Selective ablation of photovoltaic materials with UV laser sources for monolithic interconnection of devices based on a-Si:H

Lasers are essential tools for cell isolation and monolithic interconnection in thin-film-silicon photovoltaic technologies. Laser ablation of transparent conductive oxides (TCOs), amorphous silicon structures and back contact removal are standard processes in industry for monolithic device interconnection. However, material ablation with minimum debris and small heat affected zone is one of the main difficulty is to achieve, to reduce costs and to improve device efficiency. In this paper we present recent results in laser ablation of photovoltaic materials using excimer and UV wavelengths of diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser sources. We discuss results concerning UV ablation of different TCO and thin-film silicon (a-Si:H and nc-Si:H), focussing our study on ablation threshold measurements and process-quality assessment using advanced optical microscopy techniques. In that way we show the advantages of using UV wavelengths for minimizing the characteristic material thermal affection of laser irradiation in the ns regime at higher wavelengths. Additionally we include preliminary results of selective ablation of film on film structures irradiating from the film side (direct writing configuration) including the problem of selective ablation of ZnO films on a-Si:H layers. In that way we demonstrate the potential use of UV wavelengths of fully commercial laser sources as an alternative to standard backscribing process in device fabrication.

Spatial visualization of DNA in solution.

An image analysis method is presented which allows for the reconstruction of the three-dimensional path of filamentous objects from two of their projections. Starting with stereo pairs, this method is used to trace the trajectory of DNA molecules embedded in vitreous ice and leads to a faithful representation of their three-dimensional shape in solution. This computer-aided reconstruction is superior to the subjective three-dimensional impression generated by observation of stereo pairs of micrographs because it enables one to look at the reconstructed molecules from any chosen direction and distance and allows quantitative analysis such as determination of distances, curvature, persistence length, and writhe of DNA molecules in solution.

Développement d'une solution orale pédiatrique de captopril

Introduction: Le captopril, inhibiteur de l'enzyme de conversion de l'angiotensine, est largement utilisé dans le traitement de l'hypertension artérielle et de l'insuffisance cardiaque chez l'adulte et l'enfant . De par son instabilité en milieu aqueux (oxydation en captopril disulfure), il n'est actuellement commercialisé que sous forme de comprimés. La prescription fréquente de doses faibles et variables en pédiatrie justifiait le développement d'une forme orale liquide, tant sur le plan pratique et économique, que sur celui de la sécurité d'administration. Cependant toutes les formulations orales liquides publiées présentent une stabilité courte, ne dépassant guère 1 mois. Objectif: Développer une forme orale liquide de captopril d'une stabilité d'au moins 6 mois. Méthode: Sur la base des données de la littérature, élaboration de 8 formulations liquides différentes de captopril 1 mg/ml (concentration permettant le prélèvement d'un volume adéquat pour une administration en pédiatrie). Mise au point d'une « stability indicating method » par HPLC par des tests de dégradation accélérée à la chaleur (100°C), en milieu acide, basique, en présence d'un agent oxydant et de la lumière. Sélection de la formulation la plus stable durant le premier mois. Etude de stabilité sur 2 ans de 3 lots (3 échantillons/lot) dans leur conditionnement final à température ambiante (TA), au frigo et à 40° ± 2°C. Contrôle microbiologique au début et à la fin de l'étude selon la méthode de la Ph. Eur. (Ed. 3). Résultats: La formule retenue est une solution aqueuse de captopril 1 mg/ml additionnée d'EDTA 1 mg/ml comme stabilisateur et conditionnée dans des flacons VERAL en verre brun de 60 ml. Après dégradation dans les conditions définies ci-dessus, le pic du captopril est nettement séparé sur les chromatogrammes de ceux des produits de dégradation. Après 2 ans, la concentration mesurée est de 104.6% (±0.32%) au frigo, 103.6% (±0.86%) à TA et 96.5 % (±0.02%) à 40°C. Aucune croissance n'a été observée sur la durée de l'étude. Discussion et conclusion: La solution de captopril 1 mg/ml mise au point est simple à préparer. En partant du principe actif pur et en présence d'EDTA comme complexant, les traces de métaux éventuellement présents n'induisent pas l'oxydation du captopril et par conséquent le recours à d'autres stabilisateurs n'est pas nécessaire. La méthode HPLC développée est une « stability indicating method ». Les résultats de l'étude ont montré que cette solution a une durée de validité de 2 ans au frigo et à TA. Compte tenu du fait que la préparation ne contient pas d'agent antimicrobien, une conservation au frigo (2 - 8°C) est toutefois recommandée. La formule proposée présente un réel avantage en pédiatrie tant sur le plan de la sécurité d'administration que sur celui de l'économie.

A Widely Used Machine Translation Service and its Migration to a Free/Open-Source Solution : the Case of Softcatalà

Softcatalà is a non-profit associationcreated more than 10 years ago to fightthe marginalisation of the Catalan languagein information and communicationtechnologies. It has led the localisationof many applications and thecreation of a website which allows itsusers to translate texts between Spanishand Catalan using an external closed-sourcetranslation engine. Recently,the closed-source translation back-endhas been replaced by a free/open-sourcesolution completely managed by Softcatalà: the Apertium machine translationplatform and the ScaleMT web serviceframework. Thanks to the opennessof the new solution, it is possibleto take advantage of the huge amount ofusers of the Softcatalà translation serviceto improve it, using a series ofmethods presented in this paper. In addition,a study of the translations requestedby the users has been carriedout, and it shows that the translationback-end change has not affected theusage patterns.

The continuous wavelet transform as a maximum entropy solution of the corresponding inverse problem

The continuous wavelet transform is obtained as a maximumentropy solution of the corresponding inverse problem. It is well knownthat although a signal can be reconstructed from its wavelet transform,the expansion is not unique due to the redundancy of continuous wavelets.Hence, the inverse problem has no unique solution. If we want to recognizeone solution as "optimal", then an appropriate decision criterion hasto be adopted. We show here that the continuous wavelet transform is an"optimal" solution in a maximum entropy sense.

Evaluation of Routing solution for Next Generation Open Platform

Verkkoon kytkettävien laitteiden määrä on lisääntynyt viime vuosina, joka luo tarpeen reitittimille ja niiden ominaisuuksille. On muodostunut uusi tarve laitteille, jotka voivat yhdistää erilaisia verkkoja toisiinsa. Tällaisen reitittimen rakentamiseen tarvitaan vakaa alusta. Tällaisella alustalla luodaan mahdollisuus kuormittaa järjestelmää ilman suuria ongelmia. Tällainen alusta on Open Platform, joka on suunniteltu tällaisille toiminnoille ja yhdessä oikeanlaisen verkkoratkaisun kanssa sitä voidaan käyttää sille suunnitellussa ympäristössä. Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on arvioida neljää eri reititysohjelmistoa ja kahta eri IP pinoa. Työssä käytetyt testit on suunniteltu arviointia varten ja niiden tarkoituksena on tuoda esille ohjelmistoissa esiintyvät viat ja ongelmat. Kaikki testit ovat samoja kaikille ohjelmille ja tehdään samassa ympäristössä. Testit analysoidaan niiden ajon jälkeen ja niiden tulosten avulla tehdään päätös mitä näistä ohjelmistoista tullaan käyttämään seuraavan sukupolven avoimella alustalla, joka tulee toimimaan Nokian Intelligent Service Nodessa. Tämä verkon laite toimii yhdyskäytävänäerilaisten verkkojen välillä.

CONSUMERS'ACCEPTANCE OF FRESH AND COMBINED METHODS PROCESSED MELON, MANGO AND CASHEW APPLE

Fresh and combined methods processed Cantaloupe melons, mangoes and cashew apples were submitted to consumers' acceptance and scored on a nine-point hedonic scale. Fruits were osmotically treated in sucrose syrup with two different concentrations of SO2. Overall acceptance, appearance, aroma, flavor and texture were evaluated. Fresh cashew apples received lower scores for acceptance than processed cashew apples while fresh mangoes were more acceptable than processed mangoes. Acceptance of fresh melons and processed melons was similar. Treatments of the tropical fruits with two different concentrations of SO2 did not demonstrate significant differences between the fruits tested.

Gold recovery from cyanideand chloride solution using activated carbon

Uusia keinoja kullan erottamiseksi malmista on etsitty viimeaikoina taloudellisista ja ympäristöllisistä syistä kautta maailman. Syanidointimenetelmä on hallinnut kullan talteenottoayli sata vuotta. Menetelmässä kulta liuotetaan laimeaan syanidiliuokseen, jostase otetaan talteen aktiivihiilen avulla. Syanidin käyttöä pyritään kuitenkin vähentämään sen myrkyllisyyden takia. Lisäksi nykyään louhitaan enenemässä määrin malmia, josta on hankala rikastaa kulta kustannustehokkaasti syanidia käyttäen. Kullan talteenottoa syanidi- ja kloridiliuoksesta on selvitetty kirjallisuuden avulla. Kullan kemiaan liuotuksen aikana on perehdytty ennen kullan talteenottoa aktiivihiilellä. Aktiivihiilen elinkaari kullan adsorbenttinaon käsitelty valmistuksesta hylkäämiseen mukaan lukien hiilen myrkyttyminen prosessissa ja regenerointi. Aktiivi-hiilen käyttäytyminen syanidi- ja kloridiliuoksessa on selvitetty erikseen. Kullan talteenottoa kuparipitoisista malmeista on käsitelty. Kullan talteenottoa kloridiliuoksesta aktiivihiiltä käyttäen on tutkittu kokeellisesti. Pääasialliset tutkimuskohteet ovat adsorption kinetiikka, kuparin vaikutus adsorptioon, aktiivihiilen vaikutus adsorptioonja adsorboituneiden metallien strippaus hiilestä selektiivisesti. Hapettavan stippauksen vaikutus kullan desorptioon hiilestä on tutkittu yksityiskohtaisesti. Kullan erotusmenetelmät kuparimalmista aktiivihiiltä käyttäen on selvitetty diplomityön tulosten pohjalta. Diplomityön keskeisten tulosten perusteella kulta ei välttämättä saostu aktiivihiilen pinnalle kloridiliuoksesta. Havainto varmistettiin ladattujen hiilipartikkelien pyyhkäisyelektronimikroskooppikuvista ja partikkeleille tehdyistä mikroanalyyseistä. Kullan pelkistyminen metalliseksi kullaksi aktiivihiilessä voitaneen välttää käyttämällä erittäin hapettavia olosuhteita. Aktiivihiili ilmeisesti hapettuu näissä olosuhteissa, mikä mahdollistaa kultakloridin adsorboitumisen hiileen.

A prospective, randomized, and controlled study of fluid management in children with severe head injury: lactated Ringer's solution versus hypertonic saline.

OBJECTIVES: Resuscitation in severe head injury may be detrimental when given with hypotonic fluids. We evaluated the effects of lactated Ringer's solution (sodium 131 mmol/L, 277 mOsm/L) compared with hypertonic saline (sodium 268 mmol/L, 598 mOsm/L) in severely head-injured children over the first 3 days after injury. DESIGN: An open, randomized, and prospective study. SETTING: A 16-bed pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) (level III) at a university children's hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 35 consecutive children with head injury. INTERVENTIONS: Thirty-two children with Glasgow Coma Scores of <8 were randomly assigned to receive either lactated Ringer's solution (group 1) or hypertonic saline (group 2). Routine care was standardized, and included the following: head positioning at 30 degrees; normothermia (96.8 degrees to 98.6 degrees F [36 degrees to 37 degrees C]); analgesia and sedation with morphine (10 to 30 microg/kg/hr), midazolam (0.2 to 0.3 mg/kg/hr), and phenobarbital; volume-controlled ventilation (PaCO2 of 26.3 to 30 torr [3.5 to 4 kPa]); and optimal oxygenation (PaO2 of 90 to 105 torr [12 to 14 kPa], oxygen saturation of >92%, and hematocrit of >0.30). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Mean arterial pressure and intracranial pressure (ICP) were monitored continuously and documented hourly and at every intervention. The means of every 4-hr period were calculated and serum sodium concentrations were measured at the same time. An ICP of 15 mm Hg was treated with a predefined sequence of interventions, and complications were documented. There was no difference with respect to age, male/female ratio, or initial Glasgow Coma Score. In both groups, there was an inverse correlation between serum sodium concentration and ICP (group 1: r = -.13, r2 = .02, p < .03; group 2: r = -.29, r2 = .08, p < .001) that disappeared in group 1 and increased in group 2 (group 1: r = -.08, r2 = .01, NS; group 2: r = -.35, r2 =.12, p < .001). Correlation between serum sodium concentration and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) became significant in group 2 after 8 hrs of treatment (r = .2, r2 = .04, p = .002). Over time, ICP and CPP did not significantly differ between the groups. However, to keep ICP at <15 mm Hg, group 2 patients required significantly fewer interventions (p < .02). Group 1 patients received less sodium (8.0 +/- 4.5 vs. 11.5 +/- 5.0 mmol/kg/day, p = .05) and more fluid on day 1 (2850 +/- 1480 vs. 2180 +/- 770 mL/m2, p = .05). They also had a higher frequency of acute respiratory distress syndrome (four vs. 0 patients, p = .1) and more than two complications (six vs. 1 patient, p = .09). Group 2 patients had significantly shorter ICU stay times (11.6 +/- 6.1 vs. 8.0 +/- 2.4 days; p = .04) and shorter mechanical ventilation times (9.5 +/- 6.0 vs. 6.9 +/- 2.2 days; p = .1). The survival rate and duration of hospital stay were similar in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of severe head injury with hypertonic saline is superior to that treatment with lactated Ringer's solution. An increase in serum sodium concentrations significantly correlates with lower ICP and higher CPP. Children treated with hypertonic saline require fewer interventions, have fewer complications, and stay a shorter time in the ICU.

Tuning the design procedures for laser processed microwave mechanics

This research has been focused at the development of a tuned systematic design methodology, which gives the best performance in a computer aided environment and utilises a cross-technological approach, specially tested with and for laser processed microwave mechanics. A tuned design process scheme is also presented. Because of the currently large production volumes of microwave and radio frequency mechanics even slight improvements of design methodologies or manufacturing technologies would give reasonable possibilities for cost reduction. The typical number of required iteration cycles could be reduced to one fifth of normal. The research area dealing with the methodologies is divided firstly into a function-oriented, a performance-oriented or a manufacturability-oriented product design. Alternatively various approaches can be developed for a customer-oriented, a quality-oriented, a cost-oriented or an organisation-oriented design. However, the real need for improvements is between these two extremes. This means that the effective methodology for the designers should not be too limited (like in the performance-oriented design) or too general (like in the organisation-oriented design), but it should, include the context of the design environment. This is the area where the current research is focused. To test the developed tuned design methodology for laser processing (TDMLP) and the tuned optimising algorithm for laser processing (TOLP), seven different industrial product applications for microwave mechanics have been designed, CAD-modelled and manufactured by using laser in small production series. To verify that the performance of these products meets the required level and to ensure the objectiveness ofthe results extensive laboratory tests were used for all designed prototypes. As an example a Ku-band horn antenna can be laser processed from steel in 2 minutes at the same time obtaining a comparable electrical performance of classical aluminium units or the residual resistance of a laser joint in steel could be limited to 72 milliohmia.

Comprehensive Study of Crystal Growth from Solution

Crystal growth is an essential phase in crystallization kinetics. The rate of crystal growth provides significant information for the design and control of crystallization processes; nevertheless, obtaining accurate growth rate data is still challenging due to a number of factors that prevail in crystal growth. In industrial crystallization, crystals are generally grown from multi-componentand multi-particle solutions under complicated hydrodynamic conditions; thus, it is crucial to increase the general understanding of the growth kinetics in these systems. The aim of this work is to develop a model of the crystal growth rate from solution. An extensive literature review of crystal growth focuses on themodelling of growth kinetics and thermodynamics, and new measuring techniques that have been introduced in the field of crystallization. The growth of a singlecrystal is investigated in binary and ternary systems. The binary system consists of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP, crystallizing solute) and water (solvent), and the ternary system includes KDP, water and an organic admixture. The studied admixtures, urea, ethanol and 1-propanol, are employed at relatively highconcentrations (of up to 5.0 molal). The influence of the admixtures on the solution thermodynamics is studied using the Pitzer activity coefficient model. Theprediction method of the ternary solubility in the studied systems is introduced and verified. The growth rate of the KDP (101) face in the studied systems aremeasured in the growth cell as a function of supersaturation, the admixture concentration, the solution velocity over a crystal and temperature. In addition, the surface morphology of the KDP (101) face is studied using ex situ atomic force microscopy (AFM). The crystal growth rate in the ternary systems is modelled on the basis of the two-step growth model that contains the Maxwell-Stefan (MS) equations and a surface-reaction model. This model is used together with measuredcrystal growth rate data to develop a new method for the evaluation of the model parameters. The validation of the model is justified with experiments. The crystal growth rate in an imperfectly mixed suspension crystallizer is investigatedusing computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A solid-liquid suspension flow that includes multi-sized particles is described by the multi-fluid model as well as by a standard k-epsilon turbulence model and an interface momentum transfer model. The local crystal growth rate is determined from calculated flow information in a diffusion-controlled crystal growth regime. The calculated results are evaluated experimentally.

On reduced games and the lexmax solution

For a family of reduced games satisfying a monotonicity property, we introduced the reduced equal split-off set, an extension of the equal split-off set (Branzei et. al, 2006), and study its relation with the core. Regardless of the reduction operation we consider, the intersection between both sets is either empty or a singleton containing the lexmax solution (Arin et al., 2008). We also provide a procedure for computing the lexmax solution for a class of games that includes games with large core (Sharkey, 1982). [JEL Classification: C71]