A Brief Survey of our Contribution to Stable Carbene Chemistry

This personal account summarizes our work, beginning with the discovery of the first stable carbene in 1988 up until the recent isolation of mesoionic carbenes. It explains why we have moved our focus from acyclic to cyclic carbenes, and shows that these stable species are not limited to the role of ligand for transition metals, but that they are also powerful agents for the activation of small molecules, and for the stabilization of highly reactive diamagnetic and paramagnetic species.     

FIR Laser Lines from CH3OD: A Review

The methanol isotopic species CH₃OD has also proved to be an efficient and powerful medium to generate radiation in the far infrared (FIR) region. After the critical review of 1994, six papers have been published dealing with new FIR laser lines from this molecule. As a consequence of the use of wide tunability waveguide CO₂ lasers as well as a new pulsed CO₂ laser operating at hot and sequential bands, as of optical pumping sources, the total number of the FIR laser lines increased from 122 in 1994 to 227 today. In this communication we present an updated and complete catalogue of FIR laser lines generated from CH₃OD. Information on wavelength, offset, relative polarization, intensity, and optimum operation pressure is generally available.     

怎样为应用选择最佳的控制技术

您是否曾经在一个糖果店门口止步,面对成千上百不同颜色、口味和形状的糖果不知所措.当处理开关电源设计,面对如何选择最合适的控制技术时,您也会遭遇同样的境况.     

GaSb and InAs: New Materials for Metal-Semiconductor Point-Contact Diodes

Metal-semiconductor point contact diodes have proved to be good detectors and mixers for radiation from the far-infrared to visible. Until now GaAs, InSb and InP are the most studied and used semiconductor materials for these devices. In this work we present the performance in the visible and infrared region for metal-semiconductor point-contact diodes with GaSb or InAs as the semiconductor layers. These two new materials have shown good characteristics.     

模拟半导体厂商电源策略透析系列(一):National Semiconductor先进的模拟技术为明日世界提供崭新动力

工艺技术在过去几年有了长足的进步,促使电源转换器的效能得以大幅提升.创新的线路布局及集成电路控制逻辑正式面世之后,标准电源供应系统的架构便焕然一新.预计在不久的将来会有更多其它的创新技术面世.但未来哪些产品和应用将引领电源供应技术朝向新发展方向呢?     

Nucleation mechanism for the direct graphite-to-diamond phase transition

Graphite and diamond have comparable free energies, yet forming diamond from graphite in the absence of a catalyst requires pressures that are significantly higher than those at equilibrium coexistence. At lower temperatures, the formation of the metastable hexagonal polymorph of diamond is favoured instead of the more stable cubic diamond. These phenomena cannot be explained by the concerted mechanism suggested in previous theoretical studies. Using an ab initio quality neural-network potential, we carried out a large-scale study of the graphite-to-diamond transition assuming that it occurs through nucleation. The nucleation mechanism accounts for the observed phenomenology and reveals its microscopic origins. We demonstrate that the large lattice distortions that accompany the formation of diamond nuclei inhibit the phase transition at low pressure, and direct it towards the hexagonal diamond phase at higher pressure. The proposed nucleation mechanism should improve our understanding of structural transformations in a wide range of carbon-based materials.     

Improving the push–pull strategy in a serial supply chain by a hybrid push–pull control with multiple pulling points

Because of its benefits – from lowered inventory costs to greater flexibility in adapting to shifting market forces – the push–pull strategy is being widely used in today's competitive supply-chain designs. The push–pull strategy also brings potential supply-chain risks related to order fulfilment capability and robustness against external variability. More specifically, the use of this strategy often results in an inability to minimise the impact of lead-time variability. We present a new, hybrid push–pull strategy that incorporates additional stock points after the push–pull boundary as the pulling points in a serial supply chain, which can mitigate the risks and improve the robustness of the push–pull strategy without sacrificing its benefits in inventory cost reduction. For the evaluation and comparison of different supply-chain strategies, a nonlinear, mixed-integer programming model with a cost-minimisation objective function is developed and implemented in the numerical experimentation, with simulated annealing as the search algorithm. Results from the experiments demonstrate the potential improvement by our proposed strategy in terms of the robustness and cost-effectiveness against external variability. The results also verify the risks and limitations of the conventional push–pull strategy and provide some managerial implications regarding the use of push–pull supply chains.     

Authentication of Italian Espresso coffee blends through the GC peak ratio between kahweol and 16-O-methylcafestol

Since the price of Arabica is currently more than twice higher than Robusta, a rapid and reliable method for the determination of the roasted coffee blend composition is fundamental for the authentication of commercial blends used for the Italian Espresso coffee. A GC-FID method based on the ratio between the integrated peak areas of kahweol (K) divided by the sum of K and 16-O-methylcafestol (16MCF) was developed. No internal/external standard was used. Moreover, the quantitation of the unsaponifiable compounds is not necessary, as well as the calculation of any response factors. The percentage of Robusta in 34 samples of coffee blends with known composition, and in 48 samples of pure varieties was used to build a cubic polynomial function with R(2)=0.998. The roasting conditions did not affect the results. Considering eight commercial blends (ranging 0-90% Robusta), no significant difference (two-tailed P=0.817) was registered between the claimed and the predicted composition.     

Cranberry and Recurrent Cystitis: More than Marketing?

Epidemiologic studies indicate that millions of people suffer from recurrent cystitis, a pathology requiring antibiotic prophylaxis and entailing high social costs. Cranberry is a traditional folk remedy for cystitis and, which, in the form of a variety of products and formulations has over several decades undergone extensive evaluation for the management of urinary tract infections (UTI). The aim of this retrospective study is to summarize and review the most relevant and recent preclinical and clinical studies on cranberries for the treatment of UTIs. The scientific literature selected for this review was identified by searches of Medline via PubMed. A variety of recent experimental evidence has shed light on the mechanism underlying the anti-adhesive properties of proanthrocyanidins, their structure–activity relationships, and pharmacokinetics. Analysis of clinical studies and evaluation of the cranberry efficacy/safety ratio in the prevention of UTIs strongly support the use of cranberry in the prophylaxis of recurrent UTIs in young and middle-aged women. However, evidence of its clinical use among other patients remains controversial.