Endocrine disrupting effects on Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) fed with field collected Limnodrilus sp.

The potential endocrine disrupting effects and other toxicity effects on aquatic biota resulted from food uptake was simulated by feeding the laboratory cultured rare minnow(Gobiocypris rarus) with field collected Limnodrilus sp. The results indicated that the food chain processes affected significantly the growth, slightly reduced gonadosomatic indices, and elevated hepatosomatic indices. There was an obvious vitellogenin(VTG) induction, which generally only occurred in mature female, in the serum of juvenile rare minnow and mature male when fed with Limnodrilus sp. In addition, the rare minnow feeding on Limnodrilus sp. had significantly high renal indices, it meant obvious renal hyperplasia. The present work suggested that. Limnodrilus sp. from field water may contain toxic pollutants and could lead to endocrine disruption effects to the predators. It was concluded that endocrine disruptors may not only be assimilated through water, but also be bioconcentrated through food web. The results also suggested the importance of food selection in conducting the study of endocrine disruption effects using sensitive species.

Failure modes of doubly supported capacitive RF MEMS switches

For the design of radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical systems (RF MEMS) switches, the reliability issue becomes increasingly important. This paper represents some failure phenomena of doubly supported capacitive RF MEMS switches that include observable destruction failure and directly measurable parameter degradation obtained from the actuating-voltage testing and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation. The relevant failure modes as well as their failure mechanisms are identified.

A rigorous analytical method for doubly periodic cylindrical inclusions under longitudinal shear and its application

An infinite elastic solid containing a doubly periodic parallelogrammic array of cylindrical inclusions under longitudinal shear is studied. A rigorous and effective analytical method for exact solution is developed by using Eshelby's equivalent inclusion concept integrated with the new results from the doubly quasi-periodic Riemann boundary value problems. Numerical results show the dependence of the stress concentrations in such heterogeneous materials on the periodic microstructure parameters. The overall longitudinal shear modulus of composites with periodic distributed fibers is also studied. Several problems of practical importance, such as those of doubly periodic holes or rigid inclusions, singly periodic inclusions and single inclusion, are solved or resolved as special cases. The present method can provide benchmark results for other numerical and approximate methods. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The induction plasma chemical reactor: Part I. Equilibrium model

A mathematical model is presented for the numerical simulation of the flow, temperature, and concentration fields in an rf plasma chemical reactor. The simulation is performed assuming chemical equilibrium. The extent of validity of this assumption is discussed. The system considered is the reaction of SiCl4 and NH3 for the production of Si3N4.

The induction plasma chemical reactor: Part II. Kinetic model

A kinetic model has been developed for the prediction of the concentration gelds in an rf plasma reactor. A sample calculation for a SiCl4/H2 system is then performed. The model considers the mixing processes along with the kinetics of seven reactions involving the decomposition of these reactants. The results obtained are compared to those assuming chemical equilibrium. The predictions indicate that an equilibrium assumption will result in lower predicted temperature fields in the reactor. Furthermore, for the chemical system considered here, while differences exist between the concentration fields obtained by the two models, the differences are not substantial.

Theoretical investigation of nonvolatile holographic storage in doubly doped lithium niobate crystals

We have studied theoretically the inherent mechanisms of nonvolatile holographic storage in doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals. The photochromic effect of doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals is discussed, and the criterion for this effect is obtained through the photochromism-bleach factor a = S(21)gamma(1)/S(11)gamma(2) that we define. The two-center recording and fixing processes are analytically discussed with extended Kukhtarev equations, and analytical expressions for recorded and fixed steady-state space-charge fields as well as temporal behavior during the fixing process are obtained. The effects of microphysical quantities, the macrophotochromic effect on fixing efficiency, and recorded and fixed steady-state space-charge fields, are discussed analytically and numerically. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.

Optimizations for the uniformity of the non-volatile volume grating in doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals

The formation of the non-uniformity of the non-volatile volume grating in doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals is studied in detail. We find that the non-uniformity of the grating is mainly caused by strong ultraviolet light absorption, and the average saturation space-charge field is small and the diffraction efficiency is low as a result of the non-uniformity of the grating. In order to optimize the uniformity of the grating, we propose the recording scheme by using two sensitizing beams simultaneously from the two opposite sides of the crystals. Theoretical simulations and experimental verifications are performed. Results show that the well uniformed grating with high diffraction efficiency can be obtained by using this optimization scheme. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of microcosmic optical parameters of dopants on the signal-to-noise ratio in doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals

We propose a united theory that describes the two-center recording system by taking scattering noise into account. The temporal evolution of the signal-to-noise ratio in doubly doped photorefractive crystals is described based on jointly solving material equations and coupled-wave equations with the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Roles of microcosmic optical parameters of dopants on the signal-to-noise ratio are discussed in detail. The theoretical results can confirm and predict experimental results. (c) 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Influence of recording conditions on crossed-beam photorefractive gratings in doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals

The influence of the recording conditions, including the widths of the recording beams, the width ratio of the recording beams, and the recording angles, on the properties of crossed-beam photorefractive gratings in doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals is studied. A theoretical model that combines the band transport model with two-dimensional coupled-wave theory is proposed. The numerical calculations of the space-charge field, the intensity profiles of the diffracted beam, and the diffraction efficiency are presented. (C) 2006 Optical Society of America.

Vectorial solution of Kukhtarev equations for doubly doped crystals and optimal choice of recording directions in nonvolatile holographic storage

Vectorial Kukhtarev equations modified for the nonvolatile holographic recording in doubly doped crystals are analyzed, in which the bulk photovoltaic effect and the external electrical field are both considered. On the basis of small modulation approximation, both the analytic solution to the space-charge field with time in the recording phase and in the readout phase are deduced. The analytic solutions can be easily simplified to adapt the one-center model, and they have the same analytic expressions given those when the grating vector is along the optical axis. Based on the vectorial analyses of the band transport model an optimal recording direction is given to maximize the refractive index change in doubly doped LiNbO3:Fe: Mn crystals. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

New doubly periodic waves of the (2+1)-dimensional double sine-Gordon equation

New exact solutions of the (2 + 1)-dimensional double sine-Gordon equation are studied by introducing the modified mapping relations between the cubic nonlinear Klein-Gordon system and double sine-Gordon equation. Two arbitrary functions are included into the Jacobi elliptic function solutions. New doubly periodic wave solutions are obtained and displayed graphically by proper selections of the arbitrary functions.

Edge-defined, film-fed growth (EFG) technique for the preparation of alpha-Al2O3 : C crystal with highly sensitive thermoluminescence response

In this work, alpha-Al2O3:C, a highly sensitive thermoluminescence dosimetry crystal, was grown by the EFG method in which a graphite heating unit and shield acted as the carbon source during the growth process. The optical, luminescent properties and dosimetric characteristics of the crystal were investigated. The as-grown crystal shows a single glow peak at 536 K, which is associated with Cr3+ ions. After annealing in H-2 at 1673 K for 80 h, the crystal shows a single glow peak at 460 K and a blue emission band at 415 nm. The thermoluminescent response of the annealed crystal shows linear-sublinear-saturation characteristics in the dose range from 5 x 10(-6) to 100 Gy.