Molecular weight effect on the obtainment of parallel and perpendicular orientation in thermotropic poly(diethylene glycol <Emphasis Type="Italic">p,p′</Emphasis>-bibenzoate)

Summary The effect of molecular weight on the uniaxial orientation process has been analyzed in two samples of thermotropic poly(diethylene glycol p,p′-bibenzoate), evaluating the influence of that parameter on the type of orientation obtained. Several strain rates and deformation temperatures have been tested in order to map out the conditions for obtaining the two different kinds of orientation. The results show that in the lower molecular weight PDEB sample (M_w=31200) it is rather easy to get exclusively perpendicular “anomalous” orientation, with the molecular axes aligned transversely to the stretching direction. However, it is extremely difficult to obtain 100% parallel “normal” orientation. On the contrary, either type of orientation or a mixture of them can be easily developed for the higher molecular weight PDEB sample (M_w=102900).     

X-ray topography studies of dislocations in single crystal CVD diamond

X-ray topography has been used to study single crystal diamond samples homoepitaxially grown by microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on high pressure high temperature (HPHT) and CVD synthetic diamond substrates. Clusters of dislocations in the CVD diamond layers emanated from points at or near the interface with the substrate. The Burgers vectors of observed dislocations have been determined from sets of {111} projection topographs. Dislocations have line directions close to the [001] growth direction and are either edge or 45° mixed dislocations. Where groups of dislocations originated at isolated points they tended to be of the edge variety. Where the substrate surface was deliberately damaged before growth, two sets of dislocations were observed to have propagated from each line of damage and there was a tendency for dislocations to be of the 45° mixed variety with a component of their Burgers vector parallel to the polishing direction. It is demonstrated that X-ray topography can be used to deduce the growth history of CVD synthetic diamond samples produced in multiple growth stages.     

Luminescence from praseodymium doped AlN thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering and the effect of material structure and thermal annealing on the luminescence

Thin films of Praseodymium doped AlN are deposited on silicon (111) substrates at 77 K and 950 K by rf magnetron sputtering method. About 500–1000 nm thick films are grown at 100–200 watts RF power and 5–8 mTorr nitrogen, using a metal target of Al with Pr. X-rays diffraction results show that films deposited at 77 K are amorphous and those deposited at 950 K are crystalline. Cathodoluminescence studies are performed at room temperature and luminescence peaks are observed in a wide range from ultraviolet to infrared region. The most intense peak is obtained in green at 526 nm from amorphous films as a result from ³P₁→³H₅ transition. In crystalline films the intense peak was obtain in red at 648 nm as a result from ³P₀→³F₂ transition. Films are thermally activated at 1300 K for half an hour in a nitrogen atmosphere. Thermal activation enhances the intensity of luminescence. Two peaks at 488 nm and 505 nm merged after thermal activation, giving rise to a single peak at 495 nm.     

Effect of heat treatment in air on the thermal properties of SiC fibre reinforced composite: Part 2 A magnesium aluminium silicate (MAS) matrix glass ceramic composite

The thermal properties of a magnesium aluminium silicate (MAS) glass ceramic matrix composite reinforced by SiC (Nicalon) fibres have been investigated before and after heat treatment in the temperature range 600–1,200 °C. Within this temperature range, during the heat treatment at lower temperatures such as 600 and 700 °C, the oxidation of the carbon layer occurred and mixture of silicon and carbon was formed in the interface. This results in a decrease in thermal diffusivity values. After heat treatment at the temperatures higher than 1,000 °C, the carbon layer was thickened and resulted in the higher thermal diffusivity values.     

Minimax Universal Decoding With an Erasure Option

Motivated by applications of rateless coding, decision feedback, and automatic repeat request (ARQ), we study the problem of universal decoding for unknown channels in the presence of an erasure option. Specifically, we harness the competitive minimax methodology developed in earlier studies, in order to derive a universal version of Forney's classical erasure/list decoder, which in the erasure case, optimally trades off between the probability of erasure and the probability of undetected error. The proposed universal erasure decoder guarantees universal achievability of a certain fraction xi of the optimum error exponents of these probabilities (in a sense to be made precise in the sequel). A single-letter expression for xi, which depends solely on the coding rate and the Neyman-Pearson threshold (to be defined), is provided. The example of the binary-symmetric channel is studied in full detail, and some conclusions are drawn     

Measuring consistency in TTL-based caches

We propose a general modeling framework to evaluate the performance of cache consistency algorithms. In addition to the usual hit rate, we introduce the hit^* rate as a consistency measure, which captures the fraction of non-stale downloads from the cache. We apply these ideas to the analysis of the fixed TTL consistency algorithm in the presence of network delays. The hit and hit^* rates are evaluated when requests and updates are modeled by renewal processes. Classical results on the renewal function lead to various bounds.     

Measurement of the density and surface tension of Ni-based superalloys in the liquid and mushy states

The densities of three Ni-based superalloys have been measured in both liquid and mushy states by both a modified sessile drop method (MSDM) and a modified pycnometric method (MPM) for alloys CMSX-4 and CM186LC, and for CMSX-10 alloy by MSDM only. The surface tensions of liquid CMSX-4, CM186LC, and CMSX-10 superalloys were measured using the sessile drop method. All measurements were carried out in a highly purified argon atmosphere with the oxygen partial pressure of less than 10⁻¹⁹ MPa in the gas outlet. The densities of all superalloys in both liquid and mushy states were found to decrease with increasing temperature. The volume thermal expansion of each superalloy in the mushy state was found to be higher than that in the liquid state. The densities determined by different methods have been critically assessed and recommended values in both liquid and mushy states are given as a linear function of temperature for the three Ni-based superalloys. The surface tension of liquid CMSX-4 superalloy was found to decrease with increasing temperature, while that of liquid CMSX-10 superalloy increases with increasing temperature. The wetting behavior of liquid CM186LC on the alumina substrate was found (1) to differ significantly from that of CMSX-4 and CMSX-10 and (2) to vary with time. A HfO₂-rich layer was found in the contact area of CM186LC with the alumina substrate, which could lead to some uncertainty in the value obtained for the surface tension determined for CM186LC.     

Russian underwater tunnels in the system of international transportation ways

Sustained world economic development trends characteristic with international trade annual growth rate of 7–8% along with considerable dynamics in the interregional goods circulation sphere on one hand and vast territory of Russia combined with a relatively developed railway network on the other hand provide a unique chance for this country to arrange land transportation routes alternative and competitive in comparison with existing marine routes. Construction of rail tunnels seems to be most efficient means for transportation corridors to cross-wide water areas like Nevelsky Strait (10.5 km) between the mainland and the Sakhalin Island in Russia, Bering Strait (92 km) between Chukotka Peninsula (Russia) and Alaska (USA). The tunnels construction conditions, structures and technologies planned to be used are considered in the paper.     

Microstructures formed by spray freezing of food fats

The spray-freezing of two food fats, tripalmitin (PPP) and cocoa butter (CB) and mixtures thereof, has been modeled experimentally using a novel single droplet freezing apparatus configured so that temperature profiles or samples for microstructure analysis can be obtained. For 2 mm diameter droplets suspended in a cold air flow at temperatures around 2–15°C, initial cooling rates were on the order of 10 K s⁻¹ and the temperature profiles could be correlated directly to DSC data collected at 20 K min⁻¹, indicating that minimal supercooling of the materials occurred in the droplet form. Microstructure analysis confirmed that PPP crystallized preferentially in mixtures, and that the surface structure was very sensitive to storage conditions. The bulk structure was much less sensitive, and the internal microstructure of the PPP droplets revealed distinct nucleation sites, which were absent from the CB: These persisted in the mixtures up to 50 wt%. X-ray analysis indicated that the fats crystallized in their more stable forms, namely, β for PPP and Form V/V1 in CB.     

GQR-based models for directional wireless channels

In this paper novel reduced complexity statistical models for the representation of directional wireless channels affected by Rayleigh fading are developed. Their derivation is based on the evaluation of Fourier integrals by means of Gaussian quadrature rules (GQRs). The proposed models represent a communication channel as a tapped-angle and -delay line with non uniform spacing between successive taps. The application of the GQR approach to three different scenarios is also illustrated. Numerical results evidence that these models can provide a simple and accurate stochastic representation of directional fading channels.