1-Phenyl-3-(pyren-1-yl)prop-2-en-1-one

The title compound, C25H16O, was prepared by the condens­ation reaction of pyrene-1-carbaldehyde and acetophenone in ethanol solution at room temperature. The phenyl ring forms a dihedral angle of 39.10 (11)° with the pyrene ring system. In the crystal structure, adjacent pyrene ring systems are linked by aromatic π–π stacking inter­actions, with a perpendicular inter­planar distance of 3.267 (6) Å and a centroid–centroid offset of 2.946 (7) Å

Tris[2-(pyrrol-2-ylmethyl­eneamino)eth­yl]amine

The title compound, C21H27N7, was synthesized by reaction of tris­(2-amino­ethyl)amine and pyrrole-2-carbaldehyde in ethanol at room temperature. The structure is stabilized by intra- and inter­molecular C—H⋯N and N—H⋯N hydrogen-bonding inter­actions

Measurement of web surface profiles using fringe projection

In this paper a full-field measurement technique, namely fringe projection technique was implemented to determine the three-dimensional surface profile for situations where webs are opaque or translucent. In this method, a grating is projected to the surface of a web. The projected grating will be distorted due to the non-flat surface. The image of the distorted gratings will be shifted on a reference grating on a computer to form Moire fringes. The phase of the fringes is determined and converted to the surface profile of the web. Calibration was conducted, and validation was made on surfaces with known geometry. Surface profiles of Polyvinyl Fluoride (PVF), nonwoven and polyethylene webs, as well as non-flat side walls of a wound roll determined as examples illustrating the technique. The accuracy of the method is discussed. The method has potential for industrial scale applications due to its ease in setup and speed in three-dimensional reconstruction.Mechanical and Aerospace Engineerin

Population Redistribution among Multiple Electronic States of Molecular Nitrogen Ions in Strong Laser Fields

We carry out a combined theoretical and experimental investigation on the population distributions in the ground and excited states of tunnel ionized N2 molecules at various driver wavelengths in the near- and mid-infrared range. Our results reveal that efficient couplings (i.e., population exchanges) between the ground state and the excited states occur in strong laser fields. The couplings result in the population inversion between the ground and the excited states at the wavelengths near 800 nm, which is verified by our experiment by observing the amplification of a seed at ~391 nm. The result provides insight into the mechanism of free-space nitrogen ion lasers generated in remote air with strong femtosecond laser pulses.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

A Genetic Variant in the Promoter Region of miR-106b-25 Cluster and Risk of HBV Infection and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: MiR-106b-25 cluster, hosted in intron 13 of MCM7, may play integral roles in diverse processes including immune response and tumorigenesis. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs999885, is located in the promoter region of MCM7. METHODS: We performed a case-control study including 1300 HBV-positive hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases, 1344 HBV persistent carriers and 1344 subjects with HBV natural clearance to test the association between rs999885 and the risk of HBV persistent infection and HCC. We also investigated the genotype-expression correlation between rs999885 and miR-106b-25 cluster in 25 pairs of HCC and adjacent non-tumor liver tissues. RESULTS: Compared with the HBV natural clearance subjects carrying rs999885 AA genotype, those with AG/GG genotypes had a decreased risk of chronic HBV infection with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 0.79 [95% confidence intervals (CIs) = 0.67-0.93]. However, the AG/GG genotypes were significantly associated with an increased HCC risk in HBV persistent carriers (adjusted OR = 1.25, 95% CIs = 1.06-1.47). Expression analysis revealed that the expression level of miR-106b-25 cluster was significantly higher in AG/GG carriers than those in AA carriers in non-tumor liver tissues. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that the A to G base change of rs999885 may provide a protective effect against chronic HBV infection but an increased risk for HCC in HBV persistent carriers by altering the expression of the miR-106b-25 cluster

A room-temperature electrical-field-enhanced ultrafast switch in organic microcavity polariton condensates

Integrated electro-optical switches are essential as one of the fundamental elements in the development of modern optoelectronics. As an architecture for photonic systems, exciton polaritons, that are hybrid bosonic quasiparticles that possess unique properties derived from both excitons and photons, have shown much promise. For this system, we demonstrate a significant improvement of emitted intensity and condensation threshold by applying an electric field to a microcavity filled with an organic microbelt. Our theoretical investigations indicate that the electric field makes the excitons dipolar and induces an enhancement of the exciton-polariton interaction and of the polariton lifetime. Based on these electric field induced changes, a sub-nanosecond electrical-field-enhanced polariton condensate switch is realized at room temperature, providing the basis for developing an on-chip integrated photonic device in the strong light-matter coupling regime

Luminescent LaF₃:Ce-doped Organically Modified Nanoporous Silica Xerogels

Organically modified silica compounds (ORMOSILs) were synthesized by a sol-gel method from amine-functionalized 3-aminopropyl triethoxylsilane and tetramethylorthosilicate and were doped in situ with LaF3:Ce nanoparticles, which in turn were prepared either in water or in ethanol. Doped ORMOSILs display strong photoluminescence either by UV or X-ray excitation and maintain good transparency up to a loading level of 15.66% w/w. The TEM observations demonstrate that ORMOSILs remain nanoporous with pore diameters in the 5-10 nm range. LaF3:Ce nanoparticles doped into the ORMOSILs are rod-like, 5 nm in diameter and 10-15 nm in length. Compression testing indicates that the nanocomposites have very good strength, without significant lateral dilatation and buckling under quasi-static compression. LaF3:Ce nanoparticle-doped ORMOSILs have potential for applications in radiation detection and solid state lighting