Polystyryl-supported TBD as an efficient and reusable catalyst under solvent-free conditions

Polystyryl supported-TBD (PSTBD) is an efficient and reusable heterogeneous basic catalyst under solvent-free conditions for a variety of organic transformations such as 1,2-epoxide ring-opening, aldol-type condensation and Michael addition.     

Quasi-stadium laser diodes with an unstable resonator condition

We have observed lasing in a complicated eigenmode of a quasi-stadium laser diode with an unstable resonator consisting of two curved end mirrors obeying an unstable resonator condition and two straight sidewall mirrors. The laser was fabricated by application of a reactive-ion-etching technique to a molecular beam epitaxy-grown graded-index separate-confinement heterostructure single-quantum-well GaAs/AlGaAs structure. The far-field pattern shows that the lasing mode corresponds to the complicated lowest-loss mode obtained numerically by an extended Fox-Li method.     

T Violation and the Unidirectionality of Time

An increasing number of experiments at the Belle, BNL, CERN, DAΦNE and SLAC accelerators are confirming the violation of time reversal invariance (T). The violation signifies a fundamental asymmetry between the past and future and calls for a major shift in the way we think about time. Here we show that processes which violate T symmetry induce destructive interference between different paths that the universe can take through time. The interference eliminates all paths except for two that represent continuously forwards and continuously backwards time evolution. Evidence from the accelerator experiments indicates which path the universe is effectively following. This work may provide fresh insight into the long-standing problem of modeling the dynamics of T violation processes. It suggests that T violation has previously unknown, large-scale physical effects and that these effects underlie the origin of the unidirectionality of time. It may have implications for the Wheeler-DeWitt equation of canonical quantum gravity. Finally it provides a view of the quantum nature of time itself.     

How Do Cultural Classes Emerge from Assimilation and Distinction? An Extension of the Cucker-Smale Flocking Model

When cultural tastes are not neutral but hierarchically matched to social status, people assimilate themselves to higher status by consuming cultural goods while distinguishing themselves from lower status by developing new tastes. Extending the Cucker-Smale model for mutual influence among agents, we examine when and how many cultural classes emerge from continuous distributions of tastes and what conditions those classes satisfy, through the assimilation-distinction mechanism. We simulate the models with different initial distributions of tastes (uniform, normal, and chi-square), given various ranges of 2 parameters: (a) the strength and (b) the range of distinction relative to assimilation. Tastes are flocking and cultural classes emerge when the range of assimilation is much larger than that of distinction. The number of classes increases with the strength of distinction, whereas the distance between classes equals the range of distinction. Some properties of emergent classes are mathematically proved. First, in a two-class system, the stronger distinction, the larger the upper class. Second, in a three-class system, the middle class is necessarily larger than the lower class and likely larger than the upper class. Third, a 3-class system cannot emerge if distinction is weaker than assimilation. These properties are universal and do not depend on the initial distribution of cultural tastes. This independence predicts homogeneous cultural classes emerging across different social conditions. Also, the cultural middle class as the largest group may explain why subjective class consciousness is often higher than objective position. Unless assimilating efforts can reach an infinite range, there emerges a cultural outcast at the lowest end of the cultural hierarchy.     

Structural and luminescence properties of amorphous SiO2 nanoparticles

We report an experimental study on the photoluminescence band peaked at 2.7 eV (blue band) induced by thermal treatments in nanometric amorphous SiO₂. In particular the emission dependence on the nanometric particles size as a function of their mean diameter from 7 nm up to 40 nm is investigated. We found that the emission amplitude increases on decreasing the particle diameter, showing a strong correlation between the blue band and the nanometric nature of the particles. By Raman spectroscopy measurements it is evidenced that the SiO₂ nanoparticles matrix is significantly affected by the reduction of size. Basing on the shell-like model, these findings are interpreted assuming that the defects responsible for the photoluminescence are localized on a surface shell of the particles and not simply on their surface. In addition it is found that the generation efficiency of these defects depends on the structural properties of the SiO₂ matrix in the surface shell.     

中国紫胶树脂基本组成的研究

定量测定了紫胶树脂基本成分的含量；分离得到了紫胶树脂 状脂肪酸和环状萜烯酸的代表物－－紫胶桐酸和壳脑酸。研究发现国产紫胶中软树脂含量高于印度紫胶。结果证明国产紫胶与印度胶在组成和树脂分子构成方面基本一致。     

大视角两步彩虹全息术

本文巧妙地运用了全息图的光路可逆性,采用两面反射镜与小面积全息图相结合,制得了视场角接近180°的大视角彩虹全息图.整个过程分两步完成,无需任何特殊的光学元件.文中给出了实验结果,并进行了讨论.     

流动注射在线分离富集-火焰原子吸收光谱法测定环境水样中Cr(Ⅲ)和Cr(Ⅵ)的形态

采用单阀阴离子和阳离子交换树脂微柱并联 ,两柱交替采样逆向洗脱流动注射在线分离富集环境水样中Cr(Ⅲ )和Cr(Ⅵ ) ,分别用 15 %HNO3和 8%NH4 NO3洗脱 ,火焰原子吸收光谱法直接检测。富集 1min时Cr(Ⅲ )和Cr(Ⅵ )的特征浓度分别为 :1 5 0 μg·L- 1 和 1 39μg·L- 1 ,Cr(Ⅲ )和Cr(Ⅵ )检出限 (3σ)分别为 1 0 3μg·L- 1 和 0 5 4 μg·L- 1 ;相对标准偏差 (10 μg·L- 1 )分别为 :3 4 1%和 1 80 % ,分析样品加标回收率在 93 5 %～ 10 7 5 %之间。     

Voltage dependence of a stochastic model of activation of an alpha helical S4 sensor in a K channel membrane

The voltage dependence of the ionic and gating currents of a K channel is dependent on the activation barriers of a voltage sensor with a potential function which may be derived from the principal electrostatic forces on an S4 segment in an inhomogeneous dielectric medium. By variation of the parameters of a voltage-sensing domain model, consistent with x-ray structures and biophysical data, the lowest frequency of the survival probability of each stationary state derived from a solution of the Smoluchowski equation provides a good fit to the voltage dependence of the slowest time constant of the ionic current in a depolarized membrane, and the gating current exhibits a rising phase that precedes an exponential relaxation. For each depolarizing potential, the calculated time dependence of the survival probabilities of the closed states of an alpha helical S4 sensor are in accord with an empirical model of the ionic and gating currents recorded during the activation process.     

Nonresonant optical activity of isolated organic molecules

Cavity ring-down polarimetry (CRDP) has been exploited to interrogate the nonresonant optical activity (or circular birefringence) of prototypical organic compounds in the vapor phase, thereby revealing the intrinsic chiro-optical response evoked from isolated (solvent-free) molecules. Specific polarization rotation parameters have been measured at two distinct excitation wavelengths (355 nm and 633 nm) for a variety of gas-phase species drawn from the terpene, epoxide, and alkane/alkene families, with complementary solution-phase polarimetric studies serving to highlight the pronounced influence of solute-solvent interactions. Time-dependent linear response calculations performed at high levels of density functional theory have been enlisted to unravel the structural and electronic origins for observed behavior. Aside from elucidating the complex solvation processes that mediate chiro-optical phenomena taking place in condensed media, this study affords a critical assessment for emerging ab initio predictions of nonresonant optical activity and for their promising ability to assist in the determination of absolute molecular stereochemistry.