Modified technique of using conventional slider boat for liquid phase epitaxy of silicon for solar cell application

Epitaxial layers of silicon are grown on single crystal Si- substrate from a solution of silicon in indium using conventional graphite slider boat technique. The important problems of natural convection due to lower density of silicon compared to indium,poor wetting of substrate due to high angle of contact of indium solution on silicon substrate resulting in poor nucleation, melt removal from the growth substrate and saturation wafer associated with LPE in this technique are practically eliminated using sandwich method with simple modifications of the boat and the method of growth. Some experimental studies on the effect of different surface preparations of growth substrate are also reported. Growth results are shown and discussed. Further, improvization of slider boat to facilitate better study of growth parameters is suggested in the line of modification already carried out.     

How can we measure bone quality?

Osteoporosis is a systematic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue. This leads to diminished biomechanical competence of the skeleton and is associated with low-trauma or atraumatic fractures. In the past decade, considerable progress has been made in the development of methods for assessing the skeleton non-invasively, so that osteoporosis can be better managed. While dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is still the preferred methodology, several limitations will be addressed. Another densitometric technique which is widely accepted for diagnosis of spinal osteoporosis is single energy QCT. Measurements of vertebral trabecular bone mineral density (BMD) demonstrate larger percentage decrements between vertebrally-fractured subjects and normal controls, and confer higher relative risks for vertebral fracture than either anteroposterior or lateral DXA measurements. As an emerging alternative to photon absorptiometry techniques, there is a growing interest in the use of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) measurements for the non-invasive assessment of osteoporotic fracture risk in the management of osteoporosis. The attractiveness of QUS lies in the fact that indirect and in vitro experience has suggested that ultrasound may give information not only about BMD but also about architecture and elasticity. Whether or not combining QUS and DXA improve fracture prediction is still unclear and needs further analysis. Due to the growing evidence supporting the use of QUS in osteoporosis and the large number of QUS devices already on the market, a general clinical consensus on the application of QUS is urgently needed. Other techniques that are less widely used for the management of osteoporosis. For example, peripheral quantitative computed tomography, quantitative magnetic resonance (QMR) and magnetic resonance microscopy are promising tools for the evaluation of the skeleton. For example, the ability of QMR and high resolution magnetic resonance imaging has been explored and shows promise as a technique for assessing trabecular bone structure in osteoporosis.     

Kriging Surrogate Based Multi-objective Optimization of Bulk Vinyl Acetate Polymerization with Branching

Despite the established superiority in finding the global as well as well-spread Pareto optimal (PO) points, the need of more numbers of function evaluations for population based evolutionary optimization techniques leads to a computationally demanding proposal. The case becomes more miserable if the function evaluations are carried out using a first principle based computationally expensive model, making the proposal not fit for online usage of the application. In this work, a Kriging based surrogate model has been proposed to replace a computationally expensive model to save execution time while performing an optimization task. A multi-objective optimization study has been carried out for the bulk vinyl acetate polymerization with long-chain branching using these surrogate as well as expensive models and Kriging PO solutions similar to those found by the first principle models are obtained with a close to 85% savings in function evaluations.     

Acrylic acid–methyl methacrylate (2.5:7.5/2:8) enteric copolymer for colon targeted drug delivery

Enteric copolymers of acrylic acid and methyl methacrylate (2.5:7.5 and 2:8) were prepared using tetrahydrofuran as solvent and AIBN as free radical initiator for colon targeting. FTIR and ¹H NMR spectra of the copolymers showed absence of vinyl bond/protons present in the monomers suggesting successful polymerization. Flurbiprofen sodium microspheres (M1 and M2) made with the copolymers, by oil/oil solvent evaporation, were spherical, anionic (zeta potential –57.8 and –53.7 mV) and contained 5.47 and 5.89% drug. FTIR spectrum of microspheres showed peaks for aromatic C = C stretching and substituted benzene ring, indicating entrapment of flurbiprofen. PXRD revealed crystalline structure of flurbiprofen while copolymer and microspheres were amorphous. DSC thermograms showed a sharp melting endotherm of flurbiprofen sodium at 129.26°C against broad endotherms of copolymers and microspheres. The microspheres released 43 and 36% drug at pH 6.8 in 2 h and 99 and 96% at pH 7.4 in next 3–4 h.The microspheres did not adhere on gastric-mucosa at pH 1.2 but showed mucoadhesion time of 18 min and 9 min on intestinal mucosa at pH 6.8. Thus, the microspheres on oral administration, would release the drug in colon, suggesting the potential of the hemocompatible copolymers for pH dependent colon targeted drug delivery system.     

Influence of Melt-Spinning Parameters on the Structure and Soft Magnetic Properties of (Fe0.65Co0.35)88Zr7B4Cu1 Alloy

Melt-spun ribbons of (Fe_0.65Co_0.35)₈₈Zr₇B₄Cu₁ alloy have been prepared at different wheel speeds, namely, 47, 39, 34, and 17 m/s, and subsequently annealed at 773 K (500 °C) under controlled atmosphere. Structural and soft magnetic properties have been evaluated using X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, transmission electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer. The structure of as-spun ribbons changes from fully amorphous to partially amorphous/nanocrystalline to fully nanocrystalline (bcc α-Fe(Co) + Fe₂Zr) on decreasing the wheel speed. Annealing of amorphous ribbons leads to the precipitation of nanocrystalline bcc α-Fe(Co) phase. The Curie temperature (T _c ) of the amorphous phase is found to increase with decreasing wheel speed possibly due to the effect of exchange field penetration of nanocrystals present in the amorphous matrix. The saturation magnetization (4πM _s ) of as-spun ribbons having partially nanocrystalline bcc α-Fe(Co) phase is high as compared to the ribbons with completely amorphous phase, and it remains almost the same even after annealing. The lowest coercivity has been achieved in the ribbons that are fully amorphous, and the coercivity was found to increase with decreasing wheel speed.     

Role of lead in the growth of the highT c phase in the Bi2−x Pb x Sr2Ca2Cu3O y systems

Bi_2−x Pb _x Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O _y superconducting samples with 0<x<0·3 have been synthesized and characterized using X-ray powder diffraction.T _c and superconducting volume fraction have been measured using a.c. magnetic susceptibility, d.c. electrical resistivity as well as X-band microwave surface resistance in the normal state. The data indicate the growth of the highT _c (2223) phase with corresponding reduction of the lowT _c (2122) phase with increasingx, up to 0·25. Beyond this value ofx there is a slight deterioration of the superconducting behaviour.     

Software bottlenecking in client-server systems and rendezvousnetworks

Software bottlenecks are performance constraints caused by slow execution of a software task, in typical client-server systems a client task must wait in a blocked state for the server task to respond to its requests, so a saturated server will slow down all its clients. A rendezvous network generalizes this relationship to multiple layers of servers with send-and-wait interactions (rendezvous), a two-phase model of task behavior, and to a unified model for hardware and software contention. Software bottlenecks have different symptoms, different behavior when the system is altered, and a different cure from the conventional bottlenecks seen in queueing network models of computer systems, caused by hardware limits. The differences are due to the “push-back” effect of the rendezvous, which spreads the saturation of a server to its clients. The paper describes software bottlenecks by examples, gives a definition, shows how they can be located and alleviated, and gives a method for estimating the performance benefit to be obtained. Ultimately, if all the software bottlenecks can be removed, the performance limit will be due to a conventional hardware bottleneck