Effect of Surface Profile Length on the Backscattering Coefficients of Bare Surfaces

The root mean square (rms) height s and autocorrelation length l are commonly used as the surface roughness input parameters to surface scattering models. Whereas it is well known that the surface roughness parameters of a natural soil surface are underestimated with a short surface profile, it is not clear how much the underestimated surface parameters affect the backscattering coefficients of the surface for various incidence angles and polarizations. In this paper, the backscattering coefficients of simulated and measured surface profiles are computed using the integral equation method and analyzed to answer this question. A 4000lmacr-long rough surface is generated numerically, where lmacr is the true correlation length of the surface, and the backscattering coefficients of the surface are computed and analyzed for various conditions. The rms error of the backscattering coefficient at a medium range of incidence angles is less than 1.5 dB for vv-polarization and 0.5 dB for hh-polarization if the profile length is larger than 5lmacr for a surface with ks=1.0, kl=10.0, and epsiv _r=(10.0,2.0). Similar results are obtained from numerous simulations with various roughness conditions and various wavelengths. It is also shown that the rms error of the backscattering coefficients between 5- and 1-m-long measured surface profiles is 1.7 dB for vv-polarization and 0.5 dB for hh-polarization at a medium range of incidence angle (15deglesthetasles70deg), whereas the surface roughness parameters are significantly reduced from 2.4 to 1.5 cm for the rms height s and from 35.1 to 10.0 cm for the autocorrelation length l     

Determination of the damage mechanisms in armor structural materials via self-organizing map analysis

Dynamic compression fracture behaviors together with damage mechanisms of materials subjected to a compressive load at a high strain rate were studied by using a Self-organizing map (SOM). The materials used for the analysis were Al5083, Rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) and tungsten heavy alloy (WHA). The deformation behavior and Acoustic emission (AE) signal were acquired through a Split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB)-AE coupled test. The self-organization map which is one of the artificial neural network technique was employed to classify the AE energy, amplitude, and peak frequency according to the characteristics of the signal. In addition, distributions of AE signals were represented in stress-strain curves. The correlation between AE characteristics and material damage mechanisms was investigated. Based on the results, it was found that cluster 1 with high AE energy, high amplitude and low frequency was the cluster of the AE signal generated near the yield point of the material. Cluster 3, which has the opposite tendency, was confirmed as a cluster of AE signals that occurred just before a fracture of the material. The change in the measured value can be seen depending on the strain rate and the material, but the overall tendency was similar.     

A study of fluid dynamics parameters for prediction of obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a syndrome characterized by the repetitive episodic collapse of the upper airway. The purpose of this study is to investigate the fluid dynamic parameters for the prediction of obstructive sleep apnea in the upper airway before and after setback surgery. Here, we analyzed the flow phenomena of inspiration and expiration in obstructive sleep apnea patients. The modeling of the upper airway was performed with facial 3 dimensional facial computed tomography images (3D facial CT). We used timedependent value for boundary conditions. The changes of pressure were studied with 3D facial CT taken both before and after the setback surgery. Further, it was found that the correlation between PSG data and non-dimensional pressure drop can be used to predict the severity of OSA. In all 6 patients except for patient 1, the average values of the non-dimensional pressure drops and PSG clinical data are inversely related. For each patient, the lower the pressure drop is, the higher the PSG values will be.     

A thyristor-only input ESD protection scheme for CMOS RF ICs

We propose an input protection scheme composed of thyristor devices only avoiding usage of a clamp NMOS device to minimize the area consumed by an input pad structure in CMOS RF ICs. For this purpose, we suggest low-voltage triggering thyristor protection device structures assuming usage of standard CMOS processes, and attempt an in-depth comparison study with a conventional thyristor protection scheme incorporating a clamp NMOS device in the input pad. The comparison study mainly focuses on robustness against the human body model electrostatic discharge (HBM ESD) in terms of peak voltages applied to gate oxides in an input buffer and lattice heating inside protection devices based on DC and mixed-mode transient analyses utilizing a 2-dimensional device simulator. We constructed an equivalent circuit for the input HBM test environment of the CMOS chip equipped with the input ESD protection devices, and by executing mixed-mode simulations including up to four protection devices and analyzing the results for five different test modes, we attempt a detailed analysis on the problems which can occur in real HBM tests. We figure out strength of the proposed thyristor-only protection scheme, and suggest guidelines relating the design of the protection devices and circuits.     

Secure communication in IPTV broadcasting

In internet protocol television (IPTV) broadcasting, service providers charge subscribing fee by scrambling the program with conditional access system (CAS) using control words (CWs). A smart card is used to decrypt the CWs and transfer them back to set-top box (STB) to descramble the scrambled program. Secure communication between STB and the smart card is closely related with the benefit of service providers and the legal rights of users. In addition, secure key exchange with mutual authentication in the communication between STB and the smart card is an essential part of secure communication that will significantly improve the security of the system. To provide secure communication with mutual authentication in IPTV broadcasting, there are several schemes. The schemes proposed a secure and efficient method for the communication between STB and the smart card. Unfortunately, the schemes still have some security flaws. In this paper, we review that the previous schemes are vulnerable to several attacks. Further, we recommend some modifications to the schemes to correct these security flaws and present a formal analysis about our improved protocol using a logic based formal method.     

A tensile crack in creeping solids with large damage near the crack tip

An asymptotic analysis of stationary mode I crack in creeping solids with large damage near crack tip is conducted. To consider the damage effect, Kachanov damage evolution law is utilized and incorporated into the power-law creep constitutive equation. With the compatibility equation, a nonlinear eigenvalue problem which can be solved by numerical approaches is established. From this result, the distribution of stress and strain rate are obtained with the coupling effect of damage and creep under plane stress condition. Also the influence of material parameters on the stress is examined. According to the result, it is shown that the creep exponent n and damage parameter (=/(1+k)) have a significant effect on determining the eigenvalue s and angular distribution of stress and strain rate near the crack tip. The creep exponent n plays the role to soften and damage parameter plays the role to harden the material near the crack tip. The stress and strain rate show quite different behavior from those of HRR problem.     

Study of pyrolysis kinetics of Alberta oil sand by thermogravimetric analysis

The kinetics of the thermal decomposition of Alberta oil sand has been investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for the study of oil sand pyrolysis characteristics. The TGA experiments were carried out at four different heating rates of 10, 20, 30, 40 °C/min up to 900 °C to verify weight variation and reaction temperature. The activation energy of the thermal decomposition of Alberta oil sand obtained from the kinetic analysis was similar to that of the previous researches. Also, bitumen was extracted by solvent (toluene, THF (tetrahydrofuran)) and analyzed. Extracted bitumen was analyzed by using proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, heavy metal analysis, heating value, asphaltenes, API, SIMDIS, density, TLC, and molecular weight. The analyses of the extracted bitumen were similar to those of heavy residue.     

Protease Inhibitors from Plants with Antimicrobial Activity

Antimicrobial proteins (peptides) are known to play important roles in the innate host defense mechanisms of most living organisms, including plants, insects, amphibians and mammals. They are also known to possess potent antibiotic activity against bacteria, fungi, and even certain viruses. Recently, the rapid emergence of microbial pathogens that are resistant to currently available antibiotics has triggered considerable interest in the isolation and investigation of the mode of action of antimicrobial proteins (peptides). Plants produce a variety of proteins (peptides) that are involved in the defense against pathogens and invading organisms, including ribosome-inactivating proteins, lectins, protease inhibitors and antifungal peptides (proteins). Specially, the protease inhibitors can inhibit aspartic, serine and cysteine proteinases. Increased levels of trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors correlated with the plants resistance to the pathogen. Usually, the purification of antimicrobial proteins (peptides) with protease inhibitor activity was accomplished by salt-extraction, ultrafiltration and C₁₈ reverse phase chromatography, successfully. We discuss the relation between antimicrobial and anti-protease activity in this review. Protease inhibitors from plants potently inhibited the growth of a variety of pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains and are therefore excellent candidates for use as the lead compounds for the development of novel antimicrobial agents.     

Molecular structure of bent-shaped liquid crystal dimers

Liquid crystalline behavior of dimesogenic compounds opens a new area of research in liquid crystals science. The term ‘dimesogenic compounds’ describes thermotropic compounds consisting of two mesogenic units linked through a central spacer such as polymethylene and oligosiloxyl groups. The two mesogenic units may or may not be identical. When they are identical, they are occasionally called twin or siamese compounds.