Elementary variational approach to zero-free solutions of a nonlinear eigenvalue problem

A variational approach is employed for obtaining zero-free solutions of a nonlinear eigenvalue problem that appears in several recent studies. Our proofs are elementary but our results are sharp and yield corrections to several existing assertions in the literature.     

Effects of nonstoichiometry on the properties of electron-doped manganite Pr0.1Ca0.9MnO3

Mn⁴⁺-rich perovskite manganites (nominal composition: Pr_0.1Ca_0.9MnO₃) were synthesized by using a citric acid method and sintered at different temperatures (800, 900, 1000, and 1300 °C) to adjust the concentration of charge carrier. All the samples are found to be in the cluster glass state at low temperature, as indicated by dc and ac magnetization. With the increase of sintering temperature, the ferromagnetic component in samples increases at first, and attains a maximum at 1000 °C, then decreases again at 1300 °C, which could be well interpreted by the change of charge carrier concentration induced by nonstoichiometry, consistent with the trend on the phase diagram. However, nonstoichiometry breaks long-range Mn-O-Mn interaction, resulting in the variance from the phase diagram.     

RP-HPLC and NMR study of antioxidant flavonoids in extract from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gentiana piasezkii</Emphasis>

A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) separation with photodiode array detection (PDA) was developed for the simultaneous determination of five flavonoids, lutonarin (LO), saponarin (SA), isoorient (IO), 7-O-feruloylorientin (FO) and luteolin (LE) in the extract of Gentiana piasezkii, a popular forage grass, pharmaceutical and ornamental plant in China. The optimized method was achieved for the separation and detection of selected constituents, using acetonitrile-1% acetic acid as the mobile phase with gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min and 350 nm as the detection wavelength. The contents of the five flavonoids, i.e., LO, SA, IO, FO and LE in the plant of G. piasezkii were 0.1524, 0.0673, 0.300, 0.0552 and 0.0052%, respectively. The compounds possess similar structures and have been studied by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.     

Quadrupole Splitting Distributions in Purpurite and Related Minerals

The quadrupole splitting distributions (QSDs) from the Mössbauer spectra of triphylite, ferrisicklerite and purpurite at 298 K and 80 K were obtained by the use of the Voigt-based quadrupole splitting distribution (QSD) method for the first time. QSDs of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ are attributed to Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ at the corresponding octahedrally coordinated sites in the crystal structures of the three phosphate minerals. The influence on the distortion of the M2 site by different next-nearest neighbor (NNN) configurations was discussed based on the Jahn–Teller effect in purpurite, and the authors propose two M2 subsites with different distortions in purpurite. Two QSDs of Fe³⁺ in the Mössbauer spectra of purpurite are tentatively assigned to Fe³⁺ at the two M2 subsites, and next-nearest neighbor (NNN) effects were used to interpret the Mössbauer spectra of purpurite.     

Magnetic polyethyleneimine functionalized reduced graphene oxide as a novel magnetic solid-phase extraction adsorbent for the determination of polar acidic herbicides in rice

A novel magnetic polyethyleneimine modified reduced graphene oxide (Fe₃O₄@PEI-RGO) had been fabricated based on a self-assemble approach between positive charged magnetic polyethyleneimine (Fe₃O₄@PEI) and negative charged GO sheets via electrostatic interaction followed by chemical reduction of GO to RGO. The as-prepared Fe₃O₄@PEI-RGO was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and zeta potential analysis, and then was successfully applied to determine four phenoxy acid herbicides and dicamba in rice coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). As a surface modifier of RGO, PEI not only effectually affected the surface property of RGO (e.g. zeta potential), but also changed the polarity of RGO and offered anion exchange groups to polar acidic herbicides, which would directly influence the type of adsorbed analytes. Compared with Fe₃O₄@PEI, Fe₃O₄/RGO and Fe₃O₄@PEI-GO, the as-prepared Fe₃O₄@PEI-RGO, integrating the superiority of PEI and RGO, showed higher extraction efficiency for polar acidic herbicides. Besides, the adsorption mechanism was investigated as well. It turned out that electrostatic interaction and π-π interaction were considered to be two major driving force for the adsorption process. Response surface methodology (RSM), a multivariate experimental design technique, was used to optimize experimental parameters affecting the extraction efficiency in detail. Under the optimal conditions, a satisfactory performance was obtained. The calibration curves were linear over the concentration ranging from 2 to 300 ng g⁻¹ with correlation coefficients (r) between 0.9985 and 0.9994. The limits of detection (LODs) were in the range of 0.67–2 ng g⁻¹. The recoveries ranged from 87.41% to 102.52% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 8.94%. Taken together, the proposed method was an efficient pretreatment and enrichment procedure and could be successfully applied for selective extraction and determination of polar acidic herbicides in complex matrices.     

Residue behaviour and safety evaluation of fenaminstrobin in peanut field ecosystems

A rapid, sensitive, and selective method using a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe procedure in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry was developed for the analysis of fenaminstrobin in peanut and soil. The average recoveries in all samples fall within 88.1%–10%, having relative standard deviations of 2.5%–14%. The limits of quantitation of fenaminstrobin in peanut shell, peanut kernels, peanut plant, and soil were 0.005, 0.004, 0.01, and 0.002 mg kg^?1, respectively. The field trial results show that the half-lives of fenaminstrobin in peanut plant and soil are 1.3–10 and 5.5–20 days, respectively. Residues in peanut kernels were found to be present at <0.004 mg kg^?1 levels, based on good agricultural practices recommended by the manufacturer. The risk posed by fenaminstrobin exposure at the recommended dosage is negligible to humans, depending on the risk quotient.     

连续体结构拓扑优化应力约束凝聚化的ICM方法

为克服应力约束下拓扑优化问题约束数目多、应力敏度计算量大的困难，提出 了应力约束化凝聚化的ICM方法. 在利用Mises强度理论将应力约束转换成应变能约束后， 提出了应力约束凝聚化的两条途径：其一为应力全局化的方法，其二为应力约束集成化的方 法. 由此建立了多工况下以重量为目标、以凝聚化应变能为约束的连续体结构优化模型，并 利用对偶理论对优化模型进行了求解. 4个数值算例表明：该方法具有较高的计算效率，得 到的拓扑结构比较合理，不仅适用于二维连续体结构，也适用于三维连续体结构.     

3-periodic traveling wave solutions for a dynamical coupled map lattice

In this paper, the existence of periodic traveling wave solutions with a priori unknown velocity is considered for a coupled map lattice dynamical system. By trasforming our problem into one that involves polynomials, explicit 2- and 3-periodic traveling wave solutions are found, while the other solutions can be computed numerically. Since there does not seem to be any reports on explicit traveling wave solutions, we hope that our results will lead to the discovery of many others.     

Independent continuous mapping for topological optimization of frame structures

Based on the Independent Continuous Mapping method (ICM), a topological optimization model with continuous topological variables is built by introducing three filter functions for element weight, element allowable stress and element stiffness, which transform the 0-1 type discrete topological variables into continuous topological variables between 0 and 1. Two methods for the filter functions are adopted to avoid the structural singularity and recover falsely deleted elements: the weak material element method and the tiny section element method. Three criteria (no structural singularity, no violated constraints and no change of structural weight) are introduced to judge iteration convergence. These criteria allow finding an appropriate threshold by adjusting a discount factor in the iteration procedure. To improve the efficiency, the original optimization model is transformed into a dual problem according to the dual theory and solved in its dual space. By using MSC/Nastran as the structural solver and MSC/Patran as the developing platform, a topological optimization software of frame structures is accomplished. Numerical examples show that the ICM method is very efficient for the topological optimization of frame structures.The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10472003) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (3042002) The English text was polished by Yunming Chen.     

Tetracycline selective electrode based on molecularly imprinted polymer particles

<正>Tetracycline selective electrode using molecularly imprinted polymer particles as quasi-ionophore was constructed the first time, and its performance was carefully characterized.Due to the specific recognition of tetracycline by the particles,the selectivity coefficients for routine interferences were less than 10~(-4).Benefited from the absence of tetracycline in the sensitive membrane and the optimized composition of the inner filling solution,the limit of detection of the electrode was reduced to about 2.5×10~(-8) mol/ L.It exhibited a good electrode slope 57.6 mV/decade near the theoretical Nernstian one,with a wide linear working range from 6.0×10~(-8) to 1.0×10~(-3) mol/L.The fabricated electrode should be used in pH 2-4,response time of which was less than 200 s when the concentration of tetracycline was higher than 1.0×10~(-6) mol/L and no more than 30 min at the concentration of 1.0×10~(-8) mol/L.