Rapid Cationization of Gold Nanoparticles by Two‐Step Phase Transfer

Cationic gold nanoparticles offer intriguing opportunities as drug carriers and building blocks for self‐assembled systems. Despite major progress on gold nanoparticle research in general, the synthesis of cationic gold particles larger than 5 nm remains a major challenge, although these species would give a significantly larger plasmonic response compared to smaller cationic gold nanoparticles. Herein we present the first reported synthesis of cationic gold nanoparticles with tunable sizes between 8–20 nm, prepared by a rapid two‐step phase‐transfer protocol starting from simple citrate‐capped particles. These cationic particles form ordered self‐assembled structures with negatively charged biological components through electrostatic interactions.     

Glass microfabricated nebulizer chip for mass spectrometry

A microfluidic nebulizer chip for mass spectrometry is presented. It is an all-glass device which consists of fusion bonded Pyrex wafers with embedded flow channels and a nozzle at the chip edge. A platinum heater is located on the wafer backside. Fabrication of the chip is detailed, especially glass deep etching, wafer bonding, and metal patterning. Various process combinations of bonding and metallization have been considered (anodic bonding vs. fusion bonding; heater inside/outside channel; metallization before/after bonding; platinum lift-off vs. etching). The chip vaporizes the liquid sample (0.1-10 microL min(-1)) and mixes it with a nebulizer gas (ca. 100 sccm N2). Operating temperatures can go up to 500 degrees C ensuring efficient vaporization. Thermal insulation of the glass ensures low temperatures at the far end of the chip, enabling easy interconnections.     

Improved lower bound for locating-dominating codes in binary Hamming spaces

Designs, Codes and Cryptography - In this article, we study locating-dominating codes in binary Hamming spaces $$\mathbb {F}^n$$ . Locating-dominating codes have been widely studied since their...     

The diffuse sound field in energetic analysis

Measuring the degree of diffuseness of a sound field is crucial in many modern parametric spatial audio techniques. In these applications, intensity-based diffuseness estimators are particularly convenient, as the sound intensity can also be used to obtain, e.g., the direction of arrival of the sound. This contribution reviews different diffuseness estimators comparing them under the conditions found in practice, i.e., with arrays of noisy microphones and with the expectation operators substituted by finite temporal averages. The estimators show a similar performance, however, each with specific advantages and disadvantages depending on the scenario. Furthermore, the paper derives an estimator and highlights the possibility of using spatial averaging to improve the temporal resolution of the estimates.     

An Algorithm for the Computation of Eigenvalues, Spectral Zeta Functions and Zeta-Determinants on Hyperbolic Surfaces

We present a rigorous scheme that makes it possible to compute eigenvalues of the Laplace operator on hyperbolic surfaces within a given precision. The method is based on an adaptation of the method of particular solutions to the case of locally symmetric spaces and on explicit estimates for the approximation of eigenfunctions on hyperbolic surfaces by certain basis functions. It can be applied to check whether or not there is an eigenvalue in an ε-neighborhood of a given number λ > 0. This makes it possible to find all the eigenvalues in a specified interval, up to a given precision with rigorous error estimates. The method converges exponentially fast with the number of basis functions used. Combining the knowledge of the eigenvalues with the Selberg trace formula we are able to compute values and derivatives of the spectral zeta function again with error bounds. As an example we calculate the spectral determinant and the Casimir energy of the Bolza surface and other surfaces.     

Locating–dominating codes in paths

Bertrand, Charon, Hudry and Lobstein studied, in their paper in 2004 [1], r-locating–dominating codes in paths P_n. They conjectured that if r≥2 is a fixed integer, then the smallest cardinality of an r-locating–dominating code in P_n, denoted by , satisfies for infinitely many values of n. We prove that this conjecture holds. In fact, we show a stronger result saying that for any r≥3 we have for all n≥n_r when n_r is large enough. In addition, we solve a conjecture on location–domination with segments of even length in the infinite path.     

Integrated liquid chromatography-heated nebulizer microchip for mass spectrometry

A new integrated microchip for liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is presented. The chip is made from bonded silicon and glass wafers with structures for a packed LC column channel, a micropillar frit, a channel for optional optical detection, and a heated vaporizer section etched in silicon and platinum heater elements on the glass cover. LC eluent is vaporized and mixed with nebulizer gas in the vaporizer section and the vapor is sprayed out from the chip. Nonpolar and polar analytes can be efficiently ionized in the gas phase by atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) as demonstrated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs). This is not achievable with present LC-MS chips, since they are based on electrospray ionization, which is not able to ionize nonpolar compounds efficiently. The preliminary quantitative performance of the new chip was evaluated in terms of limit of detection (down to 5 ng mL⁻¹), linearity (r > 0.999), and repeatability of signal response (RSD = 2.6-4.0%) and retention time (RSD = 0.3-0.5%) using APPI for ionization and PAHs as standard compounds. Determination of fluorescent compounds is demonstrated by using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) for detection in the optical detection channel before the vaporizer section.     

Vapor–liquid equilibrium for the binary systems tetrahydrothiophene + toluene and tetrahydrothiophene + o-xylene at 368.15 K and 383.15 K

Isothermal vapor–liquid equilibrium (VLE) for tetrahydrothiophene + toluene and tetrahydrothiophene + o-xylene at 368.15 K and 383.15 K was measured with a recirculation still. Liquid- and vapor-phase compositions were determined with gas chromatography. All systems exhibit a small positive deviation from Raoult's law and show nearly ideal behavior. All VLE measurements passed the point test used. The experimental results were correlated with the Wilson model and compared with COSMO-SAC predictive models. COSMO-SAC predictions show a slight negative deviation from Raoult's law for all systems measured. Raoult's law can be used to describe all systems studied. The activity coefficients at infinite dilution are presented.     

Phase equilibria for systems containing dimethyl disulfide and diethyl disulfide with hydrocarbons at 368.15 K

Isothermal vapor–liquid equilibrium (VLE) for dimethyl disulfide + toluene, dimethyl disulfide + 2,2,4-trimethylpentane, dimethyl disulfide + 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene, and diethyl disulfide + 2,2,4-trimethylpentane at 368.15 K were measured with a recirculation still. All systems exhibit positive deviation from Raoult's law. Dimethyl disulfide + toluene system shows only slight positive deviation from Raoult's law, while dimethyl disulfide + 2,2,4-trimethylpentane, dimethyl disulfide + 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene, and diethyl disulfide + 2,2,4-trimethylpentane systems show larger positive deviation from Raoult's law. Maximum pressure azeotropes were found in systems: dimethyl disulfide + toluene (x₁ = 0.632, P = 66.4 kPa, T = 368.15 K), dimethyl disulfide + 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (x₁ = 0.311, P = 95.8 kPa, T = 368.15 K), and dimethyl disulfide + 2,4,4-trimethyl-1-pentene (x₁ = 0.295, P = 88.4 kPa, T = 368.15 K). No azeotropic behavior was observed in system diethyl disulfide + 2,2,4-trimethylpentane at 368.15 K. The experimental results were correlated with the Wilson model. Original UNIFAC was used to predict dimethyl disulfide + 2,2,4-trimethylpentane and diethyl disulfide + 2,2,4-trimethylpentane systems at 368.15 K. COSMO-SAC predictive model was used to predict infinite dilution activity coefficients for all systems measured. Liquid and vapor-phase composition were determined with gas chromatography. All VLE measurements passed the thermodynamic consistency tests applied. The activity coefficients at infinite dilution are also presented.     

Conversational quality evaluation of artificial bandwidth extension of telephone speech

Artificial bandwidth extension methods have been developed to improve the quality and intelligibility of narrowband telephone speech and to reduce the difference with wideband speech. Such methods have commonly been evaluated with objective measures or subjective listening-only tests, but conversational evaluations have been rare. This article presents a conversational evaluation of two methods for the artificial bandwidth extension of telephone speech. Bandwidth-extended narrowband speech is compared with narrowband and wideband speech in a test setting including a simulated telephone connection, realistic conversation tasks, and various background noise conditions. The responses of the subjects indicate that speech processed with one of the methods is preferred to narrowband speech in noise, but wideband speech is superior to both narrowband and bandwidth-extended speech. Bandwidth extension was found to be beneficial for telephone conversation in noisy listening conditions.