Ferroelectric characteristics of MFIS structure with P(VDF–TrFE)/BaTiO3 nanocomposite as ferroelectric layer

A metal–ferroelectric–insulator–semiconductor (MFIS) structure has been made using poly(vinylidene difluoride–trifluoroethylene)/barium titanate [P(VDF–TrFE)/BaTiO₃] nanocomposite as ferroelectric layer, on silicon/silicon dioxide (Si/SiO₂) substrate. Different concentrations of BaTiO₃ were added to P(VDF–TrFE) polymer using bath sonication method, and the films were prepared using spin coating method. The structure was annealed to 120 °C for 2 h and then the top aluminium electrode was deposited by thermal evaporation method. Capacitance–voltage shows an increase in accumulation capacitance as the BaTiO₃ nanoparticle concentrations increases. Dielectric constant was estimated from the capacitance voltage (C–V) characteristics and found to be changing as the concentration of BaTiO₃ is varied. Polarization–electric field analyses show hysteresis behaviour of the nanocomposite. A comparison of MFIS and metal–ferroelectric–semiconductor structures was done with varying ferroelectric film thicknesses. All these results suggest that this polymer nanocomposite can be a promising material which can be used in non-volatile memory devices.     

2-O-Benzylation in D-Gluconamide Derivative Under Basic Conditions with Complete Retention of Stereo-Integrity: Convenient Access to 2-O-benzyl-3,4:5,6- di-O-isopropylidene-D-glucitol and other Differently Protected D-glucitol Derivatives

A new and convenient synthesis of 2-O-benzyl-3, 4: 5, 6-di-O-isopropylidene-D-glucitol has been accomplished and has been generalized with the syntheses of differently protected D-glucitols at C-2 position. In the course of our new route to the differently protected D-glucitols at C-2 position, a new D-gluco configured building block, 1-morpholino-(3, 4: 5, 6-di-O-isopropylidene)-D-gluconamide has been achieved.     

X-Ray Crystallographic Investigation of Fully Acetylated N-(2-Deoxy-2-Acetamido-β-D-Glucopyranosyl)Alkanamides as N-Glycoprotein Linkage Region Analogs

To understand the structural significance of the linkage region of N-glycoproteins, three title sugar amides have been prepared as analogs and their molecular assembly and crystal structures have been solved to explore the effect of acetyl protection and aglycon variation on the conformation, particularly of the N-glycosidic linkage. Comparative analysis of these structures with those of free sugar amides reported earlier showed that conformation of the amido aglycon moiety is not altered significantly by the masking of hydroxyl groups in the form of acetate. The bifurcated antiparallel pattern involving N?H…O and C?H…O hydrogen bonds, a hallmark of the N-glycoprotein models GlcNAcβNHAc and GlcNAcβAsn, is absent in all of the fully protected title alkanamides. The asymmetric unit of the tri-O-acetylated GlcNAcβNHAc contains two different conformations, in one of which the double-pillared hydrogen bond network involving C1 and C2 acetamido groups is antiparallel, while it is parallel in the other. The co-occurrence of a molecular assembly motif—a double-pillared parallel and antiparallel hydrogen bonding pattern—is hitherto unknown in the crystal structures of N-glycoprotein linkage region models and analogs.     

Six Coordinate Tris(catecholato)silicates of Primary Amine Residues—Synthesis,Characterization, and Thermolysis Studies. X-Ray Structures of [n-C3H7NH3]2[Si(C6H4O2)3]·1/2(C6H14N2) and of a Bulky Secondary Ammonium Ion, [(i-C4H9)2NH2]2[Si(C6H4O2)3]·H2O

Synthesis of the hypervalent tris(catecholato)silicate ion, [(C₆H₄O₂)₃-Si]^2? having five different primary ammonium cations viz. n-propylammonium (1), isopropylammonium (2) n-butylammonium (3), cyclohexylammonium (4), benzylammonium (5), and a bulky secondary ammonium cation, namely diisobutylammonium (6), have been achieved by the reaction of catechol and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) in presence of the corresponding amine. Elemental analysis, IR, NMR (¹H, ¹³C, and ²⁹Si), and mass spectral data have been used for their characterization. Single crystal x-ray structures of 1 and 6 indicate nearly same distortion of the “SiO₆” octahedron but interesting differences in the hydrogen bonding interactions arising from the catecholato oxygens and the N—H bonds of the ammonium cations. While compound 1 exhibits hydrogen bonding more discretely and by revealing strong interaction between the n-propylammonium ions, compound 6 shows an extended intermolecular hydrogen bonding aided by a water molecule present in the lattice to lead to infinite one dimensional chain arrangement. TG and EG analyses of compounds, 1–5 indicate 1) the formation of the previously observed spirosilane intermediate, [Si(C₆H₄O₂)₂] and 2) their less thermal stability compared to those having secondary or tertiary ammonium cations.     

Theoretical and phantom based investigation of the impact of sound speed and backscatter variations on attenuation slope estimation

Quantitative ultrasound features such as the attenuation slope, sound speed and scatterer size, have been utilized to evaluate pathological variations in soft tissues such as the liver and breast. However, the impact of variations in the sound speed and backscatter due to underlying fat content or fibrotic changes, on the attenuation slope has not been addressed. Both numerical and acoustically uniform tissue-mimicking experimental phantoms are used to demonstrate the impact of sound speed variations on attenuation slope using clinical real-time ultrasound scanners equipped with linear array transducers. Radiofrequency data at center frequencies of 4 and 5 MHz are acquired for the experimental and numerical phantoms respectively. Numerical phantom sound speeds between 1480 and 1600 m/s in increments of 20 m/s for attenuation coefficients of 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7 dB/cm/MHz are simulated. Variations in the attenuation slope when the backscatter intensity of the sample is equal, 3 dB higher, and 3 dB lower than the reference is also evaluated. The sound speed for the experimental tissue-mimicking phantoms were 1500, 1540, 1560 and 1580 m/s respectively, with an attenuation coefficient of 0.5 dB/cm/MHz. Radiofrequency data is processed using three different attenuation estimation algorithms, i.e. the reference phantom, centroid downshift, and a hybrid method. In both numerical and experimental phantoms our results indicate a bias in attenuation slope estimates when the reference phantom sound speed is higher (overestimation) or lower (underestimation) than that of the sample. This bias is introduced via a small spectral shift in the normalized power spectra of the reference and sample with different sound speeds. The hybrid method provides the best estimation performance, especially for sample attenuation coefficient values lower than that of the reference phantom. The performance of all the methods deteriorates when the attenuation coefficient of the reference phantom is lower than that of the sample. In addition, the hybrid method is the least sensitive to sample backscatter intensity variations.     

Twisted K-Theory and K-Theory of Bundle Gerbes

In this note we introduce the notion of bundle gerbe K-theory and investigate the relation to twisted K-theory. We provide some examples. Possible applications of bundle gerbe K-theory to the classification of K-brane charges in nontrivial backgrounds are briefly discussed. Received: 29 June 2001 / Accepted: 15 October 2001     

PHOTOCHEMICAL ADDITION OF GLUTATHIONE TO URACIL AND THYMINE

Abstract —Irradiation (Λ > 240 nm) of thymine in aqueous solution in the presence of glutathione produces primarily 5-S-glutathione-5, 6-dihydropyrimidine and 5- S, S -glutathione-5, 6-dihydro-pyrimidine. These adducts are obtained in better yields when the irradiations (Λ > 280 nm) are carried out in the presence of triplet-state sensitizers. Reduction of 5- S, S -glutathione-5, 6-dihydropyrimidine with zinc dust in acetic acid yields the corresponding 5, 6-dihydropyrimidine. When thymine-glutathione adducts are heated in 6 N HCl for 2h, 5- S -cysteine-5, 6-dihydrothymine and 5- S, S -cysteine-5, 6-dihydrothymine are formed. Under these conditions, uracil-glutathione adducts are less stable and are converted to products other than uracil-cysteine adducts.     

T-Duality Simplifies Bulk-Boundary Correspondence

We extend and apply a rigorous renormalisation group method to study critical correlation functions, on the 4-dimensional lattice \({{{\mathbb{Z}}}^{4}}\), for the weakly coupled n-component \({|\varphi|^{4}}\) spin model for all \({n \ge 1}\), and for the continuous-time weakly self-avoiding walk. For the \({|\varphi|^{4}}\) model, we prove that the critical two-point function has |x|^?2 (Gaussian) decay asymptotically, for \({n \ge 1}\). We also determine the asymptotic decay of the critical correlations of the squares of components of \({\varphi}\), including the logarithmic corrections to Gaussian scaling, for \({n \ge 1}\). The above extends previously known results for n = 1 to all \({n \ge 1}\), and also observes new phenomena for n > 1, all with a new method of proof. For the continuous-time weakly self-avoiding walk, we determine the decay of the critical generating function for the “watermelon” network consisting of p weakly mutually- and self-avoiding walks, for all \({p \ge 1}\), including the logarithmic corrections. This extends a previously known result for p = 1, for which there is no logarithmic correction, to a much more general setting. In addition, for both models, we study the approach to the critical point and prove the existence of logarithmic corrections to scaling for certain correlation functions. Our method gives a rigorous analysis of the weakly self-avoiding walk as the n = 0 case of the \({|\varphi|^{4}}\) model, and provides a unified treatment of both models, and of all the above results.