Ion beam analysis (IBA) techniques are a powerful analytical tool used to investigate the composition and structure of precious materials principally because they can be applied in atmosphere. Thus, the sample can be analyzed as is, and heating and charging effects are strongly diminished. Since IBA measurements can be made with low ion currents and acquisition time, the damage risk is limited. At the microbeam line of the LABEC laboratory, it is possible to exploit the potentials of IBA techniques in an external set up to reconstruct the distribution maps of all the detected elements over the analyzed area with spatial resolutions as low as 10 μm. This is an important feature when objects with inhomogeneous structures—on a scale of hundred microns or so—are investigated, as happens in some cases with artworks. The detection set up installed on our external microbeam allows us to use different IBA techniques simultaneously. Thus, in a single measurement run, it is possible to obtain complementary information on both sample composition and structure. Some applications to works of art are presented here as examples of the analytical capabilities of the external scanning microbeam in the cultural heritage field.

An Fe–1 at.% Cu model alloy was examined by atom probe (3DAP) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) to verify the accordance of the gained results. The Fe-Cu alloy was heat-treated for various times at 500°C, forming Cu-rich precipitates within the Fe matrix. The chemical compositions of the precipitates and matrix found by 3DAP were used to calculate the magnetic scattering contrast. Additionally, a magnetic moment of the precipitates that contain a significant amount of Fe was taken into account for the calculation of magnetic scattering contrast. This in turn is used for the evaluation of the magnetic scattering curves gained by SANS. Both the 3DAP data as well as the scattering curves were analyzed with regard to radius, number density, and volume fraction of the precipitates as a function of aging time. The results yielded by both techniques are in good agreement and correspond to the development of the hardness of the alloy. Minor differences can be related to the cluster search algorithm used for the analysis of the 3DAP data as well as Fe overestimation based on different field phases.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Complementary state-of-the-art optical, scanning electron, and X-ray microscopy techniques have been used to study the morphology of Apollo 11 lunar soil particles (10084-47). The combination of innovative lighting geometries with image processing of a through focal series of images has allowed us to obtain a unique collection of high-resolution light micrographs of these fascinating particles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) stereo-pair imaging has been exploited to illustrate some of the unique morphological properties of lunar regolith. In addition, for the first time, X-ray micrographs with submicron resolution have been taken of individual particles using X-ray ultramicroscopy (XuM). This SEM-based technique lends itself readily to the imaging of pores, cracks, and inclusions and allows the internal structure of an entire particle to be viewed. Rotational SEM and XuM movies have also been constructed from a series of images collected at sequential angles through 360°. These offer a new and insightful view of these complex particles providing size, shape, and spatial information on many of their internal features.

The role of centrosomes in stem cell division has recently been highlighted and further ascribes important functions to centrosomes in stem cell maintenance, cellular differentiation, and development. Advanced cell and molecular studies coupled with immunofluorescence, electron microscopy, and live cell imaging of specific centrosome proteins have contributed greatly to our knowledge of centrosome composition, structure, and dynamics and have uncovered new insights into mechanisms of centrosome functions in asymmetric cell division. The establishment of asymmetry and differential positioning of mother and daughter centrosomes during stem cell mitosis is important for allowing one cell to maintain stem cell characteristics while the sibling cell undergoes differentiation. Another key role for centrosomes has been revealed in primary cilia of embryonic stem cells that play significant roles in cellular signaling and are therefore critically important for stem cell decisions. Studies of signaling through primary cilia may contribute important information that may aid in the production of specific cells that are suitable for tissue repair and regeneration in the field of regenerative medicine.

Contemporary research aims to understand biological processes not only by identifying participating proteins, but also by characterizing the dynamics of their interactions. Because Förster's Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) is invaluable for the latter undertaking, its usage is steadily increasing. However, FRET measurements are notoriously error-prone, especially when its inherent efficiency is low, a not uncommon situation. Furthermore, many FRET methods are either difficult to implement, are not appropriate for observation of cellular dynamics, or report instrument-specific indices that hamper communication of results within the scientific community. We present here a novel comprehensive spectral methodology, SpRET, which substantially increases both the reliability and sensitivity of FRET microscopy, even under unfavorable conditions such as weak fluorescence or the presence of noise. While SpRET overcomes common pitfalls such as interchannel crosstalk and direct excitation of the acceptor, it also excels in removal of autofluorescence or background contaminations and in correcting chromatic aberrations, often overlooked factors that severely undermine FRET experiments. Finally, SpRET quantitatively reports absolute rather than relative FRET efficiency values, as well as the acceptor-to-donor molar ratio, which is critical for full and proper interpretation of FRET experiments. Thus, SpRET serves as an advanced, improved, and powerful tool in the cell biologist's toolbox.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

This article simulates highly overlapped projections of spherical particles that are distributed randomly in space. The size and number of the features in the projections are examined as well as how these features change with particle size and concentration. First, there are discernable features in projection even when particles overlap extensively, and the size of these discernable features is the expected size of an individual particle. Second, the number of features increases with specimen thickness at a rate of t0.543 when the specimen thickness is below a critical value and becomes independent of specimen thickness at higher thicknesses. A criterion is established for the critical thickness based on particle size and particle volume fraction. When the specimen thickness is known and smaller than the critical thickness, a single representative transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (or scanning TEM) image exhibiting extensive particle overlap can be used to determine the size and number density of the spherical particles.

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was employed to analyze the microstructure and texture of four different Alloy 82H gas tungsten arc welds that previously underwent static and dynamic modulus testing. The Young's moduli were shown to differ among the various welds, but also within each weld, dependent upon the direction measured. These differences were attributed to anisotropy of the crystallographic textures, which were described using inverse pole figures with respect to each of the weld's three orthogonal axes. The Young's modulus demonstrated a strong correlation with the texture, consistent with single crystal experiments. Sample directions containing a large population of {100} orientations had the lowest Young's modulus, while those with {111} grains possessed the highest. Microstructures with {110} textures were closer to the average modulus value of 207 GPa (30.0 Msi). X-ray diffraction texture measurements on four samples were used to verify the EBSD results.

A portable X-ray fluorescence/X-ray diffraction (XRF/XRD) system for artwork studies has been designed constructed and tested. It is based on Debye Scherrer XRD in reflection that takes advantage of many recent improvements in the handling of X-rays (polycapillary optics; advanced two-dimensional detection). The apparatus is based on a copper anode air cooled X-ray source, and the XRD analysis is performed on a 5–20 μm thick layer from the object surface. Energy dispersive XRF elemental analysis can be performed at the same point as XRD, giving elemental compositions that support the interpretation of XRD diagrams. XRF and XRD analyses were tested to explore the quality and the limits of the analytical technique. The XRD diagrams are comparable in quality with diagrams obtained with conventional laboratory equipment. The mineral identification of materials in artwork is routinely performed with the portable XRF-XRD system. Examples are given for ceramic glazes containing crystals and for paintings where the determination of pigments is still a challenge for nondestructive analysis. For instance, lead compounds that provide a variety of color pigments can be easily identified as well as a pigment such as lapis lazuli that is difficult to identify by XRF alone. More than 70 works of art have been studied in situ in museums, monuments, etc. In addition to ceramics and paintings, these works include bronzes, manuscripts, etc., which permit improvement in the comprehension of ancient artistic techniques.

Structured illumination fluorescence microscopy is a powerful super-resolution method that is capable of achieving a resolution below 100 nm. Each super-resolution image is computationally constructed from a set of differentially illuminated images. However, real-time application of structured illumination microscopy (SIM) has generally been limited due to the computational overhead needed to generate super-resolution images. Here, we have developed a real-time SIM system that incorporates graphic processing unit (GPU) based in-line parallel processing of raw/differentially illuminated images. By using GPU processing, the system has achieved a 90-fold increase in processing speed compared to performing equivalent operations on a multiprocessor computer—the total throughput of the system is limited by data acquisition speed, but not by image processing. Overall, more than 350 raw images (16-bit depth, 512 × 512 pixels) can be processed per second, resulting in a maximum frame rate of 39 super-resolution images per second. This ultrafast processing capability is used to provide immediate feedback of super-resolution images for real-time display. These developments are increasing the potential for sophisticated super-resolution imaging applications.

Three-dimensional nanocrystals can be studied by electron diffraction using transmission cryo-electron microscopy. For molecular structure determination of proteins, such nanosized crystalline samples are out of reach for traditional single-crystal X-ray crystallography. For the study of materials that are not sensitive to the electron beam, software has been developed for determining the crystal lattice and orientation parameters. These methods require radiation-hard materials that survive careful orienting of the crystals and measuring diffraction of one and the same crystal from different, but known directions. However, as such methods can only deal with well-oriented crystalline samples, a problem exists for three-dimensional (3D) crystals of proteins and other radiation sensitive materials that do not survive careful rotational alignment in the electron microscope. Here, we discuss our newly released software AMP that can deal with nonoriented diffraction patterns, and we discuss the progress of our new preprocessing program that uses autocorrelation patterns of diffraction images for lattice determination and indexing of 3D nanocrystals.

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The enamel of 20 Email Champlevé objects dating between the 12th and 19th centuries was investigated by means of microscopic and portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (μ-XRF and PXRF). Seven of these objects were microsampled and the fragments were analyzed with electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and vacuum μ-XRF to obtain quantitative data about the composition of the glass used to produce these enameled objects. As a result of the evolution of the raw materials employed to produce the base glass, three different compositional groups could be discriminated. The first group consisted of soda-lime-silica glass with a sodium source of mineral origin (with low K content) that was opacified by addition of calcium antimonate crystals. This type of glass was only used in objects made in the 12th century. Email Champlevé objects from the beginning of the 13th century onward were enameled with soda-lime-silica glass with a sodium source of vegetal origin. This type of glass, which has a higher potassium content, was opacified with SnO2 crystals. The glass used for 19th century Email Champlevé artifacts was produced with synthetic and purified components resulting in a different chemical composition compared to the other groups. Although the four analytical techniques employed in this study have their own specific characteristics, they were all found to be suitable for classifying the objects into the different chronological categories.

Udimet 188 was subjected to thermomechanical processing (TMP) in an attempt to understand the effects of cold-rolling deformation on the microstructure and tensile-creep behavior. Commercially available sheet was cold rolled to varying amounts of deformation (between 5–35% reduction in sheet thickness) followed by a solution treatment at 1,464 K (1,191°C) for 1 h and subsequent air cooling. This sequence was repeated four times to induce a high-volume fraction of low-energy grain boundaries. The resultant microstructure was characterized using electron backscattered diffraction. The effect of the TMP treatment on the high-temperature [1,033–1,088 K (760–815°C)] creep behavior was evaluated. The measured creep stress exponents (6.0–6.8) suggested that dislocation creep was dominant at 1,033 K (760°C) for stresses ranging between 100–220 MPa. For stresses ranging between 25–100 MPa at 1,033 K (760°C), the stress exponents (2.3–2.8) suggested grain boundary sliding was dominant. A significant amount of grain boundary cracking was observed both on the surface and subsurface of deformed samples. To assess the mechanisms of crack nucleation, in situ scanning electron microscopy was performed during the elevated-temperature tensile-creep deformation. Cracking occurred preferentially along general high-angle grain boundaries (GHAB) and less than 25% of the cracks were found on low-angle grain boundaries (LAB) and coincident site lattice boundaries (CSLB). Creep rupture experiments were performed at T = 1,088 K (815°C) and σ = 165 MPa and the greatest average time-to-rupture was exhibited by the TMP sheet with the greatest fraction of LAB+CSLB. However, a clear correlation was not exhibited between the grain boundary character distribution and the minimum creep rates. The findings of this work suggest that although grain boundary engineering may be possible for this alloy, simply relating the fraction of grain boundary types to the creep resistance is not sufficient.

Adult stem cells (SCs) are essential for tissue homeostasis and wound repair. They have the ability to both self-renew and differentiate into multiple cell types. They often reside in specialized microenvironments or niches that preserve their proliferative and tissue regenerative capacity. The murine hair follicle (HF) has a specialized and permanent compartment—the bulge, which safely lodges SCs and provides the necessary molecular cues to regulate their function. The HF undergoes cyclic periods of destruction, regeneration, and rest, making it an excellent system to study SC biology.

Nanosized incubational domain was observed in 10 at.% gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Dislocations were extensively observed in 10 at.% GDC instead of heavily doped 25 at.% GDC. By Fast Fourier Transform and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform analysis, it was noticed that the incubational domain existing in 10 at.% GDC has different lattice spacing and orientation from the neighboring ceria matrix. Furthermore, dislocations were usually observed in the interface region between the incubational domain and the ceria matrix. Based on experimental results, the formation mechanism of dislocation associated incubational domain in lightly gadolinium-doped ceria is rationalized.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.