Provitamins and vitamins D2 and D3 in Cladina spp. over a latitudinal gradient: possible correlation with UV levels.

Provitamin D2, vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 were identified in the thallus of a lichen species, Cladina arbuscula (Wallr.) Hale and W.L. Culb. The identification of vitamin D3 was supported by: (1) co-chromatography in both reverse and straight phase HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography), (2) ultraviolet absorption spectrum, and (3) molecular ion peaks demonstrated by ESI (electrospray ionisation) mass spectrometry. The contents of vitamin D3 range from 0.67 to 2.04 microg g(-1) dry matter in the thalli of C. arbuscula specimens grown under different natural conditions, while provitamin D3 could not be detected. The ranges for provitamin D2 and vitamin D2 were 89-146 and 0.22-0.55 microg g(-1) dry matter, respectively, while the contents of provitamin D3 were below the detection limit (0.01 microg g(-1) dry matter). When C. arbuscula thalli collected at different latitudes from northern Finland to Greece were compared, a positive correlation of vitamin D2 and D3 contents with modelled UV-B radiation at the collection sites was found. A single sample of C. rangiferina from northern Finland gave much higher values for the vitamins. A possible reason could be the lower content of UV-B absorbing pigment in the latter species.     

Aggregation-induced folding of a de novo designed polypeptide immobilized on gold nanoparticles

This communication reports the first steps in the construction of a novel, nanoparticle-based hybrid material for biomimetic and biosensor applications. Gold nanoparticles were modified with synthetic polypeptides to enable control of the particle aggregation state in a switchable manner, and particle aggregation was, in turn, found to induce folding of the immobilized peptides.     

An evaluation of precision and systematic errors in vibrational CARS thermometry

The extraction of temperatures from experimental CARS spectra is discussed and demonstrated in an electrically heated over and a low-pressure flame. The present work is focused, in particular, on how the precision of CARS thermometry is limited by the accuracy with which the experimental parameters are known, on characteristics of the diode-array detector, on saturation effects due to stimulated Raman scattering and on the influence of spectral resolution on precision and accuracy.     

Oxygen concentration and temperature measurements in N2–O2 mixtures using rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy

The accuracy and precision of oxygen concentration and temperature measured by dual-broadband rotational Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy (CARS) were investigated in nitrogen-oxygen mixtures at atmospheric pressure and temperatures between 290 and 1410 K. The relative standard deviation of temperatures evaluated from pure oxygen rotational CARS spectra was found to be around 5%, and the mean temperature was the same as for nitrogen CARS spectra, except for temperatures above 1000 K, where the temperature was 120 K below the correct value. The in situ calibrated oxygen concentrations were within 10% of the correct value, with a standard deviation of around 1.2% for the mixtures of 12 and 20% oxygen in nitrogen. For the lowest oxygen concentrations considered in this study (2 and 4%), the systematic errors in the evaluated concentrations were very large, and the standard deviation of repeated single-shot measurements was above 2%. However, employing weighting in the spectral fitting routine reduced the errors in the concentration and the single-shot standard deviation was lowered to 0.5%. Finally, it was shown that spectral interference (from oxygen) in a rotational CARS spectrum of nitrogen generally had little impact on the temperature evaluated from fitting the spectra to theoretical nitrogen spectra.     

Semiclassical calculations of collision line broadening in Raman spectra of N2 and CO mixtures

We present a detailed theoretical study of pressure-broadened Raman line shapes in binary mixtures of nitrogen and carbon monoxide. The semiclassical Robert-Bonamy theory was used to calculate self-broadened Q-branch linewidths of N(2) and CO, and Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential energy surface parameters were fixed by comparing our results with extensive experimental linewidth data. For the case of N(2), the ab initio PES8 potential energy surface was investigated, however, the anisotropic repulsive part had to be reduced to ensure a good agreement with experimental linewidths. The agreement between calculations and experiments was remarkably good, both for self-broadened N(2) and CO Q-branch linewidths. Yet, our calculations were not able to predict the experimentally observed difference between Q- and S-branch linewidths of self-broadened N(2). The central results of this work are the Q-branch linewidths of N(2)-CO and CO-N(2), which have been calculated through an extrapolation of the parameters of the potential energy surfaces used for self-broadened linewidths by common combination rules.     

Evaluation of the accuracy of gran plots by means of computer calculations: Application to the potentiometric titration of the total alkalinity and carbonate content in sea water

The use of computer calculations for the determination of the systematic errors associated with Gran plots is demonstrated. The results of such calculations are used to derive “modified” Gran plots capable of locating the equivalence point both more accurately and more precisely. The general principles are exemplified by application to the determination of the total alkalinity and carbonate content in sea water by means of potentiometric titration.     

Two-dimensional imaging of glyoxal (C2H2O2) in acetylene flames using laser-induced fluorescence

2 H₂O₂). Laser-induced fluorescence spectra from glyoxal vapor using the same excitation wavelength of 428 nm showed the same strongest lines as the signal from the flame. Glyoxal was visualized in two different modes; two-dimensional imaging and a spatial-spectral mode where spectra were obtained at different spatial positions in the flame simultaneously. For the premixed laminar rich flame it is shown that glyoxal is produced early in the flame, before the signals for C₂ and CH appear. For the turbulent non-premixed flames it is shown that glyoxal is produced in a layer on the fuel rich side of the flames. Here the fuel is premixed with ambient air. This layer is thin and has a high spatial resolution. The general trend was that the glyoxal signal appeared in regions with a lower temperature compared with the emission from C₂ and CH. The imaging of glyoxal in turbulent acetylene flames is a promising tool for achieving new insight into flame phenomena, as it gives very good structural information on the flame front. Tests so far do not indicate that the detected glyoxal is a result of photo-production. To our knowledge, this is the first detection of glyoxal in flames using laser-induced fluorescence. Received: 19 December 1996/Revised version: 26 May 1997     

Hamiltonian treatment of self-dual antisymmetric tensors

Self-dual antisymmetric tensors occur in certain (4n + 2)-dimensional supergravity models, in particular the one connected to type IIB superstrings. So far they have been quantized only using light front methods. Here we show that the existing covariant action for such fields leads to a consistent hamiltonian system also for ordinary “timelike” dynamics, although rather complicated second class constraints are present.     

Description of nuclear moments and nuclear spectra in the particle-rotor model

The particle-rotor model using strong coupling basis functions is briefly reviewed. Recent developments are discussed. For example, a formalism for odd-odd nuclei (and negative parity states in even nuclei) is presented. With a standard neutron-proton interaction, measured spins and moments of transitional and deformed Ho nuclei are used to extract their main configurations. Total energy calculations in the (ε, ψ)-plane based on the particle-rotor model are presented for¹⁸⁵Au.