The Thorium Molten Salt Reactor : Moving on from the MSBR

A re-evaluation of the Molten Salt Breeder Reactor concept has revealed problems related to its safety and to the complexity of the reprocessing considered. A reflection is carried out anew in view of finding innovative solutions leading to the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor concept. Several main constraints are established and serve as guides to parametric evaluations. These then give an understanding of the influence of important core parameters on the reactor's operation. The aim of this paper is to discuss this vast research domain and to single out the Molten Salt Reactor configurations that deserve further evaluation.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 6 table

Composition, volume, and aspect ratio dependence of the strain distribution, band lineups and electron effective masses in self-assembled pyramidal In1-xGaxAs/GaAs and SixGe1-x/Si quantum dots

We present a systematic investigation of the strain distribution of self-assembled pyramidal In1-xGaxAs/GaAs and SixGe1-x/Si quantum dots for the case of growth on a (001) substrate. The dependence of the biaxial and hydrostatic components of the strain on the quantum dot volume, aspect ratio, composition, and percentage of alloying x is studied using a method based on a Green's function technique. The dependence of the carriers' confining potentials and the electronic effective mass on the same parameters is then calculated in the framework of eight-band k .p theory. The results for which comparable published data are available are in good agreement with the theoretical values for strain profiles, confining potentials, and electronic effective mass. © 2002 American Institute of Physics

Le Thorium Molten Salt Reactor : Au-delà du MSBR

La re-évaluation du concept de Molten Salt Breeder Reactor a fait apparaître des problèmes liés à la sûreté et à la complexité du retraitement. Une nouvelle réflexion est menée afin de trouver des solutions et ainsi d'aboutir au concept du Thorium Molten Salt Reactor. Plusieurs contraintes principales sont établies et vont servir de guides aux études paramétriques. Celles-ci permettent alors de comprendre l'influence de paramètres importants du coeur sur le comportement du réacteur. Le but de cet article est de présenter ce vaste domaine de recherche et d'indiquer quelles configurations intéressantes de Réacteurs à Sels Fondus peuvent être étudiées plus avant

Magnetic field dependence of the exciton energy in a quantum disk

The groundstate energy and binding energy of an exciton, confined in a^M quantum disk, are calculated as a function of an external magnetic field. The confinement potential is a hard wall of finite height. The diamagnetic shift is investigated for magnetic fields up to 40$T$. Our results are applied to $In_{y}Al_{1-y}As/Al_{x}Ga_{1-x}As$ self-assembled quantum dots and very good agreement with experiments is obtained. Furthermore, we investigated the influence of the dot size on the diamagnetic shift by changing the disk radius. The exciton excited states are found as a function of the magnetic field. The relative angular momentum is not a quantum number and changes with the magnetic field strength.Comment: 10 pages, 17 figure

Piezoresistive Sensitivity, Linearity and Resistance Time Drift of Polysilicon Nanofilms with Different Deposition Temperatures

Our previous research work indicated that highly boron doped polysilicon nanofilms (≤100 nm in thickness) have higher gauge factor (the maximum is ∼34 for 80 nm-thick films) and better temperature stability than common polysilicon films (≥ 200nm in thickness) at the same doping levels. Therefore, in order to further analyze the influence of deposition temperature on the film structure and piezoresistance performance, the piezoresistive sensitivity, piezoresistive linearity (PRL) and resistance time drift (RTD) of 80 nm-thick highly boron doped polysilicon nanofilms (PSNFs) with different deposition temperatures were studied here. The tunneling piezoresistive model was established to explain the relationship between the measured gauge factors (GFs) and deposition temperature. It was seen that the piezoresistance coefficient (PRC) of composite grain boundaries is higher than that of grains and the magnitude of GF is dependent on the resistivity of grain boundary (GB) barriers and the weight of the resistivity of composite GBs in the film resistivity. In the investigations on PRL and RTD, the interstitial-vacancy (IV) model was established to model GBs as the accumulation of IV pairs. And the recrystallization of metastable IV pairs caused by material deformation or current excitation is considered as the prime reason for piezoresistive nonlinearity (PRNL) and RTD. Finally, the optimal deposition temperature for the improvement of film performance and reliability is about 620 °C and the high temperature annealing is not very effective in improving the piezoresistive performance of PSNFs deposited at lower temperatures

Polymethoxyflavones from Nicotiana plumbaginifolia (Solanaceae) exert antinociceptive and neuropharmacological effects in mice.

Polymethoxylavones (PMFs)are known to exhibit significant anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties. Nicotiana plumbaginifolia, an annual Bangladeshi herb, is rich in polymethoxyflavones that possess significant analgesic and anxiolytic activities. The present study aimed to determine the antinociceptive and neuropharmacological activities of polyoxygenated flavonoids namely- 3,3',5,6,7,8-hexamethoxy-4',5'-methylenedioxyflavone (1), 3,3',4',5',5,6,7,8-octamethoxyflavone (exoticin) (2), 6,7,4',5'-dimethylenedioxy-3,5,3'-trimethoxyflavone (3) and 3,3’,4’,5,5’,8-hexamethoxy-6,7-methylenedioxyflavone(4), isolated and identified from N. plumbaginifolia. Antinociceptive activity was assessed using the acetic-acid induced writhing, hot plate, tail immersion, formalin and carrageenan-induced paw edema tests, whereas neuropharmacological effects were evaluated in the hole cross, open field and elevated plus maze test. Oral treatment of compounds 1, 3 and 4 (12.5-25 mg/kg b.w.) exhibited dose-dependent and significant (p< 0.01) antinociceptive activity in the acetic-acid, formalin, carrageenan and thermal (hot plate)-induced pain models. The association of ATP-sensitive K+ channel and opioid systems in their antinociceptive effect was obvious from the antagonist effect of glibenclamide and naloxone respectively. These findings suggested central and peripheral antinociceptive activities of the compounds. Compound 1, 3 and 4 (12.5 mg/kg b.w.) demonstrated significant (p< 0.05) anxiolytic-like activity in the elevated plus-maze test, while the involvement of GABAA receptor in the action of compound 3 and 4 was evident from the reversal effects of flumazenil. In addition, compounds 1 and 4 (12.5-25 mg/kg b.w) exhibited anxiolytic activity without altering the locomotor responses. The present study suggested that the polymethoxyflavones (1-4) from N. Plumbaginifoliacould be considered as suitable candidates for the development of analgesic and anxiolytic agents

PKQuest: a general physiologically based pharmacokinetic model. Introduction and application to propranolol

BACKGROUND: A "physiologically based pharmacokinetic" (PBPK) approach uses a realistic model of the animal to describe the pharmacokinetics. Previous PBPKs have been designed for specific solutes, required specification of a large number of parameters and have not been designed for general use. METHODS: This new PBPK program (PKQuest) includes a "Standardhuman" and "Standardrat" data set so that the user input is minimized. It has a simple user interface, graphical output and many new features: 1) An option that uses the measured plasma concentrations to solve for the time course of the gastrointestinal, intramuscular, intraperotineal or skin absorption and systemic availability of a drug – for a general non-linear system. 2) Capillary permeability limitation defined in terms of the permeability-surface area products. 4) Saturable plasma and tissue protein binding. 5) A lung model that includes perfusion-ventilation mismatch. 6) A general optimization routine using either a global (simulated annealing) or local (Powell) minimization applicable to all model parameters. RESULTS: PKQuest was applied to measurements of human propranolol pharmacokinetics and intestinal absorption. A meal has two effects: 1) increases portal blood flow by 50%; and 2) decreases liver metabolism by 20%. There is a significant delay in the oval propranolol absorption in fasting subjects that is absent in fed subjects. The oral absorption of the long acting form of propranolol continues for a period of more than 24 hours. CONCLUSIONS: PKQuest provides a new general purpose, easy to use, freely distributed and physiologically rigorous PBPK software routine

Measurement of W Polarisation at LEP

The three different helicity states of W bosons produced in the reaction e+ e- -> W+ W- -> l nu q q~ at LEP are studied using leptonic and hadronic W decays. Data at centre-of-mass energies \sqrt s = 183-209 GeV are used to measure the polarisation of W bosons, and its dependence on the W boson production angle. The fraction of longitudinally polarised W bosons is measured to be 0.218 \pm 0.027 \pm 0.016 where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation

Search for Anomalous Couplings in the Higgs Sector at LEP

Anomalous couplings of the Higgs boson are searched for through the processes e^+ e^- -> H gamma, e^+ e^- -> e^+ e^- H and e^+ e^- -> HZ. The mass range 70 GeV < m_H < 190 GeV is explored using 602 pb^-1 of integrated luminosity collected with the L3 detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies sqrt(s)=189-209 GeV. The Higgs decay channels H -> ffbar, H -> gamma gamma, H -> Z\gamma and H -> WW^(*) are considered and no evidence is found for anomalous Higgs production or decay. Limits on the anomalous couplings d, db, Delta(g1z), Delta(kappa_gamma) and xi^2 are derived as well as limits on the H -> gamma gamma and H -> Z gamma decay rates