Direct electrochemistry of cytochrome c on nanotextured diamond surface

Nanotextured diamond surfaces with geometrical properties close to protein dimensions were used for the realization of direct electron transfer of cytochrome c (cyt c) without any covalent bonding. The peroxidase activity of native and denatured cyt c was also investigated. Cyclic voltammograms of native cyt c show quasi-reversible electron transfer reactions, while no heme redox activity is detected for denatured cyt c. Unfolding (denaturation) of cyt c can be achieved in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Partially or fully denatured cyt c showed higher peroxidase activity than native cyt c. This is because denatured cyt c loses its tertiary structure and hydrogen peroxide is easier to access the heme redox center. The apparent Michaelis–Menten constant K_m for native and denatured cyt c has been determined to be 0.23 mM and 0.08 mM.     

Phase I and II metabolites of speciogynine, a diastereomer of the main Kratom alkaloid mitragynine, identified in rat and human urine by liquid chromatography coupled to low- and high-resolution linear ion trap mass spectrometry

Mitragyna speciosa (Kratom in Thai), a Thai medical plant, is misused as herbal drug of abuse. Besides the most abundant alkaloids mitragynine (MG) and paynantheine (PAY), several other alkaloids were isolated from Kratom leaves, among them the third abundant alkaloid is speciogynine (SG), a diastereomer of MG. The aim of this present study was to identify the phase I and II metabolites of SG in rat urine after the administration of a rather high dose of the pure alkaloid and then to confirm these findings using human urine samples after Kratom use. The applied liquid chromatography coupled to low- and high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS-MS) provided detailed information on the structure in the MS(n) mode particularly with high resolution. For the analysis of the human samples, the LC separation had to be improved markedly allowing the separation of SG and its metabolites from its diastereomer MG and its metabolites. In analogy to MG, besides SG, nine phase I and eight phase II metabolites could be identified in rat urine, but only three phase I and five phase II metabolites in human urine. These differences may be caused by the lower SG dose applied by the user of Kratom preparations. SG and its metabolites could be differentiated in the human samples from the diastereomeric MG and its metabolites comparing the different retention times determined after application of the single alkaloids to rats. In addition, some differences in MS(2) and/or MS(3) spectra of the corresponding diastereomers were observed.     

Hydrogen Production by Water Dissociation in Surface‐Modified BaCoxFeyZr1−x−yO3−δ Hollow‐Fiber Membrane Reactor with Improved Oxygen Permeation

A porous perovskite BaCo_xFe_yZr_0.9?x?yPd_0.1O_3?δ (BCFZ‐Pd) coating was deposited onto the outer surface of a BaCo_xFe_yZr_1?x?yO_3?δ (BCFZ) perovskite hollow‐fiber membrane. The surface morphology of the modified BCFZ fiber was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), indicating the formation of a BCFZ‐Pd porous layer on the outer surface of a dense BCFZ hollow‐fiber membrane. The oxygen permeation flux of the BCFZ membrane with a BCFZ‐Pd porous layer increased 3.5 times more than that of the blank BCFZ membrane when feeding reactive CH₄ onto the permeation side of the membrane. The blank BCFZ membrane and surface‐modified BCFZ membrane were used as reactors to shift the equilibrium of thermal water dissociation for hydrogen production because they allow the selective removal of the produced oxygen from the water dissociation system. It was found that the hydrogen production rate increased from 0.7 to 2.1 mL H₂ min^?1 cm^?2 at 950 °C after depositing a BCFZ‐Pd porous layer onto the BCFZ membrane.     

Stereophotogrammetric 3D shape measurement by holographic methods using structured speckle illumination combined with interferometry

We present a unique combination of the numerical three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the shape of an object with interferometric deformation measurements. Two cameras record several holograms of an object that is illuminated by structured illumination. This illumination is realized by speckle patterns. To improve the image quality, an inplace speckle reduction technique is combined with the structured illumination to reduce the effect of disturbing subjective speckles which appear in the reconstructed images. Stereophotogrammetric methods are applied to extract the 3D surface information of the object out of the reconstructed images. Since the recording is done by holography and because stereophotogrammetry enables a pointwise correlation between the two views, it is possible to combine other holographic techniques with the reconstructed 3D shape. This is demonstrated by an interferometric deformation measurement of an object cooling down. The resulting interferometric fringes are mapped onto the reconstructed 3D surface. Hence, the proposed method enables automatic and dense matching of interferometric fringe-maps recorded by spatially separated holograms onto the surface of the object, which has not yet been realized by existing techniques.     

On spurious and corrupted multifractality: The effects of additive noise, short-term memory and periodic trends

We study the performance of multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA) applied to long-term correlated and multifractal data records in the presence of additive white noise, short-term memory and periodicities. Such additions and disturbances that can be typically found in the observational records of various complex systems ranging from climate dynamics to physiology, network traffic, and finance. In monofractal records, we find that (i) additive white noise hardly results in spurious multifractality, but causes underestimated generalized Hurst exponents h(q) for all q values; (ii) short-range correlations lead to pronounced crossovers in the generalized fluctuation functions F_q(s) at positions that decrease with increasing moment q, thus causing significantly overestimated h(q) for small q and spurious multifractality; (iii) periodicities like seasonal trends (with standard deviations comparable with the one of the studied process) result in spurious “reversed” multifractality where h(q) increases with increasing q (except for very short time windows). We also show that in multifractal cascades moderate additions of noise, short-range memory, or periodic trends cause flawed results for h(q) with q<2, while h(q) with q>2 remains nearly unchanged.     

Variational Approach to Fourth-Order Impulsive Differential Equations with Two Control Parameters

In this paper, we are concerned with the multiplicity of solutions for a fourth-order impulsive differential equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions and two control parameters. Using variational methods and a three critical points theorem, we give some new criteria to guarantee that the impulsive problem has at least three classical solutions. We also provide an example in order to illustrate the main abstract results of this paper.     

Tire footprint analysis depending on the elastokinematics of a multi-link suspension system using multi-body dynamics simulation

An automotive suspension system represents one of the most complex and important systems in a passenger vehicle, which has to ensure a robust and optimized contact between the wheels and the road at any time. For improving a suspension system it is important to take an investigative look at the interaction between suspension, tire and road dynamics. Thus a part of a study into aspects of suspension modeling on multi-body simulations of rear multi-link suspension system dynamics with focus on the tire footprint area is presented in this work. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Powder neutron diffraction of SrNbO2N at room temperature and 1.5 K

The structure of strontium niobium dioxygen nitride, SrNbO₂N, has been solved by powder neutron diffraction at room temperature and 1.5 K. SrNbO₂N crystallizes in the tetragonal space group I4/mcm, with a = 5.7056 (4) and c = 8.1002 (9) Å at room temperature, and a = 5.6938 (4) and c = 8.0974 (8) Å at 1.5 K. The crystal structure is derived from the cubic perovskite archetype by a slight rotation of the Nb(O,N)₆ octahedra with respect to the tetragonal axis. A partially ordered distribution of oxygen and nitrogen on the anionic sites was found.     

The convenient setting for quasianalytic Denjoy-Carleman differentiable mappings

For quasianalytic Denjoy-Carleman differentiable function classes CQ where the weight sequence Q=(Qk) is log-convex, stable under derivations, of moderate growth and also an L-intersection (see (1.6)), we prove the following: The category of CQ-mappings is cartesian closed in the sense that CQ(E,CQ(F,G))≅CQ(E×F,G) for convenient vector spaces. Applications to manifolds of mappings are given: The group of CQ-diffeomorphisms is a regular CQ-Lie group but not better.