EcoLens: visual analysis of ecological regions in urban contexts using traffic data

Journal of Visualization - The increasing availability of spatiotemporal data provides unprecedented opportunities for understanding the structure of an urban area in terms of people’s...     

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.     

Gap theorems for Lagrangian submanifolds in complex space forms

Geometriae Dedicata - Inspired by a recent work of Grove and Petersen (Alexandrov spaces with maximal radius, 2018), where the authors studied positively curved Alexandrov spaces with largest...     

High-efficient surface tailoring via reverse atom transfer radical polymerization and reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization in an aqueous system initiated by a monocenter redox pair

The commonly used multi-center initiation methods always lead to the formation of quantities of homopolymer in the surface tailoring based on reverse atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization. In this study, a monocenter redox pair constructed of silica bearing tert-butyl hydroperoxide groups and ascorbic acid (SiO₂-TBHP/AsAc) was applied to substitute the commonly used initiation method of R-supported RAFT grafting polymerization. All the propagating radicals were restricted on the surface of solid particles during the whole procedure theoretically, resulting in a higher grafting efficiency of 95.1% combined with the “controllable” feature at 10 h. This redox pair was also used to initiate the reverse ATRP in miniemulsion successfully with a grafting efficiency of 86.3% at 10 h. The grafting efficiency obtained under this monocenter initiation method was significantly higher than that of the frequently reported surface modification by reverse ATRP and RAFT polymerization. In addition, the high-efficient surface tailoring was traced and confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and other analysis tests. The advantage of this monocenter redox pair will open a new avenue for the potential “high-efficient” surface tailoring of various materials.     

One-pot,one-step,and selective terpolymerization of ethylene oxide,propylene oxide,and COS to copoly(thioether)s with tunable thermal properties

Facile construction of sulfur-rich polymers using readily available raw chemicals is an area aggressively pursued but challenging. Herein we use common feedstocks of ethylene oxide (EO), propylene oxide (PO), and carbonyl sulfide (COS) to synthesize copoly(thioether)s which are traditionally produced from unpleasant and difficult to store episulfides. In this protocol, the EO/COS coupling selectively generates a pure poly(ethylene sulfide) (PES) with melting temperature (T_m) values up to 172°C and high yields up to 98%. The EO/PO/COS terpolymerization leads to the incorporation of soft poly(propylene sulfide) (PPS) and hard PES segments together, affording a random PES-co-PPS copoly(thioether) with the complete consumption of EO and PO. Additionally, by simply varying the EO/PO feeding ratio, the obtained copoly(thioether)s possess tunable thermal properties, T_m values in the range of 76–144°C, and excellent solubility. These copolymerizations are conducted in one-pot/one-step at industrially favored reaction temperatures of 100–120°C using catalysts of common organic bases, suggesting a facile and practical manner. Especially, the copoly(thioether) exhibits high refractive indices up to 1.68 owing to its high sulfur content, suggesting a broad application prospect in optical materials.     

Guaranteed cost positive consensus for multi-agent systems with multiple time-varying delays and MDADT switching

Nonlinear Dynamics - This paper investigates the guaranteed cost positive consensus for linear multi-agent systems (MASs) with multiple time-varying delays and switching topologies. First,...     

Highly insulating alkane rings with destructive σ-interference

Science China Chemistry - Destructive quantum interference (DQI) provides a unique approach to controlling the leakage current in the OFF state of molecular devices. However, the DQI in...     

γ-Valerolactone (GVL) as a green and efficient dipolar aprotic reaction medium

The great challenge for modern research is to define the most efficient tools to make more sustainable the industrial production and manufacturing. Among the different aspects that require attention the replacement of toxic and/or non-renewable solvents it is certainly playing a crucial role. Dealing with widely used dipolar aprotic solvents, among the different alternatives proposed in the literature γ-valerolactone (GVL) plays a pivotal role covering different application area. In this contribution, the benefits derived from the use of GVL as a circular, safe, biomass-derived reaction medium are highlighted covering most recent publications (2021). The presentation has been divided into three major sections: (i) biomass valorization, (ii) materials synthesis, manufacturing and recycle and (iii) new synthetic methodologies.