Kinetic and thermodynamic control of g-quadruplex folding

A matter of speed: When allowed to fold in a K(+) /poly(ethylene glycol) solution, the guanine?(G)-rich strand of vertebrate telomere DNA forms a parallel/antiparallel G-quadruplex, which is a (3+1) hybrid, within microseconds before slowly transforming into the parallel one within hours. Thus, the conformation that a G-quadruplex initially adopts under physiological conditions may not be the one it adopts at the equilibrium state.     

Surface passivated silicon nanocrystals with stable luminescence synthesized by femtosecond laser ablation in solution

We report the synthesis of silicon nanocrystals via a one-step route, namely, femtosecond laser ablation in 1-hexene under ambient conditions. The size of these silicon nanocrystals is 2.37 ± 0.56 nm as determined by transmission electron microscopy. Fourier transform infrared spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectra indicate that the surface of the silicon nanocrystals is passivated by organic molecules and is also partially oxidized by O(2) and H(2)O dissolved in the solution. These silicon nanocrystals emit stable and bright blue photoluminescence. We suggest that the photoluminescence originates from the radiative recombination of electron-hole pairs through the oxide-related centers on the surface of the silicon nanocrystals. The decay rate of the oxide-related surface recombination can be comparable to that of the direct band gap transition. In the excitation and emission spectra, a vibrational structure with nearly constant spacings (0.18 eV) is observed. We propose that the strong electron-phonon coupling between excitons and the longitudinal optical (LO) phonons of the Si-C vibration is responsible for this vibrational structure. The fluctuations in the peak resolution, about ±0.01 eV, are ascribed to the size distribution and presence of Si-O vibrations. These silicon nanocrystals offer stable luminescence and are synthesized through a "green" and simple route. They may find important applications in many fields, such as bioimaging and environmental science.     

Pb intercalation underneath a graphene layer on Ru(0001) and its effect on graphene oxidation

Intercalation of Pb at graphene/Ru(0001) interfaces has been dynamically observed using in situ low energy electron microscopy and photoemission electron microscopy. A comparative study of Pb intercalation on the submonolayer and complete monolayer graphene surfaces suggest that the Pb intercalation happens through the open edges of graphene islands, starting at around 150 °C. Spatially-resolved low energy electron diffraction measurements reveal that the Pb-intercalated graphene overlayers are quasi-free-standing. The intercalated graphene sheets show lower reactivity to oxidation in O(2).     

Large Femtosecond Two-Photon Absorption Cross-Sections of Fullerosome Vesicle Nanostructures Derived from Highly Photoresponsive Amphiphilic C(60)-Light-Harvesting Fluorene Dyad

We demonstrated ultrafast femtosecond nonlinear optical (NLO) absorption characteristics of bilayered fullerosome vesicle nanostructures derived from molecular self-assembly of amphiphilic oligo(ethylene glycolated) C(60)-(light-harvesting diphenylaminofluorene antenna). Fullerene conjugates were designed to enhance photoresponse in a femtosecond time scale by applying an isomerizable periconjugation linker between the C(60) cage and diphenylaminofluorene antenna subunit in an intramolecular contact distance of only < 3.0 ?. Morphology of C(60)(>DPAF-EG(12)C(1))-based fullerosome nanovesicles in H(2)O was characterized to consist of a bilayered shell with a sphere diameter of 20-70 nm and a chromophore shell-width of 9.0-10 nm, fitting well with a head-to-head packing configuration of the molecular length. At the estimated effective nanovesicle concentration as low as 5.5 × 10(-8) MV (molecular molar concentration of 5.0 × 10(-4) M) in H(2)O, two-photon absorption (2PA) phenomena were found to be the dominating photophysical events showing a large molar concentration-insensitive 2PA cross-section value equivalent to 8500 GM in a form of nanovesicles, on average. The observed NLO characteristics led to a sharp trend of efficient light-transmittance intensity reduction at the input laser intensity above 100 GW/cm(2).     

扭转变形平面假设的讨论

在对圆轴扭转平面假设的内涵进行分析的基础上, 关联其在应力分析中 的应用, 并讨论了平面假设成立的条件以解释矩形截面翘曲现象, 可作为该部分课堂教学的 参考材料.     

Divisibility of matrices associated with multiplicative functions

Let S={x₁,…,x_n} be a set of n distinct positive integers. For x,y∈S and y<x, we say the y is a greatest-type divisor of x in S if y∣x and it can be deduced that z=y from y∣z,z∣x,z<x and z∈S. For x∈S, let G_S(x) denote the set of all greatest-type divisors of x in S. For any arithmetic function f, let (f(x_i,x_j)) denote the n×n matrix having f evaluated at the greatest common divisor (x_i,x_j) of x_i and x_j as its i,j-entry and let (f[x_i,x_j]) denote the n×n matrix having f evaluated at the least common multiple [x_i,x_j] of x_i and x_j as its i,j-entry. In this paper, we assume that S is a gcd-closed set and . We show that if f is a multiplicative function such that (f∗μ)(d)∈Z whenever and f(a)|f(b) whenever a|b and a,b∈S and (f(x_i,x_j)) is nonsingular, then the matrix (f(x_i,x_j)) divides the matrix (f[x_i,x_j]) in the ring M_n(Z) of n×n matrices over the integers. As a consequence, we show that (f(x_i,x_j)) divides (f[x_i,x_j]) in the ring M_n(Z) if (f∗μ)(d)∈Z whenever and f is a completely multiplicative function such that (f(x_i,x_j)) is nonsingular. This confirms a conjecture of Hong raised in 2004.     

GLOBAL STABILITY OF AN SVIR EPIDEMIC MODEL WITH VACCINATION

In this paper, an SIR epidemic model with vaccination for both the newborns and susceptibles is investigated, where it is assumed that the vaccinated individuals have the temporary immunity. The basic reproduction number determining the extinction or persistence of the infection is found. By constructing a Lyapunov function, it is proved that the disease free equilibrium is globally stable when the basic reproduction number is less than or equal to one, and that the endemic equilibrium is globally stable wh...     

Single machine scheduling with semi-resumable machine availability constraints

This paper considers the semi-resumable model of single machine scheduling with a non-availability period. The machine is not available for processing during a given time interval. A job cannot be completed before the non-availability period will have to partially restart after the machine has become available again. For the problem with objective of minimizing makespan, the tight worst-case ratio of algorithm LPT is given, and an FPTAS is also proposed. For the problem with objective of minimizing total weighted completion time, an approximation algorithm with worst-case ratio smaller than 2 is presented. Two special cases of the latter problem are also considered, and improved algorithms are given.     

Stabilization of complex dynamical networks with noise disturbance under performance constraint

Under given performance constraint, this paper studies the stabilization problem of general dynamical network subject to noise disturbance. The newly presented dynamical network model includes both intrinsic disturbance of single node and communication noise over the network connections, which appear typically in a network environment. Single controller is pinned into one of the nodes for the exponential stabilization of dynamical network, and the prescribed performance constraint is satisfied. The reason why only one controller is valid for stabilization of dynamical network is the full utilization of network’s local connections. One important feature of this paper is the introduction of the performance constraint concept into the stabilization of complex dynamical network with intrinsic and communication noises. The derived criteria are expressed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which are easy to be verified by resorting to recently developed algorithm. Numerical example is utilized to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed results.