Results of a quantitative characterisation SIMS at high levels of boron-doping concentration (2 × 1020 cm−3) of in situ boron-doped LPCVD-polysilicon thin films before and after thermal-oxidation treatments are presented. Measurements of the precedent characterisation methods (SIMS) are performed on submicron layers (300 nm) deposited at the extreme temperatures Td = 520 °C and Td = 605 °C. The thermal-oxidation experiments are carried out under dry oxygen (O2) at three oxidation temperatures Tox = 840 °C, 945 °C and 1050 °C for several durations. After these thermal-oxidation processes, remarkable changes in the behavior of doping profile are observed. This behavior seems to be typically characteristic of the in situ heavily boron-doped films. In addition to the presence of some saturation-thermal-dependence phenomenon, we find that these results well correlate and support the presence of another phenomenon called “Differential of the Oxidation Rate (DOR)” which is evidenced as typical of the in situ doped films.

The influence of environmental conditions “film thickness and measurements in both under vacuum and in air” on dark electrical resistivity of (E) [α(2,5Dimethyl furyl) Ethylidene] (Dicyclopropyl Methylene) 2,5 furadione thin films were investigated. It was found that electrical resistivity decreases exponentially with increasing film thickness and it is higher in those films measured under vacuum than those measured in air. The parameters and mechanisms of conduction in P-DCPF/n-Si heterojunction diode has been evaluated. For temperatures that is less than 351 K, the conduction mechanism is Schottky emission with thermal activation energy of 0.32 eV. In the temperature range “352−400 K”, the predominant conduction mechanism is space charge limited current with thermal activation energy of 0.95 ± 0.02 eV. The conduction mechanism in reverse bias direction is generation-recombination with activation energy of 0.57 ± 0.02 eV. The photovoltaic properties of P-DCPF/n-Si heterojunction diode were evaluated. The obtained experimental efficiency of constructed solar cell is 1.27%.

Density, molar volume and ionic field strength changes induced by addition of ThO2 to $\rm 2P_{2}O_{5}\cdot Na_{2}O$ glass matrix are correlated in order to understand the structural role of thorium oxide in the investigated glasses and to evidence the structural evolution of the samples as a function of composition. Gamma activity measurements are used to check thorium incorporation in the soda-phosphate matrix.

Thin films of PbZr$_{(1-x)}$TixO3 have been elaborated using the sol-gel process. We have characterised the thermal behaviour of the sol and of the film of PZT. The different orientations were observed according to the temperature of pyrolysis: [111] at 500 °C, [100] at 450 °C. Finally, an advanced method of electrical characterisation of ferroelectrics is used by separating the reversible and irreversible contributions of polarisation. An experimental Preisach density is then measured and modeled and allows to extract ferroelectric properties. These parameters are independent from electric field strength applied through the sample, leading to a powerful tool to characterise the electrical behaviour.

This paper deals with duality based approaches of field computations. It presents two methods that allow to obtain upper bounds for the error on the forces or torques. The first one is based on a double evaluation of the global coenergy for two values of the position. The second one resembles the popular Maxwell's tensor method and requires the field computation only once, but respecting an additional rule. For both methods, the force or torque are considered in respect of their average value on an interval of displacement, taken as configuration parameter.

Acoustic pulse propagations in typical environments of the Gulf of Mexico and Yellow Sea are modeled by a new normal mode code, SWAMP, and compared to the experimental data. The presence of the seasonal surface duct in the ocean is confirmed to be responsible for the generation of a unique set of modes forming the so-called “Precursor Phenomenon” first discovered by DeFerrari and Monjo. It is shown that the conventional theory of group velocity fails to predict precursor's arrival time. Two different approaches, the mean rate of energy transport and Airy-wave analysis, are proposed for the description of the actual physical process of energy transport by precursors. The influence of the range-dependent bathymetry on a precursor structure is addressed. The presence of precursors appears to be sensitive to range dependence and may be diminished due to rapidly changing bathymetry. Based on numerical results, inversion procedures of extracting different environmental and source parameters from a received pulse structure are discussed.

Angiogenesis ensures the success of cancer growth. This enlargement of the vascular system feeding a tumor is induced by tumor angiogenic factors (TAFs), which are molecular messengers emitted by starving cancer cells. We apply a recently developed angiogenesis model to study the influence of variations in the TAF generation rate on vascular growth and to analyze the effects of changing the threshold for endothelial cell transformation, which is a crucial parameter in the description of this process.

A series of 44 samples of bone wedges of human origin, intended for allograft openwedge osteotomy and obtained without particular precautions during hip arthroplasty were re-examined. After viral inactivity chemical treatment, lyophilisation and radio-sterilisation (intended to produce optimal health safety), the compressive strength, independent of age, sex and the height of the sample (or angle of cut), proved to be too widely dispersed [10 − 158 MPa] in the first study. We propose a method for selecting samples which takes into account their geometry (width, length, thicknesses, cortical surface area). Statistical methods (Principal Components Analysis PCA, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, Multilinear regression) allowed final selection of 29 samples having a mean compressive strength σmax = 103 MPa ± 26 and with variation [61 − 158 MPa] . These results are equivalent or greater than average materials currently used in openwedge osteotomy.