Attachment is a psychological connection between two or more individuals. Paternal -infant attachment is significant to the social and physical health of the infant and father. There is a gap in the literature regarding the importance of attachment between father and infant. The purpose of this thesis was to review the available literature about paternal-infant attachment and to determine promising nursing interventions to promote successful paternal-infant attachment. An integrative review of research was performed using the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL). MEDLINE, PsychINFO, PsychArticles and Academic Search Premier. The key terms that were used to search the databases were: paternal, father, infant, newborn, bonding, attachment, feelings and relationship. Ten studies were examined in detail. Nursing interventions found to improve paternal-infant attachment are based on education, improving the psychological well-being of both the father and infant and decreasing anxiety or stress the father may feel before and after the birth process. Multiple methods to improve overall paternal-infant attachment are recommended.

De nombreuses études ont montré la faisabilité de la fabrication de pièces composites en carbure de bore et de silicium par l’infiltration de silicium fondu dans une préforme poreuse en carbure de bore (Reaction bonding). Cette méthode permet l’obtention d'un composite fortement chargé en carbure de bore (phase qui nous intéresse pour les applications balistiques), sans pour autant avoir besoin de monter à des températures de frittage de plus de 2200°C (température habituellement utilisée pour fritter le B4C). Dans notre cas la température maximale est comprise entre 1400-1600°C. Cette thèse s’intéresse plus particulièrement à l’adaptation du procédé de « reaction bonding » au chauffage sous champ micro-ondes. Les micro-ondes sont particulièrement intéressantes en ce qui concerne la rapidité du cycle thermique et le chauffage préférentiel de certaines phases (dans le cas des multi-matériaux). Pour ce faire, plusieurs verrous technologiques ont dû être levés (travail sous atmosphère et sous champs électromagnétiques, température élevée, …). Les composites obtenus sont comparés à leurs équivalents en chauffage conventionnel. Des différences microstructurales ont été observées au niveau du SiC formé lors de la réaction. Cette thèse nous a donc permis de :-trouver des conditions de fabrication de pièces en carbure de bore par chauffage micro-ondes (Argon/Hydrogéné10%, légère surpression : 1.4 bars)-montrer que les propriétés mécaniques (dureté, module d’Young,…) obtenues en four micro-ondes sont équivalentes à celles obtenus en four conventionnel (dureté : 14-20GPa) -montrer d’importante différences microstructurales du carbure de silicium formé, entre les échantillons obtenus sous vide (four conventionnel) et ceux obtenus sous atmosphère contrôlée (micro-ondes et four conventionnel).-montrer que le passage à des plus grandes tailles est possible, il est même plus simple d’infiltrer de grandes pièces que de petites à cause de l’effet de la masse sur la réponse du matériau aux champs électromagnétiques des micro-ondes.Ces résultats sont très prometteurs pour des applications balistiques : fabrication de gilets pare-balles et blindages légers. / Many studies have shown the feasibility of processing silicon-boron carbide composite by infiltration of molten silicon through a porous preform made of boron carbide (Reaction Bonding Process). Using this method, the obtained composite contains a large amount of boron carbide, which is the hardest and the most interesting phase for ballistic application. In our developed process, the maximum processing temperature is 1600°C, which is far below the usual high temperature stage/pressure conditions commonly used to sinter B4C by conventional method (respectively 2200°C and40MPa). The main goal of this thesis is to develop a novel reaction bonded process based on microwave heating. Microwaves heating has many interesting features, including fast heating process, selective heating mechanism (in case of heating multi-materials) and volumetric heating distribution. . To fulfill our goal, many technological issues need to be addressed (working in controlled atmosphere and under microwave field, high temperature ...). This thesis reports the development of this novel process, and materials made from it, exhibit similar properties compared to those made conventionally. However, some microstructural differences were observed in SiC resulting phases. This thesis has allowed to-find out the boron carbide composite piece fabrication conditions in microwave cavity (Argon/Hydrogen10%, slight overpressure: 14bars)-show that mechanical properties (hardness, Young’s modulus…) obtained are comparable to those measured on conventionally reaction bonded produced materials. -show that formed SiC has some microstructural peculiarities, between vacuum samples (for conventional) and ones obtained in hydrogenous argon (using microwave).-show that it is possible to produce larger size piece (66mm of diameter). These results are shown to be promising for ballistic applications, including the fabrication of bulletproof jacket and light armor

<p>Microengineering has developed a broad range of production techniques to reduce size, increase throughput, and reduce cost of electrical and mechanical devices. The miniaturisation has also entailed entirely new opportunities.</p><p>In this work, a piezoresistive silicon sensor measuring mechanical deformation has been designed and fabricated with the help of microengineering. Due to the large variety of used processes, this device can serve as a survey of techniques in this field. Four basic process categories are recognised: additive, subtractive, modifying, and joining methods.</p><p>The last category, joining methods, has previously been the least investigated, especially when it comes to compatibility with the other categories. The adaptability of wet chemical etching to established silicon wafer bonding technique has been investigated. Further, phenomena related to oxygen plasma pre-treatment for direct bonding has been investigated by blister bond adhesion tests, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy.</p><p>Wafer bonding has been adapted to monocrystalline quartz. For wet chemical pre-treatment, characteristics specific for quartz raise obstacles. Problems with limited allowable annealing temperature, low permeability of water released in the bond at annealing, and electrostatic bonding of particles to the quartz surface, have been studied and overcome. The influence of internal bond interfaces on resonators has been investigated.</p><p>Chemical polishing of quartz by ammonium bifluoride has been experimentally investigated at high temperatures and concentrations. Chemometrical methods were used to search for optimum conditions giving the lowest surface roughness. These extreme conditions showed no extra advantages.</p><p>Adhesion quantification methods for wafer bonding have been comprehensively reviewed, and augmentations have been suggested. The improved techniques’ usefulness for three areas of use has been forecasted: general understanding, bonding scheme optimisation, and quality control. It was shown that the quality of measurements of all commonly used methods could be dramatically improved by small means.</p>

Microengineering has developed a broad range of production techniques to reduce size, increase throughput, and reduce cost of electrical and mechanical devices. The miniaturisation has also entailed entirely new opportunities. In this work, a piezoresistive silicon sensor measuring mechanical deformation has been designed and fabricated with the help of microengineering. Due to the large variety of used processes, this device can serve as a survey of techniques in this field. Four basic process categories are recognised: additive, subtractive, modifying, and joining methods. The last category, joining methods, has previously been the least investigated, especially when it comes to compatibility with the other categories. The adaptability of wet chemical etching to established silicon wafer bonding technique has been investigated. Further, phenomena related to oxygen plasma pre-treatment for direct bonding has been investigated by blister bond adhesion tests, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Wafer bonding has been adapted to monocrystalline quartz. For wet chemical pre-treatment, characteristics specific for quartz raise obstacles. Problems with limited allowable annealing temperature, low permeability of water released in the bond at annealing, and electrostatic bonding of particles to the quartz surface, have been studied and overcome. The influence of internal bond interfaces on resonators has been investigated. Chemical polishing of quartz by ammonium bifluoride has been experimentally investigated at high temperatures and concentrations. Chemometrical methods were used to search for optimum conditions giving the lowest surface roughness. These extreme conditions showed no extra advantages. Adhesion quantification methods for wafer bonding have been comprehensively reviewed, and augmentations have been suggested. The improved techniques’ usefulness for three areas of use has been forecasted: general understanding, bonding scheme optimisation, and quality control. It was shown that the quality of measurements of all commonly used methods could be dramatically improved by small means.

A refinement of a minimal model for protein folding originally proposed by Imamura is presented. The representation of the alpha-helix has been improved by adding in explicit modelling of the entire peptide unit. A four-helix bundle consisting of four alpha-helices and three loop regions is generated with the parallel tempering Monte Carlo scheme. Six native states are found for the given sequence, four U-bundle and two Z-bundle states. All six states have energies of E approx -218ε and all appear equally likely to occur in simulation. The highest probability of folding a native state is found to be at a hydrophobic strength of Ch = 0.8 which agrees with the value of Ch = 0.7 used by Imamura in his studies of alpha to beta structural conversions. Two folding stages are observed in the temperature spectrum dependent on the magnitude of the hydrophobic strength parameter. The two stages observed as temperature decreases are 1) the hydrophobic energy causes the random coil to collapse into a compact globule 2) the secondary structure starts forming below a temperature of about T = 0.52ε/kB. The temperature of the first stage, which corresponds to the characteristic collapse temperature Tθ, is highly dependent on the hydrophobic strength. The temperature of the second stage is constant with respect to hydrophobic strength. Attempts to measure the characteristic folding temperature, Tf , from the structural overlap function proved to be difficult due mostly to the presence of six minima and the complications that arose in the parallel tempering Monte Carlo scheme. However, a rough estimate of Tf is obtained at each hydrophobic strength from a native state density analysis. Tf is found to be significantly lower than Tθ.

A refinement of a minimal model for protein folding originally proposed by Imamura is presented. The representation of the alpha-helix has been improved by adding in explicit modelling of the entire peptide unit. A four-helix bundle consisting of four alpha-helices and three loop regions is generated with the parallel tempering Monte Carlo scheme. Six native states are found for the given sequence, four U-bundle and two Z-bundle states. All six states have energies of E approx -218ε and all appear equally likely to occur in simulation. The highest probability of folding a native state is found to be at a hydrophobic strength of Ch = 0.8 which agrees with the value of Ch = 0.7 used by Imamura in his studies of alpha to beta structural conversions. Two folding stages are observed in the temperature spectrum dependent on the magnitude of the hydrophobic strength parameter. The two stages observed as temperature decreases are 1) the hydrophobic energy causes the random coil to collapse into a compact globule 2) the secondary structure starts forming below a temperature of about T = 0.52ε/kB. The temperature of the first stage, which corresponds to the characteristic collapse temperature Tθ, is highly dependent on the hydrophobic strength. The temperature of the second stage is constant with respect to hydrophobic strength. Attempts to measure the characteristic folding temperature, Tf , from the structural overlap function proved to be difficult due mostly to the presence of six minima and the complications that arose in the parallel tempering Monte Carlo scheme. However, a rough estimate of Tf is obtained at each hydrophobic strength from a native state density analysis. Tf is found to be significantly lower than Tθ.

This paper discusses basic issues of micromachined ultrasonic transducers, including their design and fabrication. First, the acoustic fundamentals of ultrasonic transducers are introduced, and relevant simulation methods are illustrated. Following these topics, important aspects of silicon micromachining are presented. Based on this knowledge, two distinctive micromachining processes for transducer fabrication are proposed. One of them, the bulk process, has been proved to be successful, whereas for the second one, a surface process, some improvements are still needed. Besides these works, an innovative direct bonding technology is also developed. This technology constitutes the basis of the bulk process. Of course, it can also be used for the packaging of other MEMS devices.

Several analytical mean field models are presented for the class of stimuli responsive polymers that are driven by the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) transition. For solutions above the polymer crossover concentration, a hybrid model combines lattice-fluid excluded volume and van-der-Waals interactions with a combinatorial approach for the statistics of hydrogen bonding, hydration, and ionic bonding. This approach yields models for the LCST of both neutral polymers and lightly charged polyelectrolytes in aqueous salt solution. The results are shown to be in semi-quantitative agreement with experimental data for the cloud point of polyethylene oxide (PEO) in aqueous solution with various salts, and some aspects of the lyotropic series are reproduced. Results for lightly charged polyelectrolytes are compared to and shown to be in qualitative agreement with aspects of experimentally observed behavior. Finally, a framework is established for extension of these models to further aspects of the lyotropic series and polyelectrolyte behavior. At the nanoscale, lattice fluid (LF) and scaled particle theory (SPT) approaches are employed to model the LCST-related coil-globule-transition (CGT) of isolated polymer chains in highly dilute solution. The predicted CGT behavior semi-quantitatively correlates with experimental results for several polymer-solvent systems and over a range of pressures. Both the LF and SPT models exhibit a heating induced coil-to-globule transition (HCGT) temperature that increases with pressure until it merges with a cooling induced coil-to-globule transition (CCGT). The point at which the CCGT and HCGT meet is a hypercritical point that also corresponds to a merging of the lower critical and upper critical solution temperatures. Theoretical results are discussed in terms of a generalized polymer/solvent phase diagram that possesses three hypercritical points. Within the lattice model, a dimensionless transition temperature [author gives mathematical symbol] is given for a long chain simply by the equation [author gives mathematical equation], where [part of the equation] is the bulk solvent occupied volume fraction at the transition temperature. Furthermore, there is a critical value of the ratio of polymer to solvent S-L characteristic temperature below which no HCGT transition is predicted for an infinite chain. / text

Ever growing demands for portability and functionality have always governed the electronic technology innovations. IC downscaling with Moore s law at IC level and system miniaturization with System-On-Package (SOP) paradigm at system level, have resulted and will continue to result in ultraminiaturized systems with unprecedented functionality at reduced cost. However, system miniaturization poses several electrical and thermal challenges that demand innovative solutions including advanced materials, bonding and assembly techniques. Heterogeneous material and device integration for thermal structures and IC assembly are limited by the bonding technology and the electrical and thermal impedance of the bonding interfaces. Solder - based bonding technology that is prevalent today is a major limitation to future systems. The trend towards miniaturized systems is expected to drive downscaling of IC I/O pad pitches from 40µm to 1- 5µm in future. Solder technology imposes several pitch, processability and cost restrictions at such fine pitches. Furthermore, according to International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS-2006), the supply current in high performance microprocessors is expected to increase to 220 A by 2012. At such supply current, the current density will exceed the maximum allowable current density of solders. The intrinsic delay and electromigration in solders are other daunting issues that become critical at nanometer sized technology nodes. In addition, formation of intermetallics is also a bottleneck that poses significant mechanical issues. Similarly, thermal power dissipation is growing to unprecedented high with a projected power of 198 W by 2008 (ITRS 2006). Present thermal interfaces are not adequate for such high heat dissipation. Recently, copper based thin film bonding has become a promising approach to address the abovementioned challenges. However, copper-copper direct bonding without using solders has not been studied thoroughly. Typically, bonding is carried out at 400oC for 30 min followed by annealing for 30 min. High thermal budget in such process makes it less attractive for integrated systems because of the associated process incompatibilities. Hence, there is a need to develop a novel low temperature copper to copper bonding process. In the present study, nanomaterials - based copper-to-copper bonding is explored and developed as an alternative to solder-based bonding. To demonstrate fine pitch bonding, the patterning of these nanoparticles is crucial. Therefore, two novel self-patterning techniques based on: 1.) Selective wetting and 2.) Selective nanoparticle deposition, are developed to address this challenge. Nanoparticle active layer facilitates diffusion and, thus, a reliable bond can be achieved using less thermal budget. Quantitative characterization of the bonding revealed good metallurgical bonding with very high bond strength. This has been confirmed by several morphological and structural characterizations. A 30-micron pitch IC assembly test vehicle is used to demonstrate fine pitch patternability and bonding. In conclusion, novel nanoparticle synthesis and patterning techniques were developed and demonstrated for low-impedance and low-cost electrical and thermal interfaces.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 47 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-38).