A New Flow Instrument for Conductance Measurements at Elevated Temperatures and Pressures: Measurements on NaCl(aq) to 458 K and 1.4 MPa

A new flow electrical conductance instrument was constructed and tested on dilute NaCl solutions up to 458 K, and on more concentrated solutions (maximum 0.436 mol⋅kg⁻¹) at 373 K. The results of the new instrument agreed with those of previous authors within the estimated experimental errors. The model of Bernard et al. (J. Phys. Chem. 96, 3833–3840 (1992), MSA) was found to represent the high-temperature results without introducing an ion-pairing equilibrium constant. The Fuoss–Hsia conductance equation as given by Fernandez-Prini was found to represent the dilute concentrations with Λ° (NaCl) as the only adjustable parameter. It was found that Λ° (NaCl) could be expressed as a function of solvent viscosity and density by using three parameters found by regression of literature results between 278.15 and 523 K. This equation along with the FHFP theory permits the equivalent conductivity of dilute sodium chloride solutions to be calculated within the accuracy of the existing experimental measurements.     

An Interval-Parameter Fuzzy Approach for Multiobjective Linear Programming Under Uncertainty

An interval-parameter fuzzy linear programming method (IFMOLP) is proposed in this study for multiple objective decision-making under uncertainty. As a hybrid of interval-parameter and fuzzy methodologies, the IFMOLP incorporates interval-parameter linear programming and fuzzy multiobjective programming approaches to form an integrated optimization system. The method inherits advantages of interval-parameter programming, and allows uncertainties and decision-makers’ aspirations to be effectively communicated into its programming processes and resulting solutions. Membership functions for both objectives and constraints are formulated to reflect uncertainties in different system components and their interrelationships. An interactive solution procedure has been developed based on solution approaches of the interval-parameter and fuzzy programming techniques, plus necessary measures for handling the multiobjective feature. A didactic example is provided in the paper to illustrate the detailed solution process. Possibilities of further improvements by seeking Pareto optimum and incorporating flexible preference within constraints are also discussed.     

Frame Wavelets with Compact Supports for L^2（R^n）

The construction of frame wavelets with compact supports is a meaningful problem in wavelet analysis. In particular, it is a hard work to construct the frame wavelets with explicit analytic forms. For a given n × n real expansive matrix A, the frame-sets with respect to A are a family of sets in R^n. Based on the frame-sets, a class of high-dimensional frame wavelets with analytic forms are constructed, which can be non-bandlimited, or even compactly supported. As an application, the construction is illustrated by several examples, in which some new frame wavelets with compact supports are constructed. Moreover, since the main result of this paper is about general dilation matrices, in the examples we present a family of frame wavelets associated with some non-integer dilation matrices that is meaningful in computational geometry.     

Allophane: a natural gel in volcanic soils with interesting environmental properties

Volcanic (allophanic) soils are interesting in terms of the control of the greenhouse effect and the knowledge of the porous features is of importance to understand the mechanism of C and N sequestration. These soils contain a peculiar clay: allophane aggregates quite close to the synthetic mineral gels aggregates. These volcanic materials behave as gels during drying with a large irreversible shrinkage that can modify the soil physical properties. Consequently, as for silica gels, we use the CO₂ supercritical drying procedure (SD) to control the drying step and to preserve the structural and textural properties of the soils. The experimental results show that the N and C content in the soils is clearly dependent on the allophane content. We also show that the textural properties, such as specific surface area, are higher for the supercritically dried samples, compared to the classically dried samples, and SAXS results confirm the preserving effect of the SD. With these data, we propose possible effects of the specific surface area on the C and N content of the allophanic soils.     

Microscopically structural studies of lithium niobate powders

On the basis of the crystallographic characteristics of lithium niobate (LN) crystals, Law of Bravais and Pauling's third rule (i.e. Polyhedral Sharing Rule) are employed with the aim to find the relationship between the crystal structure and morphological faces of LN powders. In order to validate our analytical results, we have successfully synthesized LN powders and measured the corresponding X-ray powder diffraction. Our results show that the structural analysis is consistent with the experimental data and is helpful and effective for us to control the single-crystal growth and to design superstructures at the specific plane, starting from the viewpoint of the microscopic behaviors of constituent chemical bonds and polyhedra in the crystallographic frame.     

Reply to Comments of Bassi,Ghirardi, and Tumulka on the Free Will Theorem

We respond to criticisms of our paper “The Free Will Theorem”, and produce a new form of the theorem based on weaker assumptions.     

Decoupling Problem for Systems of Quasi-Linear pde’s

The necessary and sufficient conditions for the decoupling of a quasi-linear system of partial differential equations into k non-interacting subsystems are derived. Several necessary conditions for the decoupling are found and applied to the Benney system.     

Compatibility and Marginality

We present a way of introducing joint distibution function and its marginal distribution functions for non-compatible observables. Each such marginal distribution function has the property of commutativity. Models based on this approach can be used to better explain some classical phenomena in stochastic processes.     

Growth of single-crystal magnetite nanowires from Fe3O4 nanoparticles in a surfactant-free hydrothermal process

Single-crystal magnetite nanowires with average diameter of ca. 20 nm and length of up to several micrometers were prepared by a simple alkaline surfactant-free hydrothermal process. The crystallinity, purity, morphology, and structural features of the as-prepared magnetite nanowires were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction. The composition and length of nanowires depends on the pH, with higher pH favoring longer nanowires composed entirely of Fe₃O₄. A mechanism for nanowire growth is proposed.     

测定透镜厚度新法及其误差探讨

本文介绍利用景深短、高倍率、大口径的物镜，采用光学方法，对被测透镜上下表面调焦，从而测定其中心厚度的一种新方法，并对测量误差进行了探讨。