Effects of preheating on diaspore: Modifications in colour centres, structure and light emission

The thermal properties and thermal stability of diaspore-corundum (AlOOH-Al₂O₃), from Goian (Pontevedra, Spain) were studied by means of differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetry (TG), high temperature X-ray diffraction (HTXRD) and thermally stimulated luminescence (TL) techniques. The samples were annealed to link the combined effect of (i) dehydroxylation, (ii) oxidation-reduction of chromophores (Mn 0.5%, Fe₂O₃ 0.12%, TiO₂ 0.021% and Cr 80 ppm) determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and (iii) phase transitions whilst sample heating (i.e. α-AlOOH→α′-Al₂P₃→α-Al₂O₃). The blue colour of diaspore, attributed to the Ti⁴⁺-Fe²⁺ intervalence-charge-transfer mechanism, turns to white (circa 500 °C) in good agreement with the DTA endothermic peak (dehydroxylation). The coexistence of α-AlOOH and α′-Al₂P₃ phases has been detected by in situ HTXRD and could be correlated to the thermoluminescence tests performed on preheated aliquots (up to 500 °C).     

Orientation dependence of the electrocaloric effect of ferroelectric bilayer thin films

An analytical thermodynamic theory is applied to investigate the electrocaloric effect of ferroelectric BaTiO₃/SrTiO₃ bilayer thin films with different orientations at room temperature. Theoretical analysis indicates that the strong electrostatic coupling between the layers results in the suppression of ferroelectricity at a critical relative thickness which occurs approximately at 50%, 23%, and 12% of SrTiO₃ fraction in the (001), (110), and (111) bilayer thin films, respectively. The ferroelectric bilayer thin films are respected to have the largest electrocaloric effect at this critical relative thickness. Moreover, the electrocaloric effect strongly depends on the orientation and the (110) oriented bilayer thin films have the largest electrocaloric effect. Consequently, control of the orientation and the relative thickness of SrTiO₃ layer can be used to adjust the electrocaloric effect of ferroelectric bilayer thin films, which may provide the potential for practical application in refrigeration devices.     

Characterization of new-layered Cr(III)-doped chlorocadmiumphosphate, Cd(HPO4)Cl·[H3N(CH2)6NH3]0.5 crystal by EPR and optical studies

Cr(III)-doped Cd(HPO₄)Cl·[H₃N(CH₂)₆NH₃]_0.5, a new-layered cadmium phosphate, is synthesized in acidic condition at room temperature. EPR and optical studies are carried out at room temperature. Polycrystalline EPR spectrum reveals the presence of two sites of Cr(III) ions in this layered phosphate lattice with zero-field splitting values of 24.24 and 7.65 mT, indicating that Cr(III) ions are in distorted octahedral sites. The optical absorption spectrum of the sample indicates near octahedral symmetry for the dopant ions. Crystal field, inter-electronic and bonding parameters are evaluated by collaborating EPR and optical data. The evaluated parameters suggest the mode of entry of Cr(III) ion into the layered phosphate as interstitial site, and bonding between the metal and ligand is partially covalent.     

Magnetic resonance differentiation between T2 and T1 gallbladder carcinoma: significance of subserosal enhancement on the delayed phase dynamic study

Purpose

The aim of this study is to investigate whether subserosal enhancement on the delayed-phase dynamic magnetic resonance (MR) study (SED) can differentiate T2 from T1 gallbladder carcinoma (GBC).

Methods

The institutional research board approved this retrospective study. Between 1997 and 2006, there were surgically proven 11 T1 and 21 T2 GBC in 30 patients, all of whom had undergone preoperative contrast enhanced dynamic MR study, either with a 2D sequence (n=17) or 3D sequences (n=15). All images were reviewed by two radiologists for the presence of SED, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated by consensus.

Results

The areas under the ROC curves of the two readers were 0.91 and 0.86, and the kappa value was 0.78. Of the 21 T2 GBC, 18 and 3 showed positive and negative SED, respectively. Of the 11 T1 GBC, 1 and 10 showed positive and negative SED, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of SED for diagnosing T2 lesions were 86%, 88%, 91% and 77%, respectively.

Conclusions

In conclusion, SED may be a useful sign to differentiate T2 from T1 GBC, which would affect the preoperative surgical planning of the patients.     

Holovideo: Real-time 3D range video encoding and decoding on GPU

We present a 3D video-encoding technique called Holovideo that is capable of encoding high-resolution 3D videos into standard 2D videos, and then decoding the 2D videos back into 3D rapidly without significant loss of quality. Due to the nature of the algorithm, 2D video compression such as JPEG encoding with QuickTime Run Length Encoding (QTRLE) can be applied with little quality loss, resulting in an effective way to store 3D video at very small file sizes. We found that under a compression ratio of 134:1, Holovideo to OBJ file format, the 3D geometry quality drops at a negligible level. Several sets of 3D videos were captured using a structured light scanner, compressed using the Holovideo codec, and then uncompressed and displayed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the codec. With the use of OpenGL Shaders (GLSL), the 3D video codec can encode and decode in realtime. We demonstrated that for a video size of 512×512, the decoding speed is 28 frames per second (FPS) with a laptop computer using an embedded NVIDIA GeForce 9400 m graphics processing unit (GPU). Encoding can be done with this same setup at 18 FPS, making this technology suitable for applications such as interactive 3D video games and 3D video conferencing.     

Phase diagram for stripes in YBa2Cu3O6+x superconductors

Neutron scattering has been used to measure the charge and spin structure in the YBa₂Cu₃O_6+x superconductors. Incommensurate static charge ordering is found at low doping levels while only charge fluctuations are found at higher doping. The spin structure is complex with both a commensurate resonance and incommensurate structure observed at low temperatures. The scattering results are used to construct a phase diagram for stripes in the YBa₂Cu₃O_6+x system.     

Vibrationally assisted transitions and phonon spectra in crystalline solids

The vibrationally assisted electronic (vibronic) transitions of localized centers in crystalline solids provide relevant information regarding the phonon spectra of the host materials. We present the vibronic spectra of some compounds with particular attention to the case of the transition metal ions V²⁺ and Cr³⁺ embedded in simple ionic crystals such as MgO or more complex systems such as YAG. The vibronic spectra are interpreted in light of the radiative selection rules and are compared with phonon data obtained with other techniques such as neutron scattering, infrared and Raman spectroscopies. Conclusions regarding the effectiveness of vibronic spectra in uncovering the phonon spectral distributions are presented.     

Shape-dependent local internal stress of α-Cr2O3 nanocrystal fabricated by pulsed laser ablation

The α-Cr₂O₃ single-crystal nanocondensates were fabricated by pulsed laser ablation in air and characterized by analytical electron microscopy regarding shape-dependent local internal stress of the anisotropic crystal. The nanocondensates formed predominantly as rhombohedra with well-developed surfaces and occasionally hexagonal plate with thin edges and blunt corners. Such nanocondensates showed Raman shift for the CrO₆ polyhedra, indicating a local compressive stress up to ca. 4 GPa on the average. Careful analysis of the lattice fringes revealed a local compressive stress (0.5% strain) at the thin edge of the hexagonal plates and a local tensile stress (0.3–1.0% strain) near the relaxed , , and (0 0 0 1) surfaces of truncated rhombohedra. The combined effects of nanosize, capillarity force at sharp edge, and specific surface relaxation account for the retention of a local internal compressive stress built up in an anisotropic crystal during a very rapid heating–cooling process.     

Nanoscale formation mechanism of conducting filaments in NiO thin films

We have studied the nanoscale electrical properties of NiO thin films by using conducting atomic force microscopy (CAFM) to understand the mechanism of resistance change of the NiO thin films as we changed the applied voltage. We observed that inhomogeneous conducting filaments were generated by external voltage bias; in addition, some of the inhomogeneous conducting filaments were durable while some of them were not, and they disappeared. We deduced that the resistance change of the NiO thin films was related to inhomogeneous filamentary conducting paths generated by both Ni ions in thermodynamically unstable NiO and the existence of conducting filament segments generated by high voltage bias.     

Thermodynamic description of the viscosity of liquid solder alloys with minor Co impurities

Because of the increasing complexity and cost of experiments carried out, the data for the multi-component alloy systems have frequently been obtained by numerical modelling. It is clear that the related calculations require reliable data dealing with the pure components and binary alloy systems. Selecting the reliable data concerning the pure components from the literature, the viscosities for the SAC and (SAC)_1?x Co_x solder alloys have been calculated using different viscosity models (geometric and physical). The viscosity decreases as the amount of tin content increases in the SAC387 alloy while the addition of the cobalt to SAC387 solder results in the increasing of the viscosity. Moreover, by computing the root mean square values between theoretical and experimental viscosities, it can be concluded that the lowest value among all models is that of obtained by Kaptay equation.