Optimized spatial overlap in optical pump–X‐ray probe experiments with high repetition rate using laser‐induced surface distortions

Ultrafast X‐ray diffraction experiments require careful adjustment of the spatial overlap between the optical excitation and the X‐ray probe pulse. This is especially challenging at high laser repetition rates. Sample distortions caused by the large heat load on the sample and the relatively low optical energy per pulse lead to only tiny signal changes. In consequence, this results in small footprints of the optical excitation on the sample, which turns the adjustment of the overlap difficult. Here a method for reliable overlap adjustment based on reciprocal space mapping of a laser excited thin film is presented.     

A remark on the paper of H. H. Schaefer Abschätzung der nichttrivalen eigenwerte stochastischer matrizen

It is shown that one of the results of Schaefer can be obtained in a more elementary way and can be improved. This is an immediate corollary of a paper of the author Duke Math. J.19, 75–91 (1952).Lothar Collatz belatedly on his 60th birthday     

Microwave-assisted synthesis of zinc oxide and its performance in photodegradation of CTMAB

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Zinc oxide (ZnO) photocatalyst was prepared by a microwave-assisted method starting from zinc acetate and oxalate. The as prepared photocatalyst was...     

A spectrophotometric method for manganese determination in water samples based on ion pair formation and dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction

In this work, a simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly extractive spectrophotometric method for the determination of manganese is suggested. The method is based on the formation and dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) of a violet-coloured ion pair of Mn(II) with 1,3,3-trimethyl-2-[3-(3-methyl-3H-benzothiazol-2-ylidene)-propenyl]-3H-indolium (BTIC) in the presence of 1-nitroso-2-naphthol (HL) as ligand, and subsequent UV-VIS spectrophotometric detection at 560?nm of the ion pair formed. The appropriate experimental conditions for the DLLME procedure were found to be: a pH of 9.5; 0.12?mmol?L^?1 of BTIC; extraction solvent – toluene containing 1.75?mmol?L^?1 of HL; disperser solvent – methanol; auxiliary solvent – tetrachloromethane. Beer's law is obeyed in the range 0.055–0.88 µg?mL^?1 of Mn(II). The limit of detection (LOD), calculated based on three times of the standard deviation of the blank test (n?=?10), was found to be 0.004?µg?mL^?1 of Mn(II). The precision (as relative standard deviation, RSD%) and accuracy (as recovery percentage, R%) of the method were examined by performing five replicate determinations at four concentration levels over two days and varied between 1.2 and 3.8, and 97.7 and 104.5, respectively. The suggested method was successfully applied to the analysis of various water samples (mineral water, spring water and drinking water).     

Effects of mechanical activation on the non-isothermal kinetics of mullite formation from kaolinite

The non-isothermal kinetics of mullite formation from both non-activated and mechanically activated kaolinite have been studied by differential thermal analysis (DTA). Kaolinite was mechanically activated in a planetary mill, while amorphization in the structure was studied by X-ray diffraction analysis. It was established that the mechanical activation especially affected the loss of structural water. The activation energies depending on the conversion for mullite formation have been calculated from the DTA curves by using the non-isothermal method of Coats and Redfern at heating rates of 5, 10, 15, and 20 °C min⁻¹. The mechanical activation and amorphization of the kaolinite brings to the formation of mullite at a lower heating temperature.     

Restructuring forward step of MARS algorithm using a new knot selection procedure based on a mapping approach

In high dimensional data modeling, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) is a popular nonparametric regression technique used to define the nonlinear relationship between a response variable and the predictors with the help of splines. MARS uses piecewise linear functions for local fit and apply an adaptive procedure to select the number and location of breaking points (called knots). The function estimation is basically generated via a two-stepwise procedure: forward selection and backward elimination. In the first step, a large number of local fits is obtained by selecting large number of knots via a lack-of-fit criteria; and in the latter one, the least contributing local fits or knots are removed. In conventional adaptive spline procedure, knots are selected from a set of all distinct data points that makes the forward selection procedure computationally expensive and leads to high local variance. To avoid this drawback, it is possible to restrict the knot points to a subset of data points. In this context, a new method is proposed for knot selection which bases on a mapping approach like self organizing maps. By this method, less but more representative data points are become eligible to be used as knots for function estimation in forward step of MARS. The proposed method is applied to many simulated and real datasets, and the results show that it proposes a time efficient forward step for the knot selection and model estimation without degrading the model accuracy and prediction performance.     

First-principles study of the structural, elastic, electronic, optical, and vibrational properties of intermetallic Pd2Ga

The structural, elastic, electronic, optical, and vibrational properties of the orthorhombic Pd₂Ga compound are investigated using the norm-conserving pseudopotentials within the local density approximation in the frame of density functional theory. The calculated lattice parameters have been compared with the experimental values and found to be in good agreement with these results. The second-order elastic constants and the other relevant quantities, such as the Young's modulus, shear modulus, Poisson's ratio, anisotropy factor, sound velocity, and Debye temperature, have been calculated. It is shown that this compound is mechanically stable after analysing the calculated elastic constants. Furthermore, the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function and the optical constants, such as the optical dielectric constant and the effective number of electrons per unit cell, are calculated and presented. The phonon dispersion curves are derived using the direct method. The present results demonstrate that this compound is dynamically stable.     

Ab initio calculations of the elastic, electronic, optical, and vibrational properties of PdGa compound under pressure

The structural, elastic, electronic, optical, and vibrational properties of cubic PdGa compound are investigated using the norm-conserving pseudopotentials within the local density approximation (LDA) in the framework of the density functional theory. The calculated lattice constant has been compared with the experimental value and has been found to be in good agreement with experimental data. The obtained electronic band structures show that PdGa compound has no band gap. The second-order elastic constants have been calculated, and the other related quantities such as the Young’s modulus, shear modulus, Poisson’s ratio, anisotropy factor, sound velocities, and Debye temperature have also been estimated. Our calculated results of elastic constants show that this compound is mechanically stable. Furthermore, the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function and the optical constants such as the electron energy-loss function, the optical dielectric constant and the effective number of electrons per unit cell are calculated and presented in the study. The phonon dispersion curves are also derived using the direct method.