A smartphone‐based U‐Healthcare system for real‐time monitoring of acute myocardial infarction

In recent years, medical service has been evolving from systems designed around centralized hospitals to Ubiquitous Healthcare (U‐Healthcare). U‐Healthcare system can facilitate real‐time monitoring of patient states, and can provide medical checkups and management whenever and wherever the medical staff deems necessary. U‐Healthcare services can provide chronic condition monitoring in the early stages of diseases and help execute decisive medical action in emergencies. However, thus far, the application of U‐Healthcare systems has been limited to diseases such as obesity, diabetes, etc. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is among the most critical chronic diseases and requires early detection and treatment. In this paper, we propose an AMI diagnostic software technique and protocol that can support real‐time communication between the patient and medical personnel. Our monitoring and diagnostic system has been developed using a protocol based on ISO/IEEE 11073. When data is transferred from the patient's smartphone to a server in hospital, the medical personnel consult the patient's biosensor data to determine the status of the relevant disease and provide appropriate medical service. The relevant information is sent back to the patient's smartphone through a wireless network, and patients can view their data in graphical format through their smartphone. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Passive alignment method of polymer PLC devices by using a hot embossing technique

A novel fabrication process using a hot embossing technique has been developed for micromechanical passive alignment of polymer planar lightwave circuit (PLC) devices. With only one step of embossing, single-mode waveguide straight channels and micropedestals for passive aligning are simultaneously defined on a polymer thin film with an accuracy of /spl plusmn/0.5 /spl mu/m. This process reduces the steps for fabricating alignment structures. A fabricated polymer PLC chip and fibers are combined on a v-grooved silicon optical bench (SiOB) in a flip-chip manner. The process provides a coupling loss as low as 0.67 dB per coupling face and a cost-effective packaging solution for various polymer PLC devices.     

Design of Scannable Non‐uniform Planar Array Structure for Maximum Side‐Lobe Reduction

In this letter, we propose a novel design scheme for an optimal non‐uniform planar array geometry in view of maximum side‐lobe reduction. This is implemented by a thinned array using a genetic algorithm. We show that the proposed method can maintain a low side‐lobe level without pattern distortion during beam steering.     

Low-Loss Polymer-Based Long-Range Surface Plasmon-Polariton Waveguide

To improve the propagation loss of polymer-based long-range surface-plasmon-polariton (LR-SPP) waveguide devices at the telecom wavelength range, low-loss LR-SPP waveguides were fabricated in an ultraviolet-curable acrylate polymer with a low refractive index and absorption loss. A propagation loss of 1.72 dB/cm at a wavelength of 1.55 mum was achieved with a 14-nm-thick and 3-mum-wide metal stripe.     

ε‐Branched Flexible Side Chain Substituted Diketopyrrolopyrrole‐Containing Polymers Designed for High Hole and Electron Mobilities

Based on the integrated consideration and engineering of both conjugated backbones and flexible side chains, solution‐processable polymeric semiconductors consisting of a diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) backbone and a finely modulated branching side chain (ε‐branched chain) are reported. The subtle change in the branching point from the backbone alters the π?π stacking and the lamellar distances between polymer backbones, which has a significant influence on the charge‐transport properties and in turn the performances of field‐effect transistors (FETs). In addition to their excellent electron mobilities (up to 2.25 cm² V^?1 s^?1), ultra‐high hole mobilities (up to 12.25 cm² V^?1 s^?1) with an on/off ratio (I_on/I_off) of at least 10⁶ are achieved in the FETs fabricated using the polymers. The developed polymers exhibit extraordinarily high electrical performance with both hole and electron mobilities superior to that of unipolar amorphous silicon.     

Direct Transfer Printing with Metal Oxide Layers for Fabricating Flexible Nanowire Devices

A direct printing method for fabricating devices by using metal oxide transfer layers instead of conventional transfer media such as polydimethylsiloxane is presented. Metal oxides are not damaged by organic solvents; therefore, electrodes with gaps less than 2 μm can be defined on a metal oxide transfer layer through photolithography. In order to determine a suitable metal oxide for use as transfer layer, the surface energies of various metal oxides are measured, and Au layers deposited on these oxides are transferred onto polyvinylphenol (PVP). To verify the feasibility of our approach, Au source–drain electrodes on transfer layers and Si nanowires (NWs) addressed by the dielectrophoretic (DEP) alignment process are transferred onto rigid and flexible PVP‐coated substrates. Based on transfer test and DEP process, Al₂O₃ is determined to be the best transfer layer. Finally, Si NWs field effect transistors (FETs) are fabricated on a rigid Si substrate and a flexible polyimide film. As the channel length decreases from 3.442 to 1.767 μm, the mobility of FET on the Si substrate increases from 127.61 ± 37.64 to 181.60 ± 23.73 cm² V^?1 s^?1. Furthermore, the flexible Si NWs FETs fabricated through this process show enhanced electrical properties with an increasing number of bending cycles.     

Static Dalvik Bytecode Optimization for Android Applications

Since just‐in‐time (JIT) has considerable overhead to detect hot spots and compile them at runtime, using sophisticated optimization techniques for embedded devices means that any resulting performance improvements will be limited. In this paper, we introduce a novel static Dalvik bytecode optimization framework, as a complementary compilation of the Dalvik virtual machine, to improve the performance of Android applications. Our system generates optimized Dalvik bytecodes by using Low Level Virtual Machine (LLVM). A major obstacle in using LLVM for optimizing Dalvik bytecodes is determining how to handle the high‐level language features of the Dalvik bytecode in LLVM IR and how to optimize LLVM IR conforming to the language information of the Dalvik bytecode. To this end, we annotate the high‐level language features of Dalvik bytecode to LLVM IR and successfully optimize Dalvik bytecodes through instruction selection processes. Our experimental results show that our system with JIT improves the performance of Android applications by up to 6.08 times, and surpasses JIT by up to 4.34 times.     

Sliding Mode Observer Driver IC Integrated Gate Driver for Sensorless Speed Control of Wide Power Range of PMSMs

This work proposes a highly efficient sensorless motor driver chip for various permanent‐magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) in a wide power range. The motor driver chip is composed of two important parts. The digital part is a sensorless controller consisting mainly of an angle estimation block and a speed control block. The analog part consists of a gate driver,which is able to sense the phase current of a motor. The sensorless algorithms adapted in this paper include a sliding mode observer (SMO) method that has high robust characteristics regarding parameter variations of PMSMs. Fabricated SMO chips detect back electromotive force signals. Furthermore, motor current–sensing blocks are included with a 10‐bit successive approximation analog‐to‐digital converter and various gain current amplifiers for proper sensorless operations. Through a fabricated SMO chip, we were able to demonstrate rated powers of 32 W, 200 W, and 1,500 W.     

Polar Perturbations in Functional Oxide Heterostructures

Growth and characterization of metal-oxide thin films foster successful development of oxide-material-integrated thin-film devices represented by metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET), drawing enormous technological and scientific interest for several decades. In recent years, functional oxide heterostructures have demonstrated remarkable achievements in modern technologies and provided deeper insights into condensed-matter physics and materials science owing to their versatile tunability and selective amplification of the functionalities. One of the most critical aspects of their physical properties is the polar perturbation stemming from the ionic framework of an oxide. By engineering and exploiting the structural, electrical, magnetic, and optical characteristics through various routes, numerous perceptive studies have clearly shown how polar perturbations advance functionalities or drive exotic physical phenomena in complex oxide heterostructures. In this review, both intrinsic (engraved by thin-film heteroepitaxy) and extrinsic (reversibly controllable defect-mediated disorder and polar adsorbates) elements of polar perturbations, highlighting their abilities for the development of highly tunable functional properties are summarized. Scientifically, the recent approaches of polar perturbations render one to consolidate a prospect of atomic-level manipulation of polar order in epitaxial oxide thin films. Technologically, this review also offers useful guidelines for rational design to heterogeneously integrated oxide-based multi-functional devices with high performances.     

Microfluidic Fabrication of Capsule Sensor Platform with Double‐Shell Structure

Metal nanoparticles are frequently employed for the colorimetric detection of specific target molecules using an aggregation‐induced shift of the localized surface plasmon resonance. However, metal nanoparticles dispersed in bulk solutions are prone to be contaminated by adhesive molecules and the dispersions tend to be diluted by sample fluids, restricting direct application to unpurified pristine samples. Here, a versatile capsule sensor platform is proposed that can encompass a variety of different types of nanoparticle‐based sensors. The capsule sensors are microfluidically prepared to obtain close control over their dimensions and composition. Their aqueous cores that are loaded with sensing materials are surrounded by an ultrathin inner oil shell and an outer hydrogel shell. The hydrogel shell prevents the diffusion of large adhesive molecules into the core, thereby preventing contamination of the sensing materials. The oil shell is selectively permeable such that it further improves the sensor selectivity. Importantly, these shells confine the sensing materials and prevent them from being diluted, securing a consistent optical property. Moreover, the capsule‐based sensors display a higher sensitivity than bulk dispersions because a smaller amount of sensing materials is used. The power of nanoparticle‐loaded capsule sensors is demonstrated using lysine‐coated gold nanoparticles to detect mercury ions.