The process window for diamond deposition from the vapor phase with sulfur in the C–H–O feed gas mixtures

Theoretical predictions using a modified radical species ternary diagram for C–H–O system indicate that addition of sulfur expands the C–H–O gas phase compositional window for diamond deposition. Sulfur addition to no-growth domain increases the carbon super-saturation by binding the oxygen and the addition of sulfur to the non-diamond domain reduces the heavy carbon super-saturation by decreasing C_nH_m species concentration in the gas phase. The overall effect of sulfur addition to gas phase mixtures is characterized as that of oxygen addition to the C–H system, i.e. expansion of the compositional window over which diamond can be deposited from the gas phase. In addition, the increasing sulfur concentration to diamond domain feed gases beyond 2000 ppm did not affect the steady state gas phase composition but the quality of diamond was reduced.     

Two residues that may ligate Ca2+ in transmembrane domain six of the plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase

In order to identify Ca2+ ligands in the putative transmembrane domain 6 of the plasma membrane Ca2+ pump, amino acids Asn879, Met882, Asp883, and Ser887 were singly altered. Asn879, Met882, and Asp883 were chosen because the corresponding amino acids have been proposed as Ca2+ ligands in the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ pump (Clarke, D. M., Loo, T. W., and MacLennan, D. H. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 6262-6267). For the alterations, a fully active truncated version of the pump was used, because the interaction of Ca2+ with the pump could be studied without interference from calmodulin binding. The mutants at Asn and Asp did not carry out ATP-supported Ca2+ uptake and formed no acylphosphate from [gamma-32P]ATP, suggesting that, like the corresponding amino acids in the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ pump, these two are Ca2+ ligands. However, all the mutants at the position of Met882 showed some activity. Indeed, the Met882--> Ile mutant was fully active at a saturating Ca2+ concentration and only the K1/2 for Ca2+ activation was shifted slightly upward. Converting the Met to Thr (which is the corresponding residue in the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ pump) reduced the activity to 20% of the wild type, further emphasizing the differences between the two Ca2+ pumps. The mutant Ser887--> Ala was expressed in greater amounts than, and had a specific activity about 50% higher than, the wild type, indicating that this serine also could not be a Ca2+ ligand and could not replace the missing Thr at position Met882.     

Optoelectronic charge coupled device (OECCD) using InP MIScapacitor array

An optoelectronic charge coupled device (OECCD) which is directly compatible with an incident optical signal is proposed. The nonlinear partial differential equation consisting of optical generation and recombination is solved in one dimension using the Crank-Nicolson finite-difference scheme. The charge transfer inefficiency is the main parameter considered for the calculation     

Raman studies of structural rearrangements induced in human plasma lipoprotein carotenoids by malondialdehyde

Raman and resonance Raman spectra of plasma lipoproteins ± malondialdehyde were studied at concentrations which block the normal receptor-mediated uptake by cells. The strong resonance Raman bands at about 1010, 1162 and 1530 cm⁻¹, due to the presence of carotenoids in the lipoproteins, are envisaged as structural probes. High resolution resonance Raman spectra of the 1500–1600 cm⁻¹ region reveal multiple features suggesting the coexistence of several structural populations of β-carotene whose precise assignment is complex. When plasma lipoproteins are reacted with malondialdehyde, a complex change occurs in the resonance Raman banding of β-carotene in the 1500–1600 cm⁻¹ region. Malonaldehyde (MDA) also modifies the acoustical region (70–200 cm⁻¹ of low density lipoprotein (LDL) lipids. We suggest that malondialdehyde association with plasma lipoproteins alters the lipid structure via apoprotein or apoprotein/lipid associations.     

Growth,characterization and electrical anisotropy in GaTe—a natural semiconducting superlattice

GaTe is a III–VI semiconductor which has layered structure with large anisotropy in electrical properties. Growth of single crystals by the Bridgman technique permitted the measurement of thermoelectric power in orthogonal directions from which the anisotropy of hole effective masses were determined for the first time. From resistivity and Hall effect measurements the carrier activation energies and scattering mechanisms between 10–300°K were found. Study of the temperature dependence of conductivity revealed a variety of conduction mechanisms including weak localization below 20°K, hopping conduction between 20–50 K and band conduction in and across the layer planes atT>70 K. Weak localization was confirmed through observation of negative magnetoresistance. TheI–V characteristics showed quantized behaviour due to tunneling across potential barriers, which may be due to stacking faults between layer planes as observed by TEM studies.     

An analytical expression for the power coefficient of an ideal horizontal-axis wind turbine

The paper shows that an analytical evaluation of the power coefficient C_p for an ideal horizontal-axis wind turbine can be made via an expression giving the direct relationship of C_p and the axial induction factor a. The results obtained agree closely with those obtained numerically from the usual integral expression involving several variables.     

Exciton energies of wurtzite CdS nanoparticles

We have determined exciton energies for wurtzite CdS nanoparticles, both theoretically and experimentally. The empirical pseudopotential method has been used to calculate the bulk band structure. The discretization of reciprocal space was considered to get the energy gap and the corresponding exciton energy as a function of the nanoparticles size. The CdS nanoparticles were prepared by colloidal methods and the exciton energies were determined from optical absorption measurements. A good agreement between the calculated and the experimental exciton energies is obtained when an average over the experimental size distribution of the nanoparticles is included in the calculation.