Real time ellipsometry for monitoring plasma-assisted epitaxial growth of GaN

GaN is grown on Si-face 4H-SiC(0 0 0 1) substrates using remote plasma-assisted methods including metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (RP-MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Real time spectroscopic ellipsometry is used for monitoring all the steps of substrate pre-treatments and the heteroepitaxial growth of GaN on SiC. Our characterization emphasis is on understanding the nucleation mechanism and the GaN growth mode, which depend on the SiC surface preparation.     

Validating DEA as a ranking tool: An application of DEA to assess performance in higher education

There is a general interest in ranking schemes applied to complex entities described by multiple attributes. Published rankings for universities are in great demand but are also highly controversial. We compare two classification and ranking schemes involving universities; one from a published report, ‘Top American Research Universities’ by the University of Florida's TheCenter and the other using DEA. Both approaches use the same data and model. We compare the two methods and discover important equivalences. We conclude that the critical aspect in classification and ranking is the model. This suggests that DEA is a suitable tool for these types of studies.     

Ethylene polymerization by novel Ziegler–Natta‐type catalysts obtained in situ by the oxidative addition of 8‐hydroxyquinoline‐based ligands to bis(1,5‐cyclooctadiene)nickel(0) and methylaluminoxane

Novel catalytic systems, prepared in situ by the oxidative addition of 8‐hydroxyquinoline ligands to bis(1,5‐cyclooctadiene)nickel(0) and activated by methylaluminoxane, were studied in ethylene polymerization. When 8‐hydroxyquinoline was employed, only oligomeric products were obtained. On the contrary, 5,7‐dinitro‐8‐hydroxyquinoline gave linear polyethylene (PE), but with a modest activity. For the catalyst based on 5‐nitro‐8‐hydroxyquinoline, the productivity was largely dependent on the content of free trimethylaluminum (TMA) present in the commercial aluminoxane. The progressive optimization of the TMA/oligomeric methylaluminoxane ratio increased the productivity, which reached 700 kg of PE/(mol of Ni × h), by an order of magnitude. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 200–206, 2006     

N,N‐dimethylaminopyridine as initiator in the copolymerization of diglycidylether of bisphenol A with six‐membered cyclic carbonates

N,N‐Dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) was used as initiator to cure mixtures of diglycidylether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and 1,3‐dioxan‐2‐one (TMC) or 5,5‐dimethyl‐1,3‐dioxan‐2‐one (DMTMC). The curing was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared in the attenuated‐total‐reflection mode (FTIR/ATR). FTIR/ATR was used to monitor the competitive reactive processes and to quantify the evolution of the groups involved in the curing. We observed the formation of five‐membered cyclic carbonates and anionic carbonate groups that remain unreacted at the chain ends. The formation of these groups was explained by the attack of the anionic propagation species on the methylene carbon of the carbonate group, which leads to an alkyl‐oxygen rupture. By performing the cure in the thermobalance we could evaluate the loss of CO₂ produced in the samples containing carbonates. The kinetics were studied by DSC and analyzed with isoconversional procedures. The addition of carbonates slows down the curing rate. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) experiments were used to evaluate the properties of the materials obtained. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2873–2882, 2006     

Minicolumn field sampling--preconcentration of trace zinc from seawater and its laboratory detection by flow injection flame atomic absorption spectrometry.

A simple field sampling-preconcentration method for zinc determination in seawater is described. Seawater was collected in situ by pumping it through a minicolumn packed with a chelating resin (Chelite P) connected to a field flow preconcentration system (FFPS). These packed minicolumns retain the dissolved zinc, and once are loaded with the analyte, they are returned to the laboratory where they are sequentially inserted into a flow injection system for on-line zinc elution with diluted hydrochloric acid and flame atomic absorption spectrometric detection. A factorial design has been used to optimize the FFPS and the flow injection elution process. The proposed method has a linear calibration range from 0.07 to at least 9.4 microg L(-1) of zinc, with a detection limit of 0.02 microg L(-1) and a throughput of 26 samples h(-1). Validation was carried out against certified reference water samples. This procedure has been successfully applied to the determination of Zn in seawater samples from Galicia (Spain).     

The influence of glass coating on the single domain wall potential in amorphous glass-coated Fe-based microwires

The effect of the glass coating on the single domain wall potential in amorphous glass-coated Fe-based microwire has been studied by the switching field distribution technique. The thermoactivated mechanism model is used to describe the thermally activated switching through the complex energy barrier in amorphous FeSiB microwires. Glass removal leads to the increase of the probability of the thermally activated switching pointing to the decrease of the energy barrier.     

Long-Range proton-proton coupling constants. I. Propanic coupling involving a methyl group 4JMeH

An equation is formulated on the basis of theoretical INDO/FPT calculations which describes the angular dependence of the propanic long-range coupling constant ⁴J_MeH in substituted HCCCH₃ fragments. This equation is a truncated Fourier series in the torsion angle ?, HCCMe, which takes into account the dependence of the Fourier coefficients on the bond angle θ, CCMe. The substituent effects are assumed to be additive. Some parameters in the equation may be obtained from the ⁴J_MeH couplings in propane and neopentane derivatives. The calculated effect upon ⁴J_MeH of changes in the bond angle θ is significant and it seems to be in part the cause of some effects which have been attributed to conformational dependence.     

A note on the acyclicity of the Koszul complex of a module

We prove the vanishing of the Koszul homology group H _μ(Kos(M)_μ), where μ is the minimal number of generators of M. We give a counterexample that the Koszul complex of a module is not always acyclic and show its relationship with the homology of commutative rings.     

Designing a majorization scheme for the recourse function in two-stage stochastic linear programming

We discuss issues pertaining to the domination from above of the second-stage recourse function of a stochastic linear program and we present a scheme to majorize this function using a simpler sublinear function. This majorization is constructed using special geometrical attributes of the recourse function. The result is a proper, simplicial function with a simple characterization which is well-suited for calculations of its expectation as required in the computation of stochastic programs. Experiments indicate that the majorizing function is well-behaved and stable.     

Classification of Nonorientable 3-Manifolds Admitting Decompositions into ≤ 26 Coloured Tetrahedra

The present paper adopts a computational approach to the study of nonorientable 3-manifolds: in fact, we describe how to create an automaticcatalogue of all nonorientable 3-manifolds admitting coloured triangulationswith a fixed number of tetrahedra. In particular, the catalogue has been effectively produced and analysed for up to 26 tetrahedra, to reach the complete classification of all involved 3-manifolds. As a consequence, the following summarising result can be stated:THEOREM I. Exactly seven closed connected prime nonorientable3-manifolds exist, which admit a coloured triangulation consisting of atmost 26 tetrahedra.More precisely, they are the four Euclidean nonorientable 3-manifolds, the nontrivial S2 bundle overS1, the topological product between thereal projective plane RP2 andS1, and the torus bundle overS1, with monodromy induced by matrix(10 -11).