Low temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of silicon oxide films using disilane and nitrous oxide

Silicon oxide films have been deposited between room temperature and 300°C using disilane and nitrous oxide by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Film deposition was investigated as a function of the gas flow ratio of nitrous oxide to disilane, the substrate temperature, the total gas flow rate, the radio frequency discharge power, and the process pressure. The stoichiometric SiO₂ films were obtained when the gas ratio of nitrous oxide to disilane was in the range of 50-150. The deposition was found to be nearly temperature independent indicating the mass transport limited regime.     

Brewing of glucuronic acid-enriched apple cider with enhanced antioxidant activities through the co-fermentation of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia kudriavzevii) and bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum)

Co-fermentation using yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia kudriavzevii) and the bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum) as starters isolated from spontaneous sourdough was conducted for the brewing of glucuronic acid (GlcA)-enriched apple cider. The concentration of GlcA in the apple cider co-fermented for 14 d with commercial S. cerevisiae and L. plantarum was 37.7 ± 1.7 mg/mL while a concentration of 62.8 ± 3.1 mg/mL was recorded for fermentation with P. kudriavzevii and L. plantarum, which was higher than the corresponding single yeast fermentation. The co-fermented apple cider revealed higher 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity of 171.67 ± 0.79 µg trolox equivalents (TE)/mL using P. kudriavzevii and L. plantarum, compared to the control (143.89 ± 7.07 µg TE/mL) just using S. cerevisiae. Thus, the co-fermentation of S. cerevisiae and L. plantarum and P. kudriavzevii and L. plantarum provided a new strategy for the development of GlcA-enriched apple cider with enhanced antioxidant capacity.     

Convex Optimization-based Entry Guidance for Spaceplane

International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems - This paper aims to propose convex-optimization-based entry guidance for a spaceplane, which has potential in online implementation with...     

Geckoprinting: assembly of microelectronic devices on unconventional surfaces by transfer printing with isolated gecko setal arrays

Developing electronics in unconventional forms provides opportunities to expand the use of electronics in diverse applications including bio-integrated or implanted electronics. One of the key challenges lies in integrating semiconductor microdevices onto unconventional substrates without glue, high pressure or temperature that may cause damage to microdevices, substrates or interfaces. This paper describes a solution based on natural gecko setal arrays that switch adhesion mechanically on and off, enabling pick and place manipulation of thin microscale semiconductor materials onto diverse surfaces including plants and insects whose surfaces are usually rough and irregular. A demonstration of functional ‘geckoprinted’ microelectronic devices provides a proof of concept of our results in practical applications.     

Effect of Residual Stress and Strain-Induced α′-Martensite on Delayed Cracking of Metastable Austenitic Stainless Steels

The role of residual stresses and strain-induced α′-martensite in delayed cracking of metastable austenitic stainless steels was studied by means of Swift cup tests, measurement of residual stresses by X-ray diffraction and ring slitting, and α′-martensite content determination. Low-Ni, high-Mn austenitic stainless steels, e.g., AISI 201, were compared with Fe-Cr-Ni austenitic stainless steels. The presence of α′-martensite seemed to be a necessary prerequisite for delayed cracking to occur in austenitic stainless steels with typical internal hydrogen concentrations (<5 ppm). Stable low-Ni austenitic stainless steel was not prone to delayed cracking. The low-Ni metastable grades showed more severe cracking at lower degree of deformation and lower volume fraction of α′-martensite than that of the metastable 300-series grades. The limiting α′-martensite content, below which delayed cracking did not occur, decreased along with the nickel content of the material. The strain-induced martensitic transformation substantially increased the magnitude of residual stresses in deep-drawn cups. One explanation for high sensitivity of the low-Ni grades to delayed cracking after deep drawing is their higher residual stresses compared to that of the Fe-Cr-Ni grades. Alloying elements of the stainless steels, nickel, and carbon in particular, influence the sensitivity to delayed cracking through their effect on the properties of the α′-martensite.     

The economic lot and delivery scheduling problem: the common cycle case

We analyze the interface between a supplier and an assembly facility, where direct shipments are made from one to the other. The final manufacturing step at the supplier involves multiple components produced on a single machine or production line. The assembly facility uses these components at a constant rate. The supplier incurs a sequence-independent setup cost and/or setup time each time the production line is changed over from one component to another. On the other hand, setup costs and times for the assembly facility are negligible. We consider two types of delivery cost: a fixed charge for each delivery, and a fixed-charge-per-truck cost.

We develop a heuristic procedure to find a 'just-in-time' schedule in which one production run of each product and a subsequent delivery of these products to the assembly facility occur in each cycle. The objective is to find the cycle duration that minimizes the average cost per unit time of transportation, inventory at both the supplier and the assembly facility, and setup costs at the supplier. We also develop an error bound for this procedure, and use some of the insights gained from the analysis to explain how delivery schedules can influence the attractiveness of reductions in production setup costs.     

Linear-Time Preprocessing in Optimal Numerical Range Partitioning

Only a subset of the boundary points—the segment borders—have to be taken into account in searching for the optimal multisplit of a numerical value range with respect to the most commonly used attribute evaluation functions of classification learning algorithms. Segments and their borders can be found efficiently in a linear-time preprocessing step.In this paper we expand the applicability of segment borders by showing that inspecting them alone suffices in optimizing any convex evaluation function. For strictly convex evaluation functions inspecting all segment borders is also necessary. These results are derived directly from Jensen's inequality.We also study the evaluation function Training Set Error which is not strictly convex. With that function the data can be preprocessed into an even smaller number of cut point candidates, called alternations, when striving for optimal partition. Examining all alternations also seems necessary, since—analogously to strictly convex functions—the placement of neighboring cut points affects the optimality of an alternation. We test empirically the reduction of the number of cut point candidates that can be obtained for Training Set Error on real-world data.     

Cost effective data wiping methods for mobile phone

Thanks to the supply of smartphones, mobile phones have come to store increasingly more personal information of users. To protect users’ information, the information stored in mobile phones should not only be managed safety but also be deleted not to allow restoration. In the filesystems that have been applied to existing mobile phones, even when users have deleted information, data are not completely wiped from the storage. Therefore, the data can be easily recovered by using forensics tools. Considering that mobile phones are always exposed to the risk of robberies and loss, this situation can be misused for personal information spill. The present paper points out problems in the methods of data deleting from smartphones, proposes an efficient data deleting method considering mobile device environments with limitations in battery and hardware performance such as smartphones, and analyzes the efficiency of the techniques in relation to the types of filesystems and data formats.