Synthesis and characterization of conducting copolymers from aniline and o‐anisidine in HCl solutions

Conducting poly(aniline‐co‐o‐anisidine) (PAS) films with different ratios of aniline units in the polymer chain were prepared by oxidative polymerization of different molar ratios of aniline and o‐anisidine in 1 M HCl using cyclic voltammetry. Due to the much higher reactivity of o‐anisidine, the structure and properties of PASs were found to be dominated by the o‐anisidine units. The polymerization of poly‐o‐anisidine and PASs followed zero‐order kinetics with respect to formation of the polymer (film thickness) and the autocatalytic polymerization of aniline was completely inhibited. In contrast to polyaniline, a decrease in the polymerization temperature was found to increase the amount of copolymer formed and its redox charge. The presence of aniline units in PASs led to a pronounced increase in the molecular weight and conductivity, and a decrease in the solubility in organic solvents. Repetitive charging/discharging cycles showed that PASs resist degradation more than polyaniline. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

On the convergence of the inverses of Toeplitz matrices and its applications

Many issues in signal processing involve the inverses of Toeplitz matrices. One widely used technique is to replace Toeplitz matrices with their associated circulant matrices, based on the well-known fact that Toeplitz matrices asymptotically converge to their associated circulant matrices in the weak sense. This often leads to considerable simplification. However, it is well known that such a weak convergence cannot be strengthened into strong convergence. It is this fact that severely limits the usefulness of the close relation between Toeplitz matrices and circulant matrices. Observing that communication receiver design often needs to seek optimality in regard to a data sequence transmitted within finite duration, we define the finite-term strong convergence regarding two families of matrices. We present a condition under which the inverses of a Toeplitz matrix converges in the strong sense to a circulant matrix for finite-term quadratic forms. This builds a critical link in the application of the convergence theorems for the inverses of Toeplitz matrices since the weak convergence generally finds its usefulness in issues associated with minimum mean squared error and the finite-term strong convergence is useful in issues associated with the maximum-likelihood or maximum a posteriori principles.     

论建立动态勘探目标评价体系的迫切必要性

从国际上通行的油气勘探评价工作重点,中国石油所面临的"已逐步进入一个不断在老区范围内开展精细勘探、在老区范围内开展新区块、新层系勘探以获得主要的储量增长"的新的勘探形势,现有地质研究中各专题研究与具体勘探目标评价脱节等多个方面,论述了在中国石油内部建立一套动态勘探目标评价体系的迫切必要性;并在此基础上阐述了一个完整的动态勘探目标评价体系应包括的主要内容;最后对该体系的建设进行了可行性分析。     

Mining predecessor–successor rules from DAG data

Data mining extracts implicit, previously unknown, and potentially useful information from databases. Many approaches have been proposed to extract information, and one of the most important ones is finding association rules. Although a large amount of research has been devoted to this subject, none of it finds association rules from directed acyclic graph (DAG) data. Without such a mining method, the hidden knowledge, if any, cannot be discovered from the databases storing DAG data such as family genealogy profiles, product structures, XML documents, task precedence relations, and course structures. In this article, we define a new kind of association rule in DAG databases called the predecessor–successor rule, where a node x is a predecessor of another node y if we can find a path in DAG where x appears before y. The predecessor–successor rules enable us to observe how the characteristics of the predecessors influence the successors. An approach containing four stages is proposed to discover the predecessor–successor rules. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 21: 621–637, 2006.     

Comparison of total and faecal coliforms as faecal indicator in eutrophicated surface water.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of total coliforms (TC) and faecal coliforms (FC) using a membrane filtration method for precise monitoring of faecal pollution in Korean surface water. The samples were collected in Korea from both main rivers and their tributaries. Presumptive TC * FC were enumerated. The ratios of presumptive FC to TC were not constant, but varied widely, and TC were difficult to enumerate because of overgrowth by background colonies. For FC this was not the case. Seven hundred and three purified strains of presumptive TC * FC and their background colonies were biotyped using API 20E. Among 272 presumptive TC, non-faecal related species, Aeromonas hydrophila dominated (34.6%) and E. coli accounted for only 5.1%. In contrast, E. coli made up 89% of the 209 presumptive FC. Furthermore, of 164 background colonies on Endo Agar LES, 54.9% was A. hydrophila, while background colonies on m-FC Agar were few (58 strains), and despite their atypical colony appearance, most of them were biotyped as enteric bacteria. These results reveal that the detection of FC rather than TC using m-FC Agar is more appropriate for faecal pollution monitoring in eutrophicated surface water located in a temperate region.     

Kommunikationsoberfläche Membran‐ Vorbild für moderne Nanoanalytik

A central event in the life of a cellular system is the interaction between the exterior and the interior compartments. Biochemical signals arrive at the cellular surface, bind to their membrane bound receptor followed by a conformational change triggering the release of an internal chemical or electrical signal.This basic principle is followed by all our perceptive abilities like sense of smell or taste, but also by different signal transduction pathways involved in nerve conductivity, vision, sense of touch or hearing. To follow and mimic this principle of parallel registration is one of the aims of modern nanobiotechnology. If we are able to specifically biofunctionalize small arrays of a solid surface, which could be an electrode or a semiconductor, this approach will enable us to build up devices called “biochips” or “biosensors” that allow the determination of bioactive molecules with high specificity at lowest concentrations. Potential pharmacological active substrates might be screened as well as new receptors may be determined. Applications in genomics as well as proteomics are realistic. The major prerequisite for such a broad spectrum of applications is the fabrication of receptive surfaces. Biomolecules have to be surface‐adsorbed in a highly reproducible, oriented and well organised fashion, a task which in biology is taken by the cellular membranes as external or internal receptive surfaces. The physical principles like hydrogen bonds, electrostatic or hydrophobic interactions that lead to such an organized surface are well known. To synthesize molecular building blocks and to position them onto an otherwise unspecific surface is one of the challenges of nanobiotechnology combining biological knowledge and chemical skills with biophysical techniques that allow to handle or analyze even single molecules.     

An Analysis of Citation Counts of ETRI‐Invented US Patents

From its foundation until 2004, ETRI has registered over 1,000 US patents. This letter analyzes the characteristics of these patents and addresses the explanatory factors affecting their citation counts. For explanatory variables, research team related variables, invention specific variables, and geographical domain related variables are suggested. Zero‐altered count data models are used to test the impact of independent variables. A key finding is that technological cumulativeness, the scale of invention, outputs in the electronic field, and the degree of dependence on the US technology domain positively affect the citation counts of ETRI‐invented US patents. The magnitude of international presence appears to negatively affect the citation counts of ETRI‐invented US patents.     

Evaluation and optimization of package processing and design through solder joint profile prediction

Solder joints are generated using a variety of methods to provide both mechanical and electrical connection for applications such as flip-chip, wafer level packaging, fine pitch, ball-grid array, and chip scale packages. Solder joint shape prediction has been incorporated as a key tool to aid in process development, wafer level and package level design and development, assembly, and reliability enhancement. This work demonstrates the application of an analytical model and the Surface Evolver software in analyzing a variety of solder processing methods and package types. Bump and joint shape prediction was conducted for the design of wafer level bumping, flip-chip assembly, and wafer level packaging. The results from the prediction methodologies are validated with experimentally measured geometries at each level of design.     

Synthesis of ZSM‐5 Films and Monoliths with Bimodal Micro/Mesoscopic Structures

A route to synthesize ZSM‐5 crystals with a bimodal micro/mesoscopic pore system has been developed in this study; the successful incorporation of the mesopores within the ZSM‐5 structure was performed using tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH)‐impregnated mesoporous materials containing carbon nanotubes in the pores, which were encapsulated in the ZSM‐5 crystals during a solid rearrangement process within the framework. Such mesoporous ZSM‐5 zeolites can be readily obtained as powders, thin films, or monoliths.     

Hydrogen annealing effect on DC and low-frequency noise characteristics in CMOS FinFETs

The hydrogen annealing process has been used to improve surface roughness of the Si-fin in CMOS FinFETs for the first time. Hydrogen annealing was performed after Si-fin etch and before gate oxidation. As a result, increased saturation current with a lowered threshold voltage and a decreased low-frequency noise level over the entire range of drain current have been attained. The low-frequency noise characteristics indicate that the oxide trap density is reduced by a factor of 3 due to annealing. These results suggest that hydrogen annealing is very effective for improving device performance and for attaining a high-quality surface of the etched Si-fin.