Magnetic anomalies in Gd2PdSi3

The results of ac and dc magnetic susceptibility, thermopower and Hall effect measurements of a compound, Gd₂PdSi₃, establish that this compound orders magnetically below T_n = 20 K. Though the ordering appears to be of an antiferromagnetic-type, the paramagnetic Curie temperature is positive with the magnitude being nearly the same as that of T_N, suggestive of the existence of ferromagnetic correlations. The thermopower at 300 K is large, apparently due to Pd 4d electrons, decreasing monotonically with temperature. There is a change in the sign of Hall constant well below T_N Also considering the observation of Kondo-like characteristics above 21K earlier by us, the overall thermal, transport and magnetic behaviour of this compound is interesting.     

Material damping under random excitation

The damping capacity of three materials subjected to narrow-band strain fluctuations is investigated, the material effectively undergoing sinusoidal strain with randomly varying amplitude. For this case, a theoretical relationship is established between the expected value of the energy dissipated per unit volume of the material per period of the narrow-band process and the r.m.s. value of the strain history. This is expressed in terms of material damping constants obtained from harmonic damping measurements. The theoretical relationship is checked against experimental results from narrow-band random experiments on three different materials over low and intermediate stress ranges. Good agreement is found.     

Chiral symmetry breaking parameters from QCD sum rules

We obtain new QCD sum rules by considering vacuum expectation values of two-point functions, taking all the five quark bilinears into account. These sum rules are employed to extract values of different chiral symmetry breaking parameters in QCD theory. We find masses of light quarks, $\text{m}\text{?}\text{=}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(m}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>u</mtext>}}\text{+m}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>d</mtext>}}\text{) = 8.4 ± 1.2}\text{MeV}\text{, m}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>s</mtext>}}\text{= 205 ± 65}\text{MeV}$. Further, we obtain corrections to certain soft pion (kaon) PCAC relations and the violation of SU(3) flavour symmetry by the non-strange and strange quark-antiquark vacuum condensate.     

Massive String Cosmology in Bianchi Type ⅢSpace-Time with Electromagnetic Field

Exact solution of Einstein＇s field equations is obtained for massive string cosmological model of Bianchi III space-time using the technique given by Letelier （1983） in presence of perfect fluid and electromagnetic field. To get the deterministic solution of the field equations the expansion 0 in the model is considered as proportional to the eigen value σ2^2of the shear tensor σi^j and also the fluid obeys the barotropic equation of state. It is observed that in early stage of the evolution of the universe string dominates over the particle whereas the universe is dominated by massive string at the late time. It is also observed that the string phase of the universe disappears in our model because particle density becomes negative. Some physical and geometric properties of the model are also discussed.     

Induction of Supramolecular Chirality in the Self‐Assemblies of Lipophilic Pyrimidine Derivatives by Choice of the Amino Acid‐Based Chiral Spacer

A new family of supramolecular organogelators, based on chiral amino acid derivatives of 2,4,6‐trichloro‐pyrimidine‐5‐carbaldehyde, has been synthesized. L ‐alanine was incorporated as a spacer between the pyrimidine core and long hydrocarbon tails to compare the effect of chirality and hydrogen bonding to that of the achiral analogue. The role of aromatic moiety on the chiral spacer was also investigated by introducing L ‐phenyl alanine moieties. The presence of intermolecular hydrogen‐bonding leading to the chiral self‐assembly was probed by concentration‐dependent FTIR and UV/Vis spectroscopies, in addition to circular dichroism (CD) studies. Temperature and concentration‐dependent CD spectroscopy ascribed to the formation of β‐sheet‐type H‐bonded networks. The morphology and the arrangements of the molecules in the freeze‐dried gels were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Calculation of the length of each molecular system by energy minimization in its extended conformation and comparison with the small‐angle XRD pattern reveals that this class of gelator molecules adopts a lamellar organization. Polarized optical microscopy (POM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicate that the solid state phase behavior of these molecules is totally dependent on the choice of their amino acid spacers. Structure‐induced aggregation properties based on the H‐bonding motifs and the packing of the molecule in three dimensions leading to gelation was elucidated by rheological studies. However, viscoelasticity was shown to depend only marginally on the H‐bonding interactions; rather it depends on the packing of the gelators to a greater extent.     

A survey of simulated annealing as a tool for single and multiobjective optimization

This paper presents a comprehensive review of simulated annealing (SA)-based optimization algorithms. SA-based algorithms solve single and multiobjective optimization problems, where a desired global minimum/maximum is hidden among many local minima/maxima. Three single objective optimization algorithms (SA, SA with tabu search and CSA) and five multiobjective optimization algorithms (SMOSA, UMOSA, PSA, WDMOSA and PDMOSA) based on SA have been presented. The algorithms are briefly discussed and are compared. The key step of SA is probability calculation, which involves building the annealing schedule. Annealing schedule is discussed briefly. Computational results and suggestions to improve the performance of SA-based multiobjective algorithms are presented. Finally, future research in the area of SA is suggested.     

Synthesis and fluorescence properties of new fluorescent, polymerizable, metal-chelating lipids

Liposomes incorporating fluorescent, metal-chelating lipids find applications in molecular recognition of peptides, 2D protein recrystallization, protein targeting, and biological sensing. It would be advantageous to combine the usefulness of polymerizable, metal-chelating lipids and fluorescent lipids. Herein, we report the synthesis and fluorescence properties of several fluorescent, polymerizable, metal-chelating lipids. They have been successfully incorporated into liposomes and then polymerized. These lipids can be used as membrane probes to study the polymerizable liposomes in the unpolymerized state and to investigate lipid redistribution during polymerization. In addition, if a luminescent metal ion (e.g., Eu(3+), Tb(3+), etc.) is used to complex the headgroup, the lipids can probe the membrane interior and exterior simultaneously.     

Distance and exposure dependent effective dielectric function

In an effort to develop a dielectric screening function for molecular dynamics simulations of biomolecules in implicit solvent, effective dielectric constants (D(eff)) for a large number of atom pairs in a typical globular protein are calculated by continuum electrostatics. Plots of D(eff) versus the intercharge distance are in general sigmoidal with the characteristics of the curve depending on the distance of the two charges from the dielectric boundary and, secondarily, on the extent to which the area surrounding each charge is occupied by solvent (the "exposure"). The D(eff) values were fitted to an empirical, analytical function of these parameters that reproduces the data reasonably well, although considerable scatter exists in the range of D(eff) from 30 to 80. In the system used for parameterization, the mean square deviation of electrostatic interaction energies with this function is 0.48 kcal/mol, compared to 1.45 for an analytical Generalized Born model and 1.52 for the linear distance-dependent dielectric model. When tested in other proteins of varying size and compactness, the present function is superior to both of the above models, except for a fully unfolded polypeptide chain, where the Generalized Born model is superior.     

Mineral supported syntheses of benzoxazine-2-thiones under microwave irradiation

An original montmorillonite K-10 clay catalysed cycloisomerisation of salicylaldehyde 4-arylthiosemicarbazones yields 3,4-dihydro-4-hydrazino-2H-benz[e]-1,3-oxazine-2-thiones, which on reductive dehydrazination on alumina-supported copper(II) sulfate readily furnish 3,4-dihydro-2H-benz[e]-1,3-oxazine-2-thiones under solvent-free microwave irradiation. Under the same conditions salicylaldehyde thiosemicarbazones undergo cyclodehydrazination to yield 2H-benz[e]-1,3-oxazine-2-thiones.