Evidence for a solid phase of dodecahedral C 20

Evidence is presented for the formation of a solid phase based on the smallest fullerene, C₂₀, in thin diamond-like carbon films deposited by ultraviolet laser ablation from diamond onto nickel substrates at room temperature in the presence of 10^-4 torr of cyclohexane or benzene. Laser desorption mass spectrometry from the films shows the presence of C₂₀, C₂₁ and C₂₂ species, while micro-Raman spectroscopy and electron diffraction from selected particles together with first principle density-functional calculations, indicate a cubic solid with dodecahedral C₂₀ cages as building blocks. Unlike solid C₆₀ and fully protonated C₂₀, which are bound by van der Waals forces, the proposed structure is stabilized by linking of the C₂₀ dodecahedra with bridging carbon atoms at interstitial tetrahedral sites to form a face-centered-cubic lattice with 22 carbon atoms per unit cell. Received 10 October 2002 / Received in final form 24 December 2002 Published online 6 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: zafar.iqbal@njit.edu     

Dielectric resonances in disordered media

Binary disordered systems are usually obtained by mixing two ingredients in variable proportions: conductor and insulator, or conductor and super-conductor. They present very specific properties, in particular the second-order percolation phase transition, with its fractal geometry and the multi-fractal properties of the current moments. These systems are naturally modeled by regular bi-dimensional or tri-dimensional lattices, on which sites or bonds are chosen randomly with given probabilities. The two significant parameters are the ratio h = σ ₁/σ of the complex conductances, σ and σ ₁, of the two components, and their relative abundances p (or, respectively, 1 - p). In this article, we calculate the impedance of the composite by two independent methods: the so-called spectral method, which diagonalises Kirchhoff's Laws via a Green function formalism, and the Exact Numerical Renormalization method (ENR). These methods are applied to mixtures of resistors and capacitors (R-C systems), simulating e.g. ionic conductor-insulator systems, and to composites constituted of resistive inductances and capacitors (LR-C systems), representing metal inclusions in a dielectric bulk. The frequency dependent impedances of the latter composites present very intricate structures in the vicinity of the percolation threshold. In this paper, we analyse the LR-C behavior of compounds formed by the inclusion of small conducting clusters (“n-legged animals”) in a dielectric medium. We investigate in particular their absorption spectra who present a pattern of sharp lines at very specific frequencies of the incident electromagnetic field, the goal being to identify the signature of each animal. This enables us to make suggestions of how to build compounds with specific absorption or transmission properties in a given frequency domain. Received 16 August 2002 Published online 14 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: laurent.raymond@l2mp.fr RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: steffen.schaefer@l2mp.fr RID="c" ID="c"UMR CNRS 6137     

Speed of adaptation in structured populations

Adaptation of populations takes place with the occurrence and subsequent fixation of mutations that confer some selective advantage to the individuals which acquire it. For this reason, the study of the process of fixation of advantageous mutations has a long history in the population genetics literature. Particularly, the previous investigations aimed to find out the main evolutionary forces affecting the strength of natural selection in the populations. In the current work, we investigate the dynamics of fixation of beneficial mutations in a subdivided population. The subpopulations (demes) can exchange migrants among their neighbors, in a migration network which is assumed to have either a random graph or a scale-free topology. We have observed that the migration rate drastically affects the dynamics of mutation fixation, despite of the fact that the probability of fixation is invariant on the migration rate, accordingly to Maruyama's conjecture. In addition, we have noticed a topological dependence of the adaptive evolution of the population when clonal interference becomes effective.     

Modeling DNA beacons at the mesoscopic scale

We report model calculations on DNA single strands which describe the equilibrium dynamics and kinetics of hairpin formation and melting. Modeling is at the level of single bases. Strand rigidity is described in terms of simple polymer models; alternative calculations performed using the freely rotating chain and the discrete Kratky-Porod models are reported. Stem formation is modeled according to the Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois Hamiltonian. The kinetics of opening and closing is described in terms of a diffusion-controlled motion in an effective free-energy landscape. Melting profiles, dependence of melting temperature on loop length, and kinetic time scales are in semiquantitative agreement with experimental data obtained from fluorescent DNA beacons forming poly(T) loops. Variation in strand rigidity is not sufficient to account for the large activation enthalpy of closing and the strong loop length dependence observed in hairpins forming poly(A) loops. Implications for modeling single strands of DNA or RNA are discussed.     

浊点萃取-分光光度法测定茶叶中的痕量锌

以双硫腙为显色剂,利用浊点萃取-分光光度法测定茶叶中的痕量锌在pH4.6的醋酸-醋酸钠缓冲溶液中,Zn2+与双硫腙形成稳定配合物,其λmax=528nm,方法的线性范围0.2-1.0μg·mL-1,回收率96.50％-102.50％.结果表明,该法可用于茶叶中痕量锌的测定.     

Controlled Space Radiation concept for mesh-free semi-analytical technique to model wave fields in complex geometries

Numerical modelling of the ultrasonic wave propagation is important for Structural Heath Monitoring and System Prognosis problems. In order to develop intelligent and adaptive structures with embedded damage detector and classifier mechanisms, detailed understanding of scattered wave fields due to anomaly in the structure is inevitably required. A detailed understanding of the problem demands a good modelling of the wave propagation in the problem geometry in virtual form. Therefore, efficient analytical, semi-analytical or numerical modelling techniques are required. In recent years a semi-analytical mesh-free technique called Distributed Point Source Method (DPSM) is being used for modelling various ultrasonic, electrostatic and electromagnetic wave field problems. In the conventional DPSM approach point sources are placed along the transducer faces, problem boundaries and interfaces to model incident and scattered fields. Every point source emits energy in all directions uniformly. Source strengths of these 360° radiation sources are obtained by satisfying interface and boundary conditions of the problem. In conventional DPSM modelling approach it is assumed that the shadow zone does not require any special consideration. 360° Radiation point sources should be capable of properly modelling shadow zones because all boundary and interface conditions are satisfied. In this paper it is investigated how good this assumption is by introducing the ‘shadow zone’ concept at the point source level and comparing the results generated by the conventional DPSM and by this modified approach where the conventional 360° radiation point sources are replaced by the Controlled Space Radiation (CSR) sources.     

内窥式共聚焦成像系统分析

基于点扩展函数和傅立叶光学理论,推导出系统的相干传递函数,并详细研究了光纤对轴向分辨率的影响.研究结果表明：该系统为相干成像系统,系统的轴向分辨率随光纤半径A的增加而降低.最后,搭建了一套内窥式共聚焦成像系统,并测得光栅样品的共聚焦图像.实验结果表明,该系统具有良好的分辨率.     

Scale-space point spread function based framework to boost infrared target detection algorithms

Small target detection is one of the major concern in the development of infrared surveillance systems. Detection algorithms based on Gaussian target modeling have attracted most attention from researchers in this field. However, the lack of accurate target modeling limits the performance of this type of infrared small target detection algorithms. In this paper, signal to clutter ratio (SCR) improvement mechanism based on the matched filter is described in detail and effect of Point Spread Function (PSF) on the intensity and spatial distribution of the target pixels is clarified comprehensively. In the following, a new parametric model for small infrared targets is developed based on the PSF of imaging system which can be considered as a matched filter. Based on this model, a new framework to boost model-based infrared target detection algorithms is presented. In order to show the performance of this new framework, the proposed model is adopted in Laplacian scale-space algorithms which is a well-known algorithm in the small infrared target detection field. Simulation results show that the proposed framework has better detection performance in comparison with the Gaussian one and improves the overall performance of IRST system. By analyzing the performance of the proposed algorithm based on this new framework in a quantitative manner, this new framework shows at least 20% improvement in the output SCR values in comparison with Laplacian of Gaussian (LoG) algorithm.