Absolute instability in a traveling wave tube model

A model is constructed to evaluate absolute instability which may lead to bandedge oscillations in a traveling wave tube. Under the assumptions (a) that all modes have forward group velocities, and (b) that the slow wave structure has a parabolic dispersion relation in the ω-kω-k plane, the threshold coupling constant (Pierce’s parameter CC) is calculated for the onset of absolute instability. The effect of distributed resistive loss in the circuit is included. The axial wave number and the characteristic frequency of the oscillation at the onset are given. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70326/2/PHPAEN-5-12-4408-1.pd

Anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha therapy during murine Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremia: increased mortality in the absence of liver injury.

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a leading cause of gram-negative bacterial pneumonia, often resulting in bacteremia concurrent with the localized pulmonary infection. The beneficial role of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha during pulmonary infection has been well documented; however, consequences of TNF-alpha production during systemic bacterial infection are controversial. A murine model of K. pneumoniae was developed to address this important issue. Liver-associated TNF-alpha mRNA was induced within 30 min after intravenous bacterial inoculation and remained elevated through 6 h before returning to near-baseline at 24 h postinfection. Intravenous K. pneumoniae infection induced liver cellular injury that was completely ablated when mice were pretreated with a neutralizing anti-TNF-alpha antibody. Interestingly, this reduction in liver injury failed to translate into improved survival. Mice receiving anti-TNF-alpha continued to succumb to the infection even out to day 10 postinfection. Bacterial clearance after TNF-alpha neutralization was significantly impaired at later time points during infection. Correlating with impaired bacterial clearance was diminished production of liver-associated MIP-2, MIP-1alpha, MCP-1, and interferon-gamma. Further evidence of diminished antibacterial immune responses was noted when the activational status of splenic natural killer cells in anti-TNF-alpha-treated mice was examined 24 h postinfection. Natural killer cells displayed decreased CD69 expression. Combined, these data indicate that the beneficial effects of TNF-alpha during systemic K. pneumoniae infection outweigh the detrimental effects of TNF-alpha-mediated hepatocyte cellular injury. Anti-TNF-alpha therapy, although preventing liver injury during blood-borne bacterial infection, results in a dampened anti-bacterial host response, resulting in decreased bacterial clearance and overall survival

Understanding organisational use of IT/IS for demand and supply chain management in a MNC pharmaceutical company

Demand supply chain management (DSCM), which integrates market segmentation with supply chain strategy supported by proper alignment in organizational configuration, is regarded by researchers as the next stage of evolution of supply chain management. Through an exploratory case study of the pharmaceutical industry, this study investigates the role of information systems / information technology (IS/IT) as an enabler of DSCM. The findings reveal that there is little alignment between IS and supply chain strategy even though technology is used widely in the company that is investigated. The lack of alignment has prevented the organisation from being DSCM capable. The study highlights the impacts of lack of alignment between IS and DSCM and helps practitioners understand the implications

A Hueristic Learning Algorithm for Traveling Salesman Problems

This paper describes the development of a heuristic learning algorithm to solve traveling salesman problems. The heuristic evaluation function of this algorithm considers both local and global estimated distance information. The heuristic learning mechanism allows the algorithm to update the heuristic estimates of visited states and hence modify the tour configuration along the search process. The search engine of the algorithm incorporates Delaunay Triangulations as part of the search strategy to identify candidate edges during the search process

Collapse of cycloidal electron flows induced by misalignments in a magnetically insulated diode

The effect of a slight misalignment in the magnetic field on a magnetically insulated diode is investigated. It is found that a slight tilt in the magnetic field, with a minute component along the dc electric field, completely destabilizes the cycloidal electron flow in the crossed-field gap. The final state consists of the classical Brillouin flow superimposed by a turbulent background, together with a slow electron drift across the gap. This disruption of the cycloidal flow is quite insensitive to the emission current density, and is due to the accumulation of space charge in the gap caused by the magnetic misalignment. This result was obtained from a one-dimensional simulation code. It reinforces the notion that the turbulent, near Brillouin-like states are generic in ALL vacuum crossed-field devices. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69778/2/PHPAEN-5-6-2447-1.pd

Resonant absorption of a short-pulse laser in a doped dielectric

A simple model is used to calculate the energy absorption efficiency when a laser of short pulse length impinges on a dielectric slab that is doped with an impurity with a resonant line at the laser frequency. It is found that the energy absorption efficiency is maximized for a certain degree of doping concentration (at a given pulse length) and also for a certain pulselength (at a given doping concentration). Dimensionless parameters are constructed, allowing calculations with one set of parameters be used to infer the results expected for other sets of parameters. © 1999 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70124/2/APPLAB-74-20-2912-1.pd

Analysis of laser absorption on a rough metal surface

We have developed a simple model to estimate the cumulative absorption coefficient of an ultraviolet laser pulse impinging on a pure metal, including the effects of surface roughness whose scale is much larger than the laser wavelength λ. The multiple reflections from the rough surface may increase the absorption coefficient over a pristine, flat surface by an order of magnitude. Thus, as much as 16% (at room temperature) of the power of a 248 nm KrF excimer laser pulse may be absorbed by an aluminum target. A comparison with experimental data is given. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71289/2/APPLAB-70-6-696-1.pd

Effects of oxidation temperature on Ga 2O3 film thermally grown on GaN

The effects of oxidation temperature on thermally oxidized GaN film were investigated. The GaN wafers were oxidzied at 750 °C, 800 °C and 850 °C respectively. The electrical characteristics and interface quality of MOS capacitors were compared among different oxidation temperatures. The sample oxidized at 800 °C presented best current-voltage, capacitance-voltage characteristics and smoothest surface morphology, while the higher oxidation temperature of 850 °C gave best interface quality. The electrical breakdown field was increased by one order of magnitude when the sample was oxidized at 800 °C as compared with 750 °C and 850 °C. Lastly, after the sample oxidized at 800 °C was annealed at 850 °C for 10 min, the quality of its oxide was significantly degraded. © 2005 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Shock Wave-Induced Damage of a Protein by Void Collapse

In this study, we report on a series of molecular dynamics simulations that were used to examine the effects of shock waves on a membrane-bound ion channel. A planar shock wave was found to compress the ion channel upon impact, but the protein geometry resembles the crystal structure as soon as the solvent density begins to dissipate. When a void was placed in close proximity to the membrane, the shock wave proved to be more destructive to the protein due to formation of a nanojet that results from the asymmetric collapse of the void. The nanojet was able to cause significant structural changes to the protein even at low piston velocities that are not able to directly cause poration of the membrane