Magnetic fluid poly(ethylene glycol) with moderate anticancer activity

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-containing magnetic fluids - magnetite (Fe₃O₄) stabilized by sodium oleate - were prepared. Magnetic measurements confirmed superparamagnetic behaviour at room temperature. The structure of that kind of magnetic fluid was characterized using different techniques, including electron microscopy, photon cross correlation spectroscopy and small-angle neutron scattering, while the adsorption of PEG on magnetic particles was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. From the in vitro toxicity tests it was found that a magnetic fluid containing PEG (MFPEG) partially inhibited the growth of cancerous B16 cells at the highest tested dose (2.1 mg/ml of Fe₃O₄ in MFPEG).     

Computing determinantal representation of generalized inverses

We investigate implementation of the determinantal representation of generalized inverses for complex and rational matrices in the symbolic package MATHEMATICA. We also introduce an implementation which is applicable to sparse matrices.     

Antiferromagnetic Ordering in TmCu2

Intermetallic compound TmCu₂ crystalizes in the orthorhombic structure, orders antiferromagnetically (AF) and exhibits four different AF phases below T _N = 6.5 K. In all these phases the Tm magnetic moment is parallel to the b-axis. The ground-state AF1 (T < 3.4 K) corresponds to the squared-up AF structure with propagation vector ₀₁ = (5/8, 0, 0) and magnetic unit cell 8a × b × c. Narrow phases AF2 and AF3 (3.3 K < T < 3.7 K and 3.6 K < T < 4.6 K) are 'spin-slip'-derivatives from the AF1 structure, yielding propagation vectors ₀₂ = (0.633, 0, 0.02) and ₀₃ = (0.618, 0, 0), respectively. The phase AF4 (4.4 K < T < T _N) is then incommensurate transversal spin-wave with the propagation ₀₄ = (0.64, 0, 0). The co-existence of AF phases indicates the first-order transitions between them.     

The effect of influential data, model and method on the precision of univariate calibration

Building a calibration model with detection and quantification capabilities is identical to the task of building a regression model. Although commonly used by analysts, an application of the calibration model requires at first careful attention to the three components of the regression triplet (data, model, method), examining (a) the data quality of the proposed model; (b) the model quality; (c) the LS method to be used or a fulfillment of all least-squares assumptions. This paper summarizes these components, describes the effects of deviations from assumptions and considers the correction of such deviations: identifying influential points is the first step in least-squares model building, the calibration task depends on the regression model used, and finally the least squares LS method is based on assumptions of normality of errors, homoscedasticity, independence of errors, overly influential data points and independent variables being subject to error. When some assumptions are violated, the ordinary LS is inconvenient and robust M-estimates with the iterative method of reweighted least-squares must be used. The effects of influential points, heteroscedasticity and non-normality on the calibration precision limits are also elucidated. This paper also considers the proper construction of the statistical uncertainty expressed as confidence limits predicting an unknown concentration (or amount) value, and its dependence on the regression triplet. The authors' objectives were to provide a thorough treatment that includes pertinent references, consistent nomeclature, and related mathematical formulae to show by theory and illustrative examples those approaches best suited to typical problems in analytical chemistry. Two new algorithms, calibration and linear regression written in s-plus and enabling regression triplet analysis, the estimation of calibration precision limits, critical levels, detection limits and quantification limits with the statistical uncertainty of unknown concentrations, form the goal of this paper.     

Gels with exceptional thermal stability formed by bis(amino acid) oxalamide gelators and solvents of low polarity

Some bis (amino acid) oxalamide gelators form common thermo-reversible gels with various organic solvents but also gels of exceptional thermal stability with some solvents of medium and low polarity; the latter gels can be heated up to 50 degrees C higher temperatures than the bp of the solvent without apparent gel-to-sol transition.     

Luminescence Properties of New Fused Benzothiophene Derivatives and Their Conductive Oligomers Structural and Solvent Effects

The structural and solvent effects on the electronic absorption and fluorescence spectra, and fluorescence quantum yields, of four new fused benzothiophene derivatives, including benzothieno[3,2b]-thiophene (BTT), benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene (BTBT), 6-methoxy[1]benzothieno[3,2b]-thiophene (MeOBTT), and benzothieno[3,2-b]indole (BTI) were investigated at 295 K. The luminescence properties of the corresponding conductive oligomers, poly(BTT) and poly (MeOBTT), electrosynthesized in acetonitrile, were also studied. Satisfactory McRae, Suppan, and Kawski-Chamma-Viallet solvatochromic correlations were established for the four monomers in most solvents. A weak negative solvatochromic behavior was found for these compounds, indicating that their dipole moments are slightly lower in the excited singlet state than in the ground state. Kamlet-Abboud-Taft multiparametric correlations were also obtained for absorption and fluorescence wave numbers and quantum yields, demonstrating the existence of specific solute-solvent interactions. In the case of the oligomers, important red-shifts of the fluorescence emission maxima ( 90–110 nm) relative to the corresponding monomers were observed, which shows the extent of conjugated segments in the oligomer chains.     

Quantifying the lateral lipid domain properties in erythrocyte ghost membranes using EPR-spectra decomposition

Using EPR spectroscopy a typical lateral domain structure was detected in the membranes of spin-labeled bovine erythrocyte ghosts. The spectral parameters were determined by decomposing the EPR spectrum into three spectral components and tuned by a hybrid-evolutionary-optimization method. In our experiments the lateral domain structure and its properties were influenced by the variation in the temperature and by the addition of n-butanol. The specific responses of the particular domain types were detected. For the most-ordered domain type a break was seen in the temperature dependence of its order parameter, while the order parameters of the two less-ordered domain types exhibited a continuous decrease. Below the break-point temperature the alcohol-induced membrane fluidity variation is mainly a consequence of the change in the proportions of the least- and the most-ordered domain type and not the change of the domain-type ordering or dynamics (with n-butanol concentration). On the other hand, the fluidity variation above the break-point temperature arises from both types of changes. Interestingly, the proportion of the domain type that has its order parameter between that of the least- and the most-ordered domain type remains almost constant with concentration as well as with temperature, which implies its stability. Such characterization of the lateral membrane domain structure could be beneficial when considering the lipid-protein interactions, because it can be assumed that the activity of the membrane-bound enzyme depends on the properties of the particular domain type.     

Bifurcation of periodic solutions to variational inequalities in R κ based on Alexander-Yorke theorem

Variational inequalities are studied, where K is a closed convex cone in , 3, B is a × matrix, G is a small perturbation, a real parameter. The assumptions guaranteeing a Hopf bifurcation at some ₀ for the corresponding equation are considered and it is proved that then, in some situations, also a bifurcation of periodic solutions to our inequality occurs at some _{I 0}. Bifurcating solutions are obtained by the limiting process along branches of solutions to penalty problems starting at ₀ constructed on the basis of the Alexander-Yorke theorem as global bifurcation branches of a certain enlarged system.     

Next nearest neighbor effect in chromite

In this paper the Mossbauer spectra of a chromite at 140K 200K and 298K were measured. Next nearest neighbor effects were used to explain the spectra of the chromite, and multiple doublets of Fe²⁺ ions on the A sites were caused by the different cation combinations on 12 next nearest neighbor B sites. The quandrupole splitting of each of mult iple Fe²⁺ doublets decreases with increasing temperature.