Thermal fluctuations and rubber elasticity

The effects of thermal elastic fluctuations in rubbery materials are examined. It is shown that, due to their interplay with the incompressibility constraint, these fluctuations qualitatively modify the large-deformation stress-strain relation, compared to that of classical rubber elasticity. To leading order, this mechanism provides a simple and generic explanation for the peak structure of Mooney-Rivlin stress-strain relation and shows good agreement with experiments. It also leads to the prediction of a phonon correlation function that depends on the external deformation.     

Unraveling the reactivity of a cationic iminoborane: avenues to unusual boron cations

A cationic terminal iminoborane [Mes*N B ← IPr₂Me₂][AlBr₄] (3⁺[AlBr₄]⁻) (Mes* = 2,4,6-tri-tert-butylphenyl and IPr₂Me₂ = 1,3-diisopropyl-4,5-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene) has been synthesized and characterized. The employment of an aryl group and N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand enables 3⁺[AlBr₄]⁻ to exhibit both B-centered Lewis acidity and BN multiple bond reactivities, thus allowing for the construction of tri-coordinate boron cations 5⁺–12⁺. More importantly, initial reactions involving coordination, addition, and [2 + 3] cycloadditions have been observed for the cationic iminoborane, demonstrating the potential to build numerous organoboron species via several synthetic routes.

An NHC-stabilized aryliminoboryl cation exhibits both boron-centered Lewis acidity and multiple bond reactivity and could be utilized as an effective synthon for unusual cationic boron species.     

Extreme and critical transition events in the memristor based Liénard system

The European Physical Journal Special Topics - We study extreme and critical events in the forced Liénard systems with charge control memristor. It has been found that the system exhibits...     

Effect of Tomato Peel Extract Grown under Drought Stress Condition in a Sarcopenia Model

Tomatoes and their derivates represent an important source of natural biologically active components. The present study aims to investigate the protective effect of tomato peel extracts, grown in normal (RED-Ctr) or in drought stress (RED-Ds) conditions, on an experimental model of sarcopenia. The phenolic profile and total polyphenols content (TPC) of RED-Ctr and RED-Ds were determined by Ultra High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) analyses coupled to electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry (ESI-HR-MS). Human skeletal muscle myoblasts (HSMM) were differentiated in myotubes, and sarcopenia was induced by dexamethasone (DEXA) treatment. Differentiation and sarcopenia were evaluated by both real-time PCR and immunofluorescent techniques. Data show that myosin heavy chain 2 (MYH2), troponin T (TNNT1), and miogenin (MYOG) were expressed in differentiated myotubes. 5 μg Gallic Acid Equivalent (GAE/mL) of TPC from RED-Ds extract significantly reduced muscle atrophy induced by DEXA. Moreover, Forkhead BoxO1 (FOXO1) expression, involved in cell atrophy, was significantly decreased by RED-Ds extract. The protective effect of tomato peel extracts depended on their qualitative polyphenolic composition, resulting effectively in the in vitro model of sarcopenia.     

A theoretical approach to substituent effects: Stabilities and conformational preferences in β-substituted ethyl radicals

Ab initio molecular orbital theory is used to study substituent effects in a series of β-substituted Et radicals XCH₂CH₂. For X = BH₂ (plan.), CH₃, NH₂, OH and F, only slight conformational preferences and weak stabilizations are indicated. Such behaviour may be rationalized, using a PMO model, in terms of opposing changes, accompanying variation in X, in positive and negative hyperconjugation between the XCH₂ group and the CH₂ centre. On the other hand, for groups containing an appropriately oriented, low-lying vacant orbital, viz. X = Li, BeH and BH₂ (perp.), there is a pronounced preference for the perpendicular conformation of the radical. This is attributed to 1,3-interaction between the singly-occupied 2p(C) orbital and the vacant 2p(X) orbital.     

Organic p-i-n solar cells

We introduce a p-i-n-type heterojunction architecture for organic solar cells where the active region is sandwiched between two doped wide-gap layers. The term p-i-n means here a layer sequence in the form p-doped layer, intrinsic layer and n-doped layer. The doping is realized by controlled co-evaporation using organic dopants and leads to conductivities of 10^-4 to 10^-5 S/cm in the p- and n-doped wide-gap layers, respectively. The photoactive layer is formed by a mixture of phthalocyanine zinc (ZnPc) and the fullerene C₆₀ and shows mainly amorphous morphology. As a first step towards p-i-n structures, we show the advantage of using wide-gap layers in M-i-p-type diodes (metal layer–intrinsic layer–p-doped layer). The solar cells exhibit a maximum external quantum efficiency of 40% between 630-nm and 700-nm wavelength. With the help of an optical multilayer model, we optimize the optical properties of the solar cells by placing the active region at the maximum of the optical field distribution. The results of the model are largely confirmed by the experimental findings. For an optically optimized device, we find an internal quantum efficiency of around 82% under short-circuit conditions. Adding a layer of 10-nm thickness of the red material N,N-dimethylperylene-3,4:9,10-dicarboximide (Me-PTCDI) to the active region, a power-conversion efficiency of 1.9% for a single cell is obtained. Such optically thin cells with high internal quantum efficiency are an important step towards high-efficiency tandem cells. First tandem cells which are not yet optimized already show 2.4% power-conversion efficiency under simulated AM 1.5 illumination of 125 mW/cm² . PACS 73.61.Ph; 78.30.Jw; 89.30.Cc     

Numerical solution of the two-dimensional Poincaré equation

This paper deals with numerical approximation of the two-dimensional Poincaré equation that arises as a model for internal wave motion in enclosed containers. Inspired by the hyperbolicity of the equation we propose a discretisation particularly suited for this problem, which results in matrices whose size varies linearly with the number of grid points along the coordinate axes. Exact solutions are obtained, defined on a perturbed boundary. Furthermore, the problem is seen to be ill-posed and there is need for a regularisation scheme, which we base on a minimal-energy approach.