1,094 research outputs found
Effect of additive concentration during copper deposition using EnFACE electrolyte
Copper deposition from solutions using high concentration of acid, metal ions and polyethylene glycol (PEG), and bis-(3-sulphopropyl) disulphide (SPS) and chloride ions (Cl-) is well known. A recent maskless micropatterning technology, which has the potential to replace the traditional photolithographic process, called EnFACE, proposed using an acid-free, low metal ion solution which is in direct contrast to those used in standard plating technology. In this work copper has been deposited using both standard electroplating solutions and those used in the EnFACE process. In the standard electrolyte 0.63 M CuSO4 and 2.04 M H2SO4 has been used, along with Gleam additives supplied by Dow Chemicals. For the Enface electrolyte, copper deposition has been carried out without any acid, and with different concentrations of additives between 17%-200% of those recommended by suppliers. 25 μm of metal has been plated on stainless steel coupons as suggested by ASTM, peeled off and subjected to ductility and resistance measurements. Scanning electron microscopy and electron back scatter diffraction have been carried out to determine the deposit morphology. It was found that copper deposits obtained from acid-free solutions containing low concentration of metal ion and additives produced copper deposits with properties which are comparable to those obtained from standard electrolytes. The optimum additive concentration for the EnFACE electrolyte was 50% of the supplier recommended value
No peaks without valleys: The stable mass transfer channel for gravitational-wave sources in light of the neutron star-black hole mass gap
Gravitational-wave (GW) detections are starting to reveal features in the
mass distribution of double compact objects. The lower end of the black hole
(BH) mass distribution is especially interesting as few formation channels
contribute here and because it is more robust against variations in the cosmic
star formation than the high mass end. In this work we explore the stable mass
transfer channel for the formation of GW sources with a focus on the low-mass
end of the mass distribution. We conduct an extensive exploration of the
uncertain physical processes that impact this channel. We note that, for
fiducial assumptions, this channel reproduces the peak at in the GW-observed binary BH mass distribution remarkably
well, and predicts a cutoff mass that coincides with the upper edge of the
purported neutron star BH mass gap. The peak and cutoff mass are a consequence
of unique properties of this channel, namely (1) the requirement of stability
during the mass transfer phases, and (2) the complex way in which the final
compact object masses scale with the initial mass. We provide an analytical
expression for the cutoff in the primary component mass and show that this
adequately matches our numerical results. Our results imply that selection
effects resulting from the formation channel alone can provide an explanation
for the purported neutron star--BH mass gap in GW detections. This provides an
alternative to the commonly adopted view that the gap emerges during BH
formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ associated code is available at
https://github.com/LiekeVanSon/LowMBH_and_StableChanne
Optimal Packings of Superballs
Dense hard-particle packings are intimately related to the structure of
low-temperature phases of matter and are useful models of heterogeneous
materials and granular media. Most studies of the densest packings in three
dimensions have considered spherical shapes, and it is only more recently that
nonspherical shapes (e.g., ellipsoids) have been investigated. Superballs
(whose shapes are defined by |x1|^2p + |x2|^2p + |x3|^2p <= 1) provide a
versatile family of convex particles (p >= 0.5) with both cubic- and
octahedral-like shapes as well as concave particles (0 < p < 0.5) with
octahedral-like shapes. In this paper, we provide analytical constructions for
the densest known superball packings for all convex and concave cases. The
candidate maximally dense packings are certain families of Bravais lattice
packings. The maximal packing density as a function of p is nonanalytic at the
sphere-point (p = 1) and increases dramatically as p moves away from unity. The
packing characteristics determined by the broken rotational symmetry of
superballs are similar to but richer than their two-dimensional "superdisk"
counterparts, and are distinctly different from that of ellipsoid packings. Our
candidate optimal superball packings provide a starting point to quantify the
equilibrium phase behavior of superball systems, which should deepen our
understanding of the statistical thermodynamics of nonspherical-particle
systems.Comment: 28 pages, 16 figure
PMX464, a thiol-reactive quinol and putative thioredoxin inhibitor, inhibits NF-κB-dependent proinflammatory activation of alveolar epithelial cells
'Surely the most natural scenario in the world’: Representations of ‘Family’ in BBC Pre-school Television
Historically, the majority of work on British children’s television has adopted either an institutional or an audience focus, with the texts themselves often overlooked. This neglect has meant that questions of representation in British children’s television – including issues such as family, gender, class or ethnicity - have been infrequently analysed in the UK context. In this article, we adopt a primarily qualitative methodology and analyse the various textual manifestations of ‘family’, group, or community as represented in a selected number of BBC pre-school programmes. In doing so, we question the (limited amount of) international work that has examined representations of the family in children’s television, and argue that nuclear family structures do not predominate in this sphere
Increased plasma thioredoxin levels in patients with sepsis: positive association with macrophage migration inhibitory factor.
PURPOSE: To establish the relationship between plasma levels of thioredoxin (Trx) and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in systemic inflammatory stress syndrome (SIRS)/sepsis. METHODS: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay measurements of Trx, MIF, IL-6, -8, and -10 and enzyme-linked fluorescent assay determination of procalcitonin (PCT) in plasma from patients with SIRS/sepsis, neutropenic sepsis, healthy volunteers and pre-oesophagectomy patients. RESULTS: Thioredoxin was significantly higher in SIRS/sepsis patients [101.3 ng ml(−1), interquartile range (IQR) 68.7–155.6, n = 32] compared with that in healthy controls (49.5 ng ml(−1), IQR 31.4–71.1, P < 0.001, n = 17) or pre-oesophagectomy patients (40.5 ng ml(−1), IQR 36.9–63.2, P < 0.01, n = 7), but was not raised in neutropenics (n = 5). MIF levels were also significantly higher in SIRS/sepsis patients (12.1 ng ml(−1), IQR 9.5–15.5, n = 35), but not in the neutropenic group, when compared with healthy controls (9.3 ng ml(−1), IQR 7.3–10.7, P < 0.01, n = 20). Trx levels correlated, positively, with MIF levels and APACHE II scores. Plasma levels of IL-6, -8 and -10 and PCT increased significantly in patients with SIRS/sepsis (P < 0.001) and with neutropenic sepsis, but did not correlate with Trx or MIF levels. CONCLUSION: Plasma levels of Trx, MIF, IL-6, -8, -10 and PCT were raised in patients with SIRS/sepsis. Comparisons between mediators suggest a unique correlation of Trx with MIF. Moreover, Trx and MIF differed from cytokines and PCT in that levels were significantly lower in patients with neutropenia compared with the main SIRS/sepsis group. By contrast, IL-8 and PCT levels were significantly greater in the neutropenic patient group. The link between MIF and Trx highlighted in this study has implications for future investigations into the pathogenesis of SIRS/sepsis
A Viscoelastic model of phase separation
We show here a general model of phase separation in isotropic condensed
matter, namely, a viscoelastic model. We propose that the bulk mechanical
relaxation modulus that has so far been ignored in previous theories plays an
important role in viscoelastic phase separation in addition to the shear
relaxation modulus. In polymer solutions, for example, attractive interactions
between polymers under a poor-solvent condition likely cause the transient
gellike behavior, which makes both bulk and shear modes active. Although such
attractive interactions between molecules of the same component exist
universally in the two-phase region of a mixture, the stress arising from
attractive interactions is asymmetrically divided between the components only
in dynamically asymmetric mixtures such as polymer solutions and colloidal
suspensions. Thus, the interaction network between the slower components, which
can store the elastic energy against its deformation through bulk and shear
moduli, is formed. It is the bulk relaxation modulus associated with this
interaction network that is primarily responsible for the appearance of the
sponge structure peculiar to viscoelastic phase separation and the phase
inversion. We demonstrate that a viscoelastic model of phase separation
including this new effect is a general model that can describe all types of
isotropic phase separation including solid and fluid models as its special
cases without any exception, if there is no coupling with additional order
parameter. The physical origin of volume shrinking behavior during viscoelastic
phase separation and the universality of the resulting spongelike structure are
also discussed.Comment: 14 pages, RevTex, To appear in Phys. Rev
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"Engaging with birth stories in pregnancy: a hermeneutic phenomenological study of women's experiences across two generations"
BACKGROUND: The birth story has been widely understood as a crucial source of knowledge about childbirth. What has not been reported is the effect that birth stories may have on primigravid women's understandings of birth. Findings are presented from a qualitative study exploring how two generations of women came to understand birth in the milieu of other's stories. The prior assumption was that birth stories must surely have a positive or negative influence on listeners, steering them towards either medical or midwifery-led models of care.
METHODS: A Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used. Twenty UK participants were purposively selected and interviewed. Findings from the initial sample of 10 women who were pregnant in 2012 indicated that virtual media was a primary source of birth stories. This led to recruitment of a second sample of 10 women who gave birth in the 1970s-1980s, to determine whether they were more able to translate information into knowledge via stories told through personal contact and not through virtual technologies
RESULTS: Findings revealed the experience of 'being-in-the-world' of birth and of stories in that world. From a Heideggerian perspective, the birth story was constructed through 'idle talk' (the taken for granted assumptions of things, which come into being through language). Both oral stories and those told through technology were described as the 'modern birth story'. The first theme 'Stories are difficult like that', examines the birth story as problematic and considers how stories shape meaning. The second 'It's a generational thing', considers how women from two generations came to understand what their experience might be. The third 'Birth in the twilight of certainty,' examines women's experience of Being in a system of birth as constructed, portrayed and sustained in the stories being shared.
CONCLUSIONS: The women pregnant in 2012 framed their expectations in the language of choice, whilst the women who birthed in the 1970s-1980s framed their experience in the language of safety. For both, however, the world of birth was the same; saturated with, and only legitimised by the birth of a healthy baby. Rather than creating meaningful understanding, the 'idle talk' of birth made both cohorts fearful of leaving the relative comfort of the 'system', and of claiming an alternative birth
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