Preparation of antimicrobial polycaprolactone‐silica composite films with nanosilver rods and triclosan using roll‐milling method

In this study, antimicrobial polycaprolactone composite films containing 12.5% silica and 0.15% silver nanorods were prepared using the roll‐milling method. The destruction of E. coli and S. aureus on the surface of the composite films was evaluated after 6 hr of incubation at 37°C. For the E. Coli, no bacterial contamination was detected after 6 hr and the film surface was completely disinfected with 100% reduction of the microbial contamination. For the S. aureus, 94% reduction of the bacterial contamination was observed after 6 hr. The results were compared with the composite films containing triclosan, a broad‐spectrum antimicrobial agent. The antimicrobial activity tests with 0.25% triclosan incorporated polycaprolactone‐silica composite films showed only 70% reduction of E. coli and 95% reduction of S. aureus after 6 hr. The results demonstrated that the use of silver nanoparticles in the biopolymer industry has huge potential for the self‐cleaning applications. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identifying Different Types of Catalysts for CO2 Reduction by Ethane through Dry Reforming and Oxidative Dehydrogenation

The recent shale gas boom combined with the requirement to reduce atmospheric CO₂ have created an opportunity for using both raw materials (shale gas and CO₂) in a single process. Shale gas is primarily made up of methane, but ethane comprises about 10 % and reserves are underutilized. Two routes have been investigated by combining ethane decomposition with CO₂ reduction to produce products of higher value. The first reaction is ethane dry reforming which produces synthesis gas (CO+H₂). The second route is oxidative dehydrogenation which produces ethylene using CO₂ as a soft oxidant. The results of this study indicate that the Pt/CeO₂ catalyst shows promise for the production of synthesis gas, while Mo₂C‐based materials preserve the C? C bond of ethane to produce ethylene. These findings are supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and X‐ray absorption near‐edge spectroscopy (XANES) characterization of the catalysts under in situ reaction conditions.     

Synthesis,characterization, and reactivity of ruthenium(II) complexes containing η6-arene-η1-pyrazole ligands

New ruthenium(II) complexes containing η⁶-arene-η¹-pyrazole ligands were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and spectroscopic methods. In addition, the molecular structure of dichloro-3,5-dimethyl-1-(pentamethylbenzyl)-pyrazole–ruthenium(II), [Ru]L_3b, was determined by X-ray diffraction studies. These complexes were applied in the transfer hydrogenation of acetophenone by isopropanol in the presence of potassium hydroxide. The activities of the catalysts were monitored by NMR.     

自主气体轴承控制系统分析及实验研究

提出1种采用音圈电机作为可控节流器的自主电控式气体轴承新方案,可以有效提高大型光电精密仪器回转基准的精度,在实时测量回转基准径向运动误差的同时,通过主动节流器自主调节气场分布而产生控制力和调节轴承的偏移位置,达到减小径向运动量和提高回转精度的目的,同时分析了整个系统数学模型,设计了控制补偿器.采用自主控制方案后,轴承回转精度从控制前的0.3 μm提高到约0.08 μm.结果表明,该轴承系统具有良好动态品质和较高回转精度,能够广泛用于航空航天高精密惯导测试设备中.     

Invariance and efficiency of convex representations

We consider two notions for the representations of convex cones G-representation and lifted-G-representation. The former represents a convex cone as a slice of another; the latter allows in addition, the usage of auxiliary variables in the representation. We first study the basic properties of these representations. We show that some basic properties of convex cones are invariant under one notion of representation but not the other. In particular, we prove that lifted-G-representation is closed under duality when the representing cone is self-dual. We also prove that strict complementarity of a convex optimization problem in conic form is preserved under G-representations. Then we move to study efficiency measures for representations. We evaluate the representations of homogeneous convex cones based on the “smoothness” of the transformations mapping the central path of the representation to the central path of the represented optimization problem. Research of the first author was supported in part by a grant from the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo and by a Discovery Grant from NSERC. Research of the second author was supported in part by a Discovery Grant from NSERC and a PREA from Ontario, Canada.     

Glass transition temperature of polymer nanocomposites: Prediction from the continuous‐multilayer model

The continuous‐multilayer model introduced in our previous study for the T_g behavior of thin films is adapted to nanocomposite systems. T_g enhancement in both thin films and nanocomposites with attractive interfacial interactions can be explained by the same model. Various shapes of nanoparticles are proposed to rationalize the adaptation of the one‐dimensional model for the T_g behavior of thin film to three‐dimensional system such as nanocomposite. The tendency of predicted T_g enhancements in poly(methyl methacrylate) and P2VP nanocomposites with silica particles are qualitatively fit to experimental data in literatures. For the further quantitative fitting, the model is partially modified with the consideration for other factors affecting T_g deviation in nanocomposite. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 2281–2287, 2009     

Some INDO perturbation calculations of nJ(NC) values

Standard INDO parameters are used in ‘sum-over-states’ perturbation calculations of ⁿJ(NC) in a variety of molecular environments. Good agreement with the experimental data is, in general, obtained when the integral products S_N²(o)S_C²(o) and 〈r^?3〉_N〈r^?3〉_C assume the values of 35.167 a.u.^?3 and 4.980 a.u.^?3, respectively. For ‘pyridine-type’ nitrogen atoms the major contribution to ⁿJ(NC) usually arises from the orbital term whereas the contact term dominates the values of ⁿJ(NC) for ‘pyrrole-type’ and amino nitrogen atoms.     

Su una particolare classe di funzioni tensoriali di un tetravettore e sulla conseguente interpretazione dell'elettromagnetismo diMaxwell-Lorentz

Sunto Si estende dapprima allo spazio euclideo a quattro dimensioni e poi allo spazio-tempo pseudoeuclideo la particolare classe di funzioni tensoriali di un vettore che, in una memoria precedente dello stesso autore, era stata considerata limitatamente allo spazio euclideo tridimensionale. Tali tensori godono della proprietà che al mutare del sistema di riferimento le espressioni analitiche delle nuove componenti del tensore, scritte rispetto alle nuove componenti del vettore, conservano l'invarianza formale. L'analisi di tali funzioni tensoriali mette in evidenza che le espressioni analitiche delle loro componenti risultano indeterminate a meno di un piccolo numero di funzioni del solo modulo del vettore, chiamate funzioni di distanza (f. d. d.). Dall' attuale analisi risulta che il numero delle f. d. d. atte ad individuare un tensore dello stesso ordine diminuisce con l aumentare del numero delle dimensioni dello spazio. Così per il tenore del 2⁰ ordine si hanno tre funzioni di distanza nell' S₃ e due nell' S₄. Per il tensore del 3⁰ ordine si hanno 7 f. d. d. nell' S₃ e 5 nell' S₄. Il tensore q_{l, m, n} emisimmetrico negli indici l ed n è individuato nello spazio-tempo da una sola f. d. d. Nell' ultima parte della memoria si cerca un' interpretazione dell' elettromagnetismo di Maxwell-Lorentz mediante le dette funzioni tensoriali nello spazio-tempo. Si compone il detto tensore emisimmetríco q_{l, m, n} con il tetraelemento di linea oraria percorsa da una carica puntiforme in moto e si integra lungo la linea oraria. Il detto tensore q_{l, m, n} è funzione, appartenente alla classe in considerazione, del tetrasegmento che unisce il punto-evento in cui si trova la carica con il punto-evento in cui si vuole calcolare il campo elettromagnetico da essa generato. Scegliendo opportunamente l' unica f. d. d. che individua q_{l, m, n} è possibile ottenere il tensore elettromagnetico generato dalla carica. Si riesce così ad isolare l' aspetto geometrico dell' elettromagnetismo di Maxwell-Lorentz dall'aspetto analitico, che consiste nella particolare f. d. d. del tensore elettromagnetico q_{l, m, n}.