Hierarchical Beta Research Articles

Are culturally vibrant communities healthier? Relationships between performing arts activity and health outcomes in the 500 largest US cities.

Recent reviews have demonstrated broad links between performing arts participation (e.g. music-making; dancing; acting) and receptive engagement (e.g. listening to music; attending a dance/theatre performance) and improved health, including reduced disease and mortality risk. However, no investigations to date have interrogated the links between community-level performing arts activity (i.e. participation + receptive engagement) and health outcomes - that is, do the performing arts help create healthy communities? This study aims to address this question by examining links between performing arts activity and health outcomes across 500 cities in the US. Secondary analysis of demographic, health outcome, performing arts activity (estimated by annual performing arts revenue), and preventive/unhealthy behaviour data for 500 large cities in the US - data extracted from the US Centers for Disease Control 500 Cities Project, Dun & Bradstreet Hoovers Database, and US Census. Links between performing arts activity and 12 health/disease outcomes were evaluated using a series of hierarchical beta regression models which progressively controlled for demographic variables and preventive/unhealthy behaviour prevalence. The 500 analysed US cities comprise 33.4% of the total US population and 84,010 performing arts businesses (total annual revenue $27.84 billion). No significant associations were found between performing arts activity and 9 of 12 health outcomes in fully adjusted models (p ⩾ .17). Statistically significant relationships (p < .01) between increased performing arts activity and increased prevalence of chronic kidney disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke were determined to be clinically equivocal. This study contributes to a growing body of conflicting epidemiologic evidence regarding the impact of the performing arts on health/disease and mortality outcomes, evaluated using a range of disparate methodologies. A consensus, psychometrically rigorous approach is required to address this prevailing uncertainty in future epidemiologic studies examining the effects of performing arts activities both within and across countries and communities.

Amino-acid modulated hierarchical In/H-Beta zeolites for selective catalytic reduction of NO with CH4 in the presence of H2O and SO2.

Selective catalytic reduction of NO with CH4 (CH4-SCR) has been studied over a series of amino-acid mediated hierarchical beta zeolites with indium exchange. Amino acid mesoporogens greatly affect the NO reduction (DeNOx) efficiency of In/H-Beta catalysts. Mesoporous In/H-Beta-P synthesized using proline exhibits the highest NOx removal efficiency of 40% in excess oxygen and poisonous SO2 and H2O, 10% higher than our previously optimized In/H-Beta catalyst using commercial beta zeolites with a similar Si/Al ratio. Analyses using XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption, EPR, SEM, TEM, EDX, ICP, 27Al and 29Si MAS NMR, XPS, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD, and Py-IR reveal that amino acids promote beta crystallization, modulate zeolite acid sites and surface oxygen species, and generate hierarchical pore architectures without affecting the Si/Al ratio, indium content, and percentage of the active InO+ species. The mosaic-structured In/H-Beta-P exhibits the strongest Brønsted acidity and surface labile oxygen which enhance the oxyindium interaction with the zeolite framework, promoting CH4-SCR activity. The strong acidity, surface active oxygen species, and mesopores lead to excellent stability of the In/H-Beta-P catalyst in the presence of SO2 and H2O, withstanding several catalytic DeNOx cycles under harsh reaction conditions.

Steam-assisted crystallization of highly dispersed nanosized hierarchical zeolites from solid raw materials and their catalytic performance in lactide production.

A solvent-free route based on solid raw materials affords higher product yield and lower waste production compared to the traditional hydrothermal synthesis. However, the as-made zeolites usually present blocky aggregation states, limiting their mass transfer and exposure of active sites in catalytic applications. Herein, highly dispersed nanosized hierarchical Beta zeolites with varied Si/Al ratios were prepared via steam-assisted crystallization from ball-milled solid raw materials. Thanks to the sufficient mixing of solid raw materials and favorable migration of solid mixture, nanosized Beta zeolites are obtained that are assembled from nanoparticles (∼15 nm) and possess abundant interconnected intraparticle mesopores. The strategy can also be extended to synthesize nanosized hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites. The as-prepared Beta zeolite (Si/Al = 10) exhibits outstanding catalytic performance in conversion of lactic acid to lactide (as high as 77.5% in yield). This work provides avenues for simple and cost-efficient synthesis of highly dispersed nanosized hierarchical zeolites, promising their important catalytic applications.

Furfural acetalization with ethanol over conventional and hierarchical beta zeolites

Hierarchical and conventional beta zeolites were tested in the acetalization of furfural with ethanol. Application of the synthesized hierarchical material consisting of fused small beta crystallites (20 nm) in the studied reaction leads to the formation of furfural diethyl acetal with the highest yield (77%). The highest catalytic activity of the hierarchical material compared to the conventional ones in terms of the initial reaction rate and TON values is associated with its lower acidity and developed mesoporosity (Vmeso 0.71 cm3/g) facilitating the diffusion of the reagent to and from the active sites.

Mesoporogen-free synthesis of single-crystalline hierarchical beta zeolites for efficient catalytic reactions

Single-crystalline hierarchical Beta zeolites were synthesized by the l-lysine-assisted kinetic regulation method, exhibiting improved catalytic performance in both gas- and liquid-phase reactions.

In-situ preparation of hierarchical Beta zeolite by steam- assisted crystallization method using meso-macroporous silica

In this paper, a series of meso-macroporous silica (MMS) were prepared by phase separation, then mic-meso-macroporous Beta zeolite was prepared by steam-assisted crystallization (SAC) method using the meso-macroporous silica as substrate. The factors such as the amount of water, crystallization time, aluminum source, amount of template agent during the SAC method were investigated. Various characterization methods such as BET, XRD, SEM were used to investigate the physical and chemical properties of the prepared materials. The results showed that the meso-macroporous silica could be transformed into Beta zeolite through the SAC method while the macroporous structure was still maintained.

Hydrogen production from the steam reforming of bioethanol over novel supported Ca/Ni-hierarchical Beta zeolite catalysts

This paper studies the H2 production via the steam reforming of a bioresource-derived ethanol mixture over supported Ca-modified Ni-hierarchical Beta zeolite catalysts. The results showed that the hierarchical Beta zeolite with rich pore structure could be synthesized in one step by using the new quaternary ammonium gemini cationic surfactant. The zeolite had bigger BET area and pore volume than the traditional Beta zeolite. The support plays a key role for the improve of catalytic behavior. The internal structure of the catalyst can be changed by introducing calcium and nickel ions into the synthesized zeolite at the same time through ion exchange. The interaction between active metal and the support would increase, so the dispersion of the active metal can be improved. The intermediate CO2 was efficiently absorbed by Ca in situ, which is an exothermic reaction and also help to provide the heat for the reactor. The adsorption of СО2 in situ transmitting the reversible reforming and water gas shift reactions to the products outside their conventional thermodynamic restrictions, which enhanced H2 production and permits high conversion to be attained. By using the method of gradient distribution of active metal in the support, the repeated catalytic effect similar to that of a hierarchical reactor was constructed, which showed excellent catalytic effect in low and medium high temperature bioethanol reforming to hydrogen. The experimental results show that when the reaction temperature is 350 °C, the 10Ni-MBeta(DI) catalyst maintains stable catalytic efficiency for continuous hydrogen production of 50 h via ESR, high hydrogen production and good stability.

Modeling Inoculum Availability of Plurivorosphaerella nawae in Persimmon Leaf Litter with Bayesian Beta Regression.

Circular leaf spot (CLS), caused by Plurivorosphaerella nawae, is a serious disease affecting persimmon (Diospyros kaki) that is characterized by necrotic lesions on leaves, defoliation, and fruit drop. Under Mediterranean conditions, P. nawae forms pseudothecia in the leaf litter in winter, and ascospores are released in spring, infecting susceptible leaves. Persimmon growers are advised to apply fungicides for CLS control during the period of inoculum availability, which was previously defined based on ascospore counts under the microscope. A model of inoculum availability of P. nawae was developed and evaluated as an alternative to ascospore counts. Leaf litter samples were collected weekly in L'Alcúdia (Spain) from 2010 to 2015. Leaves were soaked and placed in a wind tunnel, and the released ascospores of P. nawae were counted. Hierarchical Bayesian beta regression methods were used to model the dynamics of ascospore production in the leaf litter. The selected model included accumulated degree-days (ADDs) and ADDs taking into account the vapor pressure deficit (ADDvpd) as fixed effects and year as random effect. This model had a mean absolute error of 0.042 and a root mean square error of 0.062. The beta regression model was evaluated in four orchards from 2010 to 2015. Higher accuracy was obtained at the beginning and the end of the ascospore production period, which are the events of interest to schedule fungicide sprays for CLS control in Spain. This same modeling framework can be extended to other fungal plant pathogens whose inoculum dynamics are expressed as proportion data.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license.

Catalytic activity of hierarchical beta zeolites in the Prins cyclization of (−)-isopulegol with acetone

Several hierarchical beta zeolites prepared via hydrothermal treatment of a concentrated zeolite gel-precursor were investigated in Prins cyclisation between (–)-isopulegol and acetone acting as a reactant and a solvent for production of a chromenol compound exhibiting antiviral activity. The catalysts were characterized by SEM, TEM, nitrogen physisorption, ammonia TPD, adsorption-desorption of pyridine and 2,4,6-tri-tert-butylpyridine with FTIR spectroscopy. For the Prins cyclization performed at 30 °C, the highest yield of the desired product was obtained over a zeolite catalyst containing a developed mesoporosity with a uniform mesopore size and an optimum ratio of Brønsted to Lewis acid sites.

Hierarchical Ti-beta with a three-dimensional ordered mesoporosity for catalytic epoxidation of bulky cyclic olefins

Hierarchical beta zeolites with a three-dimensionally ordered mesoporous-imprinted (3DOm-i) structure and post-synthetic Ti grafting for catalytic epoxidation of cyclic olefins.

Practical Application of Hierarchical Beta Zeolite in a Vacuum Gas Oil Hydrocracking Catalyst

AbstractA hierarchical Beta zeolite has been successfully mass‐prepared hydrothermally and dynamically in a pilot‐scale autoclave by an economical and simple process with low‐cost raw materials. The characterization results indicated that the pilot‐scale hierarchical Beta zeolite has the same textural, structural, and acidic properties like the bench‐scale sample. Moreover, the catalyst composed of the pilot‐scale hierarchical H‐Beta zeolite showed higher activity and selectivity to the middle distillate than that containing microporous Beta zeolite in catalytic hydrocracking of vacuum gas oil (VGO) evaluated by an industrial pilot installation in running of 3000 h, due to the increased accessibility and the reduction of diffusion constraint of large molecules to acid sites in the Beta zeolite framework.

Synthesis of hierarchical Sn-Beta zeolite and its catalytic performance in glucose conversion

Hierarchical Beta zeolites are successfully synthesized with hydrothermal method in the presence of polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDADMA). Followed a dealumination process, hierarchical Sn-Beta are post-synthesized by the solid-gas reaction of dealuminated Beta zeolite with SnCl4 vapor. All samples are charcterized with XRD, N2 sorption, SEM and TEM. SEM images show that both Beta zeolite and Sn-Beta zeolite exhibit rough spherical-like morphology of about 500−900 nm in diameters, N2 sorptions show the pore size distributions in micropore and mesopore ranges, indicating the formation of mesoporous Beta zeolites. It is proofed that Sn species are doped into the framework in a tetrahedral environment during solid-gas reaction and the introduction of Sn species has negligible impact on the structure of Beta zeolites. Furthermore, the dehydration of glucose into HMF which needs both Brönsted and Lewis acid is selected to evaluate the catalytic performance of hierarchical Sn-Beta. It displays good catalytic activity, the conversion of glucose (99 %) and selectivity to HMF (42 %) are higher than those of the conventional Beta (96 % and 32 %, respectively). This is attributed to the intra-crystalline mesoporous structure and efficient diffusion of reactant/product molecules. Moreover, the catalyst exhibits steady catalytic performance after the fifth repeated run.

Secondary template-free synthesis of hierarchical beta zeolite nanocrystals with tunable porosity and size

Abstract Mesoporous Beta zeolite nanocrystals with tunable porosity and size have been facilely prepared without additional mesoporous template or post-synthetic procedure. This synthetic strategy for mesoporosity could be realized by simply adjusting the reaction conditions without any special raw material. The as-prepared mesoporous Beta zeolite exhibits much higher adsorption efficiency compared with the bulk phase. The shorten crystallization time (8 h) and high yield (99%) allow this strategy suitable for the large-scale synthesis of mesoporous Beta zeolite with low cost.

Toward rational design of hierarchical beta zeolites: An overview and beyond

AbstractThe ever‐growing need to increase the efficiency of crude oil refining raises the prospects for utilizing advanced catalytic materials to supply increasing global demands for fine chemicals and petrochemicals. Zeolites have been used as indispensable catalysts in many commercial refining processes. Among them, zeolite beta is one of the most widely produced zeolite materials with industrial significance due to its large micropores and three‐dimensional pore structures. This article discusses recent progress on hierarchical beta zeolites from various synthetic strategies. Using zeolite beta as a representative case, we provide an overview on key aspects that are applicable to different zeolites via a variety of topics, such as selection of different template materials, tailoring of mesopore sizes by base leaching, organotemplate‐free synthesis of hierarchical zeolites, and selective desilication. This article concludes with a perspective on the design of scalable hierarchical zeolites that are more relevant as industrial catalysts in commercial processes.

A Bayesian longitudinal model for quantifying students’ preferences regarding teaching quality indicators

The aim of the paper is to estimate the posterior mean values and analyze the posterior variation in students’ prioritization of teaching quality components within a 10-year frame. The results are based on longitudinal data gathered among Greek university students during the period of the national economic crisis in Greece spanned from 2009 to 2018. The analysis consists of fitting a Bayesian hierarchical beta regression model with a Dirichlet prior on the model coefficients that correspond to twenty quality attribute measures. Using this natural way to implement the usual constraints, the model coefficients can be interpreted as weights and thus they measure the relative importance that the students give to the different attributes. By estimating the posterior means and positioning measures of all consecutive sampling instances and summarizing posterior distributions of the differences between consecutive periods in the model weights, the study identifies and evaluates the major changes and patterns in students’ perception of academic quality over the ten-year sampling period.

Multi-task learning by hierarchical Dirichlet mixture model for sparse failure prediction

Sparsity and noisy labels occur inherently in real-world data. Previously, strong assumptions were made by domain experts to use their experience and expertise to select parameters for their models. Similar approach has been adopted in machine learning for hyper-parameter setting. However, these assumptions are often subjective and are not necessarily the optimal choice. To address this problem, we propose a data-driven approach to automate model parameter learning via a Bayesian nonparametric formulation. We propose hierarchical Dirichlet process mixture model (HDPMM) as a multi-task learning framework. It is used to learn the common parameters across different datasets in the same industry. In our experiments, we verified the capability of HDPMM for multi-task learning in infrastructure failure predictions. It was done by combining HDPMM with hierarchical beta process, which is our failure prediction model. In particular, multi-task learning was used to gain additional knowledge from failure records of water supply networks managed by other utility companies to improve prediction accuracy of our model. Notably, we have achieved superior accuracy for sparse predictions than previous state-of-the-art models. Moreover, we have demonstrated the capability of our proposed model in supporting preventive maintenance of critical infrastructure.

Novel core-shell-like Ni-supported hierarchical beta zeolite catalysts on bioethanol steam reforming

Hierarchical-Beta zeolites have been hydrothermally synthesized by adding a new gemini organic surfactant. The used gemini surfactant play the role of a “pore-forming agents” on the mesoscale, on the same time, providing alkaline environment for the system. With this hierarchical Beta zeolite as the core support, we successfully prepared a shell layer of Ni-containing (22 wt%) petal-like core-shell-like catalyst and applied it to bioethanol steam reforming. At the reaction temperature of 350 °C–550 °C, the conversion rate of ethanol and the selectivity of hydrogen were always above 85% and 70%. After reaction of 100 h on stream at 400 °C, there were not obvious inactivation could be observed on NiNPs/OH-MBeta catalyst.

Spatial Confounding in Hurdle Multilevel Beta Models: the Case of the Brazilian Mathematical Olympics for Public Schools

SummaryAmong the many disparities for which Brazil is known is the difference in performance across students who attend the three administrative levels of Brazilian public schools: federal, state and municipal. Our main goal is to investigate whether student performance in the Brazilian Mathematical Olympics for Public Schools is associated with school administrative level and student gender. For this, we propose a hurdle hierarchical beta model for the scores of students who took the examination in the second phase of these Olympics, in 2013. The mean of the beta model incorporates fixed and random effects at the student and school levels. We explore different distributions for the random school effect. As the posterior distributions of some fixed effects change in the presence, and distribution, of the random school effects, we also explore models that constrain random school effects to the orthogonal complement of the fixed effects. We conclude that male students perform slightly better than female students and that, on average, federal schools perform substantially better than state or municipal schools. However, some of the best municipal and state schools perform as well as some federal schools. We hypothesize that this is due to individual teachers who successfully motivate and prepare their students to perform well in the mathematical Olympics.

Hierarchical Beta zeolites as catalysts in a one-pot three-component cascade Prins–Friedel–Crafts reaction

Enhanced 4-aryltetrahydropyran yields are correlated with the relative concentration of medium-strength Brønsted acid sites on the mesopore surface in hierarchical zeolites.

Hierarchical Beta zeolites obtained in concentrated reaction mixtures as catalysts in tetrahydropyranylation of alcohols

Hierarchical zeolites consisting of Beta nanoparticles (15–40 nm) were obtained via hydrothermal treatment of a concentrated zeolite gel-precursor (H2O/Si = 2.5–14) without utilization of complex SDAs. The proposed approach is based on the formation of a large number of zeolite nuclei under particular crystallization conditions, followed by their agglomeration resulting in the dense packing of the particles preventing their further growth. The micelles of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) can be used to additionally limit the growth of zeolite nanoparticles during hydrothermal treatment of concentrated reaction mixtures. Such deceleration of crystallization promotes the formation of highly porous X-ray amorphous nanosized aluminosilicate. Due to the developed mesoporosity and increased accessibility to the acid sites for the molecules of a large size, hierarchical Beta zeolites obtained in the presence of CTAB demonstrate high catalytic activity in the reaction of bulky alcohols (1-octadecanol and 1-adamantanemethanol) with 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran.