An investigation on planar dielectric light collectors for illumination and solar energy applications

In this paper the performances of inhomogeneous dielectric slabs as solar light collectors for both illumination and solar energy applications are analysed.     

Vascular morphology by three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging

A three-dimensional examination of blood vessels is provided using MR data from seven cases. The vascular surfaces are constructed with an algorithm that automatically follows the selected artery or vein and generates a projected three-dimensional gradient shaded image. Fast 3DFT pulse sequences were optimized to enhance the time-of-flight contrast of the intravascular region. By increasing the surface threshold value in a three-dimensional head study, the flesh of a patient's face was peeled away to demonstrate the superfacial temporal artery. Gated cardiac images show the great vessels and cardiac chambers. A three-dimensional view of the aorta shows an irregular surface in the vicinity of an adrenal tumor. 3D MR exams provide a non-invasive technique for assessing vascular morphology in a clinical setting.     

Calculation of diatomic molecules with the lctoc method. Excited states of some homonuclear molecules and ions

Calculations are performed, using a basis of two-center functions described previously, for excited states of the following three-and four-electron compounds: H₂ ^–, He₂ ⁺, He₂, Li₂ ⁺². High efficiency is demonstrated for the frozen ionic core approximation and the nonorthogonal orbital method in such calculations. For four-electron systems the practical feasibility of the frozen hybrid core approximation is demonstrated.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 53–56, August, 1987.     

An AFM, XPS and electrochemical study of molecular electroactive monolayers formed by wet chemistry functionalization of H-terminated Si(1 0 0) with vinylferrocene

Molecular electroactive monolayers have been produced from vinylferrocene (VFC) via light-assisted surface anchoring to H-terminated n- and p-Si(1 0 0) wafers prepared via wet chemistry, in a controlled atmosphere. The resulting Si-C bound hybrids have been characterized by means of XPS and AFM. Their performance as semiconductor functionalized electrodes and their surface composition have been followed by combining electrochemical and XPS measurements on the same samples, before and after use in an electrochemical cell. White-light photoactivated anchoring at short (1 h) exposure times has resulted in a mild route, with a very limited impact on the initial quality of the silicon substrate. In fact, the functionalized Si surface results negligibly oxidized, and the C/Fe atomic ratio is close to the value expected for the pure molecular species. The VFC/Si hybrids can be described as (η⁵-C₅H₅)Fe²⁺(η⁵-C₅H₄)-CH₂-CH₂-Si species, on the basis of XPS results. Electrochemical methods have been applied in order to investigate the role played by a robust, covalent Si-C anchoring mode towards substrate-molecule electronic communication, a crucial issue for a perspective development of molecular electronics devices. The response found from cyclic voltammograms for p-Si(1 0 0) functionalized electrodes, run in the dark and under illumination, has shown that the electron transfer is not limited by the number of charge carriers, confirming the occurrence of electron transfer via the Si valence band. The hybrids have shown a noticeable electrochemical stability and reversibility under cyclic voltammetry (cv), and the trend in peak current intensity vs. the scan rate was linear. The molecule-Si bond is preserved even after thousands of voltammetric cycles, although the surface coverage, evaluated from cv and XPS, decreases in the same sequence. An increasingly larger surface concentration of Fe³⁺ at the expenses of Fe²⁺ redox centers has been found at increasing number of cv’s, experimentally associated with the growth of silicon oxide. Surface SiO⁻ groups from deprotonated silanol termination, induced by the electrochemical treatments, are proposed as the associated counterions for the Fe³⁺ species. They could be responsible for the observed decrease in the electron transfer rate constant with electrode ageing.     

Liquid–gas critical phenomena under confinement: small-angle neutron scattering studies of CO2 in aerogel

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) is a well-established technique for investigating the behavior of confined binary liquid solutions, as it can probe the correlation length and susceptibility in pores on length scales 1 – 100 nm. We applied SANS to explore the influence of confinement on critical behavior of an individual fluid carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a highly porous aerogel. The results demonstrate that quenched disorder induced by aerogel significantly depresses density fluctuations. Despite the negligible volume occupied by aerogel (< 4%), the macroscopic phase separation of confined CO₂ into coexisting liquid and gaseous phases is suppressed and below the critical temperature of the bulk fluid frozen methastable microdomains are formed. Experimental data show that critical adsorption is as important as the effect of confinement in defining the behavior of confined fluids.     

Study of a Microwave Radar Signal Backscattered at Small Incidence Angles: In-Situ Measurements

We present the results of data processing of the field experiment devoted to a study of a microwave signal backscattered by a rough water surface and compare them with the theoretical estimates. The measurements were conducted sequentially using a radar with parabolic and knife-beam antennas. The radar was mounted on the Molitovsky bridge at a height of 40 m across the Oka river in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. For the radar with knife-shaped antenna pattern, we examined the reflected-signal power and the shift and width of the Doppler spectrum as functions of the azimuthal angle for the nadir sounding. For the parabolic antenna, we studied the reflected-signal power as a function of the incidence angle. Comparison with the experimental data shows that the developed theoretical model of a Doppler spectrum is in good agreement with the observations. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 48, No. 8, pp. 661–673, August 2005.     

Enhancing the Bolzon–Schrefler–Zienkiewicz Constitutive Model for Partially Saturated Soil

This paper presents an enhanced version of the elasto-plastic model for partially saturated soil first proposed by Bolzon, Schrefler and Zienkiewicz in 1996, “BSZ” model, which uses the effective stress tensor and suction as independent stress variables. It is recalled that the effective stress tensor proposed by Lewis and Schrefler in 1982 is thermodynamically consistent and, compared with other choices of stress tensors, results particularly suitable for partially saturated soil mechanics. A hydraulic constitutive relationship and a hydraulic hysteresis are introduced in the model, to take into account the irreversible deformation during cyclic drying and wetting until structural collapse. For this reason the plastic rate of strain is split into the sum of two components: one depending on the effective stress tensor and the other one on suction. This is the new feature of the BSZ model. This enhanced model is then cast into a thermodynamical framework at macroscopic level and it is shown that it is possible to derive the constitutive law from the Helmholtz free energy and a dissipation function, both for associative and non- associative plasticity. Finally the model predictions have been compared with experimental data for Sion slime, with particular emphasis on the deviatoric part, and model predictions of hysteretic behaviour have been investigated in case of a wetting and drying cycle on compacted betonite–kaolin.