Chattering alleviation in vibration control of smart beam structures using piezofilm actuators: Experimental verification

This paper presents a new discrete-time sliding mode controller to alleviate undesirable chattering in vibration control of a flexible beam structure. A smart beam featuring a piezoelectric film is devised and its governing equation of motion is derived. A discrete-time sliding mode controller which consists of discontinuous part and equivalent part is then designed by considering the separation principle. By doing this, undesirable chattering of the beam structure can be attenuated in the settled phase. The proposed controller is experimentally realized, and both transient and forced vibration control responses are evaluated in time domain.     

Importance of aliphatic C–H hydrogen bonding on anion recognition

We have designed and synthesised new anion receptors 1 and 2, both of their C–H groups were at the α positions to carbonyl groups and further polarised by the attached polarising substituents. This enabled us to study hydrogen bonding donor ability of C–H bonds. The polarising substituents are electron withdrawing cyano group for host 1, while charged pyridinium group for host 2. As expected from charge effects, host 2 shows roughly an order of magnitude higher binding constants against various anion guests than those of receptor 1. Since the magnitude of polarisation change should be greatest for C–H group among various hydrogen bonding groups, this indicates the importance of C–H hydrogen bonding. In contrast, the relative order of binding constants was the same for both host 1 and 2. The order of association constants was found to be (CH₃)₂POO^? > CH₃COO^? > C₆H₅COO^? > Cl^? > Br^?. DFT calculation results were in good agreement with experimental binding constants and confirmed the importance of charged group substitution. In addition, receptor 1 showed the highest association constant for dimethyl phosphinate, which is implicated in many metabolic diseases.     

Isoperimetric numbers of graph bundles

The main aim of this paper is to give some upper and lower bounds for the isoperimetric numbers of graph coverings or graph bundles, with exact values in some special cases. In addition, we show that the isoperimetric number of any covering graph is not greater than that of the base graph. Mohar's theorem for the isoperimetric number of the cartesian product of a graph and a complete graph can be extended to a more general case: The isoperimetric numberi(G × K _2n) of the cartesian product of any graphG and a complete graphK _2n on even vertices is the minimum of the isoperimetric numberi(G) andn, and it is also a sharp lower bound of the isoperimetric numbers of all graph bundles over the graphG with fiberK _2n. Furthermore, ifn 2i(G) then the isoperimetric number of any graph bundle overG with fibreK _n is equal to the isoperimetric numberi(G) ofG. Partially supported by The Ministry of Education, Korea.     

Detection of nitroaromatic explosives based on photoluminescent polymers containing metalloles

The synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, and fluorescence quenching efficiency of polymers and copolymers containing tetraphenylsilole or tetraphenylgermole with Si-Si, Ge-Ge, and Si-Ge backbones are reported. Poly(tetraphenyl)germole, 2, was synthesized from the reduction of dichloro(tetraphenyl)germole with 2 equivs of Li. Silole-germole alternating copolymer 3 was synthesized by coupling dilithium salts of tetraphenylsilole dianion with dichloro(tetraphenyl)germole. Other tetraphenylmetallole-silane copolymers, 4-12, were synthesized through the Wurtz-type coupling of the dilithium salts of the tetraphenylmetallole dianion and corresponding dichloro(dialkyl)silanes. The molecular weights (M(w)) of these metallole-silane copolymers are in the range of 4000 approximately 6000. Detection of nitroaromatic molecules, such as nitrobenzene (NB), 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), and picric acid (PA), has been explored. A linear Stern-Volmer relationship was observed for the first three analytes, but not for picric acid. Fluorescence spectra of polymetalloles or metallole-silane copolymers obtained in either toluene solutions or thin polymer films displayed no shift in the maximum of the emission wavelength. This suggests that the polymetalloles or metallole-silanes exhibit neither pi-stacking of polymer chains nor excimer formation. Fluorescence lifetimes of polymetalloles and metallole-silanes were measured both in the presence and absence of TNT, and tau(o)/tau is invariant. This requires that photoluminescence quenching occurs by a static mechanism.     

A microarray enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for autoimmune diagnostics

In order to quantify autoantibodies in the sera of patients with autoimmune disease, we have created a microarray-based immunoassay that allows the simultaneous analysis of 18 known autoantigens. The microarrays contain serial dilutions of the various antigens, thereby allowing accurate determination of autoantibody titer using minimal amounts of serum. The assay is very sensitive and highly specific: as little as 40 fg of a known protein standard can be detected with little or no cross-reactivity to nonspecific proteins. The signal intensities observed from serial dilutions of immobilized antigen correlate well with serial dilutions of autoimmune sera. Miniaturized and highly parallelized immunoassays like these will reduce costs by decreasing reagent consumption and improve efficiency by greatly increasing the number of assays that can be performed with a single serum sample. This system will significantly facilitate and accelerate the diagnostics of autoimmune diseases and can be adapted easily to any other kind of immunoassay.     

Nucleophilic substitution reaction of benzyl benzenesulfonates with anilines in MeOH-MeCN mixtures-I : Effects of substituent and solvent on the transition-state structure

Kinetic studies on nucleophilic substitution reaction of benzyl tosylates with anilines are reported. The reaction was found to proceed via a dissociative S_N2 mechanism with less than 50 % bond formation and extensive bond breaking at the transition state. It was found that positive charge development at the benzylic carbon is substantial and para-substituent effect on the substrate is predominantly of resonance type. Bond formation is shown to be favored by a better nucleophile, by an electron withdrawing group on the substrate and by the more polar(higher MeCN content) solvent. The substrate, nucleophile and solvent were found to follow the RSP.     

N-heterocyclic carbene-catalyzed generation of homoenolates: gamma-butyrolactones by direct annulations of enals and aldehydes

N-Heterocyclic carbenes, prepared in situ from diarylimidazolium salts, serve as highly effective catalysts for the generation of reactive homoenolates from alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes. The catalyst-bound homoenolate reacts with electrophilic aldehydes leading, via the key intermediacy of an activated carboxylate, to gamma-butyrolactones in good yields and stereoselectivities. Importantly, this process demonstrates an unprecedented reaction mode for the generation of nucleophilic carbanions with a multifunctional organocatalyst under exceptionally mild and convenient reaction conditions.     

9-Hydroxypheophorbide alpha-induced apoptotic death of MCF-7 breast cancer cells is mediated by c-Jun N-terminal kinase activation

Recently, we synthesized 9-hydroxypheophorbide alpha (9-HPbD), a new chlorophyll-derived photosensitizer. The photo-treatment of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells with 20 kJ/m2 of red light after 5 microM 9-HPbD pretreatment induced cell death, showed typical apoptotic features, i.e., chromatin condensation, phosphatidyl serine externalization, membrane blebbing, and apoptotic bodies with an intact plasma membrane structure. To elucidate the mechanism of 9-HPbD-induced apoptosis, various mediators of the apoptosis were investigated. Release of cytochrome c from mitochondria into the cytosol was distinct 9 h after irradiation, while the levels of most apoptosis-related molecules such as Fas, FasL, Bcl-2, Bax and p53 were unchanged. Furthermore, caspase-9 activated by released cytochrome c was not significantly activated after 9-HPbD-photosensitization. On the other hand, stress-activated protein kinases such as p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) were activated 1 h after irradiation. Blocking of JNK signaling by transfecting with the dominant negative from of the JNK gene significantly reduced 9-HPbD-induced cell death. Our data show that photosensitization with the new photosensitizer 9-HPbD could induce the apoptotic death of MCF-7 breast cancer cell and that this death is mediated by stress-activated signal through JNK.