1,721,344 research outputs found
Recent advances in molecular imprinting technology: current status, challenges and highlighted applications
No full textMolecular imprinting technology (MIT) concerns formation of selective sites in a polymer matrix with the memory of a template. Recently, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have aroused extensive attention and been widely applied in many fields, such as solid-phase extraction, chemical sensors and artificial antibodies owing to their desired selectivity, physical robustness, thermal stability, as well as low cost and easy preparation. With the rapid development of MIT as a research hotspot, it faces a number of challenges, involving biological macromolecule imprinting, heterogeneous binding sites, template leakage, incompatibility with aqueous media, low binding capacity and slow mass transfer, which restricts its applications in various aspects. This critical review briefly reviews the current status of MIT, particular emphasis on significant progresses of novel imprinting methods, some challenges and effective strategies for MIT, and highlighted applications of MIPs. Finally, some significant attempts in further developing MIT are also proposed (236 references).Molecular imprinting technology (MIT) concerns formation of selective sites in a polymer matrix with the memory of a template. Recently, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have aroused extensive attention and been widely applied in many fields, such as solid-phase extraction, chemical sensors and artificial antibodies owing to their desired selectivity, physical robustness, thermal stability, as well as low cost and easy preparation. With the rapid development of MIT as a research hotspot, it faces a number of challenges, involving biological macromolecule imprinting, heterogeneous binding sites, template leakage, incompatibility with aqueous media, low binding capacity and slow mass transfer, which restricts its applications in various aspects. This critical review briefly reviews the current status of MIT, particular emphasis on significant progresses of novel imprinting methods, some challenges and effective strategies for MIT, and highlighted applications of MIPs. Finally, some significant attempts in further developing MIT are also proposed (236 references)
Nanomaterial-assisted aptamers for optical sensing
No full textAptamers are single-strand DNA or RNA selected in vitro that bind specifically with a broad range of targets from metal ions, organic molecules, to proteins, cells and microorganisms. As an emerging class of recognition elements, aptamers offer remarkable convenience in the design and modification of their structures, which has motivated them to generate a great variety of aptamer sensors (aptasensors) that exhibit high sensitivity as well as specificity. On the other hand, the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology has generated nanomaterials with novel properties compared with their counterparts in macroscale. By integrating their strengths of both fields, recently, versatile aptamers coupling with novel nanomaterials for designing nanomaterial-assisted aptasensors (NAAs) make the combinations universal strategies for sensitive optical sensing. NAAs have been considered as an excellent sensing platform and found wide applications in analytical community. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the development of various optical NAAs, employing various detection techniques including colorimetry, fluorometry, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Aptamers are single-strand DNA or RNA selected in vitro that bind specifically with a broad range of targets from metal ions, organic molecules, to proteins, cells and microorganisms. As an emerging class of recognition elements, aptamers offer remarkable convenience in the design and modification of their structures, which has motivated them to generate a great variety of aptamer sensors (aptasensors) that exhibit high sensitivity as well as specificity. On the other hand, the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology has generated nanomaterials with novel properties compared with their counterparts in macroscale. By integrating their strengths of both fields, recently, versatile aptamers coupling with novel nanomaterials for designing nanomaterial-assisted aptasensors (NAAs) make the combinations universal strategies for sensitive optical sensing. NAAs have been considered as an excellent sensing platform and found wide applications in analytical community. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the development of various optical NAAs, employing various detection techniques including colorimetry, fluorometry, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
An optical sensor for monitoring of dissolved oxygen based on phase detection
No full textDissolved oxygen (DO) monitoring is of vital importance to water treatment, sewage treatment, aquaculture and biological research. The traditional method for DO detection is an electrochemical method called the Clark electrode. This electrochemical method has been widely used as it is simple and inexpensive; however, the critical drawback for this kind of sensor is that it is easily affected by pH variations, and by the concentration of H2S and SO2. Optical sensing for DO detection is a newly developed technology, which can avoid most of the drawbacks of the electrochemical sensors. A DO sensor using fluorescence detection is described in this paper. The oxygen concentration measurement principle is based on optical phase detection, which is more precise than the traditional intensity detection method. Emission is carried out by a low-cost, specially designed light emitting diode (LED) source. To avoid an unwanted phase shift, a reference LED is used to improve the degree of accuracy. The sensing material for fluorescence is a ruthenium complex. A discrete Fourier transform (DFT) algorithm was used for the phase calculation. The system was designed into a stainless steel probe, and dissolved oxygen concentration measurement results for various applications are presented in this paper.Dissolved oxygen (DO) monitoring is of vital importance to water treatment, sewage treatment, aquaculture and biological research. The traditional method for DO detection is an electrochemical method called the Clark electrode. This electrochemical method has been widely used as it is simple and inexpensive; however, the critical drawback for this kind of sensor is that it is easily affected by pH variations, and by the concentration of H2S and SO2. Optical sensing for DO detection is a newly developed technology, which can avoid most of the drawbacks of the electrochemical sensors. A DO sensor using fluorescence detection is described in this paper. The oxygen concentration measurement principle is based on optical phase detection, which is more precise than the traditional intensity detection method. Emission is carried out by a low-cost, specially designed light emitting diode (LED) source. To avoid an unwanted phase shift, a reference LED is used to improve the degree of accuracy. The sensing material for fluorescence is a ruthenium complex. A discrete Fourier transform (DFT) algorithm was used for the phase calculation. The system was designed into a stainless steel probe, and dissolved oxygen concentration measurement results for various applications are presented in this paper
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Structure elucidation of nanoparticle-bound organic molecules by H-1 NMR
No full textThe chemical nature of a nanoparticle surface determines its bioactivity and toxicity in vivo. Rational surface-chemistry modifications play a key role in modulating the toxicity of nanoparticles and applying nanotechnology to life sciences and medicine. However, there is a bottleneck in characterizing the organic molecules attached to the nanoparticle surface after such modifications
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Highly Sensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Sensing of Heparin Based on Antiaggregation of Functionalized Silver Nanoparticles
Full text linkWe report a simple and sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform for the detection of heparin, based on antiaggregation of 4-mercaptopyridine (4-MPY) functionalized silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). Here, protamine was employed as a medium for inducing the aggregation of negatively charged 4-MPY functionalized Ag NPs through surface electrostatic interaction, which resulted in significantly enhanced Raman signal of the Raman reporter. However, in the presence of heparin, the interaction between heparin and protamine decreased the concentration of free protamine, which dissipated the aggregated 4-MPY functionalized Ag NPs and thus decreased Raman enhancement effect. The degree of aggregation and Raman enhancement effect was proportional to the concentration of added heparin. Under optimized assay conditions, good linear relationship was obtained over the range of 0.5-150 ng/mL (R-2 = 0.998) with a minimum detectable concentration of 0.5 ng/mL in standard aqueous solution. Furthermore, the developed method was also successfully applied for detecting heparin in fetal bovine serum samples with a linear range of 1-400 ng/mL.We report a simple and sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform for the detection of heparin, based on antiaggregation of 4-mercaptopyridine (4-MPY) functionalized silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). Here, protamine was employed as a medium for inducing the aggregation of negatively charged 4-MPY functionalized Ag NPs through surface electrostatic interaction, which resulted in significantly enhanced Raman signal of the Raman reporter. However, in the presence of heparin, the interaction between heparin and protamine decreased the concentration of free protamine, which dissipated the aggregated 4-MPY functionalized Ag NPs and thus decreased Raman enhancement effect. The degree of aggregation and Raman enhancement effect was proportional to the concentration of added heparin. Under optimized assay conditions, good linear relationship was obtained over the range of 0.5-150 ng/mL (R-2 = 0.998) with a minimum detectable concentration of 0.5 ng/mL in standard aqueous solution. Furthermore, the developed method was also successfully applied for detecting heparin in fetal bovine serum samples with a linear range of 1-400 ng/mL
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