Interactions in compatible polymer systems

Summary Dynamic mechanical measurements on polystyrene — poly(vinylmethylether) blends are demonstrating that the relaxation processes in the blends are mainly connected with the motions of the poly(vinylmethylether) chain.Concerning the effect of mixing on topological properties of the blends, an increase of the polydispersity of the relaxation processes is detected in blends with high molecular weight polystyrene while low molecular weight polystyrene exerts an effect of dilution upon the relaxation of the high molecular poly(vinylmethylether) chains.From these measurements as well as from thermoanalytical data it results that the energetic interaction is more pronounced in the blends with oligomeric than with high molecular weight polystyrene. The glass transition temperature shows a larger deviation from additivity for blends with high molecular polystyrene than for those with oligomeric polystyrene.Herrn Prof. Dr. M. Kryszewski zum 60. Geburtstag herzlichst gewidmet     

Heat capacities of polyethylene and linear fluoropolymers

Heat capacities at constant pressure, C_p, and at constant volume C_v, were calculated with the help of normal mode frequency spectra and compared to experimental data for crystalline or semicrystalline polyethylene, poly(vinyl fluoride), poly(vinylidene fluoride), polytrifluooroethylene and poly(tetrafluoroethylene). A calculation scheme using a Tarasov function for 2N skeletal vibrational modes and an approximation of the residual 7N normal modes from known data on polyethylene and polytetrafluoroethylene is developed for all homologous, linear fluoropolymers. N is the number of carbon backbone atoms of the repeating unit. Calculations can be carried out over the whole temperature range 0 K to melting. For the two theta temperatures and the constant A₀ used for C_v to C_p conversion, fluorine-concentration dependent curves are given. The relations are expected to hold also for copolymers and blends of intermediate fluorine contents. Recommended experimental (data bank) heat capacities agree to ±2.5% with the calculations.     

Statistical Analysis of the Intergranular Film Thickness in Silicon Nitride Ceramics

Silicon nitride materials typically reveal thin amorphous intergranular films along grain boundaries, with only the exception of special boundaries. It is known that such grainboundary films strongly affect the high-temperature properties of the bulk material. High-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) was used to study these amorphous films in different Si₃N₄ ceramics. The observed film thicknesses at grain boundaries in these materials varied between 5and 15 Å. It was shown that the grain-boundary film thickness strongly depends on film chemistry. Careful inspections of film-thickness measurements across grain boundaries in a given material suggest that the film widths vary on the order of 1 Å. Therefore, a quantitative evaluation should allow for the determination of the standard deviation of the film thickness. The amorphous film widths along grain boundaries in four materials were measured over the entire length (up to 1 μm) of the grain boundary between two triple points. Forty to fifty data points were evaluated for each boundary, giving a Gaussian-like distribution of the film thickness around a median value, which corresponded well with the film width measured from single HREM micrographs. The accuracy achieved by the statistical method was better than ± 1 Å.     

Stress-Aware Periodic Test of Interconnects

Journal of Electronic Testing - Safety-critical systems have to follow extremely high dependability requirements as specified in the standards for automotive, air, and space applications. The...     

Biosynthesis of phytochelatins in the fission yeast. Phytochelatin synthesis: a second role for the glutathione synthetase gene of Schizosaccharomyces pombe

By complementation screening of a cadmium-sensitive Schizosaccharomyces pombe mutant deficient in phytochelatin synthesis, but with 44% of the wild-type glutathione content, we cloned a DNA fragment involved in phytochelatin synthesis. Sequence analysis revealed that it encodes the second enzyme involved in glutathione (GSH) biosynthesis, glutathione synthetase (GSH2) (E.C.6.3.2.3, Wang and Oliver, 1997). The mutant allele shows a single base-pair exchange at the 3' end of the reading frame leading to a single amino acid change from glycine to aspartate. This mutation leads to a significant reduction of phytochelatin synthesis, whereas glutathione synthesis is impaired to a far lesser extent. Complementation with the Arabidopsis thaliana GSH2 cDNA led to a partial restoration of phytochelatin synthesis. These data strongly suggest that the GSH2 gene encodes a bifunctional enzyme that is able to catalyse both the synthesis of GSH by adding glycine to the dipeptide (gammaGlu-Cys) and the synthesis of phytochelatins. The sequence has been submitted to EMBL, Accession No. Y08414.     

TESTCHIP: a chip for weighted random pattern generation,evaluation, and test control

In self-testable circuits, additional hardware is incorporated for generating test patterns and evaluating test responses. A built-off test strategy is presented which moves the additional hardware to a programmable extra chip. This is a low-cost test strategy in three ways: (1) the use of random patterns eliminates the expensive test-pattern computation; (2) a microcomputer and an ASIC (application-specific IC) replace the expensive automatic test equipment; and (3) the design for testability overhead is minimized. The presented ASIC generates random patterns, applies them to a circuit under test, and evaluates the test responses by signature analysis. It contains a hardware structure that can produce weighted random patterns corresponding to multiple programmable distributions. These patterns give a high fault coverage and allow short test lengths. A wide range of circuits can be tested as the only requirement is a scan path and no other test structures have to be built in     

Bioinspired Intervertebral Disc with Multidirectional Stiffness Prepared via Multimaterial Additive Manufacturing

Degenerative disc disease (DDD) has become a significant public health issue worldwide. This can result in loss of spinal function affecting patient health and quality of life. Artificial total disc replacement (A-TDR) is an effective approach for treating symptomatic DDD that compensates for lost functionality and helps patients perform daily activities. However, because current A-TDR devices lack the unique structure and material characteristics of natural intervertebral discs (IVDs), they fail to replicate the multidirectional stiffness needed to match physiological motions and characterize anisotropic behavior. It is still unclear how the multidirectional stiffness of the disc is affected by structural parameters and material characteristics. Herein, a bioinspired intervertebral disc (BIVD-L) based on a representative human lumbar segment is developed. The proposed BIVD-L reproduces the multidirectional stiffness needed for the most common physiological kinematic behaviors. The results demonstrate that the multidirectional stiffness of the BIVD-L can be regulated by structural and material parameters. The results of this research deepen knowledge of the biomechanical behavior of the human lumbar disc and may provide new inspirations for the design and fabrication of A-TDR devices for both engineering and functional applications.     

A Platform-Independent Methodology for Performance Estimation of Multimedia Signal Processing Applications

A methodological framework for performance estimation of multimedia signal processing applications on different implementation platforms is presented. The methodology derives a complexity profile which is characteristic for an application, but completely platform-independent. By correlating the complexity profile with platform-specific data, performance estimation results for different platforms are obtained. The methodology is based on a reference software implementation of the targeted application, but is, in constrast to instruction-level profiling-based approaches, fully independent of its optimization degree. The proposed methodology is demonstrated by example of an MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP) video decoder. Performance estimation results are presented for two different platforms, a specialized VLIW media processor and an embedded general-purpose RISC processor, showing a high accuracy of he methodology. The approach can be employed to assist in design decisions in the specification phase of new architectures, in the selection process of a suitable target platform for a multimedia application, or in the optimization stage of a software implementation on a specific platform.Hans-Joachim Stolberg received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1995.From 1995 to 1996, he worked at the NEC Information Technology Research Laboratories, Kawasaki, Japan, on efficient implementation of video compression algorithms. Since 1996, he has been with the Institute of Microelectronic Systems at the University of Hannover as a Research Assistant. During summer 2001, he was a Monbukagakusho Research Fellow at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. His current research interests include VLSI architectures for video signal processing, performance estimation of multimedia schemes, and profile-guided memory organization approaches for signal processing and multimedia applications.Mladen Bereković received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany, in 1995.Since then he has been a Research Assistant with the Institute of Microelectronic Systems of the University of Hannover. His current research interests include VLSI architectures for video signal processing, MPEG-4, System-on-Chip (SOC) designs, and simultaneously multi-threaded (SMT) processor architectures.Peter Pirsch received the Ing. grad. degree from the engineering college in Hannover, Germany, in 1966, and the Dipl.-Ing. and Dr.-Ing. degrees from the University of Hannover, in 1973 and 1979, respectively, all in electrical engineering.From 1966 to 1973 he was employed by Telefunken, Hannover, working in the Television Department. He became a Research Assistant at the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Hannover, in 1973, a Senior Engineer in 1978. During 1979 to 1981 he was on leave, working in the Visual Communications Research Department, Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ. During 1983 to 1986 he was Department Head for Digital Signal Processing at the SEL Research Center, Stuttgart, Germany. Since 1987 he is Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Hannover. He served as Vice President Research of the University of Hannover from 1998 to 2002.His present research includes architectures and VLSI implementations for image processing applications, rapid prototyping and design automation for DSP applications. He is the author or coauthor of more than 200 technical papers. He has edited a book on VLSI Implementations for Image Communications (Elsevier 1993) and is author of the book Architectures for Digital Signal Processing (John Wiley 1998).Dr. Pirsch is a member of the IEEE, the German Institute of Information Technology Engineers (ITG) and the German Association of Engineers (VDI). He was recipient of several awards: the NTG paper price award (1982), IEEE Fellow (1997), IEEE Circuits and Systems Golden Jubilee Medal (1999). He was member or chair of several technical program committees of international conferences and organizer of special sessions and preconference courses. He has held several administrative and technical positions with the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society and other professional organizations. Dr. Pirsch currently serves as Vice President Publications of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. Since 2000 he is chairman of the Accreditation Commission for Engineering and Informatics of the Accreditation Agency for Study Programs in Engineering, Informatics, Natural Science and Mathematics (ASIIN). Dr. Pirsch is chair of the VDI committee on Engineering Education.