The Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic (LTCC) technology is used in a variety of applications including military/space electronics, wireless communication, MEMS, medical and automotive electronics. The use of LTCC is growing due to the low cost of investment, short development time, good electrical and mechanical properties, high reliability, and flexibility in design integration (3 dimensional (3D) microstructures with cavities are possible)). The dimensional accuracy of the resulting x/y shrinkage of LTCC substrates is responsible for component assembly problems with the tolerance effect that increases in relation to the substrate size. Response Surface Analysis was used to predict product shrinkage based on specific process inputs (metal loading, layer count, lamination pressure, and tape thickness) with the ultimate goal to optimize manufacturing outputs (NC files, stencils, and screens) in achieving the final product design the first time. Three (3) regression models were developed for the DuPont 951 tape system with DuPont 5734 gold metallization based on green tape thickness.

Determining the transient chemical properties of the intracellular environment canelucidate the paths through which a biological system adapts to changes in its environment, for example, the mechanisms which enable some obligate anaerobic bacteria to survive a sudden exposure to oxygen. Here we used high-resolution Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectromicroscopy to continuously follow cellular chemistry within living obligate anaerobes by monitoring hydrogen bonding in their cellular water. We observed a sequence of wellorchestrated molecular events that correspond to changes in cellular processes in those cells that survive, but only accumulation of radicals in those that do not. We thereby can interpret the adaptive response in terms of transient intracellular chemistry and link it to oxygen stress and survival. This ability to monitor chemical changes at the molecular level can yield important insights into a wide range of adaptive responses.

In order to explore the reasons for the apparent discrepancy between laboratory and field weathering rates and to determine the extent to which weathering rates are controlled by the approach to thermodynamic equilibrium, secondary mineral precipitation and flow rates, a multicomponent reactive transport model (CrunchFlow) was used to interpret soil profile development and mineral precipitation and dissolution rates at the 226 ka marine terrace chronosequence near Santa Cruz, CA. Aqueous compositions, fluid chemistry, transport, and mineral abundances are well characterized (White et al., 2008, GCA) and were used to constrain the reaction rates for the weathering and precipitating minerals in the reactive transport modeling. When primary mineral weathering rates are calculated with either of two experimentally determined rate constants, the nonlinear, parallel rate law formulation of Hellmann and Tisser and [2006] or the aluminum inhibition model proposed by Oelkers et al. [1994], modeling results are consistent with field-scale observations when independently constrained clay precipitation rates are accounted for. Experimental and field rates, therefore, can be reconciled at the Santa Cruz site. Observed maximum clay abundances in the argillic horizons occur at the depth and time where the reaction fronts of the primary minerals overlap. The modeling indicates that the argillic …

The surrogate reaction 238U(3He,tf) is used to determine the 237Np(n,f) cross section indirectly over an equivalent neutron energy range from 10 to 20 MeV. A self-supporting ~;;761 mu g/cm2 metallic 238U foil was bombarded with a 42 MeV 3He2+ beam from the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Outgoing charged particles and fission fragments were identified using the Silicon Telescope Array for Reaction Studies (STARS), consists of two 140 mu m and one 1000 mu m Micron S2 type silicon detectors. The 237Np(n,f) cross sections, determined indirectly, were compared with the 237Np(n,f) cross section data from direct measurements, the Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF/B-VII.0), and the Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL 3.3) and found to closely follow those datasets. Use of the (3He,tf) reaction as a surrogate to extract (n,f) cross section in the 10 to 20 MeV equivalent neutron energy is found to be suitable.