Spontaneous Uphill Movement and Self-Removal of Condensates on Hierarchical Tower-like Arrays

Fast removal of condensates from surfaces is of great significance due to the enhanced thermal transfer coefficient and continuous condensation. However, the lost superhydrophobicity of lotus leaves intrigues us to determine what kind of surface morphologies meets the self-removal of condensates? The uphill movement of condensates in textured surfaces is vital to avoid flooding and facilitating self-removal. Here, superhydrophobic microtower arrays were designed to explore the spontaneous uphill movement and Wenzel to Cassie transition as well as the self-removal of condensates. The tower-like arrays enable spontaneous uphill movement of tiny condensates entrapped in microstructures due to the large upward Laplace pressure, which is ∼30 times larger than that on cone-like arrays. The sharp tips decrease the adhesion to suspending droplets and promote their fast self-removal. These results are important for designing desirable textured surfaces by enlarging upward Laplace pressure to facilitate condensate self-removal, which is widely applied in self-cleaning, antifogging, anti-icing, water harvesting, and thermal management systems

Comparison between the novel and adjacent notes in the N-back tonal task.

<p>Performance of musicians (<b><i>A</i></b>) and non-musicians (<b><i>B</i></b>) as a function of the notes between the reference and probe notes (N) when the probe note was a novel note (black curve) or identical to a note adjacent to the reference note (grey curve). The performance is plotted as the accuracy (RAU). Horizontal dash lines in all plots represent the chance level. Error bars are corrected S.E.M across participants.</p

Performance across testing stages.

<p>Performance of musicians (gray box) and non-musicians (open box) is plotted for each of the four testing stages. The performance is plotted as the RAU value. Each box represents percentiles of the data. The line within the box indicates the median. Error bars represent the minimums and maximum values. Small circles indicate the outliers. The significant difference between musician and non-musicians groups is indicated by the asteroids above the two boxes for each testing stage. (<b><i>A</i></b>) MTS condition in Experiment 1. Musicians’ performance is significantly higher than non-musicians at all four testing stages. (<b><i>B</i></b>) RTS condition in Experiment 1. No significant difference between musicians and non-musicians. (<b><i>C</i></b>) Experiment 2. Musicians’ performance is significantly higher than non-musicians at stages 1, 2, and 3, but not at stage 4. The significant difference was marked as stars.</p

Examples of experimental stimuli and paradigm.

<p>(<b><i>A</i></b>) <i>Top plots</i>: Examples of a quarter (1/4) note sequence (<i>left</i>) and an eighth (1/8) note sequence (<i>right</i>) with two measures. <i>Bottom plots</i>: amplitude profiles of the note sequences shown on the top. Each measure consists of two beats, in which one beat corresponds to one note for the quarter note sequence and two notes for the eighth note sequence. (<b><i>B</i></b>) Examples of musical tone sequences (MTSs, <i>top plots</i>) and random tone sequences (RTSs, <i>bottom plots</i>) with 6 notes (<i>left</i>) or 10 notes (<i>right</i>). (<b><i>C</i></b>) Examples of testing sequence pairs. <i>Left</i>: Experiment 1, tonal discrimination task. <i>The upper row</i> is a match trial consisting of a pair of identical note sequences. <i>The lower row</i> is an example of mismatch trial, in which a note in the second sequence (gray note) is shifted up one semitone, but the pitch contour (dashed line) remains the same as the first sequence. The pitch shifts of mismatch trials happen in both directions, upwards or downwards. <i>Right</i>: Experiment 2, N-back tonal task. An example of N = 3 testing condition. <i>The upper row</i> is a match trial, in which the probe note (the last note) is the same as the reference note (the 3rd to the last note). <i>The lower row</i> are mismatch novel note trials where the probe note is different from any prior notes in the sequence. In the mismatch adjacent note trial (<i>right</i>) the probe note is the same as a note prior to the reference note ((N+1)th note condition).</p

Results of tonal discrimination task in musical tone sequence condition.

<p>(<b><i>A</i></b>, <b><i>C</i></b>) Performance of musicians (<b><i>A</i></b>) and non-musicians (<b><i>C</i></b>) as a function of the number of measures for quarter note (black curve) and eighth note (grey curve) conditions. The performance is plotted as the d-prime value. (<b><i>B</i></b>, <b><i>D</i></b>) Performance of musicians (<b><i>B</i></b>) and non-musicians (<b><i>D</i></b>) as a function of the number of notes for quarter note (black curve) and eighth note (grey curve) conditions. (<b><i>E)</i></b> Combined analyses of the quarter and eighth note conditions. Performance of musicians (solid curve) and non-musicians (dashed curve) as a function of the number of notes in a sequence. Horizontal dashed lines in all plots represent the chance level. Error bars are corrected S.E.M across participants. Stars mark the significant difference comparing to the chance level.</p

Results of N-back tonal task.

<p>(<b><i>A</i></b>, <b><i>B</i></b>) Performance of musicians (<b><i>A</i></b>) and non-musicians (<b><i>B</i></b>) as a function of the notes between the reference and probe notes (N) for quarter note (black curve) and eighth note (grey curve) conditions. (<b><i>C</i></b>) Combined analyses of the quarter and eighth note conditions. Horizontal dashed lines in all plots represent the chance level. Error bars are corrected S.E.M across participants. Stars mark the significant difference comparing to the chance level.</p

t-test analysis for Experiment 2.

<p>t-test analysis for Experiment 2.</p

Synthesis of the C1–C21 Domain of Azaspiracids‑1 and −3

An efficient synthesis of the C1–C21 fragment of azaspiracids-1 and −3 is described. This features a Nozaki–Hiyama–Kishi reaction to couple the AB and CD ring precursors and formation of the THF-fused ABCD trioxadispiroketal system under thermodynamic conditions

Dose-dependent inhibitory of luteoloside on EV71 3C protease activity <i>in vitro</i>.

<p>Two-fold dilutions of luteoloside were added in 3C protease analysis system. The enzymatic activity of HRP exposed to various treatments was calculated. Blank (0 mM luteoloside) and 0.5 mM rutin were set as negative and positive control, respectively. Data shown are the means ± SE values of 3 independent experiments (<i>n</i> = 3).</p

Preparation of highly purified timosaponin AIII from rhizoma anemarrhenae through an enzymatic method combined with preparative liquid chromatography

<p>Timosaponin AIII (TAIII) exhibits extensive pharmacological activities and has been reported as a potent antitumour agent for various human cancers. In the present study, a potential industrial process for producing TAIII that involves biotransformation directly in the crude extract liquid of rhizoma anemarrhenae (RA) was developed. <i>β</i>-D-glycosidase was used to transform timosaponin BII (TBII) into TAIII, and monofactor experiments were conducted to optimise the enzymolysis conditions. In addition, AB-8 macroporous resin column chromatography, preparative liquid chromatography, and crystallisation technique were applied for yielding TAIII crystals with a purity > 97%. Approximately, 7 g of TAIII with a high purity of > 97% was obtained from 1 kg of RA through this five-step preparation method, which can be used to produce TAIII on a large scale.</p