Structural behavior of uranium dioxide under pressure by LSDA+U calculations

The structural behavior of UO2 under high pressure up to 300GPa has been studied by first-principles calculations with LSDA+U approximation. The results show that a pressure-induced structural transition to the cotunnite-type (orthorhombic Pnma) phase occurs at 38GPa. It agrees well with the experimentally observed ~42 GPa. An isostructural transition following that is also predicted to take place from 80 to 130GPa, which has not yet been observed in experiments. Further high compression beyond 226GPa will result in a metallic and paramagnetic transition. It corresponds to a volume of 90A^3 per cell, in good agreement with a previous theoretical analysis in the reduction of volume required to delocalize 5f states.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Possibly New Charmed Baryon States from Bˉ0→ppˉD0\bar B^0\to p\bar p D^{0} Decay

We examine the invariant mass spectrum of $D^{0}p$ in $\bar B^0\to p\bar p D^{0}$ decay measured by BABAR and find that through the 2-step processes of $\bar B^0\to {\bf B_c^+}(\to D^{0} p)\bar p$, where ${\bf B_c}$ denotes a charmed baryon state, some of the peaks can be identified with the established $\Sigma_c(2800)^+$, $\Lambda_c(2880)^+$ and $\Lambda_c(2940)^+$. Moreover, in order to account for the measured spectrum, it is necessary to introduce a new charmed baryon resonance with $(m,\,\Gamma)=(3212\pm 20,\,167\pm 34)$ MeV.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, title changed and discussions updated, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Study of Radiative Leptonic D Meson Decays

We study the radiative leptonic $D$ meson decays of D^+_{(s)}\to \l^+\nu_{\l}\gamma (\l=e,\mu,\tau), $D^0\to \nu\bar{\nu}\gamma$ and D^0\to \l^+\l^-\gamma ($l=e,\mu$) within the light front quark model. In the standard model, we find that the decay branching ratios of $D^+_{(s)}\to e^+\nu_e\gamma$, $D^+_{(s)}\to\mu^+\nu_{\mu}\gamma$ and $D^+_{(s)}\to\tau^+\nu_{\tau}\gamma$ are $6.9\times 10^{-6}$ ($7.7\times 10^{-5}$), $2.5\times 10^{-5}$ ($2.6\times 10^{-4}$), and $6.0\times 10^{-6}$ ($3.2\times 10^{-4}$), and that of D^0\to\l^+\l^-\gamma (\l=e,\mu) and $D^0\to\nu\bar{\nu}\gamma$ are $6.3\times 10^{-11}$ and $2.7\times 10^{-16}$, respectively.Comment: 23 pages, 6 Figures, LaTex file, a reference added, to be published in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Shock Induced Order-disorder Transformation in Ni3Al

The Hugoniot of Ni3Al with L12 structure is calculated with an equation of state (EOS) based on a cluster expansion and variation method from first principles. It is found that an order-disorder transition occurs at a shock pressure of 205GPa, corresponding to 3750K in temperature. On the other hand, an unexpected high melting temperature about 6955K is obtained at the same pressure, which is completely different from the case at ambient pressure where the melting point is slightly lower than the order-disorder transition temperature, implying the high pressure phase diagram has its own characteristics. The present work also demonstrates the configurational contribution is more important than electronic excitations in alloys and mineral crystals within a large range of temperature, and an EOS model based on CVM is necessary for high pressure metallurgy and theoretical Earth model.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Extraction and Antioxidant Activity of Phenolic Compounds from Okra Flowers

Purpose: To investigate the extraction and antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds from Okra flowers.Methods: The phenolic compounds in Okra flowers was obtained by traditional solvent extraction method and determined by Folin-Ciocalteu (FC) method. The extraction was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The antioxidant activity of the obtained extract was determined by 1,1- diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and reducing power assays.Results: The optimal extraction conditions were as follows: extraction time, 2.5 h; ethanol concentration,  59.16 %; extraction temperature, 73.91 °C; and liquid-solid ratio, 20 mL/g. The mean total phenolics yield under the optimum conditions was 40.77±0.83 mg GAE /g material, which is near the predicted value of 44.20 mg GAE /g material. The total phenolics of the extract was an effective scavenger in quenching DPPH radicals. A linear correlation between the concentration of the total phenolics extract and reducing power was observed with a correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.9973.Conclusion: Using RSM, the extraction of total phenolics in okra flowers has been optimized. The extract exhibits a strong DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power, which makes it a potential functional ingredient in the food and pharmaceutical industries.Keywords: Okra flowers, Extraction, Response surface methodology, Phenolics, Antioxidan