A High Capacity All Solid-State Li-Sulfur Battery Enabled by Conversion-Intercalation Hybrid Cathode Architecture

As demands for electrochemical energy storage continue to rise, alternative electrochemistries to conventional Li-ion batteries become more appealing. Here, an intercalation-conversion hybrid cathode that combines intercalation-type VS₂ with conversion-type sulfur chemistry to construct high performance solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries is reported. The layered VS₂ nanomaterial features Li-ion transport channels, metallic conductivity, and active capacity contribution, all of which provide an ideal platform for the solid state S/Li₂S redox couple to unlock its high gravimetric capacity. The S/VS₂/Li₃PS₄ hybrid cathode composite is prepared by a facile, low-cost, and low-energy mechanical blending process. The S/VS₂/Li₃PS₄|Li₃PS₄|Li/In (or Li) all-solid-state cell exhibits sulfur utilization of ≈85%, with a Coulombic efficiency of close to 100%. High areal capacity up to 7.8 mA h cm⁻² with an active material loading (S/VS₂) as high as 15.5 mg cm⁻² is achieved.     

Mie‐Resonant Membrane Huygens' Metasurfaces

All‐dielectric metasurfaces have become a new paradigm for flat optics as they allow flexible engineering of the electromagnetic space of propagating waves. Such metasurfaces are usually composed of individual subwavelength elements embedded into a host medium or placed on a substrate, which often diminishes the quality of the resonances. The substrate imposes limitations on the metasurface functionalities, especially for infrared and terahertz frequencies. Here a novel concept of membrane Huygens' metasurfaces is introduced. The metasurfaces feature an inverted design, and they consist of arrays of holes made in a thin membrane of high‐index dielectric material, with the response governed by the electric and magnetic Mie resonances excited within dielectric domains of the membrane. Highly efficient transmission combined with the 2π phase coverage in the freestanding membranes is demonstrated. Several functional metadevices for wavefront control are designed, including beam deflector, a lens, and an axicon. Such membrane metasurfaces provide novel opportunities for efficient large‐area metadevices, whose advanced functionality is defined by structuring rather than by chemical composition.     

Connectivity Based k-Hop Clustering in Wireless Networks

In this paper we describe several new clustering algorithms for nodes in a mobile ad hoc network. The main contribution is to generalize the cluster definition and formation algorithm so that a cluster contains all nodes that are at distance at most k hops from the clusterhead. We also describe algorithms for modifying cluster structure in the presence of topological changes. We also proposed an unified framework for most existing and new clustering algorithm where a properly defined weight at each node is the only difference in otherwise the same algorithm. This paper studied node connectivity and node ID as two particular weights, for k=1 and k=2. Finally, we propose a framework for generating random unit graphs with obstacles.     

Bounded Tamper Resilience: How to Go Beyond the Algebraic Barrier

Related key attacks (RKAs) are powerful cryptanalytic attacks where an adversary can change the secret key and observe the effect of such changes at the output. The state of the art in RKA security protects against an a-priori unbounded number of certain algebraic induced key relations, e.g., affine functions or polynomials of bounded degree. In this work, we show that it is possible to go beyond the algebraic barrier and achieve security against arbitrary key relations, by restricting the number of tampering queries the adversary is allowed to ask for. The latter restriction is necessary in case of arbitrary key relations, as otherwise a generic attack of Gennaro et al. (TCC 2004) shows how to recover the key of almost any cryptographic primitive. We describe our contributions in more detail below. (1) We show that standard ID and signature schemes constructed from a large class of \(\Sigma \)-protocols (including the Okamoto scheme, for instance) are secure even if the adversary can arbitrarily tamper with the prover’s state a bounded number of times and obtain some bounded amount of leakage. Interestingly, for the Okamoto scheme we can allow also independent tampering with the public parameters. (2) We show a bounded tamper and leakage resilient CCA-secure public key cryptosystem based on the DDH assumption. We first define a weaker CCA-like security notion that we can instantiate based on DDH, and then we give a general compiler that yields CCA security with tamper and leakage resilience. This requires a public tamper-proof common reference string. (3) Finally, we explain how to boost bounded tampering and leakage resilience [as in (1) and (2) above] to continuous tampering and leakage resilience, in the so-called floppy model where each user has a personal hardware token (containing leak- and tamper-free information) which can be used to refresh the secret key. We believe that bounded tampering is a meaningful and interesting alternative to avoid known impossibility results and can provide important insights into the security of existing standard cryptographic schemes.     

Universal Interface between Functional Oxides and Silicon

Integration of crystalline oxides with silicon provides a versatile platform to extend and advance silicon technology. The interface between oxide and Si controls the structure and functional properties of the resulting material. In particular, the formation of a submonolayer metal phase on silicon is the standard approach to stabilize the epitaxial growth of oxides. However, fundamental questions—a) whether the interface transforms in the process of the synthesis; and b) if it is possible to control the interface and its electronic structure by varying the submonolayer template—remain unanswered. The present study employs MBE synthesis of EuO and SrO on Si(001) to demonstrate that the structure of the oxide/Si interface does not depend on the type of the template, its symmetry, and stoichiometry. Chemical transformations of the templates converging into the same 2D product are detected in situ by electron diffraction. Then, the common interfacial structure of 1D periodicity is visualized by high-resolution electron microscopy. The study provides insights into the process of oxide integration with silicon but also sets the limits in designing oxide/Si interfaces.     

Comparative study of gigahertz CMOS LC quadrature voltage-controlled oscillators with relevance to phase noise

This review paper presents a comparative study of published integrated submicron CMOS quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator designs, based on LC resonator tanks operating at gigahertz frequencies. Although special reference to phase noise reduction is made, the comparison also concerns issues such as power consumption, tuning range and the phase accuracy of the quadrature signals. The effect of supply voltage reduction on the choice of the oscillator topology is also included in the discussion.     

A Generalized System for Photo-Responsive Membrane Rupture in Polymersomes

Polymersomes are vesicles whose membranes are comprised of self-assembled block co-polymers. We recently showed that co-encapsulating conjugated multi-porphyrin dyes in a polymersome membrane with ferritin protein in the aqueous lumen confers photo-lability to the polymersome. In the present study, we illustrate that the photo-lability can be extended to vesicles containing dextran, an inert and inexpensive polysaccharide, as the luminal solute. Here we explore how structural features of the polymersome/porphyrin/dextran composite affect its photo-response. Increasing dextran molecular weight, decreasing block copolymer molecular weight, and altering fluorophore-membrane interactions results in increasing the photo-responsiveness of the polymersomes. Amphiphilic interactions of the luminal encapsulant with the membrane coupled with localized heat production in the hydrophobic bilayer likely cause differential thermal expansion in the membrane and the subsequent membrane rupture. This study suggests a general approach to impart photo-responsiveness to any biomimetic vesicle system without chemical modification, as well as a simple, bio-inert method for constructing photo-sensitive carriers for controlled release of encapsulants.     

The WINLAB Network Centric Cognitive Radio Hardware Platform—WiNC2R

This paper presents the design goals and architecture of WiNC2R—the WINLAB Network Centric Cognitive radio hardware platform. The platform has been designed for flexible processing at both the radio physical layer and MAC/network layers with sustained bit-rates of ~10 Mbps and higher. The hardware prototype supports multi band operation with fast spectrum scanning, the ability to dynamically switch between a number of OFDM and DSSS modems and multiple MAC protocols. The radio modems, MAC, and network-layer protocols are implemented in a flexible manner using general-purpose processing engines and a set of dynamically configurable hardware accelerators. An FPGA based platform implementation currently in progress is described in terms of key hardware components including the software-defined modem, the flexible MAC engine and network-level processor. Preliminary prototyping results are reported, and a roadmap for further evolution of the WiNC2R board is provided.     

An Extended Quadratic Frobenius Primality Test with Average- and Worst-Case Error Estimate

We present an Extended Quadratic Frobenius Primality Test (EQFT), which is related to the Miller-Rabin test and to several other known probabilistic tests. EQFT takes time equivalent to about two or three Miller-Rabin tests, but has a much smaller error probability, namely 256/331776^t for t iterations of the test in the worst case. We also give bounds on the average-case behaviour of the test: consider the algorithm that repeatedly chooses random odd k bit numbers, subjects them to t iterations of our test and outputs the first one found that passes all tests. We obtain numeric upper bounds for the error probability of this algorithm as well as a general closed expression bounding the error. For instance, it is at most 2^-155 for k = 500, t = 2. Compared with earlier similar results for the Miller-Rabin test, the results indicate that our test in the average case has the effect of nine Miller-Rabin tests. We also give bounds for the error in case a prime is sought by incremental search from a random starting point.     

A Path Beyond Metal and Silicon:Polymer/Nanomaterial Composites for Stretchable Strain Sensors

Conventional strain sensors based on metals and semiconductors are rigid and cannot measure soft and stretchable objects. Thus, new strain sensors based on polymer/nanomaterial composites are attracting more interest. Although much effort has been dedicated to achieve high values of both sensitivity and stretchability with linearity, this work endeavors to search and establish guidelines for the development of stretchable strain sensors, by critically reviewing conventional sensors and examining recent progress. It starts from introducing key parameters for conventional strain sensors; these parameters are further discussed for their potential impact on new polymer/nanomaterial strain sensors. The work concludes that there are no general benchmarks for conventional strain sensors utilized in industry. From the findings, the authors suggest that stretchable strain sensors should be custom designed and developed to meet particular measurement requirements, in comparison with a generic aim of yielding a sensor with high degrees of stretchability, sensitivity, and linearity. Challenges are discussed, including reliability, calibration to be used as proper gauges, and soft data acquisition systems.