Thermal properties of Sn-based solder alloys

During last few decades, emerging environmental regulations worldwide, more notably in Europe and Japan, have targeted the elimination of Pb usage in electronic assemblies due to the inherent toxicity of this element. This situation drives to the replacement of the Sn–Pb solder alloy of eutectic composition commonly used as joining material to suitable lead-free solders for microelectronic assembly. Sn-based alloys containing Ag, Cu, Bi, and Zn are potential lead-free solders, usually close to the binary or ternary eutectic composition. For this reason a great effort was directed to establish reliable thermophysical data fundamental to interpret the solidification process and fluidity of alloys belonging to these systems. In this work, an analysis of the solidification process of pure Sn, binary Sn–Ag, Sn–Cu, Sn–Bi, Sn–Zn, Sn–Pb and ternary Sn–Ag–Cu eutectic alloys was carried out using computer aided-cooling curve analysis and differential scanning calorimetry.     

Innovation regional planning and latent dimensions: the case of the Algarve region

Regional innovation systems (RSI) concept is an important theoretical framework to analyse regional profiles of regions when trying to understand Innovation but it has also been used by practioners to design and implement policies. This study hopes to contribute to the understanding of the Algarve RSI, a peripheral Portuguese region in the National and European framework, where an economic growth is supported by Tourism, which leaves it out of the group of poorest regions when the GDPpc indicator is taken in account. The regional profile, the comparison with the other European regions and the characterisation of RSI following developed typologies are discussed in this paper. Through the analysis of 175 regions of the EU 15 the study seeks to find the dimensions underlying the innovative phenomena and to create homogeneous groups of regions that display similar profiles. Factorial Analysis was used to reduce the dimension of data from a barrage of regional indicators such as: Critical Mass of Territories, Economic Performance, Level of Wealth, Employment Market, Sectoral Structure of the Economy, Age Group Structure, Education and Training, Technological Employment, R&D and Patents. Having determined the four main factors with significant results (Technological Innovation, Human Capital, Economic Structure and Availability of the Employment Market) what followed was a hierarchical analysis of Clusters, resulting in five groupings of regions: Disadvantaged Regions, Average Regions, Central Regions, Large Economic Centres and Innovating Regions. A synthesis of the recent Regional Innovation Strategies for the Algarve is presented including previous experiences (Ettirse and INOVAlgarve) and the Algarve’s Regional Innovation Plan, which will try to create a pathway for regional development supported by knowledge-based activities for a more diversified regional economy.     

Influence of the growth conditions on the defect density of single-walled carbon nanotubes

The influence of the temperature and precursor pressure on the defect density of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) grown by catalytic chemical vapor deposition was studied for several catalyst–precursor couples. The SWCNT defect density was assessed by studying the Raman D band. In situ Raman monitoring was used to determine experimental conditions allowing the preparation of samples free of pyrolytic carbon and not altered by air exposure. The most striking feature is that the Arrhenius plots of the I_G/I_D ratio systematically display a convex shape, i.e. the apparent activation energy decreases with increasing temperature. From HRTEM observations and oxidation experiments, this evolution of the D band features is ascribed to the catalytic growth of long SWCNTs with few defects at high temperature and of short and defective SWCNTs and carbon structures at low temperature. The convex Arrhenius behavior is well accounted by two kinetic models: (i) a model considering a change of intermediate states as a function of the temperature (for instance due to a phase transition of the catalyst particle or a change of intermediate carbon species) and (ii) a model considering a high-temperature process of defect creation (for instance by reaction with reactive gas species).     

Undecidable properties of flat term rewrite systems

Reachability, joinability and confluence properties are known to be undecidable for flat term rewrite systems (TRS). We give shorter and conceptually simpler proofs of these results. We also prove undecidability of weak normalization and unique normalization properties for flat TRS. The first author was supported by Spanish Ministry of Education and Science by the FORMALISM project (TIN2007-66523) and by the LOGICTOOLS-2 project (TIN2007-68093-C02-01). The second author was supported by Spanish Ministry of Education and Science by the FORMALISM project (TIN2007-66523).     

Nuclear renaissance,public perception and design criteria: An exploratory review

There is currently an international drive to build new nuclear power plants, bringing about what is being termed a “nuclear renaissance”. However, the public perception of nuclear energy has historically been, and continues to be, a key issue, particularly in light of the Fukushima nuclear incident. This paper discusses the disparity between perceived and calculated risks based on the last four decades of research into risk perception. The leading psychological and sociological theories, Psychometric Paradigm and Cultural Theory, respectively, are critically reviewed. The authors then argue that a new nuclear-build policy that promotes a broader approach to design incorporating a wider range of stakeholder inputs, including that of the lay public, may provide a means for reducing the perceived risk of a nuclear plant. Further research towards such a new approach to design is proposed, based on integrating expert and lay stakeholder inputs and taking into account broader socio-cultural factors whilst maintaining the necessary emphasis on safety, technological development, economics and environmental sustainability.     

Anticoagulant, Antioxidant and Antitumor Activities of Heterofucans from the Seaweed Dictyopteris delicatula

In the present study, six families of sulfated polysaccharides were obtained from seaweed Dictyopteris delicatula by proteolytic digestion, followed by acetone fractionation and molecular sieving on Sephadex G-100. Chemical analyses demonstrated that all polysaccharides contain heterofucans composed mainly of fucose, xylose, glucose, galactose, uronic acid, and sulfate. The fucans F0.5v and F0.7v at 1.0 mg/mL showed high ferric chelating activity (～45%), whereas fucans F1.3v (0.5 mg/mL) showed considerable reducing power, about 53.2% of the activity of vitamin C. The fucan F1.5v presented the most prominent anticoagulant activity. The best antiproliferative activity was found with fucans F1.3v and F0.7v. However, F1.3v activity was much higher than F0.7v inhibiting almost 100% of HeLa cell proliferation. These fucans have been selected for further studies on structural characterization as well as in vivo experiments, which are already in progress.     

Development of a non-destructive micro-analytical method for stable carbon isotope analysis of transmission electron microscope (TEM) samples

The biogenicity of ancient morphological microfossil-like objects can be established by linking morphological (e.g. cell remnants and extracellular polymeric matrix) and chemical (e.g. isotopes, biomarkers and biominerals) evidence indicative of microorganisms or microbial activity. We have developed a non-destructive micro-analytical ion beam system capable of measuring with high spatial resolution the stable carbon isotope ratios of thin samples used for transmission electron microscopy. The technique is based on elastic scattering of alpha particles with an energy of 2.751 MeV. At this energy the ¹³C cross section is enhanced relative to the pure Rutherford cross section for ¹³C, whereas the ¹²C cross section is reduced relative to its pure Rutherford cross section. Here we report the initial results of this experimental approach used to characterize ultramicrotomed sections of sulfur-embedded graphite and microbial cells.