The zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and its congener the quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) are both invaders in freshwater, but have very different invasion histories, with zebra mussels attaining substantially faster rates of spread at virtually all spatial scales. However, in waterbodies where they co-occur, D. r. bugensis can displace D. polymorpha. To determine if the mechanisms for this displacement are associated with different survival and growth, we kept mussels in flow-through tanks for 289 days with two temperature regimes that mimicked the natural surface water (littoral zone) and hypolimnion conditions of Lake Erie. For the littoral zone regime, we used water directly from the surface of Lake Erie (range 4–25°C, average 11.9 ± 0.6°C). For the profundal zone treatment, Lake Erie surface water was chilled to about 6°C (range 5–8°C, average 6.2 ± 0.6°C) for the full duration of the experiment. For each of these temperature regimes, we used three replicate tanks with only zebra mussels present and three replicate tanks with only quagga mussels (150 ind./tank each), and three replicate tanks with both species (75 ind./tank of each species). Quagga mussels had higher survivorship and grew more than zebra mussels in all treatments. For both species, the size of the mussel entering the winter was critical for survivorship. Larger mussels had a higher survival over the winter in all treatments. For both species, there was a survivorship and growth tradeoff. In the warmer littoral zone treatment both species had higher growth, but lower survival than in the colder profundal zone treatment. Surprisingly, although quagga mussels outperformed zebra mussels, zebra mussel survivorship was better when they were faced with competition by quagga mussels than with just intraspecific competition. In addition, quagga mussels suffered size-specific mortality during the growing season only when facing interspecific competition with zebra mussels. Further experiments are needed to determine the possible mechanisms for these interspecific effects.
Hydrobiologia (2010) 668(1): 183-194

A study of the effects of microcrystalline silicon i-layer modification near p/i interface in tandem configuration silicon thin film solar cells is presented. The structural properties of the absorber layers were investigated by Raman spectroscopy at different stages of growth. The results indicate the possibility of improving both the nucleation process and the film homogeneity in the direction of growth, without specific re-optimization of the p-layer, transferred from a single-junction microcrystalline silicon cell. Structural modifications of the i-layer have been correlated with performance of tandem solar cells, leading to improvements in the bottom cell current Jsc (up to 11.4 mA/cm2) and initial tandem-cell conversion efficiency (up to 11.3%).
Materials Science and Engineering B 159-160, p. 44-47 (2009)

Актуальной прикладной проблемой механики является изучение закономерностей образования микродефектов в бездислокационных монокристаллах кремния большого диаметра как на стадии их выращивания, так и при последующих термообработках вырезаемых из них пластин. Это требует детального изучения сопряженных теплофизических процессов в тепловых узлах промышленных ростовых установок. С учетом тепловой истории и напряженного состояния монокристалла рассчитываются процессы переноса и рекомбинации собственных точечных дефектов и их последующая агломерация в микродефекты. // An actual applied problem of mechanics is studying of micro-defect formation in large diameter dislocation – free silicon single crystals both during its growing, and at the subsequent thermal annealing of produced wafers. It demands the detailed studying conjugated thermo-physical processes in hot zones of industrial growth furnaces. The transport and recombination processes of intrinsic point defects and its subsequent agglomeration in micro-defects are calculated with taking into account of a thermal history and strained state of single crystal.

Разработана воспроизводимая технология выращивания вискеров таких полупроводников как: Si, Ge, GaAs, InAs и InSb методом химических транспортных реакций в галогенидной системе. Показано, что воспроизводимых результатов можно достичь только поэтапной технологией. Ее основными элементами являются: (і) формирование кластеров нанопроволок в кинетическом режиме по механизму “пар - жидкость - кристалл”; (іі) создание технологических условий для конкурирующего роста нанопроволок путем оствальдового созревания; (ііі) эпитаксиальное наращивание нанопроволок до размеров вискеров в диффузионном режиме. Предложена модель, обосновывающая необходимость поэтапного технологического режима получения вискеров. // Renewable technology of whiskers of such semiconductors as Si, Ge, GaAs, InAs and InSb with chemical transport reactions technique at halogenide system is developed. The model, which grounds a necessity of step-by-step technological regime of whiskers formation, is proposed.

An experiment was carried out at the research field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh with the objective of verifying the effects of different salinity levels on the germination, growth and yield of four irrigated rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars. The experiment was performed with 6 NaCl concentrations viz. 0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 mM. It was observed that seed germination, plant height, tiller number and leaf area index are negatively influenced by different salinity levels in all the rice varieties. All the yield components that is number of panicles, panicle length, spikelets per panicle, filled grain and grain weight also significantly decrease with the increased salinity stress. An increase of NaCl concentration up to 150 mM decreased 36-50% of the grain yield of all the four rice varieties. Among the varieties BRRI dhan41 showed better performance at salinity stress up to a certain level.