First Precision Spectroscopy of Pionic Atoms at RI Beam Factory

We conducted an inclusive missing-mass spectroscopy of ¹²²Sn (d, ³He) reaction near the π¯ emission threshold at an incident energy of T _d = 250 MeV/nucleon. The experiment sets its goals to the research and development of the high precision spectroscopy of pionic atoms at the RI beam factory (RIBF) of RIKEN, which precedes a new project, pionic atom factory project (piAF), to observe pionic atoms systematically. Here, we report the preliminary results of the pilot experiment.     

Ab Initio Calculations and Raman and SERS Spectral Analyses of Amphetamine Species

Abstract

For the first time, the differences between the spectra of amphetamine and amphetamine-H⁺ and between different conformers are thoroughly studied by ab initio model calculations, and Raman and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) spectra are measured for different species of amphetamine. The spectra of amphetamine and amphetamine-H⁺ samples were obtained and assigned according to a comparison of the experimental spectra and the ab initio MO calculations, performed using the Gaussian 03W program (Gaussian, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA). The analyses were based on complete geometry minimization of the conformational energy of the S-plus-amphetamine molecule and the S-plus-amphetamine-H⁺ ion. The harmonic frequency calculations provide information about the characteristic features of the Raman spectra and the nature of the bonding in the molecule. It is concluded that vibrational bands from salt anions with internal bonds (sulfates, hydrogen phosphates, etc.) need to be taken into account when employing these spectra for identification purposes. These results also show how Raman spectroscopy can assist the forensic community in drug profiling studies. Furthermore, because their spectra are different, discrimination between the free and protonated forms of amphetamine salts can be observed. Here, we provide evidence for this difference and show experimentally how it has been overseen.     

Nonlinearity in Intensity versus Concentration Dependence for the Deep UV Resonance Raman Spectra of Toluene and Heptane

Abstract: The relation between Raman scattering, resonance Raman scattering, and absorption is reviewed to determine to what extent quantitative analysis can be applied in resonance Raman spectroscopy. In addition, it is demonstrated experimentally that normal Raman spectra can be dramatically inhibited by absorption and resonance Raman effects. Raman spectra of toluene and heptane mixtures—with progressively increasing concentrations of heptane—were measured using 229-nm laser excitation. The results show that the characteristic band intensities are not directly proportional to the relative concentrations of the compounds and deviate due to absorption resonance effects. An approximated mathematical model is developed to demonstrate that the intensities of the normal Raman scattering bands are suppressed. An inhibition coefficient K_i is introduced to describe the situation and determine the penetration depth. Most remarkably, it is shown that the intensity of the resonance Raman scattering bands can be constant even when the concentration ratios differ substantially in the sampled mixtures.     

High Pressure-Temperature Processing as an Alternative for Preserving Basil

In this study the effect of sterilisation by high pressure (HP) on the quality of basil was compared to conventional processing techniques. By means of freezing, or blanching followed by drying, microbial reduction of spores was maximal one-log. Pulsed HP-temperature treatment yielded a reduction of the natural occurring flora of more than 3 log CFU/g product. The essential oil content in basil consisted mainly of methylchavicol and linalool. HP sterilisation preserved these compounds in contrast to the equivalent conventional heat sterilisation process, which reduced the linalool and methylchavicol content to respectively 21 and 3% of the original amount. Drying and freezing also resulted in a significant reduction of the essential oil content.     

Heat Flow and Perimeter in \boldsymbol{{\mathbb{R}}^m}

Let Ω be an open set in Euclidean space ? ^m with finite perimeter ${\mathcal{P}}(\Omega),$ and with m-dimensional Lebesgue measure |Ω|. It was shown by M. Preunkert that if T(t) is the heat semigroup on L ²(? ^m ) then $H_{\Omega}(t):=\int_{\Omega}T(t)\textbf{1}_{\Omega}(x)dx=|\Omega|-\pi^{-1/2}{\mathcal{P}}(\Omega)t^{1/2}+o(t^{1/2}), \ t\downarrow 0$ . H _Ω(t) represents the amount of heat in Ω if Ω is at initial temperature 1 and if ? ^m ???Ω is at initial temperature 0. In this paper we will compare the quantitative behaviour of H _Ω(t) with the usual heat content Q _Ω(t) associated to the Dirichlet heat semigroup on Ω. We analyse the heat content for horn-shaped open sets of the form Ω(α, Σ)?=?{(x, x′)?∈?? ^m : x′?∈?(1?+?x)^???α Σ, x?>?0}, where α?>?0, and where Σ is an open set in ? ^m???1 with finite perimeter in ? ^m???1, which is star-shaped with respect to 0. For m?≥?3 we find that there are four regimes with very different behaviour depending on α, and a further two limiting cases where logarithmic corrections appear.     

Chromatographic approaches for determination of low-molecular mass aldehydes in bio-oil

HPLC–UV and GC/MS determination of aldehydes in bio-oil were evaluated. HPLC–UV preceded by derivatization with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine allows separation and detection of bio-oil aldehydes, but the derivatization affected the bio-oil stability reducing their quantitative applicability. GC/MS determination of aldehydes was reached by derivatization with o-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl) hydroxylamine hydrochloride. Two approaches for this reaction were evaluated. The first: “in solution derivatization and head space extraction” and the second: “on fiber derivatization SPME”, the latter through an automatic procedure. Both sample treatments allows the quantification of most important aliphatic aldehydes in bio-oil, being the SPME approach more efficient. The aldehyde concentrations in bio-oil were ～2% formaldehyde, ～0.1% acetaldehyde and ～0.05% propionaldehyde.     

Riding the waves

A little more than 10 years ago Andreas Manz and Harp Minhas launched the Lab on a Chip journal. Their adventurous initiative has developed into a very successful and high-ranked journal, now established as THE reference journal for lab on chip research, and clearly they, and we, all may be very proud of this achievement!     

MxDC and MxLIVE: software for data acquisition,information management and remote access to macromolecular crystallography beamlines

An integrated computer software system for on‐site and remote collection of macromolecular crystallography (MX) data at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) is described. The system consists of an integrated graphical user interface for data collection and beamline control [MX Data Collector (MxDC)] which provides experiment‐focused control of beamline devices, and a laboratory information management system [MX Laboratory Information Virtual Environment (MxLIVE)] for managing sample and experiment information through a web browser. The system allows remote planning and transmission of sample and experiment parameters to the beamline through MxLIVE, on‐site or remote data collection through MxDC guided by information from MxLIVE, and remote monitoring and download of experimental results through MxLIVE. The system is deployed and in use on both MX beamlines at the CLS which constitute the Canadian Macromolecular Crystallography Facility.     

A percolation process on the square lattice where large finite clusters are frozen

In (Aldous, Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 128 (2000), 465–477), Aldous constructed a growth process for the binary tree where clusters freeze as soon as they become infinite. It was pointed out by Benjamini and Schramm that such a process does not exist for the square lattice. This motivated us to investigate the modified process on the square lattice, where clusters freeze as soon as they have diameter larger than or equal to N, the parameter of the model. The non‐existence result, mentioned above, raises the question if the N‐ parameter model shows some ‘anomalous’ behaviour as N →∞. For instance, if one looks at the cluster of a given vertex, does, as N →∞, the probability that it eventually freezes go to 1? Does this probability go to 0? More generally, what can be said about the size of a final cluster? We give a partial answer to some of such questions. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2012     

Superconvergent functional output for time-dependent problems using finite differences on summation-by-parts form

Finite difference operators satisfying the summation-by-parts (SBP) rules can be used to obtain high order accurate, energy stable schemes for time-dependent partial differential equations, when the boundary conditions are imposed weakly by the simultaneous approximation term (SAT).In general, an SBP-SAT discretization is accurate of order p + 1 with an internal accuracy of 2p and a boundary accuracy of p. Despite this, it is shown in this paper that any linear functional computed from the time-dependent solution, will be accurate of order 2p when the boundary terms are imposed in a stable and dual consistent way.The method does not involve the solution of the dual equations, and superconvergent functionals are obtained at no extra computational cost. Four representative model problems are analyzed in terms of convergence and errors, and it is shown in a systematic way how to derive schemes which gives superconvergent functional outputs.