The syntheses,structures and nonlinear optical and related properties of salts with julolidinyl electron donor groups

Twelve, dipolar cations with 2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H,5H-pyrido[3,2,1-ij]quinolin-9-yl (julolidinyl, Jd) electron donor groups and N-methyl/arylpyridinium, N-methylquinolinium or N-methylbenzothiazolium acceptor groups were synthesised. The chromophores were characterised as their PF₆^? salts using various techniques including electronic absorption spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry; single crystal X-ray structures were determined for a large number of salts, all of which form nonpolar materials. A broad correlation between the electron acceptor strength and the degree of bond length alternation is evident. A key focus of this work is detailed comparisons of the Jd-containing chromophores with their previously studied 4-(dimethylamino)phenyl (Dap) analogues. Molecular, quadratic, nonlinear optical responses were determined using femtosecond hyper-Rayleigh scattering at both 1300 and 800 nm, as well as using Stark (electroabsorption) spectroscopic studies of intense, visible π → π¹ intramolecular charge-transfer bands. Substantial red shifts in the latter transitions are observed on replacing Dap with Jd which indicate that the latter acts as a more effective π-electron donor. With few exceptions, both hyper-Rayleigh scattering and Stark data generally show that using Jd instead of Dap increases the static first hyperpolarizability β₀, in accord with expectations based on the two-state model. β₀ values as high as 6 times larger than that of the chromophore in the technologically important material E-4′-(dimethylamino)-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium tosylate are observed.     

SiOx layer as functional barrier in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles against potential contaminants from post-consumer recycled PET

The barrier effect of a silicon oxide (SiOx) coating on the inner surface of PET bottles, in terms of the ability to reduce the migration of post-consumer compounds from the PET bottle wall into food simulants (3% acetic acid and 10% ethanol), was investigated. The barrier effect was examined by artificially introducing model substances (surrogates) into the PET bottle wall to represent a worst-case scenario. Test bottles with three different spiking levels up to approximately 1000 mg kg(-1) per surrogate were blown and coated on the inner surface. The SiOx-coated bottles and the non-coated reference bottles were filled with food simulants. From the specific migration of the surrogates with different bottles wall concentrations, the maximum surrogate concentrations in the bottle wall corresponding to migration of 10 microg l(-1) were determined. It was shown that the SiOx coating layer is an efficient barrier to post-consumer compounds. The maximum bottle wall concentrations of the surrogates corresponding to migration of 10 microg l(-1) were in the range of 200 mg kg(-1) for toluene and approximately 900 mg kg(-1) for benzophenone. Consequently, the SiOx coating allows use of conventionally recycled post-consumer PET flakes (without a super-clean recycling process) for packaging aqueous and low alcoholic foodstuffs (under cold-fill conditions) and protects food from migration of unwanted contaminants from post-consumer PET.     

Prospective effects of emotion-regulation skills on emotional adjustment.

Deficits in emotion-regulation skills have widely been shown to be associated with poor emotional adjustment. However, it is still unclear whether these deficits are a cause or a consequence of poor adjustment. The purpose of the present research was to clarify the reciprocal effects between these 2 concepts. In 2 studies (Ns = 446 and 635), self-reports of emotion regulation and emotional adjustment were assessed twice with a 2-week interval. Cross-lagged regression analyses demonstrated that self-reports of emotion regulation predicted subsequent adjustment, over and above the effects of previous adjustment, whereas emotional adjustment did not predict subsequent emotion regulation. Thus, a focus on emotion-regulation skills may be important in the prevention and treatment of affect-related mental health problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validating MODIS land surface reflectance products using ground-measured reflectance spectra – a case study in semi-arid grassland in Inner Mongolia,China

Validation of Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface reflectance products is important to effective utilization of such products for earth systems science. Ground-based measurements are normally utilized for such validation. However, the major scale mismatch between the ground ‘point’ measurement and MODIS resolution (500 m and 1 km) makes direct comparison infeasible over many land surface types. In this paper, an indirect comparison between ground ‘point’ measurements and MODIS land surface products via high-resolution remotely sensed imagery (Landsat Thematic Mapper/TM) was utilized in semi-arid grassland of Inner Mongolia in summer 2005, where ground measurements are relatively sparse in comparison with other locations around the world. Within the validation, the TM reflectance imagery was first calibrated by the ground ‘point’ measurements, and then aggregated to MODIS data resolution for determination of their accuracy. Besides common direct spectral band comparison of reflectance between TM and MODIS, empirical/indirect comparison between TM and MODIS was also implemented. Both types of validation showed that the absolute error of bidirectional reflectance from atmospheric correction (MOD09) is less than 9.4%, and for nadir bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF)-adjusted reflectance (MOD43B4) it is less than 3.1%, in which the error of visible bands of two data sets is less than 1.35% and 0.95%, respectively. This validation will help improve the accuracy of MODIS products used in this area.