Design of Two‐Stage Class AB CMOS Buffers: A Systematic Approach

A systematic approach for the design of two‐stage class AB CMOS unity‐gain buffers is proposed. It is based on the inclusion of a class AB operation to class A Miller amplifier topologies in unity‐gain negative feedback by a simple technique that does not modify quiescent currents, supply requirements, noise performance, or static power. Three design examples are fabricated in a 0.5 µm CMOS process. Measurement results show slew rate improvement factors of approximately 100 for the class AB buffers versus their class A counterparts for the same quiescent power consumption (< 200 µW).     

Effect of Proximity and Dimension of Two Artificial Pitting Holes on the Fatigue Endurance of Aluminum Alloy AISI 6061-T6 Under Rotating Bending Fatigue Tests

This work deals with the study of the two artificial pitting holes effects, caused by their dimensions and proximity, on the fatigue endurance of aluminum alloy AISI 6061-T6 under rotating bending fatigue tests. Stress concentration induced by artificial pitting holes is analyzed and correlated with the experimental fatigue life. It is found that the stress concentration increases exponentially when the two pitting holes approach, and this induces an important reduction in the fatigue life. Concerning the diameter variation of one pitting in regard to the second, no important influence was observed on fatigue life for a given separation between them; this implies that the separation between the two artificial pitting holes and the associated stress concentration is the principal parameter on the fatigue life under these conditions. Finally, results are discussed and conclusions are presented involving the fatigue life, proximity, and dimension of pitting holes, stress concentration factor, and fracture surfaces where the failure origin is identified.     

Epoxidation reaction of trimethylolpropane with epichlorohydrin: Kinetic study of chlorohydrin formation

The kinetics of the reaction between trimethylolpropane (TMP) and epichlorohydrin (ECH) were studied. A mechanism is proposed which involves the synthesis of chlorohydrins, a previous stage which then leads to epoxy resin formation. From this mechanism a set of three coupled non-linear differential equations, (each equation corresponds to each chlorohydrin) was derived and numerical solutions were obtained using a Monte-Carlo method. The concentrations of chlorohydrins determined by this method (41.7, 35.7, and 22.5%) compare well with the experimental GPC results (42.7, 34.7, and 22.6%). The corresponding rate constants for the formation of the chlorohydrins were obtained.     

Dynamic Behavior of the Doubly Fed Induction Generator During Three-Phase Voltage Dips

The use of doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) in large wind turbines has become quite common over the last few years. These machines provide variable speed and are driven with a power converter which is sized for a small percentage of the turbine-rated power. A drawback of the DFIG is that it is very sensitive to grid disturbances, especially to voltage dips. However, the operation of the machine in these situations has only been studied in the literature by means of simulations. This paper develops a theoretical analysis of the dynamic behavior of the induction machine during three-phase voltage dips. The proposed analysis contributes to understanding the causes of the problem and represents a very useful tool to improve the existing solutions and propose new alternatives. Experimental results are in good agreement with those obtained theoretically and validate the proposed analysis.     

Illicit drug consumption estimations derived from wastewater analysis: A critical review

The consumption of illicit drugs causes indisputable societal and economic damage. Therefore it is necessary to know their usage levels and trends for undertaking targeted actions to reduce their use. Recently, a new approach (namely sewage epidemiology) was developed for the estimation of illicit drug use based on measurements of urinary excreted illicit drugs and their metabolites in untreated wastewater. This review aims at critically evaluating the published literature and identifying research gaps of sewage epidemiology. Firstly, the existing analytical procedures for the determination of the four most used classes of illicit drugs worldwide (cannabis, cocaine, opiates and amphetamine-like stimulants) and their metabolites in wastewater are summarized and discussed. The focus lies on the sample preparation and on the analysis with chromatographic techniques coupled to mass spectrometry. Secondly, back-calculations used to transform measured concentrations in wastewater (in ng/L) into an amount of used illicit drug (in g/day per 1000 inhabitants or doses/day per 1000 inhabitants) are discussed in detail for the four groups of illicit drugs. Sewage epidemiology data from Spain, Belgium, UK, Italy, Switzerland and USA are summarized and compared with data from international organisations, such as the European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The results derived from wastewater analysis show in general good agreement with existing prevalence data (percentage of a population that uses illicit drugs at a given time) and demonstrate the potential of sewage epidemiology. However, this review confirms that future work should focus on further optimisation and standardisation of various important parameters (e.g. sample collection and back-calculations). In the future, sewage epidemiology could be used in routine drug monitoring campaigns as a valuable tool in addition to the classical socio-epidemiological studies for the determination of local, national and international illicit drug use.     

Intrinsic instability of flame–acoustic coupling

This paper shows that a flame can be an intrinsically unstable acoustic element. The finding is clarified in the framework of an acoustic network model, where the flame is described by an acoustic scattering matrix. The instability of the flame acoustic coupling is shown to become dominating in the limit of no acoustic reflections. This is in contrast to classical standing-wave thermoacoustic modes, which originate from the positive feedback loop between system acoustics and the flame. These findings imply that the effectiveness of passive thermoacoustic damping devices is limited by the intrinsic stability properties of the flame.     

Solubility of actinide surrogates in nuclear glasses

This paper discusses the results of a study of actinide surrogates in a nuclear borosilicate glass to understand the effect of processing conditions (temperature and oxidizing versus reducing conditions) on the solubility limits of these elements. The incorporation of cerium oxide, hafnium oxide, and neodymium oxide in this borosilicate glass was investigated. Cerium is a possible surrogate for tetravalent and trivalent actinides, hafnium for tetravalent actinides, and neodymium for trivalent actinides. The material homogeneity was studied by optical, scanning electron microscopy. Cerium L_III XANES spectroscopy showed that the Ce³⁺/Ce_total ratio increased from about 0.5 to 0.9 as the processing temperature increased from 1100 to 1400 °C. Cerium L_III XANES spectroscopy also confirmed that the increased Ce solubility in glasses melted under reducing conditions was due to complete reduction of all the cerium in the glass. The most significant results pointed out in the current study are that the solubility limits of the actinide surrogates increases with the processing temperature and that Ce³⁺ is shown to be more soluble than Ce⁴⁺ in this borosilicate glass.