Rapid Raman mapping for chocolate analysis

Raman microspectroscopy mapping capabilities have advanced significantly and have been applied to cell and pharmaceutical tablet formulation analysis. Bulk Raman investigations of food and their constituents have been carried out but little work exists on the application of Raman mapping capabilities to food. Here, we assess the applicability of Raman microspectroscopy mapping to the analysis of chocolate and examine both white and milk chocolate samples. It was found that the sucrose, lactose and fat constituents of white chocolate could be extracted and spatially resolved, indicating that the sucrose and lactose formed particles within a matrix of 'fats'. Fluorescence from cocoa solids present in milk chocolate prevented chemical mapping with the instrumentation used. Raman mapping should provide a powerful analytical technique for the analysis and development of food products

Au4Mn, a localized ferromagnet with strong spin-orbit coupling, long-range ferromagnetic exchange and high Curie temperature

Metallic Mn-based alloys with a nearest-neighbor Mn-Mn distance greater than 0.4 nm exhibit large, well-localized magnetic moments. Here we investigate the magnetism of tetragonal Au4Mn with a Curie temperature of 385 K, where manganese has a spin moment of 4.1 muB and its orbital moment is quenched. Since 80% of the atoms are gold, the spin orbit interaction is strong and Au4Mn exhibits uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy with surface maze domains at room temperature. The magnetic hardness parameter of 1.0 is sufficient to maintain the magnetization along the c-axis for a sample of any shape. Au also reduces the spin moment of Mn through 5d-3d orbital hybridization. An induced moment of 0.05 muB was found on Au under a pulsed field of 40 T. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the Mn-Mn exchange is mediated by spin-polarized gold 5d and 6p electrons. The distance-dependence shows that it is ferromagnetic or zero for the first ten shells of Mn neighbors out to 1.041 nm (64 atoms), and very weak and oscillatory thereafter

Sport, War and Democracy in Classical Athens

This article concerns the paradox of athletics in classical Athens. Democracy may have opened up politics to every class of Athenian but it had little impact on sporting participation. The city’s athletes continued to drawn predominantly from the upper class. It comes as a surprise then that lower-class Athenians actually esteemed athletes above every other group in the public eye, honoured them very generously when they won, and directed a great deal of public and private money to sporting competitions and facilities. In addition athletics escaped the otherwise persistent criticism of upper-class activities in the popular culture of the democracy. The research of social scientists on sport and aggression suggests this paradox may have been due to the cultural overlap between athletics and war under the Athenian democracy. The article concludes that the practical and ideological democratization of war by classical Athens legitimized and supported upper-class sport

Towards accurate and precise T1 and extracellular volume mapping in the myocardium: a guide to current pitfalls and their solutions

Mapping of the longitudinal relaxation time (T1) and extracellular volume (ECV) offers a means of identifying pathological changes in myocardial tissue, including diffuse changes that may be invisible to existing T1-weighted methods. This technique has recently shown strong clinical utility for pathologies such as Anderson- Fabry disease and amyloidosis and has generated clinical interest as a possible means of detecting small changes in diffuse fibrosis; however, scatter in T1 and ECV estimates offers challenges for detecting these changes, and bias limits comparisons between sites and vendors. There are several technical and physiological pitfalls that influence the accuracy (bias) and precision (repeatability) of T1 and ECV mapping methods. The goal of this review is to describe the most significant of these, and detail current solutions, in order to aid scientists and clinicians to maximise the utility of T1 mapping in their clinical or research setting. A detailed summary of technical and physiological factors, issues relating to contrast agents, and specific disease-related issues is provided, along with some considerations on the future directions of the field. Towards accurate and precise T1 and extracellular volume mapping in the myocardium: a guide to current pitfalls and their solutions. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317548806_Towards_accurate_and_precise_T1_and_extracellular_volume_mapping_in_the_myocardium_a_guide_to_current_pitfalls_and_their_solutions [accessed Jun 13, 2017]