Mechanical, electronic and optical properties of Bi2S3 and Bi2Se3 compounds: first principle investigations

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The structural, mechanical, electronic, and optical properties of orthorhombic Bi2S3 and Bi2Se3 compounds have been investigated by means of first principles calculations. The calculated lattice parameters and internal coordinates are in very good agreement with the experimental findings. The elastic constants are obtained, then the secondary results such as bulk modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, anisotropy factor, and Debye temperature of polycrystalline aggregates are derived, and the relevant mechanical properties are also discussed. Furthermore, the band structures and optical properties such as real and imaginary parts of dielectric functions, energy-loss function, the effective number of valance electrons, and the effective optical dielectric constant have been computed. We also calculated some non-linearities for Bi2S3 and Bi2Se3 (tensors of elasto-optical coefficients) under pressur

A low cost high flux solar simulator

A low cost, high flux, large area solar simulator has been designed, built and characterized for the purpose of studying optical melting and light absorption behavior of molten salts. Seven 1500 W metal halide outdoor stadium lights are used as the light source to simulate concentrating solar power (CSP) heliostat output. Metal halide bulbs and ballasts are far less costly per-watt than typical xenon arc lamp solar simulator light sources. They provide a satisfactory match to natural sunlight; although ‘unfiltered’ metal halide lights have irradiance peaks between 800 and 1000 nm representing an additional 5% of measured energy output as compared to terrestrial solar irradiance over the same range. With the use of a secondary conical concentrator, output fluxes of approximately 60 kW/m[superscript 2] (60 suns) peak and 45 kW/m[superscript 2] (45 suns) average are achieved across a 38 cm diameter output aperture. Unique to the design of this simulator, the tilt angle and distance between the output aperture and the ground are adjustable to accommodate test receivers of varying geometry. Use of off-the-shelf structural, lighting and electrical components keeps the fabrication cost below $10,000

Optical and electronic properties of orthorhombic and trigonal AXO3 (A=Cd, Zn; X=Sn, Ge): First principle calculation

Electronic structure and optical properties of the CdXO3 and ZnXO3 (X˭Ge, Sn) compounds have been investigated based on density functional theory. According to the predictive results, reveal that the CdXO3 and ZnXO3 would be candidates for a high performance lead free optical crystal, which will avoid the environmental toxicity problem of the lead-based materials. © 2016, © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Optical and magnetic properties of some XMnSb and Co2YZ Compounds: ab initio calculations

In present work, our research is mainly focused on the electronic structures, optical, and magnetic properties of XMnSb (X = Ni, Cu, Pd), Co2YZ (Y = Ti; Z=Si, Ge, Sn), and Co2YZ (Y =Mn; Z=Al, Ga, Si) Heusler compounds by using ab initio calculations within the generalized gradient approximation. The calculations are performed by using the Vienna ab initio simulation package based on the density functional theory. The band structure of these Heusler alloys for majority spin and minority spin were calculated and the majority spin states cross the Fermi level and thus have the metallic character, while the minority spin states open the band gaps around the Fermi level and thus have the narrow-band semiconducting nature. We also find that these Heusler compounds have the indirect band gaps in the minority spin channel. The real and imaginary parts of dielectric functions and hence the optical functions such as energy-loss function, the effective number of valance electrons and the effective optical dielectric constant for XMnSb and Co2YZ compounds were also calculated. In addition, we also show the variations of the total magnetic moment per f.u. and minority spin gap width of these compounds with optimized lattice constants: minority spin gap width decreases with increasing the lattice constants. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei

Network-Guided Analysis of Genes with Altered Somatic Copy Number and Gene Expression Reveals Pathways Commonly Perturbed in Metastatic Melanoma

Cancer genomes frequently contain somatic copy number alterations (SCNA) that can significantly perturb the expression level of affected genes and thus disrupt pathways controlling normal growth. In melanoma, many studies have focussed on the copy number and gene expression levels of the BRAF, PTEN and MITF genes, but little has been done to identify new genes using these parameters at the genome-wide scale. Using karyotyping, SNP and CGH arrays, and RNA-seq, we have identified SCNA affecting gene expression (‘SCNA-genes’) in seven human metastatic melanoma cell lines. We showed that the combination of these techniques is useful to identify candidate genes potentially involved in tumorigenesis. Since few of these alterations were recurrent across our samples, we used a protein network-guided approach to determine whether any pathways were enriched in SCNA-genes in one or more samples. From this unbiased genome-wide analysis, we identified 28 significantly enriched pathway modules. Comparison with two large, independent melanoma SCNA datasets showed less than 10% overlap at the individual gene level, but network-guided analysis revealed 66% shared pathways, including all but three of the pathways identified in our data. Frequently altered pathways included WNT, cadherin signalling, angiogenesis and melanogenesis. Additionally, our results emphasize the potential of the EPHA3 and FRS2 gene products, involved in angiogenesis and migration, as possible therapeutic targets in melanoma. Our study demonstrates the utility of network-guided approaches, for both large and small datasets, to identify pathways recurrently perturbed in cancer