A Broadband Quadrature-Modulator in Standard 0.13 μm CMOS

A polyphase filtering topology is proposed which uses parallel switchable RC-networks for accurate broadband 90^∘ phasing. A 0.13μm CMOS prototype using the quadrature-generation network in a direct-conversion quadrature-modulator achieves a measured image-rejection ratio of −39 dBc or better in 0.6–2.5 GHz while consuming only 66 mW from a 2.2 V single supply. Esa Tiiliharjuwas born in Rovaniemi, Finland, in 1966. He received the M.Sc. degree in Information Technology in 1995, and the Lic.Tech degree in electrical engineering in 1998, both from Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. From 1996 to July 1997 he was employed as an assistant at Helsinki University of Technology. He has held a position as a research assistant since 1997, and he is currently working towards his Ph.D. degree in the Electronic Circuit Design Laboratory at Helsinki University of Technology. His research interests include the design of integrated low-power circuits for portable telecommunication applications. He has designed and measured several integrated circuits for this application area. He is the author or co-author of several internationally-refereed conference and journal publications on analog integrated circuits. Kari A.I. Halonenwas born in Helsinki, Finland, on May 23, 1958. He received the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) in 1982 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium, in 1987. From 1982 to 1984, he was with HUT as an Assistant and with the Technical Research Center of Finland as a Research Assistant. From 1984 to 1987, he was a Research Assistant with the E.S.A.T. Laboratory, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, with a temporary grant from the Academy of Finland. Since 1988, he has been with the Electronic Circuit Design Laboratory, HUT, as a Senior Assistant from 1988 to 1990, and as the Director of the Integrated Circuit Design Unit of the Microelectronics Center from 1990 to 1993. He was on leave of absence during the academic year 1992–1993, acting as Research and Development Manager with Fincitec Inc., Finland. From 1993 to 1996, he was an Associate Professor, and since 1997, he has been a full Professor with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, HUT. He became the Head of Electronic Circuit Design Laboratory year 1998. He was the Technical Program Committee Chairman for the European Solid-State Circuits Conference in 2000. He is the author or coauthor of over 150 international and national conference and journal publications on analog integrated circuits, and holds several patents on analog integrated circuits. His research interests are in CMOS and BiCMOS analog integrated circuits, particularly for telecommunication applications. Dr. Halonen was an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS–PART I: FUNDAMENTAL THEORY AND APPLICATIONS from 1997 to 1999. He has been a Guest Editor for the IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS. He received the BeatriceWinner Award from the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference in 2002.[c-halonen.eps]     

Component-based development of DSP software for mobile communication terminals

DSP software development has been tied down by extreme computational requirements. Furthermore, the DSP development tools available today are less advanced than in other embedded software design. This has lead to DSP software architectures that have not taken into account future expansion needs. Therefore, DSP software architectures have been inherently closed. Now, as system complexity increases, this design methodology becomes more of a burden, since it does not support component-based DSP software development that requires open interfaces.

In this paper, mobile-communications DSP software architectures are studied as cases, and key areas for improvements towards more open DSP software development are identified. Proposed solutions are judged against the limited resources of mobile communication terminals and the characteristics of communication DSPs.     

WATER FLOW AND BINDER MIGRATION DURING DRYING OF COATED PAPER

The aim of this study has been to develop a mathematical model for water flow and binder migration in coated paper. The model can be used for simulation of the stages starting after the coating applicator including infrared and air drying sections. On the basis of the model the moisture, temperature and binder distribution can be determined across the paper thickness. Approximating equations concerning the paper properties are used in the model. We have measured the diffusion coefficient between the water and binder substances. Representative numerical examples are presented for separate and combined infrared and air drying processes.     

Consensus kNN QSAR: a versatile method for predicting the estrogenic activity of organic compounds in silico. A comparative study with five estrogen receptors and a large, diverse set of ligands

Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) have proved increasingly useful for predicting the biological activities of molecules (e.g., their binding affinities to different receptors) and can be used in environmental chemistry as a preliminary tool for screening the activities of untested molecules, producing valuable information on which compounds should be tested more thoroughly with experimental affinity assays or in animals. The predictive ability of the consensus kNN QSAR method is corroborated here using a diverse set of 245 compounds, which have been assayed for their relative binding affinities to the estrogen receptor of four species: human (ER alpha and ER beta), calf, mouse, and rat. Leave-one-out cross-validation (LOO-CV) and gamma-randomization tests were applied to the QSAR models for internal validation, and separate training and test sets were used for external validation. The internal predictive abilities of the consensus models for all five data sets were convincing, with cross-validated correlation coefficients (LOO-CV q2 values) varying from 0.69 (human ER beta data) to 0.79 (human ER alpha data). The external predictive abilities were also encouraging, as the predictive r2 scores (pr-r2 values) varied from 0.62 (human ER beta data) to 0.77 (calf and mouse data). The results indicate that consensus kNN QSAR is a feasible method for rapid screening of the estrogenic activity of organic compounds.     

Coupling of light from an LED into a thin light guide by diffractive gratings

Ring-shaped and radial diffractive gratings are designed with rigorous diffraction theory to couple light of a nearly monochromatic LED into a thin planar light guide on the bottom side. The theoretical coupling efficiencies for ring-shaped and radial gratings are 41% and 66%, respectively. Optimized diffractive elements are manufactured with direct electron-beam lithography and reactive-ion-etching into SiO2 substrates. Good agreement between experimental and theoretical results for selected radial gratings is reached. Furthermore, the mass production tests using injection molding are carried out with good replicability.     

A Self-Calibrated Pipeline ADC with 200 MHz IF-Sampling Frontend

A 13-bit, 50-MS/s pipeline ADC with IF-sampling capability is presented. A high sampling linearity is obtained through the use of bootstrapped switches. A digital self-calibration algorithm with modified capacitor measurement scheme is employed to improve the accuracy of the first two pipeline stages. The prototype, implemented with a 0.35-m BiCMOS (SiGe) technology, shows a 76.5-dB SFDR at a 194.2-MHz signal frequency and dissipates 715 mW power from a 2.9-V supply.     

Urban Planning and the Delimitation of Diversity: Roma as ‘In Place’ and ‘Out of Place’ in Jungbusch,Mannheim

Planning theory is increasingly concerned with how urban planning is engaged in the management of cultural difference and diversity. But there is a need to consider the conditions by which difference is ‘allowed’ in processes of planning and urban development. This paper explores the conditions under which the Roma is admitted into the image of Jungbusch, Mannheim, as a ‘diverse’ neighbourhood, and thereby into the category of diversity in the local discourse of planning. We argue that cultural differences are allowed in the category of diversity to the degree that they contribute to the economic and normative aims of managed diversity.     

Evaluation of basidiomycetous fungi for pretreatment of contaminated soil

BACKGROUND: For most dioxin‐contaminated sawmill soils, combustion is recommended. However, the process may be inefficient if the soil has a high organic matter content. The use of saprotrophic basidiomycetous fungi is an alternative for pretreatment of this kind of soil. A total of 147 fungi were evaluated for their ability to grow in sawmill soil. From this screening, the best soil colonizing fungi were selected to study their enzyme activities and degradation of soil organic matter. Pine (Pinus sylvestris) bark was used as a co‐substrate to propagate the fungi into the soil. The activities of manganese peroxidase (MnP), laccase, endo‐1,4‐β‐glucanase, endo‐1,4‐β‐xylanase, and endo‐1,4‐β‐mannanase were analysed from the inocula and fungal treated soil. RESULTS: The screening revealed that 56 out of 147 fungi were able to grow in non‐sterile soil, and most of them were litter‐decomposing fungi (LDF). In pine bark cultures, the highest enzyme activities were observed with Phanerochaete velutina, which produced 5 U g^?1 of MnP. The activity of endo‐1,4‐β‐glucanase was generally higher than that of other hydrolytic enzymes. The highest carbon loss from soil with a high organic matter content was achieved by P. velutina (3.4%) and Stropharia rugosoannulata (2.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Many LDF, and in addition the white‐rot fungus P. velutina, are potential degraders of soil organic matter since they showed good growth and respiratory activity. Pine bark was a suitable lignocellulosic co‐substrate and a good promoter of MnP activity. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

A multiagent framework for coordinated parallel problem solving

Today’s organizations, under increasing pressure on the effectiveness and the increasing need for dealing with complex tasks beyond a single individual’s capabilities, need technological support in managing complex tasks that involve highly distributed and heterogeneous information sources and several actors. This paper describes CoPSF, a multiagent system middle-ware that simplifies the development of coordinated problem solving applications while ensuring standard compliance through a set of system services and agents. CoPSF hosts and serves multiple concurrent teams of problem solving contributing both to the limitation of communication overheads and to the reduction of redundant work across teams and organizations. The framework employs (i) an interleaved task decomposition and allocation approach, (ii) a mechanism for coordination of agents’ work, and (iii) a mechanism that enables synergy between parallel teams.