Mathematical solution for nonlinear cylindrical bending of sigmoid functionally graded plates

Problems of nonlinear cylindrical bending of sigmoid functionally graded plates in which material properties vary through the thickness are considered. The variation of the material properties follows two power-law distributions in terms of the volume fractions of constituents. The nonlinear strain-displacement relations in the von Kármán sense are used to study the effect of geometric nonlinearity. The governing equations are reduced to a linear differential equation with nonlinear boundary conditions, yielding a simple solution procedure. Numerical results are presented to show the effect of the material distribution on the deflections and stresses.     

Measuring Dirac CP-violating phase with intermediate energy beta beam facility

We find that spontaneously broken parity ( $P$ ) or left–right symmetry stabilizes dark matter in a beautiful way. If dark matter has a non-real intrinsic parity $\pm i$ (e.g. if it entails Majorana fermions), parity can ensure that it cannot decay to all normal particles with real intrinsic parities. However, if Majorana couplings are absent either in the lepton or the dark sector, $P$ symmetry can be redefined to remove relative non-real intrinsic phases. It is therefore predicted that neutrinos and dark matter fermions must have Majorana masses if dark matter is stable due to parity. The strong CP problem is solved by additionally imposing CP and including vectorlike fermions that help generate CP violation. If leptonlike heavy fermions are provided purely imaginary intrinsic parity phase, they do not couple to the usual leptons, and leptonic CP phases are not generated, which is a testable prediction. Experimentally if leptonic CP phases are not found (if they are consistent with $0$ or $\pi $ ) it can be evidence for the type of models in this work where CP is spontaneously or softly broken and there is also a second hidden or softly broken symmetry such as $P$ , $Z_2$ or $Z_4$ . However, leptonic CP violation can be present in closely related or some non-minimal versions of these models, such as by also including vectorlike leptons with real intrinsic parities.     

Photo-directed organization of silver nanoparticles in mesostructured silica and titania films

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have the potential to enhance the strength, toughness, and multifunctional ability of composite materials. However, suitable dispersion and interfacial bonding remain as key challenges. Composites that are formed by reactions with water, like Portland cement concrete and mortar, pose a special challenge for dispersing the inherently hydrophobic nanotubes. The hydration of Portland cement also offers a specific chemical framework for interfacial bonding. In this study, nanoscale silica functional groups are covalently bonded to CNTs to improve their dispersion in water while providing interfacial bond sites for the proposed matrix material. The bond signatures of treated nanotubes are characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. In situ dispersion is characterized using cryogenic transmission electron microscopy and point of zero charge (PZC) measurements. At the nanoscale, interparticle spacing was greatly increased. A slight increase in the PZC after treatment indicates the importance of steric effects in the dispersion mechanism. Overall, results indicate successful functionalization and dramatically improved dispersion stability in water.