Investigating the interface of superhydrophobic surfaces in contact with water

Neutron reflectivity (NR) is used to probe the solid, liquid, vapor interface of a porous superhydrophobic (SH) surface submerged in water. A low-temperature, low-pressure technique was used to prepare a rough, highly porous organosilica aerogel-like film. UV/ozone treatments were used to control the surface coverage of hydrophobic organic ligands on the silica framework, allowing the contact angle with water to be continuously varied over the range of 160 degrees (superhydrophobic) to <10 degrees (hydrophilic). NR shows that the superhydrophobic nature of the surface prevents infiltration of water into the porous film. Atomic force microscopy and density functional theory simulations are used in combination to interpret the NR results and help establish the location, width, and nature of the SH film-water interface.     

Blind prediction of HIV integrase binding from the SAMPL4 challenge

Here, we give an overview of the protein-ligand binding portion of the Statistical Assessment of Modeling of Proteins and Ligands 4 (SAMPL4) challenge, which focused on predicting binding of HIV integrase inhibitors in the catalytic core domain. The challenge encompassed three components—a small “virtual screening” challenge, a binding mode prediction component, and a small affinity prediction component. Here, we give summary results and statistics concerning the performance of all submissions at each of these challenges. Virtual screening was particularly challenging here in part because, in contrast to more typical virtual screening test sets, the inactive compounds were tested because they were thought to be likely binders, so only the very top predictions performed significantly better than random. Pose prediction was also quite challenging, in part because inhibitors in the set bind to three different sites, so even identifying the correct binding site was challenging. Still, the best methods managed low root mean squared deviation predictions in many cases. Here, we give an overview of results, highlight some features of methods which worked particularly well, and refer the interested reader to papers in this issue which describe specific submissions for additional details.     

Search for charged Higgs,scalar tau's and a test of technicolor models

We have used our measurements of final states from e⁺e^? containing an isolated muon and a hadronic or electron shower to search for new spin 0 charged particles. We exclude (95% CL) a supersymmetric partner of the τ with a mass less than 14 GeV/c². We obtain upper limits on the branching ratio to τv_τ for charged Higgs particles or technipions with masses up to 14 GeV/c². This disagrees with some technicolor model predictions.     

Particle production at large transverse momentum

From a simple fragmentation approach to inelastic production at large fixed angles, we obtain an inclusive cross-section which falls as an inverse power of large transverse momentum p_T and which scales according to (p_T/√s), both consistent with ISR data. Predictions for charge ratios and associated multiplicities are also presented and compared with available data.     

Tests of quantum chromodynamics and a direct measurement of the strong coupling constant αs at √s=30 GeV

We report the measurement of the reaction e⁺ + e^? → hadronic jets at a center-of-mass energy √s=30 GeV using the MARK-J detector at PETRA. By measuring the energy and angular distribution of both neutrals and charged particles we were able to isolate unambiguously the three-jet events in a kinematic region where the backgrounds from q$\text{q}$ and phase space contributions and other processes are small. Various comparisons of the data with quantum chromodynamics were made. The relative yield of three-jet events and the shape distribution of the events enable us to determine α_s = 0.23 ± 0.02 (statistical error) with a systematic error of ± 0.04.     

Conformally Invariant Operators,Differential Forms,Cohomology and a Generalisation of Q-Curvature

On conformal manifolds of even dimension n ≥ 4 we construct a family of new conformally invariant differential complexes, each containing one coboundary operator of order greater than 1. Each bundle in each of these complexes appears either in the de Rham complex or in its dual (which is a different complex in the non-orientable case). Each of the new complexes is elliptic in case the conformal structure has Riemannian signature. We also construct gauge companion operators which (for differential forms of order k ≤ n/2) complete the exterior derivative to a conformally invariant and (in the case of Riemannian signature) elliptically coercive system. These (operator, gauge) pairs are used to define finite dimensional conformally stable form subspaces which are are candidates for spaces of conformal harmonics. This generalizes the n/2-form and 0-form cases, in which the harmonics are given by conformally invariant systems. These constructions are based on a family of operators on closed forms which generalize in a natural way Branson's Q-curvature. We give a universal construction of these new operators and show that they yield new conformally invariant global pairings between differential form bundles. Finally we give a geometric construction of a family of conformally invariant differential operators between density-valued differential form bundles and develop their properties (including their ellipticity type in the case of definite conformal signature). The construction is based on the ambient metric of Fefferman and Graham, and its relationship to the tractor bundles for the Cartan normal conformal connection. For each form order, our derivation yields an operator of every even order in odd dimensions, and even order operators up to order n in even dimension n. In the case of unweighted (or true) forms as domain, these operators are the natural form analogues of the critical order conformal Laplacian of Graham et al., and are key ingredients in the new differential complexes mentioned above.     

Structural Modulation in Lanthanide Tetracyanoplatinates Incorporating Terpyridine: Synthesis and Structures of Four Distinct One-Dimensional Variants

Abstract  

The synthesis of four different lanthanide tetracyanoplatinates all incorporating 2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine have been carried out in acetonitrile/water mixtures by reaction of an appropriate Ln³⁺ salt with 2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine and potassium tetracyanoplatinate. The use of different Ln³⁺ salts as reactants results in the isolation of {La(tpy)(H₂O)₃}₂[Pt(CN)₄]₃·2CH₃CN·2H₂O (La-1) space group P[`1] P\bar{1} , a = 9.3862(15) ?, b = 12.186(1) ?, c = 13.493(1) ?, α = 88.082(7)°, β = 80.22(1)°, γ = 74.88(1)°, {Pr(tpy)(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>3</sub>}<sub>2</sub>[Pt(CN)<sub>4</sub>]<sub>3</sub>·2H<sub>2</sub>O (Pr-2) space group P[`1] P\bar{1} , a = 9.2458(15) ?, b = 10.8068(9) ?, c = 13.6178(14) ?, α = 84.554(8)°, β = 74.905(10)°, γ = 79.490(9)°, Ho(tpy)(H₂O)₂(NO₃)[Pt(CN)₄] · CH₃CN (Ho-3) space group P2₁/c, a = 12.867(1) ?, b = 15.1046(15) ?, c = 13.651(4) ?, β = 105.39(1)°, or Yb(tpy)(H₂O)₂(NO₃)[Pt(CN)₄]·0.5CH₃CN·1.5H₂O (Yb-4) space group Pbcn, a = 13.226(7) ?, b = 15.870(2) ?, c = 24.276(3) ? under quite similar reaction conditions. All four of these compounds have been isolated as single crystals and X-ray diffraction has been used to investigate their structural features. None of these compounds are isostructural with one another, but all contain one-dimensional, polymeric structures that contain tris chelation of the Ln³⁺ cations by terpyridine and bridging of the Ln³⁺ ions by tetracyanoplatinate. La-1 and Pr-2 contain both cis- and trans-bridging of Ln³⁺ cations by tetracyanoplatinate resulting in double chains with a ladder-type structure. Ho-3 and Yb-4 are similar in that they contain chelation of Ln³⁺ by both terpyridine and a nitrate anion and both structure types only contain cis-bridging by tetracyanoplatinate. All four structures contain Pt–Pt interactions in the form of dimeric units.