Building block libraries and structural considerations in the self-assembly of polyoxometalate and polyoxothiometalate systems

Inorganic metal-oxide clusters form a class of compounds that are unique in their topological and electronic versatility and are becoming increasingly more important in a variety of applications. Namely, Polyoxometalates (POMs) have shown an unmatched range of physical properties and the ability to form structures that can bridge several length scales. The formation of these molecular clusters is often ambiguous and is governed by self-assembly processes that limit our ability to rationally design such molecules. However, recent years have shown that by considering new building block principles the design and discovery of novel complex clusters is aiding our understanding of this process. Now with current progress in thiometalate chemistry, specifically polyoxothiometalates (POTM), the field of inorganic molecular clusters has further diversified allowing for the targeted development of molecules with specific functionality. This chapter discusses the main differences between POM and POTM systems and how this affects synthetic methodologies and reactivities. We will illustrate how careful structural considerations can lead to the generation of novel building blocks and further deepen our understanding of complex systems

ISRM Suggested Method for Laboratory Acoustic Emission Monitoring

Acoustic emission (AE) is defined as high-frequency elastic waves emitted from defects such as small cracks (microcracks) within a material when stressed, typically in the laboratory. AE is a similar phenomenon to microseismicity (MS), as MS is induced by fracture of rock at an engineering scale (e.g., rockbursts in mines), that is, in the field. Thus, seismic monitoring can be applied to a wide variety of rock engineering problems, and AE is a powerful method to investigate processes of rock fracture by detecting microcracks prior to macroscopic failure and by tracking crack propagation. A basic approach involves using a single channel of data acquisition, such as with a digital oscilloscope, and analyzing the number and rate of AE events. Perhaps the most valuable information from AE is the source location, which requires recording the waveform at several sensors and determining arrival times at each. Thus, investing in a multichannel data acquisition system provides the means to monitor dynamics of the fracturing process. The purpose of this suggested method is to describe the experimental setup and devices used to monitor AE in laboratory testing of rock. The instrumentation includes the AE sensor, preamplifier, frequency (noise) filter, main amplifier, AE rate counter, and A/D (analog-to-digital) recorder, to provide fundamental knowledge on material and specimen behavior in laboratory experiments. When considering in situ seismic monitoring, the reader is referred to the relevant ISRM suggested method specifically addressing that topic (Xiao et al. 2016)

Converting Layered Zinc Acetate Nanobelts to One-dimensional Structured ZnO Nanoparticle Aggregates and their Photocatalytic Activity

We were successful in synthesizing periodic layered zinc acetate nanobelts through a hydrothermal solution process. One-dimensional structured ZnO nanoparticle aggregate was obtained by simple thermal annealing of the above-mentioned layered ZnO acetate nanobelts at 300 °C. The morphology, microstructure, and composition of the synthesized ZnO and its precursors were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and infrared spectroscopy, respectively. Low angle X-ray diffraction spectra reveal that as-synthesized zinc acetate has a layered structure with two interlayer d-spacings (one is 1.32 nm and the other is 1.91 nm). SEM and TEM indicate that nanobelt precursors were 100–200 nm in width and possesses length up to 30 μm. Calcination of precursor in air results in the formation of one-dimensional structured ZnO nanoparticle aggregates. In addition, the as-prepared ZnO nanoparticle aggregates exhibit high photocatalytic activity for the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO)

Structural Basis for Specific Binding of Human MPP8 Chromodomain to Histone H3 Methylated at Lysine 9

. MPP8 binding to methylated H3K9 is suggested to recruit the H3K9 methyltransferases GLP and ESET, and DNA methyltransferase 3A to the promoter of the E-cadherin gene, mediating the E-cadherin gene silencing and promote tumor cell motility and invasion. MPP8 contains a chromodomain in its N-terminus, which is used to bind the methylated H3K9. HP1, a chromodomain containing protein that binds to methylated H3K9 as well. The structure also reveals that the human MPP8 chromodomain forms homodimer, which is mediated via an unexpected domain swapping interaction through two β strands from the two protomer subunits.Our findings reveal the molecular mechanism of selective binding of human MPP8 chromodomain to methylated histone H3K9. The observation of human MPP8 chromodomain in both solution and crystal lattice may provide clues to study MPP8-mediated gene regulation furthermore

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for new physics with same-sign isolated dilepton events with jets and missing transverse energy

A search for new physics is performed in events with two same-sign isolated leptons, hadronic jets, and missing transverse energy in the final state. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.98 inverse femtobarns produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. This constitutes a factor of 140 increase in integrated luminosity over previously published results. The observed yields agree with the standard model predictions and thus no evidence for new physics is found. The observations are used to set upper limits on possible new physics contributions and to constrain supersymmetric models. To facilitate the interpretation of the data in a broader range of new physics scenarios, information on the event selection, detector response, and efficiencies is provided.Comment: Published in Physical Review Letter

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns