the first and second longitudinal optical phonon replicas of the FE emission. The temperature dependence of the intensity, line width, and energy of the dominant emission lines are described by an Arrhenius plot, a Bose-Einstein type relationship, Varshni's and Bose-Einstein equations, respectively.     

Risk-Based Integration of Strategic and Tactical Capacity Planning

We consider capacity management with a long-term strategic choice, such as the number of production lines to install before demand is known, and short-term tactical decisions relating to production, inventory, and subcontracting (recourse actions made after demand is known). We present an integrated scenario-based mathematical modeling and solution framework. For a single-product environment, we examine properties of total profit as a function of demand and the long-term capacity z. We investigate two measures of risk (profit variance and mean downside risk) and their corresponding profit-risk frontiers. Computational experiments are used to illustrate parameter sensitivity results obtained from the model.     

Spin-dependent transport in a magnetic two-dimensional electron gas

Magneto-transport and magneto-optical probes are used to interrogate spin-dependent transport in magnetic heterostructures wherein a two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is exchange-coupled to local moments. At low temperatures, the significant s–d exchange-enhanced spin splitting in these “magnetic” 2DEGs is responsible for the observation of unusual transport properties such as a complete spin polarization of the gas at large Landau level filling factors and a pronounced, non-monotonic background magneto-resistance. Magneto-transport measurements of gated samples performed in a parallel field geometry are used to systematically study the variation of the magneto-resistance with sheet concentration, yielding new insights into the dependence of spin transport on the Fermi energy of the majority spin carriers.     

Exact entropy of dimer coverings for a class of lattices in three or more dimensions

We construct a class of lattices in three and higher dimensions for which the number of dimer coverings can be determined exactly using elementary arguments. These lattices are a generalization of the two-dimensional kagome lattice, and the method also works for graphs without translational symmetry. The partition function for dimer coverings on these lattices can be determined also for a class of assignments of different activities to different edges.