Record Wear Studies by Scanning Electron Microscopy

Author(s):  
M.D. Coutts ◽  
E.R. Levin ◽  
J.G. Woodward

While record grooves have been studied by transmission electron microscopy with replica techniques, and by optical microscopy, the former are cumbersome and restricted and the latter limited by lack of depth of focus and resolution at higher magnification. With its great depth of focus and ease in specimen manipulation, the scanning electron microscope is admirably suited for record wear studies.A special RCA sweep frequency test record was used with both lateral and vertical modulation bands. The signal is a repetitive, constant-velocity sweep from 2 to 20 kHz having a duration and repetitive rate of approximately 0.1 sec. and a peak velocity of 5.5 cm/s.A series of different pickups and numbers of plays were used on vinyl records. One centimeter discs were then cut out, mounted and coated with 200 Å of gold to prevent charging during examination. Wear studies were made by taking micrographs of record grooves having 1, 10 and 50 plays with each stylus and comparing with typical “no-play” grooves. Fig. 1 shows unplayed grooves in a vinyl pressing with sweep-frequency modulation in the lateral mode.

Author(s):  
Veronika Burmeister ◽  
Paul D. Millikin

Scanning electron microscopy is an ideal tool for the visualization of projections in biological cell surfaces because it combines high resolving power with extraordinary depth of focus. To appreciate the inside structures of cellular projections transmission electron microscopy is ideal, since it enables the identification of intricate ultrastructures In this presentation we compare the size and ultrastructure of microvilli in a normal as well as pathological state in mesothelium, cilia of the nasal mucosa and pseudoprojections of spirochetes.Specimens were routinely processed: fixed in 2.5% Glutaraldehyde, rinsed in Millonig's Phosphate Buffer and carried through Ethanol to 100%; SEM specimens were then critical point dried and gold-coated. TEM specimens were put into Propylene Oxide and subsequently polymerized in Epon 812. Silversections were cut and stained in Uranyl Acetate and Lead Citrate. JEOL, JEM 100 C transmission and JSM 35 scanning microscopes were used.


1973 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 930-943
Author(s):  
John L Brown ◽  
James W Johnson

Abstract The optical microscope has long been an important tool in forensic analysis for the comparison of firearms markings and the examination and identification of other minute bits of evidence. The electron microscope permits the examination of even smaller details and offers analytical capabilities unique to the type of instrument used. The transmission electron microscope can be used to identify very small amounts of crystalline materials through the process of electron diffraction. The scanning electron microscope can frequently supersede the optical microscope because of its superior depth of focus and range of magnification. When it is equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer, most of the chemical elements in a sample can be determined. Applications of these instruments have provided some interesting and instructive results in forensic analysis.


1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 908-909
Author(s):  
A. Lametschwandtner ◽  
H. Aichhorn ◽  
B. Minnich

Casting of hollow spaces with solidifying materials and subsequent removal of surrounding tissues by corrosive alkali and acids and the inspection of the remaining casts by bare eyes or the dissecting microscope is an old anatomical technique.The introduction of polymerizing resins as casting materials which resulted in durable casts of even the smallest spaces (bile and blood capillaries) and the application of the scanning electron microscope with its high resolution and great depth of focus, enabled the qualitative and the quantitative analysis of the 3D-arrangement of tubular systems by means of their casts.Presently, scanning electron microscopy of microvascular corrosion casts is used to study growing, stable or regressing blood vessel systems under physiological (e.g. during development, wound healing, metamorphosis) and pathological (e.g. tumor angiogenesis) conditions in qualitative and quantitative terms.


Author(s):  
P.J. Dailey

The structure of insect salivary glands has been extensively investigated during the past decade; however, none have attempted scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in ultrastructural examinations of these secretory organs. This study correlates fine structure by means of SEM cryofractography with that of thin-sectioned epoxy embedded material observed by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM).Salivary glands of Gromphadorhina portentosa were excised and immediately submerged in cold (4°C) paraformaldehyde-glutaraldehyde fixative1 for 2 hr, washed and post-fixed in 1 per cent 0s04 in phosphosphate buffer (4°C for 2 hr). After ethanolic dehydration half of the samples were embedded in Epon 812 for TEM and half cryofractured and subsequently critical point dried for SEM. Dried specimens were mounted on aluminum stubs and coated with approximately 150 Å of gold in a cold sputtering apparatus.Figure 1 shows a cryofractured plane through a salivary acinus revealing topographical relief of secretory vesicles.


Author(s):  
Nakazo Watari ◽  
Yasuaki Hotta ◽  
Yoshio Mabuchi

It is very useful if we can observe the identical cell elements within the same sections by light microscopy (LM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and/or scanning electron microscopy (SEM) sequentially, because, the cell fine structure can not be indicated by LM, while the color is; on the other hand, the cell fine structure can be very easily observed by EM, although its color properties may not. However, there is one problem in that LM requires thick sections of over 1 μm, while EM needs very thin sections of under 100 nm. Recently, we have developed a new method to observe the same cell elements within the same plastic sections using both light and transmission (conventional or high-voltage) electron microscopes.In this paper, we have developed two new observation methods for the identical cell elements within the same sections, both plastic-embedded and paraffin-embedded, using light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and/or scanning electron microscopy (Fig. 1).


Author(s):  
Jane A. Westfall ◽  
S. Yamataka ◽  
Paul D. Enos

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) provides three dimensional details of external surface structures and supplements ultrastructural information provided by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Animals composed of watery jellylike tissues such as hydras and other coelenterates have not been considered suitable for SEM studies because of the difficulty in preserving such organisms in a normal state. This study demonstrates 1) the successful use of SEM on such tissue, and 2) the unique arrangement of batteries of nematocysts within large epitheliomuscular cells on tentacles of Hydra littoralis.Whole specimens of Hydra were prepared for SEM (Figs. 1 and 2) by the fix, freeze-dry, coat technique of Small and Màrszalek. The specimens were fixed in osmium tetroxide and mercuric chloride, freeze-dried in vacuo on a prechilled 1 Kg brass block, and coated with gold-palladium. Tissues for TEM (Figs. 3 and 4) were fixed in glutaraldehyde followed by osmium tetroxide. Scanning micrographs were taken on a Cambridge Stereoscan Mark II A microscope at 10 KV and transmission micrographs were taken on an RCA EMU 3G microscope (Fig. 3) or on a Hitachi HU 11B microscope (Fig. 4).


Author(s):  
J. D. Hutchison

When the transmission electron microscope was commercially introduced a few years ago, it was heralded as one of the most significant aids to medical research of the century. It continues to occupy that niche; however, the scanning electron microscope is gaining rapidly in relative importance as it fills the gap between conventional optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.IBM Boulder is conducting three major programs in cooperation with the Colorado School of Medicine. These are the study of the mechanism of failure of the prosthetic heart valve, the study of the ultrastructure of lung tissue, and the definition of the function of the cilia of the ventricular ependyma of the brain.


Author(s):  
Loren Anderson ◽  
Pat Pizzo ◽  
Glen Haydon

Transmission electron microscopy of replicas has long been used to study the fracture surfaces of components which fail in service. Recently, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) has gained popularity because it allows direct examination of the fracture surface. However, the somewhat lower resolution of the SEM coupled with a restriction on the sample size has served to limit the use of this instrument in investigating in-service failures. It is the intent of this paper to show that scanning electron microscopic examination of conventional negative replicas can be a convenient and reliable technique for determining mode of failure.


Author(s):  
A.J. Tousimis ◽  
T.R. Padden

The size, shape and surface morphology of human erythrocytes (RBC) were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), of the fixed material directly and by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of surface replicas to compare the relative merits of these two observational procedures for this type specimen.A sample of human blood was fixed in glutaraldehyde and washed in distilled water by centrifugation. The washed RBC's were spread on freshly cleaved mica and on aluminum coated microscope slides and then air dried at room temperature. The SEM specimens were rotary coated with 150Å of 60:40- gold:palladium alloy in a vacuum evaporator using a new combination spinning and tilting device. The TEM specimens were preshadowed with platinum and then rotary coated with carbon in the same device. After stripping the RBC-Pt-C composite film, the RBC's were dissolved in 2.5N HNO3 followed by 0.2N NaOH leaving the preshadowed surface replicas showing positive topography.


Author(s):  
J. C. Russ ◽  
E. McNatt

In order to study the retention of copper in cirrhotic liver, rats were made cirrhotic by carbon tetrachloride inhalation twice weekly for three months and fed 0.2% copper acetate ad libidum in drinking water for one month. The liver tissue was fixed in osmium, sectioned approximately 2000 Å thick, and stained with lead citrate. The section was examined in a scanning electron microscope (JEOLCO JSM-2) in the transmission electron mode.Figure 1 shows a typical area that includes a red blood cell in a sinusoid, a disse, and a portion of the cytoplasm of a hepatocyte which contains several mitochondria, peribiliary dense bodies, glycogen granules, and endoplasmic reticulum.


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