Micromechanical Properties of Microstructured Elastomeric Hydrogels

Local, micromechanical environment is known to influence cellular function in heterogeneous hydrogels, and knowledge gained in micromechanics will facilitate the improved design of biomaterials for tissue regeneration. In this study, a system comprising microstructured resilin‐like polypeptide (RLP)–poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels is utilized. The micromechanical properties of RLP‐PEG hydrogels are evaluated with oscillatory shear rheometry, compression dynamic mechanic analysis, small‐strain microindentation, and large‐strain indentation and puncture over a range of different deformation length scales. The measured elastic moduli are consistent with volume averaging models, indicating that volume fraction, not domain size, plays a dominant role in determining the low strain mechanical response. Large‐strain indentation under a confocal microscope enables the visualization of the microstructured hydrogel micromechanical deformation, emphasizing the translation, rotation, and deformation of RLP‐rich domains. The fracture initiation energy results demonstrate that failure of the composite hydrogels is controlled by the RLP‐rich phase, and their independence with domain size suggested that failure initiation is controlled by multiple domains within the strained volume. This approach and findings provide new quantitative insight into the micromechanical response of soft hydrogel composites and highlight the opportunities in employing these methods to understand the physical origins of mechanical properties of soft synthetic and biological materials.     

Surface Smoothing of Copper Single Crystals Using POM (Potential Oscillating Method)

The deposition of metals is a process to get metallic coatings on metals. The potential oscillating method (POM) allows dissolution and deposition processes in parallel. Using this method the crystal's habit becomes more perfect, and the equilibrium form can be obtained. It is mostly dominated by the {111}- and the {100}-face, as usual for cubic face centered crystals. The crystallographic faces develop more clearly and become smoother. This paper deals with the determination of the ideal conditions for the electrochemical experiment using copper single crystals, and the analysis of the surface topography using light microscopy, and scanning force microscopy.     

纳米晶枝CuAu合金催化剂对二氧化碳电催化还原性能的研究

利用可再生清洁能源将CO2转化为CO和其他小分子是合成含碳燃料的可观方法之一.间歇性可再生能源存储的重要策略之一是将二氧化碳进行电化学还原.选择具有高活性和稳定性的电催化剂对于电化学还原CO2至关重要.在这项研究中,我们使用简单的电沉积方法合成了具有纳米晶枝状结构的CuAu合金电极.各项表征显示原子比约为1∶1的CuA...     

A practical weight sensitivity algorithm for goal and multiple objective programming

This paper presents a weight sensitivity algorithm that can be used to investigate a portion of weight space of interest to the decision maker in a goal or multiple objective programme. The preferential information required from the decision maker is an initial estimate of their starting solution, with an equal weights solution being used as a default if this is not available, and preference information that will define the portion of weight space on which the sensitivity analysis is to be conducted. The different types of preferential information and how they are incorporated by the algorithm are discussed. The output of the algorithm is a set of distinct solutions that characterise the portion of weight space searched. The possible different output requirements of decision makers are detailed in the context of the algorithm.The methodology is demonstrated on two examples, one hypothetical and the other relating to predicting cinema-going behaviour. Conclusions and avenues for future research are given.     

Picture change error correction in the radial distributions of canonical orbital densities and total electron density of radon atom: the effect of the size of nucleus and the basis set limit

The 2nd order Douglas-Kroll-Hess (DKH2) and the Infinite Order Two Component (IOTC) radial distributions of electron density of canonical Hartree-Fock (HF) orbitals of radon atom are presented. Furthermore, the total electron density is revisited. The picture change error (PCE) correction is investigated by analytical means. The point charge model of nucleus and the Gaussian nucleus model are employed. The basis set is extrapolated by means of including tight s and also p Gaussians within the original triple zeta basis set. It is found that the DKH1 PCE corrected DKH2 total electron and s orbital contact densities are negative for the point charge model of nucleus if tight enough s Gaussians are included in the basis set. It is shown that this failure is caused due to the missing terms of the second order Douglas-Kroll transformation for the DKH2 electron density. PCE is found the most striking in the DKH2/IOTC electron density of s orbitals close to the nucleus. The radial distributions of the 2-component p _1/2 orbital densities are considerably affected by PCE at the nucleus as well. Furthermore, the PCE corrected DKH2/IOTC scalar p orbital densities have a non-zero value of electron density at nucleus and can be considered as an spin-orbit (SO) average of the p _1/2 and p _3/2 orbitals. The d and f orbitals are affected by PCE in the vicinity of the nucleus only little. The PCE corrected DKH2 and IOTC radial distributions of orbital densities are nodeless, which is completely in agreement with the radial distribution of the analytic or numeric DCH orbital densities.     

The Tetracyanopyridinide Dimer Dianion, σ‐[TCNPy]22−

The reaction of 2,3,5,6‐tetracyanopyridine (TCNPy) and Cr(C₆H₆)₂ forms diamagnetic σ‐[TCNPy]₂^2? possessing a 1.572(3) Å intrafragment sp³–sp³ bond. This is in contrast to the structurally related 1,2,4,5‐tetracyanobenzene and 1,2,4,5‐tetracyanopyrazine that form π‐dimer dianions possessing long, multicenter bonds.     

An ideal column algorithm for integer programs with special ordered sets of variables

One of the most frequently occurring integer programming structures is the one which has special ordered sets of variables included in multiple choice constraints. For problems with this structure a set of ideal columns are defined from the linear programming relaxation of the integer program and a reduced integer program is formed by keeping only those columns within a specified distance from the ideal column. Conditions are established which guarantee when the optimal solution to the reduced problem is als optimal for the original problem. When these conditions are not satisfied, bounds on the optimal solution value are provided. Ideal columns are also used to establish weights for the special ordered set variables. This procedure has been implemented through a control program written by the authors for MPSX/370-MIP/370. Computational results are given.     

Copper-catalyzed hydroamination of propargyl imidates

Propargyl imidates derived from aromatic and aliphatic nitriles cyclize at room temperature in high yields when treated with a catalytic amount of copper (I) iodide. This 5-exo-dig process affords dihydrooxazoles which do not aromatize under the reaction conditions, and which are isolated without chromatography. Investigations of the reaction scope, subsequent functionalization of the reaction products, and preliminary mechanistic data are presented.     

Detection efficiency calculations using Geant4 for a broad-energy germanium gamma spectrometer

In assistance of radionuclide measurements at Canada’s Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) laboratory, a Geant4 Monte Carlo application has been developed in simulating a broad-energy germanium detector and calculating detection efficiencies. The detector model was optimized in a reliable and non-biased manner through simultaneous tuning on gap distance and detector dimension, and was validated over various realistic measurement scenarios. All work is based on a series of experiments which covers the typical energy range of gamma radiation in environmental analysis, and considers the variety of the CTBT sample type, dimension and distance-to-detector. In all cases, the predicted efficiencies are consistent with the empirical ones within 5%, with a typical deviation of 3% in majority.     

Picture change error correction of radon atom electron density

The importance of the picture change error (PCE) correction in the quasirelativistic electron density of radon atom is presented. PCE correction is considered for the infinite order two-component (IOTC) and second order Douglas-Kroll-Hess (DKH2) wave functions. Implementation details of PCE correction of electron density are outlined. The result section presents the radial distributions of electron density ρ(r) and the 4πr(2)ρ(r) function of the radon atom in the nuclear region. The PCE corrected and contaminated DKH2, IOTC electron densities are presented and compared with the Dirac-Coulomb Hamiltonian and nonrelativistic electron densities. Besides, some additional effects in electron density and SCF energy are considered, such as spin-orbit coupling, the inclusion of the Gaunt term, and the finite nucleus model effects. The effects of p(2)Vp(2) and p(2)ρ(r)p(2) analytic integral classes within IOTC Hamiltonian and PCE correction of IOTC electron density are considered.