Degree-of-polarization and eye-closure penalty associated with optical signals with orthogonal polarizations

We perform a systematic measurement of the degree-of-polarization (DOP) and eye-closure penalty for optical signals with orthogonal polarizations. We find that the symmetry of DOP is maintained for the orthogonal polarizations under both first and higher order polarization-mode dispersion (PMD), whereas the symmetry of eye-closure penalty is broken under second-order PMD. An orthogonal polarization pair can have large disparity of eye-closure penalty despite an identical DOP. We also demonstrate a novel approach to estimate the maximum eye-closure penalty asymmetry with three orthogonal polarizations on the Poincare/spl acute/ sphere.     

An optically clocked transistor array with dual serial-to-parallel and parallel-to-serial conversion capability for optical label swapping

We propose an optically clocked transistor array optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) for both serial-to-parallel and parallel-to-serial conversion (demux/mux), enabling an interface between high-speed asynchronous burst optical labels and CMOS circuitry for optical label swapping. Dual functionality of the OEIC reduces size, power, and cost of the optical label swapper. The capability for greater than 20-Gb/s conversion operation is demonstrated.     

An Integrated Approach to Thermal Management in High-Level Synthesis

Thermal effects are becoming an important factor in the design of integrated circuits due to the adverse impact of temperature on performance, reliability, leakage, and chip packaging costs. Making all phases of the design flow aware of this physical phenomenon helps in reaching faster design closure. In this paper, we present an integrated approach to thermal management in architectural synthesis. Our synthesis flow combines temperature-aware scheduling and binding based on feedback from thermal simulation. We show that our flow is effective in preventing hotspot formation and creating an even thermal profile of the resources. Our integrated thermal management technique on average reduces the peak temperature of the resources by 7.34 degC when compared to a thermal unaware flow without increasing the number of resources across our set of benchmarks     

Photocatalytic oxidation of low concentration 2,4-D solution with new TiO2 fiber catalyst in a continuous flow reactor.

Environmental pollution by low concentrations of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is a concern these days due to ever increasingly stringent regulations. Photocatalysis with immobilized TiO2 fiber is a promising oxidation method. Laboratory experiments on photocatalytic degradation of 0.045 mmol l(-1) 2,4-D with the world's first high-strength TiO2 fiber catalyst were carried out in a continuous flow reactor in which the degradations were, in general, similar to those with high 2,4-D concentrations investigated elsewhere. Degradation and mineralization of 2,4-D were significantly enhanced with no initial pH adjustments. The rate constants for total organic carbon (TOC) without pH adjustment were about two-fold bigger than the pH adjustment cases. CO2 gas measurement and carbon mass-balance were carried out for the first time, where about 34% organic carbon converted into CO2 gas during four-hour oxidation. 2,4-Dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), phenol, benzyl alcohol and two unknowns (RT = 2.65 and 3.78 min.) were detected as aromatic intermediates while Phenol was the new aromatic in HPLC analysis. Dechlorination efficiencies were high (> 70%) in all the cases, and more than 90% efficiencies were observed in chloride mass balance. Bigger flow rates and solution temperature fixed at 20 degrees C without pH adjustment greatly enhanced 2,4-D mineralization. These results can be an important basis in applying the treatment method for dioxin-contaminated water and wastewater.     

Organic Nanoparticles: Preparation,Self‐Assembly,and Properties

The strong tendency of organic nanoparticles to rapidly self‐assemble into highly aligned superlattices at room temperature when solution‐cast from dispersions or spray‐coated directly onto various substrates is described. The nanoparticle dispersions are stable for years. The novel precipitation process used is believed to result in molecular distances and alignments in the nanoparticles that are not normally possible. Functional organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs)—which have the same host–dopant emissive‐material composition—with process‐tunable electroluminescence have been built with these nanoparticles, indicating the presence of novel nanostructures. For example, only changing the conditions of the precipitation process changes the OLED emission from green light to yellow.     

A possibilistic clustering approach to novel fault detection and isolation

In this paper, a new approach for fault detection and isolation that is based on the possibilistic clustering algorithm is proposed. Fault detection and isolation (FDI) is shown here to be a pattern classification problem, which can be solved using clustering and classification techniques. A possibilistic clustering based approach is proposed here to address some of the shortcomings of the fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm. The probabilistic constraint imposed on the membership value in the FCM algorithm is relaxed in the possibilistic clustering algorithm. Because of this relaxation, the possibilistic approach is shown in this paper to give more consistent results in the context of the FDI tasks. The possibilistic clustering approach has also been used to detect novel fault scenarios, for which the data was not available while training. Fault signatures that change as a function of the fault intensities are represented as fault lines, which have been shown to be useful to classify faults that can manifest with different intensities. The proposed approach has been validated here through simulations involving a benchmark quadruple tank process and also through experimental case studies on the same setup. For large scale systems, it is proposed to use the possibilistic clustering based approach in the lower dimensional approximations generated by algorithms such as PCA. Towards this end, finally, we also demonstrate the key merits of the algorithm for plant wide monitoring study using a simulation of the benchmark Tennessee Eastman problem.     

Performance of thermostatic and electronic valves controlling the compressor capacity

The performance of the energy consumption of an electronic valve and a classical thermostatic valve has been compared when these expansion valves are adopted in a vapour compression plant subjected to a cold store. The main aim is to verify experimentally which type of expansion valve would be preferable from energy point of view when a classical thermostat or a fuzzy logic algorithm are used as the control system for the refrigeration capacity. The fuzzy logic‐based control is able to modulate continuously the compressor speed through an inverter. The results show that with a fuzzy algorithm, the thermostatic expansion valve allows an energy saving of about 8% in comparison with the electronic valve. When on–off control is used, the electric energy consumption obtained both with the electronic valve and with the thermostatic valve is comparable. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Visible transmission spectroscopy for the assessment of egg freshness

The objective of this research was to investigate the feasibility of visible transmission spectroscopy for the non‐destructive assessment of the freshness of an individual egg. A total of 600 intact white‐shelled eggs of the same flock (Lohmann, 40 weeks of age) were measured. To obtain a considerable variation in freshness, groups consisting of 60 eggs were stored (18 °C, 55% RH) for 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 days. The non‐destructive spectral measurements were compared with the two most widely used destructive freshness parameters, namely Haugh units and albumen pH. A partial least squares (PLS1) model was built in order to predict Haugh units and pH of the albumen based on the transmission spectra. The correlation coefficients between the predicted value and the measured value were 0.842 and 0.867 for Haugh unit and pH of the albumen, respectively. These results show that the light transmission spectrum of an egg provides quantitative information about egg freshness. Relevant information concerning egg freshness is restricted to the interval between 570 and 750 nm. Furthermore, the models obtained for both destructive parameters were strikingly similar, indicating that Haugh unit and pH have the same physico‐chemical background. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effect of surface waxes on the persistence of chlorpyrifos-methyl in apples, strawberries and grapefruits

The effects of the cuticle and epicuticular waxes of grapefruit, strawberry and apple on the photodegradation and penetration of chlorpyrifos-methyl were studied. Photodegradation experiments were conducted by exposing the insecticide to the light of a xenon lamp in the presence of a film of wax extracted from the fruit surface. The half-life of chlorpyrifos-methyl irradiated in absence of waxes was 9.6 min. The half-lives of pesticide irradiated in the presence of wax extracts of apple, grapefruit and strawberry were 83, 34 and 26 min, respectively. In penetration studies, fruit with and without wax layers were treated with an aqueous suspension of pesticide. The penetration of the pesticide from the cuticle to the pulp was measured after 24 h. Samples without wax contained a higher total amount of insecticide than those with wax. No pesticide was detected in samples of apple and grapefruit pulp. Residues were detected in all fractions of strawberry. The waxes and cuticle appear to have some effect on the photodegradation and penetration of chlorpyrifos-methyl in fruit samples.     

Automatic image hanging protocol for chest radiographs in PACS.

Chest radiography is one of the most widely used techniques in diagnostic imaging. It comprises at least one-third of all diagnostic radiographic procedures in hospitals. However, in the picture archive and communication system, images are often stored with the projection and orientation unknown or mislabeled, which causes inefficiency for radiologists' interpretation. To address this problem, an automatic hanging protocol for chest radiographs is presented. The method targets the most effective region in a chest radiograph, and extracts a set of size-, rotation-, and translation-invariant features from it. Then, a well-trained classifier is used to recognize the projection. The orientation of the radiograph is later identified by locating the neck, heart, and abdomen positions in the radiographs. Initial experiments are performed on the radiographs collected from daily routine chest exams in hospitals and show promising results. Using the presented protocol, 98.2% of all cases could be hung correctly on projection view (without protocol, 62%), and 96.1% had correct orientation (without protocol, 75%). A workflow study on the protocol also demonstrates a significant improvement in efficiency for image display.