Parametric study of cylindrical and spherical dust ion acoustic shock waves with two temperature electrons in dusty plasma relevant to Saturn's E ring

We have performed numerical analysis of the one-dimensional dynamics of the cylindrical/spherical dust ion acoustic shock waves in unmagnetized dusty plasma consisting of positive ions, immobile dust particles, and nonextensive distributed cold and hot electrons. A multiple-scale expansion method is used to derive Burgers Equation (BE) and modified Burgers equation (MBE) by including higher order nonlinearity. The basic characteristics of the shock waves have been analysed numerically and graphically for different physical parameters relevant to Saturn' E ring through 2D figures. The parametric dependence of dust ion acoustic shock waves on some plasma parameters nonextensive index, density, and temperature of cold and hot electrons, concentration of dust particles, thermal effects and kinematic viscosity of ions is explored. Furthermore, it is found that the nonplanar geometry effects have an important impact on the establishment of shock waves. The amplitude of the wave decreases faster as one departs away from the axis of the cylinder or centre of the sphere. Such decaying behaviour continues as time progresses. It is also found that an increasing dust concentration decreases the amplitude of the dust ion acoustic shock waves.     

Kinetics of the simultaneous oxidation of nickel(II) and sulfur(IV) by oxygen in alkaline medium in Ni(II)–sulfur(IV)–O2 system

In the Ni(II)–S(IV)–O₂ system in the region of pH > 8.4, both Ni(II) and S(IV) are simultaneously autoxidized, and when sulfur is consumed fully NiOOH precipitates. At pH > 8.4, ethanol has no effect on the rate, whereas ammonia strongly inhibits the reaction when pH > 7.0. The kinetics of the reaction, in both the presence and the absence of ethanol, is defined by the rate law where k is the rate constant, K_O is the equilibrium constant for the adsorption of O₂ on ? Ni(OH)₂ particle surface. In ammonia buffer, the factor F is defined by where K, K_OH, K₁, K₂, K₃, and K₄ are the stability constants of NiSO₃, NiOH⁺, Ni(NH₃)²⁺, Ni(NH₃), Ni(NH₃), and Ni(NH₃), respectively. In unbuffered medium, the factor F reduces to The values of k and K^sp were found to be (1.3 ± 0.08) × 10^?1 s^?1 and (4.2 ± 3.5) × 10^?16, respectively, at 30°C. A nonradical mechanism that assumes the adsorption of both SO₃^2? and O₂ on the ? Ni(OH)₂ particle surface has been proposed. At pH ≤ 8.2, Ni(II) displays no catalytic activity for sulfur(IV)‐autoxidation and it is also not oxidized to NiOOH. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 42: 464–478, 2010     

Measurement of the t-channel single top quark production cross section in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Electroweak production of the top quark is measured for the first time in pp collisions at √=7 TeV, using a data set collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb?1. With an event selection optimized for t-channel production, two complementary analyses are performed. The first one exploits the special angular properties of the signal, together with background estimates from the data. The second approach uses a multivariate analysis technique to probe the compatibility with signal topology expected from electroweak top-quark production. The combined measurement of the cross section is 83.6±29.8(stat+syst)±3.3(lumi) pb, consistent with the standard model expectation.     

Search for three-jet resonances in pp collisions at square root(s)=7 TeV

A search for three-jet hadronic resonance production in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been conducted by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb(-1). Events with high jet multiplicity and a large scalar sum of jet transverse momenta are analyzed using a signature-based approach. The number of expected standard model background events is found to be in good agreement with the observed events. Limits on the cross section times branching ratio are set in a model of gluino pair production with an R-parity-violating decay to three quarks, and the data rule out such particles within the mass range of 200 to 280 GeV/c2.     

Search for supersymmetry at the LHC in events with jets and missing transverse energy

A search for events with jets and missing transverse energy is performed in a data sample of pp collisions collected at √s=7 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The analyzed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.14 fb(-1). In this search, a kinematic variable α(T) is used as the main discriminator between events with genuine and misreconstructed missing transverse energy. No excess of events over the standard model expectation is found. Exclusion limits in the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model are set. In this model, squark masses below 1.1 TeV are excluded at 95% C.L. Gluino masses below 1.1 TeV are also ruled out at 95% C.L. for values of the universal scalar mass parameter below 500 GeV.     

Absence of morphotropic phase boundary effects in BiFeO<Subscript>3</Subscript>–PbTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript> thin films grown via a chemical multilayer deposition method

We report an unusual behavior observed in (BiFeO₃)_1−x –(PbTiO₃) _x (BF–xPT) thin films prepared using a multilayer chemical solution deposition method. Films of different compositions were grown by depositing several bilayers of BF and PT precursors of varying BF and PT layer thicknesses followed by heat treatment in air. X-ray diffraction showed that samples of all compositions show mixing of two compounds resulting in a single-phase mixture, also confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. In contrast to bulk compositions, samples show a monoclinic (M_A-type) structure suggesting disappearance of the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) at x=0.30 as observed in the bulk. This is accompanied by the lack of any enhancement of the remanent polarization at the MPB, as shown by the ferroelectric measurements. Magnetic measurements showed an increase in the magnetization of the samples with increasing BF content. Significant magnetization in the samples indicates melting of spin spirals in the BF–xPT films, arising from a random distribution of iron atoms. Absence of Fe²⁺ ions was corroborated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The results illustrate that thin film processing methodology significantly changes the structural evolution, in contrast to predictions from the equilibrium phase diagram, besides modifying the functional characteristics of the BP-xPT system dramatically.     

Hydromagnetic laminar and turbulent free jet

The flow of a laminar and turbulent plane free jet of a viscous, incompressible, electrically conducting fluid in the presence of a transverse magnetic field is studied. Using the Prandtlvon Mises transformation, in both the cases, closed form solutions are obtained. A remarkable similarity with the nonmagnetic solutions is noticed. Critical values of the magnetic interaction parameter are determined when the dragging action of the initial momentum is exactly balanced by the retarding effect of the magnetic field resulting in the zero axial velocity field.On leave from V.V. (P.G.) College, Shamli-247776, INDIA.     

On the fly estimation of host–guest binding free energies using the movable type method: participation in the SAMPL5 blind challenge

We review our performance in the SAMPL5 challenge for predicting host–guest binding affinities using the movable type (MT) method. The challenge included three hosts, acyclic Cucurbit[2]uril and two octa-acids with and without methylation at the entrance to their binding cavities. Each host was associated with 6–10 guest molecules. The MT method extrapolates local energy landscapes around particular molecular states and estimates the free energy by Monte Carlo integration over these landscapes. Two blind submissions pairing MT with variants of the KECSA potential function yielded mean unsigned errors of 1.26 and 1.53 kcal/mol for the non-methylated octa-acid, 2.83 and 3.06 kcal/mol for the methylated octa-acid, and 2.77 and 3.36 kcal/mol for Cucurbit[2]uril host. While our results are in reasonable agreement with experiment, we focused on particular cases in which our estimates gave incorrect results, particularly with regard to association between the octa-acids and an adamantane derivative. Working on the hypothesis that differential solvation effects play a role in effecting computed binding affinities for the parent octa-acid and the methylated octa-acid and that the ligands bind inside the pockets (rather than on the surface) we devised a new solvent accessible surface area term to better quantify solvation energy contributions in MT based studies. To further explore this issue a, molecular dynamics potential of mean force (PMF) study indicates that, as found by our docking calculations, the stable binding mode for this ligand is inside (rather than surface bound) the octa-acid cavity whether the entrance is methylated or not. The PMF studies also obtained the correct order for the methylation-induced change in binding affinities and associated the difference, to a large extent to differential solvation effects. Overall, the SAMPL5 challenge yielded in improvements our solvation modeling and also demonstrated the need for thorough validation of input data integrity prior to any computational analysis.     

MHD laminar wall jet over a curved surface in a variable normal magnetic field

The effects of a magnetic field on jets of an electrically conducting fluid flowing over a curved surface, in the presence of a variable normal magnetic field, are studied. It is noted that the convex surface curvature h and the magnetic interaction parameter m, in small perturbation similarity solution have qualitatively similar effects. They increase the mass flux, decrease the momentum flux, decrease the wall shear and cause an adverse pressure gradient in the flow field.