Time and cost performance of design–build projects

The design-build (DB) delivery method has been widely used in the United States due to its reputed superior cost and time performance. However, rigorous studies have produced inconclusive support and only in terms of overall results, with few attempts being made to relate project characteristics with performance levels. This paper provides a larger and more finely grained analysis of a set of 418 DB projects from the online project database of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), in terms of the time-overrun rate (TOR), early start rate (ESR), early completion rate (ECR) and cost overrun rate (COR) associated with project type (e.g., commercial/institutional buildings and civil infrastructure projects), owners (e.g., Department of Defense and private corporations), procurement methods (e.g., ‘best value with discussion’ and qualifications-based selection), contract methods (e.g., lump sum and GMP) and LEED levels (e.g., gold and silver). The results show ‘best value with discussion’ to be the dominant procurement method and lump sum the most frequently used contract method. The DB method provides relatively good time performance, with more than 75% of DB projects completed on time or before schedule. However, with more than 50% of DB projects cost overrunning, the DB advantage of cost saving remains uncertain. ANOVA tests indicate that DB projects within different procurement methods have significantly different time performance and that different owner types and contract methods significantly affect cost performance. In addition to contributing to empirical knowledge concerning the cost and time performance of DB projects with new solid evidence from a large sample size, the findings and practical implications of this study are beneficial to owners in understanding the likely schedule and budget implications involved for their particular project characteristics.

Synthesis, Binding and Bioactivity of [gamma]-Methylene [gamma]-Lactam Ecdysone Receptor Ligands: Advantages of QSAR Models for Flexible Receptors

Nuclear hormone receptors, such as the ecdysone receptor, often display a large amount of induced fit to ligands. The size and shape of the binding pocket in the EcR subunit changes markedly on ligand binding, making modelling methods such as docking extremely challenging. It is, however, possible to generate excellent 3D QSAR models for a given type of ligand, suggesting that the receptor adopts a relatively restricted number of binding site configurations or [`]attractors'. We describe the synthesis, in vitro binding and selected in vivo toxicity data for [gamma]-methylene [gamma]-lactams, a new class of high-affinity ligands for ecdysone receptors from Bovicola ovis (Phthiraptera) and Lucilia cuprina (Diptera). The results of a 3D QSAR study of the binding of methylene lactams to recombinant ecdysone receptor protein suggest that this class of ligands is indeed recognized by a single conformation of the EcR binding pocket.

Electrical Contact Resistance in Thin (<= 0.5 mu m) Gold Plated Contacts: Effect of Gold Plating Thickness

This paper describes the electrical contact resistance (ECR) measurements made on thin gold plated (gold plating of <= 0.5 mu m with a Ni underlayer of similar to 2 mu m) oxygen free high conductivity (OFHC) Cu contacts in vacuum environment. ECR in gold plated OFHC Cu contacts is found to be slightly higher than that in bare OFHC Cu contacts. Even though gold is a softer material than copper, the relatively high ECR values observed in gold plated contacts are mainly due to the higher hardness and electrical resistivity of the underlying Ni layer. It is well known that ECR is directly related to plating factor, which increases with increasing coating thickness when the electrical resistivity of coating material is more than that of substrate. Surprisingly, in the present case it is found that the ECR decreases with increasing gold layer thickness on OFHC Cu substrate (gold has higher electrical resistivity than OFHC Cu). It is analytically demonstrated from the topography and microhardness measurements results that this peculiar behavior is associated with thin gold platings, where the changes in surface roughness and microhardness with increasing layer thickness overshadow the effect of plating factor on ECR.

Synthesis of free standing carbon nanosheet using electron cyclotron resonance plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Carbon nanosheets (CNSs) have been synthesized by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using a mixture of acetylene and argon gases on copper foil as the substrate. Micrometer-wide carbon sheets consisting of several atomic layers thick graphene sheets have been synthesized by controlled decomposition of carbon radicals in ECR-PECVD. Raman spectroscopy of these films revealed characteristics of a disordered graphitic sheet. Thick folded carbon-sheets and a semi transparent freestanding CNSs have been observed by scanning electron microscopy. This is a promising technique to synthesize free standing CNSs and can be used in the fabrication of nanoelecronic devices in future. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simultaneous measurement of mechanical and electrical contact resistances during nanoindentation of NiTi shape memory alloys

The nanoindentation technique can be employed in shape memory alloys (SMAs) to discern the transformation temperatures as well as to characterize their mechanical behavior. In this paper, we use it with simultaneous measurements of the mechanical and the electrical contact resistances (ECR) at room temperature to probe two SMAs: austenite (RTA) and martensite (RTM). Two different types of indenter tips - Berkovich and spherical - are employed to examine the SMAs' indentation responses as a function of the representative strain, epsilon(R). In Berkovich indentation, because of the sharp nature of the tip, and in consequence the high levels of strain imposed, discerning the two SMAs on the basis of the indentation response alone is difficult. In the case of the spherical tip, epsilon(R) is systematically varied and its effect on the depth recovery ratio, eta(d), is examined. Results indicate that RTA has higher eta(d) than RTM, but the difference decreases with increasing epsilon(R) such that eta(d) values for both the alloys would be similar in the fully plastic regime. The experimental trends in eta(d) vs. epsilon(R) for both the alloys could be described well with a eta(d) proportional to (epsilon(R))(-1) type equation, which is developed on the basis of a phenomenological model. This fit, in turn, directs us to the maximum epsilon(R), below which plasticity underneath the indenter would not mask the differences in the two SMAs. It was demonstrated that the ECR measurements complement the mechanical measurements in demarcating the reverse transformation from martensite to austenite during unloading of RTA, wherein a marked increase in the voltage was noted. A correlation between recovery due to reverse transformation during unloading and increase in voltage (and hence the electrical resistance) was found. (C) 2013 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of hydrogen dilution on the deposition of carbon-rich a-SiC:H films by the electron cyclotron resonance method

The deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) films from a mixture of silane, acetylene and hydrogen gas using the electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapour deposition (ECR-CVD) process is reported. The variation in the deposition and film characteristics such as the deposition rate, optical band gap and IR absorption as a function of the hydrogen dilution is investigated. The deposition rate increases to a maximum value of about 250 Å min-1 at a hydrogen dilution ratio of about 20 (hydrogen flow (sccm)/acetylene + silane flow (sccm)) and decreases in response to a further increase in the hydrogen dilution. There is no strong dependence of the optical band gap on the hydrogen dilution within the dilution range investigated (10-60) and the optical band gap calculated from the E04 method varied marginally from about 2.85 to 3.17 eV. The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) peak energy and intensity showed a prominent shift to a maximum value of about 2.17 eV corresponding to maximum PL intensity at a moderate hydrogen dilution of about 30. The PL intensity showed a strong dependence on the hydrogen dilution variation.

Evaluación de la base de recursos naturales de Nicaragua y estudios de casos de su uso en la producción y exportación de cultivos

Este es un estudio de la base de recursos naturales de Nicaragua con un énfasis especial en algunos cultivos agrícolas. Los objetivos del estudio fueron los siguientes: 1) Evaluar si la exportación de café refinado en vez de café verde (oro) seria más favorable para Nicaragua, y 2) evaluar la rentabilidad económica y capacidad de carga ecológica para cultivos de importancia en la agricultura tropical. Las metodologías de Síntesis de Emergía (SE), Estimación de Costos y Rentabili dad (ECR) y Huella Ecológica (HE) fueron usadas con el objetivo de investigar si los resultados obtenidos diferían entre si, debido a los distintos objetivos, marco teórico y diferencias en limites de sistema de estos tres métodos. La relación de intercambio de emergla (RIE) para las exportaciones de café entre Nicaragua y las naciones de mayor desarrollo económico indica que el comercio no fue favorable para Nicaragua, ya que el país exporta mucha más riqueza real (medida en emergía) en el café, que lo que importa con el dinero recibido por el café y de esa manera el país está agotando sus recursos naturales locales. Estos resultados concuerdan con los índices de emergía calculados a nivel nacional (porcentaje de renovables, relación exportaciones a importaciones, relación emergía a dinero, relación de carga ambiental e índice de sostenibilidad). En cuanto al uso de las metodologías de Síntesis de Emergía, Estimación de Costos y Rentabilidad y Huella Ecológica en los diferentes cultivos, el estudio indicó que los cultivos de repollo (Brassica o/earaceae L. var. capitata) y tomate (Lycopersicum escu/entum L. Mili) fueron los cultivos más rentables, tanto en términos económicos como de emergía. El cultivo de café (Coffea arabica L.) fue el menos rentable. Cuando la sostenibilidad se midió como capacidad de carga ecológica, los cultivos de frijol (Phaseolus vulgaris, L.), café y maíz (Zea mays L.) fueron los más sostenibles. La comparación de resultados de las metodologías de Síntesis de Emergía, Estimación de Costos y Rentabilidad y Huella Ecológica indican la pobre coherencia entre la rentabilidad económica a corto plazo y la sostenibilidad ecológica de largo plazo. Ningún método o índice fue capaz de contestar todas las preguntas e incluir todos los aspectos. Sin embargo, se encontró que la metodologfa de Sintesis de Emergía y su perspectiva teórica es una herramienta más amplia y que proporciona mayor información sobre el balance entre la sostenibilidad ecológica de largo plazo y rantabilidad económica que los otros dos métodos usados. El método de slntesis de emergla puede ser usado para evaluar la sostenibilidad total de un pals y proporcionar una base para proponer cambios en politicas de comercio.

高饱和电流14xx nm应变量子阱激光器的研制

报道了14xx nm应变量子阱(SQW)激光器管芯的研制成果。通过金属有机化学气相沉积(MOCVD)生长工艺生长14xx nm AlGaInAs/AlInAs/InP应变量子阱外延片，采用带有锥形增益区的脊型波导结构制作激光器管芯。生长好的外延片按照双沟脊型波导激光器制备工艺进行光刻、腐蚀，制作P面电极(溅射TiPtAu)、减薄、制作N面电极(蒸发AuGeNi)，然后将试验片解理成Bar；为获得高的单面输出功率，用电子回旋共振等离子体化学气相沉积(ECR)进行腔面镀膜，HR=90%，AR=5%；解理成的管芯P面朝下烧结到铜热沉上，TO3封装后在激光器综合测试仪进行测试。管芯功率达到440 mW以上，饱和电流3 A以上，峰值波长1430 nm，远场发散角为40°×14°。

InP衬底表面的H_2/N_2等离子体清洁技术

该文介绍了用电子回旋共振(ECR)H_2/N_2等离子体去除InP衬底表面的氧、碳原子的方法，并保持了InP衬底表面原有的有序结构，给出了这种处理方法的工艺条件，对这种方法的优越性进行了系统的分析和讨论，得出了一些有价值的结论。

Applications of dielectric thin film by electron cyclotron resonance plasma chemical vapor deposition for semiconductor photoelectronic devices

The paper reports a method of depositing SiO2, SiNx, a:Si, Si3N4 and SiOxNy dielectric thin films by electron cyclotron resonance plasma chemical vapor deposition (ECR CVD) on InP, InGaAs and other compound semiconductor optoelectronic devices,and give a technology of depositing dielectric thin films and optical coatings by ECR CVD on Laser's Bars. The experiment results show the dielectric thin films and optical coatings are stable at thermomechanical property,optical properties and the other properties. In addition, the dielectric thin film deposition that there is low leakage current is reported for using as diffusion and ion implatation masks in the paper. In the finally, the dielectric film refractive index can be accurately controlled by the N-2/O-2/Ar gas flow rate.

混合离子加速技术在单粒子效应试验中的应用

基于电子回旋共振(ECR)离子源的混合离子加速(CBA)技术,使回旋加速器可以快速地更换所加速离子的种类和能量,从而在单粒子效应敏感度评估以及探测器标定等方面发挥更大的作用。文章比较详细地阐述了混合离子加速技术原理及其在单粒子效应试验研究中的应用,并指出荷质比(q/A)的分辨率是精确引出所需离子的关键;增加引出圈数,可以提高不同离子间的相位差;改进ECR的注入措施,可以缩短更换离子种类的时间。

离子与原子碰撞多体动力学过程成像研究

分析了反冲离子动量谱仪的成像原理,较详细地讨论了成像探测器技术、反冲离子和电子飞行时间谱仪、超声气体装置和均匀约束磁场等技术的要求和特点,介绍了在中国科学院近代物理研究所ECR离子源原子物理束流线上建造的反冲离子动量成像谱仪.给出了在该谱仪上首次实验测量的部分结果,得到了30keVHe2+离子与He原子碰撞反应中单电子俘获的末态分布截面,发现在本实验能区,单电子俘获到第一激发态是主要反应道;测量到的角微分截面结果表明,基态电子俘获发生在大碰撞参数,激发态单电子俘获主要发生在小碰撞参数的情况下;这些结果是由亚飞秒碰撞过程成像技术取得的.最后讨论了反应成像谱仪在其他领域中的潜在应用前景.