Investigation of the Aquatic Photolytic and Photocatalytic Degradation of Citalopram

This study investigated the direct and indirect photochemical degradation of citalopram (CIT), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), under natural and artificial solar radiation. Experiments were conducted in a variety of different operating conditions including Milli-Q (MQ) water and natural waters (lake water and municipal WWT effluent), as well as in the presence of natural water constituents (organic matter, nitrate and bicarbonate). Results showed that indirect photolysis can be an important degradation process in the aquatic environment since citalopram photo-transformation in the natural waters was accelerated in comparison to MQ water both under natural and simulated solar irradiation. In addition, to investigate the decontamination of water from citalopram, TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic degradation was carried out and the attention was given to mineralization and toxicity evaluation together with the identification of by-products. The photocatalytic process gave rise to the formation of transformation products, and 11 of them were identified by HPLC-HRMS, whereas the complete mineralization was almost achieved after 5 h of irradiation. The assessment of toxicity of the treated solutions was performed by Microtox bioassay (Vibrio fischeri) and in silico tests showing that citalopram photo-transformation involved the formation of harmful compounds.     

Characterizing the creep of viscoelastic materials by fractal derivative models

In this paper, we make the first attempt to apply the fractal derivative to modeling viscoelastic behavior. The methodology of scaling transformation is utilized to obtain the creep modulus and relaxation compliance for the proposed fractal Maxwell and Kelvin models. Comparing with the fractional derivatives reported in the literature, the fractal derivative as a local operator has lower calculation costs and memory storage requirements. Moreover, numerical results show that the proposed fractal models require fewer parameters, have simpler mathematical expression and result in higher accuracy than the classical integer-order derivative models. Results further confirm that the proposed fractal models can characterize the creep behavior of viscoelastic materials.     

Dynamic behavior analysis of cantilever-type nano-mechanical electrostatic actuator

An investigation is performed into the nonlinear pull-in behavior of a cantilever-type nano-mechanical electrostatic actuator. In performing the analysis, the actuator is modeled as an Euler–Bernoulli beam and the influence of surface effects, the fringing field effect and the Casimir force effect are taken into explicit account. In general, analyzing the dynamic behavior of nanoscale electrostatic devices is challenging due to the nonlinear coupling of the electrostatic force and Casimir force. In the present study, this problem is resolved by using a hybrid computational scheme comprising the differential transformation method and the finite difference approximation technique. The feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated by the two cantilever-type micro-beams when actuated by a DC voltage. The numerical results show that the present results for the pull-in voltage deviate by no more than 1.47% from those presented in the literature using a different scheme. In addition, it is shown that surface effects play a significant role in determining the static deflection and pull-in voltage of the cantilever beam nano-beam. In general, the results confirm that the hybrid differential transformation/finite difference approximation method provides an accurate and computationally efficient means of simulating the nonlinear electrostatic behavior of nanostructure systems.     

A micromechanics-inspired constitutive model for shape-memory alloys that accounts for initiation and saturation of phase transformation

A constitutive model to describe macroscopic elastic and transformation behaviors of polycrystalline shape-memory alloys is formulated using an internal variable thermodynamic framework. In a departure from prior phenomenological models, the proposed model treats initiation, growth kinetics, and saturation of transformation distinctly, consistent with physics revealed by recent multi-scale experiments and theoretical studies. Specifically, the proposed approach captures the macroscopic manifestations of three micromechanial facts, even though microstructures are not explicitly modeled: (1) Individual grains with favorable orientations and stresses for transformation are the first to nucleate martensite, and the local nucleation strain is relatively large. (2) Then, transformation interfaces propagate according to growth kinetics to traverse networks of grains, while previously formed martensite may reorient. (3) Ultimately, transformation saturates prior to 100% completion as some unfavorably-oriented grains do not transform; thus the total transformation strain of a polycrystal is modest relative to the initial, local nucleation strain. The proposed formulation also accounts for tension–compression asymmetry, processing anisotropy, and the distinction between stress-induced and temperature-induced transformations. Consequently, the model describes thermoelastic responses of shape-memory alloys subject to complex, multi-axial thermo-mechanical loadings. These abilities are demonstrated through detailed comparisons of simulations with experiments.     

单晶硅的纳米力学响应及其相变机制

硅在大规模集成电路、MEMS/NEMS、半导体工业中具有不可替代作用,但是目前对硅的塑性变形及其相变机制的理解远未成熟.采用大规模分子动力学模拟研究(100)面的单晶硅在球形金刚石压头纳米压入过程中的纳米力学响应、相变过程和相分布规律.结果表明:在弹性变形阶段载荷-压深曲线与Hertz接触理论预测结果相吻合.两者的分离点准确地预示了塑性变形的发生.金刚石结构的Si-I相向体心结构的BCT5相转变导致了单晶硅初始的塑性变形.初始形成的BCT5相在次表面形成了一个倒置的金字塔形结构.Si-II相的形成则稍微滞后一些.在较大的载荷下BCT5在压入面上形成一个四重对称的图案分布.相对于小压头条件下大的BCT5相区,大压头更有利于SiII相的发展.卸载后生成的高压Si-II相和BCT5相全部转变为非晶硅.研究结果确认了单晶硅纳米压入中BCT5相的存在;揭示了单晶硅塑性变形的相变机理,即Si-I转变为BCT5和Si-II相;并强调了Si-I相向BCT5相转变对于单晶硅塑性变形的重要作用.     

非齐次光纤介质中非线性薛定谔方程的相似变换与精确解

基于李群理论和符号计算, 获得了具有增益/损耗项和频率啁啾项的非齐次光纤介质中的非线性薛定谔方程的相似变换; 利用所得变换, 把具有群速度参数、克尔非线性效应参数、相位调制参数和增益/损耗参数的变系数非线性薛定谔方程约化为相应常系数非线性薛定谔方程. 通过一个广义的直接求解方法, 构造了常系数非线性薛定谔方程的一组亮孤子解和一组暗孤子解, 进而得到了变系数非线性薛定谔方程丰富的精确解. 最后对所得亮孤子解和暗孤子解进行了动力学分析与讨论.     

Evidence of polymorphic transformations of Sn under high pressure

The high-pressure polymorphs and structural transformation of Sn were experimentally investigated using angledispersive synchrotron x-ray diffraction up to 108.9 GPa. The results show that at least at 12.8 GPa β-Sn→bct structure transformation was completed and no two-phase coexistence was found. By using a long-wavelength x-ray, we resolved the diffraction peaks splitting and discovered the formation of a new distorted orthorhombic structure bco from the bct structure at 31.8 GPa. The variation of the lattice parameters and their ratios with pressure further validate the observation of the bco polymorph. The bcc structure appears at 40.9 GPa and coexists with the bco phase throughout a wide pressure range of40.9 GPa–73.1 GPa. Above 73.1 GPa, only the bcc polymorph is observed. The systematically experimental investigation confirms the phase transition sequence of Sn as β-Sn→bct→bco→ bco + bcc→bcc upon compression to 108.9 GPa at room temperature.     

Consistent Riccati Expansion Method and Its Applications to Nonlinear Fractional Partial Differential Equations

In this paper, a consistent Riccati expansion method is developed to solve nonlinear fractional partial differential equations involving Jumarie's modified Riemann–Liouville derivative. The efficiency and power of this approach are demonstrated by applying it successfully to some important fractional differential equations, namely, the time fractional Burgers, fractional Sawada–Kotera, and fractional coupled mKdV equation. A variety of new exact solutions to these equations under study are constructed.     

Rashba Effect in Presence of Time-Dependent Interaction

Rashba effect in presence of a time-dependent interaction has been considered.Then time-evolution of such a system has been studied by using Lewis–Riesenfeld dynamical invariant and unitary transformation method.So appropriate dynamical invariant and unitary transformation according the considered system have been constructed as well as some special cases have come into this article which are common in physics.