Light and Strong SiC Networks

The directional freezing of microfiber suspensions is used to assemble highly porous (porosities ranging between 92% and 98%) SiC networks. These networks exhibit a unique hierarchical architecture in which thin layers with honeycomb‐like structure and internal strut length in the order of 1–10 μm in size are aligned with an interlayer spacing ranging between 15 and 50 μm. The resulting structures exhibit strengths (up to 3 MPa) and stiffness (up to 0.3 GPa) that are higher than aerogels of similar density and comparable to other ceramic microlattices fabricated by vapor deposition. Furthermore, this wet processing technique allows the fabrication of large‐size samples that are stable at high temperature, with acoustic impedance that can be manipulated over one order of magnitude (0.03–0.3 MRayl), electrically conductive and with very low thermal conductivity. The approach can be extended to other ceramic materials and opens new opportunities for the fabrication of ultralight structures with unique mechanical and functional properties in practical dimensions.     

Technological development of Brazilian telecommunications in past decades

Brazilian telecommunications sector has undergone important modifications in the last 40 years. From a badly structured system of municipal level operators in 1960, with barely one million fixed lines to a large, nation-wide system with about 50 million fixed plus another 75 million mobile lines in 2005. This work paper reviews the institutional framework of telecommunications industrial and technological policy in Brazil in the last four decades, its results and present situation. Infrastructure and services modernisation and expansion process that happened in early 1970s were carried out at the expense of massive import of products and technology. A government strategy was, then, devised to stimulate local industrial and technological development in telecommunications, under the general guidelines of import substitution policy. Essential to this strategy was the creation of an innovation system around TELEBRÁS Research and Development Centre. This technological development model was successful while a protectionist economic policy existed. When economic and political circumstances could not anymore sustain an import substitution approach, in the 1990-decade, the model fell apart and has not been replaced by any other sectorial policy. A critical assessment is carried out, analysing the adopted actions in face of the digital technology maturing process that occurred in meantime.     

Wavelength Conversion Technologies

This paper reports a review of the different technologies used for wavelength conversion in wavelength-division multiplexed networks. The strengths and the weaknesses of the competing technologies, including optoelectronic wavelength conversion, four-wave mixing, difference frequency generation, cross-gain and cross-phase modulation in semiconductor optical amplifiers, are stressed with regard to conversion speed, transparency and regeneration of the converted signal.     

State‐of‐the‐Art Neutral Tint Multichromophoric Polymers for High‐Contrast See‐Through Electrochromic Devices

Two new multichromophoric electrochromic polymers featuring a conjugated EDOT/ProDOT copolymer backbone (PXDOT) and a reversible Weitz‐type redox active small molecule electrochrome (WTE) tethered to the conjugated chain are reported here. The careful design of the WTEs provides a highly reversible redox behavior with a colorless red switching that complements the colorless blue switching of the conjugated backbone. Subtractive color mixing successfully provides high performing solution processable polymeric layers with colorless neutral tint switchable limiting states for application in see‐through electrochromic devices. Design, synthesis, comprehensive chemical and spectroelectrochemical characterization as well as the preparation of a proof‐of‐concept device are discussed.     

The oral glucose minimal model: estimation of insulin sensitivity from a meal test

Recently, a new approach has been proposed to estimate insulin sensitivity (S(I)) from an oral glucose tolerance test or a meal using an "integral equation". Here, we improve on the "integral equation" by resorting to a "differential equation" approach. The classic glucose kinetics minimal model was used with the addition of a parametric model for the rate of appearance into plasma of oral glucose (Ra). Three behavioral models of Ra were proposed: piecewise-linear (P), spline (S) and dynamic (D). All three models performed satisfactorily allowing a precise estimation of S(I) and a plausible reconstruction of Ra. Mean S(I) estimates were virtually identical: S(I)P = 6.81 +/- 0.87 (SE); S(I)S = 6.53 +/- 0.80; and S(I)D = 6.62 +/- 0.79. S(I) strongly correlated with the integral-equation index (I) S(I)I: r = 0.99, p < 0.01 for models D and S, and r 0.97, p < 0.01 for P. Also, SI compared well with insulin sensitivity estimated from intravenous glucose tolerance test in the same subjects (r = 0.75, p < 0.01; r = 0.71, p < 0.01; r = 0.73, p < 0.01, respectively, for P, S, and D models versus s(I)IVGTT). Finally, the novel approach allows estimation of SI from a shorter test (120 min): model P yielded S(I)R = 7.16 +/- 1.0 (R for reduced) which correlated very well with S(I)P and S(I)I (respectively, r = 0.94, p < 0.01; r = 0.95, p < 0.01) and still satisfactorily with S(I)IVGTT (r = 0.77, p < 0.01).     

Intrusion Detection System for Wireless Sensor Networks Using Danger Theory Immune-Inspired Techniques

An IDS framework inspired in the Human Immune System to be applied in the wireless sensor network context is proposed. It uses an improved decentralized and customized version of the Dendritic Cell Algorithm, which allows nodes to monitor their neighborhood and collaborate to identify an intruder. The work was implemented and tested both in simulation and in real sensor platform scenarios, comparing them to each other and was also compared to a Negative Selection Theory implementation in order to demonstrate its efficiency in detecting a denial-of-sleep attack and in energy consumption. Results demonstrated the success of the proposal.     

Photovoltaic Devices: High‐Performance Organic Solar Cells with Spray Coated Hole‐Transport and Active Layers (Adv. Funct. Mater. 1/2011)

In this study, we report high performance organic solar cells with spray coated hole‐transport and active layers. With optimized ink formulations we are able to deposit films with controlled thickness and very low surface roughness (<10 nm). Specifically we deposit smooth and uniform 40 nm thick films of poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as well as films composed of a mixture of poly(3‐hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) and the C₆₀‐derivative (6,6)‐phenyl C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) with thicknesses in the range 200–250 nm. To control film morphology, formation and thickness, the optimized inks incorporate two solvent systems in order to take advantage of surface tension gradients to create Marangoni flows that enhance the coverage of the substrate and reduce the roughness of the film. Notably, we achieve fill factors above 70% and attribute the improvement to an enhanced P3HT crystallization, which upon optimized post‐drying thermal annealing results in a favorable morphology. As a result, we could extend the thickness of the layer to several hundreds of nanometers without noticing a substantial decrease of the transport properties of the layer. By proper understanding of the spreading and drying dynamics of the inks we achieve spray coated devices with power conversion efficiency of 3.75%, with fill factor, short circuit current and open circuit voltage of 70%, 9.8 mA cm^?2 and 550 mV, respectively.     

W‐band physical layer design issues in the context of the DAVID–DCE experiment

This paper aims at focusing on the aspects concerning the physical layer design for an innovative satellite communication experiment. Such an experiment, denoted by the acronym DAVID–DCE (Data and Video Interactive Distribution—Data Collection Experiment) is based on the exploitation of the W‐band (75–110 GHz) for high‐bit‐rate satellite transmission. The potential advantages of using of the W‐band are mainly related to the great bandwidth availability, and to the absence of interference. Moreover, an expected result of the experiment is a substantive improvement in the communication system's performances in the presence of meteorological phenomena (e.g. rain) as compared with the more conventional Ka‐band satellite transmission. On the other hand, problems to be faced concern the non‐ideal behaviours of hardware devices employed for high‐frequency digital transmission. In particular, carrier recovery and timing recovery are the most crucial signal‐processing tasks to be carefully considered in the design of the physical level of the system, because they considerably suffer from hardware impairments. The purpose of this work is to illustrate the proposed solutions in terms of the most critical modulation, demodulation and synchronization design issues, together with the effects of non‐ideal behaviours of hardware components on BER performances. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Integrated CAD Methodology for Yield Enhancement of VLSI CMOS Circuits Including Statistical Device Variations

In this paper a novel CAD methodology for yield enhancement of VLSI CMOS circuits including random device variations is presented. The methodology is based on a preliminary characterization of the technological process by means of specific test chips for accurate mismatch modeling. To this purpose, a very accurate position-dependent parameter mismatch model has been formulated and extracted. Finally a CAD tool implementing this model has been developed. The tool is fully integrated in an environment of existing commercial tools and it has been experimented in the STMicroelectronics Flash Memory CAD Group.As an example of application, a bandgap reference circuit has been considered and the results obtained from simulations have been compared with experimental data. Furthermore, the methodology has been applied to the read path of a complex Flash Memory produced by STMicroelectronics, consisting of about 16,000 MOSFETs. Measurements of electrical performances have confirmed the validity of the methodology, and the accuracy of both the mismatch model and the simulation flow.