Long range effect of ion irradiation on diffusion

Argon ion irradiation enhanced diffusion between Cu and Ni was found beyond the radiation effect zone in classical theory. The enhanced diffusion effect attenuates along with the distance between the diffusion zone and the radiated surface. An interpretation based on irradiation induced discrete breathers was employed as a possible mechanism.     

Radiation Vulcanization of Magnetorheological Elastomers Based on Silicone Rubber

The fabrication of magnetorheological （MR） elastomers was studied by two vulcanization methods, including heat vulcanization （HV） and radiation vulcanization （RV）, were employed to fabricate MRE samples. The dynamical mechanical properties were characterized by using a dynamic mechanic analyzer. In particular, both the MR effect and its durability were investigated. The experimental results showed that RV samples have large magnetoinduced modulus, large zero-field modulus, and good durability property of MR effect. To explain these results, cubic deformation and plasticizer migration were analyzed. Large magneto-induced modulus of RV sample results from cubic deformation during vulcanization process. And the plasticizer migration results in better durability of MR effect.     

Heat transfer in MHD viscoelastic fluid flow over a stretching sheet with variable thermal conductivity,non-uniform heat source and radiation

An analysis has been carried out to study the magnetohydrodynamic boundary layer flow and heat transfer characteristics of a non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluid over a flat sheet with a linear velocity in the presence of thermal radiation and non-uniform heat source. The thermal conductivity is assumed to vary as a linear function of temperature. The basic equations governing the flow and heat transfer are in the form of partial differential equations, the same have been reduced to a set of non-linear ordinary differential equations by applying suitable similarity transformation. The transformed equations are solved analytically by regular perturbation method. Numerical solution of the problem is also obtained by the efficient shooting method, which agrees well with the analytical solution. The effects of various physical parameters such as viscoelastic parameter, Chandrasekhar number, Prandtl number, variable thermal conductivity parameter, Eckert number, thermal radiation parameter and non-uniform heat source/sink parameters which determine the temperature profiles are shown in several plots and the heat transfer coefficient is tabulated for a range of values of said parameters. Some important findings reported in this work reveals that combined effect of variable thermal conductivity, radiation and non-uniform heat source have significant impact in controlling the rate of heat transfer in the boundary layer region.     

Electro-electrodialysis of HI–I2–H2O mixture using radiation-grafted polymer electrolyte membranes

In the thermochemical water-splitting iodine–sulfur process for hydrogen production, new polymer electrolyte membranes were applied in an electro-membrane process (electro-electrodialysis, EED) to increase the HI molality of HIx solution (HI + I₂ + H₂O mixture) to be over quasi-azeotropic. Radiation grafting of a styrene monomer into a poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene) base film and subsequent sulfonation provided electrolyte membranes that had ion exchange capacities (IECs) of 1.1–1.6 mmol/g. With the EED of the HIx solutions using [HI] = [I₂] = 10 mol/kg at 40 °C the transport number of protons, ratio of permeated quantities of water to the protons, and current efficiency all appeared to depend on the IEC of the resulting membranes. When compared to Nafion, the self-made membranes exhibited lower electric cell resistance, and thereby decreasing up to 32% of the overall energy required in the concentration operation.     

Novel deletion of the E3A ubiquitin protein ligase gene detected by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification in a patient with Angelman syndrome

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a severe neurobehavioural disorder caused by failure of expression of the maternal copy of the imprinted domain located on 15q11-q13. There are different mechanisms leading to AS: maternal microdeletion, uniparental disomy, defects in a putative imprinting centre, mutations of the E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (UBE3A) gene. However, some of suspected cases of AS are still scored negative to all the latter mutations. Recently, it has been shown that a proportion of negative cases bear large deletions overlapping one or more exons of the UBE3A gene. These deletions are difficult to detect by conventional gene-scanning methods due to the masking effect by the non-deleted allele. In this study, we have used for the first time multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) and comparative multiplex dosage analysis (CMDA) to search for large deletions affecting the UBE3A gene. Using this approach, we identified a novel causative deletion involving exon 8 in an affected sibling. Based on our results, we propose the use of MLPA as a fast, accurate and inexpensive test to detect large deletions in the UBE3A gene in a small but significant percentage of AS patients.     

Cloud and aerosol contributions to variation in shortwave surface irradiance over East Asia in July during 2001 and 2007

It is important to clarify the contributions of clouds and aerosols to the variation of surface shortwave irradiance (S) for climatological studies. This study examined the contributions of clouds and aerosols to the variation in S over East Asia (75-135°E, 20-55°N) in July during 2001 and 2007 using the index of potential radiative forcing (PRF) to characterize the temporal and geographical variations. After confirming the validity of PRF for multiyear analyses, we performed several temporal analyses of clouds and aerosols over the whole research domain. Changes in the geographical distribution, contribution histograms, and averaged values were studied. In agreement with previous studies that treated single-year cases, we confirmed that the magnitudes of the temporal changes in S variations due to clouds and aerosols were highly variable geographically. As for domain-averaged S variations, we did not observe defined trends for the research period. It was also found that the temporal variation between one parameter and its S variation was negatively correlated, from the point analyses at two locations. Based on these results, we concluded that PRF is a promising tool for research into long-term S variations. This kind of information will be quite valuable as basic data for use in climate modeling.     

Evidence of formation of tetravacancies in uniformly oxygen irradiated n-type silicon

High purity n-type silicon single crystal with resistivity in the order of 4000 Ω cm has been irradiated with high-energy oxygen ions at room temperature up to a fluence of 5E15 ions/cm². The energy of the beam was varied from 3 to 140 MeV using a rotating degrader to achieve a depthwise near-uniform implantation profile. Radiation induced defects and their dynamics have been studied using positron annihilation spectroscopy along with isochronal annealing up to 700 °C in steps of 50 °C for 30 min. After annealing the sample at 200 °C for 30 min, formation of silicon tetravacancies has been noticed. The formation of the tetravacancies was found to be due to agglomeration of divacancies present in the irradiated sample. An experimentally obtained positron lifetime value of 338±10 ps has been reported for silicon tetravacancies, which has a very close agreement with the value obtained from recent theoretical calculations. The tetravacancies were found to dissociate into trivacancy clusters upon further annealing. The trivacancies thus obtained were observed to agglomerate beyond 400 °C to form larger defect clusters. Finally, all the defects were found to anneal out after annealing the sample at 650 °C.     

基于同步辐射加速器的康普顿背散射γ光源性质及其应用研究

本文介绍了利用康普顿背散射 (BCS)产生γ射线的原理 ,并以SSRF储存环电子运行参数为例 ,给出了利用BCS方法产生MeV量级γ射线束的计算结果 ,预期该光子束具有高强度、高极化度、单色性、方向性好等优点。同时对国际上已运行和拟建的高能和低能γ束线站的装置和性能作了简要介绍 ,并分别探讨了高能和低能准单色极化γ射线在核物理和核天体物理研究中广泛的应用前景。文中对基于正对以及离轴几何条件下 ,采用直线加速器加速的电子同短脉冲强激光发生Compton/Thomson散射的激光同步辐射源作了初步探讨 ,这一方法为我们构建超短脉冲的高亮度、准单色、可调谐的X γ射线源开辟了一条新途径。     

Differentiation between intra-axial metastatic tumor progression and radiation injury following fractionated radiation therapy or stereotactic radiosurgery using MR spectroscopy, perfusion MR imaging or volume progression modeling

Objective

To determine the accuracy of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), perfusion MR imaging (MRP), or volume modeling in distinguishing tumor progression from radiation injury following radiotherapy for brain metastasis.

Methods

Twenty-six patients with 33 intra-axial metastatic lesions who underwent MRS (n=41) with or without MRP (n=32) after cranial irradiation were retrospectively studied. The final diagnosis was based on histopathology (n=4) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) follow-up with clinical correlation (n=29). Cho/Cr (choline/creatinine), Cho/NAA (choline/N-acetylaspartate), Cho/nCho (choline/contralateral normal brain choline) ratios were retrospectively calculated for the multi-voxel MRS. Relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV), relative peak height (rPH) and percentage of signal-intensity recovery (PSR) were also retrospectively derived for the MRPs. Tumor volumes were determined using manual segmentation method and analyzed using different volume progression modeling. Different ratios or models were tested and plotted on the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), with their performances quantified as area under the ROC curve (AUC). MRI follow-up time was calculated from the date of initial radiotherapy until the last MRI or the last MRI before surgical diagnosis.

Results

Median MRI follow-up was 16 months (range: 2-33). Thirty percent of lesions (n=10) were determined to be radiation injury; 70% (n=23) were determined to be tumor progression. For the MRS, Cho/nCho had the best performance (AUC of 0.612), and Cho/nCho >1.2 had 33% sensitivity and 100% specificity in predicting tumor progression. For the MRP, rCBV had the best performance (AUC of 0.802), and rCBV >2 had 56% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The best volume model was percent increase (AUC of 0.891); 65% tumor volume increase had 100% sensitivity and 80% specificity.

Conclusion

Cho/nCho of MRS, rCBV of MRP, and percent increase of MRI volume modeling provide the best discrimination of intra-axial metastatic tumor progression from radiation injury for their respective modalities. Cho/nCho and rCBV appear to have high specificities but low sensitivities. In contrast, percent volume increase of 65% can be a highly sensitive and moderately specific predictor for tumor progression after radiotherapy. Future incorporation of 65% volume increase as a pretest selection criterion may compensate for the low sensitivities of MRS and MRP.