Thermodynamic property values of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons measured by differential scanning calorimetry

In this study, the use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is demonstrated as a powerful technique that can provide accurate thermodynamic property values of environmental contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In total, 47 high purity PAH certified reference materials were selected and analysed by DSC. Their onset melting temperature, enthalpy of fusion and eutectic purity were calculated from the obtained melting endotherms. In addition, the entropy of fusion, which was calculated from the onset melting temperature and enthalpy of fusion, is presented. All measurements were evaluated in a metrologically rigorous manner, including measurement uncertainties.     

Photobleaching on Photonic Crystal Enhanced Fluorescence Surfaces

The effect of resonant fluorescent enhancement from a photonic crystal surface upon the fluorescent photobleaching rate of Cyanine-5 labeled protein has been investigated. We show that the enhanced excitation mechanism for photonic crystal enhanced fluorescence, in which the device surface resonantly couples light from an excitation laser, accelerates photobleaching in proportion to the coupling efficiency of the laser to the photonic crystal. We also show that the enhanced extraction mechanism, in which the photonic crystal directs emitted photons approximately normal to the surface, does not play a role in the rate of photobleaching. We show that the photobleaching rate of dye molecules on the photonic crystal surface is accelerated by 30x compared to an ordinary glass surface, but substantial signal gain is still evident, even after extended periods of continuous illumination at the resonant condition.     

The Ubiquity of the Orders of Fractional Semifields of Even Characteristic

To each non-square integer \(2^{2N+1}\ge 2^5\) there correspond semifields \(D\) of order of \(2^{2N+1}\) that contain \(\text{ GF}(4)\) . Hence there exist affine planes for each non-square order \(2^{2N+1}\ge 2^{5}\) that contain subaffine planes of order \(2^2\) . Moreover, there also exists semifields \(D_1\) and \(D_2\) , with \(|D_1|= |D_2| =|D|\) such that \(D_1\) is commutative and \(D_2\) is non-commutative but neither \(D_1\) nor \(D_2\) contains \(\text{ GF}(4)\) .     

Optical logic redux

Twenty years ago IBM physicist Robert Keyes published a paper entitled “Optical Logic—in the light of computer technology.” It caused an instant furor in the fledgling optical logic community. Now, 20 years after that devastating critique, the field of optical logic has grown enormously. There are literally thousands of papers. Many of them are collected in a bibliography given here. Was Keyes’ critique wrong? Have opticists simply ignored what Keyes pointed out? Have new developments made some of his remarks not quite so relevant? We argue here that

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Keyes was and still is mostly correct, but that may change in a few years

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Many researchers have indeed simply ignored what he said

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New developments in both optical logic and its applications open niches for optical logic that Keyes did not (and probably could not) anticipate

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New and anticipated developments in electronics may increase the role for optics

     

Chiral Lagrangian and skyrmion from quark and parity-doublet determinants

We consider the effective action of the chiral quark model to leading order in the number of colors. A set of massive ghost-like Gervais-Lee fermion doublets is introduced which effectively simulate an asymptotically free behavior for the quarks at short distances. This suppresses the vacuum instability and leaves the Wess-Zumino sector unspoiled. At small momenta, we show that the action generated in this way compares well with experiment by performing a chiral expansion up to fourth order. It is found that this action supports stable soliton solutions with baryon number one. Masses, mass-splittings and the sigma-term are estimated in theSU(2) limit.Unité de Recherche des Universités Paris 11 et Paris 6 associée au CNRS     

Design and Synthesis of High‐Affinity Dimeric Inhibitors Targeting the Interactions between Gephyrin and Inhibitory Neurotransmitter Receptors

Gephyrin is the central scaffolding protein for inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors in the brain. Here we describe the development of dimeric peptides that inhibit the interaction between gephyrin and these receptors, a process which is fundamental to numerous synaptic functions and diseases of the brain. We first identified receptor‐derived minimal gephyrin‐binding peptides that displayed exclusive binding towards native gephyrin from brain lysates. We then designed and synthesized a series of dimeric ligands, which led to a remarkable 1220‐fold enhancement of the gephyrin affinity (K_D=6.8 nM ). In X‐ray crystal structures we visualized the simultaneous dimer‐to‐dimer binding in atomic detail, revealing compound‐specific binding modes. Thus, we defined the molecular basis of the affinity‐enhancing effect of multivalent gephyrin inhibitors and provide conceptually novel compounds with therapeutic potential, which will allow further elucidation of the gephyrin–receptor interplay.     

Propane σ‐Complexes on PdO(101): Spectroscopic Evidence of the Selective Coordination and Activation of Primary C?H Bonds

Achieving selective C H bond cleavage is critical for developing catalytic processes that transform small alkanes to value‐added products. The present study clarifies the molecular‐level origin for an exceptionally strong preference for propane to dissociate on the crystalline PdO(101) surface via primary C H bond cleavage. Using reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we show that adsorbed propane σ‐complexes preferentially adopt geometries on PdO(101) in which only primary C H bonds datively interact with the surface Pd atoms at low propane coverages and are thus activated under typical catalytic reaction conditions. We show that a propane molecule achieves maximum stability on PdO(101) by adopting a bidentate geometry in which a H Pd dative bond forms at each CH₃ group. These results demonstrate that structural registry between the molecule and surface can strongly influence the selectivity of a metal oxide surface in activating alkane C H bonds.