Scattering of a Gaussian beam by an anisotropically coated circular cylinder

A solution to the problem of Gaussian beam scattering by an anisotropically coated circular cylinder is presented. The incident Gaussian beam source is expanded as an approximate expression in the simple form with a Tayor’s series. The transmitted field in the anisotropically coated region is expressed as a infinite summation of eigen plane waves with different polar angles. The unknown coefficients of the scattered fields are obtained with the aid of the boundary conditions. The infinite series can be truncated under the prerequisite of achieving the solution convergence. Only the case of transverse-electric polarization is discussed. The similar formulation of transverse-magnetic polarization can be obtained by adopting the similar method. Some numerical results are presented and discussed. The result is in agreement with that available as expected when the Gaussian beam degenerates to a plane wave incidence case.     

Comparative absorption kinetics of seven active ingredients of Eucommia ulmoides extracts by intestinal in situ circulatory perfusion in normal and spontaneous hypertensive rats

Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. (E. ulmoides) is a valuable and nourishing medicinal herb in China that has been used in the treatment of hypertension. Given the fact that most traditional Chinese medicine is mainly used to treat disease, investigating the pharmacokinetics of traditional Chinese medicines in the pathological state is more useful than that in the normal state. However, the differences in the absorption kinetics of active ingredients of E. ulmoides extract between pathological and physiological conditions have not been reported. Therefore, in this study, the rat intestinal in situ circulatory perfusion model was used to investigate the differences in absorption kinetics of seven active ingredients of E. ulmoides extract in normal and spontaneously hypertensive rats, namely, genipinic acid, protocatechuic acid, neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, (+)-pinoresinol di-O-β-D -glucopyranoside and (+)-pinoresinol 4′-O-β-D -glucopyranoside. Our results indicate that the pathological state of spontaneous hypertension may change the absorption of active components of E. ulmoides extracts, and these findings may provide a reference for improving the rational use of E. ulmoides in the clinic.     

Development of an LC‐MS/MS method for determining the pharmacokinetics of clonidine following oral administration of Zhenju antihypertensive compound

Zhenju antihypertensive compound (ZJAHC) is a combined Chinese–Western medicine formula including clonidine (CLO), hydrochlorothiazide (HCT), rutin, Chrysanthemum indicum extract and pearl powder. Compared with CLO preparations, ZJAHC shows improved activities and decreased adverse effects. It is believed that the side effects of CLO are caused by its high peak plasma concentration. Hence, study of the influence of ZJAHC on the pharmacokinetic behaviors of clonidine seems essential. In present study, the plasma concentrations of CLO were determined with a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) method. The MS/MS transitions monitored for clonidine and internal standard were 230.2 → 213.1 and 152.2 → 110.2, respectively. The analyte was quantified in a single run within 3 min. The pharmacokinetic study showed that the area under the plasma concentration–time curve of CLO in ZJAHC (60 µg/kg CLO) was similar to that of CLO‐HCT‐high (120 µg/kg CLO) but the peak concentration was much lower than that in CLO‐HCT‐high. ZJAHC could enhance the bioavailability without greatly increasing peak concentration of clonidine. This comprehensive effect of enhancing the bioavailability and avoiding the high peak plasma concentration for CLO might mainly result from the co‐contribution of Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), while the effect of TCM was stronger than that of Western medicine. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Twining Poly(polyoxometalate) Chains into Nanoropes

Organic polymers and inorganic clusters belong to two different disciplines and have completely different properties and structures. When a cluster is attached to the backbone of a polymer as a pendant, the resultant hybrid polymers (polyclusters) exhibit unique behaviours totally different from those of conventional polymers owing to the nanoscale size of the cluster and its particular interactions. Herein, the aggregation of a poly(polyoxometalate)—a polynorbornene backbone with inorganic polyoxometalate cluster pendants—upon addition of a non-solvent to its dilute solution is reported. A three-dimensional network of tangled and snake-like nanothreads was observed. Direct visualisation of individual nanoscale clusters enabled identification of single chains within the nanothreads. These observations suggest that during the process of aggregation, the hybrid polymer forms curved or extended chains as a consequence of an armouring effect in which the collapsed cluster pendants wrap around the backbone. The collapse occurs because they become less soluble in the solvent/non-solvent mixture. The extended chains then become entwined and form nanoropes consisting of multiple chains wound around each other. This study provides a deeper understanding of the nature of polyclusters and should also prove useful for their future development and application.     

The Berry–Esseen bounds of the weighted estimator in a nonparametric regression model

Consider the following nonparametric model: \(Y_{ni}=g(x_{ni})+ \varepsilon _{ni},1\le i\le n,\) where \(x_{ni}\in {\mathbb {A}}\) are the nonrandom design points and \({\mathbb {A}}\) is a compact set of \({\mathbb {R}}^{m}\) for some \(m\ge 1\), \(g(\cdot )\) is a real valued function defined on \({\mathbb {A}}\), and \(\varepsilon _{n1},\ldots ,\varepsilon _{nn}\) are \(\rho ^{-}\)-mixing random errors with zero mean and finite variance. We obtain the Berry–Esseen bounds of the weighted estimator of \(g(\cdot )\). The rate can achieve nearly \(O(n^{-1/4})\) when the moment condition is appropriate. Moreover, we carry out some simulations to verify the validity of our results.

     

Unlocking the Drug Potential of the Bryostatin Family: Recent Advances in Product Synthesis and Biomedical Applications

Bryostatins are a class of naturally occurring macrocyclic lactones with a unique fast developing portfolio of clinical applications, including treatment of AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. This comprehensive account summarizes the recent progress (2014–present) in the development of bryostatins, including their total synthesis and biomedical applications. An emphasis is placed on the discussion of bryostatin 1 , the most-studied analogue to date. This review highlights the synthetic and biological challenges of bryostatins and provides an outlook on their future development.     

Water-induced formation of an alkali-ion dimer in cryptomelane nanorods

Tunneled metal oxides such as α-Mn₈O₁₆ (hollandite) have proven to be compelling candidates for charge-storage materials in high-density batteries. In particular, the tunnels can support one-dimensional chains of K⁺ ions (which act as structure-stabilizing dopants) and H₂O molecules, as these chains are favored by strong H-bonds and electrostatic interactions. In this work, we examine the role of water molecules in enhancing the stability of K⁺-doped α-Mn₈O₁₆ (cryptomelane). The combined experimental and theoretical analyses show that for high enough concentrations of water and tunnel-ions, H₂O displaces K⁺ ions from their natural binding sites. This displacement becomes energetically favorable due to the formation of K²⁺ dimers, thereby modifying the stoichiometric charge of the system. These findings have potentially significant technological implications for the consideration of cryptomelane as a Li⁺/Na⁺ battery electrode. Our work establishes the functional role of water in altering the energetics and structural properties of cryptomelane, an observation that has frequently been overlooked in previous studies.

Water displaces potassium ions and initiates the formation of a homonuclear dimer ion (K²⁺) in the tunnels of hollandite.     

Quantifying the quantumness of ensembles via generalized α-z-relative rényi entropy

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - Quantifying the quantumness of ensembles is a vital and practical task in quantum information theory. In this paper, we quantify the quantumness of...     

Existence of the uniformly minimum risk equivariant estimators of parameters in a class of normal linear models

In this paper, we study the existence of the uniformly minimum risk equivariant (UMRE) estimators of parameters in a class of normal linear models, which include the normal variance components model, the growth curve model, the extended growth curve model, and the seemingly unrelated regression equations model, and so on. The necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the existence of UMRE estimators of the estimable linear functions of regression coefficients, the covariance matrixV and (trV)^α, where α > 0 is known, in the models under an affine group of transformations for quadratic losses and matrix losses, respectively. Under the (extended) growth curve model and the seemingly unrelated regression equations model, the conclusions given in literature for estimating regression coefficients can be derived by applying the general results in this paper, and the sufficient conditions for non-existence of UMRE estimators ofV and tr(V) are expanded to be necessary and sufficient conditions. In addition, the necessary and sufficient conditions that there exist UMRE estimators of parameters in the variance components model are obtained for the first time.     

双掺(Tm3+,Tb3+)LiYF4激光器1.5 μm波长激光阈值分析

由速率方程推出了双掺（Tm^3 ,Tb^3 ）离子准四能级系统的激光阈值解析式，讨论了Tm^3 和Tb^3 离子之间的相互作用。分析了1.5μm波长附近的激光阈值和Tm^3 、Tb^3 离子的掺杂原子数分数及晶体长度的关系。结果表明，对于对应Tm^3 离子^3H4→^3F4跃迁的约1.5μm波长的激光，激活离子Tm^3 的掺杂原子数分数过大时，交叉弛豫作用将使系统阈值迅速增加。Tb^3 离子的加入，一方面能抽空激光下能级，起到降低阈值的作用；另一方面亦减少了激光上能级的寿命，使阈值升高。故Tb^3 离子有最佳掺杂原子数分数。对于Tm原子数分数为y=0.01的Tm:LiYF4晶体，Tb^3 离子的最佳掺杂原子数分数为0.002左右，同时表明，激光阈值与晶体长度有关。最佳晶体长度与Tm^3 、Tb^3 离子的掺杂原子数分数以及晶体的衍射损耗和吸收损耗有关。