A Regularization Homotopy Strategy for the Constrained Parameter Inversion of Partial Differential Equations.

The main difficulty posed by the parameter inversion of partial differential equations lies in the presence of numerous local minima in the cost function. Inversion fails to converge to the global minimum point unless the initial estimate is close to the exact solution. Constraints can improve the convergence of the method, but ordinary iterative methods will still become trapped in local minima if the initial guess is far away from the exact solution. In order to overcome this drawback fully, this paper designs a homotopy strategy that makes natural use of constraints. Furthermore, due to the ill-posedness of inverse problem, the standard Tikhonov regularization is incorporated. The efficiency of the method is illustrated by solving the coefficient inversion of the saturation equation in the two-phase porous media.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles synthesised from the Vernonia amygdalina shows the anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities in the mice model.

In this study, we synthesised the zinc oxide nanoparticles from Vernonia amygdalina and evaluated its anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive potentials against the different inflammation and pain induced mice model. The synthesised zinc oxide nanoparticles were characterised by UV, SEM, XRD and FTIR techniques. The anti-nociceptive effects of V. amygdalina were examined by different stimuli e.g. acetic acid, glutamate, capsaicin, and formalin-induced nociception in mice. The anti-inflammatory effects of synthesised zinc oxide nanoparticles were assessed by air sack assessment and the level of inflammatory cytokines were studied. The muscle tension of animals were studied through open field assessment. The present study exhibited proficient antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory actions of the synthesised Zinc oxide nanoparticles from V. amygdalina. The sormulated zinc oxide nanoparticles were appreciably reduced the acetic acid, glutamate, capsaicin, and formalin-induced nociceptive responses in mice. Further the zinc nanoparticles were exhibited the potent anti-inflammatory actions via reducing the inflammatory response and pro-inflammatory cytokines level in the mice. In conclusion, the findings of this study proved the beneficial effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles from V. amygdalina against the different pain and inflammation-induced mice. Hence, it was clear that the zinc nanoparticles from V. amygdalina could be promising antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory agent in the future.

Beam shaping for kilowatt fiber-coupled diode lasers by using one-step beam cutting-rotating of prisms.

The beam quality mismatch of laser diode stacks in both axes limits many direct applications for fiber or solid laser pumping and material processing. In this paper, a one-step cutting-rotating beam shaping system has been designed to homogenize the beam quality of two polarization-multiplexing laser diode stacks. Coupling laser diode stacks consisting of eight bars into a standard fiber with a core diameter of 600 µm and an NA of 0.22 is achieved. The simulative result shows that the system will have an output power over 1056 W. By using the technique, the production of compact and high brightness fiber-coupling diode lasers can be directly used for laser cladding and laser surface hardening processes.

Iridium nanoparticles supported on hierarchical porous N-doped carbon: an efficient water-tolerant catalyst for bio-alcohol condensation in water.

Nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbons were synthesized successfully by a controllable one-pot method using glucose and dicyandiamide as carbon source and nitrogen source via hydrothermal carbonization process. The nitrogen-doped materials, possessing high nitrogen content (up to 7 wt%), large surface area (>320 m(2) g(-1)) and excellent hierarchical nanostructure, were employed as catalyst supports for immobilization of iridium nanoparticles for bio-alcohol condensation in water. The introduction of nitrogen atoms into the carbon framework significantly improved iridium nanoparticles dispersion and stabilization. The novel iridium catalysts exhibited superior catalytic activity in the aqueous phase condensation of butanol, offering high butanol conversion of 45% with impressive 2-ethylhexanol selectivity of 97%. The heterogeneous catalysts had great advantages of easy recovery and high catalytic stability. The outstanding catalytic performance could be attributed to excellent dispersion of iridium nanoparticles, stronger iridium-support interactions and interaction of nitrogen species with alcohol substrates.