A Channel Borrowing Approach for Cluster-based Hierarchical Wireless Sensor Networks

Mobile Networks and Applications - In Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), energy-efficient routing is required to conserve the scarce resources of these networks. Various energy-efficient routing...     

Comparative study of maximum power point tracking techniques for hybrid renewable energy system

The power generation demand is increasing day-by-day throughout the world, therefore, the use of hybrid systems becomes a significant solution. The hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) is used for delivering power in various regions in order to overcome intermittence of wind and solar resources. Because of increasing environmental problems, for example, greenhouse gas emission and energy cost have interested novel research into substitute methods in favour of electrical power generation. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control method is a vast deal of novel research used for enhancing the efficiency of HRES. The authors have revealed that the hybrid techniques i.e. Global MPPT, fuzzy-neuro systems, Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), Perturbed and Observe (P&O) + Adaptive Neural Network (ANN) etc. can provide best results as compared to other MPPT control methods. This paper offering a state of art review of MPPT control techniques for HRES.     

Solution‐Processable,High‐Performance Flexible Electroluminescent Devices Based on High‐k Nanodielectrics

Flexible alternating‐current electroluminescent (ACEL) devices have attracted considerable attention for their ability to produce uniform light emission under bent conditions and have enormous potential for applications in back lighting panels, decorative lighting in automobiles, and panel displays. Nevertheless, flexible ACEL devices generally require a high operating bias, which precludes their implementation in low power devices. Herein, solution‐processed La‐doped barium titanate (BTO:La) nanocuboids (≈150 nm) are presented as high dielectric constant (high‐k) nanodielectrics, which can enhance the dielectric constant of an ACEL device from 2.6 to 21 (at 1 kHz), enabling the fabrication of high‐performance flexible ACEL devices with a lower operating voltage as well as higher brightness (≈57.54 cd m^?2 at 240 V, 1 kHz) than devices using undoped BTO nanodielectrics (≈14.3 cd m^?2 at 240 V, 1 kHz). Furthermore, a uniform brightness across the whole panel surface of the flexible ACEL devices and excellent device reliability are achieved via the use of uniform networks of crossaligned silver nanowires as highly conductive and flexible electrodes. The results offer experimental validation of high‐brightness flexible ACELs using solution‐processed BTO:La nanodielectrics, which constitutes an important milestone toward the implementation of high‐k nanodielectrics in flexible displays.     

Ground plane impact on quadrifilar helix antenna performance with respect to deployment heights

Quadrifilar helix antenna (QHA) has its applications in satellite communications. This paper presents the performance optimisation of input and radiation characteristics of QHA in the presence of infinite and finite metallic ground planes. For the infinite ground plane, it has been observed that input parameters such as impedance and voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) are stable, and the antenna has broader half power beamwidth (HPBW). Smaller metallic platforms that act as finite ground planes produce better 3‐dB axial ratio beamwidth and boresight axial ratio. Deployment of QHA on smaller metallic platforms such as nanosatellites and CubeSats enhances the circularly polarised beamwidth of the antenna with improved boresight axial ratio. However, on large low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, stable input characteristics and broader HPBW have been achieved at the cost of narrow circularly polarised beamwidth and degraded boresight axial ratio.     

A generalization of some existence results on orthogonal designs for STBCs

It is shown that two theorems regarding the existence of generalized linear processing orthogonal designs (GLPOD) are valid under more general conditions than those for which they have been stated and proved (for original paper see V. Tarokh et al., "Space-time block codes from orthogonal designs", ibid., vol. 45, p. 1456-1467 (1999)).     

Optically-controlled ion-implanted GaAs MESFET characteristic withopaque gate

An analytical modelling has been carried out for an ion-implanted GaAs MESFET having a Schottky gate opaque to incident radiation. The radiation is absorbed in the device through the spacings of source, gate, and drain unlike the other model where gate is transparent/semitransparent. Continuity equations have been solved for the excess carriers generated in the neutral active region, the extended gate depletion region and the depletion region of active (n) and substrate (p) junction. The photovoltage across the channel and the p-layer junction and that across the Schottky junction due to generation in the arc region of the gate depletion layer are the two important controlling parameters. The I-V characteristics and the transconductance of the device have been evaluated and discussed     

Optical properties of Ge1-yCy alloys

The Ge_1-yC_y semiconductor alloy system offers promise as a material for use in heterostructure devices based on Si as well as other materials. We have grown Ge_1-y C_y alloys by solid source molecular beam epitaxy on Si substrates. Layer thicknesses ranged from 0.01 to 3 μm, and Auger electron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry indicated C fractions up to 3 at. %. Optical absorption in the near-infrared region indicated a shift in the energy bandgap from that of Ge which was attributed to the effects of alloying. The dependence of the bandgap on composition was consistent with linear interpolations of the Ge and C conduction band minimums. We observed a fundamental absorption edge characteristic of an indirect bandgap material. Photoluminescence spectra at 11K of thick, relaxed layers indicated single broad peaks near the expected bandgap energy.     

Estimation of electron mobility of n-doped 4, 7-diphenyl-1, 10-phenanthroline using space-charge-limited currents

The electron mobilities of 4, 7-diphenyl-1, 10-phenanthroline (BPhen) doped 8-hydroxyquinolinatolithium (Liq) at various thicknesses (50-300 nm) have been estimated by using space-charge-limited current measurements. It is observed that the electron mobility of 33 wt% Liq doped BPhen approaches its true value when the thickness is more than 200 nm. The electron mobility of 33 wt% Liq doped BPhen at 300 nm is found to be ～5.2 × 10~(-3) cm~2/(V·s) (at 0.3 MV/cm) with weak dependence on electric field, which is about one order of magnitude higher than that of pristine BPhen (3.4 × 10~(-4) cm~2/(V·s)) measured by SCLC. For the typical thickness of organic light-emitting devices, the electron mobility of doped BPhen is also investigated.     

A Robust Wearable Point-of-Care CNT-Based Strain Sensor for Wirelessly Monitoring Throat-Related Illnesses

Point-of-care testing (POC) has the ability to detect chronic and infectious diseases early or at the time of occurrence and provide a state-of-the-art personalized healthcare system. Recently, wearable and flexible sensors have been employed to analyze sweat, glucose, blood, and human skin conditions. However, a flexible sensing system that allows for the real-time monitoring of throat-related illnesses, such as salivary parotid gland swelling caused by flu and mumps, is necessary. Here, for the first time, a wearable, highly flexible, and stretchable piezoresistive sensing patch based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is reported, which can record muscle expansion or relaxation in real-time, and thus act as a next-generation POC sensor. The patch offers an excellent gauge factor for in-plane stretching and spatial expansion with low hysteresis. The actual extent of muscle expansion is calculated and the gauge factor for applications entailing volumetric deformations is redefined. Additionally, a bluetooth-low-energy system that tracks muscle activity in real-time and transmits the output signals wirelessly to a smartphone app is utilized. Numerical calculations verify that the low stress and strain lead to excellent mechanical reliability and repeatability. Finally, a dummy muscle is inflated using a pneumatic-based actuator to demonstrate the application of the affixed wearable next-generation POC sensor.     

Nanopoxia: Targeting Cancer Hypoxia by Antimonene-Based Nanoplatform for Precision Cancer Therapy

Most anticancer drugs with broad toxicities are systematically administrated to cancer patients and their distribution in tumors is extremely low owing to hypoxia, which compromises the therapeutic efficacies of these cancer drugs. Consequently, a preponderant proportion of cancer drugs is distributed in off-target-healthy tissues, which often causes severe adverse effects. Precision cancer therapy without overdosing patients with drugs remains one of the most challenging issues in cancer therapy. Here, a novel concept of nanopoxia is presented, which is a tumor-hypoxia-based photodynamic nanoplatform for the release of therapeutic agents to achieve precision cancer therapy. Under tumor hypoxia, exposure of tumors to laser irradiation induces the fracture of polymer outer shell and produces anticancer reactive oxygen species, and switches 2D antimonene (Sb) nanomaterials to cytotoxic trivalent antimony to synergistically kill tumors. In preclinical cancer models, delivery of Sb nanomaterials to mice virtually ablates tumor growth without producing any detectable adverse effects. Mechanistically, the tumor hypoxia-triggered generation of trivalent antimony displays direct damaging effects on cancer cells and suppression of tumor angiogenesis. Together, the study provides a proof-of-concept of hypoxia-based precision cancer therapy by developing a novel nanoplatform that offers multifarious mechanisms of cancer eradication.