存在反应的电解质溶液相平衡研究

从应用的角度出发,对电解质溶液模型、相平衡计算的现状与发展进行了简要的回顾,并系统地介绍和讨论了作者在这方面的工作。指出对Pitzer模型和作者提出的电解质溶液水化平衡模型建立各自相应的普遍化温度关系,结合所提出的固液平衡级计算方法,可以预测工业过程所涉度的高温、高压、高浓度范围内复杂体系的热力学性质,解决此类过程集成模拟优化的瓶颈问题。此外。还介绍了离子选择性电极测定弱电解质体系热力学的方法。     

ZnO纳米棒在Si衬底上外延生长研究

运用热蒸发ZnO粉末法,以金做催化剂,分别在Si(100)和Si(111)两种基片上外延生长了ZnO纳米棒(样品分别标为1#和2#).通过X射线衍射(XRD)和扫描电子显微镜(SEM)分析,结合ZnO与Si的晶格结构特征,从理论上得出了两个样品的晶格匹配关系.1#样品:[0001]ZnO∥[114]Si,[0001]ZnO∥[1-1-4]Si,[0001]ZnO∥[11-4]Si,[0001]ZnO∥[1-14]Si,失配度为1.54;;2#样品:[0001]ZnO∥[111]Si,[21-1-0]ZnO∥[11-0]Si,[1-21-0]ZnO∥[1-01]Si ,[1-1-20]ZnO∥[011-]Si,失配度为18.12;.研究表明Si衬底对ZnO纳米棒生长方向具有调控作用.     

工作气压对磁控溅射ITO薄膜性能的影响

工作气压在ITO薄膜的制备过程中是一个重要的工艺参数,直接决定着薄膜的性能.本文利用射频磁控溅射方法,采用氧化铟锡陶瓷靶材,在衬底温度为175℃,工作气压范围为0.45～1.0 Pa条件下,制备了氧化铟锡透明导电薄膜.研究了工作气压对其微观结构、表面形貌和光电特性的影响.在衬底温度为175℃、纯氩气中制备的氧化铟锡薄膜电阻率为3.04 ×10-4 Ω·cm、可见光波段(400～800 nm)透过率为91.9;,适合用作异质结太阳电池的前电极和减反射膜.     

Microscale Thermophoresis and Molecular Modelling to Explore the Chelating Drug Transportation in the Milk to Infant

The microscale thermophoresis (MST) technique was utilized to investigate lactoferrin–drug interaction with the iron chelator, deferiprone, using label-free system. MST depends on the intrinsic fluorescence of one interacting partner. The results indicated a significant interaction between lactoferrin and deferiprone. The estimated binding constant for the lactoferrin–deferiprone interaction was 8.9 × 10⁻⁶ ± 1.6, SD, which is to be reported for the first time. Such significant binding between lactoferrin and deferiprone may indicate the potentiation of the drug secretion into a lactating mother’s milk. The technique showed a fast and simple approach to study protein–drug interaction while avoiding complicated labeling procedures. Moreover, the binding behavior of deferiprone within the binding sites of lactoferrin was investigated through molecular docking which reflected that deferiprone mediates strong hydrogen bonding with ARG121 and ASP297 in pocket 1 and forms H-bond and ionic interaction with ASN640 and ASP395, respectively, in pocket 2 of lactoferrin. Meanwhile, iron ions provide ionic interaction with deferiprone in both of the pockets. The molecular dynamic simulation further confirmed that the binding of deferiprone with lactoferrin brings conformational changes in lactoferrin that is more energetically stable. It also confirmed that deferiprone causes positive correlation motion in the interacting residues of both pockets, with strong negative correlation motion in the loop regions, and thus changes the dynamics of lactoferrin. The MM-GBSA based binding free energy calculation revealed that deferiprone exhibits ∆G TOTAL of −63,163 kcal/mol in pocket 1 and −63,073 kcal/mol in pocket 2 with complex receptor–ligand difference in pocket 1 and pocket 2 of −117.38 kcal/mol and −111.54 kcal/mol, respectively, which in turn suggests that deferiprone binds more strongly in the pocket 1. The free energy landscape of the lactoferrin–deferiprone complex also showed that this complex remains in a high energy state that confirms the strong binding of deferiprone with the lactoferrin. The current research concluded that iron-chelating drugs (deferiprone) can be transported from the mother to the infant in the milk because of the strong attachment with the lactoferrin active pockets.     

Lossless Medical Image Compression by Using Difference Transform

This paper introduces a new method of compressing digital images by using the Difference Transform applied in medical imaging. The Difference Transform algorithm performs the decorrelation process of image data, and in this way improves the encoding process, achieving a file with a smaller size than the original. The proposed method proves to be competitive and in many cases better than the standards used for medical images such as TIFF or PNG. In addition, the Difference Transform can replace other transforms like Cosine or Wavelet.     

Numerical Study on an RBF-FD Tangent Plane Based Method for Convection–Diffusion Equations on Anisotropic Evolving Surfaces

In this paper, we present a fully Lagrangian method based on the radial basis function (RBF) finite difference (FD) method for solving convection–diffusion partial differential equations (PDEs) on evolving surfaces. Surface differential operators are discretized by the tangent plane approach using Gaussian RBFs augmented with two-dimensional (2D) polynomials. The main advantage of our method is the simplicity of calculating differentiation weights. Additionally, we couple the method with anisotropic RBFs (ARBFs) to obtain more accurate numerical solutions for the anisotropic growth of surfaces. In the ARBF interpolation, the Euclidean distance is replaced with a suitable metric that matches the anisotropic surface geometry. Therefore, it will lead to a good result on the aspects of stability and accuracy of the RBF-FD method for this type of problem. The performance of this method is shown for various convection–diffusion equations on evolving surfaces, which include the anisotropic growth of surfaces and growth coupled with the solutions of PDEs.     

Biological Risk Assessment of Three Dental Composite Materials following Gas Plasma Exposure

Gas plasma is an approved technology that generates a plethora of reactive oxygen species, which are actively applied for chronic wound healing. Its particular antimicrobial action has spurred interest in other medical fields, such as periodontitis in dentistry. Recent work has indicated the possibility of performing gas plasma-mediated biofilm removal on teeth. Teeth frequently contain restoration materials for filling cavities, e.g., resin-based composites. However, it is unknown if such materials are altered upon gas plasma exposure. To this end, we generated a new in-house workflow for three commonly used resin-based composites following gas plasma treatment and incubated the material with human HaCaT keratinocytes in vitro. Cytotoxicity was investigated by metabolic activity analysis, flow cytometry, and quantitative high-content fluorescence imaging. The inflammatory consequences were assessed using quantitative analysis of 13 different chemokines and cytokines in the culture supernatants. Hydrogen peroxide served as the control condition. A modest but significant cytotoxic effect was observed in the metabolic activity and viability after plasma treatment for all three composites. This was only partially treatment time-dependent and the composites alone affected the cells to some extent, as evident by differential secretion profiles of VEGF, for example. Gas plasma composite modification markedly elevated the secretion of IL6, IL8, IL18, and CCL2, with the latter showing the highest correlation with treatment time (Pearson’s r > 0.95). Cell culture media incubated with gas plasma-treated composite chips and added to cells thereafter could not replicate the effects, pointing to the potential that surface modifications elicited the findings. In conclusion, our data suggest that gas plasma treatment modifies composite material surfaces to a certain extent, leading to measurable but overall modest biological effects.     

Effect of biaxial strain and hydrostatic pressure on the magnetic properties of bilayer CrI3

Two-dimensional van der Waals magnetic materials are intriguing for applications in the future spintronics devices, so it is crucial to explore strategy to control the magnetic properties. Here, we carried out first-principles calculations and Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the effect of biaxial strain and hydrostatic pressure on the magnetic properties of the bilayer CrI₃. We found that the magnetic anisotropy, intralayer and interlayer exchange interactions, and Curie temperature can be tuned by biaxial strain and hydrostatic pressure. Large compressive biaxial strain may induce a ferromagneticto-antiferromagnetic transition of both CrI₃ layers. The hydrostatic pressure could enhance the intralayer exchange interaction significantly and hence largely boost the Curie temperature. The effect of the biaxial strain and hydrostatic pressure revealed in the bilayer CrI₃ may be generalized to other two-dimensional magnetic materials.     

Preparation of modified polymer blend and electrical performance

In this study, a modified binary polymer blend made up of polycarbonate and polystyrene blend has been prepared by loading of aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) as a dopant. The role of alumina with polymer blend system was addressed in view of interfacing criteria. The filler concentration of modified blend was taken as 5, 10, and 15%. The morphological, thermal, and electrical properties were characterized by various techniques. Optical microscopy confirms the homogenous dispersion of Al₂O₃ in blend. The presence of alumina was detected by subatomic level using atomic force microscope (both two and three dimensional approach). The differential scanning calorimetric thermographs demonstrate decreasing softing point as function of alumina loading. The dielectric properties such as dielectric constant, loss, and electrical modulus were studied under DC bias. The effect of DC bias exhibits significant changes at low amount of Al₂O₃. The dielectric polarization supports Maxwell Wagner (MW) theory due to low frequency response. 15% Al₂O₃ gives the highest dielectric constant (ε′) value (3.5?×?10⁵) at 10 Hz. The polymer modified blend with Al₂O₃ may be used as a one of the best dielectric medium.     

A System for Determination of Precise Isotopic Vapor Pressure Differences from —20 to 110 °C,including Temperature Control to 0·001 over that Range)

An experimental system for the precise measurement of small vapor pressure differences over the range —20 to 110°C is described.