All-angle broadband negative refraction of metal waveguide arrays in the visible range: theoretical analysis and numerical demonstration

In this Letter, we introduce a simple metal waveguide array for realizing all-angle wide frequency bandwidth negative refraction from the visible to infrared frequencies. Theoretical analysis from the rigorous coupled-wave theory reveals that the negative coupling constant resulting from the anomalous coupling of guided surface plasmon polariton modes contributes to the negative refraction. The analytical results are confirmed by finite-difference time-domain numerical simulations. Our result provides an alternative way to construct robust all-angle negative refractive materials operating in a wide range of frequency from the near-infrared to the visible range.     

Supersolid helium at high pressure

We have measured the pressure dependence of the supersolid fraction by a torsional oscillator technique. Superflow is found from 25.6 bar up to 136.9 bar. The supersolid fraction in the low temperature limit increases from 0.6% at 25.6 bar near the melting boundary up to a maximum of 1.5% near 55 bar before showing a monotonic decrease with pressure extrapolating to zero near 170 bar.     

Hinge peptide combinatorial libraries for inhilbitors of botulinum neurotoxins and saxitoxin: Deconvolution strategy

Combinatorial library screening offers a rapid process for identifying potential therapies to toxins. Hinge peptide libraries, which rely on conformational diversity rather than traditional molecular diversity, reduce the need for huge numbers of syntheses and screening steps and greatly expedite the discovery process of active molecules. Hinge peptide libraries having the structures: Acetyl-X₁–X₂–hinge–X₃–X₄–NH₂ (capped) and X₁–hinge–X₂–X₃ (uncapped), where X₁ through X₄ are near-equimolar mixtures of twelve L-amino acids and hinge = 4-aminobutyric acid, were screened for inhibitory activity in bioassays for botulinum neurotoxins A and B (BoNT/A, BoNT/B) and saxitoxin. The zinc protease activity of the reduced light chains of BoNT/A and /B was assayed by measuring the cleavage of synthetic substrates. Saxitoxin activity was measured by the restoration of the viability of neuroblastoma cells treated with ouabain and veratridine. Deconvolution of libraries was accomplished by fixing one position at a time beginning with the C-terminus. Primary library subsets in which position 4 was fixed showed moderate levels of inhibition for BoNT/A. Secondary library subsets showed stronger inhibition in the bioassays. In each of the bioassays, inhibitory potency was stronger when the second position to be fixed was on the opposite side of the hinge, rather than on the same side with respect to the C-terminus, suggesting that the hinge facilitates the interaction of side chains. Inhibitors for all three of the toxins studied were discovered within library subsets, although not necessarily in primary subsets. These studies demonstrate that (1) the best strategy for deconvoluting hinge peptide libraries is by fixing residues alternately on each side of the hinge moiety, and (2) it is essential to investigate secondary subsets even when primary subsets are inactive. The present findings support the concept that the increased flexibility imposed by the inclusion of a central hinge residue in small peptides increases the opportunity for side chain interactions, providing a distinct advantage for hinge peptide libraries over conventional peptide libraries. Hinge peptide libraries are a rich source of novel ligands for modulation of biomechanisms. The library subsets uncovered in this study may possess peptides that will lead to effective therapies to neurotoxin poisoning.     

Sixteenth-order method for nonlinear equations

Modification of Newton’s method with higher-order convergence is presented. The modification of Newton’s method is based on King’s fourth-order method. The new method requires three-step per iteration. Analysis of convergence demonstrates that the order of convergence is 16. Some numerical examples illustrate that the algorithm is more efficient and performs better than classical Newton’s method and other methods.     

A numerical method with particle conservation for the Maxwell-Dirac system

A numerical method is presented for solving the Maxwell-Dirac systems. The Maxwell equations with particle and current densities as the source terms are discretized explicitly. To guarantee the particle conservation, the Dirac equations coupled electromagnetic potentials are discretized by the time-splitting method and implicit finite difference. These numerical schemes are conservative in particle density and have second-order accuracy in time and space. One-dimensional numerical results are given to validate the accuracy and the conservation and three-dimensional examples are presented to describe dynamical behaviors of the Maxwell-Dirac system with several external potentials.     

Regularity of solutions for the critical N-dimensional Burgers' equation

We consider the fractional Burgers' equation on RN${\mathbb{R}}^N$ with the critical dissipation term. We follow the parabolic De-Giorgi's method of Caffarelli and Vasseur and show existence of smooth solutions given any initial datum in L²(RN)$L^2({\mathbb{R}}^N)$.     

食品中铝的测定及超标对人体的危害

用分光光度法测定了油炸食品、膨化、威化、面包粉、海蜇中的铝含量.利用Al3+在乙二胺-盐酸溶液缓冲介质中,与铬天青S及溴代十六烷基吡啶(CPB)反应形成蓝绿色四元胶束,在620nm处测定其吸光度,并对CPB质量浓度进行了最佳选择.结果表明,该法提高了测定灵敏度.5种类型的样品中,海蜇的铝含量最高;面包粉的铝含量最少.此方法允许pH值范围宽、稳定性好、操作简便,测定食品中微量铝得到较好的精密度和准确度.     

Microstructure of Milled Mesophase Pitch-Based Carbon Fibers as an Anode Material for Li-ion Batteries

Abstract

The microstructure of milled mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers (mMPCFs) that have been developed as an anode material for Li ion batteries have been studied as a function of heat treatment temperature (HTT), by SEM, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. And the results obtained are compared with those by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM observations, for the characterization of specific structural features of mMPCFs as a promising anode material.     

Response of bilateral breasts to the endogenous hormonal fluctuation in a menstrual cycle evaluated using 3D MRI

The normal breast tissue responds to the fluctuation of endogenous hormones during a menstrual cycle (MC) and shows changes in breast density. The changes between left and right breasts of the same women were compared to evaluate the symmetrical response. Twenty-four healthy women were recruited in this study. Four weekly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies were performed during one MC. A computer algorithm was used to segment the breast and the fibroglandular tissue to measure the fibroglandular tissue volume (FV) and three morphological parameters: circularity, convexity and irregularity. The coefficient of variation (CV) for each parameter measured among four MRI studies was calculated; also, the maximal percent change between two MRI studies that show the highest and the lowest FV was calculated. These parameters measured from left and right breasts were compared using Pearson correlation.     

The Index theorem for quasi-tori

The Index theorem for holomorphic line bundles on complex tori asserts that some cohomology groups of a line bundle vanish according to the signature of the associated hermitian form. In this article, this theorem is generalized to quasi-tori, i.e. connected complex abelian Lie groups which are not necessarily compact. In view of the Remmert–Morimoto decomposition of quasi-tori as well as the Künneth formula, it suffices to consider only Cousin-quasi-tori, i.e. quasi-tori which have no non-constant holomorphic functions. The Index theorem is generalized to holomorphic line bundles, both linearizable and non-linearizable, on Cousin-quasi-tori using L²$L^2$-methods coupled with the Kazama–Dolbeault isomorphism and Bochner–Kodaira formulas.