NEW METHODS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF FRET-BASED BIOSENSORS WITH EXPANDED DYNAMIC RANGE

Author(s):  
T NAGAI ◽  
A MIYAWAKI
Keyword(s):  
Geophysics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 502-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoping Huang ◽  
Douglas C. Fraser

The apparent resistivity technique using half‐space models has been employed in helicopter‐borne resistivity mapping for twenty years. These resistivity algorithms yield the apparent resistivity from the measured in‐phase and quadrature response arising from the flow of electrical conduction currents for a given frequency. However, these algorithms, which assume free‐space magnetic permeability, do not yield a reliable value for the apparent resistivity in highly magnetic areas. This is because magnetic polarization also occurs, which modifies the electromagnetic (EM) response, causing the computed resistivity to be erroneously high. Conversely, the susceptibility of a magnetic half‐space can be computed from the measured EM response, assuming an absence of conduction currents. However, the presence of conduction currents will cause the computed susceptibility to be erroneously low. New methods for computing the apparent resistivity and apparent magnetic permeability have been developed for the magnetic conductive half‐space. The in‐phase and quadrature responses at the lowest frequency are first used to estimate the apparent magnetic permeability. The lowest frequency should be used to calculate the permeability because this minimizes the contribution to the measured signal from conduction currents. Knowing the apparent magnetic permeability then allows the apparent resistivity to be computed for all frequencies. The resistivity can be computed using different methods. Because the EM response of magnetic permeability is much greater for the in‐phase component than for the quadrature component, it may be better in highly magnetic environments to derive the resistivity using the quadrature component at two frequencies (the quad‐quad algorithm) rather than using the in‐phase and quadrature response at a single frequency (the in‐phase‐quad algorithm). However, the in‐phase‐quad algorithm has the advantage of dynamic range, and it gives credible resistivity results when the apparent permeability has been obtained correctly.


Author(s):  
S. Basu ◽  
D. F. Parsons

We are approaching the invasiveness of cancer cells from the studies of their wet surface morphology which should distinguish them from their normal counterparts. In this report attempts have been made to provide physical basis and background work to a wet replication method with a differentially pumped hydration chamber (Fig. 1) (1,2), to apply this knowledge for obtaining replica of some specimens of known features (e.g. polystyrene latex) and finally to realize more specific problems and to improvize new methods and instrumentation for their rectification. In principle, the evaporant molecules penetrate through a pair of apertures (250, 350μ), through water vapors and is, then, deposited on the specimen. An intermediate chamber between the apertures is pumped independently of the high vacuum system. The size of the apertures is sufficiently small so that full saturated water vapor pressure is maintained near the specimen.


Author(s):  
Earl R. Walter ◽  
Glen H. Bryant

With the development of soft, film forming latexes for use in paints and other coatings applications, it became desirable to develop new methods of sample preparation for latex particle size distribution studies with the electron microscope. Conventional latex sample preparation techniques were inadequate due to the pronounced tendency of these new soft latex particles to distort, flatten and fuse on the substrate when they dried. In order to avoid these complications and obtain electron micrographs of undistorted latex particles of soft resins, a freeze-dry, cold shadowing technique was developed. The method has now been used in our laboratory on a routine basis for several years.The cold shadowing is done in a specially constructed vacuum system, having a conventional mechanical fore pump and oil diffusion pump supplying vacuum. The system incorporates bellows type high vacuum valves to permit a prepump cycle and opening of the shadowing chamber without shutting down the oil diffusion pump. A baffeled sorption trap isolates the shadowing chamber from the pumps.


Author(s):  
F. Ouyang ◽  
D. A. Ray ◽  
O. L. Krivanek

Electron backscattering Kikuchi diffraction patterns (BKDP) reveal useful information about the structure and orientation of crystals under study. With the well focused electron beam in a scanning electron microscope (SEM), one can use BKDP as a microanalysis tool. BKDPs have been recorded in SEMs using a phosphor screen coupled to an intensified TV camera through a lens system, and by photographic negatives. With the development of fiber-optically coupled slow scan CCD (SSC) cameras for electron beam imaging, one can take advantage of their high sensitivity and wide dynamic range for observing BKDP in SEM.We have used the Gatan 690 SSC camera to observe backscattering patterns in a JEOL JSM-840A SEM. The CCD sensor has an active area of 13.25 mm × 8.83 mm and 576 × 384 pixels. The camera head, which consists of a single crystal YAG scintillator fiber optically coupled to the CCD chip, is located inside the SEM specimen chamber. The whole camera head is cooled to about -30°C by a Peltier cooler, which permits long integration times (up to 100 seconds).


Author(s):  
R. Vincent

Microanalysis and diffraction on a sub-nanometre scale have become practical in modern TEMs due to the high brightness of field emission sources combined with the short mean free paths associated with both elastic and inelastic scattering of incident electrons by the specimen. However, development of electron diffraction as a quantitative discipline has been limited by the absence of any generalised theory for dynamical inelastic scattering. These problems have been simplified by recent innovations, principally the introduction of spectrometers such as the Gatan imaging filter (GIF) and the Zeiss omega filter, which remove the inelastic electrons, combined with annual improvements in the speed of computer workstations and the availability of solid-state detectors with high resolution, sensitivity and dynamic range.Comparison of experimental data with dynamical calculations imposes stringent requirements on the specimen and the electron optics, even when the inelastic component has been removed. For example, no experimental CBED pattern ever has perfect symmetry, departures from the ideal being attributable to residual strain, thickness averaging, inclined surfaces, incomplete cells and amorphous surface layers.


Author(s):  
A. G. Jackson ◽  
M. Rowe

Diffraction intensities from intermetallic compounds are, in the kinematic approximation, proportional to the scattering amplitude from the element doing the scattering. More detailed calculations have shown that site symmetry and occupation by various atom species also affects the intensity in a diffracted beam. [1] Hence, by measuring the intensities of beams, or their ratios, the occupancy can be estimated. Measurement of the intensity values also allows structure calculations to be made to determine the spatial distribution of the potentials doing the scattering. Thermal effects are also present as a background contribution. Inelastic effects such as loss or absorption/excitation complicate the intensity behavior, and dynamical theory is required to estimate the intensity value.The dynamic range of currents in diffracted beams can be 104or 105:1. Hence, detection of such information requires a means for collecting the intensity over a signal-to-noise range beyond that obtainable with a single film plate, which has a S/N of about 103:1. Although such a collection system is not available currently, a simple system consisting of instrumentation on an existing STEM can be used as a proof of concept which has a S/N of about 255:1, limited by the 8 bit pixel attributes used in the electronics. Use of 24 bit pixel attributes would easily allowthe desired noise range to be attained in the processing instrumentation. The S/N of the scintillator used by the photoelectron sensor is about 106 to 1, well beyond the S/N goal. The trade-off that must be made is the time for acquiring the signal, since the pattern can be obtained in seconds using film plates, compared to 10 to 20 minutes for a pattern to be acquired using the digital scan. Parallel acquisition would, of course, speed up this process immensely.


Author(s):  
Dai Dalin ◽  
Guo Jianmin

Lipid cytochemistry has not yet advanced far at the EM level. A major problem has been the loss of lipid during dehydration and embedding. Although the adoption of glutaraldehyde and osmium tetroxide accelerate the chemical reaction of lipid and osmium tetroxide can react on the double bouds of unsaturated lipid to from the osmium black, osmium tetroxide can be reduced in saturated lipid and subsequently some of unsaturated lipid are lost during dehydration. In order to reduce the loss of lipid by traditional method, some researchers adopted a few new methods, such as the change of embedding procedure and the adoption of new embedding media, to solve the problem. In a sense, these new methods are effective. They, however, usually require a long period of preparation. In this paper, we do research on the fiora nectary strucure of lauraceae by the rapid-embedding method wwith PEG under electron microscope and attempt to find a better method to solve the problem mentioned above.


Author(s):  
N. Mori ◽  
T. Oikawa ◽  
Y. Harada ◽  
J. Miyahara ◽  
T. Matsuo

The Imaging Plate (IP) is a new type imaging device, which was developed for diagnostic x ray imaging. We have reported that usage of the IP for a TEM has many merits; those are high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, and good linearity. However in the previous report the reading system was prototype drum-type-scanner, and IP was also experimentally made, which phosphor layer was 50μm thick with no protective layer. So special care was needed to handle them, and they were used only to make sure the basic characteristics. In this article we report the result of newly developed reading, printing system and high resolution IP for practical use. We mainly discuss the characteristics of the IP here. (Precise performance concerned with the reader and other system are reported in the other article.)Fig.1 shows the schematic cross section of the IP. The IP consists of three parts; protective layer, phosphor layer and support.


Author(s):  
M. Pan

It has been known for many years that materials such as zeolites, polymers, and biological specimens have crystalline structures that are vulnerable to electron beam irradiation. This radiation damage severely restrains the use of high resolution electron microscopy (HREM). As a result, structural characterization of these materials using HREM techniques becomes difficult and challenging. The emergence of slow-scan CCD cameras in recent years has made it possible to record high resolution (∽2Å) structural images with low beam intensity before any apparent structural damage occurs. Among the many ideal properties of slow-scan CCD cameras, the low readout noise and digital recording allow for low-dose HREM to be carried out in an efficient and quantitative way. For example, the image quality (or resolution) can be readily evaluated on-line at the microscope and this information can then be used to optimize the operating conditions, thus ensuring that high quality images are recorded. Since slow-scan CCD cameras output (undistorted) digital data within the large dynamic range (103-104), they are ideal for quantitative electron diffraction and microscopy.


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