Amperometric tyrosinase biosensor based on a sol-gel-derived titanium oxide-copolymer composite matrix for detection of phenolic compounds

A new type of tyrosinase biosensor was developed for the detection of phenolic compounds, based on the immobilization of tyrosinase in a sol-gel-derived composite matrix that is composed of titanium oxide sol and a grafting copolymer of poly(vinyl alcohol) with 4-vinylpyridine. Tyrosinase entrapped in the composite matrix can retain its activity to a large extent owing to the good biocompatibility of the matrix. The parameters of the fabrication process and the variables of the experimental conditions for the enzyme electrode were optimized. The resulting sensor exhibited a fast response (20 s), high sensitivity (145.5 muA mmol(-1) 1) and good storage stability. A detection limit of 0.5 muM catechol was obtained at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3.

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CROSS-LINKED 2ND-ORDER NONLINEAR-OPTICAL POLYMER

The present paper reports the synthesis of glycidyl monoether of 4-[(p-nitrophenyl) azo] phenol (GMNA) and crosslinking reaction of GMNA with hexamethylene diisocyanate biuret (HDIB). The Tg of crosslinked polymer was investigated by DSC. The orientation and stability of the poled and crosslinked polymer film were studied by UV-Vis spectra and Maker fringe method.

Particle-attached and free-living bacterial communities in a contrasting marine environment: Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong

Diversity of particle-attached and free-living marine bacteria in Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong, and its adjacent coastal and estuarial environments was investigated using DNA fingerprinting and clone library analysis. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of 16S rRNA genes showed that bacterial communities in three stations of Victoria Harbor were similar, but differed from those in adjacent coastal and estuarine stations. Particle-attached and free-living bacterial community composition differed in the Victoria Harbor area. DNA sequencing of 28 bands from DGGE gel showed Alphaproteobacteria was the most abundant group, followed by the Bacteroidetes, and other Proteobacteria. Bacterial species richness (number of DGGE bands) differed among stations and populations (particle-attached and free-living; bottom and surface). BIOENV analysis indicated that the concentrations of suspended solids were the major contributing parameter for the spatial variation of total bacterial community structure. Samples from representative stations were selected for clone library (548 clones) construction and their phylogenetic distributions were similar to those of sequences from DGGE. Approximately 80% of clones were affiliated to Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Cyanobacteria. The possible influences of dynamic pollution and hydrological conditions in the Victoria Harbor area on the particle-attached and free-living bacterial community structures were discussed.

渤黄海沉积物中的多环芳烃和多氯联苯及其与生态环境的耦合解析

海洋沉积环境中多氯联苯（PCBs）和多环芳烃（PAHs）的研究对于揭示其污染历史、来源途径、迁移转化以及评价其对环境的潜在生态风险都有重要的科学意义和应用价值，本研究选择我国典型近海中比较开阔的南黄海和受人为影响严重的渤海湾沉积物中的PAHs和PCBs作为主要研究对象，结合对生态环境对应关系的剖析，系统研究了沉积物中PAHs和PCBs的地球化学分布特征、影响控制因素、演变趋势、潜在生态风险等，获得了以下系统的认识： 1.南黄海表层沉积物中多环芳烃和多氯联苯的分布与沉积类型及模式相一致，受控于“沉积类型-动力过程-来源途径”。PCBs含量（范围：518～5848 pg/g，平均值：1715 pg/g）低于受人为影响严重的长江口、珠江口和渤海，分布具有中部海区＞东部海区＞西部海区的特征；PCBs随着沉积物粒径的减小和粘土含量的增加而增加，且与总有机碳（r=0.61，p＜0.01）含量呈显著线性正相关，表明PCBs在沉积物中的分布受控于被水动力过程原动力控制的沉积类型与沉积模式。 2. 1914～2004年间，南黄海沉积物中PAHs和PCBs的变化比较显著，在时间序列上经历了三个明显的不同阶段。近90年来，PAHs和PCBs在柱状样中垂直分布随深度的增加而降低，即近年南黄海沉积物中PAHs和PCBs的残留水平比上世纪初明显增加。其中1914～1932年间，PAHs和PCBs保持在较低的水平；1932～1962年间，PAHs和PCBs的含量发生急剧的变化，在1932～1944和1956～1962年两个时间段，PAHs和PCBs的含量达到峰值；自1962年至今，PAHs和PCBs呈稍有增加趋势。PAHs的组成和特征组分比值分析显示，1920～1944年间PAHs主要来自石油产品泄漏，1944～1980年间，主要来自草/木材/煤燃烧，1980年至2004年则显示出石油和燃烧产物混合来源的特征。 3.渤海湾沉积物中的PAHs、PCBs、DDTs和HCHs的分布模式不同，反映了这四种污染物的地球化学行为存在着明显的差异性。PAHs、PCBs、DDTs和HCHs的含量范围为149.0～393.4 ng/g，360.8～1728.3 pg/g，462.2～2007.3 pg/g和4.31～33.8 ng/g。马颊河口、海河口和黄河口附近的海区的沉积物中PAHs和PCBs的含量显著高于渤海湾内其它站位，DDTs在湾外沉积物中的含量大于湾内，在海河口附近站位测得HCHs含量的最高值，在其它站位其浓度变化不大。PAHs特征成分的比值显示渤海湾沉积物中PAHs主要来源于草/木材/煤燃烧的产物经过大气的输运过程进入水体；DDTs和HCHs的组成显示，在DDTs和HCHs被禁用后仍有新的输入源。 4.南黄海沉积物POPs总体水平不高，其环境污染危害和潜在生态风险不大，从沉积物POPs的角度来说南黄海的环境质量较好。潜在生态危害指数评价表明，渤海湾沉积物中芴可能会产生潜在的生态风险，DDTs和HCHs的含量低于一类沉积物质量标准值，总体而言，其沉积物质量良好，潜在生态风险较低。 论文的创新性点在于：1）首次研究了近百年南黄海沉积物中多环芳烃和多氯联苯的演变趋势，判断了其来源并对近百年二者的潜在生态风险进行评价。2）系统剖析了南黄海及渤海湾的生态环境与PAHs和PCBs的耦合关系，对阐明POPs的毒理效应有重要的科学意义。3）系统解析了渤海湾沉积物中PAHs，DDTs和HCHs的污染现状，来源和迁移途径，可为科学开发和利用渤海海域提供重要的理论依据。

基于软粘土微观特性的非线性固结理论研究

The land subsidence of soft clay is including natural and man-made content, which leads to the research on the mechanism of land subsidence constituted by two different aspects, which are studied by geological engineers and geologist. The main major research is focused on the effects of engineering. The land subsidence engineering of soil mechanics is caused by the consolidation and compression of soft clay, the content of which is including the micro-structural characteristics, the stress - strain constitutive relation, porous law, and consolidation theory. In this paper, it is discussed the nonlinear consolidation and compression theory of soft clay. The main studies and conclusions of this thesis are as follows. （1）The micro-structure and its stability are closely related to the engineering characters of soft clay. The stiffness and force connection status of micro-structure plays a controlling influence to its stability. （2）Under saturated state, clay particles remain in a non-full contact or non-contact status, so it is needed to modify the Terzaghi effective stress principle. With the discharge of pore water, the effective stress is increasing, and part of weakly bound-water begins flow, while the porosity and permeability are became lower. （3）It exist non-linear flow in soft clay, which is caused by the shear flow situation of weakly bounded-water. In this case, permeability coefficient is a nonlinear function of hydraulic gradient. （4）In the initial consolidation stage of soft clay in the initial stage, the porous flow is mainly caused by the excretion of free water. With the decrease of free water content, combined bonded-water start to supply free water. At the later stage of consolidation, the flow of fluid is mainly consisted by weakly bounded-water. The exchange between bonded-water and free water is played a role, which slows down the consolidation process.

Incorporação das propriedades rotâmeros e ocupância em métodos de análise estrutural de proteínas.

Conformação das cadeias laterais (rotâmeros); Dupla ocupância; Java Protein Dossier.

Tracking a Large Number of Objects from Multiple Views

We propose a multi-object multi-camera framework for tracking large numbers of tightly-spaced objects that rapidly move in three dimensions. We formulate the problem of finding correspondences across multiple views as a multidimensional assignment problem and use a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure to solve this NP-hard problem efficiently. To account for occlusions, we relax the one-to-one constraint that one measurement corresponds to one object and iteratively solve the relaxed assignment problem. After correspondences are established, object trajectories are estimated by stereoscopic reconstruction using an epipolar-neighborhood search. We embedded our method into a tracker-to-tracker multi-view fusion system that not only obtains the three-dimensional trajectories of closely-moving objects but also accurately settles track uncertainties that could not be resolved from single views due to occlusion. We conducted experiments to validate our greedy assignment procedure and our technique to recover from occlusions. We successfully track hundreds of flying bats and provide an analysis of their group behavior based on 150 reconstructed 3D trajectories.

The reproductive biology of the soft shell clam Mya arenaria in Ireland and the possible impacts of climate variability

Little is known about the biology of the softshell clam in Europe, despite it being identified as a potential species to culture for food in the future. Monthly samples of the softshell clam, Mya arenaria, were collected intertidally from Co. Wexford, Ireland, over a period of sixteen months. The mean weight of sampled individuals was 7 4 ± 4 . 9  g and mean length was 8 . 2 ± 0 . 2  cm. Histological examination revealed a female-to-male ratio of 1 : 1.15. In 2010, M. arenaria at this site matured over the summer months, with both sexes either ripe or spawning by August. A single spawning event was recorded in 2010, completed by November. Two unusually cold winters, followed by a warmer-than-average spring, appear to have affected M. arenaria gametogenesis in this area, potentially affecting the time of spawning, fertilisation success, and recruitment of this species. No hermaphrodites were observed in the samples collected, nor were any pathogens observed. Timing of development and spawning is compared with the coasts of eastern North America and with other European coasts.

Indication of electron neutrino appearance from an accelerator-produced off-axis muon neutrino beam.

The T2K experiment observes indications of ν(μ) → ν(e) appearance in data accumulated with 1.43×10(20) protons on target. Six events pass all selection criteria at the far detector. In a three-flavor neutrino oscillation scenario with |Δm(23)(2)| = 2.4×10(-3)  eV(2), sin(2)2θ(23) = 1 and sin(2)2θ(13) = 0, the expected number of such events is 1.5±0.3(syst). Under this hypothesis, the probability to observe six or more candidate events is 7×10(-3), equivalent to 2.5σ significance. At 90% C.L., the data are consistent with 0.03(0.04) < sin(2)2θ(13) < 0.28(0.34) for δ(CP) = 0 and a normal (inverted) hierarchy.

Catalyse et pot catalytique

Dans la lignée des précédents fascicules de chimie, ce dossier est consacré à la catalyse :qu'est-ce que la catalyse ?Exemples de réactions catalysées, le pot catalytique, quel carburant choisir ?Finie la pollution automobile ?La pile à combustible.

North Atlantic and North Sea climate change: curl up, shut down, NAO and ocean colour

The strength of the North Atlantic Current (NAC) (based on sea-surface elevation sloped derived from altimeter data) is correlated with westerly winds (based on North Atlantic Oscillation [NAO] Index data over a nine year period [1992-2002] with 108 monthly values). The data time window includes the major change in climate forcing over the last 100 years (1995 to 1996). It is shown that the NAO Index can be used for early earning of system failure for the NAC. The correlation response or early warning time scale for western Europe and south England is six months. The decay scale for the NAC and Subtropical Gyre circulation is estimated as three years. Longer period altimeter elevation/circulation changes are discussed. The sea-surface temperature (SST) response of the North Sea to negative and positive NAO conditions is examined. The overall temperature response for the central North Sea to NAO index forcing, reflecting wind induced inflow, shelf circulation and local climate forcing, is similar to 5 months. In years with strong North Atlantic winter wind induced inflow, under marked NAO positive conditions, mean temperatures ( similar to 10.5 degree C) are about 1 degree C warmer than under negative conditions. In 1996 under extreme negative winter NAO conditions, the North Sea circulation stopped, conditions near the Dogger Bank became more continentally influenced and the winter (March) temperature fell to 3.1 degree C whereas in 1995 under NAO positive winter conditions the minimum temperature was 6.4 degree C (February). Seasonal advance of North Atlantic and North Sea temperature is derived in relation to temperature change. Temperature change and monthly NAO Index are discussed with respect to phytoplankton blooms, chlorophyll-a measurements, ocean colour data and the anomalous north-eastern Atlantic 2002 spring/summer bloom SeaWiFS chlorophyll concentrations.

Adaptation to the Environment: Changes in Initial Projects in Ottoman Shephardic Press

The origins of Sephardic press date back to the mid-20th century, when the influence of the Western world spread across the Sephardim communities of the East. The content of these newspapers was diverse: pieces of general interest, but also scientific, literary and humorous works, with various political orientations. These papers were published in different languages, writing styles and alphabets. Those to be analysed here, however, were published in aljamiado Judeo-Spanish: three papers from Smyrna and one from Salonica. Throughout this work we will focus on the different obstacles and difficulties the editors and publishers of this Ottoman Sephardic press had to face to bring their publications to light.