A discrete-time approach to the steady state analysis and optimization of non-linear autonomous circuits

In this paper a method for the steady state analysis and optimization of non-linear autonomous circuits is described. After discretizing the linear part of the circuit, a system of non-linear algebraic equations is obtained. the final formulation is written entirely in the discrete-time domain, making it unnecessary to repeatedly take direct and inverse DFTs during the solution process. Furthermore, it is shown that the resulting formulation may be viewed as a generalization of the harmonic balance equations. an analytic method for computing the exact partial derivatives of the resulting equations with respect to the samples of the variables, the oscillation period and the circuit element values is described, making the proposed approach efficient for both analysis and optimization. Different globally convergent techniques for solving the non-linear system of equations are described, with emphasis on an algorithm based on fast simulated diffusion. Selected application examples are provided to validate the proposed approach.     

Solubility of thermotropic polybibenzoates with oxyethylene spacers

Summary Three polybibenzoates with two, three and four oxyethylene units in the spacer have been synthesized in order to analyze the influence of the length of the spacer on the stability of the mesophase and on the solubility behaviour. It was found that the thermal stability of the mesophase decreases as the length of the spacer increases, in such a manner that an amorphous polymer is obtained when four oxyethylene units are involved. On the other hand, although the value of the solubility parameter is little affected by the spacer, the solubility range is significantly widened by an increase in the number of oxyethylene units. Optimal characteristics are displayed by the polyester with three such units in the spacer.     

Sulphuric acid etching of polyethylene surfaces

The sulphuric acid etching of polyethylene results in the formation of sulphonic groups, varying the surface properties. The study of the groups formed during the etching has been carried out by means of frustrated multiple internal reflection infrared spectroscopy (FMIR). Densities, thermal properties, superficial resistances and resistivities have been correlated with the content of sulphonic groups and treatment time. Moreover, the critical surface tension and platelet adhesion have been examined and related with the change in those properties. Direct sulphonation of polyethylene is a suitable method to change its surface properties, improving the application of this polymer as a biomaterial.     

Mineralization of salicylic acid in acidic aqueous medium by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes using platinum and boron-doped diamond as anode and cathodically generated hydrogen peroxide

Solutions containing 164 mg L(-1) salicylic acid of pH 3.0 have been degraded by electrochemical advanced oxidation processes such as anodic oxidation, anodic oxidation with electrogenerated H(2)O(2), electro-Fenton, photoelectro-Fenton and solar photoelectro-Fenton at constant current density. Their oxidation power has been comparatively studied in a one-compartment cell with a Pt or boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode and a graphite or O(2)-diffusion cathode. In the three latter procedures, 0.5mM Fe(2+) is added to the solution to form hydroxyl radical (()OH) from Fenton's reaction between Fe(2+) and H(2)O(2) generated at the O(2)-diffusion cathode. Total mineralization is attained for all methods with BDD and for photoelectro-Fenton and solar photoelectro-Fenton with Pt. The poor decontamination achieved in anodic oxidation and electro-Fenton with Pt is explained by the slow removal of most pollutants by ()OH formed from water oxidation at the Pt anode in comparison to their quick destruction with ()OH produced at BDD. ()OH generated from Fenton's reaction oxidizes rapidly all aromatic pollutants, but it cannot destroy final Fe(III)-oxalate complexes. Solar photoelectro-Fenton treatments always yield quicker degradation rate due to the very fast photodecarboxylation of these complexes by UVA irradiation supplied by solar light. The effect of current density on the degradation rate, efficiency and energy cost of all methods is examined. The salicylic acid decay always follows a pseudo-first-order kinetics. 2,3-Dihydroxybenzoic, 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic, 2,6-dihydroxybenzoic, alpha-ketoglutaric, glycolic, glyoxylic, maleic, fumaric, malic, tartronic and oxalic acids are detected as oxidation products. A general reaction sequence for salicylic acid mineralization considering all these intermediates is proposed.     

Correlation dimension analysis of heart rate variability in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy

A correlation dimension analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) was applied to a group of 55 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and 55 healthy subjects as controls. The 24-h RR time series for each subject was divided into segments of 10,000 beats to determine the correlation dimension (CD) per segment. A study of the influence of the time delay (lag) in the calculation of CD was performed. Good discrimination between both groups (p<0.005) was obtained with lag values of 5 or greater. CD values of DCM patients (8.4+/-1.9) were significantly lower than CD values for controls (9.5+/-1.9). An analysis of CD values of HRV showed that for healthy people, CD night values (10.6+/-1.8) were significant greater than CD day values (9.2+/-1.9), revealing a circadian rhythm. In DCM patients, this circadian rhythm was lost and there were no differences between CD values in day (8.8+/-2.4) and night (8.9+/-2.1).     

Microhardness and DSC measurements on liquid crystalline poly(diethylene glycolp,p′-bibenzoate) as a function of the ageing time

Summary The ageing process of the liquid crystalline glass of poly(diethylene glycolp,p-bibenzoate), PDEB, has been studied by differential scanning calorimetry and microhardness measurements. The experiments have been performed on a sample of PDEB aged at 36±C during different times. The process was found to be rather fast at that temperature, and the results from both techniques are compared.     

Scan matching SLAM in underwater environments

This paper proposes a pose-based algorithm to solve the full simultaneous localization and mapping problem for autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) navigating in unknown and possibly unstructured environments. The proposed method first estimates the local path traveled by the robot while forming the acoustic image (scan) with range data coming from a mono-beam rotating sonar head, providing position estimates for correcting the distortions that the vehicle motion produces in the scans. Then, consecutive scans are cross-registered under a probabilistic scan matching technique for estimating the displacements of the vehicle including the uncertainty of the scan matching result. Finally, an augmented state extended Kalman filter estimates and keeps the registered scans poses. No prior structural information or initial pose are considered. The viability of the proposed approach has been tested reconstructing the trajectory of a guided AUV operating along a 600 m path within a marina environment.     

A continuous-time delta-sigma ADC for portable ultrasound scanners

A fully differential fourth-order 1-bit continuous-time delta-sigma ADC designed in a 65 nm process for portable ultrasound scanners is presented in this paper. The circuit design, implementation and measurements on the fabricated die are shown. The loop filter consists of RC-integrators, programmable capacitor arrays, resistors and voltage feedback DACs. The quantizer contains a pulse generator, a high-speed clocked comparator and a pull-down clocked latch to ensure constant delay in the feedback loop. Using this implementation, a small and low-power solution required for portable ultrasound scanner applications is achieved. The converter has a supply voltage of 1.2 V, a bandwidth of 10 MHz and an oversampling ratio of 16 leading to an operating frequency of 320 MHz. The design occupies a die area of \(0.0175\hbox { mm}^2\). Simulations with extracted parasitics show a SNR of 45.2 dB and a current consumption of \(489 \,\upmu \hbox {A}\). However, by adding a model of the measurement setup used, the performance degrades to 42.1 dB. The measured SNR and current consumption are 41.6 dB and \(495\,\upmu \hbox {A}\), which closely fit with the expected simulations. Several dies have been measured, and an estimation of the die spread distribution is given.     

Compressive strength and elasticity of pure lime mortar masonry

The procedure and findings of an experimental campaign for the mechanical characterization of brick masonry with lime mortar joints are presented. The campaign includes the determination of the properties of the constituent materials and of the resulting masonry composite. The masonry consisted of masonry stack bond prisms made of solid clay bricks and two types of pure lime/sand mortars, material combinations which correspond to the vast majority of historical and existing masonry structures. The paper includes a discussion on the ratio between the elastic modulus and the compressive strength of the masonry constituents and the comparison of these ratios with the ones suggested in design codes. The implications of this comparison are discussed in the context of interventions on historical masonry structures using modern and traditional materials.     

Adaptive transfer functions

Medical datasets are continuously increasing in size. Although larger models may be available for certain research purposes, in the common clinical practice the models are usually of up to \(512 \times 512 \times 2000\) voxels. These resolutions exceed the capabilities of conventional GPUs, the ones usually found in the medical doctors’ desktop PCs. Commercial solutions typically reduce the data by downsampling the dataset iteratively until it fits the available target specifications. The data loss reduces the visualization quality and this is not commonly compensated with other actions that might alleviate its effects. In this paper, we propose adaptive transfer functions, an algorithm that improves the transfer function in downsampled multiresolution models so that the quality of renderings is highly improved. The technique is simple and lightweight, and it is suitable, not only to visualize huge models that would not fit in a GPU, but also to render not-so-large models in mobile GPUs, which are less capable than their desktop counterparts. Moreover, it can also be used to accelerate rendering frame rates using lower levels of the multiresolution hierarchy while still maintaining high-quality results in a focus and context approach. We also show an evaluation of these results based on perceptual metrics.