Structure of nitrogenated carbon overcoats on thin-film hard disks

The compositional and structural characteristics of thin (~200 Å) carbon nitride overcoats on thin-film hard disks were studied using nuclear reaction analysis, hydrogen forward scattering (HFS), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). The mechanical and electrical properties of the overcoats were also measured. It was found that the structure of the overcoat depended on the nitrogen and hydrogen concentration in the films, whereas the overcoat hardness was independent of the nitrogen or hydrogen concentration, This may be due to the possibility that increased nitrogen incorporation into the overcoat does not necessarily result in an increased concentration of stoichiometric carbon nitride, which would be responsible for the overcoat hardness. The results also showed that the thickness of the bonded lubricant (Fomblin Z-DOL 2000) to the overcoat was determined by the nitrogen-to-hydrogen composition ratio in the overcoat     

Effects of an asymmetrically molded plastic objective lens on the push-pull tracking-error signal in an optical disk drive

The effects of a plastic objective lens's astigmatism on the push-pull tracking-error signal (TES) of an optical disk data storage system were investigated theoretically and experimentally. Astigmatism of plastic objective lenses arises commonly from the asymmetric deviation from their designed shape during the molding process. By carefully studying the aberration characteristics of the objective lens and including the astigmatism of the laser diode in the analysis, we can calculate the combined effects of astigmatism of these two components on the push-pull TES. It is found, from both the simulations and the experiments, that, by rotation of the objective lens about the optical axis, the peak-to-peak value of the push-pull TES varies with the lens's rotation angle, and a change as great as 340% in its value was observed in a given optical pickup.     

Hydraulic Resistance of Flow in Channels with Cylindrical Roughness

A laboratory study on the hydraulics of flow in an open channel with circular cylindrical roughness is presented. The laboratory study consists of an extensive set of flume experiments for flows with emergent and submerged cylindrical stems of various sizes and concentrations. The results show that the flow resistance varies with flow depth, stem concentration, stem length, and stem diameter. The stem resistance experienced by the flow through the vegetation is best expressed in terms of the maximum depth-averaged velocity between the stems. Physically based formulas for flow resistance, the apparent channel velocity, and flow velocities in the roughness and surface layers are developed. The formulas are validated with the flume data from the present study as well as those from past studies. A method for calculating channel hydraulic conditions using these formulas is presented.     

Focused antithrombotic therapy: novel anti-platelet salicylates with reduced ulcerogenic potential and higher first-pass detoxification than aspirin in rats

The use of aspirin as an anti-platelet drug is limited by its propensity to induce gastric injury and by its adverse effect on vascular prostacyclin formation. Two phenolic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (salicylic acid and diflunisal) were modified by esterification with a series of O-acyl moieties. The short-term ulcerogenic in vitro and in vivo anti-platelet properties, pharmacodynamic profiles, and extent of hepatic extraction of these phenolic esters were compared with aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). The more lipophilic esters (longer carbon chain length in O-acyl group) show significantly less gastrotoxicity in stressed rats than does aspirin after a single oral dose. The in vitro and in vivo anti-platelet studies show that these phenolic esters inhibited (1) arachidonate-triggered human platelet aggregation and (2) thrombin-stimulated rat serum thromboxane A2 production by platelets in the clotting process almost as effectively as aspirin. The hepatic extractions of these O-acyl derivatives are significantly higher than those of aspirin. The pharmacodynamic studies show that these O-acyl derivatives of salicylic acid and diflunisal probably bind to, or combine with, the same site on the platelet cyclooxygenase as aspirin. Replacing the O-acetyl group with longer chain O-acyl moiety in this series of phenolic esters markedly reduced the potential of these agents to induce short-term gastric injury but did not lessen their activity as inhibitors of platelet aggregation. These non-acetyl salicylates may therefore represent a novel class of anti-platelet drugs with less ulcerogenic potential.     

Free vibration of cantilevered cylinders: effects of cross-sections and cavities

Summary This study investigates the influence of a cavity on the natural frequencies and mode shapes of a homogeneous, isotropic, elastic solid cylinder. Cavities of different shapes and sizes are often found in engineering applications to provide access, reduce weight and to cut cost in production. As a result, detailed quantitative solutions to this class of problem will be of great interest to engineering practitioners. In this study, a highly efficient and accurate numerical algorithm is proposed to examine the vibrations of elastic solid cylinders with a deep cavity. The technique uses the exact theory of three-dimensional elasticity in conjunction with the Ritz form of minimum energy principle to derive the governing eigenvalue equation. Within the context of three-dimensional elasticity, displacement functions composed of a set of twodimensional lateral surface functions and one-dimensional longitudinal functions are defined for each displacement component. The orthogonality inherent in these functions has resulted in well form eigen value matrices which can be manipulated and solved with ease. The technique yields upper-bound natural frequencies and three-dimensional deformed mode shapes for a wide range of elastic hollow cylinders with an arbitrary cross section. Most of the results presented herein are believed to be new to the existing literature.     

Dynamic asymmetries in disparity convergence eye movements

Vergence eye movements have traditionally been considered the product of a single neural control center and are usually studied by combining the movements of each eye into a single 'vergence' response. In the present experiment, disparity-driven eye movements were produced by symmetrical step stimuli, and the dynamic properties of each eye movement were analyzed separately. Although the final positions of the two eyes were symmetrical, large dynamic asymmetries often occurred. The timing between the two eyes showed fair synchrony as they attained maximum velocity at approximately the same time. Since the final static positions were symmetrical, asymmetries occurring during the initial dynamic component must necessarily be compensated by offsetting asymmetries in the latter portion of the response.     

Control of the freezing interface morphology in solidification processes in the presence of natural convection

This paper presents a methodology for the solution of an inverse solidification design problem in the presence of natural convection. In particular, the boundary heat flux q₀ in the fixed mold wall, δΩ₀, is calculated such that a desired freezing front velocity and shape are obtained. As the front velocity together with the flux history q_ms on the solid side of the freezing front play a determinant role in the obtained cast structure, the potential applications of the proposed methods to the control of casting processes are enormous. The proposed technique consists of first solving a direct natural convection problem of the liquid phase in an a priori known shrinking cavity, Ω_L(t), before solving an ill-posed inverse design conduction problem in the solid phase in an a priori known growing region, Ω_S(t). The direct convection problem is used to evaluate the flux q_ml in the liquid side of the freezing front. A front tracking deforming finite element technique is employed. The flux q_ml can be used together with the Stefan condition to provide the freezing interface flux q_ms in the solid side of the front. As such, two boundary conditions (flux q_ms and freezing temperature θ_m) are especified along the (known) freezing interface δΩ_I(t). The developed design technique uses the adjoint method to calculate in L₂ the derivative of the cost functional, ∥θ_m – θ( x , t; q₀)∥, that expresses the square error between the calculated temperature θ( x , t; q₀) in the solid phase along δΩ_I(t) and the given melting temperature. The minimization of this cost functional is performed by the conjugate gradient method via the solutions of the direct, sensitivity and adjoint problems. A front tracking finite element technique is employed in this inverse analysis. Finally, an example is presented for the solidification of a superheated incompressible liquid aluminium, where the effects of natural convection in the moving interface shape are controlled with a proper adjustment of the cooling boundary conditions.     

胺类添加剂对制备纳米TiO2颗粒形貌影响研究

用凝胶-溶胶法制备锐钛型纳米TiO2,采用透射电镜和X射线衍射对产物进行了表征,考察了不同胺类添加剂对TiO2形貌的影响.结果表明:产物为锐钛型TiO2;胺类添加剂可改变TiO2形貌,取决于添加剂浓度和pH值.吸附试验表明,椭球形TiO2比立方形TiO2更容易吸附三乙醇胺(TEOA)和二乙三胺(DETA),且DETA的吸附量大于TEOA,对TiO2形貌变化的影响更为明显.胺类添加剂由于在Tio2不同晶面的选择性吸附,使晶体不同晶面的晶体生长速率存在差别,从而导致TiO2形貌变化.     

A subspace decision cluster classifier for text classification

In this paper, a new classification method (SDCC) for high dimensional text data with multiple classes is proposed. In this method, a subspace decision cluster classification (SDCC) model consists of a set of disjoint subspace decision clusters, each labeled with a dominant class to determine the class of new objects falling in the cluster. A cluster tree is first generated from a training data set by recursively calling a subspace clustering algorithm Entropy Weighting k-Means algorithm. Then, the SDCC model is extracted from the subspace decision cluster tree. Various tests including Anderson–Darling test are used to determine the stopping condition of the tree growing. A series of experiments on real text data sets have been conducted. Their results show that the new classification method (SDCC) outperforms the existing methods like decision tree and SVM. SDCC is particularly suitable for large, high dimensional sparse text data with many classes.     

A polarizer‐free flexible display using dye‐doped liquid‐crystal gels

Abstract— A reflective‐type polarizer‐free flexible display using a dye‐doped liquid‐crystal (LC) gels is demonstrated. Compared to the conventional guest‐host LC mode, it has high contrast ratio and brightness due to the combining of both scattering and absorption. Such a gel‐like flexible display is bendable and trimable. In this paper, a three‐step switch using distinct dye‐doped LC gels is also demonstrated. The potential applications are e‐paper and decorative displays.