Mg-bearing quartz solid solutions as structural intermediates between low and high quartz

Glass powder samples of cordierite composition (doped with 8 mol% TiO2) were heat-treated to produce a series of increasingly SiO2-enriched Mg-bearing quartz solid solutions (Qss). The obtained materials were then analyzed by X-ray diffraction: Rietveld structural refinements revealed that Mg-bearing Qss phases possess trigonal symmetry and a compositionally dependent intermediate structural arrangement between those of low and high quartz. High-temperature diffraction measurements were performed up to 700°C to characterize the thermal expansion behavior of the crystals. At SiO 2-rich compositions, a reversible high-to-intermediate inversion of the quartz structure is observed, which shifts with increasing stuffing to lower temperatures than the conventional 573°C for pure quartz. Similarities and differences to the better-established Li-bearing Qss are discussed in the text

A threshold heating rate for single-stage heat treatments in glass-ceramics containing seed formers

The development of glass-ceramic materials is often achieved using an elementary microstructural strategy that splits the tasks of seed formation and functionality between two types of crystals. This strategy requires customized time-temperature ceramization protocols, which have been so far implemented using empirical parameters. Here, a more fundamental approach is proposed: the extent of overlap Oe between seed formation and volume crystallization is evaluated by calorimetric and dilatometric measurements, targeting the computation of a threshold heating rate qt for effective single-stage heat treatments. The applicability of this novel parameter is tested in TiO2-doped lithium magnesium aluminosilicate glass-ceramics, whose seed formation stage is thoroughly characterized by Raman spectroscopy and STEM. High-temperature X-ray diffraction demonstrates that insufficient seeding results in potentially weaker performances of the final products, due to large sizes and silica deficiency of the functional quartz solid solution crystals

In-situ microscopy and 2D fluorescence spectroscopy as online methods for monitoring CHO cells during cultivation

Typical methods for monitoring cultivation processes are offline analyses like cell counting, measurement of various substrates and products (e. g. glucose or lactate) as well as the online monitoring of several physical process parameters (temperature, pH-value or the concentration of dissolved oxygen). To improve cell cultivations detailed information about important analytes should be available online. Therefore new monitoring methods need to be established, preferably as in-situ methods to minimize the risk of contamination. Two different in-situ online-methods were used to monitor cultivations: In-situ microscopy and 2D fluorescence spectroscopy. Therefore CHO-K1 cells (provided by University of Bielefeld) were cultivated in a complex culture medium (TC 42, TeutoCell, Bielefeld, Germany) using a 2.5 L stainless steel reactor with a work volume of 2 L. A total of three cultivation runs were conducted

A unique transcriptome: 1782 positions of RNA editing alter 1406 codon identities in mitochondrial mRNAs of the lycophyte Isoetes engelmannii

The analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of Isoetes engelmannii as a first representative of the lycophytes recently revealed very small introns and indications for extremely frequent RNA editing. To analyze functionality of intron splicing and the extent of RNA editing in I. engelmannii, we performed a comprehensive analysis of its mitochondrial transcriptome. All 30 groups I and II introns were found to be correctly removed, showing that intron size reduction does not impede splicing. We find that mRNA editing affects 1782 sites, which lead to a total of 1406 changes in codon meanings. This includes the removal of stop codons from 23 of the 25 mitochondrial protein encoding genes. Comprehensive sequence analysis of multiple cDNAs per locus allowed classification of partially edited sites as either inefficiently edited but relevant or as non-specifically edited at mostly low frequencies. Abundant RNA editing was also found to affect tRNAs in hitherto unseen frequency, taking place at 41 positions in tRNA-precursors, including the first identification of U-to-C exchanges in two tRNA species. We finally investigated the four group II introns of the nad7 gene and could identify 27 sites of editing, most of which improve base pairing for proper secondary structure formation