A Green’s function model for the analysis of laser heating of materials

An analytical model based on Green’s function method is developed to analyze the temperature distribution and heated regions in a material irradiated by a high-energy laser beam. The model is multi-dimensional, transient and incorporates different types of beam characteristics and boundary conditions. The multi-dimensional integration formulas in the Green’s function solution equation are evaluated using an adaptive numerical integration algorithm. A parametric study is conducted to show the effect of various laser beam parameters and material properties on the laser heating process.     

Electrical characterization of p-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction

Nitrogen doped p-ZnO film, with urea as nitrogen source, is fabricated by pulsed laser deposition on well-cleaned p-type (1 0 0) Si substrates. The structural and electrical properties of the p-p heterojunction are investigated by current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements. It shows a diode-like behavior with turn-on voltage of 0.5 V. The ideality factor η determined by applying positive potential in p-ZnO and negative potential along p-Si is found to be 6. Such a high value of η is attributed to lattice mismatch between ZnO and Si. and other factors responsible are thermoionic emission, minority carrier injection and recombination. C-V results indicate an abrupt interface and a band bending of 0.9 V in the silicon. Heterojunction band diagram for p-ZnO/p-Si is proposed.     

GRAPPA-based susceptibility-weighted imaging of normal volunteers and patients with brain tumor at 7 T

Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is a valuable technique for high-resolution imaging of brain vasculature that greatly benefits from the emergence of higher field strength MR scanners. Autocalibrating partially parallel imaging techniques can be employed to reduce lengthy acquisition times as long as the decrease in signal-to-noise ratio does not significantly affect the contrast between vessels and brain parenchyma. This study assessed the feasibility of a Generalized Autocalibrating Partially Parallel Acquisition (GRAPPA)-based SWI technique at 7 T in both healthy volunteers and brain tumor patients. GRAPPA-based SWI allowed a twofold or more reduction in scan time without compromising vessel contrast and small vessel detection. Postprocessing parameters for the SWI needed to be modified for patients where the tumor causes high-frequency phase wrap artifacts but did not adversely affect vessel contrast. GRAPPA-based SWI at 7 T revealed regions of microvascularity, hemorrhage and calcification within heterogeneous brain tumors that may aid in characterizing active or necrotic tumor and monitoring treatment effects.     

Magnetic resonance T1ρ imaging of osteoarthritis: a rabbit ACL transection model

Objective

The objective of this study was to develop quantitative T_1ρ-weighted magnetic resonance imaging methodology for the detection and characterization of cartilage degeneration in a rabbit anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) transection model.

Methods

The right knee ACLs of 18 adult female New Zealand white rabbits were transected. The left knee joint served as a sham control. The rabbits were euthanized at 3 (Group 1), 6 (Group 2) and 12 (Group 3) weeks postoperatively. High-resolution 3D fat-saturated spoiled gradient echo images and T_1ρ-weighted images were obtained in both the sagittal and axial planes at 3 T using a quadrature wrist coil. Following MR analysis, histological slides from the lateral femoral condyle cartilage were graded using the Mankin grading system.

Results

For all three groups, the average overall T_1ρ values were significantly higher in the ACL-transected knee compared to control knee, and the percentage differences in T_1ρ values between ACL-transected and control increased with the duration of time after transection. The average Mankin score for ACL-transected knees was higher than that for control for each time point, but this difference was statistically significant only for all groups combined.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the feasibility of using T_1ρ-weighted imaging as a useful tool in the detection and quantification of cartilage damage in all knee compartments in an ACL-transected rabbit model of cartilage degeneration.     

Chemoselective synthesis of thieno[3,2‐c][1,8]naphthyridin‐4(5H)‐ones by tandem cyclization

A number of the thieno[3,2‐c][1,8]‐naphthyridin‐4(5H)‐ones are chemoselectively synthesized from 4‐(4′‐aryloxybut‐2′‐ynylthio)‐1‐phenyl‐1,8‐naphthyridin‐2(1H)‐ones in 82–90% yield by the formation of sulfoxide, followed by [2,3] and [3,3]sigmatropic rearrangement and an intramolecular Michael addition. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 18:87–92, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/hc.20234     

Regioselective Synthesis ofPyrano[3,2- f ]quinolin-2(7 H )-onesand Furo[3,2- f ]quinolin-2-ones

 A simple and efficient synthesis of the hitherto unreported ring systems pyrano[3,2-f]quinolin-2(7H)-one and furo[3,2-f]quinolin-2-one was accomplished via a thermal [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement.     

Truncated Linear Statistics Associated with the Eigenvalues of Random Matrices II. Partial Sums over Proper Time Delays for Chaotic Quantum Dots

Invariant ensembles of random matrices are characterized by the distribution of their eigenvalues \(\{\lambda _1,\ldots ,\lambda _N\}\). We study the distribution of truncated linear statistics of the form \(\tilde{L}=\sum _{i=1}^p f(\lambda _i)\) with \(p<N\). This problem has been considered by us in a previous paper when the p eigenvalues are further constrained to be the largest ones (or the smallest). In this second paper we consider the same problem without this restriction which leads to a rather different analysis. We introduce a new ensemble which is related, but not equivalent, to the “thinned ensembles” introduced by Bohigas and Pato. This question is motivated by the study of partial sums of proper time delays in chaotic quantum dots, which are characteristic times of the scattering process. Using the Coulomb gas technique, we derive the large deviation function for \(\tilde{L}\). Large deviations of linear statistics \(L=\sum _{i=1}^N f(\lambda _i)\) are usually dominated by the energy of the Coulomb gas, which scales as \(\sim N^2\), implying that the relative fluctuations are of order 1 / N. For the truncated linear statistics considered here, there is a whole region (including the typical fluctuations region), where the energy of the Coulomb gas is frozen and the large deviation function is purely controlled by an entropic effect. Because the entropy scales as \(\sim N\), the relative fluctuations are of order \(1/\sqrt{N}\). Our analysis relies on the mapping on a problem of p fictitious non-interacting fermions in N energy levels, which can exhibit both positive and negative effective (absolute) temperatures. We determine the large deviation function characterizing the distribution of the truncated linear statistics, and show that, for the case considered here (\(f(\lambda )=1/\lambda \)), the corresponding phase diagram is separated in three different phases.     

Solar neutrino oscillation diagnostics at SuperKamiokande and Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Results for solar neutrino detection from the SuperKamiokande collaboration have been presented recently while those from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are expected in the near future. These experiments are sensitive to the⁸B neutrinos from the sun, the shape of whose spectrum is well-known but the normalization is less certain. We propose several variables, insensitive to the absolute flux of the incident beam, which probe the shape of the observed spectrum and can sensitively signal neutrino oscillations. They provide methods to extract the neutrino mixing angle and mass splitting from the data and also to distinguish oscillation to sequential neutrinos from those to a sterile neutrino.     

Thermodynamic properties of germanium/carbon microclusters

Theoretical studies on the Ge(n)C(m) (n=1,2; m=1-3) microclusters have been performed using the state of the art calculations. Several alternative structures of these clusters were studied to locate the lowest-energy isomers. It is observed that the structures of the complexes result from the competition between ionic Ge-C, conjugated covalent C-C, and metallic Ge-Ge bonds. The ionization of the molecules enhances the ionic character of the Ge-C bond and has significant structural consequences. Using theoretically determined partition functions, thermodynamic data are computed and experimental enthalpies are enhanced. The ab initio atomization energies of germanium carbides compare well with corrected experimental functions. The experimental appearance potentials are well reproduced by the theoretical ionization potentials.     

Quantum Superarrivals: Bohr's Wave-Particle Duality Revisted

The phenomenon of quantum superarrivals is manifested in the probabilities for Schrödinger wave packets scattered from perturbed potential barriers. We argue that both classical wave-like and classical particle-like properties can be exhibited in the same gedanken experimental set-up for obtaining superarrivals through Schrödinger dynamics. An interesting question regarding the tenet of mutual exclusiveness, a la Bohr, of these two properties is raised in the context of this phenomenon.