Localization and Propagation in Random Lattices

We analyze the motion of a particle on random lattices. Scatterers of two different types are independently distributed among the vertices of such a lattice. A particle hops from a vertex to one of its neighboring vertices. The choice of neighbor is completely determined by the type of scatterer at the current vertex. It is shown that on Poisson and vectorizable random triangular lattices the particle will either propagate along some unbounded strip or be trapped inside a closed strip. We also characterize the structure of a localization zone contained within a closed strip. Another result shows that for a general class of random lattices the orbit of a particle will be bounded with probability one.     

Assessment of Chemical Composition and Anti-Penicillium Activity of Vapours of Essential Oils from Abies Alba and Two Melaleuca Species in Food Model Systems

The possibilities of the practical utilization of essential oils (EOs) from various plant species in the food industry have attracted the attention of the scientific community. Following our previous studies, the antifungal activities of three further commercial EOs, Melaleuca armillaris subsp. armillaris (rosalina; REO), Melaleuca quinquenervia (niaouli; NEO), and Abies alba (fir; FEO), were evaluated in the present research in respect to their chemical profiles, over four different concentrations, 62.5 μL/L, 125 μL/L, 250 μL/L, and 500 μL/L. The findings revealed that the major compounds of REO, NEO, and FEO were linalool (47.5%), 1,8-cineole (40.8%), and α-pinene (25.2%), respectively. In vitro antifungal determinations showed that the inhibition zones of a Penicillium spp. mycelial growth ranged from no inhibitory effectiveness (00.00 ± 00.00 mm) to 16.00 ± 1.00 mm, indicating a very strong antifungal activity which was detected against P. citrinum after the highest REO concentration exposure. Furthermore, the in situ antifungal efficacy of all EOs investigated was shown to be dose-dependent. In this sense, we have found that the highest concentration (500 µL/L) of REO, NEO, and FEO significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the growth of all Penicillium strains inoculated on the bread, carrot, and potato models. These results indicate that the investigated EOs may be promising innovative agents in order to extend the shelf life of different types of food products, such as bread, carrot and potato.     

Synthesis and structural elucidation of a phthalide analog using NMR analysis and DFT calculations

Phtalides are secondary metabolites found in several fungi with a wide range of biological activities. A novel phthalide analog was synthesized by Diels–Alder reaction between cyclopentadiene and 3,4-dichlorofuran-2(5H)-one. Quantum mechanical calculations were used in conjunction with the spectrometric methods to determine the structure of the title compound. The calculated NMR chemical shifts for eight candidate pairs of enantiomers were compared with the experimental NMR chemical shifts applying the DP4 probability and mean absolute errors methodology. DP4 analysis using ¹H and ¹³C NMR chemical shifts without assignment of the signals presented 100% probability for the correct candidate structure 3d , proving the consistency of the method even without spectra interpretation. Results from theoretical calculation and NMR spectra interpretation were in agreement to the structure of rac-(3aR,4S,4aS,5R,8S,8aR,9R,9aS)-3a,9a-dichloro-3a,4,4a,5,8,8a,9,9a-octahydro-4,9:5,8-dimethanonaphtho[2,3-c]furan-1(3H)-one.     

High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) Analysis of Red Wine Pigments

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - An HPTLC method has been developed to give qualitative and quantitative information on red wine pigments. The samples are prepared...     

Baryon-Baryon correlations at small relative momentum in Neon- and Argon-nucleus collisions betweenE/A=200 and 1000 MeV

Two-proton correlation functions at small relative momentum have been systematically studied with the large solid angle detector DIOGENE at Saturne for interactions induced by Ne and Ar beams on various targets, and incident energies per nucleon ranging from 200 to 1000 MeV. From these distributions, informations on the space-time structure of the source have been derived as a function of the centrality of the collision, the target-projectile combinations and the incident energy, using the model of Koonin. Special attention has been devoted to take into account all experimental biases in order to get the distorted theoretical correlation curves before comparison to the experimental data. Other interesting conclusions have been obtained when comparing the extracted source radii to the dimensions of the overlapping volume of target by projectile in a pure geometrical model of the collision (clean cut geometry). Some results concerning fragment-fragment small angle correlations are also presented.     

Re‐evaluation of distillation and comparison with HNO3 leaching/solvent extraction for isolation of methylmercury compounds from sediment/soil samples

Distillation was re‐evaluated for the formation of artifacts arising from increasing naturally occurring mercury(II) concentrations, as opposed to previous identification of artifacts by spiking standard mercury(II) into samples. Naturally occurring mercury(II) concentrations lower than 2 µg g^?1 were found not to affect methylmercury (MeHg) results. However, when the natural concentrations of mercury(II) were greater than 2 µg g^?1, in contrast to standard mercury(II) spiked in samples, the MeHg concentrations measured were found to decrease (not increase) with increasing naturally occurring mercury(II) concentrations. This indicated that standard mercury(II) spiked in samples behaved differently from naturally occurring mercury(II) in the formation of MeHg artifacts during distillation. As a result, spiking standard mercury(II) into samples to identify the formation of MeHg artifacts is not adequate. It is difficult to explain why high naturally occurring mercury(II) suppresses MeHg measurements during distillation. In comparison with HNO₃ leaching/solvent extraction (and other existing techniques), distillation was found to generate results comparable for samples containing less than 2 µg g^?1 mercury(II). The HNO₃ leaching/solvent extraction showed significant advantages over other procedures, as this technique generated the highest recoveries with good precision for all samples analyzed, and the results were found to be independent of mercury(II) concentrations for both naturally occurring and spiked standard mercury(II). Thus, except for samples from high mercury‐contaminated fields, distillation is still a good choice. Both the positive bias (possibly caused by artifact formation of MeHg) and the negative bias (due to incomplete leaching, back‐adsorption, and/or decomposition of MeHg) were investigated. Geologically, physically, and chemically different samples were used for the investigation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optical studies on the red luminescence of InGaN epilayers

Photoluminescence, photoluminescence excitation and time-resolved photoluminescence studies were performed in a partially relaxed InGaN epilayer, and exhibiting a 3D growth mode at the surface. Two emission bands, a red (centred at 1.88 eV) and a blue (centred at 2.58 eV) were observed. In order to investigate their origin and their relation with the strain relaxation along the growth direction, the sample was etched. After etching, only an asymmetrical broad emission band centred at 2.15 eV was observed.The decrease of decay time and the increase of the band edge absorption energy with increasing monitored photon energy, along the red emission, are assigned to the effect of localization of excitons at potential minima, originated in compositional and strain inhomogeneities of the sample. Therefore, the blue shift observed on this band with an increase in temperature, is caused by the population of higher energy states. The large difference between the luminescence intensities, decay times and the thermal quenching of the red and blue (centred at 2.58 eV) band is also accounted for by the localization model. It is demonstrated that the luminescence observed after etching is a superposition of two bands, one originated from the InGaN film, and the other from the GaN underlayer. The large difference between absorption and emission energies, compared with those measured in the as-grown sample, within the same spectral region, indicates that this emission has a different origin. It is suggested that deep levels might be responsible for the luminescence observed after etching.     

Crochelins: Siderophores with an Unprecedented Iron‐Chelating Moiety from the Nitrogen‐Fixing Bacterium Azotobacter chroococcum

Microbes use siderophores to access essential iron resources in the environment. Over 500 siderophores are known, but they utilize a small set of common moieties to bind iron. Azotobacter chroococcum expresses iron‐rich nitrogenases, with which it reduces N₂. Though an important agricultural inoculant, the structures of its iron‐binding molecules remain unknown. Here, the “chelome” of A. chroococcum is examined using small molecule discovery and bioinformatics. The bacterium produces vibrioferrin and amphibactins as well as a novel family of siderophores, the crochelins. Detailed characterization shows that the most abundant member, crochelin A, binds iron in a hexadentate fashion using a new iron‐chelating γ‐amino acid. Insights into the biosynthesis of crochelins and the mechanism by which iron may be removed upon import of the holo‐siderophore are presented. This work expands the repertoire of iron‐chelating moieties in microbial siderophores.