Lipase‐catalyzed synthesis of aliphatic poly(β‐thioether ester) with various methylene group contents: thermal properties,crystallization and degradation

A series of novel aliphatic poly(β‐thioether ester)s with various methylene group contents were prepared by direct lipase‐catalyzed polycondensation of the monomer with an acid‐labile β‐thiopropionate group. The polycondensation reaction using immobilized lipase B from Candida antarctica was carried out in diphenyl ether at 90 °C. Poly(β‐thioether ester)s with high molecular weights of 20 500–57 000 Da and narrow polydispersities in the range 1.40–1.48 were obtained. Thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction were used to investigate the thermal properties and crystal structures of these polyesters. All the poly(β‐thioether ester)s were semicrystalline polymers and thermally stable up to at least 200 °C. In vitro degradation studies showed that they can rapidly degrade under acidic conditions by the hydrolysis of the β‐thiopropionate groups, suggesting their potential as acid‐degradable polymeric materials. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Toward optimization of a robust low-cost sulfonated-polyethersulfone containing layered double hydroxide for PEM fuel cells

Polyethersulphone (PES) is an aromatic thermoplastic, at low environmental impact, evaluated in this work as a promising candidate for new polymer electrolytes in the PEMFCs technology. A sulfonation procedure has been tuned in order to graft sulfonic acid groups on the polymer chains (sPES) and to make it hydrophilic. Homogeneous membranes with different polymer's sulfonation degrees (SD%) have demonstrated excellent mechanical properties and very low permeability toward methanol (important in the DMFCs), even if low proton conductivity. Nanocomposite sPES membranes were prepared by dispersion of highly hydrophilic lamellar particles such as layered double hydroxide (LDH) in the polymer. Deep investigations performed by a combination of PFG-NMR, EIS, XRD, DMA, and scanning electron microscopy have evidenced the exfoliation of the lamellae in polymer matrix. However, a certain anisotropy was evidenced both in the morphology and molecular diffusion, favored in the longitudinal direction (parallel to surface), while completely inhibited in the cross-section. This finding is most likely induced by the polymer structure, therefore particular attention must be paid to the choice of the filler and preparation of the composites. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47884.     

Triphenylphosphonium (TPP)-Based Antioxidants: A New Perspective on Antioxidant Design

Mitochondrial oxidative damage and dysfunction contribute to a wide range of human diseases. Considering the limitation of conventional antioxidants and that mitochondria are the main source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which induce oxidative damage, mitochondria-targeted antioxidants which can selectively block mitochondrial oxidative damage and prevent various types of cell death have been widely developed. As a lipophilic cation, triphenylphosphonium (TPP) has been commonly used in designing mitochondria-targeted antioxidants. Conjugated with the TPP moiety, antioxidants can achieve more than 1000-fold higher mitochondrial concentration depending on cell membrane potentials and mitochondrial membrane potentials. Herein we discuss the deficiencies of conventional antioxidants and the advantages of mitochondrial targeting, and review various types of TPP-based mitochondria-targeted antioxidants. These provide theoretical and background support for the design of new anti-oxidant.     

Effect of hyperbranched poly(citric polyethylene glycol) with various polyethylene glycol chain lengths on starch plasticization and retrogradation

A series of hyperbranched poly(citric polyethylene glycol) (PCPEG) materials with varied polyethylene glycol (PEG) chain lengths as plasticizers were mixed with maize starch (MS) via cooking and film‐forming. The structure, pasting property, plasticization, aging property, moisture absorption and compatibility of plasticized starches were studied by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, rapid viscosity analysis, tension testing, moisture absorption measurements and scanning electron microscopy. Compared with PEG and citric acid, PCPEG was more effective in promoting starch chain movement and inhibiting the retrogradation of starch film. Also, PCPEG/MS had smaller moisture content. The longer the plasticizer chain, the better were the aging resistance and moisture resistance of starch. But with an increase of PEG chain length, mechanical properties of PCPEG/MS deteriorated and the compatibility between PCPEG and MS decreased. The hyperbranched derivative of PEG with longer chain exhibited improved plasticization and compatibility with starch. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Lagrangian relaxation hybrid with evolutionary algorithm for short-term generation scheduling

Short-term generation scheduling is an important function in daily operational planning of power systems. It is defined as optimal scheduling of power generators over a scheduling period while respecting various generator constraints and system constraints. Objective of the problem includes costs associated with energy production, start-up cost and shut-down cost along with profits. The resulting problem is a large scale nonlinear mixed-integer optimization problem for which there is no exact solution technique available. The solution to the problem can be obtained only by complete enumeration, often at the cost of a prohibitively computation time requirement for realistic power systems. This paper presents a hybrid algorithm which combines Lagrangian Relaxation (LR) together with Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) to solve the problem in cooperative and competitive energy environments. Simulation studies were carried out on different systems containing various numbers of units. The outcomes from different algorithms are compared with that from the proposed hybrid algorithm and the advantages of the proposed algorithm are briefly discussed.     

Global optimization for power dispatch problems based on theory of moments

Non-convex of an optimal power dispatch problem makes it difficult to guarantee the global optimum. This paper presents a convex relaxation approach, called the Moment Semidefinite Programming (MSDP) method, to facilitate the search for deterministic global optimal solutions. The method employs a sequence of moments, which can linearize polynomial functions and construct positive semidefinite moment matrices, to form an SDP convex relaxation for power dispatch problems. In particular, the rank of the moment matrix is used as a sufficient condition to ensure the global optimality. The same condition can also be leveraged to estimate the number of global optimal solution(s). This method is effectively applied to {0,1}-economic dispatch (ED) problems and optimal power flow (OPF) problems. Simulation results showed that the MSDP method is capable of solving {0,1}-ED problems with integer values directly, and is able to identify if more than one global optimal solutions exist. In additional, the method can obtain rank-1 moment matrices for OPF’s counterexamples of existing SDP method, this ensures the global solution and overcomes the problem that existing SDP method cannot meet the rank-1 condition sometimes.     

High-resolution ISAR imaging of fast rotating targets based on pattern-coupled Bayesian strategy for multiple measurement vectors

Very high resolution inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging of fast rotating targets is a complicated task. There may be insufficient pulses or may introduce migration through range cells (MTRC) during the coherent processing interval (CPI) when we use the conventional range Doppler (RD) ISAR technique. With compressed sensing (CS) technique, we can achieve the high-resolution ISAR imaging of a target with limited number of pulses. Sparse representation based method can achieve the super resolution ISAR imaging of a target with a short CPI, during which the target rotates only a small angle and the range migration of the scatterers is small. However, traditional CS-based ISAR imaging method generally faced with the problem of basis mismatch, which may degrade the ISAR image. To achieve the high resolution ISAR imaging of fast rotating targets, this paper proposed a pattern-coupled sparse Bayesian learning method for multiple measurement vectors, i.e. the PC-MSBL algorithm. A multi-channel pattern-coupled hierarchical Gaussian prior is proposed to model the pattern dependencies among neighboring range cells and correct the MTRC problem. The expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm is used to infer the maximum a posterior (MAP) estimate of the hyperparameters. Simulation results validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm.     

Design of an antibacterial gelatin based on a covalent protein–protein coupling

An antibacterial peptide (AMP), i.e., nisin, was covalently bound to gelatin through a protein–protein coupling. Various reaction conditions were tested to study and optimize parameters of grafting e.g., orientation and density of AMP, which could impact the final antibacterial activity of the modified biopolymer. Modification was investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy and zeta potential. The antibacterial activity of the nisin‐enriched gelatin was evaluated against two staphylococci bacterial strains, i.e., Staphylococus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus. A higher activity was found for gelatin modified at pH = 7.4 revealing an influence of the nisin orientation on the protein antibacterial property. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41825.     

Nonlinear response in glass fibre non-crimp fabric reinforced vinylester composites

This paper addresses the nonlinear stress-strain response in glass fibre non-crimp fabric reinforced vinylester composite laminates subjected to in-plane tensile loading. The nonlinearity is shown to be a combination of brittle and plastic failure. It is argued that the shift from plastic to brittle behaviour in the vinylester is caused by the state of stress triaxiality caused by the interaction between fibre and vinylester. A model combining damage and plasticity is calibrated and evaluated using data from extensive experimental testing. The onset of damage is predicted using the Puck failure criterion, and the evolution of damage is calibrated from the observed softening in plies loaded in transverse tension. Shear loading beyond linear elastic response is observed to result in irreversible strains. A yield criterion is implemented for shear deformation. A strain hardening law is fitted to the stress-strain response observed in shear loaded plies. Experimental results from a selection of laminates with different layups are used to verify the numerical models. A complete set of model parameters for predicting elastic behaviour, strength and post failure softening is presented for glass fibre non-crimped fabric reinforced vinylester. The predicted behaviour from using these model parameters are shown to be in good agreement with experimental results.     

Remote Steering of Self‐Propelling Microcircuits by Modulated Electric Field

The principles and design of “active” self‐propelling particles that can convert energy, move directionally on their own, and perform a certain function is an emerging multidisciplinary research field, with high potential for future technologies. A simple and effective technique is presented for on‐demand steering of self‐propelling microdiodes that move electroosmotically on water surface, while supplied with energy by an external alternating (AC) field. It is demonstrated how one can control remotely the direction of diode locomotion by electronically modifying the applied AC signal. The swimming diodes change their direction of motion when a wave asymmetry (equivalent to a DC offset) is introduced into the signal. The data analysis shows that the ability to control and reverse the direction of motion is a result of the electrostatic torque between the asymmetrically polarized diodes and the ionic charges redistributed in the vessel. This novel principle of electrical signal‐coded steering of active functional devices, such as diodes and microcircuits, can find applications in motile sensors, MEMs, and microrobotics.