Search results for "SWI"
showing 10 items of 1473 documents
N,N′-Disubstituted Indigos as Readily Available Red-Light Photoswitches with Tunable Thermal Half-Lives
2017
Some rare indigo derivatives have been known for a long time to be photochromic upon irradiation with red light, which should be advantageous for many applications. However, the absence of strategies to tune their thermal half-lives by modular molecular design as well as the lack of proper synthetic methods to prepare a variety of such molecules from the parent indigo dye have so far precluded their use. In this work, several synthetic protocols for N-functionalization have been developed, and a variety of N-alkyl and N-aryl indigo derivatives have been prepared. By installation of electron-withdrawing substituents on the N-aryl moieties, the thermal stability of the Z-isomers could be enha…
Steroid Biomarkers Revisited - Improved Source Identification of Faecal Remains in Archaeological Soil Material.
2017
Steroids are used as faecal markers in environmental and in archaeological studies, because they provide insights into ancient agricultural practices and the former presence of animals. Up to now, steroid analyses could only identify and distinguish between herbivore, pig, and human faecal matter and their residues in soils and sediments. We hypothesized that a finer differentiation between faeces of different livestock animals could be achieved when the analyses of several steroids is combined (Δ5-sterols, 5α-stanols, 5β-stanols, epi-5β-stanols, stanones, and bile acids). We therefore reviewed the existing literature on various faecal steroids from livestock and humans and analysed faeces …
Natural gas hydrate investigations by synchrotron radiation X-ray cryo-tomographic microscopy (SRXCTM)
2008
[1] We report the 3D microstructure analyses of natural gas hydrates sampled from Gulf of Mexico. The samples were characterized by synchrotron radiation X-ray cryo-tomographic microscopy (SRXCTM) using the ‘TOMCAT’ beam line at the Swiss Light Source (SLS). The SRXCTM demonstrates its applicability to unlock some microscopic features of the marine hydrates, in particular of crystallite size and grain boundary network. The gas hydrate domains are surrounded by a network of pores of typically a few micrometers, which are largely due to decomposition. Out of the SRXCTM data, the porosity, total volume of the voids, the void surface area and number of the total gas-filled voids have been calcu…
New tree-ring evidence for the Late Glacial period from the northern pre-Alps in eastern Switzerland
2018
Abstract The rate and magnitude of temperature variability at the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum into the early Holocene represents a natural analog to current and predicted climate change. A limited number of high-resolution proxy archives, however, challenges our understanding of environmental conditions during this period. Here, we present combined dendrochronological and radiocarbon evidence from 253 newly discovered subfossil pine stumps from Zurich, Switzerland. The individual trees reveal ages of 41–506 years and were growing between the Allerod and Preboreal (∼13′900–11′300 cal BP). Together with previously collected pines from this region, this world's best preserved Late…
Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotope fractionation during food cooking: Implications for the interpretation of the fossil human record.
2017
13 pages; International audience; ObjectivesStable isotope data provide insight into the reconstruction of ancient human diet. However, cooking may alter the original stable isotope compositions of food due to losses and modifications of biochemical and water components.MethodsTo address this issue, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotope ratios were measured on meat aliquots sampled from various animals such as pork, beef, duck and chicken, and also from the flesh of fishes such as salmon, European seabass, European pilchard, sole, gilt-head bream, and tuna. For each specimen, three pieces were cooked according to the three most commonly-known cooking practices: boiling, frying and roasting on…
Timing and duration of European larch growing season along altitudinal gradients in the Swiss Alps.
2009
The 2007 European larch (Larix decidua Mill.) growing season was monitored along two elevational transects in the Lotschental valley in the Swiss Alps. Phenological observations and weekly microcore sampling of 28 larch trees were conducted between April and October 2007 at seven study sites regularly spaced from 1350 to 2150 m a.s.l. on northwest- and southeast-facing slopes. The developmental stages of nearly 75,000 individual cells assessed on 1200 thin sections were used to investigate the links between the trees' thermal regimes and growth phases including the beginning and ending of cell enlargement, wall thickening and maturation of the stem wood. Needles appeared approximately 3-4 w…
Isolation of acetic, propionic and butyric acid-forming bacteria from biogas plants.
2015
In this study, acetic, propionic and butyric acid-forming bacteria were isolated from thermophilic and mesophilic biogas plants (BGP) located in Germany. The fermenters were fed with maize silage and cattle or swine manure. Furthermore, pressurized laboratory fermenters digesting maize silage were sampled. Enrichment cultures for the isolation of acid-forming bacteria were grown in minimal medium supplemented with one of the following carbon sources: Na(+)-dl-lactate, succinate, ethanol, glycerol, glucose or a mixture of amino acids. These substrates could be converted by the isolates to acetic, propionic or butyric acid. In total, 49 isolates were obtained, which belonged to the phyla Firm…
Leaf starch and nutrient responses to stem girdling and drought stress with respect to understanding HLB (greening) symptoms in citrus
2016
The most important problem in world citrus production is the bacterial disease Huanglongbing (HLB; greening) which is caused by a phloem-limited bacterium that is vectored by a phloem-feeding psyllid. The earliest visible symptoms of HLB in leaves are an asymmetrical chlorosis referred to as "blotchy mottle", thought to be from starch accumulation from a phloem dysfunction and a decline in root health. We tested the hypothesis that such visible symptoms are not unique to HLB by stemgirdling two year-old seedling trees of 'Cleopatra' mandarin and 'Swingle' citrumelo rootstocks in the greenhouse. Girdling induced a 4-fold greater starch concentration in leaves on well-watered trees while star…
Phosphinotripeptidic Inhibitors of Leucylaminopeptidases
2021
Phosphinate pseudopeptide are analogs of peptides containing phosphinate moiety in a place of the amide bond. Due to this, the organophosphorus fragment resembles the tetrahedral transition state of the amide bond hydrolysis. Additionally, it is also capable of coordinating metal ions, for example, zinc or magnesium ions. These two properties of phosphinate pseudopeptides make them an ideal candidate for metal-related protease inhibitors. This research investigates the influence of additional residue in the P2 position on the inhibitory properties of phosphinopeptides. The synthetic strategy is proposed, based on retrosynthetic analysis. The N-C-P bond formation in the desired compounds is …
Regional endothermy as a trigger for gigantism in some extinct macropredatory sharks
2017
Otodontids include some of the largest macropredatory sharks that ever lived, the most extreme case being Otodus (Megaselachus) megalodon. The reasons underlying their gigantism, distribution patterns and extinction have been classically linked with climatic factors and the evolution, radiation and migrations of cetaceans during the Paleogene. However, most of these previous proposals are based on the idea of otodontids as ectothermic sharks regardless of the ecological, energetic and body size constraints that this implies. Interestingly, a few recent studies have suggested the possible existence of endothermy in these sharks thus opening the door to a series of new interpretations. Accord…