Investigation of ultra-thin Al₂O₃ film as Cu diffusion barrier on low-k (k=2.5) dielectrics

Ultrathin Al(2)O(3) films were deposited by PEALD as Cu diffusion barrier on low-k (k=2.5) material. The thermal stability and electrical properties of the Cu/low k system with Al(2)O(3) layers with different thickness were studied after annealing. The AES, TEM and EDX results revealed that the ultrathin Al(2)O(3) films are thermally stable and have excellent Cu diffusion barrier performance. The electrical measurements of dielectric breakdown and TDDB tests further confirmed that the ultrathin Al(2)O(3) film is a potential Cu diffusion barrier in the Cu/low-k interconnects system

Sentiment Analysis and Political Party Classification in 2016 U.S. President Debates in Twitter

We introduce a framework of combining tweet sentiment analysis with available default user profiles to classify political party of users who posted tweets in 2016 U.S. president debates. The main works focus on extracting event-related information in short event period instead of collecting tweets in a long-time period as most previous works do. Our framework is not limited in debate event, it can be used by researchers to build rationale of other events study. In sentiment analysis, we show that all three Naïve Bayes classifiers with different distributions obtain accuracy above 75% and the results reveal positive tweets most likely follow Gaussian or Multinomial distributions while negative tweets most likely follow Bernoulli distribution in our training data. We also show that under unbalanced sparse term document setting, instead of using “Add-1” parameter, tuning Laplace smoothing parameter to adjust the weights of new terms in a tweet can help improve the classifier’s performance in targeted direction. Finally, we show sentiment might help classifying political part

Approximate equivalence invon Neumann algebras

In this paper we investigate approximate equivalence in von Neumann algebras. We find a necessary and sufficient condition for two normal operators to be approximately equivalent in any von Neumann algebra ${\cal R}$ acting on a separable Hilbert space H with unitaries in ${\cal R}.$ For the approximate equivalence of two unital representations from a given C\*-algebra to any von Neumann algebra acting on a separable Hilbert space, we find the necessary condition for the general case. Finally we investigate an interesting class of C\*-algebras, closed under direct sum, direct limit and quotient map, which contains C(X) and M\sb{n}(A), where A is in Q

Development of Ammonia Gas Leak Detection and Location Method

This paper proposed the gas for industrial ammonia leak diffusion model and the Gauss method of leakage localization. A set of wireless ammonia leak alarm system is composed of sensor node, network coordinator and host used in the industrial field was developed, the purpose is to reduce the loss of property caused by the leakage of ammonia industry. Using the monitoring system to carry out the ammonia leak location simulation measurement experiment, the result shows that the relative positioning error of the monitoring system is about 12%, which meets the needs of industrial production safety monitoring. Using the wireless sensor network to monitor the concentration of ammonia gas and locate the leakage source, it solves the problems of traditional wired alarm system, such as difficult wiring and weak expansibility, which helps to find the leak timely and provides a reference for the emergency rescue work

Determining molecular orientation via single molecule SERS in a plasmonic nano-gap

In this work, plasmonic nano-gaps consisting of a silver nanoparticle coupled to an extended silver film have been fully optimized for single molecule Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The SERS signal was found to be strongly dependent on the particle size and the molecule orientation with respect to the field inside the nano-gap. Using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulations to complement the experimental measurements, the complex interplay between the excitation enhancement and the emission enhancement of the system as a function of particle size were highlighted. Additionally, in conjunction with Density Functional Theory (DFT), the well-defined field direction in the nano-gap enables to recover the orientation of individual molecules

The “Public Body” Issue in the WTO: Proposing A Comparative Institutional Approach To International Issues On State-Owned Enterprises (SOES)

Over the last two decades, the state-owned or state invested enterprises (SOEs) of emerging economies like China and India have significantly increased their participation in cross border trade and investment activities. This competition has inevitably led to more legal disputes over both the SOEs’ cross-border activities and their domestic activities that have potential cross-border effects. There are two recurring themes in these legal disputes: one concerns the legality of government subsidies to SOEs, and another concerns whether SOEs’ activities are in essence governmental activities. The “public body” issue under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on subsidies and countervailing measures represents the latter type of concern. Specifically, the “public body” issue asks whether SOEs’ activities are “public body” activities or “private body” activities. This question is situated in a legal context in which “public body” activities are subject to the same level of legal obligation as government’s activities, while “private body” activities are subject to a less stringent rule. This gives rise to the research question of this dissertation: how should we understand and analyze the nature of SOEs’ activities in the legal context of the WTO? My dissertation tackles this research question through an interdisciplinary and empirical study of SOEs. Specifically, this study explores the literature on SOEs in legal studies and political economy studies, followed by a case study of China’s SOEs. In Chapters 1 and 2, the dissertation surveys the existing WTO jurisprudence and legal literature concerning the “public body” issue. It argues that existing legal approaches, including the WTO Appellate Body’s governmental authority approach, are problematic due to an inadequacy of theoretical support and inability to solve practical problems. In Chapter 3, this dissertation applies the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) approach from political economy to understand SOE activities under a comparative institutional framework. Under this framework, I presume that SOEs, similar to other types of firms in other market economies, face multiple coordinating institutions—including market, hierarchies, networks and governmental intervention—in their interactions with other actors, including employees, suppliers, clients, stakeholders, trade union and governments. The nature of the coordinating institution(s) they rely upon forms their incentive structures. Based upon this theoretical foundation, I argue that the coordinating institution(s) defines the nature of SOE activities. Chapter 3 then contains a case study of Chinese SOEs under this framework. In 2014, through interviewing managers of SOEs across four sectors: steel, petroleum, commercial banking, and electricity, and reviewing archival documents of the government agency that performs the shareholder function in SOEs, I have gathered first-hand updated information on Chinese SOEs. This research also relies upon recent studies by scholars in political economy and comparative corporate governance. Based upon the case study, I discovered that Chinese SOEs face distinctive coordinating institutions with respect to different types of activities. This dissertation builds a bridge between the current understanding of the WTO rules and the novel understanding of SOE activities under the comparative institutional framework. In Chapter 4, I explore the political economy dimension of the “public body” issue, and I argue that the “public body” issue represents a debate among varieties of market economies. Chapter 5 responds to the legal aspect of the “public body” issue, and proposes an institutional context based approach. Under this approach, I argue that an SOE activity is a “public body” activity if it is partially or wholly driven by intrinsic governmental policy consideration. The domestic coordinating institution(s) underlying that activity forms the evidence. I summarize what types of SOE activities are “public body” or “private body” activities, taking Chinese SOEs as examples. In summary, the central thesis of the dissertation is that the nature of SOEs activities can be dynamic and heterogeneous within one SOE and across SOEs, and it is the coordinating institution underlying a particular activity that defines the nature of the activity. On this basis, I recommend that domestic and international adjudicators should examine the institutional context of a particular type of SOE activity in order to determine its legal nature. Further research could be undertaken to apply this understanding in other legal context besides the WTO rules, and in case studies of other countries’ SOEs