Research Letter (research + letter)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Kinds of Research Letter

  • rapid research letter


  • Selected Abstracts


    Erratum: Modelling c-Si/SiNx interface recombination by surface damage

    PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI - RAPID RESEARCH LETTERS, Issue 7 2010
    Silke Steingrube
    Abstract Due to an unfortunate conversion error during typesetting, Figure 1 of the Rapid Research Letter by Silke Steingrube et al., published in Phys. Status Solidi RRL 4, No. 3,4, 91,93 (2010), was reproduced with partly wrong labels (especially the assignment of curves in Fig. 1a, b). The correct Figure 1 is presented here. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]


    Shine a light with nitrides

    PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI - RAPID RESEARCH LETTERS, Issue 7-8 2009
    Wolfgang Schnick
    Abstract The Expert Opinion is written by a distinguished scientist and presents his personal view on important and relevant new results of research, highlighting their significance and putting the work into perspective for a broader audience. Please send comments to pss.rapid@wiley-vch.de or to the author. The text by Wolfgang Schnick refers to the Rapid Research Letter by R. Mueller-Mach et al., published in this issue of Phys. Status Solidi RRL 3, 215 (2009). (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]


    Cover Picture: phys. stat. sol. (RRL) 1/2007

    PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI - RAPID RESEARCH LETTERS, Issue 1 2007
    Article first published online: 6 NOV 200
    In the Rapid Research Letter on p. R37 Musubu Ichikawa et al. report very high electron mobility above 10,3 cm2/Vs in the electron transporting material bipyridyl substituted oxadiazole (Bpy-OXD). These favourable electrical properties make the amorphous molecular semiconductor promising for potential applications in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), flatpanel displays and lighting. The authors also give reasons , by means of computational chemistry , why this planar material forms stable amorphous solid films. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]


    Comment on "A simplified model to calculate the higher surface energy of free-standing nanocrystals" [phys. stat. sol. (b) 242, No. 8, R76,R78 (2005)]

    PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (B) BASIC SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 15 2005
    W. H. Qi
    Abstract In the Rapid Research Letter by Dan Xie et al. [phys. stat. sol. (b) 242, R76,R78 (2005)], a method is developed to calculate the higher surface energy of free-standing nanoparticles. However, due to errors in the formula manipulation and improper calculation of the surface-to-volume ratio, the surface energy of nanoparticles is overestimated. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]


    Research Letter: New Potent Indole Derivatives as Hyaluronidase Inhibitors

    CHEMICAL BIOLOGY & DRUG DESIGN, Issue 6 2007
    Süreyya Ölgen
    Because of the physiologic importance of hyaluronidases, the identification of potent and selective inhibitors of hyaluronidases has become increasingly important. A variety of assay methods have been used for such a purpose, i.e. classical turbidimetric, viscometric and colorimetric. In this study, a modified enzymatic assay has been used to obtain a microtiter plate-based sensitive activity screening. All inhibitors were tested in a stains-all assay at pH 7 and in a Morgan-Elson assay at pH 3.5. Among the tested compounds, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 16, 17 and 18 showed good inhibition of more than 50%, so the IC50 values of these derivatives were determined in the range of 25,41 ,m. The IC50 value of the most active hyaluronidase inhibitor Vcpal (6-palmitoyl- l -ascorbic acid) was measured as 8.36 ,m. All inhibitors including Vcpal showed twofold less activity at pH 3.5 in a Morgan-Elson assay. Examination of substituent effects on the activity showed that para -positions of benzamide needs to be chlorinated or fluorinated to obtain good inhibitory effect. It was found that the introduction of a p -fluoro benzyl ring in the indole nitrogen has a positive effect for the inhibitory effects of both indole-2- and 3-carboxamide derivatives. [source]


    Research Letter: Retroinverso Mimetics of S Peptide

    CHEMICAL BIOLOGY & DRUG DESIGN, Issue 6 2007
    Jagdish Rai
    The S peptide from ribonuclease S was used as a model system to explore the relationship between the native peptide and its retroinverso (RI) analog. As probed by circular dichroism, the conformations of S peptide and retroinverso S peptide (RIS peptide) are each right-handed helical conformation. The helical propensity of retro S peptide is greater than S peptide, in trifluoroethanol (TFE). In 70% TFE, the S peptide possesses greater helicity at pH 4 than at pH 7, whereas RIS peptide possesses greater helicity at pH 7 than at pH 4. The RIS peptide does not mimic the S peptide in binding to S protein. Specifically, the RIS peptide does not mimic the S peptide to effect RNase activity with S protein and it also does not inhibit the RNase activity of S peptide with S protein. The biological mimicry between the S peptide and its RIS analog depends on the conformation and relatedness of both the side chain and backbone substructures. The backbones in the S peptide and its RIS analog are reverted with respect to each other; however, the side chain patterns are predicted to be similar. Importantly, if the molecular interactions of backbone atoms of the S peptide and its binding to S protein, then the RIS analog would be unlikely to mimic this parent peptide. [source]


    Martin Stutzmann: Editor, Teacher, Scientist and Friend

    PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (C) - CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 2 2005
    Manuel Cardona
    On 2 January 1995 Martin Stutzmann became Editor-in-Chief of physica status solidi, replacing Professor E. Gutsche, who had led the journal through the stormy period involving the fall of the Iron Curtain, the unification of Germany and the change in its Eastern part, where physica status solidi was based, from "socialism as found in the real world" (a German concept) to real world capitalism. In 1995 it was thought that the process had been completed (we should have known better!) and after the retirement of Prof. Gutsche the new owners of physica status solidi (Wiley-VCH) decided that a change in scientific management was desirable to adapt to the new socio-political facts and to insure the scientific continuity of the journal. Martin had moved in 1993 from my department at the Max-Planck-Institute to Munich where he soon displayed a tremendous amount of science man- agement ability during the build-up of the Walter Schottky Institute. The search for a successor as Edi- tor-in-Chief was not easy: the job was not very glamorous after the upheavals which had taken place in the editorial world following the political changes. Somebody in the Editorial Boards must have suggested Martin Stutzmann. I am sure that there was opposition: one usually looks for a well-established person ready to leave his direct involvement in science and take up a new endeavor of a more administrative nature. Nevertheless, the powers that be soon realized that Martin was an excellent, if somewhat unconventional candidate who had enough energy to remain a topnotch scientist and to lead the journal in the difficult times ahead: he was offered the job. In the negotiations that followed, he insisted in getting the administrative structures that would allow him to improve the battered quality of the journal and to continue his scientific productivity. Today we are happy to see that he succeeded in both endeavors. The journal has since grown in size and considerably improved its quality. Martin Stutzmann's scientific output has continued and today he can be found listed among the 400 most cited physicists worldwide. According to the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) he has published nearly 400 articles in source journals; they have been cited over 4600 times. His scientific visibility has been partly responsible for the success of the journal under his leadership. When he took over in 1995 the Impact Factors of physica status solidi (a) and (b) were about 0.5. Now they oscillate around 1.0. The journals occupy places 30 (a) and 29 (b) among the 57 condensed matter publications listed in the ISI. Six years ago these places were 34 (a) and 30 (b). The journal is even better placed with respect to the so-called cited half-life which is 8.2 years for pss (a) (place 16 among 57) and 6.7 years for pss (b) (place 20 among 57). Martin, of course, has contributed with his original publications to the success of the journal, having published 36 articles in pss(a) and 32 in pss(b). I would like to some of the editorial decisions implemented under Martin's leadership. They have been largely responsible for the quantitative improvements just described. Martin introduced international standards of peer review, usually involving two anonymous referees: The increase of the rejection rate from ca. 20% to 60% followed. He discontinued the Short Notes, which had become nearly irrelevant, and replaced them, in 1997 by Rapid Research Notes (today Rapid Research Letters) with especially strict reviewing rules and a rather attractive layout. Martin's participation in many international conferences and their organization gave him a handle to acquire the publication of conference proceedings. Organizing committees usually prefer publication in international journals rather than special books because of their guaranteed future availability in libraries and the partaking in the reviewing procedure. The journal became increasingly popular along these lines, a fact which moved Martin to launch in 2002 part (c) of the journal, devoted mainly, but not exclusively, to conference articles. Martin also introduced the publication of Feature Articles, topical issues, and the instrument of the Editor's Choice to highlight articles deemed to be especially interesting. He appointed Regional Editors (6 at this point) which represent the journal in important geographic regions. He also brought the journal online, a must these days. The upheavals that followed the collapse of most of the communist world, the rapid development of science in many emerging nations and the enhanced competitiveness, even in the developed countries, have not ebbed out. Some of them are particular damaging to the reputation of science in a world increasingly skeptical of its values. I am thinking of scientific misconduct and outright fraud, in the form of plagiarism and data fabrication. physica status solidi was also afflicted by this plague: after all, it happened in the best of families. Two of the most notorious offenders of the past decade, J. H. Schön and Y. Park, also visited physica status solidi. In two courageous editorials Martin Stutzmann and Stefan Hildebrandt (Managing Editor of the journal) rapidly exposed these cases of misconduct together with other cases in which there was also good reason to suspect misconduct. Some of the articles involved were rapidly retracted by the authors, others were not. It is reassuring to say that none of them had any impact worth mentioning (1,3 citations, mostly by the authors themselves or in the editorials just mentioned). Only few journal editors dared to convey to the readers a warning that some work of those authors may be faulty even if no air-tight proof was available. However, Martin and Stefan did. We wish that Martin will remain at the helm at least another decade, before he switches to research on the liquid state as practiced in Southern France. [source]