Development of nine-channel 10-micrometer (Hg, Cd)Te pushbroom IR/CCD system

The engineering development of the 9-channel detector array is documented. The development of the array demonstrates the feasibility of a self scanned multi-element infrared detector focal plane. Procedures for operating the array are outlined

Preparation and characteristics of superconducting cuprate thin films: Nd(2-x)Ce(x)CuO4 and substrated Bi-system

Characteristics of the electron-doped-type Nd(sub 2-x)Ce(sub x)CuO4 system and substituted Bi-system were studied using the high quality thin film samples grown by rf magnetron sputtering and/or subsequent heat treatment. The Nd(sub 2-x)Ce(sub x)CuO4 samples with excellent superconducting properties were obtained in thin films and their optical and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies were performed with regard to the Ce content and reducing treatment. Substituted BiSr-Ln-Cu-O thin films were prepared and growth conditions for Bi-system with 2-2-1-2 and 2-2-2-2 phases were found. Moreover, a new 2-2-1-2 phase in the simple Bi-Sr-Cu-O system was fabricated by thin film processing and 80 K superconductivity was obtained

Preparation and characteristics of superconducting cuprate thin films: Nd(2-x)Ce(x)CuO4 and substituted Bi-system

Characteristics of the electron-doped-type Nd(2-x)Ce(x)CuO4 systems and substituted Bi2(Sr,Ln)3Cu2Oy system were systematically studied using the high quality thin-film samples. The Nd(2-x)Ce(x)CuO4 thin films with various Ce concentrations, x, were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering on SrTiO3 heated at around 500 C. After subsequent annealing at 1100 C in air, the films showed the c-axis orientation normal to the substrates. By means of the reducing treatment (annealing in a vacuum), superconductivity was induced for the films with 0.14 is less than or equal to x is less than or equal to 0.18. The superconductivity and transport properties of the films were strongly affected by the reducing treatment. The x = 0.15 film exhibited a sharp superconducting transition with zero resistivity at 22 K, in consistent with the diamagnetic properties. The resistivity of the films was fairly low with metallic characteristics, and the sight of the Hall coefficient was negative in the normal state. On the other hand, the normal-state optical measurements showed that the undoped Nd2CuO4 is a semiconductor with a charge transfer gap of 1.3 eV, and that, when Ce ions were doped, a plasma reflection due to the free-carriers came to be seen with the plasma frequency of 1.07 eV for 0.14 is less than or equal to x is less than or equal to 0.18. Moreover, x ray photoemission study revealed that the Cu valence of the film decreased for 2(+) for x = 0 to 1(+) for x = 0.15. These physical properties are in contrast with those of hole-doped-type cuprate superconductors. Bi2(Sr,Ln)3Cu2Oy thin films were also prepared on MgO substrates heated at 600 to 700 C by similar methods. It was found that the growth conditions for Bi-systems with two CuO2 planes were different for each composition and species of lanthanoid in the films. Moreover, preparation of Bi-system with three CuO2 planes was very difficult when lanthanoid atoms were doped in the system. Their electric transport properties and x ray photoemission spectroscopy were investigated. Carrier concentration and Cu valence were discussed with regard to the superconductivity

Meson-production experiments at COSY-Juelich

Selected results from experiments at COSY-Juelich are presented: an attempt to measure the mass of the eta meson with high precision (ANKE facility), first steps towards the detection of rare eta decays (WASA), and several measurements of KKbar-pair production (ANKE, COSY-11, MOMO).Comment: Proceedings of QNP2009, Beijing, Sept. 2009; to be published in Chinese Physics C. 6 pages, 5 figure

Finding the Anticover of a String

A k-anticover of a string x is a set of pairwise distinct factors of x of equal length k, such that every symbol of x is contained into an occurrence of at least one of those factors. The existence of a k-anticover can be seen as a notion of non-redundancy, which has application in computational biology, where they are associated with various non-regulatory mechanisms. In this paper we address the complexity of the problem of finding a k-anticover of a string x if it exists, showing that the decision problem is NP-complete on general strings for k-3. We also show that the problem admits a polynomial-time solution for k = 2. For unbounded k, we provide an exact exponential algorithm to find a k-anticover of a string of length n (or determine that none exists), which runs in O(min{3 n-k 3 , ( k(k+1) 2 ) n k+1 }) time using polynomial space. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Mathematics of computing ! Combinatorics on words

Finding the Anticover of a String

A k-anticover of a string x is a set of pairwise distinct factors of x of equal length k, such that every symbol of x is contained into an occurrence of at least one of those factors. The existence of a k-anticover can be seen as a notion of non-redundancy, which has application in computational biology, where they are associated with various non-regulatory mechanisms. In this paper we address the complexity of the problem of finding a k-anticover of a string x if it exists, showing that the decision problem is NP-complete on general strings for k ? 3. We also show that the problem admits a polynomial-time solution for k=2. For unbounded k, we provide an exact exponential algorithm to find a k-anticover of a string of length n (or determine that none exists), which runs in O*(min {3^{(n-k)/3)}, ((k(k+1))/2)^{n/(k+1)) time using polynomial space

Tests of the fundamental symmetries in eta meson decays

Patterns of chiral symmetry violation and tests of the conservation of the fundamental C, P and CP symmetries are key physics issues in studies of the pi0, eta and eta' meson decays. These tests include searches for rare or forbidden decays and searches for asymmetries among the decay products in the not-so-rare decays. Some examples for the rare decays are eta-->2pi, eta-->4pi0 (CP tests), decays into an odd number of photons (e.g., eta-->3g) and the decay eta-->pi0e+e- (C tests). The experimental studies of the pi0, eta and eta' meson decays are carried out at four European accelerator research facilities: KLOE/KLOE-2 at DAFNE (Frascati), Crystal Ball at MAMI (Mainz), WASA at COSY (J\"ulich), Crystal Barrel at ELSA (Bonn).Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete Symmetries, DISCRETE 2010, 6 - 11 December, Rome; v2: added reference

Copper and nanostructured anatase rutile and carbon coatings induce adaptive antibiotic resistance

Contaminated surfaces are vehicles for the spread of infectious disease-causing microorganisms. A strategy to prevent their spread is applying antimicrobial coatings to surfaces. Both nanostructured anatase rutile and carbon (NsARC), a TiO₂ formulation, and copper are examples of antimicrobial agents that are used in making or coating door handles and similar surfaces, to reduce microbial loads. Antimicrobial surfaces have been extensively tested for antimicrobial activity but not sublethal effects, such as exposure-associated multiple antibiotic resistance phenotypes usually caused by induction of efflux pump genes. The possibility of NsARC and copper inducing indicative efflux pump pathways was investigated by monitoring the expression of mScarlet fluorescent protein (FP) in two reporter strains of Escherichia coli. There was an increase in the expression of FP in the reporter strains exposed to NsARC and copper relative to the inert control composed of stainless steel. Furthermore we tested E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus following 8 h of exposure to NsARC for changes in resistance to selected antibiotics. E. coli that were exposed to NsARC became more susceptible to kanamycin but there was no significant change in susceptibility of S. aureus to any tested antibiotics. These findings suggests that even though NsARC and copper are antimicrobial, they also have some potential to cause unintended phenotypes

Scope and Mechanistic Study of the Coupling Reaction of α,β-Unsaturated Carbonyl Compounds with Alkenes: Uncovering Electronic Effects on Alkene Insertion vs Oxidative Coupling Pathways

The cationic ruthenium-hydride complex [(C6H6)(PCy3)(CO)RuH]+BF4– (1) was found to be a highly effective catalyst for the intermolecular conjugate addition of simple alkenes to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds to give (Z)-selective tetrasubstituted olefin products. The analogous coupling reaction of cinnamides with electron-deficient olefins led to the oxidative coupling of two olefinic C–H bonds in forming (E)-selective diene products. The intramolecular version of the coupling reaction efficiently produced indene and bicyclic fulvene derivatives. The empirical rate law for the coupling reaction of ethyl cinnamate with propene was determined as follows: rate = k[1]1[propene]0[cinnamate]−1. A negligible deuterium kinetic isotope effect (kH/kD = 1.1 ± 0.1) was measured from both (E)-C6H5CH═C(CH3)CONHCH3 and (E)-C6H5CD═C(CH3)CONHCH3 with styrene. In contrast, a significant normal isotope effect (kH/kD = 1.7 ± 0.1) was observed from the reaction of (E)-C6H5CH═C(CH3)CONHCH3 with styrene and styrene-d8. A pronounced carbon isotope effect was measured from the coupling reaction of (E)-C6H5CH═CHCO2Et with propene (13C(recovered)/13C(virgin) at Cβ = 1.019(6)), while a negligible carbon isotope effect (13C(recovered)/13C(virgin) at Cβ = 0.999(4)) was obtained from the reaction of (E)-C6H5CH═C(CH3)CONHCH3 with styrene. Hammett plots from the correlation of para-substituted p-X-C6H4CH═CHCO2Et (X = OCH3, CH3, H, F, Cl, CO2Me, CF3) with propene and from the treatment of (E)-C6H5CH═CHCO2Et with a series of para-substituted styrenes p-Y-C6H4CH═CH2 (Y = OCH3, CH3, H, F, Cl, CF3) gave the positive slopes for both cases (ρ = +1.1 ± 0.1 and +1.5 ± 0.1, respectively). Eyring analysis of the coupling reaction led to the thermodynamic parameters, ΔH⧧ = 20 ± 2 kcal mol–1 and ΔS⧧ = −42 ± 5 eu. Two separate mechanistic pathways for the coupling reaction have been proposed on the basis of these kinetic and spectroscopic studies

Measurement of the eta->pi+pi-e+e- decay branching ratio

The reaction pd->3He eta at threshold was used to provide a clean source of eta mesons for decay studies with the WASA detector at CELSIUS. The branching ratio of the decay eta->pi+pi-e+e- is measured to be (4.3+/-1.3+/-0.4)x10^-4.Comment: 10 pages,6 figures revised versio