X-ray Spectrometry / Ezine
Tabletop synchrotron: high-energy, coherent X-rays
Date: Nov 1, 2010
Author: David Bradley
Details of a tabletop synchrotron device has been revealed by an international team of scientists in the journal Nature Physics. The new device could revolutionise X-ray work and preclude the need for large-scale synchrotrons in many structural studies without compromising resolution or atomic detail.
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Composite analysis: X-ray technique reveals versatility in materials
Date: Oct 15, 2010
Author: David Bradley
A research team in France, writing in the journal Angewandte Chemie, has introduced a novel, highly versatile approach to the large-scale synthesis of a new family of bioorganic-inorganic nanocomposites. Their approach used X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy to monitor the previously unattainable degree of control over the composition and structure of the materials.
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XRF analysis without sampling of Etruscan depurata pottery for provenance classification
Date: Oct 11, 2010
Author:
The utility of spot XRF analysis of integral cermaic objects for classifying row clay provenance, even if the ceramics are not intrinsically homogeneous material, was evaluated using Etruscan fine ware.
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Knocking out resistance - X-ray structure lays bare last of multidrug biochemistry
Date: Oct 1, 2010
Author: David Bradley
An X-ray structure determined by US researchers reveals details of the only remaining class of multidrug resistance transporters that remained to be described. The work has implications for ntibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, as well as for developing hardy strains of agricultural crops.
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Virus silencer
Date: Sep 15, 2010
Author: David Bradley
US researchers have used Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source to obtain a crystal structure of the endoribonuclease enzyme known as Csy4. The enzyme is present in prokaryotes and initiates the production of small RNA molecules that target and silence invading viruses and plasmids.
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Chemical analysis of argon-oxygen decarburization slags in stainless steelmaking process by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry
Date: Sep 13, 2010
Author:
A quantitative analysis method for fluorine in slags produced in the stainless argon-oxygen decarburization process by X-ray spectrometry was proposed employing direct analysis of pressed pellets.
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Turning a new magnetic leaf
Date: Sep 1, 2010
Author: David Bradley
Researchers have used a leaf as a template to produce a complex, hierarchical structure from the magnetic and conductive material iron carbide. X-ray powder diffraction allowed them to reveal how the biological template was able to create an intricate vascular structure in a ceramic product.
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Kicking around solar cell materials
Date: Aug 15, 2010
Author: David Bradley
Sheffield's David Lidzey working with Athene Donald of the University of Cambridge and experts from Cardiff University and Nick Terrill at the Diamond Light Source, the UK's synchrotron facility in Didcot, have investigated the structure of solar cell materials to help them improve photovoltaic efficiencies.
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Calculation of effective penetration depth in X-ray diffraction for pharmaceutical solids
Date: Aug 9, 2010
Author:
A method has been developed to define X-ray penetration depth based on the signal detection limits of the X-ray diffractometer and empirically verified using bilayer compacts of varying known thicknesses of mannitol and lactose.
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Crystallography squared organically
Date: Aug 1, 2010
Author: David Bradley
Cyclobutadiene (CBD), the smallest cyclic hydrocarbon having alternating double bonds has finally succumbed to X-ray crystallography at least in terms of the determination of an immobilized derivative of the compound.
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