New type of biosensor based on magnetic nanoparticle detection

A new type of biosensor has been developed based on detection of nanosized superparamagnetic particles that serve as labels in bioreactions. The method is based on non-linear magnetic material detection by a magnetic field having components at two frequencies f₁ and f₂. The response is measured at the combinatorial frequencies f_i=mf₁+nf₂, where m and n are integers, e.g., f_i=f₁±2f₂. Several highly sensitive readers of superparamagnetic particles have been designed and used for development of various formats of immunoassays, including those compatible with immunoconcentration and magnetic enrichment of antigens.     

XPS and LEED study of Pd and Au growth on alumina/Cu-Al surface

Metal-insulator-metal system was prepared using the single-crystalline Cu-9at.% Al(1 1 1) support. Oxidation of the substrate under well-controlled conditions at elevated temperature leads to the formation of well-ordered aluminium oxide layer. The Pd-Au topmost layer was prepared by a step-by-step deposition of both metals afterwards on the oxide layer at room temperature. Low energy electron diffraction (LEED) measurement did not confirm epitaxial growth of the metal overlayer and gave only a rise of diffuse background after each deposition step. The growth of Pd-Au overlayer exhibited Stranski-Krastanov mode influenced by intermetallic interaction between those metals. No binding energy shifts were visible for the core-level photoelectron peaks of the substrate and the oxide using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In contrast, the binding energy shifts of Pd 3d and Au 4f photoelectron levels in both directions were observed during all depositions. Bimetallic interactions between the metals as well as size effects are further discussed.     

A study of Ga layers on Si(1 0 0)-(2 × 1) by SR-PES: Influence of adsorbed water

Results for deposition and thermal annealing of gallium on the Si(1 0 0)-(2 × 1) surface achieved by synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-PES) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) are presented. In addition to deposition of Ga on a clean surface, the influence of water adsorption on the arrangement of gallium atoms was also studied. The results on Ga deposition at a higher temperature (490 °C) are consistent with a Ga ad-dimer model showing equivalent bond arrangement of all Ga atoms for coverages up to 0.5 ML. The deposition onto a surface with adsorbed water at room temperature led to a disordered gallium growth. In this case gallium atoms bind to silicon dimers already binding fragments of adsorbed water. A subsequent annealing of these layers leads to a surface structure similar to the Ga-(2 × 2), however, it is less ordered, probably due to the presence of silicon oxides formed from water fragments.     

Controlled grafting of cellulose esters using SET‐LRP process

Here, we present the first example of application of single‐electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET‐LRP) process to a controlled grafting of cellulose esters, cellulose diacetate (CDA), and cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB). The cellulose ester macroinitiators with various functionality densities have been prepared by acylation of the backbones with 2‐bromoisobutyryl (BrIB) and dichloroacetyl (DCA) groups, respectively. Methacrylate monomers were polymerized using DCA‐functionalized macroinitiators in the presence of pentamethyldiethylene triamine as a ligand. At 30 °C, the reaction is rather slow, reaching about 10% conversion after 3 to 6 h of polymerization, whereas the higher temperature (60 °C) perceptibly speeds up the polymerization so that methyl methacrylate (MMA) conversion is ～30% after 5 h. Graft copolymers with random‐type and diblock‐type grafts having amphiphilic character were also synthesized. For acrylate grafting (BuA and t‐BuA), BrIB‐functionalized macroinitiators are more convenient in a combination with a low concentration of Cu(0) and Me₆TREN as a ligand and polymerization is detectably faster even at the lower temperature than that of MMA. Kinetic studies show “living” character of both the graftings. Important advantages of SET‐LRP, compared with classic ATRP, are (i) higher polymerization rate, (ii) lower extent of recombination of the growing grafts and (iii) negligible coloration of the products with catalytic residua, so that the prepared polymers do not require additional careful purification. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010     

Chaos in the fractional-order Volta’s system: modeling and simulation

This paper deals with a new fractional-order chaotic system. It is based on the concept of Volta’s system, where the mathematical model of Volta’s system contains fractional-order derivatives. This system has simple structure and can display a double-scroll attractor. The behavior of the integer-order and the fractional-order Volta’s system with total order less than three which exhibits chaos is presented as well. Computer simulations are cross-verified by the numerical calculation and the Matlab/Simulink models.     

Cubic β-Fe2O3 as the product of the thermal decomposition of Fe2(SO4)3

Hyperfine Interactions - The thermal decomposition of Fe2(SO4)3 in air has been investigated using transmission Mössbauer spectroscopy, CEMS and X-ray powder diffraction. The hexagonal...     

Contractible subgraphs, Thomassen’s conjecture and the dominating cycle conjecture for snarks

We show that the conjectures by Matthews and Sumner (every 4-connected claw-free graph is Hamiltonian), by Thomassen (every 4-connected line graph is Hamiltonian) and by Fleischner (every cyclically 4-edge-connected cubic graph has either a 3-edge-coloring or a dominating cycle), which are known to be equivalent, are equivalent to the statement that every snark (i.e. a cyclically 4-edge-connected cubic graph of girth at least five that is not 3-edge-colorable) has a dominating cycle.We use a refinement of the contractibility technique which was introduced by Ryjá?ek and Schelp in 2003 as a common generalization and strengthening of the reduction techniques by Catlin and Veldman and of the closure concept introduced by Ryjá?ek in 1997.