Infrared studies of the phase transitions of alkylammonium halides, RNH3X, and bis-(alkylammonium) tetrahalogenometallates(II), (RNH3)2MX4, (R = alkyl, M = metal, X = Cl or Br)

Internal vibration modes of bis-(alkylammonium) tetrachlorometallates(II) and the corresponding alkylammonium chlorides have been studied through their phase transitions using infrared spectroscopy. The studies show that the vibrational states of alkylammonium ions change markedly through the phase transitions. Spectra of the analogous tetrabromometallates and alkylammonium bromides also confirm this behaviour. There is appreciable motion of the alkylammonium ions in the high-temperature phases; thus, CH3NH+3 ions are essentially undistorted in these phases. The low-temperature, ordered phases show evidence of stronger hydrogen bonding of the cations and for the presence of C—N torsional modes.

LTCC ultra wide band filter

This article presents the analysis of ultra wide band (UWB) filler designed using a symmetrical three parallel coupled line resonator in low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) medium: The ground plane with an aperture incorporated in it improves the coupling. Based on circuit models, the designed UWB filter has been analyzed, and the results have been confirmed by experiments. The filter has been realized with Dupont LTCC tape DuPont 951 (that has dielectric constant of 7.8). Maximum insertion loss of the experimental filter is 1.5 dB. The group variation over the pass band of the filter is within 0.2 us. Dimensions of the experimental LTCC filter are 20 x 10 x 0.72 mm. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:2580-2583,2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26311

Structural Alignment based Kernels for Protein Structure Classification

Structural alignments are the most widely used tools for comparing proteins with low sequence similarity. The main contribution of this paper is to derive various kernels on proteins from structural alignments, which do not use sequence information. Central to the kernels is a novel alignment algorithm which matches substructures of fixed size using spectral graph matching techniques. We derive positive semi-definite kernels which capture the notion of similarity between substructures. Using these as base more sophisticated kernels on protein structures are proposed. To empirically evaluate the kernels we used a 40% sequence non-redundant structures from 15 different SCOP superfamilies. The kernels when used with SVMs show competitive performance with CE, a state of the art structure comparison program.

Imidazole Functionalized Polyaniline: Synthesis, Characterization, and Cu (II) Coordination Studies

Polyaniline functionalized with imidazole as strategically designed receptor group in its backbone was synthesized for copper binding. The synthesized polymer has been characterized using FTIR, NMR, and UV-Vis spectroscopic techniques. The addition of copper (II) to the polymer distinctly changes the properties such as crystallinity, molecular weight, aggregation, and electronic properties. XRD, DLS, SEM, and four-point probe techniques have been used for study of these changes. It is observed that the secondary ion generated as a result of copper coordination results in the doping of the polyaniline backbone, which enhances the conductivity by one order of magnitude. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 123: 526-534, 2012

Impact of metal on the DNA photocleavage activity and cytotoxicity of ferrocenyl terpyridine 3d metal complexes

Ferrocenyl terpyridine 3d metal complexes and their analogues, viz. [M(Fc-tpy)(2)](ClO(4))(2) (1-4), [Zn(Ph-tpy)(2)](ClO(4))(2) (5) and [Zn(Fc-dpa)(2)]X(2) (X = ClO(4), 6; PF6, 6a), where M = Fe(II) in 1, Co(II) in 2, Cu(II) in 3 and Zn(II) in 4, Fc-tpy is 4'-ferrocenyl-2,2': 6', 2 `'-terpyridine, Ph-tpy is 4'-phenyl-2,2': 6', 2 `'-terpyridine and Fc-dpa is ferrocenyl-N,N-dipicolylmethanamine, are prepared and their DNA binding and photocleavage activity in visible light studied. Complexes 2, 4, 5 and 6a that are structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography show distorted octahedral geometry with the terpyridyl ligands binding to the metal in a meridional fashion, with Fc-dpa in 6a showing a facial binding mode. The Fc-tpy complexes display a charge transfer band in the visible region. The ferrocenyl (Fc) complexes show a quasi-reversible Fc(+)-Fc redox couple within 0.48 to 0.66 V vs. SCE in DMF-0.1 M TBAP. The DNA binding constants of the complexes are similar to 10(4) M(-1). Thermal denaturation and viscometric data suggest DNA surface binding through electrostatic interaction by the positively charged complexes. Barring the Cu(II) complex 3, the complexes do not show any chemical nuclease activity in the presence of glutathione. Complexes 1-4 exhibit significant plasmid DNA photocleavage activity in visible light via a photoredox pathway. Complex 5, without the Fc moiety, does not show any DNA photocleavage activity. The Zn(II) complex 4 shows a significant PDT effect in HeLa cancer cells giving an IC(50) value of 7.5 mu M in visible light, while being less toxic in the dark (IC(50) = 49 mu M).

Interference Alignment Algorithms for the K User Constant MIMO Interference Channel

This paper considers the degrees of freedom (DOF) for a K user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) M x N interference channel using interference alignment (IA). A new performance metric for evaluating the efficacy of IA algorithms is proposed, which measures the extent to which the desired signal dimensionality is preserved after zero-forcing the interference at the receiver. Inspired by the metric, two algorithms are proposed for designing the linear precoders and receive filters for IA in the constant MIMO interference channel with a finite number of symbol extensions. The first algorithm uses an eigenbeamforming method to align sub-streams of the interference to reduce the dimensionality of the interference at all the receivers. The second algorithm is iterative, and is based on minimizing the interference leakage power while preserving the dimensionality of the desired signal space at the intended receivers. The improved performance of the algorithms is illustrated by comparing them with existing algorithms for IA using Monte Carlo simulations.

Collocated and Distributed STBCs with Partial Interference Cancellation Decoding, Part II: Code Construction

In this second part of a two part series of papers, we construct a new class of Space-Time Block Codes (STBCs) for point-to-point MIMO channel and Distributed STBCs (DSTBCs) for the amplify-and-forward relay channel that give full-diversity with Partial Interference Cancellation (PIC) and PIC with Successive Interference Cancellation (PIC-SIC) decoders. The proposed class of STBCs include most of the known full-diversity low complexity PIC/PIC-SIC decodable STBCs as special cases. We also show that a number of known full-diversity PIC/PIC-SIC decodable STBCs that were constructed for the point-topoint MIMO channel can be used as full-diversity PIC/PIC-SIC decodable DSTBCs in relay networks. For the same decoding complexity, the proposed STBCs and DSTBCs achieve higher rates than the known low decoding complexity codes. Simulation results show that the new codes have a better bit error rate performance than the low ML decoding complexity codes available in the literature.

Design of compact low pass filter with wide stop band using tri-section stepped impedance resonator

This paper reports the design of a compact low pass filter (LPF) with wide stop band region using trisection stepped impedance resonators in microstrip medium. Experimental results of a low pass filter designed at 1 GHz have been compared against the analytical and EM simulation results for the validation of the design. Results are satisfactorily matching each other. The maximum insertion of the measured filter is 0.2 dB and minimum return loss is 13.5 dB over the pass band. The stop band rejection is better than 20 dB from 1.5 GHz to 4.2 GHz and hence wide stop band performance is achieved. Overall size of the filter is 30 mm x 20 mm x 0.78 mm which is 0.1 lambda x 0.066 lambda. x 0.0026 lambda at 1 GHz. (C) 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Coordination-driven self-assembly of 2D-metallamacrocycles using a shape-selective Pt(2)(II)-organometallic 90 degrees acceptor: design, synthesis and sensing study

Synthesis of a series of two-dimensional metallamacrocycles via coordination-driven self-assembly of a shape-selective Pt(2)(II)-molecular building unit incorporating carbazole-ethynyl functionality is described. An equimolar (1 : 1) combination of a Pt(2)(II)-organometallic 90 degrees acceptor, 1, with rigid linear ditopic donors (L(a) and L(b)) afforded [4 + 4] self-assembled octanuclear molecular squares, 2 and 3, in quantitative yields, respectively [L(a) = 4,4'-bipyridine; L(b) = trans-1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene]. Conversely, a similar treatment of 1 with an amide-based unsymmetrical flexible ditopic donor, L(c), resulted in the formation of a [2 + 2] self-sorted molecular rhomboid (4a) as a single product [L(c) = N-(4-pyridyl)isonicotinamide]. Despite the possibility of several linkage isomeric macrocycles (rhomboid, triangle and square) due to the different connectivity of L(c), the formation of a single and symmetrical molecular rhomboid (4a) as the only product is an interesting observation. All the self-assembled macrocycles (2, 3 and 4a) were fully characterized by multinuclear NMR ((1)H and (31)P) and ESI-MS analysis. Further structural insights about the size and shape of the macrocycles were obtained through energy minimization using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Decoration of the starting carbazole building unit with Pt-ethynyl functionality enriches the assemblies to be more p-electron rich and luminescent in nature. Macrocycles 2 and 3 could sense the presence of electron deficient nitroaromatics in solution by quenching of the initial intensity upon gradual addition of picric acid (PA). They exhibited the largest quenching response with high selectivity for nitroaromatics compared to several other electron deficient aromatics tested.

A generalized network alignment for three-source three-destination multiple unicast networks with delays

The concept of interference alignment when extended to three-source three-destination instantaneous multiple unicast network for the case where, each source-destination pair has a min-cut of 1 and zero-interference conditions are not satisfied, is known to achieve a rate of half for every source-destination pair under certain conditions [6]. This was called network alignment. We generalize this concept of network alignment to three-source three-destination multiple unicast (3S-3D-MU) networks with delays, without making use of memory at the intermediate nodes (i.e., nodes other than the sources and destinations) and using time varying Local Encoding Kernels (LEKs). This achieves half the rate corresponding to the individual source-destination min-cut for some classes of 3S-3D-MU network with delays which do not satisfy the zero-interference conditions.

Cu(II)-azide polymers with various molar equivalents of blocking diamine ligands: synthesis, structures, magnetic properties with DFT studies

Four new neutral copper-azido polymers [Cu(4)(N(3))(8)(Me-hmpz)(2)](n) (1), [Cu(4)(N(3))(8)(men)(2)](n) (2), [Cu(5)(N(3))(10)(N,N-dmen)(2)](n) (3) and [Cu(5)(N(3))(10)(N,N'-dmen)(5)](n) (4) [Me-hmpz = 1-methylhomopiperazine; men = N-methylethylenediamine; N, N-dmen = N, N-dimethylethylenediamine and N, N'-dmen = N, N'-dimethylethylenediamine] have been synthesized by using various molar equivalents of the chelating diamine ligands with Cu(NO(3))(2)center dot 3H(2)O and an excess of NaN(3). Single-crystal X-ray structures show that the basic asymmetric units of 1 and 2 are very similar, but the overall 1D structures were found to be quite different. Complex 3 with a different composition was found to be 2D in nature, while the 1D complex 4 with 1 : 1 metal to diamine ratio presented several new structural features. Cryomagnetic susceptibility measurements over a wide range of temperature were corroborated with density functional theory calculations (B3LYP functional) performed on the complexes 1-3 to provide a qualitative theoretical interpretation of their overall magnetic behavior.