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A geometry optimisation of the perovskite and hexagonal phases of BaTiO3 has been conducted using Density Functional Theory (DFT) within the Local Density Approximation (LDA) and Generalised Gradient Approximation (GGA) schemes. The LDA was found to give lattice parameters closer to experiment than the GGA. A study of oxygen vacancies in the hexagonal phase has been performed and the results suggest an O(1) type (face sharing) vacancy is more stable than an O(2) type (corner sharing) vacancy in the octahedral structure. In addition, the effect of different Ru doping concentrations on the structure and stability of the hexagonal phase has been investigated.
The development and optimisation of materials and processes used for germanium metal-oxide-semiconductor devices are investigated. The gate oxide and the source-drain are examined using electrical and optical techniques.
Cytotoxicity and immunogenicity of viral DNA delivery vectors in DNA transformation raises the demand of developing non viral DNA delivery systems which can avoid these problems without compromising transformation efficiency. In this context, we have developed mesoporous silica nanoparticles as non-toxic DNA delivery vehicles. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrolysing the tetraethylorthosilicate dissolved in an organic solvent by the amino acid lysine dissolved in aqueous medium and solid material obtained as a result of hydrolysis was calcined. In a similar manner, we have synthesized pure mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) and gold nanoparticles incorporated silica nanomaterials. These materials designed to have very high surface area, tuneable pores and surface functionalisation in such a way to anchor high ...
Transthyretin (TTR) is an extracellular thyroid hormone (TH) distributor protein. The TH distributor proteins ensure the adequate distribution of THs throughout the body, buffer against excess TH uptake into cells and maintain an extrathyroidal reserve of THs that may protect against TH deficiency when TH demand is increased. Thyroid hormones are vital for normal postnatal development. Thus, the postnatal development and growth of tissues responsive to THs has been investigated in TTR null mice. Although the developmental surge in plasma T4 concentrations was evident in 2-week-old TTR null mice, total and free T4 in the plasma were significantly reduced. Characteristics of the developing TTR null mice included delayed suckling-to-weaning transition, delayed onset of growth and retarded longitudinal bone growth. In addition, ileums from...
Natural rubber (NR) is a biopolymer whose properties depend on the molecular structure of the 1,4-cis polyisoprene chains, nonrubber constituents, environmental conditions, etc. NR has been characterized by Mooney viscosity, Wallace plasticity, nitrogen content (%N). However, these cannot effectively account for clone differences. The aim of this work is to use extensional rheology to characterize and differentiate NR samples as for clone type and the season of the year in comparison to the traditional characterizations. Three IAC 300 series and RRIM 600 clones of Hevea brasiliensis tapped between October 2006 (Oct_06) and August 2008 (Aug_08) were investigated. IAC 329 clones showed the least susceptibility to seasonal changes, whereas RRIM 600 was the most influenced. An opposite trend between extensional viscosity (gE) and %N was es...
In Relational Databases (RDB), the concept of stored procedures is quite familiar to users, these being procedural methods that can be used for data retrieval and manipulation. When users want to query or manipulate data, they can utilize these methods and pass in the parameters. By doing so, the users do not need to perform ad-hoc queries every time they want to perform typical actions. In contrast, XML databases offer no support for such methods as yet, meaning that users have to write ad-hoc XQuery or XPath, which can be time consuming, prone to errors and not user-friendly. This paper investigates how SQL stored procedures can be developed to effectively conduct various XQuery and XPath against XML data within the enabled databases. For implementation, we use SQL Server 2008.
Color centers in diamond, as single photon emitters, are leading candidates for future quantum devices due to their room temperature operation and photostability. The recently discovered chromium-related centers are particularly attractive because they possess narrow bandwidth emission and a very short lifetime. In this paper, we investigate the fabrication methodologies for engineering these centers in monolithic diamond. We show that the emitters can be successfully fabricated by ion implantation of chromium in conjunction with oxygen or sulfur. Furthermore, our results indicate that the background nitrogen concentration is an important parameter, which governs the probability of success in generating these centers.
Delivering and maintaining dependable component-based systems within budget is a significant practical challenge. Best practice even in large organisations is only just starting to move beyond simple testing for verification of performance and reliability. The eCAP(-CBCS) project, a collaboration between ABB Corporate Research and Monash University, Australia, seeks to extend research in architectural modelling and analysis, and apply it to distributed, embedded control systems. Background theory developed by Monash's Distributed Systems and Software Engineering group includes generic models for composing parameterised component interaction protocols, behaviours, types and properties such as reliability and execution time. The project produced a prototype to detect and diagnose excessive peak load in controllers caused by high tas...
The design of an automation work system involves important choices concerning the type of system process as well as the condition of the process. These are based on the requirements from the user. This work provides the development of configuration model for automating the design of work system. The model consists of the extraction and execution process of user requirements. It begins with the identification of the requirement statement. Once identified, the state-ment is extracted and sorted accordingly into process type, number of item count and condition of the process. Cur-rently, the model considers simple sorting and basic assembly process. The model continues to the selection of system action and system component. At the end of the work, the user requirements are transformed into a set of system model and eventually provide the ...
