Low series resistance high-efficiency GaAs/AlGaAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with continuously graded mirrors grown by MOCVD

GaAs/AlGaAs vertical-cavity top-surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a continuously graded mirror composition have been grown by MOCVD, and planar devices with proton-implant current confinement have been characterized. Continuous grading of the heterointerfaces in the Bragg reflectors eliminated the energy-band discontinuities, thus improving carrier transport and resulting in a substantial reduction in the series resistance and threshold voltage of the laser diodes. These VCSELs have excellent room-temperature CW electrical characteristics, including some of the lowest series resistances, highest power efficiencies and lowest operating voltages ever reported.<>     

A Novel Metal-Rich Anneal for In Vacuo Passivation of High-Aspect-Ratio Mercury Cadmium Telluride Surfaces

A new method for Cd-rich annealing of mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) was developed based on the observation that the deposition of Cd onto MCT by vacuum evaporation became self-limiting whenever the substrate temperature was above 70°C regardless of the Cd evaporation rate. Preliminary results indicated that this new method may be suitable for passivation of high-aspect-ratio MCT surfaces, for passivation at low temperatures, for in vacuo operation, and/or for vacancy annihilation in MCT. Furthermore, the process can be carried out in the conventional open-tube reactors used for molecular beam epitaxy, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, and physical vapor deposition.     

Language-based information-flow security

Current standard security practices do not provide substantial assurance that the end-to-end behavior of a computing system satisfies important security policies such as confidentiality. An end-to-end confidentiality policy might assert that secret input data cannot be inferred by an attacker through the attacker's observations of system output; this policy regulates information flow. Conventional security mechanisms such as access control and encryption do not directly address the enforcement of information-flow policies. Previously, a promising new approach has been developed: the use of programming-language techniques for specifying and enforcing information-flow policies. In this paper, we survey the past three decades of research on information-flow security, particularly focusing on work that uses static program analysis to enforce information-flow policies. We give a structured view of work in the area and identify some important open challenges.     

Failure mechanisms in wood joints bonded with urea-formaldehyde adhesives

Wood joints bonded with urea-formaldehyde (UF) are weakened by cyclic swelling and shrinking. To study the failure mechanisms in UF-bonded joints, specimens were bonded with unmodified, modified (amine), or phenol formaldehyde adhesive and subjected to accelerated aging. Modification of the adhesive properties increased the cleavage fracture toughness and shear strength of bonded joints and improved the resistance of joints to cyclic swell-shrink treatment and accelerated moist-heat aging. Joints bonded with some modified urea-formaldehyde adhesives were as resistant to these treatments as joints bonded with phenol formaldehyde. Physical and mechanical origins of the improved adhesive performance were determined by microscopic analysis. Cure-shrinkage stresses precracked unmodified adhesive layers and damaged the wood interphase. The damaged interphase was especially susceptible to the effects of cyclic swelling and shrinking stresses. Certain modifiers reduced or eliminated cure-shrinkage cracking and damage to the wood. Moist-heat aging caused molecular scission in the bulk unmodified adhesive layer as revealed by the onset of shear cracking in the adhesive layer and erosion of exposed surfaces. Certain modifiers reduced or eliminated molecular scission and erosion responsible for adhesive weakening in moist-heat aging. We conclude that incorporating flexible amines in the adhesive structure improves the durability and stability of UF-bonded joints.     

Effects of dietary deoiled soy lecithin supplementation on milk production and fatty acid digestibility in Holstein dairy cows

Deoiled soy lecithin is a feed additive enriched in phospholipids. Our study evaluated the effects of dietary deoiled soy lecithin supplementation on (1) milk production and composition, (2) plasma and milk fatty acid (FA) content and yield, and (3) apparent FA digestibility and absorption in lactating dairy cows fed fractionated palm fat. In a split-plot Latin square design, 16 Holstein cows (160 ± 7 days in milk; 3.6 ± 1.2 parity) were randomly allocated to a main plot receiving a corn silage and alfalfa haylage-based diet with palm fat containing either moderate (MPA) or high palmitic acid (HPA) content at 1.75% of ration dry matter (72 or 99% palmitic acid, respectively; n = 8/palm fat diet). On each palm fat diet, deoiled soy lecithin was top-dressed at 0, 0.12, 0.24, or 0.36% of ration dry matter in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design. Following a 14-d covariate period, lecithin supplementation spanned 14 d, with milk and blood collected during the final 3 d. Milk composition and pooled plasma markers were measured. The statistical model included the fixed effects of palm fat type, lecithin dose, period, and the interaction between palm fat type and lecithin dose. The random effect of cow nested within palm fat group was also included. Lecithin linearly decreased dry matter intake. In cows fed HPA, lecithin feeding reduced milk fat content and tended to decrease milk fat yield. Although no changes in milk yield were observed, a quadratic reduction in 3.5% fat-corrected milk was observed with increasing lecithin dose. Lecithin linearly increased energy-corrected milk efficiency in cows fed MPA. Lecithin supplementation also decreased milk urea nitrogen, relative to unsupplemented cows. The proportion of 16-carbon FA in milk fat decreased linearly with lecithin dose, whereas 18-carbon FA increased linearly. Lecithin reduced de novo FA (<16-carbon) content and tended to increase preformed FA (>16-carbon) content in a linear manner. Compared with MPA, HPA diets reduced apparent total and 16-carbon FA digestibility and absorption. Deoiled soy lecithin feeding did not modify FA digestibility or absorption. Our observations suggest that soy lecithin feeding modifies rumen digestion to reduce dry matter intake and change milk composition.     

Some determinants of self-monitoring effects

Studied self-monitoring of eyeblink responses in 80 undergraduate volunteers to test hypotheses that (a) the direction of reactive effects is a function of the perceived value of the target behavior; (b) neither the behavior's value nor self-monitoring alone is sufficient to produce significant effects but that both are necessary; (c) self-monitoring is more reactive than monitoring by the E; (d) multiple reports of monitoring are more reactive than a single report of monitoring; and (e) self-monitoring effects are more reactive than a single report of merely attending to a particular behavior. Results provide general support for the 1st 2 hypotheses and suggestive support for the 3rd. Results pertaining to the 4th and 5th hypotheses took an unexpected twist and suggest the need for further study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cryoimmunoglobulin IgGk with microtubular ultrastructure associated with pyoderma gangrenosum

Based on the hitherto published population data of the human red cell PGM1 and acid phosphatase polymorphisms, the geographical distributions of their gene frequencies were analyzed. As far as the acid phosphatase alleles are concerned, a marked geographical gradient was found as the Pa and Pb alleles showed significant correlations with the mean annual temperatures of the various human biotopes (Pa:r = -0.706; Pb:r = +0.812). Against that, the world distribution of the PGM1 alleles did not show a comparable correlation (PGM1 1:R = +0.063; PGM2 1:R = -0.063). The possible reasons for the distribution pattern of the acid phosphatase alleles are discussed.