A gadolinium-based magnetic ionic liquid for supramolecular dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction followed by HPLC/UV for the determination of favipiravir in human plasma

Favipiravir is a potential antiviral medication that has been recently licensed for Covid-19 treatment. In this work, a gadolinium-based magnetic ionic liquid was prepared and used as an extractant in dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) of favipiravir in human plasma. The high enriching ability of DLLME allowed the determination of favipiravir in real samples using HPLC/UV with sufficient sensitivity. The effects of several variables on extraction efficiency were investigated, including type of extractant, amount of extractant, type of disperser and disperser volume. The maximum enrichment was attained using 50 mg of the Gd-magnetic ionic liquid (MIL) and 150 μl of tetrahydrofuran. The Gd-based MIL could form a supramolecular assembly in the presence of tetrahydrofuran, which enhanced the extraction efficiency of favipiravir. The developed method was validated according to US Food and Drug Administration bioanalytical method validation guidelines. The coefficient of determination was 0.9999, for a linear concentration range of 25 to 1.0 × 10⁵ ng/ml. The percentage recovery (accuracy) varied from 99.83 to 104.2%, with RSD values (precision) ranging from 4.07 to 11.84%. The total extraction time was about 12 min and the HPLC analysis time was 5 min. The method was simple, selective and sensitive for the determination of favipiravir in real human plasma.     

A microfluidics-dispensing-printing strategy for Janus photonic crystal microspheres towards smart patterned displays

From the implementation point of view, the printable magnetic Janus colloidal photonic crystals (CPCs) microspheres are highly desirable. Herein, we developed a dispensing-printing strategy for magnetic Janus CPCs display via a microfluidics-automatic printing system. Monodisperse core/shell colloidal particles and magnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles precursor serve as inks. Based on the equilibrium of three-phase interfacial tensions, Janus structure is successfully formed, followed by UV irradiation and self-assembly of colloid particle to generate magnetic Janus CPCs microspheres. Notably, this method shows distinct superiority with highly uniform Janus CPCs structure, where the TMPTA/Fe₃O₄ hemisphere is in the bottom side while CPCs hemisphere is in the top side. Thus, by using Janus CPCs microspheres with two different structural colors as pixel points, a pattern with red flower and green leaf is achieved. Moreover, 1D linear Janus CPCs pattern encapsulated by hydrogel is also fabricated. Both the color and the shape can be changed under the traction of magnets, showing great potentials in flexible smart displays. We believe this work not only offers a new feasible pathway to construct magnetic Janus CPCs patterns by a dispensing-printable fashion, but also provides new opportunities for flexible and smart displays.     

Lanthanide SMMs Based on Belt Macrocycles: Recent Advances and General Trends

Enhancement of axial magnetic anisotropy is the central objective to push forward the performance of Single-Molecule Magnet (SMM) complexes. In the case of mononuclear lanthanide complexes, the chemical environment around the paramagnetic ion must be tuned to place strongly interacting ligands along either the axial positions or the equatorial plane, depending on the oblate or prolate preference of the selected lanthanide. One classical strategy to achieve a precise chemical environment for a metal centre is using highly structured, chelating ligands. A natural approach for axial-equatorial control is the employment of macrocycles acting in a belt conformation, providing the equatorial coordination environment, and leaving room for axial ligands. In this review, we present a survey of SMMs based on the macrocycle belt motif. Literature systems are divided in three families (crown ether, Schiff-base and metallacrown) and their general properties in terms of structural stability and SMM performance are briefly discussed.     

What is the optimal cutoff surface for ore bodies with more than one mineral?

In mine planning problems, cutoff grade optimization defines a threshold at every time period such that material above this value is processed, and the rest is considered waste. In orebodies with multiple minerals, which occur in practice, the natural extension is to consider a cutoff surface. We show that in two dimensions the optimal solution is a line, and in n dimensions it is a hyperplane.     

基于多材质复合管柱的裸眼井壁支撑工艺及应用

已完钻超深裸眼水平井侧钻技术是经济、高效开发油藏剩余油的主要手段之一，传统的磨铣钢套管开窗侧钻技术存在下入摩阻大、磨铣耗时长导致开窗失败等问题。为此，提出了基于多材质复合管柱的超深水平井裸眼井壁支撑工艺，结合中国西北油田已完钻超深裸眼水平井井况，首先，提出了基于“铝合金+碳钢”的多材质复合管柱组合及设计方法；其次，开展了基于管柱实物屈曲实验数据的管柱临界屈曲载荷计算模型适用性评价，并优选出了适合于“铝合金+碳钢”多材质复合管柱的屈曲临界载荷计算模型；最后，研究了综合考虑管柱扭矩、摩阻、刚性、井眼条件、管柱强度及材质的多材质复合管柱下入性分析方法，并利用下入性分析软件对西北油田顺北X1井、X2井、X3井、X4井复合管柱进行了下入可行性评价。该方法在X1井和X2井得到成功应用，进一步论证了该工艺现场应用的可行性。研究成果可为超深水平井裸眼井壁支撑的复合管柱设计和下入可行性评价提供理论参考。     

基于深度学习的中医古文献临床经验抽取

中医古文献蕴藏着丰富的临床经验，是古代中医在行医过程中对临床诊疗的经验性总结，体现了中医学形成和发展的理论框架和思想基础.然而这些宝贵的临床经验不仅量大，而且分散在不同的文献中，使得中医从业者手工很难快速全面地获取它们，文献检索工具也只能提供文档级别的信息筛选，无法为这种细粒度的信息获取提供支持.此外，古汉语相对于现代汉语的不同特点也限制了主流文本分析工具的使用效果.为此本文提出面向临床经验获取的中医古文献信息抽取任务，用于识别古文献中描述临床经验的文本片段，手工标注了样本数据用于这种抽取模型的训练和测试，并设计了基于深度学习的序列标注器用于完成该任务.考虑到标注数据量小可能带来的过度拟合问题，本文引入对抗训练和虚拟对抗训练来增强模型的泛化能力.一系列充分的实验验证了模型的有效性，表明利用信息抽取技术从古文献获取中医临床经验具有可行性，为这一新的信息抽取任务提供了有希望的研究基线和可复用的标注数据集.     

The Picone identity: A device to get optimal uniqueness results and global dynamics in Population Dynamics

This paper infers from a generalized Picone identity the uniqueness of the stable positive solution for a class of semilinear equations of superlinear indefinite type, as well as the uniqueness and global attractivity of the coexistence state in two generalized diffusive prototypes of the symbiotic and competing species models of Lotka–Volterra. The optimality of these uniqueness theorems reveals the tremendous strength of the Picone identity.