Improvement of charge/discharge properties of oligoether electrolytes by zwitterions with an attached cyano group for use in lithium-ion secondary batteries

Zwitterions with a cyano group on the side chain (CZ) were synthesized. Although the addition of CZ caused a slightly negative effect on viscosity, ionic conductivity, limiting current density, and lithium transference number, the oxidation limit of PEGDME/lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide (LiTFSA) composites was improved to over 5 V. For charge/discharge testing using Li|electrolyte|LiCoO2 cells, the cycle stability of PEGDME/LiTFSA with CZ in the voltage range of 3.0-4.6 V was much higher than that of PEGDME/LiTFSA. Incorporating a small mole fraction of CZ into PEGDME-based electrolytes prevented an increase in the interface resistance between the electrolyte and cathode with increasing numbers of the cycle.

Tightening eligibility for bail for persons on supervision orders in Victoria: repairing a broken system?

Victoria Nourse has observed that political debates about crime legislation are predictable and invariably one-sided because ‘no-one is “for” crime.’1 This certainly appears to be the case with regard to recent proposed changes to the Bail Act 1977 (‘the Act’) by the government of Victoria. The reforms were triggered by the case of Sean Price, an offender with a history of mental disorder, serious offending and lengthy incarceration who was on bail and subject to a supervision order when he murdered Masa Vukotic, raped another woman and assaulted a third person in March 2015. The Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, stated that a bail system that allowed Price to be free and unmonitored was failing the community and pledged to repair ‘a system that is broken.’

Construction and aggregation of preference relations based on fuzzy partial orders

In group decision-making problems it is common to elicit preferences from human experts in the form of pairwise preference relations. When this is extended to a fuzzy setting, entries in the pairwise preference matrix are interpreted to denote strength of preference, however once logical properties such as consistency and transitivity are enforced, the resulting preference relation requires almost as much information as providing raw scores or a complete order over the alternatives. Here we instead interpret fuzzy degrees of preference to only apply where the preference over two alternatives is genuinely fuzzy and then suggest an aggregation procedure that minimizes a generalized Kemeny distance to the nearest complete or partial order. By focusing on the fuzzy partial order, the method is less affected by differences in the natural scale over which an expert expresses their preference, and can also limit the influence of extreme scores.

Survey of preys captured and used by Polybia platycephala (Richards) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Epiponini)

As vespas sociais são predadoras de várias espécies de insetos e, portanto, o estudo de suas presas pode revelar seu potencial para programas de controle biológico de pragas. Durante o período de setembro de 2000 a janeiro de 2002, foram realizadas 70h de coleta de presas capturadas em doze ninhos de Polybia platycephala Richards, localizados em áreas urbanas do município de Juiz de Fora, MG. As presas capturadas por P. platycephala compreenderam cinco ordens de insetos: Diptera (33,4%), Lepidoptera (28,6%), Hemiptera (12,0%), Hymenoptera (9,4%) e Coleoptera (7,2%). O peso médio da carga protéica transportada pelas vespas foi 1,9 ±1,6 mg (n = 34, 0,3 - 6,2 mg), e a taxa média de proteína transportada por dia foi 22,8 mg. de acordo com os resultados, pode-se estimar a captura de 4.380 presas por ano por uma única colônia de P. platycephala. Desta forma, a espécie pode ser utilizada em programas de manejo em ambientes urbanos contribuindo para o controle de insetos pragas como larvas de pernilongos, lagartas desfolhadoras de plantas de jardins, pulgões e formas aladas de formigas.

Acionamento de frames e esquemas no processo de construção de sentidos no padrão discursivo charge por alunos do ensino médio

Our research has as goal to describe and analyze the main processes related to the activation of conceptual domains underlying the comprehension in the discourse pattern cartoons by the students of third grades of high school, at Professor Antonio Basílio Filho School. Theoretically, we are grounded on assumptions of Conceptual Linguistics, whose interest analyzes our cognitive apparatus in correlation with our socio-cultural and bodies experiences. We intend to check how is the process of meaning construction and integration of various cognitive domains that are activated during the reading activity. That s why, we take the concept of cognitive domains as equivalent to the structures that are stored in our memory from our sociocultural and corporeal experiences and they are stabilized, respectively, through the frames and schemas. The activation of these conceptual domains, as evidenced by our data, supports the assumption that previous knowledge from our inclusion in specific sociocultural contexts, concurrently with the functioning of our sensory-motor system are essential during the construction activity direction. With this research, we still intend to present a proposal confront the expectations of responses produced by students from the activation of frames and schemas with our predictions

Uma visão axiológica do riso na charge

O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar a construção axiológica do riso na charge. Nesse gênero discursivo abordaremos a construção do riso, partindo da hipótese de que o riso constitutivo das relações dialógicas na charge é construído axiologicamente, ou seja, é um riso que presentifica enunciativamente e é por meio dele que chegamos ao axiológico, aos posicionamentos, ao ideológico. Para tanto, nos deteremos na investigação dos elementos verbo-visuais presentes na forma composicional como também do projeto de dizer constituidor/constituinte da forma arquitetônica. Tomamos como fundamento teórico-metodológico as formulações sobre linguagem advindas do Círculo de Bakhtin (2010, 2011, 1998) e outros tais como Faraco (2009), Brait (2009, 2006), Ponzio (2009) que comungam dessa concepção de linguagem. Especificamente sobre o gênero discursivo charge, nos reportamos a Ramos (2009, 2010, 2011) e Vergueiro (2009, 2010). Quanto ao riso, apoiamo-nos em autores como Possenti (2010), Minois (2003), Propp (1992), Bergson (2001), Skinner (2002), no entanto, tendo por principal referência a obra de Bakhtin sobre cosmovisão carnavalesca e riso (1997, 2010). Este trabalho se insere na área da Linguística Aplicada de perspectiva sócio-histórica e tem como tema linguagem, axiologia e riso

On the origin of exciton formation in dye doped Alq(3) OLEDs

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Photoinduced hole-transfer in semiconducting polymer/low-bandgap cyanine dye blends: evidence for unit charge separation quantum yield

Power-conversion efficiencies of organic heterojunction solar cells can be increased by using semiconducting donor-acceptor materials with complementary absorption spectra extending to the near-infrared region. Here, we used continuous wave fluorescence and absorption, as well as nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to study the initial charge transfer step for blends of a donor poly(p-phenylenevinylene) derivative and low-band gap cyanine dyes serving as electron acceptors. Electron transfer is the dominant relaxation process after photoexcitation of the donor. Hole transfer after cyanine photoexcitation occurs with an efficiency close to unity up to dye concentrations of similar to 30 wt%. Cyanines present an efficient self-quenching mechanism of their fluorescence, and for higher dye loadings in the blend, or pure cyanine films, this process effectively reduces the hole transfer. Comparison between dye emission in an inert polystyrene matrix and the donor matrix allowed us to separate the influence of self-quenching and charge transfer mechanisms. Favorable photovoltaic bilayer performance, including high open-circuit voltages of similar to 1 V confirmed the results from optical experiments. The characteristics of solar cells using different dyes also highlighted the need for balanced adjustment of the energy levels and their offsets at the heterojunction when using low-bandgap materials, and accentuated important effects of interface interactions and solid-state packing on charge generation and transport.

Relating pseudospin and spin symmetries through charge conjugation and chiral transformations: the case of the relativistic harmonic oscillator

We solve the generalized relativistic harmonic oscillator in 1+1 dimensions, i.e., including a linear pseudoscalar potential and quadratic scalar and vector potentials which have equal or opposite signs. We consider positive and negative quadratic potentials and discuss in detail their bound-state solutions for fermions and antifermions. The main features of these bound states are the same as the ones of the generalized three-dimensional relativistic harmonic oscillator bound states. The solutions found for zero pseudoscalar potential are related to the spin and pseudospin symmetry of the Dirac equation in 3+1 dimensions. We show how the charge conjugation and gamma(5) chiral transformations relate the several spectra obtained and find that for massless particles the spin and pseudospin symmetry-related problems have the same spectrum but different spinor solutions. Finally, we establish a relation of the solutions found with single-particle states of nuclei described by relativistic mean-field theories with scalar, vector, and isoscalar tensor interactions and discuss the conditions in which one may have both nucleon and antinucleon bound states.

Study of charge transport in blends of natural rubber and poly(o-methoxyaniline) based on a resistor network statistical model

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Mechanism of charge transport in castor oil-based polyurethane/carbon black composite (PU/CB)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Interfacial surface charge and free accessibility to the PLA(2)-active site-like region are essential requirements for the activity of Lys49 PLA(2) homologues

Lys49 phospholipase A(2) homologues are highly myotoxic and cause extensive tissue damage but do not display hydrolytic activity towards natural phospholipids. The binding of heparin, heparin derivatives and polyanionic compounds such as suramin result in partial inhibition (up to 60%) of the myotoxic effects due to a change in the overall charge of the interfacial surface. In vivo experiments demonstrate that polyethylene glycol inhibits more than 90% of the myotoxic effects without exhibiting secondary toxic effects. The crystal structure of bothropstoxin-I complexed with polyethylene glycol reveals that this inhibition is due to steric hindrance of the access to the PLA(2)-active site-like region. These two inhibitory pathways indicate the roles of the overall surface charge and free accessibility to the PLA2-active site-like region in the functioning of Lys49 phospholipases A(2) homologues. Molecular dynamics simulations, small angle X-ray scattering and structural analysis indicate that the oligomeric states both in solution and in the crystalline states of Lys49 phospholipases A2 are principally mediated by hydrophobic contacts formed between the interfacial surfaces. These results provide the framework for the potential application of both clinically approved drugs for the treatment of Viperidae snakebites. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.