Influence of the silicon surface treatment by plasma etching and scratching on the nucleation of diamond grown in HFCVD - a comparative study

A comparative study for the nucleation of diamond was carried out using surface treatment like (i) surface scratching with 1 μm diamond paste and (ii) surface etching using chlorine plasma at different RF powers (50, 100 and 150 W). Atomic force microscopic study shows variation in roughness from 31 nm to 110 nm. Scratching results in random scratches, whereas plasma etches a surface uniformly. Scanning electron microscopic observations show well faceted crystallites with a predominance of angular shaped grains corresponding to 〈100〉 and 〈110〉 crystallite surfaces for the scratched as well as plasma etched substrate. Surface etching at 150 W plasma power results in a better growth in comparison with 50 and 100 W plasma powers. Chlorine-radical is found responsible for the changes in the growth morphology. Raman spectroscopy shows a sharp peak at 1,332 cm⁻¹ and a peak at ∼1,580 cm⁻¹ for both samples.     

The influence of chloride-ion concentration on the Pitting of steel in simulated concrete environment

The influence of chloride-ion concentration on the pitting behaviour of steel in saturated Ca(OH)₂ solution was studied using the D.C. polarization technique. Results seem to indicate a threshold chloride level for the on-set of severe pitting around 3000 ppm, the pitting potential E_p exhibits dramatic drop and large hysteresis loops develop. The results provide insight into the pitting performance of steel in concrete and highlight the poor repassivation of this metal/environment system.     

Rate sensitivity of high birefringent fiber optic sensors underlarge dynamic loads

New experimental studies on the effects of large dynamic compressive loads on highly birefringent optical fibers are presented. The intensity rate of applied dynamic loads ranged between 2.18-6719 KN/m-sec. A Fibercore (previously York) HB600 Bow-Tie fiber with an initial beat length of 1.16 mm was employed in the present study. Sensor response is discussed in terms of the effects of force amplitudes and velocities on the calibration parameter T_f. T_f is a function of the amplitude as well as the velocity of applied loading. Therefore, calibration of the sensor should be achieved through regression analysis of the load-fringe data for the entire spectrum of the desired force velocities. The ramification of this finding is that a single experiment for the measurement of T_f cannot provide the required parameters for calibration. This further implies that the change in beat length is also dependent on the amplitude and velocity of loading. The suggested method takes both effects into account through empirical analysis of experimental data     

The fatty acids of wax esters and sterol esters from vernix caseosa and from human skin surface lipid

Separation of sterol esters from wax esters in the lipids of vernix caseosa and adult human skin surface was accomplished by column chromatography on MgO. The fatty acids of the sterol esters and wax esters of both samples were separated into saturates and monoenes, and examined in detail by gas liquid chromatography (GLC). The saturated fatty acids of the wax esters of vernix caseosa and of adult human skin surface were remarkably similar. They ranged in chain length from at least C₁₁ to C₃₀, six skeletal types being present: straight even, straight odd, iso, anteiso, other monomethyl branched and dimethyl branched. A large number of patterns of monoenes were observed, each pattern consisting of desaturation of a specific chain at Δ6 or Δ9 plus its extension or degradation products. The mole per cent of the total Δ6 and Δ9 patterns of wax ester fatty acid monoenes of vernix caseosa were 87% and 12%, respectively, and 98% and 1%, respectively, for adult human skin surface lipid. The sterol ester fatty acids of vernix caseosa were much different from those of adult human skin surface: vernix caseosa saturates were largely branched and of lengths greater than C₁₈, whereas the saturates of adult human surface lipid resembled the wax ester fatty acids. Of the vernix caseosa monoene patterns, the mole per cent was 30% Δ6 and 70% Δ9, whereas of the adult human skin surface sterol ester fatty acids 89% were Δ6 and 11% Δ9. Chain extension was particularly pronounced in the sterol ester fatty acid monoenes of vernix caseosa amounting to 7–8 C₂ units in some cases. The fatty acids of the sterol esters of both vernix caseosa and adult human skin surface appear to be derived from the sebaceous gland and from the keratinizing epidermis, but those of the wax esters are from the sebaceous glands only.     

High strain electromechanical actuators based on electrodeposited polypyrrole doped with di-(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate

The low-voltage electromechanical actuation of polypyrrole (PPy) doped with di-(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (DEHS) has been investigated. The PPy-DEHS has been prepared both chemically (cast as films from solution) and by more conventional electrochemical polymerization. Very large strains of ∼30% were obtained during slow-scan redox cycling of the electrochemically prepared PPy-DEHS films. In constrast, PPy-DEHS films cast from solutions of the chemically polymerized polymer gave actuation strains of ∼2.5%. The polymerization method was also found to have a significant effect on the structure, conductivity and mechanical properties of the PPy-DEHS materials. The conductivity of the electrochemically polymerized PPy-DEHS was 75 S cm⁻¹, considerably higher than that found for the chemically derived polymer (7 S cm⁻¹). The structure of the PPy-DEHS was further elucidated from UV-vis, Raman and FT-IR spectral studies which indicated that the conjugation length of the PPy could be increased significantly by varying the polymerization method. Films obtained by casting chemically prepared PPy-DEHS showed higher modulus (2.3 GPa) than electropolymerized PPy-DEHS (0.6 GPa), but were more brittle. Both materials were electroactive in acetonitrile/water electrolyte. The higher actuation strain observed in the electrochemically prepared films was attributed to a more open molecular structure (as indicated by the lower modulus) allowing for easier ion diffusion and a higher conductivity allowing easier charge transfer.     

Evaluating Electronic Voting Systems Equipped with Voter-Verified Paper Records

Despite their widespread deployment, questions about electronic voting systems' performance emerge following many elections. To encourage full public confidence in the electoral process, some researchers recommend equipping electronic voting machines with voter-verifiable audit trails that print out paper records that voters can read and verify. In this article, the authors report on their analysis and testing of one US state's criteria for direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines equipped with voter-verified paper-record (VVPR) systems. The criteria and analysis cover various categories, including privacy, security, verification, integrity, functionality, and examination. The authors describe their testing methodologies, discuss issues exhibited by different voting systems, and propose solutions to address those issues.     

Identifying cell-to-cell variability in internalization using flow cytometry

Biological heterogeneity is a primary contributor to the variation observed in experiments that probe dynamical processes, such as the internalization of material by cells. Given that internalization is a critical process by which many therapeutics and viruses reach their intracellular site of action, quantifying cell-to-cell variability in internalization is of high biological interest. Yet, it is common for studies of internalization to neglect cell-to-cell variability. We develop a simple mathematical model of internalization that captures the dynamical behaviour, cell-to-cell variation, and extrinsic noise introduced by flow cytometry. We calibrate our model through a novel distribution-matching approximate Bayesian computation algorithm to flow cytometry data of internalization of anti-transferrin receptor antibody in a human B-cell lymphoblastoid cell line. This approach provides information relating to the region of the parameter space, and consequentially the nature of cell-to-cell variability, that produces model realizations consistent with the experimental data. Given that our approach is agnostic to sample size and signal-to-noise ratio, our modelling framework is broadly applicable to identify biological variability in single-cell data from internalization assays and similar experiments that probe cellular dynamical processes.     

A new rateless code with unequal error protection property

In our previous work, “robust transmission of scalable video stream using modified LT codes”, an LT code with unequal packet protection property was proposed. It was seen that applying the proposed code to any importance-sorted input data, could increase the probability of early decoding of the most important parts when enough number of encoded symbols is available at the decoder’s side. In this work, the performance of the proposed method is assessed in general case for a wide range of loss rate, even when there are not enough encoded symbols at the decoder’s side. Also in this work the degree distribution of input nodes is investigated in more detail. It is illustrated that sorting input nodes in encoding graph, as what we have done in our work, has superior advantage in comparison with unequal input node selection method that is used in traditional rateless code with unequal error protection property.     

DVCC-Based Non-linear Feedback Neural Circuit for?Solving System of Linear Equations

A neural circuit to solve a system of simultaneous linear equations is presented. The circuit employs non-linear feedback to achieve a transcendental energy function that ensures fast convergence to the exact solution while enjoying reduction in hardware complexity over existing schemes. A new building block for analog signal processing, the digitally controlled differential voltage current conveyor (DC-DVCC) is introduced and is utilized for the non-linear synaptic interconnections between neurons. The proof of the energy function has been given and it is shown that the gradient network converges exactly to the solution of the system of equations. PSPICE simulation results are presented for linear systems of equations of various sizes and are found to be in close agreement with the algebraic solution. The use of CMOS DC-DVCCs and operational amplifiers facilitates monolithic integration.