Ultrafast exciton relaxation in the B850 antenna complex of Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Spectral changes were measured with femtosecond resolution following low-intensity, broad-band excitation of the peripheral antenna complex of the purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Absorption anisotropy decays also were measured. We identified a 35-fs relaxation of the absorption and emission spectra of the excited state, as well as a 20-fs anisotropy decay. We interpret these results as interlevel relaxation and dephasing, respectively, of extensively delocalized exciton states of the circular bacteriochlorophyll aggregate.     

Extension Language Automation of Embedded System Debugging

Embedded systems contain several layers of target processing abstraction. These layers include electronic circuit, binary machine code, mnemonic assembly code, and high-level procedural and object-oriented abstractions. Physical and temporal constraints and artifacts within physically embedded systems make it impossible for software engineers to operate at a single layer of processor abstraction. The Luxdbg embedded system debugger exposes these layers to debugger users, and it adds an additional layer, the extension language layer, that allows users to extend both the debugger and its target processor capabilities. Tcl is Luxdbg's extension language. Luxdbg users can apply Tcl to automate interactive debugging steps, to redirect and to interconnect target processor input-output facilities, to schedule multiple processor execution, to log and to react to target processing exceptions, to automate target system testing, and to prototype new debugging features. Inclusion of an extension language like Tcl in a debugger promises additional advantages for distributed debugging, where debuggers can pass extension language expressions across computer networks.     

Biological variation of prostate specific antigen levels in serum: an evaluation of day-to-day physiological fluctuations in a well-defined cohort of 24 patients

PURPOSE: We evaluated the daily biological variation of serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) concentrations to determine the critical difference required between 2 consecutive PSA measurements that would indicate a significant elevation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 24 men, grouped according to clinical diagnosis and PSA, underwent phlebotomy for 10 consecutive weekdays. Duplicate serum samples were measured using 3 separate lots of Tandem-E and IMx PSA assays. The biological variation was calculated and the 2 PSA assay systems were compared. The critical difference was examined to determine the percent elevation necessary to indicate (with 95% confidence) that PSA had increased beyond what would be expected from biological and analytical variation. RESULTS: The biological variation, defined in terms of percent coefficient of variation, had a log-normal distribution with a geometric mean of 7.3% coefficient of variation and a 95th percentile value of 19.2% coefficient of variation using the Tandem-E PSA assay. Assuming an analytical variation of 5% coefficient of variation, the median critical difference was 20.5% and the 95th percentile critical difference was 45.8%. There was no significant difference between the 2 PSA assay systems in biological variation. However, PSA concentrations measured by the IMx assay were consistently lower compared to values measured by the Tandem-E assay. CONCLUSIONS: Characterizing the biological variation of serum PSA assists in evaluating the significance of changes in serial PSA measurements. The degree of biological variation differs among patients, such that an increase between 2 consecutive PSA levels that is less than 20 to 46% may be due to biological and analytical variation. These data influence interpretation of repeated measurements of serum PSA with time.     

The Effect of Bridge Geometry on Microstructure and Texture Evolution During Porthole Die Extrusion of an Al–Mg–Si–Mn–Cr Alloy

Porthole die extrusion is used to produce complex hollow aluminum cross-sections for automotive applications. In a porthole die, the material is first divided into multiple streams which are separated by a bridge, before rejoining in the weld chamber and finally passing through the die orifice. The rejoining of the material in the weld chamber produces lines known as weld lines in the final extruded product. The microstructure along the weld line and its associated quality are strongly influenced by the thermal-mechanical history the material experiences as it passes through the portholes, the weld chamber, and the die orifice, which can be altered by die design and, in particular, the bridge geometry. To study the influence of bridge geometry on weld line microstructure and final quality, a series of porthole die extrusion experiments was conducted using an Al–Mg–Si–Mn–Cr alloy and two different types of bridge geometry (streamlined and flat). The experimental results showed that bridge geometry had a significant effect on the local microstructure and crystallographic texture at the weld line. Specifically, EBSD analysis indicated that the weld line texture associated with a streamlined bridge geometry consisted of a deformation texture (mainly the copper component), while the local texture produced by a flat bridge was a recrystallization texture consisting of Cube, Goss, and Cube_RD texture components. Simulation of the extrusion process, using DEFORM 3D, indicated that the weld line produced using a flat bridge experienced a slightly higher temperature, but much higher equivalent strains than the streamlined case. Material away from the weld line was very similar for both cases, indicating that the effect of the die bridge geometry is localized to the region close to the weld line.

     

Analysis of polymerase chain reaction products by on-line liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for genotyping of polymorphic short tandem repeat loci.

Capillary ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (IP-RP-HPLC) was used to separate and purify DNA fragments amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) prior to their characterization by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The investigation by ESI-MS of single- or double stranded species could be effortlessly selected by chromatography of the nucleic acids under either nondenaturing or denaturing conditions, which were realized by proper adjustment of the column temperature. ESI-MS detection sensitivity was improved by a factor of 10 upon replacement of 25 mM triethylammonium bicarbonate as ion-pair reagent by 25 mM butyldimethylammonium bicarbonate because of the applicability of higher acetonitrile concentrations to elute the DNA from the monolithic, poly(styrene/divinylbenzene)-based capillary columns. For fragments ranging in size from 67 to 84 base pairs, the mass accuracies and mass reproducibilities were typically better than 0.02 and 0.008%, respectively, which enabled the characterization and identification of the PCR products with high confidence. The hyphenated method was applied to the genotyping of polymorphic short tandem repeat (STR) loci from the human tyrosine hydroxylase gene (humTH01). The different alleles both in homo- and heterozygotes were identified on the basis of the masses of the single-stranded amplicons and were in full accordance with the alleles identified by conventional capillary electrophoretic sizing.     

Coagulation of NOM: linking character to treatment.

The paper presents an overview and discussion on the link between natural organic matter (NOM) character and its treatability by coagulation. Trials were conducted on a series of bench scale and pilot plant trials on three source waters: two from UK moorland catchments and one from a US snow melt source. Overall the work demonstrates the importance of the polarity balance and the charge density of the NOM contained within the source water. The hydrophobic content controls the coagulant demand such that variation in the demand between sources or sampling periods can be accounted for by changes in the hydrophobic content and its charge density. The raw water hydrophilic content, and specifically the nonacid fraction, provides a useful indicator of the achievable residual. Analysis of coagulation performance revealed a clear relationship between zeta potential and residual DOC. For each source an operational zeta potential range exists within which the residual concentration is optimal. Comparison of the ranges achieved during each trial demonstrated that a communal range between -10 and +3 mV exist for all waters thus providing a useful guide range for operational control.     

Profiling 627 mitochondrial nucleotides via the analysis of a 23-plex polymerase chain reaction by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

We present a rapid and informative mitochondrial DNA profiling system, which has high forensic impact. The assay is based on the analysis of a 23-plex PCR by ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography online hyphenated to electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ICEMS). In a single 25-min run, an overall number of 627 nucleotide positions were screened. The vast majority of observed sequence variations were explainable by alterations of the allelic states of the 23 target SNPs, which were selected on their ability to increase forensic discrimination within West Eurasian populations. Within an Austrian population sample comprising 90 unrelated men, 14 different, nontarget SNP-related sequence variations--13 base substitutions and 1 deletion--were detected by ICEMS and confirmed by sequencing. All amplified sequences were located outside of the routinely sequenced hypervariable segments (HVS-I and HVS-II) of the noncoding control region. Accordingly, the genetic information obtained by the 23-plex PCR-ICEMS assay could be combined with HVS-I/HVS-II sequencing results to one highly discriminating mtDNA profile, which covered approximately 7.5% of the total mtDNA genome. With the 23-plex PCR-ICEMS assay, DNA mixtures were detected and the allelic ratios were accurately quantified. The observed robustness and sensitivity underlined the practical applicability of the assay in forensic science, which was proven by typing eight representative casework samples.     

Seafloor topography and tectonic elements of the Western Indian Ocean

The break-up of Gondwanaland and dispersal of several of its component continental fragments, which eventually formed the margins of the Indian Ocean, have produced an ocean basin of enormous variety, both in relief and in origin of seafloor features. The western half of the Indian Ocean alone contains every type of tectonic plate boundary, both active and fossil, and, along with some of the deepest fracture zones, the most complex mid-ocean ridge configurations and some of the thickest sedimentary sequences in the world's ocean basins. This ocean is one of the most diverse on the face of the globe. We explore the evolution of the morphology of the Indian Ocean floor, and discuss the effect of its variations, maxima and minima, on the interconnectivity of the ocean's water masses.