From Oxadiazole to Triazole Analogues: Optimization toward a Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonist with Improved in vivo Efficacy in Dogs

The orexin system is responsible for regulating the sleep-wake cycle. Suvorexant, a dual orexin receptor antagonist (DORA) is approved by the FDA for the treatment of insomnia disorders. Herein, we report the optimization efforts toward a DORA, where our starting point was (5-methoxy-4-methyl-2-[1,2,3]triazol-2-yl-phenyl)-{(S)-2-[5-(2-trifluoromethoxy-phenyl)-[1,2,4]oxadiazol-3-yl]-pyrrolidin-1-yl}methanone ( 6 ), a compound which emerged from our in-house research program. Compound 6 was shown to be a potent, brain-penetrating DORA with in vivo efficacy similar to suvorexant in rats. However, shortcomings from low metabolic stability, high plasma protein binding (PPB), low brain free fraction (f_u brain), and low aqueous solubility, were identified and hence, compound 6 was not an ideal candidate for further development. Our optimization efforts addressing the above-mentioned shortcomings resulted in the identification of (4-chloro-2-[1,2,3]triazol-2-yl-phenyl)-{(S)-2-methyl-2-[5-(2-trifluoromethoxy-phenyl)-4H-[1,2,4]triazol-3-yl]-pyrrolidin-1-yl}l-methanone ( 42 ), a DORA with improved in vivo efficacy compared to 6 .     

基于双声表面波器件的引信加速度传感器

In view of the shortcomings of silicon micro acceleration sensor based on piezoresistive effect and capacitance principle, such as temperature drift, low resolution and poor anti-interference ability, a fuze acceleration sensor based on dual SAW devices is proposed. The sensor adopts a dual saw device structure, one is coated with a sensitive film for measurement, the other is an uncoat- ed reference channel for compensation of environmental temperature, pressure, humidity and other factors. The experimental results show that the maximum linear error is only 1.6%, the sensitivity is 54.3Hz/g, and the maximum hysteresis error is less than 1%. Compared with piezoresistive accelerometer and capacitive accelerometer, the linear error of the accelerometer is small, the sensitivi- ty is high, and it has strong anti-interference ability.     

Dual pH‐ and thermal‐responsive nanocomposite hydrogels for controllable delivery of hydrophobic drug baicalein

Hydrogels have been widely used as mild biomaterials due to their bio‐affinity, high drug loading capability and controllable release profiles. However, hydrogel‐based carriers are greatly limited for the delivery of hydrophobic payloads due to the lack of hydrophobic binding sites. Herein, nano‐liposome micelles were embedded in semi‐interpenetrating poly[(N‐isopropylacrylamide)‐co‐chitosan] (PNIPAAm‐co‐CS) and poly[(N‐isopropylacrylamide)‐co‐(sodium alginate)] (PNIPAAm‐co‐SA) hydrogels which were responsive to both temperature and pH, thereby establishing tunable nanocomposite hydrogel delivery systems. Nano‐micelles formed via the self‐assembly of phospholipid could serve as the link between hydrophobic drug and hydrophilic hydrogel due to their special amphiphilic structure. The results of transmission and scanning electron microscopies and infrared spectroscopy showed that the porous hydrogels were successfully fabricated and the liposomes encapsulated with baicalein could be well contained in the network. In addition, the experimental results of response release in vitro revealed that the smart hydrogels showed different degree of sensitiveness under different pH and temperature stimuli. The results of the study demonstrate that combining PNIPAAm‐co‐SA and PNIPAAm‐co‐CS hydrogels with liposomes encapsulated with hydrophobic drugs is a feasible method for hydrophobic drug delivery and have potential application prospects in the medical field. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

车辆自组织网络中新型NP-CSMA随机多址协议研究分析

智能交通的出现使得车辆自组织网络受到越来越多的关注。车辆自组织网络的动态拓扑结构变化非常剧烈,这对网络的吞吐率、传输速率等性能提出了很高的要求。提出1种具有握手机制协议的自适应多通道双时钟NP-CSMA随机多址接入协议。该协议首先区分2种P-CSMA协议,握手机制成功解决了隐藏的终端问题,双时钟机制减少了平均空闲时间,多通道机制增加通道数量和划分用户优先级的同时提高了系统吞吐率,自适应机制能够使系统在高负载下保持稳定吞吐率。还对该协议的传输速率进行了分析,得出该协议的传输速率相对较高的结论。通过平均周期方法推导吞吐率和传输速率的计算公式,仿真结果与理论推导一致。     

Particulate matter emitted from ultrasonic humidifiers—Chemical composition and implication to indoor air

Household humidification is widely practiced to combat dry indoor air. While the benefits of household humidification are widely perceived, its implications to the indoor air have not been critically appraised. In particular, ultrasonic humidifiers are known to generate fine particulate matter (PM). In this study, we first conducted laboratory experiments to investigate the size, quantity, and chemical composition of PM generated by an ultrasonic humidifier. The mass of PM generated showed a correlation with the total alkalinity of charge water, suggesting that CaCO₃ is likely making a major contribution to PM. Ion chromatography analysis revealed a large amount of SO₄²⁻ in PM, representing a previously unrecognized indoor source. Preliminary results of organic compounds being present in humidifier PM are also presented. A whole-house experiment was further conducted at an actual residential house, with five low-cost sensors (AirBeam) monitoring PM in real time. Operation of a single ultrasonic humidifier resulted in PM_2.5 concentrations up to hundreds of μg m⁻³, and its influence extended across the entire household. The transport and loss of PM_2.5 depended on the rate of air circulation and ventilation. This study emphasizes the need to further investigate the impact of humidifier operation, both on human health and on the indoor atmospheric chemistry, for example, partitioning of acidic and basic compounds.     

A dual Newton strategy for tree‐sparse quadratic programs and its implementation in the open‐source software treeQP

This paper presents a dual Newton scheme for tree‐sparse quadratic programs as they may arise in the field of stochastic programming. Previous work suggests to introduce auxiliary variables to decompose the tree into scenarios and use Newton's method to solve a dual problem formulation. Following a different approach, we apply the same principle directly on the tree‐sparse problem, avoiding the increase in dimensionality. In combination with a tailored algorithm for the calculation of the step direction, which is typically the most expensive operation per iteration, the proposed algorithm achieves a linear complexity in the number of nodes and supports parallel processing of the tree branches in a stage‐wise fashion. An open‐source implementation of the presented dual Newton strategy is publicly available in treeQP , a toolbox of open‐source solvers for tree‐sparse quadratic programs.     

DP980高强钢连续退火后的组织与性能

研究了不同工艺参数对980 MPa级连续退火双相钢组织及力学性能的影响,利用光学显微镜、透射电镜(TEM)以及拉伸试验对双相钢的微观组织和力学性能进行测试及分析。结果表明:DP980钢的退火组织主要由铁素体、马氏体岛和少量的贝氏体组成,马氏体岛附近的位错密度较高。随着均热温度的升高,DP980钢的抗拉强度呈现先降低后升高的趋势,屈服强度与抗拉强度的趋势一致,伸长率先升高后降低。随着过时效温度的升高,DP980钢的抗拉强度和屈服强度降低,降低幅度较小,伸长率上升,但变化不明显,说明通过调整过时效温度来调控其力学性能的作用较小。     

Strength and strain-hardening enhancement by generating hard delta-ferrite in twinning-induced plasticity steel

ABSTRACT

A dual-phase (12?vol.% delta-ferrite?+?78?vol.% austenite) high manganese twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel was produced by hot rolled and annealing treatment. In comparison with the fully austenitic TWIP steel, both the yield and ultimate tensile strength of the dual-phase TWIP steel reinforced by hard delta-ferrite are significantly increased. It was found that the delta-ferrite in dual-phase steel exhibits a high hardness owing to the formed DO₃ structured intermetallic phase within ferrite. The presence of delta-ferrite dramatically improves the strain-hardening ability of TWIP steel. This is principally attributed to the effects of strain partitioning between hard delta-ferrite and softer austenite on the kinetics of deformation twinning and/or additional geometrical necessary dislocation (GND) during the deformation process.     

The First Flexible Dual‐Ion Microbattery Demonstrates Superior Capacity and Ultrahigh Energy Density: Small and Powerful

Humans live today in a high‐tech and informationalized society. With the development of the emerging electronic information age, various electronic systems are inclined to be multifunctional and miniaturized. It is urgent to develop “small and powerful” micro‐batteries with flexibility and high electrochemical performance to meet the diverse needs of microelectronic components. However, low electrochemical performance exists in traditional microenergy storage devices, which fail to satisfy the energy needs for microdevices. Here, for the first time, a planar integrated flexible rechargeable dual‐ion microbattery (DIMB) is reported, which is fabricated from an interdigital pattern of graphite as an electrode and lithium hexafluorophosphate as an electrolyte. As a microbattery, the DIMB exhibits a high reversible capacity of 56.50 mAh cm^?3, and excellent cycle stability with 90% capacity retention after 300 cycles under a high working voltage. The application of DIMB in microdevices, such as light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), digital electronic game consoles, and electrochromic glasses is also investigated, fully demonstrating its “small and powerful” performance. The integrated DIMB is a high‐voltage microdevice that reaches a nonpareil discharge voltage of about 100 V and a charging capacity of 102 mAh g^?1. This dual ion‐based flexible microbattery could become a promising candidate for energy storage and conversion components in next‐generation microelectronic devices and integrated electronic devices.