| 1. |
- Kristiansson, Per, et al.
(författare)
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The implementation of a DSSSD in the upgraded boron analysis at LIBAF for applications in geochemistry
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research. Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-583X .- 1872-9584. ; 332, s. 207-211
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interest in high spatial resolution boron analyses from a geochemical perspective is related to the recognition of boron as an important tracer of chemical recycling in the Earth, due to the high solubility of boron in aqueous fluids and silicate melts. Although boron is not a nominal component in common silicates they may still contain significant B-concentrations and hence constitute important boron reservoirs in the deeper parts of the Earth. Boron analyses have been performed at the Lund Ion Beam Analytical Facility for almost 20 years. For the analysis the nuclear reaction p+B-11 is used with beam energy just below 700 keV where the reaction has a broad resonance. In this paper we describe an upgrade of the system with a double sided silicon strip detector, which allows for much higher count rates compared to the old annular surface detector based system. A gain close to 20 in the data rate allows for high resolution mapping of boron distributions in crystals. This is illustrated by a number of examples. In addition, the detection limits for boron in geological samples are improved, now around 5 ppmw. In this work we address issues with data quality, especially charge normalization, lifetime correction and subtraction of different background components. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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| 2. |
- Nilsson, E. J. C., et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of cryoanalysis as a tool for analyzing elemental distribution in live tardigrades using micro-PIXE
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-583X .- 1872-9584. ; 332, s. 181-186
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although heavy on labor and equipment, thus not often applied, cryoanalysis of frozen hydrated biological specimens can provide information that better reflects the living state of the organism, compared with analysis in the freeze-dried state. In this paper we report a study where the cryoanalysis facility with cryosectioning capabilities at Materials Research Department, iThemba LABS, South Africa was employed to evaluate the usefulness of combining three ion beam analytical methods (mu PIXE, RBS and STIM) to analyze a biological target where a better elemental compositional description is needed - the tardigrade. Imaging as well as quantification results are of interest. In a previous study, the element composition and redistribution of elements in the desiccated and active states of two tardigrade species was investigated. This study included analysis of both whole and sectioned tardigrades, and the aim was to analyze each specimen twice; first frozen hydrated and later freeze-dried. The combination of the three analytical techniques proved useful: elements from C to Rb in the tardigrades could be determined and certain differences in distribution of elements between the frozen hydrated and the freeze-dried states were observed. RBS on frozen hydrated specimens provided knowledge of matrix elements.
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| 3. |
- Nilsson, E J Charlotta, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of cryoanalysis as a tool for analyzing elemental distributionin ‘‘live’’ tardigrades using micro-PIXE
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B. - 0168-583X .- 1872-9584. ; 332, s. 181-186
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although heavy on labor and equipment, thus not often applied, cryoanalysis of frozen hydrated biological specimens can provide information that better reflects the living state of the organism, compared with analysis in the freeze-dried state. In this paper we report a study where the cryoanalysis facility with cryosectioning capabilities at Materials Research Department, iThemba LABS, South Africa was employed to evaluate the usefulness of combining three ion beam analytical methods (μPIXE, RBS and STIM) to analyze a biological target where a better elemental compositional description is needed – the tardigrade. Imaging as well as quantification results are of interest.In a previous study, the element composition and redistribution of elements in the desiccated and active states of two tardigrade species was investigated. This study included analysis of both whole and sectioned tardigrades, and the aim was to analyze each specimen twice; first frozen hydrated and later freeze-dried. The combination of the three analytical techniques proved useful: elements from C to Rb in the tardigrades could be determined and certain differences in distribution of elements between the frozen hydrated and the freeze-dried states were observed. RBS on frozen hydrated specimens provided knowledge of matrix elements.
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| 4. |
- Borysiuk, Maciek, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of a setup for pNRA at LIBAF for applications in geosciences
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research. Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-583X. ; 332, s. 202-206
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new setup for photon tagged nuclear reaction analysis pNRA is being developed at Lund's ion beam analysis facility LIBAF. Particle induced gamma ray emission PIGE and nuclear reaction analysis NRA are two methods that have been extensively used for light isotope measurement in ion beam analysis IBA. There is an abundance of nuclear reactions between light elements and MeV protons, deuterons and alpha particles. This means that in principle all elements from lithium all the way up to chlorine can be analyzed using those techniques. Detection limits can be improved for some elements, if those two methods are fused together into pNRA. The new setup for pNRA will benefit from advances in detector technology that occurred during the last 20 years. A LaBr3 scintillator detector and an annular double sided silicon strip detector DSSSD are used in coincidence to detect a gamma and a charged particle respectively. Both detectors are connected to a VME based data acquisition system. Of primary interest in this work is the analysis of isotopic ratios of light elements in geological samples, which are usually thick with a complex matrix. This setup can be for instance used to measure isotopic fractionation of oxygen and boron. We will present the setup and discuss its capabilities. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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| 5. |
- Nilsson, E. J. Charlotta, et al.
(författare)
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Tolerance to proton irradiation in the eutardigrade Richtersius coronifer : a nuclear microprobe study
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Journal of Radiation Biology. - 0955-3002 .- 1362-3095. ; 86:5, s. 420-427
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose:The tardigrade Richtersius coronifer has previously been shown to tolerate very high doses of low linear energy transfer (low-LET) radiation (gamma rays). The purpose of this study was to extend our knowledge on radiation tolerance in this species by investigating the dose-response to high-LET radiation in terms of protons.Materials and methods:Dehydrated tardigrades of the species R. coronifer were irradiated with 2.55 MeV (megaelectronvolts) protons at doses ranging from 500 gray (Gy) to 15,000 Gy, to investigate the dose-viability relationship. In addition, a focused proton microbeam was utilised to determine the areal mass distribution, using the ion beam analytical technique STIM (Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy).Results:The experiment suggests that R. coronifer is unaffected by doses of proton irradiation up to 10,000 Gy, but shows very little viability at higher doses. The STIM analysis revealed that the thickness of the dehydrated tardigrades exceeds 150 μm, and that a fraction of the protons may not be fully absorbed.Conclusion:Our results are in line with previous studies of exposure to high-LET radiation in tardigrades, indicating that these animals are equally or even more tolerant to high-LET compared to low-LET gamma radiation. The physiological background to this remarkable result is currently unknown, but deserves investigation.
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| 6. |
- Pourrahimi, Amir Masoud, et al.
(författare)
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Water-based synthesis and cleaning methods for high purity ZnO nanoparticles - comparing acetate, chloride, sulphate and nitrate zinc salt precursors
- 2014
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Ingår i: RSC Advances. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2046-2069. ; 4:67, s. 35568-35577
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A low temperature (60 degrees C) aqueous synthesis method of high purity ZnO nanoparticles intended as fillers for ultra-low electrical conductivity insulations is described. Particles were prepared under identical conditions from different zinc salts based on nitrate, chloride, sulphate or acetate to compare their abilities to form high yields of sub-50 nm particles with narrow size distribution. The acetate salt gave uniform 25 nm ZnO particles with a conical prism shape. The chloride and sulphate derived particles showed mixed morphologies of nanoprisms and submicron petals, whereas the nitrate salt yielded prisms assembled into well-defined flower shapes with spiky edges. The micron-sized flower shapes were confirmed by Xray diffraction to consist of the smaller prism units. Photoluminescence spectroscopy showed emission in the blue-violet region with little variation depending on precursor salt, suggesting that the spectra were dependent on the primary nanoprism formation and rather independent of the final particle morphology. Microscopy revealed that the salt residuals after the reaction showed different affinity to the particle surfaces depending on the type of salt used, with the acetate creating ca. 20 nm thick hydrated shells; and in falling order of affinity: chloride, sulphate and nitrate. An acetate ion shielding effect during the synthesis was therefore assumed, preventing nanoparticle fusion during growth. Varying the concentrations of the counter-ions confirmed the shielding and only the acetate anions showed an ability to stabilize solitary nanoprisms formation in reaction yields from 2 to 10 g L-1. Ultrasonic particle surface cleaning was significantly more efficient than water replacement, resulting in a stable aqueous dispersion with a high zeta potential of 38.9 mV at pH 8.
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| 7. |
- Ros, Linus, et al.
(författare)
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Calibration of an elastic recoil setup for D/H-ratios close to natural abundance
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research. Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-583X. ; 332, s. 187-190
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nominally Anhydrous Minerals (NAM) in the Earth's mantle contain trace amounts of hydrogen, as a result of the NAM's ability to incorporate hydroxyl ions. The isotopic composition of these hydrogen reservoirs is for the Earth's crust, well characterized. The knowledge of the isotopic composition of the Earth's interior on the other hand is limited. It is believed that the hydrogen composition in the interior is isotopically heterogeneous and that there may exist several reservoirs of hydrogen, characterized by different deuterium/hydrogen-ratios. Characterization of these hydrogen reservoirs can provide valuable information about the mass transport of hydrogen during the evolution of the planet. In this work we present a variant of the proton-proton scattering technique with which we are capable of performing simultaneous measurements of deuterium and hydrogen. The method has been tested with a 2.9 MeV deuteron beam on a polyethylene standard, with D/H ratio close to the natural abundance, and on a thin sample of Muscovite with a hydrogen concentration of 4800 wt-ppm. This is followed by a discussion about limitations and capabilities of the technique. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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| 8. |
- Rutardottir, Sigurbjörg, et al.
(författare)
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The cysteine 34 residue of A1M/α1-microglobulin is essential for protection of irradiated cell cultures and reduction of carbonyl groups.
- 2013
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Ingår i: Free Radical Research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1029-2470 .- 1071-5762. ; 47:6-7, s. 541-550
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- α1-microglobulin (A1M) is a 26 kDa plasma and a tissue protein belonging to the lipocalin family. The reductase and free radical scavenger A1M has been shown to protect cells and extracellular matrix against oxidative and irradiation-induced damage. The reductase activity was previously shown to depend upon an unpaired cysteinyl side-chain, C34, and three lysyl side-chains, K92, 118, and 130, located around the open end of the lipocalin pocket. The aim of this work was to investigate whether the cell and matrix protection by A1M is a result of its reductase activity by using A1M-variants with site-directed mutations of the C34, K92, K118, and K130 positions. The results show that the C34 side-chain is an absolute requirement for protection of HepG2 cell cultures against alpha-particle irradiation-induced cell death, upregulation of stress response and cell cycle regulation genes. Mutation of C34 also resulted in loss of the reduction capacity toward heme- and hydrogen peroxide-oxidized collagen, and the radical species 2,2´-azino-bis (3-ethyl-benzo-thiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS). Furthermore, mutation of C34 significantly suppressed the cell-uptake of A1M. The K92, K118, and K130 side-chains were of minor importance in cell protection and reduction of oxidized collagen but strongly influenced the reduction of the ABTS-radical. It is concluded that antioxidative protection of cells and collagen by A1M is totally dependent on its C34 amino acid residue. A model of the cell protection mechanism of A1M should be based on the redox activity of the free thiolyl group of the C34 side-chain and a regulatory role of the K92, K118, and K130 residues.
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