Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Qualitative Properties of Infinite Dimensional Linear Programming Problems

Necessary and sufficient conditions for qualitative properties of infinite dimensional linear programing problems such as solvability, duality, and complementary slackness conditions are studied in this article. As illustrations for the results, we investigate the parametric version of Gale’s example.     

Ab initio simulations of liquid electrolytes for energy conversion and storage

Understanding physicochemical properties of liquid electrolytes is essential for predicting and optimizing device performance for a wide variety of emerging energy technologies, including photoelectrochemical water splitting, supercapacitors, and batteries. In this work, we review recent progress and open challenges in predicting structural, dynamical, and electronic properties of the liquids using first-principles approaches. We briefly summarize the basic concepts of first-principles molecular dynamics (FPMD), and we discuss how FPMD methods have enriched our understanding of a number of liquids, including aqueous solutions, organic electrolytes and ionic liquids. We also discuss technical challenges in extending FPMD simulations to the study of liquid electrolytes in more complex environments, including the interface between electrolytes and electrodes, which is a key component in many energy storage and conversion systems.     

Redox‐responsive core cross‐linked micelles of poly(ethylene oxide)‐b‐poly(furfuryl methacrylate) by Diels‐Alder reaction for doxorubicin release

Redox‐responsive core cross‐linked (CCL) micelles of poly(ethylene oxide)‐b‐poly(furfuryl methacrylate) (PEO‐b‐PFMA) block copolymers were prepared by the Diels‐Alder click‐type reaction. First, the PEO‐b‐PFMA amphiphilic block copolymer was synthesized by the reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. The hydrophobic blocks of PFMA were employed to encapsulate the doxorubicin (DOX) drug, and they were cross‐linked using dithiobismaleimidoethane at 60 °C without any catalyst. Under physiological circumstance, the CCL micelles demonstrated the enhanced structural stability of the micelles, whereas dissociation of the micelles took place rapidly through the breaking of disulfide bonds in the cross‐linking linkages under reduction environment. The core‐cross‐linked micelles showed fine spherical distribution with hydrodynamic diameter of 68 ± 2.9  nm. The in vitro drug release profiles presented a slight release of DOX at pH 7.4, while a significant release of DOX was observed at pH 5.0 in the presence of 1,4‐dithiothreitol. MTT assays demonstrated that the block copolymer did not have any practically cytotoxicity against the normal HEK293 cell line while DOX‐loaded CCL micelles exhibited a high antitumor activity towards HepG2 cells. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 3741–3750     

Comparison of efficiency calibration techniques of HPGe detector for radioactivity measurement of soil sample in Marinelli geometry

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - To keep the accredited category for the gamma spectrometry test in our laboratory, the efficiency curves of a HPGe detector for soil sample in...     

Retraction Note to: Secondary treated wastewater of latex processing: reusing for irrigation or treatment by membrane filtration

Research on Chemical Intermediates -     

On the derivation of the entropy of ideal quantum gases confined in a three-dimensional harmonic potential

In this work,the entropy functions of ideal quantum gases in a three-dimensional harmonic trap are analytically calculated using temperature as an explicit variable.Afterward,the applicability of the analytical formulas is validated by comparison with the numerical calculation.The results illustrate that the obtained functions could be applied for the whole temperature regime with a maximum relative deviation of less than 7.5%in the vicinity of the critical temperature Tcin the case of Bose gases.Meanwhile,for Fermi gases,although the analytical formula fits well at very low-and high-temperature regimes,it cannot be applied at temperature in the range[0.3-0.5]T_F,where T_F is the Fermi temperature.In addition,the consistency between our formulas and classical ones at significantly high temperatures is also discussed.     

Some results on linear nabla Riemann-Liouville fractional difference equations

In this paper, we establish some criteria for boundedness, stability properties, and separation of solutions of autonomous nonlinear nabla Riemann-Liouville scalar fractional difference equations. To derive these results, we prove the variation of constants formula for nabla Riemann-Liouville fractional difference equations.     

Dynamic models of axially moving systems: A review

Nonlinear Dynamics - In this paper, a detailed review on the dynamics of axially moving systems is presented. Over the past 60 years, vibration control of axially moving systems has attracted...     

Structural and Magnetic Properties Control of Pr0.7Ba0.3MnO3 with Sr-Doping

Physics of the Solid State - Structural and magnetic properties of Sr-doped Pr0.7Ba0.3MnO3 polycrystallines prepared by solid state reaction are presented. Samples were in monoclinic structure...     

From Glucose to Polymers: A Continuous Chemoenzymatic Process

Efforts to synthesize degradable polymers from renewable resources are deterred by technical and economic challenges; especially, the conversion of natural building blocks into polymerizable monomers is inefficient, requiring multistep synthesis and chromatographic purification. Herein we report a chemoenzymatic process to address these challenges. An enzymatic reaction system was designed that allows for regioselective functional group transformation, efficiently converting glucose into a polymerizable monomer in quantitative yield, thus removing the need for chromatographic purification. With this key success, we further designed a continuous, three-step process, which enabled the synthesis of a sugar polymer, sugar poly(orthoester), directly from glucose in high yield (73 % from glucose). This work may provide a proof-of-concept in developing technically and economically viable approaches to address the many issues associated with current petroleum-based polymers.