From favorable atomic configurations to supershell structures: a new interpretation of conductance histograms.

Simulated minimum cross-section histograms of breaking Al nanocontacts are produced using molecular dynamics. The results allow a new interpretation of the controverted conductance histogram peaks based on preferential geometrical arrangements of nanocontact necks. As temperature increases, lower conductance peaks decrease in favor of broader and higher conductance structures. This reveals the existence of shell and supershell structures favored by the increased mobility of Al atoms.     

Thermodynamics of alcohols and monosaccharides in aqueous solutions of thiourea at 25°C

The excess enthalpies of twelve ternary aqueous solutions of alcohols or monosaccharides containing thiourea have been determined by flow microcalorimetry at 25°C. The coefficients of the virial expansion of the excess enthalpies are compared with those reported in the literature for the same ternary solutions containing urea in place of thiourea. The cross-interaction coefficients are positive for the thiourea-alcohol systems and depend on the length and branching of the alkyl chain of the alcohols. On the other hand, they are negative for the thiourea-monosaccharide systems. Thus, thiourea, as urea, can be used as a probe to reveal differences in the behavior of families of solutes characterized by the same functional groups. The results can be interpreted in terms of the relative stabilities of hydration cospheres of hydrophobic or hydrophilic solutes toward a chaotropic agent such as thiourea.Presented at the sixth Italian meeting on Calorimetry and Thermal Analysis (AICAT) held in Naples, December 4–7, 1984.     

Preparation of 3-substituted-2-pyridin-2-ylindoles: regioselectivity of Larock’s indole annulation with 2-alkynylpyridines

A regioselective Larock approach to 3-substituted-2-pyridin-2-ylindoles from 2-alkynylpyridines and 2-iodoanilines is described herein. The unexpectedly high regioselectivity can be rationalized by a combination of steric, coordinative and electronic effects.     

A variable neighborhood search for the capacitated arc routing problem with intermediate facilities

The capacitated arc routing problem (CARP) focuses on servicing edges of an undirected network graph. A wide spectrum of applications like mail delivery, waste collection or street maintenance outlines the relevance of this problem. A realistic variant of the CARP arises from the need of intermediate facilities (IFs) to load up or unload the service vehicle and from tour length restrictions. The proposed Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) is a simple and robust solution technique which tackles the basic problem as well as its extensions. The VNS shows excellent results on four different benchmark sets. Particularly, for all 120 instances the best known solution could be found and in 71 cases a new best solution was achieved.     

Weak Riemannian structures on gauge-group orbits

It has been shown recently that the orbit space for the (Sobolev extended) gauge group action admits a stratification into Hilbert manifolds. Here it is shown that these manifolds carry a natural weak Riemannian structure defined by a metric that corresponds to the kinetic part of the Lagrangian considered in heuristic Yang-Mills theories.