Fine structure of Mytella falcata (Bivalvia) gill filaments

Bivalve filter feeders are sessile animals that live in constant contact with water and its pollutants. Their gill is an organ highly exposed to these conditions due to its large surface and its involvement in gas exchanges and feeding. The bivalve Mytella falcata is found in estuaries of Latin America, on the Atlantic as well as the Pacific Coast. It is commonly consumed, and sometimes is the only source of protein of low-income communities. In this study, gill filaments of M. falcata were characterized using histology, histochemistry and transmission electron microscopy for future comparative studies among animals exposed to environmental pollutants. Gill filaments may be divided into abfrontal, intermediate and frontal zones. Filaments are interconnected by ciliary discs. In the center of filaments, haemocytes circulate through a haemolymph vessel internally lined by an endothelium and supported by an acellular connective tissue rich in polysaccharides and collagen. The abfrontal zone contains cuboidal cells, while the intermediate zone consists of a simple squamous epithelium. The frontal zone is composed of five columnar cell types: one absorptive, mainly characterized by the presence of pinocytic vesicles in the apical region of the cell; one secretory, rarely observed; and three ciliated with abundant mitochondria. All cells lining the filament exhibit numerous microvilli and seem to absorb substances from the environment. PAS staining was observed in mucous cells in the frontal and abfrontal zones. Bromophenol blue allowed the distinction of haemocytes and detection of a glycoprotein secretion in the secretory cells of the frontal region. The characteristics of M. falcata gill filaments observed in this study were very similar to those of other bivalves, especially other Mytilidae, and are suitable for histopathological studies on the effect of water-soluble pollutants.     

Comparative analysis of Beggiatoa from hypersaline and marine environments

The main criterion to classify a microorganism as belonging to the genus Beggiatoa is its morphology. All multicellular, colorless, gliding bacterial filaments containing sulfur globules described so far belong to this genus. At the ultrastructural level, they show also a very complex cell envelope structure. Here we describe uncultured vacuolated and non-vacuolated bacteria from two different environments showing all characteristics necessary to assign a bacterium to the genus Beggiatoa. We also intended to investigate whether narrow and vacuolate Beggiatoa do differ morphologically as much as they do phylogenetically. Both large, vacuolated trichomes and narrow filaments devoid of vacuoles were observed. We confirmed the identity of the narrow filaments by 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis. The diameters of the trichomes ranged from 2.4 to 34 μm, and their lengths ranged from 10 μm to over 30 mm. Narrow trichomes moved by gliding at 3.0 μm/s; large filaments moved at 1.5 μm/s. Periplasmic sulfur inclusions were observed in both types of filaments, whereas phosphorus-rich bodies were found only in narrow trichomes. On the other hand, nitrate vacuoles were observed only in large trichomes. Ultra-thin section transmission electron microscopy showed differences between the cell ultrastructure of narrow (non-vacuolated) and large (vacuolated) Beggiatoa. We observed that cell envelopes from narrow Beggiatoa consist of five layers, whereas cell envelopes from large trichomes contain four layers.     

EPR,optical absorption and superposition model studies of Fe3+-doped cesium chloride single crystals: a case of substitutional as well as interstitial sites

An electron paramagnetic resonance study of Fe³⁺-doped cesium chloride single crystals was carried out at room temperature. Three sites are observed. The spin Hamiltonian parameters were determined from the angular variation of the observed resonance lines. The hyperfine structure is observed due to the presence of Fe⁵⁷ centers. At site I, Fe³⁺ enters the lattice substitutionally, replacing Cs⁺ in the cubic symmetry of the crystal, whereas at sites II and III, Fe³⁺ enters the lattice interstitially. The local site symmetry of Fe³⁺ in the host lattice is considered to be orthorhombic. An optical absorption study of the crystal was also performed at room temperature. The observed bands were assigned and the Racah inter-electronic repulsion parameters (B and C) and the cubic crystal field splitting parameter (Dq) were determined. On the basis of EPR and optical data, the nature of the metal–ligand bonding in the crystal was determined. The crystal field parameters were evaluated using the superposition model and then used in the microscopic spin Hamiltonian and perturbation equations to determine the zero-field splitting parameters (ZFSPs) theoretically for all sites observed. The theoretical ZFSPs are in good agreement with the experimental values.     

Hyperfine Interactions in the Sr0.88Ba0.12HfO3 Compound

The temperature dependence of the hyperfine parameters in a powder sample of the Sr_0.88Ba_0.12HfO₃ compound has been investigated for the first time using perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy. The time spectra were measured as a function of the temperature from 293 to 1273 K. Activated ¹⁸¹Ta nuclei were used as hyperfine probes at the Hf sites. The analysis of the time spectra indicates the presence of two different surroundings for the Ta probes. The most populated site (f ₁≈75% at laboratory temperature) was fitted with the usual static quadrupole hyperfine interactions found in most perovskite-type compounds. The resulting quadrupole frequency is ω _Q ≈24 Mrad/s at this temperature. This frequency continuously decreases to nearly 9 Mrad/s at 1273 K. Its line width temperature dependence displays three regions and the changes observed probably correspond to phase transitions. The other site has a large and temperature independent quadrupole frequency ω _Q ≈120 Mrad/s that reversibly transforms into the first at high temperatures and probably originates from some defect in the structure. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Improving electret properties of PP filaments with barium titanate

Barium titanate (BaTiO₃) containing polypropylene (PP) composite filaments were melt spun to modify polymer electrostatic charging characteristics. Sample filaments were charged with a corona instrument and their surface potentials were measured. Initial surface potential as well as potential stability was monitored through an accelerated decay procedure. It was found that both BaTiO₃ concentration and charging temperature influence the charging characteristics of the fibers. When BaTiO₃/PP composite filaments were charged at 130 °C, significant enhancements were observed when compared to samples charged at room temperature. The distribution of BaTiO₃ particles within the filaments and changes in the crystal structure were also examined.     

Local structure and triplet energy migration in p-dichlorobenzene-p-dibromobenzene solid solutions

Studies of the first triplet absorption and emission spectra of p-dichlorobenzene-p-dibromobenzene (DCB-DBB) mixed crystals agree generally with the data, indicating that this system forms solid solutions. However, the spectral properties are found to be very different from that of isotopically mixed crystals of comparable concentrations. The singlet-triplet absorption spectra of the DCB-DBB mixtures are generally broad and not amenable to detailed analysis indicating significant site dependent perturbations of the DCB and DBB triplet energies. Energy migration enhances emission from the lower energy sites and in consequence a red shift in the position of the emission (0,0) is observed, which is a maximum at equimolar concentrations. The emission bands are generally much broader than found for isotopically mixed crystals, indicating that the many types of sites in the DCB-DBB system remained uncoupled. This is a direct consequence of exciton trapping by inhomogeneous energy broadening caused by the site energy disorder being greater than the triplet exciton band width. Long-range triplet energy migration is not observed at DCB concentrations less than 99 per cent. This high limit is only expected for near one-dimension energy migration topologies. New structure observed at low DCB concentrations is tentatively interpreted as being due to the formation of DCB n-mers. The observed splittings indicate that the gas-to-crystal shift of the DCB T ₁ state increases (becomes more negative) by 11 cm^-1 when a neighbouring DBB molecule is replaced by DCB.     

Excitation pathways and efficiency of Eu ions in GaN by site-selective spectroscopy

Using combined excitation emission spectroscopy, we performed a comparative study of europium ions in GaN in samples that have been in situ doped during interrupted growth epitaxy (IGE) or conventional molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) as well as samples that were grown using organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) and subsequently ion implanted with Eu ions. Through site-selective resonant excitation, we are able to unambiguously assign all major observed transitions to a combination of different incorporation sites and electron–phonon coupled transitions. We identified at least nine different incorporation sites of Eu ions in GaN and studied how these sites behave under different excitation conditions and how their relative number is modified by different growth and doping conditions. The coupling to phonons has also been studied for a series of Al _x Ga_1−x N samples with x=0…1. We find that a main site most resembling an unperturbed Eu ion on Ga site is always dominant, while the minority sites are changing substantially in relative numbers and can occur in some samples fairly close in emission intensity to the main site. In terms of the excitation pathway after the creation of electron-hole pairs, we found three types of centers: (1) sites that are dominantly excited through shallow defect traps; (2) sites that are excited through a deep defect trap; (3) sites that cannot be excited at all including the majority of the main sites. We interpret this finding to indicate that the ion in this environment is not very efficient in trapping excitation and that the indirect excitation involving other traps depends on the ion/trap distance. Many of the main sites are far away from these traps and cannot be excited through this channel at all. The efficiency of excitation is highest for the deep traps, indicating that it would be desirable to enrich the respective site, as has been done with some success in the IGE grown samples.     

Hyperfine interactions of iron in ternary alloys with B82 type structures

The recoilless absorption spectra of iron in the ternary alloys CoFeGe, CoFeSb and FeMnGe, which possess B8₂ type structure, reveal the existence of different ordering temperatures of moments at 2(a) and 2(d) sites. Using the Einstein model to describe the second order Doppler shift, it has been found thatΘ _E appropriate to the thermal motions of iron atoms at 2(a) and 2(d) sites in CoFeGe are different, which is also suggested by the temperature dependences of the relative areas of the corresponding component spectra. In CoFeSb, on the other hand, relative areas of the component spectra are independent of temperature, and give the relative distribution of iron at the inequivalent sites. A large difference in the isomer shifts of 2(a) and 2(d) site spectra indicates a larger number of d-electrons in the atomi configuration for 2(a) atoms. The isomer shift change is negative for 2(a) site nuclei and positive for 2(d) site nuclei with increase in temperature. The magnetic fields at 2(d) site nuclei in CoFeGe and CoFeSb alloys indicate that the moments of the parent atoms are not much different from the value in iron metal.     

Influence of impurity hydrogen on the structure and properties of bulk Li and pressure effects

The structure and properties of a 16-atom body-centered cubic lithium cell with an interstitial hydrogen atom are studied using a pseudopotential-plane-wave method within the density functional theory at 0 K and high pressures. The host lattice is dramatically distorted by the introduction of H. Although the hydrogen atom is stable at the tetragonal site in perfect bcc host lattice, it favors the octahedral site formed by six non-equivalent Li atoms after full relaxation of the cell, showing P4/mmm symmetry within the pressures ranging from 0 to 6 GPa. The lattice ratio (a/c) changes irregularly with external pressure at about 3 GPa. The hydrogen band lies in the bottom of the valence band, separated by a gap from the metallic bands, illustrating the electronegativity of hydrogen. High reflectivity in the low frequency area induced by the impurity hydrogen is observed when only interband transitions are taken account of. A dip in reflectivity due to parallel band transitions is observed at ∼0.4 eV. Another dip at ∼4.3 eV appears when external pressure increases over 4 GPa.     

The influence of crystallographic steps on coadsorption: CO---O/Ni(119)

On low index nickel surfaces, repulsive interactions between atomic oxygen and CO drive the phase separation of these species into oxygen-rich and CO-rich islands. Because these adsorbates interact differently with crystallographic steps, the size and the structure of these islands are modified on stepped surfaces. We have monitored coadsorption-induced changes in the distribution of CO with IRRAS, observing six different CO stretching bands which are assigned to distinct local chemisorption environments. When oxygen fully saturates sites along the step edge, the steps are completely blocked from CO adsorption and virtually all the CO population on the terraces shifts from atop to bridge sites. This terrace site shift is similarly accomplished by atomic oxygen chemisorbed at terrace sites. From these coadsorption-induced changes in CO site distributions, constrained by the 10 Å terrace width, we conclude the through-metal O---CO interaction responsible for this CO site shift must be operative over a range of 5 Å. At θ_o = 0.18 ML, when oxygen occupies, but does not fully saturate the step edge, a new CO adsorption site is created, with a characteristic frequency of 1750 cm⁻¹. This new site is assigned to CO bonded to kinks along the step edge based upon its low intensity ( geometric kink density), enhanced binding strength and sensitivity to oxygen coverage. At higher oxygen coverages, compression of the CO adlayer is observed, with CO shifting to asymmetric bridge sites. As saturation coverage is approached, CO occupies weakly bound sites in close proximity ( 3 Å) to O adatoms, with high characteristic frequencies of 2100 cm⁻¹.     

Locations of implanted 19F* atoms in Si,Ge and diamond studied through their nuclear quadrupole interactions

The Hartree-Fock cluster procedure was used to obtain the associated electronic distributions for ¹⁹F^* (I = 5/2, E ^x = 197 KeV excited nuclear state of the ¹⁹F atom) at possible sites in crystalline Si, Ge and diamond and to calculate nuclear quadrupole coupling constants v _Q and the asymmetry parameter η of the electric field gradient at the modelled sites. Lattice relaxation effects have been incorporated by employing a geometry optimization method to obtain minimum energy configurations for the clusters modelling each site. The intrabond (IB), antibonding (AB) and substitutional (S) sites in the bulk and the atop site on the surface were studied. From a comparison with v _Q and η values observed in time differential perturbed angular distribution (TDPAD) measurements we were able to identify the high frequency component in Si and Ge with ¹⁹F^* at the intrabond site. In diamond two high frequency components are observed. These are identified with ¹⁹F^* at intrabond and substitutional sites. For the low frequency site in Si and Ge the assignment is made to ¹⁹F^* implants at dangling bonds in the bulk resulting from implantation damage. In diamond none of the sites studied could provide lower frequency nuclear quadrupole parameters close to the observed ones. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ferrimagnetic ground state of a phenylene polymer with organic radicals

A ferrimagnetic polymer with m-phenylene skeleton as coupling unit is studied with the Hubbard model in the self-consistent mean-field theory. The ferrimagnetic ground state with a total spin S = 1 per unit cell is obtained and originates from the antiferromagnetic correlations between the nearest neighbors. If the on-site electron-electron repulsions at the radical sites and at the phenylene ring sites are different, the gap in energy band structure may disappear and the ferrimagnetic ground state becomes unstable. The charge density and spin density can transfer between the radical sites and the phenylene ring sites due to the competition between the hopping integral and the on-site repulsion at different sites. Received 15 July 2002 Published online 31 December 2002     

Si在TiAl3中取代行为的第一性原理研究

采用基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理方法,研究了Si原子在TiAl₃中的格点取代行为.通过对不同原子被置换后的c/a值、形成能以及电子态密度的计算和比较,发现Si原子倾向于取代TiAl₃中的Al原子,其取代行为主要由系统的电子结构决定,计算结果与实验相符.为了进一步研究Si原子的取代行为,对Si原子占据的格点以松散或紧凑分布下体系的总能、形成能以及电子态密度进行了计算,结果表明Si原子倾向于取代TiAl₃中松散分布的Al（2）原子.对c/a值的计算表明,随Al（2）格点Si原子浓度的增加,c/a值逐渐增大;而当Si取代Al（1）格点时,c/a值随Si原子浓度的增加而减小.研究表明,Si在TiAl₃中的极限固溶度介于12.5at%—18.75at%之间. 关键词： 密度泛函理论 第一性原理 电子结构 3')" href="#">TiAl₃     

Structural differences between single crystal and polycrystalline UBe13

We report on observations of structural and chemical differences between samples of UBe₁₃ that were synthesised using two different methods. Unexplained discrepancies in properties between samples with differing synthesis had previously been found in this heavy fermion superconductor. A polycrystalline UBe₁₃ sample was made by arc-melting the constituents. Single crystals were grown using an aluminium flux and had a consistently slightly larger lattice parameter than the polycrystals, which merited further study. Neutron diffraction data were collected at the Lujan Center at LANSCE on the HIPPO diffractometer. Aluminium was detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in the flux-grown single crystal (0.803 wt%), and small amounts (~0.2 wt%) of thorium were detected in the UBe₁₃ polycrystalline sample. In order to probe the implications of the presence of Al, calculations by spin-polarised DFT-GGA+U show that the incorporation of Al onto the 96i site (the lowest symmetry site in the structure) is energetically more favourable than on other sites. In general, the trends calculated by DFT for bond lengths and lattice parameter increases are consistent with bond lengths experimentally observed by neutron diffraction, but specific percentage changes with aluminium incorporation may be obscured by the unexpected thorium in the polycrystalline sample. The aggregate of our initial observations suggests that incorporation of aluminium from the flux into single crystal UBe₁₃ is significant.     

Residual‐density mapping and site‐selective determination of anomalous scattering factors to examine the origin of the Fe K pre‐edge peak of magnetite

The electron‐density distribution and the contribution to anomalous scattering factors for Fe ions in magnetite have been analyzed by X‐ray resonant scattering at the pre‐edge of Fe K absorption. Synchrotron X‐ray experiments were carried out using a conventional four‐circle diffractometer in the right‐handed circular polarization. Difference‐Fourier synthesis was applied with a difference in structure factors measured on and off the pre‐edge (E_on = 7.1082 keV, E_off = 7.1051 keV). Electron‐density peaks due to X‐ray resonant scattering were clearly observed for both A and B sites. The real part of the anomalous scattering factor f′ has been determined site‐independently, based on the crystal‐structure refinements, to minimize the squared residuals at the Fe K pre‐edge. The f′ values obtained at E_on and E_off are ?7.063 and ?6.682 for the A site and ?6.971 and ?6.709 for the B site, which are significantly smaller than the values of ?6.206 and ?5.844, respectively, estimated from the Kramers–Kronig transform. The f′ values at E_on are reasonably smaller than those at E_off. Our results using a symmetry‐based consideration suggest that the origin of the pre‐edge peak is Fe ions occupying both A and B sites, where p–d mixing is needed with hybridized electrons of Fe in both sites overlapping the neighbouring O atoms.     

The use of histological, histochemical and ultramorphological techniques to detect gill alterations in Oreochromis niloticus reared in treated polluted waters

Fish gills are constituted by primary filaments and secondary lamellae, which are formed, basically, by three different cell types: pillar cells, respiratory cells and erythrocytes that circulate in the lamellae interior. This respiratory organ is very appreciated in environmental studies since it is constantly in contact with the water, accomplishing exchanges; besides this, it presents a high adaptation capacity. In this work, some fishes were reared in polluted waters treated by the flotation method (treated group) and compared with others that were reared in clean waters (control group). The ultramorphological, histological and histochemical analyses were used. The fishes from the treated group presented morphological alterations when compared with the control groups, such as lamellar fusion, aneurism and detachment of the respiratory epithelium. These alterations demonstrate the several adaptations, as morphologic as physiologic, that fishes can present when exposed to an inappropriate environment. The techniques employed are good tools to detect morphological biomarkers in gills of Oreochromis niloticus submitted to polluted waters.     

Growth of attached actin filaments

In several studies of actin-based cellular motility, the barbed ends of actin filaments have been observed to be attached to moving obstacles. Filament growth in the presence of such filament-obstacle interactions is studied via Brownian dynamics simulations of a three-dimensional energy-based model. We find that with a binding energy greater than 24k _B T and a highly directional force field, a single actin filament is able to push a small obstacle for over a second at a speed of half of the free filament elongation rate. These results are consistent with experimental observations of plastic beads in cell extracts. Calculations of an external force acting on a single-filament-pushed obstacle show that for typical in vitro free-actin concentrations, a 3pN pulling force maximizes the obstacle speed, while a 4pN pushing force almost stops the obstacle. Extension of the model to treat beads propelled by many filaments suggests that most of the propulsive force could be generated by attached filaments.     

Investigations of “soft-landed” Cd surface atoms via nuclear methods: hyperfine-field sign determination

Using refined preparation techniques, cadmium guest atoms have been positioned at different sites on the surfaces of nickel crystals. The magnetic hyperfine fields and the electric field gradients at the Cd nuclei were measured by time-dependent perturbed angular correlation (TDPAC) spectroscopy of the emitted gamma radiations. By measuring the combined interactions, electric field gradients and magnetic hyperfine fields can be unambiguously attributed to each surface site. The signs of the magnetic hyperfine fields are determined by applying an external magnetic field and choosing the appropriate γ-ray detector configuration. The measured fields correlate with the number of neighbouring host atoms. Band structure calculations confirm this finding and predict magnetic fields for various sp elements from the band structure of the s-like conduction electrons. The quadrupolar interactions are manifestations of the balance in the occupation of the guest p-sublevels. These results provide new information on the structure and formation of electronic configurations of sp elements in different local environments and will contribute to understanding electronic effects on surfaces.     

单原子Pt吸附于不同原子暴露终端BiOBr{001}面的第一性原理研究

基于密度泛函理论(density functional theory, DFT)的第一性原理方法研究了暴露不同原子终端的BiOBr{001}表面以及单原子Pt吸附于BiOBr{001}-BiO不同位置的几何构型、电子结构、光学性质和电荷转移.计算结果表明:BiOBr{001}面BiO终端暴露可诱导产生表面态且价带和导带能级向低能方向移动,光氧化性增强,尤其导带下方出现的表面态能级有助于光生电子-空穴对的分离和迁移,光吸收显著增强,且BiOBr{001}面BiO终端的功函数远低于贵金属Pt,有利于电荷定向转移.其次,单原子Pt吸附于BiOBr{001}-BiO为基底的表面,在禁带中间诱导产生杂质能级, Pt吸附于穴位时吸附能最小,光响应能力最好且电荷转移量最大,吸附于顶位和桥位时,形成开放性的贫电子区域,因此可预测穴位为Pt原子的吸附位点,预示其良好的降解有机污染物效果, Pt吸附于BiOBr{001}-BiO的顶位和桥位,具有潜在的CO_2还原或固氮等领域应用.