Direction of coupling from phases of interacting oscillators: a permutation information approach

We introduce a directionality index for a time series based on a comparison of neighboring values. It can distinguish unidirectional from bidirectional coupling, as well as reveal and quantify asymmetry in bidirectional coupling. It is tested on a numerical model of coupled van der Pol oscillators, and applied to cardiorespiratory data from healthy subjects. There is no need for preprocessing and fine-tuning the parameters, which makes the method very simple, computationally fast and robust.     

Ubiquitous mechanisms of energy dissipation in noncontact atomic force microscopy

Atomistic simulations considering larger tip structures than hitherto assumed reveal novel dissipation mechanisms in noncontact atomic force microscopy. The potential energy surfaces of realistic silicon tips exhibit many energetically close local minima that correspond to different structures. Most of them easily deform, thus causing dissipation arising from hysteresis in force versus distance characteristics. Furthermore, saddle points which connect local minima can suddenly switch to connect different minima. Configurations driven into metastability by the tip motion can thus suddenly access lower energy structures when thermal activation becomes allowed within the time required to detect the resulting average dissipation.     

Design and optimization of thin film polarizer at the wavelength of 1540 nm using differential evolution algorithm

In this paper, a thin film polarizer at the wavelength of 1540 nm in infrared region was designed and optimized using differential evolution method. It is shown how the algorithm’s parameters can change the output result to obtain the best consequence of optimization. This polarizer consists of a few pairs of high and low refractive index dielectric materials, titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide, respectively, with \(BK_{7}\) glass substrate and the angle of incident light was supposed 56° that is the Brewster angle for \(BK_{7}\) glass. Our final optimized polarizer has 91.20 and 0.336% transmittance for P and S polarization, respectively, and a 271 ratio of \(\frac{{T_{P} }}{{T_{S} }}\) which has high significance for this polarizer. It consists of eight pairs of layers with low and high refractive index materials and 3369.1 nm physical thickness which is used to separate S and P polarized light for Q-switching process.     

Synthesis,characterization and computational evaluation of bicyclooctadienes towards molecular solar thermal energy storage

Molecular solar-thermal energy storage (MOST) systems are based on photoswitches that reversibly convert solar energy into chemical energy. In this context, bicyclooctadienes (BODs) undergo a photoinduced transformation to the corresponding higher energy tetracyclooctanes (TCOs), but the photoswitch system has not until now been evaluated for MOST application, due to the short half-life of the TCO form and limited available synthetic methods. The BOD system degrades at higher temperature via a retro-Diels–Alder reaction, which complicates the synthesis of the compounds. We here report a cross-coupling reaction strategy that enables an efficient synthesis of a series of 4 new BOD compounds. We show that the BODs were able to switch to the corresponding tetracyclooctanes (TCOs) in a reversible way and can be cycled 645 times with only 0.01% degradation. Half-lives of the TCOs were measured, and we illustrate how the half-life could be engineered from seconds to minutes by molecular structure design. A density functional theory (DFT) based modelling framework was developed to access absorption spectra, thermal half-lives, and storage energies which were calculated to be 143–153 kJ mol⁻¹ (0.47–0.51 MJ kg⁻¹), up to 76% higher than for the corresponding norbornadiene. The combined computational and experimental findings provide a reliable way of designing future BOD/TCO systems with tailored properties.

Molecular solar-thermal energy storage (MOST) systems are based on photoswitches that reversibly convert solar energy into chemical energy.     

Novel fused 1,2,3-triazolo-benzodiazepine derivatives as potent anticonvulsant agents: design,synthesis, in vivo,and in silico evaluations

Molecular Diversity - A novel series of 1,2,3-triazolo-benzodiazepine derivatives 6a–o has been synthesized and evaluated in vivo for their anticonvulsant activities using by...     

Embedded palladium nanoparticles on metal–organic framework/covalently sulfonated magnetic SBA-15 mesoporous silica composite: As a highly proficient nanocatalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction in amino acid-based natural deep eutectic solvent

In this project, the main aim is the design and present a novel and unique heterogeneous nanocatalyst based on a metal–organic framework/covalently sulfonated magnetic SBA-15 mesoporous silica composite with the emphasis on promoting clean and green synthetic transformations and increasing the catalytic properties. In more detail, initially, SBA-15 containing magnetic nanoparticles was functionalized by a 1,3-propane sultone ligand. In the next step, the functionalized mesoporous substrate was used as a scaffold for the growth and synthesis of the zeolite imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) crystals. The obtained composite was further applied as a suitable support for the immobilization of Pd nanoparticles via a post-modification procedure and the generation of heterogeneous catalysts. The prepared Fe₃O₄@SBA-15-SO₃H@ZIF-8@Pd was incorporated as a heterogeneous and green catalyst in the Suzuki coupling reaction in the natural deep eutectic solvent with efficient recyclability.     

Ultrasound promoted three-component synthesis of dihydroindeno[1,2-b]pyrrole derivatives

In this work, a one-pot three-component reaction of ninhydrin, primary amines, and 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds was investigated under various conditions to synthesis of diverse derivatives of dihydroindeno[1,2-b]pyrroles. Catalyst-free conditions in EtOH under ultrasound irradiation (45% of amplitude) were selected as a novel and efficient method for synthesis of these fused structures. The reactivity of different primary amines was then investigated for steric and electronic effects. Two examples of difunctional structures were also synthesized by using of 1,4-diaminobenzene under optimum conditions with high yields. The structure of all products was characterized by spectroscopic methods and elemental analysis.