Theoretical description of ultrafast phenomena in clusters

A theoretical study of different ultrafast nonequilibrium processes taking place during and after ultrashort excitation of clusters is presented. We discuss similarities and differences for several processes involving nonequilibrium ultrafast motion of atoms and electrons. We study ultrashort relaxation of clusters in response to excitations produced by femtosecond laser pulses of different intensities. We show how different relaxation processes, such as bond breaking, melting, fragmentation, emission of atoms, or Coulomb explosion, can be induced, depending on the laser intensity and laser pulse duration. We also discuss processes involving nonequilibrium electron dynamics, such as intraband Auger decay in clusters and ultrafast electronic motion during collisions between clusters and surfaces. We show that this electron dynamics leads to Stückelberg-like oscillations of measurable quantities, such as the electron emission yield. Received: 4 April 2000 / Accepted: 6 November 2000 / Published online: 9 February 2001     

Iron(III), cobalt(II,III), copper(II) and zinc(II) complexes of 2-pyridineformamide 3-piperidylthiosemicarbazone

Reduction of 2-cyanopyridine by sodium in the presence of 3-piperidylthiosemicarbazide produces 2-pyridineformamide 3-piperidylthiosemicarbazone, HAmpip. Complexes with iron(III), cobalt(II,III) copper(II) and zinc(II) have been prepared and characterized by molar conductivities, magnetic susceptibilities and spectroscopic techniques. In addition, the crystal structures of HAmpip, [Fe(Ampip)₂]ClO₄, [Cu(HAmpip)Cl₂]·CH₃OH and [Zn(HAmpip)Br₂]·C₂H₆SO have been determined. Coordination is via the pyridyl nitrogen, imine nitrogen and thiolato or thione sulfur when coordinating as the anionic or neutral ligand, respectively.     

Chiral unitary theory: Application to nuclear problems

In this talk we briefly describe some basic elements of chiral perturbation theory, xPT, and how the implementation of unitarity and other novel elements lead to a better expansion of the T-matrix for meson-meson and meson-baryon interactions. Applications are then done to the ππ interaction in nuclear matter in the scalar and vector channels, antikaons in nuclei and K ⁻ atoms, and how the φ meson properties are changed in a nuclear medium.     

Characterization of dextrin hydrogels by FTIR spectroscopy and solid state NMR spectroscopy

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and ¹³C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were used to study dextrin structural changes occurring upon hydrogel formation by vinyl acrylate (VA) grafting and subsequent free radical polymerization. The degrees of VA substitution (DS) and polymerization (DP) were quantified up to 40%VA by FTIR intensity measurements and partial least squares (PLS)/FTIR, the latter being a faster and less error-prone method. Above 40%VA, both parameters are underestimated by FTIR. A spin counting NMR experiment showed high carbon observabilities for hydrogels and improved PLS/NMR models were achieved for DS and DP determination. Alternative NMR integration methods are hindered by the broad VA peaks and need for area correction, due to their CP dynamics. NMR changes in C1 profile showed that a single helical conformation predominates at lower %VA, being replaced by disordered conformations as %VA increases. Furthermore, a correlation FTIR/NMR study indicated that ring conformations are significantly affected in hydrogels, compared to unpolymerized dextrin.     

A penalized nonparametric method for nonlinear constrained optimization based on noisy data

The objective of this study is to find a smooth function joining two points A and B with minimum length constrained to avoid fixed subsets. A penalized nonparametric method of finding the best path is proposed. The method is generalized to the situation where stochastic measurement errors are present. In this case, the proposed estimator is consistent, in the sense that as the number of observations increases the stochastic trajectory converges to the deterministic one. Two applications are immediate, searching the optimal path for an autonomous vehicle while avoiding all fixed obstacles between two points and flight planning to avoid threat or turbulence zones.     

The Virtual Geoscience Workbench,VGW:Open Source tools for discontinuous systems

In 1989 work began on merging finite and discrete elements. During 1990 algorithmic solutions for the new combined method were developed, together with a C-based implementation known as the Y code. In 2004 these developments and implementations were published as a textbook. Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and Imperial College are currently engaged in a research project to make Y codes in both 2D and 3D available in Open Source format and with mainly geoscience problems in mind. The result is a set of...     

Reaction of 4-Methylthioquinazoline-3-Oxides with Active Methylene Compounds: Synthesis of the Novel Isoxazolo[2,3-c]Quinazoline Ring System

A number of derivatives of isoxazolo-[2,3-c] quinazoline ring system have been prepared by reaction of 2-aryl-4-methylthioquinazoline-3-oxides with activated acetonitriles or 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds in basic medium.