Detecting pore size distribution of activated carbon by low-field nuclear magnetic resonance

In this study, the transverse relaxation time (T₂) of activated carbon (AC) in different relative environment humidity was detected firstly by low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LFNMR). The pore size (diameter) of AC distributions was calculated by the relationship between T₂ and surface relaxation rate (ρ), where ρ was obtained by the detection of nine porous materials with known pore size. The results showed that the pore size distributions of AC calculated by ρ < 0.19 nm/ms were in good agreement with that obtained by nitrogen adsorption method and proved that LFNMR as a new detection method was feasible for characterizing AC pore size distribution.     

Isoflavonoids from Astragalus membranaceus Hairy Roots

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Effect of temperature on the interactions between cellulose and lignin via molecular dynamics simulations

Cellulose - Heating is essential in various biomass pre-treatments and thermal conversion processes. It is of practical significance to study the characteristics of cellulose-lignin and...     

Electro-assisted Molecular Assembly Giving Atomic-Scale Catalytic Active-Site Detection

The artificially accurate design of nonmetal electrocatalysts’ active site has been a huge challenge because no pure active species with the specific structure could be strictly controlled by traditional synthetic methods. Species with a multiconfiguration in the catalyst hinder identification of the active site and the subsequent comprehension of the reaction mechanism. We have developed a novel electro-assisted molecular assembly strategy to obtain a pure pentagon ring on perfect graphene avoiding other reconstructed structures. More importantly, the active atom was confirmed by the subtle passivation process as the topmost carbon atom. Recognition of the carbon-defect electrocatalysis reaction mechanism was first downsized to the single-atom scale from the experimental perspective. It is expected that this innovative electro-assisted molecular assembly strategy could be extensively applied in the active structure-controlled synthesis of nonmetal electrocatalysts and verification of the exact active atom.     

Development and validation of LC–MS/MS method for amlexanox in rat plasma and its application in preclinical pharmacokinetics

Amlexanox, an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic agent, has been widely used clinically for the treatment of canker sores, asthma, and allergic rhinitis. Recently, amlexanox has received considerable attention in curing nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases and hepatitis virus infection. Herein, we first established a sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrum (LC–MS/MS) method for the determination of amlexanox in rat plasma. Propranolol was used as the internal standard (IS). Using a simple protein precipitation method, the amlexanox and IS were separated with Capcell Pak C18 column (2.0 × 50 mm, 5 μm) and eluted with water and acetonitrile each containing 0.1% formic acid using gradient elution condition at a flow rate of 0.4 mL·min⁻¹. Amlexanox and IS were detected by a triple quadrupole mass in multiple reactive monitoring (MRM) under the transitions of m/z 299.2 → 281.2 and m/z 259.9 → 116.1 with positive electrospray ionization, respectively. The calibration curves of amlexanox were established with the range of 50 to 2000 ng·mL⁻¹ (r² > 0.99). The validation method consisted of selectivity, accuracy, precision, carryover effect, matrix effect, recovery, dilution effect, and stability. The fully validated method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of amlexanox in Wistar rats.     

Water-assisted mechanical testing of polymeric thin-films

Thin films with a nanometer-scale thickness are of great interest to both scientific and industrial communities due to their numerous applications and unique behaviors different from the bulk. However, the understanding of thin-film mechanics is still greatly hampered due to their intrinsic fragility and the lack of commercially available experimental instruments. In this review, we first discuss the progression of thin-film mechanical testing methods based on the supporting substrate: film-on-solid substrate method, film-on-water tensile tests, and water-assisted free-standing tensile tests. By comparing past studies on a model polymer, polystyrene, the effect of different substrates and confinement effect on the thin-film mechanics is evaluated. These techniques have generated fruitful scientific knowledge in the field of organic semiconductors for the understanding of structure–mechanical property relationships. We end this review by providing our perspective for their bright prospects in much broader applications and materials of interest.     

A Novel Ternary Composite of Polyurethane/Polyaniline/Nanosilica with Antistatic Property and Excellent Mechanical Strength: Preparation and Mechanism

Chinese Journal of Polymer Science - Antistatic and strength properties are of vital importance for polyurethane rubber used in moving parts of many industrial instruments. Herein, polyurethane was...     

基于快速神经网络架构搜索的鲁棒图像水印网络算法

为解决深度学习在图像水印算法中计算量大且模型冗余的问题，提高图像水印算法在抵抗噪声、旋转和剪裁等攻击时的鲁棒性，提出基于快速神经网络架构搜索（neural architecture search，NAS）的鲁棒图像水印网络算法。通过多项式分布学习快速神经网络架构搜索算法，在预设的搜索空间中搜索最优网络结构，进行图像水印的高效嵌入与鲁棒提取。首先，将子网络中线性连接的全卷积层设置为独立的神经单元结构，并参数化表示结构单元内节点的连接，预先设定结构单元内每个神经元操作的搜索空间；其次，在完成一个批次的数据集训练后，依据神经元操作中的被采样次数和平均损失函数值动态更新概率；最后，重新训练搜索完成的网络。水印网络模型的参数量较原始网络模型缩减了92%以上，大大缩短了模型训练时间。由于搜索得到的网络结构更为紧凑，本文算法具有较高的时间性能和较好的实验效果，在隐藏图像时，对空域信息的依赖比原始网络更少。对改进前后的2个网络进行了大量鲁棒性实验，对比发现，本文算法在CIFAR-10数据集上对抵抗椒盐噪声和旋转、移除像素行（列）等攻击优势显著；在ImageNet数据集上对抵抗椒盐高斯噪声、旋转、中值滤波、高斯滤波、JPEG压缩、裁剪等攻击优势显著，特别是对随机移除行（列）和椒盐噪声有较强的鲁棒性。     

On lower iteration complexity bounds for the convex concave saddle point problems

Mathematical Programming - In this paper, we study the lower iteration complexity bounds for finding the saddle point of a strongly convex and strongly concave saddle point problem: $$\min _x\max...