Stability enhancement of nanofibrillated cellulose in electrolytes through grafting of 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid

This study aimed to improve the stability of nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) in an electrolyte containing system, which was achieved by the grafting of 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) via the ceric ammonium nitrate-induced polymerization process. The results indicated that upon grafting the salt resistance and thermal stability of NFC were significantly improved. Moreover, the stability of the modified NFC increased with the AMPS loading. Compared to the control (the original NFC), the poly-AMPS/NFC (357.5 mg/g AMPS) exhibited much improved stability in a 400 mmol/L NaCl solution, and its viscosity was 350 mPa s. The thermogravimetric analysis results showed that the initial decomposition temperature of the modified NFC increased from 265 to 330 °C. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations showed that the main morphologic features of NFC were not altered, suggesting that the grafting reaction occurred on the fiber surface. The modified NFC can have promising industrial applications, such as oil recovery.     

Inhibition effect of pomelo peel extract for N80 steel in 3.5% NaCl saturated with CO2 solution

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Pomelo peel extract (PPE) has been evaluated as a corrosion inhibitor for N80 steel in 3.5% NaCl saturated with CO2 solution using weight loss measurements,...     

具有高灵敏性且稳定可重复的正温度系数效应的PVDF/CF导电复合材料

以碳纤维(CF)为填料,聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)为基体,通过熔融共混法制备PVDF/CF导电复合材料.所得复合材料具有显著的正温度系数(PTC)效应,温度上升到聚合物熔点附近时,电阻率对温度变化敏感.在转折温度区间(155.5~171.0oC,(35)(28)15.5oC)内,其体积电阻率的增加速率约为1.3×105?cm K-1.在不同CF含量下,复合材料表现出不同的PTC行为.随着CF含量的增加,其峰值电阻略有下降.高导电粒子含量下,无负温度系数(NTC)效应.在冷却循环过程,导电网络的重构性良好.复合材料即使经过多次热循环,依然表现出良好的PTC特性重现性.     

Fast algorithm for singly linearly constrained quadratic programs with box-like constraints

This paper focuses on a singly linearly constrained class of convex quadratic programs with box-like constraints. We propose a new fast algorithm based on parametric approach and secant approximation method to solve this class of quadratic problems. We design efficient implementations for our proposed algorithm and compare its performance with two state-of-the-art standard solvers called Gurobi and Mosek. Numerical results on a variety of test problems demonstrate that our algorithm is able to efficiently solve the large-scale problems with the dimension up to fifty million and it substantially outperforms Gurobi and Mosek in terms of the running time.     

Perfect contrast XOR-based visual cryptography schemes via linear algebra

XOR-based visual cryptography scheme (XVCS) was proposed to solve the poor visual quality problem without darkening the background in the reconstructed secret image. However, investigations on XVCS are not sufficient. In this paper, we focus on the traditional model of VCS for general access structures and exploit some extended capabilities for XVCS. Our main contributions are: (1) we put forward constructions of perfect contrast XVCS using the linear algebraic technique without any assumptions such as participants may carry multiple shares or prior information about the shares are to be submitted during the secret reconstruction phase; (2) for some restricted access structures, we achieve perfect contrast and perfect pixel expansion, namely both 1, which is impossible for any OR-based visual cryptography scheme (OVCS); (3) for general access structures, we achieve perfect contrast with smaller pixel expansion compared with many of the results in the literature; (4) Theoretical analysis on the proposed constructions are provided, as well as extensive experimental results and comparisons for demonstrating the effectiveness and advantages of our constructions.     

Fast implementation of the Tukey depth

Tukey depth function is one of the most famous multivariate tools serving robust purposes. It is also very well known for its computability problems in dimensions \(p \ge 3\). In this paper, we address this computing issue by presenting two combinatorial algorithms. The first is naive and calculates the Tukey depth of a single point with complexity \(O\left( n^{p-1}\log (n)\right) \), while the second further utilizes the quasiconcave of the Tukey depth function and hence is more efficient than the first. Both require very minimal memory and run much faster than the existing ones. All experiments indicate that they compute the exact Tukey depth.     

Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Mosses by Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction and Gas Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A facile method for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mosses is reported using ultrasonic-assisted extraction and gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. The efficiency of ultrasonic-assisted extraction and the reagents was optimized. Tandem mass spectrometry with selective reaction monitoring was used to enhance the selectivity to reduce matrix interferences and simplify the purification protocol. The detection limits were from 0.1 to 2.0?ng/mL. The linear calibration range was two orders of magnitude and the coefficients of linear correlation exceeded 0.9992 for all analytes. The relative standard deviations within 1 day and 3 days were less than 9.0%. Recoveries from 56.8 to 109.0% were obtained in fortified mosses. The rapid, low solvent gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method was used to determine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mosses.