Cephalopods of the South Georgia slope

During January 2003 the bathymetric distribution of the cephalopod fauna of the South Georgia and Shag Rocks slope (100-900 m) was investigated using a commercial bottom trawl. Forty-four trawl stations caught 193 cephalopod specimens including six species of octopod and seven of squid. The benthic octopods Pareledone turqueti and Adelieledone polymorpha were abundant in shallow water at South Georgia, being replaced by Thaumeledone gunteri in greater depths. However, neither A. polymorpha nor T gunteri were caught on the adjacent Shag Rocks area. Two specimens of the deep-sea genus Graneledone were caught on the South Georgia slope. The most abundant squid species caught were Moroteuthis knipovitchi, Psychroteuthis glacialis and Slosarczykovia circumantarctica, which are primarily pelagic and may have been taken when their vertical migrations impinged on the slope.

Comparative analysis of the DC performance of DG MOSFETs on highly-doped and near-intrinsic silicon layers

A comparison of dc characteristics of fully depleted double-gate (DG) MOSFETs with respect to low-power circuit applications and device scaling has been performed by two-dimensional device simulation. Three different DG MOSFET structures including a conventional N+ polysilicon gate device with highly doped Si layer, an asymmetrical P+/N+ polysilicon gate device with low doped Si layer and a midgap metal gate device with low doped Si layer have been analysed. It was found that DG MOSFET with mid-gap metal, gates yields the best dc parameters for given off-state drain leakage current and highest immunity to the variation of technology parameters (gate length, gate oxide thickness and Si layer thickness). It is also found that an asymmetrical P+/N+ polysilicon gate DG MOSFET design offers comparable dc characteristics, but better parameter immunity to technology tolerances than a conventional DG MOSFET. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-resolution organellar genome analysis of Triticum and Aegilops sheds new light on cytoplasm evolution in wheat

We have utilised polymorphic chloroplast microsatellites to analyse cytoplasmic relationships between accessions in the genera Triticum and Aegilops. Sequencing of PCR products revealed point mutations and insertions/deletions in addition to the standard repeat length expansion/contraction which most likely represent ancient synapomorphies. Phylogenetic analyses revealed three distinct groups of accessions. One of these contained all the non-Aegilops speltoides S-type cytoplasm species, another comprised almost exclusively A, C, D, M, N, T and U cytoplasm-type accessions and the third contained the polyploid Triticum species and all the Ae. speltoides accessions, further confirming that Ae. speltoides or a closely related but now extinct species was the original B-genome donor of cultivated polyploid wheat. Successive decreases in levels of genetic diversity due to domestication were also observed. Finally, we highlight the importance of elucidating longer-term evolutionary processes operating at microsatellite repeat loci.

Determination of ammonia based on the electro-oxidation of hydroquinone in dimethylformamide or in the room temperature ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide

The results detail a novel methodology for the electrochemical determination of ammonia based on its interaction with hydroquinone in DMF. It has been shown that ammonia reversibly removes protons from the hydroquinone molecules, thus facilitating the oxidative process with the emergence of a new wave at less positive potentials. The analytical utility of the proposed methodology has been examined with a linear range from 10 to 95 ppm and corresponding limit-of-detection of 4.2 ppm achievable. Finally, the response of hydroquinone in the presence of ammonia has been examined in the room temperature ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluormethylsulfonyl)imide, [EMIM][N(Tf)(2)]. Analogous voltammetric waveshapes to that observed in DMF were obtained, thereby confirming the viability of the method in either DMF or [EMIM][N(Tf)(2)] as solvent. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.