Primer cure and adhesion after light organic solvent preservative treatment of Radiata pine

This study examined the effect of preservative treatment and wood drying history on paint primer cure and adhesion for New Zealand radiata pine (Pinus radiata D. Don). Double Vacuum LOSP treatments resulted in a significantly lower LOSP uptake than did Lowry treatments, for both sapwood and heartwood. Wood drying history had no effect on uptake by sapwood, but did affect uptake by heartwood; high-temperature-kiln-dried heartwood retained more solvent than air-dried or conventionally dried heartwood. For sapwood, LOSP treatment method and wood drying history did not significantly affect either primer cure or primer adhesion. For heartwood, primer adhesion in the early stage of cure was better with Double Vacuum treatments. Double Vacuum treatments also resulted in a higher cure of primer, two days after priming, than did Lowry treatment when either conventionally or high-temperature-kiln-dried heartwood was used, but no significant difference was found with air-dried heartwood. It was concluded that, for radiata pine heartwood, Double Vacuum treatment, combined with either air-drying or conventional drying, will reduce LOSP uptake and give better primer performance, so long as effective ventilated solvent removal is achieved before priming.     

Modal dynamics of self-excited azimuthal instabilities in an annular combustion chamber

In this paper we describe the time-varying amplitude and its relation to the global heat release rate of self-excited azimuthal instabilities in a simple annular combustor operating under atmospheric conditions. The combustor was modular in construction consisting of either 12, 15 or 18 equally spaced premixed bluff-body flames around a fixed circumference, enabling the effect of large-scale interactions between adjacent flames to be investigated. High-speed OH^∗ chemiluminescence imaged from above the annulus and pressure measurements obtained at multiple locations around the annulus revealed that the limit cycles of the modes are degenerate in so much as they undergo continuous transitions between standing and spinning modes in both clockwise (CW) and anti-clockwise (ACW) directions but with the same resonant frequency. Similar behaviour has been observed in LES simulations which suggests that degenerate modes may be a characteristic feature of self-excited azimuthal instabilities in annular combustion chambers. By modelling the instabilities as two acoustic waves of time-varying amplitude travelling in opposite directions we demonstrate that there is a statistical prevalence for either standing m = 1 or spinning m = ±1 modes depending on flame spacing, equivalence ratio, and swirl configuration. Phase-averaged OH^∗ chemiluminescence revealed a possible mechanism that drives the direction of the spinning modes under limit-cycle conditions for configurations with uniform swirl. By dividing the annulus into inner and outer annular regions it was found that the spin direction coincided with changes in the spatial distribution of the peak heat release rate relative to the direction of the bulk swirl induced along the annular walls. For standing wave modes it is shown that the globally integrated fluctuations in heat release rate vary in magnitude along the acoustic mode shape with negligible contributions at the pressure nodes and maximum contributions at the pressure anti-nodes.     

Transmission Electron Microscopy-Based Analysis of Electrically Conductive Surface Defects in Large Area GaSb Homoepitaxial Diodes Grown Using Molecular Beam Epitaxy

We investigate a mechanism causing shorting of large area GaSb diodes grown on GaSb substrates using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The source of these shorts is determined to be large crystallographic defects on the surface of the diodes that are formed around droplets of gallium ejected from the gallium Knudsen cells during MBE. The gallium droplets cause defects in the crystal structure, and, as the epitaxy continues, the gallium is incorporated into the surrounding material. The shape of the defects is pyramidal with a central void extending from the epi-surface to the gallium core. Processing a GaSb diode with these surface defects results in the top-side contact metal migrating into the defect and shorting the diode. This prevents realization of large area diodes that are critical to applications such as photovoltaics and detectors. The diodes in this study are electrically characterized and the defect formation mechanism is investigated using cross-section transmission electron microscopy and electron dispersive spectroscopy.     

Tunable doped-fibre vertical cavity surface emitting laser

A simple way to improve the output power of singlemode tunable VCSELs is demonstrated. It is based on a master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA)-like embodiment of a fibre-VCSEL. The reported device, operating at 1.55 μm, uses a single pump source to photoexcite both a semiconductor structure and a doped fibre without compromise in compactness. Initial results show continuous tunability over 11 nm and fibre-coupled output power of 3.1 mW. It is noted that this approach can be extended to any part of the spectrum for which rare-earth doped optical fibres are available.     

Modification of emission wavelength in organic random lasers based on photonic glass

Control of the emission wavelength of a random laser (RL) system over a 7-nm waveband is demonstrated using a green-emitting π-conjugated polymer infiltrated into a photonic glass formed by nano/micro-size monodisperse silica spheres. The use of a solution-based conjugated polymer enables the complete filling of the voids within the photonic glass without suffering from quenching and the gain can therefore be maximized. The emission wavelength of these structures is set by a combination of the material system spectral gain and of the transport mean free path, the latter being controlled by the mean diameter of the spheres in the nano-scale range. Transport mean free paths of photons in the RL’s active region are calculated using Mie scattering theory and corroborated with coherent backscattering measurements. Further wavelength modification is also possible by changing the pump spot size and the pump fluence.     

Nanofabrication of gallium nitride photonic crystal light-emitting diodes

We describe a comparison of nanofabrication technologies for the fabrication of 2D photonic crystal structures on GaN/InGaN blue LEDs. Such devices exhibit enhanced brightness and the possibility of controlling the angular emission profile of emitted light. This paper describes three nano lithography techniques for patterning photonic crystal structures on the emitting faces of LEDs: direct-write electron beam lithography, hard stamp nanoimprint lithography and soft-stamp nanoimprint lithography with disposable embossing masters. In each case we describe variations on the technique as well as its advantages and disadvantages. Complete process details have been given for all three techniques. In addition, we show how high performance GaN dry etch techniques, coupled with optical process monitoring can transfer resist patterns into underlying GaN material with high fidelity.     

A Fast DC Current Breaker

A fast dc current breaker circuit is presented and analyzed. Relevant design and control parameters are also derived. Furthermore, logic control implementation and power circuit component protection are discussed. It is shown that a simple control strategy is best suited for static loads at predefined load current levels. Also theoretical results are compared with experimental results.     

A thresholding method for blood-aggregate images

Among the wide ranging forms of medical diagnostic modalities, blood analysis is one of the most common, and is likely to become more important as various blood related diseases become more pervasive. Histogram-based methods are among the most popular for thresholding a biomedical image of blood aggregates in a plastic tube. However, these methods often do not provide good results over the entire area of interest, because the statistical assumptions of the methods are violated: i.e., the results are not independent of the blood aggregate location in the tube. Here, the authors apply some useful modifications to three popular histogram methods in order to meet the statistical criteria for independent samples, and thus improve the methods' accuracy. These modifications include a top-hat (mathematical) transformation to compensate for background variations     

Focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver: a rational approach to treatment

Focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver in a 3 year old child has been successfully treated by ligation of the hepatic artery branches supplying the lesion. The prominence of the abnormal vasculature in the lesion and its possible aetiological involvement is stressed. Because of the risks of partial hepatectomy, hepatic artery ligation is suggested as the treatment of choice for focal nodular hyperplasia.     

The analysis of polyurethane foams II. Chemical constitution of the polymer

Efforts have been made to establish the chemical constitution of water-blown polyurethane foams. Specific reagents have been used to indicate the presence of biuret or allophanate linkages. Partial hydrolysis techniques have been used to degrade foams selectively and hence isolate parts of the chain network. These methods yield information which is not satisfactorily obtained from the examination of undegraded polymer and which is not available after total degradation. It has been shown that polyureatype linkages are present in the chain network of both polyester and polyether foams.