Production of γ-Decalactone by a Psychrophilic and a Mesophilic Strain of the Yeast <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhodotorula aurantiaca</Emphasis>

Among 18 psychrophilic strains isolated near the Antarctic Station, the psychrophilic strain Rhodotorula aurantiaca A19 was selected for its ability of growth and γ-decalactone production at low temperatures. The effects of temperature, initial pH, and castor oil concentration on the growth and γ-decalactone production by a psychrophilic and a mesophilic strain of R. aurantiaca were investigated. The highest γ-decalactone production in flasks (5.8 g/l) was obtained with the strain A19 at 14 °C and initial pH 7.0 in medium containing 20 g/l castor oil. On the other hand, these factors did not affect the production of γ-decalactone by the mesophilic strain. In fermentor, a γ-decalactone concentration of 6.6 g/l was reached with the strain A19, whereas a maximum of 0.1 g/l was obtained with the mesophilic strain. Our results suggest that the ability to synthesize γ-decalactone is a particularity of the strain A19, since the mesophilic strain (no. 30645) produced small amounts, and the other (no. 31354) did not exhibit this property. It is, to our knowledge, the first report of γ-decalactone production by R. aurantiaca and furthermore by a psychrophilic yeast strain. Moreover, the amount of γ-decalactone obtained in fermentor with the strain 19 was on the order of concentrations usually described in patents.     

Demonstration of cell-ricin interaction by electrophoretic light scattering

Electrophoretic light scattering has been used to investigate the interaction of ricin, a vegetal toxin, with cells. This technique allowed measurements in the presence of free ligand and proved particularly useful for the study of a system with low affinity. The electrophoretic mobility of erythrocytes and oligodendrocytes was found equal to 2.08 x 10(-8) and 2.35 x 10(-8)m2s-1V-1, respectively. Upon ricin binding, these values decreased significantly. This change was related to the saturation of the binding sites. The specificity of the interaction was demonstrated by conducting the experiments in the presence of lactose. This specific inhibitor fully prevented the ricin-cell interaction.     

A simple technique for the pyrosol process and deposition of tin oxide films

A very simple and low-cost device for the deposition of thin films by the pyrosol process has been designed Doped and undoped transparent conducting SnO₂ films have been prepared on glass substrates The films obtained were nonstoichiometric but homogeneous and polycrystalline in nature It is found that an activation energy of about 0 2 eV is associated with the film growth process The logarithm of the film thickness varies approximately linearly with the deposition time, and the sheet resistance shows a size effect below a thickness of about 0 3 micro m Doping increases the conductivity but at the cost of transparency The best compromise between transparency and conductivity was obtained at a substrate temperature of about 380°C and with 1 6 mole percent of Sb or 13 mole percent of F as dopants in the as-deposited condition The figure of ment of these films is compared to those of films obtained earlier by the spray pyrolysis method F doping produces better results than Sb doping.     

Determination of phenolic compounds in environmental water samples after solid-phase extraction with β-cyclodextrin-bonded silica particles coupled with a novel liquid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A novel approach for the sample pre-treatment and determination of eight phenolic compounds in environmental water samples has been developed by hyphenating solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) techniques based on solid organic drop combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS). After pre-concentration and purification of the sample through column containing 60 mg of β-cyclodextrin-bonded silica particles as stationary phase, under the optimum conditions, LPME technique has been performed on the eluent solution. Under the selected conditions, limit of detection (LOD) of 0.002-0.04 μg/L (S/N=3), limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.007-0.15 μg/L (S/N=10), pre-concentration factor of 752-3135 and linearity range of 0.01-25 μg/L have been obtained. A reasonable repeatability (RSD≤9.5%, n=5) with satisfactory coefficient of determination has been obtained between 0.9981 and 0.9997. The relative recoveries of the waste, sea, river and well water samples were higher than 79%.     

Inclusion complexes of EMPO derivatives with 2,6-di-O-methyl-beta-cyclodextrin: synthesis, NMR and EPR investigations for enhanced superoxide detection

The free radical trapping properties of eight 5-alkoxycarbonyl-5-methyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (EMPO) type nitrones and those of 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO) were evaluated for trapping of superoxide anion radicals in the presence of 2,6-di-O-methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (DM-beta-CD). (1)H-NMR titrations were performed to determine both stoichiometries and binding constants for the diamagnetic nitrone-DM-beta-CD equilibria. EPR titrations were then performed and analyzed using a two-dimensional EPR simulation program affording 1 : 1 and 1 : 2 stoichiometries for the nitroxide spin adducts with DM-beta-CD and the associated binding constants after spin trapping. The nitroxide spin adducts associate more strongly with DM-beta-CD than the nitrones. The ability of the nitrones to trap superoxide, the enhancement of the EPR signal intensity and the supramolecular protection by DM-beta-CD against sodium L-ascorbate reduction were evaluated.     

Novel neon-hydrate of cubic ice structure

The stability of ice I cubic (ice I_c) whose voids are occupied by neon particles is investigated using a hybrid type of isobaric grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulation. We show that the resulting neon hydrate is stable under high pressure and temperature where ice I_c alone is unstable, suggesting the existence of a novel neon hydrate of ice I_c. We also show through chemical potential calculation that the neon hydrate of the ice I_c structure is more favorable than the neon hydrate of the ice II structure, whose existence was proven from experiment under high pressure condition.     

First-principles calculations of the structural,electronic, optical and thermal properties of the BNxAs1–x alloys

The present paper aims to study the structural, electronic, optical and thermal properties of the boron nitride (BN) and BAs bulk materials as well as the BN_xAs_1–x ternary alloys by employing the full-potential-linearised augmented plane wave method within the density functional theory. The structural properties are determined using the Wu–Cohen generalised gradient approximation that is based on the optimisation of the total energy. For band structure calculations, both the Wu–Cohen generalised gradient approximation and the modified Becke–Johnson of the exchange-correlation energy and potential, respectively, are used. We investigated the effect of composition on the lattice constants, bulk modulus and band gap. Deviations of the lattice constants and the bulk modulus from the Vegard’s law and the linear concentration dependence, respectively, were observed for the alloys where this result allows us to explain some specific behaviours in the electronic properties of the alloys. For the optical properties, the calculated refractive indices and the optical dielectric constants were found to vary nonlinearly with the N composition. Finally, the thermal effect on some of the macroscopic properties was predicted using the quasi-harmonic Debye model in which the lattice vibrations are taken into account.     

ESR-spin trapping in the presence of cyclodextrins. Detection of PBN-superoxide spin adduct

In phosphate buffer solution the half-life of the PBN-superoxide spin adduct is very short. However, as a result of the formation of inclusion complexes, its ESR signal was easily detected for up to 25 min when the trapping of superoxide anion with PBN was carried out in the presence of different cyclodextrins. Furthermore, the formation of these inclusion complexes results in a significant protection of the PBN-superoxide adduct against l-ascorbate monoanion reduction.     

Non‐smooth atomic decomposition for generalized Orlicz‐Morrey spaces

In the present paper, we consider the non‐smooth atomic decomposition of generalized Orlicz‐Morrey spaces. The result will be sharper than the existing results. As an application, we consider the boundedness of the bilinear operator, which is called the Olsen inequality nowadays. To obtain a sharp norm estimate, we first investigate their predual space, which is even new, and we make full advantage of the vector‐valued inequality for the Hardy‐Littlewood maximal operator.     

In situ TEM study of reversible and irreversible electroforming in Pt/Ti:NiO/Pt heterostructures

Experimental verification of the microscopic origin of resistance switching in metal/oxide/metal heterostructures is needed for applications in non‐volatile memory and neuromorphic computing. Numerous reports suggest that resistance switching in NiO is caused by local reduction of the oxide layer into nanoscale conducting filaments, but few reports have shown experimental evidence correlating electroforming with site‐specific changes in composition. We have investigated the mechanisms of reversible and irreversible electroforming in 250–500 nm wide pillars patterned from a single Ta/Ti/Pt/Ti‐doped NiO/Pt/Ta heterostructure and have shown that these can coexist within a single sample. We performed in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) electroform‐ ing and switching on each pillar to correlate the local electron transport behavior with microstructure and composition in each pillar. DFT calculations fitted to electron energy loss spectroscopy data showed that the Ti‐doped NiO layer is partially reduced after reversible electroforming, with the formation of oxygen vacancies ordered into lines in the 〈110〉 direction. However, under the same probing conditions, adjacent pillars show irreversible electroforming caused by electromigration of metallic Ta to form a single bridge across the oxide layer. We propose that the different electroforming behaviors are related to microstructural variations across the sample and may lead to switching variability. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)