Keeping current with silicon and systems technology in the mid-90s

IEEE Design & Test Magazine was originally conceived in late 1982 to cover the nascent field of electronic design automation (EDA). Software tools to automate many parts of the IC design process were becoming essential to support the rapid growth of IC densities and to leverage IC capabilities. The magazine was one of the first nontrade engineering publications dedicated to educating professional engineers about state-of-the-art practices in silicon and systems technology. More than a decade later, its mission statement had evolved to "Make IEEE Design & Test the premiere professional magazine reporting on both innovative recent practice and promising future methods in design and test of electronics and electronics-based systems".     

Microdischarge arrays: a new family of photonic devices

The optical and electrical characteristics of microdischarge devices and arrays fabricated in semiconductors and metal/polymer structures are described. Devices as small as (10 μm)² in emitting area (nanoliters in volume) and arrays as large as 30 × 30 have been demonstrated and operated at gas pressures up to and exceeding one atmosphere. This new generation of microoptical sources is capable of producing photons from the infrared to the vacuum ultraviolet and beyond and is well suited for integration with microoptoelectronic, fluidic, and mechanical systems     

Technology adoption as process: a case of integrating an information-intensive website into a patient education helpline

This study followed the introduction of the Arthritis Source website into the existing teaching practices of Arthritis Foundation Helpline volunteers. The goal was to examine what factors may affect a particular group of educators adopt a potentially valuable Internet tool into an existing instructional environment. Defining the possible uses of the website in reference to the volunteers' actual job duties helped provide a clearer understanding of how the volunteers might use this new technology. The researchers used qualitative techniques to focus on three volunteers who experienced different physical, environmental and cognitive means that impacted their use of the new tool. Each volunteer experienced varying levels of motivation in areas of learning, satisfaction and responses to outside influences. Each volunteer also had varying amounts of opportunity prompts in which to interact or refer the website. Consequently, Helpline volunteers experienced different rates of adopting the information-intensive website into their traditional work system.     

Development of a multichannel fluorescence affinity sensor system

A multichannel fluorometer is proposed for analysis of biochemical reactions. The sensor is based on the luminescence generation in the evanescent field of a totally reflected laser beam. For transduction, multiple reflection elements are used. Multichannel operation is realized, including the possibility of applying different solutions to each channel at the same time. First experimental results, obtained with fluorescein or Cy5 as labels in a model hybridization assay, demonstrate the applicability and allow the detection of 3-10 fmol injected fluorescently labeled oligonucleotide.     

Cascadable spatial-soliton logic gates

The three-terminal spatial-soliton angular-deflection geometry provides the characteristics of an inverting logic gate with gain, and phase-insensitive implementations can be realized by a number of specific nonlinear interactions between orthogonally polarized waves. In particular, numerical simulations of spatial-soliton dragging and collision are used to calculate the transfer functions of inverter and multiple configurations of two-input nor gates and to address their cascadability. These transfer functions converge in cascaded operation and suggest that fan-out greater than 2 with a large noise margin is attainable in a system with standardized signal levels. These results are obtained with the material properties of fused silica and are representative of low-loss Kerr media.     

Quasiparticle Dynamics from the Bose–Einstein Condensation to the BCS-Like Regions of the Phase Diagram in YBa2Cu3O7?δ

In the underdoped region of the phase diagram, time-resolved opticalexperiments on quasiparticle recombination dynamics show that the state ischaracterized by a temperature independent energy gap E _g which exists at alltemperatures and has a magnitude which appears inversely proportional todoping. Close to optimum doping another, collective gap becomes visiblesimultaneously, which has a BCS-like temperature dependence and closes atT _c.     

A New Apparatus for Combined Measurements of the Viscosity and Density of Fluids for Temperatures from 233 To 523 K at Pressures up to 30 Mpa

A new apparatus for measuring the viscosity and density of fluids is presented. The main element of the instrument is an electronically controlled magnetic suspension coupling. For the density measurement (buoyancy principle according to the single-sinker method), this coupling is used for the contactless transfer of the forces acting on a sinker in the measuring cell to an analytical balance. The coupling also serves as a frictionless bearing for a slender rotating cylindrical body which is slowed down due to the viscous drag of the fluid surrounding the cylinder. The viscosity of the fluid can be directly determined from the decay rate of the rotational frequency. The new combined viscometer-densimeter covers a viscosity range of 5 to 150 Pa·s and a density range from 20 to 2000 kg·m^–3 at temperatures from 233 to 523 K and pressures up to 30 MPa. Test measurements on the viscosities and densities of nitrogen and carbon dioxide at 253, 293, and 523 K at pressures up to 30 MPa show an estimated total uncertainty of ±0.6 to ±1.0% in viscosity and of ±0.02 to ±0.05% in density.     

Separation and purification of methadone enantiomers by continuous- and interval-flow electrophoresis

Continuous- or free-flow electrophoresis is based upon a thin film of fluid flowing between two parallel plates. The electrolytes and the sample are continuously admitted at one end of the electrophoresis chamber and are fractionated by an array of outlet tubes at the other. Using the Octopus apparatus in a horizontal position, continuous preparative separation of methadone enantiomers in the presence of (2-hydroxypropyl)-β-cyclodextrin as a chiral selector was investigated under conditions of continuous-flow zone electrophoresis and continuous-flow isotachophoresis. The enantiomeric composition of methadone in the collected fractions was assessed by chiral capillary electrophoresis and circular-dichroism spectroscopy. In both electrophoretic modes, partial separation of the two enantiomers with an enrichment of about 80% and a throughput of 10-20 mg of racemic methadone per hour was obtained. Operating the Octopus apparatus with interrupted buffer flow during electrophoresis, a process termed interval-flow electrophoresis, resulted in complete separation of milligram quantities of the two methadone enantiomers. Furthermore, commencing with racemic methadone, continuous multistage isotachophoretic processing is shown to be suitable to purify (R)-(-)-methadone, the enantiomer with higher pharmacological activity, on a mg/h scale and at a mM concentration in the collected product stream.     

Investigation of spatially resolved light absorption in a spark-ignition engine fueled with propane/air

UV absorption in the combustion phase of spark-ignition engines strongly influences laser-induced-fluorescence measurements and flame-emission techniques because of the attenuation of a laser and/or signal light. This absorption was assessed with spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions in an optically accessible research engine. Absorption was measured along a line for different crank-angle positions throughout the combustion phase of the engine by use of spectrally resolved transmittance measurements of both broadband illumination from a deuterium lamp and emission of laser-excited hot oxygen. Evaluating the spatial patterns of absorptivity revealed that no increased absorption can be attributed to the flame-front region and that homogeneous absorption cross sections for the whole burned-gas region can be assumed. The temporal change of absorption was shown to depend on the pressure effect with only negligible changes in absorption cross sections. Results obtained from the absorption measurements are applied for spatially resolved corrections of two-dimensional laser-induced-fluorescence measurements of NO concentration fields obtained under different operating conditions.