Fast and Compact 16 by 16 Cellular Neural Network Implementation

The paper presents a Cellular Neural Network implementation based on a high gain sigmoid operation. The required simplifications to the original theory are described that allow the use of high gain. With this design black and white images can be processed. The basic building blocks in a cell are described. A 16×16 cells network has been designed and processed with 1.2 micron CMOS technology. Measurement results which show the operation of the network are presented.     

Calculation of wall heat transfer in pipeexpansion turbulent flows

A new modified low-Reynolds-number k-ε turbulence [Chang, Hsieh and Chen (CHC)] model, which possesses the proper near-wall limiting behaviors and is free of the singular defect occurring near the reattachment point when applied to separated flows, is examined for use in wall heat transfer problems in flow with pipe expansion geometry. Another eight low-Reynolds-number k-ε models, found in open literature, are also examined in this study. Attention is specifically focused on the flow region surrounding the reattachment point. Comparative results show that only the CHC model and the model developed by Abe et al. [Abe, Kondoh and Nagano (AKN model)] can yield satisfactory distributions of the Nusselt number along the wall. However, the CHC model adopted the same model constants as conventionally used for the standard k-ε model. Thus, the CHC model is more universal than the AKN model.     

MRT of experimental liver abscesses: a comparison of a new blood pool contrast medium with gadolinium-DTPA in animal experiments

PURPOSE: In an experimental pyogenic liver abscess model, the signal intensities were compared intraindividually and interindividually after the application of a new blood pool contrast agent, 24-gadolinium-DTPA (diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid) cascade polymer, and after the application of gadopentetate dimeglumine. METHODS: In 20 rabbits with experimentally induced liver abscesses, the relative signal intensities of the liver, abscess centre, abscess wall and portal vein were assessed before and between 30 seconds and 60 minutes after injection of a 25 mumol/kg dose of gadolinium polymer and of 100 mumol/kg of gadolinium-DTPA, respectively. Measurements were performed at 1.5 Tesla, using a head coil and a Flash-2-D sequence. RESULTS: The interindividual comparison (unpaired T-test, p < 0.05) yielded significant differences of the relative signal intensities of the abscess centre (at any time point after contrast-media application), abscess wall (between 15 and 60 minutes after contrast media application), and portal vein (between 30 seconds and 7.5 minutes after contrast media application). The interindividual comparison showed a significantly higher abscess centre-liver contrast (between 30 seconds and 12.5 minutes after contrast media application) and a significantly higher abscess wall-centre contrast (between two and 7.5 minutes after contrast media application) after the application of gadolinium polymer compared with gadopentetate dimeglumine. CONCLUSION: In this animal model, the higher abscess centre-liver contrast after the application of gadolinium polymer was the basis for a better and prolonged visibility of the abscesses, as compared with images acquired after injection of gadopentetate dimeglumine.     

Stateful session handoff for mobile WWW

This paper proposes a web session handoff system that can hand over not only stateless but also stateful sessions between homogenous and heterogeneous user devices to enable uninterrupted and seamless web access. The proposed system adopts a proxy-based approach and an optional client-assisted scheme in order to track and hand over session information. In the proposed system, a session is registered at a User Agent Proxy (UAP) and then tracked by the UAP so that the session can be handed over from one device via the UAP to another device. In addition to session information tracked by a UAP, the UAP can hand over more comprehensive session information by using the client-assisted scheme. Compared with client-based approaches, our design has several advantages, such as less modification to user devices, practicability, and fault tolerance. We have implemented a UAP on a PC and client programs for both PC and PDA. The implementation can successfully hand over between PC and PDA a stateful session for online shopping applications.     

General two-stage extended Kalman filters

A general two-stage extended Kalman filter (GTSEKF), which extends the linear general two-stage Kalman filter to nonlinear systems, is further proposed. A new nonlinear two-stage transformation is introduced to facilitate achieving this extension. As in the linear one, the GTSEKF is derived mainly by applying the nonlinear two-stage transformation to the well-known extended Kalman filter (EKF), and is shown to be equivalent to the EKF with a decoupled computing structure. A nonlinear filter for estimating constant parameters in dynamic systems is presented to illustrate one application of the proposed GTSEKF. A literature example is also given to demonstrate the correctness and usefulness of the proposed results.     

Synthesis and characterization of a novel proton‐exchange membrane for fuel cells operating at high temperatures and low humidities

The synthesis of a p‐toluidine/formaldehyde (PTF) resin was performed, and the effects of the molar ratio of the individual monomers and the polymerization conditions on the structure of the PTF resin were studied. Fourier transform infrared and ¹³C‐NMR spectra were used to characterize the PTF. Wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction patterns revealed the crystalline structures of various PTFs. Polarized optical microscopy revealed that the molar ratio of the monomers had a strong effect on the crystalline morphologies. A longer polymerization time turned out a polymer with a higher intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight, which led to differences in the proton conductivity. All of the PTFs showed a higher proton conductivity than a commercial Nafion membrane at 90–100°C and 0% relative humidity. The proton conductivity of the PTF series could be improved by sulfonation with sulfuric acid and could be maintained after blending with polyurethane. Pure methanol could be used as a fuel source because of the insolubility and nonwetting properties of PTF in methanol to increase the output current density for a PTF membrane electrode assembly. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008