Unlocking the Hidden Potential of Cosmetics Waste for Building Sustainable Green Pavements in the Future: A Case Study of Discarded Lipsticks

This investigation is dedicated to unlocking the hidden potential of discarded cosmetics towards building green sustainable road pavements in the future. It is particularly aiming at exploring waste lipstick (WLS) as a high-quality functional additive for advanced asphalt mix technologies. To fuel this novel innovation, the effect of various WLS doses (e.g., 5, 10, and 15 wt.%) on the performance of base AP-5 asphalt cement was studied in detail. A wide array of cutting-edge analytical lab techniques was employed to inspect in-depth the physicochemical, microstructural, thermo-morphological, and rheological properties of resultant admixtures including: elemental analysis, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thin-layer chromatography-flame ionization detection (TLC-FID), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), needle penetration, ring and ball softening point, Brookfield viscometer, ductility, and dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) tests. Unlike the unstable response of asphaltenes, the additive/artificial aging treatments increased the fraction of resins the most, and decreased that of aromatics; however, asphaltenes did not impair the saturates portion, according to Iatroscan research. FT-IR scan divulged that the WLS-asphalt interaction was physical rather than chemical. XRD diagnosis not only revealed an obvious correlation between the asphaltenes content and the fresh-binder crystallinity but also revealed the presence of fillers in the WLS, which may generate outstanding technical qualities to bituminous mixes. According to AFM/SEM analyses, the stepwise incorporation of WLS grew the magnitude of the “bee-shaped” microstructures and extended the roughness rate of unaged/aged binders. The prolonged consumption of the high thermal-stable additive caused a remarkable drop in the onset degradation and glass transition temperature of mixtures, thus enhancing their workability and low-temperature performance, according to TGA/DTGA/DSC data. The DSR and empirical rheological experiments demonstrated that the WLS could effectively lower the manufacturing and compaction temperatures of asphalt mixes and impart them with valuable anti-aging/fatigue-cracking assets. In a nutshell, the use of waste lipstick as an asphalt modifier is viable and cost-effective and could attenuate the pollution arisen from the beauty sector, while improving the performance of hot/warm asphalt mixes (HAM/WAM) and extending the service life of roadways.     

氮掺杂纳米管包覆金属钴催化苯甲醇和苯胺一步N-烷基化反应

通过直接热解三聚氰胺、硝酸钴和葡萄糖混合物制备氮掺杂碳纳米管包覆金属钴催化剂(Co@NCNT).Co@NCNT具有较大的比表面积、均匀的氮分布以及包覆结构.在苯甲醇和苯胺一步法N-烷基化反应中Co@N CNT具有较高的催化活性,且循环4次反应活性没有明显的变化.控制实验和中毒实验表明金属Co和N对催化活性起着重要的作用,同时金属Co是中间产物N-苄叉苯胺加氢的主要活性位.     

Invariant scale matrix hypothesis tests under elliptical symmetry

The usual assumption in multivariate hypothesis testing is that the sample consists of n independent, identically distributed Gaussian m-vectors. In this paper this assumption is weakened by considering a class of distributions for which the vector observations are not necessarily either Gaussian or independent. This class contains the elliptically symmetric laws with densities of the form f(X(n × m)) = ψ[tr(X ? M)′ (X ? M)Σ^?1]. For testing the equality of k scale matrices and for the sphericity hypothesis it is shown, by using the structure of the underlying distribution rather than any specific form of the density, that the usual invariant normal-theory tests are exactly robust, for both the null and non-null cases, under this wider class.     

On the monotonicity of the power functions of tests based on traces of multivariate beta matrices

It is shown that for the MANOVA problem the power function of the test based on the trace of a multivariate beta matrix is monotonically increasing in each noncentrality parameter provided that the cutoff point is not too large. This result is also true for the problem of testing independence of two sets of variates.     

On the robustness of least squares procedures in regression models

The criterion robustness of the standard likelihood ratio test (LRT) under the multivariate normal regression model and also the inference robustness of the same test under the univariate set up are established for certain nonnormal distributions of errors. Restricting attention to the normal distribution of errors in the context of univariate regression models, conditions on the design matrix are established under which the usual LRT of a linear hypothesis (under homoscedasticity of errors) remains valid if the errors have an intraclass covariance structure. The conditions hold in the case of some standard designs. The relevance of C. R. Rao's (1967 In Proceedings Fifth Berkeley Symposium on Math. Stat. and Prob., Vol. 1, pp. 355–372) and G. Zyskind's (1967, Ann. Math. Statist.38 1092–1110) conditions in this context is discussed.     

Viscoelastic characterization of compacted pharmaceutical excipient materials by analysis of frequency-dependent mechanical relaxation processes

A newly developed method for determining the frequency-dependent complex Young's modulus was employed to analyze the mechanical response of compacted microcrystalline cellulose, sorbitol, ethyl cellulose and starch for frequencies up to 20 kHz. A Debye-like relaxation was observed in all the studied pharmaceutical excipient materials and a comparison with corresponding dielectric spectroscopy data was made. The location in frequency of the relaxation peak was shown to correlate to the measured tensile strength of the tablets, and the relaxation was interpreted as the vibrational response of the interparticle hydrogen and van der Waals bindings in the tablets. Further, the measured relaxation strength, holding information about the energy loss involved in the relaxation processes, showed that the weakest material in terms of tensile strength, starch, is the material among the four tested ones that is able to absorb the most energy within its structure when exposed to external perturbations inducing vibrations in the studied frequency range. The results indicate that mechanical relaxation analysis performed over relatively broad frequency ranges should be useful for predicting material properties of importance for the functionality of a material in applications such as, e.g., drug delivery, drug storage and handling, and also for clarifying the origin of hitherto unexplained molecular processes.     

Statistical Measures for Ordinary Least Squares Using the αQ Algorithm

This paper shows how the dynamic program algorithm called the Q algorithm can be used as an alternative algorithm to produce the coefficients of a least squares problem. It shows also how the output of the algorithm can be used to calculate various statistical quantities needed to evaluate linear models. In particular, we show how to calculate standard statistical quantities like the coefficient of determination R², the t statistics, and the F statistics. These quantities serve as a measure of how well the model fits the data.     

Local Power Properties of Kernel Based Goodness of Fit Tests

If (X_i, i ) is a strictly stationary process with marginal density function f, we are interested in testing the hypothesis H₀: {f=f₀}, where f₀ is given. We consider different test statistics based on integrated quadratic forms measuring the proximity between f_n, a kernel estimator of f, and f₀, or between f_n and its expected value computed under H₀. We study the asymptotic local power properties of the testing procedures under local alternatives. This study generalizes to the multidimensional case in a context of dependence the corresponding one made by P. J. Bickel and M. Rosenblatt in 1973 (Ann. Statist.1, 1071–1095).     

电流控阈技术及三值电流型 CMOS施密特电路

本文以开关信号理论为指导 ,对电流型 CM OS电路中如何实现阈值控制进行研究. 建立实现阈 值控制电路的电流传输开关运算 ,并用于指导电流型 CMOS施密特电路的开关级设计 .用 PSPICE程序 模拟证明了所设计的电路具有理想的施密特电路特性.     

Leading and higher twists in proton,neutron and deuteron unpolarized structure functions F<Subscript>2</Subscript>

We summarize the results of a recent global analysis of proton and deuteron F₂ structure function world data performed over a large range of kinematics, including recent measurements done at JLab with the CLAS detector. From these data the lowest moments (n≤10) of the unpolarized structure functions are determined with good statistics and systematics. The Q² evolution of the extracted moments is analyzed in terms of an OPE-based twist expansion, taking into account soft-gluon effects at large x. A clean separation among the leading- and higher-twist terms is achieved. By combining proton and deuteron measurements the lowest moments of the neutron F₂ structure function are determined and its leading-twist term is extracted. Particular attention is paid to nuclear effects in the deuteron, which become increasingly important for the higher moments. Our results for the non-singlet, isovector (p-n) combination of the leading-twist moments are used to test recent lattice simulations. We also determine the lowest few moments of the higher-twist contributions, and find these to be approximately isospin independent, suggesting the possible dominance of ud correlations over uu and dd in the nucleon.