Sizing of multi-stage Op Amps by combining design equations with the gm/ID method

Analog integrated circuit design has as integral parts both analytical reasoning and numerical validation in the process from topology construction to sizing. Given a circuit topology, different circuit sizing results can be obtained from different processes of sizing inference. Sizing methods by simulation-based numerical searching have been a continuously studied subject. However, almost all approaches in this category require an overwhelming number of circuit simulations to arrive at an optimized sizing result. On the other hand, many published manual sizing methods by using the conventional device equations also require repeated SPICE simulations to correct the equation-based sizing results. This paper proposes a systematic gm/ID-based initial sizing method specifically customized for designing multiple-stage operational amplifiers (Op Amps). A main feature of the proposal is to use circuit-level design equations as constraints on the gm/ID table lookup method to substantially reduce the uncertainty in the sizing calculations. As a result, a significant amount of SPICE based correction work can be reduced to complete an initial sizing. The proposed sizing procedure includes a few regular sizing rules customized to the configuration of multi-stage Op Amps. We validate the proposed sizing method by application to several multi-stage Op Amp examples with a capacitive load or Miller compensation. Simulations have justified that the produced initial sizing results can achieve most of the prespecified design targets.     

Analyzing dissipation effects on the non-classicality witnessing by a qubit via the entangled state representation

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we study detection of the state non-classicality for a quantum harmonic oscillator by a qubit in the presence of dissipation effects. We show that dissipation can enhance the effectiveness of the method in case of using the corrected form of the related nonclassicality witness. Such an improvement is attributed to the fact that dissipation leads to probing a surface, instead of a curve, of the complex plane for non-classicality condition on normally-ordered characteristic function.     

低活化马氏体钢热变形行为及机理型本构建模研究

利用Gleeble-3500热模拟试验机研究了低活化马氏体钢在变形温度为850～950 ℃、应变速率为0.001～1 s^-1条件下的热变形行为。建立了流变应力本构方程，并评估了该方程的预测能力。绘制了低活化马氏体钢在不同应变下的热加工图。结果表明：在较高的应变速率条件下，该材料主要发生动态回复，在较高变形温度和较低应变速率下具有明显的动态再结晶特征；本构方程的预测结果与实验结果符合良好；变形温度870～930 ℃、应变速率0.001～0.01 s^-1和变形温度920～950 ℃、应变速率0.3～1 s^-1分别是真应变为0.4和0.6下最优的热加工区域。     

A values–beliefs–attitude model of local food consumption: An empirical study in China and Denmark

Consumers’ and policy makers’ interest in local foods is growing. Accordingly, researchers are also increasingly paying attention to the consumption of local foods. Studies have identified preference for local foods as an emergent consumer ideology called “locavorism”, but they have not yet addressed its antecedents or put it into a theoretical context. In addition, extant research provides several insights into local food buying behaviour in developed economies (e.g., USA, UK, Germany, or Italy); however, studies simultaneously conducted in developed and emerging economies are lacking. To address these research gaps, this study develops a conceptual framework with proposed relationships among values, beliefs (locavorism and fresh start mindset), and attitudes towards and intentions to purchase local foods in China and Denmark. We conducted an online survey in China and Denmark that evaluated our constructs with pre-developed multiple-item measures. Using structural equation modelling to test the integrated model, we find that values and long-term orientation are antecedents of consumer beliefs but the influences of values on consumer beliefs differ between collectivistic-dominated China and individualistic-dominated Denmark. Specifically, collectivistic values are significantly and positively related to locavorism in both countries, while individualistic values are strongly linked to locavorism only in Denmark; collectivistic values have no effects on fresh start mindset for the two samples, but individualistic values are significantly and positively related to a fresh start mindset in Denmark. In addition, consumer beliefs are significantly and positively associated with attitudes towards and intentions to buy local foods. Local food marketers can use our findings to target their communications more effectively.     

Linking entrepreneurial orientation to project success

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is a strategic posture of an organization, and it is related to basic policies and practices for the development of entrepreneurial actions looking for creating competitive advantages. This study develops and tests a model of the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and project success in Brazilian context. As quantitative research, a survey was used to collect data. A sample of 100 valid answers from project practitioners was treated through the structural equation modeling method. As research implications, the main result points out the positive correlation between the entrepreneurial orientation and the project success, contributing to the development of this research subject and helping to minimize the gap in the literature that addresses the relationship between project success and EO. In practical terms, understanding that innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, autonomy and competitive aggressiveness (the dimensions of the EO) can contribute to project success and can also indirectly impact on organizational performance, could help organizations get competitive advantage when developing correlate factors. Finally, the results suggest that practices of project management can be aligned to the firm's entrepreneurial orientation to enable firms to attain better results in their projects and generate a competitive advantage. On other hand, given the proportion of the impact of EO on project success (20.3%) identified in this study, it is critical that project management professionals expand their horizon to recognize other factors that affect project success.     

The control of paracetamol particle size and surface morphology through crystallisation in a spray dryer

The parameters governing the crystallisation of paracetamol using various conventional techniques has been extensively studied, however the factors influencing the drug crystallisation using spray drying is not as well understood. The aim of this work was to investigate the crystallisation of an active pharmaceutical ingredient through evaporative crystallisation using a spray dryer to study the physicochemical properties of the drug and to use semi-empirical equations to gain insight into the morphology and particle size of the dried powder. Paracetamol solutions were spray dried at various inlet temperatures ranging from 60 °C to 120 °C and also from a series of inlet feed solvent compositions ranging from 50/50% v/v ethanol/water to 100% ethanol and solid-state characterisation was done. The size and morphology of the dried materials were altered with a change in spray drying parameters, with an increase in inlet temperature leading to an increase in particle Sauter mean diameter (from 3.0 to 4.4 µm) and a decrease in the particle size with an increase in ethanol concentration in the feed (from 4.6 to 4.4 µm) as a result of changes in particle density and atomised droplet size. The morphology of the dried particles consisted of agglomerates of individual crystallites bound together into larger semi-spherical agglomerates with a higher tendency for particles having crystalline ridges to form at higher ethanol concentrations of the feed.     

30CrNi3MoV钢的热变形行为及热加工图

采用Gleeble-3500热模拟试验机对30CrNi3MoV钢进行单向热压缩试验,研究了其在变形温度950~1150 ℃、应变速率0.01~10 s^-1的热变形行为,构建了应变补偿型流变应力本构方程,并绘制出该钢的热加工图。结果表明,30CrNi3MoV钢真应力-真应变曲线有3种不同特征:高温小应变速率时,表现为典型的动态再结晶过程;低温小应变速率时,曲线为动态回复特征;应变速率较大时,应力随应变的增大而增大,无明显的峰值应力。采用5次多项式拟合构建的应变耦合流变应力本构方程具有高的精确度,采用该方程获得的预测值与试验值的平均相对误差为3.2%,相关性系数R值为0.993。从热加工图中得到试验钢最佳的热加工工艺参数范围是:变形温度为1020~1150 ℃、应变速率为0.03~0.35 s^-1。     

Global weak solutions to a spatio-temporal fractional Landau–Lifshitz–Bloch equation

The present paper deals with global existence of weak solutions of a time-space fractional Landau–Lifshitz–Bloch equation involving the weak Caputo derivative and a fractional Laplacian. We use Faedo–Galerkin method with some commutator estimates in order to prove global existence of weak solutions for the model. The uniqueness is also discussed in a special one dimensional case.     

轧机两侧刚度差的数字化分析与改善措施

轧机两侧刚度差是轧机功能精度的最重要指标之一，以弹跳方程为基础定量计算了轧机两侧刚度差对轧制稳定性的影响，主要包括调平值、调平值随轧制力的变化以及甩尾3个方面。以此为基础在某热轧线建立了轧机刚度评价体系，对轧机功能精度进行管控。同时，还分析了轧机两侧刚度差的影响因素，并在定量分析的基础上采取了一系列的改善措施，包括衬板、垫片维护、最大压靠轧制力和标定轧制力的调整等，使轧机刚度和轧制稳定性得到大幅提升。     

Simultaneous identification of structural stiffness and mass parameters based on Bare-bones Gaussian Tree Seeds Algorithm using time-domain data

This paper mainly illustrates the Tree Seeds Algorithm (TSA) to tackle structural damage identification problem. The damage model is simulated by the alterations of both stiffness and mass parameters. The objective function is introduced by minimizing the differences between the measured and calculated acceleration data. To enhance the performance of the standard TSA, two modifications including the bare-bones Gaussian updated mechanism and the withering process are introduced. The modified algorithm is named after the BGTSA. In the numerical simulation part, the BGTSA is firstly used to make comparisons with several state-of-the-art algorithms on the CEC05. Secondly, the BGTSA is utilized to deal with the structural damage identification problem by optimizing the acceleration-based nonlinear objective function. Numerical experiments involving a simply supported beam and a truss are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The final results show that with low amount of acceleration data, the BGTSA can acquire better identification results compared with other evolutionary algorithms. Therefore the proposed algorithm could be viewed as a potential tool to solve the structural damage identification problem.