The luminescence properties of Eu2+ doped Na2CaMg(PO4)2 phosphor

The blue-emitting phosphors of Eu²⁺-doped Na₂CaMg(PO₄)₂ were prepared by high-temperature solid-state reaction. The crystal phase formation was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction measurement. The luminescence properties were investigated by photoluminescence excitation and emission spectra. The phosphor exhibited the blue luminescence due to the 4f⁶5d¹→4f⁷ transition of Eu²⁺ ions under the excitation of near UV light. The influence of temperature on the luminescence intensities and decay lifetimes of Eu²⁺ was investigated. An unusual increase of the decay lifetimes of the 4f⁶5d emission of Eu²⁺ ion is observed in Na₂CaMg(PO₄)₂ from 10 K to room temperature. The thermal stability of the luminescence of Eu²⁺-doped Na₂CaMg(PO₄)₂ was discussed.     

Characterization of bioactive RGD peptide immobilized onto poly(acrylic acid) thin films by plasma polymerization

Plasma surface modification can be used to improve the surface properties of commercial pure Ti by creating functional groups to produce bioactive materials with different surface topography. In this study, a titanium surface was modified with acrylic acid (AA) using a plasma treatment and immobilized with bioactive arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide, which may accelerate the tissue integration of bone implants. Both terminals containing the -NH₂ of RGD peptide sequence and -COOH of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) thin film were combined with a covalent bond in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-3-dimethylaminopropyl carbodiimide (EDC). The chemical structure and morphology of AA film and RGD immobilized surface were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). All chemical analysis showed full coverage of the Ti substrate with the PAA thin film containing COOH groups and the RGD peptide. The MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured on each specimen, and the cell alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity were examined. The surface-immobilized RGD peptide has a significantly increased the ALP activity of MC3T3-E1 cells. These results suggest that the RGD peptide immobilization on the titanium surface has an effect on osteoblastic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells and potential use in osteo-conductive bone implants.     

Origin of nonlinear transport across the magnetically induced superconductor-metal-insulator transition in two dimensions

We have studied the effect of perpendicular magnetic fields and temperatures on nonlinear electronic transport in amorphous Ta superconducting thin films. The films exhibit a magnetic field-induced metallic behavior intervening the superconductor-insulator transition in the zero temperature limit. We show that the phase-identifying nonlinear transport in the superconducting and metallic phases arises from an intrinsic origin, not from an electron heating effect. The nonlinear transport is found to accompany an extraordinarily long voltage response time.     

Effects of the Various Cooling Conditions on 1,064-nm nd:Yag Laser Treatment for Selective Photothermolysis

The purpose of this study was to find optimum treatment conditions for selective photothermolysis by evaluating internal–external heat distributions according to different cooling methods. The 1,064-nm Nd:YAG laser was transmitted into a skin-mimicking phantom with different cooling conditions, and its minimum temperatures and sub-zero times were measured. The cooling methods were classified into a total of eight conditions composed of five cryogen spray cooling conditions and three air cooling conditions. Based on the experimental results, condition 2 was selected as the optimum cooling condition for selective photothermolysis obtained from the cryogen spray cooling method.     

On Unimodality of Hilbert Functions of Gorenstein Artin Algebras of Embedding Dimension Four

We prove that the Hilbert functions of Gorenstein Artin algebras R/I of embedding dimension four are unimodal provided I has a minimal generator in degree less than five. It is still an open question as to whether all Gorenstein Hilbert functions in codimension four are SI-sequences. It is not even known if they are all unimodal. In this article, we prove that Hilbert functions of all Gorenstein Artin algebras starting with (1, 4, 10, 20, h ₄,…), where h ₄ = 34 are unimodal. Combining this with previously known results, we obtain that all Gorenstein Hilbert functions (1, 4, h ₂, h ₃, h ₄,…4, 1) are unimodal if h ₄ ≤ 34.     

Study of alkyl chain length dependent characteristics of imidazolium based ionic liquids [CnMIM]+[TFSA]− by Brillouin and dielectric loss spectroscopy

This study examined the acoustic phonon mode of ionic liquids consisting of 1-alkyl-3-methyl-imidazolium family (C_nMIM) cations with n values ranging from 2 to 10 and bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide (TFSA) anion in the temperature range from 300 K to 100 K. [C_nMIM]⁺[TFSA]^? showed depolarized (VH) components of Brillouin peaks at temperatures below the glass transition temperature when n is larger than 4. On the other hand, in the case of ionic liquids with different anions, such as [C₄MIM]⁺[BF₄]^?, [C₄MIM]⁺[PF₆]^? and [C₈MIM]⁺[BF₄]^?, the VH component of Brillouin peaks was not observed in the temperature range investigated. The dielectric loss spectra showed that the temperature dependence of alkyl chain domain relaxation of all ionic liquids followed the Arrhenius law and showed an increase in activation energy at the temperature where the VH component of Brillouin peak appeared. These results suggest that the observed depolarized component of Brillouin peak might originate from uniquely induced polarization in the 2nd domain composed of head groups of cations and anions.     

Combined system of optical coherence tomography and fluorescence spectroscopy based on double-cladding fiber

We report the development of an all-fiber multimodal system, based on a double-cladding fiber (DCF) and related devices, suitable for simultaneous measurements of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fluorescence spectroscopy (FS). The DCF together with a DCF coupler and a single-body DCF lens has assisted in the realization of a multimodal but single-unit probe for the combined system. The DCF lens allowed simultaneous focusing of input beams for OCT and FS and also the effective collection of both signal beams from a sample. The DCF coupler could extract the OCT signal via the core channel and the FS signal through the cladding channel. The OCT image and the fluorescence spectra of a plant tissue were then simultaneously measured to validate the performance of the proposed multimodal system.     

Elimination of GeO2 and Ge3N4 interfacial transition regions and defects at n-type Ge interfaces: A pathway for formation of n-MOS devices on Ge substrates

The contribution from relatively low-K SiON interfacial transition regions (ITRs) between Si and transition metal (TM) gate dielectrics places a significant limitation on equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) scaling for Si complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) devices. This limitation is equally significant and limiting for Ge CMOS devices. Low-K Ge-based ITRs in Ge devices have also been shown to limit performance and reliability, particular for n-MOS field effect transistors. This article identifies the source of significant electron trapping at interfaces between n-Ge or inverted p-Ge, and Ge oxide, nitride and oxynitride ITRs. This is shown to be an interfacial band alignment issue in which native Ge ITRs have conduction band offset energies smaller than those of TM dielectrics, and trap electrons for negative Ge substrate bias. This article also describes a novel remote plasma processing approach for effectively eliminating any significant native Ge ITRs and using a plasma-processing/annealing process sequence for bonding TM gate dielectrics directly to the Ge substrate surface.     

Investigating magnetorheological properties of a mixture of two types of carbonyl iron powders suspended in an ionic liquid

In this work, properties of a magnetorheological (MR) fluid, prepared by dispersing a mixture of two types of carbonyl iron powders (CIPs) of different sizes, in an ionic liquid (N,N-diethyl-N-methyl-N-(2-methoxyethyl) ammonium tetrafluoroborate) that is stable from 9 °C to ca. 300 °C, have been investigated. At first, the random packing density of the mixture was computed as function of mixing ratio of CIP, in order to find out the tendency of the variation. Next, several mixtures, all having the same weight, were prepared at various mixing ratios and dispersed in the ionic liquid, in order to experimentally find the most suitable mixing ratio of CIP. Then, the magnetic clusters of the synthesized MR fluids were observed by using a digital microscope equipped with two permanent magnets, whereas the MR properties were investigated by using a rotation viscometer equipped with a solenoid coil. The experimental results pointed out that the MR fluid with 60 wt% fraction of large particles exhibited the highest MR response.