Cyclotetrabenzoin: Facile Synthesis of a Shape‐Persistent Molecular Square and Its Assembly into Hydrogen‐Bonded Nanotubes

Cyanide‐catalyzed benzoin condensation of terephthaldehyde produces a cyclic tetramer, which we propose to name cyclotetrabenzoin. Cyclotetrabenzoin is a square‐shaped macrocycle ornamented with four α‐hydroxyketone functionalities pointing away from the central cavity, the dimensions of which are 6.9×6.9 Å. In the solid state, these functional groups extensively hydrogen bond, resulting in a microporous three‐dimensional organic framework with one‐dimensional nanotube channels. This material exhibits permanent—albeit low‐porosity, with a Langmuir surface area of 52 m² g^?1. Cyclotetrabenzoin’s easy and inexpensive synthesis and purification may inspire the creation of other shape‐persistent macrocycles and porous molecular crystals by benzoin condensation.     

From Lignin‐derived Aromatic Compounds to Novel Biobased Polymers

Nowadays, the synthesis of (semi)aromatic polymers from lignin derivatives is of major interest, as aromatic compounds are key intermediates in the manufacture of polymers and lignin is the main source of aromatic biobased substrates. Phenols with a variety of chemical structures can be obtained from lignin deconstruction; among them, vanillin and ferulic acid are the main ones. Depending on the phenol substrates, different chemical modifications and polymerization pathways are developed, leading to (semi)aromatic polymers covering a wide range of thermomechanical properties. This review discusses the synthesis and properties of thermosets (vinyl ester resins, cyanate ester, epoxy, and benzoxazine resins) and thermoplastic polymers (polyesters, polyanhydrides, Schiff base polymers, polyacetals, polyoxalates, polycarbonates, acrylate polymers) prepared from vanillin, ferulic acid, guaiacol, syringaldehyde, or 4‐hydroxybenzoic acid.

     

一种生态友好粉煤灰基地质聚合物的合成及光催化性能

以乌洛托品为孔形成剂,制备出孔结构可调控的粉煤灰基地质聚合物;通过半导体耦合设计,合成出In_2O_3和NiO双负载粉煤灰基地质聚合物催化剂;采用XRF、TGA/DSC、FESEM、XRD、FT-IR、UV-Vis等对催化剂的组成、结构及性能进行表征,考查了该催化剂体系对模拟印染废水的光催化降解活性、降解机理及反应动力学。结果表明:孔形成剂的掺入能够显著地改善地质聚合物的孔结构,调变BET比表面积及介孔体积;双负载5%In_2O_3及1%NiO的粉煤灰基地质聚合物催化剂对碱性品绿染料的最高降解率(95.65%),归因于In_2O_3与NiO形成的p-n结半导体耦合体系以及In_2O_3与PAFAG载体之间产生强相互作用,改善了光生电子-空穴对的分离效率,从而提高了光催化染料降解活性。     

A Bistable Microelectromechanical System Actuated by Spin-Crossover Molecules

We report on a bistable MEMS device actuated by spin-crossover molecules. The device consists of a freestanding silicon microcantilever with an integrated piezoresistive detection system, which was coated with a 140 nm thick film of the [Fe(HB(tz)₃)₂] (tz=1,2,4-triazol-1-yl) molecular spin-crossover complex. Switching from the low-spin to the high-spin state of the ferrous ions at 338 K led to a reversible upward bending of the cantilever in agreement with the change in the lattice parameters of the complex. The strong mechanical coupling was also evidenced by the decrease of approximately 66 Hz in the resonance frequency in the high-spin state as well as by the drop in the quality factor around the spin transition.     

Measuring analogousness in picture fuzzy sets: from picture distance measures to picture association measures

In this paper, we extend the basic distance measure in picture fuzzy sets to the new measures called generalized picture distance measures and picture association measures. Some properties of these measures are examined. An application to clustering problem is given to illustrate applicability of the proposed works.     

Decimation of the Dyson–Ising ferromagnet

We study the decimation to a sublattice of half the sites of the one-dimensional Dyson–Ising ferromagnet with slowly decaying long-range pair potentials of the form $\frac{1}{{|i?j|}^{\alpha }}$, deep in the phase transition region ($1<\alpha \le 2$ and low temperature). We prove non-Gibbsianness of the decimated measures at low enough temperatures by exhibiting a point of essential discontinuity for the (finite-volume) conditional probabilities of decimated Gibbs measures. This result complements previous work proving conservation of Gibbsianness for fastly decaying potentials ($\alpha >2$) and provides an example of a “standard” non-Gibbsian result in one dimension, in the vein of similar results in higher dimensions for short-range models. We also discuss how these measures could fit within a generalized (almost vs. weak) Gibbsian framework. Moreover we comment on the possibility of similar results for some other transformations.     

Anonymous and leakage resilient IBE and IPE

We construct identity-based encryption and inner product encryption schemes under the decision linear assumption. Their private user keys are leakage-resilient in several scenarios. In particular,

• In the bounded memory leakage model (Akavia et al., TCC, vol. 5444, pp. 474–495, 2009), our basic schemes reach the maximum-possible leakage rate \(1-o(1)\).
• In the continual memory leakage model (Brakerski et al., Overcoming the hole in the bucket: public-key cryptography resilient to continual memory leakage, 2010; Dodis et al., Cryptography against continuous memory attacks, 2010), variants of the above schemes enjoy leakage rate at least \(\frac{1}{2} -o(1)\). Among the results, we improve upon the work of Brakerski et al. by presenting adaptively secure IBE schemes.

In addition, we prove that our IBE schemes are anonymous under the DLIN assumption, so that ciphertexts leaks no information on the corresponding identities. Similarly, attributes in IPE are proved computationally hidden in the corresponding ciphertexts.

     

On the No-Gap Second-Order Optimality Conditions for a Discrete Optimal Control Problem with Mixed Constraints

Motivated by our recent works on optimality conditions in discrete optimal control problems under a nonconvex cost function, in this paper, we study second-order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for a discrete optimal control problem with a nonconvex cost function and state-control constraints. By establishing an abstract result on second-order optimality conditions for a mathematical programming problem, we derive second-order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for a discrete optimal control problem. Using a common critical cone for both the second-order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions, we obtain “no-gap” between second-order optimality conditions.     

Difference Schemes on Nonuniform Grids for the Two-Dimensional Convection–Diffusion Equation

New second-order accurate monotone difference schemes on nonuniform spatial grids for two-dimensional stationary and nonstationary convection–diffusion equations are proposed. The monotonicity and stability of the solutions of the computational methods with respect to the boundary conditions, the initial condition, and the right-hand side are proved. Two-sided and corresponding a priori estimates are obtained in the grid norm of C. The convergence of the proposed algorithms to the solution of the original differential problem with the second order is proved.     

On kinetics of hysteresis

An initiation criterion and a kinetic relation describing hysteresis in shape memory alloys consistent with non-equilibrium thermodynamics are proposed. The initiation of phase transition begins always at zero driving force, defined as the negative derivative of free energy with respect to the volume fraction of high strain phase. The kinetic relation is obtained from the dissipation potential which is proportional to the magnitude of the volume fraction rate times the newly formed volume fraction. The proposed theory turns out to be rate-independent, but history dependent, and can describe all features of hysteresis loops observed in experiments.