Effect of Butyl α-Hydroxymethyl Acrylate Monomer Structure on the Morphology Produced via Aqueous Emulsion Polymerization-induced Self-assembly

Polymerization-induced self-assembly(PISA) is an efficient and versatile method to afford polymeric nano-objects with polymorphic morphologies. Compared to dispersion PISA syntheses based on soluble monomers, the vast majority of emulsion PISA formulations using insoluble monomers leads to kinetically-trapped spheres. Herein, we present aqueous emulsion PISA formulations generating worms and vesicles besides spheres. Two monomers with different butyl groups, n-butyl(n BHMA) and tert-butyl(t BHMA) α-hydroxymethyl acrylate, and thus possessing different water solubilities were synthesized via Baylis-Hillman reaction. Photoinitiated aqueous emulsion polymerizations of n BHMA and t BHMA employing poly(ethylene glycol) macromolecular chain transfer agents(macro-CTAs, PEG45-CTA, and PEG113-CTA) at 40 °C were systematically investigated to evaluate the effect of monomer structure and solubility on the morphology of the generated block copolymer nano-objects. Higher order morphologies including worms and vesicles were readily accessed for t BHMA, which has a higher water solubility than that of n BHMA. This study proves that plasticization of the core-forming block by water plays a key role in enhancing chain mobility required for morphological transition in emulsion PISA.     

Micro/Nanoengineered α-Fe2O3 Nanoaggregate Conformably Enclosed by Ultrathin N-Doped Carbon Shell for Ultrastable Lithium Storage and Insight into Phase Evolution Mechanism

The Fe-based transition metal oxides are promising anode candidates for lithium storage considering their high specific capacity, low cost, and environmental compatibility. However, the poor electron/ion conductivity and significant volume stress limit their cycle and rate performances. Furthermore, the phenomena of capacity rise and sudden decay for α-Fe₂O₃ have appeared in most reports. Here, a uniform micro/nano α-Fe₂O₃ nanoaggregate conformably enclosed in an ultrathin N-doped carbon network (denoted as M/N-α-Fe₂O₃@NC) is designed. The M/N porous balls combine the merits of secondary nanoparticles to shorten the Li⁺ transportation pathways as well as alleviating volume expansion, and primary microballs to stabilize the electrode/electrolyte interface. Furthermore, the ultrathin carbon shell favors fast electron transfer and protects the electrode from electrolyte corrosion. Therefore, the M/N-α-Fe₂O₃@NC electrode delivers an excellent reversible capacity of 901 mA h g⁻¹ with capacity retention up to 94.0 % after 200 cycles at 0.2 A g⁻¹. Notably, the capacity rise does not happen during cycling. Moreover, the lithium storage mechanism is elucidated by ex situ XRD and HRTEM experiments. It is verified that the reversible phase transformation of α↔γ occurs during the first cycle, whereas only the α-Fe₂O₃ phase is reversibly transformed during subsequent cycles. This study offers a simple and scalable strategy for the practical application of high-performance Fe₂O₃ electrodes.     

反向高效色谱法测定维生素E中α-VE含量

采用反相高效液相色谱法测定维生素E中α-VE的含量。C18柱为色谱柱。甲醇/水（100∶0）为流动相,流速为1.0mL/min.检测波长为292nm。线性范围50—100μg/mL,r=0.9993,维生素E中α-VE的含量为84.82mg/L。本法操作简便,样品分离效果好,回收率高,结果准确可靠。     

On the convergence rate of grad-div stabilized Taylor-Hood to Scott-Vogelius solutions for incompressible flow problems

It was recently proven in Case et al. (2010) [2] that, under mild restrictions, grad-div stabilized Taylor-Hood solutions of Navier-Stokes problems converge to the Scott-Vogelius solution of that same problem. However, even though the analytical rate was only shown to be (where γ is the stabilization parameter), the computational results suggest the rate may be improvable to γ−1. We prove herein the analytical rate is indeed γ−1, and extend the result to other incompressible flow problems including Leray-α and MHD. Numerical results are given that verify the theory.     

A higher-order large-scale regularity theory for random elliptic operators

We develop a large-scale regularity theory of higher order for divergence-form elliptic equations with heterogeneous coefficient fields a in the context of stochastic homogenization. The large-scale regularity of a-harmonic functions is encoded by Liouville principles: The space of a-harmonic functions that grow at most like a polynomial of degree k has the same dimension as in the constant-coefficient case. This result can be seen as the qualitative side of a large-scale C^k,α-regularity theory, which in the present work is developed in the form of a corresponding C^k,α-“excess decay” estimate: For a given a-harmonic function u on a ball B_R, its energy distance on some ball B_r to the above space of a-harmonic functions that grow at most like a polynomial of degree k has the natural decay in the radius r above some minimal radius r₀.

Though motivated by stochastic homogenization, the contribution of this paper is of purely deterministic nature: We work under the assumption that for the given realization a of the coefficient field, the couple (φ, σ) of scalar and vector potentials of the harmonic coordinates, where φ is the usual corrector, grows sublinearly in a mildly quantified way. We then construct “kth-order correctors” and thereby the space of a-harmonic functions that grow at most like a polynomial of degree k, establish the above excess decay, and then the corresponding Liouville principle.     

Spin-Hamiltonian parameters,defect model and defect structure for the tetragonal Mo5+ center in x-ray-irradiated α-ZnMoO4 crystals

ABSTRACT

The spin-Hamiltonian parameters (g factors g_i, hyperfine structure constants A_i (⁹⁵Mo⁵⁺) and A_i (⁹⁷Mo⁵⁺), i?=?// and ⊥) assigned to the tetragonal Mo⁵⁺ (4d¹) tetrahedral center in α-ZnMoO₄ crystal caused by a Mo⁶⁺(1) ion trapping an electron after x-ray irradiation are calculated from the high-order perturbation formulas resting on the two-mechanism model. The model takes account of both the effects of crystal-field (CF) mechanism concerning the CF excited states in the CF theory and that of the charge-transfer (CT) mechanism related to CT excited states. The calculated results are reasonably consistent with the experimental values, confirming this assignment (or defect model). The calculations also indicate that the effect of CT mechanism cannot be neglected. The defect structure (particularly, the angular distortion) and signs of constants A_i (⁹⁵Mo⁵⁺) and A_i (⁹⁷Mo⁵⁺) of this Mo⁵⁺ defect center are also decided from the calculations. The outcomes are discussed.     

Existence and data dependence of fixed points for multivalued operators on gauge spaces

The purpose of this note is to present some fixed point and data dependence theorems in complete gauge spaces and in hyperconvex metric spaces for the so-called Meir-Keeler multivalued operators and admissible multivalued aα-contractions. Our results extend and generalize several theorems of Espínola and Kirk [R. Espínola, W.A. Kirk, Set-valued contractions and fixed points, Nonlinear Anal. 54 (2003) 485-494] and Rus, Petru?el, and Sînt?m?rian [I.A. Rus, A. Petru?el, A. Sînt?m?rian, Data dependence of the fixed point set of some multivalued weakly Picard operators, Nonlinear Anal. 52 (2003) 1947-1959].     

Spherical mean solutions of stochastic wave equation

The paper is concerned with solutions of a multi–dimensional wave equation perturbed by a spatially dependent white noise. A spherical mean representation of the solutions is given. Based on such a representation, the regularity properties of the classical and generalized solutions are

studied.The dependence of the solution regularity on the smoothness of the noise and the spatial dimension is determined.     

An improved synthesis of pennogenin

An improved synthesis of pennogenin, a bioactive component of Chinese herb “Chonglou” (Paris), is described. A ring-switching process opened the ring E of diosgenin and allowed the use of a hydroxyl-directed diboration/oxidation to introduce C17α-OH, hence eliminating the use of OsO₄. This strategy might be rendered to synthesize similar steroids with C17α-OH.