Supramolecular hydrogels formed by pyrene-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) star polymers through inclusion complexation of pyrene dimers with γ-cyclodextrin

Novel supramolecular hydrogels were formed between pyrene-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) star polymers and γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD), through the inclusion complexation of dimers of the pyrene terminals with γ-CD, where γ-CD was directly used as a supramolecular cross-linking reagent without any modification.     

Incorporating the threat of terrorist attacks in the design of public service facility networks

In this paper, we consider the design problem of a public service facility network with existing facilities when there is a threat of possible terrorist attacks. The aim of the system planner, who is responsible for the operation of the network, is to open new facilities, relocate existing ones if necessary, and protect some of the facilities to ensure a maximum coverage of the demand that is assumed to be aggregated at customer zones. By doing so, the system planner anticipates that a number of unprotected facilities will be rendered out-of-service by terrorist attacks. It is assumed that the sum of the fixed cost of opening new facilities, the relocation costs, and the protection costs cannot exceed a predetermined budget level. Adopting the approach of gradual (or partial) coverage, we formulate a bilevel programming model where the system planner is the leader and the attacker is the follower. The objective of the former is the maximization of the total service coverage, whereas the latter wants to minimize it. We propose a heuristic solution procedure based on tabu search where the search space consists of the decisions of the system planner, and the corresponding objective value is computed by optimally solving the attacker??s problem using CPLEX. To assess the quality of the solutions produced by the tabu search (TS) heuristic, we also develop an exhaustive enumeration method, which explores all the possible combinations of opening new facilities, relocating existing ones, and protecting them. Since its time complexity is exponential, it can only be used for relatively small instances. Therefore, to be used as a benchmark method, we also implement a hill climbing procedure employed with the same type of moves as the TS heuristic. Besides, we carry out a sensitivity analysis on some of the problem parameters to investigate their effect on the solution characteristics.     

Study of the atom-phonon coupling model for (SC) partition function: first order phase transition for an infinite linear chain

In spin-conversion (SC) compounds containing molecules organized around an iron (II) ion the fundamental level of the ion is low spin (LS), S = 0, and its first excited one is high spin (HS), S = 2. This energy diagram is due to the ligands field interaction on 3d electrons and to the spin pairing energy. Heating the compound increases the magnetic susceptibility which corresponds to a change of populations of both levels and consequently a change of spin value of the molecules. This mechanism, called spin conversion (SC), can be accompagnied by thermal hysteresis observed by studying magnetic susceptibility or high spin fraction. In that case one considers that the (SC) takes place through a first-order phase transition due to intermolecular interactions. In the atom-phonon coupling model the molecules are considered as two-level systems, or two-level atoms, and it is assumed that the elastic force constant value of the spring which links two atoms first neighbours is depending on the electronic states of both atoms. In this study we calculate the partition function of a linear chain of N atoms (N ≤ 16) and we describe the role of phonons and that of the parameter Δ which corresponds to the distance in energy between both levels. The chain free-energy function is F _atph . We introduce for the chain a free-energy function defined by the set (F _HS , F _LS , F _barr ) and we show that F _atph tends towards the previous set when N → ∞. The previous set allows to describe a first order phase transition between a (LS) phase and a (HS) one. At the crossing point between the function F _LS and F _HS , and around this point, there is an intermediate free-energy barrier which prevents the chain to change phase which can lead to thermal hysteresis. The energy gap between the free-energy function F _atph and that defined by the set (F _HS , F _LS , F _barr ) is small. So we can expect that a nanoparticule takes for free-energy function that defined by the set and then displays a thermal hysteresis.     

Histopathological Changes in Liver and Heart Tissue Associated with Experimental Ultraviolet Radiation A and B Exposure on Wistar Albino Rats

This study aims to evaluate the influences of ultraviolet radiation A and B ( UVA + B) exposure on the liver and heart organs of albino rats. Female Wistar Albino rats, whose hair of the dorsal skin was shaved, were exposed to a combined UVA + B radiation for 2 h/day, for 4 weeks in order to be compared with the control group. Histopathological findings in vital organs (liver and heart) were evaluated. Tissues were fixed in 10% buffered formalin (pH = 7.2) and embedded in paraffin. The histopathological findings were examined on the H&E stained sections with light microscopy. The results show that the liver and the heart were injured in the UVA + B group. Liver tissue in the UVA + B group showed minimal vacuolation, enlargement of hepatocytes and bile duct proliferation, and the heart tissue showed hibernomas; uniform large cells resembling brown fat with coarsely granular to multivacuolated cytoplasm that is eosinophilic or pale with a small central nucleus. The number of hibernoma cases was significantly higher in the UVA + B group compared with the control group (P = 0.021). The control group showed normal liver and heart histology with normal adipose tissue in the pericardium. As a result, UVA + B exposure has toxic effects, especially on the liver and the heart of Wistar albino rats. UV radiation may cause such adverse effects in humans. Therefore, protection against the harmful effects of UV radiation is of significant importance for skin and organs.     

Primary care network development: the regulator’s perspective

Our research is motivated by the proliferation of primary care models in Ontario, Canada. Currently, primary care is mainly provided by facilities belonging to six models of care. These models are remunerated by various schemes—a mixture of fee-for-service, capitation and salary. In addition, they provide different levels of care and several are better adjusted than others to treat complex health needs. The proposed mixed integer programming model allows the regulator to test the outcomes of locating different types of primary care facilities on the overall cost, accessibility and appropriateness of provided care. The network design is fitted to the heterogeneity of the population residing in a defined geographical area, directly using an index (deprivation index) that was found to correlate with increased health needs and barriers to care. The model capabilities are illustrated on the geographical area of Kingston, Ontario.     

Thin-film polymerization and characterization of Sumitomo's Sumikasuper®-type liquid crystalline polymers

Using the thin film polymerization approach, we have studied the texture evolution when synthesizing a novel liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) system based on Sumikasuper^® LCPs. The main monomers used were p-acetoxybenzoic acid (ABA), 4,4'-biphenol (BP), isophthalic acid (IA), phthalic acid (PA) and terephthalic acid (TA). Polarizing optical microscopy (POM), FTIR, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were employed to study the thin film polymerization process and characterize the products. The generation and evolution of liquid crystal phases were monitored; the results revealed that there exists a composition range for the monomers to react and form liquid crystal materials. The critical temperature for LC formation in ABA/BP/IA system decreased with increasing ABA content. FTIR results confirmed the formation of polymers. AFM investigation suggested a similar process of morphological change to that observed using POM. An increasing surface roughness of the thin films with the progress of polymerization was also obtained from AFM analysis. A nematic LC texture of the polymer system was suggested by XRD examination. Results obtained by replacing BP with acetylated BP, and by conducting polymerization using two-monomer systems, suggest that BP units are included in polymers obtained by the thin film polymerization method.     

A calix[4]arene derivative-doped perchlorate-selective membrane electrodes with/without multi-walled carbon nanotubes

In this study, poly (vinyl chloride)(PVC) membrane electrodes with/without multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based on a calix[4]arene derivative for perchlorate ion were described. The influence of membrane composition, pH, conditioning solution on the potentiometric response of the electrodes was investigated. Perchlorate-selective PVC membrane electrode exhibited a slope of 47.8 ± 0.6 mV/pClO₄ in the range of 1.0 × 10^?7–1.0 × 10^?1 mol L^?1at pH 4.0 while the coated Pt electrodes with MWCNT-OH, MWCNT-COOH and MWCNT displayed slopes of 46.1 ± 0.7 mV/pClO₄ (5.0 × 10^?6–1.0 × 10^?1 mol L^?1), 50.4 ± 1.9 mV/pClO₄ (1.0 × 10^?6–1.0 × 10^?1 mol L^?1) and 44.4 ± 0.3 mV/pClO₄ (1.0 × 10^?5–1.0 × 10^?1 mol L^?1), respectively. Other response characteristics of these electrodes such as response time, lifetime and detection limit were identified, and the selectivity coefficients towards various anions were calculated by separate solution method. Moreover, the perchlorate-selective electrodes described here were successfully used as an indicator electrode for the determination of perchlorate in real samples such as tap water, river water and human urine by direct calibration method.     

Generalized differential transform method for solving a space- and time-fractional diffusion-wave equation

In this Letter we propose a new generalization of the two-dimensional differential transform method that will extend the application of the method to a diffusion-wave equation with space- and time-fractional derivatives. The new generalization is based on generalized Taylor's formula and Caputo fractional derivative. Theorems that are never existed before are introduced with their proofs. Several illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained results. The results reveal that the technique introduced here is very effective and convenient for solving partial differential equations of fractional order.     

On the orientation of a designed transmembrane peptide: toward the right tilt angle?

The orientation of the transmembrane peptide WALP23 under small hydrophobic mismatch has been assessed through long-time-scale molecular dynamics simulations of hundreds of nanoseconds. Each simulation gives systematically large tilt angles (>30 degrees). In addition, the peptide visits various azimuthal rotations that mostly depend on the initial conditions and converge very slowly. In contrast, small tilt angles as well as a well-defined azimuthal rotation were suggested by recent solid-state 2H NMR studies on the same system. To optimally compare our simulations with NMR data, we concatenated the different trajectories in order to increase the sampling. The agreement with 2H NMR quadrupolar splittings is spectacularly better when these latter are back-calculated from the concatenated trajectory than from any individual simulation. From these ensembled-average quadrupolar splittings, we then applied the GALA method as described by Strandberg et al. (Biophys J. 2004, 86, 3709-3721), which basically derives the peptide orientation (tilt and azimuth) from the splittings. We find small tilt angles (6.5 degrees), whereas the real observed tilt in the concatenated trajectory presents a higher value (33.5 degrees). We thus propose that the small tilt angles estimated by the GALA method are the result of averaging effects, provided that the peptide visits many states of different azimuthal rotations. We discuss how to improve the method and suggest some other experiments to confirm this hypothesis. This work also highlights the need to run several and rather long trajectories in order to predict the peptide orientation from computer simulations.