Reversible change of wettability in poly(ɛ-caprolactone/azobenzene) honeycomb-patterned films by UV and visible light illumination

Polymer Bulletin - A new type of photosensitive poly(?-caprolactone) (PCL) composites containing 4-dimethylamino-4′-(6-hydroxy hexyloxy) azobenzene (Azo) was synthesized by in situ...     

Novel reinforced polymers based on blends of polystyrene and a thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer

A thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (LCP), when added to polystyrene (PS), can function as both a processing aid and a reinforcing filler. Thermal, rheological, and mechanical properties of the pure components and blends containing up to 10 percent LCP are reported. The LCP used is immiscible with PS, and when an extensional component of flow is present during processing, the LCP forms an elongated fibrous phase oriented in the flow direction. This oriented phase lubricates the melt, substantially lowering the viscosity. When the processed blend is cooled, the dispersed fibrous LCP phase is preserved in the solidified material. The LCP microfibers behave like short reinforcing fibers to improve the mechanical properties of the blend; for example, at an LCP concentration of 4.5 percent, the modulus is increased about 40 percent vs. pure PS.     

The Role of Surface Chemistry on the Toxicity of Ag Nanoparticles

The role of surface chemistry on the toxicity of Ag nanoparticles is investigated using Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast as a platform for evaluation. Combining the shape‐controlled synthesis of Ag nanoparticles with a comprehensive characterization of their physicochemical properties, an understanding is formed of the correlation between the physicochemical parameters of nanoparticles and the inhibition growth of yeast cells upon the introduction of nanoparticles into the cell culture system. Capping agents, surface facets, and sample stability—the three experimental parameters that are inherent from the wet‐chemical synthesis of Ag nanoparticles—have a strong impact on toxicity evaluation. Hence, it is important to characterize surface properties of Ag nanoparticles in the nature of biological media and to understand the role that surface chemistry may interplay to correlate the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles with their biological response upon exposure. This work demonstrates the great importance of surface chemistry in designing experiments for reliable toxicity evaluation and in mitigating the toxicity of Ag nanoparticles for their safe use in future commercialization.     

Wirelessly Synchronized One‐Way Ranging Algorithm with Active Mobile Nodes

In this letter, we propose a one‐way ranging algorithm that is based on wireless synchronization with measured timestamps and clock frequency offsets. In our proposed algorithm, an active mobile node initiates a ranging procedure by transmitting a ranging frame, and the anchor nodes report their timestamps for the received ranging frame to a reference anchor node. The synchronization of a pair of nodes is provided with instantaneous time information, and the corresponding difference of distances can be calculated.     

QoS‐Guaranteed Slot Allocation Algorithm for Efficient Medium Access in HR‐WPAN

It is very important to provide a parameterized quality of service (QoS) using traffic specification (TSPEC), such as mean data rate, maximum burst size, and peak data rate, when packets from the application layer need to be transmitted with guaranteed services in a high‐rate wireless personal area network (HR‐WPAN). As medium resources are limited, the optimal medium time required for each device needs to be estimated to share the resources efficiently among devices. This paper proposes a variable‐service interval‐based resource allocation algorithm to efficiently make a reservation of medium resources based on a parameterized QoS. In other words, the proposed algorithm calculates the number of medium access slots (MASs) based on TSPEC, local resources, and local conditions and determines suitable locations for the MASs within a superframe to accommodate more devices. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can accommodate more devices and has greater than 10% resource allocation efficiency in an HR‐WPAN compared to existing schemes.     

Quercetin Suppresses Intracellular ROS Formation,MMP Activation,and Cell Motility in Human Fibrosarcoma Cells

Cell metastasis is a major cause of death from cancer and can arise from excessive levels of oxidative stress. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the natural flavonoid quercetin can inhibit matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐2 and ‐9 activities through the attenuation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, an event expected to lead to the inhibition of cell motility. To induce sustained ROS formation, cells were treated with phenazine methosulfate (PMS; 1 μM). Noncytotoxic concentrations of quercetin inhibited PMS‐induced increases in cell motility in HT1080 human fibrosarcoma (HT1080) cells. While nearly 100% of cells were observed to migrate after 24 h of PMS treatment, quercetin significantly (P < 0.01) suppressed this effect. We also found that quercetin, up to 10 μg/mL, attenuated PMS‐induced MMP‐2 activation. We then investigated whether the decreased levels of MMP‐2 activation could be attributable to lower levels of ROS formation by quercetin. We found that quercetin treatments significantly attenuated PMS‐induced ROS formation (P < 0.01) and resulted in decreased cell motility associated with a reduction in MMP‐2 and ‐9 activitiy in HT1080 cells, even in the absence of PMS treatment. Collectively, these results suggest that quercetin inhibits cell motility via the inhibition of MMP activation in HT1080 cells in the presence and absence of PMS. This is likely to be a result of the suppression of intracellular ROS formation by quercetin.     

Mobile Robot Exploration in Indoor Environment Using Topological Structure with Invisible Barcodes

This paper addresses the localization and navigation problem in the movement of service robots by using invisible two dimensional barcodes on the floor. Compared with other methods using natural or artificial landmarks, the proposed localization method has great advantages in cost and appearance since the location of the robot is perfectly known using the barcode information after mapping is finished. We also propose a navigation algorithm which uses a topological structure. For the topological information, we define nodes and edges which are suitable for indoor navigation, especially for large area having multiple rooms, many walls, and many static obstacles. The proposed algorithm also has the advantage that errors which occur in each node are mutually independent and can be compensated exactly after some navigation using barcodes. Simulation and experimental results were performed to verify the algorithm in the barcode environment, showing excellent performance results. After mapping, it is also possible to solve the kidnapped robot problem and to generate paths using topological information.     

Improved electrical properties of tin-oxide films by using ultralow-pressure sputtering process

The improved structural and electrical properties of tin-oxide films produced by using ultralow-pressure sputtering (ULPS) method are reported. The Hall mobility of the film (~ 13 cm²/V s) deposited using ULPS was about 1.5 times higher than that of the film (~ 8 cm²/V s) sputtered using a pressure of 4.0 × 10^− 1 Pa. As the sputtering pressure was decreased, the film was transformed from an amorphous structure to a nano-crystalline one and gained a stoichiometric SnO₂ composition. These changes in the film structure sufficiently decreased the carrier concentration to facilitate application to thin film transistors.