Products of mixed covering arrays of strength two

A covering array CA(N;t,k, v is an N × k array such that every N × t subarray contains all t‐tuples from v symbols at least once, where t is the strength of the array. Covering arrays are used to generate software test suites to cover all t‐sets of component interactions. The particular case when t = 2 (pairwise coverage) has been extensively studied, both to develop combinatorial constructions and to provide effective algorithmic search techniques. In this paper, a simple “cut‐and‐paste” construction is extended to covering arrays in which different columns (factors) admit different numbers of symbols (values); in the process an improved recursive construction for covering arrays with t = 2 is derived. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 14: 124–138, 2006     

钇对Nd-Fe-Al-Ni非晶合金热稳定性与晶化行为的影响

采用差示扫描量热法（DSC）、X射线衍射（XRD）和透射电镜（TEM）研究了Y对Nd-Fe-Al-Ni非晶合金热稳定性和晶化行为的影响。结果表明,淬火态的Nd60Fe20Al10Ni10-xYx（x=0,2）合金基本为非晶组织同时还含有少量的淬态相,Y的加入抑制了淬态相的析出。加入Y后,非晶合金的晶化开始温度和晶化峰值温度都向高温方向移动,证明其热稳定性提高。Y的加入改变了合金的晶化方式和最终晶化产物,使非晶基体中析出的晶化相更加弥散圆整细小。并且Y具有在化学上钝化氧杂质的作用,从而抑制了氧的有害作用。利用Kissinger方程获得了Nd60Fe20Al10Ni8Y2非晶合金的晶化开始和晶化峰值激活能分别为1.21和1.16 eV。     

Encapsulation of pesticides in a starch-calcium adduct

A simple method of encapsulating water-insoluble pesticides in a starch matrix is described. The method consists of mixing the pesticide with alkali starch followed by precipitation with a calcium chloride solution. A starch–calcium adduct that entraps the pesticide in small cells within granular particles is formed. Liquid and solid pesticides were successfully encapsulated by the new method. By use of the herbicide trifluralin [2,6-dinitro-N,N-dipropyl-4-(trifluoromethyl) benzenamine] as core material more than 90% recovery and encapsulation was achieved. Use of acid-modified starches and flours resulted in a lower percentage of encapsulation. Effective encapsulation was also achieved by replacing calcium chloride with strontium chloride or barium chloride.     

Tracking the optical mass centroid of single electroactive nanoparticles reveals the electrochemically inactive zone

The inevitable microstructural defects, including cracks, grain boundaries and cavities, make a portion of the material inaccessible to electrons and ions, becoming the incentives for electrochemically inactive zones in single entity. Herein, we introduced dark field microscopy to study the variation of scattering spectrum and optical mass centroid (OMC) of single Prussian blue nanoparticles during electrochemical reaction. The “dark zone” embedded in a single electroactive nanoparticle resulted in the incomplete reaction, and consequently led to the misalignment of OMC for different electrochemical intermediate states. We further revealed the dark zones such as lattice defects in the same entity, which were externally manifested as the fixed pathway for OMC for the migration of potassium ions. This method opens up enormous potentiality to optically access the heterogeneous intraparticle dark zones, with implications for evaluating the crystallinity and electrochemical recyclability of single electroactive nano-objects.

The schematic of single cubic-shaped Prussian blue (PB) mesocrystals formed by the oriented aggregation of small nanocrystals. The dark-field images of single PB nanoparticle at PB and Prussian white (PW) states, respectively.     

Determinaton of Three Kinds of Organic Acids in the Leaves of Elaeagnus angustifolia L. from Different Regions and Different Growth Stages in Xinjiang Province by Using High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - High-performance thin-layer chromatography, which is a quick qualitative and quantitative method, was used to determine 3 kinds of...     

Synthesis,polymerization, and thermal properties of benzoxazine based on bisphenol‐S and allylamine

A bifunctional benzoxazine monomer, 6,6′‐bis(3‐allyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐benzo[e][1,3]oxazinyl) sulfone (BS‐ala), was synthesized from bisphenol‐S, allylamine and formaldehyde via a solution method. The chemical structure of BS‐ala was confirmed by ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and elemental analysis. The polymerization behavior of BS‐ala was investigated by FTIR, solid‐state ¹³C NMR, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The oxazine ring opening polymerization is prior to the addition polymerization of allyl group, and the exothermic peaks corresponding to the two reactions appear partially overlapped in the DSC curve. The storage modulus of the resultant polybenzoxazine at 25°C is about 3.9 GPa, and the glass transition temperature is 254°C. The 5% and 10% weight loss temperatures of the polybenzoxazine are about 335°C and 361°C in both air and nitrogen, respectively. The char yield is about 58% at 800°C in nitrogen, whereas almost no residue is remained at 700°C in air. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.