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Glass fragments found in crime scenes may constitute important forensic evidence when properly analyzed, for example, to determine their origin. This analysis could be greatly helped by having a large and diverse database of glass fragments and by using it for constructing reliable machine learning (ML)-based glass classification models. Ideally, the samples that make up this database should be analyzed by a single accurate and standardized analytical technique. However, due to differences in equipment across laboratories, this is not feasible. With this in mind, in this work, we investigated if and how measurement performed at different laboratories on the same set of glass fragments could be combined in the context of ML. First, we demonstrated that elemental analysis methods such as particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE), laser ablation induct i v e l y coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), particle-induced Gamma-ray emission (PIGE), instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA), and prompt Gamma-ray neutron activation analysis (PGAA) could each produce lab-specific ML-based classification models. Next, we determined rules for the successf u l combinations of data from different laboratories and techniques and demonstrated that when followed, they give rise to improved models, and conversely, poor combinations wi l l lead to poor-performing models. Thus, the combination of PIXE and LA-ICP-MS improves the performances by similar to 10-15%, while combining PGAA with other techniques provides poorer performances in comparison with the lab-specific models. Finally, we demonstrated that the poor performances of the SEM-EDS technique, sti l l in use by law enforcement agencies, could be greatly improved by replacing SEM-EDS measurements for Fe and Ca by PIX E measurements for these elements. These findings suggest a process whereby forensic laboratories using different elemental analysis techniques could upload their data into a unified database and get reliable classification based on lab-agnostic models. This in tur n brings us closer to a more exhaustive extraction of information from glass fragment evidence and furthermore may form the basis for international-wide collaboration between law enforcement agencies.

The Fragmenta membranea manuscript fragment collection at the National Library of Finland has proved challenging to date using only traditional paleography. Therefore, radiocarbon dates can contribute to the understanding of these fragments by offering a parallel natural scientific timeline for the parchment the manuscripts are written on. In this study, we apply our previously developed method for radiocarbon dating medieval manuscripts made of parchment. In total 35 datings were made from 14 separate assemblages of manuscripts, being the first systematic wide-scale application of radiocarbon dating to a collection of medieval manuscripts in order to improve their chronological proxy. Additionally, due to the fragmentary and sometimes poor condition of the manuscript fragments of Fragmenta membranea analyzed in this study, we used Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to evaluate the quality of the collagen and the presence of contaminants in the fragments affecting the radiocarbon dates. We report out radiocarbon dating results and FTIR screenings for each sample and for each manuscript assemblage, and discuss the applicability of our method in further studies of applying radiocarbon dating on objects of cultural historical interest and value. The results indicate an essential role of high-quality samples and multiple measurements to interpret the radiocarbon dating results.

This archive contains files with research data related to a publication "ISIMULATION OF SPACE WEATHERING ON ASTEROID SPECTRA THROUGH HYDROGEN ION IRRADIATION OF METEORITES" by Palamakumbure et al. You will find more content information in the README.txt file, The NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science, and was conducted within institutional support RVO 67985831 of the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

It is difficult to follow changes in the intraocular pressure (IOP) in glaucomatous eyes comprehensively because of the limited number of outpatient examinations. We report our findings in a case of normal tension glaucoma (NTG) in which frequent self-measurements of the IOP were used to evaluate the IOP-lowering effect of different medications.A 50-year-old man with NTG had a nasal step visual field defect in his right eye and was being treated with 0.005% latanoprost (LAT) ophthalmic solution (XALATAN®).The patient was diagnosed with NTG.The patient had a mean IOP in the right eye of 10.9 ± 1.5 mm Hg (68 measurements in 1 month, Period A) during treatment with 0.005% LAT ophthalmic solution. During the second month (Period B), the mean IOP in the same eye was 9.8 ± 1.7 mm Hg (59 measurements) with treatment with a LAT and carteolol fixed combination (LCFC). And during the third month (Period C), the mean IOP was 7.4 ± 1.1 mm Hg (57 measurements) on the same right eye after the addition of brimonidine and brinzolamide fixed combination ophthalmic solution to the LCFC ophthalmic solution.Comparisons of the IOPs between Periods A and B and between B and C showed that the reductions in the IOP were significant.We conclude that frequent self-measurements of the IOP can determine that small changes of the IOPs are significant.

We investigated the effect of nano-structuring by high-pressure torsion (HPT) on the irradiation performance of Eurofer-97. Material was deformed to shear strains from 0 to ~230, and then exposed to Fe$^{3+}$ irradiation doses of 0.01 and 0.1 displacements-per-atom (dpa). Nanoindentation hardness increases monotonically with deformation, and with irradiation for the undeformed material. For both damage levels, less irradiation hardening is observed in severely deformed material. This effect is most prominent in the strain range ~60 to ~160, suggesting that nano-structuring may provide an approach for reducing irradiation hardening., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, Credit author statement included

Atomic layer deposition offers outstanding film uniformity and conformality on substrates with high aspect ratio features. These qualities are essential for mixed-halide perovskite films applied in tandem solar cells, transistors and light-emitting diodes. The optical and electronic properties of mixed-halide perovskites can be adjusted by adjusting the ratios of different halides. So far ALD is only capable of depositing iodine-based halide perovskites whereas other halide processes are lacking. We describe six new low temperature (≤100 °C) ALD processes for PbCl

GroEL is a bacterial chaperonin responsible for the assisted folding of non-native and misfolded polypeptides into biologically active proteins. The adaptive nature of the recognition mechanism of chaperonins toward client polypeptides inherently lends itself to structural heterogeneity, which hampers detailed analyses of intermolecular recognition and binding. In this report, we used single-particle cryo-EM and multiple rounds of focused mask three-dimensional classification to reveal a landscape of distinct snapshots of endogenous GroEL complexed with an unfolded substrate, the water-soluble domain of human UDP glucuronosyltransferase 1A (UGT1A), at 2.7–3.5 Å resolution. We demonstrate that UGT1A occupies the GroEL ring asymmetrically, engaging with 2–3 contiguous subunits and that a subunit bound to UGT1A exhibits a wider range of conformational dynamics, consistent with AlphaFold models. These data reveal molecular motions during initial substrate capture at near-atomic detail.

This archive contains files with research data related to a publication "ISIMULATION OF SPACE WEATHERING ON ASTEROID SPECTRA THROUGH HYDROGEN ION IRRADIATION OF METEORITES" by Palamakumbure et al. You will find more contentinformation in the README.txt file

Maltose and maltotriose, together with glucose, are the major carbohydrates found in malts. Thus, brewing yeasts grown in malt-based brewing processes with serial re-pitching have likely increased their ability to uptake these sugars during domestication by modulating the expression and copy number of maltose transporter genes (MALT, also known as Malx1). However, the molecular basis for and structural insights into the sugar preferences of MALT proteins remain to be elucidated. Here we report the functional evaluation of two novel Saccharomyces cerevisiae MALT proteins, ScMalt#2p and ScMalt#5p, from industrial brewing yeasts, focusing on their maltose and maltotriose preferences. Structural models of the MALT proteins generated by AlphaFold2 and functional analyses of substitution mutants revealed that a very small number of amino acid residues in two spatially adjacent transmembrane helixes, TMH7 and TMH11, appear to be crucial for sugar preference. Thus, subtle conformational alterations conferred by a small number of amino acid polymorphisms within MALTs would contribute to the adaptation of domesticated brewing yeasts to the constrained carbohydrate environment of industrial wort during beer brewing.

Ion-irradiated FeCr alloys are useful for understanding and predicting neutron damage in the structural steels of future nuclear reactors. Previous studies have largely focused on the structure of irradiation induced defects, probed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), as well as changes in mechanical properties. Across these studies, a wide range of irradiation conditions has been employed on samples with different processing histories, which complicates the analysis of the relationship between defect structures and material properties. Furthermore, key properties, such as irradiation-induced changes in thermal transport and lattice strain, are little explored. Here we present a systematic study of Fe3Cr, Fe5Cr and Fe10Cr binary alloys implanted with 20 MeV Fe3+ ions to nominal doses of 0.01 dpa and 0.1 dpa at room temperature. Nanoindentation, transient grating spectroscopy (TGS) and X-ray micro-beam Laue diffraction were used to study the changes in hardness, thermal diffusivity and strain in the material as a function of damage and Cr content. Our results suggest that Cr leads to an increased retention of irradiation-induced defects, causing substantial changes in hardness and lattice strain. However, thermal diffusivity varies little with increasing damage and instead degrades significantly with increasing Cr content in the material. We find significant lattice strains even in samples exposed to a nominal displacement damage of 0.01 dpa. The defect density predicted from the lattice strain measurements is significantly higher than that observed in previous TEM studies, suggesting that TEM may not fully capture the irradiation-induced defect population. (C) 2020 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a viable method for depositing functional, passivating, and encapsulating layers on top of halide perovskites. Studies in that area have only focused on metal oxides, despite a great number of materials that can be made with ALD. This work demonstrates that, in addition to oxides, other ALD processes can be compatible with the perovskites. We describe two new ALD processes for lead sulfide. These processes operate at low deposition temperatures (45-155 °C) that have been inaccessible to previous ALD PbS processes. Our processes rely on volatile and reactive lead precursors Pb(dbda) (dbda = rac-N2,N3-di-tert-butylbutane-2,3-diamide) and Pb(btsa)2 (btsa = bis(trimethylsilyl)amide) as well as H2S. These precursors produce high quality PbS thin films that are uniform, crystalline, and pure. The films exhibit p-type conductivity and good mobilities of 10-70 cm² V-1 s-1. Low deposition temperatures enable direct ALD of PbS onto a halide perovskite CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPI) without its decomposition. The stability of MAPI in ambient air is greatly improved by capping with ALD PbS. More generally, these new processes offer valuable alternatives for PbS-based devices, and we hope that this study will inspire more studies on ALD of non-oxides on halide perovskites.

The yields of 9 Be charge states ( q = + 1 , + 2 , + 3 , and + 4 ) from injected BeO− were measured with terminal voltage range from 1 to 5 MV. The yields were determined from the momentum analysed beam currents measured by beam profile monitors, after the 90° injector and analysing magnets. Stripping gas pressure dependency of the transmission efficiency was also determined and the results were studied with SRIM simulations. The effect of stripping medium was studied using both Ar and CO2 gases. The presented results are compared against experimental values found from literature, semi-empirical parametrisation models, and charge-exchange theories.

Plasma edge-localized modes (ELMs) can cause considerable fuel retention in fusion reactor vessel walls by implanting plasma particles with high energies and fluxes. The effect of deuterium ions implanted into tungsten with ELM-relevant energies was studied in laboratory conditions using ion beams. Deuterium implantations were done at room temperature with low fluxes with energies and fluences corresponding to JET and ITER estimates in a single ELM event for both inter ELM and intra ELM conditions at the divertor during high power operation. Deuterium implantations with 100 eV/D correspond to an inter-ELM phase, whereas implantations with 5 keV/D or 20 keV/D were used to mimic intra-ELM phases at JET and ITER, respectively. Resulted deuterium retention from these single energy implantations was compared with sequential implantations of low energy – high energy sequences as well as high energy – low energy sequences. Retention was measured by ERDA to obtain the amount of deuterium at the irradiated depth as well as the depth profiles for each implantation. High energy – low energy sequential implantations showed increased retention profile around the implantation-induced damage maximum. In low energy – high energy sequential implantations the observed retention was increased throughout the analyzed depth.

There is a considerable interest in developing new analytical tools to fight the illicit trafficking of heritage goods and particularly of easel paintings, whose high market values attract an ever-increasing volume of criminal activities. The objective is to combat the illicit traffic of smuggled or forged paintworks and to prevent the acquisition of fakes or looted artefacts in public collections. Authentication can be addressed using various investigation techniques, such as absolute dating, materials characterization, alteration phenomena, etc.; for paintings this remains a challenging task due to the complexity of the materials (paint layers, ground, varnish, canvas, etc.) and preferable use of non-destructive methods. This paper outlines results from concerted action on detecting forged works of art within the framework of a Coordinated Research Project of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called Enhancing Nuclear Analytical Techniques to Meet the Needs of Forensic Sciences

Contact resistance between electrically connected parts of electronic elements can negatively affect their resulting properties and parameters. The contact resistance is influenced by the physicochemical properties of the connected elements and, in most cases, the lowest possible value is required. The issue of contact resistance is also addressed in connection with the increasingly frequently used carbon allotropes. This work aimed to determine the factors that influence contact resistance between graphene prepared by chemical vapour deposition and pre-patterned Cu and Au electrodes onto which graphene is subsequently transferred. It was found that electrode surface treatment methods affect the resistance between Cu and graphene, where contact resistance varied greatly, with an average of 1.25 ± 1.54 kΩ, whereas for the Au electrodes, the deposition techniques did not influence the resulting contact resistance, which decreased by almost two orders of magnitude compared with the Cu electrodes, to 0.03 ± 0.01 kΩ. Contact resistance between electrically connected parts of electronic elements can negatively affect their resulting properties and parameters. The contact resistance is influenced by the physicochemical properties of the connected elements and, in most cases, the lowest possible value is required. The issue of contact resistance is also addressed in connection with the increasingly frequently used carbon allotropes. This work aimed to determine the factors that influence contact resistance between graphene prepared by chemical vapour deposition and pre-patterned Cu and Au electrodes onto which graphene is subsequently transferred. It was found that electrode surface treatment methods affect the resistance between Cu and graphene, where contact resistance varied greatly, with an average of 1.25 ± 1.54 kΩ, whereas for the Au electrodes, the deposition techniques did not influence the resulting contact resistance, which decreased by almost two orders of magnitude compared with the Cu electrodes, to 0.03 ± 0.01 kΩ.

Co

Funding Information: This work made use of the Aalto University Otanano and RAMI infrastructures. The authors also thank Dr. Hannu Revitzer for performing AAS measurements. Financial support from Business Finland BATCircle (Energy) (no. 2117574) is also greatly acknowledged. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. Nickel-rich layered oxides, such as LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 (NMC622), are high-capacity electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. However, this material faces issues, such as poor durability at high cut-off voltages (>4.4 V vs Li/Li+), which mainly originate from an unstable electrode-electrolyte interface. To reduce the side reactions at the interfacial zone and increase the structural stability of the NMC622 materials, nanoscale (

Herein, we report an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process for Cu2O thin films using copper(II) acetate [Cu(OAc)(2)] and water vapor as precursors. This precursor combination enables the deposition of phase-pure, polycrystalline, and impurity-free Cu2O thin films at temperatures of 180-220 degrees C. The deposition of Cu(I) oxide films from a Cu(II) precursor without the use of a reducing agent is explained by the thermally induced reduction of Cu(OAc)(2) to the volatile copper(I) acetate, CuOAc. In addition to the optimization of ALD process parameters and characterization of film properties, we studied the Cu2O films in the fabrication of photoconductor devices. Our proof-of-concept devices show that approx- imately 20 nm thick Cu2O films can be used for photodetection in the visible wavelength range and that the thin film photoconductors exhibit improved device characteristics in comparison to bulk Cu2O crystals.

This work presents preparation of nickel germanide (Ni2Ge) thin films by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The films were grown using NiCl2(tmpda) (tmpda = N,N,N',N',-tetramethyl-1,3-propanediamine) and tributylgermanium hydride serving as a new, efficient reducing agent. This is the first time ALD NixGey films are prepared directly upon the combination of two precursors and without any annealing treatment. NixGey is an important contact material for enabling Ge-based transistors and thus circumventing the scaling issues related to current microelectronics. The Ni2Ge process was examined at low temperatures of 160-200 degrees C. Self-limiting, saturative growth with a high growth rate of 0.91 angstrom/cycle was observed at 180 degrees C. The films were thoroughly analyzed in terms of morphology, crystallinity, composition, and resistivity. The Ni2Ge films were pure, with the sum of contaminants being less than 1 at. %. Owing to their high purity, the films exhibited low resistivity, suggesting suitability for contact applications.

Introduction: Solar wind ions and impacts of micrometeoroids are the leading processes that weather the surface of airless planetary bodies in the solar system. As a result, key diagnostic features of their spectra get altered. The most prominent changes in the silicate-rich bodies in the visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths are increase in the spectral slope, reduction of the albedo, and subduction of the mineral absorption bands (see, for example, Hapke 2001). Our work aims at understanding what are the similarities and differences between the effect of the solar wind ions and micrometeoroid impacts on the final spectra of the silicate-rich bodies. Our study is based on laboratory simulations using planetary analogue materials. Methods: We have used two different terrestrial minerals, olivine and pyroxene. Each material was ground and dry-sieved to sizes smaller than 106 μm. Subsequently, we created pressed pellets from potassium bromide, which served as a base, and 100 mg of the mineral, which created the top layer of the pellet. Ion irradiations were conducted at two different laboratories. Hydrogen irradiations proceeded at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Helsinki, using 5 keV ions with varying fluences from 1014 to 1018 ions/cm2. Subsequent spectral measurements were done out of the vacuum chamber after surface passivation of the samples. Helium and argon irradiations were done using the INGMAR set-up (IAS-CSNSM, Orsay) with 20 and 40 keV ions and with fluences from 1015 to 1017 ions/cm2. Spectra were measured in the vacuum chamber, where we irradiated the samples. Individual 100-fs laser pulses were shot into a square grid on the pellets’ surface to simulate the micrometeoroid impacts (as in Fazio et al. 2018). Various densities of the pulses per cm2 simulated different weathering stages. Spectral measurements were done outside of the vacuum chamber. The spectral measurements covered, in all the set-ups, wavelengths from 0.54 to 13 μm, i.e. VIS to mid-infrared wavelengths. After the measurements, we evaluated the evolution of the spectral parameters estimated using the Modified Gaussian Model (Sunshine et al. 1990, 1999). Results: Variation of the spectra in the VIS range was similar for H+- and laser-irradiated samples, but we have identified a difference in the NIR wavelength range. Laser irradiation caused greater changes in NIR than any of the ions we used, see Fig. 1. The reason for such difference in behaviour may be the different penetration depth of the irradiating ions and laser pulses. While laser penetrates approximately 100 μm under the surface of the pellet, our ions did not penetrate deeper than 150 nm. Spectra of the laser-irradiated samples thus bear information solely from the irradiated material, while spectra of the ion-irradiated samples are a mixture of the top-most altered layers and the unaltered underlying layers. The relative contribution of the irradiated material is then smaller in the ion case. Otherwise, we found that the original mineralogy of the pellet is more determinative to the evolution of the spectral parameters than the space weathering agent (ions or laser pulses). While olivine and pyroxene showed albedo variations of a similar order, the evolution of pyroxene’s spectral slope was negligible when compared to olivine, see Fig. 2. Implications to the solar system studies: Evolution of the spectral parameters of our pyroxene samples agrees with the observed space weathering trends on asteroid (4) Vesta, which shows prominent albedo changes but the spectral slope is stable. Rapid changes of olivine’s spectral slope are in agreement with the high observed slopes in the A-type asteroid population. Our weathering trends also agree with the Q- to S-type asteroid transition. The difference we found between the influence of the ion and laser irradiation on the NIR wavelengths may help us in estimating the surface exposure ages of different geomorphological features in the solar system bodies. Solar wind ions are known to alter the surface on shorter timescales than the micrometeoroid impacts. At the beginning of the surface’s evolution, the NIR wavelengths will thus not be much influenced and as the contribution of the micrometeoroid impacts will grow, the NIR wavelengths will start to evolve. Based on that we may give an estimate on the surface age by studying the NIR range. As we have seen, olivine’s spectral slope evolves faster and significantly more than pyroxene’s. This has implications for olivine-pyroxene mixtures and their evolution. E.g. in the case of asteroid (433) Eros, the variation of the spectral slope is minor, but other spectral parameters show some variation. As the surface of Eros is old, we hypothesise that spectral slope changes induced by olivine alteration already saturated and the leading source of the spectral variation is pyroxene, which does not show large variations in the slope. In contrast asteroid (25143) Itokawa is younger and thus still shows variations in the spectral slope as it has not saturated yet. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the University of Helsinki Foundation and the Academy of Finland project nos 325805, 1335595 and 293975, and it was conducted with institutional support RVO 67985831 from the Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The authors acknowledge funding from Charles University (Project Progres Q47). Part of the irradiation was performed using the INGMAR set-up, a joint IAS-CSNSM (Orsay, France) facility funded by the French Programme National de Planétologie (PNP), by the Faculté des Sciences d’Orsay, Université Paris-Sud (Attractivité 2012), by the French National Research Agency ANR (contract ANR-11-BS56-0026, OGRESSE), and by the P2IO LabEx (ANR-10-LABX-0038) in the framework Investissements d’Avenir (ANR-11-IDEX-0003-01). References: Fazio, A., Harries, D., Matthäus, G., et al. 2018, Icarus, 299, 240; Hapke, B. 2001, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 10039; Sunshine, J. M., Pieters, C. M., & Pratt, S. F. 1990, J. Geophys. Res., 95, 6955; Sunshine, J. M., Pieters, C. M., Pratt, S. F., & McNaron-Brown, K. S. 1999, in Lunar and Planetary Inst. Technical Report, Vol. 30, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 1306

Subthreshold depression (StD) is a depressive state that does not fulfil the criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD); however, StD has a risk for progression to MDD, and early intervention is therefore needed. Recently, a method for extracting neural extracellular vesicles (NEVs) excreted from neural cells of the brain from blood has been established, and microRNAs (miRNAs) encapsulated in NEVs are attracting interest because of their potential correlation to the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. However, miRNAs closely related to StD are still unknown. Therefore, to try to identify miRNAs closely related to the degree of StD, we examined the correlations between expression levels of some candidate miRNAs in NEVs and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores in subjects. Total RNAs in NEVs were extracted from serum of young adult males who had PHQ-9 scores of less than 10 (n = 9). Expression levels of eight miRNAs that were previously reported to be depression-associated miRNAs (let-7a-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-26b-5p, miR-34a-5p, miR-132-3p, miR-182-5p, miR-212-3p, and miR-1202) were measured using real-time PCR. Two of the eight miRNAs (miR-17-5p and miR-26b-5p) were stably detected. The relative expression levels of miR-17-5p showed a significant positive correlation with PHQ-9 scores (r = 0.85, p

The elongation of spherical Au nanoparticles embedded in [Formula: see text] under swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation is an extensively studied phenomenon. The use of a TEM grid as a substrate facilitates the identification of the same nanoparticle before and after the irradiation. Since the underdensification of [Formula: see text] inside the ion track plays a key role, the elongation is sensitive to the matrix material properties. Therefore, we studied the elongation process of SHI irradiated Au spherical nanoparticles of various diameters (5–80 nm) embedded either in atomic layer deposition (ALD) or plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) [Formula: see text]. The results show that a different elongation ratio is achieved depending on the particle initial size, ion fluence, and a different [Formula: see text] deposition method. The embedded nanoparticles in ALD [Formula: see text] elongate roughly 100% more than the nanoparticles embedded in PECVD [Formula: see text] at the biggest applied fluence ([Formula: see text]). On the other hand, at fluences lower than [Formula: see text], nanoparticles elongate slightly more when they are embedded in PECVD [Formula: see text].

There is a considerable interest in developing new analytical tools to fight the illicit trafficking of heritage goods and particularly of easel paintings, whose high market values attract an ever-increasing volume of criminal activities. The objective is to combat the illicit traffic of smuggled or forged paintworks and to prevent the acquisition of fakes or looted artefacts in public collections. Authentication can be addressed using various investigation techniques, such as absolute dating, materials characterization, alteration phenomena, etc. ; for paintings this remains a challenging task due to the complexity of the materials (paint layers, ground, varnish, canvas, etc.) and preferable use of non-destructive methods. This paper outlines results from concerted action on detecting forged works of art within the framework of a Coordinated Research Project of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called Enhancing Nuclear Analytical Techniques to Meet the Needs of Forensic Sciences1. One of the main objectives is to foster the use of emerging Nuclear Analytical Techniques (NAT) using particle accelerators for authentication of paintings, with potential application to other forensics domains, by highlighting their ability to determine painting authenticity and to track restorations or anachronistic clues. The various materials comprising a test painting were investigated using an array of NAT. Binder, canvas and support were directly dated by 14C using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (14C- AMS) ; binder and pigments’ molecular composition was determined using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry with MeV ions (MeV-SIMS) ; paint layer composition and stratigraphy were accurately determined using Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) and differential Particle- Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) ; and pigment spatial distributions were mapped using full-field PIXE. High resolution Optical Photothermal Infrared Spectroscopy (O-PTIR) molecular imaging was also exploited. Obtained results are presented and discussed. It is shown that the combination of the above- mentioned techniques allowed reconstructing the history of the test painting.

The facultative anaerobic hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Pyrobaculum calidifontis possesses norspermine (333), norspermidine (33), and spermidine (34) as intracellular polyamines (where the number in parentheses represents the number of methylene CH2 chain units between NH2, or NH). In this study, the polyamine biosynthesis pathway of P. calidifontis was predicted on the basis of the enzymatic properties and crystal structures of an aminopropyltransferase from P. calidifontis (Pc-SpeE). Pc-SpeE shared 75% amino acid identity with the thermospermine synthase from Pyrobaculum aerophilum, and recombinant Pc-SpeE could synthesize both thermospermine (334) and spermine (343) from spermidine and decarboxylated S-adenosyl methionine (dcSAM). Recombinant Pc-SpeE showed high enzymatic activity when aminopropylagmatine and norspermidine were used as substrates. By comparison, Pc-SpeE showed low affinity toward putrescine, and putrescine was not stably bound in its active site. Norspermidine was produced from thermospermine by oxidative degradation using a cell-free extract of P. calidifontis, whereas 1,3-diaminopropane (3) formation was not detected. These results suggest that thermospermine was mainly produced from arginine via agmatine, aminopropylagmatine, and spermidine. Norspermidine was produced from thermospermine by an unknown polyamine oxidase/dehydrogenase followed by norspermine formation by Pc-SpeE.

We report on the anisotropic wet etching of sputtered AlN and Sc0.2Al0.8N thin films. With tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide at 80 °C, the etch rates along the c-axis were 330 and 30 nm/s for AlN and Sc0.2Al0.8N, respectively. Although the etching was anisotropic, significant lateral etching below the mask occurred, perpendicular to the c-axis. With a 1 µm Sc0.2Al0.8N film, it could be up to 1800 nm. We studied the lateral etching with molybdenum, SiO2, SiNx and TiO2 masks, and found the leading cause for the lateral etching to be modification of the AlN or Sc0.2Al0.8N surface caused by ion bombardment and surface oxidation by ambient air. The lateral etching was reduced by optimizing the mask deposition and with thermal annealing. With Sc0.2Al0.8N, the lateral etching was reduced down to 35–220 nm depending on the mask, while with AlN, it was reduced to negligible. These results can be used for developing optimised mask deposition processes for better etch characteristics and for microfabrication of AlN and ScxAl1‑xN thin-film structures.

X-ray Flux Monitor (XFM) is one of the scientific instruments planned to be onboard European Space Agency's future mission Lagrange. Its purpose is to constantly monitor the space weather, by providing complementary measurements of the interplanetary medium and Sun observations, from the Lagrange point L5. Another identical XFM instrument will be part of NOAA's Space Weather Follow On (SWFO-L1) spacecraft, which will orbit at Lagrange point L1. Rather than depending on Silicon PIN detector technology, like in similar instruments such as XSM on SMART-1 and SIXS on BepiColombo, the XFM will use the more advanced Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) technology. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the radiation tolerance, in the harsh space radiation environment, of these X-ray detectors.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) enables the deposition of numerous materials in thin film form, yet there are no ALD processes for metal iodides. Herein, we demonstrate an ALD process for PbI2, a met...

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has coordinated a research project titled ”Enhancing Nuclear Analytical Techniques to Meet the Needs of Forensics Sciences” (CRP F11021) with the aim of empowering accelerator and reactor based techniques for applications in forensic sciences. One of the key topics of this project was the analysis and classification of forensic glass specimens using Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) techniques and in particular, Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE). To this end, glass fragments from car windows from different car models and manufacturers provided by the Israeli police force were subjected to PIXE measurements at three laboratories to determine their elemental compositions and possible glass corrosion. Major and trace elements were measured and given as an input to machine learning (ML) algorithms in order to develop classification models to determine the origin of the glass samples. First, we have developed ML models based on the results obtained at each lab. These models successfully classified glass fragments into different car models with an accuracy >80% on external test sets. Next, we demonstrated that following an appropriate pre-processing step, results from different labs could be combined into a single unified database for the derivation of a classification model. This model demonstrates good performances that matches or surpasses the performances of models derived from the individual labs. This finding paves the way towards establishing an international database that is composed of measurements from various PIXE labs. We believe that using this methodology of combining various sources of measurements will improve models’ performances and generality and will make the models accessible to law enforcement agencies around the world.

When a metal surface is exposed to prolonged irradiation with energetic H-, the ions are expected to penetrate into bulk and dissolve in the matrix. However, the irradiated surfaces exhibit dramatic morphological changes in the form of "blisters " covering the surface exposed to irradiation. Blistering is usually explained by accumulation of implanted gas in the bubbles near surface. However, the exact mechanism of continuous growth of a bubble after it reaches the measurable size is still not fully clear. Commonly such growth is related to prismatic loop punching, which is a short time scale process not easily accessible by experimental techniques. Even atomistic modelling of loop punching in FCC metals is somewhat cumbersome. Since the void surfaces in these metals yield easily through shear loops, these were debatably suggested to explain the plastic growth of a bubble in copper, without demonstrating the detachment of these loops from the void. We address the mechanisms of fast bubble growth in Cu which is associated with blistering of Cu surface exposed to H- irradiation. We observe the emission of a complete prismatic loop enclosed within the number of shear loops with the Burgers vectors aligned with the gliding direction of the prismatic loop. We show that the prismatic loops punched from the bubble surface do not need to be smaller than the bubble cross-section. These simulations capture the general trend of dislocation emission in the condition of hydrostatic pressure exerted by the accumulated gas on the wall of the bubble. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc.

Although no effective therapies have been established for osteonecrosis of the jaw caused by bisphosphonate (BP) preparations, a good therapeutic response has been recently reported after treatment with teriparatide (PTH) and teriparatide acetate (PTH-A), both formulations of the thyroid hormone teriparatide. We report a case of Stage 2 medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) that responded to treatment with teriparatide. The patient was a 78-year-old woman. She was examined for the chief complaint of stomatitis in the torus palatinus. Intraoral examination revealed bone exposure in the palate and swelling, redness and pus discharge in the surrounding mucosa. CT revealed a sequestrum measuring 14 × 4 mm in the superficial layer of the torus palatinus. The patient had taken oral sodium risedronate for seven years and six months. There was continuous bone exposure for three months and she had not undergone radiotherapy in the jaw region. Based on this history, Stage 2 MRONJ was diagnosed. Subcutaneous injections of PTH-A was started in March 2013. In week 17 of treatment the exposed bone was completely covered by mucosal epithelium and in week 42 of treatment the sequestrum had disappeared.

In the present work, ZnO thin films were irradiated with 700 keV Au + ions at different fluence (1 × 10 13 , 1 × 10 14 , 2 × 10 14 and 5 × 10 14 ions/cm 2 ). The structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of pristine and irradiated ZnO thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), spectroscopy ellipsometry (SE) and four point probe technique respectively. XRD results showed that the crystallite size decreased from pristine value at the fluence 1 × 10 13 ions/cm 2 , with further increase of ion fluence the crystallite size also increased due to which the crystallinity of thin films improved. SEM micrographs showed acicular structures appeared on the ZnO thin film surface at high fluence of 5 × 10 14 ions/cm 2 . FTIR showed absorption band splitting due to the growth of ZnO nanostructures. The optical study revealed that the optical band gap of ZnO thin films changed from 3.08 eV (pristine) to 2.94 eV at the high fluence (5 × 10 14 ions/cm 2 ). The electrical resistivity of ZnO thin film decreases with increasing ion fluence. All the results can be attributed to localized heating effect by ions irradiation of thin films and well correlated with each other.

The green microalga Botryococcus braunii Showa, which produces large amounts of triterpene hydrocarbons, exclusively uses the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway for isoprenoid biosyntheses, and the terminal enzyme in this pathway, 4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl diphosphate reductase (HDR), is regarded as a light-dependent key regulatory enzyme. In order to investigate the possible association of HDR and ferredoxin in this organism, we constructed tertiary structure models of B. braunii HDR (BbHDR) and one of ferredoxin families in the alga, a photosynthetic electron transport F (BbPETF)-like protein, by using counterparts from E. coli and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as templates, respectively, and performed docking analysis of these two proteins. After docked models are superimposed onto their counterpart proteins in a non-photosynthetic organism, Plasmodium falciparum, the BbPETF-like protein comes in contact with the backside of BbHDR, which was defined in a previous report (Rekittke et al. 2013), and the distance of the two Fe-S centers is 14.7 A. This distance is in almost the same level as that for P. falicarum, 12.6 A. To our knowledge, this is the first model suggesting the possible association of HDR with a ferredoxin in O2-evolving photosynthetic organisms.

Copper-containing nitrite reductases (CuNIRs) are multifunctional enzymes that catalyse the one-electron reduction of nitrite (NO2−) to nitric oxide (NO) and the two-electron reduction of dioxygen (O2) to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). In contrast to the mechanism of nitrite reduction, that of dioxygen reduction is poorly understood. Here, results from anaerobic synchrotron-radiation crystallography (SRX) and aerobic in-house radiation crystallography (iHRX) with a CuNIR from the thermophileGeobacillus thermodenitrificans(GtNIR) support the hypothesis that the dioxygen present in an aerobically manipulated crystal can bind to the catalytic type 2 copper (T2Cu) site ofGtNIR during SRX experiments. The anaerobic SRX structure showed a dual conformation of one water molecule as an axial ligand in the T2Cu site, while previous aerobic SRXGtNIR structures were refined as diatomic molecule-bound states. Moreover, an SRX structure of the C135A mutant ofGtNIR with peroxide bound to the T2Cu atom was determined. The peroxide molecule was mainly observed in a side-on binding manner, with a possible minor end-on conformation. The structures provide insights into dioxygen chemistry in CuNIRs and hence help to unmask the other face of CuNIRs.

In this paper, we introduce a new Co precursor for the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Co metal and other Co containing materials. CoCl2(TMEDA) (TMEDA = N,N,N ',N '-tetramethylethylenediamine) is a diamine adduct of cobalt(II) chloride that is inexpensive and easy to synthesize, making it an industrially viable precursor. Furthermore, CoCl2(TMEDA) shows good volatility at reasonably low temperatures and is thermally stable up to a temperature of, similar to 300 degrees C. We also present a full ALD study for the deposition of CoO thin films using CoCl2(TMEDA) and water as precursors. The process was investigated within a temperature range of 225-300 degrees C. Saturation of the film growth with respect to both precursor pulse lengths was verified. According to X-ray diffraction, the films were a mixture of hexagonal and cubic CoO. No reflections corresponding to Co3O4 were detected. The hexagonal phase is characteristic to nanomaterials only and is not seen in bulk CoO. The crystal structure of the films could be tuned by temperature, water pulse lengths, and type of substrate material. The films deposited at 275 degrees C exhibited 1:1 Co:O stoichiometry and very high purity. The CoO films could be reduced to Co metal at an exceptionally low temperature of 250 degrees C in 10% forming gas. Continuity of the reduced Co films was improved when the CoO film was deposited on TiN instead of native oxide terminated Si. The Co content of a 50 nm reduced metal film was as high as 95 at. %, with negligible amounts of oxygen and hydrogen.

The B race of a green microalga Botryococcus braunii Kützing produces triterpene hydrocarbons that is a promising source for biofuel. In this algal race, precursors of triterpene hydrocarbons are provided from the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway. The terminal enzyme of this pathway, 4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl diphosphate reductase (HDR) is regarded as one of the key enzymes that affect yields of products in terpene biosynthesis. In order to better understand the MEP pathway of the alga, cDNA and genomic clones of HDR were obtained from B. braunii Showa strain. B. braunii HDR (BbHDR) is encoded on a single copy gene including a 1509-bp open reading frame that was intervened by 6 introns. The exon-intron structure of BbHDR genes did not show clear relation to phylogeny, while its amino acid sequence reflected phyla and classes well. BbHDR sequence was distinctive from that of the HDR protein from Escherichia coli in the residues involved in hydrogen-bond network that surrounds substrate. Introduction of BbHDR cDNA into an E. coli HDR deficient mutant resulted in recovery of its auxotrophy. BbHDR expression level was upregulated from the onset of liquid culture to the 24th day after inoculation with a 2.5-fold increase and retained its level in the subsequent period.

The Neolithic Corded Ware Culture (CWC) complex spread across the Baltic Sea region ca. 2900/2800-2300/2000 BCE. Whether this cultural adaptation was driven by migration or diffusion remains widely debated. To gather evidence for contact and movement in the CWC material culture, grog-tempered CWC pots from 24 archaeological sites in southern Baltoscandia (Estonia and the southern regions of Finland and Sweden) were sampled for geochemical and micro-structural analyses. Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) were used for geochemical discrimination of the ceramic fabrics to identify regional CWC pottery manufacturing traditions and ceramic exchange. Major and minor element concentrations in the ceramic body matrices of 163 individual vessels and grog temper (crushed pottery) present in the ceramic fabrics were measured by SEM-EDS. Furthermore, the high-sensitivity PIXE technique was applied for group confirmation. The combined pot and grog matrix data reveal eight geochemical clusters. At least five geochemical groups appeared to be associated with specific find locations and regional manufacturing traditions. The results indicated complex inter-site and cross-Baltic Sea pottery exchange patterns, which became more defined through the grog data, i.e., the previous generations of pots. The CWC pottery exhibited high technological standards at these latitudes, which, together with the identified exchange patterns and the existing evidence of mobility based on human remains elsewhere in the CWC complex, is indicative of the relocation of skilled potters, possibly through exogamy. An analytical protocol for the geochemical discrimination of grog-tempered pottery, and its challenges and possibilities, is presented. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Self-ion irradiation of pure tungsten with 2 MeV W ions provides a way of simulating microstructures generated by neutron irradiation in tungsten components of a fusion reactor. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used to characterize defects formed in tungsten samples by ion irradiation. It was found that tungsten irradiated to 0.85 dpa at relatively low temperatures develops a characteristic microstructure dominated by dislocation loops and black dots. The density and size distribution of these defects were estimated. Some of the samples exposed to self-ion irradiation were then implanted with deuterium. Thermal Desorption Spectrometry (TDS) analysis was performed to estimate the deuterium inventory as a function of irradiation damage and deuterium release as a function of temperature. Increase of inventory with increasing irradiation dose followed by slight decrease above 0.1 dpa was found. Application of Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy (PAS) to self-irradiated but not deuterium implanted samples enabled an assessment of the density of irradiation defects as a function of exposure to highenergy ions. The PAS results show that the density of defects saturates at doses in the interval from 0.085 to 0.425 displacements per atom (dpa). These results are discussed in the context of recent theoretical simulations exhibiting the saturation of defect microstructure in the high irradiation exposure limit. The saturation of damage found in PAS agrees with the simulation data described in the paper. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )

High electric fields are present in a rapidly growing number of applications, which include elementary particle accelerators, vacuum interrupters, miniature x-ray sources, and satellites. Many of these applications are limited by the breakdown strength of the materials exposed to electric fields. Different methods have been developed to improve the quality of metal electrode surfaces, aiming to increase their breakdown strength. Not many systematical studies have been performed to provide a proper understanding of what contributes to the correlation between the breakdown strength and the quality of the surface. In this work, we apply a novel method for reducing vacuum arc breakdowns by cleaning the electrode surfaces with O and Ar plasma. The method can be used to alter the surfaces of the Cu electrodes in situ, i.e., without exposing them to air between the measurements. This plasma cleaning treatment is shown to reduce the number of surface impurities and to speed up the conditioning process of the samples under high-voltage pulses. Specifically, the first breakdown field was observed to increase by more than 90% after the plasma cleaning.

X-ray crystallography visualizes the world at the atomic level. It has been used as the most powerful technique for observing the three-dimensional structures of biological macromolecules and has pioneered structural biology. To determine a crystal structure with high resolution, it was traditionally required to prepare large crystals (> 200 μm). Later, synchrotron radiation facilities, such as SPring-8, that produce powerful X-rays were built. They enabled users to obtain good quality X-ray diffraction images even with smaller crystals (ca. 200–50 μm). In recent years, one of the most important technological innovations in structural biology has been the development of X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs). The SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron LAser (SACLA) in Japan generates the XFEL beam by accelerating electrons to relativistic speeds and directing them through in-vacuum, short-period undulators. Since user operation started in 2012, we have been involved in the development of serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) measurement systems using XFEL at the SACLA. The SACLA generates X-rays a billion times brighter than SPring-8. The extremely bright XFEL pulses enable data collection with microcrystals (ca. 50–1 μm). Although many molecular analysis techniques exist, SFX is the only technique that can visualize radiation-damage-free structures of biological macromolecules at room temperature in atomic resolution and fast time resolution. Here, we review the achievements of the SACLA-SFX Project in the past 5 years. In particular, we focus on: (1) the measurement system for SFX; (2) experimental phasing by SFX; (3) enzyme chemistry based on damage-free room-temperature structures; and (4) molecular movie taken by time-resolved SFX.

The ternary lithium aluminum fluoride Li 3 AlF 6 is formed from two optically interesting fluorides, LiF and AlF 3 . It has been reported to have a large electronic bandgap with a reasonable lithium-ion conductivity at room temperature, making it a potential electrolyte material for solid state lithium-ion batteries. Because of complications during attempts at direct atomic layer deposition of Li 3 AlF 6 , we have studied the deposition of the material using two conversion processes. In Process 1, a conversion reaction takes place when Al(thd) 3 (thd = 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionate) and TiF 4 are sequentially pulsed onto LiF films. The Li 3 AlF 6 films contained LiF as an impurity phase, as determined with grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), and a large amount of titanium impurity, as determined with time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis (ToF-ERDA). In Process 2, AlF 3 films are exposed to Lithd vapor, resulting in a conversion reaction that produced Li 3 AlF 6 with some LiF. These films have also been studied with GIXRD and ToF-ERDA, and contained much smaller amounts of titanium and other impurities. The Li:Al metal ratios vary depending on the extent of Lithd exposure. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) revealed that the Li 3 AlF 6 films are quite porous.