Blue-fluorescence of NADPH as an indicator of marine primary production

Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate (NADPH) is the primary product of photosynthesisand can therefore serve as an indicator of biomass and photosynthetic activity. Pure NADPH whichis the reduced form of NADP shows an absorption maximum at 340 nm and a maximum of emissionat 460 nm. NADPH concentrations in terrestrial vegetation have already been studied since1957 in great detail with optical methods. However, its potential as a biomass parameter of oceanicphytoplankton which can be assessed in situ and remotely with fluorescence spectroscopy has notyet been investigated.In this paper, we report on laboratory investigations of the blue-fluorescence spectrum in algalsuspensions of Chlorella and Thalassiosira when excited with UV-A light. It is shown that cell densitiesof about 106 per litre as they are typically found under natural conditions are too low for precisedetection of NADPH fluorescence, while concentrated samples with 108-1010 cells per litre exhibitsignificant blue-fluorescence which can be related to NADPH. Inhibition of photosynthetic activityby addition of DCMU decreases the strength of blue-fluorescence remarkably. Since NADPHis an end product of photosynthesis, changes of PAR illumination levels should directly affect itsconcentration and hence the intensity of blue-fluorescence. However, no effect of illumination onblue-fluorescence could be observed in our study. Possible reasons of these observations are discussed,and perspectives for practical applications of the method used are proposed

Calculation of the pressures on aircraft engine bearings

For aircraft engines the three principal operating conditions are idling speed, cruising speed, and diving with the engine stopped. In what follows, we will discuss a method which affords a good idea of the course of pressure for the above mentioned operating conditions. The pressures produced in the driving gear are of three kinds; namely, the pressure due to gases, the pressure due to the inertia of the rotating masses, and the pressure due to the inertia of the reciprocating masses

What the hell do they mean by 'locomotion'?

In current mechanics literature one very frequently encounters the concepts locomotion and locomotion system. Unfortunately, strong definitions of these seemingly intuitively clear notions are generally missing. The following paper tries to fill this gap

On a class of biomorphic motion systems

In this paper we consider the dynamics of certain worm-like motion systems with finite degree of freedom. The masspoints of the systems are equipped with runners (steerable in the plane) that, caused by scales, admit motion only in a distinc

The Vigani Cabinet - Analysis of historical resinous materials by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy

Natural resins have been in use for a long time and for manifold purposes resulting in a long and complex terminological history. The investigation of this history has so far been based on the connection between nomenclature and chemical composition. Because resin chemistry and the botanical classification of source plants are connected as well, the investigation of natural resins can be enhanced by adding taxonomy as an additional dimension, providing a more complex and complete picture of resin chemistry and resin use. The Vigani Cabinet, a collection of 300-year-old pharmaceutical and chemical materials owned by Queens’ College, Cambridge (UK), allows doing just that. A wide range of historical literature provides information about contemporary terminology, botanical and geographical origin, manufacture, trade and properties of resinous materials from the 18th century. This contemporary context is a particular feature of the Cabinet, which allows adding a historical dimension to the correlations between terminology, chemical composition and taxonomy. The dissertation thesis presented here provides an investigation of 17 botanical, 80 reference materials and samples from 24 natural resins from the Vigani Cabinet, studying these complex correlations and changes over time. The analytical method employed in this study was gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with and without methylation with trimethylsulfoniumhydroxide. This technique provided detailed molecular compositions of the studied materials. Analysed botanical samples are taken from Pinaceae, Cupressaceae and Pistacia resins, commerical references from Araucariaceae, Copaifera, Fabaceae, Myroxylon and Burseraceae. Additionally, the soluble fraction of Baltic amber was analysed. Materials from the Vigani Cabinet analysed in this work were labelled as "turpentines", "pix burgundica", "sandaracha", "copaiba", "balsamum peruvianum and tolutanum", "mastiche", "anime", "copal", "elemi", "tacamahaca" and "succinum". Historical nomenclature of natural resins has not always been unequivocally associated with a botanical origin. The availability of natural resins changed throughout the centuries. Lack of knowledge, in particular about resins from over-seas, or adulterations resulting from changing harvesting methods, led to changes in trade names or variations in the composition of products traded under the same name. Generic names were used for resins with similar properties but different botanical (and geographical) origin. The thesis shows that a chemotaxonomic reference system is suitable for the identification of unknown resinous materials, and a number of new insights into the nomenclature of natural resins from the 17th and 18th century is obtained. The study of historical literature contributed in a significant way to the historico-cultural and archeometric research of the samples from the Vigani Cabinet and of natural resins in general and provided a basis for the interpretation of the chemical data from the Vigani samples.:CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Natural resins in a historical and modern context 1 1.2 The Vigani Cabinet and its historical background 3 1.3 Aim of the thesis - outline 6 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8 2.1 Gymnosperm resins – conifer resins and products 9 2.1.1 Pinaceae 9 2.1.2 Cupressaceae 17 2.1.3 Araucariaceae 20 2.2 Angiosperm resins I – Fabales 21 2.3 Angiosperm resins II – Sapindales 30 2.3.1 Anacardiaceae 30 2.3.2 Burseraceae 35 2.3.3 Rutaceae 43 2.4 Fossil resins 45 2.5 Summary and research deficits 49 3 EXPERIMENTAL 53 3.1 Coupled gas chromatography and mass spectrometry 53 3.1.1 Materials 53 3.1.2 Sample preparation 54 3.1.3 Instrumentation 54 3.1.4 Data-Evaluation 58 3.2 Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy 60 3.2.1 Sample preparation 61 3.2.2 Instrumentation 61 3.2.3 Data evaluation 61 4 RESULTS – REFERENCE MATERIALS 62 4.1 Gymnosperm resins – conifer resins and products 62 4.1.1 Pinaceae – Coniferous turpentines 62 4.1.1.1 Phytochemical markers – detection of adulterations 62 4.1.1.2 Aging by heat and light 73 4.1.2 Cupressaceae – Sandarac 80 4.1.3 Araucariaceae – Coniferous copals 88 4.1.4 Discussion 91 4.2 Angiosperm Resins I - Fabales 94 4.2.1 Copaifera – Copaiba balsam 94 4.2.2 Legume copals 102 4.2.3 Myroxylon – Balsam of Tolu and Peru 108 4.2.4 Discussion 117 4.3 Angiosperm resins II - Sapindales 120 4.3.1 Anacardiaceae – Pistacia resins 120 4.3.2 Burseraceae – Elemi, copal and others 127 4.3.3 Discussion 142 4.4 Fossil resins 144 4.4.1 Baltic amber 144 4.4.2 Discussion 153 4.5 Summary and research deficits 155 5 RESULTS – RESINOUS MATERIALS FROM THE VIGANI CABINET 160 5.1 Gymnosperm resins – conifer resins and products 162 5.1.1 1/8 Terebin. Strasb. 163 5.1.2 1/9 Tereb Com 170 5.1.3 1/10 Venice Turpentine 176 5.1.4 1/11 Venic. Turpent. 183 5.1.5 1/13 Tereb E Chio 188 5.1.6 A/23 Pix Burgundica 194 5.1.7 A/26 Sandaracha 203 5.2 Angiosperm resins I - Fabales 210 5.2.1 1/4 Balsam Cipivi 211 5.2.2 A/5 Gum Animi 218 5.2.3 La2/7 Unknown resin 228 5.2.4 1/31 Bals Peruv 230 5.2.5 2/1 Bals Peru 237 5.2.6 Z/17 Balsam Tolutanum 240 5. 3 Angiosperm resins II – Sapindales 245 5.3.1 A/11 Mastiche 246 5.3.2 1/14 Tereb i E Cypri 252 5.3.3 A/21 Gum Copal 258 5.3.4 A/24 [.] Elemi 268 5.3.5 A/22 Tacamahaca 276 5.3.6 Z/1 Tacamahaca 283 5.4 Fossil Resins 287 5.4.1 E/13 Succinum Citrinum 288 5.4.2 E/14 Succinum flavan 295 5.4.3 E/15 Succinum albam 302 5.4.4 E/16 Succinum nigram 307 5.4.5 F/13 L. Gagatis 313 6 CONCLUSIONS 316 7 REFERENCES 324 APPENDIX 365 Investigated materials from the Vigani Cabinet 366 Annotated list of historical literature 367 List of figures 374 List of tables 379 Compound lists 381 Atlas of mass spectra 422Naturharze werden schon lange für sehr unterschiedliche Zwecke verwendet. Dies hat zu einer oft komplizierten Terminologie geführt, deren Untersuchung sich bisher auf den Zusammenhang zwischen dem Namen des Harzes und seiner chemischer Zusammensetzung stützte. Letztere ist aber auch mit der botanischer Herkunft und damit der Biochemie der Stammpflanze verknüpft, weshalb man chemotaxonomische Aspekte für die systematische Untersuchung von Naturharzen als zusätzliche Variablen nutzen kann. Dadurch erhält man, wie die gezeigt werden soll, ein vollständigeres und komplexeres Bild der Chemie und Nutzung von Naturharzen. Die hier präsentierte Untersuchung beschäftigt sich mit dem Vigani-Kabinett, einer 300 Jahre alten pharmazeutischen Materialiensammlung, die sich im Queens‘ College, Cambridge (UK), befindet. In der Literatur des ausgehenden 17. und des 18. Jahrhunderts finden sich zahlreiche Informationen zu Terminologie, botanischer und geographischer Herkunft, Verarbeitung, Handel und Eigenschaften von Naturharzen. Dadurch wird die historische Dimension des oben beschriebenen Zusammenhangs zwischen Terminologie, chemischer Zusammensetzung und Taxonomie erfahrbar. In der Arbeit werden 17 botanische Proben, 80 moderne Referenzmaterialien und 24 Proben aus dem Vigani-Kabinett im Hinblick auf diese Zusammenhänge und Veränderungen untersucht.Die chemischen Analysen wurden mit gekoppelter Gaschromatografie-Massenspektrometrie mit und ohne Methylierung mit Trimethylsulfoniumhydroxid durchgeführt. Damit konnte die molekulare Zusammensetzung der Proben detailliert untersucht werden. Die untersuchten botanischen Proben stammten von Pinaceae, Cupressaceae und Pistaciaharzen, kommerzielle Referenzen von Araucariaceae, Copaifera, Fabaceae, Myroxylon und Burseraceaeharzen. Zusätzlich wurde noch die lösliche Fraktion von Baltischem Bernstein untersucht. Die untersuchten Proben aus dem Vigani-Kabinett waren sowohl englisch als auch Latein mit "turpentines", "pix burgundica", "sandaracha", "copaiba", "mastiche", "anime", "copal", "elemi", "tacamahaca", "balsamum peruvianum and tolutanum" und "succinum" beschriftet. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die historische Nomenklatur von Naturharzen nicht immer eindeutig mit ihrem botanischen Ursprung verknüpft war. Zusätzlich veränderte sich die Erhältlichkeit der Harze im Laufe der Jahrhunderte. Durch fehlendes Wissen, insbesondere für Materialien und Pflanzen aus Übersee, oder Verfälschungen aufgrund von veränderten Fördermethoden veränderten sich die Handelsnamen dieser Materialien oder die Zusammensetzung von Materialien, die unter demselben Namen gehandelt wurden. Harze mit ähnlichen Eigenschaften aber unterschiedlichen botanischen (und geographischen) Ursprungs trugen generische Namen. Die Arbeit zeigt jedoch, dass ein chemotaxonomisches Bezugssystem die Identifizierung von unbekannten Harzen ermöglicht, und zeigt eine Reihe neuer Erkenntnisse über die Nomenklatur von Naturharzen des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts. Die Untersuchung historischer Quellen trug dabei sehr zur Erhellung des historisch-kulturellen und archeometrischen Hintergrundes und zur Interpretation der chemischen Daten der Vigani-Proben bei.:CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Natural resins in a historical and modern context 1 1.2 The Vigani Cabinet and its historical background 3 1.3 Aim of the thesis - outline 6 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8 2.1 Gymnosperm resins – conifer resins and products 9 2.1.1 Pinaceae 9 2.1.2 Cupressaceae 17 2.1.3 Araucariaceae 20 2.2 Angiosperm resins I – Fabales 21 2.3 Angiosperm resins II – Sapindales 30 2.3.1 Anacardiaceae 30 2.3.2 Burseraceae 35 2.3.3 Rutaceae 43 2.4 Fossil resins 45 2.5 Summary and research deficits 49 3 EXPERIMENTAL 53 3.1 Coupled gas chromatography and mass spectrometry 53 3.1.1 Materials 53 3.1.2 Sample preparation 54 3.1.3 Instrumentation 54 3.1.4 Data-Evaluation 58 3.2 Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy 60 3.2.1 Sample preparation 61 3.2.2 Instrumentation 61 3.2.3 Data evaluation 61 4 RESULTS – REFERENCE MATERIALS 62 4.1 Gymnosperm resins – conifer resins and products 62 4.1.1 Pinaceae – Coniferous turpentines 62 4.1.1.1 Phytochemical markers – detection of adulterations 62 4.1.1.2 Aging by heat and light 73 4.1.2 Cupressaceae – Sandarac 80 4.1.3 Araucariaceae – Coniferous copals 88 4.1.4 Discussion 91 4.2 Angiosperm Resins I - Fabales 94 4.2.1 Copaifera – Copaiba balsam 94 4.2.2 Legume copals 102 4.2.3 Myroxylon – Balsam of Tolu and Peru 108 4.2.4 Discussion 117 4.3 Angiosperm resins II - Sapindales 120 4.3.1 Anacardiaceae – Pistacia resins 120 4.3.2 Burseraceae – Elemi, copal and others 127 4.3.3 Discussion 142 4.4 Fossil resins 144 4.4.1 Baltic amber 144 4.4.2 Discussion 153 4.5 Summary and research deficits 155 5 RESULTS – RESINOUS MATERIALS FROM THE VIGANI CABINET 160 5.1 Gymnosperm resins – conifer resins and products 162 5.1.1 1/8 Terebin. Strasb. 163 5.1.2 1/9 Tereb Com 170 5.1.3 1/10 Venice Turpentine 176 5.1.4 1/11 Venic. Turpent. 183 5.1.5 1/13 Tereb E Chio 188 5.1.6 A/23 Pix Burgundica 194 5.1.7 A/26 Sandaracha 203 5.2 Angiosperm resins I - Fabales 210 5.2.1 1/4 Balsam Cipivi 211 5.2.2 A/5 Gum Animi 218 5.2.3 La2/7 Unknown resin 228 5.2.4 1/31 Bals Peruv 230 5.2.5 2/1 Bals Peru 237 5.2.6 Z/17 Balsam Tolutanum 240 5. 3 Angiosperm resins II – Sapindales 245 5.3.1 A/11 Mastiche 246 5.3.2 1/14 Tereb i E Cypri 252 5.3.3 A/21 Gum Copal 258 5.3.4 A/24 [.] Elemi 268 5.3.5 A/22 Tacamahaca 276 5.3.6 Z/1 Tacamahaca 283 5.4 Fossil Resins 287 5.4.1 E/13 Succinum Citrinum 288 5.4.2 E/14 Succinum flavan 295 5.4.3 E/15 Succinum albam 302 5.4.4 E/16 Succinum nigram 307 5.4.5 F/13 L. Gagatis 313 6 CONCLUSIONS 316 7 REFERENCES 324 APPENDIX 365 Investigated materials from the Vigani Cabinet 366 Annotated list of historical literature 367 List of figures 374 List of tables 379 Compound lists 381 Atlas of mass spectra 42

Evaluation of the impact of atmospheric pressure loading modeling on GNSS data analysis

In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the sensitivity of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) station time series to displacements caused by atmospheric pressure loading (APL). Different methods to take the APL effect into account are used in these studies: applying the corrections from a geophysical model on weekly mean estimates of station coordinates, using observation-level corrections during data analysis, or solving for regression factors between the station displacement and the local pressure. The Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) is one of the global analysis centers of the International GNSS Service (IGS). The current quality of the IGS products urgently asks to consider this effect in the regular processing scheme. However, the resulting requirements for an APL model are demanding with respect to quality, latency, and—regarding the reprocessing activities—availability over a long time interval (at least from 1994 onward). The APL model of Petrov and Boy (J Geophys Res 109:B03405, 2004) is widely used within the VLBI community and is evaluated in this study with respect to these criteria. The reprocessing effort of CODE provides the basis for validating the APL model. The data set is used to solve for scaling factors for each station to evaluate the geophysical atmospheric non-tidal loading model. A consistent long-term validation of the model over 15years, from 1994 to 2008, is thus possible. The time series of 15years allows to study seasonal variations of the scaling factors using the dense GNSS tracking network of the IGS. By interpreting the scaling factors for the stations of the IGS network, the model by (2004) is shown to meet the expectations concerning the order of magnitude of the effect at individual stations within the uncertainty given by the GNSS data processing and within the limitations due to the model itself. The repeatability of station coordinates improves by 20% when applying the effect directly on the data analysis and by 10% when applying a post-processing correction to the resulting weekly coordinates compared with a solution without taking APL into accoun