139 research outputs found
Nb-doped TiO2 thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis method
Undoped TiO2 and Nb-doped TiO2 thin films have been deposited by spray pyrolysis method on ITO/glass substrates. All the as-deposited films are amorphous, as shown by X-Ray Diffraction. Under certain conditions of heat-treatment in air, the films deposited by pyrolysis became pure anatase. The hydrophilic properties of all the films were investigated, and a comparison was made as a function of the heat treatment, and as a function of Nb doping. Contact angles lower then 3 deg. have been obtained, after irradiation times specific for each film
Photocatalytic properties of Nb doped TiO2 thin films
Date du colloque : 09/2014International audienc
Nb doped TiO2 thin films as photocatalytic materials
Amorphous undoped and Nb-doped films were obtained by the spin coating method. The films have a compact structure, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy, and are very thin, with thickness values under 100 nm. The photocatalytic activity of the films was evaluated by observing the decomposition of an oleic acid solution under UV irradiation, and by studying the change in the optical transmittance of an aqueous solution containing methylene blue, in the presence of the UV-irradiated films. More than 30 h, depending on doping, are needed to recover their initial contact angles before applying oleic acid. The increase of the optical transmittance of the methylene blue solution confirms the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue on the Nb-doped TiO2 films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies, performed to detect the presence of the carbon on the irradiated surface of the films, drive to the conclusion that at the surface of the films, even for contact angles close to 0 ∘ , the presence of carbon still can be detected, which demonstrates that hydrophilicity is ruled by a different mechanism than photocatalysis
A Spatial-Epistemic Logic for Reasoning about Security Protocols
Reasoning about security properties involves reasoning about where the
information of a system is located, and how it evolves over time. While most
security analysis techniques need to cope with some notions of information
locality and knowledge propagation, usually they do not provide a general
language for expressing arbitrary properties involving local knowledge and
knowledge transfer. Building on this observation, we introduce a framework for
security protocol analysis based on dynamic spatial logic specifications. Our
computational model is a variant of existing pi-calculi, while specifications
are expressed in a dynamic spatial logic extended with an epistemic operator.
We present the syntax and semantics of the model and logic, and discuss the
expressiveness of the approach, showing it complete for passive attackers. We
also prove that generic Dolev-Yao attackers may be mechanically determined for
any deterministic finite protocol, and discuss how this result may be used to
reason about security properties of open systems. We also present a
model-checking algorithm for our logic, which has been implemented as an
extension to the SLMC system.Comment: In Proceedings SecCo 2010, arXiv:1102.516
Enhancing choices regarding the administration of insulin among patients with diabetes requiring insulin across countries and implications for future care
There are a number of ongoing developments to improve the care of patients with diabetes across countries given its growing burden. Recent developments include new oral medicines to reduce cardiovascular events and death. They also include new modes to improve insulin administration to enhance adherence and subsequent patient management thereby reducing hypoglycaemia and improving long-term outcomes. In the case of insulins, this includes long-acting insulin analogues as well as continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems and continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion systems, combined with sensor-augmented pump therapy and potentially hybrid closed-loops. The benefits of such systems have been endorsed by endocrine societies and governments in patients with Type 1 diabetes whose HbA1c levels are not currently being optimised. However, there are concerns with the low use of such systems across higher-income countries, exacerbated by their higher costs, despite studies suggesting their cost-effectiveness ratios are within accepted limits. This is inconsistent in higher-income countries when compared with reimbursement and funding decisions for new high-priced medicines for cancer and orphan diseases, with often limited benefits, given the burden of multiple daily insulin injections coupled with the need for constant monitoring. This situation is different among patients and governments in low- and low-middle income countries struggling to fund standard insulins and the routine monitoring of HbA1c levels. The first priority in these countries is to address these priority issues before funding more expensive forms of insulin and associated devices. Greater patient involvement in treatment decisions, transparency in decision making, and evidence-based investment decisions should help to address such concerns in the future
Efficient CSL Model Checking Using Stratification
For continuous-time Markov chains, the model-checking problem with respect to
continuous-time stochastic logic (CSL) has been introduced and shown to be
decidable by Aziz, Sanwal, Singhal and Brayton in 1996. Their proof can be
turned into an approximation algorithm with worse than exponential complexity.
In 2000, Baier, Haverkort, Hermanns and Katoen presented an efficient
polynomial-time approximation algorithm for the sublogic in which only binary
until is allowed. In this paper, we propose such an efficient polynomial-time
approximation algorithm for full CSL. The key to our method is the notion of
stratified CTMCs with respect to the CSL property to be checked. On a
stratified CTMC, the probability to satisfy a CSL path formula can be
approximated by a transient analysis in polynomial time (using uniformization).
We present a measure-preserving, linear-time and -space transformation of any
CTMC into an equivalent, stratified one. This makes the present work the
centerpiece of a broadly applicable full CSL model checker. Recently, the
decision algorithm by Aziz et al. was shown to work only for stratified CTMCs.
As an additional contribution, our measure-preserving transformation can be
used to ensure the decidability for general CTMCs.Comment: 18 pages, preprint for LMCS. An extended abstract appeared in ICALP
201
Isometric Immersions and Compensated Compactness
A fundamental problem in differential geometry is to characterize intrinsic
metrics on a two-dimensional Riemannian manifold which can be
realized as isometric immersions into . This problem can be formulated as
initial and/or boundary value problems for a system of nonlinear partial
differential equations of mixed elliptic-hyperbolic type whose mathematical
theory is largely incomplete. In this paper, we develop a general approach,
which combines a fluid dynamic formulation of balance laws for the
Gauss-Codazzi system with a compensated compactness framework, to deal with the
initial and/or boundary value problems for isometric immersions in . The
compensated compactness framework formed here is a natural formulation to
ensure the weak continuity of the Gauss-Codazzi system for approximate
solutions, which yields the isometric realization of two-dimensional surfaces
in . As a first application of this approach, we study the isometric
immersion problem for two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds with strictly
negative Gauss curvature. We prove that there exists a isometric
immersion of the two-dimensional manifold in satisfying our prescribed
initial conditions. TComment: 25 pages, 6 figue
An Observer-Based De-Quantisation of Deutsch’s Algorithm
Deutsch’s problem is the simplest and most frequently examined example of computational problem used to demonstrate the superiority of quantum computing over classical computing. Deutsch’s quantum algorithm has been claimed to be faster than any classical ones solving the same problem, only to be discovered later that this was not the case. Various dequantised solutions for Deutsch’s quantum algorithm—classical solutions which are as efficient as the quantum one—have been proposed in the literature. These solutions are based on the possibility of classically simulating “superpositions”, a key ingredient of quantum algorithms, in particular, Deutsch’s algorithm. The de-quantisation proposed in this note is based on a classical simulation of the quantum measurement achieved with a model of observed system. As in some previous dequantisations of Deutsch’s quantum algorithm, the resulting dequantised algorithm is deterministic. Finally, we classify observers (as finite state automata) that can solve the problem in terms of their “observational power”
Explicit differential characterization of the Newtonian free particle system in m > 1 dependent variables
In 1883, as an early result, Sophus Lie established an explicit necessary and
sufficient condition for an analytic second order ordinary differential
equation y_xx = F(x,y,y_x) to be equivalent, through a point transformation
(x,y) --> (X(x,y), Y(x,y)), to the Newtonian free particle equation Y_XX = 0.
This result, preliminary to the deep group-theoretic classification of second
order analytic ordinary differential equations, was parachieved later in 1896
by Arthur Tresse, a French student of S. Lie. In the present paper, following
closely the original strategy of proof of S. Lie, which we firstly expose and
restitute in length, we generalize this explicit characterization to the case
of several second order ordinary differential equations. Let K=R or C, or more
generally any field of characteristic zero equipped with a valuation, so that
K-analytic functions make sense. Let x in K, let m > 1, let y := (y^1, ...,
y^m) in K^m and let y_xx^j = F^j(x,y,y_x^l), j = 1,...,m be a collection of m
analytic second order ordinary differential equations, in general nonlinear. We
provide an explicit necessary and sufficient condition in order that this
system is equivalent, under a point transformation (x, y^1, ..., y^m) -->
(X(x,y), Y^1(x,y),..., Y^m(x, y)), to the Newtonian free particle system Y_XX^1
= ... = Y_XX^m = 0. Strikingly, the (complicated) differential system that we
obtain is of first order in the case m > 1, whereas it is of second order in S.
Lie's original case m = 1.Comment: 76 pages, no figur
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