Reusable Polyacrylonitrile-Sulfur Extractor of Heavy Metal Ions from Wastewater

Mercury, lead, and cadmium are among the most toxic and carcinogenic heavy metal ions (HMIs), posing serious threats to the sustainability of aquatic ecosystems and public health. There is an urgent need to remove these ions from water by a cheap but green process. Traditional methods have insufficient removal efficiency and reusability. Structurally robust, large surface-area adsorbents functionalized with high-selectivity affinity to HMIs are attractive filter materials. Here, an adsorbent prepared by vulcanization of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), a nitrogen-rich polymer, is reported, giving rise to PAN-S nanoparticles with cyclic π-conjugated backbone and electronic conductivity. PAN-S can be coated on ultra-robust melamine (ML) foam by simple dipping and drying. In agreement with hard/soft acid/base theory, N- and S-containing soft Lewis bases have strong binding to Hg²⁺, Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Cd²⁺, with extraordinary capture efficiency and performance stability. Furthermore, the used filters, when collected and electrochemically biased in a recycling bath, can release the HMIs into the bath and electrodeposit on the counter-electrode as metallic Hg⁰, Pb⁰, Cu⁰, and Cd⁰, and the PAN-S@ML filter can then be reused at least 6 times as new. The electronically conductive PAN-S@ML filter can be fabricated cheaply and holds promise for scale-up applications.     

Electrochemical Quantification of Neurotransmitters in Single Live Cell Vesicles Shows Exocytosis is Predominantly Partial

Exocytosis plays an essential role in the communication between cells in the nervous system. Understanding the regulation of neurotransmitter release during exocytosis and the amount of neurotransmitter content that is stored in vesicles is of importance, as it provides fundamental insights to understand how the brain works and how neurons elicit a certain behavior. In this minireview, we summarize recent progress in amperometric measurements for monitoring exocytosis in single cells and electrochemical cytometry measurements of vesicular neurotransmitter content in individual vesicles. Important steps have increased our understanding of the different mechanisms of exocytosis. Increasing evidence is firmly establishing that partial release is the primary mechanism of release in multiple cell types.     

Maskless Preparation of Spatially-Resolved Plasmonic Nanoparticles on Polydimethylsiloxane via In Situ Fluoride-Assisted Synthesis

Here, a fluoride-assisted route for the controlled in-situ synthesis of metal nanoparticles (NPs) (i.e., AgNPs, AuNPs) on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is reported. The size and coverage of the NPs on the PDMS surface are modulated with time and over space during the synthetic process, leveraging the improved yield (10×) and faster kinetics (100×) of NP formation in the presence of F⁻ ions, compared to fluoride-free approaches. This enables the maskless preparation of both linear and step gradients and patterns of NPs in 1D and 2D on the PDMS surface. As an application in flexible plasmonics/photonics, continuous and step-wise spatial modulations of the plasmonic features of PDMS slabs with 1D and 2D AgNP gradients on the surface are demonstrated. An excellent spatially resolved tuning of key optical parameters, namely, optical density from zero to 5 and extinction ratio up to 100 dB, is achieved with AgNP gradients prepared in AgF solution for 12 minutes; the performance are comparable to those of commercial dielectric/interference filters. When used as a rejection filter in optical fluorescence microscopy, the AgNP-PDMS slabs are able to reject the excitation laser at 405 nm and retain the green fluorescence of microbeads (100 µm) used as test cases.     

Polarity Effect and Electromagnetic Radiation of Partial Discharge Accompanying Growth of Electrical Tree

We have investigated the characteristics of radiated electromagnetic (EM) waves from positive and negative partial discharges (PD) in epoxy resin and cross‐linked polyethylene. We found that there is a correlation among the EM level from PD, the positive PD current, and electrical trees. Therefore, the growth of an electrical tree produces a lot of positive PD. We have also investigated the characteristics of the frequency region of EM waves from PD in air, insulating oil, and liquid epoxy in addition to the above insulators. EM waves were detected in the frequency region of 40 MHz to 300 MHz from positive and negative PD in epoxy resin and cross‐linked polyethylene. EM waves were also detected in the frequency region of 40 MHz to 150 MHz from positive and negative PD in air. In the case of insulating oil and liquid epoxy, EM waves were detected in the frequency regions of 40 MHz to 150 MHz from positive PD, and 40 MHz to 250 MHz from negative PD. The frequency region differed depending on the material and the discharge polarity. Our investigation indicates that the cause is differences in electric field strength at the time of PD occurrence.     

探针馈电圆柱共形微带天线阻抗特性的FDTD法分析

将圆柱坐标系下非分裂式理想匹配层吸收边界条件(UPML)引入到圆柱共形微带天线的全波分析中，并给出了其中的场量迭代方程，明显地减小了计算空间，简化了编程；提出了圆柱坐标系下考虑有限尺寸探针半径的新算法，使得计算结果更加精确；应用GPOF方法预估了时域晚时响应，使计算时间减少了70％～90％。本文给出的模型能够对任意多层圆柱共形结构的微带天线进行计算，因此对此类天线的CAD设计具有实际意义。     

红外光谱法用于快速测定车用柴油酸度等性质的研究

针对车用柴油酸度等性质测定过程繁琐，采用衰减全反射样品池测定车用柴油的红外光谱，用偏最小二乘法（PLS）建立红外光谱测定车用柴油酸度、密度、闪点和凝点的4个校正模型，验证标准误差分别为0.46 mg/(100 mL),0.77kg/m3,2.60 ℃,2.77 ℃，该方法符合标准方法再现性要求。与标准方法相比，该方法具有无需预处理、操作简单、测量快速、重复性好等优点。     

基于PC机群的大地电磁Occam反演并行计算研究

Occam反演以其稳定收敛和不依赖于初始模型的特性被广泛应用于大地电磁数据的处理，但偏导数矩阵的计算和拉格朗日乘子的求取导致大量的模型正演，使得反演速度较低。为此，研究了用基于PC机群的并行计算来解决这一问题的方法。首先对Occam反演方法进行了阐述；然后，分析了反演方法中各计算耗费的时间，提出对约占计算量90％的偏导数和拉格朗日乘子进行并行计算的思想，即偏导数计算采用频点计算一级的大粒度并行，拉格朗日乘子扫描和一维搜索分别采用弘值计算一级的大粒度并行和频点计算一级的小粒度并行；给出了并行计算的实现方法，即在PC机群上，利用主一从编程模式实现Occam反演的整体并行计算。在计算中，采用任务组合方式，减少了通信量，较好地实现了负载均衡。在4节点PC机群上，对应于拉格朗日乘子的扫描和一维搜索方式，整体加速比分别达到3．36和2．83。