An approach to nuclear theory including shell-model conditions and particle correlations: Scattering amplitudes and photonuclear cross sections

A recently proposed new approach to the study of nuclear structure is explicitly extended to the continuum in order to describe nuclear reaction processes. Numerical results are obtained for the cross sections of the elastic and inelastic scattering of neutrons by ¹⁵N and of the (γ, n) reaction on ¹⁶O, in the giant-dipole resonance region. The results show strong effects due to the presence of correlations. In particular the fine structure of the giant resonance is satisfactorily accounted for.     

Investigation of products arising from enzymatic digestion of advanced glycated albumin by high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

The structural investigation of the products arising from 28 days incubation of albumin with high glucose concentration and further enzymatic hydrolysis has been carried out by means of high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) under plasmaspray conditions. By this approach many different compounds have been detected, and for most of them, possible structures have been proposed on the basis of literature data and molecular weight assignments.     

Modeling the growth rate of distortion product otoacoustic emissions by active nonlinear oscillators

In this work, growth-rate curves of the 2 f1-f2 distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) are analyzed in a population of 30 noise exposed subjects, including both normal-hearing and hearing impaired subjects. A particular embedded limit-cycle oscillator equation is used to model the cochlear resonant response at the cochlear places of the primary and secondary tone frequencies (f2 and 2 f1-f2). The parameters of the oscillator equation can be directly interpreted in terms of effectiveness of the cochlear feedback mechanisms associated with the active filter amplification. A two-sources paradigm is included in the model, in agreement with experimental evidence and with the assumptions of more detailed full cochlear models based on the transmission line formalism. According to this paradigm, DPOAEs are nonlinearly generated at the cochlear place that is resonant at frequency f2, and coherently reflected at the 2 f1-f2 place. The analysis shows that the model, which had been previously used to describe the relaxation dynamics of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs), also correctly predicts the observed growth rate of the DPOAE response as a function of the primary tones amplitude. A significant difference is observed between normal and impaired ears. The comparison between the growth rate curves at different frequencies provides information about the dependence of cochlear tuning on frequency.     

Toward a microscopic description of molecular electronic systems

The many-body perturbation theory is reformulated within the dielectric function method presented in the preceding paper [12]. The self-energy effects are explicitly considered. These corrections turn out to be important and are calculated to the same level of approximation as the corresponding local-field terms. The method is at the moment applicable to π-electron systems within the zero differential overlap approximation. Explicit calculations of the excitation energies for the benzene molecule, using different parametrizations, are presented. Comparison is made with the results obtained in the random phase approximation (RPA ) and other schemes.     

Dimensional and geometrical effects on the electronic structure of polycyclic hydrocarbons

In the framework of the SCF -RPA scheme and ppp approximation we studied the excitation spectrum of pyrene, coronene, ovalene, and hexabenzocoronene. The triplet stability matrix of the corresponding Hartree–Fock solution was also studied for each molecule. At variance with the case of long linear polyacenes [M. Baldo, G. Piccitto, R. Pucci, and P. Tomasello, Phys. Lett. 95A , 201 (1983)], all these molecules do not display Hartree–Fock triplet instability. Furthermore, the theoretical analysis indicates that the electronic structure of the molecular series can be characterized by a dimensionality intermediate between one and two, with a smooth transition between the two limits. The transition is essentially determined by the molecular shape. The analysis is supported by the fairly good agreement of the theoretical spectra with the available experimental data.     

Enhanced immunodetection of blotted house dust mite protein allergens on nitrocellulose following blocking with Tween 20

The effect of blocking nitrocellulose membranes with the nonionic detergent Tween 20 on the detection, by protein blotting, of IgE-binding to house dust mite Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus allergens has been investigated. Tween blocking led to enhanced immunodetection of allergens despite removal of proteins from the membrane when compared to protein blocking agents which did not displace transferred components. The enhancement varied with the different mite components and, for one in particular, antigen Der p II, an increase of more than 100-fold in IgE antibody binding occurred despite a concurrent loss of more than 90% of Der p II from the membrane. Both the enhancement of binding and loss of components from the membrane were dependent upon the time course of blocking and the concentration of Tween used.     

Anodic characterization of mercury microelectrodes for determinations of anions in real samples

The anodization of mercury microelectrodes was investigated in synthetic samples containing several strong and weak electrolytes at different concentrations. In particular, the effects on mercury anodization due to the presence of NaOH, HClO₄, NaCl, NaI, NaF, Na₂SO₄, NaHCO₃, Na₂CO₃, tartaric and citric acids, were studied in solutions containing either each species or mixtures of them, and without addition of supporting electrolyte. Some of the electrode processes studied led to linear calibration plots e.g. 1 × 10⁻⁵ − 1 × 10⁻⁴M Cl⁻, 1 × 10⁻⁶ − 1 × 10⁻⁵M I⁻, 5 × 10⁻⁴ − 3 × 10⁻³M SO₄²⁻, 5 × 10⁻⁴ − 2 × 10⁻²M HCO₃⁻, with typical correlation coefficients of 0.998–0.999. The anodization of mercury microelectrodes was also investigated directly in wine, rain, tap and mineral water, without pretreatment and without addition of supporting electrolyte. In the real samples only the ions Cl⁻ and HCO₃⁻ could be quantified, and the values found were in agreement, within 3–5%, with the reference values obtained by using Italian standard methods for food.     

Oxygen as redox mediator in scanning electrochemical microscopy. Application to the study of localised acid attack of marble

Oxygen from air-saturated aqueous solutions was employed as redox mediator in SECM experiments. Accurate approach curves under negative-feedback conditions were obtained using platinum and gold microelectrodes. Imaging experiments were also carried out, using a 2.5 microns gold microelectrode and oxygen that acted as distance mediator. The topographic images of a glass surface and that of a marble surface prior and after localised acid attack were recorded. High concentrations of hydrogen ions were produced locally, at the microelectrode tip held 3 microns above the marble surface, by applying a large enough positive potential within the oxygen evolution region. Under these conditions, the dissolution of CaCO3 occurred. Pits were produced, and the crater volumes thus obtained were linearly dependent on the electrolysis time.