Sphere segment void, or inverse opal, films prepared from a variety of coinage metals have shown promise as reliable and reproducible substrates for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Sphere segment void substrates are prepared from colloidal templates consisting of one or more layers of polystyrene spheres. In this paper, we investigate the reflection spectra and SERS for a gold film ...

Nickel is the major cause of allergic contact dermatitis in the general population, both among children and adults, as well as in large occupational groups. This metal is used in numerous industrial and consumer products, including stainless steel, magnets, metal plating, coinage, and special alloys, and is therefore almost impossible to completely avoid in daily life. Nickel contact dermatitis...

This work looks at a temporal aspect of multiword expressions (MWEs), namely that the behaviour of a given n-gram and its status as a MWE change over time. We propose a model in which context words have particular probabilities given a usage choice for an n-gram, and those usage choices have time dependent probabilities, and we put forward an expectationmaximisation technique for estimating the...

The cavity ringdown technique (CRLAS) has been employed to measure the gas phase absorption spectrum of the platinum silicide molecule in the 350 nm region. All nine of the measured rovibronic bands are assigned to a single 1 sigma-1 sigma electronic transition, with a ground state vibrational frequency of omega "e = 549.0(3) cm-1, and a bond length of r"0 = 2.069(1) angstroms. The results of...

With my published work on 1858 and 1859 over-dated cents, along with Dr. Haxby’s recently published research on 1859 narrow “9” cents, many facts about this interesting bronze coinage have become clearer. In this article I will focus on two areas. First, we can now conclusively determine that the traditionally published mintage figures are greatly in error. Second, we finally have enough inform...

The Chinese tradition of supplementing large quantities of bronze cash with unminted gold and silver represents a rare exception to the western model of precious-metal coinage. This paper provides a detailed discussion of monetary development in ancient China followed by a brief survey of conditions in the Roman empire. The divergent development of the monetary systems of the Han and Roman empi...

Is the loss of our Underwater Cultural Heritage accelerating? The term “underwater cultural heritage” (UCH) refers to all remnants of human activities lying on the seabed, on riverbeds, or at the bottom of lakes. It includes shipwrecks and artifacts lost at sea and extends to prehistoric sites, sunken towns, and ancient ports that were once on dry land but now are submerged due to manmade, clim...

Electronic structure and bonding in anionic coinage metal clusters are investigated via density-functional calculations, focusing on an extensive set of isomers of Cu(-)(7), Ag(-)(7), and Au(-)(7). While the ground states of Cu(-)(7) and Ag(-)(7) are three dimensional (3D), that of Au(-)(7) is planar, separated from the optimal 3D isomer by 0.5 eV. The simulated thermally weighted photoabsorpti...

The transition period from Sasanian to Islamic Iran is a key moment for the upcoming history of both Europe and Asia. It indeed crucial put pieces together draw complex picture this central authority which used intermediaries local functionaries different religions. Among others, there were Christian communities. R. Curiel especially Gyselen studied catalogued Iranian copper coinage 7th 8th cen...