Preparation of platinum nanoparticles in salt-induced micelles of dumbbell-shaped ABA copolymer

The interaction of a water-soluble ABA type of dumbbell-shaped polyethyleniminated copolymers (D400(EI)8) with H2PtCl6 in aqueous medium is studied by means of UV-visible absorption spectra, dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From TEM images of the stained polymer, it is evident that the spherical and well-structured polymer micelles are formed by the introduction of H2PtCl6, and totally nonstructured micelles are formed from D400(EI)8 itself. These findings coincide with the results obtained from DLS measurements, where the narrowly distributed polymer aggregates are remarkably observed. Moreover, it is directly evidenced from TEM that the reduced Pt(0) nanoparticles are embedded in the polyethylenimine (PEI) block at the exterior of micelles, whereas the polyoxypropylene (PPO) block is surrounded by the PEI block. Additionally, the resulting Pt(0) colloids are very stable for at least 4 months.     

Stability conditions for Cohen-Grossberg neural networks with time-varying delays

Global asymptotic stability for Cohen-Grossberg neural networks (CGNNs) with time-varying delays is investigated. Criteria are proposed to guarantee the stability and uniqueness of equilibrium point of CGNNs via LMI approach. A numerical example is illustrated to show the effectiveness of our results.     

Ab Initio Construction of Quasiadiabatic Potential-Energy Surfaces for Cycloaddition Reactions of Ethene and Substituted Allylic Cations

The nature of some well known 2π + 2π cycloaddition reactions was studied by explicit construction of the quasiadiabatic potential-energy surfaces for the cycloaddition of ethene and various monosubstituted allylic cations. Such surfaces determined by ab initio MO computations are particularly suitable for analysis of symmetry selection rules. By examining the characteristics of such surfaces, we have studied the substituent effect and the role played by the positive charge in such systems. Qualitative discussion based on simplified MO, involving fewer electrons, is also given.     

Determination of fatty acids in vegetable oil by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

The effect of temperature and organic solvent composition (acetonitrile and methanol) on the reversed-phase separation of coumarin-derivatized fatty acids according to their carbon number (C14 to C22), the degree of unsaturation, as well as cis/trans (C18:1 c/t, C18:2 cc/tt, C18:3 ccc/ttt) configuration was investigated to find out the effective separation condition. Based on the linear plots of the logarithm of the capacity factor of saturated fatty acids versus their carbon number, the equivalent chain length (ECL) of unsaturated fatty acids was calculated. The ECL values were found to be significantly altered and the differentiation between cis and trans fatty acids was increased when either the temperature or organic solvent composition was decreased. These results generally led to a better resolution at the expense of separation time. A ternary gradient composed of water, acetonitrile, and methanol was then developed to elute the solutes at 55 degrees C within a separation time of 40 min with a minimum resolution of 1.0 for the worst pair. This method was demonstrated to resolve the fatty acids in a vegetable shortening.     

Laguerre polynomials and the inverse Laplace transform using discrete data

We consider the problem of finding a function defined on (0,∞) from a countable set of values of its Laplace transform. The problem is severely ill-posed. We shall use the expansion of the function in a series of Laguerre polynomials to convert the problem in an analytic interpolation problem. Then, using the coefficients of Lagrange polynomials we shall construct a stable approximation solution. Error estimate is given. Numerical results are produced.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis><Subscript>∞</Subscript> Observer-Based Control for a Class of Uncertain Neutral Time-Delay Systems via LMI Optimization Approach

In this paper, the H_∞ observer-based control for a class of uncertain neutral time-delay systems is considered. The linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization approach is used to design the H_∞ robust control with disturbance attenuation. Two classes of observer-based controls are proposed and their H_∞-norm bounds are given. The control and observer gains are given from the LMI feasible solutions. A numerical example is given to illustrate the results. The research reported here was supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan under Grant NSC 93-2213-E-214-020.     

Phonon-assisted tunneling and shot noise in double barrier structures in a longitudinal magnetic field

The phonon-assisted resonant tunneling is studied for the double barrier structures in a longitudinal magnetic field. Using the scattering matrix approach with an appropriate one-particle Green's function we are able to calculate the current and the zero frequency shot noise power spectrum in a large range of the magnetic field and to any order of the electron-phonon interaction. Obtained results describe well the relevant experimental data and provide new suggestions for further examinations.     

Non-oscillatory shock-capturing finite element methods for the one-dimensional compressible Euler equations

A class of shock-capturing Petrov–Galerkin finite element methods that use high-order non-oscillatory interpolations is presented for the one-dimensional compressible Euler equations. Modified eigenvalues which employ total variation diminishing (TVD), total variation bounded (TVB) and essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) mechanisms are introduced into the weighting functions. A one-pass Euler explicit transient algorithm with lumped mass matrix is used to integrate the equations. Numerical experiments with Burgers' equation, the Riemann problem and the two-blast-wave interaction problem are presented. Results indicate that accurate solutions in smooth regions and sharp and non-oscillatory solutions at discontinuities are obtainable even for strong shocks.     

Studies of single-neutron holes in the transitional nuclei N = 83–89: The 142Ce(d,t)141Ce and 142Ce(3He, α)141Ce pick-up reactions

The level structure of ¹⁴¹Ce up to 3.7 MeV excitation energy has been investigated by the (d, t) and (³He, α) reactions using 17 MeV deuteron and 24 MeV ³He beams respectively. The angular distributions have been analyzed with standard DWBA calculations and spectroscopic factors are deduced. The experimental information is compared to unified model calculations involving both one-particle and two-particle one-hole configurations with quadrupole and octupole vibrations of the underlying N = 82 and N = 84 core.     

Level structure of123, 125I from the 122, 124Te(3He,d) reactions

The energy levels of ¹²³I and ¹²⁵I have been studied in the ^{122, 124}Te(³He, d)^{123, 125}I reactions at 24 MeV bombarding energy. The reaction products were analysed with an Enge split-pole magnetic spectrograph. A total of 57 levels below 3.3 MeV in ¹²³I and 79 levels below 4.1 MeV in ¹²⁵I were observed. Angular distributions were measured and compared with DWBA calculations to obtain orbital angular momentum transfers and spectroscopic strengths. The results were compared to previous radioactive decay studies and to theoretical energy level calculations.