scholarly journals Analysis of the optical properties of the silvery spots on the wings of the Gulf Fritillary, Dione vanillae

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés Dolinko ◽  
Luisa Borgmann ◽  
Christian Lutz ◽  
Ernest Ronald Curticean ◽  
Irene Wacker ◽  
...  

AbstractThe ventral face of the wings of the butterfly Dione vanillae is covered with bright and shiny silvery spots. These areas contain densely packed ground- and coverscales with a bright metallic appearance reflecting more than 50% of light uniformly over the visible range. Our analysis shows that this optically attractive feature is caused by the inner microstructure of the scales located in these areas. Electron microscopy of cross sections through the scales shows that upper and lower lamina, supporting trabeculae, and topping ridges can be approximated by a ‘circus tent’-like geometry. By simulating its optical properties, we show that a moderate disorder of this geometry is important for the uniform reflection of light resulting in the silvery appearance.

Author(s):  
R. W. Anderson ◽  
D. L. Senecal

A problem was presented to observe the packing densities of deposits of sub-micron corrosion product particles. The deposits were 5-100 mils thick and had formed on the inside surfaces of 3/8 inch diameter Zircaloy-2 heat exchanger tubes. The particles were iron oxides deposited from flowing water and consequently were only weakly bonded. Particular care was required during handling to preserve the original formations of the deposits. The specimen preparation method described below allowed direct observation of cross sections of the deposit layers by transmission electron microscopy.The specimens were short sections of the tubes (about 3 inches long) that were carefully cut from the systems. The insides of the tube sections were first coated with a thin layer of a fluid epoxy resin by dipping. This coating served to impregnate the deposit layer as well as to protect the layer if subsequent handling were required.


Author(s):  
C. N. Sun ◽  
J. J. Ghidoni

Endothelial cells in longitudinal and cross sections of aortas from 3 randomly selected “normal” mongrel dogs were studied by electron microscopy. Segments of aorta were distended with cold cacodylate buffered 5% glutaraldehyde for 10 minutes prior to being cut into small, well oriented tissue blocks. After an additional 1-1/2 hour period in glutaraldehyde, the tissue blocks were well rinsed in buffer and post-fixed in OsO4. After dehydration they were embedded in a mixture of Maraglas, D.E.R. 732, and DDSA.Aldehyde fixation preserves the filamentous and tubular structures (300 Å and less) for adequate demonstration and study. The functional significance of filaments and microtubules has been recently discussed by Buckley and Porter; the precise roles of these cytoplasmic components remains problematic. Endothelial cells in canine aortas contained an abundance of both types of structures.


Author(s):  
D. E. Philpott ◽  
W. Sapp ◽  
C. Williams ◽  
Joann Stevenson ◽  
S. Black

The response of spermatogonial cells to X-irradiation is well documented. It has been shown that there is a radiation resistent stem cell (As) which, after irradiation, replenishes the seminiferous epithelium. Most investigations in this area have dealt with radiation dosages of 100R or more. This study was undertaken to observe cellular responses at doses less than 100R of X-irradiation utilizing a system in which the tissue can be used for light and electron microscopy.Brown B6D2F1 mice aged 16 weeks were exposed to X-irradiation (225KeV; 15mA; filter 0.35 Cu; 50-60 R/min). Four mice were irradiated at each dose level between 1 and 100 rads. Testes were removed 3 days post-irradiation, fixed, and embedded. Sections were cut at 2 microns for light microscopy. After staining, surviving spermatogonia were identified and counted in tubule cross sections. The surviving fraction of spermatogonia compared to control, S/S0, was plotted against dose to give the curve shown in Fig. 1.


Author(s):  
M.E. Lee ◽  
A. Moller ◽  
P.S.O. Fouche ◽  
I.G Gaigher

Scanning electron microscopy of fish scales has facilitated the application of micro-structures to systematics. Electron microscopy studies have added more information on the structure of the scale and the associated cells, many problems still remain unsolved, because of our incomplete knowledge of the process of calcification. One of the main purposes of these studies has been to study the histology, histochemistry, and ultrastructure of both calcified and decalcified scales, and associated cells, and to obtain more information on the mechanism of calcification in the scales. The study of a calcified scale with the electron microscope is complicated by the difficulty in sectioning this material because of the close association of very hard tissue with very soft tissues. Sections often shatter and blemishes are difficult to avoid. Therefore the aim of this study is firstly to develop techniques for the preparation of cross sections of fish scales for scanning electron microscopy and secondly the application of these techniques for the determination of the structures and calcification of fish scales.


Author(s):  
Richard Mcintosh ◽  
David Mastronarde ◽  
Kent McDonald ◽  
Rubai Ding

Microtubules (MTs) are cytoplasmic polymers whose dynamics have an influence on cell shape and motility. MTs influence cell behavior both through their growth and disassembly and through the binding of enzymes to their surfaces. In either case, the positions of the MTs change over time as cells grow and develop. We are working on methods to determine where MTs are at different times during either the cell cycle or a morphogenetic event, using thin and thick sections for electron microscopy and computer graphics to model MT distributions.One approach is to track MTs through serial thin sections cut transverse to the MT axis. This work uses a video camera to digitize electron micrographs of cross sections through a MT system and create image files in computer memory. These are aligned and corrected for relative distortions by using the positions of 8 - 10 MTs on adjacent sections to define a general linear transformation that will align and warp adjacent images to an optimum fit. Two hundred MT images are then used to calculate an “average MT”, and this is cross-correlated with each micrograph in the serial set to locate points likely to correspond to MT centers. This set of points is refined through a discriminate analysis that explores each cross correlogram in the neighborhood of every point with a high correlation score.


Author(s):  
J. S. Shah ◽  
R. Durkin ◽  
A. N. Farley

It is now possible to perform High Pressure Scanning Electron Microscopy (HPSEM) in the range 10 to 2000 Pa. Here the effect of scattering on resolution has been evaluated by calculating the profile of the beam in high pressure and assessing its effect on the image contrast . An experimental scheme is presented to show that the effect of the primary beam ionization is to reduce image contrast but this effect can be eliminated by a novel use of specimen current detection in the presence of an electric field. The mechanism of image enhancement is discussed in terms of collection of additional carriers generated by the emissive components.High Pressure SEM (HPSEM) instrumentation is establishing itself as commercially viable. There are now a number of manufacturers, such as JEOL, ABT, ESCAN, DEBEN RESEARCH, selling microscopes and accessories for HPSEM. This is because high pressure techniques have begun to yield high quality micrographs at medium resolution.To study the effect of scattering on the incident electron beam, its profile - in a high pressure environment - was evaluated by calculating the elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections for nitrogen in the energy range 5-25 keV. To assess the effect of the scattered beam on the image contrast, the modification of a sharp step contrast function due to scattering was calculated by single scattering approximation and experimentally confirmed for a 20kV accelerated beam.


Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Srihasam Saiganesh ◽  
Thyagarajan Krishnan ◽  
Golla Narasimha ◽  
Hesham S. Almoallim ◽  
Sulaiman Ali Alhari ◽  
...  

Over the past few years, the photogenic fabrication of metal oxide nanoparticles has attracted considerable attention, owing to the simple, eco-friendly, and non-toxic procedure. Herein, we fabricated NiO nanoparticles and altered their optical properties by doping with a rare earth element (lanthanum) using Sesbania grandiflora broth for antibacterial applications. The doping of lanthanum with NiO was systematically studied. The optical properties of the prepared nanomaterials were investigated through UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-DRS) analysis, and their structures were studied using X-ray diffraction analysis. The morphological features of the prepared nanomaterials were examined by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, their elemental structure was analyzed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectral analysis, and their oxidation states were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Furthermore, the antibacterial action of NiO and La-doped NiO nanoparticles was studied by the zone of inhibition method for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial strains such as Escherichia coli and Bacillus sublitis. It was evident from the obtained results that the optimized compound NiOLa-04 performed better than the other prepared compounds. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the phytosynthetic fabrication of rare-earth ion Lanthanum (La3+)-doped Nickel Oxide (NiO) nanoparticles and their anti-microbial studies.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 724
Author(s):  
Tong Li ◽  
Masaya Ichimura

Magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) thin films were deposited by the drop-dry deposition (DDD) method using an aqueous solution containing Mg(NO3)2 and NaOH. DDD was performed by dropping the solution on a substrate, heating-drying, and rinsing in water. Effects of different deposition conditions on the surface morphology and optical properties of Mg(OH)2 thin films were researched. Films with a thickness of 1−2 μm were successfully deposited, and the Raman peaks of Mg(OH)2 were observed for them. Their transmittance in the visible range was 95% or more, and the bandgap was about 5.8 eV. It was found that the thin films have resistivity of the order of 105 Ωcm. Thus, the transparent and semiconducting Mg(OH)2 thin films were successfully prepared by DDD.


Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 424
Author(s):  
Cuihua Zhao ◽  
Baishi Li ◽  
Xi Zhou ◽  
Jianhua Chen ◽  
Hongqun Tang

The electronic structures and optical properties of pure, Ag-doped and S-doped α-Fe2O3 were studied using density functional theory (DFT). The calculation results show that the structure of α-Fe2O3 crystal changes after Ag and S doping, which leads to the different points of the high symmetry of Ag-doped and S-doped α-Fe2O3 with that of pure α-Fe2O3 in the energy band, as well as different Brillouin paths. In addition, the band gap of α-Fe2O3 becomes smaller after Ag and S doping, and the optical absorption peak shifts slightly toward the short wavelength, with the increased peak strength of S/α-Fe2O3 and the decreased peak strength of Ag/α-Fe2O3. However, the optical absorption in the visible range is enhanced after Ag and S doping compared with that of pure α-Fe2O3 when the wavelength is greater than 380 nm, and the optical absorption of S-doped α-Fe2O3 is stronger than that of Ag-doped α-Fe2O3.


2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 836-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oindrila Mondal ◽  
Manisha Pal ◽  
Ripandeep Singh ◽  
Debasis Sen ◽  
Subhasish Mazumder ◽  
...  

The effect of dopant size (ionic radius) on the crystal growth, structure and optical properties of nanocrystalline calcium titanate, CaTiO3(CTO), have been studied using small-angle neutron scattering. X-ray diffraction, along with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, confirms the growth of pure nanocrystalline CTO. Rietveld analysis reveals that the difference of ionic radii between dopant and host ions induces strain within the lattice, which significantly affects the lattice parameters. The induced strain, due to the difference of ionic radii, causes the shrinkage of the optical band gap, which is manifested by the redshift of the absorbance band. Mesoscopic structural analysis using scattering techniques demonstrates that the ionic radius of the dopant influences the agglomeration behaviour and particle size. A high-resolution transmission electron microscopy study reconfirms the formation of pure highly crystalline CTO nanoparticles.


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