Nb3Si films with zero resistance Tc at 11.9 K fabricated by sputtering Nb on Si substrates

Dendritic textured Nb₃Si thin films, deposited by sputtering pure niobium onto silicon substrates, exhibit a rather high zero-resistance critical temperature, T_c. X-ray and TEM measurements reveal the films to be polycrystalline with the A15 phase. The resistance begins to drop sharply at a temperature of 13.3 K and down to zero at 11.9 K without residual resistivity.     

The barrier height change and current transport phenomena with the presence of interfacial layer in MIS Schottky barrier solar cells

In this comprehensive study, several interesting results which are different from those previous are reported. We find the barrier height decreases for n-type and increases for p-type when positive ions are introduced into the insulating layer. The increase of open circuit voltage can be traced to the suppression of the dark saturation current by the depletion field induced by the positive charge, and to the diminution of the majority tunneling current by the oxide potential barrier. The tunneling probabilities for majority and minority carriers are different; there are only a finite amount of majority carriers with thermionic energy greater than q(V_bi ? V_s) which can surmount the depletion potential and tunnel into the metal, whereas the photogenerated minority carriers derive kinetic energy in the depletion layer making tunneling easier. Transport coefficients for electrons to transmit from metal to semiconductor and from semiconductor to metal are different for the departure of built in potentials during illumination.     

Theoretical and experimental study of 10 Gb/s transmissionperformance using 1.55 μm LiNbO3-based transmitters withadjustable extinction ratio and chirp

This paper has experimentally and theoretically investigated transmission performance depending on chirping and extinction ratio for a 10 Gb/s transmission system with the standard single-mode fiber. The transmission performance can be dramatically degraded or improved by adjusting chirp and extinction ratio in a 1.55 μm LiNbO₃ modulator-based transmitter and erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)-pin diode receiver configuration. To estimate the transmission performance, bit error rate (BER) characteristics rather than eye-opening penalty (EOP) have been calculated by solving the nonlinear Schrodinger equation with including the model of chirping and extinction ratio for the transmitter, and noise and intersymbol interference for the receiver. This simulation can predict the measured BER characteristics well enough to see interplaying between chirping and extinction ratio     

Timing Recovery in Digital Subscriber Loops Using Baud-Rate Sampling

Sampled-data techniques are the most practical means of obtaining the necessary signal processing functions for timing recovery in the VLSI implementation of a digital subscriber loop transceiver. The sampled-data timing recovery techniques described in this paper are applicable to both echo cancellation and time-compression multiplexing systems. Timing recovery using baud-rate sampling in conjunction with a special pulse-shaping and timing function fulfills all the objectives for timing recovery in this application. It recovers a timing phase that has minimum precursor intersymbol interference, and makes possible the combination of decision feedback equalizer and echo canceler, reducing the convergence time and increasing the step size. The pulse-shaping function can be performed either in the transmitter by means of digital coding, or in the receiver by means of analog filtering. In the latter case, the transmitted pulse is compatible with more conventional approaches. The proposed partial-response line coding, a special form of AMI coding, is less susceptible to line impairments if detected as a two-level signal. Performance by analysis, simulation, and experimental measurements is reported on a variety of cable configurations, some including bridged taps. Analysis of jitter performance leads to design techniques for reducing the jitter magnitude.     

Kinematic analysis of patients with spinal muscular atrophy during spontaneous breathing and mechanical ventilation

Dinoseb is a herbicide known to inhibit photosystem II electron transfer like DCMU, triazine and phenolic-type herbicides. The mutant Din7 of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, selected for resistance to dinoseb, and the mutant Ins2, constructed by the insertion of the kanamycin resistance cassette into the drgA gene, were cross-resistant to other nitrophenolic herbicides (DNOC, 2,4-dinitrophenol) and to the cell inhibitor metronidazole but not to the photosystem II inhibitors DCMU or ioxynil. The Din7 mutant had the same characteristics of photosystem II inhibition by dinoseb as the wild type. This result suggested the existence of another site for dinoseb inhibition. The wild type cells modified dinoseb to a non-toxic product that gave an absorption spectrum similar to that of dithionite treated dinoseb containing reduced nitro groups. In contrast, the Din7 mutant did not modify dinoseb. These phenomena were controlled by the drgA gene encoding a protein which showed similarity to several enzymes having nitroreductase activity. The addition of superoxide dismutase to the medium relieved the toxic effect of dinoseb in wild type cells but not in Din7. It is proposed that in wild type cells of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 the DrgA protein is involved in detoxification of dinoseb via the reduction of the nitro group(s) and this process is accompanied by the formation of toxic superoxide anions. Mutations blocking the activity of the DrgA protein lead to the development of resistance to nitrophenolic herbicides and metronidazole.     

On max-min fair congestion control for multicast ABR service in ATM

In the ATM Forum activities, considerable efforts have focused on the congestion control of point-to-point available bit rate (ABR) service. We present a novel approach that extends existing point-to-point (unicast) congestion control protocols to a point-to-multipoint (multicast) environment. In particular, we establish a unified framework to derive a multicast congestion control protocol for an ABR service from a given rate-based unicast protocol. We generalize a known necessary and sufficient condition on the max-min fairness of unicast rate allocation for a multicast service. Using this condition, we show that the resulting multicast protocol derived using our framework preserves the fairness characteristics of the underlying unicast protocol. The practical significance of our approach is illustrated by extending a standard congestion control mechanism for an ABR service to a multicast environment. The performance of the resulting multicast protocol is examined using benchmark network configurations suggested by the traffic management subworking group at the ATM Forum, and simulation results are presented to substantiate our claims     

Solids and Liquids in the NaF–AlF3–Al2O3 System: A High-Temperature NMR Study

Aluminofluoride and oxyfluoride melts are essential in the electrolytic smelting of aluminum, as the precursors of fluoride glasses, and as analogue systems for molten silicates. In these systems, the quantification of the abundances of structural species is crucial in the understanding of both thermodynamic and transport properties. ²⁷Al NMR spectroscopy at high temperatures can provide important constraints on speciation and coordination number in aluminofluoride liquids, as well as structural and dynamical changes in the crystalline fluorides. We present results on a series of solids and liquids in the NaF–AIF₃–Al₂O₃ system. These illustrate the dramatic effects of composition and temperature on liquid structure and suggest that most Al cations are four- or six-coordinated, with a relatively low abundance of five-coordinated sites.     

Novel SONOS-Type Nonvolatile Memory Device With Optimal Al Doping in HfAlO Charge-Trapping Layer

Operation properties of polysilicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon-type Flash device with HfAlO charge-trapping layer having various Al contents were investigated in this letter. Satisfactory performance in terms of operation speed, retention, and program/erase endurance of the Flash device is achieved with the optimal Al content of 18%-28% in the HfAlO trapping layer. In addition, high-speed operation can be attained with the combination of channel-hot-electron-injection programming and band-to-band hot hole erasing for NOR architecture applications.     

1.3 mu m semiconductor laser power amplifier

The performance of a 3.4-Gb/s system using a low-power 1.318- mu m distributed-feedback (DFB) laser transmitter and a traveling-wave semiconductor laser power amplifier is studied. The -14.5-dBm, input from a directly modulated DFB laser is boosted to +10.3 dBm, of which +4.8 dBm is coupled into the transmission fiber. The penalty, caused by amplifier noise and pattern effects due to gain saturation, is less than 0.5 dB.<>     

Cellular thiols as a determinant of responsiveness to menadione in cardiomyocytes

The role of intracellular thiols in menadione-mediated toxicity was studied in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. The sensitivity of cardiomyocytes to menadione was greater than that of skeletal muscle cells and 3T3 fibroblasts. Before cell degeneration, menadione induced marked depletion of intracellular thiols and an increase of oxidized glutathione. The sensitivity of these cells to menadione correlated with the level of depletion of intracellular thiols. After incubation of cardiomyocytes with menadione, glutathione reductase activity was inhibited and lipid peroxidation was increased. Both dicumarol (an inhibitor of DT-diaphorase) and diethyldithiocarbamate (an inhibitor of superoxide dismutase) enhanced the capacity of menadione to induce cellular damage and to cause depletion of intracellular glutathione. Decreasing intracellular glutathione by pretreatment of cells with N-ethylmaleimide or buthionine sulphoximine also increased menadione-induced cell degeneration. Preincubation with cysteine or dithiothreitol suppressed the capacity of menadione to damage the cells. Menadione-induced lipid peroxidation was also suppressed by the same treatment. These results show that the oxidative stress induced by menadione in cardiomyocytes results in the depletion of glutathione and protein thiols. Both DT-diaphorase and superoxide dismutase can protect cells from the toxicity of menadione. Cellular thiols are determinants of the responsiveness to menadione.