Particle-yield modification in jetlike azimuthal dihadron correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at √s(NN)=2.76 TeV

The yield of charged particles associated with high-p(t) trigger particles (83 GeV/c on the away side drops to about 60% of that observed in pp collisions, while on the near side a moderate enhancement of 20%-30% is found.     

Temperature-dependent absorptance of painted aluminum, stainless steel 304, and titanium for 1.07 μm and 10.6 μm laser beams

We measured the temperature-dependent absorptance of metals (Al, Ti, SS304) for continuous beams from 1.07 μm fiber laser and 10.6 μm CO₂ laser using power sensors and infrared (IR) pyrometers. The absorptance measurements were repeated for metals with three different paint coatings. For measurements at elevated temperatures up to the melting point, integrating sphere is not practical since high temperature radiation from a heated target disturbs weak output from the sphere considerably. Our results provide how each metal, whether coated or uncoated, absorbs the infrared beams as temperature is elevated to a melting point. A polynomial approximation to the measured absorptance of each target is provided for modeling of the laser-metal interaction at elevated temperatures.     

An automatic processing technique for accurate surface form measurement

A single shot algorithm using a Fizeau interferometer was used to measure the form profile of a spherical smooth surface by means of fringe thinning process, which plays an important role in fringe patterns analysis. In this paper, an automatic processing technique based on the fringe thinning process is presented. The circular interference fringe pattern of the spherical smooth surface captured by the Fizeau interferometer was corrected by using the flat fielding method and then processed. Based on the fringe thinning and the assignment of the fringe orders, the information on the fringe feature was recovered automatically and the interference wavefront was reconstructed by the Zernike polynomial fitting method. The results were compared with the results measured by Bünnagel method, and the results were in good agreement. This means that the single shot algorithm is reliable, fast, and less sensitive to vibration and turbulence in surface form measurements. Simulation fringes with the ray tracing technique were obtained to match the practical fringes.     

Highly accurate film thickness measurement based on automatic fringe analysis

This paper describes an automated multiple-beam interferometry for measuring a calibrated step height of (27.00 ± 3.00) nm nominally. The fringes captured from the multiple-beam Fizeau–Tolansky interferometer were thinned by using a written program to obtain accurate measurement. We claim that multiple-beam interferometry based on automatic fringe thinning process can provide a real time solution for calibrating step heights precisely and with high accuracy. The uncertainty budget of the multiple-beam interferometry method due to incomplete parallelism of the incident beam and the inhomogeneity of the reflecting layers was calculated automatically with a written ray tracing program. The uncertainty budget in multiple-beam interferometry was estimated to be of the order of 3.00 nm.     

Preparation,structure, and photoluminescence properties of Ga2O3/SnO2 coaxial nanowires

Ga₂O₃/SnO₂ coaxial nanowires were synthesized by thermal evaporation of GaN powders and then atomic layer deposition of SnO₂. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis results indicate that the Ga₂O₃ cores and the SnO₂ shells of the coaxial nanowires after thermal annealing are single crystals with monoclinic and simple orthorhombic structures, respectively, although the SnO₂ shells are amorphous before annealing. Our results also show that photoluminescence (PL) emission can be enhanced by thermal annealing in an H₂/N₂ atmosphere. EDX concentration profile suggests that the enhancement in the bluish green emission is due to the increase in the concentration of the Ga vacancies in the cores during the H₂/N₂ annealing. On the other hand, a red emission is newly formed while the bluish green emission is degraded by annealing in an oxygen or nitrogen atmosphere (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Influence of synthesis temperature on morphology and electrochemical performance of NiCo hydroxides for supercapacitor applications

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - In this work, the effects of hydrothermal growth temperature on the morphology and electrochemical characteristics of NiCo hydroxides were studied. The...     

Amyloid Against Amyloid: Dimeric Amyloid Fragment Ameliorates Cognitive Impairments by Direct Clearance of Oligomers and Plaques

Amyloid-β (Aβ) in the form of neurotoxic aggregates is regarded as the main pathological initiator and key therapeutic target of Alzheimer's disease. However, anti-Aβ drug development has been impeded by the lack of a target needed for structure-based drug design and low permeability of the blood–brain barrier (BBB). An attractive therapeutic strategy is the development of amyloid-based anti-Aβ peptidomimetics that exploit the self-assembling nature of Aβ and penetrate the BBB. Herein, we designed a dimeric peptide drug candidate based on the N-terminal fragment of Aβ, DAB, found to cross the BBB and solubilize Aβ oligomers and fibrils. Administration of DAB reduced amyloid burden in 5XFAD mice, and downregulated neuroinflammation and prevented memory impairment in the Y-maze test. Peptide mapping assays and molecular docking studies were utilized to elucidate DAB-Aβ interaction. To further understand the active regions of DAB, we assessed the dissociative activity of DAB with sequence modifications.     

Benzotrithiophene-based Covalent Organic Framework Photocatalysts with Controlled Conjugation of Building Blocks for Charge Stabilization

Covalent organic frameworks have recently shown high potential for photocatalytic hydrogen production. However, their structure-property-activity relationship has not been sufficiently explored to identify a research direction for structural design. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of four benzotrithiophene (BTT)-based covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with different conjugations of building units, and their photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production. All four BTT-COFs had slipped parallel stacking patterns with high crystallinity and specific surface areas. The change in the degree of conjugation was found to rationally tune the rate of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Based on the experimental and calculation results, the tunable photocatalytic performance could be mainly attributed to the electron affinity and charge trapping of the electron accepting units. This study provides important insights for designing covalent organic frameworks for efficient photocatalysts.