Effect of hyperbranched poly(citric polyethylene glycol) with various polyethylene glycol chain lengths on starch plasticization and retrogradation

A series of hyperbranched poly(citric polyethylene glycol) (PCPEG) materials with varied polyethylene glycol (PEG) chain lengths as plasticizers were mixed with maize starch (MS) via cooking and film‐forming. The structure, pasting property, plasticization, aging property, moisture absorption and compatibility of plasticized starches were studied by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, rapid viscosity analysis, tension testing, moisture absorption measurements and scanning electron microscopy. Compared with PEG and citric acid, PCPEG was more effective in promoting starch chain movement and inhibiting the retrogradation of starch film. Also, PCPEG/MS had smaller moisture content. The longer the plasticizer chain, the better were the aging resistance and moisture resistance of starch. But with an increase of PEG chain length, mechanical properties of PCPEG/MS deteriorated and the compatibility between PCPEG and MS decreased. The hyperbranched derivative of PEG with longer chain exhibited improved plasticization and compatibility with starch. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Influence of domain switching process on the electrical fatigue behavior of ferroelectrics

We report an experimental approach, designed based on the recent findings that domain switching in ferroelectric ceramics can be separated into three regimes during antiparallel electric field loading, to investigate the influence of domain switching process on the electrical fatigue behavior of ferroelectrics. Uniaxial compressive stress (−2 MPã -100 MPa) and thermal loading (20 °C–150 °C) were used to tune the domain switching process. Under the same loading condition, the bipolar electrical fatigue behavior of soft lead zirconate titanate ceramics was systematically characterized. The amplitude and frequency of the applied electric field are 2 kV/mm and 10 Hz, respectively. By analyzing the evolution of the domain switching process, combined with the measured polarization and strain response, as well as the cracks observed on the surface of the specimen, it is found that the fatigue of ferroelectric ceramics was mainly related to the domain switching process near the coercive electric field: the regime 2 defined in this paper. The underlying mechanism was further discussed by considering the interplay between the domain switching process with the main factors affecting the electrical fatigue of ferroelectrics, namely defect redistribution, charge carrier injection, and crack initiation.     

A charge sharing–based switching scheme for SAR ADCs

This paper presents an energy-efficient switching scheme for successive approximation register (SAR) analogue-to-digital converter (ADC). The proposed scheme employs charge recycling method to keep the capacitor arrays free of transitional energy between bit generations except reset phase. In comparison with the conventional switching scheme, the proposed one achieves 100% transitional energy saving without considering reset phase. In addition, configuration of a 10-bit SAR ADC shows that the proposed switching scheme reduces the capacitor area by 25% compared with the conventional switching scheme.     

Supramolecular Assembly of Aminoethylene‐Lipopeptide PMO Conjugates into RNA Splice‐Switching Nanomicelles

Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) are oligonucleotide analogs that can be used for therapeutic modulation of pre‐mRNA splicing. Similar to other classes of nucleic acid‐based therapeutics, PMOs require delivery systems for efficient transport to the intracellular target sites. Here, artificial peptides based on the oligo(ethylenamino) acid succinyl‐tetraethylenpentamine (Stp), hydrophobic modifications, and an azide group are presented, which are used for strain‐promoted azide‐alkyne cycloaddition conjugation with splice‐switching PMOs. By systematically varying the lead structure and formulation, it is determined that the type of contained fatty acid and supramolecular assembly have a critical impact on the delivery efficacy. A compound containing linolenic acid with three cis double bonds exhibits the highest splice‐switching activity and significantly increases functional protein expression in pLuc/705 reporter cells in vitro and after local administration in vivo. Structural and mechanistic studies reveal that the lipopeptide PMO conjugates form nanoparticles, which accelerate cellular uptake and that the content of unsaturated fatty acids enhances endosomal escape. In an in vitro Duchenne muscular dystrophy exon skipping model using H2K‐mdx52 dystrophic skeletal myotubes, the highly potent PMO conjugates mediate significant splice‐switching at very low nanomolar concentrations. The presented aminoethylene‐lipopeptides are thus a promising platform for the generation of PMO‐therapeutics with a favorable activity/toxicity profile.     

Study on maximum power point tracking of photovoltaic array in irregular shadow

Traditional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) methods can hardly find global maximum power point (MPP) because output characteristics curve of photovoltaic (PV) array may have multi local maximum power points in irregular shadow, and thus easily fall into the local maximum power point. To address this drawback, Considering that sliding mode variable structure (SMVS) control strategy have such advantages as simple structure, fast response and strong robustness, and P&O method have the advantages of simple principle and convenient implementation, so a new algorithm combining SMVS control method and P&O method is proposed, besides, PI controller is applied to reduce system chattering caused by switching sliding surface. It is applied to MPPT control of PV array in irregular shadow to solve the problem of multi-peak optimization in partial shadow. In order to verity the rationality of the proposed algorithm, the experimental circuit is built, which achieves MPPT control by means of the proposed algorithm and P&O method. The experimental results show that compared with the traditional P&O algorithm, the proposed algorithm can fast track the global MPP, tracking speed increases by 60% and the relative error decreased by 20%. Moreover, the system becomes more stable near the MPP, the fluctuations of output power is greatly reduced, and thus make full use of solar energy.     

Inhibitory Monoclonal Antibodies and Their Recombinant Derivatives Targeting Surface-Exposed Carbonic Anhydrase XII on Cancer Cells

Monoclonal and recombinant antibodies are widely used for the diagnostics and therapy of cancer. They are generated to interact with cell surface proteins which are usually involved in the development and progression of cancer. Carbonic anhydrase XII (CA XII) contributes to the survival of tumors under hypoxic conditions thus is considered a candidate target for antibody-based therapy. In this study, we have generated a novel collection of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against the recombinant extracellular domain of CA XII produced in HEK-293 cells. Eighteen out of 24 MAbs were reactive with cellular CA XII on the surface of live kidney and lung cancer cells as determined by flow cytometry. One MAb 14D6 also inhibited the enzymatic activity of recombinant CA XII as measured by the stopped-flow assay. MAb 14D6 showed the migrastatic effect on human lung carcinoma A549 and renal carcinoma A498 cell lines in a ‘wound healing’ assay. It did not reduce the growth of multicellular lung and renal cancer spheroids but reduced the cell viability by the ATP Bioluminescence assay. Epitope mapping revealed the surface-exposed amino acid sequence (35-FGPDGENS-42) close to the catalytic center of CA XII recognized by the MAb 14D6. The variable regions of the heavy and light chains of MAb 14D6 were sequenced and their complementarity-determining regions were defined. The obtained variable sequences were used to generate recombinant antibodies in two formats: single-chain fragment variable (scFv) expressed in E. coli and scFv fused to human IgG1 Fc fragment (scFv-Fc) expressed in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. Both recombinant antibodies maintained the same specificity for CA XII as the parental MAb 14D6. The novel antibodies may represent promising tools for CA XII-related cancer research and immunotherapy.     

Effect of Moving Speed of Charged Metallic Spherical Electrode on Electrostatic Discharge

In this investigation, the nature of the electrostatic discharge (ESD) that occurs when a charged object moves toward a stationary grounded object is experimentally clarified. The spark lengths, discharge currents, and induced voltages in a magnetic probe were measured when a charged metallic spherical electrode connected to a 422 pF capacitor approached a stationary grounded object, which was the current target, for different moving speeds of the charged metallic spherical electrode in a range of 1 mm/s to 100 mm/s. The charge voltages of the capacitor were +6.5 kV and +10 kV. Based on the results, the average gap length shortened with the speed of the spherical electrode. The average peak values of the discharge current and the induced voltage were likely to increase with the speed of the spherical electrode. The average rise times of the discharge current and the induced voltage were likely to drop with the speed of the spherical electrode. The relation between the spark length and the discharge current due to the ESD can be explained qualitatively by using an equation derived from the spark resistance formula proposed by Rompe and Weizel.     

Assessment of local strain field in adhesive layer of an unsymmetrically repaired CFRP panel using digital image correlation

The present study focuses on experimental investigation of through the thickness displacement and strain field in thin adhesive layer in single sided (unsymmetrical) patch repaired CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) panel under tensile load. Digital image correlation (DIC) technique is employed to acquire the displacement and strain (longitudinal, peel and shear) field. Experimental determination of shear transfer length based on shear strain field obtained from DIC is introduced to estimate the optimum overlap length which is an essential parameter in patch design for the repair of CFRP structures. Further, DIC experiment with magnified optics is performed to get an insight into complex and localized strain field over thin adhesive layer especially at critical zones leading to damage initiation. The failure mechanism, load displacement behavior, damage initiation and propagation are closely monitored using DIC. The influence of patch edge tapering on strain distribution in adhesive layer is also investigated. The DIC successfully captures the global and localized strain field at critical zones over thin adhesive layer and further helps in monitoring the damage based on strain anomalies. Strains are found to have maximum magnitude at the patch overlap edge and the shear strain level in adhesive layer is higher than the peel strain. Normal tapering increases the peel strain and has negligible influence on shear strain level in adhesive layer. The recommended overlap length is found to be consistent with the recommendation in the literature. Whole field strain pattern and the overlap length obtained from experiment are further compared with the finite element analysis results and they appear to be in good coherence.     

Process monitoring method based on correlation variable classification and vine copula

Chemical processes are becoming increasingly complicated, leading to an increase in process variables and more complex relationships among them. The vine copula has a significant advantage in portraying the dependence of high-dimensional variables. However, as the dimensions increase, the vine copula model incurs a high computational load; such pressure greatly reduces model efficiency. Relationships among variables in the industrial process are complex. Different variables may be strongly or weakly associated or even independent. This paper proposes a process monitoring method based on correlation variable classification and vine copula. The weighted correlation measure is first used to divide variables into a correlated subspace and weakly correlated subspace. Then, two vine structures, C-vine and D-vine, are applied to the correlated and weakly correlated subspaces, respectively. This method takes advantage of C-vine for correlated variables and the flexibility of D-vine for weakly correlated variables. Finally, comprehensive statistics are established based on different subspaces. Monitoring results of the numerical system and the Tennessee Eastman process demonstrate the effectiveness and validity of the proposed method.