Dynamics of remote entanglement in one-dimensional Ising chains with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions

With the introduction of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction, dynamics of the remote entanglement in one-dimensional Ising chains is investigated. It is found that the DM interaction can excite the remote entanglement from an initial Néel state. For a given strength of DM interaction, the concurrence between the end spins oscillates and decreases simultaneously with the increase of the chain’s length, and drops to zero at a critical length. For the chains with two and three spins, it is very interesting that the dynamics of the staggered magnetization (or the chiral parameter) can be used to qualitatively estimate the evolution of the remote concurrence between the end spins. At last, we discuss the generation of W state from the Ising chain with DM interactions, and it is obtained that W state can only be prepared in the three-qubit and four-qubit chains with a specific strength of DM interaction.     

The characteristics of self-assemble N2O monolayer

The first-principle technique has been employed to determine the atomic structure of nitrous oxide (N₂O) monolayer. The potential structures of N₂O monolayer have been proposed. The calculation shows that the monolayer is a self-assembly system, in which the basic structure unit is the dislocated molecular chain.     

Transverse wave band gaps and longitudinal wave band gaps in solid phononic crystals

Based on the properties of transverse (divergenceless) waves and longitudinal (irrotational) waves, we divided the transverse wave modes and longitudinal wave modes from the mixed eigen modes in solid phononic crystals. By investigating the transverse wave and longitudinal wave band structures at low frequency, we found that transverse bands and longitudinal bands exhibit different behaviors in solid systems including spherical scatterers. Phononic crystal with a large density ratio of solid spheres to the background can guarantee both the large longitudinal and large transverse band gap, but solid spheres with a small ratio of longitudinal wave velocity to transverse wave velocity can only help to enlarge the longitudinal band gap, and do not help to enlarge the transverse band gap.     

Qualitative observation of chemical change rate for quercetin in basic medium characterized by time resolved UV–vis spectroscopy

Time resolved spectroscopy was applied to a real time investigation of chemical reaction of quercetin (5.0 × 10^? 5 mol L^? 1) with various concentrations of sodium hydroxide (from 5.0 × 10^? 3 to 1.0 mol L^? 1). The UV–vis absorption spectra acquired first reveal that there was an intermediate product with an absorption band centered at 427 nm formed during the reaction. The rates of chemical changes for quercetin in basic medium are also first obtained by the present work. The transient spectral information obtained is valuable for understanding the molecular mechanism of the reaction between quercetin and sodium hydroxide.     

Morphological characterization of the mouthparts of the vector leafhopper Psammotettix striatus (L.) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

The leafhopper Psammotettix striatus (L.) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), is one of the most significant economic pests of wheat in Western China. This insect vectors a phytoplasma that causes wheat blue dwarf (WBD), a severe disease limiting wheat production in the Western China. A microscopic analysis of the ultrastructure of the mouthparts of the adult was conducted using scanning electron microscopy and the putative functions of the mouthparts were determined. The piercing-sucking mouthparts of P. striatus are of the conventional type comprising a three-segmented labium with a deep groove in the anterior side, a stylet fascicle consisting of two mandibular and two maxillary stylets, and an uppermost small cone-shaped labrum. The mandibular stylets, located laterad of the maxillary stylets, have sculpture on their tips, which may function in tearing plant tissue, cutting channels into the plant tissues, and attaching the body to the host plant during molting. The maxillary stylets are interlocked to form two separate compartments, a larger food canal and a smaller salivary canal. Two dendritic canals are also found in each maxilla and one in each mandible. Four kinds of sensilla were found on the labium: s. trichodea I, s. trichodea II, s. basiconic I, s. basiconic II. These may be involved in host recognition and are likely chemo- or mechanosensory, or both.     

Composition dependent phase transformation of Pt0.5−x Mn0.5+x from A1 to L10 phase

Pt_0.5−x Mn_0.5+x films were prepared by sputtering deposition of Pt foil and Mn target to study the order-disorder transition from a thermodynamic metastable fcc (A1) phase to L1₀ phase. Both Differential Scanning Calorimetry and High Temperature X-Ray Diffraction studies showed the phase transformation from fcc to the L1₀ structure for the Pt_0.50Mn_0.50 and Pt_0.40Mn_0.60 samples but along completely different kinetic paths. A composition dependent phase transformation was observed by comprehensive Differential Scanning Calorimetry studies on a series of Pt_0.5−x Mn_0.5+x samples. The changes of the lattice parameter and the cell volume of L1₀ Pt_0.5−x Mn_0.5+x as a function of composition suggest that the anti-site is not the dominant point defect for L1₀ Pt_0.5−x Mn_0.5+x .     

Cytotoxic effects and in vitro reversal of multidrug resistance by therapeutic ultrasound in human hepatocarcinoma cell line (HepG2)

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the major obstacles to successful chemotherapy of human malignancies. Although many strategies have been explored to overcome MDR, none of them have been proven to be clinically useful until now. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a novel therapeutic ultrasound (US) approach would have useful effects on the reversal of MDR in cancer cells. Wild-type and MDR phenotype (HepG2/ADM) cells of the human hepatocarcinoma cell line HepG2 were exposed to 0.8 MHz US at an intensity of 0.43 W/cm² for a 9 s exposure (total energy density: 3.87 J/cm²). After US exposure, cell number and viability were counted immediately, and flow cytometry was performed to measure retention of rhodamine 123 and adriamycin in HepG2 and HepG2/MDR cells. Both cell lines were then incubated in suspension with adriamycin, vincristine, etoposide, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil, respectively, and the MTT assay was used to determine cytotoxicity. The results showed that US exposure could significantly increase the uptake of Rh123 and ADM by HepG2/ADM tumor cells. The resistant index for the chemotherapeutic drugs was significantly lower in the US-exposed HepG2/ADM cells than in those not exposed to US. It was therefore concluded that US exposure could enhance the sensitivity of HepG2/ADM tumor cells to these chemotherapeutic agents, and the functional and structural changes induced by previous US exposure in MDR tumor cells may be responsible for it. However, further study is needed to investigate the mechanism behind US-mediated reversal of MDR.     

Silver fractal networks for surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates

Based on diffusion-limited aggregation process, a convenient nanotechnique is demonstrated to obtain large silver fractal networks for a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active substrate. The silver fractal networks are of high SERS enhancement factor, large dynamical range. The observed SERS efficiency can be explained in terms of strongly localized plasmon modes relative to the single particle plasmon resonance.     

Formation of pancakelike Ising domains and giant magnetic coercivity in ferrimagnetic LuFe2O4

We have studied quasi-two-dimensional multiferroic LuFe2O4 with strong charge-spin-lattice coupling, in which low-temperature coercivity approaches an extraordinary value of 9 T in single crystals. The enhancement of the coercivity is connected to the collective freezing of nanoscale pancakelike ferrimagnetic domains with large uniaxial magnetic anisotropy ("Ising pancakes"). Our results suggest that collective freezing in low-dimensional magnets with large uniaxial anisotropy provides an effective mechanism to achieve enhanced coercivity. This observation may help identify novel approaches for synthesis of magnets with enhanced properties.