Observation and theoretical description of periodic geometric rearrangement in electronically excited nonstoichiometric sodium-fluoride clusters

We present two-color fs pump-probe spectra of Na2F which were recorded by employing excitation wavelengths around 1208 nm (pump) and ionization wavelengths around 405 nm (probe). The observed oscillatory structure of the signal with a period of 185 fs shows an excellent agreement with our simulated spectra. The employed ab initio Wigner distribution approach provides clear evidence that this observation is caused by photoinduced metal bond breaking followed by a butterfly-type periodic geometric rearrangement.     

Heteronuclear decoupling under fast MAS by a rotor-synchronized Hahn-echo pulse train

A new heteronuclear decoupling mechanism under fast magic-angle spinning MAS is introduced. It is based on refocusing the coherences responsible for the dephase of low-gamma nuclei ((13)C, (15)N) transverse spin-polarization in the presence of strongly dipolar-coupled protons, and has the advantage that can be implemented by pulsed techniques, with all the benefits resulting from a reduced duty cycle compared with conventional decoupling by continuous rf irradiation. The decoupling efficiency of a simple rotor-synchronized Hahn-echo pulse train is analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. It was found that a substantial improvement in sensitivity and resolution can be achieved in compounds with small (1)H chemical shielding parameters even at moderate sample spinning, and some interesting applications are shown. It is also shown that much faster spinning frequencies, or alternative refocusing sequences, are needed for applications on rigid organic solids, i.e., in systems with larger (1)H chemical shifts.     

Continuous separation of lipid particles from erythrocytes by means of laminar flow and acoustic standing wave forces

Improved continuous acoustic particle separation (separation efficiency close to 100%) and separation of erythrocytes (red blood cells) from lipid microemboli in whole blood is reported.     

Modeling tubulin at interfaces. Immobilization of microtubules on self-assembled monolayers

A theoretical study of protein docking to self-assembled monolayers using a new approach is presented. Docking experiments based on space complementarity implemented in FTDock software were performed for three different proteins: tubulin dimer, cytochrome c, and lysozyme. The proteins were adsorbed on alkanethiol surfaces with different terminating groups and 50,000 best orientations of each protein were analyzed. For all systems three filters based on different chemical and biological approaches were applied. Correctly docked proteins for the cytochrome c and lysozyme systems were found in a list of the first 12 results after applying the geometrical and grouping filter and in a list of the first 3 results after applying the biological filter. We have found that alkanethiol monolayers with odd and even numbers of -CH2- groups have similar properties in terms of interactions with the two proteins. Docking of the tubulin dimer revealed that the orientation favored from the applicational point of view can be found in a list of the first 14 results for monolayers with different terminating groups and that there may be a noticeable difference in tubulin dimer interactions with alkanethiol chains of various length. The results for tubulin dimer docking combined with microtubules ability of reversible assembly suggest that these biological structures may become good candidates to serve as templates for fabrication of nanowires and other nanoscale electronic devices. The new method of theoretical docking presented may be used as a fast and reliable tool complementing other theoretical and experimental techniques of exploring other protein-surface interfaces.     

Detection and characterization of structural changes in the hard-disk fluid under freezing and melting conditions

The fluid of two-dimensional hard disks is investigated over a range of densities by Monte Carlo simulations in order to detect and characterize structural changes which take place when the condition of freezing and melting is approached. A novel method is proposed based on the use of the Voronoi tessellation and a certain shape factor which turns out to be a clear indicator of the presence of different underlying substructures (domains). Close to the freezing condition the probability distribution of the shape factor develops a second distinct maximum corresponding to a predominant presence of near-regular hexagons, whereas the original peak, having its origin primarily in pentagons and distorted hexagons, diminishes and disappears at melting density.     

Sodium pyroxene NaTiSi2O6: possible haldane spin-1 chain system

Using a density functional approach, we study the structural and magnetic properties of the pyrox-ene compound NaTiSi2O6. While all previous workers are taking that NaTiSi2O6 is a quasi-one-dimensional S=1/2 system, our theoretical results indicate that this is a Haldane S=1 chain compound below the phase transition at 210 K. A good agreement is obtained between the calculated and the measured Ti-Ti distances in the dimerized low temperature phase. We present a simple explanation of the flow of the unusual phase transition which is taking place in this compound.     

提供恒定发光度的LED驱动器

图1所示电路的输出电流在1.2～1.5V的输入电压范围内几乎是恒定的,并对晶体管的增益变化不敏感.晶体管Q1和Q2组成一个非稳态触发器.R1和C确定Q2的导通时间.在Q2导通期间,Q1截止,Q1的基极电压和电感器L中的电流逐渐升高.当Q1的基极电压达到大约0.6V时,Q1导通,而Q2截止.这种转换在电感器L中引起"逆转"动作.电感器两端的电压极性相反,存储在电感器中的能量以下降的脉冲电流形式传送给LED.在逆转期间,LED两端的电压几乎是恒定的.     

Simultaneous, quantitative analysis of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine, UDP-glucose and UDP-galactose in human peripheral blood cells, muscle biopsies and cultured mesangial cells by capillary zone electrophoresis

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a capillary zone electrophoretic (CE) procedure for the accurate quantification of the UDP-hexosamines as well as for the corresponding UDP-hexoses in samples from various biological origins. Testing different buffer conditions, voltages, capillary dimensions and temperatures, optimal results were achieved with a 90 mM borate buffer, pH 9.0, at 18 degrees C and 15.5 kV in an uncoated fused-silica capillary of 50 cm x 50 microm and a detection wavelength of lambda = 262 nm. The total procedure, i.e., including variations of the sample preparation, showed coefficients of variation for the peak areas between 4. 1% and 10.4% in mesangial cells (n = 7) and between 7.8 and 10.3% (n = 6) in leukocytes for the components of interest. To improve precision, an internal standard was used for calibration. The limit of detection for all compounds is an absolute amount of 180 fmol, sufficient for the precise analysis of UDP-sugars in a limited amount of biological samples, such as human leukocytes (obtained from a 10 mL blood sample), muscle biopsies (< or = 100 mg), and mesangial kidney cells (ca. 2.5 x 10(5) cells). This reproducible, quantitative analysis of all four UDP-sugars from various biomedically relevant origins by CZE is a definite improvement over the generally used high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) procedures. The CZE method allows the study of the flux through the hexosamine pathway in diabetes mellitus and other diseases in a simple, quantitative and accurate way.