A Short Note on the History of Chromatography at the University of Tartu, Estonia

Some historical notes on the activities of Teodor Lippmaa and Mikhail S. Tswett at the University of Tartu.     

Synthesis and characterization of chemically anchored adenosine with PHEMA grafted gold nanoparticles

The synthesis of chemically anchored adenosine with biocompatible poly(2-hydroxylethyl methacrylate) grafted gold nanoparticles (Ado-i-PHEMA-g-AuNPs) was realized by employing a simple strategy. Disulfide-containing poly(2-hydroxylethyl methacrylate) (DT-PHEMA) was initially synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The formation of DT-PHEMA was confirmed by ¹H-NMR and FT-IR. The molecular weight and molecular weight distribution were found to be 9.6 kg/mol and 1.40 from GPC analysis. DT-PHEMA was subsequently used for the synthesis of PHEMA-g-AuNPs by a grafting to protocol. The grafting of DT-PHEMA on the surface of AuNPs was confirmed by FT-IR, TGA, XPS, and EDX analyses. The particle size of the PHEMA-g-AuNPs was found to be ca. 5.0 nm from HR-TEM analysis. Boronic acid was used for functionalization of PHEMA-g-AuNPs, which was then subjected for covalent immobilization with adenosine via strong interaction between free hydroxyl groups of adenosine and boronic acid. Characterization and properties of the Ado-i-PHEMA-g-AuNPs were investigated by taking advantage from FT-IR, XPS, EDX, and UV-visible spectroscopy. The Ado-i-PHEMA-g-AuNPs nanocomposite exhibits a surface plasmon resonance peak at 586 nm which is red shifted from AuNPs (521 nm), indicating significant changes of surface property upon PHEMA-adenosine immobilization onto the surface of AuNPs.     

The electrochemistry of antibody-modified conducting polymer electrodes

The modification of conducting polymer electrodes with antibodies (i.e. proteins) by means of electrochemical polymerization is a simple step that can be used to develop an immunological sensor. However, the electrochemical processes involved leading to the generation of analytical signals by the sensor have not been fully investigated. In this work, we report on the characterization of the interaction between an antigen, human serum albumin (HSA) and an antibody-immobilized polypyrrole electrode (such as anti-HSA) using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and impedance spectroscopy. This interaction was monitored using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy at three different potentials. The potentials correspond to the three redox states of the electroconducting polymer (i.e. reduced, doped and overoxidized states). Evidence from the CV experiments confirmed that there was a shift in the potential, which was found to be proportional to the concentration. Both the CV and the impedance experiments indicated that this potential-dependent shift could be attributed to antibody–antigen (Ab–Ag) binding.     

A computer assistant for vehicle dispatching with learning capabilities

In this paper, we describe an expert consulting system for a dispatcher working in a courier service company. The system integrates interactive-graphic features and a learning module to support the dispatcher in his(her) task, and to suggest appropriate decisions when new requests come in. An experiment with a professional dispatcher is also reported.     

On the Quasiconcave Bilevel Programming Problem

Bilevel programming involves two optimization problems where the constraint region of the first-level problem is implicitly determined by another optimization problem. In this paper, we consider the case in which both objective functions are quasiconcave and the constraint region common to both levels is a polyhedron. First, it is proved that this problem is equivalent to minimizing a quasiconcave function over a feasible region comprised of connected faces of the polyhedron. Consequently, there is an extreme point of the polyhedron that solves the problem. Finally, it is shown that this model includes the most important case where the objective functions are ratios of concave and convex functions     

Invariants of real rational symplectic 4-manifolds and lower bounds in real enumerative geometry

Following the approach of Gromov and Witten, we construct invariants under deformation of real rational symplectic 4-manifolds. These invariants provide lower bounds for the number of real rational J-holomorphic curves in a given homology class passing through a given real configuration of points. To cite this article: J.-Y. Welschinger, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 336 (2003).     

Relating neural dynamics to neural coding

We demonstrate that two key theoretical objects used widely in computational neuroscience, the phase-resetting curve (PRC) from dynamics and the spike triggered average (STA) from statistical analysis, are closely related when neurons fire in a nearly regular manner and the stimulus is sufficiently small. We prove that the STA due to injected noisy current is proportional to the derivative of the PRC. We compare these analytic results with numerical calculations for the Hodgkin-Huxley neuron and we apply the method to neurons in the olfactory bulb of mice. This observation allows us to relate the stimulus-response properties of a neuron to its dynamics, bridging the gap between dynamical and information theoretic approaches to understanding brain computations and facilitating the interpretation of changes in channels and other cellular properties as influencing the representation of stimuli.     

On the relation between low-dimensional models and the dynamics of coherent structures in the turbulent wall layer

In this paper we establish some rigorous connections between the dynamics of coherent structures in the wall region of the turbulent boundary layer and the low-dimensional models of the type studied by Aubry et al. (1988). An important first step is to determine what sort of connection is feasible. We choose to study the energy budget of the models in comparison with the energy budget of the real flow. This is done by comparing the respective kinetic energy equations. In the process we reexamine some of the assumptions and approximations of Aubry et al. (1988) and perform order of magnitude analyses to determine when they hold. We find that, for the models developed in that paper, involving modes which do not vary in the streamwise direction, the energy production lies within positive, experimentally determined, bounds. Moreover, the dissipation due to neglected modes may be reproduced correctly with an order 1 value of the Heisenberg parameter , as assumed by Aubry et al. This work was supported by AFOSR F49620-92-J-0287.