Ergodicity of a Single Particle Confined in a Nanopore

We analyze the dynamics of a gas particle moving through a nanopore of adjustable width with particular emphasis on ergodicity. We give a measure of the portion of phase space that is characterized by quasiperiodic trajectories which break ergodicity. The interactions between particle and wall atoms are mediated by a Lennard-Jones potential, so that an analytical treatment of the dynamics is not feasible, but making the system more physically realistic. In view of recent studies, which proved non-ergodicity for systems with scatterers interacting via smooth potentials, we find that the non-ergodic component of the phase space for energy levels typical of experiments, is surprisingly small, i.e. we conclude that the ergodic hypothesis is a reasonable approximation even for a single particle trapped in a nanopore. Due to the numerical scope of this work, our focus will be the onset of ergodic behavior which is evident on time scales accessible to simulations and experimental observations rather than ergodicity in the infinite time limit.     

Contact mechanics modeling of piezo-actuated stick-slip microdrives

This paper draws a line from early attempts of modeling stick-slip microdrives to open questions from today’s research. As a basis, it contains a collection of substantial investigations on piezo-actuated stick-slip microdrives for nanomanipulation purposes. Friction models showing special characteristics and their mathematical representations are reviewed. It is found that the working properties of stick-slip drives strongly depend on friction characteristics of the contact points between the guiding elements, which is known for years. However, numerous publications in the field of friction and remaining problems — which cannot be explained by known friction models — indicate that there is a demand for even more friction-related research.Former attempts to model stick-slip drives are based on the so-called LuGre friction model, which is shortly presented. An empirical model called CEIM is also analyzed. It is an adaption of the elastoplastic model. The latter can cover not only the phenomenon “0-amplitude’ (described by the authors in recent publications), but also stick-slip based force generation scenarios. Nevertheless, interesting friction characteristics such as the generation of μN forces with stick-slip drives, which are already proven, cannot be covered by known friction models. It is pointed out which characteristics have to be considered.     

A new coding scheme of QC-LDPC codes for optical transmission systems

Based on Galois Field (GF(q)) multiplicative group, a new coding scheme for Quasi-Cyclic Low-Density Parity-Check (QC-LDPC) codes is proposed, and the new coding scheme has some advantages such as the simpler construction, the easier implementation encoding, the lower complexity of the encoding and decoding, the more flexible adjustment of the code length as well as the code rate and so forth. Under the condition of considering the characteristics of optical transmission systems, an irregular QC-LDPC (3843,3603) code to be suitable for optical transmission systems is constructed by applying the proposed new coding scheme. The simulation result shows that the net coding gain (NCG) of the irregular QC-LDPC (3843,3603) code is respectively improved 2.14 dB, 1.19 dB, 0.24 dB and 0.14 dB more than those of the classic RS (255,239) code in ITU-T G.975, the LDPC (32640,30592) code in ITU-T G.975.1, the regular SCG-LDPC (3969,3720) code constructed by the Systematically Constructed Gallager (SCG) coding scheme and the regular QC-LDPC (4221,3956) code at the bit error rate (BER) of 10-8. Furthermore, all the five codes have the same code rate of 93.7%. Therefore, the irregular QC-LDPC (3843,3603) code constructed by the proposed new coding scheme has the more excellent error-correction performance and can be better suitable for optical transmission systems.     

Structure of zirconium dioxide based porous glasses

This study is devoted to investigation of the micro- and mesostructure (including fractal properties) of porous zirconia glasses synthesized by precipitation from zirconium n-propoxide solutions in the presence of different hydrolyzing-agent (H₂O) quantities at different temperatures. Analysis of small-angle neutron, ultra-small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering, scanning electron microscopy allows concluding that the synthesized glasses are complex systems with a three-level hierarchical fractal structure. It is revealed that both the temperature of synthesis and the H₂O concentration in the initial solution significantly affect the structural characteristics of the glasses.     

New chiral ruthenium(II)–phosphinite complexes containing a ferrocenyl group in enantioselective transfer hydrogenations of aromatic ketones

A new and versatile class of unsymmetrical ferrocenyl-phosphinite ligands possessing a stereogenic center has been prepared from commercially available, inexpensive aminoacids such as, d-, l-phenylglycine and d-, l-phenylalanine, through a concise synthetic procedure. These ligands are not very sensitive to air and moisture, and display good enantioselectivities in the ruthenium-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of acetophenone derivatives, in which up to 91% ee was obtained. A comparison of the catalytic properties of amino alcohols and other analogues based on a ferrocenyl backbone is also discussed briefly. The structures of these ligands and their corresponding complexes have been elucidated by a combination of multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis.     

On-line preconcentration and determination of Au(III) in various environmental/industrial samples by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

A rapid and simple on-line method is described for the determination of Au(III) in various samples. The method is based on the sorption of gold(III) on Lewatit MonoPlus TP207 chelating resin including the iminodiacetate group, which is used as sorbent material and packed in a minicolumn. The chemical variables such as the pH of the sample solution, eluent type, interfering ions and concentrations of reagents, and instrumental variables such as sample loading volume, reagents flow rates, and tubing length, which affect the efficiency of the method were studied and optimised. Au(III) was sorbed on the chelating resin, from which it could be eluted with 3 mol L^?1 HCl, and then introduced directly to the nebuliser-burner system of FAAS. The limit of detection of the method was 0.2 µg L^?1 while the relative standard deviation was <4.0% for 20 µg L^?1 Au(III) concentration. The preconcentration factor was found to be 106 while the optimised sample volume was 15.3 mL. The accuracy of the method was verified by analysing the certified reference material. The developed method was applied successfully for the determination of gold in different samples with satisfactory results.     

Synthesis of Tadalafil Analogues

Five novel compounds as potential phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE‐5) inhibitors were synthesized from D‐tryptophan methyl ester via the Pictet–Spengler reaction and cyclization reaction. The structures of those compounds were confirmed by elemental analyses, IR, ¹H NMR, and ESI‐MS spectra.     

STUDIES ON CYCLOADDITION REACTIONS OF VINYLPHOSPHONATES WITH NITRONES

Cycloaddition reactions of vinylphosphonates with nitrones were studied. A series of 4-phosphonyl-3-aryl-N-arylisoxazolidines were synthesized by the reaction of vinylphosphonates with nitrones. The structure of 3a was confirmed by X-ray single-crystal diffraction.     

One-Dimensional Particle Processes with Acceleration/Braking Asymmetry

The slow-to-start mechanism is known to play an important role in the particular shape of the Fundamental Diagram of traffic and to be associated to hysteresis effects of traffic flow. We study this question in the context of exclusion and queueing processes, by including an asymmetry between deceleration and acceleration in the formulation of these processes. For exclusions processes, this corresponds to a multi-class process with transition asymmetry between different speed levels, while for queueing processes we consider non-reversible stochastic dependency of the service rate w.r.t. the number of clients. The relationship between these 2 families of models is analyzed on the ring geometry, along with their steady state properties. Spatial condensation phenomena and metastability are observed, depending on the level of the aforementioned asymmetry. In addition, we provide a large deviation formulation of the fundamental diagram which includes the level of fluctuations, in the canonical ensemble when the stationary state is expressed as a product form of such generalized queues.