A Raman technique applicable for the analysis of the working principle of promoters and inhibitors of gas hydrate formation

We report a Raman technique applicable for the in situ analysis of the development of hydrogen bonds in the liquid water‐rich phase just before the onset of gas hydrate formation. Herewith, the phase transition as well as the working principle of hydrate formation inhibitors and promoters can be analyzed. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

The effect of the boundary conditions on in-plane and out-of-plane stress field in three dimensional plates weakened by free-clamped V-notches

Dealing with the material microstructure an analytical multiscale model has recently been developed by Sih. Physically, the different orders of the stress singularities are related to the different constraints associated with the defect thought as a microscopic V-notch at the tip of the main crack. Irregularities of the material microstructure tend to curl the crack tip being the clamped-free boundary conditions the more realistic and general representation of what occurs on the microscopic V-notch. As a result, mixed mode conditions are always present along the V-notch bisector line.It is known for a long time that at the antisymmetric (mode II) stress distribution ahead of the crack tip generates a coupled out-of-plane singular mode. Recent theoretical and numerical analyses have demonstrated that this out-of-plane mode due to three-dimensional effects occurs also in the case of large V-notches where the mode II stress field is no longer singular. In addition, when the notch opening angle is non-zero, the three-dimensional singular stress state is strongly influenced by the plate thickness.The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of free-fixed boundary conditions along the notch edges in three dimensional plates weakened by pointed V-notches and quantify the intensity of the out-of-plane singularity occurring under this constraint configuration. For the sake of simplicity a macronotch is considered rather than a micronotch. A synthesis of the magnitude of the stress state through the plate thickness is carried out by using the mean value of the strain energy density over a given control volume embracing the notch tip. The capability of the strain energy density to capture all the combined effects due to the out-of-plane mode make it a powerful parameter at every scale levels.     

The characters of self-assembly core/shell nanoparticles of amphiphilic hyperbranched polyethers as drug carriers

The characters of self-assembly core/shell nanoparticles of amphiphilic hyperbranched polyethers (HP-g-PEO) as drug carriers were investigated. The HP-g-PEO consisting of hydrophobic HP-g-PEO core and hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) arms was prepared by the cation ring-opening polymerization. A series of HP-g-PEO samples with different degree of branching (DB) were synthesized under various reaction temperatures. Nanoparticles (NP) were obtained by self-assembly of HP-g-PEO in aqueous media. The structure of resulting HP-g-PEO was characterized by IR, ¹³CNMR and GPC. Dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy were applied to characterize the sizes and size distributions of NP. The results demonstrated that the mean diameters of NP were less than 100 nm, which exhibited uniform spherical formations and narrow size distributions. Using hydrophobic drug Probucol (PRO) as model drug, the particle sizes of drug loaded NP were larger than relative blank NP. The drug loading efficiency (LE) and incorporation efficiency (IE) of these NP were achieved to 35 and 89%, respectively. The in vitro release of PRO from the NP exhibited a sustained release and the cumulative drugs released for more than 600 h. The most important factor to affect drug release was the value of DB of HP-g-PEO. With the DB of HP-g-PEO increasing, the size and size distribution of NP decreased as well as the release rate. However, the small DB was beneficial to the LE of NP. Nanoparticle size and size distribution, LE, IE, and drug release rate were slightly affected by the initial solution concentration of polyethers. The co-incorporated hydrophilic drug had influence slightly on the release of drug from drug loaded NP. The results of in vitro drug release suggested that the core/shell NP performed good controlled release behaviors with potential practice as novelty drug delivery vehicles.     

Quantum Pattern Recognition with Probability of 100%

In recent years there has been an increasing focus on the quantum pattern recognition, especially quantum multi-pattern recognition in computer science. This paper presents a new quantum multi-pattern recognition method based on the improved Grover’s algorithm. This method not only details the process of quantum multi-pattern recognition using several unitary operators, but also introduces a new design scheme of initializing quantum state and quantum encoding on the pattern set. If the rate of the number of the recognized pattern on the total patterns is over 1/3, this new method can recognize multi-pattern simultaneously with the probability of 100%. Mathematic calculations and simulation results on the case show that the proposed method can accomplish multi-pattern recognition with the probability of 100%. However, the recognition probability of other pattern recognition methods is impossible to reach 1.     

Molecular dynamics simulations of structural disordering and forming defects in a milling process for selenium

In our previous paper, structural changes of selenium powders ground by a planetary ball mill at various rotational speeds were investigated for the nanostructural modification of particles using mechanical grinding process. The experimental results indicated that the amorphisation of Se by grinding accompanies lattice strain, and the lattice strain arises from impact energy which is more than an energy related to intermolecular interaction. In this paper, molecular dynamics simulations of selenium have been carried out under compressing conditions of various pressure strengths for obtaining information of the lattice strain at atomic level. Then, dynamical behaviour of atomic configuration has been discussed in this process. The structural disordering and formation of the structural defects were estimated by deviations of bond length and angle and the number of created defects before and after compressing from simulated results. The disordering took place during compressing at various pressure strengths, and the disordered atoms return to their initial positions at lower pressure. Stable disordered state and defects after the compression can however remain by compression at more than a certain pressure strength mainly associated with binding energy of selenium.     

On the role of entanglement in Schrödinger’s cat paradox

In this paper we re-investigate the core of Schrödinger’s “cat paradox”. We argue that one has to distinguish clearly between superpositions of macroscopic cat states |?〉 + |?〉 and superpositions of entangled states |?, ↑〉 + |?, ↓〉 which comprise both the state of the cat (?=alive, ?=dead) and the radioactive substance (↑=not decayed, ↓=decayed). It is shown, that in the case of the cat experiment recourse to decoherence or other mechanisms is not necessary in order to explain the absence of macroscopic superpositions. Additionally, we present modified versions of two quantum optical experiments as experimenta crucis. Applied rigorously, quantum mechanical formalism reduces the problem to a mere pseudo-paradox.     

Non-interferometric transient quantitative phase microscopy for ultrafast engineering

Lead-free piezoelectric ceramics Bi_0.5(Na_1-x-yK_xAg_y)_0.5TiO₃ [BNKAT(x/y)] have been synthesized by the mixed oxide method. The effects of the amount of K⁺ and Ag⁺ on the electrical properties were examined. X-ray diffraction patterns indicate that K⁺ and Ag⁺ ions partially substitute for the Na⁺ ions in Bi_0.5Na_0.5TiO₃ and form a solid solution during sintering. At room temperature, the ceramics exhibit good performances with piezoelectric constant d₃₃=189 pC/N, electromechanical coupling factor k_p=35.0%, remanent polarization P_r=39.5 μC/cm², and coercive field E_c=3.3 kV/mm, respectively. The curves of the dielectric constant ε_r and loss tangent tan δ versus temperature show that the transition temperature from ferroelectric to anti-ferroelectric phase decreases with increasing the K⁺ content for the compositions researched. The dependencies of k_p and polarization versus electric (P–E) hysteresis loops on temperature reveal that the depolarization temperature T_d of BNKAT(0.15/0.015) ceramics, which have good piezoelectric properties (d₃₃=134 pC/N, k_p=32.5%) and strong ferroelectricity (P_r=39.5 μC/cm², E_c=4.1 kV/mm) at room temperature, is above 160 °C. PACS 77.22.-d; 77.65.Bn; 77.80.Bh; 77.80.Dj; 77.84.Dy     

Homotopy Approach to Quantum Gravity

Gravity may be a quantum-space-time effect. General relativity is quantized by small generic changes in its commutation relations that make its Lie algebras simple on all levels, positing extra variables frozen by self-organization as needed. This quantizes space-time coordinates as well as fields and eliminates physical singularities. Fermi statistics and sl (nℝ) Lie algebras are assumed for all levels. Spin 1/2 is taken to be anomalous, arising from vacuum organization; the spin-statistics relation is incorporated. The gravitational field is quartic in Fermi variables. Einstein’s non-commutativity of parallel transport emerges as a vestige of Heisenberg’s quantum non-commutativity near the classical limit.     

Exact analytical solutions for shallow impurity states in symmetrical paraboloidal and hemiparaboloidal quantum dots

The problem of a shallow donor impurity located at the centre of a symmetrical paraboloidal quantum dot (SPQD) is solved exactly. The Schrödinger equation is separated in the paraboloidal coordinate system. Three different cases are discussed for the radial-like equations. For a bound donor, the energy is negative and the solutions are described by Whittaker functions. For a non-bound donor, the energy is positive and the solutions become coulomb wave functions. In the last case, the energy is equal to zero and the solutions reduce to Bessel functions. Using the boundary conditions at the dot surfaces, the variations of the donor kinetic and potential energies versus the size of the dot are obtained. The problem of a shallow donor impurity in a Hemiparaboloidal Quantum dot (HPQD) is also studied. It is shown that the wave functions of a HPQD are specific linear combinations of those of a SPQD.