For the first time a detailed structural model has been determined which shows how the lone-pairs of electrons are arranged relative to each other in a glass network containing lone-pair cations. High energy X-ray and neutron diffraction patterns of a very high lead content silicate glass (80PbO·20SiO2) have been used to build three-dimensional models using empirical potential structure refinement. Coordination number and bond angle distributions reveal structural similarity to crystalline Pb11Si3O17 and α- and β-PbO, and therefore strong evidence for a plumbite glass network built from pyramidal [PbO(m)] polyhedra (m ~ 3-4), with stereochemically active lone-pairs, although with greater disorder in the first coordination shell of lead compared to the first coordination shell of silicon. The oxygen atoms are coordinated predominantly to four cations. Explicit introduction of lone-pair entities into some models leads to modification of the local Pb environment, whilst still allowing for reproduction of the measured diffraction patterns, thus demonstrating the non-uniqueness of the solutions. Nonetheless, the models share many features with crystalline Pb11Si3O17, including the O-Pb-O bond angle distribution, which is more highly structured than reported for lower Pb content glasses using reverse Monte Carlo techniques. The lone-pair separation of 2.85 Å in the model glasses compares favourably with that estimated in α-PbO as 2.88 Å, and these lone-pairs organise to create voids in the glass, just as they create channels in Pb11Si3O17 and interlayer spaces in the PbO polymorphs.

The x-ray structure factor of molten TiO 2 has been measured for the first time, enabled by the use of aerodynamic levitation and laser beam heating, to a temperature of T = 2250(30) K. Ti-O coordination number in the melt is close to n TiO = 5.0(2), with modal Ti-O bond length r TiO = 1.881(5) Å, both values being significantly smaller than for the high temperature stable Rutile crystal structure (n TiO = 6.0, r TiO = 1.959 Å). The structural differences between melt and crystal are qualitatively similar to those for alumina, which is rationalized in terms of the similar field strengths of Ti 4+ and Al 3+. The diffraction data are used to generate physically and chemically reasonable structural models, which are then compared to the predictions based on various classical molecular dynamics (MD) potentials. New interatomic potentials, suitable for modelling molten TiO 2 , are introduced, given the inability of existing MD models to reproduce the diffraction data. These new potentials have the additional great advantage of being able to predict the density and thermal expansion of the melt, as well as solid amorphous TiO 2 , in agreement with published results. This is of critical importance given the strong correlation between density and structural parameters such as n TiO . The large thermal expansion of the melt is associated with weakly temperature dependent structural changes, whereby simulations show that n TiO = 5.85(2) -(3.0(1) x 10 -4 )T (K, 2.75 Å cut-off). The TiO 2 liquid is structurally analogous to the geophysically relevant high pressure liquid silica system at around 27 GPa. We argue that the predominance of 5-fold polyhedra in the melt implies the existence of as yet undiscovered TiO 2 polymorphs, based on lowerthan-octahedral coordination numbers, which are likely to be metastable under ambient conditions. Given the industrial importance of titanium oxides, experimental and computational searches for such polymorphs are well warranted.

Temperature-dependent measurements of the X-ray structure factor of molten Na2B4O7 reveal a continuous structural transition. We demonstrate that the thermodynamic model of ideal associated solutions is capable of predicting this evolution of melt structure, between a low density, depolymerized melt at ≳300 K above the liquidus, toward a dense, polymerized melt close to the glass transition. This temperature-dependent nature of melt structure is predicted to be strongly composition-dependent, with the B–O coordination number depending on temperature only in the range 20–50 mol % Na2O, which appears to be manifest in the broad maximum observed in the glass-transition temperatures. We discuss the ramifications of these findings for the application of topological constraint theory, with relevance to industrial glass design and manufacture, crystal growth from melts of nonlinear optical materials, geochemistry, and the understanding of melt fragility and the glass transition.

diffusion remains below 10 −4 nm 2 s −1. In the liquid state at 3270 K, the rates of U and O diffusion are of similar magnitude (3.7 versus 9.3 nm 2 s −1). Manara et al. measured a melting slope (dT m /dP) that is a factor 1.5 to 2 steeper than expected from the recommended volume change on melting and enthalpy of fusion values (11, 16). The rapid O exchange in these MD models results in a relatively low enthalpy of fusion, consistent with a relatively steep melting slope. Using pressure , an 8-coordinated UO 2 melt can be simulated at a number density of 0.074 Å −3. The 8-coordinated melt has U and O diffusion rates slower by a factor of 3 (1.2 and 3.8 nm 2 s −1) than the low-coordinated melt, demonstrating the strong effect of local structure on the physical properties of this melt. The Andrade theory, for example, is often used to predict melt viscosity but assumes that the melt structure closely resembles that of the solid (17, 18). Portions of the hot solid and liquid UO 2 MD simulations illustrate the large oxygen disorder above the lambda transition and the different UO 6,7 coordination species that predominate in the melt (Fig. 3C). The structure and optimized interatomic potentials for UO 2 allow for accurate atomistic multiscale modeling. The x-ray data are important as an end-member benchmark for models of multicomponent systems, including corium melts and high-level waste glasses (11). (6212), 987-991. 346 Science , this issue p. 987 Science mice could prove valuable for preliminary screens of candidate therapeutics and vaccines. virus was associated with distinct genetic profiles in inflammation, blood coagulation, and vascular function. This panel of series of painstaking experiments performed under stringent biosafety conditions. Resistance and susceptibility to Ebola tested the effects of Ebola virus in mice with defined genetic backgrounds in a et al. as those of humans. Rasmussen Apart from monkeys, there are no animal models available that show the same symptoms of Ebola virus infection Variety of Ebola symptoms in mice ARTICLE TOOLS

Liquid Al 2 O 3 has been supercooled more than 500 K below its melting point (T m = 2,327 K) using aerodynamic levitation and laser heating techniques. High energy synchrotron x-ray measurements were performed over a temperature range of 1,817 ≤ T (K) ≤ 2,700 and stroboscopic neutron diffraction at 1,984 and 2,587 K. The diffraction patterns have been fitted with Empirical Potential Structure Refinement (EPSR) models and compared to classical Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation results. Both sets of models show similar trends, indicating the presence of high populations of AlO 4 and AlO 5 polyhedral units predominantly linked by triply shared oxygen atoms. EPSR reveals that the mean Al-O coordination number changes linearly with temperature with n AlO = 4.41-[1.25 × 10 −4 ] (T-T m), with a 2.5 Å cutoff. Both EPSR and MD simulations reveal a direction of the temperature dependence of the aluminate network structure which moves further away from the glass forming ideal (n AlO = 3) during supercooling. Furthermore, we provide new experimental data and models for amorphous alumina grown by sequential infiltration synthesis of a polymer template. The amorphous solid form likely has a larger Al-O coordination number than the liquid, consistent with expectations for the hypothetical glass.

Using high energy x-ray diffraction, the structure factors of glassy and molten B2O3 were measured with high signal-to-noise, up to a temperature of T  =  1710(20) K. The observed systematic changes with T are shown to be consistent with the dissolution of hexagonal [B3O6] boroxol rings, which are abundant in the glass, whilst the high-T (>~1500 K) liquid can be more closely described as a random network structure based on [BO3] triangular building blocks. We therefore argue that diffraction data are in fact qualitatively sensitive to the presence of small rings, and support the existence of a continuous structural transition in molten B2O3, for which the temperature evolution of the 808 cm−1 Raman scattering band (boroxol breathing mode) has long stood as the most emphatic evidence. Our conclusions are supported by both first-principles and polarizable ion model molecular dynamics simulations which are capable of giving good account of the experimental data, so long as steps are taken to ensure a ring fraction similar to that expected from Raman spectroscopy. The mean thermal expansion of the B-O bond has been measured directly to be αBO  =  3.7(2)  ×  10−6 K−1, which accounts for a few percent of the bulk expansion just above the glass transition temperature, but accounts for greater than one third of the bulk expansion at temperatures in excess of 1673 K.

Structures of binary PbO‐SiO2 glasses have been studied in detail over the compositional range 35 to 80 mol% PbO using high‐resolution neutron diffraction, high‐energy X‐ray diffraction, static 207Pb NMR, and structural modeling. The changes in the local environment of Pb(II) are subtle; it has a low coordination to oxygen (∼3 to 4) plus a stereochemically active electron lone pair and, thus, behaves as a glass network forming (or intermediate) cation over the entire composition range. This conclusion contradicts previous reports that Pb(II) is a network modifier at low concentrations, and is supported by an analysis of lead and alkaline earth silicate glass molar volumes. The Pb‐O peak bond length shortens by 0.04 Å with increasing PbO content, indicating stronger, more covalent bonding, and consistent with an increase in the number of short (≤ 2.70 Å) Pb‐O bonds, from 3.3 to 3.6. This is accompanied by increased axial symmetry of the Pb(II) sites, and is interpreted as a gradual transition toward square pyramidal [PbO4] sites such as those found in crystalline PbO polymorphs. An attendant decrease in the periodicity associated with the first sharp diffraction peak (FSDP) toward that of β‐PbO, accompanied by increases in the correlation lengths associated with the plumbite network (FSDP) and silicate anions (neutron prepeak), provides evidence of increased intermediate‐range order and has implications for the glass forming limit imposed by crystallization. Pb(II) electron lone pairs occupy the natural voids within the silicate network at low PbO contents, while at high PbO contents they aggregate to create voids that form part of the plumbite network, analogous to the open channels in Pb11Si3O17 and the layered structures of α‐ and β‐PbO. Si‐O and Pb‐O bond lengths have been correlated with 29Si and 207Pb NMR chemical shifts, respectively. This is the first time that such correlations have been demonstrated for glasses and attests to the accuracy with which pulsed neutron total scattering can measure average bond lengths.

High-resolution X-ray pair distribution functions for molten and glassy TeO2 reveal coordination numbers n TeO ≈ 4. However, distinct from the known α-, β-, and γ-TeO2 polymorphs, there is considerable short-range disorder such that no clear cutoff distance between bonded and nonbonded interactions exists. We suggest that this is similar to disorder in δ-TeO2 and arises from a broad distribution of asymmetric Te–O–Te bridges, something that we observe becomes increasingly asymmetric with increasing liquid temperature. Such behavior is qualitatively consistent with existing interpretations of Raman scattering spectra, and equivalent to temperature-induced coordination number reduction, for sufficiently large cutoff radii. Therefore, TeO2 contains a distribution of local environments that are, furthermore, temperature dependent, making it distinct from the canonical single-oxide glass formers. Our results are in good agreement with high-level ab initio cluster calculations.