Diffusion pattern in MSi2 and M5Si3 silicides in group VB (M = V, Nb, Ta) and VIB (M = Mo, W) refractory metal-silicon systems

Group VB and VIB M-Si systems are considered to show an interesting pattern in the diffusion of components with the change in atomic number in a particular group (M = V, Nb, Ta or M = Mo, W, respectively). Mainly two phases, MSi2 and M5Si3 are considered for this discussion. Except for Ta-silicides, the activation energy for the integrated diffusion of MSi2 is always lower than M5Si3. In both phases, the relative mobilities measured by the ratio of the tracer diffusion coefficients, , decrease with an increasing atomic number in the given group. If determined at the same homologous temperature, the interdiffusion coefficients increase with the atomic number of the refractory metal in the MSi2 phases and decrease in the M5Si3 ones. This behaviour features the basic changes in the defect concentrations on different sublattices with a change in the atomic number of the refractory components.

Model domains in C-3 with abelian automorphism group

It is shown that every hyperbolic rigid polynomial domain in C-3 of finite-type, with abelian automorphism group is equivalent to a domain that is balanced with respect to some weight.

Dynamics of the reaction between the free end of a tethered self-avoiding polymer and a flat penetrable surface: A renormalization group study

The average time tau(r) for one end of a long, self-avoiding polymer to interact for the first time with a flat penetrable surface to which it is attached at the other end is shown here to scale essentially as the square of the chain's contour length N. This result is obtained within the framework of the Wilemski-Fixman approximation to diffusion-limited reactions, in which the reaction time is expressed as a time correlation function of a ``sink'' term. In the present work, this sink-sink correlation function is calculated using perturbation expansions in the excluded volume and the polymer-surface interactions, with renormalization group methods being used to resum the expansion into a power law form. The quadratic dependence of tau(r) on N mirrors the behavior of the average time tau(c) of a free random walk to cyclize, but contrasts with the cyclization time of a free self-avoiding walk (SAW), for which tau(r) similar to N-2.2. A simulation study by Cheng and Makarov J. Phys. Chem. B 114, 3321 (2010)] of the chain-end reaction time of an SAW on a flat impenetrable surface leads to the same N-2.2 behavior, which is surprising given the reduced conformational space a tethered polymer has to explore in order to react. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Male Takeover and Infanticide in Nilgiri Langurs Semnopithecus johnii in the Western Ghats, India

Male takeover and infanticide are a widespread phenomenon among non-human primates, observed mostly in species with a relatively longer lactation in relation to gestation. In this study, we report for the first time an episode of male takeover and infanticide, and the rarely reported occurrence of an all-male band and female dispersal, in Nilgiri langurs, Semnopithecus johnii, in the Western Ghats, India. The new male was a member of an all-male band. After the takeover, the resident male and 3 juvenile males left the group and joined the all-male band. A female whose infant was killed was found missing after some days. There were significant changes in the patterns of social interactions among the resident group females soon after the male takeover, wherein the females spent less time on social interactions as compared to before and after the episode of takeover. The new male rarely interacted with the females soon after the takeover. We also observed that the resident group shifted its home range to a poorer quality habitat. (C) 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel

Group Testing-Based Spectrum Hole Search for Cognitive Radios

This paper investigates the use of adaptive group testing to find a spectrum hole of a specified bandwidth in a given wideband of interest. We propose a group testing-based spectrum hole search algorithm that exploits sparsity in the primary spectral occupancy by testing a group of adjacent subbands in a single test. This is enabled by a simple and easily implementable sub-Nyquist sampling scheme for signal acquisition by the cognitive radios (CRs). The sampling scheme deliberately introduces aliasing during signal acquisition, resulting in a signal that is the sum of signals from adjacent subbands. Energy-based hypothesis tests are used to provide an occupancy decision over the group of subbands, and this forms the basis of the proposed algorithm to find contiguous spectrum holes of a specified bandwidth. We extend this framework to a multistage sensing algorithm that can be employed in a variety of spectrum sensing scenarios, including noncontiguous spectrum hole search. Furthermore, we provide the analytical means to optimize the group tests with respect to the detection thresholds, number of samples, group size, and number of stages to minimize the detection delay under a given error probability constraint. Our analysis allows one to identify the sparsity and SNR regimes where group testing can lead to significantly lower detection delays compared with a conventional bin-by-bin energy detection scheme; the latter is, in fact, a special case of the group test when the group size is set to 1 bin. We validate our analytical results via Monte Carlo simulations.

The polycomb group gene EMF2B is essential for maintenance of floral meristem determinacy in rice

Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) represses the transcriptional activity of target genes through trimethylation of lysine 27 of histone H3. The functions of plant PRC2 have been chiefly described in Arabidopsis, but specific functions in other plant species, especially cereals, are still largely unknown. Here we characterize mutants in the rice EMF2B gene, an ortholog of the Arabidopsis EMBRYONIC FLOWER2 (EMF2) gene. Loss of EMF2B in rice results in complete sterility, and mutant flowers have severe floral organ defects and indeterminacy that resemble loss-of-function mutants in E-function floral organ specification genes. Transcriptome analysis identified the E-function genes OsMADS1, OsMADS6 and OsMADS34 as differentially expressed in the emf2b mutant compared with wild type. OsMADS1 and OsMADS6, known to be required for meristem determinacy in rice, have reduced expression in the emf2b mutant, whereas OsMADS34 which interacts genetically with OsMADS1 was ectopically expressed. Chromatin immunoprecipitation for H3K27me3 followed by quantitative (q)RT-PCR showed that all three genes are presumptive targets of PRC2 in the meristem. Therefore, in rice, and possibly other cereals, PRC2 appears to play a major role in floral meristem determinacy through modulation of the expression of E-function genes.

Three centered hydrogen bonds of the type C=O...H(N)...X-C in diphenyloxamide derivatives involving halogens and a rotating CF3 group: NMR, QTAIM, NCI and NBO studies

The existence of three centered C=O...H(N)...X-C hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) involving organic fluorine and other halogens in diphenyloxamide derivatives has been explored by NMR spectroscopy and quantum theoretical studies. The three centered H-bond with the participation of a rotating CF3 group and the F...H-N intramolecular hydrogen bonds, a rare observation of its kind in organofluorine compounds, has been detected. It is also unambiguously established by a number of one and two dimensional NMR experiments, such as temperature perturbation, solvent titration, N-15-H-1 HSQC, and F-19-H-1 HOESY, and is also confirmed by theoretical calculations, such as quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM), natural bond orbital (NBO) and non-covalent interaction (NCI).

Structural variations in aromatic 2 pi-electron three-membered rings of the main group elements

Structural variations of different Z pi-aromatic three-membered ring systems of main group elements, especially group 14 and 13 elements as compared to the classical description of cyclopropenyl cation has been reviewed in this article. The structures of heavier analogues as well as group 13 analogues of cyclopropenyl cation showed an emergence of dramatic structural patterns which do not conform, to the general norms of carbon chemistry. Isolobal analogies between the main group fragments have been efficiently used to explain the peculiarities observed in these three-membered ring systems.

Maximum group velocity in a one-dimensional model with a sinusoidally varying staggered potential

We use Floquet theory to study the maximum value of the stroboscopic group velocity in a one-dimensional tight-binding model subjected to an on-site staggered potential varying sinusoidally in time. The results obtained by numerically diagonalizing the Floquet operator are analyzed using a variety of analytical schemes. In the low-frequency limit we use adiabatic theory, while in the high-frequency limit the Magnus expansion of the Floquet Hamiltonian turns out to be appropriate. When the magnitude of the staggered potential is much greater or much less than the hopping, we use degenerate Floquet perturbation theory; we find that dynamical localization occurs in the former case when the maximum group velocity vanishes. Finally, starting from an ``engineered'' initial state where the particles (taken to be hard-core bosons) are localized in one part of the chain, we demonstrate that the existence of a maximum stroboscopic group velocity manifests in a light-cone-like spreading of the particles in real space.

Microwave Spectrum of Hexafluoroisopropanol and Torsional Behavior of Molecules with a CF3-C-CF3 Group

This paper presents the first microwave spectroscopic investigation on hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP). A pulsed nozzle Fourier transform microwave spectrometer has been used to determine the rotational constants for HFIP as A = 2105.12166(18) MHz, B = 1053.99503(12) MHz, and C = 932.33959(13) MHz. In addition, five isotopologues of HFIP have been observed experimentally to determine the accurate structure of HFIP. The observed spectrum could be assigned to the most stable conformer of HFIP, called antiperiplanar. Available spectroscopic information and ab initio calculations on five prototype molecules helped in exploring the torsional behavior of molecules having a CF3-C-CF3 group. Two-dimensional potential energy surfaces have been analyzed for all molecules, which explained the presence/absence of doubling in the rotational transitions. With the help of natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis, reasons for the conformational preference of HFIP have been explained.

Partial rotation of the isopropyl group in the solid state: single-crystal-to-single-crystal phase transformation in a carvacrol derivative

A hitherto unseen rotation of the isopropyl group in the solid state, predicted to be forbidden based on theoretical investigations, is reported. This C-C rotation observed during the temperature dependent single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation is attributed to the concomitant changes in molecular structure and intermolecular packing.

Mixed norm estimates for the Riesz transforms on the Heisenberg group

In this paper we prove weighted mixed norm estimates for Riesz transforms on the Heisenberg group and Riesz transforms associated to the special Hermite operator. From these results vector-valued inequalities for sequences of Riesz transforms associated to generalised Grushin operators and Laguerre operators are deduced.

Renormalization group invariants and sum rules in the deflected mirage mediation supersymmetry breaking

We examine the deflected mirage mediation supersymmetry breaking (DMMSB) scenario, which combines three supersymmetry breaking scenarios, namely anomaly mediation, gravity mediation and gauge mediation using the one-loop renormalization group invariants (RGIs). We examine the effects on the RGIs at the threshold where the gauge messengers emerge, and derive the supersymmetry breaking parameters in terms of the RGIs. We further discuss whether the supersymmetry breaking mediation mechanism can be determined using a limited set of invariants, and derive sum rules valid for DMMSB below the gauge messenger scale. In addition we examine the implications of the measured Higgs mass for the DMMSB spectrum.

Binary group III-nitride based heterostructures: band offsets and transport properties

In the last few years, there has been remarkable progress in the development of group III-nitride based materials because of their potential application in fabricating various optoelectronic devices such as light emitting diodes, laser diodes, tandem solar cells and field effect transistors. In order to realize these devices, growth of device quality heterostructures are required. One of the most interesting properties of a semiconductor heterostructure interface is its Schottky barrier height, which is a measure of the mismatch of the energy levels for the majority carriers across the heterojunction interface. Recently, the growth of non-polar III-nitrides has been an important subject due to its potential improvement on the efficiency of III-nitride-based opto-electronic devices. It is well known that the c-axis oriented optoelectronic devices are strongly affected by the intrinsic spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization fields, which results in the low electron-hole recombination efficiency. One of the useful approaches for eliminating the piezoelectric polarization effects is to fabricate nitride-based devices along non-polar and semi-polar directions. Heterostructures grown on these orientations are receiving a lot of focus due to enhanced behaviour. In the present review article discussion has been carried out on the growth of III-nitride binary alloys and properties of GaN/Si, InN/Si, polar InN/GaN, and nonpolar InN/GaN heterostructures followed by studies on band offsets of III-nitride semiconductor heterostructures using the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique. Current transport mechanisms of these heterostructures are also discussed.

Continuum in the X-Z-Y Weak Bonds: Z= Main Group Elements

The Continuum in the variation of the X-Z bond length change from blue-shifting to red-shifting through zero-shifting in the X-Z---Y complex is inevitable. This has been analyzed by ab-initio molecular orbital calculations using Z= Hydrogen, Halogens, Chalcogens, and Pnicogens as prototypical examples. Our analysis revealed that, the competition between negative hyperconjugation within the donor (X-Z) molecule and Charge Transfer (CT) from the acceptor (Y) molecule is the primary reason for the X-Z bond length change. Here, we report that, the proper tuning of X-and Y-group for a particular Z-can change the blue-shifting nature of X-Z bond to zero-shifting and further to red-shifting. This observation led to the proposal of a continuum in the variation of the X-Z bond length during the formation of X-Z---Y complex. The varying number of orbitals and electrons available around the Z-atom differentiates various classes of weak interactions and leads to interactions dramatically different from the H-Bond. Our explanations based on the model of anti-bonding orbitals can be transferred from one class of weak interactions to another. We further take the idea of continuum to the nature of chemical bonding in general. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.