Lithium Insertion Mechanism in Iron-Based Oxyfluorides with Anionic Vacancies Probed by PDF Analysis

The mechanism of lithium insertion that occurs in an iron oxyfluoride sample with a hexagonal–tungsten–bronze (HTB)-type structure was investigated by the pair distribution function. This study reveals that upon lithiation, the HTB framework collapses to yield disordered rutile and rock salt phases followed by a conversion reaction of the fluoride phase toward lithium fluoride and nanometer-sized metallic iron. The occurrence of anionic vacancies in the pristine framework was shown to strongly impact the electrochemical activity, that is, the reversible capacity scales with the content of anionic vacancies. Similar to FeOF-type electrodes, upon de-lithiation, a disordered rutile phase forms, showing that the anionic chemistry dictates the atomic arrangement of the re-oxidized phase. Finally, it was shown that the nanoscaling and structural rearrangement induced by the conversion reaction allow the in situ formation of new electrode materials with enhanced electrochemical properties.     

Combinatorial Optimization by Dynamic Contraction

A heuristic optimization methodology, Dynamic Contraction (DC), is introduced as an approach for solving a wide variety of hard combinatorial problems. Contraction is an operation that maps an instance of a problem to a smaller instance of the same problem. DC is an iterative improvement strategy that relies on contraction as a mechanism for escaping local minima. As a byproduct of contraction, efficiency is improved due to a reduction of problem size. Effectiveness of DC is shown through simple applications to two classical combinatorial problems: The graph bisection problem and the traveling salesman problem.     

On solving energy-dependent partitioned eigenvalue problem by genetic algorithm: The case of real symmetric Hamiltonian matrices

An energy-dependent partitioning scheme is explored for extracting a small number of eigenvalues of a real symmetric matrix with the help of genetic algorithm. The proposed method is tested with matrices of different sizes (30 × 30 to 1000 × 1000). Comparison is made with Löwdin’s strategy for solving the problem. The relative advantages and disadvantages of the GA-based method are analyzed     

Parallelization of population-based multi-objective meta-heuristics: An empirical study

In single-objective optimization it is possible to find a global optimum, while in the multi-objective case no optimal solution is clearly defined, but several that simultaneously optimize all the objectives. However, the majority of this kind of problems cannot be solved exactly as they have very large and highly complex search spaces. Recently, meta-heuristic approaches have become important tools for solving multi-objective problems encountered in industry as well as in the theoretical field. Most of these meta-heuristics use a population of solutions, and hence the runtime increases when the population size grows. An interesting way to overcome this problem is to apply parallel processing. This paper analyzes the performance of several parallel paradigms in the context of population-based multi-objective meta-heuristics. In particular, we evaluate four alternative parallelizations of the Pareto simulated annealing algorithm, in terms of quality of the solutions, and speedup.     

Spectral distributions in nuclei: General principles and applications

The subject of spectral distribution methods where one derives and applies the locally smoothed forms of observables in nuclei is briefly reviewed. It is well understood that the local forms (with respect to energy) of the level density function, expectation values and strength densities are Gaussian, linear (or ratio of Gaussians) and a bivariate Gaussian respectively. To accomodate symmetries in the above forms, one has to deal with multivariate distributions in general; for example the angular-momentum (J) decomposition leads to a bivariate Gaussian form for the level density. These results extend to indefinitely large spaces by method of partitioning and they generate convolution forms. The origin of these remarkable spectral properties is discussed and shell model examples are given to substantiate their applicability to nuclear systems. Spectral distribution theory is a practical, usable theory because the smoothed forms are defined in terms of traces of low particle-rank operators, and the trace information propagates. Finally we discuss the application of the spectral methods for a wide range of nuclear problems; these include binding energies, orbit occupancies, electromagnetic andβ-decay sum rule quantities, analysis of operators, symmetry breaking, numerical level densities, and determination of bounds on time-reversal non-invariant part of nucleon-nucleon interaction.     

Identifying potential binding modes and explaining partitioning behavior using flexible alignments and multidimensional scaling

A method is described for the rapid and automatic analysis of flexible molecular alignments using multidimensional scaling and a normalized scoring scheme. A projection scheme was devised to separate orientational and conformational effects. It is shown that the approach can be utilized for the identification of common binding orientations or to the study of differences in partioning behavior. It is suggested that the method can be employed as a novel approach exploring molecular similarity as a dynamic property, so that it includes aspects of motion (by way of mutual orientations), conformations and molecular properties.     

Vapor-particle partitioning of hydrocarbons in Western Mediterranean urban and marine atmospheres

An analytical procedure is described for a comprehensive determination of the composition of hydrocarbons in the atmosphere, based on: (a) aerosol filtration and subsequent adsorption of the vapor phase onto active charcoal and polyurethane foam; (b) GPC and HPLC fractionation of the extracts, and (c) analysis of the fractions by GC-MS under EI and NICI modes. Special emphasis is placed onn-alkanes, PAHs and their oxygenated derivatives.The characterization of samples collected in a coastal urban area (Barcelona city), and far away over the Western Mediterranean, at sea level and at 1100 m of altitude, revealed significant changes in the aerosol composition, mainly attributed to initial vapor-particle partitioning processes, influenced by ambient temperature variations, and to others taking place during long-range atmospheric transport, related with the different compound photoreactivities and with an unexplained source-decoupling phenomenon.     

Multimonomer partitioning in latex systems with moderately water-soluble monomers

Simple equations describing monomer partitioning in latices during intervals 2 and 3 in emulsion polymerization with any number of low to moderately water soluble monomers were derived from the extended Morton equation by making various assumptions. It appears that it is mainly the combinatorial entropy of mixing that governs the partitioning behavior, and that other contributions to the free energy of the monomers in the polymer particles are marginal. Experimental results with styrene, methyl methacrylate, and methyl acrylate confirm the validity of the assumptions. In interval 3 of emulsion polymerization the sum of all contributions to the free energy of the monomers in the particles other than the combinatorial entropy of mixing can be taken as a constant that is dependent only on the monomer composition in the particles and independent of the degree of swelling of the particles. The only parameters one needs to know to calculate the monomer concentrations in all phases with help of the derived equations, are the saturation concentrations of each monomer in the polymer particles, and the saturation concentrations of each monomer in the aqueous phase. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Dissociation equilibrium between uncharged and charged local anesthetic lidocaine in a surface-adsorbed film

The dissociation equilibrium between uncharged local anesthetic lidocaine (LC) and charged local anesthetic LC (LCH⁺) in a surface-adsorbed film was investigated by measuring the surface tension and pH of aqueous solutions of a mixture of hydrochloric acid and LC. The surface tension values decreased slightly with increasing total molality m_t at 0X₂0.5, where X₂ is the mole fraction of LC in the mixture, while they decreased rapidly with increasing m_t at 0.5<X₂1. It was shown from the pH measurements that almost all LC molecules were changed into LCH⁺ ions by protonation at 0X₂0.5 and both forms coexisted only at 0.5<X₂1. The quantities of the respective LC and LCH⁺ transferred from the aqueous solution to the adsorbed film, i.e., their surface densities, were calculated by applying the thermodynamic equations derived to the surface tension and pH data. A greater quantity of LC than LCH⁺ existed in the adsorbed film at the coexisting composition. The partitioning behavior of LC and LCH⁺ in the adsorbed film was characterized by three composition regions: (1) slight partitioning of low surface-active LCH⁺ in the region at 0X₂0.5, (2) preferential partitioning of LC at 0.5<X₂<around 0.7, and (3) negative partitioning of LCH⁺ at around 0.7X₂1. The present results clearly indicate that uncharged local anesthetics transfer into hydrophobic environments such as cell membranes more than charged ones.     

Study of gas-liquid partitioning of alkane solutes in several organic solvents by using principal component analysis and linear solvation energy relationships

Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to extract the number of factors which can describe the 737 gas-liquid partition coefficients of five linear, four branched, and two cyclic alkanes in 67 common solvents. Based on the reconstruction of partition coefficient data matrix, we concluded that the experimental dataset could readily be reduced to two relevant factors. Using only these two factors, there were no errors larger than 3%, 7 cases had errors larger than 2%, and in 34 cases, errors were between 1 and 2%. n-Hexane and ethylcyclohexane were chosen as the test factors, and all other partition coefficients were expressed in terms of these two test factors. Prediction of the logarithmic partition coefficient of these alkanes in seven chemically different solvents, which were originally excluded from the data matrix, was excellent: the root mean square error was 0.064, only in 11 cases the errors were larger than 1%, and only 3 had errors larger than 4%.Linear solvation energy relationships (LSERs) using both theoretical and empirical solvent parameters were used to explain the molecular interactions responsible for partition. Several combinations of parameters were tried but the standard deviations were not less than 0.31. This could be attributed to the model itself, imprecisions in the data matrix or in some of the LSER parameters. Solvent cohesive parameters and surface tension in combination with polarity-polarizability or dispersion parameters perform the best.Finally, the two principal component factors were rotated onto the most relevant physicochemical parameters that control the gas-liquid partitioning phenomena.