A Nitrite Electrochemical Sensor Based on Boron‐Doped Diamond Planar Electrochemical Microcells Modified with a Monolacunary Silicotungstate Polyoxoanion

A new boron doped diamond microcells (BDD) was modified, for rapid, selective and highly sensitive determination of nitrite, using a coating film of polyoxometalates (POMs), formed by cyclic voltammetry on the molecular p‐phenylenediamine (PPD) functionalized BDD. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique was used to examine the morphology of (PPD/SiW₁₁) modified (BDD) electrode. It was found that (SiW₁₁) layer was uniformly formed on the electrode surface. It was observed that (BDD/PPD/SiW₁₁) showed excellent electrocatalytic activities towards nitrite ion. Under the selected conditions, the anodic peak maximum at ?0.6 V was linear versus nitrite concentration in the 40 µM–4 mM range, and the detection limit obtained was 20 µM. The newly developed electrode has been successfully applied to the determination of nitrite content in real river water samples.     

Dynamic polarizability of two‐electron ions under Debye screening

The effect of plasma screening on the dynamic dipole polarizability (DPP) of two‐electron ions Be²⁺, B³⁺, and C⁴⁺ has been investigated using highly correlated exponential wave functions within the framework of pseudostate summation technique and Debye screening concept. Plasma‐screening effect on the oscillator strengths (OS) of the ultraviolet and visible series has also been investigated for the systems Li⁺, Be²⁺, B³⁺, C⁴⁺. The DPP are reported as functions of screening parameters. The OS for S‐P transitions are also reported for various screening parameters. The OS and dynamic polarizability show interesting behavior with increasing screening strength and nuclear charge. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Two‐dimensional reactive scattering with transmitted quantum trajectories

A simple and easy‐to‐implement method is presented for the study of time‐dependent reaction dynamics by propagating an ensemble of transmitted quantum trajectories. During the trajectory evolution, reflected trajectories are gradually removed and all the remaining trajectories represent the transmitted subensemble. The removal process of reflected trajectories avoids numerical instabilities arising from node formation in the reactant region, and allows stable long‐time propagation of transmitted trajectories. This method is applied to a two‐dimensional model chemical reaction. Excellent computational results are obtained for the time‐dependent reaction probabilities evaluated by the time integration of the probability flux. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Weakly nonlinear focused ultrasound in viscoelastic media containing multiple bubbles

To facilitate practical medical applications such as cancer treatment utilizing focused ultrasound and bubbles, a mathematical model that can describe the soft viscoelasticity of human body, the nonlinear propagation of focused ultrasound, and the nonlinear oscillations of multiple bubbles is theoretically derived and numerically solved. The Zener viscoelastic model and Keller–Miksis bubble equation, which have been used for analyses of single or few bubbles in viscoelastic liquid, are used to model the liquid containing multiple bubbles. From the theoretical analysis based on the perturbation expansion with the multiple-scales method, the Khokhlov–Zabolotskaya–Kuznetsov (KZK) equation, which has been used as a mathematical model of weakly nonlinear propagation in single phase liquid, is extended to viscoelastic liquid containing multiple bubbles. The results show that liquid elasticity decreases the magnitudes of the nonlinearity, dissipation, and dispersion of ultrasound and increases the phase velocity of the ultrasound and linear natural frequency of the bubble oscillation. From the numerical calculation of resultant KZK equation, the spatial distribution of the liquid pressure fluctuation for the focused ultrasound is obtained for cases in which the liquid is water or liver tissue. In addition, frequency analysis is carried out using the fast Fourier transform, and the generation of higher harmonic components is compared for water and liver tissue. The elasticity suppresses the generation of higher harmonic components and promotes the remnant of the fundamental frequency components. This indicates that the elasticity of liquid suppresses shock wave formation in practical applications.     

Constrained radar waveform optimization for a cooperative radar-communication system

The coexistence of radar-sensing and communication systems research has received a surge of interest in recent times to tackle the issue of spectrum inadequacy. Designing an optimized radar waveform for a coexistence scenario has been a challenging task for accomplishing the convergence of radar-sensing and communication functionalities, without degrading the performance at either end. This paper proposes a novel global optimization-based Spatial Branch and Bound (SBnB) approach to optimize the phase coefficients of a Non-Linear Frequency Modulated (NLFM) waveform in a CRCS framework. In addition, the Modified-Power Ratio Constraint-Cramér–Rao Lower Bound (M-PRC-CRLB), a local optimization-based approach is proposed to optimize the phase coefficients of an NLFM waveform. The spectral energy distribution and auto-correlation characteristics of an NLFM waveform are comprehensively investigated for various values of polynomial order (N) and at different threshold Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR) values. To compare the proposed waveform design approaches (M-PRC-CRLB, SBnB) with the existing waveform design approaches namely, Minimum Estimation Error Variance (MEEV) and PRC- CRLB, a Peak-to-Side-Lobe-Ratio (PSLR), and Integrated-Side-Lobe-Ratio (ISLR) are evaluated at various polynomial orders and threshold SNR values. Furthermore, the performance of a CRCS is assessed using the radar estimation rate and communication data rate. The simulation results reveal that the proposed optimized radar waveform design approaches provide improved performance compared to the existing radar waveform design approaches in terms of radar estimation rate. Further, the proposed global optimization-based SBnB approach achieves a comparable performance of the communication data rate. In addition, the proposed approaches accomplish enhanced spectral utilization, controlled side-lobe energy levels, reduced range-domain ambiguities, and a higher information rate in a CRCS.     

Method of measuring one-dimensional photonic crystal period-structure-film thickness based on Bloch surface wave enhanced Goos-Hänchen shift

This paper puts forward a novel method of measuring the thin period-structure-film thickness based on the Bloch surface wave (BSW) enhanced Goos-Hänchen (GH) shift in one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC). The BSW phenomenon appearing in 1DPC enhances the GH shift generated in the attenuated total internal reflection structure. The GH shift is closely related to the thickness of the film which is composed of layer-structure of 1DPC. The GH shifts under multiple different incident light conditions will be obtained by varying the wavelength and angle of the measured light, and the thickness distribution of the entire structure of 1DPC is calculated by the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The relationship between the structure of a 1DPC film composed of TiO₂ and SiO₂ layers and the GH shift, is investigated. Under the specific photonic crystal structure and incident conditions, a giant GH shift, 5.1×10³ times the wavelength of incidence, can be obtained theoretically. Simulation and calculation results show that the thickness of termination layer and periodic structure bilayer of 1DPC film with 0.1-nm resolution can be obtained by measuring the GH shifts. The exact structure of a 1DPC film is innovatively measured by the BSW-enhanced GH shift.     

High gain and circularly polarized substrate integrated waveguide cavity antenna array based on metasurface

Two substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity antenna arrays based on metasurface are proposed in this paper. By rotating the metasurface element, circularly polarized and high gain antennas are achieved respectively. Firstly, multi-mode resonance theory is employed to broaden the bandwidth of the slot antenna. And then, an SIW cavity composed of 4×4 cornercut elements is added on the top of the slot antenna to achieve the circular polarization and improve the front-to-back ratio. Thirdly, the metasurface elements are sequentially rotated and a high gain antenna with 2-dBi enhancement on average in the operation band is obtained. Based on the two antenna units, two 2×2 antenna arrays are designed. The circularly polarized and high gain antenna arrays are both fabricated to verify the correctness. Furthermore, the novel wideband phase shifter is employed in the circularly polarized antenna to obtain an operating bandwidth of 38% (4.05 GHz-5.95 GHz) and AR bandwidth of 24.9% (4.4 GHz-5.65 GHz). The bandwidth of the high gain antenna can reach 42.7% (3.95 GHz-6.1 GHz) and with the gain enhancement of 2 dBi compared with that of the circularly polarized antenna. The gain remains steady in most of operating band within a variation of 1 dBi. It is remarkable that the rotating of the metasurface element has a great influence on the antenna performance, which provides a new explication for the multi-function antenna design.     

Spin waves and phase transition on a magnetically frustrated square lattice with long-range interactions

We investigate the effects of long-range interactions on the spin wave spectra and the competition between magnetic phases on a frustrated square lattice with large spin S. Applying the spin wave theory and assisted with symmetry analysis, we obtain analytical expressions for spin wave spectra of competing Neel and (π, 0) stripe states of systems containing any-order long-range interactions. In the specific case of long-range interactions with power-law decay, we find surprisingly that the staggered long-range interaction suppresses quantum fluctuation and enlarges the ordered moment, especially in the Neel state, and thus extends its phase boundary to the stripe state. Our findings illustrate the rich possibilities of the roles of long-range interactions, and advocate future investigations in other magnetic systems with different structures of interactions.     

Optimization of Square Wave Voltammetry (SWV) Parameters by Design of Experiment (DoE) Methodologies for the Determination of Mifepristone at Glassy Carbon Electrode (GCE)

In the present study, an electroanalytical method that permits the optimization of factors affecting SWV for sensitive detection of mifepristone at glassy carbon electrode (GCE) using response surface methodology (RSM) with desirability function (DF) is presented. Factors selected for optimization after screening using full factorial design were frequency (X₁), amplitude (X₂), and pH (X₃). The central composite design as a response surface methodology with desirability function (DF) was applied for obtaining the optimum level. The optimum conditions were obtained as follows: Frequency (X₁=50 Hz), amplitude (X₂=33.4 mV), and pH (X₃=9.4), with an overall desirability function of 0.97. Subsequently, confirmatory experiments were performed in triplicates to validate the optimum conditions. The results obtained were satisfactory and agreed well with less only 11.9 % deviation from the values predicted by the model. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 0.54 and 1.80 ppm, respectively. The proposed method was applied for a quantitative determination of mifepristone in spiked tap water samples. The recovery tests showed that the detection of mifepristone at GC could be evaluated on environmental samples.     

Simultaneous Determination of Gallic Acid and Folic Acid in Fruit Juice Samples Using Square Wave Voltammetry at Electrochemically Pretreated Carbon Paste Electrode

An efficient sensor was developed for the simultaneous determination of gallic and folic acid in juice samples using an electrochemically pretreated carbon paste electrode. The electrode was characterized by CV and EIS. The electrochemical behavior of GA and FA was evaluated by CV and SWV. The electrode exhibited high electrocatalytic activity towards GA and FA due to high surface area. Under the optimized condition, linear plots in the ranges of 0.08–13 μM and 0.1 to 15 μM were obtained for GA and FA, respectively. The proposed method was successful for the simultaneous determination of GA and FA in juice samples with satisfactory recovery.