Brownian diode: Molecular motor based on a semi-permeable Brownian particle with internal potential drop

A model of an autonomous isothermal Brownian motor with an internal propulsion mechanism is considered. The motor is a Brownian particle which is semi-transparent for molecules of surrounding ideal gas. Molecular passage through the particle is controlled by a potential similar to that in the transition rate theory, i.e. characterized by two stationary states with a finite energy difference separated by a potential barrier. The internal potential drop maintains the diode-like asymmetry of molecular fluxes through the particle, which results in the particle?s stationary drift.     

Many-to-many location-routing with inter-hub transport and multi-commodity pickup-and-delivery

In this paper, we consider a variant of the many-to-many location-routing problem, where hub facilities have to be located and customers with either pickup or delivery demands have to be combined in vehicle routes. In addition, several commodities and inter-hub transport processes are taken into account. A practical application of the problem can be found in the timber-trade industry, where companies provide their services using hub-and-spoke networks. We present a mixed-integer linear model for the problem and use CPLEX 12.4 to solve small-scale instances. Furthermore, a multi-start procedure based on a fix-and-optimize scheme and a genetic algorithm are introduced that efficiently construct promising solutions for medium- and large-scale instances. A computational performance analysis shows that the presented methods are suitable for practical application.     

Numerical and analytic study of rough surface morphology on the angular distribution of eroded impurity

The impact of rough surface morphology on the angular distribution of eroded impurities has been investigated with the three‐dimensional (3D ) rough surface code SURO and a newly developed analytic model. The property of the rough surface structure can be described by the shadow angle of the rough surface in SURO , which is defined as the ratio of the horizontal characteristic length to the initial surface roughness. The SURO simulation results show that the influence of the rough surface on the angular distribution of eroded impurities comes into play when the shadow angle is larger than a threshold value. The larger shadow angle of the rough surface leads to a stronger shift of the angular distribution of the eroded impurities. Different rough surface topographies have been used in the SURO code to check the angular distribution of the eroded impurities. It is found that the shift tendency of the angular distribution is similar for different structures of the rough surface. Based on the numerical modelling results, an analytical model has been developed to investigate the impact of the shadow angle on the angular distribution of the eroded impurities, which shows the consistent result as the SURO simulations.     

Validated UPLC‐MS/MS method for determination of moclobemide in human brain cell supernatant and its application to bidirectional transport study

A simple and sensitive analytical method based on ultraperformance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐MS/MS) has been developed for determination of moclobemide in human brain cell monolayer as an in vitro model of blood–brain barrier. Brucine was employed as the internal standard. Moclobemide and internal standard were extracted from cell supernatant by ethyl acetate after alkalinizing with sodium hydroxide. The UPLC separation was performed on an Acquity UPLC^TM BEH C₁₈ column (50 × 2.1 mm, 1.7 µm, Waters, USA) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol–water (29.5:70.5, v/v); the water in the mobile phase contained 0.05% ammonium acetate and 0.1% formic acid. Detection of the analytes was achieved using positive ion electrospray via multiple reaction monitoring mode. The mass transitions were m/z 269.16 → 182.01 for moclobemide and m/z 395.24 → 324.15 for brucine. The extraction recovery was 83.0–83.4% and the lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 1.0 ng/mL for moclobemide. The method was validated from LLOQ to 1980 ng/mL with a coefficient of determination greater than 0.999. Intra‐ and inter‐day accuracies of the method at three concentrations ranged from 89.1 to 100.9% for moclobemide with precision of 1.1–9.6%. This validated method was successfully applied to bidirectional transport study of moclobemide blood–brain barrier permeability. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of Structure on Titration Curves of p-Bromoaniline-Formaldehyde-p-Cresol Copolymers in Nonaqueous Media

Copolymers obtained by the condensation of p-bromoaniline, formaldehyde, and p-cresol have been separated into five fractions by a fractional precipitation method. Some of these copolymers showed characteristic titration curves in non-aqueous media. The titration curves indicated a series of breaks which bear integral relations to each other. These features have been interpreted in terms of homoconjugation, intramolecular hydrogen bonding, and composition of the copolymers.     

Highly rectified ion transport through 2D WSe2/MoS2 bi-layered membranes

Through a two-step vacuum-filtration process, WSe₂ and MoS₂ nanosheets were sequentially deposited onto a polymeric nanoporous support, forming WSe₂/MoS₂ bi-layered heterostructure. Highly rectified ion transport phenomenon is observed through the heterogeneous 2D layered membranes.     

蒙特卡罗计算中颗粒型燃料的随机分布模型比较

高温气冷堆是新一代反应堆系统的热门候选堆型，已经受到国际上越来越多的关注。为设计和分析这种堆型，因其特有的包覆颗粒燃料引入了双重非均匀性，需要应用随机分布模型。对粗网格模型、细网格随机(FLS)模型、随机顺序添加(RSA)模型、子网格随机(Sub-FLS)模型和Metropolis模型等进行了研究，通过计算分析比较给出了各种模型的优缺点。结果表明:子网格随机模型和连续的RSA模型非常接近参考值，但是连续RSA模型的建模时间随着燃料体积份额的增加连续快速上升。 Key words: coated particle fuels; stochastic transport model; Monte Carlo; random distribution