Visual Landscape Research in Sustainable Urban and Landscape Planning. Special Issue

How can we comprehend the “face of the landscape” and its visual perception? Furthermore, how can we make this knowledge applicable to landscape planning, design, and management? This Special Issue focuses on visual landscape research, in particular addressing approaches and methods for visual landscape assessment and their applications. Topics range from landscape preferences assessment, visibility analysis and visual impact analysis, to design principles and strategies

Gold catalyzed propene epoxidation - a study in catalytic activity and reaction mechanism

Direct epoxidation of propene using hydrogen and oxygen on gold-titania catalyst was studied. A series of low gold loaded catalysts were tested for catalytic activity, hydrogen efficiency and stability. A thorough kinetic study was done on the best catalysts. Finally, a reaction mechanism was proposed to explain the experimental data

Nonlinear optical compound, nonlinear optical medium, method of manufacturing a nonlinear optical medium and device for doubling the frequency of a light wave

The invention relates to a nonlinear optical medium and a device comprising such a nonlinear optical medium which can be suitably used to double the frequency of red light, while forming blue light. The nonlinear optical medium comprises a polymer matrix and nonlinear optical compounds which contain a substituted sulphone group as the electron-acceptor group

Device for doubling the frequency of a light wave comprising a non-linear optical compound

The invention relates to a nonlinear optical medium and a device comprising such a nonlinear optical medium which can be suitably used to double the frequency of red light, while forming blue light. The nonlinear optical medium comprises a polymer matrix and nonlinear optical compounds which contain a substituted sulphone group as the electron-acceptor group

Device for doubling the frequency of a light wave comprising a non-linear optical compound

The invention relates to a nonlinear optical medium and a device comprising such a nonlinear optical medium which can be suitably used to double the frequency of red light, while forming blue light. The nonlinear optical medium comprises a polymer matrix and nonlinear optical compounds which contain a substituted sulphone group as the electron-acceptor group

Elliptic surface grid generation on minimal and parmetrized surfaces

An elliptic grid generation method is presented which generates excellent boundary conforming grids in domains in 2D physical space. The method is based on the composition of an algebraic and elliptic transformation. The composite mapping obeys the familiar Poisson grid generation system with control functions specified by the algebraic transformation. New expressions are given for the control functions. Grid orthogonality at the boundary is achieved by modification of the algebraic transformation. It is shown that grid generation on a minimal surface in 3D physical space is in fact equivalent to grid generation in a domain in 2D physical space. A second elliptic grid generation method is presented which generates excellent boundary conforming grids on smooth surfaces. It is assumed that the surfaces are parametrized and that the grid only depends on the shape of the surface and is independent of the parametrization. Concerning surface modeling, it is shown that bicubic Hermite interpolation is an excellent method to generate a smooth surface which is passing through a given discrete set of control points. In contrast to bicubic spline interpolation, there is extra freedom to model the tangent and twist vectors such that spurious oscillations are prevented

Nonlinear optical compound, nonlinear optical medium, method of manufacturing a nonlinear optical medium and device for doubling the frequency of a light wave

The invention relates to a nonlinear optical medium and a device comprising such a nonlinear optical medium which can be suitably used to double the frequency of red light, while forming blue light. The nonlinear optical medium comprises a polymer matrix and nonlinear optical compounds which contain a substituted sulphone group as the electron-acceptor group

Interplay between interfacial energy, contact mechanics, and capillary forces in EGaIn droplets

Eutectic gallium–indium (EGaIn) is increasingly employed as an interfacial conductor material in molecular electronics and wearable healthcare devices owing to its ability to be shaped at room temperature, conductivity, and mechanical stability. Despite this emerging usage, the mechanical and physical mechanisms governing EGaIn interactions with surrounding objects─mainly regulated by surface tension and interfacial adhesion─remain poorly understood. Here, using depth-sensing nanoindentation (DSN) on pristine EGaIn/GaOx surfaces, we uncover how changes in EGaIn/substrate interfacial energies regulate the adhesive and contact mechanic behaviors, notably the evolution of EGaIn capillary bridges with distinct capillary geometries and pressures. Varying the interfacial energy by subjecting EGaIn to different chemical environments and by functionalizing the tip with chemically distinct self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), we show that the adhesion forces between EGaIn and the solid substrate can be increased by up to 2 orders of magnitude, resulting in about a 60-fold increase in the elongation of capillary bridges. Our data reveal that by deploying molecular junctions with SAMs of different terminal groups, the trends of charge transport rates, the resistance of monolayers, and the contact interactions between EGaIn and monolayers from electrical characterizations are governed by the interfacial energies as well. This study provides a key understanding into the role of interfacial energy on geometrical characteristics of EGaIn capillary bridges, offering insights toward the fabrication of EGaIn junctions in a controlled fashion