Tandonia totevi (Wiktor, 1975) (Pulmonata: Milacidae) in Bulgaria and north eastern Greece. Redescription

New materials of Tandonia totevi (Wiktor, 1975) from Bulgaria have enabled the authors to prepare a detailed redescription and to distinguish the species from those from southern Greece which have been confused with T. totevi for almost 30 years. From the southern Greek Islands, the Peloponnese and the island of Euboea at least three more species need to be described and discriminated from T. totevi. The spermatophores of T. totevi from Bulgaria are described here for the first time, as is an intra-integumental glandular secreting organ of unknown function. The first description of spermatozoa of T. totevi is included. The first photographs of living specimens and the first observations on the behaviour and ecology are provided

Laser bonded microjoints between titanium and polyimide for applications in medical implants

Bioencapsulation of medical implant devices, and neural implant devices in particular, requires development of reliable hermetic joints between packaging materials that are often dissimilar. Titanium-polyimide is one of the biocompatible material systems, which are of interest to our research groups at Wayne State University and Fraunhofer USA. We have found processing conditions for successful joining of titanium with polyimide using near-infrared diode lasers or fiber lasers along transmission bonding lines with widths ranging from 200 to 300 µm. Laser powers of 2.2 and 3.8 W were used to create these joints. Laser-joined samples were tested in a microtester under tensile loading to determine joint strengths. In addition, finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted to understand the stress distribution within the bond area under tensile loading. The FEA model provides a full-field stress distribution in and around the joint that cause eventual failure. Results from the investigation provide an initial approach to characterize laser-fabricated microjoints between dissimilar materials that can be potentially used in optimization of bio-encapsulation design

Shape Coexistence in Light Krypton Isotopes

The light Krypton isotopes were studied in a series of Coulomb excitation experiments using radioactive beams at GANIL. The static quadrupole moments found in these experiments give firm experimental evidence for the shape coexistence scenario that is based on theoretical calculations and on the systematics of low-lying excited 0+ states

A new device for combined Coulomb excitation and isomeric conversion electron spectroscopy with fast fragmentation beams

A new setup has been designed to perform Coulomb excitation experiments with fragmentation beams at intermediate energy and to measure at the same time conversion electrons from isomeric states populated in the fragmentation reaction. The newly designed setup is described and experimental results from a first experiment are shown. Radioactive even-even nuclei in the mass region A ≃ 70 close to the N = Z line were Coulomb excited after fragmentation of an intense primary $^{78}$Kr beam and selection in flight with the LISE3 spectrometer at GANIL. The rays emitted after Coulomb excitation were detected in an array of four large segmented HPGe clover detectors in a very close geometry. The scattered ions were identified in a stack of highly segmented annular silicon detectors combined with a time-of-flight measurement using beam tracking detectors. Conversion electrons from isomeric $0^+_2$ states decaying via electric monopole transitions were detected in an array of segmented cooled silicon detectors surrounding a telescope of plastic scintillators. Reduced transitions probabilities B(E2; $0^+_1$ → $2^+_1$ ) were deduced for several stable and radioactive nuclei