Structural characterization of nanopatterned surfaces

In this work, chemically and topographically nanopatterned surfaces were produced by a top-down processing approach for biosensing devices. The nanopatterning was the result of the combination of plasma polymerisation (pp) of biofunctional materials and colloidal lithography techniques. The morphological and chemical properties induced by the plasma deposition-etching treatment were characterised by optical method combining ellipsometry and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy studies. This method supported by atomic force microscopy measurements, allowed the full optical characterization of each step of the top-down process. The optical characterization of the end-up nanopatterned samples demonstrated that the chosen process is able to produce well-defined nanostructured surfaces with controlled chemical and morphological properties.     

Sample preparation procedure for the determination of sulphur and trace metals in oil products by the ICP with a minitorch using emulsions

A quick sample preparation method was used for the determination of sulphur and trace metals in oil and oily products by the ICP with a minitorch. Stable aqueous emulsions of oils and oil products were made by using two kinds of emulsifiers (one with low sulphur content, the other sulfonated). Aqueous standard solutions can be used for the preparation of calibration solutions. The contents of S, Al, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Ni and Pb in aqueous emulsions were determined and the results were in good agreement with the composition of oil standard solutions used for control analysis procedure.     

New access to H-phosphonates via metal-catalyzed phosphorus-oxygen bond formation

A novel approach to H-phosphonates from hypophosphorous acid using a transfer hydrogenation process was developed. This method is atom-economical, environmentally friendly, catalytic, and efficient, leading easily to H-phosphonate monoesters or ammonium salt in moderate to good yields.     

Ab initio potential energy surface and pressure broadening coefficients for the He-CH3F complex

Symmetry-adapted perturbation theory has been applied to compute the He-CH₃F potential with the CH₃F molecule assumed rigid. The potential has a global minimum of −48.9 cm⁻¹ at the center of mass separation of 7.2 bohr with the helium atom lying along the C-F bond on the hydrogen’s side. The computed points were fitted to an analytic energy surface with a correct asymptotic behaviour. This potential has been used to compute the pressure broadening (PB) coefficients for the (j, k) = (0, 0) → (1, 0) and (1, 0) → (2, 0) rotational transitions of CH₃F perturbed by helium for a wide range of temperatures. Close-coupling results are compared with the experimental data of Willey et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 97 (1992) 4723], Beaky et al. [J. Mol. Struct. 352/353 (1995) 245] and infinite order sudden results are compared with those of Grigoriev et al. [J. Mol. Struct. 186 (1997) 48] for the ν₆ band of CH₃F perturbed by helium at room temperature. To our knowledge, present work is the first attempt of making fully ab initio calculations of collisional cross-sections and pressure broadening coefficients for this simple symmetric top system at low and room temperature.     

The Random Average Process and Random Walk in a Space-Time Random Environment in One Dimension

We study space-time fluctuations around a characteristic line for a one-dimensional interacting system known as the random average process. The state of this system is a real-valued function on the integers. New values of the function are created by averaging previous values with random weights. The fluctuations analyzed occur on the scale n ^1/4, where n is the ratio of macroscopic and microscopic scales in the system. The limits of the fluctuations are described by a family of Gaussian processes. In cases of known product-form invariant distributions, this limit is a two-parameter process whose time marginals are fractional Brownian motions with Hurst parameter 1/4. Along the way we study the limits of quenched mean processes for a random walk in a space-time random environment. These limits also happen at scale n ^1/4 and are described by certain Gaussian processes that we identify. In particular, when we look at a backward quenched mean process, the limit process is the solution of a stochastic heat equation.     

Characteristics of Ti0.97Co0.03O2:Sb0.01 dilute magnetic semiconducting thin films deposited at 500 °C by pulsed laser deposition

Epitaxial Ti_0.97Co_0.03O₂:Sb_0.01(TCO:Sb) films were deposited on R-Al₂O₃ (1 1 0 2) substrates at 500 °C in various deposition pressures by pulsed laser deposition. The solubility of cobalt within the films increases with decreasing deposition pressure at a deposition temperature of 500 °C. The TCO:Sb films deposited at 5×10⁻⁶ Torr exhibit a p-type anomalous Hall effect having a hole concentration of 6.1×10²²/cm³ at 300 K. On the other hand, films deposited at 4×10⁻⁴ Torr exhibits an n-type anomalous Hall effect having an electron concentration of about 1.1×10²¹/cm³. p- or n-type DMS characteristics depends on the change of the structure of TCO:Sb films and the solubility of Co is possible by controlling the deposition pressure.     

Mathematical modeling of crystallization analysis fractionation (Crystaf) of polyethylene

Four polyethylene samples (PE) with different molecular weight distributions (MWD) were analyzed by crystallization analysis fractionation (Crystaf) at several cooling rates to investigate the effect of MWD and cooling rate on their Crystaf profiles. Using these results, we developed a mathematical model for Crystaf that considers crystallization kinetic effects, which are ignored in all previous Crystaf models. The Crystaf model we proposed can fit the experimental Crystaf profiles of the 4 polyethylene resins very well. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2749–2759, 2006     

Aluminum(III) complexes containing O,O chelating ligand

The stoichiometric reactions of trimethylaluminum with 2,6‐(MeOCH₂)₂C₆H₃OH (LH) revealed compounds L₃Al ( 1 ) and L₂AlMe ( 2 ). On the other hand reaction of 1 equiv. of LH with trimethylaluminum did not lead to the formation of complex LAlMe₂ ( 3 ), rather 2 together with Me₃Al were observed as a result of a disproportionation of 3 . Compounds 1 and 2 were characterized by elemental analysis, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and in the case of 1 by X‐ray diffraction. Derivative 2 underwent transmetalation with Ph₃SnOH, giving LSnPh₃ ( 4 ) as the result of a migration of ligand L from the aluminum to the tin atom. The identity of 4 was established by elemental analysis, ¹H, ¹³C and ¹¹⁹Sn NMR spectroscopy and ¹H, ¹¹⁹Sn HMBC experiments. The system 2 and B(C₆F₅)₃ in a 1:1 molar ratio was shown to be active in the polymerization of propylene oxide and ε‐caprolactone. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coloring mixed hypertrees

A mixed hypergraph is a triple (V,C,D) where V is its vertex set and C and D are families of subsets of V, called C-edges and D-edges, respectively. For a proper coloring, we require that each C-edge contains two vertices with the same color and each D-edge contains two vertices with different colors. The feasible set of a mixed hypergraph is the set of all k's for which there exists a proper coloring using exactly k colors. A hypergraph is a hypertree if there exists a tree such that the edges of the hypergraph induce connected subgraphs of the tree.We prove that feasible sets of mixed hypertrees are gap-free, i.e., intervals of integers, and we show that this is not true for precolored mixed hypertrees. The problem to decide whether a mixed hypertree can be colored by k colors is NP-complete in general; we investigate complexity of various restrictions of this problem and we characterize their complexity in most of the cases.