An upgraded external beam PIXE setup for multielemental analysis of atmospheric aerosol samples

The external beam particle‐induced X‐ray emission (PIXE) setup has been upgraded by introducing a new silicon drift detector with the aim of obtaining better minimum detection limits (MDLs) at the 2 × 1.7 MV Tandetron accelerator of the Beijing Normal University in China. The upgraded external beam PIXE setup is equipped with two silicon drift detectors for PIXE analysis of low and high Z elements. A surface barrier detector for Rutherford backscattering spectrometry monitors beam and helium flow. Two kinds of aerosol filter samples (quartz fiber filters and Teflon filters) were studied. A 200‐μm thick Mylar absorber in front of the medium‐high energy X‐rays detector was adopted, and it got the best MDLs for atmospheric aerosol samples analysis. Multielemental analysis of quartz fiber filter aerosol samples was achieved. For more accurate and better MDLs of low Z elements in PIXE analysis, it is necessary to keep sufficient helium flow behind the thin samples.     

Hearing loss from interrupted, intermittent, and time varying non-Gaussian noise exposure: The applicability of the equal energy hypothesis

Sixteen groups of chinchillas (N=140) were exposed to various equivalent energy noise paradigms at 100 dB(A) or 103 dB(A) SPL. Eleven groups received an interrupted, intermittent, and time varying (IITV) non-Gaussian exposure quantified by the kurtosis statistic. The IITV exposures, which lasted for 8 hday, 5 daysweek for 3 weeks, were designed to model some of the essential features of an industrial workweek. Five equivalent energy reference groups were exposed to either a Gaussian or non-Gaussian 5 days, 24 hday continuous noise. Evoked potentials were used to estimate hearing thresholds and surface preparations of the organ of Corti quantified the sensory cell population. For IITV exposures at an equivalent energy and kurtosis, the temporal variations in level did not alter trauma and in some cases the IITV exposures produced results similar to those found for the 5 day continuous exposures. Any increase in kurtosis at a fixed energy was accompanied by an increase in noise-induced trauma. These results suggest that the equal energy hypothesis is an acceptable approach to evaluating noise exposures for hearing conservation purposes provided that the kurtosis of the amplitude distribution is taken into consideration. Temporal variations in noise levels seem to have little effect on trauma.     

A lateral super-resolution differential confocal technology with phase-only pupil filter

In order to achieve a higher lateral resolution required for ultraprecision measurement of microstructural workpieces, phase-only pupil filtering differential confocal microscopy (PFDCM), a new approach is proposed based on the differential confocal microscopy (DCM), which uses a three-zone phase-only pupil filter with lateral super-resolution capability obtained through optimized design to change the distribution of DCM three-dimensional point spread function, so that the DCM lateral resolution is therefore significantly improved while its axial resolution is slightly improved. Preliminary experimental comparison and analyses indicate that, the lateral and axial resolutions of PFDCM are better than 0.2 μm and 2 nm, respectively, when wavelength of incidence laser beam , numerical aperture of measuring lens NA=0.85, and lateral spot size with a three-zone phase-only pupil filter G_T=0.65. It is therefore concluded that PFDCM is a new approach to further improvement of lateral resolution in laser probe measurement systems.     

Hydrocarbon film growth by energetic CH3 molecule impact on SiC (0 0 1) surface

Classic molecular dynamics (MD) calculations were performed to investigate the deposition of thin hydrocarbon film. SiC (1 0 0) surfaces were bombarded with energetic CH₃ molecules at impact energies ranging from 50 to 150 eV. The simulated results show that the deposition yield of H atoms decreases with increasing incident energy, which is in good agreement with experiments. During the initial stages, with breaking Si-C bonds in SiC by CH₃ impacting, H atoms preferentially reacts with resulting Si to form Si-H bond. The C/H ratio in the grown films increases with increasing incident energy. In the grown films, CH species are dominant. For 50 eV, H-Csp3 bond is dominant. With increasing energy to 200 eV, the atomic density of H-Csp2 bond increases.     

Microstructures and electrical properties of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 films synthesized by sol-gel method

La_0.8Sr_0.2MnO₃ (LSMO) thin films were fabricated on alumina substrates by an improved sol-gel dip-coating process. It was found that multiple dip-coating process could not be performed until the pre-firing temperature reached 600 °C. Different amounts of LSMO powders were added to precursor solution with an aim to avoid cracks in LSMO thin films during calcining caused by the shrinkage mismatch between the film and the substrate. The structure and surface morphology of the films prepared from precursors with and without LSMO powders were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the addition of 56.4 wt.% LSMO powders into the sol-gel precursor solution significantly modified the microstructure of films. A single LSMO perovskite phase was obtained on alumina substrate after calcining at 800 °C for 4 h by the improved sol-gel method. The sheet resistance of the films prepared with different processing parameters was measured by four-point dc method. Results indicated that the sheet resistance of films decreased with increasing the number of coating applications and the amount of LSMO powders.     

A study of sound intensity control for active noise barriers

Active noise control systems have been applied to increase the insertion loss of noise barriers where the squared sound pressure or the total acoustic energy density is used as the cost function in previous works. The absolute value of the mean active sound intensity is chosen as the cost function to obtain extra sound insertion loss in the dark area of a hybrid active noise barrier system in this note. The strategy of minimizing the near-field sound intensity at discrete locations along the edge of the passive barrier is shown to be able to provide better far-field noise reduction than that of minimizing the squared sound pressure control. Both numerical simulations and off-line experiments are carried out with a three-channel demonstration system, where the locations of the secondary sources and the error sensors are optimized and comparisons are made between the extra sound pressure attenuation of the sound intensity control and that of the squared sound pressure control.     

Different sound decay patterns and energy feedback in coupled volumes

Different non-exponential decays such as the concave and the convex double sloped decays in the coupled rooms provide distinct sound qualities. These are commonly considered to occur in the less reverberant sub-room and the more reverberant sub-room, respectively. However, numerical simulations and experiments in this paper show that the demarcation line is not located along the physical boundaries (e.g., the partition and the coupling aperture), but in the more reverberant sub-room. The sound field with the concave double sloped decay penetrates into the auxiliary sub-room to an extent which is influenced by the difference between the two natural reverberations of the sub-rooms. Furthermore the sound energy flows in different regions are investigated, demonstrating how energy feedback leads to the concave double sloped decay.     

类He离子的电子碰撞激发截面

利用扭曲波方法计算类He离子的电子碰撞激发截面。靶波函数采用HFS自洽场波函数,本文计算了若干元素从基态(1¹S)到2¹S,2¹P,2³S,2³P的跃迁。计算结果以碰撞强度的形式给出。入射电子能量从激发阈能开始到x=10,计算结果与已有的结果作了比较,分析表明,在大多数情况下,结果是满意的。     

类He的Y离子双电子复合计算

采用准相对论的多组态Hartree-Fock(HFR)方法计算了类Li的Y离子(Z=39)的能级和振子强度,并且通过采用扭曲波方法计算自由电子的波函数,我们得到了由类He的基态到类Li的双激发态的自电离几率和双电子复合系数。在计算中,相对论质量—速度和Darwin修正都包含在哈密顿中。为了便于等离子体细致能级占据数密度的动力学计算,我们用一个解析表达式来表示作为自由电子温度函数的双电子复合速率系数,这个表达式精确地描写了从类He的基态到类Li的单激发态的双电子复合。