High-affinity integration of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles with chemically modified silk fibroin

Hydroxyapatite (HA)-based nanocomposites were prepared by a co-precipitation method with silk fibroin (SF) serving as organic matrix. Silk fibroin was chemically modified with an alkali solution or an enzyme attempting to improve the interface between the mineral and the organic matrix. The influences of the alkali and enzyme pretreatments on microstructure and physicochemical properties of HA–SF composite were examined and compared. The results reveal that both the two kinds of pretreatments facilitate the formation of highly ordered three-dimensional porous network throughout the composites, increase the microhardness of the composite, and promote the preferential growth of HA crystallites along c-axis. Among all the as-prepared samples, the composite containing the enzyme pretreated SF shows desirable hierarchical microstructure with higher degree of organization and more uniform pore size distribution. Due to the enzyme pretreatment, HA crystallites undergo obvious changes in morphology from rod-like to␣whisker-like and in crystal growth towards more apparent epitaxy along c-axis. The alkali pretreatment induces the stronger chemical interactions between HA and SF and thus to strengthen the inorganic–organic interfacial adhesion. The newly developed HA–SF composites are expected to be attractive biomedical materials for bone repair and remodeling.     

Index minimization of differential-algebraic equations in hybrid analysis for circuit simulation

Modern modeling approaches for circuit analysis lead to differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). The index of a DAE is a measure of the degree of numerical difficulty. In general, the higher the index is, the more difficult it is to solve the DAE. The index of the DAE arising from the modified nodal analysis (MNA) is determined uniquely by the structure of the circuit. Instead, we consider a broader class of analysis method called the hybrid analysis. For linear time-invariant electric circuits, we devise a combinatorial algorithm for finding an optimal hybrid analysis in which the index of the DAE to be solved attains the minimum. The optimal hybrid analysis often results in a DAE with lower index than MNA.      

Growth of GaN single crystals with extremely low dislocation density by two-step dislocation reduction

We have discovered a mechanism which can significantly reduce the dislocation density during the growth of GaN single crystals in the Na flux method. The significant reduction of the dislocation density occurs in the later stage of LPE growth, rather than solely at the seed-LPE interface for which we have already reported evidence indicating the presence of bundling dislocations. The two-step dislocation reduction is the key in achieving extremely low dislocation density using this method.     

First synthesis of 1,3-oxaselenepanes

The first synthesis of 1,3-oxaselenepane derivatives by the reaction of aryl isoselenocyanates with 4-bromobutanol in the presence of sodium hydride in THF as a one-pot reaction is described. The Z/E isomerism for the exocyclic carbon-nitrogen double bond in the selenium heterocycles was observed for the first time.     

Isolation of chemical constituents from Enicosanthum cupulare (King) Airy-Shaw

Six chemical constituents were isolated from Enicosanthum cupulare (King) Airy-Shaw. The structures of the isolated compounds were determined using 1D, 2D-NMR and were found to be identical to those previously reported for these compounds. Three aporphine alkaloids, O-methylmoschatoline, liriodenine and oxostephanine were isolated from this plant for the first time. In addition, we examined the effects of these compounds on melanogenesis in murine B16 melanoma cells; O-methylmoschatoline increased melanin content in these cells.     

Photophysical properties of Zn-substituted cytochrome c investigated by single-molecule and ensemble-averaged spectroscopy

The study of the structural reorganization and photophysical properties of Zn-Cytc using the single-molecule and ensemble-averaged spectroscopy shows that the photoblinking behaviors of single-Zn-Cytc depend on the folded and unfolded structures, whereas the fluorescence dynamics of Zn-Cytc observed in the bulk phase are hardly affected by the conformational change of a protein.     

Morse�CBott functions and the Lusternik�CSchnirelmann category

Lusternik–Schnirelmann category of a manifold gives a lower bound of the number of critical points of a differentiable map on it. The purpose of this paper is to show how to construct cone-decompositions of manifolds by using functions of class C ¹ and their gradient flows, where cone-decompositions are used to give an upper bound for the Lusternik–Schnirelmann category which is a homotopy invariant of a topological space. In particular, the Morse–Bott functions on the Stiefel manifolds considered by Frankel (1965) are effectively used to construct the conedecompositions of Stiefel manifolds and symmetric Riemannian spaces to determine their Lusternik–Schnirelmann categories.     

硫化砷非晶态波导光阻断效应的机理研究

在实验研究了As₂S₈和掺杂As₂S₈薄膜波导光阻断效应的基础上,讨论了反常电子组态的形成机理和转移机理,提出了光阻断效应切断过程和回复过程的动力学模型,数值分析结果与实验数据十分符合,理论预期与实验现象一致,表明该模型抓住了光阻断效应的基本特征,揭示了过程本质,反映了实验现象的内在机理. 关键词： 光波导技术 硫属化合物玻璃 光阻断效应 动力学模型