Composition separation in the surface layers of a Ni-Cu foil during ion implantation

The effect of ion implantation on the composition and mechanical properties of rolled Ni-Cu foils is studied. The formation of a non-monotonic oscillating dependence of the chemical composition on depth associated with a presumable change in the defect structure of the material has been observed. Possible mechanisms of the observed phenomena are proposed.     

Microwave-hydrothermal synthesis of stable nanocrystalline ceria sols for biomedical uses

A new microwave-hydrothermal process has been developed for preparing stable aqueous sols of nanocrystalline ceria. Transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering shows that CeO₂ nanoparticle size remains unchanged during hydrothermal treatments. Sodium adenosine triphosphate and sodium citrate are proposed for additional stabilization of the sols.     

A new single‐step quantitative pathogen detection system: Template‐tagging followed by multiplex asymmetric PCR using common primers and CE‐SSCP

Rapid diagnosis of bacterial infection is important for patient management and appropriate therapy during the early phase of bacteria‐induced disease. Among the existing techniques for identifying microbial, CE‐SSCP combined with 16S ribosomal RNA gene‐specific PCR has the benefits of excellent sensitivity, resolution, and reproducibility. However, even though CE‐SSCP can separate PCR products with high‐resolution, multiplex detection and quantification are complicated by primer‐dimer formation and non‐specific amplification. Here, we describe a novel technique for multiplex detection and quantification of pathogens by template‐tagging followed by multiplex asymmetric PCR and subsequent CE‐SSCP. More specifically, we reverse transcribed 16S ribosomal RNAs from seven septicemia‐inducing pathogens, tagged the templates with common end sequences, and amplified them using common primers. The resulting amplicons could be successfully separated by CE‐SSCP and quantified by comparison to an internal standard. This method yielded results that illustrate the potential of this system for diagnosing infectious disease.     

Integral geometry and the Gauss-Bonnet theorem in constant curvature spaces

We give an integral-geometric proof of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem for hypersurfaces in constant curvature spaces. As a tool, we obtain variation formulas in integral geometry with interest in its own.

     

Reaction, um die Anwesenheit freien Schwefels zu erkennen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

A hybrid method for solving multi-objective global optimization problems

Real optimization problems often involve not one, but multiple objectives, usually in conflict. In single-objective optimization there exists a global optimum, while in the multi-objective case no optimal solution is clearly defined but rather a set of optimums, which constitute the so called Pareto-optimal front. Thus, the goal of multi-objective strategies is to generate a set of non-dominated solutions as an approximation to this front. However, most problems of this kind cannot be solved exactly because they have very large and highly complex search spaces. The objective of this work is to compare the performance of a new hybrid method here proposed, with several well-known multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEA). The main attraction of these methods is the integration of selection and diversity maintenance. Since it is very difficult to describe exactly what a good approximation is in terms of a number of criteria, the performance is quantified with adequate metrics that evaluate the proximity to the global Pareto-front. In addition, this work is also one of the few empirical studies that solves three-objective optimization problems using the concept of global Pareto-optimality.     

Proteases screening for the kinetic resolution of amines with N-acyl α-amino acid trifluoromethyl esters: automated docking approach of binding energies using Subtilisin Novo as a prototype for serine proteases

The screening of a panel of 17 proteases resulted in the selection of 4 serine proteases for the resolution of 3-amino-1-phenylbutane. The latter were used to determine the best acyl donor from a series of N-acyl α-amino acid trifluoroethyl esters selected as peptide mimetics (E factor up to 99). The results were correlated to an automated docking determination of their binding affinities for Subtilisin Novo.