Aggregation behavior of pH- and thermo-responsive block copolymer protected gold nanoparticles

Two distinctive block copolymers protected gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were prepared with poly(methylacrylic acid)-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (SH-PMAA₆₄-b-PNIPAM₃₅) and poly (N-isopropylacrylamide)-block-poly(methylacrylic acid) (SH-PNIPAM₄₀-b- PMAA₆₀) through strong gold-sulfur bonding. The hybrid NPs have a pH-responsive inner shell (or corona) and a thermo-responsive corona (or inner shell) due to different location relations of the PNIPAM and PMAA on the surface of AuNPs. Then, the aggregation behaviors, as well as the changes of optical properties, of two hybrid NPs were compared in response to both stimuli. The results showed the obvious inter-particle aggregation caused by the phase transition for hydrophobic coronal polymer. However, the particles of hydrophilic corona layer retained good dispersion and the pH-responsive or thermo-responsive characteristics of shell layer made relatively minor changes.     

Methanol synthesis from CO2: a DFT investigation on Zn-promoted Cu catalyst

Research on Chemical Intermediates - The reaction steps during methanol synthesis from CO2/H2 are influenced by the type of catalysts such as pure Cu and Zn-decorated Cu. In this study, density...     

Synthesis of Polyfluorinated Tetraoxacalix[4]arenes by Reaction of Pentafluoronitrobenzene with Resorcinol,Orcinol, and Tetrafluororesorcinol

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - Successive reactions of pentafluoronitrobenzene with resorcinol, orcinol, and tetrafluororesorcinol in acetonitrile in the presence of triethylamine afforded...     

Combustion behavior and thermal stability of TPU composites based on layered yttrium hydroxides and graphene oxide

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Layered yttrium hydroxides (LYH)- and graphene oxide (GO)-supported layered yttrium hydroxides (GO–LYH) were synthesized by a co-precipitation...     

谐波齿轮系统的快慢振荡机制研究

谐波齿轮减速器是一种新型的传动装置, 因其具有诸多的优点, 因而得到了广泛应用. 谐波齿轮减速器涉及不同振荡尺度之间的耦合作用, 这通常会诱发复杂的快慢振荡, 严重影响了谐波齿轮系统的正常工作. 本文考虑涉及扭转刚度非线性因素的谐波齿轮系统, 旨在研究系统的快慢动力学, 揭示新型的快慢振荡机制. 首先, 构建了非线性扭转刚度下的谐波齿轮系统的快慢动力学模型. 然后, 通过改变扭转刚度系数, 得到了系统从常规振荡向快慢振荡的转迁过程. 接着, 简要地论述了有关快慢系统的基础理论. 在此基础上, 采用快慢分析法研究了快子系统的动力学特性, 揭示了快慢振荡的产生机制. 研究表明, 当系统参数改变时, 快子系统的平衡点曲线并未发生失稳或分岔; 然而, 在某一点附近, 平衡点曲线能够产生急剧量变, 其特征是平衡点在局部小范围内可以在正坐标值与负坐标值之间快速转迁. 在此基础上, 揭示了一种诱发快慢振荡的新型动力学机制, 比较了这种诱发机制与其他相关机制之间的区别. 本文丰富了系统通向快慢振荡的路径, 为实际谐波齿轮传动系统中的快慢振荡机理与控制研究提供参考.      

The impact of the global and local awareness diffusion on epidemic transmission considering the heterogeneity of individual influences

In this paper, we propose a coupled awareness—epidemic spreading model considering the heterogeneity of individual influences, which aims to explore the interaction between awareness diffusion and epidemic transmission. The considered heterogeneities of individual influences are threefold: the heterogeneity of individual influences in the information layer, the heterogeneity of individual influences in the epidemic layer and the heterogeneity of individual behavioral responses to epidemics. In addition, the individuals’ receptive preference for information and the impacts of individuals’ perceived local awareness ratio and individuals’ perceived epidemic severity on self-protective behavior are included. The epidemic threshold is theoretically established by the microscopic Markov chain approach and the mean-field approach. Results indicate that the critical local and global awareness ratios have two-stage effects on the epidemic threshold. Besides, either the heterogeneity of individual influences in the information layer or the strength of individuals’ responses to epidemics can influence the epidemic threshold with a nonlinear way. However, the heterogeneity of individual influences in the epidemic layer has few effect on the epidemic threshold, but can affects the magnitude of the final infected density.

     

Dynamic and wear characteristics of self-lubricating bearing cage: effects of cage pocket shape

34,354,966 active cases and 460,787 deaths because of COVID-19 pandemic were recorded on November 06, 2021, in India. To end this ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need to implement multiple population-wide policies like social distancing, testing more people and contact tracing. To predict the course of the pandemic and come up with a strategy to control it effectively, a compartmental model has been established. The following six stages of infection are taken into consideration: susceptible (S), asymptomatic infected (A), clinically ill or symptomatic infected (I), quarantine (Q), isolation (J) and recovered (R), collectively termed as SAIQJR. The qualitative behavior of the model and the stability of biologically realistic equilibrium points are investigated in terms of the basic reproduction number. We performed sensitivity analysis with respect to the basic reproduction number and obtained that the disease transmission rate has an impact in mitigating the spread of diseases. Moreover, considering the non-pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical intervention strategies as control functions, an optimal control problem is implemented to mitigate the disease fatality. To reduce the infected individuals and to minimize the cost of the controls, an objective functional has been constructed and solved with the aid of Pontryagin’s maximum principle. The implementation of optimal control strategy at the start of a pandemic tends to decrease the intensity of epidemic peaks, spreading the maximal impact of an epidemic over an extended time period. Extensive numerical simulations show that the implementation of intervention strategy has an impact in controlling the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 epidemic. Further, our numerical solutions exhibit that the combination of three controls are more influential when compared with the combination of two controls as well as single control. Therefore, the implementation of all the three control strategies may help to mitigate novel coronavirus disease transmission at this present epidemic scenario.

     

Catalytic hydrogenation of aromatic nitro compounds by non-noble metal complexes of chitosan

Silica-supported mono-metal (such as Ni, Cu) complexes and mixed metal (such as Cu/Zn, Cu/Cr) complexes of chitosan have been prepared. It is found that these non-noble metal complexes could be used as efficient catalysts for the hydrogenation of aromatic nitro compounds. The effects of type of metal, reaction temperature and pressure, solvent, nitrogen/metal molar ratio in the complex catalysts on the yields from nitrobenzene to aniline have been examined. It was also found that catalysts are active for the catalytic hydrogenation of other aromatic nitro compounds such as 2-nitroanisole, 2-nitroaniline, 2-nitrotoluene and 1-chloro-4-nitrobenzene.     

Synthesis and tautomerism of 2-aryl- and 2-heteroaryl derivatives of benzimidazole

Benzimidazoles containing furyl and thienyl substituents at C-2 were prepared by condensation of o-phenylenediamine and corresponding carboxylic acids in the presence of polyphosphoric acid. The 2-heteroarylbenzimidazoles showed tautomerism in dimethyl sulfoxide solution while 2-phenylbenzimidazole did not. The tautomerism appeared to be taking place by intermolecular relay of protons between stacked molecules.     

Reaction conducted under rather severe conditions for a colloidal catalyst - hydroformylation of propylene catalyzed by polymer-protected rhodium colloids

Hydroformylation of propylene has been conducted by a polymer-protected rhodium colloid catalyst with an activity of 130 mol butanal / g atom Rh·h. The neat colloid catalyst is stable enough for repeated use for 7 times lasting ∼50 h under the reaction condition (temperature: 363 K, pressure: 40 bar) with a total TON of 5,065 cycle / atom Rh.