Self-Organization and Migration of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Filaments in Argon Gas Flow

Observations of atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge are conducted through a water-filled electrode in atmospheric-pressure argon gas flow. Quasi-symmetric self-organized discharge filaments were observed. The streamers moved with the gas flow, and the migration velocity increased with increasing gas velocity.     

A flexible microfluidic processor for molecular biology: application to microarray sample preparation

We describe a programmable microfluidic system with onboard pumps and valves that has the ability to process reaction volumes in the sub-microlitre to hundred microlitre range. The flexibility of the architecture is demonstrated with a commercial molecular biology protocol for mRNA amplification, implemented without significant modification. The performance of the microchip system is compared to conventional bench processing at each stage of the multistep protocol, and DNA microarrays are used to assess the quality and performance of bench- and microchip-amplified RNA. The results show that the microchip system reactions are similar to bench control reactions at each step, and that the microchip- and bench-derived amplified RNAs are virtually indistinguishable in differential microarray analyses.     

The theory of integrally closed domains is not finitely axiomatizable

It is well‐known that the theory of algebraically closed fields is not finitely axiomatizable. In this note, we prove that the theory of integrally closed integral domains is also not finitely axiomatizable.     

Minimum-error method for scattering problems in quantum mechanics: Two stable and efficient implementations

We examine here, by using a simple example, two implementations of the minimum error method (MEM), a least-squares minimization for scattering problems in quantum mechanics, and show that they provide an efficient, numerically stable alternative to Kohn variational principle. MEM defines an error-functional consisting of the sum of the values of (HPsi - EPsi)2 at a set of grid points. The wave function Psi, is forced to satisfy the scattering boundary conditions and is determined by minimizing the least-squares error. We study two implementations of this idea. In one, we represent the wave function as a linear combination of Chebyshev polynomials and minimize the error by varying the coefficients of the expansion and the R-matrix (present in the asymptotic form of Psi). This leads to a linear equation for the coefficients and the R-matrix, which we solve by matrix inversion. In the other implementation, we use a conjugate-gradient procedure to minimize the error with respect to the values of Psi at the grid points and the R-matrix. The use of the Chebyshev polynomials allows an efficient and accurate calculation of the derivative of the wave function, by using Fast Chebyshev Transforms. We find that, unlike KVP, MEM is numerically stable when we use the R-matrix asymptotic condition and gives accurate wave functions in the interaction region.     

Acid-Base Properties of the Ground and Excited States of Ruthenium(II) Bis(2,2'-bipyridine) 3-Carboxyl-2,2'-bipyridine

Acid-base properties for ruthenium(II) bis(2,2'-bipyridine) 3-carboxyl-2,2'-bipyridine reveal a ground state pK(a) of 0.82 +/- 0.07 and an excited state pK(a) of 2.31 +/- 0.05, a 1.5 pH unit increase from the ground state. The excited state pK(a) is temperature independent while the ground state pK(a)(0) increases with temperature and has DeltaH(0) and DeltaS(0) values of -990 +/- 149 cm(-)(1) and -4.57 +/- 0.48 cm(-)(1) K(-)(1), respectively. The acidic form of the complex emits at lower energy than the basic form at both 296 and 77 K. The emission energy maxima are solvent dependent and decrease in energy when the solvent changes from 4:1 (v/v) 2-MeTHF-CH(2)Cl(2) to water and when the pH decreases. Changes in excited state lifetimes with emission energy follow the energy gap law with an intercept of 49 +/- 1 and a slope of (2.11 +/- 0.09) x 10(-)(3). Emission quantum yields for protonated and deprotonated species in 4:1 (v/v) 2-MeTHF-CH(2)Cl(2) are 0.023 +/- 0.001 and 0.110 +/- 0.002, respectively. The temperature dependence of the emission lifetimes gives energy barriers of 270 cm(-)(1) for the complex in aqueous solution at pH -0.5, and 990 cm(-)(1) in aqueous solution at pH 4.5, and 1920 cm(-)(1) in 4:1 (v/v) 2-MeTHF-CH(2)Cl(2.)     

First insight into catalytic activity of anionic iron porphyrins immobilized on exfoliated layered double hydroxides

Mg-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) intercalated with glycinate anions was synthesized through co-precipitation and exfoliated in formamide and the single-layer suspension was reacted with aqueous iron porphyrin solutions (Fe(TDFSPP) and Fe(TCFSPP)). The obtained materials were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, UV-vis, and electron paramagnetic resonance and investigated in the oxidation reaction of cyclooctene and cyclohexane using iodosylbenzene as oxidant. The iron porphyrin seems to be immobilized at the surface of the glycinate intercalated LDH. The catalytic activities obtained in heterogeneous media for iron porphyrin, Fe(TDFSPP), was superior to the results obtained under homogeneous conditions, but the opposite effect was observed on the Fe(TCFSPP), indicating that, instead of the structural similarity of both iron porphyrins (second-generation porphyrins), the immobilization of each one produced different catalysts. The best catalytic activity of the Fe(TDFSPP)/Gly-LDH, compared to Fe(TCFSPP)/Gly-LDH, can be explained by the easy access of the oxidant and the substrate to the catalytic sites in the former, probably located at the surface of the layered double hydroxide pillared with glycinate anions. A model for the immobilization and a mechanism for the oxidation reaction will be discussed.     

Optical second-harmonic generation study of exfoliated MoS2-malachite green inclusion materials

We have examined the properties of exfoliated and restacked MoS(2)-malachite green (MG) inclusion compounds to provide insight into the MG-MoS(2) interactions that characterize these materials. The results of X-ray diffraction experiments indicate that MG included into the restacked structure adopts a flat orientation approximately parallel to the MoS(2) sheets. Second-harmonic generation experiments conducted on the exfoliated and restacked materials provide information regarding the averaged orientation of the MG. At low MG coverage, our results support the X-ray diffraction findings, and yield large averaged orientation angles, consistent with a flat orientation of MG between the MoS(2) layers. However, as the MG coverage is increased, the SHG results indicate averaged MG orientations that are much more upright, consistent with the expulsion of excess MG from the layers to the outside of the restacked crystallites. Together with X-ray diffraction and adsorption isotherm data, our SHG results provide a model for the exfoliation, adsorption, and subsequent restacking of these MG-based inclusion materials and demonstrate the utility of nonlinear optical techniques as probes of these interesting layered structures.     

A logarithmic-quadratic proximal point scalarization method for multiobjective programming

We present a proximal point method to solve multiobjective programming problems based on the scalarization for maps. We build a family of convex scalar strict representations of a convex map F from R ⁿ   to  R ^m with respect to the lexicographic order on R ^m and we add a variant of the logarithmic-quadratic regularization of Auslender, where the unconstrained variables in the domain of F are introduced in the quadratic term. The nonegative variables employed in the scalarization are placed in the logarithmic term. We show that the central trajectory of the scalarized problem is bounded and converges to a weak pareto solution of the multiobjective optimization problem.