Quasibound continuum states in SiF4 (D2A1) photoionization: photoelectron-vibrational coupling

The authors report a fully vibrationally resolved photoelectron spectroscopy investigation of a nonplanar molecule studied over a range of excitation energies. Experimental results for all four fundamental vibrational modes are presented. In each case significant non-Franck-Condon effects are seen. The vibrational branching ratio for the totally symmetric mode nu1+ is found to be strongly affected by resonant excitation in the SiF4+ (D2A1) photoionization channel. This is shown to be the result of two distinct shape resonances, which for the first time have been both confirmed by theoretical calculations. Vibrationally resolved Schwinger photoionization calculations are used to understand the vibronic coupling for the photoelectrons, both using ab initio and harmonic vibrational wave functions.     

Launching a particle on a ring: b2u-->ke2g ionization of C6F6

Evidence is presented demonstrating that an electron launched into the continuum is trapped in an unprecedented quasibound state, namely, one that extends through the backbone of the six-member carbon ring of C6F6. The mode specificity of the vibrational sensitivity to the electron trapping provides an experimental signature for this phenomenon, while adiabatic static model-exchange scattering calculations are used to map the wave function, which corroborate the interpretation.     

Patterning Flexible Substrates Using Surface Relief Structures in Azobenzene Functionalized Polymer Films

A novel method for maskless micro-patterning of polymeric substrates is presented. First, an azobenzene functionalized polymer film is spin-coated on a Poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) sheet. Then surface relief structures are optically inscribed on the polymer film by interference of laser beams. The patterned azobenzene functionalized film is then etched in the plasma chamber such that the gratings are transferred to the PET substrate. Finally, any remaining azobenzene functionalized polymer is dissolved away using an appropriate solvent. This method of patterning can be broadly applied to a variety of flexible/polymeric substrates and the resolution is not limited by the substrate thermo-mechanical properties.     

Construction of nested orthogonal arrays

A (symmetric) nested orthogonal array is a symmetric orthogonal array OA(N,k,s,g) which contains an OA(M,k,r,g) as a subarray, where M<N and r<s. In this communication, some methods of construction of nested symmetric orthogonal arrays are given. Asymmetric nested orthogonal arrays are defined and a few methods of their construction are described.     

ICE: a new method for the multivariate curve resolution of hyperspectral images

The iterated constrained endmembers (ICE) algorithm is a new method of unmixing hyperspectral images that combines aspects of multivariate curve resolution (MCR) methods in chemometrics and unmixing algorithms in remote sensing. Like many MCR methods, ICE also estimates pure components, or endmembers, via alternating least squares; however, it is explicitly based on a convex geometry model and estimation is carried out in a subspace of reduced dimensionality defined by the minimum noise fraction (MNF) transform. In this paper, we describe the ICE algorithm and its properties. We also illustrate its use on a hyperspectral image of cervical tissue. The unmixing of hyperspectral images presents some unique challenges, and we also outline where further development is required. © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conformation-specific spectroscopy of 3-benzyl-1,5-hexadiyne

3-Benzyl-1,5-hexadiyne (BHD) was studied by a combination of methods, including resonance-enhanced-two-photon ionization, UV-UV hole-burning spectroscopy, resonant ion-dip infrared spectroscopy, and rotational band contour analysis. There are five conformations of BHD observed in the expansion with their 1<-- S0 origins occurring at 37520, 37565, 37599, 37605, and 37631 cm(-1). DFT calculations predict six low energy conformations. Conformational assignments have been made by comparison of the experimental infrared spectra in the alkyl and acetylenic CH stretch region to DFT vibrational frequency and infrared intensity calculations. Rotational band contours provided further confirmation of these assignments. The electronic origin shifts of BHD compare favorably to the electronic origin shifts of 5-phenyl-1-pentyne with the exception of one conformation. This conformation is unique in that it is the only structure with both acetylenic groups in the gauche position over the ring. This gauche-gauche conformation exhibits a perpendicular (b-type) transition and produces extensive vibronic coupling reminiscent of symmetric monosubstituted benzenes.     

Understanding the Growth of Interfacial Reaction Product Layers between Dissimilar Materials

When one starts to analyze the evolution of the interfacial reaction product layers between dissimilar materials it is often found out that as the number of interacting species grows, the complexity of the analysis increases extremely rapidly. It may even appear that the task is just too difficult to be completed. In this article we present the thermodynamic-kinetic method, which can be used to rationalize the evolution of interfacial reaction layers and bring back the physics to the analyses. The method is conceptually very simple. It combines energetics—what can happen—with kinetics—how fast things take place. Yet the method is flexible enough that it can utilize quantitative and qualitative data starting from the atomistic simulations up to the experiments carried out with bulk materials. Several examples about how to utilize this method in material scientific problems are given.     

Extraction and recovery of lignosulfonate from its aqueous solution using bulk liquid membrane

The paper presents an experimental study on the coupled transport of lignosulfonate (LS) through bulk liquid membrane (BLM) and thereby to identify the best set of solvent, operating conditions and mode of transport that would yield optimum performance of the BLM. Trioctylamine (TOA) is used as carrier. Among various solvents, tested for the above purpose, dichloroethane is found to be the best. The effects of operating condition, viz. pH, temperature, and carrier concentration, on the equilibrium distribution of LS are investigated. The effects of temperature, stirring of aqueous and organic phases, stirring speed, carrier concentration, initial feed and strip phase concentration on the separation of LS using BLM are also studied. It is observed that transport of LS can be enhanced by increasing the temperature and stirring speed of feed phase. Stirring of strip phase has no appreciable effects on the transport of LS. With increase in initial feed concentration the initial rate of the transport of LS is higher but continues for a longer time. Recovery of LS is much higher in co-transport mode in comparison to counter transport mode. Application of 1.25 M NaOH as stripping solution gives high recovery (70%) and high strip flux (70% of feed flux).     

A class of saturated row-column designs

A new class of saturated, binary row-column designs is proposed. It is shown that these designs are treatment connected in the sense that these permit the estimability of all contrasts among treatment effects.     

Three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D QSAR) and pharmacophore elucidation of tetrahydropyran derivatives as serotonin and norepinephrine transporter inhibitors

Three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D QSAR) using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) was performed on a series of substituted tetrahydropyran (THP) derivatives possessing serotonin (SERT) and norepinephrine (NET) transporter inhibitory activities. The study aimed to rationalize the potency of these inhibitors for SERT and NET as well as the observed selectivity differences for NET over SERT. The dataset consisted of 29 molecules, of which 23 molecules were used as the training set for deriving CoMFA models for SERT and NET uptake inhibitory activities. Superimpositions were performed using atom-based fitting and 3-point pharmacophore-based alignment. Two charge calculation methods, Gasteiger-Hückel and semiempirical PM3, were tried. Both alignment methods were analyzed in terms of their predictive abilities and produced comparable results with high internal and external predictivities. The models obtained using the 3-point pharmacophore-based alignment outperformed the models with atom-based fitting in terms of relevant statistics and interpretability of the generated contour maps. Steric fields dominated electrostatic fields in terms of contribution. The selectivity analysis (NET over SERT), though yielded models with good internal predictivity, showed very poor external test set predictions. The analysis was repeated with 24 molecules after systematically excluding so-called outliers (5 out of 29) from the model derivation process. The resulting CoMFA model using the atom-based fitting exhibited good statistics and was able to explain most of the selectivity (NET over SERT)-discriminating factors. The presence of −OH substituent on the THP ring was found to be one of the most important factors governing the NET selectivity over SERT. Thus, a 4-point NET-selective pharmacophore, after introducing this newly found H-bond donor/acceptor feature in addition to the initial 3-point pharmacophore, was proposed.