3D finite element simulation of explosive welding of three-layer plates

A 3D finite element model of the explosive welding process of three-layer plates with materials of steel-copper-copper is established. Based on the presented model, the bonding mechanism is simulated and analyzed, different detonation modes are also comparatively studied to indicate the driving force spread in few microseconds. The results show that the three layer plates bond together after many times of impact between the flyers and the base driven by detonation wave, which is damping rapidly at each impa...     

Supramolecular structure of 5-methyl-5-phenyl hydantoin and hydrogen-bonding patterns in 5,5′-substituted hydantoins

The crystal structure of heterocyclic compound 5-methyl-5-phenyl hydantoin has been determined from X-ray single crystal structural characterization. This material crystallizes in the orthorhombic system and noncentrosymmetric space group P21 (N°4). The crystal packing is governed by N–H···O hydrogen bond-type intermolecular interactions, forming chains and edge-fused 12-membered rings with graph-set C(4) C(5) C22(8) R33(12) in a similar hydrogen-bonding pattern of another chiral 5,5′-substituted hydantoins.     

Motzkin numbers out of Random Domino Automaton

Motzkin numbers are derived from a special case of Random Domino Automaton – recently proposed a slowly driven system being a stochastic toy model of earthquakes. It is also a generalisation of 1D Drossel–Schwabl forest-fire model. A solution of the set of equations describing stationary state of Random Domino Automaton in inverse-power case is presented. A link with Motzkin numbers allows to present explicit form of asymptotic behaviour of the automaton.     

Building and analyzing the US airport network based on en-route location information

From a complex network perspective, this study sets out two aims around the US airport network (USAN) which is built from en-route location information of domestic flights in the US. First, we analyze the structural properties of the USAN with respect to its binary and weighted graphs, and second we explore the airport patterns, which have wide-ranging implications. Results from the two graphs indicate the following. (1) The USAN exhibits scale-free, small-world and disassortative mixing properties, which are consistent with the mainstream perspectives. Besides, we find (2) a remarkable power relationship between the structural measurements in the binary graph and the traffic measurements in the weighted counterpart, namely degree versus capacity and attraction versus volume. On the other hand, investigation of the airport patterns suggests (3) that all the airports can be classified into four categories based on multiple network metrics, which shows a complete typology of the airports. And it further indicates (4) that there is a subtle relationship between the airport traffic and the geographical constraints as well as the regional socioeconomic indicators.     

Modeling fatigue of ascending stair evacuation with modified fine discrete floor field cellular automata

Fatigue even increases the complexity of the pedestrian dynamics which is regarded as a kind of nonlinear system, and might have a significant negative impact on the crowd evacuation. However, it has never been investigated completely and properly. Thus, the fine discrete floor field cellular automata model is modified by integrating the fatigue function to explore the influence of fatigue on the crowd ascending evacuation. The simulation fits well with the empirical data and the observations quantitatively and qualitatively, indicating the model captures the main features of evacuation considering fatigue impact. As a prediction, without merging streams, compared with the case of walking in constant speed, when fatigue is considered, it takes 71.4% longer for all persons to enter the stairs and 87.2% longer to evacuate. With merging streams, fatigue has little impact on the inflow, while it makes the total evacuation time 84.2% longer.     

Piezoelectric property improvement of polyethylene ferroelectrets using postprocessing thermal‐pressure treatment

In this work, biaxially stretched polymer foams with well‐defined cellular structures were prepared from polyethylene via blown‐film extrusion and subjected to corona charging to produce a piezoelectric response. The charging parameters were first optimized in terms of charging voltage and needle distance, as well as the gas type and pressure to investigate their effect on the piezoelectric coefficient (d₃₃). The results show that samples charged under nitrogen (N₂) at 100 kPa had better d₃₃ coefficient than those charged under ambient air or N₂ at 20 kPa. Moreover, 2 different thermal pressure treatments were imposed to obtain an optimized eye‐like cellular structure with different cell aspect ratios (AR). The results showed that when the cells were elongated in both the longitudinal and transverse directions (higher AR), higher d₃₃ coefficients were achieved. From all the samples produced, the best results were obtained for a longitudinal aspect ratio (AR‐L) of 7.1, a transversal aspect ratio (AR‐T) of 4.6, and a relative foam density of 0.52 leading to a d₃₃ coefficient of 935 pC/N. This coefficient was further increased using reverse charging and multilayered films, reaching a maximum of 2550 pC/N. This value is much higher than typical ones reported so far for any polyethylene and polypropylene ferroelectrets. These results could increase the use of polyethylene in piezoelectric applications as these materials are very attractive for the large‐scale production of electret‐based sensors and transducers due to their low cost and easy processing.     

[2]Pseudorotaxane-Based Supramolecular Optical Indicator for the Visual Detection of Cellular Cyanide Excretion

Cyanide is extremely hazardous to living organisms and the environment. Owing to its wide range of applications and high toxicity, the development of functional materials for cyanide detection and sensing is highly desirable. Host–guest complexation between bis(p-phenylene)-34-crown-10 H and N-methylacridinium salt G remarkably decreases the detection limit for cyanide anions compared with that of the guest itself. The [2]pseudorotaxane selectively recognizes the cyanide anion with high optical sensitivity as a result of the nucleophilic addition of the cyanide anion at the 9-position of G . The host–guest complexation is further incorporated into supramolecular materials for the visual detection of cyanide anions, especially the detection of cellular cyanide excretion with a detection limit of 0.6 μm . This supramolecular method provides an extremely distinct strategy for the visual detection of cyanide anions.     

Stability of a general adaptive immunity virus dynamics model with multistages of infected cells and two routes of infection

This paper studies an (n+4)-dimensional nonlinear virus dynamics model that characterizes the interactions of the viruses, susceptible host cells, n-stages of infected cells, B cells and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) cells. Both viral and cellular infections have been incorporated into the model. The infected-susceptible and virus-susceptible infection rates as well as the generation and removal rates of all compartments are described by general nonlinear functions. Five threshold parameters are computed, which insure the existence of the equilibria of the model under consideration. A set of conditions on the general functions has been established, which is sufficient to investigate the global dynamics of the model. The global asymptotic stability of all equilibria is proven by utilizing Lyapunov function and LaSalle's invariance principle. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical simulations of the model with specific forms of the general functions.