Planetary well-being

Tensions between the well-being of present humans, future humans, and nonhuman nature manifest in social protests and political and academic debates over the future of Earth. The increasing consumption of natural resources no longer increases, let alone equalises, human well-being, but has led to the current ecological crisis and harms both human and nonhuman well-being. While the crisis has been acknowledged, the existing conceptual frameworks are in some respects ill-equipped to address the crisis in a way that would link the resolving of the crisis with the pivotal aim of promoting equal well-being. The shortcomings of the existing concepts in this respect relate to anthropocentric normative orientation, methodological individualism that disregards process dynamics and precludes integrating the considerations of human and nonhuman well-being, and the lack of multiscalar considerations of well-being. This work derives and proposes the concept of planetary well-being to address the aforementioned conceptual issues, to recognise the moral considerability of both human and nonhuman well-being, and to promote transdisciplinary, cross-cultural discourse for addressing the crisis and for promoting societal and cultural transformation. Conceptually, planetary well-being shifts focus on well-being from individuals to processes, Earth system and ecosystem processes, that underlie all well-being. Planetary well-being is a state where the integrity of Earth system and ecosystem processes remains unimpaired to a degree that species and populations can persist to the future and organisms have the opportunity to achieve well-being. After grounding and introducing planetary well-being, this work shortly discusses how the concept can be operationalised and reflects upon its potential as a bridging concept between different worldviews.</p

Chemically Selective Imaging of Overlapping C–H Stretching Vibrations with Time-Resolved Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) Microscopy

Chemically selective imaging of spectrally overlapping compounds is studied with a time-resolved, femtosecond approach on coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy taking advantage of time-dependent oscillating CARS amplitude which is sensitive to different chemical components at different time points. Chemically selective imaging is demonstrated for composite material of polypropylene (PP) matrix and om-POSS (octamethyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) microparticles having partly overlapping CH stretching vibrations. Inverse Fourier transformation (IFT) was applied to Raman spectra of PP and om-POSS, indicating that the oscillatory structures of the vibrational decays differ markedly and allow selective imaging, with minimally using one time point per spatial point, which is also confirmed by the CARS measurements. CARS decays measured additionally for lipid films of cholesterol and DOPC (1,2-dioleyl-<i>sn</i>-glycero-3-phosphocholine) indicate selective detection of cholesterol at a specific probe delay time. The results of this study show that the tr-CARS technique has potential for chemically selective, nonresonant background free imaging using overlapping vibrations

Photoinduced energy and charge transfer in layered porphyrin-gold nanoparticle thin films

In thin films of porphyrin (H2P) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), photoexcitation of porphyrins leads to energy and charge transfer to the gold nanoparticles. Alternating layers of porphyrins and octanethiol protected gold nanoparticles (dcore ∼3 nm) were deposited on solid substrates via the Langmuir-Schäfer method, forming bilayer films denoted as H 2P/AuNP. Photoinduced electron transfer from the gold nanoparticle layer to the porphyrin layer was observed as a distinct photovoltage response of the H2P/AuNP film when studied via the time-resolved Maxwell displacement charge (TRMDC) method. Time-resolved fluorescence and absorption measurements of the H2P/AuNP film demonstrated a significant reduction of the lifetime of the excited singlet state of porphyrin caused by the gold nanoparticles. Transients of the charge transfer reaction were not observed in the time-resolved absorption measurements, which indicates that the quantum yield of the charge transfer is low in the H2P/AuNP film. Energy transfer from the excited singlet state of porphyrin to the gold nanoparticles is the main deactivation path of excited porphyrins in the H 2P/AuNP film. The critical distance of the energy transfer was estimated to be 6.4 nm, based on the dependence of fluorescence quenching on the distance between the porphyrin and gold nanoparticle layers

Photoinduced energy and charge transfer in layered porphyrin-gold nanoparticle thin films

In thin films of porphyrin (H2P) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), photoexcitation of porphyrins leads to energy and charge transfer to the gold nanoparticles. Alternating layers of porphyrins and octanethiol protected gold nanoparticles (dcore ∼3 nm) were deposited on solid substrates via the Langmuir-Schäfer method, forming bilayer films denoted as H 2P/AuNP. Photoinduced electron transfer from the gold nanoparticle layer to the porphyrin layer was observed as a distinct photovoltage response of the H2P/AuNP film when studied via the time-resolved Maxwell displacement charge (TRMDC) method. Time-resolved fluorescence and absorption measurements of the H2P/AuNP film demonstrated a significant reduction of the lifetime of the excited singlet state of porphyrin caused by the gold nanoparticles. Transients of the charge transfer reaction were not observed in the time-resolved absorption measurements, which indicates that the quantum yield of the charge transfer is low in the H2P/AuNP film. Energy transfer from the excited singlet state of porphyrin to the gold nanoparticles is the main deactivation path of excited porphyrins in the H 2P/AuNP film. The critical distance of the energy transfer was estimated to be 6.4 nm, based on the dependence of fluorescence quenching on the distance between the porphyrin and gold nanoparticle layers

Synthesis and time-resolved fluorescence study of porphyrin-functionalized gold nanoparticles

Free-base porphyrins with two thioacetate terminated linkers in different positions on the porphyrin molecule were synthesized and attached to tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOABr) stabilized gold nanoparticles with a core diameter of 5 nm. The different positions of the linkers affect the stability of the functionalized gold nanoparticles and have an effect on the packing density of the molecules on the nanoparticle surface. However, the intended control of the orientation of the porphyrin molecules relative to the gold nanoparticle surface is not well achieved with the chosen linkers. Fluorescence of the porphyrins is observed to be strongly quenched after the attachment to the nanoparticles. Fluorescence lifetimes of the porphyrin-functionalized gold nanoparticles were determined with the up-conversion method to be very short, 3-5 ps. The short fluorescence lifetimes indicate efficient energy transfer to the gold cores

Photoinduced charge and energy transfer in phthalocyanine-functionalized gold nanoparticles

Photoinduced processes in phthalocyanine-functionalized gold nanoparticles (Pc-AuNPs) have been investigated by spectroscopic measurements. The metal-free phthalocyanines used have two linkers with thioacetate groups for bonding to the gold nanoparticle surface, and the attachment was achieved using a ligand exchange reaction. The absorption spectrum of the Pc-AuNPs shows a broadening of the phthalocyanine Q-band absorption, probably due to a tight packing of the phthalocyanines on the gold nanoparticle surface. For the attached phthalocyanines, fluorescence is strongly quenched, and the fluorescence lifetimes determined by time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) are strongly reduced. The quenching mechanisms were studied in detail with time-resolved absorption (pump-probe) measurements. A selective excitation of the gold cores in the pump-probe experiment results in an energy transfer from the gold nanoparticles to the attached phthalocyanines in ∼2.4 ps. Photoexcitation of mainly the phthalocyanines in the functionalized nanoparticles leads to an electron transfer to the gold core in ∼3.0 ps. The recombination of charges in the Pc-AuNP takes place on a picosecond time scale. In addition, there is evidence of energy transfer from the photoexcited phthalocyanines to the gold nanoparticles

Novel pyrazine metabolites found in polymyxin biosynthesis by Paenibacillus polymyxa

A complex mixture of methyl-branched alkyl-substituted pyrazines was found in the growth medium of the polymyxin-producing bacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa, and of these, seven are new natural compounds. A total of 19 pyrazine metabolites were identified. The dominant metabolite was 2,5-diisopropylpyrazine as identified using a combination of high-resolution mass spectrometry, 1H- and 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry as well as co-elution with an authentic standard. Its biosynthesis was correlated with growth and production was strongly stimulated by valine supplementation. The other pyrazine metabolites, all related pyrazines with either one, two or three alkyl substituents, were identified by means of their mass spectral data and/or co-elution with authentic standards

Soidensuojelutyöryhmän ehdotus soidensuojelun täydentämiseksi

nonPeerReviewe