Versatile image-based measurements of granular flows and water wave propagation in experiments of tsunamis generated by landslides

Landslides falling into water bodies can generate destructive waves, which can be classified as tsunamis. An experimental facility to study this phenomenon has been set up. It consists of a landslide generator releasing gravel at high-speed into a wave basin. A non-intrusive system has been designed ad-hoc to be able to measure the high velocity and the geometry of the landslide as well as the generated waves characteristics. The measurement system employs the treatment of images captured by a high-speed camera which records the launched granular material illuminated by a laser sheet. A grid of laser sheets marks the basin water surface. The water has been filled by a small amount of kaolin to properly reflect the laser light at water surface. Thus, by filming with high definition cameras the perturbed water surface and successively processing the resulting images, it has been possible to measure the generated waves. The measurement framework employs a versatile camera calibration technique which allows accurate measurements in presence of: (1) high lens distortions; (2) pronounced non-parallelism condition between camera sensor and plane of measurement coincident with the laser sheet. The maximum resolution of the measurement tool is 0.01 mm, while the maximum uncertainty due to systematic error has been estimated to be 15% for the worst-case scenario. This work improves the suitability of image-based measuring systems in granular flows and free surface hydraulics experiments.     

Photo- and Electrochemical Dual-Responsive Iridium Probe for Saccharide Detection

Dual detection systems are of interest for rapid, accurate data collection in sensing systems and in vitro testing. We introduce an Ir^III complex with a boronic acid receptor site attached to the 2-phenylpyridine ligand as an ideal probe with photo- and electrochemical signals that is sensitive to monosaccharide binding in aqueous solution. The complex displays orange luminescence at 618 nm, which is reduced by 70 and 40 % upon binding of fructose and glucose, respectively. The electro-chemiluminescent signal of the complex also shows a direct response to monosaccharide binding. The Ir^III complex shows the same response upon incorporation into hydrogel matrices as in solution, thus demonstrating the potential of its integration into a device, as a nontoxic, simple-to-use tool to observe sugar binding over physiologically relevant pH ranges and saccharide concentrations. Moreover, the complex's luminescence is responsive to monosaccharide presence in cancer cells.     

Atmospheric CO2 mitigation technologies: carbon capture utilization and storage

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Poly(methyl methacrylate)-Assisted Exfoliation of Graphite and Its Use in Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene Composites

One of the applications of graphene in which its scalable production is of utmost importance is the development of polymer composites. Among the techniques used to produce graphene flakes, the liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) of graphite stands out due to its versatility and scalability. However, solvents suitable for the LPE process are generally toxic and have a high boiling point, making the processing challenging. The use of low boiling point solvents could be convenient for the processing, due to the easiness of their removal. In this study, the use of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as a stabilizing agent is proposed for the production of graphene flakes in a low boiling point solvent, that is, acetone. The graphene dispersions produced in the mixture acetone-PMMA have higher concentration, +175 %, and contain a higher percentage of few-layer graphene flakes (<5 layers), that is, +60 %, compared to the dispersions prepared in acetone. The as-produced graphene dispersions are used to develop graphene/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene composites. The mechanical properties of the pristine polymer are improved, that is, +22 % in the Young's modulus, by adding 0.01 wt. % of graphene flakes. Moreover, a decrease of ≈20 % in the oxygen permeability is obtained by using 0.1 wt. % of graphene flakes filler, compared to the unloaded matrix.     

Temperature-Dependent Surface Enrichment Effects in Binary Mixtures of Fluorinated and Non-Fluorinated Ionic Liquids

Using angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS), we investigate the topmost nanometers of various binary ionic liquid (IL) mixtures at different temperatures in the liquid state. The mixtures consist of ILs with the same [PF₆]⁻ anion but two different cations, namely 3-methyl-1-(3,3,4,4,4-pentafluorobutyl)imidazolium hexafluorophosphate, [PFBMIm][PF₆], and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, [C₄C₁Im][PF₆], with 10, 25, 50 and 75 mol % content of [PFBMIm][PF₆]. We observe a preferential enrichment of the fluorinated chain in the topmost layer, relative to the bulk composition, which is most pronounced for the lowest content of [PFBMIm][PF₆]. Upon cooling the mixtures stepwise from 95 °C until surface charging effects in XPS indicate solidification, we observe a pronounced increase in surface enrichment of the fluorinated chain with decreasing temperature in the liquid state. In contrast to the mixtures with lower [PFBMIm][PF₆] contents, cooling the 75 mol % mixture additionally shows an abrupt decrease of the fluorinated chain signal before complete solidification occurs, which is assigned to partial precipitation effects.     

A note on commutator subgroups in groups of large cardinality

Monatshefte für Mathematik - If G is an uncountable group of regular cardinality $$\aleph $$, we shall denote by $${\mathfrak {L}L}_\aleph (G)$$ the set of all subgroups of G of cardinality...     

Quantum Dots Luminescence Collection Enhancement and Nanoscopy by Dielectric Microspheres

In recent years, dielectric microspheres have been used in conjunction with optical microscopes to beat the diffraction limit and to obtain superresolution imaging. The use of microspheres on quantum dots (QDs) is investigated, for the first time, to enhance the light coupling efficiency. The enhancement of the QD luminescence collection in terms of extraction and directionality is demonstrated, as well as the enhancement of spatial resolution. In particular, it is found that a dielectric microsphere, placed on top of an epitaxial QD, increases the collected radiant energy by about a factor of 42, when a low numerical aperture objective is used. Moreover, if two or more QDs are present below the microsphere, the modification of the far field emission pattern allows selective collection of the luminescence from a single QD by simply changing the collection angle. Dielectric microspheres present a simple and efficient tool to improve the QD spectroscopy, and potentially QD-based devices.     

Development of ferroelectric liquid crystals with low birefringence

We propose an approach for development of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLC) with low birefringence Δn. Two basic principles have been used to get lowering of Δn: selection of molecules with short chains of conjugation as components for achiral matrix and averaging of local refractive indices by FLC helical structure. FLC mixtures with low birefringence (0.07 < Δn < 0.10 at wavelength 589.3 nm of sodium line) were elaborated and investigated. They consist of an achiral matrix including both nematic and smectic liquid crystal components and of phenylpyrimidine derivatives as chiral dopants. The materials developed can be used for all basic electro-optical FLC modes such as surface stabilised FLC (SSFLC), deformed helix ferroelectrics (DHF) and electrically suppressed helix (ESH). The mixtures developed allow to reduce the FLC cells chromatic retardance variation due to the weaker birefringence dispersion as compared with the known FLC materials to date.     

1:1 internal resonance in a two d.o.f. complete system: a comprehensive analysis and its possible exploitation for design

Meccanica - The internal resonance of a two degree-of-freedom mechanical system with all typical (quadratic and cubic) geometric nonlinearities is studied, limiting to the case of free dynamics....