A “by-productless” cellulose foaming agent for use in imidazolium ionic liquids

Cellulose foams, or sponges, are produced from solutions in ionic liquids by the aqueous acid mediated decomposition of 1-alkyl-3- methylimidazolium-2-carboxylates, where the alkyl group and acid may be selected such that the by-product is the ionic liquid solvent: a by-productless foaming

Phosphonium nitrate ionic liquid catalysed electrophilic aromatic oxychlorination

Trioctylmethylphosphonium nitrate (P8,8,8,1NO3), an ionic liquid made via a green synthesis, catalyses electrophilic aromatic chlorination of arenes with HCl and air at 80 °C. The aromatic oxychlorination is truly catalytic in nitrate, proceeds without added solvents, and uses atmospheric oxygen as oxidant. The extent of chlorination can be controlled to yield selectively mono or 10 dichlorinated products, and the ionic liquid catalyst can be recycled. Dependence of the rate on HCl and nitrate concentrations as well as on the rate of re-oxidation of the nitrogen intermediates by air, allowed to propose a chlorination mechanism

The Role of the Striatum in Learning to Orthogonalize CD Action and Valence: A Combined PET and 7 T MRI Aging Study

Pavlovian biases influence instrumental learning by coupling reward seeking with action invigoration and punishment avoidance with action suppression. Using a probabilistic go/no-go task designed to orthogonalize action (go/no-go) and valence (reward/punishment), recent studies have shown that the interaction between the two is dependent on the striatum and its key neuromodulator dopamine. Using this task, we sought to identify how structural and neuromodulatory age-related differences in the striatum may influence Pavlovian biases and instrumental learning in 25 young and 31 older adults. Computational modeling revealed a significant age-related reduction in reward and punishment sensitivity and marked (albeit not significant) reduction in learning rate and lapse rate (irreducible noise). Voxel-based morphometry analysis using 7 Tesla MRI images showed that individual differences in learning rate in older adults were related to the volume of the caudate nucleus. In contrast, dopamine synthesis capacity in the dorsal striatum, assessed using [18F]-DOPA positron emission tomography in 22 of these older adults, was not associated with learning performance and did not moderate the relationship between caudate volume and learning rate. This multiparametric approach suggests that age-related differences in striatal volume may influence learning proficiency in old age

Precursor-Dependent Photocatalytic Activity of Carbon Dots

This work systematically compares both structural features and photocatalytic performance of a series of graphitic and amorphous carbon dots (CDs) prepared in a bottom-up manner from fructose, glucose, and citric acid. We demonstrate that the carbon source and synthetic procedures diversely affect the structural and optical properties of the CDs, which in turn unpredictably influence their photo electron transfer ability. The latter was evaluated by studying the photo-reduction of methyl viologen. Overall, citric acid-CDs were found to provide the best photocatalytic performance followed by fructose- and glucose-CDs. However, while the graphitization of glucose- and citric acid-CDs favored the photo-reaction, a reverse structure-activity dependence was observed for fructose-CDs due to the formation of a large graphitic-like supramolecular assembly. This study highlights the complexity to design in advance photo-active bio-based carbon nanomaterials

АФОКАЛЬНЫЕ СИСТЕМЫ, СОСТАВЛЕННЫЕ ИЗ ЗЕРКАЛЬНЫХ ВНЕОСЕВЫХ ПАРАБОЛОИДОВ

Mirror systems make it possible to reduce device dimensions and its weight while preserving high input aperture and these systems are characterized by a number of other advantages. Their significant disadvantage is a central screening of an entrance pupil that leads to lower image quality. The paper contains description of the investigations on afocal systems formed by eccentrically cut-out mirror paraboloids (off-axis mirrors) where aperture diaphragm is displaced in the meridian plane for a defined value and a central field point is located on the optical axis. The canonic Mersenne systems are accepted as base schemas (modules) for these compositions. The paper considers two types of such systems: visible increases – Г > 0 and Г < 0. Algorithms for calculation of centered afocal systems with two and four reflections have been written in the paper and the systems are free from spherical aberration, coma, astigmatism when an input pupil is located in superimposed focal planes of all parabolic mirrors. An aberration in curvature image has been additionally corrected in three-mirror quart-parabolic scheme which is a combination of two classical telescopic Mersenne systems. The paper presents schemes and calculation results. Two-mirror schemes with non-screened input pupil have been studied in the paper and in this case all the system remains centered and an aperture diaphragm is decentered for the distance Cm which is commensurable with the diaphragm size. The paper contains description of the investigated afocal schemes with four reflections from off-axis mirror paraboloids, a prepared algorithm for calculation, the obtained formulas for making combination of canonic afocal systems formed by two mirrors. Computer simulation in software environment Opal and Zemax has been carried out in the paper. Basic description has been prepared while using two alternative methods for the class of decentered systems and aberration characteristics and schematic solutions for telescopic systems without screening with two and four reflections have been ob-tained in the paper. Two-mirror afocal systems with low-powered magnification are of some interest for practical application as accessories for registering object lenses. Зеркальные системы позволяют сократить габариты, уменьшить массу прибора при сохранении высокой входной апертуры и обладают рядом других преимуществ. Существенный их недостаток – центральное экранирование входного зрачка – приводит к снижению качества изображения. Проведено исследование афокальных систем, составленных из эксцентрично вырезанных зеркальных параболоидов (внеосевых зеркал), в которых апертурная диафрагма смещена в меридиональной плоскости на определенную величину, а центральная точка поля находится на оптической оси. Базовыми схемами (модулями) для данных композиций приняты канонические системы Мерсенна. Рассмотрены два типа таких систем: видимые увеличения Г > 0 и Г < 0. Составлены алгоритмы расчета центрированных афокальных систем с двумя и четырьмя отражениями, которые свободны от сферической аберрации, комы, астигматизма при расположении входного зрачка в совмещенных фокальных плоскостях всех параболических зеркал. В квартпараболической схеме из трех зеркал, являющейся сочетанием двух классических телескопических систем Мерсенна, исправлена дополнительно аберрация кривизны изображения. Представлены схемы и результаты расчета. Рассмотрены двухзеркальные схемы с неэкранированным входным зрачком, в которых вся система остается центрированной, а апертурная диафрагма децентрирована на расстояние Cm, соизмеримое с размером диафрагмы. Исследованы афокальные схемы с четырьмя отражениями из внеосевых зеркальных параболоидов и составлен алгоритм расчета, получены формулы связи для сочетания канонических афокальных систем из двух зеркал. Проведено компьютерное моделирование в программных средах Opal и Zemax, составлено основное (базовое) описание двумя альтернативными способами для класса децентрированных систем, получены аберрационные характеристики и схемные решения для телескопических систем без экранирования с двумя и четырьмя отражениями. В целях практического применения в качестве насадок к регистрирующим объективам интерес представляют двухзеркальные афокальные системы небольших кратностей

Experimental evidence of intrabeam scattering in a free-electron laser driver

Abstract The effect of multiple small-angle Coulomb scattering, or intrabeam scattering (IBS) is routinely observed in electron storage rings over the typical damping time scale of milliseconds. So far, IBS has not been observed in single pass electron accelerators because charge density orders of magnitude higher than in storage rings would be needed. We show that such density is now available at high brightness electron linacs for free-electron lasers (FELs). We report measurements of the beam energy spread in the FERMI linac in the presence of the microbunching instability, which are consistent with a revisited IBS model for single pass systems. We also show that neglecting the hereby demonstrated effect of IBS in the parameter range typical of seeded VUV and soft x-ray FELs, results in too conservative a facility design, or failure to realise the accessible potential performance. As an example, an optimization of the FERMI parameters driven by an experimentally benchmarked model, opens the door to the extension of stable single spectral line emission to the water window (2.3–4.4 nm), with far-reaching implications for experiments in a variety of disciplines, ranging from physics and chemistry to biology and material sciences, and including nonlinear x-ray optics based on the four-wave-mixing approach.</jats:p

Learning in anticipation of reward and punishment: perspectives across the human lifespan

Learning to act to receive reward and to withhold to avoid punishment has been found to be easier than learning the opposite contingencies in young adults. To what extent this type of behavioral adaptation might develop during childhood and adolescence and differ during aging remains unclear. We therefore tested 247 healthy individuals across the human life span (7-80 years) with an orthogonalized valenced go/no-go learning task. Computational modeling revealed that peak performance in young adults was attributable to greater sensitivity to both reward and punishment. However, in children and adolescents, we observed an increased bias toward action but not reward sensitivity. By contrast, reduced learning in midlife and older adults was accompanied by decreased reward sensitivity and especially punishment sensitivity along with an age-related increase in the Pavlovian bias. These findings reveal distinct motivation-dependent learning capabilities across the human life span, which cannot be probed using conventional go/reward no-go/punishment style paradigms that have important implications in lifelong education

Hippocampal vascular reserve associated with cognitive performance and hippocampal volume

Medial temporal lobe dependent cognitive functions are highly vulnerable to hypoxia in the hippocampal region, yet little is known about the relationship between the richness of hippocampal vascular supply and cognition. Hippocampal vascularization patterns have been categorized into a mixed supply from both the posterior cerebral artery and the anterior choroidal artery or a single supply by the posterior cerebral artery only. Hippocampal arteries are small and affected by pathological changes when cerebral small vessel disease is present. We hypothesized, that hippocampal vascularization patterns may be important trait markers for vascular reserve and modulate (i) cognitive performance; (ii) structural hippocampal integrity; and (iii) the effect of cerebral small vessel disease on cognition. Using high-resolution 7 T time-of-flight angiography we manually classified hippocampal vascularization patterns in older adults with and without cerebral small vessel disease in vivo. The presence of a mixed supplied hippocampus was an advantage in several cognitive domains, including verbal list learning and global cognition. A mixed supplied hippocampus also was an advantage for verbal memory performance in cerebral small vessel disease. Voxel-based morphometry showed higher anterior hippocampal grey matter volume in mixed, compared to single supply. We discuss that a mixed hippocampal supply, as opposed to a single one, may increase the reliability of hippocampal blood supply and thereby provide a hippocampal vascular reserve that protects against cognitive impairment

Detection of Cerebral Microbleeds With Venous Connection at 7-Tesla MRI

Objective: Cerebral microbleeds (MBs) are a common finding in patients with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) and Alzheimer disease as well as in healthy elderly people, but their pathophysiology remains unclear. To investigate a possible role of veins in the development of MBs, we performed an exploratory study, assessing in vivo presence of MBs with a direct connection to a vein. Methods: 7-Tesla (7T) MRI was conducted and MBs were counted on quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM). A submillimeter resolution QSM-based venogram allowed identification of MBs with a direct spatial connection to a vein. Results: A total of 51 people (mean age [SD] 70.5 [8.6] years, 37% female) participated in the study: 20 had CSVD (cerebral amyloid angiopathy [CAA] with strictly lobar MBs [n = 8], hypertensive arteriopathy [HA] with strictly deep MBs [n = 5], or mixed lobar and deep MBs [n = 7], 72.4 [6.1] years, 30% female) and 31 were healthy controls (69.4 [9.9] years, 42% female). In our cohort, we counted a total of 96 MBs with a venous connection, representing 14% of all detected MBs on 7T QSM. Most venous MBs (86%, n = 83) were observed in lobar locations and all of these were cortical. Patients with CAA showed the highest ratio of venous to total MBs (19%) (HA = 9%, mixed = 18%, controls = 5%). Conclusion: Our findings establish a link between cerebral MBs and the venous vasculature, pointing towards a possible contribution of veins to CSVD in general and to CAA in particular. Pathologic studies are needed to confirm our observations