Chiodo formulas for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis>-th roots and topological recursion

We analyze Chiodo’s formulas for the Chern classes related to the r-th roots of the suitably twisted integer powers of the canonical class on the moduli space of curves. The intersection numbers of these classes with \(\psi \)-classes are reproduced via the Chekhov–Eynard–Orantin topological recursion. As an application, we prove that the Johnson-Pandharipande-Tseng formula for the orbifold Hurwitz numbers is equivalent to the topological recursion for the orbifold Hurwitz numbers. In particular, this gives a new proof of the topological recursion for the orbifold Hurwitz numbers.     

Pickering emulsions stabilized by nanoparticle surfactants

Amphiphilic gold nanoparticles are demonstrated to effectively stabilize emulsions of hexadecane in water. Nanoparticle surfactants are synthesized using a simple and scalable one-pot method that involves the sequential functionalization of particle surfaces with thiol-terminated polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains and short alkane-thiol molecules. The resulting nanoparticles are shown to be highly effective emulsifying agents due to their strong adsorption at oil-water and air-water interfaces. The original nonfunctionalized gold nanoparticles are unable to effectively stabilize oil-water emulsions due to their small size and low adsorption energy. Small-angle X-ray scattering and electron microscopy are used to demonstrate the formation of nanoparticle-stabilized colloidosomes that are stable against coalescence and show significant shifts in plasmon resonance enhancing the near-infrared optical absorption.     

Is Quantum Tunneling Relevant in Free‐Radical Polymerization?

Quantum tunneling in hydrogen transfer reactions active in FRP is investigated theoretically. Three systems are examined: polyethylene, polystyrene, and poly(vinyl chloride). Kinetic parameters of backbiting reactions are evaluated adopting quantum chemistry. Tunneling corrections are estimated adopting the one‐dimensional Eckart model, which provides a reasonable accuracy along with a limited computational effort. The relevance of quantum tunneling in the investigated systems is highlighted, with focus on the temperature dependence of the tunneling correction in the typical polymerization conditions of the investigated monomers. Obtained results clearly show that tunneling plays an important role in the kinetics estimation of hydrogen abstractions in FRP.

     

Structure and dynamics of dodecaborate clusters in water

We have studied using molecular dynamics simulations the interaction of the dodecaborate anion, B(12)H(12)(2-), and its amino, trimethyl, and triethyl derivatives with water molecules. We found peculiar organization of the water molecules in the first solvation shell with the formation of a dihydrogen bond between the hydrogen atoms of the anions and the hydrogen atoms of the water molecules. The simulations also show that the organization of the hydration shell is strongly influenced by the substituents in the anions. These differences are likely to play an important role in understanding the interaction of the anions with biological systems like membranes and proteins in aqueous environments.     

Thermal,Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Composites Developed from Glycerol and Dicarboxylic Acids Reinforced with Piassava Fiber

Summary: Vegetable fibers are being widely used as reinforcement in polymer composites. These composites can be applied in several fields, such as automotive, packaging and even construction. The polymer matrix used was synthesized from glycerol with phthalic and terephthalic acids in order to open future perspectives in the use of glycerin generated from the production of purified biodiesel. Composites with 2, 5, 10 wt% untreated and treated piassava fiber were obtained. Thermal, morphological and mechanical properties were evaluated. The tensile stress-strain curve of the polyester synthesized and composites was typical of a ductile material. SEM of the surface of fracture showed that the adhesion between fiber and matrix was enhanced after chemical treatment. However, the fiber content was more efficient than the superficial treatment when incorporated into the matrix. Therefore, the material under study is promising for the industrial marketplace, due to its good compatibility with natural fibers.     

New closed-form expressions for SNR estimates of Nakagami fading channels by the method of moments

Method of moments has been a parameter estimation technique appropriate to calculate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimates in fading channel models in which an optimal technique like maximum likelihood estimation is not mathematically tractable. In this article, the ratio of the second moment squared to the fourth moment of the received signal envelope is considered to calculate an exact expression for the SNR estimate in Nakagami-m fading channel for M-QAM and \(\theta \)-MQAM modulations as well as expressions to evaluate the variance and the mean of the estimate. The paper presents two useful contributions for SNR estimation theory on Nakagami fading. Besides the exact algebraic expression for the estimate for a generalized QAM modulation scheme, its performance is evaluated through a statistical linearization argument.