A simple and sensitive analytical method for the determination of antimony in environmental and biological samples.

The results of a study and application of leucocrystal violet for the determination of antimony in parts per million levels is described here. The proposed method is based on the reaction of antimony(III) with acidified potassium iodate to liberate iodine. The liberated iodine selectively oxidizes leucocrystal violet to crystal violet dye. The formed dye shows maximum absorbance at 590 nm. The color system obeys Beer's law in the concentration range from 0.4 - 3.6 microg antimony per 25 ml of final solution. The molar absorptivity and Sandell's sensitivity were found to be 7.32 x 10(5) l mol(-1) cm(-1) and 0.0016 microg cm(-2), respectively. All variables were studied in order to optimize the reaction. The proposed method is satisfactorily applicable for the analysis of antimony in various environmental and biological samples. The method is simple, highly sensitive, accurate and reliable.     

Direct single-layered fabrication of 3D concavo–convex patterns in nano-stereolithography

A nano-surfacing process (NSP) is proposed to directly fabricate three-dimensional (3D) concavo–convex-shaped microstructures such as micro-lens arrays using two-photon polymerization (TPP), a promising technique for fabricating arbitrary 3D highly functional micro-devices. In TPP, commonly utilized methods for fabricating complex 3D microstructures to date are based on a layer-by-layer accumulating technique employing two-dimensional sliced data derived from 3D computer-aided design data. As such, this approach requires much time and effort for precise fabrication. In this work, a novel single-layer exposure method is proposed in order to improve the fabricating efficiency for 3D concavo–convex-shaped microstructures. In the NSP, 3D microstructures are divided into 13 sub-regions horizontally with consideration of the heights. Those sub-regions are then expressed as 13 characteristic colors, after which a multi-voxel matrix (MVM) is composed with the characteristic colors. Voxels with various heights and diameters are generated to construct 3D structures using a MVM scanning method. Some 3D concavo–convex-shaped microstructures were fabricated to estimate the usefulness of the NSP, and the results show that it readily enables the fabrication of single-layered 3D microstructures. PACS 85.40.Hp; 81.16.Nd; 42.82.Cr     

Local chemical distribution and electronic structure of Ge1−xTx DMS single crystals (T=Cr,Mn, Fe)

The spatial concentration distribution and local electronic structure of ferromagnetic Ge_1−xT_x (T=Cr, Mn, Fe) DMS single crystals have been investigated by using scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and photoemission spectroscopy (PES). It is found that doped T ions in Ge_1−xT_x crystals are chemically phase-separated, suggesting that the observed ferromagnetism arises from the phase-separated T-rich phases in Ge_1−xT_x.     

Study of ferromagnetism–superconductivity interactions in Co/Nb multilayers

We investigate Co/Nb multilayers to explore the spontaneous π-phase shift between the superconducting (SC) layers, which is attributed for causing the non-monotonic change of the SC transition temperature (T_c) with the ferromagnetic (FM) layer thickness (t_FM) in several FM/SC multilayered systems. The issue of interfacial roughness is also explored by growing Co/Nb multilayers at various sputtering pressures. Transport measurements show a non-monotonic dependence of T_c on t_FM, and this dependence is insensitive to the structural variation present in the samples, as measured by X-ray scattering.     

0+ analogue state in 118Sb from 117Sn(p,nγ) reaction

The analogue of the 0⁺ ground state in ¹¹⁸Sn has been observed in the compound nucleus ¹¹⁸Sb through ¹¹⁷Sn(p,n γ) ¹¹⁷Sb reaction. The neutron decays of this analogue resonance have been studied from the deexciting γ-rays of the residual nucleus ¹¹⁷Sb. From off resonance excitation functions, spin assignments have been made to states in ¹¹⁷Sb, on the basis of Hauser-Feshbach formalism. The resonance parameters of the isobaric analogue resonance have been determined, including the total, proton and neutron decay widths.     

Ionic strength dependence of stability constants,complexation of W(VI) with iminodiacetic acid

The equilibria between tungsten(VI) and iminodiacetic acid (IDA) have been studied in aqueous solution. The stoichiometry and stability constants of the complexes formed are determined from a combination of potentiometric and Uv spectroscopic measurements. All measurements are carried out at 25°C, pH 7.5 and different ionic strengths ranging from (0.1 to 1.0) mol dm⁻³ (NaClO₄). According to these results, tungsten(VI) forms a mononuclear complex with IDA of the type (WO₃L²⁻). By introducing two empirical parameters C and D in the complex-formation reaction between tungsten(VI) and IDA, the dependence of the dissociation and stability constants on ionic strength is described by a modified Debye-Huckel-type equation. Finally, a pattern for the ionic strength dependence is obtained.     

Optical waveguide fabrication and integration with a micro-mirror inside photosensitive glass by femtosecond laser direct writing

Photosensitive glass is a potentially important material for micro-fluidic devices that can be integrated with micro-optical components for biochemical analysis. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of optical waveguides inside glass by femtosecond laser direct writing. The influence of the laser parameters on the waveguide properties is investigated, and it is revealed that the waveguide mode can be well controlled. The single mode is achieved at a low writing energy, while the multimode is achieved with increasing energy. In spite of a longitudinally elongated elliptical shape of the cross-sectional profile, the far-field pattern of the single-mode waveguide shows an almost symmetric profile. The measured propagation loss and the coupling loss are evaluated to be ∼0.6 dB/cm and ∼1.6 dB at a wavelength of 632.8 nm, respectively, under the conditions of 1.0–2.0 μJ pulse energy and 200–500 μm/s scan speed. The increased optical loss is associated with a higher waveguide mode at higher writing energy. Furthermore, the integration of waveguides and a micromirror made of a hollow microplate inside the glass is demonstrated to bend the laser beam at an angle of 90° in a small chip. The bending loss is estimated to be smaller than 0.3 dB. PACS 42.62.-b; 42.82.Cr; 82.50.Pt; 42.79.Gn; 42.81.Qb     

Bounds on the inverses of nonnegative triangular matrices with monotonicity properties

Some bounds on the entries and on the norm of the inverse of triangular matrices with nonnegative and monotone entries are found. All the results are obtained by exploiting the properties of the fundamental matrix of the recurrence relation which generates the sequence of the entries of the inverse matrix. One of the results generalizes a theorem contained in a recent article of one of the authors about Toeplitz matrices.     

Multivariable identification and controller design of an integrated flight control system

This paper investigates the multivariable identification and controller design for the longitudinal channel of a Boeing 747 transport. The transfer function matrix of the system is identified using the prediction error (PE) identification method with multivariable ARX model. An ellipsoidal parametric uncertainty set is constructed from the covariance matrix of the identified parameters. It contains the parameters of actual system at a certain probability level. The identified models and the associated uncertainty sets are validated by measuring the worst-case ν-gap and then compared with the maximum value of the generalized stability margin. In automatic flight control system or autopilots, multiple specifications criteria are needed to be satisfied concurrently, such as good holding (small static altitude holding error), fast response, smooth transition (less oscillation, overshoot). The design of a Multiple Simultaneous Specifications (MSS) controller effectively and practically is a very significant and challenging job. Liu and Mills [H.H.T. Liu, J.K. Mills, Multiple specification design in flight control system, in: Proceedings of the American Control Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 2000, pp. 1365–1369] proposed a MSS controller design method using a convex combination approach. In this paper, we apply the method [H.H.T. Liu, J.K. Mills, Multiple specification design in flight control system, in: Proceedings of the American Control Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 2000, pp. 1365–1369; H.H.T. Liu, Design combination in integrated flight control, in: Proceedings of the American Control Conference, Arlington, Virginia, 2001, pp. 494–499; H.H.T. Liu, Multi-objective design for an integrated flight control system: a combination with model reduction approach, in: Proceedings of IEEE International Symposium on Computer Aided Control System Design, Glasgow, 2002, pp. 21–26] to design a MSS controller based on the identified models of the Boeing 747 transport aircraft longitudinal channel. The controllers are also validated by simulation using the true plant transfer functions.     

Scanning mirror on a vibrating membrane for dynamic optical trapping

A study of the variation of the spectral shape and the harmonic distribution of the high-order harmonics generated from silver plasma on the frequency chirp of the driving laser radiation (793 nm 48 fs) is reported. The results of the systematic study of the harmonic generation from the 21st order up to the 61st order (λ=13 nm) are presented. A tuning of the harmonic wavelength up to 0.8 nm can be accomplished by variation of the laser chirp. PACS 42.65.Ky; 42.79.Nv; 52.38.Mf