Optical properties of aluminum-, gallium-, and indium-doped Bi4Ti3O12 thin films

Undoped and Al-, Ga-, and In-doped Bi4Ti3O12 thin films were prepared on fused quartz substrates by chemical solution deposition. Their microstructures and optical properties were investigated by x-ray diffraction and UV-visible-NIR spectrophotometer, respectively. The optical band-gap energies, Urbach energies, and linear refractive indices of all the films are derived from the transmittance spectrum. Following the single oscillator model, the dispersion parameters such as the average oscillator energy (E-0) and dispersion energy (E-d) are achieved. The energy band gap and refractive indices are found to decrease with introducing the dopants of Al, Ga, and In, which is useful for the band-gap engineering and optical waveguide devices. The refractive index dispersion parameter (E-0/S-0) increases and the chemical bonding quantity (beta) decreases in all the films compared with those of bulk. It is supposed to be caused by the nanosize grains in films. (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI 10.1063/1.3138813]

Anomalous shift of the beating nodes in illumination-controlled In1-xGaxAs/In1-yAlyAs two-dimensional electron gases with strong spin-orbit interaction

The beating patterns in the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillatory magnetoresistance originating from zero-field spin splitting of two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) in In0.52Al0.48As/InxGa1-xAs/In0.52Al0.48As quantum wells with silicon delta doped on the upper barrier layer have been investigated by means of magnetotransport measurements before and after illumination. Contrary to the expectation, after each illumination, the beating nodes induced by the zero-field spin-splitting effect shift to lower and lower magnetic field due to the decrease in the zero-field spin-splitting energy of the 2DEGs. The anomalous phenomenon of the shift of the beating nodes and the decrease in spin-orbit coupling constants after illumination cannot be explained by utilizing the previous linear Rashba model. It is suggested that the decrease in the zero-field spin-splitting energy and the spin-orbit coupling constant arise from the nonlinear Rashba spin splitting.

Numerical analysis of four-wave-mixing based multichannel wavelength conversion techniques in fibers

We numerically investigate four-wave-mixing (FWM) based multichannel wavelength conversion for amplitude-modulated signals, phase-modulated signals, together with mixed amplitude and phase modulated signals. This paper also discusses the influence of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) effects on high-efficiency FWM-based wavelength conversion applications. Our simulation results show that DPSK signals are more suitable for FWM-based multichannel wavelength conversion because the OOK signals will suffer from the inevitable datapattern-dependent pump depletion. In future applications, when the modulation format is partially upgraded from OOK to DPSK, the influence of OOK signals on the updated DPSK signals must be considered when using multichannel wavelength conversion. This influence becomes severe with the increase of OOK channel number. It can be concluded that DPSK signals are more appropriate for both transmission and multichannel wavelength conversion,especially in long haul and high bit-rate system.

Effects of oriented substrates on cell morphology, the cell cycle, and the cytoskeleton in Ros 17/2.8 cells

Absence of gravity or microgravity influences the cellular functions of bone forming osteoblasts. The underlying mechanism, however, of cellular sensing and responding to the gravity vector is poorly understood. This work quantified the impact of vector-directional gravity on the biological responses of Ros 17/2.8 cells grown on upward-, downward- or edge-on-oriented substrates. Cell morphology and nuclear translocation, cell proliferation and the cell cycle, and cytoskeletal reorganization were found to vary significantly in the three orientations. All of the responses were duration-dependent. These results provide a new insight into understanding how osteoblasts respond to static vector-directional gravity.

Linear spatio-temporal instability analysis of ice growth under a falling water film

A linear spatio-temporal stability analysis is conducted for the ice growth under a falling water film along an inclined ice plane. The full system of linear stability equations is solved by using the Chebyshev collocation method. By plotting the boundary curve between the linear absolute and convective instabilities (AI/CI) of the ice mode in the parameter plane of the Reynolds number and incline angle, it is found that the linear absolute instability exists and occurs above a minimum Reynolds number and below a maximum inclined angle. Furthermore, by plotting the critical Reynolds number curves with respect to the inclined angle for the downstream and upstream branches, the convectively unstable region is determined and divided into three parts, one of which has both downstream and upstream convectively unstable wavepackets and the other two have only downstream or upstream convectively unstable wavepacket. Finally, the effect of the Stefan number and the thickness of the ice layer on the AI/CI boundary curve is investigated.

Dynamics of morphological changes for mitochondrial fission and fusion

Mitochondria experience continuous fusion and fission in a living cell, but their dynamics remains poorly quantified. Here a theoretical model was developed, upon a simplified population balance equation (PBE), to predict the morphological changes induced by mitochondrial fission and fusion. Assuming that both fission and fusion events are statistically independent, the survival probability of mitochondria staying in the fission or fusion state was formulated as an exponentially-decayed function with time, which depended on the time-dependent distribution of the mitochondrial volume and the fission and fusion rates. Parametric analysis was done for two typical volume distributions. One was Gamma distribution and the other was Gaussian distribution, derived from the measurements of volume distribution for individual mitochondria in a living cell and purified mitochondria in vitro. The predictions indicated that the survival probability strongly depended on morphological changes of individual mitochondria and was inversely correlated to the fission and fusion rates. This work provided a new insight into quantifying the mitochondrial dynamics via monitoring the evolution of the mitochondrial volume.

CFD study of a sudden-expanding coal combustor using Euler-Euler and Euler-Lagrange models

In this study, the Euler-Euler (E-E) and Euler-Lagrange (E-L) models designed for the same chemical mechanism of heterogeneous reactions were used to predict the performance of a typical sudden-expanding coal combustor. The results showed that the current E-E model underestimated the coal burnout rate because the particle temperature fluctuation on char combustion is not adequately considered. A comparison of the E-E and E-L simulations showed the underestimation of heterogeneous chemical reaction rates by the E-E model. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reconstructing the interaction between dark matter and holographic dark energy

We reconstruct the interaction rate between dark matter and the holographic dark energy with the parametrized equation of states and the future event horizon as the infrared cutoff length. It is shown that the observational constraints from the 192 type Ia Supernovae (SnIa) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurement permit the negative interaction in the wide region. Moreover, the usual phenomenological descriptions cannot describe the reconstructed interaction well for many cases. The other possible interaction is also discussed.

Low-lying states of heavy nuclei within the nucleon pair approximation

In this article we perform systematic calculations on low-lying states of 33 nuclei with A=202-212, using the nucleon pair approximation of the shell model. We use a phenomenological shell-model Hamiltonian that includes single-particle energies, monopole and quadrupole pairing interactions, and quadrupole-quadrupole interactions. The building blocks of our model space include one J=4 valence neutron pair, and one J=4,6,8 valence proton pair, in addition to the usual S and D pairs. We calculate binding energies, excitation energies, electric quadrupole and magnetic dipole moments of low-lying states, and E2 transition rates between low-lying states. Our calculated results are reasonably consistent with available experimental data. The calculated quadrupole moments and magnetic moments, many of which have not yet been measured for these nuclei, are useful for future experimental measurements.

The generalized second law of thermodynamics in generalized gravity theories

We investigate the generalized second law of thermodynamics (GSL) in generalized theories of gravity. We examine the total entropy evolution with time including the horizon entropy, the non-equilibrium entropy production, and the entropy of all matter, field and energy components. We derive a universal condition to protect the generalized second law and study its validity in different gravity theories. In Einstein gravity (even in the phantom-dominated universe with a Schwarzschild black hole), Lovelock gravity and braneworld gravity, we show that the condition to keep the GSL can always be satisfied. In f ( R) gravity and scalar-tensor gravity, the condition to protect the GSL can also hold because the temperature should be positive, gravity is always attractive and the effective Newton constant should be an approximate constant satisfying the experimental bounds.

Topological objects in two-gap superconductor

We discuss the non-Abelian topological objects, in particular the non-Abrikosov vortex and the magnetic knot made of the twisted non-Abrikosov vortex, in two-gap superconductor. We show that there are two types of non-Abrikosov vortex in Ginzburg-Landau theory of two-gap superconductor, the D-type which has no concentration of the condensate at the core and the N-type which has a non-trivial profile of the condensate at the core, under a wide class of realistic interaction potential. We prove that these non-Abrikosov vortices can have either integral or fractional magnetic flux, depending on the interaction potential. We show that they are described by the non-Abelian topology pi(2)(S-2) and pi(1)(S-1), in addition to the well-known Abelian topology pi(1)(S-1). Furthermore, we discuss the possibility to construct a stable magnetic knot in two-gap superconductor by twisting the non-Abrikosov vortex and connecting two periodic ends together, whose knot topology pi(3)(S-2) is described by the Chern-Simon index of the electromagnetic potential. We argue that similar topological objects may exist in multi-gap or multi-layer superconductors and multi-component Bose-Einstein condensates and superfluids, and discuss how these topological objects can be constructed in MgB2, Sr2RuO4, He-3, and liquid metallic hydrogen.

Energy and entropy radiated by a black hole embedded in a de Sitter braneworld

We study the Hawking radiation of a (4+n)-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole imbedded in space-time with a positive cosmological constant. The greybody and energy emission rates of scalars, fermions, bosons, and gravitons are calculated in the full range of energy. Valuable information on the dimensions and curvature of space-time is revealed. Furthermore, we investigate the entropy radiated and lost by black holes. We find their ratio near 1 in favor of the Bekenstein's conjecture.

图书馆学情报学方法论研究统计分析

以图书馆学情报学期刊中较有影响的核心刊物之一《情报理论与实践》为依据,通过对其1995～2004年刊载的有关我国图书馆学情报学方法论研究论文的计量分析,描述出我国图书馆学情报学方法论研究的发展脉络,指出了其中的问题,希望反映出我国图书馆学情报学方法论的应用情况。