Bridging the Gap between Legal and Technical Contracts

Two or more parties typically establish a business relationship using a contract, but a large gap still exists between the provisions of contracts produced by lawyers and the details of computer security and performance addressed by technologists. Some contractual clauses address legal issues that technology can manage as well - the TrustCoM framework offers a paradigm for automating these clauses as technical operations. If a business relationship forms across a service-oriented architecture, the parties involved often manage their collaboration as a virtual organization (VO). In TrustCoM, agreements are the key means of steering VO collaborations and mitigating the risks inherent in integrating processes and resources across organizational boundaries.     

Obturation of a C-shaped canal using an improved method of warm lateral condensation

Pilot studies conducted by the authors seem to indicate that obturation of a root canal system by the lateral condensation of gutta-percha using an electrically heated spreader results in a more homogeneous mass of gutta-percha than standard lateral condensation. This article describes an improved variation which prevents inadvertent dislodgement of the mass of gutta-percha during the obturation. The authors refer to this technique as "zap and tap" and a case report describes its use to obturate a C-shaped canal system of a mandibular second molar.     

Measurements of superfluid densities and critical superfluid mass currents of pure 4He and 3He/4He mixtures in nuclepore near the lambda transition

Measurements have been made of the relative superfluid density _sp/ and the critical mass current I _sc for the onset of dissipation in the superfluid flow of pure ⁴He and ³He/⁴He mixtures in the circular cylindrical pores of Nuclepore near the transition, using a double-ended Helmholtz resonator. Pore diameters of 0.03, 0.1, and 0.4 m were studied using ³He mole fractions of 0.0,0.2, and 0.4. For each pore diameter d _p and mole fraction x our results for _sp / were fitted relatively well by the form C(t – t ₀₁)^0.675 and those for I _sc by the form I _sc0(t–t _0c ) ^g , where t [T –T]/T . For each combination of d _p and x the reduced onset temperatures t ₀₁ and t _0c are in rough agreement with each other but somewhat larger than values found by others for Nuclepore. For the smaller two pore diameters, these onset temperatures are consistent with the universality hypothesis that near T, ² _sb /m ₄ ² k _B T should be a constant independent of T and x. Here is the reduced Planck constant, _sb is the bulk superfluid density, is the coherence length, m ₄ is the ⁴He atom mass, k _B is Boltzmann's constant, and T is the absolute temperature. At each value of x the amplitudes C agree well with the corresponding amplitude for _sb /, and g equals 1.17 ± 0.04 for all cases. Measurements of the velocity of second sound at x = 0.000, 0.190, 0.401, and 0.450 are also reported.Work supported by U.S. Department of Energy contract EY-76-S-02-1569.     

Low temperature photoluminescence and infrared dielectric functions of pulsed laser deposited ZnO thin films on silicon

C-axis oriented ZnO thin films were grown on silicon (100) and (111) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Low temperature photoluminescence spectra show besides the peaks of free excitons, of defect bound excitons, and of a donor-acceptor pair transition a new doublet at 3.328/3.332 eV. The doublet seems to originate from the columnar textured ZnO film structure. A corresponding structural dependence of the broadening parameter of the infrared dielectric functions was derived from spectroscopic ellipsometry in the spectral range from 380 to 1200 cm^− 1. The wave numbers of the E₁ transverse optical and A₁ longitudinal optical phonon modes of the ZnO films on silicon are determined to be 406 and 573 cm^− 1, respectively. These values are slightly smaller than those of single-crystalline ZnO thin films on sapphire.     

Delivery of video mail on the World Wide Web

This study was initiated to examine the feasibility of providing multimedia mail, in particular video mail, on the existing World Wide Web platform. In this instance, the Web browser will act as the user agent of the mailing system. With this, users will be able to compose, send and read video mail directly on the Web. This paper examines a number of possible system architectures that can be employed for the development of video mail. Based on the following key issues: portability of system, flexibility of system, Internet standard support, security and authentication, and message compression and storage, a final architecture was selected to build video mail. The approach taken is that the system will be interfaced to the Web using a standard HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server and a standard Web browser. This is achieved through the use of Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs and forms which reside in a standard HTTP server to provide the functionality of video mail, and a separate mail server for the storage and management of messages. This will cause the HTTP server to behave as if it is an electronic mail (E-mail) system. Video mail has been successfully implemented at the School of Applied Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The development work has been carried out on a Sun SPARC5 workstation and the Typhoon relational database system was used to construct the mail server. All software codes were written in C or C++. A video capturing application used in conjunction with a SunVideo card has been developed for video and audio recording. The paper also addresses implementation issues pertaining to the use of CGI programs, mail server development, and video and audio management.     

New Functional Polymers and Materials Based on 2,2′:6′,2″‐Terpyridine Metal Complexes

New inorganic–organic hybrid structures based on metal complexes have become of increasing interest over the last few decades in the search for new materials. Many different polypyridyl metal complexes have been investigated. Recently, a strong increase in interest regarding 2,2′:6′,2″‐terpyridine has been observed. In particular, octahedral bis‐2,2′:6′,2″‐terpyridine metal complexes offer the advantages of increased symmetry and, in the case of ruthenium(III )/ruthenium(II ) complexation, an entrance to a directed complexation technique. Apart from the combination with polymeric systems, ordered inorganic–organic structures on surfaces are becoming better understood concurrently with the development of sophisticated nanotechnology characterization techniques. There are many ongoing efforts that include terpyridine complex structures, especially concerning photophysical processes such as solar light to energy conversion. This review deals with the incorporation of terpyridine complexes into polymeric structures such as poly(ethylene glycol), poly(styrene), dendrimers, biomacromolecules, micelles, and resins, as well as the combination of terpyridine complexes with surfaces for electrocatalytic, photophysical, and self‐assembly purposes.     

Nanometer edge and surface imaging using optical scatter

Imaging of edges to nanometer resolution using a novel non-contact technique is presented. This technique relies on positioning an optical beam to the edge, and simultaneously scanning, and measuring differential changes in off-specular scatter. Data may be used to calculate the radius at the edge to high accuracy. The experimental apparatus is capable of producing diffraction images of features on surfaces arising from processes used in sample preparation. Images of the cleaved edge of an optical fiber, an Au pad on Si, and cleaved quartz measured on this apparatus are presented. This technique could also be utilized to analyze cleaved laser diodes, micro-optics, MEMS devices, and diamond cutting tools.     

A note on the Jaccardized Czekanowski similarity index

It is shown that the “Jaccardized Czekanowski index” is actually a reinterpretation of the Ru?i?ka index. Thereby, it is proved that its one-complement is a true distance function, which makes it particularly suitable for use in similarity studies even with multidimensional statistical techniques.     

Smart metal sheets by direct functional integration of piezoceramic fibers in microformed structures

Microassembly of piezoceramic fibers in micro cavities at the surface of sheet metal is a novel approach for high volume production of smart adaptronic structural metal parts. In this paper a technology, manufacturing processes and characterization results of metal sheets with an active piezo-metal substructure based on directly integrated piezoceramic fibers are described. The processes include micro-milling of cavities in sheet metal, precision grinding of piezoceramic fibers, PECVD insulating layers with high dielectric strength, microassembly and force-locked joining by forming. In experiments, measurements of the surface roughness and geometric parameters of the piezoceramic fibers and micro cavities were performed. Further, the electrical properties of the insulation coatings were measured. The sensor function of the piezo-metal substructure was proven by a mechanical excitation resulting in a proportional measured sensor signal.