Visualization of biological specimens by cryoHVEM

This article describes the operation and the characteristics of cryoHVEM imaging of biological specimens using a top-entry cryostage. The procedure for inserting frozen specimens into the microscope column is also presented. Whole mounts were thus observed under optimal imaging conditions by combining: (i) fixation by fast freezing for structure preservation without exposure to chemicals, (ii) observation in the hydrated (frozen) state or in the dried state without exposure to the atmosphere after the initial fixation by freezing, and (iii) ultrastructural visualization with the key imaging factors of resolution, penetration and beam-induced damage at their best by high-voltage electron microscopy.     

Kekulé structure count in corazulenic fullerenes

Tiling modification in fullerene modeling can be achieved by some map operations. In this respect, sequences of classical operations, or single generalized operations, were used to obtain corannulene-like azulenic patterns. The aromaticity of such cages tessellated by "corazulenic" supra-faces is discussed in terms of several criteria. Particularly, the number of Kekulé valence structures, was considered as a rough measure of the fullerene aromaticity and implicitely of their stability. The covering was given as a pi-electron partition within some Kekulé valence structures. The well-known geometric index of aromaticity HOMA (harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity) enabled the evaluation of local aromaticity of the discussed supra-faces and brought evidence for several dominant Kekulé valence structures.     

Interphase of polyoctenamer-single-wall carbon nanotubes by thermogravimetric analysis in air

Non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis in air, of polyoctenamer-single wall carbon nanotubes (PO-SWNTs), loaded by various amounts of SWNTs up to 10% wt., at different heating rates (ranging from 5 to 40°C/min) is reported. The thermal degradation in the air of PO_SWNTs is dominated by a main single sigmoidal dependence, assigned to the polymer and eventually polymer-nanofiller interphase, over which a weaker sigmoid assigned to the thermo-oxidative degradation of the nanofiller is superimposed at higher temperatures. The temperature at which the nanocomposite's residual mass fraction reaches x% wt. of the initial mass, T_x%, is reported (for x = 5, 50, and 85). The dependence of T_x% on the heating rate and the loading by nanotubes is analyzed. The temperature derivative of the thermograms defines new parameters (inflection residual mass fraction and inflection temperature) and (degradation) width. Their dependence on the loading by SWNTs was reported. Estimation of the interphase in polymer-based nanocomposites is based on the postulate that the dependence of the inflection temperature on the composition of the nanocomposite obeys a Fox-like dependence, where the bulk polymer and the polymer trapped within the interphase are considered as a blend of two miscible polymers. Complementary Raman, x-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry support these results.     

Moth‐eye antireflection coating fabricated by nanoimprint lithography on 1 eV dilute nitride solar cell

We report on the performance of biomimicked antireflection coating applied to dilute nitride solar cell. The coating consists of nanostructures replicating the moth‐eye geometry and has been fabricated by nanoimprint lithography directly within the window layer covering the dilute nitride absorbing junction. The mean reflectivity within the spectral range of 320–1800 nm remains under 5% for incident angles up to 45°. The effect of the coating on the cell performance was assessed by measuring the current–voltage characteristics under simulated solar illumination. A clear performance increase was identified when comparing a solar cell with the moth‐eye coating with a solar cell having a standard SiN_x/SiO₂ coating. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linear random vibration by stochastic reduced‐order models

A practical method is developed for calculating statistics of the states of linear dynamic systems with deterministic properties subjected to non‐Gaussian noise and systems with uncertain properties subjected to Gaussian and non‐Gaussian noise. These classes of problems are relevant as most systems have uncertain properties, physical noise is rarely Gaussian, and the classical theory of linear random vibration applies to deterministic systems and can only deliver the first two moments of a system state if the noise is non‐Gaussian. The method (1) is based on approximate representations of all or some of the random elements in the definition of linear random vibration problems by stochastic reduced‐order models (SROMs), that is, simple random elements having a finite number of outcomes of unequal probabilities, (2) can be used to calculate statistics of a system state beyond its first two moments, and (3) establishes bounds on the discrepancy between exact and SROM‐based solutions of linear random vibration problems. The implementation of the method has required to integrate existing and new numerical algorithms. Examples are presented to illustrate the application of the proposed method and assess its accuracy. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Amplitude and phase recovery of rotationally symmetric beams

Two methods are presented for the amplitude and phase recovery of optical beams with rotational symmetry. These are the tomographic method based on the ambiguity function and the one-step wavefront recovery based on the measurement of a phase-space distribution closely related to the Wigner distribution function. The results obtained from these two methods are compared, and the appropriateness of using either one of them for specific situations is discussed.     

Post-growth annealing of type-II GaSb/GaAs quantum dots grown with different V/III ratios

We report the influence of V/III beam-equivalent-pressure ratios and post-growth annealing on the photoluminescence of GaSb quantum dots grown on GaAs(1 0 0) by molecular beam epitaxy. Increasing the V/III beam-equivalent-pressure ratio from 3 to 5 and then to 7 results in decreased photoluminescence intensity and redshifts the photoluminescence wavelength. The post-growth annealing blueshifts the quantum dot photoluminescence emission and decreases the full-width-at-half-maximum of the photoluminescence peak when annealing temperature is increased above 800 °C. The blueshift behavior is found to be independent on the V/III ratios indicating a similar atomic interdiffusion mechanism for all investigated samples regardless of the quantum dot properties. The photoluminescence intensities of the three samples experience an increase after moderate annealing. Whereas the intensity of the sample with the highest V/III ratio further increases, the intensity of the sample with lower V/III ratios decreases again upon higher annealing steps above 900 °C. Furthermore, temperature- and power dependent photoluminescence measurements are performed on as-grown and 870 °C annealed samples with V/III ratios of 3 and 7 in order to study the reduced quantum dot confinement in more detail.     

Drug absorption and release properties of crosslinked hydrogels based on diepoxy-terminated poly(ethylene glycol)s and aliphatic polyamines — a study on the effect of the gel molecular structure

Crosslinked hydrogels with well-defined chemical structures and characteristics were prepared through the reaction between diepoxy-terminated poly(ethylene glycol)s of various molecular weights and aliphatic polyamines of different hydrocarbon chain length and functionalities, and the influence of some network parameters (molecular weight between crosslinking points, crosslinking degree, hydrophobic character) upon the absorption and release of drugs of different capacity to interact with the polymer chains was comparatively investigated. Diclofenac sodium (DCFNa) and 5-fluorouracil (5FU) were used as model drugs, based on their dissimilar hydrophobic character and ability of DCFNa to form crown ether-like complexes with PEG chains through the sodium cation. The experiments showed that the most important interactions occurring in these systems were mainly the hydrophobic ones and to a lesser extent the complexation of the Na⁺ ion by the PEG chains. Both of them were in favor of DCFNa, resulting in a larger incorporation and a slower release of this one in comparison with 5FU. For both drugs, loading was larger for hydrogels with shorter PEG chains and/or crosslinked with amines with longer hydrocarbon chain or higher functionality. Drug release tests showed a lower rate for stronger drug–network interactions in agreement with the absorption experiments.     

Equivalent linearization for Poisson white noise input

Methods are developed for calculating characteristic functions and mean upcrossing rates of the response of linear systems to α-stable input processes. The methods are based on the integral and series representations of these processes. The integral representation resembles the spectral representation of wide-sense stationary processes. The α-stable processes are non-Gaussian and have no moments of order two and higher. Therefore, classical methods of linear random vibration for calculating the mean and covariance functions of the response from the corresponding functions of the input do not apply. Applications are presented to illustrate the proposed methods of analysis.     

Rhombellation: a builder for multi-shell clusters

Rhombellanes are mathematical structures, proposed by us in 2017; they may appear both in periodic crystals or in finite structures. The simplest rhombellane is rbl.5 or K_2.3, the complete bipartite graph. In this paper, rhombellation operation is iteratively applied on three classes of structures: cube, tori and cubic pcu-network, respectively. The structural topological parameters are detailed.