Pyroelectricity and related properties in the fresnoite pseudobinary system Ba2TiGe2O8-Ba2TiSi2O8

Complete solid solubility is found in the pseudobinary system Ba₂TiGe₂O₈-Ba₂TiSi₂O₈ by studies on ceramics and single crystals (Czochralski technique). The spontaneous birefringence perpendicular to the polar axis of the orthorhombic low temperature phase has been measured versus temperature and silicon contents: the temperature of the phase transition of species 4mmFmm2 is of second order and decreases from 1103 K at 0 at % Si to about 400 K at 40 at % Si. The pyroelectric coefficient in the orthorhombic mm2 and the tetragonal 4 mm phase is of the order of 10^–6 C m^–2 K^–1 in the entire system and has a positive temperature coefficient for all compositions studied except for Ba₂TiGe₂O₈, in which the pyroelectric coefficient changes sign at about 308 K. The spacegroup of the orthorhombic phase is proposed to be C _2v ¹¹ -Cmm2.     

Enzymatischer Nachweis von Carbamat-Pesticiden auf impr?gnierten Cellulose-Platten

Zusammenfassung Ein Nachweis für Carbamat-Pesticide mittels Enzym-Inhibition auf imprägnierten Cellulose-Schichten wurde ausgearbeitet. Bei Celluloseschichten, die mit Äthylglykol, Triäthylglykol und,-Ogydipropionitril imprägniert waren, erwies sich die Kombination Schweineleberesterase/Indophenylacetat (als chromogenes Substrat) als besonders empfindlicher Nachweis. Die Nachweisempfindlichkeit wurde in Abhängigkeit von der Art des Enzympräparates, des Substrates, des pH, der Inhibitionszeit und -temperatur, der Schichtdicke und des Impriignierungsmittels untersucht.

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Enzymatic detection of carbamate pesticides on impregnated cellulose plates

Summary The detection of carbamate pesticides by an enzyme-inhibition method on impregnated (ethylene glycol, triethylene glycol,,-ogydipropionitrile) cellulose thin layer plates is described. The enzyme-substrate combination: pig liver esterase-indophenylacetate (chromogenic substrate) was the most sensitive. The following parameters concerning the sensitivity of the method were investigated: enzyme source, substrate, pH, inhibition time, inhibition temperature, thickness of the cellulose layer, stationary phase.

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Herrn o.Univ.-Prof. Dr. O. Hoffmann-Ostenhof, Vorstand des Instituts für Allgemeine Biochemie, Universität Wien, zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet.

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Wir danken dem Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, der uns die Durchführung dieser Arbeit (Projekt Nr. 2161) ermöglichte.

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Ing. B. Rapié dankt der SEA-Stiftung (Scientific Exchange Agreement) für die Gewährung eines Stipendiums.     

Why ‘Current Mode’ Does Not Guarantee Good Performance

It is often said that there is a fundamental difference between current-mode and voltage-mode circuits. This conjecture is discussed in technical and philosophical terms, and it is shown that there is no such performance difference to be found, and that it is not possible to make a clear divide between voltage mode and current mode.And yet performance differences appear in the literature. It is shown that they come from the different design practices of the current-mode and the voltage-mode research groups. The conclusion of this paper is that the practical knowledge of the current-mode research groups should be re-integrated into main-stream IC design, and that all propaganda of the type current-mode is better than voltage-mode should be stopped immediately.     

V2O5 nanofibre sheet actuators

Vanadium oxides, such as V2O5, are promising for lithium-ion batteries, catalysis, electrochromic devices and sensors. Vanadium oxides were proposed more than a decade ago for another redox-dependent application: the direct conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy in actuators (artificial muscles). Although related conducting polymer and carbon nanotube actuators have been demonstrated, electromechanical actuators based on vanadium oxides have not be realized. V2O5 nanofibres and nanotubes provide the potential advantages of low-cost synthesis by sol-gel routes and high charging capacity and long cycle life. Here, we demonstrate electromechanical actuation for obtained high modulus V2O5 sheets comprising entangled V2O5 nanofibres. The high surface area of these V2O5 sheets facilitates electrochemical charge injection and intercalation that causes the electromechanical actuation. We show that the V2O5 sheets provide high Young's modulus, high actuator-generated stress, and high actuator stroke at low applied voltage.     

Comments on “Robust optimal design and convergence properties analysis of iterative learning control approaches” and “On the P-type and Newton-type ILC schemes for dynamic systems with non-affine input factors”

The papers by Xu and Tan [Robust optimal design and convergence properties analysis of iterative learning control approaches, Automatica 38 (2002) 1867-1880], and Xu and Tan [On the P-type and Newton-type ILC schemes for dynamic systems with non-affine input factors, Automatica 38 (2002) 1237-1242], give a convergence analysis for several iterative learning control approaches. Unfortunately, these papers contains several mathematical errors that render the proofs of the claimed results invalid. As there are no obvious ways to correct these errors, the results presented in these papers are questionable.     

Mumford-Shah model for one-to-one edge matching.

This paper presents a new algorithm based on the Mumford-Shah model for simultaneously detecting the edge features of two images and jointly estimating a consistent set of transformations to match them. Compared to the current asymmetric methods in the literature, this fully symmetric method allows one to determine one-to-one correspondences between the edge features of two images. The entire variational model is realized in a multiscale framework of the finite element approximation. The optimization process is guided by an estimation minimization-type algorithm and an adaptive generalized gradient flow to guarantee a fast and smooth relaxation. The algorithm is tested on T1 and T2 magnetic resonance image data to study the parameter setting. We also present promising results of four applications of the proposed algorithm: interobject monomodal registration, retinal image registration, matching digital photographs of neurosurgery with its volume data, and motion estimation for frame interpolation.     

Molecular Subtyping of Invasive Breast Cancer Using a PAM50-Based Multigene Expression Test-Comparison with Molecular-Like Subtyping by Tumor Grade/Immunohistochemistry and Influence on Oncologist’s Decision on Systemic Therapy in a Real-World Setting

In intermediate risk hormone receptor (HR) positive, HER2 negative breast cancer (BC), the decision regarding adjuvant chemotherapy might be facilitated by multigene expression tests. In all, 142 intermediate risk BCs were investigated using the PAM50-based multigene expression test Prosigna® in a prospective multicentric study. In 119/142 cases, Prosigna® molecular subtyping was compared with local and two central (C1 and C6) molecular-like subtypes relying on both immunohistochemistry (IHC; HRs, HER2, Ki-67) and IHC + tumor grade (IHC+G) subtyping. According to local IHC, 35.4% were Luminal A-like and 64.6% Luminal B-like subtypes (local IHC+G subtype: 31.9% Luminal A-like; 68.1% Luminal B-like). In contrast to local and C1 subtyping, C6 classified >2/3 of cases as Luminal A-like. Pairwise agreement between Prosigna® subtyping and molecular-like subtypes was fair to moderate depending on molecular-like subtyping method and center. The best agreement was observed between Prosigna® (53.8% Luminal A; 44.5% Luminal B) and C1 surrogate subtyping (Cohen’s kappa = 0.455). Adjuvant chemotherapy was suggested to 44.2% and 88.6% of Prosigna® Luminal A and Luminal B cases, respectively. Out of all Luminal A-like cases (locally IHC/IHC+G subtyping), adjuvant chemotherapy was recommended if Prosigna® testing classified as Prosigna® Luminal A at high / intermediate risk or upgraded to Prosigna® Luminal B.