Sol-Gel Processes of Functional Powders and Films

The key principles of sol-gel process and its characteristics are outlined and its major control parameters are summarized. Different samples of functional powders and films with magnetic, optical, and dielectric properties prepared by the sol-gel method are described. To determine the relationship between microstructure and properties, the effects of preparation conditions on the size and microstructure and electric properties, dielectric properties, optical properties, and magnetic properties are analyzed

Fermions tunneling from higher-dimensional charged AdS black hole in dRGT massive gravity within modified dispersion relation

The tunneling behavior of fermions with half-integral spin from a higher dimensional charged anti-de Sitter (AdS) black hole in de Rham, Gabadadze and Tolley (dRGT) massive gravity is investigated via a modified Hamilton-Jacobi equation. The results demonstrate that the modified thermodynamic quantities not only are related to the properties of the higher dimensional charged AdS black hole in dRGT massive gravity but also depend on the parameter $\beta$, the coupling constant $\sigma$ and the mass of emitted particles $m$. In addition, the modified Hawking temperature is higher than the original temperature; hence, the effect of MDR can significantly enhance the evolution of the black hole. Besides, our results can be verified using the modified Stefan-Boltzmann law.Comment: 7 pages, corrected typo

The research infrastructure of Chinese foundations, a database for Chinese civil society studies

This paper provides technical details and user guidance on the Research Infrastructure of Chinese Foundations (RICF), a database of Chinese foundations, civil society, and social development in general. The structure of the RICF is deliberately designed and normalized according to the Three Normal Forms. The database schema consists of three major themes: foundations’ basic organizational profile (i.e., basic profile, board member, supervisor, staff, and related party tables), program information (i.e., program information, major program, program relationship, and major recipient tables), and financial information (i.e., financial position, financial activities, cash flow, activity overview, and large donation tables). The RICF’s data quality can be measured by four criteria: data source reputation and credibility, completeness, accuracy, and timeliness. Data records are properly versioned, allowing verification and replication for research purposes

A review of high-speed electro-hydrostatic actuator pumps in aerospace applications: challenges and solutions

The continued development of electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHAs) in aerospace applications has put forward an increasing demand upon EHA pumps for their high power density. Besides raising the delivery pressure, increasing the rotational speed is another effective way to achieve high power density of the pump, especially when the delivery pressure is limited by the strength of materials. However, high-speed operating conditions can lead to several challenges to the pump design. This paper reviews the current challenges including the cavitation, flow and pressure ripples, tilting motion of rotating group and heat problem, associated with a high-speed rotation. In addition, potential solutions to the challenges are summarized, and their advantages and limitations are analyzed in detail. Finally, future research trends in EHA pumps are suggested. It is hoped that this review can provide a full understanding of the speed limitations for EHA pumps and offer possible solutions to overcome them

Use of recycled and secondary aggregates in concrete: deformation properties

The characteristics of recycled and secondary aggregates: coarse recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), fine glass cullet aggregate (GCA) and fine copper slag aggregate (CSA), and their effects on concrete deformation properties: elastic modulus, creep and shrinkage, have been studied. A novel Analytical Systemisation method was developed for the analysis and evaluation of the results sourced from 713 studies, undertaken by 960 authors from 537 institutions in 46 countries during 1972–2017, forming a data matrix having over 400,000 data points. Aggregate physical properties were found to be affected by the crushing process, more so for RCA than GCA and CSA. It was found that RCA reduces the resistance of concrete to deformation, whilst GCA and CSA result in no change or an improvement. The change in the deformation was shown to be affected by aggregate content, concrete strength and other factors. Most of the existing models were found not to consider the aggregate effect in estimating the deformation of concrete. Three new empirical models, essentially based on aggregate stiffness in the form of aggregate absorption, aggregate content and its ratio to cement content, have been developed for estimating the deformation of concrete made with aggregate suitable for use in structural concrete

Extracting energy via magnetic reconnection from Kerr-de Sitter black holes

It has been recently shown that magnetic reconnection can provide us a novel mechanism to extract black hole rotational energy from a Kerr black holes. In some certain values of parameters, such mechanism is found to be more efficient than the Blandford-Znajek mechanism. In this paper, we study the energy extraction from the Kerr-de Sitter black hole via this magnetic reconnection process. With the increase of the cosmological constant, a slowly spinning Kerr-de Sitter black hole can implement the energy extraction than its Kerr counterpart. Of particular interest is that although the numerical calculation shows that the maximum values of the power and efficiency decrease with the cosmological constant, Kerr-de Sitter black hole still has advantages when the black hole spin $a/M>1$ and the dominant reconnection $X$-point is far away from the event horizon. These results uncover the significant effects of cosmological constant on the energy extraction via the magnetic reconnection process.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

Cloning, Identification, and Characterization of the rpoS-Like Sigma Factor rpoX from Vibrio alginolyticus

Vibrio alginolyticus ZJ-51 displays phase variation between opaque/rugose colonies (Op) and translucent/smooth colonies (Tr). These colony variants show great differences in biofilm formation and motility. In this study, a gene encoding for an rpoS-like sigma factor, rpoX, has been cloned and characterized. The absence of rpoX did not affect colony switching rate but did decrease biofilm formation in both the Op and the Tr variants. When challenged with hydrogen peroxide, the ΔrpoX in the Op background showed a slightly higher survival rate compared with the wild type, whereas survival was decreased in the Tr background. Deletion of rpoX in the Tr background resulted in a higher ability to resist ethanol challenges and to survive hyperosmolarity challenges, and in the Op background the opposite phenotype was observed. This indicates that the rpoX gene is involved in biofilm formation and stress response but the effects are controlled by colony phase variation in V. alginolyticus