Enhancing teleportation fidelity by means of weak measurements or reversal

The enhancement of teleportation fidelity by weak measurement or quantum measurement reversal is investigated. One qubit of a maximally entangled state undergoes the amplitude damping, and the subsequent application of weak measurement or quantum measurement reversal could improve the teleportation fidelity beyond the classical region. The improvement could not be attributed to the increasing of entanglement, quantum discord, classical correlation or total correlation. We declare that it should be owed to the probabilistic nature of the method.     

Association,emulsifying, and solubilization properties of amphiphilic hyperbranched poly(acrylic acid) with short polystyrene stickers

Amphiphilic hyperbranched copolymer chains made of large hyperbranched poly(acrylic acid) cores grafted with short polystyrene stickers (HB‐PAA_n‐g‐PS_{n + 1}) with different n values (n = 1, 10, 47) were well prepared and confirmed by size exclusion chromatography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance. The study on the interchain association behavior of these amphiphilic chains indicates that larger HB‐(PAA)_n‐g‐(PS)_{n + 1} copolymer chains have a less tendency to undergo interchain association. Moreover, the simple vial‐inversion and rheological experiments show that the apparent critical gel concentration (C_g) decreases with n, but no sol–gel transition was observed for triblock PS‐PAA‐PS even when the concentration is up to 200 g L^?1. Further transmission electron microscopy study of the latex particles prepared with HB‐(PAA)_n‐g‐(PS)_{n + 1} as surfactant reveals that the latex particles are spherical and narrowly dispersed; while the measured latex particle number (N_p) indicates the surfactant efficiency of HB‐(PAA)₄₇‐g‐(PS)₄₈ is poorer than that of triblock PS‐PAA‐PS (n = 1). Finally, pyrene solubilization measurement shows the solubilization efficiency of HB‐(PAA)_n‐g‐(PS)_{n + 1} copolymers decreases with n, consistent with the previous observed interchain association result. The present study demonstrates that both the chain topology and the styrene weight fraction dominates the final solution properties of amphiphilic HB‐(PAA)_n‐g‐(PS)_{n + 1} chains in aqueous solution. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 128–138     

Sustainable alternative in environmental monitoring using carbon nanoparticles as optical probes

Environmental monitoring is getting more important nowadays due to the greater stress faced by the natural environment in the era of urbanisation and industrialisation. To accomplish the task, rapid and reliable analytical probes are essentially needed to perform the monitoring at real time basis with high sensitivity and accuracy. In view of this, analytical probes developed using carbon nanoparticles are one of the latest alternatives that are proven with capability to detect various analytes of the environment. Carbon nanoparticles portray good fluorescence property that enables the integration onto optical sensing transducers. Further engineering via surface functionalization can be performed in the interest to improve the selectivity and sensitivity of the probes. There are several advantages of using carbon nanoparticles and the most significant benefit is the sustainability prospect as compared to other groups of fluorophores. Carbon nanoparticles can be synthesised with greener approach via simple pyrolysis or hydrolysis processes that involve minimum use of toxic or harmful starting precursors, besides able to tap on using renewable resources such as carbon rich agricultural wastes. The synthesis is often performed under mild condition and produces less or no side chemical products. Carbon nanoparticles by nature show low toxicity effect to the environment. This review focuses specifically of the sustainable significances, advantages and achievements in adopting carbon nanoparticles as an alternative for environmental monitoring.     

Modeling photo-induced deformation of glassy splay-bend and twist nematic sheets

Azobenzene-containing glassy nematic sheets deform in response to light in a complicated way depending on director distribution. To quantify the large-deflected deformation, a theoretical model is developed for the sheets with typical splay-bend and twist director distributions. A third-order in-plane displacement assumption is adopted to characterize the effect of transverse shear deformation, and the necessity is discussed through two examples for which analytical solutions are obtainable. Though this work is an extension of the third-order shear deformable theory for anisotropic laminates, it involves some new ingredients such as varying spontaneous strains and special material symmetries. The results are expected useful for analysis and design of the glassy nematic sheets in actuation applications.     

Estimator of a change point in single index models

This paper considers the problem of change point in single index models. In order to obtain asymptotically valid confidence intervals for the estimation of the change point, the convergence rate and asymptotic distribution of the change point estimate is studied. Some simulation results are presented which show that the numerical performance of our estimator is satisfactory.     

Elastic and Transition Form Factors of the Δ(1232)

Predictions obtained with a confining, symmetry-preserving treatment of a vector ? vector contact interaction at leading-order in a widely used truncation of QCD’s Dyson–Schwinger equations are presented for Δ and Ω baryon elastic form factors and the γN → Δ transition form factors. This simple framework produces results that are practically indistinguishable from the best otherwise available, an outcome which highlights that the key to describing many features of baryons and unifying them with the properties of mesons is a veracious expression of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in the hadron bound-state problem. The following specific results are of particular interest. The Δ elastic form factors are very sensitive to m _Δ. Hence, given that the parameters which define extant simulations of lattice-regularised QCD produce Δ-resonance masses that are very large, the form factors obtained therewith are a poor guide to properties of the Δ(1232). Considering the Δ-baryon’s quadrupole moment, whilst all computations produce a negative value, the conflict between theoretical predictions entails that it is currently impossible to reach a sound conclusion on the nature of the Δ-baryon’s deformation in the infinite momentum frame. Results for analogous properties of the Ω baryon are less contentious. In connection with the N → Δ transition, the Ash-convention magnetic transition form factor falls faster than the neutron’s magnetic form factor and nonzero values for the associated quadrupole ratios reveal the impact of quark orbital angular momentum within the nucleon and Δ; and, furthermore, these quadrupole ratios do slowly approach their anticipated asymptotic limits.     

Core–Shell Carbon‐Coated CuO Nanocomposites: A Highly Stable Electrode Material for Supercapacitors and Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Herein we present a simple method for fabricating core–shell mesostructured CuO@C nanocomposites by utilizing humic acid (HA) as a biomass carbon source. The electrochemical performances of CuO@C nanocomposites were evaluated as an electrode material for supercapacitors and lithium‐ion batteries. CuO@C exhibits an excellent capacitance of 207.2 F g^?1 at a current density of 1 A g^?1 within a potential window of 0–0.46 V in 6 M KOH solution. Significantly, CuO electrode materials achieve remarkable capacitance retentions of approximately 205.8 F g^?1 after 1000 cycles of charge/discharge testing. The CuO@C was further applied as an anode material for lithium‐ion batteries, and a high initial capacity of 1143.7 mA h g^?1 was achieved at a current density of 0.1 C. This work provides a facile and general approach to synthesize carbon‐based materials for application in large‐scale energy‐storage systems.     

Novel Bi2MoO6 Nanosheets/Vertical TiO2 Nanorods Arrays Heterojunction with Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Performance under Visible Light Irradiation

Novel Bi₂MoO₆/TiO₂ heterojunction was fabricated by growing Bi₂MoO₆ nanosheets arrays on the vertically aligned TiO₂ nanorods arrays via a two-step solvothermal method. The obtained Bi₂MoO₆/TiO₂ hierarchical heterojunction showed excellent visible light photoelectrochemical performance. Compared with the pure TiO₂ and Bi₂MoO₆, the photocurrent density of the heterojunction was increased 57 and 29 times, respectively. Furthermore, the hydrogen generation rate of the Bi₂MoO₆/TiO₂ for photoelectrocatalytic water-splitting was about 6 times higher than that of the pure Bi₂MoO₆. The improved performance can be attributed to the synergistic effects of enhanced absorption of visible light, increase of migration rate and separation efficiency of photo-induced carriers.