The mass sensitivity of quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM) was drastically improved by removing electrodes and wires attached on the quartz surfaces. Instead of wire connections, intended vibrations of quartz oscillators were excited and detected by antennas through electromagnetic waves. This noncontacting measurement is the key for ultrahigh-sensitive detection of proteins in liquids as well a...

We demonstrate a laser-based technique to directly synthesize few layer graphene on quartz substrates without using any metal catalyst. In our approach, a photoresist S-1805 (from Shipley Comp.) film coated on quartz wafers was heated, and then decomposed, by irradiation of a continuous-wave laser. The carbon atoms from the photoresist were dissolved in the molten quartz, and then extracted to ...

The thermoluminescence (TL) properties of laboratory grown quartz have been studied for its possible high gamma dosimetric applications. The variation of 210 o C glow peak is observed in different annealed samples followed by gamma irradiation near room temperature. The peak was found very sensitive to the pre-thermal treatments. The radiation induced effects in quartz have been studied in deta...

Observations on shocked quartz in Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary sediments compellingly tied to Chicxulub crater raise three problems. First, in North America shocked quartz occurs above the main K-T ejecta layer. Second, shocked quartz is more abundant west than east of Chicxulub. Third, shocked quartz reached distances requiring initial velocities up to 8 kilometers per second, correspond...

Apoptosis was measured in rat alveolar macrophage NR8383 cells challenged in vitro with respirable quartz or kaolin dust and with the dusts pretreated with dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) to model conditioning of respired dusts by interaction with a primary phospholipid component of pulmonary surfactant. Quartz dust is known to induce apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. For this study, quart...

The effects of quartz and sodium metasilicate on liposomes were studied in order to understand the mechanism of silicosis. 8-Hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid was tested for its in situ silicosis-prevention capacity. Two types of liposomes--(A) those incorporating cholesterol and (B) those without cholesterol--were used. The tests consisted of measuring permeability changes caused by the above-m...

Quartz and trehalose 6,6'-dimycolate (TDM) both potentiate tuberculosis and have toxicities that depend on surface crystalline structures. Investigations were undertaken to determine if TDM can kill macrophages and produce hemolysis in a fashion similar to that of quartz and if quartz can induce granulomas similar to those induced by TDM. Trehalose 6,6'-dimycolate was spread as a molecular mono...

Poly(vinylpyridine oxides) in pneumo-coniosis research. Schlipkoter and Brockhaus of the Institut fur Lufthygiene Dusseldorf found that poly(2-vinylpyridine 1-oxide) can inhibit the fibrosis normally produced by quartz dust in the lungs or other tissues of animals. Later research in Germany and elsewhere has confirmed the earlier observations. The polymer is active when the quartz is administer...