729 research outputs found
Method of making a piezoelectric shear wave resonator
An acoustic shear wave resonator comprising a piezoelectric film having its C-axis substantially inclined from the film normal such that the shear wave coupling coefficient significantly exceeds the longitudinal wave coupling coefficient, whereby the film is capable of shear wave resonance, and means for exciting said film to resonate. The film is prepared by deposition in a dc planar magnetron sputtering system to which a supplemental electric field is applied. The resonator structure may also include a semiconductor material having a positive temperature coefficient of resonance such that the resonator has a temperature coefficient of resonance approaching 0 ppm
Temperature-Sensitive Gels for Intratumoral Delivery of β-Lapachone: Effect of Cyclodextrins and Ethanol
This work evaluated the potential of Pluronics (varieties F127 and P123) in combination with solubilizing agents to be used as syringeable in situ gelling depots of intratumoral β-lapachone (βLAP). Pluronic dispersions prepared at various concentrations in the absence and the presence of ethanol and randomly methylated β-cyclodextrin (RMβCD) were characterized regarding their rheological properties, drug solubilization capacity, and in vitro release. Pluronic F127 (18–23%) formulations combined high ability to solubilize βLAP (enhancement solubility factor up to 50), adequate gel temperature range (over 25°C), and gel strength at 37°C enough to guarantee the permanence of the formulation in the administration site for a period of time. βLAP release rate was finely tuned by the concentration of the polymer and the addition of RMβCD (diffusion coefficient ranging between 9 and 69 μg·cm−2). The ethanol increases βLAP release rate but simultaneously led to weak gels. This paper shows that βLAP formulations involving temperature-reversible Pluronic gels may be suitable for intratumoral drug delivery purposes
Exciton and negative trion dissociation by an external electric field in vertically coupled quantum dots
We study the Stark effect for an exciton confined in a pair of vertically
coupled quantum dots. A single-band approximation for the hole and a parabolic
lateral confinement potential are adopted which allows for the separation of
the lateral center-of-mass motion and consequently for an exact numerical
solution of the Schr\"odinger equation. We show that for intermediate tunnel
coupling the external electric field leads to the dissociation of the exciton
via an avoided crossing of bright and dark exciton energy levels which results
in an atypical form of the Stark shift. The electric-field-induced dissociation
of the negative trion is studied using the approximation of frozen lateral
degrees of freedom. It is shown that in a symmetric system of coupled dots the
trion is more stable against dissociation than the exciton. For an asymmetric
system of coupled dots the trion dissociation is accompanied by a positive
curvature of the recombination energy line as a function of the electric field.Comment: PRB - in prin
Theoretical values of convective turnover times and Rossby numbers for solar-like, pre-main sequence stars
Magnetic fields are at the heart of the observed stellar activity in
late-type stars, and they are presumably generated by a dynamo mechanism at the
interface layer between the radiative and the convective stellar regions. Since
dynamo models are based on the interaction between differential rotation and
convective motions, the introduction of rotation in the ATON 2.3 stellar code
allows for explorations regarding a physically consistent treatment of magnetic
effects in stellar structure and evolution, even though there are formidable
mathematical and numerical challenges involved. As examples, we present
theoretical estimates for both the local (tau_c) and global (tau_g) convective
turnover times for rotating pre-main sequence solar-type stars, based on
up-to-date input physics for stellar models. Our theoretical predictions are
compared with the previous ones available in the literature. In addition, we
investigate the dependence of the convective turnover time on convection
regimes, the presence of rotation and atmospheric treatment. Those estimates,
this quantities can be used to calculate the Rossby number, Ro, which is
related to the magnetic activity strength in dynamo theories and, at least for
main-sequence stars, shows an observational correlation with stellar activity.
More important, they can also contribute for testing stellar models against
observations. Our theoretical values of tau_c, tau_g and Ro qualitatively agree
with those published by Kim & Demarque (1996). By increasing the convection
efficiency, tau_g decreases for a given mass. FST models show still lower
values. The presence of rotation shifts tau_g towards slightly higher values
when compared with non-rotating models. The use of non-gray boundary conditions
in the models yields values of tau_g smaller than in the gray approximation.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Polarization dependence of emission spectra of multiexcitons in self-assembled quantum dots
We have investigated the polarization dependence of the emission spectra of
p-shell multiexcitons of a quantum dot when the single particle level spacing
is larger than the characteristic energy of the Coulomb interactions. We find
that there are many degenerate multiexciton states. The emission intensities
depend on the number of degenerate initial and final states of the optical
transitions. However, unlike the transition energies, they are essentially
independent of the strength of the Coulomb interactions. In the presence of
electron-hole symmetry the independence is exact.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, published in Solid State Commu
Antibodies to the Mr 64,000 (64K) protein in islet cell antibody positive non-diabetic individuals indicate high risk for impaired Beta-cell function
A prospective study of a normal childhood population identified 44 islet cell antibody positive individuals. These subjects were typed for HLA DR and DQ alleles and investigated for the presence of antibodies to the Mr 64,000 (64K) islet cell antigen, complement-fixing islet cell antibodies and radiobinding insulin autoantibodies to determine their potency in detecting subjects with impaired Beta-cell function. At initial testing 64K antibodies were found in six of 44 islet cell antibody positive subjects (13.6%). The same sera were also positive for complement-fixing islet cell antibodies and five of them had insulin autoantibodies. During the follow-up at 18 months, islet cell antibodies remained detectable in 50% of the subjects studied. In all six cases who were originally positive, 64K antibodies were persistently detectable, whereas complement-fixing islet cell antibodies became negative in two of six and insulin autoantibodies in one of five individuals. HLA DR4 (p < 0.005) and absence of asparic acid (Asp) at position 57 of the HLA DQ chain (p < 0.05) were significantly increased in subjects with 64K antibodies compared with control subjects. Of 40 individuals tested in the intravenous glucose tolerance test, three had a first phase insulin response below the first percentile of normal control subjects. Two children developed Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus after 18 and 26 months, respectively. Each of these subjects was non-Asp homozygous and had persistent islet cell and 64K antibodies. We conclude that 64K antibodies, complement-fixing islet cell antibodies and insulin autoantibodies represent sensitive serological markers in assessing high risk for a progression to Type 1 diabetes in islet cell antibody positive non-diabetic individuals
Absence of correlation between built-in electric dipole moment and quantum Stark effect in InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots
We report significant deviations from the usual quadratic dependence of the
ground state interband transition energy on applied electric fields in
InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots. In particular, we show that conventional
second-order perturbation theory fails to correctly describe the Stark shift
for electric field below kV/cm in high dots. Eight-band calculations demonstrate this effect is predominantly due to
the three-dimensional strain field distribution which for various dot shapes
and stoichiometric compositions drastically affects the hole ground state. Our
conclusions are supported by two independent experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Time-resolved spectroscopy of multi-excitonic decay in an InAs quantum dot
The multi-excitonic decay process in a single InAs quantum dot is studied
through high-resolution time-resolved spectroscopy. A cascaded emission
sequence involving three spectral lines is seen that is described well over a
wide range of pump powers by a simple model. The measured biexcitonic decay
rate is about 1.5 times the single-exciton decay rate. This ratio suggests the
presence of selection rules, as well as a significant effect of the Coulomb
interaction on the biexcitonic wavefunction.Comment: one typo fixe
Spectral Subtraction of Robot Motion Noise for Improved Event Detection in Tactile Acceleration Signals
New robots for teleoperation and autonomous manipulation are increasingly being equipped with high-bandwidth accelerometers for measuring the transient vibrational cues that occur during con- tact with objects. Unfortunately, the robot\u27s own internal mechanisms often generate significant high-frequency accelerations, which we term ego-vibrations. This paper presents an approach to characterizing and removing these signals from acceleration measurements. We adapt the audio processing technique of spectral subtraction over short time windows to remove the noise that is estimated to occur at the robot\u27s present joint velocities. Implementation for the wrist roll and gripper joints on a Willow Garage PR2 robot demonstrates that spectral subtraction significantly increases signal-to-noise ratio, which should improve vibrotactile event detection in both teleoperation and autonomous robotics
Combined effects of tidal and rotational distortions on the equilibrium configuration of low-mass, pre-main sequence stars
In close binary systems, rotation and tidal forces of the component stars
deform each other and destroy their spherical symmetry. We present new models
for low-mass, pre-main sequence stars that include the combined distortion
effects of tidal and rotational forces on the equilibrium configuration of
stars. We investigate the effects of interaction between tides and rotation on
the stellar structure and evolution. The Kippenhahn & Thomas (1970)
approximation, along with the Clairaut-Legendre expansion for the gravitational
potential of a self-gravitating body, is used to take the distortion effects
into account. We obtained values of internal structure constants for low-mass,
pre-main sequence stars from stellar evolutionary models that consider the
combined effects of rotation and tidal forces due to a companion star. We also
derived a new expression for the rotational inertia of a tidally and
rotationally distorted star. Our distorted models were successfully used to
analyze the eclipsing binary system EK Cep, reproducing the stellar radii,
effective temperature ratio, lithium depletion, rotational velocities, and the
apsidal motion rate in the age interval of 15.5-16.7 Myr. In the low-mass
range, the assumption that harmonics greater than j=2 can be neglected seems
not to be fully justified, although it is widely used when analyzing the
apsidal motion of binary systems. The non-standard evolutionary tracks are
cooler than the standard ones, mainly for low-mass stars. Distorted models
predict more mass-concentrated stars at the zero-age main-sequence than
standard models
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