Dielectric behavior of Cu–GeO<Subscript>2</Subscript> cermet thin films

Capacitance and dielectric loss measurements were carried out using an Al/Cu–GeO₂/Al sandwich structure for 0 to 10 vol% Cu films, 120–400 nm thick, deposited at 0.4–1.5 nm/s in the frequency and temperature range 1–10⁶ Hz and 90–573 K, respectively. The variation of capacitance and dielectric loss with frequency and temperature follows the Goswami and Goswami model. Capacitance decreases slowly with increasing thickness and also varies with the change in deposition rate of the cermet film.     

Persistence of conditioned flavor preferences is not due to inadvertent food reinforcement.

Almond preferences were produced by giving rats a mixture of almond and sucrose (Experiments 1-4) or saccharin (Experiment 4). A subsequent extinction procedure consisted of either repeated 2-bottle almond versus water tests (Experiment 1) or repeated exposure to almond alone (Experiments 2-4). The main independent variable was whether access to food following a session was given immediately, 30 min later, or 120 min later. No effect of extinction was found in any experiment. An important finding was that varying the delay until food access had no detectable effect. It was concluded that inadvertent flavor-food associations do not maintain preference for the flavor under extinction conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drug release from heat-treated polyvinyl alcohol films

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films containing 10% w/w of a model drug, sulphathiazole, were cast from aqueous solutions and subjected to heat treatment at specific temperatures for known periods of time. Heat treatment at temperatures above the T_g of the PVA films slowed down the rate of drug release from the films. Increasing the temperature of heat treatment from 120°C to 160°C further decreased the rate of drug release. On the other hand, if the heat treatment were conducted at a temperature below the T_g e.g. at 80°C, there were insignificant differences between the release profile of sulphathiazole from heat-treated films and that from untreated films. The duration of heat treatment affected the rate of drug release to a smaller extent compared to the temperature of heat treatment. These results correlated with the heat induced changes in the morphology of, and in the extent of water uptake by the PVA films.     

The phase behavior,mechanical, and rheological characteristics of blends containing nitrile polymers and poly(ethylene-co-maleic anhydride)

The phase behavior of binary blends of acrylonitrile/methyl acrylate/butadiene terpolymer (B210) and poly(ethylene-co-maleic anhydride) (PEMA) was examined based on thermal analysis and optical microscopy. Miscibility of these polymer blends was recognized over a wide range of compositions. The appearance of phase separation during subsequent heatings above the glass transition temperature (T_g) of these blends was associated with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior. Rheological characteristics such as shear storage modulus (G′), loss modulus (G″) and complex viscosity have been shown to depend on the amount of PEMA in the blend. Mechanical properties including the tensile strength and flexural modulus also were found to be related to the composition of the blend. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Simulations of extensional flow in microrheometric devices

We present a detailed numerical study of the flow of a Newtonian fluid through microrheometric devices featuring a sudden contraction–expansion. This flow configuration is typically used to generate extensional deformations and high strain rates. The excess pressure drop resulting from the converging and diverging flow is an important dynamic measure to quantify if the device is intended to be used as a microfluidic extensional rheometer. To explore this idea, we examine the effect of the contraction length, aspect ratio and Reynolds number on the flow kinematics and resulting pressure field. Analysis of the computed velocity and pressure fields show that, for typical experimental conditions used in microfluidic devices, the steady flow is highly three-dimensional with open spiraling vortical structures in the stagnant corner regions. The numerical simulations of the local kinematics and global pressure drop are in good agreement with experimental results. The device aspect ratio is shown to have a strong impact on the flow and consequently on the excess pressure drop, which is quantified in terms of the dimensionless Couette and Bagley correction factors. We suggest an approach for calculating the Bagley correction which may be especially appropriate for planar microchannels. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Impact of prefabrication technology on the cradle-to-site CO2 emissions of residential buildings

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - In recent years, the industrialization of construction has been promoted to achieve sustainable development within the construction industry;...     

Dynamical Properties of the Field Phase in the Jaynes-Cummings Model

Abstract

Phase properties of a coherent field interacting with a two-level atom in an ideal cavity are studied using the new hermitian phase formalism of Pegg and Barnett. It is shown in particular that phase properties of the field reflect the collapse and revival phenomena. The effects of finite detuning and atomic coherences are treated. The results for the variance of the phase cosine are obtained and compared with those based on earlier approaches.     

Squeezing in Second-harmonic Generation

Abstract

The production of squeezed states in second-harmonic generation is discussed theoretically from the viewpoint of the structure of the nonlinear medium, phase-matching conditions, and the polarization state of the fields. The nonlinear coupling constants are derived in explicit form for all 102 magnetic symmetry groups for crystalline as well as electrically polarized isotropic media. The phase-matching conditions are discussed in detail. Phase mismatch is shown to accumulate along the optical path, and is calculated in full detail for various media and geometries. We refer to this as the mismatch accumulation effect. General formulae for normally ordered variances of the second-harmonic and fundamental fields are derived by perturbative procedure, and are specified for some special cases of practical interest.     

Cogasification of blended coal‐biomass in an air/steam BFB gasifier: Experimental investigation and model validation

A series of cogasification experiments were performed at a 100 kW bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasifier to gasify the blended pellets made from two types of coals and woody biomass, with biomass‐to‐fuel mass ratios of 0–30%. In the cogasification, a mixture of air and steam was fed from the BFB gasifier bottom as gasification agent and the blended biomass‐coal pellets were fed into the bed layer. Impacts of biomass mass fraction in the binary pellets and gasification operation temperature on producer gas composition were experimentally investigated. The experimental results have been used to validate a mathematical model developed in this study. From both experimental observation and model prediction, it was found that adding biomass into coal has overall negative impact on producer gas quality in terms of combustible substance contents, and the extents of the blending effect were different among fuel types which have different properties. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1639–1647, 2015