Synthesis of Bi<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript>@TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Heterojunction with Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

A novel Bi₂O₄@TiO₂ heterojunction was constructed by a simple two-step method. The charges migration between Bi₂O₄ and TiO₂ via the heterojunction improves the electron/hole separation efficiency. Furthermore, Bi₂O₄@TiO₂ heterostructures exhibit better adsorption capability for methyl orange molecular due to their higher specific surface area than pure Bi₂O₄. As a result, Bi₂O₄@TiO₂ hybrids show an improved visible light photocatalytic activity and photostability for the degradation of methyl orange.     

On the Nature of Mass Spectrometer Analyzer Contamination

Sample throughput in electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is limited by the need for frequent ion path cleaning to remove accumulated debris that can lead to charging and general performance degradation. Contamination of ion optics within the vacuum system is particularly problematic as routine cleaning requires additional time for cycling the vacuum pumps. Differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) can select targeted ion species for transmission, thereby reducing the total number of charged particles entering the vacuum system. In this work, we characterize the nature of instrument contamination, describe efforts to improve mass spectrometer robustness by applying DMS prefiltering to reduce contamination of the vacuum ion optics, and demonstrate the capability of DMS to extend the interval between mass spectrometer cleaning. In addition, we introduce a new approach to effectively detect large charged particles formed during the electrospray ionization (ESI) process.

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TEMPO-Assisted Free Radical-Initiated Peptide Sequencing Mass Spectrometry (FRIPS MS) in Q-TOF and Orbitrap Mass Spectrometers: Single-Step Peptide Backbone Dissociations in Positive Ion Mode

The present study demonstrates that one-step peptide backbone fragmentations can be achieved using the TEMPO [2-(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl piperidine-1-oxyl)]-assisted free radical-initiated peptide sequencing (FRIPS) mass spectrometry in a hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometer and a Q-Exactive Orbitrap instrument in positive ion mode, in contrast to two-step peptide fragmentation in an ion-trap mass spectrometer (reference Anal. Chem. 85, 7044–7051 (30)). In the hybrid Q-TOF and Q-Exactive instruments, higher collisional energies can be applied to the target peptides, compared with the low collisional energies applied by the ion-trap instrument. The higher energy deposition and the additional multiple collisions in the collision cell in both instruments appear to result in one-step peptide backbone dissociations in positive ion mode. This new finding clearly demonstrates that the TEMPO-assisted FRIPS approach is a very useful tool in peptide mass spectrometry research.

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分子动力学模拟残基突变对芳香烃受体配体结合区的影响

芳香烃受体(Aryl hydrocarbon receptor,AhR)属于配体依赖性的转录因子蛋白。本文通过对AhR配体结合区域(Ligand binding domain,LBD)的结构功能及物种特异性分析,发现在其结合腔口有一些关键残基可能起到"门控"作用,进一步将野生型(WT)和3个突变模型(Phe289Ala、Tyr316Ala、Ile319Ala)进行分子动力学模拟,从蛋白稳定性、蛋白结构变化、蛋白结合腔变化及蛋白和配体结合能力4个方面分析3个残基的门控作用。研究发现,Phe289、Tyr316、Ile319氨基酸残基通过形成疏水作用为AhR LBD起到"门控"作用;而将这些氨基酸分别突变后,其蛋白稳定性降低,整体运动性增加,配体亲和力减弱,其中Tyr316、Ile319对腔内体积影响较大,Phe289使腔内环境稳定性降低。本研究可为基于芳香烃受体的药物设计提供相关理论指导。     

Maximizing Ion Transmission in Differential Mobility Spectrometry

We provide modeling and experimental data describing the dominant ion-loss mechanisms for differential mobility spectrometry (DMS). Ion motion is considered from the inlet region of the mobility analyzer to the DMS exit, and losses resulting from diffusion to electrode surfaces, insufficient effective gap, ion fragmentation, and fringing field effects are considered for a commercial DMS system with 1-mm gap height. It is shown that losses due to diffusion and radial oscillations can be minimized with careful consideration of residence time, electrode spacing, gas flow rate, and waveform frequency. Fragmentation effects can be minimized by limitation of the separation field. When these parameters were optimized, fringing field effects at the DMS inlet contributed the most to signal reduction. We also describe a new DMS cell configuration that improves the gas dynamics at the mobility cell inlet. The new cell provides a gas jet that decreases the residence time for ions within the fringing field region, resulting in at least twofold increase in ion signal as determined by experimental data and simulations.

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A correlative classifiers approach based on particle filter and sample set for tracking occluded target

Target tracking is one of the most important issues in computer vision and has been applied in many fields of science, engineering and industry. Because of the occlusion during tracking, typical approaches with single classifier learn much of occluding background information which results in the decrease of tracking performance, and eventually lead to the failure of the tracking algorithm. This paper presents a new correlative classifiers approach to address the above problem. Our idea is to derive a group of correlative classifiers based on sample set method. Then we propose strategy to establish the classifiers and to query the suitable classifiers for the next frame tracking. In order to deal with nonlinear problem, particle filter is adopted and integrated with sample set method. For choosing the target from candidate particles, we define a similarity measurement between particles and sample set. The proposed sample set method includes the following steps. First, we cropped positive samples set around the target and negative samples set far away from the target. Second, we extracted average Haar-like feature from these samples and calculate their statistical characteristic which represents the target model. Third, we define the similarity measurement based on the statistical characteristic of these two sets to judge the similarity between candidate particles and target model. Finally, we choose the largest similarity score particle as the target in the new frame. A number of experiments show the robustness and efficiency of the proposed approach when compared with other state-of-the-art trackers.     

Vanishing of Rabinowitz Floer homology on negative line bundles

Following Frauenfelder (Rabinowitz action functional on very negative line bundles, Habilitationsschrift, Munich/München, 2008), Albers and Frauenfelder (Bubbles and onis, 2014. arXiv:1412.4360) we construct Rabinowitz Floer homology for negative line bundles over symplectic manifolds and prove a vanishing result. Ritter (Adv Math 262:1035–1106, 2014) showed that symplectic homology of these spaces does not vanish, in general. Thus, the theorem \(\mathrm {SH}=0\Leftrightarrow \mathrm {RFH}=0\) (Ritter in J Topol 6(2):391–489, 2013), does not extend beyond the symplectically aspherical situation. We give a conjectural explanation in terms of the Cieliebak–Frauenfelder–Oancea long exact sequence Cieliebak et al. (Ann Sci Éc Norm Supér (4) 43(6):957–1015, 2010).     

Explosive vaporization in microenclosures

The explosive vaporization of a liquid above planar microheaters induces a fast increase of pressure that is exploited in many thermally driven actuators in MEMS components such as ink jet printer cartridges, pumps, valves and optical switches. Some of these components need to enclose the working fluid as it is the case of valves in which the heated liquid is separated from the flow that it regulates by a flexible membrane. To achieve a better insight into the thermodynamic processes involved, the present work investigates experimentally an enclosed microsystem designed and fabricated for this purpose, composed of a small liquid volume (8 nL) heated by a electric pulse for 2 μs supplied to a planar microfabricated heater. During the heating, the temperature-induced change in resistance can be determined by imposing a defined current and measuring the voltage drop over the heater. While the chip is based on a silicon substrate with integrated platinum heaters and sensors, the structure enclosing the fluid (cavity and fluidic access to it) is made of a silicone elastomer, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). This transparent material is widely used in microfluidics and allows for flexible and transparent walls that can be deflected by increasing the pressure inside the cavity. To seal the system the inlet and the outlet were closed by blocking them with a metallic stab. In the present work we visualize vaporization of isopropanol in contact with a suddenly heated planar resistor for two different cavity heights, 150 μm and 16 μm. The rate of temperature rise of the thin liquid layer in contact with the heater is of the order of 10⁷ K s⁻¹ for a pulse duration of 2 μs. We compare bubble growth and collapse for the open and closed systems. Compared to the open system, the bubble growth in the closed system is considerably damped.     

Experimental investigation of creep-crack-tip deformation using moiré interferometry

High-temperature moiré interferometry was applied to obtain full-field creep-crack-tip displacements of a three-point bend Al 2024-T4 specimen uner constant temperature of 200°C up to 720 hr.C ^* was evaluated by the moiré data obtained at discrete time intervals. Test results indicate that under steady-state creep condition, the creepcrack-tipv-displacement rate agrees with the asymptotic solution based on theC ^* integral. However, no creeping behavior was observed for the crack-tipu-displacement field aftert=276 hr. This discrepancy may be due to the initial large creep-crack-tip blunting and cavitation damage which alter the creep-crack-tip singular field such that theC ^* integral is no longer applicable to characterize the steady-state creep-crack-tip field. Postmortem studies of the tested specimen also revealed transgranular fracture path with the ordered grain boundaries perpendicular to the crack line, which may relate to the existence of the substantial crack-tip blunting and noncreeping behavior of theu-displacement field, i.e., the size and shape of material grain boundaries play an important role in the crack-tip-creeping behavior of the material.Paper was preseted at the 1991 SEM Spring Conference on Experimental Mechanics held in Milwaukee, WI on June 9–13.     

退火和调质42CrMo合金钢单轴循环塑性行为的实验研究

在室温下对退火和调质42CrMo合金钢进行了单轴应变控制和应力控制的系统循环实验,并对它们的应变循环和应力循环特性进行比较.揭示和分析了应变幅值、平均应变及其历史对材料应变循环特性的影响以及应力幅值、平均应力及其历史对棘轮行为的影响.讨论了应变循环和应力循环间的交互作用以及不同热处理工艺下材料循环变形行为间的区别.研究发现材料的热处理工艺、平均应力和应力幅值及其历史对材料的棘轮行为都有很大的影响.得到了一些有助于进行合理本构描述的结果.