Evolution of concentration fluctuation during phase separation of polystyrene/poly(vinyl methyl ether) blend in the presence of nanosilica

The influence of nanosilica on the concentration fluctuation of polystyrene/poly (vinyl methyl ether) (PS/PVME) mixtures was investigated during phase separation. The amplitude of concentration fluctuation was quantified by dielectric spectrums based on the idea of Lodge–Mcleish model and the linearized Cahn–Hilliard theory could describe the amplitude evolution of concentration fluctuation at the early stage of phase separation. Hydrophilic nanosilica A200 dispersed in PVME‐rich phase behaved an obvious inhibition effect on the concentration fluctuation of blend matrix, while hydrophobic nanosilica R974 dispersed in PS‐rich phase had little effect on the concentration fluctuation. The kinetics and amplitude evolution of concentration fluctuation during phase separation for PS/PVME/A200 nanocomposites were remarkably restrained due to the surface adsorption of PVME on A200. As the segmental dynamics of PVME and PS in homogeneous matrix was hardly influenced by A200 and R974, the enhanced miscibility and the significantly constrained flow relaxation of PVME chains might contribute to the retarded concentration fluctuation of PS/PVME/A200 nanocomposites. While the weak interaction between R974 and components of blend matrix and little effect of R974 on the molecular dynamics of PS chains may result in the weak retardation of concentration fluctuation for blend matrix. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 1337–1349     

一类具有欧拉形式的中立型微分方程的振动性

研究具有欧拉形式的无界时滞中立型微分方程解的振动性，给出了方程振动的几个充分条件。     

Influence of NH<Subscript>3</Subscript> flow rate on pyridine-like N content and NO electrocatalytic oxidation of N-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNTs) have been prepared by pyrolysis of pyridine and iron phthalocyanine over an iron catalyst at 850 °C at various ammonia gas (NH₃) flow rates. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results reveal that the pyridine-like nitrogen (N) content can be controlled by changing the flow rate of NH₃, and that pyridine-like N plays an important role: it can increase the electrocatalytic activity and the rate of nitric oxide (NO) electrooxidation and decrease the activation energy of NO electrooxidation. Cyclic voltammetry results demonstrate that the N-MWCNTs sample grown with 200 mL/min NH₃ flow has the maximum N content of 3.22 atomic %, and its content of pyridine-like N that is chemically active is also the highest among all the N-MWCNTs samples. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results indicate that two-step electron transfer process occurs at the N-MWCNT-modified electrode, and the control step is different in various potential regions. The stability of NO electrooxidation at the N-MWCNT-modified electrode is examined, and the reaction mechanism is discussed.     

Efficient Heck cross-coupling of 3-iodo-benzopyrones with olefins under microwave irradiation without phosphine

An efficient and effective microwave-assisted Heck cross-coupling of different terminal olefins with various 3-iodo-benzopyrones including sterically hindered, electron-rich, electron-neutral, and electron-deficient is developed. It proceeded faster and generally gave good to excellent yields under microwave irradiation, phosphine-free, and air condition. The reaction could render this method particularly attractive for the efficient preparation of biologically and medicinally interesting molecules.     

Identification of functionally key residues in maltose transporter with an elastic network model-based thermodynamic method

Periplasmic binding protein-dependent maltose transport system (MBP-MalFGK₂) of Escherichia coli, an important member of the Adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette transporter superfamily, is in charge of the transportation of maltoses across cellular membrane. Studies have shown that this transport processes are activated by the binding of maltose and are accompanied by large-scale cooperative movements between different domains which are mediated by a network of important residues related to signal transduction and allosteric regulation. In this paper, the functionally crucial residues and long-range allosteric pathway of the regulation of the system by substrate were identified by utilising a coarse-grained thermodynamic method proposed by our group. The residues whose perturbations markedly change the binding free energy between maltoses and MBP-MalFGK₂ were considered to be key residues. In result, the key residues in 62 clusters distributed in different subdomains were identified successfully, and the results from our calculation are highly consistent with experimental and theoretical observations. Furthermore, we explored the long-range cooperation within the transporter. These studies will help us better understand the physical mechanism of the effects of the maltose on MBP-MalFGK₂ by long-range allosteric modulation.     

Hybrid optoelectronic bistability in a fiber Bragg grating by use of a tunable fiber laser

We report the observation of hybrid optoelectronic bistability in a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) by use of an electro-optically tuned cw fiber laser in which another wavelength-matched FBG is employed to constitute a tunable resonant cavity. The potential application of such a device as a fiber-optic sensor is also discussed.     

Synthesis of carbon nitride nanotubes with the C(3)N(4) stoichiometry via a benzene-thermal process at low temperatures

In this communication, we first report the direct synthesis of high-quality carbon nitride nanotubes (CNNTs) with inner diameters of 50-100 nm and wall thicknesses of 20-50 nm with the C(3)N(4) stoichiometry on a high-yield of 40%via a simple benzene-thermal process involving the reaction of C(3)N(3)Cl(3) with NaN(3) in a Teflon-lined autoclave at 220 [degree]C without using any catalyst or template.     

Cycles in 2-connected graphs

Let be a class of graphs on n vertices. For an integer c, let be the smallest integer such that if G is a graph in with more than edges, then G contains a cycle of length more than c. A classical result of Erdös and Gallai is that if is the class of all simple graphs on n vertices, then . The result is best possible when n-1 is divisible by c-1, in view of the graph consisting of copies of K_c all having exactly one vertex in common. Woodall improved the result by giving best possible bounds for the remaining cases when n-1 is not divisible by c-1, and conjectured that if is the class of all 2-connected simple graphs on n vertices, thenwhere , 2tc/2, is the number of edges in the graph obtained from K_c+1-t by adding n-(c+1-t) isolated vertices each joined to the same t vertices of K_c+1-t. By using a result of Woodall together with an edge-switching technique, we confirm Woodall's conjecture in this paper.     

Chemiluminescence microfluidic system sensor on a chip for determination of glucose in human serum with immobilized reagents

A chemiluminescence (CL) biosensor on a chip coupled to microfluidic system is described in this paper. The CL biosensor measured 25×45×5 mm in dimension, was readily produced in analytical laboratory. Glucose oxidase (GOD) was immobilized onto controlled-pore glass (CPG) via glutaraldehyde activation and packed into a reservoir. The analytical reagents, including luminol and ferricyanide, were electrostatically co-immobilized on an anion-exchange resin. The most characteristic of the biosensor was to introduce the air as the carrier flow in stead of the common solution carrier for the first. The glucose was sensed by the CL reaction between hydrogen peroxide produced from the enzymatic reaction and CL reagents, which were released from the anion-exchange resin. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of glucose in human serum. The linear range of the glucose concentration was 1.1-110 mM and the detection limit was 0.1 mM (3σ).