Spectral Properties of Thioflavin T and Its Complexes with Amyloid Fibrils

Comparative analysis of the absorption and fluorescence spectra and fluorescence excitation spectra of thioflavin T (ThT) in various solvents and in the composition of amyloid fibrils has shown that ThT, when excited in the region of the long-wavelength absorption band, fluoresces in the spectral region with a maximum at 478–484 nm. The appearance in aqueous and alcohol solutions of a fluorescence band with a maximum near 440 nm has been attributed to the presence in the composition of the ThT preparations of an impurity with an absorption band in the 340–350-nm range. The literature data showing that in glycerol ThT has a wide fluorescence spectrum with two maxima are due to the artifact connected with the use of a high concentration of the dye. It has been suggested that the cause of the low quantum yield of ThT aqueous and alcohol solutions is the breakage of the system of conjugated bonds due to the reorientation of the benzothiozole and benzaminic rings of ThT in the excited state with respect to one another. The main factor determining the high quantum yield of fluorescence of ThT incorporated in fibrils is the steric restriction of the rotation of the rings about one another under these conditions. The suggestions made have been verified by the quantum-chemical calculation of the ThT molecule geometry in the ground and excited states.     

High-order harmonic generation with a strong laser field and an attosecond-pulse train: The Dirac-Delta comb and monochromatic limits

In recent publications, it has been shown that high-order harmonic generation can be manipulated by employing a time delayed attosecond-pulse train superposed to a strong, near-infrared laser field. It is an open question, however, which is the most adequate way to approximate the attosecond-pulse train in a semianalytic framework. Employing the strong-field approximation and saddle-point methods, we make a detailed assessment of the spectra obtained by modeling the attosecond-pulse train by either a monochromatic wave or a Dirac-Delta comb. These are the two extreme limits of a real train, which is composed by a finite set of harmonics. Specifically, in the monochromatic limit, we find the downhill and uphill sets of orbits reported in the literature, and analyze their influence on the high-harmonic spectra. We show that, in principle, the downhill trajectories lead to stronger harmonics, and pronounced enhancements in the low plateau region. These features are analyzed in terms of quantum interference effects between pairs of quantum orbits, and compared to those obtained in the Dirac-Delta limit.     

Polarization dynamics of longitudinally monomode bipolarized microchip solid-state lasers

This paper is devoted to the polarization dynamics of a longitudinally monomode bipolarized Nd:YAG laser: the low-frequency polarization dynamics of a microchip laser is studied experimentally and theoretically. The intensities and the relaxation oscillation spectrum of orthogonally polarized modes versus the direction of pump polarization is observed. A phase-sensitive model of a longitudinally monomode bipolarized solid-state laser with linear polarized diode laser pump is developed to account for the experimental observations.     

Modification of silica gels with small admixtures of titanium ions

Microporous silica gels containing small amounts of titanium ions are synthesized. Addition of Ti ions to the silica gels during the sol-forming step is demonstrated to increase the specific surface area and decrease the volume of sorptive pores. Spectral results indicate that Ti ions uniformly distribute in the silica gel matrix and isomorphously replace Si.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2217–2222, October, 1991.     

Using Inquiry to Improve Pedagogy through K‐12/University Partnerships

This article focuses on the impact a collaborative project between university graduate fellows and K‐12 classroom teachers had on improved pedagogy in the classroom and in the future at the university. Nine teams participated in a yearlong professional development project to improve pedagogy and communication skills of the participants. This study shows that the participants, the fellows and the K‐12 teacher partners, made changes in planning, implementation, and even motivation for using inquiry‐based methods in their classroom. External observations of the teams further support the individuals' claims of improved pedagogy using inquiry and impact on student conceptual understanding. The Horizon Classroom Observation instrument was used for these observations. The teams showed an overall increase in scores, as well as overall effective and exemplarily implementation of their planning. The program design, the implementation, and the results of this three‐year study will be elaborated in this article.     

Zero bias anomaly in the density of states of low-dimensional metals

We consider the effect of Coulomb interactions on the average density of states (DOS) of disordered low-dimensional metals for temperatures T and frequencies ω smaller than the inverse elastic life-time 1/τ. Using the fact that long-range Coulomb interactions in two dimensions (2d) generate ln²-singularities in the DOS ν(ω) but only ln-singularities in the conductivity σ(ω), we can re-sum the most singular contributions to the average DOS via a simple gauge-transformation. If σ(ω) > 0, then a metallic Coulomb gapν(ω) ∝ |ω|/e ⁴ appears in the DOS at T = 0 for frequencies below a certain crossover frequency Ω ₂ which depends on the value of the DC conductivity σ(0). Here, - e is the charge of the electron. Naively adopting the same procedure to calculate the DOS in quasi 1d metals, we find ν(ω) ∝ (|ω|/Ω ₁)^1/2exp(- Ω ₁/|ω|) at T = 0, where Ω ₁ is some interaction-dependent frequency scale. However, we argue that in quasi 1d the above gauge-transformation method is on less firm grounds than in 2d. We also discuss the behavior of the DOS at finite temperatures and give numerical results for the expected tunneling conductance that can be compared with experiments. Received 28 August 2001 / Received in final form 28 January 2002 Published online 9 July 2002     

On-line detection of fatigue cracks using an automatic mode tracking technique

Experimental fatigue tests usually require large testing times. In addition to the resulting increased time-to-market, the large fatigue test time also implies that any structural health monitoring technique that is used should be automatic. When using the modal parameters as damage indicators, an important amount of user interaction is still needed to separate physical poles from computational ones. In this paper, an experimental framework will be developed to automatically track the health of the structure on-line with the performance of fatigue tests. The modal parameters are tracked using a combination of the maximum likelihood estimator and an auto-regressive model. Since confidence levels on the modal parameter are available it is possible to detect if damage is present. In addition, the quasi-static stiffness with computed confidence levels is also used as a damage indicator. The proposed techniques are demonstrated on a steel beam with a propagating fatigue crack.