Topology design and bridge-capacity assignment for interconnecting token ring LANs: A simulated annealing approach

We address the problem of determining the topology and bridge-capacity assignments for a network connecting a number of token rings via source-routing bridges. The objective is to minimize the cost of bridge installations while meeting the network users' performance requirements. The problem is modeled as a mixed 0–1 integer program. A comparison is given between two solution algorithms: a simulated annealing algorithm using the flow-deviation algorithm for each routing subproblem, and a drop algorithm using the simplex method for the same subproblems to provide benchmark solutions. In the former algorithm, the routing subproblem is formulated as a nonlinear program with penalty functions to model node and link capacity constraints, and in the latter as a multicommodity flow model with the same capacity constraints. Computational results show that the simulated-annealing/flow-deviation algorithm produced substantially better solutions than the LP-based drop algorithm.     

Effect of epitaxial realignment on the leakage behavior of arsenic-implanted,as-deposited polycrystalline Si-on-single crystal Si diodes

When dopants are indiffused from a heavily implanted polycrystalline silicon film deposited on a silicon substrate, high thermal budget annealing can cause the interfacial “native” oxide at the polycrystalline silicon-single crystal silicon interface to break up into oxide clusters, causing epitaxial realignment of the polycrystalline silicon layer with respect to the silicon substrate. Anomalous transient enhanced diffusion occurs during epitaxial realignment and this has adverse effects on the leakage characteristics of the shallow junctions formed in the silicon substrate using this technique. The degradation in the leakage current is mainly due to increased generation-recombination in the depletion region because of defect injection from the interface.     

Reduction of loading effect by tungsten etchback in a magneticallyenhanced reactive ion etcher

The plug loading effect occurring during the etchback of tungsten was investigated in a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etcher using SF ₆/Ar mixtures. It was found that while the plug loading effect is independent of varying SF₆/Ar flow rate ratio and magnetic field intensity, it is reduced under the condition of high selectivity of tungsten relative to TiN which was achieved at high chamber pressure and low RF power. It is proposed that when TiN is used as a glue layer, the W etch rate enhancement in the plug is mainly controlled by a local loading effect. Under the optimized etchback conditions the plug loss was successfully controlled without the tungsten residue left on severe topology     

Apoptosis as a cause of death in measles virus-infected cells

To determine the mechanism of measles virus-induced cell death, we studied the infection of Vero cells and monocytic cell lines with wild-type (Chicago-1) and vaccine (Edmonston) strains of measles virus. DNA fragmentation indicative of apoptosis was apparent by flow cytometry, agarose gel electrophoresis, and electron microscopy. Within syncytia, DNA strand breaks were demonstrated by end labeling with terminal transferase and then by visualization.     

Mode analysis of DFB SE lasers

This paper presents theoretical results on mode characteristics of surface-emitting (SE) lasers utilizing an active second-order grating section. Based on a coupled-mode approach, longitudinal modes and the associated space-harmonic transverse modes are calculated via a numerical technique. From these, the lasing-mode spectrum, near- and far-field patterns of the radiation mode, and the surface-emission power efficiency are obtained. Effects of the substrate reflector and the grating parameters are also investigated. Finally, comparisons are made with conventional, edge-emitting DFB lasers. The results indicate that with a suitable choice of structural parameter values, DFB SE lasers can be made to possess both the spectral discrimination of the conventional DFB lasers and the advantages of SE lasers at the same time and also that the second lowest longitudinal mode may be preferred over the fundamental longitudinal mode for many applications due to its symmetric field distribution     

Still image coding based on vector quantization and fractalapproximation

In this paper, we propose a coding algorithm for still images using vector quantization (VQ) and fractal approximation, in which low-frequency components of an input image are approximated by VQ, and its residual is coded by fractal mapping. The conventional fractal coding algorithms indirectly used the gray patterns of an original image with contraction mapping, whereas the proposed fractal coding method employs an approximated and then decimated image as a domain pool and uses its gray patterns. Thus, the proposed algorithm utilizes fractal approximation without the constraint of contraction mapping. For approximation of an original image, we employ the discrete cosine transform (DCT) rather than conventional polynomial-based transforms. In addition, for variable blocksize segmentation, we use the fractal dimension of a block that represents the roughness of the gray surface of a region. Computer simulations with several test images show that the proposed method shows better performance than the conventional fractal coding methods for encoding still pictures.     

Analysis of culture fluorescence by a fiber-optic sensor inNicotiana tabacum plant cell culture

The on-line sensing of viable cell weight in plant cell culture process is applied to analysis and control of process. The fiber-optic fluorescence sensor was constructed to measure the NADH-dependent fluorescence inNicotiana tabacum plant cell culture and the analysis of fluorescence signal was done to be correlated with the viable cell weight. The structured kinetic model for cell growth was proposed to estimate the theoretical viable cell weight. The dimensional analysis was proposed for the interpretation of fluorescence signal, in which the path length, the inner filter effect and the hydrodynamic conditions were considered as the key factors on fluorescence signal. The dimensional analysis and empirical correlation of fluorescence signal to viable cell weight was applied to the interpretation of the detected fluorescence signal during cultivation. The proposed interpretation of fluorescence signal using dimensional analysis was well correlated with the viable cell weight estimated by the structured kinetic model as well as by empirical correlation.     

Evaluation of Whisker Alignment in Axisymmetric SiCw-Reinforced Al2O3 Composite Material

A quantitative method to evaluate the degree of whisker alignment in axisymmetric composite materials was developed. The angular distribution of the whiskers was analyzed by measuring the aspect ratios of the whiskers observed on a planar section. However, due to the large difference in the probability of whiskers being detected on the planar section (depending on whisker length and degree of alignment), the angular distribution of the whiskers observed on the planar section was significantly different from the actual distributions of the whiskers in three dimensions. Three-dimensional angular distributions were evaluated by comparing the aspect ratios observed on the planar section with those calculated under the assumption that the whisker angle fell in a Gaussian distribution with average angle of 90°. By this method, the degree of preferential alignment is expressed as the standard deviation of the Gaussian distribution. This quantification of whisker alignment is useful in analyzing the mechanical behaviors of composite materials reinforced with elongated particles.