A Microbial Sensor Based on Direct Electron Transfer at Shewanella Sp. Drop‐Coated Screen‐Printed Carbon Electrodes

Aerobically grown Shewanella sp. bacterial suspension drop‐coated on a disposable screen‐printed carbon electrode was found to possess electroactivity without the aid of redox mediator. Cyclic voltammetric studies revealed the characteristics of a mixed diffusion adsorption‐controlled electrochemical process for direct electron transfer at the bacteria‐modified electrode. Both FE‐SEM and ATR FT‐IR experiments were carried out to investigate the surface characteristics. The electroanalytical applicability was further demonstrated for electrocatalytic reduction of arsenite, hydrogen peroxide and nitrite. Low cost and very simple manufacturing procedure allow for the proposed bacterial sensor to be applied as disposable devices.     

Hartree-Fock studies of quantum dots and the 0.7 anomaly

We apply unrestricted Hartree-Fock to modelling two systems:

(1)

We calculate the spin structure and addition spectra of small symmetric quantum dots (often called 2D “artificial atoms”), improving the accuracy considerably by including, for the first time, second-order correlation corrections. We compare the results to experiment and to previous numerical works, and find that our spin structure in some cases disagrees with that calculated within mean-field theories, such as Hartree-Fock without correlation corrections, or density-functional theory [C. Sloggett, O.P. Sushkov, Phys. Rev. B 71 (2005) 235326].

(2)

We model the well-known 0.7 anomaly in the conductance of a quantum point contact. We calculate the conductance using direct calculation of scattering phases on a ring, within Hartree-Fock. We observe strong localisation of the Fermi electrons on the barrier, and suggest a mechanism for the observed temperature-dependent conductance anomaly.

     

Effects of Debye shielding in the electron broadening calculations

The impact broadening by charged electron gas is calculated. A proper account of the Debye screening has been taken as also the curvilinearity of the perturber’s trajectories. The results have been given in the form of graphs for a ready comparison with earlier results.     

HL—1M装置器壁硅化对电子速率分布的影响

在欧姆加热和低混杂波电流驱动条件下,利用磺化汞半导体探测器和碘化钠和探测器测出了ＨＬ－１Ｍ装置的Ｘ射线能谱,研究了器壁硅化前后电子速率分布和电子温度变化的特点,给出了Ｘ射线辐射强度与ＬＨＣＤ能量沉积的关系。     

Electron microscopy studies on DNA recognition by DNA-PK

Advances in transmission electron microscopy coupled to increasingly powerful biocomputing techniques are opening enormous possibilities to understand the structure and function of complex biological processes performed by large multi-protein assemblies. This is an exciting time for electron microscopists because we can combine our efforts with X-ray crystallographers and NMR spectroscopists to reach the prospect of studying the structure and dynamics of the so-called ‘molecular machines’. One of these fascinating systems is the macromolecular complex formed around double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs). Non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) is the main DSBs repair pathway in mammalian cells, where a collection of proteins interact to rejoin two broken DNA ends. During NHEJ, DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) binds damaged DNA with high affinity and acts as the main scaffold for other repair factors. Several studies have made use of the electron microscope to reveal the three-dimensional architecture of DNA-PK and the structural basis for the recognition of damaged DNA and the activation of DNA-PK's kinase activity.     

Spin polarization and temperature dependence of electron effective mass in quantum wires

The electron effective mass in GaAs quantum wires has been estimated by using a full dynamical random-phase approximation to examine its properties versus spin polarization, temperature, and carrier density. A decrease of mass with spin polarization is seen. The minority mass increases with the polarization while the majority mass decreases and this behaviour is seen for all densities. A maximal enhancement of mass at moderate temperature around 25 K is also presented. These calculations show a qualitative consistence with results in two-dimensional systems and help to control the electronic transport in quantum wires.     

EID study on the system platinum-hydrogen

Electron induced desorption of hydrogen on polycrystalline platinum has been studied in continuation of former work. The results remain consistent with a supposed adsorption model implying that electron induced H⁺ emission is restricted to hydrogen adsorbed only at particular sites occupying not more than 1 per cent coverage. These sites are ascribed to characteristic and stable surface impurities which are not influenced by the improved target treatment applied. Depletion of sites by sputter cleaning is cancelled by recovery during annealing. The highest observed H⁺ yield (all available sites filled with hydrogen) is 2 · 10⁻⁵ ions per electron. The total cross section for desorption by electron impact is 2 · 10⁻¹⁷ cm². Complex interaction phenomena between the electrons and the hydrogen covered platinum surface have been observed.     

Electron spin resonance studies of Cu2+ doped in cadmium maleate dihydrate single crystals

Electron spin resonance studies have been carried out on Cu²⁺ ion doped in single crystals of cadmium maleate dihydrate at 303 and 77K. It has been found that Cu²⁺ enters this lattice interstitially. The spin Hamiltonian parameters have been evaluated and the ground state wave function is found to be predominantly |X ² −Y ²〉 with a slight admixture of |3Z ² −r ²〉.     

Physicochemical characterization of an Indian traditional medicine, Jasada Bhasma: detection of nanoparticles containing non-stoichiometric zinc oxide

Herbs and minerals are the integral parts of traditional systems of medicine in many countries. Herbo-Mineral medicinal preparations called Bhasma are unique to the Ayurvedic and Siddha systems of Indian Traditional Medicine. These preparations have been used since long and are claimed to be the very effective and potent dosage form. However, there is dearth of scientific analytical studies carried out on these products, and even the existing ones suffer from incomplete analysis. Jasada Bhasma is a unique preparation of zinc belonging to this class. This particular preparation has been successfully used by traditional practitioners for the treatment of diabetes and age-related eye diseases. This work presents a first comprehensive physicochemical characterization of Jasada Bhasma using modern state-of-the-art techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), elemental analysis with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Our analysis shows that the Jasada Bhasma particles are in oxygen deficient state and a clearly identifiable fraction of particles are in the nanometer size range. These properties like oxygen deficiency and nanosize particles in Jasada Bhasma might impart the therapeutic property of this particular type of medicine. A. C. Joshi: Private Practitioner (Vaidya).     

Numerical study of chaotic oscillations in the electron beam with virtual cathode in the external non-uniform magnetic fields

In this Letter the results of theoretical investigations of the chaotic microwave oscillator based on the electron beam with a virtual cathode are presented. Nonlinear non-stationary processes in these electron systems are studied by means of numerical analysis of 2.5D model. It was discovered that the non-uniform external magnetic field value controls the dynamical regime of oscillations in the virtual cathode oscillator. The processes of the chaotization of output microwave radiation are described and interpreted from the point of view of the formation and interaction of electron structures (bunches) in the electron beams. The numerical results have shown that the investigated electron system with virtual cathode could be considered as a promising controlled source of wideband chaotic oscillations in the microwave range.