A 223- $$\mu W$$ μ W single-to-differential RF mixer with 8.6dBm IIP3 using current-bleeding and body-effect for sub-6 GHz 5G applications

Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing - As the 5G era beckons in the world of communication and information technology, there is a surge in demand for battery-operated, mobile wireless...     

Fixed-order H∞ compensator design

A method is presented for the construction of fixed-order compensators to provide H_∞ norm constraint for linear control systems with exogenous disturbances. The method is based on the celebrated bounded-real lemma that predicates the H_∞ norm constraint via a Riccati inequality. The synthesis of fixed-order controllers whose dimensions are less than the order of a given plant, is demonstrated by a set of sufficient conditions along with a numerical algorithm.     

Conductivity study of polyethylene oxide (PEO) complexed with sodium bicarbonate

Ion conducting thin film polymer electrolytes based on polyethylene oxide (PEO) complexed with NaHCO₃ salt has been prepared using solution-cast technique. The complexation of NaHCO₃ salt with PEO is confirmed by XRD and IR studies. DC conductivity in the temperature range 303–368 K has been evaluated. The conductivity is found to increase in the PEO complex with the NaHCO₃ salt and also with an increase in temperature. Using this polymer electrolyte, an electrochemical cell with the configuration Na/(PEO + NaHCO₃)/(I₂ + C + electrolyte) has been fabricated and its discharge characteristics studied. Open Circuit Voltage (OCV) and Short Circuit Current (SCC) are found to be 2.69 V and 1.28 mA, respectively. Other parameters associated with the cell are evaluated and presented in this paper.     

Analysis and optimization of fixture under dynamic machining condition with chip removal effect

Dynamic interactions in the tool–workpiece and workpiece–fixture systems significantly impinge on the quality of finished workpieces. The presented simulation system integrates the effects of workpiece fixture dynamics with the other factors contributing to the machining process dynamics. It provides more accurate prediction of the process output which helps in the design of the optimum fixture configuration prior to the production stage. Modelling of the frictional contact behaviour between the fixture element and the workpiece helps to improve the prediction accuracy of the simulation system which accelerates the convergence to the optimum fixture configuration design and consequently improves the machined part dimensional accuracy and geometric integrity. The developed simulation is capable of modelling complicated part geometries by interfacing with commercial ANSYS.V10^® packages. This research work minimizes the deformation of workpiece using integrated optimization tool of Genetic algorithm (GA) and ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) of finite element analysis. The same layouts given by the above optimization tool are used in the experimental setup and it is found that the improved geometric tolerance of squarness and flatness of the given workpiece. The chip removal effect and frictional contact between the workpiece and the fixture elements are taken into account based on element death technique and nonlinear finite-element analysis. A Case study of an open slot milling process illustrates the application of the proposed improved geometric tolerance approach.     

EFFECT OF CROSS FLOW ON THE SPRAY CHARACTERISTICS OF AN INDUSTRIAL FEED NOZZLE

The spray characteristics of a scaled-down version of an industrial feed nozzle are studied in the presence of a cross flow. Aerated liquid nitrogen is injected through the nozzle to generate the spray. The aeration rate is low and held constant, while two different liquid flow rates are used to produce the spray. A nonuniform wind profile is chosen to represent the cross flow condition. The droplet diameter and velocity measurements are acquired using a phase-Doppler particle analyzer. The results of the present study indicate that the spray momentum flux determines the extent of the jet bending. The droplets are accelerated significantly in the initial jet region as a result of flashing. However, further downstream of the nozzle, the vaporization of the droplets is considered to be negligible. The size-velocity correlation changes significantly for the case where the spray is shifted due to the cross flow.     

Aramid pulp treated with imidazolium ionic liquids as a filler in rigid polyurethane bio-foams

This article reports an aramid pulp (AP) treated with two ionic liquids (IL), namely 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (C₄.Cl) and 1-carboxymethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (HO₂C), and its use as a filler in reinforced rigid polyurethane foams (RPUF). The RPUF were incorporated with the treated AP at three weight fractions (c.a. 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 wt%) and were produced by the free rising method. The results showed that the studied IL promoted a better interaction between the AP and the RPUF system, which increased the overall reactivity, imparting a higher cell anisotropy. This also yielded a positive effect in mechanical properties and thermal stability of the RPUF. Compared to the neat RPUF, outstanding increases of approximately 50 and 20% were achieved in compressive modulus and strength, respectively. In all, the use of IL promoted increased compatibility between matrix and reinforcement, especially that HO₂C IL.     

Polydimethylsiloxane based polyurethane and its composite with layered double hydroxide: Synthesis and its thermal properties

This investigation reports the synthesis of a new class of polyurethane (PU) based on bis(hydroxyalkyl) polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as diol and isophorone diisocyanate as diisocyanate followed by the preparation of PU/layered double hydroxide (PU/LDH) nanocomposite via ex-situ technique. Nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy studies confirm the formation of PU and incorporation of PDMS into the PU backbone. Thermogravimetry analysis revealed that thermal stability of the composite improves significantly with incorporation of LDH into the PU matrix. This may be accredited to the barrier effect rendered by the LDH layers. Differential scanning calorimetry study reveals that with the incorporation of LDH, glass transition temperature (T_g) of the composite increases for an optimum level of loading beyond which it remains constant.     

Fabrication and Characterisation of Rutile-TiO_2 Coatings on Metallic Alloy Substrates

RUTILE-TJO2is a versatile material possessing manyinteresting physical,chemical,optical and dielectricproperties[l].It is also a good tribological material thatcan offer low friction and low wear rate[2,3].However,the application of rutile in the tribological field hasbeen limited to titanium alloys only so far,for example,by thermal oxidation of titanium alloys[4,5].Very fewinvestigations have been directed to the tribologicalapplications of rutile films on substrates other thantitanium al…     

A neuro-genetic based short-term forecasting framework for network intrusion prediction system

Information systems are one of the most rapidly changing and vulnerable systems, where security is a major issue. The number of security-breaking attempts originating inside organizations is increasing steadily. Attacks made in this way, usually done by ＂authorized＂ users of the system, cannot be immediately traced. Because the idea of filtering the traffic at the entrance door, by using firewalls and the like, is not completely successful, the use of intrusion detection systems should be considered to increase the defense capacity of an information system. An intrusion detection system （IDS） is usually working in a dynamically changing environment, which forces continuous tuning of the intrusion detection model, in order to maintain sufficient performance. The manual tuning process required by current IDS depends on the system operators in working out the tuning solution and in integrating it into the detection model. Furthermore, an extensive effort is required to tackle the newly evolving attacks and a deep study is necessary to categorize it into the respective classes. To reduce this dependence, an automatically evolving anomaly IDS using neuro-genetic algorithm is presented. The proposed system automatically tunes the detection model on the fly according to the feedback provided by the system operator when false predictions are encountered. The system has been evaluated using the Knowledge Discovery in Databases Conference （KDD 2009） intrusion detection dataset. Genetic paradigm is employed to choose the predominant features, which reveal the occurrence of intrusions. The neuro-genetic IDS （NGIDS） involves calculation of weightage value for each of the categorical attributes so that data of uniform representation can be processed by the neuro-genetic algorithm. In this system unauthorized invasion of a user are identified and newer types of attacks are sensed and classified respectively by the neuro-genetic algorithm. The experimental results obtained in this work show that the system achieves improvement in terms of misclassification cost when compared with conventional IDS. The results of the experiments show that this system can be deployed based on a real network or database environment for effective prediction of both normal attacks and new attacks.     

Extranasal Staphylococcus aureus colonization predisposes to bloodstream infections in patients on hemodialysis with noncuffed internal jugular vein catheters

Introduction: Staphylococcal infection of endogenous origin is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in patients who receive hemodialysis (HD). The risk of such infections in nasal carriers of the organism is well defined. Extranasal carriage of the organism at extranasal sites may pose similar risks. Methods: A total of 70 patients about to undergo internal jugular vein catheterization for HD were enrolled in this prospective observational study. Swab cultures were obtained from anterior nares, posterior pharynx, axillae, toe web spaces, and vascular access sites at baseline and 1 week later. A patient was defined as a persistent carrier when the same organism was grown in both samples. Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections were assessed by blood and catheter tip cultures over a 90‐day period. Findings: The mean age of the patients was 43.71 ± 16.2 years. Persistent S. aureus carriage at anterior nares, throat, axilla, toe web spaces, vascular access site, and all sites was documented in 27.9%, 11.4%, 40%, 32.9%, 4.3%, and 64.2% of patients, respectively. Fifteen patients developed S. aureus infections. Catheter related S. aureus infections (CRI) were more likely in persistent carriers than nonpersistent carriers with odds ratios (95% CI) of 10.2 (2.8–37.1), 8.6 (1.7–42.2), 17.3 (3.4–86.0), 3.0 (0.9–9.8), and 1.9 (0.2–22.4) for anterior nares, throat, axilla, toe web spaces, and vascular access site carriers, respectively. The probability of developing CRI in persistent S. aureus carriers was 55% compared to none in noncarriers at 90 days (P = 0.04). Discussion: Extranasal S. aureus carriage is as significant a risk factor as nasal carriage for staphylococcal infections in patients on HD through catheters. The study is limited by lack of molecular phenotyping.