Urbach energy parameter of flash evaporated amorphous gallium arsenide films

The dependence of the optical absorption edge on the deposition crucible temperature is used to investigate the electronic states in As-rich a-GaAs flash evaporated films. The Urbach energy parameter, determined from photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS), presents large correlated variations with crucible temperature. The optical and electrical results are consistent with the As under coordinated sites being the more important defect in the material. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Cubic twistorial string field theory

Witten has recently proposed a string theory in twistor space whose D-instanton contributions are conjectured to compute M = 4 super-Yang-Mills scattering amplitudes. An alternative string theory in twistor space was then proposed whose open string tree amplitudes reproduce the D-instanton computations of maximal degree in Witten's model. In this paper, a cubic open string field theory action is constructed for this alternative string in twistor space, and is shown to be invariant under parity transformations which exchange MHV and googly amplitudes. Since the string field theory action is gauge-invariant and reproduces the correct cubic super-Yang-Mills interactions, it provides strong support for the conjecture that the string theory correctly computes N-point super-Yang-Mills tree amplitudes. © SISSA/ISAS 2004.

Using cubic splines to mitigate systematic errors in GPS relative positioning

Systematic errors can have a significant effect on GPS observable. In medium and long baselines the major systematic error source are the ionosphere and troposphere refraction and the GPS satellites orbit errors. But, in short baselines, the multipath is more relevant. These errors degrade the accuracy of the positioning accomplished by GPS. So, this is a critical problem for high precision GPS positioning applications. Recently, a method has been suggested to mitigate these errors: the semiparametric model and the penalised least squares technique. It uses a natural cubic spline to model the errors as a function which varies smoothly in time. The systematic errors functions, ambiguities and station coordinates, are estimated simultaneously. As a result, the ambiguities and the station coordinates are estimated with better reliability and accuracy than the conventional least square method.

Comparative study on turning CI and CGI using silicon nitride cutting tools

There has been a great interest for improving the machining of cast iron materials in the automotive and other industries. Comparative studies for tool used to machine grey cast iron (CI) and compacted graphite iron (CGI) on dry machining were also performed in order to find out why in this case the tool lifetime is not significantly higher. However the machining these materials while considering turning with the traditional high-speed steel and carbide cutting tools present any disadvantages. One of these disadvantages is that all the traditional machining processes involve the cooling fluid to remove the heat generated on workpiece due to friction during cutting. This paper present a new generation of ceramic cutting tool exhibiting improved properties and important advances in machining CI and CGI. The tool performance was analyzed in function of flank wear, temperature and roughness, while can be observed that main effects were found for tool wear, were abrasion to CI and inter-diffusion of constituting elements between tool and CGI, causing crater. However the difference in tool lifetime can be explained by the formation of a MnS layer on the tool surface in the case of grey CI. This layer is missing in the case of CGI.

Properties advanced of the silicon nitride based ceramics and recent performance on automotive parts manufacture by machining process: Advanced Ceramics, demand Forecast

Automotive parts manufacture by machining process using silicon nitride-based ceramic tool development in Brazil already is a reality. Si 3N4-based ceramic cutting tools offer a high productivity due to their excellent hot hardness, which allows high cutting speeds. Under such conditions the cutting tool must be resistant to a combination of mechanical, thermal and chemical attacks. Silicon nitride based ceramic materials constitute a mature technology with a very broad base of current and potential applications. The best opportunities for Si3N 4-based ceramics include ballistic armor, composite automotive brakes, diesel particulate filters, joint replacement products and others. The goal of this work was to show latter advance in silicon nitride manufacture and its recent evolution on machining process of gray cast iron, compacted graphite iron and Ti-6Al-4V. Materials characterization and machining tests were analyzed by X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Vickers hardness and toughness fracture and technical norm. In recent works the authors has been proved to advance in microstructural, mechanical and physic properties control. These facts prove that silicon nitride-based ceramic has enough resistance to withstand the impacts inherent to the machining of gray cast iron (CI), compacted graphite iron (CGI) and Ti-6Al-4V (6-4). Copyright © 2008 SAE International.

Voltammetric Study of a Cubic Silsesquioxane Organically Modified with Imidazole and their Subsequent Reaction with Cadmium and Hexacyanoferrate (III)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Controlled route to the fabrication of carbon and boron nitride nanoscrolls: A molecular dynamics investigation

Carbon nanoscrolls (graphene layers rolled up into papyrus-like tubular structures) are nanostructures with unique and interesting characteristics that could be exploited to build several new nanodevices. However, an efficient and controlled synthesis of these structures was not achieved yet, making its large scale production a challenge to materials scientists. Also, the formation process and detailed mechanisms that occur during its synthesis are not completely known. In this work, using fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we discuss a possible route to nanoscrolls made from graphene layers deposited over silicon oxide substrates containing chambers/pits. The scrolling mechanism is triggered by carbon nanotubes deposited on the layers. The process is completely general and can be used to produce scrolls from other lamellar materials, like boron nitride, for instance. © 2013 American Institute of Physics.

Tilings induced by a class of cubic Rauzy fractals

We study aperiodic and periodic tilings induced by the Rauzy fractal and its subtiles associated with beta-substitutions related to the polynomial x3-ax2-bx-1 for a≥b≥1. In particular, we compute the corresponding boundary graphs, describing the adjacencies in the tilings. These graphs are a valuable tool for more advanced studies of the topological properties of the Rauzy fractals. As an example, we show that the Rauzy fractals are not homeomorphic to a closed disc as soon as a≤2b-4. The methods presented in this paper may be used to obtain similar results for other classes of substitutions.© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A new hybrid polyhedral cubic silsesquioxane chemically modified with 4-amino-5-(4-pyridyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (APTT) and copper hexacyanoferrate(III) for voltammetric determination of nitrite

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A cubic silsesquioxane modified with purpald®: Preparation, characterization and a voltammetric application for determination of sulfite

A novel composite formed by interaction of a octa(3-chloropropyl)octasilsesquioxane modified with Purpald®, and its subsequent reaction with silver and hexacyanoferrate (III) (AgHSP), was synthesized and initially characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and cyclic voltammetry. The cyclic voltammogram of the modified graphite paste electrode with AgHSP, showed one redox couple with formal potential Eθ'=0.64V (vs Ag/AgCl, KNO3, 1.0 mol L-1; v = 20 mV s-1), attributed to the Fe2+(CN)6/ Fe3+(CN)6 process. The redox couple presents an electrocatalytic response for determination of sulfite. The modified electrode showed a linear response from 7.0×10-5 to 1.0×10-3 mol L-1 with the corresponding equation Y(μA) = 18.05 + 29.983×103 [sulfite], and a correlation coefficient of r=0.999. The method showed a detection limit of 0.115×10-4 mol L-1 with a relative standard deviation of ± 4% (n = 3) and amperometric sensitivity of 29.983×10-3A mol L-1. The modified electrode showed a excellent stability and good reproducibility during experiments. © 2013 by ESG.

Determination of copper in different ethanolic matrices using a chloropropyl silica gel modified with a nanostructured cubic octa(3-aminopropyl)octasilsesquioxane

The chloropropyl silica gel was modified with octa(3-aminopropyl) octasilsesquioxane and characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), spectroscopies, and surface and area porosity. The specific sorption capacity of metallic ions (Cu2+ and Ni2+) increases in the following solvent order: water < ethanol 42% < ethanol < ketone. The high values of the constant (K) in the order of 103 L mol-1 suggested the high adsorbent capacity of the modified silica (SGAPC) for Cu2+ and Ni2+. SGAPC was applied to a separation column and shows recoveries of around 100% of copper in samples of sugar cane spirit, vodka, ginger brandy, and ethanol fuel. © 2013 Devaney Ribeiro Do Carmo et al.

Limit Cycles for a Class of Continuous and Discontinuous Cubic Polynomial Differential Systems

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Relaxation to Fixed Points in the Logistic and Cubic Maps: Analytical and Numerical Investigation

Convergence to a period one fixed point is investigated for both logistic and cubic maps. For the logistic map the relaxation to the fixed point is considered near a transcritical bifurcation while for the cubic map it is near a pitchfork bifurcation. We confirmed that the convergence to the fixed point in both logistic and cubic maps for a region close to the fixed point goes exponentially fast to the fixed point and with a relaxation time described by a power law of exponent -1. At the bifurcation point, the exponent is not universal and depends on the type of the bifurcation as well as on the nonlinearity of the map.

Dynamical aspects of the unzipping of multiwalled boron nitride nanotubes

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Mechanosynthesis of the multiferroic cubic spinel Co2MnO4: Influence of the calcination temperature

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)