Analysis of the crystallization kinetics in poly(ethylene oxide) by calorimetric measurements

Summary Differential scanning calorimetric measurements in the early stage of isothermal crystal growth of polyethylene oxide are analysed in the light of irreversible thermodynamics. An accurate evaluation of the equilibrium melting temperature is done by fitting the thermograms obtained at different undercoolings and referring to the activation energy values already known from the literature. Paper presented at the I International Conference on Scaling Concepts and Complex Fluids, Copanello, Italy, July 4–8, 1994.     

Biomagnetic measurements utilising a superparamagnetic marker: a feasibility study

Summary A preliminary study is here reported on a new potential marker for biomagnetic measurements. The marker consists of superparamagnetic polymer microspheres which were detected in the presence of external steady magnetic fields by means of an r.f.-SQUID magnetometer. The particles were prepared in samples differing in the concentration value and immersed in a homogeneous magnetic field of variable intensity. A simple model was taken into account for the distribution of the microspheres in the samples, so that the theoretical values were compared to the marker field values measured by the biomagnetic sensor. The overall sensitivity of the experimental apparatus and the minimum concentration value of the marker were then estimated.     

光泵分子气体远红外光谱的AC Stark效应

本文应用图论法研究光泵激光气体分子的波谱特性。假定了:1.分子与外来信号场相互作用输运过程中只涉及到六个能级;2.泵场强远大于探测场强。在这些假定下求解密度矩阵方程,获得一套反映受激分子波谱特性的解析表达式。应用这些表达式,可求得不同频率的泵场作用下分子气体的远红外波谱特性。本文特别叙述分子振动基态远红外光谱的AC aStark效应。结果表明:在谐振点AC aStark分裂的值与C.H.Townes所得结果基本相同,在受激发射和吸收共存的情况下,特性曲线的总趋向与他的结果基本一致。调谐曲线有些部份反映发射特性,有些部份反映吸收特性,在发射和吸收的过渡部份,吸收和发射都很小,而且具有特殊的过渡特性。     

Large deviations and Lifshitz singularity of the integrated density of states of random Hamiltonians

We consider the integrated density of states (IDS) ρ_∞(λ) of random Hamiltonian H_ω=?Δ+V_ω, V_ω being a random field on ? ^d which satisfies a mixing condition. We prove that the probability of large fluctuations of the finite volume IDS |Λ|^?1ρ(λ, H_Λ(ω)), Λ ? ? ^d , around the thermodynamic limit ρ_∞(λ) is bounded from above by exp {?k|Λ|},k>0. In this case ρ_∞(λ) can be recovered from a variational principle. Furthermore we show the existence of a Lifshitztype of singularity of ρ_∞(λ) as λ → 0⁺ in the case where V_ω is non-negative. More precisely we prove the following bound: ρ_∞(λ)≦exp(?kλ^?d/2) as λ → 0⁺ k>0. This last result is then discussed in some examples.     

Strongly Correlated Effect in TiS2

The thermoelectric compound TiS2 is studied by using the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave method on the density functional theory with the generalized gradient approximation （GGA） as well as the on-site Coulomb interaction correction （＋U）. The Seebeck coefficient of TiS2 is calculated based on the electronic structure obtained within the GGA under the consideration of the on-site Coulomb interaction. The calculated Seebeck coefficient at 300K shows that Coulomb interaction U in the range of 4.97-5.42eV is important to reproduce the experimental data. The obtained energy gap Eg around 0.05 eV indicates that TiS2 is an indirect narrow-gap semiconductor.     

Trace Functionals for a Class of Pseudo-Differential Operators in R n

In this paper we define trace functionals on the algebra of pseudo-differential operators with cone-shaped exits to infinity. Furthermore, we improve the Weyl formula on the asymptotic distribution of eigenvalues and make use of it in order to establish inclusion relations between the interpolation normed ideals of compact operators in L ²(R ⁿ ) and the above operator classes.     

Probing the Conformational Stability of Two Different Copper Proteins: A Dynamic Fluorescence Study on Azurin and Ascorbate Oxidase

Tryptophan fluorescence is extremely useful to monitor structural conformational transitions in proteins. Denaturant-induced unfolding of azurin and ascorbate oxidase has been studied by dynamic fluorescence measurements in the frequency domain and the results have been interpreted in terms of continuous distribution of lifetimes. The data add new information on the unfolding mechanism that was previously analyzed by steady-state emission spectroscopy. In particular, the existence of multiple, parallel unfolding pathways may be envisaged and correlated, in both cases, to the two protein structures. The effect of metal depletion has been also characterized by fluorescence lifetime measurements. In the case of azurin, a monomeric protein, the data demonstrate that copper removal yields a totally different unfolding pathways with respect to the holo protein, indicating that metal ion plays a fundamental structural role in the wild type, native protein. In the case of ascorbate oxidase a dimer of 140 kDa, only minor effects have been detected by copper removal. However, the analysis of the fluorescence decay in presence of different amounts of guanidinium hydrochloride gives new important insights on the unfolding intermediates. In particular the data support the hypothesis of a partial exposure of an outer layer of dimer at intermediate denaturant concentration. This ability of dynamic fluorescence to pinpoint the presence of structural micro-heterogeneity in the unfolding pathways of proteins demonstrates the greater power of this technique compared to the most commonly used steady-state measurements.     

From X- to O-shaped spatiotemporal spectra of light filaments in water

We show that the angle-wavelength spectra of light filaments excited by ultrashort pulses experience a transition from X- to O-like structures when their carrier wavelengths are switched from normal to anomalous dispersion. Calculations confirm that the O-shaped conical emission follows the elliptic geometry of the nonlinear Schr?dinger equation with anomalous dispersion.