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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Disturbing-free determination of yeast concentration in DI water and in glucose using impedance biochips
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2020) Kiani, M.; Du, N.; Vogel, M.; Raff, J.; Hübner, U.; Skorupa, I.; Bürger, D.; Schulz, S.E.; Schmidt, O.G.; Blaschke, D.; Schmidt, H.
    Deionized water and glucose without yeast and with yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) of optical density OD600 that ranges from 4 to 16 has been put in the ring electrode region of six different types of impedance biochips and impedance has been measured in dependence on the added volume (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 µL). The measured impedance of two out of the six types of biochips is strongly sensitive to the addition of both liquid without yeast and liquid with yeast and modelled impedance reveals a linear relationship between the impedance model parameters and yeast concentration. The presented biochips allow for continuous impedance measurements without interrupting the cultivation of the yeast. A multiparameter fit of the impedance model parameters allows for determining the concentration of yeast (cy) in the range from cy = 3.3 × 107 to cy = 17 × 107 cells/mL. This work shows that independent on the liquid, i.e., DI water or glucose, the impedance model parameters of the two most sensitive types of biochips with liquid without yeast and with liquid with yeast are clearly distinguishable for the two most sensitive types of biochips.
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    Impact of the precursor chemistry and process conditions on the cell-to-cell variability in 1T-1R based HfO2 RRAM devices
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2018) Grossi, A.; Perez, E.; Zambelli, C.; Olivo, P.; Miranda, E.; Roelofs, R.; Woodruff, J.; Raisanen, P.; Li, W.; Givens, M.; Costina, I.; Schubert, M.A.; Wenger, C.
    The Resistive RAM (RRAM) technology is currently in a level of maturity that calls for its integration into CMOS compatible memory arrays. This CMOS integration requires a perfect understanding of the cells performance and reliability in relation to the deposition processes used for their manufacturing. In this paper, the impact of the precursor chemistries and process conditions on the performance of HfO2 based memristive cells is studied. An extensive characterization of HfO2 based 1T1R cells, a comparison of the cell-to-cell variability, and reliability study is performed. The cells’ behaviors during forming, set, and reset operations are monitored in order to relate their features to conductive filament properties and process-induced variability of the switching parameters. The modeling of the high resistance state (HRS) is performed by applying the Quantum-Point Contact model to assess the link between the deposition condition and the precursor chemistry with the resulting physical cells characteristics.
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    Effects of new beta-type Ti-40Nb implant materials, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, acetylcholine and nicotine on human mesenchymal stem cells of osteoporotic and non osteoporotic donors
    (San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2018) Kauschke, V.; Gebert, A.; Calin, M.; Eckert, J.; Scheich, S.; Heiss, C.; Lips, K.S.
    Introduction Treatment of osteoporotic fractures is still challenging and an urgent need exists for new materials, better adapted to osteoporotic bone by adjusted Young’s modulus, appropriate surface modification and pharmaceuticals. Materials and methods Titanium-40-niobium alloys, mechanically ground or additionally etched and titanium-6-alu-minium-4-vanadium were analyzed in combination with brain-derived neurotrophic factor, acetylcholine and nicotine to determine their effects on human mesenchymal stem cells in vitro over 21 days using lactate dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase assays, live cell imaging and immunofluorescence microscopy. Results Cell number of human mesenchymal stem cells of osteoporotic donors was increased after 14 d in presence of ground titanium-40-niobium or titanium-6-aluminium-4-vanadium, together with brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Cell number of human mesenchymal stem cells of non osteoporotic donors increased after 21 d in presence of titanium-6-aluminium-4-vanadium without pharmaceuticals. No significant increase was measured for ground or etched titanium-40-niobium after 21 d. Osteoblast differentiation of osteoporotic donors was significantly higher than in non osteoporotic donors after 21 d in presence of etched, ground titanium-40-niobium or titanium-6-aluminium-4-vanadium accompanied by all pharmaceuticals tested. In presence of all alloys tested brain-derived neurotrophic factor, acetylcholine and nicotine increased differentiation of cells of osteoporotic donors and accelerated it in non osteoporotic donors. Conclusion We conclude that ground titanium-40-niobium and brain-derived neurotrophic factor might be most suitable for subsequent in vivo testing.
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    Solid-state ensemble of highly entangled photon sources at rubidium atomic transitions
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Keil, R.; Zopf, M.; Chen, Y.; Höfer, B.; Zhang, J.; Ding, F.; Schmidt, O.G.
    Semiconductor InAs/GaAs quantum dots grown by the Stranski-Krastanov method are among the leading candidates for the deterministic generation of polarization-entangled photon pairs. Despite remarkable progress in the past 20 years, many challenges still remain for this material, such as the extremely low yield, the low degree of entanglement and the large wavelength distribution. Here, we show that with an emerging family of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots grown by droplet etching and nanohole infilling, it is possible to obtain a large ensemble of polarization-entangled photon emitters on a wafer without any post-growth tuning. Under pulsed resonant two-photon excitation, all measured quantum dots emit single pairs of entangled photons with ultra-high purity, high degree of entanglement and ultra-narrow wavelength distribution at rubidium transitions. Therefore, this material system is an attractive candidate for the realization of a solid-state quantum repeater - among many other key enabling quantum photonic elements.
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    Inhibition or stimulation of ochratoxin a synthesis on inoculated barley triggered by diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge plasma
    (Lausanne : Frontiers Media S. A, 2018) Durek, J.; Schlüter, O.; Roscher, A.; Durek, P.; Fröhling, A.
    Ochratoxin A (OTA) is one of the most abundant food-contaminating mycotoxins. Besides their high toxicity, mycotoxins are highly stable to physical, chemical or biological detoxification. Therefore, the treatment with cold atmospheric plasma could be one approach to reduce the amount of mycotoxins in different products. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of cold atmospheric plasma on the inactivation of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium verrucosum inoculated on barley and their production of OTA. Inoculated barley was treated with plasma generated by dry air, CO2 or CO2 + O2 for 1 or 3 min and stored for up to two weeks at 9, 25, or 37°C. Three minutes of air plasma treatment effectively significantly reduced the total mold count of both microorganisms by 2.5–3 log cycles. The production of OTA from A. niger was only low, therefore the treatment effect was indistinguishable. The treatment of P. verrucosum on barley after an incubation of five days using a CO2 + O2 plasma resulted in a reduction of the OTA content from 49.0 (untreated) to 27.5 (1 min) and 23.8 ng/g (3 min), respectively. In contrast, CO2 plasma caused an increase of the OTA amount from 49.0 (untreated) to 55.8 (1 min) and 72.9 ng/g (3 min). Finally, the use of air plasma resulted likewise in a decrease of the OTA concentration from 56.9 (untreated) to 25.7 (1 min) and 20.2 ng/g (3 min), respectively. Reducing the incubation time before the treatment to 24 h caused in contrast an increase of the OTA content from 3.1 (untreated) to 29.1 (1 min) and 20.7 ng/g (3 min). Due to the high standard deviation, these changes were not significant, but the tendencies were clearly visible, showing the strong impact of the plasma gas on the OTA production. The results show, that even if the total mold count was reduced, under certain conditions the OTA amount was yet enhanced, probably due to a stress reaction of the mold. Concluding, the plasma gas and incubation conditions have to be considered to allow a successful inactivation of molds and in particular their toxic metabolites.
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    Highly indistinguishable and strongly entangled photons from symmetric GaAs quantum dots
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Huber, D.; Reindl, M.; Huo, Y.; Huang, H.; Wildmann, J.S.; Schmidt, O.G.; Rastelli, A.; Trotta, R.
    The development of scalable sources of non-classical light is fundamental to unlocking the technological potential of quantum photonics. Semiconductor quantum dots are emerging as near-optimal sources of indistinguishable single photons. However, their performance as sources of entangled-photon pairs are still modest compared to parametric down converters. Photons emitted from conventional Stranski-Krastanov InGaAs quantum dots have shown non-optimal levels of entanglement and indistinguishability. For quantum networks, both criteria must be met simultaneously. Here, we show that this is possible with a system that has received limited attention so far: GaAs quantum dots. They can emit triggered polarization-entangled photons with high purity (g (2) (0) = 0.002±0.002), high indistinguishability (0.93±0.07 for 2 ns pulse separation) and high entanglement fidelity (0.94±0.01). Our results show that GaAs might be the material of choice for quantum-dot entanglement sources in future quantum technologies.
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    Graphene oxide functional nanohybrids with magnetic nanoparticles for improved vectorization of doxorubicin to neuroblastoma cells
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2019) Lerra, L.; Farfalla, A.; Sanz, B.; Cirillo, G.; Vittorio, O.; Voli, F.; Grand, M.L.; Curcio, M.; Nicoletta, F.P.; Dubrovska, A.; Hampel, S.; Iemma, F.; Goya, G.F.
    With the aim to obtain a site-specific doxorubicin (DOX) delivery in neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, we designed an hybrid nanocarrier combining graphene oxide (GO) and magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MNPs), acting as core elements, and a curcumin–human serum albumin conjugate as functional coating. The nanohybrid, synthesized by redox reaction between the MNPs@GO system and albumin bioconjugate, consisted of MNPs@GO nanosheets homogeneously coated by the bioconjugate as verified by SEM investigations. Drug release experiments showed a pH-responsive behavior with higher release amounts in acidic (45% at pH 5.0) vs. neutral (28% at pH 7.4) environments. Cell internalization studies proved the presence of nanohybrid inside SH-SY5Y cytoplasm. The improved efficacy obtained in viability assays is given by the synergy of functional coating and MNPs constituting the nanohybrids: while curcumin moieties were able to keep low DOX cytotoxicity levels (at concentrations of 0.44–0.88 µM), the presence of MNPs allowed remote actuation on the nanohybrid by a magnetic field, increasing the dose delivered at the target site.
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    Observation of giant spin-split Fermi-arc with maximal Chern number in the chiral topological semimetal PtGa
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2020) Yao, M.; Manna, K.; Yang, Q.; Fedorov, A.; Voroshnin, V.; Valentin Schwarze, B.; Hornung, J.; Chattopadhyay, S.; Sun, Z.; Guin, S.N.; Wosnitza, J.; Borrmann, H.; Shekhar, C.; Kumar, N.; Fink, J.; Sun, Y.; Felser, C.
    Non-symmorphic chiral topological crystals host exotic multifold fermions, and their associated Fermi arcs helically wrap around and expand throughout the Brillouin zone between the high-symmetry center and surface-corner momenta. However, Fermi-arc splitting and realization of the theoretically proposed maximal Chern number rely heavily on the spin-orbit coupling (SOC) strength. In the present work, we investigate the topological states of a new chiral crystal, PtGa, which has the strongest SOC among all chiral crystals reported to date. With a comprehensive investigation using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, quantum-oscillation measurements, and state-of-the-art ab initio calculations, we report a giant SOC-induced splitting of both Fermi arcs and bulk states. Consequently, this study experimentally confirms the realization of a maximal Chern number equal to ±4 in multifold fermionic systems, thereby providing a platform to observe large-quantized photogalvanic currents in optical experiments.