Impacts of external electric fields on the permeation of glycerol and water molecules through aquaglyceroporin-7: molecular dynamics simulation approach

The European Physical Journal E - The current research numerically investigates the Marangoni convection in a cylindrical annulus filled with hybrid nanofluid saturated porous media. The interior...     

Ultracompact and fabrication-tolerant integrated polarization splitter

Design and fabrication of a 2×2 two-mode interference (TMI) coupler based on-chip polarization splitter is presented. By changing the angle between the access waveguides, one can tune the effective TMI length for the mode with less optical confinement (transverse magnetic, TM) to coincide with the target TMI length for a desired transmission of the mode with higher optical confinement (transverse electric, TE). The fabricated 0.94?μm long 2×2 TMI splits the input power into TM (bar) and TE (cross) outputs with splitting ratio over 15?dB over 50?nm bandwidth. Fabrication tolerance analysis shows that the device is tolerant to fabrication errors as large as 60?nm.     

Wave propagation in double-period quasi-regular one-dimensional photonic crystals composed of single-negative metamaterials

In this paper, we theoretically study the propagation of electromagnetic waves in one-dimensional double-period quasi-regular structures consisting of negative-permittivity and negative-permeability metamaterials. A Drude-type dispersive response for both permittivity and permeability of single-negative metamaterials is considered. From the numerical results performed by transfer matrix method and effective medium theory, it is found that double-period photonic crystals can exhibit an omnidirectional gap at given microwave frequency. Such an omnidirectional gap is insensitive to incident angle and polarization, and is invariant upon the change of scale length. It is also found that this gap exists in all double-period sequences, and it is independent of structure sequence. Moreover, electromagnetic field distributions in this structures show that the fields are localized at each interface of two media. These results can lead to further applications of quasi-regular structures.     

Determination of trace amount of carbon disulfide in water by the spectrophotometric reaction-rate method.

Carbon disulfide (CS2) was determined at trace levels by its induction effect on the reaction of triiodide with azide in acidic media. The reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by the decreased absorbance of triiodide over a period of 30 - 180 s from the initiation of the reaction at 350 nm, with calibration linear range of 0.020 - 1.870 microg/ml CS2. The limit of detection is 0.013 microg/ml CS2. A carbon-active column was used for sample solution clean up. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of trace carbon disulfide in natural water.     

Regeneration of stochastic processes: an inverse method

We propose a novel inverse method that utilizes a set of data to construct a simple equation that governs the stochastic process for which the data have been measured, hence enabling us to reconstruct the stochastic process. As an example, we analyze the stochasticity in the beat-to-beat fluctuations in the heart rates of healthy subjects as well as those with congestive heart failure. The inverse method provides a novel technique for distinguishing the two classes of subjects in terms of a drift and a diffusion coefficients which behave completely differently for the two classes of subjects, hence potentially providing a novel diagnostic tool for distinguishing healthy subjects from those with congestive heart failure, even at the early stages of the disease development.     

Electrooxidation of iodide in the presence of 4-hydroxycoumarin: application to a simple coulometric titration of 4-hydroxycoumarin.

The electrochemical oxidation of iodide ion in the presence of 4-hydroxycoumarin (1) was studied using cyclic voltammetry and controlled-potential coulometry. The result indicates that the resulting iodine takes part in a halogenation reaction and reacts with 4-hydroxycoumarin (1). According to the obtained results, a new and simple coulometric titration method with potentiometric end-point detection for the determination of 4-hydroxycoumarin (1) is presented. In the presented method, 2-200 micromol of 4-hydroxycoumarin (1) was successfully determined.     

Study of the decay D0 --> K+pi-

Using a large sample of photoproduced charm mesons from the FOCUS experiment at Fermilab (FNAL-E831), we observe the decay D0-->K+pi- with a signal yield of 149+/-31 events compared to a similarly cut sample consisting of 36 760+/-195 D0-->K-pi+ events. We use the observed ratio of D0-->K+pi- to D0-->K-pi+ (0.404+/-0.085+/-0.025)% to obtain a relationship between the D0 mixing and doubly Cabibbo suppressed decay parameters.     

Vitrification of human spermatozoa without cryoprotectants

The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of vitrification (cooling rate approximately 10000(C/min) without cryoprotectants on swim-up prepared human spermatozoa in comparison to standard conventional freezing with cryoprotectants. Motility, morphology, rate of viability and acrosome reaction of spermatozoa were evaluated. The described method of cryopreservation of human spermatozoa by direct plunging into liquid nitrogen slush without cryoprotectants was effective and could be recommended for routine IVF.     

A very simple method to synthesize nano-sized manganese oxide: an efficient catalyst for water oxidation and epoxidation of olefins

Nano-sized particles of manganese oxides have been prepared by a very simple and cheap process using a decomposing aqueous solution of manganese nitrate at 100 °C. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction spectrometry have been used to characterize the phase and the morphology of the manganese oxide. The nano-sized manganese oxide shows efficient catalytic activity toward water oxidation and the epoxidation of olefins in the presence of cerium(iv) ammonium nitrate and hydrogen peroxide, respectively.     

Normal stress distribution in highly concentrated suspensions undergoing squeeze flow

Using pressure-sensitive films, the normal stress distribution is measured in suspensions of glass spheres in a Newtonian liquid undergoing constant-force squeeze flow. At volume fractions of solids up to 0.55, the normal stress distribution is independent of volume fraction and almost identical to the parabolic pressure distribution predicted for Newtonian fluids. However, at higher volume fractions, the normal stresses become an order of magnitude larger near the center and very low beyond that region. At these high volume fractions, the normal stresses decrease in the outer regions and increase in the inner regions as the squeezing proceeds. The normal stress distribution that results when the glass spheres without any fluid are subjected to squeeze flow is very similar to that for suspensions with volume fractions above 0.55, suggesting that the cause for the drastic changes in the normal stress distribution is the jamming of the particles in the suspension.