Superparamagnetic Ag@Co‐Nanocomposites on Granulated Cation Exchange Polymeric Matrices with Enhanced Antibacterial Activity for the Environmentally Safe Purification of Water

Cation exchange polymeric matrices are widely used in water treatment protocols to reduce the mineral content of hard waters, even for human consumption. However, they are not antibacterial and flowing bacteria can be trapped in their structures and proliferate, thus acting as microbial contamination sources. Here, Ag@Co‐nanoparticles (Ag@Co‐NPs) with a low‐cost superparamagnetic Co⁰‐core and an antibacterial Ag‐shell are synthesized on granulated cation exchange polymeric matrices under soft reaction conditions. The presence of these NPs provides the final nanocomposite (NC) with additional functionalities (superparamagnetism and antibacterial activity) making it ideal for water purification applications. Ag@Co‐NPs are synthesized in situ on four cation exchange polymeric matrices containing either strong (sulfonic) or weak (carboxylic) acid functional groups homogeneously distributed (C‐type) or concentrated on an external shell (SST‐type) by the intermatrix synthesis (IMS) method. The NCs are characterized (metal content, NP size and distribution, metal oxidative state, and metal release) and evaluated for water purification applications.     

Transparent,Anisotropic Biofilm with Aligned Bacterial Cellulose Nanofibers

Cellulose nanofibrils are attractive as building blocks for advanced photonic, optoelectronic, microfluidic, and bio‐based devices ranging from transistors and solar cells to fluidic and biocompatible injectable devices. For the first time, an ultrastrong and ultratough cellulose film, which is composed of densely packed bacterial cellulose (BC) nanofibrils with hierarchical fibril alignments, is successfully demonstrated. The molecular level alignment stems from the intrinsic parallel orientation of crystalline cellulose molecules produced by Acetobacter xylinum. These aligned long‐chain cellulose molecules form subfibrils with a diameter of 2–4 nm, which are further aligned to form nanofibril bundles. The BC film yields a record‐high tensile strength (≈1.0 GPa) and toughness (≈25 MJ m^?3). Being ultrastrong and ultratough, yet the BC film is also highly flexible and can be folded into desirable shapes. The BC film exhibits a controllable manner of alignment and is highly transparent with modulated optical properties, paving the way to enabling new functionalities in mechanical, electrical, fluidic, photonics, and biocompatible applications.     

The use of coding and diversity combining for mitigating fadingeffects in a DS/CDMA system

Spatial diversity is an attractive technology to cope with the fading channel encountered in mobile communications. This paper presents novel closed analytical expressions of the bit-error rate (BER) achievable in a coherent binary phase-shift-keying (CBPSK) direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS/CDMA) system for any power delay profile and for either postdetection selection or maximal ratio combining (MRC). In particular, expressions for the cutoff rate R _o and for its related parameter D are also formulated in order to assess the system performance under the consideration of some channel coding schemes. Finally, an exemplary study is carried out in order to illustrate the behavior of a realistic space-diversity code-division multiple-access (CDMA) system according to the analytical expressions that have been derived     

Field failure analysis on transmission data equipment due to lightning discharges

The telecommunication equipments suffer more damages, dues to lightning and power lines induction, than other type of appliances. The cause is that they have direct connections with wires or cables that are exposed to transients, and usually the affected components have direct connections with external lines, but sometimes the mechanism is more subtle and can affect circuits without contact with exposed connections.This paper treats about failures on data interfaces circuits induced by voltage transients on the earth protection wire. It is based on a study of modems failures connected to remotes data terminals through RS-232 interfaces. Other data interface could also be damaged by this mechanism of failure (RS-422, Ethernet, Token Ring, etc.).On this type of failure the failed circuits (drivers and receivers RS-232) are not located nearly the transient entry gate (telephone line and VAC inputs). They are in an interface between two equipments, and usually the only failed components are the drivers and receivers.     

Effect of a food-grade enzyme preparation fromAspergillus oryzae on free fatty acid release in Manchego-type cheese from ovine and bovine milk

The addition of 50 mg Flavor Age (blend of lipase, proteinases and peptidases fromAspergillus oryzae) per kilogram of mixed ovine plus bovine milk for the manufacture of Manchego-type cheese caused the release of abundant free fatty acids (FFA), especially the short-chain fatty acids (C₄ to C₁₀). The effect accentuated with ripening time, the cheeses reaching a level of FFA around 2% at 120 days. The high concentration of FFA could have partially inhibited the growth of starter culture, as can be deduced from the higher residual lactose content of enzyme-treated cheeses. The results are compared and related to those obtained in a previous study on proteolysis and flavour development by the same enzyme preparation. They suggest that in the case of Man-chego-type cheese the liberation of FFA, although necessary, could be less important for flavour enhancement than the production of free amino acids.     

An experimentally validated analytical model for gate line-edgeroughness (LER) effects on technology scaling

This letter introduces an analytical model to represent line-edge roughness (LER) effects on both off-state leakage and drive current for sub-100-nm devices. The model partitions a given device into small unit cells along its width, each unit cell assumes a constant gate length (i.e., cell's width is small compared to LER spatial frequency). An analytical model is used to represent saturated threshold voltage dependency on the unit cell's gate length. Using this technique, an efficient and accurate model for LER effects (through V_ts variations) on off-state leakage and drive current is proposed and experimentally validated using 193 and 248 nm lithography for devices with 80-nm nominal gate lengths. Assuming that the deviation from the ideal 0-LER case remains constant from generation to generation, the model predicts that 3 nm or less LER is required for 50-60-nm state-of-the-art devices in the 0.1-μm technology node. Based on data presented, we suggest that the LER requirement for this technology node is attainable with an alternated phase-shift type of patterning process     

The EuQoS system: a solution for QoS routing in heterogeneous networks [Quality of Service based Routing Algorithms for Heterogeneous Networks]

EuQoS is the acronym for "end-to-end quality of service support over heterogeneous networks", which is a European research project aimed at building an entire QoS framework, addressing all the relevant network layers, protocols, and technologies. This framework, which includes the most common access networks (xDSL, UMTS, WiFi, and LAN) is being prototyped and tested in a multidomain scenario throughout Europe, composing what we call the EuQoS system. In this article we present the novel QoS routing mechanisms that are being developed and evaluated in the framework of this project. The preliminary performance results validate the design choices of the EuQoS system, and confirm the potential impact this project is likely to have in the near future     

Controlled-resistance loads for induction heating applications using thin non-magnetic metallic layers

The design of controlled-resistance loads for domestic induction heating applications using thin non-magnetic conductive layers is described. Thin metallic layers are fabricated using the phase vapour deposition technique. Such layers would enable vessels, the inductive behaviour of which was similar to those fabricated with conventional ferromagnetic bulk materials, to be manufactured. Optimum layer thickness is investigated using an analytical impedance model of the complete induction system     

Initial deployment of fibre in the local network for narrowband use in Spain: Technology,engineering and cost

This paper covers: (1) the field trials, with fibre in the local network systems, being conducted in Spain and intended for delivery telephone-based services to residential customers; (2) the technical and functional requirements of these types of system intended for commercial (regular) deployment to be started around late 1993/early 1994, and (3) the most relevant initial deployment scenarios and persubscriber investment aspects. The field trials are located in Madrid and in Barcelona: their rationale, technical characteristics and the lessons learned so far are described. Such trials are providing insight into what requirements and objectives are anticipated to be needed should such new technology be an actual alternative to copper-based subscriber loops. The requirement for such fibre in the local network systems intended for regular deployment in the near term are indicated, including technical and functional requirements of the optical line terminals (OLTs) (at local exchanges) and optical network units (ONUs) (located near customer premises); transmission requirements and optical distribution network (ODN) requirements and design aspects. For starting regular deployment, three preferred scenarios are identified. The chief parameters affecting persubscriber investments are illustrated including the number of fibres per ONU, and the number of users being served from each ONU. It is shown that in order to achieve cost parity with copper loop (which requires an initial investment of between $600 and $800) a capacity of some 60 narrowband (64 kb/s) channels per ONU should be required.