Cross-Linking Organic and Polyoxometalate Chemistries

This paper is a choral personal account on a longstanding and fruitful collaboration of organic and inorganic chemists to develop new hybrid polyoxometallic systems. .We explain our motivation and the context of our work that led to polyoxometalates with highly functional and reactive organic groups. Our approach yielded catalytically, biologically, and photochemically active systems.     

The Role of Pericytes in Neurovascular Unit Remodeling in Brain Disorders

Neurons are extremely vulnerable cells that tightly rely on the brain’s highly dynamic and complex vascular network that assures an accurate and adequate distribution of nutrients and oxygen. The neurovascular unit (NVU) couples neuronal activity to vascular function, controls brain homeostasis, and maintains an optimal brain microenvironment adequate for neuronal survival by adjusting blood-brain barrier (BBB) parameters based on brain needs. The NVU is a heterogeneous structure constituted by different cell types that includes pericytes. Pericytes are localized at the abluminal side of brain microvessels and contribute to NVU function. Pericytes play essential roles in the development and maturation of the neurovascular system during embryogenesis and stability during adulthood. Initially, pericytes were described as contractile cells involved in controlling neurovascular tone. However, recent reports have shown that pericytes dynamically respond to stress induced by injury upon brain diseases, by chemically and physically communicating with neighboring cells, by their immune properties and by their potential pluripotent nature within the neurovascular niche. As such, in this paper, we would like to review the role of pericytes in NVU remodeling, and their potential as targets for NVU repair strategies and consequently neuroprotection in two pathophysiologically distinct brain disorders: ischemic stroke and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).     

在电子测试技术工程教育中,使用NI LabVIEW和NI ELVIS进行IC参数测试

1引言 将NILabVIEW、NI教学实验室虚拟仪器套件II（NIELVISII）与易于使用、自定义的即插即用IC测试板结合,创建了一个用户界面友好且可编程配置的IC直流参数测试平台,为高等教育提供了测试中小规模集成电路芯片直流参数的动手实践平台。     

Low‐Noise Fully Differential Amplifiers Using JFET‐CMOS Integration Technology for Smart Sensors

In this paper, CMOS‐based low‐noise amplifiers with JFET‐CMOS technology for high‐resolution sensor interface circuits are presented. A differential difference amplifier (DDA) configuration is employed to realize differential signal amplification with very high input impedance, which is required for the front‐end circuit in many sensor applications. Low‐noise JFET devices are used as input pair of the input differential stages or source‐grounded output load devices, which are dominant in the total noise floor of DDA circuits. A fully differential amplifier circuit with pure CMOS DDA and three types of JFET‐CMOS DDAs were fabricated and their noise performances were compared. The results show that the total noise floor of the JFET‐CMOS amplifier was much lower compared to that of the pure CMOS configuration. The noise‐reduction effect of JFET replacement depends on the circuit configuration. The noise reduction effect by JFET device was maximum of about − 18 dB at 2.5 Hz. JFET‐CMOS technology is very effective in improving the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) of a sensor interface circuit with CMOS‐based sensing systems. © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Efficient and Scalable Kinetic Resolution of Racemic 4‐Formyl[2.2]paracyclophane via Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation

Herein we wish to report a new non‐enzymatic kinetic resolution of racemic 4‐formyl[2.2]paracyclophane based on Noyori asymmetric transfer hydrogenations (KR‐ATH). Our approach, which provides an efficient access to enantiopure (R_p)‐ and (S_p)‐4‐formyl[2.2]paracyclophane (>99% ee, 39% and 41% isolated yields, respectively), is operationally simple and can be run on the gram‐scale thus confirming the practical applicability of this method.

     

Nanostructured gold films exhibiting almost complete absorption of light at visible wavelengths

Nanostructured metal surfaces have been known to exhibit properties that deviate from that of the bulk material. By simply modifying the texture of a metal surface, various unique optical properties can be observed. In this paper, we present a simple two step electrochemical process combining electrodeposition and anodization to generate black gold surfaces. This process is simple, versatile and up-scalable for the production of large surfaces. The black gold films have remarkable optical behavior as they absorb more than 93% of incident light over the entire visible spectrum and also exhibit no specular reflectance. A careful analysis by scanning electron microscopy reveals that these unique optical properties are due to their randomly rough surface, as they consist in a forest of dendritic microstructures with a nanoscale roughness. This new type of black films can be fabricated to a large variety of substrates, turning them to super absorbers with potential applications in photovoltaic solar cells or highly sensitive detectors and so on.

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Fuzzy inference systems: An integrated modeling environment for collaboration between expert knowledge and data using FisPro

The present paper aims to demonstrate the interest of fuzzy inference systems in system modeling when human interaction is important. It discusses the originality of FIS and their capability to integrate expertise and rule learning from data into a single framework, analyzing their place relatively to concurrent approaches. An open source software implementation is presented, with a focus on the useful features for modeling. Two real world case studies are presented to illustrate the approach and the software utility.