A Direct NMR Method To Measure Self-Diffusion Coefficients in Liquids by Monitoring Diffusing Molecules through One-Dimensional Imaging

Diffusion processes can be followed directly by recording one-dimensional images of a selected slice at variable intervals after selective inversion of the magnetization. The resulting diffusion coefficients of H₂O and DMSO are consistent with earlier studies at different temperatures, obtained by monitoring the attenuation of NMR signals as a function of the gradient amplitude in gradient echo sequences.     

Electrochemical sensing of H2O2 using cobalt oxide modified TiO2 nanotubes

Cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄) modified anatase titanium dioxide nanotubes (ATNTs) have been investigated for the electrochemical sensing of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). ATNTs have been synthesized by a two-step anodization process. ATNTs were then modified with Co₃O₄ employing chemical bath deposition method. The structure and morphology of ATNTs and their modification with Co₃O₄ has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction by scanning electron microscopy. H₂O₂ sensing has been studied in 0.1 M PBS solution, by cyclic voltammetry and amperometry. Variation in the peak positions and current densities was observed with addition of H₂O₂ for Co₃O₄ modified ATNTs. Sensitivity and limit of detection improved with modification of ATNTs with Co₃O₄ with precursor concentration up to 0.8 M. However, at higher precursor concentrations sensitivity and limit of detection toward H₂O₂ deteriorated. Co₃O₄ Modified ATNTS using 0.8 M precursor concentration are comparatively more suitable for H₂O₂ sensing applications due to the optimum formation of Co₃O₄/ATNTs heterojunctions.     

微区X射线荧光成像技术在岩心分析中的应用

微区X射线荧光（Micro-XRF）分析技术是通过微小的X射线光束照射样品，对样品进行原位成分观测的无损分析手段之一，具有灵敏度高、速度快和准确性高的特点。采用微区X射线荧光光谱仪（M6 JETSTREAM）对安徽铜陵冬瓜山铜矿床四段岩心样品进行面扫描，分析不同矿层共17种元素区域分布特征、空间分布规律及组合关系等，结果表明：（1）Cu和Fe两种成矿元素高值空间分布区域基本不重叠，S与Fe分布范围高度重叠，关系密切，微量元素Ni，Bi，Pb，Zn，Si，Na与Cu密切相关，而Ti，Al，K与Fe具有弱相关性；（2）垂向上，Fe元素含量随深度增加逐步增大，而Cu元素含量呈降低趋势，其他元素也随深度呈下降趋势；（3）元素分布受石炭纪中期海底喷流沉积成矿作用和岩浆热液成矿作用叠加改造作用明显；（4）该钻孔矿石矿物以磁黄铁矿、黄铜矿和黄铁矿为主，垂向上组合规律明显，脉石矿物以石英、石榴子石和透辉石为主。该技术通过分析元素空间分布规律、相关性以及矿物组合和分配关系等可对元素富集和运移以及对矿床的成矿机制、成因模式等地质环境和地质过程提供新认识和新证据。结合矿床地球化学特征的分布模式，微量元素可作为寻找主矿种的指示元素，为深部找矿提供依据。此外，该技术能作为预分析技术快速筛选出感兴趣的信息和位置，为后期各种更高精度的微区分析提供不同尺度、不同层次的元素分布信息。     

Ergodic stationary distribution and practical application of a hybrid stochastic cholera transmission model with waning vaccine-induced immunity under nonlinear regime switching

Considering the effect of stochasticity including white noise and colored noise, this paper aims to study a hybrid stochastic cholera epidemic model with waning vaccine-induced immunity and nonlinear telegraph perturbations. First, we derive a critical value ${?}_0^C$ related to the basic reproduction number ${?}_0$ of the deterministic model. The key aim of this paper is to generalize the θ-stochastic criterion method proposed by the recent work (Han et al. in Chaos Solit Fract 140:110238, 2020) to eliminate nonlinear telegraph perturbations. Next, via constructing several θ-stochastic Lyapunov functions and using the generalized method, we further prove that the stochastic model have a unique ergodic stationary distribution under ${?}_0^C>1$. Results show that the prevention and control of cholera epidemic depend on low transmission rate and small telegraph perturbations. Finally, the corresponding numerical simulations are performed to illustrate our analytical results and a practical application on the Somalia cholera outbreak is shown at the end of this paper.     

Diffusion Model of a Non-Integer Order PIγ Controller with TCP/UDP Streams

In this article, a way to employ the diffusion approximation to model interplay between TCP and UDP flows is presented. In order to control traffic congestion, an environment of IP routers applying AQM (Active Queue Management) algorithms has been introduced. Furthermore, the impact of the fractional controller PIγ and its parameters on the transport protocols is investigated. The controller has been elaborated in accordance with the control theory. The TCP and UDP flows are transmitted simultaneously and are mutually independent. Only the TCP is controlled by the AQM algorithm. Our diffusion model allows a single TCP or UDP flow to start or end at any time, which distinguishes it from those previously described in the literature.     

Dark Energy with Phantom Crossing and the H0 Tension

We investigate the possibility of phantom crossing in the dark energy sector and the solution for the Hubble tension between early and late universe observations. We use robust combinations of different cosmological observations, namely the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), local measurement of Hubble constant (H0), Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) and SnIa for this purpose. For a combination of CMB+BAO data that is related to early universe physics, phantom crossing in the dark energy sector was confirmed at a 95% confidence level and we obtained the constraint H0=71.0−3.8+2.9 km/s/Mpc at a 68% confidence level, which is in perfect agreement with the local measurement by Riess et al. We show that constraints from different combinations of data are consistent with each other and all of them are consistent with phantom crossing in the dark energy sector. For the combination of all data considered, we obtained the constraint H0=70.25±0.78 km/s/Mpc at a 68% confidence level and the phantom crossing happening at the scale factor am=0.851−0.031+0.048 at a 68% confidence level.     

Facile Synthesis of Manganese Tellurite Nanoparticles for Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Photothermal Therapy

In this study, manganese tellurite (MnTeO₃) nanoparticles are developed as theranostic agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided photothermal therapy of tumor. MnTeO₃ nanoparticles are synthesized via a simple one-step method. The as-synthesized MnTeO₃ nanoparticles with uniform size show good biocompatibility. In particular, MnTeO₃ nanoparticles exhibit a high photothermal conversion efficiency (η = 26.3%), which is higher than that of gold nanorods. Moreover, MnTeO₃ nanoparticles also have high MRI performance. The longitudinal relaxivity (r₁) value of MnTeO₃ nanoparticles is determined to be 8.08 ± 0.2 mm ⁻¹ s⁻¹, which is higher than that of clinically approved T₁-contrast agents Gd-DTPA (4.49 ± 0.1 mm ⁻¹ s⁻¹). The subsequent MnTeO₃ nanoparticles-mediated photothermal therapy displays a highly efficient ablation of tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo with negligible toxicity. It is demonstrated that MnTeO₃ nanoparticles can serve as promising theranostic agents with great potentials for MRI-guided photothermal therapy.     

Negative thermal expansion in NbF_3 and NbOF_2:A comparative theoretical study

Thermal expansion control is always an obstructive factor and challenging in high precision engineering field. Here,the negative thermal expansion of Nb F_3 and Nb OF_2 was predicted by first-principles calculation with density functional theory and the quasi-harmonic approximation(QHA). We studied the total charge density, thermal vibration, and lattice dynamic to investigate the thermal expansion mechanism. We found that the presence of O induced the relatively strong covalent bond in Nb OF_2, thus weakening the transverse vibration of F and O in Nb OF_2, compared with the case of Nb F_3.In this study, we proposed a way to tailor negative thermal expansion of metal fluorides by introducing the oxygen atoms.The present work not only predicts two NTE compounds, but also provides an insight on thermal expansion control by designing chemical bond type.     

全球海洋潜水旅游目的地分布特征及其自然影响因素研究

以全球海洋潜水旅游目的地为研究对象, 借助地理信息系统(GIS), 运用基尼系数、层次分析法(AHP)等方法, 研究全球海洋潜水旅游目的地的分布特征及其自然影响因素. 结果显示: (1)全球海洋潜水旅游目的地的分布数量由低纬向高纬递减; 洲际分布呈现高度集中, 主要聚集区是东亚与东南亚、地中海-红海以及加勒比海沿岸, 太平洋、印度洋与大西洋为散点分布. (2)影响海洋潜水旅游目的地的自然因素主要为海洋地形、海水温度、陆地气温、洋流、潮汐、海水能见度、珊瑚礁等, 相关因素影响程度与广度因海域呈现地域综合导控, 使得海洋潜水旅游目的地主要聚集在热带海域等地.