Sensitivity of DNA Sensors in the Presence of Charged Ligands

Factors that influence both the thermodynamics of hybridization and the stability of the DNA–DNA duplexes are analyzed. The noncompetitive DNA hybridization cases in the presence of mono- and bivalent positively charged ligands have been investigated and the comparison is made with the case of uncharged ligands. It has been shown that the charged ligands enhance the sensitivity of the DNA chips as compared with the uncharged ones.     

Calculations of molecular multipole electric moments of a series of exo-insaturated four-membered heterocycles,Y = CCH2CH2X

The influence of ring puckering angle on the multipole moments of sixteen four-membered heterocycles (1-16) was theoretically estimated using MP2 and different DFTs in combination with the 6-31+G(d,p) basis set. To obtain an accurate evaluation, CCSD/cc-pVDZ level and, the MP2 and PBE1PBE methods in combination with the aug-cc-pVDZ and aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets were performed on the planar geometries of 1-16. In general, the DFT and MP2 approaches provided an identical dependence of the electrical properties with the puckering angle for 1-16. Quantitatively, the quality of the level of theory and basis sets affects significant the predictions of the multipole moments, in particular for the heterocycles containing C=O and C=S bonds. Convergence basis sets within the MP2 and PBE1PBE approximations are reached in the dipole moment calculations when the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set is used, while the quadrupole and octupole moment computations require a larger basis set than aug-cc-pVTZ. On the other hand, the multipole moments showed a strong dependence with the molecular geometry and the nature of the carbon-heteroatom bonds. Specifically, the C-X bond determines the behavior of the μ(?), θ(?) and ?(?) functions, while the C=Y bond plays an important role in the magnitude of the studied properties.     

Preference of sensory neural coding for 1/f signals

We investigated the influences of different types of temporal correlations in the input signal on the functions and coding properties of neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1). We found that the temporal transfer functions of V1 neurons exhibit higher gain, and the spike responses exhibit higher coding efficiency and information transmission rates, for the 1/f (natural long-term correlation) signals than for 1/f(0) (no correlation) and 1/f(2) (stronger long-term correlation) signals. These results suggest that the intermediate long-term correlation ubiquitous to natural signals may play an important role in shaping and optimizing the machinery of neurons in their adaptation to the natural environment.     

InN thin film lattice dynamics by grazing incidence inelastic x-ray scattering

Achieving comprehensive information on thin film lattice dynamics so far has eluded well established spectroscopic techniques. We demonstrate here the novel application of grazing incidence inelastic x-ray scattering combined with ab initio calculations to determine the complete elastic stiffness tensor, the acoustic and low-energy optic phonon dispersion relations of thin wurtzite indium nitride films. Indium nitride is an especially relevant example, due to the technological interest for optoelectronic and solar cell applications in combination with other group III nitrides.     

Wavelength tuning in Er3+,Yb3+:glass microchip lasers

The paper presents the investigation results of laser generation around 1.5 μm at different wavelengths. The shifts of the wavelength were achieved by the change of pump power, transmission of an output mirror, and length of an active medium. Mathematical analysis and explanation of this phenomenon was curried out on the basis of the change in relation between the gain and loss lines.     

Surgery of Spline-type and Molecular Frames

We prove a result about producing new frames for general spline-type spaces by piecing together portions of known frames. Using spline-type spaces as models for the range of certain integral transforms, we obtain results for time-frequency decompositions and sampling.     

Synthesis,spectroscopic properties and DFT study of (E)-1-[(3-(trifluoromethyl)phenylimino)methyl]naphthalen-2-olate

The Schiff base (E)-1-[(3-(trifluoromethyl)phenylimino)methyl]naphthalen-2-olate was synthesized from the reaction of 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde with 3-trifluoromethylaniline. The title compound has been characterized by FT-IR, UV-vis and X-ray single-crystal techniques. The present X-ray investigation shows that the compound exists in the zwitterionic form. Molecular geometry of the compound in the ground state have been calculated using the density functional method (DFT) with 6-31G(d,p) basis set and compared with the experimental data. The calculated results show that the optimized geometry can well reproduce the crystal structural parameters. By using TD-DFT method electronic absorption spectra of the compound have been predicted and a good agreement with the TD-DFT method and experimental one is determined. In addition DFT calculations of the compound, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), frontier molecular orbital analysis (HOMO-LUMO) and non-linear optical (NLO) properties were performed at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p).