High-performance single-mode VCSELs in the 1310-nm waveband

High-performance vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) emitting in the 1310-nm waveband are fabricated by bonding AlGaAs-GaAs distributed Bragg reflectors on both sides of a InP-based cavity. A 2-in wafer bonding process is optimized to produce very good on-wafer device parameter uniformity. Carrier injection is implemented via double intracavity contact layers and a tunnel junction. A 1.2-mW single-mode output power is obtained in the temperature range of 20/spl deg/C-80/spl deg/C. Modulation capability at 3.2 Gb/s is demonstrated up to 70/spl deg/C. Overall VCSEL performance complies with the requirements of the 10 GBASE-LX4 IEEE.802.3ae standard, which opens the way for novel applications of VCSELs emitting in the 1310-nm band.     

Makespan estimation and order acceptance in batch process industries when processing times are uncertain

Batch process industries are characterized by complex precedence relationships between operations, which renders the estimation of an acceptable workload very difficult. A detailed schedule based model can be used for this purpose, but for large problems this may require a prohibitive large amount of computation time. We propose a regression based model to estimate the makespan of a set of jobs. We extend earlier work based on deterministic processing times by considering Erlang-distributed processing times in our model. This regression-based model is used to support customer order acceptance. Three order acceptance policies are compared by means of simulation experiments: a scheduling policy, a workload policy and a regression policy. The results indicate that the performance of the regression policy can compete with the performance of the scheduling policy in situations with high variety in the job mix and high uncertainty in the processing times. Correspondence to: C.V. Ivanescu     

The relative effects of transection of the gustatory branches of the seventh and ninth cranial nerves on NaCl taste detection in rats.

Chorda tympani nerve (CT) transection in rats severely impairs NaCl taste detection. These rats can detect higher concentrations of NaCl, however, suggesting that remaining oral nerves maintain some salt sensibility. Rats were tested in a gustometer with a 2-response operant taste-detection task before and after sham surgery (n = 5), combined transection of the CT and the greater superficial petrosal nerves (GSP; 7x, n = 6), or transection of the glossopharyngeal nerve (GL; 9x, n = 4). Thresholds did not significantly change after sham surgery. Although the GL responds to NaCl and innervates nearly 60% of total taste buds, 9x surgery had no effect. However, 7x surgery increased NaCl detection threshold by ～2.5 log?? units, greater than that reported for CT transection alone. These results suggest that the GSP contributes to NaCl sensitivity in rats and also demonstrate that the GL and perhaps the superior laryngeal and lingual nerve proper can maintain some NaCl detectability at high concentrations. These findings confirm the primacy of the 7th nerve relative to the 9th nerve in sensibility of NaCl in the rat model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anti-BlUFf: towards counterfeit mitigation in IC supply chains using blockchain and PUF

International Journal of Information Security - The complexity of today’s integrated circuit (IC) supply chain, organised in several tiers and including many companies located in different...     

A decoupled sliding mode control for a continuum arm

The paper treats the control problem of a class of robots constituted by a chain of continuum segments. The technological model basis is a central, long and thin, highly flexible and elastic backbone. The segment control system is a decoupled one. The main parameters of the arm control are determined by the curvature and curvature gradient. The dynamic model is inferred. The primary benefit of the proposed method is that the dynamic equations are represented by a set of ODE’s in time instead of PDE’s in time and space, and the new curvature gradient lumped parameter model is used. A sliding mode control system is used in order to achieve the desired shape of the arm. The stability of the closed-loop control system is proven. Numerical simulations and an experimental platform are also provided to verify the effectiveness of the presented approach.     

Non-parametric statistical background modeling for efficient foreground region detection

Most methods for foreground region detection in videos are challenged by the presence of quasi-stationary backgrounds—flickering monitors, waving tree branches, moving water surfaces or rain. Additional difficulties are caused by camera shake or by the presence of moving objects in every image. The contribution of this paper is to propose a scene-independent and non-parametric modeling technique which covers most of the above scenarios. First, an adaptive statistical method, called adaptive kernel density estimation (AKDE), is proposed as a base-line system that addresses the scene dependence issue. After investigating its performance we introduce a novel general statistical technique, called recursive modeling (RM). The RM overcomes the weaknesses of the AKDE in modeling slow changes in the background. The performance of the RM is evaluated asymptotically and compared with the base-line system (AKDE). A wide range of quantitative and qualitative experiments is performed to compare the proposed RM with the base-line system and existing algorithms. Finally, a comparison of various background modeling systems is presented as well as a discussion on the suitability of each technique for different scenarios.     

Installation d’essais pour la modélisation à échelle réduite des impulsions électromagnétiques

This paper presents a test platform for the scale modeling of electromagnetic pulse effects. The different elements of the installation, i.e. a vertical conical antenna placed on a metallic reference plane, a fast rise time supply generator and a data acquisition and processing facility are described. The field of the antenna has also been studied using a Numerical Electromagnetic Code (Nec)based on the moments method and a comparison with the measurements has been performed. Conclusions resulting from this first stage in the construction of the scale modeling installation are presented.     

Prediction of the electromagnetic torque in synchronous machines through Maxwell stress harmonic filter (HFT) method

For the calculation of torque in synchronous motors a local method is analysed, based on the Maxwell stress theory and the filtered contributions due to the harmonics of the magnetic vector potential in the motor air-gap. By considering the space fundamental field only, the method can efficiently estimate the average synchronous torque for a variety or motor topologies, including concentrated winding designs. This approach employs an analytical filter for the Maxwell stress tensor and `frozen permeability' technique. The proposed method is validated by comparison with FE results for several synchronous motor types: interior permanent magnet motors, wound field motor, synchronous reluctance motor.     

Probabilistic Model for Polycrystalline Microstructures with Application to Intergranular Fracture

A two part probabilistic model for polycrystalline microstructures is described. The model utilizes a Poisson–Voronoi tessellation for the grain geometry and a vector random field model for the crystallographic orientation. The grain geometry model is calibrated to experimental data through the intensity of the Poisson point field underlying the Poisson–Voronoi tessellation and the orientation random field is calibrated to experimental data through its marginal distributions and second moment properties. Realizations of the random microstructure are generated by use of translation methods and are used, with simplified mechanical models, to investigate the problem of intergranular fracture. It is found that intergranular cracks exhibit some statistical properties of a scaled Brownian motion process.     

Rhombellation: a builder for multi-shell clusters

Rhombellanes are mathematical structures, proposed by us in 2017; they may appear both in periodic crystals or in finite structures. The simplest rhombellane is rbl.5 or K_2.3, the complete bipartite graph. In this paper, rhombellation operation is iteratively applied on three classes of structures: cube, tori and cubic pcu-network, respectively. The structural topological parameters are detailed.