High energy Urbach characteristic observed for gallium nitride amorphous surface oxide

We have observed an “above band-gap” Urbach like characteristic for gallium nitride films (at the high energy side of the band-edge). A combination of X-ray diffraction, secondary ion mass spectroscopy and optical transmission measurements were taken for gallium nitride samples of different thickness. From this data we demonstrate that the high energy Urbach like characteristic is related to the presence of an amorphous surface oxide. It is shown to dominate the absorption spectra of thin gallium nitride samples, for which the influence of surface oxidation is strongest.     

Introduction to the special series.

The history of human civilization is marked by efforts to improve the quality of life by delegating laborious tasks to other species or to machines. The newest technological revolution, the use of electronic computers, has produced enormous changes in our lives over the last three decades. Computer technology has been widely applied to many fields of psychology. Psychological assessment, a subspecialty of psychology that served as one of the earliest proving grounds of automated technology, has advanced considerably in the last quarter-century. This Special Series highlights some of the advances in computerized psychological assessment methods and discusses some of the lingering issues and contemporary problems with automated psychological assessment approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New subscales for the MMPI-2 Social Introversion (Si) scale.

The development of three new content-homogeneous subscales for the revised Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2; J. N. Butcher et al, 1989) Social Introversion (Si) scale designed to replace the K. Serkownek (1975) subscales, which were not included in the revised MMPI, is described. The subscales, termed Shyness/Self-Consciousness, Social Avoidance, and Self/Other Alienation, were developed with data provided by college students (515 men and 797 women). Data analyses with this and the MMPI-2 normative sample demonstrated that the new subscales independently contribute to the assessment of nearly 90% of the variance in the full Si scale, that they display both convergent and divergent validity, and that these attributes generalize beyond the sample with which they were developed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

General linear methods for ordinary differential equations

General linear methods were introduced as the natural generalizations of the classical Runge–Kutta and linear multistep methods. They have potential applications, especially for stiff problems. This paper discusses stiffness and emphasises the need for efficient implicit methods for the solution of stiff problems. In this context, a survey of general linear methods is presented, including recent results on methods with the inherent RK stability property.     

Global synchronisation in Linda

The paper examines the ‘Distributed Summation’ problem, and its solution in Linda. A number of problems with the current set of primitives are examined, and a new primitive, collect, is proposed.     

Second law analysis of a natural gas‐fired gas turbine cogeneration system

The influence of operating conditions such as reheat, intercooling, ambient temperature and pressure ratio are analyzed from a second law perspective on the performance of a natural gas‐fired gas turbine cogeneration system. The effect of these operating parameters on carbon dioxide emissions is also discussed. The second law efficiency of gas turbine cogeneration system increases markedly with reheat option. Higher pressure ratios lead to decreased second law cogeneration efficiency but this effect can be reduced with a higher level of reheat option. The effect of intercooling on second law efficiency is strongly related to pressure ratio with higher pressure ratios significantly decreasing efficiency. The second law efficiency is not so sensitive to the environment temperature for levels of reheat or intercooling greater than 50%. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multimedia displays for conceptual discovery: information seeking with strand maps

This article explores the use of a multimedia search interface for digital libraries based on strand maps developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As semantic-spatial displays, strand maps provide a visual organization of relevant conceptual information that may promote the use of science content during digital library use. A study was conducted to compare users' cognitive processes during information seeking tasks when using a multimedia strand maps interface, versus the textual search interface currently implemented in the Digital Library for Earth System Education. Quantitative and qualitative data from think-aloud protocols revealed that students were more likely to engage with science content (e.g., analyzing the relevance of science concepts with regard to task needs) during search when using the strand maps interface compared to those using textual searching. In contrast, students using a textual search interface engaged more frequently with surface-level information (e.g., the type of a resource regardless of its science content) during search and retrieval. As a multimedia search interface for digital libraries, strand maps appear to be promising tools to promote conceptual discovery and learning through content-based processes that promote learner engagement with relevant science knowledge.     

Influence of sympathectomy on the lateral hypothalamic lesion syndrome.

Two experiments with male Long-Evans rats examined sympathetic involvement in the lateral hypothalamic (LH) lesion syndrome. Ss were surgically or chemically sympathectomized and then given LH lesions. At 24 hrs postlesion, lesion-induced hyperglycemia but not hyperthermia was attenuated by splanchnicectomy and celiac ganglionectomy. Hyperthermia but not hyperglycemia was attenuated by adrenal demedullation, adrenalectomy, and daily neonatal guanethidine (50 mg/kg) treatment. Guanethidine-sympathectomized Ss also displayed lower basal temperatures, more perilesion chromatolysis, and more severe external symptoms than controls. No form of sympathectomy affected lesion-induced gastric pathology, plasma gastrin concentrations, or body weight loss, nor did any sympathectomy influence the recovery of ingestive behavior, daily food intake, the feeding response to 2-deoxy-dextro-glucose, or body weight maintenance in recovered LH-lesioned Ss. Results suggest that sympathetic hyperactivity contributed to some aspects of the acute LH syndrome: Hyperglycemia resulted from sympathetic outflow to the abdomen, whereas hyperthermia was determined by circulating catecholamines and extra-abdominal sympathetic innervation. Findings fail to support the hypothesis that chronic increases in sympathetic tone are responsible for the reduced food intake and body weight of the LH-lesioned Ss. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thermodynamic properties of the benzene and n-heptane system at elevated temperatures

The total vapour pressure and the composition of the liquid and vapour phases of the benzene and n-heptane system have been experimentally determined under equilibrium conditions at 110, 125, 140, 155, 170, 185, 200 and 215 °C. The corresponding composition of the vapour phase was also estimated using an expression for the liquid phase activity coefficient as a function of the composition of the liquid phase. Several expressions were compared and it has been found that the three-constant Redlich and Kister equation gave the best fit of the experimental vapour pressure data than the other equations. Comparison between the calculated and measured vapour compositions has shown a discrepancy of y_meas,—y_calc. of the order of 0.02 mol fraction or 10 times the experimental tolerance. Nevertheless, the experimental values were reasonably thermodynamically consistent. The low values of the liquid phase activity coefficients indicated that the behaviour of this particular system was not far from ideality. Also, it was found that the degree of non-ideality decreased with the increase in temperature. The behaviour of the vapour phase was shown also to be nearly ideal. The excess Gibbs free energy of mixing was calculated, and it was found to be non-symmetrical with mole fraction. On increasing the temperature of the system, the liquid composition corresponding to the maximum G^E tended to shift to a higher benzene concentration, whilst at a fixed liquid composition, G^E initially decreased and then remained stationary or increased again. This was thought to be due to differences in the molar volumes of the two components.