Using EBSD and TEM-Kikuchi patterns to study local crystallography at the domain boundaries of lead zirconate titanate

Reliable EBSD mapping of 90° domains in a tetragonal ferroelectric perovskite has been achieved for the first time, together with reliable automated orientation determination from TEM-Kikuchi patterns. This has been used to determine misorientation angles at 90° domain boundaries and thus local <i>c</i>/<i>a</i> ratios. The sources of orientation noise/error and their effects on the misorientation angle data have been thoroughly analyzed and it is found that this gives a cosine distribution of misorientation angles about the mean with a characteristic width related to the width of the orientation noise distribution. In most cases, a good agreement is found between local <i>c</i>/<i>a</i> ratios and global measurements by X-ray diffraction, but some clear discrepancies have also been found suggesting that real local variations are present, perhaps as a consequence of compositional inhomogeneities

Figure-Ground Segmentation Using Multiple Cues

The theme of this thesis is figure-ground segmentation. We address the problem in the context of a visual observer, e.g. a mobile robot, moving around in the world and capable of shifting its gaze to and fixating on objects in its environment. We are only considering bottom-up processes, how the system can detect and segment out objects because they stand out from their immediate background in some feature dimension. Since that implies that the distinguishing cues can not be predicted, but depend on the scene, the system must rely on multiple cues. The integrated use of multiple cues forms a major theme of the thesis. In particular, we note that an observer in our real environment has access to 3-D cues. Inspired by psychophysical findings about human vision we try to demonstrate their effectiveness in figure-ground segmentation and grouping also in machine vision

Aging of poled ferroelectric ceramics due to relaxation of random depolarization fields by space-charge accumulation near grain boundaries

Migration of charged point defects triggered by the local random depolarization field is shown to plausibly explain aging of poled ferroelectric ceramics providing reasonable time and acceptor concentration dependences of the emerging internal bias field. The theory is based on the evaluation of the energy of the local depolarization field caused by mismatch of the polarizations of neighbor grains. The kinetics of charge migration assumes presence of mobile oxygen vacancies in the material due to the intentional or unintentional acceptor doping. Satisfactory agreement of the theory with experiment on the Fe-doped lead zirconate titanate is demonstrated.Comment: theory and experiment, 22 pages, 3 figure

EBSD mapping of herringbone domain structures in tetragonal piezoelectrics

Herringbone domain structures have been mapped using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in two tetragonal piezoelectrics, lead zirconate titanate, [Pb(Zr,Ti)O<sub>3</sub>] and bismuth ferrite – lead titanate, [(PbTi)<sub>0.5</sub>(BiFe)<sub>0.5</sub>O<sub>3</sub>]. Analysis of the domain misorientations across the band junctions shows that the structures correspond very well to crystallographic models. High resolution mapping with a 20 nm step size allowed the crystal rotation across one of these band junctions in lead zirconate titanate to be studied in detail and allowed an improved estimation of the peak strain at the junction, of 0.56 GPa. The significance of this for crack nucleation and propagation in such materials is discussed

Soluble syndecan-3 binds chemokines, reduces leukocyte migration in vitro and ameliorates disease severity in models of rheumatoid arthritis

Background Syndecans are heparan sulfate proteoglycans that occur in membrane-bound or soluble forms. Syndecan-3, the least well-characterised of the syndecan family, is highly expressed on synovial endothelial cells in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Here, it binds pro-inflammatory chemokines with evidence for a role in chemokine presentation and leukocyte trafficking into the joint, promoting the inflammatory response. In this study, we explored the role of soluble syndecan-3 as a binder of chemokines and as an anti-inflammatory and therapeutic molecule. Methods A human monocytic cell line and CD14+ PBMCs were utilised in both Boyden chamber and trans-endothelial migration assays. Soluble syndecan-3 was tested in antigen-induced and collagen-induced in vivo arthritis models in mice. ELISA and isothermal fluorescence titration assays assessed the binding affinities. Syndecan-3 expression was identified by flow cytometry and PCR, and levels of shedding by ELISA. Results Using in vitro and in vivo models, soluble syndecan-3 inhibited leukocyte migration in vitro in response to CCL7 and its administration in murine models of rheumatoid arthritis reduced histological disease severity. Using isothermal fluorescence titration, the binding affinity of soluble syndecan-3 to inflammatory chemokines CCL2, CCL7 and CXCL8 was determined, revealing little difference, with Kds in the low nM range. TNFα increased cell surface expression and shedding of syndecan-3 from cultured human endothelial cells. Furthermore, soluble syndecan-3 occurred naturally in the sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis, and its levels correlated with syndecan-1. Conclusions This study shows that the addition of soluble syndecan-3 may represent an alternative therapeutic approach in inflammatory disease

Myelin insulation as a risk factor for axonal degeneration in autoimmune demyelinating disease

Axonal degeneration determines the clinical outcome of multiple sclerosis and is thought to result from exposure of denuded axons to immune-mediated damage. Therefore, myelin is widely considered to be a protective structure for axons in multiple sclerosis. Myelinated axons also depend on oligodendrocytes, which provide metabolic and structural support to the axonal compartment. Given that axonal pathology in multiple sclerosis is already visible at early disease stages, before overt demyelination, we reasoned that autoimmune inflammation may disrupt oligodendroglial support mechanisms and hence primarily affect axons insulated by myelin. Here, we studied axonal pathology as a function of myelination in human multiple sclerosis and mouse models of autoimmune encephalomyelitis with genetically altered myelination. We demonstrate that myelin ensheathment itself becomes detrimental for axonal survival and increases the risk of axons degenerating in an autoimmune environment. This challenges the view of myelin as a solely protective structure and suggests that axonal dependence on oligodendroglial support can become fatal when myelin is under inflammatory attack

Zeb2 is essential for Schwann cell differentiation, myelination and nerve repair

Schwann cell development and peripheral nerve myelination require the serial expression of transcriptional activators, such as Sox10, Oct6 (also called Scip or Pou3f1) and Krox20 (also called Egr2). Here we show that transcriptional repression, mediated by the zinc-finger protein Zeb2 (also known as Sip1), is essential for differentiation and myelination. Mice lacking Zeb2 in Schwann cells develop a severe peripheral neuropathy, caused by failure of axonal sorting and virtual absence of myelin membranes. Zeb2-deficient Schwann cells continuously express repressors of lineage progression. Moreover, genes for negative regulators of maturation such as Sox2 and Ednrb emerge as Zeb2 target genes, supporting its function as an inhibitor of inhibitors in myelination control. When Zeb2 is deleted in adult mice, Schwann cells readily dedifferentiate following peripheral nerve injury and become repair cells. However, nerve regeneration and remyelination are both perturbed, demonstrating that Zeb2, although undetectable in adult Schwann cells, has a latent function throughout life

Temperature dependence of poling strain and strain under high electric fields in LaSr-doped morphotropic PZT and its relation to changes in structural characteristics

The performance of ferroelectric devices when operated over a wide temperature range is subject to considerable changes resulting from the temperature dependence of strain characteristics of the functional materials. The effects of temperature on poling strain and strain under unipolar cycling at electric fields of 2.5 kV mm−1 have been investigated for morphotropic donor doped lead zirconate titanate (PZT) with various Zr/Ti ratios between 20 and 160 °C. Remanent strain and strain under electric field show opposite behaviors with respect to their temperature dependence for all materials. The remanent strain was found to decrease at high temperature, whereas the field-induced strain under unipolar cycling increases. Depending on composition, there are marked differences with respect to the quantitative temperature behavior and the non-linearity of strain–temperature (SE–T) characteristics. From corresponding X-ray diffraction patterns the differences in strain behavior can be related to the specific temperature-induced structural changes in the materials