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Friday, March 28, 2008

Mechanics of machining of face-milling operation performed using a self-propelled round insert milling cutter

There has been a renewed interest in the technology of rotary tools because of their ability to perform more productive machining and the concurrent evolution of a number of new ‘difficult-to-machine’ materials. This paper presents an investigation into the application of rotary tools in a face-milling operation. The work involved analysis of cutting forces and chip characteristics, and the development of analytical as well as conceptual models to predict the cutting forces. It was evident that the proposed model predicts cutting force magnitude with a fair accuracy.
Kaushikkumar M. Patel1 and Suhas S. Joshi; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

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NUMERICAL MODELING OF GROUNDWATER FLOW AND POLLUTANT TRANSPORT IN UNCONFINED-CONFINED AQUIFER SYSTEMS

Groundwater supply is subjected to groundwater flow and contamination due to migration of pollutant in the aquifer systems. It is essential to investigate the quantity and quality of single aquifer or multi-layer aquifer for groundwater management. Many researchers have explored the problem of transient well flow in multi-layer aquifer associated with pollutant transport in subsurface systems. However, the nature of the physical process generates complexity in theoretical formulation. Hence, it is recognized that realistic solutions may only be determined by utilizing numerical approximation techniques. The primary objective of this research is to develop and validate a numerical model in order to analyze groundwater flow and pollutant transport problem into a well in an unconfined-confined aquifer system. The model is intended for assessing the performance of groundwater flow into a well when it is pumped from either unconfined or unconfined-confined aquifer. The model is also to study the pollutant transport occurrence during the pumping operation under saturated condition of the unconfined aquifer system. This study proposes numerical model for the groundwater flow into a well in fully coupled unconfined-confined aquifer system, which considers advection and dispersion processes of pollutant transport. The mathematical governing equations are second order partial differential equations that have been solved numerically using a finite difference method. A computer program written using MATLAB is developed to solve these equations. Three separate programs are developed in this study. The first one is quite generic and is used to simulate groundwater flow into a well in an unconfined-confined aquifer. The other two are more specific and are used to predict the pollutant transport problem in an unconfined aquifer for one- and two-dimensional flow respectively. The solution method reduces the complexity of theoretical formulation in multi-layer aquifer, and the numerical model is validated using experimental data, available analytical solution and field data. The experimental data obtained from laboratory model and the field data are collected from the Surabaya aquifer, East Java, Indonesia. It was discovered that the two-dimensional flow model could predict the magnitude of the flow at an acceptable sensitivity. In the case of pollutant transport problem, the one- and two-dimensional models showed good performance. The horizontal spreading of the contaminant was more obvious when the water was tapped from the unconfined aquifer. The proposed numerical models are also capable of simulating a big scale problem.
DWI TJAHJANTO; Faculty of Civil Engineering

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Quantum Mechanics of Measurement

An analysis of quantum measurement is presented that relies on an information-theoretic description of quantum entanglement. In a consistent quantum information theory of entanglement, entropies (uncertainties) conditional on measurement outcomes can be negative, implying that measurement can be described via unitary, entropy-conserving, interactions, while still producing randomness in a measurement device. In such a framework, quantum measurement is not accompanied by a wave-function collapse, or a quantum jump. The theory is applied to the measurement of incompatible variables, giving rise to a stronger entropic uncertainty relation than heretofore known. It is also applied to standard quantum measurement situations such as the Stern-Gerlach and double-slit experiments to illustrate how randomness, inherent in the conventional quantum probabilities, arises in a unitary framework. Finally, the present view clarifies the relationship between classical and quantum concepts.
N.J. Cerf, C. Adami; (California Institute of Technology)

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Pengembangan Kode Komputer untuk Homogenisasi Sel Bahan Bakar Nuklir

Like in the most nuclear cell homogenization, integral transport equation is also used to solve the neutron transport problem, especially by using collision probability method.This method has the advantage that for relatively simple geometry the angular integration may be carried out analytically. Neutron transport equation was solved in accordance with the physical neutron characteristic in its energy range. The neutron spectrum calculation used 70 energy group and for thermal energy range the energy was divided into 48 energy groups.For calculation in the fast energy range we used microscopic cross section data from SLAROM library, while for thermal energy range we used experiment data from ENDF/B VI and then we interpreted it with the used of Code System NJOY97.0. As an example calculation we considered one-dimensional cylindrical cell which was divided into 3 regions i.e, for fuel, cladding, and coolant. The nuclear cell homogenization calculation was treated by the use of linear equation.
Keywords: collision probability, neutron transport equation, thermal energy
Novitrian, Zaki Su’ud, dan Sutrisno; E-mail : novit@fi.itb.ac.id

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Pengembangan Teknologi dan Aplikasi Teknologi Sekuriti Digital

Dalam era Internet dan electronic commerce saat ini, teknologi sekuriti dengan perangkat kriptografi sangat dibutuhkan, karena Internet merupakan public network yang tidak aman. Penelitian yang dilaksanakan antara bulan Juni 1998 sampai dengan Juni 1999 ini bertujuan untuk melakukan transfer teknologi sekuriti digital terutama yang menggunakan perangkat kriptografi, dan juga teknologi smartcard (kartu chip). Bahkan sebenarnya, fokus dari penelitian ini adalah pemanfaatan teknologi kriptografi untuk sekuriti digital. Penelitian ini terbagi menjadi beberapa sub-penelitian. Sub penelitian pertama adalah implementasi protokol Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) dari Visa dan MasterCard. Hasilnya adalah berupa object library SET dalam Java dan juga aplikasi wallet berbasis Java yang bisa membaca informasi kartu kredit dari smartcard. Aplikasi wallet berbasis Java tersebut kami beri nama SmartWallet. Sub penelitan lainnya adalah rancangan kartu kesehatan berbasis smartcard (kartu chip). Meskipun sudah ada beberapa produk health card luar negeri, rancangan kartu kesehatan dalam penelitian ini disesuaikan dengan peraturan di Republik Indonesia mengenai rekam medis. Selain itu penelitian ini merancang pula dua protokol pembayaran. Yang pertama adalah protokol pembayaran berbasis smartcard dimana konsumen (cardholder) dapat membelanjakan ‘uang elektronik’-nya pada point of sale (POS) yang tidak memiliki hubungan sama sekali dengan bank saat pembayaran dilakukan. Sistem pembayaran ini juga dapat dimanfaatkan untuk pembayaran di Internet, mencegah / mendeteksi penggandaan uang elektronik, dan uang elektronik bisa kembali meskipun dicuri orang lain. Yang kedua, adalah sistem pembayaran berbasis kartu kredit yang anonimus (tak terlacak), dan mencegah bank-bank berkolusi untuk mengetahui identitas transaksi yang seharusnya tak terlacak itu. Sub penelitan terakhir adalah kajian mengenai kerangka hukum untuk digital signature, sebagai komponen sekuriti yang utama dalam electronic commerce. Penelitian ini dilakukan oleh anggota tim yang berasal dari Fakultas Hukum Universitas Indonesia. Hasilnya adalah rekomendasi mengenai konstruksi hukum digital signature untuk Indonesia. Dr.Ir. I. Sri Wishnu Brata Prasetya /Ir. FX Nursalim Hadi, PhD Kantor Menteri Negara Riset Dan Teknologi Dewan Riset Nasional

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Physical, Geochemistry And Mineralogy Studies On The Strength Development Of Lime Stabilised Cohesive Soils

Soft cohesive clays are normally associated with large settlements and low shear strength. Various techniques are available to reduce the problems. One of the low cost techniques is to modify the soil with lime in-situ to make it workable for construction and allow it to increase in strength by pozzolanic reactions between lime and clay mineral. To implement this technique, physical, geochemistry and mineralogy investigation were performed to evaluate the lime stabilisation potential for several Malaysian soils. The physical, geochemistry and mineralogy characteristics of lime-soils admixtures have shown a significant potential in improving the geotechnical properties of Malaysia cohesive soils. Lime fixation capacity (LFC) and initial consumption of lime test (ICL) were performed to compare and establish mix design for lime modification. Unconfined compressive strength test (UCS) was conducted to determine the comparison between the stabilised and unstabilised soil in term of soaked and unsoaked strength. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray florescence (XRF) analysis were used to identify the clay minerals and geochemistry composition and their correlation to strength development. Typically, there is an increase in plastic limit due to addition of lime, which make the soil more workable. Lime content between 3% to 6% has contributed to the increase in unconfined compressive strength from 2.5 to 10.5 times of the untreated soils. Maximum dry density however reduces with addition of lime but the optimum moisture content increases due to the higher consumption of water for treated soil. Higher Al2O3/SiO2 ratio of a soil also corresponds to higher UCS of the lime-treated soils. This is a new indicator to determine the potential of strength development in lime-stabilised soil. The value of loss on ignition (LOI) of untreated soil is another useful indicator for predicting the UCS gain. The presence of calcium aluminate silicate hydrate (CASH) from XRD result at 14 days indicates the early formation of new product due to lime soil reaction. Crystallisation of CASH can be observed from the development of calcium aluminate hydrate (CAH) and calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) identified from XRD analysis and their morphology from scanning electron micrographs (SEM). The strength development of lime-stabilised soil is governed not only by the clay fraction (CF), plasticity and pH of the soil as specified in BS and ASTM but also influenced by the geochemistry and mineralogy aspect of the soil.
KOK KAI CHERN; Faculty of Civil Engineering

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Trade, Technology and Wages: General Equilibrium Mechanics

This paper highlights analytical reasons why we believe trade and technology are linked to wage movements in general, and how we should organize our examination of the recent episode of wage and employment erosion in the OECD countries. We start with a graphic tour through the mechanics of general equilibrium theory on trade and wages. This provides a set of implied relationships between wages and factor intensity trends that, together, provide a casual test of the consistency of posited relationships with actual trends. Numeric analysis and a review of the general equilibrium empirical literature follow the theoretical overview
Joseph F. Francois and Douglas Nelson

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Impact of beating heart left atrial ablation on left-sided heart mechanics

Objective: The cut-and-sew Cox–Maze procedure is the gold standard for surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation, but it is associated with long-term impairment of left atrial mechanical function. We developed a bipolar, irrigated radiofrequency ablation device. We hypothesized that beating heart radiofrequency left atrial ablation would result in minimal acute changes in left atrial hemodynamics. Methods: Six healthy subjects were studied. Combination pressure-conductance catheters were inserted into the left atrium and ventricle. With the use of the device, atrial ablation was performed on the beating heart without cardiopulmonary bypass, including electrical isolation of the posterior left atrium and atrial appendage myocardium. Simultaneous left-sided heart pressure–volume and intracardiac echocardiography data were acquired before ablation, after left atrial appendage ablation alone, and after all ablation (with and without appendage occlusion). The derived indices of left-sided heart mechanical function were examined. Results: Relative to baseline, no significant diminishment in pressure–volume or intracardiac echocardiography-derived indices of global left-sided heart mechanical function were observed after ablation, with or without appendage occlusion. Mitral valve morphology and function were not significantly altered. A significant diminishment of atrial appendage systolic flow was noted after appendage ablation in association with spontaneous echocardiographic contrast in this region. Conclusions: In this model, ablation does not seem to compromise global left-sided heart mechanical function. However, these findings mask regional diminishment in atrial appendage systolic function. This observation demonstrates that electrical isolation of the appendage should be accompanied by its occlusion or excision. Appendage occlusion after ablation does not seem to compromise left-sided heart mechanical function.
Takeyoshi Ota, MD, PhD, David Schwartzman, MD, David Francischelli, MSc, Douglas A. Hettrick, PhDc, Marco A. Zenati, MD.

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MENIMBANG PERLUNYA KERJASAMA INTERNASIONAL DALAM PENANGGULANGAN KEJAHATAN DI DUNIA MAYA

Basically internet technology is neutral in its nature, however with broad function and sophisticated information technology and spread of globalization, internet often used as a crime instrument. There is a principle constraint for international cooperation in discontinuanceing cyber crime.
0leh : Doddy Wihardi

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Net energy of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass

Perennial herbaceous plants such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) are being evaluated as cellulosic bioenergy crops. Two major concerns have been the net energy efficiency and economic feasibility of switchgrass and similar crops. All previous energy analyses have been based on data from research plots (<5 ha =" 10,000">

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Analisis Kerusakan Pipa BFW (Boiler Feed Water) Di Ujung Saluran Injektor INHIBITOR

Boiler feed water pipe which has just been operated for 7 (seven) years experienced failure at the vicinity of inhibitor injector pipe. Fractography of failed surface shows that erosion and corosion has took place. To investigate the cause of the failure, some testing have been done, those are hardness, chemical composition, fractography or metallography, corrosion product, and polarization tests, and flow simulation. The test results of flow simulation show that the vicinity of onhibitor injector positioned at the depression flow which is cause coustic gouging happen as the effect of chemical reaction between inhibitor of natrium phosphate and water.
Keywords: Boiler feed water, inhibitor, depression flow, caustic corrosion.
Sukandar; UIKA Bogor

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Simulasi Exterior Ballistics

The general problem of esterior ballistics is to determine the path taken by a projectile fired at a known muzzle velocity, Vo and a known initial elevation angle, Yer, actually the practical problem is find the elevation angle. So, this report will include both problems.
Ekadewi Anggraini Hadoyo and Didik Wahjudi

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Peneraan KWH-Meter 1 Fasa, 220V, 5A, 50HZ Dengan Menggunakan IBM-PC

KWH meter as an instrument for measuring the consumption of electrical energy is expected to have the error similar to its class in the name plate. The calibration of KWH meter is neede to know whether the error is in that specifical range or not. This is done automatically by Personal Computer.
Emmy Hosea, Bunawi Gunawidjaja and Aries Hendrata Tanigoro

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TRITIUM RADIOACTIVITY ANALYSIS OF SURFACE SOIL ON THE P3TkN–BATAN AREA, AT 1 MW OF REACTOR POWER

His research is performed to know the base data of tritium (HTO) radioactivity from surface soil in the P3TkN-BATAN area. Soil samples had been taken at the depth of 0 up to 20 cm at 22 locations. The soil sampels were separated from stone and waste. The water content in the soil sample was determined gravimetrically by drying up to weight constant at temperature of 110o C. The water content of 22 soil samples are 23% minimum, 33% maximum, and 30% average. To take the water from the soil samples, the soil samples were distilled at temperature of 40o C up to dryness. The distilate was counted by Liquid Scintillation Counter (LSC). According to ttest, the difference between the distilate count and background count of the LSC was not significant. This condition showed that the HTO radioactivity from surface soil in the area of the P3TkN-BATAN was relatively small.
Key words : tritium, soil, quantative analysis
Eem Rukmini, Dadang Basarah, Zulfakhri, Poppy I. Tjahaja
Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Teknik Nuklir - BATAN

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OZONE

The ground based measurement of total ozone used a visible spectrometer was conducted at Ciater (6.43drajat S - 107.40drajat E) since August 1994-December 1998. The total ozone from the visible spectrometer measurement were compared with the total ozone from EP-TOMS (Earth Probe-Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer). The purpose of comparison of total ozone was to evaluate the stability and the accuracy of Ciater's visible spectrometer during measurement period. The result of the comparison showed that Ciater's visible spectrometer was relatively stable and accurate, with difference less than 7% to EP-TOMS.
Afif Budiyono

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Pelumasan Pada Hydrostatik Ekstrusi

The friction force is the force in hydrostatic extrusion that has big influence to the total force required. This force is depending on the type of lubrication or it's combinations. For the raw material such as metal and aluminium, to tried to find the combination of lubrication to minimize the force for this extrusion process.
Suwandi S. and Oegik Soegihardjo

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Penerapan AI (artificial Intelligence) terhadap Jaringan komputer dan Urgensinya Didalam Teknologi Informasi

Growth of information World this time is not quit of technology made and used in making an information. Information shall quickly and accurate as possible so that consumer can use and process it become the other information or support the better life Information processing will be more quickly presented and got, should support by well prepared enough infra-structure. Infra-Structure is not only in the form of hardware or just hardware, but also the other infrastructure; dissimilar supporting like software and also fill or payload from information to be presented. A lot of successfulness from software used for the processes of information, among using intelligence method made in or AI (artificial . Hardware even also have ought to also use the technology >and method having the character of brand intelligence making hardware more powerful in supporting information presentation which these days is progressively claimed quicker. Information technology shall have three supporter component which each other related/relevant and cannot be dissociated Kata Kunci : Teknologi informasi, jaringan, artificial Intelligence Hari Soetanto and Painem; Dosen Fakultas Teknologi Informasi Universitas Budi Luhur

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Perkembangan Teknologi Informasi di Indonesia

Pertumbuhan Teknologi Informasi telah menciptakan beraneka ragam kegiatan yang berbasis teknologi ini, seperti: e-government, e-commerce, e-education, e-medicine, dan sebagainya, yang semuanya berbasis elektronik. [English Abstract] Growth of information technology can improve performance and enable various activity can be executed swiftly, precisely and accurate , so that finally will improve productivity. Growth of information technology show the popping out of various activity type being based on this technology, like e-government, e-commerce, e-education, e-medicine, e-laboratory, and other, which is all the things have electronics based.
By: Prasetiawan, Imam Budi

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FLUXGATE MAGNETIC SENSOR AND ITS APPLICATION FOR CURRENT MEASUREMENT

Conventionally electric current can be measured by connecting the instrument serially on the circuit. This method has disadvantage because its disturb the measured current flow. By using a magnetic sensor, current can be measured without disturbing the current flow, because it just measures the magnetic field of the measured current. This paper shows the use of fluxgate magnetic sensor for current measurement. It is shown that the sensor can measure widely range of current with resolution = 2 %. Keywords: current, current sensor, magnetic fluxgate sensor. (BATAN)

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The Gas Turbine With Cascade Humidified Advanced Technology And Its Application Probability On Gas Power Plant System

The current gas turbine technology always emphasize to achieve higher efficiency. This paper presents a comparative analysis for 3 (three) techniques in gas turbine system which are Combined Cysle and CHAT (Cascade Humidified Advanced Turbine) technology and as complement to Simple Cycle related to change of outputs power caused by loads change, change of huge inputs air temperature, change of gas turbine location altitude, and emission problem of NOx. The emission that produced by CHAT technology is very low, beside that it does not require SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) at exhaust. Therefore, CHAT technology can be located closed to customer, so its proper to overcome the distrance problem when electric energy supplie d to customer. Beside those advantages,CHAT technology has several of deficiency. CHAT technology is only ideal to supply electrical loads at small industrial estate, where the center of loads is located not far from power plant system and its only ideal to supply electrical loads at small industrial estate, where the center of loads is located not far from power plant systemn and its only used to supply the stand-alone loads with slowly demand growth or operated as standby generator sets.
Keywords: CHAT, gas turbine, electric energy generation
Tachli Supriadi and Arief Goeritno

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Numerical Fit to the Ashkin Experiment for the 4-Different Formulas of Volume Momentum Proposed by Abraham, Minkowski, Peierls, and Klima-Petrzilka

The momentum flux density of electromagnetic radiation in dielectric media (Abraham-Minkowski problem) has not yet been solved while this question seems to be settled for collisionless fully ionized plasma. Therefore, the experiments of Ashkin are analyzed for a numerical evaluation of the total momentum transferred by laser beam to the sphere suspended in a fluid using four competing formulas for volume momentum, given by Abraham, Minkowski, Peierls, and Klima-Petrzilka. It turns out that at least for this condition of high frequency radiation the Minkowski’s formula as predicted by Gordon arrives at the best fit with experiments and no term of Claussius-Mosotti media are involved at this process of radiation forces.
Keywords: radiation forces, dielectric, laser.
Sidikrubadi Pramudito and Yuliati Herbani; E-mail : sdpramudito@yahoo.com

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Global Software and its Provenance

This paper addresses the seemingly implausible project of establishing a ‘generic’ organizational information system. This is an apparent contradiction: on the one hand, we are told of the diversity of specific organizational contexts and on the other, we often find the same standardized software solutions being applied across those settings. How do generic software packages work in so many different contexts? Science and Technology Studies provides contrasting accounts of how this contradiction is resolved: either stressing the unwanted organizational change that standardized systems may bring; or, alternatively, insisting these technologies can only be made to work through processes of ‘localization’. We argue that the focus on specificity versus localization of application contexts draws attention away from enquiring into the origins and characteristics of generic solutions. Through comparing the design and evolution of two software packages we shift the debate from understanding how technologies are made to work within particular settings to how they are built to work across a diverse range of organizational contexts. Our question is ‘How do software packages achieve the mobility that allows them to bridge the heterogeneity within organizations and between organizations in different sectors and cultures?’ We describe a set of revealed strategies through which suppliers produce software that embodies characteristics common across many users; what we term generification work. One aspect of this process of generification is the configuring of users within ‘managed communities’, but it also includes ‘smoothing’ the contents of the package and, at times, reverting to ‘social authority’. Our argument is that generic systems do exist but that they are brought into being through an intricately managed process, involving the broader extension of a particularized software application and, at the same time, the management of the user community attached to that solution.
Key Words: generification • localization • particularity • sameness • software packages
Neil Pollock, Robin Williams and Luciana D’Adderio
neil.pollock@ed.ac.uk

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Designing the pumping rate to maintain the water table below the bottom of the contaminated zone

Contaminated groundwater comes from an industrial plant which is located in the vicinity of a large river. Groundwater is originated from the alluvial and unconfined aquifer. The groundwater is bounded by a no-flow boundary and has a hydraulic connection with the river. For that reason, the contaminated area have to be excavated into a certain depth before the rise of water table during the high flow season, the river. Dewatering scheme is designing to keep the excavation zone still below the water table. Five wells are installed to monitor groundwater water table and contamination. A set of configuration is made for the locations od the pumping wells, the pumping rates and estimated period of time to compute the drawdown within the excavation zone. Principle of superposition, Theis's equation, computer programming using FORTRAN and "trial and error" of pumping rates, are used in this model to compute groundwater water table. Based on the "trial and error" op pumping rates, the number of 3,000,000 gallons per day is fair enough to maintain the drawdown under the water table and to keep the drawdown below the excavation zone.
Sofian Saidin, Yoyo Tachya; UIKA Bogor

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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Permeability Estimation Based on Pore Radius and Its Distribution

Hydraulic permeability may be expressed as a function of pore radius. A simple capillary model shows that permeability is proportional to the square of pore radius. This model may be extended by including pore size distribution, so statistical parameters of its pore radius distribution can be considered in permeability estimation. Another recent approach, the so-called effective medium approximation uses pore radius distribution as an input parameter for permeability calculation. Permeability can be estimated with the help of the above approaches as far as the pore radius and its distribution are available. Pore radius distribution can be generated using digital image processing. By defining pore radius as the ratio of image pore area and its circumference, pore size distribution of rock image can then be created. Estimation of permeability by means of the effective medium approximation gives better results than the simple capillary model as well as its extended formulae. Definition of pore radius has however significant influence on the results of estimation, since different definitions of pore radius produces different distributions.
Keywords: permeability, pore radius, capillary model, EMA.
Umar Fauzi; e-mail : umarf@fi.itb.ac.id

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Sarasehan Energi “Peran Sumberdaya Energi Alternatif dalam Menunjang Kebutuhan Listrik Nasional”

PEKALONGAN? Kondisi kelistrikan Indonesia akhir-akhir ini sudah sangat memprihatinkan, pemadaman sudah diberlakukan tidak hanya di daerah, tetapi sudah sampai ke Ibukota. Penyebab hal tersebut, antara lain karena beberapa pembangkit umurnya sudah tua, cadangan sumberdaya energi yang semakin menipis, gangguan cuaca yang menyulitkan transportasi bahan bakar, dan harga sumberdaya energi yang terus meningkat, terutama minyak bumi. Dengan kondisi tersebut, pemerintah menetapkan perencanaan energi nasional jangka panjang, dengan mengoptimalkan penggunaan sumberdaya energi baru dan terbarukan (EBT) di luar fosil. Untuk mendiskusikan berbagai hal yang terkait dengan permasalahan energi dan menjaring masukan dari para ulama, tokoh masyarakat dan pejabat pemerintah daerah, BATAN bekerja sama dengan Pemerinitah Kota Pekalongan menyelenggarakan kegiatan Sarasehan Energi “Peran Sumberdaya Energi Alternatif dalam Menunjang Kebutuhan Listrik Nasional”, Selasa (19/02/08) bertempat di Ruang Pertemuan Pemerintah Kota Pekalongan. Sarasehan menghadirkan para pakar, penentu kebijakan dan praktisi di bidang energi dan kelistrikan, yakni Dr. Evita Legowo dan Dr. Thamrin Sihite dari Dep. Energi dan Sumberdaya Mineral, Kepala BATAN Dr. Hudi Hastowo, dan Ir. Eden Napitupulu dari PT. Indonesia Power. Selain itu, hadir sebagai pembicara tamu Habib Lutfi Yahya – Pemimpin Toriqoh Indonesia/Ketua MUI Jawa Tengah. Pada kesempatan tersebut, para pakar energi dan kelistrikan memberikan paparan yang lebih terfokus pada masalah-masalah yang sedang dihadapi bangsa di bidang kelistrikan. Dijelaskan bahwa saat ini kondisi kelistrikan nasional kita sudah mengalami krisis dan sudah seharusnya pemerintah menetapkan kebijakan penggunaan sumber-sumber energi non fosil untuk mengurangi ketergantungan terhadap minyak. Diinformasikan bahwa beberapa sumber energi alternatif yang dapat digunakan adalah air, angin, surya, biomassa dan nuklir. "Opsi pemanfaatan PLTN perlu dipertimbangkan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan tenaga listrik jangka panjang, khususnya sistem kelistrikan Jawa-Madura-Bali”, kata Evita Legowo dalam paparannya. Namun pengembangan PLTN perlu dilakukan dengan persiapan yang matang dan pemahaman tentang PLTN oleh masyarakat perlu terus ditingkatkan. Sebagai pembicara tamu, Habib Lutfi Yahya lebih menyoroti terhadap perilaku bangsa yang senang mengambil kekayaan alam dengan tanpa batas tanpa mempertimbangkan keseimbangan alam. Akibatnya kekayaan alam akan habis dalam waktu singkat dan dapat mengakibatkan berbagai kerusakan seperti yang terjadi saat ini. “Bencana tanah longsor dan banjir adalah contoh nyata sebagai akibat dari sikap kita yang tidak bersahabat dengan alam”, imbuh Lutfi Yahya. “Bangsa Indonesia masih harus belajar keras untuk dapat mewujudkan pembangunan dengan mempertimbangkan keseimbangan alam”, tambahnya lagi. Sikap arif, disiplin dan penguasaan ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi sangat penting untuk dapat memanfaatkan kekayaan alam dengan mempertimbangkan bahwa kekayaan ini tidak hanya untuk generasi saat ini, tetapi juga untuk generasi yang akan datang. Menyangkut dengan penggunaan teknologi nuklir, Habib Lutfi Yahya mengingkatkan bahwa perencanaan pembangunan PLTN, diperlukan persiapan yang matang baik terhadap SDM, penguasaan teknologi, infrastruktur dan kesiapan mental masyarakatnya. Hal ini penting karena PLTN menuntut komitmen jangka panjang bila sudah diputuskan untuk dibangun. Sosialisasi harus diintensifkan, tidak hanya terhadap masyarakat Indonesia tetapi juga terhadap masyarakat di kawasan regional dan internasional, sehingga program PLTN di Indonesia tidak akan dipermasalahkan. Habib sangat memahami terhadap sebagian masyarakat yang masih belum setuju terhadap program pembangunan PLTN, karena selama ini informasi yang diperoleh masih banyak yang bersifat negatif. Sarasehan yang dihadiri oleh kurang lebih 100 orang, terdiri dari para ulama tokoh mastarakat, pejabat pemerintah daerah, dan LSM, dibuka oleh Walikota Pekalongan yang dalam hal ini diwakili Wakil Walikota Pekalongan Abu Almaachir. “Masyarakat harus ikut memikirkan kesulitan yang sedang dihadapi pemerintah di bidang kelistrikan. Kita yang membutuhkan sumber energi harus berani memilih di antara sumber energi yang memiliki resiko paling kecil dan tentu saja harganya harus terjangkau”, demikian pesan Walikota dalam sambutannya yang dibacakan oleh Abu Almaachir. Masyarakat diminta untuk dapat memahami bahwa semua pilihan sumber energi yang akan dimanfaatkan memiliki resiko. Diharapkan bahwa teknologi dapat dimanfaatkan untuk mengembangkan potensi daerah yang ada di wilayah Pekalongan. (Batan)

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Technology and the Conditions on Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics

In this paper I consider the problem of interpreting quantum mechanics. I argue that this problem has evolved in part into the problem of selecting tenable interpretations from a set of available interpretations. We lack the means to make this selection. There is consensus that interpretations should be consistent and empirically adequate. But these conditions are not particularly discriminative. Other conditions may be discriminative but are not generally accepted. I propose two new conditions for selecting tenable interpretations, motivated by the use of quantum mechanics in technology. The first requires that interpretations ascribe the physical properties to technical artefacts that are entailed by the ascription of technical functions to those artefacts. The second requires that they ascribe the physical properties represented by engineering sketches of those artefacts.
Pieter E. Vermaas; p.e.vermaas@tbm.tudelft.nl

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HE SYNTHESIS OF131I-IODOBENZENE BY IODINATION REACTION OFBENZENEDIAZONIUM CHLORIDE

The testing of oil pipe leakagecan be carried out cheaply bymean of 131I-iodobenzene labelled compound. Labelling of iodobenzene with 131I in Indonesia wouldsave cost because it is not necessary to import131 I-iodobenzene from abroad. 131I-iodobenzene labelledcompound can be synthesized through iodination reaction of benzen and diazotation of anilin.Diazotation of anilin withNaNO2 in concentrate HCl was done and resulted benzendiazonium salt isiodinazed with mixture of KI and NaI (+Na131I) by heating at 80o C for one hour. The formediodobenzenfrom the reaction is purified by vapor destilation. Identification of iodobenzene was carriedout by FTIR spectroscopy, refractive index and thin layer chromatography.The analysis of FTIR andrefractive index of iodobenzen from cold synthesis is the same with that of FTIR and refractive index ofstandard iodobenzen. Labelling result of131I-iodobenzene showed a yield of 32,2% calculated fromadded 131I radioactivity and reacted benzendiazonium salt.Key word : 131 I-iodobenzene, iodination.Batan

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Solusi Udara Bersih Bandung dari Aspek Transportasi

Bandung, itb.ac.id, Fakultas Teknik Sipil dan Lingkungan (FTSL) bekerja sama dengan Badan Pengendalian Lingkungan Hidup (BPLHD) Bandung mengadakan seminar dan diskusi panel "Udara Bersih dan Transportasi: Solusi Dari, Oleh, dan untuk Kita Bersama. Acara ini sebenarnya merupakan sosialisasi hasil penelitian korelasi perilaku mengemudi dengan pencemaran udara yang telah dilakukan antara ITB dengan BPLHD. Para peneliti ITB yang turut dalam penelitian yang disponsori CIDA dan Asian Institute of Technology ini berasal dari Kelompok Keahlian (KK) Pengelolaan Udara dan Limbah, KK Teknologi Pengelolaan Lingkungan, serta KK Rekayasa Transportasi. Kendaraan angkutan umum, atau ’angkot’ menjadi pehatian besar dalam pembahasan. Terutama ini berkenaan dengan perilaku mengemudi angkot yang suka berhenti seenaknya. Kalaupun tidak berhenti, angkot menyebabkan arus lalu lintas menjadi lambat,” tutur Ir. Driejana, MSCE, PhD, ketua tim peneliti “Kendaraan terpaksa bergerak dalam kecepatan rendah dan mesin menjadi tidak efisien. Hasilnya, emisi kendaraan akan lebih tinggi.” Sebagai salah satu hasil penelitiannya, staf pengajar Teknik Lingkungan ini memaparkan pembangunan shelter khusus untuk angkot akan mengurangi efek negatif ini. Bahkan dari penelitian terungkap bahwa 60 persen dari pengemudi angkot yang disurvei menyetujui konsep pembangunan shelter. Peningkatan pengetahuan akan bahaya pencemaran udara serta cara kita mulai menanggulanginya akan berpengaruh positif pada kesadaran para pengguna jalan, terutama, sopir angkot untuk mengubah perilaku berkendaranya. Konsep eco–driving juga dikenalkan dalam diskusi panel. Eco–driving adalah cara berkendara yang ramah lingkungan dan hemat bahan bakar. Dengan perilaku mengemudi yang ramah lingkungan, akan diidapatkan keuntungan pribadi melalui penghematan bahan bakar dan biaya perawatan mesin, sekaligus lingkungan udara yang lebih sehat dan bersih. (krisna)

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Penelitian Pengaruh TIP Vortex Melalui Percobaan Sayap 2D dan 3D

While we use data of 3D wings for airplane design, experiments result in graphics of 2D wings. The difference leakage from high pressure region below the wing to low pressure region on the top through the wing edge. Flow leakage, colled as tip vortex, reduces efficiency of 3D wings in producing lift force at a certain angle of attack. How great the reduction of lift force occured, will be evaluated by conducting wind tunnel experiment. This paper will discuss the difference between 2D wing and 3D wing from experiment outcomes. Objectives of experiment, problem definition, basic thoery of this subject will be given first, then experiment procedure and data analysis will be explained. Finally, conclusions of the experiment will be drawn accompanied by data and graphic enclosures.
Didik Wahjudi and Gan Shu San.

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Modifikasi Osiloskop Dual Trace Menjadi Logic Analyzer 8 Input Dengan Menggunakan Mikrokontroller MCS-51

Measurement instruments are important tools for research work in laboratories as well as trouble-shootong in workshop. For testing digital signal, logic probe, clip tester and logic analyzer are common instruments to be used, but among them, logic analyzer has some advantages because it can be used to test sequensial and combinational digital signal. However, logic analyzer costs very high. By modifying a conventional Dual Trace Oscilloscope, one can get a Logic Analyzer with 8 inputs which has been tested to operate well.
Murtiyanto Santoso, Herlianto Tenggara and Matlam Effendy

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Materials and mechanics issues in flip-chip organic packaging

The strength of flip chip organic packaging technology rests upon the knowledge and manufacturing base of C4 solder bump chip interconnection, and printed circuit technology infrastructure. The key innovation was the underfill encapsulation between the chip and the laminate which overcame the road-block of low cycle fatigue of C4 solder bump due to large CTE difference between silicon and laminate. The advent of SLC (surface laminar circuit) innovation extends the flip chip technology to higher solder bump density and larger chip I/O expected for future generations of semiconductors. The flip chip packages contain new materials, interfaces, and new processes which in turn govern the mechanical integrity of the packaging module and module card assembly. The increasing pervasiveness of electronic packages requires meeting new sets of environments. It is important to have a good understanding of materials, interface, metrology and mechanics issues related to organic packages, and how to apply this understanding in the modelling of design, process and reliability of flip chip. This paper will deliver an overview of some of the key technical challenges associated with materials and mechanics in FCA (flip-chip attach) assembly on organic carriers
Wu, T.Y. Tsukada, Y. Chen, W.T. (Microelectron. Div., IBM Corp.)

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Algebraic Structures of the Electroweak Unification

Algebraic structures of a four-parameter non-abelian Lie group are presented in an attempt to construct an electroweak unification model. It turns out that these algebraic structures will be useful in the determination of certain parameters associated with fundamental interactions.
P. Silaban

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On the role of energy conservation in high-energy nuclear scattering

We argue that the most commonly used models for nuclear scattering at ultra-relativistic energies do not treat energy conservation in a consistent fashion. Demanding theoretical consistency as a minimal requirement for a realistic model, we provide a solution for the above-mentioned problem, the so-called 'parton-based Gribov-Regge theory'. In order to keep a clean picture, we do not consider secondary interactions. We provide a very transparent extrapolation of the physics of more elementary interactions towards nucleus-nucleus scattering, without considering any nuclear effects due to final state interactions. In this sense we consider our model a realistic and consistent approach to describe the initial stage of nuclear collisions.
H J Drescher et al.

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Diskriminasi sinyal wicara lewat fungsi distribusi spektral

The structure of signals may be modeled by their covariance functions. Since the knowledge of a covariance function is identical to the knwledge of a spectral distibution function, we may use a spectral distribution function for analizing changes of the structure of speech signals. We can then use the analysis for discriminating their characters. Here, we use a Kalmogorov-Smirnov nonparametric hypothesis test in frequency domain. The investigation use voice and unvoice speech signals, keyboard signals dan autoregressive hypothetical models. The results show that the Kolmogorov-Simrnov method developed is able to discriminate characters in human speech signals with less than 5% significant levels.
SG Ferryanto and D. Gunawan

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Pengaturan Kecepatan Motor Induksi Rotor Tergulung Menggunakan Tahanan Variabel Pada Rotor

We can control the speed and torgue of three phase induction motor, wound rotor type with external resistor. By adjusting the external resistor, we can start induction motor with maximum torque. This paper discussed how to control the sliding external resistor with 8031 microprocessor to make the induction motor start with maximum torque and run constantly in the specified speed.
Stephanus A. Ananda, Bunawi Gunawidjaja and Hoediyono Liyanto

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Multi-sited Ethnography as a Middle Range Methodology for Contemporary STS

The paper draws its inspiration from the provocation which Merton offered sociology both to engage with empirical data and to perform analyses adequate to guide intervention beyond the particular case. Whilst contemporary STS is very different both in its models of theory and its forms of methodology, this paper suggests Merton's concerns with engagement and adequacy provide a useful way to interrogate current approaches. Specifically, the paper explores some recent anthropological conceptions of ethnographic fieldwork that have provided potent models for the study of scientific and technological cultures. These multi-sited approaches have also provided the opportunity to develop new notions of intervention and explore alternative ways of making contributions to development of theory and practice. In the process of pursuing the goals of engagement and adequacy notions of ethnography have however become stretched. This sense of detachment from methodological canons accentuates the need for methodological debate and skill-sharing in STS.
Key Words: ethnography • laboratory • multi-sited • intervention • middle range
Christine Hine; University of Surrey

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Cardiac Energy Metabolism in Obesity

Obesity results in marked alterations in cardiac energy metabolism, with a prominent effect being an increase in fatty acid uptake and oxidation by the heart. Obesity also results in dramatic changes in the release of adipokines, such as leptin and adiponectin, both of which have emerged as important regulators of cardiac energy metabolism. The link among obesity, cardiovascular disease, lipid metabolism, and adipokine signaling is complex and not well understood. However, optimizing cardiac energy metabolism in obese subjects may be one approach to preventing and treating cardiac dysfunction that can develop in this population. This review discusses what is presently known about the effects of obesity and the impact adipokines have on cardiac energy metabolism and insulin signaling. The clinical implications of obesity and energy metabolism on cardiac disease are also discussed.
Lopaschuk, Gary D.; Folmes, Clifford D.L.; Stanley, William C.

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Model Matematis Derajat Ketakpastian

Since our live is covered by uncertainties, mathematical modeling for the measure of uncertainties so that engineering fields can use it is powerful. We present here the features of 3 groups of mathematical modeling for the measure of uncertainties, i.e. probability considered as frequency, Bayesian methods and fuzzy logic, and show some successes of their applications.
S.G. Ferryanto

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Penentuan Dimensi Tungku Bakar Sederhana Untuk Rumah Tangga

The technology of traditional stoves in Magetan district is still simple due to the inaccurate measurements of the combustion. It endangers the villagers health and makes the fuel consumption wasteful. When the chimney is added, the polution in flue gas can be delivered out of the house; and when we consider the minimum loss of the hear transfered, the heat transfered through the chimney or the stove's walls can be reduced. volume, the process of the combustion which is approximate to the stochiometric and the use of the materials with optimum heat-transfer coefficient will reduce the fuel by more than 36%.
Rahardjo Tirtiatmodjo

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A Toolkit for Democratizing Science and Technology Policy: The Practical Mechanics of Organizing a Consensus Conference

A widely touted approach to involving laypeople in science and technology policy-related decisions is the consensus conference. Virtually nothing written on the topic provides detailed discussion of the many steps from citizen recruitment to citizen report. Little attention is paid to how and why the mechanics of the consensus conference process might influence the diversity of the participants in theses fora, the quality of the deliberation in the citizen sessions, the experiences of the participants and organizers, and other outcomes that affect democratic decision making within the conference and more broadly over the long term. As an aid to those interested in utilizing the consensus conference format, the authors outline in detail how they set about organizing their consensus conference on nanotechnology in the spring of 2005. They discuss what specific aspects of their consensus conference worked, and why, and also consider what they learned of relevance to future application.
Key Words: citizen engagement • citizen participation • consensus conference • democracy and expertise • democracy and science • nanotechnology
Daniel Lee Kleinman; et all;University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

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Transactions of the 10th international conference on structural mechanics in reactor technology

This book covers aspects of engineering mechanics pertaining to mechanical and structural components and the relevant systems in nuclear reactors Subjects covered include theoretical developments in structural mechanics, loading conditions, behavior of materials, fluid mechanics, operating experience, accident sequences, and calculational procedures.^Problems of structural mechanics analysis are focused within the general context of the design, reliability, and safety of nuclear reactors.^Operating plant performance and life extension, waste repository technology and regulatory research are addressed.
Author Hadjian, A.H.

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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Perturbative Calculation for the Heavy Meson Matrix Element

We argue that the perturbative approach can be used to compute non-factorizable corrections to exclusive radiative B meson decays in the heavy quark mass limit. The explicit computation of first order QCD corrections is given. These, or the so-called hard spectator, corrections is done up to O (as) in the leading-twist approximation. These results are combined with the already done renormalization group effect in the appropriate Wilson coefficients, the vertex corrections and the annihilation contributions to obtain a complete O (as) improvements to the lowest order decay width. The result is particularly applied to radiative decay B ® rg which the analysis is done for its branching ratio, isospin symmetry breaking and direct CP violation.
Keywords : perturbative, factorization, QCD, B meson, rare decay
L. T. Handoko; E-mail: handoko@lipi.fisika.net

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The Beauty of Complexity

Why do we find self-similar structure in biology, such as trees, ferns, leaves, and twigs? How does this relate to the self-similarity found in inanimate objects such as snowflakes, mountains, and clouds? Is there some way of generalizing the notion of self-similarity to account for both types of phenomena?. Is there a common reason why it’s hard to predict the stock market and also hard to predict weather? Is unpredictability due to limited knowledge or is it somehow inherent in these systems? How do collectives such as ant colonies, human brains, and economic markets self-organize to create enormously complex behavior that is much richer than the behavior of the individual component units?. What is the relationship between evolution, learning, and the adaptation found in social systems? Is adaptation unique to biological systems? What is the relationship between an adaptive system and its environment?. In this seminar we will discuss about web of connections and its applications.
Acep Purqon

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New Mechanism of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions Us-ing Superlow F.A. GAREEV, I.E. ZHIDKOVA

Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia. We proposed a new mechanism of LENR (low energy nuclear reactions)1: cooperative processes in the whole system - nuclei+atoms+condensed matter can occur at smaller threshold than the corresponding ones assoiciated with free constituents. The cooperative processes can be induced and enhanced by (\superlow energy") external elds. The excess heat is the emission of internal energy, and transmutations from LENR are the result of redistribution of the internal energy of the whole system. A review of possible stimulation mechanisms of LENR is presented. We have concluded that transmutation of nuclei at low energies and excess heat are possible in the framework of the known fundamental physical laws: The universal resonance synchronization principle2, and, based on it, di®erent enhancement mechanisms of reaction rates are responsible for these processes3;4. The excitation and ionization of atoms may play the role of a trigger for LENR.
scott.chubb@nrl.navy.mil

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Convergent Energy States and Wave Functions of Helium Atom in an L2 Basis

The convergence of energy states and wave functions of helium atom is presented. The energy states are obtained by diagonalizing the helium Hamiltonian in a non-orthogonal Laguerre basis. Some of the energy states will be exact discrete eigenstates, others will be a discrete representation of the continuum states. As the basis size N increases the lowest bound states in energy states converge to the exact eigenstates, whereas the positive energy states provide an increasingly dense discretization of the continuum. The convergence of wave functions is obtained by the Gauss-Pollaczek quadrature method.
Keywords : Diagonalization, Hamiltonian, non-orthogonal Laguerre, Gauss-Pollaczek quadrature
A. Kartono, and T. Winata

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Alternative Model for Quarks and Leptons Using Extra-Dimensional Effective Potential

Assuming that the weak-isospin, particle-type (quark or lepton), color, and generation are internal quantum numbers, we may generate those quantum numbers by cloning the Dirac operator in four flat extra dimensions and trapping fermions in a harmonic-oscillator potential in the extra dimensions. Particle identification is obtained from the group representation multiplets associated with the choice of the trapping potential in the extra dimensions. The proposed model predicts the existence of unknown particles that might be considered as dark matter candidates. The interaction of the particles and the electro-weak bosonic fields which are treated as external fields will be discussed.
Keywords: Dirac, flat extra dimension, quark, lepton, harmonic-oscillator
Johannes V. Djoko Wirjawan; Email : djoko@mail.wima.ac.id

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High energy nuclear interactions and QCD: an introduction

He goal of these lectures, oriented towards the students just entering the field, is to provide an elementary introduction to QCD and the physics of nuclear interactions at high energies. We first introduce the general structure of QCD and discuss its main properties. Then we proceed to Glauber multiple scattering theory which lays the foundation for the theoretical treatment of nuclear interactions at high energies. We introduce the concept of Gribov's inelastic shadowing, crucial for the understanding of quantum formation effects. We outline the problems facing Glauber approach at high energies, and discuss how asymptotic freedom of QCD helps to resolve them, introducing the concepts of parton saturation and color glass condensate.
D.E. Kharzeev, J. Raufeisen

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THE TESTING OF STANDARD INSTRUMENT STABILITY AS A QUALITY ASSURANCE OF RADIATION INSTRUMENT CALIBRATION

The continuously testing of stability of some dosimeter standards which used as reference dosimeter for calibrating survey meters have been carried out in Radiation Metrology Laboratory, P3KRBiN – BATAN. The testing is needed to know the accuracy and precision of dosimeter standard which fit the criteria as a SSDL (Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory). Beside that this testing is a form of quality assurance of Radiation Metrology Laboratory as National Reference Laboratory or as a SSDL. Standard sources that used for the testing are Sr-90 with 6427 BA and 0941 BA serial numbers, from Buchler, Germany. The dosimeter standards, which tested, are Ion Chamber 2571/3154, 2581/327 and 2575/135 types with couple Farmer Dosimeters of 2570A/531 and 2570B/1319 types. The testing has been carried out routinely every month to make the standard apparatus is always ready for use. The result of the testing is fairly well and the standard apparatus is very stable.

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PALLADIUM SEED FOR BRACHYTHERAPY : OPTIMIZATION TIME FOR

PALLADIUM PLTING TO COPPER WIRE. Optimization time for palladium plating on copper wire has been carried out. Plating metal by electroplating method has been used in the medicine. One of its applications is for making palladium seed of rachytheraphy. Brachytheraphy represent one of medical procedure where radioactive source placed at the cancer tissue for a certain time or permanently. Palladium-103 as a radioisotope source deposited on copper in the seed form is entered into a titanium capsule. Optimization of plating conducted by perceiving influence pH solution and the plating time to wight of palladium deposition. From the results, optimum time of palladium plating at pH 9 of 70 ± 12 minutes and at pH 11 of 53 ± 9 minutes are obtained.
Key words: palladium, brachytherapy, electroplating.
P3TkN – BATAN Bandung

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Permeability Estimation Based on Pore Radius and Its Distribution

Hydraulic permeability may be expressed as a function of pore radius. A simple capillary model shows that permeability is proportional to the square of pore radius. This model may be extended by including pore size distribution, so statistical parameters of its pore radius distribution can be considered in permeability estimation. Another recent approach, the so-called effective medium approximation uses pore radius distribution as an input parameter for permeability calculation. Permeability can be estimated with the help of the above approaches as far as the pore radius and its distribution are available. Pore radius distribution can be generated using digital image processing. By defining pore radius as the ratio of image pore area and its circumference, pore size distribution of rock image can then be created. Estimation of permeability by means of the effective medium approximation gives better results than the simple capillary model as well as its extended formulae. Definition of pore radius has however significant influence on the results of estimation, since different definitions of pore radius produces different distributions.
Keywords: permeability, pore radius, capillary model, EMA.
Umar Fauzi; e-mail : umarf@fi.itb.ac.id

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EXTERNAL EVENTS OF RESEARCH REACTOR TO POWER

The energy crisis, which has been experienced by Indonesia recently, requires an energy alternative as a part of the solution. Moreover, the nuclear power plant (NPP) as an energy source can be considered as one of the alternatives. The safety standard that has been recognized internationally should be implemented at any time, especially those regarding external events. In Indonesia, there are three research reactors, i.e. Kartini Reactor in Yogyakarta, TRIGA 2000 Reactor in Bandung and GA Siwabessy Reactor in Serpong. Based on these three, Indonesia has gained some experiences in qualification and re-evaluation of research reactors. The experience is valuable in preparing the operation of NPP in Indonesia. This paper addresses the issues in qualification and re-evaluation of research reactors as well as anticipation in qualification of NPP from the point of view of seismic hazard that, in smaller scale, has already been implemented in TRIGA 2000 Reactor, Bandung. The hazard analysis concerning TRIGA 2000 Reactor consists of three aspects, i.e., field investigation, probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), and structural analysis. Indonesia’s experience in qualification and re-evaluation of research reactors is essential to be developed and applied in the case of NPP. The concept of qualification is similar to that of research reactor, and the differences lie on the quantitative assignment of performance goal, probability of failure, hazard category, safety and design classes. Key words: seismic hazard analysis, external events, nuclear reactor, nuclear power plant.
Sindur P. Mangkoesoebroto1, Henky Poedjo Rahardjo2,
Irwan Kurniawan3, Rizkita Parithusta4
1 Institut Teknologi Bandung,
2 Pusat Teknologi Nuklir Bahan dan Radiometri - BATAN,
3 Indonesian Centre for Earthquake Engineering,
4 Badan Meteorologi dan Geofisika

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Azimuthal Asymmetry of Direct Photons in High Energy Nuclear Collisions

We show that a sizeable azimuthal asymmetry, characterized by a coefficient v_2, is to be expected for direct photons produced in non-central high energy nuclear collisions. This signal is generated by photons radiated by jets interacting with the surrounding hot plasma. The anisotropy is out of phase by an angle $\pi/2$ with respect to that associated with the elliptic anisotropy of hadrons, leading to negative values of v_2. Such an asymmetry, if observed, could be a signature for the presence of a quark gluon plasma and would establish the importance of jet-plasma interactions as a source of electromagnetic radiation.
Simon Turbide, Charles Gale, Rainer J. Fries

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SYNTHESIS OF NTC THERMISTOR CERAMICS FROM YAROSITE MINERAL AND EVALUATION OF THEIR CHARACTERISTICS.

A study of NTC thermistor fabrication from yarosite mineral had been carried out. Raw yarosite mineral was solved using HCl solution, precipitated using NH4OH and heated at calcination temperature of 700oC for 2 hours. Purified powder and raw yarosite mineral were pressed with pressure of 3.9 ton/cm2 into pellets and sintered at 1100-1300oC in air for 1 hour. The sintered pellets were evaluated using XRD, optical microscope and SEM. Resistivity-temperature characteristic (R-T curve) was determined through measurement of resistivity at various temperatures (room temperature to 100oC). Thermistor pellets made of raw yarosite had a very low density because of its large particle size and of high concentration impurities. Thermistor constant derived from R-T urves showed that the yarosite and the processed powder have a good potential for NTC thermistors due to their relatively high thermistor constant (6220oK for yarosite ore and 2396oK for processed yarosite). However, the room temperature resistivity of the thermistors was very high where the room temperature resistivity of the termistors made from ore yaroste was much higher than that of the termistors made from processed one. XRD data showed that all of the pellets sintered at 1100-1300oC had matrix of Fe2O3 (hematite, hexagonal structure). The data of density, microstructure and electrical properties showed that the thermistors from processed yarosite sintered at 1100oC fit market requirements.Key words : thermistor, NTC, yarosite, electrical characteristics.
P3TkN – BATAN Bandung

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Pendidikan dan riset di Universitas di Indonesia, Malaysia dan Jepang: Mengapa Universitas di Indonesia tidak menjadi yang terbaik?

In this millennium, Indonesia should strive to emerge as one of the competitive nations in the world. To achieve this, Indonesia must create research universities. University research is a noble intellectual activity and gives societal benefits. Thus, the need for total quality in education and research becomes increasingly important. In this context, the way of Japan and Malaysia to achieve the excellence in education and research is described. Based on this, some recommendations are given to universities in Indonesia.
Hadi Nur; Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

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THE USE OF PLASMA ENERGY IN TEXTILE PROCESS TO IMPROVE THE CHARACTERS OF FABRIC

The use of plasma energy have been studied for textile processes in order to find out the alternate of oil and coal energy. The weight reduce process of fabrics from cotton, rayon viscose, polyester, nylon, acrylic and acetate rayon have been carried out using plasma energy to decrease stiffness and improve soft and handling of fabric. The modification of textile fabrics was also carried out using plasma energy in order to improve character of the fabrics. It was concluded that the plasma energy was able to be used for weight reducing of natural and synthetic fibres, and the etching rate depends on the chemical structure of fibres. The plasma energy was able to be used as initiator for graft polymerization of hydrophilic and hydrophobic monomers onto textile fibres. The SEM analysis indicated that there were good compatibility between monomer and fibre. The tensile strength tends to decrease after etching and the tensile strength tends ton increase after of grafting with monomers.
Key word : plasma energy, textile finishing.
Zubaidi A. Kailani BALAI BESAR TEKSTIL

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Document Image Recognition System: Framework and Applications

Document image recognition (DIR) is a part of document image understanding (DIU) or intelligent document processing (IDP) system. The objectives of document image recognition is data extraction either textual or graphical data which exist within the document, or structural information such as document layout or document style which will resulting in exact reconstruction of document. Data extracted from this system will be used in further application forming document image understanding system or automatic document processing system. Document image recognition and understanding has been studied over three decades. Many commercial or free software are available, However these software primarily being spesific application. This paper will discuss on the development of a flexible framework of a DIR system which can be applied to many field of document image recognition applications. The paper will also discuss the classification of document complexity that are being used, methods used, and some application prototypes of a DIR system built with this framework.
Iping Supriana Suwardi, Peb Ruswono Aryan, Bugi Wibowo; Bandung Institute of Technology

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BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF 186RE-EDTMP AS AN ALTERNATIVE BONE PAIN PALLIATIVE AGENT

Bone pain is a common complication for patient with bone metastases from prostate, breasts, lung and renal cancers. Samarium-153 EDTMP (Ethylenediamine-N,N,N’,N’-tetrakis(methylene phosphonic acid)) is one of the most widely used radiopharmaceutical for the treatment of metastatic bone pain. Labelling of EDTMP with 186Re have been carried out with high radiochemical purity and this complex was stable up to 8 days . Biodistribution pattern of the injected this complex in mice indicates that the accumulated optimum activity in the bone was obtained after 24 hours post injection. Rhenium-186 EDTMP complex contents in the blood reach an optimum activity after 5 minutes and decrease drastically at 1 hours post injection. The complex showed major renal clearance up to 38 % as perrhenate ion within 24 hours after injection. In vitro protein binding investigation showed that 45-50 % of the compound bound to the plasma proteins. Rhenium-186 EDTMP revealed strong binding to hidroxyapatite and stable up to 2 days. Sterility and pyrogenicity test indicated that the compound were sterile and pyrogen free.
Key words : 186Re-EDTMP, bone, radiochemical purity, biodistribution
A. H.Gunawan, A. Mutalib, S. Aguswarini, Karyadi, S. Bagiawati, Abidin
Pusat Pengembangan Radioisotop dan Radiofarmaka - BATAN

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HOW DOES COURSEWARE’S DESIGN AFFECT LEARNERS COGNITIVE-STRATEGY?

The emergence of the computer as an aid to education, with its unlimited range of instructional control options available to designer and user supports the vast development of coursewares. Hundreds of coursewares, aim to increase learners’ learning outcomes were developed. However, to have a courseware fits with learners’ characteristics many issues need to be explored. Referring to Resnick’s (1989) definition of learning as knowledge construction, it is critical for coursewares to support learners in the process of acquiring, retaining, and retrieving different kinds of knowledge and performance. In acquiring, retaining, and retrieving information learners use procedures known as cognitive strategies. It is assumed that cognitive strategies are integral to the process of learning, but initiation of their use may come from the learner’s self-instruction, or, from an instructional unit or system. This study intends to show how courseware design affects the use of cognitive strategies, especially from the high-school learners in Indonesia. A close examination on the psychological processes in learning was made to address questions: (a) how does screen density affect the use of cognitive strategies? (b) Does material presented in a linear format differs with material presented in non-linear (hypertext-based) in producing learner’s learning outcomes? The results show that learners employed better cognitive strategies when presented with 25% text density material compare to 60%. Hypertext-based courseware was also found to have an effect on how learner processed the information.
Keywords: courseware, cognitive-strategy, computer-assisted instruction (CAI), knowledge construction
Sri Hartati R. Suradijono; E-mail: hartati@cs.ui.ac.id

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Teori Dwikomponen: sebuah parameter untuk mengukur aspek

This paper presents a unified theory of aspect as a parameter of Universal Grammar. Smith provides an unusual combination of syntactic, semantic and pragmatic approaches to a single domain as well as detailed linguistic analyses of languages with very different aspectual systems. Extensive discussion of the linguistic evidence is complemented by a formal semantic treatment, set in the framework of Discourse Representation Theory. The analysis offers an explicit procedure to arrive at the aspectual meaning of a sentence from its syntactic surface structure. Among the theoretical innovations are a principled account of the interaction between viewpoint aspect and situation type.
Keywords: two component theory, aspectual meaning ,aspect, situation aspect, view point aspect, discourse representation theory.
Lucy R. Montolalu; E-mail: Lucy r-m@ indo.net.id

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COMPUTER AIDED ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTATION FOR MEASURING WIND SPEED

Monitoring and measuring of wind speed in PPTN Serpong area are very important. especially at nuclear emergency condition. This monitoring and measuring can be done by using of switch as speed sensor that enable given detection result. Using of electronics instrument device is a method to find of sensitivity detection. In other side using of digital system can be synergy with the system of computer basis for real time measurement or for save historic data by utilized computer internal timer. Turbo Pascal language programming can give ease for solve technical problems that connected with measurements.
Arief Goeritno, Muhammmad Anis , Deny Suseno

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SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT OF QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS FOR X_RAY DIFFRACTION USING HANAWALT METHOD

X- ray diffractometer is an instrument used for indentification of crystal forming sample employing electromagnetic wave of x-ray radiation. The result obtained from the experiment is relative intensity (I/I1) and scattering angle ( 2 è ). The scattered x-ray is from atoms of crystal lattice of observed sample. For the preparation of materials identification programme based on x-ray diffraction data, a development of software covering the steps of regression, differentiation and integral has been done. Diffraction peaks from sample with highest relative intensity are used to determine plane spacing value (dhkl) and each plane spacing value will be compared with database to identify the analysed material.
Key words : sample identification, software, qualitatif analysis, x-ray diffraction, Hanawalt method.
P3TkN – BATAN Bandung

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PENJERNIHAN AIR MENGGUNAKAN ARANG SEKAM PADI

Kebutuhan akan air bersih di daerah pedesaan dan pinggiran kota untuk air minum, memasak , mencuci dan sebagiannya harus diperhatikan. Cara penjernihan air perlu diketahui karena semakin banyak sumber air yang tercemar limbah rumah tangga maupun limbah industri. Cara penjernihan air baik secara alami maupun kimiawi akan diuraikan dalam bab ini. Cara-cara yang disajikan dapat digunakan di desa karena bahan dan alatnya mudah didapat. Bahan-bahannya anatara lain batu, pasir, kerikil, arang tempurung kelapa, arang sekam padi, tanah liat, ijuk, kaporit, kapur, tawas, biji kelor dan lain-lain. 2. URAIAN SINGKAT Sekam padi banyak terdapat didaerah pedesaan, namun penggunaan sekam padi belum dimanfaatkan sepenuhnya. Uraian ini adalah salah satu cara memanfaatkan sekam padi untuk memperoleh air bersih yang merupakan kebutuhan dasar bagi masyarakat. 3. BAHAN DAN PERALATAN 1) Arang sekam padi 2) Kayu bakar 3) Sampah-sampah/tanah 4) Pipa 5) Kerikil 6) Kawat ram 7) Lumpur 8) Drum diameter 40 cm dan tinggi 72 cm 4. PEMBUATAN 1) Dasar drum dibuat lubang-lubang kecil (diameter 2 mm) dan 4 lubang dengan diameter 3,5 mm. Pada dinding drum diberi 6 lubang berdiameter 3,5 mm. Jarak antara masing-masing lubang 10 cm. Bagian kiri dan kanan drum dipasangi pipa yang panjangnya 15 cm. Pada bagian dasar dari drum diberi kawat ram. 2) Tungku pembakaran : Tungku pembakaran adalah tungku rumah tangga yang dimodifikasi untuk pengarangan kayu bakar. 3) Alat penjernihan air terdiri atas 2 bagian : a. Alat pengendapan yang terbuat dari drum. b. Alat penyaringan yang dibuat dari gentong. Pada dasar gentong diberi kerikil dan arang sekam padi setebal dari 10 sampai 20 cm di atasnya. Di atas arang sekam padi diberi ijuk. 4) Pembuatan arang sekam padi : a. Secara tradisional arang sekam padi dibuat dalam suatu lubang yang berukuran : panjang 50 cm, tinggi 30 cm dan diameter 50 cm, dengan kapasitas 5 kg. Sekam dibakar di atas tungku singer. Sekam yang sudah terbakar ditutup tanah dan diatasnya diberi sampah. Pada salah satu sudut lubang diberi pipa udara b. Cara lain dengan menggunakan drum sebagi tungku pembakaran. Temperatur pada waktu pengarangan 4000-6000 C dan lama pengarangan 2,5 jam. Bahan bakar kayu yang digunakan 5 kg, untuk 5 kg sekam padi. 5. PENGGUNAAN Proses penyaringan air: 1) Tahap pertama pengendapan 2) Tahap kedua penyaringan dengan arang sekam padi kira-kira 10 cm tebalnya. Proses penyaringan ini bekerja selama 6 jam/hari 6. KEUNTUNGAN 1) Dapat memenuhi kebutuhan air bersih untuk keperluan keluarga 2) Pengarangan sekam padi mudah dikerjakan oleh masyarakat pedesaan sendiri. 3) Relatif murah 4) Hasil penjernihan memenuhi syarat kesehatan. 5) Sekam padi mudah diperileh di pedesaan. 7. KERUGIAN Pembakaran harus sempurna apabila pembakaran ”tidak sempurna” (kekurangan oksigen) arang sekam padi dan abu akan bercampur.(Lipi)

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NEUTRON TRANSPORT SIMULATION IN REACTOR SHIELDING MATERIAL USING Monte Carlo METHOD

Simulation of neutron transport in the reactor shielding material has been undertaken using ELSCAT code. ELSCAT utilizes Monte Carlo application which involve simulation techniques such as: the use of random number for a pdf (probability density function) sampling; tracking a particle life from its born to the end of its life; and statistical error calculation. In general, ELSCAT estimates the average number of elastic collisions needed to slow down the neutron from its source energy (Es) to its terminal energy (Emin) inside a moderator with mass number A. To determine the post collision energy, the appropriate pdf is sampled using random number generated by computer. This code also computes the average neutron scattering angle. In this simulation, have been obtained computational results of the average number of elastic collisions and average cosinus elastic neutron scattering angles for shielding materials with mass numbers: 238.0, 207.0, 56.0, 23.0,12.0, 9.0, and 1.0
Muhammad B. Setiawan

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INSTABILITY ASSESSMENT OF RADIOPHARMACEUTICALS DRY KIT LABELLED BY 99mTc BASED ON CHEMICAL AND PHISICAL ASPECTS

Diagnosis of diseases non-invasively make the patient comfortable, therefore this technique becoming more popular. Among the non-invasive method is diagnosis by nuclear technique using radiopharmaceuticals. The preparation of the radiopharmaceuticals can be done by adding certain radionuclide solution to the dry kit following the instruction of kit preparation that usually enclosed in the kit packaging. The quality of obtained radiopharmaceuticals depend on the quality of the kit and hence the quality of the organ imaging and diagnosis accuracy depend on the quality of radiopharmaceuticals. In some cases, the radiopharmaceutical kit damage in short period of time during storage, resulting poor labeling efficiency and inaccurate diagnosis. This article deals with the chemical and physical evaluation of the kit , as well as the description about how to improve the kit,s quality. Parameters need to evaluate are: pH, radiochemical purity, lipophylicity, protein–plasma binding and electrical charge. Anomaly in physical and chemical properties of the kit caused by some cases during proses such as: raw materials, composition of kit, vacuum system of the kit, and the performance of the apparatus used are also discussed.
Key words: radiopharmaceuticals kit, 99mTc, organ imaging
Misyetti
Pusat Teknologi Nuklir Bahan dan Radiometri

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PRODUCTION METHOD FOR COBALT–58 (58Co) RADIOISOTOPES BY 58Ni(n,p)58Co REACTION.

Radioisotope 58Co is one of the radioisotope which is developed for the preparation of labelled compounds. Radioisotope 58Co has a gamma radiation energy which is suitable for the radiotracer technique purpose. Radioisotope 58Co can be produced through neutron activation reaction 58Ni(n, p )58Co in a nuclear reactor by irradiation the NiO target. In this study the target used is from natural origin which has a natural isotopic abudance (q) of 67.88 % and a cross section (s)nf of 0.09 barn. The establistment of the production methode for 58Co was the aim of this study, and the result was expected could be used for further development of the labelled compound production. The NiO target was irradiated in nuclear reactor TRIGA 2000 Bandung by a neutron flux of 6.387 x 1013 n / cm2 / s1 for 60 hour. The irradiated target disolved in HCl 12 M further more evaporated until dry and dissolved in HCL 9 M. The separation of 58Co radioisotope from the impurities used an anion exchange method using Dowex resin with the eluent HCl 4 M. The final 58Co radioisotope product was a clear colorless solution of 58CoCl2 with pH 1 – 1.5 and the average radioactivity concentration of 0.085 mCi/ mL. The radionuclide purity of 58Co was determined by using multichannel analyzer (MCA). Gamma ray spectrum appeared at energy of 810.69 keV, 863.95 keV, 1675.40 keV indicating there was radioisotope 58Co as the result of 58Ni(n,p)58Co reaction. The radiochemical purity determination was done by paper chromatographic method using 3 MM Whatman as the stationary phase and the mixture of NH3 : ethanol : water (1:10:20) as mobile phase, It was found the migration of 58CoCl2 gave an Rf value of zero (Rf = 0) and a radiochemical purity > 99% and the solution still stable in one week. The nickel metal determination was done by spectrophotometry method using dimethylglyoxime reagents, indicated that the concentration of nickel metal was not exceed 2 ppm.
Key Words : cobalt-58, reactor, radiotracer.

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PENGEMBANGAN SISTEM PEMBUANGAN DECAY HEAT UNTUK GENERASI MENDATANG - POTENSI DAN KENDALANYA

Nuclear power plant safety system is necessary such that an accident ocurred at Three Mile Island 2 in 1979 can be avoided. Decay heat removal is one of the important aspects in nuclear power plant safety .Decay heat is the removal of the radiation energy emitted by removing the decay heat from the nuclear reactor to the atmosphere which acts as an ultimate heat sink. Decay Heat Removal System (DHRS) relies on passive working mechanism, which applied not only to simplify configuration and work mechanism, but also to increase the performance of the safety system. DHRS can be applied to the current or the advanced generation of nuclear power plants. The current DHRS design frequently act as a part of Emergency Core Cooling System for low pressure level (approximately 28 atm. Setpoint). Air is used to remove the sensible heat from the steel reactor vessel to the atmosphere and it functions as coolant because of its high availability and mobility , which can passively moved by pressure difference. Air cooling system application for DHRS is relatively new, therefore research and development to understand the basic characteristic of the system should be
Priyanto Mudo Joyosukarto, Rr. Arum Puni Rijanti; Pusat Pengembangan Energi Nuklir - BATAN

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Radiasi Nuklir Mampu Hasilkan Padi Tahan Hama

Benih padi varitas unggul dalam negeri kita tidak kalah dengan benih impor. Demi memenuhi ketahanan pangan nasional, teknologi nuklir juga berperan menghasilkan benih padi andalan. Jangan selalu takut dengan radiasi nuklir. Bisa jadi beras yang kita makan sehari-hari merupakan hasil proses radiasi nuklir. Salah satunya adalah yang berasal dari benih Mira 1, hasil kembangan teranyar Badan Teknologi Atom Nasional (Batan). “Mira kepanjangan dari Mutasi dan Radiasi, jenis benih padi unggul kami pada tahun 2005 lalu. Sampai sekarang jenis ini sudah menghasilkan panen di lahan seluas 440.000 hektare,” ungkap Suharyono, Kepala Bidang Pertanian Pusat Aplikasi Teknologi Isotop dan Radiasi Batan kepada SH di Jakarta, Selasa (30/1). Kelebihan Mira 1 dibanding dengan padi konvensional adalah batangnya lebih kokoh sehingga tidak mudah rontok ketika terkena angin kuat. Padi temuan Prof Dr Mugiono ini tahan terhadap hama wereng cokelat biotipe 1 dan 2, tahan terhadap penyakit bakteri hawar daun strain III. Mira 1 hanya satu di antara 15 benih padi unggul produksi Batan. Lainnya seperti Atomita 1,2,3,4, Meraoke, Woyla, Kahayan, Winongo, Diah Suci, Yuwono, Mayang, Situgintung, Muria, Tengger, Meratus, Rajabasa dan Camar juga dihasilkan dari proses radiasi nuklir. Suharyono menjelaskan teknik nuklir yang digunakan dalam pemuliaan padi adalah radiasi, di mana tanaman varietas nasional disilangkan dengan tanaman yang memberi aspek bagus. Radiasi mampu menembus biji tanaman sampai ke lapisan kromosom. Struktur dan jumlah pasangan kromosom pada biji tanaman dapat dipengaruhi dengan sinar rasiasi ini. Perubahan struktur akibat rasiasi dapat berakibat pada perubahan sifat tanaman dan keturunannya. Fenomena ini digunakan untuk memperbaiki sifat tanaman untuk memperoleh biji tanaman dengan keunggulan tertentu, misalnya tahan hama, tahan kering dan cepat panen. “Kami radiasi dengan dosis tertentu. Padi yang diradiasi bersifat aman sepenuhnya, tidak ada unsur radioaktif. Setelah itu masuk ke tahap seleksi yang lanjut ke tahap galur mutan dan galur harapan. Dari situ melalui uji daya hasil pendahuluan,” jelas Suharyono. Langkah selanjutnya adalah uji multilokasi yang menurut standar Departemen Pertanian paling sedikit harus dilakukan di 20 lokasi. Sejak 1982 Studi pemanfaatan teknologi radiasi nuklir terhadap pemuliaan padi sudah dilakukan Batan sejak tahun 1982. Dedy Miharja, Kepala Bidang Promosi Batan mengatakan, “Total benih unggul kembangan Batan sudah tersebar di 923.000 hektare di 23 provinsi se-Indonesia, paling banyak di Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah dan Jawa Timur. Penyebaran benih unggul ini dilakukan melalui program Iptekda di berbagai daerah sejak 1999.” Batan juga bekerja sama dengan PT Sang Hyang Sri dan Himpunan Keluarga Tani Indonesia (HKTI) untuk mendistribusikan benih tersebut ke masyarakat. Yang menjadi kendala hingga saat ini adalah sulitnya menghadapi masalah musim yang memang tidak dapat dihadapi. Kendala lainnya adalah keterbatasan Batan sebagai Lembaga Penelitian Non departemen (LPND) untuk melakukan komersialisasi sendiri.
Selain sekadar menghasilkan produksi benih unggul, Batan juga mencoba mengolah padi lokal untuk ditingkatkan kemampuan tanamnya. Salah satunya padi Pandanwangi dari Cianjur yang berkat teknik rasiasi mampu ditanam bukan saja di atas ketinggian 700 meter dpl, melainkan di area yang lebih rendah juga. “Kami berharap agar pemerintah mengikutsertakan benih-benih produksi kami ke dalam program subsidi benih unggul nasional,” demikian Suharyono. Oleh Merry Magdalena.

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Information Technology and the Third Industrial Revolution

Discusses the so-called third industrial revolution, or the information revolution. Topics addressed include the progression of the revolution in the U.S. economy, in Europe, and in Third World countries; the empowering technologies, including digital switches, optical fiber, semiconductors, CD-ROM, networks, and combining technologies; and future possibilities. Descriptors: Computer Networks; Developed Nations; Developing Nations; Economic Factors; Economic Progress; Foreign Countries; Futures (of Society); Information Technology; Optical Data Disks; Semiconductor Devices; Technological Advancement
Authors: Fitzsimmons, Joe

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DESIGN OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT LAYOUT IN RETAIL SHOP USING MARKET BASKET ANALYSIS

Retailing is an industry with high level of competition. It is a customer-based industry which depends on how it could be aware of what the customers’ needs and requirements are. One technique most used in supermarkets is the mix merchandise. The purpose of this paper is to identify associated products, which then grouped in mix merchandise with the use of market basket analysis. This association between products then will be applied in the design layout of the product in the supermarket. The process of identifying the related products bought together in one transaction is done by using data mining technique. Apriori algorithm is chosen as a method in the data mining process. Using WEKA (Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis) software, the association rule between products is calculated. The results found five category association rules and fourteen sub-category association rules. These associations then will be interpreted as confidence and support to become consideration for the product layout.
Keywords: layout, market basket analysis, retail Isti Surjandari dan Annury Citra Seruni; Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia

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Semiconductor Equipment Consolidation – How to Better Leverage Your Assets

The massive semiconductor industry consolidation that occurred during the last decade, coupled with the successful introduction of 300mm wafer production equipment, has left the semi equipment producers chasing an increasingly smaller number of tool sales. The increase in tool complexity has dramatically lengthened development times and raised costs of next-generation platforms, with the average new platform taking three to five years. As a result, the equipment industry has turned to mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations to realign product strategies and provide the cost-efficient product offerings demanded by the rapidly consolidating supply chain. This has strained the ability of many companies to develop effective technology strategies that support realigned business objectives while avoiding inflation of the R&D budget to a larger
percentage of revenue. As a result, consolidating companies continue to experience cost overruns, long product acceptances, unsuccessful technology integration and deferred revenue, all of which severely impact shareholder value. As the semiconductor equipment industry continues to recover and drive a new cycle of innovation, the winners of the battle for market share—the survivors of the continuing consolidation—inevitably will be those who can best leverage their combined technology assets to provide differentiable value to both their customers and shareholders. This paper examines the factors that are critical in aligning business and technology strategies to extract the most market leverage and top-line growth from combined or restructured product lines. The paper draws from approaches achieving success in other heavily consolidating industries and applies them to the unique challenges facing semi.

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Design Of Proportional And Derivative Gain For Feedback Control Technique (Case Study: Arm Robot System)

He objective of this paper is to learn how to design proportional and derivative gain if we want to applied for certain system, in this case for arm robot system. Control is said as the process of causing a system variable to conform to some desired value. Popular control systems are open loop and closed loop systems. The difference of them is that closed loop systems use feedback control. If we want to obtain more accurate control, the controlled signal should be fed back and compared with the reference input, and an actuating signal proportional to the difference of the input and the output must be sent through the system to correct the error. The use of feedback to be for the purpose of reducing the error between the reference input and the system output. However, the significance the effects of feedback in control systems is more complex. A system with one or more feedback paths such as that just described is called a closed loop system. Feedback control that used in this case, arm robot system, is proportional gain (g) and derivative gain or rate signal (f). Feedback control technique is used to obtain more accurate control. In feedback systems, the variable being controlled is measured by a sensor, and the information is feedback to the process for influence controlled variable. If we want to rotate the arm of the robot to the reference position as speedy as possible, we must design the controller for this system. For design proportional and derivative gain for arm robot system, one of the simple method is pole assignment. By this method we can defines that a certain system stable or not stable.
Keywords : open loop, closed loop, feedback control, proportional gain, derivative gain, pole assignment, arm robot system.
Ferry Hadary

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Converting to Lead-Free Surface Plating for Terminals for Semiconductor Packages

As one element of a program to reduce the burden on the global environment, conversion to lead-free electronic equipment has been proposed for electronic equipment makers. In addition, in Europe and elsewhere a movement toward regulation of lead is evident and progress is being made in the study and development of lead-free solutions. In regard to electronic devices also, which are the components that make up electronic equipment, development work aimed at lead-free solutions is proceeding at JEITA (Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association) and at device makers, and the results are about to be applied in some products. At Oki Electric, we also are working on lead-free solutions for electronic equipment. In the Semiconductor Group, we have been working on lead-free terminals for IC packages and have completed development work to enable adoption in mass production. From business year 2001, we will begin mass production and delivery of a part of our products using lead-free techniques.
Kazuhiko SERA, Shinji MURAKI

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Assessing Organizational Culture in Complex Sociotechnical Systems

Methodological Evidence from Studies in Nuclear Power Plant Maintenance Organizations. Failures in industrial organizations dealing with hazardous technologies can have widespread consequences for the safety of the workers and the general population. Psychology can have a major role in contributing to the safe and reliable operation of these technologies. Most current models of safety management in complex sociotechnical systems such as nuclear power plant maintenance are either non-contextual or based on an overly-rational image of an organization. Thus, they fail to grasp either the actual requirements of the work or the socially-constructed nature of the work in question. The general aim of the present study is to develop and test a methodology for contextual assessment of organizational culture in complex sociotechnical systems. This is done by demonstrating the findings that the application of the emerging methodology produces in the domain of maintenance of a nuclear power plant (NPP). The concepts of organizational culture and organizational core task (OCT) are operationalized and tested in the case studies. We argue that when the complexity of the work, technology and social environment is increased, the significance of the most implicit features of organizational culture as a means of coordinating the work and achieving safety and effectiveness of the activities also increases. For this reason a cultural perspective could provide additional insight into the problem of safety management. The present study aims to determine; (1) the elements of the organizational culture in complex sociotechnical systems; (2) the demands the maintenance task sets for the organizational culture; (3) how the current organizational culture at the case organizations supports the perception and fulfilment of the demands of the maintenance work; (4) the similarities and differences between the maintenance cultures at the case organizations, and (5) the necessary assessment of the organizational culture in complex sociotechnical systems.
Teemu Reiman;

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OPTIMASI JARINGAN SYARAF TIRUAN UNTUK KENDALI DAYA

REAKTOR RISET KARTINI DENGAN MODEL REFERENSI LINIER.
The control of the power of Kartini research reactor has been done either manually or automatically using conventional feedback controller (PID controller). In this research, an alternative control of Kartini reactor power using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) was investigated. The research was done using two ANNs, acting as a reactor model and a controller. The ANN-reactor model was trained using a set of input-output reactor states. The ANN-controller was trained by comparing the response of the control system and the output of a linear reference model of the reactor. The trained ANN-controller was then tested by mean of simulations. The results of the simulations showed that the ANN-controller successfully reduced the overshoot and the settling time that might occur by using a PID controller.
Nazrul Effendy, Balza Achmad dan Singgih Hawibowo; UGM

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Review of the Semiconductor Industry and Technology Roadmap

Points out that the semiconductor industry is extremely competitive and requires ongoing technological advances to improve performance while reducing costs to remain competitive and how essential it is to gain an understanding of important facets of the industry. Provides an overview of the initial and current semiconductor technology roadmap that would further enhance understanding of the semiconductor industry.
Authors: Kumar, Sameer; Krenner, Nicole
Descriptors: Economics; Electronics; Industry; Science History; Semiconductor Devices; Technology

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KOAGULASI MENGGUNAKAN ALUM DAN PACl

Koagulasi terjadi karena adanya interaksi antara produk hidrolisa aluminum dengan kontaminan seperti partikel koloid. Berbagai spesies aluminum yang mungkin hadir pada kondisi tertentu perlu diperhatikan, mengingat bahwa mekanisme penurunan kekeruhan sangat tergantung pada spesies tersebut. PACl terdiri dari produk hidrolisa aluminum yang telah dibuat terlebih dahulu, dimana produk ini stabil pada pH di bawah 6 serta kurang sensitif dibandingkan dengan produk hidrolisa in situ yang dihasilkan dari alum. Keuntungan PACl dibandingkan alum diteliti sebagai fungsi dari pH dan dosis Al. Juga dibahas tentang kondisi spesifik dan spesies aluminum yang hadir dalam mekanisme koagulasi tertentu. Hasil penelitian ini mengindikasikan bahwa PACl lebih efektif daripada alum pada rentang pH yang rendah dan pH tinggi, sedangkan penggunaan alum optimum pada kondisi netral.
Winarni; Jurusan Teknik Lingkungan, Fakultas Arsitektur Lansekap dan Teknologi Lingkungan, Universitas Trisakti,

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Pengkajian Proses Pengolahan Gambir Di Kec. Kundur-Riau

Processing method of gambier production practice at Kundur District of the Riau Province resulted in inferior quality. As the result, the demand of gambier produced from this district has decreased. Improvement of the method by developing a processing machine could increase the quality of gambier. The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPP Teknologi) has designed and develop an apparatus called Hydraulic Frame BPPT to produce high quality gambir.
Keywords: Proses pengolahan, Gambir, Hidrolik Frame BPPT, Peningkatan mutu, Nilai tambah. (Amos).

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Proses Pembuatan Asam Phospat Dari Bantuan Phospat

There are two types of phosphate acid production processes, i.e., wet and furnace processes. Each process has its own advantage and disadvantage. This research was concentrated on wet process as it's more economical in industrial scale and it only uses simple equipment. In this process solution of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) was added into phosphate rocks. The reaction produced phosphate acid and calcium sulfate. The concentration of sulfuric acid, temperature and period reaction were varied. Extraction of phosphate oxide (P2O5) from phosphate rock can be optimized by manipulation which may affect the reaction. The result showed that optimum condition of the process were obtained at 8.2 operation hours, sulfate concentration of 27,7%, temperature of 81,1drajatC. The result obtained was 23,38% phosphate acid.
Keywords: Batuan phospat, proses basah, hasil optimum
Edi Priyo Pramono

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Pengaruh Iradiasi Sinar Gamma Pada Katalis CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 Untuk Reaksi Hidrogenasi CO2

Gamma irradiation on CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst increased surface area by + 42,59 % and catalyst activity by + 42,81 %.. A 900 Kgy irradiation dosage showed chemical bonding changes in catalyst and produced unpaired electron. CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst with gamma irradiation has higher stability than non-irradiated one and showed good stability in 15 hours. There is no Cu metal in Liquid product.
Setiadi, Praswasti PDK Wulan dan Hadi Suprayitno
e-mail: hasbila@yexa.eng.ui.ac.id
wulan@yexa.eng.ui.ac.id

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Tin Whiskers on Lead-free Platings

Electroplated tin can be considered as a drop-in replacement for SnPb finishes on the terminations of semiconductor devices. However, Sn layers are known to form whiskers. These whiskers are spontaneous protrusions of few microns in diameter and up to hundreds of microns
or even millimetres in length. These might cause shortcircuits and the failure of electronic circuits. This paper shows that no accelerated test method is available for whisker growth and presents a mechanism for whisker growth, based on compressive stress that is introduced by irregular growth of intermetallics at the substrate/plating interfaces. This mechanism is illustrated with views of the intermetallics and diffusion theory. Furthermore, countermeasures to prevent whisker growth are presented. These countermeasures are explained with the help of the above-menP.J.T.L. Oberndorff, M. Dittes, L. Petit, C.C. Chen, J. Klerk and E.E. de Kluizenaartioned mechanism.

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Penelitian dan Pengembangan Material Karet Untuk Memproduksi Karet Teknik Dalam Rangka Pelaksanaan Alih Teknologi

The downstream of rubber industries was less developed because of the lack of technology and the limitation of human resources. In contrast, the needed of rubber engineering for industry is still supplied by the import goods. This condition will be worst when the global market will be established in the next century. At the time, Indonesia rubber product couldn't compete with the same product from other countries. The technology of rubber engineering is rather complicated because several knowledge and art, are needed to produce one product. In this paper, the scenario of the research and development of rubber engineering will be discussed.
Keywords: Material karet, aditif, formula kompon, cetakan, vulkanisat, alih teknologi
Semuel Pati Senda & Hamzah

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Light Emission from the Surface of Ferroelectric Ceramic Subjected to AC High Voltage

Investigation of light emitted from ferroelectric ceramic's surface charged by ac high voltages was done in the vacuum. Some emission light characteristics of ferroelectric such as intensity shape, phase distribution and spectrum emission of light were concluded. It is believed that dielectric constant of ferroelectric ceramic significantly contributed in compose emission light characteristic after compared with result of alumina ceramic. We observed that inception electroluminescence voltage and flashover of ferroelectric ceramic lower than alumina ceramic, also the intensity light emitted from ferroelectric's surface due to ac high voltage lower than alumina ceramic.
Keywords : ferroelectric, alumina, ceramic, electroluminescence
Azhar Kamal

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Reseach reactor

Reseach reactor is a multi function nuclear reactor that provide neutron sources and gamma radiation for use in some activities. This wide range of activities necessitates frequent adjustments of a sereach reactor power. To increase the flexibility of operation withhigh degree of safety, th eresearch reactor control system should be automated . This paper describes th emodel- based control sysytems for used in research reactor that was designed by period-generated control methhod. Thhis control system is designed by combining feedback and feedforward control technics that can be control non-linear system. The rate of Change of reactivity is used as actuartor signal. Performance test has been conducted in MITR-II owned by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ACRR that is operated by Sandia National Laboratories. The result shows that the model-based digital control system is superior to control the research reactor operation.
BATAN

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In the research reactor, the presence of 16N

In the research reactor, the presence of 16N was resulted from nucleus reaction between fast-neutron with O2 of reactor coolant in the core. This 16N is carried over by coolant to reactor tank’s surface. High radiation level of 16N at tank’s surface, will certainly limit the personal activity within the area. On the related of the problem, numerical calculation of thermohydraulic aspect of reactor has been performed to approximate 16N concentrate at reactor tank’s surface by computer package PLUENT V4.25. The nuclear reactor discussed in this analysis is modified 2 MW Triga Mark II research reactor. The calculation results have shown the position where 16N present on tank’s surface, and its concentration approximately.
Batan

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CAPACITY FACTOR OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

An Evaluation of the Contractor. Assessment and evaluation of a power plant play an important role in either when the plants have been operating or in the electrical system planning. This all should be directed to fulfill the energy demand with better quality, sustainability and high economic competitiveness. The main problem that is usually faced by the utility is how to select the better performing plant in order to give more benefit. Performance of power plant could be measured by technical parameter, such as capacity factor. This paper describes how contractors are compared by means of the capacity factor of plants which they have constracted. The scope of this study are limited by the type of reactor, namely PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) and PHWR (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor). Literature study is used. The study covers 231 units which has accumulated 3,498 reactor years of nuclear power plant operation and also covers 10 main contractors in the world. The result are: for 400 -800 MWe class, KWU is the best contractor with capacity factor of 79.97%, and follow by SKODA (79.70%), AEE (76.56%), MHI (74.08%), AECL (71.79%), Westinghouse (71.64%), CE (71.37%) and DAE (48.54%). For 801- 1000 MWe class, MHI is the best contractor with the capacity factor of 83.42%, and follow by KWU (79.41%), Westinghouse (73.74%), AECL (71.87%), Framatome (71.03%), CE (67.80%), B&W (67.77%) and AEE (42.81%). For more than 1000 MWe class, where there are only 5 c9ntractors, MHI is again the best contactor with the capacity factor of 82.17%, and follow by KWU (79.72%), CE (74.85%), Westinghouse (67,93%), and Framatome (66.47%).
Sriyana; Pusat Pengembangan Energi Nuklir - BATAN

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General Electronics Technician: Semiconductor Devices and Circuits

These instructional materials include a teacher's guide designed to assist instructors in organizing and presenting an introductory course in general electronics focusing on semiconductor devices and circuits and a student guide. The materials are based on the curriculum-alignment concept of first stating the objectives, developing instructional strategies for teaching those objectives, and then evaluating based on the objectives. The course contains three units, each designed for use in more than one class period: Discrete Semiconductor Devices and Circuits, Linear Integrated Devices and Circuits, and Power Supplies. Each unit in the teacher edition includes some or all of the following: suggested activities, answers to assignment sheets, answers to written test, written test, unit evaluation form, teacher supplements, and transparency masters. In addition, the teacher edition includes a section on use of the publication, a competency profile, instructional and task analyses, academic and workplace skill classifications and definitions, a related academic and workplace skills list, and a correlation to the Electronics Industries Foundation skills list. Each of the instructional units in the student edition includes some or all of the following components of a unit of instruction: objective sheet, information sheet, assignment sheets, and job sheets. Descriptors: Career Education; Career Exploration; Career Guidance; Critical Thinking; Electric Circuits; Electricity; Electronic Technicians; Electronics; Electronics Industry; Laboratory Procedures; Laboratory Safety; Learning Activities; Lesson Plans; Occupational Safety and Health; Postsecondary Education; Secondary Education; Semiconductor Devices; Shop Curriculum; Teaching Guides; Teaching Methods; Technological Advancement; Technology Education; Thinking Skills; Units of Study; Vocational Education
Authors: Hilley, Robert

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Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) is a trade organization of manufacturers of equipment and materials used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices such as integrated circuits, transistors, diodes, and thyristors. Among other activities, SEMI acts as a clearinghouse for the generation of standards specific to the industry and the generation of long-range plans for the industry.
at DBpedia.org

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Nanotechnology: An Overview of Recent Developments

Nanotechnology deals with the creation of functional materials, devices and systems in the nanoscale through exploiting novel properties (physical, chemical, electrical) arising solely due to the small scale. This is a broad, enabling technology with expected impact on materials and manufacturing, electronics and computing, health and medicine, energy, transportation, national security and space exploration. The basic science and applications are of great deal of interest to the ASME community. This talk will provide an overview of nanotechnology based on emerging nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and inorganic nanowires, nanosensors and detectors, nanoelectromechanical systems, material growth and fabrication approaches.
Dr. Meyya Meyyappan, Director of Center for Nanotechnology, NASA-Ames

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Pengujian dan analisis kekuatan sambungan propelan konfigurasi silinder pada roket RX 150-1200-LPN

The rocket motor RX 150-1200-LPN which used a propellant joint with hollow configuration was failure on static test. The joint strength and a standard rocket motor with many propellant joints had been tested using JANAF method to investigate the contribution of propellant joint in the rocket motor failure. The static test data of both rockets motor RX 150-1200-LPN and a standard rocket motor were analyzed. It was obtained that the propellant joint strength was higher than the propellant tensile strength, i.e 5.31 kg/cm2 and the rocket motor RX 150-1200-LPN failure was not caused by the propellant joint.
Sutrisno and Hudoro

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The Fluorination Study by CF4/O2 Gas Plasma

To reuse equipment and structure materials of decommissioned nuclear plants, the proper decontamination process is needed to remove radionuclides from the oxide surfaces. The decontamination process by using CF4/O2 plasma at atmospheric pressure was proposed. In the present work we report some results obtained when our technique is applied to cold sample of actual AISI 304 and carbon steel prepared under the BWR condition at temperature of 280oC and pressure of 70 atm for 1000 hours. Oxide film was formed on surface. The oxide film formed on AISI 304 surface was fluorinated easier than the oxide film formed on carbon steel surface. The fluorination on carbon steel oxide surfaces could be enhanced by controlling plasma gas composition.
Keywords: decontamination, fluorination, microwave discharge plasma, atmospheric plasma, plasma process
Hendri Firman W

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Equilibrium Analysis On Pressurized Water Reactor

We have performed equilibrium analyses of light water reactor (LWR) with enriched uranium supply. In this study, five kinds of fuel cycles of 3000 MWt pressurized water reactor (PWR) were investigated, and a method to determine the uranium enrichment in order to achieve their criticality was presented. The results indicated that the enrichment decreases significantly with increasing number of confined heavy nuclides when U is discharged from the reactor. The required natural uranium was also evaluated for advanced enrichment process. The amount of required natural uranium also decreases as well, which may agree with the systematic comparison of typical fuel cycles of PWR on the same condition for resource requirements and discharged radioactive wastes. On the other hand, when U is totally confined, the enrichment becomes unacceptably high. Furthermore, Pu and minor actinides (MA) recycling seem effective to incinerate the radioactive wastes.
AbdulWaris

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DRIE TECHNOLOGY: FROM MICRO TO NANO APPLICATIONS

Over the past 20 years, the application of micro electronics technology to the fabrication of mechanical devices has completely changed the research in microsensors and microactuators to develop Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems (or MEMS or Microsystems). At the early stage, the micromachining process was mainly achieved by wet chemical etching such as Potassium Hydroxid (KOH) or Tetra Methyl Ammonium Hydroxid (TMAH). During the last 10 years, the Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) of Silicon has opened new fields of application in MEMS and device integration. Opposite to the wet anisotropic etching, the DRIE process prevents lateral etching of the Si resulting in highly anisotropic etch profiles at high etch rates and with high aspect ratio. Alcatel Micro Machining Systems rapidly grew to be one of the market leaders in deep plasma etching equipment. Over 200 tools are now in use at major industries and laboratories world-wide such as ESIEE, France. The goal is to be at the forefront of deep etching technology while bringing real benefits to customers. Today, fully integrated Microsystems on a single chip include biological or chemical sensors, movable parts and actuators, micro-fluidics, optics and electronics for the control. A review of the typical etched patterns has been carried out, the features sizes are ranging from large exposed areas for Si microphone to comb structures for 3D high precision inertial sensors to nanofeatures. In fact, an optimisation of the DRIE process by varying process parameters including reactive gas flow, pressure, and ion energy in order to minimize the rippling of the sidewalls usually called ‘scalloping effect’ could even produce well defined nanostructures. The DRIE process coupled with adapted high resolution lithography tools to large surface allows the research community to explore the very innovating and exciting nano-world. J-M. Thevenoud, B. Mercier, T. Bourouina, F. Marty, M. Puech, N. Launay

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Correlation of Thermally Stimulated Current and Blow Molding Condition in Poly(ethylene Terephthalate) Bottle

Thermally stimulated current (TSC) was used to study molecular relaxations in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Unstretched PET film, which was used as a model for the bottle preform, exhibited two peaks at 77 and 90oC that correspond to the a and r relaxation processes, respectively. The bottles exhibited only the r relaxation, which is located within the temperature range for blow molding PET bottles. The a peak is associated with the main glass transition temperature (Tg) and the r peak may be associated with a second Tg. The second Tg is attributed to a 'constrained state', which shows dipolar behavior. Heat-shrinkage behavior was examined at 90 oC. The maximum TSC (Im) of the r peak decreased with increasing heat set temperature, and with decreasing shrinkage. Bottles blown at 113 oC showed a lower Im and shrinkage than those blown at 103 oC for equivalent heat set temperatures. The higher blowing temperature allowed a higher stretch speed that produced higher crystallinity bottles with self-heat generation during rapid deformation. A relationship between the shrinkage mechanism and the dipole relaxation was proposed.
Keywords: TSC; PET bottle; r peak; relaxation time; blow condition; shrinkage.
Rahmat Satoto

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Solving Semiconductor Equipment Control Challen and Equipment Datages:

Device Level Abstraction, an Effective Bridge Between Object-Oriented Software
and Equipment Data.
Maintaining and updating semiconductor equipment controls requires significant resources and can keep a large portion of a company’s development team busy on maintenance tasks, rather than on new developments. This paper looks at some of the issues impacting semiconductor equipment control system costs, complexity and reliability. It also highlights an architecture that provides a clean separation between the object-oriented software layer and the hardware layer. As tool manufactures continue to look toward outsourcing while still leveraging their existing investment in software, this approach allows them to migrate towards low cost, reliable off-the-shelf hardware and control software. The result is greater equipment reliability and lower total cost of ownership.

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THE ROLE OF MOX FOR NUCLEAR FUEL IN THE FUTURE

Based on nuclear fuel supply estimation study, it's predicted that starting in the year 2000 there will be a worldwide lack of uranium supply. The lack of supply will influence the nuclear fuel supply for Nuclear Power Plants and nuclear fuel costs. This will give opportunity to Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel to have more important role. The trend is seen by the increasing usage of MOX as the substitute nuclear fuel in the Light Water Reactor (LWR).
Suparman; Pusat Pengembangan Energi Nuklir - BATAN

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Monday, March 24, 2008

In previous research, we have found a steep learning curve in the production of semiconductors. We estimated that most production knowledge remains internal to the firm, but that a significant fraction "spills over" to other firms. The existence of such spillovers may justify government actions to stimulate research on semiconductor manufacturing technology. The fact that not all production knowledge spills over, meanwhile, creates opportunities for firms to form joint ventures and slide down their learning curves more efficiently. With these considerations in mind, in 1987 14 leading U.S. semiconductor producers, with the assistance of the U.S. government in the form of $100 million in annual subsidies, formed a research and development (R&D) consortium called Sematech. In previous research, we estimated that Sematech has induced its member firms to lower their R&D spending. This may reflect more sharing and less duplication of research, i.e., more research being done with each R&D dollar. If this is the case, then Sematech members may wish to replace any funding withdrawn by the U.S. government. This in turn would imply that the U.S. government's contributions to Sematech do not induce more semiconductor research than would otherwise occur.
Douglas A. Irwin and Peter J. Klenow

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Liquid Crystals: The Phase of the Future

Liquid crystal displays are currently utilized to convey information via graphic displays. Presents experiments and explanations that employ the concept of liquid crystals to learn concepts related to the various states of matter, electric and magnetic forces, refraction of light, and optics. Discusses applications of liquid crystal technology. Descriptors: Computer Graphics; Crystallography; Electronics; High Schools; Higher Education; Matter; Molecular Structure; Optics; Physics; Science Education; Science Experiments; Semiconductor Devices; Technology
Authors: Ondris-Crawford, Renate; And Others

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Sematech: Purpose and Performance

In previous research, we have found a steep learning curve in the production of semiconductors. We estimated that most production knowledge remains internal to the firm, but that a significant fraction ‘‘spills over’’ to other firms. The existence of such spillovers may justify government actions to stimulate research on semiconductor manufacturing technology. The fact that not all production knowledge spills over, meanwhile, creates opportunities for firms to form joint ventures and slide down their learning curves more efficiently. With these considerations in mind, in 1987 14 leading U.S. semiconductor producers, with the assistance of the U.S. government in the form of $100 million in annual subsidies, formed a research and development (R&D) consortium called Sematech. In previous research, we estimated that Sematech has induced its member firms to lower their R&D spending. This may ref lect more sharing and less
duplication of research, i.e., more research being done with each R&D dollar. If this is the case, then Sematech members may wish to replace any funding withdrawn by the U.S. government. This in turn would imply that the U.S. government’s contributions to Sematech do not induce more semiconductor research than would otherwise occur.
DOUGLAS A. IRWIN AND PETER J. KLENOW.

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Removal of anionic detergent in biological reactor with continuous feeding of PAC

Effects continuous adding of powdered activated carbon (PAC) on biological removal of anionic deterget in continous reactor were assessed. Results of these experiments showed that introduction of PAC into biological treatment of anionic detergent (ABS or LAS), has indicated significant effect on removal efficiency. Conducting continuous feeding of PAC into bench scale of continuous process system for removal of detergent has resulted in more stability of MBAS removal efficiency, even when MLSS concentration in aeration tank dropped or MBAS concentration in influent water rose rapidly. With continuous addition of PAC, the MBAS removal efficiency was relatively constant even when the water temperature dropped raoidly. In other words, continuous feeding of PAC can improve the stability for shock loads or temperatures shanges. At lower temperatures, microorganisms that were used for detergent removal in bench scale of continuous process system, need longer adaptation or acclimation periods compared with higher temperatures.
Nusa Idaman Said.

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Biogas dari Bungkil Biji Jarak Pagar, Inovasi Terbaru dari Teknik Kimia ITB

Kelompok Riset Biodiesel ITB baru–baru ini berhasil membuat BIOGAS DARI BUNGKIL (= AMPAS PERAHAN) BIJI JARAK PAGAR. Inovasi ini berangkat dari ide bahwa limbah perahan biji jarak untuk biodiesel dapat dimanfaatkan lagi sebagai bahan bakar bagi petani jarak. "Membuat minyak dari jarak bagi petani itu tidak murah, sedangkan mereka sendiri juga membutuhkan bahan bakar bagi keperluan sehari–hari. Dengan biogas ini, mereka bisa jual seluruh minyak yang mereka dapat dan memanfaatkan limbahnya untuk memasak," jelas Tatang H. Soerawidjaja, sang kepala kelompok riset Biodiesel ITB. Penggunaan biogas sebagai bahan bakar rumah tangga juga jauh lebih nyaman dibandingkan menggunakan minyak jarak pagar.
Kelompok ini sekarang telah membangun satu unit pilot pembangkit biogas di lantai dasar gedung Teknik Kimia. Unit pembangkit biogas tersebut terdiri atas reaktor/generator, kotak pemasukan suspensi, penampung gas plastik dan kompor biogas (terlihat dalam foto). "Kompornya didesain lebih sederhana daripada kompor gas elpiji," kata Ibrahim lagi. Kompor tersebut memiliki tuas seperti kompor gas biasa untuk menyalakan dan mematikan api. Reaktor biogas tersebut saat ini menghasilkan sekitar 1 m3 biogas/hari dengan kapasitas 360 liter (terdiri dari 2 drum yang disambung), yang diberi pasokan harian berupa campuran/adonan 1,2 kg bungkil jarak pagar ditambahkan 12 liter air. Awalnya, reaktor ini diinisiasi dengan kotoran sapi yang dipakai untuk menghasilkan biogas. "Ini dilakukan karena biji jarak tidak memiliki konsorsium bakteri yang mengubah senyawa dalam bungkil menjadi gas. Jadi, setelah bakterinya teraklimatisasi baru kami masukkan bungkil sedikit demi sedikit," jelas Pak Tatang lagi. Dalam tiga hari, gas mulai dihasilkan dari reaktor dan diuji. "Pengujian gas dan pH dilakukan tiap tiga hari sekali, dan sampai sejauh ini pH yang terukur 8 (basa–red) dan 52% gas yang dihasilkan CH4," terang Ibrahim, penanggungjawab unit pembangkit biogas.
Seperangkat unit pembangkit biogas ini bernilai satu setengah juta rupiah. Memang cukup mahal bagi kantong petani, tapi Pak Tatang mengharapkan adanya subsidi dari koperasi desa atau pihak lain. Harga tersebut bisa ditekan dengan penjualan kompornya saja. "Reaktor dan penampung gasnya kan bisa dibuat sendiri, harapannya kompornya pun bisa diproduksi secara massal di Bandung. Nanti, kami bisa mengajarkan teknik–teknik pengoperasiannya," tutur Pak Tatang lagi.
Unit pembangkit biogas yang dikembangkan juga mampu memaksimalkan manfaat (ekonomi) biji jarak pagar bagi para petani/pekebunnya. Jika petani jarak memiliki 2500 pohon jarak pagar yang ekivalen dengan satu hektar lahan, maka biji jarak yang diperoleh kira–kira 4–5 ton dan akan diperoleh minimum 3,5–3,75 ton bungkil. "Satu rumah membutuhkan 2,5 kg bungkil dan 25 liter air dalam sehari untuk menjalankan unit pembangkit biogas dengan kapasitas reaktor 1,5 m3," terang dosen Teknik Kimia ini lagi. Estimasi kebutuhan selama setahun menunjukkan bahwa petani jarak hanya membutuhkan kurang dari 1 ton atau 912,5 kg bungkil biji jarak untuk bahan baku biogas. Sehingga, banyak sisa bungkil yang bisa dijual lagi untuk bahan baku unit yang sama.(ima)

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Peningkatan Kadar Fe Pada Mineral Titano Magnetit

Titano-magnetite sand deposit were discovered alongs the south coast of Java, between Progo and Bogowonto Rives and to the south of Kutoarjo & Purworejo cities. The amounts of deposits were estimated to be 28,5 milion tons of concentrate (59% Fe) and 86 million tons of concentrate (59% Fe) from the two above areas respectively. Samples of titano-magnetite sand were taken from the deposit near desa Bugel, Kecamatan Kulon Progo. By using magnetic separation process, the sand was able to be concentrated to 59% Fe. However, this iron content is still low as compared to the requirement of feed materials for steel making, i.e 65-66%. This might be due to the high content of titanium oxide, i.e 8-10% and other physical characteristics. Hence, in order to get higher Fe content, there should be futher study to improve the magnetic separation process or to investigate alternative processes.
Keywords: Pasir besi, kadar rendah, pemisah magnetik
Erskini
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Re-evaluating Offshoring – The Role and Influence of Stakeholders

The concept of outsourcing or ‘offshoring’ has become a major topic of debate in countries including Australia, the UK and the USA. The outsourcing debate has permeated political discussions, regarding the export of highly skilled ‘home country’ jobs to cheaper regions versus an increase in skill and knowledge levels in developing markets. This debate has been particularly evident in relation to the export of information technology and call centre operations, to countries such as India, Mexico and China. Many commentators and academics assume that such moves represent a fait á compli, due to significant labour cost advantages and access to skilled labour and infrastructure in a global economy. However, there are a variety of hidden costs associated with the process of outsourcing. In addition to these hidden costs, organisational stakeholders such as shareholders, governments and unions can play an influential role in decisions to outsource. In fact, recent high profile cases in Australia and the US illustrate not only the importance of involving stakeholders in decisions to outsource, but also their ability to influence decisions to reverse or reject the offshoring route. This paper utilises stakeholder theory as a framework to explore the role and influence of stakeholders in organisational decisions to outsource.
Brad Nash, Peter Holland & Amanda Pyman
Monash University, VIC

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Semiconductor Equipment Security Guidelines: Intellectual Property Protection

This report describes a security framework and guidelines for protecting intellectual property (IP) on equipment in a semiconductor manufacturing environment. Components of the framework define the capabilities of IP protection software. This document should prove useful to both IC maker and original equipment manufacturer personnel.
Descriptor(s): business trends; computer software;intellectual property
Harvey Wohlwend

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Computer Technology as a Substitute for Leadership and Subordinate Intention to Turnover in Call Centres.

Substitutes for Leadership theory argues that aspects of the environment other than the hierarchical leader can provide leadership to subordinates (Kerr and Jermier, 1978). A logical substitute for leadership in high usage technology workplaces, such as call centres, is the computer system. With employees in these workplaces often interacting with computer systems more often than with their supervisor (Batt, 2000) a plausible question is whether the employees gain leadership from the computer system. This study sets out to test the contribution the computer system providing leadership makes to levels of subordinate Intention to Turnover. Deery and Walsh (2001), amongst others, have previously identified subordinate turnover as a key issue in call centres. Results from 357 subordinates in 45 call centres in Australia and New Zealand suggest that some technology variables contribute directly to variance explained for the criterion, subordinate Intention to Turnover. Also, although technology did not act as a genuine substitute, as it did not replace the leader behaviour effect, technology which Monitors Performance did act to enhance the relationship between Contingent Reward leader behaviour and subordinate Intention to Turnover. Both theoretical and managerial implications of the study’s results are discussed.
Catriona Wallace. University of New South Wales, NSW

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The literature on call centre work suggests two distinct images: electronic sweatshops and customer focus (Deery & Kinnie 2002). However, this research is concerned almost exclusively with private sector organisations. In the public sector, call centres are widespread. Under the rubric of New Public Management (NPM), contestability and client focus require call centres and other public services, to compare or at least benchmark against the private sector. The limited literature on public sector call centres highlights distinctive features such as the character of service delivery and the organisational context, yet, at the same time, illustrates the pervasiveness of private sector operational and managerial practices. This paper examines call centres in two large Australian government agencies by exploring their characteristics and tensions, the organisation of work and the management of the employment relationship. The findings suggest cultural tensions between traditional public sector work organisation and the mantra of competitiveness under NPM. Eve Anderson, Amanda Pyman & Julian Teicher Monash University, VIC.

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Compound semiconductor equipment manufacturers perform well in VLSI survey

Compound semiconductor equipment manufacturers are well represented in this year’s VLSI customer satisfaction survey. Conducted annually, the survey looks at equipment performance and customer service, and asks semiconductor manufacturing equipment users to rank suppliers on a 10 point scale. Equipment performance is measured in terms of: build quality, cost of ownership, uptime, software, usable throughput, quality of results, and product performance. For customer service, the measures are: process support, field engineering support, spares support, support after sales, technical leadership in the supplier’s field and the supplier’s overall commitment to supporting its customers’ needs.This is a short news story only. Visit www.three-fives.com for the latest advanced semiconductor industry news.

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Esprit-Semiconductor Equipment Assessment (SEA): “bridgingthe process innovation-equipment productivity gap”

The Esprit Semiconductor Equipment Assessment initiative (SEA) started early in 1996 and has established strategic links between European equipment manufacturers and semiconductor manufacturers world-wide. Its objective is to ensure that state of the art equipment and innovative process techniques which have been developed meet all the production manufacturing requirements of the mainstream users and in doing so, bridge the process innovation-equipment productivity gap which can occur as technology rapidly evolves. Examples of successful results will be given from six main equipment themes.
Bruchez, J. Kelm, G.
SEA/SITEC, Oxford;

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The quality of talk in children's joint activity at the computer

his paper describes some findings of the Spoken Language and New Technology (SLANT) research project which studied the talk of primary school children who were working together at the computer on a range of activities involving various kinds of software. It was observed that computer-based activities were commonly effective for motivating interaction and stimulating talk, but that this talk varied considerably between activities in terms of its quality and educational value. The analysis of these observations suggests some ways in which the quality of talk and collaboration can be improved. This analysis also supports the view that teachers, software designers and educational researchers need a broader conception of what is involved in designing and running computer-based activity.
Keywords Collaboration; Primary schools; Software; Talk.
N. Mercer, The Open University

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Establishment of semiconductor equipment purchasing evaluation model based on a knowledge management database

The conventional method for selecting a suitable equipment supplier may have disadvantages such as failing to consider the supplier's technical experience and knowledge and inability of supplier management to make further forecast analysis to aid the decision maker in strategy optimisation. The investment in equipment is expensive but is the key success factor in semiconductor manufacturers' maintaining a competitive advantage. Moreover, in order to effectively evaluate the candidate equipment of suppliers, it is critical to include an evaluation of a candidate supplier's historical and test data. This research constructed an explicit knowledge Semiconductor Equipment Evaluation Model (SEEM) primarily to extract tacit supplier knowledge in fulfilling the semiconductor equipment purchase process. SEEM integrates the analytical hierarchy process, grey relational analysis and knowledge management database. The proposed model supplements the conventional method that considers only qualitative criteria or acquisition cost and provides transparency in the purchasing information and process.
Keywords: semiconductor manufacturing; equipment purchasing; knowledge management; grey relational analysis; GRA; analytical hierarchy process; AHP; equipment selection; equipment evaluation; purchasing information.
Ching-Chow Yang, Bai-Sheng Chen, Shu-Yun Peng, Tsu-Ming Yeh, Lung-Chia Wang

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Ujicoba Pengolahan Gambir Dengan Menggunakan Kempa Ulir Di Sumatera Barat

This paper discusses the try out of new gambir processing method and its experimental result. This new sistem used gambir pressing by "kempa Ulir". The Aim of the experiment was to obtain a more efficient instrumentation system than the current traditional system. The results shows that quantity of the output from traditional equipment is still better than produced by "kempa ulir" pressing method. The later resulted in the output of 2,5-3 kg dried gambir from 50 kg wet gambir leaves, while using traditional method, 4 kg dried gambir was obtained similar amount of wet gambir leaves.
Keywords: Ujicoba, gambir, kempa ulir, Sumatera Barat
Irshan Zainuddin

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The changing picture of IT experience in post-graduate teacher training

The level and kind of Information Technology (IT) experience which our Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) students bring with them when they start their training is changing rapidly. This paper compares the IT experience and perceived training needs of two cohorts of primary and secondary PGCE students two years apart, 1989/90 and 1991/92. Many of the findings of the first survey were replicated in the second: there was comparatively little use of computers outside word processing and databases, and there were significant differences between primary and secondary student teachers, and between men and women in their perceptions of their own training priorities. There was a small increase in the degree of importance attached to most training priorities but the only one found to be significantly more popular was 'teaching information technology to students'. Comparing the two cohorts, it was found that there had been large increases in the degree of exposure to IT at work and at college, and significant increases in the use of word-processing, spreadsheets, desk top publishing and graphics programs. Analysis of the responses of students under 25 showed that the use of computers in schools was having an increasingly important effect.

Keywords Information technology; Initial teacher training; Training priorities
H. Mellar and A. Jackson

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Semiconductor Equipment Security Guidelines - Virus Protection

This document describes IC maker issues, requirements, and guidelines to address semiconductor equipment security. Equipment security requirements include system availability, integrity, performance, network security, and product and platform security. The three components of security are the hardware-connectivity, software-logical, and business layers. This document is intended for IC maker and supplier IT network, hardware, operating system, and security professionals; IC maker process engineers, equipment engineers, and operations; supplier application developers and software architects; and supplier customer service and field service engineers.
Descriptor(s): computer hardware;computer software;data management systems;network security;virus protection;
(Harvey Wohlwend)

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An Exploratory Study of Perceptions of Australian Trade Unions by

A common perception of call centres is that they are modern day sweatshops or
technological factories with customer service staff chained to their desks. Given that
working conditions in call centres are controversial, it seems that trade unions would
find call centres to be fertile grounds for recruitment. However, there is little
evidence that call centre employees have turned to trade unions in substantial
numbers. The research question that developed from this disjuncture became: What
do call centre staff think of unions? One of the methodologies that appeared to be
useful to answer that question was Means End Chain Analysis - a qualitative research
tool used in marketing research to deconstruct consumer decision-making. Means end
chain analysis looks at consumer product knowledge from the relationship of
attributes (means), values (ends – the desired state) and the connecting
consequences/benefits which link the attributes to the values (Gutman 1982). The
theory “proposes that consumer product knowledge is hierarchically organised,
spanning different levels of abstraction” (Reynolds, Gengler et al. 1995), and a
fundamental assumption that the model is based on is: “that values, defined here as
desirable end states of existence, play a dominant role in guiding choice patterns”
(Gutman 1982). In-depth semi-structured interviews were used with ten front line call
centre respondents from the Telecommunications and Finance industries. Initial
findings indicate that whilst respondents linked positive attributes to unions that
related to the functions they believed trade union performed. Respondents related
both negative consequences and positive benefits to the attributes, and clear links
were seen from these to the values level of the hierarchy.
Bernadine Cantrick-Brooks
University of Wollongong, NSW

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Prospek Industri Bahan Peledak Komersial Dalam Menunjang Pengembangan Industri Pertambangan Di Kalimantan Timur

In east Kalimantan, the mining industries need explosives that appropriate with their land conditions. Due to the various land conditions, such as dry, wet, and open pit, the appropriate explosives for that conditions should be in the form of either Ammonium Nitrat Fuel Oil (ANFO) Explosive for dry conditions or Bulk Emulsion Explosive for wet conditions. The estimation of commercial explosives demand by the year 2003 in east Kalimantan is 4,002,160 Kg for ANFO explosive and 5,561,449 Kg for Bulk Emulsion explosive. Since the explosives have been being produced by local manufacturing, PT. Multi Nitrotama Kimia, the use of local content will increase.
Keywords: Bahan Peledak ANFO, Bulk Emulsion, Industri Pertambangan.
Akhmad Rifai

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A strategy for educational technology in higher education

Setting an institutional strategy for technology in higher education will involve both high- level political commitment and varying degrees of financial investment, depending on the extent of structures already in place. In return for this investment, institutions will expect to see significant quantifiable gains in efficiency over relatively short time periods. This article outlines a realistic approach to ensuring that such gains are made without compromising either teaching quality, or the research base.
Keywords Assessment; Communication; Courseware; Higher education; Technology.
P. Adman and L. Warren, University of Hull

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Semiconductor equipment

Semiconductor equipment includes a semiconductor substrate with a semiconductor layer embedded therein and a vertical type transistor. The substrate has a principal side, a rear side opposite to the principal side, and a trench disposed in the rear side of the substrate. The vertical type transistor has a first electrode disposed in the principal side of the substrate, a second electrode disposed in the rear side, and a diffusion region disposed in the principal side. The first electrode connects to the diffusion region through an interlayer insulation film. The second electrode is disposed in the trench and connects to the semiconductor layer exposed in the trench. This vertical transistor has a low ON-state resistance.
Inventor(s): Yoshiaki Nakayama

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Information technology, informatics and pre-service teacher training

Over the past ten years, information technology (IT) has evolved considerably and computers in schools have become increasingly commonplace in France. However, technological subjects aside, any claim that their use has become integrated into every subject would be questionable. Limiting factors do exist, such as the place of IT in curricula. In order to advise their students to use technological devices, teachers must first be convinced that it is advantageous. Teacher training in IT is therefore essential. This paper reports the results of a quantitative study, undertaken in a French University institute for teacher training (IUFM), which was conducted to ascertain students' initial knowledge and opinions regarding IT. Overall, although their level of expectations was high, the initial level of their competency was low. The integration of IT into teacher-training thus appears problematic.
Keywords Attitudes; France; Initial teacher training; Informatics; Information technology.
G-L. Baron and E. Bruillarda

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Pemisahan Butanol dengan proses pervaporasi

Polydimenthylsilozanne (PDMS) membrane has been used to separate two butanol isomers from aqueous butanol solutions by such technique named Pervaporation, which is developed at temperature of 40drajatC while the composition of feed between 1 to 5 % weight of butanol. The effect of the feed concentration on the clux and selectivity was investigated. For the successful implementation of the experiment mentioned above, it has also important to execute a study named Sorption for pure solvent within the membrane of PDMS under the same temperature. The output of this attempt indicating two conclusions: firstly, PDMS membrane is the subject matter of hydrophobe and secondly, butanol flux will be increased linearly towards composition of feed.
Keywords: Pervaporasi, Betanol
Nyimas Dewi Sartika

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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Semiconductor technology computer aided design

Technology computer aided design (TCAD) plays a crucial role in developing new process technologies, reducing the time to market and improving device design. Commercially available TCAD tools can now be described as virtual wafer fabs, where all aspects of device processing, electrical simulation, device testing and reliability analysis are available in a seamless software environment. This paper focuses largely on TCAD for CMOS, which is the workhorse of the silicon chip industry. The technology makes use of MOSFETs and a schematic diagram of such a transistor is shown. The two methods of device simulation each offer their own advantages and short-comings. The Monte Carlo method in effect includes all possible moments in its carrier distribution function. It is based on the physics of electronic band structure and specific scattering events, and so is fundamentally the more accurate method. An ensemble Monte Carlo simulation is shown, where a buried channel MOSFET is simulated. The calculation of leakage currents is straight forward for the method of moments, once differential equations have been solved. The concern with this approach is the validity and accuracy of the equations used. By. O'Neill, A.G.

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A computer scientist's reactions to NPfIT

This paper contains a set of personal views relating to NHS Connecting for Health's National Programme for IT (NPfIT), and in particular its Care Records Service, written from the point of view of a computer scientist, not a medical informatics expert. The principal points made are as follows: Centralisation: Pulling lots of data together (for individual patients and then for large patient populations) harms safety and privacy – it is one by-product of excessive use of identification when in fact all that is usually needed is authentication. Large centralized data storage facilities can be useful for reliability, but risk exchanging lots of small failures for a lesser number of much larger failures. A much more decentralised approach to electronic patient record (EPR) data and its storage should be investigated. Evolutionary acquisition: Specifying, implementing, deploying and evaluating a sequence of ever more complete IT systems is the best way of ending up with well-accepted and well-trusted systems – especially when this process is controlled by the stakeholders who are most directly involved, rather than by some distant central bureaucracy. Thus authority as well as responsibility should be left with hospital and general practitioner trusts to acquire IT systems that suit their environments and priorities – subject to adherence to minimal interoperability constraints – and to use centralized services (e.g., for system support and back-up) as if and when they choose. Socio-technical issues: Ill-chosen imposed medical IT systems impede patient care, are resisted, result in lots of accidental faults, and lose user support and trust. All these points are attested to by rigorous studies involving expertise from the social sciences (psychology, ethnography, etc.) as well as by technical (medical and computer) experts – much more attention needs to be paid to such studies, and more such studies encouraged. Constructive reviews: A constructive expert review, working closely with Connecting for Health, could be very helpful, but should be evidently independent and open and thus essentially different in nature to past and current inquiries. A review of this nature could not just recommend appropriate changes of plan, and speed progress. It could also contribute to the vital task of helping to restore the trust and confidence of the public and the media in the programme and in the government officials involved.Keywords: electronic patient records, NHS, NPfIT, reliability, securityBrian Randell. E-mail: Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk

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Nurse Co-Learn

A Nurse Collaborative Learning (Nurse Co-Learn) tool was designed and developed to help the Department of Nursing to introduce Information Technology to undergraduate nursing students. The MUCH (Many Using and Creating Hypermedia) system was used as the basis for this tool. The Nurse Co-Learn tool supported coordination between clinic personnel. Students were required to take on a role in the clinic, and to perform the relevant tasks for that role. Through participating in this role-playing game students learned word processing, database and spreadsheet skills, whilst performing authentic tasks. Three prototypes were developed and trialled; this paper highlights the features of the prototypes and the responses of the users.
Keywords Activity model environment; Collaborative learning; Computer-aided learning; Nursing education.
B. Baker, S. Acquah and R. Rada, University of Liverpool

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How Nuclear Fusion Reactors Work

Fusion reactors have been getting a lot of press recently because they offer some major advantages over other power sources. They will use abundant sources of fuel, they will not leak radiation above normal background levels and they will produce less radioactive waste than current fission reactors. Nobody has put the technology into practice yet, but working reactors aren't actually that far off. Fusion reactors are now in experimental stages at several laboratories in the United States and around the world. A consortium from the United States, Russia, Europe and Japan has proposed to build a fusion reactor called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Cadarache, France, to demonstrate the feasibility of using sustained fusion reactions for making electricity. In this article, we'll learn about nuclear fusion and see how the ITER reactor will work. by Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D.

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The "Nuclear" in "Nuclear Radiation"

Let's start at the beginning and understand where the word "nuclear" in "nuclear radiation" comes from. Here is something you should already feel comfortable with: Everything is made of atoms. Atoms bind together into molecules. So a water molecule is made from two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom bound together into a single unit. Because we learn about atoms and molecules in elementary school, we understand and feel comfortable with them. In nature, any atom you find will be one of 92 types of atoms, also known as elements. So every substance on Earth -- metal, plastics, hair, clothing, leaves, glass -- is made up of combinations of the 92 atoms that are found in nature. The Periodic Table of Elements you see in chemistry class is a list of the elements found in nature plus a number of man-made elements.
Inside every atom are three subatomic particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons and neutrons bind together to form the nucleus of the atom, while the electrons surround and orbit the nucleus. Protons and electrons have opposite charges and therefore attract one another (electrons are negative and protons are positive, and opposite charges attract), and in most cases the number of electrons and protons are the same for an atom (making the atom neutral in charge). The neutrons are neutral. Their purpose in the nucleus is to bind protons together. Because the protons all have the same charge and would naturally repel one another, the neutrons act as "glue" to hold the protons tightly together in the nucleus.
The number of protons in the nucleus determines the behavior of an atom. For example, if you combine 13 protons with 14 neutrons to create a nucleus and then spin 13 electrons around that nucleus, what you have is an aluminum atom. If you group millions of aluminum atoms together you get a substance that is aluminum -- you can form aluminum cans, aluminum foil and aluminum siding out of it. All aluminum that you find in nature is called aluminum-27. The "27" is the atomic mass number -- the sum of the number of neutrons and protons in the nucleus. If you take an atom of aluminum and put it in a bottle and come back in several million years, it will still be an atom of aluminum. Aluminum-27 is therefore called a stable atom. Up to about 100 years ago, it was thought that all atoms were stable like this.
Many atoms come in different forms. For example, copper has two stable forms: copper-63 (making up about 70 percent of all natural copper) and copper-65 (making up about 30 percent). The two forms are called isotopes. Atoms of both isotopes of copper have 29 protons, but a copper-63 atom has 34 neutrons while a copper-65 atom has 36 neutrons. Both isotopes act and look the same, and both are stable. by Marshall Brain

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Nuclear Power Plant Emergency

Nuclear power plants use the heat generated from nuclear fission in a contained environment to convert water to steam, which powers generators to produce electricity. Nuclear power plants operate in most states in the country and produce about 20 percent of the nation’s power. Nearly 3 million Americans live within 10 miles of an operating nuclear power plant.
Although the construction and operation of these facilities are closely monitored and regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), accidents are possible. An accident could result in dangerous levels of radiation that could affect the health and safety of the public living near the nuclear power plant.
Local and state governments, federal agencies, and the electric utilities have emergency response plans in the event of a nuclear power plant incident. The plans define two “emergency planning zones.” One zone covers an area within a 10-mile radius of the plant, where it is possible that people could be harmed by direct radiation exposure. The second zone covers a broader area, usually up to a 50-mile radius from the plant, where radioactive materials could contaminate water supplies, food crops, and livestock.
The potential danger from an accident at a nuclear power plant is exposure to radiation. This exposure could come from the release of radioactive material from the plant into the environment, usually characterized by a plume (cloud-like formation) of radioactive gases and particles. The major hazards to people in the vicinity of the plume are radiation exposure to the body from the cloud and particles deposited on the ground, inhalation of radioactive materials, and ingestion of radioactive materials.
Radioactive materials are composed of atoms that are unstable. An unstable atom gives off its excess energy until it becomes stable. The energy emitted is radiation. Each of us is exposed to radiation daily from natural sources, including the Sun and the Earth. Small traces of radiation are present in food and water. Radiation also is released from man-made sources such as X-ray machines, television sets, and microwave ovens. Radiation has a cumulative effect. The longer a person is exposed to radiation, the greater the effect. A high exposure to radiation can cause serious illness or death.
Although the risk of a chemical accident is slight, knowing how to handle these products and how to react during an emergency can reduce the risk of injury.

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What's a uranium centrifuge?

Uranium is an element that is similar to iron. Like iron, you dig uranium ore out of the ground and then process it to extract the pure uranium from the ore. When you finish processing uranium ore, what you have is uranium oxide. Uranium oxide contains two types (or isotopes) of uranium: U-235 and U-238. U-235 is what you need if you want to make a bomb or fuel a nuclear power plant. But the uranium oxide from the mine is about 99 percent U-238. So you need to somehow separate the U-235 from the U-238 and increase the amount of U-235. The process of concentrating the U-235 is called enrichment, and centrifuges are a central part of the process.U-235 weighs slightly less than U-238. By exploiting this weight difference, you can separate the U-235 and the U-238. The first step is to react the uranium with hydrofluoric acid, an extremely powerful acid. After several steps, you create the gas uranium hexafluoride.

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