Volume 26 Number 2 April 2018 Dear Abbe table of contents Dear Abbe,


I have to section a lot of resin-embedded tissues. I don’t mind sectioning, but it does become very boring. I need to fi nd a way to make the tediousness enjoyable. If anyone can help, it’s you.


Endless Ennui in Edinburgh Dear Endless,


T e Accuracy of Al and Cu Film T ickness Determinations and the Implications for Electron Probe Microanalysis


Mike B. Matthews, Stuart L. Kearns, and Ben Buse


Nano-Cathodoluminescence Measurement of Asymmetric Carrier Trapping and Radiative Recombination in GaN and InGaN Quantum Disks Julia I. Deitz, A. T. M. Golam Sarwar, Santino D. Carnevale, Tyler J. Grassman, Roberto C. Myers, and David W. McComb


On the Progress of Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) Imaging in a Scanning Electron Microscope


Cheng Sun, Erich Müller, Matthias Meff ert, and Dagmar Gerthsen


In Situ Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Observations of Damage and Crack Growth of Shale


Zhendong Cui and Weige Han


Evaluating X-Ray Microanalysis Phase Maps Using Principal Component Analysis Ben Buse and Stuart Kearns


On the Origin of Extended Resolution in Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy with a Worn Tip Apex


Sergey Y. Luchkin and Keith J. Stevenson


T e Eff ects of Betaine on the Nuclear Fractal Dimension, Chromatin Texture, and Proliferative Activity in Hepatocytes in Mouse Model of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Milena Vesković, Milica Labudović-Borović, Ivan Zaletel, Jelena Rakočević, Dušan Mladenović, Bojan Jorgačević, Danijela Vučević, and Tatjana Radosavljević


T e Calamistrum of the Feather-Legged Spider Uloborus plumipes Investigated by Focused Ion Beam and Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB–SEM) Tomography Alexander Heiss, Daesung Park, and Anna-Christin Joel


Cultured Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial (hRPE) Sheets: A Search for Suitable Storage Conditions


Ayyad Z. Khan, Tor P. Utheim, Sjur Reppe, Leiv Sandvik, Torstein Lyberg, Borghild B.-H. Roald, Ibrahim B. Ibrahim, and Jon R. Eidet Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) Mapping and In-situ Observation of Carbonization of Culms of Bambusa Multiplex Visittapong Yordsri, Chanchana T anachayanont, Shunsuke Asahina, Yuuki Yamaguchi, Masahiro Kawasaki, Tetsuo Oikawa, Tadashi Nobuchi, and Makoto Shiojiri


Distinguishing the Signs of Fungal and Burial-Induced Degradation in Waterlogged Wood from Biskupin (Poland) by Scanning Electron Microscopy Diego Tamburini, Caroline R. Cartwright, Grzegorz Coſt a, Magdalena Zborowska, and Miroslava Mamoňová


Ultrastructural Alterations of Midgut Epithelium, But Not Greater Wing Fluctuating Asymmetry, in Paper Wasps (Polistes dominula) from Urban Environments Carlo Polidori, Agustín Pastor, Alberto Jorge, and José Pertusa


2018 May • www.microscopy-today.com doi: 10.1017/S155192951800041X 65


Ach, sectioning used to be a real skill, now there are diamond knives, powered ultramicrotomes, computerized microtomes, even computerized ultramicrotomes inside electron microscopes. And you whine about having to sit and cut sections. T ere are worse things than having to section biological samples, or so I’ve been told. I do not section, as I have minions at my disposal (although I am running out of bananas). However, I did ask my relatively sane colleague what she would do. She developed several methods for attenu- ating the tedium and claims the quickest method is imbibing alcoholic cocktails. Make sectioning a drinking game! If you manage fi ve or more sections on a slot grid, you take a swig. As a young acolyte she told her supervisor that the concoction was medication and had a prescription. Of course, the gentleman at the corner Spirituosengeschaſt called it a receipt. Semantics. T e games become more diffi cult and entertaining with success of getting sections on grids. Aſt er editing Huckleberry Finn for my friend Mr. Clemens, I suggested his solution for unappealing tasks: overselling the task. She began to tout how wonderful it was to section: elaborating on the Zen-like quality, the rewarding exercise of chasing errant, needed sections around the trough fi lled with the tears of undergraduates. She was very good at it and should have won an award for her performances, but no one recognizes a budding genius before they become a blooming idiot.


If you are stuck with mindless tasks, you may wish to seek additional advice from Herr Dr. Abbe. Contact his faithful assistant at jpshield@uga.edu.


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