Browsing by Author "Chen, Yu"

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    Accepted Tutorials at The Web Conference 2022
    Tommasini, Riccardo; Basu Roy, Senjuti; Wang, Xuan; Wang, Hongwei; Ji, Heng; Han, Jiawei; Nakov, Preslav; Da San Martino, Giovanni; Alam, Firoj; Schedl, Markus; Lex, Elisabeth; Bharadwaj, Akash; Cormode, Graham; Dojchinovski, Milan; Forberg, Jan; Frey, Johannes; Bonte, Pieter; Balduini, Marco; Belcao, Matteo; Della Valle, Emanuele; Yu, Junliang; Yin, Hongzhi; Chen, Tong; Liu, Haochen; Wang, Yiqi; Fan, Wenqi; Liu, Xiaorui; Dacon, Jamell; Lye, Lingjuan; Tang, Jiliang; Gionis, Aristides; Neumann, Stefan; Ordozgoiti, Bruno; Razniewski, Simon; Arnaout, Hiba; Ghosh, Shrestha; Suchanek, Fabian; Wu, Lingfei; Chen, Yu; Li, Yunyao; Liu, Bang; Ilievski, Filip; Garijo, Daniel; Chalupsky, Hans; Szekely, Pedro; Kanellos, Ilias; Sacharidis, Dimitris; Vergoulis, Thanasis; Choudhary, Nurendra; Rao, Nikhil; Subbian, Karthik; Sengamedu, Srinivasan; Reddy, Chandan; Victor, Friedhelm; Haslhofer, Bernhard; Katsogiannis- Meimarakis, George; Koutrika, Georgia; Jin, Shengmin; Koutra, Danai; Zafarani, Reza; Tsvetkov, Yulia; Balachandran, Vidhisha; Kumar, Sachin; Zhao, Xiangyu; Chen, Bo; Guo, Huifeng; Wang, Yejing; Tang, Ruiming; Zhang, Yang; Wang, Wenjie; Wu, Peng; Feng, Fuli; He, Xiangnan (ACM, 2022-04-25)
    This paper summarizes the content of the 20 tutorials that have been given at The Web Conference 2022: 85% of these tutorials are lecture style, and 15% of these are hands on.
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    Crosslinked polymer compositions, gas separation membranes of such crosslinked polymer compositions, methods of making such membranes, and methods of separating gases using such membranes
    (United States Patent and Trademark Office, 2017-01-03)
    Gas separation membrane compositions including at least one crosslinked polymer, gas separation membranes made of such compositions, methods for making such gas separation membranes, and methods of using such membranes to separate gases are described. In one embodiment, the crosslinked polymer includes polyarylene ethers (PAE).
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    Effects of ammonium perchlorate exposure on the thyroid function and the expression of thyroid-responsive genes in Japanese quail embryos and post hatch chicks
    Chen, Yu (Virginia Tech, 2008-04-28)
    Perchlorate ion interferes with thyroid function by competitively inhibiting the sodium-iodide symporter, thus blocking iodide uptake into the thyroid gland. In this study, the effect of perchlorate exposure on thyroid function and thyroid-responsive gene expression were examined in (1) embryos from eggs laid by perchlorate-treated Japanese quail hens and (2) perchlorate-treated young Japanese quail. I hypothesized that perchlorate exposure would decrease thyroid function and that the consequent hypothyroidism would alter the expression of thyroid sensitive genes. Laying Japanese quail hens were treated with 2000 mg/l and 4000 mg/l ammonium perchlorate in drinking water. Eggs from these hens were incubated. Embryos, exposed to perchlorate in the egg, were sacrificed at day 14 of the 16.5 day incubation period. Japanese quail chicks, 4-5 days old, were treated with 2000 mg/l ammonium perchlorate in drinking water for 2 and 7.5 weeks. Thyroid status was evaluated by measuring plasma thyroid hormone concentrations, thyroid gland weight and thyroidal thyroid hormone storage. Expression of thyroid-responsive genes was evaluated by measuring the mRNA levels of Type 2 deiodinase (D2) in the brain and liver, RC3/neurogranin mRNA level in the brain and Spot 14 mRNA level in the liver. Maternal perchlorate exposure led to embryonic hypothyroidism, demonstrated by thyroid hypertrophy and very low embryonic thyroidal TH storage. Embryonic hypothyroidism decreased body growth and increased D2 mRNA level in the liver (a presumed compensatory response to hypothyroidism) but did not affect the mRNA levels of D2 and RC3 in the brain. Spot 14 mRNA was not detected in embryonic liver. In the second part of the study, quail chicks showed early signs of hypothyroidism after two weeks of 2000 mg/l ammonium perchlorate exposure; plasma concentration and thyroid gland stores of both T4 and T3 were significantly decreased. After 7.5 weeks of perchlorate exposure, all thyroid variables measured indicated that the chicks had become overtly hypothyroid. D2 mRNA level was increased, a compensatory response to hypothyroidism, and spot 14 mRNA level was decreased, a substrate-driven response in the liver of quail chicks after two weeks of perchlorate exposure. However, no difference was observed in the mRNA levels of D2 and spot 14 in the liver after 7.5 weeks of perchlorate exposure, suggesting there was some adaptation to the hypothyroid condition. The mRNA level of D2 and RC3 in the brain was not affected by perchlorate-induced hypothyroidism in quail chicks after either 2 or 7.5 weeks of perchlorate exposure. As in the embryos, this suggests the brain of chicks was "protected" from the hypothyroid body conditions.
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    Synthesis and Characterization of Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic Multiblock Copolymers for Proton Exchange Membrane Applications
    Chen, Yu (Virginia Tech, 2011-09-09)
    Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been extensively studied as clean, sustainable and efficient power sources for electric vehicles, and portable and residential power sources. As one of the key components in PEMFC system, proton exchange membranes (PEMs) act as the electrolyte that transfers protons from the anode to the cathode. The state-of-art commercial PEM materials are typically based on perfluorinated sulfonic acid containing ionomers (PFSAs), represented by DuPont's Nafion®. Despite their good chemical stability and proton conductivity at high relative humidity (RH) and low temperature, several major drawbacks have been observed on PFSAs, such as high cost, high fuel permeability, insufficient thermo-mechanical properties above 80°C, and low proton conductivity at low RH levels. Therefore the challenge lies in developing alternative PEMs which feature associated ionic domains at low hydration levels. Nanophase separated hydrophilic-hydrophobic block copolymer ionomers are believed to be desirable for this purpose Three series of hydrophobic/hydrophillic, partially fluorinated/sulfonated multiblock copolymers were synthesized and characterized in this thesis. The hydrophilic blocks were based upon the nucleophilic step polymerization of 3, 3′-disulfonated, 4, 4′-dichlorodiphenyl sulfone (SDCDPS) with an excess 4, 4′-biphenol (BP) to afford phenoxide endgroups. The partially fluorinated hydrophobic blocks were largely based on 4, 4′-hexafluoroisopropylidenediphenol (6F-BPA) and various difluoro monomers (excess). These copolymers were obtained through moderate temperature (~130-150°C) coupling reactions, which minimize the ether-ether interchanges between hydrophobic and hydrophilic telechelic oligomers via a nucleophilic aromatic substitution mechanism. The copolymers were obtained in high molecular weights and were solvent cast into tough membranes, which had nanophase separated hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions. The performance and structure-property relationships of these materials were studied and compared to random copolymer systems. NMR results supported that the multiblock sequence had been achieved. They displayed superior proton conductivity, due to ionic, proton conducting channels formed through the self-assembly of the sulfonated blocks. The nano-phase separated morphologies of the copolymer membranes were studied and confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Through control of a variety of parameters, including ion exchange capacity and sequence lengths, performances as high, or even higher than those of the state-of-the-art PEM, Nafion®, were achieved. Another series of semi-crystalline hydrophobic poly(ether ether ketone)-hydrophilic sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (PEEK-BPSH100) multiblock copolymers was first synthesized and characterized. However due to their semi-crystalline structure, PEEK blocks are insoluble in most organic solvents at relatively low reaction temperatures, which prevents the coupling reaction between PEEK and BPS100. In order to facilitate the synthesis and processing, removable bulky ketimine was introduced to synthesize amorphous pre-oligomers poly(ether ether ketimine) (PEEKt). The synthetic procedure first involves the synthesis of hydrophobic poly(ether ether ketimine)-hydrophilic sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (PEEKt-BPS100) multiblock pre-copolymers via coupling reactions between phenoxide terminated hydrophilic BPS100 and fluorine terminated hydrophobic PEEKt blocks. The membranes cast from PEEKt-BPS100 were boiled in 0.5M sulfuric acid water solution to hydrolyze the amorphous PEEKt blocks to semi-crystalline PEEK blocks and acidify BPS100 blocks to BPSH100 blocks simultaneously. FT-IR spectra clearly showed the successful hydrolysis and acidification. The proton conductivity, water uptake and other membrane properties of the acidified semi-crystalline PEEK-BPSH100 membranes were then evaluated and compared with those of the state-of-the-art PEM, Nafion®.