Finite-element grid improvement by minimization of stiffness matrix trace

A new and simple method of finite-element grid improvement is presented. The objective is to improve the accuracy of the analysis. The procedure is based on a minimization of the trace of the stiffness matrix. For a broad class of problems this minimization is seen to be equivalent to minimizing the potential energy. The method is illustrated with the classical tapered bar problem examined earlier by Prager and Masur. Identical results are obtained.     

Deposition of thin film silicon using the pulsed PECVD and HWCVD techniques

We report on the use of pulsed plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (P-PECVD) technique and show that “state-of-the-art” amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) materials and solar cells can be produced at a deposition rate of up to 15 Å/s using a modulation frequency in the range 1–100 kHz. The approach has also been developed to deposit materials and devices onto large area, 30 cm×40 cm, substrates with thickness uniformity (<5%), and gas utilization rate (>25%). We have developed a new “hot wire” chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) method and report that our new filament material, graphite, has so far shown no appreciable degradation even after deposition of 500 μm of amorphous silicon. We report that this technique can produce “state-of-the-art” a-Si:H and that a solar cell of p/i/n configuration exhibited an initial efficiency approaching 9%. The use of microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si) materials to produce low-cost stable solar cells is gaining considerable attention. We show that both of these techniques can produce thin film μc-Si, dependent on process conditions, with 1 1 1 and/or 2 2 0 orientations and with a grain size of approx. 500 A. Inclusion of these types of materials into a solar cell configuration will be discussed.     

Resource contention in shared-memory multiprocessors: A parameterized performance degradation model

A standard metric conventionally employed to compare the performance of different multiprocessor systems is speedup. Although providing a measure of the improvement in execution speed achievable on a system, this metric does not yield any insight into the factors responsible for limiting the potential improvement in speed. This paper studies the performance degradation in shared-memory multiprocessors as a result of contention for shared-memory resources. A replicate workload framework with a flexible mechanism for workload specification is proposed for measuring performance. Two normalized performance metrics—efficiency and overhead factor—are introduced to quantify the factors limiting performance and facilitate comparison across architectures. Finally, the proposed model is employed to measure and compare the performance of three contemporary shared-memory systems, with special emphasis on the newly released BBN Butterfly-II (TC2000), currently undergoing Beta test.     

Micromanipulation and cloning studies on buffalo oocytes and embryos using nucleus transfer

1. Nine male volunteers were exposed to the pyrethroid insecticide cyfluthrin. The study was performed in an exposure room, where an aerosol containing cyfluthrin was sprayed to obtain atmospheres with mean cyfluthrin concentrations of 160 and 40 micrograms/m3. Four volunteers were exposed for 10, 30 and 60 min at 160 micrograms/m3 and another five volunteers were exposed for 60 min at 40 micrograms/m3. For 160 micrograms/m3 exposure urine samples were collected before and immediately after exposure as well as for the periods 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 6-12 and 12-24 h after exposure. For 40 micrograms/m3 exposure urine samples were collected before and 2 h after exposure. 2. The main urinary cyfluthrin metabolites, cis-/trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylycyclopropane carboxylic acid (DCCA) and 4-fluoro-3-phenoxybenzoic acid (FPBA), were determined. The limit of detection (LOD) for all metabolites was 0.0025 microgram in an urine sample of 5 ml (0.5 microgram/l). After inhalative exposure of 40 micrograms cyfluthrin/m3 air for 60 min, the amount of metabolites in urine collected in the first 2 h after exposure was less than the LOD, namely 0.14 microgram for cis-DCCA, 0.15-0.28 microgram for trans-DCCA and 0.12-0.23 microgram for FPBA. 3. Of the metabolites, 93% was excreted within the first 24 h (peak excretion rates between 0.5 and 3 h) after inhalative exposure of 160 micrograms/m3. The mean half-lives were 6.9 h for cis-DCCA, 6.2 h for trans-DCCA and 5.3 h for FPBA. 4. The mean trans-:cis-DCCA ratio was 1.9 for the time course as well as for each subject. 5. The amount of metabolites in urine depends on the applied dose, on the exposure time and shows interindividual differences.     

INFLUENCE OF DRYING CONDITIONS ON THE FRAGILITY OF CORN KERNELS

A dynamic rcsring dnim war built to study the effects of air temperature, moisture content and grain shape on fragility of the air dried kernels. For drying rares under 0.05 kglkg min. the fragility of kernels could br described empirically as a function of the three experimental parameters.