A generalized suboptimum unequally spaced channel allocationtechnique. I. In IM/DD WDM systems

Four-wave mixing (FWM) is the most serious fiber nonlinearity associated with low-input optical power levels in long-haul multichannel optical systems employing dispersion-shifted fiber. To reduce the crosstalk due to FWM, a generalized suboptimum unequally spaced channel allocation (S-USCA) technique is proposed and investigated. Even though the developed technique is useful in combating FWM crosstalk in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) lightwave systems with up to 12 channels, its main virtue is in designing multichannel WDM lightwave systems with more than 12 channels. Comparisons of power penalty due to FWM between equal channel spacing (ECS) systems and the S-USCA systems are presented. It is shown that for an intensity modulation/direct detection (IM/DD) transmission system operating in an optical bandwidth of 16 nm with 0 dBm (1 mW) peak optical input power per channel, while a conventional ECS WDM system with 0.84-nm channel spacing cannot even achieve a bit-error rate (BER)=10^-9, the suboptimum technique developed in this paper, for the same minimum channel spacing, can achieve a BER=10^-9 with an FWM crosstalk power of less than 1 dB at the worst channel in a 20-channel WDM system     

β-Si3N4Whiskers Embedded in Oxynitride Glasses: Interfacial Microstructure

Interfacial microstructures in βP-Si₃N₄( w )-Si-Al-Y-O-N-glass systems were investigated by systematically varying the nitrogen content and the Al:Y ratio of the glass matrix. High-resolution and analytical transmission electron microscopy (HREM and AEM) studies revealed that the interfacial microstructure is a function of the glass composition. No interfacial phases were formed in glasses with low Al:Y ratios and in glasses with high Al:Y ratios and low nitrogen content, whereas epitaxial growth of an interfacial layer (100–200 μm thick) on the βP-Si₃N₄( w ) occurred in a glass matrix with high Al:Y ratio and high nitrogen content. The interfacial layer was identified to be a β'-SiAION phase. Interfaces containing the SiAION layer exhibited high debonding energy compared to Si₃N₄( w )–glass interfaces. HREM studies indicated that the lattice-mismatch strain in the SiAION layer was relieved by dislocation formation at the SiAION–Si₃N₄( w ) interface. The difference in interfacial debonding energy was, hence, attributed to the local atomic structure and bonding between the glass-β-Si₃N₄ and the glass–β'-SiAION phases. This observation was clear evidence of the strong influence of glass chemistry on the interfacial debonding behavior by altering the interfacial microstructure.     

An experimental study on the pumping performance of molecular drag pumps

The pumping performance of molecular drag pumps (MDP) has been investigated experimentally. The experimented MDPs are a disk-type drag pump (DTDP), helical-type drag pump (HTDP) and compound drag pump (CDP), respectively. In the case of the DTDP, spiral channels of a rotor are cut on both upper surface and lower surface of a rotating disk, and the corresponding stator is a planar disk. In the case of the HTDP, the rotor has six rectangular grooves. The CDP consists with the DTDP, at lower part, and with the HTDP, at upper part. The experiments are performed in the outlet pressure range of 0.2–533 Pa. The inlet pressure and compression ratio are measured under the various conditions of outlet pressure and throughputs, and nitrogen is used for the test gas. At the outlet pressure of 0.2 Pa, the ultimate pressure has been reached to 1.0 × 10⁻² Pa for the HTDP, 1.3 × 10⁻⁴ Pa for the DTDP, and 3.6 × 10⁻⁵ Pa for the CDP. The maximum compression ratio of the CDP is much higher than those of the DTDP or HTDP. Consequently, the ultimate pressure of the CDP is the lowest one.     

Application of condition-based HRA method for a manual actuation of the safety features in a nuclear power Plant

A practical approach to develop a more realistic fault-tree model with a consideration of various conditions endured by a human operator is proposed. In safety-critical systems, the generation failure of an actuation signal is caused by the concurrent failures of the automated systems and an operator action. These two sources of safety signals are complicatedly correlated. The failures of sensors or automated systems will cause a lack of necessary information for a human operator and result in error-forcing contexts such as the loss of corresponding alarms and indications. It is well known that the error-forcing contexts largely affect the operator's performance. An automated system which consists of multiple processing channels and complex components is also affected by the availability of the sensors. This paper proposes a condition-based human reliability assessment (CBHRA) method in order to address these complicated conditions in a practical way. We apply the CBHRA method to the manual actuation of the safety features such as a reactor trip and auxiliary feedwater actuation in Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plants. Even the human error probability of each given condition is simply assumed, the application results prove that the CBHRA effectively accommodates the complicated error-forcing contexts into the fault trees.     

A precision on-line model for the prediction of roll force and roll power in hot-strip rolling

Investigated via a series of finite-element (FE) process simulations is the effect of diverse process variables on some selected nondimensional parameters characterizing the thermomechanical behavior of the strip in hot-strip rolling. Then, on the basis of these parameters an on-line model is derived for the precise prediction of roll force and roll power. The prediction accuracy of the proposed model is examined through comparison with predictions from a FE process model and also with measurements.     

Heat transfer enhancement by Marangoni convection in the NH3–H2O absorption process

The objectives of this paper are to quantify the effect of Marangini convection on the absorption performance for the ammonia–water absorption process, and to visualize Marangoni convection that is induced by adding a heat transfer additive, n-octanol. A real-time single-wavelength holographic interferometer is used for the visualization using a He–Ne gas laser. The interface temperature is always the highest due to the absorption heat release near the interface. It was found that the thermal boundary layer (TBL) increased faster than the diffusion boundary layer (DBL), and the DBL thickness increased by adding the heat transfer additive. At 5 s after absorption started, the DBL thickness for 5 mass% NH₃ without and with the heat transfer additive was 3.0 and 4.5 mm, respectively. Marangoni convection was observed near the interface only in the cases with heat transfer additive. The Marangoni convection was very strong just after the absorption started and it weakened as time elapsed. It was concluded that the absorption performance could be improved by increasing the absorption driving potential (x_vb−x_vi) and by increasing the heat transfer additive concentration. The absorption heat transfer was enhanced as high as 3.0–4.6 times by adding the heat transfer additive that generated Marangoni convection.     

A study on the degree of deliberation and meditation of cyber poll respondents for nuclear-related decision making

Public participation is essential in each step of the nuclear-related decision-making process. Recently, the electronic systems using the Internet have become quite popular, and have emerged as a good medium for communicating with the public. In this study, a comprehensive utilization of electronic public participation was used to analyze public opinion on a given nuclear-related decision-making process. The degree of deliberation and meditation of the public participating in an electronic poll survey was evaluated, and the decision-making factors representing the personal characteristics of the poll respondents such as age, income, education, residence, degree of knowledge and concern were carefully incorporated when preparing the poll-survey questionnaire for its evaluation. Fuzzy analysis was used to assess and aggregate the responses to each decision-making factor. As a case study, this procedure was used to analyzing public opinion on the location of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility on the campus of Seoul National University. The results show that there is a tendency of respondents who are on the negative side of the argument to be more deliberate and meditative in their decision-making process than those on the positive side. Knowledge and residence were found to be important decision-making factors.     

Planar-shape prototype generation using a tree-based random greedy algorithm.

A prototype is representative of a set of similar objects. This paper proposes an approach that formulates the problem of prototype generation as finding the mean from a given set of objects, where the prototype solution must satisfy certain constraints. These constraints describe the important perceptual features of the sample shapes that the proposed prototype must retain. The contour prototype generated from a set of planar objects was used as an example of the approach, and the corners were used as the perceptual features to be preserved in the proposed prototype shape. However, finding a prototype solution for more than two contours is computationally intractable. A tree-based approach is therefore proposed in which an efficient greedy random algorithm is used to obtain a good approximation of the proposed prototype and analyze the expected complexity of the algorithm. The proposed prototype-generation process for hand-drawn patterns is described and discussed in this paper.     

Chemical vapor deposition of amorphous ruthenium-phosphorus alloy films

Chemical vapor deposition growth of amorphous ruthenium-phosphorus films on SiO₂ containing ∼ 15% phosphorus is reported. cis-Ruthenium(II)dihydridotetrakis-(trimethylphosphine), cis-RuH₂(PMe₃)₄ (Me = CH₃) was used at growth temperatures ranging from 525 to 575 K. Both Ru and P are zero-valent. The films are metastable, becoming increasingly more polycrystalline upon annealing to 775 and 975 K. Surface studies illustrate that demethylation is quite efficient near 560 K. Precursor adsorption at 135 K or 210 K and heating reveal the precursor undergoes a complex decomposition process in which the hydride and trimethylphosphine ligands are lost at temperatures as low at 280 K. Phosphorus and its manner of incorporation appear responsible for the amorphous-like character. Molecular dynamics simulations are presented to suggest the local structure in the films and the causes for phosphorus stabilizing the amorphous phase.