Buckling of a stiff thin film on a compliant substrate in large deformation

A finite-deformation theory is developed to study the mechanics of thin buckled films on compliant substrates. Perturbation analysis is performed for this highly nonlinear system to obtain the analytical solution. The results agree well with experiments and finite element analysis in wavelength and amplitude. In particular, it is found that the wavelength depends on the strain. Based on the accurate wavelength and amplitude, the membrane and peak strains in thin films, and stretchability and compressibility of the system are also obtained analytically.     

Small and high-density GeSiC dots stacked on buried Ge hut-clusters in Si

Self-assembled GeSiC dots stacked on a Ge hut-cluster layer buried in Si have been investigated. The critical thickness for formation of GeSiC dots is reduced owing to the strain fields from the buried hut-clusters. By utilizing the stacked structure, the dot size is decreased and the uniformity is improved. The highest density of the GeSiC dots with stacked structures is 7.4×10¹⁰ cm⁻², which is six times larger than that of single GeSiC dots. The formation of the self-assembled GeSiC dots is strongly influenced by being stacked with buried Ge dots as well as C incorporation.     

Application of N,N‐bis(diphenylphosphino)aniline palladium(II) complexes as pre‐catalysts in Heck coupling reactions

Palladium(II) complexes with N,N‐bis(diphenylphosphino)aniline ligands catalyse the Heck reaction between styrene and aryl bromides, affording stilbenes in good yield. The structures of two of the complexes used as pre‐catalysts have been determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An EOQ model with process reliability considerations

The classical economic order quantity (EOQ) model assumes that items produced are of perfect quality and that the unit cost of production is independent of demand. However, in realistic situations, product quality is never perfect, but is directly affected by the reliability of the production process. In this paper, we consider an EOQ model with imperfect production process and the unit production cost is directly related to process reliability and inversely related to the demand rate. In addition, a numerical example is given to illustrate the developed model. Sensitivity analysis is also performed and discussed.     

Tail asymptotics for the fundamental period in the MAP/G/1 queue

This paper studies the tail behavior of the fundamental period in the MAP/G/1 queue. We prove that if the service time distribution has a regularly varying tail, then the fundamental period distribution in the MAP/G/1 queue has also regularly varying tail, and vice versa, by finding an explicit expression for the asymptotics of the tail of the fundamental period in terms of the tail of the service time distribution. Our main result with the matrix analytic proof is a natural extension of the result in (de Meyer and Teugels, J. Appl. Probab. 17: 802–813, 1980) on the M/G/1 queue where techniques rely heavily on analytic expressions of relevant functions. I.-S. Wee’s research was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant KRF 2003-070-00008.     

On the factor-thickness of regular graphs

For eachr-regular graphG, define a binary sequence(G) = ( ₁, ₂,..., _r-1) by _k = 0 ifG has ak-factor, and _k = 1 otherwise. A binary sequence = ( _i |i = 1, 2,...,r – 1) is said to be realizable if there exists anr-regular graphG such that(G) = . In this paper we characterize all binary sequences which are realizable.     

Determination of sulfite in Oriental herbal medicines

Sulfite was detected in 7 varieties of Oriental herbal medicines (Pueraria radix, Zingiberis rhizoma, Platycodon radix, Adenophora radix, Pinellia tuber, Astragalus radix, and Paeonia radix) on the Korean market. Sulfiting of commercial Oriental herbal medicines by fumigation with burning bituminous coal was simulated, and the accumulation of sulfite was investigated by using fresh Platycodon radix roots obtained from a growing field. The sulfite level reached a plateau in 9 h, and the maximum sulfite level found by the Monier-Williams (MW) method (AOAC 990.28) was 1020 ppm. The sulfite content in the simulated Platycodon radix sample determined by alkali extraction followed by ion-exclusion chromatography with electrochemical detection (AOAC 990.31) was approximately 17% lower on average than the MW results. Free-sulfite levels determined by acid extraction and ion-exclusion chromatography with electrochemical detection were between 19 and 49% of the MW results. The advantages of different methods for sulfite determination and the significance of the results are discussed.     

Determination of sulfates of androsterone and epiandrosterone in human serum using isotope diluted liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

A promising liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) for analysis of the sulfates of 5alpha-androgen, androsterone and epiandrosterone (A-S and EpiA-S) in human serum was developed. The method was used to assess one of the markers of 5alpha-reductase activity of males including patients with prostate cancer (PC). After deproteinization with acetonitrile, the androgen sulfates and the internal standard, [7,7,16,16-2H4]dehydroepiandrosterone-S, were extracted from human serum using a solid-phase extraction cartridge and washed with hexane. The extract was reconstituted and applied to the LC/ESI-MS system operated in the selected ion monitoring mode. The method was validated over the range 0.02-5 microg/mL (A-S) and 0.005-1.5 microg/mL (EpiA-S) using 10 microL of human serum. The method was a concise procedure without chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis of the conjugates, purification by high-performance liquid chromatography and/or derivatization, and proved to be satisfactory in its reproducibility and accuracy. The levels of these androgen sulfates tended to decrease during aging, and the A-S levels in the sera obtained from both healthy males and patients with PC were correlated with their EpiA-S levels.