Preface: Mechanics of soft materials and flexible structures

Acta Mechanica Sinica -     

概率语言多属性群决策方法及其在新型智慧城市市民获得感评价中的应用

针对公众参与的语言信息多属性群决策问题，研究了考虑参与者满意度的概率语言多属性群决策方法。首先，根据参与者的语言评价信息确定并规范化概率语言决策矩阵。然后，对大群体进行共识分析，由最大化参与者群体的满意度构建线性规划模型，确定参与者群组的权重；构造正、负理想方案的评价向量，构建多目标规划模型，用拉格朗日乘子法求解属性权重；定义各方案的加权贴近度，并以此对方案进行排序和优选。最后，通过新型智慧城市市民获得感评价案例验证了模型的可行性和有效性。     

A Nonclinical Spectroscopic Approach for Diagnosing Covid-19: A Concise Perspective

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy - With the COVID-19 outbreak, many challenges are posed before the scientific world to curb this pandemic. The diagnostic testing, treatment, and vaccine development...     

Virtual Field Characterization for Ratcheting Effect Under Cyclic Loading

Experimental Mechanics - Ratcheting is an important mechanical behavior of metals and alloys, which is caused by the repeated accumulations of tensile and compressive strain in circle load....     

Flux-pinning-induced stress behaviors in a long superconducting slab with central cuboid hole

Acta Mechanica Sinica - This paper investigates the flux-pinning-induced stress behaviors in a long superconducting slab with a central cuboid hole. The distribution of flux density is analytically...     

Secondary Metabolites of Litchi chinensis

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Restricted testing conditions for the multilinear maximal operator

Restricted testing conditions were considered recently. For the maximal operator, Hytönen, Li and Sawyer [8] first obtained parental testing condition. Later, they [9] showed that it suffices to restrict testing to doubling cubes. Chen and Lacey [3] gave a similar restricted testing condition. In our paper, we discuss a version of the latter in the multilinear setting.

     

A decision support method for designing vegetation layers with minimised irrigation need

Annals of Operations Research - Selecting a vegetation layer design goes along with determining its future irrigation need. Therefore, it is essential to take a design decision that is minimising...     

Topical application of zein-silk sericin nanoparticles loaded with curcumin for improved therapy of dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis is characterized by leukocyte migration into the skin dermis and typically driven by excessive chemokine production at the site of inflammation. Conventional topical formulations such as gels, creams, and ointments are insufficient for this treatment because of low penetration of drug molecules into the targeted skin tissues. Herein, using a simple, green, sustainable strategy, we have developed novel primary zein nanoparticles embedded in curcumin (Cur) and coated with silk sericin (ZHSCs) for the topical delivery of Cur to penetrate into the dermis and exercise anti-dermatitis effects on the lesion with minimal side-effects. Transdermal delivery experiments and porcine skin fluorescence imaging indicated that ZHSCs facilitate the penetration of Cur across the epidermis layer of skin to reach deep-seated sites. Notably, ZHSCs = 1:0.25 (zein-to-silk sericin mass ratios of 1:0.25) markedly elevated the skin permeability and cumulative turnover of Cur transferred, which were provided a greater than a 3.8-fold increase relative to free Cur. The special nanoparticles of ZHS = 1:0.25 possessed the deepest localization depth and experience a transition of the particle structure and core-shell separation after penetrating into the dermis of skin. In a cell model of dermatitis induced by tumor necrosis factor α/interferon γ co-stimulation, compared with free Cur, Cur-loaded ZHS nanoparticles down-regulated the generation of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in keratinocytes through suppression of the nuclear translocation of NF-κBp65 and hence exerted an anti-dermatitis effect. This strategy may provide new avenues and direction for the demanding issues of valid topical delivery systems.     

New Palladium – ZrO2 Nano-Architectures from Thermal Transformation of UiO-66-NH2 for Carbonylative Suzuki and Hydrogenation Reactions

The new nanocomposites, Pd/C/ZrO₂, PdO/ZrO_2, and Pd/PdO/ZrO₂, were prepared by thermal conversion of Pd@UiO-66-Zr−NH₂ (MOF) in nitrogen or air atmosphere. The presence of Pd nanoparticles, uniformly distributed on the ZrO₂ or C/ZrO₂ matrix, was evidenced by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) methods. All pyrolysed composites retained the shape of the MOF template. They catalyze carbonylative Suzuki coupling under 1 atm CO with an efficiency significantly higher than the original Pd@UiO-66-Zr−NH₂. The most active PdO/ZrO₂ composite, formed benzophenone with TOF up to 1600 h⁻¹, while by using Pd@UiO-66-Zr−NH₂, much lower TOF values, 51–95 h⁻¹, were achieved. After the reaction, PdO/ZrO₂ was recovered with the same composition and catalytic activity. Very good results were also obtained in the transfer hydrogenation of benzophenones to alcohols with Pd/C/ZrO₂ and PdO/ZrO₂ catalysts under microwave irradiation.