Synthesis of zerovalent nanophase metal particles stabilized with poly(ethylene glycol)

Concurrent sonolysis of iron pentacarbonyl and poly(ethylene glycol)-400 (PEG-400) in hexadecane solvent proceeds via zero-order kinetics and results in Fe nanoparticles encapsulated in PEG-400 (Fe-PEG). The transmission electron microscopy images show Fe-PEG consisting of <3 nm Fe particles that are evenly dispersed in the PEG matrix. M?ssbauer and X-ray absorption fine structure/X-ray absorption near-edge structure data reveal an ordered PEG assembly that helps protect the zerovalent Fe core. The Fe nanoparticles in Fe-PEG are superparamagnetic with a magnetization value of 45 emu/g-Fe at 10 KOe. The rheology of the synthesized material shows an unusual increase in viscosity with temperature that is likely due to lower critical saturation temperature phase segregation over 40 degrees C. The low-temperature mobility of the PEG-400 moiety in Fe-PEG would allow facile ligation of the Fe0 core with biologically and chemically active groups.     

Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis by allele-specific primer extension with real-time bioluminescence detection in a microfluidic device

A microfluidic approach for rapid bioluminescent real-time detection of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is presented. The method is based on single-step primer extension using pyrosequencing chemistry to monitor nucleotide incorporations in real-time. The method takes advantage of the fact that the reaction kinetics differ between matched and mismatched primer-template configurations. We show here that monitoring the initial reaction in real time accurately scores SNPs by comparing the initial reaction kinetics between matched and mismatched configurations. Thus, no additional treatment is required to improve the sequence specificity of the extension, which has been the case for many allele-specific extension assays. The microfluidic approach was evaluated using four SNPs. Three of the SNPs included primer-template configurations that have been previously reported to be difficult to resolve by allele-specific primer extension. All SNPs investigated were successfully scored. Using the microfluidic device, the volume for the bioluminescent assay was reduced dramatically, thus offering a cost-effective and fast SNP analysis method.     

Combustion Behaviour of Nitrocellulose and its Complexes with Copper Oxide. Hot stage microscopic studies

Complexes of nitrocellulose (NC – low and high nitrogen content) with copper oxide (CuO) have been synthesized and studied for morphological behaviour on heating from room temperature to 500°C with the help of hot stage microscopy (HSM). During decomposition, NC:CuO complexes show contraction of fibrous boundaries followed by mass movement of matrix, with the evolution of brown yellow colour gas at higher temperatures as compared to NC alone. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Particle creation in a time-dependent electric field revisited

We adopt the general formalism for analyzing evolution of gaussian states of quantized fields in time-dependent backgrounds in the Schrodinger picture (presented in detail in Mahajan and Padmanabhan [G. Mahajan, T. Padmanabhan, Gen. Rel. Grav. 40 (2008) 661]) to study the example of a spatially uniform electric field background (in a time-dependent gauge) which is kept turned on for a finite duration of time. In particular, we study the time-dependent particle content, defined in terms of the concept of instantaneous eigenstates, and describe how it captures the time evolution of the quantized field modes. The actual particle creation process occurs over a relatively short interval in time, and the particle content saturates rather quickly. We also compare the power spectrum of the field modes, computed in the asymptotic limit, with the corresponding situation in a cosmological de Sitter background. Particle creation under the influence of a spiked electric field localized in time, as a particular limiting case of the above general model, is also considered.     

Über die Lebensdauer von flüssigen Tropfen auf der Oberfläche der gleichen Flüssigkeit

Ohne Zusammenfassung übersetzt von H. Erbring (Leipzig).