Study of crater formation and sputtering process with large gas cluster impact by molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of large argon clusters impacting on silicon solid targets were performed in order to study the transient process of crater formation and sputtering. The MD simulations demonstrate that the initial momentum of incident cluster is transferred to target surface atoms through multiple collision mechanism, where the initial momentum, which is along to the surface normal before impact, is deflected to lateral direction. This momentum transfer process was analyzed by the calculation of the velocity at the crater edge (the interface between cluster and target). In the case of Ar₁₀₀₀ cluster impact on Si(1 0 0) target at low energy per atom less than 40 eV/atom, the maximum value of lateral velocity of the crater edge increases in proportional to the velocity of incident cluster atoms. On the other hand, the crater edge velocity saturates over 40 eV/atom of incident energy per atom. In this case, the whole of constituent cluster atoms are implanted into the target and expand in both lateral and reflective directions at the subsurface region of the target. These MD simulations demonstrated that this collisional process result in the high yield sputtering of the target atoms.     

Efficient synthesis and magnetic properties of triphenylamine bearing three nitronylnitroxide radicals

Improved synthesis and reinvestigation of the magnetic properties of triphenylamine bearing three nitronylnitroxide radicals (1) were carried out. Single crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis of 1 established that its molecular shape had a C₃-symmetry. Our newly prepared 1 showed different physical properties from those of reported. SQUID measurements of 1 showed that each of the three spins of 1 behaved independently at room temperature. In contrast, the three spins coupled antiferromagnetically at lower temperature as low as ca. 1.8 K. These spin behaviors can be explained by a regular triangular antiferromagnetic model (J/k_B = ?3.3 K) and interpreted as a spin frustration system.     

A new strain hardening model for rate-dependent crystal plasticity

This paper presents a crystal plasticity based finite element analysis employing the new microstructure-based strain hardening model recently presented by Saimoto and Van Houtte (2011) [7] to simulate formability and texture evolution in the commercial aluminum alloy 5754. Simulations are performed to compare the predictive capability of the new hardening model against the common work hardening models using a rate-dependent plasticity formulation. The parameters in the numerical models are calibrated using the X-ray data published by Iadicola et al. (2008) [9] for the aluminum sheet alloy 5754. The predictions of the model for balanced biaxial tension and in-plane plane-strain tests are compared against experimental observations presented in Iadicola et al. (2008) [9]. It is concluded that the new model provides the best predictions of the large strain behavior of Aluminum sheet alloy 5754 subjected to various strain paths.     

Reactive and non-reactive transport modelling in partially water saturated argillaceous porous media around the ventilation experiment, Mont Terri

At Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory (URL) Switzerland, a specific experiment has been performed in a tunnel, in order to investigate the hydro-mechano-chemical (HMC) perturbations induced in the argillaceous formation by forced ventilation. This experiment has been selected in the international project DECOVALEX to be used for process model development and validation. The numerical simulation of the geochemical response to the ventilation experiment (VE) is the object of the present paper, focusing on the transport of chloride as a conservative species and sulphate as a reactive species. Utilising the validated hydro-mechanical (HM) results from earlier steps of the DECOVALEX task, reactive and non-reactive transport models, incorporating the current understanding of the geochemistry at the site, were successfully constructed for the whole experimental period. The associated parametric and process uncertainty analyses clearly demonstrate that the basic HM understanding must be sound. However, to demonstrate this degree of robustness, the explicit inclusion of process representations of water desaturation, liquid vaporisation, species exclusion porosity, and redox processes, is required.     

Flow‐Based Automatic Generation of Hybrid Picture Mazes

A method for automatically generating a picture maze from two different images is introduced throughout this paper. The process begins with the extraction of salient contours and edge tangent flow information from the primary image in order to build the overall maze. Thus, mazes with passages flowing in the main edge directions and walls that effectively represent an abstract version of the primary image can be successfully created. Furthermore, our proposed approach makes possible the use of their solution path as a means of illustrating the main features of the secondary image, while attempting to keep its image motif concealed until the maze has been finally solved. The contour features and intensity of the secondary image are also incorporated into our method in order to determine the areas of the maze to be shaded by allowing the solution path to go through them. Moreover, an experiment has been conducted to confirm that solution paths can be successfully hidden from the participants in the mazes generated using our method.     

Development of a new X-ray source using backscattered X-ray with the use of a cold cathode

The development of an intense X-ray source using backscattered X-ray produced using an advanced electrode configuration is described. The electrodes were composed of field emitters deposited on a wire mounted on a perforated plate as the cathode and a copper plate as the anode. Electrons from these emitters collided with the copper plate and X-ray was generated at collision points. The backscattered X-ray in the direction normal to the electron trajectory through a hole in the anode escaped from the vacuum chamber through a beryllium window. Continuous and characteristic X-rays were detected at an applied voltage lower than that of a conventional X-ray source from 3.0 to 9.4 kV, respectively. Moreover, the X-ray dosage measured with a survey meter reached 0.95 mSv/h at 5.0 kV of applied voltage. The transmission images of three types of material used as an X-ray source for the X-ray imaging system indicate three advantages; low power consumption, focal point controllable by adjusting applied voltage, and photographable motion picture of X-ray transmission.     

Novel episomal vectors and a highly efficient transformation procedure for the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces japonicus

Schizosaccharomyces japonicus is a fission yeast for which new genetic tools have recently been developed. Here, we report novel plasmid vectors with high transformation efficiency and an electroporation method for Sz. japonicus. We isolated 44 replicating segments from 12 166 transformants of Sz. japonicus genomic fragments and found a chromosomal fragment, RS1, as a new replicating sequence that conferred high transformation activity to Sz. japonicus cells. This sequence was cloned into a pUC19 vector with ura4⁺ of Sz. pombe (pSJU11) or the kan gene on the kanMX6 module (pSJK11) as selection markers. These plasmids transformed Sz. japonicus cells in the early‐log phase by electroporation at a frequency of 123 cfu/µg for pSJK11 and 301 cfu/µg for pSJU11, which were higher than previously reported autonomously replicating sequences. Although a portion of plasmids remained in host cells by integration into the chromosome via RS1 segment, the plasmids could be recovered from transformants. The plasmid copy number was estimated to be 1.88 copies per cell by Southern blot analysis using a Sz. pombe ura4⁺ probe. The plasmid containing ade6⁺ suppressed the auxotrophic growth of the ade6‐domE mutant, indicating that the plasmid would be useful for suppressor screening and complementation assays in Sz. japonicus. Furthermore, pSJU11 transformed Sz. pombe cells with the same frequency as the pREP2 plasmid. This study is a report to demonstrate practical use of episomal plasmid vectors for genetic research in Sz. japonicus. RS1 has been submitted to the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank database (Accession No. AB547343). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.