Evaluating eREVERSE auctions (EeRA): A research note

This eGISE network paper seeks to evaluate issues relating to the implementation of electronic reverse auctions (eRA) within local government procurement processes. The adoption of an eRA invites pre-qualified suppliers to compete with each other for a specified good or service. Consequently, there is a unique opportunity for the buyer to receive a reduced cost through the successful bidder. However, the literature identifies a number of adverse effects within these arrangements depending upon the nature of the buyer/supplier relationship. The objectives of the research involves identifying a set of business scenarios to demonstrate the impact of different eRA strategies in this respect. This will be achieved through a structured case analysis approach to enable qualitative data to be modelled through a visual toolset simulation. It is believed the outcome of the investigation will provide valuable insights into the complexities associated with the eProcurement process

A value oriented conceptual model for innovation in local government

The political rhetoric that accompanied the introduction of eGovernment expected it to produce innovation in the way government agencies conducted themselves with citizen and business alike. It was assumed that innovation was both "good" and inevitable. This paper challenges these assumptions and presents a more realistic model of how innovation might occurs in UK local government. The model is supported by anecdotal evidence, literature and a recent study of eGoverment achievement in the UK - VIEGO. A key element in the model is the notion of innovation value

Passivation of Si nanocrystals in SiO[sub 2]: Atomic versus molecular hydrogen

Photoluminescence measurements were used to investigate the effect of atomic and molecular hydrogen on the passivation of Si nanocrystals in SiO₂. Significant increases in the luminescence intensity and lifetime were found in samples coated with a thin Al layer prior to a standard anneal in molecular hydrogen. This is shown to be consistent with enhanced passivation of the nanocrystals by atomic hydrogen.The authors acknowledge financial support from the Australian Research Council

Understanding unconscious plagiarism: the effects of idea elaboration and perceived idea quality on later recall and recognition of ideas

Previous research has shown that idea improvement and perceived idea quality have differential effects on recall-own and generate-new plagiarism. Participants completed a generative task in pairs and read some ideas perceived to be of high quality before elaborating on a selection of the ideas. It was expected that other-generated ideas that had been improved or read out loud would be more susceptible to unconscious plagiarism. Participants returned a week later to complete recall-own generated, recall-own read, generate-new and source monitoring tasks. Partner-generated ideas were significantly more likely to be plagiarised following improvement only. Participants were significantly more likely to plagiarise their partner’s ideas in the generate-new task. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research and theories of unconscious plagiarism

Regrowth-related defect formation and evolution in 1 MeV amorphized (001) Ge

Geimplanted with 1MeV Si⁺ at a dose of 1×10¹⁵cm⁻² creates a buried amorphous layer that, upon regrowth, exhibits several forms of defects–end-of-range (EOR), regrowth-related, and clamshell defects. Unlike Si, no planar {311} defects are observed. The minimal EOR defects are small dotlike defects and are very unstable, dissolving between 450 and 550°C. This is in contrast to Si, where the EOR defects are very stable. The amorphous layer results in both regrowth-related defects and clamshell defects, which were more stable than the EOR damage.This work is supported by Semiconductor Research Corporation Contract No. 00057787

Active-oxidation of Si as the source of vapor-phase reactants in the growth of SiOₓ nanowires on Si

Gold-coated silicon wafers were annealed at temperatures in the range from 800–1100 °C in a N₂ ambient containing a low (3–10 ppm) residual O₂ concentration. A dense network of amorphous silicananowires was only observed on samples annealed at temperatures above 1000 °C and was correlated with the development of faceted etch-pits in the Si surface. Comparison with known thermodynamic data for the oxidation of Si and vapor-pressures of reactants shows that nanowire growth is mediated by a vapor-liquid-solid mechanism in which the dominant vapor-phase source of reactants is SiO produced by the active oxidation of Si

Pump-probe experiments at 1.54 μm on silicon-rich silicon oxide waveguides

Optical pump-probe measurements were performed on slab waveguides containing excess silicon in the form of nanoclusters or nanocrystals and erbium. The measurements were performed by prism coupling a 1.54μm probe beam into a waveguide formed by silicon-rich oxide and monitoring its intensity and temporal response as the waveguide was optically pumped from above with a chopped 477nm excitation source. Induced absorption (losses) of the 1.54μm probe beam in erbium-doped and undoped silicon-rich silicon oxide waveguides was observed in all cases. For the samples containing only well-defined nanocrystals, a fast (∼60μs) induced absorption component associated with free carriers within the siliconnanocrystals is reported, while for samples containing defective nanocrystals or nanoclusters, a much slower (>10min) component is observed. The free carrier absorption is shown to be reduced by delaying the probe beam relative to the pump beam in cases where it dominates

Secondary growth and photoluminescence from erbium implanted silica nanowires

Gold-catalyzed silicananowires were grown using vapor from the active oxidation of the silicon substrate and then implanted with erbium and annealed. During prolonged annealing at 1100 °C, where the concentration of vapor-phase reactants is sufficient to support nanowire growth, the erbium rich precipitates act as catalysts for the growth of a second generation of nanowires. These secondary nanowires increase in photoluminescence as they grow, suggesting that a fraction of the optically active erbium is incorporated into the growing wire. The resulting luminescent nanostructures have a very large surface-to-volume fraction and are well suited for optical-sensing applications.A.S. acknowledges funding from the Australian Research Council ARC

Influence of As on the formation of mask-edge defects during stressed solid phase epitaxy in patterned Si wafers

The influence of As on the evolution of mask-edge defects during stressed solid phase epitaxy of two-dimensional Si⁺ pre-amorphized regions in patterned Si wafers was examined. Mask-edge defects∼60 nm deep formed at 525 °C for As⁺ implant energies of 7.5–50 keV with peak As concentration of ∼5.0×10²⁰ cm⁻³. Defect formation was attributed to an As-enhanced [110] regrowth rate relative to the [001] regrowth rate creating an amorphous/crystalline interface geometry favorable for defect formation. The similarity of mask-edge defect depths with As⁺ implant energy was attributed to surface retardation of [110] regrowth in shallow implants and enhanced [001] regrowth in deeper implants. Results indicate stress effects on regrowth rates are small compared to dopant effects

Optical absorption measurements of silica containing Si nanocrystals produced by ion implantation and thermal annealing

Optical absorption spectra from silicon-implanted silica slides are shown to contain features due to optical interference. These features, which result from the modified refractive index profile produced by the implant, can readily lead to misinterpretation of absorption spectra. To demonstrate the importance of such effects, silica samples were implanted with 80, 400, and 600 keV Si ions to fluences in the range 0.6–3.0×10¹⁷ Si.cm⁻² and annealed at 1100 °C for 1 h to form Si nanocrystals. Optical absorption/transmittance spectra from these samples show considerable structure that is characteristic of the particular implant conditions. This structure is shown to correlate with the transmittance of the samples as calculated from the modified refractive index profile for each implant. The lack of such structure in absorption spectra measured by photodeflection spectrometry is used to confirm this interpretation