In the present study, the morphology and the impurity distribution were investigated in growth sectors formed around the [0001] axis of synthetic quartz crystals. Plates containing cylindrical holes and cylindrical bars parallel to [0001] were prepared by ultrasonic machining and further used as seed-crystals. The hydrothermal growth of synthetic quartz was carried out in a commercial autoclave under NaOH solution during 50 days. The morphologies of crystals grown from cylindrical seeds were characterized by X-ray diffraction topography. For both types of crystals, +X- and X- growth sectors were distinctly observed. Infrared spectroscopy and ionizing radiation were adopted to reveal the distribution of point defects related to Si-Al substitution and OH-species. It was found a different distribution of Al-related centers in relation to the crystals grown from conventional Y-bar and Z-plate seeds.

Discs of polyvinyl alcohol cross-linked with glutaraldehyde were synthesized under acid catalysis (H2SO4). Then, the antigen F1 purified from Yersinia pestis was covalently linked to this modified polymer. Afterwards, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established for the diagnosis of plague in rabbit and human. The best conditions for the method were achieved by using 1.3 ¼g of F1 prepared in 0.067 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.2, containing 1 M NaCl (PBS); anti-IgG peroxidase conjugate diluted 6,000 times and as a blocking agent 3% w/v skim milk in PBS. The titration of positive rabbit serum according to this procedure detected antibody concentrations up to 1:12,800 times. The present method, the conventional ELISA and passive haemagglutination assay are compared.