Final Morphology (final + morphology)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The mechanism of Drosophila leg development along the proximodistal axis

DEVELOPMENT GROWTH & DIFFERENTIATION, Issue 2 2004
Tetsuya Kojima
During development of higher organisms, most patterning events occur in growing tissues. Thus, unraveling the mechanism of how growing tissues are patterned into final morphologies has been an essential subject of developmental biology. Limb or appendage development in both vertebrates and invertebrates has attracted great attention from many researchers for a long time, because they involve almost all developmental processes required for tissue patterning, such as generation of the positional information by morphogen, subdivision of the tissue into distinct parts according to the positional information, localized cell growth and proliferation, and control of adhesivity, movement and shape changes of cells. The Drosophila leg development is a good model system, upon which a substantial amount of knowledge has been accumulated. In this review, the current understanding of the mechanism of Drosophila leg development is described. [source]


Gene expression in the efferent ducts, epididymis, and vas deferens during embryonic development of the mouse

DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS, Issue 9 2010
Elizabeth M. Snyder
Abstract The tissues of the male reproductive tract are characterized by distinct morphologies, from highly coiled to un-coiled. Global gene expression profiles of efferent ducts, epididymis, and vas deferens were generated from embryonic day 14.5 to postnatal day 1 as tissue-specific morphologies emerge. Expression of homeobox genes, potential mediators of tissue-specific morphological development, was assessed. Twenty homeobox genes were identified as either tissue-enriched, developmentally regulated, or both. Additionally, ontology analysis demonstrated cell adhesion to be highly regulated along the length of the reproductive tract. Regulators of cell adhesion with variable expression between the three tissues were identified including Alcam, various cadherins, and multiple integrins. Immunofluorescence localization of the cell adhesion regulators POSTN and CDH2 demonstrated cell adhesion in the epithelium and mesenchyme of the epididymis may change throughout development. These results suggest cell adhesion may be modulated in a tissue-specific manner, playing an important role in establishing each tissue's final morphology. Developmental Dynamics 239:2479,2491, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Morphology Control in Solution-Processed Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cell Mixtures

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 19 2009
Adam J. Moulé
Abstract The efficiency of bulk-heterojunction solar cells is very sensitive to the nanoscale structure of the active layer. In the past, the final morphology in solution-processed devices has been controlled by varying the casting solvent and by curing the layer using heat tempering or solvent soaking. A recipe for making the "best-performing" morphology can be achieved using these steps. This article presents a review of several new techniques that have been developed to control the morphology in polymer/fullerene heterojunction mixtures. The techniques fall into two broad categories. First, the morphology can be controlled by preparing nanoparticle suspensions of one component. The size and shape of the nanoparticles in solution determine the size and shape of the domain in a mixed layer. Second, the morphology can be controlled by adding a secondary solvent or an additive that more strongly affects one component of the mixture during drying. In both cases, the as-cast efficiency of the solar cell is improved with respect to the single-solvent case, which strongly argues that morphology control is an issue that will receive increasing attention in future research. [source]


Structural formation of hybrid siloxane-based polymer monolith in confined spaces

JOURNAL OF SEPARATION SCIENCE, JSS, Issue 10-11 2004
Kazuyoshi Kanamori
Abstract Structural deformation of phase-separated methylsiloxane gel under the influence of a surface has been studied. Competitive wetting of siloxane gel phase on a surface during phase formation is found to significantly affect the final morphology in a confined space. When the spinodal wavelength is sufficiently shorter than the size of the available space, a uniform bicontinuous structure forms in confined geometry. However, gel skeletons in the vicinity of a surface are elongated with decreasing size of the space, and finally when the size of the space becomes shorter than the spinodal wavelength, all the gel phase wets on a surface, showing a "wetting transition". Homogeneous bicontinuous methylsiloxane gels were successfully prepared, avoiding such structural deformation, in a long cylindrical fused silica capillary and used for capillary HPLC. The capillary gels exhibited excellent separation efficiency of nitrobenzenes and it was found that the surface character can be altered by incorporating surfactants, which will enable more advanced and extended control of surface character, depending on the analytes. [source]


Effect of mixing protocol on compatibilized polymer blend morphology

POLYMER ENGINEERING & SCIENCE, Issue 5 2006
Bin Lin
We investigated the effect of mixing protocol on the morphology of compatibilized polymer blends made with premade compatibilizer and reactively formed in-situ compatibilizer in a custom-built miniature mixer Alberta Polymer Asymmetric Minimixer (APAM). The compatibilized blends show a finer morphology than uncompatibilized blends if the polymers are mixed together in the dry state and then fed into the mixer. It is found that premelting one polymer, and premixing polymers and compatibilizer, both greatly affect the compatibilized blends' morphology. The effects are complex since the dispersed phase particle size and distribution of the compatibilized blends may be smaller or larger when compared with the uncompatibilized system, depending on the material's physical and chemical properties; for example, diblock molecular weight or the preference of copolymer to migrate to a particular phase can change the final morphology. Good mobility of the copolymer to reach the interface is crucial to obtain a finer morphology. Micelles are observed when a high molecular weight diblock copolymer P(S- b -MMA) is used for a PS/PMMA blend. Because of its enhanced mobility, no micelles are found for a low molecular weight diblock copolymer P(S- b -MMA) in a PS/PMMA blend. For PS/PE/P(S- b -E) blends, finer morphology is obtained when P(S- b -E) is first precompounded with PS. Because the block copolymer prefers the PE phase, if the P(S- b -E) block copolymer is compounded with PE first, some remains inside the PE phase and does not compatibilize the interface. In the case of reactive blend PSOX/PEMA, premelting and holding the polymers at high temperature for 5 min decreases final dispersed phase particle size; however, premelting and holding for 10 min coarsens the morphology. POLYM. ENG. SCI. 46:691,702, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers. [source]


Influence of post-extrusion parameters on the final morphology of polystyrene/high density polyethylene blends

POLYMER ENGINEERING & SCIENCE, Issue 10 2003
H. Padilla-Lopez
The deformation of the dispersed phase in polystyrene/high density polyethylene (PS/HDPE) blends produced by ribbon extrusion was studied numerically and experimentally. A mathematical model for the deformation of the dispersed phase in ribbon extrusion processing of polymer blends was developed assuming uniaxial deformation of the ribbon and the equilibrium shapes of the dispersed particles with a pressure balance over a drop. Simulated morphologies as function of the post-extrusion parameters were obtained and compared with experiments. The analysis of the ribbon extrusion process showed that parameters such as draw ratio (DR) and ribbon-water contact length (X) significantly influence the ribbon dimensions, the extensional stress, and the stretching force. The results also showed that deformation and coalescence of the dispersed phase in the ribbon extrusion processing of polymer blends increase at higher DR and/or lower X values. The comparison between the model and the experimental morphologies of PS/HDPE produced a good agreement. [source]


Preparation and properties of poly(L -lactic acid) scaffolds by thermally induced phase separation from a ternary polymer,solvent system

POLYMER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 12 2004
Shirong Li
Abstract Poly(L -lactic acid) (PLLA) foams for tissue engineering were prepared via thermally induced phase separation of a ternary system PLLA/dioxane/tetrahydrofuran (THF) followed by double solvent exchange (water and ethyl alcohol) and drying. An extension to solidification from solution of a previously developed method for solidification from the melt was adopted. The technique is based on a continuous cooling transformation (CCT) approach, consisting in recording the thermal history experienced by rapidly cooled samples and then analyzing the resulting sample morphology. Different foams were produced by changing the relative amount of dioxane and THF in the starting solution while the amount of polymer was kept constant. Results show that the final morphology and crystallinity (measured by DSC) depend on solvent power, which in its turn was determined by the ratio dioxane/THF, and a minimum of pore size, optimum final crystallinity and crystallization rate were achieved for a system containing 70 % of dioxane. Under this condition, a higher bulk density (evaluated by Hg intrusion porosimetry) and a larger specific surface area (measured by BET N2 sorption technique) was achieved. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


Tetraethylenepentamine-Directed Controllable Synthesis of Wurtzite ZnSe Nanostructures with Tunable Morphology

CHEMISTRY - A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, Issue 31 2008
Baojuan Xi Dr.
Abstract A novel tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA)-directed method has been successfully developed for the controlled synthesis of ZnSe particles with distinctive morphologies, including nanobelts, nanowires, and hierarchically solid/hollow spheres. These structures, self-assembled from nanobelts and nanorods, have been synthesized by adjusting the reaction parameters, such as the solvent composition, reaction temperature, and the aging time. Results reveal that the volume ratio of H2O and TEPA plays a crucial role in the final morphology of ZnSe products. The mechanisms of phase formation and morphology control of ZnSe particles are proposed and discussed in detail. The products have been characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction, high-resolution TEM, Raman spectra and luminescence spectroscopy. The as-prepared ZnSe nanoparticles display shape- and size-dependent photoluminescent optical properties. This is the first time to report preparation of complex hollow structures of ZnSe crystals with hierarchy through a simple solution-based route. This synthetic route is designed to exploit a new H2O/TEPA/N2H4,H2O system possibly for the preparation of other semiconductor nanomaterials. [source]