Measurement of storage time, estimation of ion number and study of absorption line profile in a Paul trap

Europium (Eu⁺) ions were confined in a Paul trap and detected by non-destructive method. Storage time of Eu⁺ ions achieved in vacuum was improved by orders of magnitude employing buffer gas cooling. The experimentally detected signal was fitted to the ion response signal and the total number of ions trapped was estimated. It is found that the peak signal amplitude as well as the product of FWHM and the peak signal amplitude is proportional to the total number of trapped ions. The trapped ion secular frequency was swept at different rates and its effect on the absorption line profile was studied both experimentally and theoretically.     

Correction: Dermatan sulfate in tunicate phylogeny: Order-specific sulfation pattern and the effect of [→4IdoA(2-Sulfate)β-1→3GalNAc(4-Sulfate)β-1→] motifs in dermatan sulfate on heparin cofactor II activity

After the publication of the work entitled "Dermatan sulfate in tunicate phylogeny: Order-specific sulfation pattern and the effect of [→4IdoA(2-Sulfate)β-1→3GalNAc(4-Sulfate)β-1→] motifs in dermatan sulfate on heparin cofactor II activity", by Kozlowski et al., BMC Biochemistry 2011, 12:29, we found that the legends to Figures 2 to 5 contain serious mistakes that compromise the comprehension of the work. This correction article contains the correct text of the legends to Figures 2 to 5.     

Operational and geological parameters in the assessing blast induced airblast-overpressure in quarries

Airblast disturbances, like ground vibrations, are undesirable by-products of blasting. Airblast damage and annoyance are directly related to factors such as blast design, weather and terrain conditions, and human response. But, unlike blast induced ground vibrations, airblast impacts the structures through the roof, walls and windows leading to human annoyance. Because any structure rumbling and rattling, including blast induced vibrations can fuel the fear of people. The experiences on airblast-overpressure (AOp) measurements show that it is sometime impracticable to set a maximum AOp limit, with or without allowed appropriate percentile of exceedances, because of the significance and unpredictability of variable geological conditions and the restrictive character of this kind of limitations in blasting practice. We therefore utilized the method of modified scaled distances (SDs) based on empirical equations considering such factors as blasting parameters and geological parameters of rock mass for bench blasting in quarries. The aim of this application was to get an environmentally friendly and technically practicable results by using site specific SDs instead of conservative SD values. This method was realized in a quarry in Istanbul with numerous experimental shots. In these experiments, the levels of airblast-overpressures were investigated as a function of variable conditions. The results show that the performances of these estimations are governed by the site-specific character of these empirical relations.     

New high-energy luminescence bands from Co2+ in ZnSe

Three sharp absorption features in the energy range 2.36–2.55 eV have been detected in the transmission spectrum of Co-diffused ZnSe, and a number of luminescence transitions originating from the lowest of these states at 2.361 eV have been observed. Photoluminescence excitation spectra prove that these are high energy excited states of the Co²⁺_Zn impurity, a conclusion confirmed by comparison of measured and predicted luminescence energies. This represents the first identification of luminescence branching from a higher excited state of a transition metal ion in any semiconductor. The sharp, weakly phonon-coupled transitions involve either intra-impurity excitation or transitions from the impurity to localised states split off from a minimum in the conduction band. The implications of these observations for the mechanism of host-impurity energy transfer and for the nature of the excited state wavefunctions are discussed.