External perturbation manifested system size resonance in a mesoscopic hormone signaling model

In mesoscopic reaction systems that contain only finite number of reactants, molecular fluctuation (or the so called internal noise), which can be characterized by the system size, plays an important role in nonlinear systems. In this work, the effect of internal noise is studied in a mesoscopic hormone signaling model with the presence of external perturbations (noise or signal). Simulation results reveal that the internal noise can play a constructive role to optimize the regularity of the noise induced internal signal only when external perturbation is present. This is a novel external perturbations induced system size resonance, which indicates that in complex mesoscopic systems, the system can automatically avoid the destructive environmental effects by tuning its size. Such kind of nontrivial cooperative effect may attribute to the fact that external perturbations broadened the regulation scope of the key mutual feedback. Therefore, current finding is of practical significance for similar physiological systems where the intercellular regulation plays the dominate role for signaling.     

Growth and spectral properties of Yb:Ca0.28Ba0.72Nb2O6 disordered crystal

The growth, XRD patterns, spectral properties, and fluorescence decays of Yb:Ca_0.28Ba_0.72Nb₂O₆ (Yb:CBN) with doping concentration of 1 at.% and 5 at.% were studied. The peak absorption cross-section and the emission cross-section were calculated. Larger Stark splitting of Yb:CBN offers the prospect of the quasi-four level laser operation.     

Comparative pharmacokinetic study of four major bioactive components after oral administration of Zhi‐Zi‐Hou‐Po decoction in normal and corticosterone‐induced depressive rats

A highly selective and efficient LC–MS/MS method was developed to determine the plasma concentration of magnolol, hesperidin, neohesperidin and geniposide following oral administration of Zhi‐Zi‐Hou‐Po decoction in normal and depressed rats. Plasma samples were pretreated by protein precipitation with methanol. Chromatographic separation was performed on an XTerra^® MS C₁₈ column using a gradient elution with a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile–0.1% aqueous formic acid. The proposed method was validated to be specific, accurate and precise for the analytes determination in plasma samples. The calibration curves displayed good linearity over definite concentration ranges for the analytes. The intra‐ and inter‐day precision of the proposed method at three different levels were all within <11.13% and the relative errors ranged from ?8.46 to 8.93%. The recovery of the four compounds ranged from 82.72 to 89.08% and no apparent matrix effect was observed during sample analysis. After full validation, the established method was successfully applied for comparing the pharmacokinetics of four components between normal and depressed rats. The results showed that the AUC and C_max of four analytes in depressed rats were significantly different from those in normal rats and might provide helpful information to guide the clinical use of Zhi‐Zi‐Hou‐Po to treat depression.     

Persistent luminescence properties of SrMg2(PO4)2:Eu2+,Tb3+

We investigate the persistent luminescence in europium-doped SrMg₂(PO₄)₂ upon codoping with auxiliary terbium. Luminescence properties of the phosphors, including photoluminescence, luminescence decay and thermoluminescence, are systematically studied. SrMg₂(PO₄)₂:Eu²⁺ shows only a weak persistent luminescence, and codoping with Tb³⁺ is necessary to obtain considerable persistent luminescence. An energy level scheme is constructed to convey reasonable trapping and detrapping processes in the material.     

Mechanical and electrical response variation of the polyurethane–tin oxide–carbon nanotube composite microfiber depending on the chemical solution

Toward the goal of smart sensor systems for wearable electronics, polymer microfiber‐based free‐standing sensors benefit from excellent flexibility, decent ductility, and easy wearability in comparison with thin‐film‐based sensing devices. Herein, we report a hydrophobic and conducting single‐strand microfiber‐based liquid‐phase chemical sensor consisting of polyurethane (PU), tin oxide (SnO₂), and carbon nanotube (CNT) composites with applying a (1H,1H,2H,2H‐heptadecafluorodec‐1‐yl) phosphonic acid (HDF‐PA)‐based self‐assembled monolayer. The free‐standing HDF‐PA‐treated PU–SnO₂–CNT composite microfiber showing selective filtering properties with the repellency of water and the penetration of an organic solvent is electrically and mechanically characterized. Finally, the single‐strand HDF‐PA‐treated PU–SnO₂–CNT composite microfiber‐based chemical sensor, which shows excellent mechanical properties and aqueous stability, is demonstrated to detect the presence of a chemical in pure water or counterfeit gasoline in pure gasoline by observing mechanical changes, especially variations in the length and diameter of the fiber, and monitoring the electrical resistance change. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 495–502     

Non-specular reflection of self-collimated beams in photonic-crystal-made prism and waveguide system

We demonstrate a dual-beam-reflection phenomenon for a Gaussian beam illuminating at a Kretschmann configuration composed of a photonic-crystal-made prism and a dielectric waveguide. One reflection beam has a positive shift and the other has a negative shift. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) shows that the specific phenomenon takes place only when the corresponding quasi-guided mode supported in the Kretschmann configuration is excited. Field profile of the quasi-guided mode demonstrates a strong localized stationary field in the dielectric waveguide. We found that the maximum positive lateral shift (LS) is 14.27a (where a is the lattice constant), corresponding to 3.07 times of the incident wavelength, which is 0.7135 times of the beam waist and much larger than that in some previous reports.     

N-heterocyclic carbene-mediated formal [3+3] annulation of isatin-derived α, β-unsaturated acids: Access to functionalized 3,4′-spirooxindole δ-lactones

An in situ activation of isatin-derived α,β-unsaturated acids 2 for the generation of isatin-derived α,β-unsaturated acyl azoliums II was described. The acyl azoliums II were successfully applied to undergo a formal [3 + 3] annulation with 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to access functionalized 3,4′-spirooxindole δ-lactones 4. A scale-up synthesis and an enantioselective variant of this protocol were also investigated. The stable and easily prepared acids 2 may be further utilized as promising versatile electrophilic 1,3-synthons for divergent synthesis of spirooxindoles.