Emission and sputtering characteristics of Ne-Ar mixed gas glow discharge plasmas.

The emission characteristics of several Cu lines emitted from a Ne-Ar mixed gas glow discharge plasma were investigated. The addition of small amounts of Ar to a Ne plasma increases the sputtering rate of a Cu sample because Ar ions, which work as the impinging ions for cathode sputtering, are predominantly produced through Penning ionization collisions between Ne metastables and Ar atoms. Ar addition also elevates the number density of electrons in the plasma. These changes occurring in the Ne-Ar mixed gas plasma result in enhanced emission intensities of the Cu lines. The Cu II 270.10-nm and the Cu II 224.70-nm lines yield different intensity dependence on the Ar partial pressure added. This phenomenon is because these Cu II lines are excited principally through different charge transfer processes: collisions with Ne ions for the Cu II 270.10-nm line and collisions with Ar ions for the Cu II 224.70-nm line. The shape of sputtered craters in the Ne-Ar glow discharge plasma was measured. The depth resolution was improved when Ar was added to a Ne plasma because the crater bottoms were flatter with larger Ar partial pressures.     

Angular and NiFe thickness dependence of exchange bias in IrMn/NiFe/IrMn thin film

Exchange biased IrMn/NiFe/IrMn thin films were studied as a function of NiFe thickness. In plane angular dependence of a resonance field distribution which is measured by FMR was analyzed as a combined effect of an unidirectional anisotropy and an uniaxial anisotropy. The unidirectional anisotropic field and the uniaxial anisotropic field were linearly varied with NiFe thickness while the films with a thicker NiFe layer do not follow the linear variation. Resonance field and linewidth variations were also analysed with NiFe thickness.     

Generalized 3G theorem and application to relativistic stable process on non-smooth open sets

Let G(x,y) and GD(x,y) be the Green functions of rotationally invariant symmetric α-stable process in Rd and in an open set D, respectively, where 0<α<2. The inequality GD(x,y)GD(y,z)/GD(x,z)?c(G(x,y)+G(y,z)) is a very useful tool in studying (local) Schrödinger operators. When the above inequality is true with c=c(D)∈(0,∞), then we say that the 3G theorem holds in D. In this paper, we establish a generalized version of 3G theorem when D is a bounded κ-fat open set, which includes a bounded John domain. The 3G we consider is of the form GD(x,y)GD(z,w)/GD(x,w), where y may be different from z. When y=z, we recover the usual 3G. The 3G form GD(x,y)GD(z,w)/GD(x,w) appears in non-local Schrödinger operator theory. Using our generalized 3G theorem, we give a concrete class of functions belonging to the non-local Kato class, introduced by Chen and Song, on κ-fat open sets. As an application, we discuss relativistic α-stable processes (relativistic Hamiltonian when α=1) in κ-fat open sets. We identify the Martin boundary and the minimal Martin boundary with the Euclidean boundary for relativistic α-stable processes in κ-fat open sets. Furthermore, we show that relative Fatou type theorem is true for relativistic stable processes in κ-fat open sets. The main results of this paper hold for a large class of symmetric Markov processes, as are illustrated in the last section of this paper. We also discuss the generalized 3G theorem for a large class of symmetric stable Lévy processes.     

Tail asymptotics for the fundamental period in the MAP/G/1 queue

This paper studies the tail behavior of the fundamental period in the MAP/G/1 queue. We prove that if the service time distribution has a regularly varying tail, then the fundamental period distribution in the MAP/G/1 queue has also regularly varying tail, and vice versa, by finding an explicit expression for the asymptotics of the tail of the fundamental period in terms of the tail of the service time distribution. Our main result with the matrix analytic proof is a natural extension of the result in (de Meyer and Teugels, J. Appl. Probab. 17: 802–813, 1980) on the M/G/1 queue where techniques rely heavily on analytic expressions of relevant functions. I.-S. Wee’s research was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant KRF 2003-070-00008.     

Investigation of cold fusion in heavy water

An investigation of cold fusion of deuterium was performed by electrolyzing heavy water in a cell containing a palladium cathode while monitoring levels of tritium and neutron-capture gamma rays. No activity was detected that would indicate a sustained fusion reaction had taken place. Activities that were observed can be attributed to electrolytic enrichment and a normal cosmic-ray induced background.     

Photoemission studies of oxygen adsorbed on a LiAl(1 1 0) alloy surface: Role of Li segregation

We investigated that the effect of the number of segregated Li atoms on the rate of oxidation on a LiAl alloy surface. Oxygen molecules adsorbed on the LiAl alloy react with the surface atoms to form stable oxides. The segregated Li atoms at reconstructed surfaces (c(2×2) and (2×1)) enhance the oxidation rate and form stable LiAlO_x and Li₂O. The degree of enhancement of oxidation by segregated Li atoms varies as a function of O₂ exposure and annealing temperature, where the latter is directly related to the mode of surface reconstruction by Li segregation.     

Preparation of antimicrobial poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibers containing silver nanoparticles

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers containing Ag nanoparticles were prepared by electrospinning PVA/silver nitrate (AgNO₃) aqueous solutions, followed by short heat treatment, and their antimicrobial activity was investigated for wound dressing applications. Since PVA is a water soluble and biocompatible polymer, it is one of the best materials for the preparation of wound dressing nanofibers. After heat treatment at 155 °C for 3 min, the PVA/AgNO₃ nanofibers became insoluble, while the Ag⁺ ions therein were reduced so as to produce a large number of Ag nanoparticles situated preferentially on their surface. The residual Ag⁺ ions were reduced by subsequent UV irradiation for 3 h. The average diameter of the Ag nanoparticles after the heat treatment was 5.9 nm and this value increased slightly to 6.3 nm after UV irradiation. It was found that most of the Ag⁺ ions were reduced by the simple heat treatment. The PVA nanofibers containing Ag nanoparticles showed very strong antimicrobial activity. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2468–2474, 2006     

Dispersion Compensation in Externally Modulated Transmission System Using Chirped Fiber Grating

We present an externally modulated NTSC AM-VSB erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)-repeated system in the 1550 nm region which uses a chirped fiber grating (CFG) as a dispersion compensation device. In contrast to the conventional externally modulated fiber optical CATV systems, either with or without dispersion compensation fiber (DCF), good performances of carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) ≥50 dB, composite second order (CSO) ≥74 dB, and composite triple beat (CTB) ≥65 dB were achieved for the full channel band after a 100-km single-mode fiber (SMF) transmission.