Optical Interconnection Platform Composed of Fiber-Embedded Board, 90$^{circ}$-Bent Fiber Block, and 10-Gb/s Optical Module

An architecture of a passively assembled optical platform is suggested for a chip-to-chip optical interconnection system. The platform is constructed using all-fiber media for the optical paths: a fiber-embedded optical printed-circuit board (OPCB) and 90-bent fiber connector. The passive assembling was achieved by employing the guide pins/holes of commercialized ferrules in the optical link between the OPCB, 90-bent fiber connector, and the transmitter/receiver (Tx/Rx) module. From this interconnection scheme, a low total optical loss of was obtained. From an assembled platform with 10 Gb/s/ch 4 ch Tx/Rx modules, a 7-Gb/s/ch data transmission was demonstrated with a bit error rate below , involving the optical and electrical crosstalk arisen in the whole channel operation.     

Orthogonality properties of transverse eigenmodes of phase conjugate optical resonators

The orthogonality properties of the transverse eigenmodes of optical resonators which have phase conjugate mirrors at both ends are derived. As in conventional resonators and also resonators with only one phase conjugate mirror, it is shown that the transverse eigenmodes are essentially biorthogonal, a relation which is satisfied between the set of modes propagating in one direction around the resonator and the adjoint set of modes propagating in the reverse direction.     

Quantitative elemental analysis of Fe?Zn‐alloy coating by nondestructive method

A quantitative analytical method of iron content in Fe? Zn‐alloy coating by x‐ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum was proposed. This work aimed to replace the wet chemical analysis of Fe? Zn‐alloy coating with rapid and reproducible quantification by an XRD spectrum. Partial least‐squares (PLS) model was utilized to differentiate the spectral characteristic as well as to quantify each component in XRD spectrum. Fifteen standard samples were prepared by heat treatment and verified by the relationship between wet chemical analyses and the XRD spectrum for iron content. The suggested method showed satisfactory precision and accuracy in the analysis of Fe? Zn‐alloy coating. The accuracy for iron content in Fe? Zn‐alloy coating was 0.17 wt%. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biological functionalization of the amine-terminated Si(100) surface by glycine

A peptide reaction of glycine on an amine-terminated Si(100) surface was investigated using C 1s, N 1s, O 1s, and Si 2p core-level spectroscopy, where the amine-terminated Si(100) surface was prepared using NH₃. In-situ thermal treatments at a mild temperature of 50 °C after the adsorption of glycine on a room-temperature amine-terminated Si(100) surface induced the peptide reaction between the carboxyl group of glycine and the amine group of the surface. This suggests that the amine-terminated Si(100) surface can be an excellent template for constructing a junction between a biomaterial and a Si surface using a dry process.     

Mergers and Acquisitions in the Telecommunications Industry: Myths and Reality

This paper investigates how market participants react to mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involving telecommunications companies. The empirical evidence suggests that such activities convey bad news to the market. This is consistent with the synergy trap hypothesis and extant empirical findings of value‐reducing diversification strategies in recent literature. The evidence also indicates that a cross‐border, rather than a domestic M&A deal, is the main driver of the negative market reaction. Further, our evidence of negative impacts on the bidder's business after an M&A reinforces our main finding that market participants, on average, perceive M&A activities to be detrimental to shareholder value. This suggests that value creation or synergy through an M&A deal is not warranted even though it can generate an increase in size of the firm.     

Taylor–least-squares finite element for two-dimensional advection-dominated unsteady advection–diffusion problems

A new finite element method, the Taylor–least-squares, is proposed to approximate the advection-dominated unsteady advection–diffusion equation. The new scheme is a direct generalization of the Taylor–Galerkin and least-squares finite element methods. Higher-order spatial derivatives in the new formulation necessitate higher-degree polynomials. Hermite cubic shape functions are used. Extensive comparisons with other methods in one dimension proved that the new scheme is a step forward in modelling this difficult problem. The method offers straightforward generalizations to higher dimensions without losing the accuracy demonstrated in one dimension, i.e. the method preserves the important property of the Taylor–Galerkin scheme of being free of numerical crosswind diffusion. Several numerical experiments were made in two dimensions and excellent results were obtained from the representative experiments.