ALBERT

Description: Steven D. Granz, Katayun Barmak, and Mark H. Kryder A comparison was made of FePt-B and FePt-B-Ag thin films having different volume contents of boron, which were RF sputtered with in-situ heating at 425575 degrees C onto Si substrates with 20 nm thick (002) MgO. By introducing boron into FePt and varying the sputtering conditions, films with grain ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07B709 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: M. S. Khalil, M. J. A. Stoutimore, F. C. Wellstood, and K. D. Osborn We examine the transmission through nonideal microwave resonant circuits. The general analytical resonance line shape is derived for both inductive and capacitive coupling with mismatched input and output transmission impedances, and it is found that, for certain non-ideal conditions, the line shape ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 054510 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Julia Wagner, Mark Gruber, Andreas Wilke, Yuya Tanaka, Katharina Topczak et al. We investigate different parameters influencing the occurrence of s-shaped current voltage (j-V) characteristics in planar heterojunction organic solar cells. It is shown how substrate modification, purity of the active organic material as well as variation of the top contact can affect the shape of ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 054509 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Q. An, W. Z. Han, S. N. Luo, T. C. Germann, D. L. Tonks et al. We investigate with molecular dynamics the dynamic response of Cu bicrystals with a special asymmetric grain boundary (GB), (111)//(112), and its dependence on the loading directions. Shock loading is applied along the GB normal either from the left or right to the GB. Due to the structure asymmetry ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053525 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: S. Y. Liu, C. M. Zhen, Y. Z. Li, C. F. Pan, H. J. Zhou et al. Room temperature ferromagnetism has been observed in hydrogenated N-doped amorphous carbon films (a-CN:H) prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The magnetization of the films changed depending on the ratio (R) of the flow rate of nitrogen to that of methane during deposition and on ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053922 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: H. Xiang and K. Komvopoulos A contact-mode surface micromachine consisting of polycrystalline silicon was used to study the effect of repetitive impact loading on the evolution of adhesion at sidewall contact interfaces under different conditions of contact load, ambient pressure, and relative humidity. All micromachines demon ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 054507 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: K. H. Matlack, J. J. Wall, J.-Y. Kim, J. Qu, L. J. Jacobs et al. Nonlinear ultrasound was used to monitor radiation damage in two reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels. The microstructural changes associated with radiation damage include changes in dislocation density and the formation of precipitates, and nonlinear ultrasonic waves are known to be sensitive to su ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 054911 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Jin Fang, Yi Huang, Christopher M. Lew, Yushan Yan, and Laurent Pilon This paper reports the temperature dependent cross-plane thermal conductivity of pure silica zeolite (PSZ) MFI and MEL thin films measured using the 3omega method between 30 and 315 K. PSZ MFI thin films were b-oriented, fully crystalline, and had a 33% microporosity. PSZ MEL thin films consisted of ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 054910 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: K. Ozdogan, M. Upadhyay Kahaly, S. R. Sarath Kumar, H. N. Alshareef, and U. Schwingenschlogl We study epitaxial SrTiO interfaced with Nb-doped SrTiNbO (x = 0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.375, and 0.5) by full-potential density functional theory. From the electronic band structures obtained by our ab-initio calculations we determine the dependence of the induced metallicity on the Nb concentration. We ob ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 054313 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Jianbo Hu, Kouhei Ichiyanagi, Hiroshi Takahashi, Hiroaki Koguchi, Takeaki Akasaka et al. The high-pressure phase stability of the metastable tetragonal zirconia is still under debate. The transition dynamics of shocked YO (3 mol. %) stabilized tetragonal zirconia ceramics under laser-shock compression has been directly studied using nanosecond time-resolved x-ray diffraction. The marten ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053526 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: P. R. Coxon, M. Newman, M. R. C. Hunt, N. O'Farrell, B. R. Horrocks et al. Silicon nanocrystals (SiNCs) modified with 18-mer DNA oligonucleotides have been studied by X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in photoluminescence yield (PLY) and total electron yield (TEY) modes. Luminescence spectra from the DNA-modified SiNCs under ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 054311 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Jim Long Her, Yasuhiro H. Matsuda, Motohiro Nakano, Yasuhiro Niwa, and Yasuhiro Inada X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectra of Mn in a spin-crossover compound, [Mn(taa)], was studied in pulsed high magnetic fields up to 37 T. The significant changes in the XANES spectra, related to the spin-crossover from the low-spin (LS) state to high-spin (HS) state, were found to b ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053921 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: B. Berini, A. Fouchet, E. Popova, J. Scola, Y. Dumont et al. Determining phase transitions has always been a great challenge in material science due to their important fundamental and technological aspects. Recently, iron-based perovskites (RFeO), exhibiting phase transitions at high temperatures, have attracted much interest for their functional properties a ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053923 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: C. Lazzaroni and P. Chabert A global (volume-averaged) model of the self-pulsing regime of micro-hollow cathode discharges working in argon gas is proposed. The power balance is done using an equivalent circuit model of the discharge that allows the current and voltage dynamics to be calculated. The fraction of the total power ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053305 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: M. Koubaa, T. Dammak, D. Garrot, M. Castro, E. Codjovi et al. The thermal properties of the perovskite slab alkylammonium lead iodide (FCHCHNH)[PbI] are investigated using spectroscopic ellipsometry, differential scanning calorimetry, photoluminescence, and Raman spectroscopy. The spectroscopic ellipsometry, performed in the heating mode, clearly evidenced the ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053521 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: X. M. Dou, B. Q. Sun, D. S. Jiang, H. Q. Ni, and Z. C. Niu The temperature-dependent electron spin relaxation of positively charged excitons in a single InAs quantum dot was measured by time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy at zero applied magnetic fields. The experimental results show that the electron-spin relaxation is clearly divided into two dif ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053524 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Y. Zhang, N. Mattern, and J. Eckert We have studied the phase formation of CuZr liquids with x = 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 25 using molecular dynamics simulations, respectively, in order to find a direct relationship between the atomic structures and the glass forming abilities (GFAs). The difference among the critical cooling rates ha ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053520 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Antonio Faraone, Kunlun Hong, Larry R. Kneller, Michael Ohl, and John R. D. Copley The coherent dynamics of a typical fragile glass former, meta-toluidine, was investigated at the molecular level using quasielastic neutron scattering, with time-of-flight and neutron spin echo spectrometers. It is well known that the static structure factor of meta-toluidine shows a prepeak origina ... [J. Chem. Phys. 136, 104502 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Minglong Jiang, Qun Zeng, Tingting Zhang, Mingli Yang, and Koblar Alan Jackson The lowest-energy isomers of Cu clusters for N = 2030 are identified using an unbiased search algorithm and density functional theory calculations. The low-energy structures over this size range are dominated by those based on a 13-atom icosahedral (I) core and a 19-atom double icosahedron (DI) core ... [J. Chem. Phys. 136, 104501 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Kyousuke Yoshida, Koichi Iwata, Yoshio Nishiyama, Yoshifumi Kimura, and Hiro-o Hamaguchi Vibrational cooling rate of the first excited singlet (S) state of trans-stilbene and bulk thermal diffusivity are measured for seven room temperature ionic liquids, CmimTfN, CmimTfN, CmimPF, CmimTfN, CmimTfN, CmimTfN, and bmpyTfN. Vibrational cooling rate measured with picosecond time-resolved Rama ... [J. Chem. Phys. 136, 104504 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Ayse Arslanargin and Thomas L. Beck Free energy partitioning analysis is employed to explore the driving forces for ions interacting with the water liquid-vapor interface using recently optimized point charge models for the ions and SPC/E water. The Na and I ions are examined as an example kosmotrope/chaotrope pair. The absolute hydra ... [J. Chem. Phys. 136, 104503 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Taweetham Limpanuparb, Joshua W. Hollett, and Peter M. W. Gill We discuss the efficient computation of the auxiliary integrals that arise when resolutions of two-electron operators (specifically, the Coulomb operator [T. Limpanuparb, A. T. B. Gilbert, and P. M. W. Gill, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 7, 830 (2011)] and the long-range Ewald operator [T. Limpanuparb and ... [J. Chem. Phys. 136, 104102 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Sarom S. Leang, Federico Zahariev, and Mark S. Gordon The performance of 24 density functionals, including 14 meta-generalized gradient approximation (mGGA) functionals, is assessed for the calculation of vertical excitation energies against an experimental benchmark set comprising 14 small- to medium-sized compounds with 101 total excited states. The ... [J. Chem. Phys. 136, 104101 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Longjiu Cheng (程龙玖) Experiments revealed that small boron cluster anions and cations are (quasi-)planar. For neutral boron cluster, (quasi-)planar motifs are also suggested to be global minimum by many theoretical studies, and a structural transformation from quasi-planar to double-ring tubular structures occurs at B. ... [J. Chem. Phys. 136, 104301 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Paul Baird and Mohammad Wehbe Given a Riemannian 3-manifold (M, g) endowed with a unit vector field U that is tangent to a conformal foliation, we require that the pair extend to a space-time ([script M],[script G]) endowed with a space-like unit vector field U in such a way that U simultaneously generates null geodesics and is ... [J. Math. Phys. 53, 032504 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Ph. Traore and A. T. Perez Two-dimensional numerical simulations are carried out to examine the problem of transient electroconvection stability of dielectric liquids subjected to unipolar injection. The entire set of electrohydrodynamics equations associated with the electroconvective phenomena that occur in a layer of a die ... [Phys. Fluids 24, 037102 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Jianqiang Han, Xiaofei Wang, Tianhong Yan, Yan Li, and Meixuan Song Microcantilever with integrated piezoresistor has been applied to in situ surface stress measurement in the field of biochemical sensors. It is well known that piezoresistive cantilever-based sensors are sensitive to ambient temperature changing due to highly temperature-dependent piezoresistive eff ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 035002 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Hong-xiang Sun, Shu-yi Zhang, and Xiu-ji Shui A model of acoustic diodes is realized by a thin brass plate with single-sided periodical grating structure immersed in water and studied both numerically and experimentally. The unidirectional transmission of acoustic waves is identified in two different frequency ranges, which can be systematicall ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 103507 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Xiaolei Wang, Kai Han, Wenwu Wang, Hong Yang, Jing Zhang et al. Band alignment of TiN/HfO interface of TiN/HfO/SiO/Si stack is investigated by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The p-type Schottky barrier height (p-SBH) is found to increase with thicker HfO thickness. Since considering only the metal/dielectric interface cannot explain this phenomenon, ban ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 102906 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Wei Zou, Zhizhou Yu, C. X. Zhang, J. X. Zhong, and L. Z. Sun The transport properties of hybrid nanoribbons constructed by substituting zigzag graphane nanoribbons into zigzag graphene nanoribbons are investigated using the first-principles calculations and non-equilibrium Green's function. The transport properties of the hybrid systems are improved due to th ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 103109 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Brian E. Francisco, Christina M. Jones, Se-Hee Lee, and Conrad R. Stoldt While today's lithium-ion batteries offer acceptable energy storage capability, they lack the ability to be cycled repeatedly more than a couple thousand times. Electrochemical capacitors, i.e., supercapacitors, are being developed whose lifetimes exceed 1 x 10 cycles and power densities surpass t ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 103902 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Chun Cheng, Kai Liu, Bin Xiang, Joonki Suh, and Junqiao Wu Recently, it was discovered that single-crystalline VO nanostructures exhibit unique, single-domain metal-insulator phase transition. They enable a wide range of device applications as well as discoveries of oxide physics beyond those can be achieved with VO bulk or thin films. Previous syntheses of ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 103111 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Jing-Xin Yu, Yan Cheng, Stefano Sanvito, and Xiang-Rong Chen The bias-dependent oscillatory electron transport of monatomic sulfur chains sandwiched between gold electrodes is investigated with density functional theory and non-equilibrium Green's function method. At zero bias, in contrast to the typical odd-even oscillations observed in most metallic chains, ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 103110 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Jing Lou, Gerry N. Pellegrini, Ming Liu, Neil D. Mathur, and Nian X. Sun We demonstrate an equivalence between direct and converse magnetoelectric effects in two-phase systems comprising piezoelectric and magnetostrictive materials. This was achieved by recasting the Maxwell relation in terms of the effective electrical and magnetic dipole moments for the system and comp ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 102907 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Fei Ding, Yanxia Cui, Xiaochen Ge, Yi Jin, and Sailing He A microwave ultra-broadband polarization-independent metamaterial absorber is demonstrated. It is composed of a periodic array of metal-dielectric multilayered quadrangular frustum pyramids. These pyramids possess resonant absorption modes at multi-frequencies, of which the overlapping leads to the ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 103506 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Jie Su, Xiaomei Lu, Yaoyang Liu, Junting Zhang, Guorong Li et al. 0.7Pb(ZrTi)O-0.3Pb(NiNb)O (abbreviated as PZT-PNN) ceramics were prepared using the solid-state reaction method. The results reveal that ferroelectric and anti-ferromagnetic orderings coexist (multiferroicity) in PZT-PNN ceramics. Furthermore, the abnormal behavior of dielectric constant and loss ob ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 102905 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Yuan Tian, Hongliang Lu, Jifa Tian, Chen Li, Chao Hui et al. Magnesium-doped boron nanoswords were synthesized via a thermoreduction method. The as-prepared nanoswords are single crystalline and beta-rhombohedral (beta-rh) phase. Electrical transport measurements show that variable range hopping conductivity increases with temperature, and carrier mobility ha ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 103112 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Yohanna Seminovski, Pablo Palacios, Perla Wahnon, and Ricardo Grau-Crespo Based on theoretical arguments, we propose a possible route for controlling the band-gap in the promising photovoltaic material CdInS. Our ab initio calculations show that the experimental degree of inversion in this spinel (fraction of tetrahedral sites occupied by In) corresponds approximately to ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 102112 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Takao Shimizu, Desheng Fu, Hiroki Taniguchi, Tomoyasu Taniyama, and Mitsuru Itoh We perform a Raman scattering study to elucidate the mechanism of temperature independent dielectric response of BaCaTiO (BCTO-0.233) from a viewpoint of phonon dynamics. BCTO-0.233 remains tetragonal below T down to 3.5 K. Over-damped soft phonon observed in a pure BaTiO is found to become underdam ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 102908 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Levent Gutay, Alex Redinger, Rabie Djemour, and Susanne Siebentritt We present experimental proof for a narrow first conduction band in CuZnSnSe semiconductor films as it has been predicted by theoretical calculations. The optical absorption characteristics of CuZnSnSe thin films are analyzed by optical transmission spectroscopy. The experimental data show strong ev ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 102113 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Jibao Lu, Ying Dai, Meng Guo, Lin Yu, Kangrong Lai et al. The conflict of understandings on experimental results about chemical and optical properties of C-doped TiO, which has been overlooked for a long time but is essential for studies of the basic properties of this material, is unraveled. It is shown that in anatase TiO the doped C and O atoms can easi ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 102114 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Zhifeng Shi, Xiaochuan Xia, Wei Yin, Shikai Zhang, Hui Wang et al. Ultraviolet electroluminescence was demonstrated from a p-ZnO:As/n-SiC(6H) heterojunction light-emitting diode at room-temperature. The p-ZnO:As was fabricated by out-diffusion of arsenic atoms from a sandwiched GaAs interlayer on SiC substrate. The p-type doping was confirmed by both Hall and low-t ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 101112 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Saifeng Zhang, Wei Xie, Hongxing Dong, Liaoxin Sun, Yanjing Ling et al. A robust exciton-polariton effect in a ZnO whispering gallery microcavity well above room temperature is presented. The lower polariton branches are tuned by current induced thermal effect. The red shift can be as large as ~40 meV. It is found that the strong coupling can be preserved and the polari ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 101912 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: J. A. Caraveo-Frescas, M. N. Hedhili, H. Wang, U. Schwingenschlogl, and H. N. Alshareef It is shown that the well-known negative flatband voltage (V) shift, induced by rare-earth oxide capping in metal gate stacks, can be completely reversed in the absence of the silicon overlayer. Using TaN metal gates and GdO-doped dielectric, we measure a ~350 mV negative shift with the Si overlayer ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 102111 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: X. Y. Zhong, B. Kabius, D. K. Schreiber, J. A. Eastman, D. D. Fong et al. The protocol to calculate the chemical roughness from three-dimensional (3-D) data cube acquired by energy-filtered electron tomography has been developed and applied to analyze the 3-D Zr distribution at the arbitrarily shaped interfaces in the ZrO/InO multilayer films. The calculated root-mean-squ ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 101604 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Chunlei Wan, Yifeng Wang, Wataru Norimatsu, Michiko Kusunoki, and Kunihito Koumoto Layered metal sulfides (MS)(TiS) (M = Pb, Sn, Bi) with alternative stacking of MS layers and TiS layers (a natural superlattice) have been proposed as thermoelectric materials. In this paper, various nanoscale stacking faults have been found in these materials, including the translational disorder i ... [Appl. Phys. Lett. 100, 101913 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Effects of seawater p CO 2 changes on the calcifying fluid of scleractinian corals Biogeosciences Discussions, 9, 2655-2689, 2012 Author(s): S. Hohn and A. Merico Rising atmospheric CO 2 concentrations due to anthropogenic emissions induce changes in the ocean carbonate chemistry and a drop in ocean pH. This acidification process is expected to harm calcifying organisms like coccolithophores, molluscs, echinoderms, and corals. A severe decline in coral abundance is, for example, expected by the end of this century with associated disastrous effects on reef ecosystems. Despite the growing importance of the topic, little progress has been made with respect to modelling the impact of acidification on coral calcification. Here we present a model for a coral polyp that simulates the carbonate system in four different compartments: the seawater, the polyp tissue, the coelenteron, and the calicoblastic layer. Precipitation of calcium carbonate takes place in the metabolically controlled calicoblastic layer beneath the polyp tissue. The model is adjusted to a state of activity as observed by direct microsensor measurements in the calcifying fluid. Simulated CO 2 perturbation experiments reveal decreasing calcification rates under elevated p CO 2 despite strong metabolic control of the calcifying fluid. Diffusion of CO 2 through the tissue into the calicoblastic layer increases with increasing seawater p CO 2 leading to decreased aragonite saturation in the calcifying fluid of the coral polyp. Our modelling study provides important insights into the complexity of the calcification process at the organism level and helps to quantify the effect of ocean acidification on corals.

Description: The role of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica in the cycling of trace elements Biogeosciences Discussions, 9, 2623-2653, 2012 Author(s): C. Sanz-Lázaro, P. Malea, E. T. Apostolaki, I. Kalantzi, A. Marín, and I. Karakassis The aim of this work was to study the role of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica on the cycling of a wide set of trace elements (Ag, As, Ba, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Fe, Ga, Li, Mn, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sr, Tl, V and Zn). We measured the concentration of these trace elements in the different compartments of P. oceanica (leaves, rhizomes, roots and epibiota) in a non-polluted seagrass meadow representative of the Mediterranean and calculated the annual budget from a mass balance. We provide novel data on accumulation dynamics of many trace elements in P. oceanica compartments and demonstrate that trace element accumulation patterns are mainly determined by plant compartment rather than by temporal variability. Epibiota was the compartment which showed the greatest concentrations for most trace elements. Thus, they constitute a key compartment when estimating trace element transfer to higher trophic levels by P. oceanica . For most trace elements, translocation seemed to be low and acropetal. Zn, Cd, Sr and Rb were the trace elements that showed the highest release rate through decomposition of plant detritus, while Cs, Tl and Bi the lowest. P. oceanica acts as a sink of potentially toxic trace elements (Ni, Cr, As and Ag), which can be sequestered, decreasing their bioavailability. P. oceanica may have a relevant role in the cycling of trace elements in the Mediterranean.

Description: Mohammad Farazmand and George Haller Using the recently developed variational theory of hyperbolic Lagrangian coherent structures (LCSs), we introduce a computational approach that renders attracting and repelling LCSs as smooth, parametrized curves in two-dimensional flows. The curves are obtained as trajectories of an autonomous ordi ... [Chaos 22, 013128 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Lucas Illing, Alison M. Saunders, and Daniel Hahs We address the issue of multi-parameter estimation from scalar outputs of chaotic systems, using the dynamics of a Malkus water wheel and simulations of the corresponding Lorenz-equations model as an example. We discuss and compare two estimators: one is based on a globally convergent adaptive obser ... [Chaos 22, 013127 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia Kathryn Allen, David M. Drew, Geoffrey M. Downes, Robert Evans, Patrick Baker, Michael Grose The great majority of dendroclimatological work in Australia has thus far relied on ring-width chronologies only. We report novel results from a pilot study that show the potential to develop density-based climatically sensitive chronologies from two long-lived conifers endemic to Tasmania: Pencil Pine and Celery Top Pine. Cross-dating of average ring density profiles within each of the two sites examined was comparable with the better replicated ring-width chronologies from the sites. Cross-dating potential for maximum density was also indicated. Correlations between density and climate for both species were stronger and more persistent across a window of several months than correlations between ring width and climate. These stronger correlations suggest that temperature reconstructions based on average density may be possible. The ability to develop high resolution temperature-sensitive chronologies would allow for spatial comparisons across regions such as Tasmania that are affected by multiple broad-scale climate systems. A particularly novel result was the finding that maximum density was significantly related to stream-flow at the end of the growing season. Further work is required to assess the potential to reconstruct temperature, and to reconstruct stream-flow for important Tasmanian catchments over the past 500–800 years.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia Hannu Hökkä, Hannu Salminen, Erkki Ahti The climate conditions of the current and previous growing seasons have been shown to influence growth of coniferous trees in mineral soils sites. These dependencies may be different in peatlands where growth is generally more dependent on variations in soil water conditions. In the Nordic and Baltic countries, millions of hectares of peatlands and wetlands have been drained in order to enhance forest production. These drainage networks do not guarantee stable soil water conditions for the whole stand rotation. It is thus likely that precipitation in particular may have a different influence on annual growth in peatland to that in mineral soil sites. We studied the effect of precipitation and temperature on the inter-annual diameter growth of Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) in Finland in drained peatland forests. The diameter growth data were limited to periods when growth response to drainage had levelled out. For comparison, growth data were also collected from adjacent mineral soil trees. The climate variables were monthly mean temperature and precipitation in a given location estimated from observations at the nearest weather stations by means of spatial smoothing. We used mixed linear models in describing the annual diameter growth of individual trees as a function of tree size and stand properties and expressed the residual variation as a function of climate parameters. The peatland and mineral soil growth variations showed different dependence on climate parameters. Peatland trees within 5 m of a ditch showed different climate responses compared to those located further away. Precipitation in July was negatively correlated with the diameter growth of peatland trees but there was no correlation with temperature. Growth of trees in mineral soils was positively correlated with March and April mean temperatures and May and June mean precipitation. The residual growth indices showed largely similar patterns in peatlands and mineral soil sites.

Description: A. A. Gonzalez-Fernandez, J. Juvert, Alfredo Morales-Sanchez, Jorge Barreto, M. Aceves-Mijares et al. This work presents electrical and electro-optical studies performed on light-emitting capacitors with silicon-rich silicon oxide fabricated by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and by the implantation of Si ions in thermally grown SiO. The influence of the fabrication technique and silicon c ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 053109 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Alvaro Valdes, Rita Prosmiti, and Gerardo Delgado-Barrio A full-dimensional quantum dynamics study is carried out for the highly fluxional H cation on a recent reference potential energy surface by using the multi configuration time-dependent Hartree method. With five equivalent light atoms and shallow barriers between various low-lying stationary points ... [J. Chem. Phys. 136, 104302 (2012)] published Thu Mar 8, 2012.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia Keyan Fang, Xiaohua Gou, Fahu Chen, Yingjun Li, Fen Zhang, Miklos Kazmer Individual tree-ring series may show changed growth trends and divergent climate–growth associations even within a site, highlighting the need to examine tree growth and its climate association before building a chronology. We provided a case study for the stratification and temporal variability of tree growth and its climate associations of individual cores for three mountain ranges in north central China. Tree growth is mainly limited by moisture conditions in previous July–September and current June–August. Repeated sampling and field investigations of Picea wilsonii at Xinglong Mountain over a growth year of 2004 suggested that the growing season is from about the end of April to the end of September. It appears that the moisture conditions in previous and current growing seasons are crucial for tree growth in this region. However, a decrease in drought limitation was observed for a few tree-ring series. We thereby built the pooled chronology and sub-site chronologies with only drought-sensitive tree rings similar climate–growth relationships from the three mountain slopes. Growth disturbances of tree-ring series are detected by checking the occurrence of successively low values of the biweight series, which are treated by fitting a flexible curve.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia Esther Jansma, Rowin J. van Lanen, Kit Sturgeon, Steve Mohlke, Peter W. Brewer Dendrochronological data formats in general offer limited space for recording associated metadata. Such information is often recorded separately from the actual time series, and often only on paper. TRiDaBASE has been developed to improve metadata administration. It is a relational Microsoft Access database that allows users to register digital metadata according to TRiDaS, to generate TRiDaS XML for uploading to TRiDaS-based analytical systems and repositories, and to ingest TRiDaS XML created elsewhere for local querying and analyses.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia Igor Drobyshev, P. Charles Goebel, Yves Bergeron, R. Gregory Corace The study of forests dominated by red pine ( Pinus resinosa Ait.), one of the few fire-resistant tree species of eastern North America, provides an opportunity to reconstruct long-term fire histories and examine the temporal dynamics of climate forcing upon forest fire regimes. We used a 300-year long spatially explicit dendrochronological reconstruction of the fire regime for Seney National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR, 38,531 ha), eastern Upper Michigan to: (1) identify fire size thresholds with strong vs. weak climate controls, (2) evaluate effect of landform type (outwash channel vs. sand ridges) in modifying climate–fire associations, and (3) check for the presence of temporal changes in the climate control of large fire events over the time period 1700–1983. We used a summer drought sensitive red pine chronology (ITRDB code can037 ) as a proxy of past fire-related climate variability. Results indicated that fires 〉60 ha in sand-ridge-dominated portions of SNWR and 〉100 ha in outwash channels were likely climatically driven events. Climate–fire associations varied over time with significant climate–fire linkages observed for the periods 1700–1800 (pre-EuroAmerican), 1800–1900 (EuroAmerican settlement) and 1900–1983 (modern era). Although an increase in fire activity at the turn of 20th century is commonly associated with human sources of ignitions, our results suggest that such an increase was also likely a climatically driven episode.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia Maxim Yermokhin This article presents for the first time Scots pine tree-ring chronology created from historical timber (XVII–XIX cc.) from central Belarus. The chronology includes 59 tree-ring series which were collected from the different wood structures in the Nesvizh castle. This samples show different stages of the castle renovations. The chronology presented in this paper embraces 222 years covering the period between 1608 and 1829.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia Pavel Pavlovich Silkin, Natalia Victorovna Ekimova This study addressed distribution of calcium and strontium in Siberian spruce ( Picea obovata Ledeb.) and Siberian fir ( Abies sibirica Ledeb.) tree-rings and its dependence on these woody species cell structure. Calcium concentration was found to decrease gradually from earlywood to latewood, whereas strontium showed an opposite trend. However, their trends at the scale of several rings are co-directed in the samples analyzed. A strong linear relationship was identified between the distribution of Sr/Ca concentration ratio and tree-ring density profile for both woody species. Radiographic density of Siberian spruce tree-ring cell walls and Ca and Sr concentrations in them were determined to have negative correlation with cell wall thickness. In earlywood of annual rings of a spruce the radiographic density of cell wall reaches 2.0 g/cm 3 and decreases to 1.2 g/cm 3 in latewood. The hypothesis put forward in this study to explain these strontium and calcium distributions in the tree-rings is that the concentrations of the element ions change with development of different cell wall layers. The high value of radiographic density of a cellular wall in earlywood and its relationship with cell wall thickness can be explained by the presence of ions of calcium in a cellular wall. Ions of calcium absorb X-ray radiation more strongly in comparison with light chemical elements. It can become the reason of observable relationship between radiographic density of cell wall and cell wall thickness.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia Xiaohua Gou, Fen Zhang, Yang Deng, Gregory J. Ettl, Meixue Yang, Linlin Gao, Keyan Fang Tree-line ecotones are strongly climatically limited and serve as potential monitors of climate change. We employed annual growth increment from tree-rings, and tree density and age structure data derived from two Juniperus przewalskii tree-line sites in the eastern part of the Qilian Mountains, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, to detect the responses of tree growth and population dynamics to climate change. High temperature favors tree growth and is associated with increased tree density at tree-line, and an advance in tree-line position. Significantly positive correlations were found between ring-width and mean monthly air temperatures in current and previous June, July and August. Tree recruitment began to increase rapidly at the two sites after the Little Ice Age, but then decreased starting in the 1970s. The number of trees established coincides with temperature changes. The warming trend after the Little Ice Age favors increases of tree density and an advance of tree-line. The majority of trees established during the period of 1931–1970, which coincides well with the rapid radial growth of the trees.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 30, Issue 1 X. Arnan, B.C. López, J. Martínez-Vilalta, M. Estorach, R. Poyatos Trees can reach ages that in some cases amount to thousands of years. In the Mediterranean region, olive trees ( Olea europaea ) have traditionally been considered a particularly long-lived species. The main objective of this study was to assess the age of large olive trees considered to be millenarian and classified as monumental trees in northeastern Spain. We extracted cores of 14 individuals and obtained 8 sections of trees which had already been cut in the area where the largest olive trees in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula are found. The age of the sampled olive trees was assessed by counting the number of annual growth rings. Tree rings did not cross-date well, neither within nor between individuals, but boundaries between likely annual rings were clearly distinct. We found a linear relationship between DBH and tree age (in years) (Age = 2.11 × diameter(cm) + 88.93, R 2 = 0.80), which was used to estimate the age of unsampled olive trees. The maximum estimated age (627 ± 110 years) is among the greatest ages reported for olive trees around the world (700 years) and among the oldest trees in Mediterranean ecosystems.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia Marc Macias-Fauria, Aslak Grinsted, Samuli Helama, Jari Holopainen Proxy data forms natural time series used to lengthen instrumental climatic records, and may contain a significant portion of autocorrelation. Increased serial correlation limits the number of independent observations, not satisfying the assumptions of conventional statistical methods. We estimate the significance of calibration and verification statistics used in dendroclimatic reconstructions by combining Monte-Carlo iterations with frequency (Ebisuzaki) or time (Burg) domain time series modelling. Significance tests are presented for Coefficient of Determination ( R 2 ), Coefficient of Correlation ( r 2 ), Reduction of Error (RE) and Coefficient of Error (CE) for time series ranging from very low to very high autocorrelation. Increased autocorrelation implies higher occurrences of relatively high but spurious reconstruction statistics. Ebisuzaki time series modelling shows greater robustness and its use is recommended over Burg's method, which penalizes the restriction in the number of autocorrelation coefficients imposed by the Akaike Information Criterion. Positive RE and CE values, traditionally viewed as successful reconstruction statistics, are not necessarily significant and depend on the temporal structure of the time series used. This approach is further implemented successfully to compute confidence intervals based on the temporal structure of the residuals of the transfer function. A Matlab ® package and a Windows executable file for non-Matlab ® users are provided to perform the described analyses.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 30, Issue 1 Kristof Haneca, Vincent Debonne A detailed dendrochronological survey was performed on the medieval roofs of the Church of Our Lady (CoOL) in Damme, Belgium. Seen its complex architectural history, special attention was paid to the identification of consecutive building phases, based on combined architectural historical research and tree-ring dating. In total 64 increment cores were taken throughout the roof structures of the CoOL. All roof timbers are made of European oak ( Quercus robur / petraea ), of which only few have surviving sapwood or bark. Tree-ring dating confirms the late 13th/early 14th century construction date of the roofs. For all chronologies that were composed, the highest correlation values are found with reference chronologies covering the catchment area of the river Meuse. From the dating results of the timbers of the CoOL it becomes clear that the same timber source was used for nearly a century. On several of the examined roof timbers, rafting joints were observed, demonstrating that the timbers were indeed tied together as a raft and floated down the river. By implementing sapwood estimates in a Bayesian chronological model (OxCal), tree-ring series with surviving sapwood from coeval roof structures were combined in order to narrow down the time range for the felling date. Based on the refined interpretation of the felling dates, several consecutive building phases can now be identified and dated, leading to a new interpretation of the architectural history of the CoOL. Intriguingly, a marked interruption in building activities is observed around 1300. Probably this is related to the instable political situation at that time, caused by the armed conflict that emerged between the Count of Flanders and the king of France. Since Damme served as the outport of the riotous city of Bruges, it was alternately seized by the French and Flemish, both consuming considerable amounts of timber and other building materials for military fortifications. Potentially this led to a shortage in building materials and provoked a stop in building activities. This paper demonstrates the power of Bayesian models to refine the interpretation of dendrochronological dates in architectural analyses of medieval historical buildings.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 30, Issue 1 Kristina Sohar, Adomas Vitas, Alar Läänelaid Pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur L.) is one of the widely used and dendrochronologically investigated species in Europe. Still, it is a problematical dating object if its outermost section is missing partly or totally. Thus, we need sapwood estimation of living trees. As sapwood amount varies geographically, numbers of sapwood rings have been published for different regions in Europe but no such estimation has been done for the Baltic States yet. Therefore, this paper deals with the estimation of pedunculate oak sapwood growing in the eastern Baltic region, i.e. in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In total, 668 oak core samples of living trees from 43 stands were investigated. Ring widths were measured and the number of sapwood rings was determined according to two criteria: difference of colour and absence of tyloses in earlywood vessels. The samples were divided into two sets, according to the t H -values between site chronologies and the major geobotanical sub-provinces. Thus, the nine Finnish and western Estonian sites were attributed to the western region and the 34 eastern Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian sites to the eastern region. As the result of a statistical analysis, we explain that the number of oak sapwood rings ranges from 4.09 to 20.85 and 6.45 to 18.02 within 95% confidence limits in the western and eastern regions, respectively. For the three Baltic countries and southern Finland in general, we recommend to consider a sapwood estimate of 6.18–18.71 rings. Regarding earlier studies, the general European trend of decreasing sapwood ring number towards the east was confirmed. A geographical pattern of eastward decrease of the median sapwood ring number was noticed in the Baltics as well. The chronology based upon 668 samples of living oak trees from all sites covered the period of 1631–2008.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 30, Issue 1 Julia Bartens, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Susan D. Day, P. Eric Wiseman Live oak ( Quercus virginiana Mill.) is a long lived, broadleaf, evergreen species native to the lower Coastal Plain of the southern and southeastern United States and is frequently planted in the urban environment. However, live oak has received limited attention for its potential for dendrochronological analyses possibly because its growth-ring boundaries may be less defined due to the absence of a distinct dormancy period. The objective of this explorative study was to determine whether live oak rings in both urban and historic trees could be accurately identified and measured for dendrochronological applications. One hundred urban live oaks were assessed as well as four cross-sectional specimens from historic sites in the southeastern United States. Age of all cored live oak ranged from 7 to 29 (average = 16.8 rings), while cross-sections were taken from trees with an average age of 175 years. A chronology was created from cores that had the highest interseries correlations ( n = 27), resulting in an average interseries correlation of 0.654. The analysis of live oak cross sections revealed that the rings on live oak are very faint and barely discernible, delimited mainly by a faint row of earlywood vessels with no or barely visible terminal parenchyma. Rings on these sections were erratic (i.e., fading out along the circumference) and non-concentric (i.e., a particular ring could be both wide and narrow at certain points along the circumference) so that any attempt to measure the rings on opposing radii would have produced meaningless results. However, based on the results of this study, we conclude that the dendrochronological analysis of live oak is possible with careful sample preparation and analysis and that results would be reliable, even for urban trees. Results of this study suggest that urban tree-ring series with higher interseries correlations were more vigorous than those with lower values, suggesting that urban environmental stresses related to individual sites may decrease the usefulness of crossdating techniques for evaluating annual rings on younger, urban trees.

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 30, Issue 1 Rob Wilson, C. Richard Bates Following the successful utilisation of lake preserved sub-fossil woody material to extend living Scots pine chronologies in Scandinavia, ongoing research in the Scottish Highlands aims to build a similar multi-millennial long climatically sensitive pine chronology. This paper details explorative research testing the use of sonar methods to facilitate the search for sub-fossil material in lake environments. Although the method clearly identifies elongate anomalies that are consistent with submerged tree stems in water depths 〉1.5 m, it does not allow the identification of sub-fossil wood remnants in shallow water (〈1.0 m) or heavily vegetated bays. Therefore, for the successful survey of lakes, a combination of traditional and sonar methods must be applied. Ongoing research will now explore the utilisation of these methods to more remote locations where boat access is not possible.

Description: Publication year: 2011 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 29, Issue 4 Yongxiang Zhang, Xuemei Shao, Martin Wilmking Knowledge of the spatial pattern and temporal relationships between tree-growth and climatic factors are important not only for the projection of forest growth under varying climate but for dendroclimatology in general. Here, we systematically investigated tree-growth climate relationships of Picea crassifolia at upper treeline in the Qilian Mts., northwestern China. 297 trees from eleven sites, covering a large part of the natural range of this species, show increasing and partly divergent correlations with temperature in the most recent decades. The dominant signal at all sites was a strengthening of negative correlations of annual radial growth with summer temperature. In a subset of trees at six sites, a strengthening positive correlation with summer temperatures existed as well. Wetter and high altitude sites tended to show a higher percentage of trees that are positively correlated with warming temperatures, indicating that some individuals there may take advantage of warmer conditions. Divergent responses between the two sub-populations clustered by their response to climate factor were significantly stronger in the last 30 years compared to earlier time slices. In the same time frame, hydrothermal conditions of the investigation area changed to a drier and warmer combination. Drought conditions, most likely affecting the radial growth of most P. crassifolia , have been intensifying over time and expanding spatially from the middle Qilian Mts. to most of our study area during the last half century. While explanations such as methodological effects due to trend removal or human disturbance at the sampling sites might be able to explain the result at single sites, the spatial and temporal co-occurrence of large scale changes in climate and tree growth suggests a causal link between them.

Description: Publication year: 2011 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 29, Issue 3 Martin de Luis, Klemen Novak, José Raventós, Jožica Gričar, Peter Prislan, Katarina Čufar Research was carried out on the wood formation process and the intra-annual density fluctuations (IADFs) in Mediterranean Aleppo pine ( Pinus halepensis Mill.) trees from the coastal site of Guardamar, and inland Maigmo in south-eastern Spain. Samples taken at breast height of the trees were inspected to define the frequency of tree rings with latewood-like cells in earlywood (E-ring) and with earlywood-like cells in latewood (L-ring). L-rings were generally more frequent, especially on the warmer, dryer, coastal site of Guardamar. Dendrochronological techniques using tree-ring features vs. climate showed that L-rings were formed in Guardamar when August and/or September precipitation was higher than normal and in Maigmo when August precipitation was higher than normal. The formation of E-rings was promoted when winter and early spring were warmer than long term average. By studying intra-annual tree-ring formation at a cellular level, we found that at Maigmo in 2004 (MAI2004) all monitored trees presented a normal ring with normal earlywood and latewood and gradual transition between both. At Guardamar in 2005 (GUA2005) a typical L-ring was formed in the majority of monitored trees. In GUA2005 the wood formation started before February and the transition from early- to latewood occurred in late spring. In summer, the cambial cell production occurred at a very low rate, but an increased production of xylem cells took place in September when the amount of precipitation was twice as high as the long term average. During this period, a band of earlywood-like cells was formed, followed by the production of latewood-like cells that continued until the end of December. The normal ring in MAI2004 was formed because climatic factors triggering IADF did not occur (no precipitation in August 2004). After a modest cell production of cambium in September, only few latewood-like cells were produced. According to the strong agreement of results obtained from studying long-term dendrochronological series and intra-annual information on wood formation, such combined study indicates a high potential for use in explaining the environmental signals registered by a tree during different phases of wood formation.

Description: Publication year: 2011 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 29, Issue 1 Peter H. Nishimura, Colin P. Laroque Despite their suitability for dendroclimatological research, the boreal regions of central and western Labrador remain under-researched. In an attempt to evaluate the growth trends and climatic response of this region's trees, master chronologies have been developed for its four dominant conifer species. Balsam fir ( Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.), white spruce ( Picea glauca (Moench) Voss), black spruce ( Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns, Poggenb.) and eastern larch ( Larix laricina (DuRoi) K. Koch) were sampled systematically within a 3 × 4 grid of twelve sites at the intersection of 62°W, 64°W and 66°W longitude, and latitudes 52°N, 53°N, 54°N and 55°N. The two most dominant species at each site were sampled, yielding a total of twenty-four master chronologies, all of which reflected a highly significant common signal at each site. The chronologies were subjected to a response function analysis to determine the nature of the growth–climate relationships in the region. Summer temperature proved to be the predominant limiting factor with regard to radial growth at most sites. The onset of the optimum temperature regime, however, varies across the network of sites, revealing evidence of a gradient of continentality in the data. Growth–temperature correlations indicated a significant relationship with July temperature at most eastern sites, while western sites tended to correlate with May, June and August temperatures. Central sites tended to correlate with June–July temperatures. We interpret these results as demonstrating the bioclimatic gradient of change between coastally proximal, maritime-influenced sites and inland, continentally influenced locales. This transition occurs approximately 330 km inland from the open Labrador Sea.

Description: Publication year: 2011 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 29, Issue 4 S. Szymczak, M.M. Joachimski, A. Bräuning, T. Hetzer, J. Kuhlemann Stable isotopes in tree rings have widely been used for palaeoclimate reconstructions since tree rings record climatic information at annual resolution. However, various wood components or different parts of an annual tree-ring may differ in their isotopic compositions. Thus, sample preparation and subsequent laboratory analysis are crucial for the isotopic signal retained in the final tree-ring isotope series used for climate reconstruction and must therefore be considered for the interpretation of isotope–climate relationships. This study focuses on wood of Corsican Pine trees ( Pinus nigra ssp. laricio ) as this tree species allows to reconstruct the long-term climate evolution in the western Mediterranean. In a pilot study, we concentrated on methodological issues of sample preparation techniques in order to evaluate isotope records measured on pooled whole tree-ring cellulose and whole tree-ring bulk wood samples. We analysed 80-year long carbon and oxygen chronologies of Corsican Pine trees growing near the upper tree line on Corsica. Carbon and oxygen isotope records of whole tree-ring bulk wood and whole tree-ring cellulose from a pooled sample of 5 trees were correlated with the climate parameters monthly precipitation, temperature and the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc-PDSI). Results show that the offsets in carbon and oxygen isotopes of bulk wood and cellulose are not constant over time. Both isotopes correlate with climate parameters from late winter and summer. The carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of cellulose are more sensitive to climatic variables than those of bulk wood. The results of this study imply that extraction of cellulose is a pre-requisite for the reconstruction of high-resolution climate records from stable isotope series of P. nigra ssp. laricio .

Description: Publication year: 2011 Source: Dendrochronologia, Volume 29, Issue 3 Annie Deslauriers, Sergio Rossi, Audrey Turcotte, Hubert Morin, Cornélia Krause Continuous measurements of stem radius variation in trees are obtained with automatic dendrometers that provide time series composed of seasonal tree growth and circadian rhythms of water storage and depletion. Several variables can be extracted from the raw data, such as amplitude and duration of radius increase and contraction, which are useful for understanding intra-annual tree growth, tree physiology and for performing growth–climate relationships. These measurements constitute a large dataset whose manipulation needs numerous algorithms and automatic procedures to efficiently and rapidly extract the information. This paper presents a three-step procedure using two SAS routines to extract the time series describing radius variation and associate them with environmental parameters. The first routine organizes and corrects data and generates outputs in the form of files and plots to visualize the results and improve data correction (first step). The second step consists of a reclassification of the hours of contraction or expansion that have been misclassified by the automatic process. The second routine classifies the daily patterns of stem variation into the three phases of contraction, expansion and radius increment and associates the environmental parameters (third step). An example of the procedure is given, with an explanation of the outputs generated. The advantages and shortcomings of the procedure and its importance for the intra-annual analyses of tree growth are discussed.

Description: M. H. Stockett and J. E. Lawler A novel absorption cell has been developed to enable a spectroscopic survey of a broad range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) under astrophysically relevant conditions and utilizing a synchrotron radiation continuum to test the still controversial hypothesis that these molecules or their io ... [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 035104 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: N. Tezuka, F. Mitsuhashi, and S. Sugimoto Tunnel magnetoresistance effect has been investigated for magnetic tunnel junctions with CoFeAlSi Heusler electrodes on a Cr-bufferd MgO (110) substrate. The grown CoFeAlSi has L2 structure for annealing above 500 degrees C. The TMR ratio of 73% at room temperature and 103% at 5 K were obtained for ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07C718 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Manh Cuong Nguyen, Xin Zhao, Min Ji, Cai-Zhuang Wang, Bruce Harmon et al. Using genetic algorithm with first-principle calculations, we searched for low-energy crystal structures of FeCo alloys. We found that FeCo alloys are highly configurationally degenerate with many additional off-stoichiometric stable structures to the well-known B structure. The average magnetic mom ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07E338 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Kazuhiko Okita, Kazushi Ishiyama, and Hideo Miura Magnetostriction constant of a magnetic thin film is conventionally measured by detecting the deformation of a coupon sample that consists of the magnetic film deposited on a thin glass substrate (e.g., cover glass of size 10 mm x 25 mm) under an applied field using a laser beam [A. C. Tam and H. ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07E340 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Yuan-Feng Duan, Chung Ming Leung, Shengyao Zhang, Long Zhang, and Siu Wing Or A polymer-based magnetoelectric (ME) laminate was fabricated by sandwiching one layer of thickness-polarized, length-stretched polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric polymer between two layers of length-magnetized, epoxy-bonded TbDyFe (Terfenol-D) pseudo-13 magnetostrictive particulate composi ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07C717 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Brooke L. Mesler, Kristen S. Buchanan, Mi-Young Im, and Peter Fischer We report experimental evidence of nonlinear gyrotropic vortex core motion. Using soft x-ray transmission microscopy we observed the time-averaged dynamic response of a magnetic vortex core in a 2 [mu]m diameter, 100 nm thick permalloy (NiFe) disk as a function of the amplitude and frequency of an a ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07D311 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Sunjae Chung, Sangyeop Lee, Hakjoon Lee, Taehee Yoo, Sanghoon Lee et al. Two ferromagnetic semiconductor GaMnAs-based superlattices (SLs) were investigated by measuring the planar Hall effect (PHE) with the external magnetic field applied in the plane of the sample. The two GaMnAs/GaAs SLs differed only by the Be doping of the nonmagnetic GaAs spacer layers. Both SLs sho ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07D310 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: G. Consolo and E. Martinez In this paper a numerical investigation of the effects of disorder on the domain wall propagation along magnetic nanostrips induced by fields or currents is carried out. Such effects are included in the extended Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation of motion by generalizing the classical viscous-type di ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07D312 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Khabat Ebnabbasi, Yajie Chen, Anton Geiler, Vincent Harris, and Carmine Vittoria In this paper, magnetoelectric effects of Sr Z-type hexaferrite, SrFeCoO, at room temperature is measured. The change in remanence magnetization was measured by applying a DC voltage or electric field across a slab of hexaferrite. Changes of ~18% in remanence was observed in an electric field of 10 ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07C719 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: S. Narendra Babu, Seong-Gi Min, Amin Yourdkhani, Gabriel Caruntu, and Leszek Malkinski The present work is aimed at fabricating bi-layer aluminum nitride (AlN)/cobalt iron (CoFe) magnetoelectric (ME) thin films using reactive rf/dc magnetron sputtering. A systematic study on structural, morphological, piezoelectric, magnetic and magnetoelectric properties is undertaken. Except for AlN ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07C720 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Tomoaki Inokuchi, Mizue Ishikawa, Hideyuki Sugiyama, Yoshiaki Saito, and Nobuki Tezuka Spin injection and detection properties in CoFe/AlO/SOI (Si on insulator) junctions were investigated by using Hanle effect measurements up to room temperature. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscope images and Fourier transform images of the CoFe/AlO/SOI junction, fabricated by using appr ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07C316 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Hiroyuki Ohtori and Hiroshi Imamura This paper theoretically analyzes the Andreev reflection in normal-conductor/multi-band super-conductor junctions. We applied Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations to the case of superconductors with extended s-waves and calculated the respective point-contact Andreev reflection (PCAR) spectra. Our results ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07C518 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: W. M. Li, X. L. Huang, J. Z. Shi, Y. J. Chen, T. L. Huang et al. The motivation for this work is rooted in the reversal process that occurs in perpendicularly magnetic Co/Pd multilayered based bit-patterned media. In our work, temperature effect and angle dependence of critical fields (H) and switching field distribution (SFD) are studied by both experiment and s ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07B917 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Youn Ho Park, Hyun Cheol Jang, Hyun Cheol Koo, Hyung-jun Kim, Joonyeon Chang et al. From the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillation, estimation of the spin[horizontal bar]orbit interaction parameter is possible only for very low temperature. An alternative method available for much wider temperature range is utilizing the ferromagnetic electrode which contacts the quantum well channel and r ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07C317 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: S. N. Piramanayagam, M. Ranjbar, H. K. Tan, W. C. Allen Poh, R. Sbiaa et al. Antidots of Co/Pd multilayers with 3-bilayers [(Co/Pd)] that were antiferromagnetically coupled(AFC) to (Co/Pd) were fabricated and their magnetic properties were investigated. The thickness of Co in (Co/Pd) was varied from 0.4 to 0.8 nm. Samples with a Co thickness of 0.8 nm in the bilayer showed a ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07B916 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: Seyong Choi, Jang-Hee Yoon, Byoung-Seob Lee, Mi-Sook Won, Jung-Woo Ok et al. We investigate the performance of a magnetic lens in very high magnetic fields exceeding 24 T. The magnetic lens is composed of Gd-Ba-Cu-O superconducting bulk materials. The unique configuration of the magnetic field amplifier, which consists of slits and electrical insulation in the bulk, allows t ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07E728 (2012)] published Fri Mar 9, 2012.

Description: M. Godoy, A. J. Moreno, G. A. Jorge, H. J. Ferrari, P. S. Antonel et al. We report micrometric periodic assembly of live and dead magnetotactic bacteria, Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1, which synthesize chains of magnetic nanoparticles inside their bodies, and of superparamagnetic FeO and ferromagnetic CoFeO nanoparticles in aqueous suspensions using periodically magn ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 044905 (2012)] published Thu Feb 23, 2012.

Description: Mukannan Arivanandhan, Raira Gotoh, Tatsuro Watahiki, Kozo Fujiwara, Yasuhiro Hayakawa et al. The effect of Ge codoping on minority carrier lifetime in boron (B)-doped Czochralski-silicon (CZ-Si) crystals was investigated. The minority carrier lifetime increased from 110 to 176 [mu]s as Ge concentration was increased from zero to 1 x 10cm in B/Ge codoped CZ-Si crystals. Light-induced degra ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 043707 (2012)] published Thu Feb 23, 2012.

Description: S. S. Yakushkin, A. A. Dubrovskiy, D. A. Balaev, K. A. Shaykhutdinov, G. A. Bukhtiyarova et al. Magnetic properties of [eh]-FeO nanoparticles supported on silica with the average size of few nanometers, narrow size distribution and no admixture of any other iron oxide polymorphs are investigated. The investigation of the temperature behavior of magnetization within the temperature range from 4 ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 044312 (2012)] published Thu Feb 23, 2012.

Description: Biswadeep Saha, Meenakshisundaram Ramanathan, Chai Ren, and Sivaraman Guruswamy Dislocation arrays were introduced through controlled deformation of Fe20 at. % Ga alloy single crystal samples with and orientations. Alloy single crystals were obtained through vertical Bridgman growth process. Magnetostriction measurements show a large decrease in magnetostriction after deformi ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 043911 (2012)] published Thu Feb 23, 2012.

Description: Mudar A. Abdulsattar Infrared and Raman vibrational spectrum are calculated using ab initio density functional theory for SiGe superlattice nanocrystal of approximately 1.6 nm length. After obtaining the optimum positions of atoms via geometrical optimization using density functional theory, coupled perturbed Hartree-Fo ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 044306 (2012)] published Tue Feb 21, 2012.

Description: J. C. Lin, B. S. Wang, S. Lin, P. Tong, W. J. Lu et al. With increasing the substitution of Sn for Cu in CuSnMnNMn, the initial cubic-tetragonal structural phase transition disappears for the samples x 〉= 0.10 and is replaced by a discontinuous lattice expansion with a cubic structure which has been confirmed by the measurements of variable temperature x ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 043905 (2012)] published Tue Feb 21, 2012.

Description: Narihito Okada, Yoichi Yamada, and Kazuyuki Tadatomo Templates consisting of in-plane alternately arranged relaxed InGaN and GaN were obtained by (1122) facet growth and mass transport via metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. InGaN/GaN multi-quantum wells (MQWs) were grown on the novel templates, and their optical and structural properties were investig ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 043508 (2012)] published Tue Feb 21, 2012.

Description: Yong Zhi Cheng, Ying Wang, Yan Nie, Rong Zhou Gong, Xuan Xiong et al. A broadband metamaterial absorber (MA) based on lumped elements is presented, which is composed of the dielectric substrate sandwiched with metal split-coin resonators (SCR) welded with lumped elements and continuous metal film. We simulated, fabricated, and measured the lumped elements MA. Compared ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 044902 (2012)] published Tue Feb 21, 2012.

Description: Jennifer T. Heath, Chun-Sheng Jiang, and Mowafak M. Al-Jassim We calibrate the secondary electron signal from a standard scanning electron microscope to voltage, yielding an image of the surface or near-surface potential. Data on both atomically abrupt heterojunction GaInP/GaAs and diffused homojunction Si solar cell devices clearly show the expected variation ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 046103 (2012)] published Tue Feb 21, 2012.

Description: Hui Zhang We have presented a theoretical model to describe the magnetoelectric coupling in TbDyFe/PZT laminate composite material. In this model, the stresses introduced by the magnetic field or electric field in the composite material are assumed to be the axial force. The magnetization of magnetostrictive ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 043906 (2012)] published Tue Feb 21, 2012.

Description: J. Mu, Z. W. Zhu, H. F. Zhang, H. M. Fu, A. M. Wang et al. The composites of In nanoparticles embedded in Al-based amorphous matrix were synthesized. As the content of In increases, the average size of In nanoparticles increases. The melting behaviors of embedded In nanoparticles were investigated, indicating that the melting temperature is suppressed, and ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 043515 (2012)] published Thu Feb 23, 2012.

Description: M. Y. Ruan, Z. W. Ouyang, J. Chen, S. S. Sheng, Z. C. Xia et al. We have demonstrated that in CaCoScO, substitution of nonmagnetic Sc (S = 0) for high-spin Co, even up to the solid solubility limit of x = 0.50.6, does not dramatically modify the intrachain ferromagnetic (FM) interaction. This is quite different from the cases of Ir- and Rh-doping, which much enha ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 043910 (2012)] published Thu Feb 23, 2012.

Description: Xiao Li Zhu and Xiang Ming Chen The first-order ferroelectric transition of SrEuTiNbO tungsten bronze ceramics was investigated together with the thermal history dependence of dielectric properties and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. Moreover, the diffuse dielectric maximum appeared at a temperature above the fer ... [J. Appl. Phys. 111, 044104 (2012)] published Thu Feb 23, 2012.