The Cambridge Structural Database in Retrospect and Prospect

The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) was established in 1965 to record numerical, chemical and bibliographic data relating to published organic and metal–organic crystal structures. The Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) now stores data for nearly 700 000 structures and is a comprehensive and fully retrospective historical archive of small‐molecule crystallography. Nearly 40 000 new structures are added each year. As X‐ray crystallography celebrates its centenary as a subject, and the CCDC approaches its own 50th year, this article traces the origins of the CCDC as a publicly funded organization and its onward development into a self‐financing charitable institution. Principally, however, we describe the growth of the CSD and its extensive associated software system, and summarize its impact and value as a basis for research in structural chemistry, materials science and the life sciences, including drug discovery and drug development. Finally, the article considers the CCDC’s funding model in relation to open access and open data paradigms.     

Vibrational spectroscopy in the development of surface hydrophilic elastomer latex (SHEL)

An illustrative example is given to show how various vibrational spectroscopy techniques coupled with two-dimensional (2D) correlation analysis can be effectively utilized in the development of a novel and functional material. Surface-hydrophilic elastomer latex (SHEL) is a material exhibiting rather unusual permanently water-wettable surface feature despite having a soft and rubbery bulk property, which can be successfully analyzed with vibrational spectroscopy. 2D photoacoustic (PAS) IR spectra of a SHEL film indicate the localized surface segregation of long-chain ethoxylate moiety of the oligomeric surfactant used in the preparation of this material. The accumulation of the hydrophilic long-chain ethoxylate produces the high energy polar surface over the hydrophobic bulk phase of SBR copolymer. The persistence of very low water contact angle, even after repeated washing of a SHEL film with an excess amount of water, indicates permanent covalent attachment of long-chain ethoxylate group to the SBR copolymer. 2D Raman spectra generated from the process monitoring of the emulsion copolymerization of SHEL reveal the mechanism of the covalent attachment of long-chain ethoxylate. The reaction involves a separate step of oleyl moiety of the block surfactant reacting with 1,3-butadiene prior to the onset of copolymerization to produce the SBR latex product.     

What are the Factors that Determine the Number of People Coming to China?

This paper studies the factors that affect people coming to China. We select the spending of United States and South Korea, GDP, railway transportation capacity of China as observations. Based on the data from 1988 to 2015, we use the ordinary least squares analysis regression model and present a most reasonable regression equation. It is found that South Korea’s spending is negative to the number of visitors, whereas the spending of US is positive. On comparing the effect of other variables, the growth of railway transportation capacity and the overseas travel expenses of South Korea or United States, have almost no significant impact on the number of people coming to China. However, as China economic growth increasing rapidly, more and more people are willing to come.     

A technique for in situ X-ray computed tomography of deformation-induced cavitation in thermoplastics

Deformation-induced cavitation influences the mechanical response of polymeric materials, but acquiring in situ measurements of the spatial evolution of cavities has typically necessitated the use of synchrotron radiation sources. The objective of this study is to develop and demonstrate a method allowing for in situ measurements of deformation-induced cavitation in axisymmetric polymer specimens, using a home-laboratory X-ray computed tomography setup. The method is demonstrated by assessing deformation-induced cavitation of mineral-filled PVC in a repeated loading-unloading experiment. A temporal resolution of about 3 s is obtained by exploiting the axisymmetry of notched round tensile specimens. The evolution of relative density was captured throughout the experiment, revealing an interplay between void nucleation and void growth. Combined with surface deformation measurements obtained by digital image correlation, the present technique yields data suitable for calibration and validation of material models.     

水胁迫下典型盐生植被梭梭光谱特征分析

荒漠地区由于气候干燥，降水稀少，水分常成为制约植被生长的因素之一，水分胁迫对植物长势和产量的影响比任何其他胁迫都要大。随着高光谱技术的发展，国内外已有众多学者利用高光谱数据研究植被遭受胁迫作用，然而这些研究对象多集中于甜菜、棉花、玉米、水稻等作物，针对干旱区盐生植被遭受胁迫作用的研究较少。梭梭作为荒漠、半荒漠地区的典型盐生植被之一，具有极高的经济和生态效益。选择梭梭作为研究对象，培育一年生梭梭，并设置三个水分梯度，形成受不同水分量胁迫的梭梭。使用原始光谱、红边位置参数，结合植被指数及二维相关光谱研究其叶片光谱特征，为干旱区利用高光谱遥感监测盐生植被提供借鉴。结果表明：(1)分析梭梭叶片反射光谱曲线发现，在可见光至中红外各波段范围内，受不同水分量胁迫作用的梭梭叶片光谱反射率有显著差异。在可见光(350～610 nm)波段，各水分处理的梭梭叶片反射率依次为100 mL>500 mL>200 mL，这是由于100和200 mL水分促进梭梭内部叶绿素合成，使该波段反射率降低，而过多的水分(500 mL)对梭梭内部的叶绿素合成没有更大的促进作用。在红光区(611～738 nm)，随着水分量的增多，受不同水分量胁迫的梭梭叶片光谱反射率依次减小。在738～1 181和1 228～1 296 nm波段，受不同水分量胁迫作用的梭梭叶片光谱反射率为：200 mL>100 mL>500 mL；在1 182～1 227 nm波段，受不同水分量胁迫作用的梭梭叶片光谱反射率为：100 mL>200 mL>500 mL。这是由于植被细胞结构对近红外区域的反射率影响较大，因而受不同水分胁迫作用的梭梭叶片光谱反射率有显著差异。在1 300～1 365和1 392～1 800 nm波段，受各水分胁迫作用的梭梭叶片反射率为：100 mL>200 mL>500 mL。这表明在500 mL水分胁迫量范围内，水分越多，叶子的细胞液、细胞膜对水分的吸收能力越强，使得反射率下降。通过对原始光谱求取一阶导数并提取红边位置参数发现，各水分处理下的梭梭叶片一阶微分光谱曲线中红边位置未发生移动。这是由于梭梭在长期的干旱环境影响下，形成了特殊的适应机制，水分对其红边位置影响不敏感。(2)选取若干植被指数分析各水分处理下的梭梭光谱指数变化。当水分胁迫量由100 mL增至200 mL时，WI/NDWI，MSI和NDII指数值变化显著，可用于研究水分胁迫下梭梭的光谱特征。(3)使用二维相关光谱技术分析受各水分胁迫作用的梭梭光谱特征，得出在100 mL水分胁迫下，在536，643，1 219和1 653 nm波段处，吸收峰对水分的微扰敏感；在200 mL水分胁迫下，在846和1 083 nm波段处，吸收峰对水分的微扰敏感；在500 mL水分胁迫下，在835和1 067 nm波段处，吸收峰对水分的微扰敏感。总之，在近红外波段，与100 mL水分量相比，梭梭受200和500 mL水分量胁迫时，吸收峰对水分的微扰敏感度上升。由100 mL水分胁迫下梭梭的二维同步相关谱图可知，1 044和1 665 nm，1 072和903 nm，903和1 264 nm，1 230和1 061 nm波段处形成正交叉峰，表明这些波段处光谱强度随水分的干扰同时变化。     

Estimation of viscosities of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquids over a range of temperatures using a simple correlation

In this study, a new correlation is proposed for estimating 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium ionic liquid (IL) viscosities at different temperatures and atmospheric pressure. Since ILs are rather novel, many of their physical properties are still unavailable. Because of this limitation, the aim of this work was to propose a correlation with a new insight and approach, which requires a minimum number of physical properties as input parameters. In addition to minimal dependency on physical properties, further goals in the development of the model were generality, ease-of-use, simplicity and high accuracy. A total of 2073 literature viscosity datapoints at different temperatures for 38 different ILs were used and a correlation was developed which satisfied the above-mentioned goals. The IL viscosity models of Lazzús and Pulgar-Villarroel, and Gardas and Coutinho were compared to the proposed correlation. More reliable results were obtained by the proposed relation in comparison to literature models.     

Spin polarisation in dual catalysts for the oxygen evolution and reduction reactions

Strongly correlated catalysts can be understood from precise quantum approximations. Incorporating properly electronic correlations thus let’s define Spin rules in catalysis, opening a new door towards optimum compositions for the most important reactions for a sustainable future.     

Experimental investigation of the effect of temperature on the strength of polyimide contact structures

A new photogrammetry based measurement technique for contact areas in line contact structures is developed. From the data collected by this technique, a method for measuring the contact strength of contact structures in high temperature applications is proposed. The contact strength of a line contact structure of polyimide at different temperatures is measured; the results show that the increase in temperature decreases the contact strength of the structure. The effect of temperature on the contact strength is studied by investigating the occurrence and evolution of yielding core within the structure at different temperatures. The decrease in the yield strength and elastic modulus of the polyimide material at high temperature induces core yielding at lower loads and eases the propagation of core yielding to the surface.