Corroles as receptors in liquid membrane electrodes and their potentiometric response towards salicylic acid

Here, we report on the application of corroles as analytically active compounds in liquid membrane electrodes (ISE) that are sensitive towards salicylic acid and salicylate.The potentiometric signals generated by corrole-incorporated ISEs strongly depend on the pH of the aqueous sample solution and the membrane composition, such as the presence of lipophilic sites. Corrole incorporating ISEs are characterised by a low detection limit (4.0 × 10⁻⁵ M) and a wide linear range (4.0 × 10⁻⁵ to 5.3 × 10⁻³ M). Also, they are free from interference versus other organic anions.The mechanism of the generation of the potentiometric signals of corrole incorporating ISEs in the presence of salicylate anion, as well salicylic acid, will be discussed.     

Holant Problems for 3-Regular Graphs with Complex Edge Functions

We study several embeddings of doubling metrics into low dimensional normed spaces, in particular into ? ₂ and ? _∞ . Doubling metrics are a robust class of metric spaces that have low intrinsic dimension, and often occur in applications. Understanding the dimension required for a concise representation of such metrics is a fundamental open problem in the area of metric embedding. Here we show that the n-vertex Laakso graph can be embedded into constant dimensional ? ₂ with the best possible distortion, which has implications for possible approaches to the above problem.     

Biofunctionalized upconverting CaF<Subscript>2</Subscript>:Yb,Tm nanoparticles for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Candida albicans</Emphasis> detection and imaging

Versatile optimization of the synthesis method and composition of Yb3+ and Tm3+ co-doped CaF2 nanoparticles as well as a novel biofunctionalization method were developed and evaluated.Through multistep synthesis,the luminescence intensity of the Tm3+ activator was enhanced by more than 10-fold compared to standard one-step synthesis.The proposed methods were used to homogenously distribute the doping ions within the nanoparticle's volume and thus reduce luminescence quenching.Optimization of dopant ions concentration led to the selection of the most efficient visible and near-infrared up-converting nanoparticles,which were CaF2 doped with 10％ Yb3+ 0.05％ Tm3+ and 20％ Yb3+ 0.5％ Tm3+,respectively.To illustrate the suitability of the synthesized nanoparticles as bio-labels,a dedicated biofunctionalization method was used,and the nanoparticles were applied for labeling and imaging of Candida albicans cells.This method shows great promise because of extremely low background and high specificity because of the presence of the attached molecules.     

Continuous separation,with microfluidics,of the components of a ternary mixture: from vacuum to purge gas pervaporation

The general objective of this paper is to investigate the separation, with microfluidics, of the components of a ternary mixture, when using vacuum or purge gas pervaporation. The ternary mixture considered is a mixture of methanol (MeOH), water (H₂O) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). In a previous work (Ziemecka in Lab Chip 15:504–511, 2015), we presented the proof of concept of a microfluidic device, which was able to partially separate MeOH from the other components of such a mixture, by using vacuum pervaporation. Here, our goal is to optimize the operation of this device, by considering vacuum pervaporation, but also purge gas pervaporation. First, we provide a mathematical model of the device. This model is used to discuss the influence of the operating parameters on the device operation. To apply this model to the considered mixture, we determined the MeOH and H₂O permeability coefficients of PDMS membranes prepared from different concentrations of the curing agent. The model is then successfully compared to experimental data. The model and the experiments show that high efficiencies can be reached for both vacuum and purge gas pervaporation, provided a fine-tuning of the operating parameters. For instance, a good efficiency of the vacuum pervaporation is reached at high temperature and low pressure. For purge gas pervaporation, it is reached for low temperature and high pressure.     

A sensitivity analysis of powder forging processes

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the sensitivity problems in metal forming of rigid-visco-poroplastic materials. A repressing powder forging process is analyzed. Parameter sensitivity, material derivative, and control volume approaches to shape sensitivity analysis are presented, analyzed, and compared. Discretization of the continuum expressions is presented. The numerical solutions for parameter sensitivity in forging problems have been described. Numerical examples concerning simple compression test of cylindrical porous specimen are presented.     

Obtaining complete 2 D view representation of polyhedra using concept of seedling single-view area

This article deals with construction of complete 2 D exact view models of polyhedral objects for visual identification systems. In particular, a new method and an algorithm views generation using the view sphere with perspective concept are described. A set of views generated by this method forms a complete view representation of the object. The method of ensuring completeness of the view representation by controlling covering of the view space (by single-view areas) is used in the presented algorithm. The perspective projection used for calculating the views, the total, tight covering of the view sphere by the single-view areas and -dimensionality of the views ensure, in our opinion, unambiguous and proper identification of polyhedral objects. The method consists in calculating single (any) view, determining the corresponding single-view area (so-called seedling single-view area) and then spiral propagation of neighbouring single-view areas until the whole view sphere is covered by them (i.e., until the border register containing the border between the covered and uncovered parts of the view sphere becomes empty). Having a complete set of single-view areas, we get a complete set of views as well. A method of determining single-view areas for convex polyhedra is also presented.     

Grain boundaries between bismuth nanocrystals

Grain boundaries in thin Bi(1 1 0) films deposited on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite are investigated at atomic resolution using scanning tunnelling microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. We find preferred misorientation angles Θ equal to 216°, 87°, 49°, 31°, 20°, 12° and 5°, the majority of which can be classified as large-angle boundaries. We find good agreement between the experimental results and a model of the tilt [1 1 0] grain boundary developed here. A method for estimating the surface unit cell based on measurement of dihedral angle in low-resolution images is also developed.