The influence of substrate surface roughness on microstrip transmission line loss using conventional analyses and length‐scale fractal analysis

Two components of conductor topography can impact conductor loss for signals in the GHz frequency range: conductor–ceramic interface roughness and conductor edge angle. This study is an experimental investigation of the influence of these conductor topographies on conductor loss in microstrip circuits produced by thick‐film technology. The aluminum nitride ceramic substrates have different surface roughnesses due to different surface finish processes. The substrate surfaces were characterized using conventional and length‐scale fractal analysis. The conductor–ceramic interface was measured with a contact profilometer. The conductor edge angle and conductor edge profile were measured optically. It was found that there is a direct correlation between conductor loss and conductor edge angle, whereas there is an inverse correlation between loss and substrate roughness or relative length of the conductor–ceramic interface. This is the opposite result to the conventional expectation of surface roughness effects on conductor loss. There is also a negative correlation between conductor edge angle and surface roughness or relative length. The loss behavior can be explained by the interaction of the conductor paste with the surfaces during processing. The paste tends to spread more on the smoother surfaces, and thus creates an elongated edge of diminishing cross‐section and a small edge angle. This leads to greater conductor loss. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cancellative Orders

left order in Q and Q is a semigroup of left quotients of S if every q∈Q can be written as q=a^*b for some a, b∈S where a^* denotes the inverse of a in a subgroup of Q and if, in addition, every square-cancellable element of S lies in a subgroup of Q. Perhaps surprisingly, a semigroup, even a commutative cancellative semigroup, can have non-isomorphic semigroups of left quotients. We show that if S is a cancellative left order in Q then Q is completely regular and the {\cal D}-classes of Q are left groups. The semigroup S is right reversible and its group of left quotients is the minimum semigroup of left quotients of S. The authors are grateful to the ARC for its generous financial support.     

Optimization of the Production Medium for Biosynthesis of Antifungal Antibiotic Ak-111-81 by Phosphate-Deregulated Mutant of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptomyces hygroscopicus</Emphasis>

Experimental mathematical designs were applied for optimization of a nutrient medium for biosynthesis of the antifungal antibiotic AK-111-81 by phosphate-deregulated mutant of Streptomyces hygroscopicus 111-81. Antifungal antibiotic AK-111-81 possesses well-expressed activity against Fusarium graminearum and other phytopathogenic fungi. The level of the production of the antibiotic AK-111-81 on this medium is more than three times higher than on the initial medium. The optimized quantitative composition of the nutrient culture media is (g/l): glucose, 20; soy meal, 18; ammonium succinate, 3; CaCO₃, 1.     

The WADA Proficiency Testing Program as an integral part of the fight against doping in sport

This article provides a brief perspective of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in the context of the fight against doping in sport and of the WADA Proficiency Testing Program as an essential element of the World Anti-Doping Program. The WADA Proficiency Testing Program exists within the framework of the WADA-accredited laboratories and is aimed at improving the effectiveness of the fight against doping by testing the ability of the laboratories to reliably identify and measure the substances and methods defined in the WADA Prohibited List. The paper provides an overview of the WADA Proficiency Testing scheme with respect to organization, test composition and evaluation of anti-doping methods and techniques. Scientific research is mentioned in the context of WADA’s involvement in generating reference materials for improvement of analytical activities of the WADA-accredited laboratories. WADA’s funding of a reference material for 19-norandrosterone in human urine is illustrated as an example.     

Solvent effects in the polymerization of propylene catalyzed by octahedral complexes

The effect of solvents (toluene, dichloromethane, and hexane) was studied on the polymerization of propylene with the octahedral complexes bis(trimethylsilyl)benzamidinate titanium dichloride(a), bis(acetylacetonate) titanium dichloride(b), and bis(diethylamino) titanium di‐2‐(diphenylphosphanylamino)pyridine as catalytic precursors and methylalumoxane as the cocatalyst. For comparison, the polymerization was also performed in plain liquid propylene without the addition of any solvent. The obtained polymers were fractionated by refluxing hexane. The activity of the complexes and the molecular weights and tacticities of the whole polymers and their different fractions were the studied parameters. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 4505–4516, 2005     

Idempotent bounded C-semigroups

A semigroup with zero isidempotent bounded (IB) if it is the 0-direct union of idempotent generated principal left ideals and the 0-direct union of idempotent generated principal right ideals. Notable examples are completely 0-simple semigroups and the wider class of primitive abundant semigroups. Significant to the structure of these semigroups is that they are all categorical at zero. In this paper we describe IB semigroups that are categorical at zero in terms ofdouble blocked Rees matrix semigroups. This generalises Fountain's characterisation of primitive abundant semigroups via blocked Rees matrix semigroups [1], which in turn yields the Rees theorem for completely 0-simple semigroups.     

Existence of multiple positive solutions for second order nonlinear dynamic BVPs by variational methods

The aim of this paper is to employ variational techniques and critical point theory to prove some sufficient conditions for the existence of multiple positive solutions to a nonlinear second order dynamic equation with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions.     

Stochastic Dynamic Programming Formulation for a Wastewater Treatment Decision-Making Framework

In this paper, a decision-making framework (DMF) based on stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) is presented for a wastewater treatment system, consisting of a liquid treatment line with eleven levels and a solid treatment line with six levels (Chen and Beck, 1997). A continuous-state SDP solution approach based on the OA/MARS method (Chen, Ruppert, and Shoemaker, 1999) is employed, which provides an efficient method for representing a wide range of possible influent conditions. The DMF is used to evaluate current and emerging technologies for the multi-level liquid and solid lines of the wastewater treatment system. At each level, one technology unit is selected out of a set of options which includes the empty unit. The DMF provides a comparison on possible technologies for screening which types of technologies may best be further developed in order for an urban wastewater infrastructure to be judged progressively more sustainable. The results indicate that one or a pair of technologies are dominant in each level. The cheap, lower-technology unit processes receive a mixed review. Some of them are selected as the most promising technology units while the others are not considered as good candidates.