Interaction of O vacancies and domain structures in single crystal BaTi O3: Two-dimensional ferroelectric model

Two-dimensional simulations on the interactions of oxygen vacancies and different domain structures in barium titanate single crystal were carried out using the phase field method. The evolution of the spontaneous polarizations and oxygen vacancies was coupled through Maxwell's equation. The results showed that two barriers near the electrodes existed in both the 90°and 180°domain structures. It has also been observed that while an intrinsic electrostatic potential drop across the 90°domain wall created the electric fields which drove the electrons and oxygen vacancies aggregate on the different sides of the domain wall, the 180°domain wall had insignificant interaction with the potential, and no electron or vacancy accumulation in 180°domain structure was observed. Polarization charge density is believed to be the origin of this difference. © 2008 The American Physical Society.published_or_final_versio

Robustness analysis of discrete predictor-based controllers for input-delay systems

In this article, robustness to model uncertainties are analysed in the context of discrete predictor-based state-feedback controllers for discrete-time input-delay systems with time-varying delay, in an LMI framework. The goal is comparing robustness of predictor-based strategies with respect to other (sub)optimal state feedback ones. A numerical example illustrates that improvements in tolerance to modelling errors can be achieved by using the predictor framework.The authors are grateful for grant nos. DPI2008-06737-C02-01, DPI2008-06731-C02-01, DPI2011-27845-C02-01 and PROMETEO/2008/088 from the Spanish and Valencian governments.González Sorribes, A.; Sala, A.; García Gil, PJ.; Albertos Pérez, P. (2013). Robustness analysis of discrete predictor-based controllers for input-delay systems. International Journal of Systems Science. 44(2):232-239. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207721.2011.600469S232239442Boukas, E.-K. (2006). Discrete-time systems with time-varying time delay: Stability and stabilizability. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2006, 1-10. doi:10.1155/mpe/2006/42489Du, D., Jiang, B., & Zhou, S. (2008). Delay-dependent robust stabilisation of uncertain discrete-time switched systems with time-varying state delay. International Journal of Systems Science, 39(3), 305-313. doi:10.1080/00207720701805982El Ghaoui, L., Oustry, F., & AitRami, M. (1997). A cone complementarity linearization algorithm for static output-feedback and related problems. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 42(8), 1171-1176. doi:10.1109/9.618250Gao, H., & Chen, T. (2007). New Results on Stability of Discrete-Time Systems With Time-Varying State Delay. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 52(2), 328-334. doi:10.1109/tac.2006.890320Gao, H., Wang, C., Lam, J., & Wang, Y. (2004). Delay-dependent output-feedback stabilisation of discrete-time systems with time-varying state delay. IEE Proceedings - Control Theory and Applications, 151(6), 691-698. doi:10.1049/ip-cta:20040822Gao, H., Chen, T., & Lam, J. (2008). A new delay system approach to network-based control. Automatica, 44(1), 39-52. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2007.04.020Garcia , P , Castillo , P , Lozano , R and Albertos , P . 2006 . Robustness with Respect to Delay Uncertainties of a Predictor Observer Based Discrete-time Controller . Proceeding of the 45th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control . 2006 . pp. 199 – 204 .Guo , Y and Li , S . 2009 . New Stability Criterion for Discrete-time Systems with Interval Time-varying State Delay . Joint 48th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and 28th Chinese Control Conference . 2009 . pp. 1342 – 1347 .Hägglund, T. (1996). An industrial dead-time compensating PI controller. Control Engineering Practice, 4(6), 749-756. doi:10.1016/0967-0661(96)00065-2V.J.S. Leite, and Miranda, M.F. (2008), ‘Robust Stabilization of Discrete-time Systems with Time-varying Delay: An LMI Approach’,Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2008, 15 pages (doi:10.1155/2008/875609)Liu, X. G., Tang, M. L., Martin, R. R., & Wu, M. (2006). Delay-dependent robust stabilisation of discrete-time systems with time-varying delay. IEE Proceedings - Control Theory and Applications, 153(6), 689-702. doi:10.1049/ip-cta:20050223Lozano, R., Castillo, P., Garcia, P., & Dzul, A. (2004). Robust prediction-based control for unstable delay systems: Application to the yaw control of a mini-helicopter. Automatica, 40(4), 603-612. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2003.10.007Manitius, A., & Olbrot, A. (1979). Finite spectrum assignment problem for systems with delays. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 24(4), 541-552. doi:10.1109/tac.1979.1102124Michiels, W., & Niculescu, S.-I. (2003). On the delay sensitivity of Smith Predictors. International Journal of Systems Science, 34(8-9), 543-551. doi:10.1080/00207720310001609057Palmor, Z.J. (1996), ‘Time-delay Compensation – Smith Predictor and Its Modifications’, inThe Control Handbook, ed. W.S. Levine, Boca Raton: CRC Press, pp. 224–237Pan, Y.-J., Marquez, H. J., & Chen, T. (2006). Stabilization of remote control systems with unknown time varying delays by LMI techniques. International Journal of Control, 79(7), 752-763. doi:10.1080/00207170600654554Richard, J.-P. (2003). Time-delay systems: an overview of some recent advances and open problems. Automatica, 39(10), 1667-1694. doi:10.1016/s0005-1098(03)00167-5Wang, Q.-G., Lee, T. H., & Tan, K. K. (1999). Finite-Spectrum Assignment for Time-Delay Systems. Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences. doi:10.1007/978-1-84628-531-8He, Y., Wu, M., Han, Q.-L., & She, J.-H. (2008). Delay-dependentH∞control of linear discrete-time systems with an interval-like time-varying delay. International Journal of Systems Science, 39(4), 427-436. doi:10.1080/00207720701832531Yue, D., & Han, Q.-L. (2005). Delayed feedback control of uncertain systems with time-varying input delay. Automatica, 41(2), 233-240. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2004.09.006Zhang, B., Xu, S., & Zou, Y. (2008). Improved stability criterion and its applications in delayed controller design for discrete-time systems. Automatica, 44(11), 2963-2967. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2008.04.01

Enhanced Luminescence of Eu-Doped TiO2Nanodots

Monodisperse and spherical Eu-doped TiO2nanodots were prepared on substrate by phase-separation-induced self-assembly. The average diameters of the nanodots can be 50 and 70 nm by changing the preparation condition. The calcined nanodots consist of an amorphous TiO2matrix with Eu3+ions highly dispersed in it. The Eu-doped TiO2nanodots exhibit intense luminescence due to effective energy transfer from amorphous TiO2matrix to Eu3+ions. The luminescence intensity is about 12.5 times of that of Eu-doped TiO2film and the luminescence lifetime can be as long as 960 μs

Ordered Mesostructured CdS Nanowire Arrays with Rectifying Properties

Highly ordered mesoporous CdS nanowire arrays were synthesized by using mesoporous silica as hard template and cadmium xanthate (CdR2) as a single precursor. Upon etching silica, mesoporous CdS nanowire arrays were produced with a yield as high as 93 wt%. The nanowire arrays were characterized by XRD, N2adsorption, TEM, and SEM. The results show that the CdS products replicated from the mesoporous silica SBA-15 hard template possess highly ordered hexagonal mesostructure and fiber-like morphology, analogous to the mother template. The current–voltage characteristics of CdS nanoarrays are strongly nonlinear and asymmetrical, showing rectifying diode-like behavior

Improved activity and stability of chlorobenzene oxidation over transition metal-substituted spinel-type catalysts supported on cordierite

Industrial catalysts usually encounter great challenges in Cl· deactivation, toxic by-products generation, and stability with a long running operation for catalytic oxidation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs). In this research, spinel-type oxides with transition metal substituted as active oxides supported on cordierite (Crd) was identified to catalytic degradation of chlorobenzene (CB). The Cu1.4Mn1.6O4 spinel-type oxides considered as the main active oxides have been identified, which were confirmed by XRD and TEM. The activities of these CuMxMn2-xO4 catalysts were markedly improved by lower calcining temperature and shorter time. CuCe0.25Mn1.75O4/Crd catalyst displayed the highest activity and good stability due to that CeO2 nano-rods structure conducive to increase the Oads amount, the dispersion of active oxides, the strength of weak acidity, the surface areas and pore volume. Moreover, spinel-type with CeO2 doping exhibited high performance in CVOCs elimination attributed to the high storage capacity of oxygen, plentiful oxygen vacancies, good efficiency in breaking C-Cl bond and the easy shuttles between Ce3+ and Ce4+, which were demonstrated by XPS. The results indicate that CeO2, Oads, and ·OH have beneficial effects on the removing Cl· into benzene, and then improving the ring-opening of CB for CB degradation

The alpha-kinase family: an exceptional branch on the protein kinase tree

The alpha-kinase family represents a class of atypical protein kinases that display little sequence similarity to conventional protein kinases. Early studies on myosin heavy chain kinases in Dictyostelium discoideum revealed their unusual propensity to phosphorylate serine and threonine residues in the context of an alpha-helix. Although recent studies show that some members of this family can also phosphorylate residues in non-helical regions, the name alpha-kinase has remained. During evolution, the alpha-kinase domains combined with many different functional subdomains such as von Willebrand factor-like motifs (vWKa) and even cation channels (TRPM6 and TRPM7). As a result, these kinases are implicated in a large variety of cellular processes such as protein translation, Mg2+ homeostasis, intracellular transport, cell migration, adhesion, and proliferation. Here, we review the current state of knowledge on different members of this kinase family and discuss the potential use of alpha-kinases as drug targets in diseases such as cancer

Measurement of the matrix element for the decay η′→ηπ +π -

The Dalitz plot of η⊃′→ηπ⊃+π⊃- decay is studied using (225.2±2.8)×106 J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII e⊃+e⊃- collider. With the largest sample of η⊃′ decays to date, the parameters of the Dalitz plot are determined in a generalized and a linear representation. Also, the branching fraction of J/ψ→γη⊃′ is determined to be (4.84±0.03±0.24)×10⊃-3, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. © 2011 American Physical Society.published_or_final_versio

Higher-order multipole amplitude measurement in ψ ′→γχ c2

Using 106×106 ψ ′ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII storage ring, the higher-order multipole amplitudes in the radiative transition ψ ′→γχ c2→γπ +π -/γK +K - are measured. A fit to the χ c2 production and decay angular distributions yields M2=0.046±0. 010±0.013 and E3=0.015±0.008±0.018, where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic. Here M2 denotes the normalized magnetic quadrupole amplitude and E3 the normalized electric octupole amplitude. This measurement shows evidence for the existence of the M2 signal with 4.4σ statistical significance and is consistent with the charm quark having no anomalous magnetic moment. © 2011 American Physical Society.published_or_final_versio

Determination of the number of J/ψ events with J/ψ → inclusive decays

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