Simulating Ordinal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrari, Pier Alda; Barbiero, Alessandro

2012-01-01

The increasing use of ordinal variables in different fields has led to the introduction of new statistical methods for their analysis. The performance of these methods needs to be investigated under a number of experimental conditions. Procedures to simulate from ordinal variables are then required. In this article, we deal with simulation from…

Comparison of Ordinal and Nominal Classification Trees to Predict Ordinal Expert-Based Occupational Exposure Estimates in a Case–Control Study

PubMed Central

Wheeler, David C.; Archer, Kellie J.; Burstyn, Igor; Yu, Kai; Stewart, Patricia A.; Colt, Joanne S.; Baris, Dalsu; Karagas, Margaret R.; Schwenn, Molly; Johnson, Alison; Armenti, Karla; Silverman, Debra T.; Friesen, Melissa C.

2015-01-01

Objectives: To evaluate occupational exposures in case–control studies, exposure assessors typically review each job individually to assign exposure estimates. This process lacks transparency and does not provide a mechanism for recreating the decision rules in other studies. In our previous work, nominal (unordered categorical) classification trees (CTs) generally successfully predicted expert-assessed ordinal exposure estimates (i.e. none, low, medium, high) derived from occupational questionnaire responses, but room for improvement remained. Our objective was to determine if using recently developed ordinal CTs would improve the performance of nominal trees in predicting ordinal occupational diesel exhaust exposure estimates in a case–control study. Methods: We used one nominal and four ordinal CT methods to predict expert-assessed probability, intensity, and frequency estimates of occupational diesel exhaust exposure (each categorized as none, low, medium, or high) derived from questionnaire responses for the 14983 jobs in the New England Bladder Cancer Study. To replicate the common use of a single tree, we applied each method to a single sample of 70% of the jobs, using 15% to test and 15% to validate each method. To characterize variability in performance, we conducted a resampling analysis that repeated the sample draws 100 times. We evaluated agreement between the tree predictions and expert estimates using Somers’ d, which measures differences in terms of ordinal association between predicted and observed scores and can be interpreted similarly to a correlation coefficient. Results: From the resampling analysis, compared with the nominal tree, an ordinal CT method that used a quadratic misclassification function and controlled tree size based on total misclassification cost had a slightly better predictive performance that was statistically significant for the frequency metric (Somers’ d: nominal tree = 0.61; ordinal tree = 0.63) and similar performance for the probability (nominal = 0.65; ordinal = 0.66) and intensity (nominal = 0.65; ordinal = 0.65) metrics. The best ordinal CT predicted fewer cases of large disagreement with the expert assessments (i.e. no exposure predicted for a job with high exposure and vice versa) compared with the nominal tree across all of the exposure metrics. For example, the percent of jobs with expert-assigned high intensity of exposure that the model predicted as no exposure was 29% for the nominal tree and 22% for the best ordinal tree. Conclusions: The overall agreements were similar across CT models; however, the use of ordinal models reduced the magnitude of the discrepancy when disagreements occurred. As the best performing model can vary by situation, researchers should consider evaluating multiple CT methods to maximize the predictive performance within their data. PMID:25433003

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Ordinal Variables with Misspecified Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang-Wallentin, Fan; Joreskog, Karl G.; Luo, Hao

2010-01-01

Ordinal variables are common in many empirical investigations in the social and behavioral sciences. Researchers often apply the maximum likelihood method to fit structural equation models to ordinal data. This assumes that the observed measures have normal distributions, which is not the case when the variables are ordinal. A better approach is…

Correlational Analysis of Ordinal Data: From Pearson's "r" to Bayesian Polychoric Correlation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Jaehwa; Peters, Michelle; Mueller, Ralph O.

2010-01-01

Correlational analyses are one of the most popular quantitative methods, yet also one of the mostly frequently misused methods in social and behavioral research, especially when analyzing ordinal data from Likert or other rating scales. Although several correlational analysis options have been developed for ordinal data, there seems to be a lack…

Proposed Ordinance for the Regulation of Cable Television. Working Draft.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chicago City Council, IL.

A model ordinance is proposed for the regulation of cable television in the city of Chicago. It defines the language of the ordinance, sets forth the method of granting franchises, and describes the terms of the franchises. The duties of a commission to regulate cable television are listed and the method of selecting commission members is…

The assignment of scores procedure for ordinal categorical data.

PubMed

Chen, Han-Ching; Wang, Nae-Sheng

2014-01-01

Ordinal data are the most frequently encountered type of data in the social sciences. Many statistical methods can be used to process such data. One common method is to assign scores to the data, convert them into interval data, and further perform statistical analysis. There are several authors who have recently developed assigning score methods to assign scores to ordered categorical data. This paper proposes an approach that defines an assigning score system for an ordinal categorical variable based on underlying continuous latent distribution with interpretation by using three case study examples. The results show that the proposed score system is well for skewed ordinal categorical data.

Estimated breeding values for canine hip dysplasia radiographic traits in a cohort of Australian German Shepherd dogs.

PubMed

Wilson, Bethany J; Nicholas, Frank W; James, John W; Wade, Claire M; Thomson, Peter C

2013-01-01

Canine hip dysplasia (CHD) is a serious and common musculoskeletal disease of pedigree dogs and therefore represents both an important welfare concern and an imperative breeding priority. The typical heritability estimates for radiographic CHD traits suggest that the accuracy of breeding dog selection could be substantially improved by the use of estimated breeding values (EBVs) in place of selection based on phenotypes of individuals. The British Veterinary Association/Kennel Club scoring method is a complex measure composed of nine bilateral ordinal traits, intended to evaluate both early and late dysplastic changes. However, the ordinal nature of the traits may represent a technical challenge for calculation of EBVs using linear methods. The purpose of the current study was to calculate EBVs of British Veterinary Association/Kennel Club traits in the Australian population of German Shepherd Dogs, using linear (both as individual traits and a summed phenotype), binary and ordinal methods to determine the optimal method for EBV calculation. Ordinal EBVs correlated well with linear EBVs (r = 0.90-0.99) and somewhat well with EBVs for the sum of the individual traits (r = 0.58-0.92). Correlation of ordinal and binary EBVs varied widely (r = 0.24-0.99) depending on the trait and cut-point considered. The ordinal EBVs have increased accuracy (0.48-0.69) of selection compared with accuracies from individual phenotype-based selection (0.40-0.52). Despite the high correlations between linear and ordinal EBVs, the underlying relationship between EBVs calculated by the two methods was not always linear, leading us to suggest that ordinal models should be used wherever possible. As the population of German Shepherd Dogs which was studied was purportedly under selection for the traits studied, we examined the EBVs for evidence of a genetic trend in these traits and found substantial genetic improvement over time. This study suggests the use of ordinal EBVs could increase the rate of genetic improvement in this population.

Spectral collocation method with a flexible angular discretization scheme for radiative transfer in multi-layer graded index medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Linyang; Qi, Hong; Sun, Jianping; Ren, Yatao; Ruan, Liming

2017-05-01

The spectral collocation method (SCM) is employed to solve the radiative transfer in multi-layer semitransparent medium with graded index. A new flexible angular discretization scheme is employed to discretize the solid angle domain freely to overcome the limit of the number of discrete radiative direction when adopting traditional SN discrete ordinate scheme. Three radial basis function interpolation approaches, named as multi-quadric (MQ), inverse multi-quadric (IMQ) and inverse quadratic (IQ) interpolation, are employed to couple the radiative intensity at the interface between two adjacent layers and numerical experiments show that MQ interpolation has the highest accuracy and best stability. Variable radiative transfer problems in double-layer semitransparent media with different thermophysical properties are investigated and the influence of these thermophysical properties on the radiative transfer procedure in double-layer semitransparent media is also analyzed. All the simulated results show that the present SCM with the new angular discretization scheme can predict the radiative transfer in multi-layer semitransparent medium with graded index efficiently and accurately.

The effect of ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants and bars on revenues: a follow-up.

PubMed Central

Glantz, S A; Smith, L R

1997-01-01

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to extend an earlier evaluation of the economic effects of ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants and bars. METHODS: Sales tax data for 15 cities with smoke-free restaurant ordinances, 5 cities and 2 counties with smoke-free bar ordinances, and matched comparison locations were analyzed by multiple regression, including time and a dummy variable for the ordinance. RESULTS: Ordinances had no significant effect on the fraction of total retail sales that went to eating and drinking places or on the ratio between sales in communities with ordinances and sales in comparison communities. Ordinances requiring smoke-free bars had no significant effect on the fraction of revenues going to eating and drinking places that serve all types of liquor. CONCLUSIONS: Smoke-free ordinances do not adversely affect either restaurant or bar sales. PMID:9357356

Introducing Students to Plant Geography: Polar Ordination Applied to Hanging Gardens.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malanson, George P.; And Others

1993-01-01

Reports on a research study in which college students used a statistical ordination method to reveal relationships among plant community structures and physical, disturbance, and spatial variables. Concludes that polar ordination helps students understand the methodology of plant geography and encourages further student research. (CFR)

Clean Indoor Air Ordinance Coverage in the Appalachian Region of the United States

PubMed Central

Liber, Alex; Pennell, Michael; Nealy, Darren; Hammer, Jana; Berman, Micah

2010-01-01

Objectives. We sought to quantitatively examine the pattern of, and socioeconomic factors associated with, adoption of clean indoor air ordinances in Appalachia. Methods. We collected and reviewed clean indoor air ordinances in Appalachian communities in 6 states and rated the ordinances for completeness of coverage in workplaces, restaurants, and bars. Additionally, we computed a strength score to measure coverage in 7 locations. We fit mixed-effects models to determine whether the presence of a comprehensive ordinance and the ordinance strength were related to community socioeconomic disadvantage. Results. Of the 332 communities included in the analysis, fewer than 20% had adopted a comprehensive workplace, restaurant, or bar ordinance. Most ordinances were weak, achieving on average only 43% of the total possible points. Communities with a higher unemployment rate were less likely and those with a higher education level were more likely to have a strong ordinance. Conclusions. The majority of residents in these communities are not protected from secondhand smoke. Efforts to pass strong statewide clean indoor air laws should take priority over local initiatives in these states. PMID:20466957

Unified Least Squares Methods for the Evaluation of Diagnostic Tests With the Gold Standard

PubMed Central

Tang, Liansheng Larry; Yuan, Ao; Collins, John; Che, Xuan; Chan, Leighton

2017-01-01

The article proposes a unified least squares method to estimate the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) parameters for continuous and ordinal diagnostic tests, such as cancer biomarkers. The method is based on a linear model framework using the empirically estimated sensitivities and specificities as input “data.” It gives consistent estimates for regression and accuracy parameters when the underlying continuous test results are normally distributed after some monotonic transformation. The key difference between the proposed method and the method of Tang and Zhou lies in the response variable. The response variable in the latter is transformed empirical ROC curves at different thresholds. It takes on many values for continuous test results, but few values for ordinal test results. The limited number of values for the response variable makes it impractical for ordinal data. However, the response variable in the proposed method takes on many more distinct values so that the method yields valid estimates for ordinal data. Extensive simulation studies are conducted to investigate and compare the finite sample performance of the proposed method with an existing method, and the method is then used to analyze 2 real cancer diagnostic example as an illustration. PMID:28469385

Ordinal feature selection for iris and palmprint recognition.

PubMed

Sun, Zhenan; Wang, Libin; Tan, Tieniu

2014-09-01

Ordinal measures have been demonstrated as an effective feature representation model for iris and palmprint recognition. However, ordinal measures are a general concept of image analysis and numerous variants with different parameter settings, such as location, scale, orientation, and so on, can be derived to construct a huge feature space. This paper proposes a novel optimization formulation for ordinal feature selection with successful applications to both iris and palmprint recognition. The objective function of the proposed feature selection method has two parts, i.e., misclassification error of intra and interclass matching samples and weighted sparsity of ordinal feature descriptors. Therefore, the feature selection aims to achieve an accurate and sparse representation of ordinal measures. And, the optimization subjects to a number of linear inequality constraints, which require that all intra and interclass matching pairs are well separated with a large margin. Ordinal feature selection is formulated as a linear programming (LP) problem so that a solution can be efficiently obtained even on a large-scale feature pool and training database. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed LP formulation is advantageous over existing feature selection methods, such as mRMR, ReliefF, Boosting, and Lasso for biometric recognition, reporting state-of-the-art accuracy on CASIA and PolyU databases.

The effect of ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants on restaurant sales.

PubMed Central

Glantz, S A; Smith, L R

1994-01-01

OBJECTIVES: The effect on restaurant revenues of local ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants is an important consideration for restauranteurs themselves and the cities that depend on sales tax revenues to provide services. METHODS: Data were obtained from the California State Board of Equalization and Colorado State Department of Revenue on taxable restaurant sales from 1986 (1982 for Aspen) through 1993 for all 15 cities where ordinances were in force, as well as for 15 similar control communities without smoke-free ordinances during this period. These data were analyzed using multiple regression, including time and a dummy variable for whether an ordinance was in force. Total restaurant sales were analyzed as a fraction of total retail sales and restaurant sales in smoke-free cities vs the comparison cities similar in population, median income, and other factors. RESULTS. Ordinances had no significant effect on the fraction of total retail sales that went to restaurants or on the ratio of restaurant sales in communities with ordinances compared with those in the matched control communities. CONCLUSIONS. Smoke-free restaurant ordinances do not adversely affect restaurant sales. PMID:8017529

ANOVA with Rasch Measures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linacre, John Michael

Various methods of estimating main effects from ordinal data are presented and contrasted. Problems discussed include: (1) at what level to accumulate ordinal data into linear measures; (2) how to maintain scaling across analyses; and (3) the inevitable confounding of within cell variance with measurement error. An example shows three methods of…

Accelerated solution of discrete ordinates approximation to the Boltzmann transport equation via model reduction

DOE PAGES

Tencer, John; Carlberg, Kevin; Larsen, Marvin; ...

2017-06-17

Radiation heat transfer is an important phenomenon in many physical systems of practical interest. When participating media is important, the radiative transfer equation (RTE) must be solved for the radiative intensity as a function of location, time, direction, and wavelength. In many heat-transfer applications, a quasi-steady assumption is valid, thereby removing time dependence. The dependence on wavelength is often treated through a weighted sum of gray gases (WSGG) approach. The discrete ordinates method (DOM) is one of the most common methods for approximating the angular (i.e., directional) dependence. The DOM exactly solves for the radiative intensity for a finite numbermore » of discrete ordinate directions and computes approximations to integrals over the angular space using a quadrature rule; the chosen ordinate directions correspond to the nodes of this quadrature rule. This paper applies a projection-based model-reduction approach to make high-order quadrature computationally feasible for the DOM for purely absorbing applications. First, the proposed approach constructs a reduced basis from (high-fidelity) solutions of the radiative intensity computed at a relatively small number of ordinate directions. Then, the method computes inexpensive approximations of the radiative intensity at the (remaining) quadrature points of a high-order quadrature using a reduced-order model constructed from the reduced basis. Finally, this results in a much more accurate solution than might have been achieved using only the ordinate directions used to compute the reduced basis. One- and three-dimensional test problems highlight the efficiency of the proposed method.« less

Accelerated solution of discrete ordinates approximation to the Boltzmann transport equation via model reduction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tencer, John; Carlberg, Kevin; Larsen, Marvin

Radiation heat transfer is an important phenomenon in many physical systems of practical interest. When participating media is important, the radiative transfer equation (RTE) must be solved for the radiative intensity as a function of location, time, direction, and wavelength. In many heat-transfer applications, a quasi-steady assumption is valid, thereby removing time dependence. The dependence on wavelength is often treated through a weighted sum of gray gases (WSGG) approach. The discrete ordinates method (DOM) is one of the most common methods for approximating the angular (i.e., directional) dependence. The DOM exactly solves for the radiative intensity for a finite numbermore » of discrete ordinate directions and computes approximations to integrals over the angular space using a quadrature rule; the chosen ordinate directions correspond to the nodes of this quadrature rule. This paper applies a projection-based model-reduction approach to make high-order quadrature computationally feasible for the DOM for purely absorbing applications. First, the proposed approach constructs a reduced basis from (high-fidelity) solutions of the radiative intensity computed at a relatively small number of ordinate directions. Then, the method computes inexpensive approximations of the radiative intensity at the (remaining) quadrature points of a high-order quadrature using a reduced-order model constructed from the reduced basis. Finally, this results in a much more accurate solution than might have been achieved using only the ordinate directions used to compute the reduced basis. One- and three-dimensional test problems highlight the efficiency of the proposed method.« less

Ordinal convolutional neural networks for predicting RDoC positive valence psychiatric symptom severity scores.

PubMed

Rios, Anthony; Kavuluru, Ramakanth

2017-11-01

The CEGS N-GRID 2016 Shared Task in Clinical Natural Language Processing (NLP) provided a set of 1000 neuropsychiatric notes to participants as part of a competition to predict psychiatric symptom severity scores. This paper summarizes our methods, results, and experiences based on our participation in the second track of the shared task. Classical methods of text classification usually fall into one of three problem types: binary, multi-class, and multi-label classification. In this effort, we study ordinal regression problems with text data where misclassifications are penalized differently based on how far apart the ground truth and model predictions are on the ordinal scale. Specifically, we present our entries (methods and results) in the N-GRID shared task in predicting research domain criteria (RDoC) positive valence ordinal symptom severity scores (absent, mild, moderate, and severe) from psychiatric notes. We propose a novel convolutional neural network (CNN) model designed to handle ordinal regression tasks on psychiatric notes. Broadly speaking, our model combines an ordinal loss function, a CNN, and conventional feature engineering (wide features) into a single model which is learned end-to-end. Given interpretability is an important concern with nonlinear models, we apply a recent approach called locally interpretable model-agnostic explanation (LIME) to identify important words that lead to instance specific predictions. Our best model entered into the shared task placed third among 24 teams and scored a macro mean absolute error (MMAE) based normalized score (100·(1-MMAE)) of 83.86. Since the competition, we improved our score (using basic ensembling) to 85.55, comparable with the winning shared task entry. Applying LIME to model predictions, we demonstrate the feasibility of instance specific prediction interpretation by identifying words that led to a particular decision. In this paper, we present a method that successfully uses wide features and an ordinal loss function applied to convolutional neural networks for ordinal text classification specifically in predicting psychiatric symptom severity scores. Our approach leads to excellent performance on the N-GRID shared task and is also amenable to interpretability using existing model-agnostic approaches. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Process for the manufacture of 117Sn diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acids

DOEpatents

Srivastava, Suresh C.; Li, Zizhong; Meinken, George

2003-01-01

Novel methods are provided for the manufacture of .sup.117m Sn(Sn.sup.4+) DTPA. The method allows the use of DTPA, a toxic chelating agent, in an approximately 1:1 ratio to .sup.117m Sn(Sn.sup.4+) via either aqueous conditions, or using various organic solvents, such as methylene chloride. A pharmaceutical composition manufactured by the novel method is also provided, as well as methods for treatment of bone tumors and pain associated with bone cancer using the pharmaceutical composition of the invention.

Quantitative characterisation of audio data by ordinal symbolic dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aschenbrenner, T.; Monetti, R.; Amigó, J. M.; Bunk, W.

2013-06-01

Ordinal symbolic dynamics has developed into a valuable method to describe complex systems. Recently, using the concept of transcripts, the coupling behaviour of systems was assessed, combining the properties of the symmetric group with information theoretic ideas. In this contribution, methods from the field of ordinal symbolic dynamics are applied to the characterisation of audio data. Coupling complexity between frequency bands of solo violin music, as a fingerprint of the instrument, is used for classification purposes within a support vector machine scheme. Our results suggest that coupling complexity is able to capture essential characteristics, sufficient to distinguish among different violins.

Color tunable emission through energy transfer from Yb3+ co-doped SrSnO3: Ho3+ perovskite nano-phosphor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Neha; Singh, Rajan Kr.; Sinha, Shriya; Singh, R. A.; Singh, Jai

2018-04-01

First time color tunable lighting observed from Ho3+ and Yb3+ co-doped SrSnO3 perovskite. Down-conversion and up-conversion (UC) photoluminescence emission spectra were recorded to understand the whole mechanism of energy migration between Ho3+ and Yb3+ ions. The intensity of green and red emission varies with Yb3+ doping which causes multicolour emissions from nano-phosphor. The intensity of UC red emission (654 nm) obtained from 1 at.% Ho3+ and 3 at.% Yb3+ co-doped nano-phosphor is nine times higher than from 1 at.% Ho3+ doped SrSnO3 nano-phosphor. Enhanced brightness of 654 nm in UC process belongs in biological transparency window so that it might be a promising phosphor in the bio-medical field. Moreover, for the other Yb3+ co-doped nano-phosphor, Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage chromaticity co-ordinates were found near the white region and their CCT values lie in the range 4900-5100 K indicating cool white. Decay time was measured for 545 nm emission of Ho3+ ion found in 7.652 and 8.734 µs at 355 nm excitation. The variation in lifetime was observed in ascending order with increasing Yb3+ concentration which supports PL emission spectra observation that with increasing Yb3+ concentration, rate of transition has changed. These studies reveal that Ho3+ and Yb3+ co-doped phosphor is useful for fabrication of white LEDs.

Empirical Histograms in Item Response Theory with Ordinal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woods, Carol M.

2007-01-01

The purpose of this research is to describe, test, and illustrate a new implementation of the empirical histogram (EH) method for ordinal items. The EH method involves the estimation of item response model parameters simultaneously with the approximation of the distribution of the random latent variable (theta) as a histogram. Software for the EH…

HPLC method for determination of SN-38 content and SN-38 entrapment efficiency in a novel liposome-based formulation, LE-SN38.

PubMed

Xuan, Tong; Zhang, J Allen; Ahmad, Imran

2006-05-03

A simple HPLC method was developed for quantification of SN-38, 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin, in a novel liposome-based formulation (LE-SN38). The chromatographic separation was achieved on an Agilent Zorbax SB-C18 (4.6 mmx250 mm, 5 microm) analytical column using a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of NaH2PO4 (pH 3.1, 25 mM) and acetonitrile (50:50, v/v). SN-38 was detected at UV wavelength of 265 nm and quantitatively determined using an external calibration method. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) were found to be 0.05 and 0.25 microg/mL, respectively. The individual spike recovery of SN-38 ranged from 100 to 101%. The percent of relative standard deviation (%R.S.D.) of intra-day and inter-day analyses were less than 1.6%. The method validation results confirmed that the method is specific, linear, accurate, precise, robust and sensitive for its intended use. The current method was successfully applied to the determination of SN-38 content and drug entrapment efficiency in liposome-based formulation, LE-SN38 during early stage formulation development.

Deterministic absorbed dose estimation in computed tomography using a discrete ordinates method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Norris, Edward T.; Liu, Xin, E-mail: xinliu@mst.edu; Hsieh, Jiang

Purpose: Organ dose estimation for a patient undergoing computed tomography (CT) scanning is very important. Although Monte Carlo methods are considered gold-standard in patient dose estimation, the computation time required is formidable for routine clinical calculations. Here, the authors instigate a deterministic method for estimating an absorbed dose more efficiently. Methods: Compared with current Monte Carlo methods, a more efficient approach to estimating the absorbed dose is to solve the linear Boltzmann equation numerically. In this study, an axial CT scan was modeled with a software package, Denovo, which solved the linear Boltzmann equation using the discrete ordinates method. Themore » CT scanning configuration included 16 x-ray source positions, beam collimators, flat filters, and bowtie filters. The phantom was the standard 32 cm CT dose index (CTDI) phantom. Four different Denovo simulations were performed with different simulation parameters, including the number of quadrature sets and the order of Legendre polynomial expansions. A Monte Carlo simulation was also performed for benchmarking the Denovo simulations. A quantitative comparison was made of the simulation results obtained by the Denovo and the Monte Carlo methods. Results: The difference in the simulation results of the discrete ordinates method and those of the Monte Carlo methods was found to be small, with a root-mean-square difference of around 2.4%. It was found that the discrete ordinates method, with a higher order of Legendre polynomial expansions, underestimated the absorbed dose near the center of the phantom (i.e., low dose region). Simulations of the quadrature set 8 and the first order of the Legendre polynomial expansions proved to be the most efficient computation method in the authors’ study. The single-thread computation time of the deterministic simulation of the quadrature set 8 and the first order of the Legendre polynomial expansions was 21 min on a personal computer. Conclusions: The simulation results showed that the deterministic method can be effectively used to estimate the absorbed dose in a CTDI phantom. The accuracy of the discrete ordinates method was close to that of a Monte Carlo simulation, and the primary benefit of the discrete ordinates method lies in its rapid computation speed. It is expected that further optimization of this method in routine clinical CT dose estimation will improve its accuracy and speed.« less

Chemical properties of colliding sources in 124, 136Xe and 112, 124Sn induced collisions in isobaric yield ratio difference and isoscaling methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Chun-Wang; Wang, Shan-Shan; Zhang, Yan-Li; Wei, Hui-Ling

2013-12-01

Isoscaling and isobaric yield ratio difference (IBD) methods are used to study Δμ/T (Δμ being the difference between the chemical potentials of the neutron and proton, and T being the temperature) in the measured 1 A GeV 124Sn + 124Sn, 112Sn + 112Sn, 136Xe + Pb and 124Xe + Pb reactions. The isoscaling phenomena in the 124Sn/112Sn and 136Xe/124Xe reaction pairs are investigated, and the isoscaling parameters α and β are obtained. The Δμ/T determined by the isoscaling method (IS-Δμ/T) and the IBD method (IB-Δμ/T) in the measured Sn and Xe reactions are compared. It is shown that in most fragments, the IS- and IB-Δμ/T are consistent in the Xe reactions, while the IS- and IB-Δμ/T ones are only similar in the less neutron-rich fragments in the Sn reactions. The shell effects in IB-Δμ/T are also discussed.

Synthesis and Raman analysis of SnS nanoparticles synthesized by PVP assisted polyol method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baby, Benjamin Hudson; Mohan, D. Bharathi, E-mail: d.bharathimohan@gmail.com

2015-06-24

SnS film was prepared by a simple drop casting method after synthesizing SnS nanoparticles by using PVP assisted polyol method. Confocal Raman study was carried out for the as deposited and annealed (150, 300 and 400 °C) films at two different excitation wavelengths 514 and 785 nm. At the excitation wavelength of 514 nm, the Raman modes showed for a mixed phase of SnS and SnS{sub 2} up to 150 °C and then only a pure SnS phase was observed up to 400 °C due to the dissociation of SnS{sub 2} in to SnS by releasing S. The increase in intensity ofmore » Raman (A{sub g} and B{sub 3g}) as well as IR (B{sub 3u}) active modes of SnS are observed with increasing annealing temperature at excitation wavelength 785 nm due to the increased crystallinity and inactiveness of SnS{sub 2} modes. X-ray diffraction confirming the formation of a single phase of SnS while the greater homogeneity in both size and shape of SnS nanoparticles were confirmed through surface morphology from SEM.« less

Estimation of the latent mediated effect with ordinal data using the limited-information and Bayesian full-information approaches.

PubMed

Chen, Jinsong; Zhang, Dake; Choi, Jaehwa

2015-12-01

It is common to encounter latent variables with ordinal data in social or behavioral research. Although a mediated effect of latent variables (latent mediated effect, or LME) with ordinal data may appear to be a straightforward combination of LME with continuous data and latent variables with ordinal data, the methodological challenges to combine the two are not trivial. This research covers model structures as complex as LME and formulates both point and interval estimates of LME for ordinal data using the Bayesian full-information approach. We also combine weighted least squares (WLS) estimation with the bias-corrected bootstrapping (BCB; Efron Journal of the American Statistical Association, 82, 171-185, 1987) method or the traditional delta method as the limited-information approach. We evaluated the viability of these different approaches across various conditions through simulation studies, and provide an empirical example to illustrate the approaches. We found that the Bayesian approach with reasonably informative priors is preferred when both point and interval estimates are of interest and the sample size is 200 or above.

Formulation for Tin-.sup.117m /diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acids

DOEpatents

Srivastava, Suresh C.; Meinken, George E.

1999-01-01

The invention provides improved formulations of .sup.117m Sn (Sn.sup.4+) DTPA which allow higher doses of .sup.117m Sn (Sn.sup.4+) to be administered than were previously possible. Methods for making pharmaceutical compositions comprising .sup.117m Sn (Sn.sup.4+) DTPA in which the amount of unchelated DTPA is minimized are disclosed along with methods of using the improved formlulations, both for palliation of bone pain associated with cancer and for treatment of osseous tumors.

Earth's rotation irregularities derived from UTIBLI by method of multi-composing of ordinates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Segan, S.; Damjanov, I.; Surlan, B.

Using the method of multi-composing of ordinates we have identified in Earth's rotation a long-periodic term with a period similar to the relaxation time of Chandler nutation. There was not enough information to assess its origin. We demonstrate that the method can be used even in the case when the data time span is comparable to the period of harmonic component.

A comparison of three methods of assessing differential item functioning (DIF) in the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale: ordinal logistic regression, Rasch analysis and the Mantel chi-square procedure.

PubMed

Cameron, Isobel M; Scott, Neil W; Adler, Mats; Reid, Ian C

2014-12-01

It is important for clinical practice and research that measurement scales of well-being and quality of life exhibit only minimal differential item functioning (DIF). DIF occurs where different groups of people endorse items in a scale to different extents after being matched by the intended scale attribute. We investigate the equivalence or otherwise of common methods of assessing DIF. Three methods of measuring age- and sex-related DIF (ordinal logistic regression, Rasch analysis and Mantel χ(2) procedure) were applied to Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) data pertaining to a sample of 1,068 patients consulting primary care practitioners. Three items were flagged by all three approaches as having either age- or sex-related DIF with a consistent direction of effect; a further three items identified did not meet stricter criteria for important DIF using at least one method. When applying strict criteria for significant DIF, ordinal logistic regression was slightly less sensitive. Ordinal logistic regression, Rasch analysis and contingency table methods yielded consistent results when identifying DIF in the HADS depression and HADS anxiety scales. Regardless of methods applied, investigators should use a combination of statistical significance, magnitude of the DIF effect and investigator judgement when interpreting the results.

Enhancement of the electrooxidation of ethanol on Pt-Sn-P/C catalysts prepared by chemical deposition process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Xinzhong; Ge, Junjie; Tian, Tian; Liu, Changpeng; Xing, Wei; Lu, Tianhong

In this paper, five Pt 3Sn 1/C catalysts have been prepared using three different methods. It was found that phosphorus deposited on the surface of carbon with Pt and Sn when sodium hypophosphite was used as reducing agent by optimization of synthetic conditions such as pH in the synthetic solution and temperature. The deposition of phosphorus should be effective on the size reduction and markedly reduces PtSn nanoparticle size, and raise electrochemical active surface (EAS) area of catalyst and improve the catalytic performance. TEM images show PtSnP nanoparticles are highly dispersed on the carbon surface with average diameters of 2 nm. The optimum composition is Pt 3Sn 1P 2/C (note PtSn/C-3) catalyst in my work. With this composition, it shows very high activity for the electrooxidation of ethanol and exhibit enhanced performance compared with other two Pt 3Sn 1/C catalysts that prepared using ethylene glycol reduction method (note PtSn/C-EG) and borohydride reduction method (note PtSn/-B). The maximum power densities of direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) were 61 mW cm -2 that is 150 and 170% higher than that of the PtSn/C-EG and PtSn/C-B catalyst.

Measuring the Properties of Dark Energy with Photometrically Classified Pan-STARRS Supernovae. I. Systematic Uncertainty from Core-collapse Supernova Contamination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, D. O.; Scolnic, D. M.; Riess, A. G.; Kessler, R.; Rest, A.; Kirshner, R. P.; Berger, E.; Ortega, C. A.; Foley, R. J.; Chornock, R.; Challis, P. J.; Burgett, W. S.; Chambers, K. C.; Draper, P. W.; Flewelling, H.; Huber, M. E.; Kaiser, N.; Kudritzki, R.-P.; Metcalfe, N.; Wainscoat, R. J.; Waters, C.

2017-07-01

The Pan-STARRS (PS1) Medium Deep Survey discovered over 5000 likely supernovae (SNe) but obtained spectral classifications for just 10% of its SN candidates. We measured spectroscopic host galaxy redshifts for 3147 of these likely SNe and estimate that ˜1000 are Type Ia SNe (SNe Ia) with light-curve quality sufficient for a cosmological analysis. We use these data with simulations to determine the impact of core-collapse SN (CC SN) contamination on measurements of the dark energy equation of state parameter, w. Using the method of Bayesian Estimation Applied to Multiple Species (BEAMS), distances to SNe Ia and the contaminating CC SN distribution are simultaneously determined. We test light-curve-based SN classification priors for BEAMS as well as a new classification method that relies upon host galaxy spectra and the association of SN type with host type. By testing several SN classification methods and CC SN parameterizations on large SN simulations, we estimate that CC SN contamination gives a systematic error on w ({σ }w{CC}) of 0.014, 29% of the statistical uncertainty. Our best method gives {σ }w{CC}=0.004, just 8% of the statistical uncertainty, but could be affected by incomplete knowledge of the CC SN distribution. This method determines the SALT2 color and shape coefficients, α and β, with ˜3% bias. However, we find that some variants require α and β to be fixed to known values for BEAMS to yield accurate measurements of w. Finally, the inferred abundance of bright CC SNe in our sample is greater than expected based on measured CC SN rates and luminosity functions.

Predicting multi-level drug response with gene expression profile in multiple myeloma using hierarchical ordinal regression.

PubMed

Zhang, Xinyan; Li, Bingzong; Han, Huiying; Song, Sha; Xu, Hongxia; Hong, Yating; Yi, Nengjun; Zhuang, Wenzhuo

2018-05-10

Multiple myeloma (MM), like other cancers, is caused by the accumulation of genetic abnormalities. Heterogeneity exists in the patients' response to treatments, for example, bortezomib. This urges efforts to identify biomarkers from numerous molecular features and build predictive models for identifying patients that can benefit from a certain treatment scheme. However, previous studies treated the multi-level ordinal drug response as a binary response where only responsive and non-responsive groups are considered. It is desirable to directly analyze the multi-level drug response, rather than combining the response to two groups. In this study, we present a novel method to identify significantly associated biomarkers and then develop ordinal genomic classifier using the hierarchical ordinal logistic model. The proposed hierarchical ordinal logistic model employs the heavy-tailed Cauchy prior on the coefficients and is fitted by an efficient quasi-Newton algorithm. We apply our hierarchical ordinal regression approach to analyze two publicly available datasets for MM with five-level drug response and numerous gene expression measures. Our results show that our method is able to identify genes associated with the multi-level drug response and to generate powerful predictive models for predicting the multi-level response. The proposed method allows us to jointly fit numerous correlated predictors and thus build efficient models for predicting the multi-level drug response. The predictive model for the multi-level drug response can be more informative than the previous approaches. Thus, the proposed approach provides a powerful tool for predicting multi-level drug response and has important impact on cancer studies.

Semi-supervised learning for ordinal Kernel Discriminant Analysis.

PubMed

Pérez-Ortiz, M; Gutiérrez, P A; Carbonero-Ruz, M; Hervás-Martínez, C

2016-12-01

Ordinal classification considers those classification problems where the labels of the variable to predict follow a given order. Naturally, labelled data is scarce or difficult to obtain in this type of problems because, in many cases, ordinal labels are given by a user or expert (e.g. in recommendation systems). Firstly, this paper develops a new strategy for ordinal classification where both labelled and unlabelled data are used in the model construction step (a scheme which is referred to as semi-supervised learning). More specifically, the ordinal version of kernel discriminant learning is extended for this setting considering the neighbourhood information of unlabelled data, which is proposed to be computed in the feature space induced by the kernel function. Secondly, a new method for semi-supervised kernel learning is devised in the context of ordinal classification, which is combined with our developed classification strategy to optimise the kernel parameters. The experiments conducted compare 6 different approaches for semi-supervised learning in the context of ordinal classification in a battery of 30 datasets, showing (1) the good synergy of the ordinal version of discriminant analysis and the use of unlabelled data and (2) the advantage of computing distances in the feature space induced by the kernel function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detection of illegal transfer of videos over the Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaisorn, Lekha; Sainui, Janya; Manders, Corey

2010-07-01

In this paper, a method for detecting infringements or modifications of a video in real-time is proposed. The method first segments a video stream into shots, after which it extracts some reference frames as keyframes. This process is performed employing a Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) technique developed in this work. Next, for each input video (represented by its keyframes), ordinal-based signature and SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) descriptors are generated. The ordinal-based method employs a two-level bitmap indexing scheme to construct the index for each video signature. The first level clusters all input keyframes into k clusters while the second level converts the ordinal-based signatures into bitmap vectors. On the other hand, the SIFT-based method directly uses the descriptors as the index. Given a suspect video (being streamed or transferred on the Internet), we generate the signature (ordinal and SIFT descriptors) then we compute similarity between its signature and those signatures in the database based on ordinal signature and SIFT descriptors separately. For similarity measure, besides the Euclidean distance, Boolean operators are also utilized during the matching process. We have tested our system by performing several experiments on 50 videos (each about 1/2 hour in duration) obtained from the TRECVID 2006 data set. For experiments set up, we refer to the conditions provided by TRECVID 2009 on "Content-based copy detection" task. In addition, we also refer to the requirements issued in the call for proposals by MPEG standard on the similar task. Initial result shows that our framework is effective and robust. As compared to our previous work, on top of the achievement we obtained by reducing the storage space and time taken in the ordinal based method, by introducing the SIFT features, we could achieve an overall accuracy in F1 measure of about 96% (improved about 8%).

Development and validation of an UPLC-MS/MS method for the quantification of irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide in plasma, urine, feces, liver and kidney: Application to a pharmacokinetic study of irinotecan in rats.

PubMed

Basu, Sumit; Zeng, Min; Yin, Taijun; Gao, Song; Hu, Ming

2016-03-15

The objective of this research is to develop and validate a sensitive and reproducible UPLC-MS/MS method to quantify irinotecan, its active metabolite SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide (phase II metabolite of SN-38) simultaneously in different bio-matrices (plasma, urine, feces), tissues (liver and kidney) and to use the method to investigate its pharmacokinetic behavior in rats. Irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide has been resolved and separated by C18 column using acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in water used as the mobile phases. Triple quadruple mass spectrometer using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) with positive scan mode were employed to perform mass analysis. The results showed that the linear response range of irinotecan and SN-38 in plasma, feces, liver and kidney is 4.88-10000 nM, 39-5000 nM, 48.8-6250 nM and 48.8-6250 nM, respectively (R(2)>0.99). In case of SN-38 glucuronide, the standard curves were linear in the concentration range of 6.25-2000 nM, 4.88-1250 nM, 9.8-1250 nM and 9.8-1250 nM in plasma, feces, liver and kidney homogenates, respectively. The lower limit of detection (LLOD) of irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide was determined to be less than 25 nM in all bio-matrices as well as tissue homogenates. Recoveries of irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide at three different concentrations (low, medium and high) were not less than 85% at three different concentrations in plasma and feces. The percentage matrix factors in different bio-matrices and tissues were within 20%. The UPLC-MS/MS method was validated with intra-day and inter-day precision of less than 15% in plasma, feces, liver and kidney. Owing to the high sensitivity of this method, only 20 μl of plasma, urine and homogenates of liver, kidney and feces is needed. The validated method has been successfully employed for pharmacokinetic evaluation of irinotecan in male wistar rats to quantify irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide in plasma, feces, and urine samples. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Development and validation of an UPLC-MS/MS method for the quantification of irinotecan, SN 38 and SN-38 glucuronide in plasma, urine, feces, liver and kidney: Application to a pharmacokinetic study of irinotecan in rats

PubMed Central

Basu, Sumit; Zeng, Min; Yin, Taijun; Gao, Song; Hu, Ming

2016-01-01

The objective of this research is to develop and validate a sensitive and reproducible UPLC-MS/MS method to quantify irinotecan, its active metabolite SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide (phase II metabolite of SN-38) simultaneously in different bio-matrices (plasma, urine, feces), tissues (liver and kidney) and to use the method to investigate its pharmacokinetic behavior in rats. Irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide has been resolved and separated by C18 column using acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in water used as the mobile phases. Triple quadruple mass spectrometer using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) with positive scan mode were employed to perform mass analysis. The results showed that the linear response range of irinotecan and SN-38 in plasma, feces, liver and kidney is 4.88 –10000 nM, 39 – 5000 nM, 48.8 –6250 nM and 48.8 – 6250 nM, respectively (R2 > 0.99). In case of SN-38 glucuronide, the standard curves were linear in the concentration range of 6.25 – 2000 nM, 4.88 – 1250 nM, 9.8 – 1250 nM and 9.8 – 1250 nM in plasma, feces, liver and kidney homogenates, respectively. The lower limit of detection (LLOD) of irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide was determined to be less than 25 nM in all bio-matrices as well as tissue homogenates. Recoveries of irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide at three different concentrations (low, medium and high) were not less than 85% at three different concentrations in plasma and feces. The percentage matrix factors in different bio-matrices and tissues were within 20%. The UPLC-MS/MS method was validated with intra-day and inter-day precision of less than 15% in plasma, feces, liver and kidney. Owing to the high sensitivity of this method, only 20 µl of plasma, urine and homogenates of liver, kidney and feces is needed. The validated method has been successfully employed for pharmacokinetic evaluation of irinotecan in male wistar rats to quantify irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38 glucuronide in plasma, feces, and urine samples. PMID:26894853

Sandwich-like C@SnO2/Sn/void@C hollow spheres as improved anode materials for lithium ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Huijun; Jiang, Xinya; Chai, Yaqin; Yang, Xia; Yuan, Ruo

2018-03-01

As lithium ion batteries (LIBs) anode, SnO2 suffers fast capacity fading due to its large volume expansion during discharge/charge process. To overcome the problem, sandwich-like C@SnO2/Sn/void@C hollow spheres (referred as C@SnO2/Sn/void@C HSs) are prepared by in-situ polymerization and carbonization, using hollow SnO2 as self-template and dopamine as carbon source. The C@SnO2/Sn/void@C HSs possesses the merits of hollow and core/void/shell structure, so that they can accommodate the volume change under discharge/charge process, shorten the transmission distance of Li ions, own more contact area for the electrolyte. Thanks to these advantages, C@SnO2/Sn/void@C HSs display excellent electrochemical performance as anode materials for LIBs, which deliver a high capacity of 786.7 mAh g-1 at the current density of 0.5 A g-1 after 60 cycles. The simple synthesis method for C@SnO2/Sn/void@C HSs with special structure will provide a promising method for preparing other anode materials for LIBs.

Simultaneous detection of morphine and codeine in urine samples of heroin addicts using multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified SnO2-Zn2SnO4 nanocomposites paste electrode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taei, M.; Hasanpour, F.; Hajhashemi, V.; Movahedi, M.; Baghlani, H.

2016-02-01

The SnO2-Zn2SnO4 nanocomposite was successfully prepared via a simple solid state method. Then, a chemically modified electrode based on incorporating SnO2-Zn2SnO4 into multi-walled carbon nanotube paste matrix (MWCNTs/SnO2-Zn2SnO4/CPE) was prepared for the simultaneous determination of morphine(MO) and codeine (CO). The measurements were carried out by application of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), cyclic voltammetry, and chronoamperometry. The MWCNTs/SnO2-Zn2SnO4/CPE showed an efficient electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of MO and CO. The separation of the oxidation peak potential for MO-CO was about 550 mV. The calibration curves obtained for MO and CO were in the ranges of 0.1-310 μmol L-1 and 0.1-600.0 μmol L-1, respectively. The detection limits (S/N = 3) were 0.009 μmol L-1 for both drugs. The method also successfully employed as a selective, simple, and precise method for the determination of MO and CO in pharmaceutical and biological samples.

Overstatement in happiness reporting with ordinal, bounded scale.

PubMed

Tanaka, Saori C; Yamada, Katsunori; Kitada, Ryo; Tanaka, Satoshi; Sugawara, Sho K; Ohtake, Fumio; Sadato, Norihiro

2016-02-18

There are various methods by which people can express subjective evaluations quantitatively. For example, happiness can be measured on a scale from 1 to 10, and has been suggested as a measure of economic policy. However, there is resistance to these types of measurement from economists, who often regard welfare to be a cardinal, unbounded quantity. It is unclear whether there are differences between subjective evaluation reported on ordinal, bounded scales and on cardinal, unbounded scales. To answer this question, we developed functional magnetic resonance imaging experimental tasks for reporting happiness from monetary gain and the perception of visual stimulus. Subjects tended to report higher values when they used ordinal scales instead of cardinal scales. There were differences in neural activation between ordinal and cardinal reporting scales. The posterior parietal area showed greater activation when subjects used an ordinal scale instead of a cardinal scale. Importantly, the striatum exhibited greater activation when asked to report happiness on an ordinal scale than when asked to report on a cardinal scale. The finding that ordinal (bounded) scales are associated with higher reported happiness and greater activation in the reward system shows that overstatement bias in happiness data must be considered.

A Numerical Investigation of the Extinction of Low Strain Rate Diffusion Flames by an Agent in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Puri, Ishwar K.

2004-01-01

Our goal has been to investigate the influence of both dilution and radiation on the extinction process of nonpremixed flames at low strain rates. Simulations have been performed by using a counterflow code and three radiation models have been included in it, namely, the optically thin, the narrowband, and discrete ordinate models. The counterflow flame code OPPDIFF was modified to account for heat transfer losses by radiation from the hot gases. The discrete ordinate method (DOM) approximation was first suggested by Chandrasekhar for solving problems in interstellar atmospheres. Carlson and Lathrop developed the method for solving multi-dimensional problem in neutron transport. Only recently has the method received attention in the field of heat transfer. Due to the applicability of the discrete ordinate method for thermal radiation problems involving flames, the narrowband code RADCAL was modified to calculate the radiative properties of the gases. A non-premixed counterflow flame was simulated with the discrete ordinate method for radiative emissions. In comparison with two other models, it was found that the heat losses were comparable with the optically thin and simple narrowband model. The optically thin model had the highest heat losses followed by the DOM model and the narrow-band model.

The reconstruction of atomic co-ordinates from a protein stereo ribbon diagram when additional information for sufficient sidechain positions is available

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopes de Oliveira, Paulo Sérgio; Garratt, Richard Charles

1998-11-01

We describe the application of a method for the reconstruction of three-dimensional atomic co-ordinates from a stereo ribbon diagram of a protein when additional information for some of the sidechain positions is available. The method has applications in cases where the 3D co-ordinates have not been made available by any means other than the original publication and are of interest as models for molecular replacement, homology modelling etc. The approach is, on the one hand, more general than other methods which are based on stereo figures which present specific atomic positions, but on the other hand relies on input from a specialist. Its exact implementation will depend on the figure of interest. We have applied the method to the case of the α-d-galactose-binding lectin jacalin with a resultant RMS deviation, compared to the crystal structure, of 1.5 Å for the 133 Cα positions of the α-chain and 2.6 Å for the less regular β-chain. The success of the method depends on the secondary structure of the protein under consideration and the orientation of the stereo diagram itself but can be expected to reproduce the mainchain co-ordinates more accurately than the sidechains. Some ways in which the method may be generalised to other cases are discussed.

Method for palliation of pain in human bone cancer using therapeutic tin-117m compositions

DOEpatents

Srivastava, S.C.; Meinken, G.E.; Mausner, L.F.; Atkins, H.L.

1998-12-29

The invention provides a method for the palliation of bone pain due to cancer by the administration of a unique dosage of a tin-117m (Sn-117m) stannic chelate complex in a pharmaceutically acceptable composition. In addition, the invention provides a method for simultaneous palliation of bone pain and radiotherapy in cancer patients using compositions containing Sn-117m chelates. The invention also provides a method for palliating bone pain in cancer patients using Sn-117m-containing compositions and monitoring patient status by imaging the distribution of the Sn-117m in the patients. Also provided are pharmaceutically acceptable compositions containing Sn-117m chelate complexes for the palliation of bone pain in cancer patients. 5 figs.

Method for palliation of pain in human bone cancer using therapeutic tin-117m compositions

DOEpatents

Srivastava, Suresh C.; Meinken, George E.; Mausner, Leonard F.; Atkins, Harold L.

1998-12-29

The invention provides a method for the palliation of bone pain due to cancer by the administration of a unique dosage of a tin-117m (Sn-117m) stannic chelate complex in a pharmaceutically acceptable composition. In addition, the invention provides a method for simultaneous palliation of bone pain and radiotherapy in cancer patients using compositions containing Sn-117m chelates. The invention also provides a method for palliating bone pain in cancer patients using Sn-117m-containing compositions and monitoring patient status by imaging the distribution of the Sn-117m in the patients. Also provided are pharmaceutically acceptable compositions containing Sn-117m chelate complexes for the palliation of bone pain in cancer patients.

Causal mediation analysis with a binary outcome and multiple continuous or ordinal mediators: Simulations and application to an alcohol intervention.

PubMed

Nguyen, Trang Quynh; Webb-Vargas, Yenny; Koning, Ina M; Stuart, Elizabeth A

We investigate a method to estimate the combined effect of multiple continuous/ordinal mediators on a binary outcome: 1) fit a structural equation model with probit link for the outcome and identity/probit link for continuous/ordinal mediators, 2) predict potential outcome probabilities, and 3) compute natural direct and indirect effects. Step 2 involves rescaling the latent continuous variable underlying the outcome to address residual mediator variance/covariance. We evaluate the estimation of risk-difference- and risk-ratio-based effects (RDs, RRs) using the ML, WLSMV and Bayes estimators in Mplus. Across most variations in path-coefficient and mediator-residual-correlation signs and strengths, and confounding situations investigated, the method performs well with all estimators, but favors ML/WLSMV for RDs with continuous mediators, and Bayes for RRs with ordinal mediators. Bayes outperforms WLSMV/ML regardless of mediator type when estimating RRs with small potential outcome probabilities and in two other special cases. An adolescent alcohol prevention study is used for illustration.

Effects of Na and secondary phases on physical properties of SnS thin film after sulfurization process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawano, Yu; Kodani, Yuto; Chantana, Jakapan; Minemoto, Takashi

2016-09-01

2.48%-efficient SnS thin film solar cell is obtained under thermal evaporation method by optimizing growth temperature. The method to fabricate SnS films is limited by growth temperature, which should not be over 200 °C to prevent re-evaporation of SnS. To further enhance SnS grains, SnS films were annealed in H2S gas from 200 to 500 °C, namely sulfurization process. SnS grain size was increased with sulfurization temperature of above 400 °C however, secondary phase grains on film’s surface were observed owing to the accumulated Na, diffused from soda-lime glass substrate into the film, thus deteriorating film’s quality, implied by Urbach energy.

Two-step fabrication of single-layer rectangular SnSe flakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Jizhou; Wong, Calvin Pei Yu; Zou, Jing; Li, Shisheng; Wang, Qixing; Chen, Jianyi; Qi, Dianyu; Wang, Hongyu; Eda, Goki; Chua, Daniel H. C.; Shi, Yumeng; Zhang, Wenjing; Thye Shen Wee, Andrew

2017-06-01

Recent findings about ultrahigh thermoelectric performances in SnSe single crystals have stimulated research on this binary semiconductor material. Furthermore, single-layer SnSe is an interesting analogue of phosphorene, with potential applications in two-dimensional (2D) nanoelectronics. Although significant advances in the synthesis of SnSe nanocrystals have been made, fabrication of well-defined large-sized single-layer SnSe flakes in a facile way still remains a challenge. The growth of single-layer rectangular SnSe flakes with a thickness of ~6.8 Å and lateral dimensions of about 30 µm  ×  50 µm is demonstrated by a two-step synthesis method, where bulk rectangular SnSe flakes were synthesized first by a vapor transport deposition method followed by a nitrogen etching technique to fabricate single-layer rectangular SnSe flakes in an atmospheric pressure system. The as-obtained rectangular SnSe flakes exhibited a pure crystalline phase oriented along the a-axis direction. Field-effect transistor devices fabricated on individual single-layer rectangular SnSe flakes using gold electrodes exhibited p-doped ambipolar behavior and a hole mobility of about 0.16 cm2 V-1 s-1. This two-step fabrication method can be helpful for growing other similar 2D large-sized single-layer materials.

Enhanced hydrogen storage capacity of Ni/Sn-coated MWCNT nanocomposites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varshoy, Shokufeh; Khoshnevisan, Bahram; Behpour, Mohsen

2018-02-01

The hydrogen storage capacity of Ni-Sn, Ni-Sn/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and Ni/Sn-coated MWCNT electrodes was investigated by using a chronopotentiometry method. The Sn layer was electrochemically deposited inside pores of nanoscale Ni foam. The MWCNTs were put on the Ni-Sn foam with nanoscale porosities using an electrophoretic deposition method and coated with Sn nanoparticles by an electroplating process. X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectroscopy results indicated that the Sn layer and MWCNTs are successfully deposited on the surface of Ni substrate. On the other hand, a field-emission scanning electron microscopy technique revealed the morphology of resulting Ni foam, Ni-Sn and Ni-Sn/MWCNT electrodes. In order to measure the hydrogen adsorption performed in a three electrode cell, the Ni-Sn, Ni-Sn/MWCNT and Ni/Sn-coated MWCNT electrodes were used as working electrodes whereas Pt and Ag/AgCl electrodes were employed as counter and reference electrodes, respectively. Our results on the discharge capacity in different electrodes represent that the Ni/Sn-coated MWCNT has a maximum discharge capacity of ˜30 000 mAh g-1 for 20 cycles compared to that of Ni-Sn/MWCNT electrodes for 15 cycles (˜9500 mAh g-1). By increasing the number of cycles in a constant current, the corresponding capacity increases, thereby reaching a constant amount for 20 cycles.

Growth experiment of narrow band-gap semiconductor PbSnTe single crystals in space (M-1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yamada, Tomoaki

1993-01-01

An experiment on crystal growth of Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Te in microgravity is planned. This material is an alloy of the compound semiconductors PbTe and SnTe. It is a promising material for infrared diode lasers and detectors in the wavelength region between 6 and 30 micron. Since the electrical properties of Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Te depend greatly on the Pb/Sn ratio and crystalline defects as well as impurity concentration, homogeneous, defect-free, high-quality crystals are anticipated. Although many growth methods, such as the pulling method, the Bridgman method, the vapor growth method, etc., have been applied to the growth of Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Te, large, homogeneous, low-defect-density crystals have not yet been grown on Earth. The unsuccessful results were caused by buoyancy-driven convection in the fluids induced by the specific gravity difference between heated and cooled fluids on Earth. A crystal is grown by cooling the melt from one end of the ampoule. In crystal growth from the melt, about 30 percent of the SnTe in the melt is rejected at the solid-liquid interface during solidification. On Earth, the rejected SnTe is completely mixed with the remaining melt by convection in the melt. Therefore, SnTe concentration in the melt, and accordingly in the crystal, increases as the crystal grows. In the microgravity environment, buoyancy-driven convection is suppressed because the specific gravity difference is negligible. In that case, the rejected SnTe remains at the solid-liquid interface and its concentration increases only at the interface. If the growth rate is higher than the PbTe-SnTe interdiffusion rate, the amount of SnTe which diffuses from the interface into the melt increases as SnTe piles up at the interface, and finally it balances the amount of rejected SnTe during solidification, resulting in steady-state SnTe transportation at the interface. By using this principle, compositionally homogeneous crystals can be grown. Furthermore, low-defect-density crystals will be grown in microgravity, because convection causes crystalline defects by mising hot and cold fluids and generating temperature fluctuations in them.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Larsen, E.W.

A class of Projected Discrete-Ordinates (PDO) methods is described for obtaining iterative solutions of discrete-ordinates problems with convergence rates comparable to those observed using Diffusion Synthetic Acceleration (DSA). The spatially discretized PDO solutions are generally not equal to the DSA solutions, but unlike DSA, which requires great care in the use of spatial discretizations to preserve stability, the PDO solutions remain stable and rapidly convergent with essentially arbitrary spatial discretizations. Numerical results are presented which illustrate the rapid convergence and the accuracy of solutions obtained using PDO methods with commonplace differencing methods.

Measuring information interactions on the ordinal pattern of stock time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Xiaojun; Shang, Pengjian; Wang, Jing

2013-02-01

The interactions among time series as individual components of complex systems can be quantified by measuring to what extent they exchange information among each other. In many applications, one focuses not on the original series but on its ordinal pattern. In such cases, trivial noises appear more likely to be filtered and the abrupt influence of extreme values can be weakened. Cross-sample entropy and inner composition alignment have been introduced as prominent methods to estimate the information interactions of complex systems. In this paper, we modify both methods to detect the interactions among the ordinal pattern of stock return and volatility series, and we try to uncover the information exchanges across sectors in Chinese stock markets.

Non-proportional odds multivariate logistic regression of ordinal family data.

PubMed

Zaloumis, Sophie G; Scurrah, Katrina J; Harrap, Stephen B; Ellis, Justine A; Gurrin, Lyle C

2015-03-01

Methods to examine whether genetic and/or environmental sources can account for the residual variation in ordinal family data usually assume proportional odds. However, standard software to fit the non-proportional odds model to ordinal family data is limited because the correlation structure of family data is more complex than for other types of clustered data. To perform these analyses we propose the non-proportional odds multivariate logistic regression model and take a simulation-based approach to model fitting using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, such as partially collapsed Gibbs sampling and the Metropolis algorithm. We applied the proposed methodology to male pattern baldness data from the Victorian Family Heart Study. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Therapeutic tin-117m compositions

DOEpatents

Srivastava, Suresh C.; Meinken, George E.; Mausner, Leonard F.; Atkins, Harold L.

2003-01-01

The invention provides a method for the palliation of bone pain due to cancer by the administration of a unique dosage of a tin-117m (Sn-117m) stannic chelate complex in a pharmaceutically acceptable composition. In addition, the invention provides a method for simultaneous palliation of bone pain and radiotherapy in cancer patients using compositions containing Sn-117m chelates. The invention also provides a method for palliating bone pain in cancer patients using Sn-117m-containing compositions and monitoring patient status by imaging the distribution of the Sn-117m in the patients. Also provided are pharmaceutically acceptable compositions containing Sn-117m chelate complexes for the palliation of bone pain in cancer patients.

Radiopharmaceutical stannic Sn-117m chelate compositions and methods of use

DOEpatents

Srivastava, Suresh C.; Meinken, George E.

2001-01-01

Radiopharmaceutical compositions including .sup.117m Sn labeled stannic (Sn.sup.4+) chelates are provided. The chelates are preferably polyhydroxycarboxylate, such as oxalates, tartrates, citrates, malonates, gluconates, glucoheptonates and the like. Methods of making .sup.117m Sn-labeled (Sn.sup.4+) polyhydroxycarboxylic chelates are also provided. The foregoing pharmaceutical compositions can be used in methods of preparing bone for scintigraphical analysis, for radiopharmaceutical skeletal imaging, treatment of pain resulting from metastatic bone involvement, treatment of primary bone cancer, treatment of cancer resulting from metastatic spread to bone from other primary cancers, treatment of pain resulting from rheumatoid arthritis, treatment of bone/joint disorders and to monitor radioactively the skeletal system.

Preconcentration of Sn (II) using the methylene blue on the activated carbon and its determination by spectrophotometry method.

PubMed

Khodadoust, Saeid; Cham Kouri, Narges

2014-04-05

A simple and accurate spectrophotometric method for determination of trace amounts of Sn (II) ion in soil sample was developed by using the methylene blue (MB) in the presence of activated carbon (AC) as the adsorbent Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) of Sn (II) and then determined by UV-Vis. The Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range of 1-80ngmL(-1) of Sn (II) with the detection limits of 0.34ngmL(-1). The influence of type and volume of eluent, concentration of MB, pH, and amount of AC on sensitivity of spectrophotometric method were optimized. The method has been successfully applied for Sn (II) ion determination in soil sample. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Growth of high-Sn content (28%) GeSn alloy films by sputtering epitaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Jun; Liu, Zhi; Zhang, Yongwang; Zuo, Yuhua; Li, Chuanbo; Xue, Chunlai; Cheng, Buwen; Wang, Qiming

2018-06-01

Crystalline GeSn thin films with Sn content up to 0.28 were deposited on Sn graded GeSn buffer on a Ge substrate at low temperatures by sputtering epitaxy. The structural properties of the high-Sn content GeSn alloy films were characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The effect of annealing on the segregation of Sn in the high-Sn content GeSn film was investigated, and both the Ge0.72Sn0.28 and the Ge0.8Sn0.2 films were found to be stable after annealing at temperatures below 400 °C, which meets the needs of thermal budget for future photonic devices fabrication. The present results indicate that sputtering epitaxy is cost-effective method for growing high-Sn GeSn films.

CdS/CdSe co-sensitized SnO2 photoelectrodes for quantum dots sensitized solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Yibing; Lin, Yu; Meng, Yongming; Tu, Yongguang; Zhang, Xiaolong

2015-07-01

SnO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal method and applied to photo-electrodes of quantum dots-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). After sensitizing SnO2 films via CdS quantum dots, CdSe quantum dots was decorated on the surface of CdS/SnO2 photo-electrodes to further improve the power conversion efficiency. CdS and CdSe quantum dots were deposited by successive ionic layer absorption and reaction method (SILAR) and chemical bath deposition method (CBD) respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to identify the surface profile and crystal structure of SnO2 photo-electrodes before and after deposited quantum dots. After CdSe co-sensitized process, an overall power conversion efficiency of 1.78% was obtained in CdSe/CdS/SnO2 QDSSC, which showed 66.4% improvement than that of CdS/SnO2 QDSSC.

SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IN METALS AND ALLOYS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cherry, W.H.; Cody, G.D.; Cooper, J.L.

1962-01-01

Methods were developed for the measurement of the interphase energy in superconductors. A description of the method is given along with preliminary results on thin foils and films of Sn. Measurements were made of the thermal contact resistance (Kaptiza resistance) between various solids and liquid He. These measurements were made in the normal and superconducting states for Pb, Sn, and In, and for the insulator sapphire. Measurements were made of the transition temperatures in the system (Nb, Ta, V)/sub 3/Sn. The transition temperatures range from 2.8 to 18 deg K and can be related to a simple mass and volumemore » dependence. A new method of preparation of Nb/sub 3/Sn was developed and is described in detail. With this method it is possible to prepare crystalline Nb/ sub 3/Sn and to deposit films of Nb/sub 3/SN in various geometries. The application of this technique to the continuous deposition of Nb/sub 3/Sn on wire is described, and some superconducting properties of this wire are given. Alloying experiments were raade and results indicate ambiguities in the electron- to-atom ratio ascribed to various elements. Resistance measurements on sintered and nonsintered specimens of Nb/sub 3/Sn reveal a resistance anomaly near 100 deg K. (auth)« less

Co-Ordinating Education during Emergencies and Reconstruction: Challenges and Responsibilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sommers, Marc

2004-01-01

While co-ordination is essentially a method of getting institutions to work together, it is clearly not synonymous with togetherness. Undercurrents of suspicion and distrust between individuals and institutional actors can affect important relationships and give rise to enduring misunderstandings and perplexing challenges. Turf battles involving…

Correlation between the resistivity and the atomic clusters in liquid Cu-Sn alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Peng; Zhang, Jinyang; Hu, Xun; Li, Cancan; Zhao, Degang; Teng, XinYing; Yang, Cheng

2018-05-01

The liquid structure of CuxSn100-x (x = 0, 10, 20, 33, 40, 50, 60, 75, 80 and 100) alloys with atom percentage were investigated with resistivity and viscosity methods. It can be found from the resistivity data that the liquid Cu75Sn25 and Cu80Sn20 alloys had a negative temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR), and liquid Cu75Sn25 alloy had a minimum value of -9.24 μΩ cm K-1. While the rest of liquid Cu-Sn alloys had a positive TCR. The results indicated that the Cu75Sn25 atomic clusters existed in Cu-Sn alloys. In addition, the method of calculating the percentage of Cu75Sn25 atomic clusters was established on the basis of resistivity theory and the law of conservation of mass. The Cu75Sn25 alloy had a maximum volume of the atomic clusters and a highest activation energy. The results further proved the existence of Cu75Sn25 atomic clusters. Furthermore, the correlation between the liquid structure and the resistivity was established. These results provide a useful reference for the investigation of liquid structure via the sensitive physical properties to the liquid structure.

α-Eleostearic acid-containing triglycerides for a continuous assay to determine lipase sn-1 and sn-3 regio-preference.

PubMed

El Alaoui, Meddy; Soulère, Laurent; Noiriel, Alexandre; Queneau, Yves; Abousalham, Abdelkarim

2017-08-01

Lipases are essentially described as sn-1 and sn-3 regio-selective. Actually few methods are available to measure this lipase regio-selectivity, moreover they require chiral chromatography analysis or specific derivations which are discontinuous and time consuming. In this study we describe a new, convenient, sensitive and continuous spectrophotometric method to screen lipases regio-selectivity using synthetic triglycerides (TG) containing α-eleostearic acid (9Z, 11E, 13E-octadecatrienoic acid) either at the sn-1 position [1-α-eleostearoyl-2,3-octadecyl-sn-glycerol (sn-EOO)] or at the sn-3 position [1,2-octadecyl-3-α-eleostearoyl-sn-glycerol (sn-OOE)] and coated onto the wells of microtiter plates. A non-hydrolysable ether bond, with a non UV-absorbing alkyl chain, was introduced at the other sn positions to prevent acyl chain migration during TG synthesis or lipolysis. The synthesis of TG containing α-eleostearic acid was performed from S-glycidol in six steps to obtain sn-EOO and in five steps to sn-OOE. The α-eleostearic acid conjugated triene constitutes an intrinsic chromophore and, consequently, confers the strong UV absorption properties of this free fatty acid as well as of the TG harboring it. The lipase activity on coated sn-EOO or sn-OOE was measured by the increase in the absorbance at 272nm due to the transition of α-eleostearic acid from the adsorbed to the soluble state. Human and porcine pancreatic lipases, guinea pig pancreatic lipase related protein 2, Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase, Candida antarctica lipase A and Candida antarctica lipase B were all used to validate the assay. This continuous high-throughput screening method could determine directly without any processes after lipolysis the regio-selectivity of various lipases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Method of manufacturing superconductor wire

DOEpatents

Motowidlo, Leszek

2014-09-16

A method for forming Nb.sub.3Sn superconducting wire is provided. The method employs a powder-in-tube process using a high-tin intermetallic compound, such as MnSn.sub.2, for producing the Nb.sub.3Sn. The use of a high-tin intermetallic compound enables the process to perform hot extrusion without melting the high-tin intermetallic compound. Alternatively, the method may entail drawing the wire without hot extrusion.

Theoretical band structure of the superconducting antiperovskite oxide Sr3-xSnO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ikeda, Atsutoshi; Fukumoto, Toshiyuki; Oudah, Mohamed; Hausmann, Jan Niklas; Yonezawa, Shingo; Kobayashi, Shingo; Sato, Masatoshi; Tassel, Cédric; Takeiri, Fumitaka; Takatsu, Hiroshi; Kageyama, Hiroshi; Maeno, Yoshiteru

2018-05-01

In order to investigate the position of the strontium deficiency in superconductive Sr3-xSnO, we synthesized and measured X-ray-diffraction patterns of Sr3-xSnO (x ∼ 0.5). Because no clear peaks originating from superstructures were observed, strontium deficiency is most likely to be randomly distributed. We also performed first-principles band-structure calculations on Sr3-xSnO (x = 0, 0.5) using two methods: full-potential linearized-augmented plane-wave plus local orbitals method and the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green function method combined with the coherent potential approximation. We revealed that the Fermi energy of Sr3-xSnO in case of x ∼ 0.5 is about 0.8 eV below the original Fermi energy of the stoichiometric Sr3SnO, where the mixing of the valence p and conduction d orbitals are considered to be small.

Solid Liquid Interdiffusion Bonding of (Pb, Sn)Te Thermoelectric Modules with Cu Electrodes Using a Thin-Film Sn Interlayer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chuang, T. H.; Lin, H. J.; Chuang, C. H.; Yeh, W. T.; Hwang, J. D.; Chu, H. S.

2014-12-01

A (Pb, Sn)Te thermoelectric element plated with a Ni barrier layer and a Ag reaction layer has been joined with a Cu electrode coated with Ag and Sn thin films using a solid-liquid interdiffusion bonding method. This method allows the interfacial reaction between Ag and Sn such that Ag3Sn intermetallic compounds form at low temperature and are stable at high temperature. In this study, the bonding strength was about 6.6 MPa, and the specimens fractured along the interface between the (Pb, Sn)Te thermoelectric element and the Ni barrier layer. Pre-electroplating a film of Sn with a thickness of about 1 μm on the thermoelectric element and pre-heating at 250°C for 3 min ensures the adhesion between the thermoelectric material and the Ni barrier layer. The bonding strength is thus increased to a maximal value of 12.2 MPa, and most of the fractures occur inside the thermoelectric material. During the bonding process, not only the Ag3Sn intermetallics but also Cu6Sn5 forms at the Ag3Sn/Cu interface, which transforms into Cu3Sn with increases in the bonding temperature or bonding time.

Minimization of annotation work: diagnosis of mammographic masses via active learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yu; Zhang, Jingyang; Xie, Hongzhi; Zhang, Shuyang; Gu, Lixu

2018-06-01

The prerequisite for establishing an effective prediction system for mammographic diagnosis is the annotation of each mammographic image. The manual annotation work is time-consuming and laborious, which becomes a great hindrance for researchers. In this article, we propose a novel active learning algorithm that can adequately address this problem, leading to the minimization of the labeling costs on the premise of guaranteed performance. Our proposed method is different from the existing active learning methods designed for the general problem as it is specifically designed for mammographic images. Through its modified discriminant functions and improved sample query criteria, the proposed method can fully utilize the pairing of mammographic images and select the most valuable images from both the mediolateral and craniocaudal views. Moreover, in order to extend active learning to the ordinal regression problem, which has no precedent in existing studies, but is essential for mammographic diagnosis (mammographic diagnosis is not only a classification task, but also an ordinal regression task for predicting an ordinal variable, viz. the malignancy risk of lesions), multiple sample query criteria need to be taken into consideration simultaneously. We formulate it as a criteria integration problem and further present an algorithm based on self-adaptive weighted rank aggregation to achieve a good solution. The efficacy of the proposed method was demonstrated on thousands of mammographic images from the digital database for screening mammography. The labeling costs of obtaining optimal performance in the classification and ordinal regression task respectively fell to 33.8 and 19.8 percent of their original costs. The proposed method also generated 1228 wins, 369 ties and 47 losses for the classification task, and 1933 wins, 258 ties and 185 losses for the ordinal regression task compared to the other state-of-the-art active learning algorithms. By taking the particularities of mammographic images, the proposed AL method can indeed reduce the manual annotation work to a great extent without sacrificing the performance of the prediction system for mammographic diagnosis.

Minimization of annotation work: diagnosis of mammographic masses via active learning.

PubMed

Zhao, Yu; Zhang, Jingyang; Xie, Hongzhi; Zhang, Shuyang; Gu, Lixu

2018-05-22

The prerequisite for establishing an effective prediction system for mammographic diagnosis is the annotation of each mammographic image. The manual annotation work is time-consuming and laborious, which becomes a great hindrance for researchers. In this article, we propose a novel active learning algorithm that can adequately address this problem, leading to the minimization of the labeling costs on the premise of guaranteed performance. Our proposed method is different from the existing active learning methods designed for the general problem as it is specifically designed for mammographic images. Through its modified discriminant functions and improved sample query criteria, the proposed method can fully utilize the pairing of mammographic images and select the most valuable images from both the mediolateral and craniocaudal views. Moreover, in order to extend active learning to the ordinal regression problem, which has no precedent in existing studies, but is essential for mammographic diagnosis (mammographic diagnosis is not only a classification task, but also an ordinal regression task for predicting an ordinal variable, viz. the malignancy risk of lesions), multiple sample query criteria need to be taken into consideration simultaneously. We formulate it as a criteria integration problem and further present an algorithm based on self-adaptive weighted rank aggregation to achieve a good solution. The efficacy of the proposed method was demonstrated on thousands of mammographic images from the digital database for screening mammography. The labeling costs of obtaining optimal performance in the classification and ordinal regression task respectively fell to 33.8 and 19.8 percent of their original costs. The proposed method also generated 1228 wins, 369 ties and 47 losses for the classification task, and 1933 wins, 258 ties and 185 losses for the ordinal regression task compared to the other state-of-the-art active learning algorithms. By taking the particularities of mammographic images, the proposed AL method can indeed reduce the manual annotation work to a great extent without sacrificing the performance of the prediction system for mammographic diagnosis.

Impact of San Francisco’s Toy Ordinance on Restaurants and Children’s Food Purchases, 2011–2012

PubMed Central

Saelens, Brian E.; Kapphahn, Kristopher I.; Hekler, Eric B.; Buman, Matthew P.; Goldstein, Benjamin A.; Krukowski, Rebecca A.; O’Donohue, Laura S.; Gardner, Christopher D.; King, Abby C.

2014-01-01

Introduction In 2011, San Francisco passed the first citywide ordinance to improve the nutritional standards of children’s meals sold at restaurants by preventing the giving away of free toys or other incentives with meals unless nutritional criteria were met. This study examined the impact of the Healthy Food Incentives Ordinance at ordinance-affected restaurants on restaurant response (eg, toy-distribution practices, change in children’s menus), and the energy and nutrient content of all orders and children’s-meal–only orders purchased for children aged 0 through 12 years. Methods Restaurant responses were examined from January 2010 through March 2012. Parent–caregiver/child dyads (n = 762) who were restaurant customers were surveyed at 2 points before and 1 seasonally matched point after ordinance enactment at Chain A and B restaurants (n = 30) in 2011 and 2012. Results Both restaurant chains responded to the ordinance by selling toys separately from children’s meals, but neither changed their menus to meet ordinance-specified nutrition criteria. Among children for whom children’s meals were purchased, significant decreases in kilocalories, sodium, and fat per order were likely due to changes in children’s side dishes and beverages at Chain A. Conclusion Although the changes at Chain A did not appear to be directly in response to the ordinance, the transition to a more healthful beverage and default side dish was consistent with the intent of the ordinance. Study results underscore the importance of policy wording, support the concept that more healthful defaults may be a powerful approach for improving dietary intake, and suggest that public policies may contribute to positive restaurant changes. PMID:25032837

Multivariate decoding of brain images using ordinal regression.

PubMed

Doyle, O M; Ashburner, J; Zelaya, F O; Williams, S C R; Mehta, M A; Marquand, A F

2013-11-01

Neuroimaging data are increasingly being used to predict potential outcomes or groupings, such as clinical severity, drug dose response, and transitional illness states. In these examples, the variable (target) we want to predict is ordinal in nature. Conventional classification schemes assume that the targets are nominal and hence ignore their ranked nature, whereas parametric and/or non-parametric regression models enforce a metric notion of distance between classes. Here, we propose a novel, alternative multivariate approach that overcomes these limitations - whole brain probabilistic ordinal regression using a Gaussian process framework. We applied this technique to two data sets of pharmacological neuroimaging data from healthy volunteers. The first study was designed to investigate the effect of ketamine on brain activity and its subsequent modulation with two compounds - lamotrigine and risperidone. The second study investigates the effect of scopolamine on cerebral blood flow and its modulation using donepezil. We compared ordinal regression to multi-class classification schemes and metric regression. Considering the modulation of ketamine with lamotrigine, we found that ordinal regression significantly outperformed multi-class classification and metric regression in terms of accuracy and mean absolute error. However, for risperidone ordinal regression significantly outperformed metric regression but performed similarly to multi-class classification both in terms of accuracy and mean absolute error. For the scopolamine data set, ordinal regression was found to outperform both multi-class and metric regression techniques considering the regional cerebral blood flow in the anterior cingulate cortex. Ordinal regression was thus the only method that performed well in all cases. Our results indicate the potential of an ordinal regression approach for neuroimaging data while providing a fully probabilistic framework with elegant approaches for model selection. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wen, Zhigang, E-mail: xh168688@126.com; State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qiannan Normal College for Nationalities, Duyun 558000

SnO{sub 2} nanorod bundles were synthesized by hydrothermal method. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images showed that the as-prepared flowerlike SnO{sub 2} nanorod bundles consist of tetragonal nanorods with size readily tunable. Their electrochemical properties and application as anode for lithium-ion battery were evaluated by galvanostatic discharge–charge testing and cycle voltammetry. SnO{sub 2} nanorod flowers possess improved discharge capacity of 694 mA h g{sup −1} up to 40th cycle at 0.1 C. - Highlights: ► The flowerlike SnO{sub 2} nanorod bundles were synthesized by hydrothermal method. ► SnO{sub 2} nanorod bundles with tunable size by controlling concentrationmore » of SnCl{sub 4}. ► A probable formation mechanism of SnO{sub 2} nanorod bundles has been proposed.« less

Bayesian inference for joint modelling of longitudinal continuous, binary and ordinal events.

PubMed

Li, Qiuju; Pan, Jianxin; Belcher, John

2016-12-01

In medical studies, repeated measurements of continuous, binary and ordinal outcomes are routinely collected from the same patient. Instead of modelling each outcome separately, in this study we propose to jointly model the trivariate longitudinal responses, so as to take account of the inherent association between the different outcomes and thus improve statistical inferences. This work is motivated by a large cohort study in the North West of England, involving trivariate responses from each patient: Body Mass Index, Depression (Yes/No) ascertained with cut-off score not less than 8 at the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Pain Interference generated from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short-form health survey with values returned on an ordinal scale 1-5. There are some well-established methods for combined continuous and binary, or even continuous and ordinal responses, but little work was done on the joint analysis of continuous, binary and ordinal responses. We propose conditional joint random-effects models, which take into account the inherent association between the continuous, binary and ordinal outcomes. Bayesian analysis methods are used to make statistical inferences. Simulation studies show that, by jointly modelling the trivariate outcomes, standard deviations of the estimates of parameters in the models are smaller and much more stable, leading to more efficient parameter estimates and reliable statistical inferences. In the real data analysis, the proposed joint analysis yields a much smaller deviance information criterion value than the separate analysis, and shows other good statistical properties too. © The Author(s) 2014.

Regenerating time series from ordinal networks.

PubMed

McCullough, Michael; Sakellariou, Konstantinos; Stemler, Thomas; Small, Michael

2017-03-01

Recently proposed ordinal networks not only afford novel methods of nonlinear time series analysis but also constitute stochastic approximations of the deterministic flow time series from which the network models are constructed. In this paper, we construct ordinal networks from discrete sampled continuous chaotic time series and then regenerate new time series by taking random walks on the ordinal network. We then investigate the extent to which the dynamics of the original time series are encoded in the ordinal networks and retained through the process of regenerating new time series by using several distinct quantitative approaches. First, we use recurrence quantification analysis on traditional recurrence plots and order recurrence plots to compare the temporal structure of the original time series with random walk surrogate time series. Second, we estimate the largest Lyapunov exponent from the original time series and investigate the extent to which this invariant measure can be estimated from the surrogate time series. Finally, estimates of correlation dimension are computed to compare the topological properties of the original and surrogate time series dynamics. Our findings show that ordinal networks constructed from univariate time series data constitute stochastic models which approximate important dynamical properties of the original systems.

Regenerating time series from ordinal networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCullough, Michael; Sakellariou, Konstantinos; Stemler, Thomas; Small, Michael

2017-03-01

Recently proposed ordinal networks not only afford novel methods of nonlinear time series analysis but also constitute stochastic approximations of the deterministic flow time series from which the network models are constructed. In this paper, we construct ordinal networks from discrete sampled continuous chaotic time series and then regenerate new time series by taking random walks on the ordinal network. We then investigate the extent to which the dynamics of the original time series are encoded in the ordinal networks and retained through the process of regenerating new time series by using several distinct quantitative approaches. First, we use recurrence quantification analysis on traditional recurrence plots and order recurrence plots to compare the temporal structure of the original time series with random walk surrogate time series. Second, we estimate the largest Lyapunov exponent from the original time series and investigate the extent to which this invariant measure can be estimated from the surrogate time series. Finally, estimates of correlation dimension are computed to compare the topological properties of the original and surrogate time series dynamics. Our findings show that ordinal networks constructed from univariate time series data constitute stochastic models which approximate important dynamical properties of the original systems.

Fabrication of textured SnO2 transparent conductive films using self-assembled Sn nanospheres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fukumoto, Michitaka; Nakao, Shoichiro; Hirose, Yasushi; Hasegawa, Tetsuya

2018-06-01

We present a novel method to fabricate textured surfaces on transparent conductive SnO2 films by processing substrates through a bottom-up technique with potential for industrially scalable production. The substrate processing consists of three steps: deposition of precursor Sn films on glass substrates, formation of a self-assembled Sn nanosphere layer with reductive annealing, and conversion of Sn to SnO2 by oxidative annealing. Ta-doped SnO2 films conformally deposited on the self-assembled nanospherical SnO2 templates exhibited attractive optical and electrical properties, namely, enhanced haze values and low sheet resistances, for applications as transparent electrodes in photovoltaics.

Economic incentives for oak woodland preservation and conservation

Treesearch

Rosi Dagit; Cy Carlberg; Christy Cuba; Thomas Scott

2015-01-01

Numerous ordinances and laws recognize the value of oak trees and woodlands, and dictate serious and expensive consequences for removing or harming them. Unfortunately, the methods used to calculate these values are equally numerous and often inconsistent. More important, these ordinances typically lack economic incentives to avoid impacts to oak woodland values...

Contributions to the Underlying Bivariate Normal Method for Factor Analyzing Ordinal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xi, Nuo; Browne, Michael W.

2014-01-01

A promising "underlying bivariate normal" approach was proposed by Jöreskog and Moustaki for use in the factor analysis of ordinal data. This was a limited information approach that involved the maximization of a composite likelihood function. Its advantage over full-information maximum likelihood was that very much less computation was…

Causal mediation analysis with a binary outcome and multiple continuous or ordinal mediators: Simulations and application to an alcohol intervention

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Trang Quynh; Webb-Vargas, Yenny; Koning, Ina M.; Stuart, Elizabeth A.

2016-01-01

We investigate a method to estimate the combined effect of multiple continuous/ordinal mediators on a binary outcome: 1) fit a structural equation model with probit link for the outcome and identity/probit link for continuous/ordinal mediators, 2) predict potential outcome probabilities, and 3) compute natural direct and indirect effects. Step 2 involves rescaling the latent continuous variable underlying the outcome to address residual mediator variance/covariance. We evaluate the estimation of risk-difference- and risk-ratio-based effects (RDs, RRs) using the ML, WLSMV and Bayes estimators in Mplus. Across most variations in path-coefficient and mediator-residual-correlation signs and strengths, and confounding situations investigated, the method performs well with all estimators, but favors ML/WLSMV for RDs with continuous mediators, and Bayes for RRs with ordinal mediators. Bayes outperforms WLSMV/ML regardless of mediator type when estimating RRs with small potential outcome probabilities and in two other special cases. An adolescent alcohol prevention study is used for illustration. PMID:27158217

The stannylphosphide anion reagent sodium bis(triphenylstannyl) phosphide: synthesis, structural characterization, and reactions with indium, tin, and gold electrophiles.

PubMed

Cummins, Christopher C; Huang, Chao; Miller, Tabitha J; Reintinger, Markus W; Stauber, Julia M; Tannou, Isabelle; Tofan, Daniel; Toubaei, Abouzar; Velian, Alexandra; Wu, Gang

2014-04-07

Treatment of P4 with in situ generated [Na][SnPh3] leads to the formation of the sodium monophosphide [Na][P(SnPh3)2] and the Zintl salt [Na]3[P7]. The former was isolated in 46% yield as the crystalline salt [Na(benzo-15-crown-5)][P(SnPh3)2] and used to prepare the homoleptic phosphine P(SnPh3)3, isolated in 67% yield, as well as the indium derivative (XL)2InP(SnPh3)2 (XL = S(CH2)2NMe2), isolated in 84% yield, and the gold complex (Ph3P)AuP(SnPh3)2. The compounds [Na(benzo-15-crown-5)][P(SnPh3)2], P(SnPh3)3, (XL)2InP(SnPh3)2, and (Ph3P)AuP(SnPh3)2 were characterized using multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The bonding in (Ph3P)AuP(SnPh3)2 was dissected using natural bond orbital (NBO) methods, in response to the observation from the X-ray crystal structure that the dative P:→Au bond is slightly shorter than the shared electron-pair P-Au bond. The bonding in (XL)2InP(SnPh3)2 was also interrogated using (31)P and (13)C solid-state NMR and computational methods. Co-product [Na]3[P7] was isolated in 57% yield as the stannyl heptaphosphide P7(SnPh3)3, following salt metathesis with ClSnPh3. Additionally, we report that treatment of P4 with sodium naphthalenide in dimethoxyethane at 22 °C is a convenient and selective method for the independent synthesis of Zintl ion [Na]3[P7]. The latter was isolated as the silylated heptaphosphide P7(SiMe3)3, in 67% yield, or as the stannyl heptaphosphide P7(SnPh3)3 in 65% yield by salt metathesis with ClSiMe3 or ClSnPh3, respectively.

The Development of Fluorescent Probes for Visualizing Intracellular Hydrogen Polysulfides.

PubMed

Chen, Wei; Rosser, Ethan W; Matsunaga, Tetsuro; Pacheco, Armando; Akaike, Takaaki; Xian, Ming

2015-11-16

Endogenous hydrogen polysulfides (H2Sn; n>1) have been recognized as important regulators in sulfur-related redox biology. H2Sn can activate tumor suppressors, ion channels, and transcription factors with higher potency than H2S. Although H2Sn are drawing increasing attention, their exact mechanisms of action are still poorly understood. A major hurdle in this field is the lack of reliable and convenient methods for H2Sn detection. Herein we report a H2Sn-mediated benzodithiolone formation under mild conditions. This method takes advantage of the unique dual reactivity of H2Sn as both a nucleophile and an electrophile. Based on this reaction, three fluorescent probes (PSP-1, PSP-2, and PSP-3) were synthesized and evaluated. Among the probes prepared, PSP-3 showed a desirable off/on fluorescence response to H2Sn and high specificity. The probe was successfully applied in visualizing intracellular H2Sn. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Thermodynamic assessment and binary nucleation modeling of Sn-seeded InGaAs nanowires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghasemi, Masoomeh; Selleby, Malin; Johansson, Jonas

2017-11-01

We have performed a thermodynamic assessment of the As-Ga-In-Sn system based on the CALculation of PHAse Diagram (CALPHAD) method. This system is part of a comprehensive thermodynamic database that we are developing for nanowire materials. Specifically, the As-Ga-In-Sn can be used in modeling the growth of GaAs, InAs, and InxGa1-xAs nanowires assisted by Sn liquid seeds. In this work, the As-Sn binary, the As-Ga-Sn, As-In-Sn, and Ga-In-Sn ternary systems have been thermodynamically assessed using the CALPHAD method. We show the relevant phase diagrams and property diagrams. They all show good agreement with experimental data. Using our optimized description we have modeled the nucleation of InxGa1-xAs in the zinc blende phase from a Sn-based quaternary liquid alloy using binary nucleation modeling. We have linked the composition of the solid nucleus to the composition of the liquid phase. Eventually, we have predicted the critical size of the nucleus that forms from InAs and GaAs pairs under various conditions. We believe that our modeling can guide future experimental realization of Sn-seeded InxGa1-xAs nanowires.

Topological crystalline insulator SnTe nanoribbons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahal, Bishnu R.; Dulal, Rajendra P.; Pegg, Ian L.; Philip, John

2017-03-01

Topological crystalline insulators are systems in which a band inversion that is protected by crystalline mirror symmetry gives rise to nontrivial topological surface states. SnTe is a topological crystalline insulator. It exhibits p-type conductivity due to Sn vacancies and Te antisites, which leads to high carrier density in the bulk. Thus growth of high quality SnTe is a prerequisite for understanding the topological crystalline insulating behavior. We have grown SnTe nanoribbons using a solution method. The width of the SnTe ribbons varies from 500 nm to 2 μm. They exhibit rock salt crystal structure with a lattice parameter of 6.32 Å. The solution method that we have adapted uses low temperature, so the Sn vacancies can be controlled. The solution grown SnTe nanoribbons exhibit strong semiconducting behavior with an activation energy of 240 meV. This activation energy matches with the calculated band gap for SnTe with a lattice parameter of 6.32 Å, which is higher than that reported for bulk SnTe. The higher activation energy makes the thermal excitation of bulk charges very difficult on the surface. As a result, the topological surfaces will be free from the disturbance caused by the thermal excitations

Realizing Full Coverage of Stable Perovskite Film by Modified Anti-Solvent Process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, Long; Zhang, Ting; Wang, Yafei; Zhang, Peng; Liu, Detao; Chen, Zhi; Li, Shibin

2017-05-01

Lead-free solution-processed solid-state photovoltaic devices based on formamidinium tin triiodide (FASnI3) and cesium tin triiodide (CsSnI3) perovskite semiconductor as the light harvester are reported. In this letter, we used solvent engineering and anti-solvent dripping method to fabricate perovskite films. SnCl2 was used as an inhibitor of Sn4+ in FASnI3 precursor solution. We obtained the best films under the function of toluene or chlorobenzene in anti-solvent dripping method and monitored the oxidation of FASnI3 films in air. We chose SnF2 as an additive of CsSnI3 precursor solution to prevent the oxidation of the Sn2+, improving the stability of CsSnI3. The experimental results we obtained can pave the way for lead-free tin-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs).

Characterization of high order spatial discretizations and lumping techniques for discontinuous finite element SN transport

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maginot, P. G.; Ragusa, J. C.; Morel, J. E.

2013-07-01

We examine several possible methods of mass matrix lumping for discontinuous finite element discrete ordinates transport using a Lagrange interpolatory polynomial trial space. Though positive outflow angular flux is guaranteed with traditional mass matrix lumping in a purely absorbing 1-D slab cell for the linear discontinuous approximation, we show that when used with higher degree interpolatory polynomial trial spaces, traditional lumping does yield strictly positive outflows and does not increase in accuracy with an increase in trial space polynomial degree. As an alternative, we examine methods which are 'self-lumping'. Self-lumping methods yield diagonal mass matrices by using numerical quadrature restrictedmore » to the Lagrange interpolatory points. Using equally-spaced interpolatory points, self-lumping is achieved through the use of closed Newton-Cotes formulas, resulting in strictly positive outflows in pure absorbers for odd power polynomials in 1-D slab geometry. By changing interpolatory points from the traditional equally-spaced points to the quadrature points of the Gauss-Legendre or Lobatto-Gauss-Legendre quadratures, it is possible to generate solution representations with a diagonal mass matrix and a strictly positive outflow for any degree polynomial solution representation in a pure absorber medium in 1-D slab geometry. Further, there is no inherent limit to local truncation error order of accuracy when using interpolatory points that correspond to the quadrature points of high order accuracy numerical quadrature schemes. (authors)« less

Manipulating measurement scales in medical statistical analysis and data mining: A review of methodologies

PubMed Central

Marateb, Hamid Reza; Mansourian, Marjan; Adibi, Peyman; Farina, Dario

2014-01-01

Background: selecting the correct statistical test and data mining method depends highly on the measurement scale of data, type of variables, and purpose of the analysis. Different measurement scales are studied in details and statistical comparison, modeling, and data mining methods are studied based upon using several medical examples. We have presented two ordinal–variables clustering examples, as more challenging variable in analysis, using Wisconsin Breast Cancer Data (WBCD). Ordinal-to-Interval scale conversion example: a breast cancer database of nine 10-level ordinal variables for 683 patients was analyzed by two ordinal-scale clustering methods. The performance of the clustering methods was assessed by comparison with the gold standard groups of malignant and benign cases that had been identified by clinical tests. Results: the sensitivity and accuracy of the two clustering methods were 98% and 96%, respectively. Their specificity was comparable. Conclusion: by using appropriate clustering algorithm based on the measurement scale of the variables in the study, high performance is granted. Moreover, descriptive and inferential statistics in addition to modeling approach must be selected based on the scale of the variables. PMID:24672565

Novel and facile method, dynamic self-assemble, to prepare SnO₂/rGO droplet aerogel with complex morphologies and their application in supercapacitors.

PubMed

Chen, Mingxi; Wang, Huan; Li, Lingzhi; Zhang, Zhe; Wang, Cong; Liu, Yu; Wang, Wei; Gao, Jianping

2014-08-27

A facile and novel method to prepare SnO2/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) droplet aerogels with complex morphologies had been developed. This method has been named dynamic self-assemble. Aerogels with both "egg-tart" and "mushroom" shapes were obtained by this method. The changes in the graphene oxide (GO) droplet morphologies during the dynamic process of a GO droplet falling into a SnCl2 target solution were monitored using a high speed camera. The formed SnO2/rGO aerogels were then characterized by Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The microstructures of the SnO2/rGO aerogels were observed with scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Finally, the SnO2/rGO droplet aerogels were used as the electrode material in a symmetrical two-electrode supercapacitor and the electrochemical performance of the supercapacitor was investigated using cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge/discharge methods. The SnO2/rGO electrodes demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance and stability. At a scan rate of 5 mV/s, their highest gravimetric and volumetric specific capacitances were 310 F/g and 180 F/cm(3), respectively, and their energy and power densities were as high as 30 Wh·kg(-1) and 8.3 kW·kg(-1), respectively.

Confidence intervals for distinguishing ordinal and disordinal interactions in multiple regression.

PubMed

Lee, Sunbok; Lei, Man-Kit; Brody, Gene H

2015-06-01

Distinguishing between ordinal and disordinal interaction in multiple regression is useful in testing many interesting theoretical hypotheses. Because the distinction is made based on the location of a crossover point of 2 simple regression lines, confidence intervals of the crossover point can be used to distinguish ordinal and disordinal interactions. This study examined 2 factors that need to be considered in constructing confidence intervals of the crossover point: (a) the assumption about the sampling distribution of the crossover point, and (b) the possibility of abnormally wide confidence intervals for the crossover point. A Monte Carlo simulation study was conducted to compare 6 different methods for constructing confidence intervals of the crossover point in terms of the coverage rate, the proportion of true values that fall to the left or right of the confidence intervals, and the average width of the confidence intervals. The methods include the reparameterization, delta, Fieller, basic bootstrap, percentile bootstrap, and bias-corrected accelerated bootstrap methods. The results of our Monte Carlo simulation study suggest that statistical inference using confidence intervals to distinguish ordinal and disordinal interaction requires sample sizes more than 500 to be able to provide sufficiently narrow confidence intervals to identify the location of the crossover point. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Modifications Of Discrete Ordinate Method For Computations With High Scattering Anisotropy: Comparative Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Korkin, Sergey V.; Lyapustin, Alexei I.; Rozanov, Vladimir V.

2012-01-01

A numerical accuracy analysis of the radiative transfer equation (RTE) solution based on separation of the diffuse light field into anisotropic and smooth parts is presented. The analysis uses three different algorithms based on the discrete ordinate method (DOM). Two methods, DOMAS and DOM2+, that do not use the truncation of the phase function, are compared against the TMS-method. DOMAS and DOM2+ use the Small-Angle Modification of RTE and the single scattering term, respectively, as an anisotropic part. The TMS method uses Delta-M method for truncation of the phase function along with the single scattering correction. For reference, a standard discrete ordinate method, DOM, is also included in analysis. The obtained results for cases with high scattering anisotropy show that at low number of streams (16, 32) only DOMAS provides an accurate solution in the aureole area. Outside of the aureole, the convergence and accuracy of DOMAS, and TMS is found to be approximately similar: DOMAS was found more accurate in cases with coarse aerosol and liquid water cloud models, except low optical depth, while the TMS showed better results in case of ice cloud.

Communicating Risk with Parents: Exploring the Methods and Beliefs of Outdoor Education Coordinators in Victoria, Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dallat, Clare

2009-01-01

This paper examines the risk communication strategies currently being employed by seven outdoor education co-ordinators in Government schools in Victoria, Australia. Of particular interest are the beliefs and assumptions held by these co-ordinators in relation to communicating risk with parents. Current policy stipulates that parents must be…

Rate My Stake: Interpretation of Ordinal Stake Ratings

Treesearch

Patricia Lebow; Grant Kirker

2014-01-01

Ordinal rating systems are commonly employed to evaluate biodeterioration of wood exposed outdoors over long periods of time. The purpose of these ratings is to compare the durability of test systems to nondurable wood products or known durable wood products. There are many reasons why these systems have evolved as the chosen method of evaluation, including having an...

First-principles study of ZnSnAs2-based dilute magnetic semiconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kizaki, Hidetoshi; Morikawa, Yoshitada

2018-02-01

The electronic structure and magnetic properties of chalcopyrite Zn(Sn,TM)As2 and (Zn,TM)SnAs2 have been investigated by the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method combined with the coherent potential approximation within the local spin density approximation, where TM denotes a 3d transition metal element. We find that the half-metallic and high-spin ferromagnetic state can be obtained in Zn(Sn,V)As2, Zn(Sn,Cr)As2, Zn(Sn,Mn)As2, (Zn,V)SnAs2, and (Zn,Cr)SnAs2. The calculated result of Zn(Sn,Mn)As2 is in good agreement with the experimentally observed room-temperature ferromagnetism if we can control selective Mn doping at Sn sites. In addition, (Zn,V)SnAs2 and (Zn,Cr)SnAs2 are predicted to exhibit high-Curie-temperature ferromagnetism.

Improved electrochemical performances of LiSn2(PO4)3 anode material for lithium-ion battery prepared by solid-state method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naren; Tian, Jianhua; Wang, Dongdong; Shan, Zhongqiang

2017-09-01

The rhombohedral LiSn2(PO4)3 was prepared by solid-state method for the anode material of lithium-ion battery. The effect of pH value of hydrothermal reaction system on the morphology of SnO2 as the precursor of LiSn2(PO4)3 and the influence of heat-treatment procedure and conditions, such as the sintering temperature and time, on the property of LiSn2(PO4)3 were investigated. The purity, morphology, structure and size distribution of prepared LiSn2(PO4)3 were characterized respectively by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods. The results demonstrate that the as-prepared LiSn2(PO4)3 particles exhibit rhombohedral single-crystal structure with an average particle size of 200 nm. The electrochemical measurement results reveal that the as-prepared LiSn2(PO4)3/C electrode exhibits the improved cycling stability and reversibility with a reversible discharge capacity of 448.6 mA h g-1 at 100 mA g-1 and better rate capability of 332.6 mA h g-1 at 500 mA g-1. The charge-discharge mechanism of LiSn2(PO4)3/C electrode was also investigated. According to the test results of cyclic voltammetry, the electrode process includes not only the intercalation and deintercalation of lithium ions in the LiSn2(PO4)3 particles, but also the surface pseudo-capacitive effect.

Corrosion Behaviour of Sn-based Lead-Free Solders in Acidic Solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nordarina, J.; Mohd, H. Z.; Ahmad, A. M.; Muhammad, F. M. N.

2018-03-01

The corrosion properties of Sn-9(5Al-Zn), Sn-Cu and SAC305 were studied via potentiodynamic polarization method in an acidic solution of 1 M hydrochloric acid (HCl). Sn-9(5Al-Zn) produced different polarization profile compared with Sn-Cu and SAC305. The morphological analysis showed that small, deep grooves shaped of corrosion product formed on top of Sn-9(5Al-Zn) solder while two distinctive structures of closely packed and loosely packed corrosion product formed on top of Sn-Cu and SAC305 solder alloys. Phase analysis revealed the formations of various corrosion products such as SnO and SnO2 mainly dominant on surface of solder alloys after potentiodynamic polarization in 1 M hydrochloric acid (HCl).

Photocatalytic activity of SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles in methylene blue degradation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Sung Phil; Choi, Myong Yong, E-mail: mychoi@gnu.ac.kr; Choi, Hyun Chul, E-mail: chc12@chonnam.ac.kr

2016-02-15

Highlights: • Nanosized SnO{sub 2} photocatalysts were prepared with a precipitation method. • SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles displayed high photocatalytic activities for the MB degradation. • OH radicals are the main active species in photocatalysis on the SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles. - Abstract: Nanosized SnO{sub 2} photocatalysts were prepared with a precipitation method and were characterized by performing transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The powder XRD results revealed that the SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles have a typical tetragonal rutile (cassiterite) structure and the average crystallite size was found to be approximately 4.5 nm by usingmore » the Debye–Scherrer equation. The prepared SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles consist of agglomerated particles with a mean diameter of around 4–5 nm according to the analysis of TEM images. The XAS data confirmed that the prepared samples have cassiterite structures with tin oxidation state of +4. The prepared SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles were found to exhibit approximately 3.8 times higher activity than bulk SnO{sub 2} in the photodegradation of methylene blue. On the basis of a trapping experiment, we developed a possible mechanism for the photodegradation on SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles.« less

Influence of Sn ion doping on the photocatalytic performance of V2O5 nanorods prepared by hydrothermal method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajeshwari, S.; Santhosh Kumar, J.; Rajendrakumar, R. T.; Ponpandian, N.; Thangadurai, P.

2018-02-01

Pure and different concentrations of Sn4+ doped V2O5 (Sn:V2O5) nanorods were synthesized by hydrothermal method. The Sn:V2O5 nanorods obtained were orthorhombic in structure. No secondary phase was observed up to 10% of Sn doping, but beyond that, there evolved a secondary phase of SnO2. Microstructural analysis revealed the morphology of V2O5 as nanorods and platelets like structure. Presence of V, O and Sn elements in the samples was confirmed by energy dispersive spectroscopy. The V2O5 nanorods have shown a strong absorption in the visible region and the band gap energy was obtained to be varying from 2.21 to 2.26 eV as a function of Sn ion doping. Photocatalytic studies on methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation showed that the 3% Sn:V2O5 had effectively degraded MB up to a maximum degradation of 96% and further increase in Sn content had decreased the photodegradation due to higher recombination rate of photogenerated electrons. The mechanism of photodegradation was completely understood and the OH· radicals have played a dominant role in the photodegradation of the organic dyes.

Photocatalytic properties of amine functionalized Bi2Sn2O7/rGO nanocomposites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gnanamoorthy, G.; Muthamizh, S.; Sureshbabu, K.; Munusamy, S.; Padmanaban, A.; Kaaviya, A.; Nagarajan, R.; Stephen, A.; Narayanan, V.

2018-07-01

The binary metal oxide nanomaterials are having applications in various fields like sensors, optics, electrocatalyst and photocatalyst so on. Bi2Sn2O7 with pyrochlore structure is having low band gap energy; hence it is utilized in battery storage and gas sensor applications. In the present work, we have made an attempt to synthesis amine-functionalized Bi2Sn2O7/rGO nanocomposites by a thermal decomposition method and in-situ method; the synthesized nanocomposites were confirmed by XRD, FT-IR and Raman analysis. The AF-Bi2Sn2O7/rGO nanocomposites morphology was confirmed by FE-SEM along with EDX spectroscopy, we obtained different flowers and nest-like morphology. The pure and composite material band gap energy is decreases from 2.6 eV to 1.6 eV. All three nanomaterials Bi2Sn2O7, AF-Bi2Sn2O7, AF-Bi2Sn2O7/rGO nanocomposites (AF-amine functionalized) were utilized for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under visible light irradiation. AF-Bi2Sn2O7/rGO nanocomposite showed an excellent photocatalytic activity than pure Bi2Sn2O7 and AF- Bi2Sn2O7.

Visual grading characteristics and ordinal regression analysis during optimisation of CT head examinations.

PubMed

Zarb, Francis; McEntee, Mark F; Rainford, Louise

2015-06-01

To evaluate visual grading characteristics (VGC) and ordinal regression analysis during head CT optimisation as a potential alternative to visual grading assessment (VGA), traditionally employed to score anatomical visualisation. Patient images (n = 66) were obtained using current and optimised imaging protocols from two CT suites: a 16-slice scanner at the national Maltese centre for trauma and a 64-slice scanner in a private centre. Local resident radiologists (n = 6) performed VGA followed by VGC and ordinal regression analysis. VGC alone indicated that optimised protocols had similar image quality as current protocols. Ordinal logistic regression analysis provided an in-depth evaluation, criterion by criterion allowing the selective implementation of the protocols. The local radiology review panel supported the implementation of optimised protocols for brain CT examinations (including trauma) in one centre, achieving radiation dose reductions ranging from 24 % to 36 %. In the second centre a 29 % reduction in radiation dose was achieved for follow-up cases. The combined use of VGC and ordinal logistic regression analysis led to clinical decisions being taken on the implementation of the optimised protocols. This improved method of image quality analysis provided the evidence to support imaging protocol optimisation, resulting in significant radiation dose savings. • There is need for scientifically based image quality evaluation during CT optimisation. • VGC and ordinal regression analysis in combination led to better informed clinical decisions. • VGC and ordinal regression analysis led to dose reductions without compromising diagnostic efficacy.

Application of the first collision source method to CSNS target station shielding calculation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Ying; Zhang, Bin; Chen, Meng-Teng; Zhang, Liang; Cao, Bo; Chen, Yi-Xue; Yin, Wen; Liang, Tian-Jiao

2016-04-01

Ray effects are an inherent problem of the discrete ordinates method. RAY3D, a functional module of ARES, which is a discrete ordinates code system, employs a semi-analytic first collision source method to mitigate ray effects. This method decomposes the flux into uncollided and collided components, and then calculates them with an analytical method and discrete ordinates method respectively. In this article, RAY3D is validated by the Kobayashi benchmarks and applied to the neutron beamline shielding problem of China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) target station. The numerical results of the Kobayashi benchmarks indicate that the solutions of DONTRAN3D with RAY3D agree well with the Monte Carlo solutions. The dose rate at the end of the neutron beamline is less than 10.83 μSv/h in the CSNS target station neutron beamline shutter model. RAY3D can effectively mitigate the ray effects and obtain relatively reasonable results. Supported by Major National S&T Specific Program of Large Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant (2011ZX06004-007), National Natural Science Foundation of China (11505059, 11575061), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (13QN34).

The formation of α-phase SnS nanostructure from a hybrid, multi-layered S/Sn/S/Sn/S thin films: Phase stability, surface morphology and optical studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baby, Benjamin Hudson; Bharathi Mohan, D.

2017-11-01

Single phase of SnS thin film was fabricated from S/Sn/S/Sn/S multilayer prepared by using atmospheric pressure and vacuum thermal evaporation methods Glancing angle high vacuum thermal evaporation technique was employed to grow Sn nanorods which facilitated the sulphur diffusion in a faster manner to prepare SnS nanoparticles. The sulphur deposition temperature, sulphur deposition time and tin deposition time were successfully tailored in the synthesis process and stabilized α-phase SnS by probing through confocal micro-Raman spectrometer. X-ray diffraction confirms the formation of SnS crystal structure at sulphur deposition temperature 200 °C. The mechanism of formation of highly porous SnS phase with flower like morphology is explained from the morphological analysis of post deposition annealed film. The complete absence of any oxidation state as evident from Raman as well as EDAX analysis confirms that the proposed sulphurization method could be a suitable, simple and cheap technique for the successful sulphurization of metal films. Band gap calculation from Tauc plot showed a direct band gap value of 1.5 eV for films with single phase of SnS which can be used as a p-type absorber layer in thin film solar cells. Emission studies showed the energy transitions attributed to band edge transition and due to the presence of intrinsic defects.

Smart Solution Chemistry to Sn-Containing Intermetallic Compounds through a Self-Disproportionation Process.

PubMed

Zhang, Yuelan; Li, Liping; Li, Qi; Fan, Jianming; Zheng, Jing; Li, Guangshe

2016-09-26

Developing new methods to synthesize intermetallics is one of the most critical issues for the discovery and application of multifunctional metal materials; however, the synthesis of Sn-containing intermetallics is challenging. In this work, we demonstrated for the first time that a self-disproportionation-induced in situ process produces cavernous Sn-Cu intermetallics (Cu3 Sn and Cu6 Sn5 ). The successful synthesis is realized by introducing inorganic metal salts (SnCl2 ⋅2 H2 O) to NaOH aqueous solution to form an intermediate product of reductant (Na2 SnO2 ) and by employing steam pressures that enhance the reduction ability. Distinct from the traditional in situ reduction, the current reduction process avoided the uncontrolled phase composition and excessive use of organic regents. An insight into the mechanism was revealed for the Sn-Cu case. Moreover, this method could be extended to other Sn-containing materials (Sn-Co, Sn-Ni). All these intermetallics were attempted in the catalytic effect on thermal decompositions of ammonium perchlorate. It is demonstrated that Cu3 Sn showed an outstanding catalytic performance. The superior property might be primarily originated from the intrinsic chemical compositions and cavernous morphology as well. We supposed that this smart solution reduction methodology reported here would provide a new recognition for the reduction reaction, and its modified strategy may be applied to the synthesis of other metals, intermetallics as well as some unknown materials. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Incorporation of heterostructured Sn/SnO nanoparticles in crumpled nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets for application as anodes in lithium-ion batteries.

PubMed

Du, Fei-Hu; Liu, Yu-Si; Long, Jie; Zhu, Qian-Cheng; Wang, Kai-Xue; Wei, Xiao; Chen, Jie-Sheng

2014-09-07

Sn/SnO nanoparticles are incorporated in crumpled nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets by a simple melting diffusion method. The resulting composite exhibits large specific capacity, excellent cycling stability and high rate capability as an anode for lithium-ion batteries.

Exploring Operational Issues and Practices of School Nutrition Programs in Large School Districts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nettles, Mary Frances; Carr, Deborah H.; Johnson, James T.; Federico, Holly A.

2008-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose was to explore issues associated with school nutrition (SN) programs in large school districts. Specific objectives were to identify operational issues and practices SN directors encounter and describe characteristics of SN directors and their programs. Methods: A panel of seven SN professionals from large school…

Bounded influence function based inference in joint modelling of ordinal partial linear model and accelerated failure time model.

PubMed

Chakraborty, Arindom

2016-12-01

A common objective in longitudinal studies is to characterize the relationship between a longitudinal response process and a time-to-event data. Ordinal nature of the response and possible missing information on covariates add complications to the joint model. In such circumstances, some influential observations often present in the data may upset the analysis. In this paper, a joint model based on ordinal partial mixed model and an accelerated failure time model is used, to account for the repeated ordered response and time-to-event data, respectively. Here, we propose an influence function-based robust estimation method. Monte Carlo expectation maximization method-based algorithm is used for parameter estimation. A detailed simulation study has been done to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. As an application, a data on muscular dystrophy among children is used. Robust estimates are then compared with classical maximum likelihood estimates. © The Author(s) 2014.

Comparative study on thermodynamic characteristics of AgCuZnSn brazing alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xingxing; Li, Shuai; Peng, Jin

2018-01-01

AgCuZnSn brazing alloys were prepared based on the BAg50CuZn filler metal through electroplating diffusion process, and melting alloying method. The thermodynamics of phase transformations of those fillers were analyzed by non-isothermal differentiation and integration methods of thermal analysis kinetics. In this study, it was demonstrated that as the Sn content increased, the reaction fractional integral curves of AgCuZnSn fillers from solid to liquid became straighter at the endothermic peak. Under the same Sn contents, the reaction fractional integral curve of the Sn-plated filler metal was straighter, and the phase transformation activation energy was higher compared to the traditional silver filler metal. At the 7.2 wt% Sn content, the activation energies and pre-exponential factors of the two fillers reached the maximum, then the phase transformation rate equations of the Sn-plated silver filler and the traditional filler were determined as: k = 1.41 × 1032exp(-5.56 × 105/RT), k = 7.29 × 1020exp(-3.64 × 105/RT), respectively.

Influence of Sn on the magnetic ordering of Ni-Sn alloy synthesized using chemical reduction method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhanapal, K.; Narayanan, V.; Stephen, A.

2016-05-01

The Ni-Sn alloy was synthesized using borohydride assisted chemical reduction method. The composition of the synthesized alloy was determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy which revealed that the observed composition of Sn is high when compared to the initial composition. The ultrafine particles are clearly observed from field emission scanning electron microscope for all the sample. The X-ray diffraction measurement confirmed that the as-synthesized samples are of amorphous like nature while the samples annealed at 773 K showed crystalline nature. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed metallic bond stretching in the alloy samples. The crystallization and phase transition temperature was observed from differential scanning calorimetry. The shift in the crystallization temperature of Ni with increasing percentage of Sn was observed. The vibrating sample magnetometer was employed to understand the magnetic behavior of the Ni-Sn alloy. As-synthesized alloy samples showed paramagnetic nature while the annealed ones exhibit the soft ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic nature. The saturation magnetization value and magnetic ordering in the Ni-Sn alloys depend on the percentage of Sn present in the alloy.

A comparison of bivariate, multivariate random-effects, and Poisson correlated gamma-frailty models to meta-analyze individual patient data of ordinal scale diagnostic tests.

PubMed

Simoneau, Gabrielle; Levis, Brooke; Cuijpers, Pim; Ioannidis, John P A; Patten, Scott B; Shrier, Ian; Bombardier, Charles H; de Lima Osório, Flavia; Fann, Jesse R; Gjerdingen, Dwenda; Lamers, Femke; Lotrakul, Manote; Löwe, Bernd; Shaaban, Juwita; Stafford, Lesley; van Weert, Henk C P M; Whooley, Mary A; Wittkampf, Karin A; Yeung, Albert S; Thombs, Brett D; Benedetti, Andrea

2017-11-01

Individual patient data (IPD) meta-analyses are increasingly common in the literature. In the context of estimating the diagnostic accuracy of ordinal or semi-continuous scale tests, sensitivity and specificity are often reported for a given threshold or a small set of thresholds, and a meta-analysis is conducted via a bivariate approach to account for their correlation. When IPD are available, sensitivity and specificity can be pooled for every possible threshold. Our objective was to compare the bivariate approach, which can be applied separately at every threshold, to two multivariate methods: the ordinal multivariate random-effects model and the Poisson correlated gamma-frailty model. Our comparison was empirical, using IPD from 13 studies that evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire depression screening tool, and included simulations. The empirical comparison showed that the implementation of the two multivariate methods is more laborious in terms of computational time and sensitivity to user-supplied values compared to the bivariate approach. Simulations showed that ignoring the within-study correlation of sensitivity and specificity across thresholds did not worsen inferences with the bivariate approach compared to the Poisson model. The ordinal approach was not suitable for simulations because the model was highly sensitive to user-supplied starting values. We tentatively recommend the bivariate approach rather than more complex multivariate methods for IPD diagnostic accuracy meta-analyses of ordinal scale tests, although the limited type of diagnostic data considered in the simulation study restricts the generalization of our findings. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

PRIM versus CART in subgroup discovery: when patience is harmful.

PubMed

Abu-Hanna, Ameen; Nannings, Barry; Dongelmans, Dave; Hasman, Arie

2010-10-01

We systematically compare the established algorithms CART (Classification and Regression Trees) and PRIM (Patient Rule Induction Method) in a subgroup discovery task on a large real-world high-dimensional clinical database. Contrary to current conjectures, PRIM's performance was generally inferior to CART's. PRIM often considered "peeling of" a large chunk of data at a value of a relevant discrete ordinal variable unattractive, ultimately missing an important subgroup. This finding has considerable significance in clinical medicine where ordinal scores are ubiquitous. PRIM's utility in clinical databases would increase when global information about (ordinal) variables is better put to use and when the search algorithm keeps track of alternative solutions.

Discrete ordinates-Monte Carlo coupling: A comparison of techniques in NERVA radiation analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindstrom, D. G.; Normand, E.; Wilcox, A. D.

1972-01-01

In the radiation analysis of the NERVA nuclear rocket system, two-dimensional discrete ordinates calculations are sufficient to provide detail in the pressure vessel and reactor assembly. Other parts of the system, however, require three-dimensional Monte Carlo analyses. To use these two methods in a single analysis, a means of coupling was developed whereby the results of a discrete ordinates calculation can be used to produce source data for a Monte Carlo calculation. Several techniques for producing source detail were investigated. Results of calculations on the NERVA system are compared and limitations and advantages of the coupling techniques discussed.

Ordinal pattern statistics for the assessment of heart rate variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graff, G.; Graff, B.; Kaczkowska, A.; Makowiec, D.; Amigó, J. M.; Piskorski, J.; Narkiewicz, K.; Guzik, P.

2013-06-01

The recognition of all main features of a healthy heart rhythm (the so-called sinus rhythm) is still one of the biggest challenges in contemporary cardiology. Recently the interesting physiological phenomenon of heart rate asymmetry has been observed. This phenomenon is related to unbalanced contributions of heart rate decelerations and accelerations to heart rate variability. In this paper we apply methods based on the concept of ordinal pattern to the analysis of electrocardiograms (inter-peak intervals) of healthy subjects in the supine position. This way we observe new regularities of the heart rhythm related to the distribution of ordinal patterns of lengths 3 and 4.

Comparison of approximate solutions to the phonon Boltzmann transport equation with the relaxation time approximation: Spherical harmonics expansions and the discrete ordinates method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christenson, J. G.; Austin, R. A.; Phillips, R. J.

2018-05-01

The phonon Boltzmann transport equation is used to analyze model problems in one and two spatial dimensions, under transient and steady-state conditions. New, explicit solutions are obtained by using the P1 and P3 approximations, based on expansions in spherical harmonics, and are compared with solutions from the discrete ordinates method. For steady-state energy transfer, it is shown that analytic expressions derived using the P1 and P3 approximations agree quantitatively with the discrete ordinates method, in some cases for large Knudsen numbers, and always for Knudsen numbers less than unity. However, for time-dependent energy transfer, the PN solutions differ qualitatively from converged solutions obtained by the discrete ordinates method. Although they correctly capture the wave-like behavior of energy transfer at short times, the P1 and P3 approximations rely on one or two wave velocities, respectively, yielding abrupt, step-changes in temperature profiles that are absent when the angular dependence of the phonon velocities is captured more completely. It is shown that, with the gray approximation, the P1 approximation is formally equivalent to the so-called "hyperbolic heat equation." Overall, these results support the use of the PN approximation to find solutions to the phonon Boltzmann transport equation for steady-state conditions. Such solutions can be useful in the design and analysis of devices that involve heat transfer at nanometer length scales, where continuum-scale approaches become inaccurate.

Preparation of a porous Sn@C nanocomposite as a high-performance anode material for lithium-ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yanjun; Jiang, Li; Wang, Chunru

2015-07-01

A porous Sn@C nanocomposite was prepared via a facile hydrothermal method combined with a simple post-calcination process, using stannous octoate as the Sn source and glucose as the C source. The as-prepared Sn@C nanocomposite exhibited excellent electrochemical behavior with a high reversible capacity, long cycle life and good rate capability when used as an anode material for lithium ion batteries.A porous Sn@C nanocomposite was prepared via a facile hydrothermal method combined with a simple post-calcination process, using stannous octoate as the Sn source and glucose as the C source. The as-prepared Sn@C nanocomposite exhibited excellent electrochemical behavior with a high reversible capacity, long cycle life and good rate capability when used as an anode material for lithium ion batteries. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Detailed experimental procedure and additional characterization, including a Raman spectrum, TGA curve, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm, TEM images and SEM images. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr03093e

Dissimilarity measure based on ordinal pattern for physiological signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jing; Shang, Pengjian; Shi, Wenbin; Cui, Xingran

2016-08-01

Complex physiologic signals may carry information of their underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we introduce a dissimilarity measure to capture the features of underlying dynamics from various types of physiologic signals based on rank order statistics of ordinal patterns. Simulated 1/f noise and white noise are used to evaluate the effect of data length, embedding dimension and time delay on this measure. We then apply this measure to different physiologic signals. The method can successfully characterize the unique underlying patterns of subjects at similar physiologic states. It can also serve as a good discriminative tool for the healthy young, healthy elderly, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrilation and white noise groups. Furthermore, when investigated into the details of underlying ordinal patterns for each group, it is found that the distributions of ordinal patterns varies significantly for healthy and pathologic states, as well as aging.

Shielding analyses: the rabbit vs the turtle?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Broadhead, B.L.

1996-12-31

This paper compares solutions using Monte Carlo and discrete- ordinates methods applied to two actual shielding situations in order to make some general observations concerning the efficiency and advantages/disadvantages of the two approaches. The discrete- ordinates solutions are performed using two-dimensional geometries, while the Monte Carlo approaches utilize three-dimensional geometries with both multigroup and point cross-section data.

Morphology and phase transformations of tin oxide nanostructures synthesized by the hydrothermal method in the presence of dicarboxylic acids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zima, Tatyana, E-mail: zima@solid.nsc.ru; Novosibirsk State Technical University, 20 K. Marx Prospect, Novosibirsk 630092; Bataev, Ivan

A new approach to the synthesis of non-stoichiometric tin oxide structures with different morphologies and the phase compositions has been evaluated. The nanostructures were synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of the mixtures of dicarboxylic acids ― aminoterephthalic or oxalic ― with nanocrystalline SnO{sub 2} powder, which was obtained via the sol-gel technology. The products were characterized by Raman and IR spectroscopy, SEM, HRTEM, and XRD analysis. It was shown that the controlled addition of a dicarboxylic acid leads not only to a change in the morphology of the nanostructures, but also to SnO{sub 2}–SnO{sub 2}/Sn{sub 3}O{sub 4}–Sn{sub 3}O{sub 4}–SnO phase transformations.more » A single-phase Sn{sub 3}O{sub 4} in the form of the well-separated hexagonal nanoplates and mixed SnO{sub 2}/Sn{sub 3}O{sub 4} phases in the form of hierarchical flower-like structures were obtained in the presence of organic additives. The effects of concentration, redox activity of the acids and heat treatment on the basic characteristics of the synthesized tin oxide nanostructures and phase transformations in the synthesized materials are discussed. - Graphical abstract: The controlled addition of aminoterephthalic or oxalic acid leads not only to a change in the morphology of the nanostructures, but also to SnO{sub 2}–SnO{sub 2}/Sn{sub 3}O{sub 4}–Sn{sub 3}O{sub 4}–SnO phase transformations. - Highlights: • A new approach to the synthesis of non-stoichiometric tin oxide structures is studied. • Tin oxide structures are synthesized via hydrothermal method with dicarboxylic acids. • Morphology and phase composition are changed with redox activity and dosage of acid. • The redox activity of acid has an effect on ratio of SnO and SnO{sub 2} in crystal structure. • A pure phase Sn{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanoplates and SnO{sub 2}/Sn{sub 3}O{sub 4} hierarchical structures are formed.« less

Transition-Metal Catalysis of Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions: A Radical Alternative to SN1 and SN2 Processes

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Classical methods for achieving nucleophilic substitutions of alkyl electrophiles (SN1 and SN2) have limited scope and are not generally amenable to enantioselective variants that employ readily available racemic electrophiles. Radical-based pathways catalyzed by chiral transition-metal complexes provide an attractive approach to addressing these limitations. PMID:28776010

Structural characterizations of pure SnS and In-doped SnS thin films using isotropic and anisotropic models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kafashan, Hosein

2018-04-01

An electrochemical route has been employed to prepare pure SnS and indium-doped SnS thin films. Six samples including undoped SnS and In-doped SnS thin films deposited on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates. An aqueous solution having SnCl2 and Na2S2O3 used as the primary electrolyte. Different In-doped SnS samples were prepared by adding a different amount of 1 mM InCl3 solution into the first electrolyte. The applied potential (E), time of deposition (t), pH and bath temperature (T) were kept at ‑1 V, 30 min, 2.1 and 60 °C, respectively. For all samples, except the In-dopant concentration, all the deposition parameters are the same. After preparation, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDX) attachment, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to determine structural properties of as-deposited films. XRD patterns revealed that the synthesized undoped- and In-doped SnS thin films were crystallized in the orthorhombic structure. The shape of SnS crystals was spherical in the TEM image. X-ray peak broadening studies was done by applying Scherrer’s method, Williamson-Hall (W–H) models (including uniform deformation model (UDM), uniform strain deformation model (UDSM), and uniform deformation energy density model (UDEDM)), and size-strain plot (SSP) method. Using these techniques, the crystallite size and the lattice strains have been predicted. There was a good agreement in the particle size achieved by W–H- and SSP methods with TEM image.

Application of Taguchi approach to optimize the sol-gel process of the quaternary Cu2ZnSnS4 with good optical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nkuissi Tchognia, Joël Hervé; Hartiti, Bouchaib; Ridah, Abderraouf; Ndjaka, Jean-Marie; Thevenin, Philippe

2016-07-01

Present research deals with the optimal deposition parameters configuration for the synthesis of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films using the sol-gel method associated to spin coating on ordinary glass substrates without sulfurization. The Taguchi design with a L9 (34) orthogonal array, a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) are used to optimize the performance characteristic (optical band gap) of CZTS thin films. Four deposition parameters called factors namely the annealing temperature, the annealing time, the ratios Cu/(Zn + Sn) and Zn/Sn were chosen. To conduct the tests using the Taguchi method, three levels were chosen for each factor. The effects of the deposition parameters on structural and optical properties are studied. The determination of the most significant factors of the deposition process on optical properties of as-prepared films is also done. The results showed that the significant parameters are Zn/Sn ratio and the annealing temperature by applying the Taguchi method.

Phase Equilibria of the Ternary Sn-Pb-Co System at 250°C and Interfacial Reactions of Co with Sn-Pb Alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chao-hong; Kuo, Chun-yi; Yang, Nian-cih

2015-11-01

The isothermal section of the ternary Sn-Pb-Co system at 250°C was experimentally determined through a series of the equilibrated Sn-Pb-Co alloys of various compositions. The equilibrium phases were identified on the basis of compositional analysis. For the Sn-Co intermetallic compounds (IMCs), CoSn3, CoSn2, CoSn and Co3Sn2, the Pb solubility was very limited. There exist five tie-triangle regions. The Co-Pb system involves one monotectic reaction, so the phase separation of liquid alloys near the Co-Pb side occurred prior to solidification. The immiscibility field was also determined. Additionally, interfacial reactions between Co and Sn-Pb alloys were conducted. The reaction phase for the Sn-48 at.%Pb and Sn-58 at.%Pb at 250°C was CoSn3 and CoSn2, respectively. Both of them were simultaneously formed in the Sn-53 at.%Pb/Co. The formed IMCs were closely associated to the phase equilibria relationship of the liquid-CoSn3-CoSn2 tie-triangle. Furthermore, with increasing temperatures, the phase formed in equilibrium with Sn-37 wt.%Pb was found to transit from CoSn3 to CoSn2 at 275°C. We propose a simple method of examining the phase transition temperature in the interfacial reactions to determine the boundaries of the liquid-CoSn3-CoSn2 tie-triangles at different temperatures.

National Economic Development Procedures Manual. Recreation. Volume 3. A Case Study Application of the Contingent Valuation Method for Estimating Urban Recreation Use and Benefits

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-11-01

rivers or lakes? YES NO YES NO Went fishing? YES NO YES NO Went skateboarding ? YES NO YES NO Visited outdoor scenic places? YES NO YES NO Used undeveloped...VN SN N SU VU Playground equipment VN SN N SU VU Concessions VN SN N SU VU Bicycle trails VN SN N SU VU Skateboard paths VN SN N SU VU Exercise/fitness

Sol–gel synthesis of SnO{sub 2}–MgO nanoparticles and their photocatalytic activity towards methylene blue degradation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bayal, Nisha; Jeevanandam, P., E-mail: jeevafcy@iitr.ernet.in

2013-10-15

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • A simple sol–gel method for the synthesis of SnO{sub 2}–MgO nanoparticles is reported. • Band gap of SnO{sub 2} can be tuned by varying the magnesium content in SnO{sub 2}–MgO. • SnO{sub 2}–MgO shows good photocatalytic activity towards degradation of methylene blue. - Abstract: SnO{sub 2}–MgO mixed metal oxide nanoparticles were prepared by a simple sol–gel method. The nanoparticles were characterized by power X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The XRD results indicate the formation of mixed metal oxide nanoparticles and alsomore » a decrease of SnO{sub 2} crystallite size in the mixed metal oxide nanoparticles with increasing magnesium oxide content. The reflectance spectroscopy results show a blue shift of the band gap of SnO{sub 2} in the mixed metal oxide nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activity of the SnO{sub 2}–MgO nanoparticles was tested using the photodegradation of aqueous methylene blue in the presence of sunlight. The results indicate that the mixed metal oxide nanoparticles possess higher efficiency for the photodegradation of methylene blue compared to pure SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles.« less

Directional Solidification and Liquidus Projection of the Sn-Co-Cu System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Sinn-Wen; Chang, Jui-Shen; Pan, Kevin; Hsu, Chia-Ming; Hsu, Che-Wei

2013-04-01

This study investigates the Sn-Co-Cu ternary system, which is of interest to the electronics industry. Ternary Sn-Co-Cu alloys were prepared, their as-solidified microstructures were examined, and their primary solidification phases were determined. The primary solidification phases observed were Cu, Co, Co3Sn2, CoSn, CoSn2, Cu6Sn5, Co3Sn2, γ, and β phases. Although there are ternary compounds reported in this ternary system, no ternary compound was found as the primary solidification phase. The directional solidification technique was applied when difficulties were encountered using the conventional quenching method to distinguish the primary solidification phases, such as Cu6Sn5, Cu3Sn, and γ phases. Of all the primary solidification phases, the Co3Sn2 and Co phases have the largest compositional regimes in which alloys display them as the primary solidification phases. There are four class II reactions and four class III reactions. The reactions with the highest and lowest reaction temperatures are both class III reactions, and are L + CoSn2 + Cu6Sn5 = CoSn3 at 621.5 K (348.3 °C) and L + Co3Sn2 + CoSn = Cu6Sn5 at 1157.8 K (884.6 °C), respectively.

[Evaluation of green indocyanine interest compared to Technetium in sentinel lymph node detection in breast cancer].

PubMed

Guenane, Y; Gorj, M; Nguyen, V; Revol, M; Mazouz-Dorval, S

2016-12-01

Axillary sentinel lymph node (SN) biopsy by using indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence for breast cancer is a recent technique. However, compared to Technetium-99m (Tc), which is the reference technique, its efficiency has received little testing. Between December 2013 and January 2014, 40 patients with node-negative breast cancer underwent SN biopsy by injecting sub areolar Tc in preoperative stage and injecting sub areolar ICG in intraoperative stage. SN were previously identified and resected by using ICG coupled with infrared camera. After resection of fluorescent SN, we check its radioactivity with a gamma probe (isotopic method). In case of residual radioactive labeling in the axillary crease, we remove the remaining SN. We have retrospectively analyzed the SN detection concordance rates of these two methods. In total we resected 53 SN, among which 48 (90.6%) were indocyanine green positive and 53 (100%) Tc positive. The remaining 5 SN were all ICG negative and Tc positive. Using ICG has not caused any side effect. SN detection for breast cancer by using ICG fluorescence is a promising, reliable technique which nonetheless requires a degree of expertise before reaching similar results as the Tc technique. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Thermodynamic assessment of the Sn-Co lead-free solder system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Libin; Andersson, Cristina; Liu, Johan

2004-09-01

The Sn-Co-Cu eutectic alloy can be a less expensive alternative for the Sn-Ag-Cu alloy. In order to find the eutectic solder composition of the Sn-Co-Cu system, the Sn-Co binary system has been thoroughly assessed with the calculation of phase diagram (CALPHAD) method. The liquid phase, the FCC and HCP Co-rich solid solution, and the BCT Sn-rich solid solution have been described by the Redlich-Kister model. The Hillert-Jarl-Inden model has been used to describe the magnetic contributions to Gibbs energy in FCC and HCP. The CoSn2, CoSn, Co3Sn2_β, and Co3Sn2_α phases have been treated as stoichiometric phases. A series of thermodynamic parameters have been obtained. The calculated phase diagram and thermodynamic properties are in good agreement with the experimental data. The obtained thermodynamic data was used to extrapolate the ternary Sn-Co-Cu phase diagram. The composition of the Sn-rich eutectic point of the Sn-Co-Cu system was found to be 224°C, 0.4% Co, and 0.7% Cu.

Liquid-liquid phase separation and core-shell structure of ternary Al-In-Sn immiscible alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Degang; Bo, Lin; Wang, Lin; Li, Shanshan

2018-04-01

In this study, the liquid-liquid phase separation of four kinds of ternary immiscible Al-In-Sn melts was investigated with resistivity and thermodynamics method. The nonlinear changes in ρ-T and DSC curves of Al-In-Sn immiscible alloys above monotectic reaction temperature revealed the occurrence of liquid-liquid phase separation of Al-In-Sn melts. The monotectic temperature, liquid phase separation temperature and immiscible gap of ternary Al-In-Sn alloys were lower than those of binary Al-In alloy. With the Al content decreasing, the immiscible gap of Al-In-Sn alloy decreased. The composition of Al80In10Sn10, Al70In15Sn15, Al60In20Sn20 and Al50In25Sn25 was located in the immiscible zone of Al-In-Sn system. Due to the differences of Stokes effect, Marangoni convection and immiscible gap, the solidification morphology of four kinds of Al-In-Sn monotectic alloy was different. The core–shell structure of Al-In-Sn monotectic alloy can form within a certain range of composition.

Influence of surfactants on the morphology of SnO{sub 2} nanocrystals prepared via a hydrothermal method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang Mi; Shanghai Institute of Ceramics; Gao Yanfeng, E-mail: yfgao@mail.sic.ac.cn

2012-05-15

Nanoscaled SnO{sub 2} with different morphologies has been synthesized via a simple hydrothermal process at 180 Degree-Sign C using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS), cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) or tetrapropyl ammonium bromide (TPAB) as surfactant. All the prepared SnO{sub 2} are of a tetragonal crystal structure. Nanocubes, nanorods, nanosheets, nanobelts and nanoparticles were prepared when changing the type and dosage of organic surfactants. It is shown that anionic surfactant (SDS) and cationic surfactant (CTAB or TPAB) at their suitable addition amounts can largely influence the morphologies of SnO{sub 2} nanocrystals. The effect is significantly dependent on the solventmore » types: water or ethanol. The non-ionic surfactant (PVP) can also change the morphologies like SDS but the impacts are less obvious. The effect of surfactants on the shape and size of SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles was discussed in detail. The particle growth mechanism is described based on the electrostatic interactions and Van der Waals' forces. - Graphical abstract: SnO{sub 2} nanocrystals with controllable morphologies were prepared via a hydrothermal method with surfactants. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer SnO{sub 2} nanocrystals were prepared via a hydrothermal method with surfactants. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer SnO{sub 2} morphologies changed with the type and the dosage of surfactants. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The effect of surfactants on the growth of crystal planes was studied. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The controlling mechanisms of surfactants on SnO{sub 2} morphologies were discussed.« less

Reactor Dosimetry Applications Using RAPTOR-M3G:. a New Parallel 3-D Radiation Transport Code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longoni, Gianluca; Anderson, Stanwood L.

2009-08-01

The numerical solution of the Linearized Boltzmann Equation (LBE) via the Discrete Ordinates method (SN) requires extensive computational resources for large 3-D neutron and gamma transport applications due to the concurrent discretization of the angular, spatial, and energy domains. This paper will discuss the development RAPTOR-M3G (RApid Parallel Transport Of Radiation - Multiple 3D Geometries), a new 3-D parallel radiation transport code, and its application to the calculation of ex-vessel neutron dosimetry responses in the cavity of a commercial 2-loop Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR). RAPTOR-M3G is based domain decomposition algorithms, where the spatial and angular domains are allocated and processed on multi-processor computer architectures. As compared to traditional single-processor applications, this approach reduces the computational load as well as the memory requirement per processor, yielding an efficient solution methodology for large 3-D problems. Measured neutron dosimetry responses in the reactor cavity air gap will be compared to the RAPTOR-M3G predictions. This paper is organized as follows: Section 1 discusses the RAPTOR-M3G methodology; Section 2 describes the 2-loop PWR model and the numerical results obtained. Section 3 addresses the parallel performance of the code, and Section 4 concludes this paper with final remarks and future work.

Preventing homicide: an evaluation of the efficacy of a Detroit gun ordinance.

PubMed Central

O'Carroll, P W; Loftin, C; Waller, J B; McDowall, D; Bukoff, A; Scott, R O; Mercy, J A; Wiersema, B

1991-01-01

BACKGROUND: In November 1986, a Detroit, Michigan city ordinance requiring mandatory jail sentences for illegally carrying a firearm in public was passed to preserve "the public peace, health, safety, and welfare of the people." METHODS: We conducted a set of interrupted time-series analyses to evaluate the impact of the law on the incidence of homicides, hypothesizing that the ordinance, by its nature, would affect only firearm homicides and homicides committed outside (e.g., on the street). RESULTS: The incidence of homicide in general increased after the law was passed, but the increases in non-firearm homicides and homicides committed inside (e.g., in a home) were either statistically significant or approached statistical significance (p = .006 and p = .070, respectively), whereas changes in the incidence of firearm homicides and homicides committed outside were not statistically significant (p = .238 and p = .418, respectively). We also determined that the ordinance was essentially unenforced, apparently because of a critical shortage of jail space. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings are consistent with a model in which the ordinance had a dampening effect on firearm homicides occurring in public in Detroit. The apparent preventive effect evident in the time series analyses may have been due to publicity about the ordinance, whereas the small nature of the effect may have been due to the lack of enforcement. PMID:2014857

The impact of ordinate scaling on the visual analysis of single-case data.

PubMed

Dart, Evan H; Radley, Keith C

2017-08-01

Visual analysis is the primary method for detecting the presence of treatment effects in graphically displayed single-case data and it is often referred to as the "gold standard." Although researchers have developed standards for the application of visual analysis (e.g., Horner et al., 2005), over- and underestimation of effect size magnitude is not uncommon among analysts. Several characteristics have been identified as potential contributors to these errors; however, researchers have largely focused on characteristics of the data itself (e.g., autocorrelation), paying less attention to characteristics of the graphic display which are largely in control of the analyst (e.g., ordinate scaling). The current study investigated the impact that differences in ordinate scaling, a graphic display characteristic, had on experts' accuracy in judgments regarding the magnitude of effect present in single-case percentage data. 32 participants were asked to evaluate eight ABAB data sets (2 each presenting null, small, moderate, and large effects) along with three iterations of each (32 graphs in total) in which only the ordinate scale was manipulated. Results suggest that raters are less accurate in their detection of treatment effects as the ordinate scale is constricted. Additionally, raters were more likely to overestimate the size of a treatment effect when the ordinate scale was constricted. Copyright © 2017 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nanostructured SnSe: Synthesis, doping, and thermoelectric properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shuhao; Sun, Naikun; Liu, Mei; Sucharitakul, Sukrit; Gao, Xuan P. A.

2018-03-01

IV-VI monochalcogenide SnSe or SnS has recently been proposed as a promising two-dimensional (2D) material for valleytronics and thermoelectrics. We report the synthesis of SnSe nanoflakes and nanostructured thin films with chemical vapor deposition method and their thermoelectric properties. As grown SnSe nanostructures are found to be intrinsically p-type and the single SnSe nanoflake field effect transistor was fabricated. By Ag doping, the power factor of SnSe nanostructured thin films can be improved by up to one order of magnitude compared to the "intrinsic" as grown materials. Our work provides an initial step in the pursuit of IV-VI monochalcogenides as novel 2D semiconductors for electronics and thermoelectrics.

Detection and analysis of microseismic events using a Matched Filtering Algorithm (MFA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caffagni, Enrico; Eaton, David W.; Jones, Joshua P.; van der Baan, Mirko

2016-07-01

A new Matched Filtering Algorithm (MFA) is proposed for detecting and analysing microseismic events recorded by downhole monitoring of hydraulic fracturing. This method requires a set of well-located template (`parent') events, which are obtained using conventional microseismic processing and selected on the basis of high signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and representative spatial distribution of the recorded microseismicity. Detection and extraction of `child' events are based on stacked, multichannel cross-correlation of the continuous waveform data, using the parent events as reference signals. The location of a child event relative to its parent is determined using an automated process, by rotation of the multicomponent waveforms into the ray-centred co-ordinates of the parent and maximizing the energy of the stacked amplitude envelope within a search volume around the parent's hypocentre. After correction for geometrical spreading and attenuation, the relative magnitude of the child event is obtained automatically using the ratio of stacked envelope peak with respect to its parent. Since only a small number of parent events require interactive analysis such as picking P- and S-wave arrivals, the MFA approach offers the potential for significant reduction in effort for downhole microseismic processing. Our algorithm also facilitates the analysis of single-phase child events, that is, microseismic events for which only one of the S- or P-wave arrivals is evident due to unfavourable S/N conditions. A real-data example using microseismic monitoring data from four stages of an open-hole slickwater hydraulic fracture treatment in western Canada demonstrates that a sparse set of parents (in this case, 4.6 per cent of the originally located events) yields a significant (more than fourfold increase) in the number of located events compared with the original catalogue. Moreover, analysis of the new MFA catalogue suggests that this approach leads to more robust interpretation of the induced microseismicity and novel insights into dynamic rupture processes based on the average temporal (foreshock-aftershock) relationship of child events to parents.

Analysis of processing contaminants in edible oils. Part 1. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the direct detection of 3-monochloropropanediol monoesters and glycidyl esters.

PubMed

MacMahon, Shaun; Mazzola, Eugene; Begley, Timothy H; Diachenko, Gregory W

2013-05-22

A new analytical method has been developed and validated for the detection of glycidyl esters (GEs) and 3-monochloropropanediol (3-MCPD) monoesters in edible oils. The target compounds represent two classes of potentially carcinogenic chemical contaminants formed during the processing of edible oils. Target analytes are separated from edible oil matrices using a two-step solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure. The extracts are then analyzed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with electrospray ionization (ESI). Chromatographic conditions that separate sn-1 and sn-2 monoesters of 3-MCPD have been developed for the first time. The method has been validated for GEs, sn-1 3-MCPD monoesters of lauric, myristic, linolenic, linoleic, oleic, and stearic acids, and sn-2 3-MCPD monoesters of oleic and palmitic acids in coconut, olive, and palm oils using an external calibration curve. The range of average recoveries and relative standard deviations (RSDs) across the three oil matrices at three spiking concentrations are 84-115% (3-16% RSD) for the GEs, 95-113% (1-10% RSD) for the sn-1 3-MCPD monoesters, and 76.8-103% (5.1-11.2% RSD) for the sn-2 3-MCPD monoesters, with limits of quantitation at or below 30 ng/g for the GEs, 60 ng/g for sn-1 3-MCPD monoesters, and 180 ng/g for sn-2 3-MCPD monoesters.

The expanding photosphere method applied to SN 1992am AT cz = 14 600 km/s

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schmidt, Brian P.; Kirshner, Robert P.; Eastman, Ronald G.; Hamuy, Mario; Phillips, Mark M.; Suntzeff, Nicholas B.; Maza, Jose; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Ho, Luis C.; Matheson, Thomas

1994-01-01

We present photometry and spectroscopy of Supernova (SN) 1992am for five months following its discovery by the Calan Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) SN search. These data show SN 1992am to be type II-P, displaying hydrogen in its spectrum and the typical shoulder in its light curve. The photometric data and the distance from our own analysis are used to construct the supernova's bolometric light curve. Using the bolometric light curve, we estimate SN 1992am ejected approximately 0.30 solar mass of Ni-56, an amount four times larger than that of other well studied SNe II. SN 1992am's; host galaxy lies at a redshift of cz = 14 600 km s(exp -1), making it one of the most distant SNe II discovered, and an important application of the Expanding Photsphere Method. Since z = 0.05 is large enough for redshift-dependent effects to matter, we develop the technique to derive luminosity distances with the Expanding Photosphere Method at any redshift, and apply this method to SN 1992am. The derived distance, D = 180(sub -25) (sup +30) Mpc, is independent of all other rungs in the extragalactic distance ladder. The redshift of SN 1992am's host galaxy is sufficiently large that uncertainties due to perturbations in the smooth Hubble flow should be smaller than 10%. The Hubble ratio derived from the distance and redshift of this single object is H(sub 0) = 81(sub -15) (sup +17) km s(exp -1) Mpc(exp -1). In the future, with more of these distant objects, we hope to establish an independent and statistically robust estimate of H(sub 0) based solely on type II supernovae.

First-principles energy band calculation of Ruddlesden–Popper compound Sr{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} using modified Becke–Johnson exchange potential

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kamimura, Sunao, E-mail: kamimura-sunao@che.kyutech.ac.jp; National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology; Department of Molecular and Material Sciences, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Science, Kyushu University, 6-1 Kasuga Kouen, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580 Japan

The electronic structure of Sr{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} is evaluated by the scalar-relativistic full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW+lo) method using the modified Becke–Johnson potential (Tran–Blaha potential) combined with the local density approximation correlation (MBJ–LDA). The fundamental gap between the valence band (VB) and conduction band (CB) is estimated to be 3.96 eV, which is close to the experimental value. Sn 5s states and Sr 4d states are predominant in the lower and upper CB, respectively. On the other hand, the lower VB is mainly composed of Sn 5s, 5p, and O 2p states, while the upper VB mainlymore » consists of O 2p states. These features of the DOS are well reflected by the optical transition between the upper VB and lower CB, as seen in the energy dependence of the dielectric function. Furthermore, the absorption coefficient estimated from the MBJ–LDA is similar to the experimental result. - Graphical abstract: Calculated energy band structure along the symmetry lines of the first BZ of Sr{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} crystal obtained using the MBJ potential. - Highlights: • Electronic structure of Sr{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} is calculated on the basis of MBJ–LDA method for the first time. • Band gap of Sr{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} is determined accurately on the basis of MBJ–LDA method. • The experimental absorption spectrum of Sr{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} produced by MBJ–LDA is more accurate than that obtained by GGA method.« less

Synthesis of SnS nanoparticles by SILAR method for quantum dot-sensitized solar cells.

PubMed

Tsukigase, Hiroki; Suzuki, Yoshikazu; Berger, Marie-Hélène; Sagawa, Takashi; Yoshikawa, Susumu

2011-03-01

SnS-sensitized TiO2 electrodes were applied in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) which are environmentally more favorable than conventional Cd or Pb-chalcogenide-sensitized electrodes. SnS nanoparticles were well-distributed over the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. Deposited SnS nanoparticles had diameter about 3 nm. Under AM1.5 irradiation with 100 mW/cm2 light intensity (at 1 sun), the energy conversion efficiency of obtained cells reached a value of 0.21% (0.25 cm2) at SILAR coating cycles of 5. In addition, the photovoltaic performance was improved by additional ZnS coating on the surface of SnS-sensitized TiO2 electrodes.

Large-Scale Surfactant-Free Synthesis of p-Type SnTe Nanoparticles for Thermoelectric Applications

PubMed Central

Han, Guang; Zhang, Ruizhi; Popuri, Srinivas R.; Greer, Heather F.; Reece, Michael J.; Bos, Jan-Willem G.; Zhou, Wuzong; Knox, Andrew R.; Gregory, Duncan H.

2017-01-01

A facile one-pot aqueous solution method has been developed for the fast and straightforward synthesis of SnTe nanoparticles in more than ten gram quantities per batch. The synthesis involves boiling an alkaline Na2SnO2 solution and a NaHTe solution for short time scales, in which the NaOH concentration and reaction duration play vital roles in controlling the phase purity and particle size, respectively. Spark plasma sintering of the SnTe nanoparticles produces nanostructured compacts that have a comparable thermoelectric performance to bulk counterparts synthesised by more time- and energy-intensive methods. This approach, combining an energy-efficient, surfactant-free solution synthesis with spark plasma sintering, provides a simple, rapid, and inexpensive route to p-type SnTe nanostructured materials. PMID:28772593

Hierarchical MnO2/SnO2 heterostructures for a novel free-standing ternary thermite membrane.

PubMed

Yang, Yong; Zhang, Zhi-Cheng; Wang, Peng-Peng; Zhang, Jing-Chao; Nosheen, Farhat; Zhuang, Jing; Wang, Xun

2013-08-19

We report the synthesis of a novel hierarchical MnO2/SnO2 heterostructures via a hydrothermal method. Secondary SnO2 nanostructure grows epitaxially on the surface of MnO2 backbones without any surfactant, which relies on the minimization of surface energy and interfacial lattice mismatch. Detailed investigations reveal that the cover density and morphology of the SnO2 nanostructure can be tailored by changing the experimental parameter. Moreover, we demonstrate a bottom-up method to produce energetic nanocomposites by assembling nanoaluminum (n-Al) and MnO2/SnO2 hierarchical nanostructures into a free-standing MnO2/SnO2/n-Al ternary thermite membrane. This assembled approach can significantly reduce diffusion distances and increase their intimacy between the components. Different thermite mixtures were investigated to evaluate the corresponding activation energies using DSC techniques. The energy performance of the ternary thermite membrane can be manipulated through different components of the MnO2/SnO2 heterostructures. Overall, our work may open a new route for new energetic materials.

Effect of Growth Parameters on SnO2 Nanowires Growth by Electron Beam Evaporation Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rakesh Kumar, R.; Manjula, Y.; Narasimha Rao, K.

2018-02-01

Tin oxide (SnO2) nanowires were synthesized via catalyst assisted VLS growth mechanism by the electron beam evaporation method at a growth temperature of 450 °C. The effects of growth parameters such as evaporation rate of Tin, catalyst film thickness, and different types of substrates on the growth of SnO2 nanowires were studied. Nanowires (NWs) growth was completely seized at higher tin evaporation rates due to the inability of the catalyst particle to initiate the NWs growth. Nanowires diameters were able to tune with catalyst film thickness. Nanowires growth was completely absent at higher catalyst film thickness due to agglomeration of the catalyst film. Optimum growth parameters for SnO2 NWs were presented. Nanocomposites such as Zinc oxide - SnO2, Graphene oxide sheets- SnO2 and Graphene nanosheets-SnO2 were able to synthesize at a lower substrate temperature of 450 °C. These nanocompsoites will be useful in enhancing the capacity of Li-ion batteries, the gas sensing response and also useful in increasing the photo catalytic activity.

Knudsen effusion mass spectrometric studies over (USn3+U3Sn7) two-phase region of U-Sn system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manikandan, P.; Trinadh, V. V.; Bera, Suranjan; Narasimhan, T. S. Lakshmi; Ananthasivan, K.; Joseph, M.; Mudali, U. Kamachi

2017-08-01

Vaporisation studies over (USn3+U3Sn7) ;two-phase; field have been carried out by employing Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry (KEMS) in the temperature range of 1050-1226 K. Sn(g) was the species observed in the mass spectrum of the equilibrium vapour phase over the samples (71.5 at% Sn and 73.0 at% Sn). The partial pressure of Sn(g) was measured as a function of temperature over (USn3+U3Sn7) ;two-phase; field and the p-T relation was derived as log (pSn/Pa) = ((-14580 ± 91)/(T/K)) + (8.82 ± 0.08) (1050-1226 K). The vaporisation reaction 3USn3(s) = U3Sn7(s) + 2Sn(g) was evaluated by second law method. The Gibbs energy of formation of USn3(s) was derived as ΔfGm°(U Sn3 , s , T) (±1.8) = -173.4 + 0.055 T (K) (kJ mol-1) (1050-1226 K). The mass spectrometric studies on this system have been carried out for the first time.

Controlling the Sn-C bonds content in SnO2@CNTs composite to form in situ pulverized structure for enhanced electrochemical kinetics.

PubMed

Cheng, Yayi; Huang, Jianfeng; Qi, Hui; Cao, Liyun; Luo, Xiaomin; Li, Jiayin; Xu, Zhanwei; Yang, Jun

2017-12-07

The Sn-C bonding content between the SnO 2 and CNTs interface was controlled by the hydrothermal method and subsequent heat treatment. Electrochemical analysis found that the SnO 2 @CNTs with high Sn-C bonding content exhibited much higher capacity contribution from alloying and conversion reaction compared with the low content of Sn-C bonding even after 200 cycles. The high Sn-C bonding content enabled the SnO 2 nanoparticles to stabilize on the CNTs surface, realizing an in situ pulverization process of SnO 2 . The in situ pulverized structure was beneficial to maintain the close electrochemical contact of the working electrode during the long-term cycling and provide ultrafast transfer paths for lithium ions and electrons, which promoted the alloying and conversion reaction kinetics greatly. Therefore, the SnO 2 @CNTs composite with high Sn-C bonding content displayed highly reversible alloying and conversion reaction. It is believed that the composite could be used as a reference for design chemically bonded metal oxide/carbon composite anode materials in lithium-ion batteries.

Characterization and properties of TiO2-SnO2 nanocomposites, obtained by hydrolysis method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kutuzova, Anastasiya S.; Dontsova, Tetiana A.

2018-04-01

The paper deals with the process of TiO2-SnO2 nanocomposites synthesis utilizing simple hydrolysis method with further calcination for photocatalytic applications. The obtained nanopowders contain 100, 90, 75, 65 and 25 wt% of TiO2. The synthesized nanocomposite samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction method, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and N2 adsorption-desorption method. The correlation between structure and morphology of the obtained nanocrystalline composite powders and their sorption and photocatalytic activity towards methylene blue degradation was established. It was found that the presence of SnO2 in the nanocomposites stabilizes the anatase phase of TiO2. Furthermore, sorption and photocatalytic properties of the obtained composites are significantly influenced not only by specific surface area, but also by pore size distribution and mesopore volume of the samples. In our opinion, the results obtained in this study have shown that the TiO2-SnO2 composites with SnO2 content that does not exceed 10% are promising for photocatalytic applications.

Comparison of Satellite Surveying to Traditional Surveying Methods for the Resources Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osborne, B. P.; Osborne, V. J.; Kruger, M. L.

Modern ground-based survey methods involve detailed survey, which provides three-space co-ordinates for surveyed points, to a high level of accuracy. The instruments are operated by surveyors, who process the raw results to create survey location maps for the subject of the survey. Such surveys are conducted for a location or region and referenced to the earth global co- ordinate system with global positioning system (GPS) positioning. Due to this referencing the survey is only as accurate as the GPS reference system. Satellite survey remote sensing utilise satellite imagery which have been processed using commercial geographic information system software. Three-space co-ordinate maps are generated, with an accuracy determined by the datum position accuracy and optical resolution of the satellite platform.This paper presents a case study, which compares topographic surveying undertaken by traditional survey methods with satellite surveying, for the same location. The purpose of this study is to assess the viability of satellite remote sensing for surveying in the resources industry. The case study involves a topographic survey of a dune field for a prospective mining project area in Pakistan. This site has been surveyed using modern surveying techniques and the results are compared to a satellite survey performed on the same area.Analysis of the results from traditional survey and from the satellite survey involved a comparison of the derived spatial co- ordinates from each method. In addition, comparisons have been made of costs and turnaround time for both methods.The results of this application of remote sensing is of particular interest for survey in areas with remote and extreme environments, weather extremes, political unrest, poor travel links, which are commonly associated with mining projects. Such areas frequently suffer language barriers, poor onsite technical support and resources.

One-pot synthesis of SnO{sub 2}/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite in ionic liquid-based solution and its application for lithium ion batteries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gu, Changdong, E-mail: cdgu@zju.edu.cn; Zhang, Heng; Wang, Xiuli

2013-10-15

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • A facile and low-temperature method is developed for SnO{sub 2}/graphene composite. • Synthesis performed in a choline chloride-based ionic liquid. • The composite shows an enhanced cycling stability as anode for Li-ion batteries. • 4 nm SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles mono-dispersed on the surface of reduced graphene oxide. - Abstract: A facile and low-temperature method is developed for SnO{sub 2}/graphene composite which involves an ultrasonic-assistant oxidation–reduction reaction between Sn{sup 2+} and graphene oxide in a choline chloride–ethylene glycol based ionic liquid under ambient conditions. The reaction solution is non-corrosive and environmental-friendly. Moreover, the proposed technique doesmore » not require complicated infrastructures and heat treatment. The SnO{sub 2}/graphene composite consists of about 4 nm sized SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles with cassiterite structure mono-dispersed on the surface of reduced graphene oxide. As anode for lithium-ion batteries, the SnO{sub 2}/graphene composite shows a satisfying cycling stability (535 mAh g{sup −1} after 50 cycles @100 mA g{sup −1}), which is significantly prior to the bare 4 nm sized SnO{sub 2} nanocrsytals. The graphene sheets in the hybrid nanostructure could provide a segmentation effect to alleviate the volume expansion of the SnO{sub 2} and restrain the small and active Sn-based particles aggregating into larger and inactive clusters during cycling.« less

A New Method to Constrain Supernova Fractions Using X-ray Observations of Clusters of Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bulbul, Esra; Smith, Randall K.; Loewenstein, Michael

2012-01-01

Supernova (SN) explosions enrich the intracluster medium (ICM) both by creating and dispersing metals. We introduce a method to measure the number of SNe and relative contribution of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and core-collapse supernovae (SNe cc) by directly fitting X-ray spectral observations. The method has been implemented as an XSPEC model called snapec. snapec utilizes a single-temperature thermal plasma code (apec) to model the spectral emission based on metal abundances calculated using the latest SN yields from SN Ia and SN cc explosion models. This approach provides a self-consistent single set of uncertainties on the total number of SN explosions and relative fraction of SN types in the ICM over the cluster lifetime by directly allowing these parameters to be determined by SN yields provided by simulations. We apply our approach to XMM-Newton European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC), Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS), and 200 ks simulated Astro-H observations of a cooling flow cluster, A3112.We find that various sets of SN yields present in the literature produce an acceptable fit to the EPIC and RGS spectra of A3112. We infer that 30.3% plus or minus 5.4% to 37.1% plus or minus 7.1% of the total SN explosions are SNe Ia, and the total number of SN explosions required to create the observed metals is in the range of (1.06 plus or minus 0.34) x 10(exp 9), to (1.28 plus or minus 0.43) x 10(exp 9), fromsnapec fits to RGS spectra. These values may be compared to the enrichment expected based on well-established empirically measured SN rates per star formed. The proportions of SNe Ia and SNe cc inferred to have enriched the ICM in the inner 52 kiloparsecs of A3112 is consistent with these specific rates, if one applies a correction for the metals locked up in stars. At the same time, the inferred level of SN enrichment corresponds to a star-to-gas mass ratio that is several times greater than the 10% estimated globally for clusters in the A3112 mass range.

Ultrasonic synthesis of In-doped SnS nanoparticles and their physical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamali-Sheini, Farid; Cheraghizade, Mohsen; Yousefi, Ramin

2018-05-01

Indium (In)-doped Tin (II) Sulfide (SnS) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by an ultra-sonication method and their optical, electrical, dielectric and photocatalytic properties were investigated. XRD patterns of the obtained NPs indicated formation of orthorhombic polycrystalline SnS. Field emission scanning electron microscopy exhibited flower-like NPs with particle sizes below 100 nm for both SnS and In-doped SnS samples. Optical analysis showed a decrease in energy band gap of SnS NPs upon In doping. In addition, electrical results demonstrated p-type nature of the synthesized SnS NPs and enhanced electrical conductivity of the NPs due to increased tin vacancy. Dielectric experiments on SnS NPs suggested an electronic polarizations effect to be responsible for changing dielectric properties of the particles, in terms of frequency. Finally, photocatalytic experiments revealed that high degradation power can be obtained using In-doped SnS NPs.

Theoretical study of electronic structures and spectroscopic properties of Ga3Sn, GaSn3, and their ions.

PubMed

Zhu, Xiaolei

2007-01-01

Ground and excited states of mixed gallium stannide tetramers (Ga3Sn, Ga3Sn+, Ga3Sn-, GaSn3, GaSn3+, and GaSn3-) are investigated employing the complete active space self-consistent-field (CASSCF), density function theory (DFT), and the coupled-cluster single and double substitution (including triple excitations) (CCSD(T)) methods. The ground states of Ga3Sn, Ga3Sn+, and Ga3Sn- are found to be the 2A1, 3B1, and 1A1 states in C2v symmetry with a planar quadrilateral geometry, respectively. The ground states of GaSn3 and GaSn3- is predicted to be the 2A1 and 1A1 states in C2v point group with a planar quadrilateral structure, respectively, while the ground state of GaSn3+ is the 1A1 state with ideal triangular pyramid C3v geometry. Equilibrium geometries, vibrational frequencies, binding energies, electron affinities, ionization energies, and other properties of Ga3Sn and GaSn3 are computed and discussed. The anion photoelectron spectra of Ga3Sn- and GaSn3- are also predicted. It is interesting to find that the amount of charge transfer between Ga and Sn2 atoms in the 1A1 state of GaSn3+ greatly increases upon electron ionization from the 2A1 state of GaSn3, which may be caused by large geometry change. On the other hand, the results of the low-lying states of Ga3Sn and GaSn3 are compared with those of Ga3Si and GaSi3.

Theoretical study of electronic structures and spectroscopic properties of Ga 3Sn, GaSn 3, and their ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Xiaolei

2007-01-01

Ground and excited states of mixed gallium stannide tetramers (Ga 3Sn, Ga 3Sn +, Ga 3Sn -, GaSn 3, GaSn 3+, and GaSn 3-) are investigated employing the complete active space self-consistent-field (CASSCF), density function theory (DFT), and the coupled-cluster single and double substitution (including triple excitations) (CCSD(T)) methods. The ground states of Ga 3Sn, Ga 3Sn +, and Ga 3Sn - are found to be the 2A 1, 3B 1, and 1A 1 states in C2v symmetry with a planar quadrilateral geometry, respectively. The ground states of GaSn 3 and GaSn 3- is predicted to be the 2A 1 and 1A 1 states in C2v point group with a planar quadrilateral structure, respectively, while the ground state of GaSn 3+ is the 1A 1 state with ideal triangular pyramid C3v geometry. Equilibrium geometries, vibrational frequencies, binding energies, electron affinities, ionization energies, and other properties of Ga 3Sn and GaSn 3 are computed and discussed. The anion photoelectron spectra of Ga 3Sn - and GaSn 3- are also predicted. It is interesting to find that the amount of charge transfer between Ga and Sn 2 atoms in the 1A 1 state of GaSn 3+ greatly increases upon electron ionization from the 2A 1 state of GaSn 3, which may be caused by large geometry change. On the other hand, the results of the low-lying states of Ga 3Sn and GaSn 3 are compared with those of Ga 3Si and GaSi 3.

Rapid Quantification of Low-Viscosity Acetyl-Triacylglycerols Using Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry.

PubMed

Bansal, Sunil; Durrett, Timothy P

2016-09-01

Acetyl-triacylglycerols (acetyl-TAG) possess an sn-3 acetate group, which confers useful chemical and physical properties to these unusual triacylglycerols (TAG). Current methods for quantification of acetyl-TAG are time consuming and do not provide any information on the molecular species profile. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS)-based methods can overcome these drawbacks. However, the ESI-MS signal intensity for TAG depends on the aliphatic chain length and unsaturation index of the molecule. Therefore response factors for different molecular species need to be determined before any quantification. The effects of the chain length and the number of double-bonds of the sn-1/2 acyl groups on the signal intensity for the neutral loss of short chain length sn-3 groups were quantified using a series of synthesized sn-3 specific structured TAG. The signal intensity for the neutral loss of the sn-3 acyl group was found to negatively correlated with the aliphatic chain length and unsaturation index of the sn-1/2 acyl groups. The signal intensity of the neutral loss of the sn-3 acyl group was also negatively correlated with the size of that chain. Further, the position of the group undergoing neutral loss was also important, with the signal from an sn-2 acyl group much lower than that from one located at sn-3. Response factors obtained from these analyses were used to develop a method for the absolute quantification of acetyl-TAG. The increased sensitivity of this ESI-MS-based approach allowed successful quantification of acetyl-TAG in various biological settings, including the products of in vitro enzyme activity assays.

Metallic Sn spheres and SnO2@C core-shells by anaerobic and aerobic catalytic ethanol and CO oxidation reactions over SnO2 nanoparticles

PubMed Central

Kim, Won Joo; Lee, Sung Woo; Sohn, Youngku

2015-01-01

SnO2 has been studied intensely for applications to sensors, Li-ion batteries and solar cells. Despite this, comparatively little attention has been paid to the changes in morphology and crystal phase that occur on the metal oxide surface during chemical reactions. This paper reports anaerobic and aerobic ethanol and CO oxidation reactions over SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs), as well as the subsequent changes in the nature of the NPs. Uniform SnO2@C core-shells (10 nm) were formed by an aerobic ethanol oxidation reaction over SnO2 NPs. On the other hand, metallic Sn spheres were produced by an anaerobic ethanol oxidation reaction at 450 °C, which is significantly lower than that (1200 °C) used in industrial Sn production. Anaerobic and aerobic CO oxidation reactions were also examined. The novelty of the methods for the production of metallic Sn and SnO2@C core-shells including other anaerobic and aerobic reactions will contribute significantly to Sn and SnO2-based applications. PMID:26300041

Enthalpies of a binary alloy during solidification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poirier, D. R.; Nandapurkar, P.

1988-01-01

The purpose of the paper is to present a method of calculating the enthalpy of a dendritic alloy during solidification. The enthalpies of the dendritic solid and interdendritic liquid of alloys of the Pb-Sn system are evaluated, but the method could be applied to other binaries, as well. The enthalpies are consistent with a recent evaluation of the thermodynamics of Pb-Sn alloys and with the redistribution of solute in the same during dendritic solidification. Because of the heat of mixing in Pb-Sn alloys, the interdendritic liquid of hypoeutectic alloys (Pb-rich) of less than 50 wt pct Sn has enthalpies that increase as temperature decreases during solidification.

Determination of antimony and tin in beverages using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry after ultrasound-assisted ionic liquid dispersive liquid-liquid phase microextraction.

PubMed

Biata, N Raphael; Nyaba, Luthando; Ramontja, James; Mketo, Nomvano; Nomngongo, Philiswa N

2017-12-15

The aim of this study was to develop a simple and fast ultrasound-assisted ionic liquid dispersive liquid-liquid phase microextraction (UA-IL-DLLME) method for preconcetration of trace antimony and tin in beverage samples. The novelty of this study was based on the application of ligandless UA-IL-DLLME using low-density ionic liquid and organic solvents for preconcentration of Sb and Sn. The concentration of Sb and Sn were quantified using ICP-OES. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration graph was found to be LOQ-250µgL -1 (r 2 =0.9987) for Sb and LOQ-350µgL -1 for Sn. The LOD and LOQ of Sb and Sn ranged from 1.2to 2.5ngL -1 and 4.0 to 8.3ngL -1 , respectively, with high preconcentration factors. The precisions (%RSD) of the proposed method ranged from 2.1% to 2.5% and 3.9% to 4.7% for Sb and Sn, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for determination of Sb and Sn in beverages. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Synthesis of MSnO{sub 3} (M = Ba, Sr) nanoparticles by reverse micelle method and particle size distribution analysis by whole powder pattern modeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ahmed, Jahangeer; Blakely, Colin K.; Bruno, Shaun R.

2012-09-15

Highlights: ► BaSnO{sub 3} and SrSnO{sub 3} nanoparticles synthesized using the reverse micelle method. ► Particle size and size distribution studied by whole powder pattern modeling. ► Nanoparticles are of optimal size for investigation in dye-sensitized solar cells. -- Abstract: Light-to-electricity conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells critically depends not only on the dye molecule, semiconducting material and redox shuttle selection but also on the particle size and particle size distribution of the semiconducting photoanode. In this study, nanocrystalline BaSnO{sub 3} and SrSnO{sub 3} particles have been synthesized using the microemulsion method. Particle size distribution was studied by whole powdermore » pattern modeling which confirmed narrow particle size distribution with an average size of 18.4 ± 8.3 nm for SrSnO{sub 3} and 15.8 ± 4.2 nm for BaSnO{sub 3}. These values are in close agreement with results of transmission electron microscopy. The prepared materials have optimal microstructure for successive investigation in dye-sensitized solar cells.« less

Ce-Sn binary oxide catalyst for the selective catalytic reduction of NOx by NH3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhiming; Feng, Xu; Zhou, Zizheng; Feng, Yongjun; Li, Junhua

2018-01-01

Ce-Sn binary oxide catalysts prepared by the hydrothermal method have been investigated for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx with NH3. Compared with pure CeO2 and SnO2, Ce-Sn binary oxide catalyst showed significantly higher NH3-SCR activity. Moreover, Ce-Sn catalyst showed high resistance against H2O and SO2. The high catalytic performance of Ce-Sn binary oxide is attributed to the synergetic effect between Ce and Sn species, which not only enhances the redox property of the catalyst but also increases the Lewis acidity, thus promoting the adsorption and activation of NH3 species, which contributes to improving the NH3-SCR performance.

Effect of solvent on the synthesis of SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kumar, Virender; Singh, Karamjit; Singh, Kulwinder

Tin oxide (SnO{sub 2}) nanoparticles have been synthesized by co-precipitation method. The synthesized nanoparticles have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Ultraviolet-Visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS). XRD analysis confirmed the formation of single phase of SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles. It has been found that solvents played important role in controlling the crystallite size of SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles. The XRD analysis showed well crystallized tetragonal SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles. The crystallite size of SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles varies with the solvent. Tauc plot showed that optical band gap was also tailored by controlling the solvent during synthesis.

Synthesis of ZnSnO{sub 3} nanostructure by sol gel method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Para, Touseef Ahmad; Reshi, Hilal Ahmad; Shelke, Vilas, E-mail: drshelke@gmail.com

2016-05-23

Zinc Stannate (ZST) with composition ZnSnO{sub 3} is known for high electron mobility, optical, piezoelectric and charge storage properties. ZST crystalizes in different lattice structures, which allows a wide range of tunablity. We demonstrate successful synthesis of ZnSnO{sub 3} nanomaterial by sol-gel method. ZnSnO{sub 3} nanomaterials were calcined and sintered at different temperatures. Powder X-ray diffraction confirmed the single phase of the nanomaterial with rhombohedral R-3 space group. The Rietveld refinement of diffraction pattern yielded lattice parameter values a=5.26Å, c=14.09Å. Raman spectroscopy revealed higher activity towards higher wavenumbers. Raman shift around 530cm{sup −1} was found to be highly structure dependent,more » most probably due to anharmonic atomic vibrations in ZnO{sub 6}/SnO{sub 6} octahedra around center of mass. Sharp Peak around 650cm{sup −1} is characteristic of ZnSnO{sub 3} molecule.« less

Study of lattice strain and optical properties of nanocrystalline SnO2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Naseem; Khan, Shakeel; Bhargava, Richa; Ansari, Mohd Mohsin Nizam

2018-05-01

Nanocrystalline SnO2 has been synthesized by co-precipitation method by using two solvents (water and ethylene glycol). The structure and surface morphology were investigated using XRD and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The optical properties were studied using diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). From the XRD analysis, the prepared materials are found to be pure crystalline with tetragonal rutile structure. The lattice strain and crystallite size, were calculated using Williamson-Hall method, are found to be 0.00413 & 16.3 nm in water assisted SnO2 and 0.00495 & 35.6 nm for EG assisted SnO2. Study of surface morphology of the samples was carried out using SEM. It has been seen that the solvents which are used in synthesis can also alter the optical properties of the materials. The optical band gap of the water based SnO2 and EG based SnO2 are found to be 3.92eV and 3.86eV respectively.

Ordinal logistic regression analysis on the nutritional status of children in KarangKitri village

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohyver, Margaretha; Yongharto, Kimmy Octavian

2015-09-01

Ordinal logistic regression is a statistical technique that can be used to describe the relationship between ordinal response variable with one or more independent variables. This method has been used in various fields including in the health field. In this research, ordinal logistic regression is used to describe the relationship between nutritional status of children with age, gender, height, and family status. Nutritional status of children in this research is divided into over nutrition, well nutrition, less nutrition, and malnutrition. The purpose for this research is to describe the characteristics of children in the KarangKitri Village and to determine the factors that influence the nutritional status of children in the KarangKitri village. There are three things that obtained from this research. First, there are still children who are not categorized as well nutritional status. Second, there are children who come from sufficient economic level which include in not normal status. Third, the factors that affect the nutritional level of children are age, family status, and height.

Enhancement of visible light photocatalytic activity over bistructural SnO2 nanobelts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lihua; Wang, Yongli; Su, Dezhi; Zhao, Yongjie

2018-02-01

SnO2 nanobelts were synthesized by hydrothermal method. The structure and morphology were investigated by XRD, Raman spectra, SEM and TEM. The results revealed that the synthesized SnO2 nanobelts were covered with amorphous surface. For the photocatalytic efficiency of methylene blue, the none-fully crystallized SnO2 nanobelts were over four times higher than bulk SnO2. Moreover, the photo-degradation rate constant with SnO2 nanobelts as photocatalysts was over six times higher than bulk SnO2. It was considered that the subtle structure of SnO2 nanobelts not only lowered the band gap but also improved the transfer of charge carriers and trapping effect of solar light. Furthermore, this strategy of enhancing photocatalytic performance could be extended to the other kinds of metal oxide photocatalyst.

An alkaline tin(II) halide compound Na{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}F{sub 6}Cl: Synthesis, structure, and characterization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gong, Pifu; University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049; Luo, Siyang

A new alkali tin(II) halide compound, Na{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}F{sub 6}Cl, is synthesized by hydrothermal method. This compound crystallizes trigonally in space group of R-3c (167), and processes a zero-dimensional (0D) structure consisted of Na{sup +} cations, Cl{sup −} anions and the isolated [SnF{sub 3}]{sup -} trigonal pyramids in which the stereochemically active 5s{sup 2} lone pair electrons are attached to the Sn{sup 2+} cations. Interestingly, the [SnF{sub 3}]{sup −} trigonal pyramids are parallel arranged in the a-b plane, while oppositely arranged in line with rotation along the c- axis. Moreover, the energy bandgap, thermal stability and electronic structure of Na{submore » 3}Sn{sub 2}F{sub 6}Cl are characterized and the results reveal that this compound has and indirect bandgap of 3.88 eV and is stable under 270 °C. - Graphical abstract: A zero-dimensional alkaline tin halide compound, Na{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}F{sub 6}Cl, is synthesized by hydrothermal method. Interestingly, both the anions and cations coordinating polyhedra exhibit order arranged with the [SnF{sub 3}]{sup -} trigonal pyramids rotating along the c- axis.« less

A dislocation density based micromechanical constitutive model for Sn-Ag-Cu solder alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Lu; Yao, Yao; Zeng, Tao; Keer, Leon M.

2017-10-01

Based on the dislocation density hardening law, a micromechanical model considering the effects of precipitates is developed for Sn-Ag-Cu solder alloys. According to the microstructure of the Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu thin films, intermetallic compounds (IMCs) are assumed as sphere particles embedded in the polycrystalline β-Sn matrix. The mechanical behavior of polycrystalline β-Sn matrix is determined by the elastic-plastic self-consistent method. The existence of IMCs not only impedes the motion of dislocations but also increases the overall stiffness. Thus, a dislocation density based hardening law considering non-shearable precipitates is adopted locally for single β-Sn crystal, and the Mori-Tanaka scheme is applied to describe the overall viscoplastic behavior of solder alloys. The proposed model is incorporated into finite element analysis and the corresponding numerical implementation method is presented. The model can describe the mechanical behavior of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu and Sn-1.0Ag-0.5Cu alloys under high strain rates at a wide range of temperatures. Furthermore, the overall Young’s modulus changes due to different contents of IMCs is predicted and compared with experimental data. Results show that the proposed model can describe both elastic and inelastic behavior of solder alloys with reasonable accuracy.

Nanocomposite SAC Solders: The Effect of Adding Ni and Ni-Sn Nanoparticles on Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu Solders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yakymovych, A.; Švec, P.; Orovcik, L.; Bajana, O.; Ipser, H.

2018-01-01

This study investigates the effect of minor additions of Ni, Ni3Sn or Ni3Sn2 nanoparticles on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Cu/solder/Cu joints. The nanocomposite Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305) solders with 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 wt.% metallic nanoparticles were prepared through a paste mixing method. The employed Ni and Ni-Sn nanoparticles were produced via a chemical reduction method. The microstructure of as-solidified Cu/solder/Cu joints was studied by x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that additions of Ni and Ni-Sn nanoparticles to the SAC305 solder paste lead initially to a decrease in the average thickness of the intermetallic compound layer in the interface between solder and substrate, while further additions up to 2.0 wt.% did not induce any significant changes. In addition, shear strength and microhardness tests were performed to investigate the relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of the investigated solder joints. The results indicated an increase in both of these properties which was most significant for the solder joints using SAC305 with 0.5 wt.% Ni or Ni-Sn nanoparticles.

Gas-sensing enhancement methods for hydrothermal synthesized SnO2-based sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yalei; Zhang, Wenlong; Yang, Bin; Liu, Jingquan; Chen, Xiang; Wang, Xiaolin; Yang, Chunsheng

2017-11-01

Gas sensing for hydrothermal synthesized SnO2-based gas sensors can be enhanced in three ways: structural improvement, composition optimization, and processing improvement. There have been zero-dimensional, one-dimensional, and three-dimensional structures reported in the literature. Controllable synthesis of different structures has been deployed to increase specific surface area. Change of composition would intensively tailor the SnO2 structure, which affected the gas-sensing performance. Furthermore, doping and compounding methods have been adopted to promote gas-sensing performance by adjusting surface conditions of SnO2 crystals and constructing heterojunctions. As for processing area, it is very important to find the optimal reaction time and temperature. In this paper, a gas-solid reaction rate constant was proposed to evaluate gas-sensing properties and find an excellent hydrothermal synthesized SnO2-based gas sensor.

Spectral distribution of solar radiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mecherikunnel, A. T.; Richmond, J.

1980-01-01

Available quantitative data on solar total and spectral irradiance are examined in the context of utilization of solar irradiance for terrestrial applications of solar energy. The extraterrestrial solar total and spectral irradiance values are also reviewed. Computed values of solar spectral irradiance at ground level for different air mass values and various levels of atmospheric pollution or turbidity are presented. Wavelengths are given for computation of solar, absorptance, transmittance and reflectance by the 100 selected-ordinate method and by the 50 selected-ordinate method for air mass 1.5 and 2 solar spectral irradiance for the four levels of atmospheric pollution.

Parallelization of PANDA discrete ordinates code using spatial decomposition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Humbert, P.

2006-07-01

We present the parallel method, based on spatial domain decomposition, implemented in the 2D and 3D versions of the discrete Ordinates code PANDA. The spatial mesh is orthogonal and the spatial domain decomposition is Cartesian. For 3D problems a 3D Cartesian domain topology is created and the parallel method is based on a domain diagonal plane ordered sweep algorithm. The parallel efficiency of the method is improved by directions and octants pipelining. The implementation of the algorithm is straightforward using MPI blocking point to point communications. The efficiency of the method is illustrated by an application to the 3D-Ext C5G7more » benchmark of the OECD/NEA. (authors)« less

Comparison of several analytical methods for the determination of tin in geochemical samples as a function of tin speciation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kane, J.S.; Evans, J.R.; Jackson, J.C.

1989-01-01

Accurate and precise determinations of tin in geological materials are needed for fundamental studies of tin geochemistry, and for tin prospecting purposes. Achieving the required accuracy is difficult because of the different matrices in which Sn can occur (i.e. sulfides, silicates and cassiterite), and because of the variability of literature values for Sn concentrations in geochemical reference materials. We have evaluated three methods for the analysis of samples for Sn concentration: graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (HGA-AAS) following iodide extraction, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometry. Two of these methods (HGA-AAS and ICP-OES) required sample decomposition either by acid digestion or fusion, while the third (EDXRF) was performed directly on the powdered sample. Analytical details of all three methods, their potential errors, and the steps necessary to correct these errors were investigated. Results showed that similar accuracy was achieved from all methods for unmineralized samples, which contain no known Sn-bearing phase. For mineralized samples, which contain Sn-bearing minerals, either cassiterite or stannous sulfides, only EDXRF and fusion ICP-OES methods provided acceptable accuracy. This summary of our study provides information which helps to assure correct interpretation of data bases for underlying geochemical processes, regardless of method of data collection and its inherent limitations. ?? 1989.

A review of the matrix-exponential formalism in radiative transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Efremenko, Dmitry S.; Molina García, Víctor; Gimeno García, Sebastián; Doicu, Adrian

2017-07-01

This paper outlines the matrix exponential description of radiative transfer. The eigendecomposition method which serves as a basis for computing the matrix exponential and for representing the solution in a discrete ordinate setting is considered. The mathematical equivalence of the discrete ordinate method, the matrix operator method, and the matrix Riccati equations method is proved rigorously by means of the matrix exponential formalism. For optically thin layers, approximate solution methods relying on the Padé and Taylor series approximations to the matrix exponential, as well as on the matrix Riccati equations, are presented. For optically thick layers, the asymptotic theory with higher-order corrections is derived, and parameterizations of the asymptotic functions and constants for a water-cloud model with a Gamma size distribution are obtained.

Designed hybrid nanostructure with catalytic effect: beyond the theoretical capacity of SnO2 anode material for lithium ion batteries

PubMed Central

Wang, Ye; Huang, Zhi Xiang; Shi, Yumeng; Wong, Jen It; Ding, Meng; Yang, Hui Ying

2015-01-01

Transition metal cobalt (Co) nanoparticle was designed as catalyst to promote the conversion reaction of Sn to SnO2 during the delithiation process which is deemed as an irreversible reaction. The designed nanocomposite, named as SnO2/Co3O4/reduced-graphene-oxide (rGO), was synthesized by a simple two-step method composed of hydrothermal (1st step) and solvothermal (2nd step) synthesis processes. Compared to the pristine SnO2/rGO and SnO2/Co3O4 electrodes, SnO2/Co3O4/rGO nanocomposites exhibit significantly enhanced electrochemical performance as the anode material of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The SnO2/Co3O4/rGO nanocomposites can deliver high specific capacities of 1038 and 712 mAh g−1 at the current densities of 100 and 1000 mA g−1, respectively. In addition, the SnO2/Co3O4/rGO nanocomposites also exhibit 641 mAh g−1 at a high current density of 1000 mA g−1 after 900 cycles, indicating an ultra-long cycling stability under high current density. Through ex-situ TEM analysis, the excellent electrochemical performance was attributed to the catalytic effect of Co nanoparticles to promote the conversion of Sn to SnO2 and the decomposition of Li2O during the delithiation process. Based on the results, herein we propose a new method in employing the catalyst to increase the capacity of alloying-dealloying type anode material to beyond its theoretical value and enhance the electrochemical performance. PMID:25776280

Carbon and graphene double protection strategy to improve the SnOx electrode performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Jian; Lei, Danni; Zhang, Guanhua; Li, Qiuhong; Lu, Bingan; Wang, Taihong

2013-05-01

SnOx is a promising high-capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), but it usually exhibits poor cycling stability because of its huge volume variation during the lithium uptake and release process. In this paper, SnOx carbon nanofibers (SnOx@CNFs) are firstly obtained in the form of a nonwoven mat by electrospinning followed by calcination in a 0.02 Mpa environment at 500 °C. Then we use a simple mixing method for the synthesis of SnOx@CNF@graphene (SnOx@C@G) nanocomposite. By this technique, the SnOx@CNFs can be homogeneously deposited in graphene nanosheets (GNSs). The highly scattered SnOx@C@G composite exhibits enhanced electrochemical performance as anode material for LIBs. The double protection strategy to improve the electrode performance through producing SnOx@C@G composites is versatile. In addition, the double protection strategy can be extended to the fabrication of various types of composites between metal oxides and graphene nanomaterials, possessing promising applications in catalysis, sensing, supercapacitors and fuel cells.SnOx is a promising high-capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), but it usually exhibits poor cycling stability because of its huge volume variation during the lithium uptake and release process. In this paper, SnOx carbon nanofibers (SnOx@CNFs) are firstly obtained in the form of a nonwoven mat by electrospinning followed by calcination in a 0.02 Mpa environment at 500 °C. Then we use a simple mixing method for the synthesis of SnOx@CNF@graphene (SnOx@C@G) nanocomposite. By this technique, the SnOx@CNFs can be homogeneously deposited in graphene nanosheets (GNSs). The highly scattered SnOx@C@G composite exhibits enhanced electrochemical performance as anode material for LIBs. The double protection strategy to improve the electrode performance through producing SnOx@C@G composites is versatile. In addition, the double protection strategy can be extended to the fabrication of various types of composites between metal oxides and graphene nanomaterials, possessing promising applications in catalysis, sensing, supercapacitors and fuel cells. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c3nr00467h

A solar-thermal energy harvesting scheme: enhanced heat capacity of molten HITEC salt mixed with Sn/SiOx core-shell nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lai, Chih-Chung; Chang, Wen-Chih; Hu, Wen-Liang; Wang, Zhiming M.; Lu, Ming-Chang; Chueh, Yu-Lun

2014-04-01

We demonstrated enhanced solar-thermal storage by releasing the latent heat of Sn/SiOx core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in a eutectic salt. The microstructures and chemical compositions of Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs were characterized. In situ heating XRD provides dynamic crystalline information about the Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs during cyclic heating processes. The latent heat of ~29 J g-1 for Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs was measured, and 30% enhanced heat capacity was achieved from 1.57 to 2.03 J g-1 K-1 for the HITEC solar salt without and with, respectively, a mixture of 5% Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs. In addition, an endurance cycle test was performed to prove a stable operation in practical applications. The approach provides a method to enhance energy storage in solar-thermal power plants.We demonstrated enhanced solar-thermal storage by releasing the latent heat of Sn/SiOx core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in a eutectic salt. The microstructures and chemical compositions of Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs were characterized. In situ heating XRD provides dynamic crystalline information about the Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs during cyclic heating processes. The latent heat of ~29 J g-1 for Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs was measured, and 30% enhanced heat capacity was achieved from 1.57 to 2.03 J g-1 K-1 for the HITEC solar salt without and with, respectively, a mixture of 5% Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs. In addition, an endurance cycle test was performed to prove a stable operation in practical applications. The approach provides a method to enhance energy storage in solar-thermal power plants. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Detailed experimental results are included for the following: SEM images of the HITEC molten salt with and without a mixture of Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs; statistical diameter distribution of pure Sn and Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs; the HAADF image and EDS linescan profile of a Sn/SiOx core-shell NP; XRD analysis for Sn NPs annealing at different heating temperatures; the XRD spectra of Sn/SiOx core-shell NPs before and after RTA for the shell protection test. See DOI: 10.1039/c3nr06810b

Analysis of noise-induced temporal correlations in neuronal spike sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reinoso, José A.; Torrent, M. C.; Masoller, Cristina

2016-11-01

We investigate temporal correlations in sequences of noise-induced neuronal spikes, using a symbolic method of time-series analysis. We focus on the sequence of time-intervals between consecutive spikes (inter-spike-intervals, ISIs). The analysis method, known as ordinal analysis, transforms the ISI sequence into a sequence of ordinal patterns (OPs), which are defined in terms of the relative ordering of consecutive ISIs. The ISI sequences are obtained from extensive simulations of two neuron models (FitzHugh-Nagumo, FHN, and integrate-and-fire, IF), with correlated noise. We find that, as the noise strength increases, temporal order gradually emerges, revealed by the existence of more frequent ordinal patterns in the ISI sequence. While in the FHN model the most frequent OP depends on the noise strength, in the IF model it is independent of the noise strength. In both models, the correlation time of the noise affects the OP probabilities but does not modify the most probable pattern.

Expression of a potato antimicrobial peptide SN1 increases resistance to take-all pathogen Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici in transgenic wheat.

PubMed

Rong, Wei; Qi, Lin; Wang, Jingfen; Du, Lipu; Xu, Huijun; Wang, Aiyun; Zhang, Zengyan

2013-08-01

Take-all, caused by soil-borne fungus Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici (Ggt), is a devastating root disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum) worldwide. Breeding resistant wheat cultivars is the most promising and reliable approach to protect wheat from take-all. Currently, no resistant wheat germplasm is available to breed cultivars using traditional methods. In this study, gene transformation was carried out using Snakin-1 (SN1) gene isolated from potato (Solanum tuberosum) because the peptide shows broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity in vitro. Purified SN1 peptide also inhibits in vitro the growth of Ggt mycelia. By bombardment-mediated method, the gene SN1 was transformed into Chinese wheat cultivar Yangmai 18 to generate SN1 transgenic wheat lines, which were used to assess the effectiveness of the SN1 peptide in protecting wheat from Ggt. Genomic PCR and Southern blot analyses indicated that the alien gene SN1 was integrated into the genomes of five transgenic wheat lines and heritable from T₀ to T₄ progeny. Reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot analyses showed that the introduced SN1 gene was transcribed and highly expressed in the five transgenic wheat lines. Following challenging with Ggt, disease test results showed that compared to segregants lacking the transgene and untransformed wheat plants, these five transgenic wheat lines expressing SN1 displayed significantly enhanced resistance to take-all. These results suggest that SN1 may be a potentially transgenic tool for improving the take-all resistance of wheat.

Intricate Li-Sn Disorder in Rare-Earth Metal-Lithium Stannides. Crystal Chemistry of RE3Li4- xSn4+ x (RE = La-Nd, Sm; x < 0.3) and Eu7Li8- xSn10+ x ( x ≈ 2.0).

PubMed

Suen, Nian-Tzu; Guo, Sheng-Ping; Hoos, James; Bobev, Svilen

2018-05-07

Reported are the syntheses, crystal structures, and electronic structures of six rare-earth metal-lithium stannides with the general formulas RE 3 Li 4- x Sn 4+ x (RE = La-Nd, Sm) and Eu 7 Li 8- x Sn 10+ x . These new ternary compounds have been synthesized by high-temperature reactions of the corresponding elements. Their crystal structures have been established using single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. The RE 3 Li 4- x Sn 4+ x phases crystallize in the orthorhombic body-centered space group Immm (No. 71) with the Zr 3 Cu 4 Si 4 structure type (Pearson code oI22), and the Eu 7 Li 8- x Sn 10+ x phase crystallizes in the orthorhombic base-centered space group Cmmm (No. 65) with the Ce 7 Li 8 Ge 10 structure type (Pearson code oC50). Both structures can be consdered as part of the [RESn 2 ] n [RELi 2 Sn] m homologous series, wherein the structures are intergrowths of imaginary RESn 2 (AlB 2 -like structure type) and RELi 2 Sn (MgAl 2 Cu-like structure type) fragments. Close examination the structures indicates complex occupational Li-Sn disorder, apparently governed by the drive of the structure to achieve an optimal number of valence electrons. This conclusion based on experimental results is supported by detailed electronic structure calculations, carried out using the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital method.

Overcoming Short-Circuit in Lead-Free CH3NH3SnI3 Perovskite Solar Cells via Kinetically Controlled Gas-Solid Reaction Film Fabrication Process.

PubMed

Yokoyama, Takamichi; Cao, Duyen H; Stoumpos, Constantinos C; Song, Tze-Bin; Sato, Yoshiharu; Aramaki, Shinji; Kanatzidis, Mercouri G

2016-03-03

The development of Sn-based perovskite solar cells has been challenging because devices often show short-circuit behavior due to poor morphologies and undesired electrical properties of the thin films. A low-temperature vapor-assisted solution process (LT-VASP) has been employed as a novel kinetically controlled gas-solid reaction film fabrication method to prepare lead-free CH3NH3SnI3 thin films. We show that the solid SnI2 substrate temperature is the key parameter in achieving perovskite films with high surface coverage and excellent uniformity. The resulting high-quality CH3NH3SnI3 films allow the successful fabrication of solar cells with drastically improved reproducibility, reaching an efficiency of 1.86%. Furthermore, our Kelvin probe studies show the VASP films have a doping level lower than that of films prepared from the conventional one-step method, effectively lowering the film conductivity. Above all, with (LT)-VASP, the short-circuit behavior often obtained from the conventional one-step-fabricated Sn-based perovskite devices has been overcome. This study facilitates the path to more successful Sn-perovskite photovoltaic research.

Ultrasmall SnO₂ nanocrystals: hot-bubbling synthesis, encapsulation in carbon layers and applications in high capacity Li-ion storage.

PubMed

Ding, Liping; He, Shulian; Miao, Shiding; Jorgensen, Matthew R; Leubner, Susanne; Yan, Chenglin; Hickey, Stephen G; Eychmüller, Alexander; Xu, Jinzhang; Schmidt, Oliver G

2014-04-15

Ultrasmall SnO2 nanocrystals as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been synthesized by bubbling an oxidizing gas into hot surfactant solutions containing Sn-oleate complexes. Annealing of the particles in N2 carbonifies the densely packed surface capping ligands resulting in carbon encapsulated SnO2 nanoparticles (SnO2/C). Carbon encapsulation can effectively buffer the volume changes during the lithiation/delithiation process. The assembled SnO2/C thus deliver extraordinarily high reversible capacity of 908 mA·h·g(-1) at 0.5 C as well as excellent cycling performance in the LIBs. This method demonstrates the great potential of SnO2/C nanoparticles for the design of high power LIBs.

Ultrasmall SnO2 Nanocrystals: Hot-bubbling Synthesis, Encapsulation in Carbon Layers and Applications in High Capacity Li-Ion Storage

PubMed Central

Ding, Liping; He, Shulian; Miao, Shiding; Jorgensen, Matthew R.; Leubner, Susanne; Yan, Chenglin; Hickey, Stephen G.; Eychmüller, Alexander; Xu, Jinzhang; Schmidt, Oliver G.

2014-01-01

Ultrasmall SnO2 nanocrystals as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been synthesized by bubbling an oxidizing gas into hot surfactant solutions containing Sn-oleate complexes. Annealing of the particles in N2 carbonifies the densely packed surface capping ligands resulting in carbon encapsulated SnO2 nanoparticles (SnO2/C). Carbon encapsulation can effectively buffer the volume changes during the lithiation/delithiation process. The assembled SnO2/C thus deliver extraordinarily high reversible capacity of 908 mA·h·g−1 at 0.5 C as well as excellent cycling performance in the LIBs. This method demonstrates the great potential of SnO2/C nanoparticles for the design of high power LIBs. PMID:24732294

Electromigration in Sn-Cu intermetallic compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, C. C.; Chen, C. F.; Liu, P. C.; Chen, Chih

2009-01-01

As the shrinking in bump size continues, the effect of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) on electromigration becomes more pronounced. Electromigration in Sn-Cu intermetallic compounds was examined using edge displacement method. It was found that Cu6Sn5 compounds are more susceptible to electromigration than Cu3Sn compounds. The lower solidus temperature and higher resistivity of the Cu6Sn5 IMCs are responsible for its higher electromigration rate. Length-dependent electromigration behavior was found in the stripes of various lengths and the critical length was determined to be between 5 and 10 μm at 225 °C, which corresponded to a critical product between 2.5 and 5 A/cm. Furthermore, the Sn-Cu compounds were proven to have better electromigration resistance than eutectic SnAgCu solder.

Tin-oxide-coated single-walled carbon nanotube bundles supporting platinum electrocatalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells.

PubMed

Hsu, Ryan S; Higgins, Drew; Chen, Zhongwei

2010-04-23

Novel tin-oxide (SnO(2))-coated single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) bundles supporting platinum (Pt) electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation were developed for direct ethanol fuel cells. SnO(2)-coated SWNT (SnO(2)-SWNT) bundles were synthesized by a simple chemical-solution route. SnO(2)-SWNT bundles supporting Pt (Pt/SnO(2)-SWNTs) electrocatalysts and SWNT-supported Pt (Pt/SWNT) electrocatalysts were prepared by an ethylene glycol reduction method. The catalysts were physically characterized using TGA, XRD and TEM and electrochemically evaluated through cyclic voltammetry experiments. The Pt/SnO(2)-SWNTs showed greatly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for ethanol oxidation in acid medium, compared to the Pt/SWNT. The optimal SnO(2) loading of Pt/SnO(2)-SWNT catalysts with respect to specific catalytic activity for ethanol oxidation was also investigated.

Fabrication of Cu2SnS3 thin films by ethanol-ammonium solution process by doctor-blade technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yaguang; Li, Jianmin; Xue, Cong; Zhang, Yan; Jiang, Guoshun; Liu, Weifeng; Zhu, Changfei

2017-11-01

In the present study, a low-cost and simple method is applied to fabricate Cu2SnS3 (CTS) thin films. Namely CTS thin films are prepared by a doctor-blade method with a slurry dissolving the Cu2O and SnS powders obtained from CBD reaction solution into ethanol-ammonium solvents. Series of characterization methods including XRD, Raman spectra, SEM and UV-Vis analyses are introduced to investigate the phase structure, morphology and optical properties of CTS thin films. As a result, monoclinic CTS films have been obtained with the disappearance of binary phases CuS and SnS2 while increasing the annealing temperature and time, high quality monoclinic CTS thin films consisting of compact and large grains have been successfully prepared by this ethanol-ammonium method. Moreover, the secondary phase Cu2Sn3S7 is also observed during the annealing process. In addition, the post-annealed CTS film with a band-gap about 0.89 eV shows excellent absorbance between 400 and 1200 nm, which is proper for the bottom layer in multi-junction thin film solar cells.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

Fabrication of tensile-strained single-crystalline GeSn on transparent substrate by nucleation-controlled liquid-phase crystallization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oka, Hiroshi; Amamoto, Takashi; Koyama, Masahiro; Imai, Yasuhiko; Kimura, Shigeru; Hosoi, Takuji; Shimura, Takayoshi; Watanabe, Heiji

2017-01-01

We developed a method of forming single-crystalline germanium-tin (GeSn) alloy on transparent substrates that is based on liquid-phase crystallization. By controlling and designing nucleation during the melting growth process, a highly tensile-strained single-crystalline GeSn layer was grown on a quartz substrate without using any crystal-seeds or catalysts. The peak field-effect hole mobility of 423 cm2/V s was obtained for a top-gate single-crystalline GeSn MOSFET on a quartz substrate with a Sn content of 2.6%, indicating excellent crystal quality and mobility enhancement due to Sn incorporation and tensile strain.

Radiochemical synthesis of a carbon-supported Pt-SnO2 bicomponent nanostructure exhibiting enhanced catalysis of ethanol oxidation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okazaki, Tomohisa; Seino, Satoshi; Nakagawa, Takashi; Kugai, Junichiro; Ohkubo, Yuji; Akita, Tomoki; Nitani, Hiroaki; Yamamoto, Takao A.

2015-03-01

Carbon-supported Pt-SnO2 electrocatalysts with various Sn/Pt molar ratios were prepared by an electron beam irradiation method. These catalysts were composed of metallic Pt particles approximately 5 nm in diameter together with low crystalline SnO2. The contact between the Pt and SnO2 in these materials varied with the amount of dissolved oxygen in the precursor solutions and it was determined that intimate contact between the Pt and SnO2 significantly enhanced the catalytic activity of these materials during the ethanol oxidation reaction. The mechanism by which the contact varies is discussed based on the radiochemical reduction process.

No association of smoke-free ordinances with profits from bingo and charitable games in Massachusetts

PubMed Central

Glantz, S; Wilson-Loots, R

2003-01-01

Background: Because it is widely played, claims that smoking restrictions will adversely affect bingo games is used as an argument against these policies. We used publicly available data from Massachusetts to assess the impact of 100% smoke-free ordinances on profits from bingo and other gambling sponsored by charitable organisations between 1985 and 2001. Methods: We conducted two analyses: (1) a general linear model implementation of a time series analysis with net profits (adjusted to 2001 dollars) as the dependent variable, and community (as a fixed effect), year, lagged net profits, and the length of time the ordinance had been in force as the independent variables; (2) multiple linear regression of total state profits against time, lagged profits, and the percentage of the entire state population in communities that allow charitable gaming but prohibit smoking. Results: The general linear model analysis of data from individual communities showed that, while adjusted profits fell over time, this effect was not related to the presence of an ordinance. The analysis in terms of the fraction of the population living in communities with ordinances yielded the same result. Conclusion: Policymakers can implement smoke-free policies without concern that these policies will affect charitable gaming. PMID:14660778

Optimizing the maximum reported cluster size in the spatial scan statistic for ordinal data.

PubMed

Kim, Sehwi; Jung, Inkyung

2017-01-01

The spatial scan statistic is an important tool for spatial cluster detection. There have been numerous studies on scanning window shapes. However, little research has been done on the maximum scanning window size or maximum reported cluster size. Recently, Han et al. proposed to use the Gini coefficient to optimize the maximum reported cluster size. However, the method has been developed and evaluated only for the Poisson model. We adopt the Gini coefficient to be applicable to the spatial scan statistic for ordinal data to determine the optimal maximum reported cluster size. Through a simulation study and application to a real data example, we evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. With some sophisticated modification, the Gini coefficient can be effectively employed for the ordinal model. The Gini coefficient most often picked the optimal maximum reported cluster sizes that were the same as or smaller than the true cluster sizes with very high accuracy. It seems that we can obtain a more refined collection of clusters by using the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient developed specifically for the ordinal model can be useful for optimizing the maximum reported cluster size for ordinal data and helpful for properly and informatively discovering cluster patterns.

Optimizing the maximum reported cluster size in the spatial scan statistic for ordinal data

PubMed Central

Kim, Sehwi

2017-01-01

The spatial scan statistic is an important tool for spatial cluster detection. There have been numerous studies on scanning window shapes. However, little research has been done on the maximum scanning window size or maximum reported cluster size. Recently, Han et al. proposed to use the Gini coefficient to optimize the maximum reported cluster size. However, the method has been developed and evaluated only for the Poisson model. We adopt the Gini coefficient to be applicable to the spatial scan statistic for ordinal data to determine the optimal maximum reported cluster size. Through a simulation study and application to a real data example, we evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. With some sophisticated modification, the Gini coefficient can be effectively employed for the ordinal model. The Gini coefficient most often picked the optimal maximum reported cluster sizes that were the same as or smaller than the true cluster sizes with very high accuracy. It seems that we can obtain a more refined collection of clusters by using the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient developed specifically for the ordinal model can be useful for optimizing the maximum reported cluster size for ordinal data and helpful for properly and informatively discovering cluster patterns. PMID:28753674

Expression in Escherichia coli, purification, refolding and antifungal activity of an osmotin from Solanum nigrum

PubMed Central

Campos, Magnólia de A; Silva, Marilia S; Magalhães, Cláudio P; Ribeiro, Simone G; Sarto, Rafael PD; Vieira, Eduardo A; Grossi de Sá, Maria F

2008-01-01

Background Heterologous protein expression in microorganisms may contribute to identify and demonstrate antifungal activity of novel proteins. The Solanum nigrum osmotin-like protein (SnOLP) gene encodes a member of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins, from the PR-5 sub-group, the last comprising several proteins with different functions, including antifungal activity. Based on deduced amino acid sequence of SnOLP, computer modeling produced a tertiary structure which is indicative of antifungal activity. Results To validate the potential antifungal activity of SnOLP, a hexahistidine-tagged mature SnOLP form was overexpressed in Escherichia coli M15 strain carried out by a pQE30 vector construction. The urea solubilized His6-tagged mature SnOLP protein was affinity-purified by immobilized-metal (Ni2+) affinity column chromatography. As SnOLP requires the correct formation of eight disulfide bonds, not correctly formed in bacterial cells, we adapted an in vitro method to refold the E. coli expressed SnOLP by using reduced:oxidized gluthatione redox buffer. This method generated biologically active conformations of the recombinant mature SnOLP, which exerted antifungal action towards plant pathogenic fungi (Fusarium solani f. sp.glycines, Colletotrichum spp., Macrophomina phaseolina) and oomycete (Phytophthora nicotiana var. parasitica) under in vitro conditions. Conclusion Since SnOLP displays activity against economically important plant pathogenic fungi and oomycete, it represents a novel PR-5 protein with promising utility for biotechnological applications. PMID:18334031

Bentonite modification with pillarization method using metal stannum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widjaya, Robert R.; Juwono, Ariadne L.; Rinaldi, Nino

2017-11-01

Clay minerals have received considerable attention in the last years because of their environmental compatibility, low cost, high selectivity, and operational simplicity. Although clays are very useful for many application in the field of catalysis, they have main disadvantage: their lack of pore volume and spesific surface area. Porosity and stability of these materials are improved by pillaring the clay layers with SnCl4, which leads to materials known as pillared clays (PILC). This research aims were to characterize the Bentonite and Sn-Bentonite as catalysts for cracking and oligomerization. The Sn-Bentonite was prepared by pillarization method with a variation in metal ratio of 5 mmol dan 10 mmol.gr-1 of bentonit. The catalyst characterized by X-ray Diffraction, X-ray Fluorescence, Fourier Transform Infra Red, Brunauer Emmett Teller, Thermogravimetric Analysis. The results showed that the Sn-Bentonite catalyst had large basal spacing and good porous structure, and the specific surface areas increased. XRF detected the Sn in the Bentonite and TGA results showed the ability Sn-Bentonite in receiving heat. FTIR test showed two type of acidity, broansted and lewis acid. The characterized results indicated that Sn-Bentonite with metal ratio 5 mmol.gr-1 better than Sn-Bentonite with metal ratio 10 mmol.gr-1, in which there was a significant increase the basal spacings, specific surface area, and pore volume. The TGA results for Sn-Bentonite appeared to be more thermally stable than Bentonite.

Evaluation of redundancy analysis to identify signatures of local adaptation.

PubMed

Capblancq, Thibaut; Luu, Keurcien; Blum, Michael G B; Bazin, Eric

2018-05-26

Ordination is a common tool in ecology that aims at representing complex biological information in a reduced space. In landscape genetics, ordination methods such as principal component analysis (PCA) have been used to detect adaptive variation based on genomic data. Taking advantage of environmental data in addition to genotype data, redundancy analysis (RDA) is another ordination approach that is useful to detect adaptive variation. This paper aims at proposing a test statistic based on RDA to search for loci under selection. We compare redundancy analysis to pcadapt, which is a nonconstrained ordination method, and to a latent factor mixed model (LFMM), which is a univariate genotype-environment association method. Individual-based simulations identify evolutionary scenarios where RDA genome scans have a greater statistical power than genome scans based on PCA. By constraining the analysis with environmental variables, RDA performs better than PCA in identifying adaptive variation when selection gradients are weakly correlated with population structure. Additionally, we show that if RDA and LFMM have a similar power to identify genetic markers associated with environmental variables, the RDA-based procedure has the advantage to identify the main selective gradients as a combination of environmental variables. To give a concrete illustration of RDA in population genomics, we apply this method to the detection of outliers and selective gradients on an SNP data set of Populus trichocarpa (Geraldes et al., 2013). The RDA-based approach identifies the main selective gradient contrasting southern and coastal populations to northern and continental populations in the northwestern American coast. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Thermodynamic properties of gadolinium in Ga-Sn and Ga-Zn eutectic based alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maltsev, Dmitry S.; Volkovich, Vladimir A.; Yamshchikov, Leonid F.; Chukin, Andrey V.

2016-09-01

Thermodynamic properties of gadolinium in Ga-Sn and Ga-Zn eutectic based alloys were studied. Temperature dependences of gadolinium activity in the studied alloys were determined at 573-1073 K employing the EMF method. Solubility of gadolinium in the Ga-Sn and Ga-Zn alloys was measured at 462-1073 K using IMCs sedimentation method. Activity coefficients as well as partial and excess thermodynamic functions of gadolinium in the studied alloys were calculated on the basis of the obtained experimental data.

Influence of PVP in magnetic properties of NiSn nanoparticles prepared by polyol method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobadilla, L. F.; García, C.; Delgado, J. J.; Sanz, O.; Romero-Sarria, F.; Centeno, M. A.; Odriozola, J. A.

2012-11-01

The influence of PVP on the magnetic properties of NiSn nanoparticles prepared by polyol method has been studied. NiSn nanoparticles exhibit superparamagnetic behavior although there is a ferromagnetic contribution due to particles agglomerated below the blocking temperature. The particle size is controlled by the addiction of PVP in varying amounts. The addition of PVP also favours the particles isolation, narrow the particle size distribution and decrease the interparticle interaction strength increasing the superparamagnetic contribution.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) assisted size-controlled SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles by sol-gel process

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tripathi, P., E-mail: ptrip71@yahoo.com; Ahmed, Ateeq; Ali, Tinku

2016-05-23

Tetragonal phase tin oxide (SnO{sub 2}) nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol–gel method using SnCl{sub 4}.5H{sub 2}O and polyethylene glycol (PEG) of different concentration. The phase, size and purity of the final products are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology is confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. There exists relationship between the concentration of PEG and particle size of SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles. Increase in concentration of PEG caused the reduction of particle size of tin oxide nanoparticles. The results suggest that the concentration of PEG plays a significant role in determining the size of SnO{sub 2} nanoparticles synthesizedmore » via this method. The optical property of the product has been explored by Ultraviolet (UV-visible) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic techniques.« less

Photo-thermoelectric properties of SnS nanocrystals with orthorhombic layered structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hyun, Cheol-Min; Choi, Jeong-Hun; Lee, Myoung-Jae; Ahn, Ji-Hoon

2017-07-01

The photo-thermoelectric properties of SnS nanocrystals, two-dimensional materials with an orthorhombic symmetry, were investigated using a focused laser scanning method. The SnS nanocrystals were synthesized by a vapor transport method, and their fundamental material and electrical properties were investigated. Upon shining a laser onto the SnS channel region under a positive source-drain bias, a positive photocurrent was observed due to photo-excited electron-hole pairs. On the other hand, when this external electric field was not applied, a strong photocurrent was observed within the metal electrode region rather than at the metal-semiconductor interface, which indicated that the major mechanism for the photocurrent under zero external bias was a photo-induced thermoelectric effect rather than a photovoltaic effect. Moreover, the Seebeck coefficient of the SnS nanocrystal device was approximately 1735 μV/K, which is 3.5 times larger than that of its bulk counterpart.

Thermoelectric properties of Ge 1-xSn xTe crystals grown by vertical Bridgman method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, C. C.; Ferng, N. J.; Gau, H. J.

2007-06-01

Single crystals of Ge 1-xSn xTe compounds with x=0, 0.8, 0.9 and 1.0 were grown by vertical Bridgman method. The crystalline phase and stochiometry for these crystals were investigated by X-ray diffraction, metallographic microscope as well as electron-probe microanalysis (EPMA). Electrical property of the as-grown samples was characterized using room temperature resistivity and Hall measurements. The thermoelectric behaviors for the Ge 1-xSn xTe crystals were studied by means of thermal and carrier transport measurements. Temperature dependences of resistivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity for the various compositions of Ge 1-xSn xTe were analyzed. A two-valence band model was proposed to describe the temperature dependence of thermoelectric property of the Ge 1-xSn xTe crystals. The dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT for the alloys was evaluated and discussed.

Electrochemical capacitance of nanostructured ruthenium-doped tin oxide Sn1- x Ru x O2 by the microemulsion method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saraswathy, Ramanathan

2017-12-01

Synthesis of nanostructured Ru-doped SnO2 was successfully carried out using the reverse microemulsion method. The phase purity and the crystallite size were analyzed by XRD. The surface morphology and the microstructure of synthesized nanoparticles were analyzed by SEM and TEM. The vibration mode of nanoparticles was investigated using FTIR and Raman studies. The electrochemical behavior of the Ru-doped SnO2 electrode was evaluated in a 0.1 mol/L Na2SO4 solution using cyclic voltammetry. The 5% Ru-doped SnO2 electrode exhibited a high specific capacitance of 535.6 F/g at a scan rate 20 mV/s, possessing good conductivity as well as the electrocycling stability. The Ru-doped SnO2 composite shows excellent electrochemical properties, suggesting that this composite is a promising material for supercapacitors.

Different valence Sn doping - A simple way to detect oxygen concentration variation of ZnO quantum dots synthesized under ultrasonic irradiation.

PubMed

Yang, Weimin; Zhang, Bing; Zhang, Qitu; Wang, Lixi; Song, Bo; Wu, Fan; Wong, C P

2017-09-01

An ultrasonic method is employed to synthesize the Sn doped Zn 0.95 Sn 0.05 O quantum dots with green light emission. Sn 2+ and Sn 4+ ions are used to create different optical defects inside Zn 0.95 Sn 0.05 O quantum dots and the changing trend of oxygen concentration under different ultrasonic irradiation power are investigated. The photoluminescence spectra are employed to characterize the optical defects of Zn 0.95 Sn 0.05 O quantum dots. The UV-vis spectra are used to study the band gap of Zn 0.95 Sn 0.05 O quantum dots, which is influenced by their sizes. The results indicate that ultrasonic power would influence the size of Zn 0.95 Sn 0.05 O quantum dots as well as the type and quantity of defects in ZnO quantum dots. Changing trends in size of Sn 2+ and Sn 4+ doped Zn 0.95 Sn 0.05 O quantum dots are quite similar with each other, while the changing trends in optical defects types and concentration of Sn 2+ and Sn 4+ doped Zn 0.95 Sn 0.05 O quantum dots are different. The difference of the optical defects concentration changing between Sn 2+ doped Zn 0.95 Sn 0.05 O quantum dots (V O defects) and Sn 4+ doped Zn 0.95 Sn 0.05 O quantum dots (O Zn and O i defects) shows that the formation process of ZnO under ultrasonic irradiation wiped oxygen out. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nano SnO 2-Al 2O 3 mixed oxide and SnO 2-Al 2O 3-carbon composite oxides as new and novel electrodes for supercapacitor applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jayalakshmi, M.; Venugopal, N.; Raja, K. Phani; Rao, M. Mohan

New nano-materials like SnO 2-Al 2O 3 and SnO 2-Al 2O 3-carbon were synthesized by a single step hydrothermal method in searching for novel mixed oxides with high electrochemical double layer capacitance. A SnO 2-Al 2O 3-carbon sample was calcined at 600 °C and tested for its performance. The source of carbon was tetrapropyl ammonium hydroxide. The capacitive behavior of SnO 2 was compared to the performance of SnO 2-Al 2O 3, SnO 2-Al 2O 3-carbon and calcined SnO 2-Al 2O 3-carbon using the techniques of cyclic voltammetry, double potential step, chronopotentiometry and E-log I polarization. In 0.1 M NaCl solutions, SnO 2-Al 2O 3 gave the best performance with a value of 119 Fg -1 and cycled 1000 times. The nano-material mixed oxides were characterized by TEM, XRD, ICP-AES and SEM-EDAX.

SnO{sub 2} films: In-situ template-sacrificial growth and photovoltaic property based on SnO{sub 2}/poly(3-hexyl-thiophene) for hybrid solar cell

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Yange, E-mail: zhangygzhang@163.com; Li, Pinjiang; Xu, Xiaoyun

2015-10-15

Highlights: • SnO{sub 2} nanocrystals/thin films were fabricated on ITO glass substrate from preformed SnS thin film as sacrificial template. • The SnO{sub 2} film and SnO{sub 2}/P3HT was characterized by several techniques. • The new hybrid solar cell device was based on the hybrid thin film of SnO{sub 2} NCs and P3HT composites. - Abstract: we described a facile in-situ wet chemical method to prepare SnO{sub 2} thin film on ITO glass substrate from preformed SnS thin film as sacrificial template. The chemical conversion process of SnS to SnO{sub 2} was studied. The SnO{sub 2} film and SnO{sub 2}/P3HTmore » was characterized by several techniques, such as powder X-ray diffract meter (XRD), Raman spectrometer, scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and UV–vis spectrophotometer in detail. The new SnO{sub 2}/P3HT hybrid solar cell device showed an open-circuit voltage of 0.185 V, a short-circuit current density of 0.366 mA/cm{sup 2} and a fill factor of 0.247, corresponding to a power conversion efficiency of 0.0167%.« less

Rethinking Residue: Determining the Perceptual Continuum of Residue on FEES to Enable Better Measurement.

PubMed

Pisegna, Jessica M; Kaneoka, Asako; Leonard, Rebecca; Langmore, Susan E

2018-02-01

The goal of this work was to better understand perceptual judgments of pharyngeal residue on flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) and the influence of a visual analog scale (VAS) versus an ordinal scale on clinician ratings. The intent was to determine if perceptual judgments of residue were more accurately described by equal or unequal intervals. Thirty-three speech language pathologists rated pharyngeal residue from 75 FEES videos representing a wide range of residue severities for thin liquid, applesauce, and cracker boluses. Clinicians rated their impression of the overall residue amount in each video on a VAS and, in a different session, on a five-point ordinal scale. Residue ratings were made in two separate sessions separated by several weeks. Statistical correlations of the two rating methods were carried out and best-fit models were determined for each bolus type. A total of 2475 VAS ratings and 2473 ordinal ratings were collected. Residue ratings from both methods (VAS and ordinal) were strongly correlated for all bolus types. The best fit for the data was a quadratic model representing unequal intervals, which significantly improved the r 2 values for each bolus type (cracker r 2  = 0.98, applesauce r 2  = 0.99, thin liquid r 2  = 0.98, all p < 0.0001). Perceptual ratings of pharyngeal residue demonstrated a statistical relationship consistent with unequal intervals. The present findings support the use of a VAS to rate residue on FEES, allowing for greater precision as compared to traditional ordinal rating scales. Perceptual judgments of pharyngeal residue reflected unequal intervals, an important concept that should be considered in future rating scales.

Activation cross sections of alpha-induced reactions on natIn for 117mSn production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aikawa, M.; Saito, M.; Ukon, N.; Komori, Y.; Haba, H.

2018-07-01

The production of 117mSn by charged-particle induced reactions is an interesting topic for medical application. Production cross sections of α-induced reactions on natIn for 117mSn up to 50 MeV were measured using the stacked foil technique and activation method. The integral yield of 117mSn was estimated using the measured cross sections. The results were compared with experimental data investigated earlier and theoretical calculation. Measured cross sections for 113Sn and 116m,117,118mSb isotopes were also presented.

Electrical Transport Properties of Single-Crystalline β-Zn4Sb3 Prepared Through the Zn-Sn Mixed-Flux Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Hongxia; Deng, Shuping; Shen, Lanxian; Wang, Jinsong; Feng, Cheng; Deng, Shukang

2017-03-01

β-Zn4Sb3 is a promising p-type thermoelectric material for utilization in moderate temperatures. This study prepares a group of single-crystalline β-Zn4Sb3 samples using the Zn-Sn mixed-flux method based on the stoichiometric ratios of Zn4+ x Sb3Sn y . The effect of Zn-to-Sn proportion in the flux on the structure and electrical transport properties is investigated. All samples are strip-shaped single crystals of different sizes. The actual Zn content of the present samples is improved (>3.9) compared with that of the samples prepared through the Sn flux method. Larger lattice parameters are also obtained. The carrier concentration of all the samples is in the order of over 1019 cm-3. With increasing Sn rate in the flux, this carrier concentration decreases, whereas mobility is significantly enhanced. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficients of all the samples exhibit a behavior that of a degenerate semiconductor transport. Electrical conductivity initially increases and then decreases as the Sn ratio in the flux increases. The electrical conductivity of the x: y = 5:1 sample reaches 6.45 × 104 S m-1 at 300 K. Benefitting from the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient, the flux proportion of the x: y = 7:1 sample finally achieves the highest power factor value of 1.4 × 10-3 W m-1 K-2 at 598 K.

Controlled synthesis of magnetic iron oxides@SnO2 quasi-hollow core-shell heterostructures: formation mechanism, and enhanced photocatalytic activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Wei; Zhang, Shaofeng; Ren, Feng; Xiao, Xiangheng; Zhou, Juan; Jiang, Changzhong

2011-11-01

Iron oxide/SnO2 magnetic semiconductor core-shell heterostructures with high purity were synthesized by a low-cost, surfactant-free and environmentally friendly hydrothermal strategy via a seed-mediated method. The morphology and structure of the hybrid nanostructures were characterized by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The morphology evolution investigations reveal that the Kirkendall effect directs the diffusion and causes the formation of iron oxide/SnO2 quasi-hollow particles. Significantly, the as-obtained iron oxides/SnO2 core-shell heterostructures exhibited enhanced visible light or UV photocatalytic abilities, remarkably superior to as-used α-Fe2O3 seeds and commercial SnO2 products, mainly owing to the effective electron hole separation at the iron oxides/SnO2 interfaces.Iron oxide/SnO2 magnetic semiconductor core-shell heterostructures with high purity were synthesized by a low-cost, surfactant-free and environmentally friendly hydrothermal strategy via a seed-mediated method. The morphology and structure of the hybrid nanostructures were characterized by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The morphology evolution investigations reveal that the Kirkendall effect directs the diffusion and causes the formation of iron oxide/SnO2 quasi-hollow particles. Significantly, the as-obtained iron oxides/SnO2 core-shell heterostructures exhibited enhanced visible light or UV photocatalytic abilities, remarkably superior to as-used α-Fe2O3 seeds and commercial SnO2 products, mainly owing to the effective electron hole separation at the iron oxides/SnO2 interfaces. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: TEM and HRTEM images of hematite seeds and iron oxide/SnO2 (12 h and 36 h). See DOI: 10.1039/c1nr10728c

Simple eco-friendly synthesis of the surfactant free SnS nanocrystal toward the photoelectrochemical cell application.

PubMed

Huang, Xiaoguang; Woo, Heechul; Wu, Peinian; Hong, Hyo Jin; Jung, Wan Gil; Kim, Bong-Joong; Vanel, Jean-Charles; Choi, Jin Woo

2017-11-28

A simple, low cost, non-toxic and eco-friendly pathway for synthesizing efficient sunlight-driven tin sulfide photocatalyst was studied. SnS nanocrystals were prepared by using mechanical method. The bulk SnS was obtained by evaporation of SnS nanocrystal solution. The synthesized samples were characterized by using XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-vis, and Raman analyses. Well crystallized SnS nanocrystals were verified and the electrochemical characterization was also performed under visible light irradiation. The SnS nanocrystals have shown remarkable photocurrent density of 7.6 mA cm -2 under 100 mW cm -2 which is about 10 times larger than that of the bulk SnS under notably stable operation conditions. Furthermore, the SnS nanocrystals presented higher stability than the bulk form. The IPCE(Incident photon to current conversion efficiency) of 9.3% at 420 nm was obtained for SnS nanocrystal photoanode which is strikingly higher than that of bulk SnS, 0.78%. This work suggests that the enhancement of reacting area by using SnS nanocrystal absorbers could give rise to the improvement of photoelectrochemical cell efficiency.

Calcination Method Synthesis of SnO2/g-C3N4 Composites for a High-Performance Ethanol Gas Sensing Application

PubMed Central

Cao, Jianliang; Qin, Cong; Wang, Yan; Zhang, Bo; Gong, Yuxiao; Zhang, Huoli; Sun, Guang; Bala, Hari; Zhang, Zhanying

2017-01-01

The SnO2/g-C3N4 composites were synthesized via a facile calcination method by using SnCl4·5H2O and urea as the precursor. The structure and morphology of the as-synthesized composites were characterized by the techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), the field-emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), thermal gravity and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and N2-sorption. The analysis results indicated that the as-synthesized samples possess the two dimensional structure. Additionally, the SnO2 nanoparticles were highly dispersed on the surface of the g-C3N4nanosheets. The gas-sensing performance of the as-synthesized composites for different gases was tested. Moreover, the composite with 7 wt % g-C3N4 content (SnO2/g-C3N4-7) SnO2/g-C3N4-7 exhibits an admirable gas-sensing property to ethanol, which possesses a higher response and better selectivity than that of the pure SnO2-based sensor. The high surface area of the SnO2/g-C3N4 composite and the good electronic characteristics of the two dimensional graphitic carbon nitride are in favor of the elevated gas-sensing property. PMID:28468245

Not Color-Blind: Using Multiband Photometry to Classify Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poznanski, Dovi; Gal-Yam, Avishay; Maoz, Dan; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Leonard, Douglas C.; Matheson, Thomas

2002-08-01

Large numbers of supernovae (SNe) have been discovered in recent years, and many more will be found in the near future. Once discovered, further study of a SN and its possible use as an astronomical tool (e.g., as a distance estimator) require knowledge of the SN type. Current classification methods rely almost solely on the analysis of SN spectra to determine their type. However, spectroscopy may not be possible or practical when SNe are faint, numerous, or discovered in archival studies. We present a classification method for SNe based on the comparison of their observed colors with synthetic ones, calculated from a large database of multiepoch optical spectra of nearby events. We discuss the capabilities and limitations of this method. For example, Type Ia SNe at redshifts z<0.1 can be distinguished from most other SN types during the first few weeks of their evolution, based on V-R versus R-I colors. Type II-P SNe have distinct (very red) colors at late (t>100 days) stages. Broadband photometry through standard Johnson-Cousins UBVRI filters can be useful to classify SNe out to z~0.6. The use of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) ugriz filters allows the extension of our classification method to even higher redshifts (z=0.75), and the use of infrared bands, to z=2.5. We demonstrate the application of this method to a recently discovered SN from the SDSS. Finally, we outline the observational data required to further improve the sensitivity of the method and discuss prospects for its use on future SN samples. Community access to the tools developed is provided by a dedicated Web site.5

Photometric classification of type Ia supernovae in the SuperNova Legacy Survey with supervised learning

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Möller, A.; Ruhlmann-Kleider, V.; Leloup, C.

In the era of large astronomical surveys, photometric classification of supernovae (SNe) has become an important research field due to limited spectroscopic resources for candidate follow-up and classification. In this work, we present a method to photometrically classify type Ia supernovae based on machine learning with redshifts that are derived from the SN light-curves. This method is implemented on real data from the SNLS deferred pipeline, a purely photometric pipeline that identifies SNe Ia at high-redshifts (0.2 < z < 1.1). Our method consists of two stages: feature extraction (obtaining the SN redshift from photometry and estimating light-curve shape parameters)more » and machine learning classification. We study the performance of different algorithms such as Random Forest and Boosted Decision Trees. We evaluate the performance using SN simulations and real data from the first 3 years of the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS), which contains large spectroscopically and photometrically classified type Ia samples. Using the Area Under the Curve (AUC) metric, where perfect classification is given by 1, we find that our best-performing classifier (Extreme Gradient Boosting Decision Tree) has an AUC of 0.98.We show that it is possible to obtain a large photometrically selected type Ia SN sample with an estimated contamination of less than 5%. When applied to data from the first three years of SNLS, we obtain 529 events. We investigate the differences between classifying simulated SNe, and real SN survey data. In particular, we find that applying a thorough set of selection cuts to the SN sample is essential for good classification. This work demonstrates for the first time the feasibility of machine learning classification in a high- z SN survey with application to real SN data.« less

Exploring Nutrition Literacy and Knowledge among a National Sample of School Nutrition Managers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zoellner, Jamie; Carr, Deborah

2010-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this national study was to describe nutrition literacy levels and nutrition knowledge among school nutrition (SN) managers, and explore if barriers to seeking SN information, perceived role in school wellness, and confidence in SN decision making varied by nutrition literacy and knowledge scores. Methods: An…

Structure and magnetic properties of flux grown single crystals of Co3-xFexSn2S2 shandites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kassem, Mohamed A.; Tabata, Yoshikazu; Waki, Takeshi; Nakamura, Hiroyuki

2016-01-01

We report a successful single crystal growth of the shandite-type half-metallic ferromagnet Co3Sn2S2, and its Fe-substituted compounds, Co3-xFexSn2S2, by employing the flux method. Although Fe3Sn2S2 is unstable phase, we found that using the self Sn flux enables us to obtain single phase crystals up to x=0.53. The chemical composition of the grown plate-shaped single crystals was examined using wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The shandite structure with R 3 ̅m symmetry was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction and the crystal structure parameters were refined using the Rietveld method. Magnetization measurements show suppression of the ferromagnetic order upon Fe-substitution , as well as in other substituted systems such as In- and Ni-substituted Co3Sn2S2. The almost identical magnetic phase diagrams of the Fe- and In-substituted compounds indicate that the electron number is dominantly significant to the magnetism in the Co-based shandite.

Influence of Sodium Chloride Doping on Thermoelectric Properties of p-type SnSe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Shi Dan; Nutor, Raymond Kwesi; Chen, Zi Jie; Zheng, Hao; Wu, Hai Fei; Si, Jian Xiao

2017-11-01

We investigated the effect of NaCl doping on the thermoelectric properties of p-type Sn 1- x Na x SeCl x ( x = 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04) prepared by a method which combines rapid induction melting and rapid hot pressing. After introducing the NaCl into the SnSe system, the carrier concentration of SnSe is significantly increased from ˜4.55 × 1017 cm-3 to ˜3.95 × 1019 cm-3 at 300 K. An electrical conductivity of ˜102.5 S cm-1 was obtained at 473 K by addition of 2 mol.% NaCl. It was found that Cl was effective in reducing the thermal conductivity by inducing abundant defects. A maximum ZT value of 0.84 was achieved in the Na0.005Sn0.995SeCl0.005 sample at 810 K. This suggests that doping with NaCl is a facile and cost-effective method in optimizing the thermoelectric properties of SnSe materials.

A modified carbothermal reduction method for preparation of high-performance nano-scale core/shell Cu 6Sn 5 alloy anodes in Li-ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Wangjun; Wang, Fei; Wang, Jie; Liu, Haijing; Wang, Congxiao; Xia, Yongyao

Core-shell structured, carbon-coated, nano-scale Cu 6Sn 5 has been prepared by a modified carbothermal reduction method using polymer coated mixed oxides of CuO and SnO 2 as precursors. On heat treatment, the mixture oxides were converted into Cu 6Sn 5 alloy by carbothermal reduction. Simultaneously, the remnants carbon was coated on the surface of the Cu 6Sn 5 particles to form a core-shell structure. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images demonstrate that the well-coated carbon layer effectively prevents the encapsulated, low melting point alloy from out flowing in a high-temperature treatment process. Core-shell structured, carbon coated Cu 6Sn 5 delivers a reversible capacity of 420 mAh g -1 with capacity retention of 80% after 50 cycles. The improvement in the cycling ability can be attributed to the fact that the carbon-shell prevents aggregation and pulverization of nano-sized tin-based alloy particles during charge/discharge cycling.

Fast formation and growth of high-density Sn whiskers in Mg/Sn-based solder/Mg joints by ultrasonic-assisted soldering: Phenomena, mechanism and prevention.

PubMed

Li, M Y; Yang, H F; Zhang, Z H; Gu, J H; Yang, S H

2016-06-08

A universally applicable method for promoting the fast formation and growth of high-density Sn whiskers on solders was developed by fabricating Mg/Sn-based solder/Mg joints using ultrasonic-assisted soldering at 250 °C for 6 s and then subjected to thermal aging at 25 °C for 7 d. The results showed that the use of the ultrasonic-assisted soldering could produce the supersaturated dissolution of Mg in the liquid Sn and lead to the existence of two forms of Mg in Sn after solidification. Moreover, the formation and growth of the high-density whiskers were facilitated by the specific contributions of both of the Mg forms in the solid Sn. Specifically, interstitial Mg can provide the persistent driving force for Sn whisker growth, whereas the Mg2Sn phase can increase the formation probability of Sn whiskers. In addition, we presented that the formation and growth of Sn whiskers in the Sn-based solders can be significantly restricted by a small amount of Zn addition (≥3 wt.%), and the prevention mechanisms are attributed to the segregation of Zn atoms at grain or phase boundaries and the formation of the lamellar-type Zn-rich structures in the solder.

Synthesis of SnO2versus Sn crystals within N-doped porous carbon nanofibers via electrospinning towards high-performance lithium ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hongkang; Lu, Xuan; Li, Longchao; Li, Beibei; Cao, Daxian; Wu, Qizhen; Li, Zhihui; Yang, Guang; Guo, Baolin; Niu, Chunming

2016-03-01

The design of tin-based anode materials (SnO2 or Sn) has become a major concern for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their different inherent characteristics. Herein, particulate SnO2 or Sn crystals coupled with porous N-doped carbon nanofibers (denoted as SnO2/PCNFs and Sn/PCNFs, respectively) are fabricated via the electrospinning method. The electrochemical behaviors of both SnO2/PCNFs and Sn/PCNFs are systematically investigated as anodes for LIBs. When coupled with porous carbon nanofibers, both SnO2 nanoparticles and Sn micro/nanoparticles display superior cycling and rate performances. SnO2/PCNFs and Sn/PCNFs deliver discharge capacities of 998 and 710 mA h g-1 after 140 cycles (at 100, 200, 500 and 1000 mA g-1 each for 10 cycles and then 100 cycles at 100 mA g-1), respectively. However, the Sn/PCNF electrodes show better cycling stability at higher current densities, delivering higher discharge capacities of 700 and 550 mA h g-1 than that of SnO2/PCNFs (685 and 424 mA h g-1) after 160 cycles at 200 and 500 mA g-1, respectively. The different superior electrochemical performance is attributed to the introduction of porous N-doped carbon nanofibers and their self-constructed networks, which, on the one hand, greatly decrease the charge-transfer resistance due to the high conductivity of N-doped carbon fibers; on the other hand, the porous carbon nanofibers with numerous voids and flexible one-dimensional (1D) structures efficiently alleviate the volume changes of SnO2 and Sn during the Li-Sn alloying-dealloying processes. Moreover, the discussion of the electrochemical behaviors of SnO2vs. Sn would provide new insights into the design of tin-based anode materials for practical applications, and the current strategy demonstrates great potential in the rational design of metallic tin-based anode materials.The design of tin-based anode materials (SnO2 or Sn) has become a major concern for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their different inherent characteristics. Herein, particulate SnO2 or Sn crystals coupled with porous N-doped carbon nanofibers (denoted as SnO2/PCNFs and Sn/PCNFs, respectively) are fabricated via the electrospinning method. The electrochemical behaviors of both SnO2/PCNFs and Sn/PCNFs are systematically investigated as anodes for LIBs. When coupled with porous carbon nanofibers, both SnO2 nanoparticles and Sn micro/nanoparticles display superior cycling and rate performances. SnO2/PCNFs and Sn/PCNFs deliver discharge capacities of 998 and 710 mA h g-1 after 140 cycles (at 100, 200, 500 and 1000 mA g-1 each for 10 cycles and then 100 cycles at 100 mA g-1), respectively. However, the Sn/PCNF electrodes show better cycling stability at higher current densities, delivering higher discharge capacities of 700 and 550 mA h g-1 than that of SnO2/PCNFs (685 and 424 mA h g-1) after 160 cycles at 200 and 500 mA g-1, respectively. The different superior electrochemical performance is attributed to the introduction of porous N-doped carbon nanofibers and their self-constructed networks, which, on the one hand, greatly decrease the charge-transfer resistance due to the high conductivity of N-doped carbon fibers; on the other hand, the porous carbon nanofibers with numerous voids and flexible one-dimensional (1D) structures efficiently alleviate the volume changes of SnO2 and Sn during the Li-Sn alloying-dealloying processes. Moreover, the discussion of the electrochemical behaviors of SnO2vs. Sn would provide new insights into the design of tin-based anode materials for practical applications, and the current strategy demonstrates great potential in the rational design of metallic tin-based anode materials. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr09305h

Structural, microstructural and electrical characterization of BaSnO3 and Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3 synthesized by solution combustion method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Upendra; Yadav, Dharmendra; Upadhyay, Shail; Thakur, Anukul K.

2018-04-01

Powder of perovskite oxides BaSnO3 and Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3 have been synthesized by solution combustion method. Rietveld profile analysis shows that the phases crystallize with cubic unit cell in the space group pm3m. Further purity of the synthesized powders was checked by Fourier transform of infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The average grain size of the sintered samples was obtained using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and found to be 4.9 and 2.8 1m for BaSnO3 and Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3, respectively. The AC conductivity (σac) of synthesized samples was measured in the frequency range from 24Hz-1MHz and temperature range 100 - 600°C. Conductivity spectra of both the samples followed universal Johnscher's power law at different temperatures. The value of bulk or dc conductivity (σdc) at different temperatures has been extracted by fitting the Johnscher's power law to AC conductivity spectra. The activation energy for σc has been obtained from the least square linear fit of data points and found to be 0.53 eV and 0.43 eV, respectively for BaSnO3 and Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3. Based on the value of activation energy it is proposed that conduction in these samples is govern via hopping of (OH)•. The value of conductivity at temperature 550°C of Ba0.90Y0.10SnO3 is 0.00406 S-cm-1 higher than BaSnO3 (0.00173 S-cm-1) at the same temperature.

An ultraviolet spectrophotometric assay for the screening of sn-2-specific lipases using 1,3-O-dioleoyl-2-O-α-eleostearoyl-sn-glycerol as substrate

PubMed Central

Mendoza, Lilia D.; Rodriguez, Jorge A.; Leclaire, Julien; Buono, Gerard; Fotiadu, Frédéric; Carrière, Frédéric; Abousalham, Abdelkarim

2012-01-01

In the present study, we propose a continuous assay for the screening of sn-2 lipases by using triacylglycerols (TAGs) from Aleurites fordii seed (tung oil) and a synthetic TAG containing the α-eleostearic acid at the sn-2 position and the oleic acid (OA) at the sn-1 and sn-3 positions [1,3-O-dioleoyl-2-O-α-eleostearoyl-sn-glycerol (sn-OEO)]. Each TAG was coated into a microplate well, and the lipase activity was measured by optical density increase at 272 nm due to transition of α-eleostearic acid from the adsorbed to the soluble state. The sn-1,3-regioselective lipases human pancreatic lipase (HPL), LIP2 lipase from Yarrowia lipolytica (YLLIP2), and a known sn-2 lipase, Candida antarctica lipase A (CALA) were used to validate this method. TLC analysis of lipolysis products showed that the lipases tested were able to hydrolyze the sn-OEO and the tung oil TAGs, but only CALA hydrolyzed the sn-2 position. The ratio of initial velocities on sn-OEO and tung oil TAGs was used to estimate the sn-2 preference of lipases. CALA was the enzyme with the highest ratio (0.22 ± 0.015), whereas HPL and YLLIP2 showed much lower ratios (0.072 ± 0.026 and 0.038 ± 0.016, respectively). This continuous sn-2 lipase assay is compatible with a high sample throughput and thus can be applied to the screening of sn-2 lipases. PMID:22114038

Fast and Accurate Hybrid Stream PCRTMSOLAR Radiative Transfer Model for Reflected Solar Spectrum Simulation in the Cloudy Atmosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Qiguang; Liu, Xu; Wu, Wan; Kizer, Susan; Baize, Rosemary R.

2016-01-01

A hybrid stream PCRTM-SOLAR model has been proposed for fast and accurate radiative transfer simulation. It calculates the reflected solar (RS) radiances with a fast coarse way and then, with the help of a pre-saved matrix, transforms the results to obtain the desired high accurate RS spectrum. The methodology has been demonstrated with the hybrid stream discrete ordinate (HSDO) radiative transfer (RT) model. The HSDO method calculates the monochromatic radiances using a 4-stream discrete ordinate method, where only a small number of monochromatic radiances are simulated with both 4-stream and a larger N-stream (N = 16) discrete ordinate RT algorithm. The accuracy of the obtained channel radiance is comparable to the result from N-stream moderate resolution atmospheric transmission version 5 (MODTRAN5). The root-mean-square errors are usually less than 5x10(exp -4) mW/sq cm/sr/cm. The computational speed is three to four-orders of magnitude faster than the medium speed correlated-k option MODTRAN5. This method is very efficient to simulate thousands of RS spectra under multi-layer clouds/aerosols and solar radiation conditions for climate change study and numerical weather prediction applications.

Overcoming Short-Circuit in Lead-Free CH 3 NH 3 SnI 3 Perovskite Solar Cells via Kinetically Controlled Gas–Solid Reaction Film Fabrication Process

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yokoyama, Takamichi; Cao, Duyen H.; Stoumpos, Constantinos C.

2016-02-17

The development of Sn-based perovskite solar cells has been challenging because devices often show short-circuit behavior due to poor morphologies and undesired electrical properties of the thin films. A low-temperature vapor-assisted solution process (LT-VASP) has been employed as a novel kinetically controlled gas–solid reaction film fabrication method to prepare lead-free CH3NH3SnI3 thin films. We show that the solid SnI2 substrate temperature is the key parameter in achieving perovskite films with high surface coverage and excellent uniformity. The resulting high-quality CH3NH3SnI3 films allow the successful fabrication of solar cells with drastically improved reproducibility, reaching an efficiency of 1.86%. Furthermore, our Kelvinmore » probe studies show the VASP films have a doping level lower than that of films prepared from the conventional one-step method, effectively lowering the film conductivity. Above all, with (LT)-VASP, the short-circuit behavior often obtained from the conventional one-step-fabricated Sn-based perovskite devices has been overcome. This study facilitates the path to more successful Sn-perovskite photovoltaic research.« less

Tobacco industry litigation to deter local public health ordinances: the industry usually loses in court

PubMed Central

Nixon, M; Mahmoud, L; Glantz, S

2004-01-01

Background: The tobacco industry uses claims of state preemption or violations of the US Constitution in litigation to overturn local tobacco control ordinances. Methods: Collection of lawsuits filed or threatened against local governments in the USA; review of previously secret tobacco industry documents; interviews with key informants. Results: The industry is most likely to prevail when a court holds that there is explicit preemption language by the state legislature to exclusively regulate tobacco. The industry has a much weaker record on claims of implied preemption and has lost all challenges brought under equal protection claims in the cases we located. Although the tobacco industry is willing to spend substantial amounts of money on these lawsuits, it never won on constitutional equal protection grounds and lost or dropped 60% (16/27) of the cases it brought claiming implied state preemption. Conclusions: Municipalities should continue to pass ordinances and be prepared to defend them against claims of implied preemption or on constitutional grounds. If the ordinance is properly prepared they will likely prevail. Health advocates should be prepared to assist in this process. PMID:14985600

A novel approach for the synthesis of SnO2 nanoparticles and its application as a catalyst in the reduction and photodegradation of organic compounds.

PubMed

Bhattacharjee, Archita; Ahmaruzzaman, M; Sinha, Tanur

2015-02-05

Tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles of sizes ∼4.5, ∼10 and ∼30 nm were successfully synthesized by a simple chemical precipitation method using amino acid, glycine which acts as a complexing agent and surfactant, namely sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a stabilizing agent, at various calcination temperatures of 200, 400 and 600°C. This method resulted in the formation of spherical SnO2 nanoparticles and the size of the nanoparticles was found to be a factor of calcination temperature. The spherical SnO2 nanoparticles show a tetragonal rutile crystalline structure. A dramatic increase in band gap energy (3.8-4.21 eV) was observed with a decrease in grain size (30-4.5 nm) due to three dimensional quantum confinement effect shown by the synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles. SnO2 nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The optical properties were investigated using UV-visible spectroscopy. These SnO2 nanoparticles were employed as catalyst for the reduction of p-nitro phenol to p-amino phenol in aqueous medium for the first time. The synthesized SnO2 nanoparticles act as an efficient photocatalyst in the degradation of methyl violet 6B dye under direct sunlight. For the first time, methyl violet 6B dye was degraded by SnO2 nanoparticles under direct sunlight. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Controlled synthesis of the antiperovskite oxide superconductor Sr3‑x SnO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hausmann, J. N.; Oudah, M.; Ikeda, A.; Yonezawa, S.; Maeno, Y.

2018-05-01

A large variety of perovskite oxide superconductors are known, including some of the most prominent high-temperature and unconventional superconductors. However, superconductivity among the oxidation state inverted material class, the antiperovskite oxides, was recently reported for the first time. In this superconductor, Sr3‑x SnO, the unconventional ionic state Sn4‑ is realized and possible unconventional superconductivity due to a band inversion has been discussed. Here, we discuss an improved facile synthesis method, making it possible to control the strontium deficiency in Sr3‑x SnO. Additionally, a synthesis method above the melting point of Sr3SnO is presented. We show temperature dependence of magnetization and electrical resistivity for superconducting strontium deficient Sr3‑x SnO (T c ∼ 5 K) and for Sr3SnO without a superconducting transition in alternating current susceptibility down to 0.15 K. Further, we reveal a significant effect of strontium raw material purity on the superconductivity and achieve substantially increased M/M Meissner (∼1) compared to the highest value reported so far. More detailed characterizations utilizing powder x-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy show that a minor cubic phase, previously suggested to be another Sr3‑x SnO phase with a slightly larger lattice parameter, is SrO. The improved characterization and controlled synthesis reported herein enable detailed investigations on the superconducting nature and its dependency on the strontium deficiency in Sr3‑x SnO.

Processing Ordinality and Quantity: The Case of Developmental Dyscalculia

PubMed Central

Rubinsten, Orly; Sury, Dana

2011-01-01

In contrast to quantity processing, up to date, the nature of ordinality has received little attention from researchers despite the fact that both quantity and ordinality are embodied in numerical information. Here we ask if there are two separate core systems that lie at the foundations of numerical cognition: (1) the traditionally and well accepted numerical magnitude system but also (2) core system for representing ordinal information. We report two novel experiments of ordinal processing that explored the relation between ordinal and numerical information processing in typically developing adults and adults with developmental dyscalculia (DD). Participants made “ordered” or “non-ordered” judgments about 3 groups of dots (non-symbolic numerical stimuli; in Experiment 1) and 3 numbers (symbolic task: Experiment 2). In contrast to previous findings and arguments about quantity deficit in DD participants, when quantity and ordinality are dissociated (as in the current tasks), DD participants exhibited a normal ratio effect in the non-symbolic ordinal task. They did not show, however, the ordinality effect. Ordinality effect in DD appeared only when area and density were randomized, but only in the descending direction. In the symbolic task, the ordinality effect was modulated by ratio and direction in both groups. These findings suggest that there might be two separate cognitive representations of ordinal and quantity information and that linguistic knowledge may facilitate estimation of ordinal information. PMID:21935374

Processing ordinality and quantity: the case of developmental dyscalculia.

PubMed

Rubinsten, Orly; Sury, Dana

2011-01-01

In contrast to quantity processing, up to date, the nature of ordinality has received little attention from researchers despite the fact that both quantity and ordinality are embodied in numerical information. Here we ask if there are two separate core systems that lie at the foundations of numerical cognition: (1) the traditionally and well accepted numerical magnitude system but also (2) core system for representing ordinal information. We report two novel experiments of ordinal processing that explored the relation between ordinal and numerical information processing in typically developing adults and adults with developmental dyscalculia (DD). Participants made "ordered" or "non-ordered" judgments about 3 groups of dots (non-symbolic numerical stimuli; in Experiment 1) and 3 numbers (symbolic task: Experiment 2). In contrast to previous findings and arguments about quantity deficit in DD participants, when quantity and ordinality are dissociated (as in the current tasks), DD participants exhibited a normal ratio effect in the non-symbolic ordinal task. They did not show, however, the ordinality effect. Ordinality effect in DD appeared only when area and density were randomized, but only in the descending direction. In the symbolic task, the ordinality effect was modulated by ratio and direction in both groups. These findings suggest that there might be two separate cognitive representations of ordinal and quantity information and that linguistic knowledge may facilitate estimation of ordinal information.

Underage alcohol policies across 50 California cities: an assessment of best practices

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background We pursue two primary goals in this article: (1) to test a methodology and develop a dataset on U.S. local-level alcohol policy ordinances, and (2) to evaluate the presence, comprehensiveness, and stringency of eight local alcohol policies in 50 diverse California cities in relationship to recommended best practices in both public health literature and governmental recommendations to reduce underage drinking. Methods Following best practice recommendations from a wide array of authoritative sources, we selected eight local alcohol policy topics (e.g., conditional use permits, responsible beverage service training, social host ordinances, window/billboard advertising ordinances), and determined the presence or absence as well as the stringency (restrictiveness) and comprehensiveness (number of provisions) of each ordinance in each of the 50 cities in 2009. Following the alcohol policy literature, we created scores for each city on each type of ordinance and its associated components. We used these data to evaluate the extent to which recommendations for best practices to reduce underage alcohol use are being followed. Results (1) Compiling datasets of local-level alcohol policy laws and their comprehensiveness and stringency is achievable, even absent comprehensive, on-line, or other legal research tools. (2) We find that, with some exceptions, most of the 50 cities do not have high scores for presence, comprehensiveness, or stringency across the eight key policies. Critical policies such as responsible beverage service and deemed approved ordinances are uncommon, and, when present, they are generally neither comprehensive nor stringent. Even within policies that have higher adoption rates, central elements are missing across many or most cities’ ordinances. Conclusion This study demonstrates the viability of original legal data collection in the U.S. pertaining to local ordinances and of creating quantitative scores for each policy type to reflect comprehensiveness and stringency. Analysis of the resulting dataset reveals that, although the 50 cities have taken important steps to improve public health with regard to underage alcohol use and abuse, there is a great deal more that needs to be done to bring these cities into compliance with best practice recommendations. PMID:22734468

Spectrum synthesis of the Type Ia supernovae SN 1992A and SN 1981B

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nugent, Peter; Baron, E.; Hauschildt, Peter H.; Branch, David

1995-01-01

We present non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) synthetic spectra for the Type Ia supernovae SN 1992A and SN 1981B, near maximum light. At this epoch both supernovae were observed from the UV through the optical. This wide spectral coverage is essential for determining the density structure of a SN Ia. Our fits are in good agreement with observation and provide some insight as to the differences between these supernovae. We also discuss the application of the expanding photosphere method to SNe Ia which gives a distance that is independent of those based on the decay of Ni-56 and Cepheid variable stars.

Controllable synthesis of Au@SnO2 core-shell nanohybrids with enhanced photocatalytic activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Shaofeng; Hao, Jinggang; Ren, Feng; Wu, Wei; Xiao, Xiangheng

2017-05-01

Combination of semiconductors with plasmonic nanostructures is an effective route to promote the solar light harvesting as well as the efficiency of photocatalysis. In the present work, the Au@SnO2 hybrid nanostructures with Au nanorods as the cores and highly crystallized SnO2 nanoparticles as the shells were fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method. A critical factor, which influences the coating state of the SnO2 shells over Au NRs, was found to be the concentration of CTAB agent in the system and the corresponding mechanism was also proposed. The photocatalytic activities of the Au@SnO2 nanohybrids were examined by degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) dyes at room temperature. The Au@SnO2 nanohybrids exhibited much higher catalytic activities than that of the commercial SnO2 NPs, which could be attributed to the localized electric field enhancement effect of Au nanorods plasmon and charges transfer between the Au nanorods and SnO2.

High-speed electrodeposition of copper-tin-zinc stacks from liquid metal salts for Cu2ZnSnSe4 solar cells.

PubMed

Steichen, Marc; Malaquias, João C; Arasimowicz, Monika; Djemour, Rabie; Brooks, Neil R; Van Meervelt, Luc; Fransaer, Jan; Binnemans, Koen; Dale, Phillip J

2017-01-16

Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 -based solar cells with 5.5% power conversion efficiency were fabricated from Cu/Sn/Zn stacks electrodeposited from liquid metal salts. These electrolytes allow metal deposition rates one order of magnitude higher than those of other deposition methods.

Exploring Trends and Barriers to Implementation of Branding and Marketing Concepts in the School Nutrition Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castillo, Alexandra; Nettles, Mary Frances

2012-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this research study was to identify perceptions, practices, advantages, and barriers to implementation of branding concepts in school nutrition (SN) programs. Methods: Seven SN directors participated in an expert panel session to discuss trends and barriers to implementation of branding concepts in SN programs.…

Optical and Electrical Properties of Sn-Doped Zinc Oxide Single Crystals

DOE PAGES

Haseman, M. S.; Saadatkia, Pooneh; Warfield, J. T.; ...

2017-11-28

Here, Sn dopant in ZnO may significantly improve the n-type conductivity of ZnO through a characteristic double effect. However, studies on bulk Sn-doped ZnO are rare, and the effect of Sn doping on the optoelectronic properties of bulk ZnO is not well understood. In this work, the effect of Sn doping on the optical and electrical properties of ZnO bulk single crystals was investigated through optical absorption spectroscopy, Hall-effect measurements, and thermoluminescence (TL) spectroscopy. Undoped and Sn-doped ZnO single crystals were grown by chemical vapor transport method and characterized by x-ray diffraction analysis. The Sn doping level in the crystalsmore » was evaluated by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy measurements. Hall-effect measurements revealed an increase in conductivity and carrier concentration with increasing Sn doping, while TL measurements identified a few donor species in the crystals with donor ionization energy ranging from 35 meV to 118 meV. Increasing Sn doping was also associated with a color change of single crystals from colorless to dark blue.« less

Structural and magnetic properties of Ni-doped SnO{sub 2}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dwivedi, Sonam, E-mail: vdinesh33@rediffmail.com, E-mail: sonam.dwivedi88@gmail.com; Kumar, Ashwini; Dar, Mashkoor A.

2015-06-24

Samples of Ni doped SnO{sub 2} nanocrystalline were successfully prepared by chemical co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction pattern infers that Sn{sub 1-x}Ni{sub x}O{sub 2} (x=0.00, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20) samples are in single phase with tetragonal structure (P4{sub 2}/mnm). Raman spectroscopy reveals the observed phonon modes of SnO{sub 2} are at about 387-397, and 559 - 572 cm{sup −1}. For Sn{sub 0.9}Ni{sub 0.1}O{sub 2}, these peaks are shifted to higher wave numbers, while to that for Sn{sub 0.85}Ni{sub 0.15}O{sub 2} and Sn{sub 0.8}Ni{sub 0.2}O{sub 2}, peaks are shifted to the lower wave numbers. The frequency dependent dielectric constant decreases with the increasemore » in the frequency and becomes constant at high frequencies for all compositions of Ni substituted SnO{sub 2}. The magnetization curve confirms the paramagnetic nature of all Ni doped SnO{sub 2} samples.« less

Density functional study for crystalline structures and electronic properties of Si1- x Sn x binary alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagae, Yuki; Kurosawa, Masashi; Shibayama, Shigehisa; Araidai, Masaaki; Sakashita, Mitsuo; Nakatsuka, Osamu; Shiraishi, Kenji; Zaima, Shigeaki

2016-08-01

We have carried out density functional theory (DFT) calculation for Si1- x Sn x alloy and investigated the effect of the displacement of Si and Sn atoms with strain relaxation on the lattice constant and E- k dispersion. We calculated the formation probabilities for all atomic configurations of Si1- x Sn x according to the Boltzmann distribution. The average lattice constant and E- k dispersion were weighted by the formation probability of each configuration of Si1- x Sn x . We estimated the displacement of Si and Sn atoms from the initial tetrahedral site in the Si1- x Sn x unit cell considering structural relaxation under hydrostatic pressure, and we found that the breaking of the degenerated electronic levels of the valence band edge could be caused by the breaking of the tetrahedral symmetry. We also calculated the E- k dispersion of the Si1- x Sn x alloy by the DFT+U method and found that a Sn content above 50% would be required for the indirect-direct transition.

Carbon and graphene double protection strategy to improve the SnO(x) electrode performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries.

PubMed

Zhu, Jian; Lei, Danni; Zhang, Guanhua; Li, Qiuhong; Lu, Bingan; Wang, Taihong

2013-06-21

SnOx is a promising high-capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), but it usually exhibits poor cycling stability because of its huge volume variation during the lithium uptake and release process. In this paper, SnOx carbon nanofibers (SnOx@CNFs) are firstly obtained in the form of a nonwoven mat by electrospinning followed by calcination in a 0.02 Mpa environment at 500 °C. Then we use a simple mixing method for the synthesis of SnOx@CNF@graphene (SnOx@C@G) nanocomposite. By this technique, the SnOx@CNFs can be homogeneously deposited in graphene nanosheets (GNSs). The highly scattered SnOx@C@G composite exhibits enhanced electrochemical performance as anode material for LIBs. The double protection strategy to improve the electrode performance through producing SnOx@C@G composites is versatile. In addition, the double protection strategy can be extended to the fabrication of various types of composites between metal oxides and graphene nanomaterials, possessing promising applications in catalysis, sensing, supercapacitors and fuel cells.

Electrochemical properties of Sn-based nanopowders synthesized by a pulsed wire evaporation method and effect of binder coating

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ha, Jong-Keun; Song, Ju-Seok; Cho, Gyu-Bong

Highlights: • Sn-based nanoparticles are fabricated by using the pulsed wire evaporation method. • The electrodes are prepared by mixing the graphene and coating the surface. • Coating the surface of electrode is used with brushing of simple and facile method. • The electrochemical measurements are performed with galvanostatic experiments. • The coating electrode maintains capacity nearly of 501 mAh g{sup −1} up to 100 cycles. - Abstract: Sn-based nanoparticles are prepared with the O{sub 2} concentrations in chamber of Ar atmosphere (by v/v) by using the pulsed wire evaporation (PWE) method. The prepared electrodes are only Sn-based powder electrode,more » its binder coating electrode and Sn-based powder/graphene nanocomposite electrode. Morphology and structure of the synthesized powders and electrodes are investigated with a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and an X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The electrochemical measurements were performed with galvanostatic cycling experiments using a coin type cell of CR2032 (Ø20, T3.2 mm). The binder coating electrode is superior to others and maintains delithiation capacity nearly of 501 mAh g{sup −1} as 58.3% of first delithiation capacity at 0.2 C-rate up to 100 cycles.« less

Fluorescence turn-on detection of Sn2+ in live eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells.

PubMed

Lan, Haichuang; Wen, Ying; Shi, Yunming; Liu, Keyin; Mao, Yueyuan; Yi, Tao

2014-10-21

Sn(2+) is usually added to toothpaste to prevent dental plaque and oral disease. However, studies of its physiological role and bacteriostatic mechanism are restricted by the lack of versatile Sn(2+) detection methods applicable to live cells, including Streptococcus mutans. Here we report two Sn(2+) fluorescent probes containing a rhodamine B derivative as a fluorophore, linked via the amide moiety to N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine (R1) and tert-butyl carbazate group (R2), respectively. These probes can selectively chelate Sn(2+) and show marked fluorescence enhancement due to the ring open reaction of rhodamine induced by Sn(2+) chelation. The probes have high sensitivity and selectivity for Sn(2+) in the presence of various relevant metal ions. Particularly, both R1 and R2 can target lysosomes, and R2 can probe Sn concentrations in lysosomes with rather acidic microenvironment. Furthermore, these two probes have low toxicity and can be used as imaging probes for monitoring Sn(2+) not only in live KB cells (eukaryotic) but also in Streptococcus mutans cells (prokaryotic), which is a useful tool to study the physiological function of Sn(2+) in biological systems.

Calorimetria nucleare in collisioni tra ioni pesanti ad energie intermedie

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spezzi, L.

2002-07-01

Nel presente lavoro di tesi ci si e' occupati di uno studio sistematico di misure di temperatura ed energia di eccitazione in sistemi nucleari formati in reazioni tra ioni pesanti ad energie intermedie. La temperatura a stata misurata tramite due diversi metodi: rapporto tra le rese di isotopi che differiscono di uno stesso numero di nucleoni ( d/t-3He/4He , 3He/4He -6Li/7Li) - temperatura isotopica -, e rapporto tra le popolazioni degli stati eccitati in frammenti instabili (5Li e 6Li) che decadono in particelle leggere in coincidenza - temperatura di emissione. Le misure in esame sono state effettuate presso i Laboratori Nazionali del Sud per i sistemi 93Nb+93Nb, 93Nb+116,124Sn, 116,120Sn+116,124Sn e 116Sn+93Nb ad energie comprese tra 17 e 40 A MeV. L'apparato di rivelazione era costituito da un odoscopio ad alta granularite (96 telescopi Si (50micron)-Si(300micron)-CsI(Tl) ) e basse soglie di rivelazione, utilizzato sia per identificare risonanze in frammenti eccitati che per misure di rese di isotopi di frammenti con 2<=Z<=6, e dal multirivelatore FIASCO che, grazie alla misura contemporanea di posizione e tempo di volo dei frammenti provenienti dal proiettile (PLF - Projectile Like Fragments) e dal bersaglio (TLF - Target Like Fragment), e' stato utilizzato per misurare direttamente l'energia di eccitazione del sistema in studio. Analisi precedenti, condotte nell'ambito di varie collaborazioni, hanno messo in evidenza la possible esistenza di una transizione di fase liquido-gas del primo ordine nella materia nucleare. In tale contesto, ci siamo occupati di una verifica della curva calorica nucleare, ovvero della correlazione esistente fra temperatura ed energia di eccitazione del sistema, indagando, nel contempo, sulla sua dipendenza dalla massa del sistema che si frammenta. Si e' effettuato, inoltre, un confronto fra i due diversi metodi di misura della temperatura (temperatura isotopica e di emissione): l'andamento plateau-like della curva calorica e' stato confermato sia dalle temperature isotopiche che dalle temperature di emissione. Le "temperature limite", ovvero quelle relative all'andamento plateau-like della curva calorica, misurate per i vari sistemi studiati, sono state confrontate con quelle attualmente disponibili in letteratura, confermando la dipendenza dalla massa del sistema di tale grandezza.

The possible magnetoelectric coupling induced by adsorption in SnTe films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fu, Zhaoming; Liu, Meng; Zhang, Na; An, Yipeng; Yang, Zongxian

2018-01-01

Based on the recent discovery of the stable in-plane spontaneous polarization in SnTe films. We report the possible magnetoelectric (ME) coupling induced by adsorption in SnTe films by performing density functional calculations. Firstly, we investigate the adsorption-induced magnetic behaviors on the two-dimensional SnTe monolayer. Five kinds of adatoms (H, B, C, N and O) are taken into account. It is found that the SnTe with adsorbing H and B have nonzero magnetic moments and good stability. Secondly, the coexistence of the ferromagnetism and ferroelectrics (i.e. multiferroics) is observed in H-adsorbed SnTe. The magnetoelectric coupling in this system is studied by calculating the poralazition in different magnetic structures (antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric). According to our study, we propose that it is a possible method obtaining the multiferroicity and ME coupling to modify the SnTe films by chemical adsorption of single atoms.

Strain engineering in epitaxial Ge1- x Sn x : a path towards low-defect and high Sn-content layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Margetis, Joe; Yu, Shui-Qing; Bhargava, Nupur; Li, Baohua; Du, Wei; Tolle, John

2017-12-01

The plastic strain relaxation of CVD-grown Ge1-x Sn x layers was investigated in x = 0.09 samples with thicknesses of 152, 180, 257, 570, and 865 nm. X-ray diffraction-reciprocal space mapping was used to determine the strain, composition, and the nature of defects in each layer. Secondary ion mass spectrometry was used to examine the evolution of the compositional profile. These results indicate that growth beyond the critical thickness results in the spontaneous formation of a relaxed and highly defective 9% Sn layer followed by a low defect 12% Sn secondary layer. We find that this growth method can be used to engineer thick, strain-relaxed, and low defect density layers. Furthermore we utilize this strain-dependent Sn incorporation behavior to achieve Sn compositions of 17.5%. Photoluminesence of these layers produces light emission at 3.1 μm.

Critical strain for Sn incorporation into spontaneously graded Ge/GeSn core/shell nanowires.

PubMed

Albani, Marco; Assali, Simone; Verheijen, Marcel A; Koelling, Sebastian; Bergamaschini, Roberto; Pezzoli, Fabio; Bakkers, Erik P A M; Miglio, Leo

2018-04-19

We address the role of non-uniform composition, as measured by energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, in the elastic properties of core/shell nanowires for the Ge/GeSn system. In particular, by finite element method simulations and transmission electron diffraction measurements, we estimate the residual misfit strain when a radial gradient in Sn and a Ge segregation at the nanowire facet edges are present. An elastic stiffening of the structure with respect to the uniform one is concluded, particularly for the axial strain component. More importantly, refined predictions linking the strain and the Sn percentage at the nanowire facets enable us to quantitatively determine the maximum compressive strain value allowing for additional Sn incorporation into a GeSn alloy. The progressive incorporation with increasing shell thickness, under constant growth conditions, is specifically induced by the nanowire configuration, where a larger elastic relaxation of the misfit strain takes place.

Angular Multigrid Preconditioner for Krylov-Based Solution Techniques Applied to the Sn Equations with Highly Forward-Peaked Scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turcksin, Bruno; Ragusa, Jean C.; Morel, Jim E.

2012-01-01

It is well known that the diffusion synthetic acceleration (DSA) methods for the Sn equations become ineffective in the Fokker-Planck forward-peaked scattering limit. In response to this deficiency, Morel and Manteuffel (1991) developed an angular multigrid method for the 1-D Sn equations. This method is very effective, costing roughly twice as much as DSA per source iteration, and yielding a maximum spectral radius of approximately 0.6 in the Fokker-Planck limit. Pautz, Adams, and Morel (PAM) (1999) later generalized the angular multigrid to 2-D, but it was found that the method was unstable with sufficiently forward-peaked mappings between the angular grids. The method was stabilized via a filtering technique based on diffusion operators, but this filtering also degraded the effectiveness of the overall scheme. The spectral radius was not bounded away from unity in the Fokker-Planck limit, although the method remained more effective than DSA. The purpose of this article is to recast the multidimensional PAM angular multigrid method without the filtering as an Sn preconditioner and use it in conjunction with the Generalized Minimal RESidual (GMRES) Krylov method. The approach ensures stability and our computational results demonstrate that it is also significantly more efficient than an analogous DSA-preconditioned Krylov method.

Thickness-dependent structure and properties of SnS2 thin films prepared by atomic layer deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Wondeok; Shin, Seokyoon; Ham, Giyul; Lee, Juhyun; Lee, Seungjin; Choi, Hyeongsu; Jeon, Hyeongtag

2017-03-01

Tin disulfide (SnS2) thin films were deposited by a thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) method at low temperatures. The physical, chemical, and electrical characteristics of SnS2 were investigated as a function of the film thickness. SnS2 exhibited a (001) hexagonal plane peak at 14.9° in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) results and an A1g peak at 311 cm-1 in the Raman spectra. These results demonstrate that SnS2 thin films grown at 150 °C showed a crystalline phase at film thicknesses above 11.2 nm. The crystallinity of the SnS2 thin films was evaluated by a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed that SnS2 consisted of Sn4+ and S2- valence states. Both the optical band gap and the transmittance of SnS2 decreased as the film thickness increased. The band gap of SnS2 decreased from 3.0 to 2.4 eV and the transmittance decreased from 85 to 32% at a wavelength of 400 nm. In addition, the resistivity of the thin film SnS2 decreased from 1011 to 106 Ω·cm as the film thickness increased.

Effects of Grain Orientation on Cu6Sn5 Growth Behavior in Cu6Sn5-Reinforced Composite Solder Joints During Electromigration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Jing; Wang, Yan; Tan, Shihai; Guo, Fu

2018-02-01

Electromigration is a major reliability problem in composite solder joints. Due to the anisotropy of the β-Sn crystal structure, the Sn grain orientations present in the solder matrix dominate the principal failure mechanism in solder joints under electric current stressing. In this work, the Cu6Sn5 growth behavior in Cu6Sn5-reinforced composite solder joints with three different Sn grain orientations was investigated at current density of 104 A/cm2 at room temperature. Micron-sized Cu particles were added to Sn-3.5Ag solder at 2% volume fraction using an in situ method. After current stressing for 528 h, the polarity effect in the composite solder joint was greatest for an angle ( θ) between the c-axis and electron flow direction of 30°, resulting in higher growth rate of Cu6Sn5 in the solder matrix compared with composite solder joints with θ of 60° or 90°. There were no noticeable changes in the composite solder joint with θ of 90°. The growth behavior of Cu6Sn5, Cu atomic motion, and Cu diffusivity in the composite solder joints with different Sn grain orientations were analyzed in detail.

Gamma-Weighted Discrete Ordinate Two-Stream Approximation for Computation of Domain Averaged Solar Irradiance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kato, S.; Smith, G. L.; Barker, H. W.

2001-01-01

An algorithm is developed for the gamma-weighted discrete ordinate two-stream approximation that computes profiles of domain-averaged shortwave irradiances for horizontally inhomogeneous cloudy atmospheres. The algorithm assumes that frequency distributions of cloud optical depth at unresolved scales can be represented by a gamma distribution though it neglects net horizontal transport of radiation. This algorithm is an alternative to the one used in earlier studies that adopted the adding method. At present, only overcast cloudy layers are permitted.

Interaction of antitumor drug Sn(CH 3) 2Cl 2 with DNA and RNA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nafisi, Shohreh; Sobhanmanesh, Amir; Esm-Hosseini, Majid; Alimoghaddam, Kamran; Tajmir-Riahi, Heidar Ali

2005-08-01

Sn(CH3)2Cl2 exerts its antitumor activity in a specific way. Unlike anticancer cis-Pt(NH3)2Cl2 drug which binds strongly to the nitrogen atoms of DNA bases, Sn(CH3)2Cl2 shows no major affinity towards base binding. Thus, the mechanism of action by which tinorganometallic compounds exert antitumor activity would be different from that of the cisplatin drug. The aim of this study was to examine the binding of Sn(CH3)2Cl2 with calf thymus DNA and yeast RNA in aqueous solutions at pH 7.1-6.6 with constant concentrations of DNA and RNA and various molar ratios of Sn(CH3)2Cl2/DNA (phosphate) and Sn(CH3)2Cl2/RNA of 1/40, 1/20, 1/10, 1/5. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV-visible difference spectroscopic methods were used to determine the Sn(CH3)2Cl2 binding mode, binding constant, sequence selectivity and structural variations of Sn(CH3)2Cl2/DNA and Sn(CH3)2Cl2/RNA complexes in aqueous solution. Sn(CH3)2Cl2 hydrolyzes in water to give Sn(CH3)2(OH)2 and [Sn(CH3)2(OH)(H2O)n]+ species. Spectroscopic evidence showed that interaction occurred mainly through (CH3)2Sn(IV) hydroxide and polynucleotide backbone phosphate group with overall binding constant of K(Sn(CH3)2Cl2-DNA)=1.47×105 M-1 and K(Sn(CH3)2Cl2-RNA)=7.33×105 M-1. Sn(CH3)2Cl2 induced no biopolymer conformational changes with DNA remaining in the B-family structure and RNA in A-conformation upon drug complexation.

Surface plasmon resonance induced enhancement of photoluminescence and Raman line intensity in SnS quantum dot-Sn nanoparticle hybrid structure.

PubMed

Warrier, Anita R; Gandhimathi, R

2018-04-27

In this article, we report on enhancement in photoluminescence and Raman line intensity of SnS quantum dots embedded in a mesh of Sn nanostructures. SnS nanoparticles synthesized by homogenous precipitation method show strong quantum confinement with a band gap of ∼2.7 eV (blue shift of ∼1 eV compared to bulk SnS particles). The optical band gap of SnS quantum dots is controlled by varying the pH (∼0 to 2.25), ageing time (24 to 144 h) and molarity (0 to 2 M) of the precursors. These SnS nanoparticles are embedded in a mesh of Sn nanostructures which are synthesized from tin chloride by using sodium borohydride as reducing agent. The Sn nanostructures have a morphology dependent, tunable surface plasmon resonance (SPR), ranging from UV (∼295 nm) to visible region (∼400 nm) of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the SnS-Sn nanohybrids, the excitons are strongly coupled with plasmons leading to a shift in the excitonic binding energy (∼400 meV). The pure SnS quantum dots have a very weak photoluminescence peak at ∼560 nm and Raman shift of low intensity at 853.08 cm -1 , 1078.17 cm -1 , 1255.60 cm -1 , 1466.91 cm -1 . The coupling of SnS nanoparticles with Sn nanoparticles results in strong exciton-plasmon interactions leading to enhanced photoluminescence and Raman line intensity. The nanohybrids formed using Sn nanosheets whose SPR matches with absorption onset of the SnS nanoparticles shows an enhancement of ∼10 4 times higher than pure SnS nanoparticles. Thus, Sn nanosheet with surface plasmon resonance in visible region (400 nm) like Au and Ag is a promising material for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, plasmon assisted fluorescence imaging and for enhancing the emission intensity of semiconductors with weak emission intensity.

Surface plasmon resonance induced enhancement of photoluminescence and Raman line intensity in SnS quantum dot-Sn nanoparticle hybrid structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warrier, Anita R.; Gandhimathi, R.

2018-07-01

In this article, we report on enhancement in photoluminescence and Raman line intensity of SnS quantum dots embedded in a mesh of Sn nanostructures. SnS nanoparticles synthesized by homogenous precipitation method show strong quantum confinement with a band gap of ∼2.7 eV (blue shift of ∼1 eV compared to bulk SnS particles). The optical band gap of SnS quantum dots is controlled by varying the pH (∼0 to 2.25), ageing time (24 to 144 h) and molarity (0 to 2 M) of the precursors. These SnS nanoparticles are embedded in a mesh of Sn nanostructures which are synthesized from tin chloride by using sodium borohydride as reducing agent. The Sn nanostructures have a morphology dependent, tunable surface plasmon resonance (SPR), ranging from UV (∼295 nm) to visible region (∼400 nm) of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the SnS-Sn nanohybrids, the excitons are strongly coupled with plasmons leading to a shift in the excitonic binding energy (∼400 meV). The pure SnS quantum dots have a very weak photoluminescence peak at ∼560 nm and Raman shift of low intensity at 853.08 cm‑1, 1078.17 cm‑1, 1255.60 cm‑1, 1466.91 cm‑1. The coupling of SnS nanoparticles with Sn nanoparticles results in strong exciton-plasmon interactions leading to enhanced photoluminescence and Raman line intensity. The nanohybrids formed using Sn nanosheets whose SPR matches with absorption onset of the SnS nanoparticles shows an enhancement of ∼104 times higher than pure SnS nanoparticles. Thus, Sn nanosheet with surface plasmon resonance in visible region (400 nm) like Au and Ag is a promising material for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, plasmon assisted fluorescence imaging and for enhancing the emission intensity of semiconductors with weak emission intensity.

Zero inflation in ordinal data: Incorporating susceptibility to response through the use of a mixture model

PubMed Central

Kelley, Mary E.; Anderson, Stewart J.

2008-01-01

Summary The aim of the paper is to produce a methodology that will allow users of ordinal scale data to more accurately model the distribution of ordinal outcomes in which some subjects are susceptible to exhibiting the response and some are not (i.e., the dependent variable exhibits zero inflation). This situation occurs with ordinal scales in which there is an anchor that represents the absence of the symptom or activity, such as “none”, “never” or “normal”, and is particularly common when measuring abnormal behavior, symptoms, and side effects. Due to the unusually large number of zeros, traditional statistical tests of association can be non-informative. We propose a mixture model for ordinal data with a built-in probability of non-response that allows modeling of the range (e.g., severity) of the scale, while simultaneously modeling the presence/absence of the symptom. Simulations show that the model is well behaved and a likelihood ratio test can be used to choose between the zero-inflated and the traditional proportional odds model. The model, however, does have minor restrictions on the nature of the covariates that must be satisfied in order for the model to be identifiable. The method is particularly relevant for public health research such as large epidemiological surveys where more careful documentation of the reasons for response may be difficult. PMID:18351711

Bayesian Nonparametric Ordination for the Analysis of Microbial Communities.

PubMed

Ren, Boyu; Bacallado, Sergio; Favaro, Stefano; Holmes, Susan; Trippa, Lorenzo

2017-01-01

Human microbiome studies use sequencing technologies to measure the abundance of bacterial species or Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) in samples of biological material. Typically the data are organized in contingency tables with OTU counts across heterogeneous biological samples. In the microbial ecology community, ordination methods are frequently used to investigate latent factors or clusters that capture and describe variations of OTU counts across biological samples. It remains important to evaluate how uncertainty in estimates of each biological sample's microbial distribution propagates to ordination analyses, including visualization of clusters and projections of biological samples on low dimensional spaces. We propose a Bayesian analysis for dependent distributions to endow frequently used ordinations with estimates of uncertainty. A Bayesian nonparametric prior for dependent normalized random measures is constructed, which is marginally equivalent to the normalized generalized Gamma process, a well-known prior for nonparametric analyses. In our prior, the dependence and similarity between microbial distributions is represented by latent factors that concentrate in a low dimensional space. We use a shrinkage prior to tune the dimensionality of the latent factors. The resulting posterior samples of model parameters can be used to evaluate uncertainty in analyses routinely applied in microbiome studies. Specifically, by combining them with multivariate data analysis techniques we can visualize credible regions in ecological ordination plots. The characteristics of the proposed model are illustrated through a simulation study and applications in two microbiome datasets.

Non-centrosymmetric Au-SnO2 hybrid nanostructures with strong localization of plasmonic for enhanced photocatalysis application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Wei; Liao, Lei; Zhang, Shaofeng; Zhou, Juan; Xiao, Xiangheng; Ren, Feng; Sun, Lingling; Dai, Zhigao; Jiang, Changzhong

2013-05-01

We present an innovative approach to the production of sub-100 nm hollow Au-SnO2 hybrid nanospheres, employing a low-cost, surfactant-free and environmentally friendly solution-based route. The hollow hybrid nanostructures were synthesized using a seed-mediated hydrothermal method, which can be divided into two stages: (1) formation of multicore-shell Au@SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs) and (2) thermal diffusion and ripening to form hollow Au-SnO2 hybrid NPs. The morphology, optical properties and formation mechanism were determined by a collection of joint techniques. Photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) in the liquid phase served as a probe reaction to evaluate the activity of the as-prepared hollow hybrid Au-SnO2 NPs under the irradiation of both visible light and ultraviolet light. Significantly, the as-obtained Au-SnO2 hybrid nanostructures exhibited enhanced visible light or UV photocatalytic abilities, remarkably superior to commercial pure SnO2 products and P25 TiO2, mainly owing to the effective electron hole separation at the SnO2-Au interfaces and strong localization of plasmonic near-fields effects.We present an innovative approach to the production of sub-100 nm hollow Au-SnO2 hybrid nanospheres, employing a low-cost, surfactant-free and environmentally friendly solution-based route. The hollow hybrid nanostructures were synthesized using a seed-mediated hydrothermal method, which can be divided into two stages: (1) formation of multicore-shell Au@SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs) and (2) thermal diffusion and ripening to form hollow Au-SnO2 hybrid NPs. The morphology, optical properties and formation mechanism were determined by a collection of joint techniques. Photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) in the liquid phase served as a probe reaction to evaluate the activity of the as-prepared hollow hybrid Au-SnO2 NPs under the irradiation of both visible light and ultraviolet light. Significantly, the as-obtained Au-SnO2 hybrid nanostructures exhibited enhanced visible light or UV photocatalytic abilities, remarkably superior to commercial pure SnO2 products and P25 TiO2, mainly owing to the effective electron hole separation at the SnO2-Au interfaces and strong localization of plasmonic near-fields effects. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: The EDX of Au-SnO2 samples (reaction time = 12 h) and plasmonic near-field maps simulated using 3D-FDTD for Au seeds. See DOI: 10.1039/c3nr00985h

Z =50 core stability in 110Sn from magnetic-moment and lifetime measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumbartzki, G. J.; Benczer-Koller, N.; Speidel, K.-H.; Torres, D. A.; Allmond, J. M.; Fallon, P.; Abramovic, I.; Bernstein, L. A.; Bevins, J. E.; Crawford, H. L.; Guevara, Z. E.; Gürdal, G.; Hurst, A. M.; Kirsch, L.; Laplace, T. A.; Lo, A.; Matthews, E. F.; Mayers, I.; Phair, L. W.; Ramirez, F.; Robinson, S. J. Q.; Sharon, Y. Y.; Wiens, A.

2016-04-01

Background: The structure of the semimagic 50Sn isotopes were previously studied via measurements of B (E 2 ;21+→01+ ) and g factors of 21+ states. The values of the B (E 2 ;21+ ) in the isotopes below midshell at N = 66 show an enhancement in collectivity, contrary to predictions from shell-model calculations. Purpose: This work presents the first measurement of the 2 1+ and 4 1+ states' magnetic moments in the unstable neutron-deficient 110Sn. The g factors provide complementary structure information to the interpretation of the observed B (E 2 ) values. Methods: The 110Sn nuclei have been produced in inverse kinematics in an α -particle transfer reaction from 12C to 106Cd projectiles at 390, 400, and 410 MeV. The g factors have been measured with the transient field technique. Lifetimes have been determined from line shapes using the Doppler-shift attenuation method. Results: The g factors of the 21+ and 41+ states in 110Sn are g (21+) = +0.29(11) and g (41+) = +0.05(14), respectively. In addition, the g (41+) = +0.27(6) in 106Cd has been measured for the first time. A line-shape analysis yielded τ (110Sn ; 21+) = 0.81(10) ps and a lifetime of τ (110Sn ; 31-) = 0.25(5) ps was calculated from the fully Doppler-shifted γ line. Conclusions: No evidence has been found in 110Sn that would require excitation of protons from the closed Z =50 core.

Synthesis and properties of Li2SnO3/polyaniline nanocomposites as negative electrode material for lithium-ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qiufen; Huang, Ying; Miao, Juan; Zhao, Yang; Wang, Yan

2012-10-01

The nanocomposites Li2SnO3/polyaniline (Li2SnO3/PANI) have been synthesized by a micro emulsion polymerization method. The structure, morphology and electrochemical properties of the as-prepared materials are characterized by XRD, FTIR, Raman, XPS, TGA, TEM and electrochemical measurements. Results show that Li2SnO3/PANI nanocomposites are composed of uniform and blocky nano-sized particles (40-50 nm) with clear lattice fringes. Electrochemical measurement suggests that Li2SnO3/PANI exhibits better cycling properties and lower initial irreversible capacities than Li2SnO3 as negative electrodes materials for lithium-ion batteries. At a current density of 60 mA g-1 in the voltage about 0.05-2.0 V, the initial irreversible capacity of Li2SnO3/PANI is 563 mAh g-1 while it is 687.5 mAh g-1 to Li2SnO3. The capacity retained of Li2SnO3/PANI (569.2 mAh g-1) is higher than that of Li2SnO3 (510.2 mAh g-1) after 50 cycles. The PANI in the Li2SnO3/PANI nanocomposites can buffer the released stress caused by the drastic volume variation during the alloying/de-alloying process of Li-Sn.

Preparation of ternary Pt/Rh/SnO2 anode catalysts for use in direct ethanol fuel cells and their electrocatalytic activity for ethanol oxidation reaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Higuchi, Eiji; Takase, Tomonori; Chiku, Masanobu; Inoue, Hiroshi

2014-10-01

Pt, Rh and SnO2 nanoparticle-loaded carbon black (Pt/Rh/SnO2/CB) catalysts with different contents of Pt and Rh were prepared by the modified Bönnemann method. The mean size and size distribution of Pt, Rh and SnO2 for Pt-71/Rh-4/SnO2/CB (Pt : Rh : Sn = 71 at.%: 4 at.%: 25 at.%) were 3.8 ± 0.7, 3.2 ± 0.7 and 2.6 ± 0.5 nm, respectively, indicating that Pt, Rh and SnO2 were all nanoparticles. The onset potential of ethanol oxidation current for the Pt-65/Rh-10/SnO2/CB and Pt-56/Rh-19/SnO2/CB electrodes was ca. 0.2 V vs. RHE which was ca. 0.2 V less positive than that for the Pt/CB electrode. The oxidation current at 0.6 V for the Pt/Rh/SnO2/CB electrode (ca. 2% h-1) decayed more slowly than that at the Pt/SnO2/CB electrode (ca. 5% h-1), indicating that the former was superior in durability to the latter. The main product of EOR in potentiostatic electrolysis at 0.6 V for the Pt-71/Rh-4/SnO2/CB electrode was acetic acid.

Fast formation and growth of high-density Sn whiskers in Mg/Sn-based solder/Mg joints by ultrasonic-assisted soldering: Phenomena, mechanism and prevention

PubMed Central

Li, M. Y.; Yang, H. F.; Zhang, Z. H.; Gu, J. H.; Yang, S. H.

2016-01-01

A universally applicable method for promoting the fast formation and growth of high-density Sn whiskers on solders was developed by fabricating Mg/Sn-based solder/Mg joints using ultrasonic-assisted soldering at 250 °C for 6 s and then subjected to thermal aging at 25 °C for 7 d. The results showed that the use of the ultrasonic-assisted soldering could produce the supersaturated dissolution of Mg in the liquid Sn and lead to the existence of two forms of Mg in Sn after solidification. Moreover, the formation and growth of the high-density whiskers were facilitated by the specific contributions of both of the Mg forms in the solid Sn. Specifically, interstitial Mg can provide the persistent driving force for Sn whisker growth, whereas the Mg2Sn phase can increase the formation probability of Sn whiskers. In addition, we presented that the formation and growth of Sn whiskers in the Sn-based solders can be significantly restricted by a small amount of Zn addition (≥3 wt.%), and the prevention mechanisms are attributed to the segregation of Zn atoms at grain or phase boundaries and the formation of the lamellar-type Zn-rich structures in the solder. PMID:27273421

Achieving composition-controlled Cu2ZnSnS4 films by sulfur-free annealing process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Hailong; Wei, Xiaoqing; Huang, Yongliang; Wang, Xian; Han, Anjun; Liu, Xiaohui; Liu, Zhengxin; Meng, Fanying

2017-06-01

Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) films were firstly prepared by the nonvacuum spin-coating method, and then annealed at 550 °C in N2 atmosphere. A graphite box was used to inhibit the volatilization of gaseous SnS and S2 to suppress the CZTS decomposition and generation of MoS2 during annealing. The sulfur supplementation carried out in a conventional annealing process was not applied in this work. It was found that Sn loss was overcome and the compositions of postannealed films were close to that of precursor solution. Thus, by this method, the compositions of CZTS films can be controlled by adjusting the elemental ratios of the precursor solution. Besides, the increase in inert atmosphere pressure could further minimize the Sn loss and improve the crystallinity of CZTS films. Furthermore, the resistive MoS2 layer between the CZTS film and the Mo layer was suppressed because sulfur was not used and CZTS decomposition was suppressed.

A Rapid Method for Deposition of Sn-Doped GaN Thin Films on Glass and Polyethylene Terephthalate Substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pat, Suat; Özen, Soner; Korkmaz, Şadan

2018-01-01

We report the influence of Sn doping on microstructure, surface, and optical properties of GaN thin films deposited on glass and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. Sn-doped GaN thin films have been deposited by thermionic vacuum arc (TVA) at low temperature. TVA is a rapid deposition technology for thin film growth. Surface and optical properties of the thin films were presented. Grain size, height distribution, roughness values were determined. Grain sizes were calculated as 20 nm and 13 nm for glass and PET substrates, respectively. Nano crystalline forms were shown by field emission scanning electron microscopy. Optical band gap values were determined by optical methods and photoluminescence measurement. The optical band gap values of Sn doped GaN on glass and PET were determined to be approximately ˜3.40 eV and ˜3.47 eV, respectively. As a result, TVA is a rapid and low temperature deposition technology for the Sn doped GaN deposited on glass and PET substrate.

In-situ sulfuration synthesis of sandwiched spherical tin sulfide/sulfur-doped graphene composite with ultra-low sulfur content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Bing; Yang, Yaqing; Wang, Zhixuan; Huang, Shoushuang; Wang, Yanyan; Wang, Shanshan; Chen, Zhiwen; Jiang, Yong

2018-02-01

SnS is widely studied as anode materials since of its superior structural stability and physicochemical property comparing with other Sn-based composites. Nevertheless, the inconvenience of phase morphology control and excessive consumption of sulfur sources during synthesis hinder the scalable application of SnS nanocomposites. Herein, we report a facile in-situ sulfuration strategy to synthesize sandwiched spherical SnS/sulfur-doped graphene (SnS/S-SG) composite. An ultra-low sulfur content with approximately stoichiometric ratio of Sn:S can effectively promote the sulfuration reaction of SnO2 to SnS and simultaneous sulfur-doping of graphene. The as-prepared SnS/S-SG composite shows a three-dimensional interconnected spherical structure as a whole, in which SnS nanoparticles are sandwiched between the multilayers of graphene sheets forming a hollow sphere. The sandwiched sphere structure and high S doping amount can improve the binding force between SnS and graphene, as well as the structural stability and electrical conductivity of the composite. Thus, a high reversibility of conversion reaction, promising specific capacity (772 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles at 0.1 C) and excellent rate performance (705 and 411 mAh g-1 at 1 C and 10 C, respectively) are exhibited in the SnS/S-SG electrode, which are much higher than that of the SnS/spherical graphene synthesized by traditional post-sulfuration method.

Influences of electric current on the wettability and interfacial microstructure in Sn/Fe system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Ping; Gu, Yan; Yang, Nan-Nan; Zheng, Rui-Peng; Ren, Li-Hua

2015-02-01

The wettability of oxidized and clean Fe substrates by liquid Sn was investigated using a dispensed sessile drop method with and without the application of a direct current (DC) and their interfacial microstructures were compared. The initial contact angles were 107 ± 3° at 623 K when the Fe substrate was covered by an oxide film, and they did not show an appreciable decrease during isothermal dwells in the absence of DC application but progressively decreased to 42 ± 3° when a 7.5 ampere current was applied. However, in the case of the oxide film being removed by a high-vacuum pre-annealing treatment at 1073 K, the current and its polarity had a negligible effect on the wetting behavior. Nevertheless, they had a noticeable influence on the interfacial microstructure. In the absence of DC, the interface was covered by a product layer consisting of a single FeSn2 phase for the samples tested at 623 K and the FeSn2/FeSn2 grain boundaries were incompletely wetted by the Sn melt; whereas, under DC, the reaction layer was much thicker and the Sn melt wet well the FeSn2/FeSn2 grain boundaries. Moreover, a FeSn phase also formed as a result of enhanced mass transfer. The amount of the FeSn phase was larger and the grain boundary wetting of FeSn2 by liquid Sn was better for the current flowing from the molten Sn drop to the Fe substrate due to an electromigration effect.

Identification of the Competencies, Knowledge, and Skills Needed by School Nutrition Assistants in the Current Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nettles, Mary Frances; Carr, Deborah H.; Cater, Jerry B.; Federico, Holly A.

2009-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: Study objectives were to identify the functional areas, competencies, knowledge, and skills needed by effective school nutrition (SN) assistants in the current SN environment, and determine at what point the SN assistant should be able to know/perform the knowledge/skill statement, at time of hire or after training. Methods: In…

Correlation between plasma concentration ratios of SN-38 glucuronide and SN-38 and neutropenia induction in patients with colorectal cancer and wild-type UGT1A1 gene

PubMed Central

HIROSE, KOICHI; KOZU, CHIHIRO; YAMASHITA, KOSHIRO; MARUO, EIJI; KITAMURA, MIZUHO; HASEGAWA, JUNICHI; OMODA, KEI; MURAKAMI, TERUO; MAEDA, YORINOBU

2011-01-01

In irinotecan (CPT-11)-based chemotherapy, neutropenia and diarrhea are often induced. In the present study, the clinical significance of the concentration ratios of 7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN-38) glucuronide (SN-38G) and SN-38 in the plasma in predicting CPT-11-induced neutropenia was examined. A total of 17 patients with colorectal cancer and wild-type UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT)1A1 gene were enrolled and treated with CPT-11 as part of the FOLFIRI regimen [CPT-11 and fluorouracil (5-FU)]. Blood was taken exactly 15 min following a 2-h continuous infusion of CPT-11. Plasma concentrations of SN-38, SN-38G and CPT-11 were determined by a modified high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The median, maximum and minimum values of plasma SN-38G/SN-38 ratios were 4.25, 7.09 and 1.03, respectively, indicating that UGT activities are variable among patients with the wild-type UGT1A1 gene. The plasma SN-38G/SN-38 ratios decreased with an increase in the trial numbers of chemotherapy (r=0.741, p=0.000669), suggesting that CPT-11 treatment suppresses UGT activity, and the low plasma SN-38G/SN-38 ratios resulted in the induction of greater neutropenia. However, in this analysis, 2 clearly separated regression lines were observed between plasma SN-38G/SN-38 ratios and neutropenia induction. In conclusion, UGT activity involved in SN-38 metabolism is variable among patients with the wild-type UGT1A1 gene, and each CPT-11 treatment suppresses UGT activity. One-point determination of the plasma SN-38G/SN-38 ratio may provide indications for the prediction of CPT-11-induced neutropenia and adjustment of the optimal dose, although further studies are required. PMID:22740978

Phase transformations and phase equilibria in the Co–Sn–Ti system in the crystallization interval

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fartushna, Iu.; Bulanova, M.; National Technical University of Ukraine, Kiev Polytechnical Institute, Kiev

2016-12-15

The Co–Sn–Ti system was studied in the crystallization interval (below ~50 at% Sn) by the methods of Scanning Electron Microscopy, microprobe analysis, Differential Thermal Analysis, X-ray diffraction. The liquidus and solidus projections and the melting diagram were constructed. Only Co{sub 2}TiSn(τ1) ternary compound (Heusler phase-L1{sub 2}) was found in equilibria with the liquid in the concentration interval studied. Taking into account our recent data, the liquidus projection is characterized by the fields of primary crystallization of (βTi), (Co), binary-based phases Ti{sub 3}Sn, Ti{sub 2}Sn, Ti{sub 5}Sn{sub 3}, Ti{sub 6}Sn{sub 5}, Ti{sub 2}Co, TiCo, TiCo{sub 2} (c), TiCo{sub 2} (h), TiCo{submore » 3}, βCo{sub 3}Sn{sub 2}, CoSn and ternary τ1. The solidus projection is characterized by thirteen three-phase fields, which result from invariant four-phase equilibria, five are of eutectic type (E) and eight of transition type (U) and the existence of one more region Ti{sub 2}Sn{sub 3}+βCoSn{sub 3}+(Sn) in the solidus projection is discussed. - Graphical abstract: Liquidus projection of the Ti–РЎРѕ –Sn system. Fields of crystallization, isotherms and monovariant lines. - Highlights: • The Ti–Co–Sn system is first studied in the composition range up to 50% of Sn. • Liquidus and solidus projections, melting diagram and reaction scheme are constructed. • One ternary compound form in the studied temperature interval: (Co{sub 2}TiSn(τ1)).« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berastegui, P.; Hull, S., E-mail: stephen.hull@stfc.ac.u; Eriksson, S.G.

The compound CsSn{sub 2}F{sub 5} has been investigated over the temperature range from ambient to 545 K using differential scanning calorimetry, impedance spectroscopy and neutron powder diffraction methods. A first-order phase transition is observed from DSC measurements at 510(2) K, to a phase possessing a high ionic conductivity ({sigma}{approx}2.5x10{sup -2} {Omega}{sup -1} cm{sup -1} at 520 K). The crystal structure of the high temperature superionic phase (labelled {alpha}) has been determined to be tetragonal (space group I4/mmm, a=4.2606(10) A, c=19.739(5) A and Z=2) in which the cations form layers perpendicular to the [001] direction, with a stacking sequence CsSnSnCsSnSn... Allmore » the anions are located in two partially occupied sites in the gap between the Cs and Sn layers, whilst the space between the Sn cations is empty, due to the orientation of the lone-pair electrons associated with the Sn{sup 2+}. The structure of {alpha}-CsSn{sub 2}F{sub 5} is discussed in relation to two other layered F{sup -} conducting superionic phases containing Sn{sup 2+} cations, {alpha}-RbSn{sub 2}F{sub 5} and {alpha}-PbSnF{sub 4} and, to facilitate this comparison, an improved structural characterisation of the former is also presented. The wider issue of the role of lone-pair cations such as Sn{sup 2+} in promoting dynamic disorder within an anion substructure is also briefly addressed. - Graphical abstract: CsSn{sub 2}F{sub 5} is shown to undergo a first order phase transition at 510(2) K to a superionic phase in which the specific electronic configuration of the Sn{sup 2+} plays a key role in promoting extensive disorder of the anions.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuncarayakti, Hanindyo; Maeda, Keiichi; Doi, Mamoru

Integral field spectroscopy of 11 Type Ib/Ic supernova (SN Ib/Ic) explosion sites in nearby galaxies has been obtained using UH88/SNIFS and Gemini-N/GMOS. The use of integral field spectroscopy enables us to obtain both spatial and spectral information about the explosion site, enabling the identification of the parent stellar population of the SN progenitor star. The spectrum of the parent population provides metallicity determination via strong-line method and age estimation obtained via comparison with simple stellar population models. We adopt this information as the metallicity and age of the SN progenitor, under the assumption that it was coeval with the parentmore » stellar population. The age of the star corresponds to its lifetime, which in turn gives the estimate of its initial mass. With this method we were able to determine both the metallicity and initial (zero-age main sequence) mass of the progenitor stars of SNe Ib and Ic. We found that on average SN Ic explosion sites are more metal-rich and younger than SN Ib sites. The initial mass of the progenitors derived from parent stellar population age suggests that SN Ic has more massive progenitors than SN Ib. In addition, we also found indication that some of our SN progenitors are less massive than {approx}25 M{sub Sun }, indicating that they may have been stars in a close binary system that have lost their outer envelope via binary interactions to produce SNe Ib/Ic, instead of single Wolf-Rayet stars. These findings support the current suggestions that both binary and single progenitor channels are in effect in producing SNe Ib/Ic. This work also demonstrates the power of integral field spectroscopy in investigating SN environments and active star-forming regions.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Despotopulos, John D.; Kmak, Kelly N.; Gharibyan, Narek

Eichrom’s Pb resin, a crown-ether-based extraction chromatography resin, was characterized for separation of the flerovium (Fl) homologs, Pb and Sn. Batch uptake of Pb(II) and Sn(IV) radionuclides was determined from an HNO 3 matrix. Pb(II) was strongly retained on the resin at all HNO 3 concentrations, while Sn(IV) showed no uptake. Extraction kinetics for Pb(II) were examined and show suitable uptake on the second time scale. Here, separation methods for the isolation of individual homologs, Pb(II) and Sn(IV), have been established using 2 mL pre-packed vacuum flow Pb resin columns.

Adopting a Patient-Centered Approach to Primary Outcome Analysis of Acute Stroke Trials by Use of a Utility-Weighted Modified Rankin Scale

PubMed Central

Chaisinanunkul, Napasri; Adeoye, Opeolu; Lewis, Roger J.; Grotta, James C.; Broderick, Joseph; Jovin, Tudor G.; Nogueira, Raul G.; Elm, Jordan; Graves, Todd; Berry, Scott; Lees, Kennedy R.; Barreto, Andrew D.; Saver, Jeffrey L.

2015-01-01

Background and Purpose Although the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) is the most commonly employed primary endpoint in acute stroke trials, its power is limited when analyzed in dichotomized fashion and its indication of effect size challenging to interpret when analyzed ordinally. Weighting the seven Rankin levels by utilities may improve scale interpretability while preserving statistical power. Methods A utility weighted mRS (UW-mRS) was derived by averaging values from time-tradeoff (patient centered) and person-tradeoff (clinician centered) studies. The UW-mRS, standard ordinal mRS, and dichotomized mRS were applied to 11 trials or meta-analyses of acute stroke treatments, including lytic, endovascular reperfusion, blood pressure moderation, and hemicraniectomy interventions. Results Utility values were: mRS 0–1.0; mRS 1 - 0.91; mRS 2 - 0.76; mRS 3 - 0.65; mRS 4 - 0.33; mRS 5 & 6 - 0. For trials with unidirectional treatment effects, the UW-mRS paralleled the ordinal mRS and outperformed dichotomous mRS analyses. Both the UW-mRS and the ordinal mRS were statistically significant in six of eight unidirectional effect trials, while dichotomous analyses were statistically significant in two to four of eight. In bidirectional effect trials, both the UW-mRS and ordinal tests captured the divergent treatment effects by showing neutral results whereas some dichotomized analyses showed positive results. Mean utility differences in trials with statistically significant positive results ranged from 0.026 to 0.249. Conclusion A utility-weighted mRS performs similarly to the standard ordinal mRS in detecting treatment effects in actual stroke trials and ensures the quantitative outcome is a valid reflection of patient-centered benefits. PMID:26138130

SnS2 films deposited from molecular ink as Cd-free alternative buffer layer for solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jariwala, Akshay; Chaudhuri, Tapas K.; Toshniwal, Aditi; Patel, Sanjay; Kheraj, Vipul; Ray, Abhijit

2018-05-01

This work investigates the potential of SnS2 as a Cd-free alternative buffer layer for CIGS solar cells. The suitability of SnS2 film as a buffer layer has been evaluated by numerical analysis using SCAPS software. A new simple method for preparation of SnS2 films by dip-coating from molecular ink is reported. The formation of SnS2 is confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. The films are smooth and shiny with roughness of 2-3 nm. The films are n-type with band gap of 2.6 eV and electrical conductivity of 10-3 S/cm.

A new mathematical adjoint for the modified SAAF -SN equations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schunert, Sebastian; Wang, Yaqi; Martineau, Richard

2015-01-01

We present a new adjoint FEM weak form, which can be directly used for evaluating the mathematical adjoint, suitable for perturbation calculations, of the self-adjoint angular flux SN equations (SAAF -SN) without construction and transposition of the underlying coefficient matrix. Stabilization schemes incorporated in the described SAAF -SN method make the mathematical adjoint distinct from the physical adjoint, i.e. the solution of the continuous adjoint equation with SAAF -SN . This weak form is implemented into RattleSnake, the MOOSE (Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment) based transport solver. Numerical results verify the correctness of the implementation and show its utility both formore » fixed source and eigenvalue problems.« less

SnO2/TiO2 bilayer thin films exhibiting superhydrophilic properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Talinungsang, Nibedita Paul; Purkayastha, Debarun Dhar

2017-05-01

Nanostructured thin films of TiO2, SnO2, and SnO2/TiO2 have been deposited by sol-gel method. The films are characterized by X-ray diffraction, wettability and optical properties. In the present work, we have achieved a way of converting hydrophilic to super-hydrophilic state by incorporating TiO2 buffer layer in between substrate and SnO2 film, which has its utility in anti-fogging surfaces. The decrease in contact angle of water over SnO2/TiO2 bilayer is attributed to the increase in roughness of the film as well as surface energy of the substrate.

A novel snowflake-like SnO2 hierarchical architecture with superior gas sensing properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yanqiong

2018-02-01

Snowflake-like SnO2 hierarchical architecture has been synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method and followed by calcination. The SnO2 hierarchical structures are assembled with thin nanoflakes blocks, which look like snowflake shape. A possible mechanism for the formation of the SnO2 hierarchical structures is speculated. Moreover, gas sensing tests show that the sensor based on snowflake-like SnO2 architectures exhibited excellent gas sensing properties. The enhancement may be attributed to its unique structures, in which the porous feature on the snowflake surface could further increase the active surface area of the materials and provide facile pathways for the target gas.

FDDO and DSMC analyses of rarefied gas flow through 2D nozzles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chung, Chan-Hong; De Witt, Kenneth J.; Jeng, Duen-Ren; Penko, Paul F.

1992-01-01

Two different approaches, the finite-difference method coupled with the discrete-ordinate method (FDDO), and the direct-simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, are used in the analysis of the flow of a rarefied gas expanding through a two-dimensional nozzle and into a surrounding low-density environment. In the FDDO analysis, by employing the discrete-ordinate method, the Boltzmann equation simplified by a model collision integral is transformed to a set of partial differential equations which are continuous in physical space but are point functions in molecular velocity space. The set of partial differential equations are solved by means of a finite-difference approximation. In the DSMC analysis, the variable hard sphere model is used as a molecular model and the no time counter method is employed as a collision sampling technique. The results of both the FDDO and the DSMC methods show good agreement. The FDDO method requires less computational effort than the DSMC method by factors of 10 to 40 in CPU time, depending on the degree of rarefaction.

A multi-layer discrete-ordinate method for vector radiative transfer in a vertically-inhomogeneous, emitting and scattering atmosphere. I - Theory. II - Application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weng, Fuzhong

1992-01-01

A theory is developed for discretizing the vector integro-differential radiative transfer equation including both solar and thermal radiation. A complete solution and boundary equations are obtained using the discrete-ordinate method. An efficient numerical procedure is presented for calculating the phase matrix and achieving computational stability. With natural light used as a beam source, the Stokes parameters from the model proposed here are compared with the analytical solutions of Chandrasekhar (1960) for a Rayleigh scattering atmosphere. The model is then applied to microwave frequencies with a thermal source, and the brightness temperatures are compared with those from Stamnes'(1988) radiative transfer model.

London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy: guidance for its use as an outcome measure

PubMed Central

Hall, Jennifer A; Barrett, Geraldine; Copas, Andrew; Stephenson, Judith

2017-01-01

Background The London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy (LMUP) is a psychometrically validated measure of the degree of intention of a current or recent pregnancy. The LMUP is increasingly being used worldwide, and can be used to evaluate family planning or preconception care programs. However, beyond recommending the use of the full LMUP scale, there is no published guidance on how to use the LMUP as an outcome measure. Ordinal logistic regression has been recommended informally, but studies published to date have all used binary logistic regression and dichotomized the scale at different cut points. There is thus a need for evidence-based guidance to provide a standardized methodology for multivariate analysis and to enable comparison of results. This paper makes recommendations for the regression method for analysis of the LMUP as an outcome measure. Materials and methods Data collected from 4,244 pregnant women in Malawi were used to compare five regression methods: linear, logistic with two cut points, and ordinal logistic with either the full or grouped LMUP score. The recommendations were then tested on the original UK LMUP data. Results There were small but no important differences in the findings across the regression models. Logistic regression resulted in the largest loss of information, and assumptions were violated for the linear and ordinal logistic regression. Consequently, robust standard errors were used for linear regression and a partial proportional odds ordinal logistic regression model attempted. The latter could only be fitted for grouped LMUP score. Conclusion We recommend the linear regression model with robust standard errors to make full use of the LMUP score when analyzed as an outcome measure. Ordinal logistic regression could be considered, but a partial proportional odds model with grouped LMUP score may be required. Logistic regression is the least-favored option, due to the loss of information. For logistic regression, the cut point for un/planned pregnancy should be between nine and ten. These recommendations will standardize the analysis of LMUP data and enhance comparability of results across studies. PMID:28435343

Testing a linear time invariant model for skin conductance responses by intraneural recording and stimulation

PubMed Central

Gerster, Samuel; Namer, Barbara; Elam, Mikael

2017-01-01

Abstract Skin conductance responses (SCR) are increasingly analyzed with model‐based approaches that assume a linear and time‐invariant (LTI) mapping from sudomotor nerve (SN) activity to observed SCR. These LTI assumptions have previously been validated indirectly, by quantifying how much variance in SCR elicited by sensory stimulation is explained under an LTI model. This approach, however, collapses sources of variability in the nervous and effector organ systems. Here, we directly focus on the SN/SCR mapping by harnessing two invasive methods. In an intraneural recording experiment, we simultaneously track SN activity and SCR. This allows assessing the SN/SCR relationship but possibly suffers from interfering activity of non‐SN sympathetic fibers. In an intraneural stimulation experiment under regional anesthesia, such influences are removed. In this stimulation experiment, about 95% of SCR variance is explained under LTI assumptions when stimulation frequency is below 0.6 Hz. At higher frequencies, nonlinearities occur. In the intraneural recording experiment, explained SCR variance is lower, possibly indicating interference from non‐SN fibers, but higher than in our previous indirect tests. We conclude that LTI systems may not only be a useful approximation but in fact a rather accurate description of biophysical reality in the SN/SCR system, under conditions of low baseline activity and sporadic external stimuli. Intraneural stimulation under regional anesthesia is the most sensitive method to address this question. PMID:28862764

Controlled synthesis of magnetic iron oxides@SnO2 quasi-hollow core-shell heterostructures: formation mechanism, and enhanced photocatalytic activity.

PubMed

Wu, Wei; Zhang, Shaofeng; Ren, Feng; Xiao, Xiangheng; Zhou, Juan; Jiang, Changzhong

2011-11-01

Iron oxide/SnO(2) magnetic semiconductor core-shell heterostructures with high purity were synthesized by a low-cost, surfactant-free and environmentally friendly hydrothermal strategy via a seed-mediated method. The morphology and structure of the hybrid nanostructures were characterized by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The morphology evolution investigations reveal that the Kirkendall effect directs the diffusion and causes the formation of iron oxide/SnO(2) quasi-hollow particles. Significantly, the as-obtained iron oxides/SnO(2) core-shell heterostructures exhibited enhanced visible light or UV photocatalytic abilities, remarkably superior to as-used α-Fe(2)O(3) seeds and commercial SnO(2) products, mainly owing to the effective electron hole separation at the iron oxides/SnO(2) interfaces.

Squeezing Interval Change From Ordinal Panel Data: Latent Growth Curves With Ordinal Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehta, Paras D.; Neale, Michael C.; Flay, Brian R.

2004-01-01

A didactic on latent growth curve modeling for ordinal outcomes is presented. The conceptual aspects of modeling growth with ordinal variables and the notion of threshold invariance are illustrated graphically using a hypothetical example. The ordinal growth model is described in terms of 3 nested models: (a) multivariate normality of the…

Morphology and phase transformations of tin oxide nanostructures synthesized by the hydrothermal method in the presence of dicarboxylic acids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zima, Tatyana.; Bataev, Ivan

2016-11-01

A new approach to the synthesis of non-stoichiometric tin oxide structures with different morphologies and the phase compositions has been evaluated. The nanostructures were synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of the mixtures of dicarboxylic acids ― aminoterephthalic or oxalic ― with nanocrystalline SnO2 powder, which was obtained via the sol-gel technology. The products were characterized by Raman and IR spectroscopy, SEM, HRTEM, and XRD analysis. It was shown that the controlled addition of a dicarboxylic acid leads not only to a change in the morphology of the nanostructures, but also to SnO2-SnO2/Sn3O4-Sn3O4-SnO phase transformations. A single-phase Sn3O4 in the form of the well-separated hexagonal nanoplates and mixed SnO2/Sn3O4 phases in the form of hierarchical flower-like structures were obtained in the presence of organic additives. The effects of concentration, redox activity of the acids and heat treatment on the basic characteristics of the synthesized tin oxide nanostructures and phase transformations in the synthesized materials are discussed.

In situ synthesized SnO2 nanorod/reduced graphene oxide low-dimensional structure for enhanced lithium storage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wei; Xiao, Xuezhang; Zhang, Yiwen; Li, Junpeng; Zhong, Jiayi; Li, Meng; Fan, Xiulin; Wang, Chuntao; Chen, Lixin

2018-03-01

A unique SnO2 nanorod (NR)/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composite morphology has been synthesized using the in situ hydrothermal method, for use as an anode material in lithium-ion batteries. The SnO2 NR adhering to the RGO exhibits a length of 250-400 nm and a diameter of 60-80 nm without any obvious aggregation. The initial discharge/charge capacities of the SnO2 NR/RGO composite are 1761.3 mAh g-1 and 1233.1 mAh g-1, with a coulombic efficiency (CE) of 70% under a current density of 200 mA g-1, and a final capacity of 1101 mAh g-1 after 50 cycles. The rate capability of the SnO2 NR/RGO is also improved compared to that of bare SnO2 NR. The superior electrochemical performance is ascribed to the special morphology of the SnO2 NRs—which plays a role in shorting the transmission path—and the sheet-like 2D graphene, which prevents the agglomeration of SnO2 and enhances conductivity during the electrochemical reaction of SnO2 NR/RGO.

Examining the role of transfer coupling in sub-barrier fusion of Ti 46 , 50 + Sn 124

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liang, J. Felix; Allmond, J. M.; Gross, C. J.

2016-08-24

In this study, the presence of neutron transfer channels with positive Q values can enhance sub-barrier fusion cross sections. Recent measurements of the fusion excitation functions for 58Ni+ 132,124Sn found that the fusion enhancement due to the influence of neutron transfer is smaller than that in 40Ca + 132,124Sn although the Q values for multineutron transfer are comparable. The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences observed between the fusion of Sn + Ni and Sn + Ca. Methods: Fusion excitation functions for 46,50Ti + 124Sn have been measured at energies near the Coulomb barrier. As a result,more » a comparison of the barrier distributions for 46Ti+ 124Sn and 40Ca+ 124Sn shows that the 40Ca+ 124Sn system has a barrier strength resulting from the coupling to the very collective octupole state in 40Ca at an energy significantly lower than the uncoupled barrier. In conclusion, the large sub-barrier fusion enhancement in 40Ca induced reactions is attributed to both couplings to neutron transfer and inelastic excitation, with the octupole vibration of 40Ca playing a major role.« less

A new method for the preparation of a [Sn2(H2PO2)3]Br SHG-active polar crystal via surfactant-induced strategy.

PubMed

Xie, Jie-Ling; Zhou, Yu-Hua; Li, Long-Hua; Zhang, Jian-Han; Song, Jun-Ling

2017-07-25

Herein, unprecedented NLO-brominated tin hypophosphites, namely [Sn 2 (H 2 PO 2 ) 3 ]Br, were discovered via a facile surfactant-induced method, which displayed a moderate powder SHG intensity (3.0 × KDP) in type - I phase matching behavior. This complex has high chemical and thermal stability at room temperature. DFT calculations and SHG coefficient analyses revealed that the alignment of the SHG-active-units SnO 3 trigonal pyramids and Br - anions in its structure mainly contribute to the macroscopical SHG behaviors.

An EGFR inhibitor enhances the efficacy of SN38, an active metabolite of irinotecan, in SN38-refractory gastric carcinoma cells

PubMed Central

Yashiro, M; Qiu, H; Hasegawa, T; Zhang, X; Matsuzaki, T; Hirakawa, K

2011-01-01

Background: Acquired drug resistance to irinotecan is one of the significant obstacles in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer. This study was performed to clarify the effect of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors in combination with SN38, an active metabolite of irinotecan, on the proliferation of irinotecan-refractory gastric cancer. Methods: Two irinotecan-resistant gastric cancer cell lines, OCUM-2M/SN38 and OCUM-8/SN38 were, respectively, established by stepwise exposure to SN38 from the parent gastric cancer cell lines OCUM-2M and OCUM-8. The combination effects of two EGFR inhibitors, gefitinib and lapatinib, with SN38 on proliferation, apoptosis, and cell cycle on gastric cancer cells were examined. Results: Gefitinib or lapatinib showed synergistic anti-tumour effects against OCUM-2M/SN38 and OCUM-8/SN38 cells when used in combination with SN38, but not against OCUM-2M or OCUM-8 cells. SN38 increased the expression of EGFR and HER2 in OCUM-2M/SN38 and OCUM-8/SN38 cells. The combination of an EGFR inhibitor and SN38 significantly increased the levels of apoptosis-related molecules, caspase-6, p53, and DAPK-2, and resulted in the induction of apoptosis of irinotecan-resistant cells. The EGFR inhibitors increased the S-phase and decreased the UGT1A1 and ABCG expression in irinotecan-resistant cells. The SN38 plus Lapatinib group more effectively suppressed in vivo tumour growth by OCUM-2M/SN38 cells than either alone group. Conclusion: The combination treatment with an EGFR inhibitor and irinotecan might produce synergistic anti-tumour effects for irinotecan-refractory gastric cancer cells. The regulation of SN38 metabolism-related genes and cell cycle by EGFR inhibitors might be responsible for the synergism. PMID:21997136

Understanding the electrocatalytic activity of Pt xSn y in direct ethanol fuel cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yi; Song, Shuqin; Andreadis, George; Liu, Hong; Tsiakaras, Panagiotis

In the present work, the activity of Pt xSn y/C catalysts towards ethanol, acetaldehyde and acetic acid electrooxidation reactions is investigated for each one separately by means of cyclic voltammetry. To this purpose, a series of Pt xSn y/C catalysts with different atomic ratio (x: y = 2:1, 3:2, 1:1) and small particle size (∼3 nm) are fast synthesized by using the pulse microwave assisted polyol method. The catalysts are well dispersed over the carbon support based on the physicochemical characterization by means of XRD and TEM. Concerning the ethanol electrooxidation, it is found that the Sn addition strongly enhances Pt's electrocatalytic activity and the contributing effect of Sn depends on: (i) the Sn content and (ii) the operating temperature. More precisely, at lower temperatures, Sn-rich catalysts exhibit better ethanol electrooxidation performance while at higher temperatures Sn-poor catalysts give better performance. In the case of acetaldehyde electrooxidation, Pt 1Sn 1/C catalyst exhibits the highest activity at all the investigated temperatures; due to the role of Sn, which could effectively remove C 2 species and inhibit the poison formation by supplying oxygen-containing species. Finally, it is found that the Pt xSn y/C catalysts are almost inactive (little current was measured) towards the acetic acid electrooxidation. The above findings indicate that Sn cannot substantially promote the electrooxidation of acetic acid to C 1 species.

Microstructure and properties of Cu-Sn-Zn-TiO 2 nano-composite coatings on mild steel

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gao, Weidong; Cao, Di; Jin, Yunxue

Cu-Sn-Zn coatings have been widely used in industry for their unique properties, such as good conductivity, high corrosion resistance and excellent solderability. To further improve the mechanical performance of Cu-Sn-Zn coatings, powder-enhanced method was applied and Cu-Sn-Zn-TiO 2 nano-composite coatings with different TiO 2 concentration were fabricated. The microstructure of Cu-Sn-Zn-TiO 2 nano-composite coatings were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The mechanical properties of coatings including microhardness and wear resistance were studied. The results indicate that the incorporation of TiO 2 nanoparticle can significantly influence the properties of Cu-Sn-Zn coatings. The microhardness of Cu-Sn-Zn coatingmore » was increased to 383 HV from 330 HV with 1 g/L TiO 2 addition. Also, the corrosion resistance of coating was enhanced. The effects of TiO 2 nanoparticle concentration on the microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of Cu-Sn-Zn-TiO 2 nano-composite coatings were discussed.« less

Improving cycle stability of SnS anode for sodium-ion batteries by limiting Sn agglomeration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wenhui; Shi, Liang; Lan, Danni; Li, Quan

2018-02-01

Flower-like SnS nanostructures are obtained by a simple solvothermal method for anode applications in Na-ion batteries. We show experimental evidence of progressive Sn agglomeration and crystalline Na2S enrichment at the end of de-sodiation process of the SnS electrode, both of which contribute to the capacity decay of the electrode upon repeated cycles. By replacing the commonly adopted acetylene black conductive additive with multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), the cycle stability of the SnS electrode is largely improved, which correlates well with the observed suppression of both Sn agglomeration and Na2S enrichment at the end of de-sodiation cycle. A full cell is assembled with the SnS/MWCNT anode and the P2-Na2/3Ni1/3Mn1/2Ti1/6O2 cathode. An initial energy density of 262 Wh/kg (normalized to the total mass of cathode and anode) is demonstrated for the full cell, which retains 71% of the first discharge capacity after 40 cycles.

Highly Sensitive and Selective Hydrogen Gas Sensor Using the Mesoporous SnO₂ Modified Layers.

PubMed

Xue, Niuzi; Zhang, Qinyi; Zhang, Shunping; Zong, Pan; Yang, Feng

2017-10-14

It is important to improve the sensitivities and selectivities of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) gas sensors when they are used to monitor the state of hydrogen in aerospace industry and electronic field. In this paper, the ordered mesoporous SnO₂ (m-SnO₂) powders were prepared by sol-gel method, and the morphology and structure were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The gas sensors were fabricated using m-SnO₂ as the modified layers on the surface of commercial SnO₂ (c-SnO₂) by screen printing technology, and tested for gas sensing towards ethanol, benzene and hydrogen with operating temperatures ranging from 200 °C to 400 °C. Higher sensitivity was achieved by using the modified m-SnO₂ layers on the c-SnO₂ gas sensor, and it was found that the S(c/m2) sensor exhibited the highest response (Ra/Rg = 22.2) to 1000 ppm hydrogen at 400 °C. In this paper, the mechanism of the sensitivity and selectivity improvement of the gas sensors is also discussed.

Electrochemical properties of Sn/C nanoparticles fabricated by redox treatment and pulsed wire evaporation method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Ju-Seok; Cho, Gyu-Bong; Ahn, Jou-Hyeon; Cho, Kwon-Koo

2017-09-01

Tin (Sn) based anode materials are the most promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries due to their high theoretical capacity corresponding to the formation of Li4.4Sn composition (Li4.4Sn, 994 mAh/g). However, the applications of tin based anodes to lithium-ion battery system are generally limited by a large volume change (>260%) during lithiation and delithiation cycle, which causes pulverize and poor cycling stability. In order to overcome this shortcoming, we fabricate a Sn/C nanoparticle with a yolk-shell structure (Sn/void/C) by using pulsed wire evaporation process and oxidation/reduction heat treatment. Sn nanoparticles are encapsulated by a conductive carbon layer with structural buffer that leaves enough room for expansion and contraction during lithium insertion/desertion. We expect that the yolk-shell structure has the ability to accommodate the volume changes of tin and leading to an improved cycle performance. The Sn/Void/C anode with yolk-shell structure shows a high specific capacity of 760 mAh/g after 50 cycles.

Microstructure and properties of Cu-Sn-Zn-TiO 2 nano-composite coatings on mild steel

DOE PAGES

Gao, Weidong; Cao, Di; Jin, Yunxue; ...

2018-04-18

Cu-Sn-Zn coatings have been widely used in industry for their unique properties, such as good conductivity, high corrosion resistance and excellent solderability. To further improve the mechanical performance of Cu-Sn-Zn coatings, powder-enhanced method was applied and Cu-Sn-Zn-TiO 2 nano-composite coatings with different TiO 2 concentration were fabricated. The microstructure of Cu-Sn-Zn-TiO 2 nano-composite coatings were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The mechanical properties of coatings including microhardness and wear resistance were studied. The results indicate that the incorporation of TiO 2 nanoparticle can significantly influence the properties of Cu-Sn-Zn coatings. The microhardness of Cu-Sn-Zn coatingmore » was increased to 383 HV from 330 HV with 1 g/L TiO 2 addition. Also, the corrosion resistance of coating was enhanced. The effects of TiO 2 nanoparticle concentration on the microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of Cu-Sn-Zn-TiO 2 nano-composite coatings were discussed.« less

Structural differences existing in bulk and nanoparticles of Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7}: Investigated by experimental and theoretical methods

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nigam, Sandeep, E-mail: snigam@barc.gov.in; Sudarsan, V., E-mail: vsudar@barc.gov.in; Majumder, C.

Present manuscript deals with the structural changes associated with transformation of bulk Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} into nanoparticles of Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7}. Nanoparticles of Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} both undoped and Eu{sup 3+} doped, were prepared at a relatively low temperature (700 °C) and investigated for their structural and luminescence properties and compared them with that of bulk Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} sample prepared by the solid-state method at 1300 °C. Significant distortion in geometry and electron density distribution around Y{sup 3+}/Eu{sup 3+} ions in nanoparticles are confirmed from the Rietveld refinement of the powder X-ray diffraction patterns andmore » theoretical calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT). The SnO{sub 6} octahedron in Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} is more expanded in nanoparticles compared to bulk. Iso-surface density distribution reveals that while bulk sample shows typical ionic feature in Y/Eu--O bonds, nanoparticle sample shows sharing of electron density along bond axis pertaining to covalent character. These inferences are further supported by the doped Eu{sup 3+} luminescence and calculated Ω{sub 2} and Ω{sub 4} parameters. - Graphical abstract: YO{sub 8} scalenohedron present in bulk and nanoparticles of Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7}.Variation of the electron density around Y{sup 3+} ions in YO{sub 8} polyhedron is also shown in bulk and nanoparticles of Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7}. The difference in the extent of ionic/covalent nature of the Y--O bond is clearly seen the contour plot of electron density. Highlights: ► YO{sub 8} scalenohedron is axially and equatorially distorted in Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} nanoparticles. ► Enlargement of SnO{sub 6} octahedron in nanoparticles of Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} compared to bulk. ► Less symmetric charge distribution around Y{sup 3+} ions in Y{sub 2}Sn{sub 2}O{sub 7} nanoparticles.« less

Electrically conducting polyimide film containing tin complexes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

St.clair, Anne K. (Inventor); Ezzell, Stephen A. (Inventor)

1994-01-01

Disclosed is a thermally-stable SnO2-surfaced polyimide film wherein the electrical conductivity of the SnO2 surface is within the range of about 3.0 x 10(exp -3) to about 1 x 10(exp -2) ohms(exp -1). Also disclosed is a method of preparing this film from a solution containing a polyamic acid and SnCl4 (DMSO)2.

A Study on the Physical Properties and Interfacial Reactions with Cu Substrate of Rapidly Solidified Sn-3.5Ag Lead-Free Solder

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Hai-Tao; Wang, Jie; Qu, Lin; Zhao, Ning; Kunwar, A.

2013-08-01

A rapidly solidified Sn-3.5Ag eutectic alloy produced by the melt-spinning technique was used as a sample in this research to investigate the microstructure, thermal properties, solder wettability, and inhibitory effect of Ag3Sn on Cu6Sn5 intermetallic compound (IMC). In addition, an as-cast Sn-3.5Ag solder was prepared as a reference. Rapidly solidified and as-cast Sn-3.5Ag alloys of the same size were soldered at 250°C for 1 s to observe their instant melting characteristics and for 3 s with different cooling methods to study the inhibitory effect of Ag3Sn on Cu6Sn5 IMC. Experimental techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and energy-dispersive spectrometry were used to observe and analyze the results of the study. It was found that rapidly solidified Sn-3.5Ag solder has more uniform microstructure, better wettability, and higher melting rate as compared with the as-cast material; Ag3Sn nanoparticles that formed in the rapidly solidified Sn-3.5Ag solder inhibited the growth of Cu6Sn5 IMC during aging significantly much strongly than in the as-cast material because their number in the rapidly solidified Sn-3.5Ag solder was greater than in the as-cast material with the same soldering process before aging. Among the various alternative lead-free solders, this study focused on comparison between rapidly solidified and as-cast solder alloys, with the former being observed to have better properties.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Bayesian method for detecting stellar flares (Pitkin+, 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitkin, M.; Williams, D.; Fletcher, L.; Grant, S. D. T.

2015-05-01

We present a Bayesian-odds-ratio-based algorithm for detecting stellar flares in light-curve data. We assume flares are described by a model in which there is a rapid rise with a half-Gaussian profile, followed by an exponential decay. Our signal model also contains a polynomial background model required to fit underlying light-curve variations in the data, which could otherwise partially mimic a flare. We characterize the false alarm probability and efficiency of this method under the assumption that any unmodelled noise in the data is Gaussian, and compare it with a simpler thresholding method based on that used in Walkowicz et al. We find our method has a significant increase in detection efficiency for low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) flares. For a conservative false alarm probability our method can detect 95 per cent of flares with S/N less than 20, as compared to S/N of 25 for the simpler method. We also test how well the assumption of Gaussian noise holds by applying the method to a selection of 'quiet' Kepler stars. As an example we have applied our method to a selection of stars in Kepler Quarter 1 data. The method finds 687 flaring stars with a total of 1873 flares after vetos have been applied. For these flares we have made preliminary characterizations of their durations and and S/N. (1 data file).

A Bayesian method for detecting stellar flares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitkin, M.; Williams, D.; Fletcher, L.; Grant, S. D. T.

2014-12-01

We present a Bayesian-odds-ratio-based algorithm for detecting stellar flares in light-curve data. We assume flares are described by a model in which there is a rapid rise with a half-Gaussian profile, followed by an exponential decay. Our signal model also contains a polynomial background model required to fit underlying light-curve variations in the data, which could otherwise partially mimic a flare. We characterize the false alarm probability and efficiency of this method under the assumption that any unmodelled noise in the data is Gaussian, and compare it with a simpler thresholding method based on that used in Walkowicz et al. We find our method has a significant increase in detection efficiency for low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) flares. For a conservative false alarm probability our method can detect 95 per cent of flares with S/N less than 20, as compared to S/N of 25 for the simpler method. We also test how well the assumption of Gaussian noise holds by applying the method to a selection of `quiet' Kepler stars. As an example we have applied our method to a selection of stars in Kepler Quarter 1 data. The method finds 687 flaring stars with a total of 1873 flares after vetos have been applied. For these flares we have made preliminary characterizations of their durations and and S/N.

Numerical simulation of rarefied gas flow through a slit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keith, Theo G., Jr.; Jeng, Duen-Ren; De Witt, Kenneth J.; Chung, Chan-Hong

1990-01-01

Two different approaches, the finite-difference method coupled with the discrete-ordinate method (FDDO), and the direct-simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, are used in the analysis of the flow of a rarefied gas from one reservoir to another through a two-dimensional slit. The cases considered are for hard vacuum downstream pressure, finite pressure ratios, and isobaric pressure with thermal diffusion, which are not well established in spite of the simplicity of the flow field. In the FDDO analysis, by employing the discrete-ordinate method, the Boltzmann equation simplified by a model collision integral is transformed to a set of partial differential equations which are continuous in physical space but are point functions in molecular velocity space. The set of partial differential equations are solved by means of a finite-difference approximation. In the DSMC analysis, three kinds of collision sampling techniques, the time counter (TC) method, the null collision (NC) method, and the no time counter (NTC) method, are used.

Hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical CoO/SnO2 nanostructures for ethanol gas sensor.

PubMed

Wang, Qingji; Kou, Xueying; Liu, Chang; Zhao, Lianjing; Lin, Tingting; Liu, Fangmeng; Yang, Xueli; Lin, Jun; Lu, Geyu

2018-03-01

In this work, ethanol gas sensor with high performance was fabricated successfully with hierarchical CoO/SnO 2 heterojunction by two-steps hydrothermal method. The response value of CoO/SnO 2 sensor is up to 145 at 250 °C when exposed to 100 ppm ethanol gas, which is much higher than that (13.5) of SnO 2 sensor. These good sensing performances mainly attribute to the formation of the CoO/SnO 2 heterojunction, which makes great variation of resistance in air and ethanol gas. Thus, the combination of n-type SnO 2 and p-type CoO provides an effective strategy to design new ethanol gas sensors. The unique nanostructure also played an important role in detecting ethanol, due to its contribution in facilitating the transport rate of the ethanol gas molecules. Also, we provide a general two-step strategy for designing the heterojunction based on the SnO 2 nanostructure. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sn Nanoparticles Encapsulated in 3D Nanoporous Carbon Derived from a Metal–Organic Framework for Anode Material in Lithium-Ion Batteries

DOE PAGES

Guo, Yuanyuan; Zeng, Xiaoqiao; Zhang, Yu; ...

2017-05-04

Three-dimensional nanoporous carbon frameworks encapsulated Sn nanoparticles (Sn@3D-NPC) are developed by a facile method as an improved lithium ion battery anode. The Sn@3D-NPC delivers a reversible capacity of 740 mAh g –1 after 200 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g –1, corresponding to a capacity retention of 85% (against the second capacity) and high rate capability (300 mAh g –1 at 5 A g –1). Compared to the Sn nanoparticles (SnNPs), such improvements are attributed to the 3D porous and conductive framework. The whole structure can provide not only the high electrical conductivity that facilities the electronmore » transfer but also the elasticity that will suppress the volume expansion and aggregation of SnNPs during the charge and discharge process. Lastly, this work opens a new application of metal–organic frameworks in energy storage.« less

Sn Nanoparticles Encapsulated in 3D Nanoporous Carbon Derived from a Metal-Organic Framework for Anode Material in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

PubMed

Guo, Yuanyuan; Zeng, Xiaoqiao; Zhang, Yu; Dai, Zhengfei; Fan, Haosen; Huang, Ying; Zhang, Weina; Zhang, Hua; Lu, Jun; Huo, Fengwei; Yan, Qingyu

2017-05-24

Three-dimensional nanoporous carbon frameworks encapsulated Sn nanoparticles (Sn@3D-NPC) are developed by a facile method as an improved lithium ion battery anode. The Sn@3D-NPC delivers a reversible capacity of 740 mAh g -1 after 200 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g -1 , corresponding to a capacity retention of 85% (against the second capacity) and high rate capability (300 mAh g -1 at 5 A g -1 ). Compared to the Sn nanoparticles (SnNPs), such improvements are attributed to the 3D porous and conductive framework. The whole structure can provide not only the high electrical conductivity that facilities the electron transfer but also the elasticity that will suppress the volume expansion and aggregation of SnNPs during the charge and discharge process. This work opens a new application of metal-organic frameworks in energy storage.

Simultaneous thermal stability and phase change speed improvement of Sn15Sb85 thin film through erbium doping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Hua; Zhu, Xiaoqin; Hu, Yifeng; Sui, Yongxing; Sun, Yuemei; Zhang, Jianhao; Zheng, Long; Song, Zhitang

2016-12-01

In general, there is a trade off between the phase change speed and thermal stability in chalcogenide phase change materials, which leads to sacrifice the one in order to ensure the other. For improving the performance, doping is a widely applied technological process. Here, we fabricated Er doped Sn15Sb85 thin films by magnetron sputtering. Compared with the pure Sn15Sb85, we show that Er doped Sn15Sb85 thin films exhibit simultaneous improvement over the thermal stability and the phase change speed. Thus, our results suggest that Er doping provides the opportunity to solve the contradiction. The main reason for improvement of both thermal stability and crystallization speed is due to the existence of Er-Sb and Er-Sn bonds in Er doped Sn15Sb85 films. Hence, Er doped Sn15Sb85 thin films are promising candidates for the phase change memory application, and this method could be extended to other lanthanide-doped phase change materials.

Three-dimensional SnO2@TiO2 double-shell nanotubes on carbon cloth as a flexible anode for lithium-ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Haifeng; Ren, Weina; Cheng, Chuanwei

2015-07-01

In this study, three-dimensional SnO2@TiO2 double-shell nanotubes on carbon cloth are synthesized by a combination of the hydrothermal method for ZnO nanorods and a subsequent SnO2 and TiO2 thin film coating with atomic layer deposition (ALD). The as-prepared SnO2@TiO2 double-shell nanotubes are further tested as a flexible anode for Li ion batteries. The SnO2@TiO2 double-shell nanotubes/carbon cloth electrode exhibited a high initial discharge capacity (e.g. 778.8 mA h g-1 at a high current density of 780 mA g-1) and good cycling performance, which could be attributed to the 3D double-layer nanotube structure. The interior space of the stable TiO2 hollow tube can accommodate the large internal stress caused by volume expansion of SnO2 and protect SnO2 from pulverization and exfoliation.

Synthesis and Study of Gel Calcined Cd-Sn Oxide Nanocomposites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De, Arijit; Kundu, Susmita

2016-07-01

Cd-Sn oxide nanocomposites were synthesized by sol-gel method from precursor sol containing Cd:Sn = 2:1 and 1:1 mol ratio. Instead of coprecipitation, a simple novel gel calcination route was followed. Cd (NO3)2. 4H2O and SnCl4. 5H2O were used as starting materials. Gel was calcined at 1050 °C for 2 h to obtain nanocomposites. XRD analysis reveals the presence of orthorhombic, cubic Cd2SnO4 along with orthorhombic, hexagonal CdSnO3 phases in both the composites. SEM and TEM studies indicate the development of nanocomposites of different shapes suggesting different degrees of polymerization in precursor sol of different composition. UV-Vis absorption spectra show a blue shift for both the composites compared to bulk values. Decrease of polarization with frequency, dipole contribution to the polarization, and more sensitivity to ethanol vapor were observed for the nanocomposite derived from precursor sol containing Cd:Sn = 2:1 mol ratio.

Doped SnO₂ transparent conductive multilayer thin films explored by continuous composition spread.

PubMed

Lee, Jin Ju; Ha, Jong-Yoon; Choi, Won-Kook; Cho, Yong Soo; Choi, Ji-Won

2015-04-13

Mn-doped SnO₂ thin films were fabricated by a continuous composition spread (CCS) method on a glass substrate at room temperature to find optimized compositions. The fabricated materials were found to have a lower resistivity than pure SnO₂ thin films because of oxygen vacancies generated by Mn doping. As Mn content was increased, resistivity was found to decrease for limited doping concentrations. The minimum thin film resistivity was 0.29 Ω-cm for a composition of 2.59 wt % Mn-doped SnO₂. The Sn-O vibrational stretching frequency in FT-IR showed a blue shift, consistent with oxygen deficiency. Mn-doped SnO₂/Ag/Mn-doped SnO₂ multilayer structures were fabricated using this optimized composition deposited by an on-axis radio frequency (RF) sputter. The multilayer transparent conducting oxide film had a resistivity of 7.35 × 10⁻⁵ Ω-cm and an average transmittance above 86% in the 550 nm wavelength region.

Nitrogen-Doped Carbon-Encapsulated SnO2@Sn Nanoparticles Uniformly Grafted on Three-Dimensional Graphene-like Networks as Anode for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries.

PubMed

Li, Yunyong; Zhang, Haiyan; Chen, Yiming; Shi, Zhicong; Cao, Xiaoguo; Guo, Zaiping; Shen, Pei Kang

2016-01-13

A peculiar nanostructure consisting of nitrogen-doped, carbon-encapsulated (N-C) SnO2@Sn nanoparticles grafted on three-dimensional (3D) graphene-like networks (designated as N-C@SnO2@Sn/3D-GNs) has been fabricated via a low-cost and scalable method, namely an in situ hydrolysis of Sn salts and immobilization of SnO2 nanoparticles on the surface of 3D-GNs, followed by an in situ polymerization of dopamine on the surface of the SnO2/3D-GNs, and finally a carbonization. In the composites, three-layer core-shell N-C@SnO2@Sn nanoparticles were uniformly grafted onto the surfaces of 3D-GNs, which promotes highly efficient insertion/extraction of Li(+). In addition, the outermost N-C layer with graphene-like structure of the N-C@SnO2@Sn nanoparticles can effectively buffer the large volume changes, enhance electronic conductivity, and prevent SnO2/Sn aggregation and pulverization during discharge/charge. The middle SnO2 layer can be changed into active Sn and nano-Li2O during discharge, as described by SnO2 + Li(+) → Sn + Li2O, whereas the thus-formed nano-Li2O can provide a facile environment for the alloying process and facilitate good cycling behavior, so as to further improve the cycling performance of the composite. The inner Sn layer with large theoretical capacity can guarantee high lithium storage in the composite. The 3D-GNs, with high electrical conductivity (1.50 × 10(3) S m(-1)), large surface area (1143 m(2) g(-1)), and high mechanical flexibility, tightly pin the core-shell structure of the N-C@SnO2@Sn nanoparticles and thus lead to remarkably enhanced electrical conductivity and structural integrity of the overall electrode. Consequently, this novel hybrid anode exhibits highly stable capacity of up to 901 mAh g(-1), with ∼89.3% capacity retention after 200 cycles at 0.1 A g(-1) and superior high rate performance, as well as a long lifetime of 500 cycles with 84.0% retention at 1.0 A g(-1). Importantly, this unique hybrid design is expected to be extended to other alloy-type anode materials such as silicon, germanium, etc.

Fabrication of high crystalline SnS and SnS2 thin films, and their switching device characteristics.

PubMed

Choi, Hyeongsu; Lee, Jeongsu; Shin, Seokyoon; Lee, Juhyun; Lee, Seungjin; Park, Hyunwoo; Kwon, Sejin; Lee, Namgue; Bang, Minwook; Lee, Seung-Beck; Jeon, Hyeongtag

2018-05-25

Representative tin sulfide compounds, tin monosulfide (SnS) and tin disulfide (SnS 2 ) are strong candidates for future nanoelectronic devices, based on non-toxicity, low cost, unique structures and optoelectronic properties. However, it is insufficient for synthesizing of tin sulfide thin films using vapor phase deposition method which is capable of fabricating reproducible device and securing high quality films, and their device characteristics. In this study, we obtained highly crystalline SnS thin films by atomic layer deposition and obtained highly crystalline SnS 2 thin films by phase transition of the SnS thin films. The SnS thin film was transformed into SnS 2 thin film by annealing at 450 °C for 1 h in H 2 S atmosphere. This phase transition was confirmed by x-ray diffractometer and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and we studied the cause of the phase transition. We then compared the film characteristics of these two tin sulfide thin films and their switching device characteristics. SnS and SnS 2 thin films had optical bandgaps of 1.35 and 2.70 eV, and absorption coefficients of about 10 5 and 10 4 cm -1 in the visible region, respectively. In addition, SnS and SnS 2 thin films exhibited p-type and n-type semiconductor characteristics. In the images of high resolution-transmission electron microscopy, SnS and SnS 2 directly showed a highly crystalline orthorhombic and hexagonal layered structure. The field effect transistors of SnS and SnS 2 thin films exhibited on-off drain current ratios of 8.8 and 2.1 × 10 3 and mobilities of 0.21 and 0.014 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , respectively. This difference in switching device characteristics mainly depends on the carrier concentration because it contributes to off-state conductance and mobility. The major carrier concentrations of the SnS and SnS 2 thin films were 6.0 × 10 16 and 8.7 × 10 13 cm -3 , respectively, in this experiment.

Fabrication of high crystalline SnS and SnS2 thin films, and their switching device characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Hyeongsu; Lee, Jeongsu; Shin, Seokyoon; Lee, Juhyun; Lee, Seungjin; Park, Hyunwoo; Kwon, Sejin; Lee, Namgue; Bang, Minwook; Lee, Seung-Beck; Jeon, Hyeongtag

2018-05-01

Representative tin sulfide compounds, tin monosulfide (SnS) and tin disulfide (SnS2) are strong candidates for future nanoelectronic devices, based on non-toxicity, low cost, unique structures and optoelectronic properties. However, it is insufficient for synthesizing of tin sulfide thin films using vapor phase deposition method which is capable of fabricating reproducible device and securing high quality films, and their device characteristics. In this study, we obtained highly crystalline SnS thin films by atomic layer deposition and obtained highly crystalline SnS2 thin films by phase transition of the SnS thin films. The SnS thin film was transformed into SnS2 thin film by annealing at 450 °C for 1 h in H2S atmosphere. This phase transition was confirmed by x-ray diffractometer and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and we studied the cause of the phase transition. We then compared the film characteristics of these two tin sulfide thin films and their switching device characteristics. SnS and SnS2 thin films had optical bandgaps of 1.35 and 2.70 eV, and absorption coefficients of about 105 and 104 cm‑1 in the visible region, respectively. In addition, SnS and SnS2 thin films exhibited p-type and n-type semiconductor characteristics. In the images of high resolution-transmission electron microscopy, SnS and SnS2 directly showed a highly crystalline orthorhombic and hexagonal layered structure. The field effect transistors of SnS and SnS2 thin films exhibited on–off drain current ratios of 8.8 and 2.1 × 103 and mobilities of 0.21 and 0.014 cm2 V‑1 s‑1, respectively. This difference in switching device characteristics mainly depends on the carrier concentration because it contributes to off-state conductance and mobility. The major carrier concentrations of the SnS and SnS2 thin films were 6.0 × 1016 and 8.7 × 1013 cm‑3, respectively, in this experiment.

Development and preliminary validation of a questionnaire to measure satisfaction with home care in Greece: an exploratory factor analysis of polychoric correlations

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background The primary aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically test a Greek-language instrument for measuring satisfaction with home care. The first empirical evidence about the level of satisfaction with these services in Greece is also provided. Methods The questionnaire resulted from literature search, on-site observation and cognitive interviews. It was applied in 2006 to a sample of 201 enrollees of five home care programs in the city of Thessaloniki and contains 31 items that measure satisfaction with individual service attributes and are expressed on a 5-point Likert scale. The latter has been usually considered in practice as an interval scale, although it is in principle ordinal. We thus treated the variable as an ordinal one, but also employed the traditional approach in order to compare the findings. Our analysis was therefore based on ordinal measures such as the polychoric correlation, Kendall's Tau b coefficient and ordinal Cronbach's alpha. Exploratory factor analysis was followed by an assessment of internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, construct validity and sensitivity. Results Analyses with ordinal and interval scale measures produced in essence very similar results and identified four multi-item scales. Three of these were found to be reliable and valid: socioeconomic change, staff skills and attitudes and service appropriateness. A fourth dimension -service planning- had lower internal consistency reliability and yet very satisfactory test-retest reliability, construct validity and floor and ceiling effects. The global satisfaction scale created was also quite reliable. Overall, participants were satisfied -yet not very satisfied- with home care services. More room for improvement seems to exist for the socio-economic and planning aspects of care and less for staff skills and attitudes and appropriateness of provided services. Conclusions The methods developed seem to be a promising tool for the measurement of home care satisfaction in Greece. PMID:20602759

Characterization of Sodium Ion Electrochemical Reaction with Tin Anodes: Experiment and Theory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baggetto, Loic; Meisner, Roberta A; Ganesh, Panchapakesan

2013-01-01

Tin anodes show a rich structure and reaction chemistry which we have investigated in detail. Upon discharge five plateaus are observed corresponding to -Sn, an unidentified phase (Na/Sn = 0.6), an amorphous phase (Na/Sn = 1.2), a hexagonal R-3m Na5Sn2, and fully sodiated Na15Sn 4. With charging there are six plateaus, which are related to the formation of Na5Sn2 followed by the formation of amorphous phases and -Sn. Upon cycling the formation of metastable Na5Sn2 seems to be suppressed, leading to a single charge plateau at 0.2 V. Theoretical voltages calculated from existing crystal structures using DFT provide a goodmore » match with constant current measurements, however, the voltage is more negative compared to quasi-equilibrium measurements (GITT). Search for additional (meta)stable phases using cluster-expansion method predicts many phases lower in energy than the convex hull, including the R-3m Na5Sn2 phase characterized experimentally. The presence of multiple phases in varying lattices with very similar formation energy suggests why the reaction mechanism is non-reversible. Interpretation of M ssbauer spectroscopy data is not yet elucidated due to the very low recoil-free fraction of the materials. The electrode surface is terminated with a SEI layer rich in carbonates such as Na2CO3 and Na alkyl carbonates as evidenced by XPS. After a full charge at 2V, strong evidence for the formation of oxidized Sn4+ is obtained. Subjecting the electrode to a rest after a full charge at 2 V reveals that aging in the electrolyte reduces the oxidized Sn4+ into Sn2+ and Sn0, and concomitantly suppresses the electrolyte decomposition represented by an anomalous discharge plateau at 1.2 V. Thereby, the catalytic decomposition of the electrolyte during discharge is caused by nanosized Sn particles covered by oxidized Sn4+ and not by pure metallic Sn.« less

A single camera roentgen stereophotogrammetry method for static displacement analysis.

PubMed

Gussekloo, S W; Janssen, B A; George Vosselman, M; Bout, R G

2000-06-01

A new method to quantify motion or deformation of bony structures has been developed, since quantification is often difficult due to overlaying tissue, and the currently used roentgen stereophotogrammetry method requires significant investment. In our method, a single stationary roentgen source is used, as opposed to the usual two, which, in combination with a fixed radiogram cassette holder, forms a camera with constant interior orientation. By rotating the experimental object, it is possible to achieve a sufficient angle between the various viewing directions, enabling photogrammetric calculations. The photogrammetric procedure was performed on digitised radiograms and involved template matching to increase accuracy. Co-ordinates of spherical markers in the head of a bird (Rhea americana), were calculated with an accuracy of 0.12mm. When these co-ordinates were used in a deformation analysis, relocations of about 0.5mm could be accurately determined.

Two-dimensional HID light source radiative transfer using discrete ordinates method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghrib, Basma; Bouaoun, Mohamed; Elloumi, Hatem

2016-08-01

This paper shows the implementation of the Discrete Ordinates Method for handling radiation problems in High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps. Therefore, we start with presenting this rigorous method for treatment of radiation transfer in a two-dimensional, axisymmetric HID lamp. Furthermore, the finite volume method is used for the spatial discretization of the Radiative Transfer Equation. The atom and electron densities were calculated using temperature profiles established by a 2D semi-implicit finite-element scheme for the solution of conservation equations relative to energy, momentum, and mass. Spectral intensities as a function of position and direction are first calculated, and then axial and radial radiative fluxes are evaluated as well as the net emission coefficient. The results are given for a HID mercury lamp on a line-by-line basis. A particular attention is paid on the 253.7 nm resonance and 546.1 nm green lines.

Synthesis of tin monosulfide (SnS) nanoparticles using surfactant free microemulsion (SFME) with the single microemulsion scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarkas, Hemant S.; Marathe, Deepak M.; Mahajan, Mrunal S.; Muntaser, Faisal; Patil, Mahendra B.; Tak, Swapnil R.; Sali, Jaydeep V.

2017-02-01

Synthesis of monomorphic, SnS nanoparticles without using a capping agent is a difficult task with chemical route of synthesis. This paper reports on synthesis of tin monosulfide (SnS) nanopartilces with dimension in the quantum-dot regime using surfactant free microemulsion with single microemulsion scheme. This has been achieved by reaction in microreactors in the CME (C: chlorobenzene, M: methanol and E: ethylene glycol) microemulsion system. This is an easy and controllable chemical route for synthesis of SnS nanoparticles. Nanoparticle diameter showed prominent dependence on microemulsion concentration and marginal dependence on microemulsion temperature in the temperature range studied. The SnS nanoparticles formed with this method form stable dispersion in Tolune.

Causal analysis of ordinal treatments and binary outcomes under truncation by death.

PubMed

Wang, Linbo; Richardson, Thomas S; Zhou, Xiao-Hua

2017-06-01

It is common that in multi-arm randomized trials, the outcome of interest is "truncated by death," meaning that it is only observed or well-defined conditioning on an intermediate outcome. In this case, in addition to pairwise contrasts, the joint inference for all treatment arms is also of interest. Under a monotonicity assumption we present methods for both pairwise and joint causal analyses of ordinal treatments and binary outcomes in presence of truncation by death. We illustrate via examples the appropriateness of our assumptions in different scientific contexts.

Synthesis and Characterization of TiNi1+xSn Thermoelectric Alloys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, Jacob Steele

Thermoelectric materials, a unique semiconductor-like class of materials, can convert waste heat into electricity and vice versa. An investigation into the synthesis and characterization of half-Heusler TiNi1+xSn alloys was conducted. An arc-melting and annealing procedure was conducted to achieve the desired phase equilibrium. Additional Ni was added as an interstitial dopant to form a small amount of full-Heusler TiNi2Sn phase, which has been seen to improve upon thermoelectric properties in the literature. Annealing time (0 to 21 days), annealing temperature (700 to 900 °C), and nickel content (x = 0, 0.15) were investigated as key synthesis parameters. Results illustrate that before annealing, many binary and ternary phases are present. The final phase distribution after annealing, a two-phase mixture containing TiNiSn and TiNi2Sn, was analyzed using XRD, SEM, EBSD, and EDS techniques. The electrical conductivity (1515 to 1618 S cm -1 from 30 to 340 °C), Seebeck coefficient (-25 to -53 microV K-1 from 30 to 414 °C), thermal conductivity (6.68 to 6.90 W m-1 K-1 from 318 to 414 °C), and thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, (0.009 to 0.046 from 30 to 430 °C) of single phase TiNiSn using the arc-melting and annealing synthesis method was measured and compared to other methods found in literature. The lattice constants of TiNiSn and TiNi2Sn as a function of annealing time, annealing temperature, and composition were calculated based on XRD and deviated slightly from the ICDD standards due to Ni-defect behavior (TiNiSn: +0.04 to 0.47% deviation, TiNi2Sn: -0.09 to -0.40%). The activation energy for conduction (bandgap) of TiNiSn was derived from the measured electrical conductivity and was approximately 0 eV, implying a metallic conduction behavior. Optimum annealing conditions were determined in order to achieve phase equilibrium with minimum time (14 to 21 days) and temperature required (700 °C).

Cr:SnO2 thin films-synthesis and characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varghese, Anitta Rose; B. Bhadrapriya, C.; Amarendra, G.; Hussain, Shamima

2018-04-01

Thin films of pure and Chromium doped SnO2 were synthesized using sol-gel method by spin coating technique. XRD studies confirmed the formation of tetragonal structure for SnO2 thin films. Variations in peak width and position were identified with doping. The optical band gap of the undoped films was found to be 3.8eV and varied with doping. Raman spectrum gave signature peaks of Sn-O and Cr-O bonds for undoped and doped films. The uniformity of the samples and formation of aggregates were observed from FESEM analysis.

Electrochemical and fluorescence properties of SnO2 thin films and its antibacterial activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henry, J.; Mohanraj, K.; Sivakumar, G.; Umamaheswari, S.

2015-05-01

Nanocrystalline SnO2 thin films were deposited by a simple and inexpensive sol-gel spin coating technique and the films were annealed at two different temperatures (350 °C and 450 °C). Structural, vibrational, optical and electrochemical properties of the films were analyzed using XRD, FTIR, UV-Visible, fluorescence and cyclic voltammetry techniques respectively and their results are discussed in detail. The antimicrobial properties of SnO2 thin films were investigated by agar agar method and the results confirm the antibacterial activity of SnO2 against Escherichia coli and Bacillus.

Facile synthesis of hollow Sn-Co@PMMA nanospheres as high performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries via galvanic replacement reaction and in situ polymerization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Xiaohui; Jiang, Anni; Yang, Hongyan; Meng, Haowen; Dou, Peng; Ma, Daqian; Xu, Xinhua

2015-08-01

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)-coated hollow Sn-Co nanospheres (Sn-Co@PMMA) with superior electrochemical performance had been synthesized via a facile galvanic replacement method followed by an in situ emulsion polymerization route. The properties were investigated in detail and results show that the hollow Sn-Co nanospheres were evenly coated with PMMA. Benefiting from the protection of the PMMA layers, the hollow Sn-Co@PMMA nanocomposite is capable of retaining a high capacity of 590 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles with a coulomb efficiency above 98%, revealing better electrochemical properties compared with hollow Sn-Co anodes. The PMMA coating could help accommodate the mechanical strain caused by volume expansion and stabilize the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film formed on the electrode. Such a facile process could be further extended to other anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

Embedding ultrafine ZnSnO3 nanoparticles into reduced graphene oxide composites as high-performance electrodes for lithium ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Yuhang; Jiang, Ranran; Li, Dan; Dong, Yutao; Liu, Yushan; Zhang, Jianmin

2018-05-01

Ultrafine ZnSnO3 nanoparticles, with an average diameter of 45 nm, homogeneously grown on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) have been successfully fabricated via methods of low temperature coprecipitation, colloid electrostatic self-assembly, and hydrothermal treatment. The uniformly distributed ZnSnO3 nanocrystals could inhibit the restacking of rGO sheets. In turn, the existence of rGO could hinder the growth and aggregation of ZnSnO3 nanoparticles in the synthesis process, increase the conductivity of the composite, and buffer the volume expansion of the ZnSnO3 nanocrystals upon lithium ion insertion and extraction. The obtained ZnSnO3/rGO exhibited superior cycling stability with a discharge/charge capacity of 718/696 mA h g-1 after 100 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g-1.

The Study on the Performance of Carbon Supported PtSnM (M = W, Pd, and Ni) Ternary Electro-Catalysts for Ethanol Electro-Oxidation Reaction.

PubMed

Noh, Chang Soo; Heo, Dong Hyun; Lee, Ki Rak; Jeon, Min Ku; Sohn, Jung Min

2016-05-01

PtSn/C and Pt5Sn4M/C (M = W, Pd, Ni) electrocatalysts were prepared by impregnation method using NaBH4 as a reducing agent. Chemical composition, crystalline size, and alloy formation were determined by EDX, XRD and TEM. The average particle sizes of the synthesized catalysts were approximately 3.64-4.95 nm. The electro-chemical properties were measured by CO stripping, cyclic voltammetry, linear sweep voltammetry, and chronoamperometry. The maximum specific activity of the electro-catalysts for ethanol electro-oxidation was 406.08 mA m(-2) in Pt5Sn4Pd/C. The poisoning rate of the Pt5Sn4Pd/C (0.0017% s(-1)) was 4.5 times lower than that of the PtSn/C (0.0076% s(-1)).

Synthesis of scaly Sn3O4/TiO2 nanobelt heterostructures for enhanced UV-visible light photocatalytic activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Guohui; Ji, Shaozheng; Sang, Yuanhua; Chang, Sujie; Wang, Yana; Hao, Pin; Claverie, Jerome; Liu, Hong; Yu, Guangwei

2015-02-01

A novel scaly Sn3O4/TiO2 nanobelt heterostructured photocatalyst was fabricated via a facile hydrothermal route. The scaly Sn3O4 nanoflakes can be synthesized in situ and assembled on surface coarsened TiO2 nanobelts through a hydrothermal process. The morphology and distribution of Sn3O4 nanoflakes can be well-controlled by simply tuning the Sn/Ti molar ratio of the reactants. Compared with single phase nanostructures of Sn3O4 and TiO2, the scaly hybrid nanobelts exhibited markedly enhanced photoelectrochemical (PEC) response, which caused higher photocatalytic hydrogen evolution even without the assistance of Pt as a co-catalyst, and enhanced the degradation ability of organic pollutants under both UV and visible light irradiation. In addition to the increased exposure of active facets and broad light absorption, the outstanding performance is ascribed to the matching energy band structure between Sn3O4 and TiO2 at the two sides of the heterostructure, which efficiently reduces the recombination of photo-excited electron-hole pairs and prolongs the lifetime of charge carriers. Both photocatalytic assessment and PEC tests revealed that Sn3O4/TiO2 heterostructures with a molar ratio of Sn/Ti of 2/1 exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity. This study provides a facile and low-cost method for the large scale production of Sn3O4 based materials in various applications.A novel scaly Sn3O4/TiO2 nanobelt heterostructured photocatalyst was fabricated via a facile hydrothermal route. The scaly Sn3O4 nanoflakes can be synthesized in situ and assembled on surface coarsened TiO2 nanobelts through a hydrothermal process. The morphology and distribution of Sn3O4 nanoflakes can be well-controlled by simply tuning the Sn/Ti molar ratio of the reactants. Compared with single phase nanostructures of Sn3O4 and TiO2, the scaly hybrid nanobelts exhibited markedly enhanced photoelectrochemical (PEC) response, which caused higher photocatalytic hydrogen evolution even without the assistance of Pt as a co-catalyst, and enhanced the degradation ability of organic pollutants under both UV and visible light irradiation. In addition to the increased exposure of active facets and broad light absorption, the outstanding performance is ascribed to the matching energy band structure between Sn3O4 and TiO2 at the two sides of the heterostructure, which efficiently reduces the recombination of photo-excited electron-hole pairs and prolongs the lifetime of charge carriers. Both photocatalytic assessment and PEC tests revealed that Sn3O4/TiO2 heterostructures with a molar ratio of Sn/Ti of 2/1 exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity. This study provides a facile and low-cost method for the large scale production of Sn3O4 based materials in various applications. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4nr05749j

Electrically conducting polyimide film containing tin complexes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

St. Clair, Anne K. (Inventor); Ezzell, Stephen A. (Inventor); Taylor, Larry T. (Inventor); Boston, Harold G. (Inventor)

1996-01-01

Disclosed is a thermally-stable SnO.sub.2 -surfaced polyimide film wherein the electrical conductivity of the SnO.sub.2 surface is within the range of about 3.0.times.10.sup.-3 to about 1.times.10.sup.-2 ohms.sup.-1,. Also disclosed is a method of preparing this film from a solution containing a polyamic acid and SnCl.sub.4 (DMSO).sub.2.

An approach to solve group-decision-making problems with ordinal interval numbers.

PubMed

Fan, Zhi-Ping; Liu, Yang

2010-10-01

The ordinal interval number is a form of uncertain preference information in group decision making (GDM), while it is seldom discussed in the existing research. This paper investigates how the ranking order of alternatives is determined based on preference information of ordinal interval numbers in GDM problems. When ranking a large quantity of ordinal interval numbers, the efficiency and accuracy of the ranking process are critical. A new approach is proposed to rank alternatives using ordinal interval numbers when every ranking ordinal in an ordinal interval number is thought to be uniformly and independently distributed in its interval. First, we give the definition of possibility degree on comparing two ordinal interval numbers and the related theory analysis. Then, to rank alternatives, by comparing multiple ordinal interval numbers, a collective expectation possibility degree matrix on pairwise comparisons of alternatives is built, and an optimization model based on this matrix is constructed. Furthermore, an algorithm is also presented to rank alternatives by solving the model. Finally, two examples are used to illustrate the use of the proposed approach.

Effect of both deposition temperature and indium doping on the properties of sol-gel dip-coated SnO2 films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caglar, Mujdat; Atar, Kadir Cemil

2012-10-01

Using indium chloride as an In source, In-doped SnO2 films were fabricated by sol-gel method through dip-coating on borofloat glass substrates. The undoped SnO2 films were deposited in air between 400 and 600 °C to get optimum deposition temperature in terms of crystal quality and hence In-doped SnO2 films were deposited in air at 600 °C. The effect of both deposition temperature and In content on structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties was investigated. The crystalline structure and orientation of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and surface morphology was studied by a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The compositional analysis of the films was confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). The absorption band edge of the SnO2 films shifted from 3.88 to 3.66 eV with In content. The van der Pauw method was used to measure the sheet resistance of the films. The sheet resistance was affected significantly by deposition temperature and In content.

Fluorimetric detection of Sn(2+) ion in aqueous medium using Salicylaldehyde based nanoparticles and application to natural samples analysis.

PubMed

Patil, Kishor S; Mahajan, Prasad G; Patil, Shivajirao R

2017-01-05

The fluorescent 2-[(E)-(2-phenylhydrazinylidene)methyl]phenol nanoparticles (PHPNPs) were prepared by a simple reprecipitation method. The prepared PHPNPs examined by Dynamic Light Scattering show narrower particle size distribution having an average particle size of 93.3nm. The Scanning Electron Microphotograph shows distinct spherical shaped morphology of nanoparticles. The blue shift in UV-absorption and fluorescence spectra of PHPNPs with respect to corresponding spectra of PHP in acetone solution indicates H- aggregates and Aggregation Induced Enhanced Emission (AIEE) for nanoparticles. The nanoparticles show selective tendency towards the recognition of Sn(2+) ions by enhancing the fluorescence intensity preference to Cu(2+), Fe(3+), Fe(2+), Ni(2+), NH4(+), Ca(2+), Pb(2+), Hg(2+) and Zn(2+) ions, which actually seem to quench the fluorescence of nanoparticles. The studies on Langmuir adsorption plot, fluorescence lifetime of PHPNPs, DLS-Zeta sizer, UV-visible and fluorescence titration with and without Sn(2+) helped to propose a suitable mechanism of fluorescence enhancement of nanoparticles by Sn(2+) and their binding ability during complexation. The fluorescence enhancement effect of PHPNPs induced by Sn(2+) is further used to develop an analytical method for detection of Sn(2+) from aqueous medium in environmental samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fluorimetric detection of Sn2 + ion in aqueous medium using Salicylaldehyde based nanoparticles and application to natural samples analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patil, Kishor S.; Mahajan, Prasad G.; Patil, Shivajirao R.

2017-01-01

The fluorescent 2-[(E)-(2-phenylhydrazinylidene)methyl]phenol nanoparticles (PHPNPs) were prepared by a simple reprecipitation method. The prepared PHPNPs examined by Dynamic Light Scattering show narrower particle size distribution having an average particle size of 93.3 nm. The Scanning Electron Microphotograph shows distinct spherical shaped morphology of nanoparticles. The blue shift in UV-absorption and fluorescence spectra of PHPNPs with respect to corresponding spectra of PHP in acetone solution indicates H- aggregates and Aggregation Induced Enhanced Emission (AIEE) for nanoparticles. The nanoparticles show selective tendency towards the recognition of Sn2 + ions by enhancing the fluorescence intensity preference to Cu2 +, Fe3 +, Fe2 +, Ni2 +, NH4+, Ca2 +, Pb2 +, Hg2 + and Zn2 + ions, which actually seem to quench the fluorescence of nanoparticles. The studies on Langmuir adsorption plot, fluorescence lifetime of PHPNPs, DLS-Zeta sizer, UV-visible and fluorescence titration with and without Sn2 + helped to propose a suitable mechanism of fluorescence enhancement of nanoparticles by Sn2 + and their binding ability during complexation. The fluorescence enhancement effect of PHPNPs induced by Sn2 + is further used to develop an analytical method for detection of Sn2 + from aqueous medium in environmental samples.

Preparation and in vitro evaluation of actively targetable nanoparticles for SN-38 delivery against HT-29 cell lines.

PubMed

Ebrahimnejad, Pedram; Dinarvand, Rassoul; Sajadi, Abolghasem; Jaafari, Mahmoud Reza; Nomani, Ali Reza; Azizi, Ebrahim; Rad-Malekshahi, Mazda; Atyabi, Fatemeh

2010-06-01

SN-38 (7-ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin) is the active metabolite of irinotecan, which is 100-to 1000-fold more cytotoxic than irinotecan. Nevertheless, extreme hydrophobicity of SN-38 has prevented its clinical use. One way of improving the solubility and stability of SN-38 is to formulate the drug into nanoparticles. Folic acid has been widely used as a targeting moiety for various anticancer drugs. For folate-receptor-targeted anticancer therapy, SN-38 nanoparticles were produced using poly-lactide-co-glycolide-polyethylene glycol-folate (PLGA-PEG-FOL) conjugate by emulsification/solvent evaporation method. The FOL-conjugated di-block copolymer was synthesized by coupling the PLGA-PEG-NH(2) di-block copolymer with an activated folic acid. The conjugates were used for the formation of SN-38 nanoparticles with an average size of 200 nm in diameter. The SN-38 targeted nanoparticles showed a greater cytotoxicity against HT-29 cancer cells than SN-38 nontargeted nanoparticles. These results suggested that folate-targeted nanoparticles could be a potentially useful delivery system for SN-38 as an anticancer agent. SN-38 is the active metabolite of the chemotherapy agent irinotecan, which is 100-1000 fold more cytotoxic than irinotecan, but its extreme hydrophobicity has prevented its clinical use. In this paper, the authors present a nanotechnology-based approach targeting the folate-receptor with SN-38 loaded nanoparticles, demonstrating stronger cytotoxicity against HT-29 cancer cells than with control nanoparticles.

Azadirachta indica (neem) leaves mediated synthesis of SnO2/NiO nanocomposite and assessment of its photocatalytic activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varshney, Bhaskar; Shoeb, Mohd; Siddiqui, M. J.; Azam, Ameer; Mobin, Mohammad

2018-05-01

SnO2/NiO nanocomposite are prepared by using a simple cost effective and ecofriendly green soft template method followed by ultrasonication treatment further by calcination at 300 °C. The resulting nanocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Visible spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The SnO2-NiO photocatalyst was made of a mesoporous network of aggregated NiO and cassiterite SnO2 nanocrystallites, the size of which was estimated to be 16.68 nm and 13.17 nm, respectively, after calcination. According to UV-visible spectroscopy, the evident energy band gap value of the SnO2-NiO photocatalyst was estimated to be 3.132 eV to be compared with those of pure SnO2, that is, 3.7 eV. Moreover, the heterostructure SnO2-NiO photocatalyst showed much higher photocatalytic activities for the degradation of methylene blue than those of individual SnO2 and NiO nanomaterials. This behaviour was rationalized in terms of better charge separation and the suppression of charge recombination in the SnO2-NiO photocatalyst because of the energy difference between the conduction band edges of SnO2 and NiO as evidenced by the band alignment determination. Finally, this mesoporous SnO2-NiO heterojunction nanocatalyst was stable and could be easily recycled several times opening new avenues for potential industrial applications.

High-Performance Near-Infrared Photodetectors Based on p-type SnX (X=S, Se) Nanowires Grown via Chemical Vapor Deposition.

PubMed

Zheng, Dingshan; Fang, Hehai; Long, Mingsheng; Wu, Feng; Wang, Peng; Gong, Fan; Wu, Xing; Ho, Johnny C; Liao, Lei; Hu, Weida

2018-06-21

Because of the distinct electronic properties and strong interaction with light, quasi-one-dimensional nanowires (NWs) with semiconducting property have been demonstrated with tremendous potential for various technological applications, especially electronics and optoelectronics. However, until now, most of the state-of-the-art NW photodetectors are predominantly based on the N-type NW channel. Here, we successfully synthesized P-type SnSe and SnS NWs via chemical vapor deposition method and fabricated high-performance single SnSe and SnS NW photodetectors. Importantly, these two NW devices exhibit the impressive photodetection performance with the high photoconductive gain of 1.5 × 10 4 (2.8 × 10 4 ), good responsivity of 1.0× 10 4 A W -1 (1.6× 10 4 A W -1 ) as well as excellent detectivity of 3.3 × 10 12 Jones (2.4 × 10 12 Jones) under near-infrared illumination at a bias of 3 V for the SnSe NW (SnS NW) channel. The rise and fall times can be as efficient as 460 and 520 μs (1.2 and 15.1 ms), respectively, for the SnSe NW (SnS NW) device. Moreover, the spatially resolved photocurrent mapping of the devices further reveals the bias-dependent photocurrent generation. All these results evidently demonstrate that the P-type SnSe and SnS NWs have great potential to be applied in next-generation high-performance optoelectronic devices.

Wetting and Brazing of Alumina by Sn0.3Ag0.7Cu-Ti Alloy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, J. R.; Song, X. G.; Hu, S. P.; Liu, D.; Guo, W. J.; Fu, W.; Cao, J.

2017-12-01

The wetting behavior of Sn0.3Ag0.7Cu (wt pct) with the addition of Ti on alumina was studied at 1273 K (1000 °C) using the sessile drop method. The wettability of Sn0.3Ag0.7Cu is significantly enhanced with the addition of Ti. Ti accumulates on the interface and reacts with O, producing TiO and yields good wetting. However, wetting is inhibited in high Ti containing droplets as intense Ti-Sn reactions take place. As a result of these competing reactions, the wettability of Sn0.3Ag0.7Cu-2Ti is the best, with the lowest equilibrium contact angle 24.6 deg. Thermodynamic calculations indicate that the value of the final contact angle cos θ varies linearly with Ti fraction in the Ti-Sn reaction-free case. The influence of the Ti-Sn reaction on wetting is quantitatively characterized by the deviation from the theoretical data. The adverse impact of Ti-Sn reaction on wetting increases in intensity with the droplets containing more Ti as the reaction between Ti and Sn becomes more intense and rapid. Alumina/alumina is brazed using different Ti containing Sn0.3Ag0.7Cu-Ti brazing metals at 1273 K (1000 °C) for 25 minutes. Pores are observed in joints prepared with Sn0.3Ag0.7Cu-0.7, 3, and 4Ti because of poor wettability. The highest joints shear strength of 28.6 MPa is obtained with Sn0.3Ag0.7Cu-2Ti.

Enhanced cyclic stability of SnS microplates with conformal carbon coating derived from ethanol vapor deposition for sodium-ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiang; Liu, Jiangwen; Ouyang, Liuzhang; Yuan, Bin; Yang, Lichun; Zhu, Min

2018-04-01

Carbon coated SnS microplates (SnS@C MPs) were prepared via a facile chemical vapor deposition method using SnS2 nanoflakes as precursor and ethanol vapor as carbon source. The carbon coating restrains the growth of SnS during the heat treatment. Furthermore, it improves the electronic conductivity as well as accommodates volume variations of SnS during the sodiation and desodiation processes. Therefore, the rate capability and cycle performance of the SnS@C MPs as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries are remarkably enhanced compared with the bare SnS and the SnS2 precursor. At current densities of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1 and 2 A g-1, the optimized SnS@C MPs exhibit stable capacities of 602.9, 532.1, 512.2, 465.9 and 427.2 mAh g-1, respectively. At 1 A g-1, they show a reversible capacity of 528.8 mAh g-1 in the first cycle, and maintain 444.7 mAh g-1 after 50 cycles, with capacity retention of 84.1%. The carbon coating through chemical vapor deposition using ethanol vapor as carbon sources is green, simple and cost-effective, which shows great promise to improve the reversible Na+ storage of electrode materials.

One-step solvothermal synthesis of carnation flower-like SnS2 as superior electrodes for supercapacitor applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Rajneesh Kumar; Baek, Geun Woo; Kim, Kyuwon; Kwon, Hyuck-In; Jin, Sung Hun

2017-12-01

We report the synthesis of carnation flower-like SnS2 (CF-SnS2) via a one-step solvothermal method for potential application as supercapacitor electrodes in energy storage devices. The structural and morphological properties of CF-SnS2 were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman analysis, and field-emission scanning and transmission electron microscopies. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling electron microscopy with color mapping verified the distribution of Sn and S, and depicted the successful formation of SnS2. Electrochemical studies were performed to explore the supercapacitive nature of CF-SnS2. Supercapacitors with CF-SnS2 electrodes delivered excellent cyclic voltammetry performances, superior gravimetric specific capacitances, and high power densities. The evaluated specific capacitance and power density reached ∼524.5 F/g and 12.3 W/kg, respectively, at a current density of 0.08 A/g, and ∼215.9 F/g and 61.4 W/kg, respectively, at a current density of 0.38 A/g. These values are at least two times higher than those previously reported. The long-term cyclic stability was also tested to demonstrate the endurance of the CF-SnS2-based supercapacitor, with a 66% rate retention and galvanostatic charge/discharge reversibility. These electrochemical findings indicate that CF-SnS2 is a promising candidate for electrode materials in supercapacitor applications.

Improved Li storage performance in SnO 2 nanocrystals by a synergetic doping

DOE PAGES

Wan, Ning; Lu, Xia; Wang, Yuesheng; ...

2016-01-06

Tin dioxide (SnO 2) is a widely investigated lithium (Li) storage material because of its easy preparation, two-step storage mechanism and high specific capacity for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this contribution, a phase-pure cobalt-doped SnO 2 (Co/SnO 2) and a cobalt and nitrogen co-doped SnO 2 (Co-N/SnO 2) nanocrystals are prepared to explore their Li storage behaviors. It is found that the morphology, specific surface area, and electrochemical properties could be largely modulated in the doped and co-doped SnO 2 nanocrystals. Gavalnostatic cycling results indicate that the Co-N/SnO 2 electrode delivers a specific capacity as high as 716 mAh gmore » –1 after 50 cycles, and the same outstanding rate performance can be observed in subsequent cycles due to the ionic/electronic conductivity enhancement by co-doping effect. Further, microstructure observation indicates the existence of intermediate phase of Li 3N with high ionic conductivity upon cycling, which probably accounts for the improvements of Co-N/SnO 2 electrodes. Furthermore, we find that the method of synergetic doping into SnO 2 with Co and N, with which the electrochemical performances is enhanced remarkably, undoubtedly, will have an important influence on the material itself and community of LIBs as well.« less

Heterovalent Substitution to Enrich Electrical Conductivity in Cu2CdSn1-xGaxSe4 Series for High Thermoelectric Performances

PubMed Central

Wang, Bo; Li, Yu; Zheng, Jiaxin; Xu, Ming; Liu, Fusheng; Ao, Weiqing; Li, Junqing; Pan, Feng

2015-01-01

Serials of Ga doping on Sn sites as heterovalent substitution in Cu2CdSnSe4 are prepared by the melting method and the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique to form Cu2CdSn1-xGaxSe4 (x = 0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, 0.01, and 0.125). Massive atomic vacancies are found at x = 0.10 by the heterovalent substitution, which contributes significantly to the increase of electrical conductivity and the decrease of lattice thermal conductivity. The electrical conductivity is increased by about ten times at 300 K after Ga doping. Moreover, the seebeck coefficient only decreases slightly from 310 to 226 μV/K at 723 K, and a significant increase of the power factor is obtained. As a result, a maxium value of 0.27 for the figure of merit (ZT) is obtained at x = 0.10 and at 723 K. Through an ab initio study of the Ga doping effect, we find that the Fermi level of Cu2CdSnSe4 is shifted downward to the valence band, thus improving the hole concentration and enhancing the electrical conductivity at low doping levels. Our experimental and theoretical studies show that a moderate Ga doping on Sn sites is an effective method to improve the thermoelectric performance of Cu2CdSnSe4. PMID:25791823

City curfew ordinances and teenage motor vehicle injury.

PubMed

Preusser, D F; Williams, A F; Lund, A K; Zador, P L

1990-08-01

Several U.S. cities have curfew ordinances that limit the late night activities of minor teenagers in public places including highways. Detroit, Cleveland, and Columbus, which have curfew ordinances, were compared to Cincinnati, which does not have such an ordinance. The curfew ordinances were associated with a 23% reduction in motor vehicle related injury for 13- to 17-year-olds as passengers, drivers, pedestrians, or bicyclists during the curfew hours. It was concluded that city curfew ordinances, like the statewide driving curfews studied in other states, can reduce motor vehicle injury to teenagers during the particularly hazardous late night hours.

Synthesis and characterization of magnetic semiconducting Cu{sub 2}CoSnS{sub 4} nanoparticles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gupta, Aman; Mokurala, Krishnaiah; Kamble, Anvita

2015-06-24

Multifunctional wurtzite Cu{sub 2}CoSnS{sub 4} (CCoTS) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by facile hot-injection method using elemental sulfur as sulfur source. As-synthesized CCoTS nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) for phase identification. Morphology of as-prepared nanoparticles was examined using FEG-SEM and FEG-TEM. Resistivity of film was measured using four probe method and it’s value (0.8 Ωcm) lies in the range of semiconductors. Magnetization curve of Cu{sub 2}CoSnS{sub 4} nanoparticles (at room temperature) indicates weak ferromagnetic behavior.

The nucleation and growth mechanism of Ni-Sn eutectic in a single crystal superalloy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Weiguo; Wang, Li; Li, Xiangwei; Lou, Langhong

2017-12-01

The microstructure of single crystal superalloy with and without tin layer on the surface of as-cast and heat-treatment state was investigated by optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The composition of different regions on the surface was tested by energy dispersive X-ray (EDS). The reaction intermetallic compound (IMC) formed in the heat treatment process was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The orientations of different microstructure in samples as heat treatment state were determined by electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD) method. The porosity location in the interdendritic region was observed by X-ray computed tomography (XCT). The experiment results showed that the remained Sn on the surface of the superalloy reacted with Ni, and then formed Ni3Sn4 in the as-cast state. Sn enriched by diffusion along the porosity located in the interdendritic region and γ + γ‧ (contain a little of Sn) eutectic and Ni3Sn2 formed in single crystal superalloy during heat treatment, and the recalescence behaviors were found. Ni3Sn2 nucleated independently in the cooled liquid at the front of (γ + γ‧) (Sn) eutectic. The nucleation and growth mechanism of the eutectic and Ni3Sn2 IMC during heat treatment was discussed in the present paper.

One-Pot Green Synthesis of Ag-Decorated SnO2 Microsphere: an Efficient and Reusable Catalyst for Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol.

PubMed

Hu, Min; Zhang, Zhenwei; Luo, Chenkun; Qiao, Xiuqing

2017-12-01

In this paper, hierarchical Ag-decorated SnO 2 microspheres were synthesized by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method. The resulting composites were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, BET, and FTIR analysis. The catalytic performances of the samples were evaluated with the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol by potassium borohydride (KBH 4 ) as a model reaction. Time-dependent experiments indicated that the hierarchical microspheres assembled from SnO 2 and Ag nanoparticles can be formed when the react time is less than 10 h. With the increase of hydrothermal time, SnO 2 nanoparticles will self-assemble into SnO 2 nanosheets and Ag nanoparticles decorated SnO 2 nanosheets were obtained. When evaluated as catalyst, the obtained Ag-decorated SnO 2 microsphere prepared for 36 h exhibited excellent catalytic performance with normalized rate constant (κ nor ) of 6.20 min -1 g -1 L, which is much better than that of some previous reported catalysts. Moreover, this Ag-decorated SnO 2 microsphere demonstrates good reusability after the first five cycles. In addition, we speculate the formation mechanism of the hierarchical Ag-decorated SnO 2 microsphere and discussed the possible origin of the excellent catalytic activity.

Colorful Investigations of Supernovae for WFIRST-AFTA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foley, Ryan

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are extremely good probes of dark energy, and WFIRST-AFTA is particularly well suited to make the best SN distance measurements possible. For conservative assumptions, the WFIRST SN survey is projected to have twice the impact as its other probes. Considering that Euclid will only have a minimal SN survey, but strong programs for other dark energy probes, the WFIRST SN survey is especially unique and important. With an initial simulation of the WFIRST-AFTA survey, we have determined that the largest statistical and systematic uncertainties are related to SN color. SN distances strongly depend on the precise measurement of SN colors since we must make a dust extinction correction that depends on the observed color. The details of how the correction is applied and the possibility that the correction evolves with redshift combine with potential calibration systematics to limit the current effectiveness of the SN component of WFIRST-AFTA. Here, we propose to support two graduate students to (1) investigate how intrinsic color variations will impact WFIRST-AFTA systematic uncertainties, (2) determine improved methods for reducing the systematic uncertainties related to SN color, and (3) simulate survey strategies incorporating our results to obtain the highest dark energy figure of merit (DE-FoM).

Enhanced photovoltaic performance of dye sensitized solar cell using SnO2 nanoflowers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arote, Sandeep A.; Tabhane, Vilas A.; Pathan, Habib M.

2018-01-01

The study highlighted enhanced performance of SnO2 based DSSC using photoanode with nanostructured morphology. The simple organic surfactant free hydrothermal synthesis method was used for preparation of SnO2 nanoflowers for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) application. The hydrothermal reaction time was varied to obtain different SnO2 nanostructures. The hydrothermal reaction time showed considerable effect on optical and structural properties of the prepared samples. The results indicated that the prepared samples were pure rutile SnO2. The band gap of prepared samples was greater than bulk SnO2 and varied from 3.64 to 3.81 eV with increase in hydrothermal reaction time. With increase in reaction time from 4 to 24 h, the microstructure of SnO2 changed from agglomerated nanoparticles to nanopetals and finally to self-assembled nanoflowers. Flower-like SnO2 nanostructures showed size around 300-700 nm, and composed of large numbers of 3 dimensional petals connected with each other forming 3D nanoflowers by self-assembly. Consequently, the DSSC with flower-like SnO2 nanostructures exhibited good photovoltaic performance with Voc, Jsc and η about 0.43 V, 4.36 mA/cm2 and 1.11%, respectively.

Determination of irinotecan and its metabolite SN-38 in dried blood spots using high-performance liquid-chromatography with fluorescence detection.

PubMed

Hahn, Roberta Z; Arnhold, Priscila C; Andriguetti, Natália B; Schneider, Anelise; Klück, Helena M; Dos Reis, Simone L; Bastiani, Marcos Frank; Kael, Igor; da Silva, Anne Caroline Cezimbra; Schwartsmann, Gilberto; Antunes, Marina V; Linden, Rafael

2018-02-20

Irinotecan (IRI) is an antineoplastic drug widely used for the treatment of colorectal and advanced pancreatic cancer. Despite its clinical utility, the clinical use of IRI is associated with potentially severe hematopoietic and gastrointestinal toxicities. The quantification of IRI and its active metabolite SN-38 in dried blood spots (DBS) may be an alternative to individualize the drug dose through a minimally invasive and easy collection method. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a simple and fast HPLC-FL assay for simultaneous IRI and SN-38 measurement in DBS, with adequate analytical performance for clinical use. The method employs liquid extraction of one 8mm disk of whole blood, followed by separation in a reversed phase Eclipse Plus C8 column (150×4.6mm, 5μm). Detection was performed with a fluorescence detector, with excitation wavelength of 370 and emission of 420 for IRI and 540nm for SN-38 and internal standard (camptothecin). Total analytical run time was 17min. Mobile phase was a mixture of 0.1M phosphate buffer pH 4.0 and acetonitrile (80:20, v/v), at 1mLmin -1 . The assay was linear in the range 10-3,000ngmL -1 and from 0.5 to 300ngmL -1 for IRI and SN-38, respectively. Precision assays presented CV% of 2.71-5.65 and 2.15-10.07 for IRI and SN-38, respectively, and accuracy in the range of 94.26-100.93 and 94.24-99.33%. IRI and SN-38 were stable at 25 and 42°C for 14days in DBS samples. The method was applied to DBS samples obtained from fingerpicks from 19 volunteers receiving IRI in single or combined chemotherapy regimens, collected 1 and 24h after beginning of the infusion. The estimated plasma concentration of IRI and SN-38 in sample collected 1h after star of infusion had 16 of 19 values within the ±20% range of the measured plasma concentrations. On the other hand, predictions of IRI and SN-38 plasma concentrations from DBS measurements obtained 24h after the beginning of the infusion were poor. AUC of IRI that was calculated using plasma and DBS-estimated concentrations, with a high correlation (r=0.918). The method presented suitable characteristics for the clinical use. However, translation of IRI and SN-38 DBS to plasma concentrations is challenging due to the compound's variable plasma/blood partition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relativistic GW calculations on CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3SnI3 perovskites for solar cell applications.

PubMed

Umari, Paolo; Mosconi, Edoardo; De Angelis, Filippo

2014-03-26

Hybrid AMX3 perovskites (A = Cs, CH3NH3; M = Sn, Pb; X = halide) have revolutionized the scenario of emerging photovoltaic technologies, with very recent results demonstrating 15% efficient solar cells. The CH3NH3PbI3/MAPb(I(1-x)Cl(x))3 perovskites have dominated the field, while the similar CH3NH3SnI3 has not been exploited for photovoltaic applications. Replacement of Pb by Sn would facilitate the large uptake of perovskite-based photovoltaics. Despite the extremely fast progress, the materials electronic properties which are key to the photovoltaic performance are relatively little understood. Density Functional Theory electronic structure methods have so far delivered an unbalanced description of Pb- and Sn-based perovskites. Here we develop an effective GW method incorporating spin-orbit coupling which allows us to accurately model the electronic, optical and transport properties of CH3NH3SnI3 and CH3NH3PbI3, opening the way to new materials design. The different CH3NH3SnI3 and CH3NH3PbI3 electronic properties are discussed in light of their exploitation for solar cells, and found to be dominantly due to relativistic effects. These effects stabilize the CH3NH3PbI3 material towards oxidation, by inducing a deeper valence band edge. Relativistic effects, however, also increase the material band-gap compared to CH3NH3SnI3, due to the valence band energy downshift (~0.7 eV) being only partly compensated by the conduction band downshift (~0.2 eV).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Modjaz, Maryam; Liu, Yuqian Q.; Bianco, Federica B.

We present the first systematic investigation of spectral properties of 17 Type Ic Supernovae (SNe Ic), 10 broad-lined SNe Ic (SNe Ic-bl) without observed gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and 11 SNe Ic-bl with GRBs (SN-GRBs) as a function of time in order to probe their explosion conditions and progenitors. Using a number of novel methods, we analyze a total of 407 spectra, which were drawn from published spectra of individual SNe as well as from the densely time-sampled spectra of Modjaz et al (2014). In order to quantify the diversity of the SN spectra as a function of SN subtype, wemore » construct average spectra of SNe Ic, SNe Ic-bl without GRBs, and SNe Ic-bl with GRBs. We find that SN 1994I is not a typical SN Ic, contrasting the general view, while the spectra of SN 1998bw/GRB 980425 are representative of mean spectra of SNe Ic-bl. We measure the ejecta absorption and width velocities using a new method described here and find that SNe Ic-bl with GRBs, on average, have quantifiably higher absorption velocities, as well as broader line widths than SNe without observed GRBs. In addition, we search for correlations between SN-GRB spectral properties and the energies of their accompanying GRBs. Finally, we show that the absence of clear He lines in optical spectra of SNe Ic-bl, and in particular of SN-GRBs, is not due to them being too smeared-out due to the high velocities present in the ejecta. This implies that the progenitor stars of SN-GRBs are probably free of the He-layer, in addition to being H-free, which puts strong constraints on the stellar evolutionary paths needed to produce such SN-GRB progenitors at the observed low metallicities.« less

Relativistic GW calculations on CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3SnI3 Perovskites for Solar Cell Applications

PubMed Central

Umari, Paolo; Mosconi, Edoardo; De Angelis, Filippo

2014-01-01

Hybrid AMX3 perovskites (A = Cs, CH3NH3; M = Sn, Pb; X = halide) have revolutionized the scenario of emerging photovoltaic technologies, with very recent results demonstrating 15% efficient solar cells. The CH3NH3PbI3/MAPb(I1−xClx)3 perovskites have dominated the field, while the similar CH3NH3SnI3 has not been exploited for photovoltaic applications. Replacement of Pb by Sn would facilitate the large uptake of perovskite-based photovoltaics. Despite the extremely fast progress, the materials electronic properties which are key to the photovoltaic performance are relatively little understood. Density Functional Theory electronic structure methods have so far delivered an unbalanced description of Pb- and Sn-based perovskites. Here we develop an effective GW method incorporating spin-orbit coupling which allows us to accurately model the electronic, optical and transport properties of CH3NH3SnI3 and CH3NH3PbI3, opening the way to new materials design. The different CH3NH3SnI3 and CH3NH3PbI3 electronic properties are discussed in light of their exploitation for solar cells, and found to be dominantly due to relativistic effects. These effects stabilize the CH3NH3PbI3 material towards oxidation, by inducing a deeper valence band edge. Relativistic effects, however, also increase the material band-gap compared to CH3NH3SnI3, due to the valence band energy downshift (~0.7 eV) being only partly compensated by the conduction band downshift (~0.2 eV). PMID:24667758

Preparation and characterization of VO₂(M)-SnO₂ thermochromic films for application as energy-saving smart coatings.

PubMed

Li, Wenjing; Ji, Shidong; Qian, Kun; Jin, Ping

2015-10-15

Novel VO2(M)/SnO2 heterostructured nanorods are prepared by combining the conventional hydrothermal synthesis method and post annealing process. The results reveal that the nanosized SnO2 particles are not only successfully grown on the surface of the VO2 nanorods but also uniformly distribute on VO2 without aggregation. The existence of the SnO2 nanoparticles inhibits the aggregation during the annealing process and widens the band gap of the VO2 crystals from 0.75 to 1.7 eV. The two aspects can both improve the optical properties of the VO2(M)/SnO2 composite film. The visible transmittance is up to 35.7% and the IR modulation at 2500 nm is more than 56%, which were much higher than the pure VO2(M) film. In addition, the SnO2 layer could reduce the width of the hysteresis from 17.8 to 10.7°C caused by Sn-doping and enhance the sensitivity. We believe that the VO2(M)/SnO2 heterostructured coating is a good candidate for smart windows. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ultrafast Synthesis and Related Phase Evolution of Mg2Si and Mg2Sn Compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qiang; Lu, Qiangbing; Yan, Yonggao; Su, Xianli; Tang, Xinfeng

2017-05-01

Both Mg2Si and Mg2Sn compounds were synthesized by an ultra-fast self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) method. The data regarding SHS were obtained via theoretical calculation combined with experiments, showing that the adiabatic temperature T ad and ignition temperature T ig of Mg2Si are a little higher than those of Mg2Sn. The mechanism of phase evolution and the concomitant microstructure evolution during the synthesis process of Mg2Si and Mg2Sn compounds were investigated by adopting SHS technique coupled with a sudden quenching treatment. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and x-ray powder diffraction (XRD) results indicate that Mg2Si compound can be directly synthesized through the reaction of Mg and Si elements at around 850 K. Correspondingly, the formation of Mg2Sn needs to undergo melting of Sn and the subsequent feeble reaction between Mg and Sn elements before the large scale transformation at 730 K. As the groundwork, this research embodies great significance for future study on the ultrafast SHS process of the ternary Mg2Si1- x Sn x solid solutions.

Highly Sensitive and Selective Hydrogen Gas Sensor Using the Mesoporous SnO2 Modified Layers

PubMed Central

Xue, Niuzi; Zhang, Qinyi; Zhang, Shunping; Zong, Pan; Yang, Feng

2017-01-01

It is important to improve the sensitivities and selectivities of metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) gas sensors when they are used to monitor the state of hydrogen in aerospace industry and electronic field. In this paper, the ordered mesoporous SnO2 (m-SnO2) powders were prepared by sol-gel method, and the morphology and structure were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). The gas sensors were fabricated using m-SnO2 as the modified layers on the surface of commercial SnO2 (c-SnO2) by screen printing technology, and tested for gas sensing towards ethanol, benzene and hydrogen with operating temperatures ranging from 200 °C to 400 °C. Higher sensitivity was achieved by using the modified m-SnO2 layers on the c-SnO2 gas sensor, and it was found that the S(c/m2) sensor exhibited the highest response (Ra/Rg = 22.2) to 1000 ppm hydrogen at 400 °C. In this paper, the mechanism of the sensitivity and selectivity improvement of the gas sensors is also discussed. PMID:29036898

Gap-minimal systems of notations and the constructible hierarchy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lucian, M. L.

1972-01-01

If a constructibly countable ordinal alpha is a gap ordinal, then the order type of the set of index ordinals smaller than alpha is exactly alpha. The gap ordinals are the only points of discontinuity of a certain ordinal-valued function. The notion of gap minimality for well ordered systems of notations is defined, and the existence of gap-minimal systems of notations of arbitrarily large constructibly countable length is established.

Syntheses, structural variants and characterization of AInM′S{sub 4} (A=alkali metals, Tl; M′ = Ge, Sn) compounds; facile ion-exchange reactions of layered NaInSnS{sub 4} and KInSnS{sub 4} compounds

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yohannan, Jinu P.; Vidyasagar, Kanamaluru, E-mail: kvsagar@iitm.ac.in

Ten AInM′S{sub 4} (A=alkali metals, Tl; M′= Ge, Sn) compounds with diverse structure types have been synthesized and characterized by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction and a variety of spectroscopic methods. They are wide band gap semiconductors. KInGeS{sub 4}(1-β), RbInGeS{sub 4}(2), CsInGeS{sub 4}(3-β), TlInGeS{sub 4}(4-β), RbInSnS{sub 4}(8-β) and CsInSnS{sub 4}(9) compounds with three-dimensional BaGa{sub 2}S{sub 4} structure and CsInGeS{sub 4}(3-α) and TlInGeS{sub 4}(4-α) compounds with a layered TlInSiS{sub 4} structure have tetrahedral [InM′S{sub 4}]{sup −} frameworks. On the other hand, LiInSnS{sub 4}(5) with spinel structure and NaInSnS{sub 4}(6), KInSnS{sub 4}(7), RbInSnS{sub 4}(8-α) and TlInSnS{sub 4}(10) compounds with layered structuremore » have octahedral [InM′S{sub 4}]{sup −} frameworks. NaInSnS{sub 4}(6) and KInSnS{sub 4}(7) compounds undergo facile topotactic ion-exchange, at room temperature, with various mono-, di- and tri-valent cations in aqueous medium to give rise to metastable layered phases. - Graphical abstract: NaInSnS{sub 4} and KInSnS{sub 4} compounds undergo, in aqueous medium at room temperature, facile topotactic ion-exchange with mono, di and trivalent cations. Display Omitted - Highlights: • Ten AInM′S{sub 4} compounds with diverse structure types were synthesized. • They are wide band gap semiconductors. • NaInSnS{sub 4} and KInSnS{sub 4} compounds undergo facile topotactic ion-exchange at room temperature.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vardon, Derek R.; Settle, Amy E.; Vorotnikov, Vassili

Succinic acid is a biomass-derived platform chemical that can be catalytically converted in the aqueous phase to 1,4-butanediol (BDO), a prevalent building block used in the polymer and chemical industries. Despite significant interest, limited work has been reported regarding sustained catalyst performance and stability under continuous aqueous-phase process conditions. As such, this work examines Ru-Sn on activated carbon (AC) for the aqueous-phase conversion of succinic acid to BDO under batch and flow reactor conditions. Initially, powder Ru-Sn catalysts were screened to determine the most effective bimetallic ratio and provide a comparison to other monometallic (Pd, Pt, Ru) and bimetallic (Pt-Sn,more » Pd-Re) catalysts. Batch reactor tests determined that a ~1:1 metal weight ratio of Ru to Sn was effective for producing BDO in high yields, with complete conversion resulting in 82% molar yield. Characterization of the fresh Ru-Sn catalyst suggests that the sequential loading method results in Ru sites that are colocated and surface-enriched with Sn. Postbatch reaction characterization confirmed stable Ru-Sn material properties; however, upon a transition to continuous conditions, significant Ru-Sn/AC deactivation occurred due to stainless steel leaching of Ni that resulted in Ru-Sn metal crystallite restructuring to form discrete Ni-Sn sites. Computational modeling confirmed favorable energetics for Ru-Sn segregation and Ni-Sn formation at submonolayer Sn incorporation. To address stainless steel leaching, reactor walls were treated with an inert silica coating by chemical vapor deposition. With leaching reduced, stable Ru-Sn/AC performance was observed that resulted in a molar yield of 71% BDO and 15% tetrahydrofuran for 96 h of time on stream. Postreaction catalyst characterization confirmed low levels of Ni and Cr deposition, although early-stage islanding of Ni-Sn will likely be problematic for industrially relevant time scales (i.e., thousands of hours). Overall, these results (i) demonstrate the performance of Ru-Sn/AC for aqueous phase succinic acid reduction, (ii) provide insight into the Ru-Sn bimetallic structure and deactivation in the presence of leached Ni, and (iii) underscore the importance of compatible reactor metallurgy and durable catalysts.« less

78 FR 54670 - Miami Tribe of Oklahoma-Liquor Control Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-05

... Tribe of Oklahoma--Liquor Control Ordinance AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice publishes the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma--Liquor Control Ordinance. This Ordinance... Oklahoma, increases the ability of the tribal government to control the distribution and possession of...

Tax revenue in Mississippi communities following implementation of smoke-free ordinances: an examination of tourism and economic development tax revenues.

PubMed

McMillen, Robert; Shackelford, Signe

2012-10-01

There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. More than 60 Mississippi communities have passed smoke-free ordinances in the past six years. Opponents claim that these ordinances harm local businesses. Mississippi law allows municipalities to place a tourism and economic development (TED) tax on local restaurants and hotels/motels. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of these ordinances on TED tax revenues. This study applies a pre/post quasi-experimental design to compare TED tax revenue before and after implementing ordinances. Descriptive analyses indicated that inflation-adjusted tax revenues increased during the 12 months following implementation of smoke-free ordinances while there was no change in aggregated control communities. Multivariate fixed-effects analyses found no statistically significant effect of smoke-free ordinances on hospitality tax revenue. No evidence was found that smoke-free ordinances have an adverse effect on the local hospitality industry.

Thermoelectric Properties of Sr-Filled Ge-Based Type I Single-Crystal Clathrate Grown by Sn-Flux Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Shuping; Liu, Hongxia; Li, Decong; Wang, Jinsong; Cheng, Feng; Shen, Lanxian; Deng, Shukang

2017-05-01

Single-crystal samples of Sr-filled Ge-based type I clathrate have been prepared by the Sn-flux method, and their thermoelectric properties investigated. The obtained samples exhibited n-type conduction with carrier concentration varying from 2.8 × 1019/cm3 to 6.8 × 1019/cm3 as the carrier mobility changed from 23.9 cm2/V-s to 15.1 cm2/V-s at room temperature. Structural analysis indicated that all samples were type I clathrate in space group pm\\bar{it{3}}n . The total content of group IV (Ge + Sn) atoms in the crystalline structure increased with increasing x value (where x defines the atomic ratio of starting elements, Sr:Ga:Ge:Sn = 8:16: x:20), reaching a maximum value of 31.76 at.% for the sample with x = 30; consequently, the lattice parameters increased. The melting points for all samples were approximately 1012 K, being considerably lower than that of single-crystal Sr8Ga16Ge30 prepared by other methods. The electrical conductivity increased while the absolute value of α increased gradually with increasing temperature; the maximum value of α reached 193 μV/K at 750 K for the sample with x = 24. The sample with x = 30 exhibited lower lattice thermal conductivity of 0.80 W/m-K. As a result, among all the Sn-flux samples, single-crystal Sr7.92Ga15.04Sn0.35Ge30.69 had the largest ZT value of 1.0 at about 750 K.

Clinical applications of sentinel lymph-node biopsy for the staging and treatment of solid neoplasms.

PubMed

Gipponi, M

2005-08-01

A review of the clinical applications of sentinel lymph node (sN) biopsy has been performed with the aim of defining the rationale, the methods of detection, the accuracy, and the current indications to sN biopsy in different solid neoplasms. In melanoma patients, sN biopsy represents a standard procedure for staging purpose, although its therapeutic value is still under examination. The sN is an accurate method for the pathologic staging of the axilla in patients with early stage breast cancer, and it can be useful for the selection of patients with axillary metastasis who should undergo standard axillary dissection. In gynecologic malignancies, appreciable results are available in patients with vulvar and cervical cancer only. Patients with squamous cell vulvar cancer may benefit by sN biopsy because a complete bilateral inguino-femoral lymph-node dissection may be avoided whenever the sN is free of metastasis. As regards to cervical cancer, further studies are required with the combined technique (blue dye injection and gamma-probe guided surgery), which seems more promising, before abandoning pelvic lymphadenectomy in patients with histologically-negative sN. The experience in urologic cancer deals mainly with penile and prostate cancer; the modern procedures for the dynamic detection of sN are going to clarify its role in the surgical management of penile cancer; as regards to prostate cancer, very preliminary results suggest that the sN biopsy may enhance the pathologic staging of this neoplasm compared to modified pelvic lymphadenectomy, due to the individual variability of the lymphatic drainage of this cancer. In patients with clinically node-negative squamous head and neck cancer, the reliability of sN-guided neck lymph node dissection seems promising. The sN biopsy is also technically feasible in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer; however, the future role of this procedure in the clinical decision-making of these patients remains to be defined due to the questionable biological meaning of nodal metastases. Patients with non-small-cell lung cancer should be investigated by means of radiotracers injected at the time of thoracotomy or under CT-scan guidance in order to achieve a satisfactory identification rate (over 80%); the focused histopathologic staging of the sN improves current pathologic staging by conventional bi-valve assessment of all the lymph nodes of the surgical specimen; moreover, the prognostic role of isolated N2 metastasis can be better elucidated. In patients with gastrointestinal malignancies, the intraoperative lymphatic mapping with sN biopsy have suggested that the lymphatic drainage of the gastrointestinal tract is much more complicated than other sites, skip metastasis being rather frequent. In patients with gastric cancer, current data show that it can be detected by means of peritumoral injection of indocyanine green; the detection of tumor positive lymph nodes beyond the perigastric area could select patients amenable to D2 lymphadenectomy. As regards to colorectal cancer patients, the focused analysis of the sN may reveal disease that might otherwise go undetected by conventional surgical and pathological methods, and those patients which are upstaged can benefit by adjuvant chemotherapy. Finally, in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma, notwithstanding the limited experiences with sN biopsy, sN histology seems to predict regional lymph node status and may aid in selecting which patients are amenable to therapeutic lymph node dissection.

Modifying the Surface of γ-Al2 O3 with Y2 Sn2 O7 Pyrochlore: Monolayer Dispersion Behaviour of Composite Oxides.

PubMed

Xu, Xianglan; Liu, Fang; Tian, Jinshu; Peng, Honggen; Liu, Wenming; Fang, Xiuzhong; Zhang, Ning; Wang, Xiang

2017-06-20

To investigate the dispersion behaviour of composite oxides on supports, and to obtain better supports for Pd for CO oxidation, a series of Y 2 Sn 2 O 7 /Al 2 O 3 composite oxides with different Y 2 Sn 2 O 7 loadings were prepared by a deposition-precipitation method. XRD and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic extrapolation methods revealed that, similar to single-component metal oxides, composite oxides can also disperse spontaneously on support surfaces to form a monolayer with a certain capacity. The monolayer dispersion capacity/threshold for Y 2 Sn 2 O 7 on the surface of γ-Al 2 O 3 is 0.109 mmol per 100 m 2 γ-Al 2 O 3 , corresponding to 7.2 wt % Y 2 Sn 2 O 7 loading. This is the first work to demonstrate monolayer dispersion of a composite oxide on a support. After combining Y 2 Sn 2 O 7 with γ-Al 2 O 3 , active oxygen species can be introduced onto the catalyst surfaces. Thus, the interaction between Pd and the support is strengthened, the dispersion of Pd is improved in comparison with the single-component Y 2 Sn 2 O 7 support, and a synergistic effect is induced between Pd and the composite support, which is beneficial to catalyst activity. By tuning the γ-Al 2 O 3 surface with different amounts of pyrochlore Y 2 Sn 2 O 7 , CO oxidation activity on 1 % Pd/Y 2 Sn 2 O 7 /Al 2 O 3 was improved. These findings may provide new insights into the design and preparation of effective supported noble metal catalysts with lower contents of noble metals. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

75 FR 65373 - Klamath Tribes Liquor Control Ordinance

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-22

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Indian Affairs Klamath Tribes Liquor Control Ordinance AGENCY... certification of the amendment to the Klamath Tribes Liquor Control Ordinance. The first Ordinance was published... and controls the sale, possession and distribution of liquor within the tribal lands. The tribal lands...

Template-free synthesis of novel SnS2 array and its superior performances for lithium ion battery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Anquan; Qiao, Lulu; Tan, Pengfei; Ma, Yongjin; Liu, Yi; Pan, Jun

2018-05-01

A kind of novel three-dimensional SnS2 array was fabricated by an ethylenediamine (EDA) assisting low-temperature solvothermal method. It was observed that as-obtained SnS2 array was composed of numerous SnS2 nanosheets with the thickness of about 22 nm. When used as lithium ion batteries (LIBs) anode, the SnS2 array displayed remarkable capacities on rate and cycling performances, delivering the rates with reversible capacities of 763.3, 658.6, 593.6, 554.4 and 450.3 mAh g-1 at the current densities of 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2 and 5 A g-1, respectively. Moreover, the satisfactory cycling performance was also disclosed, remaining capacity of 547.8 mAh g-1 after 100th cycle at 0.2 A g-1, better than some reported pure SnS2 nanostructures. Based on the characterization and experimental results, the reasons of such superior electrochemical performances were determined and elaborated. It means that the SnS2 array possesses promising potential on the renewable energy field.

Beneficial effects of rhodium and tin oxide on carbon supported platinum catalysts for ethanol electrooxidation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soares, Layciane A.; Morais, Claudia; Napporn, Teko W.; Kokoh, K. Boniface; Olivi, Paulo

2016-05-01

This work investigates ethanol electrooxidation on Pt/C, PtxRhy/C, Pt-SnO2/C, and PtxRhy-SnO2/C catalysts synthesized by the Pechini and microwave-assisted polyol methods. The catalysts are characterized by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The electrochemical properties of these electrode materials are examined by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry experiments in acid medium. The products obtained during ethanol electrolysis are identified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The adsorbed intermediates are evaluated by an in situ reflectance Infrared Spectroscopy technique combined with cyclic voltammetry. Catalysts performance in a direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) is also assessed. The electrical performance of the electrocatalysts in a single DEFC at 80 °C decreases in the following order Pt70Rh30SnO2 > Pt80Rh20SnO2 > Pt60Rh40SnO2 ∼ PtSnO2 > PtxRhy ∼ Pt, showing that the presence of SnO2 enhances the ability of Pt to catalyze ethanol electrooxidation.

The effect of sub-oxide phases on the transparency of tin-doped gallium oxide

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lim, K.; Schelhas, L. T.; Siah, S. C.

2016-10-03

There have been a number of studies on the fabrication of Sn-doped gallium oxide (Ga 2O 3:Sn) films with both conductive and transparent properties using a variety of deposition methods. However, often, synthesis results in films that are not transparent. In this paper, we examine the mechanisms underlying these results in Ga 2O 3:Sn thin films prepared at various growth temperatures, Sn concentrations, and oxygen partial pressures. With X-ray absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy, we find that when films are grown under the oxygen deficient conditions there are Ga sub-oxide and SnOx phases in the Gamore » 2O 3:Sn thin film. These Ga sub-oxide phases are only found in non-transparent films, and so we infer that the Ga sub-oxide is responsible for the non-transparency. These observations suggest that to obtain transparent Ga 2O 3:Sn, films deposition or subsequent annealing must be carefully controlled in both temperature and oxygen partial pressure to avoid the formation of Ga sub-oxide phases.« less

Synthesis of novel 3D SnO flower-like hierarchical architectures self-assembled by nano-leaves and its photocatalysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cui, Yongkui; Wang, Fengping, E-mail: fpwang@ustb.edu.cn; Iqbal, M. Zubair

Highlights: • Novel 3D SnO flowers self-assembled by 2D nano-leaves were synthesized by hydrothermal method. • The SnO nano-leaf is of single crystalline nature. • The band gap of 2.59 eV of as-prepared products was obtained. • The as-synthesized material will be a promising photocatalytic material. - Abstract: In this report, the novel 3D SnO flower-like hierarchical architectures self-assembled by 2D SnO nano-leaves are successfully synthesized via template-free hydrothermal approach under facile conditions. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy results demonstrate that the 2D nano-leaves structure is of single crystalline nature. The band gap 2.59 eV for prepared product is obtainedmore » from UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrum. The photocatalysis of the as prepared SnO for degrading methyl orange (MO) has been studied. A good photocatalytic activity is obtained and the mechanism is discussed in detail. Results indicate that the SnO nanostructures are the potential candidates for photocatalyst applications.« less

Regulatory functions of SnRK1 in stress-responsive gene expression and in plant growth and development.

PubMed

Cho, Young-Hee; Hong, Jung-Woo; Kim, Eun-Chul; Yoo, Sang-Dong

2012-04-01

Sucrose-nonfermentation1-related protein kinase1 (SnRK1) is an evolutionarily conserved energy sensor protein that regulates gene expression in response to energy depletion in plants. Efforts to elucidate the functions and mechanisms of this protein kinase are hampered, however, by inherent growth defects of snrk1-null mutant plants. To overcome these limitations and study SnRK1 functions in vivo, we applied a method combining transient expression in leaf mesophyll protoplasts and stable expression in transgenic plants. We found that both rice (Oryza sativa) and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) SnRK1 activities critically influence stress-inducible gene expression and the induction of stress tolerance. Genetic, molecular, and chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses further revealed that the nuclear SnRK1 modulated target gene transcription in a submergence-dependent manner. From early seedling development through late senescence, SnRK1 activities appeared to modulate developmental processes in the plants. Our findings offer insight into the regulatory functions of plant SnRK1 in stress-responsive gene regulation and in plant growth and development throughout the life cycle.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lim, K.; Schelhas, L. T.; Siah, S. C.

There have been a number of studies on the fabrication of Sn-doped gallium oxide (Ga 2O 3:Sn) films with both conductive and transparent properties using a variety of deposition methods. However, often, synthesis results in films that are not transparent. In this paper, we examine the mechanisms underlying these results in Ga 2O 3:Sn thin films prepared at various growth temperatures, Sn concentrations, and oxygen partial pressures. With X-ray absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy, we find that when films are grown under the oxygen deficient conditions there are Ga sub-oxide and SnO x phases in themore » Ga 2O 3:Sn thin film. These Ga sub-oxide phases are only found in non-transparent films, and so we infer that the Ga sub-oxide is responsible for the non-transparency. Furthermore, these observations suggest that to obtain transparent Ga 2O 3:Sn, films deposition or subsequent annealing must be carefully controlled in both temperature and oxygen partial pressure to avoid the formation of Ga sub-oxide phases.« less

Efficient method for the conversion of agricultural waste into sugar alcohols over supported bimetallic catalysts.

PubMed

Tathod, Anup P; Dhepe, Paresh L

2015-02-01

Promoter effect of Sn in the PtSn/γ-Al2O3 (AL) and PtSn/C bimetallic catalysts is studied for the conversion of variety of substrates such as, C5 sugars (xylose, arabinose), C6 sugars (glucose, fructose, galactose), hemicelluloses (xylan, arabinogalactan), inulin and agricultural wastes (bagasse, rice husk, wheat straw) into sugar alcohols (sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, arabitol, galactitol). In all the reactions, PtSn/AL showed enhanced yields of sugar alcohols by 1.5-3 times than Pt/AL. Compared to C, AL supported bimetallic catalysts showed prominent enhancement in the yields of sugar alcohols. Bimetallic catalysts characterized by X-ray diffraction study revealed the stability of catalyst and absence of alloy formation thereby indicating that Pt and Sn are present as individual particles in PtSn/AL. The TEM analysis also confirmed stability of the catalysts and XPS study disclosed formation of electron deficient Sn species which helps in polarizing carbonyl bond to achieve enhanced hydrogenation activity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of sub-oxide phases on the transparency of tin-doped gallium oxide

DOE PAGES

Lim, K.; Schelhas, L. T.; Siah, S. C.; ...

2016-10-07

There have been a number of studies on the fabrication of Sn-doped gallium oxide (Ga 2O 3:Sn) films with both conductive and transparent properties using a variety of deposition methods. However, often, synthesis results in films that are not transparent. In this paper, we examine the mechanisms underlying these results in Ga 2O 3:Sn thin films prepared at various growth temperatures, Sn concentrations, and oxygen partial pressures. With X-ray absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy, we find that when films are grown under the oxygen deficient conditions there are Ga sub-oxide and SnO x phases in themore » Ga 2O 3:Sn thin film. These Ga sub-oxide phases are only found in non-transparent films, and so we infer that the Ga sub-oxide is responsible for the non-transparency. Furthermore, these observations suggest that to obtain transparent Ga 2O 3:Sn, films deposition or subsequent annealing must be carefully controlled in both temperature and oxygen partial pressure to avoid the formation of Ga sub-oxide phases.« less

Ordinal probability effect measures for group comparisons in multinomial cumulative link models.

PubMed

Agresti, Alan; Kateri, Maria

2017-03-01

We consider simple ordinal model-based probability effect measures for comparing distributions of two groups, adjusted for explanatory variables. An "ordinal superiority" measure summarizes the probability that an observation from one distribution falls above an independent observation from the other distribution, adjusted for explanatory variables in a model. The measure applies directly to normal linear models and to a normal latent variable model for ordinal response variables. It equals Φ(β/2) for the corresponding ordinal model that applies a probit link function to cumulative multinomial probabilities, for standard normal cdf Φ and effect β that is the coefficient of the group indicator variable. For the more general latent variable model for ordinal responses that corresponds to a linear model with other possible error distributions and corresponding link functions for cumulative multinomial probabilities, the ordinal superiority measure equals exp(β)/[1+exp(β)] with the log-log link and equals approximately exp(β/2)/[1+exp(β/2)] with the logit link, where β is the group effect. Another ordinal superiority measure generalizes the difference of proportions from binary to ordinal responses. We also present related measures directly for ordinal models for the observed response that need not assume corresponding latent response models. We present confidence intervals for the measures and illustrate with an example. © 2016, The International Biometric Society.

Implicitly causality enforced solution of multidimensional transient photon transport equation.

PubMed

Handapangoda, Chintha C; Premaratne, Malin

2009-12-21

A novel method for solving the multidimensional transient photon transport equation for laser pulse propagation in biological tissue is presented. A Laguerre expansion is used to represent the time dependency of the incident short pulse. Owing to the intrinsic causal nature of Laguerre functions, our technique automatically always preserve the causality constrains of the transient signal. This expansion of the radiance using a Laguerre basis transforms the transient photon transport equation to the steady state version. The resulting equations are solved using the discrete ordinates method, using a finite volume approach. Therefore, our method enables one to handle general anisotropic, inhomogeneous media using a single formulation but with an added degree of flexibility owing to the ability to invoke higher-order approximations of discrete ordinate quadrature sets. Therefore, compared with existing strategies, this method offers the advantage of representing the intensity with a high accuracy thus minimizing numerical dispersion and false propagation errors. The application of the method to one, two and three dimensional geometries is provided.

Linearized radiative transfer models for retrieval of cloud parameters from EPIC/DSCOVR measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina García, Víctor; Sasi, Sruthy; Efremenko, Dmitry S.; Doicu, Adrian; Loyola, Diego

2018-07-01

In this paper, we describe several linearized radiative transfer models which can be used for the retrieval of cloud parameters from EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) measurements. The approaches under examination are (1) the linearized forward approach, represented in this paper by the linearized discrete ordinate and matrix operator methods with matrix exponential, and (2) the forward-adjoint approach based on the discrete ordinate method with matrix exponential. To enhance the performance of the radiative transfer computations, the correlated k-distribution method and the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique are used. We provide a compact description of the proposed methods, as well as a numerical analysis of their accuracy and efficiency when simulating EPIC measurements in the oxygen A-band channel at 764 nm. We found that the computation time of the forward-adjoint approach using the correlated k-distribution method in conjunction with PCA is approximately 13 s for simultaneously computing the derivatives with respect to cloud optical thickness and cloud top height.

Augmenting the Deliberative Method for Ranking Risks.

PubMed

Susel, Irving; Lasley, Trace; Montezemolo, Mark; Piper, Joel

2016-01-01

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) characterized and prioritized the physical cross-border threats and hazards to the nation stemming from terrorism, market-driven illicit flows of people and goods (illegal immigration, narcotics, funds, counterfeits, and weaponry), and other nonmarket concerns (movement of diseases, pests, and invasive species). These threats and hazards pose a wide diversity of consequences with very different combinations of magnitudes and likelihoods, making it very challenging to prioritize them. This article presents the approach that was used at DHS to arrive at a consensus regarding the threats and hazards that stand out from the rest based on the overall risk they pose. Due to time constraints for the decision analysis, it was not feasible to apply multiattribute methodologies like multiattribute utility theory or the analytic hierarchy process. Using a holistic approach was considered, such as the deliberative method for ranking risks first published in this journal. However, an ordinal ranking alone does not indicate relative or absolute magnitude differences among the risks. Therefore, the use of the deliberative method for ranking risks is not sufficient for deciding whether there is a material difference between the top-ranked and bottom-ranked risks, let alone deciding what the stand-out risks are. To address this limitation of ordinal rankings, the deliberative method for ranking risks was augmented by adding an additional step to transform the ordinal ranking into a ratio scale ranking. This additional step enabled the selection of stand-out risks to help prioritize further analysis. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Effect of Sn addition on glassy Si-Te bulk sample

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babanna, Jagannatha K.; Roy, Diptoshi; Varma, Sreevidya G.; Asokan, Sundarrajan; Das, Chandasree

2018-05-01

Bulk Si20Te79Sn1 glass is prepared by melt-quenching method, amorphous nature of the as-quenched glass is confirmed by XRD. I-V characteristics reveals that Si20Te79Sn1 bulk sample exhibits threshold type electrical switching behavior. The thermal parameters such as crystallization temperature, glass transition temperature are obtained using differential scanning calorimetry. The crystalline peak study of the sample annealed at crystallization temperature for 2 hr shows that the Sn atom interact with Si or Te but do not interact with the Si-Te matrix in a greater extent and it forms a separate phase network individually.

Characterization of the homologs of flerovium with crown ether based extraction chromatography resins: studies in nitric acid

DOE PAGES

Despotopulos, John D.; Kmak, Kelly N.; Gharibyan, Narek; ...

2016-09-17

Eichrom’s Pb resin, a crown-ether-based extraction chromatography resin, was characterized for separation of the flerovium (Fl) homologs, Pb and Sn. Batch uptake of Pb(II) and Sn(IV) radionuclides was determined from an HNO 3 matrix. Pb(II) was strongly retained on the resin at all HNO 3 concentrations, while Sn(IV) showed no uptake. Extraction kinetics for Pb(II) were examined and show suitable uptake on the second time scale. Here, separation methods for the isolation of individual homologs, Pb(II) and Sn(IV), have been established using 2 mL pre-packed vacuum flow Pb resin columns.

Ordinality and the nature of symbolic numbers.

PubMed

Lyons, Ian M; Beilock, Sian L

2013-10-23

The view that representations of symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers are closely tied to one another is widespread. However, the link between symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers is almost always inferred from cardinal processing tasks. In the current work, we show that considering ordinality instead points to striking differences between symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers. Human behavioral and neural data show that ordinal processing of symbolic numbers (Are three Indo-Arabic numerals in numerical order?) is distinct from symbolic cardinal processing (Which of two numerals represents the greater quantity?) and nonsymbolic number processing (ordinal and cardinal judgments of dot-arrays). Behaviorally, distance-effects were reversed when assessing ordinality in symbolic numbers, but canonical distance-effects were observed for cardinal judgments of symbolic numbers and all nonsymbolic judgments. At the neural level, symbolic number-ordering was the only numerical task that did not show number-specific activity (greater than control) in the intraparietal sulcus. Only activity in left premotor cortex was specifically associated with symbolic number-ordering. For nonsymbolic numbers, activation in cognitive-control areas during ordinal processing and a high degree of overlap between ordinal and cardinal processing networks indicate that nonsymbolic ordinality is assessed via iterative cardinality judgments. This contrasts with a striking lack of neural overlap between ordinal and cardinal judgments anywhere in the brain for symbolic numbers, suggesting that symbolic number processing varies substantially with computational context. Ordinal processing sheds light on key differences between symbolic and nonsymbolic number processing both behaviorally and in the brain. Ordinality may prove important for understanding the power of representing numbers symbolically.

Hepatitis C seropositivity is not a risk factor for sensory neuropathy among patients with HIV

PubMed Central

Cherry, C.L.; Affandi, J.S.; Brew, B.J.; Creighton, J.; Djauzi, S.; Hooker, D.J.; Imran, D.; Kamarulzaman, A.; Kamerman, P.; McArthur, J.C.; Moore, R.D.; Price, P.; Smyth, K.; Tan, I.L.; Vanar, S.; Wadley, A.; Wesselingh, S.L.; Yunihastuti, E.

2010-01-01

Background: Sensory neuropathy (SN) is common in patients with HIV. Hepatitis C (HCV) coinfection is often cited as an HIV-SN risk factor, but data to support this are lacking. This collaboration aimed to examine the association between HCV serostatus and SN risk among ambulatory HIV-positive patients. Methods: Patients with HIV were assessed in cross-sectional studies in Baltimore, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, and Sydney for SN (defined by both supportive symptoms and signs). HCV seropositivity was assessed as an SN risk using a χ2 test, followed by logistic regression modeling to correct for treatment exposures and demographics. Results: A total of 837 patients of African, Asian, and Caucasian descent were studied. HCV seroprevalence varied by site (Baltimore n = 104, 61% HCV+; Jakarta 96, 51%; Johannesburg 300, 1%; Kuala Lumpur 97, 10%; Melbourne 206, 16%; Sydney 34, 18%). HCV seropositivity was not associated with increased SN risk at any site, but was associated with reduced SN risk in Melbourne (p = 0.003). On multivariate analyses, the independent associations with SN were increasing age, height, and stavudine exposure. HCV seropositivity was not independently associated with an increased SN risk at any site, but associated independently with reduced SN risk in Baltimore (p = 0.04) and Melbourne (p = 0.06). Conclusions: Hepatitis C (HCV) seropositivity was not associated with increased sensory neuropathy risk among HIV-positive patients at any site. While we were unable to assess HCV RNA or liver damage, the data suggest that HCV coinfection is not a major contributor to HIV-SN. GLOSSARY HCV = hepatitis C; SN = sensory neuropathy. PMID:20458071

Phase diagram and structural evolution of tin/indium (Sn/In) nanosolder particles: from a non-equilibrium state to an equilibrium state.

PubMed

Shu, Yang; Ando, Teiichi; Yin, Qiyue; Zhou, Guangwen; Gu, Zhiyong

2017-08-31

A binary system of tin/indium (Sn/In) in the form of nanoparticles was investigated for phase transitions and structural evolution at different temperatures and compositions. The Sn/In nanosolder particles in the composition range of 24-72 wt% In were synthesized by a surfactant-assisted chemical reduction method under ambient conditions. The morphology and microstructure of the as-synthesized nanoparticles were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). HRTEM and SAED identified InSn 4 and In, with some Sn being detected by XRD, but no In 3 Sn was observed. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermographs of the as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibited an endothermic peak at around 116 °C, which is indicative of the metastable eutectic melting of InSn 4 and In. When the nanosolders were subjected to heat treatment at 50-225 °C, the equilibrium phase In 3 Sn appeared while Sn disappeared. The equilibrium state was effectively attained at 225 °C. A Tammann plot of the DSC data of the as-synthesized nanoparticles indicated that the metastable eutectic composition is about 62% In, while that of the DSC data of the 225 °C heat-treated nanoparticles yielded a eutectic composition of 54% In, which confirmed the attainment of the equilibrium state at 225 °C. The phase boundaries estimated from the DSC data of heat-treated Sn/In nanosolder particles matched well with those in the established Sn-In equilibrium phase diagram. The phase transition behavior of Sn/In nanosolders leads to a new understanding of binary alloy particles at the nanoscale, and provides important information for their low temperature soldering processing and applications.

Enhancing visible light photocatalytic activity of direct Z-scheme SnS{sub 2}/Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4} heterojunction photocatalysts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Luo, Jin, E-mail: lj328520504@126.com; Zhou, Xiaosong; Ma, Lin

Highlights: • Novel direct Z-scheme SnS{sub 2}/Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4} heterojunction photocatalysts are synthesized. • SnS{sub 2}/Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4} exhibits much higher photocatalytic activity than pure SnS{sub 2} and Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4}. • A possible photocatalytic mechanism was discussed in detail. - Abstract: Novel direct Z-scheme SnS{sub 2}/Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4} heterojunction photocatalysts were successfully fabricated with SnS{sub 2} nanoplates hybridized by Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4} nanoparticals via a facile hydrothermal and precipitation method and applied for the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). It was found that the photocatalytic performance of themore » SnS{sub 2} (2.0 wt%)/Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4} heterojunction photocatalyst with 2.0 wt% SnS{sub 2} content was much higher than that of individual SnS{sub 2} and Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4}. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be ascribed to the efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes through the formation of direct Z-scheme system composed of SnS{sub 2} and Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4}. Furthermore, the recycling experiments revealed that the photocorrosion behavior of Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4} was strongly inhibited by SnS{sub 2}, it may be due to the photogenerated electrons of Ag{sub 3}PO{sub 4} would be quickly combined with the photogenerated holes of SnS{sub 2}. This work will be useful for the design of other direct Z-scheme visible-light-driven photocatalytic systems for application in energy conversion and environmental remediation.« less

Expression and Function of System N Glutamine Transporters (SN1/SN2 or SNAT3/SNAT5) in Retinal Ganglion Cells

PubMed Central

Umapathy, Nagavedi S.; Dun, Ying; Martin, Pamela M.; Duplantier, Jennifer N.; Roon, Penny; Prasad, Puttur; Smith, Sylvia B.; Ganapathy, Vadivel

2008-01-01

Purpose Glutamine transport is essential for the glutamate-glutamine cycle, which occurs between neurons and glia. System N, consisting of SN1 (SNAT3) and SN2 (SNAT5), is the principal mediator of glutamine transport in retinal Müller cells. Mediators of glutamine transport in retinal ganglion cells were investigated. Methods The relative contributions of various transport systems for glutamine uptake (systems N, A, L, y+L, ASCT, and ATB0,+) were examined in RGC-5 cells based on differential features of the individual transport systems. mRNA for the genes encoding members of these transport systems were analyzed by RT-PCR. Based on these data, SN1 and SN2 were analyzed in mouse retina, RGC-5 cells, and primary mouse ganglion cells (GCs) by in situ hybridization (ISH), immunofluorescence (IF), and Western blotting. Results Three transport systems—N, A, and L—participated in glutamine uptake in RGC-5 cells. System N was the principal contributor; systems A and L contributed considerably less. ISH and IF revealed SN1 and SN2 expression in the ganglion, inner nuclear, and photoreceptor cell layers. SN1 and SN2 colocalized with the ganglion cell marker Thy 1.2 and with the Müller cell marker vimentin, confirming their presence in both retinal cell types. SN1 and SN2 proteins were detected in primary mouse GCs. Conclusions These findings suggest that in addition to its role in glutamine uptake in retinal glial cells, system N contributes significantly to glutamine uptake in ganglion cells and, hence, contributes to the retinal glutamate-glutamine cycle. PMID:18689705

Synthesis and fundamental properties of stable Ph(3)SnSiH(3) and Ph(3)SnGeH(3) hydrides: model compounds for the design of Si-Ge-Sn photonic alloys.

PubMed

Tice, Jesse B; Chizmeshya, Andrew V G; Groy, Thomas L; Kouvetakis, John

2009-07-06

The compounds Ph(3)SnSiH(3) and Ph(3)SnGeH(3) (Ph = C(6)H(5)) have been synthesized as colorless solids containing Sn-MH(3) (M = Si, Ge) moieties that are stable in air despite the presence of multiple and highly reactive Si-H and Ge-H bonds. These molecules are of interest since they represent potential model compounds for the design of new classes of IR semiconductors in the Si-Ge-Sn system. Their unexpected stability and high solubility also makes them a safe, convenient, and potentially useful delivery source of -SiH(3) and -GeH(3) ligands in molecular synthesis. The structure and composition of both compounds has been determined by chemical analysis and a range of spectroscopic methods including multinuclear NMR. Single crystal X-ray structures were determined and indicated that both compounds condense in a Z = 2 triclinic (P1) space group with lattice parameters (a = 9.7754(4) A, b = 9.8008(4) A, c = 10.4093(5) A, alpha = 73.35(10)(o), beta = 65.39(10)(o), gamma = 73.18(10)(o)) for Ph(3)SnSiH(3) and (a = 9.7927(2) A, b = 9.8005(2) A, c = 10.4224(2) A, alpha = 74.01(3)(o), beta = 65.48(3)(o), gamma = 73.43(3)(o)) for Ph(3)SnGeH(3). First principles density functional theory simulations are used to corroborate the molecular structures of Ph(3)SnSiH(3) and Ph(3)SnGeH(3), gain valuable insight into the relative stability of the two compounds, and provide correlations between the Si-Sn and Ge-Sn bonds in the molecules and those in tetrahedral Si-Ge-Sn solids.

Social Host Ordinances and Policies. Prevention Update

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention, 2011

2011-01-01

Social host liability laws (also known as teen party ordinances, loud or unruly gathering ordinances, or response costs ordinances) target the location in which underage drinking takes place. Social host liability laws hold noncommercial individuals responsible for underage drinking events on property they own, lease, or otherwise control. They…

25 CFR 522.8 - Publication of class III ordinance and approval.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Section 522.8 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.8 Publication of class III ordinance and approval. The Chairman shall publish a class III tribal gaming...

27 CFR 478.24 - Compilation of State laws and published ordinances.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... and published ordinances. 478.24 Section 478.24 Alcohol, Tobacco Products, and Firearms BUREAU OF... published ordinances. (a) The Director shall annually revise and furnish Federal firearms licensees with a compilation of State laws and published ordinances which are relevant to the enforcement of this part. The...

Thermoelectric properties of SnSe1-xSx(0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Thi Minh Hai; Duong, Anh Tuan; Duvjir, Ganbat; Trinh, Thi Ly; Nguyen, Van Quang; Kim, Jungdae; Cho, Sunglae

Tin selenide (SnSe), a p-type semiconductor, has attracted many attention due to its excellent thermoelectric efficiency, i.e., ZT = 2.6 along the b-axis of its high temperature phase. This issue has renewed interests in thermoelectric properties of the materials which adopted the same layered structure as SnSe, such as SnS, GeS, and GeSe. Among these compounds, tin (II) sulfide (SnS) is exceptionally attractive because of its natural abundance and low toxicity. However, the experimental results show that SnS has possessed a small value of the figure of merit. To optimize the thermoelectric performance of SnS, making solid solution is a potential way. That is our motivation for the investigation of SnSe1-xSx single crystals' thermoelectric properties. In this study, SnSe1-xSx (0

The selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 over a novel Ce-Sn-Ti mixed oxides catalyst: Promotional effect of SnO2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Ming'e.; Li, Caiting; Zeng, Guangming; Zhou, Yang; Zhang, Xunan; Xie, Yin'e.

2015-07-01

A series of novel catalysts (CexSny) for the selective catalytic reduction of NO by NH3 were prepared by the inverse co-precipitation method. The aim of this novel design was to improve the NO removal efficiency of CeTi by the introduction of SnO2. It was found that the Ce-Sn-Ti catalyst was much more active than Ce-Ti and the best Ce:Sn molar ratio was 2:1. Ce2Sn1 possessed a satisfied NO removal efficiency at low temperature (160-280 °C), while over 90% NO removal efficiency maintained in the temperature range of 280-400 °C at the gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 50,000 h-1. Besides, Ce2Sn1 kept a stable NO removal efficiency within a wide range of GHSV and a long period of reacting time. Meanwhile, Ce2Sn1 exhibited remarkable resistance to both respectively and simultaneously H2O and SO2 poisoning due to the introduction of SnO2. The promotional effect of SnO2 was studied by N2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and H2 temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR) for detail information. The characterization results revealed that the excellent catalytic performance of Ce2Sn1 was associated with the higher specific surface area, larger pore volume and poorer crystallization. Besides, the introduction of SnO2 could result in not only greater conversion of Ce4+ to Ce3+ but also the increase amount of chemisorbed oxygen, which are beneficial to improve the SCR activity. More importantly, a novel peak appearing at lower temperatures through the new redox equilibrium of 2Ce4+ + Sn2+ ↔ 2Ce3+ + Sn4+ and higher total H2 consumption can be obtained by the addition of SnO2. Finally, the possible reaction mechanism of the selective catalytic reduction over Ce2Sn1 was also proposed.

Which biopsy method is more suitable between a basin dissection and pick-up biopsy for sentinel nodes in laparoscopic sentinel-node navigation surgery (LSNNS) for gastric cancer?

PubMed

Lee, Young-Joon; Ha, Woo-Song; Park, Soon-Tae; Choi, Sang-Kyung; Hong, Soon-Chan; Park, Jung-Woo

2008-06-01

Sentinel-node navigation surgery (SNNS) for breast cancer and melanoma has been accepted as a reasonable oncologic surgery worldwide. On the other hand, in gastric cancers that do metastasize well to the lymph node, the use of SNNS has been approached with care and performed in only limited cases. Some obstacles still have to be overcome, such as the shortcomings of SN tracers and the technical limitations of laparoscopic SN detection. The aims of this study were to determine whether laparoscopic SNNS is possible, and which biopsy method is more suitable for SN tracers, in gastric cancer, preoperatively diagnosed as < or =T2 and with < or =4-cm-sized lesions. Between January 2005 and October 2006, 92 consecutive patients that underwent LSNNS, using a combined indocyanine green and (99m)Tc-labeled tin colloid technique, were prospectively studied. SNs were laparoscopically removed by using two biopsy methods: a basin dissection and pick-up method, with the results of these two SN biopsy methods then compared with the final diagnosis obtained from a permanent section. With the pick-up method, SNs were identified in 23 of 42 patients (54.8%); however, with basin dissection, the detection rate was 96% (48 of 50 patients). The average number of SNs detected by the two methods were 2.1 (range, 0-4) and 3.5 (range, 1-7), respectively. The sensitivities of the two methods were 66% (4/6) and 85.7% (12/14), with specificities of 100% (17/17) and 100% (34/34), respectively. In gastric cancer, it was possible to perform LSNNS. At this moment, we believe the laparoscopic basin dissection technique with a dual-tracer injection, followed by SN detection on the back table, will be a reasonable procedure for gastric cancer, owing to the shortcomings related to the dye and radioisotope, the so-called "stained lymphatic duct only" and "shine-through phenomenon."

Characteristics of Community Newspaper Coverage of Tobacco Control and Its Relationship to the Passage of Tobacco Ordinances.

PubMed

Eckler, Petya; Rodgers, Shelly; Everett, Kevin

2016-10-01

To answer the call for more systematic surveillance, analysis and evaluation of tobacco news coverage, a 6-year content analysis of newspaper stories from Missouri was conducted to evaluate the presence of public health facts and characteristics of stories framed for or against tobacco control. The method was a content analysis of all Missouri newspapers (N = 381) from September 2006 to November 2011 for a total sample of 4711. Results were connected to the larger, societal context within which newspaper stories reside, i.e., towns that passed or did not pass a smoke-free ordinance during the project intervention. Results showed the majority of news stories were about tobacco control, which were mostly written at the local level, were episodic, and carried a positive slant toward tobacco control. However, there were more negative than positive headlines, and more negative editorials than non-editorials. Tobacco control stories used fewer public health facts than non-tobacco control stories. Towns with existing smoke-free ordinances had more tobacco control stories, and towns without smoke-free ordinances had fewer tobacco control stories and more non-tobacco control stories, suggesting a connection between news media coverage and the passage of smoke-free policies. We conclude that the tobacco industry may have had success in impacting news stories in no-ordinance cities by diverting attention from tobacco control to secondary topics, such as youth smoking, which meant stories had fewer public health facts and fewer positive health benefits in towns that may have needed these details most.

A Framework to Reduce Infectious Disease Risk from Urban Poultry in the United States

PubMed Central

Tobin, Molly R.; Goldshear, Jesse L.; Price, Lance B.; Graham, Jay P.

2015-01-01

Objectives Backyard poultry ownership is increasingly common in U.S. cities and is regulated at the local level. Human contact with live poultry is a well-known risk for infection with zoonotic pathogens, notably Salmonella, yet the ability of local jurisdictions to reduce the risk of infectious disease transmission from poultry to humans is unstudied. We reviewed urban poultry ordinances in the United States and reported Salmonella outbreaks from backyard poultry to identify regulatory gaps in preventing zoonotic pathogen transmission. Based on this analysis, we propose regulatory guidelines for U.S. cities to reduce infectious disease risk from backyard poultry ownership. Methods We assessed local ordinances in the 150 most populous U.S. jurisdictions for content related to noncommercial poultry ownership using online resources and communications with government officials. We also performed a literature review using publicly available data sources to identify human infectious disease outbreaks caused by contact with backyard poultry. Results Of the cities reviewed, 93% (n=139) permit poultry in some capacity. Most urban poultry ordinances share common characteristics focused on reducing nuisance to neighbors. Ordinances do not address many pathways of transmission relevant to poultry-to-human transmission of pathogens, such as manure management. Conclusions To reduce the risk of pathogen exposure from backyard poultry, urban ordinances should incorporate the following seven components: limited flock size, composting of manure in sealed containers, prohibition of slaughter, required veterinary care to sick birds, appropriate disposal of dead birds, annual permits linked to consumer education, and a registry of poultry owners. PMID:26346104

Ru-Sn/AC for the Aqueous-Phase Reduction of Succinic Acid to 1,4-Butanediol under Continuous Process Conditions

DOE PAGES

Vardon, Derek R.; Settle, Amy E.; Vorotnikov, Vassili; ...

2017-08-18

Succinic acid is a biomass-derived platform chemical that can be catalytically converted in the aqueous phase to 1,4-butanediol (BDO), a prevalent building block used in the polymer and chemical industries. Despite significant interest, limited work has been reported regarding sustained catalyst performance and stability under continuous aqueous-phase process conditions. As such, this work examines Ru-Sn on activated carbon (AC) for the aqueous-phase conversion of succinic acid to BDO under batch and flow reactor conditions. Initially, powder Ru-Sn catalysts were screened to determine the most effective bimetallic ratio and provide a comparison to other monometallic (Pd, Pt, Ru) and bimetallic (Pt-Sn,more » Pd-Re) catalysts. Batch reactor tests determined that a ~1:1 metal weight ratio of Ru to Sn was effective for producing BDO in high yields, with complete conversion resulting in 82% molar yield. Characterization of the fresh Ru-Sn catalyst suggests that the sequential loading method results in Ru sites that are colocated and surface-enriched with Sn. Postbatch reaction characterization confirmed stable Ru-Sn material properties; however, upon a transition to continuous conditions, significant Ru-Sn/AC deactivation occurred due to stainless steel leaching of Ni that resulted in Ru-Sn metal crystallite restructuring to form discrete Ni-Sn sites. Computational modeling confirmed favorable energetics for Ru-Sn segregation and Ni-Sn formation at submonolayer Sn incorporation. To address stainless steel leaching, reactor walls were treated with an inert silica coating by chemical vapor deposition. With leaching reduced, stable Ru-Sn/AC performance was observed that resulted in a molar yield of 71% BDO and 15% tetrahydrofuran for 96 h of time on stream. Postreaction catalyst characterization confirmed low levels of Ni and Cr deposition, although early-stage islanding of Ni-Sn will likely be problematic for industrially relevant time scales (i.e., thousands of hours). Overall, these results (i) demonstrate the performance of Ru-Sn/AC for aqueous phase succinic acid reduction, (ii) provide insight into the Ru-Sn bimetallic structure and deactivation in the presence of leached Ni, and (iii) underscore the importance of compatible reactor metallurgy and durable catalysts.« less

Synthesis of Nanocrystalline SnOx (x = 1–2) Thin Film Using a Chemical Bath Deposition Method with Improved Deposition Time, Temperature and pH

PubMed Central

Ebrahimiasl, Saeideh; Yunus, Wan Md. Zin Wan; Kassim, Anuar; Zainal, Zulkarnain

2011-01-01

Nanocrystalline SnOx (x = 1–2) thin films were prepared on glass substrates by a simple chemical bath deposition method. Triethanolamine was used as complexing agent to decrease time and temperature of deposition and shift the pH of the solution to the noncorrosive region. The films were characterized for composition, surface morphology, structure and optical properties. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms that SnOx thin films consist of a polycrystalline structure with an average grain size of 36 nm. Atomic force microscopy studies show a uniform grain distribution without pinholes. The elemental composition was evaluated by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The average O/Sn atomic percentage ratio is 1.72. Band gap energy and optical transition were determined from optical absorbance data. The film was found to exhibit direct and indirect transitions in the visible spectrum with band gap values of about 3.9 and 3.7 eV, respectively. The optical transmittance in the visible region is 82%. The SnOx nanocrystals exhibit an ultraviolet emission band centered at 392 nm in the vicinity of the band edge, which is attributed to the well-known exciton transition in SnOx. Photosensitivity was detected in the positive region under illumination with white light. PMID:22163690

Superparamagnetic behavior of Fe-doped SnO2 nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hachisu, M.; Onuma, K.; Kondo, T.; Miike, K.; Miyasaka, T.; Mori, K.; Ichiyanagi, Y.

2014-02-01

SnO2 is an n-type semiconductor with a wide band gap of 3.62 eV, and SnO2 nanoparticles doped with magnetic ions are expected to realized new diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs). Realizing ferromagnetism at room temperature is important for spintronics device applications, and it is interesting that the magnetic properties of these DMS systems can be varied significantly by modifying the preparation methods or conditions. In this study, the magnetic properties of Fe-doped (3% and 5%) SnO2 nanoparticles, prepared using our novel chemical preparation method and encapsulated in amorphous SiO2, were investigated. The particle size (1.8-16.9 nm) and crystal phase were controlled by the annealing temperature. X-ray diffraction confirmed a rutile SnO2 single-phase structure for samples annealed at 1073-1373 K, and the composition was confirmed using X-ray fluorescence analysis. SQUID magnetometer measurements revealed superparamagnetic behavior of the 5%-Fe-doped sample at room temperature, although SnO2 is known to be diamagnetic. Magnetization curves at 5 K indicated that the 3%-Fe-doped has a larger magnetization than that of the 5%-Fe-doped sample. We conclude that the magnetization of the 5%-Fe-doped sample decreased at 5 K due to the superexchange interaction between the antiferromagnetic coupling in the nanoparticle system.

Hydrothermal synthesis and afterglow luminescence properties of hollow SnO{sub 2}:Sm{sup 3+},Zr{sup 4+} spheres for potential application in drug delivery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Feng, Pengfei; Zhang, Jiachi, E-mail: zhangjch@lzu.edu.cn; Qin, Qingsong

2014-02-01

Highlights: • We designed a novel afterglow labeling material SnO{sub 2}:Sm{sup 3+},Zr{sup 4+} for the first time. • Hollow SnO{sub 2}:Sm{sup 3+},Zr{sup 4+} spheres with afterglow were prepared by hydrothermal method. • Hollow SnO{sub 2}:Sm{sup 3+},Zr{sup 4+} is a potential afterglow labeling medium for drug delivery. - Abstract: A novel afterglow labeling material SnO{sub 2}:Sm{sup 3+},Zr{sup 4+} with hollow sphere shape and intense afterglow luminescence is prepared by hydrothermal method at 180 °C for the first time. The morphology and the sphere growth process of this material are investigated by scanning electron microscopy in detail. The afterglow measurement shows thatmore » this hydrothermal obtained material exhibits obvious red afterglow luminescence (550–700 nm) of Sm{sup 3+} which can last for 542 s (0.32 mcd/m{sup 2}). The depth of traps in this hydrothermal obtained material is calculated to be as shallow as 0.58 eV. The results demonstrate that although it is necessary to further improve the afterglow performance of the hydrothermal derived hollow SnO{sub 2}:Sm{sup 3+},Zr{sup 4+} spheres, it still can be regarded as a potential afterglow labeling medium for drug delivery.« less

Local co-ordination and case management can enhance Indigenous eye care – a qualitative study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Indigenous adults suffer six times more blindness than other Australians but 94% of this vision loss is unnecessary being preventable or treatable. We have explored the barriers and solutions to improve Indigenous eye health and proposed significant system changes required to close the gap for Indigenous eye health. This paper aims to identify the local co-ordination and case management requirements necessary to improve eye care for Indigenous Australians. Methods A qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, stakeholder workshops and meetings was conducted in community, private practice, hospital, non-government organisation and government settings. Data were collected at 21 sites across Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 289 people working in Indigenous health and eye care; focus group discussions with 81 community members; stakeholder workshops involving 86 individuals; and separate meetings with 75 people. 531 people participated in the consultations. Barriers and issues were identified through thematic analysis and policy solutions developed through iterative consultation. Results Poorly co-ordinated eye care services for Indigenous Australians are inefficient and costly and result in poorer outcomes for patients, communities and health care providers. Services are more effective where there is good co-ordination of services and case management of patients along the pathway of care. The establishment of clear pathways of care, development local and regional partnerships to manage services and service providers and the application of sufficient workforce with clear roles and responsibilities have the potential to achieve important improvements in eye care. Conclusions Co-ordination is a key to close the gap in eye care for Indigenous Australians. Properly co-ordinated care and support along the patient pathway through case management will save money by preventing dropout of patients who haven’t received treatment and a successfully functioning system will encourage more people to enter for care. PMID:23822115

Finite element, modal co-ordinate analysis of structures subjected to moving loads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olsson, M.

1985-03-01

Some of the possibilities of the finite element method in the moving load problem are demonstrated. The bridge-vehicle interaction phenomenon is considered by deriving a general bridge-vehicle element which is believed to be novel. This element may be regarded as a finite element with time-dependent and unsymmetric element matrices. The bridge response is formulated in modal co-ordinates thereby reducing the number of equations to be solved within each time step. Illustrative examples are shown for the special case of a beam bridge model and a one-axle vehicle model.

Functional traits, convergent evolution, and periodic tables of niches.

PubMed

Winemiller, Kirk O; Fitzgerald, Daniel B; Bower, Luke M; Pianka, Eric R

2015-08-01

Ecology is often said to lack general theories sufficiently predictive for applications. Here, we examine the concept of a periodic table of niches and feasibility of niche classification schemes from functional trait and performance data. Niche differences and their influence on ecological patterns and processes could be revealed effectively by first performing data reduction/ordination analyses separately on matrices of trait and performance data compiled according to logical associations with five basic niche 'dimensions', or aspects: habitat, life history, trophic, defence and metabolic. Resultant patterns then are integrated to produce interpretable niche gradients, ordinations and classifications. Degree of scheme periodicity would depend on degrees of niche conservatism and convergence causing species clustering across multiple niche dimensions. We analysed a sample data set containing trait and performance data to contrast two approaches for producing niche schemes: species ordination within niche gradient space, and niche categorisation according to trait-value thresholds. Creation of niche schemes useful for advancing ecological knowledge and its applications will depend on research that produces functional trait and performance datasets directly related to niche dimensions along with criteria for data standardisation and quality. As larger databases are compiled, opportunities will emerge to explore new methods for data reduction, ordination and classification. © 2015 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Media advocacy, tobacco control policy change and teen smoking in Florida

PubMed Central

Niederdeppe, Jeff; Farrelly, Matthew C; Wenter, Dana

2007-01-01

Objective To assess whether media advocacy activities implemented by the Florida Tobacco Control Program contributed to increased news coverage, policy changes and reductions in youth smoking. Methods A content analysis of news coverage appearing in Florida newspapers between 22 April 1998 and 31 December 2001 was conducted, and patterns of coverage before and after the implementation of media advocacy efforts to promote tobacco product placement ordinances were compared. Event history analysis was used to assess whether news coverage increased the probability of enacting these ordinances in 23 of 67 Florida counties and ordinary least square (OLS) regression was used to gauge the effect of these policies on changes in youth smoking prevalence. Results The volume of programme‐related news coverage decreased after the onset of media advocacy efforts, but the ratio of coverage about Students Working Against Tobacco (the Florida Tobacco Control Program's youth advocacy organisation) relative to other topics increased. News coverage contributed to the passage of tobacco product placement ordinances in Florida counties, but these ordinances did not lead to reduced youth smoking. Conclusion This study adds to the growing literature supporting the use of media advocacy as a tool to change health‐related policies. However, results suggest caution in choosing policy goals that may or may not influence health behaviour. PMID:17297073

Bringing Healthy Retail to Urban "Food Swamps": a Case Study of CBPR-Informed Policy and Neighborhood Change in San Francisco.

PubMed

Minkler, Meredith; Estrada, Jessica; Thayer, Ryan; Juachon, Lisa; Wakimoto, Patricia; Falbe, Jennifer

2018-04-09

In urban "food swamps" like San Francisco's Tenderloin, the absence of full-service grocery stores and plethora of corner stores saturated with tobacco, alcohol, and processed food contribute to high rates of chronic disease. We explore the genesis of the Tenderloin Healthy Corner Store Coalition, its relationship with health department and academic partners, and its contributions to the passage and implementation of a healthy retail ordinance through community-based participatory research (CBPR), capacity building, and advocacy. The healthy retail ordinance incentivizes small stores to increase space for healthy foods and decrease tobacco and alcohol availability. Through Yin's multi-method case study analysis, we examined the partnership's processes and contributions to the ordinance within the framework of Kingdon's three-stage policymaking model. We also assessed preliminary outcomes of the ordinance, including a 35% increase in produce sales and moderate declines in tobacco sales in the first four stores participating in the Tenderloin, as well as a "ripple effect," through which non-participating stores also improved their retail environments. Despite challenges, CBPR partnerships led by a strong community coalition concerned with bedrock issues like food justice and neighborhood inequities in tobacco exposure may represent an important avenue for health equity-focused research and its translation into practice.

Highly improved ethanol gas-sensing performance of mesoporous nickel oxides nanowires with the stannum donor doping.

PubMed

Wei, Junqi; Li, Xiaoqing; Han, Yanbing; Xu, Jingcai; Jin, Hongxiao; Jin, Dingfeng; Peng, Xiaoling; Hong, Bo; Li, Jing; Yang, Yanting; Ge, Hongliang; Wang, Xinqing

2018-06-15

Mesoporous nickel oxides (NiO) and stannum(Sn)-doped NiO nanowires (NWs) were synthesized by using SBA-15 templates with the nanocasting method. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrometry, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherm and UV-vis spectrum were used to characterize the phase structure, components and microstructure of the as-prepared samples. The gas-sensing analysis indicated that the Sn-doping could greatly improve the ethanol sensitivity for mesoporous NiO NWs. With the increasing Sn content, the ethanol sensitivity increased from 2.16 for NiO NWs up to the maximum of 15.60 for Ni 0.962 Sn 0.038 O 1.038 , and then decreased to 12.24 for Ni 0.946 Sn 0.054 O 1.054 to 100 ppm ethanol gas at 340 °C. The high surface area from the Sn-doping improved the adsorption of oxygen on the surface of NiO NWs, resulting in the smaller surface resistance in air. Furthermore, owing to the recombination of the holes in hole-accumulation lay with the electrons from the donor impurity level and the increasing the body defects for Sn-doping, the total resistance in ethanol gas enhanced greatly. It was concluded that the sensitivity of Sn-doped NiO NWs based sensor could be greatly improved by the higher surface area and high-valence donor substitution from Sn-doping.

Highly improved ethanol gas-sensing performance of mesoporous nickel oxides nanowires with the stannum donor doping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Junqi; Li, Xiaoqing; Han, Yanbing; Xu, Jingcai; Jin, Hongxiao; Jin, Dingfeng; Peng, Xiaoling; Hong, Bo; Li, Jing; Yang, Yanting; Ge, Hongliang; Wang, Xinqing

2018-06-01

Mesoporous nickel oxides (NiO) and stannum(Sn)-doped NiO nanowires (NWs) were synthesized by using SBA-15 templates with the nanocasting method. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrometry, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherm and UV–vis spectrum were used to characterize the phase structure, components and microstructure of the as-prepared samples. The gas-sensing analysis indicated that the Sn-doping could greatly improve the ethanol sensitivity for mesoporous NiO NWs. With the increasing Sn content, the ethanol sensitivity increased from 2.16 for NiO NWs up to the maximum of 15.60 for Ni0.962Sn0.038O1.038, and then decreased to 12.24 for Ni0.946Sn0.054O1.054 to 100 ppm ethanol gas at 340 °C. The high surface area from the Sn-doping improved the adsorption of oxygen on the surface of NiO NWs, resulting in the smaller surface resistance in air. Furthermore, owing to the recombination of the holes in hole-accumulation lay with the electrons from the donor impurity level and the increasing the body defects for Sn-doping, the total resistance in ethanol gas enhanced greatly. It was concluded that the sensitivity of Sn-doped NiO NWs based sensor could be greatly improved by the higher surface area and high-valence donor substitution from Sn-doping.

Synthesis and Enhanced Ethanol Gas Sensing Properties of the g-C3N4 Nanosheets-Decorated Tin Oxide Flower-Like Nanorods Composite

PubMed Central

Qin, Cong; Zhang, Bo; Sun, Guang; Zhang, Zhanying

2017-01-01

Flower-like SnO2/g-C3N4 nanocomposites were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method by using SnCl4·5H2O and urea as the precursor. The structure and morphology of the as-synthesized samples were characterized by using the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), electron microscopy (FESEM and TEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) techniques. SnO2 displays the unique 3D flower-like microstructure assembled with many uniform nanorods with the lengths and diameters of about 400–600 nm and 50–100 nm, respectively. For the SnO2/g-C3N4 composites, SnO2 flower-like nanorods were coupled by a lamellar structure 2D g-C3N4. Gas sensing performance test results indicated that the response of the sensor based on 7 wt. % 2D g-C3N4-decorated SnO2 composite to 500 ppm ethanol vapor was 150 at 340 °C, which was 3.5 times higher than that of the pure flower-like SnO2 nanorods-based sensor. The gas sensing mechanism of the g-C3N4nanosheets-decorated SnO2 flower-like nanorods was discussed in relation to the heterojunction structure between g-C3N4 and SnO2. PMID:28937649

Experimental and Theoretical Investigations on Intermediate Band in Doped Nano-SnS2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heiba, Zein K.; Mohamed, Mohamed Bakr; Abdel Kader, M. H.

2018-03-01

Nano-SnS2 and Sn0.75 X 0.25S2 (X = Cr, Fe, Y) have been prepared by thermolysis method. Phase analysis of x-ray diffraction data confirmed the single-phase nature of all prepared samples, with some residual carbon contributing to the background. Rietveld refinement revealed high anisotropy in crystallite size, signifying a cylindrical structure for the particle shape, as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. The refined occupancies obtained for the doped cations were found to be smaller than the nominal target doping ratio (25%). Fourier-transform infrared spectra showed presence of Sn-S bond in all samples. The energy was found to be 3.42 eV, 3.33 eV, 2.1 eV and 3.14 eV, and 3.62 eV for undoped SnS2 and when doped with Cr, Fe, and Y, respectively. Density functional theory calculations illustrated that Fe-doped SnS2 has two bandgaps [normal and intermediate (IB) bands]. Meanwhile, Sn0.75Fe0.25S2 sample showed anti-Stokes and an extra photoluminescence peak related to the newly created intermediate band (IB) inside the energy gap. On the other hand, pure SnS2 and Sn0.75 X 0.25S2 (X = Cr, Y) samples emitted four photoluminescence subspectra in ultraviolet, violet, and blue regions.

Modeling The Most Luminous Supernova Associated with a Gamma-Ray Burst, SN 2011kl

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shan-Qin; Cano, Zach; Wang, Ling-Jun; Zheng, WeiKang; Dai, Zi-Gao; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Liu, Liang-Duan

2017-12-01

We study the most luminous known supernova (SN) associated with a gamma-ray burst (GRB), SN 2011kl. The photospheric velocity of SN 2011kl around peak brightness is 21,000 ± 7000 km s-1. Owing to different assumptions related to the light-curve (LC) evolution (broken or unbroken power-law function) of the optical afterglow of GRB 111209A, different techniques for the LC decomposition, and different methods (with or without a near-infrared contribution), three groups derived three different bolometric LCs for SN 2011kl. Previous studies have shown that the LCs without an early-time excess preferred a magnetar model, a magnetar+56Ni model, or a white dwarf tidal disruption event model rather than the radioactive heating model. On the other hand, the LC shows an early-time excess and dip that cannot be reproduced by the aforementioned models, and hence the blue-supergiant model was proposed to explain it. Here, we reinvestigate the energy sources powering SN 2011kl. We find that the two LCs without the early-time excess of SN 2011kl can be explained by the magnetar+56Ni model, and the LC showing the early excess can be explained by the magnetar+56Ni model taking into account the cooling emission from the shock-heated envelope of the SN progenitor, demonstrating that this SN might primarily be powered by a nascent magnetar.

Using ordinal partition transition networks to analyze ECG data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulp, Christopher W.; Chobot, Jeremy M.; Freitas, Helena R.; Sprechini, Gene D.

2016-07-01

Electrocardiogram (ECG) data from patients with a variety of heart conditions are studied using ordinal pattern partition networks. The ordinal pattern partition networks are formed from the ECG time series by symbolizing the data into ordinal patterns. The ordinal patterns form the nodes of the network and edges are defined through the time ordering of the ordinal patterns in the symbolized time series. A network measure, called the mean degree, is computed from each time series-generated network. In addition, the entropy and number of non-occurring ordinal patterns (NFP) is computed for each series. The distribution of mean degrees, entropies, and NFPs for each heart condition studied is compared. A statistically significant difference between healthy patients and several groups of unhealthy patients with varying heart conditions is found for the distributions of the mean degrees, unlike for any of the distributions of the entropies or NFPs.

Radiative transfer models for retrieval of cloud parameters from EPIC/DSCOVR measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina García, Víctor; Sasi, Sruthy; Efremenko, Dmitry S.; Doicu, Adrian; Loyola, Diego

2018-07-01

In this paper we analyze the accuracy and efficiency of several radiative transfer models for inferring cloud parameters from radiances measured by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on board the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). The radiative transfer models are the exact discrete ordinate and matrix operator methods with matrix exponential, and the approximate asymptotic and equivalent Lambertian cloud models. To deal with the computationally expensive radiative transfer calculations, several acceleration techniques such as, for example, the telescoping technique, the method of false discrete ordinate, the correlated k-distribution method and the principal component analysis (PCA) are used. We found that, for the EPIC oxygen A-band absorption channel at 764 nm, the exact models using the correlated k-distribution in conjunction with PCA yield an accuracy better than 1.5% and a computation time of 18 s for radiance calculations at 5 viewing zenith angles.

A Fast Humidity Sensor Based on Li+-Doped SnO2 One-Dimensional Porous Nanofibers

PubMed Central

Yin, Min; Yang, Fang; Wang, Zhaojie; Zhu, Miao; Liu, Ming; Xu, Xiuru; Li, Zhenyu

2017-01-01

One-dimensional SnO2- and Li+-doped SnO2 porous nanofibers were easily fabricated via electrospinning and a subsequent calcination procedure for ultrafast humidity sensing. Different Li dopant concentrations were introduced to investigate the dopant’s role in sensing performance. The response properties were studied under different relative humidity levels by both statistic and dynamic tests. The best response was obtained with respect to the optimal doping of Li+ into SnO2 porous nanofibers with a maximum 15 times higher response than that of pristine SnO2 porous nanofibers, at a relative humidity level of 85%. Most importantly, the ultrafast response and recovery time within 1 s was also obtained with the 1.0 wt % doping of Li+ into SnO2 porous nanofibers at 5 V and at room temperature, benefiting from the co-contributions of Li-doping and the one-dimensional porous structure. This work provides an effective method of developing ultrafast sensors for practical applications—especially fast breathing sensors. PMID:28772895

Transparent CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}SnCl{sub 3}/Al-ZnO p-n heterojunction diode

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kumar, Sunil, E-mail: skbgudha@gmail.com; Ansari, Mohd Zubair; Khare, Neeraj

2016-05-23

A p-type Organic inorganic tin chloride (CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}SnCl{sub 3}) perovskite thin film has been synthesized by solution method. An n-type 1% Al doped ZnO (AZO) film has been deposited on FTO substrate by ultrasonic assisted chemical vapor deposition technique. A transparent CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}SnCl{sub 3}/AZO p-n heterojunction diode has been fabricated by spin coating technique. CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}SnCl{sub 3}/AZO p-n heterojunction shows 75% transparency in the visible region. I-V characteristic of CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}SnCl{sub 3}/AZO p-n heterojunction shows rectifying behavior of the diode. The diode parameters calculated as ideality factor η=2.754 and barrier height Φ= 0.76 eV. The resultmore » demonstrates the potentiality of CH{sub 3}NH{sub 3}SnCl{sub 3}/AZO p-n heterojunction for transparent electronics.« less

Investigation of the influence of the concentrations of Sn in electrochemically deposited CuSn alloy films on their mechanical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cherneva, S.; Iankov, R.; Stoychev, D.

2015-10-01

Mechanical properties of thin CuSn alloy films containing different content of Sn (0.06 - 67.5 wt.%) were investigated by means of nanoindentation experiments, using Nanoindenter G200 (Agilent Technologies), equipped with Berkovich indenter tip. The films were electrochemically deposited on screen-intermediate Ni film with thickness about 3 µm electrodeposited on Cu or brass (Cu66Zn34) substrates with thickness respectively 300 µm and 500 µm. The thicknesses of investigated CuSn films varied from 0.138 to 5.47 µm. Mechanical properties of the Cu and brass substrates were investigated too. As a result of nanoindentation experiments, load-displacement curves were obtained and two mechanical characteristics of the substrate and investigated films - indentation hardness (HIT) and indentation modulus (EIT) - were calculated using Oliver & Pharr approximation method. Dependence of indentation modulus and indentation hardness on the depth of indentation, content of Sn, structure and phase composition of the alloy films was investigated and discussed.

A solar-thermal energy harvesting scheme: enhanced heat capacity of molten HITEC salt mixed with Sn/SiO(x) core-shell nanoparticles.

PubMed

Lai, Chih-Chung; Chang, Wen-Chih; Hu, Wen-Liang; Wang, Zhiming M; Lu, Ming-Chang; Chueh, Yu-Lun

2014-05-07

We demonstrated enhanced solar-thermal storage by releasing the latent heat of Sn/SiO(x) core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in a eutectic salt. The microstructures and chemical compositions of Sn/SiO(x) core-shell NPs were characterized. In situ heating XRD provides dynamic crystalline information about the Sn/SiO(x) core-shell NPs during cyclic heating processes. The latent heat of ∼29 J g(-1) for Sn/SiO(x) core-shell NPs was measured, and 30% enhanced heat capacity was achieved from 1.57 to 2.03 J g(-1) K(-1) for the HITEC solar salt without and with, respectively, a mixture of 5% Sn/SiO(x) core-shell NPs. In addition, an endurance cycle test was performed to prove a stable operation in practical applications. The approach provides a method to enhance energy storage in solar-thermal power plants.

Co-precipitation synthesis of nanostructured Cu3SbSe4 and its Sn-doped sample with high thermoelectric performance.

PubMed

Li, Di; Li, Rui; Qin, Xiao-Ying; Song, Chun-Jun; Xin, Hong-Xing; Wang, Ling; Zhang, Jian; Guo, Guang-lei; Zou, Tian-Hua; Liu, Yong-Fei; Zhu, Xiao-Guang

2014-01-28

Large-scale fabrication of nanostructured Cu3SbSe4 and its Sn-doped sample Cu3Sb0.98Sn0.02Se4 through a low-temperature co-precipitation route is reported. The effects of hot-pressing temperatures, time and Sn doping on the thermoelectric properties of Cu3SbSe4 are explored. The maximum figure of merit ZTmax obtained here reaches 0.62 for the un-doped Cu3SbSe4, which is three times as large as that of Cu3SbSe4 synthesized by the fusion method. Due to the ameliorated power factor by optimized carrier concentration and the reduced lattice thermal conductivity by enhanced phonon scattering at grain interfaces, Sn doping leads to an improvement of thermoelectric performance as compared to Cu3SbSe4. The maximum ZT for Cu3Sb0.98Sn0.02Se4 is 1.05 in this work, which is 50% larger than the largest value reported.

Room-temperature processed tin oxide thin film as effective hole blocking layer for planar perovskite solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, Hong; Ma, Zhibin; Yang, Guang; Wang, Haoning; Long, Hao; Zhao, Hongyang; Qin, Pingli; Fang, Guojia

2018-03-01

Tin oxide (SnO2) film with high mobility and good transmittance has been reported as a promising semiconductor material for high performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this study, ultrathin SnO2 film synthesized by radio frequency magnetron sputtering (RFMS) method at room temperature was employed as hole blocking layer for planar PSCs. The room-temperature sputtered SnO2 film not only shows favourable energy band structure but also improves the surface topography of fluorine doped SnO2 (FTO) substrate and perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) layer. Thus, this SnO2 hole blocking layer can efficiently promote electron transport and suppress carrier recombination. Furthermore, the best efficiency of 13.68% was obtained for planar PSC with SnO2 hole blocking layer prepared at room temperature. This research highlights the room-temperature preparation process of hole blocking layer in PSC and has a certain reference significance for the usage of flexible and low-cost substrates.

Scintillation and optical properties of Sn-doped Ga2O3 single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Usui, Yuki; Nakauchi, Daisuke; Kawano, Naoki; Okada, Go; Kawaguchi, Noriaki; Yanagida, Takayuki

2018-06-01

Sn-doped Ga2O3 single crystals were synthesized by the Floating Zone (FZ) method. In photoluminescence (PL) under the excitation wavelength of 280 nm, we observed two types of luminescence: (1) defect luminescence due to recombination of the donor/acceptor pairs which appears at 430 nm and (2) the nsnp-ns2 transitions of Sn2+ which appear at 530 nm. The PL and scintillation decay time curves of the Sn-doped samples were approximated by a sum of exponential decay functions. The faster two components were ascribed to the defect luminescence, and the slowest component was owing to the nsnp-ns2 transitions. In the pulse height spectrum measurements under 241Am α-rays irradiation, all the Sn-doped Ga2O3 samples were confirmed to show a full energy absorption peak but the undoped one. Among the present samples, the 1% Sn-doped sample exhibited the highest scintillation light yield (1,500 ± 150 ph/5.5 MeV-α).

Crystal phase analysis of SnO{sub 2}-based varistor ceramic using the Rietveld method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moreira, M.L.; Pianaro, S.A.; Andrade, A.V.C.

2006-09-15

A second addition of l mol% of CoO to a pre calcined SnO{sub 2}-based ceramic doped with 1.0 mol% of CoO, 0.05 mol% of Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5} and 0.05 mol% of Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} promotes the appearance of a secondary phase, Co{sub 2}SnO{sub 4}, besides the SnO{sub 2} cassiterite phase, when the ceramic was sintered at 1350 deg. C/2 h. This was observed using X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray techniques. Rietveld refinement was carried out to quantify the phases present in the ceramic system. The results of the quantitative analysis were 97 wt.% SnO{sub 2}more » and 3 wt.% Co{sub 2}SnO{sub 4}. The microstructural analysis showed that a certain amount of cobalt ion remains into cassiterite grains.« less

75 FR 51102 - Liquor Ordinance of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes; Correction

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-18

... Tribes; Correction AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior ACTION: Notice; correction SUMMARY: The... Liquor Ordinance of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes. The notice refers to an amended ordinance of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes when in fact the Liquor Ordinance adopted by Resolution No. WT-10-31 on May...

Estimating Ordinal Reliability for Likert-Type and Ordinal Item Response Data: A Conceptual, Empirical, and Practical Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gadermann, Anne M.; Guhn, Martin; Zumbo, Bruno D.

2012-01-01

This paper provides a conceptual, empirical, and practical guide for estimating ordinal reliability coefficients for ordinal item response data (also referred to as Likert, Likert-type, ordered categorical, or rating scale item responses). Conventionally, reliability coefficients, such as Cronbach's alpha, are calculated using a Pearson…

Ordinal measures for iris recognition.

PubMed

Sun, Zhenan; Tan, Tieniu

2009-12-01

Images of a human iris contain rich texture information useful for identity authentication. A key and still open issue in iris recognition is how best to represent such textural information using a compact set of features (iris features). In this paper, we propose using ordinal measures for iris feature representation with the objective of characterizing qualitative relationships between iris regions rather than precise measurements of iris image structures. Such a representation may lose some image-specific information, but it achieves a good trade-off between distinctiveness and robustness. We show that ordinal measures are intrinsic features of iris patterns and largely invariant to illumination changes. Moreover, compactness and low computational complexity of ordinal measures enable highly efficient iris recognition. Ordinal measures are a general concept useful for image analysis and many variants can be derived for ordinal feature extraction. In this paper, we develop multilobe differential filters to compute ordinal measures with flexible intralobe and interlobe parameters such as location, scale, orientation, and distance. Experimental results on three public iris image databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ordinal feature models.

Solutions to Some Nonlinear Equations from Nonmetric Data.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rule, Stanley J.

1979-01-01

A method to provide estimates of parameters of specified nonlinear equations from ordinal data generated from a crossed design is presented. The statistical basis for the method, called NOPE (nonmetric parameter estimation), as well as examples using artifical data, are presented. (Author/JKS)

DNA interaction studies of new nano metal based anticancer agent: validation by spectroscopic methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabassum, Sartaj; Sharma, Girish Chandra; Arjmand, Farukh; Azam, Ameer

2010-05-01

A new nano dimensional heterobimetallic Cu-Sn containing complex as a potential drug candidate was designed, synthesized and characterized by analytical and spectral methods. The electronic absorption and electron paramagnetic resonance parameters of the complex revealed that the Cu(II) ion exhibits a square pyramidal geometry with the two pyrazole nitrogen atoms, the amine nitrogen atom and the carboxylate oxygen of the phenyl glycine chloride ligand located at the equatorial sites and the coordinated chloride ion occupying an apical position. 119Sn NMR spectral data showed a hexa-coordinated environment around the Sn(IV) metal ion. TEM, AFM and XRD measurements illustrate that the complex could induce the condensation of CT-DNA to a particulate nanostructure. The interaction of the Cu-Sn complex with CT-DNA was investigated by UV-vis absorption and emission spectroscopy, as well as cyclic voltammetric measurements. The results indicated that the complex interacts with DNA through an electrostatic mode of binding with an intrinsic binding constant Kb = 8.42 × 104 M - 1. The Cu-Sn complex exhibits effective cleavage of pBR322 plasmid DNA by an oxidative cleavage mechanism, monitored at different concentrations both in the absence and in the presence of reducing agents.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of an additive element in metal oxide nanometer film using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy.

PubMed

Xiu, Junshan; Liu, Shiming; Sun, Meiling; Dong, Lili

2018-01-20

The photoelectric performance of metal ion-doped TiO 2 film will be improved with the changing of the compositions and concentrations of additive elements. In this work, the TiO 2 films doped with different Sn concentrations were obtained with the hydrothermal method. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the Sn element in TiO 2 film was achieved with laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) with the calibration curves plotted accordingly. The photoelectric characteristics of TiO 2 films doped with different Sn content were observed with UV visible absorption spectra and J-V curves. All results showed that Sn doping could improve the optical absorption to be red-shifted and advance the photoelectric properties of the TiO 2 films. We had obtained that when the concentration of Sn doping in TiO 2 films was 11.89  mmol/L, which was calculated by the LIBS calibration curves, the current density of the film was the largest, which indicated the best photoelectric performance. It indicated that LIBS was a potential and feasible measured method, which was applied to qualitative and quantitative analysis of the additive element in metal oxide nanometer film.

Evaluation on Dorsey Method in Surface Tension Measurement of Solder Liquids Containing Surfactants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Xingke; Xie, Feiming; Fan, Jinsheng; Liu, Dayong; Huang, Jihua; Chen, Shuhai

2018-06-01

With the purpose of developing a feasible approach for measuring the surface tension of solders containing surfactants, the surface tension of Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu-xP solder alloys, with various drop sizes as well as different phosphorus (P) content, was evaluated using the Dorsey method based on the sessile drop test. The results show that the accuracy of the surface tension calculations depends on both of sessile drop size and the liquid metal composition. With a proper drop size, in the range of 4.5 mm to 5.3 mm in equivalent spherical diameters, the deviation of the surface tension calculation can be limited to 1.43 mN·m-1 and 6.30 mN·m-1 for SnAgCu and SnAgCu-P, respectively. The surface tension of SnAgCu-xP solder alloys decreases quickly to a minimum value when the P content reaches 0.5 wt% and subsequently increases slowly with the P content further increasing. The formation of a P-enriched surface layer and Sn4P3 intermetallic phases is regarded to be responsible for the decreasing and subsequent increasing of surface tension, respectively.

Effect of both deposition temperature and indium doping on the properties of sol-gel dip-coated SnO2 films.

PubMed

Caglar, Mujdat; Atar, Kadir Cemil

2012-10-01

Using indium chloride as an In source, In-doped SnO(2) films were fabricated by sol-gel method through dip-coating on borofloat glass substrates. The undoped SnO(2) films were deposited in air between 400 and 600 °C to get optimum deposition temperature in terms of crystal quality and hence In-doped SnO(2) films were deposited in air at 600 °C. The effect of both deposition temperature and In content on structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties was investigated. The crystalline structure and orientation of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and surface morphology was studied by a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The compositional analysis of the films was confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). The absorption band edge of the SnO(2) films shifted from 3.88 to 3.66 eV with In content. The van der Pauw method was used to measure the sheet resistance of the films. The sheet resistance was affected significantly by deposition temperature and In content. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Zener behaviour of p-SnS/ZnO and p-SnS/ZnS heterojunctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Yashika; Arun, P.

2018-03-01

p-SnS absorbing layers were grown by thermal evaporation on layers of various Zinc compounds, like ZnO and ZnS. This present work reports the J-V characteristics of thus obtained p-SnS/ZnO and p-SnS/ZnS heterojunctions. The pn junctions of these structures did not show any photovoltaic activity, however a zener like behaviour was observed in the 3rd quadrant of the J-V characteristics. Our analysis of the diodes suggest that the reverse breakdown or zener voltage obtained from the dark J-V characteristics can be used to estimate the energy band diagram of the junction and in turn the band-alignment at the junction. This makes it an easy alternative to x-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy method usually used.

KF addition to Cu2SnS3 thin films prepared by sulfurization process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakashima, Mitsuki; Fujimoto, Junya; Yamaguchi, Toshiyuki; Sasano, Junji; Izaki, Masanobu

2017-04-01

Cu2SnS3 thin films were fabricated by sulfurization with KF addition and applied to photovoltaic devices. Two methods, two-stage annealing and the use of four-layer precursors, were employed, and the quantity of NaF and KF and the annealing temperature were changed. By electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), the Cu/Sn mole ratio was found to range from 0.81 to 1.51. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and Raman spectra indicated that the fabricated thin films had a monoclinic Cu2SnS3 structure. The Cu2SnS3 thin films fabricated by two-stage annealing had a close-packed structure and a pinhole-free surface morphology. The best solar cell in this study showed V oc of 293 mV, which surpassed the previously reported value.

Improved growth method of (SN) x single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakada, Ichiroh

1981-12-01

The crystal growth of pure and sizable single crystals of polysulfur nitride (SN) x was improved by adopting a monitor system with a quadrapole mass spectrometer and a Pirani gauge. The mass spectrometer helped to find a temperature appropriate for trapping (SN) 2 selectively on a cold finger and removing other unnecessary or harmful materials produced by the thermal decomposition of (SN) 4 as well as out-gassing water vapour from the glass wall. Leakage of gasses in the vessel was monitored with the Pirani gauge. With a heat pipe the crystal tube is cooled locally so that only a small number of nuclei start to grow. (SN) x single crystals with dimensions of 1 to 6 mm in edge size have been obtained. The relation between the crystal habit and the crystallographic axes has also been determined.

Preparation and characterization of SnO2 and Carbon Co-coated LiFePO4 cathode materials.

PubMed

Wang, Haibin; Liu, Shuxin; Huang, Yongmao

2014-04-01

The SnO2 and carbon co-coated LiFePO4 cathode materials were successfully synthesized by solid state method. The microstructure and morphology of LiFePO4 composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscope. The results showed that the SnO2 and carbon co-coated LiFePO4 cathode materials exhibited more uniform particle size distribution. Compared with the uncoated LiFePO4/C, the structure of LiFePO4 with SnO2 and carbon coating had no change. The existence of SnO2 and carbon coating layer effectively enhanced the initial discharge capacity. Among the investigated samples, the one with DBTDL:LiFePO4 molar ratios of 7:100 exhibited the best electrochemical performance.

Influence of Sn doping in BaSnxTi1-xO3 ceramics on microstructural and dielectric properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ansari, Mohd. Azaj; Sreenivas, K.

2018-05-01

BaSnxTi1-x O3 solid solutions with varying Sn content (x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.15, 0.25) prepared by solid state reaction method have been studied for their structural and dielectric properties. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopic analysis show composition induced modifications in the crystallographic structure, and with increasing Sn content the structure changes from tetragonal to cubic structure. The tetragonal distortion decreases with increasing Sn, and the structure becomes purely cubic for x =0.25. Changes in the structure are reflected in the temperature dependent dielectric properties. For increasing Sn content the peak dielectric constant is found to increase and the phase transition temperature (Tc) decreases to lower temperature. The purely cubic structure with x=0.25 shows a diffused phased transition.

Ultraviolet/visible photodiode of nanostructure Sn-doped ZnO/Si heterojunction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kheirandish, N.; Mortezaali, A.

2013-05-01

Sn doped ZnO nanostructures deposited on Si substrate with (100) orientation by spray pyrolysis method at temperature 450 °C. Sn/Zn atomic ratio varies from 0% to 5%. The scanning electron microscope measurements showed that size of particles reduce with increasing the doping concentration. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed formation of the wurtzite phase of ZnO. I-V curves of Sn doped ZnO/Si were investigated in dark and shows diode-like rectifying behavior. Among doped ZnO/Si, sample with atomic ratio of Sn/Zn = 5% is a good candidate to study photodiode properties in UV/visible range. Photoelectric effects have been observed under illumination monochromatic laser light with a wavelength of 325 nm and halogen lamp. Measurements demonstrate that the photodiode has high sensitivity and reproducibility to halogen light respect to laser light.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mariammal, R. N.; Ramachandran, K.

Cu{sub 1-x}Sn{sub x}O(x = 0.00, 0.03, and 0.05) nanoflakes were synthesized by a simple wet chemical method and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) result confirms the monoclinic structure of CuO with no secondary phases due to Sn doping. The scanning electron microscopic images indicate the formation of nanoflakes. The fundamental Raman modes were observed at 273, 318, 610, and 1084 cm{sup -1} for undoped CuO sample and theses modes were slightly shifted towards lower frequency side for Sn-doped samples, which indicates the inclusion of Sn in CuO. In addition, XRD and Raman studies infer the decrease of crystallinity in doped samples, whichmore » is reflected in the sensitivity towards ethanol. The ethanol sensitivity (resistivity measurement) increases with ethanol gas concentration and decreases with Sn-doping in CuO nanoflakes.« less

Synthesis, structural, magnetic and optical properties of Sr2CoSn based inverse Heusler alloy nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asvini, V.; Saravanan, G.; Kalaiezhily, R. K.; Ravichandran, K.

2018-05-01

The peculiar ternary full Heusler alloy Sr2CoSn nanoparticles are synthesized by co-precipitation method. X- ray diffraction pattern confirms the formation of XA or Xα structure of Sr2CoSn. Using Williamson-Hall plot (W-H plot), we are able to use the uniform deformation model and get low value of strain induced broadening. UV-Visible absorption spectrum shows sharp absorption peak at 210 nm and the estimated band gap energy of Sr2CoSn Heusler alloy nanoparticles is Eg = 4.6 eV (from Tauc plot). The presence of Sr2CoSn with the particle size of approximately 90 nm was observed using high resolution scanning electron microscopy. The magnetization measurements were carried out using VSM and studied M verses H hysteresis studies.

Food marketing to children through toys: response of restaurants to the first U.S. toy ordinance.

PubMed

Otten, Jennifer J; Hekler, Eric B; Krukowski, Rebecca A; Buman, Matthew P; Saelens, Brian E; Gardner, Christopher D; King, Abby C

2012-01-01

On August 9, 2010, Santa Clara County CA became the first U.S. jurisdiction to implement an ordinance that prohibits the distribution of toys and other incentives to children in conjunction with meals, foods, or beverages that do not meet minimal nutritional criteria. Restaurants had many different options for complying with this ordinance, such as introducing more healthful menu options, reformulating current menu items, or changing marketing or toy distribution practices. To assess how ordinance-affected restaurants changed their child menus, marketing, and toy distribution practices relative to non-affected restaurants. Children's menu items and child-directed marketing and toy distribution practices were examined before and at two time points after ordinance implementation (from July through November 2010) at ordinance-affected fast-food restaurants compared with demographically matched unaffected same-chain restaurants using the Children's Menu Assessment tool. Affected restaurants showed a 2.8- to 3.4-fold improvement in Children's Menu Assessment scores from pre- to post-ordinance with minimal changes at unaffected restaurants. Response to the ordinance varied by restaurant. Improvements were seen in on-site nutritional guidance; promotion of healthy meals, beverages, and side items; and toy marketing and distribution activities. The ordinance appears to have positively influenced marketing of healthful menu items and toys as well as toy distribution practices at ordinance-affected restaurants, but did not affect the number of healthful food items offered. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of layered tin disulfide deposited by atomic layer deposition with H2S annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Seungjin; Shin, Seokyoon; Ham, Giyul; Lee, Juhyun; Choi, Hyeongsu; Park, Hyunwoo; Jeon, Hyeongtag

2017-04-01

Tin disulfide (SnS2) has attracted much attention as a two-dimensional (2D) material. A high-quality, low-temperature process for producing 2D materials is required for future electronic devices. Here, we investigate tin disulfide (SnS2) layers deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD) using tetrakis(dimethylamino)tin (TDMASn) as a Sn precursor and H2S gas as a sulfur source at low temperature (150° C). The crystallinity of SnS2 was improved by H2S gas annealing. We carried out H2S gas annealing at various conditions (250° C, 300° C, 350° C, and using a three-step method). Angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) results revealed the valence state corresponding to Sn4+ and S2- in the SnS2 annealed with H2S gas. The SnS2 annealed with H2S gas had a hexagonal structure, as measured via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the clearly out-of-plane (A1g) mode in Raman spectroscopy. The crystallinity of SnS2 was improved after H2S annealing and was confirmed using the XRD full-width at half-maximum (FWHM). In addition, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) images indicated a clear layered structure.

Conversion of Monogalactosyldiacylglycerols to Triacylglycerols in Ozone-Fumigated Spinach Leaves

PubMed Central

Sakaki, Takeshi; Saito, Kazuki; Kawaguchi, Akihiko; Kondo, Noriaki; Yamada, Mitsuhiro

1990-01-01

Molecular species and fatty acid distribution of triacylglycerol (TG) accumulated in spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) leaves fumigated with ozone (0.5 microliter per liter) were compared with those of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG). Analysis of positional distribution of the fatty acids in MGDG and the accumulated TG by the enzymatic digestion method showed that hexadecatrienoate (16:3) was restricted to sn-2 position of the glycerol backbone in both MGDG and TG, whereas α-linolenate (18:3) was preferentially located at sn-1 position in MGDG, and sn-1 and/or sn-3 positions in TG, suggesting that 1,2-diacylglycerol moieties of MGDG are the direct precursor of TG in ozonefumigated leaves. Further analysis of TG molecular species by argentation chromatography and mass spectrometry showed that TG increased with ozone fumigation consisted of approximately an equal molar ratio of sn-1,3-18:3-2-16:3 and sn-1,2,3-18:3. Because the molecular species of MGDG in spinach leaves is composed of a similar molar ratio of sn-1-18:3-2-16:3 and sn-1,2-18:3, we concluded that MGDG was converted to 1,2-diacylglycerol and acylated with 18:3 to TG in ozone-fumigated spinach leaves. Images Figure 1 PMID:16667777

Time dependence of carbon film deposition on SnO{sub 2}/Si using DC unbalanced magnetron sputtering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alfiadi, H., E-mail: yudi@fi.itb.ac.id; Aji, A. S., E-mail: yudi@fi.itb.ac.id; Darma, Y., E-mail: yudi@fi.itb.ac.id

Carbon deposition on SnO{sub 2} layer has been demonstrated at low temperature using DC unbalanced magnetron-sputtering technique for various time depositions. Before carbon sputtering process, SnO{sub 2} thin layer is grown on silicon substrate by thermal evaporation method using high purity Sn wire and then fully oxidizes by dry O{sub 2} at 225°C. Carbon sputtering process was carried out at pressure of 4.6×10{sup −2} Torr by keeping the substrate temperature of 300 °C for sputtering deposition time of 1 to 4 hours. The properties of SnO{sub 2}/Si structure and carbon thin film on SnO{sub 2} is characterized using SEM, EDAX,more » XRD, FTIR, and Raman Spectra. SEM images and XRD spectra show that SnO2 thin film has uniformly growth on Si substrate and affected by annealing temperature. Raman and FTIR results confirm the formation of carbon-rich thin film on SnO{sub 2}. In addition, XRD spectra indicate that some structural change occur by increasing sputtering deposition time. Furthermore, the change of atomic structure due to the thermal annealing is analized by XRD spectra and Raman spectroscopy.« less

Magnetically Separable Fe3O4/SnO2/Graphene Adsorbent for Waste Water Removal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paramarta, V.; Taufik, A.; Saleh, R.

2017-05-01

Our previous study conducted the SnO2 and SnO2/graphene adsorption efficiency in Methylene Blue removal from aqueous solution, however, the difficulty of adsorbent separation from the methylene blue solution limits its efficiency. Therefore, in this work, SnO2 and SnO2/graphene was combined with Fe3O4 to improve the separation process and adsorption performance for removing the organic dyes. Fe3O4/SnO2/grapheme were synthesized by using the co-precipitation method. The graphene content was varied from 1, 3, and 5 weight percent (wt%). The crystalline phase and thermal stability of the samples were characterized by using X- ray Diffraction (XRD) and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The adsorption ability of the samples was investigated by using significant adsorption degradation of MB observed when the graphene in Fe3O4/SnO2 nanocomposite was added. The other parameters such as pH and initial concentration have also been investigated. The reusability was also investigated to study the stability of the samples. The fitting of equilibrium adsorption capacity result indicates that the adsorption mechanism of Fe3O4/SnO2 nanocomposite with graphene tends to follow the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model.

Combined Thermodynamic-Kinetic Analysis of the Interfacial Reactions between Ni Metallization and Various Lead-Free Solders

PubMed Central

Laurila, Tomi; Vuorinen, Vesa

2009-01-01

In this paper we will demonstrate how a thermodynamic-kinetic method can be utilized to rationalize a wide range of interfacial phenomena between Sn-based lead-free solders and Ni metallizations. First, the effect of P on the interfacial reactions, and thus on the reliability, between Sn-based solders and electroless Ni/immersion Au (ENIG) metallizations, will be discussed. Next, the effect of small amounts of Cu in Sn-based solders on the intermetallic compound (IMC), which forms first on top of Ni metallization, will be covered. With the help of thermodynamic arguments a so called critical Cu concentration for the formation of (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 can be determined as a function of temperature. Then the important phenomenon of redeposition of (Au,Ni)Sn4 layer on top of Ni3Sn4 IMC will be discussed in detail. The reasons leading to this behaviour will be rationalized with the help of thermodynamic information and an explanation of why this phenomenon does not occur when an appropriate amount of Cu is present in the soldering system will be given. Finally, interfacial reaction issues related to low temperature Sn-Zn and Sn-Bi based solders and Ni metallization will be discussed.

A novel method to quantify the activity of alcohol acetyltransferase Using a SnO2-based sensor of electronic nose.

PubMed

Hu, Zhongqiu; Li, Xiaojing; Wang, Huxuan; Niu, Chen; Yuan, Yahong; Yue, Tianli

2016-07-15

Alcohol acetyltransferase (AATFase) extensively catalyzes the reactions of alcohols to acetic esters in microorganisms and plants. In this work, a novel method has been proposed to quantify the activity of AATFase using a SnO2-based sensor of electronic nose, which was determined on the basis of its higher sensitivity to the reducing alcohol than the oxidizing ester. The maximum value of the first-derivative of the signals from the SnO2-based sensor was therein found to be an eigenvalue of isoamyl alcohol concentration. Quadratic polynomial regression perfectly fitted the correlation between the eigenvalue and the isoamyl alcohol concentration. The method was used to determine the AATFase activity in this type of reaction by calculating the conversion rate of isoamyl alcohol. The proposed method has been successfully applied to determine the AATFase activity of a cider yeast strain. Compared with GC-MS, the method shows promises with ideal recovery and low cost. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thermomechanical behavior of tin-rich (lead-free) solders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidhu, Rajen Singh

In order to adequately characterize the behavior of ball-grid-array (BGA) Pb-free solder spheres in electronic devices, the microstructure and thermomechanical behavior need to be studied. Microstructure characterization of pure Sn, Sn-0.7Cu, Sn-3.5Ag, and Sn-3.9Ag-0.7Cu alloys was conducted using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, image analysis, and a novel serial sectioning 3D reconstruction process. Microstructure-based finite-element method (FEM) modeling of deformation in Sn-3.5Ag alloy was conducted, and it will be shown that this technique is more accurate when compared to traditional unit cell models for simulating and understanding material behavior. The effect of cooling rate on microstructure and creep behavior of bulk Sn-rich solders was studied. The creep behavior was evaluated at 25, 95, and 120°C. Faster cooling rates were found to increase the creep strength of the solders due to refinement of the solder microstructure. The creep behavior of Sn-rich single solder spheres reflowed on Cu substrates was studied at 25, 60, 95, and 130°C. Testing was conducted using a microforce testing system, with lap-shear geometry samples. The solder joints displayed two distinct creep behaviors: (a) precipitation-strengthening (Sn-3.5Ag and Sn-3.9Ag-0.7Cu) and (b) power law creep accommodated by grain boundary sliding (GBS) (Sn and Sn-0.7Cu). The relationship between microstructural features (i.e. intermetallic particle size and spacing), stress exponents, threshold stress, and activation energies are discussed. The relationship between small-length scale creep behavior and bulk behavior is also addressed. To better understand the damage evolution in Sn-rich solder joints during thermal fatigue, the local damage will be correlated to the cyclic hysteresis behavior and crystal orientations present in the Sn phase of solder joints. FEM modeling will also be utilized to better understand the macroscopic and local strain response of the lap shear geometry.

Occurrence of Multiple Subsequent Neoplasms in Long-Term Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Report From the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study

PubMed Central

Armstrong, Gregory T.; Liu, Wei; Leisenring, Wendy; Yasui, Yutaka; Hammond, Sue; Bhatia, Smita; Neglia, Joseph P.; Stovall, Marilyn; Srivastava, Deokumar; Robison, Leslie L.

2011-01-01

Purpose Childhood cancer survivors experience an increased incidence of subsequent neoplasms (SNs). Those surviving the first SN (SN1) remain at risk to develop multiple SNs. Because SNs are a common cause of late morbidity and mortality, characterization of rates of multiple SNs is needed. Patients and Methods In a total of 14,358 5-year survivors of childhood cancer diagnosed between 1970 and 1986, analyses were carried out among 1,382 survivors with an SN1. Cumulative incidence of second subsequent neoplasm (SN2), either malignant or benign, was calculated. Results A total of 1,382 survivors (9.6%) developed SN1, of whom 386 (27.9%) developed SN2. Of those with SN2, 153 (39.6%) developed more than two SNs. Cumulative incidence of SN2 was 46.9% (95% CI, 41.6% to 52.2%) at 20 years after SN1. The cumulative incidence of SN2 among radiation-exposed survivors was 41.3% (95% CI, 37.2% to 45.4%) at 15 years compared with 25.7% (95% CI, 16.5% to 34.9%) for those not treated with radiation. Radiation-exposed survivors who developed an SN1 of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) had a cumulative incidence of subsequent malignant neoplasm (SMN; ie, malignancies excluding NMSC) of 20.3% (95% CI, 13.0% to 27.6%) at 15 years compared with only 10.7% (95% CI, 7.2% to 14.2%) for those who were exposed to radiation and whose SN1 was an invasive SMN (excluding NMSC). Conclusion Multiple SNs are common among aging survivors of childhood cancer. SN1 of NMSC identifies a population at high risk for invasive SMN. Survivors not exposed to radiation who develop multiple SNs represent a population of interest for studying genetic susceptibility to neoplasia. PMID:21709189

The in vitro metabolism of irinotecan (CPT-11) by carboxylesterase and β-glucuronidase in human colorectal tumours

PubMed Central

Tobin, Peter; Clarke, Stephen; Seale, J Paul; Lee, Soon; Solomon, Michael; Aulds, Sally; Crawford, Michael; Gallagher, James; Eyers, Tony; Rivory, Laurent

2006-01-01

Aims Irinotecan (CPT-11) is a prodrug that is used to treat metastatic colorectal cancer. It is activated to the topoisomerase poison SN-38 by carboxylesterases. SN-38 is metabolized to its inactive glucuronide, SN-38 glucuronide. The aim of this study was to determine, the reactivation of SN-38 from SN-38 glucuronide by β-glucuronidase may represent a significant pathway of SN-38 formation. Methods The production of SN-38 from irinotecan and SN-38 glucuronide (2.4, 9.6 and 19.2 µm) was measured in homogenates of human colorectal tumour, and matched normal colon mucosa from 21 patients). Results The rate of conversion of irinotecan (9.6 µM) was lower in tumour tissue than matched normal colon mucosa samples (0.30 ± 0.14 pmol min−1 mg−1 protein and 0.77 ± 0.59 pmol min−1 mg−1 protein, respectively; P < 0.005). In contrast, no significant difference was observed in β-glucuronidase activity between tumour and matched normal colon samples (4.56 ± 6.9 pmol min−1 mg−1 protein and 3.62 ± 2.95 pmol min−1 mg−1 protein, respectively, using 9.6 µM SN-38 glucuronide; P > 0.05). β-Glucuronidase activity in tumour correlated to that observed in matched normal tissue (r2 > 0.23, P < 0.05), whereas this was not the case for carboxylesterase activity. At equal concentrations of irinotecan and SN-38 glucuronide, the rate of β-glucuronidase-mediated SN-38 production was higher than that formed from irinotecan in both tumour and normal tissue (P < 0.05). However, at concentrations that reflect the relative plasma concentrations observed in patients, the rate of SN-38 production via these two pathways was comparable. Conclusions Tumour β-glucuronidase may play a significant role in the exposure of tumours to SN-38 in vivo. PMID:16842384

Investigating Sodium Storage Mechanisms in Tin Anodes: A Combined Pair Distribution Function Analysis, Density Functional Theory, and Solid-State NMR Approach.

PubMed

Stratford, Joshua M; Mayo, Martin; Allan, Phoebe K; Pecher, Oliver; Borkiewicz, Olaf J; Wiaderek, Kamila M; Chapman, Karena W; Pickard, Chris J; Morris, Andrew J; Grey, Clare P

2017-05-31

The alloying mechanism of high-capacity tin anodes for sodium-ion batteries is investigated using a combined theoretical and experimental approach. Ab initio random structure searching (AIRSS) and high-throughput screening using a species-swap method provide insights into a range of possible sodium-tin structures. These structures are linked to experiments using both average and local structure probes in the form of operando pair distribution function analysis, X-ray diffraction, and 23 Na solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR), along with ex situ 119 Sn ssNMR. Through this approach, we propose structures for the previously unidentified crystalline and amorphous intermediates. The first electrochemical process of sodium insertion into tin results in the conversion of crystalline tin into a layered structure consisting of mixed Na/Sn occupancy sites intercalated between planar hexagonal layers of Sn atoms (approximate stoichiometry NaSn 3 ). Following this, NaSn 2 , which is predicted to be thermodynamically stable by AIRSS, forms; this contains hexagonal layers closely related to NaSn 3 , but has no tin atoms between the layers. NaSn 2 is broken down into an amorphous phase of approximate composition Na 1.2 Sn. Reverse Monte Carlo refinements of an ab initio molecular dynamics model of this phase show that the predominant tin connectivity is chains. Further reaction with sodium results in the formation of structures containing Sn-Sn dumbbells, which interconvert through a solid-solution mechanism. These structures are based upon Na 5-x Sn 2 , with increasing occupancy of one of its sodium sites commensurate with the amount of sodium added. ssNMR results indicate that the final product, Na 15 Sn 4 , can store additional sodium atoms as an off-stoichiometry compound (Na 15+x Sn 4 ) in a manner similar to Li 15 Si 4 .

Tin Sulfide Phase Exploration: Dependence of Optoelectronic Properties on Microstructural Growth and Chemical Variations in Thin Film Material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banai, Rona Elinor

Herzenbergite tin (II) monosulfide (alpha-SnS) is of growing interest as a photovoltaic material because of its interesting optoelectronic properties and Earth abundance. It has several stable phases due to the dual valency of tin. As a layered material, alpha-SnS has the ability to form varying microstructure with differing properties. For this dissertation, films were RF sputtered from a SnS and SnS2 target to produce films with varying microstructure. Growth of high energy phases includin beta-SnS and amorphous SnS2 were possible through sputtering. Films of mixed or strained phase resulted from both targets. Pure phase alpha-SnS was made by annealing amorphous SnS2 films. Microstructure was measured using grazing incidence XRD and field emission SEM. The impact of microstructure was seen for both optical and electronic properties. Films were evaluated using spectroscopic ellipsometry as well as unpolarized UV-Vis transmission and reflection measurements. Optical modeling of the films is sufficient for developing models corresponding to specific microstructure, enabling it to be an inexpensive tool for studying the material. Absorption coefficient and band gap were also derived for these films. Films deposited with the SnS target had resistivity values up to 20,000 O-cm. Annealing of amorphous films deposited from the SnS2 target resulted in alpha-SnS films with much lower resistivity (<50 O-cm) values. This method for producing alpha-SnS offered better control of the phase, microstructure and therefore optoelectronic properties. While SnS films made from either target were typically p-type, sputtering of the SnS2 target with substrate heating resulted in n-type SnSx of a potentially new phase similar to SnS2 but with a 2:3 tin-to-sulfur ratio. Resistivity of those films typically ranged from 1 to 40 O-cm. Both p- and n-type films made from the SnS2 target had high carrier concentration of 10 17 to 1020 cm-3, but films had low Hall mobility such that conductivity type was not determined. Titanium, molybdenum, and aluminum contacts were tested for Ohmic and Schottky behavior using transmission line measurements. The complexity of its microstructure and flexibility in formation of varying phase and altered phase presents challenges to its use as a PV absorber.

25 CFR 522.7 - Disapproval of a class III ordinance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Disapproval of a class III ordinance. 522.7 Section 522.7 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.7 Disapproval of a class III...

25 CFR 522.5 - Disapproval of a class II ordinance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Disapproval of a class II ordinance. 522.5 Section 522.5 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR APPROVAL OF CLASS II AND CLASS III ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS SUBMISSION OF GAMING ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION § 522.5 Disapproval of a class II...

Ordinary Least Squares Estimation of Parameters in Exploratory Factor Analysis with Ordinal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Chun-Ting; Zhang, Guangjian; Edwards, Michael C.

2012-01-01

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is often conducted with ordinal data (e.g., items with 5-point responses) in the social and behavioral sciences. These ordinal variables are often treated as if they were continuous in practice. An alternative strategy is to assume that a normally distributed continuous variable underlies each ordinal variable.…

Local Area Co-Ordination: Strengthening Support for People with Learning Disabilities in Scotland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stalker, Kirsten Ogilvie; Malloch, Margaret; Barry, Monica Anne; Watson, June Ann

2008-01-01

This paper reports the findings of a study commissioned by the Scottish Executive which examined the introduction and implementation of local area co-ordination (LAC) in Scotland. A questionnaire about their posts was completed by 44 local area co-ordinators, interviews were conducted with 35 local area co-ordinators and 14 managers and case…

Structural and spectroscopic study of mechanically synthesized SnO2 nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vij, Ankush; Kumar, Ravi

2016-05-01

We report the single step synthesis of SnO2 nanostructures using high energy mechanical attrition method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern reveals the single phase rutile structure with appreciable broadening of diffraction peaks, which is a signature of nanostructure formation. The average crystallite size of SnO2 nanostructures has been calculated to be ~15 nm. The micro-Raman study reveals the shifting of A1g Raman mode towards lower wave number, which is correlated with the nanostructure formation.

Projection of the Liquidus Surface of the Co - Sn - Bi System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abilov, Ch. I.; Allazov, M. R.; Sadygova, S. G.

2016-11-01

The crystallization behavior of phases in alloys of the Co - Sn - Bi system is studied by the methods of differential thermal (DTA), x-ray phase (XRP) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses and hardness measurement. The projection of the liquidus surface is plotted. The boundaries of layering, the development of the monovariant processes, and the coordinates of the nonvariant equilibrium compositions are determined. Compositions of (Co3Sn2)1 - x Bi x solid solutions suitable for the production of antifriction materials are suggested.

Field emission from in situ-grown vertically aligned SnO2 nanowire arrays

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Vertically aligned SnO2 nanowire arrays have been in situ fabricated on a silicon substrate via thermal evaporation method in the presence of a Pt catalyst. The field emission properties of the SnO2 nanowire arrays have been investigated. Low turn-on fields of 1.6 to 2.8 V/μm were obtained at anode-cathode separations of 100 to 200 μm. The current density fluctuation was lower than 5% during a 120-min stability test measured at a fixed applied electric field of 5 V/μm. The favorable field-emission performance indicates that the fabricated SnO2 nanowire arrays are promising candidates as field emitters. PMID:22330800

Study on preparation of SnO2-TiO2/Nano-graphite composite anode and electro-catalytic degradation of ceftriaxone sodium.

PubMed

Guo, Xiaolei; Wan, Jiafeng; Yu, Xiujuan; Lin, Yuhui

2016-12-01

In order to improve the electro-catalytic activity and catalytic reaction rate of graphite-like material, Tin dioxide-Titanium dioxide/Nano-graphite (SnO 2 -TiO 2 /Nano-G) composite was synthesized by a sol-gel method and SnO 2 -TiO 2 /Nano-G electrode was prepared in hot-press approach. The composite was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared, Raman, N 2 adsorption-desorption, scanning electrons microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The electrochemical performance of the SnO 2 -TiO 2 /Nano-G anode electrode was investigated via cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The electro-catalytic performance was evaluated by the degradation of ceftriaxone sodium and the yield of ·OH radicals in the reaction system. The results demonstrated that TiO 2 , SnO 2 and Nano-G were composited successfully, and TiO 2 and SnO 2 particles dispersed on the surface and interlamination of the Nano-G uniformly. The specific surface area of SnO 2 modified anode was higher than that of TiO 2 /Nano-G anode and the degradation rate of ceftriaxone sodium within 120 min on SnO 2 -TiO 2 /Nano-G electrode was 98.7% at applied bias of 2.0 V. The highly efficient electro-chemical property of SnO 2 -TiO 2 /Nano-G electrode was attributed to the admirable conductive property of the Nano-G and SnO 2 -TiO 2 /Nano-G electrode. Moreover, the contribution of reactive species ·OH was detected, indicating the considerable electro-catalytic activity of SnO 2 -TiO 2 /Nano-G electrode. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nonlinear stochastic interacting dynamics and complexity of financial gasket fractal-like lattice percolation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wei; Wang, Jun

2018-05-01

A novel nonlinear stochastic interacting price dynamics is proposed and investigated by the bond percolation on Sierpinski gasket fractal-like lattice, aim to make a new approach to reproduce and study the complexity dynamics of real security markets. Fractal-like lattices correspond to finite graphs with vertices and edges, which are similar to fractals, and Sierpinski gasket is a well-known example of fractals. Fractional ordinal array entropy and fractional ordinal array complexity are introduced to analyze the complexity behaviors of financial signals. To deeper comprehend the fluctuation characteristics of the stochastic price evolution, the complexity analysis of random logarithmic returns and volatility are preformed, including power-law distribution, fractional sample entropy and fractional ordinal array complexity. For further verifying the rationality and validity of the developed stochastic price evolution, the actual security market dataset are also studied with the same statistical methods for comparison. The empirical results show that this stochastic price dynamics can reconstruct complexity behaviors of the actual security markets to some extent.

Discrete ordinates solutions of nongray radiative transfer with diffusely reflecting walls

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Menart, J. A.; Lee, Haeok S.; Kim, Tae-Kuk

1993-01-01

Nongray gas radiation in a plane parallel slab bounded by gray, diffusely reflecting walls is studied using the discrete ordinates method. The spectral equation of transfer is averaged over a narrow wavenumber interval preserving the spectral correlation effect. The governing equations are derived by considering the history of multiple reflections between two reflecting wails. A closure approximation is applied so that only a finite number of reflections have to be explicitly included. The closure solutions express the physics of the problem to a very high degree and show relatively little error. Numerical solutions are obtained by applying a statistical narrow-band model for gas properties and a discrete ordinates code. The net radiative wail heat fluxes and the radiative source distributions are obtained for different temperature profiles. A zeroth-degree formulation, where no wall reflection is handled explicitly, is sufficient to predict the radiative transfer accurately for most cases considered, when compared with increasingly accurate solutions based on explicitly tracing a larger number of wail reflections without any closure approximation applied.

Nanocolloid substrate for surface enhanced Raman scattering sensor for biological applications

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Biopolymer encapsulated with silver nanoparticle (BeSN) substrate was prepared by chemical reduction method with silver nitrate, trisodium citrate in addition to polyvinyl alcohol. Optical properties of BeSN were analyzed with UV/Vis spectroscopy and hyperspectral microscope imaging. UV/Visible spec...

Ultrasonic correlator versus signal averager as a signal to noise enhancement instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kishoni, Doron; Pietsch, Benjamin E.

1989-01-01

Ultrasonic inspection of thick and attenuating materials is hampered by the reduced amplitudes of the propagated waves to a degree that the noise is too high to enable meaningful interpretation of the data. In order to overcome the low Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio, a correlation technique has been developed. In this method, a continuous pseudo-random pattern generated digitally is transmitted and detected by piezoelectric transducers. A correlation is performed in the instrument between the received signal and a variable delayed image of the transmitted one. The result is shown to be proportional to the impulse response of the investigated material, analogous to a signal received from a pulsed system, with an improved S/N ratio. The degree of S/N enhancement depends on the sweep rate. This paper describes the correlator, and compares it to the method of enhancing S/N ratio by averaging the signals. The similarities and differences between the two are highlighted and the potential advantage of the correlator system is explained.

Ultrasonic correlator versus signal averager as a signal to noise enhancement instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kishoni, Doron; Pietsch, Benjamin E.

1990-01-01

Ultrasonic inspection of thick and attenuating materials is hampered by the reduce amplitudes of the propagated waves to a degree that the noise is too high to enable meaningful interpretation of the data. In order to overcome the low signal to noise ratio (S/N), a correlation technique has been developed. In this method, a continuous pseudo-random pattern generated digitally is transmitted and detected by piezoelectric transducers. A correlation is performed in the instrument between the received signal and a variable delayed image of the transmitted one. The result is shown to be proportional to the impulse response of the investigated material, analogous to a signal received from a pulsed system, with an improved S/N ratio. The degree of S/N enhancement depends on the sweep rate. The correlator is described, and it is compared to the method of enhancing S/N ratio by averaging the signals. The similarities and differences between the two are highlighted and the potential advantage of the correlator system is explained.

Predicting the Drop Performance of Solder Joints by Evaluating the Elastic Strain Energy from High-Speed Ball Pull Tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

You, Taehoon; Kim, Yunsung; Kim, Jina; Lee, Jaehong; Jung, Byungwook; Moon, Jungtak; Choe, Heeman

2009-03-01

Despite being expensive and time consuming, board-level drop testing has been widely used to assess the drop or impact resistance of the solder joints in handheld microelectronic devices, such as cellphones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). In this study, a new test method, which is much simpler and quicker, is proposed. The method involves evaluating the elastic strain energy and relating it to the impact resistance of the solder joint by considering the Young’s modulus of the bulk solder and the fracture stress of the solder joint during a ball pull test at high strain rates. The results show that solder joints can be ranked in order of descending elastic strain energy as follows: Sn-37Pb, Sn-1Ag-0.5Cu, Sn-3Ag-0.5Cu, and Sn-4Ag-0.5Cu. This order is consistent with the actual drop performances of the samples.

Aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition of gas sensitive SnO2 and Au-functionalised SnO2 nanorods via a non-catalysed vapour solid (VS) mechanism

PubMed Central

Vallejos, Stella; Selina, Soultana; Annanouch, Fatima Ezahra; Gràcia, Isabel; Llobet, Eduard; Blackman, Chris

2016-01-01

Tin oxide nanorods (NRs) are vapour synthesised at relatively lower temperatures than previously reported and without the need for substrate pre-treatment, via a vapour-solid mechanism enabled using an aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition method. Results demonstrate that the growth of SnO2 NRs is promoted by a compression of the nucleation rate parallel to the substrate and a decrease of the energy barrier for growth perpendicular to the substrate, which are controlled via the deposition conditions. This method provides both single-step formation of the SnO2 NRs and their integration with silicon micromachined platforms, but also allows for in-situ functionalization of the NRs with gold nanoparticles via co-deposition with a gold precursor. The functional properties are demonstrated for gas sensing, with microsensors using functionalised NRs demonstrating enhanced sensing properties towards H2 compared to those based on non-functionalised NRs. PMID:27334232

SN 2015ba: a Type IIP supernova with a long plateau.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dastidar, Raya; Misra, Kuntal; Hosseinzadeh, G.; Pastorello, A.; Pumo, M. L.; Valenti, S.; McCully, C.; Tomasella, L.; Arcavi, I.; Elias-Rosa, N.; Singh, Mridweeka; Gangopadhyay, Anjasha; Howell, D. A.; Morales-Garoffolo, Antonia; Zampieri, L.; Kumar, Brijesh; Turatto, M.; Benetti, S.; Tartaglia, L.; Ochner, P.; Sahu, D. K.; Anupama, G. C.; Pandey, S. B.

2018-06-01

We present optical photometry and spectroscopy from about a week after explosion to ˜272 d of an atypical Type IIP supernova, SN 2015ba, which exploded in the edge-on galaxy IC 1029. SN 2015ba is a luminous event with an absolute V-band magnitude of -17.1 ± 0.2 mag at 50 d since explosion and has a long plateau lasting for ˜123 d. The distance to the SN is estimated to be 34.8 ± 0.7 Mpc using the expanding photosphere and standard candle methods. High-velocity H Balmer components constant with time are observed in the late-plateau phase spectra of SN 2015ba, which suggests a possible role of circumstellar interaction at these phases. Both hydrodynamical and analytical modelling suggest a massive progenitor of SN 2015ba with a pre-explosion mass of 24-26 M⊙. However, the nebular spectra of SN 2015ba exhibit insignificant levels of oxygen, which is otherwise expected from a massive progenitor. This might be suggestive of the non-monotonical link between O-core masses and the zero-age main-sequence mass of pre-supernova stars and/or uncertainties in the mixing scenario in the ejecta of supernovae.

Single crystal growth and characterization of kagomé-lattice shandites Co3Sn2-xInxS2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kassem, Mohamed A.; Tabata, Yoshikazu; Waki, Takeshi; Nakamura, Hiroyuki

2015-09-01

Single crystals of the shandite-type half metallic ferromagnet Co3Sn2S2, and its In-substituted compounds, Co3Sn2-xInxS2 (0

Study of Sn and Mg doping effects on TiO2/Ge stack structure by combinatorial synthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagata, Takahiro; Suzuki, Yoshihisa; Yamashita, Yoshiyuki; Ogura, Atsushi; Chikyow, Toyohiro

2018-04-01

The effects of Sn and Mg doping of a TiO2 film on a Ge substrate were investigated to improve leakage current properties and Ge diffusion into the TiO2 film. For systematic analysis, dopant-composition-spread TiO2 samples with dopant concentrations of up to 20.0 at. % were fabricated by RF sputtering and a combinatorial method. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the instability of Mg doping of TiO2 at dopant concentrations above 10.5 at. %. Both Sn and Mg dopants reduced Ge diffusion into TiO2. Sn doping enhanced the crystallization of the rutile phase, which is a high-dielectric-constant phase, although the Mg-doped TiO2 film indicated an amorphous structure. Sn-doping indicated systematic leakage current reduction with increasing dopant concentration. Doping at Sn concentrations higher than 16.8 at. % improved the leakage properties (˜10-7 A/cm2 at -3.0 V) and capacitance-voltage properties of metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) operation. The Sn doping of TiO2 may be useful for interface control and as a dielectric material for Ge-based MIS capacitors.

Evaluation of the amalgamation reaction of experimental Ag-Sn-Cu alloys containing Pd using a mercury plating technique.

PubMed

Koike, Marie; Ferracane, Jack L; Fujii, Hiroyuki; Okabe, Toru

2003-09-01

A mercury plating technique was used to determine the phases forming on experimental Ag-Sn-Cu alloy powders (with and without Pd) exposed to electrolytically deposited mercury. Four series of alloy powders were made: a) 1.5% Pd with 10-14% Cu (CU series); b) 1.0% Pd with 10-14% Cu (1PD series); c) 1.5% Pd with different ratios of Ag3Sn (gamma) to Ag4Sn (beta) with 12% Cu (AGSN series); and d) 9-13% Cu with no Pd (NOPD series). Each powder was pressed on a freshly prepared amalgam specimen made from the same powder and metallographically polished until cross sections appeared; mercury was electroplated on the alloy particles. Alloy powders, amalgams and electroplated specimens were examined using XRD and SEM/EDS. XRD confirmed the presence of gamma2 in amalgams made from alloys with Cu < 13% or with Ag3Sn/Ag4Sn > 0.8. Specimens with moderately plated Hg showed gamma1 (Ag2Hg3) polyhedra and eta' Cu6Sn5, but not gamma2. This method effectively identifies alloys prone to forming gamma2.

Facile fabrication of hollow mesosphere of crystalline SnO2 nanoparticles and synthesis of SnO2@SWCNTs@Reduced Graphene Oxide nanocomposite as efficient Pt-Free counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, Muhammad Wasim; Yao, Jixin; Zhang, Kang; Zuo, Xueqin; Yang, Qun; Tang, Huaibao; Ur Rehman, Khalid Mehmood; Li, Guang; Wu, Mingzai; Zhu, Kerong; Zhang, Haijun

2018-06-01

In this research, SnO2@SWCNTs@Reduced Graphene Oxide based nanocomposite was synthesized by a one step hydrothermal method and reported new cost effective platinum-free counter-electrodes (CEs) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The CEs were formed by using the nanocomposites with the help of a pipette using a doctor-blade technique. The efficiency of this nanocomposite revealed significant elctrocatalytic properties upon falling the triiodide, possessing to synergistic effect of SnO2 nano particles and improved conductivity when SWCNTs dispersed on graphene sheet. Therefore, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of prepared SnO2@SWCNTs@RGO nanocomposite CE attained of (6.1%) in DSSCs which is equivalent to the value (6.2%) which attained to the value (6.2%) with pure Pt CE as a reference. SnO2@SWCNTs@RGO nanocomposite CEs give more stable catalytic activities for triiodide reduction than SnO2 and SWCNTs CEs in the cyclic voltammetry (CV) analysis. Furthermore, to the subsistence of graphene oxide, the nanocomposite acquired both higher stability and efficiency in the nanocomposite.

Thickness-dependently enhanced photodetection performance of vertically grown SnS2 nanoflakes with large size and high production.

PubMed

Jia, Xiansheng; Tang, Chengchun; Pan, Ruhao; Long, Yun-Ze; Gu, Changzhi; Li, Junjie

2018-05-10

Photodetection based on Two-dimensional (2D) SnS2 has attracted a growing interest due to its superiority in response rate and responsivity, but high-quality growth and high performance photodetecting of 2D SnS2still face great challenges. Here, high-quality SnS2 nanoflakes with large-size and high-production are vertically grown on Si substrate by a modified CVD method, having an average size of 30 m with different thicknesses. Then a single SnS2 nanoflake-based phototransistor was fabricated to obtain a high current on/off ratio of 107 and excellent performances in photodetection, including fast response rates, low dark current, high responsivity and detectivity. Specifically, the SnS2 nanoflakes show the thickness-dependent photodetection capability and the highest responsivity of 354.4 A W-1 is obtained at the average thickness of 100.5 nm. A sensitized process using HfO2 nanolayer can further enhance the responsivity up to 1922 A W-1. Our work provides an efficient path to select SnS2 crystal samples with the optimal thickness as promising candidates for high-performance optoelectronic applications.

Level densities and γ-ray strength functions in Sn isotopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toft, H. K.; Larsen, A. C.; Agvaanluvsan, U.; Bürger, A.; Guttormsen, M.; Mitchell, G. E.; Nyhus, H. T.; Schiller, A.; Siem, S.; Syed, N. U. H.; Voinov, A.

2010-06-01

The nuclear level densities of Sn118,119 and the γ-ray strength functions of Sn116,118,119 below the neutron separation energy are extracted with the Oslo method using the (He3,αγ) and (He3,He3'γ) reactions. The level-density function of Sn119 displays steplike structures. The microcanonical entropies are deduced from the level densities, and the single neutron entropy of Sn119 is determined to be 1.7 ± 0.2 kB. Results from a combinatorial model support the interpretation that some of the low-energy steps in the level density function are caused by neutron pair breaking. An enhancement in all the γ-ray strength functions of Sn116-119, compared to standard models for radiative strength, is observed for the γ-ray energy region of ≃4-11 MeV. These small resonances all have a centroid energy of 8.0(1) MeV and an integrated strength corresponding to 1.7(9)% of the classical Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule. The Sn resonances may be due to electric dipole neutron skin oscillations or to an enhancement of the giant magnetic dipole resonance.

Growth of Compound Semiconductors in a Low Gravity Environment: Microgravity Growth of PbSnTe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fripp, Archibald L.; Debnam, William J.; Rosch, William R.; Baker, N. R.; Narayanan, R.

1999-01-01

The growth of the alloy compound semiconductor lead tin telluride (PbSnTe) was chosen for a microgravity flight experiment in the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF), on the United States Microgravity Payload-3 (USMP-3) and on USMP-4 Space Shuttle flights in February, 1996, and November, 1997. The objective of these experiments was to determine the effect of the reduction in convection, during the growth process, brought about by the microgravity environment. The properties of devices made from PbSnTe are dependent on the ratio of the elemental components in the starting crystal. Compositional uniformity in the crystal is only obtained if there is no significant mixing in the liquid during growth. Lead tin telluride is an alloy of PbTe and SnTe. The technological importance of PbSnTe lies in its band gap versus composition diagram which has a zero energy crossing at approximately 40% SnTe. This facilitates the construction of long wavelength (>6 micron) infrared detectors and lasers. Observations and experimental methods of crystal growth of PbSnTe on both Space Shuttle Flights are presented.

Hierarchical MoO3/SnS2 core-shell nanowires with enhanced electrochemical performance for lithium-ion batteries.

PubMed

Hu, Chenli; Shu, Haibo; Shen, Zihong; Zhao, Tianfeng; Liang, Pei; Chen, Xiaoshuang

2018-06-27

Two-dimensional (2D) tin disulfide (SnS2) is a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of its high theoretical capacity. The main challenges associated with the SnS2 electrodes are the poor cycling stability and low rate capability due to structural degradation in the discharge/charge process. Here, a facile two-step synthesis method is developed to fabricate hierarchical MoO3/SnS2 core-shell nanowires, where ultrathin SnS2 nanosheets are vertically anchored on MoO3 nanobelts to induce a heterointerface. Benefiting from the unique structural and compositional characteristics, the hierarchical MoO3/SnS2 core-shell nanowires exhibit excellent electrochemical performance and deliver a high reversible capacity of 504 mA h g-1 after 100 stable cycles at a current density of 100 mA g-1, which is far superior to the MoO3 and SnS2 electrodes. An analysis of lithiation dynamics based on ab initio molecular dynamics simulations demonstrates that the formation of a hierarchical MoO3/SnS2 core-shell heterostructure can effectively suppress the rapid dissociation of shell-layer SnS2 nanosheets via the interfacial coupling effect and the central MoO3 backbone can trap and support the polysulfide in the discharge/charge process. The results are responsible for the high storage capacity and rate capability of MoO3/SnS2 electrode materials. This work provides a novel design strategy for constructing high-performance electrodes for LIBs.

SN-38 loaded polymeric micelles to enhance cancer therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gu, Quanrong; Xing, James Z.; Huang, Min; He, Chuan; Chen, Jie

2012-05-01

7-Ethyl-10-hydroxycamptothecin (SN-38) loaded poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (Pluronic F-108) and poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PEG-b-PCL) nanoparticles were successfully prepared by a modified film hydration method and characterized by scanning electric microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Satisfactory drug loading of 20.73 ± 0.66% and a high encapsulation efficiency of 83.83 ± 1.32% were achieved. The SN-38 nanoparticles (SN-38 NPs) can completely disperse into a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) medium to produce a clear aqueous suspension that remains stable for up to three days. Total drug releases were 67.91% and 91.09% after 24 h in a PBS or fetal bovine serum (FBS) medium. Half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) tests of SN-38 and SN-38 NPs on A549 lung cells produced results of 200.0 ± 14.9 ng ml-1 and 80.0 ± 4.6 ng ml-1, respectively. Similarly, IC50 tests of SN-38 and SN-38 NPs on MCF-7 breast cells yielded results of 16.0 ± 0.7 ng ml-1 and 8.0 ± 0.5 ng ml-1, respectively. These in vitro IC50 studies show significant (p < 0.01) enhancement of the SN-38 NP drug efficiency in killing cancer cells in comparison to the free drug SN-38 control. All the materials used for this nanoformulation are approved by the US FDA, with the virtue of extremely low toxicity to normal cells.

Enhanced photo-, sono- and sonophotocatalysis of methylene blue via SnO2 nanoparticle supported on nanographene platelets (NGP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paramarta, V.; Taufik, A.; Saleh, R.

2017-07-01

In our previous study, we have reported the catalytic (photo- and sono-) performance of SnO2 nanoparticles in methylene blue (MB) removal from aqueous solution. In this study, SnO2/nanographene platelets (NGP) composites were fabricated by depositing SnO2 nanoparticle onto nanographene platelets surface to develop photo-, sono-, and sonophotocatalysts, SnO2 nanoparticle, and SnO2/NGP composites were successfully synthesized using the sol-gel and coprecipitation method, respectively. The nanographene platelets (NGP) content was varied from 5, 10, and 15 weight percentages (wt.%). The optical properties and thermal stability of the samples were characterized using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The catalytic ability of the samples was investigated using photo-, sono-, and sonophoto degradation of MB which was observed when nanographene platelets (NGP) were added into SnO2 nanocomposite. The photo-, sono- and sonophotocatalytic activities of SnO2/NGP composites on dyes were analyzed by measuring the change in absorbance of dyes under UV-spectrophotometer. The degradation of the organic dyes has been calculated by monitoring the degradation in concentration of the dyes before and after irradiation of UV light, ultrasound, and both of them respectively. The influence of other parameters such as catalyst dosage, pH, and scavenger have also been investigated. The results showed that SnO2/NGP composite with 10 weight percent (wt.%) has better catalytic performance than pure SnO2 nanoparticle. The reusability tests have also been done to ensure the stability of the used catalysts.

Synthesis of tin, silver and their alloy nanoparticles for lead-free interconnect applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Hongjin

SnPb solders have long been used as interconnect materials in microelectronic packaging. Due to the health threat of lead to human beings, the use of lead-free interconnect materials is imperative. Three kinds of lead-free interconnect materials are being investigated, namely lead-free metal solders (SnAg, SnAgCu, etc.), electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). However, there are still limitations for the full utilization of these lead-free interconnect materials in the microelectronic packaging, such as higher melting point of lead-free metal solders, lower electrical conductivity of the ECAs and poor adhesion of CNTs to substrates. This thesis is devoted to the research and development of low processing temperature lead-free interconnect materials for microelectronic packaging applications with an emphasis on fundamental studies of nanoparticles synthesis, dispersion and oxidation prevention, and nanocomposites fabrication. Oxide-free tin (Sn), tin/silver (96.5Sn3.5Ag) and tin/silver/copper (96.5Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu) alloy nanoparticles with different sizes were synthesized by a low temperature chemical reduction method. Both size dependent melting point and latent heat of fusion of the synthesized nanoparticles were obtained. The nano lead-free solder pastes/composites created by dispersing the SnAg or SnAgCu alloy nanoparticles into an acidic type flux spread and wet on the cleaned copper surface at 220 to 230°C. This study demonstrated the feasibility of nano sized SnAg or SnAgCu alloy particle pastes for low processing temperature lead-free interconnect applications in microelectronic packaging.

Reactivation and reuse of TiO2-SnS2 composite catalyst for solar-driven water treatment.

PubMed

Kovacic, Marin; Kopcic, Nina; Kusic, Hrvoje; Stangar, Urska Lavrencic; Dionysiou, Dionysios D; Bozic, Ana Loncaric

2018-01-01

One of the most important features of photocatalytic materials intended to be used for water treatment is their long-term stability. The study is focused on the application of thermal and chemical treatments for the reactivation of TiO 2 -SnS 2 composite photocatalyst, prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and immobilized on the glass support using titania/silica binder. Such a catalytic system was applied in solar-driven treatment, solar/TiO 2 -SnS 2 /H 2 O 2 , for the purification of water contaminated with diclofenac (DCF). The effectiveness of studied reactivation methods for retaining TiO 2 -SnS 2 activity in consecutive cycles was evaluated on basis of DCF removal and conversion, and TOC removal and mineralization of organic content. Besides these water quality parameters, biodegradability changes in DCF aqueous solution treated by solar/TiO 2 -SnS 2 /H 2 O 2 process using simply reused (air-dried) and thermally and chemically reactivated composite photocatalyst through six consecutive cycles were monitored. It was established that both thermal and chemical reactivation retain TiO 2 -SnS 2 activity in the second cycle of its reuse. However, both treatments caused the alteration in the TiO 2 -SnS 2 morphology due to the partial transformation of visible-active SnS 2 into non-active SnO 2 . Such alteration, repeated through consecutive reactivation and reuse, was reflected through gradual activity loss of TiO 2 -SnS 2 composite in applied solar-driven water treatment.

Tourism and hotel revenues before and after passage of smoke-free restaurant ordinances.

PubMed

Glantz, S A; Charlesworth, A

1999-05-26

Claims that ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants will adversely affect tourism have been used to argue against passing such ordinances. Data exist regarding the validity of these claims. To determine the changes in hotel revenues and international tourism after passage of smoke-free restaurant ordinances in locales where the effect has been debated. Comparison of hotel revenues and tourism rates before and after passage of 100% smoke-free restaurant ordinances and comparison with US hotel revenue overall. Three states (California, Utah, and Vermont) and 6 cities (Boulder, Colo; Flagstaff, Ariz; Los Angeles, Calif; Mesa, Ariz; New York, NY; and San Francisco, Calif) in which the effect on tourism of smoke-free restaurant ordinances had been debated. Hotel room revenues and hotel revenues as a fraction of total retail sales compared with preordinance revenues and overall US revenues. In constant 1997 dollars, passage of the smoke-free restaurant ordinance was associated with a statistically significant increase in the rate of change of hotel revenues in 4 localities, no significant change in 4 localities, and a significant slowing in the rate of increase (but not a decrease) in 1 locality. There was no significant change in the rate of change of hotel revenues as a fraction of total retail sales (P=.16) or total US hotel revenues associated with the ordinances when pooled across all localities (P = .93). International tourism was either unaffected or increased following implementation of the smoke-free ordinances. Smoke-free ordinances do not appear to adversely affect, and may increase, tourist business.

Co-ordinated action between youth-care and sports: facilitators and barriers.

PubMed

Hermens, Niels; de Langen, Lisanne; Verkooijen, Kirsten T; Koelen, Maria A

2017-07-01

In the Netherlands, youth-care organisations and community sports clubs are collaborating to increase socially vulnerable youths' participation in sport. This is rooted in the idea that sports clubs are settings for youth development. As not much is known about co-ordinated action involving professional care organisations and community sports clubs, this study aims to generate insight into facilitators of and barriers to successful co-ordinated action between these two organisations. A cross-sectional study was conducted using in-depth semi-structured qualitative interview data. In total, 23 interviews were held at five locations where co-ordinated action between youth-care and sports takes place. Interviewees were youth-care workers, representatives from community sports clubs, and Care Sport Connectors who were assigned to encourage and manage the co-ordinated action. Using inductive coding procedures, this study shows that existing and good relationships, a boundary spanner, care workers' attitudes, knowledge and competences of the participants, organisational policies and ambitions, and some elements external to the co-ordinated action were reported to be facilitators or barriers. In addition, the participants reported that the different facilitators and barriers influenced the success of the co-ordinated action at different stages of the co-ordinated action. Future research is recommended to further explore the role of boundary spanners in co-ordinated action involving social care organisations and community sports clubs, and to identify what external elements (e.g. events, processes, national policies) are turning points in the formation, implementation and continuation of such co-ordinated action. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evaluation of MODFLOW-LGR in connection with a synthetic regional-scale model

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vilhelmsen, T.N.; Christensen, S.; Mehl, S.W.

2012-01-01

This work studies costs and benefits of utilizing local-grid refinement (LGR) as implemented in MODFLOW-LGR to simulate groundwater flow in a buried tunnel valley interacting with a regional aquifer. Two alternative LGR methods were used: the shared-node (SN) method and the ghost-node (GN) method. To conserve flows the SN method requires correction of sources and sinks in cells at the refined/coarse-grid interface. We found that the optimal correction method is case dependent and difficult to identify in practice. However, the results showed little difference and suggest that identifying the optimal method was of minor importance in our case. The GN method does not require corrections at the models' interface, and it uses a simpler head interpolation scheme than the SN method. The simpler scheme is faster but less accurate so that more iterations may be necessary. However, the GN method solved our flow problem more efficiently than the SN method. The MODFLOW-LGR results were compared with the results obtained using a globally coarse (GC) grid. The LGR simulations required one to two orders of magnitude longer run times than the GC model. However, the improvements of the numerical resolution around the buried valley substantially increased the accuracy of simulated heads and flows compared with the GC simulation. Accuracy further increased locally around the valley flanks when improving the geological resolution using the refined grid. Finally, comparing MODFLOW-LGR simulation with a globally refined (GR) grid showed that the refinement proportion of the model should not exceed 10% to 15% in order to secure method efficiency. ?? 2011, The Author(s). Ground Water ?? 2011, National Ground Water Association.

Structure, function and five basic needs of the global health research system

PubMed Central

Rudan, Igor; Sridhar, Devi

2016-01-01

Background Two major initiatives that were set up to support and co–ordinate global health research efforts have been largely discontinued in recent years: the Global Forum for Health Research and World Health Organization's Department for Research Policy and Cooperation. These developments provide an interesting case study into the factors that contribute to the sustainability of initiatives to support and co–ordinate global health research in the 21st century. Methods We reviewed the history of attempts to govern, support or co–ordinate research in global health. Moreover, we studied the changes and shifts in funding flows attributed to global health research. This allowed us to map the structure of the global health research system, as it has evolved under the increased funding contributions of the past decade. Bearing in mind its structure, core functions and dynamic nature, we proposed a framework on how to effectively support the system to increase its efficiency. Results Based on our framework, which charted the structure and function of the global health research system and exposed places and roles for many stakeholders within the system, five basic needs emerged: (i) to co–ordinate funding among donors more effectively; (ii) to prioritize among many research ideas; (iii) to quickly recognize results of successful research; (iv) to ensure broad and rapid dissemination of results and their accessibility; and (v) to evaluate return on investments in health research. Conclusion The global health research system has evolved rapidly and spontaneously. It has not been optimally efficient, but it is possible to identify solutions that could improve this. There are already examples of effective responses for the need of prioritization of research questions (eg, the CHNRI method), quick recognition of important research (eg, systems used by editors of the leading journals) and rapid and broadly accessible publication of the new knowledge (eg, PLoS One journal as an example). It is still necessary to develop tools that could assist donors to co–ordinate funding and ensure more equity between areas in the provided support, and to evaluate the value for money invested in health research. PMID:26401270

Survey of local forestry-related ordinances and regulations in the south

Treesearch

Jonathan J. Spink; Karry L. Haney; John L. Greene

2000-01-01

A survey of the 13 southern states was conducted in 1999-2000 to obtain a comprehensive list of forestry-related ordinances enacted by various local governments. Each ordinance was examined to determine the date of adoption, regulatory objective, and its regu1atory provisions. Based on the regulatory objective, the ordinances were categorized into five general types:...

Incorporation of Interfacial Intermetallic Morphology in Fracture Mechanism Map for Sn-Ag-Cu Solder Joints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Z.; Kumar, P.; Dutta, I.; Sidhu, R.; Renavikar, M.; Mahajan, R.

2014-01-01

A fracture mechanism map (FMM) is a powerful tool which correlates the fracture behavior of a material to its microstructural characteristics in an explicit and convenient way. In the FMM for solder joints, an effective thickness of the interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) layer ( t eff) and the solder yield strength ( σ ys,eff) are used as abscissa and ordinate axes, respectively, as these two predominantly affect the fracture behavior of solder joints. Earlier, a definition of t eff, based on the uniform thickness of IMC ( t u) and the average height of the IMC scallops ( t s), was proposed and shown to aptly explain the fracture behavior of solder joints on Cu. This paper presents a more general definition of t eff that is more widely applicable to a range of metallizations, including Cu and electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG). Using this new definition of t eff, mode I FMM for SAC387/Cu joints has been updated and its validity was confirmed. A preliminary FMM for SAC387/Cu joints with ENIG metallization is also presented.

Heavy metals in oysters, mussels and clams collected from coastal sites along the Pearl River Delta, South China.

PubMed

Fang, Zhan-Qiang; Cheung, R Y H; Wong, M H

2003-01-01

Concentrations of 8 heavy metals: cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), antimony (Sb) and tin (Sn) were examined in 3 species of bivalves ( Perna viridis, Crassostrea rivularis and Ruditapes philippinarum) collected from 25 sites along the Pearl River Delta coastal waters in the South China Sea from July to August 1996. In general, Cd, Cu, Zn and Sn concentrations in the three bivalve species collected from the Estuarine Zone were significantly higher than those collected from the Western and Eastern Zones of the Pearl River Delta, which are related to the existence of various anthropogenic activities in the catchment of the Pearl River Delta. The Western Estuarine Zone is mainly impacted hy Cr, Ni and Cu contamination. In Victoria Harbor, heavy metal contamination is mainly due to Cu and Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn concentrations in oysters were significantly higher than those in mussels and clams. This could be explained by the fact that oysters live mainly in the Estuarine Zone of the Pearl River Delta which receives most of the polluting discharges from the catchment of the Delta. During turbid condition, heavy metals( soluble or adsorbed on suspended particulates) discharged from the Delta are filtered from the water column and subsequently accumulated into the soft body tissues of oysters. Heavy metal concentrations in the three bivalve species were compared with the maximum permissible levels of heavy metals in seafood regulated by the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance, Laws of Hong Kong, and it was revealed that Cd and Cr concentrations in the three bivalve species exceeded the upper limits. At certain hotspots in the Delta, the maximum acceptable daily load for Cd was also exceeded.

Knowledge of the ordinal position of list items in pigeons.

PubMed

Scarf, Damian; Colombo, Michael

2011-10-01

Ordinal knowledge is a fundamental aspect of advanced cognition. It is self-evident that humans represent ordinal knowledge, and over the past 20 years it has become clear that nonhuman primates share this ability. In contrast, evidence that nonprimate species represent ordinal knowledge is missing from the comparative literature. To address this issue, in the present experiment we trained pigeons on three 4-item lists and then tested them with derived lists in which, relative to the training lists, the ordinal position of the items was either maintained or changed. Similar to the findings with human and nonhuman primates, our pigeons performed markedly better on the maintained lists compared to the changed lists, and displayed errors consistent with the view that they used their knowledge of ordinal position to guide responding on the derived lists. These findings demonstrate that the ability to acquire ordinal knowledge is not unique to the primate lineage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).

A High Sensitivity Isopropanol Vapor Sensor Based on Cr₂O₃-SnO₂ Heterojunction Nanocomposites via Chemical Precipitation Route.

PubMed

Jawaher, K Rackesh; Indirajith, R; Krishnan, S; Robert, R; Pasha, S K Khadheer; Deshmukh, Kalim; Sastikumar, D; Das, S Jerome

2018-08-01

Cr2O3-SnO2 heterojunction nanocomposites were prepared via chemical precipitation method. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra and Field Emission Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The XRD spectrum confirms the presence of both tetragonal rutile SnO2 and rhombohedral corundum Cr2O3 structure. Further investigation into the gas sensing performances of the prepared Cr2O3-SnO2 nanocomposites exhibited an enhanced sensitivity towards VOPs such as isopropanol, acetone, ethanol and formaldehyde. Especially, isopropanol vapor sensor shows excellent sensitivity at an operating temperature of 100 °C. The highest sensitivity for Cr2O3-SnO2 heterojunction nanocomposites indicate that these materials can be a good candidate for the production of high-performance isopropanol sensors.

Significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity of visible light responsive AgBr/Bi2Sn2O7 heterostructured composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Chaohao; Zhuang, Jing; Zhong, Liansheng; Zhong, Yan; Wang, Dianhui; Zhou, Huaiying

2017-12-01

Heterostructured AgBr/Bi2Sn2O7 photocatalysts were synthesized successfully via the ultrasonic-assisted chemical precipitation method. XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, TEM, XPS, UV-vis-DRS and PL spectroscopy were used to characterize the phase structure, morphology, chemical composition, oxidation state, and optical properties of AgBr/Bi2Sn2O7 heterojunction. The photocatalytic activity of as-prepared catalysts was evaluated by the degradation of RhB under visible light irradiation. The obtained AgBr/Bi2Sn2O7 composite with the 1:1 molar ratio exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance. Further first-principles calculations indicated that the hybridization interaction between Ag and O atoms at AgBr/Bi2Sn2O7 interface is expected to be beneficial for enhancing the charge transfer and improving the photocatalytic activity of heterostructured composites.

Effect of hydrostatic pressure and uniaxial strain on the electronic structure of Pb 1-xSn xTe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Geilhufe, Matthias; Nayak, Sanjeev K.; Thomas, Stefan

2015-12-09

The electronic structure of Pb 1–xSn xTe is studied by using the relativistic Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green function method in the framework of density functional theory. For all concentrations x, Pb 1–xSn xTe is a direct semiconductor with a narrow band gap. In contrast to pure lead telluride, tin telluride shows an inverted band characteristic close to the Fermi energy. It will be shown that this particular property can be tuned, first, by alloying PbTe and SnTe and, second, by applying hydrostatic pressure or uniaxial strain. Furthermore, the magnitude of strain needed to switch between the regular and inverted band gap canmore » be tuned by the alloy composition. In conclusion, there is a range of potential usage of Pb 1–xSn xTe for spintronic applications.« less

Structural, optical and dielectric properties of Sn0.97Ce0.03O2 nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, Ateeq; Siddique, M. Naseem; Ali, Tinku; Tripathi, P.

2018-05-01

In present work, 3% cerium doped SnO2 (Sn0.97Ce0.03O2) nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized by sol-gel method. The prepared sample has been characterized by using various techniques such as XRD, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy and LCR meter measurements. Structural Rietveld refinement of XRD data reveals that (Sn0.97Ce0.03O2) sample has a pure single phase tetragonal structure with space group (P42/mnm) without creating any impurity phase such as cerium oxide. UV-visible spectroscopy determines band gap value 3.47 eV for (Sn0.97Ce0.03O2) NPs using Tauc's relation. Dielectric constant and loss decreased with increase in frequency while ac conductivity was found to increase with increase in frequency. The observed dielectric results has been explained in the light of Maxwell-Wagner model.

Preparation and Characterization of Nanosized Bi-Doped SnO₂/Reduced Graphene Oxide 3D Hybrids for Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysis.

PubMed

Wu, Xiang-Feng; Zhang, Chen-Xu; Sun, Yang; Fu, Shi-Da; Li, Hui; Wang, Yi-Jin; Zhang, Jia-Rui; Su, Jun-Zhang; Wang, Yi-Wei; Wang, Kai-Yuan

2018-07-01

The nanosized Bi-doped SnO2/reduced graphene oxide 3D hybrids have been synthesized via one-step hydrothermal method. The structures, morphologies, photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared samples were discussed, respectively. The formation mechanism of the as-prepared hybrids was also proposed. Experimental results indicated that the usage amount of Bi2Sn2O7 obviously affected the photocatalytic performance of the as-prepared products. When it was 450 mg, the as-prepared sample possessed the band gap energy of 1.9 eV and the photocatalytic efficiency of 90% in 210 min for degradation of rhodamine B solution. In addition, triethylene tetramine and the as-prepared carbon hydrogel could act as reductant to synergistically reduce Bi2Sn2O7 into Bi-doped SnO2 particles during the formation of the hybrids.

First-excited state g factor of Te 136 by the recoil in vacuum method

DOE PAGES

Stuchbery, A. E.; Allmond, J. M.; Danchev, M.; ...

2017-07-27

The g factor of the first 2 + state of radioactive 136Te with two valence protons and two valence neutrons beyond double-magic 132Sn has been measured by the recoil in vacuum (RIV) method. The lifetime of this state is an order of magnitude longer than the lifetimes of excited states recently measured by the RIV method in Sn and Te isotopes, requiring a new evaluation of the free-ion hyperfine interactions and methodology used to determine the g factor. In this paper, the calibration data are reported and the analysis procedures are described in detail. The resultant g factor has amore » similar magnitude to the g factors of other nuclei with an equal number of valence protons and neutrons in the major shell. However, an unexpected trend is found in the g factors of the N = 84 isotones, which decrease from 136Te to 144Nd. Finally, shell model calculations with interactions derived from the CD Bonn potential show good agreement with the g factors and E2 transition rates of 2 + states around 132Sn, confirming earlier indications that 132Sn is a good doubly magic core.« less

First-excited state g factor of Te 136 by the recoil in vacuum method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stuchbery, A. E.; Allmond, J. M.; Danchev, M.

The g factor of the first 2 + state of radioactive 136Te with two valence protons and two valence neutrons beyond double-magic 132Sn has been measured by the recoil in vacuum (RIV) method. The lifetime of this state is an order of magnitude longer than the lifetimes of excited states recently measured by the RIV method in Sn and Te isotopes, requiring a new evaluation of the free-ion hyperfine interactions and methodology used to determine the g factor. In this paper, the calibration data are reported and the analysis procedures are described in detail. The resultant g factor has amore » similar magnitude to the g factors of other nuclei with an equal number of valence protons and neutrons in the major shell. However, an unexpected trend is found in the g factors of the N = 84 isotones, which decrease from 136Te to 144Nd. Finally, shell model calculations with interactions derived from the CD Bonn potential show good agreement with the g factors and E2 transition rates of 2 + states around 132Sn, confirming earlier indications that 132Sn is a good doubly magic core.« less

Crystallization kinetics and Avrami index of Sb-doped Se-Te-Sn chalcogenide glasses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwivedi, D. K.; Rao, Vandita; Mehta, N.; Chandel, N.

2018-05-01

Bulk amorphous samples of Sb-substituted Se78-xTe20Sn2Sbx (0 < x < 6) have been prepared using melt quench technique. The structure of Se78-xTe20Sn2Sbx (x = 0, 2, 4, 6) glassy alloys has been investigated using X-ray diffraction technique. Calorimetric studies of the prepared samples have been performed under non-isothermal conditions using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and glass transition temperature as well as crystallization temperature has been evaluated using DSC scans. The activation energy of crystallization kinetics (Ec) has been determined using model-free approaches such as Kissinger, Ozawa, Tang and Starink methods. The Avrami index (n) and frequency factor (Ko) have been calculated by Matusita and Augis-Benett method.

On the possibility of room temperature ferromagnetism on chunk-shape BaSnO3/ZnO core/shell nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajamanickam, N.; Jayakumar, K.; Ramachandran, K.

2018-04-01

Core/shell BaSnO3/ZnO (BS-ZO) nanostructures were prepared by oxalate precipitation method and wet-chemical method. BaSnO3 (BSO) cubic perovskite structure and ZnO hexagonal wurtzite structure were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The crystallite sizes is 23 nm, 29 nm and 27 nm for BSO, ZnO and BS-ZO, respectively. Chunk-shape and cuboids morphology observed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The magnetic properties were studied by VSM for bare and core-shell nano systems and the room temperature ferromagnetism observed for core-shell nanostructures. The BSO/ZnO shows enhanced coercivity and saturated magnetization as compared with BSO and ZnO nanostructures.

Intermetallic M--Sn.sub.5 (M=Fe, Cu, Co, Ni) compound and a method of synthesis thereof

DOEpatents

Wang, Xiao-Liang; Han, Weiqiang

2017-09-05

Novel intermetallic materials are provided that are composed of tin and one or more additional metal(s) having a formula M.sub.(1-x)-Sn.sub.5, where -0.1.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.0.5, with 0.01.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.0.4 being more preferred and the second metallic element (M) is selected from iron (Fe), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), and a combination of two or more of those metals. Due to low concentration of the second metallic element, the intermetallic compound affords an enhanced capacity applicable for electrochemical cells and may serve as an intermediate phase between Sn and MSn.sub.2. A method of synthesizing these intermetallic materials is also disclosed.

High Efficiency Dye-sensitized Solar Cells Constructed with Composites of TiO2 and the Hot-bubbling Synthesized Ultra-Small SnO2 Nanocrystals.

PubMed

Mao, Xiaoli; Zhou, Ru; Zhang, Shouwei; Ding, Liping; Wan, Lei; Qin, Shengxian; Chen, Zhesheng; Xu, Jinzhang; Miao, Shiding

2016-01-13

An efficient photo-anode for the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) should have features of high loading of dye molecules, favorable band alignments and good efficiency in electron transport. Herein, the 3.4 nm-sized SnO2 nanocrystals (NCs) of high crystallinity, synthesized via the hot-bubbling method, were incorporated with the commercial TiO2 (P25) particles to fabricate the photo-anodes. The optimal percentage of the doped SnO2 NCs was found at ~7.5% (SnO2/TiO2, w/w), and the fabricated DSSC delivers a power conversion efficiency up to 6.7%, which is 1.52 times of the P25 based DSSCs. The ultra-small SnO2 NCs offer three benefits, (1) the incorporation of SnO2 NCs enlarges surface areas of the photo-anode films, and higher dye-loading amounts were achieved; (2) the high charge mobility provided by SnO2 was confirmed to accelerate the electron transport, and the photo-electron recombination was suppressed by the highly-crystallized NCs; (3) the conduction band minimum (CBM) of the SnO2 NCs was uplifted due to the quantum size effects, and this was found to alleviate the decrement in the open-circuit voltage. This work highlights great contributions of the SnO2 NCs to the improvement of the photovoltaic performances in the DSSCs.

Improved durability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells by introducing Sn (IV) oxide into electrodes using an ion exchange method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poulsen, M. G.; Larsen, M. J.; Andersen, S. M.

2017-03-01

Electrodes of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs), consisting of catalyst-coated gas diffusion layers, were subjected to an optimized ion exchange procedure, in which tin (IV) oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles were introduced into them. Both methanol and sulfuric acid were tested as ion exchange solvents. SnO2 has previously been shown to exhibit radical scavenging abilities towards radicals inside the electrocatalyst layers. Its presence inside the electrodes was confirmed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence. After exposure to an accelerated stress test in a three-electrode setup, the electrodes containing SnO2 were found to have retained approximately 73.0% of their original Pt, while only 53.2% was retained in electrodes treated identically, but without Sn. Similarly, the SnO2-treated electrodes also experienced a smaller loss in electrochemical surface area in comparison to before the accelerated stress test. A membrane electrode assembly (MEA) constructed with a SnO2-containing anode was evaluated over 500 h. The results showed remarkably reduced OCV decay rate and end of test hydrogen crossover compared to the control MEA, indicating that SnO2 aids in impeding membrane thinning and pinhole formation. The results point toward a positive effect of SnO2 on fuel cell durability, by reducing the degradation of the membrane as well as of the ionomer in the electrocatalyst layer.

High quality, giant crystalline-Ge stripes on insulating substrate by rapid-thermal-annealing of Sn-doped amorphous-Ge in solid-liquid coexisting region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matsumura, Ryo; JSPS Research Fellow, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0083; Kai, Yuki

Formation of large-grain (≥30 μm) Ge crystals on insulating substrates is strongly desired to achieve high-speed thin-film transistors. For this purpose, we propose the methods of Sn-doping into amorphous-Ge combined with rapid-thermal-annealing (RTA) in the solid-liquid coexisting temperature region for the Ge-Sn alloy system. The densities of micro-crystal-nuclei formed in this temperature region become low by tuning the RTA temperature close to the liquidus curve, which enhances the lateral growth of GeSn. Thanks to the very small segregation coefficient of Sn, almost all Sn atoms segregate toward edges of the stripes during growth. Agglomeration of GeSn degrades the surface morphologies;more » however, it is significantly improved by lowering the initial Sn concentration. As a result, pure Ge with large crystal grains (∼40 μm) with smooth surface are obtained by optimizing the initial Sn concentration as low as 3 ∼ 5%. Lateral growth lengths are further increased through decreasing the number of nuclei in stripes by narrowing stripe width. In this way, high-crystallinity giant Ge crystals (∼200 μm) are obtained for the stripe width of 3 μm. This “Si-seed free” technique for formation of large-grain pure Ge crystals is very useful to realize high-performance thin-film devices on insulator.« less

Effect of Sn addition on hot tearing susceptibility of AXJ530 alloy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hai-kuo, Dong; Feng, Wang; Zhi, Wang; Jin-kun, Liu; Zheng, Liu; Ping-li, Mao

2018-03-01

The effects of different Sn additions (0, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 wt%) on hot tearing susceptibility (HTS) of AXJ530 alloy were studied using ‘T-shaped’ hot tearing mold at a pouring temperature of 700 °C and a mold temperature of 200 °C and paraffin permeation method. The dendrite coherency temperature was obtained by means of differential thermal analysis (DTA), and phases evolution, microstructures and morphology of the crack zone of AXJ530-xSn alloys were also investigated by using x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The experimental results show that the HTS of AXJ530-xSn alloys increases with Sn additions up to 1.0 wt%, and then exhibits a slight decrease with further Sn additions up to 2.0 wt%. The Sn additions into AXJ530 alloy can first form CaMgSn phase with high melting point, reduce amount of α-Mg+(Mg,Al)2Ca eutectic phase, increase the dendrite coherency temperature, decrease the thickness of liquid film and the feeding ability at the end of solidification, resulting in the rise of the HTS. However, the improvement in hot tearing resistance for AXJ530-2.0Sn alloy can be attributed to the grain refinement, lower dendrite coherency temperature and formation of the Mg17Al12 phase with a low melting point to feed more readily at the end of solidification, which improves the state of dendrite and the feeding channel.

High Efficiency Dye-sensitized Solar Cells Constructed with Composites of TiO2 and the Hot-bubbling Synthesized Ultra-Small SnO2 Nanocrystals

PubMed Central

Mao, Xiaoli; Zhou, Ru; Zhang, Shouwei; Ding, Liping; Wan, Lei; Qin, Shengxian; Chen, Zhesheng; Xu, Jinzhang; Miao, Shiding

2016-01-01

An efficient photo-anode for the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) should have features of high loading of dye molecules, favorable band alignments and good efficiency in electron transport. Herein, the 3.4 nm-sized SnO2 nanocrystals (NCs) of high crystallinity, synthesized via the hot-bubbling method, were incorporated with the commercial TiO2 (P25) particles to fabricate the photo-anodes. The optimal percentage of the doped SnO2 NCs was found at ~7.5% (SnO2/TiO2, w/w), and the fabricated DSSC delivers a power conversion efficiency up to 6.7%, which is 1.52 times of the P25 based DSSCs. The ultra-small SnO2 NCs offer three benefits, (1) the incorporation of SnO2 NCs enlarges surface areas of the photo-anode films, and higher dye-loading amounts were achieved; (2) the high charge mobility provided by SnO2 was confirmed to accelerate the electron transport, and the photo-electron recombination was suppressed by the highly-crystallized NCs; (3) the conduction band minimum (CBM) of the SnO2 NCs was uplifted due to the quantum size effects, and this was found to alleviate the decrement in the open-circuit voltage. This work highlights great contributions of the SnO2 NCs to the improvement of the photovoltaic performances in the DSSCs. PMID:26758941

Highly active carbon supported ternary PdSnPtx (x=0.1-0.7) catalysts for ethanol electro-oxidation in alkaline and acid media.

PubMed

Wang, Xiaoguang; Zhu, Fuchun; He, Yongwei; Wang, Mei; Zhang, Zhonghua; Ma, Zizai; Li, Ruixue

2016-04-15

A series of trimetallic PdSnPtx (x=0.1-0.7)/C catalysts with varied Pt content have been synthesized by co-reduction method using NaBH4 as a reducing agent. These catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA). The electrochemical results show that, after adding a minor amount of Pt dopant, the resultant PdSnPtx/C demonstrated more superior catalytic performance toward ethanol oxidation as compared with that of mono-/bi-metallic Pd/C or PdSn/C in alkaline solution and the PdSnPt0.2/C with optimal molar ratio reached the best. In acid solution, the PdSnPt0.2/C also depicted a superior catalytic activity relative to the commercial Pt/C catalyst. The possible enhanced synergistic effect between Pd, Sn/Sn(O) and Pt in an alloyed state should be responsible for the as-revealed superior ethanol electro-oxidation performance based upon the beneficial electronic effect and bi-functional mechanism. It implies the trimetallic PdSnPt0.2/C with a low Pt content has a promising prospect as anodic electrocatalyst in fields of alkali- and acid-type direct ethanol fuel cells. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue on Sn-doped titania nanoparticles synthesized by solution combustion route

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhange, P.D., E-mail: pallavi.ncl@gmail.com; Awate, S.V.; Gholap, R.S.

2016-04-15

Highlights: • Series of Sn-doped titania nanoparticles were prepared by solution combustion synthesis method. • Sn-doped titania nanoparticles were tested for degradation of MB under UV light irradiation. • The maximum Sn doping in the TiO{sub 2} lattice is found to be less than 10%. • The crystallite size decreases with increase in the Sn content. • The doping of Sn into TiO{sub 2} lattice hinders the recombination of electrons and holes thus enhance the photocatalytic activity. - Abstract: Series of tin-doped titania nanoparticles with varying tin content in the range 0–20 mol% have been prepared by solution combustion synthesismore » route using urea as a fuel. The structure, surface morphology and optical activity of Sn-doped TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles were investigated by various analytical techniques such as powder XRD, SEM, TEM, UV–vis and N{sub 2} adsorption study. The crystalline structures of the various phases were studied by rietveld refinement of the XRD data. The photocatalytic performance of Sn-doped titania nanoparticles were tested for degradation of MB under UV and visible light irradiation. The results reveal that the photocatalytic activity increases with increase in tin content which may be due to decrease in crystallite size with increase in surface area. The doping of Sn into TiO{sub 2} lattice hinders the recombination of electrons and holes thus enhance the quantum efficiency of photocatalytic reaction.« less

Enhanced Ethanol Gas Sensing Properties of SnO2-Core/ZnO-Shell Nanostructures

PubMed Central

Tharsika, T.; Haseeb, A. S. M. A.; Akbar, Sheikh A.; Sabri, Mohd Faizul Mohd; Hoong, Wong Yew

2014-01-01

An inexpensive single-step carbon-assisted thermal evaporation method for the growth of SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanostructures is described, and the ethanol sensing properties are presented. The structure and phases of the grown nanostructures are investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. XRD analysis indicates that the core-shell nanostructures have good crystallinity. At a lower growth duration of 15 min, only SnO2 nanowires with a rectangular cross-section are observed, while the ZnO shell is observed when the growth time is increased to 30 min. Core-shell hierarchical nanostructures are present for a growth time exceeding 60 min. The growth mechanism for SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanowires and hierarchical nanostructures are also discussed. The sensitivity of the synthesized SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanostructures towards ethanol sensing is investigated. Results show that the SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanostructures deposited at 90 min exhibit enhanced sensitivity to ethanol. The sensitivity of SnO2-core/ZnO-shell nanostructures towards 20 ppm ethanol gas at 400 °C is about ∼5-times that of SnO2 nanowires. This improvement in ethanol gas response is attributed to high active sensing sites and the synergistic effect of the encapsulation of SnO2 by ZnO nanostructures. PMID:25116903

Cost-sensitive AdaBoost algorithm for ordinal regression based on extreme learning machine.

PubMed

Riccardi, Annalisa; Fernández-Navarro, Francisco; Carloni, Sante

2014-10-01

In this paper, the well known stagewise additive modeling using a multiclass exponential (SAMME) boosting algorithm is extended to address problems where there exists a natural order in the targets using a cost-sensitive approach. The proposed ensemble model uses an extreme learning machine (ELM) model as a base classifier (with the Gaussian kernel and the additional regularization parameter). The closed form of the derived weighted least squares problem is provided, and it is employed to estimate analytically the parameters connecting the hidden layer to the output layer at each iteration of the boosting algorithm. Compared to the state-of-the-art boosting algorithms, in particular those using ELM as base classifier, the suggested technique does not require the generation of a new training dataset at each iteration. The adoption of the weighted least squares formulation of the problem has been presented as an unbiased and alternative approach to the already existing ELM boosting techniques. Moreover, the addition of a cost model for weighting the patterns, according to the order of the targets, enables the classifier to tackle ordinal regression problems further. The proposed method has been validated by an experimental study by comparing it with already existing ensemble methods and ELM techniques for ordinal regression, showing competitive results.

Controlled pattern imputation for sensitivity analysis of longitudinal binary and ordinal outcomes with nonignorable dropout.

PubMed

Tang, Yongqiang

2018-04-30

The controlled imputation method refers to a class of pattern mixture models that have been commonly used as sensitivity analyses of longitudinal clinical trials with nonignorable dropout in recent years. These pattern mixture models assume that participants in the experimental arm after dropout have similar response profiles to the control participants or have worse outcomes than otherwise similar participants who remain on the experimental treatment. In spite of its popularity, the controlled imputation has not been formally developed for longitudinal binary and ordinal outcomes partially due to the lack of a natural multivariate distribution for such endpoints. In this paper, we propose 2 approaches for implementing the controlled imputation for binary and ordinal data based respectively on the sequential logistic regression and the multivariate probit model. Efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms are developed for missing data imputation by using the monotone data augmentation technique for the sequential logistic regression and a parameter-expanded monotone data augmentation scheme for the multivariate probit model. We assess the performance of the proposed procedures by simulation and the analysis of a schizophrenia clinical trial and compare them with the fully conditional specification, last observation carried forward, and baseline observation carried forward imputation methods. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

On analyzing ordinal data when responses and covariates are both missing at random.

PubMed

Rana, Subrata; Roy, Surupa; Das, Kalyan

2016-08-01

In many occasions, particularly in biomedical studies, data are unavailable for some responses and covariates. This leads to biased inference in the analysis when a substantial proportion of responses or a covariate or both are missing. Except a few situations, methods for missing data have earlier been considered either for missing response or for missing covariates, but comparatively little attention has been directed to account for both missing responses and missing covariates, which is partly attributable to complexity in modeling and computation. This seems to be important as the precise impact of substantial missing data depends on the association between two missing data processes as well. The real difficulty arises when the responses are ordinal by nature. We develop a joint model to take into account simultaneously the association between the ordinal response variable and covariates and also that between the missing data indicators. Such a complex model has been analyzed here by using the Markov chain Monte Carlo approach and also by the Monte Carlo relative likelihood approach. Their performance on estimating the model parameters in finite samples have been looked into. We illustrate the application of these two methods using data from an orthodontic study. Analysis of such data provides some interesting information on human habit. © The Author(s) 2013.

TIME-DEPENDENT MULTI-GROUP MULTI-DIMENSIONAL RELATIVISTIC RADIATIVE TRANSFER CODE BASED ON SPHERICAL HARMONIC DISCRETE ORDINATE METHOD

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tominaga, Nozomu; Shibata, Sanshiro; Blinnikov, Sergei I., E-mail: tominaga@konan-u.ac.jp, E-mail: sshibata@post.kek.jp, E-mail: Sergei.Blinnikov@itep.ru

We develop a time-dependent, multi-group, multi-dimensional relativistic radiative transfer code, which is required to numerically investigate radiation from relativistic fluids that are involved in, e.g., gamma-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei. The code is based on the spherical harmonic discrete ordinate method (SHDOM) which evaluates a source function including anisotropic scattering in spherical harmonics and implicitly solves the static radiative transfer equation with ray tracing in discrete ordinates. We implement treatments of time dependence, multi-frequency bins, Lorentz transformation, and elastic Thomson and inelastic Compton scattering to the publicly available SHDOM code. Our code adopts a mixed-frame approach; the source functionmore » is evaluated in the comoving frame, whereas the radiative transfer equation is solved in the laboratory frame. This implementation is validated using various test problems and comparisons with the results from a relativistic Monte Carlo code. These validations confirm that the code correctly calculates the intensity and its evolution in the computational domain. The code enables us to obtain an Eddington tensor that relates the first and third moments of intensity (energy density and radiation pressure) and is frequently used as a closure relation in radiation hydrodynamics calculations.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tang, Chunying; Lu, Jialin; Han, Jingyu

Polymeric lanthanide complexes with thiostannate and polyamine mixed ligands, [Ln(peha)(μ–SnS{sub 4}H)]{sub n} [Ln=La (1a), Nd (1b)] and [(Ln(tepa)(μ–OH)){sub 2}(μ–Sn{sub 2}S{sub 6})]{sub n}nH{sub 2}O [Ln=Nd (2a), Sm (2b), Gd (2c), Dy (2d)] (peha=pentaethylenehexamine, tepa=tetraethylenepentamine) were respectively prepared in peha and tepa coordinative solvents by the solvothermal methods. In 1a and 1b, the Ln{sup 3+} ions are coordinated by a hexadentate peha ligand forming [Ln(peha)]{sup 3+} units. The [SnS{sub 4}H]{sup 3−} anion chelates a [Ln(peha)]{sup 3+} unit via two S atoms and coordinates to another [Ln(peha)]{sup 3+} unit via the third S atom. As a result, the [Ln(peha)]{sup 3+} units are connectedmore » into coordination polymers [Ln(peha)(μ–SnS{sub 4}H)]{sub n} by an unprecedented tridentate μ–η{sup 1},η{sup 2}–SnS{sub 4}H bridging ligands. In 2a–2d, the Ln{sup 3+} ions are coordinated by a pentadentate tepa ligand, and two [Ln(tepa)]{sup 3+} units are joined by two μ–OH bridges to form a binuclear [(Ln(tepa)(μ–OH)){sub 2}]{sup 4+} unit. Behaving as a bidentate μ–η{sup 1}, η{sup 1}–Sn{sub 2}S{sub 6} bridging ligand, the Sn{sub 2}S{sub 6} unit connects [(Ln(tepa)(μ–OH)){sub 2}]{sup 4+} units into a neutral coordination polymer [(Ln(tepa)(μ–OH)){sub 2}(μ–Sn{sub 2}S{sub 6})]{sub n} via the trans S atoms. The Ln{sup 3+} ions are in distorted monocapped square antiprismatic and bicapped trigonal prismatic environments in [(Ln(peha)(μ–SnS{sub 4}H)]{sub n} and [(Ln(tepa)(μ–OH)){sub 2}(μ–Sn{sub 2}S{sub 6})]{sub n}, respectively. The denticities of ethylene polyamine play an important role on the formation and complexation of the thiostannate in the presence of lanthanide ions. Compounds 1a–2d show well-defined absorption edges with band gaps between 2.81 and 3.15 eV. - Graphical abstract: Lanthanide coordination polymers concerning thiostannate ligands were prepared by the solvothermal methods, and μ{sub 3}–SnS{sub 4}H and μ–Sn{sub 2}S{sub 6} ligands to Ln(III) centers were obtained. - Highlights: • Lanthanide coordination polymers were prepared in polyamines with higher denticity. • The μ–η{sup 1},η{sup 2}–SnS{sub 4}H and μ–η{sup 1},η{sup 1}–Sn{sub 2}S{sub 6} ligands to Ln(III) centers were obtained. • Effect of amine on the complexation of Ln(III) with thiostannate is observed.« less

Nodal Clearance Rate and Long-Term Efficacy of Individualized Sentinel Node–Based Pelvic Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy for High-Risk Prostate Cancer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Müller, Arndt-Christian, E-mail: arndt-christian.mueller@med.uni-tuebingen.de; Eckert, Franziska; Paulsen, Frank

2016-02-01

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of individual sentinel node (SN)-guided pelvic intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) by determining nodal clearance rate [(n expected nodal involvement − n observed regional recurrences)/n expected nodal involvement] in comparison with surgically staged patients. Methods and Materials: Data on 475 high-risk prostate cancer patients were examined. Sixty-one consecutive patients received pelvic SN-based IMRT (5 × 1.8 Gy/wk to 50.4 Gy [pelvic nodes + individual SN] and an integrated boost with 5 × 2.0 Gy/wk to 70.0 Gy to prostate + [base of] seminal vesicles) and neo-/adjuvant long-term androgen deprivation therapy; 414 patients after SN–pelvic lymph node dissection were used to calculate the expected nodal involvement rate for the radiation therapymore » sample. Biochemical control and overall survival were estimated for the SN-IMRT patients using the Kaplan-Meier method. The expected frequency of nodal involvement in the radiation therapy group was estimated by imputing frequencies of node-positive patients in the surgical sample to the pattern of Gleason, prostate-specific antigen, and T category in the radiation therapy sample. Results: After a median follow-up of 61 months, 5-year OS after SN-guided IMRT reached 84.4%. Biochemical control according to the Phoenix definition was 73.8%. The nodal clearance rate of SN-IMRT reached 94%. Retrospective follow-up evaluation is the main limitation. Conclusions: Radiation treatment of pelvic nodes individualized by inclusion of SNs is an effective regional treatment modality in high-risk prostate cancer patients. The pattern of relapse indicates that the SN-based target volume concept correctly covers individual pelvic nodes. Thus, this SN-based approach justifies further evaluation, including current dose-escalation strategies to the prostate in a larger prospective series.« less