Yvonne Fors, Håkan Grudd, Anders Rindby and Lennart Bornmalm tell us about “X-ray fluorescence for cultural heritage: scanning biochemical fingerprints in archaeological shipwrecks”. Two outstanding examples of the preservation of wood are the warships Vasa, in Stockholm and the Mary Rose in Portsmouth and this article looks at the role XRF has played in the preservation of the wood of both ships.

Read more: X-ray fluorescence for cultural heritage: scanning biochemical fingerprints in archaeological shipwrecks

The “Application of Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy for identification of uranium minerals in the environment” is described by Eric Faulques, Florian Massuyeau, Nataliya Kalashnyk and Dale Perry. Uranium forms a large number of compounds and complexes, and these are most helpful in the study of uranium, its chemistry and transport in the environment. Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy provide complementary information and are powerful tools for direct speciation of uranium and identification of natural uranyl minerals relevant to the environment.

Read more: Application of Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy for identification of uranium minerals in the environment

Following on from the two recent articles on how the Cloud may be impacting the availability of scientific software delivery for spectroscopists, this article looks at what the wider commercial spectroscopy software providers have been doing in this area.

Read more: Who’s ahead in the Cloud?—Part three

Further introduction to the Theory of Sampling by Kim Esbensen and Claas Wagner

Read more: Theory of sampling (TOS)—fundamental definitions and concepts

C. Burgess and J.P. Hammond outline the work that has been undertaken to modernise the spectroscopic General Chapters in the United States Pharmacopeia (USP).

Read more: Modernisation of the spectroscopic General Chapters in the United States Pharmacopeia (USP)

“Rheo-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: a versatile toolbox to investigate rheological phenomena in complex fluids” is Claudia Schmidt’s topic. Rheology is an important science, and NMR has a number of uses within it. However, challenges remain for the simultaneous measurement of rheological and NMR parameters.

Read more: Rheo-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: a versatile toolbox to investigate rheological phenomena in complex fluids

Jan Novotný, Karel Novotný, David Prochazka, Aleš Hrdlička and Jozef Kaiser tell us about “Two dimensional elemental mapping by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy”. LIBS seems to be finding increasing applications and to be receiving interest by the instrument manufacturers at present. The article provides an introduction to the technique and goes on to show how it can be used for elemental mapping in materials analysis.

Read more: Two dimensional elemental mapping by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Thi is a new column on Sampling, edited by Kim Esbensen and Claas Wagner. I really only became aware of the Theory of Sampling (TOS) following conversations with Kim at the NIR-2013 conference in La Grande Motte, near Montpellier, France. I won’t steal Kim and Claas’ thunder by going into detail, but I see this new column as a perfect complement to our others. Ian Michael, editor.

Read more: Theory of sampling (TOS)—the missing link before analysis