Flow cytometry: a new method to investigate the properties of water-in-oil-in-water emulsions

We present a new and facile method to evaluate w/o/w emulsions containing fluorescent markers by flow cytometry. Flow cytometry allows simultaneous measurement of w/o/w emulsion droplets "marked" with a fluorescent marker or "blank" without the need for complicated sample preparation. The yield of preparation of the w/o/w emulsion and the release rate of the fluorescent marker FITC-BSA were investigated by this new method. The release fraction (after 24 h) of FITC-BSA from the w/o/w emulsion decreased with increasing concentration of FITC-BSA inside the internal phase, just like the release fraction of NaCl as marker from the w/o/w emulsion. Flow cytometry results show that the yield and release behavior in w/o/w emulsions are in agreement with results reported by more complicated methods.     

Mathematics education: Procedures, rituals and man's search for meaning

An attempt is made to analyze mathematical behavior from more general psychological perspectives. The mathematical language is a special case of the human language, which is a form of expression. Many people use common language in a meaningless way. The same is true about the mathematical language. Rituals are other forms of expression. Many people identify rituals in many mathematical contexts (procedures, argumentation). Thus, quite often, they behave in a meaningless way as required by many rituals. On the other hand, the community of mathematics education struggles for meaningful learning. This can be regarded as a special case of man's search for meaning. The general claims will be illustrated by some examples from various mathematical contexts.     

Profiling Heparan Sulfate-Heavy Metal Ions Interaction Using Electrochemical Techniques

Heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycans provides extracellular matrix defense against heavy metals cytotoxicity. Identifying the precise glycan sequences that bind a particular heavy metal ion is a key for understanding those interactions. Here, electrochemical and surface characterization techniques were used to elucidate the relation between the glycans structural motifs, uronic acid stereochemistry, and sulfation regiochemistry to heavy metal ions binding. A divergent strategy was employed to access a small library of structurally well-defined tetrasaccharides analogs with different sulfation patterns and uronic acid compositions. These tetrasaccharides were electrochemically grafted onto glassy carbon electrodes and their response to heavy metal ions was monitored by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Key differences in the binding of Hg(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) were associated with a combination of the uronic acid type and the sulfation pattern.     

Crystallographic and magnetic structure of HAVAR under high-pressure using diamond anvil cell (DAC)

Annealed (H1) and cold-rolled (H2) HAVAR has been studied using high-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction. A structural phase transformation was discovered at ～13 GPa at ambient temperature, transforming from m ??3 m (S.G. 225) to P 63/m m c (S.G. 194) symmetry. The transition was not reversible on pressure release. The low-pressure cubic phase was found to be more compressible than the high-pressure hexagonal phase. Conventional Mössbauer and NFS shows that the HAVAR is not magnetic at room temperature and no splitting is observed. The SQUID indicates a huge difference in the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility between the cold Rolled HAVAR compared to the annealed HAVAR.     

Easy access to the family of thiazole N-oxides using HOF x CH3CN

An efficient procedure for transferring an oxygen atom to thiazole-containing compounds, resulting in the corresponding N-oxides, was developed by using HOF x CH3CN; mild reaction conditions, high yields and easy purification are the main features of this novel route, while X-ray structural analysis reveals a hydrogen bond between the N-oxide functionality and a water molecule.     

Conducting Polymer Coated DNA

Gold electrode was modified with a 4-aminothiophenol layer (4-ATPh) to immobilize DNA. The immobilized DNA served as a template for the alignment of positively charged anilinium ions. The electrochemical oxidation of the anilinium ions resulted in wrapping of the DNA with polyaniline. This polyaniline coated DNA was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), impedance spectroscopy and UV-VIS absorption spectroscopy.     

Synthesis of vicinal bromo-fluoro organic compounds using elemental fluorine

The direct action of fluorine on bromine at ?78° produces BrF which, without any isolation or purification, adds readily across various double bonds providing there is some hydrogen donor in the reaction mixture. Only trans addition of the elements of BrF was observed. When the reaction was applied to enons an easy elimination of HF can take place thus producing α-bromo enons.In our previous work we described the reaction of some olefins with IF, a reagent which was prepared $\text{in}$$\text{situ}$ by the action of F₂ on I₂[1]. The literature deals with several other fluorohalogens, among them the three known bromo-fluoro compounds, BrF, BrF₃ and BrF₅, although only the last two are well characterized[2]. However, because of the instability and the high reactivity of these compounds, they have hardly been employed in organic chemistry[3].We wish to describe here for the first time, an efficient and convenient method of synthesizing vicinal bromo-fluoro compounds using the primary source of the fluorine atoms, namely elemental fluorine itself[4].When a mixture of F₂/N₂ is bubbled through a cold (?78°C), dilute solution of Br₂ (20 mmolar) in CFCl₃ (Freon) the bromine disappears and mainly BrF is produced. However, despite previous efforts, it seems that this compound cannot be isolated since it disproportionates easily to the very reactive BrF₃ and halogen on the aromatic ring can not be ascertained. The third product proved to be the corresponding bromo-ethoxy compound XV (15% yield). Prolonged chromatography or traces of HF from the reaction mixture results in the elimination of HF thus producing, quantitatively, 6-bromocumarin XVI[8]. 2-Bromo-3-fluoro cyclopentanone XVII (oil) if formed in 90% yield and isolated in almost pure form. As in the case of cumarin, XVII readily loses HF producing the 2-bromoclopentenone (XVIII)[9] in quantitative yield.     

On braided fusion categories I

We introduce a new notion of the core of a braided fusion category. It allows to separate the part of a braided fusion category that does not come from finite groups. We also give a comprehensive and self-contained exposition of the known results on braided fusion categories without assuming them pre-modular or non-degenerate. The guiding heuristic principle of our work is an analogy between braided fusion categories and Casimir Lie algebras.     

On the volume product of polygons

We present a method that allows us to prove that the volume product of polygons in ℝ² with at most n vertices is bounded from above by the volume product of regular polygons with n vertices. The same method shows that the volume product of polygons is bounded from below by the volume product of triangles (or parallelograms in the centrally symmetric case). These last results give a new proof of theorems of K. Mahler. The cases of equality are completely described.     

Temporal integration of the contralateral acoustic-reflex threshold and its age-related changes

Although numerous studies have investigated temporal integration of the acoustic-reflex threshold (ART), research is lacking on the effect of age on temporal integration of the ART. Therefore the effect of age on temporal integration of the ART was investigated for a broad-band noise (BBN) activator. Subjects consisted of two groups of adults with normal-hearing sensitivity: one group of 20 young adults (ten males and ten females, ages 18-29 years, with a mean age of 24 years) and one group of 20 older adults (ten males and ten females, ages 59-75 years, with a mean age of 67.5 years). Activating stimulus durations were 12, 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1000 ms. Significant main effects for duration and age were obtained. That is, as the duration increased, the acoustic reflex threshold for BBN decreased. The interactions of duration x age group and duration x hearing level were not significant. The result of pair-wise analysis indicated statistically significant differences between the two age groups at durations of 20 ms and longer. The observed age effect on temporal integration of the ART for the BBN activator is interpreted in relation to senescent changes in the auditory system.