Systematic tracking of boundary layer aerosols with laser radar

Atmospheric aerosols exhibit a high degree of variability in their properties and their spatial and temporal distribution. Mapping atmospheric aerosols is of great importance for monitoring the effects of anthropogenic activities and natural processes upon local air quality, as well as for producing accurate input for radiative transfer models. To help enhance our understanding of radiative, physical, chemical, and dynamic processes in the atmosphere, laser radar is used to provide systematic monitoring of the temporal evolution of the aerosol rich boundary layer. The Micro Pulse Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) System is capable of long-term autonomous mapping of vertical aerosol structure. We present a new automated method for tracking boundary layer height from Micro Pulse Lidar data and show the results of this method for a continuous 16 h study conducted on the east coast of the United States.     

Pairing effects in the projected Hartree-Fock model

A technique introducing pairing correlations in the Projected Hartree-Fock model is described for a few f-p shell nuclei. It provides a good example of Marumori and Eichler's considerations on the importance of pairing in producing nuclear deformation.     

Unitary group decomposition of Hamiltonian operators. I. Structure and sizes in the Hartree-Fock basis

The extent to which the Hartree-Fock (HF) procedure converts a two-body interaction into an effective one-body operator has been studied. For this purpose, the nuclear Hamiltonian is classified according to its tensor properties under the unitary group U(N) and its direct-sum subgroup U(m) + U(N ? m) generated by the Hartree-Fock procedure. Here N is the total number of HF single particle states of which m are occupied. The sizes of different tensor parts in m-particle spaces have been determined for both U(N) and U(m) + U(N ? m). In terms of these sizes a ratio is defined which provides a measure of the conversion efficiency of HF and a global measure of the goodness of HF s.p. basis. This ratio is evaluated for N = Z even-even nuclei in 0d-1s shell and 0f-1p shell using realistic Hamiltonian operators.     

Multi-band spectra of odd and even nuclei of the s-d shell

The energy levels of^{21, 23}Na,^{22, 23}Ne,^{24, 28}Mg and^{25, 29}Al are obtained by mixing various bands using the projected deformed Hartree-Fock (DHF) method. Solutions having minimum energies are found to be prolate for all the nuclei considered here. Higher bands are obtained either by considering particle-hole excitations or oblate solutions. These various bands are mixed using the projection method and care has been taken to orthogonalize the bands. The interactions used in this study are those given by Kuo, Preedom-Wildenthal (PW) and WHMK interactions. The last one seems to give good results for most of the nuclei considered here. Not only are the lowest bands well-reproduced but the second lowest bands agree reasonably well in most nuclei. The third lowest ones obtained in some nuclei are not yet observed as complete bands. However, K obtained for the third band seems to be correct. A comparison with shell model calculations—which are numerically exhausting—shows similar results for the lowest band. However, the agreement of the second band varies from nucleus to nucleus. A comparison between matrix elements of the interactions is made to analyze the results.     

Clouding Behavior and Thermodynamic Study of Nonionic Surfactants in Presence of Additives

The present study investigates the effect of different additives on the cloud point (CP) of nonionic surfactants Triton X-100 (TX-100) and Triton X-114 (TX-114) in aqueous solutions. The thermodynamic parameters of these mixtures were calculated at different additive concentrations. The cloud point of nonionic surfactants TX-100 and TX-114 decreased with the increment of electrolyte concentrations and increased with alcohol concentrations. The standard Gibbs free energy was found to be positive for both the surfactants, whereas the enthalpy and the entropy of the clouding phenomenon were found to be positive with alcohols and negative with electrolytes. The overall clouding process was endothermic for alcohols and exothermic for electrolytes.     

Synthesis,characterization and ethylene polymerization by metallasilsesquioxane

Soluble complexes of group (IV) metallocenes anchored on a substituted polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane trisilanol support were prepared and characterized. These catalyst precursors formulated as [M(O^O^O)X] are found to be active in polymerization of ethylene at high temperature in combination with ethylaluminum sesquichloride (Et₃Al₂Cl_3, EASC) as co‐catalyst. The polyethylene obtained by these catalysts is linear, crystalline and displays narrow dispersity. The unique low molecular weight PE formed in this reaction exhibits properties comparable to commercial micronized PE waxes that have potential industrial applications in surface coating and ink formulations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measurements of positronium formation cross sections for positron-ar and-K scattering

We have made preliminary measurements of positronium (Ps) formation cross sections for 9 to 452 eV positrons scattered from Ar atoms and for 1 to 20 eV positrons scattered from K atoms. Our experimental approach involves setting lower and upper limits on Ps formation cross sections using a combination of (1) the detection of the coincidences of 511 keV annihilation gamma rays produced by the decay of para-Ps and by the interaction of ortho-Ps with the wall of the scattering cell in which the Ps is formed, and (2) the determination of scattering cross sections associated with the measured transmission of the positron beam through the gas in our scattering cell with the angular discrimination of our apparatus deliberately made as poor as possible. The constraints placed by these lower and upper limits are used to check for consistency with prior experimental and theoretical results for Ar and to provide the first measurements of Ps formation cross sections for K, which are compared with available theoretical results.     

IBA,macroscopic SU(3) and microscopic description of ground state bands in rotational nuclei

The number of bosons deduced from variational calculations of spectra and intrinsic mass quadrupole moments of heavy deformed nuclei are compared with predictions of IBA in the SU(3) limit. The differenct between the two suggest the need for including l > 2 bosons in IBA.     

Electron beam damage of chemisorbed surface species: A tunneling spectroscopy study

Electron beam damage is a problem for low-energy electron diffraction, Auger electron spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. We have used tunneling spectroscopy to study the damage caused by 30 keV incident electrons on chemisorbed monolayer films of hexanoic acid, 2,4-hexadienoic acid, and benzoic acid. Our results on monolayer films are compared to existing work on bulk samples. Damage cross sections are similar to bulk values; molecules with more delocalized electrons are more resistant to damage. In contrast to bulk results, however, we find little if any conjugation or cross linking after irradiation.     

Bridging across length scales: multi-scale ordering of supported lipid bilayers via lipoprotein self-assembly and surface patterning

We show that a two-step process, involving spontaneous self-assembly of lipids and apolipoproteins and surface patterning, produces single, supported lipid bilayers over two discrete and independently adjustable length scales. Specifically, an aqueous phase incubation of DMPC vesicles with purified apolipoprotein A-I results in the reconstitution of high density lipoprotein (rHDL), wherein nanoscale clusters of single lipid bilayers are corralled by the protein. Adsorption of these discoidal particles to clean hydrophilic glass (or silicon) followed by direct exposure to a spatial pattern of short-wavelength UV radiation directly produces microscopic patterns of nanostructured bilayers. Alternatively, simple incubation of aqueous phase rHDL with a chemically patterned hydrophilic/hydrophobic surface produces a novel compositional pattern, caused by an increased affinity for adsorption onto hydrophilic regions relative to the surrounding hydrophobic regions. Further, by simple chemical denaturation of the boundary protein, nanoscale compartmentalization can be selectively erased, thus producing patterns of laterally fluid, lipid bilayers structured solely at the mesoscopic length scale. Since these aqueous phase microarrays of nanostructured lipid bilayers allow for membrane proteins to be embedded within single nanoscale bilayer compartments, they present a viable means of generating high-density membrane protein arrays. Such a system would permit in-depth elucidation of membrane protein structure-function relationships and the consequences of membrane compartmentalization on lipid dynamics.