Micromegas prototypes with thermo-bond film separators

In this paper we report the results of Micromegas prototypes constructed by attaching micromesh to an anode using thermo-bond films. The excellent metal attaching ability and good dielectical property of this kind of film make it a promising material to be used as avalanche gap spacers. Several prototypes are successfully made. The electron transmission properties are first studied and then the gas gain is measured in argon-isobutane mixtures. The maximum gain of more than 10⁴ is easily obtained. The energy resolutions for ⁵⁵Fe 5.9 keV K_α ray can be better than 20% over one magnitude in gain for different operational gas mixtures and the best energy resolution of 13.7% (FWHM) can be achieved with the gas mixture of 94% argon concentration. The preliminary test results of the prototypes with sensitive area of 45 mm×45 mm without internal support show good uniformity across the sensitive area.     

Glycine Substitution Effects on the Supramolecular Morphology and Rigidity of Cell-Adhesive Amphiphilic Peptides

Self-assembling peptides that are capable of adopting β-sheet structures can generate nanofibers that lead to hydrogel formation. Herein, to tune the supramolecular morphologies, mechanical properties, and stimuli responses of the hydrogels, we investigated glycine substitution in a β-sheet-forming amphiphilic peptide. Glycine substitution generally enhances conformational flexibility. Indeed, glycine substitution in an amphiphilic peptide weakened the hydrogels or even inhibited the gelation. However, unexpectedly, glycine substitution at the center of the peptide molecule significantly enhanced the hydrogel stiffness. The central glycine substitution affected the molecular packing and led to twisted β-sheet structures and to nanofiber bundling, which likely led to the stiffened hydrogel. Importantly, the supramolecular structures were accurately predicted by molecular dynamics simulations, demonstrating the helpfulness of these techniques for the identification of self-assembling peptides. The hydrogel formed by the amphiphilic peptide with the central glycine substitution had cell adhesive function, and showed a reversible thermal gel-to-sol transition. Thus, glycine substitution is effective in modulating self-assembling structures, rheological properties, and dynamics of biofunctional self-assembling peptides.     

Ideal class groups and their subgroups of real quadratic fields

A necessary and sufficient condition is given for the ideal class group H(m) of a real quadratic field Q (√m) to contain a cyclic subgroup of ordern. Some criteria satisfying the condition are also obtained. And eight types of such fields are proved to have this property, e.g. fields withm=(z ⁿ +t−1)²+4t(witht|z ⁿ −1), which contains the well-known fields withm=4z ⁿ +1 andm=4z ²ⁿ +4 as special cases. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Constituents of regenerated plants of Ophiorrhiza pumila; formation of a new glycocamptothecin and predominant formation of (3R)-deoxypumiloside over (3S)-congener

The regeneration of plantlets was successful from Ophiorrhiza pumila callus cultures, from which a new glucosyloxy camptothecin, 9-β-glucosyloxycamptothecin, together with 15 metabolites including six camptothecin-related alkaloids was isolated. (3S)-Deoxypumiloside, one of the plausible biogenetic precursors of camptothecin, could not be found, whereas the (3R) epimer was isolated from the regenerated plants.     

An optical rotatory detector for high-performance liquid chromatography using polarization modulation.

A sensitive and variable-wavelength optical rotatory (OR) detector for high-performance liquid chromatography is presented. This design is entirely different from that of conventional OR detectors consisting of a crossed polarizer pair. By placing a polarizing prism and a retardation plate into a commercial circular dichroism (CD) detector, the OR signal was obtained. The Mueller matrix approach was used to prove the principle of the OR signal appearance. Sugars and 4-androstene-3,17-dione were chosen as test compounds. The limit of detection was below 0.5 microg of injected sucrose at 260 nm, which was superior to that obtained with a conventional OR detector. For 4-androstene-3,17-dione, which is CD active, and shows a large anomalous OR dispersion curve, our detector gave a large OR signal with approximately half the intensity of the CD signal at 340 nm.     

Demonstration of a recombined Fabry-Perot-Michelson interferometer with suspended mirrors

We describe preliminary experimental results concerning the operation of a 3 m arm-length Michelson interferometer with two Fabry-Perot cavities whose mirrors and beam splitter are suspended independently by wires. The reflected light beams from the two Fabry-Perot cavities are recombined to obtain interference at a photo-detector; this scheme is necessary for future power-recycled laser interferometers used to detect gravitational waves. The fundamental properties of the interferometer are presented, including the power spectral density of the displacement noise.     

Acyclic stereocontrol by heteroconjugate addition — 3 : Diastereoselective synthesis of either syn or anti diastereoisomer

A stereoselective synthesis of both syn- and anti-diastereoisomers (3 and 4) was established by a method involving heteroconjugate addition, as the key step, with various nucleophiles such as alkoxyvinyllithiums which can be functionalized after the addition. Two examples with aliphatic and carboxylic groups are demonstrated in high specificity.     

The modularity of some Q-curves

A Q-curve is an elliptic curve, defined over a number field, that is isogenous to each of its Galois conjugates. Ribet showed that Serre's conjectures imply that such curves should be modular. Let E be an elliptic curve defined over a quadratic field such that E is 3-isogenous to its Galois conjugate. We give an algorithm for proving any such E is modular and give an explicit example involving a quotient of J_o (169). As a by-product, we obtain a pair of 19-isogenous elliptic curves, and relate this to the existence of a rational point of order 19 on J₁ (13).     

Microwave-enhanced reaction rates for nanoparticle synthesis

Microwave reactor methodologies are unique in their ability to be scaled-up without suffering thermal gradient effects, providing a potentially industrially important improvement in nanocrystal synthetic methodology over convective methods. Synthesis of high-quality, near monodispersity nanoscale InGaP, InP, and CdSe have been prepared via direct microwave heating of the molecular precursors rather than convective heating of the solvent. Microwave dielectric heating not only enhances the rate of formation, it also enhances the material quality and size distributions. The reaction rates are influenced by the microwave field and by additives. The final quality of the microwave-generated materials depends on the reactant choice, the applied power, the reaction time, and temperature. CdSe nanocrystals prepared in the presence of a strong microwave absorber exhibit sharp excitonic features and a QY of 68% for microwave-grown materials. InGaP and InP are rapidly formed at 280 degrees C in minutes, yielding clean reactions and monodisperse size distributions that require no size-selective precipitation and result in the highest out of batch quantum efficiency reported to date of 15% prior to chemical etching. The use of microwave (MW) methodology is readily scalable to larger reaction volumes, allows faster reaction times, removes the need for high-temperature injection, and suggests a specific microwave effect may be present in these reactions.