Holographic polymer‐dispersed liquid crystal fabrication under electric field

The transmission mode of holographic polymer‐dispersed liquid crystals (HPDLCs) was developed an under electric field. It is reported that orientation of LC molecules under an electric field induces orientation of oligomer molecules giving rise to low off‐state diffraction and small grating shrinkage. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Optimal tradeoffs for location-based routing in large-scale ad hoc networks

Existing location-based routing protocols are not versatile enough for a large-scale ad hoc environment to simultaneously meet all of the requirements of scalability, bandwidth efficiency, energy efficiency, and quality-of-service routing. To remedy this deficiency, we propose an optimal tradeoff approach that: 1) constructs a hybrid routing protocol by combining well-known location-update schemes (i.e., proactive location updates within nodes' local regions and a distributed location service), and 2) derives its optimal configuration, in terms of location-update thresholds (both distance and time-based), to minimize the overall routing overhead. We also build a route-discovery scheme based on an Internet-like architecture, i.e., first querying the location of a destination, then applying a series of local-region routing until finding a complete route by aggregating the thus-found partial routes. To find the optimal thresholds for the hybrid protocol, we derive the costs associated with both location updates and route discovery as a function of location-update thresholds, assuming a random mobility model and a general distribution for route request arrivals. The problem of minimizing the total cost is then cast into a distributed optimization problem. We first prove that the total cost is a convex function of the thresholds, and then derive the optimal thresholds. Finally, we show, via simulation, that our analysis results indeed capture the real behavior.     

The microstructures of laser-alloyed Ni-Ta surface layers

Evaporated thin tantalum films on single and polycrystalline nickel have been laser surface alloyed using either continuous-wave CO₂ or Q-switched Nd-YAG radiation. In the case of the continuous-wave laser, surface alloys contain amorphous tantalum-rich regions, intermediate polycrystalline bands of TaNi, and an underlying Ni(Ta) solid solution. In the Q-switched laser case, a much more laterally uniform amorphous phase with approximately equal atomic fractions of nickel and tantalum is found, with little evidence of polycrystalline intermetallics.In situ annealing with the electron beam of the microscope results in formation of microcrystallites, predominantly nickel.     

Direct adaptive control of nonminimum phase systems using integralaction

A direct adaptive control scheme is proposed for nonminimum-phase systems in which controller parameters are estimated from the recursive least-squares algorithm and additional auxiliary parameters are obtained from the proposed polynomial identity. A local convergence is guaranteed without any extra condition. Integral action is incorporated into the adaptive controller to eliminate the steady-state error and to satisfy a condition of the unique solution for the polynomial identity. The control law used in this scheme is based on the set-point-on-I-only proportional-integral-derivative (PID) structure     

Efficient and stable field emission from the oxidized porous polysilicon using Pt/Ti multilayer electrode

The field emission characteristics of an oxidized porous polysilicon (OPPS) were investigated with a Pt/Ti multilayer electrode, which showed highly efficient and stable electron emission characteristics compared with those of conventional Au/NiCr electrodes. The thin Ti layer played an important role in promoting the adhesion of Pt to SiO₂ surface and the distribution of the electric field on the OPPS surface. Additionally, the Ti layer efficiently blocked the diffusion of emitter metal, which resulted in more reliable emission characteristics.     

Hydrogen gas pick-up mechanism of Al-alloy melt during Lost Foam Casting

The hydrogen gas pick-up problem that can occur during Lost Foam Casting was investigated with reduced pressure tests and real castings.The initial hydrogen concentration of the melt and the contact time between melt and polystyrene had a main effect on the hydrogen gas pick-up of Al melt. The hydrogen gas pick-up of Al alloy depended also on pouring temperature and a proper metal front temperature gave the minimum hydrogen pick-up. At a low pouring temperature, the hydrogen went into the melt mainly from entrapped liquid product of polystyrene but at high pouring temperature it was by the gas as well as the liquid product. The mold flask evacuation down to 710 torr decreased the gas porosity down by around 0.4 vol%. The permeability of coating thickness had a great effect because it affects the filling time and the easy removal of liquid polystyrene.     

Effects of gallia additions on sintering behavior of gadolinia-doped ceria

The effects of gallia additions on the sintering behavior of gadolinia-doped ceria were systematically investigated from the following aspects: the variation in sintered density, the variation in grain size, and the existing forms of Ga₂O₃ in CeO₂.Sintered density increased with increasing Ga₂O₃ content up to 5 mol.% and then it decreased with further addition of Ga₂O₃. Grain size also increased with increasing Ga₂O₃ content up to 5 mol.% and then decreased with further addition of Ga₂O₃. Decrease in grain size was caused by a pinning effect of Ga₂O₃ precipitation at grain boundaries. Lattice constant decreased with increasing Ga₂O₃ content up to 5 mol.%. This decrease will be due to the substitution of smaller Ga³⁺ ions for Ce⁴⁺ ions in the CeO₂ structure. According to the results obtained from scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, the solubility limit of Ga₂O₃ in Ce_0.8Gd_0.2O_1.9 ceramics can be estimated to be nearly 5 mol.%. The addition of Ga₂O₃ up to the solubility limit was found to promote the sintering properties of Gd₂O₃-doped CeO₂.     

Synthesis and characterization of a series of star-branched poly(ε-caprolactone)s with the variation in arm numbers and lengths

A series of star-branched poly(ε-caprolactone)s (SPCLs) was synthesized with structural variation of the arm numbers and lengths through ring-opening polymerization under bulk condition. Arm numbers were varied to be 3, 4, and 6 by using multifunctional initiating cores such as trimethylol propane, pentaerythritol, and dipentaerythritol, respectively. The lengths of the poly(ε-caprolactone) arms were varied by controlling the molar ratio of monomer-to-initiating hydroxyl group molar ratio ([CL]₀/[-OH]₀=5, 10, 15). Molecular weights were determined by both ¹H NMR end-group analysis and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, which gave reasonably consistent values. On the contrary, the GPC method failed to give accurate values of molecular weight of SPCLs due to the discrepancy with the linear standard. The branching architecture of SPCLs was evaluated by the branching ratio, g, which is the ratio of the mean-square radius of SPCL to that of liner counterpart, linear poly(ε-caprolactone) (LPCL), which is of the same chemistry and having the same molecular weight. The radii of gyration of SPCLs and LPCLs were determined using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) from the initial slopes of Zimm plots, represented as 1/I(q) vs q² with I(q) and q being the scattered intensity and scattering vector, respectively. The g values were observed to decrease with increasing arm numbers, indicating more compact molecular structure for SPCLs with higher arm numbers, while no such effect was observed for arm length variation. Thermal properties as well as the degree of crystallinity of SPCLs were found to be also dependent on structural variations. The melting points and the degradation temperatures were observed to increase with increasing arm lengths but with constant arm number. On the other hand, arm number variation with constant arm length gave no such changes to the thermal transitions of SPCLs. However, for the SPCLs with equivalent molecular weights, the degree of crystallinity was found to decrease with increasing arm numbers.