A microprocessor-controlled,multichannel fluorimeter for analysis of sea water

The multichannel fluorimeter described provides good sensitivity and rapid data acquisition. The advantages of multichannel fluorescence detection are discussed with special reference to the continuous monitoring of in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence in sea waters. Experiments on chlorophyll a determinations indicate a detection limit of 5 × 10^?12 M with a linear range over at least three orders of magnitudes of concentration.     

A scale model investigation of sound radiation from building elements

The directionality of sound radiated by typical building elements was investigated by using the techniques of acoustic scale modelling. The governing parameters of the model were first established and suitable modelling materials were then selected. The radiation patterns of a number of typical building elements were recorded and from a systematic examination of these patterns a predictive method suitable for implementation on a small computer was established.     

Biosynthesis of the insect pheromone (S)-4-methyl-3-heptanone

Using stable isotope-labelled probes and mass spectrometry, the insect pheromone (S)-4-methyl-3-heptanone is shown to be biosynthesised from three propionate units following a polyketide/fatty acid-type metabolic route.     

Rapid catalytic oxidation of CO to CO(2) - On the development of a new approach to on-line oxygen isotope analysis of organic matter

A new approach to on-line oxygen isotope analysis has been developed which utilises existing elemental analyser and mass spectrometry technology to produce a sample of carbon dioxide gas for oxygen isotople analysis. The method relies on on-line high temperature pyrolysis of the sample over a carbon source followed by a rapid, non-contributive partial catalytic oxidation over nickel powder at between 550 and 600 degrees C. Initial results demonstrate both good precision (better than 0.2 per thousand) and accuracy for both cellulose and silver nitrate samples. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Iridoid Sex Pheromone Biosynthesis in Aphids Mimics Iridoid-Producing Plants

Biosynthesis of (1R,4aS,7S,7aR)-nepetalactol ( 1 ) and (4aS,7S,7aR)-nepetalactone ( 2 ) in plants involves iridoid synthase (ISY), an atypical reductive cyclase that catalyses the reduction of 8-oxogeranial into the reactive enol of (S)-8-oxocitronellal, and cyclization of this enol intermediate, either non-enzymatically or by a nepetalactol-related short chain dehydrogenase enzyme (NEPS) that yields the nepetalactols. In this study, we investigated the biosynthesis in vivo of 1 and 2 in the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, using a library of isotopically-labelled monoterpenoids as molecular probes. Topical application of deuterium-labelled probes synthesized from geraniol and nerol resulted in production of ²H₄−lactol 1 and ²H₄−lactone 2 . However, deuterium incorporation was not evident using labelled probes synthesized from (S)-citronellol. These results suggest that iridoid biosynthesis in animals, specifically aphids, may follow a broadly similar route to that characterised for plants.     

Nonlinear polarization effects and mitigation in polarization-division-multiplexed coherent transmission systems

Using numerical simulations, the nonlinear transmission performance of polarization-division-multiplexed quadrature-phase-shift-keying （PDM-QPSK） coherent systems is studied. It is found that inter-channel cross-polarization modulation （XPolM） induced nonlinear polarization scattering can significantly degrade the transmission performance of PDM-QPSK coherent systems and change the perspective of dispersion management in optical coherent transmission systems. Some techniques to mitigate nonlinear polarization scattering in dispersion-managed PDM coherent transmission systems are discussed, including the use of time-interleaved return-to-zero （RZ） PDM formats, the use of periodic-group-delay PGD dispersion compensators, and the judicious addition of some polarization-mode-dispersion （PMD） in the transmission link. It is shown that if nonlinear polarization scattering can be well mitigated, a polarization multiplexed optical coherent transmission system with dispersion management could perform better than that without it.