The Influence of the Silicone Carbide Content and Type on the Microstructure and the Flaw Level of Silica Ceramics

Comprehensive studies of the flaw level and some structural characteristics of a composite ceramic material based on Karakeche clay (Kyrgyzstan) are carried out for a range of thermoactivation regimes and impurity contents of silicone carbides of various types.     

Increase in the density of β-FeSi2 nanoclusters on a Si(111) surface by means of Si(111) √3 × √3R30°-B reconstruction

The formation of iron disilicide (β-FeSi₂) nanoclusters as a result of solid-state epitaxy at T = 500–700°C and an iron coverage of 0.05–0.5 monolayer on a boron-modified Si(111)√3 × √3 R30° surface has been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. It is established that the number density of β-FeSi₂ nanoclusters on the Si(111) √3 × √3 R30°-B surface significantly exceeds the density of silicide clusters formed on the atomically clean Si(111) surface with a 7 × 7 reconstruction for the analogous iron coverages and annealing temperatures. At the same time, the density of point defects and clusters possessing metallic conductivity on the Si(111) √3 × √3 R30°-B surface is several orders of magnitude lower than on the Si(111)7 × 7 surface treated under identical conditions.     

Reduced surface sidewall recombination and diffusion in quantum-dot lasers

We examine the surface recombination rate in quantum-dot semiconductor lasers and determine the diffusion length (1.0 /spl mu/m) and, for the first time, provide a value for surface recombination velocity (5/spl times/10/sup 4/ cm/s) in quantum-dot material. As a result of strong carrier confinement in the dots, these values are much lower than in comparable quantum-well lasers (5/spl times/10/sup 5/ cm/s and 5 /spl mu/m, respectively) allowing the creation of narrow (2-3 /spl mu/m wide) lasers with comparable threshold currents to those of broad area devices.     

Microwave remote sensing of physically buried objects in the Negev Desert: implications for environmental research

We report remote detections of physically buried specularly reflecting objects using microwave radar at two sites: Ashalim and Tseelim in the northern region of the Negev Desert, Israel. These detections provide confirmation that microwave subsurface remote sensing is a genuine phenomenon. At Ashalim, a scatterometer operating in the P-band (441 MHz, 68 cm) was mounted on a cherry picker truck at a height of 8 m and used to detect two triangular aluminum mesh reflectors (forming a 1-m square area reflector) buried down to a depth of 8 cm in dry sand. At Tseelim, the same scatterometer was mounted on an airplane flying at an altitude of 70 m and used to detect 1-m square aluminum reflectors (each one submerged at a different location along the airplane flight path) buried down to a depth of 20 cm. The experimental results compare favorably with a theoretical model that incorporates radar absorption effects arising in the sandy subsurface layer and radar interference effects arising from phase differences between reflections from the surface and buried reflector. The theoretical modeling also predicts the detection of a subsurface reflector down to a depth of about 4.4 m. This experiment and the associated modeling approach is the first of a series of planned experiments, which we outline for the detection and the theoretical evaluation of buried reflectors using remote microwave and VHF radar. We identify potential subject areas for environmental research.     

Identification of the Primary Factors Determining the Specificity of Human VKORC1 Recognition by Thioredoxin-Fold Proteins

Redox (reduction–oxidation) reactions control many important biological processes in all organisms, both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. This reaction is usually accomplished by canonical disulphide-based pathways involving a donor enzyme that reduces the oxidised cysteine residues of a target protein, resulting in the cleavage of its disulphide bonds. Focusing on human vitamin K epoxide reductase (hVKORC1) as a target and on four redoxins (protein disulphide isomerase (PDI), endoplasmic reticulum oxidoreductase (ERp18), thioredoxin-related transmembrane protein 1 (Tmx1) and thioredoxin-related transmembrane protein 4 (Tmx4)) as the most probable reducers of VKORC1, a comparative in-silico analysis that concentrates on the similarity and divergence of redoxins in their sequence, secondary and tertiary structure, dynamics, intraprotein interactions and composition of the surface exposed to the target is provided. Similarly, hVKORC1 is analysed in its native state, where two pairs of cysteine residues are covalently linked, forming two disulphide bridges, as a target for Trx-fold proteins. Such analysis is used to derive the putative recognition/binding sites on each isolated protein, and PDI is suggested as the most probable hVKORC1 partner. By probing the alternative orientation of PDI with respect to hVKORC1, the functionally related noncovalent complex formed by hVKORC1 and PDI was found, which is proposed to be a first precursor to probe thiol–disulphide exchange reactions between PDI and hVKORC1.     

Efficiency and fairness in team search with self-interested agents

We consider team-work settings where individual agents incur costs on behalf of the team. In such settings it is frequently the custom to reimburse agents for the costs they incur (at least in part) in order to promote fairness. We show, however, that when agents are self-interested, such reimbursement can result in degradation in efficiency—at times severe degradation. We thus study the relationship between efficiency and fairness in such settings, distinguishing between ex-ante and ex-post fairness. First, we analyze reimbursement policies that reimburse solely based on purchase receipts (as is customary), and show that with such policies the degradation in both efficiency and fairness can be unbounded. We thus introduce two other families of reimbursement policies. The first family guarantees optimal efficiency and ex-ante fairness, but not ex-post fairness. The second family improves (at times) on ex-post fairness, but at the expense of efficiency, thus providing a tradeoff between the two.