Portable single-sided NMR measurements at variable temperatures: Implementation of a thermo-controlled device and application to the heating of bread dough

A temperature control unit was implemented to vary the temperature of samples studied on a commercial Mobile Universal Surface Explorer nuclear magnetic resonance (MOUSE-NMR) apparatus. The device was miniaturized to fit the maximum MOUSE sampling depth (25 mm). It was constituted by a sample holder sandwiched between two heat exchangers placed below and above the sample. Air was chosen as the fluid to control the temperature at the bottom of the sample, at the interface between the NMR probe and the sample holder, in order to gain space. The upper surface of the sample was regulated by the circulation of water inside a second heat exchanger placed above the sample holder. The feasibility of using such a device was demonstrated first on pure water and then on several samples of bread dough with different water contents. For this, T1 relaxation times were measured at various temperatures and depths and were then compared with those acquired with a conventional compact closed-magnet spectrometer. Discussion of results was based on biochemical transformations in bread dough (starch gelatinization and gluten heat denaturation). It was demonstrated that, within a certain water level range, and because of the low magnetic field strength of the MOUSE, a linear relationship could be established between T1 relaxation times and the local temperature in the dough sample.     

Liouville theorem for weighted p-Lichnerowicz equation on smooth metric measure space

In this paper, let $(M^n,g,d\mu )$ be n-dimensional noncompact metric measure space which satisfies Poincaré inequality with some Ricci curvature condition. We obtain a Liouville theorem for positive weak solutions to weighted p-Lichnerowicz equation

${△}_{p,f}v+c{v}^{\sigma }=0,$

where $c\le 0,m>n\ge 1,1<p<\frac{m?1+\sqrt{(m?1)(m+3)}}{2},\sigma \le p?1$ are real constants.     

A probabilistic approach to spectral analysis of growth-fragmentation equations

The growth-fragmentation equation describes a system of growing and dividing particles, and arises in models of cell division, protein polymerisation and even telecommunications protocols. Several important questions about the equation concern the asymptotic behaviour of solutions at large times: at what rate do they converge to zero or infinity, and what does the asymptotic profile of the solutions look like? Does the rescaled solution converge to its asymptotic profile at an exponential speed? These questions have traditionally been studied using analytic techniques such as entropy methods or splitting of operators. In this work, we present a probabilistic approach: we use a Feynman–Kac formula to relate the solution of the growth-fragmentation equation to the semigroup of a Markov process, and characterise the rate of decay or growth in terms of this process. We then identify the Malthus exponent and the asymptotic profile in terms of a related Markov process, and give a spectral interpretation in terms of the growth-fragmentation operator and its dual.     

Identification of metabolic markers in patients with type 2 Diabetes by Ultrafast gas chromatography coupled to electronic nose. A pilot study

Metabolomics is a potential tool for the discovery of new biomarkers in the early diagnosis of diseases. An ultra-fast gas chromatography system equipped to an electronic nose detector (FGC eNose) was used to identify the metabolomic profile of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in type 2 diabetes (T2D) urine from Mexican population. A cross-sectional, comparative, and clinical study with translational approach was performed. We recruited twenty T2D patients and twenty-one healthy subjects. Urine samples were taken and analyzed by FGC eNose. Eighty-eight compounds were identified through Kovats's indexes. A natural variation of 30% between the metabolites, expressed by study groups, was observed in Principal Component 1 and 2 with a significant difference (p < 0.001). The model, performed through a Canonical Analysis of Principal coordinated (CAP), allowed a correct classification of 84.6% between healthy and T2D patients, with a 15.4% error. The metabolites 2-propenal, 2-propanol, butane- 2,3-dione and 2-methylpropanal, were increased in patients with T2D, and they were strongly correlated with discrimination between clinically healthy people and T2D patients. This study identified metabolites in urine through FGC eNose that can be used as biomarkers in the identification of T2D patients. However, more studies are needed for its implementation in clinical practice.     

Perturbative manifolds and the Noether generators of nth-order Poisson equations

A manifold that contains small perturbations will induce a perturbed partial differential equation. The partial differential equation that we select is the Poisson equation – in order to explore the interplay between the geometry of the manifold and the perturbations. Specifically, we show how the problem of symmetry determination, for higher-order perturbations, can be elegantly expressed via geometric conditions.     

Two-dimensional vortex sheets for the nonisentropic Euler equations: Nonlinear stability

We show the short-time existence and nonlinear stability of vortex sheets for the nonisentropic compressible Euler equations in two spatial dimensions, based on the weakly linear stability result of Morando and Trebeschi (2008) [20]. The missing normal derivatives are compensated through the equations of the linearized vorticity and entropy when deriving higher-order energy estimates. The proof of the resolution for this nonlinear problem follows from certain a priori tame estimates on the effective linear problem in the usual Sobolev spaces and a suitable Nash–Moser iteration scheme.     

A dual graph-norm refinement indicator for finite volume approximations of the Euler equations

Summary. We generalise and apply a refinement indicator of the type originally designed by Mackenzie, Süli and Warnecke in [15] and [16] for linear Friedrichs systems to the Euler equations of inviscid, compressible fluid flow. The Euler equations are symmetrized by means of entropy variables and locally linearized about a constant state to obtain a symmetric hyperbolic system to which an a posteriori error analysis of the type introduced in [15] can be applied. We discuss the details of the implementation of the refinement indicator into the DLR--Code which is based on a finite volume method of box type on an unstructured grid and present numerical results. Received May 15, 1995 / Revised version received April 17, 1996     

Chain spaces via Clifford algebras

In this note we show that the chain space belonging to a quadric can be embedded into the chain geometry over a Clifford algebra via a generalized stereographic projection.