Sequentially evaporated thin Y-Ba-Co-O superconducting films on microwave substrates

The development of high T sub c superconducting thin films on various microwave substrates is of major interest in space electronic systems. Thin films of YBa2Cu3O(7-Delta) were formed on SrTiO3, MgO, ZrO2 coated Al2O3, and LaAlO3 substrates by multi-layer sequential evaporation and subsequent annealing in oxygen. The technique allows controlled deposition of Cu, BaF2 and Y layers, as well as the ZrO buffer layers, to achieve reproducibility for microwave circuit fabrication. The three layer structure of Cu/BaF2/Y is repeated a minimum of four times. The films were annealed in an ambient of oxygen bubbled through water at temperatures between 850 C and 900 C followed by slow cooling (-2 C/minute) to 450 C, a low temperature anneal, and slow cooling to room temperature. Annealing times ranged from 15 minutes to 5 hrs. at high temperature and 0 to 6 hr. at 450 C. Silver contacts for four probe electrical measurements were formed by evaporation followed with an anneal at 500 C. The films were characterized by resistance-temperature measurements, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Critical transition temperatures ranged from 30 K to 87 K as a function of the substrate, composition of the film, thicknesses of the layers, and annealing conditions. Microwave ring resonator circuits were also patterned on these MgO and LaAlO3 substrates

Effective C2 Comms to the Tactical Edge in Challenged, Disrupted, and Denied Environments

Native IP networks are ill-equipped to handle the communication challenges found in wireless comms environments, resulting in communications outages that degrade C2 data flow and subject the user to disconnection, timeouts, and repeated login requests. We counter these limitations by integrating DTN (Disruption-Tolerant Networking) technology into the IP network using software+hardware or software-only solutions as appropriate. This work evaluates the tradeoffs between the currently available DTN software implementations and seeks to identify the one with the highest technical readiness level, as well as any barriers to adoption that may be present. We find that no current implementation is fully ready, and that each have particular pros and cons to adoption.Naval Research ProgramPrepared for Topic Sponsor: Maj Jeffrey Sykes, USMC, HQMC Aviation; Research Sponsor HQMC Aviation; Research POC Name: Maj Scott CuomoN16-M343-

In silico target prediction: identification of on- and off-targets for crop protection agents

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Evidence for Quantitative Trait Loci Affecting Ovulation Rate in Pigs

Fifty-five microsatellite markers were scored in an F2 population of pigs (n = 114 females) developed at the University of Nebraska. The population was produced by crossing a line previously selected for 10 generations using an index of ovulation rate and embryonal survival and a line selected at random. The lines were from a common base population and differed by 6.7 ovulations and 3.1 fetuses at 50 d of gestation. Ovulation rate and number of fully formed and mummified pigs were recorded for each female. Data were analyzed with regression models that included random animal effects. Likelihood-ratio tests were used to test for quantitative trait loci (QTL) effects by deviating the log-likelihood for the full model that included additive and dominance QTL effects from the log-likelihood for the reduced model that did not contain QTL effects. A QTL for ovulation rate was found on chromosome 8 (P \u3c .001) with an additive effect of 3.07 ovulations. Other evidence of potential QTL affecting ovulation rate was found on chromosomes 4 (P \u3c .10), 13, and 15 (P \u3c .05). Effects on chromosomes 4, 13, and 15 were not significant for an experiment-wise threshold value of P \u3c .001. No significant QTL for litter size or number of mummified pigs were found. Additional data are needed to confirm the location and the effect of QTL found for ovulation rate before markers associated with them can be used in marker-assisted selection

Evidence for Quantitative Trait Loci Affecting Ovulation Rate in Pigs

Fifty-five microsatellite markers were scored in an F2 population of pigs (n = 114 females) developed at the University of Nebraska. The population was produced by crossing a line previously selected for 10 generations using an index of ovulation rate and embryonal survival and a line selected at random. The lines were from a common base population and differed by 6.7 ovulations and 3.1 fetuses at 50 d of gestation. Ovulation rate and number of fully formed and mummified pigs were recorded for each female. Data were analyzed with regression models that included random animal effects. Likelihood-ratio tests were used to test for quantitative trait loci (QTL) effects by deviating the log-likelihood for the full model that included additive and dominance QTL effects from the log-likelihood for the reduced model that did not contain QTL effects. A QTL for ovulation rate was found on chromosome 8 (P \u3c .001) with an additive effect of 3.07 ovulations. Other evidence of potential QTL affecting ovulation rate was found on chromosomes 4 (P \u3c .10), 13, and 15 (P \u3c .05). Effects on chromosomes 4, 13, and 15 were not significant for an experiment-wise threshold value of P \u3c .001. No significant QTL for litter size or number of mummified pigs were found. Additional data are needed to confirm the location and the effect of QTL found for ovulation rate before markers associated with them can be used in marker-assisted selection

Comparing The Effect Of Overspeed Training On NCAA Division III Lacrosse Athletes

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The association of leadership styles and empowerment with nurses' organizational commitment in an acute health care setting: A cross-sectional study

Background: The current challenges facing healthcare systems, in relation to the shortage of health professionals, necessitates mangers and leaders to learn from different leadership styles and staff empowerment strategies, so as to create a work environment that encourages nursing staff commitment to patients and their organization. This study intends to measure the effects of nurses' overall perception of the leadership style of their managers, and psychological empowerment on their organizational commitment in acute care units, in National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey, where the data was obtained from nurses at King Abdulaziz Medical City. Hard copy questionnaires were distributed to 350 randomly selected nurses. Three hundred and thirty two (332) were completed, representing a response rate of 95 %. Three validated survey instruments were used to obtain the data: (1) The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), formulated by Bass and Avolio (1997), (2) The Psychological Empowerment Scale developed by Spreitzer (1995) and (3) The Three-Component Model of Employee Commitment developed by Meyer and Allen (1997). A theoretical model that conceptually links leadership, empowerment, and organizational commitment was used. The SPSS program version 19 was employed to perform descriptive and inferential statistics including correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Results: Overall most nurses perceived their immediate nursing managers as not displaying the ideal level of transformational leadership (TFL) behaviors. Nurses' commitment appeared to be negatively correlated with TFL style and perceived psychological empowerment. However, commitment was positively correlated with the Transactional Leadership (TAL) style. Analysis, also, showed that commitment is significantly associated with the nurse's nationality by region: North American (P = 0.001) and Arab (p = 0.027). The other important predictors of commitment include TAL (P = 0.027), Laissez-faire Leadership (LFL (P = 0.012), and autonomy (P = 0.016). The linear combination of these predictors explained 20 % of the variability of the nurses' commitment. Conclusion: The study findings suggest that leadership styles and employee empowerment could play an instrumental role in promoting organizational commitment of nurses working in acute health care settings, at least in the Saudi Arabian context

Prediction of Agricultural Implement Hydraulic Power Requirements Using Controller Area Network Bus Data

One of the important challenges in agricultural machinery research is the ability to effectively determine power requirements of a given field operation. The Controller Area Network (CAN) Bus, also known as ISOBUS, has proven to be an effective digital tool for tractor and implement data collection. This study attempted to determine implement hydraulic power requirements using a combination of existing public tractor CAN messages and minimal added sensors. The sensor signals were published on the CAN bus for ease of simultaneous sensor signal and CAN message data collection. Based upon the available CAN messages, this study attempted to measure hydraulic flow rate distributed by a tractor’s directional control valve without the incorporation of a flowmeter. For instances when a valve received its requested flow rate by the operator, the valve’s flow rate was predicted as a function of the valve’s spool position. The resulting curve of best fit had a coefficient of determination of 0.9993 and a root-mean-square-error of 0.8805 Lmin-1 for the combination of multiple implement loads. When the valve became flow-limited, and the effective flow rate could no longer be determined by spool position, predicting the flow rate from a measured pressure drop across a minor loss in the system was investigated. From data collected on a flow-limited valve caused by reduced engine speed, a piece-wise line of best fit was found, predicting the flow rate based upon the pressure drop. Additional pressure sensors were used to determine the flow-state of the valve

Understanding adhesion at as-deposited interfaces from ab initio thermodynamics of deposition growth: thin-film alumina on titanium carbide

We investigate the chemical composition and adhesion of chemical vapour deposited thin-film alumina on TiC using and extending a recently proposed nonequilibrium method of ab initio thermodynamics of deposition growth (AIT-DG) [Rohrer J and Hyldgaard P 2010 Phys. Rev. B 82 045415]. A previous study of this system [Rohrer J, Ruberto C and Hyldgaard P 2010 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 22 015004] found that use of equilibrium thermodynamics leads to predictions of a non-binding TiC/alumina interface, despite the industrial use as a wear-resistant coating. This discrepancy between equilibrium theory and experiment is resolved by the AIT-DG method which predicts interfaces with strong adhesion. The AIT-DG method combines density functional theory calculations, rate-equation modelling of the pressure evolution of the deposition environment and thermochemical data. The AIT-DG method was previously used to predict prevalent terminations of growing or as-deposited surfaces of binary materials. Here we extent the method to predict surface and interface compositions of growing or as-deposited thin films on a substrate and find that inclusion of the nonequilibrium deposition environment has important implications for the nature of buried interfaces.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to J. Phys.: Condens. Matte