Organocatalysis of CN/CN and CC/CN Exchange in Dynamic Covalent Chemistry

The reversibly formed C?N bond plays a very important role in dynamic covalent chemistry and the C?N/C?N exchange of components between different imine constituents to create dynamic covalent libraries has been extensively used. To facilitate diversity generation, we have investigated an organocatalyzed approach, using L ‐proline as catalyst, to accelerate the formation of dynamic libraries of [n×n] imine components. The organocatalysis methodology has also been extended, under somewhat modified conditions, to reversible C?C/C?N exchange processes between Knoevenagel derivatives of barbituric acid and imines, allowing for the generation of increased diversity.     

基于小型电磁动力驱动器的微流道混合控制研究

对于许多微流体应用系统来说,流体的混合是至关重要的.本文研究了基于电磁流体动力混合器的微流道主动混合控制方法,建立了该微流道混合系统的理论模型并进行了数值模拟.在交变Lorentz驱动下,流经混合器流道的流体及其分界面在混合器流道内往复运动,流体界面的反复折叠与流体局部流动使流体混合,流体的横向往复运动使流体分界面反复折叠从而使流体间的接触面积大大增加.对流体混合过程进行了讨论并给出了漉体混合程度评价方法.     

Adaptive policies for time-varying stochastic systems under discounted criterion

We consider a class of time-varying stochastic control systems, with Borel state and action spaces, and possibly unbounded costs. The processes evolve according to a discrete-time equation x _{n + 1}=G _n (x _n , a _n , ξ_n), n=0, 1, … , where the ξ_n are i.i.d. ℜ^k-valued random vectors whose common density is unknown, and the G _n are given functions converging, in a restricted way, to some function G _∞ as n→∞. Assuming observability of ξ_n, we construct an adaptive policy which is asymptotically discounted cost optimal for the limiting control system x _n+1=G _∞ (x _n , a _n , ξ_n).     

Nanocellulose Polymer Composites as Innovative Pool for (Bio)Material Development

Summary: Using a “never-dried” procedure (according to Figure 4) shaped bacterial nanocellulose (BC, 1% cellulose, 99% water) has been modified by the formation of BC-polymer composites. For this purpose, acrylate and methacrylate monomers and methacrylate crosslinkers were photopolymerized inside an ethanol-swollen nanofiber network. Using the ethanol as solvent and as confirmed by model reactions the synthetic polymer (SP) part of the composites is constructed of crosslinked polymers (number of repeating units in the range of 500). As part of ongoing work on the development of (bio)materials from the innovative pool of BC composites these investigations are recently directed towards the creation of collagen-like materials. Thus, for these purposes, mainly water absorption capacity, strength, and elasticity have to be controlled, whilst still retaining essential features of BC like shape, nanofiber network, pore system, and proved biocompatibility. Using acrylic acid, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, N-vinyl pyrrolidone as acrylate monomers and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate and 1,4-butandiol dimethacrylate as crosslinkers of different concentrations either a filling of the pores or a coating of the fibers in the BC nanocomposites could be achieved. The small cellulose content of the composites significantly increases the water absorption value and the strength of the material as well as the ability of re-swelling in the case of fiber coated composites. Sample 12 is an optimized BC-SP composite regarding important properties of hyaline cartilage like Young's modulus in the range of 5–20 MPa using the well-known Simplex-method.     

Zaubervorlesung mit Salvador Dalí. Chemie‐Edutainment

During the past 10 years the “Magic chemistry” lecture was conducted in Erlangen. Due to an increasing professionalization of the lecture and especially the underlying information concept, we could emphasize the seriousness of this event. We combine scientific education and entertainment to an “edutainment” concept. We hope to show in an exemplary way, how fun and experimental natural sciences can be combined in a big live event.     

Synaptic depression and short-term habituation are located in the sensory part of the mammalian startle pathway

Background  

Short-term habituation of the startle response represents an elementary form of learning in mammals. The underlying mechanism is located within the primary startle pathway, presumably at sensory synapses on giant neurons in the caudal pontine reticular nucleus (PnC). Short trains of action potentials in sensory afferent fibers induce depression of synaptic responses in PnC giant neurons, a phenomenon that has been proposed to be the cellular correlate for short-term habituation. We address here the question whether both this synaptic depression and the short-term habituation of the startle response are localized at the presynaptic terminals of sensory afferents. If this is confirmed, it would imply that these processes take place prior to multimodal signal integration, rather than occurring at postsynaptic sites on PnC giant neurons that directly drive motor neurons.     

Bias Optimality versus Strong 0-Discount Optimality in Markov Control Processes with Unbounded Costs

This paper deals with expected average cost (EAC) and discount-sensitive criteria for discrete-time Markov control processes on Borel spaces, with possibly unbounded costs. Conditions are given under which (a) EAC optimality and strong –1-discount optimality are equivalent; (b) strong 0-discount optimality implies bias optimality; and, conversely, under an additional hypothesis, (c) bias optimality implies strong 0-discount optimality. Thus, in particular, as the class of bias optimal policies is nonempty, (c) gives the existence of a strong 0-discount optimal policy, whereas from (b) and (c) we get conditions for bias optimality and strong 0-discount optimality to be equivalent. A detailed example illustrates our results.     

Dielectrophoresis of nanoparticles

A numerical scheme based on the distributed Lagrange multiplier method (DLM) is used to study the motion of nano-sized particles of dielectric suspensions subjected to uniform and nonuniform electric fields. Particles are subjected to both electrostatic and hydrodynamic forces, as well as Brownian motion. The results of the simulations presented in this paper show that uniform electric fields the evolution of the particle structures depends on the ratio of electrostatic particle-particle interactions and Brownian forces. When this ratio is of the order of 100 or greater, particles form stable chains and columns, whereas when it is of the order of 10 or smaller the particle distribution is random. For the nonuniform electric field cases considered in this paper, the relative magnitude of Brownian forces is in the range such that it does not influence the eventual collection of particles by dielectrophoresis and the particular locations where the particles are collected. However, Brownian motion is observed to influence the transient particle trajectories. The deviation of the particle trajectories compared to those determined by the electrostatic and hydrodynamic forces alone is characterized by the ratio of Brownian and dielectrophoretic forces.     

HPLC Determination of the Antiseptic Agent Chlorhexidine and its Degradation Products 4-Chloroaniline and 1-Chloro-4-Nitrobenzene in Serum and Urine

Chlorhexidine (1,1-hexamethylene-bis-[5-(p-chlorophenyl)-biguanide]-digluconate; CHD) is one of the most frequently used antiseptics. In spite of this, its resorption and elimination has hardly been investigated. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of suitable procedures for its analysis in biological materials. Samples of CHD also may contain the carcinogen 4-chloroaniline which also may be formed as a degradation product in preparations.A HPLC method with end-capped stationary phase was developed which separates CHD, 4-chloroaniline and 1-chloro-4-nitrobenzene (a degradation product of 4-chloroaniline). Methods of solid-phase extraction and deproteinization for the purpose of isolating the analytes in serum and urine were also tested. In the latter process, isolation of all three compounds from the biological material using a single procedure was unsuccessful. Isolation of CHD, on the other hand, both from serum and from urine using solid-phase extraction with weak cation exchangers was successful and showed reliable retrieval rates.