Advanced glossmeters for industrial applications

In this paper, we present three new types of diffractive-optical-element (DOE)-based glossmeters (DOGs) that have been developed for both laboratory and online local specular gloss measurements of objects in industrial processes. The three are denoted as the handheld wireless glossmeter, μDOG two-dimensional (2D) and μDOG one-dimensional (1D), respectively. These glossmeters are designed to operate under conditions where gloss measurement with conventional glossmeters is impossible or difficult, or when fine structures of the gloss over a surface are an issue. Here, we show the applicability of the handheld glossmeter and μDOG 2D in the inspection of gloss from rough stainless steel plates finished by different machining methods. We also briefly introduce the concept of online gauge μDOG 1D for gloss assessment in industrial measurement environments.     

Potentiometric Detection of K+ Ions Using Gramicidin-Ionophore/Lipid Bilayer Assembly on Polyaniline Electrode

Summary: Organic electronics have their advantage over traditional silicon or inorganic electrodes in their easy processing and flexibility. For instance, polyaniline has shown to be promising electrode material for various sensing opportunities including as a use of pH-meter. As the ion-to-electrode transduction may be optimal in these organic materials with high surface area and controllable electric double layer, selectivity has often been approached with the use of ionophores. We have inserted a gramicidin ionophore in a lipid bilayer assembled on polyaniline surface and measured successfully K⁺ ion concentration potentiometrically.     

Bifidobacterium longum l-Arabinose Isomerase—Overexpression in Lactococcus lactis, Purification, and Characterization

Bifidobacterium longum NRRL B-41409 l-arabinose isomerase (l-AI) was cloned and overexpressed in Lactococcus lactis using a phosphate-depletion-inducible expression system. The purified B. longum l-AI was characterized using d-galactose and l-arabinose as the substrates. The enzyme was active and stable at acidic pH with an optimum at pH 6.0?C6.5. The enzyme showed the highest activity at 55?°C during a 20-min incubation at pH 6.5. The K _m value was 120?mM for l-arabinose and 590?mM for d-galactose. The V _max was 42?U mg^?1 with l-arabinose and 7.7?U mg^?1 with d-galactose as the substrates. The enzyme had very low requirement for metal ions for catalytic activity, but it was stabilized by divalent metal ions (Mg²⁺, Mn²⁺). The enzyme bound the metal ions so tightly that they could not be fully removed from the active site by EDTA treatment. Using purified B. longum l-AI as the catalyst at 35?°C, equilibrium yields of 36?% d-tagatose and 11?% l-ribulose with 1.67?M d-galactose and l-arabinose, respectively, as the substrates were reached.     

Ruthenium imidazole oxime carbonyls and their activities as CO-releasing molecules

Carbon monoxide has been found to possess various beneficial effects in living organisms. To study the effects of CO further and to develop potential pharmaceutical agents, a meaningful method for delivering CO to the target organ is needed. It has been found that under physiological conditions various metal carbonyl complexes release carbon monoxide. In this study six novel ruthenium carbonyl complexes Ru(IMOX)(CO)(2)(COOR)Cl(1) (IMOX: imidazolecarbaldehyde oxime, R: Me, Et) were prepared and tested as carbon monoxide releasing molecules (CORMs). Synthesis of the complexes was performed under mild conditions in alcoholic solutions. The ability to release CO was tested spectrophotometrically by following the transformation of deoxymyoglobin to carbonmonoxy myoglobin. All of the complexes studied were found to release CO. Compared to formerly studied ruthenium-based CORMs these complexes offer a way for slower CO release.     

On Conformal Field Theory of SLE(κ,ρ)

SLE(κ ρ), a generalization of chordal Schramm-Löwner evolution (SLE), is discussed from the point of view of statistical mechanics and conformal field theory (CFT). Certain ratios of CFT correlation functions are shown to be martingales. The interpretation is that SLE(κ ρ) describes an interface in a statistical mechanics model whose boundary conditions are created in the Coulomb gas formalism by vertex operators with charges α _j = $\alpha_j = \frac{\rho_j}{2 \sqrt{\kappa}}SLE(κ ρ), a generalization of chordal Schramm-Löwner evolution (SLE), is discussed from the point of view of statistical mechanics and conformal field theory (CFT). Certain ratios of CFT correlation functions are shown to be martingales. The interpretation is that SLE(κ ρ) describes an interface in a statistical mechanics model whose boundary conditions are created in the Coulomb gas formalism by vertex operators with charges α _j = $\alpha_j = \frac{\rho_j}{2 \sqrt{\kappa}}SLE(κ ρ), a generalization of chordal Schramm-L?wner evolution (SLE), is discussed from the point of view of statistical mechanics and conformal field theory (CFT). Certain ratios of CFT correlation functions are shown to be martingales. The interpretation is that SLE(κ ρ) describes an interface in a statistical mechanics model whose boundary conditions are created in the Coulomb gas formalism by vertex operators with charges α _j = . The total charge vanishes and therefore the partition function has a simple product form. We also suggest a generalization of SLE(κ ρ)     

Atomic force microscopy on chromosomes, chromatin and DNA: A review

The purpose of this review is to discuss the achievements and progress that has been made in the use of atomic force microscopy in DNA related research in the last 25 years. For this review DNA related research is split up in chromosomal-, chromatin- and DNA focused research to achieve a logical flow from large- to smaller structures. The focus of this review is not only on the AFM as imaging tool but also on the AFM as measuring tool using force spectroscopy, as therein lays its greatest advantage and future. The amazing technological and experimental progress that has been made during the last 25 years is too extensive to fully cover in this review but some key developments and experiments have been described to give an overview of the evolution of AFM use from 'imaging tool' to 'measurement tool' on chromosomes, chromatin and DNA.     

Representation of integral quantales by tolerances

The central result of the paper claims that every integral quantale \(\mathbf {Q}\) has a natural embedding into the quantale of complete tolerances on the underlying lattice of \(\mathbf {Q}\). As an application, we show that the underlying lattice of any finite integral quantale is distributive in 1 and dually pseudocomplemented. Besides, we exhibit relationships between several earlier results. In particular, we give an alternative approach to Valentini’s ordered sets and show how the ordered sets are related to tolerances.     

Bass and Topological Stable Ranks of Complex and Real Algebras of Measures,Functions and Sequences

We compute the Bass stable rank and the topological stable rank of several convolution Banach algebras of complex measures on (-∞,∞) or on [0,∞) consisting of a discrete measure and/or of an absolutely continuous measure. We also compute the stable ranks of the convolution algebras \({\ell^1(\mathbb {N}^n)}\) , \({\ell^1(\mathbb {Z}^n)}\) , ?¹(S) and \({\ell^1(S\cap\mathbb {R}_+)}\) , where S is an arbitrary subgroup of \({\mathbb {R}}\) , of the almost periodic algebra AP and of \({{{\rm AP} \cap H^{\infty}}}\) , etc. We answer affirmatively the question posed by Mortini (Studia Mathematica 103(3):275–281, 1992). For the above algebras, the polydisc algebra \({A(\mathbb {D}^n)}\) , the algebra \({C(\mathbb T^n)}\) of continuous functions, and others, we also study their subsets (real Banach algebras) of real-valued measures, real-valued sequences or real-symmetric functions, and of corresponding exponentially stable algebras (for example, the Callier–Desoer algebra of causal exponentially decaying measures and L¹ functions), and we compute their stable ranks. Finally, we show that in some of these real algebras a variant of the parity interlacing property is equivalent to reducibility of a unimodular (or coprime) pair. Also corona theorems are presented and the existence of coprime fractions is studied; in particular, we list which of these algebras are Bézout domains.