V2O5/TiO2 Catalytic Xerogels Raman and EPR Studies

Raman spectroscopy and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) studies were performed on a series of V₂O₅/TiO₂ catalysts prepared by a modified sol-gel method in order to identify the vanadium species. Two species of surface vanadium were identified by Raman measurements, monomeric vanadyls and polymeric vanadates. Monomeric vanadyls are characterized by a narrow Raman band at 1030 cm^–1 and polymeric vanadates by two broad bands in the region from 900 to 960 cm^–1 and 770 to 850 cm^–1. The Raman spectra do not exhibit characteristic peaks of crystalline V₂O₅. These results are in agreement with those of X-ray Diffractometry (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) previously reported (C.B. Rodella et al., J. Sol-Gel Sci. Techn., submitted). At least three families of V⁴⁺ ions were identified by EPR investigations. The analysis of the EPR spectra suggests that isolated V⁴⁺ ions are located in sites with octahedral symmetry substituting for Ti⁴⁺ ions in the rutile structure. Magnetically interacting V⁴⁺ ions are also present as pairs or clusters giving rise to a broad and structureless EPR line. At higher concentration of V₂O₅, a partial oxidation of V⁴⁺ to V⁵⁺ is apparent from the EPR results.     

Indirect ultrasonication for protein quantification and peptide mass mapping through mass spectrometry-based techniques

We report in this work a fast protocol for protein quantification and for peptide mass mapping that rely on ¹⁸O isotopic labeling through the decoupling procedure. It is demonstrated that the purity and source of trypsin do not compromise the labeling degree and efficiency of the decoupled labeling reaction, and that the pH of the labeling reaction is a critical factor to obtain a significant ¹⁸O double labeling. We also show that the same calibration curve can be used for MALDI protein quantification during several days maintaining a reasonable accuracy, thus simplifying the handling of the quantification process. In addition we demonstrate that ¹⁸O isotopic labeling through the decoupling procedure can be successfully used to elaborate peptide mass maps. BSA was successfully quantified using the same calibration curve in different days and plasma from a freshwater fish, Cyprinus carpio, was used to elaborate the peptide mass maps.     

A novel (18)O inverse labeling-based workflow for accurate bottom-up mass spectrometry quantification of proteins separated by gel electrophoresis

In the present work we report on a novel and fast protocol for accurate bottom-up protein quantification that overcomes the drawbacks of in-gel digestion and MALDI analysis, while maintaining their benefits. It relies on the following steps: (i) gel electrophoresis separation of proteins, (ii) fast in-gel protein digestion with trypsin, (iii) (18)O-labeling through the decoupled method, (iv) quantification through selected peptides previously chosen using the (18)O inverse labeling approach and that, finally, (v) it takes advantage of software specifically developed to select the peptides that will drive the quantification of the protein in an automated mode. We have accurately quantified the following six proteins: glycogen phosphorylase, BSA, ovalbumin, carbonic anhydrase, trypsin inhibitor, and α-lactalbumin. As a case study we have quantified the protein vitellogenin in plasma of Cyprinus carpio exposed to high levels of estrogens. The proposed new protocol was validated against the traditional ELISA method; both were found to provide comparable results (non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test).     

Real hypersurfaces in complex projective space whose structure Jacobi operator is Lie ξ-parallel

We classify real hypersurfaces in complex projective spaces whose structure Jacobi operator is Lie parallel in the direction of the structure vector field.     

Invariants of 2 × 2 matrices, irreducible {\hbox{SL}(2, \mathbb{C})} characters and the Magnus trace map

We obtain an explicit characterization of the stable points of the action of on the cartesian product G  ^{× n} by simultaneous conjugation on each factor in terms of the corresponding invariant functions. From this, a simple criterion for the irreducibility of representations of finitely generated groups into G is derived. We also obtain analogous results for the action of on the vector space of n-tuples of 2 × 2 complex matrices. For a free group F _n of rank n, we show how to generically reconstruct the 2 ^n-2 conjugacy classes of representations F _n → G from their values under the map considered in Magnus [Math. Zeit. 170, 91–103 (1980)], defined by certain 3n − 3 traces of words of length one and two.      

A line-broadening analysis model for the microstructural characterization of nanocrystalline materials from asymmetric x-ray diffraction peaks

Nanograin sizes and crystal lattice microstrains in nanocrystalline materials are typically evaluated from the broadening of their x-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks under the assumption of symmetrical diffraction profiles. Since this assumption is not entirely satisfactory, we formulate a line-broadening analysis model of a single peak that considers explicitly the XRD peak asymmetry. The model is a generalization of the variance method in which the shape of the XRD peaks is idealized through asymmetrical split pseudo-Voigt functions. The model is validated on two nanocrystalline powders.     

Schottky uniformization¶and vector bundles over Riemann surfaces

We study a natural map from representations of a free group of rank g in GL(n,ℂ), to holomorphic vector bundles of degree 0 over a compact Riemann surface X of genus g, associated with a Schottky uniformization of X. Maximally unstable flat bundles are shown to arise in this way. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for this map to be a submersion, when restricted to representations producing stable bundles. Using a generalized version of Riemann's bilinear relations, this condition is shown to be true on the subspace of unitary Schottky representations. Received: 13 June 2000 / Revised version: 29 December 2000     

Exact and heuristic methods to solve a bi-objective problem of sustainable cultivation

Annals of Operations Research - This work proposes a binary nonlinear bi-objective optimization model for the problem of planning the sustainable cultivation of crops. The solution to the problem...     

Volumes of mixing ofn-alkanenitriles withn-alkanes: Interpretation through the Prigogine-Flory-Patterson theory

We present in this work the results of measurements of excess volumes of mixing V ^E at 30°C over the whole composition range for sixteen mixtures of n-hexanenitrile, n-octanenitrile, n-decanenitrile, and n-dodecanenitrile mixed individually with n-heptane, n-decane, n-tridecane, and n-hexadecane. The experimental values of V ^E show a regular pattern of behavior for the four sets of binary systems. In each group of mixtures for a given n-alkanenitrile, the magnitude of V ^E decreases as the n-alkane chain-length decreases. For mixtures containing a common n-alkane, V ^E decreases with increasing n-alkanenitrile chain-length. In order to explain the observed behavior, we have used the Prigogine-Flory-Patterson theory, which divides V ^E into three different contributions. The agreement between the theoretical and experimental V ^E is reasonable for the systems studied.