Novel Microtensile Method for Monotonic and Cyclic Testing of Freestanding Copper Thin Films

This paper presents the results of new microtensile tests conducted to investigate the mechanical properties of submicron-thick freestanding copper films. The method, used in this study, allows the observation of materials response under uniaxial tensile loads with measurements of stress at strain rates up to 5.5 × 10⁻⁴/s. It also facilitates tension–tension fatigue experiments under a variety of mean stress conditions at cyclic loading frequencies to 20 Hz. The sample processes involve fabrication of a supporting frame with springs and alignment beams all made of electroplated nickel. Electroplating took place on top of a previously deposited sample rather than creating a structure by subtractive fabrication. Tensile sample loading is applied using a piezoelectric actuator. Load was measured using a capacitance gap sensor with a novel mechanical coupling to the sample. Tension–tension fatigue experiments were carried out with feedback to give load control. Fatigue tests were conducted on sputter-deposited 500 and 900 nm copper films with grain sizes ∼50 nm. Fatigue life reached 10⁵ cycles at low mean load, which decreased with an increase in the mean load. The results indicate decreasing plasticity with increasing mean load.     

The Laplacian spectral radius of graphs

The Laplacian spectral radius of a graph is the largest eigenvalue of the associated Laplacian matrix. In this paper, we improve Shi’s upper bound for the Laplacian spectral radius of irregular graphs and present some new bounds for the Laplacian spectral radius of some classes of graphs.     

Full friendly index sets of Cartesian products of two cycles

Let G =（V, E） be a connected simple graph. A labeling f ： V → Z2 induces an edge labeling f＊ ： E → Z2 defined by f＊（xy） = f（x） ＋f（y） for each xy ∈ E. For i ∈ Z2, let vf（i） = ｜f^-1（i）｜ and ef（i） = ｜f＊^-1（i）｜. A labeling f is called friendly if ｜vf（1） - vf（0）｜ ≤ 1. For a friendly labeling f of a graph G, we define the friendly index of G under f by if（G） = e（1） - el（0）. The set [if（G） ｜ f is a friendly labeling of G} is called the full friendly index set of G, denoted by FFI（G）. In this paper, we will determine the full friendly index set of every Cartesian product of two cycles.     

Weak Gravity Conjecture and extremal black holes

Motivated by the desire to improve our understanding of the Weak Gravity Conjecture, we compute the one-loop correction of charged particles to the geometry and entropy of extremal black holes in 4D. We use the entropy function formalism to extend previous analysis that dealt with neutral particles, and obtain the corrections to the horizon entropy for different regimes of black hole masses. These corrections are small in general. They are furthermore reduced when supersymmetry is present, and disappear in N = 4 supergravity. We provide some speculative arguments that in a theory with only sub-extremal particles, classical Reissner-Nordstrom black holes actually possess an infinite microcanonical entropy, though only a finite amount is visible to an external observer, as shown by the horizon entropy computation.     

Dual-Output Mach–Zehnder Modulator for Optical Access Networks

This paper employs dual-output Mach–Zehnder Modulator (MZM) for optical access networks without optical filters. Light waves generated from multiple laser sources are multiplexed and fed into dual-output MZM. Biasing the dual-output MZM at null point generates central carriers in one output port and first-order sidebands in another output port. Reflective semiconductor optical amplifier modulates both the central carriers and sidebands with wired and wireless data, respectively. The modulated optical signals are combined by polarization beam splitter and transmitted through 25-km single-mode fiber. The performance of the proposed scheme is proved by clear eye-diagrams and great bit error rate (BER) curves. Moreover, the power penalty at the BER of 10^-9 is less than 1 dB for both wired and wireless signals. Therefore, the proposed system simultaneously transmits wired and wireless signals.     

Relaxation times and energy barriers of rubbing-induced birefringence in glass-forming polymers

The relaxations of rubbing-induced birefringence (RIB) in several glass-forming polymers, including polycarbonate and polystyrene (PS) derivatives with various modifications to the phenyl ring side group, are studied. Significant relaxations of RIB are observed at temperatures well below the glass transition temperature T _g . The relaxation times span a wide range from ∼ 10 s to probably geological time scale. Physical aging effects are absent in the RIB relaxations. The model proposed for the interpretation of RIB in PS describes well the RIB relaxations in all the polymers investigated here. The energy barriers are of the order of a few hundred kJ/mol and decrease with decreasing temperature, in opposition to the trend of Vogel-Fulcher form for polymer segmental relaxations above T _g . The relaxation behaviors of different polymers are qualitatively similar but somewhat different in quantitative details, such as in the values of the saturated birefringence, the shape of the initial barrier density distribution functions, the rates of barrier decrease with decreasing temperature, and the dependence of relaxation times on temperature and parameter , etc. The RIB relaxations are different from any of the other relaxations below T _g that have been reported in the literature, such as dielectric relaxations or optical probe relaxations. A microscopic model for the relaxations of RIB is much desired.     

Observing the geometry of warped compactification via cosmic inflation

Using Dirac-Born-Infeld inflation as an example, we demonstrate that the detailed geometry of warped compactification can leave an imprint on the cosmic microwave background. We compute cosmic microwave background observables for Dirac-Born-Infeld inflation in a generic class of warped throats and find that the results (such as the sign of the tilt of the scalar perturbations and its running) depend sensitively on the precise shape of the warp factor. In particular, we analyze the warped deformed conifold and find that the results can differ from those of other warped geometries, even when these geometries approximate well the exact metric of the warped deformed conifold.     

Electron-transfer properties of different carbon nanotube materials,and their use in glucose biosensors

Different types of carbon nanotube material (single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) of different internal diameter) have been used for preparation of CNT-modified glassy-carbon electrodes. Redox reactions involving ferricyanide and hydrogen peroxide were examined at the CNT-modified electrodes. Electrodes modified with SWCNTs usually had better electron-transfer properties than MWCNT-modified electrodes. Glucose biosensors were also prepared with electropolymerized polyphenylenediamine films, CNT materials, and glucose oxidase. Amperometric behavior in glucose determination was examined. SWCNT-modified glucose biosensors usually had a wider dynamic range (from 0.1 to 5.5 mmol L⁻¹) and greater sensitivity in glucose determination. The detection limit was estimated to be 0.05 mmol L⁻¹.     

磁性壳聚糖复合微球的制备及其Cu2+吸附性能

以球磨后的粉煤灰磁珠（MS）颗粒为磁核,通过溶胶凝胶法和反相微乳液法依次包覆SiO₂和壳聚糖（CS）,制备了MS@SiO₂@CS磁性微球。利用扫描电镜及能量色散谱仪、热重分析仪、红外光谱仪、X射线衍射仪、振动样品磁强计对所得样品的结构和磁性进行了系统表征。结果表明,磁珠颗粒表面实现了逐层包覆,较均匀的分散于壳聚糖基体中,MS@SiO₂@CS微球的比饱和磁化强度可达7.04 emu·g^-1。Cu²⁺离子吸附实验表明,所得磁性壳聚糖微球对Cu²⁺具有良好的吸附能力,最大吸附量可达11.08 mg·g^-1;而且可通过磁选法高效固液分离。吸附动力学研究表明,MS@SiO₂@CS微球对Cu²⁺离子的吸附符合准二级动力学模型,以化学吸附为主。