A computer program for lattice-dynamical evaluation of Debye-Waller factors and thermodynamic functions for minerals, starting from empirical force fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pilati, T.; Dermartin, F.; Gramaccioli, C.M.

1993-01-01

A wide-purpose computer program has been written (Fortran) for lattice dynamical evaluation of crystallographic and thermodynamic properties of solids, especially minerals or inorganic substances.The program essentially consists of a routine affording first and second derivatives of energy with respect to mass weighted coordinates, properly modulated by a wave vector algorithm, so that diagonalization can immediately follow and arrive at frequencies, density of states, and eventually to thermodynamic functions and Debye-Waller parameters thorough an automatic Brillouin-zone sampling procedure. The input consists of crystallographic data (unit-cell parameters, space group symmetry operations, atomic coordinates), plus atomic charge and empirical parameters, such as force constants or non-bonded atom-atom interaction energy functions in almost any form. It is also possible to obtain the structure corresponding to the energy minimum, or even to work with partial rigid bodies, in order to reduce the order of the dynamical matrices. The program provides for automatic symmetry labelling of the vibrational modes, in order to compare them with the experimental data; there is possibility of improving the empirical functions through a minimization routine. Examples of application and transferability of force fields to a series of minerals are provided. (author)

Contrast of HOLZ lines in energy-filtered convergent-beam electron diffraction patterns from silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehmpfuhl, G.; Krahl, D.; Uchida, Y.

1995-01-01

Higher-order Laue-zone (HOLZ) lines were investigated in convergent-beam electron diffraction patterns from silicon near the low-indexed zone axes [100], [110] and [111]. The visibility of these lines depends on the effective structure potentials of the reflections from the first Laue zone depending on their Debye-Waller factor. The contrast of the HOLZ lines is strongly reduced by inelastically scattered electrons. They can be excluded by an imaging Ω filter for energy losses above 2 eV. The diffraction patterns were compared with many-beam calculations. Without absorption, an excellent agreement could be achieved for the [111] and [100] zone axes, while the simulation of the [110] zone-axis pattern needed a calculation with absorption. The reason for this observation is explained in the Bloch-wave picture. Calculations with absorption, however, lead to artefacts in the intensity distribution of the [100] HOLZ pattern. In order to obtain agreement with the experiment, the Debye-Waller factor had to be modified in different ways for the different zone axes. This corresponds to a strong anisotropy of the Debye-Waller factor. To confirm this observation, the temperature dependence of the itensity distributions of the HOLZ patterns was investigated between 50 and 680 K. At room temperature, the parameter D in the Debye-Waller factor exp(-Ds 2 ) was determined as 0.13, 0.26 and 0.55 A 2 for the zone axes [100], [111] and [110], respectively. The reliability of the conclusions is discussed. (orig.)

Robust parameterization of elastic and absorptive electron atomic scattering factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, L.M.; Ren, G.; Dudarev, S.L.; Whelan, M.J.

1996-01-01

A robust algorithm and computer program have been developed for the parameterization of elastic and absorptive electron atomic scattering factors. The algorithm is based on a combined modified simulated-annealing and least-squares method, and the computer program works well for fitting both elastic and absorptive atomic scattering factors with five Gaussians. As an application of this program, the elastic electron atomic scattering factors have been parameterized for all neutral atoms and for s up to 6 A -1 . Error analysis shows that the present results are considerably more accurate than the previous analytical fits in terms of the mean square value of the deviation between the numerical and fitted scattering factors. Parameterization for absorptive atomic scattering factors has been made for 17 important materials with the zinc blende structure over the temperature range 1 to 1000 K, where appropriate, and for temperature ranges for which accurate Debye-Waller factors are available. For other materials, the parameterization of the absorptive electron atomic scattering factors can be made using the program by supplying the atomic number of the element, the Debye-Waller factor and the acceleration voltage. For ions or when more accurate numerical results for neutral atoms are available, the program can read in the numerical values of the elastic scattering factors and return the parameters for both the elastic and absorptive scattering factors. The computer routines developed have been tested both on computer workstations and desktop PC computers, and will be made freely available via electronic mail or on floppy disk upon request. (orig.)

Electron-helium scattering in Debye plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zammit, Mark C.; Fursa, Dmitry V.; Bray, Igor; Janev, R. K.

2011-01-01

Electron-helium scattering in weakly coupled hot-dense (Debye) plasma has been investigated using the convergent close-coupling method. The Yukawa-type Debye-Hueckel potential has been used to describe plasma Coulomb screening effects. Benchmark results are presented for momentum transfer cross sections, excitation, ionization, and total cross sections for scattering from the ground and metastable states of helium. Calculations cover the entire energy range up to 1000 eV for the no screening case and various Debye lengths (5-100 a 0 ). We find that as the screening interaction increases, the excitation and total cross sections decrease, while the total ionization cross sections increase.

Drawings of fossils by Robert Hooke and Richard Waller

Science.gov (United States)

Kusukawa, Sachiko

2013-01-01

The drawings of fossils by Robert Hooke and Richard Waller that were the basis of the engravings in Hooke's Posthumous works (1705) are published here for the first time. The drawings show that both Hooke and Waller were proficient draftsmen with a keen eye for the details of petrified objects. These drawings provided Hooke with a polemic edge in making the case for the organic origins of ‘figured stones’.

Ultrafast electron diffraction from non-equilibrium phonons in femtosecond laser heated Au films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chase, T. [Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Trigo, M.; Reid, A. H.; Dürr, H. A. [Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Li, R.; Vecchione, T.; Shen, X.; Weathersby, S.; Coffee, R.; Hartmann, N.; Wang, X. J. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Reis, D. A. [Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); PULSE Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States)

2016-01-25

We use ultrafast electron diffraction to detect the temporal evolution of non-equilibrium phonons in femtosecond laser-excited ultrathin single-crystalline gold films. From the time-dependence of the Debye-Waller factor, we extract a 4.7 ps time-constant for the increase in mean-square atomic displacements. The observed increase in the diffuse scattering intensity demonstrates that the energy transfer from laser-heated electrons to phonon modes near the X and K points in the Au fcc Brillouin zone proceeds with timescales of 2.3 and 2.9 ps, respectively, faster than the Debye-Waller average mean-square displacement.

An alternative explanation of the change in T-dependence of the effective Debye-Waller factor at T{sub c} or T{sub B}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ngai, K. L. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa (Italy); CNR-IPCF, Largo Bruno Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa (Italy); Habasaki, J. [Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8502 (Japan)

2014-09-21

The cusp-like temperature dependence of the Debye-Waller factor or non-ergodicity parameter f{sub Q}(T) at some temperature T{sub c} above T{sub g} found by experiments in several fragile glassformers has been considered as critical evidence for validity of the ideal Mode Coupling Theory (MCT). A comprehensive review of experimental data of f{sub Q}(T) and beyond brings out various problems of the MCT predictions. For example, the molten salt, 0.4Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}-0.6KNO{sub 3} (CKN), was the first glassformer measured by neutron scattering to verify the cusp-like behavior of f{sub Q}(T) at T{sub c} predicted by ideal MCT. While the fits of the other scaling laws of MCT to viscosity, light scattering, and dielectric relaxation data all give T{sub c} in the range from 368 to 375 K, there is no evidence of cusp-like behavior of f{sub Q}(T) at T{sub c} from more accurate neutron scattering data obtained later on by Mezei and Russina [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 11, A341 (1999)] at temperatures below 400 K. In several molecular glass-formers, experiments have found at temperatures below T{sub c} that [1−f{sub Q}(T)] is manifested as nearly constant loss (NCL) in the frequency dependent susceptibility. The NCL persists down to below T{sub g} and is not predicted by the ideal MCT. No clear evidence of the change of T-dependence of f{sub Q}(T) at any T{sub c} was found in intermediate and strong glassformers, although ideal MCT does not distinguish fragile and strong glassformers in predicting the critical behavior of f{sub Q}(T) a priori. Experiments found f{sub Q}(T) changes T-dependence not only at T{sub c} but also at the glass transition temperature T{sub g}. The changes of T-dependence of f{sub Q}(T) at T{sub c} and T{sub g} are accompanied by corresponding changes of dynamic variables and thermodynamic quantities at T{sub B} ≈ T{sub c} and at T{sub g}. The dynamic variables include the relaxation time τ{sub α}(T), the non-exponentiality parameter n(T), and

Microscopic view of disorder in the ordered phase of superionic RbAg4I5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pasternak, M.

1983-01-01

Moessbauer spectroscopy in 129 I was employed to verify the existence and investigate the properties of local disorder in the ''ordered'' state of the superionic conductor RbAg 4 I 5 . Studies were conducted in the temperature range of 4--180 K covering the low-temperature #betta# phase (T 129 I nucleus, produced by the neighboring Ag ions, has a continuous linear temperature dependence down to 4.2 K. The hyperfine constants and the Debye-Waller factor showed no discontinuity at T/sub c/. The anomalous existence of the single line has been attributed to a fast fluctuating efg due to local hopping of the Ag ions. This dynamic disorder is present even at low temperatures where (8--10)% of Ag ions are locally hopping, and its occurrence increases drastically at T>T/sub c/. A nonharmonic Debye-Waller factor was observed from which a linear temperature-dependent Debye temperature could be derived

TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF 57Fe-MÖSSBAUER SPECTRA FOR A 〖〖Fe〗_Fc^II-Fe〗_tpy^II-〖Fe〗_Fc^II TRINUCLEAR SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dumitru Sirbu

2015-06-01

Full Text Available 57Fe Mӧssbauer spectra were recorded for 1'-terpyridine ferrocenecarboxylic acid and [bis(1'-terpyridine ferrocenecarboxylic acid Fe(II]2+ in the temperature range 7 – 293 K. The temperature dependence of the Quadrupole Splitting, Isomer Shift and Debye-Waller factor are discussed. The Debye temperature for the iron nuclei in the investigated compounds was determined.

Absorptive form factors for high-energy electron diffraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bird, D.M.; King, Q.A.

1990-01-01

The thermal diffuse scattering contribution to the absorptive potential in high-energy electron diffraction is calculated in the form of an absorptive contribution to the atomic form factor. To do this, the Einstein model of lattice vibrations is used, with isotropic Debye-Waller factors. The absorptive form factors are calculated as a function of scattering vector s and temperature factor M on a grid which enables polynomial interpolation of the results to be accurate to better than 2% for much of the ranges 0≤Ms 2 ≤6 and 0≤M≤2 A 2 . The computed values, together with an interpolation routine, have been incorporated into a Fortran subroutine which calculates both the real and absorptive form factors for 54 atomic species. (orig.)

An experimental 'Life' for an experimental life: Richard Waller's biography of Robert Hooke (1705).

Science.gov (United States)

Moxham, Noah

2016-03-01

Richard Waller's 'Life of Dr Robert Hooke', prefixed to his edition of Hooke's Posthumous Works (1705), is an important source for the life of one of the most eminent members of the early Royal Society. It also has the distinction of being one of the earliest biographies of a man of science to be published in English. I argue that it is in fact the first biography to embrace the subject's natural-philosophical work as the centre of his life, and I investigate Waller's reasons for adopting this strategy and his struggle with the problem of how to represent an early experimental philosopher in print. I suggest that Waller eschews the 'Christian philosopher' tradition of contemporary biography - partly because of the unusually diverse and fragmentary nature of Hooke's intellectual output - and draws instead upon the structure of the Royal Society's archive as a means of organizing and understanding Hooke's life. The most quoted phrase from Waller's biography is that Hooke became 'to a crime close and reserved' in later life; this essay argues that Waller's biographical sketch was fashioned in order to undo the effects of that reserve. In modelling his approach very closely on the structure of the society's records he was principally concerned with making Hooke's work and biography accessible, intelligible and useful to the fellowship in a context familiar to them, a context which had provided the institutional framework for most of Hooke's adult life. I argue that Waller's 'Life' was also intended to make the largest claims for Hooke's intellectual standing that the author dared in the context of the enmity between Hooke and Isaac Newton once the latter became president of the Royal Society. However, I also adduce fresh manuscript evidence that Waller actually compiled, but did not publish, a defence of Hooke's claim to have discovered the inverse square law of gravity, allowing us to glimpse a much more assertive biography of Hooke than the published version.

Non-linear unidimensional Debye screening in plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clemente, R.A.; Martin, P.

1992-01-01

An exact analytical solution for T e = T i and an approximate solution for T e ≠ T i have been obtained for the unidimensional non-linear Debye potential. The approximate expression is a solution of the Poisson equation obtained by expanding up to third order the Boltzmann's factors. The analysis shows that the effective Debye screening length can be quite different from the usual Debye length, when the potential to thermal energy ratio of the particles is not much smaller than unity. (author)

Who invented the dichotomous key? Richard Waller's watercolors of the herbs of Britain.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffing, Lawrence R

2011-12-01

On 27 March 1689, Richard Waller, Fellow and Secretary of the Royal Society presented his "Tables of the English Herbs reduced to such an order, as to find the name of them by their external figures and shapes" to his assembled colleagues at a meeting of the Royal Society. These tables were developed for the novice by being color images, composed in pencil and watercolor, of selected plants and their distinguishing characteristics. The botanical watercolors for the tables are now a Turning-the-Pages document online on the website of the Royal Society. However, for the past 320 years, the scientific context for the creation of these outstanding botanical watercolors has remained obscure. These tables were developed by Waller as an image-based dichotomous key, pre-dating by almost 100 years the text-based dichotomous keys in the first edition of Flora Française (1778) by Jean Baptiste Lamarck, who is generally given priority for the development of the dichotomous key. How these large folio images were arranged to illustrate a dichotomous key is unknown, but an arrangement based on Waller's description is illustrated here as leaf-ordering for the separate hierarchical clusters (tables). Although only 24 species of watercolored dicot herbs out of a total of 65 in the set of watercolors (the others being monocots) are used in these tables, they are a "proof of concept", serving as models upon which a method is based, that of using a key composed of dichotomous choices for aiding identification.

An investigation of the chromium oxidation state of a monoanionic chromium tris(catecholate) complex by X-ray absorption and EPR spectroscopies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pattison, D I; Levina, A; Davies, Michael Jonathan

2001-01-01

The well-known monoanionic Cr tris(3,5-di-tert-butylcatecholato) complex, [Cr(DTBC)3]-, has been studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The multiple-scattering fit to the XAFS gave good correlation (R = 19.8%) and good values for all of the bond lengths, angles, and Debye-Waller factors. The p...

Moments of the Bethe surface and total inelastic x-ray scattering cross sections for H2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharma, B.S.; Thakkar, A.J.

1987-01-01

Moments, S(j,K), of the generalized oscillator strength distribution are global properties of the Bethe surface. Apart from S(-1,K) which is related to the Waller-Hartree incoherent scattering factor, little is known about these moments for nonzero K. This paper describes high-accuracy calculations of S(1,K) and S(2,K) for molecular hydrogen. Comparison with experiment is made, and the utility of simple asymptotic approximations is confirmed. The moments are used to calculate differential cross sections for the inelastic scattering of x rays using the constant-momentum-transfer and constant-angle theories of Bonham. These cross sections differ from the Waller-Hartree cross sections at large angles thus demonstrating the importance of making corrections to the Waller-Hartree theory if the incoherent scattering factor S(K) is to be extracted from experimental inelastic cross sections. Total cross sections for scattering of 6- and 7-keV photons from H 2 are compared with synchrotron radiation scattering experiments. The calculations suggest that the Bonham constant-angle cross sections agree best with experiment. However, further experimental and theoretical work is needed to obtain firm conclusions about the limitations of Waller-Hartree theory

An experimental ‘Life’ for an experimental life : Richard Waller's biography of Robert Hooke (1705)

OpenAIRE

Moxham, Noah

2016-01-01

Richard Waller's ‘Life of Dr Robert Hooke’, prefixed to his edition of Hooke's Posthumous Works (1705), is an important source for the life of one of the most eminent members of the early Royal Society. It also has the distinction of being one of the earliest biographies of a man of science to be published in English. I argue that it is in fact the first biography to embrace the subject's natural-philosophical work as the centre of his life, and I investigate Waller's reasons for adopting thi...

Physics behind the Debye temperature

OpenAIRE

Garai, Jozsef

2007-01-01

Textbooks introduce the Debye temperature to simplify the integration of the heat capacity. This approach gives the impression that the Debye temperature is a parameter which makes the integration more convenient. The Debye frequency cut occurs when the wavelength of the phonon frequency reaches the size of the smallest unit of the lattice which is the length of the unit cell. At frequencies higher than the cut off frequency the 'lattice' unable to 'see' the vibration because the wavelength o...

John Dewey and the Question of Race: The Fight for Odell Waller

Science.gov (United States)

Stack, Sam F., Jr.

2009-01-01

In an attempt to better understand the complexity of American racism and democracy, this paper explores racism through the plight of an African American sharecropper, Odell Waller, and the reaction and involvement of John Dewey, America's most liberal democratic philosopher of the 20th century. This exploration delves into the nature of American…

Multiscale weighted colored graphs for protein flexibility and rigidity analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bramer, David; Wei, Guo-Wei

2018-02-01

Protein structural fluctuation, measured by Debye-Waller factors or B-factors, is known to correlate to protein flexibility and function. A variety of methods has been developed for protein Debye-Waller factor prediction and related applications to domain separation, docking pose ranking, entropy calculation, hinge detection, stability analysis, etc. Nevertheless, none of the current methodologies are able to deliver an accuracy of 0.7 in terms of the Pearson correlation coefficients averaged over a large set of proteins. In this work, we introduce a paradigm-shifting geometric graph model, multiscale weighted colored graph (MWCG), to provide a new generation of computational algorithms to significantly change the current status of protein structural fluctuation analysis. Our MWCG model divides a protein graph into multiple subgraphs based on interaction types between graph nodes and represents the protein rigidity by generalized centralities of subgraphs. MWCGs not only predict the B-factors of protein residues but also accurately analyze the flexibility of all atoms in a protein. The MWCG model is validated over a number of protein test sets and compared with many standard methods. An extensive numerical study indicates that the proposed MWCG offers an accuracy of over 0.8 and thus provides perhaps the first reliable method for estimating protein flexibility and B-factors. It also simultaneously predicts all-atom flexibility in a molecule.

Mosaic crystal algorithm for Monte Carlo simulations

CERN Document Server

Seeger, P A

2002-01-01

An algorithm is presented for calculating reflectivity, absorption, and scattering of mosaic crystals in Monte Carlo simulations of neutron instruments. The algorithm uses multi-step transport through the crystal with an exact solution of the Darwin equations at each step. It relies on the kinematical model for Bragg reflection (with parameters adjusted to reproduce experimental data). For computation of thermal effects (the Debye-Waller factor and coherent inelastic scattering), an expansion of the Debye integral as a rapidly converging series of exponential terms is also presented. Any crystal geometry and plane orientation may be treated. The algorithm has been incorporated into the neutron instrument simulation package NISP. (orig.)

Weak coupling theory of the ripplon limited mobility of a 2-D electron lattice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahm, A.J.; Mehrotra, R.

1981-01-01

The one ripplon-n phonon scattering contribution to the mobility of a 2D electron lattice supported by a liquid helium substrate is calculated in first order perturbation theory to all orders of n in the weak coupling limit. The Debye Waller factor is shown to limit the momentum transfer at large ripplon wave-vectors and high temperatures causing a minimum in the mobility as a function of temperature. (orig.)

Quantum scattering of neon from a nanotextured surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levi, A C; Huang, C; Allison, W; MacLaren, D A

2009-01-01

Phonon exchange is the usual cause of decoherence in atom-surface scattering. By including quantum effects in the treatment of Debye-Waller scattering, we show that phonon exchange becomes ineffective when the relevant phonon frequencies are high. The result explains the surprising observation of strong elastic scattering of Ne from a Cu(100) surface nanotextured with a c(2 x 2) Li adsorbate structure. We extend a previous model to describe the phonon spectra by an Einstein oscillator component with an admixture of a Debye spectrum. The Einstein oscillator represents the dominant, high frequency vibration of the adsorbate, normal to the surface, while the Debye spectrum represents the substrate contribution. Neon scattering is so slow that exciting the adsorbate mode has a low probability and is impossible if the incident energy is below the threshold. Thus, adsorbate vibrations are averaged out. A theoretical discussion and calculation shows that under such circumstances the vibrations of a light adsorbate do not contribute to the Debye-Waller effect, with the result that Ne scattering at thermal energies is quantum mechanical and largely elastic, explaining the high reflectivity and the diffraction peaks observed experimentally.

Debye shielding in a nonextensive plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ait Gougam, Leila; Tribeche, Mouloud

2011-01-01

The phenomenon of Debye Shielding is revisited within the theoretical framework of the Tsallis statistical mechanics. The plasma consists of nonextensive electrons and ions. Both the effective Debye length λ D q and the fall-off of the electrostatic potential Φ are considered and a parameter study conducted. Owing to electron nonextensivity, the critical Mach number derived from the modified Bohm sheath criterion may become less than unity allowing therefore ions with speed less than ion-acoustic speed to enter the sheath from the main body of the plasma. Considering the wide relevance of collective processes, our analysis may be viewed as a first step toward a more comprehensive Debye shielding and electrostatic plasma sheath in nonequilibrium plasmas.

Simulations of free-solution electrophoresis of polyelectrolytes with a finite Debye length using the Debye-Hückel approximation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hickey, Owen A; Shendruk, Tyler N; Harden, James L; Slater, Gary W

2012-08-31

We introduce a mesoscale simulation method based on multiparticle collision dynamics (MPCD) for the electrohydrodynamics of polyelectrolytes with finite Debye lengths. By applying the Debye-Hückel approximation to assign an effective charge to MPCD particles near charged monomers, our simulations are able to reproduce the rapid rise in the electrophoretic mobility with respect to the degree of polymerization for the shortest polymer lengths followed by a small decrease for longer polymers due to charge condensation. Moreover, these simulations demonstrate the importance of a finite Debye length in accurately determining the mobility of uniformly charged polyelectrolytes and net neutral polyampholytes.

Non Debye approximation on specific heat of solids

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharjee, Ruma; Das, Anamika; Sarkar, A.

2018-05-01

A simple non Debye frequency spectrum is proposed. The normalized frequency spectrum is compared to that of Debye spectrum. The proposed spectrum, provides a good account of low frequency phonon density of states, which gives a linear temperature variation at low temperature in contrast to Debye T3 law. It has been analyzed that the proposed model provides a good account of excess specific heat for nanostructure solid.

Neutron scattering by anharmonic crystals and the effect of sublattice displacements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Viswanathan, K.S.; Phillip, Jacob

1979-01-01

A theory has been described for the scattering of neutrons by anharmonic crystals, for which terms of the type Vsup(3) (k 1 j 1 ;-k 1 j 1 ;aj) which contribute to the sublattice displacements are not neglected. It is shown that the sublattice displacements will modify the phase factor arising from the scattering by any atom in the unit cell, and the Debye-Waller factor also gets altered both by the sublattice displacements as well as by higher order terms arising from anharmonicity. (author)

A summary of the low angle x-ray atomic scattering factors which have been measured by the critical voltage effect in High Energy Electron Diffraction (HEED)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fox, A.G.; Fisher, R.M.

1987-08-01

A tabulated summary of all the accurate (/approximately/0.1%) low-angle x-ray atomic scattering (form) factors which have been determined by the systematic critical voltage technique in HEED is presented. For low atomic number elements (Z/approx lt/40) the low angle form factors can be significantly different to best free atom values, and so the best band structure calculated and/or x-ray measured form factors consistent with the critical voltage measurements are also indicated. At intermediate atomic numbers Z≅40→50 only the very low-angle form factors appear to be different to the best free atom values, and even then only by a small amount. For heavy elements (Z/approx lt/70) the best free atom form factors appear to agree very closely with the critical voltage measured values and so, in this case, critical voltage measurements give very accurate measurements of Debye-Waller factors. 48 refs

Debye temperatures of uranium chalcogenides from their lattice ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Unknown

From the phonon frequencies, their Debye temperatures are evaluated. Further, ... Keywords. Uranium chalcogenides; p-wave electronic superconductor; phonon frequency; Debye tempera- ture; spin ... to the ionic crystals of similar structure.

Debye's length in expanding quark-gluon plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bialas, A.

1988-06-01

The screening properties of an abelian quark-gluon plasma and boost invariantly expanding in a given direction, are discussed. The expansion results in anisotropic screening. At early stages of the process, the Debye length along the direction of the expansion is reduced by a factor of about 2, relative to static calculations. This may have important consequences for the J/ψ production rate. 12 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab. (author)

Convergence of the multiple scattering expansion in XAFS and XANES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rehr, J.J.

1992-01-01

The convergence of the multiple-scattering expansion of XAFS and XANES by explicit path-bypath calculations. The approach is based on the fast scattering matrix formalism of Rehr and Albers, together with an automated path finder and filters that exclude negligible paths. High-order scattering terms are found to be essential, especially at low energies. Several factors including the magnitude of curved wave scattering amplitudes, inelastic losses and multiple-scattering Debye-Waller factors control convergence of the expansion. The convergence is illustrated explicitly for the case of diatomic molecules

Phonons in Solid Hydrogen and Deuterium Studied by Inelastic Coherent Neutron Scattering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Mourits

1973-01-01

Phonon dispersion relations have been measured by coherent neutron scattering in solid para-hydrogen and ortho-deuterium. The phonon energies are found to be nearly equal in the two solids, the highest energy in each case lying close to 10 meV. The pressure and temperature dependence of the phonon...... energies have been measured in ortho-deuterium and the lattice change determined by neutron diffraction. When a pressure of 275 bar is applied, the phonon energies are increased by about 10%, and heating the crystal to near the melting point decreases them by about 7%. The densities of states, the specific...... heats, and the Debye temperatures have been deduced and found to be in agreement with the published experimental results. The Debye temperatures are 118 K for hydrogen and 114 K for deuterium. For hydrogen the Debye-Waller factor has been measured by incoherent neutron scattering and it corresponds...

Study of the nonlinear three-dimensional Debye screening in plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin Chang; Zhao Jinbao; Zhang Xiulian

2000-01-01

The nonlinear three-dimensional Debye screening in plasmas is investigated. New analytical solutions for the three-dimensional Poisson equation have been obtained for the nonlinear Debye potential for the first time. We derive exact analytical expression for the special case of the nonlinear three-dimensional Debye screening in plasmas. (orig.)

Electron plasma oscillations at arbitrary Debye lengths

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehnert, B.

1990-12-01

A solution is presented for electron plasma oscillation in a thermalized homogeneous plasma, at arbitrary ratios between the Debye length λ D and the perturbation wave length λ. The limit λ D D >> λ corresponds to the free-streaming limit of strong kinetic phase-mixing due to large particle excursions. A strong large Debye distance (LDD) effect already appears when λ D > approx λ. The initial amplitude of the fluid-like contribution to the macroscopic density perturbation then becomes small as compared to the contribution from the free-streaming part. As a consequence, only a small fraction of the density perturbation remains after a limited number of kinetic damping times of the free-streaming part. The analysis further shows that a representation in terms of normal model of the form exp(-iωt) leads to amplitude factors of these modes which are related to each other and which depend on the combined free-streaming and fluid behaviour of the plasma. Consequently, these modes are coupled and cannot be treated as being independent of each other. (au)

Debye shielding revisited

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mak, S.S.

1992-01-01

In deriving the expression for the Debye length, the assumption eφ << kT is often invoked casually. Using a scaling technique this assumption is put in perspective. Furthermore, it is shown that the commonly accepted linearization condition is in fact much more stringent (by two orders of magnitude) than necessary. (author)

Convergent-close-coupling calculations for excitation and ionization processes of electron-hydrogen collisions in Debye plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zammit, Mark C.; Fursa, Dmitry V.; Bray, Igor

2010-01-01

Electron-hydrogen scattering in weakly coupled hot-dense plasmas has been investigated using the convergent-close-coupling method. The Yukawa-type Debye-Hueckel potential has been used to describe the plasma screening effects. The target structure, excitation dynamics, and ionization process change dramatically as the screening is increased. Excitation cross sections for the 1s→2s,2p,3s,3p,3d and 2s→2p,3s,3p,3d transitions and total and total ionization cross sections for the scattering from the 1s and 2s states are presented. Calculations cover the energy range from thresholds to high energies (250 eV) for various Debye lengths. We find that as the screening increases, the excitation and total cross sections decrease, while the total ionization cross sections increase.

A contribution to the investigation of the properties of the Au-Fe system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vano, M.; Sitek, J.; Cirak, J.

1976-01-01

Moessbauer spectroscopy, an electronic microanalyzer and X-ray diffractometry were used to study the properties of an Au-Fe solid solution during its preparation by installing Fe atoms into the Au matrix by diffusion heating at a temperature from 550 to 850 degC. On the basis of such measurements, the suitable heating temperature was determined at 850 degC; the Debye-Waller factor for Au-Fe is f=0.604+-0.040 and two configurations of Fe atoms in the Au crystal lattice were found. (author)

Electron-beam induced amorphization of stishovite: Silicon-coordination change observed using Si K-edge extended electron energy-loss fine structure

Science.gov (United States)

van Aken, P. A.; Sharp, T. G.; Seifert, F.

The analysis of the extended energy-loss fine structure (EXELFS) of the Si K-edge for sixfold-coordinated Si in synthetic stishovite and fourfold-coordinated Si in natural α-quartz is reported by using electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in combination with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The stishovite Si K-edge EXELFS spectra were measured as a time-dependent series to document irradiation-induced amorphization. The amorphization was also investigated through the change in Si K- and O K-edge energy-loss near edge structure (ELNES). For α-quartz, in contrast to stishovite, electron irradiation-induced vitrification, verified by selected area electron diffraction (SAED), produced no detectable changes of the EXELFS. The Si K-edge EXELFS were analysed with the classical extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) treatment and compared to ab initio curve-waved multiple-scattering (MS) calculations of EXAFS spectra for stishovite and α-quartz. Highly accurate information on the local atomic environment of the silicon atoms during the irradiation-induced amorphization of stishovite is obtained from the EXELFS structure parameters (Si-O bond distances, coordination numbers and Debye-Waller factors). The mean Si-O bond distance R and mean Si coordination number N changes from R=0.1775 nm and N=6 for stishovite through a disordered intermediate state (R 0.172 nm and N 5) to R 0.167 nm and N 4.5 for a nearly amorphous state similar to α-quartz (R=0.1609 nm and N=4). During the amorphization process, the Debye-Waller factor (DWF) passes through a maximum value of as it changes from for sixfold to for fourfold coordination of Si. This increase in Debye-Waller factor indicates an increase in mean-square relative displacement (MSRD) between the central silicon atom and its oxygen neighbours that is consistent with the presence of an intermediate structural state with fivefold coordination of Si. The distribution of coordination states can be estimated by

Spectra of electron pair under harmonic and Debye potential

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Munjal, D. [Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi (India); Department of Physics, Swami Shraddhanand College, University of Delhi (India); Prasad, V. [Department of Physics, Swami Shraddhanand College, University of Delhi (India)

2017-02-15

Two electron systems confined by harmonic potential is known as harmonium. Such a system has been studied for many reasons in the literature. In this work we study harmonium under Debye potential. We use higher order finite difference method for the solution of Schrodinger equation. Complete energy spectrum of harmonium and harmonium under Debye potential is studied. Debye screening length shows considerable effect on the energy levels and the radial matrix elements. The results are analysed in the light of existing results and the comparison with available results shows remarkable agreement. (copyright 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Achromatization of Debye-Scherrer Lines

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ekstein, Hans

1951-01-01

A method is described for reducing the width of a Debye-Scherrer line produced by diffraction from a polycrystalline medium, if this width is due to the spectral impurity of the primary characteristic radiation...

Electron-positronium scattering in Debye plasma environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basu, Arindam; Ghosh, A.S.

2008-01-01

Electron-positronium scattering has been investigated in the Debye plasma environment employing the close-coupling approximation. Three models, viz. 3-state CCA, 6-state CCA and 9-state CCA, have been employed. The 2s 21 S e autodetaching resonant state of the positronium negative ion has been successfully predicted for various plasma environments. The position of the resonance for different Debye lengths are in close agreement with those of Kar and Ho [S. Kar, Y.K. Ho, Phys. Rev. A 71 (2005) 052503

Diffusion of Hydrogen in the beta-Phase of Pd-H Studied by Small Energy Transfer Neutron Scattering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nelin, G; Skoeld, K

1974-07-01

The diffusion of hydrogen in beta-PdH has been studied by quasielastic neutron scattering. It is shown that the diffusion occurs through jumps between adjacent octahedral interstitial sites. The observed integrated quasielastic intensities cannot be described by a simple Debye-Waller factor. The phase transition from the beta-phase to the alpha-phase has also been studied. No dramatic changes in the scattering patterns were observed. It is concluded that the diffusion mechanism is remarkably similar between the low concentration alpha-phase and the high concentration beta-phase

Ultra-Flexible, Invisible Thin-Film Transistors Enabled by Amorphous Metal Oxide/Polymer Channel Layer Blends

Science.gov (United States)

2015-02-25

coordination num- bers (CNs), bond lengths , and Debye –Waller factors from Equation ( 1) : [ 45 ] ( ) ( ) sin 2 i i 0 2 i 2 i i 2 ( ) 2 j i 2 2 k N f k S...through a shadow mask (channel length L = 50 µm, channel width W = 1 mm). The newly developed In 2 O 3 : x %PVP semiconducting fi lms were fi rst...coordination numbers, In–O bond lengths , and σ 2 values for the indicated fi lms. e,f) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of In 2 O 3 :polymer fi

Low temperature anomalies in the lattice parameters of rare earth compounds and UPd3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pluemacher, D.

1980-01-01

Using a low temperature diffractometer, intermediate valence effects and crystal defects can be identified from the temperature dependence of the lattice parameters and the Debye-Waller factor. For polycrystalline powder samples the measuring error are too large. For intermediate valence systems the relative change in the 4f-level population probability can be calculated together with the anisotropic effects on the lattice parameters and on the unit cell colume. Pronounced effects on the lattice parameters can be observed in the case of RE Cu 2 Si 2 compounds with crystal fields. (DG) [de

Study of two-dimensional Debye clusters using Brownian motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheridan, T.E.; Theisen, W.L.

2006-01-01

A two-dimensional Debye cluster is a system of n identical particles confined in a parabolic well and interacting through a screened Coulomb (i.e., a Debye-Hueckel or Yukawa) potential with a Debye length λ. Experiments were performed for 27 clusters with n=3-63 particles (9 μm diam) in a capacitively coupled 9 W rf discharge at a neutral argon pressure of 13.6 mTorr. In the strong-coupling regime each particle exhibits small amplitude Brownian motion about its equilibrium position. These motions were projected onto the center-of-mass and breathing modes and Fourier analyzed to give resonance curves from which the mode frequencies, amplitudes, and damping rates were determined. The ratio of the breathing frequency to the center-of-mass frequency was compared with theory to self-consistently determine the Debye shielding parameter κ, Debye length λ, particle charge q, and mode temperatures. It is found that 1 < or approx. κ < or approx. 2, and κ decreases weakly with n. The particle charge averaged over all measurements is -14 200±200 e, and q decreases slightly with n. The two center-of-mass modes and the breathing mode are found to have the same temperature, indicating that the clusters are in thermal equilibrium with the neutral gas. The average cluster temperature is 399±5 K

The thermo-electric nature of the Debye temperature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mithun Bhowmick

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The Debye temperature is typically associated with the heat capacity of a solid and the cut-off of the possible lattice vibrations, but not necessarily to the electric conductivity of the material. By investigating III-V and II-VI compound semiconductors, we reveal that the Debye temperature represents a thermo-electric material parameter, connecting the thermal and electronic properties of a solid via a distinct power law.

One-dimensional conduction through supporting electrolytes: two-scale cathodic Debye layer.

Science.gov (United States)

Almog, Yaniv; Yariv, Ehud

2011-10-01

Supporting-electrolyte solutions comprise chemically inert cations and anions, produced by salt dissolution, together with a reactive ionic species that may be consumed and generated on bounding ion-selective surfaces (e.g., electrodes or membranes). Upon application of an external voltage, a Faraday current is thereby established. It is natural to analyze this ternary-system process through a one-dimensional transport problem, employing the thin Debye-layer limit. Using a simple model of ideal ion-selective membranes, we have recently addressed this problem for moderate voltages [Yariv and Almog, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 176101 (2010)], predicting currents that scale as a fractional power of Debye thickness. We address herein the complementary problem of moderate currents. We employ matched asymptotic expansions, separately analyzing the two inner thin Debye layers adjacent to the ion-selective surfaces and the outer electroneutral region outside them. A straightforward calculation following comparable singular-perturbation analyses of binary systems is frustrated by the prediction of negative ionic concentrations near the cathode. Accompanying numerical simulations, performed for small values of Debye thickness, indicate a number unconventional features occurring at that region, such as inert-cation concentration amplification and electric-field intensification. The current-voltage correlation data of the electrochemical cell, obtained from compilation of these simulations, does not approach a limit as the Debye thickness vanishes. Resolution of these puzzles reveals a transformation of the asymptotic structure of the cathodic Debye layer. This reflects the emergence of an internal boundary layer, adjacent to the cathode, wherein field and concentration scaling differs from those of the Gouy-Chapman theory. The two-scale feature of the cathodic Debye layer is manifested through a logarithmic voltage scaling with Debye thickness. Accounting for this scaling, the

Debye classes in A15 compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Staudenmann, J.; DeFacio, B.; Testardi, L.R.; Werner, S.A.; Fluekiger, R.; Muller, J.

1981-01-01

The comparison between electron charge-density distribution of V 3 Si, Cr 3 Si, and V 3 Ge at room temperature leads us to study the Debye temperatures at 0 0 K THETA 0 from specific-heat measurements for over 100 A15 compounds. A phenomenological THETA 0 (M), M the molecular mass, is obtained from the static scaling relation THETA 0 (M) = aM/sup b/ and this organizes all of the data into five Debye classes: V(V 3 Si), V-G, G(V 3 Ge), G-C, and C(Cr 3 Si). In contrast, the Debye temperature THETA 0 (V), with V as the unit-cell volume does not relate alloys as THETA 0 (M) does, with the exception of the C class. This latter case leads to the surprising result MproportionalV/sup approximately1/3/ and to a Grueneisen constant of 1.6 +- 0.1 for all compounds of this class. In the V class where V 3 Si and Nb 3 Sn are found, THETA 0 (V) labels these two alloys differently, as does their martensitic c/a ratios. With T-bar/sub c/ denoting the average superconducting transition temperature within a Debye class, interesting correlations are shown. One is the maximum of T-bar/sub c/ which exists in the V class where the strongest anharmonicity occurs. Another is the case of compounds formed only by transition elements up to and including Au. This interesting case shows that approx.3.2< T-bar/sub c/< approx.5.0 K in all of the five classes and that there is no correlation between T/sub c/ and the thermal properties. The implications of these observations for creating better models for the A15 compounds are briefly discussed

Relativistic effects in hydrogenlike atoms embedded in Debye plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bielinska-Waz, D.; Karwowski, J.; Saha, B.; Mukherjee, P.K.

2004-01-01

Spectra of hydrogenlike atoms embedded in a Debye plasma are investigated. The state energies and the transition rates are studied using a fully relativistic formalism based on the Dirac equation. The effect of the plasma is described by introducing an exponential screening to the nuclear Coulomb potential (the Debye screening). Systematic trends with respect to both the nuclear charge and the screening parameter are observed for all calculated quantities. The pattern of splittings of ns 1/2 , np 1/2 and np 3/2 is modified in a specific way due to the combined relativity and plasma effect. The transition rates decrease with an increase of the Debye parameter as well as with an increase of Z

Resonant charge exchange for H-H+ in Debye plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Laricchiuta, Annarita; Colonna, Gianpiero; Capitelli, Mario; Kosarim, Alexander; Smirnov, Boris M.

2017-11-01

The dynamics of resonant charge exchange in proton-hydrogen collisions embedded in plasma is investigated in the framework of the asymptotic approach, modified to account for the effect of Debye-Hückel screening in particle interactions. The cross sections exhibit a marked dependence on the Debye length in regimes of severe plasma confinement. Processes involving excited states H( n)-H+ are also discussed.

A review of quantum collision dynamics in Debye plasmas

OpenAIRE

Janev, R. K.; Zhang, Song Bin; Wang, Jian Guo

2016-01-01

Hot, dense plasmas exhibit screened Coulomb interactions, resulting from the collective effects of correlated many-particle interactions. In the lowest particle correlation order (pair-wise correlations), the interaction between charged plasma particles reduces to the Debye-H\\"uckel (Yukawa-type) potential, characterized by the Debye screening length D. Due to the importance of Coulomb interaction screening in dense laboratory and astrophysical plasmas, hundreds of theoretical investigations ...

Determination of molecular configuration by debye length modulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Vacic, Aleksandar; Criscione, Jason M; Rajan, Nitin K; Stern, Eric; Fahmy, Tarek M; Reed, Mark A

2011-09-07

Silicon nanowire field effect transistors (FETs) have emerged as ultrasensitive, label-free biodetectors that operate by sensing bound surface charge. However, the ionic strength of the environment (i.e., the Debye length of the solution) dictates the effective magnitude of the surface charge. Here, we show that control of the Debye length determines the spatial extent of sensed bound surface charge on the sensor. We apply this technique to different methods of antibody immobilization, demonstrating different effective distances of induced charge from the sensor surface.

Defects and disorder in the fast-ion electrode lithium-aluminum

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Susman, S; Brun, T O

1981-01-01

Neutron and X-ray diffraction measurements indicate no phase change in ..beta..-phase LiAl from 300 to 940 K. The thermal expansion of the lattice constant and the temperature dependence of the Debye-Waller factor Li are linear and not unusually large. The data are analyzed in the Bragg-Williams approximation with T/sub c/ = 1100 K. At elevated temperatures, LiAl approaches an order-disorder transformation. At battery operating temperatures (700 K) there are appreciable concentrations of both types of antisite defects Li/sub Al/ and Al/sub Li/, and there is appreciable Al diffusion.

Co-Au core-shell nanocrystals formed by sequential ion implantation into SiO2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kluth, P.; Hoy, B.; Johannessen, B.; Dunn, S. G.; Foran, G. J.; Ridgway, M. C.

2006-01-01

Co-Au core-shell nanocrystals (NCs) were formed by sequential ion implantation of Au and Co into thin SiO 2 . The NCs were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy and extended x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. The latter reveals a bond length expansion in the Co core compared to monatomic Co NCs. Concomitantly, a significant contraction of the bond length and a significant reduction of the effective Au-Au coordination number were observed in the Au shells. Increased Debye-Waller factors indicate significant strain in the NCs. These experimental results verify recent theoretical predictions

Two independent measurements of Debye lengths in doped nonpolar liquids.

Science.gov (United States)

Prieve, D C; Hoggard, J D; Fu, R; Sides, P J; Bethea, R

2008-02-19

Electric current measurements were performed between 2.5 cm x 7.5 cm parallel-plate electrodes separated by 1.2 mm of heptane doped with 0-15% w/w poly(isobutylene succinimide) (PIBS) having a molecular weight of about 1700. The rapid (microsecond) initial charging of the capacitor can be used to infer the dielectric constant of the solution. The much slower decay of current arising from the polarization of electrodes depends on the differential capacitance of the diffuse clouds of charge carriers accumulating next to each electrode and on the ohmic resistance of the fluid. Using the Gouy-Chapman model for the differential capacitance, Debye lengths of 80-600 nm were deduced that decrease with increasing concentration of PIBS. Values of the Debye lengths were confirmed by performing independent measurements of double-layer repulsion between a 6 microm polystyrene (PS) latex sphere and a PS-coated glass plate using total internal reflection microscopy in the same solutions. The charge carriers appear to be inverted PIBS micelles having apparent Stokes diameters of 20-40 nm. Dynamic light scattering reveals a broad distribution of sizes having an intensity-averaged diameter of 15 nm. This smaller size might arise (1) from overestimating the electrophoretic mobility of micelles by treating them as point charges or (2) because charged micelles are larger on average than uncharged micelles. When Faradaic reactions and zeta potentials on the electrodes can be neglected, such current versus time experiments yield values for the Debye length and ionic strength with less effort than force measurements. To obtain the concentration of charge carriers from measurements of conductivity, the mobility of the charge carriers must be known.

Electron Debye scale Kelvin-Helmholtz instability: Electrostatic particle-in-cell simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang-Yun; Lee, Ensang; Kim, Khan-Hyuk; Lee, Dong-Hun; Seon, Jongho; Jin, Ho

2015-01-01

In this paper, we investigated the electron Debye scale Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability using two-dimensional electrostatic particle-in-cell simulations. We introduced a velocity shear layer with a thickness comparable to the electron Debye length and examined the generation of the KH instability. The KH instability occurs in a similar manner as observed in the KH instabilities in fluid or ion scales producing surface waves and rolled-up vortices. The strength and growth rate of the electron Debye scale KH instability is affected by the structure of the velocity shear layer. The strength depends on the magnitude of the velocity and the growth rate on the velocity gradient of the shear layer. However, the development of the electron Debye scale KH instability is mainly determined by the electric field generated by charge separation. Significant mixing of electrons occurs across the shear layer, and a fraction of electrons can penetrate deeply into the opposite side fairly far from the vortices across the shear layer

He/Ar-atom scattering from molecular monolayers: C{sub 60}/Pt(111) and graphene/Pt(111)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamada, Y; Sugawara, C; Satake, Y; Yokoyama, Y; Okada, R; Nakayama, T; Sasaki, M [Institute of Applied Physics, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan); Kondo, T; Oh, J; Nakamura, J [Institute of Material Science, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Japan); Hayes, W W [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 (United States)

2010-08-04

Supersonic He and Ar atomic beam scattering from C{sub 60} and graphene monolayers adsorbed on a Pt(111) surface are demonstrated in order to obtain detailed insight into a gas-molecule collision that has not been studied in detail so far. The effective masses and phonon spectral densities of the monolayers seen by different projectiles are discussed based on classical models such as the hard cube model and the recently developed smooth surface model. Large effective masses are deduced for both the monolayers, suggesting collective effects of surface atoms in the single collision event. The effective Debye temperature of graphene was found to be similar to that reported in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), indicating that the graphene is decoupled well from the Pt substrate. A much smaller Debye-Waller factor was found for the C{sub 60} layer, probably reflecting the strong C{sub 60}-Pt(111) interaction.

Conditions for similitude and the effect of finite Debye length in electroosmotic flows.

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Jung Min; Kang, Kwan Hyoung

2007-06-15

Under certain conditions, the velocity field is similar to the electric field for electroosmotic flow (EOF) inside a channel. There was a disagreement between investigators on the necessity of the infinitesimal-Reynolds-number condition for the similarity when the Helmholtz-Smoluchowski relation is applied throughout the boundaries. What is puzzling is a recent numerical result that showed, contrary to the conventional belief, an evident Reynolds number dependence of the EOF. We show here that the notion that the infinitesimal-Reynolds-number condition is required originates from the misunderstanding that the EOF is the Stokes flow. We point out that the EOF becomes the potential flow when the Helmholtz-Smoluchowski relation is applied at the boundaries. We carry out a numerical simulation to investigate the effect of finiteness of the Debye length and the vorticity layer inherently existing at the channel wall. We show that the Reynolds number dependence of the previous numerical simulation resulted from the finiteness of the Debye length and subsequent convective transport of vorticity toward the bulk flow. We discuss in detail how the convection of vorticity occurs and what factors are involved in the transport process, after carrying out the simulation for different Reynolds numbers, Debye lengths, corner radii, and geometries.

Debye screening modifications in ponderomotive effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sodha, M.S.; Subbarao, D.

1979-01-01

The effective Debye screening length is shown to be increased in the presence of a high-power electromagnetic wave. The consequent modifications in ponderomotive redistributive effects and strong violations of charge neutrality have been shown to be in agreement with recent laser-plasma experiments

H2+ embedded in a Debye plasma: Electronic and vibrational properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angel, M.L.; Montgomery, H.E.

2011-01-01

The effect of plasma screening on the electronic and vibrational properties of the H 2 + molecular ion was analyzed within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. When a molecule is embedded in a plasma, the plasma screens the electrostatic interactions. This screening is accounted in the Schroedinger equation by replacing the Coulomb potentials with Yukawa potentials that incorporate the Debye length as a screening parameter. Variational expansions in confocal elliptical coordinates were used to calculate energies of the 1sσ g and 2pσ u states over a range of Debye lengths and bond distances. When the Debye length is comparable to the equilibrium bond distance, the dissociation energy is reduced while the equilibrium internuclear separation is increased. Expectation values, static dipole polarizabilities and spectroscopic constants were calculated for the 1sσ g state. - Highlights: → Effect of plasma screening on the properties of the H 2 + molecular ion. → Used a variational wavefunction in confocal elliptical coordinates. → Potential energy curves for the ground and first excited state are presented. → Decreasing Debye length increases polarizability of the electron distribution.

Measurement of Debye length in laser-produced plasma.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehler, W.

1973-01-01

The Debye length of an expanded plasma created by placing an evacuated chamber with an entrance slit in the path of a freely expanding laser produced plasma was measured, using the slab geometry. An independent measurement of electron density together with the observed value for the Debye length also provided a means for evaluating the plasma electron temperature. This temperature has applications in ascertaining plasma conductivity and magnetic field necessary for confinement of the laser produced plasma. Also, the temperature obtained would be useful in analyzing electron-ion recombination rates in the expanded plasma and the dynamics of the cooling process of the plasma expansion.

The Ironic Hypocrisy of Killing: How Sanctioned Counterinsurgency Policies of the Philippine War Ends in the Court-Martial of Major Littleton Waller

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-01

Hughes whose troops were ordered to kill guerrillas and civilians alike, burn villages, destroy cops and slaughter livestock. 83 Major Littleton... slaughter his entire command. After capturing many of the ring leaders, Maj Waller would have been more than justified in executing them for their

Calculating Debye potentials from data on I or H

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torrence, R.J.

1982-01-01

Using the formalism of Cohen and Kegeles equations are obtained for arbitrary spin radiation field Debye potentials in Reissner-Nordstrom geometries, and a formal series solution is presented. For the case of integer spin the series is modified to what appears to be am more natural form. In the particular case of vanishing spin it is shown that in some important cases the modified series converges to a solution of the Debye potential equation, which is the scalar wave equation, and is simply related to characteristic initial data given on either H or I. (author)

Design of an electrochemical cell for in situ XAS studies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Watanabe, N. [Instituto de Quimica, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Box 6154, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, SP (Brazil); Morais, J. [Instituto de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Avenida Bento Goncalves, 9500, Bairro Agronomia, CP 15051, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil); Alves, M.C.M. [Instituto de Quimica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Avenida Bento Goncalves, 9500, Bairro Agronomia, CP 15003, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil)], E-mail: maria@iq.ufrgs.br

2007-05-15

In situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) studies have been carried out on the electrochemical insertion of Co metal particles in polypyrrole. This has become possible due to the development of an electrochemical cell to allow XAS studies in fluorescence geometry under steady-state conditions. The experimental set-up allows the in situ monitoring of the structural and electronic changes of the selected atom in a matrix. The project of the electrochemical cell is presented with the results obtained at different stages of the electrochemical process. XANES and EXAFS results showed that the initial stage of the cobalt insertion in polypyrrole took place in an ionic form, like [-[(C{sub 4}H{sub 2}N){sub 3}CH{sub 3}(CH{sub 2}){sub 11}OSO{sub 3}{sup -}]{sub 6}Co{sup 2+}] with posterior reduction to a metallic form. The quantitative analysis of the first shell shows that, at -0.60 V, the cobalt atoms are surrounded by 6 ({+-}0.5) atoms located at 2.12 ({+-}0.05) A with a large Debye-Waller factor ({sigma}{sup 2}) value of 0.0368 ({+-}0.0074). At -0.80 V, two distances of R = 1.99 ({+-}0.01) and R = 2.50 ({+-}0.01) A show the coexistence of cobalt in the oxidized and reduced (Co{sup 0}) forms. The Co-Co distance corresponds to that of bulk cobalt. At -1.20 V, the obtained values of N = 12 ({+-}0.5) and R = 2.56 ({+-}0.01) A and a Debye-Waller factor of 0.0176 ({+-}0.0004) suggest the formation of metallic cobalt in a quite disordered form.

Determination of Debye temperatures and Lamb-Mössbauer factors for LnFeO3 orthoferrite perovskites (Ln  =  La, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd)

Science.gov (United States)

Scrimshire, A.; Lobera, A.; Bell, A. M. T.; Jones, A. H.; Sterianou, I.; Forder, S. D.; Bingham, P. A.

2018-03-01

Lanthanide orthoferrites have wide-ranging industrial uses including solar, catalytic and electronic applications. Here a series of lanthanide orthoferrite perovskites, LnFeO3 (Ln  =  La Nd; Sm; Eu; Gd), prepared through a standard stoichiometric wet ball milling route using oxide precursors, has been studied. Characterisation through x-ray diffraction and x-ray fluorescence confirmed the synthesis of phase-pure or near-pure LnFeO3 compounds. 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy was performed over a temperature range of 10 K-293 K to observe hyperfine structure and to enable calculation of the recoil-free fraction and Debye temperature (θ D) of each orthoferrite. Debye temperatures (Ln  =  La 474 K Nd 459 K Sm 457 K Eu 452 K Gd 473 K) and recoil-free fractions (Ln  =  La 0.827; Nd 0.817; Sm 0.816; Eu 0.812; Gd 0.826) were approximated through minimising the difference in the temperature dependent experimental centre shift and theoretical isomer shift, by allowing the Debye temperature and isomer shift values to vary. This method of minimising the difference between theoretical and actual values yields Debye temperatures consistent with results from other studies determined through thermal analysis methods. This displays the ability of variable-temperature Mössbauer spectroscopy to approximate Debye temperatures and recoil-free fractions, whilst observing temperature induced transitions over the temperature range observed. X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement show an inverse relationship between FeO6 octahedral volume and approximated Debye temperatures. Raman spectroscopy show an increase in the band positions attributed to soft modes of Ag symmetry, Ag(3) and Ag(5) from La to GdFeO3 corresponding to octahedral rotations and tilts in the [0 1 0] and [1 0 1] planes respectively.

Spherical conducting probes in finite Debye length plasmas and E x B fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Patacchini, Leonardo; Hutchinson, Ian H

2011-01-01

The particle-in-cell code SCEPTIC3D (Patacchini and Hutchinson 2010 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 52 035005) is used to calculate the interaction of a transversely flowing magnetized plasma with a negatively charged spherical conductor, in the entire range of magnetization and Debye length. The results allow the first fully self-consistent analysis of probe operation where neither the ion Larmor radius nor the Debye length are approximated by zero or infinity. An important transition in plasma structure occurs when the Debye length exceeds the average ion Larmor radius, as the sphere starts to shield the convective electric field driving the flow. A remarkable result is that in those conditions, the ion current can significantly exceed the unmagnetized orbital motion limit. When both the Debye length and the Larmor radius are small compared with the probe dimensions, however, their ratio does not affect the collection pattern significantly, and Mach-probe calibration methods derived in the context of quasineutral strongly magnetized plasmas (Patacchini and Hutchinson 2009 Phys. Rev. E 80 036403) hold for Debye lengths and ion Larmor radii smaller than about 10% of the probe radius.

Structure analysis of NiAl martensite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noda, Y.; Shapiro, S.M.; Shirane, G.; Yamada, Y.; Fuchizaki, K.; Tanner, L.E.

1989-01-01

Neutron elastic scattering experiments were performed in order to investigate the structure of the low temperature martensitic phase of Ni 62.5 Al 37.5 alloy. The average structure analyzed from the integrated intensity was approximately described by the (5,-2) structure proposed by Martynov et al. Small deviation from the exact (5,-2) model in the positional parameters and the anomalously large Debye-Waller factor were obtained. The observed satellite profiles show asymmetrical broadening, and the peak positions shift from the regular reciprocal lattice points. These anomalous features of scattering profiles were tentatively interpreted by introducing spatial modulation of the strain and order parameters. 12 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab

Communication: Fast dynamics perspective on the breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein law in fragile glassformers.

Science.gov (United States)

Puosi, F; Pasturel, A; Jakse, N; Leporini, D

2018-04-07

The breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein (SE) law in fragile glassformers is examined by Molecular-Dynamics simulations of atomic liquids and polymers and consideration of the experimental data concerning the archetypical ortho-terphenyl glassformer. All the four systems comply with the universal scaling between the viscosity (or the structural relaxation) and the Debye-Waller factor ⟨u 2 ⟩, the mean square amplitude of the particle rattling in the cage formed by the surrounding neighbors. It is found that the SE breakdown is scaled in a master curve by a reduced ⟨u 2 ⟩. Two approximated expressions of the latter, with no and one adjustable parameter, respectively, are derived.

Structural anisotropy in amorphous SnO2 film probed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Q.; Ma, Q.; Buchholz, D. B.; Chang, R. P. H.; Bedzyk, M. J.; Mason, T. O.

2013-07-01

Polarization-dependent X-ray absorption measurements reveal the existence of structural anisotropy in amorphous (a-) SnO2 film. The anisotropy is readily seen for the second neighbor interaction whose magnitude differs along three measured directions. The differences can be well accounted for by 10%-20% variation in the Debye-Waller factor. Instead of a single Gaussian distribution found in crystalline SnO2, the Sn-O bond distribution is bimodal in a-SnO2 whose separation shows a weak angular dependence. The oxygen vacancies, existing in the a-SnO2 film in the order of 1021 cm-3, distribute preferentially along the film surface direction.

Comparisons of American, Israeli, Italian and Mexican physicians and nurses on the total and factor scores of the Jefferson scale of attitudes toward physician-nurse collaborative relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Hojat, Mohammadreza; Gonnella, Joseph S; Nasca, Thomas J; Fields, Sylvia K; Cicchetti, Americo; Lo Scalzo, Alessandra; Taroni, Francesco; Amicosante, Anna Maria Vincenza; Macinati, Manuela; Tangucci, Massimo; Liva, Carlo; Ricciardi, Gualtiero; Eidelman, Shmuel; Admi, Hanna; Geva, Hana; Mashiach, Tanya; Alroy, Gideon; Alcorta-Gonzalez, Adelina; Ibarra, David; Torres-Ruiz, Antonio

2003-05-01

This cross-cultural study was designed to compare the attitudes of physicians and nurses toward physician-nurse collaboration in the United States, Israel, Italy and Mexico. Total participants were 2522 physicians and nurses who completed the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes Toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration (15 Likert-type items, (Hojat et al., Evaluation and the Health Professions 22 (1999a) 208; Nursing Research 50 (2001) 123). They were compared on the total scores and four factors of the Jefferson Scale (shared education and team work, caring as opposed to curing, nurses, autonomy, physicians' dominance). Results showed inter- and intra-cultural similarities and differences among the study groups providing support for the social role theory (Hardy and Conway, Role Theory: Perspectives for Health Professionals, Appelton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1978) and the principle of least interest (Waller and Hill, The Family: A Dynamic Interpretation, Dryden, New York, 1951) in inter-professional relationships. Implications for promoting physician-nurse education and inter-professional collaboration are discussed.

An investigation of antiprotons collisions with positronium atom in Debye plasma environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pandey, M. K.; Lin, Y.-C.; Ho, Y. K.

2015-01-01

The effects of Debye plasmas on antihydrogen formation and ionization processes are investigated in antiprotons (p ¯ ) and positronium (Ps) collisions. The classical trajectory Monte Carlo method with Debye Hückel potentials has been used for cross section calculations. In this process, antihydrogen formation and ionization cross sections have been calculated in unscreened as well as in Debye plasmas conditions in energies ranging from 1 to 500 keV. Partial cross sections for antihydrogen formation are also calculated which show the largest cross sections correspond to production of antihydrogen in the n = 2 (2s, 2p) states. Comparative study has been carried out to determine the differences of cross sections in screening and unscreening cases. The results show that the cross sections for both antihydrogen formation and positronium ionization depend on Debye screening lengths as well as on collision energies. The effects of plasmas conditions on antihydrogen formation and positronium ionization are explained in terms of classical trajectory framework. Our results for the unscreened case are in agreement with previously reported results

An investigation of antiprotons collisions with positronium atom in Debye plasma environments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pandey, M. K., E-mail: pandey@pub.iams.sinica.edu.tw; Lin, Y.-C.; Ho, Y. K., E-mail: ykho@pub.iams.sinica.edu.tw [Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 23-166, Taipei 106, Taiwan (China)

2015-05-15

The effects of Debye plasmas on antihydrogen formation and ionization processes are investigated in antiprotons (p{sup ¯}) and positronium (Ps) collisions. The classical trajectory Monte Carlo method with Debye Hückel potentials has been used for cross section calculations. In this process, antihydrogen formation and ionization cross sections have been calculated in unscreened as well as in Debye plasmas conditions in energies ranging from 1 to 500 keV. Partial cross sections for antihydrogen formation are also calculated which show the largest cross sections correspond to production of antihydrogen in the n = 2 (2s, 2p) states. Comparative study has been carried out to determine the differences of cross sections in screening and unscreening cases. The results show that the cross sections for both antihydrogen formation and positronium ionization depend on Debye screening lengths as well as on collision energies. The effects of plasmas conditions on antihydrogen formation and positronium ionization are explained in terms of classical trajectory framework. Our results for the unscreened case are in agreement with previously reported results.

Boundary asymptotics for a non-neutral electrochemistry model with small Debye length

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Chiun-Chang; Ryham, Rolf J.

2018-04-01

This article addresses the boundary asymptotics of the electrostatic potential in non-neutral electrochemistry models with small Debye length in bounded domains. Under standard physical assumptions motivated by non-electroneutral phenomena in oxidation-reduction reactions, we show that the electrostatic potential asymptotically blows up at boundary points with respect to the bulk reference potential as the scaled Debye length tends to zero. The analysis gives a lower bound for the blow-up rate with respect to the model parameters. Moreover, the maximum potential difference over any compact subset of the physical domain vanishes exponentially in the zero-Debye-length limit. The results mathematically confirm the physical description that electrolyte solutions are electrically neutral in the bulk and are strongly electrically non-neutral near charged surfaces.

Charged particle layers in the Debye limit.

Science.gov (United States)

Golden, Kenneth I; Kalman, Gabor J; Kyrkos, Stamatios

2002-09-01

We develop an equivalent of the Debye-Hückel weakly coupled equilibrium theory for layered classical charged particle systems composed of one single charged species. We consider the two most important configurations, the charged particle bilayer and the infinite superlattice. The approach is based on the link provided by the classical fluctuation-dissipation theorem between the random-phase approximation response functions and the Debye equilibrium pair correlation function. Layer-layer pair correlation functions, screened and polarization potentials, static structure functions, and static response functions are calculated. The importance of the perfect screening and compressibility sum rules in determining the overall behavior of the system, especially in the r--> infinity limit, is emphasized. The similarities and differences between the quasi-two-dimensional bilayer and the quasi-three-dimensional superlattice are highlighted. An unexpected behavior that emerges from the analysis is that the screened potential, the correlations, and the screening charges carried by the individual layers exhibit a marked nonmonotonic dependence on the layer separation.

Charged particle layers in the Debye limit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Golden, Kenneth I.; Kalman, Gabor J.; Kyrkos, Stamatios

2002-01-01

We develop an equivalent of the Debye-Hueckel weakly coupled equilibrium theory for layered classical charged particle systems composed of one single charged species. We consider the two most important configurations, the charged particle bilayer and the infinite superlattice. The approach is based on the link provided by the classical fluctuation-dissipation theorem between the random-phase approximation response functions and the Debye equilibrium pair correlation function. Layer-layer pair correlation functions, screened and polarization potentials, static structure functions, and static response functions are calculated. The importance of the perfect screening and compressibility sum rules in determining the overall behavior of the system, especially in the r→∞ limit, is emphasized. The similarities and differences between the quasi-two-dimensional bilayer and the quasi-three-dimensional superlattice are highlighted. An unexpected behavior that emerges from the analysis is that the screened potential, the correlations, and the screening charges carried by the individual layers exhibit a marked nonmonotonic dependence on the layer separation

Light intensity dependent Debye screening length in undoped photorefractive titanosillenite crystals

OpenAIRE

de Oliveira, I; Frejlich, J

2012-01-01

We report on the experimental evidence of the light intensity dependence of the Debye screening length l(s) in undoped photorefractive titanosillenite crystals (Bi12TiO20) by measuring the holographic gain and diffraction efficiency in a two-wave mixing experiment under 532 nm wavelength laser light. Debye length shows saturation at high values of the light intensity. Results are in agreement with the theoretical development. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/...

Debye temperature, thermal expansion, and heat capacity of TcC up to 100 GPa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, T., E-mail: songting@mail.lzjtu.cn [School of Mathematics and Physics, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070 (China); School of Material Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050 (China); Ma, Q. [School of Material Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050 (China); Tian, J.H. [School of Mathematics and Physics, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070 (China); Liu, X.B. [School of Physics and Information Science, Tianshui Normal University, Tianshui 741000 (China); Ouyang, Y.H.; Zhang, C.L.; Su, W.F. [School of Mathematics and Physics, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070 (China)

2015-01-15

Highlights: • A number of thermodynamic properties of rocksalt TcC are investigated for the first time. • The quasi-harmonic Debye model is applied to take into account the thermal effect. • The pressure and temperature up to about 100 GPa and 3000 K, respectively. - Abstract: Debye temperature, thermal expansion coefficient, and heat capacity of ideal stoichiometric TcC in the rocksalt structure have been studied systematically by using ab initio plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory method within the generalized gradient approximation. Through the quasi-harmonic Debye model, in which the phononic effects are considered, the dependences of Debye temperature, thermal expansion coefficient, constant-volume heat capacity, and constant-pressure heat capacity on pressure and temperature are successfully predicted. All the thermodynamic properties of TcC with rocksalt phase have been predicted in the entire temperature range from 300 to 3000 K and pressure up to 100 GPa.

Electron impact excitation of helium in Debye plasma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Diallo, S.; Gomis, L.; Faye, I. G.; Tall, M. S.; Diédhiou, I. [Département de Physique, Faculté des Sciences and Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar-Fann (Senegal); Diatta, C. S. [Institut International des Sciences et de Technologie, 28 Avenue des Ambassadeurs Dakar-Fann (Senegal); Zammit, M. [ARC Centre for Antimatter-Matter Studies, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845 (Australia)

2015-03-15

The probability, differential, and integral scattering cross sections of the 1{sup 1}S→2{sup 1}S and 1{sup 1}S→2{sup 1}P transitions of helium have been calculated in the first Born approximation. The projectile-target interactions depending on the temperature and the density of plasma are described by the Debye-Hückel model. Wave functions of the target before and after collision were modeled by non orthogonal Hartree-Fock orbitals. The wave functions parameters are calculated with the Ritz variational method. We improve our unscreened first Born approximation integral cross sections by using the BE-scaled (B stands for binding energy and E excitation energy) method. The second Born approximation has also been used to calculate the excitation cross sections in Debye plasma. Our calculations are compared to other theoretical and experimental results where applicable.

Higher-order glass-transition singularities in systems with short-ranged attractive potentials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goetze, W; Sperl, M

2003-01-01

Within the mode-coupling theory for the evolution of structural relaxation, the A 4 -glass-transition singularities are identified for systems of particles interacting with a hard-sphere repulsion complemented by different short-ranged potentials: Baxter's singular potential regularized by a large-wavevector cut-off, a model for the Asakura-Oosawa depletion attraction, a triangular potential, a Yukawa attraction, and a square-well potential. The regular potentials yield critical packing fractions, critical Debye-Waller factors, and critical amplitudes very close to each other. The elastic moduli and the particle localization lengths for corresponding states of the Yukawa system and the square-well system may differ by up to 20 and 10%, respectively

Vibron Solitons and Soliton-Induced Infrared Spectra of Crystalline Acetanilide

Science.gov (United States)

Takeno, S.

1986-01-01

Red-shifted infrared spectra at low temperatures of amide I (C=O stretching) vibrations of crystalline acetanilide measured by Careri et al. are shown to be due to vibron solitons, which are nonlinearity-induced localized modes of vibrons arising from their nonlinear interactions with optic-type phonons. A nonlinear eigenvalue equation giving the eigenfrequency of stationary solitons is solved approximately by introducing lattice Green's functions, and the obtained result is in good agreement with the experimental result. Inclusion of interactions with acoustic phonons yields the Debye-Waller factor in the zero-phonon line spectrum of vibron solitons, in a manner analogous to the case of impurity-induced localized harmonic phonon modes in alkali halides.

Correlation between temperature dependence of elastic moduli and Debye temperature of paramagnetic metal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bodryakov, V.Yu.; Povzner, A.A.

2000-01-01

The correlation between the temperature dependence of elastic moduli and the Debye temperature of paramagnetic metal is analyzed in neglect of the temperature dependence of the Poison coefficient σ within the frames of the Debye-Grueneisen presentations. It is shown, that namely the temperature dependence of the elastic moduli determines primarily the temperature dependence of the Debye temperature Θ(T). On the other hand, the temperature dependence Θ(T) very weakly effects the temperature dependence of the elastic moduli. The later made it possible to formulate the self-consistent approach to calculation of the elastic moduli temperature dependence. The numerical estimates of this dependence parameters are conducted by the example of the all around compression modulus of the paramagnetic lutetium [ru

Review of quantum collision dynamics in Debye plasmas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R.K. Janev

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Hot, dense plasmas exhibit screened Coulomb interactions, resulting from the collective effects of correlated many-particle interactions. In the lowest particle correlation order (pair-wise correlations, the interaction between charged plasma particles reduces to the Debye–Hückel (Yukawa-type potential, characterized by the Debye screening length. Due to the importance of Coulomb interaction screening in dense laboratory and astrophysical plasmas, hundreds of theoretical investigations have been carried out in the past few decades on the plasma screening effects on the electronic structure of atoms and their collision processes employing the Debye–Hückel screening model. The present article aims at providing a comprehensive review of the recent studies in atomic physics in Debye plasmas. Specifically, the work on atomic electronic structure, photon excitation and ionization, electron/positron impact excitation and ionization, and excitation, ionization and charge transfer of ion-atom/ion collisions will be reviewed.

Amplitude of Light Scattering by a Truncated Pyramid and Cone in the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye Approximation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Konstantin A. Shapovalov

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers general approach to structured particle and particle system form factor calculation in the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye (RGD approximation. Using this approach, amplitude of light scattering by a truncated pyramid and cone formulas in RGD approximation are obtained. Light scattering indicator by a truncated pyramid and cone in the RGD approximation are calculated.

Calculation of Debye-Scherrer diffraction patterns from highly stressed polycrystalline materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

MacDonald, M. J., E-mail: macdonm@umich.edu [Applied Physics Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Vorberger, J. [Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, 01328 Dresden (Germany); Gamboa, E. J.; Glenzer, S. H.; Fletcher, L. B. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Drake, R. P. [Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, Applied Physics, and Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)

2016-06-07

Calculations of Debye-Scherrer diffraction patterns from polycrystalline materials have typically been done in the limit of small deviatoric stresses. Although these methods are well suited for experiments conducted near hydrostatic conditions, more robust models are required to diagnose the large strain anisotropies present in dynamic compression experiments. A method to predict Debye-Scherrer diffraction patterns for arbitrary strains has been presented in the Voigt (iso-strain) limit [Higginbotham, J. Appl. Phys. 115, 174906 (2014)]. Here, we present a method to calculate Debye-Scherrer diffraction patterns from highly stressed polycrystalline samples in the Reuss (iso-stress) limit. This analysis uses elastic constants to calculate lattice strains for all initial crystallite orientations, enabling elastic anisotropy and sample texture effects to be modeled directly. The effects of probing geometry, deviatoric stresses, and sample texture are demonstrated and compared to Voigt limit predictions. An example of shock-compressed polycrystalline diamond is presented to illustrate how this model can be applied and demonstrates the importance of including material strength when interpreting diffraction in dynamic compression experiments.

Relationship between the DC Bias and Debye Length in a Complex Plasma

OpenAIRE

Kong, Jie; Reyes, Jorge C.; Creel, James; Hyde, Truell

2007-01-01

The levitation height of a dust particle layer within a RF discharge plasma sheath is known to be related to the DC bias, the background pressure, and the Debye length. In this paper, a new experimental technique for measurement of the Debye length is introduced. This technique is based on the relationship between an externally applied DC bias and the particle levitation height and shows that under appropriate conditions, the addition of an externally applied DC bias provides a mechanism for ...

Diffractive scattering of H atoms from the (001) surface of LiF at 78 K

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caracciolo, G.; Iannotta, S.; Scoles, G.; Valbusa, U.

1980-01-01

We have built an apparatus for the measurement of high resolution diffractive scattering of hydrogen atoms from crystal surfaces. The apparatus comprises a hydrogen atom beam source, a hexapolar magnetic field velocity selector, a variable temperature UHV crystal manipulator, and a rotatable bolometer detector. The diffraction pattern of a beam of hydrogen atoms scattered by a (001) LiF surface at 78 K has been obtained for different angles of incidence and different orientations of the crystal. The Debye--Waller factor has been measured leading to a surface Debye temperature theta/sub S/=550 +- 38 K. The corrugated-hard-wall-with-a-well model of Garibaldi et al. [Surf. Sci. 48, 649 (1975)] has been used for the interpretation of the intensities of the diffracted peaks. By means of a best fit procedure we obtain a main ''corrugation'' parameter xi 0 =0.095 A. By comparison of the data with the theory of Cabrera et al. [Surf. Sci. 19, 70 (1967] at the first order, the strength parameters of a periodic Morse potential have been determined

Free-Free Transitions in the Presence of Laser Fields and Debye Potential at Very Low Incident Electron Energies

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatia, Anand

2012-01-01

We study the free-free transition in electron-helium ion in the ground state and embedded in a Debye potential in the presence of an external laser field at very low incident electron energies. The laser field is treated classically while the collision dynamics is treated quantum mechanically. The laser field is chosen as monochromatic, linearly polarized and homogeneous. The incident electron is considered to be dressed by the laser field in a nonperturbative manner by choosing Volkov wave function for it. The scattering wave function for the incident electron on the target embedded in a Debye potential is solved numerically by taking into account the effect of electron exchange. We calculate the laser-assisted differential and total cross sections for free-free transition for absorption/emission of a single photon or no photon exchange. The results will be presented at the conference.

Direct in situ thermometry: Variations in reciprocal-lattice vectors and challenges with the Debye–Waller effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cremons, Daniel R.; Flannigan, David J.

2016-01-01

Conventional in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) enables the atomic-scale study of dynamic materials processes on millisecond time scales. Specimen holders capable of being heated to over 1000 °C have provided insight into myriad processes, including nanoscale thermal transport, structural phase transitions, and catalytic reactions. In order for such studies to be accurate and precise, direct determination of the specimen temperature – rather than the heating-element temperature – is critical. Further, such methods should be versatile in that any temperature across a wide range may be measured, irrespective of single-indicator properties specific to the specimen (e.g., first-order phase transition, melting point, etc.). Here, we describe a rigorous approach to direct, in situ thermometry of TEM specimens that exploits lattice thermal expansion and the resultant decrease in diffraction-vector magnitude in reciprocal space. Via sub-pixel measurement of reciprocal-lattice-vector magnitudes, picometer increases in lattice parameters are measured over a continuous temperature range and compared to those expected from the coefficient of thermal expansion. Statistical treatment of several experimental trials conducted on nanostructured aluminum thin films shows excellent agreement with both theory and (indirect) measurement of the in situ heating holder. Additionally, we illustrate how uncontrolled, thermally-induced variation in single-crystal orientation leads to modulation of the excitation error and, therefore, the Bragg-spot intensities resulting in a convolution of heating and tilting effects, thus complicating temperature determination via the Debye–Waller effect. - Highlights: • A method for direct in situ determination of specimen temperature is described. • Specimen temperature is determined via reciprocal-lattice-vector contraction. • Statistical treatment agrees with the in situ heating-holder thermocouple reading. • Thermally

Eddies in a bottleneck: an arbitrary Debye length theory for capillary electroosmosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Stella Y; Russo, Christopher J; Branton, Daniel; Stone, Howard A

2006-05-15

Using an applied electrical field to drive fluid flows becomes desirable as channels become smaller. Although most discussions of electroosmosis treat the case of thin Debye layers, here electroosmotic flow (EOF) through a constricted cylinder is presented for arbitrary Debye lengths (kappa(-1)) using a long wavelength perturbation of the cylinder radius. The analysis uses the approximation of small potentials. The varying diameter of the cylinder produces radially and axially varying effective electric fields, as well as an induced pressure gradient. We predict the existence of eddies for certain constricted geometries and propose the possibility of electrokinetic trapping in these regions. We also present a leading-order criterion which predicts central eddies in very narrow constrictions at the scale of the Debye length. Eddies can be found both in the center of the channel and along the perimeter, and the presence of the eddies is a consequence of the induced pressure gradient that accompanies electrically driven flow into a narrow constriction.

Debye temperatures of uranium chalcogenides from their lattice ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Phonon dispersion relations in uranium chalcogenides have been investigated using a modified three-body force shell model. From the phonon frequencies, their Debye temperatures are evaluated. Further, on the basis of the spin fluctuation in the heavy fermion uranium compounds, UPt3 and UBe13, the possible ...

Limitations of the paraxial Debye approximation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheppard, Colin J R

2013-04-01

In the paraxial form of the Debye integral for focusing, higher order defocus terms are ignored, which can result in errors in dealing with aberrations, even for low numerical aperture. These errors can be avoided by using a different integration variable. The aberrations of a glass slab, such as a coverslip, are expanded in terms of the new variable, and expressed in terms of Zernike polynomials to assist with aberration balancing. Tube length error is also discussed.

Debye ring diffraction elucidation of 2D photonic crystal self-assembly and ordering at the air-water interface.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, N L; Coukouma, A; Dubnik, S; Asher, S A

2017-12-06

We fabricate 2D photonic crystals (2DPC) by spreading a dispersion of charged colloidal particles (diameters = 409, 570, and 915 nm) onto the surface of electrolyte solutions using a needle tip flow method. When the interparticle electrostatic interaction potential is large, particles self-assemble into highly ordered hexagonal close packed (hcp) monolayers. Ordered 2DPC efficiently forward diffract monochromatic light to produce a Debye ring on a screen parallel to the 2DPC. The diameter of the Debye ring is inversely proportional to the 2DPC particle spacing, while the Debye ring brightness and thickness depends on the 2DPC ordering. The Debye ring thickness increases as the 2DPC order decreases. The Debye ring ordering measurements of 2DPC attached to glass slides track measurements of the 2D pair correlation function order parameter calculated from SEM micrographs. The Debye ring method was used to investigate the 2DPC particle spacing, and ordering at the air-solution interface of NaCl solutions, and for 2DPC arrays attached to glass slides. Surprisingly, the 2DPC ordering does not monotonically decrease as the salt concentration increases. This is because of chloride ion adsorption onto the anionic particle surfaces. This adsorption increases the particle surface charge and compensates for the decreased Debye length of the electric double layer when the NaCl concentration is below a critical value.

Thermodynamics of Binary Mixed Crystals in the Sub-quasi-chemical/Debye Approximation

Science.gov (United States)

van der Kemp, W. J. M.; Verdonk, M. L.

1995-03-01

A new statistical model for the description of the thermodynamic properties of binary mixed crystals is discussed. The model is based on an asymmetrical analogue of the quasi-chemical approximation and the Debye model of a solid. With two interchange -energy parameters and two interchange-Debye-temperature parameters, all important thermodynamic functions, at constant volume, of the binary mixed crystal can be calculated as a function of temperature and composition. The binary system {( 1 - x)Nai + xKI}(s) is used for illustration of the model.

Charge transfer in proton-hydrogen collisions under Debye plasma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bhattacharya, Arka [Department of Mathematics, Burdwan University, Golapbag, Burdwan 713 104, West Bengal (India); Kamali, M. Z. M. [Centre for Foundation Studies in Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Ghoshal, Arijit, E-mail: arijit98@yahoo.com [Department of Mathematics, Burdwan University, Golapbag, Burdwan 713 104, West Bengal (India); Department of Mathematics, Kazi Nazrul University, B.C.W. Campus, Asansol 713 304, West Bengal (India); Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Ratnavelu, K. [Department of Mathematics, Kazi Nazrul University, B.C.W. Campus, Asansol 713 304, West Bengal (India)

2015-02-15

The effect of plasma environment on the 1s → nlm charge transfer, for arbitrary n, l, and m, in proton-hydrogen collisions has been investigated within the framework of a distorted wave approximation. The effect of external plasma has been incorporated using Debye screening model of the interacting charge particles. Making use of a simple variationally determined hydrogenic wave function, it has been possible to obtain the scattering amplitude in closed form. A detailed study has been made to investigate the effect of external plasma environment on the differential and total cross sections for electron capture into different angular momentum states for the incident energy in the range of 20–1000 keV. For the unscreened case, our results are in close agreement with some of the most accurate results available in the literature.

Numerical study of the influence of solid polarization on electrophoresis at finite Debye thickness.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharyya, Somnath; De, Simanta

2015-09-01

The influence of solid polarization on the electrophoresis of a uniformly charged dielectric particle for finite values of the particle-to-fluid dielectric permittivity ratio is analyzed quantitatively without imposing the thin Debye length or weak-field assumption. Present analysis is based on the computation of the coupled Poisson-Nernst-Planck and Stokes equations in the fluid domain along with the Laplace equation within the solid. The electrophoretic velocity is determined through the balance of forces acting on the particle. The solid polarization of the charged particle produces a reduction on its electrophoretic velocity compared to a nonpolarizable particle of the same surface charge density. In accordance with the existing thin-layer analysis, our computed results for thin Debye layer shows that the solid polarization is important only when the applied electric field is strong. When the Debye length is in the order of the particle size, the electrophoretic velocity decreases with the rise of the particle permittivity and attains a saturation limit at large values of the permittivity. Our computed solution for electrophoretic velocity is in agreement with the existing asymptotic analyses based on a thin Debye layer for limiting cases.

Numerical analysis of finite Debye-length effects in induced-charge electro-osmosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gregersen, Misha Marie; Andersen, Mathias Baekbo; Soni, Gaurav; Meinhart, Carl; Bruus, Henrik

2009-06-01

For a microchamber filled with a binary electrolyte and containing a flat unbiased center electrode at one wall, we employ three numerical models to study the strength of the resulting induced-charge electro-osmotic (ICEO) flow rolls: (i) a full nonlinear continuum model resolving the double layer, (ii) a linear slip-velocity model not resolving the double layer and without tangential charge transport inside this layer, and (iii) a nonlinear slip-velocity model extending the linear model by including the tangential charge transport inside the double layer. We show that, compared to the full model, the slip-velocity models significantly overestimate the ICEO flow. This provides a partial explanation of the quantitative discrepancy between observed and calculated ICEO velocities reported in the literature. The discrepancy increases significantly for increasing Debye length relative to the electrode size, i.e., for nanofluidic systems. However, even for electrode dimensions in the micrometer range, the discrepancies in velocity due to the finite Debye length can be more than 10% for an electrode of zero height and more than 100% for electrode heights comparable to the Debye length.

Experimental signatures of a nonequilibrium phase transition governing the yielding of a soft glass.

Science.gov (United States)

Hima Nagamanasa, K; Gokhale, Shreyas; Sood, A K; Ganapathy, Rajesh

2014-06-01

We present direct experimental signatures of a nonequilibrium phase transition associated with the yield point of a prototypical soft solid-a binary colloidal glass. By simultaneously quantifying single-particle dynamics and bulk mechanical response, we identified the threshold for the onset of irreversibility with the yield strain. We extracted the relaxation time from the transient behavior of the loss modulus and found that it diverges in the vicinity of the yield strain. This critical slowing down is accompanied by a growing correlation length associated with the size of regions of high Debye-Waller factor, which are precursors to yield events in glasses. Our results affirm that the paradigm of nonequilibrium critical phenomena is instrumental in achieving a holistic understanding of yielding in soft solids.

Low temperature features of the local structure of Sm1-xYxS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Menushenkov, A. P.; Chernikov, R. V.; Sidorov, V. V.; Klementiev, K. V.; Alekseev, P. A.; Rybina, A. V.

2007-01-01

The particular features of the local electronic and local crystal structures of the mixed-valence compound Sm 1-x Y x S are studied by the XAFS spectroscopy methods in the temperature range 20-300 K for the yttrium concentration x = 0.17, 0.25, 0.33, and 0.45. The temperature behavior of the valence of Sm, as well as of the lengths and the Debye-Waller factors of the bonds Sm-S, Sm-Sm(Y), Y-S, and Y-Sm(Y), has been determined. The violation of the Vegard law has been observed. A model for the estimation of the energy width of the 4f level and of its position with respect to the Fermi level is proposed

Pressure-induced positive electrical resistivity coefficient in Ni-Nb-Zr-H glassy alloy

Science.gov (United States)

Fukuhara, M.; Gangli, C.; Matsubayashi, K.; Uwatoko, Y.

2012-06-01

Measurements under hydrostatic pressure of the electrical resistivity of (Ni0.36Nb0.24Zr0.40)100-xHx (x = 9.8, 11.5, and 14) glassy alloys have been made in the range of 0-8 GPa and 0.5-300 K. The resistivity of the (Ni0.36Nb0.24Zr0.40)86H14 alloy changed its sign from negative to positive under application of 2-8 GPa in the temperature range of 300-22 K, coming from electron-phonon interaction in the cluster structure under pressure, accompanied by deformation of the clusters. In temperature region below 22 K, the resistivity showed negative thermal coefficient resistance by Debye-Waller factor contribution, and superconductivity was observed at 1.5 K.

Einstein-Ehrenfest's radiation theory and Compton-Debye's kinetics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barranco, A.V.; Franca, H.M.

1990-01-01

Einstein and Ehrenfest's radiation theory is modified in order to introduce the efeects of random zero-point fields, characteristics of classical stochastic electrodynamics. As a result, the Compton and Debye's kinematic relations are obtained within the realm of a completely undulatory theory, that is, without having to consider the corpuscular character of the photon. (A.C.A.S.) [pt

Scattering Light by а Cylindrical Capsule with Arbitrary End Caps in the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye Approximation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. A. Shapovalov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The paper concerns the light scattering problem of biological objects of complicated structure.It considers optically “soft” (having a refractive index close to that of a surrounding medium homogeneous cylindrical capsules, composed of three parts: central one that is cylindrical and two symmetrical rounding end caps. Such capsules can model more broad class of biological objects than the ordinary shapes of a spheroid or sphere. But, unfortunately, if a particle has other than a regular geometrical shape, then it is very difficult or impossible to solve the scattering problem analytically in its most general form that oblige us to use numerical and approximate analytical methods. The one of such approximate analytical method is the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye approximation (or the first Born approximation.So, the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye approximation is valid for different objects having size from nanometer to millimeter and depending on wave length and refractive index of an object under small phase shift of central ray.The formulas for light scattering amplitude of cylindrical capsule with arbitrary end caps in the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye approximation in scalar form are obtained. Then the light scattering phase function [or element of scattering matrix f11] for natural incident light (unpolarized or arbitrary polarized light is calculated.Numerical results for light scattering phase functions of cylindrical capsule with conical, spheroidal, paraboloidal ends in the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye approximation are compared. Also numerical results for light scattering phase function of cylindrical capsule with conical ends in the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye approximation and in the method of Purcell-Pennypacker (or Discrete Dipole method are compared. The good agreement within an application range of the RayleighGans-Debye approximation is obtained.Further continuation of the work, perhaps, is a consideration of multilayer cylindrical capsule in the Rayleigh-Gans-Debye

Unprecedented Integral-Free Debye Temperature Formulas: Sample Applications to Heat Capacities of ZnSe and ZnTe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Pässler

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Detailed analytical and numerical analyses are performed for combinations of several complementary sets of measured heat capacities, for ZnSe and ZnTe, from the liquid-helium region up to 600 K. The isochoric (harmonic parts of heat capacities, CVh(T, are described within the frame of a properly devised four-oscillator hybrid model. Additional anharmonicity-related terms are included for comprehensive numerical fittings of the isobaric heat capacities, Cp(T. The contributions of Debye and non-Debye type due to the low-energy acoustical phonon sections are represented here for the first time by unprecedented, integral-free formulas. Indications for weak electronic contributions to the cryogenic heat capacities are found for both materials. A novel analytical framework has been constructed for high-accuracy evaluations of Debye function integrals via a couple of integral-free formulas, consisting of Debye’s conventional low-temperature series expansion in combination with an unprecedented high-temperature series representation for reciprocal values of the Debye function. The zero-temperature limits of Debye temperatures have been detected from published low-temperature Cp(T data sets to be significantly lower than previously estimated, namely, 270 (±3 K for ZnSe and 220 (±2 K for ZnTe. The high-temperature limits of the “true” (harmonic lattice Debye temperatures are found to be 317 K for ZnSe and 262 K for ZnTe.

Exact mean-field theory of ionic solutions: non-Debye screening

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Varela, L.M.; Garcia, Manuel; Mosquera, Victor

2003-01-01

The main aim of this report is to analyze the equilibrium properties of primitive model (PM) ionic solutions in the formally exact mean-field formalism. Previously, we review the main theoretical and numerical results reported throughout the last century for homogeneous (electrolytes) and inhomogeneous (electric double layer, edl) ionic systems, starting with the classical mean-field theory of electrolytes due to Debye and Hueckel (DH). In this formalism, the effective potential is derived from the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation and its asymptotic behavior analyzed in the classical Debye theory of screening. The thermodynamic properties of electrolyte solutions are briefly reviewed in the DH formalism. The main analytical and numerical extensions of DH formalism are revised, ranging from the earliest extensions that overcome the linearization of the PB equation to the more sophisticated integral equation techniques introduced after the late 1960s. Some Monte Carlo and molecular dynamic simulations are also reviewed. The potential distributions in an inhomogeneous ionic system are studied in the classical PB framework, presenting the classical Gouy-Chapman (GC) theory of the electric double layer (edl) in a brief manner. The mean-field theory is adequately contextualized using field theoretic (FT) results and it is proven that the classical PB theory is recovered at the Gaussian or one-loop level of the exact FT, and a systematic way to obtain the corrections to the DH theory is derived. Particularly, it is proven following Kholodenko and Beyerlein that corrections to DH theory effectively lead to a renormalization of charges and Debye screening length. The main analytical and numerical results for this non-Debye screening length are reviewed, ranging from asymptotic expansions, self-consistent theory, nonlinear DH results and hypernetted chain (HNC) calculations. Finally, we study the exact mean-field theory of ionic solutions, the so-called dressed-ion theory

Debye shielding in a dusty plasma with nonextensively distributed electrons and ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Y.; Xu, K.; Liu, S. Q.

2012-01-01

The phenomenon of Debye shielding in dusty plasmas is investigated within the framework of nonextensively distributed electrons and ions. The effects of dust grain charge fluctuation are considered. It shows that the increase of the nonextensive parameters of electrons and ions will lead to the decrease of the shielding distance and it is due to that the effective temperature of nonextensively distributed particles drops with the increase of nonextensive parameters. There is a rather interesting result that the Debye shielding effects may vanish in a certain condition when the fluctuation of the dust grain charges is taken into account.

Direct path from microscopic mechanics to Debye shielding, Landau damping and wave-particle interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Escande, D F; Elskens, Yves; Doveil, F

2015-01-01

The derivation of Debye shielding and Landau damping from the N-body description of plasmas is performed directly by using Newton’s second law for the N-body system. This is done in a few steps with elementary calculations using standard tools of calculus and no probabilistic setting. Unexpectedly, Debye shielding is encountered together with Landau damping. This approach is shown to be justified in the one-dimensional case when the number of particles in a Debye sphere becomes large. The theory is extended to accommodate a correct description of trapping and chaos due to Langmuir waves. On top of their well-known production of collisional transport, the repulsive deflections of electrons are shown to produce shielding, in such a way that each particle is shielded by all other ones, while keeping in uninterrupted motion. (paper)

Effective Debye length in closed nanoscopic systems: a competition between two length scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Tessier, Frédéric; Slater, Gary W

2006-02-01

The Poisson-Boltzmann equation (PBE) is widely employed in fields where the thermal motion of free ions is relevant, in particular in situations involving electrolytes in the vicinity of charged surfaces. The applications of this non-linear differential equation usually concern open systems (in osmotic equilibrium with an electrolyte reservoir, a semi-grand canonical ensemble), while solutions for closed systems (where the number of ions is fixed, a canonical ensemble) are either not appropriately distinguished from the former or are dismissed as a numerical calculation exercise. We consider herein the PBE for a confined, symmetric, univalent electrolyte and quantify how, in addition to the Debye length, its solution also depends on a second length scale, which embodies the contribution of ions by the surface (which may be significant in high surface-to-volume ratio micro- or nanofluidic capillaries). We thus establish that there are four distinct regimes for such systems, corresponding to the limits of the two parameters. We also show how the PBE in this case can be formulated in a familiar way by simply replacing the traditional Debye length by an effective Debye length, the value of which is obtained numerically from conservation conditions. But we also show that a simple expression for the value of the effective Debye length, obtained within a crude approximation, remains accurate even as the system size is reduced to nanoscopic dimensions, and well beyond the validity range typically associated with the solution of the PBE.

Dynamic Chemical and Structural Changes of Heterogeneous Catalysts Observed in Real Time: From Catalysis-Induced Fluxionality to Catalytic Cycles

Science.gov (United States)

2014-11-26

obtained from the fit of the “Clean Pd NCs” (Figure 5 and Table 1) under the approximation the surface atoms have a bond length and EXAFS Debye -Waller...evidence for a model in which Ar drives restructuring of under-coordinated Pd atoms, leading to an increased Pd-Pd bond length of surface Pd atoms... length expansion was calculated by taking the difference between the average NN bond length of each atom before and after being exposed to Ar. The

Photoexcitation and ionization of hydrogen atom confined in Debye environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lumb, S.; Lumb, S.; Nautiyal, V.

2015-01-01

The dynamics of a hydrogen atom confined in an impenetrable spherical box and under the effect of Debye screening, in the presence of intense short laser pulses of few femtosecond is studied in detail. The energy spectra and wave functions have been calculated using Bernstein polynomial (B-polynomial) method. Variation of transition probabilities for various transitions due to changes in Debye screening length, confinement radius as well as the parameters characterizing applied laser pulse is studied and explained. The results are found to be in good agreement with the results obtained by others. The photoexcitation and ionization of the atom strongly depend on confinement radius and screening parameter. For small confinement radii and for some values of screening parameter the atom is found to be ionized easily. The dynamics of the atom can be easily controlled by varying pulse parameters

A molecular Debye-Hückel theory of solvation in polar fluids: An extension of the Born model

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Tiejun; Song, Xueyu

2017-12-01

A dielectric response theory of solvation beyond the conventional Born model for polar fluids is presented. The dielectric response of a polar fluid is described by a Born response mode and a linear combination of Debye-Hückel-like response modes that capture the nonlocal response of polar fluids. The Born mode is characterized by a bulk dielectric constant, while a Debye-Hückel mode is characterized by its corresponding Debye screening length. Both the bulk dielectric constant and the Debye screening lengths are determined from the bulk dielectric function of the polar fluid. The linear combination coefficients of the response modes are evaluated in a self-consistent way and can be used to evaluate the electrostatic contribution to the thermodynamic properties of a polar fluid. Our theory is applied to a dipolar hard sphere fluid as well as interaction site models of polar fluids such as water, where the electrostatic contribution to their thermodynamic properties can be obtained accurately.

Stern potential and Debye length measurements in dilute ionic solutions with electrostatic force microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Bharat; Crittenden, Scott R

2013-11-01

We demonstrate the ability to measure Stern potential and Debye length in dilute ionic solution with atomic force microscopy. We develop an analytic expression for the second harmonic force component of the capacitive force in an ionic solution from the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation. This allows us to calibrate the AFM tip potential and, further, obtain the Stern potential of sample surfaces. In addition, the measured capacitive force is independent of van der Waals and double layer forces, thus providing a more accurate measure of Debye length.

Disorder in Ag{sub 7}GeSe{sub 5}I, a superionic conductor: temperature-dependent anharmonic structural study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Albert, S.; Pradel, A.; Ribes, M. [CNRS Montpellier Univ., 34 (France). Inst. Charles Gerhardt Montpellier; Pillet, S.; Lecomte, C. [CNRS Nancy Univ., 54 - Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy (France). Lab. de Cristallographie et de Modelisation des Materiaux Mineraux et Biologiques

2008-02-15

A temperature-dependent structural investigation of the substituted argyrodite Ag{sub 7}GeSe{sub 5}I has been carried out on a single crystal from 15 to 475 K, in steps of 50 K, and correlated to its conductivity properties. The argyrodite crystallizes in a cubic cell with the F anti 43m space group. The crystal structure exhibits high static and dynamic disorder which has been efficiently accounted for using a combination of (i) Gram- Charlier development of the Debye-Waller factors for iodine and silver, and (ii) a split-atom model for Ag{sup +} ions. An increased delocalization of the mobile d{sup 10} Ag{sup +} cations with temperature has been clearly shown by the inspection of the joint probability-density functions; the corresponding diffusion pathways have been determined. (orig.)

Size-dependent penetrant diffusion in polymer glasses.

Science.gov (United States)

Meng, Dong; Zhang, Kai; Kumar, Sanat K

2018-05-18

Molecular Dynamics simulations are used to understand the underpinning basis of the transport of gas-like solutes in deeply quenched polymeric glasses. As found in previous work, small solutes, with sizes smaller than 0.15 times the chain monomer size, move as might be expected in a medium with large pores. In contrast, the motion of larger solutes is activated and is strongly facilitated by matrix motion. In particular, solute motion is coupled to the local elastic fluctuations of the matrix as characterized by the Debye-Waller factor. While similar ideas have been previously proposed for the viscosity of supercooled liquids above their glass transition, to our knowledge, this is the first illustration of this concept in the context of solute mass transport in deeply quenched polymer glasses.

Moessbauer Studies of Implanted Impurities in Solids

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

Moessbauer studies were performed on implanted radioactive impurities in semiconductors and metals. Radioactive isotopes (from the ISOLDE facility) decaying to a Moessbauer isotope were utilized to investigate electronic and vibrational properties of impurities and impurity-defect structures. This information is inferred from the measured impurity hyperfine interactions and Debye-Waller factor. In semiconductors isoelectronic, shallow and deep level impurities have been implanted. Complex impurity defects have been produced by the implantation process (correlated damage) or by recoil effects from the nuclear decay in both semiconductors and metals. Annealing mechanisms of the defects have been studied. \\\\ \\\\ In silicon amorphised implanted layers have been recrystallized epitaxially by rapid-thermal-annealing techniques yielding highly supersaturated, electrically-active donor concentrations. Their dissolution and migration mechanisms have been investigated in detail. The electronic configuration of Sb donors...

Moessbauer spectroscopy of isotope separator implanted sup(119m)Sn in FCC metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larsen, A.N.; Weyer, G.

1979-01-01

Radioactive sup(119m)Sn has been implanted in FCC metals by means of an isotope separator. Moessbauer spectra have been measured for the 24 keV transition of 119 Sn. Large substitutional fractions are found in all cases. A correlation for substitutional lattice sites between the measured isomer shifts of the impurity atoms and the force constants of the host lattices is discussed. Debye-Waller factors determined for substitutional Sn in the host lattices are found to be smaller than values calculated by a simple mass-defect model. For some host metals indications of an influence of radiation damage on the spectra are observed. Defect sites are assigned to Sn in aluminium and lead. Qualitative conclusions on the structures of these defects are drawn from the determined Moessbauer parameters. (author)

High pressure and high temperature EXAFS and diffraction study of AgI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshiasa, Akira; Arima, Hiroshi; Fukui, Hiroshi; Okube, Maki; Katayama, Yoshinori; Ohtaka, Osamu

2009-01-01

We have determined the precise P-T phase diagram of AgI by in-situ high-pressure high-temperature synchrotron experiments. X-ray diffraction and XAFS measurements were performed up to 6.0 GPa and 1100 K using a multi-anvil high-pressure device and synchrotron radiation from SPring-8. In the disordered rock-salt phase, Ag ions occupy both octahedral and tetrahedral sites and twenty percent of Ag ions occupy the tetrahedral site as a maximum value at 2 GPa. From the viewpoint of the local structure analyses, some sudden changes are recognized near broad phase transition point. Analysis of EXAFS Debye-Waller factor is useful because the force constant can be decided directly even at high pressure and high temperature. Pressure influences greatly the effective potential and anharmonicity decreases with increasing pressure. (author)

Stern potential and Debye length measurements in dilute ionic solutions with electrostatic force microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, Bharat; Crittenden, Scott R

2013-01-01

We demonstrate the ability to measure Stern potential and Debye length in dilute ionic solution with atomic force microscopy. We develop an analytic expression for the second harmonic force component of the capacitive force in an ionic solution from the linearized Poisson–Boltzmann equation. This allows us to calibrate the AFM tip potential and, further, obtain the Stern potential of sample surfaces. In addition, the measured capacitive force is independent of van der Waals and double layer forces, thus providing a more accurate measure of Debye length. (paper)

Heat capacity of ThO2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng Shian

1996-01-01

The heat capacity C p of ThO 2 can be calculated as the phonon part of C p for other actinide dioxides used as fuel in nuclear reactors. Precise determination of the phonon part of C p of actinide dioxides is helpful to find out the contributions of other factors to C p . In this paper we have, through studying the heat capacity of ThO 2 , developed a general method applicable to the study of C p of other solids. In the developed method the three type -- different experimental measurements made on a solid-heat capacity, thermal expansion and Debye Waller factor -- can be brought together for comparison. The application of this method to the study of C p of ThO 2 has enabled us to propose a better description of C p of ThO 2 than the generally accepted expression

Subcell Debye behavior analysis of order–disorder effects in triple-junction InGaP-based photovoltaic solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hsiao, Jui-Ju; Chen, Hung-Ing; Huang, Yi-Jen; Wang, Jen-Cheng; Lu, Bing-Yuh; Wu, Ya-Fen; Nee, Tzer-En

2015-01-01

Analysis was made of the Subcell Debye behavior of the order–disorder effects in triple-junction InGaP-based photovoltaic solar cells fabricated by a metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) system with careful adjustment of the growth conditions. The order–disorder configurations of the InGaP subcells were investigated after post-annealing treatment at various temperatures in a nitrogen atmosphere. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) measurements over a broad temperature range provided insight into the roles of the thermophysical phenomena connected with the ordering and disordering in the InGaP alloys. The thermally-related spectroscopic observations associated with the ordering effects on the photon–phonon interactions were confirmed by the McCumber–Sturge theory. The variations of both the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) and shift in the peak of PL with temperature were analyzed. According to the width-related PL observations the effective photon–phonon coupling coefficient and the Debye temperature were 0.53 meV and 424 K, respectively; according to shift-related PL observations of the as-grown sample they were 0.3247 eV and 430 K, respectively, for the width-related PL observation they were 0.29 meV and 421 K; and from the shift-related PL observations for the as-grown ordered samples they were 0.3142 eV and 425 K, respectively, implying that the spontaneously disordered InGaP heterostructures met the demand for improvement of photovoltaic devices. Both the effective photon–phonon coupling coefficient and the Debye temperatures were characterized as functions of the annealing temperature. The Debye temperatures obtained for the disordered and ordered top subcells were consistent with the universal Gruneisen–Bloch relation. - Highlights: • Analysis was made of the Subcell Debye behavior in photovoltaic solar cells. • The order–disorder configurations of the InGaP subcells were investigated. • The Debye temperatures were

Subcell Debye behavior analysis of order–disorder effects in triple-junction InGaP-based photovoltaic solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hsiao, Jui-Ju; Chen, Hung-Ing; Huang, Yi-Jen; Wang, Jen-Cheng [Graduate Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering and Department of Electronic Engineering, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan ROC (China); Lu, Bing-Yuh [Department of Electronic Engineering, Tungnan University, No.152, Sec. 3, Beishen Road, Shenkeng District, New Taipei City, Taiwan ROC (China); Wu, Ya-Fen [Department of Electronic Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, 84 Gungjuan Road, Taishan District, New Taipei City, Taiwan ROC (China); Nee, Tzer-En, E-mail: neete@mail.cgu.edu.tw [Graduate Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering and Department of Electronic Engineering, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan ROC (China)

2015-12-15

Analysis was made of the Subcell Debye behavior of the order–disorder effects in triple-junction InGaP-based photovoltaic solar cells fabricated by a metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) system with careful adjustment of the growth conditions. The order–disorder configurations of the InGaP subcells were investigated after post-annealing treatment at various temperatures in a nitrogen atmosphere. Temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) measurements over a broad temperature range provided insight into the roles of the thermophysical phenomena connected with the ordering and disordering in the InGaP alloys. The thermally-related spectroscopic observations associated with the ordering effects on the photon–phonon interactions were confirmed by the McCumber–Sturge theory. The variations of both the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) and shift in the peak of PL with temperature were analyzed. According to the width-related PL observations the effective photon–phonon coupling coefficient and the Debye temperature were 0.53 meV and 424 K, respectively; according to shift-related PL observations of the as-grown sample they were 0.3247 eV and 430 K, respectively, for the width-related PL observation they were 0.29 meV and 421 K; and from the shift-related PL observations for the as-grown ordered samples they were 0.3142 eV and 425 K, respectively, implying that the spontaneously disordered InGaP heterostructures met the demand for improvement of photovoltaic devices. Both the effective photon–phonon coupling coefficient and the Debye temperatures were characterized as functions of the annealing temperature. The Debye temperatures obtained for the disordered and ordered top subcells were consistent with the universal Gruneisen–Bloch relation. - Highlights: • Analysis was made of the Subcell Debye behavior in photovoltaic solar cells. • The order–disorder configurations of the InGaP subcells were investigated. • The Debye temperatures were

A genetic algorithm for optimizing multi-pole Debye models of tissue dielectric properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clegg, J; Robinson, M P

2012-01-01

Models of tissue dielectric properties (permittivity and conductivity) enable the interactions of tissues and electromagnetic fields to be simulated, which has many useful applications in microwave imaging, radio propagation, and non-ionizing radiation dosimetry. Parametric formulae are available, based on a multi-pole model of tissue dispersions, but although they give the dielectric properties over a wide frequency range, they do not convert easily to the time domain. An alternative is the multi-pole Debye model which works well in both time and frequency domains. Genetic algorithms are an evolutionary approach to optimization, and we found that this technique was effective at finding the best values of the multi-Debye parameters. Our genetic algorithm optimized these parameters to fit to either a Cole–Cole model or to measured data, and worked well over wide or narrow frequency ranges. Over 10 Hz–10 GHz the best fits for muscle, fat or bone were each found for ten dispersions or poles in the multi-Debye model. The genetic algorithm is a fast and effective method of developing tissue models that compares favourably with alternatives such as the rational polynomial fit. (paper)

Debye sheath mechanism at laser plasma interaction and generalization to nuclear forces and quark-gluon plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Osman, Frederick; Ghahramani, Nader; Hora, Heinrich

2005-10-01

The studies of laser ablation have lead to a new theory of nuclei, endothermic nuclei generation, and quark-gluon plasmas. The surface of ablated plasma expanding into vacuum after high power laser irradiation of targets contains an electric double layer having the thickness of the Debye length. This led to the discovery of surface tension in plasmas, and led to the internal dynamic electric fields in all inhomogeneous plasmas. The surface tension causes stabilization by short length surface wave smoothing the expanding plasma plume and to stabilization against the Rayleigh Taylor instability. Generalizing this to the degenerate electrons in a metal with the Fermi energy instead of the temperature resulted in the first quantum theory of surface tension of metals in agreement with measurements. Taking the Fermi energy in the Debye length for nucleons results in a theory of nuclei with stable confinement of protons and neutrons just at the well-known nuclear density, and the Debye lengths equal to the Hofstadter decay of the nuclear surface. Increasing the nuclear density by a factor of 10 leads to a change of the Fermi energy into its relativistic branch where no surface energy is possible and the particle mass is not defined, permitting the quark gluon plasma. Expansion of this higher density at the big bang or in super-nova results in nucleation and element generation. The Boltzmann equilibrium permits the synthesis of nuclei even in the endothermic range, however with the limit to about uranium. A relation for the magic numbers leads to a quark structure of nuclear shells that can be understood as a duality property of nuclei with respect to nucleons and quarks

Rigorous study of the mean field approximation of Debye and Hueckel for Coulomb systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kennedy, T.G.

1984-01-01

The statistical mechanics of a classical charge symmetric Coulomb system is studied in three dimensions in the limit that the plasma parameter (the inverse temperature divided by the Debye length) goes to zero. To make the system stable, a short range interaction, e.g., hard cores is included. This short range interaction is allowed to go to zero as the plasma parameter goes to zero. Debye and Hueckel used a mean field approximation to give a nonrigorous study of Coulomb systems in his limit. For a system with no external charge distribution, it is shown that the pressure, density, and correlation functions are asymptotic to their Debye-Hueckel approximations. These approximations consist of the ideal gas term plus a term of one lower order in the plasma parameter. The main tools are the Sine-Gordon transformation, the Mayer expansion, and some new correlation inequalities. The sine-Gordon transformation and the Mayer expansion are used to express the observables as functional integrals with respect to a Gaussian measure. The correlation inequalities help control these functional integrals

A gradient approximation for calculating Debye temperatures from pairwise interatomic potentials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jackson, D.P.

1975-09-01

A simple gradient approximation is given for calculating the effective Debye temperature of a cubic crystal from central pairwise interatomic potentials. For examples of the Morse potential applied to cubic metals the results are in generally good agreement with experiment. (author)

Non-perturbative Debye mass in finite-T QCD

CERN Document Server

Kajantie, Keijo; Peisa, J; Rajantie, A; Rummukainen, K; Shaposhnikov, Mikhail E

1997-01-01

Employing a non-perturbative gauge invariant definition of the Debye screening mass m_D in the effective field theory approach to finite T QCD, we use 3d lattice simulations to determine the leading O(g^2) and to estimate the next-to-leading O(g^3) corrections to m_D in the high temperature region. The O(g^2) correction is large and modifies qualitatively the standard power-counting hierarchy picture of correlation lengths in high temperature QCD.

On Debye radius measurement in an unstable gas discharged plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shvilkin, B.N.

1998-01-01

It is shown that at low concentrations of charged particles conditions can be realized in a magnetized unstable-to-drift plasma for which concentration perturbations are comparable to the concentration itself. The electron temperature is then determined by potential fluctuations, and the drift oscillation wavelength is of the order of the Debye length

Doubly excited P-wave resonance states of H− in Debye plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiao, L. G.; Ho, Y. K.

2013-01-01

We investigate the doubly excited P-wave resonance states of H − system in Debye plasmas modeled by static screened Coulomb potentials. The screening effects of the plasma environment on resonance parameters (energy and width) are investigated by employing the complex-scaling method with Hylleraas-type wave functions for both the shape and Feshbach resonances associated with the H(N = 2 to 6) thresholds. Under the screening conditions, the H(N) threshold states are no longer l degenerate, and all the H − resonance energy levels are shifted away from their unscreened values toward the continuum. The influence of Debye plasmas on resonance widths has also been investigated. The shape resonance widths are broadened with increasing plasma screening strength, whereas the Feshbach resonance widths would generally decrease. Our results associated with the H(N = 2) and H(N = 3) thresholds are compared with others in the literature

Nonabelian Debye screening and the {open_quotes}tsunami{close_quotes} problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pisarski, R.D. [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)

1997-09-22

The phenomenon of Debye screening is familiar from electrolytes and many other systems. Recently, it has been recognized that in nonabelian gauge theories at high temperature, even perturbatively Debye screening is much more complicated than in nonrelativistic systems. This was originally derived as {open_quotes}hard thermal loops{close_quotes}. Hard thermal loops have been derived perturbatively, by a semiclassical truncation of the Schwinger-Dyson equations, and by classical kinetic theory. In this talk I give a pedagogical derivation, following that of Kelly, Liu, Lucchesi, and Manuel. The derivation is valid not just for a thermal distribution, but (modulo certain obvious restrictions) for an arbitrary initial distribution of particles. Consider, for example, the {open_quotes}tsunami{close_quotes} problem: suppose that one starts, at time t = 0, with a spatially homogenous, infinite wall of particles, all moving with the same velocity at the speed of light.

Absence of Debye screening in the quantum Coulomb system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brydges, D.C.; Keller, G.

1994-01-01

We present an approximation to the quantum Coulomb plasma at equilibrium which captures the power-law violations of Debye screening which have been reported in recent papers. The objectives are (1) to produce a simpler model which we will study in forthcoming papers, and (2) to develop a strategy by which the absence of screening can be proven for the low-density quantum Coulomb plasma itself

Debye frequency and interplay of superconductivity and antiferromagnetism in high Tc superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Panigrahy, N.N.; Mahapatra, D.; Panda, B.N.; Rout, G.C.

2006-01-01

The interplay between superconductivity (SC) and antiferromagnetism (AFM) is studied in strongly correlated systems: R 2-x M x CuO 4 (R = Nd, La, Pr. Gd; M = Sr, Ce) due to electron-phonon interaction, It is assumed that SC arises due to BCS pairing mechanism in presence of AFM in Cu lattices of Cu-O planes, Debye frequency ω D dependence of high temperature SC gap as well as staggered magnetic field at different temperatures are calculated analytically and solved self-consistently with respect to half-filled band situation for different model parameters (temperature parameter θ and hybridization parameter ν, λ 1 and λ 2 being the SC and AF coupling parameters, respectively). The SC gap and AFM gap are studied in their coexistence phase for different Debye frequencies. (author)

An Investigation on the He−(1s2s2 2S Resonance in Debye Plasmas

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arijit Ghoshal

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The effect of Debye plasma on the 1 s 2 s 2 2 S resonance states in the scattering of electron from helium atom has been investigated within the framework of the stabilization method. The interactions among the charged particles in Debye plasma have been modelled by Debye–Huckel potential. The 1 s 2 s excited state of the helium atom has been treated as consisting of a H e + ionic core plus an electron moving around. The interaction between the core and the electron has then been modelled by a model potential. It has been found that the background plasma environment significantly affects the resonance states. To the best of our knowledge, such an investigation of 1 s 2 s 2 2 S resonance states of the electron–helium system embedded in Debye plasma environment is the first reported in the literature.

Angular Distribution and Linear Polarization of X-ray Radiation Resulting from Electron Impact Excitation of Highly Charged Ions in Debye Plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhanbin

2018-05-01

Plasma-screening effects on the 1s _{1/2} → 2l (l = s , p ) and 1s _{1/2} → 3d _{3/2} electron-impact excitation of highly charged ions are investigated, together with their subsequent radiative decay. The analysis is performed based on the multi-configuration Dirac-Fock method and the fully relativistic distorted-wave method incorporating the Debye-Hückel potential. To explore the nature of the effects, calculations are carried out based on detailed analyses of the integrated total and magnetic sublevel cross sections, the alignment parameters, the linear polarizations, and the angular distribution of the X-ray photoemission, as well as on corresponding data calculated in various Debye lengths/environments, taking the 2p _{3/2}→ 1s _{1/2} and 3d _{3/2}→ 1s _{1/2} characteristic lines of H-like Fe^{25+} ion as an example. The present results are compared with experimental data and other theoretical predictions where available.

Calculations of thermophysical properties of cubic carbides and nitrides using the Debye-Grueneisen model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Xiaogang; Selleby, Malin; Sundman, Bo

2007-01-01

The thermal expansivities and heat capacities of MX (M = Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta; X = C, N) carbides and nitrides with NaCl structure were calculated using the Debye-Grueneisen model combined with ab initio calculations. Two different approximations for the Grueneisen parameter γ were used in the Debye-Grueneisen model, i.e. the expressions proposed by Slater and by Dugdale and MacDonald. The thermal electronic contribution was evaluated from ab initio calculations of the electronic density of states. The calculated results were compared with CALPHAD assessments and experimental data. It was found that the calculations using the Dugdale-MacDonald γ can account for most of the experimental data. By fitting experimental heat capacity and thermal expansivity data below the Debye temperatures, an estimation of Poisson's ratio was obtained and Young's and shear moduli were evaluated. In order to reach a reasonable agreement with experimental data, it was necessary to use the logarithmic averaged mass of the constituent atoms. The agreements between the calculated and the experimental values for the bulk and Young's moduli are generally better than the agreement for shear modulus

The electrostatic interaction of two point charges in equilibrium plasmas within the Debye approximation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Filippov, A V

2015-01-01

This paper is devoted to a careful study of two charge interaction in an equilibrium plasma within the Debye approximation. The effect of external boundary conditions for the electric field strength and potential on the electrostatic force is studied. The problem is solved by the method of potential decomposition into Legendre polynomials up to the fifth multipole term included. It is shown that the effect of attraction of identically charged macroparticles is explained by the influence of the external boundary. When the size of a calculation cell is increased the attraction effect disappears and the electrostatic force is well described by the screened Debye-Hückel potential. (paper)

The Debye-Hückel theory and its importance in modeling electrolyte solutions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kontogeorgis, Georgios M.; Maribo-Mogensen, Bjørn; Thomsen, Kaj

2018-01-01

A colleague at the Technical University of Denmark has often stated: “Life is too short for electrolytes”. Another well-known scientist in the field of molecular simulation has recently said during an international Thermodynamics conference: “All my life I have tried to keep myself away from water...... and electrolytes”. Sadly, what these statements correctly imply is that there are far too many unclear questions and concepts in electrolyte thermodynamics, and associated difficulties in modeling electrolyte solutions. In this work, we attempt to shed some light on some important concepts and misconceptions...... are omitted. We first discuss the peculiarities of electrolyte thermodynamics and associated modeling and continue with the derivation of the Debye-Hückel theory. The assumptions and limits of application of Debye-Hückel are discussed in particular. Next, the Born term and its significance and implications...

The structural, elastic, electronic properties and Debye temperature of Ni3Mo under pressure from first-principles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qi, Lei; Jin, Yuchun; Zhao, Yuhong; Yang, Xiaomin; Zhao, Hui; Han, Peide

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Structural, elastic, electronic properties and Debye temperature under pressure. • Higher hardness of Ni 3 Mo compound may be obtained when pressure increases. • Proper pressure can improve the ductility but excess pressure was just the opposite. • Ni 3 Mo compound has no structural phase transformation under pressure up to 30 GPa. • Debye temperatures increase with increasing pressure. - Abstract: With the help of first principles method based on density functional theory, the structural, elastic, electronic properties and Debye temperature of Ni 3 Mo binary compound under pressure are investigated. Our calculated structural parameters are in good agreement with experimental and previous theoretical results. The obtained elastic constants show that Ni 3 Mo compound is mechanically stable. Elastic properties such as bulk modulus B, shear modulus G, Young’s modulus E and Poisson’s ratio υ are calculated by the Voigt–Reuss–Hill method. The results of B/G under various pressures show that proper pressure can improve the ductility of Ni 3 Mo but excess pressure will make the ductility decrease. In addition, the density of states as a function of pressure is analyzed. The Debye temperature Θ D calculated from elastic constants increases along with the pressure

First-principles study of crystalline and amorphous Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} and the effects of stoichiometric defects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Caravati, S; Bernasconi, M [Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Universita di Milano-Bicocca, Via R Cozzi 53, I-20125, Milano (Italy); Kuehne, T D; Parrinello, M [Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, USI Campus, Via Giuseppe Buffi 13, CH-6900 Lugano (Switzerland); Krack, M [Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen (Switzerland)], E-mail: marco.bernasconi@mater.unimib.it

2009-06-24

Based on ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, we investigated the structural, electronic and vibrational properties of cubic and amorphous Ge{sub 2}Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 5} (GST) phase change material, focusing in particular on the effects of defects in stoichiometry on the electronic properties. It turned out Ge/Sb deficiencies (excess) in the cubic phase induce a shift of the Fermi level inside the valence (conduction) bands. In contrast, the amorphous network is flexible enough to accommodate defects in stoichiometry, keeping the Fermi level pinned at the center of the bandgap (at zero temperature). Changes in the structural and electronic properties induced by the use of hybrid functionals (HSE03, PBE0) instead of gradient corrected functionals (PBE) are addressed as well. Analysis of vibrational spectra and Debye-Waller factors of cubic and amorphous GST is also presented.

Electron-lattice energy relaxation in laser-excited thin-film Au-insulator heterostructures studied by ultrafast MeV electron diffraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Sokolowski-Tinten, K; Shen, X; Zheng, Q; Chase, T; Coffee, R; Jerman, M; Li, R K; Ligges, M; Makasyuk, I; Mo, M; Reid, A H; Rethfeld, B; Vecchione, T; Weathersby, S P; Dürr, H A; Wang, X J

2017-09-01

We apply time-resolved MeV electron diffraction to study the electron-lattice energy relaxation in thin film Au-insulator heterostructures. Through precise measurements of the transient Debye-Waller-factor, the mean-square atomic displacement is directly determined, which allows to quantitatively follow the temporal evolution of the lattice temperature after short pulse laser excitation. Data obtained over an extended range of laser fluences reveal an increased relaxation rate when the film thickness is reduced or the Au-film is capped with an additional insulator top-layer. This behavior is attributed to a cross-interfacial coupling of excited electrons in the Au film to phonons in the adjacent insulator layer(s). Analysis of the data using the two-temperature-model taking explicitly into account the additional energy loss at the interface(s) allows to deduce the relative strength of the two relaxation channels.

Neutron powder investigations of Zr0.85Ca0.15O1.85 sinter material at temperatures up to 1100 K and with a simultaneously applied electric field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kahlert, H.; Boysen, H.; Frey, F.

1998-01-01

In situ neutron powder investigations of cubic stabilized zirconia [Zr 0.85 Ca 0.15 O 1.85 (CSZ15)] sinter material were performed at room temperature without an applied direct-current electric field and at 1100 K with and without an applied field, i.e. lasting ionic current. Experimental conditions (temperature, oxidizing atmosphere etc.) were chosen as close as possible to 'working conditions' of zirconia oxygen sensoric devices. To learn about field-induced structural changes and most probable ionic pathways, atomic displacement parameters were derived in the frame of a non-Gaussian Debye-Waller factor formalism for the oxygens. Probability-density-function maps and pseudo-potential (V eff ) maps indicate curved diffusion pathways of the oxygens close to the left angle 100 right angle directions. The action of the applied field is to lower the effective potential barriers. (orig.)

Neutral Silicon-Vacancy Center in Diamond: Spin Polarization and Lifetimes

Science.gov (United States)

Green, B. L.; Mottishaw, S.; Breeze, B. G.; Edmonds, A. M.; D'Haenens-Johansson, U. F. S.; Doherty, M. W.; Williams, S. D.; Twitchen, D. J.; Newton, M. E.

2017-09-01

We demonstrate optical spin polarization of the neutrally charged silicon-vacancy defect in diamond (SiV0 ), an S =1 defect which emits with a zero-phonon line at 946 nm. The spin polarization is found to be most efficient under resonant excitation, but nonzero at below-resonant energies. We measure an ensemble spin coherence time T2>100 μ s at low-temperature, and a spin relaxation limit of T1>25 s . Optical spin-state initialization around 946 nm allows independent initialization of SiV0 and NV- within the same optically addressed volume, and SiV0 emits within the telecoms down-conversion band to 1550 nm: when combined with its high Debye-Waller factor, our initial results suggest that SiV0 is a promising candidate for a long-range quantum communication technology.

Debye–Einstein approximation approach to calculate the lattice specific heat and related parameters for a Si nanowire

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. KH. Alassafee

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The modified Debye–Einstein approximation model is used to calculate nanoscale size-dependent values of Gruneisen parameters and lattice specific heat capacity for Si nanowires. All parameters forming the model, including Debye temperatures, bulk moduli, the lattice thermal expansion and the lattice volume, are calculated according to their nanoscale size dependence. Values for lattice volume Gruneisen parameters increase with the decrease of the nanowires’ diameter, while all other parameters decrease. The nanosize dependence of lattice thermal parameters agree with other reported theoretical results. Keywords: Lattice specific heat capacity, Gruneisen parameter, Debye–Einstein model, Si nanowires

Low temperature heat capacities and thermodynamic functions described by Debye-Einstein integrals.

Science.gov (United States)

Gamsjäger, Ernst; Wiessner, Manfred

2018-01-01

Thermodynamic data of various crystalline solids are assessed from low temperature heat capacity measurements, i.e., from almost absolute zero to 300 K by means of semi-empirical models. Previous studies frequently present fit functions with a large amount of coefficients resulting in almost perfect agreement with experimental data. It is, however, pointed out in this work that special care is required to avoid overfitting. Apart from anomalies like phase transformations, it is likely that data from calorimetric measurements can be fitted by a relatively simple Debye-Einstein integral with sufficient precision. Thereby, reliable values for the heat capacities, standard enthalpies, and standard entropies at T  = 298.15 K are obtained. Standard thermodynamic functions of various compounds strongly differing in the number of atoms in the formula unit can be derived from this fitting procedure and are compared to the results of previous fitting procedures. The residuals are of course larger when the Debye-Einstein integral is applied instead of using a high number of fit coefficients or connected splines, but the semi-empiric fit coefficients keep their meaning with respect to physics. It is suggested to use the Debye-Einstein integral fit as a standard method to describe heat capacities in the range between 0 and 300 K so that the derived thermodynamic functions are obtained on the same theory-related semi-empiric basis. Additional fitting is recommended when a precise description for data at ultra-low temperatures (0-20 K) is requested.

New determination of the vapour pressures of the isotopes of neon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, R.

1960-03-01

We have undertaken an experimental reinvestigation of the vapor pressures of the neon isotopes over the temperature range 16.30-30.1 deg. K. Measurements were made by differential manometry in a Giauque-Johnston type cryostat modified for temperature stability. The New sample contained 99.9 % Ne 20 and the Ne 22 sample contained 72,2 % Ne 22 . Extrapolation to pure Ne 20 and Ne 22 can be made with sufficient accuracy by the use of Raoult's law. Our results are in substantial agreement with those of Keesom and Haantjes. At 20 deg. K, where the scatter in our data is an order of magnitude smaller than in the data of Keesom and Haantjes, we find In P Ne 20 /P Ne 22 is 6 % larger than the smoothed line given by them. For solid neon, our data can be represented to a high accuracy by a Debye harmonic lattice with θ D (Ne 20 ) = 74.6 deg. K. The result may be compared with the value obtained by Henshaw from the Debye-Waller temperature factor, θ D = 73 deg. K, and with the recent calculation of the zero point energy of Ne by Bernardes, from which he obtains θ D 8E θ /9R = 73 deg.. K. (author) [fr

Debye-scale solitary structures measured in a beam-plasma laboratory experiment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Lefebvre

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Solitary electrostatic pulses have been observed in numerous places of the magnetosphere such as the vicinity of reconnection current sheets, shocks or auroral current systems, and are often thought to be generated by energetic electron beams. We present results of a series of experiments conducted at the UCLA large plasma device (LAPD where a suprathermal electron beam was injected parallel to a static magnetic field. Micro-probes with tips smaller than a Debye length enabled the detection of solitary pulses with positive electric potential and half-widths 4–25 Debye lengths (λ_De, over a set of experiments with various beam energies, plasma densities and magnetic field strengths. The shape, scales and amplitudes of the structures are similar to those observed in space, and consistent with electron holes. The dependance of these properties on the experimental parameters is shown. The velocities of the solitary structures (1–3 background electron thermal velocities are found to be much lower than the beam velocities, suggesting an excitation mechanism driven by parallel currents associated to the electron beam.

The non-perturbative QCD Debye mass from a Wilson line operator

CERN Document Server

Laine, Mikko

1999-01-01

According to a proposal by Arnold and Yaffe, the non-perturbative g^2T-contribution to the Debye mass in the deconfined QCD plasma phase can be determined from a single Wilson line operator in the three-dimensional pure SU(3) gauge theory. We extend a previous SU(2) measurement of this quantity to the physical SU(3) case. We find a numerical coefficient which is more accurate and smaller than that obtained previously with another method, but still very large compared with the naive expectation: the correction is larger than the leading term up to T ~ 10^7 T_c, corresponding to g^2 ~ 0.4. At moderate temperatures T ~ 2 T_c, a consistent picture emerges where the Debye mass is m_D ~ 6T, the lightest gauge invariant screening mass in the system is ~ 3T, and the purely magnetic operators couple dominantly to a scale ~ 6T. Electric (~ gT) and magnetic (~ g^2T) scales are therefore strongly overlapping close to the phase transition, and the colour-electric fields play an essential role in the dynamics.

Influence of the Debye length on the interaction of a small molecule-modified Au nanoparticle with a surface-bound bioreceptor.

Science.gov (United States)

Bukar, Natalia; Zhao, Sandy Shuo; Charbonneau, David M; Pelletier, Joelle N; Masson, Jean-Francois

2014-05-18

We report that a shorter Debye length and, as a consequence, decreased colloidal stability are required for the molecular interaction of folic acid-modified Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) to occur on a surface-bound receptor, human dihydrofolate reductase (hDHFR). The interaction measured using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing was optimal in a phosphate buffer at pH 6 and ionic strength exceeding 300 mM. Under these conditions, the aggregation constant of the Au NPs was approximately 10(4) M(-1) s(-1) and the Debye length was below 1 nm, on the same length scale as the size of the folate anion (approximately 0.8 nm). Longer Debye lengths led to poorer SPR responses, revealing a reduced affinity of the folic acid-modified Au NPs for hDHFR. While high colloidal stability of Au NPs is desired in most applications, these conditions may hinder molecular interactions due to Debye lengths exceeding the size of the ligand and thus preventing close interactions with the surface-bound molecular receptor.

Bernoulli Numbers: from Ada Lovelace to the Debye Functions

OpenAIRE

Sparavigna , Amelia Carolina

2016-01-01

Jacob Bernoulli owes his fame for the numerous contributions to calculus and for his discoveries in the field of probability. Here we will discuss one of his contributions to the theory of numbers, the Bernoulli numbers. They were proposed as a case study by Ada Lovelace in her analysis of Menabrea's report on Babbage Analytical Engine. It is probable that it was this Lovelace's work, that inspired Hans Thirring in using the Bernoulli numbers in the calculus of the Debye functions.

Quantum Debye-Hueckel theory and the possible plasma phase transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baker, G. Jr.

1998-01-01

In this paper the author first sketches the calculation of the pressure of a neutral, ion-electron gas as an expansion in powers of the electron charge, e, by means of the Matsubara, finite-temperature, many-body, perturbation theory. He then goes on to derive the Debye-Hue term and other equations to support his contentions. His results support but do not prove the existence of a phase transition

Electron-beam induced amorphization of stishovite: Silicon-coordination change observed using Si K-edge extended electron energy-loss fine structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aken, P.A. van; Sharp, T.G.; Seifert, F.

1998-01-01

The analysis of the extended energy-loss fine structure (EXELFS) of the Si K-edge for sixfold-coordinated Si in synthetic stishovite and fourfold-coordinated Si in natural α-quartz is reported by using electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in combination with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The stishovite Si K-edge EXELFS spectra were measured as a time-dependent series to document irradiation-induced amorphization. The amorphization was also investigated through the change in Si K- and O K-edge energy-loss near edge structure (ELNES). For α-quartz, in contrast to stishovite, electron irradiation-induced vitrification, produced no detectable changes of the EXELFS. The Si K-edge EXELFS were analysed with the classical extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) treatment and compared to ab initio curve-waved multiple-scattering (MS) calculations of EXAFS spectra for stishovite and α-quartz. Highly accurate information on the local atomic environment of the silicon atoms during the irradiation-induced amorphization of stishovite is obtained from the EXELFS structure parameters The mean Si-O bond distance R and mean Si coordination number N changes from R=0.1775 nm and N=6 for stishovite through a disordered intermediate state (R∼0.172 nm and N∼5) to R∼0.167 nm and N∼4.5 for a nearly amorphous state similar to α-quartz (R=0.1609 nm and N=4). During the amorphization process, the Debye-Waller factor (DWF) passes through a maximum value of σ N 2 ∼83.8pm 2 as it changes from σ st 2 =51.8pm 2 for sixfold to σ qu 2 =18.4pm 2 for fourfold coordination of Si. This increase in Debye-Waller factor indicates an increase in mean-square relative displacement (MSRD) between the central silicon atom and its oxygen neighbours. Using the EXELFS data for amorphization, a new method is developed to derive the relative amounts of Si coordinations in high-pressure minerals with mixed coordination. For the radiation-induced amorphization process of

Theory of the particle matrix elements for Helium atom scattering in surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khater, A.; Toennies, J.P.

2000-01-01

Full text.A brief review is presented for the recent development of the theory of the particle transition matrix elements, basic to the cross section for Helium and inert particle scattering at thermal energies in solid surfaces. the Jackson and Mott matrix elements are presented and discussed for surface scattering processes, habitually classified as elastic and inelastic. Modified transition matrix elements, introduced originally to account for the cut-off effects, are presented in a direct and simple manner. the Debye-Waller factor is introduced and discussed. A recent calculation for the particle transition matrix elements is presented for the specular and inelastic transition matrix elements and the corresponding inelastic scattering cross section is compared in detail to experimental data. the specular and inelastic transition matrix elements are found to be intrinsically similar owing to the intermediate role of a proposed virtual particle squeezed state near the surface

Radiation damage in A-15 materials: EXAFS studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knapp, G.S.; Kampwirth, R.T.; Georgopoulos, P.; Brown, B.S.

1980-01-01

EXAFS measurements are useful in determining the local atomic environment of a particular element in a solid. Since there has been some controversy about the nature of the defects produced in A-15 materials by radiation damage, such studies were carried out on some A-15 compounds, V 3 Ga which was damaged by neutrons, as well as Nb 3 Ge damaged by 2.5 MeV a particles. In the V 3 Ga sample, site exchange disorder seems to be the most important result of the neutron damage with less than 20% of the vanadium atoms on wrong sites. However, in the Nb 3 Ge samples in addition to site exchange disorder, an unusual splitting of the first near-neighbor distance between the Ge and Nb is found. This splitting, approximately 0.2 A, may explain the large Debye Waller factors observed by Burbank et al

On the Debye temperature in the Slack approximation for an estimation of the thermal conductivity of nonmetallic compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruls, R.; Hintzen, H.T.; Metselaar, R.

2005-01-01

The value of the Debye temperature of the acoustic modes, as required in the application of Slack's approximation [G. A. Slack, Solid State Physics, edited by F. Seitz, D. Turnbull, and H. Ehrenreich, (Academic, New York, 1979), Vol. 34, pp. 1-71] for the thermal conductivity, is not always available. It is shown that for these cases, the value at the minimum of the curve of the Debye temperature versus the temperature obtained from specific-heat data, gives a good approximation

Stark shifts and widths of a hydrogen atom in Debye plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, A.C.H.; Ho, Y.K.

2005-01-01

A computational scheme has been developed and used to investigate the influence of the plasma environments on modified atomic autoionization for isolated atoms/ions by using the complex coordinate rotation method which is proved to be a very simple and powerful tool to analyze the position and the width of a resonance. The Debye screening potential is employed to describe the effects of the plasma environments. Stark shifts and widths on the ground state of hydrogen are reported for field strength up to F=0.12 a.u. Slater-type basis wave functions are used to describe the system and angular-momentum states up to L=11 are included when the external electric field is turned on. Converged results are obtained by using different maximum angular-momentum states. The modified autoionization for various Debye lengths ranging from infinite to a small value of 0.86 are reported. It has been observed that for a given temperature and under the influence of a given external electric field, the resonance energy and the autoionization width increase for increasing electron density in the plasma. A discussion on the physical implication of our results is made

Investigations of mechanical properties and Debye temperature of U2Ti

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chattaraj, D.; Dash, Smruti; Kulkarni, S.G.

2012-01-01

U 2 Ti is a potential solid state material for safe storage, supply and recovery of hydrogen isotopes. It is not pyrophoric and its hydride is resistance to powdering upon hydrogenation. These two properties made this alloy advantageous over the conventionally used uranium as tritium getter material. Hence, thorough study of material properties like thermodynamic and elastic properties of U 2 Ti is important. Recently, present authors have reported thermodynamic functions for U 2 Ti. However, elastic moduli of this alloy have not been reported. The second derivatives of the internal energy with respect to strain, gives adiabatic elastic constants. Thus adiabatic elastic constants are related to interatomic potentials of material. They are also related to the thermal properties of a solid through the Debye theory. For metal hydride material, the elastic constants are useful for an evaluation of the elastic contribution to the hydrogen-hydrogen interaction energy and the elastic energy associated with the precipitation of hydride phases. The present paper reports the ultrasonic measurement of the elastic moduli and Debye temperature of U 2 Ti at room temperature using 38 DL plus ultrasonic velocitymeter

Ionic Size Effects: Generalized Boltzmann Distributions, Counterion Stratification, and Modified Debye Length.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Bo; Liu, Pei; Xu, Zhenli; Zhou, Shenggao

2013-10-01

Near a charged surface, counterions of different valences and sizes cluster; and their concentration profiles stratify. At a distance from such a surface larger than the Debye length, the electric field is screened by counterions. Recent studies by a variational mean-field approach that includes ionic size effects and by Monte Carlo simulations both suggest that the counterion stratification is determined by the ionic valence-to-volume ratios. Central in the mean-field approach is a free-energy functional of ionic concentrations in which the ionic size effects are included through the entropic effect of solvent molecules. The corresponding equilibrium conditions define the generalized Boltzmann distributions relating the ionic concentrations to the electrostatic potential. This paper presents a detailed analysis and numerical calculations of such a free-energy functional to understand the dependence of the ionic charge density on the electrostatic potential through the generalized Boltzmann distributions, the role of ionic valence-to-volume ratios in the counterion stratification, and the modification of Debye length due to the effect of ionic sizes.

Total-factor energy efficiency in developing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Xingping; Cheng Xiaomei; Yuan Jiahai; Gao Xiaojun

2011-01-01

This paper uses a total-factor framework to investigate energy efficiency in 23 developing countries during the period of 1980-2005. We explore the total-factor energy efficiency and change trends by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) window, which is capable of measuring efficiency in cross-sectional and time-varying data. The empirical results indicate that Botswana, Mexico and Panama perform the best in terms of energy efficiency, whereas Kenya, Sri Lanka, Syria and the Philippines perform the worst during the entire research period. Seven countries show little change in energy efficiency over time. Eleven countries experienced continuous decreases in energy efficiency. Among five countries witnessing continuous increase in total-factor energy efficiency, China experienced the most rapid rise. Practice in China indicates that effective energy policies play a crucial role in improving energy efficiency. Tobit regression analysis indicates that a U-shaped relationship exists between total-factor energy efficiency and income per capita. - Research Highlights: → To measure the total-factor energy efficiency using DEA window analysis. → Focus on an application area of developing countries in the period of 1980-2005. → A U-shaped relationship was found between total-factor energy efficiency and income.

Debye frequency and interplay of superconductivity and antiferromagnetism in high T{sub c} superconductors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Panigrahy, N N [Siddartha Nagar 2, Berhampur (India); Mahapatra, D [T.T. College, Ganjam (India); Panda, B N [DAV College, Koraput (India); Rout, G C [Govt. Science College, Ganjam (India)

2006-04-15

The interplay between superconductivity (SC) and antiferromagnetism (AFM) is studied in strongly correlated systems: R{sub 2-x}M{sub x}CuO{sub 4} (R = Nd, La, Pr. Gd; M = Sr, Ce) due to electron-phonon interaction, It is assumed that SC arises due to BCS pairing mechanism in presence of AFM in Cu lattices of Cu-O planes, Debye frequency {omega}{sub D} dependence of high temperature SC gap as well as staggered magnetic field at different temperatures are calculated analytically and solved self-consistently with respect to half-filled band situation for different model parameters (temperature parameter {theta} and hybridization parameter {nu}, {lambda}{sub 1} and {lambda}{sub 2} being the SC and AF coupling parameters, respectively). The SC gap and AFM gap are studied in their coexistence phase for different Debye frequencies. (author)

Dynamics of photoionization of hydrogenlike ions in Debye plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qi, Y. Y.; Wang, J. G.; Janev, R. K.

2009-01-01

Photoionization processes for the ground state and n≤3 excited states of hydrogenlike ions embedded in a weakly coupled plasma are investigated in the entire energy range of a nonrelativistic regime. The plasma screening of the Coulomb interaction between charged particles is described by the Debye-Hueckel model. The energy levels and wave functions for both the bound and continuum states are calculated by solving the Schroedinger equation numerically by the symplectic integrator. The screening of Coulomb interactions reduces the number of bound electron states, decreases their binding energies, broadens the radial distribution of electron wave functions of these states, and changes significantly the phases and the amplitudes of continuum wave functions. These changes strongly affect the dipole matrix elements between the bound and continuum states and, hence, the photoionization cross sections. The most significant effects of the screened Coulomb interactions on the energy behavior of photoionization cross sections are manifested in its low-energy behavior (Wigner threshold law), the appearance of multiple shape and virtual-state resonances when the energy levels of upper bound states enter the continuum after certain critical strength of the screening, and in the (slight) reduction of the cross section at high photon energies. All these features of the photoionization cross section are related to the short-range character of the Debye-Hueckel potential. The effects of the potential screening on the Combet-Farnoux and Cooper minima in the photoionization cross section are also investigated. Comparison of calculated photoionization cross sections with the results of other authors, when available, is made.

Modified Debye screening potential in a magnetized quantum plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salimullah, M.; Hussain, A.; Sara, I.; Murtaza, G.; Shah, H.A.

2009-01-01

The effects of quantum mechanical influence and uniform static magnetic field on the Shukla-Nambu-Salimullah potential in an ultracold homogeneous electron-ion Fermi plasma have been examined in detail. It is noticed that the strong quantum effect arising through the Bohm potential and the ion polarization effect can give rise to a new oscillatory behavior of the screening potential beyond the shielding cloud which could explain a new type of possible robust ordered structure formation in the quantum magnetoplasma. However, the magnetic field enhances the Debye length perpendicular to the magnetic field in the weak quantum limit of the quantum plasma.

Ion collection by a sphere in a flowing plasma: 2. non-zero Debye length

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hutchinson, I H

2003-01-01

The spatial distribution of ion flux to a sphere in a flowing collisionless plasma is calculated using a particle-in-cell code SCEPTIC. The code is validated by comparing with prior stationary-plasma and approximate calculations. Comprehensive results are provided for ion temperatures 1 and 0.1 times the electron temperature, and for Debye length from 0.01 to 100 times the probe size. A remarkable qualitatively new result is obtained: over a range of Debye lengths from roughly 0.1 to 10 times the probe radius at T i = 0.1T e , the downstream side of the probe receives substantially higher flux density than the upstream side when the flow is subsonic. This unexpected reversal of the asymmetry reinforces the need for these fully self-consistent calculations, but renders the use of the flux ratio for Mach-probe purposes problematic, even for deriving the direction of the flow

Status and limitations of multilayer X-ray interference structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kortright, J.B.

1996-01-01

Trends in the performance of x-ray multilayer interference structures with periods ranging from 9 to 130 (angstrom) are reviewed. Analysis of near-normal incidence reflectance data vs photon energy reveals that the effective interface with σ in a static Debye-Waller model, describing interdiffusion and roughness, decreases as the multilayer period decreases, and reaches a lower limit of roughly 2 (angstrom). Specular reflectance and diffuse scattering from uncoated and multilayer-coated substrates having different roughness suggest that this lower limit results largely from substrate roughness. The increase in interface width with period thus results from increasing roughness of interdiffusion as the layer thickness increases

H2+ embedded in a Debye plasma: Electronic and vibrational properties

OpenAIRE

Angel, M. L.; Montgomery Jr, H. E.

2010-01-01

The effect of plasma screening on the electronic and vibrational properties of the H2+ molecular ion was analyzed within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. When a molecule is embedded in a plasma, the plasma screens the electrostatic interactions. This screening is accounted for in the Schr\\"odinger equation by replacing the Coulomb potentials with Yukawa potentials that incorporate the Debye length as a screening parameter. Variational expansions in confocal elliptical coordinates were used...

Suppressed beta relaxations and reduced heat capacity in ultrastable organic glasses prepared by physical vapor deposition

Science.gov (United States)

Ediger, Mark

Glasses play an important role in technology as a result of their macroscopic homogeneity (e.g., the clarity of window glass) and our ability to tune properties through composition changes. A problem with liquid-cooled glasses is that they exhibit marginal kinetic stability and slowly evolve towards lower energy glasses and crystalline states. In contrast, we have shown that physical vapor deposition can prepare glasses with very high kinetic stability. These materials have properties expected for ``million-year-old'' glasses, including high density, low enthalpy, and high mechanical moduli. We have used nanocalorimetry to show that these high stability glasses have lower heat capacities than liquid-cooled glasses for a number of molecular systems. Dielectric relaxation has been used to show that the beta relaxation can be suppressed by nearly a factor of four in vapor-deposited toluene glasses, indicating a very tight packing environment. Consistent with this view, computer simulations of high stability glasses indicate reduced Debye-Waller factors. These high stability materials raise interesting questions about the limiting properties of amorphous packing arrangements.

Atomic vibration amplitudes in fcc and hcp 4He through x-ray diffraction measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Venkataraman, C.T.; Simmons, R.O.

2003-01-01

Atomic vibration amplitudes in dense fcc and hcp 4 He crystals have been measured using synchrotron x rays from the dependence of integrated Bragg intensities up to wave vectors of 91 nm -1 . Observed raw Bragg x-ray integrated intensities cover an extraordinary range, greater than 10 5 , due to the combined effect of the Debye-Waller factor and electronic form factor. From analysis of these intensities mean-square atomic vibration amplitudes Q 2 > and Lindemann ratios are determined. Path-integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) computations of Draeger and Ceperley, extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit, provide excellent agreement with these experimental results. For both present measurements and the PIMC results, one finds both a predominantly Gaussian distribution in Q 2 > and an extraordinarily large Lindemann ratio. In contrast, these directly measured x-ray values are significantly larger than published values inferred from Born-von Karman fitting to phonon dispersion measured by neutron scattering. Mildly anharmonic neon, which is fairly well described by self-consistent phonon theories, is contrasted with present results on fcc 4 He at corresponding densities

Exact current to a spherical electrode in a collisionless, large-Debye-length magnetoplasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sonmor, L.J.; Laframboise, J.G.

1991-01-01

Exact calculations of the steady-state current drawn from a collisionless, Maxwellian plasma in a uniform magnetic field by a spherical, perfectly absorbing electrode are presented for a range of dimensionless electrode potentials and magnetic-field strengths. These calculations are valid in the limit of large Debye length. The results are compared with the theory of Rubinstein and Laframboise, which gives upper and lower bounds for both the attracted-species and the repelled-species current. It is found that as the electrode potential increases from space potential with magnetic-field strength fixed, the electron (i.e., attracted-species) current decreases, but not as quickly as the adiabatic-limit (effectively lower-bound) current. The ion current also diverges immediately from the adiabatic-limit current. As the electrode potential increases further, the electron current rises and moves monotonically toward the canonical upper bound, which is the warm-plasma generalization of the well-known Parker and Murphy upper bound. It is unclear whether the current approaches the upper bound asymptotically as the electrode potential becomes large, or instead a constant proportion of the upper bound which varies with magnetic-field strength. The dependence on magnetic-field strength is more complicated. As expected for small fixed electrode potentials, the attracted-species current approaches the adiabatic-limit current monotonically as the magnetic-field strength increases. However, for large electrode potentials this pattern reverses: the current approaches the canonical upper bound monotonically as the magnetic-field strength increases. These patterns are expected to persist when the Debye length is finite. Interpretation of these results leads to an inference that for large electrode potentials, the effect of decreasing the Debye length may be to reduce the current, as in the nonmagnetic case

Ab initio theory and calculations of X-ray spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rehr, J.J.; Kas, J.J.; Prange, M.P.; Sorini, A.P.; Takimoto, Y.; Vila, F.

2009-01-01

There has been dramatic progress in recent years both in the calculation and interpretation of various x-ray spectroscopies. However, current theoretical calculations often use a number of simplified models to account for many-body effects, in lieu of first principles calculations. In an effort to overcome these limitations we describe in this article a number of recent advances in theory and in theoretical codes which offer the prospect of parameter free calculations that include the dominant many-body effects. These advances are based on ab initio calculations of the dielectric and vibrational response of a system. Calculations of the dielectric function over a broad spectrum yield system dependent self-energies and mean-free paths, as well as intrinsic losses due to multielectron excitations. Calculations of the dynamical matrix yield vibrational damping in terms of multiple-scattering Debye-Waller factors. Our ab initio methods for determining these many-body effects have led to new, improved, and broadly applicable x-ray and electron spectroscopy codes. (authors)

Extended x-ray absorption fine structure in Ga1-xMnxN/SiC films with high Mn content

Science.gov (United States)

Sancho-Juan, O.; Martínez-Criado, O.; Cantarero, A.; Garro, N.; Salomé, M.; Susini, J.; Olguín, D.; Dhar, S.; Ploog, K.

2011-05-01

In this study, the local atomic structure of highly homogeneous Ga1-xMnxN alloy films (0.03Debye-Waller factor does not show a significant trend as Mn content increases, which suggests the presence of short-range disorder in the GaN lattice. Ab initio calculations of the structural parameter for two different Mn concentrations are consistent with the experimental results.

Analytic Debye-Grüneisen equation of state for a generalized Lennard-Jones solids

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

孙久勋; 吴强; 蔡灵仓; 经福谦

2003-01-01

The approximate method to treat the practical quantum anharmonic solids proposed by Hardy,Lacks and Shukla is reformulated with explicit physical meanings.It is shown that the quantum effect is important at low temperature,it can be treated in the harmonic framework; and the anharmonic effect is important at high temperature and tends to zero at low temperature,it can be treated by using a classical approximation.The alternative formulation is easier for various applications,and is applied to a Debye-Gruneisen solid with the generalized Lennard-Jones intermolecular interaction.The expressions for the Debye temperature and Gruneisen parameter as a function of volume are analytically derived.The analytic equation of state is applied to predict the thermodynamic properties of solid xenon at normal-pressure with the nearest-neighbour Lennard-Jones interaction,and is further applied to research the properties of solid xenon and krypton at high pressure by using an all-neighbour Lennard-Jones interaction.The theoretical results are in agreement with the experiments.

A Total Factor Productivity Toolbox for MATLAB

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B.M. Balk (Bert); J. Barbero (Javier); J.L. Zofío (José)

2018-01-01

textabstractTotal Factor Productivity Toolbox is a new package for MATLAB that includes functions to calculate the main Total Factor Productivity (TFP) indices and their decompositions, based on Shephard’s distance functions and using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) programming techniques. The

Electron structure of atoms in laser plasma: The Debye shielding model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sako, Tokuei; Okutsu, Hiroshi; Yamanouchi, Kaoru

2005-01-01

The electronic structure and the energy spectra of multielectron atoms in laser plasmas are examined by the Debye shielding model. The effect of the plasma environment on the electrons bound in an atom is taken into account by introducing the screened Coulomb-type potentials into the electronic Hamiltonian of an atom in place of the standard nuclear attraction and electron repulsion potentials. The capabilities of this new Hamiltonian are demonstrated for He and Li in laser plasmas. (author)

Bound states of hydrogen-like ions in Debye plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Bowen; Jiang Jun; Kang Weimin; Yang Ningxuan; Dong Chenzhong

2009-01-01

The plasma screening effects on the energy levels and wave functions of hydrogen-like ions were estimated by using Debye model. The effects on n l(n=1-4, l=0-3) energy levels and wave functions of hydrogen and Fe 25+ ion versus screening lengths λ have been analyzed. Furthermore, the screening effects versus quantum number n and l has been analyzed. The results show that the screening effects increasing as n increasing and decreasing as l increasing. Last, the Eigenergies of isoelectronic series change against screening parameter λ has been discussed, it's shown that the plasma screening effects are decreasing as nuclear charge increasing. (authors)

Volume dependence of the melting temperature for alkali metals with Debye's model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soma, T.; Kagaya, H.M.; Nishigaki, M.

1983-01-01

Using the volume dependence of the Grueneisen constant at higher temperatures, the volume effect on the melting temperature of alkali metals is studied by Lindeman's melting law and Debye's model. The obtained melting curve increases as a function of the compressed volume and shows the maximum of the melting point at the characteristic volume. The resultant data are qualitatively in agreement with the observed tendency for alkali metals. (author)

Modelling the X-ray powder diffraction of nitrogen-expanded austenite using the Debye formula

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oddershede, Jette; Christiansen, Thomas; Ståhl, Kenny

2008-01-01

Stress-free and homogeneous samples of nitrogen-expanded austenite, a defect-rich f.c.c. structure with a high interstitial nitrogen occupancy (between 0.36 and 0.61), have been studied using X-ray powder diffraction and Debye simulations. The simulations confirm the presence of deformation...... to be indistinguishable to X-ray powder diffraction....

Low-energy electron elastic scattering and impact ionization with hydrogenlike helium in Debye plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jun; Zhang, Song Bin; Ye, Bang Jiao; Wang, Jian Guo; Janev, R. K.

2017-09-01

Low-energy electron elastic scattering and impact ionization with hydrogenlike helium in Debye plasmas have been investigated by employing the exterior complex scaling method. The interactions between charged particles in the plasmas have been represented by Debye-Hückel potentials. The 1 s -1 s elastic collision strengths below the n =2 excitation threshold of He+ dominated by resonance structures are calculated for different screening lengths. As the screening strength increases, the resonance peaks studied [2(1,0) 2 +1Se,3Po,1De , and 2(0,1) 2 +1Po] exhibit blueshifts and then redshifts with a further increase of the screening strength, which results in dramatic changes of the collision strengths. It is found that these dynamic variation features of the resonances are related to the changes of energy levels of He+ in the screened potential and geometric configurations of resonances. Triple-differential-ionization cross sections in coplanar geometries at 6-Ry incident electron energy are also reported, significant changes are observed with varying screening length.

Non-Debye heat capacity formula refined and applied to GaP, GaAs, GaSb, InP, InAs, and InSb

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Pässler

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Characteristic non-Debye behaviors of low-temperature heat capacities of GaP, GaAs, GaSb, InP, InAs, and InSb, which are manifested above all in form of non-monotonic behaviors (local maxima of the respective Cp(T/T3 curves in the cryogenic region, are described by means of a refined version of a recently proposed low-to-high-temperature interpolation formula of non-Debye type. Least-mean-square fittings of representative Cp(T data sets available for these materials from several sources show excellent agreements, from the liquid-helium region up to room temperature. The results of detailed calculations of the respective material-specific Debye temperature curves, ΘD(T, are represented in graphical form. The strong, non-monotonic variations of ΘD(T values confirm that it is impossible to provide reasonable numerical simulations of measured Cp(T dependences in terms of fixed Debye temperatures. We show that it is possible to describe in good approximation the complete Debye temperature curves, from the cryogenic region up to their definitive disappearance (dropping to 0 in the high temperature region, by a couple of unprecedented algebraic formulas. The task of constructing physically adequate prolongations of the low-temperature Cp(T curves up to melting points was strongly impeded by partly rather large differences (up to an order of 10 J/(K·mol between the high-temperature data sets presented in different research papers and/or data reviews. Physically plausible criteria are invoked, which enabled an a priori rejection of a series of obviously unrealistic high-temperature data sets. Residual uncertainties for GaAs and InAs could be overcome by re-evaluations of former enthalpy data on the basis of a novel set of properly specified four-parameter polynomial expressions applying to large regions, from moderately low temperatures up to melting points. Detailed analytical and numerical descriptions are given for the anharmonicity

Debye screening length effects of nanostructured materials

CERN Document Server

Ghatak, Kamakhya Prasad

2014-01-01

This monograph solely investigates the Debye Screening Length (DSL) in semiconductors and their nano-structures. The materials considered are quantized structures of non-linear optical, III-V, II-VI, Ge, Te, Platinum Antimonide, stressed materials, Bismuth, GaP, Gallium Antimonide, II-V and Bismuth Telluride respectively. The DSL in opto-electronic materials and their quantum confined counterparts is studied in the presence of strong light waves and intense electric fields on the basis of newly formulated electron dispersion laws that control the studies of such quantum effect devices. The suggestions for the experimental determination of 2D and 3D DSL and the importance of measurement of band gap in optoelectronic materials under intense built-in electric field in nano devices and strong external photo excitation (for measuring photon induced physical properties) have also been discussed in this context. The influence of crossed electric and quantizing magnetic fields on the DSL and the DSL in heavily doped ...

Ratio of sheath thickness to Debye length for a slightly ionized continuum plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamilton, J.

1980-01-01

The penetration of plasma sheaths for spherical probes in a slightly ionized continuum plasma has been computed for values of epsilon (the ratio of ion to electron temperature) of 0.01 and 1.0 with rhosub(p) (the ratio of probe radius to plasma Debye length) set at 5.10,20 and 30. Values of the potential drops at the sheath boundaries are presented

Probabilistic Equilibrium Sampling of Protein Structures from SAXS Data and a Coarse Grained Debye Formula

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreetta, Christian

-likelihood estimators for the form factors employed in the Debye formula, a theoretical forward model for SAXS profiles. The resulting computation compares favorably with the state of the art tool in the field, the program CRYSOL in the suite ATSAS. A faster, parallel implementation on Graphical Processor Units (GPUs......The present work describes the design and the implementation of a protocol for arbitrary precision computation of Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) profiles, and its inclusion in a probabilistic framework for protein structure determination. This protocol identifies a set of maximum...... of protein structures all fitting the experimental data. For the first time, we describe in full atomic detail a set of different conformations attainable by flexible polypeptides in solution. This method is not limited by assumptions in shape or size of the samples. It allows therefore to investigate...

Importance of the Debye screening length on nanowire field effect transistor sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Stern, Eric; Wagner, Robin; Sigworth, Fred J; Breaker, Ronald; Fahmy, Tarek M; Reed, Mark A

2007-11-01

Nanowire field effect transistors (NW-FETs) can serve as ultrasensitive detectors for label-free reagents. The NW-FET sensing mechanism assumes a controlled modification in the local channel electric field created by the binding of charged molecules to the nanowire surface. Careful control of the solution Debye length is critical for unambiguous selective detection of macromolecules. Here we show the appropriate conditions under which the selective binding of macromolecules is accurately sensed with NW-FET sensors.

Detection beyond Debye's length with an electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistor.

Science.gov (United States)

Palazzo, Gerardo; De Tullio, Donato; Magliulo, Maria; Mallardi, Antonia; Intranuovo, Francesca; Mulla, Mohammad Yusuf; Favia, Pietro; Vikholm-Lundin, Inger; Torsi, Luisa

2015-02-04

Electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistors are successfully used as biosensors to detect binding events occurring at distances from the transistor electronic channel that are much larger than the Debye length in highly concentrated solutions. The sensing mechanism is mainly capacitive and is due to the formation of Donnan's equilibria within the protein layer, leading to an extra capacitance (CDON) in series to the gating system. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Collisional scattering for binary Coulomb interactions that are cut off at a distance different than the Debye length

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Correa, J.R.; Chang Yongbin; Ordonez, C.A.

2005-01-01

Collisional scattering is considered within a system of charged particles experiencing binary Coulomb interactions when the scale length for the range of each interaction is not isotropic and is not necessarily equal to the Debye length. For example, one or more dimensions of the system could be smaller than the Debye length. The effect is assessed by evaluating integrals over the impact cross section. Cutoffs on both the impact parameter and the Coulomb interaction potential are employed, and no assumption is made regarding the value of the Coulomb logarithm. Two expressions are found that have a dependence on the cutoff lengths, with one of the expressions being associated with the Coulomb logarithm. Collisional scattering within an electrostatic ion trap is considered by way of example

Debye series analysis of internal and near-surface fields for a homogeneous sphere illuminated by an axicon-generated vector Bessel beam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qin, Shitong; Li, Renxian; Yang, Ruiping; Ding, Chunying

2017-01-01

The interaction of an axicon-generated vector Bessel beam (AGVBB) with a homogeneous sphere is investigated in the framework of generalized Lorenz-Mie theory (GLMT). An analytical expression of beam shape coefficients (BSCs) is derived using angular spectrum decomposition method (ASDM), and the scattering coefficients are expanded using Debye series (DSE) in order to isolate the contribution of single scattering process. The internal and near-surface electric fields are numerically analyzed, and the effect of beam location, polarization, order of beam, half-cone angle, and scattering process (namely Debye mode p) are mainly discussed. Numerical results show that a curve formed by extreme peaks can be observed, and the electric fields can be locally enhanced after the interaction of AGVBBs with the particle. Internal and near-surface fields, especially its local enhancement, are very sensitive to the beam parameters, including polarization, order, half-cone angle, etc. The internal fields can also be enhanced by various scattering process (or Debye mode p). Such results have important applications in various fields, including particle sizing, optical tweezers, etc. - Highlights: • Debye series is employed to the analysis of internal and near-surface fields for a sphere illuminated by a vector Bessel beam. • Analytical expressions of BSCs for vector Bessel beams with selected polarizations are derived using ASDM. • The local enhancement of internal and near-surface fields is investigated. • The polarization, order, half-cone angle of the beam affect the local enhancement. • The local enhancement of internal fields is sensitive to the scattering process.

Stopping potential and ion beamlet control for micro-resistive patterning through sub-Debye length plasma apertures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abhishek Chowdhury

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Focused multiple ion beamlets from a microwave plasma source is investigated for localized micron-scale modification of substrates in a patterned manner. Plasma electrodes (PE with an array of through apertures having aperture diameters of the order of plasma Debye length are investigated for generating the beamlets. Extraction through sub-Debye length apertures becomes possible when the PE is kept at floating potential. It is found that the current – voltage characteristics of the extracted beamlets exhibits interesting features such as a space-charge-limited region that has a different behaviour than the conventional Child-Langmuir’s law and an extraction-voltage-limited region that does not undergo saturation but exhibits a Schottky-like behaviour similar to that of a vacuum diode. A switching technique to control the motion of individual beamlets is developed and the stopping potential determined. The beamlets are thereafter used to create localized micro-resistive patterns. The experimental results are compared with simulations and reasonably good agreement is obtained.

Direct measurement of sub-Debye-length attraction between oppositely charged surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Kampf, Nir; Ben-Yaakov, Dan; Andelman, David; Safran, S A; Klein, Jacob

2009-09-11

Using a surface force balance with fast video analysis, we have measured directly the attractive forces between oppositely charged solid surfaces (charge densities sigma(+), sigma(-)) across water over the entire range of interaction, in particular, at surface separations D below the Debye screening length lambda(S). At very low salt concentration we find a long-ranged attraction between the surfaces (onset ca. 100 nm), whose variation at D

Ionization potential depression and optical spectra in a Debye plasma model

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Chengliang; Röpke, Gerd; Reinholz, Heidi; Kraeft, Wolf-Dietrich

2017-11-01

We show how optical spectra in dense plasmas are determined by the shift of energy levels as well as the broadening owing to collisions with the plasma particles. In lowest approximation, the interaction with the plasma particles is described by the RPA dielectric function, leading to the Debye shift of the continuum edge. The bound states remain nearly un-shifted, their broadening is calculated in Born approximation. The role of ionization potential depression as well as the Inglis-Teller effect are shown. The model calculations have to be improved going beyond the lowest (RPA) approximation when applying to WDM spectra.

The thermo-elastic instability model of melting of alkali halides in the Debye approximation

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, Frank J.

2018-05-01

The Debye model of lattice vibrations of alkali halides is used to show that there is a temperature below the melting temperature where the vibrational pressure exceeds the electrostatic pressure. The onset temperature of this thermo-elastic instability scales as the melting temperature of NaCl, KCl, and KBr, suggesting its role in the melting of the alkali halides in agreement with a previous more rigorous model.

From single Debye-Hückel chains to polyelectrolyte solutions: Simulation results

Science.gov (United States)

Kremer, Kurt

1996-03-01

This lecture will present results from simulations of single weakly charged flexible chains, where the electrostatic part of the interaction is modeled by a Debye-Hückel potential,( with U. Micka, IFF, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany) as well as simulations of polyelectrolyte solutions, where the counterions are explicitly taken into account( with M. J. Stevens, Sandia Nat. Lab., Albuquerque, NM 87185-1111) ( M. J. Stevens, K. Kremer, JCP 103), 1669 (1995). The first set of the simulations is meant to clear a recent contoversy on the dependency of the persistence length LP on the screening length Γ. While the analytic theories give Lp ~ Γ^x with either x=1 or x=2, the simulations find for all experimentally accessible chain lengths a varying exponent, which is significantly smaller than 1. This causes serious doubts on the applicability of this model for weakly charged polyelectrolytes in general. The second part deals with strongly charged flexible polyelectrolytes in salt free solution. These simulations are performed for multichain systems. The full Coulomb interactions of the monomers and counterions are treated explicitly. Experimental measurements of the osmotic pressure and the structure factor are reproduced and extended. The simulations reveal a new picture of the chain structure based on calculations of the structure factor, persistence length, end-to-end distance, etc. Even at very low density, the chains show significant bending. Furthermore, the chains contract significantly before they start to overlap. We also show that counterion condensation dramatically alters the chain structure, even for a good solvent backbone.

Experimental studies of the large Debye length probe theory in a continuum plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamitsuma, M.; Chen, S.

1977-01-01

The Laplace limit probe theory for continuum plasmas, i.e., probe theory under the condition r/sub p//lambda/sub D/→0, where r/sub p/ is probe radius and lambda/sub D/ is Debye length, has been experimentally studied. The results show that the application limit of this theory is r/sub p//lambda/sub D/=0.44 for a spherical probe and r/sub p//lambda/sub D/=0.23 for a cylindrical probe

Use of Debye's series to determine the optimal edge-effect terms for computing the extinction efficiencies of spheroids.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Wushao; Bi, Lei; Liu, Dong; Zhang, Kejun

2017-08-21

The extinction efficiencies of atmospheric particles are essential to determining radiation attenuation and thus are fundamentally related to atmospheric radiative transfer. The extinction efficiencies can also be used to retrieve particle sizes or refractive indices through particle characterization techniques. This study first uses the Debye series to improve the accuracy of high-frequency extinction formulae for spheroids in the context of Complex angular momentum theory by determining an optimal number of edge-effect terms. We show that the optimal edge-effect terms can be accurately obtained by comparing the results from the approximate formula with their counterparts computed from the invariant imbedding Debye series and T-matrix methods. An invariant imbedding T-matrix method is employed for particles with strong absorption, in which case the extinction efficiency is equivalent to two plus the edge-effect efficiency. For weakly absorptive or non-absorptive particles, the T-matrix results contain the interference between the diffraction and higher-order transmitted rays. Therefore, the Debye series was used to compute the edge-effect efficiency by separating the interference from the transmission on the extinction efficiency. We found that the optimal number strongly depends on the refractive index and is relatively insensitive to the particle geometry and size parameter. By building a table of optimal numbers of edge-effect terms, we developed an efficient and accurate extinction simulator that has been fully tested for randomly oriented spheroids with various aspect ratios and a wide range of refractive indices.

Phonon activity and intermediate glassy phase of YVO3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Massa, Nestor E.; Piamonteze, Cinthia; Tolentino, Helio C.N.; Alonso, Jose Antonio; Martinez-Lope, Maria Jesus; Casais, Maria Teresa

2004-01-01

We show that in YVO 3 additional hard phonons gradually become zone center infrared active below ∼210 K, verifying that a lattice phase transition takes place at about that temperature. Their gradual increment in intensity between ∼210 and ∼77 K is associated with a 'glassy' behavior found in the temperature-dependent V K edge pseudoradial distribution. This translates into an increase in the Debye-Waller factors ascribed to the appearance of V local structural disorder below ∼150 K. Conflicts between various ordering mechanisms in YVO 3 bring up similarities of the intermediate phase to known results in dielectric incommensurate systems, suggesting the formation of commensurate domains below 116 K, the onset temperature of G-type antiferromagnetism. We propose that ∼210 and ∼77 K be understood as the temperatures where the commensurate-incommensurate and incommensurate-commensurate 'lock-in' phase transitions take place. We found support for this interpretation in the inverted λ shapes of the measured heat capacity and in the overall temperature dependence of the hard phonons

EXAFS and EPR study of La0.6Sr0.2Ca0.2MnO3 and La0.6Sr0.2Ba0.2MnO3

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, D.-K.Dong-Seok; Ulyanov, A.N.; Phan, Manh-Huong; Kim, Ikgyun; Ahn, Byong-Keun; Rhee, Jang Roh; Kim, Jung Sun; Nguyen, Chau; Yu, Seong-Cho

2003-01-01

Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis and electron-paramagnetic resonance (EPR) have been used to examine the local structure and the internal dynamics of La 0.6 Sr 0.2 Ca 0.2 MnO 3 and La 0.6 Sr 0.2 Ba 0.2 MnO 3 lanthanum manganites. The Mn-O bond distance (∼1.94 Angst for both samples) and the Debye-Waller factors (0.36x10 -2 and 0.41x10 -2 Angst 2 for La 0.6 Sr 0.2 Ca 0.2 MnO 3 and for La 0.6 Sr 0.2 Ba 0.2 MnO 3 , respectively) were obtained from the EXAFS analysis. The dependence of the EPR line width on dopant kind (Ca or Ba) showed a decrease of the spin-lattice interaction with an increase of the Curie temperature. For both compositions, the EPR line intensity followed the exponential law I(T)=I 0 exp(E a /k B T), deduced on the basis of the adiabatic polaron hopping model

A low temperature neutron diffraction study of manganese ferrite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jirak, Z.; Zajicek, J.

1978-01-01

Two specimens of the Mnsub(0.98)Fesub(2.02)Osub(4+0.002) monocrystal differing in the degree of inversion and heat treatment were studied at room temperature and at the liquid helium temperature, respectively. The specimen with the lower inversion degree was heated to 600 degC and subsequently slowly cooled to 340 degC and annealed for 50 hrs; the specimen with the higher inversion degree was quenched from a temperature of 600 degC. In the study, the magnetic moments on sites A and B of the spinel lattice, the degree of inversion, the oxygen parameter and the Debye-Waller factor were investigated. The oxygen parameter was found to be higher at both temperatures for the annealed specimen (with the lower inversion degree), which can be attributed to the inversion degree dependence of the Madelung energy and the mean ion radius on sites A and B. The oxygen parameter did not show significant differences at room and liquid helium temperature. This agrees with the assumption that it is temperature-independent. (J.P.)

Evidence of a splitting of the Mn-O distance and of a large lattice disorder in the charge-ordered phase of LiMn2O4 obtained by EXAFS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paolone, A.; Castellano, C.; Cantelli, R.; Rousse, G.; Masquelier, C.

2003-01-01

We measured the extended x-ray-absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) spectrum of LiMn 2 O 4 below room temperature in the charge-ordered phase and for comparison at room temperature in the cubic phase. By means of a standard fit procedure we verified that, as reported by neutron-scattering experiments, also at the local level there are two different Mn-O distances below room temperature, which correspond to the surroundings of well-defined Mn 3+ and Mn 4+ ions. This result is different from the ones obtained from previous EXAFS measurements and confirms the physical picture of the phase transition caused by the ordering of charges in contrast to a cooperative Jahn-Teller phenomenon. Moreover a large lattice disorder in the charge-ordered state, which determines a significant static contribution to the EXAFS Debye-Waller factor, has been found. This last result can be considered as the EXAFS spectral mark of charge-order transitions, even in those materials in which there is no clear evidence of the splitting of bond lengths

PDB-NMA of a protein homodimer reproduces distinct experimental motility asymmetry

Science.gov (United States)

Tirion, Monique M.; ben-Avraham, Daniel

2018-03-01

We have extended our analytically derived PDB-NMA formulation, Atomic Torsional Modal Analysis or ATMAN (Tirion and ben-Avraham 2015 Phys. Rev. E 91 032712), to include protein dimers using mixed internal and Cartesian coordinates. A test case on a 1.3 {\\mathringA} resolution model of a small homodimer, ActVA-ORF6, consisting of two 112-residue subunits identically folded in a compact 50 {\\mathringA} sphere, reproduces the distinct experimental Debye-Waller motility asymmetry for the two chains, demonstrating that structure sensitively selects vibrational signatures. The vibrational analysis of this PDB entry, together with biochemical and crystallographic data, demonstrates the cooperative nature of the dimeric interaction of the two subunits and suggests a mechanical model for subunit interconversion during the catalytic cycle.

Investigation of different physical aspects such as structural, mechanical, optical properties and Debye temperature of Fe2ScM (M=P and As) semiconductors: A DFT-based first principles study

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Md. Lokman; Rahaman, Md. Zahidur

2018-04-01

By using first principles calculation dependent on the density functional theory (DFT), we have investigated the mechanical, structural properties and the Debye temperature of Fe2ScM (M=P and As) compounds under various pressures up to 60 GPa. The optical properties have been investigated under zero pressure. Our calculated optimized structural parameters of both the materials are in good agreement with other theoretical predictions. The calculated elastic constants show that Fe2ScM (M=P and As) compounds are mechanically stable under external pressure below 60 GPa. From the elastic constants, the shear modulus G, the bulk modulus B, Young’s modulus E, anisotropy factor A and Poisson’s ratio ν are calculated by using the Voigt-Reuss-Hill approximation. The Debye temperature and average sound velocities are also investigated from the obtained elastic constants. The detailed analysis of all optical functions reveals that both compounds are good dielectric material.

Plasma interaction with emmissive surface with Debye-scale grooves

Science.gov (United States)

Schweigert, Irina; Burton, Thomas S.; Thompson, Gregory B.; Langendorf, Samuel; Walker, Mitchell L. R.; Keidar, Michael

2018-04-01

The sheath development over emissive grooved surface in dc discharge plasma controlled by an electron beam is studied in the experiment and in 2D kinetic simulations. Grooved hexagonal boron nitride surfaces with different aspect ratios, designed to mimic the erosion channels, were exposed to an argon plasma. The characteristic size of the grooves (1 mm and 5 mm) is about of the Debye length. The secondary electrons emission from the grooved surfaces is provided by the bombardment with energetic electrons originated from the heated powered cathode. The transition between a developed and a collapsed sheaths near emissive surface takes place with an increase of the beam electron energy. For grooved emissive surfaces, the sheath transition happens at essentially higher voltage compared to the planar one. This phenomenon is analyzed in the terms of the electron energy distribution function.

Application of the backscattering of an atomic beam of thermal energy to the study of the vibrational properties of metal surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lapujoulade, J.; Lejay, Y.

1975-01-01

Vibrational properties of metal surfaces (surface phonons, surface Debye temperatures) are less known than bulk ones since common investigation methods (neutron, X-rays) are not sensitive to surface properties. A study of the backscattering of an atomic beam may give surface specific informations. The backscattering of noble gas (He, Ne, Ar) from a clean copper single crystal ((100) face) was experimentally studied. The experimental set-up allows to measure the space repartition well as the velocity distribution of the scattered atoms. If the collisions is purely elastic an analysis of the thermal dependence of the specular peak by means of the Debye Waller formula will give the mean square displacements of surface atoms. It is shown however that this simple case is not fulfilled with helium in ordinary beam or solid temperatures. If the collision is inelastic, but dominated by single phonon transfers (as it seems to be the case for helium) information should to get about the phonon dispersion relation of surface atoms. When many-phonon collision occur (Ne and Ar) the analysis is more difficult. A comparison of the experimental result with an approximate calculation of G. Armand is given [fr

First-principles investigations on structural, elastic, electronic properties and Debye temperature of orthorhombic Ni3Ta under pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Pan; Zhang, Jianxin; Ma, Shiyu; Jin, Huixin; Zhang, Youjian; Zhang, Wenyang

2018-06-01

The structural, elastic, electronic properties and Debye temperature of Ni3Ta under different pressures are investigated using the first-principles method based on density functional theory. Our calculated equilibrium lattice parameters at 0 GPa well agree with the experimental and previous theoretical results. The calculated negative formation enthalpies and elastic constants both indicate that Ni3Ta is stable under different pressures. The bulk modulus B, shear modulus G, Young's modulus E and Poisson's ratio ν are calculated by the Voigt-Reuss-Hill method. The bigger ratio of B/G indicates Ni3Ta is ductile and the pressure can improve the ductility of Ni3Ta. In addition, the results of density of states and the charge density difference show that the stability of Ni3Ta is improved by the increasing pressure. The Debye temperature ΘD calculated from elastic modulus increases along with the pressure.

Introduction to the theory and application of a unified Bohm criterion for arbitrary-ion-temperature collision-free plasmas with finite Debye lengths

Science.gov (United States)

Kos, L.; Jelić, N.; Kuhn, S.; Tskhakaya, D. D.

2018-04-01

At present, identifying and characterizing the common plasma-sheath edge (PSE) in the conventional fluid approach leads to intrinsic oversimplifications, while the kinetic one results in unusable over-generalizations. In addition, none of these approaches can be justified in realistic plasmas, i.e., those which are characterized by non-negligible Debye lengths and a well-defined non-negligible ion temperature. In an attempt to resolve this problem, we propose a new formulation of the Bohm criterion [D. Bohm, The Characteristics of Electrical Discharges in Magnetic Fields (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1949)], which is here expressed in terms of fluid, kinetic, and electrostatic-pressure contributions. This "unified" Bohm criterion consists of a set of two equations for calculating the ion directional energy (i.e., the mean directional velocity) and the plasma potential at the common PSE, and is valid for arbitrary ion-to-electron temperature ratios. It turns out to be exact at any point of the quasi-neutral plasma provided that the ion differential polytropic coefficient function (DPCF) of Kuhn et al. [Phys. Plasmas 13, 013503 (2006)] is employed, with the advantage that the DPCF is an easily measurable fluid quantity. Moreover, our unified Bohm criterion holds in plasmas with finite Debye lengths, for which the famous kinetic criterion formulated by Harrison and Thompson [Proc. Phys. Soc. 74, 145 (1959)] fails. Unlike the kinetic criterion in the case of negligible Debye length, the kinetic contribution to the unified Bohm criterion, arising due to the presence of negative and zero velocities in the ion velocity distribution function, can be calculated separately from the fluid term. This kinetic contribution disappears identically at the PSE, yielding strict equality of the ion directional velocity there and the ion sound speed, provided that the latter is formulated in terms of the present definition of DPCFs. The numerical values of these velocities are found for the

Debye screening and a Thomas - Fermi model of a dyonic atom in a two potential theory of electromagnetism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolf, C.

1993-01-01

We study the screening of a central Abelian dyon by a surrounding dyon cloud in a two potential theory of electromagnetism. A generalized formula for the Debye screening length is obtained and a Thomas - Fermi Model for a charged cloud surrounding a central Dyonic Core is studied. 20 refs

1,3Do and 1,3Pe states of two electron atoms under Debye plasma screening

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saha, Jayanta K.; Bhattacharyya, S.; Mukherjee, T.K.; Mukherjee, P.K.

2010-01-01

Extensive non-relativistic variational calculations for estimating the energy values of 2pnd( 1,3 D o ) states [n=3-6] of two electron atoms (He, Li + ,Be 2+ ) and 2pnp( 1 P e )[n=3-8] and 2pnp( 3 P e ) states [n=2-7] of Be 2+ under weakly coupled plasma screening have been performed using explicitly correlated Hylleraas type basis. The modified energy eigenvalues of 1,3 P e states arising from two p electrons of Be 2+ ion and 1,3 D o states due to 2pnd configuration of Li + and Be 2+ ion in the Debye plasma environment are being reported for the first time. The effect of plasma has been incorporated through the Debye screening model. The system tends towards gradual instability and the number of bound states reduces with increasing plasma coupling strength. The wavelengths for 2pn ' p( 1 P e )[n ' =3-8]→2pnd( 1 D o )[n=3-6] and 2pn ' p( 3 P e )[n ' =2-8]→2pnd( 3 D o )[n=3-6] transitions in plasma embedded two electron atoms have also been reported.

Revision total hip arthoplasty: factors associated with re-revision surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Khatod, Monti; Cafri, Guy; Inacio, Maria C S; Schepps, Alan L; Paxton, Elizabeth W; Bini, Stefano A

2015-03-04

The survivorship of implants after revision total hip arthroplasty and risk factors associated with re-revision are not well defined. We evaluated the re-revision rate with use of the institutional total joint replacement registry. The purpose of this study was to determine patient, implant, and surgeon factors associated with re-revision total hip arthroplasty. A retrospective cohort study was conducted. The total joint replacement registry was used to identify patients who had undergone revision total hip arthroplasty for aseptic reasons from April 1, 2001, to December 31, 2010. The end point of interest was re-revision total hip arthroplasty. Risk factors evaluated for re-revision total hip arthroplasty included: patient risk factors (age, sex, body mass index, race, and general health status), implant risk factors (fixation type, bearing surface, femoral head size, and component replacement), and surgeon risk factors (volume and experience). A multivariable Cox proportional hazards model was used. Six hundred and twenty-nine revision total hip arthroplasties with sixty-three (10%) re-revisions were evaluated. The mean cohort age (and standard deviation) was 57.0 ± 12.4 years, the mean body mass index (and standard deviation) was 29.5 ± 6.1 kg/m(2), and most of the patients were women (64.5%) and white (81.9%) and had an American Society of Anesthesiologists score of associated with the risk of re-revision. For every ten-year increase in patient age, the hazard ratio for re-revision decreases by a factor of 0.72 (95% confidence interval, 0.58 to 0.90). For every five revision surgical procedures performed by a surgeon, the risk of revision decreases by a factor of 0.93 (95% confidence interval, 0.86 to 0.99). At the time of revision, a new or retained cemented femoral implant or all-cemented hip implant increases the risk of revision by a factor of 3.19 (95% confidence interval, 1.22 to 8.38) relative to a retained or new uncemented hip implant. A ceramic on a

Photoionization of Li and Na in Debye plasma environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahoo, Satyabrata; Ho, Y.K.

2006-01-01

A calculation of the photoionization cross sections is presented for alkali-metal atoms such as Li and Na in plasma environments. The computational scheme is based on the complex coordinate rotation method. A model potential formalism has been used to simplify the computational complexity of the problems of making quantitative predictions of properties and interactions of many electron systems in Debye plasmas. The plasma environment is found to appreciably influence the photoionization cross sections. In this regard the photoionization cross sections of isolated atoms are also discussed that is found to be in good agreement with the previous theoretical results. It is observed that the strong plasma screening effect remarkably alters the photoionization cross sections near the ionization threshold. The Cooper minimum in the photoionization cross sections of Na shifts toward the higher energy as the plasma screening effect increases. For Li, the Cooper minimum is uncovered in strong plasma environments. This is the first time such structures have been determined

Quadrupole terms in the Maxwell equations: Debye-Hückel theory in quadrupolarizable solvent and self-salting-out of electrolytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Slavchov, Radomir I

2014-04-28

If the molecules of a given solvent possess significant quadrupolar moment, the macroscopic Maxwell equations must involve the contribution of the density of the quadrupolar moment to the electric displacement field. This modifies the Poisson-Boltzmann equation and all consequences from it. In this work, the structure of the diffuse atmosphere around an ion dissolved in quadrupolarizable medium is analyzed by solving the quadrupolar variant of the Coulomb-Ampere's law of electrostatics. The results are compared to the classical Debye-Hückel theory. The quadrupolar version of the Debye-Hückel potential of a point charge is finite even in r = 0. The ion-quadrupole interaction yields a significant expansion of the diffuse atmosphere of the ion and, thus, it decreases the Debye-Hückel energy. In addition, since the dielectric permittivity of the electrolyte solutions depends strongly on concentration, the Born energy of the dissolved ions alters with concentration, which has a considerable contribution to the activity coefficient γ± known as the self-salting-out effect. The quadrupolarizability of the medium damps strongly the self-salting-out of the electrolyte, and thus it affects additionally γ±. Comparison with experimental data for γ± for various electrolytes allows for the estimation of the quadrupolar length of water: LQ ≈ 2 Å, in good agreement with previous assessments. The effect of quadrupolarizability is especially important in non-aqueous solutions. Data for the activity of NaBr in methanol is used to determine the quadrupolarizability of methanol with good accuracy.

Revision Total Hip Arthoplasty: Factors Associated with Re-Revision Surgery

OpenAIRE

Khatod, M; Cafri, G; Inacio, MCS; Schepps, AL; Paxton, EW; Bini, SA

2015-01-01

The survivorship of implants after revision total hip arthroplasty and risk factors associated with re-revision are not well defined. We evaluated the re-revision rate with use of the institutional total joint replacement registry. The purpose of this study was to determine patient, implant, and surgeon factors associated with re-revision total hip arthroplasty.A retrospective cohort study was conducted. The total joint replacement registry was used to identify patients who had undergone revi...

Charged plate in asymmetric electrolytes: One-loop renormalization of surface charge density and Debye length due to ionic correlations.

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Mingnan; Lu, Bing-Sui; Xing, Xiangjun

2016-10-01

Self-consistent field theory (SCFT) is used to study the mean potential near a charged plate inside a m:-n electrolyte. A perturbation series is developed in terms of g=4πκb, where band1/κ are Bjerrum length and bare Debye length, respectively. To the zeroth order, we obtain the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann theory. For asymmetric electrolytes (m≠n), the first order (one-loop) correction to mean potential contains a secular term, which indicates the breakdown of the regular perturbation method. Using a renormalizaton group transformation, we remove the secular term and obtain a globally well-behaved one-loop approximation with a renormalized Debye length and a renormalized surface charge density. Furthermore, we find that if the counterions are multivalent, the surface charge density is renormalized substantially downwards and may undergo a change of sign, if the bare surface charge density is sufficiently large. Our results agrees with large MC simulation even when the density of electrolytes is relatively high.

Thermal spectrum of pseudo-scalar glueballs and Debye screening mass from holography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Braga, Nelson R.F.; Ferreira, Luiz F. [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Fisica, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

2017-10-15

The finite temperature spectrum of pseudo-scalar glueballs in a plasma is studied using a holographic model. The 0{sup -+} glueball is represented by a pseudo-scalar (axion) field living in a five dimensional geometry that comes from a solution of Einstein equations for gravity coupled with a dilaton scalar field. The spectral function obtained from the model shows a clear peak corresponding to the quasi-particle ground state. Analyzing the variation of the position of the peak with temperature, we describe the thermal behavior of the Debye screening mass of the plasma. As a check of consistency, the zero temperature limit of the model is also investigated. The glueball masses obtained are consistent with previous lattice results. (orig.)

One- and two-photon ionization of hydrogen atom embedded in Debye plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, T. N.; Fang, T. K.; Ho, Y. K.

2013-01-01

We present a detailed analysis of the plasma-induced resonance-like atomic structures near the ionization threshold in one- and two-photon ionization of hydrogen atom. Such resonance-like structures result from the migration of the upper bound excited states of bound-bound atomic transitions into the continuum due to the less attractive screened Coulomb potential which simulates the external environmental effect for an atom embedded in Debye plasma. The change from the resonance-like narrow structures into broad continuous spectra as the plasma effect increases could be accounted for by the overlap between the respective wavefunctions of the atomic electron in the initial state and its corresponding outgoing ionized state in the continuum

Coordination-resolved local bond relaxation, electron binding-energy shift, and Debye temperature of Ir solid skins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bo, Maolin [Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Materials and Application Technologies, Ministry of Education, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan 411105 (China); Wang, Yan [Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Materials and Application Technologies, Ministry of Education, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan 411105 (China); School of Information and Electronic Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan 411201 (China); Huang, Yongli, E-mail: huangyongli@xtu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Materials and Application Technologies, Ministry of Education, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan 411105 (China); Yang, Xuexian [Department of Physics, Jishou University, Jishou, Hunan 416000 (China); Yang, Yezi [Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Materials and Application Technologies, Ministry of Education, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan 411105 (China); Li, Can [Center for Coordination Bond Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 330018 (China); Sun, Chang Q., E-mail: ecqsun@ntu.edu.sg [Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Materials and Application Technologies, Ministry of Education, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, Hunan 411105 (China); NOVITAS, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798 (Singapore)

2014-11-30

Highlights: • Cohesive energy of the representative bond determines the core-level shift. • XPS derives the energy level of an isolated atom and its bulk shift. • XPS derives the local bond length, bond energy, binding energy density. • Thermal XPS resolves the Debye temperature and atomic cohesive energy. - Abstract: Numerical reproduction of the measured 4f{sub 7/2} energy shift of Ir(1 0 0), (1 1 1), and (2 1 0) solid skins turns out the following: (i) the 4f{sub 7/2} level of an isolated Ir atom shifts from 56.367 eV to 60.332 eV by 3.965 eV upon bulk formation; (ii) the local energy density increases by up to 130% and the atomic cohesive energy decreases by 70% in the skin region compared with the bulk values. Numerical match to observation of the temperature dependent energy shift derives the Debye temperature that varies from 285.2 K (Surface) to 315.2 K (Bulk). We clarified that the shorter and stronger bonds between under-coordinated atoms cause local densification and quantum entrapment of electron binding energy, which perturbs the Hamiltonian and the core shifts in the skin region.

First principles and Debye model study of the thermodynamic, electronic and optical properties of MgO under high-temperature and pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Yurun; Li, Huayang; Wang, Hongjuan; He, Kaihua; Wang, Qingbo

2018-02-01

First principles and quasi-harmonic Debye model have been used to study the thermodynamic properties, enthalpies, electronic and optical properties of MgO up to the core-mantle boundary (CMB) condition (137 GPa and 3700 K). Thermodynamic properties calculation includes thermal expansion coefficient and capacity, which have been studied up to the CMB pressure (137 GPa) and temperature (3700 K) by the Debye model with generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and local-density approximation (LDA). First principles with hybrid functional method (PBE0) has been used to calculate the electronic and optical properties under pressure up to 137 GPa and 0 K. Our results show the Debye model with LDA and first principles with PBE0 can provide accurate thermodynamic properties, enthalpies, electronic and optical properties. Calculated enthalpies show that MgO keep NaCl (B1) structure up to 137 GPa. And MgO is a direct bandgap insulator with a 7.23 eV calculated bandgap. The bandgap increased with increasing pressure, which will induce a blue shift of optical properties. We also calculated the density of states (DOS) and discussed the relation between DOS and band, optical properties. Equations were used to fit the relations between pressure and bandgaps, absorption coefficient (α(ω)) of MgO. The equations can be used to evaluate pressure after careful calibration. Our calculations can not only be used to identify some geological processes, but also offer a reference to the applications of MgO in the future.

Debye potentials, electromagnetic reciprocity and impedance boundary conditions for efficient analytic approximation of coupling impedances in complex heterogeneous accelerator pipes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Petracca, S [Salerno Univ. (Italy)

1996-08-01

Debye potentials, the Lorentz reciprocity theorem, and (extended) Leontovich boundary conditions can be used to obtain simple and accurate analytic estimates of the longitudinal and transverse coupling impedances of (piecewise longitudinally uniform) multi-layered pipes with non simple transverse geometry and/or (spatially inhomogeneous) boundary conditions. (author)

X-ray absorption edges and E.X.A.F.S.: application to the study of electronic and atomic structures of titanium and vanadium carbides TiC(1-x) and VC(1-x)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moisy-Maurice, Virginie.

1980-09-01

This text presents a systematic study of the X-ray absorption fine structures evolution, at the K edge of titanium, with vacancy concentration in TiC(1-x). The absorption edges are situated in the 50 eV following the coefficient discontinuity: from the evaluation of their general aspect, it is deduced that the positive charge of titanium atoms decreases when vacancy concentration increases in TiC(1-x). This allowed us to determine the best band structure calculation model. The interpretation of EXAFS spectra (modulation of the absorption coefficient until 1500 eV above the edge) gives indications about the local atomic structure. Here, the contraction of the average titanium-carbon interatomic distances compared to the distances between crystallographic sites is of the order of the experimental resolution 0.02 A for Ti C(0.8). The study of the damping of the spectra in terms of Debye-Waller factors gave an evaluation of the relative static atomic mean square displacements between first neighbours. Last, it has been established that the disordering of vacancies in the order-disorder transition of V 8 C 7 is an atomic scale phenomenon [fr

Complete Quantum Control of a Single Silicon-Vacancy Center in a Diamond Nanopillar

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jingyuan Linda; Lagoudakis, Konstantinos G.; Tzeng, Yan-Kai; Dory, Constantin; Radulaski, Marina; Kelaita, Yousif; Shen, Zhi-Xun; Melosh, Nicholas A.; Chu, Steven; Vuckovic, Jelena

Coherent quantum control of a quantum bit (qubit) is an important step towards its use in a quantum network. SiV- center in diamond offers excellent physical qualities such as low inhomogeneous broadening, fast photon emission, and a large Debye-Waller factor, while the fast spin manipulation and techniques to extend the spin coherence time are under active investigation. Here, we demonstrate full coherent control over the state of a single SiV- center in a diamond nanopillar using ultrafast optical pulses. The high quality of the chemical vapor deposition grown SiV- centers allows us to coherently manipulate and quasi-resonantly read out the state of the single SiV- center. Moreover, the SiV- centers being coherently controlled are integrated into diamond nanopillar arrays in a site-controlled, individually addressable manner with high yield, low strain, and high spectral stability, which paves the way for scalable on chip optically accessible quantum system in a quantum photonic network. Financial support is provided by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences through Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515.

Size, shape, and diffusivity of a single Debye-Hückel polyelectrolyte chain in solution

Science.gov (United States)

Soysa, W. Chamath; Dünweg, B.; Prakash, J. Ravi

2015-08-01

Brownian dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained bead-spring chain model, with Debye-Hückel electrostatic interactions between the beads, are used to determine the root-mean-square end-to-end vector, the radius of gyration, and various shape functions (defined in terms of eigenvalues of the radius of gyration tensor) of a weakly charged polyelectrolyte chain in solution, in the limit of low polymer concentration. The long-time diffusivity is calculated from the mean square displacement of the centre of mass of the chain, with hydrodynamic interactions taken into account through the incorporation of the Rotne-Prager-Yamakawa tensor. Simulation results are interpreted in the light of the Odjik, Skolnick, Fixman, Khokhlov, and Khachaturian blob scaling theory (Everaers et al., Eur. Phys. J. E 8, 3 (2002)) which predicts that all solution properties are determined by just two scaling variables—the number of electrostatic blobs X and the reduced Debye screening length, Y. We identify three broad regimes, the ideal chain regime at small values of Y, the blob-pole regime at large values of Y, and the crossover regime at intermediate values of Y, within which the mean size, shape, and diffusivity exhibit characteristic behaviours. In particular, when simulation results are recast in terms of blob scaling variables, universal behaviour independent of the choice of bead-spring chain parameters, and the number of blobs X, is observed in the ideal chain regime and in much of the crossover regime, while the existence of logarithmic corrections to scaling in the blob-pole regime leads to non-universal behaviour.

Formation of Coulomb crystal in presence of attractive overlapping Debye sphere potential

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baruah, Swati; Das, Nilakshi

2011-01-01

The role of attractive overlapping Debye sphere (ODS) potential on dust crystal formation has been investigated by using molecular dynamics code. A comparative study on plasma crystal formation has been made between Yukawa and coupled Yukawa-ODS potential by calculating pair-correlation function, for different values of Coulomb coupling parameter Γ and screening parameter κ. From our study, it is seen that the attractive ODS potential becomes dominant beyond a critical radius than that of the Yukawa potential. This leads to the fact that the effect due to combined Yukawa-ODS potential depends more sensitively on κ. From the comparison of the results for Yukawa and ODS potential with experimental results, it is observed that a close agreement is obtained for attractive ODS potential.

Hopping model for the non-Debye dielectric response in ionic crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, J.C.; Bates, J.B.

1988-10-01

A model based on ion hopping in potential double-wells is proposed to explain the non-Debye dielectric response in solids. Relying on some assumptions, an attempt is made to remove the ''average'' nature of previous diffusion theories. This results in a distribution of activation energies, G(E), which decays exponentially on both sides of some given value E/sub o/. It is shown that the existence of a dielectric loss peak is a result of the decay of G(E) for E > E 0 the constant-phase-angle behavior above the loss peak is associated with the decay of G(E) for E 0 , and G(E) can produce all the main features of the empirical Havriliak-Negami function. An interesting property of this G(E) is that it broadens with increasing temperature, consistent with many experimental observations. 18 refs., 3 figs

Elasticity moduli, thermal expansion coefficients and Debye temperature of titanium alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beletskij, V.M.; Glej, V.A.; Maksimyuk, P.A.; Tabachnik, V.I.; Opanasenko, V.F.

1979-01-01

Studied are the characteristics of titanium alloys which reflect best the bonding forces for atoms in a crystal lattice: elastic modules, their temperature dependences, thermal expansion coefficient and Debye temperatures. For the increase of the accuracy of measuring modules and especially their changes with temperature an ultrasonic echo-impulse method of superposition has been used. The temperature dependences of Young modulus of the VT1-0, VT16 and VT22 titanium alloys are plotted. The Young module and its change with temperature depend on the content of alloying elements. The Young module decrease with temperature may be explained within the framework of the inharmonic effect theory. The analysis of the results obtained permits to suppose that alloying of titanium alloys with aluminium results in an interatomic interaction increase that may be one of the reasons of their strength increase

Total Ambient Dose Equivalent Buildup Factor Determination for Nbs04 Concrete.

Science.gov (United States)

Duckic, Paulina; Hayes, Robert B

2018-06-01

Buildup factors are dimensionless multiplicative factors required by the point kernel method to account for scattered radiation through a shielding material. The accuracy of the point kernel method is strongly affected by the correspondence of analyzed parameters to experimental configurations, which is attempted to be simplified here. The point kernel method has not been found to have widespread practical use for neutron shielding calculations due to the complex neutron transport behavior through shielding materials (i.e. the variety of interaction mechanisms that neutrons may undergo while traversing the shield) as well as non-linear neutron total cross section energy dependence. In this work, total ambient dose buildup factors for NBS04 concrete are calculated in terms of neutron and secondary gamma ray transmission factors. The neutron and secondary gamma ray transmission factors are calculated using MCNP6™ code with updated cross sections. Both transmission factors and buildup factors are given in a tabulated form. Practical use of neutron transmission and buildup factors warrants rigorously calculated results with all associated uncertainties. In this work, sensitivity analysis of neutron transmission factors and total buildup factors with varying water content has been conducted. The analysis showed significant impact of varying water content in concrete on both neutron transmission factors and total buildup factors. Finally, support vector regression, a machine learning technique, has been engaged to make a model based on the calculated data for calculation of the buildup factors. The developed model can predict most of the data with 20% relative error.

Non-equilibrium lattice dynamics of one-dimensional In chains on Si(111 upon ultrafast optical excitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. Frigge

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The photoinduced structural dynamics of the atomic wire system on the Si(111-In surface has been studied by ultrafast electron diffraction in reflection geometry. Upon intense fs-laser excitation, this system can be driven in around 1 ps from the insulating (8×2 reconstructed low temperature phase to a metastable metallic (4×1 reconstructed high temperature phase. Subsequent to the structural transition, the surface heats up on a 6 times slower timescale as determined from a transient Debye-Waller analysis of the diffraction spots. From a comparison with the structural response of the high temperature (4×1 phase, we conclude that electron-phonon coupling is responsible for the slow energy transfer from the excited electron system to the lattice. The significant difference in timescales is evidence that the photoinduced structural transition is non-thermally driven.

Integral Parameters of the Generalized Frequency Spectra of Moderators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Purohit, S N

1966-06-15

A study of the integral quantities - M{sub 2} (the second energy transfer moment of the scattering kernel weighted by the Maxwellian distribution), (v{sigma}{sub s}){sub min} (the minimum value of the scattering cross section times velocity) and the moments of frequency spectrum including the effective temperature and Debye-Waller integrals - in terms of the frequency spectrum of the dynamical modes is presented. Numerical results for H{sub 2}O, D{sub 2}O, Be, BeO and C using the available frequency spectra have been obtained. In the estimation of M{sub 2} and (v{sigma}{sub s}){sub min} the first term of the Placzek mass expansion is obtained exactly and the correction by the Doppler approximation method. In addition, the exact results for the Doppler approximation and the gas model have also been given.

Total-factor energy efficiency of regions in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu, J.-L.; Wang, S.-C.

2006-01-01

This paper analyzes energy efficiencies of 29 administrative regions in China for the period 1995-2002 with a newly introduced index. Most existing studies of regional productivity and efficiency neglect energy inputs. We use the data envelopment analysis (DEA) to find the target energy input of each region in China at each particular year. The index of total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) then divides the target energy input by the actual energy input. In our DEA model, labor, capital stock, energy consumption, and total sown area of farm crops used as a proxy of biomass energy are the four inputs and real GDP is the single output. The conventional energy productivity ratio regarded as a partial-factor energy efficiency index is computed for comparison in contrast to TFEE; our index is found fitting better to the real case. According to the TFEE index rankings, the central area of China has the worst energy efficiency and its total adjustmentof energy consumption amount is over half of China's total. Regional TFEE in China generally improved during the research period except for the western area. A U-shape relation between the area's TFEE and per capita income in the areas of China is found, confirming the scenario that energy efficiency eventually improves with economic growth

KEhD-1 Debye-Sherrar camera with a coordinate proportional counter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ageev, O.I.; Glazova, L.P.; Goganov, D.A.; Rejzis, B.M.; Syrkin, M.G.

1985-01-01

An arrangement of the KEhD-1 Debye-Sherrar camera, in which the advantages of a proportional counter are combined with the wide range of simultaneous image recording is described. The camera consists of an X-ray tube unit with the URS-0.1 source, a linear coordinate detector with resistive-capacity coding, a signal transducer and the MK-1 multichannel system for data acquisition and processing based on the ''Uskra-1256'' computer. The counting rate of X-ray pulses is > 5x10 4 s -1 , energy resolution for the CuKsub(α) line constitutes 20%, spatial resolution equals 150 μm, detection efficiency constitutes not less than 64%. The range of the detector displacement varies from -30 deg to +130 deg. The information obtained by means of the camera may be output to a display, a plotter, a numeric printer or a magnetic tape

Probing electronic phase transitions with phonons via inelastic neutron scattering: superconductivity in borocarbides, charge and magnetic order in manganites

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weber, F.

2007-11-02

the intrinsic phonon linewidth near the order wave vector of the short-range charge and orbital order present above T{sub C}. In an neutron powder diffraction measurement at the Hahn-Meitner Institut in Berlin, we investigated the temperature dependence of the anisotropic Debye-Waller factors of the oxygen atoms in La{sub 0.7}Sr{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3}. According to the present point of view, the sudden increase of the Debye-Waller factors at T{sub C} should be proportional to the strength of the colossal magnetoresistance effect. However, we found experimental values for La{sub 0.7}Sr{sub 0.3}MnO{sub 3}, which are in close vicinity or even bigger than values of compounds with a much stronger magnetoresistance effect. (orig.)

Probing electronic phase transitions with phonons via inelastic neutron scattering: superconductivity in borocarbides, charge and magnetic order in manganites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weber, F.

2007-01-01

wave vector of the short-range charge and orbital order present above T C . In an neutron powder diffraction measurement at the Hahn-Meitner Institut in Berlin, we investigated the temperature dependence of the anisotropic Debye-Waller factors of the oxygen atoms in La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 . According to the present point of view, the sudden increase of the Debye-Waller factors at T C should be proportional to the strength of the colossal magnetoresistance effect. However, we found experimental values for La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 , which are in close vicinity or even bigger than values of compounds with a much stronger magnetoresistance effect. (orig.)

Evaluation of the roughness of a crystal surface by X-ray scattering. Pt. 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harada, Jimpei

1992-01-01

The relationship between the intensity distributions of the crystal truncation rod (CTR) scattering and the surface roughness of a crystal is discussed by developing a kinematic theory for the CTR scattering so as to reflect the two-dimensional aspect of the surface. The intensity of the CTR scattering elongated from a Bragg point is shown to be reduced by a factor vertical strokeΓ(q)vertical stroke 2 for a surface possessing some roughness, where Γ(q) is defined by a simple Fourier summation of γ p , the relative area with the same step height p on a surface, i.e. Γ(q) = Σ ∞ p=o γ p exp (2πipq), with Σ p γ p = 1, q being the distance in reciprocal space from the Bragg point along the CTR scattering. A pair-correlation function between the steps can, therefore, be obtained by a simple Fourier integral of the roughness damping factor vertical strokeΓ(q)vertical stroke 2 . For the case where γ p has a Gaussian distribution around the average step height, vertical strokeΓ(q)vertical stroke 2 is approximated by the well known Debye-Waller-like factor, exp (K- 4π 2 (Δp 2 )q 2 ), where (Δp 2 ) is the mean square deviation of step height in units of the lattice spacing. The intensity formulae proposed so far by several authors are also discussed on the basis of the above factor. (orig.)

KLE Translog production function and total factor productivity

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Klacek, J.; Vošvrda, Miloslav; Schlosser, Š.

2007-01-01

Roč. 87, č. 4 (2007), s. 261-274 ISSN 0322-788X Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : total factor productivity * translog production function * aggregate production function * least squares method * ridge regression Subject RIV: AH - Economics

Juveniles' Miranda comprehension: Understanding, appreciation, and totality of circumstances factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zelle, Heather; Romaine, Christina L Riggs; Goldstein, Naomi E S

2015-06-01

This study examined juvenile justice-involved youths' understanding and appreciation of the Miranda warnings' rights to silence and legal counsel using the Miranda Rights Comprehension Instruments (Goldstein, Zelle, & Grisso, 2012). It also examined the relationships between totality of circumstances factors and understanding and appreciation of rights. Data were collected from 183 youths (140 boys) in pre- and postadjudication facilities in 2 states. Overall, youths demonstrated greater difficulty on measures of appreciation than understanding, with particular deficits in their abilities to comprehend the abstract concept of the right to silence. Results varied slightly by instrument, highlighting the importance of a multimodal assessment of these complex abilities. Examination of totality of circumstances factors identified relationships between some factors (e.g., age, verbal IQ, academic achievement) and Miranda comprehension, but revealed that other factors (e.g., gender, number of previous arrests) were not significantly related to Miranda understanding or appreciation. The findings support a nuanced conceptualization of Miranda rights comprehension that acknowledges the complexity of understanding and appreciating the warnings. Empirical analyses also support the continued use of some totality of circumstances factors and abandonment of others. Findings underscore the necessity of multimodal assessment and interpretation when conducting capacity to waive Miranda rights evaluations. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Risk factors for total hip arthroplasty aseptic revision.

Science.gov (United States)

Khatod, Monti; Cafri, Guy; Namba, Robert S; Inacio, Maria C S; Paxton, Elizabeth W

2014-07-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate patient, operative, implant, surgeon, and hospital factors associated with aseptic revision after primary THA in patients registered in a large US Total Joint Replacement Registry. A total of 35,960 THAs registered from 4/2001-12/2010 were evaluated. The 8-year survival rate was 96.7% (95% CI 96.4%-97.0%). Females had a higher risk of aseptic revision than males. Hispanic and Asian patients had a lower risk of revision than white patients. Ceramic-on-ceramic, ceramic-on-conventional polyethylene, and metal-on-conventional polyethylene bearing surfaces had a higher risk of revision than metal-on-highly cross-linked polyethylene. Body mass index, health status, diabetes, diagnosis, fixation, approach, bilateral procedures, head size, surgeon fellowship training, surgeon and hospital volume were not revision risk factors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Accounting for Debye sheath expansion for proud Langmuir probes in magnetic confinement fusion plasmas.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsui, C K; Boedo, J A; Stangeby, P C

2018-01-01

A Child-Langmuir law-based method for accounting for Debye sheath expansion while fitting the current-voltage I-V characteristic of proud Langmuir probes (electrodes that extend into the volume of the plasma) is described. For Langmuir probes of a typical size used in tokamak plasmas, these new estimates of electron temperature and ion saturation current density values decreased by up to 60% compared to methods that did not account for sheath expansion. Changes to the collection area are modeled using the Child-Langmuir law and effective expansion perimeter l p , and the model is thus referred to as the "perimeter sheath expansion method." l p is determined solely from electrode geometry, so the method may be employed without prior measurement of the magnitude of the sheath expansion effects for a given Langmuir probe and can be used for electrodes of different geometries. This method correctly predicts the non-saturating ΔI/ΔV slope for cold, low-density plasmas where sheath-expansion effects are strong, as well as for hot plasmas where ΔI/ΔV ∼ 0, though it is shown that the sheath can still significantly affect the collection area in these hot conditions. The perimeter sheath expansion method has several advantages compared to methods where the non-saturating current is fitted: (1) It is more resilient to scatter in the I-V characteristics observed in turbulent plasmas. (2) It is able to separate the contributions to the ΔI/ΔV slope from sheath expansion to that of the high energy electron tail in high Te conditions. (3) It calculates the change in the collection area due to the Debye sheath for conditions where ΔI/ΔV ∼ 0 and for V = V f .

The Debye light scattering equation’s scaling relation reveals the purity of synthetic dendrimers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tseng, Hui-Yu; Chen, Hsiao-Ping [National Chung Cheng University, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (China); Tang, Yi-Hsuan [Kaohsiung Medical University, Department of Medicinal and Applied Chemistry (China); Chen, Hui-Ting [Kaohsiung Medical University, Department of Fragrance and Cosmetic Science (China); Kao, Chai-Lin, E-mail: clkao@kmu.edu.tw [Kaohsiung Medical University, Department of Medicinal and Applied Chemistry (China); Wang, Shau-Chun, E-mail: chescw@ccu.edu.tw [National Chung Cheng University, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (China)

2016-03-15

Spherical dendrimer structures cannot be structurally modeled using conventional polymer models of random coil or rod-like configurations during the calibration of the static light scattering (LS) detectors used to determine the molecular weight (M.W.) of a dendrimer or directly assess the purity of a synthetic compound. In this paper, we used the Debye equation-based scaling relation, which predicts that the static LS intensity per unit concentration is linearly proportional to the M.W. of a synthetic dendrimer in a dilute solution, as a tool to examine the purity of high-generational compounds and to monitor the progress of dendrimer preparations. Without using expensive equipment, such as nuclear magnetic resonance or mass spectrometry, this method only required an affordable flow injection set-up with an LS detector. Solutions of the purified dendrimers, including the poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer and its fourth to seventh generation pyridine derivatives with size range of 5–9 nm, were used to establish the scaling relation with high linearity. The use of artificially impure mixtures of six or seven generations revealed significant deviations from linearity. The raw synthesized products of the pyridine-modified PAMAM dendrimer, which included incompletely reacted dendrimers, were also examined to gauge the reaction progress. As a reaction toward a particular generational derivative of the PAMAM dendrimers proceeded over time, deviations from the linear scaling relation decreased. The difference between the polydispersity index of the incompletely converted products and that of the pure compounds was only about 0.01. The use of the Debye equation-based scaling relation, therefore, is much more useful than the polydispersity index for monitoring conversion processes toward an indicated functionality number in a given preparation.Graphical abstract.

The Debye light scattering equation’s scaling relation reveals the purity of synthetic dendrimers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tseng, Hui-Yu; Chen, Hsiao-Ping; Tang, Yi-Hsuan; Chen, Hui-Ting; Kao, Chai-Lin; Wang, Shau-Chun

2016-01-01

Spherical dendrimer structures cannot be structurally modeled using conventional polymer models of random coil or rod-like configurations during the calibration of the static light scattering (LS) detectors used to determine the molecular weight (M.W.) of a dendrimer or directly assess the purity of a synthetic compound. In this paper, we used the Debye equation-based scaling relation, which predicts that the static LS intensity per unit concentration is linearly proportional to the M.W. of a synthetic dendrimer in a dilute solution, as a tool to examine the purity of high-generational compounds and to monitor the progress of dendrimer preparations. Without using expensive equipment, such as nuclear magnetic resonance or mass spectrometry, this method only required an affordable flow injection set-up with an LS detector. Solutions of the purified dendrimers, including the poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer and its fourth to seventh generation pyridine derivatives with size range of 5–9 nm, were used to establish the scaling relation with high linearity. The use of artificially impure mixtures of six or seven generations revealed significant deviations from linearity. The raw synthesized products of the pyridine-modified PAMAM dendrimer, which included incompletely reacted dendrimers, were also examined to gauge the reaction progress. As a reaction toward a particular generational derivative of the PAMAM dendrimers proceeded over time, deviations from the linear scaling relation decreased. The difference between the polydispersity index of the incompletely converted products and that of the pure compounds was only about 0.01. The use of the Debye equation-based scaling relation, therefore, is much more useful than the polydispersity index for monitoring conversion processes toward an indicated functionality number in a given preparation.Graphical abstract

Incidental Parathyroidectomy during Total Thyroidectomy: Risk Factors and Consequences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dimitrios K. Manatakis

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. To evaluate the incidence of accidental parathyroidectomy in our series of total thyroidectomies, to investigate its clinical and biochemical consequences, and to identify potential risk factors. Methods. Patients who underwent total thyroidectomy between January 2006 and December 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Pathology reports were reviewed to identify those cases who had an incidental parathyroidectomy and these were compared to patients with no parathyroidectomy, in terms of clinical (age, sex, and symptoms of hypocalcemia, pathological (thyroid specimen weight, Hashimoto thyroiditis, and malignancy, and biochemical (serum calcium and phosphate levels factors. Results. 281 patients underwent total thyroidectomy during the study period. Incidental parathyroidectomy was noticed in 24.9% of cases, with 44.3% of parathyroid glands found in an intrathyroidal location. Evidence of postoperative biochemical hypocalcemia was noticed in 28.6% of patients with parathyroidectomy, compared with 13.3% in the no-parathyroidectomy group (p=0.003. Symptomatic hypocalcemia was observed in 5.7% and 3.8%, respectively (p=0.49. Age, sex, thyroid specimen weight, Hashimoto thyroiditis, and malignancy did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusions. Our study found an association of incidental parathyroidectomy with transient postoperative biochemical hypocalcemia, but not with clinically symptomatic disease. Age, sex, thyroid gland weight, Hashimoto thyroiditis, and malignancy were not identified as risk factors.

Experimental Confirmation of Stable, Small-Debye-Length, Pure-Electron-Plasma Equilibria in a Stellarator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kremer, J. P.; Pedersen, T. Sunn; Lefrancois, R. G.; Marksteiner, Q.

2006-01-01

The creation of the first small-Debye length, low temperature pure electron plasmas in a stellarator is reported. A confinement time of 20 ms has been measured. The long confinement time implies the existence of macroscopically stable equilibria and that the single particle orbits are well confined despite the lack of quasisymmetry in the device, the Columbia non-neutral torus. This confirms the beneficial confinement effects of strong electric fields and the resulting rapid ExB rotation of the electrons. The particle confinement time is presently limited by the presence of bulk insulating materials in the plasma, rather than any intrinsic plasma transport processes. A nearly flat temperature profile is seen in the inner part of the plasma

Experimental confirmation of stable, small-debye-length, pure-electron-plasma equilibria in a stellarator.

Science.gov (United States)

Kremer, J P; Pedersen, T Sunn; Lefrancois, R G; Marksteiner, Q

2006-09-01

The creation of the first small-Debye length, low temperature pure electron plasmas in a stellarator is reported. A confinement time of 20 ms has been measured. The long confinement time implies the existence of macroscopically stable equilibria and that the single particle orbits are well confined despite the lack of quasisymmetry in the device, the Columbia non-neutral torus. This confirms the beneficial confinement effects of strong electric fields and the resulting rapid E x B rotation of the electrons. The particle confinement time is presently limited by the presence of bulk insulating materials in the plasma, rather than any intrinsic plasma transport processes. A nearly flat temperature profile is seen in the inner part of the plasma.

Disorder in Protein Crystals.

Science.gov (United States)

Clarage, James Braun, II

1990-01-01

Methods have been developed for analyzing the diffuse x-ray scattering in the halos about a crystal's Bragg reflections as a means of determining correlations in atomic displacements in protein crystals. The diffuse intensity distribution for rhombohedral insulin, tetragonal lysozyme, and triclinic lysozyme crystals was best simulated in terms of exponential displacement correlation functions. About 90% of the disorder can be accounted for by internal movements correlated with a decay distance of about 6A; the remaining 10% corresponds to intermolecular movements that decay in a distance the order of size of the protein molecule. The results demonstrate that protein crystals fit into neither the Einstein nor the Debye paradigms for thermally fluctuating crystalline solids. Unlike the Einstein model, there are correlations in the atomic displacements, but these correlations decay more steeply with distance than predicted by the Debye-Waller model for an elastic solid. The observed displacement correlations are liquid -like in the sense that they decay exponentially with the distance between atoms, just as positional correlations in a liquid. This liquid-like disorder is similar to the disorder observed in 2-D crystals of polystyrene latex spheres, and similar systems where repulsive interactions dominate; hence, these colloidal crystals appear to provide a better analogy for the dynamics of protein crystals than perfectly elastic lattices.

AN ASSESSMENT OF TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dana GÂRDU

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The high performing East Asian development model sparked controversies in the academia: its success was ascribed alternatively to nation-states, markets, and sociocultural factors. This paper undertakes a comparative assessment of the last two generations of submodels, i.e. ASEAN-4 and China, by quantifying and interpreting their total factor productivity (TFP using the Solow Model. Results show that capital accumulation was their major growth driver before the beginning of the millennium. Subsequently growth is led by technical change in ASEAN-32, and capital inputs respectively in late industrialising economies, i.e., China and the Philippines. The main differences between the two submodels consist in levels in growth rates and technical progress contributions, which are strongly sped up in China by transition and integration in global production networks. For ASEAN-4 average null or negligible TFP values in the 1990s point to structural vulnerabilities that surface during the Asian financial crisis. ASEAN-3’s recovery is led by technical change though.

Original Article Blood Loss and Influencing Factors in Primary Total ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

KIGZ

aid the surgeon in the African region estimate the expected blood loss after total hip replacement. We conducted a study to quantify the blood loss following total hip arthroplasty and to determine the factors .... Hemoglobin European Overview (OSTHEO) study: blood management in elective knee and hip arthroplasty in ...

Tunneling effects in electromagnetic wave scattering by nonspherical particles: A comparison of the Debye series and physical-geometric optics approximations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bi, Lei; Yang, Ping

2016-01-01

The accuracy of the physical-geometric optics (PG-O) approximation is examined for the simulation of electromagnetic scattering by nonspherical dielectric particles. This study seeks a better understanding of the tunneling effect on the phase matrix by employing the invariant imbedding method to rigorously compute the zeroth-order Debye series, from which the tunneling efficiency and the phase matrix corresponding to the diffraction and external reflection are obtained. The tunneling efficiency is shown to be a factor quantifying the relative importance of the tunneling effect over the Fraunhofer diffraction near the forward scattering direction. Due to the tunneling effect, different geometries with the same projected cross section might have different diffraction patterns, which are traditionally assumed to be identical according to the Babinet principle. For particles with a fixed orientation, the PG-O approximation yields the external reflection pattern with reasonable accuracy, but ordinarily fails to predict the locations of peaks and minima in the diffraction pattern. The larger the tunneling efficiency, the worse the PG-O accuracy is at scattering angles less than 90°. If the particles are assumed to be randomly oriented, the PG-O approximation yields the phase matrix close to the rigorous counterpart, primarily due to error cancellations in the orientation-average process. Furthermore, the PG-O approximation based on an electric field volume-integral equation is shown to usually be much more accurate than the Kirchhoff surface integral equation at side-scattering angles, particularly when the modulus of the complex refractive index is close to unity. Finally, tunneling efficiencies are tabulated for representative faceted particles. - Highlights: • Concepts of diffraction, reflection and tunneling are refined. • The diffraction together with reflection is rigorously treated. • An improved invariant imbedding method is employed to compute the Debye

Compliance of the Stokes-Einstein model and breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein-Debye model for a urea-based supramolecular polymer of high viscosity.

Science.gov (United States)

Świergiel, Jolanta; Bouteiller, Laurent; Jadżyn, Jan

2014-11-14

Impedance spectroscopy was used for the study of the static and dynamic behavior of the electrical conductivity of a hydrogen-bonded supramolecular polymer of high viscosity. The experimental data are discussed in the frame of the Stokes-Einstein and Stokes-Einstein-Debye models. It was found that the translational movement of the ions is due to normal Brownian diffusion, which was revealed by a fulfillment of Ohm's law by the electric current and a strictly exponential decay of the current after removing the electric stimulus. The dependence of the dc conductivity on the viscosity of the medium fulfills the Stokes-Einstein model quite well. An extension of the model, by including in it the conductivity relaxation time, is proposed in this paper. A breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein-Debye model is revealed by the relations of the dipolar relaxation time to the viscosity and to the dc ionic conductivity. The importance of the C=O···H-N hydrogen bonds in that breakdown is discussed.

Local Structure of Mn in (La1-xHox)2/3Ca1/3MnO3 Studied by X-ray Absorption Fine Structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pietnoczka, A.; Bacewicz, R.; Antonowicz, J.; Zalewski, W.; Pekala, M.; Drozd, V.; Fagnard, J.F.; Vanderbemden, P.

2010-01-01

Results of X-ray absorption fine structure measurements in manganites (La 1-x Ho x ) 2/3 Ca 1/3 MnO 3 with 0.15 3 is doped with a divalent element such as Ca 2+ , substituting for La 3+ , holes are induced in the filled Mn d orbitals. This leads to a strong ferromagnetic coupling between Mn sites. Ca ions in La 1-x Ca x MnO 3 introduce a distortion of the crystal lattice and mixed valence Mn ions (Mn 3+ and Mn 4+ ). On the other hand, in manganites (La 1-x Ho x ) 2/3 Ca 1/3 MnO 3 the substitution of La for Ho causes a lattice distortion and induces a disorder, which reduces a magnetic interaction. The ferromagnetic transition temperature and conductivity decrease very quickly with increasing x. The magnetic and transport properties of compounds depend on the local atomic structure around Mn ions. The information on the bond lengths and Debye-Waller factor are obtained from the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) data analysis. The charge state of Mn is determined from the position of the absorption edge in X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) data. XAFS results are in good agreement with magnetic characteristics of the studied materials. (authors)

Structural and lattice dynamics studies of microcrystals by means of the Moessbauer effect spectroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pasternak, M.

1978-05-01

Moessbauer studies on 129 I, 57 Fe and 119 Sn were conducted in several disordered and microscopic systems in order to investigate properties of lattice dynamics, chemical bonding and phase transitions. The project included the following studies: (1) Granular crystals of Sn embedded in tin-oxide matrix; the nature of the superconductivity transition of very small grains of tin was investigated. (2) Lattice dynamics and characterization of amorphous tin oxide obtained by condensing atoms of Sn and O 2 gas on a 77 K substrate. The hyperfine interaction and the temperature dependence of the Debye-Waller factor were essential to determine the structure of the amorphous tin oxide. (3) The nature of the chemical bond of the alkaly halides ionic crystals and molecules; molecules of Li, Na, K, Rb and Cs iodides were trapped in agron matrices, and the isomer-shift values were obtained from absorption spectra. (4) Binding of single iron and tin atoms to CH 4 , NH 3 , H 2 and C 6 H 6 molecules, with samples at low temperatures between 2 and 77 K; conclusions were derived regarding the cryochemistry of these systems, as related to fundamental problems of catalysis, chemisorption and ''cracking'' of organic molecules

Study of the diffusion movements of water by quasi-elastic scattering of slow neutrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamazaki, Ione Makiko

1980-01-01

The diffusion movements of water at three different temperatures in the liquid state have been studied by slow neutron quasi-elastic scattering. The measurements have been performed using the IPEN Triple Axis Spectrometer. Broadening and integrated intensity of the quasi-elastic line have been determined for several momentum transfer (K) in the range 0,7627 ≤ K ≤ 2,993 A -1 . The broadening of the quasi-elastic peaks as function of momentum transfer (K) observed at various temperatures has been interpreted in terms of globular diffusion models. The results obtained at 30 deg C have been explained in a consistent way considering the translational and rotational globular diffusion movements. To describe the results obtained at 55 deg and 70 deg C only the translational globular diffusion model was sufficient. This analysis indicates the existence in water of globules with distance of the farest proton position to the center of gravity of the globule 4,5 A, corroborating the idea of quasi-crystalline structure for water. The Debye-Waller factor has been obtained through the analysis of the integrated intensity of quasi-elastic scattering peaks over the K 2 measured range. From this analysis an estimative of the mean square displacement was obtained. (author)

Plasticization effect of C60 on the fast dynamics of polystyrene and related polymers: an incoherent neutron scattering study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanz, Alejandro; Ruppel, Markus; Cabral, Joao T; Douglas, Jack F

2008-01-01

We utilize inelastic incoherent neutron scattering (INS) to quantify how fullerenes affect the 'fast' molecular dynamics of a family of polystyrene related macromolecules. In particular, we prepared bulk nanocomposites of (hydrogenous and ring-deuterated) polystyrene and poly(4-methyl styrene) using a rapid precipitation method where the C 60 relative mass fraction ranged from 0% to 4%. Elastic window scan measurements, using a high resolution (0.9 μeV) backscattering spectrometer, are reported over a wide temperature range (2-450 K). Apparent Debye-Waller (DW) factors 2 >, characterizing the mean-square amplitude of proton displacements, are determined as a function of temperature, T. We find that the addition of C 60 to these polymers leads to a progressive increase in 2 > relative to the pure polymer value over the entire temperature range investigated, where the effect is larger for larger nanoparticle concentration. This general trend seems to indicate that the C 60 nanoparticles plasticize the fast (∼10 -15 s) local (∼1 A) dynamics of these polymer glasses. Generally, we expect nanoparticle additives to affect polymer dynamics in a similar fashion to thin films in the sense that the high interfacial area may cause both a speeding up and slowing down of the glass state dynamics depending on the polymer-surface interaction

Inelastic scattering in condensed matter with high intensity Mossbauer radiation: Progress report, March 1, 1985-October 31, 1987

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yelon, W.B.; Schupp, G.

1987-10-01

A facility for high intensity Moessbauer scattering has been commissioned at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) as well as a facility at Purdue University using special isotopes produced at MURR. A number of scattering studies have been successfully carried out, including a study of the thermal diffuse scattering in Si, which led to an analysis of the resolution function for gamma-ray scattering. Also studied was the anharmonic motion in Na and the satellite reflection Debye-Waller factor in TaS 2 which indicates phason rather than phonon behavior. High precision, fundamental Moessbauer effect studies have also been carried out using scattering to filter unwanted radiation. These have led to a new Fourier transform method for describing Moessbauer effect (ME) lineshape. This method allows complete correction for source resonance self-absorption (SRSA) and the accurate representation of interference effects that add an asymmetric component to the ME lines. This analysis is important to both the funadmental ME studies and to scattering studies for which a deconvolution is essential for extracting the correct elastic fractions and lineshape parameters. These advances, coupled to our improvements in MIcrofoil Conversion Electron (MICE) spectroscopy, lay the foundation for the proposed research outlined in this request for a three-year renewal of DOE support

Regional economic development in Europe : the role of total factor productivity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beugelsdijk, Sjoerd; Klasing, Mariko J.; Milionis, Petros

2018-01-01

Regional economic development in Europe: the role of total factor productivity. Regional Studies. This paper documents the fact that the large and persistent differences in economic development across subnational regions in European Union countries can largely be attributed to differences in total

The large Debye-Scherrer camera installed at SPring-8 BL02B2 for charge density studies

CERN Document Server

Nishibori, E; Kato, K; Sakata, M; Kubota, Y; Aoyagi, S; Kuroiwa, Y; Yamakata, M; Ikeda, N

2001-01-01

The design and performance of a large Debye-Scherrer Camera with imaging plate (IP) as a detector, which was very recently installed at SPring-8, BL02B2, is reported. By taking advantage of high beam quality of SPring-8, the camera enables one a rapid collection of a high counting statistics and high angular resolution powder pattern, which can lead to accurate structure analyses. The camera also provides easy access to structural changes at varied temperatures between 15-1000 K. The camera provides a rapid and accurate powder diffraction system utilizing third generation SR.

Multiscale virtual particle based elastic network model (MVP-ENM) for normal mode analysis of large-sized biomolecules.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Kelin

2017-12-20

In this paper, a multiscale virtual particle based elastic network model (MVP-ENM) is proposed for the normal mode analysis of large-sized biomolecules. The multiscale virtual particle (MVP) model is proposed for the discretization of biomolecular density data. With this model, large-sized biomolecular structures can be coarse-grained into virtual particles such that a balance between model accuracy and computational cost can be achieved. An elastic network is constructed by assuming "connections" between virtual particles. The connection is described by a special harmonic potential function, which considers the influence from both the mass distributions and distance relations of the virtual particles. Two independent models, i.e., the multiscale virtual particle based Gaussian network model (MVP-GNM) and the multiscale virtual particle based anisotropic network model (MVP-ANM), are proposed. It has been found that in the Debye-Waller factor (B-factor) prediction, the results from our MVP-GNM with a high resolution are as good as the ones from GNM. Even with low resolutions, our MVP-GNM can still capture the global behavior of the B-factor very well with mismatches predominantly from the regions with large B-factor values. Further, it has been demonstrated that the low-frequency eigenmodes from our MVP-ANM are highly consistent with the ones from ANM even with very low resolutions and a coarse grid. Finally, the great advantage of MVP-ANM model for large-sized biomolecules has been demonstrated by using two poliovirus virus structures. The paper ends with a conclusion.

Cirrhosis is a risk factor for total hip arthroplasty for avascular necrosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Deleuran, Thomas; Overgaard, Søren; Vilstrup, Hendrik

2016-01-01

Background and purpose - There are limited data on risk factors for avascular necrosis of the hip, but cirrhosis has been proposed as a risk factor. We examined the association between cirrhosis and incidence of total hip arthroplasty for avascular necrosis. Methods - We used nationwide healthcare......,052 reference individuals. Their median age was 57 years, and 65% were men. 45 cirrhosis patients and 44 reference individuals underwent total hip arthroplasty for avascular necrosis. Cirrhosis patients' HR for a total hip arthroplasty for avascular necrosis was 10 (95% CI: 6-17), yet their 5-year risk...... of avascular necrosis was only 0.2%. For the reference individuals, the 5-year risk was 0.02%. Interpretation - Cirrhosis is a strong risk factor for avascular necrosis of the hip, but it is rare even in cirrhosis patients....

Picosecond electron probe for direct investigation of lattice temperature and structural phase transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mourou, G.; Williamson, S.

1985-01-01

The authors have directly observed the laser-induced melt metamorphosis of thin aluminum films. The time required for the melt to evolve is dependent on the degree to which the Al specimen is superheated. The temperature of this superheated state can also be monitored on the picosecond time scale. The picosecond electron probe not only reveals information about the structure of a material but also about the lattice temperature. The change in lattice parameter that is observed as a shift in diffracted ring diameter is directly related to the thermal expansion coefficient. Also, based on the Debye-Waller effect, a reduction in the intensity of the diffraction rings can be observed due to increased lattice vibration. Presently, a 1-kHz-1-mJ/pulse Nd:YAG laser is being used to measure the temperature overshoot of laser-induced Al films. The high repetition rate permits signal averaging to be employed thereby increasing the sensitivity of the thermometric technique

High-pressure and high-temperature physical properties of half-metallic full-Heusler alloy Mn{sub 2}RuSi by first-principles and quasi-harmonic Debye model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Ting [State Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing and Recycling of Non-ferrous Metals, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050 (China); School of Mathematics and Physics, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070 (China); Ma, Qin, E-mail: maqin_lut@yeah.net [State Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing and Recycling of Non-ferrous Metals, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050 (China); Sun, Xiao-Wei [School of Mathematics and Physics, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070 (China); Liu, Zi-Jiang [School of Mathematics and Physics, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070 (China); Department of Physics, Lanzhou City University, Lanzhou 730070 (China); Wei, Xiao-Ping [School of Mathematics and Physics, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070 (China); Tian, Jun-Hong [School of Mathematics and Physics, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070 (China); Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065 (China)

2017-02-15

First-principles calculations based on density functional theory and quasi-harmonic Debye model are used to investigate the high-pressure and high-temperature physical properties, including the lattice constant, magnetic moment, density of states, pressure-volume-temperature relationship, bulk modulus, thermal expansivity, heat capacity, and Grüneisen parameter for the new Mn-based full-Heusler alloy Mn{sub 2}RuSi in CuHg{sub 2}Ti-type structure. The optimized equilibrium lattice constant is consistent with experimental and other theoretical results. The calculated total spin magnetic moment remains an integral value of 2.0 μ{sub B} in the lattice constant range of 5.454–5.758 Å, and then decreases very slowly with the decrease of lattice constant to 5.333 Å. By the spin resolved density of states calculations, we have shown that Mn{sub 2}RuSi compound presents half-metallic ferrimagnetic properties under the equilibrium lattice constant. The effects of temperature and pressure on bulk modulus, thermal expansivity, heat capacity, and Grüneisen parameter are opposite, which are consistent with a compression rate of volume. Furthermore, the results show that the effect of temperature is larger than pressure for heat capacity and the effect of high temperature and pressure on thermal expansion coefficient is small. All the properties of Mn{sub 2}RuSi alloy are summarized in the pressure range of 0–100 GPa and the temperature up to 1200 K. - Highlights: • High-pressure and high-temperature physical properties of Mn2RuSi were investigated. • Ferrimagnetic ground state has been confirmed in Mn2RuSi alloy. • The first-principle calculations and quasi-harmonic Debye model were used. • The pressure up to 100 GPa and the temperature up to 1200 K.

Thermal expansion behaviors of Li{sub 3}AsW{sub 7}O{sub 25}. A case study for comparative Debye temperature for a large polyatomic unit cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mangir Murshed, M.; Gesing, Thorsten M. [Solid State Chemical Crystallography, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Crystallography, University of Bremen (Germany); MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes, University of Bremen (Germany); Zhao, Pei [Solid State Chemical Crystallography, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Crystallography, University of Bremen (Germany); Huq, Ashfia [Chemical and Engineering Materials Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2018-03-01

The thermal expansion behavior of Li{sub 3}AsW{sub 7}O{sub 25} has been studied. The temperature-dependent development of crystal structural parameters was obtained from Rietveld refinement using neutron time of flight powder diffraction data. Modeling of the lattice thermal expansion was carried out using a Grueneisen first-order approximation for the zero-pressure equation of state, where the temperature-dependent vibrational energy was calculated taking the Debye-Einstein-Anharmonicity approach. Temperature-dependent Raman spectra shed light on some selective modes with unusual anharmonicity. Debye temperatures were calculated using three different theoretical approaches, namely, thermal expansion, mean-squared isotropic atomic displacement parameter and heat capacity. Similarities as well as discrepancies between the numerical values obtained from different theoretical approaches are discussed. (copyright 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Total Factor Productivity Convergence in Africa: Panel Unit Root ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study tested absolute and conditional convergence of Total Factor Productivity in Africa using a sample of 23 countries and TFP data covering the period between 1960 and 2003 while deploying the panel unit root methodology. Countries that have experienced sustained economic growth rate are found to have ...

Risk factors for postoperative complications after total laryngectomy following radiotherapy or chemoradiation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wulff, N B; Kristensen, C.A.; Andersen, E

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To determine the rates of and risk factors for postoperative complications following total laryngectomy in patients treated with radiotherapy or chemoradiation. DESIGN: Retrospective longitudinal study. SETTING: Tertiary medical centres. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 143 patients undergoin...

Prognostic factors for survival after salvage total laryngectomy following radiotherapy or chemoradiation failure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wulff, N B; Andersen, E; Kristensen, C A

2017-01-01

with higher N classification and need for lymph node excision during salvage total laryngectomy along with use of frozen sections. The high number of patients with recurrence within 1 year after salvage total laryngectomy occurred although thorough and regular follow-up visits were performed.......OBJECTIVE: The primary aims were to determine the rates of and prognostic factors for overall survival, disease-specific survival and disease-free survival following salvage total laryngectomy. DESIGN: Retrospective longitudinal study. SETTING: Tertiary medical centres. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 142...... survival, disease-specific survival and disease-free survival were 37.7%, 54.9% and 55.3%, respectively. N classification at primary diagnosis, lymph node excision and postoperative complications within 1 year after salvage total laryngectomy were prognostic factors for shorter overall survival, disease...

Trends in hospital labor and total factor productivity, 1981-86

Science.gov (United States)

Cromwell, Jerry; Pope, Gregory C.

1989-01-01

The per-case payment rates of Medicare's prospective payment system are annually updated. As one element of the update factor, Congress required consideration of changes in hospital productivity. In this article, calculations of annual changes in labor and total factor productivity during 1981-86 of hospitals eligible for prospective payment are presented using several output and input variants. Generally, productivity has declined since 1980, although the rates of decline have slowed since prospective payment implementation. According to the series of analyses most relevant for policy, significant hospital productivity gains occurred during 1983-86. This may justify a lower update factor. PMID:10313278

Investigation of ultrafast lattice heating in thin (semi-)metal films using time-resolved electron diffraction; Untersuchung der schnellen Gitteraufheizung in duennen (Halb-)Metallfilmen mit Hilfe zeitaufgeloester Elektronenbeugung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ligges, Manuel

2009-07-21

In the framework of the present thesis the fast lattice heating in thin metal and bismuth layers after optical short-pulse excitation was studied. By irradiation of ultrathin solid films with ultrashort (femtosecond) laser pulses for sort times an extreme nonequilibrium state occurs: The electronic system is strongly excited, while the lattice system remains cold. An energetic exchange between both systems follows, which is based on the electron-phonon interaction and leads to heating of the lattice system. This lattice heating can be observed by means of the Debye-Waller effect in the electron diffraction image. By means of the excitation-interrogation scheme by a series of moment records this lattice heating can be observed time-resolvedly. The experimentally determind time scales for this process permit conclusions on the electron-phonon coupling in the studied materials. In this thesis a time-resolving transmissi9on-electron diffraction experiment with sub-picosecond time resolution was constructed and optimized. By means of this experiment the fast lattice heating in thin gold, silver, copper, and bismuth films was studied. The observed heating behaviour of the metal films shows agreement with theoretical predictions of different model calculations. The results of the measurements on bismuth films show a hitherto not observed coupling behaviour. [German] Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die schnelle Gitteraufheizung in duennen Metall- und Wismutschichten nach optischer Kurzimpulsanregung untersucht. Durch Bestrahlung duenner Festkoerperfilme mit ultrakurzen (Femtosekunden-) Laserimpulsen entsteht fuer kurze Zeiten ein extremer Nichtgleichgewichtszustand: Das elektronische System wird stark angeregt, waehrend das Gittersystem kalt bleibt. Es folgt ein energetischer Austausch zwischen beiden Systemen, der auf der Elektron-Phonon-Wechselwirkung beruht und zur Aufheizung des Gittersystems fuehrt. Diese Gitteraufheizung kann anhand des Debye-Waller

Total Factor Productivity, Demographic Traits and ICT: Empirical Analysis for Asia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bilal MEHMOOD

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper advances a model to explain the total factor productivity in Asian countries, most of which are labor surplus and are endowed with substantial human capital. Such promising demographic potentials are considered as complementary factors to use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT. Population with such favorable demographic traits and access to ICT results in higher Total factor productivity (TFP. We call this as Demo-Tech-TFP Model and is tested by using data for 2000-2010 of 24 Asian countries. Econometric concerns like presence of endogenous and/or predetermined covariates and small time-series and cross-sectional dimensions of panel dataset are tackled by using System Generalized Method of Moments (SYS-GMM. Results show considerable support for the Demo-Tech-TFP hypothesis. Need is to design such models that suit the local demography and patterns of technological diffusion currently taking place in developing countries.

Electron density distribution in ferromagnetic nickel: A γ -ray diffraction study

Science.gov (United States)

Jauch, W.; Reehuis, M.

2008-12-01

High-accuracy single-crystal structure factors, complete up to sinθ/λ=1.9Å-1 , have been measured from ferromagnetic nickel at 295 K using 316.5-keV gamma radiation. The experimental uncertainty of the structure factors is of the order of 10 millielectrons per atom for all data. A detailed description of the electron density distribution is presented in terms of a multipolar atomic deformation model. Achievement of a reliable Debye-Waller factor is of vital importance in this context. The charge asphericity is due to an excess eg orbital occupancy of 43.4(2)%. The 3d shell in the metal is contracted by 2.07(5)% relative to the free atom. The results are discussed and compared with earlier experimental and theoretical works. In contrast to bcc Cr and Fe, solid-state effects are less pronounced in fcc Ni. Clear disentanglement between the 3d and 4s valence electrons could be accomplished for the first time. The general expectation that the number of 3d electrons in the metal should be increased as compared to the atom was confirmed in the case of iron by combining spin and charge-density data. In the case of nickel, it is rejected as revealed by the γ -ray data alone. Only with the d8 configuration, consistency is achieved between observed and refined mosaic widths of the sample crystal. A 3d8 configuration implies that the majority-spin d band cannot be full. Strong support is lent to a localized atomic character of the valence electrons.

Modeling Human Body Using Four-Pole Debye Model in Piecewise Linear Recursive Convolution FDTD Method for the SAR Calculation in the Case of Vehicular Antenna

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ammar Guellab

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We propose an efficient finite difference time domain (FDTD method based on the piecewise linear recursive convolution (PLRC technique to evaluate the human body exposure to electromagnetic (EM radiation. The source of radiation considered in this study is a high-power antenna, mounted on a military vehicle, covering a broad band of frequency (100 MHz–3 GHz. The simulation is carried out using a nonhomogeneous human body model which takes into consideration most of the internal body tissues. The human tissues are modeled by a four-pole Debye model which is derived from experimental data by using particle swarm optimization (PSO. The human exposure to EM radiation is evaluated by computing the local and whole-body average specific absorption rate (SAR for each occupant. The higher in-tissue electric field intensity points are localized, and the SAR values are compared with the crew safety standard recommendations. The accuracy of the proposed PLRC-FDTD approach and the matching of the Debye model with the experimental data are verified in this study.

[Therapeutic education of total laryngectomy patients: Influence of social factors].

Science.gov (United States)

Woisard, V; Galtier, A; Baumann, L; Delpierre, C; Puech, M; Balaguer, M

Current health policies promote patient education, parti­cu­lar­ly in oncology. Therapeutic education program must be tailo­red to the characteristics, needs and expectations of the population. In the ENT Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Larrey Hospital in Toulouse, a therapeutic education program for patient with total laryngectomy has been experienced since 2011. But its propagation remains difficult. The aim of this study is to determine if social factors are nfluencing the parti­cipation of the laryngectomized population in the program. The brochure explaining this program and a registration form coupled with a survey questionnaire were distributed to the regio­nal population of patient with total laryngectomy. After two months of investigation we collected 42 responses. It is clear from their analysis that social factors underlie partici­pa­tion, particularly educational level, available financial resources level and the socio-professional group.

Total Factor Productivity Convergence in German States Since Reunification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Burda, Michael C.; Severgnini, Battista

2018-01-01

A quarter-century after reunification, labor productivity in the states of eastern Germany continues to lag systematically behind the West. Persistent gaps in total factor productivity (TFP) are the proximate cause; conventional and capital-free measurements confirm a sharp slowdown in TFP growth...... of managers, low startup intensity and the distribution of firm size in the East rather than R&D activities....

Psychological factors as risk factors for poor hip function after total hip arthroplasty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benditz A

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Achim Benditz,1 Petra Jansen,2 Jan Schaible,1 Christina Roll,1 Joachim Grifka,1 Jürgen Götz1 1Department of Orthopedics, University Medical Center Regensburg, Asklepios Klinikum Bad Abbach, Bad Abbach, 2Department of Sport Science, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany Abstract: Recovery after total hip arthroplasty (THA is influenced by several psychological aspects, such as depression, anxiety, resilience, and personality traits. We hypothesized that preoperative depression impedes early functional outcome after THA (primary outcome measure. Additional objectives were perioperative changes in the psychological status and their influence on perioperative outcome. This observational study analyzed depression, anxiety, resilience, and personality traits in 50 patients after primary unilateral THA. Hip functionality was measured by means of the Harris Hip Score. Depression, state anxiety, and resilience were evaluated preoperatively as well as 1 and 5 weeks postoperatively. Trait anxiety and personality traits were measured once preoperatively. Patients with low depression and anxiety levels had significantly better outcomes with respect to early hip functionality. Resilience and personality traits did not relate to hip functionality. Depression and state anxiety levels significantly decreased within the 5-week stay in the acute and rehabilitation clinic, whereas resilience remained at the same level. Our study suggests that low depression and anxiety levels are positively related to early functionality after THA. Therefore, perioperative measurements of these factors seem to be useful to provide the best support for patients with risk factors. Keywords: total hip arthroplasty, psychological factors, depression, state anxiety, trait anxiety, resilience, personality traits

Ultrafast time-resolved electron diffraction on adsorbate systems on silicon surfaces. Vibrational excitation in monllayers and dynamics of phase transitions; Ultraschnelle zeitaufgeloeste Elektronenbeugung an Adsorbatsystemen auf Siliziumoberflaechen. Vibrationsanregung in Monolagen und Dynamik von Phasenuebergaengen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moellenbeck, Simone

2011-04-11

In the present work ultra fast time resolved electron diffraction (TR-RHEED) at various adsorbate systems on silicon (Si) substrates was performed. Using the Debye-Waller-effect, the vibrational amplitude of the excited adsorbate atoms can be directly observed in the experiments as a function of time. For a coverage of 4/3 monolayers Lead (Pb) on Si(1 1 1) forms a ({radical}(3) x {radical}(3))-reconstruction. The transient intensity evolution of the diffraction spots is recorded in a TR-RHEED-experiment. After excitation with a fs-laser pulse the intensity decreases due to the Debye-Waller-effect. The temporal behavior of the de-excitation process can be described with two exponential functions: a short time constant of 100 ps and a long one of 2800 ps. The two time constants can be assigned to two different phonon modes of the Pb-adsorbate. The huge difference between the two time constants and thus difference in the coupling to the substrate is explained by the bonding geometry in the structural model. To confirm this possible explanation, further TR-RHEED-experiments for the ({radical}(7) x {radical}(3))-reconstruction of Pb on Si(1 1 1) were performed. The ({radical}(7) x {radical}(3))-reconstruction with a coverage of 1.2 monolayers shows comparable structural elements. The transient intensity evolution can be described with the identical two time constants. In addition, first experiments on the {beta} ({radical}(3) x {radical}(3))-phase of Pb/Si(1 1 1) are presented. This {beta} ({radical}(3) x {radical}(3))-reconstruction, with a coverage of 1/3 monolayers of Pb, shows a phase transition to a (3 x 3)-reconstruction, which was observed in the experiments. Further investigated adsorbate systems are: ({radical}(3) x {radical}(3))Ag/Si(1 1 1), ({radical}(3) x {radical}(3))In/Si(1 1 1), ({radical}(31) x {radical}(31))In/Si(1 1 1), and ({radical}(3) x {radical}(3))Bi/Si(1 1 1). In the second part of the present work the structural dynamics of strongly driven

La influencia de factores sistémicos en el uso de las prótesis totales Influence of systemic factors in use of total prostheses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolina de Andrade Lima Chaves

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Considerando la posible influencia de las enfermedades sistémicas y de los medicamentos utilizados para su tratamiento en la cavidad bucal, el presente estudio se propone realizar una revisión de la literatura sobre el tema, enfatizando la influencia de estos factores en el uso de las prótesis totales (PTs, con el fin de proporcionar al cirujano-dentista un mejor conocimiento científico para la realización de ese tipo de tratamiento rehabilitador.According to the possible influence of systemic diseases and of drugs used for its treatment in buccal cavity, the aim of present study is to carry out a review of literature on this topic, emphasizing on influence of these factors on use of the total prostheses (PTs, allowing to surgeon-dentist a better scientific knowledge to creation of this type of rehabilitation treatment.

Effects of dielectric inhomogeneity on electrostatic twist rigidity of a helical biomolecule in Debye-Hückel regime

Science.gov (United States)

Rezaie-Dereshgi, Amir; Mohammad-Rafiee, Farshid

2018-04-01

The electrostatic interactions play a crucial role in biological systems. Here we consider an impermeable dielectric molecule in the solvent with a different dielectric constant. The electrostatic free energy in the problem is studied in the Debye-Hückel regime using the analytical Green function that is calculated in the paper. Using this electrostatic free energy, we study the electrostatic contribution to the twist rigidity of a double stranded helical molecule such as a DNA and an actin filament. The dependence of the electrostatic twist rigidity of the molecule to the dielectric inhomogeneity, structural parameters, and the salt concentration is studied. It is shown that, depending on the parameters, the electrostatic twist rigidity could be positive or negative.

Dual economies and international total factor productivity differences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chanda, Areendam; Dalgaard, Carl-Johan Lars

2008-01-01

This paper provides a framework that decomposes aggregate total factor productivity (TFP) into a component reflecting relative efficiency across sectors, and another component that reflects the absolute level of efficiency. A development accounting analysis suggests that as much as 85......% of the international variation in aggregate TFP can be attributed to variation in relative efficiency across sectors. Estimation results show that recent findings highlighting the importance of strong protection of property rights, financial development and geographical advantage for the level of TFP, can be explained...

Molecular physics. Production of trilobite Rydberg molecule dimers with kilo-Debye permanent electric dipole moments.

Science.gov (United States)

Booth, D; Rittenhouse, S T; Yang, J; Sadeghpour, H R; Shaffer, J P

2015-04-03

Permanent electric dipole moments are important for understanding symmetry breaking in molecular physics, control of chemical reactions, and realization of strongly correlated many-body quantum systems. However, large molecular permanent electric dipole moments are challenging to realize experimentally. We report the observation of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules with bond lengths of ~100 nanometers and kilo-Debye permanent electric dipole moments that form when an ultracold ground-state cesium (Cs) atom becomes bound within the electronic cloud of an extended Cs electronic orbit. The electronic character of this hybrid class of "trilobite" molecules is dominated by degenerate Rydberg manifolds, making them difficult to produce by conventional photoassociation. We used detailed coupled-channel calculations to reproduce their properties quantitatively. Our findings may lead to progress in ultracold chemistry and strongly correlated many-body physics. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Bond length variation in Zn substituted NiO studied from extended X-ray absorption fine structure

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, S. D.; Poswal, A. K.; Kamal, C.; Rajput, Parasmani; Chakrabarti, Aparna; Jha, S. N.; Ganguli, Tapas

2017-06-01

Bond length behavior for Zn substituted NiO is determined through extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements performed at ambient conditions. We report bond length value of 2.11±0.01 Å for Zn-O of rock salt (RS) symmetry, when Zn is doped in RS NiO. Bond length for Zn substituted NiO RS ternary solid solutions shows relaxed behavior for Zn-O bond, while it shows un-relaxed behavior for Ni-O bond. These observations are further supported by first-principles calculations. It is also inferred that Zn sublattice remains nearly unchanged with increase in lattice parameter. On the other hand, Ni sublattice dilates for Zn compositions up to 20% to accommodate increase in the lattice parameter. However, for Zn compositions more than 20%, it does not further dilate. It has been attributed to the large disorder that is incorporated in the system at and beyond 20% of Zn incorporation in the cubic RS lattice of ternary solid solutions. For these large percentages of Zn incorporation, the Ni and the Zn atoms re-arrange themselves microscopically about the same nominal bond length rather than systematically increase in magnitude to minimize the energy of the system. This results in an increase in the Debye-Waller factor with increase in the Zn concentration rather than a systematic increase in the bond lengths.

Cirrhosis is a risk factor for total hip arthroplasty for avascular necrosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Deleuran, Thomas; Overgaard, Søren; Vilstrup, Hendrik; Jepsen, Peter

2016-06-01

Background and purpose - There are limited data on risk factors for avascular necrosis of the hip, but cirrhosis has been proposed as a risk factor. We examined the association between cirrhosis and incidence of total hip arthroplasty for avascular necrosis. Methods - We used nationwide healthcare data to identify all Danish residents diagnosed with cirrhosis in 1994-2011, and matched them 1:5 by age and sex to non-cirrhotic reference individuals from the general population. We excluded people with a previous total hip arthroplasty, a previous hip fracture, or a previous diagnosis of avascular necrosis. We used stratified Cox regression to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for cirrhosis patients relative to reference individuals, adjusting for potential confounders. We used the cumulative incidence function to compute 5-year risks. Results - We included 25,421 cirrhosis patients and 114,052 reference individuals. Their median age was 57 years, and 65% were men. 45 cirrhosis patients and 44 reference individuals underwent total hip arthroplasty for avascular necrosis. Cirrhosis patients' HR for a total hip arthroplasty for avascular necrosis was 10 (95% CI: 6-17), yet their 5-year risk of avascular necrosis was only 0.2%. For the reference individuals, the 5-year risk was 0.02%. Interpretation - Cirrhosis is a strong risk factor for avascular necrosis of the hip, but it is rare even in cirrhosis patients.

Factors affecting wound ooze in total knee replacement

Science.gov (United States)

Butt, U; Ahmad, R; Aspros, D; Bannister, GC

2010-01-01

INTRODUCTION Wound ooze is common following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and persistent wound infection is a risk factor for infection, and increased length and cost of hospitalisation. PATIENTS AND METHODS We undertook a prospective study to assess the effect of tourniquet time, peri-articular local anaesthesia and surgical approach on wound oozing after TKA. RESULTS The medial parapatellar approach was used in 59 patients (77%) and subvastus in 18 patients (23%). Peri-articular local anaesthesia (0.25% Bupivacaine with 1:1,000,000 adrenalin) was used in 34 patients (44%). The mean tourniquet time was 83 min (range, 38–125 min). We found a significant association between cessation of oozing and peri-articular local anaesthesia (P = 0.003), length of the tourniquet time (P = 0.03) and the subvastus approach (P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Peri-articular local anaesthesia, the subvastus approach and shorter tourniquet time were all associated with less wound oozing after total knee arthroplasty. PMID:20836920

Measurements of the Casimir-Lifshitz force in fluids: The effect of electrostatic forces and Debye screening

Science.gov (United States)

Munday, J. N.; Capasso, Federico; Parsegian, V. Adrian; Bezrukov, Sergey M.

2008-09-01

We present detailed measurements of the Casimir-Lifshitz force between two gold surfaces (a sphere and a plate) immersed in ethanol and study the effect of residual electrostatic forces, which are dominated by static fields within the apparatus and can be reduced with proper shielding. Electrostatic forces are further reduced by Debye screening through the addition of salt ions to the liquid. Additionally, the salt leads to a reduction of the Casimir-Lifshitz force by screening the zero-frequency contribution to the force; however, the effect is small between gold surfaces at the measured separations and within experimental error. An improved calibration procedure is described and compared with previous methods. Finally, the experimental results are compared with Lifshitz’s theory and found to be consistent for the materials used in the experiment.

A dedicated torsion balance to detect neutrinos by coherent scattering on high Debye temperature monocrystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cruceru, I; Nicolescu, G [National Institute of Research and Development for Physics and Nuclear Engineering ' Horia - Hulubei' , PO Box MG - 6, 077125 Magurele (Romania); Duliu, O G [University of Bucharest, Department of Atomic and Nuclear Physics, PO Box MG-II, 077125 Magurele (Romania)

2008-11-01

Coherent scattering of neutrinos on high Debye temperature monocrystals represent an alternative to detect solar as well as other high flux neutrino sources such as nuclear reactors or nuclear tests. Therefore, the possibility of detecting neutrinos by using sapphire monocrystals is presented and analyzed. Preliminary evaluations showed that 1 MeV neutrinos with a fluency density of 10{sup 12} cm{sup -1} s{sup -1} could interact with a 100 g sapphire monocrystal with a force of about 10{sup -6} dyne, value measurable with a high sensitivity torsion balance. For this reason a torsion balance provided with 1 m length molybdenum or tungsten wire and an optical autocollimator able to measure small rotation angles of about 0.1 seconds of arc was designed, constructed and now is under preliminary tests. Both theoretical and practical implications of such kind of detector are presented and discussed.

Risk factors for renal dysfunction after total hip joint replacement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hassan, Basim Kamil; Sahlström, Arne; Dessau, Ram Benny Christian

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Renal injury and dysfunction are serious complications after major surgery, which may lead to increased morbidity and mortality. The objective of our study was to identify the possible risk factors for renal dysfunction after total hip joint replacement surger...... creatinine. Smoking, diabetes mellitus, high BMI, gender, and duration of surgery were not identified as significant risk factors........ METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted among 599 consecutive primary hip joint replacements performed between January 2011 and December 2013. According to the RIFLE criteria, increased postoperative serum creatinine was considered indicative of postoperative renal injury. The Welch two-sample test......, hypertension, general anesthesia, high ASA scores, low intra-operative systolic BP, and prophylactic dicloxacillin as significant risk factors. Low baseline systolic BP, low baseline diastolic blood pressure, and hip fracture diagnosis were independent risk factors for postoperative increase in serum...

BMI, total and abdominal fat distribution, and cardiovascular risk factors in school-age children.

Science.gov (United States)

Gishti, Olta; Gaillard, Romy; Durmus, Busra; Abrahamse, Marieke; van der Beek, Eline M; Hofman, Albert; Franco, Oscar H; de Jonge, Layla L; Jaddoe, Vincent W V

2015-05-01

More specific total body and abdominal fat mass measures might be stronger associated with cardiovascular risk factors in childhood, than BMI. We examined the independent associations of total and abdominal fat measures with cardiovascular risk factors in school age children. We performed a population-based cohort study among 6,523 children. At the age of 6 y, we measured childhood BMI, and general and abdominal fat mass, using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and ultrasound and cardiovascular risk factors. Conditional on BMI, higher fat mass percentage and abdominal fat mass were associated with higher blood pressure, total- and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, insulin and c-peptide levels, but with lower left ventricular mass and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol (P values children. Higher childhood adiposity measures were associated with increased odds of cardiovascular risk factors clustering, with the strongest effect for fat mass percentage (odds ratios: 3.01 (95% confidence interval: 2.67, 3.9). Our results suggest that general and abdominal fat measures are associated with cardiovascular risk factors in childhood, independent from BMI. These measures may provide additional information for identification of children with an adverse cardiovascular profile.

Direct observation of ultrafast atomic motion using time-resolved X-ray diffraction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shymanovich, U.

2007-11-13

This thesis is dedicated to the study of the atomic motion in laser irradiated solids on a picosecond to subpicosecond time-scale using the time-resolved X-ray diffraction technique. In the second chapter, the laser system, the laser-plasma based X-ray source and the experimental setup for optical pump / X-ray probe measurements were presented. Chapter 3 is devoted to the characterization and comparison of different types of X-ray optics. Chapter 4 presented the time-resolved X-ray diffraction experiments performed for this thesis. The first two sections of this chapter discuss the measurements of initially unexpected strain-induced transient changes of the integrated reflectivity of the X-ray probe beam. The elimination of the strain-induced transient changes of the integrated reflectivity represented an important prerequisite to perform the study of lattice heating in Germanium after femtosecond optical excitation by measuring the transient Debye-Waller effect. The third section describes the investigations of acoustic waves upon ultrafast optical excitation and discusses the two different pressure contributions driving them: the thermal and the electronic ones. (orig.)

Direct observation of ultrafast atomic motion using time-resolved X-ray diffraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shymanovich, U.

2007-01-01

This thesis is dedicated to the study of the atomic motion in laser irradiated solids on a picosecond to subpicosecond time-scale using the time-resolved X-ray diffraction technique. In the second chapter, the laser system, the laser-plasma based X-ray source and the experimental setup for optical pump / X-ray probe measurements were presented. Chapter 3 is devoted to the characterization and comparison of different types of X-ray optics. Chapter 4 presented the time-resolved X-ray diffraction experiments performed for this thesis. The first two sections of this chapter discuss the measurements of initially unexpected strain-induced transient changes of the integrated reflectivity of the X-ray probe beam. The elimination of the strain-induced transient changes of the integrated reflectivity represented an important prerequisite to perform the study of lattice heating in Germanium after femtosecond optical excitation by measuring the transient Debye-Waller effect. The third section describes the investigations of acoustic waves upon ultrafast optical excitation and discusses the two different pressure contributions driving them: the thermal and the electronic ones. (orig.)

Finite difference method calculations of X-ray absorption fine structure for copper

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bourke, J.D. [School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic 3010 (Australia); Chantler, C.T. [School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic 3010 (Australia)]. E-mail: chantler@physics.unimelb.edu.au; Witte, C. [School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic 3010 (Australia)

2007-01-15

The finite difference method is extended to calculate X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) for solid state copper. These extensions include the incorporation of a Monte Carlo frozen phonon technique to simulate the effect of thermal vibrations under a correlated Debye-Waller model, and the inclusion of broadening effects from inelastic processes. Spectra are obtained over an energy range in excess of 300 eV above the K absorption edge-more than twice the greatest energy range previously reported for a solid state calculation using this method. We find this method is highly sensitive to values of the photoelectron inelastic mean free path, allowing us to probe the accuracy of current models of this parameter, particularly at low energies. We therefore find that experimental data for the photoelectron inelastic mean free path can be obtained by this method. Our results compare favourably with high precision measurements of the X-ray mass attenuation coefficient for copper, reaching agreement to within 3%, and improving previous results using the finite difference method by an order of magnitude.

Two-dimensional imaging of Debye-Scherrer ring for tri-axial stress analysis of industrial materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sasaki, T; Maruyama, Y; Ohba, H; Ejiri, S

2014-01-01

In this study, an application of the two-dimensional imaging technology to the X ray tri-axial stress analysis was studied. An image plate (IP) was used to obtain a Debye-Scherre ring and the image data was analized for determining stress. A new principle for stress analysis which is suitable to two-dimensional imaging data was used. For the verification of this two-dimensional imaging type X-ray stress measurement method, an experiment was conducted using a ferritic steel sample which was processed with a surface grinder. Tri-axial stress analysis was conducted to evaluate the sample. The conventional method for X-ray tri-axial stress analysis proposed by Dölle and Hauk was used to evaluate residual stress in order to compare with the present method. As a result, it was confirmed that a sufficiently highly precise and high-speed stress measurement was enabled with the two-dimensional imaging technology compared with the conventional method

EXAFS characterization of supported metal catalysts in chemically dynamic environments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robota, H.J.

1991-01-01

Characterization of catalysts focuses on the identification of an active site responsible for accelerating desirable chemical reactions. The identification, characterization, and selective modification of such sites is fundamental to the development of structure-function relationships. Unfortunately, this goal is far from realized in nearly all catalysts, and particularly in catalysts comprised of small supported metal particles. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) has had a dramatic effect on our understanding of supported metal particles in their resting state. However, the performance of a catalyst can not be assessed from such simple resting state measurements. Among the factors which influence catalyst performance are the exact catalyst composition, including the support and any modifiers; particle size; catalyst finishing and pretreatment conditions; pressure, composition, and temperature of the operating environment; time. Gaining an understanding of how the structure of a catalytic site can change with such an array of variables requires that we begin to develop measurement methods which are effective under chemically dynamic conditions. Ideally, it should be possible to obtain a full X-ray absorption spectrum of each element thought to have a causal relationship with observed catalyst properties. From these spectra, we can optimally extract only a relatively limited amount of information which we must then piece together with information derived from other characterization methods and intuition to arrive at a hypothetical structure of the operating catalyst. Information about crystallinity, homogeneity, and general disorder can be obtained from the Debye-Waller factor. Finally, through analogy with known compounds, the electronic structure of the active atoms can be inferred from near edge absorption features

Health information technology vendor selection strategies and total factor productivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, Eric W; Huerta, Timothy R; Menachemi, Nir; Thompson, Mark A; Yu, Feliciano

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare health information technology (HIT) adoption strategies' relative performance on hospital-level productivity measures. The American Hospital Association's Annual Survey and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Analytics for fiscal years 2002 through 2007 were used for this study. A two-stage approach is employed. First, a Malmquist model is specified to calculate hospital-level productivity measures. A logistic regression model is then estimated to compare the three HIT adoption strategies' relative performance on the newly constructed productivity measures. The HIT vendor selection strategy impacts the amount of technological change required of an organization but does not appear to have either a positive or adverse impact on technical efficiency or total factor productivity. The higher levels in technological change experienced by hospitals using the best of breed and best of suite HIT vendor selection strategies may have a more direct impact on the organization early on in the process. However, these gains did not appear to translate into either increased technical efficiency or total factor productivity during the period studied. Over a longer period, one HIT vendor selection strategy may yet prove to be more effective at improving efficiency and productivity.

Granulopoietic Growth Factor Secretion in Ovarian Carcinoma as a Mechanism for the Emergence of Immune Suppressive Myeloid Subsets

Science.gov (United States)

2014-08-01

on “Biotherapy of Cancer: From Disease to Targeted Treatment” in Munich, Germany . Talk entitled, “Combinatorial Vaccine Strategies Employing...Bardhan, K., Paschall, A. V., Yang, D., Waller, J. L., Park, M. A., Nayak-Kapoor, A., Samuel, T. A., Abrams, S. I., and Liu, K. Deregulation of apoptotic

X-ray determination of crystallite size and effect of lattice strain on ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

X-ray diffraction; lattice strain; crystallite size; Debye–Waller factor; vacancy formation energy. 1. Introduction ... In the present investigation, results of a system- atic study of .... that while milling is enough to create strains, it affects the particle ...

Industry Efficiency and Total Factor Productivity Growth under Resources and Environmental Constraint in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feng Tao

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The growth of China's industry has been seriously depending on energy and environment. This paper attempts to apply the directional distance function and the Luenberger productivity index to measure the environmental efficiency, environmental total factor productivity, and its components at the level of subindustry in China over the period from 1999 to 2009 while considering energy consumption and emission of pollutants. This paper also empirically examines the determinants of efficiency and productivity change. The major findings are as follows. Firstly, the main sources of environmental inefficiency of China's industry are the inefficiency of gross industrial output value, the excessive energy consumption, and pollutant emissions. Secondly, the highest growth rate of environmental total factor productivity among the three industrial categories is manufacturing, followed by mining, and production and supply of electricity, gas, and water. Thirdly, foreign direct investment, capital-labor ratio, ownership structure, energy consumption structure, and environmental regulation have varying degrees of effects on the environmental efficiency and environmental total factor productivity.

Industry efficiency and total factor productivity growth under resources and environmental constraint in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Feng; Li, Ling; Xia, X H

2012-01-01

The growth of China's industry has been seriously depending on energy and environment. This paper attempts to apply the directional distance function and the Luenberger productivity index to measure the environmental efficiency, environmental total factor productivity, and its components at the level of subindustry in China over the period from 1999 to 2009 while considering energy consumption and emission of pollutants. This paper also empirically examines the determinants of efficiency and productivity change. The major findings are as follows. Firstly, the main sources of environmental inefficiency of China's industry are the inefficiency of gross industrial output value, the excessive energy consumption, and pollutant emissions. Secondly, the highest growth rate of environmental total factor productivity among the three industrial categories is manufacturing, followed by mining, and production and supply of electricity, gas, and water. Thirdly, foreign direct investment, capital-labor ratio, ownership structure, energy consumption structure, and environmental regulation have varying degrees of effects on the environmental efficiency and environmental total factor productivity.

Industry Efficiency and Total Factor Productivity Growth under Resources and Environmental Constraint in China

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Feng; Li, Ling; Xia, X. H.

2012-01-01

The growth of China's industry has been seriously depending on energy and environment. This paper attempts to apply the directional distance function and the Luenberger productivity index to measure the environmental efficiency, environmental total factor productivity, and its components at the level of subindustry in China over the period from 1999 to 2009 while considering energy consumption and emission of pollutants. This paper also empirically examines the determinants of efficiency and productivity change. The major findings are as follows. Firstly, the main sources of environmental inefficiency of China's industry are the inefficiency of gross industrial output value, the excessive energy consumption, and pollutant emissions. Secondly, the highest growth rate of environmental total factor productivity among the three industrial categories is manufacturing, followed by mining, and production and supply of electricity, gas, and water. Thirdly, foreign direct investment, capital-labor ratio, ownership structure, energy consumption structure, and environmental regulation have varying degrees of effects on the environmental efficiency and environmental total factor productivity. PMID:23365517

The comparison analysis of total factor productivity and eco-efficiency in China's cement manufactures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Long, Xingle; Zhao, Xicang; Cheng, Faxin

2015-01-01

This paper mainly compares total factor productivity and eco-efficiency in China's cement manufactures from 2005 to 2010. First, we evaluate total factor productivity and eco-efficiency of China's cement manufactures through distance function and directional slack-based measure (DSBM) respectively. Furthermore, we also explore the difference of total factor productivity and eco-efficiency. Last, we investigate the determinants of Malmquist, Mamlquist–Luenberger of China's cement manufactures through random-effect Tobit and bootstrap truncated econometric methods. We find that there are some gaps between Malmquist and Mamlquist–Luenberger of China's cement manufactures. Per labor cement industry value has U-shape relationship with both Malmquist and Malmquist–Luenberger. It is necessary to adopt advanced technology to reduce pollutant emissions. -- Highlights: •Eco-efficiency of cement manufactures is evaluated through slack-based measure. •Eco-efficiency of China's cement manufactures has biases with total factor productivity. •Environmental Kuznets curve is existed for China's cement manufactures

Total flavonoid concentrations of bryophytes from Tianmu Mountain, Zhejiang Province (China: Phylogeny and ecological factors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xin Wang

Full Text Available The flavonoids in bryophytes may have great significance in phylogeny and metabolism research. However, to date there has been little research on bryophyte metabolites, especially flavonoids. To redress this somewhat, we determined flavonoid concentrations of bryophytes from Tianmu Mountain through a colorimetric assay and considered the factors influencing the results. This is the first time that the flavonoid contents of bryophytes have been examined in detail. The results revealed a range of total flavonoid concentrations in 90 samples collected from Tianmu Mountain from 1.8 to 22.3 mg/g (w/w. The total flavonoid contents of liverworts were generally higher than those of mosses; acrocarpous mosses had generally higher values than that of pleurocarpous mosses. The total flavonoid contents of bryophytes growing at lower light levels were general higher than those growing in full-sun. The total flavonoid contents of epiphytic bryophytes were highest, while those of aquatic bryophytes were the lowest. Total flavonoid contents of species growing at low-latitudes were much higher than those at high-latitude individuals. In conclusion, total flavonoid contents of bryophytes have some connection with plant phylogeny; more flavonoids might be contained in relatively primitive bryophytes. Meanwhile, the effects of ecological factors on total flavonoid contents of bryophytes exist; light and habitat (especially tree habitat and river habitat might be representative factor.

Research on the industry environmental total factor productivity in Jiangsu Province based on the SBM-SML

Science.gov (United States)

Lingfang, Sun; Han, Wang; Jian, Gong

2017-03-01

This paper uses the SBM-SML to measure the industry environmental total factor productivity in Jiangsu province of its 13 cities during 2005-2014 with SO2 emissions as the undesirable output, and discomposes the total factor productivity into the pure technical efficiency, the scale efficiency change, the pure technical change and the scale technical change. The research shows that the overall trend of the industry environmental total factor productivity is increasing in Jiangsu province during 2005-2014, the technical change is a main reason pushing up growth rates of economy, and the pure technical change is the intrinsic motivation of the technical change.Introduction.

Total-factor energy efficiency of regions in Japan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Honma, Satoshi [Faculty of Economics, Kyushu Sangyo University, 2-3-1 Matsukadai, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 813-8503 (Japan); Hu, Jin-Li [Institute of Business and Management, National Chiao Tung University (China)

2008-02-15

This study computes the regional total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) in Japan by employing the data envelopment analysis (DEA). A dataset of 47 prefectures in Japan for the period 1993-2003 is constructed. There are 14 inputs, including three production factors (labor employment, private, and public capital stocks) and 11 energy sources (electric power for commercial and industrial use, electric power for residential use, gasoline, kerosene, heavy oil, light oil, city gas, butane gas, propane gas, coal, and coke). GDP is the sole output. Following Fukao and Yue [2000. Regional factor inputs and convergence in Japan - how much can we apply closed economy neoclassical growth models? Economic Review 51, 136-151 (in Japanese)], data on private and public capital stocks are extended. All the nominal variables are transformed into real variables, taking into consideration the 1995 price level. For kerosene, gas oil, heavy oil, butane gas, coal, and coke, there are a few prefectures with TFEEs less than 0.7. The five most inefficient prefectures are Niigata, Wakayama, Hyogo, Chiba, and Yamaguchi. Inland regions and most regions along the Sea of Japan are efficient in energy use. Most of the inefficient prefectures that are developing mainly upon energy-intensive industries are located along the Pacific Belt Zone. A U-shaped relation similar to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is discovered between energy efficiency and per capita income for the regions in Japan. (author)

Total-factor energy efficiency of regions in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Honma, Satoshi; Hu, Jin-Li

2008-01-01

This study computes the regional total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) in Japan by employing the data envelopment analysis (DEA). A dataset of 47 prefectures in Japan for the period 1993-2003 is constructed. There are 14 inputs, including three production factors (labor employment, private, and public capital stocks) and 11 energy sources (electric power for commercial and industrial use, electric power for residential use, gasoline, kerosene, heavy oil, light oil, city gas, butane gas, propane gas, coal, and coke). GDP is the sole output. Following Fukao and Yue [2000. Regional factor inputs and convergence in Japan-how much can we apply closed economy neoclassical growth models? Economic Review 51, 136-151 (in Japanese)], data on private and public capital stocks are extended. All the nominal variables are transformed into real variables, taking into consideration the 1995 price level. For kerosene, gas oil, heavy oil, butane gas, coal, and coke, there are a few prefectures with TFEEs less than 0.7. The five most inefficient prefectures are Niigata, Wakayama, Hyogo, Chiba, and Yamaguchi. Inland regions and most regions along the Sea of Japan are efficient in energy use. Most of the inefficient prefectures that are developing mainly upon energy-intensive industries are located along the Pacific Belt Zone. A U-shaped relation similar to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is discovered between energy efficiency and per capita income for the regions in Japan

Factores relacionados con el éxito del mantenimiento productivo total

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Luis García Alcaraz

2011-01-01

Full Text Available El mantenimiento productivo total (TPM es una herramienta ampliamente usada en las áreas productivas, encaminada a incrementar la disponibilidad de la maquinaria y equipo de producción y los beneficios económicos de las empresas. Sin embargo, no se conocen los factores administrativos que aseguren su éxito de implantación. En este artículo se presentan los resultados de una encuesta que constó de 20 ítems y fue aplicada a 203 gerentes y supervisores de mantenimiento de empresas localizadas en Ciudad Juárez, la cual debía ser respondida en una escala Likert. El cuestionario se validó mediante el índice Alfa de Cronbach, se aplicó un análisis factorial exploratorio (AFE mediante el método de componentes principales y se realizó una rotación Varimax y se determinó que solamente 3 factores podían explicar el 65,06% de la varianza total, los cuales estaban relacionados con el compromiso de la gerencia, la cultura de limpieza e integración de operadores en decisiones de TPM. Además, se realizó un análisis factorial confirmatorio (AFC para validar los resultados obtenidos, confirmándose los hallazgos del AFE.

Total factor productivity (TFP) growth agriculture in pakistan: trends in different time horizons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, A.; Mushtaq, K.; Ashfaq, M.

2008-01-01

The present study estimated total factor productivity (TFP) growth of agriculture sector of Pakistan for the period 1971-2006 by employing Tornqvist-Theil (T-T) index number methodology. Most of the conventional inputs were used in constructing the input index. The output index includes major crops, minor crops, important fruits and vegetables and four categories of livestock products. The study estimated TFP growth rates for different decades. The results showed that TFP growth rate was lowest during the decade of 70s (0.96 percent) and highest during the last six years of the study period (2.86 percent). The decade of 80s and 90s registered TFP growth rate of 2.24 percent and 2.46 percent, respectively. The results also explained that TFP growth contributed about 33 percent to total agricultural output growth during the decade of 70s and this contribution increased up to 83 percent during the last six years of the study period. The contribution of TFP growth to total agricultural output growth was 53 and 81 percent during the decades of 80s and 90s, respectively. The study observed that macro level government policies, institutional factors and weather conditions are the major key factors that influenced TFP growth. (author)

Applying total interpretive structural modeling to study factors affecting construction labour productivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sayali Shrikrishna Sandbhor

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Construction sector has always been dependent on manpower. Most of the activities carried out on any construction site are labour intensive. Since productivity of any project depends directly on productivity of labour, it is a prime responsibility of the employer to enhance labour productivity. Measures to improve the same depend on analysis of positive and negative factors affecting productivity. Major attention should be given to factors that decrease the productivity of labour. Factor analysis thus is an integral part of any study aiming to improve productivity.  Interpretive structural modeling is a methodology for identifying and summarizing relationships among factors which define an issue or problem. It provides a means to arrange the factors in an order as per their complexity. This study attempts to use the latest version of interpretive structural modeling i.e. total interpretive structural modeling to analyze factors negatively affecting construction labour productivity. It establishes interpretive relationship among these factors facilitating improvement in the overall productivity of construction site.

Factores de riesgo total en familias migrantes en Soledad, Atlántico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dora Cecilia Sánchez Isaza

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Introducción: Colombia vive  hoy por hoy uno de sus más grandes problemas sociales como es la migración de familias a nivel  inter-municipales e inter-departamentales, lo que hace necesario la caracterización del factor de riesgo total  en estas familias para su intervención. Materiales y Métodos: Estudio cuantitativo descriptivo transversal  donde se seleccionaron 70 familias migrantes constituidas por 344 individuos, que viven aledaños a un barrio del municipio de Soledad, y se utilizó el instrumento  Riesgo Familiar total (RFT 5-33 de Pilar Amaya, con las categorías: socio-demográfico, factores de riesgo y riesgo total. Resultados: Dentro de todos los  factores de riesgo familiar que pone en  un riesgo  alto a estas familias migrantes  son: condiciones de vivienda y vecindario con un 59%,  situación económica con un 24% y condiciones afectivas con un 14%, menor frecuencia se da en servicios y practica de salud con un 10% y manejo de menores con 10%. Discusión: La problemática que viene afectando a las poblaciones rurales, aun cuando el gobierno viene desarrollando planes direccionados hacia las familias migrantes, los problemas de infraestructura de las viviendas y la situación socio-económica en ellos se refleja en su salud. Y más aun cuando algunas investigaciones han demostrado como se les ha venido vulnerando sus derechos. Conclusiones: Sobre el predominio de las familias migrantes con riesgo alto, se  aprecia que estadísticamente  los componentes de estas  variables son  independientes, pero  el comportamiento observado puede ser el resultado de efectos causales similares. Cómo citar este artículo: Sánchez DC, Cataño N. Factores de riesgo total en familias migrantes en Soledad, Atlántico. Rev Cuid. 2016; 7(1: 1152-62. http://dx.doi.org/10.15649/cuidarte.v7i1.174

Paracrystalline structure of activated carbons

Science.gov (United States)

Szczygielska, A.; Burian, A.; Dore, J. C.

2001-06-01

Structural studies by means of neutron diffraction of activated carbons, prepared from a polymer of phenol formaldehyde resin by carbonization and activation processes, with variable porosity, are presented. The neutron scattering data were recorded over the range of the scattering vector Q from 2.5 to 500 nm-1. The structure of activated carbons has been described in terms of disordered graphite-like layers with very weak interlayer correlations. The model has been generated by computer simulations and its validity has been tested by comparison of the experimental and calculated intensity functions. Modelling studies have shown that the model containing 3-4 layers each about 2 nm in diameter accounts for the experimental data and that graphite layers are randomly translated and rotated, according to the turbostratic structure. Near-neighbour carbon-carbon distances of about 0.139 nm and 0.154 nm have been determined. The Debye-Waller factor exp (-Q2σ2/2) with σ = σ0(r)1/2 suggests a paracrystalline structure within a single layer. The value of the interlayer spacing of 0.36 nm has been found from paracrystalline simulations of the layer arrangement in the c-axis direction. The high quality of the experimental data has enabled determination of the coordination numbers, the interatomic distances and their standard deviations using a curve-fitting procedure over the Q-range from 250 nm to 500 nm, providing structural information about short- and intermediate-range ordering.

Structure of a Rh/TiO2 catalyst in the strong metal-support interaction state as determined by EXAFS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koningsberger, D.C.; Martens, J.H.A.; Prins, R.; Short, D.R.; Sayers, D.E.

1986-01-01

Reduction of a highly dispersed 2.85 wt% Rh/TiO 2 catalyst at 473 K after previous calcination at 623 K resulted in EXAFS whose primary contributions are due to nearest rhodium (average coordination number of 3.1 and distance of 2.67 A) and oxygen neighbors (coordination 2.5 and distance 2.71 A). These oxygen neighbors originated at the metal-support interface. The average rhodium-rhodium coordination number did not change in the SMSI state produced by reducing the catalyst at 673 K. However, the average coordination distance contracted by 0.04 A with an accompanying decrease of the Debye-Waller factor of the Rh-Rh bond of 0.0012 A 2 . This is due to the fact that in the SMSI state the surface of the metal particles is not covered with chemisorbed hydrogen. The SMSI state leads to a structural reorganization of the support in the vicinity of the rhodium metal particles. This can be concluded from the appearance of a Rh-Ti bond at 3.42 A in the SMSI state coupled with the fact that the average coordination number of the rhodium-support oxygen bonds does not increase. Other types of rhodium-oxygen bonds could not be detected with EXAFS in this state. Thus, these results provide no evidence for coverage of the metal particle by a suboxide of TiO 2 in the SMSI state

Possible effect of static surface disorder on diffractive scattering of H2 from Ru(0001): Comparison between theory and experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kroes, G J; Wijzenbroek, Mark; Manson, J R

2017-12-28

Specific features of diffractive scattering of H 2 from metal surfaces can serve as fingerprints of the reactivity of the metal towards H 2 , and in principle theory-experiment comparisons for molecular diffraction can help with the validation of semi-empirical functionals fitted to experiments of sticking of H 2 on metals. However, a recent comparison of calculated and Debye-Waller (DW) extrapolated experimental diffraction probabilities, in which the theory was done on the basis of a potential energy surface (PES) accurately describing sticking to Ru(0001), showed substantial discrepancies, with theoretical and experimental probabilities differing by factors of 2 and 3. We demonstrate that assuming a particular amount of random static disorder to be present in the positions of the surface atoms, which can be characterized through a single parameter, removes most of the discrepancies between experiment and theory. Further improvement might be achievable by improving the accuracy of the DW extrapolation, the model of the H 2 rotational state distribution in the experimental beams, and by fine-tuning the PES. However, the question of whether the DW model is applicable to attenuation of diffractive scattering in the presence of a sizable van der Waals well (depth ≈ 50 meV) should also receive attention, in addition to the question of whether the amount of static surface disorder effectively assumed in the modeling by us could have been present in the experiments.

Field-Assisted Splitting of Pure Water Based on Deep-Sub-Debye-Length Nanogap Electrochemical Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yifei; Narayanan, S R; Wu, Wei

2017-08-22

Owing to the low conductivity of pure water, using an electrolyte is common for achieving efficient water electrolysis. In this paper, we have fundamentally broken through this common sense by using deep-sub-Debye-length nanogap electrochemical cells to achieve efficient electrolysis of pure water (without any added electrolyte) at room temperature. A field-assisted effect resulted from overlapped electrical double layers can greatly enhance water molecules ionization and mass transport, leading to electron-transfer limited reactions. We have named this process "virtual breakdown mechanism" (which is completely different from traditional mechanisms) that couples the two half-reactions together, greatly reducing the energy losses arising from ion transport. This fundamental discovery has been theoretically discussed in this paper and experimentally demonstrated in a group of electrochemical cells with nanogaps between two electrodes down to 37 nm. On the basis of our nanogap electrochemical cells, the electrolysis current density from pure water can be significantly larger than that from 1 mol/L sodium hydroxide solution, indicating the much better performance of pure water splitting as a potential for on-demand clean hydrogen production.

Low-Voltage High-Performance UV Photodetectors: An Interplay between Grain Boundaries and Debye Length.

Science.gov (United States)

Bo, Renheng; Nasiri, Noushin; Chen, Hongjun; Caputo, Domenico; Fu, Lan; Tricoli, Antonio

2017-01-25

Accurate detection of UV light by wearable low-power devices has many important applications including environmental monitoring, space to space communication, and defense. Here, we report the structural engineering of ultraporous ZnO nanoparticle networks for fabrication of very low-voltage high-performance UV photodetectors. A record high photo- to dark-current ratio of 3.3 × 10 5 and detectivity of 3.2 × 10 12 Jones at an ultralow operation bias of 2 mV and low UV-light intensity of 86 μW·cm -2 are achieved by controlling the interplay between grain boundaries and surface depletion depth of ZnO nanoscale semiconductors. An optimal window of structural properties is determined by varying the particle size of ultraporous nanoparticle networks from 10 to 42 nm. We find that small electron-depleted nanoparticles (≤40 nm) are necessary to minimize the dark-current; however, the rise in photocurrent is tampered with decreasing particle size due to the increasing density of grain boundaries. These findings reveal that nanoparticles with a size close to twice their Debye length are required for high photo- to dark-current ratio and detectivity, while further decreasing their size decreases the photodetector performance.

Potential impact of single-risk-factor versus total risk management for the prevention of cardiovascular events in Seychelles.

Science.gov (United States)

Ndindjock, Roger; Gedeon, Jude; Mendis, Shanthi; Paccaud, Fred; Bovet, Pascal

2011-04-01

To assess the prevalence of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in Seychelles, a middle-income African country, and compare the cost-effectiveness of single-risk-factor management (treating individuals with arterial blood pressure ≥ 140/90 mmHg and/or total serum cholesterol ≥ 6.2 mmol/l) with that of management based on total CV risk (treating individuals with a total CV risk ≥ 10% or ≥ 20%). CV risk factor prevalence and a CV risk prediction chart for Africa were used to estimate the 10-year risk of suffering a fatal or non-fatal CV event among individuals aged 40-64 years. These figures were used to compare single-risk-factor management with total risk management in terms of the number of people requiring treatment to avert one CV event and the number of events potentially averted over 10 years. Treatment for patients with high total CV risk (≥ 20%) was assumed to consist of a fixed-dose combination of several drugs (polypill). Cost analyses were limited to medication. A total CV risk of ≥ 10% and ≥ 20% was found among 10.8% and 5.1% of individuals, respectively. With single-risk-factor management, 60% of adults would need to be treated and 157 cardiovascular events per 100000 population would be averted per year, as opposed to 5% of adults and 92 events with total CV risk management. Management based on high total CV risk optimizes the balance between the number requiring treatment and the number of CV events averted. Total CV risk management is much more cost-effective than single-risk-factor management. These findings are relevant for all countries, but especially for those economically and demographically similar to Seychelles.

Application of maximum entropy method for the study of electron ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

in terms of the computing power of the machine on which it runs. Since the electron ... Table 1. The Debye–Waller factors of individual atoms and the reliability indices of three sulphides. .... The size of the electron cloud indicates the size of the ...

Risk factors for accelerated polyethylene wear and osteolysis in ABG I total hip arthroplasty

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Gallo, J.; Havránek, Vítězslav; Zapletová, J.

2013-01-01

Roč. 34, č. 1 (2013), 19-26 ISSN 0341-2695 Grant - others:GA MŠk(CZ) OC 168 Program:OC Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100522 Keywords : risk * factors * accelerated * polyethylene * wear * osteolysis * ABG * total * arthroplasty Subject RIV: FI - Traumatology, Orthopedics Impact factor: 2.019, year: 2013

Risk factors for revision of primary total hip arthroplasty: a systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prokopetz Julian JZ

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Numerous papers have been published examining risk factors for revision of primary total hip arthroplasty (THA, but there have been no comprehensive systematic literature reviews that summarize the most recent findings across a broad range of potential predictors. Methods We performed a PubMed search for papers published between January, 2000 and November, 2010 that provided data on risk factors for revision of primary THA. We collected data on revision for any reason, as well as on revision for aseptic loosening, infection, or dislocation. For each risk factor that was examined in at least three papers, we summarize the number and direction of statistically significant associations reported. Results Eighty-six papers were included in our review. Factors found to be associated with revision included younger age, greater comorbidity, a diagnosis of avascular necrosis (AVN as compared to osteoarthritis (OA, low surgeon volume, and larger femoral head size. Male sex was associated with revision due to aseptic loosening and infection. Longer operating time was associated with revision due to infection. Smaller femoral head size was associated with revision due to dislocation. Conclusions This systematic review of literature published between 2000 and 2010 identified a range of demographic, clinical, surgical, implant, and provider variables associated with the risk of revision following primary THA. These findings can inform discussions between surgeons and patients relating to the risks and benefits of undergoing total hip arthroplasty.

Preoperative risk factors in total thyroidectomy of substernal goiter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bove A

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Aldo Bove, Raffaella Maria Di Renzo, Gauro D’Urbano, Manuela Bellobono, Vincenzo D’ Addetta, Alfonso Lapergola, Giuseppe Bongarzoni Department of Medicine, Dentistry and Biotechnology, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, Chieti Scalo, Italy Abstract: The definition of substernal goiter (SG is based on variable criteria leading to a considerable variation in the reported incidence (from 0.2% to 45%. The peri- and postoperative complications are higher in total thyroidectomy (TT for SG than that for cervical goiter. The aim of this study was to evaluate the preoperative risk factors associated with postoperative complications. From 2002 to 2014, 142 (8.5%; 98 women and 44 men of the 1690 patients who underwent TT had a SG. We retrospectively evaluated the following parameters: sex, age, histology, pre- and retrovascular position, recurrence, and extension beyond the carina. These parameters were then related to the postoperative complications: seroma/hematoma, transient and permanent hypocalcemia, transient and permanent laryngeal nerve palsy, and the length of surgery. The results were further compared with a control group of 120 patients operated on in the same period with TT for cervical goiter. All but two procedures were terminated via cervicotomy, where partial sternotomies were required. No perioperative mortality was observed. Results of the statistical analysis (Student’s t-test and Fisher’s exact test indicated an association between recurrence and extension beyond the carina with all postoperative complications. The group that underwent TT of SG showed a statistically significant higher risk for transient hypocalcemia (relative risk =1.767 with 95% confidence interval: 1.131–2.7605, P=0.0124, and need to treat =7.1 and a trend toward significance for transient recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (relative risk =6.7806 with 95% confidence interval: 0.8577–53.2898, P=0.0696, and need to treat =20.8 compared to the

Ecological total-factor energy efficiency of regions in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Lanbing; Hu Jinli

2012-01-01

Most existing energy efficiency indices are computed without taking into account undesirable outputs such as CO 2 and SO 2 emissions. This paper computes the ecological total-factor energy efficiency (ETFEE) of 30 regions in China for the period 2005–2009 through the slack-based model (SBM) with undesirable outputs. We calculate the ETFEE index by comparing the target energy input obtained from SBM with undesirable outputs to the actual energy input. Findings show that China's regional ETFEE still remains a low level of around 0.600 and regional energy efficiency is overestimated by more than 0.100 when not looking at environmental impacts. China's regional energy efficiency is extremely unbalanced: the east area ranks first with the highest ETFEE of above 0.700, the northeast and central areas follow, and the west area has the lowest ETFEE of less than 0.500. A monotone increasing relation exists between the area's ETFEE and China's per capita GDP. The truncated regression model shows that the ratio of R and D expenditure to GDP and the degree of foreign dependence have positive impacts, whereas the ratio of the secondary industry to GDP and the ratio of government subsidies for industrial pollution treatment to GDP have negative effects, on the ETFEE. - Highlights: ► Most energy efficiency indices ignore undesirable outputs such as CO 2 and SO 2 emissions. ► The ecological total-factor energy efficiency (ETFEE) is computed by slack-based model (SBM). ► The datasets contains 30 regions in China for the period 2005–2009. ► China's regional energy efficiency is extremely unbalanced. ► A monotone increasing relation exists between ETFEE and per capita GDP.

Experimental device for obtaining calibration factor for the total count technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonçalves, Eduardo R.; Braz, Delson; Brandão, Luís Eduardo B.

2017-01-01

Nuclear technologies have widely used on industry plants in order to help to solve troubles processes/design or just obtain information of them. The Total Count technique for flow measurement has as main advantages: being an absolute technique, because it is independent of additional devices readings unless the directly used for recording the radioactive cloud, requiring only a single detector to provide the final result; the independence of the internal volume of the transport duct, can be applied in the presence or absence of obstructions; no restriction as to the nature of the product or material to be conveyed; it is a noninvasive technique which allows real-time diagnostics. To use Total Count Technique, knowledge of a geometric calibration factor is required. Called Factor F, it is obtained in the laboratory using an experimental apparatus to faithfully reproduce the geometry of the detection system and the pipeline that being analyzed and using the same radiotracer, therefore, its value is constant for each specific measuring system under survey. This experimental apparatus for obtaining the factor F consisting by a pipe of 2 ″PVC, which simulates a transmission line, where they were deposited 500 ml oil and the use of a specific pipette for use viscous fluids were added sequentially aliquots (50.00 ± 0.01) μl radiotracer (radionuclide photopeak energy of 198 Au 411.8 keV) and analyzing data obtained by three distinct detection systems composed of detectors NaI scintillators 1″ x 1 ″ and a data acquisition system. (author)

Experimental device for obtaining calibration factor for the total count technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gonçalves, Eduardo R.; Braz, Delson [Coordenacao de Pos-Graduacao e Pesquisa de Engenharia (PEN/COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Programa de Engenharia Nuclear; Brandão, Luís Eduardo B. [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Divisao de Reatores

2017-07-01

Nuclear technologies have widely used on industry plants in order to help to solve troubles processes/design or just obtain information of them. The Total Count technique for flow measurement has as main advantages: being an absolute technique, because it is independent of additional devices readings unless the directly used for recording the radioactive cloud, requiring only a single detector to provide the final result; the independence of the internal volume of the transport duct, can be applied in the presence or absence of obstructions; no restriction as to the nature of the product or material to be conveyed; it is a noninvasive technique which allows real-time diagnostics. To use Total Count Technique, knowledge of a geometric calibration factor is required. Called Factor F, it is obtained in the laboratory using an experimental apparatus to faithfully reproduce the geometry of the detection system and the pipeline that being analyzed and using the same radiotracer, therefore, its value is constant for each specific measuring system under survey. This experimental apparatus for obtaining the factor F consisting by a pipe of 2 ″PVC, which simulates a transmission line, where they were deposited 500 ml oil and the use of a specific pipette for use viscous fluids were added sequentially aliquots (50.00 ± 0.01) μl radiotracer (radionuclide photopeak energy of 198 Au 411.8 keV) and analyzing data obtained by three distinct detection systems composed of detectors NaI scintillators 1″ x 1 ″ and a data acquisition system. (author)

Prevalence and risk factors for postoperative delirium in total joint arthroplasty patients: A prospective study.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Wenliang; Ke, Xiurong; Wang, Xiaoqing; Sun, Xiaoliang; Wang, Juncheng; Yang, Guojing; Xia, Haijie; Zhang, Lei

2017-05-01

The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the incidence and clinical features of delirium after total joint arthroplasty, and to establish the potential risk factors for postoperative delirium. A total of 212 consecutive patients undergoing hip or knee arthroplasty, who met the inclusion and exclusive criteria were enrolled. The general characteristics, preoperative and postoperative hematological variables were documented respectively. According to the presence of delirium, all patients were divided into the delirium group and non-delirium group. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed to identify the possible predictors for postoperative delirium. At a minimum of 6months of follow-up, 35 patients were observed with postoperative delirium at an estimated total incidence of 16.5%. The incidence of delirium was statistically higher in hip arthroplasty (22.8%) than that in knee arthroplasty (7.1%). The multivariate regression analysis identified older age (OR=1.590, P=0.023), a history of stroke (OR=190.23, P=0.036), preoperative PaO 2 (OR=1.277, P=0.018) and equivalent fentanyl dose (OR=1.010, P=0.012) as the predictive factors for postoperative delirium after total joint arthroplasty. The incidence of postoperative delirium after total joint arthroplasty is higher than expected. Based on our findings, we suggest that the surgeons should focus on those patients who have these risk factors and ensure the appropriate management to avoid postoperative delirium. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

La productividad total de factores en el sector manufacturero chileno

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudio Candia

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Este artículo analiza el cambio en la productividad total de factores del sector manufacturero chileno estimando el índice de Malmquist del periodo 1998-2010. El análisis envolvente de datos permite calcular este índice para determinar el cambio de la PTF y descomponerlo en eficiencia técnica y cambio tecnológico. Los resultados indican que en este periodo la PTF se redujo debido principalmente al cambio tecnológico, mientras que la eficiencia técnica se mantuvo constante.

Asymptotic behavior of the Schrödinger-Debye system with refractive index of quadratic wave amplitude

Science.gov (United States)

Corcho, Adán J.; Cordero, Juan C.

2018-02-01

We obtain local well-posedness for the one-dimensional Schrödinger-Debye interactions in nonlinear optics in the spaces L^2× L^p, 1≤p 0} in H^1× H^1 associated to an initial data family {(u_{τ _0},v_{τ _0})}_{τ >0} uniformly bounded in H^1× L^2 , where τ is a small response time parameter. We prove that ( u_{τ }, v_{τ }) converges to ( u, -|u|^2) in the space L^{∞}_{[0, T]}L^2_x× L^1_{[0, T]}L^2_x whenever u_{τ _0} converges to u_0 in H^1 as long as τ tends to 0, where u is the solution of the one-dimensional cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation with the initial data u_0 . The convergence of v_{τ } for -|u|^2 in the space L^{∞}_{[0, T]}L^2_x is shown under compatibility conditions of the initial data. For non-compatible data, we prove convergence except for a corrector term which looks like an initial layer phenomenon.

X-ray stress measurement of ferritic steel using fourier analysis of Debye-Scherrer ring

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujimoto, Yohei; Sasaki, Toshihiko; Miyazaki, Toshiyuki

2015-01-01

In this study, X-ray stress measurements of ferritic steel based on Fourier analysis are conducted. Taira et al. developed the cosα method for X-ray stress measurements using a two-dimensional X-ray detector. Miyazaki et al. reported that the cosα method can be described more concisely by developing the Fourier series (the Fourier analysis method). The Fourier analysis method is expected to yield the stress measurement with an imperfect Debye-Scherrer ring and there is a possibility that the materials evaluation is different compared with the conventional method, that is, the sin 2 ψ method. In the Fourier analysis method, the strain measured by X-rays is developed as a Fourier series, and all the plane-stress components can be calculated from the Fourier series. In this study, the normal stress calculation was confirmed. In addition, the Fourier-analysis and cosα methods were used for X-ray stress measurements during a four-point bending test on a S45C test piece, and the effectiveness of the Fourier analysis method was confirmed. It was found that the experimental results from the Fourier analysis and cosα methods were nearly identical. In addition, the measurement accuracies of both the methods were equivalent. (author)

Long range Debye-Hückel correction for computation of grid-based electrostatic forces between biomacromolecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mereghetti, Paolo; Martinez, Michael; Wade, Rebecca C

2014-01-01

Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations can be used to study very large molecular systems, such as models of the intracellular environment, using atomic-detail structures. Such simulations require strategies to contain the computational costs, especially for the computation of interaction forces and energies. A common approach is to compute interaction forces between macromolecules by precomputing their interaction potentials on three-dimensional discretized grids. For long-range interactions, such as electrostatics, grid-based methods are subject to finite size errors. We describe here the implementation of a Debye-Hückel correction to the grid-based electrostatic potential used in the SDA BD simulation software that was applied to simulate solutions of bovine serum albumin and of hen egg white lysozyme. We found that the inclusion of the long-range electrostatic correction increased the accuracy of both the protein-protein interaction profiles and the protein diffusion coefficients at low ionic strength. An advantage of this method is the low additional computational cost required to treat long-range electrostatic interactions in large biomacromolecular systems. Moreover, the implementation described here for BD simulations of protein solutions can also be applied in implicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations that make use of gridded interaction potentials

Colesterol total e fatores associados: estudo de base escolar no sul do Brasil Colesterol total y factores asociados: estudio de base escolar en el sur del Brasil Associated factors to total cholesterol: school based study in southern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauren Lúcia de Araújo Bergmann

2011-07-01

Full Text Available FUNDAMENTO: Evidências têm sugerido que uma parcela importante de crianças e adolescentes apresenta níveis elevados de colesterol total. OBJETIVO: Estimar a prevalência de hipercolesterolemia e fatores associados em escolares de 7 a 12 anos de idade. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal de base escolar de uma amostra aleatória composta por 1.294 escolares de 7 a 12 anos, de Caxias do Sul (RS. Os escolares responderam a uma entrevista com informações sobre nível socioeconômico, hábitos alimentares e hábitos de atividade física e de lazer. Foram realizadas medidas de colesterol total, de aptidão cardiorrespiratória, de massa corporal, estatura para o cálculo do índice de massa corporal. Para o tratamento dos dados foram utilizadas as análises univariada, bivariada e multivariada. RESULTADOS: A análise multivariada identificou que indivíduos com o nível socioeconômico alto (OR: 1,70; IC: 1,05-2,75, do sexo feminino (OR: 1,32; IC: 1,03-1,67, e com excesso de peso (OR: 1,40; IC: 1,10-1,77 apresentam chances aumentadas de terem colesterol total aumentado (> 3º tercil. CONCLUSÃO: Elevados níveis de colesterol total em escolares de 7 a 12 anos estão associados ao nível socioeconômico alto, ao sexo feminino e ao excesso de peso. O incentivo a um estilo de vida ativo e a hábitos alimentares adequados pode auxiliar no controle dos níveis de colesterol e diminuir os fatores de risco.FUNDAMENTO: Evidencias han sugerido que una parte importante de niños y adolescentes presenta niveles elevados de colesterol total. OBJETIVO: Estimar la prevalencia de hipercolesterolemia y factores asociados en escolares de 7 a 12 años de edad. MÉTODOS: Estudio transversal de base escolar de una muestra aleatoria compuesta por 1.294 escolares de 7 a 12 años, de Caxias do Sul (RS. Los escolares respondieron una entrevista con informaciones sobre nivel socioeconómico, hábitos alimenticios y hábitos de actividad física y de ocio. Fueron realizadas

Effect of particle size and lattice strain on Debye–Waller factors of ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Administrator

refrigeration system and other biological applications and catalysis ... technique for fabrication of nanocrystalline structure with improved ... used to prepare the initial sample. ... but with preferred orientation of graphite particles along. [0 0 2].

DATA ISSUES IN TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY BENCHMARKING: A CENTRAL EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Machek Ondrej

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Total factor productivity is a method of measuring overall productivity of businesses, industries or economies. It is an approach which is recently becoming popular among government regulatory agencies when applying the so-called performance-based regulation. This principle induces regulated companies (for instance, electricity or natural gas distributors to behave efficiently even if their industries are not exposed to competitive pressures, since they are rewarded for being more productive than other firms in the industry, and penalized in the opposite case. The aim of this article is to deal with the question what are the main data issues when comparing total factor productivity among firms or industries with focus on the Central European region, which is very heterogeneous in terms of geographic, social, economic and historic conditions. In the first part, we introduce total factor productivity and the most common methods of its measurement � Malmquist and T�rnqvist indexes. Consequently, we divide the data issues into separate categories and discuss them more in detail. The first category of issues is related to defining the set of comparable firms. Many factors, such as the degree of competition in the market, the extent of government regulation, economies of scale, firm size, geographical conditions and historic development have to be taken into consideration. The second category is associated with specifying the time period. TFP estimates should be based on long time series and the period should include the whole business cycle and be representative and exclude extraordinary events. The third group of issues is related to defining and measuring the inputs and outputs. Since a number of difficulties are associated with labor input measurement, it is often included into operating expenditures along with materials and services. The measurement of capital is even more contentious. The outputs should reflect performance

A new method of Debye-Scherrer pattern integration on two-dimensional detectors, demonstrated for the new structure powder diffractometer (SPODI) at the FRM-II in Garching

CERN Document Server

Elf, F; Artus, G R J; Roth, S

2002-01-01

The expected diffraction patterns of the new powder diffractometer SPODI, currently under construction at the FRM-II in Garching, will be smeared Debye-Scherrer rings as depicted by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. To overcome this disadvantage, a concept based on the combination of MC simulations and empirical approximation methods is developed to reverse the smearing by deconvolution and then summing up along the rings, including corrections for different arc lengths, resulting in conventional one-dimensional diffraction patterns suitable for Rietveld-refinement programs without further processing. (orig.)

Quality of life factors and survival after total or extended maxillectomy for sinonasal malignancies.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, James; Isaiah, Amal; Wolf, Jeffrey S; Lubek, Joshua E

2015-04-01

Total and extended maxillectomy results in significant morbidity that can have an effect on quality of life factors. Modern reconstructive techniques have ameliorated this effect, but they have not been quantified. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the quality of life factors and survival of patients undergoing total or extended maxillectomy for malignant disease. A retrospective study was performed of all patients who had undergone total or extended maxillectomy at a tertiary care cancer center from January 2008 to May 2013. The minimum follow-up period was 6 months. The quality of life factors analyzed included swallowing function and diet consistency, pain control, and postoperative complications. A total of 25 patients (13 women and 12 men) met the inclusion criteria. Using the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system, 76% of the patients had stage IV disease. Of the 25 patients, 13 received a free tissue transfer, 11 an obturator flap, and 1 a regional flap. None of the patients with a free tissue transfer experienced failure. The tumor size had no systemic influence on the reconstructive method chosen (P = .32 to P = .98). The median follow-up period was 41 weeks (range 24 to 252). One death was recorded, and 10 patients were lost to follow-up. Eleven patients progressed to a regular diet. Fifteen patients required a tracheostomy, and all were decannulated at a mean of 14 days postoperatively. One patient had dental implants placed. The type of reconstruction did not influence swallowing function (P = .49) or long-term pain (P = .38). The mean pain score was 4.9 ± 2.7. Pain management proved difficult in 7 patients. Also, 6 patients developed a surgical site infection, 3 of whom required a return to the operating room. Seven patients were readmitted to the hospital for complications; however, the reconstructive method did not influence the incidence of complications (P = .64). The inevitable morbidity, with respect to quality

An ignored risk factor in toxicology: The total imprecision of exposure assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grandjean, Philippe; Budtz-Jørgensen, Esben

2010-01-01

twice as much for maternal hair. The total imprecision of these biomarkers much exceeded the normal laboratory variability of less than 5%. Such imprecision can cause underestimation of dose-related toxicity, and data analysis should therefore include sensitivity analyses that take this factor...... were determined in cord blood, cord tissue, and maternal hair. We determined their mutual correlations and their associations with the child's neurobehavioral effect variables at age 7 years. The exposure biomarkers correlated well with one another, but the cord blood mercury concentration showed......Quality assurance of exposure biomarkers usually focuses on laboratory performance only. Using data from a prospective birth cohort study in the Faroe Islands, we have assessed the total imprecision of exposure biomarkers. As biomarkers of prenatal methylmercury exposure, mercury concentrations...

A cross-country analysis of total factor productivity using micro-level data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murat Şeker

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Total factor productivity (TFP is a crucial measure of efficiency and thus an important tool for policymakers. However, research on comparison of TFP performances using micro-level data across developing countries has been limited due to the unavailability of homogenous data sources. This study aims to fill this crucial gap by using a data set which has been collected through a large body of surveys conducted across 69 developing countries following the same methodology. The homogenous nature of the data and the diverse set of questions included in the surveys provide unique opportunity to compare average productivity performances of firms across a large set of characteristics and business environment factors. The analysis performed here provides the groundwork for testing various stylized facts about TFP and its related factors such as exporting, innovation, access to finance, foreign ownership, and regulations across developing countries.

Tunneling effects in electromagnetic wave scattering by nonspherical particles: A comparison of the Debye series and physical-geometric optics approximations

Science.gov (United States)

Bi, Lei; Yang, Ping

2016-07-01

The accuracy of the physical-geometric optics (PG-O) approximation is examined for the simulation of electromagnetic scattering by nonspherical dielectric particles. This study seeks a better understanding of the tunneling effect on the phase matrix by employing the invariant imbedding method to rigorously compute the zeroth-order Debye series, from which the tunneling efficiency and the phase matrix corresponding to the diffraction and external reflection are obtained. The tunneling efficiency is shown to be a factor quantifying the relative importance of the tunneling effect over the Fraunhofer diffraction near the forward scattering direction. Due to the tunneling effect, different geometries with the same projected cross section might have different diffraction patterns, which are traditionally assumed to be identical according to the Babinet principle. For particles with a fixed orientation, the PG-O approximation yields the external reflection pattern with reasonable accuracy, but ordinarily fails to predict the locations of peaks and minima in the diffraction pattern. The larger the tunneling efficiency, the worse the PG-O accuracy is at scattering angles less than 90°. If the particles are assumed to be randomly oriented, the PG-O approximation yields the phase matrix close to the rigorous counterpart, primarily due to error cancellations in the orientation-average process. Furthermore, the PG-O approximation based on an electric field volume-integral equation is shown to usually be much more accurate than the Kirchhoff surface integral equation at side-scattering angles, particularly when the modulus of the complex refractive index is close to unity. Finally, tunneling efficiencies are tabulated for representative faceted particles.

Exploration of pH-dependent behavior of the anion receptor pocket of subdomain IIA of HSA: determination of effective pocket charge using the Debye-Hückel limiting law.

Science.gov (United States)

Bolel, Priyanka; Datta, Shubhashis; Mahapatra, Niharendu; Halder, Mintu

2014-01-09

Protein-ligand electrostatic interaction can be looked upon as ion receptor-ligand interaction, and the binding cavity of protein can be either an anion or cation receptor depending on the charge of the guest. Here we focus on the exploration of pH-modulated binding of a number of anionic ligands, specific to the subdomain IIA cavity of HSA, such as carmoisine, tartrazine, cochineal red, and warfarin. The logarithm of the binding constant is found to vary linearly with the square-root of ionic strength, indicating applicability of the Debye-Hückel limiting law to protein-ligand electrostatic binding equilibrium, and concludes that the subdomain IIA cavity is an anion receptor. The present approach is very unique that one can calculate the effective charge of the protein-based anion receptor pocket, and the calculated charge has been found to vary between +1 and +3 depending on the pH and ligand itself. The study also indicates that in such cases of specific ligand binding the pocket charge rather than the overall or surface charge of the macromolecule seems to have a paramount role in determining the strength of interaction. For the first time, it is demonstrated that the Debye-Hückel interionic interaction model can be successfully applied to understand the protein-based receptor-ligand electrostatic interaction in general.

A comment on the calculation of the total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) index

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Ming-Chung

2013-01-01

This study provides a no-output growth model to conveniently calculate the total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) index originally proposed by Hu and Wang (2006). The TFEE index serves as a very well-known and popular means of estimating overall energy efficiency. While many previous studies have used the indicator of energy inefficiency, including the indicator of energy intensity (i.e., Energy input/Gross Domestic Product (GDP)) to measure energy efficiency, Hu and Kao (2007) point out that the indicator of energy intensity is not only a partial-factor energy efficiency indicator, but that this partial-factor ratio is also quite inappropriate for analyzing the impact of changing energy use over time. The TFEE index overcomes the disadvantage of the indicator of energy intensity as mentioned above, but five steps are needed to calculate the TFEE score. In this study, we provide a no-output growth model to conveniently calculate the TFEE score. Furthermore, we extend this no-output growth model to an output growth model. This study concludes that the output growth model not only makes it easier to calculate the TFEE index than the model proposed by Hu and Wang (2006) and Hu and Kao (2007), but that it can also obtain better TFEE scores. - Highlights: ► The comment is on the total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) index. ► Two extension models are no-output growth model and output growth model. ► The model in this study makes it easier to calculate the TFEE index.

Relation between interfacial structure and mechanical properties in AlN/TiN bilayers investigated by EXAFS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ersen, O.; Tuilier, M.-H.; Thobor-Keck, A.; Rousselot, C.; Cortes, R.

2005-01-01

The relation between the mechanical properties and the structure of AlN/TiN bilayers prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering in the 600 nm range is investigated. Al and Ti K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure is used in order to determine the local order around Al and Ti by comparison with 300 nm thick AlN and TiN single layers. The use of this powerful local probe allows the evidence of intermixing between AlN and TiN deposited layers, which is suggested by glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy experiments. The effect of ionic bombardment applied at various steps of the deposition process is studied. The ionic bombardment applied during the deposit induces substantial changes in the absorption spectra that are assigned to a decrease of intermixing and an improvement of local order. Simulations of (Al, Ti)N ternary alloys Al and Ti K-edge absorption spectra for increasing mean occupation factors C Ti (C Al ) of Ti(Al) substituting Al(Ti) in hexagonal AlN (cubic TiN) lattice are performed in order to determine the initial parameters for the fit of the experimental data. The refinements performed by using FEFFIT software demonstrate that an ionic bombardment applied during the deposition phase results in a significant reduction of the number of Al-Ti pairs within the bilayer and an improvement of the local order around Ti and Al, which is quantified by a decrease of the Debye-Waller parameters. This structural evolution is tentatively correlated with the improvement of mechanical properties of the bilayers

Relation between interfacial structure and mechanical properties in AlN/TiN bilayers investigated by EXAFS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ersen, O. [Equipe de Recherche Mecanique, Materiaux et Procedes de Fabrication, 61, rue Albert Camus, F-68093 Mulhouse (France)]. E-mail: ovidiu.ersen@ipcms.u-strasbg.fr; Tuilier, M.-H. [Equipe de Recherche Mecanique, Materiaux et Procedes de Fabrication, 61, rue Albert Camus, F-68093 Mulhouse (France); Thobor-Keck, A. [Centre de Recherche sur les Ecoulements les Surfaces et les Transferts (UMR CNRS 6000), ITSFC, 4, place Tharradin, BP 71427, F-25211 Montbeliard (France); Rousselot, C. [Centre de Recherche sur les Ecoulements les Surfaces et les Transferts (UMR CNRS 6000), ITSFC, 4, place Tharradin, BP 71427, F-25211 Montbeliard (France); Cortes, R. [Laboratoire de Physique de la Matiere Condensee (UMR CNRS 7643), Ecole Polytechnique, F-91128 Palaiseau cedex (France)

2005-06-01

The relation between the mechanical properties and the structure of AlN/TiN bilayers prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering in the 600 nm range is investigated. Al and Ti K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure is used in order to determine the local order around Al and Ti by comparison with 300 nm thick AlN and TiN single layers. The use of this powerful local probe allows the evidence of intermixing between AlN and TiN deposited layers, which is suggested by glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy experiments. The effect of ionic bombardment applied at various steps of the deposition process is studied. The ionic bombardment applied during the deposit induces substantial changes in the absorption spectra that are assigned to a decrease of intermixing and an improvement of local order. Simulations of (Al, Ti)N ternary alloys Al and Ti K-edge absorption spectra for increasing mean occupation factors C {sub Ti} (C {sub Al}) of Ti(Al) substituting Al(Ti) in hexagonal AlN (cubic TiN) lattice are performed in order to determine the initial parameters for the fit of the experimental data. The refinements performed by using FEFFIT software demonstrate that an ionic bombardment applied during the deposition phase results in a significant reduction of the number of Al-Ti pairs within the bilayer and an improvement of the local order around Ti and Al, which is quantified by a decrease of the Debye-Waller parameters. This structural evolution is tentatively correlated with the improvement of mechanical properties of the bilayers.

Environment-adjusted total-factor energy efficiency of Taiwan's service sectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang, Chin-Yi; Hu, Jin-Li; Lou, Tze-Kai

2013-01-01

This study computes the pure technical efficiency (PTE) and energy-saving target of Taiwan's service sectors during 2001–2008 by using the input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach with the assumption of a variable returns-to-scale (VRS) situation. This paper further investigates the effects of industry characteristics on the energy-saving target by applying the four-stage DEA proposed by Fried et al. (1999). We also calculate the pre-adjusted and environment-adjusted total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) scores in these service sectors. There are three inputs (labor, capital stock, and energy consumption) and a single output (real GDP) in the DEA model. The most energy efficient service sector is finance, insurance and real estate, which has an average TFEE of 0.994 and an environment-adjusted TFEE (EATFEE) of 0.807. The study utilizes the panel-data, random-effects Tobit regression model with the energy-saving target (EST) as the dependent variable. Those service industries with a larger GDP output have greater excess use of energy. The capital–labor ratio has a significantly positive effect while the time trend variable has a significantly negative impact on the EST, suggesting that future new capital investment should also be accompanied with energy-saving technology in the service sectors. - Highlights: • The technical efficiency and energy-saving target of service sectors are assessed. • The pre-adjusted and environment-adjusted total-factor energy efficiency scores in services are assessed. • The industrial characteristic differences are examined by the panel-data, random-effects Tobit regression model. • Labor, capital, and energy and an output (GDP) are included in the DEA model. • Future new capital investment should also be accompanied with energy-saving technology in the service sectors

Do climate variables and human density affect Achatina fulica (Bowditch) (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) shell length, total weight and condition factor?

Science.gov (United States)

Albuquerque, F S; Peso-Aguiar, M C; Assunção-Albuquerque, M J T; Gálvez, L

2009-08-01

The length-weight relationship and condition factor have been broadly investigated in snails to obtain the index of physical condition of populations and evaluate habitat quality. Herein, our goal was to describe the best predictors that explain Achatina fulica biometrical parameters and well being in a recently introduced population. From November 2001 to November 2002, monthly snail samples were collected in Lauro de Freitas City, Bahia, Brazil. Shell length and total weight were measured in the laboratory and the potential curve and condition factor were calculated. Five environmental variables were considered: temperature range, mean temperature, humidity, precipitation and human density. Multiple regressions were used to generate models including multiple predictors, via model selection approach, and then ranked with AIC criteria. Partial regressions were used to obtain the separated coefficients of determination of climate and human density models. A total of 1.460 individuals were collected, presenting a shell length range between 4.8 to 102.5 mm (mean: 42.18 mm). The relationship between total length and total weight revealed that Achatina fulica presented a negative allometric growth. Simple regression indicated that humidity has a significant influence on A. fulica total length and weight. Temperature range was the main variable that influenced the condition factor. Multiple regressions showed that climatic and human variables explain a small proportion of the variance in shell length and total weight, but may explain up to 55.7% of the condition factor variance. Consequently, we believe that the well being and biometric parameters of A. fulica can be influenced by climatic and human density factors.

Do climate variables and human density affect Achatina fulica (Bowditch (Gastropoda: Pulmonata shell length, total weight and condition factor?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

FS. Albuquerque

Full Text Available The length-weight relationship and condition factor have been broadly investigated in snails to obtain the index of physical condition of populations and evaluate habitat quality. Herein, our goal was to describe the best predictors that explain Achatina fulica biometrical parameters and well being in a recently introduced population. From November 2001 to November 2002, monthly snail samples were collected in Lauro de Freitas City, Bahia, Brazil. Shell length and total weight were measured in the laboratory and the potential curve and condition factor were calculated. Five environmental variables were considered: temperature range, mean temperature, humidity, precipitation and human density. Multiple regressions were used to generate models including multiple predictors, via model selection approach, and then ranked with AIC criteria. Partial regressions were used to obtain the separated coefficients of determination of climate and human density models. A total of 1.460 individuals were collected, presenting a shell length range between 4.8 to 102.5 mm (mean: 42.18 mm. The relationship between total length and total weight revealed that Achatina fulica presented a negative allometric growth. Simple regression indicated that humidity has a significant influence on A. fulica total length and weight. Temperature range was the main variable that influenced the condition factor. Multiple regressions showed that climatic and human variables explain a small proportion of the variance in shell length and total weight, but may explain up to 55.7% of the condition factor variance. Consequently, we believe that the well being and biometric parameters of A. fulica can be influenced by climatic and human density factors.

Predictive factors for pharyngocutaneous fistulization after total laryngectomy: a Dutch Head and Neck Society audit.

Science.gov (United States)

Lansaat, Liset; van der Noort, Vincent; Bernard, Simone E; Eerenstein, Simone E J; Plaat, Boudewijn E C; Langeveld, Ton A P M; Lacko, Martin; Hilgers, Frans J M; de Bree, Remco; Takes, Robert P; van den Brekel, Michiel W M

2018-03-01

Incidences of pharyngocutaneous fistulization (PCF) after total laryngectomy (TL) reported in the literature vary widely, ranging from 2.6 to 65.5%. Comparison between different centers might identify risk factors, but also might enable improvements in quality of care. To enable this on a national level, an audit in the 8 principle Dutch Head and Neck Centers (DHNC) was initiated. A retrospective chart review of all 324 patients undergoing laryngectomy in a 2-year (2012 and 2013) period was performed. Overall PCF%, PCF% per center and factors predictive for PCF were identified. Furthermore, a prognostic model predicting the PCF% per center was developed. To provide additional data, a survey among the head and neck surgeons of the participating centers was carried out. Overall PCF% was 25.9. The multivariable prediction model revealed that previous treatment with (chemo)radiotherapy in combination with a long interval between primary treatment and TL, previous tracheotomy, near total pharyngectomy, neck dissection, and BMI model. PCF performance rate (difference between the PCF% and the predicted PCF%) per DHNC, though, shows that not all differences are explained by factors established in the prediction model. However, these factors explain enough of the differences that, compensating for these factors, hospital is no longer independently predictive for PCF. This nationwide audit has provided valid comparative PCF data confirming the known risk factors from the literature which are important for counseling on PCF risks. Data show that variations in PCF% in the DHNCs (in part) are explainable by the variations in these predictive factors. Since elective neck dissection is a major risk factor for PCF, it only should be performed on well funded indication.

[Risk factors for elevated serum total bile acid in preterm infants].

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Yan-Ting; Wang, Yong-Qin; Zhao, Yue-Hua; Zhu, Hai-Ling; Liu, Qian; Zhang, Xiao; Gao, Yi-Wen; Zhang, Wei-Ye; Sang, Yu-Tong

2018-03-01

To study the risk factors for elevated serum total bile acid (TBA) in preterm infants. A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 216 preterm infants who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. According to the presence or absence of elevated TBA (TBA >24.8 μmol/L), the preterm infants were divided into elevated TBA group with 53 infants and non-elevated TBA group with 163 infants. A univariate analysis and an unconditional multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to investigate the risk factors for elevated TBA. The univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences between the elevated TBA group and the non-elevated TBA group in gestational age at birth, birth weight, proportion of small-for-gestational-age infants, proportion of infants undergoing ventilator-assisted ventilation, fasting time, parenteral nutrition time, and incidence of neonatal respiratory failure and sepsis (PTBA in preterm infants. Low birth weight and neonatal sepsis may lead to elevated TBA in preterm infants.

Selective Sequential Zero-Base Budgeting Procedures Based on Total Factor Productivity Indicators

OpenAIRE

A. Ishikawa; E. F. Sudit

1981-01-01

The authors' purpose in this paper is to develop productivity-based sequential budgeting procedures designed to expedite identification of major problem areas in bugetary performance, as well as to reduce the costs associated with comprehensive zero-base analyses. The concept of total factor productivity is reviewed and its relations to ordinary and zero-based budgeting are discussed in detail. An outline for a selective sequential analysis based on monitoring of three key indicators of (a) i...

Risk factors for acute nerve injury after total knee arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Shetty, Teena; Nguyen, Joseph T; Sasaki, Mayu; Wu, Anita; Bogner, Eric; Burge, Alissa; Cogsil, Taylor; Dalal, Aashka; Halvorsen, Kristin; Cummings, Kelianne; Su, Edwin P; Lyman, Stephen

2018-06-01

In this we study identified potential risk factors for post-total knee arthroplasty (TKA) nerve injury, a catastrophic complication with a reported incidence of 0.3%-1.3%. Patients who developed post-TKA nerve injury from 1998 to 2013 were identified, and each was matched with 2 controls. A multivariable logistic regression model was built to calculate odds ratios (ORs). Sixty-five nerve injury cases were identified in 39,990 TKAs (0.16%). Females (OR 3.28, P = 0.003) and patients with history of lumbar pathology (OR 6.12, P = 0.026) were associated with increased risk of nerve injury. Tourniquet pressure nerve injury was unexpected and requires further investigation. Muscle Nerve 57: 946-950, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Energy consumption and total factor productivity growth in Iranian agriculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reza Moghaddasi

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In this study we investigated the relation between energy consumption and growth of total factor productivity (TFP of agriculture in Iran from 1974 to 2012 using Solow residual method. The results from estimated aggregate Cobb–Douglas production function showed that one percent change in the value of labor, capital and energy will lead to 4.07, 0.09 and 0.49 percent change in agriculture value added, respectively. Also in a long term, based on the Johansen cointegration test, there is a negative relation between TFP growth and energy consumption in Iranian agriculture which might be due to cheap and inefficient energy use in this sector. Gradual liberalization of energy price and use of so called green box support policies is recommended.

Factors influencing initial cup stability in total hip arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Amirouche, Farid; Solitro, Giovanni; Broviak, Stefanie; Gonzalez, Mark; Goldstein, Wayne; Barmada, Riad

2014-12-01

One of the main goals in total hip replacement is to preserve the integrity of the hip kinematics, by well positioning the cup and to make sure its initial stability is congruent and attained. Achieving the latter is not trivial. A finite element model of the cup-bone interface simulating a realistic insertion and analysis of different scenarios of cup penetration, insertion, under-reaming and loading is investigated to determine certain measurable factors sensitivity to stress-strain outcome. The insertion force during hammering and its relation to the cup penetration during implantation is also investigated with the goal of determining the initial stability of the acetabular cup during total hip arthroplasty. The mathematical model was run in various configurations to simulate 1 and 2mm of under-reaming at various imposed insertion distances to mimic hammering and insertion of cup insertion into the pelvis. Surface contact and micromotion at the cup-bone interface were evaluated after simulated cup insertion and post-operative loading conditions. The results suggest a direct correlation between under-reaming and insertion force used to insert the acetabular cup on the micromotion and fixation at the cup-bone interface. While increased under-reaming and insertion force result in an increase amount of stability at the interface, approximately the same percentage of surface contact and micromotion reduction can be achieved with less insertion force. We need to exercise caution to determine the optimal configuration which achieves a good conformity without approaching the yield strength for bone. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors for the Development of Postoperative Hepatic Steatosis After Total Pancreatectomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hata, Tatsuo; Ishida, Masaharu; Motoi, Fuyuhiko; Sakata, Naoaki; Yoshimatsu, Gumpei; Naitoh, Takeshi; Katayose, Yu; Egawa, Shinichi; Unno, Michiaki

2016-03-01

The occurrence of hepatic steatosis after pancreatectomy is known to be associated with the remnant pancreatic function. However, other risk factors for hepatic steatosis after pancreatectomy remain unknown. The aims of this study were to identify other risk factors in addition to the remnant pancreatic function and elucidate the relationship between postoperative hepatic steatosis and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency in totally pancreatomized patients. Forty-three patients who underwent total pancreatectomy were analyzed. Hepatic steatosis was defined as the attenuation of unenhanced computed tomography values. Clinical findings and laboratory data were compared between patients with and without hepatic steatosis. Sixteen (37.2%) patients developed hepatic steatosis after total pancreatectomy, with marked declines in the Controlling Nutritional Status score and body mass index. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the attenuation of computed tomography values was correlated with female sex (P = 0.002), early postoperative serum albumin levels (P = 0.003), and pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy with high-dose pancrelipase (P = 0.032). Postoperative hepatic steatosis after pancreatectomy is associated with sex, malnutrition, and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency. High-dose pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy may have preventive effects on hepatic steatosis occurring after pancreatectomy.

Evaluation of total and partial structure factors, self-diffusion coefficients, and compressibilities of the cadmium-gallium melt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gopala Rao, R.V.; Das, R.

1988-01-01

The three partial structure factors S/sub 11/(K), S/sub 22/(K), and S/sub 12/(K) defined by Ashcroft and Langreth are computed with a square-well potential as a perturbation over a hard-sphere potential for different atomic fractions or concentrations of cadmium for Cd-Ga melt at 296 0 C. Also, the number-number, concentration-concentration, and the cross-term number-concentration structure factors due to Bhatia-Thornton have been calculated for the seven concentrations of Cd-Ga melt at that temperature. From these partial structure factors total structure factors are computed and are compared with the experimental results. The total structure factors so computed are found to be in excellent agreement with the measured values except in the long-wavelength limit of S(0). Using the partial structure factors in the long-wavelength limit the isothermal compressibilities have been calculated. From these partial structure factors and by using the linear-trajectory approximation of Helfand, the self-diffusion coefficients D/sub i/'s have also been calculated for various atomic fractions of Cd for Cd-Ga alloy at 296 0 C. From these D/sub i/'s, an estimate of the mutual diffusion coefficients has been made to a good approximation

Risk factors for periprosthetic joint infection following primary total hip or knee arthroplasty: a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Lingde; Cao, Junming; Zhang, Yingze; Ding, Wenyuan; Shen, Yong

2017-06-01

To identify risk factors for periprosthetic joint infection following primary total joint arthroplasty, a systematic search was performed in Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane library databases. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) or standardised mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Patient characteristics, surgical-related factors and comorbidities, as potential risk factors, were investigated. The main factors associated with infection after total joint arthroplasty (TJA) were male gender (OR, 1·48; 95% CI, 1.19-1.85), age (SMD, -0·10; 95% CI, -0.17--0.03), obesity (OR, 1·54; 95% CI, 1·25-1·90), alcohol abuse (OR, 1·88; 95% CI, 1·32-2·68), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) scale > 2 (OR, 2·06; 95% CI, 1·77-2·39), operative time (SMD, 0·49; 95% CI, 0·19-0·78), drain usage (OR, 0·36; 95% CI, 0·18-0·74), diabetes mellitus (OR, 1·58; 95% CI, 1·37-1·81), urinary tract infection (OR, 1·53; 95% CI, 1.09-2.16) and rheumatoid arthritis (OR, 1·57; 95% CI, 1·30-1·88). Among these risk factors, ASA score > 2 was a high risk factor, and drain usage was a protective factor. There was positive evidence for some factors that could be used to prevent the onset of infection after TJA. © 2016 Medicalhelplines.com Inc and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Risk factors for deep infection after total knee arthroplasty: a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jie; Cui, Yunying; Li, Xin; Miao, Xiangwan; Wen, Zhanpeng; Xue, Yan; Tian, Jing

2013-05-01

Estimated the risk factors for postoperative infection after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) to prevent its occurrence. The meta-analysis collected twelve cohorts or case-control studies which included 548 infected persons in 57,223 general cases. Review Manager 5.0 was operated to assess the heterogeneity and to give an overall estimate of the association of factors with postoperative infection after TKA. The main factors distinctly associated with infection after TKA were BMI (BMI >30: OR = 2.53, 95 % CI 1.25, 5.13; BMI >40: OR = 4.00, 95 % CI 1.23, 12.98), diabetes mellitus (OR = 3.72, 95 % CI 2.30, 6.01), hypertension (OR = 2.53, 95 % CI 1.07, 5.99), steroid therapy (OR = 2.04, 95 % CI 1.11, 3.74), and rheumatoid arthritis (OR = 1.83; 95 % CI 1.42, 2.36). It had no sufficient evidences to reveal that gender could lead to infection after TKA. Osteoarthritis appeared to have a moderately protective effect. Statistical analysis revealed no correlation between urinary tract infection, fixation method, ASA, bilateral operation, age, transfusion, antibiotics, bone graft, and infection. There were positive evidences for some certain factors which could be targeted for prevention of the onset of infection, but more studies are needed to define the association of some other controversial factors in infection, like osteoarthritis, gender and so on. The quality of studies also needs to be improved.

Severe Pulmonary Toxicity After Myeloablative Conditioning Using Total Body Irradiation: An Assessment of Risk Factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kelsey, Chris R.; Horwitz, Mitchell E.; Chino, Junzo P.; Craciunescu, Oana; Steffey, Beverly; Folz, Rodney J.; Chao, Nelson J.; Rizzieri, David A.; Marks, Lawrence B.

2011-01-01

Purpose: To assess factors associated with severe pulmonary toxicity after myeloablative conditioning using total body irradiation (TBI) followed by allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Methods and Materials: A total of 101 adult patients who underwent TBI-based myeloablative conditioning for hematologic malignancies at Duke University between 1998 and 2008 were reviewed. TBI was combined with high-dose cyclophosphamide, melphalan, fludarabine, or etoposide, depending on the underlying disease. Acute pulmonary toxicity, occurring within 90 days of transplantation, was scored using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.0. Actuarial overall survival and the cumulative incidence of acute pulmonary toxicity were calculated via the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using a log-rank test. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to assess factors independently associated with acute severe pulmonary toxicity. Results: The 90-day actuarial risk of developing severe (Grade 3-5) pulmonary toxicity was 33%. Actuarial survival at 90 days was 49% in patients with severe pulmonary toxicity vs. 94% in patients without (p < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, the number of prior chemotherapy regimens was the only factor independently associated with development of severe pulmonary toxicity (odds ratio, 2.7 per regimen). Conclusions: Severe acute pulmonary toxicity is prevalent after TBI-based myeloablative conditioning regimens, occurring in approximately 33% of patients. The number of prior chemotherapy regimens appears to be an important risk factor.

Theory of inelastic effects in resonant atom-surface scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evans, D.K.

1983-01-01

The progress of theoretical and experimental developments in atom-surface scattering is briefly reviewed. The formal theory of atom-surface resonant scattering is reviewed and expanded, with both S and T matrix approaches being explained. The two-potential formalism is shown to be useful for dealing with the problem in question. A detailed theory based on the S-matrix and the two-potential formalism is presented. This theory takes account of interactions between the incident atoms and the surface phonons, with resonant effects being displayed explicitly. The Debye-Waller attenuation is also studied. The case in which the atom-surface potential is divided into an attractive part V/sub a/ and a repulsive part V/sub r/ is considered at length. Several techniques are presented for handling the scattering due to V/sub r/, for the case in which V/sub r/ is taken to be the hard corrugated surface potential. The theory is used to calculate the scattered intensities for the system 4 He/LiF(001). A detailed comparison with experiment is made, with polar scans, azimuthal scans, and time-of-flight measurements being considered. The theory is seen to explain the location and signature of resonant features, and to provide reasonable overall agreement with the experimental results

P-Selectin: An Unpredicted Factor for Deep Vein Thrombosis after Total Hip Arthroplasty

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongquan Shi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT is a severe complication after total hip arthroplasty (THA. It leads to acute pulmonary embolism, a life-threatening disease. P-selectin is a 140-kDa transmembrane glycoprotein. Elevated P-selectin was associated with 1.7-fold increase in the risk of venous thrombosis. Materials and Methods. To confirm the association, a total of 91 subjects who received primary total hip arthroplasty using lateral approach performed by one skilled orthopedic surgeon were studied. All the patients were consecutively enrolled at the Center of Diagnosis and Treatment for Joint Diseases, Drum Tower Hospital affiliated to the Medical School of Nanjing University from 2010 to 2012. All the subjects received venography 3–5 days after operation. We measured P-selectin by means of a highly sensitive sandwich ELISA technique and a commercially available test reagent set. Results. No significant association was detected between P-selectin and DVT (all P  values>0.05. ΔsP-selectin was correlated with weight, APTT after operation, history of DVT, and diagnosis of primary disease ( P values were 0.03, 0.03, 0.04, and 0.02, resp.. Conclusion. P-selectin may not be a predicted factor for deep vein thrombosis after total hip arthroplasty.

Predictive factors for pharyngocutaneous fistulization after total laryngectomy: a Dutch Head and Neck Society audit

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lansaat, Liset; van der Noort, Vincent; Bernard, Simone E.; Eerenstein, Simone E. J.; Plaat, Boudewijn E. C.; Langeveld, Ton A. P. M.; Lacko, Martin; Hilgers, Frans J. M.; de Bree, Remco; Takes, Robert P.; van den Brekel, Michiel W. M.

2018-01-01

Incidences of pharyngocutaneous fistulization (PCF) after total laryngectomy (TL) reported in the literature vary widely, ranging from 2.6 to 65.5%. Comparison between different centers might identify risk factors, but also might enable improvements in quality of care. To enable this on a national

El éxito del mantenimiento productivo total y su relación con los factores administrativos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jorge Luis García Alcaraz

2012-01-01

Full Text Available El mantenimiento productivo total es una herramienta ampliamente usada en las áreas productivas, la cual está encaminada a incrementar la disponibilidad de la maquinaria y equipo de producción, así como los beneficios económicos de las empresas. Sin embargo, no se conocen los factores administrativos que aseguren su éxito de implantación. En este artículo se presentan los resultados de una encuesta -que fue aplicada a 203 gerentes y supervisores de mantenimiento de empresas localizadas en Ciudad Juárez- que constó de veinte actividades y tres beneficios, y que debía ser respondida en una escala Likert. El cuestionario se validó mediante el índice alfa de Cronbach y se aplicó un análisis factorial exploratorio mediante el método de componentes principales y se determinó que solamente tres factores podían explicar el 66.06% de la varianza total, mientras que la relación entre los factores, las actividades y beneficios se obtuvieron mediante modelos de ecuaciones estructurales.

The justification for the use of table of equivalent squares with respect to reference depth total scatter factor, and phantom scatter factor, for cobalt-60 teletherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Afari, F.

2011-01-01

The use of equivalent squares is of great value and importance when determining output and depth dose data for rectangular fields. The variation with field shape of collimator scatter factors (S c ), phantom scatter factors (S c,p ) were studied using measurements on GWGP 80 cobalt - 60 teletherapy machine at the National Centre of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine in the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Measurements of the collimator scatter factors (S c ), phantom scatter factors (S p ) and total scatter factors (S c, p) were made at the depth of 5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm and 20 cm in full scatter water phantom for square field side and rectangular fields of varying dimensions. The measurements were done using the source - axis distance (Sad) technique. The values of total scatter factor (S c,p ), phantom scatter factor and collimator scatter factor (S c ) obtained were used to estimate equivalent squares for the rectangular fields at the various depths. The equivalent squares were computed using the method of interpolation which is based on the scatter analysis of these scatter factors and these estimated equivalent squares were then compared with equivalent squares were then compared with equivalent square fields from BJR (supplement 21) tables of equivalent squares. The research revealed that there were average deviation of 1.5% for smaller rectangular field sizes and 8.8% for elongated rectangular field sizes between the estimated square field sizes and the equivalent square field from BJR (supplement 21) Table of equivalent square fields. The 8.8% for the elongated rectangular fields is not accepted, though such fields are rarely used in our Hospitals. It was found that the values of the equivalent square at the various depth were very consistent and do not vary with reference depth. These findings confirm that the clinical use of the BJR (supplement 21) Table of equivalent squares for total scatter factors and phantom scatter related quantities of rectangular fields is

Study on the green total factor productivity in main cities of China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Jiansheng

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The aim of this research is to investigate China’s urban green total factor productivity (TFP under the background of progressing urbanization and intensifying environmental pollution, and found out its main influencing factors. In this paper, green TFP of 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2012 was estimated through Malmquist productivity index. Results showed that the annual growth of green TFP in main cities in China is 3.5% and the overall growth declines gradually. Viewed from decomposition of green TFP, technical progress is the main contributor of green TFP growth. Furthermore, the northern coastal region has achieved the highest annual growth of green TFP (4.5% and the northwest region achieved the lowest growth of green TFP (1.24%, indicating the great regional differences of green TFP and economic growth quality in China. According to analysis on influencing factors of green TFP in main cities, it has been concluded that per-capita urban road area, number of Internet users, proportion of fiscal expenditures, environmental regulation level and technical input are significantly positively correlated with green TFP, while industrial structure and foreign direct investment (FDI are significantly negatively correlated. Finally, policy suggestions to improve urban green TFP in China were proposed.

Use of novel fibre-coupled radioluminescence and RADPOS dosimetry systems for total scatter factor measurements in small fields

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ploquin, N.; Kertzscher, Gustavo; Vandervoort, E.

2015-01-01

A dosimetry system based on Al2O3:C radioluminescence (RL), and RADPOS, a novel 4D dosimetry system using microMOSFETs, were used to measure total scatter factors, (Sc,p)fclindet, for the CyberKnife robotic radiosugery system. New Monte Carlo calculated correction factors are presented and applied...

Rate and Risk Factors for Periprosthetic Joint Infection Among 36,494 Primary Total Hip Arthroplasties.

Science.gov (United States)

Triantafyllopoulos, Georgios K; Soranoglou, Vasileios G; Memtsoudis, Stavros G; Sculco, Thomas P; Poultsides, Lazaros A

2018-04-01

As periprosthetic joint infections (PJIs) can have tremendous health and socioeconomic implications, recognizing patients at risk before surgery is of great importance. Therefore, we sought to determine the rate of and risk factors for deep PJI in patients undergoing primary total hip arthroplasty (THA). Clinical characteristics of patients treated with primary THA between January 1999 and December 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. These included patient demographics, comorbidities (including the Charlson/Deyo comorbidity index), length of stay, primary diagnosis, total/allogeneic transfusion rate, and in-hospital complications, which were grouped into local and systemic (minor and major). We determined the overall deep PJI rate, as well as the rates for early-onset (occurring within 2 years after index surgery) and late-onset PJI (occurring more than 2 years after surgery). A Cox proportional hazards regression model was constructed to identify risk factors for developing deep PJI. Significance level was set at 0.05. A deep PJI developed in 154 of 36,494 primary THAs (0.4%) during the study period. Early onset PJI was found in 122 patients (0.3%), whereas late PJI occurred in 32 patients (0.1%). Obesity, coronary artery disease, and pulmonary hypertension were identified as independent risk factors for deep PJI after primary THA. The rate of deep PJIs of the hip is relatively low, with the majority occurring within 2 years after THA. If the optimization of modifiable risk factors before THA can reduce the rate of this complication remains unknown, but should be attempted as part of good practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Assessment of Three Northeast Asian Economies’ Total Factor Productivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dana GÂRDU

2011-07-01

Full Text Available East Asian economies have achieved spectacular growth rates in a relatively short timespan outstripping the rest of the developing world. Hence the concern of both scholarly and policymaking circles for their peculiar development strategies. Both their spectacular rise and provisional decline after the Asian financial crisis (AFC were explained from three major perspectives: statism, neoliberalism, and neoconfucianism.The paper purports to quantify and interpret the pre-crisis total factor productivity (TFP of three Northeast Asian economies by using the Solow Model. The interdependencies between their TFP dynamics were investigated via a VAR Model. The findings suggest that labour contribution has decreased over time in favour of capital inputs and/or TFP as speedy industrialisation, and a gradual refinement of international specialisation proceeded. However low or even negative TFP during the 1990s signal the emergence of structural problems that decelerate growth, and increase these economies’ vulnerability to exogenous shocks.

For which option is credit risk more representative on China banks' total factor productivity Efficiency change or technological progress?

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Fadzlan Sufian

2012-01-01

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence on the impact of credit risk on China banks' total factor productivity.Design/methodology/approach-The paper employs the Malmquist Productivity Index (MP1) which allows for the examination of five different indices:total factor productivity change (TFPCH);technological change (TECHCH);efficiency change (EFFCH);pure technical efficiency change (PEFFCH);and scale efficiency change (SECH) indices.Findings-The empirical findings indicate that the State Owned Commercial Banks (SOCB),Joint Stock Commercial Banks (JSCB),and City Commercial Banks (CCB) have exhibited lower TFPCH levels with the inclusion of risk factor.It was found that the JSCB and CCB have exhibited lower TFPCH due to TECHCH,while the SOCB have exhibited lower TFPCH due to EFFCH.The empirical findings suggest that the inclusion of credit risk factor has resulted in a higher JSCB EFFCH levels.On the other hand,the SOCB and CCB have exhibited a lower EFFCH levels due to SECH and PEFFCH,respectively.Research limitations/implications-The results clearly highlight the importance of credit risk and lending quality in determining the total factor productivity change of banks operating in the China banking sector.The author demonstrates that the inclusion of credit risk factor has resulted in a lower TFPCH level of all banks operating in the China banking sector.Thus,excluding the credit risk factor from the analysis on the China banking sector may potentially bias the result upwards.Practical impIications-In an environment of heavy government influence over the lending process,a large proportion of loans extended by Chinese banks over the years have gone bad.Policymakers should prevent the flow of new non-performing loans by separating bad clients from banks that are being restructured and recapitalized in the reform of the banking sector.Originality/value-By employing the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI),the present paper contributes to

Dietary factors associated with plasma high molecular weight and total adiponectin levels in apparently healthy women

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yannakoulia, Mary; Yiannakouris, Nikos; Melistas, Labros; Fappa, Evaggelia; Vidra, Nikoletta; Kontogianni, Meropi D; Mantzoros, Christos S

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to investigate associations between dietary factors and high molecular weight (HMW) as well as total adiponectin in a sample of apparently healthy adult Mediterranean women. DESIGN AND METHODS: Two hundred and twenty women were enrolled in this study. Anthropometric and body

Industry-level total-factor energy efficiency in developed countries: A Japan-centered analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Honma, Satoshi; Hu, Jin-Li

2014-01-01

Highlights: • This study compares Japan with other developed countries for energy efficiency at the industry level. • We compute the total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) for industries in 14 developed countries in 1995–2005. • Energy conservation can be further optimized in Japan’s industry sector. • Japan experienced a slight decrease in the weighted TFEE from 0.986 in 1995 to 0.927 in 2005. • Japan should adapt energy conservation technologies from the primary benchmark countries: Germany, UK, and USA. - Abstract: Japan’s energy security is more vulnerable today than it was before the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in March 2011. To alleviate its energy vulnerability, Japan has no choice but to improve energy efficiency. To aid in this improvement, this study compares Japan’s energy efficiency at the industry level with that of other developed countries. We compute the total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE) of industries in 14 developed countries for 1995–2005 using data envelopment analysis. We use four inputs: labor, capital stock, energy, and non-energy intermediate inputs. Value added is the only relevant output. Results indicate that Japan can further optimize energy conservation because it experienced only a marginal decrease in the weighted TFEE, from 0.986 in 1995 to 0.927 in 2005. To improve inefficient industries, Japan should adapt energy conservation technologies from benchmark countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Calculation of NaCl, KCl and LiCl Salts Activity Coefficients in Polyethylene Glycol (PEG4000)-Water System Using Modified PHSC Equation of State, Extended Debye-Hückel Model and Pitzer Model

Science.gov (United States)

Marjani, Azam

2016-07-01

For biomolecules and cell particles purification and separation in biological engineering, besides the chromatography as mostly applied process, aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) are of the most favorable separation processes that are worth to be investigated in thermodynamic theoretically. In recent years, thermodynamic calculation of ATPS properties has attracted much attention due to their great applications in chemical industries such as separation processes. These phase calculations of ATPS have inherent complexity due to the presence of ions and polymers in aqueous solution. In this work, for target ternary systems of polyethylene glycol (PEG4000)-salt-water, thermodynamic investigation for constituent systems with three salts (NaCl, KCl and LiCl) has been carried out as PEG is the most favorable polymer in ATPS. The modified perturbed hard sphere chain (PHSC) equation of state (EOS), extended Debye-Hückel and Pitzer models were employed for calculation of activity coefficients for the considered systems. Four additional statistical parameters were considered to ensure the consistency of correlations and introduced as objective functions in the particle swarm optimization algorithm. The results showed desirable agreement to the available experimental data, and the order of recommendation of studied models is PHSC EOS > extended Debye-Hückel > Pitzer. The concluding remark is that the all the employed models are reliable in such calculations and can be used for thermodynamic correlation/predictions; however, by using an ion-based parameter calculation method, the PHSC EOS reveals both reliability and universality of applications.

Effect of finite sample dimensions and total scatter acceptance angle on the gamma ray buildup factor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, Sukhpal; Kumar, Ashok; Singh, Charanjeet; Thind, Kulwant Singh; Mudahar, Gurmel S.

2008-01-01

The simultaneous variation of gamma ray buildup factors with absorber thickness (up to 6.5 mfp) and total scatter acceptance angle (which is the sum of incidence and exit beam divergence) in the media of high volume flyash concrete and water was studied experimentally using a point isotropic 137 Cs source

Regional total factor energy efficiency: An empirical analysis of industrial sector in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Zhao-Hua; Zeng, Hua-Lin; Wei, Yi-Ming; Zhang, Yi-Xiang

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We evaluate energy efficiency under framework of total factor energy efficiency. ► We focus on industry sector of China. ► We use statistical data of industrial enterprises above designated size. ► Energy efficiencies among regions in China are obvious because of technological differences. ► Large scale of investment should be stopped especially in central and western regions. -- Abstract: The rapid growth of the Chinese economy has resulted in great pressure on energy consumption, especially the energy intensive sector – the industrial sector. To achieve sustainable development, China has to consider how to promote energy efficiency to meet the demand of Chinese rapid economic growth, as the energy efficiency of China is relatively low. Meanwhile, the appeal of energy saving and emission reduction has been made by the Chinese central government. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the energy efficiency of industrial sector in China and to assess efficiency development probabilities. The framework of total factor energy efficiency index is adopted to determine the discrepancy of energy efficiency in Chinese industrial sector based on the provincial statistical data of industrial enterprises above designated size in 30 provinces from 2005 to 2009, with gross industrial output as the output value and energy consumption, average remaining balance of capital assets and average amount of working force as the input values. Besides, in considerate of the regional divide of China, namely eastern, central, and western, and economic development differences in each region, energy efficiency of each region is also analysed in this paper. The results show that there is room for China to improve its energy efficiency, especially western provinces which have large amount of energy input excess. Generally speaking, insufficient technological investment and fail of reaching best scale of manufacture are two factors preventing China from energy

Does IQ predict total and cardiovascular disease mortality as strongly as other risk factors? Comparison of effect estimates using the Vietnam Experience Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Batty, G D; Shipley, M J; Gale, C R

2008-01-01

To compare the strength of the relation of two measurements of IQ and 11 established risk factors with total and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality.......To compare the strength of the relation of two measurements of IQ and 11 established risk factors with total and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality....

Incidence, Risk Factors, and Clinical Implications of Pneumonia Following Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Bohl, Daniel D; Saltzman, Bryan M; Sershon, Robert A; Darrith, Brian; Okroj, Kamil T; Della Valle, Craig J

2017-06-01

The purpose of this study is to determine the incidence, risk factors, and clinical implications of pneumonia following total joint arthroplasty (TJA). The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program was used to conduct a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing TJA. Independent risk factors for the development of pneumonia within 30 days of TJA were identified using multivariate regression. Mortality and readmission rates were compared between patients who did and did not develop pneumonia. Multivariate regression was used to adjust for all demographic, comorbidity, and procedural characteristics. In total, 171,200 patients met inclusion criteria, of whom 66,493 (38.8%) underwent THA and 104,707 (61.2%) underwent TKA. Of the 171,200 patients, 590 developed pneumonia, yielding a rate of 0.34% (95% confidence interval = 0.32%-0.37%). Independent risk factors for pneumonia were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, greater age (most notably ≥80 years), dyspnea on exertion, dependent functional status, lower body mass index, hypertension, current smoker status, and male sex. The subset of patients who developed pneumonia following discharge had a higher readmission rate (82.1% vs 3.4%, adjusted relative risk [RR] = 16.6, P pneumonia. Pneumonia is a serious complication following TJA that occurs in approximately 1 in 300 patients. Approximately 4 in 5 patients who develop pneumonia are subsequently readmitted, and approximately 1 in 25 die. Given the serious implications of this complication, evidence-based pneumonia prevention programs including oral hygiene with chlorhexidine, sitting upright for meals, elevation of the head of the bed to at least 30°, aggressive incentive spirometry, and early ambulation should be considered for patients at greatest risk. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Threshold and Lennard-Jones resonances and elastic lifetimes in the scattering of atoms from crystalline surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, N.

1978-01-01

The GR method for solving the scattering equations of atoms from a hard corrugated surface is applied on accelerated particles above a hard corrugated surface and a hard corrugated surface with an attractive well. The solutions are given for the Rayleigh hypothesis that under the range of corrugation presented in this paper leads to the exact ones. Threshold resonances are studied observing that the appearance and disappearance of beams must be for a general theory with vertical tangent. The structure of the Lennard-Jones resonances given for the model mentioned above. For the first time it is stressed that Lennard-Jones resonances are not observed in metal surfaces in general, and, accordingly, they are unobserved in compact metallic surfaces. This is correlated with the fact that diffraction has not been observed. Both facts are due to the very weak corrugation of the gas-metal interaction potential. According to our results, the Lennard-Jones resonances in metals present greater difficulties to be observed experimentally. It is also noted that the absence of diffraction in compact metal surfaces is because they are almost plane and not because of the Debye-Waller effect. Finally, the lifetimes of the atoms at the crystal surfaces are calculated. These are larger, the smaller the incident energy and the larger the corrugation. But the lifetimes are particularly large at resonance conditions (10 -11 s). (Auth.)

Sheet beam model for intense space charge: Application to Debye screening and the distribution of particle oscillation frequencies in a thermal equilibrium beam

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven M. Lund

2011-05-01

Full Text Available A one-dimensional Vlasov-Poisson model for sheet beams is reviewed and extended to provide a simple framework for analysis of space-charge effects. Centroid and rms envelope equations including image-charge effects are derived and reasonable parameter equivalences with commonly employed 2D transverse models of unbunched beams are established. This sheet-beam model is then applied to analyze several problems of fundamental interest. A sheet-beam thermal equilibrium distribution in a continuous focusing channel is constructed and shown to have analogous properties to two- and three-dimensional thermal equilibrium models in terms of the equilibrium structure and Debye screening properties. The simpler formulation for sheet beams is exploited to explicitly calculate the distribution of particle oscillation frequencies within a thermal equilibrium beam. It is shown that as space-charge intensity increases, the frequency distribution becomes broad, suggesting that beams with strong space-charge can have improved stability relative to beams with weak space-charge.

A panel data parametric frontier technique for measuring total-factor energy efficiency: An application to Japanese regions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Honma, Satoshi; Hu, Jin-Li

2014-01-01

Using the stochastic frontier analysis model, we estimate TFEE (total-factor energy efficiency) scores for 47 regions across Japan during the years 1996–2008. We extend the cross-sectional stochastic frontier model proposed by Zhou et al. (2012) to panel data models and add environmental variables. The results provide not only the TFEE scores, in which statistical noise is taken into account, but also the determinants of inefficiency. The three stochastic TFEE scores are compared with a TFEE score derived using data envelopment analysis. The four TFEE scores are highly correlated with one another. For the inefficiency estimates, higher manufacturing industry shares and wholesale and retail trade shares correspond to lower TFEE scores. - Highlights: • This study estimates total-factor energy efficiency of Japanese regions using the stochastic frontier analysis model. • Determinants of inefficiency are also estimated. • The higher the manufacturing share and wholesale and retail trade share, the lower the energy efficiency

Quadrupole splitting and Eu partial lattice dynamics in europium orthophosphate EuPO {sub 4}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Klobes, B., E-mail: b.klobes@fz-juelich.de [JARA-FIT - Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich Centre for Neutron Science JCNS and Peter Grünberg Institute PGI (Germany); Arinicheva, Y., E-mail: y.arinicheva@fz-juelich.de; Neumeier, S., E-mail: s.neumeier@fz-juelich.de [Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-6) Nuclear Waste Management and Reactor Safety (Germany); Simon, R. E., E-mail: r.simon@fz-juelich.de; Jafari, A., E-mail: a.jafari@fz-juelich.de [JARA-FIT - Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich Centre for Neutron Science JCNS and Peter Grünberg Institute PGI (Germany); Bosbach, D., E-mail: d.bosbach@fz-juelich.de [Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-6) Nuclear Waste Management and Reactor Safety (Germany); Hermann, R. P., E-mail: hermannrp@ornl.gov [JARA-FIT - Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich Centre for Neutron Science JCNS and Peter Grünberg Institute PGI (Germany)

2016-12-15

Hyperfine interactions in europium orthophosphate EuPO{sub 4} were investigated using {sup 151}Eu Mössbauer spectroscopy from 6 to 300 K. The value of the quadrupole splitting and the asymmetry parameter were refined and further substantiated by nuclear forward scattering data obtained at room temperature. The temperature dependence of the relative absorption was modeled with an Eu specific Debye temperature of 221(1) K. Eu partial lattice dynamics were probed by means of nuclear inelastic scattering and the mean force constant, the Lamb-Mössbauer factor, the internal energy, the vibrational entropy, the average phonon group velocity were calculated using the extracted density of phonon states. In general, Eu specific vibrations are characterized by rather small phonon energies and contribute strongly to the total entropy of the system. Although there is no classical Debye like behavior at low vibrational energies, the average phonon group velocity can be reasonably approximated using a linear fit.

Total Factor Productivity Growth, Technical Progress & Efficiency Change in Vietnam Coal Industry - Nonparametric Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Phuong, Vu Hung

2018-03-01

This research applies Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to analyze Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and efficiency changes in Vietnam coal mining industry from 2007 to 2013. The TFP of Vietnam coal mining companies decreased due to slow technological progress and unimproved efficiency. The decadence of technical efficiency in many enterprises proved that the coal mining industry has a large potential to increase productivity through technical efficiency improvement. Enhancing human resource training, technology and research & development investment could help the industry to improve efficiency and productivity in Vietnam coal mining industry.

Analysis of radiation pressure force exerted on a biological cell induced by high-order Bessel beams using Debye series

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Renxian; Ren, Kuan Fang; Han, Xiang'e; Wu, Zhensen; Guo, Lixin; Gong, Shuxi

2013-01-01

Debye series expansion (DSE) is employed to the analysis of radiation pressure force (RPF) exerted on biological cells induced by high-order Bessel beams (BB). The beam shape coefficients (BSCs) for high-order Bessel beams are calculated using analytical expressions obtained by the integral localized approximation (ILA). Different types of cells, including a real Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell and a lymphocyte which are respectively modeled by a coated and five-layered sphere, are considered. The RPF induced by high-order Bessel beams is compared with that by Gaussian beams and zeroth-order Bessel beams, and the effect of different scattering processes on RPF is studied. Numerical calculations show that high-order Bessel beams with zero central intensity can also transversely trap particle in the beam center, and some scattering processes can provide longitudinal pulling force. -- Highlights: ► BSCs for high-order Bessel beam (HOBB) is derived using ILA. ► DSE is employed to study the RPF induced by HOBB exerted on multilayered cells. ► RPF is decided by radius relative to the interval of peaks in intensity profile. ► HOBB can also transversely trap high-index particle in the vicinity of beam axis. ► RPF for some scattering processes can longitudinally pull particles back

Neutron- and light-scattering studies of the liquid-to-glass and glass-to-glass transitions in dense copolymer micellar solutions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Weiren; Chen Sowhsin; Mallamace, Francesco; Glinka, Charles J.; Fratini, Emiliano

2003-01-01

Recent mode coupling theory (MCT) calculations show that if a short-range attractive interaction is added to the pure hard sphere system, one may observe a new type of glass originating from the clustering effect (the attractive glass) as a result of the attractive interaction. This is in addition to the known glass-forming mechanism due to the cage effect in the hard sphere system (the repulsive glass). The calculations also indicate that if the range of attraction is sufficiently short compared to the diameter of the particle, within a certain interval of volume fractions where the two glass-forming mechanisms nearly balance each other, varying the external control parameter, the effective temperature, makes the glass-to-liquid-to-glass reentrance and the glass-to-glass transitions possible. Here we present experimental evidence of both transitions, obtained from small-angle neutron-scattering and photon correlation measurements taken from dense L64 copolymer micellar solutions in heavy water. Varying the temperature in certain predicted volume fraction range triggers a sharp transition between these two different types of glass. In particular, according to MCT, there is an end point (called A 3 singularity) of this glass-to-glass transition line, beyond which the long-time dynamics of the two glasses become identical. Our findings confirm this theoretical prediction. Surprisingly, although the Debye-Waller factors, the long-time limit of the coherent intermediate scattering functions, of these two glasses obtained from photon correlation measurements indeed become identical at the predicted volume fraction, they exhibit distinctly different intermediate time relaxation. Furthermore, our experimental results obtained from volume fractions beyond the end point are characterized by the same features as the repulsive glass obtained before the end point. A complete phase diagram giving the boundaries of the structural arrest transitions for L64 micellar system is

Inelastic scattering in condensed matter with high intensity Moessbauer radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yelon, W.B.; Schupp, G.

1990-10-01

We give a progress report for the work which has been carried out in the last three years with DOE support. A facility for high-intensity Moessbauer scattering is now fully operational at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) as well as facility at Purdue, using special isotopes produced at MURR. High precision, fundamental Moessbauer effect studies have been carried out using scattering to filter the unwanted radiation. These have led to a new Fourier transform method for describing Moessbauer effect (ME) lineshape and a direct method of fitting ME data to the convolution integral. These methods allow complete correction for source resonance self absorption (SRSA) and the accurate representation of interference effects that add an asymmetric component to the ME lines. We have begun applying these techniques to attenuated ME sources whose central peak has been attenuated by stationary resonant absorbers, to more precisely determine interference parameters and line-shape behavior in the resonance asymptotic region. This analysis is important to both the fundamental ME studies and to scattering studies for which a deconvolution is essential for extracting the correct recoilless fractions and interference parameters. A number of scattering studies have been successfully carried out including a study of the thermal diffuse scattering in Si, which led to an analysis of the resolution function for gamma-ray scattering. Also studied was the anharmonic motion in Na and the satellite reflection Debye-Waller factor in TaS 2 , which indicate phason rather than phonon behavior. We have begun quasielastic diffusion studies in viscous liquids and current results are summarized. These advances, coupled to our improvements in MIcrofoil Conversion Electron spectroscopy lay the foundation for the proposed research outlined in this request for a three-year renewal of DOE support

Gamma scattering in condensed matter with high intensity Moessbauer radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1990-01-01

We give a progress report for the work which has been carried out in the last three years with DOE support. A facility for high-intensity Moessbauer scattering is now fully operational at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) as well as a facility at Purdue, using special isotopes produced at MURR. High precision, fundamental Moessbauer effect studies have been carried out using scattering to filter the unwanted radiation. These have led to a new Fourier transform method for describing Moessbauer effect (ME) lineshape and a direct method of fitting ME data to the convolution integral. These methods allow complete correction for source resonance self absorption (SRSA) and the accurate representation of interference effects that add an asymmetric component to the ME lines. We have begun applying these techniques to attenuated ME sources whose central peak has been attenuated by stationary resonant absorbers, to more precisely determine interference parameters and line-shape behavior in the resonance asymptotic region. This analysis is important to both the fundamental ME studies and to scattering studies for which a deconvolution is essential for extracting the correct recoilless fractions and interference parameters. A number of scattering studies have been successfully carried out including a study of the thermal diffuse scattering in Si, which led to an analysis of the resolution function for gamma-ray scattering. Also studied was the anharmonic motion in Na and the satellite reflection Debye-Waller factor in TaS 2 , which indicate phason rather than phonon behavior. We have begun quasielastic diffusion studies in viscous liquids and current results are summarized. These advances, coupled to our improvements in MIcrofoil Conversion Electron spectroscopy lay the foundation for the proposed research outlined in this request for a three-year renewal of DOE support

Inelastic scattering in condensed matter with high intensity moessbauer radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yelon, W.B.; Schupp, G.

1991-05-01

We give a progress report for the work which has been carried out in the last three years with DOE support. A facility for high-intensity Moessbauer scattering is not fully operational at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) as well as a facility at Purdue, using special isotopes produced at MURR. High precision, fundamental Moessbauer effect studies have been carried out using Bragg scattering filters to suppress unwanted radiation. These have led to a Fourier transform method for describing Moessbauer effect (ME) lineshape and a direct method of fitting ME data to the convolution integral. These methods allow complete correction for source resonance self absorption and the accurate representation of interference effects that add an asymmetric component to the ME lines. We have begun applying these techniques to attenuated ME sources whose central peak has been attenuated by stationary resonant absorbers, to make a novel independent determination of interference parameters and line-shape behavior in the resonance asymptotic region. This analysis is important to both fundamental ME studies and to scattering studies for which a deconvolution is essential for extracting the correct recoilless fractions and interference parameters. A number of scattering studies have been successfully carried out including a study of the thermal diffuse scattering in Si, which led to an analysis of the resolution function for gamma-ray scattering. Also studied was the anharmonic motion in Na metal and the charge density wave satellite reflection Debye-Waller factor in TaS 2 , which indicate phason rather than phonon behavior. Using a specially constructed sample cell which enables us to vary temperatures from -10 C to 110 C, we have begun quasielastic diffusion studies in viscous liquids and current results are summarized. Included are the temperature and Q dependence of the scattering in pentadecane and diffusion in glycerol

Universal divergenceless scaling between structural relaxation and caged dynamics in glass-forming systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Ottochian, A; De Michele, C; Leporini, D

2009-12-14

On approaching the glass transition, the microscopic kinetic unit spends increasing time rattling in the cage of the first neighbors, whereas its average escape time, the structural relaxation time tau(alpha), increases from a few picoseconds up to thousands of seconds. A thorough study of the correlation between tau(alpha) and the rattling amplitude, expressed by the Debye-Waller factor, was carried out. Molecular-dynamics simulations of both a model polymer system and a binary mixture were performed by varying the temperature, the density rho, the potential and the polymer length to consider the structural relaxation as well as both the rotational and the translation diffusion. The present simulations, together with MD studies on other glassformers, evidence the scaling between the structural relaxation and the caged dynamics. An analytic model of the master curve is developed in terms of two characteristic length scales a(2) (1/2) and sigma(a(2) ) (1/2), pertaining to the distance to be covered by the kinetic unit to reach a transition state. The model does not imply tau(alpha) divergences. The comparison with the experiments supports the numerical evidence over a range of relaxation times as wide as about eighteen orders of magnitude. A comparison with other scaling and correlation procedures is presented. In particular, the density scaling of the length scales a(2) (1/2), sigma(a(2) ) (1/2) proportional to rho(-1/3) is shown to be not supported by the present simulations. The study suggests that the equilibrium and the moderately supercooled states of the glassformers possess key information on the huge slowing-down of their relaxation close to the glass transition. The latter, according to the present simulations, exhibits features consistent with the Lindemann melting criterion and the free-volume model.

A unified description of crystalline-to-amorphous transitions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lam, N.Q.; Okamoto, P.R. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States); Devanathan, R. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)]|[Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Meshii, M. [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

1993-07-01

Amorphous metallic alloys can now be synthesized by a variety of solid-state processes demonstrating the need for a more general approach to crystalline-to-amorphous (c-a) transitions. By focusing on static atomic displacements as a measure of chemical and topological disorder, we show that a unified description of c-a transformations can be based on a generalization of the phenomenological melting criterion proposed by Lindemann. The generalized version assumes that melting of a defective crystal occurs whenever the sum of thermal and static mean-square displacements exceeds a critical value identical to that for melting of the defect-free crystal. This implies that chemical or topological disorder measured by static displacements is thermodynamically equivalent to heating, and therefore that the melting temperature of the defective crystal will decrease with increasing amount of disorder. This in turn implies the existence of a critical state of disorder where the melting temperature becomes equal to a glass-transition temperature below which the metastable crystal melts to a glass. The generalized Lindemann melting criterion leads naturally to an interpretation of c-a transformations as defect-induced, low-temperature melting of critically disordered crystals. Confirmation of this criterion is provided by molecular-dynamics simulations of heat-induced melting and of defect-induced amorphization of intermetallic compounds caused either by the production of Frenkel pairs or anti-site defects. The thermodynamic equivalence between static atomic disorder and heating is reflected in the identical softening effects which they have on elastic properties and also in the diffraction analysis of diffuse scattering from disordered crystals, where the effect of static displacements appears as an artificially-enlarged thermal Debye-Waller factor. Predictions of this new, unified approach to melting and amorphization are compared with available experimental information.

The Impact of Environmental Regulation on Total Factor Energy Efficiency: A Cross-Region Analysis in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianting Lin

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Environmental regulations are the key measure by which governments achieve sustainable environmental and economic development. This study aimed to determine the direct and indirect impacts of environmental regulations on total factor energy efficiency of regions in China. Since regions have different levels of economic development and resource endowment, we used the slacks-based measure (SBM-undesirable model to calculate total factor energy efficiency considering regional technology heterogeneity and examined the regional impacts of environmental regulation on this efficiency using the Tobit regression model. A positive direct impact was generated in the eastern region of China by the forced mechanism, which forced enterprises to reduce fossil fuel energy demand and increase clean energy consumption; whereas a negative direct impact was generated in the middle and western regions owing to the green paradox, which is the observation that expected stringent environmental regulation prompts energy owners to accelerate resource extraction. Moreover, indirect impacts through technological progress and foreign direct investment were taken into account in the model, and the results show that the indirect impacts vary across regions. A logical response to these findings would be to develop different policies for different regions.

Factors influencing concentrations of dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) and total mercury (TM) in an artificial reservoir

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, Myung-Chan; Kim, Bomchul; Holsen, Thomas M.; Yi, Seung-Muk; Han, Young-Ji

2010-01-01

The effects of various factors including turbidity, pH, DOC, temperature, and solar radiation on the concentrations of total mercury (TM) and dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) were investigated in an artificial reservoir in Korea. Episodic total mercury accumulation events occurred during the rainy season as turbidity increased, indicating that the TM concentration was not controlled by direct atmospheric deposition. The DGM concentration in surface water ranged from 3.6 to 160 pg/L, having a maximum in summer and minimum in winter. While in most previous studies DGM was controlled primarily by a photo-reduction process, DGM concentrations tracked the amount of solar radiation only in winter when the water temperature was fairly low in this study. During the other seasons microbial transformation seemed to play an important role in reducing Hg(II) to Hg(0). DGM increased as dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration increased (p-value < 0.01) while it increased with a decrease of pH (p-value < 0.01). - Long-term in-situ monitoring of TM and DGM concentrations with various factors was executed in a large artificial reservoir in this study.

Combined impact of lifestyle-related factors on total and cause-specific mortality among Chinese women: prospective cohort study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah J Nechuta

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Although cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol drinking, obesity, and several other well-studied unhealthy lifestyle-related factors each have been linked to the risk of multiple chronic diseases and premature death, little is known about the combined impact on mortality outcomes, in particular among Chinese and other non-Western populations. The objective of this study was to quantify the overall impact of lifestyle-related factors beyond that of active cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption on all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Chinese women.We used data from the Shanghai Women's Health Study, an ongoing population-based prospective cohort study in China. Participants included 71,243 women aged 40 to 70 years enrolled during 1996-2000 who never smoked or drank alcohol regularly. A healthy lifestyle score was created on the basis of five lifestyle-related factors shown to be independently associated with mortality outcomes (normal weight, lower waist-hip ratio, daily exercise, never exposed to spouse's smoking, higher daily fruit and vegetable intake. The score ranged from zero (least healthy to five (most healthy points. During an average follow-up of 9 years, 2,860 deaths occurred, including 775 from cardiovascular disease (CVD and 1,351 from cancer. Adjusted hazard ratios for mortality decreased progressively with an increasing number of healthy lifestyle factors. Compared to women with a score of zero, hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals for women with four to five factors were 0.57 (0.44-0.74 for total mortality, 0.29 (0.16-0.54 for CVD mortality, and 0.76 (0.54-1.06 for cancer mortality. The inverse association between the healthy lifestyle score and mortality was seen consistently regardless of chronic disease status at baseline. The population attributable risks for not having 4-5 healthy lifestyle factors were 33% for total deaths, 59% for CVD deaths, and 19% for cancer deaths.In this first study, to our knowledge, to

Non-relativistic Free–Free Emission due to the n -distribution of Electrons—Radiative Cooling and Thermally Averaged and Total Gaunt Factors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Avillez, Miguel A. [Department of Mathematics, University of Évora, R. Romão Ramalho 59, 7000 Évora (Portugal); Breitschwerdt, Dieter, E-mail: mavillez@galaxy.lca.uevora.pt [Zentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstrasse 36, D-10623 Berlin (Germany)

2017-09-01

Tracking the thermal evolution of plasmas, characterized by an n -distribution, using numerical simulations, requires the determination of the emission spectra and of the radiative losses due to free–free emission from the corresponding temperature-averaged and total Gaunt factors. Detailed calculations of the latter are presented and associated with n -distributed electrons with the parameter n ranging from 1 (corresponding to the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution) to 100. The temperature-averaged and total Gaunt factors with decreasing n tend toward those obtained with the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. Radiative losses due to free–free emission in a plasma evolving under collisional ionization equilibrium conditions and composed by H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Fe ions, are presented. These losses decrease with a decrease in the parameter n , reaching a minimum when n  = 1, and thus converge with the loss of thermal plasma. Tables of the thermal-averaged and total Gaunt factors calculated for n -distributions, and a wide range of electron and photon energies, are presented.

Non-relativistic Free–Free Emission due to the n -distribution of Electrons—Radiative Cooling and Thermally Averaged and Total Gaunt Factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Avillez, Miguel A.; Breitschwerdt, Dieter

2017-01-01

Tracking the thermal evolution of plasmas, characterized by an n -distribution, using numerical simulations, requires the determination of the emission spectra and of the radiative losses due to free–free emission from the corresponding temperature-averaged and total Gaunt factors. Detailed calculations of the latter are presented and associated with n -distributed electrons with the parameter n ranging from 1 (corresponding to the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution) to 100. The temperature-averaged and total Gaunt factors with decreasing n tend toward those obtained with the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. Radiative losses due to free–free emission in a plasma evolving under collisional ionization equilibrium conditions and composed by H, He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, and Fe ions, are presented. These losses decrease with a decrease in the parameter n , reaching a minimum when n  = 1, and thus converge with the loss of thermal plasma. Tables of the thermal-averaged and total Gaunt factors calculated for n -distributions, and a wide range of electron and photon energies, are presented.

Impact on quality culture of total quality management practices factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Faihan Mosaad Saud Alotaibi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This study investigated total quality management practices and quality culture of Saudi Arabian contractors. Improving the quality can be achieved through implementation of total quality management although studies and researches work regarding this improvement is still lacking. A quantitative approach using the survey method was employed. With assistance from the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, survey questionnaires were distributed to selected contractors in Saudi Arabia. The collected data were analysed using correlation, and multiple regression analyses. The key findings were the confirmation of significant relationships between all total quality management practices and quality culture and a positive relationship between quality management practices and quality culture. Furthermore, total quality management practices were found to be able to explain 68.1% of the variance in quality culture, while quality culture explained 12.5% of the variance in competitiveness. Quality culture was found to only partially mediate the relationship between total quality management practices and competitiveness.

The Scale, Structure and Influencing Factors of Total Carbon Emissions from Households in 30 Provinces of China—Based on the Extended STIRPAT Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Wang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Household carbon emissions are important components of total carbon emissions. The consumer side of energy-saving emissions reduction is an essential factor in reducing carbon emissions. In this paper, the carbon emissions coefficient method and Consumer Lifestyle Approach (CLA were used to calculate the total carbon emissions of households in 30 provinces of China from 2006 to 2015, and based on the extended Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT model, the factors influencing the total carbon emissions of households were analyzed. The results indicated that, first, over the past ten years, the energy and products carbon emissions from China’s households have demonstrated a rapid growth trend and that regional distributions present obvious differences. Second, China’s energy carbon emissions due to household consumption primarily derived from the residents’ consumption of electricity and coal; China’s products household carbon emissions primarily derived from residents’ consumption of the high carbon emission categories: residences, food, transportation and communications. Third, in terms of influencing factors, the number of households in China plays a significant role in the total carbon emissions of China’s households. The ratio of children 0–14 years old and gender ratio (female = 100 are two factors that reflect the demographic structure, have significant effects on the total carbon emissions of China’s households, and are all positive. Gross Domestic Product (GDP per capita plays a role in boosting the total carbon emissions of China’s households. The effect of the carbon emission intensity on total household carbon emissions is positive. The industrial structure (the proportion of secondary industries’ added value to the regional GDP has curbed the growth of total carbon emissions from China’s household consumption. The results of this study provide data to support the

Analysis of factors influencing return to work after total hip arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Truszczyńska, Aleksandra; Rąpała, Kazimierz; Tarnowski, Adam; Kucharczyk, Wojciech

2013-10-31

BACKGROUND. Patients who undergo total hip arthroplasty (THA) find it difficult to return to work. OBJECTIVES. Analysis of factors influencing return to work after THA. Assessment of patients' quality of life and its impact on their attitude to work. MATERIAL AND METHODS. We studied patients operated on for degenerative hip disease at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery of Medical Centre of Postgraduate Education in Otwock between 2007 and 2012. The total number of the patients was 400; however, we chose only those patients who were younger than 65 and still in employment. The study population consisted of 54 of these patients. The mean patient age was 55.89 (±7.424). There were 29 men (57.3%) and 25 women (46.3%). RESULTS. 32 patients (59.3%) returned to work. There was a statistically significant difference regarding the attitude to work and return to work. An overwhelming majority of the patients who returned to work--31 out of 32 (96.6%)--liked their jobs. The 12 patients (22.22%) who did not return to work declared their intention to apply for a disability pension. The patients who returned to work assessed their physical health as better than the patients who did not return to work. CONCLUSIONS. 1. 40.7% of patients after THA did not return to preoperative employment. The reasons for not returning were not medical, because elimination of pain and an increased range of motion made return to work possible. 2. The perception of the quality of physical and psychological health among patients with THA who returned to work was significantly better than among those who did not return.

Acyl/free carnitine ratio is a risk factor for hepatic steatosis after pancreatoduodenectomy and total pancreatectomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, Masafumi; Nakata, Kohei; Matsumoto, Hideo; Ohtsuka, Takao; Yoshida, Koji; Tokunaga, Shoji; Hino, Keisuke

Hepatic steatosis, one of the most frequent long-term complications of pancreatectomy, influences not only hepatic function but also survival rate. However, its risk factors and pathogenesis have not been established. The purpose of this study was to clarify the risk factors for hepatic steatosis after pancreatectomy. In this retrospective study of 21 patients who had undergone pancreatectomy (19 cases of pancreatoduodenectomy and 2 cases of total pancreatectomy), serum carnitine concentrations, fractions of carnitine, and hepatic attenuation on computed tomography images were analyzed with the aim of identifying risk factors for hepatic steatosis. Thirteen (61.9%) of the 21 patients were diagnosed as having hypocarnitinemia after pancreatectomy. Average hepatic attenuation was as low as 42.2HU (±21.3 SD). A high ratio of acyl/free carnitine was associated with less pronounced hepatic attenuation according to both univariate (P pancreatectomy in some patients. The statistical analyses suggest that a high ratio of acyl/free carnitine is an independent risk factor for hepatic steatosis after pancreatectomy. Copyright © 2016 IAP and EPC. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predictors of clinical outcome in total hip and knee replacement : a methodological appraisal of implants and patient factors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Keurentjes, Johan Christiaan

2014-01-01

In this thesis, we studied both implants and patient and surgeon factors as predictors of clinical outcome after total hip and knee replacement. Additionally, we studied a number of methodological aspects of orthopaedic research, such as competing risks in estimating the probability of revision

Nonlinear charge reduction effect in strongly coupled plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarmah, D; Tessarotto, M; Salimullah, M

2006-01-01

The charge reduction effect, produced by the nonlinear Debye screening of high-Z charges occurring in strongly coupled plasmas, is investigated. An analytic asymptotic expression is obtained for the charge reduction factor (f c ) which determines the Debye-Hueckel potential generated by a charged test particle. Its relevant parametric dependencies are analysed and shown to predict a strong charge reduction effect in strongly coupled plasmas

Risk factors for early complications after laparoscopic total mesorectal excision for locally advanced rectal cancer: A single center experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liye Liu

2016-01-01

Conclusions: Aged patients, large tumor, lower tumor location and conversion were risk factors in performing laparoscopic TME for locally advanced rectal cancer. Patients with these characteristics should be carefully considered before undergoing laparoscopic total mesorectal excision.

Dynamics of simple defect clusters in alkaline earth fluorides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haridasan, T.M.; Sekar, P.

1988-08-01

The effect of isolated F - vacancies and interstitials on the Dobye Waller Factors of their neighbours is studied. The perturbation due to the introduction of the defect is calculated using the scattering theory. The critical jump amplitude in the diffusion process is fitted to reproduce the experimental migration energy. The diffusion coefficient for the vacancy mechanism is estimated to be larger than that for the interstitialcy mechanism in the superionic region. (author). 21 refs, 8 figs, 2 tabs

Objectively measured physical environmental neighbourhood factors are not associated with accelerometer-determined total sedentary time in adults

OpenAIRE

Compernolle, Sofie; De Cocker, Katrien; Mackenbach, Joreintje D.; Van Nassau, Femke; Lakerveld, Jeroen; Cardon, Greet; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse

2017-01-01

Background: The physical neighbourhood environment may influence adults' sedentary behaviour. Yet, most studies examining the association between the physical neighbourhood environment and sedentary behaviour rely on self-reported data of either the physical neighbourhood environment and/or sedentary behaviour. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between objectively measured physical environmental neighbourhood factors and accelerometer-determined total sedentary time in...

What Factors are Associated With 90-day Episode-of-care Payments for Younger Patients With Total Joint Arthroplasty?

Science.gov (United States)

Pathak, Shweta; Ganduglia, Cecilia M; Awad, Samir S; Chan, Wenyaw; Swint, John M; Morgan, Robert O

2017-11-01

Total joint arthroplasty (TJA) has been identified as a procedure with substantial variations in inpatient and postacute care payments. Most studies in this area have focused primarily on the Medicare population and rarely have characterized the younger commercially insured populations. Understanding the inpatient and postdischarge care service-component differences across 90-day episodes of care and factors associated with payments for younger patients is crucial for successful implementation of bundled payments in TJA in non-Medicare populations. (1) To assess the mean total payment for a 90-day primary TJA episode, including the proportion attributable to postdischarge care, and (2) to evaluate the role of procedure, patient, and hospital-level factors associated with 90-day episode-of-care payments in a non-Medicare patient population younger than 65 years. Claims data for 2008 to 2013 from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas were obtained for primary TJAs. A total of 11,131 procedures were examined by aggregating payments for the index hospital stay and any postacute care including rehabilitation services and unplanned readmissions during the 90-day postdischarge followup period. A three-level hierarchical model was developed to determine procedure-, patient-, and hospital-level factors associated with 90-day episode-of-care payments. The mean total payment for a 90-day episode for TJA was USD 47,700 adjusted to 2013 USD. Only 14% of 90-day episode payments in our population was attributable to postdischarge-care services, which is substantially lower than the percentage estimated in the Medicare population. A prolonged length of stay (rate ratio [RR], 1.19; 95% CI, 1.15-1.23; p ≤ 0.001), any 90-day unplanned readmission (RR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.57-1.71; p ≤ 0.001), computer-assisted surgery (RR, 1.031; 95% CI, 1.004-1.059; p ≤ 0.05), initial home discharge with home health component (RR, 1.029; 95% CI, 1.013-1.046; p ≤ 0.001), and very high patient morbidity

Differential effects of total and partial sleep deprivation on salivary factors in Wistar rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Lasisi, Dr T J; Shittu, S T; Meludu, C C; Salami, A A

2017-01-01

Aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sleep deprivation on salivary factors in rats. Animals were randomly assigned into three groups of 6 animals each as control, total sleep deprivation (TSD) and partial sleep deprivation (PSD) groups. The multiple platform method was used to induce partial and total sleep deprivation for 7days. On the 8th day, stimulated saliva samples were collected for the analysis of salivary lag time, flow rate, salivary amylase activity, immunoglobulin A secretion rate and corticosterone levels using ELISA and standard kinetic enzyme assay. Data were analyzed using ANOVA with Dunnett T3 post hoc tests. Salivary flow rate reduced significantly in the TSD group compared with the PSD group as well as the control group (p=0.01). The secretion rate of salivary IgA was significantly reduced in the TSD group compared with the control group (p=0.04). Salivary amylase activity was significantly elevated in the TSD group compared with the PSD group as well as control group (psalivary lag time and levels of corticosterone among the groups. These findings suggest that total sleep deprivation is associated with reduced salivary flow rate and secretion rate of IgA as well as elevated levels of salivary amylase activity in rats. However, sleep recovery of four hours in the PSD group produced ameliorative effects on the impaired functions of salivary glands. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors Effecting the Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC Concentrations in Slovak Households

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ľudmila Mečiarová

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Thirty five Slovak households were selected for an investigation of indoor environmental quality. Measuring of indoor air physical and chemical factors and a questionnaire survey was performed during May 2017. The range of permissible operative temperature was not met in 11% of objects. Relative humidity met the legislative requirements in all monitored homes. Concentrations of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs were significantly higher in the apartments than in the family houses. The average TVOC levels in the apartments and family houses were 519.7 µg/m3 and 330.2 µg/m3, respectively. Statistical analysis confirmed the effect of indoor air temperature, relative humidity and particulate matter (PM0.5 and PM1 on the levels of TVOCs. Higher TVOC levels were observed also in homes where it is not a common practice to open windows during cleaning activities. Other factors that had a statistically significant effect on concentrations of volatile organic compounds were heating type, attached garage, location of the apartment within residential building (the floor, as well as number of occupants. Higher TVOC concentrations were observed in indoor than outdoor environment, while further analysis showed the significant impact of indoor emission sources on the level of these compounds in buildings. The questionnaire study showed a discrepancy between objective measurement and subjective assessment in the household environment, and pointed to insufficient public awareness about volatile organic compounds (VOCs.

NIF total neutron yield diagnostic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooper, Gary W.; Ruiz, Carlos L.

2001-01-01

We have designed a total neutron yield diagnostic for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) which is based on the activation of In and Cu samples. The particular approach that we have chosen is one in which we calibrate the entire counting system and which we call the ''F factor'' method. In this method, In and/or Cu samples are exposed to known sources of DD and DT neutrons. The activated samples are then counted with an appropriate system: a high purity Ge detector for In and a NaI coincidence system for Cu. We can then calculate a calibration factor, which relates measured activity to total neutron yield. The advantage of this approach is that specific knowledge of such quantities as cross sections and detector efficiencies is not needed. Unless the actual scattering environment of the NIF can be mocked up in the calibration experiment, the F factor will have to be modified using the results of a numerical simulation of the NIF scattering environment. In this article, the calibration factor methodology will be discussed and experimental results for the calibration factors will be presented. Total NIF neutron yields of 10 9 --10 19 can be measured with this method assuming a 50 cm stand-off distance can be employed for the lower yields

Preoperative psychosocial risk factors for poor outcomes at 1 and 5 years after total knee replacement.

Science.gov (United States)

Wylde, Vikki; Trela-Larsen, Lea; Whitehouse, Michael R; Blom, Ashley W

2017-10-01

Background and purpose - Psychosocial factors are important risk factors for poor outcomes in the first year after total knee replacement (TKR), however their impact on long-term outcomes is unclear. We aimed to identify preoperative psychosocial risk factors for poor outcomes at 1 year and 5 years after TKR. Patients and methods - 266 patients were recruited prior to TKR surgery. Knee pain and function were assessed preoperatively and at 1 and 5 years postoperative using the WOMAC Pain score, WOMAC Function score and American Knee Society Score (AKSS) Knee score. Preoperative depression, anxiety, catastrophizing, pain self-efficacy and social support were assessed. Statistical analyses involved multiple linear regression and mixed effect linear regression. Results - Higher anxiety was a risk factor for worse pain at 1 year postoperative. No psychosocial factors were associated with any outcomes at 5 years postoperative. Analysis of change over time found that patients with higher pain self-efficacy had lower preoperative pain and experienced less improvement in pain up to 1 year postoperative. Higher pain self-efficacy was associated with less improvement in the AKSS up to 1 year postoperative but more improvement between 1 and 5 years postoperative. Interpretation - Preoperative anxiety was found to influence pain at 1 year after TKR. However, none of the psychosocial variables were risk factors for a poor outcome at 5 years post-operative, suggesting that the negative effects of anxiety on outcome do not persist in the longer-term.

Total joint replacement: A multiple risk factor analysis of physical activity level 1-2 years postoperatively.

Science.gov (United States)

Paxton, Elizabeth W; Torres, Andy; Love, Rebecca M; Barber, Thomas C; Sheth, Dhiren S; Inacio, Maria C S

2016-07-01

Background and purpose - The effect of total joint arthroplasty (TJA) on physical activity is not fully understood. We investigated the change in physical activity after TJA and patient factors associated with change. Patients and methods - Using a total joint replacement registry, primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) patients (n = 5,678) and knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients (n = 11,084) between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012 were identified. Median age at THA was 68 and median age at TKA was 67. Change in self-reported physical activity (minutes per week) from before TJA (within 1 year of surgery) to after TJA (1-2 years) was the outcome of interest. Patient demographics and comorbidities were evaluated as risk factors. Multiple linear regression was used. Results - Median physical activity before surgery was 50 min/week (IQR: 0-140) for THA patients and 58 (IQR: 3-143) for TKA patients. Median physical activity after surgery was 150 min/week (IQR: 60-280) for both THA patients and TKA patients. Following TJA, 50% of patients met CDC/WHO physical activity guideline criteria. Higher body mass index was associated with lower change in physical activity (THA: -7.1 min/week; TKA: -5.9 min/week). Females had lower change than males (THA: -11 min/week; TKA: -9.1 min/week). In TKA patients, renal failure was associated with lower change (-17 min/week), as were neurological disorders (-30 min/week). Interpretation - Self-reported minutes of physical activity increased from before to after TJA, but 50% of TJA patients did not meet recommended physical activity guideline criteria. Higher body mass index, female sex, and specific comorbidities were found to be associated with low change in physical activity. Patient education on the benefits of physical activity should concentrate on these subgroups of patients.

Analysis of regional total factor energy efficiency in China under environmental constraints: based on undesirable-minds and DEA window model

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shuying; Li, Deshan; Li, Shuangqiang; Jiang, Hanyu; Shen, Yuqing

2017-06-01

With China’s entrance into the new economy, the improvement of energy efficiency has become an important indicator to measure the quality of ecological civilization construction and economic development. According to the panel data of Chinese regions in 1996-2014, the nearest distance to the efficient frontier of Undesirable-MinDS Xeon model and DEA window model have been used to calculate the total factor energy efficiency of China’s regions. Study found that: Under environmental constraints, China’s total factor energy efficiency has increased after the first drop in the overall 1996-2014, and then increases again. And the difference between the regions is very large, showing a characteristic of “the east is the highest, the west is lower, and lowest is in the central” finally, this paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions.

Totally implantable central venous access port infections in patients with digestive cancer: incidence and risk factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Touré, Abdoulaye; Vanhems, Philippe; Lombard-Bohas, Catherine; Cassier, Philippe; Péré-Vergé, Denis; Souquet, Jean-Christophe; Ecochard, René; Chambrier, Cécile

2012-12-01

Central venous access port-related bloodstream infection (CVAP-BSI) is associated with morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. This study examined the incidence rates and risk factors for CVAP-BSI in adult patients with digestive cancer. This prospective observational cohort study was performed from 2007 to 2011 in 2 oncology units of a university hospital. Incidence rate was expressed as number of CVAP-BSI per 1,000 catheter-days. A Cox regression model was used to identify risk factors for CVAP-BSI. A total of 315 patients were included. CVAP-BSI occurred in 41 patients (13.0%). The overall incidence rate was 0.76/1,000 catheter-days. The rate was higher in patients with esophageal cancer (1.28. P = .05) and pancreatic cancer (1.24; P = .007). Risk factors independently associated with CVAP-BSI were World Health Organization performance status between 2 and 4, catheter utilization-days in the previous month, pancreatic cancer, and parenteral nutrition. Coagulase-negative Staphylococci and enterobacteria were the main microorganisms isolated. In adult patients with digestive cancer, pancreatic cancer, cumulative catheter utilization-days, World Health Organization performance status, and parenteral nutrition were identified as independent risk factors for CVAP-BSI. Patients with any of these risk factors could be candidates for preventive strategies. Copyright © 2012 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Factors predicting weight-bearing asymmetry 1month after unilateral total knee arthroplasty: a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Christiansen, Cory L; Bade, Michael J; Weitzenkamp, David A; Stevens-Lapsley, Jennifer E

2013-03-01

Factors predicting weight-bearing asymmetry (WBA) after unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are not known. However, identifying modifiable and non-modifiable predictors of WBA is needed to optimize rehabilitation, especially since WBA is negatively correlated to poor functional performance. The purpose of this study was to identify factors predictive of WBA during sit-stand transitions for people 1month following unilateral TKA. Fifty-nine people were tested preoperatively and 1month following unilateral TKA for WBA using average vertical ground reaction force under each foot during the Five Times Sit-to-Stand Test. Candidate variables tested in the regression analysis represented physical impairments (strength, muscle activation, pain, and motion), demographics, anthropometrics, and movement compensations. WBA, measured as the ratio of surgical/non-surgical limb vertical ground reaction force, was 0.69 (0.18) (mean (SD)) 1month after TKA. Regression analysis identified preoperative WBA (β=0.40), quadriceps strength ratio (β=0.31), and hamstrings strength ratio (β=0.19) as factors predictive of WBA 1month after TKA (R(2)=0.30). Greater amounts of WBA 1month after TKA are predicted by modifiable factors including habitual movement pattern and asymmetry in quadriceps and hamstrings strength. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of socioeconomic factors on outcome of total knee arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Barrack, Robert L; Ruh, Erin L; Chen, Jiajing; Lombardi, Adolph V; Berend, Keith R; Parvizi, Javad; Della Valle, Craig J; Hamilton, William G; Nunley, Ryan M

2014-01-01

Few data exist regarding the impact of socioeconomic factors on results of current TKA in young patients. Predictors of TKA outcomes have focused primarily on surgical technique, implant details, and individual patient clinical factors. The relative importance of these factors compared to patient socioeconomic status is not known. We determined whether (1) socioeconomic factors, (2) demographic factors, or (3) implant factors were associated with satisfaction and functional outcomes after TKA in young patients. We surveyed 661 patients (average age, 54 years; range, 18-60 years; 61% female) 1 to 4 years after undergoing modern primary TKA for noninflammatory arthritis at five orthopaedic centers. Data were collected by an independent third party with expertise in collecting healthcare data for state and federal agencies. We examined specific questions regarding satisfaction, pain, and function after TKA and socioeconomic (household income, education, employment) and demographic (sex, minority status) factors. Multivariable analysis was conducted to examine the relative importance of these factors for each outcome of interest. Patients reporting incomes of less than USD 25,000 were less likely to be satisfied with TKA outcomes and more likely to have functional limitations after TKA than patients with higher incomes; no other socioeconomic factors were associated with satisfaction. Women were less likely to be satisfied and more likely to have functional limitations than men, and minority patients were more likely to have functional limitations than nonminority patients. Implants were not associated with outcomes after surgery. Socioeconomic factors, in particular low income, are more strongly associated with satisfaction and functional outcomes in young patients after TKA than demographic or implant factors. Future studies should be directed to determining the causes of this association, and studies of clinical results after TKA should consider stratifying patients

Polarized-x-ray-absorption studies of graphite intercalated-bromine compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feldman, J.L.; Elam, W.T.; Ehrlich, A.C.; Skelton, E.F.; Dominguez, D.D.; Chung, D.D.L.; Lytle, F.W.

1986-01-01

Details of both results and data analysis are given in the case of our polarized-x-ray-absorption experiments, using synchrotron radiation, on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG)--based and graphite-fiber-based residual-bromine intercalation compounds. The effective angle which nearest-neighbor Br pairs make with crystallite graphite planes in some of these compounds, which was stated to be approx.20 0 in an earlier article, is shown to be 16X(de +- 4X(de: both Br-Br extended x-ray-absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and white-line features of the data are the basis of this result. We have also found that, whereas spherical averages of the areas under white-line spectra are independent of the choice of the material among all samples studied (including Br 2 vapor), differences in similarly spherically averaged Br-Br EXAFS amplitudes are evident, especially between Br 2 vapor and Br-graphite samples. We show that the latter differences which correspond to a coordination number less than one in Br-graphite are not due to either Gaussian or non-Gaussian (up to k 4 terms) Debye-Waller effects. In addition, we discuss the extraction of Br-C EXAFS and present results of model calculations of Br-C EXAFS, where several different structural models for the Br sites are considered. We also discuss thermal effects and their relation to known Br sublattice phase-transition behavior, based on our measurements at room temperature, 360 K, and 400 K

Risk factors and clinical course of hungry bone syndrome after total parathyroidectomy in dialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism.

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Lo-Yi; Wong, Ping-Nam; Sin, Ho-Kwan; Wong, Yuk-Yi; Lo, Kwok-Chi; Chan, Shuk-Fan; Lo, Man-Wai; Lo, Kin-Yee; Mak, Siu-Ka; Wong, Andrew Kui-Man

2017-01-10

Hungry bone syndrome (HBS) is an important postoperative complication after parathyroidectomy for severe secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT). There is, however, little data in the literature on its detailed clinical course, and the associated risk factors remain controversial. We did a single-center retrospective study on 62 consecutive dialysis patients who underwent total parathyroidectomy for SHPT to examine the risk factors, clinical course and outcome. Data on demographic characteristics, perioperative laboratory parameters including serum calcium, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and parathyroid hormone (PTH), drug treatment for SHPT and operative details of parathyroidectomy were collected. Seventeen (27.4%) patients developed severe postoperative hypocalcemia with HBS. The serum calcium dropped progressively while serum ALP rose after operation until 2 weeks later when serum calcium reached the trough and serum ALP peaked. Serum phosphate also fell but stabilized between 4 and 14 days. The total postoperative calcium and vitamin D supplementation was significantly larger, and hospital stay was significantly longer in the group with HBS as compared with those without HBS. Young age, high body weight, high preoperative ALP level, and low preoperative calcium level independently predicted the development of HBS while preoperative PTH and use of cinacalcet or paricalcitol did not. HBS was common after total parathyroidectomy in patients with SHPT, and it is important to closely monitor the postoperative serum calcium, phosphate and ALP levels in the following 2 weeks, especially for those at risk. The implications of our findings on perioperative management are discussed.

Factors associated with pulmonary toxicity after myeloablative conditioning using fractionated total body irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Byun, Hwa Kyung; Yoon, Hong In; Cho, Jae Ho [Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); and others

2017-09-15

Pulmonary toxicities, including infectious pneumonia (IP) and idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS), are serious side effects of total body irradiation (TBI) used for myeloablative conditioning. This study aimed to evaluate clinical factors associated with IP and IPS following TBI. Fifty-eight patients with hematologic malignancies who underwent TBI before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation between 2005 and 2014 were reviewed. Most patients (91%) received 12 Gy in 1.5 Gy fractions twice a day. Pulmonary toxicities were diagnosed based on either radiographic evidence or reduced pulmonary function, and were subdivided into IP and IPS based on the presence or absence of concurrent infection. Pulmonary toxicities developed in 36 patients (62%); 16 (28%) had IP and 20 (34%) had IPS. IP was significantly associated with increased treatment-related mortality (p = 0.028) and decreased survival (p = 0.039). Multivariate analysis revealed that the risk of developing IPS was significantly higher in patients who received stem cells from a matched unrelated donor than from a matched sibling donor (p = 0.021; hazard ratio [HR] = 12.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.46–110.30). Combining other conditioning agents with cyclophosphamide produced a higher tendency to develop IP (p = 0.064; HR = 6.19; 95% CI, 0.90–42.56). IP and IPS involve different risk factors and distinct pathogeneses that should be considered when planning treatments before and after TBI.

Factors associated with pulmonary toxicity after myeloablative conditioning using fractionated total body irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Byun, Hwa Kyung; Yoon, Hong In; Cho, Jae Ho

2017-01-01

Pulmonary toxicities, including infectious pneumonia (IP) and idiopathic pneumonia syndrome (IPS), are serious side effects of total body irradiation (TBI) used for myeloablative conditioning. This study aimed to evaluate clinical factors associated with IP and IPS following TBI. Fifty-eight patients with hematologic malignancies who underwent TBI before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation between 2005 and 2014 were reviewed. Most patients (91%) received 12 Gy in 1.5 Gy fractions twice a day. Pulmonary toxicities were diagnosed based on either radiographic evidence or reduced pulmonary function, and were subdivided into IP and IPS based on the presence or absence of concurrent infection. Pulmonary toxicities developed in 36 patients (62%); 16 (28%) had IP and 20 (34%) had IPS. IP was significantly associated with increased treatment-related mortality (p = 0.028) and decreased survival (p = 0.039). Multivariate analysis revealed that the risk of developing IPS was significantly higher in patients who received stem cells from a matched unrelated donor than from a matched sibling donor (p = 0.021; hazard ratio [HR] = 12.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.46–110.30). Combining other conditioning agents with cyclophosphamide produced a higher tendency to develop IP (p = 0.064; HR = 6.19; 95% CI, 0.90–42.56). IP and IPS involve different risk factors and distinct pathogeneses that should be considered when planning treatments before and after TBI

Total Protein Content Determination of Microalgal Biomass by Elemental Nitrogen Analysis and a Dedicated Nitrogen-to-Protein Conversion Factor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Laurens, Lieve M [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Olstad-Thompson, Jessica L [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Templeton, David W [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-04-02

Accurately determining protein content is important in the valorization of algal biomass in food, feed, and fuel markets, where these values are used for component balance calculations. Conversion of elemental nitrogen to protein is a well-accepted and widely practiced method, but depends on developing an applicable nitrogen-to-protein conversion factor. The methodology reported here covers the quantitative assessment of the total nitrogen content of algal biomass and a description of the methodology that underpins the accurate de novo calculation of a dedicated nitrogen-to-protein conversion factor.

Outpatient rehabilitation care process factors and clinical outcomes among patients discharged home following unilateral total knee arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Brennan, Gerard P; Fritz, Julie M; Houck, L T C Kevin M; Hunter, Stephen J

2015-05-01

Research examining care process variables and their relationship to clinical outcomes after total knee arthroplasty has focused primarily on inpatient variables. Care process factors related to outpatient rehabilitation have not been adequately examined. We conducted a retrospective review of 321 patients evaluating outpatient care process variables including use of continuous passive motion, home health physical therapy, number of days from inpatient discharge to beginning outpatient physical therapy, and aspects of outpatient physical therapy (number of visits, length of stay) as possible predictors of pain and disability outcomes of outpatient physical therapy. Only the number of days between inpatient discharge and outpatient physical therapy predicted better outcomes, suggesting that this may be a target for improving outcomes after total knee arthroplasty for patients discharged directly home. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fatores de Risco para Infecção Pós-histerectomia Total Abdominal Risk Factors for Infection after Total Abdominal Hysterectomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melania Maria Ramos de Amorim

2000-08-01

Full Text Available Objetivos: determinar os principais fatores associados à ocorrência de infecção do sítio cirúrgico em pacientes submetidas a histerectomia total abdominal (HTA no Instituto Materno ¾ Infantil de Pernambuco (IMIP. Métodos: realizou-se um estudo de corte transversal incluindo todas as pacientes submetidas a histerectomia total abdominal no IMIP no período de janeiro de 1995 a dezembro de 1998, desde que tivessem retornado no 7º e no 30º dia pós-operatório para controle de infecção (n = 414. A freqüência de infecção do sítio cirúrgico (definida pelos critérios do CDC, 1998 foi de 10% (42 casos. Calculou-se o risco de prevalência (RP de infecção do sítio cirúrgico e seu intervalo de confiança (IC a 95% para as seguintes variáveis: idade, obesidade, hipertensão, diabetes, doença maligna, tipo de incisão, tempo cirúrgico e antibioticoprofilaxia. Realizou-se análise de regressão logística múltipla para determinação do risco ajustado de infecção. Resultados: encontrou-se aumento significativo do risco de infecção do sítio cirúrgico para as seguintes variáveis: idade >60 anos (RP = 2,39; IC-95% = 1,15-4,94, obesidade (RP = 3,2; IC-95% = 1,83-5,59, duração da cirurgia >2 horas (RP = 2,36; IC-95% = 1,32-4,21 e associação com diabetes (RP = 6,0; IC-95% = 3,41-10,57. Por outro lado, o risco de infecção esteve significativamente diminuído quando utilizou-se antibiótico profilático (RP = 0,38; IC-95% = 0,21-0,68. Não se encontrou associação estatisticamente significativa de infecção com o tipo de incisão, a indicação da cirurgia por patologia maligna e a presença de hipertensão. Conclusões: os fatores associados a risco aumentado de infecção do sítio cirúrgico pós-HTA no IMIP foram: idade >60 anos, obesidade, diabetes e duração da cirurgia >2 horas. A antibioticoprofilaxia apresentou efeito protetor, com diminuição do risco de infecção.Purpose: to determine the main factors associated

Total magnetic reconnection during a tokamak major disruption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goetz, J.A.; Dexter, R.N.; Prager, S.C.

1990-07-01

The safety factor within a tokamak plasma has been measured during a major disruption. During the disruption, the central safety factor jumps from below one to above one, while the total current is unchanged. This implies that total reconnection has occurred. This observation is in contract to the absence of total reconnection observed during a sawtooth oscillation in the same device. 11 refs., 6 figs

MACROECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY: NEW GENERATION PANEL DATA ANALYSIS ON OECD COUNTRIES (1996-2015

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ÖMER YALÇINKAYA

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Determining the factors which are effective on total factor productivity (TFP increments include the productivity of all factors in the production process and making improvements for these factors via policies have importance concerning speed the potential growth rate up in the long term and making this sustainable. The mediumlong term determinants of TFP are examined in this research for the 1994-2015 period as econometric within the scope of new generation panel data analysis on the OECD countries who are classified as OECD-1 and OECD-2 by their income levels. From this aspect, purposed in this research that to reveal the primary determinants which cause the differentiations between OECD-1 and OECD-2 countries in terms of their long-term economic growth performances and/or income levels. Determined as a result of the research that the effect of the variables which are used to determine the medium-long term determinants of the TFP on OECD-1 and OECD-2 groups parallelly increased and decreased as long as enhancing the representation degree of the knowledge, innovation and technological development level of the variables. These results show that the differentiation of countries in OECD-1 and OECD-2 groups in terms of long-term economic growth and/or income levels is majorly rooted in indicators which are used on behalf of knowledge, innovation, and technological development.

Incidence of and risk factors for postoperative urinary retention in fast-track total hip and knee arthroplasty

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerregaard, Lars; Bogø, Stina; Raaschou, Sofie

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Postoperative urinary retention (POUR) is a clinical challenge, but there is no scientific evidence for treatment principles. We describe the incidence of and predictive factors for POUR in fast-track total hip (THA) and knee arthroplasty (TKA). PATIENTS AND METHODS......, and preoperative international prostate symptom score (IPSS) were compared between catheterized and non-catheterized patients. RESULTS: The incidence of POUR was 40% (range between departments: 30-55%). Median bladder volume evacuated by catheterization was 0.6 (0.1-1.9) L. Spinal anesthesia increased the risk...... was 40%, with spinal anesthesia and increased IPSS in males as predictive factors. The large variation in perioperative bladder management and in bladder volumes evacuated by catheterization calls for randomized studies to define evidence-based principles for treatment of POUR in the future....

"small problems, Big Trouble": An Art and Science Collaborative Exhibition Reflecting Seemingly small problems Leading to Big Threats

Science.gov (United States)

Waller, J. L.; Brey, J. A.

2014-12-01

"small problems, Big Trouble" (spBT) is an exhibition of artist Judith Waller's paintings accompanied by text panels written by Earth scientist Dr. James A. Brey and several science researchers and educators. The text panels' message is as much the focus of the show as the art--true interdisciplinarity! Waller and Brey's history of art and earth science collaborations include the successful exhibition "Layers: Places in Peril". New in spBT is extended collaboration with other scientists in order to create awareness of geoscience and other subjects (i.e. soil, parasites, dust, pollutants, invasive species, carbon, ground water contaminants, solar wind) small in scale which pose significant threats. The paintings are the size of a mirror, a symbol suggesting the problems depicted are those we increasingly need to face, noting our collective reflections of shared current and future reality. Naturalistic rendering and abstract form in the art helps reach a broad audience including those familiar with art and those familiar with science. The goal is that gallery visitors gain greater appreciation and understanding of both—and of the sober content of the show as a whole. "small problems, Big Trouble" premiers in Wisconsin April, 2015. As in previous collaborations, Waller and Brey actively utilize art and science (specifically geoscience) as an educational vehicle for active student learning. Planned are interdisciplinary university and area high school activities linked through spBT. The exhibition in a public gallery offers a means to enhance community awareness of and action on scientific issues through art's power to engage people on an emotional level. This AGU presentation includes a description of past Waller and Brey activities: incorporating art and earth science in lab and studio classrooms, producing gallery and museum exhibitions and delivering workshops and other presentations. They also describe how walking the paths of several past earth science

Total Factor Productivity and Energy Intensity in Indian Manufacturing: A Cross-Sectional Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santosh Kumar Sahu

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of the paper is to estimate the transcendental logarithmic production function and further study the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP of Indian manufacturing industries. The estimation of TFP is based on four inputs model, where apart from labour and capital, material and energy are the other two inputs. The findings of the paper suggest that labour and material inputs play major role as compared to the capital and energy input. Age of the firm, ownership, energy intensity, embodied and disembodied technology imports, research and development and exports were considered as the possible determinants of the TFP in the second stage regression. The finding of the estimates suggest that age of the firm, export intensity and disembodied technology import are positively related to the TFP, where ownership, energy intensity, embodied technology import and R&D intensity are negatively related to the TFP of the firms for Indian manufacturing.

Corporate financial structure, misallocation and total factor productivity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Uras, R.B.

2014-01-01

This paper studies the quantitative relevance of the cross-sectional dispersion of corporate financial structure in explaining the intra-industry allocation efficiency of productive factors. I solve a heterogeneous firms model with financial constraints and distortions to the marginal rental-rate of

Risk factors for post-operative periprosthetic fractures following primary total hip arthroplasty with a proximally coated double-tapered cementless femoral component

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gromov, K; Bersang, A; Nielsen, C S

2017-01-01

ratio were recorded post-operatively. Periprosthetic fractures were identified and classified according to the Vancouver classification. Regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for early periprosthetic fracture. RESULTS: The mean follow-up was 713 days (1 to 2058). A total of 48......AIMS: The aim of this study was to identify patient- and surgery-related risk factors for sustaining an early periprosthetic fracture following primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) performed using a double-tapered cementless femoral component (Bi-Metric femoral stem; Biomet Inc., Warsaw, Indiana...... periprosthetic fractures (3.0%) were identified during the follow-up and median time until fracture was 16 days, (interquartile range 10 to 31.5). Patients with femoral Dorr type C had a 5.2 times increased risk of post-operative periprosthetic fracture compared with type B, while female patients had a near...

Biological variation and reference intervals for circulating osteopontin, osteoprotegerin, total soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B ligand and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sennels, H P; Jacobsen, Søren; Jensen, T

2007-01-01

Objective. Monitoring inflammatory diseases and osteoclastogenesis with osteopontin (OPN), osteoprotegerin (OPG), total soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa B ligand (total sRANKL) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) has recently attracted increased interest. The purpose...

Raman spectroscopic determination of the length, strength, compressibility, Debye temperature, elasticity, and force constant of the C-C bond in graphene.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, X X; Li, J W; Zhou, Z F; Wang, Y; Yang, L W; Zheng, W T; Sun, Chang Q

2012-01-21

From the perspective of bond relaxation and bond vibration, we have formulated the Raman phonon relaxation of graphene, under the stimuli of the number-of-layers, the uni-axial strain, the pressure, and the temperature, in terms of the response of the length and strength of the representative bond of the entire specimen to the applied stimuli. Theoretical unification of the measurements clarifies that: (i) the opposite trends of the Raman shifts, which are due to the number-of-layers reduction, of the G-peak shift and arises from the vibration of a pair of atoms, while the D- and the 2D-peak shifts involve the z-neighbor of a specific atom; (ii) the tensile strain-induced phonon softening and phonon-band splitting arise from the asymmetric response of the C(3v) bond geometry to the C(2v) uni-axial bond elongation; (iii) the thermal softening of the phonons originates from bond expansion and weakening; and (iv) the pressure stiffening of the phonons results from bond compression and work hardening. Reproduction of the measurements has led to quantitative information about the referential frequencies from which the Raman frequencies shift as well as the length, energy, force constant, Debye temperature, compressibility and elastic modulus of the C-C bond in graphene, which is of instrumental importance in the understanding of the unusual behavior of graphene.

Pain catastrophizing as a risk factor for chronic pain after total knee arthroplasty: a systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Burns LC

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Lindsay C Burns,1–3 Sarah E Ritvo,1 Meaghan K Ferguson,1 Hance Clarke,3–5 Ze’ev Seltzer,3,5 Joel Katz1,3–5 1Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada; 2Arthritis Research Centre of Canada, Vancouver, BC, Canada; 3Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada; 4Department of Anesthesia, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; 5Centre for the Study of Pain, Faculties of Dentistry and Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada Background: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA is a common and costly surgical procedure. Despite high success rates, many TKA patients develop chronic pain in the months and years following surgery, constituting a public health burden. Pain catastrophizing is a construct that reflects anxious preoccupation with pain, inability to inhibit pain-related fears, amplification of the significance of pain vis-à-vis health implications, and a sense of helplessness regarding pain. Recent research suggests that it may be an important risk factor for untoward TKA outcomes. To clarify this impact, we systematically reviewed the literature to date on pain catastrophizing as a prospective predictor of chronic pain following TKA. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO databases to identify articles related to pain catastrophizing, TKA, risk models, and chronic pain. We reviewed titles and abstracts to identify original research articles that met our specified inclusion criteria. Included articles were then rated for methodological quality. including methodological quality. Due to heterogeneity in follow-up, analyses, and outcomes reported across studies, a quantitative meta-analysis could not be performed. Results: We identified six prospective longitudinal studies with small-to-mid-sized samples that met the inclusion criteria. Despite considerable variability in reported pain outcomes, pain catastrophizing was identified as a significant

Peter Debye

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Hopefully, the new year will bring more good than our little faith allows us ... to such an extent that the Royal Academy of Sciences has awarded you the Nobel Prize ... ended in Europe in 1939, during the turmoil of the Second World War.

Quantification of variability and uncertainty in lawn and garden equipment NOx and total hydrocarbon emission factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Frey, H Christopher; Bammi, Sachin

2002-04-01

Variability refers to real differences in emissions among multiple emission sources at any given time or over time for any individual emission source. Variability in emissions can be attributed to variation in fuel or feedstock composition, ambient temperature, design, maintenance, or operation. Uncertainty refers to lack of knowledge regarding the true value of emissions. Sources of uncertainty include small sample sizes, bias or imprecision in measurements, nonrepresentativeness, or lack of data. Quantitative methods for characterizing both variability and uncertainty are demonstrated and applied to case studies of emission factors for lawn and garden (L&G) equipment engines. Variability was quantified using empirical and parametric distributions. Bootstrap simulation was used to characterize confidence intervals for the fitted distributions. The 95% confidence intervals for the mean grams per brake horsepower/hour (g/hp-hr) emission factors for two-stroke engine total hydrocarbon (THC) and NOx emissions were from -30 to +41% and from -45 to +75%, respectively. The confidence intervals for four-stroke engines were from -33 to +46% for THCs and from -27 to +35% for NOx. These quantitative measures of uncertainty convey information regarding the quality of the emission factors and serve as a basis for calculation of uncertainty in emission inventories (EIs).

Thermal noise due to surface-charge effects within the Debye layer of endogenous structures in dendrites.

Science.gov (United States)

Poznanski, Roman R

2010-02-01

An assumption commonly used in cable theory is revised by taking into account electrical amplification due to intracellular capacitive effects in passive dendritic cables. A generalized cable equation for a cylindrical volume representation of a dendritic segment is derived from Maxwell's equations under assumptions: (i) the electric-field polarization is restricted longitudinally along the cable length; (ii) extracellular isopotentiality; (iii) quasielectrostatic conditions; and (iv) homogeneous medium with constant conductivity and permittivity. The generalized cable equation is identical to Barenblatt's equation arising in the theory of infiltration in fissured strata with a known analytical solution expressed in terms of a definite integral involving a modified Bessel function and the solution to a linear one-dimensional classical cable equation. Its solution is used to determine the impact of thermal noise on voltage attenuation with distance at any particular time. A regular perturbation expansion for the membrane potential about the linear one-dimensional classical cable equation solution is derived in terms of a Green's function in order to describe the dynamics of free charge within the Debye layer of endogenous structures in passive dendritic cables. The asymptotic value of the first perturbative term is explicitly evaluated for small values of time to predict how the slowly fluctuating (in submillisecond range) electric field attributed to intracellular capacitive effects alters the amplitude of the membrane potential. It was found that capacitive effects are almost negligible for cables with electrotonic lengths L>0.5 , contributes up to 10% of the signal for cables with electrotonic lengths in the range between 0.25

Empirical Study on Total Factor Productive Energy Efficiency in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region-Analysis based on Malmquist Index and Window Model

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Qiang; Ding, Shuai; An, Jingwen

2017-12-01

This paper studies the energy efficiency of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and to finds out the trend of energy efficiency in order to improve the economic development quality of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Based on Malmquist index and window analysis model, this paper estimates the total factor energy efficiency in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region empirically by using panel data in this region from 1991 to 2014, and provides the corresponding political recommendations. The empirical result shows that, the total factor energy efficiency in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region increased from 1991 to 2014, mainly relies on advances in energy technology or innovation, and obvious regional differences in energy efficiency to exist. Throughout the window period of 24 years, the regional differences of energy efficiency in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region shrank. There has been significant convergent trend in energy efficiency after 2000, mainly depends on the diffusion and spillover of energy technologies.

New determination of the vapour pressures of the isotopes of neon; Nouvelles determinations des tensions de vapeur des isotopes du neon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roth, R [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1960-03-15

We have undertaken an experimental reinvestigation of the vapor pressures of the neon isotopes over the temperature range 16.30-30.1 deg. K. Measurements were made by differential manometry in a Giauque-Johnston type cryostat modified for temperature stability. The New sample contained 99.9 % Ne{sup 20} and the Ne{sup 22} sample contained 72,2 % Ne{sup 22}. Extrapolation to pure Ne{sup 20} and Ne{sup 22} can be made with sufficient accuracy by the use of Raoult's law. Our results are in substantial agreement with those of Keesom and Haantjes. At 20 deg. K, where the scatter in our data is an order of magnitude smaller than in the data of Keesom and Haantjes, we find In P{sub Ne{sup 2}{sup 0}}/P{sub Ne{sup 2}{sup 2}} is 6 % larger than the smoothed line given by them. For solid neon, our data can be represented to a high accuracy by a Debye harmonic lattice with {theta}{sub D} (Ne{sup 20}) = 74.6 deg. K. The result may be compared with the value obtained by Henshaw from the Debye-Waller temperature factor, {theta}{sub D} = 73 deg. K, and with the recent calculation of the zero point energy of Ne by Bernardes, from which he obtains {theta}{sub D} 8E{sub {theta}}/9R = 73 deg.. K. (author) [French] On a construit un appareillage dont le principe est derive de celui des instruments decrits par GIAUQUE et EGAN ou par H.L. JOHNSTON qui a permis d'etendre le domaine des mesures de tension de vapeur des isotopes du Neon entre 16,30 et 32 deg. K environ. Le rapport des pressions extremes atteintes est ainsi multiplie par plus de 40 pour le neon ordinaire qui servait de reference et de thermometre. L'appareil, adapte en particulier au travail sous pressions elevees, permet, de plus, de travailler sur de relativement petites quantites totales de gaz - environ 500 cm{sup 3} suffisent dans l'intervalle de pression evoque. La stabilite de temperature obtenue peut etre tres bonne surtout lorsque l'on travaille dans la phase liquide; dans ce cas, les variations totales de

New determination of the vapour pressures of the isotopes of neon; Nouvelles determinations des tensions de vapeur des isotopes du neon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roth, R. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1960-03-15

We have undertaken an experimental reinvestigation of the vapor pressures of the neon isotopes over the temperature range 16.30-30.1 deg. K. Measurements were made by differential manometry in a Giauque-Johnston type cryostat modified for temperature stability. The New sample contained 99.9 % Ne{sup 20} and the Ne{sup 22} sample contained 72,2 % Ne{sup 22}. Extrapolation to pure Ne{sup 20} and Ne{sup 22} can be made with sufficient accuracy by the use of Raoult's law. Our results are in substantial agreement with those of Keesom and Haantjes. At 20 deg. K, where the scatter in our data is an order of magnitude smaller than in the data of Keesom and Haantjes, we find In P{sub Ne{sup 2}{sup 0}}/P{sub Ne{sup 2}{sup 2}} is 6 % larger than the smoothed line given by them. For solid neon, our data can be represented to a high accuracy by a Debye harmonic lattice with {theta}{sub D} (Ne{sup 20}) = 74.6 deg. K. The result may be compared with the value obtained by Henshaw from the Debye-Waller temperature factor, {theta}{sub D} = 73 deg. K, and with the recent calculation of the zero point energy of Ne by Bernardes, from which he obtains {theta}{sub D} 8E{sub {theta}}/9R = 73 deg.. K. (author) [French] On a construit un appareillage dont le principe est derive de celui des instruments decrits par GIAUQUE et EGAN ou par H.L. JOHNSTON qui a permis d'etendre le domaine des mesures de tension de vapeur des isotopes du Neon entre 16,30 et 32 deg. K environ. Le rapport des pressions extremes atteintes est ainsi multiplie par plus de 40 pour le neon ordinaire qui servait de reference et de thermometre. L'appareil, adapte en particulier au travail sous pressions elevees, permet, de plus, de travailler sur de relativement petites quantites totales de gaz - environ 500 cm{sup 3} suffisent dans l'intervalle de pression evoque. La stabilite de temperature obtenue peut etre tres bonne surtout lorsque l'on travaille dans la phase liquide; dans ce cas, les

A meta-analysis of feed digestion in dairy cows. 1. The effects of forage and concentrate factors on total diet digestibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Nousiainen, J; Rinne, M; Huhtanen, P

2009-10-01

A meta-analysis based on published experiments with lactating dairy cows was conducted to study the effects of dietary forage and concentrate factors on apparent total diet digestibility. A data set was collected that included a total of 497 dietary treatment means from 92 studies. The diets were based on grass silage or on legume or whole-crop cereal silages partly or completely substituted for grass silage. The silages were supplemented with concentrates given at a flat rate within a dietary comparison. For the statistical evaluation, the data were divided into 5 subsets to quantify silage (digestibility, 42 diets in 17 studies; fermentation characteristics, 108 diets in 39 studies) and concentrate (amount of supplementation, 142 diets in 59 studies; concentration of crude protein, 215 diets in 82 studies; carbohydrate composition, 66 diets in 23 studies) factors on total diet digestibility. The diet digestibility of dairy cows was determined by total fecal collection or by using acid-insoluble ash as an internal marker. Diet organic matter digestibility (OMD) at a maintenance level of feeding (OMD(m)) was estimated using sheep in vivo or corresponding in vitro digestibility values for the forage and reported ingredient and chemical composition values, with tabulated digestibility coefficients for the concentrate components of the diet. A mixed model regression analysis was used to detect the responses of different dietary factors on apparent total diet digestibility. Improved silage OMD(m) resulting from earlier harvest was translated into improved production-level OMD in cows (OMD(p)). The effects of silage fermentation characteristics on OMD(p) were quantitatively small, although sometimes significant. Concentrate supplementation improved total diet OMD(m), but this was not realized in lactating dairy cows because of linearly decreased neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility as concentrate intake increased. Increasing the concentrate crude protein amount

Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Mitigates Hematopoietic Toxicity After Lethal Total Body Irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Dunhua; Deoliveira, Divino; Kang, Yubin; Choi, Seung S. [Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Li, Zhiguo [Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Chao, Nelson J. [Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Department of Immunology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Chen, Benny J., E-mail: chen0032@mc.duke.edu [Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States); Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina (United States)

2013-03-15

Purpose: To investigate whether and how insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) mitigates hematopoietic toxicity after total body irradiation. Methods and Materials: BALB/c mice were irradiated with a lethal dose of radiation (7.5 Gy) and treated with IGF-1 at a dose of 100 μg/dose intravenously once a day for 5 consecutive days starting within 1 hour after exposure. Survival and hematopoietic recovery were monitored. The mechanisms by which IGF-1 promotes hematopoietic recovery were also studied by use of an in vitro culture system. Results: IGF-1 protected 8 of 20 mice (40%) from lethal irradiation, whereas only 2 of 20 mice (10%) in the saline control group survived for more than 100 days after irradiation. A single dose of IGF-1 (500 μg) was as effective as daily dosing for 5 days. Positive effects were noted even when the initiation of treatment was delayed as long as 6 hours after irradiation. In comparison with the saline control group, treatment with IGF-1 significantly accelerated the recovery of both platelets and red blood cells in peripheral blood, total cell numbers, hematopoietic stem cells, and progenitor cells in the bone marrow when measured at day 14 after irradiation. IGF-1 protected both hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells from radiation-induced apoptosis and cell death. In addition, IGF-1 was able to facilitate the proliferation and differentiation of nonirradiated and irradiated hematopoietic progenitor cells. Conclusions: IGF-1 mitigates radiation-induced hematopoietic toxicity through protecting hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells from apoptosis and enhancing proliferation and differentiation of the surviving hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Mitigates Hematopoietic Toxicity After Lethal Total Body Irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Dunhua; Deoliveira, Divino; Kang, Yubin; Choi, Seung S.; Li, Zhiguo; Chao, Nelson J.; Chen, Benny J.

2013-01-01

Purpose: To investigate whether and how insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) mitigates hematopoietic toxicity after total body irradiation. Methods and Materials: BALB/c mice were irradiated with a lethal dose of radiation (7.5 Gy) and treated with IGF-1 at a dose of 100 μg/dose intravenously once a day for 5 consecutive days starting within 1 hour after exposure. Survival and hematopoietic recovery were monitored. The mechanisms by which IGF-1 promotes hematopoietic recovery were also studied by use of an in vitro culture system. Results: IGF-1 protected 8 of 20 mice (40%) from lethal irradiation, whereas only 2 of 20 mice (10%) in the saline control group survived for more than 100 days after irradiation. A single dose of IGF-1 (500 μg) was as effective as daily dosing for 5 days. Positive effects were noted even when the initiation of treatment was delayed as long as 6 hours after irradiation. In comparison with the saline control group, treatment with IGF-1 significantly accelerated the recovery of both platelets and red blood cells in peripheral blood, total cell numbers, hematopoietic stem cells, and progenitor cells in the bone marrow when measured at day 14 after irradiation. IGF-1 protected both hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells from radiation-induced apoptosis and cell death. In addition, IGF-1 was able to facilitate the proliferation and differentiation of nonirradiated and irradiated hematopoietic progenitor cells. Conclusions: IGF-1 mitigates radiation-induced hematopoietic toxicity through protecting hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells from apoptosis and enhancing proliferation and differentiation of the surviving hematopoietic progenitor cells

A totally automated data acquisition/reduction system for routine treatment of mass spectroscopic data by factor analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tway, P.C.; Love, L.J.C.; Woodruff, H.B.

1980-01-01

Target transformation factor analysis is applied to typical data from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and solid-probe mass spectrometry to determine rapidly the number of components in unresolved or partially resolved peaks. This technique allows the detection of hidden impurities which often make interpretation or quantification impossible. The error theory of Malinowski is used to assess the reliability of the results. The totally automated system uses a commercially available g.c.-m.s. data system interfaced to the large computer, and the number of components under a peak can be determined routinely and rapidly. (Auth.)

A case-control study to identify risk factors for totally implantable central venous port-related bloodstream infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Guk Jin; Hong, Sook Hee; Roh, Sang Young; Park, Sa Rah; Lee, Myung Ah; Chun, Hoo Geun; Hong, Young Seon; Kang, Jin Hyoung; Kim, Sang Il; Kim, Youn Jeong; Chun, Ho Jong; Oh, Jung Suk

2014-07-01

To date, the risk factors for central venous port-related bloodstream infection (CVPBSI) in solid cancer patients have not been fully elucidated. We conducted this study in order to determine the risk factors for CVP-BSI in patients with solid cancer. A total of 1,642 patients with solid cancer received an implantable central venous port for delivery of chemotherapy between October 2008 and December 2011 in a single center. CVP-BSI was diagnosed in 66 patients (4%). We selected a control group of 130 patients, who were individually matched with respect to age, sex, and catheter insertion time. CVP-BSI occurred most frequently between September and November (37.9%). The most common pathogen was gram-positive cocci (n=35, 53.0%), followed by fungus (n=14, 21.2%). Multivariate analysis identified monthly catheter-stay as a risk factor for CVP-BSI (p=0.000), however, its risk was lower in primary gastrointestinal cancer than in other cancer (p=0.002). Initial metastatic disease and long catheter-stay were statistically significant factors affecting catheter life span (p=0.005 and p=0.000). Results of multivariate analysis showed that recent transfusion was a risk factor for mortality in patients with CVP-BSI (p=0.047). In analysis of the results with respect to risk factors, prolonged catheter-stay should be avoided as much as possible. It is necessary to be cautious of CVP-BSI in metastatic solid cancer, especially non-gastrointestinal cancer. In addition, avoidance of unnecessary transfusion is essential in order to reduce the mortality of CVP-BSI. Finally, considering the fact that confounding factors may have affected the results, conduct of a well-designed prospective controlled study is warranted.

Analysis the Impact of Technology Spillovers on Total Factor Productivity of Agricultural Sector in Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mostafa Baniasadi

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The growth of agricultural production and natural resources are from primary objectives of any political system, because this section has a vital role in providing food security. According to the production theories, production growth will come from two sources; more use of production factors within the framework of existing technologies and second, with using more advanced and more efficient production methods and effective use of production factors. In fact, the second one is tied to the concept of productivity. New and efficient technologies are the most important factor for productivity growth. Technology was enhanced through internal and external sources. External sources include spillover technology from developed countries into another country. Empirical evidence on the impact of spillover technology on productivity growth of indigenous producer is vague. One perspective proposes that FDI, technology transferred from developed countries has positive effects on developing countries and another perspective is against it. This paper explores the role of technological spillover on total factor productivity (TFP growth in agricultural sectors of Iran uses time series data during 1971-2011. Materials and Methods: In this study, Kendrick model was used to calculate total factor productivity. After calculating productivity, affective factors on it, were examined through ARDL model. The aim of this study is examination of technology spillover on the productivity of agricultural sectors. The degree of technology diffusion grows with increase in technology distance between the hosts and the foreign countries. The greater the technology distance, the more difficult it becomes for developing countries to boost independent innovation. To calculate the index of technology spillover, commercial partners should be considered that are more advanced in science and technology than Iran. For this purpose, commercial partners in this study are

The use of autologous concentrated growth factors to promote syndesmosis fusion in the Agility total ankle replacement. A preliminary study.

Science.gov (United States)

Coetzee, J Chris; Pomeroy, Gregory C; Watts, J David; Barrow, Craig

2005-10-01

The Agility (DePuy, Warsaw, Indiana) total ankle replacement has been in use since 1984. One of the most common complications continues to be delayed union or nonunions of the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis. In the reported studies on the Agility ankle the delayed union and nonunion rate can be as high as 38%. Since 1999, 114 Agility total ankle replacements were done at two centers in the United States without the use of autologous concentrated growth factors. Since July of 2001, 66 Agility ankles were implanted with Symphony (DePuy, Warsaw, Indiana) augmented bone grafting. The standard operative technique was followed in all the patients. Prospective data was collected on all patients. The standard ankle radiographs were taken preoperatively and postoperative at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16 weeks, 6 months, and yearly. CT scans were obtained at 6 months if fusion at the syndesmosis was questionable. The Graphpad Instat software (Graphpad Software Inc., San Diego, CA) was used for statistical analysis. The two-tailed unpaired t-test was used, and the value ankle replacements without autologous concentrated growth factors 70 fused at 8 weeks (61%), 14 fused at 12 weeks (12%), 13 fused at 6 months (12%). There were 17 nonunions (15%); delayed unions (3 to 6 months) and nonunions, therefore, equaled 27%. The syndesmosis fused in 50 of the 66 ankle replacements (76%) that had autologous concentrated growth fractures at 8 weeks (76%); 12 fused at 3 months (18%), 2 fused at 6 months (3%), 2 had nonunions (3%). Delayed unions (3 to 6 months) and nonunions equaled 6%. There was a statistically significant improvement in the 8- and 12-week fusion rates, and a statistically significant reduction in delayed unions and nonunions. Autologous concentrated growth factors appear to make a significant positive difference in the syndesmosis union rate in total ankle replacements.

Total and free insulin-like growth factor I, insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 and acid-labile subunit reflect clinical activity in acromegaly

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sneppen, S B; Lange, Merete Wolder; Pedersen, L M

2001-01-01

The aim was to evaluate, markers of disease activity in acromegaly in relation to perceived disease activity. Thirty-seven consecutively treated, acromegalic patients, classified by clinical symptoms as inactive (n=16), slightly active (n=10) and active (n=11), entered the study. When evaluating......-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) with PV(pos) of 0.69 and 0.71 and PV(neg) of 0.91 and 0.92 respectively. We conclude that free IGF-I is more closely related than total IGF-I to perceived disease activity and is as such useful when evaluating previously treated acromegaly for disease activity...

The role of safe practices in hospitals’ total factor productivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timothy R Huerta

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Timothy R Huerta1, Mark A Thompson2, Eric W Ford31Center for Health Innovation, Education, and Research, 2Rawls College of Business, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA; 3Forsyth Medical Center Distinguished Professor of Health Care, The University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USAAbstract: The dual aims of improving safety and productivity are a major part of the health care reform movement hospital leaders must manage. Studies exploring the two phenomena conjointly and over time are critical to understanding how change in one dimension influences the other over time. A Malmquist approach is used to assess hospitals’ relative productivity levels over time. Analysis of variance (ANOVA algorithms were executed to assess whether or not the Malmquist Indices (MIs correlate with the safe practices measure. The American Hospital Association’s annual survey and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Case Mix Index for fiscal years 2002–2006, along with Leapfrog Group’s annual survey for 2006 were used for this study. Leapfrog Group respondents have significantly higher technological change (TC and total factor productivity (TFP than nonrespondents without sacrificing technical efficiency changes. Of the three MIs, TC (P < 0.10 and TFP (P < 0.05 had significant relationships with the National Quality Forum’s Safe Practices score. The ANOVA also indicates that the mean differences of TFP measures progressed in a monotonic fashion up the Safe Practices scale. Adherence to the National Quality Forum’s Safe Practices recommendations had a major impact on hospitals’ operating processes and productivity. Specifically, there is evidence that hospitals reporting higher Safe Practices scores had above average levels of TC and TFP gains over the period assessed. Leaders should strive for increased transparency to promote both quality improvement and increased productivity.Keywords: safety, productivity, quality, safe

Feasibility study of helical tomotherapy for total body or total marrow irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hui, Susanta K.; Kapatoes, Jeff; Fowler, Jack; Henderson, Douglas; Olivera, Gustavo; Manon, Rafael R.; Gerbi, Bruce; Mackie, T. R.; Welsh, James S.

2005-01-01

Total body radiation (TBI) has been used for many years as a preconditioning agent before bone marrow transplantation. Many side effects still plague its use. We investigated the planning and delivery of total body irradiation (TBI) and selective total marrow irradiation (TMI) and a reduced radiation dose to sensitive structures using image-guided helical tomotherapy. To assess the feasibility of using helical tomotherapy (A) we studied variations in pitch, field width, and modulation factor on total body and total marrow helical tomotherapy treatments. We varied these parameters to provide a uniform dose along with a treatment times similar to conventional TBI (15-30 min). (B) We also investigated limited (head, chest, and pelvis) megavoltage CT (MVCT) scanning for the dimensional pretreatment setup verification rather than total body MVCT scanning to shorten the overall treatment time per treatment fraction. (C) We placed thermoluminescent detectors (TLDs) inside a Rando phantom to measure the dose at seven anatomical sites, including the lungs. A simulated TBI treatment showed homogeneous dose coverage (±10%) to the whole body. Doses to the sensitive organs were reduced by 35%-70% of the target dose. TLD measurements on Rando showed an accurate dose delivery (±7%) to the target and critical organs. In the TMI study, the dose was delivered conformally to the bone marrow only. The TBI and TMI treatment delivery time was reduced (by 50%) by increasing the field width from 2.5 to 5.0 cm in the inferior-superior direction. A limited MVCT reduced the target localization time 60% compared to whole body MVCT. MVCT image-guided helical tomotherapy offers a novel method to deliver a precise, homogeneous radiation dose to the whole body target while reducing the dose significantly to all critical organs. A judicious selection of pitch, modulation factor, and field size is required to produce a homogeneous dose distribution along with an acceptable treatment time. In

Evaluating the Total Factor Productivity Growth in Manufacturing Industries of Iran (Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vahideh Ahmadi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the total factor productivity changes for 23 main manufacturing industries (2-digit ISIC group and country's provinces using data envelopment analysis during 2005 to 2007. The results show 2.3% increase in the productivity of the whole sector (average over the studied period, while the productivity of the country's provinces decreases by 7.3%, in the same period. We find Food and Beverage products and Khuzestan province having the highest productivity growth. Non-optimal allocation of resources and using of old equipments are the most important drawbacks of productivity growth for 23 main ISIC groups and provinces. Finally estimation of the regression models by panel data method reveals the privatization and increasing of labor’s available capital having a significant effect on productivity growth.

Deriving Scaling Factors Using a Global Hydrological Model to Restore GRACE Total Water Storage Changes for China's Yangtze River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Di; Yang, Yuting; Yoshihide, Wada; Hong, Yang; Liang, Wei; Chen, Yaning; Yong, Bin; Hou, Aizhong; Wei, Jiangfeng; Chen, Lu

2015-01-01

This study used a global hydrological model (GHM), PCR-GLOBWB, which simulates surface water storage changes, natural and human induced groundwater storage changes, and the interactions between surface water and subsurface water, to generate scaling factors by mimicking low-pass filtering of GRACE signals. Signal losses in GRACE data were subsequently restored by the scaling factors from PCR-GLOBWB. Results indicate greater spatial heterogeneity in scaling factor from PCR-GLOBWB and CLM4.0 than that from GLDAS-1 Noah due to comprehensive simulation of surface and subsurface water storage changes for PCR-GLOBWB and CLM4.0. Filtered GRACE total water storage (TWS) changes applied with PCR-GLOBWB scaling factors show closer agreement with water budget estimates of TWS changes than those with scaling factors from other land surface models (LSMs) in China's Yangtze River basin. Results of this study develop a further understanding of the behavior of scaling factors from different LSMs or GHMs over hydrologically complex basins, and could be valuable in providing more accurate TWS changes for hydrological applications (e.g., monitoring drought and groundwater storage depletion) over regions where human-induced interactions between surface water and subsurface water are intensive.

Estimating total solar radiation in different climatological of region in Iran using cloud factor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jafarpour, Kh.; Karshenas, M.

2002-01-01

Iran is among the countries located on the belt pertaining to lands with a high rate of solar insolation. Statistics shows that, for instance, the solar energy which hi ted the Iranian contention al land just in the year of 1990, was more than 1600 times that of the energy exported by Iran in the same year. This high rate of solar insolation, on the one hand and the limitation of fossil-fuel reservoirs (specially, utilizing energy from such sources is polluting the environment) on the other hand, show that harnessing the solar energy is not anymore a choice of decision but rather on obligation. To fulfill this obligation one needs solar insolation data to be able to design and evaluate solar energy utilizing systems and other uses under different climatological conditions of Iran. As a first step, this article provides total solar radiation data for various cities in Iran under different climatological conditions using cloud factor as a parameter

Mode coupling theory for nonequilibrium glassy dynamics of thermal self-propelled particles.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Mengkai; Hou, Zhonghuai

2017-06-28

We present a mode coupling theory study for the relaxation and glassy dynamics of a system of strongly interacting self-propelled particles, wherein the self-propulsion force is described by Ornstein-Uhlenbeck colored noise and thermal noises are included. Our starting point is an effective Smoluchowski equation governing the distribution function of particle positions, from which we derive a memory function equation for the time dependence of density fluctuations in nonequilibrium steady states. With the basic assumption of the absence of macroscopic currents and standard mode coupling approximation, we can obtain expressions for the irreducible memory function and other relevant dynamic terms, wherein the nonequilibrium character of the active system is manifested through an averaged diffusion coefficient D[combining macron] and a nontrivial structural function S 2 (q) with q being the magnitude of wave vector q. D[combining macron] and S 2 (q) enter the frequency term and the vertex term for the memory function, and thus influence both the short time and the long time dynamics of the system. With these equations obtained, we study the glassy dynamics of this thermal self-propelled particle system by investigating the Debye-Waller factor f q and relaxation time τ α as functions of the persistence time τ p of self-propulsion, the single particle effective temperature T eff as well as the number density ρ. Consequently, we find the critical density ρ c for given τ p shifts to larger values with increasing magnitude of propulsion force or effective temperature, in good accordance with previously reported simulation work. In addition, the theory facilitates us to study the critical effective temperature T for fixed ρ as well as its dependence on τ p . We find that T increases with τ p and in the limit τ p → 0, it approaches the value for a simple passive Brownian system as expected. Our theory also well recovers the results for passive systems and can be

Modifiable Factors Associated with Cognitive Impairment in 1,143 Japanese Outpatients: The Project in Sado for Total Health (PROST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaori Kitamura

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Background/Aims: Evidence on modifiable factors associated with cognitive impairment in Japanese patients is scarce. This study aimed to determine modifiable factors for cognitive impairment in a Japanese hospital-based population. Methods: Subjects of this cross-sectional study were 1,143 patients of Sado General Hospital (Niigata, Japan registered in the Project in Sado for Total Health (PROST between June 2008 and September 2014. We assessed disease history, body mass index (BMI, leisure time physical activity, walking time, smoking and drinking habits, and consumption of vegetables, fruits, and green tea as predictors, with cognitive impairment defined by the Mini-Mental State Examination (score Results: The mean subject age was 68.9 years, and the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 21.5%. Multivariate analysis revealed that age (p Conclusions: Modifiable factors, such as low BMI, low fruit consumption, and low green tea consumption, are associated with cognitive impairment. Longitudinal studies will be needed to confirm these findings.

Can Optimism, Pessimism, Hope, Treatment Credibility and Treatment Expectancy Be Distinguished in Patients Undergoing Total Hip and Total Knee Arthroplasty?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsjitske M Haanstra

Full Text Available The constructs optimism, pessimism, hope, treatment credibility and treatment expectancy are associated with outcomes of medical treatment. While these constructs are grounded in different theoretical models, they nonetheless show some conceptual overlap. The purpose of this study was to examine whether currently available measurement instruments for these constructs capture the conceptual differences between these constructs within a treatment setting.Patients undergoing Total Hip and Total Knee Arthroplasty (THA and TKA (Total N = 361; 182 THA; 179 TKA, completed the Life Orientation Test-Revised for optimism and pessimism, the Hope Scale, the Credibility Expectancy Questionnaire for treatment credibility and treatment expectancy. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine whether the instruments measure distinct constructs. Four theory-driven models with one, two, four and five latent factors were evaluated using multiple fit indices and Δχ2 tests, followed by some posthoc models.The results of the theory driven confirmatory factor analysis showed that a five factor model in which all constructs loaded on separate factors yielded the most optimal and satisfactory fit. Posthoc, a bifactor model in which (besides the 5 separate factors a general factor is hypothesized accounting for the commonality of the items showed a significantly better fit than the five factor model. All specific factors, except for the hope factor, showed to explain a substantial amount of variance beyond the general factor.Based on our primary analyses we conclude that optimism, pessimism, hope, treatment credibility and treatment expectancy are distinguishable in THA and TKA patients. Postdoc, we determined that all constructs, except hope, showed substantial specific variance, while also sharing some general variance.

Can Optimism, Pessimism, Hope, Treatment Credibility and Treatment Expectancy Be Distinguished in Patients Undergoing Total Hip and Total Knee Arthroplasty?

Science.gov (United States)

Haanstra, Tsjitske M; Tilbury, Claire; Kamper, Steven J; Tordoir, Rutger L; Vliet Vlieland, Thea P M; Nelissen, Rob G H H; Cuijpers, Pim; de Vet, Henrica C W; Dekker, Joost; Knol, Dirk L; Ostelo, Raymond W

2015-01-01

The constructs optimism, pessimism, hope, treatment credibility and treatment expectancy are associated with outcomes of medical treatment. While these constructs are grounded in different theoretical models, they nonetheless show some conceptual overlap. The purpose of this study was to examine whether currently available measurement instruments for these constructs capture the conceptual differences between these constructs within a treatment setting. Patients undergoing Total Hip and Total Knee Arthroplasty (THA and TKA) (Total N = 361; 182 THA; 179 TKA), completed the Life Orientation Test-Revised for optimism and pessimism, the Hope Scale, the Credibility Expectancy Questionnaire for treatment credibility and treatment expectancy. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine whether the instruments measure distinct constructs. Four theory-driven models with one, two, four and five latent factors were evaluated using multiple fit indices and Δχ2 tests, followed by some posthoc models. The results of the theory driven confirmatory factor analysis showed that a five factor model in which all constructs loaded on separate factors yielded the most optimal and satisfactory fit. Posthoc, a bifactor model in which (besides the 5 separate factors) a general factor is hypothesized accounting for the commonality of the items showed a significantly better fit than the five factor model. All specific factors, except for the hope factor, showed to explain a substantial amount of variance beyond the general factor. Based on our primary analyses we conclude that optimism, pessimism, hope, treatment credibility and treatment expectancy are distinguishable in THA and TKA patients. Postdoc, we determined that all constructs, except hope, showed substantial specific variance, while also sharing some general variance.

Measurement with total scatter calibrate factor at different depths in the calculation of prescription dose

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Lijun; Zhu Haijun; Zhang Xinzhong; Li Feizhou; Song Hongyu

2004-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the method of measurement of total scatter calibrate factor (Sc, p). Methods: To measure the Sc, p at different depths on central axis of 6MV, 15MV photon beams through different ways. Results: It was found that the measured data of Sc, p changed with the different depths to a range of 1% - 7%. Using the direct method, the Sc, p measured depth should be the same as the depth in dose normalization point of the prescription dose. If the Sc, p (fsz, d) was measured at the other depths, it could be obtained indirectly by the calculation formula. Conclusions: The Sc, p in the prescription dose can be obtained either by the direct measure method or the indirect calculation formula. But emphasis should be laid on the proper measure depth. (authors)

Total body irradiation: current indications; L`irradiation corporelle totale: les indications actuelles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giraud, P.; Danhier, S.; Dubray, B.; Cosset, J.M. [Institut Curie, 75 - Paris (France)

1998-05-01

The choice of dose and fractionation for total body irradiation is made difficult by the large number of considerations to be taken into account. The outcome of bone marrow transplantation after total body irradiation can be understood in terms of tumor cell killing, engraftment, and normal tissue damage, each of these endpoints being influenced by irradiation-, disease-, transplant-, and patient- related factors. Interpretation of clinical data is further hampered by the overwhelming influence of logistic constraints, the small numbers of randomized studies, and the concomitant variations in total dose and fraction size or dose rate. So far, three cautious conclusions can be drawn in order to tentatively adapt the total body irradiation schedule to clinically-relevant situations. Firstly, the organs at risk for normal tissue damage (lung, liver, lens, kidney) are protected by delivering small doses per fraction at low dose rate. This suggests that, when toxicity is at stake (e.g. in children), fractionated irradiation should be preferred, provided that inter-fraction intervals are long enough. Secondly, fractionated irradiation should be avoided in case of T-cell depleted transplant, given the high risk of graft rejection in this setting. An alternative would be to increase total (or fractional) dose of fractionated total body irradiation, but this approach is likely to induce more normal tissue toxicity. Thirdly, clinical data have shown higher relapse rates in chronic myeloid leukemia after fractionated or low dose rate total body irradiation, suggesting that fractionated irradiation should not be recommended, unless total (or fractional) dose is increased. Total body irradiation-containing regimens, primarily cyclophosphamide / total body irradiation, are either equivalent to or better than the chemotherapy-only regimens, primarily busulfan / cyclophosphamide. Busulfan / cyclophosphamide certainly represents a reasonable alternative, especially in patients who

Do Work-Life Balance Policies Increase a Firm's Total Factor Productivity?: Evidence from panel data of Japanese firms (Japanese)

OpenAIRE

YAMAMOTO Isamu; MATSUURA Toshiyuki

2011-01-01

This paper examines how firms' policies for workers' work-life balance (WLB) affect total factor productivity (TFP) in the long run, by using panel data of Japanese firms from the 1990s. Although we observed a positive correlation between firms' WLB policies and their TFP, once controlling for unobserved firm heterogeneity, we found no causal relationship where WLB policies increase a firm's TFP in the long run. Under the following conditions, however, WLB policies would likely improve a firm...

Factors associated with health related quality of life after a hip or knee total replacement, according to a gender approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio R. López Alonso

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: To identify the factors associated with Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL, and Symptoms and Physical Functional Disability (S&PFD after a Hip or Knee Total Replacement, according to a gender approach. A longitudinal cohort study design is performed at “La Merced” (Osuna. Sevilla and “Torrecárdenas” (Almería Hospitals, via telephone interview since October 2004 to November 2006. The study included all people who underwent a hip or knee total replacement. The dependent variables were HRQL and S&PFD, both measured via short versions of the COOP/WONCA and WOMAC questionnaires.Results: 311 people were included, who were mostly women (82,63% and 70 years old (average. The hip and knee replacement obtained an statistically significant improvement on HRQL (20,5% and S&PFD (28,2%, with no gender difference. Five variables were associated to HRQL for Women: HRQL previous to surgery, hospital, local infection as a complication, autonomy for daily living, and marital status. All of them were associated to men, except the last two ones. About S&PFD, six variables were associated for women: HRQL and S&PFD previous to surgery, hospital, local infection as a complication, body mass index and marital status. All of them were associated to men, except the last two ones.Factors associated to improve on HRQL and S&PFD in male population are few, though they find a great explanation of the improvement. Different situation arise on female population because more factors obtained a substantially inferior explanation.

Examination of the relation between periodontal health status and cardiovascular risk factors: serum total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and plasma fibrinogen.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, T; Trevisan, M; Genco, R J; Falkner, K L; Dorn, J P; Sempos, C T

2000-02-01

Using data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994), the authors examined the relation between periodontal health and cardiovascular risk factors: serum total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and plasma fibrinogen. A total of 10,146 participants were included in the analyses of cholesterol and C-reactive protein and 4,461 in the analyses of fibrinogen. Periodontal health indicators included the gingival bleeding index, calculus index, and periodontal disease status (defined by pocket depth and attachment loss). While cholesterol and fibrinogen were analyzed as continuous variables, C-reactive protein was dichotomized into two levels. The results show a significant relation between indicators of poor periodontal status and increased C-reactive protein and fibrinogen. The association between periodontal status and total cholesterol level is much weaker. No consistent association between periodontal status and high density lipoprotein cholesterol was detectable. Similar patterns of association were observed for participants aged 17-54 years and those 55 years and older. In conclusion, this study suggests that total cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and fibrinogen are possible intermediate factors that may link periodontal disease to elevated cardiovascular risk.

Communication: Relationship between solute localization and diffusion in a dynamically constrained polymer system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saylor, David M.; Jawahery, Sudi; Silverstein, Joshua S.; Forrey, Christopher [Center for Devices and Radiological Health, FDA, Silver Spring, Maryland 20993 (United States)

2016-07-21

We investigate the link between dynamic localization, characterized by the Debye–Waller factor, 〈u{sup 2}〉, and solute self-diffusivity, D, in a polymer system using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and vapor sorption experiments. We find a linear relationship between lnD and 1/〈u{sup 2}〉 over more than four decades of D, encompassing most of the glass formation regime. The observed linearity is consistent with the Langevin dynamics in a periodically varying potential field and may offer a means to rapidly assess diffusion based on the characterization of dynamic localization.

Changes in lifestyle, biological risk factors and total homocysteine in relation to MTHFR C677T genotype: a 5-year follow-up study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Husemoen, L L N; Linneberg, A; Fenger, M

2009-01-01

to increased tHcy in cross-sectional studies. In addition, the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T gene variant is an important determinant of elevated tHcy. The main objective of the study was to examine the effect of changes in biological risk factors and lifestyle on tHcy in relation to MTHFR......, physical activity, smoking status, coffee, tea, total alcohol or wine consumption. An inverse relationship was observed between changes in tHcy and changes in the intake of beer in TT individuals but not in CC/CT individuals (P (interaction)=0.01). In addition, changes in tHcy were positively associated......BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Total homocysteine (tHcy) has been associated with increased risk of several diseases in the general population. It is not clear whether these associations are causal. A less healthy lifestyle as well as a less favorable biological risk factor profile have been related...

Total cardiovascular disease risk assessment: a review.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Cooney, Marie Therese

2011-09-01

The high risk strategy for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) requires an assessment of an individual\\'s total CVD risk so that the most intensive risk factor management can be directed towards those at highest risk. Here we review developments in the assessment and estimation of total CVD risk.

Simvastatin mitigates increases in risk factors for and the occurrence of cardiac disease following 10 Gy total body irradiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenarczyk, Marek; Su, Jidong; Haworth, Steven T; Komorowski, Richard; Fish, Brian L; Migrino, Raymond Q; Harmann, Leanne; Hopewell, John W; Kronenberg, Amy; Patel, Shailendra; Moulder, John E; Baker, John E

2015-06-01

The ability of simvastatin to mitigate the increases in risk factors for and the occurrence of cardiac disease after 10 Gy total body irradiation (TBI) was determined. This radiation dose is relevant to conditioning for stem cell transplantation and threats from radiological terrorism. Male rats received single dose TBI of 10 Gy. Age-matched, sham-irradiated rats served as controls. Lipid profile, heart and liver morphology and cardiac mechanical function were determined for up to 120 days after irradiation. TBI resulted in a sustained increase in total- and LDL-cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol), and triglycerides. Simvastatin (10 mg/kg body weight/day) administered continuously from 9 days after irradiation mitigated TBI-induced increases in total- and LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as liver injury. TBI resulted in cellular peri-arterial fibrosis, whereas control hearts had less collagen and fibrosis. Simvastatin mitigated these morphological injuries. TBI resulted in cardiac mechanical dysfunction. Simvastatin mitigated cardiac mechanical dysfunction 20-120 days following TBI. To determine whether simvastatin affects the ability of the heart to withstand stress after TBI, injury from myocardial ischemia/reperfusion was determined in vitro. TBI increased the severity of an induced myocardial infarction at 20 and 80 days after irradiation. Simvastatin mitigated the severity of this myocardial infarction at 20 and 80 days following TBI. It is concluded simvastatin mitigated the increases in risk factors for cardiac disease and the extent of cardiac disease following TBI. This statin may be developed as a medical countermeasure for the mitigation of radiation-induced cardiac disease.

X-ray characterisation of nanostructured materials

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oddershede, Jette

X-ray powder di®raction (XRPD) is an excellent tool for characterising the bulk structure of crystalline materials. Along with the growing interest in exploiting materials with decreasing particle sizes and increasing number of defects, factors that complicate the traditional interpretation...... of the experi- mental XRPD patterns, the need for new interpretation methods has arisen. The method described in the present thesis is by no means new, in fact it was developed by Debye in 1915. However, the Debye method it is rather computationally heavy, so in practise it is only applicable to the X-ray char...

Geographical differences in the relationship between total dissolved ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The practical application of these findings is that users of EC meters should not simply apply a blanket conversion factor, but need to select an applicable factor for the river system in which they are measuring. Keywords: conversion factors, electrical conductivity, field instruments, rivers, total dissolved solids, water quality ...

Total Glucosides of Paeonia lactiflora Pall Suppress Nitric Oxide ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

iNOS) expression and ... Keywords: Total glucosides, Paeonia lactiflora, Nitric oxide, iNOs, Nuclear factor-κB. Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research ... Nuclear factor (NF)-κB is the key transcriptional factor regulating iNOS gene transcription.

Ethical and psychological factors in 5S and total productive maintenance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jamal Ahmed Hama Kareem; Othman Abdul-Qader Hama Amin

2017-07-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of ethical and psychological factors in the implementation of 5S and TPM at cement plants in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Design/methodology/approach: The mixed methods represented in a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews for data collection in the framework of the case study were chosen. The questionnaire survey already has been tested. Findings: The findings of this paper revealed that ethical factors had a larger role than psychological factors in the implementation. Thus, based on the findings, organisations are recommended to provide financial and moral support to employees to enable a comprehensive implementation of 5S and TPM aimed at obtaining the desired results. Originality/value: The current paper tried to introduce a new theoretical contribution by filling the gap in the literature regarding the important role that can be played by ethical and psychological factors of employees in the successful implementation of contemporary techniques, such as 5S and TPM in industrial organizations. This is contrary to what was done most of previous studies such as Ahuja & Khamba, (2008b) Panneerselvam (2012) Singh et al. (2013) and Poduval & Pramod (2015) in the area of 5S and TPM. Where, these studies have focused on studying the other factors such as (organizational, technological, operational and others) in implementing 5S and TPM. This without realizing the fact that it is also necessary to examine factors such as (ethical and psychological) that would affect the capabilities and employee morale before and during the implementation of those techniques (5S and TPM) that are used to bring out the best productivity.

Ethical and psychological factors in 5S and total productive maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jamal Ahmed Hama Kareem; Othman Abdul-Qader Hama Amin

2017-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of ethical and psychological factors in the implementation of 5S and TPM at cement plants in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Design/methodology/approach: The mixed methods represented in a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews for data collection in the framework of the case study were chosen. The questionnaire survey already has been tested. Findings: The findings of this paper revealed that ethical factors had a larger role than psychological factors in the implementation. Thus, based on the findings, organisations are recommended to provide financial and moral support to employees to enable a comprehensive implementation of 5S and TPM aimed at obtaining the desired results. Originality/value: The current paper tried to introduce a new theoretical contribution by filling the gap in the literature regarding the important role that can be played by ethical and psychological factors of employees in the successful implementation of contemporary techniques, such as 5S and TPM in industrial organizations. This is contrary to what was done most of previous studies such as Ahuja & Khamba, (2008b) Panneerselvam (2012) Singh et al. (2013) and Poduval & Pramod (2015) in the area of 5S and TPM. Where, these studies have focused on studying the other factors such as (organizational, technological, operational and others) in implementing 5S and TPM. This without realizing the fact that it is also necessary to examine factors such as (ethical and psychological) that would affect the capabilities and employee morale before and during the implementation of those techniques (5S and TPM) that are used to bring out the best productivity.

Total-Factor Energy Efficiency (TFEE Evaluation on Thermal Power Industry with DEA, Malmquist and Multiple Regression Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin-Peng Liu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Under the background of a new round of power market reform, realizing the goals of energy saving and emission reduction, reducing the coal consumption and ensuring the sustainable development are the key issues for thermal power industry. With the biggest economy and energy consumption scales in the world, China should promote the energy efficiency of thermal power industry to solve these problems. Therefore, from multiple perspectives, the factors influential to the energy efficiency of thermal power industry were identified. Based on the economic, social and environmental factors, a combination model with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA and Malmquist index was constructed to evaluate the total-factor energy efficiency (TFEE in thermal power industry. With the empirical studies from national and provincial levels, the TFEE index can be factorized into the technical efficiency index (TECH, the technical progress index (TPCH, the pure efficiency index (PECH and the scale efficiency index (SECH. The analysis showed that the TFEE was mainly determined by TECH and PECH. Meanwhile, by panel data regression model, unit coal consumption, talents and government supervision were selected as important indexes to have positive effects on TFEE in thermal power industry. In addition, the negative indexes, such as energy price and installed capacity, were also analyzed to control their undesired effects. Finally, considering the analysis results, measures for improving energy efficiency of thermal power industry were discussed widely, such as strengthening technology research and design (R&D, enforcing pollutant and emission reduction, distributing capital and labor rationally and improving the government supervision. Relative study results and suggestions can provide references for Chinese government and enterprises to enhance the energy efficiency level.

Incoherent Thomson scattering as a diagnostic tool

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Barth, C. J.

1998-01-01

Thomson scattering is a very powerful diagnostic which is applied at nearly every magnetic confinement device. Depending on the experimental conditions different plasma parameters can be diagnosed. When the wavelength is much smaller than the plasma Debye length, the total scattered power is

Ethical and psychological factors in 5S and total productive maintenance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamal Ahmed Hama Kareem

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of ethical and psychological factors in the implementation of 5S and TPM at cement plants in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Design/methodology/approach: The mixed methods represented in a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews for data collection in the framework of the case study were chosen. The questionnaire survey already has been tested. Findings: The findings of this paper revealed that ethical factors had a larger role than psychological factors in the implementation. Thus, based on the findings, organisations are recommended to provide financial and moral support to employees to enable a comprehensive implementation of 5S and TPM aimed at obtaining the desired results.  Originality/value: The current paper tried to introduce a new theoretical contribution by filling the gap in the literature regarding the important role that can be played by ethical and psychological factors of employees in the successful implementation of contemporary techniques, such as 5S and TPM in industrial organizations. This is contrary to what was done most of previous studies such as Ahuja & Khamba, (2008b Panneerselvam (2012 Singh et al. (2013 and Poduval & Pramod (2015 in the area of 5S and TPM. Where, these studies have focused on studying the other factors such as (organizational, technological, operational and others in implementing 5S and TPM. This without realizing the fact that it is also necessary to examine factors such as (ethical and psychological that would affect the capabilities and employee morale before and during the implementation of those techniques (5S and TPM that are used to bring out the best productivity.

Broadband dynamics in neat 4-methyl-3-heptanol and in mixtures with 2-ethyl-1-hexanol

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hecksher, Tina; Olsen, Niels Boye; Bauer, S

2013-01-01

place on similar time scales in contrast to the situation for the structural isomer 2-ethyl-1-hexanol (2E1H) [S. Schildmann et al. , J. Chem. Phys.135, 174511 (2011)]. This indicates a very weak decoupling of Debye-like and structural relaxation which was further probed using volume expansivity...... experiments. Shear viscosity as well as diffusometry measurements were performed and the data were analyzed in terms of the Debye-Stokes-Einstein equations. In mixtures of 4M3H with 2E1H the Debye-like process becomes much stronger and for 2E1H mole fraction of more than 25% the behavior of this alcohol...... is rapidly approached. This finding is interpreted to indicate that the ring-like supramolecular structures in 4M3H become energetically unfavorable when adding 2E1H, an alcohol that tends to form chain-like molecular aggregates. The concentration dependence of the Kirkwood factor in these mixtures displays...

Does IQ explain socio-economic differentials in total and cardiovascular disease mortality? Comparison with the explanatory power of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors in the Vietnam Experience Study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Batty, G David; Shipley, Martin J; Dundas, Ruth

2009-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the explanatory power of intelligence (IQ) compared with traditional cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in the relationship of socio-economic disadvantage with total and CVD mortality, that is the extent to which IQ may account for the variance in this ......The aim of this study was to examine the explanatory power of intelligence (IQ) compared with traditional cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in the relationship of socio-economic disadvantage with total and CVD mortality, that is the extent to which IQ may account for the variance...

Total space in resolution

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Bonacina, I.; Galesi, N.; Thapen, Neil

2016-01-01

Roč. 45, č. 5 (2016), s. 1894-1909 ISSN 0097-5397 R&D Projects: GA ČR GBP202/12/G061 EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 339691 - FEALORA Institutional support: RVO:67985840 Keywords : total space * resolution random CNFs * proof complexity Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.433, year: 2016 http://epubs.siam.org/doi/10.1137/15M1023269

Two hypotheses were tested, namely:

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Referee

anthelmintic thereby indirectly controlling blowfly strike. A.J. Scholtz ... monetary terms and because of the stress associated with flystrike (Waghorn et al., 1999). Gastro- ... Barger, 1988; Waller, 1994) in combination with managerial practices.

[Total homocysteine levels in children with diabetes type 1. Conditional factors].

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez Laborda, S; Salazar García-Blanco, M I; Rodríguez Rigual, M; Baldellou Vázquez, A

2008-03-01

To measure the plasma levels of total homocysteine (tHcy) in children with type I diabetes mellitus and their relationship with the control of the disease. We studied a total of 46 patients with ages between 4 and 19 years. The analyzed variables were: sex, age, puberty stage by Tanner, BMI, years of evolution of the illness, self-monitoring, associated diseases, tHcy, folic acid, vitamin B12, glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c), lipid profile and renal function. The mean tHcy was of 5.48 +/- 1,64 microm/l, similar to that in our control population. There was a positive correlation with tHcy when analyzing the puberty stage by the Tanner scale. The years of evolution of diabetes varied between 0.4 and 15, with a mean of 5.77 +/- 3.69, with no correlation with tHcy. The glycosylated haemoglobin mean was 7.35 %, with no correlation with tHcy. The levels of folic acid and vitamin B12 were similar to the control population. The lipid profile of our patients was normal, with no association with tHcy levels. There was no correlation between GFR and tHcy. A clinically correct control of children with diabetes mellitus type 1, appears to ensure a normal total homocysteinemia, with no significant differences with the healthy individuals of the same age and social environment.

Clinicopathological Risk Factors and Biochemical Predictors of Safe Discharge after Total Thyroidectomy and Central Compartment Node Dissection for Thyroid Cancer: A Prospective Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu-mi Lee

2015-01-01

Full Text Available To determine the clinicopathological risk factors and reliable biochemical predictors of the development of hypocalcemic symptoms after total thyroidectomy on the basis of serum calcium and intact parathyroid hormone (PTH levels measured 1 hour after surgery, a prospective study was performed on 817 patients who underwent a total thyroidectomy with central compartment node dissection (CCND due to well-differentiated thyroid cancer. We evaluated the correlations between hypocalcemic symptom development and clinicopathological factors. And the predictability for hypocalcemic symptom development of intact PTH cut-offs (<10 pg/mL and <20 pg/mL, resp. according to serum calcium level subgroup was analyzed. Female gender (P<0.001 was the only independent risk factor for hypocalcemic symptom development in multivariate regression analysis. The negative predictive value (NPV of intact PTH, signifying nondevelopment of hypocalcemic symptoms, was higher than the positive predictive value (PPV which signified development of hypocalcemic symptoms. In addition, when we applied the different adoption of the intact PTH cut-off according to serum calcium level, we could obtain more increased NPVs. A female gender and the application of more specific cut-offs for intact PTH according to the serum calcium levels measured 1 hour after surgery may help the patients to be more safely discharged.

Peripheral blood corticotropin-releasing factor, adrenocorticotropic hormone and cytokine (Interleukin Beta, Interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor alpha) levels after high- and low-dose total-body irradiation in humans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Girinsky, T.A.; Pallardy, M.; Comoy, E.; Benassi, T.; Roger, R.; Ganem, G.; Socie, G.; Cossett, J.M.; Magdelenat, H.

1994-01-01

Total-body irradiation (TBI) induces an increase in levels of granulocytes and cortisol in blood. To explore the underlying mechanisms, we studied 26 patients who had TBI prior to bone marrow transplantation. Our findings suggest that only a high dose of TBI (10 Gy) was capable of activating the hypothalamopituitary area since corticotropin-releasing factor and blood adrenocorticotropic hormone levels increased at the end of the TBI. There was a concomitant increase in the levels of interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor in blood, suggesting that these cytokines might activate the hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal axis. Interleukin 1 was not detected. Since vascular injury is a common after radiation treatment, it is possible that interleukin 6 was secreted by endothelial cells. The exact mechanisms of the production of cyctokines induced by ionizing radiation remain to be determined. 25 refs., 1 fig

Alpine Skiing With total knee ArthroPlasty (ASWAP)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koesters, A.; Poetzelsberger, B.; Dela, F.

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to monitor the long-term effects of skiing on health-related parameters and implant related factors like loosening and wear in patients with total knee arthroplasty. This paper describes the overall study design, general demographics, and physiological demand of the inte......The aim of this study was to monitor the long-term effects of skiing on health-related parameters and implant related factors like loosening and wear in patients with total knee arthroplasty. This paper describes the overall study design, general demographics, and physiological demand...

Cuantificación del factor de crecimiento similar a la insulina (IGF-1) total en tejidos de rata

OpenAIRE

Elizabeth Rico; Myriam Sánchez de Gómez

1998-01-01

Se establecieron los contenidos totales de IGF-I en algunos tejidos de rata adulta normal (hígado, riñón, corazón, pulmón, timo, bazo y músculo esquelético) por medio de radioinmunoanálisis (RIA) específico. La efectividad de la extracción ácido-etanólica (AE), corrientemente empleada para eliminar la interferencia de las proteínas de unión del IGF-I (IGFBPs) en el análisis del factor en suero, se evaluó para las muestras de tejidos y se comparó con la extracción AE seguida de crioprecipitaci...

Thomson Scattering

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Donne, A. J. H.

1994-01-01

Thomson scattering is a very powerful diagnostic which is applied at nearly every magnetic confinement device. Depending on the experimental conditions different plasma parameters can be diagnosed. When the wave vector is much larger than the plasma Debye length, the total scattered power is

Incoherent Thomson scattering

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Donne, A. J. H.

1996-01-01

Thomson scattering is a very powerful diagnostic which is applied at nearly every magnetic confinement device. Depending on the experimental conditions different plasma parameters can be diagnosed. When the wave vector is much larger than the plasma Debye length, the total scattered power is

The Impact of the Subsidy Policy on Total Factor Productivity: An Empirical Analysis of China's Cotton Production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanwen Tan

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper develops one model to explore the relationship between the subsidy policy and the agricultural total factor productivity (TFP. It indicates that the agricultural TFP will be lower after the subsidy policy is implemented and there exists a negative relation between the subsidy and TFP, if subsidies are associated with the acreage. Using Malmquist index, this paper measures the changes of TFP in China's cotton production before and after the subsidy policy is implemented. The results verify that the subsidy policy could not increase but decrease the TFP of China's cotton production, not only in the whole country but also in major provinces of China. Based on the positive study, some policy implications are provided in the end of this paper.

Modified Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics if excitations are localized on an intermediate length scale: applications to non-Debye specific heat.

Science.gov (United States)

Chamberlin, Ralph V; Davis, Bryce F

2013-10-01

Disordered systems show deviations from the standard Debye theory of specific heat at low temperatures. These deviations are often attributed to two-level systems of uncertain origin. We find that a source of excess specific heat comes from correlations between quanta of energy if excitations are localized on an intermediate length scale. We use simulations of a simplified Creutz model for a system of Ising-like spins coupled to a thermal bath of Einstein-like oscillators. One feature of this model is that energy is quantized in both the system and its bath, ensuring conservation of energy at every step. Another feature is that the exact entropies of both the system and its bath are known at every step, so that their temperatures can be determined independently. We find that there is a mismatch in canonical temperature between the system and its bath. In addition to the usual finite-size effects in the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions, if excitations in the heat bath are localized on an intermediate length scale, this mismatch is independent of system size up to at least 10(6) particles. We use a model for correlations between quanta of energy to adjust the statistical distributions and yield a thermodynamically consistent temperature. The model includes a chemical potential for units of energy, as is often used for other types of particles that are quantized and conserved. Experimental evidence for this model comes from its ability to characterize the excess specific heat of imperfect crystals at low temperatures.

Total - annual report 2005

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-01-01

This annual report presents the activities and results of TOTAL S.A., french society on oil and gas. It deals with statistics, the managers, key information on financial data and risk factors, information on the Company, unresolved Staff Comments, employees, major Shareholders, consolidated statements, markets, security, financial risks, defaults dividend arrearages and delinquencies, controls and procedures, code of ethics and financial statements. (A.L.B.)

Preoperative predictors of returning to work following primary total knee arthroplasty.

Science.gov (United States)

Styron, Joseph F; Barsoum, Wael K; Smyth, Kathleen A; Singer, Mendel E

2011-01-05

There is little in the literature to guide clinicians in advising patients regarding their return to work following a primary total knee arthroplasty. In this study, we aimed to identify which factors are important in estimating a patient's time to return to work following primary total knee arthroplasty, how long patients can anticipate being off from work, and the types of jobs to which patients are able to return following primary total knee arthroplasty. A prospective cohort study was performed in which patients scheduled for a primary total knee arthroplasty completed a validated questionnaire preoperatively and at four to six weeks, three months, and six months postoperatively. The questionnaire assessed the patient's occupational physical demands, ability to perform job responsibilities, physical status, and motivation to return to work as well as factors that may impact his or her recovery and other workplace characteristics. Two survival analysis models were constructed to evaluate the time to return to work either at least part-time or full-time. Acceleration factors were calculated to indicate the relative percentage of time until the patient returned to work. The median time to return to work was 8.9 weeks. Patients who reported a sense of urgency about returning to work were found to return in half the time taken by other employees (acceleration factor = 0.468; p mental health scores (acceleration factor = 0.891), higher physical function scores (acceleration factor = 0.809), higher Functional Comorbidity Index scores (acceleration factor = 0.914), and a handicap accessible workplace (acceleration factor = 0.736). A slower return to work was associated with having less pain preoperatively (acceleration factor = 1.132), having a more physically demanding job (acceleration factor = 1.116), and receiving Workers' Compensation (acceleration factor = 4.360). Although the physical demands of a patient's job have a moderate influence on the patient's ability

Applying total interpretive structural modeling to study factors affecting construction labour productivity

OpenAIRE

Sayali Shrikrishna Sandbhor; Rohan P. Botre

2014-01-01

Construction sector has always been dependent on manpower. Most of the activities carried out on any construction site are labour intensive. Since productivity of any project depends directly on productivity of labour, it is a prime responsibility of the employer to enhance labour productivity. Measures to improve the same depend on analysis of positive and negative factors affecting productivity. Major attention should be given to factors that decrease the productivity of labour. Factor anal...

Factors Influencing the Total Inpatient Pharmacy Cost at a Tertiary Hospital in Malaysia: A Retrospective Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ali Jadoo, Saad Ahmed

2018-01-01

The steady growth of pharmaceutical expenditures is a major concern for health policy makers and health care managers in Malaysia. Our study examined the factors affecting the total inpatient pharmacy cost (TINPC) at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). In this retrospective study, we used 2011 administration electronic prescriptions records and casemix databases at UKMMC to examine the impact of sociodemographic, diagnostic, and drug variables on the TINPC. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of the factors associated with TINPC were conducted. The mean inpatient pharmacy cost per patient was USD 102.07 (SD = 24.76). In the multivariate analysis, length of stay (LOS; B = 0.349, P < .0005) and severity level III (B = 0.253, P < .0005) were the primary factors affecting the TINPC. For each day increase in the LOS and each increase of a case of severity level III, there was an increase of approximately USD 11.97 and USD 171.53 in the TINPC per year, respectively. Moreover, the number of prescribed items of drugs and supplies was positively associated with the TINPC (B = 0.081, P < .0005). Gender appears to have affected the TINPC; male patients seem to be associated with a higher TINPC than females (mean = 139.55, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 112.97-166.13, P < .001). Surgical procedures were associated with higher cost than medical cases (mean = 87.93, 95% CI: 61.00-114.85, P < .001). Malay (MYR 242.02, SD = 65.37) and Chinese (MYR 214.66, SD = 27.99) ethnicities contributed to a lower TINPC compared with Indian (MYR 613.93, SD = 98.41) and other ethnicities (MYR 578.47, SD = 144.51). A longer hospitalization period accompanied by major complications and comorbidities had the greatest influence on the TINPC. PMID:29436248

Occupational and behavioural factors in the explanation of social inequalities in premature and total mortality: a 12.5-year follow-up in the Lorhandicap study

OpenAIRE

Niedhammer, Isabelle; Bourgkard, Eve; Chau, Nearkasen

2010-01-01

Abstract The respective contribution of occupational and behavioural factors to social disparities in all-cause mortality has been studied very seldom. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of occupational and behavioural factors in explaining social inequalities in premature and total mortality in the French working population. The study population consisted of a sample of 2,189 and 1,929 French working men and women, who responded to a self-administered questionnai...

Technical change and total factor productivity growth: the case of Chinese provinces

OpenAIRE

Heshmati, Almas; Kumbhakar, Subal C.

2010-01-01

In the literature technical change is mostly assumed to be exogenous and specified as a function of time. However, some exogenous external factors other than time can also affect technical change. In this paper we model technical change via time trend (purely external non-economic) as well as other exogenous (external economic) factors (technology shifters). We define technology index based on the external economic factors which are indicators of ‘technology’. Thus our definition of productio...

SHORTER MENSTRUAL CYCLES ASSOCIATED WITH CHLORINATION BY-PRODUCTS IN DRINKING WATER

Science.gov (United States)

Shorter Menstrual Cycles Associated with Chlorination by-Products in Drinking Water. Gayle Windham, Kirsten Waller, Meredith Anderson, Laura Fenster, Pauline Mendola, Shanna Swan. California Department of Health Services.In previous studies of tap water consumption we...

Vibrational dynamics and band structure of methyl-terminated Ge(111)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hund, Zachary M.; Nihill, Kevin J.; Sibener, S. J., E-mail: s-sibener@uchicago.edu [The James Franck Institute and Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 929 E. 57" t" h Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States); Campi, Davide; Bernasconi, M. [Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Universita di Milano-Bicocca, Via Cozzi 53, 20125 Milano (Italy); Wong, Keith T.; Lewis, Nathan S. [Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beckman Institute and Kavli Nanoscience Institute, California Institute of Technology, 210 Noyes Laboratory, 127-72, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States); Benedek, G. [Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Universita di Milano-Bicocca, Via Cozzi 53, 20125 Milano (Italy); Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Universidad del País Vasco (EHU), 20018 Donostia/San Sebastian (Spain)

2015-09-28

A combined synthesis, experiment, and theory approach, using elastic and inelastic helium atom scattering along with ab initio density functional perturbation theory, has been used to investigate the vibrational dynamics and band structure of a recently synthesized organic-functionalized semiconductor interface. Specifically, the thermal properties and lattice dynamics of the underlying Ge(111) semiconductor crystal in the presence of a commensurate (1 × 1) methyl adlayer were defined for atomically flat methylated Ge(111) surfaces. The mean-square atomic displacements were evaluated by analysis of the thermal attenuation of the elastic He diffraction intensities using the Debye-Waller model, revealing an interface with hybrid characteristics. The methyl adlayer vibrational modes are coupled with the Ge(111) substrate, resulting in significantly softer in-plane motion relative to rigid motion in the surface normal. Inelastic helium time-of-flight measurements revealed the excitations of the Rayleigh wave across the surface Brillouin zone, and such measurements were in agreement with the dispersion curves that were produced using density functional perturbation theory. The dispersion relations for H-Ge(111) indicated that a deviation in energy and lineshape for the Rayleigh wave was present along the nearest-neighbor direction. The effects of mass loading, as determined by calculations for CD{sub 3}-Ge(111), as well as by force constants, were less significant than the hybridization between the Rayleigh wave and methyl adlayer librations. The presence of mutually similar hybridization effects for CH{sub 3}-Ge(111) and CH{sub 3}-Si(111) surfaces extends the understanding of the relationship between the vibrational dynamics and the band structure of various semiconductor surfaces that have been functionalized with organic overlayers.

Vibrational dynamics and band structure of methyl-terminated Ge(111)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States))" data-affiliation=" (The James Franck Institute and Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 929 E. 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States))" >Hund, Zachary M.; th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States))" data-affiliation=" (The James Franck Institute and Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 929 E. 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States))" >Nihill, Kevin J.; th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States))" data-affiliation=" (The James Franck Institute and Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 929 E. 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States))" >Sibener, S. J.; Campi, Davide; Bernasconi, M.; Wong, Keith T.; Lewis, Nathan S.; Benedek, G.

2015-01-01

A combined synthesis, experiment, and theory approach, using elastic and inelastic helium atom scattering along with ab initio density functional perturbation theory, has been used to investigate the vibrational dynamics and band structure of a recently synthesized organic-functionalized semiconductor interface. Specifically, the thermal properties and lattice dynamics of the underlying Ge(111) semiconductor crystal in the presence of a commensurate (1 × 1) methyl adlayer were defined for atomically flat methylated Ge(111) surfaces. The mean-square atomic displacements were evaluated by analysis of the thermal attenuation of the elastic He diffraction intensities using the Debye-Waller model, revealing an interface with hybrid characteristics. The methyl adlayer vibrational modes are coupled with the Ge(111) substrate, resulting in significantly softer in-plane motion relative to rigid motion in the surface normal. Inelastic helium time-of-flight measurements revealed the excitations of the Rayleigh wave across the surface Brillouin zone, and such measurements were in agreement with the dispersion curves that were produced using density functional perturbation theory. The dispersion relations for H-Ge(111) indicated that a deviation in energy and lineshape for the Rayleigh wave was present along the nearest-neighbor direction. The effects of mass loading, as determined by calculations for CD 3 -Ge(111), as well as by force constants, were less significant than the hybridization between the Rayleigh wave and methyl adlayer librations. The presence of mutually similar hybridization effects for CH 3 -Ge(111) and CH 3 -Si(111) surfaces extends the understanding of the relationship between the vibrational dynamics and the band structure of various semiconductor surfaces that have been functionalized with organic overlayers

Productividad total de factores y reducción de costos en la industria manufacturera mexicana, 1994–-1999

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Armando Nevárez Sida

2004-01-01

Full Text Available El presente trabajo analiza la productividad total de factores en la industria manufacturera mexicana en el periodo de 1994 a 1999. El cambio experimentado por esta variable es interpretado como reducción o incremento real de costos de acuerdo con la metodología propuesta por Harberger (1998. Se logró la identificación de aquellos subsectores y clases industriales que redujeron o aumentaron costos, así como la magnitud de estos cambios en términos monetarios. Las clases industriales que presentan una reducción de costos significativa al interior de un subsector son generalmente pocas, mientras que el resto presenta pequeñas reducciones de costos o incrementos.

Total quality management in hotel industry

OpenAIRE

Mitreva, Elizabeta; Saneva, Dusica; Miteva, Natasa

2017-01-01

Total quality management (TQM) is a systematic management approach aiming at continuous increase of the value offered to consumers through improvement of service quality. In hotel industry, success is achieved through service quality, which stands as a key factor for sustainability in the twenty-first century. Nowadays, quality is the basic factor for survival on the market, better competition, and greater profitability. TQM is a process that starts and ends with the consumer. The aim of this...

Qualità totale e mobilità totale Total Quality and Total Mobility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giuseppe Trieste

2010-05-01

Full Text Available FIABA ONLUS (Italian Fund for Elimination of Architectural Barriers was founded in 2000 with the aim of promoting a culture of equal opportunities and, above all, it has as its main goal to involve public and private institutions to create a really accessible and usable environment for everyone. Total accessibility, Total usability and Total mobility are key indicators to define quality of life within cities. A supportive environment that is free of architectural, cultural and psychological barriers allows everyone to live with ease and universality. In fact, people who access to goods and services in the urban context can use to their advantage time and space, so they can do their activities and can maintain relationships that are deemed significant for their social life. The main aim of urban accessibility is to raise the comfort of space for citizens, eliminating all barriers that discriminate people, and prevent from an equality of opportunity. “FIABA FUND - City of ... for the removal of architectural barriers” is an idea of FIABA that has already affected many regions of Italy as Lazio, Lombardy, Campania, Abruzzi and Calabria. It is a National project which provides for opening a bank account in the cities of referring, in which for the first time, all together, individuals and private and public institutions can make a donation to fund initiatives for the removal of architectural barriers within its own territory for a real and effective total accessibility. Last February the fund was launched in Rome with the aim of achieving a Capital without barriers and a Town European model of accessibility and usability. Urban mobility is a prerequisite to access to goods and services, and to organize activities related to daily life. FIABA promotes the concept of sustainable mobility for all, supported by the European Commission’s White Paper. We need a cultural change in management and organization of public means, which might focus on

Fast and anisotropic flexibility-rigidity index for protein flexibility and fluctuation analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Opron, Kristopher [Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States); Xia, Kelin [Department of Mathematics, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States); Wei, Guo-Wei, E-mail: wei@math.msu.edu [Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States); Department of Mathematics, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States); Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, Michigan 48824 (United States)

2014-06-21

Protein structural fluctuation, typically measured by Debye-Waller factors, or B-factors, is a manifestation of protein flexibility, which strongly correlates to protein function. The flexibility-rigidity index (FRI) is a newly proposed method for the construction of atomic rigidity functions required in the theory of continuum elasticity with atomic rigidity, which is a new multiscale formalism for describing excessively large biomolecular systems. The FRI method analyzes protein rigidity and flexibility and is capable of predicting protein B-factors without resorting to matrix diagonalization. A fundamental assumption used in the FRI is that protein structures are uniquely determined by various internal and external interactions, while the protein functions, such as stability and flexibility, are solely determined by the structure. As such, one can predict protein flexibility without resorting to the protein interaction Hamiltonian. Consequently, bypassing the matrix diagonalization, the original FRI has a computational complexity of O(N{sup 2}). This work introduces a fast FRI (fFRI) algorithm for the flexibility analysis of large macromolecules. The proposed fFRI further reduces the computational complexity to O(N). Additionally, we propose anisotropic FRI (aFRI) algorithms for the analysis of protein collective dynamics. The aFRI algorithms permit adaptive Hessian matrices, from a completely global 3N × 3N matrix to completely local 3 × 3 matrices. These 3 × 3 matrices, despite being calculated locally, also contain non-local correlation information. Eigenvectors obtained from the proposed aFRI algorithms are able to demonstrate collective motions. Moreover, we investigate the performance of FRI by employing four families of radial basis correlation functions. Both parameter optimized and parameter-free FRI methods are explored. Furthermore, we compare the accuracy and efficiency of FRI with some established approaches to flexibility analysis, namely

Cuantificación del factor de crecimiento similar a la insulina (IGF-1 total en tejidos de rata

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elizabeth Rico

1998-06-01

Full Text Available Se establecieron los contenidos totales de IGF-I en algunos tejidos de rata adulta normal (hígado, riñón, corazón, pulmón, timo, bazo y músculo esquelético por medio de radioinmunoanálisis (RIA específico. La efectividad de la extracción ácido-etanólica (AE, corrientemente empleada para eliminar la interferencia de las proteínas de unión del IGF-I (IGFBPs en el análisis del factor en suero, se evaluó para las muestras de tejidos y se comparó con la extracción AE seguida de crioprecipitación (AEC. Los resultados mostraron que la extracción AE no permite remover completamente las IGFBPs y que con el paso adicional de crioprecipitación se libera aproximadamente 20% más de IGF-I de los tejidos. Finalmente, por medio de RIA se estableció la distribución tisular de este factor de crecimiento en rata. El método aquí descrito puede aplicarse en estudios de regulación metabólica o nutricional del IGF-l.

Influence of collective nonideal shielding on fusion reaction in partially ionized classical nonideal plasmas

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Myoung-Jae; Jung, Young-Dae

2017-04-01

The collective nonideal effects on the nuclear fusion reaction process are investigated in partially ionized classical nonideal hydrogen plasmas. The effective pseudopotential model taking into account the collective and plasma shielding effects is applied to describe the interaction potential in nonideal plasmas. The analytic expressions of the Sommerfeld parameter, the fusion penetration factor, and the cross section for the nuclear fusion reaction in nonideal plasmas are obtained as functions of the nonideality parameter, Debye length, and relative kinetic energy. It is found that the Sommerfeld parameter is suppressed due to the influence of collective nonideal shielding. However, the collective nonideal shielding is found to enhance the fusion penetration factor in partially ionized classical nonideal plasmas. It is also found that the fusion penetration factors in nonideal plasmas represented by the pseudopotential model are always greater than those in ideal plasmas represented by the Debye-Hückel model. In addition, it is shown that the collective nonideal shielding effect on the fusion penetration factor decreases with an increase of the kinetic energy.

[Quality of Outcome after Primary Total Hip Replacement at a Maximum Care Hospital in Relation to Preoperative Influencing Factors].

Science.gov (United States)

Osmanski-Zenk, K; Steinig, N S; Glass, Ä; Mittelmeier, W; Bader, R

2015-12-01

As the need for joint replacements will continue to rise, the outcome of primary total hip replacement (THR) must be improved and stabilised at a high level. In this study, we investigated whether pre-operative risk factors, such as gender, age and body weight at the time of the surgery or a restricted physical status (ASA-Status > 2 or Kellgren and Lawrence grade > 2) have a negative influence on the post-operative results or on patient satisfaction. Retrospective data collection and a prospective interview were performed with 486 patients who underwent primary total hip replacement between January 2007 and December 2010 in our hospital. The patients' satisfaction and quality of life were surveyed with the WOMAC-Score, SF-36 and EuroQol-5. Differences between more than two independent spot tests were tested with the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test. Differences between two independent spot tests were tested with the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. The frequencies were reported and odds ratios calculated. The confidence interval was set at 95 %. The level of significance was p total score of the SF-36 was 66.9 points. The patients declared an average EuroQol Index of 0.81. Our data show that the patients' gender did not influence the duration of surgery or the scores. However, female patients tended to exhibit more postoperative complications. However, increased patient age at the time of surgery was associated with an increased OR for duration of surgery, length of stay and risk of complications. Patients who had a normal body weight at time of the surgery showed better peri- and post-operative results. We showed that the preoperative estimated Kellgren and Lawrence grade had a significant influence on the duration of surgery. The ASA classification influenced the duration of surgery as well the length of stay and the rate of complications. The quality of results after primary THR depends on preoperative factors. Existing comorbidities have a

Theoretical study of the elastic properties of titanium nitride

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Jingdong CHEN; Yinglu ZHAO; Benhai YU; Chunlei WANG; Deheng SHI

2009-01-01

The equilibrium lattice parameter, relative volume V/Vo, elastic constants Cij, and bulk modulus of titanium nitride are successfully obtained using the ab initio plane-wave pseudopotential (PW-PP) method within the framework of density functional theory. The quasi-harmonic Debye model, using a set of total energy vs molar volume obtained with the PW-PP method, is applied to the study of the elastic properties and vibrational effects. We analyze the relationship between the bulk modulus and temperature up to 2000 K and obtain the relationship between bulk modulus B and pressure at different temperatures. It is found that the bulk modulus B increases monotonously with increasing pressure and decreases with increasing temperature. Moreover, the Debye temperature is determined from the non-equilibrium Gibbs func-tions.

High serum total cholesterol is a long-term cause of osteoporotic fracture.

Science.gov (United States)

Trimpou, P; Odén, A; Simonsson, T; Wilhelmsen, L; Landin-Wilhelmsen, K

2011-05-01

Risk factors for osteoporotic fractures were evaluated in 1,396 men and women for a period of 20 years. Serum total cholesterol was found to be an independent osteoporotic fracture risk factor whose predictive power improves with time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate long-term risk factors for osteoporotic fracture. A population random sample of men and women aged 25-64 years (the Gothenburg WHO MONICA project, N = 1,396, 53% women) was studied prospectively. The 1985 baseline examination recorded physical activity at work and during leisure time, psychological stress, smoking habits, coffee consumption, BMI, waist/hip ratio, blood pressure, total, HDL and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and fibrinogen. Osteoporotic fractures over a period of 20 years were retrieved from the Gothenburg hospital registers. Poisson regression was used to analyze the predictive power for osteoporotic fracture of each risk factor. A total number of 258 osteoporotic fractures occurred in 143 participants (10.2%). As expected, we found that previous fracture, smoking, coffee consumption, and lower BMI each increase the risk for osteoporotic fracture independently of age and sex. More unexpectedly, we found that the gradient of risk of serum total cholesterol to predict osteoporotic fracture significantly increases over time (p = 0.0377). Serum total cholesterol is an independent osteoporotic fracture risk factor whose predictive power improves with time. High serum total cholesterol is a long-term cause of osteoporotic fracture.

Predicting Factors for Allogeneic Blood Transfusion and Excessive Postoperative Blood Loss after Single Low-Dosage Intra-Articular Tranexamic Acid Application in Total Knee Replacement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paphon Sa-ngasoongsong

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Recently, intra-articular tranexamic acid (IA-TXA application has become a popular method for perioperative blood loss (PBL reduction in total knee replacement (TKR. Nevertheless, through our knowledge, no previous studies had shown the correlation perioperative factors and the risk of excessive PBL or need of blood transfusion (BT after IA-TXA. Materials and Methods. A retrospective study was conducted in patients underwent 299 primary TKRs, using IA-TXA, during 2-year period (2013-2014. Patient’s characteristic and perioperative data were reviewed and collected. PBL was measured as total hemoglobin loss (THL, estimated total blood loss (ETBL, and drainage volume per kg (DV/kg. Excessive PBL was defined as PBL that exceeded 90th percentile. Results. From multivariate analysis, low preoperative hemoglobin (Hb level and body mass index (BMI were the significant predictors of postoperative BT (p<0.0001 and 0.003, resp.. Excessive THL significant associated with preoperative Hb (p<0.0001. Excessive ETBL significantly associated with preoperative Hb, height, preoperative range-of-motion, and creatinine clearance (p<0.05 all. Low BMI and large prosthesis size were the significant predictors of excessive DV/kg (p=0.0001 and 0.002, resp.. Conclusions. Low preoperative Hb and BMI were the significant risks of postoperative transfusion after TKR with IA-TXA. Moreover, multiple perioperative factors could result in higher PBL.

In Situ X-Ray Diffraction Study on Surface Melting of Bi Nanoparticles Embedded in a SiO2 Matrix

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Xiao-Ming; Huo Kai-Tuo; Liu Peng

2014-01-01

Bi nanoparticles embedded in a SiO 2 matrix were prepared via the high energy ball milling method. The melting behavior of Bi nanoparticles was studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and high-temperature in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD). DSC cannot distinguish the surface melting from ‘bulk’ melting of the Bi nanoparticles. The XRD intensity of the Bi nanoparticles decreases progressively during the in situ heating process. The variation in the normalized integrated XRD intensity versus temperature is related to the average grain size of Bi nanoparticles. Considering the effects of temperature on Debye—Waller factor and Lorentz-polarization factor, we discuss the XRD results in accordance with surface melting. Our results show that the in situ XRD technique is effective to explore the surface melting of nanoparticles

Experimental comparison between total calibration factors and components calibration factors of reference dosemeters used in secondary standard laboratory dosemeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, T.A. da.

1981-06-01

A quantitative comparison of component calibration factors with the corresponding overall calibration factor was used to evaluate the adopted component calibration procedure in regard to parasitic elements. Judgement of significance is based upon the experimental uncertainty of a well established procedure for determination of the overall calibration factor. The experimental results obtained for different ionization chambers and different electrometers demonstrate that for one type of electrometer the parasitic elements have no influence on its sensitivity considering the experimental uncertainty of the calibration procedures. In this case the adopted procedure for determination of component calibration factors is considered to be equivalent to the procedure of determination of the overall calibration factor and thus might be used as a strong quality control measure in routine calibration. (Author) [pt