Line defects, planar defects and voids in SrTiO3 films grown on MgO by pulsed laser and pulsed laser interval deposition

Two and three dimensional growth of SrTiO₃ films on (001) MgO substrate was achieved by pulsed laser interval and pulsed laser deposition respectively. The growth mode was monitored by in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction. Interval deposition forces layer-by-layer growth of materials even with such a large lattice misfit (~ 7.9%). A titanium dioxide buffer monolayer was deposited to allow the film to wet the substrate to encourage two dimensional growth of the strontium titanate. A variety of defects was investigated using transmission electron microscopy and high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Misfit dislocations, steps at the interface, Ti-rich defects and regularly shaped nano-holes connected by anti-phase boundaries were found to be the dominant defects in these films grown layer by layer. The edges of the nano-holes were mainly along [010] and [100] for a [001] growth direction. The large strain between the two crystal systems with large lattice mismatch leads to in-plane tensile stress during the layer-by-layer growth. The stress is relieved in part by the holes. The films with a three dimensional growth mode possess a uniform surface with dislocations as the dominant defects. The individual densities of the various defects, including a Ti-rich phase and misfit and threading dislocations, are determined by the kinetics of the deposition method.     

A layout algorithm for signaling pathways

Visualization is crucial to the effective analysis of biological pathways. A poorly laid out pathway confuses the user, while a well laid out one improves the user’s comprehension of the underlying biological phenomenon.We present a new, elegant algorithm for layout of biological signaling pathways. Our algorithm uses a force-directed layout scheme, taking into account directional and rectangular regional constraints enforced by different molecular interaction types and subcellular locations in a cell. The algorithm has been successfully implemented as part of a pathway visualization and analysis toolkit named Patika, and results with respect to computational complexity and quality of the layout have been found satisfactory. The algorithm may be easily adapted to be used in other applications with similar conventions and constraints as well.Patika version 1.0 beta is available upon request at http://www.patika.org.     

Predictability of event occurrences in partially-observed discrete-event systems

This paper studies the problem of predicting occurrences of a significant event in a partially-observed discrete-event system. The predictability of occurrences of an event in a system is defined in the context of formal languages. The predictability of a language is a stronger condition than the diagnosability of the language. Two necessary and sufficient conditions for predictability of occurrences of an event in systems modeled by regular languages are presented. Both conditions can be algorithmically tested. The first condition employs diagnosers. The second condition employs verifiers and results in a polynomial-time (in the number of states) complexity test for verification of predictability. When predictability holds, diagnosers can be used online to predict the significant event.     

A new apparatus to establish the spontaneous combustion propensity of coals and coal-shales

Coal and coal-shale both tend to undergo spontaneous combustion under favourable atmospheric conditions. The Wits-Ehac index has been developed in South Africa since the late 1980's to test the spontaneous combustion liability of coal. However, in some cases, the Wits-Ehac index fails to produce tangible results when testing coal-shales. To overcome this problem, a new apparatus has been developed to test carbonaceous materials such as coal and coal-shale under chemical reactions with oxygen and an index has been obtained. This index is called the Wits-CT index. The equipment emulates the influence of oxygen adsorption on carbonaceous material for a period of 24 h without a heating system.The Wits-CT index uses the total carbon content of the sample and the temperature variations obtained from the samples during reaction with oxygen to predict the spontaneous combustion liability. Eighteen samples have been analyzed using both indices and the results are in-line. It was found that coals and coal-shales with higher values of the Wits-CT index are more liable to spontaneous combustion.Further research on different coal-shales is underway in order to establish an extensive database for coal and coal-shales, together with known incidences of self-heating.     

Steady‐state analysis of a novel ZVT interleaved boost converter

In this paper, a novel soft‐switched interleaved boost converter composed of two‐cell boost conversion units and an auxiliary circuit is proposed and investigated. The proposed auxiliary circuit is implemented using only one auxiliary switch and a minimum number of passive components without an effective increase in the cost and the complexity of the converter. The main advantage of this auxiliary circuit is that it not only provides zero‐voltage‐transition (ZVT) for the main switches but also provides soft switching for the auxiliary switch and diodes. Though all semiconductor devices operate under soft switching, they do not have any additional voltage and current stresses. The proposed converter operates successfully in soft‐switching operation mode for a wide range of input voltage level and the load. In addition, it has advantages such as fewer structure complications, lower cost and ease of control. Since the two‐cell interleaved boost units are identical, operational analysis and design for the converter module become quite simple. In this study, the detailed steady‐state theoretical analysis of the proposed converter is presented, which is verified exactly by simulation and experiments carried out on a prototype of a 120 W and 50 kHz/cell interleaved boost converter. The practical results confirm the results obtained from theoretical analysis. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mechanical and electrical properties of Bi<Subscript>1.5-x</Subscript>La<Subscript>x</Subscript>Zn<Subscript>0.92</Subscript>Nb<Subscript>1.5</Subscript>O<Subscript>6.92</Subscript> pyrochlore ceramics

BiFeO₃-Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-PbTiO₃ (BF-PMN-PT) ternary ceramics with pure perovskite phase were prepared through a two-step solid reaction method. Based on structural analysis, the ternary phase diagram of BF-PMN-PT solid solution at room temperature has been established. The Curie temperature T_C, remnant polarization P_r and piezoelectric constant d₃₃ vary in the range of 138 to 225 °C, 15.12 to 23.65 μC/cm² and 129 to 276 pC/N, respectively. The coercive field Ec increases gradually from 5.77 to 29.56 kV/cm upon PT content increasing. The magnetic study suggests that the magnetism turns from diamagnetism for PMN-PT to paramagnetism for BF-PMN-PT by adding BiFeO₃ into PMN-PT and adding more content of BF does not change the paramagnetism further.     

A new dynamic security enhancement method via genetic algorithms integrated with neural network based tools

In this paper, a new dynamic security assessment and generation rescheduling method utilizing genetic algorithms (GAs) which are integrated with probabilistic neural networks (PNNs) and adaptive neuro fuzzy inference systems (ANFISs) is proposed for the preventive control of large power systems against transient instabilities. By the proposed approach, PNNs are employed in a feasible manner to calculate the security regions accurately during the assessment and control. The security constrained generation rescheduling is implemented through a GA which optimizes the total fuel cost or the generation shifting during the preventive control. The steady-state solutions of the variables required for the GA are smoothly performed by the use of an ANFIS. The proposed methods are demonstrated on the 17-generator 163-bus Iowa power system and on the 50-generator 145-bus IEEE test system successfully and the effectiveness of the approaches is discussed.     

Statistical Analysis and Multimodal Classification on Noisy Eye Tracker and Application Log Data of Children with Autism and ADHD

Emotion recognition behavior and performance may vary between people with major neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and control groups. It is crucial to identify these differences for early diagnosis and individual treatment purposes. This study represents a methodology by using statistical data analysis and machine learning to provide help to psychiatrists and therapists on the diagnosis and individualized treatment of participants with ASD and ADHD. In this paper we propose an emotion recognition experiment environment and collect eye tracker fixation data together with the application log data (APL). In order to detect the diagnosis of the participant we used classification algorithms with the Tomek links noise removing method. The highest classification accuracy results were reported as 86.36% for ASD vs. Control, 81.82% for ADHD vs. Control and 70.83% for ASD vs. ADHD. This study provides evidence that fixation and APL data have distinguishing features for the diagnosis of ASD and ADHD.