Influence of substitutional nitrogen in synthetic saw-grade diamond on crystal strength

1997 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1646-1654 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. E. Jackson ◽  
Steven W. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Diamond Crystal ◽  
Synthetic Diamond ◽  
Crystal Surface ◽  
Local Strain ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Charge Balance ◽  
Optimum Amount ◽  
Ir Microscopy ◽  
External Growth

The amount and defect type of substitutional nitrogen in synthetic diamond strongly influences crystal strength. There is an optimum amount of nitrogen that yields the highest compressive fracture strength for crystals derived from common growth conditions. It is postulated that the role of nitrogen is to charge-balance vacancies created during growth. If too little nitrogen exists in the diamond, vacancies are not charge-balanced and may serve as crack initiation and/or propagation sites. Excess nitrogen above that required to charge-balance vacancies may weaken the lattice by adding local strain to the crystal. IR microscopy indicates that most of the substitutional nitrogen in synthetic diamond is increased in the vicinity of the intersections of growth sectors on the crystal surface. Most surface IR-visible nitrogen is biased toward the (111)–(100) intersection. The bias in incorporation of substitutional nitrogen at external growth sector intersections (i.e., edges and corners) of an industrial high-grade saw diamond crystal influences the progression of fatigue by microfracture during cutting of hard stone.

Role of the exosporial membrane in attachment and germination of C. sporogenes

1993 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 38-39
Author(s):  
B.J. Panessa-Warren ◽  
G.T. Tortora ◽  
J.B. Warren
Keyword(s):  
Enzymatic Degradation ◽  
Light Transmission ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Clostridium Sporogenes ◽  
Radiation Chemical ◽  
Physical Trauma ◽  
Extended Contact ◽  
Cold Pressure

Some bacteria are capable of forming highly resistant spores when environmental conditions are not adequate for growth. Depending on the genus and species of the bacterium, these endospores are resistant in varying degrees to heat, cold, pressure, enzymatic degradation, ionizing radiation, chemical sterilants,physical trauma and organic solvents. The genus Clostridium, responsible for botulism poisoning, tetanus, gas gangrene and diarrhea in man, produces endospores which are highly resistant. Although some sporocides can kill Clostridial spores, the spores require extended contact with a sporocidal agent to achieve spore death. In most clinical situations, this extended period of treatment is not possible nor practical. This investigation examines Clostridium sporogenes endospores by light, transmission and scanning electron microscopy under various dormant and growth conditions, cataloging each stage in the germination and outgrowth process, and analyzing the role played by the exosporial membrane in the attachment and germination of the spore.

scholarly journals Ref2, a regulatory subunit of the yeast protein phosphatase 1, is a novel component of cation homoeostasis

2010 ◽  
Vol 426 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jofre Ferrer-Dalmau ◽  
Asier González ◽  
Maria Platara ◽  
Clara Navarrete ◽  
José L. Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Protein Phosphatase ◽  
Living Organism ◽  
Calcium Sensitivity ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Protein Phosphatase 1 ◽  
Regulatory Subunit ◽  
Alkaline Ph ◽  
Yeast Protein ◽  
Increased Sensitivity

Maintenance of cation homoeostasis is a key process for any living organism. Specific mutations in Glc7, the essential catalytic subunit of yeast protein phosphatase 1, result in salt and alkaline pH sensitivity, suggesting a role for this protein in cation homoeostasis. We screened a collection of Glc7 regulatory subunit mutants for altered tolerance to diverse cations (sodium, lithium and calcium) and alkaline pH. Among 18 candidates, only deletion of REF2 (RNA end formation 2) yielded increased sensitivity to these conditions, as well as to diverse organic toxic cations. The Ref2F374A mutation, which renders it unable to bind Glc7, did not rescue the salt-related phenotypes of the ref2 strain, suggesting that Ref2 function in cation homoeostasis is mediated by Glc7. The ref2 deletion mutant displays a marked decrease in lithium efflux, which can be explained by the inability of these cells to fully induce the Na+-ATPase ENA1 gene. The effect of lack of Ref2 is additive to that of blockage of the calcineurin pathway and might disrupt multiple mechanisms controlling ENA1 expression. ref2 cells display a striking defect in vacuolar morphogenesis, which probably accounts for the increased calcium levels observed under standard growth conditions and the strong calcium sensitivity of this mutant. Remarkably, the evidence collected indicates that the role of Ref2 in cation homoeostasis may be unrelated to its previously identified function in the formation of mRNA via the APT (for associated with Pta1) complex.

On velocity gradient dynamics and turbulent structure

2015 ◽  
Vol 780 ◽  
pp. 60-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Lawson ◽  
J. R. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Velocity Gradient ◽  
Local Strain ◽  
Turbulent Structure ◽  
Stochastic Estimation ◽  
Spatially Resolved ◽  
Gradient Dynamics ◽  
Layer Structures ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Conditional Averaging

The statistics of the velocity gradient tensor $\unicode[STIX]{x1D63C}=\boldsymbol{{\rm\nabla}}\boldsymbol{u}$, which embody the fine scales of turbulence, are influenced by turbulent ‘structure’. Whilst velocity gradient statistics and dynamics have been well characterised, the connection between structure and dynamics has largely focused on rotation-dominated flow and relied upon data from numerical simulation alone. Using numerical and spatially resolved experimental datasets of homogeneous turbulence, the role of structure is examined for all local (incompressible) flow topologies characterisable by $\unicode[STIX]{x1D63C}$. Structures are studied through the footprints they leave in conditional averages of the $Q=-\text{Tr}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D63C}^{2})/2$ field, pertinent to non-local strain production, obtained using two complementary conditional averaging techniques. The first, stochastic estimation, approximates the $Q$ field conditioned upon $\unicode[STIX]{x1D63C}$ and educes quantitatively similar structure in both datasets, dissimilar to that of random Gaussian velocity fields. Moreover, it strongly resembles a promising model for velocity gradient dynamics recently proposed by Wilczek & Meneveau (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 756, 2014, pp. 191–225), but is derived under a less restrictive premise, with explicitly determined closure coefficients. The second technique examines true conditional averages of the $Q$ field, which is used to validate the stochastic estimation and provide insights towards the model’s refinement. Jointly, these approaches confirm that vortex tubes are the predominant feature of rotation-dominated regions and additionally show that shear layer structures are active in strain-dominated regions. In both cases, kinematic features of these structures explain alignment statistics of the pressure Hessian eigenvectors and why local and non-local strain production act in opposition to each other.

Self-assembled quantum dots and nanoholes by molecular beam epitaxial growth and atomically precise in situ etching

2002 ◽  
Vol 722 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kiravittaya ◽  
R. Songmuang ◽  
O. G. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Dots ◽  
Molecular Beam ◽  
Flat Surface ◽  
Local Strain ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Etching Depth ◽  
Molecular Beam Epitaxial ◽  
Self Assembled ◽  
Molecular Beam Epitaxial Growth

AbstractEnsembles of homogeneous self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) and nanoholes are fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy in combination with atomically precise in situ etching. Self-assembled InAs QDs with height fluctuations of ±5% were grown using a very low indium growth rate on GaAs (001) substrate. If these dots are capped with GaAs at low temperature, strong room temperature emission at 1.3 νm with a linewidth of 21 meV from the islands is observed. Subsequently, we fabricate homogeneous arrays of nanoholes by in situ etching the GaAs surface of the capped InAs QDs with AsBr3. The depths of the nanoholes can be tuned over a range of 1-6 nm depending on the nominal etching depth and the initial capping layer thickness. We appoint the formation of nanoholes to a pronounced selectivity of the AsBr3 to local strain fields. The holes can be filled with InAs again such that an atomically flat surface is recovered. QDs in the second layer preferentially form at those sites, where the holes were initially created. Growth conditions for the second InAs layer can be chosen in such a way that lateral QD molecules form on a flat surface.

scholarly journals Increased Fitness of Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1 Leucine Auxotrophs in Soil

2008 ◽  
Vol 74 (12) ◽  
pp. 3644-3651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wook Kim ◽  
Stuart B. Levy
Keyword(s):  
Pseudomonas Fluorescens ◽  
Bacterial Genome ◽  
Physiological Role ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Soil Environment ◽  
Fitness Advantage ◽  
Gene Structures

ABSTRACT The annotation process of a newly sequenced bacterial genome is largely based on algorithms derived from databases of previously defined RNA and protein-encoding gene structures. This process generally excludes the possibility that the two strands of a given stretch of DNA can each harbor a gene in an overlapping manner. While the presence of such structures in eukaryotic genomes is considered to be relatively common, their counterparts in prokaryotic genomes are just beginning to be recognized. Application of an in vivo expression technology has previously identified 22 discrete genetic loci in Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1 that were specifically activated in the soil environment, of which 10 were present in an antisense orientation relative to previously annotated genes. This observation led to the hypothesis that the physiological role of overlapping genetic structures may be relevant to growth conditions outside artificial laboratory media. Here, we examined the role of one of the overlapping gene pairs, iiv19 and leuA2, in soil. Although iiv19 was previously demonstrated to be preferentially activated in the soil environment, its absence did not alter the ability of P. fluorescens to colonize or survive in soil. Surprisingly, the absence of the leuA2 gene conferred a fitness advantage in the soil environment when leucine was supplied exogenously. This effect was determined to be independent of the iiv19 gene, and further analyses revealed that amino acid antagonism was the underlying mechanism behind the observed fitness advantage of the bacterium in soil. Our findings provide a potential mechanism for the frequent occurrence of auxotrophic mutants of Pseudomonas spp. in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients.

Development of Raman Laser Based on Synthetic Diamond Crystal

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 583-590
Author(s):  
陈志琼 CHEN Zhi-qiong ◽  
付喜宏 FU Xi-hong ◽  
张 俊 ZHANG Jun ◽  
彭航宇 PENG Hang-yu
Keyword(s):  
Diamond Crystal ◽  
Synthetic Diamond ◽  
Raman Laser

scholarly journals Nitric Oxide Overproduction by cue1 Mutants Differs on Developmental Stages and Growth Conditions

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Lechón ◽  
Luis Sanz ◽  
Inmaculada Sánchez-Vicente ◽  
Oscar Lorenzo
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Carbon Metabolism ◽  
Root Elongation ◽  
Developmental Stages ◽  
Primary Root ◽  
Carbon Sources ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
No Production

The cue1 nitric oxide (NO) overproducer mutants are impaired in a plastid phosphoenolpyruvate/phosphate translocator, mainly expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana roots. cue1 mutants present an increased content of arginine, a precursor of NO in oxidative synthesis processes. However, the pathways of plant NO biosynthesis and signaling have not yet been fully characterized, and the role of CUE1 in these processes is not clear. Here, in an attempt to advance our knowledge regarding NO homeostasis, we performed a deep characterization of the NO production of four different cue1 alleles (cue1-1, cue1-5, cue1-6 and nox1) during seed germination, primary root elongation, and salt stress resistance. Furthermore, we analyzed the production of NO in different carbon sources to improve our understanding of the interplay between carbon metabolism and NO homeostasis. After in vivo NO imaging and spectrofluorometric quantification of the endogenous NO levels of cue1 mutants, we demonstrate that CUE1 does not directly contribute to the rapid NO synthesis during seed imbibition. Although cue1 mutants do not overproduce NO during germination and early plant development, they are able to accumulate NO after the seedling is completely established. Thus, CUE1 regulates NO homeostasis during post-germinative growth to modulate root development in response to carbon metabolism, as different sugars modify root elongation and meristem organization in cue1 mutants. Therefore, cue1 mutants are a useful tool to study the physiological effects of NO in post-germinative growth.

scholarly journals Escherichia coli NsrR Regulates a Pathway for the Oxidation of 3-Nitrotyramine to 4-Hydroxy-3-Nitrophenylacetate

2008 ◽  
Vol 190 (18) ◽  
pp. 6170-6177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda D. Rankin ◽  
Diane M. Bodenmiller ◽  
Jonathan D. Partridge ◽  
Shirley F. Nishino ◽  
Jim C. Spain ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Physiological Role ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Growth Defect ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Mutant Phenotypes ◽  
Culture Supernatants ◽  
Chip Chip

ABSTRACT Chromatin immunoprecipitation and microarray (ChIP-chip) analysis showed that the nitric oxide (NO)-sensitive repressor NsrR from Escherichia coli binds in vivo to the promoters of the tynA and feaB genes. These genes encode the first two enzymes of a pathway that is required for the catabolism of phenylethylamine (PEA) and its hydroxylated derivatives tyramine and dopamine. Deletion of nsrR caused small increases in the activities of the tynA and feaB promoters in cultures grown on PEA. Overexpression of nsrR severely retarded growth on PEA and caused a marked repression of the tynA and feaB promoters. Both the growth defect and the promoter repression were reversed in the presence of a source of NO. These results are consistent with NsrR mediating repression of the tynA and feaB genes by binding (in an NO-sensitive fashion) to the sites identified by ChIP-chip. E. coli was shown to use 3-nitrotyramine as a nitrogen source for growth, conditions which partially induce the tynA and feaB promoters. Mutation of tynA (but not feaB) prevented growth on 3-nitrotyramine. Growth yields, mutant phenotypes, and analyses of culture supernatants suggested that 3-nitrotyramine is oxidized to 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetate, with growth occurring at the expense of the amino group of 3-nitrotyramine. Accordingly, enzyme assays showed that 3-nitrotyramine and its oxidation product (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetaldehyde) could be oxidized by the enzymes encoded by tynA and feaB, respectively. The results suggest that an additional physiological role of the PEA catabolic pathway is to metabolize nitroaromatic compounds that may accumulate in cells exposed to NO.

scholarly journals Role of the Streptococcus mutans irvA Gene in GbpC-Independent, Dextran-Dependent Aggregation and Biofilm Formation

2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (22) ◽  
pp. 7037-7043 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Zhu ◽  
Dragana Ajdić ◽  
Yuan Liu ◽  
David Lynch ◽  
Justin Merritt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Streptococcus Mutans ◽  
Biofilm Formation ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Parental Background ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Major Surface ◽  
Biofilm Development ◽  
Small Aggregation

ABSTRACT Dextran-dependent aggregation (DDAG) of Streptococcus mutans is an in vitro phenomenon that is believed to represent a property of the organism that is beneficial for sucrose-dependent biofilm development. GbpC, a cell surface glucan-binding protein, is responsible for DDAG in S. mutans when cultured under defined stressful conditions. Recent reports have described a putative transcriptional regulator gene, irvA, located just upstream of gbpC, that is normally repressed by the product of an adjacent gene, irvR. When repression of irvA is relieved, there is a resulting increase in the expression of GbpC and decreases in competence and synthesis of the antibiotic mutacin I. This study examined the role of irvA in DDAG and biofilm formation by engineering strains that overexpressed irvA (IrvA+) on an extrachromosomal plasmid. The IrvA+ strain displayed large aggregation particles that did not require stressful growth conditions. A novel finding was that overexpression of irvA in a gbpC mutant background retained a measure of DDAG, albeit very small aggregation particles. Biofilms formed by the IrvA+ strain in the parental background possessed larger-than-normal microcolonies. In a gbpC mutant background, the overexpression of irvA reversed the fragile biofilm phenotype normally associated with loss of GbpC. Real-time PCR and Northern blot analyses found that expression of gbpC did not change significantly in the IrvA+ strain but expression of spaP, encoding the major surface adhesin P1, increased significantly. Inactivation of spaP eliminated the small-particle DDAG. The results suggest that IrvA promotes DDAG not only by GbpC, but also via an increase in P1.

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