Evaluation of Polycation-Stabilized Lactate Oxidase in a Silica Sol–Gel as a Biosensor Platform

 Whereas glucose oxidase and related proteins are encapsulated readily in silica sol–gels, α-hydroxy enzymes such as lactate oxidase (LOx), are reported to be damaged by electrostatic interaction with these matrices. Based on a previous report, poly(ethyleneimine), PEI, was evaluated as a protecting compound under conditions suited to analytical measurements. With LOx and PEI co-encapsulated in a silica sol–gel, the enzyme retained 62% of its initial activity after 20 days. In the absence of PEI, activity was lost during the processing. Batch analytical measurements with enzyme-doped sol–gel yielded a linear response over the range 0.5–2.0 mM lactate and a detection limit of 0.03 mM lactate. Both simple incorporation of LOx in a silica sol–gel and an alternative protection method, blocking the ion-exchange sites on silica with La(III), failed. These negative results supported the hypothesis that the efficacy of PEI was related to its formation of a protective sheath around the enzyme. Author for correspondence. E-mail: coxja@muohio.edu Received July 29, 2002; accepted December 15, 2002 Published online May 19, 2003     

Networks, Fields and Organizations: Micro-Dynamics, Scale and Cohesive Embeddings

Social action is situated in fields that are simultaneously composed of interpersonal ties and relations among organizations, which are both usefully characterized as social networks. We introduce a novel approach to distinguishing different network macro-structures in terms of cohesive subsets and their overlaps. We develop a vocabulary that relates different forms of network cohesion to field properties as opposed to organizational constraints on ties and structures. We illustrate differences in probabilistic attachment processes in network evolution that link on the one hand to organizational constraints versus field properties and to cohesive network topologies on the other. This allows us to identify a set of important new micro-macro linkages between local behavior in networks and global network properties. The analytic strategy thus puts in place a methodology for Predictive Social Cohesion theory to be developed and tested in the context of informal and formal organizations and organizational fields. We also show how organizations and fields combine at different scales of cohesive depth and cohesive breadth. Operational measures and results are illustrated for three organizational examples, and analysis of these cases suggests that different structures of cohesive subsets and overlaps may be predictive in organizational contexts and similarly for the larger fields in which they are embedded. Useful predictions may also be based on feedback from level of cohesion in the larger field back to organizations, conditioned on the level of multiconnectivity to the field.     

Branes,Quantum Nambu Brackets and the Hydrogen Atom

The Nambu-bracket quantization of the hydrogen atom is worked out as an illustration of the general method. The dynamics of topological open branes is controlled classically by Nambu brackets. Such branes then may be quantized through the consistent quantization of the underlying Nambu brackets: properly defined, the quantum Nambu-brackets comprise an associative structure, although the naive derivation property is mooted through operator entwinement. For superintegrable systems, such as the hydrogen atom, the results coincide with those furnished by Hamiltonian quantization - but the method is not limited to Hamiltonian systems.     

The photochemistry of 3,4,5-trideuteriopyridine

Irradiation of 3,4,5-trideuteriopyridine at 254 nm in the vapor phase results in the formation of a mixture of 2,3,4-trideuteriopyridine and 2,3,6-trideuteriopyridine. The formation of these products is consistent with a photoisomerization mechanism involving equilibrating azaprefulvene intermediates. This is the first direct evidence that pyridine vapor undergoes photoisomerization resulting in transposition of the pyridine ring atoms.     

Ferrocenyl-substituted fluorescent anthracenes and anthraquinones

The synthesis of a range of ferrocene-substituted ethynylanthracenes and 1,1^′-(bis-(2-ethenylanthraquinoyl)ferrocene has been achieved. The synthesis relies on the production of ferrocenylanthraquinones as key precursors. The products were obtained in the reactions of ferrocenylanthraquinones with phenylethynyllithium or trimethylsilylethynyllithium followed by reduction with tin chloride. The key products such as 1- and 2-ferrocenyl(9,10-bis-phenylethynyl)anthracenes have been characterised by X-ray single crystal diffraction.     

Focused ion beam Moiré method

A focused ion beam (FIB) Moiré method is proposed to measure the in-plane deformation of object in a micrometer scale. The FIB Moiré is generated by the interference between a prepared specimen grating and FIB raster scan lines. The principle of the FIB Moiré is described. The sensitivity and accuracy of deformation measurement are discussed in detail. Several specimen gratings with 0.14 and 0.20 μm spacing are used to generate FIB Moiré patterns. The FIB Moiré method is successfully used to measure the residual deformation in a micro-electro-mechanical system structure after removing the SiO₂ sacrificial layer with a 5000 lines/mm grating. The results demonstrate the feasibility of this method.     

Potent New Heterogeneous Asymmetric Catalysts

A set of new, air‐stable, Rh^I‐based heterogeneous asymmetric hydrogenation catalysts have been synthesised, characterised, and tested. Individual members of this new family all exhibit good enantioselectivity.     

Generation of slanted gas-filled icicles

A procedure for the generation of slanted gas-filled icicles by freezing, using a domestic refrigerator, is described. The freezing vessel was a plastic ice-cube tray, which was filled both with tap and deionized water and was frozen successively from the outer to the inner compartments of the tray. Icicles having slanted elevations grew out of the surface of the deionized water of the innermost compartments. The erection angle of the icicles to the horizontal lay between 30° and 60°, for the three longest and thinnest specimens it was almost exactly 30°. All icicles have gas inclusions. Their shape varies between an irregular distribution of circular bubbles and a nearly uninterrupted axial gas channel together with dendrite-like, radially distorted bubbles. If a cold (-18°C) specimen comes into contact with warm and humid room-air, then hoarfrost is observed at the bottom and the top of the icicle, while the area in between remains transparent.     

Bodies of constant width in arbitrary dimension

We give a number of characterizations of bodies of constant width in arbitrary dimension. As an application, we describe a way to construct a body of constant width in dimension n, one of its (n – 1)‐dimensional projection being given. We give a number of examples, like a four‐dimensional body of constant width whose 3D‐projection is the classical Meissner's body. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)