Reactive ion etching of III-V compounds using C2H6/H2

Reactive ion etching of InP, GaInAs and GaAs using a mixture of ethane and hydrogen, C₂H₆/H₂, is demonstrated for the first time. It has been found that by choosing optimum etching parameters one can obtain excellent vertical sidewalls as well as very smooth surfaces, keeping the etching rate at a convenient value of 20-60 nm/min     

Existence of hypostoichiometric chromium sesquioxide at low oxygen partial pressures

The nonstoichiometric composition of $\text{Cr}{}_2\text{O}{}_{\mathrm{3\pm x}}$ was measured by means of thermogravimetry in the range of $\text{1173 ≦ T/K ≦ 1318}$ and . The compositional deviation from stoichiometry, $\text{x}$, in the hyperstoichiometric Cr₂O_3+x phase was observed to be smaller than 2 × 10^?4, irrespective of temperatures, provided that the hyperstoichiometric Cr₂O_3+x exists. The existence of the hypostoichiometric Cr₂O_3?x phase was first established in this study in the region of low oxygen partial pressure below 10^?5 Pa. From the oxygen partial pressure dependence of $\text{x}$ in Cr₂O_3?x, the defect structure was discussed with the neutral chromium interstitials in the composition near stoichiometry and with the triply charged ones far from stoichiometry. The partial molar enthalpy and entropy of oxygen of Cr₂O_3?x showed the complex compositional dependences, suggesting the change of the type of the predominant defect.     

Vaporization study on nonstoichiometric NbO2 ± x by mass-spectrometric method

The vapor pressures over nonstoichiometric NbO_{2 ± x}(s) (1.972?2.037) were measured by mass-spectrometric method in the temperature range 1958–2326 K. The congruently vaporizing composition in the NbO_{2 ± x} phase was determined to be stoichiometric NbO_2.000 from the composition dependence of the total vapor pressures. The partial pressures of oxygen were calculated as a function of temperature and O/Nb composition from the partial pressures of the gaseous species NbO₂(g) and NbO(g) over nonstoichiometric NbO_{2 ± x}, from which the partial molar enthalpies and entropies of oxygen were calculated as a function of O/Nb composition. The composition dependence of the partial molar enthalpy and entropy obtained suggested the existence of some kind of short-range ordering in the nonstoichiometric NbO_{2 ± x}(s) phase. The enthalpies of formation of nonstoichiometric NbO_{2 ± x}(s) were also determined as a function of composition by combining the partial molar enthalpies of oxygen with the enthalpy of formation of stoichiometric NbO_2.00(s). The phase diagram around NbO_{2 ± x} at high temperatures was determined from the vaporization study.     

An electrical conductivity and X-ray study of a high-temperature transition in U4O9

The high temperature transition in U₄O₉ has been studied by electrical conductivity measurements and X-ray diffraction. From the electrical conductivity measurements, a similar variation of log σ$\text{T}$ with reciprocal temperature to that in the transition range near room temperature is observed in the temperature range from about 300 to 800°C. Like the low temperature transition, a small lattice contraction is also observed in that temperature range by means of X-ray diffractometry, and the transition temperature increases from 530 to 620°C with increasing O/U ratio. After the transition the intensity of $\text{4a}{}_0$ superlattice reflections increases, but that of $\text{8a}{}_0$ superlattice reflections disappears. The mechanism of this high temperature transition is considered to be a second-order transition of the order—disorder type based on the configurational change of U⁴⁺ and U⁵⁺ with the shift of some portions of the lattice oxygen atoms from the lattice sites to the interstitial positions. The phase diagram of U₄O₉ is presented on the basis of the electrical conductivity and X-ray data.     

Dynamic regulation of striatal dopaminergic grafts during locomotor activity

In addition to CD4+ T lymphocytes, cells of monocyte/macrophage lineage are a major target for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. In vitro studies of HIV-1 infection in human monocyte-derived macrophages can be undertaken by a reproducible cell-based assay. A macrophage-based infectivity assay was developed based on the semi-quantitative scoring of HIV-1 induced cytopathology in monolayer macrophage cultures. The assay exhibited dilution-dependent linearity with all three primary macrophage-tropic isolates tested. The end-point infectivity titers determined by this assay correlated with the results obtained by detecting viral p24 antigen in the culture supernatant. The applications of the assay in both neutralization and anti-viral protocols yielded identical results with the more time-consuming and costly p24 formats. Since the assay offers a simple and low-cost method of measuring HIV-1 infectivity in human primary macrophages, it can be used quite easily for large-scale screening or evaluation of candidate vaccines and anti-viral agents.     

Development of peak load forecasting system using neural networks and fuzzy theory

This paper presents a peak load forecasting system using multilayer neural networks and fuzzy theory. Electric load forecasting in power systems is a very important task from the perspective of reliability and economic operation. Daily peak load forecasting is one of the basic operations of generation scheduling for the following day. Therefore, many statistical methods have been developed and used for such forecasting even though it has been difficult to construct a proper functional model. The developed system is applied by neural network and fuzzy theory to forecast for daily, weekly and monthly peak load. The system consists of an engineering workstation (EWS) and a personal computer (PC). The EWS is for learning and data-bases, and the PC is for man-machine interface such as forecasting operation. The system has been used since June 1993. The result evaluated with an absolute mean error is 1.63 percent for 10 months. From the results shown here, the system applied by neural network and fuzzy theory has high validity.