Abstract: The formation of CH⋯S and CH⋯P hydrogen bonded complexes of halothane, CHBrClCF3, with dimethyl sulfide(-d6) and trimethylphosphine(-d9) have been studied in solutions of liquid krypton using infrared and Raman spectroscopy. In the 1:1 complexes, the halothane CH stretching mode is found to be red-shifted by 43 cm−1 in the dimethyl sulfide complex, and by 63 cm−1 in the trimethylphosphine complex. The complexation enthalpies were derived and amount to −10.7(2) and −11.2(2) kJ mol−1 for the respective complexes. The experiments were supported by ab initio calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. The obtained data for the CH⋯S and CH⋯P hydrogen bonds is compared to that of corresponding CH⋯O and CH⋯N hydrogen bonds.

Abstract: We performed a molecular dynamics study of vortex-antivortex motion in a superconducting disk with a magnetic dot on top, in the Corbino disk geometry. In this system, vortices and antivortices are forced to move in opposite azimuthal directions by a radially applied current. The dot is magnetized out of plane in order to stabilize composite vortex-antivortex configurations, with vortices closer to the center of the disk and antivortices near to the disk edge. We observe that the interplay between the spatially inhomogeneous current distribution, the screening currents induced by the dipole, and the attractive vortex-antivortex (v-av) interaction result in different dynamical phases. At low current values, antivortices which are distributed at outer rings – remain bounded to vortices at inner rings and the whole configuration rotates rigidly. Above a threshold current, vortices and antivortices unbind and move at different angular velocities in a highly correlated way. Finally, at very strong drive, vortex-antivortex attraction is overhelmed by the external current Lorentz force, causing them to move in opposite directions. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract: The strain in pMOS p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor devicesgrown on silicon-on-insulator substrates has been measured by using the geometrical phase analysis of high angle annular dark field scanning electron microscopy. We show that by using the latest generations of electron microscopes, the strain can now be quantitatively measured with a large field of view, a spatial resolution as low as 1 nm with a sensitivity as good as 0.15%. This technique is extremely flexible, provides both structural and strain information, and can be applied to all types of nanoscale materials both quickly and easily.

Abstract: Context: Asthma affects 20 million Americans resulting in an economic burden of approximately $18 billion in the US alone (Allergies and Asthma Foundation 2000; National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) 1999). Research studies based on differences in patient-specific airway morphology for asthma and the associated effect on deposition of inhaled aerosols are currently not available in the literature. Therefore, the role of morphological variations such as upper airway (extrathoracic) occlusion is not well documented. Objective: Functional imaging based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of the respiratory airways for five asthmatic subjects is performed in this study using computed tomography (CT) based patient-specific airway models and boundary conditions. Methods: CT scans for 5 asthma patients were used to reconstruct 3D lung models using segmentation software. An averaged inhalation profile and patient-specific lobar flow distribution were used to perform the simulation. The simulations were used to obtain deposition for BDP/Formoterol (R) HFA pMDI in the patient-specific airway models. Results: The lung deposition obtained using CFD was in excellent agreement with available in vivo data using the same product. Specifically, CFD resulted in 30% lung deposition, whereas in vivo lung deposition was reported to be approximately 31%. Conclusion: It was concluded that a combination of patient-specific airway models and lobar boundary conditions can be used to obtain accurate lung deposition estimates. Lower lung deposition can be expected for patients with higher extrathoracic resistance. Novel respiratory drug delivery devices need to accommodate population subgroups based on these morphological and anatomical differences in addition to subject age.

Abstract: A multi-species Monte Carlo (MC) model, combined with an analytical surface model, has been developed in order to investigate the general plasma processes occurring during the sputter deposition of complex oxide films in a dual-magnetron sputter deposition system. The important plasma species, such as electrons, Ar+ ions, fast Ar atoms and sputtered metal atoms (i.e. Mg and Al atoms) are described with the so-called multi-species MC model, whereas the deposition of MgxAlyOz films is treated by an analytical surface model. Targetsubstrate distances for both magnetrons in the dual-magnetron setup are varied for the purpose of growing stoichiometric complex oxide thin films. The metal atoms are sputtered from pure metallic targets, whereas the oxygen flux is only directed toward the substrate and is high enough to obtain fully oxidized thin films but low enough to avoid target poisoning. The calculations correspond to typical experimental conditions applied to grow these complex oxide films. In this paper, some calculation results are shown, such as the densities of various plasma species, their fluxes toward the targets and substrate, the deposition rates, as well as the film stoichiometry. Moreover, some results of the combined model are compared with experimental observations. Note that this is the first complete model, which can be applied for large and complicated magnetron reactor geometries, such as dual-magnetron configurations. With this model, we are able to describe all important plasma species as well as the deposition process. It can also be used to predict film stoichiometries of complex oxide films on the substrate.

Abstract: Superconducting correlations in an isolated metallic grain are governed by the interplay between two energy scales: the mean level spacing delta and the bulk pairing gap Delta(0), which are strongly influenced by the position of the chemical potential with respect to the closest single-electron level. In turn superconducting correlations affect the position of the chemical potential. Within the parity projected BCS model we investigate the probability distribution of the chemical potential in a superconducting grain with randomly distributed single-electron levels. Taking into account statistical fluctuations of the chemical potential due to the pairing interaction, we find that such fluctuations have a significant impact on the critical level spacing delta(c) at which the superconducting correlations cease: the critical ratio delta(c)/Delta(0) at which superconductivity disappears is found to be increased.