Steps, kinks, and segregation at metallic surfaces

We have used density functional theory to establish databases of surface energies for low index surfaces of monoatomic metals and of surface segregation energies of single transition metal impurities in transition metal hosts. The data form one consistent starting point for models of surface science phenomena.     

Consolidation and Melioration of Salted Sandy Soils Using a Compound of Acetone-Formaldehyde Resin with Silk Sericin

Curing of the compound of acetone-formaldehyde resin with natural silk sericin in the presence of inorganic salts and its effect on a salted sandy soil were studied.     

Ball milling: An effective technique for the preparation of exfoliated clay filled unsaturated polyester toughened epoxy nanocomposite

This paper investigates the possibility of improving the mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy and unsaturated polyester toughened epoxy resins through the dispersion of octadecyl ammonium ion-exchanged montmorillonite (organoclay) through exfoliated mechanism. The nanocomposites prepared are characterized for their structural change and studied for their crystallite size, mechanical, thermal and water absorption (hydrophilicity) properties. The mechanical data indicates significant improvement in the flexural and tensile properties over the neat epoxy and UP-epoxy matrix according to the percentage content of organoclay. The thermal behavior too shows noticeable enhancement in glass transition temperature T _g and high thermal stability. Hydrophilicity of all the composites decreases irrespective of the concentration of organoclay on the epoxy and UP-epoxy matrices. The homogeneous morphology of epoxy and UP toughened epoxy nanocomposite hybrid systems is ascertained using scanning electron microscope (SEM). X-ray results point out that the cetyl ammonium modified clay filled composites exhibited the exfoliated structure.     

From Neutral to Cationic Adducts: Investigations on the System Halogeno (Imino) Phosphane (Bisiminophosphorane)/DMAP

Abstract

Cations containing a unifold coordinated phosphorus center have been verified in the case of iminophosphenium salts ^1a, and their chemistry has been explored i n some detail^1b. Herein we report on the Lewis-acid/base reactions between halogeno-(imino)phosphanes (X?CI,Br,l) and the neutral amine-donor dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP).     

P-Functionalized λ3-Iminophosphines and Diphosphenes

Abstract

The synthesis of P-functionalized iminophosphines and diphosphenes is discussed. The reactivity and the coordination chemistry of selected compounds have been explored.     

The nature of isostructural spinodal decomposition in the Al-Zn system

The electronic structure and thermodynamic properties of disordered Al-Zn alloys are investigated in the coherent potential approximation by the KKR-ASA method. Analysis of the electronic density of states and the Fermi surfaces of disordered alloys reveals the presence of eight electronic topological transitions in the concentration interval from 0 to 70 at. % Zn. It is shown that the passage of the Fermi level through two minima of the density of states, which are due to the superposition of different types of electronic topological transitions, gives rise to singularities in the concentration dependence of the second derivative of the thermodynamic potential at points corresponding to the boundaries of the region of isostructural decomposition of the high-temperature solid solution, according to the phase diagram of the Al-Zn system. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 593–596 (April 1997)     

Different crystal morphologies lead to slightly different conformations of light-harvesting complex II as monitored by variations of the intrinsic fluorescence lifetime

In 2005, it was found that the fluorescence of crystals of the major light-harvesting complex LHCII of green plants is significantly quenched when compared to the fluorescence of isolated LHCII (A. A. Pascal et al., Nature, 2005, 436, 134-137). The Raman spectrum of crystallized LHCII was also found to be different from that of isolated LHCII but very similar to that of aggregated LHCII, which has often been considered a good model system for studying nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ), the major protection mechanism of plants against photodamage in high light. It was proposed that in the crystal LHCII adopts a similar (quenching) conformation as during NPQ and indeed similar changes in the Raman spectrum were observed during NPQ in vivo (A. V. Ruban et al., Nature, 2007, 450, 575-579). We now compared the fluorescence of various types of crystals, differing in morphology and age. Each type gave rise to its own characteristic mono-exponential fluorescence lifetime, which was 5 to 10 times shorter than that of isolated LHCII. This indicates that fluorescence is not quenched by random impurities and packing defects (as proposed recently by T. Barros et al., EMBO Journal, 2009, 28, 298-306), but that LHCII adopts a particular structure in each crystal type, that leads to fluorescence quenching. Most interestingly, the extent of quenching appears to depend on the crystal morphology, indicating that also the crystal structure depends on this crystal morphology but at the moment no data are available to correlate the crystals' structural changes to changes in fluorescence lifetime.     

Optimal Dynamics of a Spherical Squirmer in Eulerian Description

JETP Letters - The problem of optimization of a cycle of tangential deformations of the surface of a spherical object (micro-squirmer) self-propelling in a viscous fluid at low Reynolds numbers is...     

Dynamics of quantum vortices in a quasi-two-dimensional Bose–Einstein condensate with two “holes”

The dynamics of interacting quantum vortices in a quasi-two-dimensional spatially inhomogeneous Bose–Einstein condensate, whose equilibrium density vanishes at two points of the plane with a possible presence of an immobile vortex with a few circulation quanta at each point, has been considered in a hydrodynamic approximation. A special class of density profiles has been chosen, so that it proves possible to calculate analytically the velocity field produced by point vortices. The equations of motion have been given in a noncanonical Hamiltonian form. The theory has been generalized to the case where the condensate forms a curved quasi-two-dimensional shell in the three-dimensional space.