Hyphenated techniques for the analysis of heparin and heparan sulfate

The elucidation of the structure of glycosaminoglycan has proven to be challenging for analytical chemists. Molecules of glycosaminoglycan have a high negative charge and are polydisperse and microheterogeneous, thus requiring the application of multiple analytical techniques and methods. Heparin and heparan sulfate are the most structurally complex of the glycosaminoglycans and are widely distributed in nature. They play critical roles in physiological and pathophysiological processes through their interaction with heparin-binding proteins. Moreover, heparin and low-molecular weight heparin are currently used as pharmaceutical drugs to control blood coagulation. In 2008, the health crisis resulting from the contamination of pharmaceutical heparin led to considerable attention regarding their analysis and structural characterization. Modern analytical techniques, including high-performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, played critical roles in this effort. A successful combination of separation and spectral techniques will clearly provide a critical advantage in the future analysis of heparin and heparan sulfate. This review focuses on recent efforts to develop hyphenated techniques for the analysis of heparin and heparan sulfate.     

A novel, ultra sensible biosensor built by layer-by-layer covalent attachment of a receptor for diagnosis of tumor growth

In the presented research, a novel, ultra sensitive biosensor for the impedimetric detection of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is introduced. The human vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGF-R1, Flt-1) was used as a biorecognition element for the first time. The immobilization of VEGF-R1 on glassy carbon electrodes was carried out using layer-by-layer covalent attachment of VEGF-R1. The electrochemical properties of the layers constructed on the electrodes were characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The differences in electron transfer resistance (R_et) between the working solution and the biosensor surface, recorded by the redox probe K₃[Fe(CN)₆]/K₄[Fe(CN)₆], confirmed the binding of VEGF to VEGF-R1. The new biosensor allowed a detection limit of 100 fg mL⁻¹ with a linear range of 100–600 fg mL⁻¹ to be obtained. The biosensor also exhibited good repeatability (with a correlation coefficient of 1.95%), and reproducibility.     

Assembly of nanoparticles at the contact line of a drying droplet under the influence of a dipped tip

The manipulation of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) in a drying droplet has critical importance not only for several industrial applications but also their assembly into patterns on surfaces. The influence of a tip with hydrophilic or hydrophobic surfaces dipped into a drying droplet on hydrophilic or hydrophobic surfaces on the behavior of 98 nm latex NPs was investigated. The formation of concentric rings on hydrophilic glass surfaces regardless of the surface chemistry of the dipped tip was observed. On the other hand, no pattern formation on hydrophobic surfaces was observed with the insertion of the tip. With a hydrophilic tip, the concentric rings were formed due to stick-slip motion of the solvent contact line resulting from competition between pinning and capillary forces while the capillary effect was not effective until the surface of the tip was changed by adherent NPs making the tip surface available for water adherence with a hydrophobic tip, which results in the pulling of droplet towards the tip. It is also found that the tip thickness and suspension concentration significantly influences the formation of concentric rings on surfaces. This simple procedure can be used to influence the distribution or assembly of NPs in the droplet area.     

Experimental and theoretical investigation of phosphorus in-situ doping of germanium epitaxial layers

We investigate phosphorus in-situ doping characteristics in germanium (Ge) during epitaxial growth by spreading resistance profiling analysis. In addition, we present an accurate model for the kinetics of the diffusion in the in-situ process, modeling combined growth and diffusion events. The activation energy and pre-exponential factor for phosphorus (P) diffusion are determined to be 1.91 eV and 3.75 × 10^?5 cm²/s. These results show that P in-situ doping diffusivity is low enough to form shallow junctions for high performance Ge devices.     

HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS FOR TUBES SUBMERGED IN CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED

Convective heat transfer coefficients were measured experimentally for a tube immersed vertically in a circulating fluidized bed. Circulating fluidized beds operate in the dilute transport regime of two-phase (solid/gas) flow. The dominant mechanism for heat transfer to surfaces is particle-induced convection. In this study, experiments were carried out in a circulating fluidized bed of15 cm diameter and 11 m height. An instrumented tube of 9.5 mm diameter and 1.3 m length was placed vertically at the centeriine of the fluidized bed to measure convective heat transfer coefficients at several different elevations in the bed. Three types of particles, with mean diameters ranging from 68 to 2S1 urn, were used in the experiments at superficial gas velocities in the range of 1.3 to 8.2 m/s. Results showed that the convective heat transfer coefficients with solid/gas two-phase circulation were two to three times greater than those for single-phase gas convection at the same velocity. For a given gas velocity, the coefficients increased with increasing solid mass flux, but decreased with elevation. It was demonstrated that the heat transfer coefficients for the immersed tube and for the bed wall could be correlated with different functional dependence on the two-phase suspension density.     

Non-cooperative joint replenishment under asymmetric information

We consider jointly replenishing n ex-ante identical firms that operate under an EOQ like setting using a non-cooperative game under asymmetric information. In this game, each firm, upon being privately informed about its demand rate (or inventory cost rate), submits a private contribution to an intermediary that specifies how much it is willing to pay for its replenishment per unit of time and the intermediary determines the maximum feasible frequency for the joint orders that would finance the fixed replenishment cost. We show that a Bayesian Nash equilibrium exists and characterize the equilibrium in this game. We also show that the contributions are monotone increasing in each firm’s type. We finally conduct a numerical study to compare the equilibrium to solutions obtained under independent and cooperative ordering, and under full information. The results show that while information asymmetry eliminates free-riding in the contributions game, the resulting aggregate contributions are not as high as under full information, leading to higher aggregate costs.     

Structural, electrical and optical characterization of InGaN layers grown by MOVPE

We present a study on n-type ternary InGaN layers grown by atmospheric pressure metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy(MOVPE) on GaN template/(0001) sapphire substrate.An investigation of the different growth conditions on n-type InxGa1 xN(x = 0.06 0.135) alloys was done for a series of five samples.The structural,electrical and optical properties were characterized by high resolution x-ray diffraction(HRXRD),Hall effect and photoluminescence(PL).Experimental results showed that different growth conditions,namely substrate rotation(SR) and change of total H2 flow(THF),strongly affect the properties of InGaN layers.This case can be clearly observed from the analytical results.When the SR speed decreased,the HRXRD scan peak of the samples shifted along a higher angle.Therefore,increasing the SR speed changed important structural properties of InGaN alloys such as peak broadening,values of strain,lattice parameters and defects including tilt,twist and dislocation density.From PL results it is observed that the growth conditions can be changed to control the emission wavelength and it is possible to shift the emission wavelength towards the green.Hall effect measurement has shown that the resistivity of the samples changes dramatically when THF changes.     

Simultaneous Determination of Rosmarinic Acid and Protocatechuic Acid at Poly(o‐Phenylenediamine)/Pt Nanoparticles Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode

A system of Pt nanoparticles and poly(ortho‐phenylenediamine) film electrochemically deposited onto a glassy carbon electrode (GCE/PoPD/Pt) was fabricated. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy techniques were used to identify the surface characteristics of the composite electrode. The conductive polymers and Pt nanoparticles together resulted in a synergistic effect, and the new formed surface was highly active against polyphenolic structures. Rosmarinic acid (RA) and protocatechuic acid (PCA) are phenolic compounds found in plants, and they are used in many applications, particularly as pharmaceuticals. The GCE/PoPD/Pt was used for the simultaneous determination of RA and PCA in a pH 2.0 H₂SO₄ solution for the first time. The RA and PCA concentrations were determined using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and chronoamperometry. By the amperometry measurement, for RA and PCA, a linear relation was observed in the concentration ranges of 1–55 μmol L^?1 and 1–60 μmol L^?1, with detection limits of 0.5 μmol L^?1 and 0.6 μmol L^?1, respectively. In the simultaneous determination with DPV, the detection limits for both RA and PCA were calculated as 0.7 μmol L^?1. The GCE/PoPD/Pt was successfully used for the simultaneous determination of RA and PCA in a real sample, and its accuracy was verified by high‐performance liquid chromatography studies.     

Ab Initio Study on Hypothetical Silver Nitride

We perform the ab initio calculations based on norm-conserving pseudopotentials and density functional theory to investigate the structural, elastic, and thermodynamical properties for silver nitride （AgN） compound that is a member of the 4d transition metal group and has not been synthesized yet. The obtained results are compared with the other available theoretical data, and the agreement is, generally, quite good. We also present the pressure-dependent behaviour of some mechanical and thermodynamical properties for the same compounds.     

Defect‐induced ferrimagnetism in the half‐metallic Co2CrAl and Co2CrSi compounds

Co₂CrAl and Co₂CrSi are amongst the most studied Heusler alloys due to their half‐metallic character. These compounds are also well‐known to present ferromagnetism with high Curie temperatures. We show using first‐principles calculations that the creation of Cr antisites (Cr atoms at the Co sites) induces ferrimagnetism in these compounds without destroying the half‐metallic character of these alloys. The reduction of the total spin moment causes lower external fields and thus smaller energy losses in realistic magnetoelectronic, also known as spintronic, devices. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)