Structural properties of 0.65Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.35PbTiO3 relaxor ferroelectric thin films on SrRuO3 conducting oxides

Coating of 0.65Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–0.35PbTiO₃ (PMN–PT) relaxor ferroelectrics by a sol–gel method is followed by growth of epitaxial SrRuO₃ (SRO) metallic oxide electrodes on SrTiO₃ (STO) single-crystal substrate by pulsed laser deposition. High-quality PMN–PT films on SRO with preferred growth orientation were successfully fabricated by controlling the operation parameters. Structural properties of relaxor ferroelectric PMN–PT thin films on SRO/STO substrates have been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In-plane and out-of-plane alignments of the heterostructure are confirmed and the structural twinning of the materials are also revealed.     

Study on Contamination Control for Yield Enhancement in the Manufacturing Line of Cellular Phone Modules

Practical studies on the method of contamination control for yield enhancement in the cellular phone modules production line were carried out. A contamination control method was proposed, consisting of data collection, data analysis, improvement action, verification, and implementation of control. The partition check method and the composition analysis for data collection and data analysis were respectively used in the cellular phone modules manufacturing process, and these methods were evaluated by the variation of yield loss before and after implementing the actions for improvement. In the partition check method, the critical process step was selected, and yield loss reduction through improvement actions was observed, whereas in the composition analysis, critical sources were selected, and yield loss reduction through improvement actions was investigated. From the results, it is concluded that the partition check and the composition analysis are effective solutions for contamination control in cleanroom production lines.     

Application of artificial neural networks to the analysis of two‐dimensional fluorescence spectra in recombinant E coli fermentation processes

A two‐dimensional (2D) spectrofluorometer was used to monitor various fermentation processes with recombinant E coli for the production of 5‐aminolevulinic acid (ALA). The whole fluorescence spectral data obtained during a process were analyzed using artificial neural networks, ie self‐organizing map (SOM) and feedforward backpropagation neural network (BPNN). The SOM‐based classification of the whole spectral data has made it possible to qualitatively associate some process parameters with the normalized weights and variances, and to select some useful combinations of excitation and emission wavelengths. Based on the classified fluorescence spectra a supervised BPNN algorithm was used to predict some of the process parameters. It was also shown that the BPNN models could elucidate some sections of the process's performance, eg forecasting the process's performance. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Friction and wear of Inconel 690 and Inconel 600 for steam generator tube in room temperature water

In the steam generators of nuclear power plants, the flow of cooling water can cause the tubes to vibrate, resulting in fretting wear damage due to contacts between these tubes and their supports. The tubes are made of Inconel 690 and Inconel 600 and the supports are made of STS 304. In this paper, fretting wear tests in water were performed using the materials Inconel 690 and Inconel 600 in contact with STS 304. Fretting tests using a cross-cylinder type set up were conducted under various vibrating amplitudes and applied normal loads in order to measure friction forces and wear volumes. Also, conventional sliding tests using a pin-on-disk type set up were carried out to compare these test results.In the fretting tests, friction force was found to be strongly dependent on normal load and vibrating amplitude. Coefficients of friction decreased with an increase in the normal load and a decrease in the vibrating amplitude applied. Also, the wear of Inconel 600 and Inconel 690 was predicted using a work rate model. Depending on the normal load and vibrating amplitude applied, distinctively different wear mechanisms and often drastically different wear rates occurred. It was found that the fretting wear coefficients for Inconel 600 and Inconel 690 were 9.3×10⁻¹⁵ and 16.2×10⁻¹⁵ Pa⁻¹, respectively. This study shows that Inconel 690 can result in lesser friction forces and exhibits less wear resistance than Inconel 600 in room temperature water.     

Survey of nitrate and nitrite contents of vegetables grown in Korea.

A scientific basis for the evaluation of the risk to public health arising from excessive dietary intake of nitrate in Korea is provided. The nitrate () and nitrite () contents of various vegetables (Chinese cabbage, radish, lettuce, spinach, soybean sprouts, onion, pumpkin, green onion, cucumber, potato, carrot, garlic, green pepper, cabbage and Allium tuberosum Roth known as Crown daisy) are reported. Six hundred samples of 15 vegetables cultivated during different seasons were analysed for nitrate and nitrite by ion chromatography and ultraviolet spectrophotometry, respectively. No significant variance in nitrate levels was found for most vegetables cultivated during the summer and winter harvests. The mean nitrates level was higher in A. tuberosum Roth (5150 mg kg(-1)) and spinach (4259 mg kg(-1)), intermediate in radish (1878 mg kg(-1)) and Chinese cabbage (1740 mg kg(-1)), and lower in onion (23 mg kg(-1)), soybean sprouts (56 mg kg(-1)) and green pepper (76 mg kg(-1)) compared with those in other vegetables. The average nitrite contents in various vegetables were about 0.6 mg kg(-1), and the values were not significantly different among most vegetables. It was observed that nitrate contents in vegetables varied depending on the type of vegetables and were similar to those in vegetables grown in other countries. From the results of our studies and other information from foreign sources, it can be concluded that it is not necessary to establish limits of nitrates contents of vegetables cultivated in Korea due to the co-presence of beneficial elements such as ascorbic acid and alpha-tocopherol which are known to inhibit the formation of nitrosamine.     

A Parallel Deadlock Detection Algorithm with O(1) Overall Run-time Complexity

This article proposes a novel parallel, hardware-oriented deadlock detection algorithm for multiprocessor system-on-chips. The proposed algorithm takes full advantage of hardware parallelism in computation and maintains information needed by deadlock detection through classifying all resource allocation events and performing class specific operations, which together make the overall run-time complexity of the new method O(1). We implement the proposed algorithm in Verilog HDL and demonstrate in the simulation that each algorithm invocation takes at most four clock cycles in hardware.     

An online technique for monitoring the insulation condition of AC machine stator windings

A novel online technique for monitoring the insulation condition of ac machine stator windings is proposed in this paper. The concept is to measure the differential leakage currents of each phase winding from the terminal box in a noninvasive manner to assess the insulation condition during motor operation. The conventional differential CTs used for phase fault protection can be replaced with high performance current sensors to measure the leakage current with higher accuracy. Indicators for insulation condition such as the capacitance and dissipation factor are calculated based on the measurements to provide a low cost solution for online insulation condition assessment. A simplified online insulation system model is derived for analysis and interpretation of the measured data. Experimental results on a 15-hp induction motor under simulated insulation degradation conditions show that the proposed technique is a very sensitive method capable of detecting incipient signs of insulation degradation.     

Manufacturing and structural safety evaluation of a composite train carbody

This paper explains the manufacturing process of a composite train carbody with a sandwich composite structure for bodyshell and a stainless steel structure for the under frame. In addition, the structural behavior and safety of the composite carbody of the Korean tilting train was investigated by the static load tests. From the test results, the stiffness of the composite carbody met the specified design. In the aspect of strength, the maximum stress of the composite bodyshell was of 12.2% of strength of CF1263 carbon/epoxy.