A neutral redox-switchable [2]rotaxane

A limited range of redox-active, rotaxane-based, molecular switches exist, despite numerous potential applications for them as components of nanoscale devices. We have designed and synthesised a neutral, redox-active [2]rotaxane, which incorporates an electron-deficient pyromellitic diimide (PmI)-containing ring encircling two electron-rich recognition sites in the form of dioxynaphthalene (DNP) and tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) units positioned along the rod section of its dumbbell component. Molecular modeling using MacroModel guided the design of the mechanically interlocked molecular switch. The binding affinities in CH(2)Cl(2) at 298 K between the free ring and two electron-rich guests--one (K(a) = 5.8 × 10(2) M(-1)) containing a DNP unit and the other (K(a) = 6.3 × 10(3) M(-1)) containing a TTF unit--are strong: the one order of magnitude difference in their affinities favouring the TTF unit suggested to us the feasibility of integrating these three building blocks into a bistable [2]rotaxane switch. The [2]rotaxane was obtained in 34% yield by relying on neutral donor-acceptor templation and a double copper-catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and spectroelectrochemistry (SEC) were employed to stimulate and observe switching by this neutral bistable rotaxane in solution at 298 K, while (1)H NMR spectroscopy was enlisted to investigate switching upon chemical oxidation. The neutral [2]rotaxane is a chemically robust and functional switch with potential for applications in device settings.     

Spectroscopic study of (two-dimensional) molecule-based magnets: [M(II)(TCNE)(NCMe)2][SbF6] (M = Fe, Mn, Ni)

The M-[TCNE] (M = 3d metal; TCNE = tetracyanoethylene) system is one of the most interesting classes of molecule-based magnets, exhibiting a plethora of compositions and structures (inorganic polymer chains, 2D layers, 3D networks, and amorphous solids) with a wide range of magnetic ordering temperatures (up to 400 K). A systematic study of vibrational (both infrared and, for the first time, Raman) properties of the family of new TCNE-based magnets of M(II)(TCNE) (NCMe)(2)[SbF(6)] [M = Mn, Fe, Ni] composition is discussed in conjunction with their magnetic behavior and newly reso-lved crystal structures. The vibrational properties of the isolated TCNE(●-) anion in the paramagnetic Bu(4)N [TCNE(●-)] salt and recently characterized 2D layered magnet Fe(II)(TCNE)(NCMe)(2)[FeCl(4)] are also reported for comparison. Additionally, a linear correlation between ν(C=C) (a(g)) frequency of the TCNE ligand and its formal charge Z (the spin density on the π* orbital), Z = [1571 - ν(C=C) (a(g))]/154.5 [e], is presented. It is shown that monitoring Z by Raman spectroscopy is of great use in providing information that allows understanding the peculiarity of the superexchange interaction in M-[TCNE] magnets and establishing the structure-magnetic properties correlations in this class of magnetic material.     

Templated assembly of organic-inorganic materials using the core shell structure of the P22 bacteriophage

Biomimetic chemistry offers new approaches to supramolecular materials synthesis and assembly. We have demonstrated that an assembled viral protein cage, comprising an organic core-shell structure, can be used as a template for the size constrained synthesis of Fe(2)O(3). Particle nucleation is directed by the inner scaffold protein layer, while the size constraints are determined by the outer capsid layer.     

Multiplex digital PCR: breaking the one target per color barrier of quantitative PCR

Quantitative polymerase chain reactions (qPCR) based on real-time PCR constitute a powerful and sensitive method for the analysis of nucleic acids. However, in qPCR, the ability to multiplex targets using differently colored fluorescent probes is typically limited to 4-fold by the spectral overlap of the fluorophores. Furthermore, multiplexing qPCR assays requires expensive instrumentation and most often lengthy assay development cycles. Digital PCR (dPCR), which is based on the amplification of single target DNA molecules in many separate reactions, is an attractive alternative to qPCR. Here we report a novel and easy method for multiplexing dPCR in picolitre droplets within emulsions-generated and read out in microfluidic devices-that takes advantage of both the very high numbers of reactions possible within emulsions (>10(6)) as well as the high likelihood that the amplification of only a single target DNA molecule will initiate within each droplet. By varying the concentration of different fluorogenic probes of the same color, it is possible to identify the different probes on the basis of fluorescence intensity. Adding multiple colors increases the number of possible reactions geometrically, rather than linearly as with qPCR. Accurate and precise copy numbers of up to sixteen per cell were measured using a model system. A 5-plex assay for spinal muscular atrophy was demonstrated with just two fluorophores to simultaneously measure the copy number of two genes (SMN1 and SMN2) and to genotype a single nucleotide polymorphism (c.815A>G, SMN1). Results of a pilot study with SMA patients are presented.     

Precision of Hole-Drilling Residual Stress Depth Profile Measurements and an Updated Uncertainty Estimator

Background

Measurement precision and uncertainty estimation are important factors for all residual stress measurement techniques. The values of these quantities can help to determine whether a particular measurement technique would be viable option.

Objective

This paper determines the precision of hole-drilling residual stress measurement using repeatability studies and develops an updated uncertainty estimator.

Methods

Two repeatability studies were performed on test specimens extracted from aluminum and titanium shot peened plates. Each repeatability study included 12 hole-drilling measurements performed using a bespoke automated milling machine. Repeatability standard deviations were determined for each population. The repeatability studies were replicated using a commercially available manual hole-drilling milling machine (RS-200, Micro-Measurements). An updated uncertainty estimator was developed and was assessed using an acceptance criterion. The acceptance criterion compared an expected percentage of points (68%) to the fraction of points in the stress versus depth profile where the measured stresses ± its total uncertainty contained the mean stress of the repeatability studies.

Results

Both repeatability studies showed larger repeatability standard deviations at the surface that decay quickly (over about 0.3 mm). The repeatability standard deviation was significantly smaller in the aluminum plate (max ≈ 15 MPa, RMS?≈?6.4 MPa) than in the titanium plate (max ≈ 60 MPa, RMS?≈?21.0 MPa). The repeatability standard deviations were significantly larger when using the manual milling machine in the aluminum plate (RMS?≈?21.7 MPa), and for the titanium plate (RMS?≈?18.9 MPa).

Conclusions

The single measurement uncertainty estimate met a defined acceptance criterion based on the confidence interval of the uncertainty estimate.

     

The third industrial fluid properties simulation challenge

The third industrial fluid properties simulation challenge was held from March to September 2006. As in the previous two events contestants were challenged to predict specific, industrially relevant, properties of fluid systems. Their efforts were judged based on the agreement of the predicted values with previously unpublished experimental data (provided by researchers at ExxonMobil and DuPont). The focus of this contest was on the transferability of modeling methods—the ability to predict properties for materials that are chemically different, or at different state points, to those used in model parameterization and validation. Nine groups attempted to compute bubble point pressures for mixtures of 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptafluoropropane (HFC-227ea) and ethanol at 343 K, given data for mixtures at 283 K, and given the pure component vapor pressures. They used a range of different techniques including statistical mechanical and molecular simulations-based approaches. Four of the groups were recognized for providing predictions that were significantly more accurate than would be obtained by extrapolation using the NRTL model (the standard engineering approach). Three groups undertook the more challenging “molecular transferability” problem, attempting to predict shear viscosities at two different state points for a range of diols and triols for which little experimental data was available.     

The Parkinson larynx: Tremor and videostroboscopic findings

Patients with Parkinson's disease have a high incidence of speech, voice, and laryngeal abnormalities. To characterize laryngeal abnormalities, visual-perceptual ratings of endoscopic and stroboscopic examinations of 22 patients diagnosed with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and 7 patients with Parkinson's-plus syndromes were carried out by four trained viewers. Incidence of tremor, tremor location, phase closure, phase symmetry, amplitude, and mucosal waveform were scored. Tremor was observed in one or more of these conditions—rest, normal pitch and loudness, or loud phonation—for most of the 29 patients. Fifty-five percent of the idiopathic Parkinson's disease patients had tremor, with the primary location being vertical laryngeal tremor. Sixty-four percent of the Parkinson's-plus patients had tremor, with the arytenoid cartilages being the primary location. Laryngeal tremor was observed early in the disease in these Parkinson's disease patients. The most striking stroboscopic findings for the idiopathic Parkinson's disease patients were abnormal phase closure and phase asymmetry. Amplitude and mucosal wave-form were essentially within normal limits in the majority of the idiopathic Parkinson patients.     

An Earth-based equivalent low stretch apparatus for material flammability assessment in microgravity and extraterrestrial environments

The standard oxygen consumption (cone) calorimeter (described in ASTM E 1354 and NASA STD 6001 Test 2) is modified to provide a bench-scale test environment that simulates the low velocity buoyant or ventilation flow generated by or around a burning surface in a spacecraft or extraterrestrial gravity level. The equivalent low stretch apparatus (ELSA) uses an inverted cone geometry with the sample burning in a ceiling fire (stagnation flow) configuration. For a fixed radiant flux, ignition delay times for characterization material PMMA are shown to decrease by a factor of 3 at low stretch, demonstrating that ignition delay times determined from normal cone tests significantly underestimate the risk in microgravity. The critical heat flux for ignition is found to be lowered at low stretch as the convective cooling is reduced. At the limit of no stretch, any heat flux that exceeds the surface radiative loss at the surface ignition temperature is sufficient for ignition. Regression rates for PMMA increase with heat flux and stretch rate, but regression rates are much more sensitive to heat flux at the low stretch rates, where a modest increase in heat flux of 25 kW/m² increases the burning rates by an order of magnitude. The global equivalence ratio of these flames is very fuel rich, and the quantity of CO produced in this configuration is significantly higher than standard cone tests. These results demonstrate that the ELSA apparatus allows us to conduct normal gravity experiments that accurately and quantifiably evaluate a material’s flammability characteristics in the real-use environment of spacecraft or extraterrestrial gravitational acceleration. These results also demonstrate that current NASA STD 6001 Test 2 (standard cone) is not conservative since it evaluates a material’s flammability with a much higher inherent buoyant convective flow.     

Comparison of Four Goal Programming Algorithms

A major limitation in the use of goal programming has been the lack of an efficient algorithm for model solution. Schniederjans and Kwak recently published a proposal for more efficient solution of goal programming models utilizing dual simplex procedures. A goal programming algorithm based upon that method has been coded, as well as a revised, simplex-based algorithm. These algorithms are compared in terms of accuracy and time requirements with algorithms previously presented by Lee and by Arthur and Ravindran. Solution times for a series of 12 goal programming models are presented. The dual simplex method appears to have superior computational times for models with a large proportion of positive deviational variables in the solution. The revised simplex algorithm appears more consistent in time and accuracy for general goal programming models.