Mechanical properties of a plain carbon steel plate after long term service in a coal gasifier

The steel inner liner of a coal gasifier was examined. This liner was directly exposed to a coal gasification reaction for 20 years. The mechanical properties were measured as a function of position in the vessel and these are correlated with previously reported variations of microstructure. The initial properties of the steel were estimated and compared to the final measured properties.     

Alpha 2-macroglobulin bait region variants. A role for the bait region in tetramer formation

To test the hypothesis that a large portion of the bait region of human alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) can be removed without adversely affecting the protein's structural and functional properties, we expressed two human alpha 2M variants with truncated bait regions and examined whether these variants folded normally and functioned as proteinase inhibitors. Each variant contains sites that are normal bait region cleavage sites in wild-type alpha 2M, including the primary trypsin cleavage site. The truncated bait regions are shorter by 23 and 27 residues, respectively, and lack the C-terminal portion as well as different parts of the N-terminal section of the bait region. We found that such bait region truncation permitted normal folding of the monomers as well as formation of the thiol ester and dimerization by disulfide cross-linking, although the resulting species bound 6-(p-toluidino)-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid in a manner more like thiol ester-cleaved alpha 2M than native alpha 2M. The variants' thiol esters reacted with nucleophiles at rates identical to wild-type alpha 2M. Surprisingly, however, the truncations prevented the noncovalent association of the covalent 360-kDa dimers that normally gives tetrameric alpha 2M, decoupled bait region cleavage from thiol ester activation, and resulted in the inability of the two variants to "trap" proteinase. This was despite apparent cleavage of the bait region by proteinase, albeit at very much reduced rates relative to wild-type tetrameric alpha 2M. The kinetics of thiol ester cleavage-dependent protein conformational changes also changed from sigmoidal to exponential. These findings indicate that residues in the bait region appear to be necessary for noncovalent association of 360-kDa disulfide-linked dimers to give tetrameric alpha 2M and suggest a role for the bait region in normal alpha 2M in coupling bait region cleavage to the sequence of conformational changes that result in thiol ester activation and ultimately proteinase trapping.     

Spiral magnetism and collective excitations in doped Hubbard models

We discuss the ground state properties and the collective dynamics of spiral magnetic states in the two dimensional Hubbard model. In particular we present the phase diagram in the presence of a finite next-nearest-neighbor hopping integral t. In contrast to the plain t Hubbard-model we find a region of stable antiferromagnetism in an extended interval of electron (hole) doping off half filling for a negative (positive) ratio of t/t. In addition we investigate the coupled charge and spiral spin-excitations off half filling. The resulting collective modes are found to be highly anisotropic and strongly Landau damped.     

Finite dose skin penetration: a comparison of concentration-depth profiles from experiment and simulation

In this paper we present a mathematical diffusion model describing the transient transdermal penetration of two non-volatile substances, the lipophilic flufenamic acid and the hydrophilic caffeine, after finite dosing in an aqueous vehicle system. A striking feature of this microscopic diffusion model is its ability to predict concentration-depth profiles. Relevant input parameters are obtained from a previously published infinite dose study (Naegel et?al in Eur J Pharm Biopharm 68:368?C379, 2008; Hansen et?al in Eur J Pharm Biopharm 68:352?C367, 2008). The quality of the model has been evaluated by comparing the concentration-depth profiles in stratum corneum (SC) and deeper skin layers of the experiment with those of the simulation. The results from the experiment and the simulation are in good agreement. The study addresses benefits and shortcomings of the model, and discusses future perspectives such as incorporating different morphological regions of the SC.     

A Shader Framework for Rapid Prototyping of GPU‐Based Volume Rendering

In this paper, we present a rapid prototyping framework for GPU‐based volume rendering. Therefore, we propose a dynamic shader pipeline based on the SuperShader concept and illustrate the design decisions. Also, important requirements for the development of our system are presented. In our approach, we break down the rendering shader into areas containing code for different computations, which are defined as freely combinable, modularized shader blocks. Hence, high‐level changes of the rendering configuration result in the implicit modification of the underlying shader pipeline. Furthermore, the prototyping system allows inserting custom shader code between shader blocks of the pipeline at run‐time. A suitable user interface is available within the prototyping environment to allow intuitive modification of the shader pipeline. Thus, appropriate solutions for visualization problems can be interactively developed. We demonstrate the usage and the usefulness of our framework with implementations of dynamic rendering effects for medical applications.     

FeynHiggs: A program for the calculation of MSSM Higgs-boson observables - Version 2.6.5

FeynHiggs is a Fortran code for the calculation of physical observables in the field of high-energy physics. FeynHiggs calculates various observables in the Higgs sector of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) for real or complex parameters. These observables comprise Higgs-boson masses, mixing angles, couplings, Tevatron/LHC production cross-sections, branching ratios, as well as some additional observables such as Δρ, MW, the effective leptonic weak mixing angle, μ(g−2), BR(b→sγ), electric dipole moments.

New version program summary

Program title: FeynHiggs v2.6.5Catalogue identifier: ADKT_v2_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADKT_v2_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: GPLNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 156 455No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1 058 758Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: Fortran 77, C, MathematicaComputer: Intel/AMD, PowerPC, AlphaOperating system: Linux, Windows (Cygwin), Mac OS, Tru64 UnixRAM: insignificant (typically a few MB)Classification: 11.5Catalogue identifier of previous version: ADKT_v1_0Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 124 (2000) 76Does the new version supersede the previous version?: YesNature of problem: The experimental searches for Higgs bosons have to be compared with theory predictions at a high level of accuracy. Radiative corrections are especially important in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM).Solution method: High-precision calculations (mostly based on the Feynman-diagrammatic approach) for various Higgs-boson observables in the MSSM are implemented. The program takes the basic model parameters as input and evaluates many MSSM Higgs-boson observables relevant for experimental Higgs-boson physics.Reasons for new version: Existing calculations have been refined (e.g., by the inclusion of complex parameters); many new observables have been implemented.Summary of revisions: Input parameters are now allowed to be complex, and non-minimal flavor violation is permitted. Besides the Higgs-boson masses also branching ratios and hadron-collider production cross-sections are calculated.Restrictions: Several observables are still missing and have to be implemented.Running time: The command-line frontend, which invokes essentially all FeynHiggs functions, takes 200 ms a single point in parameter space On a 3 GHz AMD CPU.     

Vakuummikro‐ und Vakuumnanoelektronik mit Feldemission

Vacuum microelectronics and nanoelectronics with field emission — features of breakdown voltage in vacuum gaps lower than 10 μm Further miniaturization in vacuum electronics will be possible only with field‐emitter cathodes. However in microscale vacuum gaps in the range 10 μm field emission is a dominant process in gas breakdown process, leading to signif icant deviations from the traditional Paschen's Law. At first a significant reduction of breakdown voltage is observed. The high surface‐to‐volume ratio in microscale dimensions 3 μm and in interactions with gas desorption, outgassing and gas ionization during electron field‐emission give a ignition and stabilization of micro plasmas (glow discharges) or/and micro arcs, which exist largely independent of surrounding vacuum, atmospheric or over pressure. In this range the Paschen's Law is invalid. This is an interesting approach which opens up new dimensions for basic research, field emission‐driven micro plasmas and for novel fieldemitter applications in vacuum electronics and plasma technology.     

Open peer review: promoting transparency in open science

Scientometrics - Open peer review (OPR), where review reports and reviewers’ identities are published alongside the articles, represents one of the last aspects of the open science movement...     

A Grain Orientation-Independent Single-Step Saw Damage Gettering/Wet texturing Process for Efficient Silicon Solar Cells

Improving electrical and optical properties is important in manufacturing high-efficiency solar cells. Previous studies focused on individual gettering and texturing methods to improve solar cell material quality and reduce reflection loss, respectively. This study presents a novel method called saw damage gettering with texturing that effectively combines both methods for multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers manufactured using the diamond wire sawing (DWS) method. Although mc-Si is not the Si material currently used in photovoltaic products, the applicability of this method using the mc-Si wafers as it contains all grain orientations is demonstrated. It utilizes saw damage sites on the wafer surfaces for gettering metal impurities during annealing. Additionally, it can crystallize amorphous silicon on wafer surfaces generated during the sawing process to allow conventional acid-based wet texturing. This texturing method and annealing for 10 min allow for the removal of metal impurities and effectively forms a textured DWS Si wafer. The results show that the open-circuit voltage (ΔV_oc = +29 mV), short-circuit current density (ΔJ_sc = +2.5 mA cm⁻²), and efficiency (Δη = +2.1%) improved in the p-type passivated emitter and rear cells (p-PERC) manufactured using this novel method, as compared to those in the reference solar cells.