Using ion implantation to adjust the transition temperature of superconducting films

We summarize a continuing investigation into using ion implantation to alter the transition temperature of superconducting thin films. The primary motivation for the work presented here was to study the feasibility of using magnetic ion doping to replace the bi-layer T_c control process currently used for certain cryogenic detector applications at National Institute for Standards and Technology. The results from work with various ion species implanted into aluminum, molybdenum, titanium and tungsten host films are presented.     

A rubber-modified thermoplastic where the morphology produced by phase-separation induced by polymerization disappears at high conversions

An unexpected experimental finding is reported where the primary morphology developed during polymerization-induced phase separation in a rubber-modified thermoplastic practically disappears at high conversions. This process was evidenced by light scattering (LS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for a particular composition of solutions of polyisobutylene oligomers (PIB) in isobornylmethacrylate (IBoMA), during the free-radical polymerization of the monomer. The primary phase separation produced a dispersion of domains rich in PIB containing significant amounts of the monomer (IBoMA). Polymerization of the monomer in these domains occurred at high overall conversions producing the filling of dispersed domains with a PIBoMA-PIB blend that could not be distinguished from the matrix. Under these conditions the final material had the appearance of a homogeneous blend.     

X-ray topography studies of dislocations in single crystal CVD diamond

X-ray topography has been used to study single crystal diamond samples homoepitaxially grown by microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on high pressure high temperature (HPHT) and CVD synthetic diamond substrates. Clusters of dislocations in the CVD diamond layers emanated from points at or near the interface with the substrate. The Burgers vectors of observed dislocations have been determined from sets of {111} projection topographs. Dislocations have line directions close to the [001] growth direction and are either edge or 45° mixed dislocations. Where groups of dislocations originated at isolated points they tended to be of the edge variety. Where the substrate surface was deliberately damaged before growth, two sets of dislocations were observed to have propagated from each line of damage and there was a tendency for dislocations to be of the 45° mixed variety with a component of their Burgers vector parallel to the polishing direction. It is demonstrated that X-ray topography can be used to deduce the growth history of CVD synthetic diamond samples produced in multiple growth stages.     

Integrating trust into the CyberCraft Initiative via the Trust Vectors model [Application Notes]

This research supports the hypothesis that the Trust Vector model can be modified to fit the CyberCraft Initiative, and that there are limits to the utility of historical data. This research proposed some modifications and expansions to the Trust Model Vector, and identified areas for future research.     

Ion-beam-defect processes in group-III nitrides and ZnO

Recently, there has been much interest in wide band-gap wurtzite semiconductors such as group-III nitrides (GaN, AlGaN, and InGaN) and ZnO. Ion-beam-defect processes are considerably more complex in these wurtzite semiconductors than in the case of both elemental and group-III-V cubic semiconductors. This brief review focuses on our recent studies of the following aspects of ion-beam-defect processes: (i) effects of implanted species and the density of collision cascades, (ii) the nature of ion-beam-produced planar defects in GaN, (iii) defect production in GaN by swift heavy ions, (iv) blistering of H-implanted GaN, (v) electrical isolation of GaN and ZnO, (vi) the effect of Al and In content on defect processes in III-nitrides, and (vii) structural damage in ZnO with an intriguing effect of the formation of an anomalous defect peak. Emphasis is given to unusual ion-beam-defect processes and to the physical mechanisms underlying them.     

Emission of trace toxic metals during pulverized fuel combustion of Czech coals

A study of the trace elements emission (As, Se, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Zn, Hg, Tl, Pb, Ni, Sn, Sb, V, Mn and Fe) from pulverized coal combustion has been made at six heating and power stations situated in the Czech Republic. The amount of chlorine in coal has considerable influence on volatilization of some elements such as Zn, Cu, Pb, Hg and Tl, which is explained by the formation of thermodynamically stable compounds of these elements with chlorine. Generally, the affinities for Cl follows the order Tl > Cu > Zn > Pb > Co > Mn > Sn > Hg. The experimental data indicates enrichment of some of the trace toxic elements in the emissions (Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, Sn, Sb, Hg and Pb) and good agreement was obtained by thermodynamic equilibrium calculations with a few exceptions. In the case of Fe, Mn, Co, Cr and Sn calculated values are overestimated in the bottom ash and there are zero predicted amounts of these elements in the fly ash. In comparison, the results from experiments show up to 80% of these elements retained in fly ash. This implies that there exist additional steps leading to the enrichment by Fe, Mn, Co, Cr and Sn of small particles. Such mechanisms could include the ejection during devolatilization of small inorganic particles from the coal of bottom ash particles, or disintegration of the char containing these metals to small particles of fly ash. On the other hand, there are slightly overestimated or similar values of relative enrichment factors for As, V, Cu, Cd, Sb, Tl and Pb in the fly ashes and zero predicted values for bottom ashes. Our experimental results show about 5% or less of these elements are retained in bottom ashes, so they probably remain in the bottom ash inside unburned parts of coal. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Artefactual cleavage of E coli H-NS by OmpT

In the bacterium Escherichia coli, H-NS-(H1, H1a) is a heat-stable protein with a molecular mass of 15.5 kDa involved in nucleoid organisation and gene regulation linked to certain signal transduction pathways. We have shown that, following addition of preparations of everted inner membrane vesicles, heat-stable cleavage products of approximately 10 kDa of H-NS are formed in vitro from newly synthesised, radio-labelled H-NS and from purified H-NS. The 15.5 kDa protein and its cleavage products were also recovered from a minicell system. These results raised the possibility that cleavage of H-NS is physiologically significant. However, the cleavage of H-NS observed appears to occur during cell breakage and to depend on the method of protein extraction and the presence of the outer membrane protease, OmpT. Nevertheless, the results indicate that H-NS may contain at least two separate domains with cleavage occurring between these domains at a preferred OmpT site. Failure to take account of H-NS cleavage in sample preparation and analysis can lead to serious underestimation of H-NS levels.     

A role for Edman degradation in proteome studies

Advances in protein database design and the software used to access the sequence data has led to progress in using protein attributes such as amino acid composition and peptide masses to identify proteins separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. However, Edman degradation remains the principal technique for protein identification and it presents a significant bottleneck in the progress towards rapid protein identification. Simple modifications to the sequencing hardware, which automate the delivery of protein spots into the sequencer, and parallel sequencing of the protein spots represent a significant advance in the use of Edman degradation to rapidly generate the powerful protein attribute, an N-terminal sequence tag.     

Keynote paper: Architectures for integrating manufacturing activities and enterprises

This paper is a summary of the major technical report (Williams et al., 1993) of the IFAC/IFIP Task Force on Architectures for Integrating Manufacturing Activities and Enterprises. It presents a synopsis of the investigations of pertinent architectures undertaken, and the findings generated relating to the suitability of various architectures for the integration task. It also presents the Task Force's recommendations for achieving a “complete” architecture in terms of the necessary capabilities by “completing” a currently available architecture. The Task Force also outlined how a “best” architecture could be achieved by selecting and combining the best features of the available architectures.