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Viscosity-reducer flooding is an effective method to improve oil recovery after the water flooding of heavy oil, and water-in-oil emulsion (W/O emulsion) is easily formed during this process. W/O emulsion has a strong ability to improve mobility ratio and block off high permeability layers, which can effectively improve sweep coefficient and enhance oil recovery. The microscopic visual glass model is mainly used to study the microscopic oil displacement mechanism of dilute oil; however, there are few studies on the emulsification mechanism and influencing factors of heavy oil. The purpose of this paper is to study the mechanism of heavy oil emulsification caused by viscosity reducer at the microscopic level, and the effect of emulsification on heavy oil recovery. The visible physical experiments with the glass microscopic models with different permeability and pore sizes were carried out to study the mechanism and main controlling factors of emulsification and the oil displacement effect of viscosity reducer. On this basis, the software was used to calculate the oil recovery in different areas of the model in different flooding stages, which provides a more intuitive understanding of the oil displacement effect of viscosity reducer. The results showed that there are mainly three types of emulsifications between pores: pore throat-breaking emulsification, blind-end emulsification, and pore channel extrusion emulsification. Hence, the mechanism of the three types of emulsifications and the relationship between droplet size with shear stress have been explored. The shear stress increased with the increase of the shear rate, and the oil droplet size in the model decreased with the increase of the shear. The blocking mechanism of pore throat and the shearing action of viscosity-reducer solution are the main mechanisms of viscous oil emulsification between pores. Generally, the particle size of the emulsified oil droplets formed by the blocking action is large, and it is easy to form pore throat emulsion. The particle size of emulsified oil droplets formed by shearing of viscosity-reducer solution is small. When the pore diameter is smaller than the particle size of oil droplets, the mobility of oil droplets between pores is poor, which means the oil droplets easily accumulate at the blind end to form residual oil. From the results of viscosity-reducer flooding experiments, the heavy oil recovery in each area of the model has been significantly improved after viscosity-reducer flooding compared with water flooding, with the recovery factor in the edge area of the model improving by up to 24.22%. The viscosity-reducer solution has a significant displacement effect on the residual oil in the edge area of the model.

In the process of waterflooding development of heavy oil, W/O emulsion has a strong ability to improve the mobility ratio and block the high-permeability layer, which can effectively improve the sweep coefficient and enhance oil recovery. In this paper, the stability and droplet size distribution of emulsions under different conditions were studied by taking heavy oil and formation water from Jimusar Oilfield in Xinjiang as samples. On this basis, double-pipe core flooding experiments were carried out to study the shut-off ability and oil displacement efficiency of W/O emulsion, and then a numerical simulation was carried out. The results show that oil and water can be completely emulsified when the stirring speed is higher than 4000 r/min. A stable emulsion can be formed when the experimental temperature is lower than 60 °C. A lower water cut results in a more stable emulsion. The emulsion is difficult to stabilize after the salinity exceeds 10,000 mg/L. When the pH value is about 7, the stability of the emulsion is the worst. With the increase in stirring speed, the increase in temperature, and the decrease in water content and salinity, the emulsion droplet size range is relatively concentrated, and the average particle size is smaller. In heterogeneous reservoirs, the permeability of different percolation channels is quite different, such that the displacement fluid only percolates along the high-permeability channel and cannot drive oil effectively. The results of displacement experiments show that the emulsion with a water cut of 60% has high viscosity and obvious sweep ability, but its stability is very poor; the effect is opposite when the water cut is less than 40%. The shut-off ability of W/O emulsion disappears gradually when the permeability contrast is more than 5.92. The research results are of great significance for improving oil recovery in heterogeneous heavy oil reservoirs.

Polyacrylamide (HPAM) and other traditional polymers have poor temperature resistance and salinity tolerance and do not meet the needs of high-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs. In this study, a new temperature-resistant and salinity-tolerant polymer QJ75-39 was synthesized using acrylamide (AM) as a hydrophilic monomer, 1-acrylamide-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) and N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) as functional monomers and DS-16 as a hydrophobic monomer. Through laboratory experiments, the properties (temperature resistance, salinity tolerance and aging stability), polymer injection and core displacement effect of the polymer were studied. The experimental results showed that the new polymer could meet the needs of polymer flooding technology in high-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs. Experiments showed that the polymer had a temperature resistance of 95 °C and a salinity tolerance of 1.66 × 105 mg/L. When the temperature was 95 °C and the TDS was 55,376.8 mg/L, the viscosity of the polymer was 31.3 mPa s, and the viscosity remained above 30 mPa·s after aging for 60 days. The polymer had good injectivity between 300 and 600 mD, and the injection pressure could reach equilibrium quickly. The oil recovery effectively increased with the grsowth in the amount of injected polymer. When the injection amount was 0.5 PV, the enhanced oil recovery was 20.65%. This study is of great significance for the application and popularization of polymer flooding technology in high-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs.

Background: The omnipresence of human phthalate (PAE) exposure is linked to various adverse health issues, including breast cancer. However, the effects of low-dose PAE exposure on breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) and the underlying mechanism remain unexplored. Methods: BCSCs from breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7) were enriched using a tumorsphere formation assay. Gene and protein expression was detected by measurement of quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR, western blot, and immunofluorescence assays. Transient transfection assays were used to evaluate the involvement of Gli1, a signaling pathway molecule and ΔNp63α, an oncogene in influencing the PAE-induced characteristics of BCSCs. Results: PAE (butylbenzyl phthalate, BBP; di-butyl phthalate, DBP; di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, DEHP) exposure of 10−9 M significantly promoted the tumorsphere formation ability in BCSCs. Breast cancer spheroids with a 10−9 M PAE exposure had higher levels of BCSC marker mRNA and protein expression, activated sonic hedgehog (SHH) pathway, and increased mRNA and protein levels of an oncogene, ΔNp63α. Furthermore, suppression of the SHH pathway attenuated the effects of PAEs on BCSCs. And the overexpression of ΔNp63α enhanced PAE-induced characteristics of BCSCs, while low expression of ΔNp63α inhibited the promotion effects of PAEs on BCSCs and the SHH pathway. Conclusion: Low-dose PAE exposure promoted the stem cell properties of BCSCs in a ΔNp63α- and SHH-dependent manner. The influence of low-dose exposure of PAEs and its relevance for the lowest observed effect concentrations requires further investigation, and the precise underlying mechanism needs to be further explored.

We propose an ultra-thin metasurface to control the amplitudes and phases independently of the reflected waves by changing geometries and orientations of I-shaped metallic particles. We demonstrate that the particles can realize independent controls of reflection amplitudes and phases with a magnitude range of [0, 0.82] and a full phase range of 360° in broad frequency band. Based on such particles, two ultrathin metasurface gratings are further proposed to form anomalous reflection with polarization orthogonal to the incident waves. The simulated and measured results of the presented metasurfaces show very good agreements. The proposed method has potential applications in engineering high-efficiency holography and complex electromagnetic and optical patterns.

Ultrafast near-infrared absorption spectroscopy was used to investigate the influence of film morphology and excitation photon energy on the charge recombination (CR) dynamics in the initial nanosecond timescale in the P3HT/PC61BM blend films. With reference to the CS2-cast films, the solvent vapor annealed (SVA) ones show 2–3-fold improvement in hole mobility and more than 5-fold reduction in the polymer-localized trap states of holes. At Dt = 70 ps, the hole mobility (mh) and the bimolecular CR rate (gbi) of the SVA films are mh = 8.7 × 10−4 cm2×s−1×V−1 and gbi = 4.5 × 10−10 cm3×s−1, whereas at Dt = 1 ns they drop to 8.7 × 10−5 cm2×s−1×V−1 and 4.6 × 10−11 cm3×s−1, respectively. In addition, upon increasing the hole concentration, the hole mobility increases substantially faster under the above-gap photoexcitation than it does under the band-gap photoexcitation, irrespective of the film morphologies. The results point to the importance of utilizing the photogenerated free charges in the early timescales.

We propose a Huygens source unit cell to develop an ultrathin low-reflection metasurface, which could provide extreme controls of phases of the transmitted waves. Both electric and magnetic currents are supported by the proposed unit cell, thus leading to highly efficient and full controls of phases. The coupling between electric and magnetic responses is negligible, which will significantly reduce the difficulty of design. Since the unit cell of metasurface is printed on two bonded boards, the fabrication process is simplified and the thickness of metasurface is reduced. Based on the proposed unit cell, a beam-refracting metasurface with low-reflection is designed and manufactured. Both near-field and far-field characteristics of the beam-refracting metasurface are investigated by simulations and measurements, which indicate that the proposed Huygens metasurface performs well in controlling electromagnetic waves.

The infrared spectra of the hydrogen bonded solute-solvent complexes in electronically excited states are calculated to study the early time hydrogen-bonding dynamics of chromophore in hydrogen-donating solvents upon photoexcitation by using the time-dependent density functional theory method. It demonstrated that the intermolecular hydrogen bonds between coumarin 102 (C102) and hydrogen donating solvents are strengthened in the early time photoexcitation to the electronically excited state by theoretically monitoring the stretching models of C=O and H-O groups.

The quantum dynamics calculations of the H + HS (v = 0, j = 0) reaction on the ³A' and ³A'' potential energy surfaces (PESs) are performed using the reactant coordinate based time-dependent wave packet method. State-averaged and state-resolved results for both channels of the title reaction are presented in the 0.02-1.0 eV collision energy range and compared with those carried out with quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) method. Total integral cross sections (ICSs) for both channels are in excellent agreement with previous quantum mechanical (QM)-Coriolis coupling results while poorly agree with the QCT ICSs of the exchange channel, particularly near the threshold energy region. The product rotational distributions show that for the abstraction channel, the agreement between our QM and the QCT results improves with increasing collision energy. For the exchange channel, our calculations predict colder rotational distributions as compared to those obtained by QCT calculations. Although the QM total differential cross sections (DCSs) are in qualitatively good agreement with the QCT results, the two sets of the state-to-state DCSs with several peaks exhibit great divergences. The origin of the divergences are traced by analyzing the QM DCS for the H + HS (v = 0, j = 0) → H2 (v ' = 0, j' = 0) + S reaction on the ³A'' PES at Ec = 1.0 eV. It is discovered that several groups of J partial waves are involved in the reaction and the shape of the DCS is greatly altered by quantum interferences between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trans-urocanic acid, a UV chromophore in the epidermis of human skin, was found to exhibit a wavelength dependent isomerization property. The isomerization quantum yield to cis-urocanic is greatest when being excited to the S1 state, whereas exciting the molecule to the S2 state causes almost no isomerization. The comparative photochemical behavior of the trans-urocanic on the S1 and S2 states continues to be the subject of intense research effort. This study is concerned with the unique photo-behavior of this interesting molecule on the S2 state. Combining the on-the-fly surface hopping dynamics simulations and static electronic structure calculations, three decay channels were observed following excitation to the S2 state. An overwhelming majority of the molecules decay to the S1 state through a planar or pucker characterized minimum energy conical intersection (MECI), and then decay to the ground state along a relaxation coordinate driven by a pucker deformation of the ring. A very small fraction of molecules decay to the S1 state by a MECI characterized by a twisting motion around the CC double bond, which continues to drive the molecule to deactivate to the ground state. The latter channel is related with the photoisomerization process, whereas the former one will only generate the original trans-form products. The present work provides a novel S2 state decay mechanism of this molecule, which offers useful information to explain the wavelength dependent isomerization behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detailed simulation study is reported for the excited-state dynamics of photoisomerization of cis-tetraphenylethylene (TPE) following excitation by a femtosecond laser pulse. The technique for this investigation is semiclassical dynamics simulation, which is described briefly in the paper. Upon photoexcitation by a femtosecond laser pulse, the stretching motion of the ethylenic bond of TPE is initially excited, leading to a significant lengthening of ethylenic bond in 300 fs. Twisting motion about the ethylenic bond is activated by the energy released from the relaxation of the stretching mode. The 90° twisting about the ethylenic bond from an approximately planar geometry to nearly a perpendicular conformation in the electronically excited state is completed in 600 fs. The torsional dynamics of phenyl rings which is temporally lagging behind occurs at about 5 ps. Finally, the twisted TPE reverts to the initial conformation along the twisting coordinate through nonadiabatic transitions. The simulation results provide a basis for understanding several spectroscopic observations at molecular levels, including ultrafast dynamic Stokes shift, multicomponent fluorescence, viscosity dependence of the fluorescence lifetime, and radiationless decay from electronically excited state to the ground state along the isomerization coordinate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intermolecular dihydrogen bonding in the electronically excited states of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-BTMA complex in gas phase was theoretically investigated using the time-dependent density functional theory method for the first time. It was theoretically demonstrated that the S1 state of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-BTMA complex is a locally excited state, in which only the phenol moiety is electronically excited. The infrared spectra of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-BTMA complex in ground state and the S1 state were calculated at both the O–H and B–H stretching vibrational regions. A novel infrared spectrum of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-BTMA complex in the electronically excited state was found. The stretching vibrational absorption bands of the dihydrogen-bonded O–H and B–H groups are very strong in the ground state, while they are disappeared in the S1 state. At the same time, a new strong absorption band appears at the C==O stretching region. From the calculated bond lengths, it was found that both the O–H and B–H bonds in the dihydrogen bond O–H...H–B are significantly lengthened in the S1 state of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-BTMA complex. However, the C–O bond in the phenol moiety is markedly shortened in the excited state, and then has the characteristics of C==O group. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the intermolecular dihydrogen bonds in the electronically excited state of the dihydrogen-bonded phenol-BTMA complex are strengthened, since calculated H...H distance is drastically shortened in the S1 state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultrafast hydrogen bond strengthening of the photoexcited fluorenone (FN) in various hydrogen donating alcohol solvents is studied. The results demonstrate that hydrogen bonding can easily quench the total fluorescence of fluorenone in polar protic solvents.

The solute-solvent intermolecular photoinduced transfer (ET) reaction which account for the drastic fluorescence quenching behaviors of oxazine 750 (OX750) chromophore in protic alcoholic solvents is reported.

The photosynthetic purple bacterium Thermochromatium (Tch.)tepidumis a thermophile that grows at an optimal temperatureof ∼50 °C. We have investigated, by means of steady-stateand time-resolved optical spectroscopies, the effects of temperatureon the near-infrared light absorption and the excitation energy transfer(EET) dynamics of its light-harvesting complex 2 (LH2), for whichthe mesophilic counterpart of Rhodobacter(Rba.) sphaeroides2.4.1 (∼30 °C)was examined in comparison. In a limited range around the physiologicaltemperature (10–55 °C), the B800-to-B850 EET process ofthe Tch. tepidumLH2, but not the Rba. sphaeroidesLH2, was found to be characteristically temperature-dependent, mainlybecause of a temperature-tunable spectral overlap. At 55 °C,the LH2 complex from Tch. tepidummaintained efficientnear-infrared light harvesting and B800-to-B850 EET dynamics, whereasthis EET process was disrupted in the case of Rba. sphaeroides2.4.1 owing to the structural distortion of the LH2 complex. Ourresults reveal a remarkable thermal adaptability of the light-harvestingfunction of Tch. tepidum, which could enhance ourunderstanding of the survival strategy of this thermophile in responseto environmental challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel wideband balanced bandpass filter with high selectivity and common-mode (CM) suppression is constructed with slotline resonator. When the intersection points of the microstrip feedline and slotline resonator are close to the midpoint of the slotline resonator, the coupling between the fundamental mode of the slotline resonator and microstrip feedline can be maximised, whereas the second mode can be suppressed. Making use of this feature, the third-order wideband filter with low insertion loss, wide upper-stopband and flat group delay is designed by using the slotline resonator and two quarter-wavelength microstrip resonators paralleled to the slotline resonator with tapped-line coupling at their short-circuited ends. Based on the third-order single-ended filter structure, a novel balanced filter with a 1 dB fractional bandwidth up to 72% is designed with low insertion loss and enhanced CM suppression. To improve the selectivity, the fifth-order wideband balanced filter with wide upper-stopband is designed with parallel coupling structure between two slotline resonators. The corresponding CM suppression is better than 42 dB within the whole differential mode passband. The wideband balanced filter is designed and fabricated, and good agreement between measurements and simulations is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, a novel compact dual-band microstrip bandpass filter (BPF) with multiple transmission zeros is proposed using the third-order interdigital structure and dual-mode short stub center-loaded resonator (DSLR) for wideband and WLAN applications. The high impedance feedline for the filter with the folded DSLR can function as the quarter-wavelength resonator (QWR) for the third-order interdigital filter. Meanwhile, the folded DSLR can be adopted without an evident increase of the size of the compact interdigital filter. Three transmission zeros between two passbands and in the lower- and upper-stopbands can be created due to the cross coupling between two high impedance feedlines as well as between the input and output, and the intrinsic characteristic of the DSLR. Further, two inverse QWR coupling short stubs with different size loaded in the 50 Ω feedlines can generate four transmission zeros to improve the isolation and deepen the stopband. Finally, a compact dual-band BPF prototype is designed, and good agreement can be obtained between measured and simulated results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effectively enhancing the enantioselectivity is a persistent challenge in heterogeneous asymmetric catalysis. Here, the validity of a layered double hydroxides (LDH) nanosheet as an efficient planar substituent to enhance the enantioselectivity has been investigated theoretically; first in vanadium-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols, and then in zinc-catalyzed direct asymmetric aldol addition. The computational predication is further confirmed experimentally in zinc-catalyzed direct asymmetric aldol addition by controlling the location of catalytic sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) method is used to study stereodynamic information about the reaction O (1D) + H2 → OH + H on the DK (Dobbyn and Knowles) (11A′) ab initio potential energy surface (PES). A wide scale of collision energy (Ec) from 0.05 eV to 0.5 eV is considered in the dynamic calculations. To reveal the rovibrational excitation effect, calculations at a collision energy of 0.52 eV are carried out for the v = 0 ∼ 5, j = 0 and v = 0, j = 0 ∼ 15 initial states. The two popularly used polarization-dependent differential cross sections (PDDCSs), dσ00/dωt (0, 0) and dσ20/dωt(2, 0), and two angular distributions, P(θr) and P(φr) are calculated to obtain an insight into the alignment and the orientation of the product molecules. From the calculations, we can obtain that the alignment of the OH product is weaker at high collision energy and becomes stronger with the increase of initial vibrational level, and it is almost insensitive to the initially rotational excitation. Influences of the mass values of isotopes (HD, D2) on the stereodynamics are also shown and discussed. Comparisons between available theoretical results and experimental results are made and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, spectroscopic techniques and quantum chemistry calculations were used to investigate the photophysical properties of various multinuclear platinum complexes with different conformational geometries. This suite of complexes includes a Pt–pyridyl square, a Pt–carboxylate triangle, and a mixed Pt–pyridyl–carboxylate rectangle, as well as two mononuclear Pt model complexes. Studying the individual molecular precursors in the context of larger assemblies is important to provide a complete understanding of the factors governing the observed photophysical properties of a given system. The absorption and emission bands of the parent linear dipyridyl donor (ligand 1) are largely preserved in the [4 + 4] square and the multicomponent [4 + 2 + 2] rectangle (3 and 4, respectively), with significant red shifts. The [3 + 3] Pt–carboxylate triangle containing p-phthalic acid is nonemissive. Phosphorescence and nanosecond transient spectroscopy on 3 and 4 reveal that the introduction of platinum atoms enhances spin–orbital coupling, thereby increasing the rate of intersystem crossing. This phenomenon is consistent with the low fluorescence quantum yields and short fluorescence lifetimes of 3 and 4. Moreover, the electronic structures for the ground state and low-lying excited states of these compounds were studied using quantum chemistry calculations. The fluorescent states of the platinum complexes are local excited states of ligand-centered π-π* transition features, whereas the nonfluorescent states are intramolecular charge-transfer states. These low-lying intramolecular charge-transfer states are responsible for the nonemissive nature of small molecules 1 and 2 and triangle 5. As the interactions between these components determine the properties of their corresponding assemblies, we establish novel excited-state decay mechanisms which dictate the observed spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafast near-infrared absorption spectroscopy was used to investigate the influence of film morphology and excitation photon energy on the charge recombination (CR) dynamics in the initial nanosecond timescale in the P3HT/PC61BM blend films. With reference to the CS2-cast films, the solvent vapor annealed (SVA) ones show 2--3-fold improvement in hole mobility and more than 5-fold reduction in the polymer-localized trap states of holes. At Δt = 70 ps, the hole mobility (μh) and the bimolecular CR rate (γbi) of the SVA films are μh = 8.7 × 10-4 cm2.s-1.V-1 and γbi = 4.5 × 10-10 cm3.s-1, whereas at Δt = 1 ns they drop to 8.7 × 10-5 cm2.s-1.V-1 and 4.6 × 10-11 cm3.s-1, respectively. In addition, upon increasing the hole concentration, the hole mobility increases substantially faster under the above-gap photoexcitation than it does under the band-gap photoexcitation, irrespective of the film morphologies. The results point to the importance of utilizing the photogenerated free charges in the early timescales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient ligand design strategy towards boosting asymmetric induction was proposed, which simply employed inorganic nanosheets to modify α-amino acids and has been demonstrated to be effective in vanadium-catalyzed epoxidation of allylic alcohols. Here, the strategy was first extended to zinc-catalyzed asymmetric aldol reaction, a versatile bottom-up route to make complex functional compounds. Zinc, the second-most abundant transition metal in humans, is an environment-friendly catalytic center. The strategy was then further proved valid for organocatalyzed metal-free asymmetric catalysis, that is, α-amino acid catalyzed asymmetric aldol reaction. Visible improvement of enantioselectivity was experimentally achieved irrespective of whether the nanosheet-attached α-amino acids were applied as chiral ligands together with catalytic ZnII centers or as chiral catalysts alone. The layered double hydroxide nanosheet was clearly found by theoretical calculations to boost ee through both steric and H-bonding effects; this resembles the role of a huge and rigid substituent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of suitable chiral ligands is an efficient means of producing highly enantioselective transition-metal catalysts. Herein, we report a facile, economic, and effective strategy for the design of chiral ligands that demonstrate enhanced enantioselectivity and catalytic efficacy. Our simple strategy employs naturally occurring or synthetic inorganic nanosheets as huge and rigid planar substituents for, but not limited to, naturally available α-amino-acid ligands; these ligands were successfully used in the vanadium-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols. The crucial role of the inorganic nanosheets as planar substituents in improving the enantioselectivity of the reaction was clearly revealed by relating the observed enantiomeric excess with the distribution of the catalytic centers and the accessibility of the substrate molecules to the catalytic sites. DFT calculations indicated that the LDH layer improved the enantioselectivity by influencing the formation and stability of the catalytic transition states, both in terms of steric resistance and H-bonding interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation of a series of platinum-containing organometallic complexes for the study of fluorescence phenomena in organometallic chromophores controlled by the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) is presented in this work. We report steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopic experiments as well as quantum chemistry calculations to investigate the substituent effects on the ICT and fluorescence emission. We demonstrate that the fluorescence maximum and lifetimes greatly depend on different substituents and the presence of bimetallic platinum donor. This work paves the way for an understanding of the fluorescence phenomena controlled by molecular ICT characters of these kinds of platinum-containing organometallic complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel compact bandpass filter (BPF) with good in band and wide upper-stopband performances is realized using open stub loaded dual-mode resonator.The resonator generates two operating modes in the desired band and the even-mode resonance frequency can be flexibly controlled by the disc-shaped open stub at central plane, whereas the odd-mode one is fixed. By simply adjusting the dimension of the disc-shaped open stub, the even resonant mode falls down and works together with the odd mode to form a BPF. Two other pairs of open stubs are mainly applied to suppress the high harmonic resonant modes and obtain good match, respectively. Experimental results of the fabricated filter show good agreement with the simulated results. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52:2185–2188, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience. wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25453 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An excited-state proton transfer (ESPT) process, induced by both intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions, is proposed to account for the fluorescence sensing mechanism of a fluoride chemosensor, phenyl-1H-anthra(1,2-d)imidazole-6,11-dione. The time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) method has been applied to investigate the different electronic states. The present theoretical study of this chemosensor, as well as its anion and fluoride complex, has been conducted with a view to monitoring its structural and photophysical properties. The proton of the chemosensor can shift to fluoride in the ground state but transfers from the proton donor (NH group) to a proton acceptor (neighboring carbonyl group) in the first singlet excited state. This may explain the observed red shifts in the fluorescence spectra in the relevant fluorescent sensing mechanism. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]