Range of the screened coulomb interaction in electrolytes and double layer problems

It is shown that the range of the Coulomb interaction in unsymmetric electrolytes at large distances is determined not by the Debye screening length, but by a rather more complicated function of the density, which is evaluated explicitly.     

Stimulus-dependent spatial patterns of response in SI cortex

Background  

Recently we reported that vibrotactile flutter stimulation of a skin locus at different amplitudes evokes an optical response confined to the same local region of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI), where its overall magnitude varies proportionally to the flutter amplitude. In this report, we characterize the impact of the flutter amplitude on the spatial patterns of activity evoked within the responding SI region.     

Synthesis of the carbocyclic skeleton of abyssomicins C and D

[reaction: see text] Intramolecular Diels-Alder substrate trienyl methylenebutenolide 5 was prepared in six steps by coupling 3-methoxy-4-methylenebutenolide (6) with trienone keto aldehyde 7. Heating 5 in CHCl(3) for 2 d at 70 degrees C afforded 80% of a single Diels-Alder adduct 4 with the complete carbon skeleton of abyssomicin C. Addition of thiophenoxide to the enone double bond of 4 followed by an intramolecular Michael addition afforded 15 with the abyssomicin D carbon skeleton.     

Electrochemistry in ultrahigh vacuum: underpotential deposition of Al on polycrystalline W and Au from room temperature AlCl(3)/1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride melts

The voltammetric characteristics of polycrystalline Au and W electrodes cleaned (thermal annealing at 1100 K) and characterized (Auger electron spectroscopy) in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) have been examined in ultrapure AlCl(3)/1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (EtMeImCl) melts in UHV. These experiments were performed using a custom-designed transfer system that allows for the all-Al electrochemical cell to be filled with EtMeImCl in an auxiliary UHV chamber and later transferred under UHV to the main UHV chamber that houses the Auger electron spectrometer. The results obtained for the underpotential (UPD) and bulk deposition of Al on Au were found to be very similar to those reported in the literature for measurements carried out under 1 atm of an inert gas in a glovebox. For the far more reactive W surfaces, voltammetric features ascribed to the stripping of underpotential-deposited Al could be observed following a single scan from 1.0 V vs Al(3+)/Al to a potential negative enough for bulk deposition of Al to ensue. This behavior is unlike that reported in the literature for experiments performed in a glovebox, which required either extensive potential cycling in the Al bulk deposition and stripping region or excursions to potentials positive enough for chlorine evolution to ensue for Al UPD features to be clearly discerned. These observations open new prospects for fundamental electrochemical studies of well-characterized, highly reactive metals, including single crystals, in a variety of low vapor pressure ionic liquids.     

Schrödinger Operators with Few Bound States

We show that whole-line Schrödinger operators with finitely many bound states have no embedded singular spectrum. In contradistinction, we show that embedded singular spectrum is possible even when the bound states approach the essential spectrum exponentially fast. We also prove the following result for one- and two-dimensional Schrödinger operators, H, with bounded positive ground states: Given a potential V, if both H±V are bounded from below by the ground-state energy of H, then V≡0.D. D. was supported in part by NSF grant DMS–0227289.R. K. was supported in part by NSF grant DMS–0401277.B. S. was supported in part by NSF grant DMS–0140592.     

Spectral-domain optical coherence phase microscopy for quantitative phase-contrast imaging

We describe a novel microscopy technique for quantitative phase-contrast imaging of a transparent specimen. The technique is based on depth-resolved phase information provided by common path spectral-domain optical coherence tomography and can measure minute phase variations caused by changes in refractive index and thickness inside the specimen. We demonstrate subnanometer level path-length sensitivity and present images obtained on reflection from a known phase object and human epithelial cheek cells.     

Realizing deformations of curves using Lubin-Tate formal groups

Letk be an algebraically closed field of characteristicp>0 andR be a suitable valuation ring of characteristic 0, dominating the Witt vectorsW(k). We show how Lubin-Tate formal groups can be used to lift those orderp ⁿ automorphisms ofk[[Z]] toR[[Z]], which occur as endomorphisms of a formal group overk of suitable height. We apply this result to prove the existence of smooth liftings of galois covers of smooth curves from characteristicp to characteristic 0, provided thep-part of the inertia groups acting on the completion of the local rings at the points of the cover overk arep-power cyclic and determined by an endomorphism of a suitable formal group overk. The author would like to express his thanks to the Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik, Bonn, for its hospitality and support, where this research was done during a visit from June – September 2001.     

Quad quantum cascade laser spectrometer with dual gas cells for the simultaneous analysis of mainstream and sidestream cigarette smoke

A compact, fast response, infrared spectrometer using four pulsed quantum cascade (QC) lasers has been applied to the analysis of gases in mainstream (MS) and sidestream (SS) cigarette smoke. QC lasers have many advantages over the traditional lead-salt tunable diode lasers, including near room temperature operation with thermoelectric cooling and single mode operation with improved long-term stability. The new instrument uses two 36 m, 0.3 l multiple pass absorption gas cells to obtain a time response of 0.1s for the MS smoke system and 0.4s for the SS smoke system. The concentrations of ammonia, ethylene, nitric oxide, and carbon dioxide for three different reference cigarettes were measured simultaneously in MS and SS smoke. A data rate of 20Hz provides sufficient resolution to determine the concentration profiles during each 2s puff in the MS smoke. Concentration profiles before, during and after the puffs also have been observed for these smoke constituents in SS smoke. Also, simultaneous measurements of CO(2) from a non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) analyzer are obtained for both MS and SS smoke. In addition, during this work, nitrous oxide was detected in both the MS and SS smoke for all reference cigarettes studied.     

Ruthenium-catalyzed enyne cycloisomerizations. Effect of allylic silyl ether on regioselectivity

The ruthenium-catalyzed cycloisomerization of 1,6- and 1,7-enynes substituted in the terminal allylic position with a tert-butyldimethylsilyl ether group emerges as an effective reaction to form unprecedented five- or six-membered rings possessing a geometrically defined enol silane. Straightforward synthetic access to a variety of achiral 1,6- and 1,7-enynes, as well as chiral ones, is presented. Ruthenium catalysts effect efficiently such single-step cycloisomerization at room temperature in acetone under neutral conditions. The cycloisomerization functions with (E) or (Z) 1,2-disubstituted alkenes. Parameters influencing the enol silane geometry are discussed. The level of selectivity depends on the alkyne substitution, the geometry of the double bond, and the nature of the catalyst. Furthermore, examples of stereoinduction are shown and lead to highly substituted carbo- and heterocycles with excellent diastereocontrol.