Abstract: Historical buildings and castles that have been turned nowadays into museums, as an exhibition area for precious cultural heritage (CH) items, need more attention since they are CH objects by themselves. Moreover, the preservation techniques require often, significant interventions; however such changes are not always possible or are very limited. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of outdoor air pollution on the composition of particulate matter and gases inside the museum of Wawel Castle in Cracow, Poland. During this study a combination of micro and trace analysis techniques were applied, including energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). An intensive transport of air pollutants coupled with accumulation of the particles inside the museum was noticed (considerably higher in winter than summer). A high content of carbon and organic matter agglomerated with inorganic particles was determined. Those particles are of special concern because of their adhesive properties and reactivity. It was also noted that the conditions inside the museum favour the reaction of the particles with gaseous pollutants. It was especially the case for nitrate particles.

Abstract: Active-phase-coated metallic supports as structured catalysts are gaining attention in endothermic and exothermic processes because they improve heat transfer. The deposition of a well-adhered and stable catalyst layer on the metallic support constitutes an important feature for the successful application of the final material. In this work, coating of FeCrAlY foams is performed by a one-step electrosynthesis-deposition of hydrotalcite-type compounds, precursors of catalysts active in endothermic steam methane reforming. The catalysts are studied at different length scales by using, for the first time, a combination of several techniques: SEM/EDS and X-ray fluorescence, X-ray powder diffraction and absorption-tomography experiments on the micro- and nanoscales at a synchrotron facility. The results show that the morphology of the coating depends on the synthesis conditions and that the catalyst may be described as Ni metal crystallites dispersed on γ-Al2O3, homogeneously coating the FeCrAlY foam.

Abstract: In this paper, portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (PXRF) was employed as a screening tool for determining and comparing the pigment use in a large series of paintings by the Belgian artist James Ensor (1860-1949). Benefits and drawbacks of PXRF as a method, and the instrument employed, are discussed from a practical, conservation and instrumental perspective. Regardless of several restrictions due to the set-up and/or the analytical method, it appeared feasible to document the evolution with time in Ensor's use of inorganic pigments and to correlate this technical evolution with stylistic developments, Nevertheless, it became clear that a full identification of all materials present can only be done by means of the analysis of (cross-sectioned) samples.

Abstract: Often, just micrometers below a paintings surface lies a wealth of information, both with Old Masters such as Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt van Rijn and with more recent artists of great renown such as Vincent Van Gogh and James Ensor. Subsurface layers may include underdrawing, underpainting, and alterations, and in a growing number of cases conservators have discovered abandoned compositions on paintings, illustrating artists practice of reusing a canvas or panel. The standard methods for studying the inner structure of cultural heritage (CH) artifacts are infrared reflectography and X-ray radiography, techniques that are optionally complemented with the microscopic analysis of cross-sectioned samples. These methods have limitations, but recently, a number of fundamentally new approaches for fully imaging the buildup of hidden paint layers and other complex three-dimensional (3D) substructures have been put into practice. In this Account, we discuss these developments and their recent practical application with CH artifacts. We begin with a tabular summary of 14 IR- and X-ray-based imaging methods and then continue with a discussion of each technique, illustrating CH applications with specific case studies. X-ray-based tomographic and laminographic techniques can be used to generate 3D renditions of artifacts of varying dimensions. These methods are proving invaluable for exploring inner structures, identifying the conservation state, and postulating the original manufacturing technology of metallic and other sculptures. In the analysis of paint layers, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) can highlight interfaces between layers in a stratigraphic buildup, whereas macrosopic scanning X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF) has been employed to measure the distribution of pigments within these layers. This combination of innovative methods provides topographic and color information about the micrometer depth scale, allowing us to look into paintings in an entirely new manner. Over the past five years, several new variants of traditional IR- and X-ray-based imaging methods have been implemented by conservators and museums, and the first reports have begun to emerge in the primary research literature. Applying these state-of-the-art techniques in a complementary fashion affords a more comprehensive view of paintings and other artworks.

Abstract: A variety of analytical techniques augmented by the use of synchrotron radiation (SR), such as X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF) and X-ray diffraction (SR-XRD), are now readily available, and they differ little, conceptually, from their common laboratory counterparts. Because of numerous advantages afforded by SR-based techniques over benchtop versions, however, SR methods have become popular with archaeologists, art historians, curators, and other researchers in the field of cultural heritage (CH). Although the CH community now commonly uses both SR-XRF and SR-XRD, the use of synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (SR-XAS) techniques remains marginal, mostly because CH specialists rarely interact with SR physicists. In this Account, we examine the basic principles and capabilities of XAS techniques in art preservation. XAS techniques offer a combination of features particularly well-suited for the chemical analysis of works of art. The methods are noninvasive, have low detection limits, afford high lateral resolution, and provide exceptional chemical sensitivity. These characteristics are highly desirable for the chemical characterization of precious, heterogeneous, and complex materials. In particular, the chemical mapping capability, with high spatial resolution that provides information about local composition and chemical states, even for trace elements, is a unique asset. The chemistry involved in both the objects history (that is, during fabrication) and future (that is, during preservation and restoration treatments) can be addressed by XAS. On the one hand, many studies seek to explain optical effects occurring in historical glasses or ceramics by probing the molecular environment of relevant chromophores. Hence, XAS can provide insight into craft skills that were mastered years, decades, or centuries ago but were lost over the course of time. On the other hand, XAS can also be used to characterize unwanted reactions, which are then considered alteration phenomena and can dramatically alter the objects original visual properties. In such cases, the bulk elemental composition is usually unchanged. Hence, monitoring oxidation state (or, more generally, other chemical modifications) can be of great importance. Recent applications of XAS in art conservation are reviewed and new trends are discussed, highlighting the value (and future possibilities) of XAS, which remains, given its potential, underutilized in the CH community.

Abstract: The present paper synthesizes data obtained during a multidisciplinary cruise carried out in June 2004 at the continental margin of the northern Bay of Biscay. The data-set allows to describe the different stages of a coccolithophore bloom dominated by Emiliania huxleyi. The cruise was carried out after the main spring phytoplankton bloom that started in mid-April and peaked in mid-May. Consequently, low phosphate (PO4 < 0.2 μM) and silicate (DSi < 2.0 μM) concentrations, low partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) and high calcite saturation degree in surface waters combined with thermal stratification, probably favoured the blooming of coccolithophores. During the period of the year our cruise was carried out, internal tides induce enhanced vertical mixing at the continental shelf break leading to the injection of inorganic nutrients to surface waters that probably trigger the bloom. The bloom developed as the water-column stratified and as the water mass was advected over the continental shelf, following the general residual circulation in the area. The most developed phase of the bloom was sampled in a remote sensed high reflectance (HR) patch over the continental shelf that was characterized by low chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration in surface waters (<1.0 μg L−1), high particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) concentration (not, vert, similar8 μmol L−1) and coccolithophore abundance up to 57 × 106 cells L−1. Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) concentrations ranged between 15 and 75 μg C L−1 and carbon content of TEP represented up to 26% of the particulate organic carbon (POC; maximum concentration of 15.5 μmol L−1 in the upper 40 m). Integrated primary production (PP) ranged between 210 and 680 mg C m−2 d−1 and integrated calcification (CAL) ranged between 14 and 140 mg C m−2 d−1, within the range of PP and CAL values previously reported during coccolithophore blooms in open and shelf waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Bacterial protein production (BPP) measurements in surface waters (0.30.7 μg C L−1 h−1) were much higher than those reported during early phases of coccolithophore blooms in natural conditions, but similar to those during peak and declining coocolithophorid blooms reported in mesocosms. Total alkalinity anomalies with respect to conservative mixing (ΔTA) down to −49 μmol kg−1 are consistent with the occurrence of biogenic precipitation of calcite, while pCO2 remained 15107 μatm lower than atmospheric equilibrium (372 μatm). The correlation between ΔTA and pCO2 suggested that pCO2 increased in part due to calcification, but this increase was insufficient to overcome the background under-saturation of CO2. This is related to the biogeochemical history of the water masses due to net carbon fixation by the successive phytoplankton blooms in the area prior to the cruise, hence, the investigated area remained a sink for atmospheric CO2 despite calcification.

Abstract: The heavy metal analysis around Iskenderun Bay in Turkey was carried out using mosses, soils, mussels, and sediments. This region is one of the most industrial areas of Turkey, including iron-steel plants, beverage, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plants, and oil transfer docks. Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (Epsilon 5, PANalytical, Almelo, The Netherlands) was used to analyze all samples. V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, and Pb elements were observed in all samples studied. Although Ce was detected in some mosses and soils, Sn was detected only in some moss samples. Pb concentrations in the moss samples are higher than the soil, the mussel, and the sediment samples. This can be attributed to the mosses that absorb heavy metals such as Pb easily from the air. As the aim of this study was to analyze heavy metals, the evaluation of these elements with their potential hazards for ecology and humans is briefly discussed

Abstract: Iron (Fe) and other trace elements such as Zn, Mn, Ni and Cu are known as key-factors in marine biogeochemical cycles. It is believed that ocean primary productivity blooms in iron deficient regions can be triggered by iron in aeolian dust. Up to now, scarce aerosol elemental composition, based on measurements over sea at the Western South Atlantic (WSA), exist. An association between the Patagonian semi-desert dust/Fe and chlorophyll-a variability at the Argentinean continental shelf is essentially inferred from models. We present here experimental data of Fe enriched aerosols over the WSA between latitudes 22°S62°S, during 4 oceanographic campaigns between 2002 and 2005. These data allowed inferring the atmospheric Fe flux onto different latitudinal bands which varied from 30.4 to 1688 nmolFe m−2 day−1 (October 29thNovember 15th, 2003); 5.831586 nmolFe m−2 day−1 (February 15thMarch 6th, 2004) and 4.73586 nmolFe m−2 day−1(October 21stNovember 5th, 2005).

Abstract: This article gives an overview of the state-of-the-art of multi-element and single-element preconcentration procedures prior to X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of liquid samples. Many of these preconcentration methods were developed long ago and the purpose of this review is to present some new efficient variations of these methods and new techniques extending the possibilities of XRF for liquid solutions analysis. In addition, trends and future perspectives in this domain are also commented on and discussed in the last section of the review.

Abstract: We sought to determine whether the pesticide-degrading performance of a multi-species bacterial biofilm is affected by co-occurrence of multiple nutrient sources Thus, the 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-l-methoxy-l-methyl urea (linuron)-degrading activity of a triple-species linuron-degrading consortium, cultivated in continuous flow biofilm systems, was monitored when exposed to mixed substrate feeds which contained, in addition to linuron, readily assimilated carbon (i e citrate and trypticase soy broth) and/or nitrogen (i e ammonium) sources The addition of alternative carbon sources at different concentrations resulted in diminished linuron degradation efficiency In addition, the efficiency of removal of the linuron metabolite 3,4-dichloroaniline was affected These effects might be attributed to catabolic repression of the linuron metabolic pathway in the presence of alternative carbon substrates Moreover, each nutrient condition resulted in a particular biofilm composition and a particular spatial and structural organization, which might also be related to the performance of the biofilm community Results show that the activity of pesticide-degrading biofilms strongly depends on prevailing nutrient conditions and that the ideal biofilm configuration and activity, as observed under selective conditions, does not exist in real-life environmental conditions where mixtures of substrates are often present (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS All rights reserved.

Abstract: Assay and electrochemical behaviour of betahistine hydrochloride in BrittonRobinsons (BR) buffer of pH range 2.512.0 at a glassy carbon electrode have been investigated. Addition of anionic surfactant (sodium lauryl sulphate) to the betahistine hydrochloride solution containing electrolyte enhanced the reduction current signal while neutral surfactant (Tween-20) and cationic surfactant cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) showed an opposite effect. Voltammograms of betahistine hydrochloride exhibited a single wave. Based on reduction behaviour of betahistine hydrochloride, a direct square-wave voltammetric method has been developed for the assay of betahistine hydrochloride in pharmaceutical formulation. The proposed method has been validated as per ICH guideline. System and method precision in terms of RSD were 1.88% and 1.60% respectively, whereas the method accuracy was indicated by the recovery of 97.6101.9%. Reduction peak current was linear over the target concentration with correlation coefficient 0.998. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of betahistine hydrochloride in pharmaceutical formulation. The results were compared with those obtained by the reference high performance liquid chromatographic method. No significant differences were found between results of proposed and reference methods.