Luminescence investigations of the GaP-based dilute nitride Ga(NAsP) material system

Multi-quantum well heterostructures (MQWHs) of the novel Ga(NAsP)/GaP material system have been grown, pseudomorphically strained to GaP-substrate. The crystalline perfection is verified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). For As-concentrations in excess of about 70%, a direct band structure and adequate luminescence efficiency for laser device application is observed. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) investigations show the influence of carrier localisation and non-radiative recombination processes typical for dilute nitride materials. With rising N content in the active material, the emission wavelength shifts towards longer wavelength, leading to Ga(NAs)/GaP MQW structures with photon energies below the indirect band gap of silicon (Si). At the same time the luminescence intensity drops due to an increase in non-radiative carrier traps and/or structural degradation.     

Behavior of Aluminum in Its Electric-Spark Dispersion in Aqueous Solutions of Some Acids

The influence exerted by the nature and concentration of a number of organic and mineral acids on the composition of products formed in electric-spark dispersion of aluminum was studied.     

Fibrations of bigroupoids

Using Brown's construction (J. Algebra 15 (1970) 103) of an exact 6-term sequence for a fibration of groupoids we show how an exact 9-term sequence can be associated to a fibration of bigroupoids. Applications to topology and algebra are given.     

The study and applications of photochemical-dynamical gravity wave model II

A nonlinear, compressible, non-isothermal gravity wave model that involves photochemistry is used to study the effects of gravity wave on atmospheric chemical species distributions in this paper. The changes in the distributions of oxygen compound and hydrogen compound density induced by gravity wave propagation are simulated. The results indicate that when a gravity wave propagates through a mesopause region, even if it does not break, it can influence the background distributions of chemical species. The effect of gravity wave on chemical species at night is larger than in daytime.     

A simple electronic speckle shearing interferometer

A new speckle shearing interferometer with simple setup is proposed. The interferometer can be converted easily from a speckle referenced speckle pattern interferometer into a speckle shearing interferometer and vice versa. A beamsplitter and a mirror are used to generate the shear. The amount of shear can be adjusted by simply rotating the mirror. The costs involved are low and it is particularly useful for fast inspection in non-destructive testing of structural integrity. Both the theoretical studies of the method of measurement and the experimental results are presented.     

Raman spectroscopy of topotecan, an inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase I

Topotecan (TPT), a water-soluble derivative of camptothecin (inhibitor of human DNA topoiomerase I), has found wide application in cancer chemotherapy. The central problem in using topotecan is the presence of lactone rings in its molecules, which undergo hydrolysis at a physiological pH yielding an inactive and even toxic form of the drug. The analysis of Raman spectra of TPT in H₂O and D₂O solutions made it possible to assign the spectral bands to the vibrations of particular molecular groups. Spectral features indicative of the opening of the lactone rings of the TPT molecules, deprotonation of the hydroxyl groups in their quinoline fragments, and of possible participation of the hydroxyl and carbonyl groups in H bonding are found. The data obtained are necessary to study the molecular mechanisms of TPT-DNA interaction and the formation of ternary complexes between TPT, DNA, and DNA topoisomerase I.     

Non-universal critical behaviour of heteronuclear dimers on a square lattice––A Monte Carlo study

Monte Carlo simulation within the grand canonical ensemble, the histogram reweighting technique, and finite size scaling analysis are used to explore the phase behaviour of heteronuclear dimers, composed of A and B type atoms, on a square lattice. We have found that for the models with attractive BB and AB nearest-neighbour energy, u_BB=u_AB=−1, and for non-repulsive energy between AA nearest-neighbour sites, u_AA<0, the system belongs to the universality class of the two-dimensional Ising model. However, when u_AA>0, the system exhibits a non-universal critical behaviour. We have evaluated the dependences of the critical point characteristics on the value of u_AA.     

Miscibility of bisphenol-A polycarbonate with poly(methyl methacrylate)

The miscibility of bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC) with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been reexamined using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical indications for phase separation on heating, i.e., lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior. Various methods have been used to prepare the blends including methylene chloride (CH₂Cl₂) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution casting, melt mixing, and precipitation of PC and PMMA simultaneously from THF solution by using the nonsolvents methanol and heptane. It is shown that the resulting phase behavior for PC/PMMA blends is strongly affected by the blend preparation method. However, these blends are miscible over the whole blend composition range (unambiguous single composition-dependent T_g's and LCST behavior) when prepared by precipitation from solution using heptane as the nonsolvent. To the contrary, solution-cast and melt-mixed PC/PMMA blends were all phase separated, which may be attributed to the “solvent” effect and LCST behavior, respectively, not discovered in previous reports. Methanol precipitation does not lead to fully mixed blends, which demonstrates the importance of the choice of nonsolvent when using the precipitation method.     

Conjugate addition of pyrroles to α,β-unsaturated ketones using copper bromide as a catalyst

Copper bromide was used as a catalyst for the addition of pyrroles to enones. When both the reactants were used in equimolar amounts, mono and dialkylated products were obtained. However, the use of excess enone furnished only dialkylated products. Thus, copper bromide was shown to be an efficient catalyst for the dialkylation of pyrroles.