The determination and role of peroxyacetil nitrate in photochemical processes in atmosphere

Peroxyacetilnitrates (PAN) is the most characteristic photoxidant of a range of secondary pollutants formed by the photochemical reaction of hydrocarbons with nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere: it is phytotoxic and shows an increasing role in human health effects due to ambient air exposure, especially in presence of high ozone concentrations. Because of the similarity of the conditions required for their photochemical production PAN is observed in conjunction with elevated ozone concentrations. PAN has very low natural background concentrations so it is the very specific indicator of anthropogenic photochemical air pollution. In this paper we report PAN concentrations determined in Rome urban area during winter- and summer-period. PAN measurements were carried out by means of a gas-chromatograph equipped with an Electron Capture Detector (ECD) detector. For identifying the acute episodes of atmospheric photochemical pollutants the relationship between PAN and the variable Ox (=NO2+O3) which describes the oxidation process evolution is investigated. The role of Volatile Organic Compounds and PAN in the ozone formation is investigated as well the issue of taking in account the autovehicular emissions for checking the NOx fraction in fuel.     

A RESULT OF SUZUKI TYPE IN PARTIAL G-METRIC SPACES

Recently, Suzuki [T. Suzuki characterizes metric completeness, Proc. A generalized Banach contractlon principle that Amer. Math. Soc. 136 （2008）, 1861-1869] proved a fixed point theorem that is a generalization of the Banach contraction principle and char- acterizes the metric completeness. Paesano and Vetro [D. Paesano and P. Vetro, Suzuki＇s type characterizations of completeness for partial metric spaces and fixed points for partially ordered metric spaces, Topology Appl., 159 （2012）, 911-920] proved an analogous fixed point result for a self-mapping on a partial metric space that characterizes the partial metric O- completeness. In this article, we introduce the notion of partial G-metric spaces and prove a result of Suzuki type in the setting of partial G-metric spaces. We deduce also a result of common fixed point.     

Ramanujan’s Master Theorem for the Hypergeometric Fourier Transform Associated with Root Systems

Ramanujan’s Master theorem states that, under suitable conditions, the Mellin transform of an alternating power series provides an interpolation formula for the coefficients of this series. Ramanujan applied this theorem to compute several definite integrals and power series, which explains why it is referred to as the “Master Theorem”. In this paper we prove an analogue of Ramanujan’s Master theorem for the hypergeometric Fourier transform associated with root systems. This theorem generalizes to arbitrary positive multiplicity functions the results previously proven by the same authors for the spherical Fourier transform on semisimple Riemannian symmetric spaces.     

On a class of nonlinear variational–hemivariational inequalities

A three critical points theorem for nondifferentiable functions is pointed out and an existence result of multiple solutions for a Neumann elliptic variational–hemivariational inequality involving the p-laplacian is established. As an application, a Neumann problem for elliptic equations with discontinuous nonlinearities is studied.     

Derivation of reference distribution functions for Tokamak-plasmas by statistical thermodynamics

A general approach for deriving the expression of reference distribution functions by statistical thermodynamics is illustrated, and applied to the case of a magnetically confined plasma. The local equilibrium is defined by imposing the minimum entropy production, which applies only to the linear regime near a stationary thermodynamically non-equilibrium state and the maximum entropy principle under the scale invariance restrictions. This procedure may be adopted for a system subject to an arbitrary number of thermodynamic forces, however, for concreteness, we analyze, afterwords, a magnetically confined plasma subject to three thermodynamic forces, and three energy sources: (i) the total Ohmic heat, supplied by the transformer coil; (ii) the energy supplied by neutral beam injection (NBI); and (iii) the RF energy supplied by ion cyclotron resonant heating (ICRH) system which heats the minority population. In this limit case, we show that the derived expression of the distribution function is more general than that one, which is currently used for fitting the numerical steady-state solutions obtained by simulating the plasma by gyro-kinetic codes. An application to a simple model of fully ionized plasmas submitted to an external source is discussed. Through kinetic theory, we fixed the values of the free parameters linking them with the external power supplies. The singularity at low energy in the proposed distribution function is related to the intermittency in the turbulent plasma.     

Are your data really Pareto distributed?

Pareto distributions, and power laws in general, have demonstrated to be very useful models to describe very different phenomena, from physics to finance. In recent years, the econophysical literature has proposed a large amount of papers and models justifying the presence of power laws in economic data.     

Proteomic‐based analytical approach for the characterization of glutenin subunits in durum wheat

One of the main objectives of wheat glutenin subunit (GS) analysis is the identification of protein components linked to wheat quality. The proteomic characterization of glutenin has to consider the relatively low levels of arginine and lysine residues and the close sequence similarity among the different groups of these subunits, which hinders or even prevents the identification of the GS. In this study, a proteomic approach has been applied to resolve the heterogeneity of wheat glutenin components. Proteins extracted from Triticum durum flour were first analyzed by two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis, which greatly reduced glutenin complexity. The identity of each spot was confirmed by nano liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis of tryptic peptides. In parallel, measurements of the high mass range by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight analysis allowed detection of the large tryptic peptides. Gathering all data from search engine interrogation, very high sequence coverage was obtained for high molecular weight GS, including Bx7 and By8, in agreement with the known genetic profile of durum wheat. In addition, a truncated form of By8, never detected before, was also found. Low molecular weight GS (LMW‐GS) B‐type was identified with reasonable sequence coverage, while a clear identification of LWM‐GS C‐ and D‐type was hindered by the incompleteness of the wheat DNA databases. This study represents the first comprehensive analysis of the glutenin proteome and provides a reliable method for classifying wheat varieties according to their glutenin profile. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cadmium ions and cadmium sulphide particles in γ-titanium dihydrogen phosphate. Synthesis, thermal behaviour and X-ray characterization

Layered compounds with CdS particles supported on the ion-exchanger, γ-titanium dihydrogen phosphate, were prepared by the stepwise reaction of the ion-exchanger and cadmium solution, followed by reaction with H₂S gas. The CdS content on the ion-exchanger is dependent on the timeframe of the H₂S gas flow. The materials obtained were layered, as shown by the X-ray measurements that exhibit both precursor and CdS diffraction peaks. The thermal treatment of the material obtained gives evidence of its stability (≤ 320°C) before the CdS decomposition, which occurs in a single step.