Multi-messenger observations of the transient sky to detect cosmic explosions and counterparts of gravitational wave mergers critically rely on orbiting wide-FoV telescopes to cover the wide range of wavelengths where atmospheric absorption and emission limit the use of ground facilities. Thanks to continuing technological improvements, miniaturised space instruments operating as distributed-aperture constellations are offering new capabilities for the study of high-energy transients to complement ageing existing satellites. In this paper we characterise the performance of the upcoming joint SpIRIT and HERMES-TP/SP constellation for the localisation of high-energy transients through triangulation of signal arrival times. SpIRIT is an Australian technology and science demonstrator satellite designed to operate in a low-Earth Sun-synchronous Polar orbit that will augment the science operations for the equatorial HERMES-TP/SP constellation. In this work we simulate the improvement to the localisation capabilities of the HERMES-TP/SP constellation when SpIRIT is included in an orbital plane nearly perpendicular (inclination = 97.6°) to the HERMES-TP/SP orbits. For the fraction of GRBs detected by three of the HERMES satellites plus SpIRIT, we find that the combined constellation is capable of localising 60% of long GRBs to within ${\sim}30\,\textrm{deg}^{2}$ on the sky, and 60% of short GRBs within ${\sim}1850\,\textrm{deg}^{2}$ ($1\sigma$ confidence regions), though it is beyond the scope of this work to characterise or rule out systematic uncertainty of the same order of magnitude. Based purely on statistical GRB localisation capabilities (i.e., excluding systematic uncertainties and sky coverage), these figures for long GRBs are comparable to those reported by the Fermi Gamma Burst Monitor instrument. These localisation statistics represents a reduction of the uncertainty for the burst localisation region for both long and short GRBs by a factor of ${\sim}5$ compared to the HERMES-TP/SP alone. Further improvements by an additional factor of 2 (or 4) can be achieved by launching an additional 4 (or 6) SpIRIT-like satellites into a Polar orbit, respectively, which would both increase the fraction of sky covered by multiple satellite elements, and also enable localisation of ${\geq} 60\%$ of long GRBs to within a radius of ${\sim}1.5^{\circ}$ (statistical uncertainty) on the sky, clearly demonstrating the value of a distributed all-sky high-energy transient monitor composed of nano-satellites.

New chemical and structural data on sepiolite-falcondoite in garnierite veins from the Falcondo Ni-laterite deposits, central Dominican Republic, are reported. Samples of Ni-sepiolite-falcondoite vary in colour from whitish green to green depending on the NiO content (wt.%) and the amount of silica present. The texture is normally schistose and friable but samples with considerable quartz and/or amorphous silica are compact and hard. Back-scattered electron images indicate that the samples are composed of at least three generations of Ni-sepiolite-falcondoite. The extreme refined cell parameters for Ni-sepiolite-falcondoite vary from 13.400(2), 27.006(4), 5.273(1) Å to 13.340(3), 27.001(6), 5.267(1) Å (space group Pncn). As the Ni content increases there is a small reduction in the a parameter. Chemical compositions determined by electron probe microanalysis cover a large interval of the Ni-sepiolite-falcondoite solid solution (Fal3 and Fal77). Individual samples show a considerable range in composition with the widest range determined in one sample from 4.63 to 22.40 wt.% NiO.

We present theoretical and experimental analyses of the critical condition where the inertial–buoyancy or viscous–buoyancy regime is preserved in a uniform-density gravity current (which propagates over a horizontal plane) of time-variable volume ${\mathcal{V}}=qt^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}}$ in a power-law cross-section (with width described by $f(z)=bz^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}$, where $z$ is the vertical coordinate, $b$ and $q$ are positive real numbers, and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}$ are non-negative real numbers) occupied by homogeneous or linearly stratified ambient fluid. The magnitude of the ambient stratification is represented by the parameter $S$, with $S=0$ and $S=1$ describing the homogeneous and maximum stratification cases respectively. Earlier theoretical and experimental results valid for a rectangular cross-section ($\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$) and uniform ambient fluid are generalized here to a power-law cross-section and stratified ambient. Novel time scalings, obtained for inertial and viscous regimes, allow a derivation of the critical flow parameter $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{c}$ and the corresponding propagation rate as $Kt^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}_{c}}$ as a function of the problem parameters. Estimates of the transition length between the inertial and viscous regimes are also derived. A series of experiments conducted in a semicircular cross-section ($\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=1/2$) validate the critical values $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{c}=2$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{c}=9/4$ for the two cases $S=0$ and $1$. The ratio between the inertial and viscous forces is determined by an effective Reynolds number proportional to $q$ at some power. The threshold value of this number, which enables a determination of the regime of the current (inertial–buoyancy or viscous–buoyancy) in critical conditions, is determined experimentally for both $S=0$ and $S=1$. We conclude that a very significant generalization of the insights and results from two-dimensional (rectangular cross-section channel) gravity currents to power-law cross-sections is available.

LaNiO3 thin films were deposited on SrLaAlO4 (100) and SrLaAlO4 (001) single crystal substrates by a chemical solution deposition method and heat-treated in oxygen atmosphere at 700°C in tube oven. Structural, morphological, and electrical properties of the LaNiO3 thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and electrical resistivity as temperature function (Hall measurements). The X-ray diffraction data indicated good crystallinity and a structural preferential orientation. The LaNiO3 thin films have a very flat surface and no droplet was found on their surfaces. Samples of LaNiO3 grown onto (100) and (001) oriented SrLaAlO4 single crystal substrates reveled average grain size by AFM approximately 15-30 and 20-35 nm, respectively. Transport characteristics observed were clearly dependent upon the substrate orientation which exhibited a metal-to-insulator transition. The underlying mechanism is a result of competition between the mobility edge and the Fermi energy through the occupation of electron states which in turn is controlled by the disorder level induced by different growth surfaces.

In the present work, we report the synthesis and characterization of NaNbO3 particles obtained by microwave-assisted hydrothermal method from Nb2O5 and NaOH. The synthesis was made at different periods at 180 °C and 300W. The crystallization of NaNbO3 structures produced Na2Nb2O6.H2O in the intermediate phase with fiber-like morphology, and this is associated with the synthesis time. Pure orthorhombic NaNbO3 with cube-like morphology originates after synthesizing for 240 minutes. To verify the remnant polarization of particles, films were obtained by electrophoresis process and sintered at 800°C for 10 minutes in a microwave furnace. The films characterization indicated that films of niobate with fiber-like morphology present remaining polarization, and the morphology of cubes did not show remaining polarization. Considering these results, it can be concluded that the morphology implemented ferroelectric property of NaNbO3.

Brazil has arid regions where livestock production is limited by forage source. However, some native herbaceous browses have a dry tolerance and have been used as animal feeds. Some of those plants have anti nutritional compounds such as tannins that can interfere on intake and digestibility. Tannins have a high affinity to proteins and could make these molecules unavailable for animal. Compounds as polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been used on tannin studies, because it has more affinity with tannins than proteins. Based on that, it is possible to evaluate the nutritive potential of tanniniferous plants, using PEG in gas based techniques for assessing anti nutritional factors in tanniniferous plants for ruminants. The aim of this work was to investigate the biological activity of tannins using the in vitro gas method with the addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG).

Objectives: There has been a rapid growth in the use of patient-assessed outcomes (PAOs) that are measured in the assessment of health technologies. The process of collection of such measures can be costly, and there may be problems associated with the ability of the patient to complete them. The use of electronically stored routine data may reduce costs and overcome the problems associated with patient completion. The feasibility of using routine data surrogates for the UK Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (UKIBDQ) and the Short Form 36 (SF-36) was examined.

Methods: Clinical terms and codes for the UKIBDQ and SF-36 questions were identified, and data from electronic routine sources were sought on patients participating in a randomized controlled trial. The presence or absence of relevant symptoms was used to generate surrogate scores, which were compared with the original scores.

Results: Most questions in the UKIBDQ and SF-36 were codable but only one third of the terms were recorded routinely in electronic form. The surrogate total IBDQ score had reasonable reliability (Kuder–Richardson coefficient = 0.51), but this reliability could not be determined for the SF-36. Intraclass correlations between routine and designed data were poor to weak.

Conclusions: Although electronic routine data sources had the capacity to develop surrogate measures for patient assessed outcomes, there was evidence of wide underutilization of coding systems leading to an underreporting of symptoms. This finding is consistent with previous literature where only poor correlations were illustrated between patient assessed outcomes and surrogate scoring of symptoms.

Some herbaceous browses have shown a dry tolerance and had been used as animal feed. However, some of those plants have anti nutritional compounds such as tannins that can interfere on intake and digestibility. Tannins are polyphenolic compounds originated from the secondary metabolism of the plant as protection against insects, birds and as a result of drought, temperature or soil fertility. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the level and variation of tannins in important browses from the semi-arid of Brazil and to investigate the effects of different treatments (oven-, shade- and sun-drying and treatment with urea) on phenolics compounds.

The plasmadynamics of a stationary plasma thruster (SPT-100) plume in the very-near-field region have been studied by using a two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical code based on a combination of Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulation for ion component (Xe+ and Xe++) and fluid description for electrons. In particular we have solved the electron momentum conservation equation (including collisional and magnetic effects) and the electron energy conservation equation (including collisional effects). Due to the difference between electron and ion Larmor radius and to the effect of the thruster wall, the quasi-neutrality hypothesis can be violated in the very-near-field plume region and the electric field must be computed accordingly. The xenon atom flowfield is calculated analytically. The model allows a unitary rationalization of several experimental observations.

Some herbaceous legumes have shown a dry tolerance and had been used as animal feed. However, some of those plants have anti nutritional compounds such as tannins that can interfere on intake and digestibility. Tannins are polyphenolic compounds originated in a secondary metabolism of the plant as protection against insects, birds and as a result of drought, temperature or soil fertility. In order to preserve the tannin for experimental purposes, it is suggested that the hay preparation should be made under shadow. The objective of this work was to compare the concentration of phenolics compounds in forage legumes havested in dry and wet seasons and under sun, shadow and air circulation dry.

Strontium-modified lead titanate thin films with composition Pb1−xSrxTiO3 were grown on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates using the polymeric precursor method. The structural phase evolution as a function of the Sr contents was studied using micro-Raman scattering, specular reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The results showed a gradual change from tetragonal to cubic structure, the transition occurring at about x = 0.58. The infrared reflectance spectra showed that the frequency of several peaks decreases as the strontium concentration increases. These features are correlated with a decrease in the tetragonal distortion of the TiO6 octahedra as the strontium concentration increases.

This article presents a particle-in-cell (PIC)/test-particle Monte Carlo (TPMC) simulation of the dynamics of Ar+ ions in the region (sheath and presheath) surrounding an attracting cylindrical Langmuir probe at medium He buffer gas pressure. The numerical model is based on a combination of PIC simulation for the ion component and fluid description for the electrons using the Boltzmann relation. The electric field is self-consistently computed via the Poisson equation. The neutrals are modeled directly by an analytical method. The elastic collisions between Ar+ ions and He atoms are accounted for using a TPMC method based on the polarization potential theory. The results of the present simulation are compared with measurements, with other probe theories and the results of other authors simulations.

A modified sol-gel technique was used to synthesize nanocomposites of Ni:SiO2 which resulted in Ni nanoparticles embedded in a SiO2 amorphous matrix. Transmission electron microscopy TEM analysis were performed to study the structure and morphology of the magnetic powders. The Ni particles were found to have a good dispersion and a controlled particle size distribution, with average particle radius of ∼ 3 nm. A detailed characterization of the magnetic properties was done through magnetization measurements M(T,H) in applied magnetic fields up to ± 7 T and for temperatures ranging from 2 to 300 K. The superparamagnetic (SPM) behavior of these metallic nanoparticles was inferred from the temperature dependence of the magnetization. The blocking temperature TB, as low as 20 K, was found to be dependent on Ni concentration, increasing with increasing Ni content. The SPM behavior above the blocking temperature TB was confirmed by the collapse of M/MS vs. H/T data in universal curves. These curves were fitted to a log-normal weighted Langevin function allowing us to determine the distribution of magnetic moments. Using the fitted magnetic moments and the Ni saturation magnetization, the radii of spherical particles were determined to be close to ∼ 3 nm, in excellent agreement with TEM analysis. Also, magnetic hysteresis loops were found to be symmetric along the field axis with no shift via exchange bias, suggesting that Ni particles are free from an oxide layer. In addition, for the most diluted samples, the magnetic behavior of these Ni nanoparticles is in excellent agreement with the predictions of randomly oriented and noninteracting magnetic particles. This was confirmed by the temperature dependence of the coercivity field that obeys the relation HC(T) = HC0 [1-(T/TB)1/2] below TB with HC0 ∼ 780 Oe.

BaxSr1−xTiO3 (x 4 0.6) (BST) thin films were successfully prepared on a Pt(111)/TiO2/SiO2/Si(100) substrate by spin coating, using the polymeric precursor method. BST films with a perovskite single phase were obtained after heat treatment at 700 °C. The multilayer BST thin films had a granular structure with a grain size of approximately 60 nm. A 480-nm-thick film was obtained by carrying out five cycles of the spin-coating/heating process. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy analyses showed that the thin films had a smooth, dense, crack-free surface with low surface roughness (3.6 nm). At room temperature and at a frequency of 100 kHz, the dielectric constant and the dissipation factor were, respectively, 748 and 0.042. The high dielectric constant value was due to the high microstructural quality and chemical homogeneity of the thin films obtained by the polymeric precursor method.

PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3 (PMN) prepared by organic solution of citrates was analyzed by the Rietveld method to determine the influence of seeds and dopants on the perovskite and pyrochlore phase formation. It was observed that pyrochlore phase formation increases with an increase in calcination time when no additives are included during the preparation. It was also observed that a greater amount of perovskite phase appeared in doped or seeded samples. The fraction of perovskite phase increased from 88 mol% in pure sample to ∼95 mol% in doped and seeded samples calcined at 800 °C for 1 h. It is clear that the addition of dopants or seeds during PMN preparation can enhance the formation of perovskite phase.

Two regimes of defect generation have been found in MOVPE GaAs/Ge layers upon changing the V/III ratio between 1.3 and 11.8. For low V/III ratio the layers contained misfit dislocations along with stacking faults that had been generated by dissociation of the misfit dislocations. The stacking fault density increased with decreasing V/III ratio. This might be explained by an enhanced mobility of the dissociated partials due the reduced unintentional doping of the layer caused by reduced Ge outdiffusion from the substrate when V/III is small. The secon regime corresponds to high V/III ratios and is characterized by the absence of misfit dislocations and the presence of a high density of planar defects. This means that breakdown of the 2D layer-by-layer growth occurred and 3D island growth prevailed.

The recovery of the implant-induced damage and the defects present after thermal annealing at 650 °C in Fe-implanted InP have been investigated by TEM, RBS and X-ray diffractometry as a function of the annealing time that was varied betweeen 0.5 and 2 h. The near-surface damaged layer was removed only for annealing times ≥ 1.5 h. The annealed samples contained stacking fault tetrahedra of vacancy type, extrinsic dislocation loops and microdefects. These extended defects were mostly localized in a band corresponding to the region of transition between amorphous top layer and crystalline substrate as was detected in the as-implanted sample. Stacking fault tetrahedra and loops have also been observed before and beyond this band, respectively. Such defects could be due to either shear strains at the recrystallization front or implant-induced point defects.