Substrate preparation for thin film deposition—a survey

Surface preparation is an integral part of any thin film deposition process. As the technological demands on films and coatings increase, the need for better and more reproducible surface preparation techniques is also increased. There is a wide variety of approaches to surface preparation and each film-substrate couple and function require specific development. This paper outlines the problems to be considered and some general approaches to surface preparation technologies.     

Decision-Centric Information Monitoring

We are interested in information management for decision support applications, especially those that monitor distributed, heterogeneous databases to assess time-critical decisions. Users of such applications can easily be overwhelmed with data that may change rapidly, may conflict, and may be redundant. Developers are faced with a dilemma: either filter out most information and risk excluding critical items, or gather possibly irrelevant or redundant information, and overwhelm the decision maker. This paper describes a solution to this dilemma called decision-centric information monitoring (DCIM). First, we observe that decision support systems should monitor only information that can potentially change some decision. We present an architecture for DCIM that meets the requirements implied by this observation. We describe techniques for identifying the highest value information to monitor and techniques for monitoring that information despite autonomy, distribution, and heterogeneity of data sources. Finally, we present lessons learned from building LOOKOUT, which is to our knowledge the first implementation of a top-to-bottom system performing decision-centric information monitoring.     

Hydrogen Surface Etching of Molten Silica

Melting experiments with quartz sand were carried out under H₂ atmospheres at temperatures between 1700° and 1850°C. Upon quenching, fine-scale, hemispherical, pitted morphologies were noted at the surface of the melts. The degree of uniformity of the resulting features was observed to depend on the temperature of melting. The results are compared with similar reported observations at lower temperatures that are attributed to impurity-based instabilities in the surface tension and evaporation.     

A practical method of autotransfusion in the emergency center

A new mobile autotransfusion device, modified for use in the Emergency Center, is described. Preliminary usage in thirty trauma patients who underwent autotransfusion of 60 units of blood indicated the device was simple to utilize, efficacious, inexpensive, cost-effective, and safe.     

Influence of lecithin on the chromatography of steroidal glucosiduronates in chloroform/formamide

The interaction between lecithin and steroidal glucosiduronates was investigated by use of partition chromatography in chloroform/formamide and infrared spectroscopy. It was observed that lecithin increases the solubility of both glucosiduronic acids and esters in chloroform and concluded that this phenomenon occurs because of the formation of hydrogen bonds between the phosphodiester group of lecithin and hydroxyl groups of the steroid conjugates.     

Emergency center arteriography in the evaluation of suspected peripheral vascular injuries in children

During the 6-year period from 1983 to 1989, 109 children aged 3 to 18 years (mean, 16) with suspected peripheral vascular injuries underwent 113 emergency center arteriograms (ECA) performed by hand injection of contrast material using a single roentgenographic film. The most common indication for ECA was the proximity of the injury in 93 (82.3%) of the cases as penetrating injury accounted for 106 (94%) of the cases. There were 89 true-negative, 14 true-positive, 1 false-negative, and no false-positive arteriograms. The remaining 9 arteriograms were either equivocal or technically inadequate. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of this procedure were 98.9%, 100%, and 91.2%, respectively. Operative intervention was required for 9 (64.2%) injuries detected by emergency arteriography. The remaining 5 injuries were considered minor and were observed with no complications during a period of 21 months. Sixty-eight children (76.4%) with negative ECA were followed for a mean of 12 months with no vascular complications or growth abnormalities noted. ECA is a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective technique. It is of particular value in detecting the presence of occult arterial injuries that might have deleterious effects in the growing child.     

A long-term increase in eggshell thickness of Greenlandic Peregrine Falcons Falco peregrinus tundrius

Thickness of eggshell fragments and whole eggs from the Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus collected in South and West Greenland between 1972 and 2003 was measured and compared to shell thickness of pre-DDT eggs, also collected in Greenland. Linear regression yields a significant increase in the average thickness of eggshells over the period of 0.19% per year, corresponding to a change in eggshell thinning from 13.9% in 1972 to 7.8% in 2003. Backwards extrapolation of the data, suggests that the Greenlandic Peregrine population probably was never critically affected by DDT-induced eggshell thinning. By sampling eggshell fragments in many nests the spatial and temporal sample distribution was enlarged, allowing the detection of a significant long-term decrease in pollutant-induced eggshell thinning--a trend that could not have been identified if only the rarer whole, addled eggs had been sampled.