Polymer chain diffusion in polymer blends: A theoretical interpretation based on a memory function formalism

The diffusion of polymer chains in miscible polymer blends with large dynamic asymmetry—those where the two blend components display very different segmental mobility—is not well understood yet. In the extreme case of the blend system of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA), the diffusion coefficient of PEO chains in the blend can change by more than five orders of magnitude while the segmental time scale hardly changes with respect to that of pure PEO. This behavior is not observed in blend systems with small or moderate dynamic asymmetry as, for instance, polyisoprene/poly(vinyl ethylene) blends. These two very different behaviors can be understood and quantitatively explained in a unified way in the framework of a memory function formalism, which takes into account the effect of the collective dynamics on the chain dynamics of a tagged chain. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 1239–1245     

Analysis of sialic acid levels in Chinese intravenous immunoglobulins by high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is increasingly used for the treatment of autoimmune and systemic inflammatory diseases with both licensed and off‐label indications. Recent studies indicated that IVIg‐mediated immunomodulation and anti‐inflammation are closely associated with the IgG sialylation, especially with IgG crystallizable fragment (Fc) sialylation. The sialic acid levels of the IgG molecules and Fc fragments in 12 IVIg preparations from six Chinese manufacturers were evaluated. The Fc fragments were derived from the papain digestion of IVIg, followed by affinity and size exclusion chromatography. The sialic acid levels in Fc fragments and IVIg preparations were determined by high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection, after the sialic acid residues were released from the proteins. The results showed that the sialic acid levels in Chinese IVIg preparations ranged from 0.875 (mol/mol IgG) to 1.085 (mol/mol IgG), and the sialic acid levels in Fc fragments were from 0.321 (mol/mol Fc) to 0.361 (mol/mol Fc). Furthermore, the sialic acid levels of IVIg preparations and Fc fragments from different Chinese manufactures were significantly different. These findings will contribute to an increased understanding of Chinese IVIg preparations and the relationship between the sialic acid levels in IVIg preparations and their clinical efficacy in future clinical studies.     

Characterization of embeddings of Sobolev-type spaces into generalized Hölder spaces defined by Lp-modulus of smoothness

We prove a sharp estimate for the k-modulus of smoothness, modelled upon a $L^p$-Lebesgue space, of a function f in $W^k{L}^{\frac{pn}{n+kp},p}(\mathrm{\Omega })$, where Ω is a domain with minimally smooth boundary and finite Lebesgue measure, $k,n\in \mathbb{N}$, $k<n$ and $\frac{n}{n?k}<p<+\infty$. This sharp estimate is used to establish necessary and sufficient conditions for continuous embeddings of Sobolev-type spaces into generalized Hölder spaces defined by means of the k-modulus of smoothness. General results are illustrated with examples. In particular, we obtain a generalization of the classical Jawerth embeddings.     

Some extensions of the operator entropy type inequalities

In this paper, we define the generalised relative operator entropy and investigate some of its properties such as subadditivity and homogeneity. As application of our result, we obtain the information inequality. In continuation, we establish some reverses of the operator entropy inequalities under certain conditions by using the Mond–Pe?ari? method.     

Development and optimization of ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography mass spectrometry method for high-throughput determination of tocopherols and tocotrienols in human serum

The goal of this study was to develop an effective supercritical fluid chromatography method using single quadrupole MS for analysis of all isomeric forms of vitamin E. Finally, two fast and effective methods, the high resolution one and the high speed one, for the determination of 8 vitamin E isomers in human serum were developed.     

Linearization of nonlinear filter generators and its application to cryptanalysis of stream ciphers

Nonlinear filter generators are commonly used as keystream generators in stream ciphers. A nonlinear filter generator utilizes a nonlinear filtering function to combine the outputs of a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) to improve the linear complexity of keystream sequences. However, the LFSR-based stream ciphers are still potentially vulnerable to algebraic attacks that recover the key from some keystream bits. Although the known algebraic attacks only require polynomial time complexity of computations, all have their own constraints. This paper uses the linearization of nonlinear filter generators to cryptanalyze LFSR-based stream ciphers. Such a method works for any nonlinear filter generators. Viewing a nonlinear filter generator as a Boolean network that evolves as an automaton through Boolean functions, we first give its linearization representation. Compared to the linearization representation in Limniotis et al. (2008), this representation requires lower spatial complexity of computations in most cases. Based on the representation, the key recoverability is analyzed via the observability of Boolean networks. An algorithm for key recovery is given as well. Compared to the exhaustive search to recover the key, using this linearization representation requires lower time complexity of computations, though it leads to exponential time complexity.     

三维动态裂纹问题的超奇异积分方程法

基于弹性材料的动态基本方程，结合广义Betti-Rayleigh互易等式与时域下的边界积分方程，推导得到时域下的超奇异积分方程组。引入Laplace域下的动态基本解，将经过主部分析的积分核函数分解为静态和动态部分，其中动态积分核不具有奇异性。在裂纹前沿附近单元，采用与理论分析一致的平方根位移模型。结合Lubich时间卷积实现拉氏变换，采用配置点法计算超奇异积分，获得问题的数值解。并针对椭圆裂纹算例编写Fortran程序，得到冲击荷载作用下张开型裂纹的动态应力强度因子变化规律，数值结果稳定且收敛速度快。     

Stability results for impulsive pantograph equations

By employing the Lyapunov functions and Razumikhin technique, some stability results are obtained for pantograph equations with impulses. Our results reveal the fact that certain impulses may make an unstable system stable and that the stability of pantograph equations may also be inherited by impulsive pantograph ones under appropriate impulsive perturbations.     

Effects of additives and post‐treatment on the thermoelectric performance of vapor‐phase polymerized PEDOT films

Vapor‐phase polymerization (VPP) is an important method for the fabrication of high‐quality conducting polymers, especially poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). In this work, the effects of additives and post‐treatment solvents on the thermoelectric (TE) performance of VPP‐PEDOT films were systematically investigated. The use of 1‐butyl‐3‐menthylinidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIm][BF₄], an ionic liquid) was shown to significantly enhance the electrical conductivity of VPP‐PEDOT films compared with other additives. The VPP‐PEDOT film post‐treated with mixed ethylene glycol (EG)/[BMIm][BF₄] solvent displayed the high power factor of 45.3 μW m^?1 K^?2 which is 122% higher than that prepared without any additive or post‐treatment solvent, along with enhanced electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. This work highlighted the superior effect of the [BMIm][BF₄] additive and the EG/[BMIm][BF₄] solvent post‐treatment on the TE performance of the VPP‐PEDOT film. These results should help with developing the VPP method to fabricate high‐performance PEDOT films. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55 , 1738–1744     

Dynamics of water adsorption on TiO2 monitored by work function spectroscopy

Water adsorption dynamics on two TiO₂ (1 1 0) rutile surfaces at room temperature has been investigated using the work function (WF) change as a function of time. The first surface was prepared in a standard way using sputtering/annealing cycles, whereas the second one was long term annealed at 620 K in moderate vacuum conditions (the residual gas pressure of about 1 × 10⁻⁷ mbar) and cleaned afterwards. The WF change show striking difference as compared to those obtained for highly reduced TiO₂ (1 1 0) rutile or the (2 × 1) reconstructed surfaces. For the first kind of surface we show that the observed adsorption dynamics can be qualitatively explained by the present understanding of the water adsorption on non-reconstructed TiO₂ (1 1 0) rutile surface according to which the bridging oxygen vacancies and Ti rows are the main adsorption sites. Although generally similar to the former results, water adsorption dynamics on the second kind of the surface has an additional feature that can be only explained by a new adsorption site, which we suggest to be due to (2 × 1) reconstructed regions coexisting with the non-reconstructed TiO₂ (1 1 0) surface.