Effect of laser-induced ultrasound treatment on material structure in laser surface treatment for selective laser melting applications.

A new mechanism for controlling the microstructure of products in manufacturing processes based on selective laser melting is proposed. The mechanism relies on generation of high-intensity ultrasonic waves in the melt pool by complex intensity-modulated laser irradiation. The experimental study and numerical modeling suggest that this control mechanism is technically feasible and can be effectively integrated into the design of modern selective laser melting machines.

Characteristics of phytoplankton in Lake Karachay, a storage reservoir of medium-level radioactive waste.

The status of the phytoplankton community in Lake Karachay, a storage reservoir of liquid medium-level radioactive waste from the Mayak Production Association, Chelyabinsk Region, Russia, is reviewed. In 2010, the concentration of Sr in water of this reservoir was found to be 6.5 × 10(6) Bq L, the concentration of 137Cs was 1.6 × 10(7) Bq L, and total alpha activity amounted to 3.0 × 10(3) Bq L. An increased level of nitrates was observed in the reservoir-4.4 g L. It has been demonstrated that in this reservoir under the conditions of the maximum contamination levels known for aquatic ecosystems in the entire biosphere, a phytoplankton community exists that has a pronounced decline in species diversity, almost to the extent of a monoculture of widely-spread thread eurytopic cyanobacteria Geitlerinema amphibium.

Status of ecosystems in radioactive waste reservoirs of the Mayak Production Association in 2009.

Liquid radioactive waste from the Mayak Production Association (Chelyabinsk Region, Russia) is contained in industrial reservoirs (R-11, R-10, R-4, R-17, and R-9) that have different levels of radioactive contamination, increased from R-11 to R-17. A study of the ecosystems in these reservoirs was performed in 2009 to determine if there was any association with the level of contamination. No significant change in the status of biota was found in the reservoir with the lowest radionuclide concentrations (R-11) in comparison to other reservoirs in the region with a similar geography that are unaffected by radioactive contamination. In reservoir R-10, changes in the zoobenthos indices were registered. In reservoir R-4, changes in the zoobenthos and zooplankton communities were registered. In reservoir R-17, there was no ichthyofauna, but strong changes in the phytoplankton, zooplankton, and zoobenthos communities were registered. In reservoir R-9, under the conditions of the heaviest radioactive contamination of water ecosystems in the biosphere, there was no ichthyofauna, and phytoplankton and zooplankton consisted of almost a monoculture of cyanobacteriae and rotifers.

A systematic study of atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition growth of large-area monolayer graphene.

Graphene has attracted considerable interest as a potential material for future electronics. Although mechanical peel is known to produce high quality graphene flakes, practical applications require continuous graphene layers over a large area. The catalyst-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a promising synthetic method to deliver wafer-sized graphene. Here we present a systematic study on the nucleation and growth of crystallized graphene domains in an atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) process. Parametric studies show that the mean size of the graphene domains increases with increasing growth temperature and CH4 partial pressure, while the density of domains decreases with increasing growth temperature and is independent of the CH4 partial pressure. Our studies show that nucleation of graphene domains on copper substrate is highly dependent on the initial annealing temperature. A two-step synthetic process with higher initial annealing temperature but lower growth temperature is developed to reduce domain density and achieve high quality full-surface coverage of monolayer graphene films. Electrical transport measurements demonstrate that the resulting graphene exhibits a high carrier mobility of up to 3000 cm2 V-1 s-1 at room temperature.

Plasmonic modulation of the upconversion fluorescence in NaYF4 :Yb/Tm hexaplate nanocrystals using gold nanoparticles or nanoshells.

Automatic upgrade: attachment of gold nanoparticles (NPs) onto upconversion nanocrystals (NCs) results in plasmonic interactions that lead to a significant enhancement of upconversion emission of more than 2.5. Conversely, formation of a gold shell greatly suppresses the NC emission because of considerable scattering of excitation irradiation (see picture; a=NC before seed attachment; b, c=NC with attached Au NPs; c=NC with Au shell; scale bar=50 nm).

Heisenberg spin exchange effects of nitroxide radicals on Overhauser dynamic nuclear polarization in the low field limit at 1.5mT.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at very low magnetic fields (0.05-20mT) have gained interest due to the simple and portable magnet design and newly emerging applications outside of the usual laboratory setting. A method to enhance the NMR signal is needed due to the low thermal polarization of nuclear spins at these fields; dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) via the Overhauser effect from free radicals is an attractive option. In this report we describe a DNP-enhanced NMR system operating at a fixed field of 1.5mT and measure (1)H signal enhancements of up to -350 fold during the saturation of a selected electron spin resonance (ESR) transition of dissolved nitroxide radicals. This -350 fold enhanced polarization is equivalent to what would be obtained by prepolarization in a 0.53T field. The ESR spectra at varying radical concentrations are indirectly found through DNP-enhanced NMR detection. Here, ESR line broadening at higher radical concentrations due to Heisenberg electron spin exchange is observed. Enhancements in the limit of maximum power are reported as a function of concentration for three ESR transitions, and are found to increase with concentration. The >300 fold (1)H NMR signal amplifications achievable at 1.5mT will reduce experimental time by several orders of magnitude, permitting NMR relaxation, imaging or pulsed-field gradient diffusion experiments that are inaccessible without using the DNP effect at 1.5mT. We demonstrate the potential benefit of such large signal amplification schemes through T(1) and T(2) relaxation measurements carried out in a much shorter time when employing DNP. Finally, we compare our results to those obtained in the earth's magnetic field and find that the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of DNP-enhanced signal at 1.5mT is much greater than that obtained by previous studies utilizing DNP enhancement in the 0.05mT earth's magnetic field.

Eye Coordination and Vestibular Testing in Electroconvulsive Therapy.

Nine depressive patients were examined before bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), immediately after ECT, and 2 days later with saccadic, pursuit tracking, and Hallpike caloric vestibular tests. Before ECT, all tests showed normal results. Immediately after ECT, the saccadic test displayed dysmetria of the fast eye movements in six of nine patients. The pursuit tracking test showed decreased gain of the slow eye movements with compensatory saccades in seven of nine patients. These findings were for both directions in the horizontal plane. In the caloric vestibular test, the changes were not significant. Two days after ECT, the eye coordination and vestibular testing showed normal function. We conclude that the eye coordination and vestibular function disturbances induced by ECT are transient.