Application of phase correlation to the montage synthesis and three-dimensional reconstruction of large tissue volumes from confocal laser scanning microscopy.

We have implemented and tested a new automatic method for the montage synthesis and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of large tissue volumes from confocal laser scanning microscopy data (CLSM). This method relies on maximization of the phase correlation between adjacent images. It was tested on a large specimen (a murine heart) that was cut into a number of individual sections with thickness appropriate for CLSM. The sections were scanned horizontally (in-plane) and vertically (perpendicular to the optical planes) to produce "tiles" of a 3D volume. Phase correlation maximization was applied to the montage synthesis of in-plane tiles and 3D alignment of optical slices within a given physical section. The performance of the new method is evaluated.     

High quality GaN grown by MOVPE

Several nitrogen precursors have been used for the growth of GaN in MOVPE, but so far the best results were obtained using NH₃, even though NH₃ does not produce a significant amount of active species at the growing interface. To produce active species from N₂ or NH₃, a remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (RPECVD) process has been implemented. In addition, nitrogen metalorganic precursors, triethylamine and t-butylamine, were also used. To accurately control the critical parameters of the MOVPE of GaN, we have implemented a laser reflectometry equipment, which allows a real-time in situ monitoring of the different steps of the growth, i.e. nitridation of the substrate, nucleation, heat treatment, and deposition. Using an appropriate buffer layer, GaN grown on sapphire using NH₃ as nitrogen precursor, shows sharp low temperature photoluminescence lines (4 meV at 9 K), whereas other nitrogen precursors did not lead to comparable electronic quality.     

The mechanostability of isolated focal adhesions is strongly dependent on pH

This report demonstrates that the mechanical stability of focal adhesions exhibits a biphasic and sensitive pH dependence. These studies used isolated focal adhesions, which retain many of the properties of the intracellular structures, including protein composition and force-dependent reinforcement by cytosolic proteins. The focal adhesion structures are least stable to applied force at a pH of 6.4, and significantly more stable at slightly higher and lower pH values. This trend is consistent with previous work that characterized the pH dependence of cell migration and may therefore be relevant to controlling the invasiveness of metastatic cancer cells. This approach is significant because it allows biochemical studies of large protein complexes previously studied only in cell culture, and therefore offers new opportunities for performing mechanistic studies of a range of factors that contribute to focal adhesion stability.     

AlGaN-based UV photodetectors

Al_xGa_1−xN alloys are very attractive materials for application to ultraviolet photodetection. AlGaN photoconductors, Schottky photodiodes, metal–semiconductor–metal photodiodes, p–n junction photodetectors and phototransistors have been recently developed. In this work we analyse the performance of AlGaN-based photodetectors, discussing present achievements, and comparing the characteristics of the various photodetector structures developed to date.     

Nitride-based photodetectors: from visible to X-ray monitoring

The performance of nitride-based photodetectors is investigated beyond the usual near-UV (400–300 nm) and mid-UV (300–200 nm) operation ranges. The responses of metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) photodiodes were analyzed in the vacuum–UV and soft X-ray regions. To interpret the results, the absorption properties and the attributes of each of the photons with energies for producing multiple electron–hole pairs were considered. The soft X-ray characterization showed that in-plane MSMs worked efficiently up to photon energies of 600 eV. Above this value, the absorption decrease makes the diffusion length and layer thickness become critical parameters for the detector behavior. To perform detection in the violet and near-UV, InGaN-based photoconductors were fabricated and spectrally characterized. The devices presented abrupt wavelength cut-offs, demonstrating that the InGaN compositional fluctuations were tolerable up to In contents of 10% for fabricating selective photodetectors. Back-face illumination allowed us to obtain bandpass detectors for these spectral ranges.