Structure of copper-doped tungsten oxide films for solid-state memory

Copper-doped WO₃ films, which are an active media for programmable metallization cell memory devices, are studied. The highlights of this study are the intercalation products forming on the interface between the WO₃ and Cu during thermal evaporation and also after thermal or photothermal diffusion of Cu into WO₃ films. The diffusion profile is established using Auger spectroscopy. Further characterization is provided using Raman spectroscopy which gives evidence for formation of products with a lower valence state related to W and oxidation products related to Cu. The composition of the intercalation products containing Cu is confirmed using X-ray diffraction which shows the formation of copper oxides and tungstates.     

Another look at complete positivity in generalized quantum dynamics: Reply to Raggio and Primas

In this rejoinder to a critique by Raggio and Primas of our paper, On Completely Positive Maps in Generalized Quantum Dynamics, we acknowledge that, contrary to our original assertion, the Bloch equations are indeed completely positive. We then explain briefly why this modification of our analysis does not alter its main conclusions.     

Reinvestigation of phase relations in the CaOUO2 system

Phase relationships in the binary CaOUO₂ system were reinvestigated. In a carefully controlled reducing atmosphere the formation of binary compounds was not detected and only extensive solid solubility of CaO in UO₂ was observed. In controlled atmosphere in wet hydrogen, a perovskite, Ca₂ (Ca_0.67U⁴⁺_0.33)U⁵⁺O_5.83 is formed as the single binary Ca compound containing uranium in a 4+ valence state.     

Magnetic properties of some RCo2B2 and RCo4B4 compounds

RCo₂B₂ (R=Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd) and RCo₄B₄ (R=Pr, Nd, Sm) compounds have been investigated by X-ray and magnetometry techniques in the temperature range 4.2-300 K. These compounds crystallize in tetragonal crystal structures of the types CeAl₂Ga₂ and CeCo₄B₄, respectively, with lattice parameters decreasing for increasing atomic weight of the rare earth ion. All compounds order magnetically with the Curie temperatures much below room temperature. Anomalous magnetic behavior is observed for RCo₄B₄ alloys.     

Stability of a Pivoting Strategy for Parallel Gaussian Elimination

Gaussian elimination with partial pivoting achieved by adding the pivot row to the kth row at step k, was introduced by Onaga and Takechi in 1986 as means for reducing communications in parallel implementations. In this paper it is shown that the growth factor of this partial pivoting algorithm is bounded above by _n <#60; 3 ^n–1, as compared to 2 ^n–1 for the standard partial pivoting. This bound _n, close to 3 ^n–2, is attainable for class of near-singular matrices. Moreover, for the same matrices the growth factor is small under partial pivoting.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Strongly meager sets of size continuum

We will construct several models where there are no strongly meager sets of size 2⁰. First author partially supported by NSF grant DMS 0200671.Second author partially supported by Israel Science Foundation and NSF grant DMS 0072560. Publication 807. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000):03E15, 03E20     

Ribonucleotide and ribonucleoside determination by ambient pressure ion mobility spectrometry

Detection limits and reduced mobilities for 12 ribonucleotides and 4 ribonucleosides were measured by ambient pressure electrospray ionization-ion mobility spectrometry (ESI-IMS). With the instrument used in this study it was possible to separate some of these compounds within mixtures. Detection limits reported for ribonucleotides and ribonucleosides ranged from 15 to 300 pmol and the reduced mobilities ranged from 41 to 56 suggesting that ambient pressure ESI-IMS may be used for their rapid and sensitive separation and detection. This report demonstrates that it was possible to use ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) to obtain a spectrum for the separation of nucleotides and nucleosides in less than 1 min. The application holds great promise for nucleotide analysis in the area of separating DNA fragments in genome sequencing and also for forensics DNA typing examinations used for the identification of blood stains in crime scenes and paternity testing.     

Chiral recognition of PVBA on Pd(111) and Ag(111) surfaces

An asymmetric planar molecule, 4-trans-2-(pyrid-4-yl-vinyl) benzoic acid (PVBA), has been used to establish the organic chiral recognition on fcc(111) metal surfaces. The strong correlation between the orientation and chiral recognition of PVBA on both Ag(111) and Pd(111) guides the choice of a model potential, which determines the relative binding energy of PVBA on fcc(111). An angle-dependent calculation of relative binding energy reproduces the experimental observation of the chiral recognition of PVBA on Ag(111) but not on Pd(111).     

Finding Alignment: The Perceptions and Integration of the Next Generation Science Standards Practices by Elementary Teachers

Preparing elementary‐level teachers to teach in alignment with the eight Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) practices could prove to be a daunting endeavor. However, the process may be catalyzed by leveraging elements of teacher science instruction that inherently attend to the practice standards. In this study, we investigated the science instruction of three grade 3–5 elementary‐level teachers. We used observation, interviews, and surveys to determine the level to which the teachers perceived they taught and engaged in teaching science aligned with the eight NGSS practices. We found that the teachers were partially, and intrinsically implementing several of these practices in their instruction, and at the same time could not articulate the eight NGSS practices. Our results suggest there may be ample opportunity to build on the current science instruction of elementary‐level teachers to bring their instruction into alignment with the NGSS. We found that teachers’ perceive professional development, school culture, and access to additional instructional resources to be essential to their adoption of the NGSS practices.