A Three-Dimensional Two-Phase Model for Thermal Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition with Liquid Feedstock Injection

In this paper, a comprehensive model for thermal plasma chemical vapor deposition (TPCVD) with liquid feedstock injection is documented. The gas flow is assumed to be steady, of a single temperature. Radiation and charged species contributions are excluded, but extensive homogeneous and heterogeneous chemistry is included. The liquid phase is traced by considering individual droplets. Discussion on the model's application to diamond production from acetone in a hydrogen–argon plasma is included. The major conclusions are: (1) Liquid injection possesses a capability to deliver the hydrocarbon precursor directly onto the deposition target. (2) For the case of complete evaporation of the droplet before reaching the substrate, the deposition rate is similar to that obtained with gaseous precursors. (3) The computational results compare well with experimental data. The modeling results can be used to optimize the injection parameters with regard to the deposition rate.     

Dispersion of elastic waves in the contact-impact problem of a long cylinder

Numerical dispersion of two-dimensional finite elements was studied. The outcome of the dispersion study was verified by the numerical and analytical solutions to the longitudinal impact of two long cylindrical bars. In accordance with the results of the dispersion analysis it was demonstrated that the quadratic elements showed better accuracy than the linear ones.     

Application of arc-plasma discharges to coating of screw taps

The paper reports on results of technological research on the coating of standard screw taps with TiN layers deposited by means of arc-plasma discharges, which were carried out within a BULAT-type device equipped with three identical metal-plasma sources. Particular attention is paid to morphology of the coated surfaces. Some data about thickness and microhardness of the coating layers, as well as results of laboratory wear tests of the coated tools, are also presented.     

Inclusion of Carboxyl Function Inside of Cucurbiturils and its Use in Molecular Switches

We have prepared organic guest molecules in which two pyridinium rings are connected through an aromatic/aliphatic bridge bearing a carboxyl group. The supramolecular interactions between these guests and macrocyclic hosts cucurbit[7]uril ( CB7 ) and cucurbit[8]uril ( CB8 ) has been studied. We have demonstrated that the binding modes of the complexes depend on the type of central bridge present in the guest molecules and the size of the macrocycle. We have also showed that the binding mode between cucurbiturils and guests with aromatic bridges is pH independent. On the other hand, a guest containing an aliphatic bridge and CB7 formed a pseudorotaxane, which behaved as a pH‐driven molecular switch.     

Optimal broadcast on parallel locality models

In this paper matching upper and lower bounds for broadcast on general purpose parallel computation models that exploit network locality are proven. These models try to capture both the general purpose properties of models like the PRAM or BSP on the one hand, and to exploit network locality of special purpose models like meshes, hypercubes, etc., on the other hand. They do so by charging a cost l(|i−j|) for a communication between processors i and j, where l is a suitably chosen latency function.An upper bound T(p)=∑_i=0^loglogp2ⁱ·l(p^1/2i) on the runtime of a broadcast on a p processor H-PRAM is given, for an arbitrary latency function l(k).The main contribution of the paper is a matching lower bound, holding for all latency functions in the range from l(k)=Ω(logk/loglogk) to l(k)=O(log²k). This is not a severe restriction since for latency functions l(k)=O(logk/log¹⁺log(k)) with arbitrary >0, the runtime of the algorithm matches the trivial lower bound Ω(logp) and for l(k)=Θ(log¹⁺k) or l(k)=Θ(k), the runtime matches the other trivial lower bound Ω(l(p)). Both upper and lower bounds apply for other parallel locality models like Y-PRAM, D-BSP and E-BSP, too.     

On the complexity of paths avoiding forbidden pairs

Given a graph G=(V,E), two fixed vertices s,t∈V and a set F of pairs of vertices (called forbidden pairs), the problem of a path avoiding forbidden pairs is to find a path from s to t that contains at most one vertex from each pair in F. The problem is known to be NP-complete in general and a few restricted versions of the problem are known to be in P. We study the complexity of the problem for directed acyclic graphs with respect to the structure of the forbidden pairs.We write x?y if and only if there exists a path from x to y and we assume, without loss of generality, that for every forbidden pair (x,y)∈F we have x?y. The forbidden pairs have a halving structure if no two pairs (u,v),(x,y)∈F satisfy v?x or v=x and they have a hierarchical structure if no two pairs (u,v),(x,y)∈F satisfy u?x?v?y. We show that the PAFP problem is NP-hard even if the forbidden pairs have the halving structure and we provide a surprisingly simple and efficient algorithm for the PAFP problem with the hierarchical structure.     

DSC Study of Oxidation Induction Periods

A theory of the evaluation of kinetic parameters of induction periods for non-isothermal processes is outlined and a method to obtain the parameters from non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry measurements, based on the dependence of onset temperature of oxidation peak on heating rate, is presented. The applicability of the method is demonstrated on the study of oxidation induction periods of edible oils and polyolefines. In all cases, the parameters of an Arrhenius-like equation describing the temperature dependence of induction period have been obtained. It is shown that the method gives the parameters not affected by oxygen diffusion which are transferable to be used in modelling the non-isothermal induction periods where the effects of diffusion, heat transfer and evolution of reaction heat are explicitly involved. A method of estimating the residual stability after a thermooxidative stress of the material is suggested. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.