Highly Proton-Conductive Zinc Metal-Organic Framework Based On Nickel(II) Porphyrinylphosphonate

The design of new solid-state proton-conducting materials is a great challenge for chemistry and materials science. Herein, a new anionic porphyrinylphosphonate-based MOF ( IPCE-1Ni ), which involves dimethylammonium (DMA) cations for charge compensation, is reported. As a result of its unique structure, IPCE-1Ni exhibits one of the highest value of the proton conductivity among reported proton-conducting MOF materials based on porphyrins (1.55×10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ at 75 °C and 80 % relative humidity).     

Reactions of Aryl Benzoates with Potassium Aryloxides: Solvent Effects on Reaction Pathway and Kinetics

Temperature dependences of the relative reactivity of potassium aryloxides XC₆H₄O^?K⁺ toward 2,4‐dinitrophenyl benzoate in 50 mol% dimethylformamide (DMF)–50 mol% H₂O mixture have been studied using the competitive reactions technique. Correlation analyses of the relative rate constants k_X/k_H and differences in the activation parameters (ΔΔН^≠ and ΔΔS^≠) of the competitive reactions have revealed the existence of two isokinetic series of the reactions of 2,4‐dinitrophenyl benzoate with potassium aryloxides with electron‐donating substituent (EDS) and electron‐withdrawing substituent (EWS), respectively. We have investigated the effect of the substituent X on the activation parameters for each isokinetic series and concluded that the mechanism of the reactions of 2,4‐dinitrophenyl benzoate with potassium aryloxides XC₆H₄O^?K⁺ in 50 mol% DMF–50 mol% H₂O mixture is the same as in DMF. Analysis of the obtained data with using the method of two‐dimensional reaction coordinate diagram leads to the conclusion that the variation of the solvent from DMF to 50 mol% DMF–50 mol% H₂O mixture affects the reaction pathway. The rate constant k_X for the reaction of 3‐nitrophenyl benzoate with potassium 4‐methoxyphenoxide and the relative rate constants k_X/k_H for the reaction of 3‐nitrophenyl benzoate with potassium aryloxides XC₆H₄O^?K⁺ with EDS were measured in 50 mol% DMF–50 mol% H₂O mixtures at 25°C, and it has been shown that the addition of water to DMF does not change the mechanism but slows down these reactions.     

Influence of the Degree of Deacetylation of Chitosan and BMP-2 Concentration on Biocompatibility and Osteogenic Properties of BMP-2/PLA Granule-Loaded Chitosan/β-Glycerophosphate Hydrogels

Compositions based on chitosan/β-glycerophosphate hydrogels with highly porous polylactide granules can be used to obtain moldable bone graft materials that have osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties. To eliminate the influence of such characteristics as chain length, degree of purification, and molecular weight on a designed material, the one-stock chitosan sample was reacetylated to degrees of deacetylation (DD%) of 19.5, 39, 49, 55, and 56. A study of the chitosan/β-glycerophosphate hydrogel with chitosan of a reduced DD% showed that a low degree of deacetylation increased the MSCs (multipotent stromal cells) viability rate in vitro and reduced the leukocyte infiltration in subcutaneous implantation to Wistar rats in vivo. The addition of 12 wt% polylactide granules resulted in optimal composite mechanical and moldable properties, and increased the modulus of elasticity of the hydrogel-based material by approximately 100 times. Excessive filling of the material with PLA (polylactide) granules (more than 20%) led to material destruction at a ~10% strain. Osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties of the chitosan hydrogel-based material with reacetylated chitosan (39 DD%) and highly porous polylactide granules impregnated with BMP-2 (bone morphogenetic protein-2) have been demonstrated in models of orthotopic and ectopic bone formation. When implanted into a critical-size calvarial defect in rats, the optimal concentration of BMP-2 was 10 μg/mL: bone tissue areas filled the entire material’s thickness. Implantation of the material with 50 μg/mL BMP-2 was accompanied with excessive growth of bone tissue and material displacement beyond the defect. Significant osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties of the material with 10 μg/mL of BMP-2 were also shown in subcutaneous implantation.     

Multicriteria decision making under uncertainty

Formalization for problems of multicriteria decision making under uncertainty is constructed in terms of guaranteed and weak estimates. A relevant definition of the vector maximinimax value is given. Parameterization and approximation of maximum, minimax, and maximinimax values based on the inverse logical convolution are suggested. An application for multicommodity networks is considered. Received: December 13, 2000 / Accepted: August 21, 2001?Published online May 8, 2002     

On the spectral norm of algebraic numbers

In this paper we continue to study the spectral norms and their completions ([4]) in the case of the algebraic closure $ \overline {\mathbb Q} $ of ? in ?. Let $ \widetilde{\overline{\mathbb{Q}}} $ be the completion of $ \overline {\mathbb Q} $ relative to the spectral norm. We prove that $ \widetilde{\overline{\mathbb{Q}}} $ can be identified with the R‐subalgebra of all symmetric functions of C(G), where C(G) denotes the ?‐Banach algebra of all continuous functions defined on the absolute Galois group G = Gal$ {\overline {\mathbb Q}} / {\mathbb Q} $. We prove that any compact, closed to conjugation subset of ? is the pseudo‐orbit of a suitable element of $ \widetilde{\overline{\mathbb{Q}}} $. We also prove that the topological closure of any algebraic number field in $ \widetilde{\overline{\mathbb{Q}}} $ is of the form $\widetilde{\mathbb{Q}[x]}$ with x in $ \widetilde{\overline{\mathbb{Q}}} $.     

The interaction between poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and salts in aqueous media: The “salting-out” phenomenon as studied by attenuated total reflection/fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

The effect of two strong salting-out salts (Na₂SO₄ and K₂SO₄) on the temperature-induced phase-separation process in aqueous solutions of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) was examined by attenuated total reflectance/Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and viscosity measurements. On the basis of these measurements, a detailed scenario of the phase-separation process was deduced. The phase-separation scenario of solutions containing PNIPA and water was altered in the presence of sulfate ions. Here, the sulfate ions induced partial intrachain collapse, manifested by a relatively compact structure well below the lower critical solution temperature. This led to a more gradual, smooth phase transition, with temperature-resolved intrachain collapse and interchain aggregation and a lesser extent of hysteresis. Although at the macrolevel one may not be able to differentiate among various scenarios altering the solvent into a poor solvent, the aforementioned microlevel measurements provided a way to expose the difference between raising the temperature and adding cosolutes. Follow-up studies on the effect of salting-in salts will be presented. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 33–46, 2004     

Riemannian Manifolds in Which Certain Curvature Operator Has Constant Eigenvalues along Each Circle

Riemannian manifolds for which a natural curvature operator has constant eigenvalues on circles are studied. A local classification in dimensions two and three is given. In the 3-dimensional case one gets all locally symmetric spaces and all Riemannian manifolds with the constant principal Ricci curvatures r ₁ = r ₂ = 0, r ₃= 0 , which are not locally homogeneous, in general.     

A common generalization for MV-algebras and Łukasiewicz–Moisil algebras

We introduce the notion of n-nuanced MV-algebra by performing a Łukasiewicz–Moisil nuancing construction on top of MV-algebras. These structures extend both MV-algebras and Łukasiewicz–Moisil algebras, thus unifying two important types of structures in the algebra of logic. On a logical level, n-nuanced MV-algebras amalgamate two distinct approaches to many valuedness: that of the infinitely valued Łukasiewicz logic, more related in spirit to the fuzzy approach, and that of Moisil n-nuanced logic, which is more concerned with nuances of truth rather than truth degree. We study n-nuanced MV-algebras mainly from the algebraic and categorical points of view, and also consider some basic model-theoretic aspects. The relationship with a suitable notion of n-nuanced ordered group via an extension of the Γ construction is also analyzed.