Universities through the eyes of bibliographic databases: a retroactive growth comparison of Google Scholar,Scopus and Web of Science

Scientometrics - The purpose of this study is to ascertain the suitability of GS’s url-based method as a valid approximation of universities’ academic output measures, taking into...     

Continuation methods for approximate large scale object sequencing

Machine Learning - We propose a set of highly scalable algorithms for the combinatorial data analysis problem of seriating similarity matrices. Seriation consists of finding a permutation of data...     

A cell-based smoothed radial point interpolation method with virtual nodes for three-dimensional mid-frequency acoustic problems

It is well known that the finite element method (FEM) encounters dispersion errors in coping with mid-frequency acoustic problems due to its “overly stiff” nature. By introducing the generalized gradient smoothing technique and the idea of condensed shape functions with virtual nodes, a cell-based smoothed radial point interpolation method is proposed to solve the Helmholtz equation for the purpose of reducing dispersion errors. With the properly selected virtual nodes, the proposed method can provide a close-to-exact stiffness of continuum, leading to a conspicuous decrease in dispersion errors and a significant improvement in accuracy. Numerical examples are examined using the present method by comparing with both the traditional FEM using four-node tetrahedral elements (FEM-T4) and the FEM model using eight-node hexahedral elements with modified integration rules (MIR-H8). The present cell-based smoothed radial point interpolation method has been demonstrated to possess a number of superiorities, including the automatically generated tetrahedral background mesh, high computational efficiency, and insensitivity to mesh distortion, which make the method a good potential for practical analysis of acoustic problems.     

Effect of preparation method on physicochemical properties and catalytic performances of LaCoO_3 perovskite for CO oxidation

Perovskite oxides LaCoO_3 prepared by templating, co-precipitation and sol-gel method with different complexants were systematically characterized and its catalytic performances for CO oxidation were investigated. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry analysis and differential scanning calorimetry, N_2 physisorption, transmission electron microscopy, temperature program reduction of hydrogen, temperature program desorption of oxygen and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement, results of which show that the properties of LaCoO_3, such as surface morphology, surface area, surface compositions, redox capability, oxygen vacancy, as well as the calcination temperature and formation mechanism, depend intimately on the preparation method. Catalytic tests indicate that the sample prepared by carbon templating method shows the best activity for CO oxidation, with full CO conversion obtained at 135 ℃. In particular, the catalyst can be activated and significant increase of activity can be obtained with the increase of reaction time. The cyclic and longterm stability of catalysts were discussed and compared.     

Introduction to crystallographic refinement of macromolecular atomic models

Refinement of atomic models is a necessary step in solving the macromolecular structure by X-ray diffraction methods. Nowadays, high automation and well-developed interfaces give a possibility to use the most popular refinement programs as black boxes. Nevertheless, working with complex objects requires an understanding of the internal structure and principles of operation of these programs and critical assessment of the results of refinement. In this review, we discuss the basic principles of the organization of refinement programs and the history of their improvement and development, as the studied objects became more and more complicated. The discussions are kept at the level of basic mathematic knowledge avoiding unnecessary formalism and too detailed expressions.     

准噶尔盆地吉木萨尔凹陷陆相页岩油地质特征与聚集机理

综合利用岩心、测井、烃源岩热解、铸体薄片、场发射扫描电镜、激光共聚焦显微镜与高压压汞等分析测试的结果，对准噶尔盆地吉木萨尔凹陷芦草沟组陆相页岩油地质特征与聚集机理进行了研究。结果表明：吉木萨尔凹陷咸化湖盆型沉积地层富含有机质，是烃源岩层也是储层，页岩油藏具有“源储一体”的地质特征，存在粉砂岩类与泥岩类和白云岩类与泥岩类两类岩性组合类型。芦草沟组大面积整体含油、“甜点”富集且原油成熟度较低。页岩油赋存岩石的润湿性为亲油性，生烃增压是页岩油运聚的主要动力。微纳米孔喉、层理缝与构造裂缝形成页岩油的有利储集空间与渗流通道。页岩油整体为源内或近源聚集，并以游离态和吸附态赋存于芦草沟组“甜点”段与泥页岩层段中。     

Synthesis and Characterization of Carbon Steel Corrosion Inhibitors Based on 4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophene Scaffold

Protection of Metals and Physical Chemistry of Surfaces - Three novel inhibitors based on 4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[b]thiophene scaffold were synthesized and characterized. The inhibitive action of...     

A Generalized Cubemap for Encoding 360° VR Videos using Polynomial Approximation

360^° VR videos provide users with an immersive visual experience. To encode 360^° VR videos, spherical pixels must be mapped onto a two‐dimensional domain to take advantage of the existing video encoding and storage standards. In VR industry, standard cubemap projection is the most widely used projection method for encoding 360^° VR videos. However, it exhibits pixel density variation at different regions due to projection distortion. We present a generalized algorithm to improve the efficiency of cubemap projection using polynomial approximation. In our algorithm, standard cubemap projection can be regarded as a special form with 1st‐order polynomial. Our experiments show that the generalized cubemap projection can significantly reduce the projection distortion using higher order polynomials. As a result, pixel distribution can be well balanced in the resulting 360^° VR videos. We use PSNR, S‐PSNR and CPP‐PSNR to evaluate the visual quality and the experimental results demonstrate promising performance improvement against standard cubemap projection and Google's equi‐angular cubemap.     

Relationship between the inductive response observed during electrochemical impedance measurements on aluminium and local corrosion processes

In situ real-time imaging and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were performed on pure aluminium, aluminium-copper and copper electrodes, with the aim to elucidate the relationship between the shape of EIS spectra and the local processes occurring on the surface of corroding aluminium, with particular attention to the appearance of inductive behaviour. When a stable oxide was present on the aluminium surface, the impedance modulus increased with decreasing frequencies, indicating the absence of inductive behaviour. Conversely, the presence of depassivating condition coupled with the availability of some anodic current, generated localized corrosion and associated hydrogen evolution at the corrosion front (also known as superfluous hydrogen evolution). In these conditions, a clear inductive behaviour was observed, regardless on the source of the anodic current at the corrosion front, i.e. galvanic coupling or external anodic polarization.