Dynamical measurements on viscoelastic behaviors of spiders in electro-dynamic loudspeakers

Spiders in electro-dynamic loudspeakers are most commonly concentrically corrugated fabric disks, and their viscoelastic behaviors affect the loudspeaker reproductions. A noncontact dynamic measuring technology is presented by a subwoofer closed box to excite the tested spiders pneumatically with a Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) to measure the velocity of the moving spiders. Correlation techniques were employed to get an accurate and reliable acoustical transfer function between the measured velocity and sound pressure. The Young’s moduli of the tested spider composite materials were derived from the measured vibration modes. The creep effect and the level dependent behaviors of tested spiders were investigated. The results indicate that, the Young’s moduli of the tested spiders are frequency dependent. The mechanical stiffness increases with a small slope in low frequency range while a large slope in high frequency range. The loss factor exhibits the maximum around the resonance frequency, and after that it decreases with increasing frequency. The effective stiffness has a monotonic decrease with input voltage levels and the harder the spider, the less stiffness changes with input levels.     

Preparation of nano-hydroxyapatite/poly(<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-lactide) biocomposite microspheres

Nano-hydroxyapatite (HA)/poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) composite microspheres with relatively uniform size distribution were prepared by a solid-in-oil-in-water (s/o/w) emusion solvent evaporation method. The encapsulation of the HA nanopaticles in microshperes was significantly improved by grafting PLLA on the surface of the HA nanoparticles (p-HA) during emulsion process. This procedure gave a possibility to obtain p-HA/PLLA composite microspheres with uniform morphology and the encapsulated p-HA nanoparticle loading reached up to 40 wt% (33 wt% of pure HA) in the p-HA/PLLA composite microspheres. The microstructure of composite microspheres from core-shell to single phase changed with the variation of p-HA to PLLA ratios. p-HA/PLLA composite microspheres with the diameter range of 2–3 μm were obtained. The entrapment efficiency of p-HA in microspheres could high up to 90 wt% and that of HA was only 13 wt%. Surface and bulk characterizations of the composite microspheres were performed by measurements such as wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).     

An all-organic aqueous potassium dual-ion battery

Benefiting from the environmental friendliness of organic electrodes and the high security of aqueous electrolyte,an all-organic aqueous potassium dual-ion full...     

Ag/CNT‐catalyzed hydroamination of activated alkynes with aromatic amines

As a nanoparticle support material, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) provide a certain potential activation of catalysis in heterogeneous catalytic organic reactions. Herein, an efficient Ag/CNT‐catalyzed synthesis of enamines via hydroamination of activated alkynes with aromatic amines has been described. This catalyst still retains catalytic activity after being recycled and reused three times. In addition, it represents a green and environmentally friendly process for preparation of enamines. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal Conditions for Existence of Vesicles Under Electric Field

Giant vesicles have been of intense interest as the model system for cell membranes. To bring numerous applications of the vesicles into full play, the existence time of the vesicles becomes particularly important. In this work, we explored the existence time of the vesicles in distilled water under four kinds of representative alternative current (AC) electric fields with different energizing time. When the application time of AC electric field reached 1 hour, the existence time of the vesicles reached the maximum value. As the applied electric field time increased, the existence time of the vesicles decreased. Thus, after obtaining the best vesicles on the carbon fiber electrode, disconnecting the external electric field is very necessary. Based on the in situ observation using inverted microscope, the disappearing phenomena of the vesicles were presented. In addition, it is found that vesicles in phosphate buffer solutions (PBSs) can last about 2–3 days when the electric field was applied for 1 hour, which was much longer than that in distilled water.     

Seasonal variation of 129I species in the Baltic Proper

Iodine speciation plays a significant role in iodine volatilizing into atmosphere from the seas, as well as serving as a biological indicator. Despite this importance, the data on iodine species revealed inconclusive evidence of what factors controlling speciation transformation. We here present new data on profiles of ¹²⁹I speciation in the Baltic Proper during November 2009. Along with the two earlier investigations (August 2006 and April 2007), an assessment of seasonal variation of ¹²⁹I species is presented. The results show that, due to the anoxic nature of Baltic Proper, presence of ¹²⁹IO₃ ^? in the Baltic Proper does not follow an obvious seasonal cycle, as the case with ¹²⁹I^?. Concentrations of ¹²⁹I^? in the Baltic Proper exhibit higher values in summer than the other two seasons (spring and winter), which might be associated with degrading of organic matter and release from sediment to water column that is more pronounced during summer. ¹²⁹I^? in surface water from the three seasons does not reflect the release function from the reprocessing facilities during the period April 2007 to November 2009. Consequently variability of ¹²⁹I^? in surface seawater of the Baltic Proper depends, to some extent, on local physical as well as biochemical conditions.     

An extensive review of studies on mycobacterium cell wall polysaccharide-related oligosaccharides – part II: Synthetic studies on complex arabinofuranosyl oligosaccharides carrying other functional motifs and related derivatives and analogs

Abstract

Lipoarabinomannan (LAM), mannosyl LAM (ManLAM), and mycolyl-arabinogalactan (mAG) are unique and ubiquitous cell wall constituents of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), the bacterium causing tuberculosis (TB). It has been well documented that LAM, ManLAM, and mAG play an important role in mycobacterial infections and in the elicitation of specific immune responses against M. tb in the host. Therefore, LAM, ManLAM, mAG, and related molecules are attractive targets for the development of novel TB diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Accordingly, numerous research groups have spent great effort on the chemical synthesis and biological studies of mycobacterium-related arabinofuranosyl oligosaccharides and their mimetics and conjugates. This article provides an extensive review about the progresses in this area. Due to the page limit of this journal, the review is published in three parts separately. This part (Part II) is focused on the synthesis of various ManLAM and mAG analogs containing mannose, galactose or galactosamine units and other natural structural motifs, as well as arabinofuranosyl oligosaccharide C-analogs and other derivatives.     

A simple and efficient method for the allylation of heteroarenes catalyzed by PdCl2

The PdCl₂-catalyzed allylation of heteroarenes is presented. Various heteroarenes including O-, N-, and S-based ones were allylated efficiently with a rich range of allylic acetates in the presence of only 2 mol % of PdCl₂, without the need of bases/acids, additives, and external supporting ligands. In addition, the reactions were carried out under mild and simple conditions just by stirring the two reactants and catalyst in CH₂Cl₂ at 60 °C. Moreover, the by-product produced was non-toxic acetic acid. Thus, the method presented in this work provides a general, clean, and operationally simple approach for the functionalization of heteroarenes. Finally, a preliminary mechanistic study suggested that the Pd(II) may be reduced in situ by the heteroarenes to Pd(0), which serves as the active metal center to catalyze the following allylations of heteroarenes via a Tsuji–Trost pathway.