Ionic liquids for the convenient synthesis of functional nanoparticles and other inorganic nanostructures

Ionic liquids are a new class of organic solvents with high polarity and a preorganized solvent structure. Very polar reactions can be carried out in these liquid in the absence of or with a controlled amount of water, and crystalline nanoparticles can be synthesized conveniently at ambient temperatures. The pronounced self-organization of the solvent is used in the synthesis of self-assembled, highly organized hybrid nanostructures with unparalleled quality. The extraordinary potential of ionic liquids in materials synthesis is described in this minireview and a physicochemical explanation is given.     

Solid-state structure of polypeptide-based rod-coil block copolymers: Folding of helices

This work compares the solid-state structures of films made from a polystyrene-poly(Z-L-lysine) (1) and a polystyrene-poly(-benzyl-L-glutamate) (2) block copolymer, both having virtually the same numbers of repeating units and block length ratios. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) revealed a hexagonal-in-undulated lamellar morphology for both films. The long-period and the thickness of layers obtained for 2 were by a factor of three smaller as compared to 1, indicating that PBLGlu helices were folded twice, whereas PZLLys helices were fully stretched. Another difference shows up in the packing of helices, the level of ordering being considerably lower in 2. This might be due to spatial restrictions in the proper alignment of back-folded helical segments.     

Hierarchical porous silica materials with a trimodal pore system using surfactant templates

Porous silica exhibiting a hierarchically ordered trimodal pore system with a well-defined reverse opal microstructure and bimodal mesoporosity in the walls has been prepared by using polystyrene latex spheres, a novel block copolymer and an ionic liquid surfactant as templates. The resulting materials exhibit hierarchical order at three length scales (small mesopores: 2-3 nm; large mesopores: 11-12 nm; macropores: 360 nm).     

Modeling and evaluation of cyber-physical systems in civil engineering

A cyber-physical system (CPS) is a coupled system integrating computing, networking, and physical processes. Through actuation, cyber-physical systems control the physical processes, usually with feedback loops, where the physical processes affect computing and networking processes, and vice versa. In civil engineering, the most common fields of CPS applications are structural health monitoring (SHM) and structural control. A typical CPS task is the assessment of a structure based on (i) collected measurement data and (ii) a corresponding model. However, for an accurate and precise assessment of a structure, the CPS itself must be modeled and evaluated. In this paper, a conceptual modeling and evaluation approach is proposed, in which each part of a CPS is evaluated individually. In this study, the conceptual approach is presented for modeling and evaluation of CPS in civil engineering. The evaluation is based on an abstract approach allowing a discussion of a principle (i.e. general) model structure of a CPS, identifying critical issues to be studied in more detail in future research. (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Project scheduling under uncertainty and resource constraints

This paper proposes a method to improve the reliability of construction schedules by optimizing schedule robustness of construction projects. The schedule robustness is measured by a criterion evaluating the impact of deviations from the initial schedule on the makespan, which arise during the realization phase of a construction project. (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)