Elemental analysis of particulate matter in a metal workshop and of biological samples from exposed workers

During metal welding and cutting, large amounts of particulate matter (PM) are produced that might represent a significant health risk for the exposed workers. In the present pilot study, we performed an elemental analysis of fine PM collected in a metal workshop. Also, elemental analysis of the hair and nail samples collected from workers exposed to the workshop dust and control group was done. Concentrations of 15 elements in PM were measured with X‐Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Particle Induced X‐ray Emission (PIXE), whereas inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) was used to determine 12 elements in hair and nail samples. Mean 8‐hr concentrations of PM_2.5, Fe, and Mn in the vicinity of welders were up to 1803, 860, and 30 μg/m³, respectively, whereas in the nearby city, daily PM_2.5 concentrations are on average 11 μg/m³. We found that several elements, especially Fe and Mn, had substantially higher concentrations in hair and nail samples of exposed workers than in the control group, which indicates the accumulation of metals in workers' tissues, although limit values were not exceeded.     

ON THE EXISTENCE WITH EXPONENTIAL DECAY AND THE BLOW-UP OF SOLUTIONS FOR COUPLED SYSTEMS OF SEMI-LINEAR CORNER-DEGENERATE PARABOLIC EQUATIONS WITH SINGULAR POTENTIALS

In this article,we study the initial boundary value problem of coupled semi-linear degenerate parabolic equations with a singular potential term on manifolds with corner singularities.Firstly,we introduce the corner type weighted p-Sobolev spaces and the weighted corner type Sobolev inequality,the Poincare′inequality,and the Hardy inequality.Then,by using the potential well method and the inequality mentioned above,we obtain an existence theorem of global solutions with exponential decay and show the blow-up in finite time of solutions for both cases with low initial energy and critical initial energy.Significantly,the relation between the above two phenomena is derived as a sharp condition.Moreover,we show that the global existence also holds for the case of a potential well family.     

Semiconvergence analysis of the randomized row iterative method and its extended variants

The row iterative method is popular in solving the large‐scale ill‐posed problems due to its simplicity and efficiency. In this work we consider the randomized row iterative (RRI) method to tackle this issue. First, we present the semiconvergence analysis of RRI method for the overdetermined and inconsistent system, and derive upper bounds for the noise error propagation in the iteration vectors. To achieve a least squares solution, we then propose an extended version of the RRI (ERRI) method, which in fact can converge in expectation to the solution of the overdetermined or underdetermined, consistent or inconsistent systems. Finally, some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the convergence behaviors of the RRI and ERRI methods for these types of linear system.     

Development of an improved divergence‐free‐condition compensated coupled framework to solve flow problems with time‐varying geometries

In this article a coupled version of the improved divergence‐free‐condition compensated method will be proposed to simulate time‐varying geometries by direct forcing immersed boundary method. The proposed method can be seen as a quasi‐multi‐moment framework due to the fact that the momentum equations are discretized by both cell‐centered and cell‐face velocity. For simulating time‐varying geometries, a semi‐implicit iterative method is proposed for calculating the direct forcing terms. Treatments for suppressing spurious force oscillations, calculating drag/lift forces, and evaluating velocity and pressure for freshly cells will also be addressed. In order to show the applicability and accuracy, analytical as well as benchmark problems will be investigated by the present framework and compared with other numerical and experimental results.     

Rational Design of Two-Dimensional Magnetic Chromium Borides Based on First-Principles Calculation

Two-dimensional(2D) magnetic materials have been experimentally recognized recently,however,the Curie temperatures(TC) of known 2D systems are quite low.Generally,magnetic systems can be seen as constituent magnetic elements providing spins and the non-magnetic elements providing frameworks to host the magnetic elements.Short bond lengths between the magnetic and non-magnetic elements would be beneficial for strong magnetic interactions and thus high TC.Based on this,we propose to combine the magnetic element Cr and the non-magnetic element boron to design novel 2D magnetic systems.Using our self-developed software package IM2 ODE,we design a series of chromium-boride based 2D magnetic materials.Nine stable magnetic systems are identified.Among them,we find that CrB4-Ⅰ,CrB4-Ⅱ and CrBs-Ⅰ with common structural units [CrB8] are ferromagnetic metals with estimated TC of 270 K,120 K and 110 K,respectively.On the other hand,five CrB3 phases with structural units [Cr2B12] are antiferromagnetic metals.Additionally,we also find one antiferromagnetic semiconductor CrB2-Ⅰ.Our work may open new directions for identifying 2D magnetic systems with high TC.     

Enhancement of uranium(VI) biomineralization by Saccharomyces cerevisiae through addition of inorganic phosphorus

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Enhancement of U(VI) biomineralization by Saccharomyces cerevisiae through addition of inorganic phosphorus was studied in this work. The addition...     

Evaluation of green and efficient deep eutectic solvents as media for extracting alkaloids from lotus leaf

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were applied as eco-friendly solvents in this study for the extraction of alkaloids from lotus leaf, including O-nornuciferine, N-nornuciferine, nuciferine and roemerine. A series of hydrophilic and hydrophobic DESs with different hydrogen bond donors and a acceptors were synthesized and screened for a suitable DESs for extraction of alkaloids from lotus leaf. The study results showed that the hydrophilic DES with choline chloride and propanediol had the highest extraction yield. The main factors affecting the extraction efficiency—choline chloride–propanediol ratio, water content in deep eutectic solvents, solid–liquid ratio and extraction time—were investigated via a single-factor experiment. The optimized extraction conditions were 30% of water in choline chloride–propanediol (1:4) for heated extraction for 30 min and solid–liquid ratio 1:100 g/ml. Under optimum conditions, the extraction yields of O-nornuciferine, N-nornuciferine, nuciferine and roemerine were 0.069, 0.152, 0.334 and 0.041 g/100 g respectively, which were higher than those of methanol in acidified aqueous solution. This study suggests considerable potential for DESs as promising materials for the green and efficient extraction solvents for bioactive alkaloids from natural sources.     

Understanding the solubility and crystallization of molybdenum in high-sodium borosilicate glasses: effect of lanthanum oxide

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The simplified 8-oxide system (SiO2-B2O3-Na2O-Al2O3-CaO-TiO2-MoO3-La2O3) has been prepared under two types of cooling methods, and analyzed with...     

Dinuclear Zinc Catalyzed Enantioselective Dearomatization [3+2] Annulation of 2-Nitrobenzofurans and 2-Nitrobenzothiophenes

The application of dinuclear zinc catalysts in a dearomatization reaction has been developed. Catalytic asymmetric dearomatization [3+2] annulations of 2-nitrobenzofurans or 2-nitrobenzothiophenes with CF₃-containing N-unprotected isatin-derived azomethine ylides catalyzed by dinuclear zinc catalysts are realized with excellent diastereomer ratios (dr) of >20 : 1 and enantiomeric excess (ee) of up to 99 %. This protocol provides a practical, straightforward access to structurally diverse pyrrolidinyl spirooxindoles containing a 2,3-fused-dihydrobenzofuran (or dihydrobenzothiphene) moiety, and four contiguous stereocenters. Reactions can be performed on a gram scale. The absolute configuration of products is confirmed by X-ray single crystal structure analysis, and a possible mechanism is proposed.     

氮分子A3Σu+、B3Пg、C3Пu电子态的高温高振转光谱研究

采用态平均（CASSCF）/高度相关多参考组（MRCI）方法，对N2分子A3Σu+、B3Пg、C3Пu电子态的势能、跃迁偶极矩进行了高度相关的精确计算．计算的势能在平衡位置附近与RKR拟合的势能曲线非常一致，获得的跃迁偶极矩与已有实验值符合很好。首次对A3Σu+、B3Пg、C3Пu电子态的振转光谱常数随振动量子数v的变化进行系统定量计算，其结果与已有的实验观测数据相符．同时，获得了N2分子第一正带系的0-1、0-2、1-0、1-2、1-3、2-0、2-1、2-3、3-0、3-1和3-2光谱带分别在300，3000，6000，10000K时的谱线强度，如1-0带在3000，6000，10000K时的高温谱线带强度分别为1.58543×10-16 cm-1/(分子 cm-2)、6.07889×10-17 cm-1/(分子 cm-2)和2.3781×10-17 cm-1/(分子 cm-2)．这些结果对N2分子进一步的理论研究、实际应用和高温大气的建模与研究具都有一定的参考价值．