A sequential formula for electronic coupling in long range bridge-assisted electron transfer: Formulation of theory and application to alkanethiol monolayers

A recursion relation is formulated for the Green's function for calculating the effective electron coupling in bridge-assisted electronic transfer systems, within the framework of the tight-binding Hamiltonian. The recursion expression relates the Green's function of a chain bridge to that of the bridge that is one unit less. It is applicable regardless of the number of orbitals per unit. This method is applied to the system of a ferrocenylcarboxy-terminated alkanethiol on the Au(111) surface. At larger numbers of bridge units, the effective coupling strength shows an exponential decay as the number of methylene(–CH2–) units increases. This sequential formalism shows numerical stability even for a very long chain bridge and, since it uses only small matrices, requires much less computer time for the calculation. Identical bridge units are not a requirement, and so the method can be applied to more complicated systems

Linear response in theory of electron transfer reactions as an alternative to the molecular harmonic oscillator model

The effect of solvent fluctuations on the rate of electron transfer reactions is considered using linear response theory and a second-order cumulant expansion. An expression is obtained for the rate constant in terms of the dielectric response function of the solvent. It is shown thereby that this expression, which is usually derived using a molecular harmonic oscillator ("spin-boson") model, is valid not only for approximately harmonic systems such as solids but also for strongly molecularly anharmonic systems such as polar solvents. The derivation is a relatively simple alternative to one based on quantum field theoretic techniques. The effect of system inhomogeneity due to the presence of the solute molecule is also now included. An expression is given generalizing to frequency space and quantum mechanically the analogue of an electrostatic result relating the reorganization free energy to the free energy difference of two hypothetical systems [J. Chem. Phys. 39, 1734 (1963)]. The latter expression has been useful in adapting specific electrostatic models in the literature to electron transfer problems, and the present extension can be expected to have a similar utility

Acquisition Strategies for Taiwanese Acquirers

Corporate acquisitions have been a prevailing technique for takeovers in the U.S. and internationally for many years. However, corporate acquisitions are just in their initial stages in Taiwan. Acquisitions between Taiwanese companies have not occurred frequently and going abroad to acquire a company in a foreign country is an infrequent measure. Following the international trend to acquire U.S. corporations, Taiwanese companies are attempting to follow suit. The major purpose of this thesis is to introduce the techniques used in the acquisition of a U.S. corporation and the factors that should be considered before doing so with a focus on Taiwanese acquirers. This thesis integrates both a legal and economic analysis

The absorption and uptake of recombinant human follicle-stimulating hormone through vaginal subcutaneous injections - a pharmacokinetic study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) has been routinely used for ovulation induction. Because of rapid clearance of the hormone, FSH is commonly administered by daily intramuscular or subcutaneous injections in in-vitro fertilization (IVF). To reduce the number of visits to the clinic, an intermittent vaginal injection of rhFSH every 3 days employing the concepts of mesotherapy and uterine first-pass effect was invented and has successfully been applied in women receiving IVF treatment. This study was designed to monitor the pharmacokinetic pattern of rhFSH administered vaginally.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twelve healthy women with regular ovulatory cycles were recruited. All volunteers received gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist to suppress pituitary function and were assigned to receive single dose recombinant human FSH (rhFSH, Puregon 300) either using conventional abdominal subcutaneous injection or vaginal subcutaneous injection in a randomized cross-over study. Serum samples were collected at pre- scheduled time intervals after injections of rhFSH to determine immunoreactive FSH levels. Pharmacokinetic parameters characterizing rate [maximal plasma concentrations (Cmax) and time of maximal plasma concentrations (tmax)] and extent [area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) and clearance] of absorption of rhFSH were compared.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Vaginal injection of rhFSH was well tolerated and no drug-related adverse reaction was noted. Our analysis revealed that tmax was significantly earlier (mean 6.67 versus 13.33 hours) and Cmax was significantly higher (mean 17.77 versus 13.96 IU/L) in vaginal versus abdominal injections. The AUC_0-∞ was 1640 versus 1134 IU·hour/L in vaginal and abdominal injections, respectively. Smaller plasma elimination rate constant (0.011 versus 0.016 hour-1), longer mean residence time (106.58 versus 70.47 hours), and slower total body clearance (292.2 versus 400.1 mL/hour) were also found in vaginal injection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The vaginal injection mode elicited a rapid and highly extended absorption of rhFSH injected compared to conventional abdominal injection. These data indicate that the rate and extent of FSH absorption from the injection site can vary depending on the route of the FSH administration.</p

Efficient Downlink Channel Reconstruction for FDD Multi-Antenna Systems

In this paper, we propose an efficient downlink channel reconstruction scheme for a frequency-division-duplex multi-antenna system by utilizing uplink channel state information combined with limited feedback. Based on the spatial reciprocity in a wireless channel, the downlink channel is reconstructed by using frequency-independent parameters. We first estimate the gains, delays, and angles during uplink sounding. The gains are then refined through downlink training and sent back to the base station (BS). With limited overhead, the refinement can substantially improve the accuracy of the downlink channel reconstruction. The BS can then reconstruct the downlink channel with the uplink-estimated delays and angles and the downlink-refined gains. We also introduce and extend the Newtonized orthogonal matching pursuit (NOMP) algorithm to detect the delays and gains in a multi-antenna multi-subcarrier condition. The results of our analysis show that the extended NOMP algorithm achieves high estimation accuracy. Simulations and over-the-air tests are performed to assess the performance of the efficient downlink channel reconstruction scheme. The results show that the reconstructed channel is close to the practical channel and that the accuracy is enhanced when the number of BS antennas increases, thereby highlighting that the promising application of the proposed scheme in large-scale antenna array systems

Usability Evaluation And Correspondence Analysis Of Smartphone Operating Systems

User-centered smartphone interface design is important so that consumers can easily learn about and begin to use newly purchased smartphones. This study first evaluates the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of smartphone interfaces in Taiwan in terms of two representational operating systems: Android and iPhone OS. The usability evaluation includes observational experiments, user questionnaires, and the Wilcoxon sign-rank test. This study then conducts the correspondence analysis to summarize positive/ negative evaluations of usage and specification for smartphone OS. In observational experiments, a total of 48 participants with no previous smartphone experience on using smartphone with Android and iPhone OS are asked to perform five common phone tasks. All experiments are recorded and observed. Results and observations are discussed to attain a closer match between user needs and the performance of smartphone OS