Influence of degree of gas saturation on multibubble sonoluminescence intensity

The influence of the degree of saturation (DOS) of a gas in a solution on the intensity of multibubble sonoluminescence (MBSL) excited by ultrasound with a frequency of 261 kHz is investigated at various ultrasonic powers and with different concentrations of ethanol, which is added as a volatile solute. At relatively low powers and a high DOS, low ethanol concentrations give higher sonoluminescence (SL) intensities than those obtained with pure water. This intensity enhancement decreases as sonication proceeds because the SL intensity for pure water increases with time, whereas it remains almost constant or decreases slightly in solutions containing ethanol. At relatively low powers, a partially degassed solution has a higher SL intensity than a solution with a high DOS for both pure water and solutions containing ethanol. The reason why the DOS decreases more when ethanol is added is considered mainly to be the accumulation of hydrocarbon products and the promotion of rectified diffusion. Adding an alcohol to a solution enhances ultrasonic degassing.     

Λc enhancement from strongly coupled QGP

We propose the enhancement of Λ _c yield in heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC as a novel signal for the existence of diquarks in the strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma produced in these collisions as well as in the Λ _c . Assuming that stable bound diquarks can exist in the quark-gluon plasma, we argue that the yield of Λ _c would be increased by two-body collisions between [ud] diquarks and c quarks, in addition to normal three-body collisions among u, d and c quarks. A quantitative study of this effect based on the coalescence model shows that including the contribution of diquarks to Λ _c production indeed leads to a substantial enhancement of the Λ _c /D ratio in heavy ion collisions.     

Doubly Charmed Exotic Mesons

We discuss the mass spectrum of doubly charmed mesons as hadronic molecules composed by D and D^* meson. Considering the heavy quark symmetry and chiral symmetry, we introduce the one-boson ( ${\pi , \rho , \omega}$ ) exchange potential between D and D^* meson. For all possible quantum numbers I(J ^P ) with isospin I, total angular momentum J( ≤ 2) and parity P, we solve the fully coupled channel Schrödinger equation. We find that in many quantum numbers the bound and resonant states composed by D or D^* meson can exist near the DD, DD^* and D^*D^* thresholds.     

Optical cavitation probe using light scattering from bubble clouds

To understand the behaviour of systems containing clouds of bubbles (multibubble system) in real sonochemical reactors, a new diagnosis method, i.e., optical cavitation probe (OCP), has been proposed. When a laser beam is introduced into the cavitation bubble cloud, the scattered light intensity changes by the collective oscillation of cavitation bubbles. The frequency domain spectrum of the scattered light contains rich information on the cavitation bubble clouds, comparable with the acoustic emission spectra detected by a hydrophone. The significant merits of OCP, such as capability for spatially resolved, non-invasive measurement of the cavitation bubble clouds, robustness even in a violent cavitation field have been experimentally demonstrated.     

A straightforward double intramolecular cyclization of dibenzyl dichalcogenols into a triple bond

The intramolecular cyclizations of four types of dibenzyl chalcogenols, which contained one or two ethynyl groups, were carried out. Either the double 5-exo or 6-endo-dig mode ring closure reaction regio- and stereoselectively proceeded to give the corresponding symmetrical bis(benzo[c]chalcogenophene) or bis(isochromene) derivatives from the dibenzyl chalcogenols having a diyne moiety. In contrast, the regioselective tandem 5-exo-dig mode intramolecular ring closure reactions of dibenzyl thiol and selenol having a mono-yne into a triple bond gave the trans-biisobenzothiophene and selenophene as the sole product. However, the similar cyclization of dibenzyl tellurol proceeded in both tandem 5-exo and 6-endo-dig modes to afford the trans-biisobenzotellurophene and ditellurachrysene in good yields with the ratio of 1:1. The X-ray structural analysis of these novel compounds is also presented.     

Synthesis of 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles through Pd-catalyzed intramolecular cyanoamidation

The cyanoamidation of olefins was achieved. When N-(2-vinylphenyl)cyanoformamides were treated with palladium catalyst, intramolecular cyanoamidation took place to give corresponding 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles. P(t-Bu)₃ showed a remarkable effect on this reaction. When it was used with Pd(dba)₂, the reaction was completed in 15 min at 100 °C for many substrates. Furthermore, the enantioselective cyanoamidation was accomplished with Pd(dba)₂ and an optically active phosphoramidite to provide optically active 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles. Manipulation of the resulting oxindoles has been studied.     

Lambdac enhancement from strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma

We propose the enhancement of Lambdac as a novel quark-gluon plasma signal in heavy ion collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Assuming a stable bound diquark state in the strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma near the critical temperature, we argue that the direct two-body collision between a c quark and a [ud] diquark would lead to an enhanced Lambdac production in comparison with the normal three-body collision among independent c, u, and d quarks. In the coalescence model, we find that the Lambdac/D yield ratio is enhanced substantially due to the diquark correlation.     

Stability of centrosome numbers in poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1- and poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase-deficient mouse ES cells

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (Parp-1) localizes mainly in the nucleus and functions in DNA repair, genome stability and cell death regulation. Meanwhile, it also localizes in centrosomes and is involved in the regulation of centrosome duplication. An abnormal increase in centrosome numbers is frequently observed in Parp-1-deficient (Parp-1^−/−) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) (Kanai et al. (2003) Mol. Cell. Biol. 23, 2451–2462). However, there are no studies on whether the centrosome abnormality occurs also in other cell types under Parp-1 deficiency. In this study, we report that Parp-1^−/− mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell lines did not show an abnormally increased number of centrosomes compared to wild-type ES cells. Recently, poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (Parg) has also been shown to localize in centrosomes (Ohashi et al. (2003) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 307, 915–921). The number of centrosomes of Parg-deficient (Parg^−/−) ES cells was also analyzed in this study and was found to be stable under Parg deficiency. We also examined centrosome numbers in wild-type, Parp-1^−/− and Parg^−/− ES cell lines after treatment with methylmethanesulfonate (MMS) or γ-irradiation. Although a slight increase in the number of centrosomes is observed in each genotype twenty-four hours after treatment with MMS at 50 μM or with γ-irradiation at 1.4 Gy, there was no difference among the genotypes. These results suggest that loss of Parp-1 and Parg is insufficient to induce abnormality in centrosome numbers in ES cells and that ES cells possibly possess a strict mechanism for the maintenance of a normal number of centrosomes.     

Quadrupole moment of the doubly closed shell +1 nucleon nucleus41Sc(Iπ=7/2−)

The nuclear electric quadrupole moment of⁴¹Sc(I^π=7/2⁻) was experimentally determined by use of the NMR detection in which the asymmetric β-ray distribution from spin polarized nuclei was monitored. The magnetic interaction of the state with high external magnetic field and the nuclear quadrupole interaction with the electric field gradient obtained in TiO₂ crystal were studied. The field gradient seen to the implanted⁴¹Sc was measured independently by the high field NMR detection on the stable isotope⁴⁵Sc located in the equivalent⁴¹Sc site with. |Q(⁴¹Sc;I^π=7/2⁻)|=(0.120±0.006) b was determined.