开关增益运算放大器作为检相器或混频器

一些运算放大器．比如Analog Devices公司的AD8041和Intersil公司的EL5100,提供禁用引脚．它使人们能把数个运算放大器的输出并联用于视频多路传输。除了这种多路传输以外．人们还能用这种禁用功能把运算放大器配置作为检相器或混频器。图1描绘了禁用功能如何实现低频检相器。人们可以按相位参考信号的速率来开关该电路的放大器的增益。     

Expert system applications in software engineering

This paper presents an overview of research in expert systems and artificial intelligence as they relate to software engineering. The paper begins with a review of current thinking regarding the software process. This is followed by a discussion of artificial intelligence (AI) and the paradigms it uses. Six current projects are described: three are concerned with programming in the large and three with programming in the small. These six projects provide a representative sample of the AI research now underway in the software engineering domain. The paper concludes with some observations regarding when and how the concepts represented by these projects will be available for application to operational projects.     

Definition of the Geometric Area of a Microelectrode Tip by Plasma Etching of Parylene

The geometric area of the tip of an intracortical stimulation electrode can be defined by combining photoresist masking with oxygen plasma etching of Parylene.1 The method was tested with both capacitor and iridium oxide electrodes and caused no significant degradation of the electrical properties of the electrode.     

Novel low-molecular-weight hypromellose polymeric films for aqueous film coating applications

The concentration of hypromellose (HPMC) is known to significantly impact the viscosity of coating solutions. The purpose of this study was to determine the viscosity of novel low-molecular-weight (LMW) HPMC products as a function of polymer concentration. The mechanical properties and water vapor permeability of free films prepared from these novel LMW HPMC polymers were also determined and the results were compared with films prepared with conventional HPMC. Solutions of LMW and conventional HPMC 2910 and 2906 containing up to 40% polyethylene glycol (PEG) 400 were prepared and the viscosities were measured using a Brookfield viscometer. Solutions were then cast onto glass plates and stored at 30?C and 50% relative humidity until films were formed. A Chatillon digital force gauge attached to a motorized test stand was used to quantify the mechanical properties of the films, whereas water vapor permeabilities were determined according to the ASTM E96 M-05 water method. As expected, the novel LMW polymer solutions exhibited significantly lower viscosities than the conventional comparators at equivalent polymer concentrations. Film strength of the LMW materials was lower than films prepared from the conventional HPMC solutions, although this effect was not as evident for the HPMC 2906 chemistry. Increasing concentrations of the plasticizer resulted in decreased tensile strength and Young?s modulus and increased elongation as well as increased water vapor permeability, irrespective of polymer type. No statistical difference was found between the tensile strength to Young?s modulus ratios of the F chemistry LMW and conventional HPMC polymer films.     

The impact of distractions on young adult drivers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Young adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at higher risk for being involved in automobile crashes. Although driving simulators have been used to identify and understand underlying behaviors, prior research has focused largely on single-task, non-distracted driving. However, in-vehicle infotainment and communications systems often vie for a driver's attention, potentially increasing the risk of collision. This paper explores the impact of secondary tasks on individuals with and without ADHD, a medical condition known to affect the regulation of attention. Data are drawn from a validated driving simulation representing periods before, during, and after participation in a secondary cognitive task. A hands-free phone task was employed in a high stimulus, urban setting and a working memory task during low stimulus, highway driving. Drivers with ADHD had more difficulty on the telephone task, yet did not show an increased decrement in driving performance greater than control participants. In contrast, participants with ADHD showed a larger decline in driving performance than controls during a secondary task in a low demand setting. The results suggest that the interaction of the nature of the driving context and the secondary task has a significant influence on how drivers with ADHD allocate attention and, in-turn, on the relative impact on driving performance. Drivers with ADHD appear particularly susceptible to distraction during periods of low stimulus driving.     

Layer-by-layer assembly of titanate nanosheets/poly- (ethylenimine) on PEN films

Alternating layers of TiO₂ nanosheets and poly(ethylenimine) were sequentially dip coated onto a polyethylene naphthalate substrate (PEN) using layer-by-layer assembly. UV-vis spectroscopy shows a linear growth of the PEI/nanosheets bilayer on the PEN substrate. The cross-section microstructure of the LBL film was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Helium permeability measurement showed that the titania nanosheet/PEI bilayers reduced the permeation rate of He through the coated PEN film.     

Bioreduction of trichloroethene using a hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor

A H2-based, denitrifying membrane-biofilm reactor (MBfR) was effective for removing trichloroethene (TCE) by reductive dechlorination. When TCE was first added to the MBfR, reductive dechlorination took place immediately and then increased over 18 weeks, and TCE was completely dechlorinated to ethene by about 120 days. These results indicate that TCE-dechlorinating bacteria were present naturally in the H2-based biofilm, and that enrichment for TCE-dechlorinating bacteria occurred. Dehalococcoides were documented in the MBfR biofilm before and after TCE feeding. Their proportion, quantified using the 16S rRNA gene, increased from 2.9 to 12% after TCE addition. This is the first report in which Dehalococcoides are proven to be present as part of an autotrophic biofilm community active in reductive dechlorination of TCE to ethene in a laboratory controlled experiment. Based on the complete reduction of TCE to ethene, the 16S rRNA clone libraries results, and the amount of tceA and bvcA, it appears that at least two Dehalococcoides strains were present in the enriched biofilm. One of them seems to be a new strain that is unique for having tceA and bvcA reductive dehalogenases.     

Phage-borne peptidomimetics accelerate the development of polyclonal antibody-based heterologous immunoassays for the detection of pesticide metabolites

Competitive immunoassays for the detection of small analytes, such as pesticides and their metabolites, use haptens that compete with the target compounds for binding to the antibody. This competing hapten can be either the same as the immunizing hapten (homologous assay) or structurally modified mimics of the immunizing hapten (heterologous assay). Polyclonal antibody-based heterologous immunoassays have shown superior sensitivities to homologous ones, butthe synthesis of heterologous haptens may be time-consuming, requiring expertise in synthetic chemistry. In this work we demonstrate that phage display peptide libraries can be used as a source of phage-borne peptidomimetics to facilitate the development of sensitive heterologous assays. Different strategies for the isolation of these peptides were explored using two metabolites of pyrethroid insecticides. The sensitivities of the best competitive phage heterologous enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were 13 fold and 100 fold better than the homologous assay, for the glycine conjugate of trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and 3-phenoxybenzoic acid, respectively. The phage particles were highly versatile as tracer reagents, allowing the use of enzymatic, chemiluminescent, or immuno-polymerase chain reaction detection. The data presented here shows a new systematic procedure that enables the fast generation of several competing haptens for the rapid development of sensitive heterologous immunoassays.     

Great Lakes Levels and Flows: Past and Future

The many analyses of the more than 100 years’ record of Great Lakes levels and of precipitation in the basin are generally assumed to provide a reasonable basis for predicting, statistically, future lake levels. The usefulness of this assumption is questioned because of increasing consumptive use of Great Lakes waters, and probable climatic change over the next century. The International Joint Commission's 1981 report on consumptive use and diversions gives as its most likely scenario an annual growth of 2.7% in consumptive uses. By the year 2035, this would reduce Great Lakes outflows by about 708 m³ (25,000 cfs), with an estimated loss of “$200 million per year in hydro power production.” The climatic effects of the inexorable increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) due mainly to burning of fossil fuels are still difficult to predict. However, the best predictions available suggest that in the next 70 years or so, the mean air temperature in the Great Lakes basin will rise by approximately 3C° and may well be accompanied by slightly less precipitation. Increases in evaporation from the Great Lakes would be equivalent to 7–8% of the mean annual flow of the St. Lawrence. These two factors — increased evaporation and increased consumptive uses — suggest that significantly lower lake levels and flows of interconnecting channels and the St. Lawrence River are likely in the next century.     

Serial measurement of arterial plasma progesterone levels throughout gestation and parturition in individual rats

Daily blood samples were taken from 6, chronically cannulated, fully conscious rats to measure plasma progesterone levels throughout gestation. Progesterone levels in individual rats fluctuated by up to 28 ng/ml per day, but tended to be consistently higher or lower than the group mean. The accuracy of predicting progesterone levels in individual rats from previous values was examined. Progesterone levels on day 7 of gestation were negatively correlated with foetal weights near term. There was little indication that high progesterone levels at any stage of gestation lead to increased foetal or placental weights. Progesterone levels on day 17 were positively correlated with the number of corpura lutea but there was little relationship between progesterone and either the number or total mass of the placentas. Serial blood samples taken from a second group of 6 rats at 2 hourly intervals showed that the time between the major fall in progesterone levels to below 12 ng/ml and the onset of parturition was relatively constant (varying by only 8 h) despite a 29 h range in the total length of gestation.