Capillary electrophoresis-acid barrage stacking online enrichment method for highly sensitive determination of four isoflavones

A capillary electrophoresis-acid barrage stacking online enrichment method has been established to detect the four isoflavones which are Daidzein, Genistein, Formononetin, and Biochanin A. The proposed method was optimized using a single factor alternative method, and the optimal conditions obtained from the optimization were: the BGE was 25 mM borax and 2 mM β-cyclodextrin, the applied separation voltage was 20 kV, and the detection wavelength was 260 nm. The time ratio of the injection of sample and the injection of acid was 150 s:20 s, and the acid used was 250 mM acetic acid. The sample solvent used was 60% v/v acetonitrile. The established method had the enrichment factor of these four isoflavones at 24.5, 32.0, 29.2, and 33.7, respectively, LOD and LOQ are as low as nanograms per milliliter. Finally, the CE-acid barrage stacking method was successfully applied to the determination of four isoflavones in rat plasma and red clover extract, verifying the applicability and feasibility of the method.     

Topological structure of non-contractible loop space and closed geodesics on real projective spaces with odd dimensions

In this paper, we use Chas–Sullivan theory on loop homology and Leray–Serre spectral sequence to investigate the topological structure of the non-contractible component of the free loop space on the real projective spaces with odd dimensions. Then we apply the result to get the resonance identity of non-contractible homologically visible prime closed geodesics on such spaces provided the total number of distinct prime closed geodesics is finite.     

MPEC-IMI as an effective green inhibitor to protect Q235 steel in 0.5 M HCl medium

Imidazole (IMI)-based polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether (MPEC-IMI) as a novel green corrosion inhibitor was synthesized to protect the Q235 steel in 0.5 M HCl corrosive medium at 318 K. The inhibition performance of MPEC-IMI was investigated by weight loss measurement, the electrochemical method (Tafel and EIS) and surface analysis (SEM and EDX). The results reveal that the MPEC-IMI shows enhanced anticorrosion performance for carbon steel, which is attributed to the formation of the adsorptive protection film on the surface, and the type of adsorption basically obeys the Langmuir monolayer adsorption. Furthermore, when the concentration of MPEC-IMI is 300 mg L^?1, the corrosion inhibition efficiency can reach up to 92.00%. In support of further study of the corrosion inhibition behavior by virtue of quantum chemical calculation and molecular dynamics simulations, the results show that the MPEC-IMI molecule has high reactivity and strong interaction on the iron surface.     

Synthesis and characterization of cyclic alkyl tetraynes

Cyclic (4a-e) and linear (10) tetraynes have been studied. Macrocycles 4a-e are unstable to isolation as neat compounds, but 4b-e have been characterized in solution. 13C NMR spectroscopy shows a consistent downfield shift of the acetylenic resonances of 4c-e as ring strain increases. UV-vis spectroscopy demonstrates that ring strain has little effect on the HOMO-LUMO gap. X-ray crystallography of tetrabromoolefin 6b confirms the monomeric constitution of the precursors.     

WO3/CeO2-ZrO2, a promising catalyst for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx with NH3 in diesel exhaust

A WO3/CeO2-ZrO2 catalyst system was discovered for selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3; the catalyst (10 wt% WO3 loading) showed nearly 100% NOx conversion in a temperature range of 200-500 degrees C, at a space velocity of 90 000 h(-1) in a simulated diesel exhaust containing 550 ppm NOx (NO : NO2 feed ratio at 1.0), 10 vol% H2O and 10 vol% CO2; the catalyst also exhibited high temperature stability.     

Protective effects of cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors on narrow-band ultraviolet B-irradiated epidermal Ia+ Langerhans cells and Thy-1+ dendritic epidermal T cells in mice

Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors are known to be used as chemopreventative agents against certain malignancies. Thus far, there has been very limited information on whether COX-2 inhibitors protect against chronic narrow-band UVB (NB-UVB)-induced immunosuppression. The present study investigated the effect of nonselective and specific COX-2 inhibitors, indomethacin and celecoxib, on epidermal Ia+ Langerhans cells (LCs) and Thy-1+ dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs) in mice irradiated with NB-UVB. Sixty female BALB/c mice were divided randomly into the control group (sham) and the experimental groups (irradiated with NB-UVB for 17 weeks, further divided into five groups according to the diets containing different concentrations of either COX-2 inhibitors). Alterations in the density and morphology of epidermal Ia+ LCs and Thy-1+ DETCs in mice were documented using fluorescence microscopy. Chronic NB-UVB irradiation substantially decreased the density and altered the morphology of the epidermal Ia+ LCs and Thy-1+ DETCs in control mice. The dietary supplementation of both COX-2 inhibitors displayed a dosage-dependent protective effect on the murine dendritic cells irradiated by NB-UVB. In conclusion, COX-2 inhibitors protected against chronic NB-UVB-induced density and morphologic changes in epidermal Ia+ LCs and Thy-1+ DETCs in mice.     

Dependence of Eigenvalues of Certain Closely Discrete Sturm-Liouville Problems

This paper is concerned with dependence of eigenvalues of certain closely discrete Sturm-Liouville problems. Topologies and geometric structures on various spaces of such problems are firstly introduced. Then, relationships between the analytic and geometric multiplicities of an eigenvalue are discussed. It is shown that all problems sufficiently close to a given problem have eigenvalues near each eigenvalue of the given problem. So, all the simple eigenvalues live in so-called continuous simple eigenvalue branches over the space of problems, and all the eigenvalues live in continuous eigenvalue branches over the space of self-adjoint problems. The analyticity, differentiability and monotonicity of continuous eigenvalue branches are further studied.     

High pressure X-ray emission spectroscopy at the advanced photon source

ABSTRACT

The structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of materials under high pressure are of fundamental interest in physics, chemistry, materials science, and earth sciences. Among several hard X-ray-based techniques, X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) provides a powerful tool to probe element-specific information for understanding the electronic and magnetic properties of materials under high pressure. Here, we discuss on the particular requirements and instrumentation used in high pressure XES experiments. We then present several examples to illustrate the recent progress in high pressure XES studies at the Advanced Photon Source, followed by an outlook toward future development in high pressure XES.     

Chaos induced by weak A-coupled-expansion of non-autonomous discrete dynamical systems

This paper focuses on chaos induced by weak A-coupled-expansion of non-autonomous discrete systems in compact subsets of metric spaces and in bounded and closed subsets of complete metric spaces, separately. A new concept of weak A-coupled-expansion for non-autonomous discrete systems, whose condition is weaker than that of A-coupled-expansion, is introduced, and several new criteria of chaos induced by weak A-coupled-expansion of non-autonomous discrete systems are established. By applying some close relationships between chaotic dynamical behaviours of the original system and its induced systems, two criteria of chaos are established. One example is provided for illustration.