Surprising Stability Research Articles

Thermodynamic evidence for polaron stabilization inside the antiferromagnetic order of Eu5In2Sb6

Materials exhibiting electronic inhomogeneities at the nanometer scale have enormous potential for applications. Magnetic polarons are one such type of inhomogeneity which link the electronic, magnetic and lattice degrees of freedom in correlated matter and often give rise to colossal magnetoresistance. Here, we investigate single crystals of Eu5In2Sb6 by thermal expansion and magnetostriction along different crystallographic directions. These data provide compelling evidence for the formation of magnetic polarons in Eu5In2Sb6 well above the magnetic ordering temperature. More specifically, our results are consistent with anisotropic polarons with varying extent along the different crystallographic directions. A crossover revealed within the magnetically ordered phase can be associated with a surprising stabilization of ferromagnetic polarons within the global antiferromagnetic order upon decreasing temperature. These findings make Eu5In2Sb6 a rare example of such coexisting and competing magnetic orders and, importantly, shed new light on colossal magnetoresistive behavior beyond manganites.

Intergenerational Transmission of Divorce in Sweden, 1920-2015.

Many studies demonstrate an intergenerational transmission of divorce with a focus primarily on more recent decades; however, the extent to which this relationship is deeply rooted or has changed over time remains unclear. Explanations, including sociodemographic and interpersonal factors, have been offered as links between parental divorce and the stability of offspring's marriage. We use individual-level longitudinal data from the Scanian Economic-Demographic Database to estimate the intergenerational transmission of divorce among first marriages in Sweden over the period 1920-2015. Our investigation focuses on the correlation between parental divorce and offspring's divorce during the transition from a low- to a high-divorce regime. Findings reveal surprising stability in the transmission despite fundamental societal change over the years. Notably, the risk of divorce is highest when either the wife or both spouses have experienced parental divorce. Moreover, the transmission of divorce across time appears to be stronger and more stable for women than for men. These results suggest the intergenerational transmission of divorce is part of the divorce transition and highlight the role of women's independence in this intricate but not yet fully understood process.

How bulk nanobubbles respond to elevated external pressures

Bulk nanobubbles, nanoscopic gaseous domains in aqueous solutions, exhibit surprising long-term stability and unique properties under varying environmental conditions. This study investigates the effects of external pressure on nanobubble stability and behavior through three experimental setups: pressurization at room temperature, pressurization at elevated temperatures, and constant pressure loading. Our findings reveal that increasing external pressure reduces nanobubble concentration and reshapes the bubble size distribution. Larger nanobubbles either disappeared or transformed into microbubbles, while smaller ones expanded, significantly narrowing the size distribution. These changes were found to be irreversible. Additionally, nanobubble stability is influenced by both the magnitude and duration of the applied pressure. Elevated temperatures further narrowed the size distribution at atmospheric pressure, and subsequent pressurization caused these nanobubbles to shrink, showing different response characteristics compared to room temperature. This research highlights the complex interplay between pressure, temperature, and nanobubble stability, offering valuable insight for practical applications in fields such as drug delivery, water treatment, and nanomaterial synthesis.

Cover Feature: On the Synthesis and Structure of ‘Naked’ Ga(I) and In(I) Salts and the Surprising Stability of Simple Ga(I) and In(I) Salts in the Coordinating Solvents Ether and Acetonitrile (Chem. Eur. J. 35/2024)

Cover Feature: On the Synthesis and Structure of ‘Naked’ Ga(I) and In(I) Salts and the Surprising Stability of Simple Ga(I) and In(I) Salts in the Coordinating Solvents Ether and Acetonitrile (Chem. Eur. J. 35/2024)

On the Synthesis and Structure of 'Naked' Ga(I) and In(I) Salts and the Surprising Stability of Simple Ga(I) and In(I) Salts in the Coordinating Solvents Ether and Acetonitrile.

In this work, we present the solid-state structures of solvent-free Ga[pf] and In[pf] salts ([pf]-=[Al(ORF)4]-; RF=C(CF3)3), which are very rare examples of salts with truly 'naked' metal cations. Both salts may serve as starting materials for subvalent gallium and indium chemistry with very weakly coordinating ligands providing the freedom of choice for solvents and ligands for the future. On the other hand, we report and rationalize the formation and isolation of [M(OEt2)2][pf] and [M(MeCN)2][pf] (M=Ga, In), underlining the surprising stability of these subvalent group 13 M+ ions against disproportionation. Unexpectedly, dicoordinate and carbene analogous [M(L)2]+ ions with the [pf]- counterion are stable in L=acetonitrile and diethyl ether at room temperature, opening up possible applications for example in organic synthesis and catalysis.

Investigating the actual performance of recent meta-heuristic algorithms in solving different optimization problems

In this paper, the Egret Swarm Optimization Algorithm (ESOA) and Zebra Optimization Algorithm (ZOA) are executed to solve different optimization problems. The results achieved by the two algorithms are evaluated using different criteria, such as stability, minimum, average, and maximum convergence. The evaluation of the results indicates that ESOA not only maintains a surprising stability through its execution but also provides a faster response time compared to ZOA. ESOA requires at most 20 iterations to reach the best value of the main objective functions of the first two selected optimization problems, while ZOA cannot. In the last two selected optimization problems, ESOA continuously shows its superiority over ZOA with its high stability and low utilization of iterations to reach the best value of the main objective functions. Considering these results, ESOA deserves powerful search methods, and the method is strongly recommended to optimize such optimization problems.

Optimal renewable-integrated economic load dispatch for a large-scale power system using One-to-One Optimization Algorithm

This study presents the application of a new meta-heuristic algorithm called One-to-One optimization algorithm (OOBO) for solving the renewable-integrated economic load dispatch problem (RI-ELD) with consideration of both wind and solar power plants. The whole study focuses on minimizing the overall expenses of fuel (OEF) for all thermal electric power plants (TEPPs). The considered power system consists of twenty TEPPs with different working limits. OOBO is applied to solve the given problem in three cases of load demand level, including 2500, 2600, and 2700 MW. The results achieved by OOBO in the three cases are compared with other meta-heuristic algorithms called Coati optimization algorithm (COA) in the four aspects, such as Best OEF (Bst.OEF), Average OEF (Aver.OEF), Maximum OEF (Max.OEF). OOBO not only outperforms COA in all comparison aspects but also provides faster convergence speed to the optimal values of OEF at all three cases of load demand. Moreover, OOBO shows its surprising stability over COA regardless of the increase of load demand in Case 2 and Case 3. By observing these results, OOBO deserved the highly effective search tool for solving the large-scale and highly complex RI-ELD problem.

Fluorescent carbon dots for highly sensitive diosmetin sensing

In this paper, a single signal fluorescent sensor of nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CQDs) was established for the micro-determination of diosmetin. In this determination platform, the as-developed N-CQDs with yellow fluorescence were prepared through a facile hydrothermal method with p-phenylenediamine and ascorbic acid as the precursors containing nitrogen and carbon. The as-developed N-CQDs had a classical surface structure and surprising fluorescence stability. The maximum excitation and emission peaks were located at 372 and 528 nm, respectively. Under the optimal sensing conditions, the as-prepared N-CQDs held preeminent immunity towards possible interfering substances. The determination platform’s fluorescence intensity was quenched because of the static quenching and inner filter effect. The fluorescence weakening changes displayed an attractive linear relationship with diosmetin in range of 0.5–150 μM, and the linear equation was ln(F0/F) = 0.014[Q]–0.055 with the R2 of 0.9975 and the detection limit of 0.049 μM. The determination platform could be applied for the trace detection of diosmetin in river water and bovine serum samples. The corresponding recovery rate was 94.8 %–108.8 %, exhibiting that it was a facile and efficient fluorescence sensing strategy.

Effect of compositional minor adjustment on localized lamellar structure coarsening of TiAl alloys with different solidification modes

Possible lamellar coarsening in the as-cast microstructure of TiAl alloys significantly affects the subsequent processing of ingot metallurgy, and a systematic study of it is necessary. In this paper, two TiAl alloys with different solidification modes (TNM-45Al alloy and TNM-0.3Si-0.7 C alloy) were obtained by compositional minor adjustment basing on TNM alloy. The effect of different adjustment routes on the localized lamellar structure coarseing behaviour and the resulting differences in the uniformity of the nanohardness distribution were investigated by comparing with TNM alloy. It is found that increasing the Al content of the TNM alloy while keeping the solidification mode as β-solidification unchanged leads to severe localised lamellar coarsening in the S-segregation zone of TNM-45Al alloy, including continuous coarsening (CC) and discontinuous coarsening (DC). In contrast, the solidification mode of the TNM-0.3Si-0.7 C alloy with the addition of the strong α stabilizer elements Si and C is transformed into hypoperitectic solidification with severe peritectic segregation, but the lamellar structure exhibits surprising full-domain stability. The results show that the thermodynamic tendency caused by high Al content and the absence of net-like β-segregation leads to severe localised lamellar coarsening in TNM-45Al alloy. CC can be accomplished through the migration of interface defects. DC is formed by the nucleation and expansion of γ-phase Shockley incomplete dislocations, and the interfaces consist of the α2 /γ interface and the first discovered γ /γ twin interface. The lamellar coarsening of TNM-0.3Si-0.7 C alloy can be effectively suppressed by the solid solution of Si/C atoms and the near net-like β-segregation in the primary β-phase region. As a result, the distribution uniformity of the nanohardness of the lamellar structure in TNM-0.3Si-0.7 C alloy is excellent, with the variance decreasing from ±0.24 of TNM alloy to ±0.20, while it increases to ±0.37 for the TNM-45Al alloy.

Omics data analysis reveals the system-level constraint on cellular amino acid composition

Proteins play a pivotal role in coordinating the functions of organisms, essentially governing their traits, as the dynamic arrangement of diverse amino acids leads to a multitude of folded configurations within peptide chains. Despite dynamic changes in amino acid composition of an individual protein (referred to as AAP) and great variance in protein expression levels under different conditions, our study, utilizing transcriptomics data from four model organisms uncovers surprising stability in the overall amino acid composition of the total cellular proteins (referred to as AACell). Although this value may vary between different species, we observed no significant differences among distinct strains of the same species. This indicates that organisms enforce system-level constraints to maintain a consistent AACell, even amid fluctuations in AAP and protein expression. Further exploration of this phenomenon promises insights into the intricate mechanisms orchestrating cellular protein expression and adaptation to varying environmental challenges.

Heterojunction engineering decorated TiO2/ZnO three‐dimensional hierarchical structure with g‐C3N4 for solar driving water splitting

AbstractImproving the carrier separation efficiency plays a decisive role in designing and constructing a high‐efficiency photocatalysis reaction system. Derived from providing a directional transport channel for photogenerated carriers, three‐dimensional (3D) nanostructures greatly improve the charge separation efficiency. Herein, TiO2/ZnO (TZ)/g‐C3N4 3D hierarchical nanostructure was constructed to artificially simulate photosynthesis of green plants. The optimal TZ/g‐C3N4 photoanode exhibits a photocurrent density of 1.46 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode potential, 1.6 times that of pure TiO2 (0.9 mA/cm2). Moreover, under constant illumination (100 mW/cm2), the hydrogen production reached 80 μmol/cm2 within 180 min. It is worth noting that the TZ/g‐C3N4 photoanode shows surprising stability, which is an important indicator for the practical application of the photoelectrode. The excellent photoelectrochemical performance benefits from the following two aspects: TZ nanotree structure provides a directional transport channel for photogenerated carriers, and the modification of TZ by g‐C3N4 extends the response range to the visible region.

Densely accessible single atom Fe sites dispersed on porous carbon as highly stable and active ORR catalyst for PEMFC

Single-atom Fe–N–C catalysts have received ever-growing interest in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) application for their utmost atomic utilization in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, developing atomically dispersed Fe–N–C catalysts with both satisfactory activity and excellent stability presents great challenges. Herein, a template-activator combined strategy is developed to construct ORR catalysts with densely accessible single-atom Fe sites dispersed on hierarchically porous carbon networks. The optimized catalyst exhibits excellent oxygen reduction activity with a half-wave potential of 0.84 V and surprising stability with 93.6% retention of the initial current density after 24 hours of chronoamperometric test in acidic media. Notably, when assembled in a H2–O2 fuel cell, it shows remarkable long-term durability with only 16% loss in current density during the first 10 hours.

Dibenzoazepine hydrazine is a building block for N-alkene hybrid ligands: exploratory syntheses of complexes of Cu, Fe, and Li.

The new hydrazine 5H-dibenzo[b,f]azepin-5-amine (2) reacts with P- and Si-electrophiles via deprotonation to afford P(III)-, P(V)-, and TMS-hydrazides 3-8 and with carbonyl electrophiles via acid-free condensation to the N-substituted hydrazones 9-12 that are potential N-alkene ligands. While β-ketohydrazone 9 and α-dihydrazone 10 react with [Mes(Cu)]4, [Cu(NCCCH3)4]2PF6, and FeCl2(THF)1.5 to afford complexes devoid of alkene interaction, [Cu(OTf)]2·C6H6 reacts with the α-keto hydrazone 11 or with N,N dimethyl-hydrazone 12 to form the neutral dimeric Cu(I) complex 18 with bridging Cu(I)-alkene interactions or the tetrahedral cationic complex 19 in which 12 binds as a bidentate hydrazone-alkene ligand, respectively. The surprising stability of the alkene coordination in complexes 18 and 19 prevents substitutions with, e.g., PPh3.

High‐Performance and Stable Polyaniline@Niobium Sulfide Electrode for an Asymmetric Supercapacitor

AbstractConducting polymers have attained a lot of interest due to extraordinary conductivity, large pore size, and surprising stability. In this work, the conducting polymer polyaniline (PANI) and niobium sulfide (NbS) were synthesized by polymerization of aniline and hydrothermal method, respectively. The PANI@NbS nanocomposite electrode material had a specific capacity (Cs) of 1050 C g−1, which is larger than that of the reference sample (NbS = 300 C g−1). Besides, the hybrid device (PANI@NbS//PANI@AC) was designed and the electrochemical characteristics were determined. The hybrid device showed an excellent value of Cs of 1207 C g−1 with higher energy density Ed and power density Pd. The device also exhibited remarkable stability, and 85 % of the initial capacity is retained after 1000 cycles.

Emergence in Context: A Treatise in Twenty-First Century Natural Philosophy

Emergence in Context: A Treatise in Twenty-First Century Natural Philosophy

Surprising stability of recent global carbon cycling enables improved fossil fuel emission verification

AbstractThe interannual to decadal variability in natural carbon sinks limits the explanation of recent changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration. Here we account for interannual and decadal variability using a simple quasi-mechanistic model of the net land carbon exchange with terms scaling with atmospheric CO2 and a weighted spatial average of temperature anomalies. This approach reduces the unexplained residual in Earth’s carbon cycle budget from ±0.76 GtC per year obtained using process models to ±0.50 GtC per year, with the largest improvements on decadal timescales despite assuming constant dynamics. Our findings reveal remarkable stability of the carbon cycle and allow verification of reported global emissions to within 4.4% (95% confidence level) over the five-year stocktake cycle of the Paris Agreement—half the uncertainty reported previously.

The Surprising Stability of Asian Americans’ and Latinos’ Partisan Identities in the Early Trump Era

The Surprising Stability of Asian Americans’ and Latinos’ Partisan Identities in the Early Trump Era

Hybrid Poly(Ethylene Oxide)-Based composite polymer electrolyte for high-performance all-solid-state lithium batteries

Composite solid-state electrolytes (CSSEs) using solid-state lithium metal batteries (SSLMBs) are widely used as one among the primary technological paths aimed towards chemically necessary safety with acceptable energy density. Nevertheless, the unchecked growth of lithium dendrites and the sluggish transport of lithium ions impede the development of SSLMBs based on CSSEs. Herein, the simultaneous introduction of multilayer g-C3N4 and exceptionally thermally stable boron nitride (BN) into the PVDF/PEO system is presented. Benefitting from the unique trait and synergistic effect of g-C3N4 and BN in the synthesized CSSEs (g-C3N4/BN/PVDF/PEO-LiTFSI), the prepared CSSEs yield excellent Li+ transfer number (0.75), surprising thermal stability (shrinkage of only 14.13% after heated at 130 °C for 4 h), and high electrochemical stability window over 4.73 V vs. Li/Li+, which are much higher than those reported in the current literature PEO-based CSSEs. Moreover, the Li||CSSEs||LiFePO4 cell applying the CSSEs attained outstanding cycling stability (capacity retention rate of 85% after 350 cycles) and excellent rate performance (58.6 mAh g−1 at 5C). This study offers a simple, promising application, robust, and scalable manufacturing strategy to develop a dual role for stable and safe polymer-based all-solid-state lithium batteries.

Multiplicity and Stability of the Pohozaev Obstruction for Hardy-Schrödinger Equations with Boundary Singularity

Let Ω \Omega be a smooth bounded domain in R n \mathbb {R}^n ( n ≥ 3 n\geq 3 ) such that 0 ∈ ∂ Ω 0\in \partial \Omega . We consider issues of non-existence, existence, and multiplicity of variational solutions in H 1 , 0 2 ( Ω ) H_{1,0}^2(\Omega ) for the borderline Dirichlet problem, { − Δ u − γ u | x | 2 − h ( x ) u a m p ; = a m p ; | u | 2 ⋆ ( s ) − 2 u | x | s a m p ; in Ω , u a m p ; = a m p ; 0 a m p ; on ∂ Ω ∖ { 0 } , \begin{equation*} \left \{ \begin {array}{llll} -\Delta u-\gamma \frac {u}{|x|^2}- h(x) u &=& \frac {|u|^{2^\star (s)-2}u}{|x|^s} \ \ &\text {in } \Omega ,\\ \hfill u&=&0 &\text {on }\partial \Omega \setminus \{ 0 \} , \end{array} \right . \end{equation*} where 0 > s > 2 0>s>2 , 2 ⋆ ( s ) ≔ 2 ( n − s ) n − 2 {2^\star (s)}≔\frac {2(n-s)}{n-2} , γ ∈ R \gamma \in \mathbb {R} and h ∈ C 0 ( Ω ¯ ) h\in C^0(\overline {\Omega }) . We use sharp blow-up analysis on—possibly high energy—solutions of corresponding subcritical problems to establish, for example, that if γ > n 2 4 − 1 \gamma >\frac {n^2}{4}-1 and the principal curvatures of ∂ Ω \partial \Omega at 0 0 are non-positive but not all of them vanishing, then Equation (E) has an infinite number of high energy (possibly sign-changing) solutions in H 1 , 0 2 ( Ω ) H_{1,0}^2(\Omega ) . This complements results of the first and third authors, who showed in their 2016 article, Hardy-Singular Boundary Mass and Sobolev-Critical Variational Problems, that if γ ≤ n 2 4 − 1 4 \gamma \leq \frac {n^2}{4}-\frac {1}{4} and the mean curvature of ∂ Ω \partial \Omega at 0 0 is negative, then ( E ) (E) has a positive least energy solution. On the other hand, the sharp blow-up analysis also allows us to show that if the mean curvature at 0 0 is nonzero and the mass, when defined, is also nonzero, then there is a surprising stability of regimes where there are no variational positive solutions under C 1 C^1 -perturbations of the potential h h . In particular, and in sharp contrast with the non-singular case (i.e., when γ = s = 0 \gamma =s=0 ), we prove non-existence of such solutions for ( E ) (E) in any dimension, whenever Ω \Omega is star-shaped and h h is close to 0 0 , which include situations not covered by the classical Pohozaev obstruction.

Essential Business: The Flu, the War, and the Economy

AbstractDuring the First World War, the term “essential business” was used initially in military procurement, and then in disease control when pandemic influenza struck. Essential businesses were exempt from restrictions imposed in the interest of national defense or public health, so debates about essential business concerned the necessity of various goods and services to the consumer. Ultimately, the concept of essential business depended on a shared understanding of the American consumer’s rights and duties as a citizen. On the one hand, consumers furthered the state’s interests by complying with, interpreting, implementing, and enforcing public-health restrictions. On the other, what contemporaries called “the American standard of living” entitled citizens to maintain relatively large expenditures. This relationship between citizenship and consumption explains the economy’s surprising stability in 1918. The flu did not cause a depression because social norms authorized most consumer expenditures as legitimate and appropriate, even during the wartime epidemic. “Essential” work is theorized using the Marxist concept of socially necessary labor, which relates productivity and purchasing power to norms of consumption.