The Coordination Chemistry of f-Block Elements in Molten Salts

The coordination chemistry of f-block elements (lanthanide and actinide) in molten salts has become a resounding topic in view of its great importance to the research and development (R&D) of molten salt reactors and pyroprocessing. In this Review article, a general overview of the coordination chemistry of f-block elements in molten salts is provided including past achievements and recent advances. Particular emphases are placed on the oxidation state, speciation, and solution structure of f-block metal ions in molten salts, as well as their relationships with the salt composition. Furthermore, this review briefly discusses the spectroscopic and theoretical methods that complement each other in revealing the coordination properties.     

Developing the Low-Temperature Oxidation Mechanism of Cyclopentane: An Experimental and Theoretical Study

At present, the reactivity of cyclic alkanes is estimated by comparison with acyclic hydrocarbons. Due to the difference in the structure of cycloalkanes and acycloalkanes, the thermodynamic data obtained by analogy are not applicable. In this study, a molecular beam sampling vacuum ultraviolet photoionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MB-VUV-PI-TOFMS) was applied to study the low-temperature oxidation of cyclopentane (CPT) at a total pressure range from 1–3 atm and low-temperature range between 500 and 800 K. Low-temperature reaction products including cyclic olefins, cyclic ethers, and highly oxygenated intermediates (e. g., ketohydroperoxide KHP, keto-dihydroperoxide KDHP, olefinic hydroperoxides OHP and ketone structure products) were observed. Further investigation of the oxidation of CPT – electronic structure calculations – were carried out at the UCCSD(T)-F12a/aug-cc-pVDZ//B3LYP/6-31+ G(d,p) level to explore the reactivity of O₂ molecules adding sequentially to cyclopentyl radicals. Experimental and theoretical observations showed that the dominant product channel in the reaction of CPT radicals with O₂ is HO₂ elimination yielding cyclopentene. The pathways of second and third O₂ addition – the dissociation of hydroperoxide – were further confirmed. The results of this study will develop the low-temperature oxidation mechanism of CPT, which can be used for future research on accurately simulating the combustion process of CPT.     

What is the optimal cutoff surface for ore bodies with more than one mineral?

In mine planning problems, cutoff grade optimization defines a threshold at every time period such that material above this value is processed, and the rest is considered waste. In orebodies with multiple minerals, which occur in practice, the natural extension is to consider a cutoff surface. We show that in two dimensions the optimal solution is a line, and in n dimensions it is a hyperplane.     

Revealing the Effect of Surface Composition on Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Supported Pt-Fe Alloy Electrocatalysts for Methanol Oxidation Performance

The designs of efficient and inexpensive Pt-based catalysts for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) are essential to boost the commercialization of direct methanol fuel cells. Here, the highly catalytic performance PtFe alloys supported on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) decorating nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) have been successfully prepared via co-engineering of the surface composition and electronic structure. The Pt₁Fe₃@NC/MWCNTs catalyst with moderate Fe³⁺ feeding content (0.86 mA/mg_Pt) exhibits 2.26-fold enhancement in MOR mass activity compared to pristine Pt/C catalyst (0.38 mA/mg_Pt). Furthermore, the CO oxidation initial potential of Pt₁Fe₃@NC/MWCNTs catalyst is lower relative to Pt/C catalyst (0.71 V and 0.80 V). Benefited from the optimal surface compositions, the anti-corrosion ability of MWCNT, strong electron interaction between PtFe alloys and MWCNTs and the N-doped carbon (NC) layer, the Pt₁Fe₃@NC/MWCNTs catalyst presents an improved MOR performance and anti-CO poisoning ability. This study would open up new perspective for designing efficient electrocatalysts for the DMFCs field.     

The Picone identity: A device to get optimal uniqueness results and global dynamics in Population Dynamics

This paper infers from a generalized Picone identity the uniqueness of the stable positive solution for a class of semilinear equations of superlinear indefinite type, as well as the uniqueness and global attractivity of the coexistence state in two generalized diffusive prototypes of the symbiotic and competing species models of Lotka–Volterra. The optimality of these uniqueness theorems reveals the tremendous strength of the Picone identity.     

Regularity of optimal sets for some functional involving eigenvalues of an operator in divergence form

In this paper we consider minimizers of the functional$\min \{{\lambda }_1(\mathrm{\Omega })+\cdots +{\lambda }_k(\mathrm{\Omega })+\mathrm{\Lambda }|\mathrm{\Omega }|,:\mathrm{\Omega }\subset D\text{ open}\}$ where $D\subset {\mathbb{R}}^d$ is a bounded open set and where $0<{\lambda }_1(\mathrm{\Omega })\le \cdots \le {\lambda }_k(\mathrm{\Omega })$ are the first k eigenvalues on Ω of an operator in divergence form with Dirichlet boundary condition and with Hölder continuous coefficients. We prove that the optimal sets ${\mathrm{\Omega }}^{⁎}$ have finite perimeter and that their free boundary $\partial {\mathrm{\Omega }}^{⁎}\cap D$ is composed of a regular part, which is locally the graph of a $C^{1,\alpha }$-regular function, and a singular part, which is empty if $d<d^{⁎}$, discrete if $d=d^{⁎}$ and of Hausdorff dimension at most $d-d^{⁎}$ if $d>d^{⁎}$, for some $d^{⁎}\in \{5,6,7\}$.     

基于GA_XGBoost模型的大学生科研能力预测问题研究

科学评价大学生科研创新能力对我国科研水平的提高具有重要意义.采用机器学习模型来预测大学生科研能力可以起到良好的效果,提出一种GAXGBoost模型来实现对大学生的科研能力预测.此模型是以Xgboost算法为基础,然后充分利用遗传算法的全局搜索能力自动搜索Xgboost最优超参数,避免了人为经验调参不准确的缺陷,最后采用精英选择策略以此确保每一轮都是最佳的进化结果.通过分析表明,所采用的GAXGBoost模型在大学生科研能力预测的结果中具有很高的精度,将此模型与Logistic Regression、Random Forest、SVM等模型进行对比,GAXGBoost模型的预测精度最高.