Study of the adsorption of cytochrome c on a gold nanoparticle – modified gold electrode by using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and chronopotentiometry

Adsorption of cytochrome c (Cyt c) on a gold nanoparticle – modified gold electrode was studied by using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and chronopotentiometry in a phosphate buffer solution. It is shown that the charge transfer resistance is directly proportional to the amount of adsorbed Cyt c. The effects of temperature and time on the course of adsorption were also studied. The trends obtained in ΔG_ADS showed that Cyt c was found to have a smaller affinity for the modified electrode as indicated by their smaller negative ΔG_ADS values.     

Robustness to Non-Normality of Various Tests For the One-Sample Location Problem

This paper studies the effect of the normal distribution assumption on the power and size of the sign test, Wilcoxon's signed rank test and the t-test when used in one-sample location problems. Power functions for these tests under various skewness and kurtosis conditions are produced for several sample sizes from simulated data using the g-and-k distribution of MacGillivray and Cannon [5].     

Longitudinal study of iodine in toenails following IV administration of an iodine-containing contrast agent

The literature on the relationship between diet and thyroid cancer (TC) risk and the higher incidence of TC among Asian immigrants to the US compared to second and third generation subgroups has prompted epidemiologists to hypothesize that increased levels of iodine consumption may be associated with TC risk, particularly among persons with a history of clinical or subclinical thyroid dysfunction. At the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR), we have applied epiboron neutron activation analysis to investigate human nails as a dietary monitor for iodine. Preliminary studies have indicated a positive correlation between dietary iodine intake and the concentration of iodine in toenails. However, these studies are confounded by high iodine levels (up to 30 ppm) in approximately 5% of the nails studied. We hypothesize that, in the subjects we have studied, the high iodine levels may be due to iodine-containing medications, in particular contrast-agents containing iopamidol. This paper will report on longitudinal studies using contrast agent subjects who were followed-up for almost two years compared to a longitudinal control and a population mean. Based on this study, we suggest that iodine-containing contrast agents contaminate nail samples via non-specific binding in the short term followed by incorporation in the nail as a result of absorption.     

Combining rails and anchors with laser forcing for selective manipulation within 2D droplet arrays

We demonstrate the combination of a rails and anchors microfluidic system with laser forcing to enable the creation of highly controllable 2D droplet arrays. Water droplets residing in an oil phase can be pinned to anchor holes made in the base of a microfluidic channel, enabling the creation of arrays by the appropriate patterning of such holes. The introduction of laser forcing, via laser induced thermocapillary forces to anchored droplets, enables the selective extraction of particular droplets from an array. We also demonstrate that such anchor arrays can be filled with multiple, in our case two, droplets each and that if such droplets have different chemical contents, the application of a laser at their interface triggers their merging and a chemical reaction to take place. Finally by adding guiding rails within the microfluidic structure we can selectively fill large scale arrays with monodisperse droplets with significant control over their contents. In this way we make a droplet array filled with 96 droplets containing different concentrations of fluorescent microparticles.     

Using dynamic geometry software for teaching conditional probability with area-proportional Venn diagrams

This classroom note illustrates how dynamic visualization can be used to teach conditional probability and Bayes’ theorem. There are two features of the visualization that make it an ideal pedagogical tool in probability instruction. The first feature is the use of area-proportional Venn diagrams that, along with showing qualitative relationships, describe the quantitative relationship between two sets. The second feature is the slider and animation component of dynamic geometry software enabling students to observe how the change in the base rate of an event influences conditional probability. A hypothetical instructional sequence using a well-known breast cancer example is described.     

Defect structure of electrodeposited chromium layers

Positron annihilation spectroscopy was applied to study the effects of pre-treatment and composition of substrates on the quality and defect structure of electrodeposited thick chromium coatings. The results show that both parameters are important, and a scenario is proposed why the mechanically polished substrate gives more defective film than the electropolished one.     

Quarkonia from charmonium and renormalization group equations

A prediction of the upsilon and strangeonium spectra is made from the charmonium spectrum by solving the Salpeter equation using an identical potential to that used in charmonium. Effective quark masses and coupling parameters α_s are functions of the inter-quark distance according to the renormalization group equations. The use of the Fermi-Breit-Hamiltonian for obtaining the charmonium hyperfine splitting is criticized.