Laser-induced acoustic wave generation/propagation/interaction in water in various internal channels

Short pulsed laser-induced single acoustic wave generation, propagation, interaction within a water-filled internal channel are experimentally and numerically studied. A large-area, short-duration, single-plane acoustic wave was generated by the thermoelastic interaction of a homogenized nanosecond pulsed laser beam with a liquid–solid interface and propagated at the speed of sound in water. Laser flash Schlieren photography was used to visualize the transient interaction of the plane acoustic wave in various internal channel structures ((a) sudden expansion and contraction channels, (b) bifurcating channels, (c) gradual contraction wall channels and (d) a cylinder). Fairly good agreement between the experimental results and numerical simulation is observed.     

Gradient estimates for elliptic systems with measurable coefficients in nonsmooth domains

We consider an elliptic system in divergence form with measurable coefficients in a nonsmooth bounded domain to find a minimal regularity requirement on the coefficients and a lower level of geometric assumption on the boundary of the domain for a global W ^1,p , 1 < p < ∞, regularity. It is proved that such a W ^1,p regularity is still available under the assumption that the coefficients are merely measurable in one variable and have small BMO semi-norms in the other variables while the domain can be locally approximated by a hyperplane, a so called δ-Reifenberg domain, which is beyond the Lipschitz category. This regularity easily extends to a certain Orlicz-Sobolev space.     

2-IPMA Ameliorates PM2.5-Induced Inflammation by Promoting Primary Ciliogenesis in RPE Cells

Primary cilia mediate the interactions between cells and external stresses. Thus, dysregulation of primary cilia is implicated in various ciliopathies, e.g., degeneration of the retina caused by dysregulation of the photoreceptor primary cilium. Particulate matter (PM) can cause epithelium injury and endothelial dysfunction by increasing oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. Previously, we showed that PM disrupts the formation of primary cilia in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. In the present study, we identified 2-isopropylmalic acid (2-IPMA) as a novel inducer of primary ciliogenesis from a metabolite library screening. Both ciliated cells and primary cilium length were increased in 2-IPMA-treated RPE cells. Notably, 2-IPMA strongly promoted primary ciliogenesis and restored PM2.5-induced dysgenesis of primary cilia in RPE cells. Both excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and activation of a stress kinase, JNK, by PM2.5 were reduced by 2-IPMA. Moreover, 2-IPMA inhibited proinflammatory cytokine production, i.e., IL-6 and TNF-α, induced by PM2.5 in RPE cells. Taken together, our data suggest that 2-IPMA ameliorates PM2.5-induced inflammation by promoting primary ciliogenesis in RPE cells.     

Nanoconfined heliconical structure of twist-bend nematic liquid crystal phase

We produced controlled heliconical structures of a twist-bend nematic (N_TB) liquid-crystal (LC) phase in nanoconfinement in a porous anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) film. The structural parameters of the N_TB phase such as conical angle and helical pitch can be modulated by varying the surface energy of the inner surface of the porous AAO film, done by using different self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The LC molecules tend to be more freely packed, thus forming a larger conical angle, when placed on the tri-deca-fluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrooctyl-trichlorosilane (FOTS)-treated substrate, which has a relatively low surface energy. In contrast, the molecules form a more tightly packed structure, and thus a smaller conical angle, when placed on the 2-(methoxy(polyethyleneoxy)-propyl)trimethoxysilane (PEG 6/9)-treated substrate, which has higher surface energy. This work improves our collective understanding of self-assembled heliconical structures in the N_TB phase.     

Br-radical-mediated [3+2] annulation: synthesis of 2-bromomethyl-substituted alkenylcyclopentanes by the reaction of alkenylcyclopropanes with allyl bromides under photo irradiation

A radical chain addition of allyl bromides 2 to alkenylcyclopropanes 1 resulted in [3+2] annulation to give 2-bromomethylalkenylcyclopentanes 3 in good yields(16 examples). In this reaction, two kinetically fast radical reactions, cyclopropylcarbinyl radical-ring-opening and 5-exo-radical cyclization, preceded the β-fragmentation of a bromine radical to make the formal cycloaddition possible.     

A new method for the synthesis of dinaphtho[1,2‐b;2′,1′‐d]thiophenes and selenophenes

Naphthalene‐1‐sulfonic acid dimethylamides were treated with n‐BuLi and elemental sulfur or selenium to afford dinaphtho[1,2‐b:2′,1′‐d]thiophenes and selenophenes, respectively. This is the first example of making two C S/Se bonds and a C C bond in a single step at room temperature and also demonstrates a useful method for the synthesis of both thiophenes and selenophenes on naphthalene. In the case of the reactions of elemental selenium, diselenides were also obtained along with dinaphtho[1,2‐b:2′,1′‐d]selenophenes. The structure of dinaphtho[1,2‐b:′,1′‐d]thiophene was characterized by X‐ray crystallography as a representative molecule. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 18:239–248, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/hc.20291     

Green water void fraction due to breaking wave impinging and overtopping

The present study uses laboratory measurements to investigate the void fraction of an overtopping flow on a structure. The overtopping flow, also called green water, was generated by the impingement of a plunging breaking wave on the structure following the Froude similarity of an extreme hurricane wave and a simplified offshore structure. The flow is multi-phased and turbulent with significant aeration. A fiber optic reflectometer (FOR) and bubble image velocimetry (BIV) were employed to measure the void fraction and velocity in the flow, respectively, and to determine the water level on the deck. Mean properties of void fraction and velocity were obtained by ensemble-averaging and time-averaging the repeated instantaneous measurements. The temporal and spatial distributions of void fraction reveal that the flow is very highly aerated near the front of green water and has relatively low aeration near the deck surface. The mean void fraction and velocity distributions were also depth-averaged for simplicity and potential use in engineering applications. Using the measured data, similarity profiles for depth-averaged void fraction, depth-averaged velocity, and water level were found. The study suggests that using only the velocity data is insufficient if the flow momentum or the flow rate is to be determined. The accuracy of the void fraction measurements was validated by comparing the directly measured water volume of the overtopping flow with the calculated water volume based on the measured velocity and void fraction.     

Temperature-rise fractionation of poly(3-alkyl thiophenes)

In this article, we have investigated a temperature-rise fractionation procedure for poly(3-hexyl thophene) (P3HT) and poly(3-octyl thophene) (P3OT) that provides well-defined molecular weight (MW) fractions with improved molecular weight distributions (MWD) when compared with Soxhlet extraction. This process involves dispersing the material over C18-boned silica stationary phase in a jacketed column and using incremental rises in column temperature (T_col) to gradually improve solvent quality and selectively dissolve higher molecular weight samples with a narrow polydispersity (PDI). Fractionation of P3HT with ΔT_col = 5 °C in methylene chloride (MC) yielded 7 fractions ranging from M_p of 20 to 53 kg/mol with an average PDI of 1.80 compared with a mother sample of 3.10. Predominant recovery of P3HT was acquired for fractions with T_col > 20 °C (30 wt %). Subsequent separation of P3OT in methylene chloride, with a reduced ΔT_col of 3 °C per fraction, due to increased solubility from the longer alkyl chain, generated 8 fractions with a weight range of M_n = 22 to 57 kg/mol with an mean PDI of 1.23 with the mother sample having PDI = 2.34, demonstrating the tunability of this method. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 2547–2555, 2009