Effect of epoxy and filler concentrations on curing behaviour of isotropic conductive adhesives

Isotropic conductive adhesives (ICAs) are considered as the most promising replacement to lead-based solders due to relatively low melting point, simple processing and fine pitch capability. The study reports on the effect of volume fractions of silver flakes and particles on the curing reaction of ICAs. In addition, the thermal behavior of ICAs formulated with two types of polymeric adhesives: diglycidylether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) and polyurethane (PU) was also investigated in this work. The increase in silver flakes concentration seem to reduce the melting temperature of the DEGBA and PU-based ICAs, which could be due to retardation of cross-linking of polymers due to silver flakes acting as barrier within the polymer matrix. In addition, the formulation of ICAs containing silver flakes and particles yielded a much higher reaction compared to conventional ICAs. The study showed that use of polyurethane (PU) as opposed to conventional Diglycidylether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) showed a more stable system.     

The use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in the production of environmental certified reference materials

The use of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in the production of environmental certified reference materials by the National Research Council of Canada is reviewed. Particular emphasis is placed on the use of isotope dilution ICP-MS. Results for fresh and saline natural waters, fish tissues and sediments are presented to illustrate the impressive capabilities of this technique.     

Flow injection determination of xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity and its application to food samples.

The enzyme xanthine oxidase (XOD) has been recognized as a key enzyme causing oxidative injury to tissues by ischemia-reperfusion. For this reason, XOD inhibitor, which effectively suppresses this enzyme, plays an important role in the inhibition of many diseases related to reactive oxygen species (ROS). In order to screen XOD inhibitors rapidly and conveniently, a novel assay using flow injection analysis (FIA) was proposed in the present investigation. To optimize the practical FIA system, we studied the effect of the reagent concentrations and the flow condition on the enzymatic reaction, and then selected the optimum condition as follows: 200-mU/ml XOD concentration, 0.5-mM xanthine concentration, 0.5-ml/min flow rate, and 2-m mixing coil length. Under this condition, a typical XOD inhibitor quercetin was determined in the concentration range 0.1 - 1.5 mM at a sampling frequency of 10 samples/h. Using the optimized FIA method, we determined the XOD inhibitory activity of some food samples: onions, apples and teas, which are the high sources of flavonoids known as the potential XOD inhibitors. Among these samples, tea leaves showed the highest activity, the second was onions and the lowest was apples. Based on the result of the assay, not only quercetin, but also other components in investigated samples, contributed to the XOD inhibitory activity.     

Single-molecule transistors: Electron transfer in the solid state

Single-molecule transistors (SMTs) incorporating individual small molecules are unique tools for examining the fundamental physics and chemistry of electronic transport in molecular systems at the single nanometer scale. We describe the fabrication and characterization of such devices, and the synthesis and surface attachment chemistry of novel transition metal complexes that have been incorporated into such SMTs. We present gate-modulated inelastic electron tunneling vibrational spectroscopy of single molecules, strong Kondo physics (T_K ∼ 75 K) as evidence of excellent molecule/electrode electronic coupling, and a demonstration that covalent attachment chemistry can produce SMTs that survive repeated thermal cycling to room temperature. We conclude with a look ahead at the prospects for these nanoscale systems.     

Alcoved Polytopes,I

The aim of this paper is to study alcoved polytopes, which are polytopes arising from affine Coxeter arrangements. This class of convex polytopes includes many classical polytopes, for example, the hypersimplices. We compare two constructions of triangulations of hypersimplices due to Stanley and Sturmfels and explain them in terms of alcoved polytopes. We study triangulations of alcoved polytopes, the adjacency graphs of these triangulations, and give a combinatorial formula for volumes of these polytopes. In particular, we study a class of matroid polytopes, which we call the multi-hypersimplices.     

On Stability and Stabilizability of Singular Stochastic Systems with Delays

This paper deals with the class of continuous-time singular linear systems with Markovian jump parameters and time delays. Sufficient conditions on the stochastic stability and stochastic stabilizability are developed. A design algorithm for a state feedback controller which guarantees that the closed-loop dynamics will be regular, impulse free, and stochastically stable is proposed in terms of the solutions to linear matrix inequalities. The research of this author was supported by NSERC Grant RGPIN36444-02. The research of this author was supported by the Program for a New Century of Excellent Talents in the Universities and by the Foundation for the Authors of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertations of P. R. China, Grant 200240. The research of this author was supported by HKU Grant RGC 7029/05P.     

Analytical bending solutions of elastica with one end held while the other end portion slides on a friction support

Summary Treated herein is an elastica under a point load. One end of the elastica is fully restrained against translation, and elastically restrained against rotation, while the other end portion is allowed to slide over a friction support. The considered elastica problem belongs to the class of large-deflection beam problems with variable deformed arc-lengths between the supports. To solve the governing nonlinear differential equation together with the boundary conditions, the elliptic integral method has been used. The method yields closed-form solutions that are expressed in a set of transcendental equations in terms of elliptic integrals. Using an iterative scheme, pertinent bending results are computed for different values of coefficient of friction, elastic rotational spring constant and loading position, so that their effects may be examined. Also, these accurate solutions provide useful reference sources for checking the convergence, accuracy and validity of results obtained from numerical methods and software for large deflection beam analysis. It is interesting to note that this class of elastica problem may have two equilibrium states; a stable one and an unstable one. Received 5 August 1996; accepted for publication 14 February 1997     

Distinctive field dependence of the longitudinal muon polarization for Mu* in polycrystalline silicon

A distinctive longitudinal magnetic field dependence of the muon polarization for anomalous muonium in polycrystalline semiconductor targets has been predicted. The polarization exhibits a cusp,i.e., a discontinuous jump in the slope from negative to positive. Measurements of the longitudinal polarization for polycrystalline silicon in fields up to 0.5 T, and temperatures 53 and 200 K have been made at LAMPF. A cusp in the field dependence indeed occurs at 0.345 T, in excellent agreement with the prediction. No cusp is observed at 200 K because Mu^* has been thermally ionized.     

Optical experiments beyond the quantum limit: Squeezing,entanglement, and teleportation

Results of experiments recently performed are reported, in which two optical parametric amplifiers were set up to generate two independently quadrature squeezed continuous wave laser beams. The transformation of quadrature squeezed states into polarization squeezed states and into states with spatial quantum correlations is demonstrated. By utilizing two squeezed laser beams, a polarization squeezed state exhibiting three simultaneously squeezed Stokes operator variances was generated. Continuous variable polarization entanglement was generated and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox was observed. A pair of Stokes operators satisfied both the inseparability criterion and the conditional variance criterion. Values of 0.49 and 0.77, respectively, were observed, with entanglement requiring values below unity. The inseparability measure of the observed quadrature entanglement was 0.44. This value is sufficient for a demonstration of quantum teleportation, which is the next experimental goal of the authors.     

Rheological properties and interfacial slip of a multilayer structure under dynamic shear

Interfacial slip between polymer melt under steady shear has been studied using a simplified multilayer structure. In this investigation, interfacial slip under dynamic shear was studied by calculating the angular displacements of the multilayer structure and its component layers. On the basis of the angular displacements, a slip index was defined to quantify the degree of interfacial slip. A relationship governing the rheological behavior of the multilayer structure under slip and nonslip condition was established. These results were correlated with equations derived from consideration of energy equilibrium in the multilayer structure. Polymer multilayer structures of high‐density polyethylene/polystyrene and liquid crystal polymer(LCP)/poly ethylene naphthalate(PEN) were investigated. Of all the polymers investigated, large interfacial slip was found at LCP/PEN interface under dynamic shear. The high rigidity and alignment along the interface of LCP molecules was believed to prevent chain entanglement in the interfacial layer and therefore promote interfacial slip at the interface. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 2683–2693, 2005