ChemInform Abstract: Prediction and Synthesis of a Non‐Zintl Silicon Clathrate.

High‐throughput DFT calculations are used to predict the thermodynamic stability of ternary type I Si clathrates.     

Crystallization behavior of soft, attractive microgels

The equilibrium phase behavior and the dynamics of colloidal assemblies composed of soft, spherical, colloidal particles with attractive pair potentials have been studied by digital video microscopy. The particles were synthesized by precipitation copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm), acrylic acid (AAc), and N,N'-methylene bis(acrylamide) (BIS), yielding highly water swollen hydrogel microparticles (microgels) with temperature- and pH-tunable swelling properties. It is observed that in a pH = 3.0 buffer with an ionic strength of 10 mM, assemblies of pNIPAm-AAc microgels crystallize due to a delicate balance between weak attractive and soft repulsive forces. The attractive interactions are further confirmed by measurements of the crystal melting temperatures. As the temperature of colloidal crystals is increased, the crystalline phase does not melt until the temperature is far above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the microgels, in stark contrast to what is typically observed for phases formed due to purely repulsive interactions. The unusual thermal stability of pNIPAm-AAc colloidal crystals demonstrates an enthalpic origin of crystallization for these microgels.     

Analysis of Fluorescent Proteins with a Nanoparticle Probe

This letter presents the first application of high energy, single nanoparticle probes (e.g., 520 keV Au(400) 2nm NP) in the characterization of surfaces containing fluorescent proteins (e.g., GFP variants) by their co-emitted photon, electron and secondary ion signals. NP induced protein luminescence increases with the NP incident energy, is originated by the NP impact and is transferred to the protein fluorophor via electronic energy transfer. Multi-electron emission is observed per single NP impacts and their distributions are specific to the target morphology and composition. Fragment ions of protein sub-units consisting of 2-7 amino acid peptides are observed under individual NP impacts that can be correlated to the random protein orientation relative to the impact site (e.g., outer layer or "skin" of the protein).     

pK a Constant Determination of Two Triazole Pesticides: Tebuconazole and Penconazole

We determined the acidity constants of tebuconazole and penconazole, two fungicides from the group of 1,2,4-triazoles. Potentiometric titrations were performed in a 20 % (v/v) acetonitrile/water mixture at 25 °C and at a fixed ionic strength (KNO₃, 0.1 mol·dm^?3). The pK _a values (representing thermodynamic constants) were determined to be 5.0 ± 0.1 and 5.2 ± 0.1 for tebuconazole and penconazole, respectively. These values could be used in pure water solutions to consider the protonated or deprotonated forms when studying the field behavior of these fungicides. Molecular modeling calculations allowed identifying the N4 atom as the protonation site.     

高T_c超导体YBCO磁通钉扎的计算机模拟研究

临界电流密度Jc是影响高温超导体在强电领域应用的一个重要参数,在实际应用中,特别在外加磁场下,临界电流密度与超导材料的磁通钉扎性质密切相关.因此,磁通钉扎一直是高温超导体研究中的一个重要领域.由于高温超导体磁通钉扎力密度Fp的标度律存在,本文根据D.Dew-Hughes总结的钉扎力函数,主要存在两种主要作用类型(正常相和△K).我们将D.Dew-HugBes给出的钉扎力密度Fp标度函数改进为一个简化的具有物理意义的函数表达式.结合文献中已有的实验数据,我们对YBcO进行了计算机模拟,确定了它的磁通钉扎类型,模拟的研究结果与实际情况比较吻合.     

A finite element study of a high-pressure/high-temperature cell for simultaneous X-ray and ultrasonic measurement

In this study, we measured the viscosity of liquid sulfur at 4.5 GPa in the L and L′ regions at 1000 K and 1373 K, respectively, in a 1000-ton cubic anvil press using modified falling sphere viscometry. The viscosity values in the L and L′ regions are 0.140±0.023 Pa s and 0.050±0.006 Pa s, respectively. The lower viscosity in the L′ region may be due to the effect of higher temperature alone or in addition to a hidden contribution from the L–L′ transition.     

K-duality for pseudomanifolds with an isolated singularity

We associate to a pseudomanifold X with an isolated singularity a differentiable groupoid G which plays the role of the tangent space of X. We construct a Dirac element D and a Dual Dirac element λ which induce a Poincaré duality in K-theory between the $\text{C}{}^1$-algebras C(X) and $\text{C}{}^1\text{(G)}$. To cite this article: C. Debord, J.-M. Lescure, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 336 (2003).