Improving reuse of semiconductor equipment through benchmarking, standardization, and automation

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-92).The 6D program at Intel® Corporation was set up to improve operations around capital equipment reuse, primarily in their semiconductor manufacturing facilities. The company was faced with a number of challenges, including differing work flows across multiple locations, lack of centralized work flow management, discontinuous inventory information, and other opportunities for cost reduction. The internship was set up to benchmark and explore potential for integration of best known methods, accumulated both inside and outside the company. Based on interviews, research and quantitative analysis, opportunities were identified for reuse of equipment shipping crates, improvement in warehouse inventory management, and changes in labor models to facilitate better knowledge capture and dissemination. As a result of this study Intel® Corporation may realize significant improvement in the areas mentioned in terms of cost reduction, process improvement and knowledge management. By using a flexible approach to problem identification and generating organizational interest in the improvements, recommendations were well received and should lead to eventual adoption.by Jacob Silber.S.M.M.B.A

Quantum-degenerate mixture of fermionic lithium and bosonic rubidium gases

We report on the observation of sympathetic cooling of a cloud of fermionic 6-Li atoms which are thermally coupled to evaporatively cooled bosonic 87-Rb. Using this technique we obtain a mixture of quantum-degenerate gases, where the Rb cloud is colder than the critical temperature for Bose-Einstein condensation and the Li cloud colder than the Fermi temperature. From measurements of the thermalization velocity we estimate the interspecies s-wave triplet scattering length |a_s|=20_{-6}^{+9} a_B. We found that the presence of residual rubidium atoms in the |2,1> and the |1,-1> Zeeman substates gives rise to important losses due to inelastic collisions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Parametrically Excited Surface Waves: Two-Frequency Forcing, Normal Form Symmetries, and Pattern Selection

Motivated by experimental observations of exotic standing wave patterns in the two-frequency Faraday experiment, we investigate the role of normal form symmetries in the pattern selection problem. With forcing frequency components in ratio m/n, where m and n are co-prime integers, there is the possibility that both harmonic and subharmonic waves may lose stability simultaneously, each with a different wavenumber. We focus on this situation and compare the case where the harmonic waves have a longer wavelength than the subharmonic waves with the case where the harmonic waves have a shorter wavelength. We show that in the former case a normal form transformation can be used to remove all quadratic terms from the amplitude equations governing the relevant resonant triad interactions. Thus the role of resonant triads in the pattern selection problem is greatly diminished in this situation. We verify our general results within the example of one-dimensional surface wave solutions of the Zhang-Vinals model of the two-frequency Faraday problem. In one-dimension, a 1:2 spatial resonance takes the place of a resonant triad in our investigation. We find that when the bifurcating modes are in this spatial resonance, it dramatically effects the bifurcation to subharmonic waves in the case of forcing frequencies are in ratio 1/2; this is consistent with the results of Zhang and Vinals. In sharp contrast, we find that when the forcing frequencies are in ratio 2/3, the bifurcation to (sub)harmonic waves is insensitive to the presence of another spatially-resonant bifurcating mode.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, late

Nonlinear Competition Between Small and Large Hexagonal Patterns

Recent experiments by Kudrolli, Pier and Gollub on surface waves, parametrically excited by two-frequency forcing, show a transition from a small hexagonal standing wave pattern to a triangular ``superlattice'' pattern. We show that generically the hexagons and the superlattice wave patterns bifurcate simultaneously from the flat surface state as the forcing amplitude is increased, and that the experimentally-observed transition can be described by considering a low-dimensional bifurcation problem. A number of predictions come out of this general analysis.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, revised, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

STAT1 activation in association with JAK2 exon 12 mutations

La inclusión de la perspectiva de género en la actividad jurisdiccional es una demanda sostenida de los colectivos feministas y de mujeres, dado que las sentencias tienen un poder performativo y envían un mensaje a la sociedad: “[…] tienen un poder individual y colectivo que impactan en la vida de las personas y conforman la identidad del poder judicial como un actor imprescindible en la construcción de un Estado democrático de derecho” (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, 2013:7). La incorporación de la perspectiva de género viene a garantizar la igualdad de posiciones (Kessler, 2014) entre mujeres y varones como una meta, trascendiendo la mera igualdad de oportunidades que hasta el presente se ha demostrado insuficiente para que las mujeres consigamos una ciudadanía plena. Al momento de incorporar la perspectiva de género en las sentencias, quienes juzgan deben tener presente en primer lugar, el impacto diferenciado de las normas en base al sexo de las personas. En segundo lugar, la interpretación y aplicación de las leyes en relación con (y en base a) estereotipos de género. Si, por ejemplo, quienes imparten justicia no tienen presentes los estereotipos de género vigentes detrás de las violaciones a los derechos humanos de las mujeres, si no los detectan ni cuestionan, entonces los reproducen. Tal como sostiene Scott (1996) el género es una categoría imprescindible para el análisis social. En tercer lugar, al momento del juzgamiento, se deben tener en cuenta las exclusiones legitimadas por la ley por pensar el mundo en términos binarios y androcéntricos; en cuarto lugar, la distribución no equitativa de recursos y poder que opera entre varones y mujeres en el marco de una organización social patriarcal, y, por último, el trato diferenciado por género legitimado por las propias leyes.Eje 3: Tramas violentas y espacios de exclusión.Instituto de Cultura Jurídic

Sex-dependent influence of endogenous estrogen in pulmonary hypertension

Rationale: The incidence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is greater in women suggesting estrogens may play a role in the disease pathogenesis. Experimentally, in males exogenously administered estrogen can protect against PH; however in models that display female susceptibility estrogens may play a causative role. Objectives: To clarify the influence of endogenous estrogen and gender in PH and assess the therapeutic potential of a clinically available aromatase inhibitor. Methods: We interrogated the effect of reduced endogenous estrogen in males and females using the aromatase inhibitor, anastrozole, in two models of PH; the hypoxic mouse and Sugen 5416/hypoxic rat. We also determined the effects of gender on pulmonary expression of aromatase in these models and in lungs from PAH patients. Results: Anastrozole attenuated PH in both models studied, but only in females. To verify this effect was due to reduced estrogenic activity we confirmed that in hypoxic mice inhibition of estrogen receptor alpha also has a therapeutic effect specifically in females. Female rodent lung displays increased aromatase and decreased BMPR2 and Id1 expression compared to male. Anastrozole treatment reversed the impaired BMPR2 pathway in females. Increased aromatase expression was also detected in female human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells compared to male. Conclusions: The unique phenotype of female pulmonary arteries facilitates the therapeutic effects of anastrozole in experimental PH confirming a role for endogenous estrogen in the disease pathogenesis in females and suggests aromatase inhibitors may have therapeutic potential