Optical characterization of ultrananocrystalline diamond films

Optical properties of the ultrananocrystalline diamond films were studied by multi-sample method based on the combination of variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and spectroscopic reflectometry applied in the range 0.6–6.5 eV. The films were deposited by PECVD in a conventional bell jar (ASTeX type) reactor using dual frequency discharge, microwave cavity plasma and radio frequency plasma inducing dc self-bias at a substrate holder. The optical model of the samples included a surface roughness described by the Rayleigh–Rice theory and a refractive index profile in which Drude approximation was used. The results conformed with the present understanding of the polycrystalline diamond growth on the silicon substrate because the existence of silicon carbide and amorphous hydrogenated carbon film between the silicon substrate and nucleation layer was proved.     

Priority discarding of speech in integrated packet networks

The authors discuss the control of short-term congestion, which is referred to as overload, in integrated packet networks (IPNs) containing a mix of data, speech, and possibly other types of signals. A system model is proposed that assigns a delivery priority to each packet (speech or otherwise) at the transmitter and discards speech packets according to delivery priority at any point in the network in response to overload. This model attempts to minimize per-packet processing at networks nodes. The research described is guided by two principles for IPN design: minimal per-packet processing and flexibility due to signal structure. The quality of the received speech is maintained by classifying speech segments according to their structure and coding them in a way that ensures ease of lost-packet regeneration at the receiver. The results of an experiment are reported that confirmed the general validity of this model from the standpoint of transmitter and receiver processing and subjective quality     

On the Universal Computing Power of Amorphous Computing Systems

Amorphous computing differs from the classical ideas about computations almost in every aspect. The architecture of amorphous computers is random, since they consist of a plethora of identical computational units spread randomly over a given area. Within a limited radius the units can communicate wirelessly with their neighbors via a single-channel radio. We consider a model whose assumptions on the underlying computing and communication abilities are among the weakest possible: all computational units are finite state probabilistic automata working asynchronously, there is no broadcasting collision detection mechanism and no network addresses. We show that under reasonable probabilistic assumptions such amorphous computing systems can possess universal computing power with a high probability. The underlying theory makes use of properties of random graphs and that of probabilistic analysis of algorithms. To the best of our knowledge this is the first result showing the universality of such computing systems. This research was carried out within the institutional research plan AV0Z10300504 and partially supported by the GA ČR grant No. 1ET100300517 and GD201/05/H014. A preliminary, shorter version of this paper has been presented at the Third Conference on Computability in Europe, CiE 2007, Siena, Italy, June 2007 and published in the proceedings from this conference.     

Atomic force microscopy studies on whey proteins

β-Lactoglobulin, standard whey protein concentrate (WPC 80) and cold-gelling whey protein concentrate (mWPC 80) were dried onto mica sheets at 0.03-3 μg cm⁻² surface load and imaged with atomic force microscopy (AFM) in tapping mode. β-Lactoglobulin and WPC 80 spread to a fairly even 2.5 nm thick layer at about monolayer surface load, while mWPC showed particle sizes of 20-30 nm laterally. There is little difference in the observed structures between 0.3 and 3 μg cm⁻² apart from the higher surface load. At 0.03 μg cm⁻², β-lactoglobulin spread somewhat more thinly than WPC 80. With the addition of DTT, mWPC spread evenly with only few particles in evidence. AFM appears to be a convenient method for the characterization of aggregation states of sub-micrometer protein particles.     

A high average power dual slab Nd:glass zigzag laser system

A dual slab Nd:LHG5 glass zigzag optical path laser was constructed with single-sided pumping and tested. A single slab (0.63 times 5.6 times 35cm) produced 80 W in an oscillator with an accompanying distortion of only 3 fringes (632.8 nm) as measured by a single-pass interferogram through the slab. Performance was achieved by producing uniform pumping and cooling of the slabs, and by controlling the distortion at the slab ends with pump shields.     

The use of palladium nanoparticles supported with MCM-41 and basic (Al)MCM-41 mesoporous sieves in microwave-assisted Heck reaction

A series of supported catalysts has been obtained by grafting of chemically generated palladium nanoparticles onto basic, Cs⁺ ion-exchanged molecular sieves (Al)MCM-41 and onto the non-basic, parent material MCM-41. Catalytic activity of the catalysts has been investigated in the Heck reaction between bromobenzene and butyl acrylate under microwave irradiation. The activity of the bifunctional catalysts (Pd@Cs⁺-(Al)MCM-41) and the activity of Pd@MCM-41 combined with sodium acetate as an external base were considerably higher under microwave irradiation than activities observed for the same catalytic systems under the conventional heating. The Pd@MCM-41/NaOAc system showed higher conversions than the bifunctional catalysts presumably due to a different nature and accessible amount of the base. On the other hand, microwave irradiation seems to increase the rate of aggregation of the metallic particles and thus also catalyst deactivation as compared with the usual heating.     

Trees,grids, and MSO decidability: From graphs to matroids

Monadic second order (MSO) logic has proved to be a useful tool in many areas of application, reaching from decidability and complexity to picture processing, correctness of programs and parallel processes. To characterize the structural borderline between decidability and undecidability is a classical research problem here. This problem is related to questions in computational complexity, especially to the model checking problem, for which many tools developed in the area of decidability have proved to be useful. For more than two decades it was conjectured in [D. Seese, The structure of the models of decidable monadic theories of graphs, Ann. Pure Appl. Logic 53 (1991) 169–195] that decidability of monadic theories of countable structures implies that the theory can be reduced via interpretability to a theory of trees.     

Influence of Annealing on the Properties of Explosively Welded Titanium Grade 1—AW7075 Aluminum Alloy Bimetals

Explosive welding of titanium Grade 1 to AW7075 aluminum alloy arranged in parallel setup was performed. The annealing of produced bimetals at the temperatures of 450, 500 and 550 °C for times ranging from 20 to 100 h was carried out after explosive welding. The produced bimetal was characteristic by its wavy interface typical for that bonding process. Increase in the microhardness at the interface was recorded due to work hardening. Delamination of titanium Grade 1 flyer sheet was firstly observed when annealing temperature of 500 °C for 40 h was carried out. Annealing at 550 °C also resulted in delamination of upper sheet. The intermetallic compound (IMC) layer was observed at the interface after annealing of bimetals. The higher the annealing temperature and time, the higher the thickness of continuous IMC layer. The maximum measured thickness of IMC layer averaged 13 µm. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses revealed that the interface layer is consisted of Al₁₈Ti₂Mg₃ IMC. Microhardness at the interface increased dramatically up to 439 HV0.1 after annealing of bimetal due to the presence of above-mentioned IMC.     

Determination of compounding formulation of cured rubber by reverse engineering

The present work deals with reverse engineering on four rubber formulations. Information about the material composition of the compounding formulations was obtained by using techniques such as acetone extract, thermogravimetric analysis, energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence studies, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in attenuated total reflection mode. The reverse engineered formulations were compared on a qualitative and quantitative basis with the initial formulations. The aim was to ascertain the validity of the methodology, which may be used as reverse engineering of rubber compounds to quantitatively analyze unknown ground tire rubber in future. The state of the art was based on a fractional mass transfer from acetone extract to the rubbers detected in TGA. Through this new approach, the formulations calculated were very consistent with the formulations employed, thus establishing the validity of the methodology used. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:1450–1458, 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

A Novel Nanoprobe for Multimodal Imaging Is Effectively Incorporated into Human Melanoma Metastatic Cell Lines

To facilitate efficient drug delivery to tumor tissue, several nanomaterials have been designed, with combined diagnostic and therapeutic properties. In this work, we carried out fundamental in vitro and in vivo experiments to assess the labeling efficacy of our novel theranostic nanoprobe, consisting of glycogen conjugated with a red fluorescent probe and gadolinium. Microscopy and resazurin viability assays were used to study cell labeling and cell viability in human metastatic melanoma cell lines. Fluorescence lifetime correlation spectroscopy (FLCS) was done to investigate nanoprobe stability. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed to study T₁ relaxivity in vitro, and contrast enhancement in a subcutaneous in vivo tumor model. Efficient cell labeling was demonstrated, while cell viability, cell migration, and cell growth was not affected. FLCS showed that the nanoprobe did not degrade in blood plasma. MRI demonstrated that down to 750 cells/μL of labeled cells in agar phantoms could be detected. In vivo MRI showed that contrast enhancement in tumors was comparable between Omniscan contrast agent and the nanoprobe. In conclusion, we demonstrate for the first time that a non-toxic glycogen-based nanoprobe may effectively visualize tumor cells and tissue, and, in future experiments, we will investigate its therapeutic potential by conjugating therapeutic compounds to the nanoprobe.