Influence of combustion reagent and microwave drying method on the characteristics of nano-sized Nd<Superscript>3+</Superscript>:YAG powders synthesized by the gel combustion method

Nanosized Nd³⁺ doped Y₃Al₅O₁₂ (Nd³⁺:YAG) powders have been synthesized by the gel combustion method using different combustion reagent such as citric acid, ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), glycine, glycol and the combination of citric acid and EDTA with different ratio. The pure YAG phase was obtained at relatively low temperature around 950 °C for citric acid or EDTA and 1,050 °C for glycine or glycol as combustion reagent, respectively by the gel combustion method. It was found that citric acid and EDTA are the better combustion reagents and yield rather homogeneous and well dispersed club-shape Nd³⁺:YAG samples, and the particle size synthesized by EDTA is larger than that by citric acid. Moreover, the particle size of Nd:YAG was enlarged when the ratio of EDTA was increased in the combination reagent, and the better dispersion of YAG was obtained when the ratio of citric acid to EDTA was 1:1 compared to that of other ratios and pure one as combustion reagent. On the other hand, the results showed that the microwave assisted in drying process of gel to xerogel produced more smaller Nd³⁺:YAG particles in size, and more homogeneous dispersion of the Nd³⁺:YAG particles than that of the traditional dry method.     

Microwave-assisted Synthesis of Pyrazolo[4,3-f]quinolin-7-one Derivatives via Multi-component Reactions

A series of new pyrazolo[4,3‐f]quinolin‐7‐one derivatives were synthesized by multi‐component reactions of equimolar amount of aromatic aldehydes with 2,2‐dimethyl‐1,3‐dioxane‐4,6‐dione and 1H‐indazol‐5‐amine in ethylene glycol without catalyst under microwave irradiation. This one‐pot protocol has the advantage of good yields, simple workup procedure and shorter reaction time.     

Highly selective molecular recognition and high throughput detection of melamine based on molecularly imprinted sol-gel film

Multimode reader has been generally applied in immunoassay, and in the proposed paper, the 96 well micro-plate was modified with molecularly imprinted melamine sol-gel film, based on which the highly selective and high throughput detection of melamine was achieved. Melamine was imprinted into silica sol-gel films directly using phenyltrimethoxysilane and methyltrimethoxysilane as functionalized organosilicon precursors. The binding characteristic of the imprinted film to melamine was evaluated by equilibrium binding experiments and the morphology was studied by scanning electronic microscope (SEM). Scatchard analysis was carried out to estimate the binding parameters of the imprinted film. The proposed method exhibited excellent selectivity because of specific recognition of MM by molecularly imprinted film. Under the optimum conditions, the chemiluminescence (CL) intensity had a linear relationship against the concentration of melamine over the range of 0.1-50 μg mL⁻¹ with a lower detection limit of 0.02 μg mL⁻¹.     

Synthesis and characterization of the water-soluble silica-coated ZnS:Mn nanoparticles as fluorescent sensor for Cu ions

Silica-coated ZnS:Mn nanoparticles were synthesized by coating hydrophobic ZnS:Mn nanoparticles with silica shell through microemulsion. The core–shell structural nanoparticles were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) images and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) measurements. Results show that each core–shell nanoparticle contains single ZnS:Mn nanoparticle within monodisperse silica nanospheres (40 nm). Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and UV–vis spectrum were used to investigate the optical properties of the nanoparticles. Compared to uncoated ZnS:Mn nanoparticles, the silica-coated ZnS:Mn nanoparticles have the improved PL intensity as well as good photostability. The obtained silica-coated ZnS:Mn nanoparticles are water-soluble and have fluorescence sensitivity to Cu²⁺ ions. Quenching of fluorescence intensity of the silica-coated nanoparticles allows the detection of Cu²⁺ concentrations as low as 7.3 × 10⁻⁹ mol L⁻¹, thus affording a very sensitive detection system for this chemical species. The possible quenching mechanism is discussed.     

Phase controllable synthesis of unusual -Ga2O3 single crystals with promising luminescence property

A new synthetic approach to unusual -Ga₂O₃ with improved luminescence properties was developed by taking advantage of a microwave-assisted synthesis followed by calcinations at appropriate temperatures. Upon control of crystallinities of GaOOH precursors and the followed calcination temperature, the single crystalline -Ga₂O₃ nanorods can be synthesized in a large scale. The resulting products were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and cathodoluminescence. The luminescence property of this unusual Ga₂O₃ phase was investigated for the first time.     

Chaos control of new Ikeda–Lorenz systems by GYC partial region stability theory

A new strategy to achieve chaos control by GYC partial region stability theory is proposed. By using the GYC partial region stability theory, the Lyapunov function is a simple linear homogeneous function of error states, the controllers are more simple and have less simulation error because they are in lower degree than that of traditional controllers. Simulation results for a new Ikeda–Lorenz system show the effectiveness of this strategy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Some properties for the largest component of random geometric graphs with applications in sensor networks

In this paper we consider the standard Poisson Boolean model of random geometric graphs G（Hλ,s; 1） in Rd and study the properties of the order of the largest component L1 （G（Hλ,s; 1）） . We prove that ElL1 （G（Hλ,s; 1））] is smooth with respect to A, and is derivable with respect to s. Also, we give the expression of these derivatives. These studies provide some new methods for the theory of the largest component of finite random geometric graphs （not asymptotic graphs as s - co） in the high dimensional space （d 〉 2）. Moreover, we investigate the convergence rate of E[L1（G（Hλ,s; 1））]. These results have significance for theory development of random geometric graphs and its practical application. Using our theories, we construct and solve a new optimal energy-efficient topology control model of wireless sensor networks, which has the significance of theoretical foundation and guidance for the design of network layout.     

Positive solutions for one-dimensional -Laplacian boundary value problems with sign changing nonlinearity

This paper deals with the existence of positive solutions for the one-dimensional p-Laplacian

subject to the boundary value conditions:

where _p(s)=|s|^p−2s,p>1. We show that it has at least one or two positive solutions under some assumptions by applying the fixed point theorem. The interesting points are that the nonlinear term f is involved with the first-order derivative explicitly and f may change sign.     

Some fixed point theorems and existence of positive solutions of two-point boundary-value problems

Three theorems are obtained for the existence of at least one or three fixed points for a completely continuous mapping, which extend the Krasnoselskii’s compression–expansion theorem in cones. Based on them two theorems for the existence of positive solutions of two-point boundary-value problems are proved under a quite relaxed condition compared with the existing literature.     

Successive iteration and positive symmetric solution for a Sturm–Liouville-like four-point boundary value problem with a -Laplacian operator

In this paper, we consider the following Sturm–Liouville-like four-point p-Laplacian boundary value problem with the nonlinear term f depending on the first-order derivative subject to the boundary conditions By using a monotone iterative technique, the existence of symmetric positive solutions and corresponding iterative schemes are obtained.