While SrTiO3 exhibits promising electronic transport properties, its high thermal conductivity (κ) is detrimental for its use as a thermoelectric material. Here, we investigate the influence of oxygen non-stoichiometry on κ in bulk SrTiO3 ceramics. A significant reduction in κ was achieved in oxygen deficient SrTiO3−δ, owing to the presence of oxygen vacancies that act as phonon scattering centers. Upon oxidation of SrTiO3−δ, the κ of pristine SrTiO3 was recovered, suggesting that oxygen vacancies were indeed responsible for the reduction in κ. Raman spectroscopy was used as an independent tool to confirm the reduction of oxygen vacancies in SrTiO3−δ upon oxidation.

This article describes an unexplored transport phenomenon where a mildly viscoelastic medium encroaches a narrow capillary channel under the action of surface-tension force. The ultimate goal of the study is to provide the penetration length and the intrusion rate of the liquid as functions of time. The resulting analysis would be instrumental in building an inexpensive and convenient rheometric device which can measure the temporal scale for viscoelastic relaxation from the stored data of the aforementioned quantities. The key step in the formulation is a transient eigenfunction expansion of the instantaneous velocity profile. The time-dependent amplitude of the expansion as well as the intruded length are governed by a system of integro-differential relations which are derived by exploiting the mass and momentum conservation principles. The obtained integro-differential equations are simultaneously solved by using a fourth-order Runge–Kutta method assuming a start-up problem from rest. The resulting numerical solution properly represents the predominantly one-dimensional flow which gradually slows down after an initial acceleration and subsequent oscillation. The computational findings are independently verified by two separate perturbation theories. The first of these is based on a Weissenberg number expansion revealing the departure in the unsteady imbibition due to small but finite viscoelasticity. In contrast, the second one explains the long-time behaviour of the system by analytically predicting the decay features of the dynamics. These asymptotic results unequivocally corroborate the simulation inferring the accuracy of the numerics as well as the utility of the simplified mathematical models.

The 32Si concentration in a sample of surface ice from the snout of Changme-Khangpu glacier is 0.36 disintegrations per minute/tonne compared to the fall-out value of 0.7 d.p.m./tonne. If this decrease is assumed to be solely due to decay of 32Si, an age off c. 100 years is estimated for the surface ice of the snout, leading to an average flow velocity of c. 40 m/year for the past century. A vertical profile of 210Pb in a core taken at an altitude of 5040 m shows two horizons where this isotope is enriched, one between 3 and 4 m and another between 11 and 12 m, indicating that the primary concentration of 210Pb can change by physico-chemical processes like adsorption on dust. None the less, a longitudinal profile along the glacier shows a systematic decrease of 210Pb activity with decreasing altitude, the surface ice of the snout giving a value of 0.2 d.p.m./l, corresponding to an age of 100 years which is concordant with the 32Si age. This surface flow-rate of the glacier is much larger than the average contemporary flow-rate (c. 13m/year). The difference can be understood in terms of the past history of advance and recession of the glacier as revealed by the geomorphic evidence.

The Gor Garung group of glaciers constitute an ice cover of over 4 km2 in a basin of 27 km2 area, lying in the Sutlej River catchment of the north–western Himalaya. This paper, the first record of these glaciers, their moraines and lakes observed in this area, is the result of mapping the glaciers and the pro–glacial field.

An attempt has been made to utilize lichenometry for establishing relative antiquity of various terminal moraine ridges generated by these glaciers, and six groups have been determined.

Does gender matter in people's attitudes and cooperation in community-based natural resource management? If so, how do gender differences in conservation-related attitudes help or hinder sustaining the commons? Since biases ingrained in community norms and expectations often exclude women from decision making in co-management, it is imperative to find plausible answers to these queries in order to understand gender relations and cooperation in co-management. To this end, the authors conducted psychometric surveys and trust experiments on 196 forest-dependent households in West Bengal, India during 2009–2010. The findings suggest that, despite an overall negative perception about women's involvement in co-management, women are more conservation friendly and pro-social than men. It is also noticed that forest biomass and forest incomes as the indicators of sustainability have increased in those forest communities where women's proportional strength as decision makers is greater and people hold an overall positive conservation attitude.

We formulate an immuno-epidemiological model of coupled “within-host” model of ODEs and “between-host” model of ODE and PDE, using the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) for illustration. Existence and uniqueness of solution to the “between-host” model is established, and an explicit expression for the basic reproduction number of the “between-host” model derived. Stability of disease-free and endemic equilibria is investigated. An optimal control problem with drug-treatment control on the within-host system is formulated and analyzed; these results are novel for optimal control of ODEs linked with such first order PDEs. Numerical simulations based on the forward-backward sweep method are obtained.

Using high resolution powder neutron diffraction data, we show that there is a distinct anomaly in the structural noncentrosymmetry around the magnetic transition point TN for bulk and nanoscale BiFeO3. It appears that the structural noncentrosymmetry - which gives rise to the ferroelectric polarization - is suppressed anomalously by ~1% (of the average noncentrosymmetry at above the magnetic transition) in the bulk sample and by ~12% in the nanoscale sample as the magnetic transition is approached from higher temperature. This observation shows that the multiferroic coupling improves in the nanoscale sample which is expected to brighten the application prospects of nanoscale BiFeO3 in nanospintronics-based sensor devices.

PACS Nos. 75.70.Cn, 75.75.-c

Superconducting NMR pickup coils have to have a low surface resistance (Rs) under a high magnetic field. One way of reducing the Rs of superconducting thin films is adding artificial pins to the films. We examined the hetero-epitaxial growth of MgB2and YBCO thin films on decorated sapphire and MgO substrates while using nano-wires and nano-particles to add pins to the films.

We used ZnO nano-wire to add artificial grain boundary pins to MgB2 films. The tilted c-plane sapphire substrate with nano-step edges was used for these substrates. The terrace width with one lattice step edge can be controlled by changing the tilt angle. AFM images showed that the tilted c-plane sapphire substrate had straight nano-step edges. ZnO nono-wires were decorated on the nano-step edges by MOCVD, and then deposited on MgB2 films by sputtering. The Rs of the films was then measured with a sapphire rod resonator. The Rs of MgB2 thin films fabricated on the tilted c-plane sapphire substrate with ZnO nano-wires was lower than that of MgB2thin films on a conventional sapphire substrate under a high magnetic field.

We used BaZrO3(BZO) nano-particles to add the artificial pins to YBCO thin films. The BZO particles on the MgO substrates were fabricated by laser deposition. The size and density of these particles were controlled with a pulse number of laser shot. YBCO thin films were formed on decorated MgO substrate by laser deposition. The Rs of YBCO thin films on the decorated MgO substrate was lower than that of the YBCO films formed on a conventional MgO substrate under a high magnetic field.

We clarified that artificial pins in MgB2and YBCO thin films are useful for decreasing the Rs under a high magnetic field.

Recent trends in composite research include the development of structural materials with multiple functionalities. In new studies, novel materials are being designed, developed, modified, and implemented into composite designs. Typically, an increase in functionality requires additional material phases within one system. The presence of excessive phases can result in deterioration of individual or overall properties. True multi-functional materials must maintain all properties at or above the minimum operating limit. In this project, samples of Sb-doped SnO2(ATO) sol-gel solutions are used to coat carbon fibers and are heat treated at a temperature range of 200 – 500 °C. Results from this research are used to model the implementation of sol-gel coatings into carbon fiber reinforced multifunctional composite systems. This research presents a novel thermo-responsive sol-gel/ (dopant) combination and evaluation of the actuating responses due to various heat treatment temperatures. While ATO is a well-known transparent conductive material, the implementation of ATO on carbon fibers for infrared thermal reflectivity has not been examined. These coatings serve as actuators capable of reflecting thermal infrared radiation in mid-range and near-range wavelengths (λ). By altering the ATO sol gel thickness and heat treatment temperatures, optimal optical properties are obtained. While scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used for imaging, electron diffraction spectroscopy (EDS) is used to verify the compounds present in the coatings. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was performed to analyze the reflectivity in the infrared spectra and analyze the crystal structures after heat treatments.

A study of the ferroelectric and magnetic properties and of the magnetoelectric coupling effects of Pb(Fe0.5Nb0.5)O3 (PFN) thin films, grown on SrRuO3/Si [(100) or (111)] substrates by the rf-magnetron sputtering technique, is presented. Structural, morphological, and compositional characterization was realized using the XRD, AFM, XPS, and TEM techniques. Highly textured single phase films with different thickness (from 45 to 270 nm) were successfully grown without Fe2+ presence. A vertically [110] oriented grainy structure was observed. Polarization vs. electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops exhibit excellent and almost constant values of the maximum (∼ 60 μC/cm2) and remanent (∼ 22 μC/cm2) polarizations in the temperature range from 4 K to room temperature; small values of the coercive field, characteristic of soft ferroelectric materials, are observed in these samples. Measurements of the zero-field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC) magnetization behavior and magnetic (M-H) hysteresis loops were realized at different temperatures between 5 and 300 K. Proof of the existence of ferromagnetic order in the low temperature region (below to 50 K) is discussed and reported for the first time. Values of the maximum (∼ 3 emu/g) and remanent (∼ 1.5 emu/g) magnetizations were obtained. dc magnetic field dependence of the ferroelectric hysteresis loops are shown as evidence of the magnetoelectric coupling.

Methane is an important explosive gas, used extensively at the domestic and industrial sites. It is the main constituent of natural gas, which is the main fuel supplied to homes and industries including automobiles. Detection of trace level of methane gas is very important to avoid any accidental explosion due to its leakage and may cause loss of valuable human life and property. The present paper is focused on the development of new sensing material in the form of composites to improve sensitivity, selectivity and stability. Present work shows the enhanced response of SnO2-ZnO composite structures for methane sensing and further increases its sensing response by loading appropriate catalyst on the sensor surface keeping in view of Fermi energy control mechanism and spillover mechanism. A stable sensor response of 77-85 % was obtained for SnO2-ZnO-Pd sensor structure over a wider range of temperature (160-260oC).

The changes are brought in the elemental semiconductors Si and Ge by replacing them with II-VI and III-V binary analogs or their ternary analogs I-III-VI2 chalcopyrides and II-IV-V2 pnictides respectively. Such compounds exhibit transitions from their parent compound in terms of nature of band gaps (Eg) as indirect to direct in addition to the changes in the values of the Eg. These changes have direct consequence in their optical properties with degenerate states being lifted leading to crystal field splitting and so on. The Eg in ternary bulk semiconducting materials is engineered as a function of certain structural parameters such as anion position parameter (u), tetragonal compression parameter (η) through effective alloying. The contributions to Eg due to these effects are studied as band gap anomalies. The present paper discusses the results of the band gap engineering in some of the bulk ABC2(A= Cd; B=Si,Ge,Sn; C= P,As) semiconductors using theoretical methods. The influence of each of A, B and C atom is also discussed. The dependence of morphology of nano semiconducting particles and the band gap on the chemical environment, temperature is reported by us. The confinement energy of a compound which is the difference in energy between the bulk and nano forms is investigated.

Enhanced near band-edge (NBE) emission was observed from composite structures fabricated from a PVA coated ZnO (PVA-ZnO) nanoparticle thin film embedded with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The enhancement is attributed to the resonant coupling between the bandgap transition of the semiconductor and the surface plasmon (SP) of MWCNTs. Moreover, the PVA-ZnO/MWCNTs/PVA-ZnO composite structures show faster transient response, which is due to the carrier transportation process in the composite structure. Reductions are observed for both photocurrent to dark current ratio and intensity of photoresponsivity, demonstrating a tradeoff between the time transient response and the detectivity.

We have fabricated Bi2212 and Bi2223 bulk samples by shock compaction technique. Seed crystals were added to the starting materials in order to promote crystallization. The grain size of the prepared sample was increased by the addition of seed crystals to the starting material.

Preparation of the CaTiO3:Pr (CTO:Pr) phosphor thin film on PET substrate was investigated by using the excimer laser-assisted metal organic decomposition(ELAMOD) and photo reaction of nano-particles (PRNP) process. The effects of the substrate material, starting materials, and UV sources on photoluminescence (PL) were investigated. By using the BaTiO3(BTO) nano-particles buffer layer and the CTO: Pr nano-particles as a starting material, CTO: Pr thin film on the PET substrate was successfully obtained by using the KrF laser and excimer lamp irradiation at 25°C. It was found that excimer lamp irradiation is effective for improving the PL of the films.