Dielectric Resonators for the Measurement of Superconductor Thin Films Surface Impedance in Magnetic Fields at High Microwave Frequencies

We present the design and realization of cylindrical dielectric resonators operating in the 40–60 GHz frequency range, designed for the measurement of the surface resistance and of the surface reactance shift in High-T _c Superconductors (HTS) thin films in a dc magnetic field. The resonators are single tone, based on the TE ₀₁₁ mode, and multiple tone, the latter allowing in principle to exploit the simultaneous determination of the surface impedance at different frequencies. As an application example, we report the temperature and field dependencies of the effective surface impedance of some cuprate superconductors thin films. The results are compared with those obtained through the use of a standard metal cavity with a similar Q-factor and operating in the same frequency range. The comparison highlights a superior stability and a higher sensitivity, resulting in an increase of about two orders of magnitude in the resolution of the surface impedance measurement. By contrast, the dissipative part of the superconducting transition (above T/T _c = 0.97) is better studied with the metal cavity. We also present measurements in the vortex state in YBaCa₂Cu₃O_7−δ and Tl₂Ba₂CaCu₂O_8+x that show significantly different physics. PACS: 74.25 Nf.     

Biparametric Models for Elastic Wedge Foundation

In this paper, some biparametric models for an elastic foundation are proposed. It is assumed that the foundation has the shape of the wedge. The modeling procedure starts from the linear elasticity equations into which we introduce some simplifying assumptions based on the conceptions of decay functions. The simplified models are described by the ordinary differential equations. Stationary and nonstationary Green’s functions for the foundation considered are obtained by applying the Hankel and Laplace transform methods. An example of the interaction between the rigid plate and the elastic wedge foundation is studied.     

Robustness issues in optimal control of unstable plants

This paper presents a robustness analysis of the optimal solution of the step tracking problem in a one-degree of freedom control architecture, for the discrete-time multivariable (MIMO) case. It is shown that the resulting closed loop becomes arbitrarily fragile, i.e. the sensitivity peak becomes arbitrarily large, for certain reference directions. The cause of this problem is that the optimal controller depends on the reference direction. The paper shows that this dependence can be eliminated with an alternative formulation of the optimal problem where the cost is averaged over all reference directions.     

Generalized Nakagami-m phase crossing rate

This paper provides simple, exact, new closed-form expressions for the generalized phase crossing rate of Nakagami-m fading channels. Sample numerical results obtained by simulation are presented that validate the formulations developed here. A special case of this formulation is the Rayleigh case, whose result agrees with that obtained elsewhere in the literature. In passing, several new closed-form results concerning the statistics of the envelope, its in-phase and quadrature components, phase, and their time derivatives are obtained.     

The Role of Network Topologies in the Optical Core of IP-over-WDM Networks with Static Wavelength Routing

In this paper, we present a performance analysis of network topologies for the optical core of IP-over-WDM networks with static wavelength routing. The performance analysis is focused on regular degree four topologies, and, for comparison purposes, degree three topologies are also considered. It is shown that the increase of the nodal degree from three (degree three topology with smallest diameter) to four (degree four topology with smallest diameter) improves the network performance if a larger number of wavelengths per link is available. However, the influence of wavelength interchange on the nodal degree gain is small. The performance of regular degree four topologies with smallest diameter is also compared with the performance of mesh–torus topologies (which are also degree four topologies), and it is shown that the blocking probability of degree four topologies with smallest diameter is about two orders of magnitude lower than the blocking probability of mesh–torus topologies. It is also presented a performance comparison of WDM-based networks with nodal degrees ranging from two to five and it is shown that the increase of the nodal degree from two to three leads to high nodal degree gains, while de increase of the nodal degree from four to five leads to low nodal degree gains. These results show that degree three and degree four topologies are very attractive for use in the optical core of IP-over-WDM networks.     

Investigation of the relationships between the chain organization and rheological properties of atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels

The structure and rheological behavior of atactic poly(vinyl alcohol) (a-PVA) hydrogels prepared by freeze/thaw cycles were investigated as a function of polymer concentration and number of freeze/thaw cycles. The presence of phases with different mobilities was observed using ¹³C CP/MAS and DP/MAS NMR experiments. The degree of crystallinity of the a-PVA-rich phase was determined by ¹H NMR free decay experiments. Measurements of the shear storage and loss modulus were performed at a fixed frequency of 1 Hz and a strain value of 0.1%, i.e. under conditions where the deformation imposed on the gel structure is entirely reversible. Results thus obtained showed that an increase in the number of freeze/thaw cycles induces an increase in the degree of crystallinity in the polymer-rich phase together with an increase in the storage modulus. The a-PVA hydrogels became more fragile as the number of freeze/thaw cycles was increased. Moreover, both the percentage of protons in a rigid environment measured by ¹H NMR and the storage modulus values tended to a limiting value after six freeze/thaw cycles. These results show that the first five or six freeze/thaw cycles play a very important role in determining the hydrogel structure and rheological properties. A more detailed comparison of NMR and rheological data led to the conclusion that the storage modulus is mainly controlled by the a-PVA crystallinity while the hydrogen bond interactions have a much smaller contribution.     

XPS studies of directly fluorinated HDPE: problems and solutions

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) applied to the study of fluorinated polymer surfaces presents several problems related both to peak assignment and to degradation. In this work, we analyse extensively the question of XPS peak assignments in this kind of surfaces. We conclude that in this kind of surfaces using binding energy differences between fluorine and carbon is better than using absolute binding energies. Also a useful relation between fluorine photoelectron energy vs. polymer composition expressed through the atomic ratio fluorine/carbon (F/C) was found. A protocol for data treatment is proposed and applied to a XPS study of the degradation induced by X-ray on high-density polyethylene surfaces modified by direct fluorination. Results obtained for the degradation, namely the atomic ratio F/C obtained by two different methods, combined with angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) were used to study the fluorine concentration profile in depth, producing self-consistent results.     

Compulsory notification of cysticercosis in Ribeir?o Preto-SP, Brazil

Cysticercosis is a severe public health problem in several regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Epidemiologic studies based on the frequency of cases observed in specialized neurology, neurosurgery and computed tomography services, at autopsy and in seroepidemiologic studies do not permit the determination of the true prevalence of the disease in the population. The objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of cysticercosis by compulsory notification. The coefficient of prevalence was 54 cases/100,000 inhabitants in the municipality of Ribeir?o Preto. The results also indicated that cysticercosis is not under control in our region since 21% of cases presented the active form of the disease. Compulsory notification proved to be a valuable resource for the epidemiologic study of cysticercosis, also permitting the mapping of more affected areas for a better direction of prevention strategies.     

Performance as a function of increased minority hiring.

Examined the impact of increasing the percentage of hires (above the T. A. Cleary [1968] fair-hiring level) from minority groups with demonstrated lower average job performance. Increased minority hiring resulted in only a small performance loss, even when minority hiring exceeded the minority applicant representation. However, when minorities were hired at a rate equal to or greater than their applicant representation, the expected performance loss among the hired minorities was much greater than performance loss across all hires. More important, the discrepancy in performance between majority and minority hires increased as minority hiring increased. With minority hiring above the level of minority applicant representation, this discrepancy exceeded the population difference in performance between the 2 groups. These findings suggest additional considerations when raising minority hiring above minority applicant representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)