Study of Starch Degradation by Yeasts During Fermentation for Using in Animal Feed

Sixteen amylolytic yeasts, drawn from culture collections or isolated from different environments, were used in the present study. Experiments were performed to evaluate the starch degradation due to exocellular activity. The culture media of growth was optimized to find the maximum activity, and some strains produced an extracellular amylolytic enzyme when cultured in presence of starch in the medium. On the other hand, one yeast showed activity in cell extract when cultured under varying conditions in a bench bioreactor; this strain would thus be suitable for use as an animal feed supplement, both as a source of proteins and nucleic acids and in terms of its amylolytic activity.     

Determination of the electron density in methyl (±)‐(1S,2S,3R)‐2‐methyl‐1,3‐diphenylcyclopropanecarboxylate using refinements with X‐ray scattering factors from wavefunction calculations of the whole molecule

The molecule of the title compound, C₁₈H₁₈O₂, is a substituted cyclopropane ring. The electron density in this molecule has been determined by refining single‐crystal X‐ray data using scattering factors derived from quantum mechanical calculations. Topological analysis of the electron densities in the three cyclopropane C—C bonds was carried out. The results show the effects of this substitution on these C—C bonds.     

Study of the peak effect phenomenon in single crystals of 2H-NbSe2

The weakly pinned single crystals of the hexagonal 2H-NbSe₂ compound have emerged as prototypes for determining and characterizing the phase boundaries of the possible order-disorder transformations in the vortex matter. We present here a status report based on the ac and dc magnetization measurements of the peak effect phenomenon in three crystals of 2H-NbSe₂, in which the critical current densities vary over two orders of magnitude. We sketch the generic vortex phase diagram of a weakly pinned superconductor, which also utilizes theoretical proposals. We also establish the connection between the metastability effects and pinning.     

Synthesis of cobalt ferrite core/metallic shell nanoparticles for the development of a specific PNA/DNA biosensor

Controlled synthesis of cobalt ferrite superparamagnetic nanoparticles covered with a gold shell has been achieved by an affinity and trap strategy. Magnetic nanoparticles are functionalized with a mixture of amino and thiol groups that facilitate the electrostatic attraction and further chemisorption of gold nanoparticles, respectively. Using these nanoparticles as seeds, a complete coating shell is achieved by gold salt-iterative reduction leading to monodisperse water-soluble gold-covered magnetic nanoparticles, with an average diameter ranging from 21 to 29 nm. These constitute a versatile platform for immobilization of biomolecules via thiol chemistry, which is exemplified by the immobilization of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) oligomers that specifically hybridize with complementary DNA molecules in solution. Hybridation with DNA probes has been measured using Rhodamine 6G fluorescence marker and the detection of a single nucleotide mutation has been achieved. These results suggest the PNA-nanoparticles application as a biosensor for DNA genotyping avoiding commonly time-consuming procedures employed.     

Shaping Solid-State Supramolecular Cavities: Chemically Induced Accordionlike Movement of gamma-Zirconium Phosphate Containing Polyethylenoxide Pillars

The hydrophilic oxygen atoms of polyethylenoxide chains inserted as pillars in gamma-zirconium phosphate form hydrogen bonds with the acid groups of the host. As a result the pillars are almost perpendicular to the gamma layers. Upon changing the pH level of the supernatant solution the hydrogen bonds are broken and the pillars become almost perpendicular to the layers (shown schematically). Thus there is a reversible enlargement-shortening of the interlayer space.     

Adhesion hysteresis in dynamic atomic force microscopy

The effects of adhesion hysteresis in the dynamic‐dissipation curves measured in amplitude‐modulation atomic force microscopy are discussed. Hysteresis in the interaction forces is shown to modify the dynamics of the cantilever leading to different power dissipation curves in the repulsive and attractive regimes. Experimental results together with numerical simulations show that power dissipation, as measured in force microscopy, is not always proportional to the energy dissipated in the tip–sample interaction process. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Overcoming the boundary effects in surface spline interpolation

Surface spline interpolation when the domain is all of R^d isknown to converge much faster to the data function f than inthe case when the domain is the unit ball. This difference isunderstood to be due to boundary effects which, as will be shown,also affect the size of the surface spline's coefficients. Wepropose a modified form of surface spline interpolation which,to a great extent, overcomes these boundary effects. This modifiedsurface spline interpolant uses only the values of f at thegiven interpolation points.     

Multiple ionization of argon in coincidence with projectile ions in 60–120 MeV Si q+-Ar collisions

A projectile ion-recoil ion coincidence technique has been employed to study the multiple ionization and the charge transfer processes in collisions of 60–120 MeV Si ^q+ (q = 4−14) ions with neutral argon atoms. The relative contribution of different ionization channels, namely; direct ionization, electron capture and electron loss leading to the production of slow moving multiply charged argon recoil ions have been investigated. The data reported on the present collision system result from a direct measurement in the considered impact energy for the first time. The total ionization cross-sections for the recoil ions are shown to scale as q ^1.7/E _p ^0.5 , where E _p is the energy in MeV of the projectile and q its charge state. The recoil fractions for the cases of total- and direct ionizations are found to decrease with increasing recoil charge state j. The total ionization fractions of the recoils are seen to depend on q and to show the presence of a ‘shell-effect’ of the target. Further, the fractions are found to vary as 1/j ² upto j = 8+. The average recoil charge state 〈j〉 increases slowly with q and with the number of lost or captured electrons from or into the projectile respectively. The projectile charge changing cross-sections σ _qq′ are found to decrease with increasing q for loss ionization and to increase with q for direct-and capture ionization processes respectively. The physics behind various scaling rules that are found to follow our data for different ionization processes is reviewed and discussed.