Occurrence of bioluminescent and nonbioluminescent species in the littoral earthworm genus Pontodrilus

Pontodrilus litoralis is a cosmopolitan littoral earthworm known to exhibit bioluminescence. Recently, a congeneric species, Pontodrilus longissimus, from Thailand was described. These species are sympatric, but their burrowing depths on Thai beaches are different. In this study, we examined the in vivo and in vitro bioluminescent properties of P. longissimus and P. litoralis. Mechanical stimulation induced in vivo luminescence in P. litoralis, as reported previously, but not in P. longissimus. In vitro cross-reaction tests between these species revealed the absence of luciferin and luciferase activities in P. longissimus. The coelomic fluid of P. litoralis had strong fluorescence that matched the spectral maximum of its bioluminescence, but the same result was not observed for P. longissimus. These results suggest that P. litoralis has luminescence abilities due to the creation of bioluminescent components (i.e., luciferin, luciferase, and light emitters). The presence of both luminous and nonluminous species in a single genus is likely widespread, but only a few examples have been confirmed. Our findings provide insight into the possible functions of bioluminescence in earthworms, such as avoiding predation by littoral earwigs.

Bioluminescence and Fluorescence in Littoral Earthworms

Pontodrilus litoralis is a cosmopolitan littoral earthworm known to exhibit bioluminescence. Recently, a congeneric species Pontodrilus longissimus from Thailand was described. These species are sympatric but their burrowing depths on Thai beaches are different. In this study, we examined the in vivo and in vitro bioluminescence properties of P. longissimus and P. litoralis. Mechanical stimulation induced in vivo luminescence in P. litoralis, as reported previously, but not in P. longissimus. In vitro cross-reaction tests between these species revealed the absence of luciferin and luciferase activities in P. longissimus. P. litoralis had strong fluorescence in a coelomic fluid that matches to the spectral maximum of its bioluminescence, but P. longissimus did not. These results suggest that P. longissimus does not have luminescence ability due to the lack of all bioluminescent components, luciferin, luciferase, and light emitter, despite its close relationship to the luminous P. litoralis. The presence of both luminous and non-luminous species in a single genus is uncommon, and our present findings will shed insight on the possible functions of bioluminescence in the earthworm, such as avoiding predation by littoral earwigs.

Синтез и свойства больших квантовых точек антимонида индия

Large (up to 20 nm) quantum dots (QD) of indium antimonide were synthesized using colloidal chemistry at elevated temperatures (250-300 °C). In terms of optical and electrophysical characteristics, they exhibit properties similar to those of conventional QD (4-5 nm), with the difference that the spectral maximum of luminescence is shifted inappropriately to the size difference. This, together with measurements of the QD shape by transmission electron microscopy, may indicate a deterioration in the perfection of the crystal structure of large QD, possibly due to insufficient synthesis temperature

Узкозонные гетероструктуры InAs-=SUB=-1-y-=/SUB=-Sb-=SUB=-y-=/SUB=-/InAsSbP (y=0.09-0.16) для спектрального диапазона 4-6 μm, полученные методом МОГФЭ

Asymmetric n -InAs/InAs_(1 – _ y )Sb_ y / p -InAsSbP heterostructures with a narrow-gap active layer and a composition range y = 0.09–0.16 were grown by vapor phase epitaxy from metalorganic compounds. Room-temperature electroluminescence was observed at a wavelength of up to λ = 5.1 μm at a spectral maximum. The study of low-temperature electroluminescence spectra provided the possibility to establish the existence of two radiative recombination channels caused by the nature of the InAsSb/InAsSbP heterointerface. The effect produced by the chemistry of the active layer on the composition of the grown barrier layer and the formation of the InAsSb/InAsSbP heterojunction with an increase in the antimony content in the InAsSb solid solution was demonstrated.

О фокусировке широкополосных терагерцовых импульсов

The particular features of the focusing of a broadband THz pulse with a Gaussian transverse amplitude distribution by a lens are investigated theoretically. The expressions for the spatiotemporal field distribution on the beam axis and in the focal plane of the lens are obtained in the quasi-optical approximation. It is shown that, for the focusing to be efficient, it is necessary to use lenses with a focal distance that is much shorter than the characteristic diffraction length at the frequency corresponding to the spectral maximum of the THz pulse.

The Spectra of X-ray and Photoluminescence of High-Resistance Crystals of ZnSe

The luminescence spectra of high-resistance ZnSe crystals consist of two main bands with maxima at 630 nm (1.92 eV) and 970 nm (1.28 eV). The planned comparison has been carried out between the spectra of X-ray luminescence and photoluminescence of ZnSe among themselves in the spectral region from 400 to 1200 nm at different excitation intensities and different temperatures (8, 85, 295, and 420 K). It is found that the forms of luminescence bands do not depend on the excitation intensities. The band form with a maximum at 970 nm also does not depend on the excitation type, and the band at 630 nm differs slightly under the X-ray and UV excitations. The temperature dependences of the spectral positions of bands’ maxima and their half-widths are analyzed. A conclusion is drawn that the 970-nm emission band is elementary. A short-wavelength shift of the spectral maximum of the 630-nm band with increasing the temperature makes it possible to conclude that this luminescence band is non-elementary. This correlates with the previously discovered feature of this band related to the realization of two recombination mechanisms (electron and hole) at this luminescent center.

Late Stages in the Development of Modulation Instability of Waves

We conducted experimental and theoretical studies on Benjamin-Feir (BF) instability and revealed a number of new features of the development of instability on the late stages of wave’s evolution. We employ the reduced (truncated) version of Zakharov equations — the multi-wave near-neighbor resonance model (NN model), which takes into account the most effective quasi-resonances with minimum detuning from exact resonance conditions. We show that near-neighbor model for wave interactions can adequately describe the number of new prominent features of BF instability observed in experiments and it is much simpler than Zakharov equation for computation and analysis. Numerical simulations of the full Zakharov equations confirm the main predictions obtained by the NN modeling and both reasonably correspond to the results of available physical experiments. Strong permanent downshifting of spectral maximum for gentle waves without wave breaking is revealed for twice as narrow side band spectral width in comparison with the most unstable case. Regime of multiple downshifting accompanied by wave breaking is discovered for steep waves. Discrete energy flow to higher spectral components takes a place in breaking and no breaking regimes. Results of numerical simulations of Zakharov and NN models reasonably correspond to each other and to our experimental and field observations on wave modulation.

Aplicação da Transformada de Hilbert-Huang em dados de velocidade medidos em túnel de vento

In this study, the Hilbert-Huang transform was applied to experimental measurements performed in a wind tunnel to determine the frequency of occurrence of the spectral maximum. These maximum frequencies are associated with the time scale of the most energetic eddies and represent an important input parameter in the pollutants dispersion models. The values of the maximum frequencies obtained by the Hilbert-Huang marginal spectrum are compared with the vaues obtained by the traditionally used Fourier transform. The results show that the energy distribution calculated by both methods are very similar in the region of occurence of the spectral maximum, and for this reason, the maximum frequency values obtained by each method do not presente significant differences. Under determined hypothesis, the Hilbert-Huang transform provided physically more realistic maximum frequency values that those obtained using the Fourier transform.

Perfis verticais dos espectros das velocidades turbulentas em uma torre micrometeorológica de 140 m

Multiresolution spectra of both horizontal and vertical wind components observed at a 140-m micrometeorological tower are analysed. The tower is located at the township of Linhares, ES, Brazil, at 4 km from the coast and nest to a thermal power plant. At nighttime, the spectral maximum is located at the largest temporal scales analyzed, being therefore related to nonturbulent low-frequency processes. During the day, spectral maxima of the horizontal wind components show little variation above 20 m.For the vertical component, on the other hand, the temporal scale of such maxima increases steadily with height.

Weighted Monte Carlo estimators for angular distributions of the solar radiation reflected from a cloud layer

The paper is focused on development of weighted Monte Carlo methods allowing one to estimate simultaneously the characteristics of the radiation field reflected from the medium based on a single Markov chain and in a sufficiently wide range of wavelengths. Such Markov chain is constructed with the use of a special ‘artificial’ scattering phase function whose choice is approximately optimized according to the criterion of minimum of the spectral maximum of the variance of estimates. The efficiency of the considered weighted method is studied on a model problem related to scattering of solar radiation by a cloud layer. The weighted method developed in the present article is aimed to supercomputer simulation.