A microcosm study was conducted to investigate the degradation of mono- and polyaromatic hydrocarbons under in situ-like conditions using alluvial sediments from the site of a former cokery. Benzene, naphthalene, or acenaphthene were added to the sediments as (13)C-labeled substrates. Based on the evolution of (13)C-CO(2) determined by gas chromatography isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS...

In stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), the stable isotopic composition of samples is measured relative to the isotopic composition of a working gas. This measured isotopic composition must be converted and reported on the respective international stable isotope reference scale for the accurate interlaboratory comparison of results. This data conversion procedure, commonly called norm...

The detection of biological events in living systems is a topic that stands at the edge of Physics, Biology, and Engineering. In the last years, the teams of Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Lithography (LILIT_IOM-CNR, Trieste, Italy) and of the Synchrotron Infrared Source for Spectroscopy and Imaging (SISSI@Elettra Synchrotron Light laboratory in Trieste, Italy) focused their efforts into the ...

The chemical analyses of "bog butters" recovered from peat bogs of Scotland were performed with the aim of determining their origins. Detailed compositional information was obtained from "bog butter" lipids using high temperature gas chromatography (HTGC) and GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results indicate the degree to which "bog butters" have undergone diagenetic alterations during burial ...

A continuous flow method (CF-IRMS) for the rapid determination of the sulfur isotope composition of sulfide and sulfate minerals has significant advantages over the classic extraction method in terms of the reduced sample quantity and a rapid analytical cycle of less than 8 min/ analysis. For optimum performance, the technique is sensitive to a number of operating parameters, including sample w...

We demonstrate the feasibility of using laser spectrometry (LS) to analyze isotopically highly enriched water samples (i.e., delta2H < or = 15,000/1,000, 18O < or = 1,200/1,000), as often used in the biomedical doubly labeled water (DLW) method to quantify energy metabolism. The method is an important extension of a recently developed infrared laser direct absorption spectrometer. The measureme...

This paper presents a current sensor-based home appliance and its state recognition method for intelligent outlets. Our system has three main functions: remote control, monitoring, and power supply schedule management. This research focuses particular on the monitoring function. To recognize the appliance and the state of the appliance, we extract ten features based on a measured current signal...

The reactor is modeled as a linear series of discrete gas parcels moving past and interacting with a single, stationary box representing surface adsorption sites in graphitic carbon (Fig. S-1). Each gas parcel equilibrates with the graphite surface for one residence time (τ, typically 0.5 s), after which the gas parcels shift sequentially and the next gas parcel equilibrates. The molar amount a...

In Japanese quail (Coturnix c. japonica; n = 9), the doubly labeled water (DLW) method ((2)H, (18)O) for estimation of CO(2) production (l/day) was validated. To evaluate its sensitivity to water efflux levels (r(H(2))O(e); g/day) and to assumptions of fractional evaporative water loss (x; dimensionless), animals were repeatedly fed a dry pellet diet (average r(H(2))O(e) of 34.8 g/day) or a wet...

We describe a continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS) technique for high-precision δD and δ13C measurements of atmospheric methane on 40 mL air samples. CH4 is separated from other air components by utilizing purely physical processes based on temperature, time and mechanical valve switching. Chemical agents are avoided. Trace amounts of interfering compounds can be separated ...