Composition–constitution–morphology relationship of Al2O3 thin films deposited by plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition

We have studied the correlation between the chemical composition, constitution and morphology of Al₂O₃ using experimental and theoretical means. Combining scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron dispersive X-ray analysis and ab initio calculations, we have investigated the formation of pores. Desorption measurements show chlorine release from γ- and α-alumina films. Based on ab initio calculations, we have established that Cl can be incorporated in both γ- and α-alumina. Furthermore, two Cl atoms are likely to agglomerate since the total energy is reduced, compared to an unagglomerated configuration. We propose that Cl agglomeration is the first step towards Cl₂ formation and subsequent precipitation and bubble formation. It can be learned that the Cl incorporation has to be minimized during growth of dense alumina coatings.     

Lead field computation for the electrocardiographic inverse problem--finite elements versus boundary elements

In order to be able to solve the inverse problem of electrocardiography, the lead field matrix (transfer matrix) has to be calculated. The two methods applied for computing this matrix, which are compared in this study, are the boundary element method (BEM) and the finite element method (FEM). The performance of both methods using a spherical model was investigated. For a comparable discretization level, the BEM yields smaller relative errors compared to analytical solutions. The BEM needs less computation time, but a larger amount of memory. Inversely calculated myocardial activation times using either the FEM or BEM computed lead field matrices give similar activation time patterns. The FEM, however, is also capable of considering anisotropic conductivities. This property might have an impact for future development, when also individual myocardial fiber architecture can be considered in the inverse formulation.     

The role of hole localization in sacrificial hydrogen production by semiconductor-metal heterostructured nanocrystals

The effect of hole localization on photocatalytic activity of Pt-tipped semiconductor nanocrystals is investigated. By tuning the energy balance at the semiconductor-ligand interface, we demonstrate that hydrogen production on Pt sites is efficient only when electron-donating molecules are used for stabilizing semiconductor surfaces. These surfactants play an important role in enabling an efficient and stable reduction of water by heterostructured nanocrystals as they fill vacancies in the valence band of the semiconductor domain, preventing its degradation. In particular, we show that the energy of oxidizing holes can be efficiently transferred to a ligand moiety, leaving the semiconductor domain intact. This allows reusing the inorganic portion of the "degraded" nanocrystal-ligand system simply by recharging these nanoparticles with fresh ligands.     

Independent judgment-linked and motor-linked forms of artificial grammar learning

Actinosporean infection of the oligochaete fauna living in the mud and on the vegetation of fish ponds used for rearing common carp in polyculture was studied during a one-year survey at a fish farm in Hungary, located south of Budapest. Twenty-eight actinospore types were isolated from the oligochaetes Tubifex tubifex, Branchiura a sowerbyi, Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri, Nais elinguis, and Stylaria lacustris collected during the survey, which could be classified into the triactinomyxon, raabeia, aurantiactinomyxon and neoactinomyxon groups. Drawings depicting individual actinospore types are presented on plates and their characteristic dimensions have been summarised in tables. The prevalence and seasonality of actinosporean infections observed in the various oligochaete species have been illustrated graphically. Infection by actinospores showed a pronounced seasonality. In the spring, summer and autumn the prevalence of raabeia infection in Branchiura exceeded 90%, while in the winter it dropped to 42%. A similar phenomenon could be observed for aurantiactinomyxon infection, while neoactinomyxon infection reached its peak in the autumn. In Tubifex, Limnodrilus, Nais and Stylaria species the peak of actinosporean infection occurred, with minor differences, in the spring and summer. Actinosporean infection in the individual Oligochaeta species showed much higher prevalence values than had been reported in the literature, which can be explained by the novelty of the examination technique used. It cannot be decided with absolute certainty which myxosporean developmental stage the different actinospore types described during this survey represent of the species of Myxosporea parasitic in the given ponds. This would require an experimental study for which the data presented here may serve as a basis.     

Emotion without a word: Shame and guilt among Rarámuri Indians and rural Javanese.

The Rarámuri Indians in Mexico use 1 word for guilt and shame. In this article, the authors show that the Rarámuri nevertheless differentiate between shame and guilt characteristics, similar to cultural populations that use 2 words for these emotions. Emotion-eliciting situations were collected among the Rarámuri and among rural Javanese and were rated on shame and guilt by Dutch and Indonesian students. These ratings were used to select 18 shame-eliciting and guilt-eliciting situations as stimuli. The Rarámuri (N = 229) and the Javanese (N = 213) rated the situations on 29 emotion characteristics that previously had been found to differentiate shame from guilt in an international student sample. For most characteristics, a pattern of differentiation similar to that found among the students was found for both the Javanese and the Rarámuri. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The physical reason for the apparently low deposition rate during high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering

In high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering, a large power density is applied giving rise to a high degree of ionization. From an application point of view, the major drawback of this technology is the considerably lower deposition rate as compared to DC magnetron sputtering. Using transport-of-ions-in-matter simulations, we show that the apparently low deposition rate can be understood based on the non-linear energy dependence of the sputtering yields. Our calculations are consistent with deposition-rate measurements on Cu films as well as with published deposition-rate data for Ti [Konstantinidis S, Dauchot JP, Ganciu M, Ricard A, Hecq M. J Appl Phys 2006;99:013307].     

Osteocyte staining with rhodamine in osteonecrosis and osteoarthritis of the femoral head

Death of osteocytes is synonymous of bone death. Aseptic osteonecrosis of the femoral head is a lesion characterized by the death of osteocytes occurring after major vascular changes. The evolution may lead to hip osteoarthritis, which requires total hip arthroplasty in most cases. Evolution of aseptic osteonecrosis in four radiological stages is well known. We analyzed 24 femoral heads from patients with osteonecrosis or osteoarthritis, retrieved at the time of surgery for a hip arthroplasty. The aim of the study was to clearly identify the necrotic bone from the living bone in the histological samples. The femoral heads were sawed, and a large sample was harvested in the superior zone; it was stained en‐bloc with rhodamine dissolved in formalin to make the osteocytes fluorescent under UV light microscopy. Undecalcified sections, 7 μm thick, were obtained on a heavy‐duty microtome. A micrographic analysis using two UV excitation wavelengths visualized the living osteocytes (in green) and the bone matrix (in blue). A simple method to prepare combined images is described. In addition, the blocks can be analyzed by confocal microscopy to visualize more details. It is possible to identify at low magnification the osteocytes within the bone matrix and the osteonecrotic areas where osteocytes have disappeared. Identification of osteocytes showed that newly formed bone packets are laid on dead trabeculae in patients with aseptic osteonecrosis or with osteoarthritis. In the osteosclerotic areas, the enlarged trabeculae have a dead central core surrounded by recently apposed bone structure units.     

Expected security cost‐based FACTS device allocation using hybrid PSO

This paper presents FACTS device allocation for market‐based power systems. The purpose of the FACTS installation is to provide benefit for all entities. Therefore, we use a concept of minimizing expected security cost (ESC), implying to maximize social welfare, to minimize operating reserve, and to minimize load interruption in annual basis. The FACTS device investment cost is also taken into account. The ESC considers operating cost under normal state and contingencies along with their associated probabilities to occur. Annual basis bid data is used to compute ESC as well as the cost data for load interruption and reserve procurement. This paper also considers control actions among multiple FACTS device to achieve minimum ESC. To solve the overall problem, particle swarm optimization is utilized to obtain optimal FACTS device allocation as main problem while sequential quadratic programing is used to solve optimal power flow as suboptimization problem. © 2011 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Cardiac anisotropy: is it negligible regarding noninvasive activation time imaging?

The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of cardiac anisotropy in the activation-based inverse problem of electrocardiography. Differences of the patterns of simulated body surface potential maps for isotropic and anisotropic conditions were investigated with regard to activation time (AT) imaging of ventricular depolarization. AT maps were estimated by solving the nonlinear inverse ill-posed problem employing spatio-temporal regularization. Four different reference AT maps (sinus rhythm, right-ventricular and septal pacing, accessory pathway) were calculated with a bidomain theory based anisotropic finite-element heart model in combination with a cellular automaton. In this heart model a realistic fiber architecture and conduction system was implemented. Although the anisotropy has some effects on forward solutions, effects on inverse solutions are small indicating that cardiac anisotropy might be negligible for some clinical applications (e.g., imaging of focal events) of our AT imaging approach. The main characteristic events of the AT maps were estimated despite neglected electrical anisotropy in the inverse formulation. The worst correlation coefficient of the estimated AT maps was 0.810 in case of sinus rhythm. However, all characteristic events of the activation pattern were found. The results of this study confirm our clinical validation studies of noninvasive AT imaging in which cardiac anisotropy was neglected.