293 research outputs found
Centrosymmetric molecules as possible carriers of diffuse interstellar bands
In this paper, we present new data with interstellar C2 (Phillips bands A-X),
from observations made with the Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph of the
European Southern Observatory. We have determined the interstellar column
densities and excitation temperatures of C2 for nine Galactic lines. For seven
of these, C2 has never been observed before, so in this case the still small
sample of interstellar clouds (26 lines of sight), where a detailed analysis of
C2 excitation has been made, has increased significantly. This paper is a
continuation of previous works where interstellar molecules (C2 and diffuse
interstellar bands) have been analysed. Because the sample of interstellar
clouds with C2 has increased, we can show that the width and shape of the
profiles of some diffuse interstellar bands (6196 and 5797 A) apparently depend
on the gas kinetic and rotational temperatures of C2; the profiles are broader
because of the higher values of the gas kinetic and rotational temperatures of
C2. There are also diffuse interstellar bands (4964 and 5850 A) for which this
effect does not exist.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted to MNRAS 201
Thermal Wave Measurements with a Mirage Detection for Investigation of Thermal Diffusivity of GdCa4O(BO3)3 Single Crystals
Single crystals of GdCa4O(BO3)3 were examined to determine their thermal properties. Samples were grown by the Czochralski pulling technique. There were three types of samples: a pure crystal, the crystal doped
with neodymium (4 at.% of Nd), and the third one doped with ytterbium (7 at.% of Yb). All samples were rectangular prisms with edges parallel to the axes of the optical indicatrix X, Y , Z (principal axes). The thermal
diffusivity was determined by means of the thermal wave method with the optical detection of the temperature disturbance based on a mirage effect. Experimental results showed anisotropy of the thermal diffusivity. The thermal diffusivity along Y direction has the highest value while values obtained in X and Z axes are much lower. Dopants cause decrease in the thermal diffusivity for all investigated directions
Caco<inf>3</inf> precipitation in multilayered cyanobacterial mats: Clues to explain the alternation of micrite and sparite layers in calcareous stromatolites
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Marine cyanobacterial mats were cultured on coastal sediments (Nivå Bay, Øresund, Denmark) for over three years in a closed system. Carbonate particles formed in two different modes in the mat: (i) through precipitation of submicrometer-sized grains of Mg calcite within the mucilage near the base of living cyanobacterial layers, and (ii) through precipitation of a variety of mixed Mg calcite/aragonite morphs in layers of degraded cyanobacteria dominated by purple sulfur bacteria. The 13C values were about 2‰ heavier in carbonates from the living cyanobacterial zones as compared to those generated in the purple bacterial zones. Saturation indices calculated with respect to calcite, aragonite, and dolomite inside the mats showed extremely high values across the mat profile. Such high values were caused by high pH and high carbonate alkalinity generated within the mats in conjunction with increased concentrations of calcium and magnesium that were presumably stored in sheaths and extracellular polymer substances (EPS) of the living cyanobacteria and liberated during their post-mortem degradation. The generated CaCO3 morphs were highly similar to morphs reported from heterotrophic bacterial cultures, and from bacterially decomposed cyanobacterial biomass emplaced in Ca-rich media. They are also similar to CaCO3 morphs precipitated from purely inorganic solutions. No metabolically (enzymatically) controlled formation of particular CaCO3 morphs by heterotrophic bacteria was observed in the studied mats. The apparent alternation of in vivo and post-mortem generated calcareous layers in the studied cyanobacterial mats may explain the alternation of fine-grained (micritic) and coarse-grained (sparitic) laminae observed in modern and fossil calcareous cyanobacterial microbialites as the result of a probably similar multilayered mat organization
Direction-sensitive graphene flow sensor
Graphene flow sensors hold great prospects for applications, but also
encounter many difficulties, such as unwanted electrochemical phenomena, low
measurable signal and limited dependence on the flow direction. This study
proposes a novel approach allowing for the detection of a flow
direction-dependent electric signal in aqueous solutions of salts, acids and
bases. The key element in the proposed solution is the use of a reference
electrode which allows external gating of the graphene structure. Using
external gating enables to enhance substantially the amplitude of the
flow-generated signal. Simultaneous measurement of the reference electrode
current allows us to recover a flow-direction-sensitive component of the
flow-induced voltage in graphene. The obtained results are discussed in terms
of the Coulomb interaction and other phenomena which can be present at the
interface of graphene with the aqueous solution.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Abundances and rotational temperatures of the C2 interstellar molecule towards six reddened early-type stars
Using high-resolution (~85000) and high signal-to-noise ratio (~200) optical
spectra acquired with the European Southern Observatory Ultraviolet and Visual
Echelle Spectrograph, we have determined the interstellar column densities of
C2 for six Galactic lines of sight with E(B- V) ranging from 0.33 to 1.03. For
our purposes, we identified and measured absorption lines belonging to the (1,
0), (2, 0) and (3, 0) Phillips bands A1{\Pi}u-X1{\Sigma}+g. We report on the
identification of a few lines of the C2 (4, 0) Phillips system towards HD
147889. The curve-of-growth method is applied to the equivalent widths to
determine the column densities of the individual rotational levels of C2. The
excitation temperature is extracted from the rotational diagrams. The physical
parameters of the intervening molecular clouds (e.g. gas kinetic temperatures
and densities of collision partners) were estimated by comparison with the
theoretical model of excitation of C2.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS 201
The response surface methodology for optimization of tyrosinase immobilization onto electrospun polycaprolactone-chitosan fibers for use in bisphenol A removal.
Composite polycaprolactone-chitosan material was produced by an electrospinning method and used as a support for immobilization of tyrosinase by mixed ionic interactions and hydrogen bonds formation. The morphology of the fibers and enzyme deposition were confirmed by SEM images. Further, multivariate polynomial regression was used to model the experimental data and to determine optimal conditions for immobilization process, which were found to be pH 7, temperature 25 °C and 16 h process duration. Under these conditions, novel type of biocatalytic system was produced with immobilization yield of 93% and expressed activity of 95%. Furthermore, as prepared system was applied in batch experiments related to biodegradation of bisphenol A under various remediation conditions. It was found that over 80% of the pollutant was removed after 120 min of the process, in the temperature range 15-45 °C and pH 6-9, using solutions at concentration up to 3 mg/L. Experimental data collected proved that the stability and reusability of the tyrosinase were significantly improved upon immobilization: the immobilized biomolecule retained around 90% of its initial activity after 30 days of storage, and was still capable to remove over 80% of bisphenol A even after 10 repeated uses. By contrast, free enzyme was able to remove over 80% of bisphenol A at pH 7-8 and temperature range 15-35 °C, and retained less than 60% of its initial activity after 30 days of storage
The chemistry of C3 & Carbon Chain Molecules in DR21(OH)
(Abridged) We have observed velocity resolved spectra of four ro-vibrational
far-infrared transitions of C3 between the vibrational ground state and the
low-energy nu2 bending mode at frequencies between 1654--1897 GHz using HIFI on
board Herschel, in DR21(OH), a high mass star forming region. Several
transitions of CCH and c-C3H2 have also been observed with HIFI and the IRAM
30m telescope. A gas and grain warm-up model was used to identify the primary
C3 forming reactions in DR21(OH). We have detected C3 in absorption in four
far-infrared transitions, P(4), P(10), Q(2) and Q(4). The continuum sources MM1
and MM2 in DR21(OH) though spatially unresolved, are sufficiently separated in
velocity to be identified in the C3 spectra. All C3 transitions are detected
from the embedded source MM2 and the surrounding envelope, whereas only Q(4) &
P(4) are detected toward the hot core MM1. The abundance of C3 in the envelope
and MM2 is \sim6x10^{-10} and \sim3x10^{-9} respectively. For CCH and c-C3H2 we
only detect emission from the envelope and MM1. The observed CCH, C3, and
c-C3H2 abundances are most consistent with a chemical model with
n(H2)\sim5x10^{6} cm^-3 post-warm-up dust temperature, T_max =30 K and a time
of \sim0.7-3 Myr. Post warm-up gas phase chemistry of CH4 released from the
grain at t\sim 0.2 Myr and lasting for 1 Myr can explain the observed C3
abundance in the envelope of DR21(OH) and no mechanism involving
photodestruction of PAH molecules is required. The chemistry in the envelope is
similar to the warm carbon chain chemistry (WCCC) found in lukewarm corinos.
The observed lower C3 abundance in MM1 as compared to MM2 and the envelope
could be indicative of destruction of C3 in the more evolved MM1. The timescale
for the chemistry derived for the envelope is consistent with the dynamical
timescale of 2 Myr derived for DR21(OH) in other studies.Comment: 11 Pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Detection of hydrogen fluoride absorption in diffuse molecular clouds with Herschel/HIFI: a ubiquitous tracer of molecular gas
We discuss the detection of absorption by interstellar hydrogen fluoride (HF)
along the sight line to the submillimeter continuum sources W49N and W51. We
have used Herschel's HIFI instrument in dual beam switch mode to observe the
1232.4762 GHz J = 1 - 0 HF transition in the upper sideband of the band 5a
receiver. We detected foreground absorption by HF toward both sources over a
wide range of velocities. Optically thin absorption components were detected on
both sight lines, allowing us to measure - as opposed to obtain a lower limit
on - the column density of HF for the first time. As in previous observations
of HF toward the source G10.6-0.4, the derived HF column density is typically
comparable to that of water vapor, even though the elemental abundance of
oxygen is greater than that of fluorine by four orders of magnitude. We used
the rather uncertain N(CH)-N(H2) relationship derived previously toward diffuse
molecular clouds to infer the molecular hydrogen column density in the clouds
exhibiting HF absorption. Within the uncertainties, we find that the abundance
of HF with respect to H2 is consistent with the theoretical prediction that HF
is the main reservoir of gas-phase fluorine for these clouds. Thus, hydrogen
fluoride has the potential to become an excellent tracer of molecular hydrogen,
and provides a sensitive probe of clouds of small H2 column density. Indeed,
the observations of hydrogen fluoride reported here reveal the presence of a
low column density diffuse molecular cloud along the W51 sight line, at an LSR
velocity of ~ 24kms-1, that had not been identified in molecular absorption
line studies prior to the launch of Herschel.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, A&A Letter special issue, accepted on 07/13/201
- …