A Dual Physical Cross-Linking Strategy to Construct Tough Hydrogels with High Strength,Excellent Fatigue Resistance,and Stretching-Induced Strengthening Effect

Hydrogels with excellent stiffness, toughness, anti-fatigue, and self-recovery properties are regarded as promising water-containing materials. In this work, a dual physically cross-linked (DPC) sodium alginate (SA)/poly[acrylamide (AAm)-acrylic acid (AAc)-octadecyl methacrylate (OMA)]-Fe³⁺ hydrogel is reported, which is constructed by hydrophobic association (HA) and ionic coordination (IC). The optimal DPC hydrogel demonstrates excellent mechanical performance: tensile modulus of 0.65 MPa, tensile strength of 3.31 MPa, elongation at break of 1547%, and toughness of 27.8 MJ m^–3. SA/P(AAm-AAc-OMA)-Fe³⁺ DPC hydrogels also exhibit prominent anti-fatigue and self-recovery performance (99.1–109.7% modulus recovery and 90.4–108.9% dissipated energy recovery after resting for 5 min without additional stimuli at ambient temperature) through the reconstruction of reversible physical cross-linking. Some of the SA/P(AAm-AAc-OMA)-Fe³⁺ DPC hydrogels even exhibit a stretching-induced strengthening effect, which is similar to the performance of muscle—“the more training, the more strength.” Hence, the combination of HA and IC will provide an effective approach to design DPC hydrogels with desirable mechanical performances and a longer service life for wider applications of soft materials.     

On the involvement of radical oxygen species O− in catalytic oxidation of benzene to phenol by nitrous oxide

Catalytic oxidation of benzene to phenol by nitrous oxide over Fe-MFI zeolites was studied in relation to the active oxygen species taking part in the oxidation. A linear dependence of the reaction rate on the concentration of independently identified active sites generating O⁻ radicals (α sites) was obtained within a broad range of values. The dependence is interpreted as convincing evidence of the O⁻ involvement in the catalytic (not only stoichiometric) oxidation of benzene to phenol. This conclusion is of particular importance in connection with a long discussion in the literature on a possible role of O⁻ radicals in selective oxidation catalysis over V and Mo oxides. Reliable evidence of the catalytic role of O⁻ obtained with zeolites may renew general interest in the once-suggested but not recognized role of radical oxygen in oxidation over widely used metal oxide catalysts.     

Growth and physical properties of individual single-walled carbon nanotubes

We have developed a versatile catalyst-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique for the synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) from discrete nickel nanoparticles (average diameter of 4.7 ± 1.4 nm). Atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy are used to characterize these as-grown nanotubes. Using a conventional set-up, we are able to produce isolated SWNTs with a narrow diameter distribution (1.5 ± 0.5 nm). The advantages of such a versatile CVD method for the study of physical properties at the single nanotube level are illustrated by means of two prospective studies on vibrational and electrostatic properties of SWNTs.     

Mobile augmented reality based context-aware library management system

Mobile augmented reality has gained popularity in recent years due to the technological advances of smartphones and other mobile devices. One particular area in which mobile augmented reality is being used is library management. However, current mobile augmented reality solutions in this domain are lacking in context-awareness. It has been suggested in the literature that agent programming may be suitable at overcoming this problem, but little research has been conducted using modern mobile augmented reality applications with agents. This paper aims to bridge this gap through the development of an agent-based, mobile augmented reality prototype, titled Libagent. Libagent was subjected to five experiments to determine its suitability, efficiency, and accuracy for library management. The results of these experiments indicate that agent-based mobile augmented reality is a promising tool for context-aware library management.     

Interannual and intra-annual cycles of satellite-derived chlorophyll-a concentrations in the Caspian Sea

Variability of phytoplankton in the Caspian Sea (CS) is related to the complex orography, the variety of physical and chemical processes, and climatic indices. Here, interannual and intra-annual variability of satellite-derived chlorophyll-a concentrations (Chl-a) were studied using wavelet analysis during 2002–2019 in different regions of the CS. Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) analysis performed to classify the CS into the areas of similar variability of satellite-derived Chl-a. Wavelet spectral analysis showed that the Chl-a variability regulated by four primary periodic cycles: 0.5-year, 1-year, 2 to 2.5-year, and 3 to 5-year. The 0.5 and 1-year wavelet cycles mostly depicted the intensity of seasonality patterns. The 2–2.5-year and 3–5-year cycles of Chl-a showed non-stationary coherence with corresponding low-frequency cycles of NAO and ENSO. The 3–5-year wavelet amplitudes of Chl-a strongly correlated with NAO and ENSO in the southern CS. Weak correlations of 2–2.5-year cycle wavelet amplitudes of Chl-a with NAO and ENSO suggested that variations do not always directly translate to a biological response. A negative anomaly in the Chl-a autumn peaks observed during 2011–2016 in the middle and southern CS, when NAO phases were persistently positive. The interannual variations of summer peaks in the northern CS, and autumn peaks in the middle and southern CS were broadly related to the precipitation. SST and wind stress. Moreover, it was shown that the Volga discharge has a significant influence on Chl-a variability in the northern CS.     

Importance of nonindigenous harpacticoids (Crustacea: Copepoda) decrease with depth in Lake Ontario

Harpacticoid copepods can be a substantial component of the meiobenthic community in lakes and serve an ecological role as detritivores. Here we present the first species-level lake-wide quantitative assessment of the harpacticoid assemblage of Lake Ontario with emphasis on the status of nonindigenous species. Additionally, we provide COI-5P sequences of harpacticoid taxa through Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). Harpacticoids were collected at depths from 0.1 to 184 m and from a range of substrates from August to September 2018 as part of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative (CSMI) offshore benthic survey. Twenty-six meiobenthic samples were analyzed using microscopy for community composition analysis of harpacticoids. We found thirteen indigenous and three nonindigenous species of harpacticoid, with the introduced species dominating at shallow depths. The community transitioned from nonindigenous to indigenous species dominance as depth increased. Nonindigenous species accounted for 79% of the community (by abundance) at depths <20 m, 55% from 20 to 40 m, and only 24% at depths >40 m. The nonindigenous species encountered included the first detections of Schizopera borutzkyi (Monchenko, 1967) and Heteropsyllus nunni (Coull, 1975) from Lake Ontario. S. borutzkyi was the most abundant harpacticoid species in the lake, approaching a maximum density of 50,000/m² and a lake-wide average density of 7,900/m². Numerically important indigenous species included Bryocamptus nivalis (Willey, 1925), Canthocamptus robertcokeri (Wilson, 1958), Canthocamptus staphylinoides (Pearse, 1905), and Moraria cristata (Chappuis, 1929). The prevalence of nonindigenous harpacticoids in the meiobenthos of Lake Ontario suggests further investigations of Great Lakes meiofauna communities are warranted.     

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lysine diisocyanate based polyurethanes and segmented polyurethane ureas by various proteases

This work studies the enzymatic degradation of polyurethanes (PUs) and segmented polyurethane ureas (SPUUs) derived from lysine diisocyanate (LDI) by various proteases. Thiol proteases, such as papain, bromelain, and ficin, showed high activity on PUs. Protease K and chymotrypsin also hydrolyzed the PUs. For almost all SPUUs, papain showed high activity. For example, LDI/poly(caprolactone) diol (M_w = 1250)/ethylene diamine (2/1/1) was hydrolyzed to 43% under the same conditions. The water-soluble degradation products of a polyurethane, LDI/BD (1/1), and two model compounds treated with papain were studied with NMR and GPC analysis. From the results, it was evident that the pendant methyl ester group in LDI was rapidly hydrolyzed, followed by slow hydrolysis of urethane bonds in the backbone chain.     

粘帚霉可湿性粉剂助剂的初步研究

可湿性粉剂是生物农药的重要剂型。通过平板培养法，测定菌落形成单位数（cfu值1，开展了可湿性粉剂多种常用助剂对高效生防真菌粉红粘帚霉67．1菌株孢子的生物学相容性研究。所试载体中，滑石粉等4种处理与对照没有显著性的差异，对粘帚霉孢子活力影响不明显；所试润湿分散剂中，木质素磺酸钙与对照没有显著性差异，对粘帚霉孢子活力影响不明显；所试紫外保护剂均对孢子活力无显著影响，但在紫外灯照射3min的条件下，只有腐植酸和糊精能有效保护孢子活力；常用稳定剂CMC—Na（羧甲基纤维素钠）对孢子活力无影响。上述多种与粘帚霉孢子具良好生物学相容性助剂的确定，为粘帚霉可湿性粉剂的研究提供重要依据。