Surfaces of cryosections: is cryosectioning ‘cutting’ or ‘fracturing’?

In order to determine if cryosectioning involves ‘fracturing’ or ‘cutting’ we examined the surfaces obtained in cryosectioning by a metal-replicating procedure commonly used in freeze-fracture microscopy. Platinum-carbon replicas were made of the surfaces of both the sections and the complementary surfaces of the sample stubs from which the sections were cut. When samples of frozen red cells were sectioned at ?120°C with large knife advancements (1 μm), the chips produced did not resemble sections. Membrane fracture faces, produced by splitting of the lipid bilayer, were found in electron micrographs of replicas of the sample stubs. This demonstrates that a cryomicrotome can be used to produce large intact replicas. When dull knives were used with small knife advancements, both smooth and fractured regions were found. The sections produced with dull knives had a snowflake appearance in the light microscope. When sharp knives were used with small advancements (0·1 μm), replicas of the surfaces were free of fracture faces and the sections had a cellophane-like appearance in the light microscope. Therefore, in cryosectioning a different process other than ‘fracturing’ is responsible. This ‘cutting’ process may be micromelting of a superficial layer by the mechanism of melting-point depression from the pressure exerted by the sharp edge of the knife.     

Determination of defocus values using ‘Fourier images’ for high resolution electron microscopy

The phenomenon of Fourier images is used to calibrate defocus steps of a high resolution transmission electron microscope. Results compare well with measurements from an optical diffractogram.     

The efficient and unbiased estimation of nuclear size variability using the ‘selector’

The selector was used to make an unbiased estimation of nuclear size variability in one benign naevocellular skin tumour and one cutaneous malignant melanoma. The results showed that the estimates obtained using the selector were comparable to those obtained using the more time consuming Cavalieri-disector approach. Employing ‘optical sections’, the selector was found to be between five and ten times more efficient than the Cavalieri-disector method when using physical sections.     

A variable cell culture chamber for ‘open’ and ‘closed’ cultivation,perfusion and high microscopic resolution of living cells

A multipurpose chamber is described for growing and testing cultured cells. The chamber can be converted from a perfusion chamber to an ‘Open’ or ‘closed’ culture system. The chamber provides optimum conditions for microscopy using all common objectives and condensers for different microscopic methods.     

Identification of airway characteristics using the input impedance

To understand how the input impedance determined at the throat correlates with changes in the dynamic characteristics of the airways, a simplified 5-lobe model is developed and simulated. The model takes into account some realistic conditions such as varying cross-sectional areas, flexible wall properties and branching. The lobe terminal impedances are implemented in the model to predict the input impedance at the throat. The effects of airway constrictions and wall elastance variations on this impedance are determined for a range of frequencies. It is concluded that the developed model is capable of predicting various physiological changes in the airway passages.     

A method of measuring ‘zero-wear’ of the cylinder liner

In this paper, new methods of linear wear estimation of the cylinder liner are proposed. They can be used if the deepest honed valleys remain unaltered during the wear process. In the first part of the paper, the possibility of using various amplitude parameters as measures of wear is studied. The second part presents a new procedure for cylinder liner wear analysis based on the ‘fax-film’ method that allows us to estimate the wear of the cylinder liner without disassembly of the cylinder-piston-piston ring group.     

A fully automated, ‘thimble-size’ scanning tunnelling microscope

A novel, fully automated high-stability, high-eigenfrequency scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) has been developed. Its key design feature is the application of two piezoelectric ceramic tubes, one for the x-y-z motion of the tip and one for a linear motor (‘nano-worm’) used for the coarse positioning of the tip relative to the specimen. By means of the nano-worm, the tip can be advanced in steps between 16 and 0·2 nm. The walking distance is >2 mm, with a maximum speed of 2000 steps/s. The nano-worm positioning implies that this STM is fully controlled by electronic means, and that no mechanical coupling is needed, which makes operation of the STM extremely convenient. The axial-symmetry construction is rigid, small and temperature-compensated, yielding reduced sensitivity to mechanical and acoustic vibrations and temperature variations. The sample is simply placed on a piece of invar which surrounds the scanner tube and the nano-worm and is held by gravity alone. This allows for easy sample mounting. The performance of the microscope has been tested in air by imaging a variety of surfaces, including graphite and biological samples.     

The effect of humidity on the ‘swing’ of cricket balls

The suggestion is made that the observed increase in the swing under conditions of high humidity is caused by condensation shock. The moisture in the rapidly expanding air close to the ball does not condense when the saturation limit is reached but continues in an unstable, supersaturated state until violent condensation occurs, probably at the lowest pressure attained. This condensation shock assists the seam in upsetting the laminar boundary-layer. Calculations show that this effect can occur only when the relative humidity in the ambient air is nearly 100%.     

The importance of current density ‘focusing’ in STM image resolution

In a previous paper we incorporated Tersoff and Hamann's model of an STM tip into Lang's transfer Hamiltonian result for the tunnelling current density and applied the resulting simple expression to Tersoff's six-plane-wave model of a monolayer of graphite. In this paper the results for a more realistic model of a graphite surface and a more complete selection of tip positions are presented. They support the previous conclusions that the normal component of the current density takes on both positive and negative values in a complex flow pattern and that its lateral falloff away from the (projected) tip position is much slower than expected from the extraordinary lateral resolution (～1 Å) evident in the best STM images of graphite. This shows that sharp ‘focusing’ of the current density directly under the tip is not a necessary condition for high lateral resolution.     

Stability characteristics of gas-lubricated bearings supported on rubber ‘O’ rings

A simplified design method is given against instability of an externally pressurized gas journal bearing supported on rubber ‘O’ rings. The stability characteristics (onset whirl speed and whirl ratio) are derived and expressed in closed form in terms of ‘O’ ring material properties and fluid film behaviour.     

An anti-roll plate for flattening of ‘dry’ ultrathin frozen sections

A simple anti-roll plate has been designed for use in preparing ‘dry’ ultrathin frozen sections. The plate, which is made of a strip of a glass cover slip and attached close to the edge of a glass knife, prevents curling of the sections.     

A simple and inexpensive liquid helium cooled ‘slam freezing’ device

A liquid helium cooled copper block device has been designed for the rapid freezing of biological material. The apparatus differs from previous designs in being easily constructed from readily available components. It incorporates a novel and simplified specimen carrying system. Construction of this apparatus is possible for any laboratory and makes the advantages of freeze substitution reliably available for many cell types at minimal cost.     

A simplification of the ‘step’ method for estimating mean section thickness

An inexpensive and efficient method for estimating mean section thickness based on an estimate of the sectioning depth is presented. This value is required for the estimation of particle number using the disector.     

Electron spectroscopic imaging of the morphology of in situ polyethylene ‘shish kebabs’

The simultaneous imaging of the crystalline and rigid amorphous areas of semi-crystalline polyethylene is made possible by electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI) in an energy-filtering transmission electron microscope (EFTEM). Conventional bright-and dark-field imaging modes mainly provide information about the non-crystalline areas which react chemically with classical staining agents such as ruthenium tetroxide. The ability of ESI to image structures which are inaccessible to the staining agent is shown in TEM micrographs of nascent polyethylene ‘shish kebabs’ embedded in a Lowicryl HM20 matrix.     

便携式在线局放信号源系统的设计

针对智能电网局部放电检测技术实际运用中的问题,对ADF4350频率合成器的基本原理与工作特性进行了研究,应用了锁相环、滤波器组、同步信号提取、程控开关等技术,提出了一套基于AVR Atmega128单片机控制ADF4350的硬件电路结构和软件程序设计方法,得到了一种能实际应用在智能电网局部放电监测的多频段信号源。现场工作人员通过用户端操作板上的简单操作,进行模式选择与设定,就可以方便地实现现场在线监测。研究结果表明,该信号源覆盖了局放信号的全部频点,现场测试时锁相效果良好、携带方便、性能可靠。     

轮机模拟器中传感器信号模拟器的设计

轮机模拟器系统是现代航海教育的必备设施,它通过硬件和仿真软件相结合的方式模拟船舶机舱自动化的运行过程,该系统中大多数传感器信号都是通过信号模拟器模拟的.以5600国际标准箱(TEU)集装箱轮自动化机舱为模型,结合当前嵌入式技术特点开发了一款新型信号模拟器,可精确地模拟出多种常用传感器标准信号源,操作方便、工作可靠.     

Experimental considerations for temperature controlled measurements of fast charge recombination times in dye sensitized solar cells using open circuit voltage decay and impedance spectroscopy

Charge recombination at the electrolyte–photoanode interface of a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) is a major efficiency-limiting factor of the cell. To mitigate this recombination effect it is necessary to ensure that the effective electron lifetime in the DSSC is longer than the electron’s transit time across the photoanode of mesoporous TiO₂. While the efforts aimed at accomplishing this goal are often based on new materials/designs of photoanodes, a quantitative evaluation of these designs relies on the precision of the benchmarking measurements of electron lifetimes. The open circuit voltage decay (OCVD) technique offers an effective yet straightforward method for such measurements. The present work focuses on certain experimental criteria for ensuring the accuracy of these experiments, and probes the associated effects of temperature variations in the solar cell. The results demonstrate that, a high rate of data sampling is essential for adequately resolving the fast initial stages of charge recombination. The results also show the effects of nonlinear recombination where second order OCV variations are operative. The findings of the OCVD experiments are compared with a parallel set of tests carried out using impedance spectroscopy. The relative roles of the two sets of analytical measurements are examined.     

The complex-shaped ‘perforated’ synapse,a problem in quantitative stereology of the brain

Failure to appreciate the consequences for stereological work of the simultaneous presence of complex-shaped perforated and disc-like non-perforated synapses in brain tissue results in underestimation of synaptic profile length and overestimation of synaptic density when measured in randomly selected ultrathin E-PTA slices. This problem can be solved by using serial slices and a calculation method which makes no assumptions about synaptic size and shape. A three-dimensional reconstruction is unnecessary.