Tactile colour pictogram to improve artwork appreciation of people with visual impairments

A recent development in tactile technology enables an improvement in the appreciation of the visual arts for people with visual impairment (PVI). The tactile sense, in conjunction with, or a possibly as an alternative to, the auditory sense, would allow PVIs to approach artwork in a more self‐driven and engaging way that would be difficult to achieve with just an auditory stimulus. Tactile colour pictograms (TCPs), which are raised geometric patterns, are ideographic characters that are designed to enable PVIs to identify colours and interpret information by touch. In this article, three TCPs are introduced to code colours in the Munsell colour system. Each colour pattern consists of a basic cell size of 10 mm × 10 mm to represent the patterns consistently in terms of regular shape. Each TCP consists of basic geometric patterns that are combined to create primary, secondary, and tertiary colour pictograms of shapes indicating colour hue, intensity and lightness. Each TCP represents 29 colours including six hues; they were then further expanded to represent 53 colours. Two of them did not increase the cell size, the other increased the cell size 1.5 times for some colours, such as yellow‐orange, yellow, blue, and blue‐purple. Our proposed TCPs use a slightly larger cell size compared to most tactile patterns currently used to indicate colour, but code for more colours. With user experience and identification tests, conducted with 23 visually impaired adults, the effectiveness of the TCPs suggests that they were helpful for the participants.     

Immobilization of simulated An3+ into synthetic Gd2Zr2O7 ceramic by SPS without occupation or valence design

To simplify the immobilized process of nuclear waste, synthetic Gd₂Zr₂O₇ ceramic was employed to immobilize simulated An³⁺ (Nd³⁺) by spark plasma sintering (SPS) without any ion occupation or valence design. Sintering and characterization of immobilized simulated An³⁺ with various doping amounts were carried out. The effects of Nd₂O₃ content on the phase composition, active modes, micro-graph and density of the sintered ceramics were investigated. When the Nd₂O₃ doped amount reached up to 50 mol%, the raw peak of Nd₂O₃ existed. The sintered ceramics kept a single fluorite phase when Nd₂O₃ solubility achieved to 40 mol%. The sintered ceramics presented a well crystalline phase and the elements distributed evenly. In addition, as the Nd₂O₃ doped amount increase, the density and Vickers hardness values of Nd₂O₃ doped sample decrease.     

Synthesis,Anticancer Activity,Structure-Activity Relationship and Mechanistic Investigations of Falcarindiol Analogues

Forty samples of optically active falcarindiol analogues are synthesized by using the easily available C2 symmetric (R)- and (S)-1,1’-binaphth-2-ol (BINOL) in combination with Ti(OⁱPr)₄, Zn powder and EtI. Their anticancer activities on Hccc-9810, HepG2, MDA-MB-231, Hela, MG-63 and H460 cells are assayed to elucidate their structure-activity relationships. These results showed that the falcarindiol analogue (3R,8S)- 2 i with the terminal double bond has the most potent anti-proliferation effect on Hccc-9810 cells with IC₅₀ value of 0.46 μM. The falcarindiol analogue (3R,8S)- 2 i can induce obvious Hccc-9810 cell apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner by Hoechst staining and flow cytometry analysis. The proposed mechanism suggests that the falcarindiol analogue (3R,8S)- 2 i increases LDH release and MDA content, and reduces the levels of SOD activity, which lead to the accumulation of oxidative stress and induce apoptosis in Hccc-9810 cells.     

Charge Transportation and Chirality in Liquid Crystalline Helical Network Phases of Achiral BTBT-Derived Polycatenar Molecules

First examples of multichain (polycatenar) compounds, based on the π-conjugated [1]benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene unit are designed, synthesized, and their soft self-assembly and charge carrier mobility are investigated. These compounds, terminated by the new fan-shaped 2-brominated 3,4,5-trialkoxybenzoate moiety, form bicontinuous cubic liquid crystalline (LC) phases with helical network structure over extremely wide temperature ranges (>200 K), including ambient temperature. Compounds with short chains show an achiral cubic phase with the double network, which upon increasing the chain length, is at first replaced by a tetragonal 3D phase and then by a mirror symmetry is broken triple network cubic phase. In the networks, the capability of bypassing defects provides enhanced charge carrier mobility compared to imperfectly aligned columnar phases, and the charge transportation is non-dispersive, as only rarely observed for LC materials. At the transition to a semicrystalline helical network phase, the conductivity is further enhanced by almost one order of magnitude. In addition, a mirror symmetry broken isotropic liquid phase is formed beside the 3D phases, which upon chain elongation is removed and replaced by a hexagonal columnar LC phase.     

Combining molybdenum carbide with ceria overlayers to boost Mo/CeO2 catalyzed ammonia synthesis

The design of an efficient non-noble metal catalyst is of burgeoning interest for ammonia synthesis. Herein, we report a Mo₂C/CeO₂ catalyst that is superior in ammonia synthesis activity. In this catalyst, molybdenum carbide coexisted with the ceria overlayers which is from the ceria support as the strong metal–support interaction. There is a high proportion of low-valent Mo species, as well as high concentration of Ce³⁺ and surface oxygen species. The presence of Mo₂C and CeO₂ overlayers not only leads to enhancement of hydrogen and nitrogen adsorption, but also facilitates the desorption and exchange of adsorbed species with the gaseous reagents. Compared with the Mo/CeO₂ catalyst prepared without carbonization, the Mo₂C/CeO₂ catalyst is more than sevenfold higher in ammonia synthesis rate. This work not only presents an explicit example of designing Mo-based catalyst that is highly efficient for ammonia synthesis by tuning the adsorption and desorption properties of the reactant gases, but opens a perspective for other elements in ammonia synthesis.     

饱和尾粉砂边界面模型在FLAC3D中的开发

由于岩土材料的复杂性，FLAC3D软件自带的本构模型不能满足实际数值分析的全部要求。利用FLAC3D预留的UMD接口，在C++的编译环境下实现了一种基于临界状态模型CASM边界面模型的开发。介绍了边界面模型的基本组成，给出了开发的关键步骤。并基于三轴试验结果，利用该模型对饱和尾粉砂静/动力学特性进行了分析，论证了该模型对饱和尾粉砂的适用性。     

Charging strategy through analysis of charging influence factors of ultra-light hydrogen storage with polyethylene terephthalate liner

A lightweight type 4 vessel with a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) liner is analyzed. The derived heat transfer coefficients between the gas and wall are applied, and a parametric study is performed. An optimized charging strategy is also developed. Firstly, when the injected hydrogen temperature decreases, the charging time increases, and the charged gas temperature decreases. Secondly, the higher the ambient temperature, the shorter the charging time, and the higher the charged gas temperature. Thirdly, the larger the mass flow rate, the shorter the charging time, and the higher charged gas temperature. Fourthly, as the initial pressure inside the vessel increases, the charging time shortens, and the charged gas temperature decreases. Fifthly, using the formulated charging strategy, during summer, the charged gas temperature decreases by approximately 9 °C. In winter, the charging time is reduced by approximately 58 s. The results provide important information of temperature control for ensuring vessel safety.     

Hydrogen evolution reaction on in-plane platinum and palladium dichalcogenides via single-atom doping

Searching for the catalysts with excellent catalytic activity and high chemical stability is the key to achieve large-scale production of hydrogen (H₂) through hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Two-dimensional (2D) platinum and palladium dichalcogenides with extraordinary electrical properties have emerged as the potential candidate for HER catalysts. Here, chemical stability, HER electrocatalytic activity, and the origin of improved HER performance of Pt/Pd-based dichalcogenides with single-atom doping (B, C, N, P, Au, Ag, Cu, Co, Fe, Ni, Zn) and vacancies are explored by first-principles calculations. The calculated defect formation energy reveals that most defective structures are thermodynamically stable. Hydrogen evolution performance on basal plane is obviously improved by single-atoms doping and vacancies. Particularly, Zn-doped and Te vacancy PtTe₂ have a ΔG_H value close to zero. Moreover, defect engineering displays a different performance on HER catalytic activity in sulfur group elements, in order of S < Te < Se in Pd-based chalcogenides, and S < Se < Te in Pt-based chalcogenides. The origin of improved hydrogen evolution performance is revealed by electronic structure and charge transfer. Our findings of the highly activating defective systems provide a theoretical basis for HER applications of platinum and palladium dichalcogenides.