A Simple Technique for Submicron Scale Patterning of Silver Using Visible Light Interference

A novel, one step and simple methodology for the fabrication of submicron scale silver patterns is demonstrated. The photosensitivity of an organic silver salt has been utilized for this purpose of fabrication. The silver-organometallic compound is converted to metallic silver selectively in the illuminated regions. Surface morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) shows the presence of silver in the developed film. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirms the formation of metallic silver. Feature sizes of the order of 200 nm have been achieved using this technique.     

Synthesis of cubic Li<Subscript>7</Subscript>La<Subscript>3</Subscript>Zr<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> by modified sol–gel process

Polycrystalline cubic Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂ (LLZ) with garnet-related type structure has been synthesized at 700 °C by modified sol–gel processes using citric acid as organic complexing agent and butan-1-ol or propan-2-ol as surface active agent. Thermal analysis (thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis) indicated that the gel must be annealed at around 700 °C to completely remove the organic solvent. X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopic investigations revealed that Al may not be essential to form cubic-phase LLZ; however, the addition of Al₂O₃ led to enhanced sintering of LLZ.     

Effect of creatine monohydrate in improving cellular energetics and muscle strength in ambulatory Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients: a randomized,placebo-controlled P MRS study

Randomized, placebo-controlled single blinded study was carried out to evaluate the effect of oral creatine supplementation on cellular energetics, manual muscle test (MMT) score and functional status in steroid-naive, ambulatory boys suffering with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD; n=33). Eighteen patients received creatine monohydrate (Cr; 5 g/day for 8 weeks), while 15 received placebo (500 mg of vitamin C). Phosphorus metabolite ratios were determined from the right calf muscle of patients using phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (³¹P MRS) both prior to (baseline) and after supplementation of Cr or placebo. In addition, metabolite ratios were determined in normal calf muscle of age and sex matched controls (n=8). Significant differences in several metabolite ratios were observed between controls and DMD patients indicating a lower energy state in these patients. Analysis using analysis of covariance adjusted for age and stature showed that the mean phosphocreatine (PCr)/inorganic phosphate (Pi) ratio in patients treated with Cr (4.7; 95% CI; 3.9–5.6) was significantly higher (P=.03) compared to the placebo group (3.3; 95% CI; 2.5–4.2). The mean percentage increase in PCr/Pi ratio was also more in patients <7 years of age compared to older patients after Cr supplementation indicating variation in therapeutic effect with the age. In the placebo group, significant reduction in PCr/Pi (P=.0009), PCr/t-ATP (P=.05) and an increase in phosphodiester (PDE)/PCr ratios was observed after supplementation. Further, in the placebo group, patients <7 years showed reduction of PCr/t-ATP and Pi/t-ATP compared to older patients (>7 years), after supplementation. These results imply that the significant difference observed in PCr/Pi ratio between the Cr and the placebo groups after supplementation may be attributed to a decrease of PCr in the placebo group and an increase in PCr in the Cr group. Changes in MMT score between the two groups was significant (P=.04); however, no change in functional scale (P=.19) was observed. Parents reported subjective improvement on Cr supplementation versus worsening in placebo (P=.02). Our results indicated that Cr was well tolerated and oral Cr significantly improved the muscle PCr/Pi ratio and preserved the muscle strength in short term. However, this study provides no evidence that creatine will prove beneficial after long-term treatment, or have any positive effect on patient lifespan.     

Spatiotemporal binary interaction and designer quasi-particle condensates

We introduce a new integrable model to investigate the dynamics of two component quasi-particle condensates with spatiotemporal interaction strengths. We derive the associated Lax pair of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii （GP） equation and construct matter wave solitons, We show that the spatiotemporal binary interaction strengths not only facilitate the stabilization of the condensates, but also enables one to fabricate condensates with desirable densities, geometries, and properties, leading to the so-called ＂designer quasi-particle condensates＂.     

Rainbow Connection Number of Graph Power and Graph Products

Rainbow connection number, rc(G), of a connected graph G is the minimum number of colors needed to color its edges so that every pair of vertices is connected by at least one path in which no two edges are colored the same (note that the coloring need not be proper). In this paper we study the rainbow connection number with respect to three important graph product operations (namely the Cartesian product, the lexicographic product and the strong product) and the operation of taking the power of a graph. In this direction, we show that if G is a graph obtained by applying any of the operations mentioned above on non-trivial graphs, then rc(G) ≤ 2r(G) + c, where r(G) denotes the radius of G and \({c \in \{0, 1, 2\}}\) . In general the rainbow connection number of a bridgeless graph can be as high as the square of its radius [1]. This is an attempt to identify some graph classes which have rainbow connection number very close to the obvious lower bound of diameter (and thus the radius). The bounds reported are tight up to additive constants. The proofs are constructive and hence yield polynomial time \({(2 + \frac{2}{r(G)})}\) -factor approximation algorithms.     

Process Modeling of Comprehensive Integrated Forest Biorefinery—An Integrated Approach

The key to expanding the energy supply, increasing energy security, and reducing the dependency on foreign oil is to develop advanced technologies to efficiently transform our renewable bioresources into domestically produced bioenergy and bioproducts. Conventional biorefineries, i.e., forest products industry’s pulp and paper mills with long history of sustainable utilization of lignocellulose (wood), offer a suitable platform for being expanded into future integrated forest biorefineries. Due to the pre-existing infrastructure in current forest products operations, this could present a very cost-effective approach to future biorefineries. In order to better understand the overall process, technical, economic, and environmental impacts, a detailed process modeling of the whole integrated forest biorefinery is presented here. This approach uses a combination of Aspen Plus®, WinGEMS®, and Microsoft Excel® to simulate the entire biorefinery in detail with sophisticated communication interface between the three simulations. Preliminary results for a simple case study of an integrated biorefinery show the feasibility of this approach. Further investigations, including additional details, more process options, and complete integration, are currently underway.     

Sensitivity analysis for shortest path problems and maximum capacity path problems in undirected graphs

This paper addresses sensitivity analysis questions concerning the shortest path problem and the maximum capacity path problem in an undirected network. For both problems, we determine the maximum and minimum weights that each edge can have so that a given path remains optimal. For both problems, we show how to determine these maximum and minimum values for all edges in O(m + K log K) time, where m is the number of edges in the network, and K is the number of edges on the given optimal path.     

Spatiotemporal rheochaos in nematic hydrodynamics

Motivated by recent observations of rheochaos in sheared wormlike micelles, we study the coupled nonlinear partial differential equations for the hydrodynamic velocity and order-parameter fields in a sheared nematogenic fluid. In a suitable parameter range, we find irregular, dynamic shear banding and establish by decisive numerical tests that the chaos we observe in the model is spatiotemporal in nature.     

Quantum spins and quasiperiodicity: a real space renormalization group approach

We study the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on a two-dimensional bipartite quasiperiodic structure, the octagonal tiling, the aperiodic equivalent of the square lattice for periodic systems. An approximate block spin renormalization scheme is described for this problem. The ground state energy and local staggered magnetizations for this system are calculated and compared with the results of a recent quantum Monte Carlo calculation for the tiling. It is conjectured that the ground state energy is exactly equal to that of the quantum antiferromagnet on the square lattice.