Macroscopic and Microscopic Structures of Cesium Lead Iodide Perovskite from Atomistic Simulations

A first‐principles‐based effective Hamiltonian is developed and employed to investigate finite‐temperature structural properties of a prototype of perovskite halides, that is CsPbI₃. Such simulations, when using first‐principles‐extracted coefficients, successfully reproduce the existence of an orthorhombic Pnma state and its iodine octahedral tilting angles around room temperature. However, they also yield a direct transformation from Pnma to cubic $Pm\overline{3}m$ upon heating, unlike measurements that reported the occurrence of an intermediate long‐range‐tilted tetragonal P4/mbm phase in‐between the orthorhombic and cubic phases. Such disagreement, which may cast some doubts about the extent to which first‐principle methods can be trusted to mimic hybrid perovskites, can be resolved by “only” changing one short‐range tilting parameter in the whole set of effective Hamiltonian coefficients. In such a case, some reasonable values of this specific parameter result in the predictions that i) the intermediate P4/mbm state originates from fluctuations over many different tilted states; and ii) the cubic $Pm\overline{3}m$ phase is highly locally distorted and develops strong transverse antiphase correlation between first‐nearest neighbor iodine octahedral tiltings, before undergoing a phase transition to P4/mbm under cooling.     

不同晶相结构ZrO2负载铜基催化剂用于二乙醇胺脱氢反应

通过制备不同晶相结构〔单斜相(m-ZrO_2)、四方相(t-ZrO_2)和无定型(a-ZrO_2)〕ZrO_2载体,再通过沉积沉淀法制得Cu/m-ZrO_2、Cu/t-ZrO_2和Cu/a-ZrO_2催化剂,分别用于催化二乙醇胺脱氢合成亚氨基二乙酸反应。采用XRD、氮气物理吸附脱附、XPS、H_2-TPR、CO_2-TPD对催化剂的结构进行了表征。结果表明,Cu/m-ZrO_2催化剂界面更加有利于Cu~+/Cu~0稳定存在,具有更多的碱性位点,且抗氧化性较好。在二乙醇胺脱氢反应中,Cu/m-ZrO_2催化剂性能最好,反应时间为2.5 h,亚氨基二乙酸收率为97.64%。     

Characteristics of tiger nut milk: effects of milling

A standard method for the extraction of tiger nut milk has been introduced. It has been shown that, although milling duration improves the yield of tiger nut milk solids and its nutrient composition, there is a quantifiable loss of nutrient in the pressing residue during milk extraction. Milling duration improved the colloidal stability of the milk against creaming during 16 h of storage. A higher milling intensity resulted in the aggregation of biological polymers which resulted in colloidal destabilisation. Milling improved the lightness and stability and reduced browning rate of the tiger nut milk during storage. This report is important for the production of tiger nut milk of consistent and comparable characteristics. Milling has been introduced as a processing method for the qualitative and quantitative modulation of the properties of tiger nut milk. It is recommended to develop further strategies to improve the colloidal stability of tiger nut milk as a beverage.     

Developing novel liquid crystal technologies for display and photonic applications

Modern liquid crystal displays (LCDs) require novel technologies, such as new alignment methods to eliminate alignment layers, fast response and long operation time. To this end, we report an overview of recent efforts in LCD technologies devoted to realize more display modes having no alignment layer, faster switching time and low battery consumption. In particular, we overview recent advances on the liquid crystals (LCs) alignment for display applications, which includes superfine nanostructures, polymeric microchannels and polymer stabilized LCs. Furthermore, we analyze the main optical and electro-optical properties of new generation LCDs displays addressing a particular attention to LCs blue phase hosting gold nanoparticles. Moreover, we focus on the progress of electrofluidic displays, which demonstrates characteristics that are similar to LCDs, with attention on various pixel designs, operation principles and possible future trends of the technology.     

Copper–4,4′-dipyridyl coordination compound as solid reagent for spectrophotometric determination of reducing sugar employing a multicommutation approach

In this work a multicommuted flow system employing copper–4,4′- dipyridyl coordination compound as the solid-phase reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of reducing sugar was developed. The coordination compound was synthesized through a reaction of the 4,4′-dipyridyl and copper (II) nitrate, under hydrothermal conditions. The complex was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), power X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Based on the characterization, a multicommuted spectrophotometric procedure for the determination of reducing sugar using copper (II) complex as solid reagent is proposed. The proposed method was based on the redox reaction between a monosaccharide, such as fructose and glucose (reducing sugar) and Cu(II). This reaction, mediated in an alkaline medium, produces a yellow compound that can be determined by absorption electronic spectroscopy (λ_ABS = 420 nm). Under optimum experimental conditions, a linear response ranging from 1.0 to 20.0 g L⁻¹ (R = 0.9978 and n = 5), a detection (3σ criterion) and quantification (10σ criterion) limit estimated at 0.23 and 0.75 g L⁻¹, respectively, a standard deviation relative of 4.7% (n = 7), for a reference solution of 10.0 g L⁻¹ reducing sugar, and a sampling rate of 75 determinations per hour were achieved. The proposed system was applied to the determination of reducing sugars in coconut water and juices. The analysis of ten samples and the application of the t-test to the results found, and those obtained using reference procedures (AOAC), provided no significant differences at a 95% confidence level. This system enabled the analysis of reducing sugar with ease and simplicity, providing a significant economy of the solid reagent (600 μg per determination) and reducing effluent generation.     

Quality and Emulsion Stability of Milk from Ettawah Crossed Bred Goat During Frozen Storage

Goat milk has specific chemical composition and physical properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the change of milk quality and emulsion stability during 60 d frozen storage. Milk sample was taken from three Ettawah Crossedbred goats that were divided into three groups. Samples were frozen and stored for 0, 30 and 60 days. At the end of each storage periode, milk sample was thawed in the refrigerator and analyzed for total number of bacteria, chemical (acidity, pH, free fatty acids), physical (alcohol test, clot on boiling test) quality, and emulsion stability. The microbiological and chemical data were analyzed statistically using one way ANOVA, whereas physical quality and emulsion stabilty were expressed qualitatively. There were no change in the total bacteria, acidity, pH and free fatty acid (FFA) of milk during storage, whereas the assessment by 70% alcohol showed positive since 0 d. Emulsions stability changed after 30 d of storage. While, the clot on boiling (COB) test of milk was positive at 60 d of storage. Recommendation is frozen storage of goat milk should not longer than 30 d.     

毒品滥用流行病模型的稳定性分析

现有毒品滥用流行病模型假设吸毒者康复后对毒品拥有永久"免疫"力，而忽视了其再次成为毒品易感者的可能性。针对这一问题，通过考虑社区治疗和隔离治疗两种措施，分析了毒品滥用人群的演化过程，提出了基于暂时"免疫"力的毒品滥用流行病模型，并计算了模型的基本再生数，讨论了模型平衡点的存在性和稳定性。当基本再生数小于1时，模型存在一个局部渐进稳定的无毒平衡点；当基本再生数大于1时，模型存在唯一的地方病平衡点，并利用几何方法证明了地方病平衡点的全局稳定性；当基本再生数等于1时，如果满足一定条件，模型出现后向分支现象。数值模拟验证了上述所有结果。研究结果表明提高隔离治疗率、改善社区治疗效果和降低接触传染率可以有效抑制毒品滥用的流行。     

LPNN-based approach for LASSO problem via a sequence of regularized minimizations

In compressive sampling theory, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) is a representative problem. Nevertheless, the non-differentiable constraint impedes the use of Lagrange programming neural networks (LPNNs). We present in this article the -LPNN model, a novel algorithm that tackles the LASSO minimization together with the underlying theory support. First, we design a sequence of smooth constrained optimization problems, by introducing a convenient differentiable approximation to the non-differentiable -norm constraint. Next, we prove that the optimal solutions of the regularized intermediate problems converge to the optimal sparse signal for the LASSO. Then, for every regularized problem from the sequence, the -LPNN dynamic model is derived, and the asymptotic stability of its equilibrium state is established as well. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to compare the performance of the proposed -LPNN algorithm with both the LASSO-LPNN model and a standard digital method.     

Effect of stoichiometry and Cu-substitution on the phase structure and hydrogen storage properties of Ml-Mg-Ni-based alloys

To improve the electrochemical properties of rare-earth–Mg–Ni-based hydrogen storage alloys, the effects of stoichiometry and Cu-substitution on the phase structure and thermodynamic properties of the ...     

Systematic convergence of nonlinear stochastic estimators on the Special Orthogonal Group SO(3)

This paper introduces two novel nonlinear stochastic attitude estimators developed on the Special Orthogonal Group with the tracking error of the normalized Euclidean distance meeting predefined transient and steady‐state characteristics. The tracking error is confined to initially start within a predetermined large set such that the transient performance is guaranteed to obey dynamically reducing boundaries and decrease smoothly and asymptotically to the origin in probability from almost any initial condition. The proposed estimators produce accurate attitude estimates with remarkable convergence properties using measurements obtained from low‐cost inertial measurement units. The estimators proposed in continuous form are complemented by their discrete versions for the implementation purposes. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed estimators against uncertain measurements and large initialization error, whether in continuous or discrete form.