Evaluation of glycoalkaloids in tubers of genetically modified virus Y-resistant potato plants (var. Désirée) by non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (NACE–ESI–MS)

The glycoalkaloid content of transgenic potatoes was evaluated by an optimised method based on non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis coupled on-line with electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (NACE-ESI-MS). The potato material consisted of tubers from a conventional cv. Désirée and from three lines of modified plants resistant, intermediate and susceptible to infection by potato virus Y (PVY). The main glycoalkaloids were confirmed to be alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine with parent ion masses m/z 852 and 868, respectively. In addition, an unknown minor peak at m/z 850.6 was found both in conventional (control) and susceptible line potato tubers. Such a compound exhibited an MS(2) spectrum with fragments ions at 704 and 396 m/z derived by loss of two ions, i.e. m/z 146 and 307, most likely corresponding to a rhamnose unit and a [glucose-(rhamnose)(2)] moiety, respectively. Up to 30-80-fold higher concentrations of total glycoalkaloids were found in the peel compared to flesh samples of all tubers examined. TGA content was nearly doubled in peel samples of resistant compared to control lines, and these levels were lower than the limit recommended for food safety, i.e. 20-60 mg of TGA per 100 g fresh weight. Moreover, it was established that tubers produced by virus-resistant clones are substantially equivalent in glycoalkaloid contents to those produced by conventional potato varieties.     

Quantum communication exploiting above threshold OPO intensity correlations and polarization encoding

We present a continuous variable quantum communication protocol based on bright continuous-wave twin-beams generated by a type-II OPO. Intensity correlation between the beams is used in conjunction with a binary randomization of polarization to guarantee security and reveal eavesdropping actions. The scheme presented is asymmetric. Bob (the receiver) retains one of the beams and sends the other one to Alice after a random rotation of its polarization. The cryptographic key elements are encoded through amplitude modulation by Alice, who sends back her beam to Bob after a second rotation of the polarization. Eventually, the beams are detected by Bob after a further random polarization rotation. The security of the system and the possibility of revealing the eavesdropping action in the case of an individual attack are demonstrated by evaluating the bit error rates.     

Chaos among self-maps of the Cantor space

Glasner and Weiss have shown that a generic homeomorphism of the Cantor space has zero topological entropy. Hochman has shown that a generic transitive homeomorphism of the Cantor space has the property that it is topologically conjugate to the universal odometer and hence far from being chaotic in any sense. We show that a generic self-map of the Cantor space has zero topological entropy. Moreover, we show that a generic self-map of the Cantor space has no periodic points and hence is not Devaney chaotic nor Devaney chaotic on any subsystem. However, we exhibit a dense subset of the space of all self-maps of the Cantor space each element of which has infinite topological entropy and is Devaney chaotic on some subsystem.     

On the Small Mass Limit of Quantum Brownian Motion with Inhomogeneous Damping and Diffusion

We study the small mass limit (or: the Smoluchowski–Kramers limit) of a class of quantum Brownian motions with inhomogeneous damping and diffusion. For Ohmic bath spectral density with a Lorentz–Drude cutoff, we derive the Heisenberg–Langevin equations for the particle’s observables using a quantum stochastic calculus approach. We set the mass of the particle to equal \(m = m_{0} \epsilon \), the reduced Planck constant to equal \(\hbar = \epsilon \) and the cutoff frequency to equal \(\varLambda = E_{\varLambda }/\epsilon \), where \(m_0\) and \(E_{\varLambda }\) are positive constants, so that the particle’s de Broglie wavelength and the largest energy scale of the bath are fixed as \(\epsilon \rightarrow 0\). We study the limit as \(\epsilon \rightarrow 0\) of the rescaled model and derive a limiting equation for the (slow) particle’s position variable. We find that the limiting equation contains several drift correction terms, the quantum noise-induced drifts, including terms of purely quantum nature, with no classical counterparts.     

Nanocomposites from Untreated Clay : A Myth ?

Polyamide 6 and pristine montmorillonite have been melt blended in an extruder and water was injected into the melt in order to produce nanocomposites. The pristine clay was found to be exfoliated and dispersed homogenously in the nanocomposites. A mechanism explaining the formation of such nanocomposites is presented.     

Light Electrospun Polyvinylpyrrolidone Blanket for Low Frequencies Sound Absorption

Light polymeric soundproofing materials(density = 63 kg/m~3) of interest for the transportation industry were fabricated through electrospinning. Blankets of electrospun polyvinylpyrrolidone(average fiber diameter =(1.6 ± 0.5) or(2.8 ± 0.5) μm) were obtained by stacking disks of electrospun mats. The sound absorption coefficients were measured using the impedance tube instrument based on ASTM E1050 and ISO 10534-2. For a given set of disks(from a minimum of 6) the sound absorption coefficient changed with the frequency(in the range 200–1600 Hz) following a bell shape curve with a maximum(where the coefficient is greater than 0.9) that shifts to lower frequencies at higher piled disks number and greater fiber diameter. This work showed that electrospinning produced sound absorbers with reduced thickness(2–3 cm) and excellent sound-absorption properties in the low and medium frequency range.     

A note on the sum of uniform random variables

An inductive procedure is used to obtain distributions and probability densities for the sum S_n of independent, non-equally uniform random variables. Some known results are then shown to follow immediately as special cases. Under the assumption of equally uniform random variables some new formulas are obtained for probabilities and means related to S_n. Finally, some new recursive formulas involving distributions are derived.     

Chaotic behaviour of the map x ↦ ω(x, f)

Let K(2^?) be the class of compact subsets of the Cantor space 2^?, furnished with the Hausdorff metric. Let f ∈ C(2^?). We study the map ω _f : 2 ^? → K(2^?) defined as ω _f (x) = ω(x, f), the ω-limit set of x under f. Unlike the case of n-dimensional manifolds, n ≥ 1, we show that ω _f is continuous for the generic self-map f of the Cantor space, even though the set of functions for which ω _f is everywhere discontinuous on a subsystem is dense in C(2^?). The relationships between the continuity of ω _f and some forms of chaos are investigated.