Preparation of Polyrotaxane Fibers. Part II: Tensile Properties of Polyrotaxane Fibers Treated with Two Cross-linking Reagents

Polyrotaxane fibers prepared with wet spinning of polyrotaxane consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) and cyclodextrins were cross-linked with two different cross-linking reagents, i.e., divinyl sulfone (DVS) and ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE), to improve the tensile properties of the fibers. By cross-linking with DVS, the values for the tenacity at break and the initial modulus were increased with cross-linking time, while the elongation at break was improved only moderately. On the other hand, drastic improvements in elongation at break were observed after EGDE cross-linking, up to 645% of its original length, although the tenacity at break and the initial modulus showed only slight improvements. After cross-linking, only minor changes in the degree of crystallinity of the fibers were observed by wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements.ArticleTEXTILE RESEARCH JOURNAL. 80(12):1131-1137 (2010)journal articl

Allocation of Carbon from an Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus, Gigaspora margarita, to Its Gram-Negative and Positive Endobacteria Revealed by High-Resolution Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are obligate symbionts of land plants; furthermore, some of the species harbor endobacteria. Although the molecular approach increased our knowledge of the diversity and origin of the endosymbiosis and its metabolic possibilities, experiments to address the functions of the fungal host have been limited. In this study, a C flow of the fungus to the bacteria was investigated. Onion seedlings colonized with Gigaspora margarita, possessing Candidatus Glomeribacter gigasporarum (CaGg, Gram-negative, resides in vacuole) and Candidatus Moeniiplasma glomeromycotorum (CaMg, Gram-positive, resides in the cytoplasm,) were labelled with (CO2)-C-13. The C-13 localization within the mycorrhiza was analyzed using high-resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Correlative TEM-SIMS analysis of the fungal cells revealed that the C-13/C-12 ratio of CaGg was the lowest among CaMg and mitochondria and was the highest in the cytoplasm. By contrast, the plant cells, mitochondria, plastids, and fungal cytoplasm, which are contributors to the host, showed significantly higher C-13 enrichment than the host cytoplasm. The C allocation patterns implied that CaMg has a greater impact than CaGg on G. margarita, but both seemed to be less burdensome to the host fungus in terms of C cost

Terahertz detectors based on vacuum electronics

We report on various metasurfaces for the purpose of THz driven electron field emission and subsequent detection using vacuum electronics. The underlying principle is based on strong localised field enhancement at metal and semimetal emission points, which bends the vacuum potential temporarily to allow for field emission of electrons from the parent material. The structures are investigated for varying electric field strength using electron time-of-flight measurements as well as electron multiplication and visualisation on a phosphor screen. Measured properties include the emitted electron energy, their count, and the emission threshold. From the recorded data, the local field enhancement for each structure is extracted and compared to simulated values. Subsequently, optimised metasurfaces are implemented into handheld devices that serve as easy-to-use THz detectors. These devices include photomultiplier tubes which operate at frequencies from THz to infrared, as well as live imaging devices with kilohertz framerates. The investigated metallic structures include standard dipole antennas, double split-ring resonators, bow-tie designs, hybrid split-ring and dipole designs, and logarithmic spirals. Semimetallic structures are based on structured and unstructured graphene, which show different emission characteristics. All samples are investigated using strong-field THz radiation generated using lithiumniobate tilted pulse front setup, as well as commercial THz-TDS instruments. In conclusion, we present a holistic overview of the current state-of-the-art THz-PMTs and image intensifiers

A novel terahertz detector technology based on vacuum electronics

A THz detector with both high sensitivity and fast time response has been required for industrial applications such as nondestructive testing (NDT), security, and spectroscopy. Through a collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), we have recently developed a THz-sensitive point detector and imager based on metasurface and photomultiplier tube (PMT) and image intensifier (I.I.) technologies, respectively. A fast time response is one of the unique characteristics of these devices: the PMT-based point detector provides a nanosecond response time while the I.I.based imager is capable of frame rates up to 1000 fps. These devices have a double split-ring resonator (DSRR) at the photocathode for THz-electron conversion (metasurface). In this paper, we discuss the two devices and report on the development and results for increasing their sensitivity for ultrafast, broadband THz pulses by sharpening the field-enhancing antenna tips. This leads to a smaller tip diameter, which increases the electric field confinement and thus intensity at the tip, making the field emission more likely to occur at lower field strengths as a result. Both devices thus offer a sensitive and simple method to detect THz frequencies easily, with the I.I. offering a handheld, 9V battery-powered device.</p

Fourier-transform THz spectroscopy based on electric-field interferometry using THz-PMT

We demonstrate a high dynamic range (DR) Fourier-transform-based terahertz (THz) spectrometer by combining a THz photomultiplier tube (PMT) with a metasurface and a conventional Michelson interferometer. Because the THz-PMT response depends on the incident electric-field strength following the Fowler–Nordheim equation, we can directly obtain an electric field interferogram without any synchronized optical probe pulse in contrast to conventional THz-time-domain-spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The DR of the corresponding power spectrum using the proposed method was 4.6 × 105 without the use of a lock-in amplifier. The complex refractive index of a quartz glass plate obtained using the proposed method was in good agreement with the results of conventional THz-TDS.</p

High Sensitivity Spectroscopic Measurement with a Highly Nonlinear THz-PMT and an is-TPG

We use an injection-seeded terahertz (THz)-wave Parametric Generator (is-TPG) source with a THz-PMT detector for spectroscopic measurements on water vapor concentration in air and doping levels of semiconductor wafers. The THz-PMT detector has a highly non-linear response to changes in the electric field strength from the is-TPG source, which allows for precise characterization of miniscule changes in the absorption spectrum. We perform a frequency sweep from 0.7 to 1.2 THz and show that our THz-PMT signal drops significantly at water vapor absorption lines. In addition, we measure changes in the carrier density of Si wafers through reflection mode measurements. This proposed technique, operated with our novel THz instrumentation, is expected to enable highly sensitive and high-speed spectroscopic measurements

T cell receptor-engineered T cells derived from target human leukocyte antigen-DPB1-specific T cell can be a potential tool for therapy against leukemia relapse following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DPB1 antigens are mismatched in approximately 70% of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantations (allo-HSCT) from HLA 10/10 matched unrelated donors. HLA-DP-mismatched transplantation was shown to be associated with an increase in acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and a decreased risk of leukemia relapse due to the graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect. Immunotherapy targeting mismatched HLA-DP is considered reasonable to treat leukemia following allo-HCT if performed under non-inflammatory conditions. Therefore, we isolated CD4^+ T cell clones that recognize mismatched HLA-DPB1 from healthy volunteer donors and generated T cell receptor (TCR)-gene-modified T cells for future clinical applications. Detailed analysis of TCR-T cells expressing TCR from candidate clone #17 demonstrated specificity to myeloid and monocytic leukemia cell lines that even expressed low levels of targeted HLA-DP. However, they did not react to non-hematopoietic cell lines with a substantial level of targeted HLA-DP expression, suggesting that the TCR recognized antigenic peptide is only present in some hematopoietic cells. This study demonstrated that induction of T cells specific for HLA-DP, consisting of hematopoietic cell lineage-derived peptide and redirection of T cells with cloned TCR cDNA by gene transfer, is feasible when using careful specificity analysis