Bisquare robust polynomial fitting method for dimple distortion minimization in surface quality analysis

In this paper, the bisquare robust polynomial fitting (BSRPF) method for surface texture features assessment was proposed. Plateau-honed cylinder liner bronze surfaces with additionally burnished microcavities (defined as dimple, holes, and/or cavities) were taken into consideration. Analyzed details were measured with stylus (Talyscan 150) or white light interferometer (Talysurf CCI Lite) methods. It was assumed that application of commonly used (in surface contact and noncontact measurement technology) polynomial fitting procedures did not allow to extract required features; distortion of microreservoir dimples for oil consumption assessment was falsely estimated when valleys were near edge or on the edge located. Application of bisquare robust polynomial fitting method caused a minimization of microflattens of dimples irrespective of valley distribution; the biggest degree of polynomial fitting method applied, the minimal distortions of oil reservoirs were noticed. The valley size (depth and width) and valley-to-valley distance were also taken into account.     

Calculation of the deuterium electric field gradients in HD and LiD using a variation-perturbation method with a Gaussian basis set

Summary We present calculations of the deuterium electric field gradients in the HD and LiD molecules obtained with a variation-perturbation method using Gaussian atomic orbitals. The differences between our theoretical values and the corresponding experimental or best calculated values are 2%. We conclude that high accuracy can be obtained with the variation-perturbation method using either Gaussian or Slater orbitals.     

Finding optimal finite field strengths allowing for a maximum of precision in the calculation of polarizabilities and hyperpolarizabilities

The finite field method, widely used for the calculation of static dipole polarizabilities or the first and second hyperpolarizabilities of molecules and polymers, is thoroughly explored. The application of different field strengths and the impact on the precision of the calculations were investigated. Borders could be defined and characterized, establishing a range of feasible field strengths that guarantee reliable numerical results. The quality of different types of meshes to screen the feasible region is assessed. Extrapolation schemes are presented that reduce the truncation error and allow to increase the precision of finite field calculations by one to three orders of magnitude. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Analytical formulas for the magnetic field produced by a spin or a paramagnetic current density in the case of Gaussian basis functions

We present a derivation of simple formulas for the evaluation at any point of space of the magnetic field produced by a spin or a paramagnetic orbital current when Cartesian Gaussian basis functions are used, as is often the case in quantum chemistry. These formulas can be useful to plot the magnetic field vector density obtained from ab initio calculations or from a density operator fitted on experimental data. The magnetic field density is the observable probed in polarized neutron diffraction (PND) experiment, for it is, in fact, with this quantity that the neutron spins interact and not with the spin or magnetization density. The formulas make extensive use of the confluent hypergeometric function. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 81: 11–15, 2001     

Electric field standing wave effects in FT-IR transflection spectra of biological tissue sections: Simulated models of experimental variability

The so-called electric field standing wave effect (EFSW) has recently been demonstrated to significantly distort FT-IR spectra acquired in a transflection mode, both experimentally and in simulated models, bringing into question the appropriateness of the technique for sample characterization, particularly in the field of spectroscopy of biological materials. The predicted effects are most notable in the regime where the sample thickness is comparable to the source wavelength. In this work, the model is extended to sample thicknesses more representative of biological tissue sections and to include typical experimental factors which are demonstrated to reduce the predicted effects. These include integration over the range of incidence angles, varying degrees of coherence of the source and inhomogeneities in sample thickness. The latter was found to have the strongest effect on the spectral distortions and, with inhomogeneities as low as 10% of the sample thickness, the predicted distortions due to the standing wave effect are almost completely averaged out. As the majority of samples for biospectroscopy are prepared by cutting a cross section of tissue resulting in a high degree of thickness variation, this finding suggests that the standing wave effect should be a minor distortion in FT-IR spectroscopy of tissues. The study has important implications not only in optimization of protocols for future studies, but notably for the validity of the extensive studies which have been performed to date on tissue samples in the transflection geometry.     

Product or sum: comparative tests of Voigt,and product or sum of Gaussian and Lorentzian functions in the fitting of synthetic Voigt‐based X‐ray photoelectron spectra

A comparative study for the fitting of X‐ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) using different model functions is presented. Synthetically generated test spectra using Gaussian/Lorentzian convolution and a real measured spectrum are fitted with the three commonly used models: product, sum and Gaussian/Lorentzian convolution functions. In these limited tests, it was found that the sum function is superior to the product function, particularly for low‐noise spectra. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Residual changes in the surface charge of TiO2 (anatase) suspensions as a result of exposure to a 44 MHz radiofrequency electric field

Potentiometric titrations of TiO₂ (anatase) suspensions in solutions of 10^–2, 10^–3, and 10^–4 M NaCl prior to treatment with a radiofrequency (RF) electric field gave values of pH_pzc and pH_iep of 5.75±0.1 and 5.85±0.1, respectively, within the range of literature values. Surface charge plots versus pH for untreated samples gave curves with a common intersection point, indicating that NaCl acts as an indifferent electrolyte. Identical suspensions of anatase were then exposed for 30 min to an RF electric field with a peak-to-peak, no-load amplitude of 34V and a frequency of 44 MHz. Portions of the treated suspension were titrated after different time periods following removal of the field (2, 15, 30, and 45 min). At 2 min, the pH_pzc had shifted to 6.50±0.1, and at 15, 30 and 45 min, the curves for the three NaCl concentrations were found to lack a common intersection point, an effect which became more pronounced with time. It is proposed that RF treatment results in the formation of a porous gel layer of hydrous titanium dioxide on the surface of the anatase particles that subsequently undergoes a slow ion-exchange reaction involving ions of the supporting electrolyte.     

A Symmetry adapted tessellation of the GEPOL surface: applications to molecular properties in solution

A procedure to partition the GEPOL molecular surface into tesserae that respects the molecular symmetry constraints is presented. Using this method it is possible to build a solvent reaction field for the Polarizable Continuum Model with the same symmetry of the nuclear potential. Several applications are reported and discussed to evaluate the performance of this new procedure. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 22: 1262–1272, 2001     

Molecules under external electric field: On the changes in the electronic structure and validity limits of the theoretical predictions

A detailed analysis of the electronic structure of the ground and first excited spin state of three diatomic molecules ( and ) under static applied electric field is performed at CCSD(T), DFT, MRCI and MRCI(Q) levels of theory. Our findings have revealed that by boosting the applied field one induces changes in the occupation numbers of molecular orbitals, giving rise to changes in the equilibrium geometry and in the HOMO–LUMO energy gap. Specifically, singlet to triplet spin transition can be induced by increasing the applied electric field beyond a critical value. Accordingly, affecting the accuracy of the widely used expression of energy expanded in Taylor series with respect to the applied electric field. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Implicit solvation in the self-consistent mean field theory method: sidechain modelling and prediction of folding free energies of protein mutants

The Atomic Solvation Parameter (ASP) model is one of the simplest models of solvation, in which the solvation free energy of a molecule is proportional to the solvent accessible surface area (SAS) of its atoms. However, until now this model had not been incorporated into the Self-Consistent Mean Field Theory (SCMFT) method for modelling sidechain conformations in proteins. The reason for this is that SAS is a many-body quantity and, thus, it is not obvious how to define it within the Mean Field (MF) framework, where multiple copies of each sidechain exist simultaneously. Here, we present a method for incorporating an SAS-based potential, such as the ASP model, into SCMFT. The theory on which the method is based is exact within the MF framework, that is, it does not depend on a pairwise or any other approximation of SAS. Therefore, SAS can be calculated to arbitrary accuracy. The method is computationally very efficient: only 7.6% slower on average than the method without solvation. We applied the method to the prediction of sidechain conformation, using as a test set high-quality solution structures of 11 proteins. Solvation was found to substantially improve the prediction accuracy of well-defined surface sidechains. We also investigated whether the methodology can be applied to prediction of folding free energies of protein mutants, using a set of barnase mutants. For apolar mutants, the modest correlation observed between calculated and observed folding free energies without solvation improved substantially when solvation was included, allowing the prediction of trends in the folding free energies of this type of mutants. For polar mutants, correlation was not significant even with solvation. Several other factors also responsible for the correlation were identified and analysed. From this analysis, future directions for applying and improving the present methodology are discussed.     

On the estimation of the field constant of 35Cl nuclear quadrupole resonance frequency in the series of [R1R2R3AsCl]+M? compounds

The field constant of the NQR frequency of a chlorine atom (³⁵Cl) in a series of arsenic derivatives [R¹R²R³AsCl]⁺M⁻ was estimated from correlations. The field frequency is ∼41.5±3.5 Hz cm kV⁻¹, which is nearly twice as much as that in analogous phosphorus compounds. __________ Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1758–1760, August, 2005.