Evaluation of reaction spontaneity for acidic and reductive dissolutions of corrosion metal oxides using HyBRID chemical decontamination

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Complete sets of reaction mechanisms are proposed in the acidic and reductive dissolution of magnetite, nickel ferrite, and chromite using the...     

Signature inversion in the yrare band of <Superscript>119</Superscript>Xe

Excited states of the ¹¹⁹Xe nucleus have been studied by using in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy with the ¹⁰⁷Ag ( ¹⁶O, p3n) ¹¹⁹Xe fusion-evaporation reaction at a beam energy of 85 MeV. The level scheme of ¹¹⁹Xe has been derived from γ-γ coincidence and γ-γ angular correlation analyses. We have, for the first time, established the second negative-parity favored and unfavored states built on the 11/2^- state, namely the yrare rotational bands in ¹¹⁹Xe. In contrast to the behavior of the yrast bands where the favored states are lying lower in energy, the yrare favored states were observed to lie above the unfavored band. Such a signature inversion in ¹¹⁹Xe is changed to be normal at I = 12?. Received: 8 January 2002 / Accepted: 18 April 2002     

Spliced-fiber mode filter for 1060-nm single-mode transmission

We present a novel mode filter operating for the 1060-nm band, which selectively removes the power of the high-order mode (HOM) from a conventional single-mode fiber (C-SMF) that supports two modes at the short-wavelength band. Our mode filter is fabricated very easily by fusion-splicing a short section of short-wavelength single-mode fiber in the middle of the C-SMF link. By using our spliced-fiber mode filter (SF-MF), a high HOM suppression performance of > 18 dB has been achieved with a low insertion loss of < 0.3 dB over the full band of optical communications from 1050 nm to 1650 nm. We have also developed a new mode power measurement scheme that takes advantage of the bending sensitivity of the HOM guidance. This measurement scheme enabled us to evaluate accurately the performance factors of the fabricated mode filter.     

The graphs G(n, k) of the Johnson Schemes are unique for n ≥ 20

Let G(n, k) denote the graph of the Johnson Scheme J(n, k), i.e., the graph whose vertices are all k-subsets of a fixed n-set, with two vertices adjacent if and only if their intersection is of size k ? 1. It is known that G(n, k) is a distance regular graph with diameter k. Much work has been devoted to the question of whether a distance regular graph with the parameters of G(n, k) must isomorphic to G(n, k). In this paper, this question is settled affirmatively for n ≥ 20. In fact the result is proved with weaker conditions.     

Some asymptotic results useful in enumeration problems

Suppose one is given two related generating functionsa(x) = a _n x ⁿ andb(x) = b _n x ⁿ , often it is of interest to determine the limiting behaviour of the quantitiesa _n /b _n We survey some earlier results of this nature and give some new ones     

On centroid branches of trees from certain families

We obtain various results involving the centroid branches of randomly chosen trees from simply generated families.     

Novel fabrication route for carbon-free and dense CuInSe2 (CIS) thin films via a non-vacuum process for solar cell application

Carbon-free CuInSe₂ (CIS) thin film with a dense microstructure has been prepared using a novel non-vacuum based fabrication route. Cu_xS_y and In₂Se₃ binary nanoparticles, approximately 10 nm in size, were synthesized by a low temperature colloidal process. The precursor film was deposited using the coating ink formulated with the binary nanoparticles and pyridine, and then annealed in the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) chamber at 540 °C for 15 min under selenium (Se) atmosphere. Scanning electron micrographs, X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman spectra showed a phase pure carbon-free and dense CIS thin film was prepared in this method. A solar cell device fabricated using this CIS thin film showed the following photovoltaic characteristics: V_OC = 350 mV, J_SC = 24.72 mA cm⁻², FF = 38.73% and η = 3.36% under standard AM 1.5 condition.     

Free vibration analysis of a hanged clamped-free cylindrical shell partially submerged in fluid: The effect of external wall,internal shaft,and flat bottom

The free flexural vibration of a hanged clamped-free cylindrical shell with various boundary conditions partially submerged in a fluid is investigated. Specifically, the effects of the boundary conditions such as the existence of the external wall, internal shaft, and bottom on the natural vibration characteristics of the partially submerged cylindrical shell are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The fluid is assumed to be inviscid and irrotational. The cylindrical shell is modeled by using the Rayleigh–Ritz method based on the Sanders shell theory. The kinetic energy of the fluid is derived by solving a boundary-value problem related to the fluid motion. The theoretical predictions were in good agreement with the experimental results validating the theoretical approach developed in this study. The effects of the external wall, internal shaft, and bottom on the natural vibration characteristics can be neglected when its boundaries are not very close to the shell structure.     

Improved dimensional stability of Nafion membrane modified using a layer by layer self-assembly of biophilic polymers

The modification of perfluorinated proton exchange membranes (e.g. Nafion) utilizing a layer by layer (LbL) electrostatic assembly of oppositely charged biophilic polymers such as poly-l-lysine as positive layer and dsDNA as a negative layer is developed to protect the interface between the catalyst layer and the membrane in a low temperature fuel cell. Various physicochemical measurements including water uptake, proton conductivity and surface tension were investigated for both the as-received Nafion and the biopolymeric LbL modified Nafion. The smaller water contact angle and the less swelling characteristics of the biopolymer modified Nafion membrane was founded compared to that of as-received Nafion. This clearly indicates that the more hydrophilic surface of biopolymeric layers on Nafion plays an important role in the enhanced dimensional stability. In addition, a potential hypothesis explaining the higher proton conductivity from the LbL biopolymeric film coated Nafion is suggested.     

Multichannel transceiver dual-tuned RF coil for proton/sodium MR imaging of knee cartilage at 3 T

Sodium magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a promising technique for detecting changes of proteoglycan (PG) content in cartilage associated with knee osteoarthritis. Despite its potential clinical benefit, sodium MR imaging in vivo is challenging because of intrinsically low sodium concentration and low MR signal sensitivity. Some of the challenges in sodium MR imaging may be eliminated by the use of a high-sensitivity radiofrequency (RF) coil, specifically, a dual-tuned (DT) proton/sodium RF coil which facilitates the co-registration of sodium and proton MR images and the evaluation of both physiochemical and structural properties of knee cartilage. Nevertheless, implementation of a DT proton/sodium RF coil is technically difficult because of the coupling effect between the coil elements (particularly at high field) and the required compact design with improved coil sensitivity. In this study, we applied a multitransceiver RF coil design to develop a DT proton/sodium coil for knee cartilage imaging at 3 T. With the new design, the size of the coil was minimized, and a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was achieved. DT coil exhibited high levels of reflection S11 (～-21 dB) and transmission coefficient S12 (～-19 dB) for both the proton and sodium coils. High SNR (range 27-38) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) (range 15-21) were achieved in sodium MR imaging of knee cartilage in vivo at 3-mm(3) isotropic resolution. This DT coil performance was comparable to that measured using a sodium-only birdcage coil (SNR of 28 and CNR of 20). Clinical evaluation of the DT coil on four normal subjects demonstrated a consistent acquisition of high-resolution proton images and measurement of relative sodium concentrations of knee cartilages without repositioning of the subjects during the same MR scanning session.