Editorial: Mechanics of soft materials, structures and systems

The concept of soft matter was first introduced by P. G. de Gennes in his acceptance speech for the No-bel Physics Prize in 1991. In mechanics community, however, people usually prefer using soft material in-stead of soft matter to describe the material whose en-ergy associated with thermal motion is comparative to the interaction energy. Unlike in the conventional con-densed matter, entropy plays an important and even de-terminative role in soft materials.

Ore Zoning as Self-Organization of Geochemical Dynamic Systems

Zoning in ore bodies, ore deposits and ore regions are recognized as temporal-spatial structures generated by the dynamics of ore- forming processes. Viewed from the theory of dissipative structures, ore zoning is a kind of self-organization phenomenon occurring in far from-equilibrium geochemical dynamic systems. Therefore,kinetic and dynamic approaches must be taken to reveal the mechanisms of ore zoning. Two dominant coupling processes leading to ore zoning——reaction-transport feedbacks and double-diffusive convection——are discussed.

Structure Studies on Host-Guest Recognition Sensory Systems

Rhodamine B-ethylenediamine-beta-cyclodextrins (RhB-beta-CDen) and rhodamine B-beta-cyclodextrins (RhB-beta-CD) form inclusion complexes with many guest molecules, which can be used as nucleic acid probe. In this paper we determined the most stable conformations of RhB-beta-CDen and RhB-beta-CD by molecular mechanics and dynamics simulation. The interaction between RhB-beta-CDen and two guest molecules, 1-borneol and cyclohexanol, have been investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The results show that the interaction between borneol and RhB-beta-CDen is stronger than that between cyclohexanol and RhB-beta-CDen.

A STUDY ON THE STRUCTURAL EFFECT OF DOUBLE BRIDGES CONJUGATED SYSTEMS I.CARBONYL-IMINO SYSTEM

The struetural effect of the conjugative system(C)with carbonyl-imino bridges has been studied.The results show that:In the conjugated system(C),there is no electronic absorption peak attributable to the whole system,but there are three π-π* bands each nt which displays chacactecistics of its own independently.These indicate that the two bridges-carbonyl-and-imino-can block the tlanSmlSSion of the conjngative polarization of the whole system,so as to form three segments,this is verified by means of chemical synthesis and degradation.

Structural Eurocodes Systems (China) Forum Held in Beijing——Construction Standards in China

The Structural Eurocodes Systems, which are developed by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), have come into trial use in the 28 countries of European Union (EU), and will lay a significant influence on the development of the construction industry and on the international market of construction.

A Class of Generalized Approximate Inverse Solvers for Unsymmetric Linear Systems of Irregular Structure Based on Adaptive Algorithmic Modelling for Solving Complex Computational Problems in Three Space Dimensions

A class of general inverse matrix techniques based on adaptive algorithmic modelling methodologies is derived yielding iterative methods for solving unsymmetric linear systems of irregular structure arising in complex computational problems in three space dimensions. The proposed class of approximate inverse is chosen as the basis to yield systems on which classic and preconditioned iterative methods are explicitly applied. Optimized versions of the proposed approximate inverse are presented using special storage (k-sweep) techniques leading to economical forms of the approximate inverses. Application of the adaptive algorithmic methodologies on a characteristic nonlinear boundary value problem is discussed and numerical results are given.

RECURSIVENESS OF ZERO STRUCTURES FOR SYSTEM MATRICES OF INTERCONNECTED LINEAR SYSTEMS VIA MODULE THEORETIC TOOLS

The importance of the zeros of multwariable linear systems is well-knoiun in terms of measure obstructions to the controllability and the. observability. In this paper, a recursive decarnposi Am oj interconnected systems is outlined by taking into account the sequential structure of the connnections. The paper extends the, coordinate, module-theoretic studies from the elementary algebraic systems theory to include the case oj such linear interconnected systems which need not to be controllable or observable. Also, the properties of controllability and observability, the decoupling zeros and the signal Making issues are characterized.

TRACKING VARIABLE STRUCTURE CONTROL LAW WITH APPLICATION TO ELECTRO－HYDRAULIC SERVO SYSTEMS

Combining the characteristics of servo systems , tracking variable structure control law is studied. Two kinds of new variable control law , the generalized exponential approaching vari- able structure control law and the integral variable structure control law are put forward for dis- crete time domain. Taking pump-controlled-motor rotational speed servo system for example , the experiment investigation and digital simulation of integral variable structure control law for dis- crete time domain are performed , the rightness of conclusions are verified.

Analysis and Prevention for Oscillation Failure of Capacitive Micro-accelerometers

As actuator of the force-rebalanced servo loop, the electrostatic force generator of the micro-accelerometer shows high nonlinearity while the interpole of the micro-electro-mechanical system（MEMS） sensor is far away from its balance position. The control system cannot rebalance itself with the limited bandwidth after an external long overload, because the characteristics of the force generator differ from normal case. Although for similar problems, solutions with cascading lead-lag blocks, with the anti-windup（AW） technology, or with the sliding-mode control, are widely reported, the problems such as performance loss or difficulty to synthesize a digital controller still remain. Based on existing researches, remedies are developed by analyzing the characteristic of the system not only near the balance position, but also corresponding to the whole moveable range of the interpole, and a new controller is proposed. The solution is compared with the common solutions of cascading lead-lag blocks method, AW methods, and sliding mode methods. Comparison results show that the proposed solution avoid performance loss, compared to cascading lead-lag blocks solution; the proposed solution is easily synthesized and implemented in the analog servo loop of the micro-accelerometer, compared to digital AW methods; at the same time, the proposed solution avoids suffering the chattering effect problem but just utilize it, compared to the sliding-mode control solution. Nevertheless, comparison results show the solution is lack of commonality, since the solution is only more suitable to micro electrostatic force-rebalance system. The SIMULINK models with and without the proposed solution, taking typical micro-accelerometer parameters, have been set up for simulation; corresponding experiments utilizing electrometric method are also conducted after the successful simulations. Simulation and experiment results verify that the micro-accelerometer will reliably return to normal operation after external long overload with the proposed solution. Therefore, it is expected to design the analog servo loop of high performance micro electrostatic force-rebalance system so as to ensure the rebalance after long overload without performance loss.

Mechanical Reinforcement and Piezoelectric Properties of PZT Ceramics Embedded with Nano-Crystalline

The double-scale lead zirconate titanate （PZT） piezoelectric ceramics were prepared by the solid state processing with PZT nano-crystalline and micro-powder. The microstructures, electrical and mechanical properties of the double-scale PZT are investigated. All the sintered ceramics exhibit a single perovskite structure and the grain size of the dou ble-scale PZT reduces due to the incorporation of PZT nano-crystalline. Compared to normal PZT, the mechanical properties increase significantly and the piezoelectric properties decrease slightly. Mechanisms responsible for the reinforcement of the double-scale PZT are discussed.

High Characteristic Temperature 1.3μm InAs/GaAs Quantum-Dot Lasers Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

We report the molecular beam epitaxy growth of 1.3 μm InAs/GaAs quantum-dot （QD） lasers with high characteristic temperature T0. The active region of the lasers consists of five-layer InAs QDs with p-type modulation doping. Devices with a stripe width of 4 μm and a cavity length of 1200 μm are fabricated and tested in the pulsed regime under different temperatures. It is found that T0 of the QD lasers is as high as 532 K in the temperature range from 10°C to 60°C. In addition, the aging test for the lasers under continuous wave operation at 100°C for 72 h shows almost no degradation, indicating the high crystal quality of the devices.

Irradiation Effects of Femtosecond Pulses on Refractive Index of Ag-Embedded Nanocomposite Glasses

The irradiation effects of femtosecond pulses on Ag-embedded composite glasses fabricated by ion-exchange are investigated using z-scan measurement. Both changes of the refractive index caused by the laser irradiation effect and the third-order optical nonlinearity are observed in the experiment. Taking the change of the linear and nonlinear refractive index into consideration, the fitting results are in agreement with the experimental results.

Astrophysical applications of gravitational microlensing

Since the first discovery of microlensing events nearly two decades ago, gravitational microlensing has accumulated tens of TBytes of data and developed into a powerful astrophysical technique with diverse applications. The review starts with a theoretical overview of the field and then proceeds to discuss the scientific highlights. （1） Microlensing observations toward the Magellanic Clouds rule out the Milky Way halo being dominated by MAssive Compact Halo Objects （MACHOs）. This confirms most dark matter is non-baryonic, consistent with other observations. （2） Microlensing has discovered about 20 extrasolar planets （16 published）, including the first two Jupiter-Saturn like systems and the only five ＂cold Neptunes＂ yet de- tected. They probe a different part of the parameter space and will likely provide the most stringent test of core accretion theory of planet formation. （3） Microlensing pro- vides a unique way to measure the mass of isolated stars, including brown dwarfs and normal stars. Half a dozen or so stellar mass black hole candidates have also been pro- posed. （4） High-resolution, target-of-opportunity spectra of highly-magnified dwarf stars provide intriguing ＂age＂ determinations which may either hint at enhanced he- lium enrichment or unusual bulge formation theories. （5） Microlensing also measured limb-darkening profiles for close to ten giant stars, which challenges stellar atmo- sphere models. （6） Data from surveys also provide strong constraints on the geometry and kinematics of the Milky Way bar （through proper motions）; the latter indicates predictions from current models appear to be too anisotropic compared with observa- tions. The future of microlensing is bright given the new capabilities of current surveys and forthcoming new telescope networks from the ground and from space. Some open issues in the field are identified and briefly discussed.

Mechanical Behavior of Nanometer Ni by Simulating Nanoindentation

An indentation simulation of the crystal Ni is carried out by a molecular dynamics technique （MD） to study the mechanical behavior at nanometer scales. Indenter tips with both sphere shape and conical shape with 60° cone angle are used, and simulation samples with different crystal orientations are adopted. Some defects such as dislocations and point defects are observed. It is found that nucleated defects （dislocations, amorphous atoms） are from the local region near the pin tip or the sample surface. The temperature distribution of the local region is analyzed and it can explain our MD simulation results.

Damage Performance of Multilayer Films under Simultaneous Exposure to Multi-Wavelength Pulses

Laser damage performance of multilayer films with combined irradiation of 1ω and 2ω is studied to probe the damage mechanisms during wavelength division. The laser induced damage thresholds （LIDTs） of the samples are obtained and tested with only 2ω with various energy densities of 1ω. Different 1ω; polarization directions combined with the 2ω case are also investigated. The result suggests that lw can raise the damage probability of multilayer mirrors when two light wavelengths are present simultaneously; the increasing number of sensitive defects for 2ω can be related to the decline of the LIDTs of the multilayer mirrors.

Evolution of Structural and Magnetic Properties of BaFe12O19 with B2O3 Addition

We investigate the effects of B2O3 addition on structural and magnetic properties of hard magnetic BaFe12O19 particles. The conventional solid state reaction method is used as the synthesis route. Single phase BaFe12O19 could be synthesized with very small amounts of B2O3 addition and with calcination at low temperatures （850°C） in short times （1 h）. B2O3 addition also improves the magnetic parameters significantly. Remanence magnetization and specific magnetization at 1.5 T increase by ～40% in magnitude although no significant variations on coercivity is observed.

Competition between Radiative Power and Dissipation Power in the Refrigeration Process in Oxide Multifilms

The maximum refrigeration power dependence on the doping density in the p-BaTiO3/BaTiO3/SrTiO3/BaTiO3/ n-BaTiO3 system and in the p-AlGaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs/n-AlGaAs system is obtained respectively based on the opto-thermionic refrigeration model. The results show that the maximum refrigeration power in the p-BaTiO3/BaTiO3/SrTiO3/BaTiO3/n-BaTiO3 system increases dramatically with the increase of doping density from 1.0×1018 cm-3 to 5.0×1019 cm-3 while that in the p-AlGaAs/AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs/n-AlGaAs system is nearly a constant. It is found that the different Auger coefficients and the competition between radiative power and dissipation power lead to the different behavior of the maximum refrigeration power dependence on the doping density of the two systems.

A Study on Porosity Distribution in Nanoporous TiO2 Photoelectrodes for Output Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Porosity as one of the crucial factors to film morphology affects the overall electrical current-voltage characteristics of dye-sensitized solar cell （DSC）. We search for the short-circuit current density, the open-circuit voltage and the maximum power output as the main functional parameters of DSC closely related to porosity under different film thickness. The theoretical analyses show some exciting results. As porosity changes from 0.41 to 0.75, the short-circuit current density shows the optimal value when the film thickness is 8-10 μm. The open-circuit voltage presents different variation tendencies for the film thicknesses within 1-8 μm and within 10-30 μm. The porosity is near 0.41 and the film thickness is about 10 μm, DSC will have the maximum power output. The theoretical studies also illustrate that given a good porosity distribution, DSC can obtain an excellent short-circuit current characteristic, which agrees well with the experimental results reported in previous literature.

Theoretical Study of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectra and Local Lattice Distortion for Mn^(2+) in Zn(ClO_4)_2·6(H_2O)Mg(ClO_4)_2·6(H_2O)

The electron paramagnetic resonance（EPR） spectra of trigonal Mn^（2＋） centers in Zn（ClO4）2·6（H2O） and Mg（ClO4）2·6（H2O） crystals were studied on the basis of the complete energy matrices for a d^5 configuration ion in a trigonal ligand field. It was demonstrated that the local lattice structure around a trigonal Mn^（2＋） center has an compressed distortion along the crystalline c3 axis, and when Mn^（2＋） is doped in the Zn（ClO4）2·6（H2O） and Mg（ClO4）2·6（H2O） crystals, there is a similar local distortion. From the EPR calculation, the local lattice structure parameters R=2.183 2 ？, for Zn（ClO4）2·6（H2O）, R=2.130 2 ？, for Mg（ClO4）2·6（H2O） have been determined.

THE TRACE IDENTITY, A POWERFUL TOOL FOR CONSTRUCTING THE HAMILTONIAN STRUCTURE OF INTEGRABLE SYSTEMS (Ⅱ)

An isospectral problem with four potentials is discussed. The corresponding hierarchy of nonlinearevolution equations is derived. It is shown that the AKNS, Levi, D-AKNS hierarchies and a new oneare reductions of the above hierarchy. In each case the relevant Hamiltonian form is established bymaking use of the trase identity.