Temporal and spatial variations of energy consumption in rural China

Presented in this paper is an overview of energy consumption in rural China in view of temporal and spatial variations. Characterized by steadily decreased proportion of biomass use and increased percentage of coal and electricity use, coal and biomass are still the major energy sources in rural areas, accounting for nearly 80% of the total rural energy consumption. Moreover, the energy consumption varies significantly across provinces both in total sum and by fuel types due to diversities of geographic features, economic development levels and local energy source availability. Three statistical groups are clustered associated with quantitative change and structural change, exhibiting evident transition from noncommercial energy pattern to commercial energy pattern. Much more work need to be done to cope with the forthcoming dramatic changes associated with booming rural economy and newly released policy from the points of both energy security and environmental pressure in China.     

Optical imaging and magnetophoresis of nanorods

Peclet number analysis is performed to probe the convective motion of nanospheres and nanorods under the influence of magnetophoresis and diffusion. Under most circumstances, magnetophoretic behaviour dominates diffusion for nanorods, as the magnetic field lines tend to align the magnetic moment along the rod axis. The synthesis and dispersion of fluorophore-tagged nanorods are described. Fluorescence microscopy is employed to image the nanorod motion in a magnetic field gradient. The preliminary experimental data are consistent with the Peclet number analysis.     

The impact of stochastic lead time reduction on inventory cost under order crossover

We use exponential lead times to demonstrate that reducing mean lead time has a secondary reduction of the variance due to order crossover. The net effect is that of reducing the inventory cost, and if the reduction in inventory cost overrides the investment in lead time reduction, then the lead time reduction strategy would be tenable.We define lead time reduction as the process of decreasing lead time at an increased cost. To date, decreasing lead times has been confined to deterministic instances. We examine the case where lead times are exponential, for when lead times are stochastic, deliveries are subject to order crossover, so that we must consider effective lead times rather than the actual lead times. The result is that the variance of these lead times is less than the variance of the original replenishment lead times.Here we present a two-stage procedure for reducing the mean and variance for exponentially distributed lead times. We assume that the lead time is made of one or several components and is the time between when the need of a replenishment order is determined to the time of receipt.     

The influence of grafted cellulose nanofibers and postextrusion annealing treatment on selected properties of poly(lactic acid) filaments for 3D printing

l ‐lactide monomers were grafted onto cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) via ring‐opening polymerization, forming poly(lactic acid) grafted cellulose nanofibers (PLA‐g‐CNFs). PLA‐g‐CNFs and pristine PLA were then blended in chloroform and dried to prepare a master batch. PLA‐g‐CNFs/PLA composite filaments targeted for 3D printing were produced by compounding the master batch in PLA matrix and melt extrusion. The as‐extruded composite filaments were subsequently thermal annealed in a conventional oven, and their morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties were evaluated. PLA was successfully grafted on the surface of CNFs as demonstrated by elemental analysis, and the concentration of grafted PLA was estimated to be 33 wt %. The grafted PLA were highly crystallized, contributing to the growth of crystalline regions of PLA matrix. The incorporation of PLA‐g‐CNFs improved storage modulus of the composite filaments in both low temperature glassy state and high temperature rubbery state. Postextrusion annealing treatment led to 28 and 63% increases for tensile modulus and strength of the filaments, respectively. Simulated Young's moduli from the Halpin‐Tsai and Krenchel models were found comparable with the experimental values. The formed composite filaments are suitable for use in 3D printing. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 847–855     

Low molecular weight organogelators derived from threefold symmetric tricarbamates

A group of new low molecular weight organogelators based on threefold symmetric tricarbamate were synthesized and characterized. The tricarbamates with long alkyl chains were able to gelate a wide range of polar and nonpolar organic solvents such as acetonitrile and cyclohexane, generally at concentrations lower than 20 g/L. The best organogel formation was obtained using a threefold symmetric tricarbamate in n-dodecane, in which a sufficiently transparent gel was formed at the critical gelation concentration 1 g/L. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding by the tricarbamate in a nonpolar solvent benzene-d₆ was indicated by ¹H NMR spectra. Its maximum UV absorption was 11 nm higher in chloroform than in n-dodecane, and this red shift indicated increased conjugation between the benzene core and the carbamate substituents, which confirmed a change in its conformation from nonpolar to polar solvent. The self-assembling behavior of the tricarbamate in dilute solutions was investigated by TEM. Fiber-like networks were observed in a large range of solution concentrations.     

Entanglement between two atoms in a damping Jaynes-Cummings model

The entanglement between two atoms in a damping Jaynes-Cummings model is investigated with different decay coefficients of the atoms from the upper level to other levels under detuning between the atomic frequency and the quantized light field frequency. The results indicate that the larger the decay coefficient is, the more quickly the entanglement decays. The detuning enhances the entanglement’s average value at long times. More importantly, the results show that the so-called sudden death effect can be avoided by enhancing the detuning or the decay coefficient.     

Mechanical strength lowering in submicron Cu thin films by moderate DC current

This letter reports an experimental investigation into the direct current (DC) induced reduction in the yield strength of 60∼700-nm-thick Cu films. Results show that the larger the current density and the thinner the film, the greater the reduction when the film thickness is below about 340 nm. This reduction could be described on the basis of dislocation buckling, which, caused by the electron wind of the current flow, induces an increase in the dislocation length and a decrease in the critical stress for multiplying the dislocation.     

High selectively oxidative bromination of toluene derivatives by the H_2O_2-HBr system

An aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide and hydrogen bromide illuminated by a 60 W incandescent light bulb serves as a source of bromine radicals.Various substituted toluenes（NO₂,Cl,Br,H,CH₃） were high selectively brominated at the benzyl position for monobromination in CH₂C1₂ at ice water with catalyst free.This simple but effective bromination of toluene derivatives with an aqueous H₂O₂-HBr system is characterized with the use of inexpensive reagents and a lower impact on the environment, which make it a good alternative to the existing bromination methods.