Comments on “Spectral analysis of thermally stimulated exoelectron emission from glass deposited on metal by argon plasma treatment”

A “spectral analysis” using a fit of a single glow curve only — without kinetic check — does not prove the correctness of the model of Sakurai and Momose [Phys. Lett. A 179 (1993) 55] and thus of parameters estimated on this basis. Contrary to this a “complete analysis” yields three of four parameters directly from the experiment. Two criteria are given to verify the model experimentally.     

Radiography of biological specimens with alpha particles and the CR-39 SSNTD

This work studies the alpha particle radiography technique in conjunction with the CR-39 SSNTD. The irradiations were made in the CV-28 cyclotron at IEN/CNEN/RJ using a 7 MeV/nucleon alpha particle beam. The best etch time to obtain radiographs was determined as six hours. A calibration curve was obtained, so to allow a quantitative interpretation of the images to be performed. Its behavior was checked by several experiments with other energy degrading materials. Several radiographs of “in-vitro” biological specimens were obtained. The results showed the potential capability of this technique for studies in paleontology.     

An experimental method for measuring the radon-222 emanation factor in rocks

An experimental method, based on a 21-day accumulation technique, is proposed for measuring the radon-222 emanation factor in undisturbed consolidated materials. The leakage rate is determined from the form of the radon growth curve in the measurement chamber. It was comparable to the radon decay. In order to obtain the “true” radon emanation factor, the thickness of the sample must be less than the radon diffusion length in the porous material. The method was used to measure the radon emanation factor in water-saturated claystones (argillites). The radon emanation factor, determined from experiments on a rock sample with a thickness of 5 mm, was 15%, a value typical for this kind of material.     

Stationary cell size distributions and mean protein chain length distributions of Archaea,Bacteria and Eukaryotes described with an increment model in terms of irreversible thermodynamics

In terms of an increment model irreversible thermodynamics allows to formulate general relations of stationary cell size distributions observed in growing colonies. The treatment is based on the following key postulates: i) The growth dynamics covers a broad spectrum of fast and slow processes. ii) Slow processes are considered to install structural patterns that operate in short periods as temporary stationary states of reference in the sense of irreversible thermodynamics. iii) Distortion during growth is balanced out via the many fast processes until an optimized stationary state is achieved. The relation deduced identifies the numerous different stationary patterns as equivalents, predicting that they should fall on one master curve. Stationary cell size distributions of different cell types, like Hyperphilic archaea, E. coli (Prokaryotes) and S. cerevisiae (Eukaryotes), altogether taken from the literature, are in fact consistently described. As demanded by the model they agree together with the same master curve. Considering the “protein factories” as subsystems of cells the mean protein chain length distributions deduced from completely sequenced genomes should be optimized. In fact, the mean course can be described with analogous relations as used above. Moreover, the master curve fits well to the patterns of different species of Archaea, Bacteria and Eukaryotes. General consequences are discussed.     

Properties of a local pairing model of high-Tc superconductivity

A simulation technique is used to study the properties of the “hole modulated hopping” model introduced by Hirsch. The superconducting order parameter, energy gap and pair size have been determined for a range of particle densities and temperatures in the neighbourhood of the superconducting phase transition. Results are consistent with the interpretation of the superconducting transition to be Bose-like at low hole densities and BCS-like at high hole densities, with a crossover near the T_c maximum in the T_c versus hole density curve. This behaviour is related to the existence of small non-overlapping pairs at low hole densities and large strongly interpenetrating pairs at hole densities above the T_c maximum.     

An approach to modeling the dependence of magnetization on magnetic field in the high field regime

The “law of approach to saturation” is a well-known mathematical model for describing the behavior of ferromagnets at high magnetic field strengths which has the additional advantage that it can be linked to anisotropy through one of the terms in the mathematical expression of the law. In this paper, two recent and more comprehensive models of the magnetization process are compared with the law of approach and with each other in terms of their capability to describe the dependence of the magnetization curve in the high field regime. The comparison leads to relations between these two models and the interpretation of certain aspects of the models in terms of anisotropy. It is shown that the effects of anisotropy can be incorporated directly into these models without any additional assumptions.     

The axial ising model for martensitic transformations and pseudoelasticity

A theory based on the Ising axial model for the martensitic transformation between close-packed structures in an external stress field is proposed. The quasi-spin Hamiltonian was derived for a stratified close-packed crystal which under certain limitations has the form of a Hamiltonian of the ANNNI-model wherein “the exchange integrals” are expressed in terms of the interlayer interaction potentials. The dependence of the strain on the shear stress is calculated for alloys showing the pseudoelasticity effect and it is shown that the number of steps in the deformation curve is defined by the radius of the interlayer interaction. The theory proposed is applied to the explanation of the stress-induced martensitic transformations in Cu-Al-Ni alloys.     

Acoustic Analyses of Developmental Changes and Emotional Expression in the Preverbal Vocalizations of Infants

The nonverbal vocal utterances of seven normally hearing infants were studied within their first year of life with respect to age- and emotion-related changes. Supported by a multiparametric acoustic analysis it was possible to distinguish one inspiratory and eleven expiratory call types. Most of the call types appeared within the first two months; some emerged in the majority of infants not until the 5th (“laugh”) or 7th month (“babble”). Age-related changes in acoustic structure were found in only 4 call types (“discomfort cry,” “short discomfort cry,” “wail,” “moan”). The acoustic changes were characterized mainly by an increase in harmonic-to-noise ratio and homogeneity of the call, a decrease in frequency range and a downward shift of acoustic energy from higher to lower frequencies. Emotion-related differences were found in the acoustic structure of single call types as well as in the frequency of occurrence of different call types. A change from positive to negative emotional state was accompanied by an increase in call duration, frequency range, and peak frequency (frequency with the highest amplitude within the power spectrum). Negative emotions, in addition, were characterized by a significantly higher rate of “crying,” “hic” and “ingressive vocalizations” than positive emotions, while positive emotions showed a significantly higher rate of “babble,” “laugh,” and “raspberry.”     

A contribution to the invar problem by hyperfine field distribution analyses

The Mössbauer spectra of Invar type Fe₆₅(Ni_1-xMn_x)₃₅ alloys (0 x 0.3) were analyzed to yield hyperfine field distribution (P(H)) curve. The P(H) curves of the alloy with x = 0, that is the “classical” Invar alloy, at 4.2 K is character ized by a relatively sharp main peak at 350 kOe and a weak low field component around 50 kOe. With increasing x, the low field component grows and the high field main peak spreads toward a low field. By raising temperature, the main peak exhibits a remarkable broadening as well as a decrease in the average internal field and a growth of the low field component has not been detected. On the basis of these observations, models of the Invar alloy so far proposed are discussed.     

Completeness of “good” Bethe ansatz solutions of a quantum-group-invariant Heisenberg model

The sl_q(2) quantum-group-invariant Heisenberg model with open boundary conditions is investigated by means of the Bethe ansatz. As is well known, quantum groups for q equal to a root of unity possess a finite number of “good” representations with non-zero q-dimension and “bad” ones with vanishing q-dimension. Correspondingly, the state space of an invariant Heisenberg chain decomposes into “good” and “bad” states. A “good” state may be described by a path of only “good” representations. It is shown that the “good” states are given by all “good” Bethe ansatz solutions with roots restricted to the first periodicity strip, i.e. only positive-parity strings (in the language of Takahashi) are allowed. Applying Bethe's string-counting technique completeness of the “good” Bethe states is proven, i.e. the same number of states is found as the number of all restricted paths on the sl_q(2) Bratteli diagram. It is the first time that a “completeness” proof for an anisotropic quantum-invariant reduced Heisenberg model is performed.     

Strain due to nickel diffusion into hydrogen-terminated Si(1 1 1) surface

We studied the affection of thin (i.e., 0.2–0.8 nm) Ni films on hydrogen-terminated Si(1 1 1) substrate surface by using strain-sensitive X-ray diffraction. It was reported that Ni deposition onto hydrogen-terminated Si surface apparently does not cause film growth, but rather diffuses into the Si crystal, creating an “Ni diffusion layer” up to Ni deposition 0.8 nm thick. Measured rocking curves of the Si 1 1 3 reflection and integrated intensities of the rocking curves for the substrate provide information about the evolution of the strain field introduced near the substrate surface during Ni diffusion into the substrate. Comparing the measured and calculated rocking curves indicates that compression of the {1 1 1} spacing of the Si occurs gradually up to an Ni thickness of 0.6 nm, and that above this thickness, strain relaxation occurs.

We found that the slope of the integrated intensity of the rocking curve versus X-ray wavelength correlates to the strain field near the surface, in the same way that the shape of the rocking curves correlate to the strain field near the surface. Dynamical diffraction calculations indicate that measurement of the slope of the integrated intensity of the rocking curve versus X-ray wavelength is useful for strain analysis, because the dependence is not only sensitive to strain fields, but is also insensitive to the effect of absorption by the overlayer, which otherwise would cause deformation of the shape of the rocking curve.     

Comparison between qualitative and quantitative wall motion analyses using dipyridamole stress breath-hold cine magnetic resonance imaging in patients with severe coronary artery stenosis

Breath-hold cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at rest and during dipyridamole infusion was used to study wall motion abnormalities in patients with severe coronary artery stenosis proven by coronary angiography. Sixteen patients without myocardial infarction but at least one major coronary artery with ≥70% diameter narrowing were included. Qualitative “visual” assessment of wall motion, as well as quantitative measurement “wall thickening changes (%)” were compared using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. ²⁰¹Tl-single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was also studied for comparison. Using qualitative analysis, coronary artery disease detection rate was comparable when assessing wall motion abnormalities with dipyridamole-MRI (79%) and with dipyridamole-induced perfusion defects with 201-thallium-SPECT (75%). Furthermore, sensitivity and specificity for identification of all diseased coronary territories were comparable for both imaging modalities (sensitivity of dipyridamole-MRI and ²⁰¹thallium-SPECT, 80% vs. 69%; specificity, 75% vs. 80%). The quantitative method has a substantially higher sensitivity than the qualitative method in identifying all diseased territories (Az = 0.81, p < 0.01 vs. Az = 0.55 and 0.59). In addition, we demonstrated that the quantitative method had higher performance than the qualitative one in identifying the diseased vessels territories related to 1-vessel, 2-vessel, and each of individual coronary artery stenoses.     

Methane activation over Ag-exchanged ZSM-5 zeolites: A theoretical study

Methane activation catalyzed over Ag-exchanged ZSM-5 zeolites was investigated by using the density functional theory (DFT) with a cluster model. Two different pathways were taken into account in this work: the “alkyl” and the “carbenium” pathways. The activation barriers obtained are 34.09 and 66.63 kcal/mol for the “alkyl” and the “carbenium” pathway, respectively. The calculated results show that the activation barrier of the “alkyl” pathway is smaller than that of “carbenium” pathway. Consequently, the “alkyl” pathway is the preferential reaction pathway. A new mechanism of methane conversion in the presence of ethene was proposed. In the catalytic cycle, the initial step of methane activation proceeds with the “alkyl” pathway and the Ag⁺ cation acts as an acceptor of the methyl group, then ethene reacts with the Ag⁺CH₃⁻ group to form propene. In addition, it is found that the Ag⁺ cations play an important role in the methane activation, compared with the reaction of methane activation over H-ZSM-5.     

Nucleation and growth mechanism for flame synthesis of MoO2 hollow microchannels with nanometer wall thickness

The growth and morphological evolution of molybdenum-oxide microstructures formed in the high temperature environment of a counter-flow oxy-fuel flame using molybdenum probes is studied. Experiments conducted using various probe retention times show the sequence of the morphological changes. The morphological row begins with micron size objects exhibiting polygonal cubic shape, develops into elongated channels, changes to large structures with leaf-like shape, and ends in dendritic structures. Time of probe–flame interaction is found to be a governing parameter controlling the wide variety of morphological patterns; a molecular level growth mechanism is attributed to their development. This study reveals that the structures are grown in several consecutive stages: material “evaporation and transportation”, “transformation”, “nucleation”, “initial growth”, “intermediate growth”, and “final growth”. XRD analysis shows that the chemical compositions of all structures correspond to MoO₂.     

Theoretical investigation of some hexagonal ferrite ac data

An almost new method has been confirmed for experimentalists to have a first insight into the solid under study, by investigating the Cole–Cole diagrams of both the electric modulus M^* and the permittivity ε^* at different temperatures. All points of M^* function at different temperatures of the investigated hexagonal ferrite data have been collected in one semicircular master curve for each composition. This indicates that the studied compositions belong to a category of solids having what we have referred to as an “electric stiffness” as the dominating property, which is the reciprocal to an “electric compliance”—this would be the dominating property if the permittivity ε^* points could be collected in a master curve. In the present work, it has been found that the Cole–Cole diagrams of M^* have given some detailed information that are not obviously displayed in the conductivity representation.Moreover, a fitting of the investigated experimental data of the hexagonal ferrites—BaZn_2-xMg_xFe₁₆O₂₇, where (x=0.0,0.4,0.8,1.2,1.6 and 2)—with Dyre's macroscopic model of ac conductivity has been performed.An indirect method of fitting of the investigated data with the percolation path approximation (PPA) final equation of Dyre's macroscopic model has shown quite satisfactory results especially at relatively low frequencies . Whereas for the effective medium approximation (EMA) final equation of Dyre's macroscopic model the fitting has failed in hexagonal ferrites on contrary with a limited success found in a previous work with spinel ferrites. This is attributed to the more complex structure of hexagonal ferrites than that of spinel ferrites which makes the EMA no more suitable.     

Beyond nanosizing: an approach to shape analysis of fluorescent nanostructures by SMI-microscopy

Using spatially modulated illumination (SMI) light microscopy it is possible to measure the sizes of fluorescent structures that have an extension far below the conventional optical resolution limit (“subresolution size”). Presently, the sizes are determined as the object extension along the optical axis of the SMI microscope. For this, however, “a priori” assumptions on the fluorochrome distribution (“shape”) within the examined fluorescent structure have to be made. Usually it is assumed that the fluorochrome follows a Gauss-distribution or a spherical distribution. In this report we overcome the necessity to make an assumption on the shape of the fluorochrome distribution. We introduce two new experimentally obtained parameters which allow the determination of a shape measure to describe the spatial distribution of the fluorescent dye. This becomes possible by independent measurements with different excitation wavelengths. As an example, we present shape parameter measurements on individual fluorescent microspheres with a nominal geometrical diameter (“size”) of 190 nm. In the case investigated, the experimental shape correlated well with a homogeneous fluorochrome distribution (“spherical shape”) but not with a variety of other “shapes”.     

Feasibility of “intermittent” active control of combustion instabilities in liquid fueled combustors using a “smart” fuel injector

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the feasibility of an “intermittent” active control approach for suppressing combustion instabilities in liquid fueled combustors. The developed controller employs a “smart” fuel injector that can modify the spray properties in response to changes in combustor operating conditions. This action weakens or breaks up the coupling between the combustion process and combustor acoustic modes oscillations, thus preventing the excitation of large amplitude instabilities. This approach differs significantly from previously proposed active control methods, both in concept and implementation, as it requires only “intermittent” modification of the combustion process by a single control action as opposed to the continuous action required by most other active control methods. The “smart” fuel injector used in this study consisted of a double-staged, air-assisted atomizer in which counter swirling, primary (inner stage) and secondary (outer stage) air streams were supplied to the injector through separate sets of tangentially oriented orifices. Control of the ratio of air mass flow rates supplied to these two stages, by use of a diverter valve, resulted in significant changes in the spray shape and its axial, tangential, and radial velocity components. This variation in spray properties of the “smart” injector was characterized for different values of the inner to outer air flow rate ratio in cold flow tests with a PDPA system. These results were then correlated with the characteristics of the “intermittently” controlled combustor. Measured quantities included the instability amplitudes, axial dependence of the mean and oscillatory heat release amplitudes, and the characteristics of the recirculation zones, which were all shown to depend on the fuel spray properties. The results of this study demonstrate the feasibility of using “smart” fuel injectors with capabilities for varying the combustion process characteristics to reduce the amplitudes of detrimental combustion instabilities in real engines to acceptable levels.     

K–K excitations on as “primary” superfields

We show that the K–K spectrum of IIB string on is described by “twisted chiral” superfields, naturally described in “harmonic superspace”, obtained by taking suitable gauge singlets polynomials of the D3-brane boundary superconformal field theory.To each p-order polynomial is associated a massive K–K short representation with states. The quadratic polynomial corresponds to the “supercurrent multiplet” describing the “massless” bulk graviton multiplet.     

Evolution Strategy Optimization for Selective Pulses in NMR

We present a first set of improved selective pulses, obtained with a numerical technique similar to the one proposed by Geen and Freeman. The novelty is essentially a robust and efficient “evolution strategy” which consistently leads, in a matter of minutes, to “solutions” better than those published so far. The other two ingredients are a “cost function,” which includes contributions from peak and average radiofrequency power, and some understanding of the peculiar requirements of each type of pulse. For example, good solutions for self-refocusing pulses and “negative phase excitation pulses” (which yield a maximum signal well after the end of the pulse) are found, as may have been predicted, among amplitude modulated pulses with 270° tip angles. Emphasis is given to the search for solutions with low RF power for selective excitation, saturation, and inversion pulses. Experimental verification of accuracy and power requirements of the pulses has been performed with a 4.7 T Sisco imager.