Novel T-rail electrodes for substrate removed low-voltage high-speed GaAs/AlGaAs electrooptic modulators

A novel traveling-wave electrode utilizing capacitively loaded T-rail elements was developed for low-voltage high-speed substrate-removed GaAs/AlGaAs electrooptic modulators. Electrodes with varying dimensions were fabricated and characterized. Electrode phase velocity, characteristic impedance, loss coefficient, and capacitive loading were extracted from the measured s-parameters up to 40 GHz. Electrode was also simulated using a finite-element solver. The measured and calculated electrode capacitance values were found to be in excellent agreement, showing that the electrode can be precisely designed. Approaches were outlined to provide a group velocity-matched very high-speed modulator electrode suitable for a low drive-voltage substrate-removed GaAs/AlGaAs electro-optic modulator     

Viscoelastic State for the Solutions of Spherically Symmetric Viscoelasticity Problems

The solutions of the spherically symmetric, linear, isothermal, and transient viscoelasticity problems via reciprocity theorem have been investigated for a specific material. The integral form of stress–strain relations has been used. The Laplace transform of a viscoelastic state, which is necessary for the integral equation arising as a result of reciprocity theorem, has been derived. This integral equation has been solved by Laplace transform. A sample problem has been solved to test the presented formulation. A numerical application of the analytic solution of this problem has been given.     

Electrical and optical properties of fluorine-doped CdO films deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

The CdO:F samples have been deposited onto microscope glass substrates at 250 °C by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. With the incorporation of fluorine into CdO, the direct optical transition has shifted towards the shorter wavelengths, and the transparency of the material has increased at a given wavelength above the fundamental absorption edge. The shift in the absorption edge is explained by means of the Moss–Burstein effect, which is also supported with the results of the current–voltage characteristics. Here, a correlation has been established between the band broadening and the increase in conductivity due to the increase in carrier density.     

Swenson's operation for neonatal Hirschsprung's disease

OBJECTIVE: To describe our experience with Swenson's operation for Hirschsprung's disease done during the neonatal period. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: University department of paediatric surgery. SUBJECTS: 10 Neonates with Hirschsprung's disease. INTERVENTIONS: Rectosigmoidectomy and pull through (Swenson's operation), with covering transverse colostomy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mortality, morbidity, and continence. RESULTS: The median age at definitive operation was 25 days (range 15-35). There was one late death three weeks after discharge from hospital of respiratory and cardiac failure. Two patients presented with caecal perforation and two with intestinal obstruction; in all four Hirschsprung's disease was diagnosed on frozen section, a transverse colostomy was done, and the Swenson's operation was done electively. The other six were diagnosed by barium enema examination and biopsy, and underwent total bowel irrigation followed by Swenson's operation and transverse colostomy. The colostomies were closed three to four weeks later. There were no postoperative complications. All nine surviving patients were continent (3-4 stools/day), at a mean (SD) follow up of 21 (5) months. CONCLUSION: With the current high standards of anaesthesia and neonatal intensive care, and an experienced surgeon, Swenson's operation for neonatal Hirschsprung's disease is safe and the procedure of choice for this condition.     

Improvement of flexural bond strength of zirconia-resin cement by surface patterning using sub-nanosecond UV laser

Zirconia is a dental material that shows excellent biocompatibility and high strength in clinical applications. This study aims to evaluate the effects of ultrafast laser applications. The surface nanostructures were classified into three groups. Group 1 was generated using the burst mode, with three different distances between dots: 52 µm (Group 1a), 104 µm (Group 1b), and 156 µm (Group 1c). Group 2 was processed using the scanning mode configuration, with a set of parallel lines. Group 3 was also processed using this scanning configuration creating a set of square-shaped patterning. Group 4 was the control group. After the surface treatments, a pair of zirconia specimens was bonded end to end with resin cement. Flexural bond strength (FBS) test was applied in a universal test machine. Multiple comparisons were performed using a one-way analysis of variance and the Tukey's HSD test. All the samples that were treated with the laser showed higher FBS values than the untreated surface. Using the burst mode, preformed circular-shaped surface on an angle of 90⁰ at 52 µm distance (Group 1a) showed the highest FBS values among all groups (p < .05). Groups 2 and 3 had significantly higher values than 1b and 1c.     

A comprehensive survey: artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm and applications

Swarm intelligence (SI) is briefly defined as the collective behaviour of decentralized and self-organized swarms. The well known examples for these swarms are bird flocks, fish schools and the colony of social insects such as termites, ants and bees. In 1990s, especially two approaches based on ant colony and on fish schooling/bird flocking introduced have highly attracted the interest of researchers. Although the self-organization features are required by SI are strongly and clearly seen in honey bee colonies, unfortunately the researchers have recently started to be interested in the behaviour of these swarm systems to describe new intelligent approaches, especially from the beginning of 2000s. During a decade, several algorithms have been developed depending on different intelligent behaviours of honey bee swarms. Among those, artificial bee colony (ABC) is the one which has been most widely studied on and applied to solve the real world problems, so far. Day by day the number of researchers being interested in ABC algorithm increases rapidly. This work presents a comprehensive survey of the advances with ABC and its applications. It is hoped that this survey would be very beneficial for the researchers studying on SI, particularly ABC algorithm.     

Using heuristic algorithms for capacity leasing and task allocation issues in telecommunication networks under fuzzy quality of service constraints

Nowadays, every firm uses telecommunication networks in different amounts and ways in order to complete their daily operations. In this article, we investigate an optimisation problem that a firm faces when acquiring network capacity from a market in which there exist several network providers offering different pricing and quality of service (QoS) schemes. The QoS level guaranteed by network providers and the minimum quality level of service, which is needed for accomplishing the operations are denoted as fuzzy numbers in order to handle the non-deterministic nature of the telecommunication network environment. Interestingly, the mathematical formulation of the aforementioned problem leads to the special case of a well-known two-dimensional bin packing problem, which is famous for its computational complexity. We propose two different heuristic solution procedures that have the capability of solving the resulting nonlinear mixed integer programming model with fuzzy constraints. In conclusion, the efficiency of each algorithm is tested in several test instances to demonstrate the applicability of the methodology.     

Leaching of a copper flotation concentrate with ammonium persulfate in an autoclave system

The leaching behavior of a copper flotation concentrate was investigated using ammonium persulfate （APS） in an autoclave systee. The decomposition products of APS, active oxygen, and acidic medium were used to extract metals from the concentrate. Leaching experiments were performed to compare the availability of APS as an oxidizing agent for leaching of the concentrate under atmospheric conditions and in an autoclave system. Leaching temperature and APS concentration were found to be important parameters in both leaching systems. Atmospheric leaching studies showed that the metal extractions increased with the increase in APS concentration and temperature （up to 333 K）. A similar tendency was determined in the autoclave studies up to 423 K. It was also determined that the metal extractions decreased at temperatures above 423 K due to the passivation of the particle surface by molten elemental sulfur. The results showed that higher copper extractions could be achieved using an autoclave system.