Suppressing Fermi acceleration in two-dimensional driven billiards

We consider a dissipative oval-like shaped billiard with a periodically moving boundary. The dissipation considered is proportional to a power of the velocity V of the particle. The three specific types of power laws used are: (i) F proportional to-V; (ii) F proportional to-V-2 and (iii) F proportional to-V-delta with 1 < delta < 2. In the course of the dynamics of the particle, if a large initial velocity is considered, case (i) shows that the decay of the particle's velocity is a linear function of the number of collisions with the boundary. For case (ii), an exponential decay is observed, and for 1 < delta < 2, an powerlike decay is observed. Scaling laws were used to characterize a phase transition from limited to unlimited energy gain for cases (ii) and (iii). The critical exponents obtained for the phase transition in the case (ii) are the same as those obtained for the dissipative bouncer model. Therefore near this phase transition, these two rather different models belong to the same class of universality. For all types of dissipation, the results obtained allow us to conclude that suppression of the unlimited energy growth is indeed observed.

Red Mud from Brazil: Thermal Behavior and Physical Properties

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

A homovalent doping in PMN ceramics by using lithium and scandium cations

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

Structural and spectroscopic characterization of Al2-xCrxO3 powders obtained by polymeric precursor method

Al2O3 and Al2-x Cr (x) O-3 (x = 0.01, 0.02 and 0.04) powders have been synthesized by the polymeric precursors method. A study of the structural evolution of crystalline phases corresponding to the obtained powders was accomplished through X-Ray Diffraction and UV-vis spectroscopy (reflectance spectra and CIEL* a*b* color data). The obtained results allow to identify the gamma-Al2O3 to alpha-Al2O3 phase transition. The single-phase alpha-Al2O3 powder was obtained after heat treatment at 1050 degrees C for 2 h. The results show that the green to red color transition and ruby luminescence lines observed for the powders of Al2-x Cr (x) O-3 are related to the gamma to alpha-Al2O3 phase transition and the temperature and time range for such transition depends on the chromium content.

Partículas nanométricas de ferritas de ítrio

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

Voltage-composition profile and synchrotron X-ray structural analysis of low and high temperature LixCoO2 host material

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

Visible and near-infrared luminescent Eu3+ or Er3+ doped laponite-derived xerogels and thick films: Structural and spectroscopic properties

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

Síntese e caracterização do sistema ZrO2-SiO2 com adição de cobalto para uso como pigmentos cerâmicos

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

Influência da adição de níquel na síntese do SrSnO3

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Unilamellar vesicles obtained by simply mixing dioctadecyldimethylammonium chloride and bromide with water

Optically clear dispersions of dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide and chloride (DODAX, X = Br-, Cl-) in water can be obtained by simply mixing the amphiphiles at low concentrations (I mM) and at a temperature safely above the gel to liquid crystalline phase transition temperature (T-m approximate to 45-48 degrees C) of DODAX in water. Under these conditions, dynamic light scattering shows that, at room temperature, the dispersions contain two well-defined populations of large vesicles with average hydrodynamic radii (RH) of 80 and 337 nm for DODAB and of 69 and 247 nm for DODAC. Cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) micrographs show that DODAX vesicles are unilamellar and polydisperse with apparent radius up to 800 nm. The vesicles are stable for at least I month according to the ageing time-dependence of the turbidity and molar absorption coefficient. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.

Ferroelectric and optical properties of Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 thin film

Barium strontium titanate (Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3) thin films have been prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates using a soft solution processing. X-ray diffraction and also micro-Raman spectroscopy showed that the Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 thin films exhibited a tetragonal structure at room temperature. The presence of Raman active modes was clearly shown at the 299 and 725 cm(-1) peaks. The tetragonal-to-cubic phase transition in the Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 thin films is broadened, and suppressed at about 35 degreesC, with a maximum dielectric constant of 948 (100 kHz). Electrical measurements for the prepared Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3 thin films showed a remnant polarization (P-r) of 6.5 muC/cm(2), a coercive field (E-c) of 41 kV/cm, and good insulating properties. The dispersion of the refractive index is interpreted in terms of a single electronic oscillator at 6.97 eV. The direct band gap energy (E-g) and the refractive index (n) are estimated to be 3.3 eV and n = 2.27-2.10, respectively. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

RECENT HEAVY-ION EXPERIMENTS AND STATISTICAL-MODEL OF HADRONS

The combined CERN and Brookhaven heavy ion (H.I.) data supports a scenario of hadron gas which is in chemical and thermal equilibrium at a temperature T of about 140 MeV. Using the Brown-Stachel-Welke model (which gives 150 MeV) we show that in this scenario, the hot nucleons have mass 3 pi T and the pi and rho mesons have masses close to pi T and 2 pi T, respectively. A simple model with pions and quarks supports the co-existence of two phases in these heavy ion experiments, suggesting a second order phase transition. The masses of the pion, rho and the nucleon are intriguingly close to the lattice screening masses.

Characterization of BaTi1-xZrxO3 thin films obtained by a soft chemical spin-coating technique

Single-phase perovskite structure BaZrxTi1-xO3 (BZT) (0.05less than or equal toxless than or equal to0.25) thin films were deposited on Pt-Ti-SiO2-Si substrates by the spin-coating technique. The structural modifications in the thin films were studied using x-ray diffraction and micro-Raman scattering techniques. Lattice parameters calculated from x-ray data indicate an increase in lattice (a axis) with the increasing content of zirconium in these films. Such Zr substitution also result in variations of the phonon mode wave numbers, especially those of lower wave numbers, for BaZrxTi1-xO3 thin films, corroborate to the structural change caused by the zirconium doping. on the other hand, Raman modes persist above structural phase transition, although all optical modes should be Raman inactive in the cubic phase. The origin of these modes must be interpreted as a function of a local breakdown of the cubic symmetry, which could be a result of some kind of disorder. The BZT thin films exhibited a satisfactory dielectric constant close to 181-138, and low dielectric loss tan delta<0.03 at the frequency of 1 kHz. The leakage current density of the BZT thin films was studied at elevated temperatures and the data obey the Schottky emission model. Through this analysis the Schottky barrier height values 0.68, 1.39, and 1.24 eV were estimated to the BZT5, BZT15, and BZT25 thin films, respectively. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Effect of the excess of bismuth on the morphology and properties of the BaBi2Ta2O9 ceramics

In this study, the effect of bismuth content on the crystal structure, morphology and electric properties of barium-bismuth-tantalate (BBT) ceramics was explored with the aid of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microcopy (SEM), dielectric properties and ferroelectric hysteresis loops. BaBi2Ta2O9 (BBT) ceramics have been successfully prepared by the solid-state reaction. The BBT phase was crystallized at 900 degreesC for 2 h. The excess of bismuth controls the grain size, affecting the density of the material. Measurements of dieletric constant and dieletric losses confirm that the material is a ferroeletric with a Curie temperature around 77 degreesC. The dieletric constant measured at room temperature was 400, with a dielectric loss of 0.03. Both the phase-transition behaviour and ferroelectric properties, such as spontaneous polarization (P-s), showed a dependence on Bi content. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cationic liposomes in mixed didodecyldimethylammonium bromide and dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide aqueous dispersions studied by differential scanning calorimetry, nile red fluorescence, and turbidity

The thermotropic phase behavior of cationic liposomes in mixtures of two of the most investigated liposome-forming double-chain lipids, dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODAB) and didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB), was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), turbidity, and Nile Red fluorescence. The dispersions were investigated at 1.0 mM total surfactant concentration and varying DODAB and DDAB concentrations. The gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition temperatures (T-m) of neat DDAB and DODAB in aqueous dispersions are around 16 and 43 degrees C, respectively, and we aim to investigate the T-m behavior for mixtures of these cationic lipids. Overall, DDAB reduces the T-m of DODAB, the transition temperature depending on the DDAB content, but the T-m of DDAB is roughly independent of the DODAB concentration. Both DSC and fluorescence measurements show that, within the mixture, at room temperature (ca. 22 degrees C), the DDAB-rich liposomes are in the liquid-crystalline state, whereas the DODAB-rich liposomes are in the gel state. DSC results point to a higher affinity of DDAB for DODAB liposomes than the reverse, resulting in two populations of mixed DDAB/DODAB liposomes with distinctive phase behavior. Fluorescence measurements also show that the presence of a small amount of DODAB in DDAB-rich liposomes causes a pronounced effect in Nile Red emission, due to the increase in liposome size, as inferred from turbidity results.