Showing papers in "Central European Journal of Physics in 2014"

Convective heat transfer and MHD effects on Casson nanofluid flow over a shrinking sheet

Abstract: Current study examines the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) boundary layer flow of a Casson nanofluid over an exponentially permeable shrinking sheet with convective boundary condition. Moreover, we have considered the suction/injection eects on the wall. By applying the appropriate transformations, system of non-linear partial dierential equation along with the boundary conditions are transformed to couple non-linear ordinary dierential equations. The resulting systems of non-linear ordinary dierential equations are solved numerically using Runge- Kutta method. Numerical results for velocity, temperature and nanoparticle volume concentration are presented through graphs for various values of dimensionless parameters. Eects of parameters for heat transfer at wall and nanoparticle volume concentration are also presented through graphs and tables. At the end, fluid flow behavior is examined through stream lines. Concluding remarks are provided for the whole analysis.

Silicon solar cells with Al2O3 antireflection coating

Abstract: The paper presents the possibility of using Al2O3 antireflection coatings deposited by atomic layer deposition ALD. The ALD method is based on alternate pulsing of the precursor gases and vapors onto the substrate surface and then chemisorption or surface reaction of the precursors. The reactor is purged with an inert gas between the precursor pulses. The Al2O3 thin film in structure of the finished solar cells can play the role of both antireflection and passivation layer which will simplify the process. For this research 50×50 mm monocrystalline silicon solar cells with one bus bar have been used. The metallic contacts were prepared by screen printing method and Al2O3 antireflection coating by ALD method. Results and their analysis allow to conclude that the Al2O3 antireflection coating deposited by ALD has a significant impact on the optoelectronic properties of the silicon solar cell. For about 80 nm of Al2O3 the best results were obtained in the wavelength range of 400 to 800 nm reducing the reflection to less than 1%. The difference in the solar cells efficiency between with and without antireflection coating was 5.28%. The LBIC scan measurements may indicate a positive influence of the thin film Al2O3 on the bulk passivation of the silicon.

Investigation of complex impedance and modulus properties of Nd doped 0.5BiFeO3-0.5PbTiO3 multiferroic Composites

Abstract: 05BiNdxFe1−xO3 − 05PbTiO3 (BNxF1−x − PT)(x = 005, 010, 015, 020) composites were successfully synthesized by a solid state reaction technique At room temperature, X-ray diffraction shows tetragonal structure for all concentrations of Nd doped 05BiFeO3 − 05PbTiO3 composites The nature of Nyquist plot confirms the presence of bulk effects only for BNxF1−x − PT (x = 005, 010, 015, 020) composites The bulk resistance is found to decreases with the increasing temperature as well as Nd concentration and exhibits a typical negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTCR) behavior Both the complex impedance and modulus studies have suggested the presence of non-Debye type of relaxation in the composites Conductivity spectra reveal the presence of hopping mechanism in the electrical transport process of the composites The activation energy calculated from impedance plot of the composite decreases with increasing Ndx concentration and found to be 089, 076, 071 and 070 eV for x=005, 010, 015 and 020 respectively

Two dimensional fractional projectile motion in a resisting medium

Abstract: In this paper we propose a fractional differential equation describing the behavior of a two dimensional projectile in a resisting medium. In order to maintain the dimensionality of the physical quantities in the system, an auxiliary parameter k was introduced in the derivative operator. This parameter has a dimension of inverse of seconds (sec)−1 and characterizes the existence of fractional time components in the given system. It will be shown that the trajectories of the projectile at different values of γ and different fixed values of velocity v 0 and angle θ, in the fractional approach, are always less than the classical one, unlike the results obtained in other studies. All the results obtained in the ordinary case may be obtained from the fractional case when γ = 1.

Transient electro-osmotic flow of generalized Maxwell fluids in a straight pipe of circular cross section

Abstract: The transient electro-osmotic flow of a generalized Maxwell fluid with fractional derivative in a narrow capillary tube is examined. With the help of an integral transform method, analytical expressions are derived for the electric potential and transient velocity profile by solving the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation and the Navier-Stokes equation. It was shown that the distribution and establishment of the velocity consists of two parts, the steady part and the unsteady one. The effects of relaxation time, fractional derivative parameter, and the Debye-Huckel parameter on the generation of flow are shown graphically and analyzed numerically. The velocity overshoot and oscillation are observed and discussed.

Einstein equation at singularities

Abstract: Einstein’s equation is rewritten in an equivalent form, which remains valid at the singularities in some major cases. These cases include the Schwarzschild singularity, the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker Big Bang singularity, isotropic singularities, and a class of warped product singularities. This equation is constructed in terms of the Ricci part of the Riemann curvature (as the Kulkarni-Nomizu product between Einstein’s equation and the metric tensor).

Flash memory cells data loss caused by total ionizing dose and heavy ions

Abstract: The paper provides experimental results of flash memory loss data investigation. Possible mechanisms of charge loss from storage element are reviewed. We provide some guidelines for flash memory evaluation to space application.

A Jacobi collocation approximation for nonlinear coupled viscous Burgers' equation

Abstract: This article presents a numerical approximation of the initial-boundary nonlinear coupled viscous Burgers’ equation based on spectral methods. A Jacobi-Gauss-Lobatto collocation (J-GL-C) scheme in combination with the implicit Runge-Kutta- Nystrom (IRKN) scheme are employed to obtain highly accurate approximations to the mentioned problem. This J-GL-C method, based on Jacobi polynomials and Gauss-Lobatto quadrature integration, reduces solving the nonlinear coupled viscous Burgers’ equation to a system of nonlinear ordinary dierential equation which is far easier to solve. The given examples show, by selecting relatively few J-GL-C points, the accuracy of the approximations and the utility of the approach over other analytical or numerical methods. The illustrative examples demonstrate the accuracy, eciency, and versatility of the proposed algorithm.

Effects of polarization force and nonthermal ions on dust-acoustic (DA) shock waves in a strongly coupled dusty plasma with positively charged dust

Abstract: The nonlinear propagation of the dust-acoustic (DA) waves in a strongly coupled dusty plasma containing Maxwellian electrons, nonthermal ions, and positively charged dust is theoritically investigated by a Burgers equation. The effects of the polarization force (which arises due to the interaction between electrons and highly positively charged dust grains) and nonthermal ions are studied. DA shock waves are found to exist with positive potential only. It represents that the strong correlation among the charged dust grains is a source of dissipation, and is responsible for the formation of DA shock waves. The effects of polarization force and nonthermal ions significantly modified the basic features of DA shock waves in strongly coupled dusty plasma.

Analytical approximate solutions to the Thomas-Fermi equation

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to show how to use the Optimal Homotopy Asymptotic Method (OHAM) to solve the nonlinear differential Thomas-Fermi equation. Our procedure does not depend upon small parameters and provides us with a convenient way to optimally control the convergence of the approximate solutions. An excellent agreement was found between our approximate results and numerical solutions, which prove that OHAM is very efficient in practice, ensuring a very rapid convergence after only one iteration.

Second law analysis for MHD permeable channel flow with variable electrical conductivity and asymmetric Navier slips

Abstract: CITATION: Eegunjobi, A. S. & Makinde, O. D. 2014. Second law analysis for MHD permeable channel flow with variable electrical conductivity and asymmetric Navier slips. Open Physics, 13(1):100-110, doi:10.1515/phys-2015-0014.

Nonlinear self-adjointness and invariant solutions of a 2D Rossby wave equation

Abstract: The paper investigates the nonlinear self-adjointness of the nonlinear inviscid barotropic nondivergent vorticity equation in a beta-plane. It is a particular form of Rossby equation which does not possess variational structure and it is studied using a recently method developed by Ibragimov. The conservation laws associated with the infinite-dimensional symmetry Lie algebra models are constructed and analyzed. Based on this Lie algebra, some classes of similarity invariant solutions with nonconstant linear and nonlinear shears are obtained. It is also shown how one of the conservation laws generates a particular wave solution of this equation.

Dual-band tunable negative refractive index metamaterial with F-Shape structure

Abstract: This paper presents a negative refractive index tunable metamaterial based on F-Shape structure which is capable of achieving dual-band negative permeability and permittivity, thus dual-band negative refractive index. An electromagnetic simulation was performed and effective media parameters were retrieved. Numerical investigations show clear existence of two frequency bands in which permeability and permittivity both are negative. The two negative refractive index bandwidths are from 23.8 GHz to 24.1 GHz and from 28.3 GHz to 34.9 GHz, respectively. The geometry of the structure is simple so it can easily be fabricated. The proposed structure can be used in multiband and broad band devices, as the band range in second negative refractive index region is 7 GHz, for potential applications instead of using complex geometric structures and easily tuned by varying the separation between the horizontal wires.

Planck-scale corrections to Friedmann equation

Abstract: Recently, Verlinde proposed that gravity is an emergent phenomenon which originates from an entropic force. In this work, we extend Verlinde’s proposal to accommodate generalized uncertainty principles (GUP), which are suggested by some approaches to quantum gravity such as string theory, black hole physics and doubly special relativity (DSR). Using Verlinde’s proposal and two known models of GUPs, we obtain modifications to Newton’s law of gravitation as well as the Friedmann equation. Our modification to the Friedmann equation includes higher powers of the Hubble parameter which is used to obtain a corresponding Raychaudhuri equation. Solving this equation, we obtain a leading Planck-scale correction to Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) solutions for the p = ωp equation of state.

Afterglow and thermoluminescence of ZrO2 nanopowders

Abstract: A careful study of the phosphorescence afterglow and the thermoluminescence (TL) of sol-gel-prepared m-ZrO2 nanocrystalline powders in an extended temperature range −100 to 300 °C was carried out. Wavelength-resolved TL proved the existence of a single active luminescence centre in this temperature range. A TL method based on various heating rates was used to derive more reliable trap depths of 0.75, 0.95, 1.25, 1.46 and 1.66 eV whereas deconvolution methods provided somewhat lower values. The most intense room-temperature afterglows (that were easily observable beyond 1000 s) were obtained from samples annealed at 1250 and 1500 °C, and were attributed mainly to depopulation of the 1.25 eV traps.

The ground-state magnetic moments of odd-mass Hf isotopes

Abstract: In this paper the Quasiparticle-Phonon Nuclear Model (QPNM), based on QRPA (Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation) phonons, has been utilized to investigate spin polarization effects on the groundstate magnetic properties such as intrinsic magnetic moment (g K ) and effective spin gyromagnetic factor (g . ) of odd-mass deformed 165–179Hf isotopes with K > 1/2. Investigations of the spin polarization effects of the even core on the magnetic moments show that the spin gyromagnetic factors (g s ) of the nucleons in the nucleus differ noticeably from the corresponding values for free nucleons and that the spin-spin interactions play an important role in the re-normalization of g s factors of the odd-mass 165–179Hf isotopes. In addition, some theoretical predictions are presented for the magnetic moments of 165Hf, 167Hf, and 169Hf, whose ground state magnetic moments haven’t been experimentally determined yet.

Complex lag synchronization of two identical chaotic complex nonlinear systems

Abstract: Much progress has been made in the research of synchronization for chaotic real or complex nonlinear systems. In this paper we introduce a new type of synchronization which can be studied only for chaotic complex nonlinear systems. This type of synchronization may be called complex lag synchronization (CLS). A definition of CLS is introduced and investigated for two identical chaotic complex nonlinear systems. Based on Lyapunov function a scheme is designed to achieve CLS of chaotic attractors of these systems. The effectiveness of the obtained results is illustrated by a simulation example. Numerical results are plotted to show state variables, modulus errors and phase errors of these chaotic attractors after synchronization to prove that CLS is achieved.

Isotope analyses of the lake sediments in the Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

Abstract: The analyses of radioactive isotopes 14C, 137Cs and 210Pb, and stable isotope 13C were performed in the sediment cores, top 40 cm, taken in 2011 from karst lakes Prosce and Kozjak in the Plitvice Lakes National Park, central Croatia. Frozen sediment cores were cut into 1 cm thick layers and dried. 14C activity in both carbonate and organic fractions was measured using accelerator mass spectrometry technique with graphite synthesis. 137Cs, 210Pb, 214Pb and 214Bi were measured by low level gamma spectrometry method on ORTECHPGe detector with the efficiency of 32%. Distribution of 14C activity from both lakes showed increase of the 14C activity in the top 10–12 cm in both carbonate and organic fractions as a response to thermonuclear bomb-produced 14C in the atmosphere in the sixties of the 20th century. Anthropogenically produced 137Cs was also observed in sediment profiles. Sedimentation rates for both lake sediments were estimated based on the unsupported 210Pb activity. Different 14C activity of the carbonate fraction (63–80 pMC, percent of modern carbon) and organic fraction (82–93 pMC) is the result of geochemical and biological processes of the sediment precipitation in the lake waters. This is also confirmed by the δ 13 C values of both fractions. Carbon isotope composition, a 14 C and δ 13 C, was compared with the lake sediments from the same lakes collected in 1989 and 2003.

The effects of vortex like distributed electron in magnetized multi-ion dusty plasmas

Abstract: The nonlinear propagation of small but finite amplitude dust-ion-acoustic solitary waves in a magnetized, collisionless dusty plasma is investigated theoretically. It has been assumed that the electrons are trapped following the vortex-like distribution and that the negatively and positively charged ions are mobile with the presence of charge fluctuating stationary dusts, where ions mass provide the inertia and restoring forces are provided by the thermal pressure of hot electrons. A reductive perturbation method was employed to obtain a modified Korteweg-de Vries (mK-dV) equation for the first-order potential and a stationary solution is obtained. The effect of the presence of trapped electrons, negatively and positively charged ions and arbitrary charged dust grains are discussed.

Spinless relativistic particle in energy-dependent potential and normalization of the wave function

Abstract: The problem of normalization related to a Klein-Gordon particle subjected to vector plus scalar energy-dependent potentials is clarified in the context of the path integral approach. In addition the correction relating to the normalizing constant of wave functions is exactly determined. As examples, the energy dependent linear and Coulomb potentials are considered. The wave functions obtained via spectral decomposition, were found exactly normalized.

The collisions of two ion acoustic solitary waves in a magnetized nonextensive plasma

Abstract: Using the extended Poincare-Lighthill-Kuo (EPLK) method, the interaction between two ion acoustic solitary waves (IASWs) in a multicomponent magnetized plasma (including Tsallis nonextensive electrons) has been theoretically investigated. The analytical phase shifts of the two solitary waves after interaction are estimated. The proposed model leads to rarefactive solitons only. The effects of colliding angle, ratio of number densities of (positive/negative) ions species to the density of nonextensive electrons, ion-to-electron temperature ratio, mass ratio of the negative-to-positive ions and the electron nonextensive parameter on the phase shifts are investigated numerically. The present results show that these parameters have strong effects on the phase shifts and trajectories of the two IASWs after collision. Evidently, this model is helpful for interpreting the propagation and the oblique collision of IASWs in magnetized multicomponent plasma experiments and space observations.

Inhibition of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus by a plasma needle

Abstract: In numerous recent papers plasma chemistry of non equilibrium plasma sources operating at atmospheric pressure has been linked to plasma medical effects including sterilization. In this paper we present a study of the effectiveness of an atmospheric pressure plasma source, known as plasma needle, in inhibition of the growth of biofilm produced by methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Even at the lowest powers the biofilms formed by inoculi of MRSA of 104 and 105 CFU have been strongly affected by plasma and growth in biofilms was inhibited. The eradication of the already formed biofilm was not achieved and it is required to go to more effective sources.

Angular dependence of resonant inelastic x-ray scattering : A spherical tensor expansion

Abstract: A spherical tensor expansion is carried out to express the resonant inelastic scattering cross-section as a sum of products of fundamental spectra with tensors involving wavevectors and polarization vectors of incident and scattered photons. The expression presented in this paper differs from that of the influential article by Carra et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 3700, 1995) because it does not omit interference terms between electric dipole and quadrupole contributions when coupling each photon to itself. Some specific cases of the spherical tensor expansion are discussed. For example the case of isotropic samples is considered and the cross-section is expressed as a combination of only three fundamental spectra for the situation where electric dipole or electric quadrupole transitions in the absorption process are followed by electric dipole transitions in the emission. This situation includes the case of untextured powder samples, which corresponds to the most frequent situation met experimentally. Finally, it is predicted that some circular dichroism may be observed on isotropic samples provided that the circular polarization of the scattered beam can be detected.

Bianchi types I and V bulk viscous fluid cosmological models in f(R, T) gravity theory

Abstract: In this paper we present non-singular Bianchi types I and V cosmological models, in the presence of bulk viscous fluid and within the framework of f(R,T) gravity theory. Exact solutions to the field equations are obtained by choosing a particular form of the function f(R,T) and a special value for the average scale factor of the model, which corresponds to a time- dependent deceleration parameter. The cosmological models initially accelerate for a certain period of time and thereafter decelerate. The physical and kinematical properties of the models of the universe are discussed.

Delay-induced state transition and resonance in periodically driven tumor model with immune surveillance

Abstract: The phenomenon of stochastic resonance (SR) in a tumor growth model under the presence of immune surveillance is investigated. Time delay and cross-correlation between multiplicative and additive noises are considered in the system. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is calculated when periodic signal is introduced multiplicatively. Our results show that: (i) the time delay can accelerate the transition from the state of stable tumor to that of extinction, however the correlation between two noises can accelerate the transition from the state of extinction to that of stable tumor; (ii) the time delay and correlation between two noises can lead to a transition between SR and double SR in the curve of SNR as a function of additive noise intensity, however for the curve of SNR as a function of multiplicative noise intensity, the time delay can cause the SR phenomenon to disappear, and the cross-correlation between two noises can lead to a transition from SR to stochastic reverse-resonance. Finally, we compare the SR phenomenon for the multiplicative periodic signal with that for additive periodic signal in the tumor growth model with immune surveillance.

One-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model with pure three-body interactions

Abstract: The extended Bose-Hubbard model with pure three-body local interactions is studied using the Density Matrix Renormalization Group approach. The shapes of the first two insulating lobes are discussed, and the values of the critical tunneling for which the system undergoes the quantum phase transition from insulating to superfluid phase are predicted. It is shown that stability of insulating phases, in contrast to the standard Bose-Hubbard model, is enhanced for larger fillings. It is also shown that, on the tip of the boundary of the insulating phase, the model under consideration belongs to the Berenzinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class.

Intrinsic classes in the Union of European Football Associations soccer team ranking

Abstract: A strong structural regularity of classes is found in soccer teams ranked by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for the time interval 2009–2014. It concerns 424 to 453 teams according to the 5 competition seasons. The analysis is based on the rank-size theory considerations, the size being the UEFA coefficient at the end of a season. Three classes emerge: (i) the few ”top” teams, (ii) 300 teams, (iii) the rest of the involved teams (about 150) in the tail of the distribution. There are marked empirical laws describing each class. A 3-parameter Lavalette function is used to describe the concave curving as the rank increases, and to distinguish the the tail from the central behavior.

Single state feedback stabilization of unified chaotic systems and circuit implementation

Abstract: Abstract This paper focuses on the single state feedback stabilization problem of unified chaotic system and circuit implementation. Some stabilization conditions will be derived via the single state feedback control scheme. The robust performance of controlled unified chaotic systems with uncertain parameter will be investigated based on maximum and minimum analysis of uncertain parameter, the robust controller which only requires information of a state of the system is proposed and the controller is linear. Both the unified chaotic system and the designed controller are synthesized and implemented by an analog electronic circuit which is simpler because only three variable resistors are required to be adjusted. The numerical simulation and control in MATLAB/Simulink is then provided to show the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method which is robust against some uncertainties. The results presented in this paper improve and generalize the corresponding results of recent works.

Phenomenological models of Universe with varying G and Λ

Abstract: In this article we will consider several phenomenological models for the Universe with varying G and Λ(t), where G is the gravitational ”constant” and Λ(t) is a varying cosmological ”constant”. Two-component fluid model are taken into account. An interaction of the phenomenological form between a barotropic fluid and a quintessence DE is supposed. Three different forms of Λ(t) will be considered. The problem is analysed numerically and behavior of different cosmological parameters investigated graphically. Conclusion and discussions are given at the end of the work. In an Appendix information concerning to the other cosmological parameters is presented.

The use of laser technology to shape properties of the contacts of silicon solar cells and their structure

Abstract: The paper presents the results of the investigation of the front contact manufactured using silver pastes (based on experimentally prepared silver powder) on monocrystalline silicon solar cells in order to reduce contact resistance. Various deposition and fabrication techniques were applied to improve the electrical properties of contacts. The aim of the paper was to apply an unconventional method (selective laser sintering) to improve the quality of forming contacts of silicon solar cells. The topography of both the melted/sintered contact and textured silicon was investigated using atomic force microscopy. Resistance of front electrodes was measured using the Transmission Line Model (TLM). Both surface topography and cross section of front contacts were researched using the scanning electron microscopy.