A thermodynamic study of nonstoichiometric cerium dioxide

Thermogravimetric measurements were performed on nonstoichiometric CeO_2?x in the temperature range 750–1500°C and from oxygen pressures of 10^?2 to 10^?26 atm. From this data the deviation from stoichiometry x = x(T, P_o2) was determined. The thermodynamic quantities Δ$\text{H}$_o2 and Δ$\text{S}$_o2 were calculated in the region 0.001? x ? 0.3 and found to be independent of temperature.In the composition region 0.001< x < 0.006, the variation of Δ$\text{S}$_o2 with x is consistent with a defect model involving randomly distributed doubly ionized oxygen vacancies. The experimental dependence of x and σ (electrical conductivity) is shown to be consistent with this model as Δ$\text{H}$_o2 (≈ -10 eV) exhibits a slight dependence on x. It is postulated that the variation in Δ$\text{H}$_o2 may result from lattice parameter increases with x, while the defects remain essentially randomly distributed.In the composition region 0.006 < x < 0.1, x ∝ with 1 < n < 5, and in the region 0.1 < x < 0.3, x ∝ with n increasing rapidly with x to n? 30. This behavior is believed to result from increasing defect interaction with increasing departures from stoichiometry. It is interesting to note that the ordered phase observed by Bevan and Kordis between CeO_1·72 and CeO_1·70 was not observed in this study at temperatures between 1300° and 1500°C.     

Solitons in random media with long-range correlation

Abstract

A statistical approach of the propagation of solitons in media with a spatially random potential is developed. Applying the inverse scattering transform several regimes are demonstrated which are determined by the mass and the velocity of the incoming soliton as well as by the correlation length of the random potential. Namely, the mass of the soliton is conserved if its initial amplitude is large enough. If the initial mass is small, then the mass decays with the length of the system. The decay rate is exponential in the case of a white noise perturbation, but it obeys a power law if the carrier wavenumber of the soliton lies in the tail of the spectrum of the potential. Furthermore, the scattered radiation propagates in a backward direction in the case of a white noise perturbation, while it propagates in a forward direction (with the same carrier wavenumber as the soliton) in the case of a coloured noise with long-range correlation.     

Scintillation in the White-Noise Paraxial Regime

In this paper the white-noise paraxial wave model is considered. This model describes for instance the propagation of laser beams in the atmosphere in some typical scaling regimes. The closed-form equations for the second- and fourth-order moments of the field are solved in two particular situations. The first situation corresponds to a random medium with a transverse correlation radius smaller than the beam radius. This is the spot-dancing regime: the beam shape spreads out as in a homogeneous medium and its center is randomly shifted according to a Gaussian process whose variance grows like the third power of the propagation distance. The second situation corresponds to a plane-wave initial condition, a small amplitude for the medium fluctuations, and a large propagation distance. This is the scintillation regime: the normalized variance of the intensity converges to one exponentially with the propagation distance, corresponding to strong intensity fluctuations and in agreement with the conjecture that the statistics of the field becomes complex Gaussian.     

Identification of a set of genes showing regionally enriched expression in the mouse brain

Background

We have recorded responses from single neurons in murine visual cortex to determine the effectiveness of the input from the two murine cone photoreceptor mechanisms and whether there is any unique selectivity for cone inputs at this higher region of the visual system that would support the possibility of colour vision in mice. Each eye was stimulated by diffuse light, either 370 (strong stimulus for the ultra-violet (UV) cone opsin) or 505 nm (exclusively stimulating the middle wavelength sensitive (M) cone opsin), obtained from light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the presence of a strong adapting light that suppressed the responses of rods.

Results

Single cells responded to these diffuse stimuli in all areas of striate cortex. Two types of responsive cells were encountered. One type (135/323 – 42%) had little to no spontaneous activity and responded at either the on and/or the off phase of the light stimulus with a few impulses often of relatively large amplitude. A second type (166/323 – 51%) had spontaneous activity and responded tonically to light stimuli with impulses often of small amplitude. Most of the cells responded similarly to both spectral stimuli. A few (18/323 – 6%) responded strongly or exclusively to one or the other spectral stimulus and rarely in a spectrally opponent manner.

Conclusion

Most cells in murine striate cortex receive excitatory inputs from both UV- and M-cones. A small fraction shows either strong selectivity for one or the other cone mechanism and occasionally cone opponent responses. Cells that could underlie chromatic contrast detection are present but extremely rare in murine striate cortex.     

Target detection and characterization from electromagnetic induction data

The goal of this paper is to contribute to the field of nondestructive testing by eddy currents. We provide a mathematical analysis and a numerical framework for simulating the imaging of arbitrarily shaped small-volume conductive inclusions from electromagnetic induction data. We derive, with proof, a small-volume expansion of the eddy current data measured away from the conductive inclusion. The formula involves two polarization tensors: one associated with the magnetic contrast and the second with the conductivity of the inclusion. Based on this new formula, we design a location search algorithm. We include in this paper a discussion on data sampling, noise reduction, and probability of detection. We provide numerical examples that support our findings.     

Study of interactions of concentrated marine dissolved organic matter with copper and zinc by pseudopolarography

The interaction of dissolved organic matter (DOM) with copper and zinc in a concentrated seawater sample was characterised by pseudopolarography. Measurements performed at increased concentrations of copper(II) ions showed successive saturation of active DOM sites which indicate possible partition of copper between (i) free or labile complexes, (ii) reduced and released within the potential window of the method, and (iii) electroinactive copper complexes. Pseudopolarograms measured at pH 4 indicate a release of copper which was bound to the active sites of DOM that formed non-labile complexes. Variation of the peak position and half-peak width along the scanned deposition potentials and with the increasing concentration of copper bear the information about the complex electrochemical processes at the electrode surface and in the bulk of the solution. Pseudopolarograms of zinc showed a strong dependence of the peak current and the peak position along the scanned deposition potentials on pH values, indicating preferentially complexation of zinc with carboxylic-like active sites of DOM in the measured sample. Pseudopolarography is a valuable method in the trace metal complexation and speciation studies, serving as a fingerprint of the analysed sample.     

Photoemission study of the carrier bands in Bi(111)

We present high-resolution photoemission data from the Bi(111)-surface. The electronic structure of the semimetal close to the Fermi level has been found to change dramatically with respect to the well established bulk band structure. The Fermi surfaces observed for the electron and hole bands resemble those of the next group-V element, antimony, probably as a consequence of surface relaxation. This results in a relatively high surface charge density. The observed temperature dependence of the electron Fermi energy confirms this result. Received 8 June 2000     

Growth,structure, and superconducting properties of Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 and (Bi,Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10‐y crystals

Large and high‐quality single crystals of both Pb‐free and Pb‐doped high temperature superconducting compounds (Bi_1‐xPb_x)₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_10‐y (x = 0 and 0.3) were grown by means of a newly developed “Vapour‐Assisted Travelling Floating Zone” technique (VA‐TSFZ). This modified zone‐melting technique was realised in an image furnace and allowed for the first time to grow Pb‐doped crystals by compensating for the Pb losses occurring at high temperature. Crystals up to 3×2×0.1 mm³ were successfully grown. Post‐annealing under high pressure of O₂ (up to 10 MPa at T = 500°C) was undertaken to enhance T_c and improve the homogeneity of the crystals. Structural characterisation was performed by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and the structure of the 3‐layer Bi‐based superconducting compound was refined for the first time. Structure refinement showed an incommensurate superlattice in the Pb‐free crystals. The space group is orthorhombic, A2aa, with cell parameters a = 27.105(4) Å, b = 5.4133(6) Å and c = 37.009(7) Å. Superconducting studies were carried out by A.C. and D.C. magnetic measurements. Very sharp superconducting transitions were obtained in both kinds of crystals (ΔT_c ≤ 1 K). In optimally doped Pb‐free crystals, critical temperatures up to 111 K were measured. Magnetic critical current densities of 2�10⁵ A/cm² were measured at T = 30 K and μ₀H = 0 T. A weak second peak in the magnetisation loops was observed in the temperature range 40‐50 K above which the vortex lattice becomes entangled. We have measured a portion of the irreversibility line (0.1‐5 Tesla) and fitted the expression for the melting of a vortex glass in a 2D fluctuation regime to the experimental data. Measurements of the lower critical field allowed to obtain the dependence of the penetration depth on temperature: the linear dependence of λ(T) for T < 30 K is consistent with d‐wave superconductivity in Bi‐2223. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Ultrasonic wave propagation in heterogeneous solid media: theoretical analysis and experimental validation

This research deals with the ultrasonic characterization of thermal damage in concrete. This damage leads to the appearance of microcracks which then evolve in terms of volume rate and size in the material. The scattering of ultrasonic waves from the inclusions is present in this type of medium. The propagation of the longitudinal wave in the heterogeneous media is studied via a homogenization model that integrates the multiple scattering of waves. The model allows us to determine the phase velocity and the attenuation according to the elements which make the medium. Simulations adapted to the concrete are developed in order to test the responses of the model. These behaviors are validated by an experimental study: the measurements of phase velocity and attenuation are performed in immersion, with a comparison method, on a frequency domain which ranges from 160 kHz to 1.3 MHz. The analysis of different theoretical and experimental results obtained on cement-based media leads to the model validation, on the phase velocity behavior, in the case of a damage simulated by expanded polystyrene spheres in granular media. The application to the case of a thermally damaged concrete shows a good qualitative agreement for the changes in velocity and attenuation.