Effect of oxygen content on the structural and optical properties of ZnO films grown by atmospheric pressure MOCVD

Atmospheric pressure MOCVD was used to deposit ZnO layers on sapphire and homoepitaxial template under different oxygen flow rates.Oxygen content affects the lattice constant value and texture coefficient of the films as evidenced by the θ-2θ peaks position and their intensity.Films deposited at lower oxygen flow rate possess higher value of strain and stresses.ZnO films deposited at high oxygen flow rates show intense UV emissions while samples prepared under oxygen deficient conditions exhibited defect related emission along with UV luminescence.The results are compared to the ZnO films deposited homoepitaxially on annealed ZnO samples.The data obtained suggest that ZnO stoichiometry is responsible for the structural and optical quality of ZnO films.     

Predecessors of the giant 1960 Chile earthquake

It is commonly thought that the longer the time since last earthquake, the larger the next earthquake's slip will be. But this logical predictor of earthquake size, unsuccessful for large earthquakes on a strike-slip fault, fails also with the giant 1960 Chile earthquake of magnitude 9.5 (ref. 3). Although the time since the preceding earthquake spanned 123 years (refs 4, 5), the estimated slip in 1960, which occurred on a fault between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, equalled 250-350 years' worth of the plate motion. Thus the average interval between such giant earthquakes on this fault should span several centuries. Here we present evidence that such long intervals were indeed typical of the last two millennia. We use buried soils and sand layers as records of tectonic subsidence and tsunami inundation at an estuary midway along the 1960 rupture. In these records, the 1960 earthquake ended a recurrence interval that had begun almost four centuries before, with an earthquake documented by Spanish conquistadors in 1575. Two later earthquakes, in 1737 and 1837, produced little if any subsidence or tsunami at the estuary and they therefore probably left the fault partly loaded with accumulated plate motion that the 1960 earthquake then expended.     

Effects of drug-polymer dispersions on solubility and <Emphasis Type=Italic>in vitro</Emphasis> diffusion of artemisinin across a polydimethylsiloxane membrane

Artemisinin(ART) is a sesquiterpene lactone with an endo-peroxide bridge that is thought to be responsible for its antimalarial activity.It has low oral bioavailability because of aqueous insolubility,which leads to local toxicity at the site of aggregation.The present work focused on increasing its solubility and evaluating its permeation across a model membrane to mimic transdermal delivery that bypasses the hepatic metabolism.For this purpose,physical mixtures(PM),solid dispersions(SD) and lyophilized dispersions(LD) with different drug-polymer ratios(1:0.5,1:1,1:2,1:4 and 1:9) were prepared using the hydrophilic polymer polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP).Drug-polymer dispersions were characterized using X-ray diffraction(XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR).Solubility was measured in three solvents:de-ionized water,phosphate buffered saline(PBS) and methanol.The toluene-water partition coefficient was evaluated and compared with the literature and calculated logP values.In vitro diffusion of ART was studied across a polydimethylsiloxane membrane from a saturated solution of drug-polymer dispersions.XRD patterns showed a gradual decrease in crystallinity of ART with increasing polymer concentration,while FTIR confirmed no interactions between ART and PVP.Solubility was increased up to 4-,5-and 8-fold for LD in water,PBS and methanol,respectively.The logP for toluene-water was 2.65 ± 0.3,which is in good agreement with literature and calculated logP values.Permeation was enhanced,which is attributed to the decrease in crystallinity and increase in wettability of the drug.The ART flux was significantly higher than that of pure ART(0.12 ± 0.01) with increasing PVP concentration for SD and LD formulations.In conclusion,drug-polymer dispersions with PVP improve the pharmaceutical properties of ART in the order LD>SD>PM.     

Texture of the nano-crystalline AlN thin films and the growth conditions in DC magnetron sputtering

DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique has been used for the preparation of Al N thin fi lms. The deposition temperature and the fl ow ratio of N2/Ar were varied and subsequent dependency of the fi lms crystallites orientation/texture has been addressed. In general, deposited fi lms were found hexagonal polycrystalline with a(002) preferred orientation. The X-ray diffraction(XRD) data revealed that the fi lm crystallinity improves,with the increase of substrate temperature from 300 ℃to 500℃. The dropped in full width half maximum(FWHM) of the XRD rocking curve value further con fi rmed it. However, increasing substrate temperature above 500 ℃or reducing the nitrogen condition(from 60 to 30% in the environment) induced the growth of crystallites with(102) and(103) orientations. The rise of rocking curve FWHM for the corresponding conditions depicted that the fi lms texture quality deteriorated. A further con fi rmation of the variation in fi lm texture/orentation with the growth conditions has been obtained from the variation in FWHM values of a dominant E1(TO) mode in the Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectra and the E2(high) mode in Raman spectra. We have correlated the columnar structure in AFM surface analyses with the(002) or c-axis orientation as well. Spectroscopic ellipsometry of the samples have shown a higher refractive index at 500 ℃growth temperature.     

热机械循环淬火调质处理对AISI 1345钢组织、力学和电化学性能的影响

Thermomechanical cyclic quenching and tempering (TMCT) can strengthen steels through a grain size reduction mechanism. The effect of TMCT on microstructure, mechanical, and electrochemical properties of AISI 1345 steel was investigated. Steel samples heated to 1050°C, rolled, quenched to room temperature, and subjected to various cyclic quenching and tempering heat treatments were named TMCT-1, TMCT-2, and TMCT-3 samples, respectively. Microstructure analysis revealed that microstructures of all the treated samples contained packets and blocks of well-refined lath-shaped martensite and retained austenite phases with varying grain sizes (2.8–7.9 μm). Among all the tested samples, TMCT-3 sample offered an optimum combination of properties by showing an improvement of 40% in tensile strength and reduced 34% elongation compared with the non-treated sample. Nanoindentation results were in good agreement with mechanical tests as the TMCT-3 sample exhibited a 51% improvement in indentation hardness with almost identical reduced elastic modulus compared with the non-treated sample. The electrochemical properties were analyzed in 0.1 M NaHCO₃ solution by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. As a result of TMCT, the minimum corrosion rate was 0.272 mm/a, which was twenty times less than that of the non-treated sample. The impedance results showed the barrier film mechanism, which was confirmed by the polarization results as the current density decreased.     

Medium-scale carbon nanotube thin-film integrated circuits on flexible plastic substrates

The ability to form integrated circuits on flexible sheets of plastic enables attributes (for example conformal and flexible formats and lightweight and shock resistant construction) in electronic devices that are difficult or impossible to achieve with technologies that use semiconductor wafers or glass plates as substrates. Organic small-molecule and polymer-based materials represent the most widely explored types of semiconductors for such flexible circuitry. Although these materials and those that use films or nanostructures of inorganics have promise for certain applications, existing demonstrations of them in circuits on plastic indicate modest performance characteristics that might restrict the application possibilities. Here we report implementations of a comparatively high-performance carbon-based semiconductor consisting of sub-monolayer, random networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes to yield small- to medium-scale integrated digital circuits, composed of up to nearly 100 transistors on plastic substrates. Transistors in these integrated circuits have excellent properties: mobilities as high as 80 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), subthreshold slopes as low as 140 m V dec(-1), operating voltages less than 5 V together with deterministic control over the threshold voltages, on/off ratios as high as 10(5), switching speeds in the kilohertz range even for coarse (approximately 100-microm) device geometries, and good mechanical flexibility-all with levels of uniformity and reproducibility that enable high-yield fabrication of integrated circuits. Theoretical calculations, in contexts ranging from heterogeneous percolative transport through the networks to compact models for the transistors to circuit level simulations, provide quantitative and predictive understanding of these systems. Taken together, these results suggest that sub-monolayer films of single-walled carbon nanotubes are attractive materials for flexible integrated circuits, with many potential areas of application in consumer and other areas of electronics.     

A Threshold Scheme under Peer-to-Peer Network

Resource sharing among peers is one of important application in Peer-to-Peer（P2P） network. Inexistenee of server makes P2P network to be a less trustable tool for property owners to distribute their resource. In order to protect intelligent property, reputation management strategy is adopted in many P2P network. As long as a P2P network reputation strategy is confirmed, application designer can employ a special detailed distribution scheme to fulfill content distribution within the net. Shmir （k, n） threshold scheme, for example, is an encryption scheme to enhance the distribution se curity of this kind of design. （k＊, n） threshold scheme is a new tool similar to Shmir scheme is proposed in this paper. The new scheme based on polynomial expansion and its security is decided by the one way function used in the secret distribution procedure. The scheme efficiency and its features as well as comparison between new and Shmir scheme are also discussed in this paper.     

Investigation on microstructural, mechanical and electrochemical properties of aluminum composites reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets

In present study, the microstructure, mechanical and electrochemical properties of aluminum–graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) composites were investigated before and after extrusion. The contents of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) were varied from 0.25 to 1.0 wt.% in aluminum matrix. The composites were fabricated thorough powder metallurgy method, and the experimental results revealed that Al-0.25%GNPs composite showed better mechanical properties compared with pure Al, Al-0.50%GNPs and Al-0.1.0%GNPs composites. Before extrusion, the Al-0.25%GNPs composite showed ~13.5% improvement in ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and ~50% enhancement in failure strain over monolithic matrix. On the other hand, Al-0.50%GNPs and Al-0.1.0%GNPs composites showed the tensile strength lower than monolithic matrix. No significant change was observed in 0.2% yield strength (YS) of the composites. However, the extruded materials showed different trends. The 0.2%YS of composites increased with increase in GNPs filler weight fractions. Surprisingly, UTS of composites with 0.25 and 0.50% GNPs was lower than monolithic matrix. The failure strain of the baseline matrix was enhanced by ~46% with 0.25% graphene nanoplatelets. The superior mechanical properties (in terms of failure strain) of the Al-0.25%GNPs composite maybe attributed to 2-D structure, high surface area and curled nature of graphene. In addition, the corrosion resistance of pure Al and its composites reinforced with 0.5 and 1.0 wt% GNPs was also investigated. It was found that the corrosion rate increased considerably by the presence of GNPs.