On the Fundamental Polymer Chemistry of Inverse Vulcanization for Statistical and Segmented Copolymers from Elemental Sulfur

In this concept review, the fundamental and polymerization chemistry of inverse vulcanization for the preparation of statistical and segmented sulfur copolymers, which have been actively developed and advanced in various applications over the past decade is discussed. This concept review delves into a discussion of step-growth polymerization constructs to describe the inverse vulcanization process and discuss prepolymer approaches for the synthesis of segmented sulfur polyurethanes. Furthermore, this concept review discusses the advantages of inverse vulcanization in conjunction with dynamic covalent polymerization and post-polymerization modifications to prepare segmented block copolymers with enhanced thermomechanical and flame retardant properties of these materials.     

Development of Stretch Solder Interconnections for Wafer Level Packaging

A wafer level packaging technique has been developed with an inherent advantage of good solder joint co-planarity suitable for wafer level testing. A suitable weak metallization scheme has also been established for the detachment process. During the fabrication process, the compliancy of the solder joint is enhanced through stretching to achieve a small shape factor. Thermal cycling reliability of these hourglass-shaped, stretch solder interconnections has been found to be considerably better than that of the conventional spherical-shaped solder bumps.     

Disaster recovery planning in an automated manufacturingenvironment

Disasters may strike at any moment in any location. When they do, no distinction is made about the type of firm that is being affected, whether it is a bank or a manufacturing plant. Most firms do not plan for possible disasters, and those that do have typically focused on computer and data contingency planning. In this paper, the focus is shifted to incorporate disaster recovery planning for manufacturing enterprises, especially those that are automated. Automated manufacturing enterprises have characteristics that put them at an increased risk to disasters. The methodological framework proposed in this paper will aid manufacturing organizations and their managers in reducing the risks associated with unanticipated disasters. The framework is termed the “Manufacturing Operations Recovery and Resumption” model. Recommended activities and tools for effective management of this methodology are identified     

Integrating long-term care insurance purchase decisions with saving and investment for retirement

Risk related to long-term care (LTC) is high for the elderly. Planning for LTC is now regarded as the ‘third leg’ of retirement planning. In this paper, planning for LTC is integrated with saving and investment decisions for an integrated approach to retirement planning. Optimal LTC insurance purchase decisions are obtained by developing a trade-off between post-retirement LTC costs and LTC insurance premiums paid and coverage received. Integrating insurance purchase with wealth evolution, consisting of saving and investment decisions, allows addressing affordability issues.Two-way branching models are used for the stochastic health events and asset returns. The problem, formulated as a nonlinearly constrained mixed-integer optimization problem, is solved using a heuristic. Sensitivity analyses are performed for initial health and wealth status. Some important aspects of an individual’s behavioral preferences are also addressed in this framework to provide more robust decision support.     

Plasma immersion ion implantation for SOI synthesis: SIMOX and ion-cut

We have demonstrated feasibility to form silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates using plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) for both separation by implantation of oxygen and ion-cut. This high throughput technique can substantially lower the high cost of SOI substrates due to the simpler implanter design as well as ease of maintenance. For separation by plasma implantation of oxygen wafers, secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis and cross-sectional transmission electron micrographs show continuous buried oxide formation under a single-crystal silicon overlayer with sharp Si/SiO₂ interfaces after oxygen plasma implantation and high-temperature (1300°C) annealing. Ion-cut SOI wafer fabrication technique is implemented for the first time using PIII. The hydrogen plasma can be optimized so that only one ion species is dominant in concentration and there are minimal effects by other residual ions on the ion-cut process. The physical mechanism of hydrogen induced silicon surface layer cleavage has been investigated. An ideal gas law model of the microcavity internal pressure combined with a two-dimensional finite element fracture mechanics model is used to approximate the fracture driving force which is sufficient to overcome the silicon fracture resistance.     

Fabrication and characteristics of tapes and test magnets made from Ag-Clad Bi-2223 superconductors

Pb_0.4Bi_1.8Sr₂Ca_2.2Cu₃O_x (Bi-2223) precursor powder was prepared by a solid-state reaction of carbonates and oxides of lead, bismuth, strontium, calcium, and copper, and the powder was then used to fabricate silver-clad tapes by the powder-in-tube technique. Transport critical current density (J_c) values>4×10⁴ A/cm² at 77K and 2×10⁵ A/cm² at 4.2 and 27K have been achieved in short tape samples. Long lengths of tape were tested by winding them into pancake coils. Recently, we fabricated a test magnet by stacking ten pancake coils, each containing three 16m lengths of rolled tape, and tested it at 4.2, 27 and 77K. A maximum generated field of 2.6 T was measured in zero applied field at 4.2K and the test magnet generated significant self-field in background fields up to 20 T. The results are discussed in this paper.     

Synthesis of orthogonal end functionalized oligoethylene glycols of defined lengths

The synthesis of oligoethylene glycols of defined lengths possessing different end functionalities is described. The utility of these molecules towards the development of a generic membrane anchor is demonstrated.     

Distribution of the lifetime of consecutive k-within-m-out-of-n:F systems

The distribution of the lifetime (MTTF) of any consecutive k -within-m-out-of-n:F system, with independent exponentially distributed component lifetimes, is shown to be a convex combination of the distributions (MTTFs) of several convolutions of independent random variables, where each convolution represents a distinct path in the evolution of the system's history, and where in each convolution all but the last random variable is exponential. The last random variable in each convolution is either a zero lifetime or the lifetime of several disjoint consecutive k_i within m_i-out-of-n:F systems in series with each k_i<k, each m_i<m, and each n_i<n. This enables the calculations to proceed recursively. Calculations are facilitated by the symmetric nature of the convex combination