Paradigms and Paradoxes: Fractional and Other Non-integer Charges in Chemistry—an Understanding of Aromaticity

Structural Chemistry - In the current study, the energetics of fractionally (and indeed arbitrary non-integer) charged species is explicitly discussed for the enhanced understanding of aromaticity...     

Solidifying framework nucleic acids

正Living organisms have developed their unique strategies during the natural evolution for building hard tissues with minerals, including silica, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, and ferric oxide [1]. Such biomineralized materials generally have complex hierarchical structures with excellent mechanical properties. Although bioinspired approaches have led to the creation of well-defined synthetic structural materials ranging from micro to macro scales, the rational design of discrete biomimetic structures at the nanoscale remains a grand challenge.     

Effects of multiple delays on dynamics of a five-neuron network model

A five-neuron network model with multiple delays is proposed. This paper presents the combined effect of different delays on the dynamics of the proposed network. Pitchfork bifurcation is discussed in detail with the variation of the value of coupled weight or attenuation rate of internal neurons. By analyzing the corresponding characteristic equation, some stable criteria on delay-dependence and delay-independence are derived including multiple delays and coupled weights and the periodic oscillation arises bifurcated from the trivial equilibrium after the network loses its stability. Stable regions on delay-dependence are displayed in the two delayed parameter plane. It is shown that multiple delays can produce stability switching between resting state and periodic activity. Finally, theoretical results are justified by providing two illustrative examples.     

Infinitely many reducts of homogeneous structures

It is shown that the countably infinite dimensional pointed vector space (the vector space equipped with a constant) over a finite field has infinitely many first order definable reducts. This implies that the countable homogeneous Boolean-algebra has infinitely many reducts.     

Highly charged ions in a new era of high resolution X-ray astrophysics

X-ray astronomy and ground-based atomic physics have a long history of fruitful collaboration: Sound understanding of the underlying atomic physics is the key to reliable interpretation of the spectra from celestial sources; conversely, astronomical spectra have been used to benchmark and advance atomic physics. This interplay is about to become even more important as we enter a new era of high-resolution X-ray astrophysics with large effective collection area. Although high-resolution observations with the gratings on the Chandra and XMM-Newton observatories continue to drive new science, upcoming planned and proposed missions will open up new discovery space in the near future that is currently challenging to access: high-resolution spectroscopy on extended sources, in the Fe K band, and on short time scales. This review summarizes open questions in these areas and the design parameters for the Hitomi, XRISM, Athena, and Arcus observatories. The expected high quality of spectra taken with these observatories puts new constraints on the accuracy of atomic reference data required to take full advantage of the diagnostic potential of these spectra.     

Determining elemental strontium distribution in rat bones treated with strontium ranelate and strontium citrate using 2D micro-XRF and 3D dual energy K-edge subtraction synchrotron imaging

Strontium-based medications, such as strontium ranelate, have been suggested to have therapeutic effects in patients with osteoporosis. Strontium salts available off-shelf in stores across North America are assumed to provide similar effects as strontium ranelate and thus should lead to similar distributions of elemental strontium incorporated in bone. The objective of this study was to compare the spatial distribution of strontium in animal bones following the administration of strontium ranelate and strontium citrate. Seventeen-week-old Sprague–Dawley rats were split into three groups over 10 weeks and given 625 mg/kg/day of strontium ranelate and 676 mg/kg/day of strontium citrate; the control group received no additional supplementary strontium. The humeri were collected from all animals, and strontium distribution was mapped using 2D micro-XRF and 3D dual energy K-edge subtraction (KES) imaging. 2D and 3D elemental mapping methods demonstrated that strontium delivered during treatment by both salts had the same spatial distribution. 3D elemental strontium maps of treated animal bones showed that strontium was largely observed in the trabecular regions under the epiphyseal (growth) plate. The thickness of the strontium layers in both the strontium ranelate and strontium citrate sample was not significantly different (p = .9201). 2D micro-XRF and 3D dual-energy KES images effectively elucidated the spatial distribution of elemental strontium in calcified tissue. These methods provide a novel approach to evaluating the potential efficacy of strontium supplements in the treatment of osteoporosis.     

The torsion-free part of the Ziegler spectrum of orders over Dedekind domains

We study the R-torsion-free part of the Ziegler spectrum of an order Λ over a Dedekind domain R. We underline and comment on the role of lattices over Λ. We describe the torsion-free part of the spectrum when Λ is of finite lattice representation type.     

The Jordan property of Cremona groups and essential dimension

We use a recent advance in birational geometry to prove new lower bounds on the essential dimension of some finite groups.