Influence of Endogenous Factors of Food Matrices on Avidin–Biotin Immunoassays for the Detection of Bacitracin and Colistin in Food

(Strept)avidin–biotin technology is frequently used in immunoassay systems to improve their analytical properties. It is known from clinical practice that many (strept)avidin–biotin-based tests provide false results when analyzing patient samples with a high content of endogenous biotin. No specific investigation has been carried out regarding possible interferences from avidin (AVI) and biotin (B7) contained in food matrices in (strept)avidin–biotin-based immunoanalytical systems for food safety. Two kinds of competitive ELISAs for bacitracin (BT) and colistin (COL) determination in food matrices were developed based on conventional hapten–protein coating conjugates and biotinylated BT and COL bound to immobilized streptavidin (SAV). Coating SAV–B7–BT and SAV–B7–COL complexes-based ELISAs provided 2- and 15-times better sensitivity in BT and COL determination, corresponding to 0.6 and 0.3 ng/mL, respectively. Simultaneously with the determination of the main analytes, these kinds of tests were used as competitive assays for the assessment of AVI or B7 content up to 10 and 1 ng/mL, respectively, in food matrices (egg, infant milk formulas enriched with B7, chicken and beef liver). Matrix-free experiments with AVI/B7-enriched solutions showed distortion of the standard curves, indicating that these ingredients interfere with the adequate quantification of analytes. Summarizing the experience of the present study, it is recommended to avoid immunoassays based on avidin–biotin interactions when analyzing biosamples containing these endogenous factors or enriched with B7.

Determination of Selected Beneficial Substances in Peach Fruits

Peaches (Prunus persica L.) are a popular and sought-after dessert fruit. This is mainly due to their flavour, aroma, attractive appearance, and high content of substances that play an important role in human nutrition. The present study was carried out to determine some important analytical properties (sugars/sucrose, glucose, fructose and sorbitol), total acid, total phenolics, flavonoids, antioxidant capacity, carotenoids and anthocyanins of 34 selected peach varieties. The analyses are also complemented by colorimetric measurements of peach skin colour using CIELAB and other chromatic parameters. The results show, for example, that all peach varieties are good sources of phenolic compounds (9.43–577 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE).100 g−1), flavonoids (1.12–95.1 mg catechin equivalent (CAE).100 g−1), and antioxidant capacity (136–462 mg Trolox equivalent (TE).100 g−1).

Complex band structure with non-orthogonal basis set: analytical properties and implementation in the SIESTA code

The complex band structure, although not directly observable, determines many properties of a material where the periodicity is broken, such at surfaces, interfaces and defects. Furthermore, its knowledge helps in the interpretation of electronic transport calculations and in the study of topological materials. Here we extend the transfer matrix method, often used to compute the complex bands, to electronic structures constructed using an atomic non-orthogonal basis set. We demonstrate that when the overlap matrix is not the identity, the non-orthogonal case, spurious features appear in the analytic continuation of the band structure to the complex plane. The properties of these are studied both numerically and analytically and discussed in the context of existing literature. Finally, a numerical implementation to extract the complex band structure from periodic calculations carried out with the density functional theory code SIESTA is presented. This is constructed as a simple post-processing tool, and it is therefore amenable to high-throughput studies of insulators and semiconductors.

Construction of Generalized k-Bessel–Maitland Function with Its Certain Properties

The main motive of this study is to present a new class of a generalized k -Bessel–Maitland function by utilizing the k -gamma function and Pochhammer k -symbol. By this approach, we deduce a few analytical properties as usual differentiations and integral transforms (likewise, Laplace transform, Whittaker transform, beta transform, and so forth) for our presented k -Bessel–Maitland function. Also, the k -fractional integration and k -fractional differentiation of abovementioned k -Bessel–Maitland functions are also pointed out systematically.

Advanced Optical Sensing of Phenolic Compounds for Environmental Applications

Phenolic compounds are particularly dangerous due to their ability to remain in the environment for a long period of time and their toxic effects. They enter in the environment in different ways, such as waste from paper manufacturing, agriculture (pesticides, insecticides, herbicides), pharmaceuticals, the petrochemical industry, and coal processing. Conventional methods for phenolic compounds detection present some disadvantages, such as cumbersome sample preparation, complex and time-consuming procedures, and need of expensive equipment. Therefore, there is a very large interest in developing sensors and new sensing schemes for fast and easy-to-use methods for detecting and monitoring the phenolic compound concentration in the environment, with special attention to water. Good analytical properties, reliability, and adaptability are required for the developed sensors. The present paper aims at revising the most generally used optical methods for designing and fabricating biosensors and sensors for phenolic compounds. Some selected examples of the most interesting applications of these techniques are also proposed.

Investment Decisions with Two-Factor Uncertainty

This paper considers investment problems in real options with non-homogeneous two-factor uncertainty. We derive some analytical properties of the resulting optimal stopping problem and present a finite difference algorithm to approximate the firm’s value function and optimal exercise boundary. An important message in our paper is that the frequently applied quasi-analytical approach underestimates the impact of uncertainty. This is caused by the fact that the quasi-analytical solution does not satisfy the partial differential equation that governs the value function. As a result, the quasi-analytical approach may wrongly advise to invest in a substantial part of the state space.

Mellin amplitudes for 1d CFT

We define a Mellin amplitude for CFT1 four-point functions. Its analytical properties are inferred from physical requirements on the correlator. We discuss the analytic continuation that is necessary for a fully nonperturbative definition of the Mellin transform. The resulting bounded, meromorphic function of a single complex variable is used to derive an infinite set of nonperturbative sum rules for CFT data of exchanged operators, which we test on known examples. We then consider the perturbative setup produced by quartic interactions with an arbitrary number of derivatives in a bulk AdS2 field theory. With our formalism, we obtain a closed-form expression for the Mellin transform of tree-level contact interactions and for the first correction to the scaling dimension of “two-particle” operators exchanged in the generalized free field theory correlator.

Some New Extensions on Fractional Differential and Integral Properties for Mittag-Leffler Confluent Hypergeometric Function

This article uses fractional calculus to create novel links between the well-known Mittag-Leffler functions of one, two, three, and four parameters. Hence, this paper studies several new analytical properties using fractional integration and differentiation for the Mittag-Leffler function formulated by confluent hypergeometric functions. We construct a four-parameter integral expression in terms of one-parameter. The paper explains the significance and applications of each of the four Mittag-Leffler functions, with the goal of using our findings to make analyzing specific kinds of experimental results considerably simpler.

Analytical properties of type 2 degenerate poly-Bernoulli polynomials associated with their applications

Recently, Kim et al. (Adv. Differ. Equ. 2020:168, 2020) considered the poly-Bernoulli numbers and polynomials resulting from the moderated version of degenerate polyexponential functions. In this paper, we investigate the degenerate type 2 poly-Bernoulli numbers and polynomials which are derived from the moderated version of degenerate polyexponential functions. Our degenerate type 2 degenerate poly-Bernoulli numbers and polynomials are different from those of Kim et al. (Adv. Differ. Equ. 2020:168, 2020) and Kim and Kim (Russ. J. Math. Phys. 26(1):40–49, 2019). Utilizing the properties of moderated degenerate poly-exponential function, we explore some properties of our type 2 degenerate poly-Bernoulli numbers and polynomials. From our investigation, we derive some explicit expressions for type 2 degenerate poly-Bernoulli numbers and polynomials. In addition, we also scrutinize type 2 degenerate unipoly-Bernoulli polynomials related to an arithmetic function and investigate some identities for those polynomials. In particular, we consider certain new explicit expressions and relations of type 2 degenerate unipoly-Bernoulli polynomials and numbers related to special numbers and polynomials. Further, some related beautiful zeros and graphical representations are displayed with the help of Mathematica.