Combination of Surface Charge and Size Controls the Cellular Uptake of Functionalized Graphene Sheets

A fundamental issue for biomedical applications of graphene is the correlation between its physicochemical properties and cellular uptake mechanism. However, such studies are challenging due to the intrinsic polydispersity of graphene. In this work, a series of water soluble graphene sheets with the same polymer coverage, density of functional groups, and fluorescence intensity but three different sizes and surface charges are produced. The effect of the latter two factors and their combination on the mechanism of cellular uptake and intracellular pathways of these defined nanosheets is investigated via confocal and Raman microscopies. While positively (? NH₃⁺) and negatively (? OSO₃^?) charged sheets show an energy dependent uptake, their neutral analogs do not show any significant uptake. The cellular uptake efficacy of positively charged graphene sheets is independent of the size and occurs both through phagocytosis and clathrin‐mediated endocytosis pathways. However, cellular uptake efficacy of graphene sheets with negative surface charge strongly depends on the size of the sheets. They cross the membrane mainly through phagocytosis and sulfate‐receptor‐mediated endocytosis. This study demonstrates that the impact of the size of graphene derivatives on their cellular uptake pathways highly depends on their surface charges and vice versa.     

Stability of milling with non-uniform pitch and variable helix Tools

We study mechanical vibrations in milling with non-uniform pitch and variable helix tools. The process is modeled by a periodic delay differential equation with distributed delay, which takes into account, for example, the nonlinear cutting force behavior, the effect of runout, and the exact delay distribution due to the unequally spaced flutes. We present a new method for the identification of the chatter stability lobes from the linearized system that is based on the multifrequency solution. We give detailed remarks on the truncation of the resulting infinite dimensional matrices and the efficient numerical implementation of the method. Cutting tests for steel milling with a customary end mill with non-uniform pitch and variable helix angle and a conventional end mill with uniform pitch and constant helix angle are performed. The numerical and experimental results coincide well. They reveal a significant increase of the limiting depth of cut for the variable helix tool compared to the conventional tool. Moreover, we show that in contrast to conventional tools, for non-uniform pitch and variable helix tools, an exact model with time-varying coefficients, nonlinear cutting force behavior, and runout is necessary for an accurate prediction of the stability lobes.     

Fabrication of a transversal multilayer thermoelectric generator with substituted calcium manganite

The sintering behavior and thermoelectric performance of Ca_0.99Gd_0.01Mn_0.99W_0.01O₃ was studied, and a multilayer thermoelectric generator was fabricated. The addition of CuO as sintering additive was found to be effective for the reduction in the sintering temperature from 1300°C to about 1000°C‐1050°C. Dense samples were obtained after firing at 1050°C, whereas some porosity remained after firing at 1000°C. Samples sintered at reduced temperature exhibit lower electrical conductivity, whereas the Seebeck coefficient S = ?150 μV/K at 100°C is not affected by lowering the sintering temperature. The figure of merit is ZT = 0.12 at 700°C for samples sintered at 1300°C; ZT = 0.08 and 0.03 were obtained for multilayer laminates sintered at 1050°C and 1000°C, respectively. A transversal multilayer thermoelectric generator (TMLTEG) was built by stacking layers of substituted CaMnO₃ green tapes, and printing AgPd conductor stripes onto the thermoelectric layers at an angle of 30° relative to the direction of the heat flow. The multilayer stack was co‐fired at 1000°C. The TMLTEG has a power output of 2.5 mW at ?T= 200 K in the temperature interval of 25°C‐300°C. A meander‐like generator with larger power output comprising six TMTEGs is also presented.     

Nanostructured Si/Organic Heterojunction Solar Cells with High Open‐Circuit Voltage via Improving Junction Quality

Nanostructured silicon (Si) can provide improved light harvest efficiencies in organic‐Si heterojunction solar cells due to its low light reflection ratio compared with planar one. However, the associated large surface/volume ratio of nanostructured Si suffers from serious surface recombination as well as poor adhesion with organics in organic‐Si heterojunction solar cells, which leads to an inferior open‐circuit voltage (V_oc). Here, we develop a simple and effective method to suppress charge recombination as well as enhancing adhesion force between nanostructured Si and organics by incorporating a silane chemical, namely 3‐glycidoxypropyltrimethoxydsilane (GOPS). GOPS can chemically graft onto nanostructured Si and improve the aqueous organic wetting properties, suppressing surface charge recombination velocity dramatically. In addition, this chemically grafted layer can enhance adhesion force between organics and Si. In such a way, a record V_oc of 640 mV associated with a power conversion efficiency of 14.1% is obtained for organic‐nanostructured Si heterojunction devices. These findings suggest a promising approach to low‐cost and simple fabrication for high‐performance organic‐Si solar cells.     

Separation efficiency of particle-packed HPLC microchips

We report an experimental study of separation efficiency in microchip high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). For this study, prototype HPLC microchips were developed that are characterized by minimal dead volume, a separation channel with trapezoidal cross section, and on-chip UV detection. A custom-built stainless steel holder enabled microchip packing under pressures of up to 400 bar and ultrasonication. Bed densities were investigated with respect to the packing conditions and consistently related to pressure drop over the packed microchannels and separation efficiency under isocratic elution conditions. The derived plate height curves show a decrease of mobile phase mass transfer resistance with increasing bed density. High bed densities are critical to separation performance in noncylindrical packed beds, because only at low bed porosities does hydrodynamic dispersion in noncylindrical packings come close to that of cylindrical packings. At higher bed porosities, the presence of fluid channels of advanced flow velocity in the corners of noncylindrical packings affects hydrodynamic dispersion strongly. We demonstrate that the separation channels of HPLC microchips can be packed as densely as the cylindrical fused-silica capillaries used in nano-HPLC and that consequently microchip-HPLC separation efficiencies comparable to those of nano-HPLC can be achieved.     

In situ optical characterization and reengineering of interference coatings

A new optical monitoring system has been developed that allows recording of transmission spectra in the wavelength range between 400 and 920 nm of a growing optical coating during deposition. Several kinds of thin film sample have been prepared by use of a hybrid monitoring strategy that is essentially based on a combination of quartz monitoring and in situ transmission spectra measurements. We demonstrate and discuss the applicability of our system for reengineering procedures of high-low stacks and measurements of small vacuum or thermal shifts of optical coatings.     

Optical and chemical characterization of thin TiNx films deposited by DC-magnetron sputtering

Thin titanium nitride (TiN_x) films were deposited on silicon substrates by means of a reactive DC-magnetron plasma. Layers were synthesized under various conditions of discharge power and nitrogen flows in two operation modes of the magnetron (the so-called “balanced” and “unbalanced” modes). The optical constants of the TiN_x films were investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to determine the relative atomic concentration and chemical states of the TiN_x films. The density and thickness of the films have been investigated by means of grazing incidence X-ray reflectometry (GIXR). The results of the layer analyses were combined with plasma investigations carried out by means of energy resolved mass spectrometry (ERMS) under the same conditions. It is shown that the magnetron mode has a clear influence on the titanium deposition rate and the incorporation of nitrogen into the layers.     

基于基塘系统的珠江三角洲多尺度水敏设计研究

珠江三角洲是位于中国东南部以河流为主导的洪泛平原。由于堤防建设、河流渠化和城市化带来纳水空间的减少,珠江三角洲地区的河流、雨水和海洋所引起的洪水风险增加。为了防范洪水风险,需要采取更具适应性的城市化战略,在考虑多尺度研究视角的同时,重视珠江三角洲传统水利方法(即生态农业),例如利用传统水管理方法的基塘系统。确定基于该地区传统水陆混合农业实践的多尺度水敏设计的景观设计原则。顺德地区地处珠江三角洲西江和北江之间洪水易发的低地,这种传统水陆混合农业系统已经有着悠久的历史并促使其形成了与水共生的传统。通过学习传统的水陆混合农业实践,发现新的设计原则,从而减轻洪水风险,同时促进可持续的城市化。这种新的方法将不仅服务于顺德区,而且包括整个珠江三角洲,以增加对于洪水的适应性。     

Hindsight ≠ hindsight: Experimentally induced dissociations between hindsight components.

Hindsight bias has recently been conceived of not as a unitary phenomenon but as a conglomerate of 3 separate phenomenological manifestations (“hindsight components”; Blank, Nestler, von Collani, & Fischer, 2008): memory distortions, impressions of foreseeability, and impressions of inevitability. These components are thought to be fundamentally different in nature, to be influenced by different processes, and to serve different functions. This article provides strong evidence for the separate components view and its underlying assumptions by demonstrating theoretically predicted dissociations between the components. In Experiment 1, for example, we used a memory encoding manipulation to specifically influence the amount of hindsight memory distortion but not participants' inevitability impressions. Conversely, varying the number of provided reasons for an event outcome affected inevitability impressions but left memory distortion untouched. Similar results—using different theoretically derived manipulations—were obtained between foreseeability impressions and memory distortions (Experiment 2) and between inevitability and foreseeability impressions (Experiment 3). Theoretical and practical consequences of these results and of the separate components view are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)