Temperature-adaptive voltage tuning for enhanced energy efficiency in ultra-low-voltage circuits

Circuits optimized for minimum energy consumption operate typically in the subthreshold regime with ultra-low power-supply voltages. Speed of a subthreshold logic circuit is enhanced with an increase in the die temperature. The excessive timing slack observed in the clock period of subthreshold logic circuits at elevated temperatures provides opportunities to lower the active-mode energy consumption. A temperature-adaptive dynamic-supply voltage-tuning technique is proposed in this paper to reduce the high-temperature energy consumption without degrading the clock frequency in ultra-low-voltage subthreshold logic circuits. Results indicate that the energy consumption can be lowered by up to 40% by dynamically scaling the supply voltage at elevated temperatures. An alternative technique based on temperature-adaptive reverse body bias to exponentially reduce the subthreshold leakage currents at elevated temperatures is also investigated. The active-mode energy consumption with two temperature-adaptive voltage-tuning techniques is compared. The impact of the process parameter and supply voltage variations on the proposed temperature-adaptive voltage scaling techniques is evaluated.     

Structural,microstructural and electrochemical studies on LiMn2-x(GdAl)xO4 with spinel structure as cathode material for Li-ion batteries

Gd and Al co-doped LiMn_2-x(GdAl)_xO₄ (x?=?0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05) materials with spinel structure were synthesized by sol–gel method. Powder X-ray diffraction results confirm the formation of cubic spinel structure and average particle sizes are found to be between 80 and 110?nm from FE-SEM and TEM analysis. Decrease in peak potential difference as a function of doping in Cyclic Voltammetry results establishes enhancement in Li⁺ intercalation and de-intercalation. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) results showed that accumulation of charges on electrode has improved with doping over pristine samples. At a doping of x?=?0.02 charge transfer resistance values were found to be least. First cycle charge–discharge profiles for LiMn_1.96(GdAl)_0.02O₄ shows 139.2?mAh/g discharge capacity over other doped derivatives and pure LiMn₂O₄ (119.6?mAh/g) in aqueous Li₂SO₄ electrolyte. Doping of x?=?0.02 exhibit good cycling performance with only a total 4% capacity loss after 30 cycles.     

Novel Collision Detection and Avoidance System for Midvehicle Using Offset-Based Curvilinear Motion

In recent days, the manufacture of automotive vehicles is dramatically enhanced worldwide. Most vehicle crashes are due to the drive distraction on the real highway roads and traffic-density. In this proposed method, a novel collision detection and avoidance algorithm are coined for Midvehicle Collision Detection and Avoidance System (MCDAS), addressing two scenarios, namely, (a) A rear-end collision avoidance with host vehicle under no front-end vehicle condition and (b) offset-based curvilinear motion under critical conditions, while, suitable parallel parking manoeuvring also addressed using offset-based curvilinear motion. The Monte Carlo analysis of the proposed MCDAS is demonstrated using the Constant Velocity (CV) manoeuvring strategy and simulated with real-time data using the NGSIM database.

     

Dual Functional Modification of Alkaline Amino Acids Induces the Self‐Assembly of Cylinder‐Like Tobacco Mosaic Virus Coat Proteins into Gear‐Like Architectures

Herein, the assembly of 3D uniform gear‐like architectures is demonstrated with a tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) disk as a building block. In this context, the intrinsic behavior of the TMV disk that promotes its assembly into nanotubes is altered by a synergistic effect of dual functional modifications at the 53rd arginine mutation and the introduction of lysine groups in the periphery at 1st and 158th positions of the TMV disk, which results in the formation of 3D gear‐like superstructures. Therein, the 53rd arginine moiety significantly strengthens the linkage between TMV disks in the alkaline environment through hydrogen bond interactions. The charge of lysine‐modified lateral surfaces is partially neutralized in the alkaline solution, which induces the TMV disk to form a gear‐like architecture to maintain its structural stability by exploiting the electrostatic repulsion between neighboring TMV disks. This study not only provides explicit evidence regarding the molecular‐level understanding of how the modification of site‐specific amino acid affects the assembly of resultant superstructures but also encourages the fabrication of functional protein‐based nanoarchitectures.     

Poly-L-ornithine/fucoidan-coated calcium carbonate microparticles by layer-by-layer self-assembly technique for cancer theranostics

Recently, the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technology has attracted the enormous interest of researchers in synthesizing various pharmaceutical dosage forms. Herewith, we designed a biocompatible drug delivery system containing the calcium carbonate microparticles (CaCO₃ MPs) that coated with the alternatively charged polyelectrolytes, i.e., poly-L-ornithine (PLO)/fucoidan by LbL self-assembly process (LbL MPs). Upon coating with the polyelectrolytes, the mean particle size of MPs obtained from SEM observations increased from 1.91 to 2.03?μm, and the surface of LbL MPs was smoothened compared to naked CaCO₃ MPs. In addition, the reversible zeta potential changes have confirmed the accomplishment of layer upon a layer assembly. To evaluate the efficiency of cancer therapeutics, we loaded doxorubicin (Dox) in the LbL MPs, which resulted in high (69.7%) drug encapsulation efficiency. The controlled release of Dox resulted in the significant antiproliferative efficiency in breast cancer cell line (MCF-7 cells), demonstrating the potential of applying this innovative drug delivery system in the biomedical field.     

Investigation of structural,mechanical and magnetic characterization of electroplated W deposited NiMo thin films

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - In the current research work, NiMo thin films were successfully co-deposited with W on the copper substrate (NiMoW) by varying the plating...     

Watch to Edit: Video Retargeting using Gaze

We present a novel approach to optimally retarget videos for varied displays with differing aspect ratios by preserving salient scene content discovered via eye tracking. Our algorithm performs editing with cut, pan and zoom operations by optimizing the path of a cropping window within the original video while seeking to (i) preserve salient regions, and (ii) adhere to the principles of cinematography. Our approach is (a) content agnostic as the same methodology is employed to re‐edit a wide‐angle video recording or a close‐up movie sequence captured with a static or moving camera, and (b) independent of video length and can in principle re‐edit an entire movie in one shot. Our algorithm consists of two steps. The first step employs gaze transition cues to detect time stamps where new cuts are to be introduced in the original video via dynamic programming. A subsequent step optimizes the cropping window path (to create pan and zoom effects), while accounting for the original and new cuts. The cropping window path is designed to include maximum gaze information, and is composed of piecewise constant, linear and parabolic segments. It is obtained via L(1) regularized convex optimization which ensures a smooth viewing experience. We test our approach on a wide variety of videos and demonstrate significant improvement over the state‐of‐the‐art, both in terms of computational complexity and qualitative aspects. A study performed with 16 users confirms that our approach results in a superior viewing experience as compared to gaze driven re‐editing [ JSSH15 ] and letterboxing methods, especially for wide‐angle static camera recordings.     

Opposition Based Artificial Flora Algorithm for Load Balancing in LTE Network

In recent years, telecommunication is progressed due to the development of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standards. This LTE network provides high-speed wireless communication for mobile devices and satisfies the requirements of customers from multi-cells. However, due to the congestion of mobile devices, each cell in the network may get overloaded. So, load balancing is the main challenge to the LTE network for reducing congestion or load in the cell. For load balancing, the optimal cell selection method is presented in this paper. Initially, the load factor of each cell is estimated. Then the load factor is compared with the predefined threshold load value. After the comparison, the heavy loaded cell handover the users to the optimal cell or cell with minimum load. This optimal cell is selected with the Opposition Based Artificial Flora (OAF) algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed approach decreases 6% of the call blocking ratio (CBR) and 14% of Call Dropping Ratio (CDR) than the previous approaches.