Specifying and proving properties of timed I/O automata using Tempo

Timed I/O automata (TIOA) is a mathematical framework for modeling and verification of distributed systems that involve discrete and continuous dynamics. TIOA can be used for example, to model a real-time software component controlling a physical process. The TIOA model is sufficiently general to subsume other models in use for timed systems. The Tempo Toolset, currently under development, is aimed at supporting system development based on TIOA specifications. The Tempo Toolset is an extension of the IOA toolkit, which provides a specification simulator, a code generator, and both model checking and theorem proving support for analyzing specifications. This paper focuses on the modeling of timed systems and their properties with TIOA and on the use of TAME4TIOA, the TAME (Timed Automata Modeling Environment) based theorem proving support provided in Tempo, for proving system properties, including timing properties. Several examples are provided by way of illustration.     

Catalytic Asymmetric 1, 3‐Dipolar Cycloaddition Reaction of Nitrones with α′‐Phosphoric Enones by a Chiral Ligand‐ Copper(II) Triflate Complex

Using the C₂‐symmetric bis‐oxazoline copper(II) catalyst 6f as a chiral Lewis acid, α′‐phosphoric enones 2 undergo 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition with nitrones 3 to provide isoxazolidines 4 with very high enantioselectivity and endo/exo selectivity.     

Design and Analysis of a Permanent Magnet Spherical Actuator

This paper has proposed a 3-DOF spherical actuator consisting of a ball-shaped rotor with a full circle of permanent- magnet (PM) poles and a spherical-shell-like stator with two layers of circumferential air-core coils. One key feature of this design is the parametrization of PM and coil poles. Based on the torque model of the PM spherical actuator, the relationship between poles' parameters and torque output can be demonstrated. As a result, the actuator design aiming at achieving maximum torque output can be carried out from the relationships. Another advantage of this spherical actuator is its singularity-free workspace, which is verified with the actuator torque model and condition numbers.     

Instruction‐Level Power Estimator for Sensor Networks

In sensor networks, analyzing power consumption before actual deployment is crucial for maximizing service lifetime. This paper proposes an instruction‐level power estimator (IPEN) for sensor networks. IPEN is an accurate and fine grain power estimation tool, using an instruction‐level simulator. It is independent of the operating system, so many different kinds of sensor node software can be simulated for estimation. We have developed the power model of a Micaz‐compatible mote. The power consumption of the ATmega128L microcontroller is modeled with the base energy cost and the instruction overheads. The CC2420 communication component and other peripherals are modeled according to their operation states. The energy consumption estimation module profiles peripheral accesses and function calls while an application is running. IPEN has shown excellent power estimation accuracy, with less than 5% estimation error compared to real sensor network implementation. With IPEN's high precision instruction‐level energy prediction, users can accurately estimate a sensor network's energy consumption and achieve fine‐grained optimization of their software.     

Low‐Power 512‐Bit EEPROM Designed for UHF RFID Tag Chip

In this paper, the design of a low‐power 512‐bit synchronous EEPROM for a passive UHF RFID tag chip is presented. We apply low‐power schemes, such as dual power supply voltage (VDD=1.5 V and VDDP=2.5 V), clocked inverter sensing, voltage‐up converter, I/O interface, and Dickson charge pump using Schottky diode. An EEPROM is fabricated with the 0.25 μm EEPROM process. Power dissipation is 32.78 μW in the read cycle and 78.05 μW in the write cycle. The layout size is 449.3 μm × 480.67 μm.     

On the Fundamental Tradeoff of Spatial Diversity and Spatial Multiplexing of MISO/SIMO Links with Imperfect CSIT

In this paper, we analyze the role of CSIT on the fundamental performance tradeoff for a MISO/SIMO link. Defining CSIT quality order as alpha = - log sigma² _Deltah / log SNR, we showed that using rate adaptation, one can achieve an average diversity order of d ^macr(alpha, r macr) = (1 + alpha - r macr)n where n is the number of transmit or receive antennas, r macr is the average multiplexing gain and alpha is the CSIT quality. We also showed that this diversity order is optimal for r macr isin [0.1 - alpha] and alpha < 1. The relationship suggests that imperfect CSIT can also provide additional diversity order and interpret the CSIT quality order as the maximum achievable spatial multiplexing gain with n diversity order.     

Acaricidal activity of Thymus vulgaris oil and its main components against Tyrophagus putrescentiae, a stored food mite

The acaricidal activities of compounds derived from Thymus vulgaris (thyme) oil against Tyrophagus putrescentiae were assessed using an impregnated fabric disk bioassay, and were compared with those of the synthetic acaricides, benzyl benzoate and N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide. The observed responses differed according to dosage and chemical components. The 50% lethal dose (LD50) value of the T. vulgaris oil against T. putrescentiae was 10.2 microg/cm2. Biologically active constituents derived from T. vulgaris oil were purified by using silica gel chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography. The structures of acaricidal components were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), 13C NMR, 1H-13C COSY-NMR, and DEPT-NMR spectra, and were subsequently identified as carvacrol and thymol. Carvacrol was the most toxic compound with LD50 values (4.5 microg/cm2) significantly different from thymol (11.1 microg/cm2), benzyl benzoate (11.3 microg/cm2), and N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (13.9 microg/cm2). Linalool was as toxic as was N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide. The lower LD50 of carvacrol indicates that it may be the major contributor of the toxicity of T. vulagaris oil against the stored food mite, although it only constitutes 14.2% of the oil. From this point of view, carvacrol and thymol can be very useful as potential control agents against stored food mite.     

Betacyanins extraction from Hylocereus polyrhizus using alcohol/salt-based liquid biphasic partitioning system and antioxidant activity evaluation

Betacyanins have gained increasing interest as natural food dye because of their health-promoting effects. This study investigated the betacyanins extraction from peel and flesh of red–purple pitaya using ethanol/K₂HPO₄-based liquid biphasic partitioning system (LBPS) by optimised concentrations of ethanol, K₂HPO₄, NaCl and crude. Overall, the highest values of betacyanins concentration in alcohol-rich top phase (C_t), phase volume ratio (V_r) and partition coefficient (K) of betacyanins that represented an optimum betacyanins extraction from the peel (98.080%, 1.667 and 51.097, respectively) and flesh (96.256%, 2.167 and 25.764, respectively) were achieved. Lastly, conventional solvent extractions, colour characterisation and antioxidant activity evaluation were conducted.     

A study on in-cylinder flow field of a 125cc motorcycle engine at low engine speeds

The in-cylinder flow characteristics of a four-stroke, four-valve, pent-roof small engine of motorcycle at engine speeds from 2000 rpm to 4000 rpm were studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The aim of this study was to investigate the in-cylinder flow characteristics of small engines, including tumble, swirl, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), angular momentum, in-cylinder air mass, turbulent velocity, turbulent length scale, and air flow pattern (in both intake and compression strokes) under motoring conditions. The engine geometry was created using SolidWorks, then was exported and analyzed using CONVERGE, a commercial CFD method. Grid independence analysis was carried out for this small engine and the turbulence model was observed using the renormalized group (RNG) k-ɛ model. The pressure boundary conditions were used to define the fluid pressure at the intake and exhaust of the port. The results showed that the increase in the engine speed caused the swirl flow in the small engine to be irregularly shaped. The swirl flow had a tendency to be stable and almost constant in the beginning of the compression stroke and increased at the end of compression stroke. However, the increase of in engine speed had no significant effect on the increase in tumble ratio, especially during the intake stroke. There was an increase in tumble ratio due to the increase in engine speed at the end of compression stroke, but only a marginal increase. The increase in engine speed had no significant effect on the increase in angular momentum, TKE, or turbulent velocity from the early intake stroke until the middle of the intake stroke. However, the angular momentum increased due to the increase in engine speed from the middle of the intake stroke to the end of compression stroke, and the angular momentum achieved the biggest increase when the engine speed rose from 3000 to 4000 rpm by 10 % at the end of the intake stroke. The increase in engine speed caused an increase of TKE and turbulent velocity from the middle of intake stroke until the end of compression stroke. Moreover, the biggest increase of TKE and turbulent velocity occurred when the engine speed rose from 3000 to 4000 rpm at the middle of intake stroke around 50 % and 25 %, respectively. Turbulent length scales appeared to be insensitive to increasing engine speed, especially in the intake stroke until 490 °CA. From that point, the value of the turbulent length scale increased as engine speed increased. The biggest increase in the turbulent length scales occurred when the intake valve was almost closed (around 20 %) and the engine speed was within two specific ranges (2000 to 3000 rpm and 3000 to 4000 rpm). Regarding the effect of engine speed, there were no significant effects upon the accumulated air mass in the small engine. The increase in engine speed caused an increase of turbulence in the combustion chamber during the late stages of the compression stroke. The increase in turbulence enhanced the mixing of air and fuel and made the mixture more homogeneous. Moreover, the increase in turbulence directly increased the flame propagation speed. Further research is recommended using a new design with several types of intake ports as well as combinations of different intake ports and some type of piston face, so that changes in air flow characteristics in small engines can be analyzed. Finally, this study is expected to help decrease the number of experiments necessary to obtain optimized systems in small engines.

     

Plastic scintillators with efficient light output and pulse shape discrimination produced via photoinitiated polymerization

Poly(vinyl toluene) (PVT) overdoped with 2,5-diphenyloxazole and using 1,4-bis(5-phenyloxazol-2-yl)benzene as a fluorescent secondary dopant can be used to detect and differentiate neutron and gamma radiation via scintillation. The low cost of PVT makes these plastic scintillators attractive for both portable and larger sized first line detection of special nuclear materials. Current fabrication methods rely on thermally initiated radical polymerization that generally requires an approximately 5-day heating process in order to produce high quality scintillators. In this work, we report a proof-of-concept photopolymerization process to prepare plastic scintillators up to 20 g in size in 1 day. These plastic scintillators were comparable to standard thermally polymerized samples in terms of their physical properties and response to various radiation sources. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47381.