Synergistic effects in mixed wormlike micelles of dimeric and single-chain cationic surfactants at high ionic strength

The mixed micellization between the cationic gemini surfactant [ C₁₂H₂₅( CH₃)₂N⁺( C₂H₄) N⁺( CH₃)₂ C₁₂H₂₅•2Br^-] and the cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in 150 mM KBr solutions has been investigated. The variation of the cmc of the mixtures, measured by surface tension experiments, with composition revealed synergism in micelle formation. T-Jump and light scattering experiments performed in the vicinity of the crossover volume fraction showed the existence of two micellar populations, possibly linear and toroidal micelles. Rheological and dynamic light scattering experiments allowed to fully characterize the linear viscoelasticity of the mixtures. These measurements revealed synergistic gains in viscoelastic properties with a maximum of the stress-relaxation time around the equimolar composition. These effects are ascribed to a progressive intermicellar crosslinking resulting from a continuous increase of the end-cap energy with the 12-2-12 content in the mixture. Received: 18 November 2002 / Accepted: 8 April 2003 / Published online: 27 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: candau@fresnel.u-strasbg.fr     

On the organization of self-assembled actin networks in giant vesicles

We studied the formation of actin scaffolds in giant vesicles of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC). Polymerization of actin was induced at low ionic strength through ionophore-mediated influx of Mg²⁺ (2 mM). The spatial organization of the filamentous actin was visualized by confocal and epifluorescence microscopy as a function of the filaments length and membrane composition, by including various amounts of cholesterol or lipids with neutral and positively charged polyethyleneglycol headgroups (PEG lipopolymers). In vesicles of pure DMPC, the newly polymerized actin adsorbs to the membrane and forms a thin shell. In the presence of 2.5 mol% lipopolymers or of cholesterol at a molar fraction x = 0.37, formation of a thin adsorbed film is impeded. A fuzzy cortex is predominantly formed in vesicles of diameter d smaller than the filament persistence length ( d ⩽ 15μm) while for larger vesicles a homogeneous network formation is favoured in the bulk of the vesicle. The fuzzy-cortex formation is interpreted as a consequence of the reduction of the bending energy if the actin filaments accumulate close to the vesicle wall. Received: 17 January 2002 / Accepted: 21 March 2003 / Published online: 24 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: Laurent_Limozin@ph.tum.de     

Cellular automata for the spreading of technologies in socio-economic systems

We introduce an agent-based model for the spreading of technological developments in socio-economic systems where the technology is mainly used for the collaboration/interaction of agents. Agents use products of different technologies to collaborate with each other which induce costs proportional to the difference of technological levels. Additional costs arise when technologies of different providers are used. Agents can adopt technologies and providers of their interacting partners in order to reduce their costs leading to microscopic rearrangements of the system. Analytical calculations and computer simulations revealed that starting from a random configuration of different technological levels a complex time evolution emerges where the spreading of advanced technologies and the overall technological progress of the system are determined by the amount of advantages more advanced technologies provide, and by the structure of the social environment of agents. We show that agents tend to form clusters of identical technological level with a power law size distribution. When technological progress arises, the spreading of technologies in the system can be described by extreme order statistics.     

Pragmatical generalized synchronization of chaotic systems with uncertain parameters by adaptive control

A new kind of generalized synchronization of two chaotic systems with uncertain parameters is proposed. Based on a pragmatical asymptotical stability theorem and an assumption of equal probability for ergodic initial conditions, an adaptive control law is derived so that it can be proved strictly that the common null solution of error dynamics and of parameter dynamics is actually asymptotically stable, i.e. these two identical systems are in generalized synchronization and the estimated parameters approach the uncertain values. It is called pragmatical generalized synchronization. Finally, two numerical examples are studied for two Quantum-CNN oscillator chaotic systems to show the effectiveness of the proposed generalized synchronization strategy with a double Duffing chaotic system as a goal system.     

Polymersome‐forming amphiphilic glycosylated polymers: Synthesis and characterization

Copper‐catalyzed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) was used to prepare glycosylated polyethylene (PE)–poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) amphiphilic block copolymers. The synthetic approach involves preparation of alkyne‐terminated PE‐b‐PEG followed by CuAAC reaction with different azide functionalized sugars. The alkyne‐terminated PE‐b‐PEG was prepared by etherification reaction between hydroxyl‐terminated PE‐b‐PEG (M_n ～ 875 g mol^?1) and propargyl bromide and azidoethyl glycosides were prepared by glycosylation of 2‐azidoethanol. Atmospheric pressure solids analysis probe‐mass spectrometry was used as a novel solid state characterization tool to determine the outcome of the CuAAC click reaction and end‐capping of PE‐b‐PEG by the azidoethyl glycoside group. The aqueous solution self‐assembly behavior of these amphiphilic glycosylated polymers was explored by TEM and dye solubilization studies. Carbohydrate‐bearing spherical aggregates with the ability to solubilize a hydrophobic dye were observed. The potential of these amphiphilic glycosylated polymers to self‐assemble via electro‐formation into giant carbohydrate‐bearing polymersomes was also investigated using confocal fluorescence microscopy. An initial bioactivity study of the carbohydrate‐bearing aggregates is furthermore presented. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 5184–5193     

Remarkably stable amphiphilic random copolymer assemblies: A structure–property relationship study

Synthesis of a library of amphiphilic random copolymers from a single reactive pre‐polymer and their self‐assembly is reported. Post‐polymerization modifications of the parent polymer containing pendant N‐hydroxy succinimide (NHS) ester groups with various oligooxyethylene (OE) amines produce amphiphilic random copolymers with same degree of polymerization and equal extent of randomness. ¹H‐NMR and FT‐IR data indicate quantitative substitution in all cases. The critical aggregation concentration (CAC) for all the polymers is estimated to be in the range of 10^?5 M. Stability of these nano‐aggregates is studied by photoluminescence using time dependent F—rster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) between co‐encapsulated lipophilic dyes namely DiO and DiI in the hydrophobic pocket of the aggregates. These studies suggest remarkably high stability for all systems. However those with shorter hydrophilic pendant chains are found to be even more robust. Morphology is examined by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) which reveals multi‐micellar clusters and vesicles for polymers containing short and longer OE segments, respectively. Encapsulation efficacy is tested with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic guest molecules. All of them can encapsulate hydrophobic guest pyrene while a hydrophilic dye Calcein can be sequestered only in vesicle forming polymers. Lower critical solution temperature (LCST) is exhibited by only one polymer that contains the shortest OE chains. All polymers exhibit excellent cell viability as determined by MTT assay. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013 , 51, 4932–4943     

Pattern memory analysis based on stability theory of cellular neural networks

In this paper, several sufficient conditions are obtained to guarantee that the n-dimensional cellular neural network can have even (?2ⁿ) memory patterns. In addition, the estimations of attractive domain of such stable memory patterns are obtained. These conditions, which can be directly derived from the parameters of the neural networks, are easily verified. A new design procedure for cellular neural networks is developed based on stability theory (rather than the well-known perceptron training algorithm), and the convergence in the new design procedure is guaranteed by the obtained local stability theorems. Finally, the validity and performance of the obtained results are illustrated by two examples.