Chemical versus Electrochemical Synthesis of Carbon Nano‐onion/Polypyrrole Composites for Supercapacitor Electrodes

The development of high‐surface‐area carbon electrodes with a defined pore size distribution and the incorporation of pseudo‐active materials to optimize the overall capacitance and conductivity without destroying the stability are at present important research areas. Composite electrodes of carbon nano‐onions (CNOs) and polypyrrole (Ppy) were fabricated to improve the specific capacitance of a supercapacitor. The carbon nanostructures were uniformly coated with Ppy by chemical polymerization or by electrochemical potentiostatic deposition to form homogenous composites or bilayers. The materials were characterized by transmission‐ and scanning electron microscopy, differential thermogravimetric analyses, FTIR spectroscopy, piezoelectric microgravimetry, and cyclic voltammetry. The composites show higher mechanical and electrochemical stabilities, with high specific capacitances of up to about 800 F g^?1 for the CNOs/SDS/Ppy composites (chemical synthesis) and about 1300 F g^?1 for the CNOs/Ppy bilayer (electrochemical deposition).     

Triesterase and Promiscuous Diesterase Activities of a Di‐CoII‐Containing Organophosphate Degrading Enzyme Reaction Mechanisms

The reaction mechanism for the hydrolysis of trimethyl phosphate and of the obtained phosphodiester by the di‐Co^II derivative of organophosphate degrading enzyme from Agrobacterium radiobacter P230(OpdA), have been investigated at density functional level of theory in the framework of the cluster model approach. Both mechanisms proceed by a multistep sequence and each catalytic cycle begins with the nucleophilic attack by a metal‐bound hydroxide on the phosphorus atom of the substrate, leading to the cleavage of the phosphate‐ester bond. Four exchange‐correlation functionals were used to derive the potential energy profiles in protein environments. Although the enzyme is confirmed to work better as triesterase, as revealed by the barrier heights in the rate‐limiting steps of the catalytic processes, its promiscuous ability to hydrolyze also the product of the reaction has been confirmed. The important role played by water molecules and some residues in the outer coordination sphere has been elucidated, while the binuclear Co^II center accomplishes both structural and catalytic functions. To correctly describe the electronic configuration of the d shell of the metal ions, high‐ and low‐spin arrangement jointly with the occurrence of antiferromagnetic coupling, have been herein considered.     

Sensitive targeted multiple protein quantification based on elemental detection of Quantum Dots

A generic strategy based on the use of CdSe/ZnS Quantum Dots (QDs) as elemental labels for protein quantification, using immunoassays with elemental mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), detection is presented. In this strategy, streptavidin modified QDs (QDs-SA) are bioconjugated to a biotinylated secondary antibody (b-Ab₂). After a multi-technique characterization of the synthesized generic platform (QDs-SA-b-Ab₂) it was applied to the sequential quantification of five proteins (transferrin, complement C3, apolipoprotein A1, transthyretin and apolipoprotein A4) at different concentration levels in human serum samples. It is shown how this generic strategy does only require the appropriate unlabeled primary antibody for each protein to be detected. Therefore, it introduces a way out to the need for the cumbersome and specific bioconjugation of the QDs to the corresponding specific recognition antibody for every target analyte (protein). Results obtained were validated with those obtained using UV–vis spectrophotometry and commercial ELISA Kits.     

新疆玛纳斯湖水蒸发过程研究

本文依据Na^ ,K^ ,Mg^2 //Cl^-,SO4^2--H2O五元水盐体系相图，对新疆玛纳斯盐湖水进行原料分析、理论研究、25℃等温蒸发实验和自然蒸发实验，研究了该湖水蒸发过程中盐类的析出规律及湖水中各组分浓度变化的规律，为进行工艺实验及将来的综合开发利用提供了可靠依据。     

Bounds on the maximum numbers of clear two-factor interactions for 2^{(n_1 + n_2 ) - (k_1 + k_2 )} fractional factorial split-plot designs

Fractional factorial split-plot (FFSP) designs have an important value of investigation for their special structures. There are two types of factors in an FFSP design: the whole-plot (WP) factors and sub-plot (SP) factors, which can form three types of two-factor interactions: WP2fi, WS2fi and SP2fi. This paper considers FFSP designs with resolution III or IV under the clear effects criterion. It derives the upper and lower bounds on the maximum numbers of clear WP2fis and WS2fis for FFSP designs, and gives some methods for constructing the desired FFSP designs. It further examines the performance of the construction methods.     

ZnSe及ZnSe/GaAs异质结构中压力导致的直接禁带向间接禁带的转变

用经验赝势方法计算了体ZnSe以及ZnSe/GaAs单异质结系统中ZnSe外延层г、X、L等特殊对称点导带底能量随压力的变化。结果表明，同Si、Ge、GaAs等半导体材料不同，ZnSe的X点导带底具有正的压力系数，但比г点的压力系数小，这是ZnSe材料以及ZnSe基异质结构材料发生直接禁带向间接禁带的转变时所需转变压力较大的根本原因。研究了ZnSe/GaAs异质结构中晶格失配造成的应变对外延层г、X、L对称点压力系数的影响，表明这种晶格失配造成的应变可以极大地减小ZnSe外延层材料由直接禁带向间接禁带的转变压力。     

A model study for the steady state error of numerical approximations of inviscid flow equations on Cartesian grid

The widely used locally adaptive Cartesian grid methods involve a series of abruptly refined interfaces. In this paper we consider the influence of the refined interfaces on the steady state errors for second‐order three‐point difference approximations of flow equations. Since the various characteristic components of the Euler equations should behave similarly on such grids with regard to refinement‐induced errors, it is sufficient enough to conduct the analysis on a scalar model problem. The error we consider is a global error, different to local truncation error, and reflects the interaction between multiple interfaces. The steady state error will be compared to the errors on smooth refinement grids and on uniform grids. The conclusion seems to support the numerical findings of Yamaleev and Carpenter (J. Comput. Phys. 2002; 181: 280–316) that refinement does not necessarily reduce the numerical error. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and characterization of well‐defined diblock and triblock copolymers of poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) and poly(ethylene oxide)

Well‐defined diblock and triblock copolymers composed of poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) were successfully synthesized through the reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization of N‐isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) with PEO capped with one or two dithiobenzoyl groups as a macrotransfer agent. ¹H NMR, Fourier transform infrared, and gel permeation chromatography instruments were used to characterize the block copolymers obtained. The results showed that the diblock and triblock copolymers had well‐defined structures and narrow molecular weight distributions (weight‐average molecular weight/number‐average molecular weight < 1.2), and the molecular weight of the PNIPAM block in the diblock and triblock copolymers could be controlled by the initial molar ratio of NIPAM to dithiobenzoate‐terminated PEO and the NIPAM conversion. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 4873–4881, 2004     

Generating cryptographically strong Boolean functions using partial information

Periodica Mathematica Hungarica - In our paper we study the usage of partially defined Boolean functions (PDBFs) for generating cryptographically strong Boolean functions. A PDBF can be considered...