Sound field separation technique using the principle of double layer patch acoustic radiation modes

In order to solve the problems of near-field acoustic holography in applications such as external interference and aperture effects, a sound field separation technique using the principle of double layer patch acoustic radiation modes is proposed in this paper. The radiated acoustic pressures over two planar surfaces at certain distances from the sources are calculated first. Then, the effects resulting from the backscattering interference in non-free sound fields can be eliminated by a double-layer sound field separation technique. Next, data interpolation and extrapolation are performed on the separated data to increase the sound source's pressures on the holographic plane equivalently for holographic images with higher spatial resolution. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that good agreements can be obtained with few measuring points

Sound field separation technique using the principle of double layer patch acoustic radiation modes

In order to solve the problems of near-field acoustic holography in applications such as external interference and aperture effects, a sound field separation technique using the principle of double layer patch acoustic radiation modes is proposed in this paper. The radiated acoustic pressures over two planar surfaces at certain distances from the sources are calculated first. Then, the effects resulting from the backscattering interference in non-free sound fields can be eliminated by a double-layer sound field separation technique. Next, data interpolation and extrapolation are performed on the separated data to increase the sound source's pressures on the holographic plane equivalently for holographic images with higher spatial resolution. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that good agreements can be obtained with few measuring points

New Developments in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering

Based on the review on the advances of several important problems in geotechnical seismic engineering, the authors propose the initial analysis theory of time-frequency-amplitude (known as TFA for short), in an effort to realize the organic combination of time and frequency information and develop a groundbreaking concept to the traditional idea in the geotechnical seismic engineering area

Efficient Depolymerization of Cellulosic Paper Towel Waste Using Organic Carbonate Solvents

Efficient depolymerization of lignocellulosic biomass is a prerequisite for sugar production and its subsequent upgradation to fuels and chemicals. Organic carbonate solvents, i.e., propylene carbonate (PC), ethylene carbonate (EC), and dimethyl carbonate (DMC), which are low in toxicity and biodegradable, were investigated as "green"co-solvents (PC/H2O, EC/H2O, DMC/H2O, solvent ratio 1:1) for depolymerization of cellulosic paper towel waste. PC/H2O and EC/H2O enhanced the depolymerization of paper towel waste and improved the total sugar yield (up to ∼25 C mol %) compared to H2O only (up to ∼11 C mol %) under mild reaction conditions (130 °C, 20 min). The higher performance of PC/H2O and EC/H2O can be attributed to higher availability of reactive protons in the catalytic system that facilitates efficient acid hydrolysis of recalcitrant cellulosic fibers. Moreover, a substantial buildup of in-vessel pressure by CO2 release during the microwave-assisted reaction because of decomposition of PC or EC might have accelerated the conversion of paper towel wastes. PC and EC are prospective solvents for lignocellulosic biomass conversion considering their green features and notable catalytic performance, which have a good potential for substituting conventional organic solvents such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) that are often considered hazardous in terms of health, safety, and environmental implications

Compressive Sensing of Multichannel EEG Signals via l

In Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) the energy consumption is dominated by sensing and communication. Recently, a simultaneous cosparsity and low-rank (SCLR) optimization model has shown the state-of-the-art performance in compressive sensing (CS) recovery of multichannel EEG signals. How to solve the resulting regularization problem, involving l0 norm and rank function which is known as an NP-hard problem, is critical to the recovery results. SCLR takes use of l1 norm and nuclear norm as a convex surrogate function for l0 norm and rank function. However, l1 norm and nuclear norm cannot well approximate the l0 norm and rank because there exist irreparable gaps between them. In this paper, an optimization model with lq norm and schatten-p norm is proposed to enforce cosparsity and low-rank property in the reconstructed multichannel EEG signals. An efficient iterative scheme is used to solve the resulting nonconvex optimization problem. Experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed algorithm can significantly outperform existing state-of-the-art CS methods for compressive sensing of multichannel EEG channels

Guanidine–Amide-Catalyzed Aza-Henry Reaction of Isatin-Derived Ketimines: Origin of Selectivity and New Catalyst Design

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to investigate the mechanism and the enantioselectivity of the aza-Henry reaction of isatin-derived ketimine catalyzed by chiral guanidine–amide catalysts at the M06-2X-D3/6-311+G(d,p)//M06-2X-D3/6-31G(d,p) (toluene, SMD) theoretical level. The catalytic reaction occurred via a three-step mechanism: (i) the deprotonation of nitromethane by a chiral guanidine–amide catalyst; (ii) formation of C–C bonds; (iii) H-transfer from guanidine to ketimine, accompanied with the regeneration of the catalyst. A dual activation model was proposed, in which the protonated guanidine activated the nitronate, and the amide moiety simultaneously interacted with the ketimine substrate by intermolecular hydrogen bonding. The repulsion of CPh3 group in guanidine as well as N-Boc group in ketimine raised the Pauli repulsion energy (∆EPauli) and the strain energy (∆Estrain) of reacting species in the unfavorable si-face pathway, contributing to a high level of stereoselectivity. A new catalyst with cyclopropenimine and 1,2-diphenylethylcarbamoyl as well as sulfonamide substituent was designed. The strong basicity of cyclopropenimine moiety accelerated the activation of CH3NO2 by decreasing the energy barrier in the deprotonation step. The repulsion between the N-Boc group in ketimine and cyclohexyl group as well as chiral backbone in the new catalyst raised the energy barrier in C–C bond formation along the si-face attack pathway, leading to the formation of R-configuration product. A possible synthetic route for the new catalyst is also suggested

Asymmetric Cyanation of Activated Olefins with Ethyl Cyanoformate Catalyzed by Ti(IV)-Catalyst: A Theoretical Study

The reaction mechanism and origin of asymmetric induction for conjugate addition of cyanide to the C=C bond of olefin were investigated at the B3LYP-D3(BJ)/6-31+G**//B3LYP-D3(BJ)/6-31G**(SMD, toluene) theoretical level. The release of HCN from the reaction of ethyl cyanoformate (CNCOOEt) and isopropanol (HOiPr) was catalyzed by cinchona alkaloid catalyst. The cyanation reaction of olefin proceeded through a two-step mechanism, in which the C-C bond construction was followed by H-transfer to generate a cyanide adduct. For non-catalytic reaction, the activation barrier for the rate-determining C-H bond construction step was 34.2 kcal mol−1, via a four-membered transition state. The self-assembly Ti(IV)-catalyst from tetraisopropyl titanate, (R)-3,3′-disubstituted biphenol, and cinchonidine accelerated the addition of cyanide to the C=C double bond by a dual activation process, in which titanium cation acted as a Lewis acid to activate the olefin and HNC was orientated by hydrogen bonding. The steric repulsion between the 9-phenanthryl at the 3,3′-position in the biphenol ligand and the Ph group in olefin raised the Pauli energy (ΔE≠Pauli) of reacting fragments at the re-face attack transition state, leading to the predominant R-product

Significant Improvement of LiMn2O4 Cathode Capacity by Introducing Trace Ni During Rapid Microwave-induced Solution Combustion

LiMn2O4 cathodes are prepared by a rapid microwave-induced solution combustion method. Their initial discharge capacity is significantly improved by introducing trace Ni. For example, the LiMn1.975Ni0.025O4 (LMNO-0.025) cathode releases an initial discharge capacity of 134.1 mAh g−1 at 1 C, even 144.5 mAh g−1 at 0.5 C, which is far higher than of the pristine LiMn2O4 cathode (119.7 mAh g−1 at 1 C) and close to its theoretical capacity of 148.2 mAh g−1. After 1000 cycles, the capacity retention of the LMNO-0.025 sample reaches 56.53 % at 1 C, and it can be presented the higher capacity retentions of 66.79 % at 5 C and 66.89 % at 20 C. The robust structure stability proved by XRD, SEM and HRTEM data, and the good kinetics testified by CV and EIS data of the Ni-doped material are responsible to improve the high-rate capability and long cycle properties