During the process of the Singapore economy development, its ¡§elite government¡¨ has to attract the multinational companies to invest in Singapore. Among the public organization, Singapore Economic Development Board¡]EDB¡^ is the statutory institute of marketing the Singapore investment environment. After set up in 1961, EDB has been engaged in creating employment opportunities. In order to improve the most valuable asset of Singaporean, EDB also designs several human resource training programs and training centers. The organization culture of EDB is the key success factor which contributes to following the changes of international economy situation and working out suitable economic policies for Singapore industry. In the past the government takes the responsibility of leading the Singaporean toward the economic vision, but recently the Singapore government aggressively encourages the people to start up a new enterprise instead to avoid depending foreign investments excessively and to balance the economic ecosystem to achieve more value-added. My thesis does a case study of hard disk drive industry in ch4 to show the notable position of EDB in industry development context. In the ch5 the emerging biomedical industry will discuss the transformation from national economic plans to technology entrepreneurship. The future of Singapore economy development depends on whether the policy works or not.

The growing performance gap between CPUs and sustainable disk I/O is a major hurdle in supporting modern applications. As the CPUs become faster, this gap is projected to worsen, thus making it a critical problem that should be addressed with high priority. Although efficient algorithms have alleviated this problem, the mechanical nature of the disk places physical limits on the achievable speedup. On the other hand, newer technologies such as flash memory promise significant improvements in access time, power consumption, and storage density. However, the mature disk technology offers the most favorable cost per bit ratio. Since replacing standard hard disks with flash disks is prohibitively expensive, hybrid hard disks augment the standard hard disk with a small amount of flash memory. By exploiting the beneficial aspects of both technologies they aim to provide breakthrough increase in performance. Nevertheless, hybrid hard disks pose several significant design challenges. Effective and efficient algorithms to manage the flash, the disk, and interaction between them are required. To facilitate rapid and easy exploration of the design space for hybrid hard disk algorithms we present the design and implementation of a flexible and extensible simulator that models hybrid hard disks. The simulator is flexible in that it models several configurations in which the flash and the magnetic medium interact. The simulator is extensible in that it provides a simple framework to plug in several algorithms to manage the hybrid hard disk. We validate our simulator and analyze the performance of the hybrid hard disk for real workloads. / Master of Science

Higher data rate hard disk drives(HDD) and improved read channel electronics are demanding preamplifier performance be extended well beyond 1 Gb/s. Historically, preamplifier power requirements were of low priority; however, with increased demand for battery powered devices such as laptops, MP3 players, personal video recorders, andmanyother wireless hand-held devices, power consumption has become an important design parameter.Furthermore, in order to continue to increase drive capacities, new read-write head technologies(vertical recording and TGMR heads) are demanding innovative preamplifier circuitsolutions.Today's production preamplifiers possess a wide band response of 2.5 MHz-600 MHz; however next generation preamplifiers willrequire response greater than 250 KHz-1 GHz.Low corner frequencies below 250 KHz present read recovery (sleep-to-read, write-to-read, etc) challenges which can limit drive capacity. This project targets a > 2 Gb/s TGMR (tunneling giantmagneto-resistive) read path for verticalrecording HDDs. A high performance BiCMOS process (IBM's 0.5?m 5HP process)is essential due to the large transconductances, low noise and highspeed requirements of the read path's first stage. System frequency limitations at the input are a result of the large TGMR read sensor and preamplifier input capacitance. Due to read head and preamplifier manufacturingvariations, resistive feedbackaroundthe firststage is usedto seta controlled input impedance targeted to match the interconnect transmission line. Head resistance variations lead to gain variations; however, the TGMR element becomes more sensitive with larger resistance. This, to a first order approximation, acts like an automatic gain control and reduces variations in gain due to the head.

Higher data rate hard disk drives(HDD) and improved read channel electronics are demanding preamplifier performance be extended well beyond 1 Gb/s. Historically, preamplifier power requirements were of low priority; however, with increased demand for battery powered devices such as laptops, MP3 players, personal video recorders, andmanyother wireless hand-held devices, power consumption has become an important design parameter.Furthermore, in order to continue to increase drive capacities, new read-write head technologies(vertical recording and TGMR heads) are demanding innovative preamplifier circuitsolutions.Today's production preamplifiers possess a wide band response of 2.5 MHz-600 MHz; however next generation preamplifiers willrequire response greater than 250 KHz-1 GHz.Low corner frequencies below 250 KHz present read recovery (sleep-to-read, write-to-read, etc) challenges which can limit drive capacity. This project targets a > 2 Gb/s TGMR (tunneling giantmagneto-resistive) read path for verticalrecording HDDs. A high performance BiCMOS process (IBM's 0.5?m 5HP process)is essential due to the large transconductances, low noise and highspeed requirements of the read path's first stage. System frequency limitations at the input are a result of the large TGMR read sensor and preamplifier input capacitance. Due to read head and preamplifier manufacturingvariations, resistive feedbackaroundthe firststage is usedto seta controlled input impedance targeted to match the interconnect transmission line. Head resistance variations lead to gain variations; however, the TGMR element becomes more sensitive with larger resistance. This, to a first order approximation, acts like an automatic gain control and reduces variations in gain due to the head.

ITC/USA 2005 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 24-27, 2005 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Instrumentation recorders have evolved continuously over the years. Their growth has primarily been driven by technology advancements. The latest recording equipment generally utilizes hard disk, disk array, or solid-state storage technology, which results in greater capacity and performance. Most recorders integrate storage media with multiplexer electronics resulting in a highly efficient yet inflexible and physically large recording system. This paper describes an instrumentation multiplexer/recorder system using an open architecture between the multiplexer and the storage media that allows insertion of conventional recording technologies. This approach provides a generalized solution with enough flexibility and scalability to address the majority of instrumentation recording needs. This system is based on the latest IRIG-106 chapter 10 standard, thus supporting interoperability throughout the flight test community.

Current computer systems fill the demand of operating systems and applications for ever greater amounts of random access memory by paging the least recently used data to the hard disk drive. This paging process is called "virtual memory," to indicate that the hard disk drive is used to create the illusion that the computer has more random access memory than it actually has. Unfortunately, the fastest hard disk drives are over five orders of magnitude slower than the DRAM they are emulating. When the demand for memory increases to the point that processes are being continually saved to disk and then retrieved again, a process called "thrashing" occurs, and the performance of the entire computer system plummets. This thesis sought to find alternatives for home and small business computer users to the hard disk drive for virtual memory which would not suffer from the same long delays. Virtual memory is especially important for older computers, which often are limited by their motherboards, their processors and their power supplies to a relatively small amount of random access memory. Thus, this thesis was focused on improving the performance of older computers by replacing the hard disk drive with faster technologies for the virtual memory. Of the different technologies considered, flash memory was selected because of its low power requirements, its ready availability, its relatively low cost and its significantly faster random access times. Two devices were evaluated on a system with a 512MB of RAM, a Pentium 4 processor and a SATA hard disk drive. Theoretical models and a simulator were developed, and physical performance measurements were taken. Flash memory was not shown to be significantly faster than the hard disk drive in virtual memory applications.

No description available.

O elemento químico neodímio (Nd) atualmente está em evidência pois é parte fundamental em aplicações produzidas por empresas ligadas a tecnologias limpas e de ponta. Porém, é classificado como crítico pelo departamento de energia dos EUA em função do monopólio chinês atuante em sua exploração e comercialização. Devido à crescente demanda frente à restrita disponibilidade, a recuperação deste metal está em ascensão. Uma das aplicações do neodímio é o ímã permanente de neodímio-ferro-boro, utilizado em hard disk drives (HDs) de computadores. Desta forma, este estudo visou caracterizar os ímãs provenientes de HDs de computadores e estabelecer uma rota de recuperação do neodímio por meio de processos mecânicos e hidrometalúrgicos. Por meio da pesagem dos HDs e seus ímãs obteve-se massa média de 3,04 g e 7,91 g para laptop e desktop, respectivamente, representando menos de 3% da massa total do HD. A desmagnetização foi atingida por meio de aquecimento até a temperatura de Curie, em torno de 312 °C, e a cominuição realizada em moinho de facas, onde foram obtidas três granulometrias classificadas em frações A, B e C. Qualitativamente as amostras, foram analisados por meio de difração de raios-X (DRX), onde a fase tetragonal Nd2Fe14B foi o constituinte dominante, e por meio de análise em microscópio eletrônico de varredura (MEV). Semi-quantitativamente os ímãs, seus revestimentos e o precipitado final foram avaliados por meio de espectrometria de fluorescência de raios-X (FRX). A composição média de 21,5% de neodímio e 65,1% de ferro em massa, além de outros elementos químicos, obtida por meio de espectrometria de emissão óptica com plasma (ICP-OES), mostrou teor de neodímio superior aos minérios explorados, tornando este resíduo interessante em relação à recuperação deste metal. O procedimento hidrometalúrgico adotado envolveu a lixiviação das amostras em ácido sulfúrico 2M e a variação de três parâmetros: razão sólido/líquido, temperatura e tempo, em dois níveis. Posteriormente foi realizada a precipitação seletiva por meio de NaOH, formando o duplo sal NaNd(SO4)2.nH2O. Os resultados mostraram que a lixiviação de neodímio atingiu eficiência média acima de 94%, porém todos os experimentos apresentaram material não lixiviado, majoritariamente composto por níquel e cobre. / The chemical element neodymium (Nd) currently is in evidence as it is a fundamental part in applications manufactured by clean and advanced technology companies. However, it is classified as critical by the United States Department of Energy due to Chinese monopoly in its exploration and commercialization. Due to increasing demand in contrast with scarce supply, the recovery of neodymium is growing. One of the applications of this metal is the neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnet, used in hard disk drives (HDDs) of computers. Therefore, this study aimed magnets characterizing from HDDs of computers and then establishing a recovery route for neodymium by mechanical and hydrometallurgical processes. By weighing the HDDs and their magnets it was obtained the average weight of 3.04 g and 7.91 g for laptop and desktop, respectively, representing less than 3% of the HDDs total mass. Demagnetizing was achieved by heating up to Curie temperature of around 312 °C, and the comminution in knives mill resulted in three granulometries classified into fractions A, B and C. Qualitatively, magnets were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), where the tetragonal phase Nd2Fe14B was the dominant constituent of the sample, and through analysis in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Semi-quantitatively, the magnets, its covers, and the final precipitate were evaluated by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). The average composition of neodymium and iron showed 21.5% and 65.1% by weight, respectively, among other chemical elements. This results were obtained by optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), representing a higher neodymium content compared to the ores content, which makes this waste interesting from a neodymium recovery point of view. The procedure adopted involved hydrometallurgical leaching of the samples in 2M sulfuric acid varying three parameters: liquid/solid ratio, temperature and time, each one on two levels. Subsequently, the selective precipitation by NaOH was performed to form the double salt NaNd(SO4)2.nH2O. The results showed that neodymium leaching efficiency reached above 94%, but the experiments showed as well some material left, mainly composed of nickel and copper.

Iron-cobalt alloys have been extensively studied as potential hard disk drive write head materials due to their potentially high saturation flux densities (~2.4T), low coercivities and ease of deposition. Iron-cobalt plating solutions have, however, been shown to have stability issues, necessitating that they be used at low pH or that a stabilizing agent be added to the solution. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the stability of a dibasic ammonium citrate plating solution and to characterize the deposits which result from its use. The plating solutions are found to be less stable than previously claimed. The solutions are oxidized by dissolved oxygen, which leads to a valence change in the iron ions and eventually the formation of iron oxide/hydroxide precipitates. These effects are exacerbated by heating or the application of a voltage across the solution. Deposits plated from the solution are fine grained (<40nm) and compact through their thickness. While normally deposited as the equilibrium BCC phase, metastable phases are deposited at elevated temperatures, high pH or in the absence of a stabilizing agent. A metastable phase which is isomorphous to α-Mn is deposited at elevated temperatures. This phase transforms to the BCC phase when annealed at >174ºC and is highly textured. Its presence is detrimental to deposit coercivity. / Materials Engineering

The airflow field and particle trajectories inside hard disk drive (HDD) are investigated in this study using commercial software Fluent and Gambit. Three-dimensional grids inside the HDD configuration are built using Gambit taking into account all the components and their geometric details. The airflow field inside HDD is simulated using three incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for various disk rotational speeds. The effects of using the various turbulence models inside the Fluent software such as the standard k - ε , RNG k - ε and Reynolds Stress Method on the computed airflow characteristics are also assessed. Steady flow fields and the effects of rotational speeds are assessed. Based on the computed steady airflow patterns, particle trajectories are computed using routines available in Fluent as well as special particle trajectory functions defined by the user via the user-defined functions. Particles of different sizes and materials are injected at various locations in the computed flow field and the corresponding particle trajectories are studied. Based on the investigation, the trajectory tends to be different according to sizes and materials. The present work forms a basis for further investigation of heat transfer processes inside the HDD to address thermal management issues and also the computation of unsteady flow fields in the HDD due to the movement of the actuator arm during data storage and retrieval / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)