Kinetics of polarization reversal in irradiated thin PZT films

The effect of irradiation with electrons and neutrons and of exposure to synchrotron radiation on cyclic switching of polarization in thin films of lead zirconate titanate Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) was studied. It is shown that variations in the shape of switching currents are due to the generation of a spatially nonuniform bound internal field with account for an increase in the rate of bulk screening caused by irradiation. A correlation between structural variations and the evolution of the switching current measured during and after irradiation is established.     

Improved synthesis of tocopherol fatty alcohols and analogs: microglial activation modulators

The synthesis of tocopherol fatty alcohols (TFAs), potent microglial activation modulators, was achieved via C-alkylation of trimethylhydroquinone. Several analogs, in particular water-soluble prodrugs, have been synthesized using a Wittig reaction and their antioxidant activities have been evaluated.     

Intravascular and Intracellular Hepatic Relaxivities of Superparamagnetic Particles: An Isolated and Perfused Organ Pharmacokinetics Study

The relative contributions of intravascular and intracellular compartments to the proton transverse relaxation of the isolated and excised rat liver were determined during the phagocytosis of superparamagnetic particles. The evolution of the proton transverse magnetization of the organ perfused with increasing doses of starch-coated magnetic microspheres was followed up using a Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill sequence with various echo times. From the multiexponential fit of the echo train, the amplitudes and the relaxation ratesR₂of the liver tissue were obtained. The results clearly indicate that shortly after contrast medium administration, an internalization takes place which can be followed by the rapid and biphasic evolution of the transverse relaxation rate of the water protons. A very fast decaying component looking like an initial loss of the magnetization is observed together with an increase of the relaxation rate of the remaining water tissue. This regime is strongly dependent on both the echo time and the iron concentration, a behavior characteristic of the agglomeration of magnetic particles. The examination of the liver tissues by electron microscopy shows that this clustering arises in cytoplasmic vacuoles.     

Five-step phase-shifting algorithms with unknown values of phase shift

The presented work offers new algorithms for phase evaluation in interferometric measurements. Several phase-shifting algorithms with an arbitrary but constant phase-shift between captured intensity frames are proposed. These phase calculation algorithms need to measure five frames of the intensity of the interference field. The algorithms are similarly derived as so called Carré algorithm. The phase evaluation process then does not depend on the linear phase shift errors. Furthermore, the detailed analysis of the algorithms with respect to most important factors, which affect interferometric measurements, is carried out. It is also studied the dependency of the evaluation algorithms on the phase shift values, and the proposed phase calculation algorithms are compared with respect to the resulting phase errors. The influence of most important factors in the measurement and evaluation process was simulated as systematic and random errors using a proposed mathematical model.     

Thermal annealing effects on grain boundary recombination activity in silicon

We have studied the influence of conventional and rapid thermal treatments at 850°C for 30 min and 10 s, respectively, on the recombination activity of the9,13 (P-type) and25 (N-type) grain boundaries in silicon. The analyses were made by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) working in the electron beam induced current mode (EBIC) and completed by minority carrier diffusion length measurements. The main result obtained from this study shows the importance of the rapid thermal process as a suitable thermal treatment for polycrystalline materials.     

Determination of uranium by thermal and epithermal neutron activation in natural waters and in human urine

Uranium is determined via its ²³⁹U nuclide (74.0 keV, t_{$\text{1}\text{2}$} = 23.5 min) in natural waters down to 0.03 ng U ml^-1 after preconcentration with activated carbon and oxine; 30-min irradiation and counting times are used. No preconcentration is required for samples containing more than 4 ng U ml^-1 with 10-min irradiation and counting times. Uranium in urine can be determined under a boron shield at the 5 ng ml^-1 level after 30-min irradiation and counting.