Conflict resolution using game theory and rough sets

Conflicts occur naturally in the real world at all levels of society, individually, in groups or society as a whole. Almost all the existing conflict resolution models are unilateral in their decision‐making process. They do not consider the actions of the involved parties simultaneously. Therefore, in this paper, we aim to design a novel conflict resolution model based on game‐theoretic rough sets by constructing a game between all the concerned parties (players), computing the payoff of different strategies and classifying them following equilibrium rules. The proposed model yields more realistic and accurate results as it explores all possibilities and is flexible in determining different threshold values relative to the complexities of real‐life problems. Three real‐life conflict situations are solved with the proposed model, and a comprehensive analysis is done to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Electrochemical Mechanism Investigation of Cu2MoS4 Hollow Nanospheres for Fast and Stable Sodium Ion Storage

Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) are promising alternatives to lithium ion batteries with advantages of cost effectiveness. Metal sulfides as emerging SIB anodes have relatively high electronic conductivity and high theoretical capacity, however, large volume change during electrochemical testing often leads to unsatisfactory electrochemical performance. Herein bimetallic sulfide Cu₂MoS₄ (CMS) with layered crystal structures are prepared with glucose addition (CMS1), resulting in the formation of hollow nanospheres that endow large interlayer spacing, benefitting the rate performance and cycling stability. The electrochemical mechanisms of CMS1 are investigated using ex situ X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and in situ X‐ray absorption spectroscopy, revealing the conversion‐based mechanism in carbonate electrolyte and intercalation‐based mechanism in ether‐electrolyte, thus allowing fast and reversible Na⁺ storage. With further introduction of reduced graphene oxide (rGO), CMS1–rGO composites are obtained, maintaining the hollow structure of CMS1. CMS1–rGO delivers excellent rate performance (258 mAh g^?1 at 50 mA g^?1 and 131.9 mAh g^?1 at 5000 mA g^?1) and notably enhanced cycling stability (95.6% after 2000 cycles). A full cell SIB is assembled by coupling CMS1–rGO with Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃‐based cathode, delivering excellent cycling stability (75.5% after 500 cycles). The excellent rate performance and cycling stability emphasize the advantage of CMS1–rGO toward advanced SIB full cells assembly.     

High frequency travelling surface acoustic waves for microparticle separation

In this study, we have demonstrated a particle separation device taking advantage of the high frequency sound waves. The sound waves, in the form of surface acoustic waves, are produced by an acoustofluidic platform built on top of a piezoelectric substrate bonded to a microfluidic channel. The particles’ mixture, pumped through the microchannel, is focused using a sheath fluid. A Travelling surface acoustic wave (TSAW), propagating normal to the flow, interacts with the particles and deflects them from their original path to induce size-based separation in a continuous flow. We initially started the experiment with 40 MHz TSAWs for deflecting 10 µm diameter polystyrene particles but failed. However, larger diameter particles (~ 30 µm) were successfully deflected from their streamlines and separated from the smaller particles (~ 10 µm) using TSAWs with 40 MHz frequency. The separation of smaller diameter particles (3, 5 and 7 µm) was also achieved using an order of magnitude higher-frequency (~ 133 MHz) TSAWs.     

Almost complete peritectic reaction in YBa2(Cu1−xFex)3O7−δ crystallization involving nanosized primary phase

Study on peritectic reaction is a matter of significant importance in materials science, which generally involves in the solidification of most functional oxide materials, for example, the YBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ (Y123) superconductor could be grown via a reaction of Y₂BaCuO₅ (Y211) + Liquid→Y123. Due to its crystallization characteristic, the growth of those materials does not entirely proceed, which severely impedes the development of industrialized process. Thus the realization of a complete peritectic reaction is an interesting issue for both theory and experiment. Here, we report an almost complete peritectic reaction occurring in the growth of YBa₂(Cu_1?xFe_x)₃O_7?δ crystals using modified melt‐growth. Our findings remarkably show that Y211 almost fully reacted with liquid to generate Y123, remaining approximately 1 vol%, evidently lower than that in the normal case. The nature of this unconventional phenomenon is clarified that the Fe‐doping elevates the nucleation barrier in the peritectic melting of Y123 and causes a massive homogeneous nucleation catastrophe, leading to nanosized and dispersive Y211 particles, which readily and almost fully dissolve in the subsequent peritectic solidification of Y123. Most importantly, the new conception derived from this work is promising for reviving other functional materials, which are disregarded due to their incomplete peritectic reactions.     

Physicochemical properties of aqueous solutions of sodium glycinate in the non-precipitation regime from 298.15 to 343.15 K

The physicochemical properties, including the density, viscosity, and refractive index of aqueous solutions of sodium glycinate as a solvent for CO2 absorption in the non-precipitation regime were measured under the wide temperature range of 298.15 to 343.15 K. The concentration of the sodium glycinate in an aqueous form in the non-precipitation regime was identified up to 2.0 mol·L?1. The coefficients of thermal expansion values were estimated from measured density data. It was found that, the densities, viscosities and refractive indices of the aqueous sodium glycinate decrease with an increase in temperature, whereas with increasing sodium glycinate concentration in the solution, all three properties increase. Thermal expansion coefficients slightly increase with rising temperature and concentration. The measured values of density, viscosity and refractive index were correlated as a function of temperature by using the least squares method. The predicted data obtained from correlation equations for all measured properties were in fairly good agreement with the experimental data.     

Novel water-soluble polymer coatings control NPK release rate,improve soil quality and maize productivity

We investigated different combinations of polymers (5% each) (i) starch, gelatin (polymer coating; PC-1), (ii) polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), gum Arabica (PC-2), (iii) PVA, gelatin (PC-3), (iv) starch, gum Arabica (PC-4), (v) gelatin, gum Arabica (PC-5), (vi) starch, PVA (PC-6), for coating NPK (17, 17:17) in a fluidized bed granulator. Morphological characterization indicated a uniform coating of all formulations on NPK granules. A slow release of N (PC-3), P (PC-6), and K (PC-3) was observed in water. In soil, high mineral N (63%), plant-available P (72%), and K (24%) were observed in PC-3, PC-5, and PC-6, respectively than uncoated fertilizer. Microbial biomass NPK was also higher in these treatment. This resulted in higher maize yield (66%), N (114%), P (164%), and K (137%) uptakes and apparent N (267%), P (196%), and K (358%) recoveries from applied fertilizer in these treatments. Among these, PC-3 resulted in an increase of 115% shoot N, 169% P and 138% K uptakes and 268% apparent N, 206% P and 361% K recoveries than uncoated fertilizer. Hence, coating of NPK with this biodegradable polymer combination controlled N, P, and K release and synchronized these nutrients availabilities with maize nutrients demand therefore resulted in higher maize crop yield and nutrient utilization efficiencies.     

Dynamic Response in Ba1−xSrxTiO3 and Anomalous Behavior at the Phase Boundary Composition

The dynamic response of Barium Strontium Titanate (Ba_1?xSr_xTiO₃, x = 0.6–0.9) is presented over a temperature range spanning various structural phase transitions and for compositions that extend from the ferroelectric (FE) phase to the FE‐Antiferrodistortive (AFD) phase boundary. We find that while the in‐phase part of the dielectric response is insensitive to applied frequencies over the range 400–500 kHz for all compositions, strong dispersive effects are observed in general for the out of phase part, for almost all compositions. The dielectric peaks corresponding to the lower temperature structural transitions (e.g. tetragonal to orthorhombic T–O etc.) exhibit frequency dependence, while the higher temperature cubic to tetragonal (C–T) transition does not show dispersive effects. The only exception to this is for the Ba_0.1Sr_0.9TiO₃ composition, lying at the boundary of the FE and AFD phases. Detailed frequency dependence studies of this composition (x = 0.9) show that the (C–T) transition exhibits an abrupt change in the dispersive features for high frequencies f > 10 kHz. These features include the constancy of peak temperature, large drop in the magnitude of the losses and a noticeable broadening of the associated loss peak. The anomalous features in the behavior of x = 0.9 composition are attributed to slow relaxation processes in the AFD phase at the boundary separating the FE and AFD phases.     

Organic–Inorganic Composite Material Polyaniline Ce(IV) molybdate: Thermal and Room Temperature Electrical Conductivity Measurement Studies

An electrically conducting ‘organic–inorganic’ composite material polyaniline Ce(IV) molybdate was prepared by incorporating electrically conducting polymer, i.e., polyaniline into inorganic precipitate of polyvalent metal acid salts i.e., Ce(IV) molybdate. The temperature dependence of electrical conductivity of this composite system with increasing temperatures was measured on compressed pellets by using a 4-in-line-probe dc electrical conductivity-measuring instrument. The values of conductivity lies in the semiconductor region, i.e., they are of the order of 10⁻⁵–10⁻² S cm⁻¹ and obey the Arrhenius equation. The thermal stability of this composite material in terms of dc electrical conductivity retention was studied under isothermal and cyclic techniques and electrical conductivity of composite was found to be sufficiently stable under ambient temperature conditions. The dependence of the electrical conductivity prepared with different concentrations of aniline monomers, on the concentration of conducting phases i.e., polyaniline was showed that electrical conductivity increase followed the percolation threshold.     

Prospects of conducting polymer and graphene as counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) garner considerable research interest because of high photo-to-electric conversion efficiencies at low production cost. Platinum has been reported as an efficient metal as a counter electrode (CE) in DSSCs for its outstanding electro catalytic performance. However, the high cost and susceptibility to corrosion of Pt are paving the way for exploring new materials to replace Pt as a counter electrode in DSSCs. Various conducting polymers, graphene and conducting polymer-graphene nanocomposites have been found as counter electrodes in DSSCs with remarkable photovoltaic performances. The urge to produce composites or hybrids with nanomaterials is derived from the improvement of photovoltaic performances. This review will focus on the unique physical and chemical properties of conducting polymers and graphene, their individual photovoltaic performances as counter electrodes in DSSCs, followed by the synergistic effect of conducting polymers and graphene in conducting polymer-graphene nanocomposites as counter electrodes in DSSCs. Finally a brief outlook is provided to improve the photovoltaic performance of DSSCs using conducting polymers and graphene-based counter electrodes.