Non-statistical effects in neutron capture γ-ray spectra

A search for non-statistical effects in γ-ray spectra following neutron capture has been made for incident neutron energies in the range 40 keV to 1 MeV. The experiments were performed using a 20 cm × 15 cm Nal detector; thirty elements ranging from calcium to uranium were examined. Marked non-statistical effects were found in the spectra from elements in the mass regions where the 3s, 3p and 4s neutron strength functions maximize. Results from the first two regions could often be explained in terms of enhanced transition strengths to final states with a strong single-particle nature.     

Magnetic dissipation and fluctuations in individual nanomagnets measured by ultrasensitive cantilever magnetometry

Cantilever magnetometry with moment resolution better than 10(4)micro(B) was used to study individual nanomagnets. By using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem to interpret measurements of field-induced cantilever damping, the low frequency spectral density of magnetic fluctuations could be determined with resolution better than 1micro(B) Hz-1/2. Cobalt nanowires exhibited significant magnetic dissipation and the associated magnetic fluctuations were found to have 1/f frequency dependence. In individual submicron rare-earth alloy magnets, the dissipation/fluctuation was very small and not distinguishable from that of a bare silicon cantilever.     

Elucidation of the chiral recognition mechanism of cinchona alkaloid carbamate-type receptors for 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl amino acids

A cinchona alkaloid having extraordinary chiral discriminatory powers (alpha = 32.6 for dinitrobenzoyl leucine) is developed as a chiral stationary phase (CSP) for chromatography. An explanation of how chiral discrimination takes place is presented. Using a soluble analogue of the CSP, we found that NMR spectrometry indicates that 1:1 complexes exist for both optical isomers interacting with the CSP, that the free base form of the CSP exists in an open/closed ratio of 35/65 but that the protonated, bound-state form is exclusively in the anti-open conformation, and that significant intermolecular NOEs exist for the more stable diastereomeric complex but not for the less stable complex. Stochastic molecular dynamics simulations were carried out in solvents of low and high dielectric. The chromatographic retention orders and free energy differences of analyte binding to CSP were reproduced computationally as were the observed intra- and intermolecular NOEs. Data from the simulation were used to evaluate the intermolecular forces responsible for analyte binding as well as to discern fragments of the CSP doing most of the work of holding the complexes together. The enantiodifferentiating forces and the parts of the CSP most responsible for chiral discrimination are described. Moments of distributions of key dihedral angles and distances between centroids were used to assess the relative rigidity of the competing diastereomeric complexes. Simultaneous multiple-contact ion-pairing, hydrogen bonding, and pi-stacking are possible for the longer retained enantiomer only. An X-ray crystallographic study of the more stable complex confirms the conclusions derived from chromatography, NMR spectroscopy, and molecular modeling.     

Noncontact friction and force fluctuations between closely spaced bodies

Noncontact friction between a Au(111) surface and an ultrasensitive gold-coated cantilever was measured as a function of tip-sample spacing, temperature, and bias voltage using observations of cantilever damping and Brownian motion. The importance of the inhomogeneous contact potential is discussed and comparison is made to measurements over dielectric surfaces. Using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, the force fluctuations are interpreted in terms of near-surface fluctuating electric fields interacting with static surface charge.     

Poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) nanocomposites containing nanocrystalline cellulose: a green approach to thermoresponsive hydrogels

In this work, we report on the synthesis and characterization of thermoresponsive poly(N-vinylcaprolactam), PNVCL, nanocomposite hydrogels containing nanocrystalline cellulose (CNC) by the use of frontal polymerization technique, which is a convenient, easy and low energy-consuming method of macromolecular synthesis. CNC was obtained by acid hydrolysis of commercial microcrystalline cellulose and dispersed in dimethylsulfoxide. The dispersion was characterized by TEM analysis and mixed with suitable amounts of N-vinylcaprolactam for the synthesis of PNVCL nanocomposite hydrogels having a CNC concentration ranging between 0.20 and 2.0 wt%. The nanocomposite hydrogels were analyzed by SEM and their swelling and rheological features were investigated. It was found that CNC decreases the swelling ratio even at small concentration. The rheological properties of the hydrogels indicated that CNC strongly influenced the viscoelastic modulus, even at concentrations as low as 0.1 wt%: both G′ and G″, and the viscosity increase with CNC content, indicating that the nanocellulose has a great potential to reinforce PNVCL polymer hydrogels.     

Hot press transferring of graphene nanoplatelets on polyurethane block copolymers film for electroactive shape memory devices

We report a transferring method of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) on polyurethane (PU) block copolymers film. We polymerized PU block copolymer films, and then, a GNP layer, deposited on glossy paper by drop casting, was transferred by hot press from the glossy surface to the synthetized PU substrate. Nanoindentation test showed that GNP coated PU substrate exhibits improved mechanical properties with respect to the neat PU film. When an electric bias was applied to the GNP coating, the heat generated by Joule effect was transferred to the PU substrate showing an electroactive shape recovery effect. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014 , 52, 1100–1106     

A hybrid method for bubble geometry reconstruction in two-phase microchannels

Understanding bubble dynamics is critical to the design and optimization of two-phase microchannel heat sinks. This paper presents a hybrid experimental and computational methodology that reconstructs the three-dimensional bubble geometry, as well as provides other critical information associated with nucleating bubbles in microchannels. Rectangular cross-section silicon microchannels with hydraulic diameters less than 200 μm were fabricated with integrated heaters for the flow experiments, and the working liquid used was water. Bubbles formed via heterogeneous nucleation and were observed to grow from the silicon side walls of the channels. Two-dimensional images and two-component liquid velocity field measurements during bubble growth were obtained using micron-resolution particle image velocimetry (μPIV). These measurements were combined with iterative three-dimensional numerical simulations using finite element software, FEMLAB. The three-dimensional shape and location of the bubble were quantified by identifying the geometry that provided the best match between the computed flow field and the μPIV data. The reconstructed flow field through this process reproduced the experimental data within an error of 10–20%. Other important information such as contact angles and bubble growth rates can also be estimated from this methodology. This work is an important step toward understanding the physical mechanisms behind bubble growth and departure.     

CCAP for Universal Discrete Quantum Groups

We show that the discrete duals of the free orthogonal quantum groups have the Haagerup property and the completely contractive approximation property. Analogous results hold for the free unitary quantum groups and the quantum automorphism groups of finite-dimensional C^*-algebras. The proof relies on the monoidal equivalence between free orthogonal quantum groups and SU _q (2) quantum groups, on the construction of a sufficient supply of bounded central functionals for SU _q (2) quantum groups, and on the free product techniques of Ricard and Xu. Our results generalize previous work in the Kac setting due to Brannan on the Haagerup property, and due to the second author on the CCAP.     

On a Correspondence between {SU_q(2), \widetilde{E}_q(2)} and {\widetilde{SU}_q(1,1)}

In a previous paper, we showed how one can obtain from the action of a locally compact quantum group on a type I-factor a possibly new locally compact quantum group. In another paper, we applied this construction method to the action of quantum SU(2) on the standard Podle? sphere to obtain Woronowicz??s quantum ${\widetilde{E}(2)}$ . In this paper, we will apply this technique to the action of quantum SU(2) on the quantum projective plane (whose associated von Neumann algebra is indeed a type I-factor). The locally compact quantum group which then comes out at the other side turns out to be the extended SU(1, 1) quantum group, as constructed by Koelink and Kustermans. We also show that there exists a (non-trivial) quantum groupoid which has at its corners (the duals of) the three quantum groups mentioned above.