Two-dimensional superstructures and softened C-H stretching vibrations of cyclohexane on Rh(111): effects of preadsorbed hydrogen

Adsorption structures and interaction of cyclohexane molecules on the clean and hydrogen-preadsorbed Rh(111) surfaces were investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy, spot-profile-analysis low-energy electron diffraction, temperature-programmed desorption, and infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS). Various ordered structures of adsorbed cyclohexane were observed as a function of hydrogen and cyclohexane coverages. When the fractional coverage (θ(H)) of preadsorbed hydrogen was below 0.8, four different commensurate or higher-order commensurate superstructures were found as a function of θ(H); whereas more densely packed incommensurate overlayers became dominant at higher θ(H). IRAS measurements showed sharp softened C-H vibrational peaks at 20 K, which originate from the electronic interaction between adsorbed cyclohexane and the Rh surface. The multiple softened C-H stretching peaks in each phase are due to the variation in the adsorption distance from the substrate. At high hydrogen coverages they became attenuated in intensity and eventually diminished at θ(H) = 1. The gradual disappearance of the soft mode correlates well with the structural phase transition from commensurate structures to incommensurate structures with increasing hydrogen coverage. The superstructure of adsorbed cyclohexane is controlled by the delicate balance between adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interactions which are affected by preadsorbed hydrogen.     

Microfluidic devices for electrochemical measurement of photosynthetic activity of cyanobacteria microcystis cells

A microfluidic device with analytical chambers for electrochemical measurements has been employed to detect photosynthetic activity at single cell level. The flowing cells (Microcystis viridis) in a main channel are individually guided to the chamber with microelectrodes by an electrophoretic manipulation. The reduction current of oxygen was continuously monitored to determine the photosynthetic activity upon light irradiation. The average rates for oxygen generation were estimated and found to be 10(-18) mol/s level.     

2α + t Cluster Structure in 11B

Structures of excited states in ¹¹B are investigated with a method of β – γ constraint antisymmetrized molecular dynamics in combination with the generator coordinate method. Various cluster structures are suggested in excited states. For negative-parity states, we suggest a band with a 2α + t cluster structure. This band starts from the ${3/2^{-}_{3}}$ state and can correspond to the experimental band observed recently. We find that the feature of the ${3/2^{-}_{3}}$ is quite similar to the ${0^{+}_{2}}$ state in ¹²C.     

Nuclear clusters and nuclear molecules

Clustering has long been known to be influential in the structure of ground and excited states of N=Z$N=Z$ nuclei. States close to the decay thresholds are of particular interest, as clustering becomes dominant. Recent studies of loosely bound light neutron-rich nuclei have focused attention on structures based on clusters and additional valence neutrons, which give rise to covalent molecular binding effects. These nuclear molecules appear only at the extremes of deformation, in the deformed shell model they are referred to as super- and hyper-deformed. The beryllium isotopes provide the first examples of such states in nuclear physics. Further nuclear molecules consisting of unequal cores and also with three centres can be considered. These arise in the isotopes of neon and carbon, respectively. Molecular states in intrinsically asymmetric configurations give rise to parity (inversion) doublets. Examples of recent experiments demonstrating the molecular structure of the rotational bands in beryllium isotopes are presented. Further experimental evidence for bands as parity doublets in nuclei with valence neutrons in molecular orbits is also analysed. Work on chain states (nuclear polymers) in the carbon isotopes is discussed. These are the first examples of hyper-deformed structures in nuclei with an axis ratio of 3:1. Future perspectives are outlined based on a threshold diagram for covalent nuclear molecules with clusters bound via neutrons in covalent molecular configurations.     

Basic study on apoptosis induction into cancer cells U-937 and EL-4 by ultrasound exposure

Recently, the low invasive cancer treatments with small aftereffects have been considered. We are studying on the suppression methods of cancer cell proliferation with ultrasound. Cancer cells of mouse T lymphoma (EL-4) have been used in our study. The human histitocytic lymphoma cells (U-937) was used in this time. The cancer cells were cultured in a culture medium of RPMI1640. The standing wave acoustic field was formed in a water tank of our ultrasound exposure system by a vibrating plate driven with a Langevine type transducer. The U-937 and EL-4 were exposed to ultrasound in the acoustic field with spatial average acoustic intensity of 350 mW/cm(2) at 150 kHz. The viable rate of EL-4 decreased with the lapse of culture time after ultrasound exposure. U-937 did not show the remarkable decrease tendency. The proliferation of U-937 which exposed to ultrasound with 700 mW/cm(2) was suppressed. It can be thought that apoptosis was induced in the cancer cells in this condition. We observed the morphological change on the U-937 exposed to ultrasound with this condition. The morphological changes by apoptosis like the shrink of cells, formation of apoptotic bodies etc. can be observed with an optical microscope and a phase contrast microscope.     

A new $N^{}$ resonance as a hadronic molecular state

We report our recent work on a hadronic molecule state of the KKN system with I =1/2 and jR = 1/2＋. We assume that the A（1405） resonance and the scalar mesons, f0（980）, ao（980）, are reproduced as quasi-bound states of KN and KK, respectively. Performing non-relativistic three-body calculations with a variational method for this system, we find a quasibound state of the KIlN system around 1910 MeV below the three-body breakup threshold. This state corresponds to a new baryon resonance of N＊ with JP ： 1/2＋. We find also that this resonance has the cluster structure of the two-body bound states keeping their properties as in the isolated two-particle systems. We also briefly discuss another hadronic molecular state composed by two K and one N, which corresponds to a resonance.     

New decomposition and convexification algorithm for nonconvex large-scale primal-dual optimization

A new algorithm for solving nonconvex, equality-constrained optimization problems with separable structures is proposed in the present paper. A new augmented Lagrangian function is derived, and an iterative method is presented. The new proposed Lagrangian function preserves separability when the original problem is separable, and the property of linear convergence of the new algorithm is also presented. Unlike earlier algorithms for nonconvex decomposition, the convergence ratio for this method can be made arbitrarily small. Furthermore, it is feasible to extend this method to algorithms suited for inequality-constrained optimization problems. An example is included to illustrate the method.This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under NSF Grant No. ECS-85-06249.     

Sequential Linear-Quadratic Method for Differential Games with Air Combat Applications

We present a numerical method for computing a local Nash (saddle-point) solution to a zero-sum differential game for a nonlinear system. Given a solution estimate to the game, we define a subproblem, which is obtained from the original problem by linearizing its system dynamics around the solution estimate and expanding its payoff function to quadratic terms around the same solution estimate. We then apply the standard Riccati equation method to the linear-quadratic subproblem and compute its saddle solution. We then update the current solution estimate by adding the computed saddle solution of the subproblem multiplied by a small positive constant (a step size) to the current solution estimate for the original game. We repeat this process and successively generate better solution estimates. Our applications of this sequential method to air combat simulations demonstrate experimentally that the solution estimates converge to a local Nash (saddle) solution of the original game.