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An organogelation process depends on the gelator-solvent pair. This study deals with the solvent dynamics once the gelation process is completed. The first approach used is relaxometry, i.e., the measurement of toluene proton longitudinal relaxation time T(1) as a function of the proton NMR resonance frequency (here in the 5 kHz to 400 MHz range). Pure toluene exhibits an unexpected T(1) variation, which has been identified as paramagnetic relaxation resulting from an interaction of toluene with dissolved oxygen. In the gel phase, this contribution is retrieved with, in addition, a strong decay at low frequencies assigned to toluene molecules within the gel fibers. Comparison of dispersion curves of pure toluene and toluene in the gel phase leads to an estimate of the proportion of toluene embedded within the organogel (found around 40%). The second approach is based on carbon-13 T(1) and nuclear Overhauser effect measurements, the combination of these two parameters providing direct information about the reorientation of C-H bonds. It appears clearly that reorientation of toluene is the same in pure liquid and in the gel phase. The only noticeable changes in carbon-13 longitudinal relaxation times are due to the so-called chemical shift anisotropy (csa) mechanism and reflect slight modifications of the toluene electronic distribution in the gel phase. NMR diffusion measurements by the pulse gradient spin-echo (PGSE) method allow us to determine the diffusion coefficient of toluene inside the organogel. It is roughly two-thirds of the one in pure toluene, thus indicating that self-diffusion is the only dynamical parameter to be slightly affected when the solvent is inside the gel structure. The whole set of experimental observations leads to the conclusion that, once the gel is formed, the solvent becomes essentially passive, although an important fraction is located within the gel structure.

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is an autoimmune disease in which the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas are destroyed and insulin must be injected daily to enable the body to metabolize glucose. Standard therapy for T1DM involves self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) several times daily with a blood glucose meter and injecting insulin via a syringe, pen or insulin pump. An "Artificial Pancreas" (AP) is a closed-loop control system that uses a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), an insulin pump and an internal algorithm to automatically manage insulin infusion to keep the subject's blood glucose within a desired range. Although no fully closed-loop AP systems are currently commercially available there are intense academic and commercial efforts to produce safe and effective AP systems. In this paper we present the Diabetes Assistant (DiAs), an ultraportable AP research platform designed to enable home studies of Closed Loop Control (CLC) of blood glucose in subjects with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. DiAs consists of an Android (Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) smartphone equipped with communication, control and user interface software wirelessly connected to a continuous glucose monitor and insulin pump. The software consists of a network of mobile applications with well-defined Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) running

Transition from a hospital setting to home-like conditions requires specific AP supervision to which remote monitoring systems can contribute valuably. DiAs Web Monitoring worked properly when tested in our outpatient studies. It could facilitate subject monitoring and even accelerate medical and technical assessment of the AP. It should now be adapted for long-term studies with an enhanced notification feature.

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Phosphonium-based ionic liquids with natural organic derived anions were easily prepared and showed good performance and recyclability in Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation processes at room temperature under atmospheric H2 pressure.

The aerodynamics of the Stardust Sample Return Capsule are analyzed in the lowdensity, transitional ow regime using free-molecular, Direct Simulation Monte Carlo, Navier-Stokes, and Newtonian methods to provide inputs for constructing a transitional ow bridging relation. The accuracy of this bridging relation in reconstructing the aerodynamic coe cients given by the more exact methods is presented for a range of ight conditions and vehicle attitudes. There is good agreement b e t w een the various prediction methods, and a simple sine-squared bridging relation is shown to provide a reasonably good description of the axial force, normal force, and pitching moment o v er a range of Knudsen numbers from 0.001 to 10. The predictions show a static instability of the Stardust capsule in the free-molecular regime that persists well into the transitional ow. The addition of a thin disk to the base of the capsule is shown to remove this static instability. H o w ever, the extremely high entry velocity of 12.6 km s for the proposed trajectory introduces di cult design issues for incorporating this disk caused by the high aerothermal loads that occur even under relatively rare ed conditions.