80-MHz bandpass /spl Delta//spl Sigma/ modulators for multimode digital IF receivers

Three fully differential bandpass (BP) /spl Delta//spl Sigma/ modulators are presented. Two double-delay resonators are implemented using only one operational amplifier. The prototype circuits operate at a sampling frequency of 80 MHz. The BP /spl Delta//spl Sigma/ modulators can be used in an intermediate-frequency (IF) receiver to combine frequency downconversion with analog-to-digital conversion by directly sampling an input signal from an IF of 60 MHz to a digital IF of 20 MHz. The measured peak signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ratios are 78 dB for 270 kHz (GSM), 75 dB for 1.25 MHz (IS-95), 69 dB for 1.762 MHz (DECT), and 48 dB for 3.84 MHz (WCDMA/CDMA2000) bandwidths. The circuits are implemented with a 0.35-/spl mu/m CMOS technology and consume 24-38 mW from a 3.0-V supply, depending on the architecture.     

Recent advances in maneuver loads analysis

The conceptual design of an aircraft system requires a number of analysis cycles involving the study of various configurations for which aerodynamic and structural properties are not well defined. The aeroelastic stability and structural strength considerations are very important factors in the determination of the aerodynamic and the structural configurations. Therefore, this paper briefly reviews the specifications leading to the design loads criteria and the current analysis methods. Suggestions for research activities required in the development of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code and its application to predict the design loads are also included.     

Ion-implanted capacitively coupled silicon strip detectors with integrated polysilicon bias resistors processed on a 100 mm wafer

Double-sided silicon strip detectors with integrated coupling capacitors and polysilicon resistors have been processed on a 100 mm wafer. A detector with an active area of 19 × 19 mm² was connected to LSI readout electronics and tested. The strip pitch of the detector is 25 μm on the p-side and 50 μm on the n-side. The readout pitch is 50 μm on both sides. The number of readout strips is 774 and the total number of strips is 1161. On the p-side a signal-to-noise of 35 has been measured using a ⁹⁰Sr β-source. The n-side has been studied using a laser.     

Studies on steam condensation and particle diffusiophoresis in a heat exhanger tube

In this paper, studies on steam condensation and aerosol behaviour in a heat exchanger are presented. The heat exchanger is a model of one single tube of a Passive Containment Condenser (PCC) that is used in the European Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR). A hot carrier gas containing nitrogen and steam with Ag and CsOH particles flows through the heat exchanger. The walls of the heat exchanger are cooled with a water jacket, thus causing steam condensation and diffusiophoretic particle deposition. The amount of condensed steam is measured, as well as the temperatures, particle mass concentrations and size distributions before and after the heat exchanger. The experiments are done with different proportions of steam and nitrogen in the carrier gas. Heat and mass transfer in the system are modelled with well known engineering correlations, producing results that agree nicely with the experimental results. The diffusiophoretic particle deposition velocity is shown to be proportional to the steam condensation rate, as expected.     

Broadband quadrature-modulator with parallel switchable quadrature-generation

A new polyphase filtering topology is proposed which uses parallel switchable RC networks for accurate broadband 90/spl deg/ phasing. A 0.13 /spl mu/m CMOS prototype IC using the proposed 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.     

Hippocampal damage after injection of kainic acid into the rat entorhinal cortex

This study analyses the anticipatory postural adjustments during the gait initiation process in children aged 2.5, 4, 6 and 8 years. In adults, anticipation during gait initiation includes a shift in the centre of foot pressure (CP) both backwards and towards the stepping foot. Backward displacement and the duration of the anticipation phase covary with the gait progression velocity reached by the subject at the end of the first step. In the present study, the children walked on a force plate that allowed us to calculate the acceleration of the centre of mass and the displacements of the CP. The results showed three main characteristics of the development of anticipatory behaviour: (1) The occurrence of anticipatory displacements of the CP increased progressively with age. Systematic backward anticipation was found for all children except one of the youngest, whereas the lateral displacement was systematically observed later, in the 6-year group; (2) the amplitude of the spatial parameters showed a significant increase with age; (3) contrary to the adult, the amplitude of the backward shift did not covary with the forthcoming velocity in the youngest groups. This covariation became significant at 6 years and remained significant at 8 years. The results showed that even if anticipatory behaviour was present in 2.5-year-old children it is only later that the child is able of more accurate tuning of feedforward control, probably due to better control of the overall postural adjustments.     

Effect of alpha 2-adrenergic drugs dexmedetomidine and atipamezole on extracellular amino acid levels in vivo

alpha 2-Adrenoceptors are known to be involved in a variety of physiological functions and pathological conditions, including epilepsy and the extent of excitotoxin-induced cell death. In this study we evaluated whether selective alpha 2-adrenergic drugs can modulate the release of neurotransmitter amino acids. The effect of the alpha 2-adrenoceptor agonist dexmedetomidine (5 micrograms/kg, s.c.) and the alpha 2-adrenoceptor antagonist atipamezole (0.1 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg, s.c.) on the release of extracellular glutamate, aspartate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was studied with microdialysis in the hippocampus of freely moving rats under basal and K(+)-evoked conditions. Atipamezole (1 mg/kg) decreased K(+)-evoked glutamate efflux by 30% compared to the control group (P < 0.05) but did not affect significantly the effluxes of aspartate and GABA. Dexmedetomidine and the lower dose of atipamezole (0.1 mg/kg) did not significantly alter the evoked overflow of amino acids. The results suggest that alpha 2-adrenergic drugs have only modest effects on the K(+)-stimulated overflow of extracellular neurotransmitter amino acids in rat hippocampus.     

Current-Mode Temperature Compensated Continuous-Time CMOS Transconductance-C Filter

In this paper a low voltage low power current-mode continuous-timelow-pass filter is presented. The current-integrator is constructedof a multi-output linearized transconductance element drivenby a balanced transimpedance amplifier. A 1 MHz third order ellipticlow pass filter is designed and fabricated with the proposedcurrent-mode integrator. The measurements show capability ofoperation with down to a 3 V supply voltage. The measured currentconsumption is 850 µA at room temperature andthe dynamic range is 66 dB. The distortion of the filter is below50 dBc with peak signal levels up to twice the quiescent currentlevel and with the refined designs even lower distortion is expected.The filter uses a CMOS-current reference for temperature andprocess variation stabilization with a measured corner frequencytemperature coefficient of –100 ppm/K.     

A 80-MHz bandpass ΔΣ modulator for a 100-MHz IFreceiver

A fully differential fourth-order bandpass ΔΣ modulator is presented. The circuit is targeted for a 100-MHz GSM/WCDMA-multimode IF-receiver and operates at a sampling frequency of 80 MHz. It combines frequency downconversion with analog-to-digital conversion by directly sampling an input signal from an intermediate frequency of 100 MHz to a digital intermediate frequency of 20 MHz. The modulator is based on a double-delay single-op amp switched-capacitor (SC) resonator structure which is well suited for low supply voltages. Furthermore, the center frequency of the topology is insensitive to different component nonidealities. The measured peak signal-to-noise ratio is 80 and 42 dB for 270 kHz (GSM) and 3.84-MHz (WCDMA) bandwidths, respectively. The circuit is implemented with a 0.35-μm CMOS technology and consumes 56 mW from a 3.0-V supply     

TOPS information processing on a single chip

One of the main objectives in CNN design is to have as small a cell size as possible and because there are normally 19 synapses implemented in each cell, we cannot select an architecture that is very area consuming. In our approach we simplify the multiplication procedure without losing the overall input-output mapping. In that way the synapses can be built from very few transistors and the cell layout can be made small. What has been noticed is that when the initial values of the network are bipolar and when the obtained network output is also bipolar, in almost every case we can use a high-gain output nonlinearity to replace the unity gain. Another required modification is to move the whole processing into a positive range