Determination of Silver in Human Hair by Ionic Liquid‐based Cold‐induced Aggregation Microextraction as a Solvent Extraction Method

We report on the determination of silver ion in human hair sample using ionic liquid cold‐induced aggregation combined with spectrophotometric detection. Parameters governing the extraction efficiency (such as concentration of ligand, volume of ionic liquid, pH, temperature, extraction time) were optimized and resulted in enrichment factor of 44.4 for silver ion. The calibration curve was linear with correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.999, in the concentration range from 1.0 to 20 ng mL^?1. The relative standard deviation is 2.3% (for n = 10), the limit of detection is 0.262 ng mL^?1, and relative recoveries in real samples were more than 93%.     

On the Existence of Conformally Coupled Scalar Field Hair for Black Holes in (Anti-)de Sitter Space

The Einstein-conformally coupled scalar field system is studied in the presence of a cosmological constant. We consider a massless or massive scalar field with no additional self-interaction, and spherically symmetric black hole geometries. When the cosmological constant is positive, no scalar hair can exist and the only solution is the Schwarzschild–de Sitter black hole. When the cosmological constant is negative, stable scalar field hair exists provided the mass of the scalar field is not too large.     

Strictly chordal graphs are leaf powers

A fundamental problem in computational biology is the phylogeny reconstruction for a set of specific organisms. One of the graph theoretical approaches is to construct a similarity graph on the set of organisms where adjacency indicates evolutionary closeness, and then to reconstruct a phylogeny by computing a tree interconnecting the organisms such that leaves in the tree are labeled by the organisms and every organism appears as a leaf in the tree. The similarity graph is simple and undirected. For any pair of adjacent organisms in the similarity graph, their distance in the output tree, which is measured by the number of edges on the path connecting them, must be less than some pre-specified bound. This is known as the problem of recognizing leaf powers and computing leaf roots. Graphs that are leaf powers are known to be chordal. It is shown in this paper that all strictly chordal graphs are leaf powers and a linear time algorithm is presented to compute a leaf root for any given strictly chordal graph. An intermediate root-and-power problem, the Steiner root problem, is also examined.     

k-Subdomination in graphs

For a positive integer k, a k-subdominating function of a graph G=(V,E) is a function f : V→{−1,1} such that ∑_uNG[v]f(u)1 for at least k vertices v of G. The k-subdomination number of G, denoted by γ_ks(G), is the minimum of ∑_vVf(v) taken over all k-subdominating functions f of G. In this article, we prove a conjecture for k-subdomination on trees proposed by Cockayne and Mynhardt. We also give a lower bound for γ_ks(G) in terms of the degree sequence of G. This generalizes some known results on the k-subdomination number γ_ks(G), the signed domination number γ_s(G) and the majority domination number γ_maj(G).     

Solid‐state cross‐polarization magic angle spinning 13C and 15N NMR characterization of Sepia melanin,Sepia melanin free acid and Human hair melanin in comparison with several model compounds

This paper presents the high‐resolution ¹³C and ¹⁵N cross‐polarization magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) NMR spectra of three natural melanin solids: Sepia officinalis melanin, Sepia officinalis melanin free acid (MFA) and Human hair melanin. The functional group characterization of Human hair melanin by NMR is the first to date and the ¹³C CP/MAS NMR spectra reported here show improved resolution of chemically inequivalent sites. The observed spectral regions of the solid melanin samples can be assigned to the postulated structural unit of the polymer chain of Sepia MFA derived from solution‐state NMR studies. To assist in the assignment of functional groups in the spectra, the solid‐state CP/MAS NMR spectra are compared with high‐resolution ¹³C and ¹⁵N CP/MAS spectra of four model compounds, L ‐dopa, dopamine, 2‐methoxycarbonyl‐3‐ethoxycarbonyl‐4‐methylpyrrole and ethyl 5,6‐dimethoxyindole‐2‐carboxylate. To aid further in the assignment of protonated and non‐protonated carbon atoms, CP contact time dependence and non‐quaternary carbon suppression (NQS) experiments were performed on the melanin samples. The ¹⁵N CP/MAS spectra of the melanin samples confirm the presence of indole and pyrrole units in the melanin polymer chain. The NMR peaks observed in all of the melanin samples are relatively broad, presumably owing to the presence of free radicals. Electron spin resonance (ESR) data shows that all three melanin samples contain localized free radicals (g = 2.007), with the Sepia melanin containing a 10‐fold higher free radical density than Human hair melanin. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

人发和血清中痕量碲的示波极谱测定

碲（ＩＶ）在０．０３ｍｏｌ／Ｌ草酸－０．０００６％次甲基蓝介质中，在电位－０．６５Ｖ（ｖｓ．ＳＣＥ）处，有一尖锐灵敏的导数极谐波，峰电流与浓度在１．０×１０－４～１．５×１０－２μｇ／ｍＬ之间里线性关系，检测限为４．０×１０－５μｇ／ｍＬ．该法应用于人发及血清中痕量碲的测定，结果准确可靠．     

超高效液相色谱-四极杆串联飞行时间质谱法鉴定育发化妆品中4种植物功效成分

建立了固相萃取/超高效液相色谱-四极杆飞行时间质谱(UPLC-QTOF-MS)鉴定育发化妆品中4种植物功效成分(槲皮苷、何首乌苷、芦丁和柚皮苷)的分析方法。样品采用甲醇超声提取,上清液经2%/甲酸水溶液稀释后上PAX阴离子固相萃取柱净化。以甲醇和0.002%甲酸水溶液为流动相,梯度洗脱,在CSH C18色谱柱(2.1 mm×50 mm,1.7μm,Waters)上分离,于UPLC-QTOF-MS负离子模式下进行检测。槲皮苷、何首乌苷和芦丁采用外标法定量测定;5%氨水溶液条件下,柚皮苷因在PAX上的吸附过程中结构转化为柚皮苷查尔酮,只能进行定性鉴定。在优化条件下,槲皮苷、何首乌苷和芦丁在5~200μg·L-1浓度范围内均呈良好线性,相关系数大于0.999;方法定量下限(LOQ,S/N=10)为0.03~0.1 mg·kg-1;在洗发水基质中的加标回收率为80.9%~104.7%,相对标准偏差(n=6)不大19.6%。该方法准确、适用性强,已成功应用于育发化妆品中槲皮苷、何首乌苷和芦丁的定性定量检测以及柚皮苷的定性鉴定。     

Discrete approximations to real-valued leaf sequencing problems in radiation therapy

For a given m×n nonnegative real matrix A, a segmentation with 1-norm relative error e is a set of pairs (α,S)={(α₁,S₁),(α₂,S₂),…,(α_k,S_k)}, where each α_i is a positive number and S_i is an m×n binary matrix, and , where |A|₁ is the 1-norm of a vector which consists of all the entries of the matrix A. In certain radiation therapy applications, given A and positive scalars γ,δ, we consider the optimization problem of finding a segmentation (α,S) that minimizes subject to certain constraints on S_i. This problem poses a major challenge in preparing a clinically acceptable treatment plan for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) and is known to be NP-hard. Known discrete IMRT algorithms use alternative objectives for this problem and an L-level entrywise approximation (i.e. each entry in A is approximated by the closest entry in a set of L equally-spaced integers), and produce a segmentation that satisfies . In this paper we present two algorithms that focus on the original non-discretized intensity matrix and consider measures of delivery quality and complexity (∑α_i+γk) as well as approximation error e. The first algorithm uses a set partitioning approach to approximate A by a matrix that leads to segmentations with smaller k for a given e. The second algorithm uses a constrained least square approach to post-process a segmentation of to replace with real-valued α_i in order to reduce k and e.