Self-emulsification in chemical and pharmaceutical technologies

The interest in the low energy self-emulsification techniques has exploded in the recent years, driven by three main trends: by the transition to “greener” technologies in both its aspects—less energy consumption and replacement of the petrochemicals by natural ingredients; by the costly and maintenance demanding equipment for nanoemulsification; and by the quest for efficient and robust self-emulsifying formulations for oral drug delivery. Here, we first present a brief overview of the main known low-energy methods for nanoemulsion formation, focusing on their mechanistic understanding and discussing some recent advances in their development and applications. Next, we review three conceptually new approaches for self-emulsification in chemical technologies, discovered in the last several years. The colloidal features and the specific requirements of the self-emulsifying drug-delivery systems (SEDDS) are also discussed briefly. Finally, we summarize the current trends and the main challenges in this vivid research area.     

Pressure controllable phase transition in MoTe2 by the interlayer band occupancy

High pressure can effectively control the phase transition of MoTe₂ in experiment, but the mechanism is still unclear. In this work, we show by first-principles calculations that the phase transition is suppressed and $1T^{\prime }$ phase becomes more stable under high pressure, which originates from the pressure-induced change of the interlayer band occupancies near the Fermi energy. Specifically, the interlayer states of $1T^{\prime }$ phase tend to be fully occupied under high pressure, while they keep partially occupied for the $T_d$ phase. The increase of the band occupancies makes the $1T^{\prime }$ phase more favorable in energy and prevents the structure changing from $1T^{\prime }$ to $T_d$ phase. Moreover, we also analyze the superconductivity under high pressure based on BCS theory by calculating the density of states and phonon spectra. Our results may shed some light on understanding the relationship between the interlayer band occupancy and crystal stability of MoTe₂ under high pressures.     

On the dynamics of the Szekeres system

The gravitational Szekeres differential system is completely integrable with two rational first integrals and an additional analytical first integral. We describe the dynamics of the Szekeres system when one of these two rational first integrals is negative, showing that all the orbits come from the infinity of ${\mathbb{R}}^4$ and go to infinity.     

溶剂去除速度对于溶剂退火薄膜相形貌的影响

以聚苯乙烯-聚4-乙烯基吡啶(PS-b-P4VP)嵌段共聚物作为研究对象,采用DMF作为退火溶剂,以原子力显微镜(AFM)和透射电子显微镜(TEM)为表征手段,研究了溶剂退火后期溶胀薄膜中溶剂的去除速度对于薄膜相形貌的影响,发现通过改变溶剂去除速度可以有效的调控薄膜中的形貌.当薄膜厚度为35 nm时,DMF的快速挥发会导致薄膜中形成以PS为分散相的反转柱状相结构,当降低溶剂的挥发速度时,薄膜中形成了以PS为分散相的环状形貌,当进一步减缓挥发速度时,薄膜中将形成台阶状的片层结构;然而当薄膜厚度为55 nm时,溶剂退火后期薄膜中形成的是以P4VP为分散相的正常柱状相结构,在相同溶剂去除速度条件下薄膜相形貌变化较小.     

具有高安全性和有效性的Ⅱ期两阶段临床试验

Ⅱ期临床试验的主要目的是对药物治疗的安全性和有效性进行评估.针对具有高安全性的Ⅱ期两阶段临床试验,给出小样本量下关于安全性和有效性的精确检验方法,并证明最大Ⅰ类错误概率与Ⅱ类错误概率分别在原假设和备择假设的边界处达到.在期望样本量最小原则下,给出最优两阶段设计的构造方法和常用设计表,供实际应用选用.     

Phase stability and temperature effect in ScX (X=S,Se and Te) compounds

Based on first-principles calculations, the structural stability and temperature effect in ScX (X=S, Se and Te) compounds are studied with three typical structures of B1 (NaCl-type), hcp (NiAs-type) and β-hcp (inverse Li₂O₂-type). Their dynamic stability has been verified using phonon mode analysis and molecular dynamics simulations. From the total energy calculations, we find that the most stable ground state structures are B1 for ScS, and hcp for ScSe and ScTe, respectively. Moreover, structural stabilities at finite temperature are studied with the combination of phonon dependent dynamics analysis and first-principles calculations, which reveals a phase transition from hcp to B1 in ScSe around 230 K and a phase transition from hcp to β-hcp in ScTe around 460 K, in accordance with experimental findings. The energy barrier and pathway along the phase transformation from hcp to β-hcp ScTe are also calculated and analyzed by the solid-state nudged elastic band method.     

Reentrant behavior of magnetic ordered phase in spin-crossover solids with quenched disordered ligand field

The Ising-like model of spin-crossover solid compounds with quenched random ligand field has been investigated by the mean-field (infinite-range) approximation. An exact solution for the problem is found within the replica formalism. The magnetic diagrams are obtained; the relations between the intermolecular coupling and the temperature as well as the reentrant phenomena of the magnetic ordered phase are discussed.     

A study on the phase transformation behaviour of Cu-20wt.Sn alloy produced using powder metallurgy method: Experimental and molecular dynamics modelling

In this study, Cu-20wt.Sn alloy was produced by powder metallurgy (PM) method by using high purity element powders. The phases in the microstructure of the produced alloy were determined by XRD study. The phase transformation behaviour of the alloy was investigated by DSC and modelling method. Moreover, the Cu-20wt.Sn alloy system was modelled with molecular dynamics (MD) simulation based on modified Embedded Atom Method (MEAM). The radial distribution function (RDF) was calculated to determine the structural properties of system during the phase transformations. The experimental results showed that the transformation ($\alpha +\delta$) → ($\alpha +\gamma$) occur at temperature above 500°C. The simulation results showed that the phase transformation $\alpha +\delta \to \alpha +\gamma$ occurs at 550°C temperature. Our simulation results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental data.