STABILITY OF POLY（N,N＇-METHYLENEBISACRYLAMIDE-co-4-VINYLPYRIDINE） MICROGEL DISPERSION AND ADJUSTMENT OF THE HYDROPHOBICITY IN THE MICROGELS

In the UV-Vis spectra of pure light-scattering systems, there is an exponential relationship between absorbance and wavelength （A = Kλ^-n）. Here, the exponent n is named as flocculation-coagulation parameter. In the present paper, the effects of different additives on the stability of poly（N,N＇-methylenebisacrylamide-co-4-vinylpyridine） （poly（Bis-co-4-VP）） microgel dispersion were studied in detail via this parameter. The results showed that the stability of the dispersion mainly comes from the ionization of pyridine groups, making the microgel positively charged on its surface. This was confirmed by the measurement of Zeta potential and the result of conductometric titration. The result of fluorescence analysis indicated that the hydrophobicity in the microgels is enhanced with the increase in total 4-VP unit content.     

The Legacy of Raimond Castaing

 In April 1998 Raimond Castaing left the world of electrons, of ions and others particles, his wife and his family, his numerous students, for the world of stars. Raimond Castaing (Fig. 1) had a very strong personality. No one will forget their first meeting with him and all his students remember how brilliant he was as a teacher. A lot of anecdotes about his famous hot temper are still circulating among his friends and his former students. But in this paper, we would like to evoke Castaing’s memory through his achievements in Instrumental Physics, from the time of his doctoral thesis to later developments with his students, which were all centred on the imaging of the microstructures of materials and their quantitative chemical analysis.     

Equations describing lamellar structure parameters and melting points of polyethylene-<Emphasis Type="Italic">co</Emphasis>-(butene/octene)s

Time- and temperature-dependent SAXS-experiments were used to determine the effect of octene and butene co-units on the lamellar structure and the melting properties of polyethylene. As expected, melting points decrease with increasing co-unit content, but crystal thicknesses are not affected and depend on the crystallization temperature only. Results can be cast into some simple equations which describe the dependence:

Synthesis and properties of novel poly(amide-imide)s containing pendent diphenylamino groups

A new dicarboxylic acid, 2,4-bis(N-trimellitoyl)triphenylamine, bearing two preformed imide rings was synthesized from the condensation of 2,4-diaminotriphenylamine and trimellitic anhydride at 1:2 molar ratio. A series of poly(amide-imide)s (PAIs) with inherent viscosities of 0.38-0.66 dl/g were prepared by triphenyl phosphite-activated polycondensation from the diimide-dicarboxylic acid with various aromatic diamines. All the resulting PAIs were readily soluble in a variety of organic solvents and formed strong and tough films via solution casting. These PAIs have useful levels of thermal stability associated with moderately high glass-transition temperatures (259-314 °C) and 10% weight loss temperatures in excess of 530 °C in nitrogen or in air.     

Beta-delayed two-proton decay of39Ti

The beta-delayed two-proton decay of theT _z =–5/2 nuclide³⁹Ti has been observed. The³⁹Sc isobaric analog state has been calculated to lie at 8.82 MeV using the measured two-proton sum energy of 4750±40 keV for its decay to the³⁷K ground state. Combining this excitation energy with a Coulomb displacement energy calculation has lowered the energy available for ground state two-proton emission of³⁹Ti from 760 to 530 keV.This work was supported by Director, Office of Energy Research, Division of Nuclear Physics of the Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics of the U.S. Depeartment of Energy under Contracts DE-AC03-76SF00098 with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, DE-AC02-76CH00016 with Brookhaven National Laboratory and DE-AC06-76RL0 1830 with Pacific Northwest Laboratories.     

Half-life of41Ca

The half-life of⁴¹Ca has been redetermined to be (1.01 ±0.10)×10⁵ yr from the specific activity of a sample of enriched calcium material and its⁴¹Ca concentration. The activity was measured with a Si(Li) detector via the 3.3-keV X rays emitted in the electron capture decay of⁴¹Ca to⁴¹K. The⁴¹Ca concentration was measured by mass spectrometry. Since our result agrees well with the two most recent half-life measurements of Mabuchi et al. (1974), (1.13±0.12)×10⁵ yr, and Klein et al. (1990), (1.03±0.07)×10⁵ yr, we recommend the weighted mean of these three measurements, t_1/2=(1.04±0.05)×10⁵ yr, as the most accurate value of the half-life of⁴¹Ca.Dedicated to Prof. Dr. P. Kienle on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

De Sitter空间中紧致类空超曲面的积分公式及其Goddard猜想的应用

本文对ｄｅＳｉｔｅｒ空间Ｓｎ＋１１（１）中紧致类空超曲面建立Ｍｉｎｋｏｗｓｋｉ型公式，并给出其到ｒ－次（ｒ＝１，２，…，ｎ－１）平均曲率为常数超曲面的应用．当ｒ＝１时，我们得到Ｍｏｎｔｉｅｌ的结果．     

Virtual Screening and Hit Selection of Natural Compounds as Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is one of the classical targets in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Inhibition of AChE slows down the hydrolysis of acetycholine and increases choline levels, improving the cognitive function. The achieved success of plant-based natural drugs acting as AChE inhibitors, such as galantamine (GAL) from Galanthus genus and huperzine A from Huperzia serrate (approved drug in China), in the treatment of AD, and the fact that natural compounds (NCs) are considered as safer and less toxic compared to synthetic drugs, led us to screen the available NCs (almost 150,000) in the ZINC12 database for AChE inhibitory activity. The compounds were screened virtually by molecular docking, filtered for suitable ADME properties, and 32 ligands from 23 structural groups were selected. The stability of the complexes was estimated via 1 μs molecular dynamics simulation. Ten compounds formed stable complexes with the enzyme and had a vendor and a reasonable price per mg. They were tested for AChE inhibitory and antioxidant activity. Five compounds showed weak AChE inhibition and three of them exhibited high antioxidant activity.     

A molecular mechanics approach for analyzing tensile nonlinear deformation behavior of single-walled carbon nanotubes

In this paper, by capturing the atomic information and reflecting the behaviour governed by the nonlinear potential function, an analytical molecular mechanics approach is proposed. A constitutive relation for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT’s) is established to describe the nonlinear stress-strain curve of SWCNT’s and to predict both the elastic properties and breaking strain of SWCNT’s during tensile deformation. An analysis based on the virtual internal bond (VIB) model proposed by P. Zhang et al. is also presented for comparison. The results indicate that the proposed molecular mechanics approach is indeed an acceptable analytical method for analyzing the mechanical behavior of SWCNT’s. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10121202, 90305015 and 10328203), the Key Grant Project of Chinese Ministry of Education (0306) and the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (HKU 7195/04E).