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In our previous work, it was demonstrated that the combined use of attenuated total reflectance (ATR) FTIR imaging and quantitative energy-dispersive electron probe X-ray microanalysis (ED-EPMA), named low-Z particle EPMA, had the potential for characterization of individual aerosol particles. Additionally, the speciation of individual mineral particles was performed on a single particle level by the combined use of the two techniques, demonstrating that simultaneous use of the two single particle analytical techniques is powerful for the detailed characterization of externally heterogeneous mineral particle samples and has great potential for characterization of atmospheric mineral dust aerosols. These single particle analytical techniques provide complementary information on the physicochemical characteristics of the same individual particles, such as low-Z particle EPMA on morphology and elemental concentrations and the ATR-FT-IR imaging on molecular species, crystal structures, functional groups, and physical states. In this work, this analytical methodology was applied to characterize an atmospheric aerosol sample collected in Incheon, Korea. Overall, 118 individual particles were observed to be primarily NaN[O.sub.3]-containing, Ca- and/or Mg-containing, silicate, and carbonaceous particles, although internal mixing states of the individual particles proved complicated. This work demonstrates that more detailed physiochemical properties of individual airborne particles can be obtained using this approach than when either the low-Z particle EPMA or ATR-FT-IR imaging technique is used alone. 10.1021/ac1014113

Our previous work demonstrated for the first time the potential of the combined use of two techniques, attenuated total reflectance FT-IR (ATR-FT-IR) imaging and a quantitative energy-dispersive electron probe X-ray microanalysis, low-Z particle EPMA, for the characterization of individual aerosol particles. In this work, the speciation of mineral particles was performed on a single particle level for 24 mineral samples, including kaolinite, montmorillonite, vermiculite, talc, quartz, feldspar, calcite, gypsum, and apatite, by the combined use of ATR-FT-IR imaging and low-Z particle EPMA techniques. These two single particle analytical techniques provide complementary information, the ATR-FT-IR imaging on mineral types and low-Z particle EPMA on the morphology and elemental concentrations, on the same individual particles. This work demonstrates that the combined use of the two single particle analytical techniques can powerfully characterize externally heterogeneous mineral particle samples in detail and has great potential for the characterization of airborne mineral dust particles. 10.1021/ac101006h

This work demonstrates the practical applicability of the combined use of attenuated total reflectance (ATR) FTIR imaging and low-Z particle electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPMA) techniques for the characterization of individual aerosol particles. These two single particle analytical techniques provide complementary information on the physicochemical characteristics of the same individual particles, that is, the low-Z particle EPMA for the information on the morphology and elemental concentration and the ATR-FT-IR imaging on the functional group, molecular species, and crystal structure. It was confirmed that the ATR-FT-IR imaging technique can provide sufficient FT-IR absorption signals to perform molecular speciation of individual particles of micrometer size when applied to artificially generated aerosol particles such as ascorbic acid and NAN[O.sub.3] aerosols. An exemplar indoor atmospheric aerosol sample was investigated to demonstrate the practical feasibility of the combined application of ATR-FT-IR imaging and low-Z particle EPMA techniques for the characterization of individual airborne particles.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2004.11.014 Byline: Tak Hur, Jiyong Lee, Jiyeon Ryu, Eunsun Kwon Abstract: In order to effectively integrate environmental attributes into the product design and development processes, it is crucial to identify the significant environmental aspects related to a product system within a relatively short period of time. In this study, the usefulness of life cycle assessment (LCA) and a matrix method as tools for identifying the key environmental issues of a product system were examined. For this, a simplified LCA (SLCA) method that can be applied to Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) was developed to efficiently identify their significant environmental aspects for eco-design, since a full scale LCA study is usually very detailed, expensive and time-consuming. The environmentally responsible product assessment (ERPA) method, which is one of the matrix methods, was also analyzed. Then, the usefulness of each method in eco-design processes was evaluated and compared using the case studies of the cellular phone and vacuum cleaner systems. It was found that the SLCA and the ERPA methods provided different information but they complemented each other to some extent. The SLCA method generated more information on the inherent environmental characteristics of a product system so that it might be useful for new design/eco-innovation when developing a completely new product or method where environmental considerations play a major role from the beginning. On the other hand, the ERPA method gave more information on the potential for improving a product so that it could be effectively used in eco-redesign which intends to alleviate environmental impacts of an existing product or process. Author Affiliation: Department of Materials Chemistry and Engineering, Innovative Environmental Technology center, Konkuk University, 1 Hwayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 143-701, South Korea

9,9′‐Spirobifluorene‐based closo‐o‐carboranyl (SFC1 and SFC2) compounds and their nido‐derivatives (nido‐SFC1 and nido‐SFC2) were prepared and characterized. The two closo‐compounds displayed major absorption bands assignable to π–π* transitions involving the spirobifluorene group, as well as weak intramolecular charge‐transfer (ICT) transitions between the o‐carboranes and their spirobifluorene moieties. The nido‐compounds exhibited slightly blueshifted absorption bands resulting from the absence of the ICT transitions corresponding to the o‐carborane moieties due to the anionic character of the nido‐o‐carboranes. While SFC1 exhibited only high‐energy emissions in THF at 298 K (only from locally excited (LE) states assignable to π–π* transitions on the spirobifluorene group), remarkable emissions in the low‐energy region were observed in the rigid state such as in THF at 77 K and in the film state. SFC2 displayed intense emissions in the low‐energy region in all states. The fact that neither of the nido‐derivatives of SFC1 and SFC2 exhibited low‐energy emissions and the TD‐DFT calculation results of each closo‐compound clearly verified that the low‐energy emission was based on ICT‐based radiative decay. The conformational barriers from each relative energy calculation upon changing the dihedral angles around the o‐carborane cages for both compounds confirmed that the rotation of the o‐carborane cages and terminal phenyl rings for SFC1 is freer than that for SFC2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changes in the corpus callosum (CC) with age and gender remain largely subject to dispute, which might come from the different strategies for analyzing the size and shape of CC. We have investigated this issue by measuring some variables reflecting the spatial orientation of CC on magnetic resonance imaging in Koreans, which minimize individual variances in the brain. The subjects were composed of young adults in their twenties (51 male, 59 female) and elderly adults in their sixties and seventies (60 male, 71 female). The total area of CC, length and height of CC, the central angle and the four angles suggested by Oka et al. were measured. The whole area and the central angle of CC were not significantly affected by age and gender. The height and length of CC were significantly greater in elderly people. The angle connecting genu, upper notch of pons and splenium was significantly larger in the elderly group. Furthermore, all four angles were significantly different between male and female subjects. These results confirm that the spatial orientation of CC is influenced by age and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forming-free, low-voltage, and high-speed resistive switching is demonstrated in an Ag/oxygen-deficient vanadium oxide (VO x )/Pt device via the facilitated formation and rupture of Ag filaments. Direct current (DC) voltage sweep measurements exhibit forming-free switching from a high-resistance state (HRS) to a low-resistance state (LRS), called SET, at an average V SET of +0.23 V. The reverse RESET transition occurs at an average V RESET of -0.07 V with a low RESET current of <1 mA. Reversible switching operations are stable with an HRS/LRS resistance ratio >10 3 during repeated measurements for thousands of cycles. In pulse measurements, switching occurs within 100 ns at an amplitude of +1.5 V. Notably, a two-step resistance change is observed in the SET operation, where the resistance first partially decreases due to Ag + ion accumulation in VO x and then further decreases to the LRS after hundreds of nanoseconds upon complete filament formation. The VO x layer deposited to be mostly amorphous with oxygen deficiency from V 2 O 5 has abundant vacancies and expedites Ag + ion migration, thus realizing forming-free, high-speed, and low-voltage switching. These characteristics of the facilitated Ag filament formation using the substoichiometric VO x layer are highly beneficial for use as stand-alone nonvolatile memory and in-memory computing elements.

Bipolar threshold switching characteristics, featuring volatile transition between the high-resistance state (HRS) at lower voltage than threshold voltage ( V th ) and the low-resistance state (LRS) at higher voltage irrespective of the voltage polarity, are investigated in the Nb(O)/NbO x /Nb(O) devices with respect to deposition and post-annealing conditions of NbO x layers. The device with NbO x deposited by reactive sputtering with 12% of O 2 gas mixed in Ar shows threshold switching behaviors after electroforming operation at around +4 V of forming voltage ( V f ). On the other hand, electroforming-free threshold switching is achieved from the device with NbO x deposited in the reduced fraction of 7% of O 2 gas and subsequently annealed at 250 °C in vacuum, thanks to the increase of the amount of conducting phases within the NbO x layer. Threshold switching is thought to be driven by the formation of a temporally percolated filament composed of conducting NbO and NbO 2 phases in the NbO x layer, which were formed as a result of the interaction with Nb electrodes such as oxygen ion migration either by annealing or electrical biasing. The presence of a substantial amount of oxygen in the Nb electrodes up to ∼40 at%, named Nb(O) herein, would alleviate excessive migration of oxygen and consequent overgrowth of the filament during operation, thus enabling reliable threshold switching. These results demonstrate a viable route to realize electroforming-free threshold switching in the Nb(O)/NbO x /Nb(O) devices by controlling the contents of conducting phases in the NbO x layer for the application to selector devices in high-density crossbar memory and synapse array architectures., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

9,9'-Spirobifluorene-based closo-o-carboranyl (SFC1 and SFC2) compounds and their nido-derivatives (nido-SFC1 and nido-SFC2) were prepared and characterized. The two closo-compounds displayed major absorption bands assignable to π-π* transitions involving the spirobifluorene group, as well as weak intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) transitions between the o-carboranes and their spirobifluorene moieties. The nido-compounds exhibited slightly blueshifted absorption bands resulting from the absence of the ICT transitions corresponding to the o-carborane moieties due to the anionic character of the nido-o-carboranes. While SFC1 exhibited only high-energy emissions in THF at 298 K (only from locally excited (LE) states assignable to π-π* transitions on the spirobifluorene group), remarkable emissions in the low-energy region were observed in the rigid state such as in THF at 77 K and in the film state. SFC2 displayed intense emissions in the low-energy region in all states. The fact that neither of the nido-derivatives of SFC1 and SFC2 exhibited low-energy emissions and the TD-DFT calculation results of each closo-compound clearly verified that the low-energy emission was based on ICT-based radiative decay. The conformational barriers from each relative energy calculation upon changing the dihedral angles around the o-carborane cages for both compounds confirmed that the rotation of the o-carborane cages and terminal phenyl rings for SFC1 is freer than that for SFC2., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Fibrillar aggregates of beta-amyloid peptide (Abeta) are major constituents of the senile plaques found in the brains of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previous studies have shown that spontaneous isomerization or racemization of aspartyl residues in Abeta peptides leads to conformational changes in the secondary structure and increased aggregative ability of the peptides. Protein L-isoaspartyl O-methyltransferase (PIMT, EC 2.1.1.77) is a repairing enzyme converting L-isoaspartyl/D-aspartyl residues in damaged proteins to normal L-aspartyl residues. In this study it was investigated, whether PIMT is able to modulate Abeta fibrillogenesis in vitro by methylation of isoaspartyl residue using purified 5Abeta and PIMT. A Thioflavin-T (Th-T) binding assay conducted after aging Abeta in vitro (37 degrees C, pH 7.4 in PBS) revealed that PIMT inhibited the increase of fluorescence caused by amyloid fibrillogenesis. Western blot analysis revealed that high molecular Abeta aggregates (> 200 kDa) only occurred during Abeta incubation, while they were reduced in response to incubation with PIMT and AdoMet. Additionally, circular dichroism (CD) showed that the beta-sheet structure was increased in Abeta peptides in a time-dependent fashion, while PIMT suppressed the beta-sheet transition after 24 h. Finally, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that PIMT reduced the size of the Abeta aggregates and induced a different pathway, leading to the formation of amorphous structures. Taken together, these findings indicate that isoaspartyl methylation leads to partial blockade of fibrillogenesis of Abeta by inhibiting the beta transition in the Abeta peptide.

Ligands selectively targeting beta-amyloid in the living brain are promising candidates of therapeutics and early diagnosis tools for Alzheimer's disease. Among the major stages of beta-amyloid aggregation, monomers and oligomers are excellent targets to reduce neurotoxic brain damages for prevention of the disease progression, while oligomers and fibrils, abundant in the late stage of the disease, are pathological objectives to develop reliable imaging probes. So far, there have been many efforts to develop a wide variety of monovalent beta-amyloid ligands such as thioflavin T, PIB, FDDNP, curcumin, and tramiprosate. However, pathology of Alzheimer's disease is not fully understood yet so that there is currently no cure and further investigations on Alzheimer's disease are needed. For past several years, multivalent beta-amyloid ligands have offered an alternative route by enhancing binding affinity of drug candidates. In addition, it has been revealed that not only neurotoxicity due to the protein misfolding but also other factors are involved in the beta-amyloid cascade such as oxidative stress, inflammation, metal chelation, and several types of neurotransmitters. Thus, there have been numerous studies to improve binding affinities of single beta-amyloid ligands via adopting multivalent effects or to develop drug candidates targeting multiple stages of the pathological cascade. In this review, multivalent and multifunctional beta-amyloid ligands and their promising aspects as an alternative approach to Alzheimer's disease are discussed.