Comparative analysis of bacterial diversity in freshwater sediment collected from a shallow eutrophic lake was performed by using 16S rRNA gene clone library and improved cultivation-based techniques. Our study demonstrated that the use of gellan gum as a gelling reagent instead of agar was more effective at increasing culturability, cultivating a diverse array of novel microbes, and reducing the gaps of the results between molecular and cultivation-based analyses.

No abstract

NoteFlavobacterium limicola sp. nov., a psychrophilic, organic-polymer-degrading bacterium isolated from freshwater sediments

Plasma-induced damage of gate oxides is evaluated from the difference between the intrinsic charge-to-breakdown (Q BD) and the residual Q BD. This difference, ΔQ BD, corresponds to the plasma-induced damage to the oxide and to the accumulation of conduction current from the plasma into the oxide. It is shown experimentally that the plasma-induced damage ΔQ BD increases in proportion to the antenna ratio (exposed antenna area/gate area). The ΔQ BD of the antenna capacitor depends not on the device structures such as the gate oxide thickness, but on the plasma process conditions.