Nanosecond Time-Gated Spectroscopy of Laser-Ablation Plume of Human Hair to Detect Calcium for Potential Diagnoses

We demonstrate the nanosecond time-gated spectroscopy of plume luminescence in UV laser ablation of human hair. Clear and sharp peaks of calcium ion (Ca⁺) appear in the spectrum although the Ca content is only 0.1% in human hair. Highly sensitive detection of Ca is thus possible. In the experiment, the peak intensity of Ca⁺ was measured for human hair samples of female subjects over a wide range of age, and compared to the bone mineral density of the lumbar vertebrae of the subjects themselves. Our experimental results suggest that this specific spectroscopy has the potential for novel diagnoses including monitoring of daily Ca intake and a screening diagnosis of osteoporosis. The spectroscopic system and time transition of plume-luminescence spectra are also described.     

Characteristics of a new HPLC column packed with octadecyl-bonded polymer gel

Summary The chromatographic efficiency and stability of a new octadecyl-bonded polymer (ODP) gel, developed for reversed phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) by substitution of stearate ester groups for the hydroxyl groups of vinyl alcohol copolymer particles, were investigated and compared with those of conventional gels. The efficiency of the column packed with the ODP gel was practically unaffected by repeated alternating passages of distilled water and acetonitrile, apparently because the gel volume was affected similarly by both solvents. Like conventional ODS columns, the ODP column demonstrated a close correlation between log k’ (capacity factor) and carbon atom number in alkyl alcohols in accordance with Martin’s rule and H ∼ 4 dp, thus indicating a high column efficiency for these alcohols. The capacity factor of the ODP column for pyridine with acidic eluent was smaller than that of ODS columns, and the pyridine peak was sharp and symmetrical.     

Side chain liquid crystal poly(fumarate)s bearing tolane‐based mesogens

Cyanotolane or fluorotolane mesogens were for the first time introduced into the fumarate monomer under basic conditions. All fumarate monomers undergo radical polymerization in benzene in the presence of dimethyl 2,2′‐azobis(isobutyrate) as an initiator at 60 °C, affording the corresponding poly(fumarate)s with a molecular weight (M_n) of ～ 10⁴ and an exceptionally narrow polydispersity. The phase behaviors of the fumarate monomers and the correspoding poly(fumarate)s were comprehensively investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. For the fumarate monomers, fluorotolane derivatives were prone to form higher‐order liquid crystal phases such as a smectic phase, while cyanotolane derivatives tended to show a wide mesophase temperature range, depending on the alkyl chain spacer length. Very surprisingly, these features dramatically weakened when they were polymerized. The mesophase temperature ranges became narrow and completely disappeared for the poly(fumarate)s with a shorter alkyl chain spacer. A nematic phase representing lower‐order arrangements became a predominant liquid crystal phase for the poly(fumarate) carrying cyanotolane mesogens. Only the poly(fumarate) carrying fluorotolane mesogens with a longer alkyl chain spacer displayed the characteristic XRD patterns of the smectic B phase. The transient photocurrent measurements of the fumarate monomer with cyanotolane mesogens displayed a hole mobility of the order of 10^?4–10^?5 cm² V^?1 s^?1 at room temperature. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 5101–5114, 2008     

Affine geometric crystals and limit of perfect crystals

For every non-exceptional affine Lie algebra, we explicitly construct a positive geometric crystal associated with a fundamental representation. We also show that its ultra-discretization is isomorphic to the limit of certain perfect crystals of the Langlands dual affine Lie algebra.

     

Lumped parameter models representing impedance functions at the interface of a rod on a viscoelastic medium

In this study, a lumped parameter model that properly simulates the impedance characteristics at the extremity of a uniform, isotropic, homogeneous rod on a viscoelastic medium is proposed. The lumped parameter model consists of springs, dashpots, and so-called “gyro-mass elements”. The gyro-mass elements generate a reaction force proportional to the relative acceleration of the nodes between which they are placed. This model consists of units arranged in series, each unit consisting of a spring, a damper, and a gyro-mass element arranged in parallel. A formula is proposed for determining the properties of the elements in the units calculated from a closed-form solution based on a modal expansion. The impedance function simulated by the proposed model shows good agreement with the rigorous impedance function derived from the differential equation of motion of the rod. The results obtained by employing this model in some example applications show that the accuracy of the model is appreciably high when compared with conventional finite element models. A great advantage of this model is that a significant reduction of the number of degrees of freedom can be achieved for solving recent vibration problems with high-frequency excitations, such as ultrasonic vibrations.     

Efficient decoherence-free entanglement distribution over lossy quantum channels

We propose and demonstrate a scheme for boosting the efficiency of entanglement distribution based on a decoherence-free subspace over lossy quantum channels. By using backward propagation of a coherent light, our scheme achieves an entanglement-sharing rate that is proportional to the transmittance T of the quantum channel in spite of encoding qubits in multipartite systems for the decoherence-free subspace. We experimentally show that highly entangled states, which can violate the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality, are distributed at a rate proportional to T.     

Absolutely continuous invariant measures for expanding piecewise linear maps

We prove the existence of absolutely continuous invariant measures for arbitrary expanding piecewise linear maps on bounded polyhedral domains in Euclidean spaces ℝ ^d . Oblatum 6-V-1999 & 8-VI-2000?Published online: 11 October 2000