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.     

Two-dimensional ultrasonic anemometer using the directivity angle of an ultrasonic sensor

There has been continuous research on the ultrasonic sensors [L.C. Lynnworth, Y. Liu, Ultasonic flowmeters: half-century progress report 1955–2005, Ultrasonics (2006) 1371–1378]. This study used the directivity characteristic based on phase measurement, which ultrasonic sensor has. Transmitter has wide directivity, and in its range of directivity, receivers are located to measure wind direction and velocity. The velocity experiments which are the result of this production system indicate that the system error rate is 2%. The wind direction measurements also give the same result, an error of ±3°. This result is similar to existing anemometers. However, this new anemometer could possibly have a much higher sampling rate, operating circuit and system structure, which could be much simpler than the previous anemometer.     

High-Current Photodetectors as Efficient, Linear, and High-Power RF Output Stages

Recent progress in high-current photodiodes now makes it possible to efficiently generate over 26 dBm of RF power directly from the output of a photodiode. This paper describes two photodetector designs which demonstrate excellent large- and small-signal behavior. Maximum small-signal compression currents have increased to over 700 mA at 300 MHz. Output RF power amplifier stage efficiencies of over 45% (class AB operation) and 35% (class A) have been achieved from 0.3 to 6 GHz with RF power outputs over 26 dBm. The linearity figure of merit (LFOM) is also shown to be greater than 50, leading to the possibility of implementing very high linearity RF power amplifiers in the future.     

Tetraphenylimidazole‐Based Excited‐State Intramolecular Proton‐Transfer Molecules for Highly Efficient Blue Electroluminescence

Aiming for highly efficient blue electroluminescence, we have designed and synthesized a novel class of tetraphenylimidazole‐ based excited‐state intramolecular proton‐transfer (ESIPT) molecules with covalently linked charge‐transporting functional groups (carbazole‐ and oxadiazole‐functionalized hydroxyl‐substituted tetraphenylimidazole (HPI), i.e., HPI‐Cbz and HPI‐Oxd, respectively). High T_g (ca. 130 °C) amorphous films of HPI‐Cbz and HPI‐Oxd showed intense and ideal blue‐light emission (λ_max = 462 and 468 nm, Φ_PL = 0.44 and 0.38) with a large Stokes shift of over 160 nm and a narrow full width at half‐maximum of less than 65 nm. Organic light‐emitting devices using HPI‐Cbz and HPI‐Oxd as the emitting layer generated an efficient blue electroluminescence (EL) emission peaking at around 460 nm with excellent CIE coordinates of (x, y) = (0.15, 0.11). A maximum external quantum efficiency of 2.94%, and a maximum brightness of 1 229 cd m⁻² at 100 mA cm⁻², as well as a low turn‐on voltage of 4.8 V were achieved in this work.     

Performance of multichannel CSMA/CD protocol with detection of destination conflicts

The authors analyse the delay-throughput performance of a multichannel carrier sense multiple access/collision detection (MCSMA/CD) protocol with detection of destination conflicts for multiple bus networks, assuming an idle channel selection scheme is used. Their results are validated by simulation.<>     

Laser Process Proximity Correction for Improvement of Critical Dimension Linearity on a Photomask

We report on the improvement of critical dimension (CD) linearity on a photomask by applying the concept of process proximity correction to a laser lithographic process used for the fabrication of photomasks. Rule‐based laser process proximity correction (LPC) was performed using an automated optical proximity correction tool and we obtained dramatic improvement of CD linearity on a photomask. A study on model‐based LPC was executed using a two‐Gaussian kernel function and we extracted model parameters for the laser lithographic process by fitting the model‐predicted CD linearity data with measured ones. Model‐predicted bias values of isolated space (I/S), arrayed contact (A/C) and isolated contact (I/C) were in good agreement with those obtained by the nonlinear curve‐fitting method used for the rule‐based LPC.