A study of the hydrogen bonds effect on the water density and the liquid-liquid transition

We study the hydrogen bonds effect on the water density as a function of temperature and pressure from the supercritical region to the metastable supercooled and amorphous phases. We identify two important thermodynamic thresholds, that is P~*■2 kbar and T~*■315 K, that separate two different water behaviors in terms of hydrogen bonding capability. For T < T~* and P < P~* the formation and stability of hydrogen bonded local structures are enhanced. The additional analyses of the proton NMR chemical shift and of the relaxation time confirm this evidence and highlight the structure breaking effects of the pressure. The investigation of both structural and dynamical quantities allow us to draw a complete picture of the water properties in terms of the temperaturepressure dependence of hydrogen bonding.

Investigating the Disparities of China's Insurance Market Based on Minimum Spanning Tree from the Viewpoint of Geography and Enterprise

In this paper, we investigate the disparities of China’s insurance market from the viewpoint of geography and enterprise by using the monthly data from January 2006 to December 2015. We divide the whole insurance market into two parts, namely property insurance and personal insurance.By constructing and analyzing minimum spanning trees of insurance market, we obtain the results as follows:(i) The connections between provinces are much closer than those of firms, and there are regional links between neighboring provinces in the minimum spanning tree(MST); and(ii) the domestic funded firms and foreign funded firms form two explicit clusters in the MSTs of property and personal insurance market.

The Boson peak interpretation and evolution in confined amorphous water

We study the evolution of the Boson peak for water confined in cement paste obtained by means of Inelastic Neutron Scattering from room temperature to the deep supercooled regime.We analyze the data in terms of a universal-like model,developed for glass forming liquids in the frame of the energy landscape.In such a way it is possible to discriminate between the fragile and strong glass forming character of supercooled liquids and the dynamical crossover,fragile to strong,between them.Hence,we confirm the link between the Boson peak and the water polymorphism.In particular,the main result is represented by a crossover from a local energetic minima configuration to that characteristic of saddle points on going towards the deep supercooled regime up to the dynamical arrest.

Hydrophilic and hydrophobic competition in water-methanol solutions

We study the thermal behavior of the longitudinal spin-lattice, T1, and the transverse spin-spin, T2, relaxation times of the macroscopic magnetization in water/methanol solutions. Our aim is to investigate the reciprocal influence of hydrophobic effects on water properties and of hydrophilicity（via hydrogen bond, HB, interactions） on the solute. Using classical Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy, we find a single characteristic correlation time τcthat reflects all local structural configurations and characterizes the thermal motion effects of the magnetic nuclei on the spin-spin interaction. We find that in the supercooled regime the correlations are stronger, with respect to ambient temperature, because the HB interactions have a lifetime long enough to sustain a stable water network. However, increasing the temperature, progressively decreases the HB interaction lifetime and destroys the water clusters with a consequent decoupling in the dynamic modes of the system. In addition, at temperatures higher than about 265 K, the hydrophobicity becomes gradually stronger and governs the physical properties of the solutions.

The onset of the tetrabonded structure in liquid water

Water properties are dominated by the hydrogen bond interaction that gives rise in the stable liquid phase to the formation of a dynamical network.The latter drives the water thermodynamics and is at the origin of its well known anomalies.The HB structural geometry and its changes remain uncertain and still are challenging research subjects.A key question is the role and effects of the HB tetrahedral structure on the local arrangement of neighboring molecules in water.Here the hydrogen dynamics in bulk water is studied through the combined use of Neutron Compton Scattering and NMR techniques.Results are discussed in the framework of previous studies performed in a wide temperature range,in the liquid,solid,and amorphous states.For the first time this combined studies provide an experimental evidence of the onset of the water tetrahedral network at T^315 K,originally proposed in previous studies of transport coefficients and thermodynamical data;below this temperature the local order in water changes and the lifetime of local hydrogen bond network becomes long enough to gradually develop the characteristic tetrahedral network of water.

Contrasting microscopic interactions determine the properties of water/methanol solutions

Herein we study the different microscopic interactions occurring in water/methanol solutions at dif- ferent methanol molar fractions, using NMR spctroscopy. Temperature was found to determine which interaction dominates. It was found that the mixing between water and methanol is non-ideal because of the presence of interactions like hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. These results indicate that the competition between hydrophilic and hydrophobic interactions is different in different thermal regions, and that the physical properties of the solution are determined by the character of the solution itself, which in turn depends on the mole fraction of methanol and on the temperature.

Experimental tests for a liquid-liquid critical point in water

Water is a fascinating material.Its composition is simple—one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms—but its chemistry and physics are extremely complex and exhibit 75 documented anomalies.Although these anomalies and their molecular origin are not completely understood,we know that hydrogen bonds play key roles in all of the phases of water.Moreover,there is experimental evidence that the polymorphism of the ice structure extends into the liquid phase and is associated with a liquid-liquid coexistence line.This is currently a topic of great interest in water research because there are indications that the end point of the coexistence line corresponds to a second critical point inside the supercooled liquid regime.We examine the recent progress in understanding water anomalies and the liquid-liquid phase transition hypothesis,including the results of recent experimental work and molecular simulations of both bulk and confined water.We examine experimental results that test whether the behavior of liquid water is consistent with the"liquid polymorphism"hypothesis that liquid water can exist in two distinct phases of differing densities.We also examine recent research on the anomalies of nanoconfined water and,in particular,on water in biological environments.We find that the concept of liquid polymorphism can also describe the properties of other liquids that have two characteristic length scales.

Water and lysozyme： Some results from the bending and stretching vibrational modes

The dynamic or glass transition in biomolecules is important to their functioning. Also essential is the transition between the protein native state and the unfolding process. To better understand these transitions, we use Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to study the vibrational bending and stretching modes of hydrated lysozymes across a wide temperature range. We find that these transitions are triggered by the strong hydrogen bond coupling between the protein and hydration water. More precisely, we demonstrate that in both cases the water properties dominate the evolution of the system. We find that two characteristic temperatures are relevant： in the supercooled regime of confined water, the fragile-to-strong dynamic transition occurs at TL, and in the stable liquid phase, T＊ 315 ± 5 K characterizes the behavior of both isothermal compressibility KT（T, P） and the coefficient of thermal expansion ap（T, P）.

Is bitcoin a safe haven or a hedging asset? Evidence from China

Based on daily data about Bitcoin and six other major financial assets(stocks,commodity futures(commodities),gold,foreign exchange(FX),monetary assets,and bonds)in China from 2013 to 2017,we use a VAR-GARCH-BEKK model to investigate mean and volatility spillover effects between Bitcoin and other major assets and explore whether Bitcoin can be used either as a hedging asset or a safe haven.Our empirical results show that(i)only the monetary market,i.e.,the Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate(SHIIBOR)has a mean spillover effect on Bitcoin and(ii)gold,monetary,and bond markets have volatility spillover effects on Bitcoin,while Bitcoin has a volatility spillover effect only on the gold market.We further find that Bitcoin can be hedged against stocks,bonds and SHIBOR and is a safe haven when extreme price changes occur in the monetary market.Our findings provide useful information for investors and portfolio risk managers who have invested or hedged with Bitcoin.

Dynamical changes in hydration water accompanying lysozyme thermal denaturation

We study the dynanfics of the first hydration shell of lysozyme to determine the role of hydra- tion water that accompanies lysozyme thermal denaturation. We use nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate both the translational and rotational contributions. Data on proton self-diffusion and reorentational correlation time indicate that the kinetics of the lysozyme fold- ing/unfolding process is controlled by the dynamics of the water molecules in the first hydration shell. When the hydration water dynamics change, because of the weakening of the hydrogen bond network, the three-dimensional structure of the lysozyme is lost and denaturation is triggered. Our data indicates that at temperatures above approximately 315 K, water behaves as a simple liquid and is no longer a good solvent.