A simple and general route for the preparation of pure and high crystalline nanosized lanthanide silicates with the structure of apatite at low temperature

Rare earth silicates with the structure of apatite are attracting considerable interest since they show oxygen ion conductivities higher than that of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) at moderate temperature. Based on the hydrothermal synthesis we presented a simple one step process for the direct preparation of the pure and the high crystalline nanosized rare earth silicates with the structure of apatite under a mild condition (230 °C). Since the preparation of the high crystalline silicon based rare earth apatites is performed at high temperature previously and accompanied by subsequent process of grinding, results of this work provide a promising alternative of the existing methodology. Furthermore, due to the relatively low temperature of the preparation of these materials, high doping of monovalent cation can be done, which was not achieved before.     

Metabisulfite interference in biosensing and Folin-Ciocalteu analysis of polyphenols

Sodium metabisulfite is one of the forms of sulphurous compounds which are added as preservative in food and beverage processing industries. Its interference with different methods of analysis of polyphenols was investigated in the present work. Studies involved the reaction of metabisulfite at platinum electrodes either at a constant applied potential of +100 mV vs. Ag/AgCl electrode with amperometric detection, or at linear potential sweep in cyclic voltammetry experiments. In a second stage, its effect on the analysis of polyphenols that are oxidised by enzymes was examined by the inhibition that metabisulfite caused on caffeic acid oxidation in the presence of free and immobilized laccase. It was found that immobilized laccase was less inhibited than free laccase. A confirmation of the influence of metabisulfite on the Folin-Ciocalteu analysis was also done.     

A multivariate version of the Benjamini-Hochberg method

We propose a multivariate method for combining results from independent studies about the same ‘large scale’ multiple testing problem. The method works asymptotically in the number of hypotheses and consists of applying the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure to the p-values of each study separately by determining the ‘individual false discovery rates’ which maximize power subject to a restriction on the (global) false discovery rate. We show how to obtain solutions to the associated optimization problem, provide both theoretical and numerical examples, and compare the method with univariate ones.     

ENERGY ESTIMATES FOR DELAY DIFFUSION-REACTION EQUATIONS

In this paper we consider nonlinear delay diffusion-reaction equations with initial and Dirichlet boundary conditions. The behaviour and the stability of the solution of such initial boundary value problems （IBVPs） are studied using the energy method. Simple numerical methods are considered for the computation of numerical approximations to the solution of the nonlinear IBVPs. Using the discrete energy method we study the stability and convergence of the numerical approximations. Numerical experiments are carried out to illustrate our theoretical results.     

Semiconductor nanocrystals obtained by colloidal chemistry for biological applications

Semiconductor nanoparticles in the quantum confinement regime used as biolabels present many advantages over the other chemical species used as fluorophores. They are composed of 2000-6000 atoms rendering a far greater photostability and allowing for long time bioimaging experiments. In this work we present a synthetic route for the obtention of large quantities of highly fluorescent CdSe and CdTe/CdS core-shell nanocrystals based on aqueous colloidal chemistry. The methodologies were optimized and the systems were characterized by optical spectroscopy, transmission electronic microscopy and X-Ray diffractometry. The fluorescent biolabels were tested in live macrophages.     

A convex analysis approach for convex multiplicative programming

Global optimization problems involving the minimization of a product of convex functions on a convex set are addressed in this paper. Elements of convex analysis are used to obtain a suitable representation of the convex multiplicative problem in the outcome space, where its global solution is reduced to the solution of a sequence of quasiconcave minimizations on polytopes. Computational experiments illustrate the performance of the global optimization algorithm proposed.      

Analysis of GI<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">X</Emphasis></Superscript>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>)//<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis> systems with stochastic customer acceptance policy

We investigate GI ^X /M(n)//N systems with stochastic customer acceptance policy, function of the customer batch size and the number of customers in the system at its arrival. We address the time-dependent and long-run analysis of the number of customers in the system at prearrivals and postarrivals of batches and seen by customers at their arrival to the system, as well as customer blocking probabilities. These results are then used to derive the continuous-time long-run distribution of the number of customers in the system. Our analysis combines Markov chain embedding with uniformization and uses stochastic ordering as a way to bound the errors of the computed performance measures.      

Formation of out of plane oxime metallacycles in [Cu2] and [Cu4] complexes

The reaction of Cu(ClO₄)₂·6H₂O with dimethylglyoxime (H₂dmg) in a 1:1 mole ratio in aqueous methanol at room temperature affords the dinuclear complex [Cu₂(μ-Hdmg)₄] (1). Reaction of 1 with [Cu(bpy)(H₂O)₂](ClO₄)₂ (bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine) in a 1:1 mole ratio in aqueous methanol at room temperature yields the tetranuclear complex [Cu₄(μ-Hdmg)₂(μ-dmg)₂(bpy)₂(H₂O)₂](ClO₄)₂ (2). The direct reaction of Cu(ClO₄)₂·6H₂O with H₂dmg and bpy in a 2:2:1 mole ratio in aqueous methanol at room temperature also yields 2 quantitatively. The complexes 1 and 2 were structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. Unlike the binding in Ni/Co-dmg, two different types of N?O bridging modes during the oxime based metallacycle formation and stacking of square planar units have been identified in these complexes. The neutral dinuclear complex 1 has CuN₄O coordination spheres and complex 2 consists of a dicationic [Cu₄(μ-Hdmg)₂(μ-dmg)₂(bpy)₂(H₂O)₂]²⁺ unit and two uncoordinated ClO₄^? anions having CuN₄O and CuN₂O₃ coordination spheres. The two copper(II) ions are at a distance of 3.846(8) Å in 1 for the trans out of plane link and at 3.419(10) and 3.684(10) Å in 2 for the trans out of plane and cis in plane arrangements, respectively. The average Cu–N_oxime distances are 1.953 and 1.935 Å, respectively. The average basal and apical Cu?O_oxime distances are 1.945, 2.295 and 2.429 Å. The UV–Vis spectra of 2 is similar to the spectrum of the reaction mixture of 1 and [Cu(bpy)(H₂O)₂]²⁺. Variable temperature magnetic properties measurement shows that the interaction between the paramagnetic copper centers in complex 1 is antiferromagnetic in nature. The EPR spectra of frozen solution of the complexes at 77 K consist of axially symmetric fine-structure transitions (ΔM_S = 1) and half-field signals (ΔM_S = 2) at ca. 1600 G, suggesting the presence of appreciable Cu–Cu interactions.