High-Sensitivity Immunofluorescence Staining: A Comparison of the Liposome Procedure and the FASER Technique on mGR Detection

Flow cytometry has become a widely-used and powerful tool for the characterization of cells according to their expression of specific proteins. However, sensitivity of this method is still limited since conventionally labeled antibodies can be conjugated with at maximum 1–10 dye molecules. This fact resulted in the need to develop new techniques in order to identify molecules which are expressed in very low but functionally relevant amounts. In the past, we have successfully used a liposome-based high-sensitivity immunofluorescence technique to measure the expression of low abundant membrane bound glucocorticoid receptors (mGR) on different cell types. The use of this technique allows the detection of as few as 50–100 antigen molecules per cell which is due to a 100-fold to 1000-fold increase in fluorescence signal intensity compared with conventional methods. The higher sensitivity is achieved since thousands of dye molecules can be enclosed in liposomes. Another modern high-sensitivity immunofluorescence staining method is the purchasable Fluorescence Amplification by Sequential Employment of Reagents (FASER) procedure. Here, we aimed at comparing sensitivity and specificity of these two techniques for the detection of the mGR. Our data demonstrate the FASER technique to be more sensitive and also more specific for the detection of mGR as compared to the liposome technique. However, both methods have advantages and disadvantages which are discussed in detail.     

Anomalous capacitance of quantum well double-barrier diodes

The S-parameters of several different quantum well double barrier diodes have been measured. A technique has been developed for measuring whisker contacted diodes with and HP 8510B automatic network analyzer. Special coaxial mounts using K-connectors were designed to enable measurements up to 20 GHz. The voltage-dependent conductance and capacitance were derived from the measured reflection coefficient of each device. The C/V characteristics were observed to exhibit an anomalous increase at voltages corresponding the the negative differential resistance region (NDR). These are the first reported S-parameter measurements in the negative differential resistance region of quantum well double barrier diodes. A theory is presented that explains, in part, the observed results.     

Nanotextured multicrystalline Al‐BSF solar cells reaching 18% conversion efficiency using industrially viable solar cell processes

We report recent achievements in adapting industrially used solar cell processes on nanotextured surfaces. Nanostructures were etched into c‐Si surfaces by dry exothermic plasma‐less reaction of F species with Si in atmospheric pressure conditions and then modified using a short post‐etching process. Nanotextured multicrystalline wafers are used to prepare Al‐BSF solar cells using industrially feasible solar cell proc‐ essing steps. In comparison to the reference acidic textured solar cells, the nanostructured cells showed gain in short circuit current (J_sc) of up to 0.8 mA/cm² and absolute gain in conversion efficiency of up to 0.3%. The best nanotextured solar cell was independently certified to reach the conversion efficiency of 18.0%. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Light scattering by coated Gaussian and aggregate particles

Light scattering by nonspherical and inhomogeneous small particles is studied by varying particle shapes, sizes, and compositions. We introduce an efficient tool for deforming particle shape and composition by adding a coating on an initial particle. This concave-hull transformation is applied to wavelength-scale Gaussian and aggregate particles, and the differences in the optical properties of the coated particles are compared to those of the uncoated geometries. The light-scattering computations are performed using the discrete-dipole approximation method which allows for internal inhomogeneity and irregular particle shapes. The results are analyzed concentrating on the intensity of the scattered light, the degree of linear polarization for unpolarized incident light, and the depolarization ratio. Polarization results yield the most significant differences and, moreover, coated aggregates are observed to produce net positive polarization, whereas it is negative for the Gaussian particles, also resembling the polarization of a spherical particle. As for the depolarization ratio, an intriguing double-lobe feature is observed near the backscattering direction for both particle geometries regardless of size, shape, and composition. The double-lobe maxima and minima generally coincide with those of the intensity and polarization.     

Submonolayer Au on Si(111) phase diagram

Based on a review of the current literature, a surface phase diagram is proposed for the submonolayer Au on Si(111) system. Kinetic considerations are reviewed and key surface phase diagram features such as the Θ < 0.4 ML metastable structure and the high temperature to Si(111)-(1 × 1)Au second order phase transition are discussed. Experiments to verify certain portions of the phase diagram are proposed.     

Impact of interstitial air holes on a wide-bandwidth rejection filter made from a photonic crystal fiber

We have investigated the spectral properties of a band rejection filter made with a long-period fiber grating written in photonic crystal fiber that has interstitial air holes. Experiments showed that only one mode was coupled strongly to the fundamental core mode over a 600 nm spectral range. The central wavelength of the filter could be tuned over that range without being appreciably affected by any other mode. By using the multipole method, we found that the interstitial air holes of the photonic crystal fiber played a critical role in limiting the number of modes that could strongly interact with the fundamental mode and in obtaining well-separated resonance peaks. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment was obtained.     

The Random Average Process and Random Walk in a Space-Time Random Environment in One Dimension

We study space-time fluctuations around a characteristic line for a one-dimensional interacting system known as the random average process. The state of this system is a real-valued function on the integers. New values of the function are created by averaging previous values with random weights. The fluctuations analyzed occur on the scale n ^1/4, where n is the ratio of macroscopic and microscopic scales in the system. The limits of the fluctuations are described by a family of Gaussian processes. In cases of known product-form invariant distributions, this limit is a two-parameter process whose time marginals are fractional Brownian motions with Hurst parameter 1/4. Along the way we study the limits of quenched mean processes for a random walk in a space-time random environment. These limits also happen at scale n ^1/4 and are described by certain Gaussian processes that we identify. In particular, when we look at a backward quenched mean process, the limit process is the solution of a stochastic heat equation.     

Out of the blue: semiconductor laser pumped visible rare‐earth doped lasers

The rise of semiconductor‐based pump sources such as In_xGa_1‐xN‐laser diodes or frequency‐doubled optically pumped semiconductor lasers with emission wavelengths in the blue encourages a revisitation of the rare‐earth ions Pr³⁺, Sm³⁺, Tb³⁺, Dy³⁺, Ho³⁺ and Er³⁺ with respect to their properties as active ions in crystalline solid‐state laser materials with direct emission in the visible spectral range. Nowadays, some of these blue‐pumped visible lasers compete with Nd³⁺‐lasers in terms of efficiency and direct lasing at various colors from the cyan‐blue to the deep red can be addressed in very simple and compact laser setups. This paper highlights the spectroscopic properties of suitable rare‐earth ions for visible lasing and reviews the latest progress in the field of blue‐pumped visible rare‐earth doped solid‐state lasers.

     

Light scattering modeling of small feldspar aerosol particles using polyhedral prisms and spheroids

The use of simplified particle shapes for modeling scattering by irregularly shaped mineral-dust particles is studied using polyhedral prisms and spheroids as model particles. Simulated phase matrices averaged over shape and size distributions at wavelength 633 nm are compared with a laboratory-measured phase matrix of feldspar particles with known size distribution with effective radius of . When an equi-probable shape distribution is assumed, prisms and oblate spheroids agree with measurements to a similar degree, whereas prolate spheroids perform markedly better. Both spheroids and prisms perform much better than spheres. When an automatic fitting method is applied for finding optimal shape distributions, it is found that the most elongated spheroids are most important for good fits, whereas nearly-spherical spheroids are generally of very little importance. The phase matrices for the different polyhedral prisms, on the other hand, are found to be similar, thus their shape-averaged phase matrices are insensitive to the shape distribution assumed. For spheroids, a simple parameterization for the shape distribution, where weights increase with increasing departure from spherical shape, is proposed and tested. This parameterization improves the fit of most phase matrix elements attained with an equi-probable shape distribution, and it performs particularly well for reproducing the measured phase function.