The glass transitions of low-density amorphous ice (LDA) and high-density amorphous ice (HDA) are the topic of controversial discussions. Understanding their exact nature may be the key to explaining ...the anomalies of liquid water but has also got implications in the general context of polyamorphism, the occurrence of multiple amorphous forms of the same material. We first show that the glass transition of hydrogen-disordered ice VI is associated with the kinetic unfreezing of molecular reorientation dynamics by measuring the calorimetric responses of the corresponding H2O, H2 18O, and D2O materials in combination with X-ray diffraction. Well-relaxed LDA and HDA show identical isotopic-response patterns in calorimetry as ice VI, and we conclude that the glass transitions of the amorphous ices are also governed by molecular reorientation processes. This “reorientation scenario” seems to resolve the previously conflicting viewpoints and is consistent with the fragile-to-strong transition from water to the amorphous ices.
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► Study of mechanical and thermal properties of graphene nanoplatelets/epoxy composites. ► Processing by high pressure homogenizer and three roll mill to achieve uniform dispersion. ► ...Fracture toughness increased up to 66% over neat epoxy with EGNP reinforcement. ► Nanoindentation showed steady increase in hardness and modulus of composites. ► Significant improvement in thermal conductivity with incorporation of EGNPs.
Influence of reinforcements on mechanical and thermal properties of graphene nanoplatelets/epoxy composites is investigated. Amine functionalized expanded graphene nanoplatelets (EGNPs) were dispersed within epoxy resins using high-pressure processor followed by three roll milling. Functionality on the EGNPs was confirmed with FTIR and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Bending and nano-mechanical testing was performed on the composites. Incorporation of EGNPs improved the flexural modulus and hardness of the composite and increased fracture toughness by up to 60%. Marked improvement was observed in thermal conductivity of the composites reaching 36% at 2wt.% loading. Functionalized EGNPs exhibited significant improvements indicating favorable interaction at EGNPs/polymer interface.
The single-particle dynamics of hydrogen atoms in several of the amorphous ices are reported using a combination of deep inelastic neutron scattering (DINS) and inelastic neutron scattering (INS). ...The mean kinetic energies of the hydrogen nuclei are found to increase with increasing density, indicating the weakening of hydrogen bonds as well as a trend toward steeper and more harmonic hydrogen vibrational potential energy surfaces. DINS shows much more pronounced changes in the O–H stretching component of the mean kinetic energy going from low- to high-density amorphous ices than indicated by INS and Raman spectroscopy. This highlights the power of the DINS technique to retrieve accurate ground-state kinetic energies beyond the harmonic approximation. In a novel approach, we use information from DINS and INS to determine the anharmonicity constants of the O–H stretching modes. Furthermore, our experimental kinetic energies will serve as important benchmark values for path-integral Monte Carlo simulations.
There still exists a large gap between simulation work and industrial applications in the context of control and optimization of solid-oxide fuel-cell (SOFC) systems. In an effort to bridge this gap, ...this study describes the experimental implementation of steady-state real-time optimization (RTO) to an SOFC system that consists of both hardware and software components. The proposed adaptive optimization scheme uses an approximate steady-state model of the fuel-cell system and corrects it “appropriately” so that it becomes “excellent” for optimization. This way, the plant can be steered efficiently toward optimality, while meeting the varying electric power demand. In these experiments, the plant efficiency was increased from 55% to 62% through application of RTO. Furthermore, although the SOFC system is characterized by slow thermal dynamics that may take a few hours to settle to steady state, it has been possible to reduce the time necessary to reach the power setpoint from 1 h to about 5 min thanks to the use of transient measurements and a dynamic model. This experimental work has shown that it is possible, not only to control the SOFC system at a desired operating point, but also to operate it near optimality despite changes in power demand.
•Static real-time optimization is applied to an experimental SOFC system.•Fast constraint adaptation is used for optimization.•We use transient measurements and a dynamic model to estimate the plant steady state.•The proposed approach increases the system efficiency from 55% to 62%.•We improved the convergence to the power setpoint from 1h to about 5 min.
The majority of carboxylic acid groups formed after treatment of a single‐walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) material with nitric acid are present on carboxylated carbonaceous fragments (CCFs) (see ...figure). These CCFs are removed from the SWCNTs by treatment with NaOH solution and identified as carriers of the COOH functionality, implying that previous reports claiming side‐wall functionalization of the SWCNTs with COOH groups should be reconsidered.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: A comparative investigation was made of floral scent variation in the closely related, food-rewarding Anacamptis coriophora and the food-deceptive Anacamptis morio in order to ...identify patterns of variability of odour compounds in the two species and their role in pollinator attraction/avoidance learning. METHODS: Scent was collected from plants in natural populations and samples were analysed via quantitative gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Combined gas chromatography and electroantennographic detection was used to identify compounds that are detected by the pollinators. Experimental reduction of scent variability was performed in the field with plots of A. morio plants supplemented with a uniform amount of anisaldehyde. KEY RESULTS: Both orchid species emitted complex odour bouquets. In A. coriophora the two main benzenoid compounds, hydroquinone dimethyl ether (1,4-dimethoxybenzene) and anisaldehyde (methoxybenzaldehyde), triggered electrophysiological responses in olfactory neurons of honey-bee and bumble-bee workers. The scent of A. morio, however, was too weak to elicit any electrophysiological responses. The overall variation in scent was significantly lower in the rewarding A. coriophora than in the deceptive A. morio, suggesting pollinator avoidance-learning selecting for high variation in the deceptive species. A. morio flowers supplemented with non-variable scent in plot experiments, however, did not show significantly reduced pollination success. CONCLUSIONS: Whereas in the rewarding A. coriophora stabilizing selection imposed by floral constancy of the pollinators may reduce scent variability, in the deceptive A. morio the emitted scent seems to be too weak to be detected by pollinators and thus its high variability may result from relaxed selection on this floral trait.
Abstract
One third of all orchid species are deceptive and do not reward their pollinators. Such deceptive orchids are often characterised by unusually high variation in floral signals such as colour ...and scent. In this study, we investigated the scent composition of two Mediterranean food-deceptive orchids ORCHIS MASCULA, ORCHIS PAUCIFLORA, and their hybrid, O. × COLEMANII. Scent was collected IN SITU by headspace sorption and was subsequently analysed with gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We compared variation of odour compounds within and between populations as well as species. We identified 35 floral scent compounds, mainly monoterpenes, which were shared by both species. Both quantitative and qualitative variability within and among populations was high. Many individuals within species could be classified to different “odour-types”. In spite of high qualitative and quantitative intra- and inter-population variability, the species were clearly differentiated in their scent bouquets, whereas most hybrid individuals emitted an intermediate scent.
The food deceptive orchid, Dactylorhiza romana (Sebastiani) Soó exhibits a colour polymorphism with yellow, red, and intermediate orange morphs. In this study we tested if floral odour differed among ...the three distinct colour morphs. We identified 23 odour compounds in D. romana, and all of them occurred in the three colour morphs. Monoterpenes dominated the floral scent. On the basis of Euclidean distances of relative amounts of compounds, yellow morphs were closer to each other than to orange or red morphs. Differentiation of the morphs was mainly due to linalool and benzaldehyde. Linalool occurred in low relative amounts in the yellow morphs, but in high amounts in some of the red individuals, whereas benzaldehyde occurred in higher relative amounts in yellow morphs. Linalool and benzaldehyde are known to be important signal-substances in plant-insect communication, however, it remains to be shown whether insects can discriminate between flower morphs on the basis of the here shown odour differences.
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