Alternative calculation of measurement uncertainty with global approach in food microbiology

Calculation of measurement uncertainty is a requirement for all laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 including those carrying out microbiological analyses. Today, calculation of measurement uncertainty in microbiological analyses using precision data according to global approach principles is widely recognized by the microbiologists due to difficulties in quantification of individual uncertainty sources. In food microbiology, precision data obtained from different samples usually show over-dispersion, and the use of over-dispersed data may result in large variance. The current ISO standard on measurement uncertainty in food microbiology proposes the use of log-transformed precision data to overcome this problem. This paper proposes an alternative procedure to calculate the measurement uncertainty in food microbiology using non-logarithmic precision data. The calculations used in this procedure based on relative range of duplicate analyses can be applied to intra-laboratory reproducibility data obtained from microbiological analyses of which duplicate results show relatively low variation.     

Regioselective Synthesis of the 5,6‐Dihydro‐4H‐furo[2,3‐c]pyrrol‐4‐one Skeleton: A New Class of Compounds

We hereby report the first preparation of the 5,6‐dihydro‐4H‐furo[2,3‐c]pyrrol‐4‐one ( 3 ) and its derivatives starting from methyl 3‐(methoxycarbonyl)furan‐2‐acetate ( 8 ). The ester functionality connected to the methylene group was regiospecifically converted to the desired monohydrazide 9 . Conversion of 9 into the acyl azide 10 followed by Curtius rearrangement gave the corresponding isocyanate derivative 11 (Scheme 2). Reaction of 11 with different nucleophiles produced urethane and urea derivatives (Scheme 3). Intramolecular cyclization reactions provided the target compounds (Scheme 5). Removal of the amine‐protecting group formed the title compound 3 .     

Kinetic estimation of the adsorbate distribution on the surface from adsorbed amounts

A phenomenological multilayer adsorption model for a well-dispersed, homogeneous, nonporous adsorbent and a molecular adsorbate is presented. The model provides explicit kinetic expressions associating the adsorbed amounts to the fraction of the surface occupied and reduces to the first- and second-order adsorption models for special cases. Parameters of the model are a pair of true rate constants related to the adsorbate-adsorbent and adsorbate-surface adsorbate affinities. A general graphical procedure and analytical equations for special cases are provided to estimate the rate constants from kinetic adsorption data. Data from the adsorption of sodium stearate onto alpha-alumina from water were used to test the model. The predicted values of the rate constants suggested that the stearate was distributed homogeneously on the alumina surface and essentially adsorbed as a monolayer before starting to form the second layer.     

End-Faithful Spanning Trees of Countable Graphs with Prescribed Sets of Rays

We prove that a countable connected graph has an end-faithful spanning tree that contains a prescribed set of rays whenever this set is countable, and we show that this solution is, in a certain sense, the best possible. This improves a result of Hahn and Siran [2, Theorem 1]     

Analytical solution of Poisson–Boltzmann equation for interacting plates of arbitrary potentials and same sign

Efficient calculation of electrostatic interactions in colloidal systems is becoming more important with the advent of such probing techniques as atomic force microscopy. Such practice requires solving the nonlinear Poisson–Boltzmann equation (PBE). Unfortunately, explicit analytical solutions are available only for the weakly charged surfaces. Analysis of arbitrarily charged surfaces is possible only through cumbersome numerical computations. A compact analytical solution of the one-dimensional PBE is presented for two plates interacting in symmetrical electrolytes. The plates can have arbitrary surface potentials at infinite separation as long they have the same sign. Such a condition covers a majority of the colloidal systems encountered. The solution leads to a simple relationship which permits determination of surface potentials, surface charge densities, and electrostatic pressures as a function of plate separation H for different charging scenarios. An analytical expression is also presented for the potential profile between the plates for a given separation. Comparison of these potential profiles with those obtained by numerical analysis shows the validity of the proposed solution.     

Cycloaddition Reaction of 1,4‐Dihydronaphthalene 1,4‐Epoxide with Cyclooctatetraene: Cope Rearrangement in an Adduct

The reaction of 1,4‐dihydro‐1,4‐epoxynaphthalene with cyclooctatetraene at 130±5° for 14 days gave the four products 2a,3,3a,4,9,9a,10,10a‐octahydro‐4,9‐epoxy‐3,10‐ethenocyclobuta[b]anthracene ( 13 ), 25‐oxanonacyclo[10.10.2.2^5,9.1^14,21.0^2,11.0^3,10.0^4,6.0^13,22.0^15,20]heptacosa‐7,15,17,19,23,26‐hexaene ( 14 ), 5,5a,6,6a,6b,6c,12a,12b,12c,13,13a,14‐dodecahydro‐5,14‐epoxy‐6,13‐ethenocycloocta[3′,4′]cyclobuta[1′,2′:3,4]cyclobuta[1,2‐b]anthracene ( 15 ) and bis‐adduct 16 . The structures of the products were determined by spectroscopic methods. It was observed that adduct 14 undergoes a Cope rearrangement. The Cope rearrangement of this adduct was investigated in the temperature range of ?85° to 100° by NMR spectroscopy.     

Some results on soft element and soft topological space

All over the globe, soft set theory is a topic of interest for many authors working in diverse areas because of its rich potential for applications in several directions since the day it was defined by Molodtsov in 1999. Moreover, soft set theory is free from the difficulties where as other existing methods viz. probability theory, fuzzy set theory. Considering to these benefits, soft set theory has became very popular research area for many researchers. To contribute this research area, in this paper, we examine some properties on soft topological spaces such as neighborhood structure of a soft element and soft interior, soft closure, and soft cluster element and so on that are based on soft element definition that gives us a different perspective for development of soft set theory. Moreover, we give some examples to clarify our definitions.     

Characteristics of nanosized LiNi x Fe1−x PO4/C (x = 0.00–0.20) composite material prepared via sol–gel-assisted carbothermal reduction method

Pure LiFePO₄ and LiNi _x Fe_1?x PO₄/C (x?=?0.00–0.20) nanocomposite cathode materials have been synthesized by cheap and convenient sol–gel-assisted carbothermal reduction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and inductively coupled plasma have been used to study the phase, morphology, and chemical composition of un-doped and Ni-doped materials. XRD patterns display the slight shrinkage in crystal lattice of LiFePO₄ after Ni²⁺ doping. The SEM images have revealed that Ni-doped particles are not agglomerated and the particle sizes are practically homogeneously distributed. The particle size is found between 50 and 100 nm for LiNi_0.20Fe_0.80PO₄/C sample. The discharge capacity at 0.2 C rate has increased up to 155 mAh g^?1 for the LiNi_0.05Fe_0.95PO₄/C sample and good capacity retention of 99.1 % over 100 cycles, while that of the unsubstituted LiFePO₄/C and pure LiFePO₄ has showed only 122 and 89 mAh g^?1, respectively. Doping with Ni has a noticeable effect on improving its electrical conductivity. However, serious electrochemical declension will occur when its doping density is beyond 0.05 mol LiNi_0.20Fe_0.80PO₄/C electrode shows only 118 mAh g^?1, which is less than un-doped LiFePO₄/C sample at 0.2 C. The cycling voltammogram demonstrates that Ni-doped LiNi_0.05Fe_0.95PO₄/C electrode has more stable lattice structure, enhanced conductivity, and diffusion coefficient of Li⁺ ions, in which Ni²⁺ is regarded to act as a column in crystal lattice structure to prevent the collapse during cycling process.     

Synthesis of Ferrocene Based Naphthoquinones and its Application as Novel Non‐enzymatic Hydrogen Peroxide

At present, a highly sensitive hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) sensor is fabricated by ferrocene based naphthaquinone derivatives as 2,3‐Diferrocenyl‐1,4‐naphthoquinone and 2‐bromo‐3‐ferrocenyl‐1,4‐naphthoquinone. These ferrocene based naphthaquinone derivatives are characterized by H‐NMR and C‐NMR. The electrochemical properties of these ferrocene based naphthaquinone are investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) on modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The modified electrode with ferrocene based naphthaquinone derivatives exhibits an improved voltammetric response to the H₂O₂ redox reaction. 2‐bromo‐3‐ferrocenyl‐1,4‐naphthoquinone show excellent non‐enzymatic sensing ability towards H₂O₂ response with a detection limitation of 2.7 μmol/L a wide detection range from 10 μM to 400 μM in H₂O₂ detection. The sensor also exhibits short response time (1 s) and good sensitivity of 71.4 μA mM^?1 cm^?2 and stability. Furthermore, the DPV method exhibited very high sensitivity (18999 μA mM^?1 cm^?2) and low detection limit (0.66 μM) compared to the CA method. Ferrocene based naphthaquinone derivative based sensors have a lower cost and high stability. Thus, this novel non‐enzyme sensor has potential application in H₂O₂ detection.