Semi-Supervised Deep Learning for Multi-Tissue Segmentation from Multi-Contrast MRI

Journal of Signal Processing Systems - Segmentation of thigh tissues (muscle, fat, inter-muscular adipose tissue (IMAT), bone, and bone marrow) from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans is useful...     

Influence of dry and wet cleaning on the properties of rapid thermal grown and deposited gate dielectrics

Various silicon surface cleaning processes for rapid thermal in-situ polysilicon/ oxide/silicon stacked gate structures have been evaluated. Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors were fabricated to assess the effects of cleaning on the quality of gate oxide structures produced by both rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) and rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition (RTCVD). Excellent electrical properties have been achieved for both RTO and RTCVD gate oxides formed on silicon wafers using either an ultraviole/zone (UV/O₃) treatment or a modified RCA clean. On the contrary, poor electrical properties have been observed for RTO and RTCVD gate oxides formed on silicon wafers using a high temperature bake in Ar, H₂, or high vacuum ambient. It has also been found that the electrical properties of the RTCVD gate oxides exhibit less dependence upon cleaning conditions than those of RTO gate oxides. This work demonstrates that initial surface condition prior to gate oxide formation plays an important role in determining the quality of RTO and RTCVD gate oxides.     

Space-time MSK Codes for Quasi-Static Fading Channels

In this paper, 4-state and 8-state space-time trellis codes with full rate, full diversity and high coding gain are proposed for MSK modulation, based on a technique similar to the super-orthogonal space-time trellis code (SOSTTC) design. Since the phase continuity requirement of MSK is the main constraint in space-time MSK code design not all the signal matrices corresponding to the trellis branches are orthogonal. The paper shows that the SOSTTC design technique can be extended to nonorthogonal coding structures. The new space-time MSK codes have frame error performances very close to those of their space-time QPSK counterparts given in [1]     

Compensating the effects of DC bias lines on terahertz photomixer antennas using resistively loaded lines

This paper proposed a method, namely resistively loaded lines (RLL), to compensate the effects of the DC bias lines after investigating its effects on several types of antennas for terahertz photomixers. The RLL is formed by placing lumped resistances periodically on the DC bias line in order to cease the leakage current virtually, which cause a significant amount of distortion on the antenna performance. The simulation results of the dipole, folded dipole, log-periodic, and spiral antennas show that RLL almost removes the effects of the bias lines and improves the antenna radiation resistance and radiation pattern notably compared with that of the commonly used bias line types, such as coplanar stripline and photonic bandgap type bias lines.     

Synthesis of artificial neural networks by transconductors only

Hardware implementation of artificial neural networks has been attracting great attention recently. In this work, the analog VLSI implementation of artificial neural networks by using only transconductors is presented. The signal flow graph approach is used in synthesis. The neural flow graph is defined. Synthesis of various neural network configurations by means of neural flow graph is described. The approach presented in this work is technology independent. This approach can be applied to new neural network topologies to be proposed or used with transconductors designed in future technologies.     

Customizing MRI-Compatible Multifunctional Neural Interfaces through Fiber Drawing

Fiber drawing enables scalable fabrication of multifunctional flexible fibers that integrate electrical, optical, and microfluidic modalities to record and modulate neural activity. Constraints on thermomechanical properties of materials, however, have prevented integrated drawing of metal electrodes with low-loss polymer waveguides for concurrent electrical recording and optical neuromodulation. Here, two fabrication approaches are introduced: 1) an iterative thermal drawing with a soft, low melting temperature (T_m) metal indium, and 2) a metal convergence drawing with traditionally non-drawable high T_m metal tungsten. Both approaches deliver multifunctional flexible neural interfaces with low-impedance metallic electrodes and low-loss waveguides, capable of recording optically-evoked and spontaneous neural activity in mice over several weeks. These fibers are coupled with a light-weight mechanical microdrive (1 g) that enables depth-specific interrogation of neural circuits in mice following chronic implantation. Finally, the compatibility of these fibers with magnetic resonance imaging is demonstrated and they are applied to visualize the delivery of chemical payloads through the integrated channels in real time. Together, these advances expand the domains of application of the fiber-based neural probes in neuroscience and neuroengineering.     

Integrated power and handoff control for next generation wireless networks

In this paper, joint downlink power control and handoff design is formulated as optimization problems that are amenable to dynamic programming (DP). Based on the DP solutions which are impractical, two new algorithms suitable for next generation wireless networks are proposed. The first one is an integrated hard handoff/power control scheme that endeavors a tradeoff between three performance criteria: transmitted power, number of handoffs, and call quality. The second is a soft handoff/power control algorithm that also takes into account the additional cost of utilizing soft handoff. The proposed algorithms present a paradigm shift in integrated handoff/power control by capturing the tradeoff between user satisfaction and network overhead, therefore enjoy the advantages of joint resource allocation, and provide significant improvement over existing methods. The achievable gains and the tradeoffs in both algorithms are verified through simulations.

Terahertz Absorption of Nematic Liquid Crystals

We present the first systematic study of cyanobiphenyls (CBs) and the phenylcyclohexanes in the range between 50 cm^-1 (1.5 THz) and 500 cm^-1 (15 THz). The impact of the alkyl chain length and of variations in the core structure on the spectrum is investigated using liquid crystals from the cyanobiphenyl and phenylcyclohexane families. Our measurements are supported by calculations based on density functional theory. This enables us to shine light on the vibrational dynamics of liquid crystal molecules in the terahertz frequency range.     

低噪声APD偏置电路

１ＡＰＤ的特性雪崩光电检测器 (ＡＰＤ)和ＰＩＮ二极管通常被作为接收器用于光通信中。其中ＡＰＤ适合于高灵敏度和高带宽的光接收电路。但这种器件在工作时需要施加一个反向结压 ,这样 ,当接收到射线时产生的电子空穴对会被外加电场收集并转换为电流 ,其电流强度正比于射线强度。另外 ,工作时施加在器件上的反向偏置电压会引发雪崩效应 ,其雪崩增益可通过改变偏压来进行调节。这就有可能对光纤接收器的增益进行优化。然而 ,要得到满意的雪崩增益 ,就必须给ＡＰＤ提供一个比较高的反向偏压。很多ＡＰＤ需要４０Ｖ～６０Ｖ的偏压 ,有些器件…     

A versatile signal flow graph realization of a general transfer function by using CDBA

A general synthesis procedure is given for a versatile signal flow graph realization of a general transfer function by using current differencing buffered amplifier (CDBA). The proposed configuration uses n+1 CDBAs, n capacitors and at most 2n+4 resistors. This number of resistors can be reduced to n+1 for special cases. The circuit is eligible to obtain a variety of transfer characteristics with the same common denominator polynomial, and it is easily converted to different modes of operations. It is straightforward to find the values of the passive elements from the coefficients of the transfer function to be realized. Simulations results are obtained by using commercially available active component AD844 and CMOS technology as well. All of these make the proposed circuit attractive.