Electronic band structures and photovoltaic properties of MWO4 (M=Zn, Mg, Ca, Sr) compounds

Divalent metal tungstates, MWO₄, with wolframite (M=Zn and Mg) and scheelite (M=Ca and Sr) structures were prepared using a conventional solid state reaction method. Their electronic band structures were investigated by a combination of electronic band structure calculations and electrochemical measurements. From these investigations, it was found that the band structures (i.e. band positions and band gaps) of the divalent metal tungstates were significantly influenced by their crystal structural environments, such as the W-O bond length. Their photovoltaic properties were evaluated by applying to the working electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. The dye-sensitized solar cells employing the wolframite-structured metal tungstates (ZnWO₄ and MgWO₄) exhibited better performance than those using the scheelite-structured metal tungstates (CaWO₄ and SrWO₄), which was attributed to their enhanced electron transfer resulting from their appropriate band positions.     

The effect of the subprime crisis on the credit risk in global scale

Credit default swap (CDS) has become one of the most actively traded credit derivatives, and its importance in finance markets has increased after the subprime crisis. In this study, we analyzed the correlation structure of credit risks embedded in CDS and the influence of the subprime crisis on this topological space. We found that the correlation was stronger in the cluster constructed according to the location of the CDS reference companies than in the one constructed according to their industries. The correlation both within a given cluster and between different clusters became significantly stronger after the subprime crisis. The causality test shows that the lead lag effect between the portfolios (into which reference companies are grouped by the continent where each of them is located) is reversed in direction because the portion of non-investable and investable reference companies in each portfolio has changed since then. The effect of a single impulse has increased and the response time relaxation has become prolonged after the crisis as well.     

Surfactant-assisted shape evolution of thermally synthesized TiO2 nanocrystals and their applications to efficient photoelectrodes

TiO2 nanocrystals were synthesized via a two-phase thermal process, and the shape of the nanocrystals was controlled from nanospheres to nanorods by the ratio of two surfactants. The shape control of nanocrystals was ascribed to the selective adsorption of the two surfactants. The shape of TiO2 nanocrystals influenced the photocatalytic performances of the photoelectrodes through two compromising factors: the relative surface area and the electron transport. The photoelectrode composed of nanorods showed a slower charge recombination rate, while it showed a smaller specific surface area, compared to nanospheres. As a result, the photoelectrodes showed the optimal photocatalytic performance when the nanospheres and the nanorods were mixed.     

Reaction kinetics study of short DNA strands using a maximum entropy method and nonlinear curve fitting

It is important to understand the formation of double-strand DNA (dsDNA) in a salt solution because it is one of the key reactions in life. A short cDNA strand pair was designed, and each single-strand DNA (ssDNA) was attached to a fluorescent dye that was either a donor or an acceptor of fluorescence resonance energy transfer. The fluorescence intensity was expected to change as time passed as the complementary pairs of ssDNAs formed dsDNAs. The concentration of dsDNA was theoretically calculated, and the measured data were consistent with theoretical results. The analysis of the nonlinear fitting method and the maximum entropy method detected that the reaction curve contains two major types of kinetics that likely represent the formation of dsDNA and mismatching.     

An isoquinolinium derivative selectively inhibits MAPK Spc1 of the stress-activated MAPK cascade of Schizosaccharomyces pombe

We have extended the search for selective inhibitors of the kinases of MAPK cascades by screening a derivative library of one of the isoquinoline rings of the protoberberine backbone. HWY 5069 inhibited the proliferation of wild-type and all mutants of Schizosaccharomyces pombe examined, except spc1Delta, at a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 3.76 microM. HWY 5069 also completely inhibited Spc1 kinase activity in vitro with an IC(50) of 16.4 microM as a competitive inhibitor of substrate binding. It was highly selective for Spc1 and did not affect the activity of other kinases in the MAPK cascades of fission yeast and mammals, including functional homologs of Spc1.     

A porous silicon immunoassay platform for fluorometric determination of α-synuclein in human cerebrospinal fluid

Levels of total and/or oligomeric α-synuclein may be used as a biomarker tool to aid in the diagnosis and development of new disease-modifying therapies. We report here on a porous silicon antibody microarray for the fluorimetric determination of cerebrospinal fluid levels of total α-synuclein, a protein involved the pathology of Parkinson’s disease. The surface of porous silicon has a 3-dimensional macro- and nanoporous structure, and this offers a large binding capacity for capturing probe molecules. Porous silicon also warrants efficient immobilization of antibodies by surface adsorption, and does not require chemical immobilization. The platform requires 10 μL of cerebrospinal fluid, and each test requires 4 h for assay only (including immobilization of capturing antibody). The limit of detection is 35 pg mL^?1 of α-synuclein in cerebrospinal fluid, and the dynamic analytical range extends from 0.01 to 100 ng·mL^?1.

The connectivity threshold for the min‐degree random graph process

Let ??_n = {G_min(n, M)}_M≥0 denote a min‐degree random multigraph process in which G_min(n, M + 1) is obtained from G_min(n, M) by connecting a randomly chosen vertex of a minimum degree with another vertex of the multigraph. We study the probability that the random multigraph G_min(n, M) is connected. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2006     

Interest rates factor model

Interdependence of the interest rates of the US, the UK, and Japan is analyzed in this work by means of spectral analysis and network methods. A predominant effective factor in the interest rate market is which country floats a bond issue, and a minor effective factor is time to maturity of bonds. Power-law cross-correlation among different countries is analyzed by the detrended cross-correlation analysis method. Long-range cross-correlation is found between the first factors of interest rate, while there is no cross-correlation between some of the second factors. The tail dependency is indicated by tail indices from Archimedean copulas, including an empirical copula. In contrast to other pairs, the US-UK first factor pair has tail dependencies in both the upper-tail and lower-tail. Dynamic properties of interest rate are modeled by a stochastic volatility model. The properties of mean reverting and volatility clustering are observed and reflected in this model. The proposed simulation method combines the dependence structures and the factor dynamics model; it simultaneously describes the interest rates of different countries.     

On toric ideals arising from signed graphs

Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics - A signed graph is a pair $$(G,\tau )$$ of a graph G and its sign $$\tau $$ , where a sign $$\tau $$ is a function from $$\{ (e,v)\mid e\in E(G),v\in V(G), v\in...