We thank GEC pic and the Fellowship of Engineering for the award of a Senior Fellowship in Molecular and Biomolecular Electronics and the SERC for support under Grant GR/F 16424. We also acknowledge the award to C.D. by the Fellowship of Eng/GEC of a Kiethley 617 electrometer and microcomputer.

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The selectivity characteristics of neutral-carrler-based electrodes can be Improved to a large extent by the optimization of the Ionic sHes/carriers ratio. A new membrane model and a new equation for the emf response of such membranes are Introduced. They Illustrate the dependence of the emf response on the activity of free carriers available. As a case of practical Importance the emf function of a magnesium ion-selective electrode Is discussed. It demonstrates that the emf function normally deviates from the Nlkolsky-type behavior and that transient potentials and long-term drifts occur and therefore make the selectivity determination according to the separate solution method questionable. The measured data are In good agreement with the values calculated on the bads of the reported model.

Ff-NIR spectroscopy Cluster analysis Wood identification Tropical wood Softwood Hardwood ln the present project, a total of 90 samples of 12 different species of wood were examined using the Ff-NIR method. It was found that a comparison of test results is only possible if the samples have been prepared in the identical manner. Furthermore, once the measuring unit had been calibrated, it proved possible to correctly identify new samples of the species previously tested. The results indicate that it may be possible to differentiate between samples of a given wood species of different origins. This is of some interest because it would allow the region in which the wood originated to be verified when the wood is certified.

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