4,816 research outputs found
Effect of stoichiometry on oxygen incorporation in MgB2 thin films
The amount of oxygen incorporated into MgB2 thin films upon exposure to
atmospheric gasses is found to depend strongly on the material's stoichiometry.
Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy was used to monitor changes in oxygen
incorporation resulting from exposure to: (a) ambient atmosphere, (b) humid
atmospheres, (c) anneals in air and (d) anneals in oxygen. The study
investigated thin-film samples with compositions that were systematically
varied from Mg0.9B2 to Mg1.1B2. A significant surface oxygen contamination was
observed in all of these films. The oxygen content in the bulk of the film, on
the other hand, increased significantly only in Mg rich films and in films
exposed to humid atmospheres.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl
Inversion of magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions : effect of pinhole nanocontacts
Inverse magnetoresistance has been observed in magnetic tunnel junctions with
pinhole nanocontacts over a broad temperature range. The tunnel
magnetoresistance undergoes a change of sign at higher bias and temperature.
This phenomenon is attributed to the competition between the spin conserved
ballistic transport through the pinhole contact where the transmission
probability is close to unity and spin polarized tunneling across the
insulating spacer with weak transmittivity.Comment: Replaced with revised version and new figure, 6 figures, RevTex
The Reactivity of MgB2 with Common Substrate and Electronic Materials
The reactivity of MgB2 with powdered forms of common substrate and electronic
materials is reported. Reaction temperatures between 600 C and 800 C,
encompassing the range commonly employed in thin-film fabrication, were
studied. The materials tested for reactivity were ZrO2, yttria stabilized
zirconia (YSZ), MgO, Al2O3, SiO2, SrTiO3, TiN, TaN, AlN, Si, and SiC. At 600 C,
MgB2 reacted only with SiO2 and Si. At 800 C, however, reactions were observed
for MgB2 with Al2O3, SiO2, Si, SiC, and SrTiO3. The Tc of MgB2 decreased in the
reactions with SiC and Al2O3.Comment: 5 figure
Swelling of acetylated wood in organic liquids
To investigate the affinity of acetylated wood for organic liquids, Yezo
spruce wood specimens were acetylated with acetic anhydride, and their swelling
in various liquids were compared to those of untreated specimens. The
acetylated wood was rapidly and remarkably swollen in aprotic organic liquids
such as benzene and toluene in which the untreated wood was swollen only
slightly and/or very slowly. On the other hand, the swelling of wood in water,
ethylene glycol and alcohols remained unchanged or decreased by the
acetylation. Consequently the maximum volume of wood swollen in organic liquids
was always larger than that in water. The effect of acetylation on the maximum
swollen volume of wood was greater in liquids having smaller solubility
parameters. The easier penetration of aprotic organic liquids into the
acetylated wood was considered to be due to the scission of hydrogen bonds
among the amorphous wood constituents by the substitution of hydroxyl groups
with hydrophobic acetyl groups.Comment: to be published in J Wood Science (Japanese wood research society
MgB2 tunnel junctions with native or thermal oxide barriers
MgB2 tunnel junctions (MgB2/barrier/MgB2) were fabricated using a native
oxide grown on the bottom MgB2 film as the tunnel barrier. Such barriers
therefore survive the deposition of the second electrode at 300oC, even over
junction areas of ~1 mm2. Studies of such junctions, and those of the type
MgB2/native or thermal oxide/metal (Pb, Au, or Ag) show that tunnel barriers
grown on MgB2 exhibit a wide range of barrier heights and widths.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
ISM gas studies towards the TeV PWN HESS J1825-137 and northern region
HESS J1825-137 is a pulsar wind nebula (PWN) whose TeV emission extends
across ~1 deg. Its large asymmetric shape indicates that its progenitor
supernova interacted with a molecular cloud located in the north of the PWN as
detected by previous CO Galactic survey (e.g Lemiere, Terrier &
Djannati-Ata\"i 2006). Here we provide a detailed picture of the ISM towards
the region north of HESS J1825-137, with the analysis of the dense molecular
gas from our 7mm and 12mm Mopra survey and the more diffuse molecular gas from
the Nanten CO(1-0) and GRS CO(1-0) surveys. Our focus is the possible
association between HESS J1825-137 and the unidentified TeV source to the
north, HESS J1826-130. We report several dense molecular regions whose
kinematic distance matched the dispersion measured distance of the pulsar.
Among them, the dense molecular gas located at (RA,
Dec)=(18.421h,-13.282) shows enhanced turbulence and we suggest that
the velocity structure in this region may be explained by a cloud-cloud
collision scenario. Furthermore, the presence of a H rim may be the
first evidence of the progenitor SNR of the pulsar PSR J1826-1334 as the
distance between the H rim and the TeV source matched with the
predicted SNR radius R~120 pc. From our ISM study, we identify a
few plausible origins of the HESS J1826-130 emission, including the progenitor
SNR of PSR J1826-1334 and the PWN G018.5-0.4 powered by PSR J1826-1256. A
deeper TeV study however, is required to fully identify the origin of this
mysterious TeV source.Comment: 19 figures, 27 pages, accepted by MNRA
Population Management should be mainstreamed in the Philippine Development Agenda
The performance of the Philippine economy has been hindered by the countryâs bourgeoning population due to its rapid population growth. For the last decade, the Philippines had the highest annual population growth rates in the Southeast Asian region. In 2009, it has become the second most populous country in the region with a population of more than 92 million, next only to Indonesia. Unfortunately, these have resulted to forgone economic growth, losing the chance to improve the poverty situation in the country. Thus, it is imperative to speed up the demographic transition in the country through proactive government population management policies aimed at harvesting the demographic dividends quickly. By performing simulation analyses on total fertility rate (TFR) under two scenarios, it was shown that the Philippines can hardly experience in the near future the Goldilock period, or the generation when fertility rate is neither too high nor too low, especially when the government does nothing to address the problem. Under the business-as-usual scenario, the Goldilock period will be reached by year 2030, or twenty years from now. In the second scenario where the government intervention targets only the households with unwanted fertility, the Goldilock period will be achieved ten years earlier, or in about 2020.Demographic Transition, Goldilock Period, Fertility Rate
The re-emission spectrum of digital hardware subjected to EMI
The emission spectrum of digital hardware under the influence of external electromagnetic interference is shown to contain information about the interaction of the incident energy with the digital circuits in the system. The generation mechanism of the re-emission spectrum is reviewed, describing how nonlinear effects may be a precursor to the failure of the equipment under test. Measurements on a simple circuit are used to demonstrate how the characteristics of the re-emission spectrum may be correlated with changes to the digital waveform within the circuit. The technique is also applied to a piece of complex digital hardware where Similar, though more subtle, effects can be measured. It is shown that the re-emission spectrum can be used to detect the interaction of the interference with the digital devices at a level well below that which is able to cause static failures in the circuits. The utility of the technique as a diagnostic tool for immunity testing of digital hardware, by identifying which subsystems are being affected by external interference, is also demonstrated
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