Hard Outer Shell Research Articles

Confining WS2 hierarchical structures into carbon core-shells for enhanced sodium storage

The growing demand for clean energy has heightened interest in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) as promising candidates for large-scale energy storage. However, the sluggish reaction kinetics and significant volumetric changes in anode materials present challenges to the electrochemical performance of SIBs. This work introduces a hierarchical structure where WS2 is confined between an inner hard carbon core and an outer nitrogen-doped carbon shell, forming HC@WS2@NCs core–shell structures as anodes for SIBs. The inner hard carbon core and outer nitrogen-doped carbon shell anchor WS2, enhancing its structural integrity. The highly conductive carbon materials accelerate electron transport during charge/discharge, while the rationally constructed interfaces between carbon and WS2 regulate the interfacial energy barrier and electric field distribution, improving ion transport. This synergistic interaction results in superior electrochemical performance: the HC@WS2@NCs anode delivers a high capacity of 370 mAh g−1 at 0.2 A/g after 200 cycles and retains261 mAh g−1 at 2 A/g after 2000 cycles. In a full battery with a Na3V2(PO4)3 cathode, the Na3V2(PO4)3//HC@WS2@NC full-cell achieves an impressive initial capacity of 220 mAh g−1 at 1 A/g. This work provides a strategic approach for the systematic development of WS2-based anode materials for SIBs.

Effect of clamshell powder on the mechanical and damping properties of epoxy-bamboo composites

Compared to single natural fibre composites, hybridising natural fibres with filler particles presents a promising avenue for enhancing composites physical, mechanical, and damping properties. This study delves into incorporating clamshell powder, a filler derived from clams’ hard protective outer shells, into polymer composites. The focus is on investigating the potential of clamshell powder as a filler material to augment the mechanical and damping properties of epoxy-bamboo mat composites. The weight ratio of clamshell fillers varied from 0% to 9%, and the compression moulding method was used to fabricate the composites. As per ASTM standards, mechanical properties were evaluated by conducting tensile and flexural tests. Free vibration tests by impact hammer technique were employed to evaluate the natural frequency, damping ratio, and mode shapes of developed composites to measure damping properties. Results revealed that adding clamshell filler significantly improved composites tensile strength, flexural strength, and damping properties. The addition of clamshell elevated the tensile strength by 18.5%, and flexural strength by 24.2% for composite with 6 wt% filler, which can be attributed to the efficiency of load transfer and the interfacial bonding between fillers and epoxy matrix. SEM analysis supported the experimental results obtained. The highest damping value is received for 9 wt% filler, showing 30% enhancement compared to composites without clamshell filler. Modal analyses using ANSYS software further validated the positive impact of clamshell filler. This study underscores the potential of clamshell filler in enhancing the mechanical and damping properties of epoxy-bamboo composites, broadening their applicability in various fields.

A Comparative Experimental and Computational Study on the Nature of the Pangolin-CoV and COVID-19 Omicron.

The relationship between pangolin-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 has been a subject of debate. Further evidence of a special relationship between the two viruses can be found by the fact that all known COVID-19 viruses have an abnormally hard outer shell (low M disorder, i.e., low content of intrinsically disordered residues in the membrane (M) protein) that so far has been found in CoVs associated with burrowing animals, such as rabbits and pangolins, in which transmission involves virus remaining in buried feces for a long time. While a hard outer shell is necessary for viral survival, a harder inner shell could also help. For this reason, the N disorder range of pangolin-CoVs, not bat-CoVs, more closely matches that of SARS-CoV-2, especially when Omicron is included. The low N disorder (i.e., low content of intrinsically disordered residues in the nucleocapsid (N) protein), first observed in pangolin-CoV-2017 and later in Omicron, is associated with attenuation according to the Shell-Disorder Model. Our experimental study revealed that pangolin-CoV-2017 and SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (XBB.1.16 subvariant) show similar attenuations with respect to viral growth and plaque formation. Subtle differences have been observed that are consistent with disorder-centric computational analysis.

Constructing hierarchical MoS2/WS2 heterostructures in dual carbon layer for enhanced sodium ions batteries performance

The escalating global demand for clean energy has spurred substantial interest in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) as a promising solution for large-scale energy storage systems. However, the insufficient reaction kinetics and considerable volume changes inherent to anode materials present significant hurdles to enhancing the electrochemical performance of SIBs. In this study, hierarchical MoS2/WS2 heterostructures were constructed into dual carbon layers (HC@MoS2/WS2@NC) and assessed their suitability as anodes for SIBs. The internal hard carbon core (HC) and outer nitrogen-doped carbon shell (NC) effectively anchor MoS2/WS2, thereby significantly improving its structural stability. Moreover, the conductive carbon components expedite electron transport during charge–discharge processes. Critically, the intelligently engineered interface between MoS2 and WS2 modulates the interfacial energy barrier and electric field distribution, promoting faster ion transport rates. Capitalizing on these advantageous features, the HC@MoS2/WS2@NC nanocomposite exhibits outstanding electrochemical performance when utilized as an anode in SIBs. Specifically, it delivers a high capacity of 415 mAh/g at a current density of 0.2 A/g after 100 cycles. At a larger current density of 2 A/g, it maintains a commendable capacity of 333 mAh/g even after 1000 cycles. Additionally, when integrated into a full battery configuration with a Na3V2(PO4)3 cathode, the Na3V2(PO4)3//HC@MoS2/WS2@NC full cell delivers a high capacity of 120 mAh/g after 300 cycles at 1 A/g. This work emphasizes the substantial improvement in battery performance that can be attained through the implementation of dual carbon confinement, offering a constructive approach to guide the design and development of next-generation anode materials for SIBs.

Seed Dormancy Breaking and Germination Rate Improvement in Mucuna (Mucuna bracteata) Seeds using Mechanical and Fungicide Treatments

Mucuna (Mucuna bracteata) is a cover crop for young plants in oil palm plantations. However, it has a very low germination rate due to its hard outer shell and fungi infestation after germination. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the effectivity of mechanical treatment combined with 15-min of Dithane M-45 treatment to improve the germination rate of Mucuna’s seed and its seedling growth. The experiment was performed with the combination of two factors: mechanical treatment and Dithane M-45 (0.00 g/L, 0.05 g/Lg, 0.10 g/L and 0.15 g/L) in pentaplicate for each group. The seeds were sowed on wet cotton, and the data was analyzed using ANOVA (α = 0.05) followed by DMRT (α = 0.05). The shell nicking seed followed by a 0.10 g/L of Dithane M-45 treatment resulted in the best germination rate (88 ± 9.1%), the fastest germination speed (6.29 ± 0.65 %), the shortest mean germination time (4.25 ± 0.87 days), the longest shoot, and the highest of fresh and dry biomass for both shoot and root of the seedlings. Therefore, the shell nicking and fungicide immersion before sowing the seeds could improve Mucuna's germination and seedling growth.

Advanced core-shell hollow carbon nanofibers for ion and electron accessibility in sodium ion batteries.

One-dimensional core-shell hollow carbon nanofibers (HCNFs) have been synthesized by coaxial electrospinning, deacetylation and carbonization, which exhibit multi-surface properties that enhance electrolyte infiltration and facilitate ion/electron transport. The nitrogen-doped hard carbon outer shell compensates for the low conductivity of amorphous carbon, and the inner core carbon supports the stability of core-shell hollow structures. This unique structure ensures the accessibility of electrons/ions during electrochemical reactions and contributes to the superior rate performance of HCNFs. Ultimately, a high retention rate of 77% of the initial capacity value (0.1 A g-1) was demonstrated at a current density of 2 A g-1. The core-shell hollow structure designed in this work greatly optimizes the sodium transport dynamics.

"ИГРА ПРИРОДЫ": РАКОВИНА КАК ПЛАСТИЧЕСКИЙ МОТИВ В ДРЕВНЕГРЕЧЕСКОМ ИСКУССТВЕ

In this article, I trace the various ways Ancient Greek artisans used seashell-motifs, and how they interpreted these natural forms in artistic contexts. The reason for the popularity of seashells lies in their visual and haptic variety, their wealth of association, and the device of something secret hidden under the hard outer shell. I examine three possible variants of the motif’s treatment in relief and volume: the shell-container as part of a vessel, the shell as an independent container, the shell as a sculpted motif on a vessel. Of particular interest are the vases where the integration of shell and vessel is especially marked, such as plastic aryballoi, lekythoi and other types (often with the inclusion of mythological subjects, such as the birth of Aphrodite). Terracotta and metal pyxides are also considered. Alongside these, I examine the rare “marble shells”, stone vessels carved in the intricate shape of “pelican’s foot” shells.

Effect of dry heat treatment on multi-structure, physicochemical properties, and in vitro digestibility of potato starch with controlled surface-removed levels

To explore the effect of the out-shell structure on dry heat modification efficiency on starch, chemical gelatinization technology was used to deshell the potato starch granules. The controlled shell-separated levels of approximately 10%, 30%, and 50% of the remnant were obtained. Further, starch samples were subjected to dry heat treatment (DHT), and the multi-structural, physicochemical, and digestibility properties were determined to investigate the shell separation process (SSP) effect on DHT. The results showed a rough and porous surface after SSP. Additionally, the larger ratio of long B chains (B2 and B3) and higher relative crystalline (RC) was revealed both in the superficial and core region of starch. Furthermore, after DHT, the solubility and amylose content were elevated, while the molecular weight, pasting viscosities, and enthalpy were reduced. Besides, DHT limited the accessibility of amylase to starch. Significantly, starch with a soft outer-shell structure exhibited a different trend after DHT than hard outer-shell, as evidenced by increased RC and slowly digested starch. These results may provide new insight into the structural arrangement within starch granules and expand the application of dry heat treatment.

A Precision Method for Integrating Shock Sensors in the Lining of Sports Helmets by Additive Manufacturing

A method is presented for embedding sensors into the lining of sports helmets for the purpose of monitoring head impact in contact sports. Additive manufacturing was used to embed optical fiber-based pressure sensors inside thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), a material used for lining and shock-dampening that fills the space between a helmet's hard outer shell and the head. A proof-of-concept has successfully demonstrated sensitive shock-monitoring capabilities, thus avoiding the inaccuracies in existing systems. The sensors can be embedded into additively manufactured parts in new or existing helmets and are unobtrusive to the wearers. This proposed system can be powered by readily available medical-grade cell batteries and requires less maintenance.

The evolution of predator avoidance in cephalopods: A case of brain over brawn?

Predation is a major evolutionary driver of animal adaptation. However, understanding of anti-predator evolution is biased toward vertebrate taxa. Cephalopoda, a class in the invertebrate phylum Mollusca, are known for their diverse anti-predator strategies, characterised by their behavioural flexibility. While ancestral cephalopods were protected by a hard outer shell, extant cephalopods have greatly reduced their reliance on physical defences. Instead, cephalopods have evolved highly developed senses to identify potential threats, cryptic skin patterns to avoid detection, startle responses to deter attack, and elaborate means of escape. While cephalopod anti-predator repertoires are relatively well described, their evolution, and the selective pressures that shaped them, have received much less attention. This is despite their potential relevance, in turn, to elucidate evolution of the remarkable cognitive abilities of cephalopods. Here, we review cephalopod anti-predator evolution, considering four key aspects: (i) shell reduction and loss; (ii) the skin patterning system; (iii) the ecological context accompanying the evolution of advanced cognit.ive abilities; (iv) why the evolutionary trajectory taken by cephalopods is so unique among invertebrates. In doing so, we consider the unique physiology of cephalopods and discuss how this may have constrained or aided the development of their anti-predator repertoire. In particular, cephalopods are poorly equipped to defend themselves physically and escape predation by fish, due to a lack of comparable weaponry or musculature. We argue that this may have selected for alternative forms of defence, driving an evolutionary trajectory favouring crypsis and complex behaviours, and the promotion of sensory and cognitive adaptations. Unravelling the complexities of cephalopod anti-predator evolution remains challenging. However, recent technological developments available for cephalopod field and laboratory studies, coupled with new genomic data and analysis approaches, offer great scope to generate novel insights.

Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Properties of Pecan Shell Water Extracts.

This study examined the chemical composition and antioxidant properties of the extracts obtained from two byproduct streams generated at a commercial pecan nut shelling operation. Byproduct stream F contained more pecan nut meat pieces and packing material than stream S, consisting of mainly hard outer shell pieces. Samples from Native variety nuts were processed using subcritical, sonication aided and microwave heating, using water as a solvent. Ferric reducing capacity (FRAP), Total Phenolic Content (TPC), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and ABTS [2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)] assays were used to determine antioxidant properties of the extracts. The experimental results clearly demonstrated that the chemical composition of the industrial byproducts was significantly different from the hand-separated shells. All the water extracts exhibited significant DPPH, ABTS and FRAP activity. The highest antioxidant capacity was obtained with the extracts obtained via subcritical water at 80 °C. This is the first report published in the literature on the antioxidant properties of water extracts obtained from industrial byproducts from a pecan nut shelling operation processing Native variety. New data generated in this study expand our knowledge of the properties of industrial nut shelling industry byproducts and help to evaluate the potential use of the shell extracts as antioxidants in various applications.

Shell Disorder Models Detect That Omicron Has Harder Shells with Attenuation but Is Not a Descendant of the Wuhan-Hu-1 SARS-CoV-2.

Before the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant emergence, shell disorder models (SDM) suggested that an attenuated precursor from pangolins may have entered humans in 2017 or earlier. This was based on a shell disorder analysis of SARS-CoV-1/2 and pangolin-Cov-2017. The SDM suggests that Omicron is attenuated with almost identical N (inner shell) disorder as pangolin-CoV-2017 (N-PID (percentage of intrinsic disorder): 44.8% vs. 44.9%—lower than other variants). The outer shell disorder (M-PID) of Omicron is lower than that of other variants and pangolin-CoV-2017 (5.4% vs. 5.9%). COVID-19-related CoVs have the lowest M-PIDs (hardest outer shell) among all CoVs. This is likely to be responsible for the higher contagiousness of SARS-CoV-2 and Omicron, since hard outer shell protects the virion from salivary/mucosal antimicrobial enzymes. Phylogenetic study using M reveals that Omicron branched off from an ancestor of the Wuhan-Hu-1 strain closely related to pangolin-CoVs. M, being evolutionarily conserved in COVID-19, is most ideal for COVID-19 phylogenetic study. Omicron may have been hiding among burrowing animals (e.g., pangolins) that provide optimal evolutionary environments for attenuation and increase shell hardness, which is essential for fecal–oral–respiratory transmission via buried feces. Incoming data support SDM e.g., the presence of fewer infectious particles in the lungs than in the bronchi upon infection.

A Review of the Phytochemistry, Ethnobotany, Toxicology, and Pharmacological Potentials of Crescentia cujete L. (Bignoniaceae).

Crescentia cujete is an economical and medicinal plant of wide indigenous uses including hypertension, diarrhea, respiratory ailments, stomach troubles, infertility problems, cancer, and snakebite. Despite these attributes, C. cujete is largely underutilized, notwithstanding the few progresses made to date. Here, we reviewed the available findings on the ethnobotany, phytochemistry, toxicology, and pharmacology, as well as other economic benefits of the plant. The information on the review was gathered from major scientific databases (Google scholar, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science, PubMed, Springer, and BioMed Central) using journals, books, and/or chapters, dissertations, and conference proceedings. The review established the antidiabetic, antioxidant, acaricidal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, antivenom, wound healing, neuroprotection, antiangiogenic, and cytotoxic properties from aqueous and organic (particularly ethanol) aerial parts attributed to several secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, phenols, cardiac glycosides, phytosterols, reducing sugar, and volatile oils. Economically, the fruit hard outer shell found applications as musical tools, tobacco pipes, bowls, food containers, and bioethanol production. While most of the current studies on C. cujete are mainly from Asia and South America (Philippines, Bangladesh, India, etc.), part of the persistence challenge is lack of comprehensive data on the plant from in vivo pharmacological studies of its already characterized compounds for probable clinical trials toward drug discovery. Consequently, upon this, modern and novel translational studies including the concept of ‘-omics' are suggested for studies aiming to outfit more comprehensive data on its therapeutic profiles against pathological markers of diseases and to fully explore its economic benefits.

Oral appliance for Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Prototyping and Optimization of the Mandibular Protrusion Device.

Obstructive Sleep apnea is a public health problem. This disease is associated with daytime sleepiness, increased motor vehicle accidents, heart failure and stroke. Treatment options include weight loss, positive airway pressure, pharyngeal and orthognatic surgery. However, selected patients have good response to oral appliances devices that intended to protrude and stabilize the mandible mechanically during the night in order to reduce the collapsibility of the upper airway. Selection of patients includes primary snoring, mild, moderate and positional apnea. The perfect mandibular advance device has not yet been designed. For these reasons, the objective of this paper is to present a new thermoadjustable chair-side oral appliance. Device integrates the best characteristics of custom made and boils and bite previous designs and minimizes inconveniences and possible side effects. The device is a titratable mandibular advancement appliance. It consists of two independent prefabricated trays adaptable to the shape of adult dental arch and linked to each other by a protrusion mechanism. Each tray contains a hard outer shell and a soft thermoplastic resin inner body. The position of the jaw can be adjusted by moving an aluminum rack into, or out from, the guide so the ratchet may get locked into a certain position ensuring the length of the mechanism. The protrusion mechanism is fixed to the splint using small rings that are articulated over a "t" button. Our prototype satisfies the requirements of an effective oral appliance, in terms of retention, comfort, safety and efficacy. It is easy to fit, durable, low cost, quickly titratable, not bulky and easy cleaning. Thermoplastic appliances are specially used like a predictor of treatment response in apnea patients. The device described is a cost-effective introduction to mandibular advancement technology. A qualified dentist or trained sleep doctor could mitigate dental side effects and reduce their incidence.

Blossom

Blossom is an open-source social robotics platform responding to three challenges in human-robot interaction (HRI) research: (1) Designing, manufacturing, and programming social robots requires a high level of technical knowledge; (2) social robot designs are fixed in appearance and movement capabilities, making them hard to adapt to a specific application; and (3) the use of rigid mechanisms and hard outer shells limits the robots’ expressive capabilities. Addressing these challenges, Blossom aims at three design objectives: accessibility, flexibility, and expressiveness. The robot’s mechanism can be quickly assembled and partially extended by end-users. Blossom’s appearance is open-ended through handcrafted fabric exteriors created and customized by users. Smooth organic movements are achieved with tensile mechanisms, elastic components, and a soft exterior cover attached loosely to the body. Blossom’s smartphone-based gesture generation requires neither programming nor character animation experience, allowing lay users to create their own behaviors. All elements in the design were conceived with a low barrier-of-entry in mind. The result is an accessible and customizable social robot for researchers. This article details the implementation of Blossom’s design and demonstrates the platform’s potential through four field deployment case studies.

Feeling Strange and Turning Back: Stevens, Frost, and the Foreign

Feeling Strange and Turning Back: Stevens, Frost, and the Foreign Zachary Tavlin DENNIS LEE DESCRIBES writing in “colonial space” as an attunement to cadence, a speaking to one’s “own dwelling” (154), that requires in turn a listening to the “deeper cadence in which the poem is locally sustained” (152). “But if we live in space which is radically in question for us,” Lee writes, “that makes our barest speaking a problem to itself. For voice does issue in part from civil space. And alienation in that space will enter and undercut our writing, make it recoil upon itself, become a problem to itself” (154). In The Hybrid Muse, Jahan Ramazani considers the invisibility of what he calls “postcolonial poetry” relative to parallel readings of fiction and drama, and like Lee he recognizes that academic and readerly assumptions about voice, place, and affective expression often prevent entry into the work of poets (including Louise Bennett, Okot p’Bitek, and A. K. Ramanujan, but also aspects of W. B. Yeats’s poetic archive) who speak neither from within an unquestioned, un-alien space nor out of a postmodern non-place where locality itself is an obstacle to good—because non-territorial—thought and speech (3). It would be all too easy to take the poetry of Wallace Stevens as an example of the latter, as a collection of “Description[s] Without Place” (CPP 296), and Robert Frost’s as the former, as a record of northern New England vernacular speech wrestling with meters, devoted to the cadence of a solid and well-established place. Such a schema would indeed allow one to dismiss these modernist white American poets as unconcerned in any way with the politics of borders and colonial dialectics—what Frantz Fanon refers to as the process of cultures “once living and open to the future” becoming “closed, fixed in the colonial status, caught in the yoke of oppression . . . mummified” (44).1 But both Stevens and Frost were concerned throughout their careers with the sort of meta-problem that grounds much postcolonial writing and scholarship, the at once practical, metaphysical, and deconstructive problem of Self and Other, which Kwame Anthony Appiah calls a binary that is “the last of the shibboleths of the modernizers that we must learn to live without” (354). That Stevens’ poetry, for instance, contains and/or attempts to overcome an epistemological deadlock aligned with this meta-problem—which grounds colonial [End Page 50] politics and poetics performed far from the hard, spare landscapes of his Connecticut—is recognized by none other than Edward Said, whose 1984 essay “The Mind of Winter: Reflections on Life in Exile” borrows Stevens’ famous phrase from “The Snow Man” to describe the diasporic experience in wholly psychological terms, where “the pathos of summer and autumn as much as the potential of spring are nearby but unobtainable. . . . [A] life of exile moves according to a different calendar, and is less seasonal and settled than life at home” (55). In this essay, I will consider a few of the different ways in which the poetry of Stevens and Frost encounters the encroachment of the “foreign” into spaces of refuge, and will situate my readings of a few representative poems within an epistemological problematic of self and other that underlies concrete concerns about immigration, settlement, xenophobia, and colonialism. Though Stevens’ career in poetry and correspondence evince several different approaches to the pressures of the “exotic” real, in his late poems his acquaintance with things is often only with their surfaces, not their depths: birds sing strange and dissonant songs (“Of Mere Being”), landscapes present a hard outer shell (“An Ordinary Evening in New Haven”), and particles of the world appear transcendent only in their muteness (“The Course of a Particular”). But insofar as Stevens resolves the initially disturbing foreignness of the world in his old age, it is in his recognition of the construction of metaphor as an engendering relation that remains open to the revision and reconstruction of one’s desire for the unusual. In “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain,” for instance, “the outlook that would be right” is achieved by the observer-poet’s reordering his position...

Hybrid cured thiol-ene/epoxy networks for core-shell semiconductor packaging

ABSTRACTThis research describes thiol-ene/epoxy hybrid networks for core-shell encapsulation of semiconductor devices. A thiol-ene network was formed using ultraviolet-induced radical polymerization, with unreacted thiols and epoxide monomers remaining in the network. Immersion in tributylamine catalyzed the thiol-epoxy coupling to produce a diffusion-limited hard outer shell. Tensile testing shows that the initial thiol-ene product (core) has elastomeric behavior, while the secondary curing creates a glassy material (shell) at room temperature due to thiol-epoxy coupling. Bulk samples of the material form a hard outer shell surrounding a soft core depending on the secondary cure conditions. There are positive relationships between wall thickness and secondary cure temperature and cure time, enabling control of shell thickness by varying reaction conditions. Shell thicknesses were measured up to 1.8 mm when immersed in tributylamine for up to 150 minutes and up to 140 °C. The ability to control core-shell thickness of dual-cured networks is applicable in device encapsulation processes. Core-shell encapsulants for microelectronics may provide further shock and impact protection for durable electronic devices. Further aging and operational studies will be needed to determine time-stability and optimal processing of the core-shell structure.

Electro-microinjection of fish eggs with an immobile capillary electrode.

Microinjection with ultra-fine glass capillaries is widely used to introduce cryoprotective agents and other foreign molecules into animal cells, oocytes, and embryos. The fragility of glass capillaries makes difficult the microinjection of fish eggs and embryos, which are usually protected by a hard outer shell, called the chorion. In this study, we introduce a new electromechanical approach, based on the electropiercing of fish eggs with a stationary needle electrode. The electropiercing setup consists of two asymmetric electrodes, including a μm-scaled nickel needle placed opposite to a mm-scaled planar counter-electrode. A fish egg is immersed in low-conductivity solution and positioned between the electrodes. Upon application of a short electric pulse of sufficient field strength, the chorion is electroporated and the egg is attracted to the needle electrode by positive dielectrophoresis. As a result, the hard chorion and the subjacent yolk membrane are impaled by the sharp electrode tip, thus providing direct access to the egg yolk plasma. Our experiments on early-stage medaka fish embryos showed the applicability of electro-microinjection to fish eggs measuring about 1 mm in diameter. We optimized the electropiercing of medaka eggs with respect to the field strength, pulse duration, and conductivity of bathing medium. We microscopically examined the injection of dye solution into egg yolk and the impact of electropiercing on embryos' viability and development. We also analyzed the mechanisms of electropiercing in comparison with the conventional mechanical microinjection. The new electropiercing method has a high potential for automation, e.g., via integration into microfluidic devices, which would allow a large-scale microinjection of fish eggs for a variety of applications in basic research and aquaculture.

LC and ferromagnetic resonance in soft/hard magnetic microwires

The magnetic behavior of soft/hard biphase microwires is introduced here. The microwires consist of a Co59.1Fe14.8Si10.2B15.9 soft magnetic nucleus and a Co90Ni10 hard outer shell separated by an intermediate insulating Pyrex glass microtube. By comparing the resistance spectrums of welding the ends of metallic core (CC) or welding the metallic core and outer shell (CS) to the connector, it is found that one of the two peaks in the resistance spectrum is because the LC resonance depends on the inductor and capacitors in which one is the capacitor between the metallic core and outer shell, and the other is between the outer shell and connector. Correspondingly, another peak is for the ferromagnetic resonance of metallic core. After changing the capacitance of the capacitors, the frequency of LC resonance moves to high frequency band, and furthermore, the peak of LC resonance in the resistance spectrum disappeared. These magnetostatically coupled biphase systems are thought to be of large potential interest as sensing elements in sensor devices.

Protocol for optimal quality and quantity pollen DNA isolation from honey samples.

The present study illustrates an optimized sample preparation method for an efficient DNA isolation from low quantities of honey samples. A conventional PCR-based method was validated, which potentially enables characterization of plant species from as low as 3 ml bee-honey samples. In the present study, an anionic detergent was used to lyse the hard outer pollen shell, and DTT was used for isolation of thiolated DNA, as it might facilitate protein digestion and assists in releasing the DNA into solution, as well as reduce cross-links between DNA and other biomolecules. Optimization of both the quantity of honey sample and time duration for DNA isolation was done during development of this method. With the use of this method, chloroplast DNA was successfully PCR amplified and sequenced from honey DNA samples.