Spatial-spectral distribution of Rabi radiation generated in plasma

We report observation and control of the spatial-spectral distributions of coherent, dynamic Rabi sideband radiation. The Rabi sidebands result from the interaction of a shaped picosecond probe laser of intensity 10(10) W cm(-2), with neutral excited atomic oxygen generated in a laser-induced microplasma. The spatial-spectral distribution is measured and compared for picosecond laser pulses having either an asymmetric temporal shape or a Gaussian temporal shape. The resulting spatial-spectral distributions are in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions that account for the radial intensity distribution of the picosecond probe pulse.     

Conceptualizing the curriculum enactment process in mathematics education

This article explores the following question: What does it mean to enact curriculum? In order to do so, it offers a conceptualization of the enacted curriculum and situates it within a curriculum policy, design, and enactment system. The system depicts the formal and operational domains in which curricular aims and objectives are developed and curriculum plans formulated and enacted. The authors situate the enacted mathematics curriculum in the operational part of the system and define it as the interactions between teachers and students around mathematical tasks of a lesson and collection of lessons, but argue that understanding what it means to enact curriculum involves examining the many places within the system that curricular elements are translated and transformed. The authors describe each of the articles in this special issue with respect to the framework.     

Measurement of np elastic scattering at high energies and very small momentum transfers

The np elastic differential cross section has been measured for incident neutron momenta 100–400 GeV/c in the |t| range 6 · 10^?6 ? 5 · 10^?1 (GeV/c)². The np data of this experiment provide a first direct measurement of the hadronic amplitude for |t| < 10^?2 (GeV/c)², which is consistent with the extrapolations from higher |t| values. Our data for |t| < 10^?4 (GeV/c)² are consistent with a rise which can be attributed to Schwinger scattering, caused by the interaction of the neutron magnetic moment with the proton.     

Gamma-spectroscopic investigations on 67Ge

By γ-γ coincidence measurements following the ⁵⁷Fe(¹²C, 2nγ) reaction at E_12C = 40 MeV several new states above 1.5 MeV excitation energy in ⁶⁷Ge have been established. Spin and parity assignments on the basis of the angular distribution, linear polarization and γ-ray yield function indicate very similar structures in ^{67, 69}Ge. The positive-parity states can be followed up to the $\text{17}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ state at E_x = 3.07 MeV followed by a sequence of negative-parity high-spin states at nearly the same excitation energy relative to the $\text{9}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ single-particle state as in the neighbouring nucleus ⁶⁹Ge where these states were found to have strong single-particle admixtures. A reinvestigation of the spin of the E_x = 2.75 MeV level in ⁶⁹Ge resulting in a change of its spin from $\text{15}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{to}\text{17}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{+}}$ and for all spins above, removed the discrepancy concerning the spin assignments of corresponding levels in ^{67, 69}Ge. The excitation pattern of the Ge isotopes with 34 ≦ N ≦ 39 clearly indicate same structures probably due to the strong competition between collective and single-particle excitations along the whole chain similar to the results for the Zn isotopes.     

Resolving stoichiometries and oligomeric states of glutamate synthase protein complexes with curve fitting and simulation of electrospray mass spectra

A complicating factor in analyzing electrospray ionization mass spectra of intact macromolecular heterogeneous protein complexes is the potential overlap of ions from different species present in solution. Therefore, it is often not possible to assign all ion signals. With the aim of allowing the more efficient and comprehensive analysis of very complex mass spectra of intact heterogeneous protein complexes we developed a software program: SOMMS. The program uses simple user input parameters together with Gaussian curve fitting to simulate putative mass spectra of protein (sub)complexes within a specified charge state window. In addition, the program can simulate spectra for heterogeneous protein complexes using bi- and multinomial distributions and it can calculate zero-charge spectra and relatively quantify the abundance of each component in a mixture. As a proof of concept we analyzed the complex mass spectra of alpha-glutamate synthase and alphabeta-glutamate synthase from Azosprillum brasilense. Using our program we could determine that alpha-glutamate synthase is in equilibrium between its dimeric, tetrameric, hexameric and dodecameric conformation, whereas alphabeta-glutamate synthase forms up to 15 different heterooligomeric assemblies composed of alpha- and beta-subunits. Thus, SOMMS allows resolving stoichiometries and oligomeric states of protein complexes even from very complicated mass spectra. These complexes could not be assigned by using maximum entropy calculations. We compared our mass spectrometry data on glutamate synthases with available X-ray, small-angle X-ray scattering and size-exclusion chromatography data.     

Does double electron capture lead to the formation of biradicals? An ECD-SORI-CID study on lacticin 481

We studied lacticin 481, a small lantibiotic with three lanthionine bridges, by electron capture dissociation (ECD) in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometer. Following electron capture, very little fragmentation was observed, but species formed by nondissociative single and multiple electron capture were abundant. Ions formed by double electron capture were subjected to sustained off resonance irradiation collision induced dissociation (SORI-CID) to determine whether stable biradicals were formed. In the SORI-CID spectra of the ions formed by double electron capture, some, but minor, H* radical loss was observed, which was not observed at all for regularly protonated ions. A small part of the ions formed by double electron capture are thus long-lived biradicals. Apart from the observed H* loss, the SORI-CID spectra of ions that captured two electrons was similar to that of regularly protonated ions and quite different from the SORI-CID spectra of radical ions formed by single electron capture. This implies that recombination of the two radical sites is the dominant process in biradical lacticin 481 ions, at least on the time scale of our SORI-CID experiments.