Cerium (IV) ammonium nitrate (CAN)-mediated regioselective synthesis and anticancer activity of 6-substituted 5,8-dimethoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone

6-Substituted 5,8-O-dimethyl-1,4-naphthoquinones (6-DMNQ), the promising anticancer scaffolds, were selectively generated by oxidative demethylation of 2-substituted 1,4,5,8-tetramethoxynaphthalenes with CAN in EtOAc/H₂O in comparatively high yields. An interesting finding was that apart from the reported electron-withdrawing effects of substituents on position 2 of naphthalene ring, regioselective synthesis of 6-DMNQ was largely dependent on the steric effects in CAN-mediated oxidation. The selective cytotoxicities of 6-DMNQ from the in vitro cell-based assays were exhibited between the cancer cells and normal cells. Moreover, most of sulfur-containing 6-DMNQ derivatives displayed better anticancer activities than the corresponding oxygen-containing ones, which could provide an available strategy for the design of 6-DMNQ derivatives as potential anticancer agents.     

A note on commutators of Hardy operators

Fu and Lu et al. 7 showed that the commutator $\mathcal {H}_{\beta ,b}$ generated by the fractional Hardy operator and a locally integrable function b is bounded on the homogenous Herz spaces if and only if b is a central bounded mean oscillation function. We show that their result is optimal by giving a counterexample.     

Convergence and permanence of a delayed Nicholson’s Blowflies model with feedback control

In this paper, we study a generalized Nicholson??s Blowflies model with feedback control and multiple time-varying delays. Under proper conditions, we employ a novel proof to establish some criteria to guarantee the global exponential convergence and permanence of this model. Moreover, we give two examples to illustrate our main results.     

Complex new materials from simple chemistry: Combining an amino‐substituted polysiloxane and carboxylic acids

Changes in rheological, adhesive, and swelling properties of quaternary salts, made by adding one of eight mono‐ or six α,ω‐alkanedioic acids (the latter with two to six or nine carbon atoms) to 6‐7PSil (a polysiloxane with 6%–7% of the monomer units contain a 3‐aminopropyl group) have been correlated with the salt structures. The simple acid‐base chemistry initiates drastic changes in the bulk properties of the materials that depend on the amount and type of the added acid. Thus, the quaternized forms of the 6‐7PSil have significantly enhanced viscoelastic and adhesive properties compared to those of the initial polysiloxane, and they can swell selectively liquids based on their polarity. Also, interpenetrating networks have been made in situ by photopolymerization of salts with vinylic carboxylic acids. DFT calculations on model systems consisting of dimethylammonium α,ω‐alkanedioate salts with two to six carbon atoms provide insights into the interactions responsible for the unexpected dependence of the properties of the 6‐7PSil salts on the chain lengths of the diacids. The potential for applying the methodologies described here to systems with other amino‐substituted polymers and other acid types is noted. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 3851–3861     

Highly oriented and ordered microstructures in block copolymer films

Block copolymer (BCP) films with long-range lateral ordering and orientation are crucial for many applications. Here, we report a simple, versatile strategy based on a solution casting procedure, to produce millimeter thick film of BCPs with highly oriented nanostructures. Transmission electron microscope (TEM), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and Hansen solubility parameters were used to study the morphology and interactions of the system. A variety of BCP-solvent pairs were investigated. Factors including set-up geometry, BCP characteristics, solvent evaporation, surface tension, and interactions, such as solvent-BCP, solvent-substrate, and BCP-substrate were examined. A mechanism is proposed to describe the observed long-range lateral ordering and orientation in films up to 1 mm in thickness. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018 , 56, 1369–1375     

2 W quasi-white-light based on idler-resonant optical parametric oscillation cascading sum-frequency generation with PPSLT

We present a high power red-green-blue (RGB) laser light source based on cascaded quasi-phasematched wavelength conversions in a single stoichiometric lithium tantalate. The superiority of the experimental setup is: the facula of the incident beam is elliptical to increase interaction volume, and the cavity was an idler resonant configuration for realizing more efficient red and blue light output. An average power of 2 W of quasi-white-light was obtained by proper combination of the RGB three colors. The conversion efficiency for the power of the quasi-white-light over pump power reached 36%. This efficiency and powerful RGB laser light source has potential applications in laser-based projection display et al.     

On learning process of a newsvendor with censored demand information

A behavioural study on the newsvendor problem without demand distribution knowledge or realized demands is conducted. We configure a censored-information scenario, where only sales data in history are provided. With laboratory experiments, we analyse participants ordering levels and ordering oscillations over time. It is observed that participants perform a significant learning process in the censored-information scenario. Moreover, we find that participants make orders by anchoring on the previous-period sales and adjusting to an adapted inventory level. On the basis of the observations, we propose an exponential-type learning (EXP) model to describe the behaviour of decision makers. Comparing with a chasing model that is popularly used in the full-information scenario, the EXP model is more recommended in the censored-information scenario.     

Color tuning of up-conversion emission in ytterbium,erbium, aluminum tri-doped zinc oxide crystal by adjusting aluminum concentration

Ytterbium, erbium, aluminum tri-doped zinc oxide crystal was synthesized, which can turn color from red to green up-conversion luminescence through adjusting aluminum content. When the aluminum concentration reached 4?mol%, the color of up-conversion emission first turn from red to green. Meanwhile, the ratio of red to green emission reduced from 25.32 to 0.26, and the coordinates of chromaticity coordinate calculation changes from (0.5749, 0.3378) to (0.2190, 0.7169) with aluminum concentration range from 0 to 4?mol%. The up-conversion emission peaks at 521, 542, and 660?nm of sample originate from the transitions of ²H_11/2 → ⁴I_15/2, ⁴S_3/2 → ⁴I_15/2, and ⁴F_9/2 → ⁴I_15/2 of erbium ions, respectively. X-ray diffraction patterns perform the better crystallization degree with increasing aluminum concentration. The scanning electron microscopy images show the porous and lamellar structures with different aluminum concentrations. A convenient but effective design to obtain ytterbium, erbium, aluminum tri-doped zinc oxide up-conversion luminescence is reported, which can turn color from red to green.