Stability of Multiplier Ideal Sheaves

Chinese Annals of Mathematics, Series B - In the present article, the authors find and establish stability of multiplier ideal sheaves, which is more general than strong openness.     

Blankets at birth: Transitional objects: Commentary on “The growth of cognition: Free energy minimization and the embryogenesis of cortical computation” by Wright and Bourke

Birth is accompanied by a complete reset of metabolic flows in the neonate, challenging the brain to fulfill the basic needs of life through action – breathing, feeding, crying. The perinatal period is fundamentally a transitional one, such that the basic conditions for thermodynamic self-regulation are re-established ex utero. Wright and Bourke lay out the core tenants of these conditions [1]; the emergence of regularities in cortical geometry and activity that allow “crisp” states. Before this can occur – in the immediate perinatal phase – electrical recordings of neonatal cortex suggest it passes through a highly critical regime - a phase transition - with disordered statistical fingerprints. The resolution of this state is a necessary condition for the more stable metabolic conditions that support the conjectures of Wright and Bourke.     

Vertically Grown Few-Layer MoS2 Nanosheets on Hierarchical Carbon Nanocages for Pseudocapacitive Lithium Storage with Ultrahigh-Rate Capability and Long-Term Recyclability

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) is an intensively studied anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to its high theoretical capacity, but it is still confronted by severe challenges of unsatisfactory rate capability and cycle life. Herein, few-layer MoS₂ nanosheets, vertically grown on hierarchical carbon nanocages (hCNC) by a facile hydrothermal method, introduce pseudocapacitive lithium storage owing to the highly exposed MoS₂ basal planes, enhanced conductivity, and facilitated electrolyte access arising from good hybridization with hCNC. Thus, the optimized MoS₂/hCNC exhibits reversible capacities of 1670 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹ after 50 cycles, 621 mAh g⁻¹ at 5.0 A g⁻¹ after 500 cycles, and 196 mAh g⁻¹ at 50 A g⁻¹ after 2500 cycles, which are among the best for MoS₂-based anode materials. The specific power and specific energy, which can reach 16.1 kW and 252.8 Wh after 3000 cycles, respectively, indicate great potential in high-power and long-life LIBs. These findings suggest a promising strategy for exploring advanced anode materials with high reversible capacity, high-rate capability, and long-term recyclability.     

Force-field parametrization based on radial and energy distribution functions

We propose a novel force-field-parametrization procedure that fits the parameters of potential functions in a manner that the pair distribution function (DF) of molecules derived from candidate parameters can reproduce the given target DF. Conventionally, approaches to minimize the difference between the candidate and target DFs employ radial DFs (RDF). RDF itself has been reported to be insufficient for uniquely identifying the parameters of a molecule. To overcome the weakness, we introduce energy DF (EDF) as a target DF, which describes the distribution of the pairwise energy of molecules. We found that the EDF responds more sensitively to a small perturbation in the pairwise potential parameters and provides better fitting accuracy compared to that of RDF. These findings provide valuable insights into a wide range of coarse graining methods, which determine parameters using information obtained from a higher-level calculation than that of the developed force field. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Computational Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Electrochemical synthesis of α,α-dihaloacetophenones from terminal alkyne derivatives

By virtue of electrochemistry, a series of α,α-dihaloacetophenones were easily obtained with good to excellent yields. This electrochemical procedure was taken in a divided cell with constant current in aqueous media. The reaction can be carried out smoothly at room temperature under metal and oxidant free condition, which provides an eco-friendly synthesis for the α,α-dihaloacetophenone derivatives.     

H2S gas sensor based on integrated resonant dual-microcantilevers with high sensitivity and identification capability

Detection of trace-level hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) gas is of great importance whether in industrial production or disease diagnosis. This research presents a novel H₂S gas sensor based on integrated resonant dual-microcantilevers which can identify and detect trace-level H₂S in real-time. The sensor consists of two integrated resonant microcantilever sensors with different functions. One cantilever sensor can identify H₂S by outputting positive frequency shift signals, while the other cantilever sensor will detect H₂S as a normally used cantilever sensor with negative frequency shifts. Combined the two cantilever sensors, the proposed gas sensor can distinguish H₂S from a variety of common gases, and the detection limit to H₂S of the sensor is as sensitive as below 1 ppb.