Total Electron Content Measurements in the Ionosphere Disturbed by High-Power High-Frequency Waves by the Methods of Incoherent Scattering of Radio Waves and Radio Sounding by Glonass Satellite Signal

Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics - We present the results of comparing the total electron content measurements based on GLONASS satellite signals and the EISCAT UHF incoherent scatter radar...     

Development of pork fat reference material for OCPs BCR-CRM 430

Summary A pork fat sample was prepared and tested as candidate reference material for 10 organochlorine pesticides and metabolites (OCPs): hexachlorobenzene, -, - and -HCH, -heptachlor epoxide, dieldrin, endrin, p,p'-DDT, p,p'-TDE and p,p'-DDE. Preparation and testing for homogeneity and stability of the OCPs in the pork fat are discussed. The coefficient of variation of pesticide determinations carried out to test the between-ampoule homogeneity ranged from 2.4–5.8% and was found to be very similar to that for the analytical method (2.5–4.9%). This means that the homogeneity is very good. Stability data over 12 months do not show any trends that suggest lack of stability.     

Anomalous energy loss distributions of alpha particles in heavily implanted thin aluminium films

Anomalous energy loss distributions of ^l48Gd alpha particles have been observed in heavily implanted thin aluminium films. It is surmised that thin film micro-wrinkling is responsible for the observed effect and that the novel technique of energy loss spectral analysis (ELSA) should be useful in studies of the topography of such films.     

The Sura-EISCAT-WIND Experiments: Ionospheric Influence on the Response of a Decameter Interferometer with a Superlong Baseline

Results of the 1999 experiments on receiving radio-frequency signals from the SURA and EISCAT facilities on the WIND spacecraft at 5475 kHz are presented. Power and frequency distortions imposed by near-Earth plasmas on the response of SURA-EISCAT, an active decameter radio interferometer with a superlong baseline of 2000 km, are studied. Quasi-oscillatory variations in the intensity of the received radiation with a period of several tenths of a second and the corresponding maximum in the intensity fluctuation spectrum are observed during synchronized operation of the facilities under both quiet and perturbed geophysical conditions including the occurrence of mid-latitude F spread. Variations in the mean frequency of the spectral line both because of the motion of the spacecraft and the large-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances are detected. The obtained results are compared with the modern theoretical concept of propagation of short radio waves in a randomly irregular ionospheric plasma. The possibility to realize the limiting angular resolution of a ground-based decameter interferometer with a superlong baseline for observations of discrete space radio sources is discussed.     

Influence of natural organic matter on the screening of pharmaceuticals in water by using liquid chromatography with full scan mass spectrometry

The influence of natural organic matter on the screening of pharmaceuticals in water was determined by using high resolution liquid chromatography (HRLC) combined with full scan mass spectrometry (MS) techniques like time of flight (ToF) or Orbitrap MS. Water samples containing different amount of natural organic matter (NOM) and residues of a set of 11 pharmaceuticals were analyzed by using Exactive Orbitrap? LC-MS. The samples were screened for residues of pharmaceuticals belonging to different classes like benzimidazoles, macrolides, penicillins, quinolones, sulfonamides, tetracyclines, tranquillizers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), anti-epileptics and lipid regulators. The method characteristics were established over a concentration range of 0.1-500 μg L(-1). The 11 pharmaceuticals were added to two effluent and two influent water samples. The NOM concentration within the samples ranged from 2 to 8 mg L(-1) of dissolved organic carbon. The HRLC-Exactive Orbitrap? LC-MS system was set at a resolution of 50,000 (FWHM) and this selection was found sufficient for the detection of the list of pharmaceuticals. With this resolution setting, accurate mass measurements with errors below 2 ppm were found, despite of the NOM concentration of the different types of water samples. The linearities were acceptable with correlation coefficients greater than 0.95 for 30 of the 51 measured linearities. The limit of detection varies between 0.1 μg L(-1)and 100 μg L(-1). It was demonstrated that sensitivity could be affected by matrix constituents in both directions of signal reduction or enhancement. Finally it was concluded that with direct shoot method used (no sample pretreatment) all compounds, were detected but LODs depend on matrix-analyte-concentration combination. No direct relation was observed between NOM concentration and method characteristics. For accurate quantification the use of internal standards and/or sample clean-up is necessary. The direct shoot method is only applicable for qualitative screening purposes. The use of full scan MS makes it possible to search for unknown contaminants. With the use of adequate software and a database containing more than 50,000 entries a tool is available to search for unknowns.