Effect of Water Vapor Absorption on Measurements of Atmospheric Nitrate Radical by LP-DOAS

利用长程差分吸收光谱技术进行大气NO3自由基测量时,水汽的强烈吸收叠加在测量光谱中,对NO3的精确反演和探测限带来较大的影响. 通过分析水汽吸收的非线性效应,建立了一种去除水汽影响的有效方法. 通过测量日间大气吸收谱,并考虑日间水汽与夜晚水汽变化量,一同参与数据拟合,结果表明该方法可以有效地去除水汽吸收的影响. 把该方法应用于在珠三角外场实验中,获得了好的效果,探测限达到3.6 ppt。     

Comparison of three techniques for cryopreservation and reestablishment of long-term Gentiana tibetica suspension culture

Cryogenic storage of cell suspensions allows long-term maintenance of cultures. The main purpose of the study was to develop a successful cryogenic protocol for 10-year-old embryogenic cell suspensions of G. tibetica. We examined three techniques of freezing: (I) controlled-rate cooling with various cryoprotectants (0.1-0.5 M DMSO, 0.5-1.0 M sucrose, 0.5-1.0 M glycerol, 0.25-1.0 M proline) or preculture with 0.4 M sorbitol and cryoprotectants (0.065-0.1 M DMSO, 0.2-0.8 M proline), (II) vitrification (PVS2) and (III) encapsulation. Cell viability was assessed by the TTC test and biomass increase. After controlled-rate cooling the majority of cells were lethally damaged, with only 3% viability observed. Vitrification and encapsulation approaches were more effective, assuring high levels of post-thaw viability ca. 85% and 7%, respectively. The encapsulation procedure gave faster recovery of the culture suspension than did vitrification, and ensured culture homogeneity and embryogenic competence.     

Rotations in isospace: a doorway to the understanding of neutron-proton superfluidity in N = Z nuclei

The T = 2 excitations in even-even N = Z nuclei are calculated within the isospin cranked mean-field approach. The response of pairing correlations to rotation in isospace is investigated. Whereas the isovector pairing rather modestly modifies the single-particle moment of inertia in isospace, the isoscalar pairing strongly reduces its value. This reduction of the isomoments of inertia with respect to its rigid body value is a strong indicator of collective isoscalar pairing correlations. These results are further generalized yielding beautiful analogies between the role of isovector pairing for the case of spatial rotations and the role of isoscalar pairing for the case of isorotations.     

Microscopic structure of fundamental excitations in N = Z nuclei

An extended mean-field model is presented that describes states of different isospin in odd-odd and even-even nuclei. Excitation energies of the T = 1 states in even-even as well as T = 0 and T = 1 states in odd-odd N = Z nuclei are calculated. It is shown that the structure of these states can be determined in a consistent manner when both isoscalar and isovector pairing collectivity as well as isospin projection (treated here within the isocranking approximation) are taken into account. In particular, in odd-odd N = Z nuclei, the interplay between quasiparticle excitations (relevant for the case of T = 0 states) and isorotations (relevant for the case of T = 1 states) explains the near degeneracy of these states.     

Ultrastructural architecture of colonies of different morphologies produced by phenotypic switching of a clinical strain of Candida tropicalis and biofilm formation by variant phenotypes

Candida tropicalis has been identified as one of the most prevalent pathogenic yeast species of the Candida-non-albicans (CNA) group. Study of switching in C. tropicalis has not been the subject of extensive research. Therefore, we investigated switching event and characterized the ultrastructural architecture of different phenotypes and biofilm produced in a C. tropicalis clinical strain. Cells switched heritably, reversibly, and at a high frequency between four phenotypes readily distinguishable by the shape of colonies formed on agar at 25°C. SEM analysis was used to verify the architecture of whole Candida colonies at ultrastructural level. The smooth phenotype (parental phenotype) colony showed a hemispherical shape character, while the semi-smooth was characterized by the presence of shallow marginal depressions. The ring and rough phenotypes exhibited more complex architecture and were characterized by the presence of deep central and peripheral depressions areas. The biofilm-forming ability varied among the switch phenotypes. After 12h incubation, the smooth phenotype formed less biofilm compared to the other phenotypes (P<0.05). The electron microscopy analysis revealed that filamentation (pseudohyphae) was associated with ring and rough colonies. The ultrastructural analysis allowed the observation of the arrangement of individual cells within the colonies. At the deep central and peripheral depressions areas of the ring and rough colonies extracellular material was seen in different arrangements. The data presented here open new avenues to study a possible role for extracellular material in the formation and maintenance of the architecture of switch phenotypes in C. tropicalis. It is therefore essential that more strains be investigated to determine the biological significance of extracellular material in C. tropicalis phenotypic switching phenomenon.     

Double cascade turbulence and Richardson dispersion in a horizontal fluid flow induced by Faraday waves

We report the experimental observation of Richardson dispersion and a double cascade in a thin horizontal fluid flow induced by Faraday waves. The energy spectra and the mean spectral energy flux obtained from particle image velocimetry data suggest an inverse energy cascade with Kolmogorov type scaling E(k) ∝ k(γ), γ ≈ -5/3 and an E(k) ∝ k(γ), γ ≈ -3 enstrophy cascade. Particle transport is studied analyzing absolute and relative dispersion as well as the finite size Lyapunov exponent (FSLE) via the direct tracking of real particles and numerical advection of virtual particles. Richardson dispersion with <ΔR(2)(t)> ∝ t(3) is observed and is also reflected in the slopes of the FSLE (Λ ∝ ΔR(-2/3)) for virtual and real particles.     

Search for sub-eV mass solar axions by the CERN Axion Solar Telescope with 3He buffer gas

The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) has extended its search for solar axions by using (3)He as a buffer gas. At T=1.8 K this allows for larger pressure settings and hence sensitivity to higher axion masses than our previous measurements with (4)He. With about 1 h of data taking at each of 252 different pressure settings we have scanned the axion mass range 0.39 eV?m(a)?0.64 eV. From the absence of excess x rays when the magnet was pointing to the Sun we set a typical upper limit on the axion-photon coupling of g(aγ)?2.3×10(-10) GeV(-1) at 95% C.L., the exact value depending on the pressure setting. Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov axions are excluded at the upper end of our mass range, the first time ever for any solar axion search. In the future we will extend our search to m(a)?1.15 eV, comfortably overlapping with cosmological hot dark matter bounds.