Impact Of Different Compositions Research Articles

Hydrothermal Synthesis, Phase Analysis, and Magneto-Electronic Characterizations of Lead-Free Ferroelectric BM2+(Zn, Ca, Mg)T-BFO System.

In this study, lead-free BiM2+(Zn, Ca, Mg)Ti-BiFeO3 ceramics are fabricated under eco-friendly hydrothermal reaction conditions at 250 °C. XRD patterns show that all the synthesized compounds exhibit a phase coexistence of monoclinic and tetragonal perovskite-type structures with a morphotropic phase boundary at x = 0.4, with minimum impurity. The calculated average crystallite/grain size of the samples was close to 50 nm at full width at half-maximum of the main peak. The corresponding bonds of the constituent elements were observed by FTIR analysis, which further supports the formation of the local structure. EDS analyses detect all of the elements, their quantities, and compositional homogeneity. SEM data show agglomerated and nearly spherical morphology with an average particle size of about 128 nm. All synthesized ceramic powders revealed thermal stability with trivial mass loss up to investigated high temperatures (1000 οC). The dielectric constant reached its maximum at 38.7 MHz and finally remained constant after 80 MHz for all nanoceramics. Because of the complementary impact of different compositions, the most effective piezoelectric characteristics of d33 = 136 pCN-1, Pr = 8.6 pCN-1 cm-2, and kp = 11% at 30 °C were attained at x = 0.4 content for 0.4BiCaTi-0.6BiFeO3 ceramic. The measured magnetic hysteresis data (M-H curve) showed a weak ferromagnetic nature with the highest moment of ∼0.23 emu/g for 0.4BiCaTi-0.6BiFeO3, and other samples exhibited negligible ferromagnetic to diamagnetic transition. The optical response study shows that the 0.4BiMgTi-0.6BiFeO3 sample yielded the maximal transmittance (50%), whereas the 0.4BiCaTi-0.6BiFeO3 compound exhibited the highest refractive index. The calculated large band gap shows a high insulating or dielectric nature. Our findings demonstrate that the BiM2+Ti-BiFeO3 system, which was fabricated using a low-temperature hydrothermal technique, is an excellent lead-free piezoelectric and multiferroic nanoceramic.

Programming Thermochromic Liquid Crystal Hetero-Oligomers for Near-Infrared Reflectors: Unequal Incorporation of Similar Reactive Mesogens in Thiol-ene Oligomers.

Cholesteric liquid crystal oligomers are widely researched for their interesting thermochromic properties. However, structure-property relationships to program the thermochromic properties of these oligomers have been rarely reported. In this work, we use the versatile thiol-ene click reaction to synthesize a series of hetero-oligomers and study the impact of different compositions on the thermochromic behavior of the resulting material. Characterization of the oligomers shows significantly different rates of reaction for the monomers despite their very similar structures, which leads to oligomer compositions that do not match the original reaction feed. The oligomers are then used to produce thin near-infrared reflecting coatings. The best-performing thermochromic reflector has a room-temperature reflection band that shifts a total of 510 nanometers upon heating to 120 °C. The shift is repeatable for up to 10 times with no appreciable degradation. The room temperature reflection of the coatings is shown to be tunable not only by adjusting the chiral dopant concentration but also by the ratio of the monomers. Finally, we show that the oligomers can be chemically modified by making their reactive end groups undergo a reaction with monothiol compounds. These modifications allow for further fine-tuning of liquid crystal oligomers for heat-regulating window films, for example.

Impact of integrated district level mental health care on clinical and functioning outcomes of people with depression and alcohol use disorder in Nepal: a non-randomised controlled study

BackgroundIntegration of mental health services into primary healthcare is proliferating in low-resource countries. We aimed to evaluate the impact of different compositions of primary care mental health services for depression and alcohol use disorder (AUD), when compared to usual primary care services.MethodsWe conducted a non-randomized controlled study in rural Nepal. We compared treatment outcomes among patients screening positive and receiving: (a) primary care mental health services without a psychological treatment component (TG); (b) the same services including a psychological treatment (TG + P); and (c) primary care treatment as usual (TAU). Primary outcomes included change in depression and AUD symptoms, as well as disability. Disability was measured using the 12-item WHO Disability Assessment Schedule. Symptom severity was assessed using the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire for depression, the 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for AUD. We used negative binomial regression models for the analysis.ResultsFor depression, when combining both treatment groups (TG, n = 77 and TG + P, n = 60) compared to TAU (n = 72), there were no significant improvements. When only comparing the psychological treatment group (TG + P) with TAU, there were significant improvements for symptoms and disability (aβ = − 2.64; 95%CI − 4.55 to − 0.74, p = 0.007; aβ = − 12.20; 95%CI − 19.79 to − 4.62; p = 0.002, respectively). For AUD, when combining both treatment groups (TG, n = 92 and TG + P, n = 80) compared to TAU (n = 57), there were significant improvements in AUD symptoms and disability (aβ = − 15.13; 95%CI − 18.63 to − 11.63, p < 0.001; aβ = − 9.26; 95%CI − 16.41 to − 2.12, p = 0.011; respectively). For AUD, there were no differences between TG and TG + P. Patients’ perceptions of health workers’ skills in common psychological factors were associated with improvement in depression patient outcomes (β = − 0.36; 95%CI − 0.55 to − 0.18; p < 0.001) but not for AUD patients.ConclusionPrimary care mental health services for depression may only be effective when psychological treatments are included. Health workers’ competencies as perceived by patients may be an important indicator for treatment effect. AUD treatment in primary care appears to be beneficial even without additional psychological services.

All-Solid State Rechargeable Batteries: Manufacturing of Composite Cathodes

All-solid-state batteries have great potential for both improvement of cell safety and increase of energy density. Safety improvements are obviously attained by removing the flammable liquid electrolyte. For the energy density, values up to 400Wh/kg are often claimed. Results of theoretical calculations reveal that specific energies beyond 400 Wh/kg and energy densities of more than 1200 Wh/L can be reached with all solid state Li-ion cells. Great challenges remain in manufacturing of the components and the cell stack. All-solid battery cells as presented here typically consist of a lithium metal anode, a thin all-solid separator and a composite cathode. While the Lithium metal anode and the separator can probably be single-phase, the composite cathode requires a much more complex structure to ensure both good electrical and ionic conductivity. In addition, the contact resistance at the components’ interfaces needs to be minimized. Such cathodes ideally consist of evenly dispersed particles in solid electrolyte, with no remaining porosity. In this work, a practical approach for manufacturing of all-solid composite cathodes is presented. The impact of different compositions and manufacturing technologies on the electrode structure and conductivity is shown. Composite cathodes comprising active material, polymer based electrolytes and conductive agents are manufactured by dry mixing, hot pressing and extrusion, respectively. SEM and TGA-DSC analysis reveal the structure of the resulting electrodes. Results of density and porosity measurements are also shown. Ionic and electrical conductivities are measured as well. In conclusion, the impact of composition and processing on the quality of all-solid state composite cathodes is shown and discussed in this work. Recommendations towards improved manufacturing routes are derived. Figure 1

Official development assistance (ODA), public spending and economic growth in Ethiopia

The objective of this research was to analyse the role of Ethiopia’s government expenditure in economic growth and the importance that ODA has played in financing government spending. The study employed both descriptive and econometric analyses. In the econometric analysis, Ram’s (1986) model is adopted to scrutinize the impact of different composition of public spending on economic growth. The study revealed that public spending on physical investment and human capital development have positive contributions on economic growth while spending on consumption affects growth negatively. Besides, as opposed to those who argue that ODA is detrimental to the growth of the recipient country, the study found a positive contribution in Ethiopia’s growth, particularly during the last eight years when the country achieved high growth rate. However, the country is highly dependent on aid and loan, which made it susceptible to changes in the flow of aid. There was also a prevalence of the problem of over-indebtedness as the export performance and the foreign exchange earning capacity of the country remained low. Key words: Public spending, official development assistance (ODA), debt, economic growth, Ethiopia.

Determination of master curves for asphalt mixtures by means of IT-CY tests^1

The concept of ecologically conscious and energy saving roads must be expanded to the performance of the asphalt mixtures as well as to the test related to it. This paper investigates the tests focusing on a better description of the behaviour of asphalts as well as on a deeper revelation of the impact of different compositions. Based on the international experiences the recording of the asphalt´s complex module over the entire temperature range by the determination and evaluation of the mater-curves appeared as a possible solution for more precise description of the asphalt behaviour.