Spatio-Temporal Correlations in Memristive Crossbar Arrays due to Thermal Effects

Memristive valence change memory (VCM) cells show a strong non-linearity in the switching kinetics which is induced by a temperature increase. In this respect, thermal crosstalk can be observed in highly integrated crossbar arrays which may impact the resistance state of adjacent devices. Additionally, due to the thermal capacitance, a VCM cell can remain thermally active after a pulse and thus influence the temperature conditions for a possible subsequent pulse. By using a finite element model of a crossbar array, it is shown that spatio-temporal thermal correlations can occur and are capable of affecting the resistive state of adjacent cells. This new functional behavior can potentially be used for future neuromorphic computing applications.     

In situ Characterization of SiO2 Nanoparticle Biointeractions Using BrightSilica

By adding a gold core to silica nanoparticles (BrightSilica), silica‐like nanoparticles are generated that, unlike unmodified silica nanoparticles, provide three types of complementary information to investigate the silica nano‐biointeraction inside eukaryotic cells in situ. Firstly, organic molecules in proximity of and penetrating into the silica shell in live cells are monitored by surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The SERS data show interaction of the hybrid silica particles with tyrosine, cysteine and phenylalanine side chains of adsorbed proteins. Composition of the biomolecular corona of BrightSilica nanoparticles differs in fibroblast and macrophage cells. Secondly, quantification of the BrightSilica nanoparticles using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) micromapping indicates a different interaction of silica nanoparticles compared to gold nanoparticles under the same experimental conditions. Thirdly, the metal cores allow the investigation of particle distribution and interaction in the cellular ultrastructure by cryo nanoscale X‐ray tomography (cryo‐XT). In 3D reconstructions the assumption is confirmed that BrightSilica nanoparticles enter cells by an endocytotic mechanism. The high SERS intensities are explained by the beneficial plasmonic properties due to agglomeration of BrightSilica. The results have implications for the development of multi‐modal qualitative and quantitative characterization in comparative nanotoxicology and bionanotechnology.     

A comprehensive approach to the analysis of contrast enhanced cardiac MR images

Current magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology allows the determination of patient-individual coronary tree structure, detection of infarctions, and assessment of myocardial perfusion. Joint inspection of these three aspects yields valuable information for therapy planning, e.g., through classification of myocardium into healthy tissue, regions showing a reversible hypoperfusion, and infarction with additional information on the corresponding supplying artery. Standard imaging protocols normally provide image data with different orientations, resolutions and coverages for each of the three aspects, which makes a direct comparison of analysis results difficult. The purpose of this work is to develop methods for the alignment and combined analysis of these images. The proposed approach is applied to 21 datasets of healthy and diseased patients from the clinical routine. The evaluation shows that, despite limitations due to typical MRI artifacts, combined inspection is feasible and can yield clinically useful information.     

Sensitivity to signal quantization of 43 Gb/s and 107 Gb/s optical 16-QAM OFDM transmission with coherent detection

The sensitivity of optical orthogonal-frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission to the finite resolutions of the digital-to-analog (DAC) and analog-to-digital converters (ADC) has been analyzed using numerical simulations. We show that for back-to-back configuration the requirements regarding the number of quantization bits for the DACs are similar to the ones of the ADCs. After transmission over metro and long-haul distances a higher resolution of the DAC/ADC is required compared to back-to-back configuration. We show that after transmission it is sufficient to enhance either the ADC resolution or the DAC resolution by 1 bit.     

Disruption tolerant networking by Smart Caching

Future mobile radio networks will aim at achieving ‘broadband access for all’, anywhere. The performance of a radio network vitally depends on the characteristics of the transmission path between the user terminal and the access point and the degree of network coverage. In urban areas, full broadband radio coverage is difficult to provide, causing a high variation in the link quality and making broadband services hard to realize. In rural regions, massive deployment costs prevent a full broadband coverage. Most of the time users have to settle for UMTS‐like wide area networks. For mobile users accessing services, such as video streaming, which require continuous broadband connectivity, it virtually results in intermittent network connectivity. The frequent disruption of the broadband link and its replacement with no or only low‐performance connections is a problem that should be addressed. This article introduces a new technique called Smart Caching (SC), which is able to mitigate variations in the network performance so that non‐real‐time and non‐interactive services' quality is substantially improved. SC supports pre‐fetching from a server and buffering data at the edge of the core network, in the so‐called Smart Cache. It transmits data with extremely high speed to be buffered in the mobile terminal when it is in the service range of an access point. This allows for the provisioning of data‐intensive services even in the case of patchy wireless broadband network coverage and intermittent connectivity. The performance of the SC service is evaluated with two different sophisticated queuing models, both based on the Markov arrival process. The benefit of the new technique is discussed and dimensioning issues are outlined. Furthermore, a comparison with legacy network setups is given. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

HIAWSC： An Immune Algorithm Based Heuristic Web Service Composition Framework

The introduction of of web services has led to web service composition being a focus of many researchers. Composing web services using workflows is seen as the most realistic method from an industrial viewpoint. Amongst other method, the use of natural computing methods has been proposed previously to automate web service composition. The need for a fast response when computing the most suitable sequence of services is addressed in this paper. In particular, we propose a novel heuristic immune algorithm with an efficient encoding and mutation method. The algorithm involves two steps： an immune selection operation, which is maintaining antibody population diversity and the clonal selection. The use of a vaccine during the evolution provides heuristic information that accelerates the convergence. Our experimental results illustrate that the proposed heuristic immune algorithm is very effective in improving the convergence speed. We also provide a schema analysis for this method.     

Morphology Transformation Pathway of Block Copolymer-Directed Cooperative Self-Assembly of ZnO Hybrid Films Monitored In Situ during Slot-Die Coating

Cooperative self-assembly (co-assembly) of diblock copolymers (DBCs) and inorganic precursors that takes inspiration from the rich phase separation behavior of DBCs can enable the realization of a broad spectrum of functional nanostructures with the desired sizes. In a DBC assisted sol–gel chemistry approach with polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) and ZnO, hybrid films are formed with slot-die coating. Pure DBC films are printed as control. In situ grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering measurements are performed to investigate the self-assembly and co-assembly process during the film formation. Combining complementary ex situ characterizations, several distinct regimes are differentiated to describe the morphological transformations from the initially solvent-dispersed to the ultimately solidified films. The comparison of the assembly pathway evidences that the key step in the establishment of the pure DBC film is the coalescence of spherical micelles toward cylindrical domains. Due to the presence of the phase-selective precursor, the formation of cylindrical aggregates in the solution is crucial for the structural development of the hybrid film. The pre-existing cylinders in the ink impede the domain growth of the hybrid film during the subsequent drying process. The precursor reduces the degree of order, prevents crystallization of the PEO block, and introduces additional length scales in the hybrid films.     

Chemical vapor deposition synthesis of self-aligned carbon nanotube arrays

A procedure for producing arrays of self-aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using standard chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is reported. Using UV photolithography, silicon substrates are patterned with a thin layer of thermally evaporated iron as a CNT catalyst. The CVD synthesis was carried out over a small temperature range (700°C–800°C) using acetylene and methane gasses, producing aligned CNT towers. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis shows a relationship between CNT tower height and synthesis time. Additionally, results show that impurity particles dramatically effect CNT tower growth. These results indicate that aligned CNTs can be produced in a desired pattern with height control.     

Performance of PKI-based security mechanisms in mobile ad hoc networks

Security for ad hoc network environments has received a lot of attention as of today. Previous work has mainly been focussing on secure routing, fairness issues, and malicious node detection. However, the issue of introducing and conserving trust relationships has received considerably less attention. In this article, we present a scalable method for the use of public key certificates and their revocation in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). With the LKN-ad hoc security framework (LKN-ASF) a certificate management protocol has been introduced, bringing PKI technology to MANETs. In addition a performance analysis of two different revocation approaches for MANETs will be presented.