Monotone norms and tensor products

Various refinements of orthant monotonicity for norms are studied. A partial order is induced in the tensor product of two partially ordered vector spaces. The induced norm in the tensor product is shown to be orthant monotone in certain cases.     

Hodge Theory and Geometry

Hodge theory for a smooth algebraic curve includes both theHodge structure (period matrix) on cohomology and the use ofthat Hodge structure to study the geometry of the curve, viathe Jacobian variety. Hodge extended the theory of the periodmatrix to smooth algebraic varieties of any dimension, definingin general a Hodge structure on the cohomology of the variety.He gave a few applications to the geometry of the variety, butthese did not attain the richness of the Jacobian variety. Inrecent years, Hodge theory has been successfully extended toarbitrary varieties, and to families of varieties. In this expositorypaper, some of these developments are reviewed, with specialemphasis on instances where these extensions can be used tostudy the geometry – especially the algebraic cycles –on the variety. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 14CDFJ.     

Sweet success: Ionic liquids derived from non-nutritive sweeteners

The anions of the sweeteners saccharin and acesulfame form ionic liquids when paired with a variety of organic cations.     

Er∶Yb∶YCOB晶体制备及其激光二极管抽运激光特性

研究了Er∶Yb∶YCa4O(BO3)3(简称Er∶Yb∶YCOB)的多晶制备和单晶生长,用提拉法生长出光学质量优良的Er∶Yb∶YCOB单晶,测量了其吸收光谱和荧光光谱,分析了其能级和泵浦原理,并进行了以激光二极管为抽运源的激光试验,实现了Er∶Yb∶YCOB晶体的在1.55μm附近110mW的激光输出,且斜效率达18.9;.     

Synthesis and application of pyridine-based ambipolar hosts: control of charge balance in organic light-emitting devices by chemical structure modification

We studied the influence of a pyridine moiety versus a phenyl moiety when introduced in the molecular design of an ambipolar host. These pyridine-based host materials for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) were synthesized in three to five steps from commercially available starting materials. The isomeric hosts have similar HOMO/LUMO energies; however, data from OLEDs fabricated using the above host materials demonstrate that small structural modification of the host results in significant changes in its carrier-transporting characteristics.     

Rapid fabrication of glass/PDMS hybrid µIMER for high throughput membrane proteomics

Mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomics has brought a radical approach to systems biology, offering a platform to study complex biological functions. However, key proteomic technical challenges remain, mainly the inability to characterise the complete proteome of a cell due to the thousands of diverse, complex proteins expressed at an extremely wide concentration range. Currently, high throughput and efficient techniques to unambiguously identify and quantify proteins on a proteome-wide scale are in demand. Miniaturised analytical systems placed upstream of MS help us to attain these goals. One time-consuming step in traditional techniques is the in-solution digestion of proteins (4-20 h). This also has other drawbacks, including enzyme autoproteolysis, low efficiency, and manual operation. Furthermore, the identification of α-helical membrane proteins has remained a challenge due to their high hydrophobicity and lack of trypsin cleavage targets in transmembrane helices. We demonstrate a new rapidly produced glass/PDMS micro Immobilised Enzyme Reactor (μIMER) with enzymes covalently immobilised onto polyacrylic acid plasma-modified surfaces for the purpose of rapidly (as low as 30 s) generating peptides suitable for MS analysis. This μIMER also allows, for the first time, rapid digestion of insoluble proteins. Membrane protein identification through this method was achieved after just 4 min digestion time, up to 9-fold faster than either dual-stage in-solution digestion approaches or other commonly used bacterial membrane proteomic workflows.     

Biofuel Combustion Chemistry: From Ethanol to Biodiesel

Biofuels, such as bio‐ethanol, bio‐butanol, and biodiesel, are of increasing interest as alternatives to petroleum‐based transportation fuels because they offer the long‐term promise of fuel‐source regenerability and reduced climatic impact. Current discussions emphasize the processes to make such alternative fuels and fuel additives, the compatibility of these substances with current fuel‐delivery infrastructure and engine performance, and the competition between biofuel and food production. However, the combustion chemistry of the compounds that constitute typical biofuels, including alcohols, ethers, and esters, has not received similar public attention. Herein we highlight some characteristic aspects of the chemical pathways in the combustion of prototypical representatives of potential biofuels. The discussion focuses on the decomposition and oxidation mechanisms and the formation of undesired, harmful, or toxic emissions, with an emphasis on transportation fuels. New insights into the vastly diverse and complex chemical reaction networks of biofuel combustion are enabled by recent experimental investigations and complementary combustion modeling. Understanding key elements of this chemistry is an important step towards the intelligent selection of next‐generation alternative fuels.     

Novel PI analogues selectively block activation of the pro-survival serine/threonine kinase Akt

The synthesis from l-quebrachitol of a series of 3-deoxygenated ether lipid-type phosphatidylinositol (PI) analogues is reported, that selectively block activation of Akt and downstream substrates without affecting activation of the upstream kinase, PDK-1, or other kinases downstream of ras such as MAPK in H157 and H1703 lung cancer cells that have high levels of constitutively active Akt. The 2-hydroxyl in these compounds was deleted or alkylated with the intent to preclude metabolic degradation of these compounds by PI-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC). PI analogues with phosphate linkers are more effective than those with carbonate linkers. Specific inhibition of Akt by these compounds validates ligand design targeted to the PH domains of crucial signaling proteins, thus providing a unique class of possible cancer therapeutics.