Electrochemical probe DNA design in PCR amplicon sequence for the optimum detection of microbiological diseases

Direct electrochemical genosensor was developed for the detection of a probe sequence relative position in a PCR amplicon for the optimum detection of bacterial and microbiological diseases, in this study. The genosensor relies on a label-free electrochemical detection. The amino-linked inosine modified (guanine-free) coequal capture probes which were chosen from different parts of a PCR amplicon, immobilized on to disposable pencil graphite electrodes (PGE) by electrostatically and covalently. As a model case Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome amplicon was used for the detection and specification. Hybridization was occurred after surface coverage with denatured amplicons. After hybridization, optimum probe sequence position was identified by using the differences between the responses of guanine oxidation signals. The results of this study might have a great convenience for the microbiological diseases detection applications such as DNA micro arrays.     

Synthesis and proton conductivity of anhydrous dendritic electrolytes

Water soluble PEG cored dendritic hexa-acid which comprises peripheral carboxylic acidic groups were prepared via nucleophilic substitution reactions. Novel anhydrous proton conducting electrolytes were prepared by incorporation of the heterocyclic protogenic solvent imidazole (Im) into PEG cored dendritic hexa acid, (PEG-HA), at several molar ratios of Im to-COOH units of PEG-HA. The complexation of PEG-HA and Im was illustrated by infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The materials are thermally stable up to 150 °C as evidenced by thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results verified that the organic electrolytes are homogeneous and amorphous. The proton conductivities were characterized by means of AC impedance spectroscopy and a maximum conductivity of 1 × 10⁻³ S/cm was measured at 120 °C in the anhydrous state.      

Voltammetric Determination of Adrenaline Using a Poly(1‐Methylpyrrole) Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode

A voltammetric method using a poly(1‐methylpyrrole) modified glassy carbon electrode was developed for the quantification of adrenaline. The modified electrode exhibited stable and sensitive current responses towards adrenaline. Compared with a bare GCE, the modified electrode exhibits a remarkable shift of the oxidation potentials of adrenaline in the cathodic direction and a drastic enhancement of the anodic current response. The separation between anodic and cathodic peak potentials (ΔEp) for adrenaline is 30 mV in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) at pH 4.0 at modified glassy carbon electrodes. The linear current response was obtained in the range of 7.5 × 10^?7 to 2.0 × 10^?4 M with a detection limit of 1.68 × 10^?7 M for adrenaline by square wave voltammetry. The poly(1‐methypyrrole)/GCE was also effective to simultaneously determine adrenaline, ascorbic acid and uric acid in a mixture and resolved the overlapping anodic peaks of these three species into three well‐defined voltammetric peaks in cyclic voltammetry. The modified electrode has been successfully applied for the determination of adrenaline in pharmaceuticals. The proposed method showed excellent stability and reproducibility.     

Thermodynamic analysis of the copper production step in a copper–chlorine cycle for hydrogen production

The hybrid copper–chlorine (Cu–Cl) thermo/electrochemical cycle for decomposing water into its constituents is a novel method for hydrogen production. The process involves a series of closed-loop chemical reactions. The cycle is assumed driven in an environmentally benign manner using nuclear energy. The cycle involves five steps of which three are thermally driven chemical reactions and one has an electrochemical reaction. In the present study, the electrochemical reaction, copper (Cu) production step, is described with its operational and environmental conditions, and analyzed thermodynamically. Various parametric studies are carried out on energetic and exergetic aspects of the step, considering variable reaction and reference-environment temperatures. At a reaction temperature of 45 °C, the reaction heat of the Cu production step is 140,450 kJ/kmol H₂. At a constant reaction temperature of 45 °C, the exergy destruction of the step varies between 50 kJ/kmol H₂ and 7000 kJ/kmol H₂ when the reference-environment temperature increases from 0 °C to 30 °C. At a reaction temperature of 45 °C and a reference-environment temperature of 25 °C, the exergy efficiency of this step is 99% and decreases with increasing reference-environment and/or reaction temperatures.     

Organosilane self-assembled monolayer growth from supercritical carbon dioxide in microstructured optical fiber capillary arrays

Microstructured optical fibers form a new class of extreme aspect ratio templates that are well-suited for precise, designed spatial organization of materials and molecules at dimensions down to the nanoscale. The extreme aspect ratios of the nanoscale to microscale pores in the templates necessitates new approaches to fabrication of nanowires, nanotubes, and self-assembled monolayers within them. High-pressure fluids, which have lower viscosities than liquids and no surface tension, are well-suited for penetrating such extreme aspect ratio capillaries. Here we report an approach to fabricating self-assembled monolayers within microstructured optical fibers using near supercritical or supercritical carbon dioxide. An AFM-based "shaving" technique has been developed to characterize the monolayers formed in capillaries that are too small to allow for characterization by conventional approaches.     

Application of Impedimetric and Voltammetric Genosensor for Detection of a Biological Warfare: Anthrax

A strategy for the detection of anthrax, which is a potential biological weapon by using an electrochemical genosensing technology, is investigated. An alkanathiol‐linked or unlabeled capture probe related to B. anthracis is immobilized onto gold or graphite electrode surface. A 101‐mer anthrax target is used for hybridization. The extent of hybridization between probe and target sequences is determined by using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectrometry (EIS). EIS analysis are based on electron transfer resistance (R_ct) in the presence of [Fe(CN)₆]^3?/4? and DPV measurements are based on transduction of both guanine oxidation and Meldola's blue (MDB) reduction signal as hybridization indicator. The response of the probe‐modified electrodes which was interacted with a noncomplementary sequence was the same as the responses of probe‐modified surface and proved the specifity of the hybridization with the target. According to these results the developed genosensors based on EIS and DPV techniques can be employed for rapid and selective detection of B. anthracis.     

Numerical solution of linear and nonlinear partial differential equations using the peridynamic differential operator

This study presents numerical solutions to linear and nonlinear Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) by using the peridynamic differential operator. The solution process involves neither a derivative reduction process nor a special treatment to remove a jump discontinuity or a singularity. The peridynamic discretization can be both in time and space. The accuracy and robustness of this differential operator is demonstrated by considering challenging linear, nonlinear, and coupled PDEs subjected to Dirichlet and Neumann‐type boundary conditions. Their numerical solutions are achieved using either implicit or explicit methods. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 33: 1726–1753, 2017     

Weak sequential completeness in Banach $$$$-modules of finite multiplicity

A well known result of Lozanovsky states that a Banach lattice is weakly sequentially complete if and only if it does not contain a copy of \(c_{0}\). In the current paper we extend this result to the class of Banach \(C(K)\)-modules of finite multiplicity and, as a special case, to finitely generated Banach \(C(K)\)-modules. Moreover, we prove that such a module is weakly sequentially complete if and only if each cyclic subspace of the module is weakly sequentially complete.     

Balancing two-sided U-type assembly lines using modified particle swarm optimization algorithm

In this paper, a new two-sided U-type assembly line balancing (TUALB) procedure and a new algorithm based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm to solve the TUALB problem are proposed. The proposed approach minimizes the number of stations for a given cycle time as the primary objective and it minimizes the number of positions as a secondary objective. The proposed approach is illustrated with an example problem. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, the test problems available in the literature are used. The experimental results show that the proposed approach performs well.     

The one‐dimensional Schrödinger operator on bounded time scales

In this paper, we consider the one‐dimensional Schrödinger operator on bounded time scales. We construct a space of boundary values of the minimal operator and describe all maximal dissipative, maximal accretive, self‐adjoint, and other extensions of the dissipative Schrödinger operators in terms of boundary conditions. In particular, using Lidskii's theorem, we prove a theorem on completeness of the system of root vectors of the dissipative Schrödinger operators on bounded time scales. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.