large size direct shear tests (i.e.300 x 300mm) were conducted to investigate the interaction between clay reinforced with geogrids embedded in thin layers of sand. test results for the clay, sand, clay-sand, clay-geogrid, sandgeogrid and clay-sand-geogrid are discussed. thin layers of sand including 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14mm were used to increase the interaction between the clay and the geogrid...

We study the bending of a thin plate, stiffened with a thin elastic layer, of thickness δ. We describe the complete construction of an asymptotic expansion with respect to δ of the solution of the Kirchhoff-Love model and give optimal estimates for the remainder. We identify approximate boundary conditions, which take into account the effect of the stiffener at various orders. Thanks to the too...

Background: Homoeopathic mother tinctures and herbal extracts are used worldwide for medicinal purposes on the basis that the plant extract contains the active components essential for medicinal use. Quality analysis of samples ensures that the correct active components are present for medicinal use. Thin layer chromatography has been used extensively to determine the quality of plant extracts ...

We proposed optical gas sensors based on PLCs integrated with SnO2 thin films. SnO2 thin film was placed on the core layer appeared by removing the upper cladding layer of PLC. The propagation loss is analyzed using 2-D finite-difference time-domain method as a function of refractive index change of SnO2 thin film. The propagation loss of 0.18 dB was observed when the change of refractive index...

Abstract: Interface between matrix/coating or coating/coating in fact represents a very complicate 6 thin interfacial layer. So interface model is necessary to avoid the difficulty on considering such a 7 complicate thin layer in analysis. Classic interface model and cohesive model have been widely used 8 in stress analysis of coating materials, though they cannot represent the effect of very t...

Layer-by-layer epitaxial growth of the pyrochlore magnet Tb2Ti2O7 on the isostructural substrate Y2Ti2O7 results in high-quality single crystal films of up to 60 nm thickness. Substrate-induced strain is shown to act as a strong and controlled perturbation to the exotic magnetism of Tb2Ti2O7, opening up the general prospect of strain-engineering the diverse magnetic and electrical properties of...

The innovative design and synthesis of nanofiber based hydro-philic/phobic membranes with a thin hydro-phobic nanofiber layer on the top and a thin hydrophilic nanofiber layer on the bottom of the conventional casted micro-porous layer which opens up a solution for membrane pore wetting and improves the pure water flux in membrane distillation.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) at this time is much slower than conventional optical thin-film deposition techniques. A more rapid ALD process for SiO(2) has been developed than for other ALD materials. A fence post design for optical thin films has thin layers of high-index posts standing above a broad low-index ground. If a design for ALD can be predominantly composed of SiO(2) layers with thi...

Optically thin cirrus near the tropical tropopause regulate the humidity of air entering the stratosphere, which in turn has a strong influence on the Earth's radiation budget and climate. Recent high-altitude, unmanned aircraft measurements provide evidence for two distinct classes of cirrus formed in the tropical tropopause region: (i) vertically extensive cirrus with low ice number concentra...

High specific surface area transparent and conducting frameworks, fabricated by atomic layer deposition (ALD), were used as scaffolds for fabrication of equally high area, ALD-formed hematite structures for photo-oxidation of water to dioxygen. The frameworks offer high transparency to visible light and robust conductivity under harsh annealing and oxidizing conditions. Furthermore, they also m...