CeOx/Al2O3 thin films on stainless steel substrate - Dynamical X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigations

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The CeOx/Al2O3 thin films on stainless steel with different ceria loading were subjected to a. c. ( square wave) pulses at various frequencies in the range 10(-3) to 100 kHz while recording X-ray photoelectron spectra. The resulting binding energy differences were derived from the frequency dependence of the corresponding Al2p, Ce3d and O1s peaks. At low ceria loadings the main constituent on the surface is CeAlO3 phase, while for high ceria loading the film is constructed from CeO2 and CeAlO3 phases spread over the Al2O3. Accordingly, it was observed that the ceria loading determines the conductivities of the investigated thin oxide films. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Combined XPS and contact angle studies of ethylene vinyl acetate and polyvinyl acetate blends

Cataloged from PDF version of article.In this study, we prepared thin films by blending ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA) containing 12-33 (wt.%) vinyl acetate (VA) with polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) and high density polyethylene homopolymers. Large area micropatterns having controlled protrusion sizes were obtained by phase-separation especially for the PVAc/EVA-33 blends using dip coating. These surfaces were characterized by XPS and contact angle measurements. A reasonably linear relation was found between the VA content on the surface (wt.%) obtained from XPS analysis and the VA content in bulk especially for PVAc/EVA-33 blend surfaces. PE segments were more enriched on the surface than that of the bulk for pure EVA copolymer surfaces similar to previous reports and VA enrichment was found on the EVA/HDPE blend surfaces due to high molecular weight of HDPE. Water theta(e) decreased with the increase in the VA content on the blend surface due to the polarity of VA. A good agreement was obtained between gamma(-)(s) and atomic oxygen surface concentration with the increase of VA content. The applicability of Cassie-Baxter equation was tested and found that it gave consistent results with the experimental water contact angles for the case where VA content was lower than 55 wt.% in the bulk composition. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved

CeOx/Al2O3 thin films on stainless steel substrate - Dynamical X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigations

The CeOx/Al2O3 thin films on stainless steel with different ceria loading were subjected to a.c. (square wave) pulses at various frequencies in the range 10- 3 to 100 kHz while recording X-ray photoelectron spectra. The resulting binding energy differences were derived from the frequency dependence of the corresponding Al2p, Ce3d and O1s peaks. At low ceria loadings the main constituent on the surface is CeAlO 3 phase, while for high ceria loading the film is constructed from CeO2 and CeAlO3 phases spread over the Al 2O3. Accordingly, it was observed that the ceria loading determines the conductivities of the investigated thin oxide films. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All Rights Reserved

Corrosion stability of stainless steel, modified electrochemically with Ce 2 O 3 -CeO 2 films, in 3.5% NaCl media

This work is focused on the study of corrosion-protection ability of the thin ceria film, formed electrochemically on OC404 stainless steel (SS) in non-aqueous electrolytes. The influence of changes in the surface concentration of Ce 2 O 3 -CeO 2 on the corrosion behaviour of OC404 stainless steel in 3.5% NaCl was investigated prior to the thermal treatment as well as after it. A shift of corrosion potential in positive direction was found via polarization curve recording, as well as via decrease in the corrosion current, respectively decrease in the corrosion rate (enhancement of the corrosion protection) in the presence of ceria oxide films. The data, acquired by AFM and XPS, are in a good agreement with these results. On the basis of the obtained results we can conclude that the presence of Ce 2 O 3 -CeO 2 film results in passivation and re-passivation of the steel surface and a slowdown in the pitting corrosion in an aggressive media. These conclusions are explained by the strong polarization influence of the Ce 2 O 3 -CeO 2 layers on the conjugated depolarization cathodic reaction of reduction of the dissolved oxygen

The antimicrobial activity of magnetron sputtered Ag doped aluminum oxide coatings in vitro

The effect of Ag-doped aluminium oxide coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering method on the antibacterial efficiency against Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi has been investigated. The structure and composition of coatings were analysed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) methods. The results of the study suggest that Ag-doped aluminium oxide coatings demonstrate improved bactericidal effect and have great potential in various medical applications.Досліджено вплив покриттів оксиду алюмінію зі сріблом, нанесених методом магнетронного напилення на антибактеріальну ефективність проти грампозитивних, грамнегативних бактерій та грибків. Структура та склад покриттів були проаналізовані за допомогою скануючої електронної мікроскопії (SEM), енергодисперсійної рентгенівської спектроскопії (EDS), методів фотоелектронної спектроскопії (XPS). Результати дослідження дозволяють стверджувати, що покриття оксиду алюмінію зі сріблом демонструють поліпшений бактерицидний ефект і мають великий потенціал використання в різних галузях медицини.Исследовано влияние покрытий оксида алюминия с серебром, нанесенных методом магнетронного напыления на антибактериальную эффективность против грамположительных, грамотрицательных бактерий и грибков. Структура и состав покрытий были проанализированы с помощью сканирующей электронной микроскопии (SEM), энергодисперсионной рентгеновской спектроскопии (EDS), методов фотоэлектронной спектроскопии (XPS). Результаты исследования позволяют утверждать, что покрытия оксида алюминия с серебром демонстрируют улучшенный бактерицидный эффект и имеют большой потенциал применения в различных областях медицины

Legal protection of inventions within medical practice in Ukraine

Legal protection of inventions within medical practice in Ukraine / Bezpalova О.I., Yusupov V.A., Avramova O.Ye., Krasiuk T.V., Larina N.B. // Wiadomości Lekarskie. 2019. Tom LXXII. № 3. p. 484-488. http://wl.medlist.org/2019_03_30/The aim of this article is theoretical and practical study of the legal protection of medical inventions in Ukraine based on the analysis of Ukrainian patent law, issued patents for inventions applied within medical practice, as well as data from the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukrain

An RNA Polymerase III-Dependent Heterochromatin Barrier at Fission Yeast Centromere 1

Heterochromatin formation involves the nucleation and spreading of structural and epigenetic features along the chromatin fiber. Chromatin barriers and associated proteins counteract the spreading of heterochromatin, thereby restricting it to specific regions of the genome. We have performed gene expression studies and chromatin immunoprecipitation on strains in which native centromere sequences have been mutated to study the mechanism by which a tRNAAlanine gene barrier (cen1 tDNAAla) blocks the spread of pericentromeric heterochromatin at the centromere of chromosome 1 (cen1) in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Within the centromere, barrier activity is a general property of tDNAs and, unlike previously characterized barriers, requires the association of both transcription factor IIIC and RNA Polymerase III. Although the cen1 tDNAAla gene is actively transcribed, barrier activity is independent of transcriptional orientation. These findings provide experimental evidence for the involvement of a fully assembled RNA polymerase III transcription complex in defining independent structural and functional domains at a eukaryotic centromere

Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study

Recently, we showed that when participants passively read about moral transgressions (e.g., adultery) they implicitly engage in the evaluative (good–bad) categorization of incoming information, as indicated by a larger event-related brain potential (ERP) positivity to immoral than moral scenarios (Leuthold, Kunkel, Mackenzie, & Filik, 2015). Behavioral and neuroimaging studies indicated that explicit moral tasks prioritize the semantic-cognitive analysis of incoming information but that implicit tasks, as used in Leuthold et al. (2015), favor their affective processing. Therefore, it is unclear whether an affective categorization process is also involved when participants perform explicit moral judgments. Thus, in two experiments, we used similarly constructed morality and emotion materials for which their moral and emotional content had to be inferred from the context. Target sentences from negative vs. neutral emotional scenarios and from moral vs. immoral scenarios were presented using rapid serial visual presentation. In Experiment 1, participants made moral judgments for moral materials and emotional judgments for emotion materials. Negative compared to neutral emotional scenarios elicited a larger posterior ERP positivity (LPP) about 200 ms after critical word onset, whereas immoral compared to moral scenarios elicited a larger anterior negativity (500-700 ms). In Experiment 2, where the same emotional judgment to both types of materials was required, a larger LPP was triggered for both types of materials. These results accord with the view that morality scenarios trigger a semantic-cognitive analysis when participants explicitly judge the moral content of incoming linguistic information but an affective evaluation when judging their emotional content