Energy conservation in buildings is paramount, especially considering that glass accounts for 50% of energy consumption. The solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of glass is a critical energy-saving index for transparent structures. However, the fixed SHGC of ordinary glass makes it difficult to provide both summer shading and winter heating. In this study, we synthesized a hydrogel with a thermosensitive scattering (TS) property using triblock polyether and acrylamide. This hydrogel can realize the transition of clearness and atomization based on the temperature. When sealed within a glass cavity, it exhibits a high SHGC of 0.682 in its transparent state and a low SHGC of less than 0.31 when atomized. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the TS glass can be adjusted from 0 to 70 °C to suit different regions. The photothermal properties of the material remained stable after 200 hot and cold cycles and 200 h of ultraviolet irradiation. This glass can prevent solar radiation from entering the room in summer, thereby reducing air conditioning usage and power consumption. In winter, it allows solar heat radiation to enter the room, minimizing the need for artificial heating. Its adaptable temperature design makes it an excellent solution for designers to create energy-efficient building exteriors.

Electron flux in the Earth's outer radiation belt is highly variable due to a delicate balance between competing acceleration and loss processes. It has been long recognized that Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron (EMIC) waves may play a crucial role in the loss of radiation belt electrons. Previous theoretical studies proposed that EMIC waves may account for the loss of the relativistic electron population. However, recent observations showed that while EMIC waves are responsible for the significant loss of ultra-relativistic electrons, the relativistic electron population is almost unaffected. In this study, we provide a theoretical explanation for this discrepancy between previous theoretical studies and recent observations. We demonstrate that EMIC waves mainly contribute to the loss of ultra-relativistic electrons. This study significantly improves the current understanding of the electron dynamics in the Earth's radiation belt and also can help us understand the radiation environments of the exoplanets and outer planets.

Recent discoveries in nonlinear optical properties of nanoparticle colloids make actual the challenge to lower the energy threshold of phase conjugation and move it into the domain of shorter pulse widths. A novel effect of the stimulated Rayleigh-Mie scattering (SRMS) in two-photon absorbing nanocolloids is considered as a promising answer to this challenge. We report the results of experimental and theoretical study of the two-photon-assisted SRMS in Ag and ZnO nanocolloids in the nanosecond-to-picosecond pulse width domain. For 12 ns 0.527 μm laser pulses, the four-wave mixing SRMS scheme provides lasing and amplification of backscattered anti-Stokes signal in Ag nanocolloids in toluene at the threshold 0.2 mJ and the spectral shifts up to 150 MHz. For 100 ps 0.532 μm pulses, we observed for the first time efficient (over 50% in signal-to-pump ratio of pulse energies) SRMS backscattering of the anti-Stokes signal in Ag nanocolloids in toluene and predominantly Stokes signal in ZnO nanocolloids in water, with the spectral shifts up to 0.25 cm-1. We develop the first order-in-perturbation model of the four-wave mixing two-photon absorption-assisted SRMS process which shows that at nanosecond pulses, amplification is predominantly due to the thermal-induced coherent oscillations of polarization while the slow temperature wave acts also as a dynamic spatial grating which provides a self-induced optical cavity inside the interaction region. At a picosecond pulse width, according to our model, the spectral overlap between pump and signal pulses results in formation of only the dynamic spatial temperature grating, and we succeeded at recovering the linear growth of the spectral shift with the pump power near the threshold.

Synchrotron radiation facilities are pillars of modern structural biology. Small-Angle X-ray scattering performed at synchrotron sources is often used to characterize the shape of biological macromolecules. A major challenge with high-energy X-ray beam on such macromolecules is the perturbation of sample due to radiation damage.

The acoustic levitation technique is a useful sample handling method for small solid and liquids samples, suspended in air by means of an ultrasonic field. This method was previously used at synchrotron sources for studying pharmaceutical liquids and protein solutions using x-ray diffraction and small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS).

The distinguished feature of neutron as a scattering probe is an isotope effect, especially the large difference in neutron scattering length between hydrogen and deuterium. The difference renders the different visibility between hydrogenated and deuterated proteins. Therefore, the combination of deuterated protein and neutron scattering enables the selective visualization of a target domain in the complex or a target protein in the multi-component system. Despite of this fascinating character, there exist several problems for the general use of this method: difficulty and high cost for protein deuteration, and control and determination of deuteration ratio of the sample. To resolve them, the protocol of protein deuteration techniques is presented in this report. It is strongly expected that this protocol will offer more opportunity for conducting the neutron scattering studies with deuterated proteins.

Nanoscale modal confinement is known to radically enhance the effect of intrinsic Kerr and Raman nonlinearities within nanophotonic silicon waveguides. By contrast, stimulated Brillouin-scattering nonlinearities, which involve coherent coupling between guided photon and phonon modes, are stifled in conventional nanophotonics, preventing the realization of a host of Brillouin-based signal-processing technologies in silicon. Here we demonstrate stimulated Brillouin scattering in silicon waveguides, for the first time, through a new class of hybrid photonic-phononic waveguides. Tailorable travelling-wave forward-stimulated Brillouin scattering is realized-with over 1,000 times larger nonlinearity than reported in previous systems-yielding strong Brillouin coupling to phonons from 1 to 18 GHz. Experiments show that radiation pressures, produced by subwavelength modal confinement, yield enhancement of Brillouin nonlinearity beyond those of material nonlinearity alone. In addition, such enhanced and wideband coherent phonon emission paves the way towards the hybridization of silicon photonics, microelectromechanical systems and CMOS signal-processing technologies on chip.

X-ray scattering experiments at synchrotron sources are characterized by large and constantly increasing amounts of data. The great number of files generated during a synchrotron experiment is often a limiting factor in the analysis of the data, since appropriate software is rarely available to perform fast and tailored data processing. Furthermore, it is often necessary to perform online data reduction and analysis during the experiment in order to interactively optimize experimental design. This article presents an open-source software package developed to process large amounts of data from synchrotron scattering experiments. These data reduction processes involve calibration and correction of raw data, one- or two-dimensional integration, as well as fitting and further analysis of the data, including the extraction of certain parameters. The software, DPDAK (directly programmable data analysis kit), is based on a plug-in structure and allows individual extension in accordance with the requirements of the user. The article demonstrates the use of DPDAK for on- and offline analysis of scanning small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data on biological samples and microfluidic systems, as well as for a comprehensive analysis of grazing-incidence SAXS data. In addition to a comparison with existing software packages, the structure of DPDAK and the possibilities and limitations are discussed.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, synchrotron beamlines were forced to limit user access. Performing routine measurements became a challenge. At the Life Science X-ray Scattering (LiX) beamline, new instrumentation and mail-in protocols have been developed to remove the access barrier to solution scattering measurements. Our efforts took advantage of existing instrumentation and coincided with the larger effort at NSLS-II to support remote measurements. Given the limited staff-user interaction for mail-in measurements, additional software tools have been developed to ensure data quality, to automate the adjustments in data processing, as users would otherwise rely on the experience of the beamline staff, and produce a summary of the initial assessments of the data. This report describes the details of these developments.

At the forefront of ecosystems adversely affected by climate change, coral reefs are sensitive to anomalously high temperatures which disassociate (bleaching) photosynthetic symbionts (Symbiodinium) from coral hosts and cause increasingly frequent and severe mass mortality events. Susceptibility to bleaching and mortality is variable among corals, and is determined by unknown proportions of environmental history and the synergy of Symbiodinium- and coral-specific properties. Symbiodinium live within host tissues overlaying the coral skeleton, which increases light availability through multiple light-scattering, forming one of the most efficient biological collectors of solar radiation. Light-transport in the upper ~200 μm layer of corals skeletons (measured as 'microscopic' reduced-scattering coefficient, μ'(S,m)), has been identified as a determinant of excess light increase during bleaching and is therefore a potential determinant of the differential rate and severity of bleaching response among coral species.

Biological small-angle X-ray scattering (BioSAXS) is a powerful technique to determine the solution structure, particle size, shape and surface-to-volume ratio of macromolecules. However, a drawback is that the sample needs to be monodisperse. To ensure this, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) has been implemented on many BioSAXS beamlines. Here, the integration of ion-exchange chromatography (IEC) using both continuous linear and step gradients on a beamline is described. Background subtraction for continuous gradients by shifting a reference measurement and two different approaches for step gradients, which are based on interpolating between two background measurements, are discussed. The results presented here serve as a proof of principle for online IEC and subsequent data treatment.

Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) has grown in popularity in recent times with the advent of bright synchrotron X-ray sources, powerful computational resources and algorithms enabling the calculation of increasingly complex models. However, the lack of standardized data-quality metrics presents difficulties for the growing user community in accurately assessing the quality of experimental SAXS data. Here, a series of metrics to quantitatively describe SAXS data in an objective manner using statistical evaluations are defined. These metrics are applied to identify the effects of radiation damage, concentration dependence and interparticle interactions on SAXS data from a set of 27 previously described targets for which high-resolution structures have been determined via X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The studies show that these metrics are sufficient to characterize SAXS data quality on a small sample set with statistical rigor and sensitivity similar to or better than manual analysis. The development of data-quality analysis strategies such as these initial efforts is needed to enable the accurate and unbiased assessment of SAXS data quality.

Two-dimensional solid-state X-ray detectors can now operate at considerable data throughput rates that allow full three-dimensional sampling of scattering data from extended volumes of reciprocal space within second to minute time-scales. For such experiments, simultaneous analysis and visualization allows for remeasurements and a more dynamic measurement strategy. A new software, Nebula, is presented. It efficiently reconstructs X-ray scattering data, generates three-dimensional reciprocal space data sets that can be visualized interactively, and aims to enable real-time processing in high-throughput measurements by employing parallel computing on commodity hardware.

Tautomerism is one of the most important forms of isomerism, owing to the facile interconversion between species and the large differences in chemical properties introduced by the proton transfer connecting the tautomers. Spectroscopic techniques are often used for the characterization of tautomers. In this context, separating the overlapping spectral response of coexisting tautomers is a long-standing challenge in chemistry. Here, we demonstrate that by using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering tuned to the core excited states at the site of proton exchange between tautomers one is able to experimentally disentangle the manifold of valence excited states of each tautomer in a mixture. The technique is applied to the prototypical keto-enol equilibrium of 3-hydroxypyridine in aqueous solution. We detect transitions from the occupied orbitals into the LUMO for each tautomer in solution, which report on intrinsic and hydrogen-bond-induced orbital polarization within the π and σ manifolds at the proton-transfer site.

The dynamic light scattering method was successfully applied to determine the molar mass of nitrocellulose. The methodology of nitrocellulose fractionation in acetonic solutions is described in detail; six polymer fractions with monomodal distribution were obtained. It was shown that the unfractionated colloxylin with polymodal molar mass distribution had mass average molecular mass values of 87.3 ± 14.1, 28.3 ± 7.3, and 0.54 ± 0.17 kDa when investigated by the dynamic light scattering method. The viscometric method only provided integral viscosity average molar mass equal to 56.7 ± 5.8 kDa.

Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoparticles are an attractive alternative to fluorescent probes for biological labeling because of their photostability and multiplexing capabilities. However, nanoparticle size, shape, and surface properties are known to affect nanoparticle-cell interactions. Other issues such as the formation of a protein corona and antibody multivalency interfere with the labeling properties of nanoparticle-antibody conjugates. Hence, it is important to consider these aspects in order to validate such conjugates for live cell imaging applications. Using SERS nanoparticles that target HER2 and CD44 in breast cancer cells, we demonstrate labeling of fixed cells with high specificity that correlates well with fluorescent labels. However, when labeling live cells to monitor surface biomarker expression and dynamics, the nanoparticles are rapidly uptaken by the cells and become compartmentalized into different cellular regions. This behavior is in stark contrast to that of fluorescent antibody conjugates. This study highlights the impact of nanoparticle internalization and trafficking on the ability to use SERS nanoparticle-antibody conjugates to monitor cell dynamics.

Rapid nerve conduction in the central and peripheral nervous systems (CNS and PNS, respectively) of higher vertebrates is brought about by the ensheathment of axons with myelin, a lipid-rich, multilamellar assembly of membranes. The ability of myelin to electrically insulate depends on the regular stacking of these plasma membranes and on the presence of a number of specialized membrane-protein assemblies in the sheath, including the radial component, Schmidt-Lanterman incisures and the axo-glial junctions of the paranodal loops. The disruption of this fine-structure is the basis for many demyelinating neuropathies in the CNS and PNS. Understanding the processes that govern myelin biogenesis, maintenance and destabilization requires knowledge of myelin structure; however, the tight packing of internodal myelin and the complexity of its junctional specializations make myelin a challenging target for comprehensive structural analysis. This paper describes an examination of myelin from the CNS and PNS using neutron diffraction. This investigation revealed the dimensions of the bilayers and aqueous spaces of myelin, asymmetry between the cytoplasmic and extracellular leaflets of the membrane, and the distribution of water and exchangeable hydrogen in internodal multilamellar myelin. It also uncovered differences between CNS and PNS myelin in their water-exchange kinetics.

Tailored metal nanoclusters have been actively developed to manipulate light at the subwavelength scale for nanophotonic applications. Nevertheless, precise arrangement of molecules in a hot spot with fixed numbers and positions remains challenging. Here, we show that DNA origami metamolecules with Fano resonances (DMFR) can precisely localize single dye molecules and produce quantified surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) responses. To enable tailored plasmonic permutations, we develop a general and programmable method for anchoring a set of large gold nanoparticles (L-AuNPs) on prescribed n-tuple docking sites of super-origami DNA frameworks. A tetrameric nanocluster with four spatially organized 80-nm L-AuNPs exhibits peak-and-dip Fano characteristics. The drastic enhancement at the wavelength of the Fano minimum allows the collection of prominent SERS spectrum for even a single dye molecule. We expect that DMFR provides physical insights into single-molecule SERS and opens new opportunities for developing plasmonic nanodevices for ultrasensitive sensing, nanocircuits, and nanophotonic lasers.

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) is one of the most widely used neutron-based approaches to study the solution structure of biological macromolecular systems. The selective deuterium labelling of different protein components of a complex provides a means to probe conformational changes in multiprotein complexes. The Lysinibacillus sphaericus mosquito-larvicidal BinAB proteins exert toxicity through interaction with the receptor Cqm1 protein; however, the nature of the complex is not known. Rationally engineered deuterated BinB (dBinB) protein from the L. sphaericus ISPC-8 species was synthesized using an Escherichia coli-based protein-expression system in M9 medium in D2O for 'contrast-matched' SANS experiments. SANS data were independently analysed by ab initio indirect Fourier transform-based modelling and using crystal structures. These studies confirm the dimeric status of Cqm1 in 100% D2O with a longest intramolecular vector (D max) of ∼94 Å and a radius of gyration (R g) of ∼31 Å. Notably, BinB binds to Cqm1, forming a heterodimeric complex (D max of ∼129 Å and R g of ∼40 Å) and alters its oligomeric status from a dimer to a monomer, as confirmed by matched-out Cqm1-dBinB (D max of ∼70 Å and R g of ∼22 Å). The present study thus provides the first insight into the events involved in the internalization of larvicidal proteins, likely by raft-dependent endocytosis.

Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase (SERCA) transporters regulate calcium signaling by active calcium ion reuptake to internal stores. Structural transitions associated with transport have been characterized by x-ray crystallography, but critical intermediates involved in the accessibility switch across the membrane are missing. We combined time-resolved x-ray solution scattering (TR-XSS) experiments and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for real-time tracking of concerted SERCA reaction cycle dynamics in the native membrane. The equilibrium [Ca2]E1 state before laser activation differed in the domain arrangement compared with crystal structures, and following laser-induced release of caged ATP, a 1.5-ms intermediate was formed that showed closure of the cytoplasmic domains typical of E1 states with bound Ca2+ and ATP. A subsequent 13-ms transient state showed a previously unresolved actuator (A) domain arrangement that exposed the ADP-binding site after phosphorylation. Hence, the obtained TR-XSS models determine the relative timing of so-far elusive domain rearrangements in a native environment.