634 research outputs found
Role of uncrosslinked chains in droplets dynamics on silicone elastomers
We report an unexpected behavior in wetting dynamics on soft silicone
substrates: the dynamics of aqueous droplets deposited on vertical plates of
such elastomers exhibits two successive speed regimes. This macroscopic
observation is found to be closely related to microscopic phenomena occurring
at the scale of the polymer network: we show that uncrosslinked chains found in
most widely used commercial silicone elastomers are responsible for this
surprising behavior. A direct visualization of the uncrosslinked oligomers
collected by water droplets is performed, evidencing that a capillarity-induced
phase separation occurs: uncrosslinked oligomers are extracted from the
silicone elastomer network by the water-glycerol mixture droplet. The sharp
speed change is shown to coincide with an abrupt transition in surface tension
of the droplets, when a critical surface concentration in uncrosslinked
oligomer chains is reached. We infer that a droplet shifts to a second regime
with a faster speed when it is completely covered with a homogeneous oil film
Size-dependent catalytic and melting properties of platinum-palladium nanoparticles
While nanocatalysis is a very active field, there have been very few studies in the size/shape-dependent catalytic properties of transition metals from a thermodynamical approach. Transition metal nanoparticles are very attractive due their high surface to volume ratio and their high surface energy. In particular, in this paper we focus on the Pt-Pd catalyst which is an important system in catalysis. The melting temperature, melting enthalpy, and catalytic activation energy were found to decrease with size. The face centered cubic crystal structure of platinum and palladium has been considered in the model. The shape stability has been discussed. The phase diagram of different polyhedral shapes has been plotted and the surface segregation has been considered. The model predicts a nanoparticle core rich in Pt surrounded by a layer enriched in Pd. The Pd segregation at the surface strongly modifies the catalytic activation energy compared to the non-segregated nanoparticle. The predictions were compared with the available experimental data in the literature
Polarization-dependent light extinction in ensembles of polydisperse, vertical semiconductor nanowires: A Mie scattering effective medium
We present an experimental and theoretical study of the angle- and
polarization-dependent light extinction in random arrays of polydisperse
semiconductor nanowires epitaxially grown on substrates. The specular
reflectance is described by averaging the scattering properties of individual
nanowires obtained from Lorenz-Mie theory over the diameter distribution. The
complex effective refractive index describing the propagation and attenuation
of the coherent beam scattered in forward direction is determined in the
independent scattering approximation and used to calculate the angle- and
polarization-dependent reflectance. Our measurements demonstrate the highly
anisotropic scattering in ensembles of aligned nanowires
SCD: A 3 States Startle Copying Display to Manage Deleterious Effects of Extreme Emergency Situation.
The management of cognitive resources are central in the case of a decision-making process by pilots. We undertake a study involving Airbus 400M pilots and allowing to understand these mechanisms and to propose recommendations for the design of a tool to assist in the management of their cognitive resources. We find that in the most critical cases and under strong temporal pressure, the maintenance of control of the situation corresponds to a survival type behavior which alone can allow a return to the metarules (back to basics). Our display management proposal allows the pilot to maintain control of the situation regardless of his capabilities. It allows a phase of stabilization by a reduction of the stress, then a phase of soft recovery of the control and the management of the mission on larger spatiotemporal dimensions. Three modes of entry in the HMI are envisaged: spontaneous, proposed and on demand
Polarization-dependent light extinction in ensembles of polydisperse, vertical semiconductor nanowires : a Mie scattering effective medium
We present an experimental and theoretical study of the angle- and polarization-dependent light extinction in random arrays of polydisperse semiconductor nanowires epitaxially grown on substrates. The specular reflectance is described by averaging the scattering properties of individual nanowires obtained from Mie theory over the diameter distribution. The complex effective refractive index describing the propagation and attenuation of the coherent beam scattered in a forward direction is determined in the independent scattering approximation and used to calculate the angle- and polarization-dependent reflectance. Our measurements demonstrate the highly anisotropic scattering in ensembles of aligned nanowires
The Waveform Digitiser of the Double Chooz Experiment: Performance and Quantisation Effects on PhotoMultiplier Tube Signals
We present the waveform digitiser used in the Double Chooz experiment. We
describe the hardware and the custom-built firmware specifically developed for
the experiment. The performance of the device is tested with regards to
digitising low light level signals from photomultiplier tubes and measuring
pulse charge. This highlights the role of quantisation effects and leads to
some general recommendations on the design and use of waveform digitisers.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in JINS
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