Quadratic data envelopment analysis

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) offers a piece-wise linear approximation of the production frontier. The approximation tends to be poor if the true frontier is not concave, eg in case of economies of scale or of specialisation. To improve the flexibility of the DEA frontier and to gain in empirical fit, we propose to extend DEA towards a more general piece-wise quadratic approximation, called Quadratic Data Envelopment Analysis (QDEA). We show that QDEA gives statistically consistent estimates for all production frontiers with bounded Hessian eigenvalues. Our Monte-Carlo simulations suggest that QDEA can substantially improve efficiency estimation in finite samples relative to standard DEA models.     

VIBRATION OF TWISTED AND CURVED CYLINDRICAL PANELS WITH VARIABLE THICKNESS

A numerical procedure, with an exact strain-displacement relationship of twisted and curved cylindrical panels having variable thickness derived by considering the Green strain tensor on general shell theory, is presented using the principle of virtual work and the Rayleigh-Ritz method with algebraic polynomials as in-plane and transverse displacement functions. The accuracy and applicability of the procedure are verified by comparing the present results with previous experimental and theoretical results for several panels. The effects of variation ratio of thickness in chordwise and lengthwise directions, twist, and curvature both in two directions aforementioned on vibrations of cylindrical panels are studied in detail, and typical vibration mode shapes are plotted to demonstrate the effects.     

Simulation of a High Harmonic Gyrotron with Axis-Encircling Electron Beam and Permanent Magnet

A computer code for simulation of beam-field interaction in a resonant cavity of a gyrotron has been developed. It is based on a self-consistent, time-independent, single-mode physical model. The code has been applied to the analysis of the electrodynamical system of a novel high-harmonic gyrotron with axis-encircling beam and a permanent magnet. In this paper both the physical model and numerical techniques used are outlined. Some results of the numerical experiments are presented and discussed.     

Amino acids and peptides. XIII. Synthetic studies on N-terminal tripeptide amide analogs of fibrin alpha-chain

N-Terminal tripeptide analogs of fibrin alpha-chain were synthesized and their inhibitory effect on fibrinogen/thrombin clotting was examined. A new water-soluble active ester, 3-pyridinium ester, was used for the synthesis. Among the synthetic peptides, H-Gly-Pro-Arg-hexamethyleneimine exhibited the highest inhibitory effect on fibrinogen-thrombin clotting.     

Mode of complement activation by acidic heteroglycans from the leaves of Artemisia princeps PAMP.

The mode of action of the anti-complementary acidic heteroglycans, AAF-IIb-2 and IIb-3 which consisted of rhamnogalacturonan core and arabinogalactan moieties, purified from the leaves of Artemisia princeps PAMP (Japanese name = Gaiyo) were investigated. The anti-complementary activities of AAF-IIb-2 and IIb-3 were reduced partially in the absence of Ca2+ ions. A marked consumption of C4 was observed to have occurred when serum was incubated with both polysaccharides in the presence of Ca2+ ions. AAF-IIb-2 showed more potent C4 consumption than IIb-3. After the incubation of the serum with AAF-IIb-2 in the absence of Ca2+ ions, a cleavage of C3 in the serum was detected by immunoelectrophoresis. AAF-IIb-2 showed more significant consumption of the complement than IIb-3 when rabbit erythrocytes were used in the assay system in the absence of Ca2+ ions. These results indicate that AAF-IIb-2 activates the complement via both the alternative and classical pathways, whereas IIb-3 mainly activates the complement via the classical pathway. The absorption of serum with Protein A-Sepharose results in a decrease of the activity of AAF-IIb-2 and IIb-3. However, the decrease of the activity was restored by the replacement of the immunoglobulin G (IgG) fraction after its recovery from the Protein A-Sepharose. These results suggest that IgG dependent mechanisms are both involved in the anti-complementary activity of AAF-IIb-2 and IIb-3.     

Effects of annealing conditions on the electrical properties of Bi4-xNdxTi3O12 (x = 0.46) thin films processed at low temperature

Neodymium-substituted Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ (BNdT) thin films were prepared by a chemical solution deposition technique on platinum- coated silicon substrates. All of the samples were annealed at the relatively low temperature of 600 °C by a rapid thermal annealing process in different atmospheres, such as O₂, air, and nitrogen, and vacuum. Irrespective of different annealing atmospheres, all of the BNdT thin films exhibit good ferroelectric properties, such as a saturated hysteresis loop, good fatigue endurance, and low leakage current density. A large remanent polarization (P_r) of ∼48 μC/cm² with an electric field of 240 kV/cm was observed from the BNdT thin film annealed in O₂ atmosphere. The BNdT thin films annealed in nitrogen and vacuum, at reduced oxygen partial pressures, exhibit smaller P_r than that annealed in oxygen. The difference of P_r of the BNdT thin films annealed in different atmospheres may originate from differences in the grain sizes and the number of oxygen vacancies. PACS 77.55.+f; 77.80.-e; 77.80.Fm; 81.15.-z     

Roles of SiH4 and SiF4 in growth and structural changes of poly-Si films

The structural properties of polycrystalline silicon films, prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, with different flow rates of SiH₄/SiF₄ mixtures at 300 °C were investigated. This study indicates that the low hydrogen coverage on the growing surface, under optimum fluorine radicals, will be leaded to an improvement of crystallized area as compared with case of high hydrogen coverage surface. Moreover, the studies of the role of SiH₄ and SiF₄ radicals show that the SiH₄ radicals are important in the nucleation and growth of grains. However, SiF₄ radicals are effective in the structural change of grain boundaries regions and by this way, in the present system, establish the growth of grains under the dominant 〈1 1 0〉 direction. The stress investigation indicates that addition of high flow rate of SiF₄ in amorphous film, results in the nearly stress free films. Finally, we found that the changes in g-value reflect the changes in the intrinsic compressive and tensile stress in the both polycrystalline and amorphous silicon films.     

Solid-phase epitaxy of CaSi2 on Si(1 1 1) and the Schottky-barrier height of CaSi2/Si(1 1 1)

Thin Ca films were evaporated on Si(1 1 1) under UHV conditions and subsequently annealed in the temperature range 200–650 °C. The interdiffusion of Ca and Si was examined by ex situ Auger depth profiling. In situ monitoring of the Si 2p core-level shift by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to study the silicide formation process. The formation temperature of CaSi₂ films on Si(1 1 1) was found to be about 350 °C. Epitaxial growth takes place at T≥400 °C. The morphology of the films, measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM), was correlated with their crystallinity as analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). According to measurements of temperature-dependent I–V characteristics and internal photoemission the Schottky-barrier height of CaSi₂ on Si(1 1 1) amounts to qΦ_Bn=0.25 eV on n-type and to qΦ_Bp=0.82 eV on p-type silicon.