Superdeformation in144Eu

A ridge has been found in a - coincidence matrix obtained from the reaction¹²²Sn(²⁷Al,5n)¹⁴⁴Euat 142 MeV.The half-width of the valley is 59 keV,which is similar to the energy spacings in the superdeformed bands in ¹⁴³Euand ¹⁴²Sm.This indicates the existence of superdeformed bands in ¹⁴⁴Eu.This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and AECL Research. We thank the crew and staff at TASCC for supplying the beams, and Dr.R.A.Wyss for use of the CSM and TRS codes.     

A unified analysis for a class of long-step primal-dual path-following interior-point algorithms for semidefinite programming

We present a unified analysis for a class of long-step primal-dual path-following algorithms for semidefinite programming whose search directions are obtained through linearization of the symmetrized equation of the central pathH _P (XS) [PXSP ^–1 + (PXSP ^–1) ^T ]/2 = I, introduced by Zhang. At an iterate (X,S), we choose a scaling matrixP from the class of nonsingular matricesP such thatPXSP ^–1 is symmetric. This class of matrices includes the three well-known choices, namely:P = S ^1/2 andP = X ^–1/2 proposed by Monteiro, and the matrixP corresponding to the Nesterov—Todd direction. We show that within the class of algorithms studied in this paper, the one based on the Nesterov—Todd direction has the lowest possible iteration-complexity bound that can provably be derived from our analysis. More specifically, its iteration-complexity bound is of the same order as that of the corresponding long-step primal-dual path-following algorithm for linear programming introduced by Kojima, Mizuno and Yoshise. © 1998 The Mathematical Programming Society, Inc. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.Corresponding author.This author's research is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grants INT-9600343 and CCR-9700448 and the Office of Naval Research under grant N00014-94-1-0340.This author's research was supported in part by DOE DE-FG02-93ER25171-A001.     

Injectable peptide-based hydrogel formulations for the extended in vivo release of opioids

To overcome drawbacks related to repeated opioid administration during the treatment of chronic pain, several controlled-drug delivery systems of opioids have been designed. In order to address some of the limitations of the existing systems, injectable peptide-based hydrogels represent a promising alternative. This work reports on the design and synthesis of short amphipathic peptide-based hydrogels as controlled-drug delivery systems for opioids. Based on the lead sequence H-FEFQFK-NH₂, a new set of peptide hydrogelators was designed including β-homo and d-amino acids, mainly aiming at enhancing proteolytic resistance of the peptides, and which hypothetically allows an extension of the drug release period. After self-assembly in aqueous media, the resulting hydrogels were characterized by dynamic rheometry, cryogenic transmission electronic microscopy and their cytotoxicity was assessed. The cryoTEM images of drug loaded hydrogels show the association of microcrystals of the loaded drug along the axes of the fibres, suggesting that the peptide fibres play a key-role as nucleating site for the drug crystals. Hydrogelators devoid of cytotoxicity were considered for further in vivo evaluation. Upon encapsulation of morphine and 14-methoxymetopon, two opioid analgesics, the applicability of the peptide hydrogels as controlled-drug delivery platforms was validated in vivo using the mouse tail-flick test. A sustained antinociceptive effect was observed after subcutaneous injection of the drug loaded gels and, in comparison with the lead sequence H-FEFQFK-NH₂, novel sequences revealed extension of the in vivo antinociception up to 72–96 h post injection.     

High-spin states in the A= 39 mirror nuclei 39Ca and 39K

High-spin states of the mass A= 39 mirror pair ³⁹K and ³⁹Ca were investigated via the fusion-evaporation reaction ²⁸Si +¹⁶O at 125 MeV beam energy. The Gammasphere array in conjunction with the 4π charged-particle detector array Microball and neutron detectors was used to detect γ rays in coincidence with evaporated light particles. The results of the first high-spin study of the T _z=−1/2 nucleus ³⁹Ca are discussed in terms of mirror symmetry and compared to spherical shell-model calculations in the 1d _3/2–; 1f _7/2 configuration space. Received: 18 August 1999     

A kinetic study of the reactions of 2-propyl radicals in the liquid phase in the presence and absence of oxygen

2-Propyl radicals have been generated from the photolysis of solutions of 2,2-azopropane and 2,4-dimethyl-3-pentanone in decane in a glass and a metal cell. The time course of their reactions in the presence and absence of oxygen has been monitored between 323 and 373 K. The primary process involves the formation of solvent-caged radical pairs, two 2-propyl radicals and a 2-propyl and a 2-methylpropanoyl radical from the azo and ketone precursors, respectively. Subsequently these radicals are partitioned between cage escape and dimerization and disproportionation within the cage. In oxygenated solution the free 2-propyl radicals are effectively trapped as 2-propylperoxyl radicals. However, oxygen does not react with the solvent-caged radicals. This leads to a major difference in the hydrocarbon products from the two precursors. 2,2′-Azopropane gives propane, propene, and 2,3-dimethylbutane from the start of the reaction whereas the ketone only gives propene. Following the depletion of oxygen or in the absence of oxygen, both precursors behave analogously and give all three hydrocarbons. The 2-propylperoxyl radicals undergo self-reaction and hydrogen abstraction from the solvent to give 2-propanol, propanone, and 2-propyl hydroperoxide and, under conditions of low oxygen concentration, by reaction with 2-propyl radicals they give 2,2′-dipropylperoxide. Although the two cells lead to different overall rates of reaction, the relative rates and product distributions are unaffected by the cell design. A unified mechanism is described and the known and best estimates of rate constants for the individual steps are used to simulate the time dependence of the product yields from the photolysis of both precursors. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The reaction of acrolein with acetylperoxyl radicals in the gas‐phase

A rate constant for the epoxidation of acrolein by acetylperoxyl radicals has been determined to be k₄ = (1.3 ± 0.9) × 10⁴ dm³mol⁻¹s⁻¹ at 383 K, which is anomalously fast in comparison with the epoxidation of alkenes. Abstraction of the acyl hydrogen atom from acrolein by acetylperoxyl radicals at 393 K was found to be at least 60 times slower than from acetaldehyde and at least three orders of magnitude slower than abstraction of the acyl hydrogen atom of the epoxide of acrolein. The fast rate for epoxidation of acrolein and the slow rate for hydrogen abstraction provide an explanation for the anomalously slow rate for the autoxidation of acrolein and suggests that acrolein formed during the autoxidation of alkene will react further to give its epoxide, and not exclusively by abstraction of the acyl hydrogen atom as was previously accepted. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Int J Chem Kinet 31: 277–282, 1999     

Evidence for a nuclear phase transition in target nuclei after relativistic nuclear interactions

The degree of excitation of the emulsion target nuclei due to nuclear interactions of oxygen and sulfur projectiles at 200 GeV/nucleon incident energy has been investigated. Using the plausible assumption that the numberN _b of slow particles emitted from the struck target nucleus can be interpreted as a measure of the temperatureT of the residual nucleus, we have found that there exists a critical temperatureT _c of the excited target nucleus. For Ag and Br target nuclei this temperature corresponds to <N _b>≌12 and it is attained when the impact parameters are less than about 4 fm.     

Phase space dependence of the correlations among particles produced in high energy nuclear collisions

The fluctuations of produced particles are investigated in central collisions of proton, oxygen and sulphur projectiles with (Ag,Br) target nuclei at 200 GeV per nucleon. The analysis is carried out in terms of factorial moments and correlation integrals in different pseudorapidity regions. Evidence is found for nonstatistical fluctuations. These fluctuations depend weakly on the phase space, although a slightly stronger effect is seen in the forward pseudorapidity region. The dependence of the observed effect on the mass of the projectile particle disagrees with the expectations of superposition models. The results of this analysis indicate that a self-similar cascade process is the origin of the fluctuations, even though the association of the observed effect with the occurence of a second order phase transition cannot be definitely ruled out.