Observation of vacancy-induced suppression of electronic cooling in defected graphene

Previous studies of electron-phonon interaction in impure graphene have found that static disorder can give rise to an enhancement of electronic cooling. We investigate the effect of dynamic disorder and observe over an order of magnitude suppression of electronic cooling compared with clean graphene. The effect is stronger in graphene with more vacancies, confirming its vacancy-induced nature. The dependence of the coupling constant on the phonon temperature implies its link to the dynamics of disorder. Our study highlights the effect of disorder on electron-phonon interaction in graphene. In addition, the suppression of electronic cooling holds great promise for improving the performance of graphene-based bolometer and photo-detector devices.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Descope of the ALIA mission

The present work reports on a feasibility study commissioned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences of China to explore various possible mission options to detect gravitational waves in space alternative to that of the eLISA/LISA mission concept. Based on the relative merits assigned to science and technological viability, a few representative mission options descoped from the ALIA mission are considered. A semi-analytic Monte Carlo simulation is carried out to understand the cosmic black hole merger histories starting from intermediate mass black holes at high redshift as well as the possible scientific merits of the mission options considered in probing the light seed black holes and their coevolution with galaxies in early Universe. The study indicates that, by choosing the armlength of the interferometer to be three million kilometers and shifting the sensitivity floor to around one-hundredth Hz, together with a very moderate improvement on the position noise budget, there are certain mission options capable of exploring light seed, intermediate mass black hole binaries at high redshift that are not readily accessible to eLISA/LISA, and yet the technological requirements seem to within reach in the next few decades for China

Diabetes Mellitus and COVID-19: Associations and Possible Mechanisms

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently emerged disease with formidable infectivity and high mortality. Emerging data suggest that diabetes is one of the most prevalent comorbidities in patients with COVID-19. Although their causal relationship has not yet been investigated, preexisting diabetes can be considered as a risk factor for the adverse outcomes of COVID-19. Proinflammatory state, attenuation of the innate immune response, possibly increased level of ACE2, along with vascular dysfunction, and prothrombotic state in people with diabetes probably contribute to higher susceptibility for SARS-CoV-2 infection and worsened prognosis. On the other hand, activated inflammation, islet damage induced by virus infection, and treatment with glucocorticoids could, in turn, result in impaired glucose regulation in people with diabetes, thus working as an amplification loop to aggravate the disease. Therefore, glycemic management in people with COVID-19, especially in those with severe illness, is of considerable importance. The insights may help to reduce the fatality in the effort against COVID-19

Exploration of the Microstructure and Rheological Properties of Sodium Alginate-Pectin-Whey Protein Isolate Stabilized Β-Carotene Emulsions: To Improve Stability and Achieve Gastrointestinal Sustained Release

Sodium alginate (SA)-pectin (PEC)-whey protein isolate (WPI) complexes were used as an emulsifier to prepare β-carotene emulsions, and the encapsulation efficiency for β-carotene was up to 93.08%. The confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed that the SA-PEC-WPI emulsion had a compact network structure. The SA-PEC-WPI emulsion exhibited shear-thinning behavior and was in a semi-dilute or weak network state. The SA-PEC-WPI stabilized β-carotene emulsion had better thermal, physical and chemical stability. A small amount of β-carotene (19.46 ± 1.33%) was released from SA-PEC-WPI stabilized β-carotene emulsion in simulated gastric digestion, while a large amount of β-carotene (90.33 ± 1.58%) was released in simulated intestinal digestion. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) experiments indicated that the formation of SA-PEC-WPI stabilized β-carotene emulsion was attributed to the electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions between WPI and SA or PEC, and the hydrophobic interactions between β-carotene and WPI. These results can facilitate the design of polysaccharide-protein stabilized emulsions with high encapsulation efficiency and stability for nutraceutical delivery in food and supplement products

SuFEx-Based Polysulfonate Formation from Ethenesulfonyl Fluoride-Amine Adducts.

The SuFEx-based polycondensation between bisalkylsulfonyl fluorides (AA monomers) and bisphenol bis(t-butyldimethylsilyl) ethers (BB monomers) using [Ph3 P=N-PPh3 ]+ [HF2 ]- as the catalyst is described. The AA monomers were prepared via the highly reliable Michael addition of ethenesulfonyl fluoride and amines/anilines while the BB monomers were obtained from silylation of bisphenols by t-butyldimethylsilyl chloride. With these reactions, a remarkable diversity of monomeric building blocks was achieved by exploiting readily available amines, anilines, and bisphenols as starting materials. The SuFEx-based polysulfonate formation reaction exhibited excellent efficiency and functional group tolerance, producing polysulfonates with a variety of side chain functionalities in >99 % conversion within 10 min to 1 h. When bearing an orthogonal group on the side chain, the polysulfonates can be further functionalized via click-chemistry-based post-polymerization modification

SuFEx-Based Polysulfonate Formation from Ethenesulfonyl Fluoride-Amine Adducts.

The SuFEx-based polycondensation between bisalkylsulfonyl fluorides (AA monomers) and bisphenol bis(t-butyldimethylsilyl) ethers (BB monomers) using [Ph3 P=N-PPh3 ]+ [HF2 ]- as the catalyst is described. The AA monomers were prepared via the highly reliable Michael addition of ethenesulfonyl fluoride and amines/anilines while the BB monomers were obtained from silylation of bisphenols by t-butyldimethylsilyl chloride. With these reactions, a remarkable diversity of monomeric building blocks was achieved by exploiting readily available amines, anilines, and bisphenols as starting materials. The SuFEx-based polysulfonate formation reaction exhibited excellent efficiency and functional group tolerance, producing polysulfonates with a variety of side chain functionalities in >99 % conversion within 10 min to 1 h. When bearing an orthogonal group on the side chain, the polysulfonates can be further functionalized via click-chemistry-based post-polymerization modification