Recoil spectrometry: Ion accelerator based elemental characterisation of surface layers

Recoil Spectrometry covers a group of techniques that are very similar to the well known Rutherford backscattering Spectrometry technique, but with the important difference that one measures the recoiling target atom rather than the projectile ion. This makes it possible to determine both the identity of the recoil and its depth of origin from its energy and velocity, using a suitable detector system. The incident ion is typically high-energy (30–100MeV)³⁵C1,⁸¹Br or¹²⁷I. Low concentrations of light elements such as C, O and N can be profiled in a heavy matrix such as Fe or GaAs. Here we present an overview of mass and energy dispersive recoil Spectrometry and illustrate its successful use in some typical applications.     

Polymicrobial Biofilm Inhibition Effects of Acetate‐Buffered Chitosan Sponge Delivery Device

Polymicrobial biofilm‐associated implant infections present a challenging clinical problem. Through modifications of lyophilized chitosan sponges, degradable drug delivery devices for antibiotic solution have been fabricated for prevention and treatment of contaminated musculoskeletal wounds. Elution of amikacin, vancomycin, or a combination of both follows a burst release pattern with vancomycin released above minimum inhibitory concentration for Staphylococcus aureus for 72 h and amikacin released above inhibitory concentrations for Pseudomonas aeruginosa for 3 h. Delivery of a vancomycin, amikacin, or a combination of both reduces biofilm formation on polytetrafluoroethylene catheters in an in vivo model of contamination. Release of dual antibiotics from sponges is more effective at preventing biofilm formation than single‐loaded chitosan sponges. Treatment of pre‐formed biofilm with high‐dose antibiotic release from chitosan sponges shows minimal reduction after 48 h. These results demonstrate infection‐preventive efficacy for antibiotic‐loaded sponges, as well as the need for modifications in the development of advanced materials to enhance treatment efficacy in removing established biofilm.

     

A facile, microwave-assisted, palladium-catalyzed arylation of acetone

We report an expedient method for the heteroarylation of acetone under tin-free conditions. The coupling is performed using the commercially available enol silane of acetone (2-trimethylsilyloxypropene) and a corresponding aryl bromide, chloride or triflate under microwave-assisted conditions, with tris(dibenzylideneacetone)dipalladium (Pd₂(dba)₃) or palladium acetate (Pd(OAc)₂) and 2-(2′,6′-dimethoxybiphenyl)dicyclohexylphosphine (S-Phos) as the catalyst system.     

Fusion and planarization of a quinoidal porphyrin dimer

The crystal structure, near-infrared spectrum and electrochemistry of a quinoidal triply-linked porphyrin dimer are compared with those of its singly-linked precursor; fusing the two porphyrins planarizes the pi-system and reduces the optical HOMO-LUMO gap while increasing the gap between the first oxidation and reduction potentials.     

Anomalous self-similarity in a turbulent rapidly rotating fluid

Our velocity measurements on quasi-two-dimensional turbulent flow in a rapidly rotating annulus yield self-similar (scale-independent) probability distribution functions for longitudinal velocity differences, deltav(l) = v(x+l)-v(x). These distribution functions are strongly non-Gaussian, suggesting that the coherent vortices play a significant role. The structure functions <[deltav(l)](p)> approximately l(zeta)p exhibit anomalous scaling: zeta(p) = p / 2 rather than the expected zeta(p) = p / 3. Correspondingly, the energy spectrum is described by E(k) approximately k(-2) rather than the expected E(k) approximately k(-5/3).     

Stability and other limit laws for exit times of random walks from a strip or a halfplane

We show that the passage time, T^*(r), of a random walk S_n above a horizontal boundary at r (r≥0) is stable (in probability) in the sense that as r→∞ for a deterministic function C(r)>0, if and only if the random walk is relatively stable in the sense that as n→∞ for a deterministic sequence B_n>0. The stability of a passage time is an important ingredient in some proofs in sequential analysis, where it arises during applications of Anscombe's Theorem. We also prove a counterpart for the almost sure stability of T^*(r), which we show is equivalent to E|X|<∞, EX>0. Similarly, counterparts for the exit of the random walk from the strip {|y|≤r} are proved. The conditions arefurther related to the relative stability of the maximal sum and the maximum modulus of the sums. Another result shows that the exit position of the random walk outside the boundaries at ±r drifts to ∞ as r→∞ if and only if the random walk drifts to ∞.     

The hierarchical basis multigrid method

Summary We derive and analyze the hierarchical basis-multigrid method for solving discretizations of self-adjoint, elliptic boundary value problems using piecewise linear triangular finite elements. The method is analyzed as a block symmetric Gauß-Seidel iteration with inner iterations, but it is strongly related to 2-level methods, to the standard multigridV-cycle, and to earlier Jacobi-like hierarchical basis methods. The method is very robust, and has a nearly optimal convergence rate and work estimate. It is especially well suited to difficult problems with rough solutions, discretized using highly nonuniform, adaptively refined meshes.