Singer-Thorpe bases for special Einstein curvature tensors in dimension 4

Let (M, g) be a 4-dimensional Einstein Riemannian manifold. At each point p of M, the tangent space admits a so-called Singer-Thorpe basis (ST basis) with respect to the curvature tensor R at p. In this basis, up to standard symmetries and antisymmetries, just 5 components of the curvature tensor R are nonzero. For the space of constant curvature, the group O(4) acts as a transformation group between ST bases at T _p M and for the so-called 2-stein curvature tensors, the group Sp(1) ? SO(4) acts as a transformation group between ST bases. In the present work, the complete list of Lie subgroups of SO(4) which act as transformation groups between ST bases for certain classes of Einstein curvature tensors is presented. Special representations of groups SO(2), T ², Sp(1) or U(2) are obtained and the classes of curvature tensors whose transformation group into new ST bases is one of the mentioned groups are determined.     

Synthesis of binuclear palladium complexes with a rigid phenylene bridge linker

The complexes [PdX₂Py]₂(di-NHC) (X = Br or Cl) in which di-NHC represents a di-N-heterocyclic carbene, featuring a rigid phenylene spacer between the carbene units, have been prepared from reactions of the corresponding diimidazolium halide salts with PdCl₂ in pyridine. The molecular structures of three of the complexes were determined by X-ray diffraction studies. The influences of different substitutions and of the halide ligand (Br or Cl) on the structure and reactivity of the complexes have been studied. The catalytic activity of the binuclear palladium complexes was tested in the Mizoroki–Heck reaction of styrene with bromobenzene.     

Influence of TiO2 impregnated with a novel copper(II) carboxylic porphyrin and its application in photocatalytic degradation of 4-Nitrophenol

A novel 5,15-di-[4-carboxylatomethoxy]phenyl-10,20-diphenylporphyrin, its copper complex and the corresponding metalloporphyrin-TiO₂ photocatalyst were synthesized and characterized by DRS, SEM, XRD, and FT–IR. The photocatalytic effects of anataseTiO₂ impregnated with this copper(II) porphyrin was investigated by photodegradation of 4-nitrophenol(4-NP) in aqueous solution under Xenon lamp irradiation. The results indicated that the photoactivity of copper(II) porphyrin-TiO₂ composite was evidently enhanced by the interaction between carboxyl of the porphyrin molecule and hydroxyls anchored on the TiO₂. Futhermore, the copper(II) carboxylic porphyrin displayed good adsorption behavior and activity of the dye-sensized TiO₂ system.     

Performance enhancement of multicrystalline silicon solar cells and modules using double‐layered SiNx:H antireflection coatings

Silicon nitride coating deposited by the plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition method is the most widely used antireflection coating for crystalline silicon solar cells. In this work, we employed double‐layered silicon nitride coating consisting of a top layer with a lower refractive index and a bottom layer (contacting the silicon wafer) with a higher refractive index for multicrystalline silicon solar cells. An optimization procedure was presented for maximizing the photovoltaic performance of the encapsulated solar cells or modules. The dependence of their photovoltaic properties on the thickness of silicon nitride coatings was carefully analyzed. Desirable thicknesses of the individual silicon nitride layers for the double‐layered coatings were calculated. In order to get statistical conclusions, we fabricated a large number of multicrystalline silicon solar cells using the standard production line for both the double‐layered and single‐layered antireflection coating types. On the cell level, the double‐layered silicon nitride antireflection coating resulted in an increase of 0.21%, absolute for the average conversion efficiency, and 1.8 mV and 0.11 mA/cm² for the average open‐circuit voltage and short‐circuit current density, respectively. On the module level, the cell to module power transfer factor was analyzed, and it was demonstrated that the double‐layered silicon nitride antireflection coating provided a consistent enhancement in the photovoltaic performance for multicrystalline silicon solar cell modules than the single‐layered silicon nitride coating. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Three-dimensional Octameric Assembly of Icosahedral M13 Units in [Au8Ag57(Dppp)4(C6H11S)32Cl2]Cl and its [Au8Ag55(Dppp)4(C6H11S)34][BPh4]2 Derivative

The high-dimensional (that is, three-dimensional (3D)) assembly of nanomaterials is an effective means of improving their properties; however, achieving this assembly at the atomic level remains challenging. Herein, we obtained a novel nanocluster, [Au₈Ag₅₇(Dppp)₄(C₆H₁₁S)₃₂C_l2]Cl (Dppp=1,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)propane) showing a 3D octameric assembly mode involving the kernel penetration of eight complete icosahedral Au@Ag₁₀Au₂ units for the first time. The atomically precise structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and further confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry measurements. Furthermore, ligand-induced transformation prompted the conversion of [Au₈Ag₅₇(Dppp)₄(C₆H₁₁S)₃₂Cl₂]Cl, with complete octameric fusion into [Au₈Ag₅₅(Dppp)₄(C₆H₁₁S)₃₄][BPh₄]₂, with incomplete octameric fusion. These observations will hopefully facilitate further research on the assembly of M₁₃ nanobuilding blocks.     

Database Survey of Single-and-Half Phosphorus–Oxygen Bonds in Salts with the C2PO2 Segment: Crystal Structure of [NH2C5H4NH][(C6H5)2P(O)(O)]⋅2H2O

Crystallography Reports - For structures with a C2PO2 skeleton, a comparison of “single-and-half” phosphorus–oxygen bonds with single and double phosphorus–oxygen bonds is...     

An effective projection-based nonlinear adaptive control strategy for heavy vehicle suspension with hysteretic leaf spring

Nonlinear Dynamics - A new nonlinear adaptive control strategy for electrohydraulic active suspensions with the hysteretic leaf spring is proposed to improve suspension performances of heavy...     

Implementation of integral fixed-time sliding mode controller for speed regulation of PMSM servo system

The paper presents a new concept of absorbing car body vibrations, which consists in a modification of the construction of the classical mono-tube hydraulic shock absorber by the introduction of an additional inner cylinder with an auxiliary piston. By making an appropriate selection of the system parameters, one may obtain the damping force characteristics dependent on the excitation amplitude and frequency. In the case of driving on a good-quality road surface, the shock absorber displays the soft characteristics which are desired as far as the driving comfort is concerned. In the case of worse-quality roads or while overcoming large obstacles, the hard characteristics ensure a higher level of safety and protect the shock absorber from getting damaged. The developed nonlinear model makes it possible to effectively analyse the system responses to harmonic, impulse and random excitations. On the basis of the analysis of the impact of harmonic excitations on the driving comfort and safety indexes, one may estimate the optimal values of the shock absorber construction parameters. Impulse and random excitations are applied in order to finally verify the effectiveness of the operation of the proposed shock absorber.