An Area Optimization Method for Digital Filter Design

In this paper, we propose an efficient design method for area optimization in a digital filter. The conventional methods to reduce the number of adders in a filter have the problem of a long critical path delay caused by the deep logic depth of the filter due to adder sharing. Furthermore, there is such a disadvantage that they use the transposed direct form (TDF) filter which needs more registers than those of the direct form (DF) filter. In this paper, we present a hybrid structure of a TDF and DF based on the flattened coefficients method so that it can reduce the number of flip‐flops and full‐adders without additional critical path delay. We also propose a resource sharing method and sharing‐pattern searching algorithm to reduce the number of adders without deepening the logic depth. Simulation results show that the proposed structure can save the number of adders and registers by 22 and 26%, respectively, compared to the best one used in the past.     

Surface structural change of ZnO-coated LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 spinel as 5 V cathode materials at elevated temperatures

LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ powder was synthesized via sol-gel method and coated with ZnO in order to test the electrochemical cyclability of the material as a cathode for the secondary Li battery in the 5 V range at 55 °C. The ZnO-coated LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ powder nearly maintained its initial capacity of 137 mA h g⁻¹ after 50 cycles whereas the uncoated powder was able to retain no more than 10% of the initial capacity after 30 cycles. TEM analysis of the cycled cathodes suggests that the formation of the graphitic surface phase, hindering the Li migration, may be responsible for the rapid capacity loss of the uncoated material while no such phase was observed on the surface of the ZnO coated LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ powder.     

Conducting polymers at low temperatures and high magnetic fields

Advances in the synthesis of organic conducting polymer systems has increased the electrical conductivity of these systems by several orders of magnitude in the last decade. Several practical applications are envisioned for such systems, but a thorough understanding of the conduction mechanisms and identification of the charge carriers is lacking, making design and implementation for bulk synthesis difficult. In order to clarify our understanding of the electrical properties of these systems, the resistivity and magnetoresistivity of various polymers doped near the metal - insulator transition, such as polyaniline protonated by camphor sulfonic acid (PANi-CSA) and polypyrrole doped with PF₆ (PPy-PF₆), have been studied down to 25 mK in magnetic fields up to 16 T.     

Mechanism of simultaneous solutes separation and concentration by size exclusion cyclic separation

The semicontinuous separation/concentration of two solutes with different molecular size by the size exclusion cyclic separation method is based on the opposite swelling responses of two gels to a temperature change. Experimental results of separation and concentration of solutes are verified qualitatively by the theoretical models based on the local equilibrium assumption. Separation of two solutes is shown by the breakthrough curves in coupled gel columns. In closed coupled columns, the volumetric space for the large molecules which are totally excluded from the gels becomes smaller, creating a concentrating effect as the gels swell when temperature changes. A mechanistic model is suggested to predict the large molecule concentration to increase to its solubility limit as cycle repeats.     

Occlusion of large atrial septal defects with a centering buttoned device: early clinical experience

A feasibility clinical study was conducted for the transcatheter occlusion of large ostium secundum atrial septal defects with the centering buttoned device. The centering buttoned device is a modification of the regular buttoned device in which a centering counter-occluder is sutured at the central 40% portion of the occluder. During centering it is stretched, forming a parachute-shaped structure and pulling the occluder over the center of the defect. During buttoning, the counter-occluder forms a double figure eight, opposing the right atrial side of the atrial septum. Occlusion was performed in 12 patients aged 6 to 56 years. All had been rejected for transcatheter occlusion by the regular buttoned device, because of either their defect size or the lack of adequate septal rim. The defect size varied between 23 and 31 mm, and the device size varied between 45 and 60 mm. Nine had immediate effective occlusions of their defects and three residual shunts. One patient with unbuttoning had hemolysis at 2 weeks and underwent surgery. Early results of the transcatheter occlusion of large atrial septal defects are promising, and larger clinical trials are justified.     

Performance analysis of linear multiuser detectors for randomlyspread CDMA using Gaussian approximation

The performance of a linear decorrelating detector (LDD) and a minimum mean square error (MMSE) detector is analyzed for random spreading waveforms. The performance of the LDD and MMSE detectors is expressed in terms of the so-called near-far resistance, defined by a reciprocal of a diagonal component of inverse matrix. For random code division multiple access, which employs random spreading waveforms, the near-far resistance can be regarded as a random variable. Many papers have dealt with the analysis of multiuser detectors for random spreading sequences. In most cases, however, these analyses derived only the expectations or bounds for the near-far resistance. In this paper, we directly derive the approximate probability density function (PDF) of the near-far resistance and corresponding bit error rate expression for random spreading sequences. It is based on Gaussian approximation of the cross correlation between any two randomly generated spreading codes. The resulting PDF turned out to be a reversed-and-scaled version of chi-square distribution. The approximate expressions, both the PDF and the corresponding bit error rate expression, were verified via Monte Carlo simulations. The results showed that the approximation is quite close to the simulation results when the number of users is less than half the processing gain     

Substrate transport and cocaine binding of human dopamine transporter is reduced by substitution of carboxyl tail with that of bovine dopamine transporter

A chimeric dopamine transporter (DAT) cDNA encoding mutant human DAT (hDAT) protein in which the intracellular carboxyl-terminal tail is replaced by that of the bovine dopamine transporter (bDAT) was constructed. The chimeric hDAT cDNA was expressed in COS-7 cells, and [3H]dopamine and [3H]MPP+ uptake and [3H]CFT binding capacities were assessed. Substrate transport and ligand binding of bDAT were reduced by 32-43% as a result of substitution of the carboxyl tail in hDAT, suggesting that the functional characteristics of bDAT arise from differences in the carboxyl tail between human and bovine DAT. Thus, it appears that the sequences encoded within the carboxyl terminal of DAT would be one of the important determinants for its functions.     

Aerodynamic effect on natural frequency and flutter instability in rotating optical disks

 Experimental studies on the aerodynamic coupling effect on natural frequencies and flutter instability of rotating disks are investigated in this paper. The experiments performed using a vacuum chamber and optical disks give two main results. One is that the aerodynamic effect by surrounding air reduces the natural frequencies and critical speeds of the vibration modes in pre-flutter regions. The other is that the natural frequency of the disk rotating at ambient atmospheric pressure is equal to that in vacuum at the flutter onset speed where the disk experiences aero-induced flutter. In post-flutter regions, the aerodynamic coupling between the disk and surrounding air increases the natural frequencies of the disk. Received: 17 June 2002/Accepted: 7 October 2002 The work was supported by Grant No. R11-1997-042-090001-0 of the Center for Information Storage Devices designated by the Korea Science & Engineering Foundation. Paper presented at the 13th Annual Symposium on Information Storage and Processing Systems, Santa Clara, CA, USA, 17–18 June, 2002