scholarly journals Electron Microscopy in Discovery of Novel and Emerging Viruses from the Collection of the World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses (WRCEVA)

Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vsevolod L. Popov ◽  
Robert B. Tesh ◽  
Scott C. Weaver ◽  
Nikos Vasilakis

Since the beginning of modern virology in the 1950s, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been an important and widely used technique for discovery, identification and characterization of new viruses. Using TEM, viruses can be differentiated by their ultrastructure: shape, size, intracellular location and for some viruses, by the ultrastructural cytopathic effects and/or specific structures forming in the host cell during their replication. Ultrastructural characteristics are usually sufficient for the identification of a virus to the family level. In this review, we summarize 25 years of experience in identification of novel viruses from the collection of the World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses (WRCEVA).

Author(s):  
P. Sadhukhan

Elastomers are composed of natural rubber and synthetic polymers. They are generally blended to produce rubbers with certain “designing properties” Shaffer, et al., 1985), including high resilience, tensile strength and elongation, resistance to tear, flexing, freezing and abrasion and low permanent set. The analytical procedures used for the identification and characterization of these polymer blends range from a simple color or flame test to more sophisticated technique like electron microscopy. Over the years, transmission electron microscopy has become the principal technique of direct visualization and subsequent characterization of phase separation and domains in polymer blends. The standard specimen preparation has been to perform cryo-ultramicrotomy on solid blend materials at liquid nitrogen temperature (Andrews et al., 1967) followed by staining with osmium tetroxide (Kato, 1966) to enhance differential contrast between the polymers in these blends. Without prior knowledge of the chemistry between the polymers and osmium, it is difficult to identify them under the TEM.


2006 ◽  
Vol 972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Massot ◽  
Karim Zaghib ◽  
Alain Mauger ◽  
François Gendron ◽  
Christian M Julien

AbstractWe present the properties of the carbon layer deposited at the surface of the LiFePO4 particles. Characterizations include scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Raman scattering spectroscopy. Analuysis of Raman spectra reveals that the carbon deposit is hydrogenated with very small hydrogen/carbon ratio, so that it belongs to the family of the amorphous graphitic carbon. It is expected to have the same properties (small hardness, high electronic conductivity) that favor both the Li diffusion from the LiFePO4 bulk and the charge-discharge rate of the cell.


Author(s):  
O. L. Shaffer ◽  
M.S. El-Aasser ◽  
C. L. Zhao ◽  
M. A. Winnik ◽  
R. R. Shivers

Transmission electron microscopy is an important approach to the characterization of the morphology of multiphase latices. Various sample preparation techniques have been applied to multiphase latices such as OsO4, RuO4 and CsOH stains to distinguish the polymer phases or domains. Radiation damage by an electron beam of latices imbedded in ice has also been used as a technique to study particle morphology. Further studies have been developed in the use of freeze-fracture and the effect of differential radiation damage at liquid nitrogen temperatures of the latex particles embedded in ice and not embedded.Two different series of two-stage latices were prepared with (1) a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) seed and poly(styrene) (PS) second stage; (2) a PS seed and PMMA second stage. Both series have varying amounts of second-stage monomer which was added to the seed latex semicontinuously. A drop of diluted latex was placed on a 200-mesh Formvar-carbon coated copper grid.


Author(s):  
L.E. Murr ◽  
A.B. Draper

The industrial characterization of the machinability of metals and alloys has always been a very arbitrarily defined property, subject to the selection of various reference or test materials; and the adoption of rather naive and misleading interpretations and standards. However, it seems reasonable to assume that with the present state of knowledge of materials properties, and the current theories of solid state physics, more basic guidelines for machinability characterization might be established on the basis of the residual machined microstructures. This approach was originally pursued by Draper; and our presentation here will simply reflect an exposition and extension of this research.The technique consists initially in the production of machined chips of a desired test material on a horizontal milling machine with the workpiece (specimen) mounted on a rotary table vice. A single cut of a specified depth is taken from the workpiece (0.25 in. wide) each at a new tool location.


Author(s):  
K. J. Morrissey

Grain boundaries and interfaces play an important role in determining both physical and mechanical properties of polycrystalline materials. To understand how the structure of interfaces can be controlled to optimize properties, it is necessary to understand and be able to predict their crystal chemistry. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), analytical electron microscopy (AEM,), and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) are essential tools for the characterization of the different types of interfaces which exist in ceramic systems. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate some specific areas in which understanding interface structure is important. Interfaces in sintered bodies, materials produced through phase transformation and electronic packaging are discussed.


Author(s):  
George Guthrie ◽  
David Veblen

The nature of a geologic fluid can often be inferred from fluid-filled cavities (generally <100 μm in size) that are trapped during the growth of a mineral. A variety of techniques enables the fluids and daughter crystals (any solid precipitated from the trapped fluid) to be identified from cavities greater than a few micrometers. Many minerals, however, contain fluid inclusions smaller than a micrometer. Though inclusions this small are difficult or impossible to study by conventional techniques, they are ideally suited for study by analytical/ transmission electron microscopy (A/TEM) and electron diffraction. We have used this technique to study fluid inclusions and daughter crystals in diamond and feldspar.Inclusion-rich samples of diamond and feldspar were ion-thinned to electron transparency and examined with a Philips 420T electron microscope (120 keV) equipped with an EDAX beryllium-windowed energy dispersive spectrometer. Thin edges of the sample were perforated in areas that appeared in light microscopy to be populated densely with inclusions. In a few cases, the perforations were bound polygonal sides to which crystals (structurally and compositionally different from the host mineral) were attached (Figure 1).


Author(s):  
G. M. Micha ◽  
L. Zhang

RENi5 (RE: rare earth) based alloys have been extensively evaluated for use as an electrode material for nickel-metal hydride batteries. A variety of alloys have been developed from the prototype intermetallic compound LaNi5. The use of mischmetal as a source of rare earth combined with transition metal and Al substitutions for Ni has caused the evolution of the alloy from a binary compound to one containing eight or more elements. This study evaluated the microstructural features of a complex commercial RENi5 based alloy using scanning and transmission electron microscopy.The alloy was evaluated in the as-cast condition. Its chemistry in at. pct. determined by bulk techniques was 12.1 La, 3.2 Ce, 1.5 Pr, 4.9 Nd, 50.2 Ni, 10.4 Co, 5.3 Mn and 2.0 Al. The as-cast material was of low strength, very brittle and contained a multitude of internal cracks. TEM foils could only be prepared by first embedding pieces of the alloy in epoxy.


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