The Design of Polymer‐based Nanocarriers for Effective Transdermal Delivery

This study reports a facile and practical means to non‐invasively deliver biologically active ingredients through the skin using polymer‐based nanocarriers. For this, polymer nanocapsules were fabricated with different surface charges as well as glass transition temperatures and we observed their ability to deliver the encapsulated active ingredient, coenzyme Q10, through the skin layer. Direct imaging of a probe molecule, Nile Red, and a matrix polymer labeled with fluorescence moiety, Lucifer Yellow, allowed us to demonstrate that the probe molecule readily permeates into the deep skin, while the matrix polymer stays in the stratum corneum layer due to electrostatic interactions. Quantitative characterization of the penetrating amount of coenzyme Q10 using the Frantz cell method proved that, to achieve improved delivery efficiency, the nanocapsule should have a low glass transition temperature as well as positive surface charges.

     

Crystal structure and electronic properties of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) carbamate

A crystal structure of a carbamate of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP-carbamate) has been elucidated and its structural and electronic properties investigated by density functional theory calculations and natural bond orbital analyses.     

Anisotropic Dirac fermions in a Bi square net of SrMnBi2

We report the observation of highly anisotropic Dirac fermions in a Bi square net of SrMnBi(2), based on a first-principles calculation, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, and quantum oscillations for high-quality single crystals. We found that the Dirac dispersion is generally induced in the (SrBi)(+) layer containing a double-sized Bi square net. In contrast to the commonly observed isotropic Dirac cone, the Dirac cone in SrMnBi(2) is highly anisotropic with a large momentum-dependent disparity of Fermi velocities of ~8. These findings demonstrate that a Bi square net, a common building block of various layered pnictides, provides a new platform that hosts highly anisotropic Dirac fermions.     

Composite support vector quantile regression estimation

In this paper we propose a new nonparametric regression method called composite support vector quantile regression (CSVQR) that combines the formulations of support vector regression and composite quantile regression. First the CSVQR using the quadratic programming (QP) is proposed and then the CSVQR utilizing the iteratively reweighted least squares (IRWLS) procedure is proposed to overcome weakness of the QP based method in terms of computation time. The IRWLS procedure based method enables us to derive a generalized cross validation (GCV) function that is easier and faster than the conventional cross validation function. The GCV function facilitates choosing the hyperparameters that affect the performance of the CSVQR and saving computation time. Numerical experiment results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed method     

Flocking Dynamics of the Inertial Spin Model with a Multiplicative Communication Weight

In this paper, we study a flocking dynamics of the deterministic inertial spin (IS) model. The IS model was introduced for the collective dynamics of active particles with an internal angular momentum, or spin. When the generalized moment of inertia becomes negligible compared to spin dissipation (overdamped limit) and mutual communication weight is a function of a relative distance between interacting particles, the deterministic inertial spin model formally reduces to the Cucker–Smale (CS) model with constant speed constraint whose emergent dynamics has been extensively studied in the previous literature. We present several sufficient frameworks leading to the asymptotic mono-cluster flocking, in which spins and relative velocities tend to zero asymptotically. We also provide several numerical simulations for the decoupled and coupled inertial spin models to see the effect of the C–S velocity flocking and compare them with our analytical results.

     

SnO2 quantum dots decorated BiOI nanoflowers as a high-performance electrode material for supercapacitor application

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The rational design of low-cost electrode materials with superior redox activity and high electrochemical conductivity has attracted extensive interest for...     

Synthesis of 3-phenoxy-1,3-dihydro-1-isobenzofuranones by palladium-catalyzed carbonylative cyclization of 2-bromobenzaldehyde with phenols

2-Bromobenzaldehyde reacts with phenols in acetonitrile under carbon monoxide pressure in the presence of a catalytic amount of bis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(II) chloride to afford the corresponding 3-phenoxy-1,3-dihydro-1-isobenzofuranones in high yields.     

All electron ab initio investigations of the electronic states of the FeC molecule

The low-lying electronic states of the molecule FeC have been investigated by performing all electron ab initio multi-configuration self-consistent-field (CASSCF) and multi reference configuration interaction (MRCI) calculations. The relativistic corrections for the one-electron Darwin contact term and the relativistic mass-velocity correction have been determined in perturbation calculations. The electronic structure of the FeC molecule is interpreted as antiferromagnetic couplings of the localized angular momenta of the ions and resulting in a triple bond in the valence bond sense. The electronic ground state is confirmed as being . The spectroscopic constants for the ground state and eleven excited states have been derived from the results of the MRCI calculations. The spectroscopic constants for the ground state have been determined as and ,and for the low-lying state as and . The values for the ground state agree well with the available experimental data. The FeC molecule is polar with charge transfer from Fe to C. The dipole moment has been determined as in the ground state and as 1.51 D in the state. From the results of the MRCI calculations the dissociation energy, , is determined as 2.79 eV, and D₀ as 2.74 eV. Received: 2 October 1998 / Received in final form: 30 March 1999     

Catalytic polymerization of phenylacetylene by cationic rhodium and iridium complexes of ferrocene-based ligands

Some new Rh(I) and Ir(I) complexes of the types [(COD)M(LL)]ClO₄ and [(COD)MCl]₂ [COD = cyclooctadiene; M = Rh, Ir; LL = 1,1′-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene (DPPF), 1-diphenylphosphino-2-(N,N-dimethylamino)methylferrocene (FcNP), 1,6-diferrocenyl-2,5-diazahexane (FcNN)] were prepared, and their catalytic activities toward polymerization of phenyl acetylene were examined. The rhodium complexes proved to be very effective catalysts to yield highly stereoregular polyphenylacetylene (cis-transoidal-PPA) in high yields under mild conditions. The number-average molecular weight (M _n) of the PPA obtained is in the range of 19,000–33,000 and the weight-average molecular weight (M _ω) is in the range of 47,000–95,000. Comparative studies revealed that of various catalysts employed, the cationic mononuclear [Rh(FcNN)(COD)]ClO₄ complex exhibited the best results to give exclusively the cis-transoidal-PPA (cis content ∼100%) with the highest molecular weight (M _n = 33,340) in the highest chemical yield (94%). Other reaction parameters such as the softness of the ligand, the solvent, the relative amount of catalyst, and the reaction temperature were also investigated to find that all these factors played crucial roles. The iridium systems worked better for the trimerization rather than polymerization to yield 1,3,5-triphenybenzene as major product. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Determination of Bone Trabeculae Modulus—An Ultrasonic Scanning and MicroCT (μCT) Imaging Combination Approach

To date, there is no method to measure non-destructively the modulus of trabeculae within cancellous bone, whilst retaining its structural integrity. In this study ultrasonic scanning, coupled with microCT imaging, is employed to determine trabeculae modulus along the three major anatomical axes non-destructively. The proposed method allows cancellous bone specimens to remain intact, for possible use in subsequent studies. Volume rendering of the microCT images allows three-dimensional visualization of cancellous bone specimens to be tested. This facilitates trabeculae selection and accurate measurement of distance traveled by the ultrasonic wave, thus yielding a good degree of confidence in the acoustic velocity measured. For all the three principal anatomical directions, the measured acoustic speeds ranged from 2,115 to 3,077 m/s, giving an average of 2,505 m/s. Average wave velocities in the superior–inferior, medial–lateral and anterior–posterior anatomical directions were found to be 2,295, 2,469 and 2,754 m/s, respectively; the differences corresponding to the three directions do not appear to be significant. Subsequently, the modulus was then determined using elastic wave propagation theory.