The microscopic visualisation of the sonocrystallisation of ice using a novel ultrasonic cold stage

This work reports dynamic video images of the influence of ultrasonic cavitation on the sonocrystallisation of ice at a microscopic level. This has been achieved through the construction of a unique ultrasonic system for an optical microscope. The system consists of (1). an ultrasonic cold stage, (2). a temperature control system, and (3). a microscope and imaging setup. This allows the temperature of a sample to be systematically controlled while it is subjected to simultaneous excitation with alternating pressures in the ultrasonic frequency range. Both the amplitude of excitation and the frequency can be varied. Experiments on ice crystals in pure water and sucrose solutions were conducted. Three distinct phenomena were observed. Firstly, there is a tendency for cavitation bubbles to form at the grain boundaries between ice crystals. Secondly, there is a progressive melting of ice by cavitation bubbles which appear to eat their way into the ice phase. Thirdly, the dendritic ice structures may fragment under the influence of ultrasound, thus increasing the number of nuclei which may subsequently grow (secondary nucleation). These observations form the basis of a significantly enhanced understanding and exploitation of the sonocrystallisation of ice.     

Glass transition of miscible binary polymer-polymer thin films

The average glass transition temperatures, Tg, of thin homopolymer films exhibit a thickness dependence, Tg(h), associated with a confinement effect and with polymer-segment-interface interactions. The Tg's of completely miscible thin film blends of tetramethyl bisphenol-A polycarbonate (TMPC) and deuterated polystyrene (dPS), supported by SiO(x)/Si, decrease with decreasing h for PS weight fractions phi >0.1. This dependence is similar to that of PS and opposite to that of TMPC thin films. Based on an assessment of Tg(h, phi), we suggest that the Tg(h, phi) of miscible blends should be rationalized, additionally, in terms of the notion of a self-concentration and associated heterogeneous component dynamics.     

X‐ray collimation by crystals with precise parabolic holes based on diffractive–refractive optics

Two crystals with precise parabolic holes were used to demonstrate sagittal beam collimation by means of a diffractive–refractive double‐crystal monochromator. A new approach is introduced and beam collimation is demonstrated. Two Si(333) crystals with an asymmetry angle of α = 15° were prepared and arranged in a dispersive position (+,?,?,+). Based on theoretical calculations, this double‐crystal set‐up should provide tunable beam collimation within an energy range of 6.3–18.8 keV (Θ_B = 71–18.4°). An experiment study was performed on BM05 at ESRF. Using 8.97 keV energy, the beam profile at various distances was measured. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. Owing to insufficient harmonic suppression, the collimated (333) beam was overlapped by horizontally diverging (444) and (555) beams.     

Probing Ag nanoparticle surface oxidation in contact with (in)organics: an X‐ray scattering and fluorescence yield approach

Characterizing interfacial reactions is a crucial part of understanding the behavior of nanoparticles in nature and for unlocking their functional potential. Here, an advanced nanostructure characterization approach to study the corrosion processes of silver nanoparticles (Ag‐Nps), currently the most highly produced nanoparticle for nanotechnology, is presented. Corrosion of Ag‐Nps under aqueous conditions, in particular in the presence of organic matter and halide species common to many natural environments, is of particular importance because the release of toxic Ag⁺ from oxidation/dissolution of Ag‐Nps may strongly impact ecosystems. In this context, Ag‐Nps capped with polyvinolpyrrolidone (PVP) in contact with a simple proxy of organic matter in natural waters [polyacrylic acid (PAA) and Cl^? in solution] has been investigated. A combination of synchrotron‐based X‐ray standing‐wave fluorescence yield‐ and X‐ray diffraction‐based experiments on a sample consisting of an approximately single‐particle layer of Ag‐Nps deposited on a silicon substrate and coated by a thin film of PAA containing Cl revealed the formation of a stable AgCl corrosion product despite the presence of potential surface stabilizers (PVP and PAA). Diffusion and precipitation processes at the Ag‐Nps–PAA interface were characterized with a high spatial resolution using this new approach.     

Observation of mixed fermionic-bosonic helium clusters by transmission grating diffraction

Small weakly bound boson-fermion 4He(m) 3He(n) clusters formed in a free jet expansion are identified using nondestructive transmission grating diffraction. The observations confirm the existence of more than 11 very tenuous complexes including the three-body halo molecule 4He2 3He and the pseudo-Borromean complex 4He2 3He2. Effective cluster formation temperatures, extracted from a sudden freeze model for cluster growth using theoretical binding energies, increase smoothly with cluster size, thereby confirming the calculations with the possible exception of 4He2 3He2.     

Reduced expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">TAC1</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">PENK</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">SOCS2</Emphasis> in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hcrtr-2</Emphasis> mutated narcoleptic dog brain

Background  

Narcolepsy causes dramatic behavioral alterations in both humans and dogs, with excessive sleepiness and cataplexy triggered by emotional stimuli. Deficiencies in the hypocretin system are well established as the origin of the condition; both from studies in humans who lack the hypocretin ligand (HCRT) and in dogs with a mutation in hypocretin receptor 2 (HCRTR2). However, little is known about molecular alterations downstream of the hypocretin signals.     

Enhancing energy harvesting by coupling monostable oscillators

The performance of a ring of linearly coupled, monostable nonlinear oscillators is optimized towards its goal of acting as energy harvester – through piezoelectric transduction – of mesoscopic fluctuations, which are modeled as Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noises. For a single oscillator, the maximum output voltage and overall efficiency are attained for a soft piecewise-linear potential (providing a weak attractive constant force) but they are still fairly large for a harmonic potential. When several harmonic springs are linearly and bidirectionally coupled to form a ring, it is found that counter-phase coupling can largely improve the performance while in-phase coupling worsens it. Moreover, it turns out that few (two or three) coupled units perform better than more.     

Bounds for iterated normal matrices

Given a normal matrix A, asymptotic bounds are obtained for $\text{|}\text{A}{}^{\mathrm{m}}\text{|}{}_{\mathrm{\infty }}$ in terms of the spectral radius of A, the number of eigenvalues of A with modulus equal to the spectral radius of A, and the order of A. These results are extended to provide bounds for $\text{|}\text{A}{}^{\mathrm{m}}\text{|}{}_{\mathrm{\infty }}$ for all m ? 1.     

Unusual properties of bootstrap confidence intervals in regression problems

Summary We show that the percentile-t method, and one of the two percentile methods, have unusually good performance when employed to construct bootstrap confidence intervals in a regression setting. In the case of slope parameters, percentile-t produces two-sided intervals with coverage errorn ^-2, and one-sided intervals with coverage errorn ^-3/2, wheren is sample size. The errors are onlyn ^-1 in most other problems. One of the percentile methods produces critical points which are third-order correct for Efron's [11] relatively complex accelerated bias-corrected points.