Photon channelling in foams

Experiments by Gittings, Bandyopadhyay and Durian (Europhys. Lett. 65, 414 (2004)) demonstrate that light possesses a higher probability to propagate in the liquid phase of a foam due to total reflection. The authors term this observation photon channelling which we investigate in this article theoretically. We first derive a central relation in the work of Gitting et al. without any free parameters. It links the photon's path-length fraction f in the liquid phase to the liquid fraction ɛ. We then construct two-dimensional Voronoi foams, replace the cell edges by channels to represent the liquid films and simulate photon paths according to the laws of ray optics using transmission and reflection coefficients from Fresnel's formulas. In an exact honeycomb foam, the photons show superdiffusive behavior. It becomes diffusive as soon as disorder is introduced into the foams. The dependence of the diffusion constant on channel width and refractive index is explained by a one-dimensional random-walk model. It contains a photon channelling state that is crucial for the understanding of the numerical results. At the end, we shortly comment on the observation that photon channelling only occurs in a finite range of ɛ.     

High precision delta(17)O isotope measurements of oxygen from silicates and other oxides: method and applications

The use of infrared laser-assisted fluorination to release oxygen from milligram quantities of silicates or other oxide mineral grains is a well-established technique. However, relatively few studies have reported the optimisation of this procedure for oxygen-17 isotope measurements. We describe here details of an analytical system using infrared (10 μm) laser-assisted fluorination, in conjunction with a dual inlet mass spectrometer of high resolving power ( approximately 250) to provide (17)O and (18)O oxygen isotope measurements from 0.5-2 mg of silicates or other oxide mineral grains. Respective precisions (1) of typically 0.08 and 0.04 per thousand are obtained for the complete analytical procedure. Departures from the mass-dependent oxygen isotope fractionation line are quantified by Delta(17)O; our precision (1) of such measurements on individual samples is shown to be +/-0.024 per thousand. In turn, this permits the offset between parallel, mass-dependent fractionation lines to be characterised to substantially greater precision than has been possible hitherto. Application of this system to investigate the (17)O versus (18)O relationship for numerous terrestrial whole-rock and mineral samples, of diverse geological origins and age, indicates that the complete data set may be described by a single, mass-dependent fractionation line of slope 0.5244+/- 0.00038 (standard error). Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Copper and iron interactions with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. A study by fast-atom bombardment tandem mass spectrometry

Fast atom bombardment, combined with high-energy collision-induced tandem mass spectrometry, has been used to investigate gas-phase metal-ion interactions with captopril, enalaprilat and lisinopril, all angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.Suggestions for the location of metal-binding sites are presented. For captopril, metal binding occurs most likely at both the sulphur and the nitrogen atom. For enalaprilat and lisinopril, binding preferably occurs at the amine nitrogen. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A study of some parameters relevant to the response of harwell PMMA dosimeters to gamma and electron irradiation

The effects on the radiation response of Harwell polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) dosimeters of dose-rate, radiation type, temperature during irradiation and post-irradiation storage, and post-irradiation stability, are of importance to the operators of commercial irradiation facilities.

This paper describes recent studies of the effects of some of these parameters on the radiation response of Harwell Red 4034, Amber 3042, and Gammachrome YR Perspex dosimeters, and provides data on batch to batch variation and shelf-life.     

Prediction of the partitioning behaviour of proteins in aqueous two-phase systems using only their amino acid composition

The prediction of the partition behaviour of proteins in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) using mathematical models based on their amino acid composition was investigated. The predictive models are based on the average surface hydrophobicity (ASH). The ASH was estimated by means of models that use the three-dimensional structure of proteins and by models that use only the amino acid composition of proteins. These models were evaluated for a set of 11 proteins with known experimental partition coefficient in four-phase systems: polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000/phosphate, sulfate, citrate and dextran and considering three levels of NaCl concentration (0.0% w/w, 0.6% w/w and 8.8% w/w). The results indicate that such prediction is feasible even though the quality of the prediction depends strongly on the ATPS and its operational conditions such as the NaCl concentration. The ATPS 0 model which use the three-dimensional structure obtains similar results to those given by previous models based on variables measured in the laboratory. In addition it maintains the main characteristics of the hydrophobic resolution and intrinsic hydrophobicity reported before. Three mathematical models, ATPS I-III, based only on the amino acid composition were evaluated. The best results were obtained by the ATPS I model which assumes that all of the amino acids are completely exposed. The performance of the ATPS I model follows the behaviour reported previously, i.e. its correlation coefficients improve as the NaCl concentration increases in the system and, therefore, the effect of the protein hydrophobicity prevails over other effects such as charge or size. Its best predictive performance was obtained for the PEG/dextran system at high NaCl concentration. An increase in the predictive capacity of at least 54.4% with respect to the models which use the three-dimensional structure of the protein was obtained for that system. In addition, the ATPS I model exhibits high correlation coefficients in that system being higher than 0.88 on average. The ATPS I model exhibited correlation coefficients higher than 0.67 for the rest of the ATPS at high NaCl concentration. Finally, we tested our best model, the ATPS I model, on the prediction of the partition coefficient of the protein invertase. We found that the predictive capacities of the ATPS I model are better in PEG/dextran systems, where the relative error of the prediction with respect to the experimental value is 15.6%.