Modulating the Charge Transfer Plasmon in Bridged Au Core-Satellite Homometallic Nanostructures.

The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) is one of the important properties for noble metal nanoparticles. Tuning the LSPR on demand thus has attracted tremendous interest. Beyond the size and shape control, manipulating intraparticle coupling is an effective way to tailor their LSPR. The charge transfer plasmon (CTP) is the most important mode of conductive coupling between subunits linked by conductive bridges that are well studied for structures prepared on substrates by lithography method. However, the colloidal synthesis of CTP structure remains a great challenge. This work reports the colloidal synthesis of extraordinary bridged Au core-satellite structures by exploiting the buffer effect of polydopamine shell on Au core for Au atom diffusion, in which the Au bridge is well controlled in terms of width and length. Benefiting from the tunable Au bridges, the resonance energy of the CTP can be readily controlled. As a result, the LSPR absorptions of the core-satellite structures are continuously tuned within the NIR spectral range (from 900 to >1300 nm), demonstrating their great potentials for ultrafast nano-optics and biomedical applications.

Validity and reliability of the German versions of the CD-RISC-10 and CD-RISC-2.

The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) is an established instrument to assess trait resilience. The present study investigates the psychometric properties of the brief German CD-RISC-10 and CD-RISC-2 in an online sample of 360 students. The CD-RISC-10 showed good reliability, whereas the CD-RISC-2 just missed an acceptable level of reliability. The unifactorial structure of the CD-RISC-10 was supported in a confirmatory factor analysis. Correlational analysis with various clinical and non-clinical constructs (e.g., trait resilience, trait emotional intelligence, life satisfaction, well-being, perceived stress, sleep problems, anxiety, depression, and mental and physical health related quality of life) provided evidence for convergent, divergent, and incremental validity of both brief versions of the CD-RISC. Measured with the CD-RISC-10, trait resilience buffered the effects of perceived stress on life satisfaction and aggregated mental health problems, but not on physical health related quality of life. For the CD-RISC-2, a buffer effect was only found for life satisfaction. Taken together, the results of the present study provide support for the validity of the CD-RISC-10 and, to a lesser extent, of the CD-RISC-2. Implications and limitations of the results will be discussed.

Nortriptyline Hydrochloride Solubility-pH Profiles in a Saline Phosphate Buffer: Drug-Phosphate Complexes and Multiple pHmax Domains with a Gibbs Phase Rule "Soft" Constraints.

The solubility of a model basic drug, nortriptyline (Nor), was investigated as a function of pH in phosphate and/or a chloride-containing aqueous suspension using experimental practices recommended in the previously published "white paper" (Avdeef et al., 2016). The pH-Ramp Shake-Flask (pH-RSF) method, introduced in our earlier work (Markovic et al., 2019), was applied. An improved and more detailed experimental design of the Nor solubility measurement allowed us to exploit the full capacity of the pH-RSF method. Complex equilibria in the aqueous phase (cationic and anionic complex formation between Nor and the phosphate) and solid-phase transformations (Nor free base, 1:1 Nor hydrochloride salt, 1:1 and 1:2 Nor phosphate salts) were characterized by a detailed analysis of the solubility measurements using the computer program pDISOL-X. The solid phases were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, powder X-ray diffraction, and elemental analyses. The results of the present investigation illustrate the influence of competing counterions, such as buffering agents, complexing agents, salt coformers, tonicity adjusters, and so forth, on the aqueous solubility of drugs and interconversion of salts. Careful attention given to these factors can be helpful in the formulation of drug products.

Can parkland mitigate mental health burden imposed by the COVID-19? A national study in China.

The worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has seriously affected not only physical health but also mental wellbeing (i.e mental stress and suicide intention) of numerous urban inhabitants across the globe. While many studies have elucidated urban parkland enhances and mental wellbeing of urban residents, the potential for parkland to mitigate mental health burden imposed by the COVID-19 has received no attention. This nationwide study systematically explored the association between parkland, the COVID-19 pandemic situation and mental wellbeing from 296 cities in China. The study innovatively used big data from Baidu Search Engine to assess city-level mental wellbeing, thereby enabling comparisons among cities. The results show that the provision of parkland is positively associated with mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 epidemic. For COVID-19-related indicators, the geographical distance to Wuhan city, work resumption rate, and travel intensity within the city are also positively associated with mental wellbeing, while the number of COVID-19 infections and the proportion of migrants from Hubei Province for each city are negatively associated with mental wellbeing. Last, the most important finding is that parkland reduces the negative effect of COVID-19 on mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 epidemic. To achieve the goal of promoting mental wellbeing through urban planning and design during the future pandemics, policymakers and planners are advised to provide more well-maintained and accessible parkland and encourage residents to use them with proper precautions.

Job demands, emotional dissonance and elderly abuse: The moderating role of organizational resources.

The present study focuses on elderly abuse committed by caregivers in nursing homes. It aimed at a better understanding of neglect and abusive behaviors by considering the working context and the emotional dissonance of these professionals. To achieve this goal, direct effects of emotional dissonance, job demands (workload and emotional demands) and organizational resources (high-quality relationships with the colleagues and the supervisor) on neglect and abusive behaviors were analyzed. Moreover, the moderating role of organizational resources was explored. The study was conducted among 481 nurses and healthcare assistants from different French nursing homes. Overall, results contributed to the literature by pointing out the impact of emotional dissonance and caregivers' working context on neglect and abusive behaviors. Moreover, results highlighted the moderating effect of high-quality relationships with the colleagues and the supervisor and give rise to potential implications in preventing elderly abuse in nursing homes.

Floaters may buffer the extinction risk of small populations: an empirical assessment.

The high extinction risk of small populations is commonly explained by reductions in fecundity and breeder survival associated with demographic and environmental stochasticity. However, ecological theory suggests that population extinctions may also arise from reductions in the number of floaters able to replace the lost breeders. This can be particularly plausible under harsh fragmentation scenarios, where species must survive as small populations subjected to severe effects of stochasticity. Using a woodpecker study in fragmented habitats (2004-2016), we provide here empirical support for the largely neglected hypothesis that floaters buffer population extirpation risks. After controlling for population size, patch size and the intrinsic quality of habitat, populations in patches with floaters had a lower extinction probability than populations in patches without floaters (0.013 versus 0.131). Floaters, which often replace the lost breeders, were less likely to occur in small and low-quality patches, showing that population extirpations may arise from unnoticed reductions in floater numbers in poor-quality habitats. We argue that adequate pools of the typically overlooked floaters may buffer extirpation risks by reducing the detrimental impacts of demographic and environmental stochasticity. However, unravelling the influence of floaters in buffering stochastic effects and promoting population stability require additional studies in an ample array of species and stochastic scenarios.

The role of transplant-related stressors and social support in the development of anxiety among renal transplant recipients: the direct and buffering effects.

Several studies have shown a relevant presence of anxiety feelings among renal transplant patients. This study examines the impact of transplant-related stress and social support on anxiety. Two hypotheses were examined: H1: High transplant-related stressors and low social support are related to high anxiety (additive hypothesis); H2: Social support moderates the detrimental impact of transplant-related stressors on anxiety (buffer hypothesis). One hundred and four kidney transplant recipients (54% male), with a mean age of 50.8 (SD = 12.6), volunteered to participate in a cross-sectional study that included a face-to-face interview and several self-administered scales. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that higher transplant-related stressors are associated with higher levels of anxiety (F change (2, 92) = 17.4, p < .001, ∆R(2) = 24%), but, contrary to our prediction, social support was not directly related with anxiety. However, social support has a moderating effect on the relationship between high transplant-related stressors and anxiety (F change (1, 91) = 5.2, p < .05, ∆R(2) = 3%). The results are consistent with the hypothesis that social support has a buffering role on the patients' distress following renal transplantation and suggest that their psychological well-being could benefit from enhancing the perception of social support in post-operative care.

Confined Ni nanoparticles in N-doped carbon nanotubes for excellent pH-universal industrial-level electrocatalytic CO2 reduction and Zn-CO2 battery.

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 (ECR) offers a promising approach to curbed carbon emissions and complete carbon cycles. However, the inevitable creation of carbonates and limited CO2 utilization efficiency in neutral or alkaline electrolytes result in low energy efficiency, carbon losses and its widespread commercial utilization. The advancement of CO2 reduction under acidic conditions offers a promising approach for their commercial utilization, but the inhibition of hydrogen evolution reaction and the corrosion of catalysts are still challenging. Herein, Ni nanoparticles (NPs) wrapped in N-doped carbon nanotubes (NixNC-a) are successfully prepared by a facile mixed-heating and freeze-drying method. Ni100NC-a achieves a high Faraday efficiency (FE) of near 100 % for CO under pH-universal conditions, coupled with a promising current density of CO (>100 mA cm-2). Especially in acidic conditions, Ni100NC-a exhibits an exceptional ECR performance with the high FECO of 97.4 % at -1.44 V and the turnover frequency (TOF) of 11 k h-1 at -1.74 V with a current density of 288.24 mA cm-2. This excellent performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of Ni NPs and N-doped carbon shells, which protects Ni NPs from etching, promotes CO2 adsorption and regulates local pH. Moreover, Ni100NC-a could drive the reversible Zn-CO2 battery with a high power-density of 4.68 mW cm-2 and a superior stability (98 h). This study presents a promising candidate for efficient pH-universal CO2 electroreduction and Zn-CO2 battery.

Anthropogenic pollutants induce enhancement of aerosol acidity at a mountainous background atmosphere in southern China.

Aerosol acidity plays a crucial role in atmospheric physicochemical processes, climate change and human health, particularly in the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). However, understanding the characteristics and driving factors of aerosol acidity in background mountains has been limited. In this study, we conducted intensive field measurements in the Nanling mountains during the dry and wet seasons to analyze aerosol pH characteristics and their driving factors using sensitivity tests. The mean aerosol pH in the background mountains was found to be 2.68 ± 0.55, with values ranging from 0.38 to 4.44, significantly lower than predicted values in northern China. Sensitivity tests revealed that aerosol acidity in the background atmosphere was more responsive to dominant chemical species (T-NH3 (= NH4+ + NH3) and SO42-) rather than relative humidity and temperature. Additionally, we observed that sulfate and ammonium, transported occasionally by dryer northern air masses, had a substantial impact on decreasing aerosol pH at the site. Similar to the southeastern United States, NH4+/NH3 also dominated the total buffer capacity of aerosol acidity in the Nanling mountains. The strong aerosol acidity in this area is expected to have adverse effects on regional air quality and climate by enhancing SOA formation and regulating the dry deposition of inorganic reactive nitrogen.

40 years of changes in sea surface temperature along the Western Iberian Coast.

Climate change is causing mean sea surface temperatures (SST) to increase worldwide. However, this increase has not been temporally or spatially uniform, with variations observed depending both on the period considered and the geographic region. In this context, this paper aims to quantify relevant changes in SST along the Western Iberian Coast over the last four decades, through the calculation of trends and anomalies of long-term time series of in situ observations and satellite-derived data. Potential drivers of SST changes were considered using atmospheric and teleconnections time series. Changes in the seasonal cycle of SST were also evaluated. We show that SST has increased since 1982, with regional variations between 0.10 and 0.25 °C per decade, with an increase in air temperature appearing to drive the SST trends along the Iberian coast. In the near-shore area, no significant trends or changes in the seasonal cycle of SST were observed, which is likely due to a buffer effect caused by the seasonal upwelling that characterizes the region. Recent decades show a slowdown in the increase rate of SST along the Western Iberian Coast. An upwelling intensification could justify this observation, along with the effect of teleconnections on the regional climate, such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Western Mediterranean Oscillation Index (WeMOI). Our results suggest that the WeMOI plays a more important role in coastal SST variability than the other teleconnections. The present study quantifies regional changes in SST and enhances knowledge of the role of ocean-atmosphere interactions in regulating climate and weather conditions. Moreover, it provides a relevant scientific context to the development of regional adaptative and mitigation actions in response to climate change.

Variability and role of long-wave radiation fluxes in the formation of net radiation and thermal features of grassy and bare soil active surfaces in Wroclaw.

The paper examines the variability of long-wave radiation fluxes in two contrasting types of urban active surfaces - grassy surface and surface without plants (bare soil) in Wroclaw (Poland) within a 12-year period (August 2007-July 2019). The study used net radiation and heat balance formulas to calculate the share of individual radiation fluxes in these balances, and then utilized the Stefan-Boltzmann formula to calculate the effective temperatures of researched surfaces. The analysis showed the temporal variability of these fluxes against the background of weather and climatic conditions and in relation to the variability of short-wave radiation fluxes. The role of long-wave radiation fluxes in forming net radiation was examined in detail to show the buffering role of vegetation surfaces regarding the variability of solar radiation fluxes and their heat effects. The mean monthly values of outgoing long-wave radiation fluxes change from 309.0 W·m-2 for bare soil, 309.8 W·m-2 for grassy surface, and 288.8 W·m-2 for downward atmospheric radiation to respectively 435.8, 425.0 and 369.4 W·m-2 in July. The coefficient of variability for long-wave radiation daily fluxes are approximately one order of magnitude lower than for the short-wave radiation. The differences between values of long-wave radiation fluxes for bare soil and grassy surfaces vary from slight negative values in winter to relatively sizable positive values during the vegetation period (March-October). The weakening of the buffering effect for grassy surface and how air temperature then changes considerably compared to the effective temperature of the active surfaces were explained using the dry summer period of August 2015 as example. The obtained results are important, as they provide empirical arguments for urban planning to extend plant areas' share in big cities as well as to introduce there a friendly environmental system of irrigation in these areas using renewable solar energy.

Relationship between wear formation and large-particle motion in a pipe bend.

Fine and large particles flowing through a bend in a pipe move differently and therefore erode the pipe differently. This paper simulates solid-liquid two-phase flow containing large particles in a bend and analyses the relationship between the wear formation and particle motion. Wear experiments are carried out using 3-mm glass bead particles at a mass concentration of 1-15%. At the same time, the flow field and the motion of the granular system are obtained in computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method simulation. The wear formation mechanism is revealed by comparing experiments with numerical simulations. The wear rate of the wall surface increases with the mass concentration, while the marginal growth rate decreases as the mass concentration increases. As the mass concentration increases to a certain value, the degree of wear reaches a maximum and remains unchanged subsequently because of the formation of a particle barrier along the bend wall. The particles near the wall region will bounce forward because of the periodic disturbance flow around particles. The impact of mass bouncing particles causes the formation of the erosion ripple on the test sheet.

Solubility-pH profile of desipramine hydrochloride in saline phosphate buffer: Enhanced solubility due to drug-buffer aggregates.

Although solubility-pH data for desipramine hydrochloride (DsHCl) have been reported previously, the aim of the present study was to critically examine the aqueous solubility-pH behavior of DsHCl in buffer-free and buffered solutions, in the presence of physiologically-relevant chloride concentration, using experimental practices recommended in the recently-published "white paper" (Avdeef et al., 2016). The computer program pDISOL-X was used to design the structured experiments (pH-RSF method), to process the data, and to refine the equilibrium constants. Low-to-high and high-to-low pH assays (using HCl, H3PO4, or NaOH to adjust pH) were performed on phosphate-buffered (0.12­0.15 M) saturated solutions of DsHCl in the pH 1.3-11.6 range. After equilibration (stirring 6 h, followed by 18 h stir-free sedimentation), filtration or centrifugation was used for phase separation. Concentration was measured using HPLC with UV/VIS detection. The 2:1 drug-phosphate solubility product (Ksp2:1 = [DsH+]2[HPO42-]) was determined from data in the pH 4-9 region. The free base of desipramine was prepared and used to determine the Ksp1:1 ([DsH+][H2PO4-]) in chloride-free acidified suspension. In addition, phosphate-free titrations were conducted to determine the intrinsic solubility, S0, and the 1:1 drug-chloride solubility product, KspDsHCl = [DsH+][Cl-]. Under the assay conditions, only the phosphate-free solutions showed some supersaturation near pHmax 8.0. In phosphate-containing solutions, pHmax was indicated at higher pH (8.8-9.6). Oils mixed with solids were observed to form in alkaline solutions (pH > 11). Notably, soluble drug-phosphate complexes appeared to form below pH 3.9 and above pHmax in saturated phosphate­containing saline solutions. This was indicated by the systematic pH shift to higher values in the log S-pH curve in alkaline solution than expected from the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation. For pH < 3.9, saturated phosphate-containing saline solutions exhibited elevated solubility, with drug-hydrochloride as the sole precipitate. Salt solubility products, intrinsic solubility, and complexation constants, which rationalized the data, were determined. Elemental, thermogravimetric (TGA), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC), and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analyses were used to characterize the precipitates isolated from suspensions at different pH.

Influence of pH, buffers and role of quinolinic acid, a novel iron chelating agent, in the determination of hydroxyl radical scavenging activity of plant extracts by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR).

The Fenton reaction is used to produce hydroxyl radicals for the evaluation of the antioxidant activity of plant extracts. In this paper the parameters affecting the production of hydroxyl radicals and their spin trapping with DMPO were studied. The use of quinolinic acid (Quin) as an Fe(II) ligand was proposed for antioxidant activity determination of Green tea, orange juice and asparagus extracts. Quin, buffers and pH affect the DMPO-OH signal intensity of the EPR spectra. Quin/Fe(II) and low pH enhance the OH generation. Phosphate and Tris-HCl buffers decrease the signal intensity measured in Fe(II)-sulfate and Fe(II)-Quin systems. The extracts were analyzed with Fenton systems containing Fe(II)-sulfate and Fe(II)-Quin with and without buffer. The highest activity was shown with Fe(II)-Quin without buffer, this system being less influenced by pH and chelating agents present in the extracts. This paper will help researchers to better design spin trapping experiments for food matrices.

Emotional Dissonance and Burnout: The Moderating Role of Team Reflexivity and Re-Evaluation.

The aim of the present study was to better understand the relationship between emotional dissonance and burnout by exploring the buffering effects of re-evaluation and team reflexivity. The study was conducted with a sample of 445 nurses and healthcare assistants from a general hospital. Team reflexivity was evaluated with the validation of the French version of the team reflexivity scale (Facchin, Tschan, Gurtner, Cohen, & Dupuis, 2006). Burnout was measured with the MBI General Survey (Schaufeli, Leiter, Maslach, & Jackson, 1996). Emotional dissonance and re-evaluation were measured with the scale developed by Andela, Truchot, & Borteyrou (2015). With reference to Rimé's theoretical model (2009), we suggested that both dimensions of team reflexivity (task and social reflexivity) respond to both psychological necessities induced by dissonance (cognitive clarification and socio-affective necessities). Firstly, results indicated that emotional dissonance was related to burnout. Secondly, regression analysis confirmed the buffering role of re-evaluation and social reflexivity on the emotional exhaustion of emotional dissonance. Overall, results contribute to the literature by highlighting the moderating effect of re-evaluation and team reflexivity in analysing the relationship between emotional dissonance and burnout. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Role of Self-Efficacy and Friend Support on Adolescent Vigorous Physical Activity.

OBJECTIVES: Physical activity, including some form of vigorous activity, is a key component of a healthy lifestyle in young people. Self-efficacy and social support have been identified as key determinants of physical activity; however, the mechanism that reflects the interplay of these two factors is not well understood. The aim of the current study was to test social cognitive theory's notion that self-efficacy relates to intention that translates into behavior and to investigate whether friend support and self-efficacy synergize, interfere, or compensate for one another to predict vigorous physical activity in adolescents-a population at risk of rapid decreases in physical activity. METHOD: A survey at two points in time was conducted in 226 students aged 12 to 16 years. In a conditional process analysis, friend support and physical activity self-efficacy were specified as interacting predictors of intention. The latter was specified as a mediator between self-efficacy and later vigorous physical activity, controlling for sex and age. RESULTS: Self-efficacy emerged as the dominant predictor of intention, followed by friend support, and an interaction between support and self-efficacy. In adolescents with high self-efficacy, intention was independent of support. In those with low self-efficacy, receiving friend support partly compensated for lack of self-efficacy. The effect of self-efficacy on vigorous physical activity was mediated by intention. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent vigorous physical activity was indirectly predicted by self-efficacy via intention, and this mediation was further moderated by levels of friend support, indicating that friend support can partly buffer lack of self-efficacy.

The Money Buffer Effect in China: A Higher Income Cannot Make You Much Happier but Might Allow You to Worry Less.

This study examined the possibility that there is a curvilinear relationship between income and subjective well-being in China. This study also investigated whether this curvilinear relationship is moderated by social class and mediated by respondents' material affluence. The study was conducted in China, and the sample consisted of 900 blue-collar workers and 546 white-collar workers. The results for emotional well-being showed that income significantly predicted negative affect but not positive affect. This finding indicates that in China, high incomes may not make people happier but might allow them to worry less, which we call the "money buffer effect." The results also showed that material affluence mediates the interaction effect between income and social class on subjective well-being. The implications of these results for future research and practice are discussed.

Different space preferences and within-host competition promote niche partitioning between symbiotic feather mite species.

Obligate symbionts (including parasites, commensals and mutualists) often share host species and host-based food resources. Such symbionts are frequently distributed unequally among hosts with different phenotypic features, or occupy different regions on a host. However, the processes leading to distinct within-host symbiont distributions remain obscure. We aimed to test whether distinct in-host symbiont distributions arise as the outcome of species-specific habitat preferences or interspecific competition, and how host phenotype influences such processes. To this end, we studied the distribution within and among individual bird hosts of two feather mites (Proctophyllodes sylviae and Trouessartia bifurcata) of migratory and sedentary European blackcaps, Sylvia atricapilla, wintering in sympatry. Trouessartia bifurcata was mostly restricted to resident blackcaps, while P. sylviae was abundant on both host types. Within hosts, each species tended to settle on different feather sectors (proximal or distal, respectively), which they filled by spreading on the wing following ordered but opposite patterns, thereby supporting the view that spatial segregation was primarily the outcome of dissimilar space preferences. However, we also found evidence of competition finely tuning mite distributions: when P. sylviae increased abundance and expanded onto the range of T. bifurcata, abundances of the two species were negatively correlated in the shared areas. In addition, the presence of T. bifurcata on a host was associated with a more restricted distribution of P. sylviae. Our results show that both species-specific preferences and interspecific interactions contribute to shaping mite distributions among and on individual hosts, a situation likely mirrored by other host-multi-symbiont systems.

Resource loss, self-efficacy, and family support predict posttraumatic stress symptoms: a 3-year study of earthquake survivors.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Social support and self-efficacy are regarded as coping resources that may facilitate readjustment after traumatic events. The 2009 Cinchona earthquake in Costa Rica serves as an example for such an event to study resources to prevent subsequent severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms. DESIGN: At Time 1 (1-6 months after the earthquake in 2009), N=200 survivors were interviewed, assessing resource loss, received family support, and posttraumatic stress response. At Time 2 in 2012, severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms and general self-efficacy beliefs were assessed. METHODS: Regression analyses estimated the severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms accounted for by all variables. Moderator and mediator models were examined to understand the interplay of received family support and self-efficacy with posttraumatic stress symptoms. RESULTS: Baseline posttraumatic stress symptoms and resource loss (T1) accounted for significant but small amounts of the variance in the severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms (T2). The main effects of self-efficacy (T2) and social support (T1) were negligible, but social support buffered resource loss, indicating that only less supported survivors were affected by resource loss. Self-efficacy at T2 moderated the support-stress relationship, indicating that low levels of self-efficacy could be compensated by higher levels of family support. Receiving family support at T1 enabled survivors to feel self-efficacious, underlining the enabling hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS: Receiving social support from relatives shortly after an earthquake was found to be an important coping resource, as it alleviated the association between resource loss and the severity of posttraumatic stress response, compensated for deficits of self-efficacy, and enabled self-efficacy, which was in turn associated with more adaptive adjustment 3 years after the earthquake.

The effects of buffers and pH on the thermal stability, unfolding and substrate binding of RecA.

The Escherichia coli protein RecA is responsible for catalysis of the strand transfer reaction used in DNA repair and recombination. Previous studies in our lab have shown that high concentrations of salts stabilize RecA in a reverse-anionic Hofmeister series. Here we investigate how changes in pH and buffer alter the thermal unfolding and cofactor binding. RecA in 20mM HEPES, MES, Tris and phosphate buffers was studied in the pH range from 6.5 to 8.5 using circular dichroism (CD), infrared (IR) and fluorescence spectroscopies. The results show all of the buffers studied stabilize RecA up to 50°C above the Tris melting temperature and influence RecA's ability to nucleate on double-stranded DNA. Infrared and CD spectra of RecA in the different buffers do not show that secondary structural changes are associated with increased stability or decreased ability to nucleate on dsDNA. These results suggest the differences in stability arise from decreasing positive charge and/or buffer interactions.