The State’s IMR has been on the decreasing trend.

Surge in number of returnees without registration

‘State government has failed to protect the people of Delhi from the virus’

Two expatriates test positive in Kerala; Karnataka focuses on Bengaluru cases

Hyderabad International Airport facilitated the first arrival evacuation flight from Kuwait on Saturday.This is the first flight to Hyderabad and is p

Little Richards died on Saturday at the age of 87

The European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (EuXFEL) delivers extremely intense (>1012 photons pulse−1 and up to 27000 pulses s−1), ultrashort (<100 fs) and transversely coherent X-ray radiation, at a repetition rate of up to 4.5 MHz. Its unique X-ray beam parameters enable novel and groundbreaking experiments in ultrafast photochemistry and material sciences at the Femtosecond X-ray Experiments (FXE) scientific instrument. This paper provides an overview of the currently implemented experimental baseline instrumentation and its performance during the commissioning phase, and a preview of planned improvements. FXE's versatile instrumentation combines the simultaneous application of forward X-ray scattering and X-ray spectroscopy techniques with femtosecond time resolution. These methods will eventually permit exploitation of wide-angle X-ray scattering studies and X-ray emission spectroscopy, along with X-ray absorption spectroscopy, including resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and X-ray Raman scattering. A suite of ultrafast optical lasers throughout the UV–visible and near-IR ranges (extending up to mid-IR in the near future) with pulse length down to 15 fs, synchronized to the X-ray source, serve to initiate dynamic changes in the sample. Time-delayed hard X-ray pulses in the 5–20 keV range are used to probe the ensuing dynamic processes using the suite of X-ray probe tools. FXE is equipped with a primary monochromator, a primary and secondary single-shot spectrometer, and a timing tool to correct the residual timing jitter between laser and X-ray pulses.

A fabrication method comprising near-field holography (NFH) with an electron beam lithography (EBL)-written phase mask was developed to fabricate soft X-ray varied-line-spacing gratings (VLSGs). An EBL-written phase mask with an area of 52 mm × 30 mm and a central line density greater than 3000 lines mm−1 was used. The introduction of the EBL-written phase mask substantially simplified the NFH optics for pattern transfer. The characterization of the groove density distribution and diffraction efficiency of the fabricated VLSGs indicates that the EBL–NFH method is feasible and promising for achieving high-accuracy groove density distributions with corresponding image properties. Vertical stray light is suppressed in the soft X-ray spectral range.

The time evolution of the electron density and the resulting time dependence of the X-ray polarizability of a crystal irradiated by highly intense XFEL femtosecond pulses is investigated theoretically. Rate equations for bound electrons and the Boltzmann equation for the unbound electron gas are used in calculations.

Rietveld/MEM analysis applied to synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction data of dehydrated CHA zeolites with catalytically active Cu2+ reveals Cu2+ in both the six- and eight-membered rings in the CHA framework, providing the first complete structural model that accounts for all Cu2+. Density functional theory calculations are used to corroborate the experimental structure and to discuss the Cu2+ coordination in terms of the Al distribution in the framework.

PLEASE REDUCE TO 1-2 SENTENCES. The capability of X-ray diffraction for the microstructure investigations of metastable systems is illustrated on the example of thin films of titanium aluminium nitrides with high aluminium content, which are supersaturated and partially decomposed. In addition to the chemical composition, the surface mobility of the deposited species was employed as a factor influencing the microstructure of the thin films. It is shown how the micromechanical properties of the partially decomposed (Ti,Al)N thin films, which were deduced from the synchrotron diffraction experiments, are related to the thin film microstructure and to the decomposition mechanism. The prominent role of the crystallographic anisotropy of the macroscopic and microscopic lattice deformations in the understanding of the micromechanical properties is addressed.

Biggest tremor on record at Little Plumpton site forces halt to fracking in Lancashire  Lancashire Evening Post

Fast trashion: Exhibition of garments made from street-litter opens at Imperial | Imperial News  Imperial College London

Impacts on groundwater quality from abandoned hydrocarbon wells  GOV.UK

London soil pollution worst on former Blitz bomb sites  Chemistry World

The setup and operation of an industrial cryo-EM laboratory is described.

The paper reports the structure of a Δ1-pyrroline-2-carboxylate reductase from the archaeon Thermococcus litoralis, a key enzyme involved in the second step of trans-4-Hydroxy-L-proline metabolism, conserved in archaea, bacteria and humans.

The solvated centrosymmmtric title compound, [Li2(C24H34O4P)2(C10H8N2)2]·2C7H8, was formed in the reaction between {Li[(2,6-iPr2C6H3-O)2POO](MeOH)3}(MeOH) and 2,2'-bi­pyridine (bipy) in toluene. The structure has monoclinic (P21/n) symmetry at 120 K and the asymmetric unit consists of half a complex mol­ecule and one mol­ecule of toluene solvent. The diaryl phosphate ligand demonstrates a μ-κO:κO'-bridging coordination mode and the 2,2'-bi­pyridine ligand is chelating to the Li+ cation, generating a distorted tetra­hedral LiN2O2 coordination polyhedron. The complex exhibits a unique dimeric Li2O4P2 core. One isopropyl group is disordered over two orientations in a 0.621 (4):0.379 (4) ratio. In the crystal, weak C—H⋯O and C—H⋯π inter­actions help to consolidate the packing. Catalytic systems based on the title complex and on the closely related complex {Li[(2,6-iPr2C6H3-O)2POO](MeOH)3}(MeOH) display activity in the ring-opening polymerization of ∊-caprolactone and l-dilactide.

A mixed alkaline-earth powellite, Ca0.84Sr0.16MoO4 (calcium strontium molybdate), was synthesized by a flux method and its crystal structure was solved using single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD) data. The compound crystallized in the I41/a space group as with a typical CaMoO4 powellite, but with larger unit-cell parameters and unit-cell volume as a result of the partial incorporation of larger Sr cations into the Ca sites within the crystal. The unit cell and volume were well fitted with the trendline calculated from literature values, and the powder X-ray diffraction (P-XRD) pattern of the ground crystal is in good agreement with the calculated pattern from the solved structure.

The crystal structure of the polymeric title compound, catena-poly[[[di­aqua­lithium]-μ-γ-cyclo­dextrin(1−)-[aqua­lithium]-μ-γ-cyclo­dextrin(1−)] pentadecahydrate], {[Li2(C48H79O40)2(H2O)3]·15H2O}n, consists of deprotonated γ-cyclo­dextrin (CD) mol­ecules assembled by lithium ions into metal–organic ribbons that are cross-linked by multiple O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into sheets extending parallel to (0overline11). Within a ribbon, one Li+ ion is coordinated by one deprotonated hydroxyl group of the first γ-CD torus and by one hydroxyl group of the second γ-CD torus as well as by two water mol­ecules. The other Li+ ion is coordinated by one deprotonated hydroxyl and by one hydroxyl group of the second γ-CD torus, by one hydroxyl group of the first γ-CD torus as well as by one water mol­ecule. The coordination spheres of both Li+ cations are distorted tetra­hedral. The packing of the structure constitute channels along the a axis. Parts of the hy­droxy­methyl groups in cyclo­dextrin molecules as well as water mol­ecules show two-component disorder. Electron density associated with additional disordered solvent mol­ecules inside the cavities was removed with the SQUEEZE [Spek (2015). Acta Cryst. C71, 9–18] routine in PLATON. These solvent mol­ecules are not considered in the given chemical formula and other crystal data. Five out of the sixteen hy­droxy­methyl groups and one water mol­ecule are disordered over two sets of sites.

Functional materials are of critical importance to electronic and smart devices. A deep understanding of the structure–property relationship is essential for designing new materials. In this work, instead of utilizing conventional atomic coordinates, a symmetry-mode approach is successfully used to conduct structure refinement of the neutron powder diffraction data of (1−x)AgNbO3–xLiTaO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.09) ceramics. This provides rich structural information that not only clarifies the controversial symmetry assigned to pure AgNbO3 but also explains well the detailed structural evolution of (1−x)AgNbO3–xLiTaO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.09) ceramics, and builds a comprehensive and straightforward relationship between structural distortion and electrical properties. It is concluded that there are four relatively large-amplitude major modes that dominate the distorted Pmc21 structure of pure AgNbO3, namely a Λ3 antiferroelectric mode, a T4+ a−a−c0 octahedral tilting mode, an H2 a0a0c+/a0a0c− octahedral tilting mode and a Γ4− ferroelectric mode. The H2 and Λ3 modes become progressively inactive with increasing x and their destabilization is the driving force behind the composition-driven phase transition between the Pmc21 and R3c phases. This structural variation is consistent with the trend observed in the measured temperature-dependent dielectric properties and polarization–electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops. The mode crystallography applied in this study provides a strategy for optimizing related properties by tuning the amplitudes of the corresponding modes in these novel AgNbO3-based (anti)ferroelectric materials.

The interoperability of chemical and biological crystallographic data is a key challenge to research and its application to pharmaceutical design. Research attempting to combine data from the two disciplines, small-molecule or chemical crystallography (CX) and macromolecular crystallography (MX), will face unique challenges including variations in terminology, software development, file format and databases which differ significantly from CX to MX. This perspective overview spans the two disciplines and originated from the investigation of protein binding to model radiopharmaceuticals. The opportunities of interlinked research while utilizing the two databases of the CSD (Cambridge Structural Database) and the PDB (Protein Data Bank) will be highlighted. The advantages of software that can handle multiple file formats and the circuitous route to convert organometallic small-molecule structural data for use in protein refinement software will be discussed. In addition some pointers to avoid being shipwrecked will be shared, such as the care which must be taken when interpreting data precision involving small molecules versus proteins.