Epitaxial growth of GaN on (0001) Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> via solution-cast seed layer formation process using Ga(mDTC)<Subscript>3</Subscript>

This paper reports an alternative method for the growth of GaN epitaxial layer on (0001) Al₂O₃ substrate by hot-wall vapor phase epitaxy technique. Tris (N,N-dimethyldithiocarbamato)-gallium (III), Ga(mDTC)₃ was introduced as a precursor material for the seed layer formation in the growth of GaN. Optimal growth conditions with seed layers formed by the Ga(mDTC)₃ concentration of 0.047 mol/L were identified: Growth temperature was found to be 850 °C, and optimal distance between the reactant outlet and substrate was determined to be 12.5 cm. Characterization results showed that this growth method produce high-crystallinity GaN epitaxial layers at a relatively lower growth temperature compared to the existing growth techniques and simplify the growth process.     

Nucleoside-diphosphate kinase-mediated signal transduction via histidyl-aspartyl phosphorelay systems in Escherichia coli

Nucleoside-diphosphate kinase (NDP kinase), a key enzyme in nucleotide metabolism, is also known to be involved in growth and developmental control and tumor metastasis suppression. Interestingly, we find that coexpression of NDP kinase with Taz1, a Tar/EnvZ chimera, in the absence of its native signal, can activate a porin gene ompC-lacZ expression in Escherichia coli. Further studies show that NDP kinase can act as a protein kinase to phosphorylate histidine protein kinases such as EnvZ and CheA which are members of the His-Asp phosphorelay signal transduction systems in E. coli. Instead of ATP, the exclusive phosphodonor for histidine kinases, GTP can be utilized in vitro in the presence of NDP kinase to phosphorylate EnvZ and CheA, which then transfer the phosphoryl group to OmpR and CheY, the respective response regulators. The direct involvement of GTP for the phosphorylation of EnvZ through NDP kinase was further demonstrated by the use of a mutant EnvZ, which lost ability to be autophosphorylated with ATP. Phospho-OmpR thus formed can bind specifically to an ompF promoter sequence. These results suggest that NDP kinase may play a physiological role in signal transduction.     

Construction of efficient error-limiting variable length codes

A novel method for generating an optimal binary prefix condition code is described. The proposed code generation method generates optimal variable length codes that have short average error spans compared to the existing self-synchronising codes. A technique for calculating the expected error spans of variable length codes are also presented     

Discrete-time adaptive sliding mode power system stabilizer with only input/output measurements

In this paper a discrete-time adaptive sliding mode control method is newly developed and applied to the power system stabilization problem. A controllable canonical form of state space realization is constructed using the parameters identified by the on-line recursive least squares method and the system state is estimated from the input/output measurements and the simple state transformations. The identified parameters and the estimated state are then used by the discrete-time sliding mode control, which is suitable for the digital equipment. The most important advantage of the proposed power system stabilizer (PSS) is that it is able to maintain its regulating performance with a slower sampling period than that of the conventional sliding mode PSS because it is developed in a pure discrete-time domain. Another advantage of the proposed PSS is that it needs neither a mathematical model of the power system nor the full-state measurements because they are identified through on-line identifications. Several computer simulations for the linear power system are performed to verify the performance of the proposed PSS. In the computer simulations for various circumstances which are probable in a power system are considered, such as transitions of the active and reactive powers, change of parameters of the synchronous machine, line-to-ground faults and measurement noise. As a result, a new power system stabilizer which can operate in a wide range of operating conditions and can overcome various disturbances and measurement noises is proposed.     

Postbuckling analysis of composite panels with imperfection damage

In order to promote the efficient use of composite materials in civil engineering infrastructure, effort is being directed at the development of design criteria for composite structures. Insofar as design with regard to buckling of composite shells is concerned, it is well known that a key step is to investigate the influence of initial geometric imperfection. At present, imperfection sensitivity study of composite shells has not been explored in detail. Thus, the objective of this paper is to present the formulation used in developing a composite shell element and to validate the element from the composite curved panel. The non-linear formulation of the shell element is based on the updated Lagrangian method. The shell element is capable of small strain and large displacement analysis with finite rotations. In order to remove the rigid body rotation, a co-rotational method is used. Subsequently the postbuckling analyses from the modeling of the curved panel with initial imperfection damage are performed to investigate the effect of initial geometric imperfection shape and amplitude. The results are used to estimate imperfection sensitivity for such panels.     

Nicalon-fibre-reinforced silicon-carbide composites via polymer solution infiltration and chemical vapour infiltration

A new, faster process was developed for the fabrication of Nicalon-fibre-reinforced SiC composites by combining polymer solution infiltration (PSI) and chemical vapour infiltration (CVI). The process led to the near-net-shape fabrication of fibre-reinforced ceramic-matrix composites and reduced infiltration time. Typical flexural strength and fracture toughness of these composites were 296 MPa and 10.9 MPa m^1/2 at room temperature (RT) and 252 MPa and 9.6 MPa m^1/2 at 1000 °C, respectively. The composites exhibited load-carrying capability after crack initiation.     

Performance of GaAs-AlGaAs V-grooved inner stripe quantum-well wirelasers with different current blocking configurations

GaAs-AlGaAs V-grooved inner stripe (VIS) quantum-well wire (QWW) lasers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition with different current blocking configurations, n-blocking on p-substrate (VIPS), p-n-p-n blocking on n-substrate (VI(PN)_nS) and p-blocking on n-substrate (VINS) have been fabricated and characterized. The VIPS QWW lasers show the most stable characteristics with effective current confinement: one of the lasers shows fundamental transverse mode, lasing up to 5 mW/facet, typical threshold current of 39.9 mA at 818.5 mm, an external differential quantum efficiency of 24%/facet, and characteristic temperature of 92 K. The current tuning rate was almost linear at 0.031 mm/mA, and the temperature tuning rate was measured to be 0.14 nm/°C. Comparison of the light output versus current characteristics of the lasers with different current blocking configurations is presented here