The study of phase transition in some irradiated cholesteric liquid crystalline mixtures

We present the study of binary and multicomponent cholesteric mixtures undertaken with the aim of forming a system with the temperature of the phase transition close to the room temperature, which could be suitable for the detection of ionizing radiation. The phase diagrams were established on the basis of data from the optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The mixtures were exposed to the continual spectrum of X-Ray radiation in the period of 30/60 min. The mixtures react by changing the color of the mesophase, and a shift of the mesophase transition towards lower temperatures. The duration of the effects exceeds six months.     

Accounting for observed small angle X‐ray scattering profile in the protein–protein docking server cluspro

The protein‐protein docking server ClusPro is used by thousands of laboratories, and models built by the server have been reported in over 300 publications. Although the structures generated by the docking include near‐native ones for many proteins, selecting the best model is difficult due to the uncertainty in scoring. Small angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS) is an experimental technique for obtaining low resolution structural information in solution. While not sufficient on its own to uniquely predict complex structures, accounting for SAXS data improves the ranking of models and facilitates the identification of the most accurate structure. Although SAXS profiles are currently available only for a small number of complexes, due to its simplicity the method is becoming increasingly popular. Since combining docking with SAXS experiments will provide a viable strategy for fairly high‐throughput determination of protein complex structures, the option of using SAXS restraints is added to the ClusPro server. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Communication: Suppression of sintering of size-selected Pd clusters under realistic reaction conditions for catalysis

The stability of model catalysts based on size-selected Pd clusters supported on graphite surfaces has been explored under realistic conditions for catalytic oxidation of methane at mild temperatures. The experimental results show that aggregated films of nanoparticles are highly unstable, but clusters pinned to the surface in the submonolayer coverage regime are much more stable against sintering. The degree of sintering of the pinned clusters, which does occur, proceeds by the release of clusters from their pinning sites. The suppression of sintering depends on the cluster deposition energy with respect to the pinning threshold.     

Synthesis and mesomorphic properties of cholesteryl p-2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoropentoxybenzoate

Cholesteryl p-2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoropentoxybenzoate was synthesized and its phase transition behaviour studied by differential scanning calorimetry and thermal polarizing microscopy. The results show that the compound has SmA and monotropic SmE phases.     

g-Factor measurements of fission isomers

The current status of g-factor measurements of fission isomers is reviewed. In particular, we concentrate on magnetic and electric extranuclear perturbations affecting the fission isomers in solid environments. Recent results for isomers in²³⁷Pu and²³⁹Am are summarized and the single particle nature of these states is discussed.This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation.