Deltafunction model for the helium dimer

The helium dimer ⁴He₂ has recently been detected, confirming earlier ab initio predictions of stability for a single bound state with binding energy of 1.310 mK. The predicted potential minimum is at 2.96 Å, with a radial distribution function peaking at 6.96 Å. We model this system using a Dirac bubble potential, which also admits just one bound j = 0 state. With the bubble located at 6.96 Å, an overlap of 0.9994 with the ab initio wave function is obtained. An average internuclear distance of 52.6 Å is calculated, in good agreement with the ab initio result. The root mean square deviation from the mean, 48.0 Å, indicates an enormous spread of the radial wave function. Also consistent with our model is the absence of bound states for the isotopic variants ³He⁴He and ³He₂. Cross sections for helium-helium scattering are also computed, using both a partial-wave expansion and the Born approximation. General trends in the energy dependence of the total cross section are accounted for, in qualitative agreement with experimental results. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Monomeric platinum(II) hydroxides supported by sterically dominant α-diimine ligands

The use of two new highly sterically bulky α-diimine ligands for the stabilization of neutral, monomeric platinum(II) hydroxo complexes is described. Halide abstraction from LPtCl(2) complexes of these ligands in the presence of water, followed by deprotonation of the cationic aquo complex, leads to LPt(OH)Cl and LPt(OH)(2). The latter can be reprotonated with HNTf(2) to yield a highly fluxional hydroxoaquoplatinum(II) cation.     

Performance evaluation of university extension providers: A frontier approach for ordered response data

A frontier model is used to evaluate the performance of extension service providers in the US land grant university system when providing assistance to organic producers. Performance efficiency indicates the effectiveness of extension agents in achieving the highest evaluations from their clientele conditioned on the farm level characteristics and environmental resources and constraints of the organic farmers. Mean performance efficiency of the extension agents is above 0.69 for entire sample with top performing extension service experts outperforming the average providers by about 44%. Performance efficiency, or advisory outcomes that are below the best that extension could provide, are not significantly reduced when extension agents deal with difficult evaluation situations.     

Transient Repetitive Exposure to Low Level Light Therapy Enhances Collateral Blood Vessel Growth in The Ischemic Hindlimb of The Tight Skin Mouse

The tight skin mouse (Tsk^?/+) is a model of scleroderma characterized by impaired vasoreactivity, increased oxidative stress, attenuated angiogenic response to VEGF and production of the angiogenesis inhibitor angiostatin. Low‐level light therapy (LLLT) stimulates angiogenesis in myocardial infarction and chemotherapy‐induced mucositis. We hypothesize that repetitive LLLT restores vessel growth in the ischemic hindlimb of Tsk^?/+ mice by attenuating angiostatin and enhancing angiomotin effects in vivo. C57Bl/6J and Tsk^?/+ mice underwent ligation of the femoral artery. Relative blood flow to the foot was measured using a laser Doppler imager. Tsk^?/+ mice received LLLT (670 nm, 50 mW cm^?2, 30 J cm^?2) for 10 min per day for 14 days. Vascular density was determined using lycopersicom lectin staining. Immunofluorescent labeling, Western blot analysis and immunoprecipitation were used to determine angiostatin and angiomotin expression. Recovery of blood flow to the ischemic limb was reduced in Tsk^?/+ compared with C57Bl/6 mice 2 weeks after surgery. LLLT treatment of Tsk^?/+ mice restored blood flow to levels observed in C57Bl/6 mice. Vascular density was decreased, angiostatin expression was enhanced and angiomotin depressed in the ischemic hindlimb of Tsk^?/+ mice. LLLT treatment reversed these abnormalities. LLLT stimulates angiogenesis by increasing angiomotin and decreasing angiostatin expression in the ischemic hindlimb of Tsk^?/+ mice.     

NMR paramagnetic relaxation enhancement: test of the controlling influence of zfs rhombicity for S = 1

Prior theoretical work has predicted that the NMR paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (NMR-PRE) produced by electron spin S = 1 ions is highly sensitive to orthorhombic terms in the static zero field splitting (zfs) tensor. Zfs orthorhombicity (which implies chemical inequivalence of the three principal directions of the zfs-principal axis system and is described by the zfs E-parameter) is predicted to suppress the NMR-PRE profoundly relative to the reference cylindrical zfs-limit situation. This expectation was tested experimentally by a comparison of the zfs-limit NMR-PRE produced by [Ni(II)(en)(3)](2+) (en = ethylenediamine), a trigonal complex which lacks zfs-rhombicity, with the zfs-limit NMR-PRE produced by two orthorhombic complexes, [Ni(II)(en)(2)(H(2)O)(2)](2+) and [Ni(II)(en)(H(2)O)(4)](2+). As predicted, the zfs-limit NMR-PRE produced by the orthorhombic complexes in the proton resonance of a dioxane probe species in the solvent was strongly suppressed (by factors of approximately 5 and 7, respectively) relative to the comparable measurement on the trigonal complex. The suppression of the NMR-PRE due to the orthorhombic zfs terms is counteracted by an applied Zeeman field, leading to a predicted rise in the NMR-PRE with increasing Zeeman field strength; this rise occurs when the Zeeman energy is comparable to the orthorhombic zfs splitting, 2E. This second prediction of theory was likewise confirmed: the expected rhombicity-induced magnetic field dependence in the NMR-PRE was observed for the orthorhombic complexes but not for the trigonal complex.     

Detection of modulation in spectral envelopes and linear-rippled noises by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)

Budgerigars were trained to discriminate complex sounds with two different types of spectral profiles from flat-spectrum, wideband noise. In one case, complex sounds with a sinusoidal ripple in (log) amplitude across (log) frequency bandwidth were generated by combining 201 logarithmically spaced tones covering the frequency region from 500 Hz to 10 kHz. A second type of rippled stimulus was generated by delaying broadband noise and adding it to the original noise in an iterative fashion. In each case, thresholds for modulation depth (i.e., peak-to-valley in dB) were measured at several different ripple frequencies (i.e., cycles/octave for logarithmic profiles) or different repetition pitches (i.e., delay for ripple noises). Budgerigars were similar to humans in detecting ripple at low spatial frequencies, but were considerably more sensitive than humans in detecting ripples in log ripple spectra at high spatial frequencies. Budgerigars were also similar to humans in detecting linear ripple in broadband noise over a wide range of repetition pitches. Taken together, these data show that the avian auditory system is at least as good, if not better, than the human auditory system at detecting spectral ripples in noise despite gross anatomical differences in both the peripheral and central auditory nervous systems.     

Circular dichroism and absorption spectroscopy of merocyanine dimer aggregates: molecular properties and exciton transfer dynamics from time-dependent quantum calculations

A wave packet approach to the calculation and interpretation of circular dichroism (CD) spectra is applied to the spectroscopy of aggregates of a merocyanine dye. A combined analysis of absorption and CD spectra allows for the extraction of geometric information and excited state electronic coupling. It is shown that in the case of dimer aggregates of a chiral merocyanine dye, it is possible to infer the dynamics of an exciton transfer directly from the CD spectrum. This relation is established via the Fourier relation to a time-dependent correlation function reflecting the quantum dynamics in the dye aggregate.