Dynamic Bivariate Mortality Modelling

The dependence structure of the life statuses plays an important role in the valuation of life insurance products involving multiple lives. Although the mortality of individuals is well studied in the literature, their dependence remains a challenging field. In this paper, the main objective is to introduce a new approach for analyzing the mortality dependence between two individuals in a couple. It is intended to describe in a dynamic framework the joint mortality of married couples in terms of marginal mortality rates. The proposed framework is general and aims to capture, by adjusting some parametric form, the desired effect such as the “broken-heart syndrome”. To this end, we use a well-suited multiplicative decomposition, which will serve as a building block for the framework to relate the dependence structure and the marginals, and we make the link with existing practice of affine mortality models. Finally, given that the framework is general, we propose some illustrative examples and show how the underlying model captures the main stylized facts of bivariate mortality dynamics.

     

COMPENSATING ROLE OF SELF-EQUILIBRATED STRESS FIELDS IN CONSTRUCTING NON-SINGULAR SOLUTIONS USING A NON-EUCLIDEAN CONTINUUM MODEL FOR AN INCOMPRESSIBLE SPHERE

Journal of Applied Mechanics and Technical Physics - A self-equilibrated stress field for an incompressible sphere is constructed based on a non-Euclidean continuum model. The...     

LWE from non-commutative group rings

Designs, Codes and Cryptography - The Learning-With-Errors (LWE) problem (and its variants including Ring-LWE and Module-LWE), whose security are based on hard ideal lattice problems, has proven to...     

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.     

季铵盐改性蒙脱石的制备与表征

采用十六烷基三甲基氯化铵(CTAC)对钠基蒙脱石(MMT)进行季铵化改性,制备有机蒙脱石(CMMT),对改性后的蒙脱石进行X射线衍射(XRD)、电位分析法(PA)、红外光谱(FT-IR)和热分析(TGA)等分析表征,并用改性后的蒙脱石吸附五氟尿嘧啶(5-FU)后测定并比较其载药量.结果表明,改性剂已成功插入到蒙脱石的层间;相比于钠基蒙脱石,有机蒙脱石的层间距和热稳定性均有所增大;当制备季铵盐有机改性蒙脱石时,反应温度为80℃,且CTAC的用量是MMT的2.5倍阳离子交换容量时,形成的有机蒙脱石的阳离子化程度和对5-FU的载药量最高.此外,考察并比较了有机蒙脱石和钠基蒙脱石的体外细胞毒性,结果显示有机蒙脱石具有更好的生物相容性和更低的细胞毒性.     

A novel PCR-based technology for rapid and non-sequencing authentication of Bombyx batryticatus using species-specific primers

A novel PCR technology was developed to detect short DNA fragments using species-specific primers for rapid and non-sequencing authentication of Bombyx batryticatus based on differences in the mitochondrial genome. Three specifically designed primer reactions were established to target species for the reliable identification of their commercial products. They were confirmed to have a high inter-species specificity and intra-species stability. The limit of detection was estimated as 1 ng of genomes for Beauveria bassiana and 100 pg for Bombyx mori and Metarhizium anisopliae. Furthermore, validation results demonstrated that raw materials and their processed products can be conveniently authenticated with good sensitivity and precision using this newly proposed approach. In particular, when counterfeits were assayed, these primer sets performed well, whereas COI barcoding technology did not. These could also assist in the discrimination and identification of adulterates of other animal-derived medicines in their pulverized and processed forms and even in complexes.     

Unveiling the Layer‐Dependent Catalytic Activity of PtSe2 Atomic Crystals for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Two‐dimensional (2D) PtSe₂ shows the most prominent layer‐dependent electrical properties among various 2D materials and high catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and therefore, it is an ideal material for exploring the structure–activity correlations in 2D systems. Here, starting with the synthesis of single‐crystalline 2D PtSe₂ with a controlled number of layers and probing the HER catalytic activity of individual flakes in micro electrochemical cells, we investigated the layer‐dependent HER catalytic activity of 2D PtSe₂ from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. We clearly demonstrated how the number of layers affects the number of active sites, the electronic structures, and electrical properties of 2D PtSe₂ flakes and thus alters their catalytic performance for HER. Our results also highlight the importance of efficient electron transfer in achieving optimum activity for ultrathin electrocatalysts. Our studies greatly enrich our understanding of the structure–activity correlations for 2D catalysts and provide new insight for the design and synthesis of ultrathin catalysts with high activity.     

Miktoarm star‐shaped poly(lactic acid) copolymer: Synthesis and stereocomplex crystallization behavior

The miktoarm star‐shaped poly(lactic acid) (PLA) copolymer, (PLLA)₂‐core‐(PDLA)₂, was synthesized via stepwise ring‐opening polymerization of lactide with dibromoneopentyl glycol as the starting material. ¹H NMR and FTIR spectroscopy proved the feasibility of synthetic route and the successful preparation of star‐shaped PLA copolymers. The results of FTIR spectroscopy and XRD showed that the stereocomplex structure of the copolymer could be more perfect after solvent dissolution treatment. Effect of chain architectures on crystallization was investigated by studying the nonisothermal and isothermal crystallization of the miktoarm star‐shaped PLA copolymer and other stereocomplexes. Nonisothermal differential scanning calorimetry and polarizing optical microscopy tests indicated that (PLLA)₂‐core‐(PDLA)₂ exhibited the fastest formation of a stereocomplex in a dynamic test due to its special structure. In isothermal crystallization tests, the copolymer exhibited the fast crystal growth rate and the most perfect crystal morphology. The results reveal that the unique molecular structure has an important influence on the crystallization of the miktoarm star‐shaped PLA copolymer. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 814–826     

Anti-Staphylococcus aureus evaluation of gallic acid by isothermal microcalorimetry and principle component analysis

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The emergence of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus requires new antibacterial drugs. In this study, using a thermal activity monitor air...     

恒定非均匀磁场调控下的强制对流传热数值研究

分别对雷诺数、磁场强度和磁纳米流体浓度进行了讨论，并将数字高程模型(DEM)应用到梯度磁场模型的建立，分析了磁场梯度大小和方向对传热效果的影响。结果表明：雷诺数、磁场强度和梯度与传热效果呈正相关，在磁场介入的情况下，磁纳米流体浓度对传热效果的影响存在一个最佳值；磁场梯度方向垂直于流动方向时对传热的强化效果最显著。以平均努塞尔数和压降为目标参数，利用正交试验设计的方法研究了各变量对传热效果影响的权重大小，得到各变量取值范围内的最佳组合。