Ultrasmall Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles with Europium(III) DO3A as a Bimodal Imaging Probe

A new prototype consisting of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) nanoparticles decorated with europium(III) ions encapsulated in a DO3A organic scaffold was designed as a platform for further development of bimodal contrast agents for MRI and optical imaging. The USPIO nanoparticles act as negative MRI contrast agents, whereas the europium(III) ion is a luminophore that is suitable for use in optical imaging detection. The functionalized USPIO nanoparticles were characterized by TEM, DLS, XRD, FTIR, and TXRF analysis, and a full investigation of the relaxometric and optical properties was conducted. The typical luminescence emission of europium(III) was observed and the main red emission wavelength was found at 614 nm. The relaxometric study of these ultrasmall nanoparticles showed r₂ values of 114.8 mm ^?1_Fes^?1 at 60 MHz, which is nearly double the r₂ relaxivity of Sinerem^®.     

Translation Ovoids of Generalized Quadrangles and Hexagnos

We define the notion of a translation ovoid in the classical generalized quadrangles and hexagons of order q, and we enumerate all known examples; translation spreads are defined dually. A modification of the known ovoids in the generalized hexagon H(q), q=3^2h+1, yields new ovoids of that hexagon. Dualizing and projecting along reguli, we obtain an alternative construction of the Roman ovoids due to Thas and Payne. Also, we construct a new translation spread in H(q) for any 1 mod 3, q odd, with the property that any projection along reguli yields the classical ovoid in the generalized quadrangle Q(4,q). Finally, we prove that for q odd, the new example is the only non-Hermitian translation spread in H(q) with the property that any projection along reguli yields the classical ovoid in Q(4,q).     

Hessian‐based model reduction: large‐scale inversion and prediction

Hessian‐based model reduction was previously proposed as an approach in deriving reduced models for the solution of large‐scale linear inverse problems by targeting accuracy in observation outputs. A control‐theoretic view of Hessian‐based model reduction that hinges on the equality between the Hessian and the transient observability gramian of the underlying linear system is presented. The model reduction strategy is applied to a large‐scale ( degrees of freedom) three‐dimensional contaminant transport problem in an urban environment, an application that requires real‐time computation. In addition to the inversion accuracy, the ability of reduced models of varying dimension to make predictions of the contaminant evolution beyond the time horizon of observations is studied. Results indicate that the reduced models have a factor speedup in computing time for the same level of accuracy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Regularized MANOVA (rMANOVA) in untargeted metabolomics

Many advanced metabolomics experiments currently lead to data where a large number of response variables were measured while one or several factors were changed. Often the number of response variables vastly exceeds the sample size and well-established techniques such as multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) cannot be used to analyze the data.     

Miniaturisation of High-NA Objectives for Optical Recording

High-NA objectives for optical recording have received a lot of attention due to the investigation of the Blu-ray Disc system. More recently to enable optical storage in portable devices, small building height optical drives have been studied requiring miniaturised high-NA objectives. Previously reported miniaturised objectives consist of two elements and are, therefore, less suited for mass production. In this paper the design and manufacturing of a miniaturised single element high-NA objective is reported. Furthermore, with the aid of non-periodic phase structures the tolerances of the objectives can be further expanded.