Pressure-enforced plasticity in MAX phases: from single grain to polycrystal investigation

Ti₄AlN₃, Ti₃AlC₂ and Ti₃Al_0.8Sn_0.2C₂ MAX phases were plastically deformed at room temperature (RT) under gaseous confining pressure. Microstructures of as-grown and deformed samples are carefully analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is demonstrated that high level of plastic deformation can be reached under confining gas pressure; the later suppresses the brittle failure at RT to the profit of plasticity. Multiscale characterization techniques are shown to provide a unique insight into all the scales of the plastic deformation; in particular, the effect of the mesoscale. Indeed, grain shape and orientation relative to the compression axis are shown to play a key role in the deformation process, intergranular stresses leading to a complex stress field in the polycrystalline samples. The TEM results show that dislocation activity highly depends on the grain orientation. The observation of dislocation entanglements unambiguously demonstrates that dislocations may be organized in such a configuration so that their glide in the basal plane can be hindered when deep plastic regime is reached.     

Regeneration of a Coked Zeolite via Nonthermal Plasma Process: A Parametric Study

Among alternative techniques to overcome the difficulties associated with thermal regeneration, non-thermal plasma can be considered as one of the most promising technology. The coke trapped in the zeolite micropores can be oxidized at room temperature with a low energy consumption using a dielectric barrier discharge reactor with a pin to plate geometry. The influence of various experimental parameters for coke removal efficiency and ozone production was investigated: input power, gap between the two electrodes, gas flow rate, catalyst mass and compactness. We showed that the efficiency was not strongly increased by increasing the deposited power from 23 to 36 W, but it depends strongly on the mass, so the depth of the wafer. The elimination of coke becomes more difficult as soon as the compactness is increased. The removal of coke is not uniform within the wafer, the one localized into the depth of the wafer is difficult to remove and requires higher input power (>?30 W).

     

Cosmology with weak lensing surveys

Weak gravitational lensing is responsible for the shearing and magnification of the images of high-redshift sources due to the presence of intervening matter. The distortions are due to fluctuations in the gravitational potential, and are directly related to the distribution of matter and to the geometry and dynamics of the Universe. As a consequence, weak gravitational lensing offers unique possibilities for probing the Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe. In this review, we summarise the theoretical and observational state of the subject, focussing on the statistical aspects of weak lensing, and consider the prospects for weak lensing surveys in the future.     

MTD-ADJ: A multiconformational minimal topologic difference for determining bioactive conformers using adjusted biological activities

The active conformation is part of a conformational mixture with experimental activity Yexp, and is used in QSAR studies to extract more information regarding the ligand-receptor interaction. To reflect the relative amount () of the active conformation, we adjust Yexp : Yadj = Yexp - log . We establish a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) between Yadj and 3D conformational characteristics for the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) hydrolysis rates of 25 acetic esters. The 3D-QSAR model was obtained using the adjusted multiconformational minimal steric/topologic difference (MTD-ADJ) method, optimizing the receptor map based on Yadj for each conformer. Yadj was updated during each step of the optimization process. and Yadj are based on the Boltzmann distribution calculated using AM1 (MOPAC 6.0) relative energies of the COSMIC 90 derived conformers. The MTD-ADJ results are: (i) the 3D-QSAR models obtained by this procedure have significant statistical parameters and are similar to the unadjusted (MTD-MC, using Yexp) models; (ii) the selected bioactive conformations are extended, occupy cavity vertices and, for the same structures, have the same MTD value; and (iii) the optimized conformational map of the neutral ligands obtained from the MTD-ADJ model fits well in the active site of the crystallographic structure of AChE (from Torpedo californica). We propose a neutral ligands binding site model for AchE. Our results show that MTD-ADJ, which can be implemented in any 3D-QSAR method, is capable of providing additional information regarding the active conformations, and can be used to gain further insight into the ligand-receptor models for which no structural data are available.     

The weakness of being cohesive,thin or free in reverse mathematics

Informally, a mathematical statement is robust if its strength is left unchanged under variations of the statement. In this paper, we investigate the lack of robustness of Ramsey’s theorem and its consequence under the frameworks of reverse mathematics and computable reducibility. To this end, we study the degrees of unsolvability of cohesive sets for different uniformly computable sequence of sets and identify different layers of unsolvability. This analysis enables us to answer some questions of Wang about how typical sets help computing cohesive sets.     

Sard theorems for Lipschitz functions and applications in optimization

We establish a “preparatory Sard theorem” for smooth functions with a partially affine structure. By means of this result, we improve a previous result of Rifford [17, 19] concerning the generalized (Clarke) critical values of Lipschitz functions defined as minima of smooth functions. We also establish a nonsmooth Sard theorem for the class of Lipschitz functions from R^d to R^p that can be expressed as finite selections of C^k functions (more generally, continuous selections over a compact countable set). This recovers readily the classical Sard theorem and extends a previous result of Barbet–Daniilidis–Dambrine [1] to the case p > 1. Applications in semi-infinite and Pareto optimization are given.     

Chemiluminescent probe for the in vitro detection of protease activity

A strategy involving the use of a self-immolative linker has been investigated for the chemiluminescent sensing of proteases. The reactive linker enabled the release of a 1,2-dioxetane light precursor. As a proof of principle, caspase-3, a key peptidase involved in apoptosis has been targeted. An in vitro assay has been carried out and proved the decomposition of the linker and the selectivity for caspase-3.     

Insights into the mechanism of reaction of [(C5Me5)2Sm(II)(thf)2] with CO2 and COS by DFT studies

Reaction mechanisms for the oxidative reactions of CO(2) and COS with [(C(5)Me(5))(2)Sm] have been investigated by means of DFT methods. The experimental formation of oxalate and dithiocarbonate complexes is explained. Their formation involve the samarium(III) bimetallic complexes [(C(5)Me(5))(2)Sm-CO(2)-Sm(C(5)Me(5))(2)] and [(C(5)Me(5))(2)Sm-COS-Sm(C(5)Me(5))(2)] as intermediates, respectively, ruling out radical coupling for the formation of the oxalate complex.