A novel negatively thermo-sensitive and biodegradable microgel was prepared by combination of macromer synthesis and inverse suspension polymerization. A new post-fabrication encapsulation technique based upon this kind of intelligent microgel was developed. Model proteins (hemoglobin, bovine serum albumin and insulin) were encapsulated into the microgels at 4 degrees C and released in vitro at...

This work builds on the previous introduction [1] of a coupled experimental-computational system devised to fully characterize the thermal behavior of complex 3D submicron electronic devices. The new system replaces the laser-based surface temperature scanning approach with a CCD camera-based approach. As before, the thermo-reflectance thermography system is used to noninvasively measure with s...

Low-temperature thermal cycling of plasma-sprayed zirconia coatings via curvature measurements revealed their in-plane non-linear behavior. This feature arises from the unique layered, porous and cracked morphology of thermal-sprayed ceramic materials. The nonlinear aspect can be quantified by a novel data interpretation procedure consisting of modified beam bending analysis and inverse analysi...

Optical index of refraction n is studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry in epitaxial nanofilms of NaNbO3 with thickness ∼10 nm grown on different single-crystal substrates. The index n in the transparency spectral range (n ≈ 2.1 - 2.2) exhibits a strong sensitivity to atmospheric-pressure gas ambience. The index n in air exceeds that in an oxygen ambience by δn ≈ 0.05 - 0.2. The thermo-optical b...

A thermo-anemometric flowmeter design and the principles of its work are presented in the article. A mathematical model of the temperature field in a stream of biofuel is proposed. This model allows one to determine the fuel consumption with high accuracy. Numerical modeling of the heater heat balance in the fuel flow of a thermo-anemometric flowmeter is conducted and the results are analyzed. ...

A complete thermo-hydro-mechanical model is presented to tackle the complex coupling problems encountered in clay barriers. A detailed formulation coupling the heat, moisture (liquid water and water vapour) and, air transfer in a deformable unsaturated soil is given. The formulation of the AlonsoGens’s mechanical model for unsaturated soil is also incorporated. The sensitivity to some parameter...

We present a study of the thermoelectric effects in tunnel junctions. In particular we calculate the thermopower coefficient S and the Peltier coefficient H. For macroscopic junctions we demonstrate the sensitivity of S and H to the structure of the density of states. For mesoscopic junctions we show that Coulomb effects modify the ordinary Onsager picture and the relation H = TS. The coefficie...