Decay of metastable states in Nd II

The difficulty associated with an accurate determination of transition rates for forbidden lines in lowly ionized heavy elements is illustrated in the case of Nd II. We have investigated the radiative decay of the low-lying metastable levels in Nd⁺ including the two levels K_11/2 and I_13/2. In these two particular cases, using different theoretical approaches, we find that the decay is dominated by the M1 channels but that the E2 contributions are of the same order of magnitude. These levels have also been studied experimentally by lifetime measurements with the heavy ion storage ring CRYRING of Stockholm University. The difficulties encountered when performing such experiments are underlined and discussed.     

Reduction of flow- and eddy-currents-induced image artifacts in coronary magnetic resonance angiography using a linear centric-encoding SSFP sequence

Coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) acquired using steady-state free precession (SSFP) sequences tends to suffer from image artifacts caused by local magnetic field inhomogeneities. Flow- and gradient-switching-induced eddy currents are important sources of such phase errors, especially under off-resonant conditions. In this study, we propose to reduce these image artifacts by using a linear centric-encoding (LCE) scheme in the phase-encoding (PE) direction. Abrupt change in gradients, including magnitude and polarity between consecutive radiofrequency cycles, is minimized using the LCE scheme. Results from numeric simulations and phantom studies demonstrated that signal oscillation can be markedly reduced using LCE as compared to conventional alternating centric-encoding (ACE) scheme. The image quality of coronary arteries was improved at both 1.5 and 3.0 T using LCE compared to those acquired using ACE PE scheme (1.5 T: ACE/LCE=2.2+/-0.8/3.0+/-0.6, P=.02; 3.0 T: ACE/LCE=2.1+/-1.1/3.0+/-0.8, P=.01). In conclusion, flow- and eddy-currents-induced imaging artifacts in coronary MRA using SSFP sequence can be markedly reduced with LCE acquisition of PE lines.     

One-pot synthesis of CoO–ZnO/rGO supported on Ni foam for high-performance hybrid supercapacitor with greatly enhanced cycling stability

The high specific capacitance along with good cycling stability are crucial for practical applications of supercapacitors,which always demands high-performance and stable electrode materials.In this work,we report a series of ternary composites of CoO-ZnO with different fractions of reduced graphene oxide(rGO) synthesized by in-situ growth on nickel foam,named as CZG-1,2 and 3,respectively.This sort of binder-free electrodes presents excellent electrochemical properties as well as large capacitance due to their low electrical resistance and high oxygen vacancies.Particularly,the sample of CZG-2(CoO-ZnO/rGO 20 mg) in a nanoreticular structure shows the best electrochemical performance with a maximum specific capacitance of 1951.8 F/g(216.9 mAh/g) at a current intensity of 1 A/g.The CZG-2-based hybrid supercapacitor delivers a high energy density up to 45.9 Wh/kg at a high power density of 800 W/kg,and kept the capacitance retention of 90.1% over 5000 charge-discharge cycles.     

Fault tolerant deterministic secure quantum communication using logical Bell states against collective noise

This study proposes two novel fault tolerant deterministic secure quantum communication(DSQC) schemes resistant to collective noise using logical Bell states. Either DSQC scheme is constructed based on a new coding function, which is designed by exploiting the property of the corresponding logical Bell states immune to collective-dephasing noise and collective-rotation noise, respectively. The secret message can be encoded by two simple unitary operations and decoded by merely performing Bell measurements, which can make the proposed scheme more convenient in practical applications.Moreover, the strategy of one-step quanta transmission, together with the technique of decoy logical qubits checking not only reduces the influence of other noise existing in a quantum channel, but also guarantees the security of the communication between two legitimate users. The final analysis shows that the proposed schemes are feasible and robust against various well-known attacks over the collective noise channel.     

Silver(I)‐Catalyzed Hydroazidation of Ethynyl Carbinols: Synthesis of 2‐Azidoallyl Alcohols

The hydroazidation of alkynes is the most straightforward pathway to synthetically useful vinyl azides. However, a general hydroazidation of alkynes remains elusive. Herein, a chemo‐ and regioselective transformation of ethynyl carbinols into vinyl azides is described. This reaction produces a wide variety of 2‐azidoallyl alcohols with high efficiency and in good to excellent yields. These compounds constitute a new class of densely functionalized synthetic intermediates. Their synthetic potential has been demonstrated by further transformations into NH aziridines. The mechanistic aspects of the reaction will attract the attention of chemists working on alkyne chemistry and silver catalysis. The findings that are described in this paper represent significant advances in the regioselective hydroelementation of alkynes and open a new reaction manifold for exploitation.     

Highly N2‐Selective Coupling of 1,2,3‐Triazoles with Indole and Pyrrole

Hydrogen‐bond mediated coupling of 1,2,3‐triazoles to indoles and pyrroles results in N2 selective functionalization of the triazole moiety in moderate to excellent yields. The reaction was tolerant of un‐, mono‐ and disubstituted triazoles and was applied to synthesize tryptophan derived fluorescent amino acids.     

Silver‐Catalyzed Cross‐Coupling of Propargylic Alcohols with Isocyanides: An Atom‐Economical Synthesis of 2,3‐Allenamides

Cross‐coupling reactions between propargylic alcohols and isocyanides, by means of silver catalysis, have been described. This new reaction is both atom and step efficient and is applicable to a broad scope of substrates, allowing the synthesis of a range of synthetically valuable 2,3‐allenamides in moderate to excellent yields.     

Dissolution of cellulose in aqueous NaOH/urea solution: role of urea

Urea can improve the solubility and stability of cellulose in aqueous alkali solution, while its role has not come to a conclusion. To reveal the role of urea in solution, NMR was introduced to investigate the interaction between urea and the other components in solution. Results from chemical shifts and longitudinal relaxation times show that: (1) urea has no strong direct interaction with cellulose as well as NaOH; (2) urea does not have much influence on the structural dynamics of water. Urea may play its role through van der Waals force. It may accumulate on the cellulose hydrophobic region to prevent dissolved cellulose molecules from re-gathering. The driving force for the self-assembly of cellulose and urea molecules might be hydrophobic interaction. In the process of cellulose dissolution, OH^? breaks the hydrogen bonds, Na⁺ hydrations stabilize the hydrophilic hydroxyl groups and urea stabilizes the hydrophobic part of cellulose.