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In two different treatments of the Nuzi contract HSS V 67, E. A. Speiser provided two different transliterations and translations of a key phrase without giving his reasons for the revision. It turns out that the text in question is damaged, rendering one particular cuneiform sign nearly unreadable. The significance of Speiser's revision for biblical studies is that, depending on which reading is taken, this text provides some legal background either for the concern that a full wife might send away the children of a secondary wife (as in Gen 21) or for the phenomenon of surrogate motherhood (i.e., the identification of the child of a secondary wife as in some way the child of the full wife; see Gen 16 and 30). Though some biblical scholars have noted Speiser's two translations, no one sofar has engaged in a technical discussion of the primary text in order to understand the revision. Rather, scholars have sometimes simply chosen the reading that fits better with their purposes (usually Speiser's earlier reading). This article examines the original cuneiform text of HSS V 67 in order to ascertain, using orthographic and linguistic data, which of Speiser's two readings is the more likely. Speiser's revised reading proves to be the correct one, meaning that HSS V 67 does not provide a legal background for the concern that a full wife might send away the sons of a secondary wife (e.g., Gen 21). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultraviolet resonance Raman (UVRR) spectra of the two proteins bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human serum albumin (HSA) in an aqueous solution are compared with the aim to distinguish between them based on their very similar amino acid composition and structure and to obtain signals from tryptophan that has only very few residues. Comparison of the protein spectra with solutions of tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine in comparative ratios as in the two proteins shows that at an excitation wavelength of 220 nm, the spectra are dominated by the strong resonant contribution from these three amino acids. While the strong enhancement of two and one single tryptophan residue in BSA and HSA, respectively, results in pronounced bands assigned to fundamental vibrations of tryptophan, its weaker overtones and combination bands do not play a major role in the spectral range above 1800 cm -1 . There, the protein spectra clearly reveal the signals of overtones and combination bands of phenylalanine and tyrosine. Assignments of spectral features in the range of Raman shifts from 3800 to 5100 cm -1 to combinations comprising fundamentals and overtones of tyrosine were supported by spectra of amino acid mixtures that contain deuterated tyrosine. The information in the high-frequency region of the UVRR spectra could provide information that is complementary to near-infrared absorption spectroscopy of the proteins.

High-resolution Raman spectroscopy at low frequencies (<100cm-1) is used to reinvestigate and identify the surface phonons localized in the first atomic layers of In:Si(111)(4?1) and (8?2). The frequency and symmetry of low-energy surface phonons are strongly related to surface structure. The measured phonons are assigned to characteristic modes of the quasi-one-dimensional indium nanowires on Si(111) by means of density-functional theory calculations and symmetry considerations. It is found that the low-temperature (8?2) and the room-temperature (4?1) phases of the In:Si(111) surface are characterized by distinct sets of phonon modes. Strong modifications in Raman spectra upon the phase transition are, on the one hand, related to backfolding induced by symmetric quadruplication of the surface unit cell and, on the other hand, to structural changes within the surface unit cell. These are indications for two distinct structural phases, supporting the first-order transition scenario. The characteristic structural changes are thus verified in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The luminescence of In x Ga 1- x N nanowires (NWs) is frequently reported with large red-shifts as compared to the theoretical value expected from the average In content. Both compositional fluctuations and radial built-in fields were considered accountable for this effect, depending on the size, structure, composition, and surrounding medium of the NWs. In the present work, the emission properties of InGaN/GaN NWs grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy are investigated in a comprehensive study combining ultraviolet-Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) on vertical arrays, polarization-dependent PL on bundles of a few NWs, scanning transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and calculations of the band profiles. The roles of inhomogeneous In distribution and radial fields in the context of optical emission properties are addressed. The radial built-in fields are found to be modest, with a maximum surface band bending below 350 meV. On the other hand, variations in the local In content have been observed that give rise to potential fluctuations whose impact on the emission properties is shown to prevail over band-bending effects. Two luminescence bands with large positive and moderate negative polarization ratios of ≈+80% and ≤-60%, respectively, were observed. The red-shift in the luminescence is associated with In-rich inclusions in the NWs due to thermodynamic decomposition during growth. The negative polarization anisotropy is suggested to result from spontaneously formed superlattices in the In-rich regions of the NWs. The NWs show a preferred orthogonal absorption due to the dielectric boundary conditions and highlight the extreme sensitivity of these structures towards light polarization.