Versatile Laboratory Research Articles

A versatile low-cost laboratory apparatus for testing triboluminescent materials

The design and fabrication of a simple low-cost laboratory apparatus used to test triboluminescent properties of materials is reported. This unique experimental system consists of an impact chamber attached to the bottom of an adjustable drop tower. A 1.25in. steel ball with a mass of 130g is dropped from a known height in the tower impacting the pile of powdered triboluminescent sample at low velocities (<10ms−1). Any generated triboluminescence is then recorded using a photodiode and amplifier and recorded on an oscilloscope. The resulting triboluminescence data is analyzed using specially written LabVIEW programs. The details of the experimental setup, techniques, and results for several common inorganic and organic triboluminescent phosphors are discussed in this paper.

Light scattering study of zinc oxide nanoparticles for the application of its anti-bacterial property

Investigations on the anti-bacterial activity of ZnO nanoparticles on Staphylococcus aureus were made by using bio-technical method. Light scattering properties of these particles were studied as a function of scattering angle by using a versatile laboratory light scattering setup in order to find the scattering profile of ZnO nanoparticles and also the mode of action of these particles on bacterial property.

Spectrophotometers

Spectrophotometers

Pilot laboratory electrolyzer for electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide in acid and alkaline solutions

Results of a preparative electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide by cathodic reduction of oxygen in a carbon black gas-diffusion electrode in acid and alkaline electrolyte solutions in a versatile pilot laboratory three-chamber electrolyzer are presented.

The MaPLE device of Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics: Construction and its plasma aspects

The Magnetized Plasma Linear Experimental (MaPLE) device is a low cost laboratory plasma device at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics fabricated in-house with the primary aim of studying basic plasma physics phenomena such as plasma instabilities, wave propagation, and their nonlinear behavior in magnetized plasma regime in a controlled manner. The machine is specially designed to be a versatile laboratory device that can provide a number of magnetic and electric scenario to facilitate such studies. A total of 36 number of 20-turn magnet coils, designed such as to allow easy handling, is capable of producing a uniform, dc magnetic field of about 0.35 T inside the plasma chamber of diameter 0.30 m. Support structure of the coils is planned in an innovative way facilitating straightforward fabrication and easy positioning of the coils. Further special feature lies in the arrangement of the spacers between the coils that can be maneuvered rather easily to create different magnetic configurations. Various methods of plasma production can be suitably utilized according to the experimental needs at either end of the vacuum vessel. In the present paper, characteristics of a steady state plasma generated by electron cyclotron resonance method using 2.45 GHz microwave power are presented. Scans using simple probe drives revealed that a uniform and long plasma column having electron density approximately 3-5x10(10) cm(-3) and temperature approximately 7-10 eV, is formed in the center of the plasma chamber which is suitable for wave launching experiments.

Publisher's Note: “The MaPLE device of Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics: Construction and its plasma aspects” [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 073507 (2010)

The Magnetized Plasma Linear Experimental (MaPLE) device is a low cost laboratory plasma device at Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics fabricated in-house with the primary aim of studying basic plasma physics phenomena such as plasma instabilities, wave propagation, and their nonlinear behavior in magnetized plasma regime in a controlled manner. The machine is specially designed to be a versatile laboratory device that can provide a number of magnetic and electric scenario to facilitate such studies. A total of 36 number of 20-turn magnet coils, designed such as to allow easy handling, is capable of producing a uniform, dc magnetic field of about 0.35 T inside the plasma chamber of diameter 0.30 m. Support structure of the coils is planned in an innovative way facilitating straightforward fabrication and easy positioning of the coils. Further special feature lies in the arrangement of the spacers between the coils that can be maneuvered rather easily to create different magnetic configurations. Various methods of plasma production can be suitably utilized according to the experimental needs at either end of the vacuum vessel. In the present paper, characteristics of a steady state plasma generated by electron cyclotron resonance method using 2.45 GHz microwave power are presented.more » Scans using simple probe drives revealed that a uniform and long plasma column having electron density {approx} 3-5 Multiplication-Sign 1010 cm-3 and temperature {approx} 7-10 eV, is formed in the center of the plasma chamber which is suitable for wave launching experiments.« less

Atom-chip-based generation of entanglement for quantum metrology

Atom chips provide a versatile quantum laboratory for experiments with ultracold atomic gases. They have been used in diverse experiments involving low-dimensional quantum gases, cavity quantum electrodynamics, atom-surface interactions, and chip-based atomic clocks and interferometers. However, a severe limitation of atom chips is that techniques to control atomic interactions and to generate entanglement have not been experimentally available so far. Such techniques enable chip-based studies of entangled many-body systems and are a key prerequisite for atom chip applications in quantum simulations, quantum information processing and quantum metrology. Here we report the experimental generation of multi-particle entanglement on an atom chip by controlling elastic collisional interactions with a state-dependent potential. We use this technique to generate spin-squeezed states of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate; such states are a useful resource for quantum metrology. The observed reduction in spin noise of -3.7 +/- 0.4 dB, combined with the spin coherence, implies four-partite entanglement between the condensate atoms; this could be used to improve an interferometric measurement by -2.5 +/- 0.6 dB over the standard quantum limit. Our data show good agreement with a dynamical multi-mode simulation and allow us to reconstruct the Wigner function of the spin-squeezed condensate. The techniques reported here could be directly applied to chip-based atomic clocks, currently under development.

Use of a mobile laboratory to evaluate changes in on-road air pollutants during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics

Abstract. China implemented systematic air pollution control measures during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and Paralympics to improve air quality. This study used a versatile mobile laboratory to conduct in situ monitoring of on-road air pollutants along Beijing's Fourth Ring Road on 31 selected days before, during, and after the Olympics air pollution control period. A suite of instruments with response times of less than 30 s was used to measure temporal and spatial variations in traffic-related air pollutants, including NOx, CO, PM1.0 surface area (S(PM1)), black carbon (BC), and benzene, toluene, the sum of ethylbenzene, and m-, p-, and o-xylene (BTEX). During the Olympics (8–23 August, 2008), on-road air pollutant concentrations decreased significantly, by up to 54% for CO, 41% for NOx, 70% for SO2, 66% for BTEX, 12% for BC, and 18% for SPM1, compared with the pre-control period (before 20 July). Concentrations increased again after the control period ended (after 20 September), with average increases of 33% for CO, 42% for NOx, 60% for SO2, 40% for BTEX, 26% for BC, and 37% for S(PM1), relative to the control period. Variations in pollutants concentrations were correlated with changes in traffic speed and the number and types of vehicles on the road. Throughout the measurement periods, the concentrations of NOx, CO, and BTEX varied markedly with the numbers of light- and medium-duty vehicles (LDVs and MDVs, respectively) on the road. Only after 8 August was a noticeable relationship found between BC and S(PM1) and the number of heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs). Additionally, BC and S(PM1) showed a strong correlation with SO2 before the Olympics, indicating possible industrial sources from local emissions as well as regional transport activities in the Beijing area. Such factors were identified in measurements conducted on 6 August in an area southwest of Beijing. The ratio of benzene to toluene, a good indicator of traffic emissions, shifted suddenly from about 0.26 before the Olympics to approximately 0.48 after the Olympics began. This finding suggests that regulations on traffic volume and restrictions on the use of painting solvents were effective after the Olympics began. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of air pollution control measures and identified local and regional pollution sources within and surrounding the city of Beijing. The findings will be invaluable for emission inventory evaluations and model verifications.

Design of a Compact and Versatile Bench Scale Tubular Reactor

A compact and versatile laboratory tubular reactor has been designed and fabricated keeping in view of reducing capital cost and minimising energy consumption for gas/vapor-phase heterogeneous catalytic reactions. The reactor is consisted of two coaxial corning glass tubes with a helical coil of glass tube in between the coaxial tubes serving as vaporiser and pre-heater, the catalyst bed is in the inner tube. A schematic diagram of the reactor with detailed dimensions and working principles are described. The attractive feature of the reactor is that the vaporiser, pre-heater and fixed bed reactor are merged in a single compact unit. Thus, the unit minimises separate vaporiser and pre-heater, also avoids separate furnaces used for them and eliminate auxiliary instrumentation such as temperature controller etc. To demonstrate the system operation and illustrate the key features, catalyst screening data and the efficient collection of complete, and accurate intrinsic kinetic data are provided for oxidation of CO over copper chromite catalyst. CO oxidation is an important reaction for auto-exhaust pollution control. The suitability of the versatile nature of the reactor has been ascertained for catalytic reactions where either volatile or vaporizable feeds can be introduced to the reaction zone, e.g. oxidation of iso-octane, reduction of nitric oxide, dehydrogenation of methanol, ethanol and iso-propanol, hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline, etc. © 2009 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Laboratory undertakes filter membrane compatibility studies

International Products Corp of Burlington, New Jersey, USA, reports that its research unit is now capable of performing filter membrane compatibility and performance studies using a versatile laboratory filtration system.

The Broadband In‐Water Structural Acoustics of Unexploded Ordinance

The Laboratory for Structural Acoustics (LSA) at the Naval Research Laboratory consists of a 1 million gallon, deionized water, indoor cylindrical tank (17m diameter by 15m deep). The key features include: 1) vibration and temperature isolation, 2) feedback controlled heating and adiabatic materials (temperature variability <0.01°C), and 3) reverberation reducing anechoic materials. This laboratory has computer controlled robotic scanners and manipulators used for precision freefield measurements including nearfield acoustic holography and compact range scattering. The precision robotics, environmental control, and painstaking measures to insure homogeneity and stability result in a high fidelity, versatile, and unique underwater acoustic measurement laboratory. The LSA also contains an indoor rectangular tank (10m by 8m) laboratory, with a 3m deep sand bottom and 4m of water column. In a similar fashion to the freefield laboratory, this laboratory is used to study target scattering in a marine bottom environment. We discuss such databases focused on the challenging problem of unexploded ordinance (UXO) in water where we use the structural acoustic response measured in a series of laboratory experiments to detect and identify several common UXOs. The 360 degree broadband (1‐140 kHz) compact range monostatic and bistatic measurements taken in both laboratories will be discussed.

Tailoring hole spin splitting and polarization in nanowires

Spin splitting in p-type semiconductor nanowires is strongly affected by the interplay between quantum confinement and spin-orbit coupling in the valence band. The latter’s particular importance is revealed in our systematic theoretical study presented here, which has mapped the range of spin-orbit coupling strengths realized in typical semiconductors. Large controllable variations of the g factor with associated characteristic spin polarization are shown to exist for nanowire subband edges, which therefore turn out to be a versatile laboratory for investigating the complex spin properties exhibited by quantum-confined holes.

Flow cytometry as the spearhead for delivering sustainable and versatile laboratory services to HIV-burdened health care systems of the developing world: A Caribbean model

HIV is targeting the developing nations of the world, threatening their economic development, overwhelming public health systems, and depleting human capital. The Caribbean is no exception, with the second highest incidence of HIV/AIDS outside Sub-Saharan Africa, sharing similar mixed fortunes from a postcolonial heritage, limited resources, and an HIV population dispersed in small population centers. Here we share the experience of Barbados, an island state of 280,000 people, in mounting a holistic and sustainable program against HIV/AIDS. At the forefront of this response has been the growth in clinical flow cytometry used for CD4 monitoring, which has prompted a welcome expansion in diagnostic capacity even beyond HIV/AIDS. A pan-Caribbean extension to Barbados' program has been the founding of the Caribbean Cytometry & Analytical Society (CCAS), which acts as a regional forum to accelerate technology transfer and develop the human resources needed to mount an effective response against HIV/AIDS. The 4th CCAS workshop in 2007 produced a consensus statement on the desirable characteristics for a "diagnostic dream machine": a simple-to-use, rugged flow cytometer capable of carrying out multiple diagnostic functions at the point of patient care in rural or island settings of the developing world, including CD4 count, blood count, and opportunistic infections, without the need for a supply cold-chain or dependable power source. It is our ambitious vision that the spread of flow cytometry, primarily to monitor CD4 in HIV/AIDS, can act as a Trojan horse to deliver better general and specialized diagnostic services to the developing world.

Overview of PCR

AbstractAs a means of rapidly copying and amplifying a selected template sequence from a pool of DNA in vitro, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a stand‐alone technique and in combinations with other methods has a vast range of applications. This chapter provides an overview of the theory and applications for this powerful and versatile laboratory method. A generic protocol for the broadest application is described in this unit along with the basic theory underpinning PCR to foster an understanding of how to make modifications to the protocol that can be applied to specific applications of the PCR technique. There is a troubleshooting table provided to describe and resolve the most common problems associated with PCR, as well as a table for suppliers and manufacturers of thermal cycling instruments. A detailed discussion of various DNA polymerases and suppliers is also provided.

IMPLEMENTATION OF A LABORATORY TOOL FOR STUDYING MIXED-MODE CHAOTIC CIRCUIT

Although many authors have prepared useful papers to illustrate the existence of chaos and to enhance the reader's understanding of chaos by using theoretical, simulation or experimental setups, any chaos-based laboratory work-board has not been designed or implemented for studying chaotic circuits and systems. We designed and implemented a laboratory tool for studying mixed-mode chaotic circuits. In this paper, we will introduce this versatile laboratory tool.

The role of the adiabatic principle in ion chemistry: a personal history

Prior to their measurement in the laboratory, several critical ionospheric ion–molecule reactions were excluded from models on the basis of the adiabatic principle of Ehrenfest. Following the development of versatile laboratory measurement techniques, a number of these reactions were found to be fast, implying that the adiabatic principle was generally inapplicable to thermal energy ion–molecule reactions. Examples of rare exceptions are shown. More recently, there have been successful applications of this theory as evidenced in Landau–Teller plots of vibrational quenching and excitation of various ions.

Design and Evaluation Measurements of a Swirl Stabilized Laboratory Burner

This article presents gas velocity and temperature measurements obtained in a versatile multi-fuel swirl-stabilized laboratory burner of 100 kW total thermal input, which was designed as a scale model of a 110 MW coal burner operating in a cement rotary kiln. The laboratory burner is able to produce flames with different aerodynamic characteristics, namely, the independent adjustment of swirl to axial air and to burn a combination of gaseous, liquid, and pulverized solid fuels; only gaseous fuel, i.e. methane, was used in the present investigation. Experimental measurements were obtained in the near-burner region, with and without combustion, under varying operating conditions. The present investigation was mainly focused on the effect of swirl and its interaction with the combustion process.

Phosphorylation of the tau protein sequence 199–205 in the hippocampal CA3 region of Syrian hamsters in adulthood and during aging

Paired helical filaments formed by the abnormally phosphorylated microtubule-associated tau are a main sign of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The hippocampal CA3 region, a brain region with a high degree of synaptic plasticity, is known to be strongly involved in tau hyperphosphorylation in several neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, reversible tau phosphorylation was observed during hibernation in European ground squirrels. The present study provides data on the tau phosphorylation status in the hippocampus of euthermic Syrian hamsters ( Mesocricetus auratus), laboratory animals potentially prone to hibernation. Mossy fibers in the CA3 region of all investigated hamsters were immunostained using an antiserum detecting phospho-serine 199 of tau. A similar staining pattern was obtained with CP-13 detecting phospho-serine 202. In contrast, the monoclonal antibody AT8, recognizing both phosphorylated serine 202 and threonine 205, stained the CA3 region only in old hamsters. These findings implicate an additional link between aging, tau phosphorylation and synaptic plasticity. Furthermore, the presented data allow analyses whether tau phosphorylation is reversible in these facultative hibernators and versatile laboratory animal as it was recently shown for the hibernation cycle of European ground squirrels.

Σynergos—synergetic vision research

This paper reports the development of a powerful and versatile laboratory for vision research, namely \varSigmaynergos, which has been developed and implemented under Delphi /Windows in a distributed systems of microcomputers. The main paradigm underlying the whole approach consists in integrating several concepts and techniques into a single computing environment, i.e. \varSigmaynergos, in such a way that the requisites and possibilities of each of the constituent components complement one another and the thus obtained result becomes greater than the sum of its parts. The components of \varSigmaynergos include distributed system capabilities and a number of libraries containing algorithms for: computer vision, modeling and simulation of biological visual systems, data and classification analysis, software validation and comparative evaluation, Internet, off-the-shelf application, image databases, artificial intelligence, data mining, and visualization resources. In this paper special emphasis is placed upon the Internet, distributed implementation and biological vision. After outlining the principal requisites and potentials underlying each of such components, some specific situations of interest arising from the integration of two or more of such elements are described and discussed. Details concerning the integration with Internet and the implementation of the laboratory as a distributed system are provided, and a complete case-example is presented. This applications regards the implementation of a psychophysical experiment aimed at investigating human perception of pictorial complexity, including the derivation of a mathematic-computational framework modeling such a perception as well as the use of the Internet as a source of stimuli and for reporting the obtained results. In addition, the mathematic-computational model is derived by using a parallel version of the genetic algorithm running on the distributed system of PCs. The obtained encouraging results substantiate the potential of this vision laboratory for multidisciplinary vision research.

Resonant ultrasound spectroscopy: applications, current status and limitations

Over the last 10 years, resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) has become a versatile laboratory technique for measuring second-order elastic constants and ultrasonic attenuation in solids. The technique is based on measuring the spectrum of mechanical resonances for a sample of known shape (usually a parallelepiped). This spectrum cannot be deconvoluted to deduce the elastic constants. Instead, an approximate spectrum is calculated from the known sample dimensions, its mass, and a set of ‘guessed’ elastic constants. A multidimensional minimization of the error between the measured and calculated spectra enables deducing all the elastic constants of the solid from a single frequency scan. Currently, the technique can be applied to crystals of orthorhombic symmetry (9 elastic constants) or higher using desktop computers and software developed for this purpose.