Dysprosium Complexes and Their Micelles as Potential Bimodal Agents for Magnetic Resonance and Optical Imaging

Six diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) bisamide derivatives functionalized with p‐toluidine (DTPA‐BTolA), 6‐aminocoumarin (DTPA‐BCoumA), 1‐naphthalene methylamine (DTPA‐BNaphA), 4‐ethynylaniline (DTPA‐BEthA), p‐dodecylaniline (DTPA‐BC₁₂PheA) and p‐tetradecyl‐aniline (DTPA‐BC₁₄PheA) were coordinated to dysprosium(III) and the magnetic and optical properties of the complexes were examined in detail. The complexes consisting of amphiphilic ligands (DTPA‐BC₁₂PheA and DTPA‐BC₁₄PheA) were further assembled into mixed micelles. Upon excitation into the ligand levels, the complexes display characteristic Dy^III emission with quantum yields of 0.3–0.5 % despite the presence of one water molecule in the first coordination sphere. A deeper insight into the energy‐transfer processes has been obtained by studying the photophysical properties of the corresponding Gd^III complexes. Since the luminescence quenching effect is decreased by the intervention of non‐ionic surfactant, quantum yields up to 1 % are obtained for the micelles. The transverse relaxivity r₂ per Dy^III ion at 500 MHz and 310 K reaches a maximum value of 27.4 s^?1 mM ^?1 for Dy‐DTPA‐BEthA and 36.0 s^?1 mM ^?1 for the Dy‐DTPA‐BC₁₂PheA assemblies compared with a value of 0.8 s^?1 mM ^?1 for Dy‐DTPA. The efficient T₂ relaxation, especially at high magnetic field strengths, is sustained by the high magnetic moment of the dysprosium ion, the coordination of water molecules with slow water exchange kinetics and long rotational correlation times. These findings open the way to the further development of bimodal optical and magnetic resonance imaging probes starting from single lanthanide compounds.     

Promising X-ray fluorescence tests for superconducting tunnel junction detector

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) looks forward to a period of growth in the coming years. Meanwhile, in April 2006, the APS reorganized its divisions, creating an X-ray Science Division (XSD), bringing science at the APS on a par with the accelerator, and sharing engineering and support services. The machine division, the Accelerator Systems Division, now includes all of the groups that operate and develop the machine and focus on future accelerator research.     

Mixed Boundary Value Problems for Minimal Graphs on a Riemann Surface and Winding Staircases

In this paper we want to describe the results of our treatise on winding staircases [9] leading to boundary value problems for minimal graphs on a special Riemannian surface, the etale plane. This has been presented on the conference Nonlinear Differential Equations of the Riemann International School of Mathematics, presided by Professor Louis Nirenberg, in September 2010 at Verbania-Intra on Lago Maggiore.     

Neutron activation analysis of Californian and Japanese rice

The main motivation in studying different types of rice was to determine how processing of rice affects its mineral composition, and to compare how it affects rice dietary intake. Specifically the estimated difference in between the brown and white rice produced in Japan and California are studied. These various rice samples were analyzed using neutron activation analysis technique available at the Utah Nuclear Engineering Program (UNEP). Samples were prepared using novel technique developed at UNEP and submitted for short and long irradiation. The detected elements were As, Br, Cl, Cd, Mn, Na, K. The concentrations of Mn, K and Na are significantly higher in the brown then in the white rice, while As, Br and Cl have more homogeneous presence and therefore smaller difference in concentration. Elemental concentration was compared with The Institute of Medicine (IOM) in the United States values of recommended dietary allowance and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits for harmful elements. From these measurements, only the concentration of Mn in rice satisfies daily needs in the range set as defined by IOM. The concentrations of potentially harmful elements are lower than FDA limits.     

Surface diffusion of tungsten adatoms induced by low-energy bombardment with He atoms

Using low-temperature field ion microscope techniques, we studied at the atomic level the elementary events of radiation-induced surface diffusion of tungsten adatoms on the ideally pristine surface. The experiments on surface-damage formation and adatom displacements have been performed in situ with a source of neutral helium atoms with an energy of 5?keV. It was demonstrated that the low-energy He atomic bombardment at grazing incidence was able to induce a substantial surface mobility of adatoms. Most of the radiation-induced adatom displacements were oriented along the direction of irradiation. The long impact-induced jumps of adatoms, spanning more than a nearest-neighbor distance, were revealed. Performed molecular dynamics simulations reproduce the general experimental trends and conclusions.     

Ageing of fibre-laden aqueous foams

Fibre-laden liquid foams are used in the production process of novel non-woven fibrous materials, employed for example for thermal or acoustic insulation. Here we present an experimental investigation of the stability of such foams. We find that on a time-scale of a few minutes the presence of fibres does not alter the drainage properties of the foam. On a longer time-scale fibres slow down drainage, mainly due to their slowing down of coarsening. The drying of our aged samples leads to a fibre network with a fibre concentration profile that appears to be determined by gravity. Our experiments were performed using fibre concentrations of a few percent, as relevant also to the foam-laid forming of paper, where aqueous foam instead of water is used as a carrier medium for fibres.