Wrinkling of Atomic Planes in Ultrathin Au Nanowires

A detailed understanding of structure and stability of nanowires is critical for applications. Atomic resolution imaging of ultrathin single crystalline Au nanowires using aberration-corrected microscopy reveals an intriguing relaxation whereby the atoms in the close-packed atomic planes normal to the growth direction are displaced in the axial direction leading to wrinkling of the (111) atomic plane normal to the wire axis. First-principles calculations of the structure of such nanowires confirm this wrinkling phenomenon, whereby the close-packed planes relax to form saddle-like surfaces. Molecular dynamics studies of wires with varying diameters and different bounding surfaces point to the key role of surface stress on the relaxation process. Using continuum mechanics arguments, we show that the wrinkling arises due to anisotropy in the surface stresses and in the elastic response, along with the divergence of surface-induced bulk stress near the edges of a faceted structure. The observations provide new understanding on the equilibrium structure of nanoscale systems and could have important implications for applications in sensing and actuation.

Dynamic Site Characterization and Correlation of Shear Wave Velocity with Standard Penetration Test `N' Values for the City of Agartala, Tripura State, India

Seismic site characterization is the basic requirement for seismic microzonation and site response studies of an area. Site characterization helps to gauge the average dynamic properties of soil deposits and thus helps to evaluate the surface level response. This paper presents a seismic site characterization of Agartala city, the capital of Tripura state, in the northeast of India. Seismically, Agartala city is situated in the Bengal Basin zone which is classified as a highly active seismic zone, assigned by Indian seismic code BIS-1893, Indian Standard Criteria for Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures, Part-1 General Provisions and Buildings. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi (2002), it is the highest seismic level (zone-V) in the country. The city is very close to the Sylhet fault (Bangladesh) where two major earthquakes (M (w) > 7) have occurred in the past and affected severely this city and the whole of northeast India. In order to perform site response evaluation, a series of geophysical tests at 27 locations were conducted using the multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) technique, which is an advanced method for obtaining shear wave velocity (V (s)) profiles from in situ measurements. Similarly, standard penetration test (SPT-N) bore log data sets have been obtained from the Urban Development Department, Govt. of Tripura. In the collected data sets, out of 50 bore logs, 27 were selected which are close to the MASW test locations and used for further study. Both the data sets (V (s) profiles with depth and SPT-N bore log profiles) have been used to calculate the average shear wave velocity (V (s)30) and average SPT-N values for the upper 30 m depth of the subsurface soil profiles. These were used for site classification of the study area recommended by the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) manual. The average V (s)30 and SPT-N classified the study area as seismic site class D and E categories, indicating that the city is susceptible to site effects and liquefaction. Further, the different data set combinations between V (s) and SPT-N (corrected and uncorrected) values have been used to develop site-specific correlation equations by statistical regression, as `V (s)' is a function of SPT-N value (corrected and uncorrected), considered with or without depth. However, after considering the data set pairs, a probabilistic approach has also been presented to develop a correlation using a quantile-quantile (Q-Q) plot. A comparison has also been made with the well known published correlations (for all soils) available in the literature. The present correlations closely agree with the other equations, but, comparatively, the correlation of shear wave velocity with the variation of depth and uncorrected SPT-N values provides a more suitable predicting model. Also the Q-Q plot agrees with all the other equations. In the absence of in situ measurements, the present correlations could be used to measure V (s) profiles of the study area for site response studies.

Hall viscosity to entropy ratio in higher derivative theories

In this paper based on the basic principles of gauge/gravity duality we compute the hall viscosity to entropy ratio in the presence of various higher derivative corrections to the dual gravitational description embedded in an asymptotically AdS(4) space time. As the first step of our analysis, considering the back reaction we impose higher derivative corrections to the abelian gauge sector of the theory where we notice that the ratio indeed gets corrected at the leading order in the coupling. Considering the probe limit as a special case we compute this leading order correction over the fixed background of the charged black brane solution. Finally we consider higher derivative (R-2) correction to the gravity sector of the theory where we notice that the above ratio might get corrected at the sixth derivative level.

Development, in vitro and in vivo characterization of zoledronic acid functionalized hydroxyapatite nanoparticle based formulation for treatment of osteoporosis in animal model

We investigated the potential of using novel zoledronic acid (ZOL)-hydroxyapatite (HA) nanoparticle based drug formulation in a rat model of postmenopausal osteoporosis. By a classical adsorption method, nanoparticles of HA loaded with ZOL (HNLZ) drug formulation with a size range of 100-130 nm were prepared. 56 female Wistar rats were ovariectomized (OVX) or sham-operated at 3 months of age. Twelve weeks post surgery, rats were randomized into seven groups and treated with various doses of HNLZ (100, 50 and 25 mu g/kg, intravenous single dose), ZOL (100 mu g/kg, intravenous single dose) and HA nanoparticle (100 mu g/kg, intravenous single dose). Untreated OVX and sham OVX served as controls. After three months treatment period, we evaluated the mechanical properties of the lumbar vertebra and femoral mid-shaft. Femurs were also tested for trabecular microarchitecture. Sensitive biochemical markers of bone formation and bone resorption in serum were also determined. With respect to improvement in the mechanical strength of the lumbar spine and the femoral mid-shaft, the therapy with HNLZ drug formulation was more effective than ZOL therapy in OVX rats. Moreover, HNLZ drug therapy preserved the trabecular microarchitecture better than ZOL therapy in OVX rats. Furthermore, the HNLZ drug formulation corrected increase in serum levels of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide, osteocalcin, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b and C-telopeptide of type 1 collagen better than ZOL therapy in OVX rats. The results strongly suggest that HNLZ novel drug formulation appears to be more effective approach for treating severe osteoporosis in humans. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

And yet it shrinks: A novel method for correcting bias in forest tree growth estimates caused by water-induced fluctuations

Accuracy in tree woody growth estimates is important to global carbon budget estimation and climate-change science. Tree growth in permanent sampling plots (PSPs) is commonly estimated by measuring stem diameter changes, but this method is susceptible to bias resulting from water-induced reversible stem shrinkage. In the absence of bias correction, temporal variability in growth is likely to be overestimated and incorrectly attributed to fluctuations in resource availability, especially in forests with high seasonal and inter-annual variability in water. We propose and test a novel approach for estimating and correcting this bias at the community level. In a 50-ha PSP from a seasonally dry tropical forest in southern India, where tape measurements have been taken every four years from 1988 to 2012, for nine trees we estimated bias due to reversible stem shrinkage as the difference between woody growth measured using tree rings and that estimated from tape. We tested if the bias estimated from these trees could be used as a proxy to correct bias in tape-based growth estimates at the PSP scale. We observed significant shrinkage-related bias in the growth estimates of the nine trees in some censuses. This bias was strongly linearly related to tape-based growth estimates at the level of the PSP, and could be used as a proxy. After bias was corrected, the temporal variance in growth rates of the PSP decreased, while the effect of exceptionally dry or wet periods was retained, indicating that at least a part of the temporal variability arose from reversible shrinkage-related bias. We also suggest that the efficacy of the bias correction could be improved by measuring the proxy on trees that belong to different size classes and census timing, but not necessarily to different species. Our approach allows for reanalysis - and possible reinterpretation of temporal trends in tree growth, above ground biomass change, or carbon fluxes in forests, and their relationships with resource availability in the context of climate change. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of structures, energies and vibrational frequencies of (O-2)(n)(+) (n=2-5) clusters by GGA and meta-GGA density functional methods

Using Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA) and meta-GGA density functional methods, structures, binding energies and harmonic vibrational frequencies for the clusters O-4(+), O-6(+), O-8(+) and O-10(+) have been calculated. The stable structures of O-4(+), O-6(+), O-8(+) and O-10(+) have point groups D-2h, D-3h, D-4h, and D-5h optimized on the quartet, sextet, octet and dectet potential energy surfaces, respectively. Rectangular (D-2h) O-4(+) has been found to be more stable compared to trans-planar (C-2h) on the quartet potential energy surface. Cyclic structure (D-3h) of CA cluster ion has been calculated to be more stable than other structures. Binding energy (B.E.) of the cyclic O-6(+) is in good agreement with experimental measurement. The zero-point corrected B.E. of O-8(+) with D4h symmetry on the octet potential energy surface and zero-point corrected B.E. of O-10(+) with D-5h symmetry on the dectet potential energy surface are also in good agreement with experimental values. The B.E. value for O-4(+) is close to the experimental value when single point energy is calculated by Brueckner coupled-cluster method, BD(T). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Metastable monoclinic and orthorhombic phases and electric field induced irreversible phase transformation at room temperature in the lead-free classical ferroelectric BaTiO3

For decades it has been a well-known fact that among the few ferroelectric compounds in the perovskite family, namely, BaTiO3, KNbO3, PbTiO3, and Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3, the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of BaTiO3 are considerably higher than the others in polycrystalline form at room temperature. Further, similar to ferroelectric alloys exhibiting morphotropic phase boundary, single crystals of BaTiO3 exhibit anomalously large piezoelectric response when poled away from the direction of spontaneous polarization at room temperature. These anomalous features in BaTiO3 remained unexplained so far from the structural standpoint. In this work, we have used high-resolution synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction, atomic resolution aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, in conjunction with a powder poling technique, to reveal that at 300 K (i) the equilibrium state of BaTiO3 is characterized by coexistence of metastable monoclinic Pm and orthorhombic (Amm2) phases along with the tetragonal phase, and (ii) strong electric field switches the polarization direction from the 001] direction towards the 101] direction. These results suggest that BaTiO3 at room temperature is within an instability regime, and that this instability is the fundamental factor responsible for the anomalous dielectric and piezoelectric properties of BaTiO3 as compared to the other homologous ferroelectric perovskite compounds at room temperature. Pure BaTiO3 at room temperature is therefore more akin to lead-based ferroelectric alloys close to the morphotropic phase boundary where polarization rotation and field induced ferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transformations play a fundamental role in influencing the dielectric and piezoelectric behavior.

Quantum fluctuations and thermal dissipation in higher derivative gravity

In this paper, based on the AdS(2)/CFT1 prescription, we explore the low frequency behavior of quantum two point functions for a special class of strongly coupled CFTs in one dimension whose dual gravitational counterpart consists of extremal black hole solutions in higher derivative theories of gravity defined over an asymptotically AdS spacetime. The quantum critical points thus described are supposed to correspond to a very large value of the dynamic exponent (z -> infinity). In our analysis, we find that quantum fluctuations are enhanced due to the higher derivative corrections in the bulk which in turn increases the possibility of quantum phase transition near the critical point. On the field theory side, such higher derivative effects would stand for the corrections appearing due to the finite coupling in the gauge theory. Finally, we compute the coefficient of thermal diffusion at finite coupling corresponding to Gauss Bonnet corrected charged Lifshitz black holes in the bulk. We observe an important crossover corresponding to z = 5 fixed point. (C) 2015 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Ray tracing based path-length calculations for polarized light tomographic imaging

A ray tracing based path length calculation is investigated for polarized light transport in a pixel space. Tomographic imaging using polarized light transport is promising for applications in optical projection tomography of small animal imaging and turbid media with low scattering. Polarized light transport through a medium can have complex effects due to interactions such as optical rotation of linearly polarized light, birefringence, diattenuation and interior refraction. Here we investigate the effects of refraction of polarized light in a non-scattering medium. This step is used to obtain the initial absorption estimate. This estimate can be used as prior in Monte Carlo (MC) program that simulates the transport of polarized light through a scattering medium to assist in faster convergence of the final estimate. The reflectance for p-polarized (parallel) and s-polarized (perpendicular) are different and hence there is a difference in the intensities that reach the detector end. The algorithm computes the length of the ray in each pixel along the refracted path and this is used to build the weight matrix. This weight matrix with corrected ray path length and the resultant intensity reaching the detector for each ray is used in the algebraic reconstruction (ART) method. The proposed method is tested with numerical phantoms for various noise levels. The refraction errors due to regions of different refractive index are discussed, the difference in intensities with polarization is considered. The improvements in reconstruction using the correction so applied is presented. This is achieved by tracking the path of the ray as well as the intensity of the ray as it traverses through the medium.

Fully 3D refraction correction dosimetry system

The irradiation of selective regions in a polymer gel dosimeter results in an increase in optical density and refractive index (RI) at those regions. An optical tomography-based dosimeter depends on rayline path through the dosimeter to estimate and reconstruct the dose distribution. The refraction of light passing through a dose region results in artefacts in the reconstructed images. These refraction errors are dependant on the scanning geometry and collection optics. We developed a fully 3D image reconstruction algorithm, algebraic reconstruction technique-refraction correction (ART-rc) that corrects for the refractive index mismatches present in a gel dosimeter scanner not only at the boundary, but also for any rayline refraction due to multiple dose regions inside the dosimeter. In this study, simulation and experimental studies have been carried out to reconstruct a 3D dose volume using 2D CCD measurements taken for various views. The study also focuses on the effectiveness of using different refractive-index matching media surrounding the gel dosimeter. Since the optical density is assumed to be low for a dosimeter, the filtered backprojection is routinely used for reconstruction. We carry out the reconstructions using conventional algebraic reconstruction (ART) and refractive index corrected ART (ART-rc) algorithms. The reconstructions based on FDK algorithm for cone-beam tomography has also been carried out for comparison. Line scanners and point detectors, are used to obtain reconstructions plane by plane. The rays passing through dose region with a RI mismatch does not reach the detector in the same plane depending on the angle of incidence and RI. In the fully 3D scanning setup using 2D array detectors, light rays that undergo refraction are still collected and hence can still be accounted for in the reconstruction algorithm. It is found that, for the central region of the dosimeter, the usable radius using ART-rc algorithm with water as RI matched medium is 71.8%, an increase of 6.4% compared to that achieved using conventional ART algorithm. Smaller diameter dosimeters are scanned with dry air scanning by using a wide-angle lens that collects refracted light. The images reconstructed using cone beam geometry is seen to deteriorate in some planes as those regions are not scanned. Refraction correction is important and needs to be taken in to consideration to achieve quantitatively accurate dose reconstructions. Refraction modeling is crucial in array based scanners as it is not possible to identify refracted rays in the sinogram space.

Direct numerical test of the B-G-K model equation by the DSMC method

In the present paper the rarefied gas how caused by the sudden change of the wall temperature and the Rayleigh problem are simulated by the DSMC method which has been validated by experiments both in global flour field and velocity distribution function level. The comparison of the simulated results with the accurate numerical solutions of the B-G-K model equation shows that near equilibrium the BG-K equation with corrected collision frequency can give accurate result but as farther away from equilibrium the B-G-K equation is not accurate. This is for the first time that the error caused by the B-G-K model equation has been revealed.

The Uniaxial Tensile Deformation of Ni Nanowire: Atomic-Scale Computer Simulations

The mechanical deformations of nickel nanowire subjected to uniaxial tensile strain at 300 K are simulated by using molecular dynamics with the quantum corrected Sutten-Chen many-body force field. We have used common neighbor analysis method to investigate the structural evolution of Ni nanowire during the elongation process. For the strain rate of 0.1%/ps, the elastic limit is up to about 11% strain with the yield stress of 8.6 GPa. At the elastic stage, the deformation is carried mainly through the uniform elongation of the distances between the layers (perpendicular to the Z-axis) while the atomic structure remains basically unchanged. With further strain, the slips in the {111} planes start to take place in order to accommodate the applied strain to carry the deformation partially, and subsequently the neck forms. The atomic rearrangements in the neck region result in a zigzag change in the stress-strain curve; the atomic structures beyond the region, however, have no significant changes. With the strain close to the point of the breaking, we observe the formation of a one-atom thick necklace in Ni nanowire. The strain rates have no significant effect on the deformation mechanism, but have some influence on the yield stress, the elastic limit, and the fracture strain of the nanowire.

Simulating shock to detonation transition: Algorithm and results

An algorithm based on flux-corrected transport and the Lagrangian finite element method is presented for solving the problem of shock dynamics. It is verified through the model problem of one-dimensional strain elastoplastic shock wave propagation that the algorithm leads to stable, non-oscillatory results. Shock initiation and detonation wave propagation is simulated using the algorithm, and some interesting results are obtained. (C) 1999 Academic Press.

Turbulence modeling for flows around convex features giving rapid eddy distortion

Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes model performances in the stagnation and wake regions for turbulent flows with relatively large Lagrangian length scales (generally larger than the scale of geometrical features) approaching small cylinders (both square and circular) is explored. The effective cylinder (or wire) diameter based Reynolds number, ReW ≤ 2.5 × 103. The following turbulence models are considered: a mixing-length; standard Spalart and Allmaras (SA) and streamline curvature (and rotation) corrected SA (SARC); Secundov's νt-92; Secundov et al.'s two equation νt-L; Wolfshtein's k-l model; the Explicit Algebraic Stress Model (EASM) of Abid et al.; the cubic model of Craft et al.; various linear k-ε models including those with wall distance based damping functions; Menter SST, k-ω and Spalding's LVEL model. The use of differential equation distance functions (Poisson and Hamilton-Jacobi equation based) for palliative turbulence modeling purposes is explored. The performance of SA with these distance functions is also considered in the sharp convex geometry region of an airfoil trailing edge. For the cylinder, with ReW ≈ 2.5 × 103 the mixing length and k-l models give strong turbulence production in the wake region. However, in agreement with eddy viscosity estimates, the LVEL and Secundov νt-92 models show relatively little cylinder influence on turbulence. On the other hand, two equation models (as does the one equation SA) suggest the cylinder gives a strong turbulence deficit in the wake region. Also, for SA, an order or magnitude cylinder diameter decrease from ReW = 2500 to 250 surprisingly strengthens the cylinder's disruptive influence. Importantly, results for ReW ≪ 250 are virtually identical to those for ReW = 250 i.e. no matter how small the cylinder/wire its influence does not, as it should, vanish. Similar tests for the Launder-Sharma k-ε, Menter SST and k-ω show, in accordance with physical reality, the cylinder's influence diminishing albeit slowly with size. Results suggest distance functions palliate the SA model's erroneous trait and improve its predictive performance in wire wake regions. Also, results suggest that, along the stagnation line, such functions improve the SA, mixing length, k-l and LVEL results. For the airfoil, with SA, the larger Poisson distance function increases the wake region turbulence levels by just under 5%. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

El tema del tiempo en la "Expositio in physicam" de Walter Burley

Resumen: El trabajo permite reconstruir el itinerario de la reacción inmediata del ultra realismo de Walter Burley frente a la crítica nominalista, tomando base en la teoría física y particularmente, en el tema del tiempo. Entendemos que el análisis comparativo de las doctrinas de Burley y de Ockham permitirá arrojar cierta luz sobre la historia de los primeros e importantes enfrentamientos al ockhamismo, procurando conformar una intelección nueva del siglo XIV donde Burley pasaría a ser un personaje de interés al motivar la reflexión de una figura como la de Ockham. Centramos nuestro análisis en torno a dos tópicos: aquel vinculado con la determinación del concepto de tiempo y su distinción del movimiento; y en segundo término, consideraremos el problema de la unicidad o pluralidad de tiempos. El trabajo propone tentativamente que ambos autores conocieron mutuamente sus doctrinas, se leyeron y corrigieron recíprocamente; y las profundas diferencias que conforman sus sistemas deben buscarse en una fundamentación gnoseo-ontológica diversa.