Thermal stability and crystallisation of a Zr55Cu30Al10Ni5 bulk metallic glass studied by in situ ultrasonic echography

An original in situ ultrasonic echography technique was used to study the thermal stability and crystallisation of a Zr₅₅Cu₃₀Al₁₀Ni₅ bulk metallic glass between RT and 630 °C. Changes in Young's modulus with temperature were reported allowing to study the supercooled-liquid state and the crystallisation process. Investigations of viscoelastic properties gave information on the correlation factor (hierarchically correlated motion theory) and three distinct crystallisation stages were observed. Their kinetics were studied using Voigt's and Reuss' approximations for a two-phase material and comparisons with the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov theory allowed us to consider a mixed surface/internal nucleation for the first stage and a surface nucleation for the two last stages.     

Plasma lipid peroxides in the operation of esophageal cancer]

Lipid peroxides are formed by autooxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids found primarily in cell membranes. An increase level of lipid peroxides in the tissue therefore reflects membrane damage. We reported that water immersion restraint rats caused significant increase of gastric mucosal lipid peroxide which reflected on gastric mucosal injury. The gastric mucosal injury is also known as the post-operative complication due to physical stress. So we studied plasma lipid peroxide and its related substances in the operation of esophageal cancer. Lipid peroxide levels increased significantly in pre- and post-operation but temporal decrease was found during the operation. Vitamin E is thought to be an important structural component of biologic membranes and is believed to act as a free radical scavenger in lipid peroxidation. Vitamin E also increased in the patients of esophageal cancer and decreased significantly during the operation. Superoxide dismutase changed frequently during the operation but there was no deficit tendency in its changes. Catalase levels also changes frequently and showed temporal but statistical elevation after the operation. These results indicated that lipid peroxidation may contribute to the development of organic damage in the operation of esophageal cancer.     

An InGaAs/InAlAs superlattice avalanche photodiode with a gain bandwidth product of 90 GHz

The authors describe the fabrication of an InGaAs/InAlAs superlattice avalanche photodiode with a gain-bandwidth product of 90 GHz. The device is composed of an InGaAs/InAlAs superlattice multiplication region and an InGaAs photoabsorption layer. The effect of the superlattice multiplication region thickness on the gain-bandwidth product was studied. A gain-bandwidth product of 90 GHz was obtained for the device with a multiplication region thickness of 0.52 mu m. Low noise performance is compatible with the high gain-bandwidth product due to improvement of the ionization rate ratio made by introducing a superlattice structure into the multiplication region.<>     

Active-passive power circuit

The recent development of a semiconductor device technology realizes small-size, lightweight, high performance power switching devices. However, reactive elements such as an inductor or a PWM inverter achieves high-performance current control, which is applied to the active filter, and so on [2, 4]. If a compact and high efficient reactive component is developed, the power converter technology may drastically change the application field. In this paper, the concept of variable active-passive reactance (VAPAR) which consists of an inverter and passive elements is proposed. The VAPAR behaves like a two-terminal reactive element and the produced active reactance component works as a passive reactive component, including in transient state. The principle of VAPAR and two possible control schemes to realize VAPAR are realized. Through simulations and experiments, it is verified that VAPAR shows reactive characteristics not only in steady state, but also in transient state, as proposed, and basic characteristics of both control schemes are clarified.     

Development of a rapid assay for detecting gyrA mutations in Escherichia coli and determination of incidence of gyrA mutations in clinical strains isolated from patients with complicated urinary tract infections

The MICs of ofloxacin for 743 strains of Escherichia coli isolated from 1988 to 1994 were determined by testing. The strains were from patients with urinary tract infections complicated by functional or anatomical disorders of the urinary tract. Those determined to be ofloxacin resistant (MIC, > or =12.5 microg/ml) comprised 3 of 395 strains (1.3%) from the 1988 to 1990 group, 2 of 166 strains (1.2%) from the 1991 to 1992 group, and 7 of 182 strains (3.8%) from the 1993 to 1994 group. The incidence of resistant strains increased significantly during this period. The percentage of isolates with moderately decreased susceptibilities to ofloxacin (MIC, 0.39 to 3.13 microg/ml) also rose during the same period. To determine the incidence of gyrA mutations in urinary-tract-derived strains of E. coli, we developed a simple and rapid assay based on PCR amplification of the region of the gyrA gene containing the mutation sites followed by digestion of the PCR product with a restriction enzyme. Using this assay, we examined all 182 strains isolated in 1993 and 1994 for the presence of mutations at Ser-83 and Asp-87 in the gyrA gene. Of these strains, 33 (18.1%) had mutations in the gyrA gene. The incidences of mutations at Ser-83, at Asp-87, and at both codons were 10.4 (19 strains), 4.4 (8 strains), and 3.3% (6 strains), respectively. To determine the correlation of the mutations in the gyrA gene with susceptibilities to quinolones (nalidixic acid, ofloxacin, norfloxacin, and ciprofloxacin), we further examined 116 strains for which the MICs of ofloxacin were > or =0.2 microg/ml that were chosen from the isolates in the 1988 to 1992 group. The MICs of nalidixic acid for the strains without mutations at either Ser-83 or Asp-87 were < or =25 microg/ml, whereas those for the strains with single mutations or double mutations were from 50 to >800 microg/ml. For the fluoroquinolones, significant differences in the distributions of the MICs were observed among the strains without mutations, with single mutations, and with double mutations. The accumulation of mutations in the gyrA gene was associated with an increase in fluoroquinolone resistance. Ofloxacin MICs for the majority of the strains with single and double mutations were 0.39 to 3.13 and 6.25 to 100 microg/ml, respectively. This study demonstrates a chronological increase in the percentage of not only highly fluoroquinolone-resistant strains, corresponding to those with double mutations in the gyrA gene, but also strains with moderately decreased susceptibilities to fluoroquinolones, corresponding to those with single mutations. This increase in the incidence of strains with a single mutation in the gyrA gene portends a further increase in the incidence of strains with clinically significant resistance to fluoroquinolones.     

Observation of low-chirp modulation in InGaAs-InAlAs multiple-quantum-well optical modulators under 30 GHz

Modulated light spectra were measured in long-wavelength InGaAs-InAlAs multiple-quantum-well intensity modulators under 30-GHz large-signal modulations. The linewidth broadening factor alpha is determined from the relation between the intensity modulation index and the sideband strength relative to the carrier. The minimum alpha value is estimated to be 0.70 at 1.54 mu m, which is almost the same as the lowest value so far reported in a bulk Franz-Keldysh modulator. This is significantly lower than what is obtained from direct-intensity modulation of injection lasers, making this a useful device for application to high-bit-rate long-haul optical communication systems.<>     

Mechanical properties of amorphous alloy compacts prepared by different consolidation techniques

Amorphous alloy compacts of Fe₇₈B₁₃Si₉ prepared by three different techniques (explosive consolidation, high hydrostatic pressure consolidation and warm extrusion) were deformed in compression between 573 and 723 K at a strain rate ranging from 8.3×10^–5–4.2×10^–4s^–1. Explosively consolidated compacts had high strength ranging from 1.9–2.5 GPa below 623 K and could be plastically deformed to a strain of more than 50% at 673 K while preserving the amorphous state. Amorphous alloy compacts prepared by high hydrostatic pressure consolidation showed lower compressive strength. Those produced by warm extrusion were anisotropic in strength, the highest strength being as high as 2.74 GPa. It was also found that the geometry of the starting powders had a profound effect on the strength of the product compacts. Compacts prepared from flaky powders were stronger than those prepared from spherical ones. It is concluded that the mechanical properties of the amorphous alloy compacts depend on the consolidation technique, powder geometry and surface conditions of the powders, especially existence of oxide films.     

Managing networks of communities of practice for organizational knowledge creation A Knowledge Management imperative in the era of globalization

This article explores some imperatives of Knowledge Management for organizational knowledge creation in the era of globalization. As the transformation of Knowledge Management practices of Japanese firms in 1990s shows, Nonaka and TakeuchVs original model of organizational knowledge creation needs to be expanded by incorporating the concept of “community of practice” as the “engine” of knowledge creation. As an attempt for such expansion, it proposes a model of knowledge-creating organization as a self-organizing network of interactive, overlapping, and self-managing communities of practice. This article also explores some organizational conditions and managerial implications to prevent “malfunction” of communities of practice in the threats of globalization and to facilitate their dynamic evolution. Knowledge-creating organizations and their managers need to give due recognition to and support for “differences” that exist not only among diverse communities of practices but also within each communities. At a micro level approach, they need to “empower” community members by encouraging “ story-telling” or “narrative” of members’ lives in the communities and by assuring “transparency” of activities and resources to the members. As a macro level approach, they need to develop a “communitarian” organizational structure that fits to organizational knowledge creation in “multiculturalization” of societies.     

Long wavelength waveguide multiple quantum well optical modulators

The first measurements of large anisotropic modulation of long-wavelength light with a large on/off ratio and low driving voltage propagating along the plane of InGaAs/InAlAs multiple quantum well (MQW) structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are reported. Photocurrent response and optical modulation of waveguide pin diodes is measured for incident light polarization parallel and perpendicular to the MQW layers emitting from a color center laser. The incident-light power and wavelength dependence of on/off ratio are also determined.     

Ubiquitous Memories: a memory externalization system using physical objects

In this paper we propose an object-triggered human memory augmentation system named “Ubiquitous Memories” that enables a user to directly associate his/her experience data with physical objects by using a “touching” operation. A user conceptually encloses his/her experiences gathered through sense organs into physical objects by simply touching an object. The user can also disclose and re-experience for himself/herself the experiences accumulated in an object by the same operation. We implemented a prototype system composed basically of a radio frequency identification (RFID) device. Physical objects are also attached to RFID tags. We conducted two experiments. The first experiment confirms a succession of the “encoding specificity principle,” which is well known in the research field of psychology, to the Ubiquitous Memories system. The second experiment aims at a clarification of the system’s characteristics by comparing the system with other memory externalization strategies. The results show the Ubiquitous Memories system is effective for supporting memorization and recollection of contextual events.