Shape transition from InAs quantum dash to quantum dot on InP(3 1 1)A

We report on the shape transition from InAs quantum dashes to quantum dots (QDs) on lattice-matched GaInAsP on InP(3 1 1)A substrates. InAs quantum dashes develop during chemical-beam epitaxy of 3.2 monolayers InAs, which transform into round InAs QDs by introducing a growth interruption without arsenic flux after InAs deposition. The shape transition is solely attributed to surface properties, i.e., increase of the surface energy and symmetry under arsenic deficient conditions. The round QD shape is maintained during subsequent GaInAsP overgrowth because the reversed shape transition from dot to dash is kinetically hindered by the decreased ad-atom diffusion under arsenic flux.     

FTIR spectroscopic study on the interaction between a fluoroionophore and metal ions.

A fluoroionophore sensor, N-[4-(1-pyrene)butyroyl]-L-tryptophan (PLT), has been reported. It can distinguish lead ion from other 12 metal ions via forming a pyrene dimer and it exhibits a very high sensitivity (0.15 microM) in aqueous solution (Chem. Commun., 2006, 2702). When the indole moiety in PLT was changed to benzene, in forming a new fluoroionophore of N-[4-(1-pyrene)butyroyl]-L-phenylalanine (PLP), it could not form a pyrene dimer in response to Pb(2+) in water. The present study describes the spectroscopic clarification of the intrinsic differences of the binding model between PLP and PLT in binding with Pb(2+). The model shows identical chelating bidentate coordination between COO(-) and Pb(2+) both in PLP-Pb and PLT-Pb; however, there is no indication of the interaction between the phenyl ring and the metal ion or the hydrogen bonding between amide groups in PLP-Pb. These differences in the binding model between PLP-Pb and PLT-Pb illustrate that the indole ring in PLT appears to play a crucial role in the high selectivity and sensitivity of PLT to lead(II) ion.     

Adaptive local grid refinement algorithms for finite-element collocation

An adaptive grid refinement procedure allows accurate solutions to advection-dominated, time-dependent flows using finite-element collocation. The technique relies on a data structure that is readily amenable to parallel computing. The paper discusses computational aspects of the method.     

On the excitation of a closely spaced array by a line source

An infinite row of periodically spaced, identical rigid circularcylinders is excited by an acoustic line source which is parallelto the generators of the cylinders. A method for calculatingthe scattered field accurately and efficiently is presented.When the cylinders are sufficiently close together, Rayleigh–Blochsurface waves that propagate energy to infinity along the arrayare excited. An expression is derived which enables the amplitudesof these surface waves to be computed without requiring thesolution to the full scattering problem.     

Effect of the Electron-LO-Phonon Coupling on an Exciton Quantum Dot

The influence of the electron-LO-phonon coupling on energy spectrum of the low-lying states ofan exciton inparabolic quantum dots is investigated as a function of dot size. Calculations are made by using the method of few-bodyphysics within the effective-mass approximation. A considerable decrease of the energy in the stronger confinement rangeis found for the low-lying states of an exciton in quantum dots, which results from the confinement of electron-phononcoupling.     

Isothermal crystallization kinetics of poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate)/layered double hydroxide nanocomposites

Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) (PHB)/layered double hydroxides (LDHs) nanocomposites were prepared by mixing PHB and poly(ethylene glycol) phosphonates (PEOPAs)‐modified LDH (PMLDH) in chloroform solution. Both X‐ray diffraction data and TEM micrographs of PHB/PMLDH nanocomposites indicate that the PMLDHs are randomly dispersed and exfoliated into the PHB matrix. In this study, the effect of PMLDH on the isothermal crystallization behavior of PHB was investigated using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy. Isothermal crystallization results of PHB/PMLDH nanocomposites show that the addition of 2 wt % PMLDH into PHB induced more heterogeneous nucleation in the crystallization significantly increasing the crystallization rate and reducing their activation energy. By adding more PMLDH into the PHB probably causes more steric hindrance of the diffusion of PHB, reducing the transportation ability of polymer chains during crystallization, thus increasing the activation energy. The correlation among crystallization kinetics, melting behavior and crystalline structure of PHB/PMLDH nanocomposites can also be discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 3337–3347, 2006     

Isoelectric focusing sample injection for capillary zone electrophoresis in a fused silica capillary.

An improvement has been made to couple isoelectric focusing (IEF) sample injection and capillary zone electrophoresis in an untreated fused silica capillary. Electroosmotic flow is efficiently prevented by simply using a rubber block at the outlet end of the capillary during IEF sample injection. The experimental conditions that affect the concentration effect are discussed. A concentration enhancement factor of over 100-fold can be easily obtained for two model proteins: lysozyme and ribonuclease A.     

Reductions in overshoot following intense sound exposures

Overshoot refers to the poorer detectability of brief signals presented soon after the onset of a masking noise compared to those presented after longer delays. In the present experiment, brief tonal signals were presented 2 or 190 ms following the onset of a broadband masker that was 200 ms in duration. These two conditions of signal delay were tested before and after a series of exposures to a tone intense enough to induce temporary threshold shift (TTS). The magnitude of the overshoot was reduced after the exposure when a TTS of at least 10 dB was induced, but not when smaller amounts of TTS were induced. The reduction in overshoot was due to a decrease in the masked thresholds with the 2-ms delay; masked thresholds with the 190-ms delay were not different pre- and post-exposure. The implication is that the mechanisms responsible for the normal overshoot effect are temporarily inactivated by the same stimulus manipulations that produce a mild exposure-induced hearing loss. Thus the result is the paradox that exposure to intense sounds can produce a loss of signal detectability in certain stimulus conditions and a simultaneous improvement in detectability in other stimulus conditions.     

Order conditions for linearly implicit fractional step Runge Kutta methods

^{In this paper, we study the consistency of a variant of fractionalstep Runge–Kutta methods. These methods are designed tointegrate efficiently semi-linear multidimensional parabolicproblems by means of linearly implicit time integration processes.Such time discretization procedures are also related to a splittingof the space differential operator (or the spatial discretizationof it) as a sum of ‘simpler’ linear differentialoperators and a nonlinear term.}