Science and technology in the region: The output of regional science and technology, its strengths and its leading institutions

Summary We operationalize scientific output in a region by means of the number of articles (as in the SciSearch database) per year and technology output by means of the number of patent applications (as in the database of the European Patent Office) per priority year. All informetric analyses were done using the DIALOG online-system. The main research questions are the following: Which scientific and technological fields or topics are most influent within a region and which institutions or companies are mainly publishing articles or holding patents? Do the distributions of regional science and technology fields and of publishing institutions follow the well-known informetric function? Are there - as it is expected - only few fields and few institutions which dominate the region? Is there a connection between the economic power of a region and the regional publication and patent output? Examples studied in detail are seven German regions: Aachen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Köln (Cologne), Leipzig - Halle - Dessau, München (Munich), and Stuttgart. Three different indicators were used, science and technology attraction of a region (number of scientific articles and patents), science and technology intensity (articles and patents per 1,000 inhabitants), and science and technology density (articles and patents per 1 billion EURO gross value added). Top region concerning both attraction and intensity is Munich, concerning density it is Aachen.     

Quantitative temperature measurements in high-pressure flames with multiline NO-LIF thermometry

An accurate temperature measurement technique for steady, high-pressure flames is investigated using excitation wavelength-scanned laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) within the nitric oxide (NO) A-X(0, 0) band, and demonstration experiments are performed in premixed methane/air flames at pressures between 1 and 60 bars with a fuel/air ratio of 0.9. Excitation spectra are simulated with a computational spectral simulation program (LIFSim) and fit to the experimental data to extract gas temperature. The LIF scan range was chosen to provide sensitivity over a wide temperature range and to minimize LIF interference from oxygen. The fitting method is robust against elastic scattering and broadband LIF interference from other species, and yields absolute, calibration-free temperature measurements. Because of loss of structure in the excitation spectra at high pressures, background signal intensities were determined using a NO addition method that simultaneously yields nascent NO concentrations in the postflame gases. In addition, fluorescence emission spectra were also analyzed to quantify the contribution of background signal and to investigate interference in the detection band-width. The NO-LIF temperatures are in good agreement with intrusive single-color pyrometry. The proposed thermometry method could provide a useful tool for studing high-pressure flame chemistry as well as provide a standard to evaluate and validate fast-imaging thermometry techniques for practical diagnostics of high-pressure combustion systems.     

Simultaneously amplified electrochemical and surface plasmon optical detection of DNA hybridization based on ferrocene-streptavidin conjugates

A sensitive method based on ferrocene-streptavidin (Fc-Stv) conjugates for the simultaneously amplified electrochemical and surface plasmon optical detection of DNA target hybridization to peptide nucleic acid-modified gold surfaces is reported. The attachment of Fc-Stv to the biotinylated complementary target DNA not only amplified the surface plasmon resonance signal but also enhanced the electrochemical signal due to the many Fc markers per Stv. The ferrocene redox peak current increased with the increase of the target DNA concentration. Consequently, the amount of hybridized target DNA can be estimated by cyclic voltammetry and chronocoulometry. The detection limit of this DNA sensor is 10 pM (2 fmol, with signal to noise > 3). This sensor was also shown to have high selectivity (at the single-base mismatch level) and good reproducibility.     

Coded excitation with spectrum inversion (CEXSI) for ultrasound array imaging

In this paper, a scheme called coded excitation with spectrum inversion (CEXSI) is presented. An established optimal binary code whose spectrum has no s and possesses the least variation is encoded as a burst for transmission. Using this optimal code, the decoding filter can be derived directly from its inverse spectrum. Various transmission techniques can be used to improve energy coupling within the system pass-band. We demonstrate its potential to achieve excellent decoding with very low (<80 dB) side-lobes. For a 2.6 /spl mu/s code, an array element with a center frequency of 10 MHz and fractional bandwidth of 38%, range side-lobes of about 40 dB have been achieved experimentally with little compromise in range resolution. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement also has been characterized at about 14 dB. Along with simulations and experimental data, we present a formulation of the scheme, according to which CEXSI can be extended to improve SNR in sparse array imaging in general.     

Adsorption of proteins on electro-conductive polymer films

Shapable electro-conductive (SEC) polymer films (polyanion-doped polypyrrole films) show several interesting properties for bioelectrochemical applications. The SEC film can be used as an inert, stable and hydrophobic electrode in aqueous solution over a wide potential range. In this study, the physical and the potential-assisted adsorption of various proteins on the SEC film is described. Because of the hydrophobic surface characteristic proteins easily adsorb and retain on the film surface by strong hydrophobic interactions. The amount of the adsorbed protein varies from 2.2 to 4.8 μg cm⁻² depending on the protein when the film is incubated for 22 h in the protein solution. The adsorption is effectively accelerated and enhanced by applying a positive potential in the range from 0.4 V to 1.0 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The potential-assisted adsorption process is completed by 10–15 min and the amount of the adsorbed protein is nearly doubled as compared to the adsorption without potential. The adsorbed protein is chemically very stable in comparison with the protein in solution. More than 85% of the initial adsorbed proteins retains on the surface after three weeks of incubation in buffer solution. The initial adsorption rate is studied by quartz crystal micro-balance measurements on a thin polymer film coated quartz crystal. In addition, the SEC film surface is etched with air plasma which leads to a four-fold increase of the adsorption of proteins.     

镁表面Nafion/聚吡咯与Nafion/二甲基亚砜有机涂层耐蚀性能的研究

采用浸镀法在镁基体表面制备了Nafion/聚吡咯和Nafion/二甲基亚砜(DMSO)有机涂层,利用光学显微镜和电化学测量系统研究了有机涂层的形貌及其耐蚀性能.结果表明,Nafion/聚吡咯有机涂层的厚度随着浸镀次数的增加几乎不变,且Nafion/聚吡咯有机涂层降低了镁的耐蚀性能;而Nafion/DMSO有机涂层的厚度则随着浸镀次数的增加而线性增加,并且Nafion/DMSO有机涂层能有效地改善镁的耐蚀性能,耐蚀性能随着涂层厚度的增加而提高.与无涂层的试样相比,耐蚀性能最高提高18倍.     

Tunnelling spectra of individual magnetic endofullerene molecules

The manipulation of single magnetic molecules may enable new strategies for high-density information storage and quantum-state control. However, progress in these areas depends on developing techniques for addressing individual molecules and controlling their spin. Here, we report success in making electrical contact to individual magnetic N@C(60) molecules and measuring spin excitations in their electron tunnelling spectra. We verify that the molecules remain magnetic by observing a transition as a function of magnetic field that changes the spin quantum number and also the existence of non-equilibrium tunnelling originating from low-energy excited states. From the tunnelling spectra, we identify the charge and spin states of the molecule. The measured spectra can be reproduced theoretically by accounting for the exchange interaction between the nitrogen spin and electron(s) on the C(60) cage.     

Nanoparticles that communicate in vivo to amplify tumour targeting

Nanomedicines have enormous potential to improve the precision of cancer therapy, yet our ability to efficiently home these materials to regions of disease in vivo remains very limited. Inspired by the ability of communication to improve targeting in biological systems, such as inflammatory-cell recruitment to sites of disease, we construct systems where synthetic biological and nanotechnological components communicate to amplify disease targeting in vivo. These systems are composed of 'signalling' modules (nanoparticles or engineered proteins) that target tumours and then locally activate the coagulation cascade to broadcast tumour location to clot-targeted 'receiving' nanoparticles in circulation that carry a diagnostic or therapeutic cargo, thereby amplifying their delivery. We show that communicating nanoparticle systems can be composed of multiple types of signalling and receiving modules, can transmit information through multiple molecular pathways in coagulation, can operate autonomously and can target over 40 times higher doses of chemotherapeutics to tumours than non-communicating controls.     

Polymer-coated nanoparticles: a universal tool for biolabelling experiments

Water solubilization of nanoparticles is a fundamental prerequisite for many biological applications. To date, no single method has emerged as ideal, and several different approaches have been successfully utilized. These 'phase-transfer' strategies are reviewed, indicating key advantages and disadvantages, and a discussion of conjugation strategies is presented. Coating of hydrophobic nanoparticles with amphiphilic polymers provides a generic pathway for the phase transfer of semiconductor, magnetic, metallic, and upconverting nanoparticles from nonpolar to polar environments. Amphiphilic polymers that include maleimide groups can be readily functionalized with chemical groups for specific applications. In the second, experimental part, some of the new chemical features of such polymer-capped nanoparticles are demonstrated. In particular, nanoparticles to which a pH sensitive fluorophore has been attached are described, and their use for intracellular pH-sensing demonstrated. It is shown that the properties of analyte-sensitive fluorophores can be tuned by using interactions with the underlying nanoparticles.