Effects of pretreatment temperature on the analysis of size-fractionated aerosol particles using ToF-SIMS

Size-fractionated aerosol particles were collected with a MOUDI 10-stage cascade impactor from an urban roadside place in a downtown area of Hong Kong. Fine aerosol particulate samples from stage 6 (aerodynamic particle diameter between 0.56 and 1 μm) and stage 9 (aerodynamic particle diameter between 0.10 and 0.18 μm) were pretreated at a chosen temperature, including −100°C, −50°C, 25°C, and 60°C, in a load lock chamber and then analyzed using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) at the same temperature (−100°C). Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to further analyze ToF-SIMS spectra of aerosol particles with different pretreatment temperatures from two selected stages. ToF-SIMS results showed that the intensities of aliphatic hydrocarbon ions such as C₄H₇⁺ and C₄H₉⁺ and amine ions such as C₂H₈N⁺ and C₄H₁₂N⁺ decreased with an increase of the pretreatment temperature under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. We have shown that analyses of this type of aerosol particles using ToF-SIMS should not be conducted at ambient temperature but at low temperature (eg, −50°C). In addition, we also developed a procedure that can be used to analyze aerosol particle samples under ultrahigh vacuum environment.     

Double quantization of CP type orbits by generalized Verma modules

It is known that symmetric orbits in g^* for any simple Lie algebra g are equipped with a Poisson pencil generated by the Kirillov-Kostant-Souriau bracket and the reduced Sklyanin bracket associated to the “canonical” R-matrix. We realize quantization of the Poisson pencil CPⁿ type orbits (i.e. orbits in sl(n + 1)^* whose real compact form is CPⁿ) by means of q-deformed Verma modules.     

Surface molecular imprints of WGA lectin as artificial receptors for mass-sensitive binding studies

Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) lectin is a model compound for the interaction between viruses and cells during infection events and thus an interesting analyte for mass-sensitive sensing to study these interaction phenomena. Scanning tunneling microscopy studies reveal that surface molecular imprinting leads to cavities having the dimensions of WGA dimers. These reincorporate WGA from phosphate-buffered saline between 1 and 160 μg/ml. Whereas the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) frequency for molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-coated electrodes decreases, indicating uptake of the analyte, their nonimprinted counterparts yield positive, concentration-dependent frequency shifts characteristic for slip of the analyte on the QCM surface. The MIPs achieve selectivity factors towards bovine serum albumin of roughly 4 at higher protein concentrations. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis reveals that binding is favored by 29 kJ/mol until the adsorption of up to ten monolayers on the MIP, whereas above this range the value is lower. Together with the binding behavior of MIP and nonimprinted polymers, this indicates that the MIP acts as a nucleus for multilayer deposition onto the surface.     

On the centre of mass of a random walk

For a random walk $S_n$ on ${\mathbb{R}}^d$ we study the asymptotic behaviour of the associated centre of mass process $G_n=n^{?1}{\sum }_{i=1}^n{S}_i$. For lattice distributions we give conditions for a local limit theorem to hold. We prove that if the increments of the walk have zero mean and finite second moment, $G_n$ is recurrent if $d=1$ and transient if $d\ge 2$. In the transient case we show that $G_n$ has a diffusive rate of escape. These results extend work of Grill, who considered simple symmetric random walk. We also give a class of random walks with symmetric heavy-tailed increments for which $G_n$ is transient in $d=1$.     

Fabrication of 160-nm T-gate metamorphic AlInAs/GaInAs HEMTs on GaAs substrates by metal organic chemical vapour deposition

The fabrication and performance of 160-nm gate-length metamorphic AlInAs/GaInAs high electron mobility tran-sistors (mHEMTs) grown on GaAs substrate by metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) are reported. By using a novel combined optical and e-beam photolithography technology, submicron mHEMTs devices have been achieved. The devices exhibit good DC and RF performance. The maximum current density was 817 mA/mm and the maximum transconductance was 828 mS/mm. The non-alloyed Ohmic contact resistance Rc was as low as 0.02 Ω- mm. The unity current gain cut-off frequency (fT) and the maximum oscillation frequency (fmax) were 146 GHz and 189 GHz, respectively. This device has the highest fT yet reported for a 160-nm gate-length HEMTs grown by MOCVD. The output conductance is 28.9 mS/mm, which results in a large voltage gain of 28.6. Also, an input capacitance to gate-drain feedback capacitance ratio, Cgs/Cgd, of 4.3 is obtained in the device.     

Easily accessible and highly tunable indolyl phosphine ligands for Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of aryl chlorides

This study describes a new class of easily accessible indolyl phosphine ligands, prepared via an efficient protocol involving Fischer indolization from readily available phenylhydrazine and substituted acetophenones. This versatile ligand scaffold provides beneficial features, including high potential of steric and electronic tunability. The air-stable indolyl phosphines in combination with a palladium metal precursor provide highly effective catalysts for Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of unactivated aryl chlorides, and the catalyst loading down to 0.02 mol % can be achieved.     

Heterogeneous reactions of linoleic acid and linolenic acid particles with ozone: reaction pathways and changes in particle mass, hygroscopicity, and morphology

In this study, an electrodynamic balance (EDB) and a single particle Raman spectroscopic system were used to investigate the heterogeneous reactions of linoleic acid and linolenic acid with ozone under ambient temperatures (22-24 degrees C) and dry conditions (RH<5%). Raman characterizations provide evidence that ozone-induced autoxidation, in addition to direct ozonolysis, is a plausible pathway in the reactions between ozone and linoleic acid and linolenic acid particles. Furthermore, the significance of this specific oxidation pathway depends on the ozone concentrations used in the experiment. A low ozone concentration (approximately 200-250 ppb) with a longer exposure period (20 h) favors autoxidation but an extremely high ozone concentration (approximately 10 ppm) favors ozonolysis and forces most unsaturated fatty acids to react with ozone in a relatively short period of time. In the low ozone concentration experiments, the mass of the ozone-processed linoleic acid and linolenic acid particles increased by about 2-3% and 10-13%, respectively. In addition, the mass ratios (particle mass at RH approximately 85% to particle mass at RH<5%) of the ozone-processed linoleic acid and linolenic acid particles increased by about 2-3% and 3-4%, respectively. The morphology of the pure and ozone-processed linoleic acid and linolenic acid particles are compared, based on imagining and their light scattering patterns.     

Facile Route Using Highly Arrayed PMMA Spheres as Hard Template for the Fabrication of 3D Ordered Nanoporous MgO

"Using magnesium nitrate as Mg source and regularly packed polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) spheres were synthesized via a combined strategy of emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization and water floating technique as hard template, we fabricated ordered nanoporous magnesium oxide. The synthesized PMMA and MgO samples were characterized by N2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction. It was observed that the synthesized PMMA spheres possessed a uniform diameter of approximately 284 nm and were in a highly ordered array, and the MgO generated by using the PMMA-templating method exhibited polycrystallinity with three-dimensionally ordered pores. BET surface area of the synthesized MgO sample is 100.7 m2/g, pore volume is 0.46 cm3/g, wall thickness is 4-24 nm, and pore sizes are in the range of 10-120 nm. Such a 3D high-surface-area nanoporous strongly basic MgO is useful in the applications of catalyst supports and acidic gas adsorbents."