Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of a free-standing oxide film

The corrosion of low carbon steel in natural sea-water is characterized by the formation and growth of compact and thick layers composed of oxides, insoluble salts and organic materials. These layers are the result of corrosion processes induced by local environmental conditions, water oxygen supply; ionic species; bacteria and organic matter. The exchange of various species (ions, molecules, gas) between sea-water and the rust layers or the metal depends both on the kinetics of the Faradaic reactions of the entities with either the oxides or the metal, as well as on their transport properties through the different strata of the rust layers. In this work, an impedance study was carried out using the 4-electrodes cell arrangement with corrosion products picked up on steel sheet piling immersed for 25 years and analyzed as free standing membranes. This new approach is a good way to reach the specific transport and transfer properties of the oxide without being blurred by the metal influence. The physical model developed in this work was based on a transmission line, and accurately described the experimental diagrams. The electronic resistivity of the oxide layer, its porosity, the mean pore size and the reaction kinetics parameters could be determined from the fittings.     

Penalty interference of nonlinear intra-channel effects and PMD inultra high-speed TDM systems

Penalty interference of nonlinear propagation impairments and polarisation mode dispersion (PMD) caused signal distortions is experimentally investigated     

IEEE standard 802.16: a technical overview of theWirelessMANTM air interface for broadband wirelessaccess

The broadband wireless access industry, which provides high-rate network connections to stationary sites, has matured to the point at which it now has a standard for second-generation wireless metropolitan area networks. The IEEE standard 802.16, with its WirelessMAN^TM air interface, sets the stage for widespread and effective deployments worldwide. This article overviews the technical medium access control and physical layer features of this new standard     

Mechanism of current transfer in oxidized iron ore minerals

Mining Institute, Krivoi Rog. Translated from Fiziko-Technicheskie Problemy Razrabotki Poleznykh Iskopaemykh, No. 2, pp. 107-116, March-April, 1992.     

High-reliability GaAs-AlGaAs HBTs by MBE with Be base doping andInGaAs emitter contacts

The authors have developed a modified MBE growth process to produce high-gain n-p-n GaAs-AlGaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) with a mean time to failure (MTTF) of 1.5×10⁸ h at 125°C. Beryllium incorporation and diffusion are controlled through a combination of reduced substrate temperature and increased As/Ga flux ratio during MBE growth, resulting in extremely stable HBT profiles. The authors also demonstrate graded InGaAs surface layers with nonalloyed refractory metal contacts that significantly improve ohmic reliability compared to alloyed AuGe contacts. The ability to produce robust HBTs by MBE is critically important to this technology     

Synthetic resins: XV. Chelation ion exchange properties of 2,4- dinitrophenylhydrazone of resacetophenone-formaldehyde resin

A number of copolymers were synthesised by condensing the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone of resacetophenone with substituted benzoic acids/ phenols and formaldehyde in the presence of sodium hydroxide or hydrochloric acid. The decomposition temperature, solubility and viscosity of the polymers have been determined. The ion-exchange properties have been studied by using a batch equilibrium method. The distribution of a number of metal ions between an aqueous solution and the resin have been measured. A wide range of pH and variable ionic strengths have been investigated.     

Relating blow moldability to large amplitude oscillatory shear behavior

The large amplitude oscillatory shear test has been used to discriminate subtle differences in nonlinear viscoelasticity between two high density polyethyene blow molding resins with different processability. Structural network theory was used to explain the subtle differences in terms of entanglement kinetics with remarkable accuracy. The resin with better shape retention characteristics in programmed parison blow molding was found to have a higher kinetic rate constant for molecular re-entanglement.     

Scale periodicity and its sampling theorem

The scalar transform is a new representation for signals, offering a perspective that is different from the Fourier transform. We introduce the notion of a scalar periodic function. These functions are then represented through the discrete scale series. We also define the notion of a strictly scale-limited signal. Analogous to the Shannon interpolation formula, we show that such signals can be exactly reconstructed from exponentially spaced samples of the signal in the time domain. As an interesting, practical application, we show how properties unique to the scale transform make it very useful in computing depth maps of a scene     

The entropy of terrestrial solar radiation

Complete thermodynamic evaluation of energy conversion devices calls for energy and entropy balance equations. While the subject of radiation energy has been well taken care of, the same is not true for the entropy of radiation. This has become obvious from the discussion about the maximum work that can be drawn from solar radiation. This article collects and reflects the basic equations needed to calculate the radiation entropy, and it discusses the influence of the three major input functions on the entropy, namely the spectral and hemispherical distribution of radiation intensity, and its degree of polarization. Results of realistic calculations using atmospheric models are given in the last section in form of an energy-entropy diagram.