Abstract: The present invention provides a layered coating adhered to a substrate surface which conforms to a surface topography defined by the anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles on the substrate. The layered coating comprises a layer of anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles. The anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles comprise linked arrays of silica net-negatively charged nanoparticles, each linked array having at least one linear dimension of about 100 nm to about 1200 nm and the anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles each have a diameter of about 20 nm to about 80 nm. The substrate surface comprises surface active moieties carrying a net positive charge and the chain-like anisotropic silica nanoparticles are held to the surface by electrostatic charge. Advantageously, the layered coatings are transparent and superhydrophobic. Also provided are articles containing these layered coatings.

Abstract: The present invention provides a layered coating adhered to a substrate surface which conforms to a surface topography defined by the anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles on the substrate. The layered coating comprises a layer of anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles. The anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles comprise linked arrays of silica net-negatively charged nanoparticles, each linked array having at least one linear dimension of about 100 nm to about 1200 nm and the anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles each have a diameter of about 20 nm to about 80 nm. The substrate surface comprises surface active moieties carrying a net positive charge and the chain-like anisotropic silica nanoparticles are held to the surface by electrostatic charge. Advantageously, the layered coatings are transparent and superhydrophobic. Also provided are articles containing these layered coatings.

Abstract: A basic input and output system (BIOS) for a computer system includes a main engine to call and run routines. Some of the routines require resource accesses. A synchronization module is provided to synchronize the resource accesses. The synchronization module allows concurrent resource accesses to different resources. A method of synchronizing resource accesses in a basic input and output system of a computer system is also described.