High resolution spectroscopy using photodeflection

Isotope separation by laser deflection of an atomic beam, combined with simultaneous mass spectroscopy, has been used to determine optical frequency shifts and to assign mass numbers to all components of the $\text{Ba 6s}{}^2{}^1\text{S}{}_0\text{?6s6p}{}^1\text{P}{}_1$ 5536 Å resonance. Several components which cannot be resolved optically without the use of enriched samples, were resolved with the technique described. They are ${}^{135}\text{Ba}\text{(F=}\text{5}\text{2}\text{)}$ at 120 MHz, ¹³⁶Ba at 128 MHz and ¹³⁴Ba at 138 MHz.     

Quantum mechanical study of the structure and stability of molecular van der Waals' clusters I: hydrates of SO2

The structure and stability of the mixed clusters SO₂(H₂O)_n, n ranging from 1 to 4, have been examined using semi-empirical quantum mechanical Hartree Fock methods with the improved PM3 parameter set as implemented in MOPAC [1]. Limited molecular dynamics studies together with investigation of the potential surface reveal potential barriers of 1 kcal/mol or less between many of the stable structures for a cluster of a given size. For n=1,2 the results are compared with those ofab initio calculations using a double zeta basis at the MP4 level.Supported in part by NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates     

On the forces transmitted to a vibrating cylinder by a blowing fluid

Summary The measuring apparatus used for experimental wind tunnel studies is described together with the test procedure and salient results. After an analysis of the results, a mechanical model is developed to explain the nature of the phenomenon.

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Sommario Si descrive l'apparato di misura utilizzato per le ricerche sperimentali eseguite in camera a vento al fine di determinare le forze esercitate da una vena fluida su un cilindro libero di vibrare. Si espongono le modalità di prova ed i risultati più salienti. Dopo un'analisi dei risultati si elabora un modello meccanico per interpretare la natura del fenomeno.

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This study forms part of a project that has been carried out jointly by A. Salvi & C. SpA and the Institute of Applied Mechanics, Milan Polytechnic. The Institute of Applied Mechanics received a CNR subsidy to take part in this project.     

The effects of spatial separation in distance on the informational and energetic masking of a nearby speech signal

Although many studies have shown that intelligibility improves when a speech signal and an interfering sound source are spatially separated in azimuth, little is known about the effect that spatial separation in distance has on the perception of competing sound sources near the head. In this experiment, head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) were used to process stimuli in order to simulate a target talker and a masking sound located at different distances along the listener's interaural axis. One of the signals was always presented at a distance of 1 m, and the other signal was presented 1 m, 25 cm, or 12 cm from the center of the listener's head. The results show that distance separation has very different effects on speech segregation for different types of maskers. When speech-shaped noise was used as the masker, most of the intelligibility advantages of spatial separation could be accounted for by spectral differences in the target and masking signals at the ear with the higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). When a same-sex talker was used as the masker, the intelligibility advantages of spatial separation in distance were dominated by binaural effects that produced the same performance improvements as a 4-5-dB increase in the SNR of a diotic stimulus. These results suggest that distance-dependent changes in the interaural difference cues of nearby sources play a much larger role in the reduction of the informational masking produced by an interfering speech signal than in the reduction of the energetic masking produced by an interfering noise source.     

Ganglioside analysis in body fluids by liquid-phase separation techniques hyphenated to mass spectrometry

The expression of gangliosides in central nervous system is a few times higher than in the extraneural tissue, a characteristic highlighting their major role at this level. Although in very low amounts, gangliosides are ubiquitously distributed in body fluids too, where, depending on many factors, including pathological states, their composition fluctuates, thus having diagnostic value. Ganglioside investigation in biological fluids, which, except for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), may be sampled noninvasively, was for years impeded by the limited sensitivity of the analytical instrumentation available in glycomics. However, because the last decade has witnessed significant developments in biological mass spectrometry (MS) and the hyphenated separation techniques, marked by a major increase in sensitivity, reproducibility, and data reliability, ganglioside research started to be focused on biofluid analysis by separation techniques coupled to MS. In this context, our review presents the achievements in this emerging field of gangliosidomics, with a particular emphasis on modern liquid chromatography (LC), thin-layer chromatography, hydrophilic interaction LC, and ion mobility separation coupled to high-performance MS, as well as the results generated by these systems and allied experimental procedures in profiling and structural analysis of gangliosides in healthy or diseased body fluids, such as CSF, plasma/serum, and milk.     

M theory solution to the hierarchy problem

An old idea for explaining the hierarchy is strong gauge dynamics. We show that such dynamics also stabilizes the moduli in M theory compactifications on manifolds of G2 holonomy without fluxes. This gives stable vacua with softly broken supersymmetry, grand unification, and a distinctive spectrum of TeV and sub-TeV sparticle masses.     

Controlled dephasing of a quantum dot: from coherent to sequential tunneling

Resonant tunneling through two identical potential barriers renders them transparent, as particle trajectories interfere coherently. Here we realize resonant tunneling in a quantum dot (QD), and show that detection of electron trajectories renders the dot nearly insulating. Measurements were made in the integer quantum Hall regime, with the tunneling electrons in an inner edge channel coupled to detector electrons in a neighboring outer channel, which was partitioned. Quantitative analysis indicates that just a few detector electrons completely dephase the QD.     

Improved methodologies for synthesis of prenylated xanthones by microwave irradiation and combination of heterogeneous catalysis (K10 clay) with microwave irradiation

Eleven prenylated xanthone derivatives (4-9, 11-15) have been synthesized for the first time by the microwave irradiation method. Prenylation of the xanthone building blocks 1 and 2 with prenyl bromide in alkaline medium, using microwave irradiation, gave the oxyprenylated xanthones 4 and 6, as major products in high yields, as well as diprenylated by-products (5, 7, 8, and 9) in very low yields. Microwave irradiation of oxyprenylated xanthones 4 and 6 furnished three new Claisen rearranged products (11, 14, and 15), as well as the previously described dihydrofuranoxanthones (12, 13). Furthermore, three new (19, 20, 21) and three previously described (16, 17, 18) dihydropyranoxanthones have also been prepared by a one-pot synthesis from xanthones 1, 2, and 3, using Montmorillonite K10 clay as a heterogeneous catalyst and a combination of Montmorillonite K10 clay with microwave irradiation in various conditions. The presence of solvent and the type of the clay (commercial or dry) were found to have a strong influence on the product yields. This is the first report of using these methodologies for the synthesis of dihydropyranoxanthone derivatives. The structures of the prenylated xanthones obtained were established by IR, UV, HRMS, and NMR (¹H, ¹³C, HSQC, and HMBC) techniques.     

M(III)(bpym)(CN)(4)](-): a suitable building block to design ferrimagnetic cyano-bridged heterobimetallic chains (M = Fe, Cr; bpym = 2,2'-bypyrimidine)

Two cyano-bridged M(III)Mn(III) [M = Fe () and Cr ()] ferrimagnetic chains are reported; exhibits metamagnetism with two critical fields of 1250 G and 2.0 T which correspond to the overcoming by the applied dc field of the inter- and intrachain magnetic interactions, respectively.