Tunable blazed gratings

In this paper, we report on the design, fabrication, and characterization of blazed gratings made tunable by electrostatic actuation. We combine KOH etching and deep-reactive ion etching (DRIE) to fabricate tunable blazed gratings (TBGs) on silicon-on-insulator wafers with optical-quality mirror surfaces on {111} crystalline planes. The actuators that are used to position the individual grating elements are designed to reduce rotation to levels acceptable for spectroscopic applications. We characterize the fabricated devices mechanically, verify the rotation-reduction design, and demonstrate the functionality of TBGs as tunable filters.     

Modeling the tensile properties in β-processed α/β Ti alloys

The development of a set of computational tools that permit microstructurally based predictions for the tensile properties of commercially important titanium alloys, such as Ti-6Al-4V, is a valuable step toward the accelerated maturation of materials. This paper will discuss the development of neural network models based on a Bayesian framework to predict the yield and ultimate tensile strengths of Ti-6Al-4V at room temperature. The development of such rules-based model requires the population of extensive databases, which in the present case are microstructurally based. The steps involved in database development include producing controlled variations of the microstructure using novel approaches to heat treatments, the use of standardized stereology protocols to characterize and quantify microstructural features rapidly, and mechanical testing of the heat-treated specimens. These databases have been used to train and test neural network models for prediction of tensile properties. In addition, these models have been used to identify the influence of individual microstructural features on the tensile properties, consequently guiding the efforts toward development of more robust mechanistically based models. Based on the neural network model, it is possible to investigate the influence of individual microstructural features on the tensile properties, and in certain cases these dependencies can point toward unrecognized phenomena. For example, the apparently unexpected trend of increase in tensile strength with increasing prior β-grain size has led to the determination of the pronounced role of the basketweave microstructure in strengthening these alloys, especially in case of larger prior β grains. This article is based on a presentation made in the symposium “Computational Aspects of Mechanical Properties of Materials,” which occurred at the 2005 TMS Annual Meeting, February 13–17, 2005, in San Francisco, CA, under the auspices of the MPMD-Computational Materials Science & Engineering (Jt. ASM-MSCTS) Committee.     

A 16-Mbit/s adapter chip for the IBM token-ring local area network

The authors describe a 9.02×9.02-mm chip built in 1-μm CMOS with two levels of metal and an additional mask level for fabricating capacitors. It contains both analog and digital circuits and has provisions for self-test. The function includes the transmitter, receiver, protocol handler, an microprocessor, as well as interfaces for RAM/ROM storage, IBM PC bus, IBM PS/2 bus, IBM 3174 bus, and Motorola 68000 bus. The physical design terrains are formed by 24K circuits of standard cell gates, a 10K-circuit equivalent hand-honed custom microprocessor, and an analog macro. The chip operates from a single 5-V supply, and the power consumption is 0.8 W nominal at 16 Mb/s. The chip can also be operated at 4 Mb/s     

BioFET sensor for detection of albumin in urine

Characterisation of a BioFET for detection of albumin in a mixture of human urine is presented. To avoid electrolyte effect of the urine, it was measured in PBS (phosphate buffer saline) at a fixed pH after albumin binding. The drain current was modulated by the albumin bound to the anti-albumin immobilised on the gate surface of the BioFET. The current variation ratio was likely to be proportional to the concentration of the albumin in the range 50-250 mg/1. The results show the feasibility of the BioFET as a urinary albumin sensor.     

Technical note: Usability evaluation of the modified CIE1976 Uniform‐Chromaticity scale for assessing image quality of visual display monitors

White uniformity indicates the degree of uniform distribution of white color across the display screen and is one of the important inspection factors determining the image quality of a visual display unit (VDU). Experiments in which participants were confronted with 6 evaluation points embedded in 3 measurement groups on a VDU screen were conducted to gather the psychophysical data that include the levels of white uniformity obtained from participants and a colorimetric system (CA‐100). In an accuracy test, 37.12% of the participants showed the same conclusion led by the original CIE1976 criteria, and 62.88% of the participants showed the same conclusion led by the modified equation. In magnitude estimation evaluating the display's white uniformity, the magnitude score of the modified equation (0.36) was significantly larger than that of the original equation (0.32). It was concluded that the modified equation is more sensitive to the change of white uniformity. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 13: 85–95, 2003.     

An accurate and practical buffer allocation model for the buffer cache based on marginal gains

A new dynamic buffer allocation strategy based on the notion of marginal gains is presented for the buffer cache that is used by the operating system to store frequently accessed disk blocks in main memory, and the performance of the proposed strategy is compared with those of previous allocation strategies. In the proposed strategy, marginal gain values are predicted by exploiting functions that approximate the expected number of buffer hits per unit time. Experimental results from both trace-driven simulation and an actual implementation in the FreeBSD operating system show that the proposed strategy accurately predicts the marginal gain values for various workloads resulting in significantly improved buffer hit ratios.     

Fabrication of Functional Nanofibrous Ammonia Sensor

A nanofibrous sensor for ammonia gas is fabricated by electrospinning the composite of poly(diphenylamine) (PDPA) with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) onto the patterned interdigit electrode. The composite electrospun membrane shows interconnected fibrous morphology. Functional groups in PDPA and the high active surface area of the fibrous membrane make the device detect a lower concentration of ammonia with a good reproducibility. The sensing capability of the device is studied by monitoring the changes in resistance of the membrane with different concentrations of ammonia. The changes in resistance of the membrane shows linearity with the concentration of ammonia in the limit of 10 and 300 ppm. UV-visible spectroscopy reveals the mechanism of sensing ammonia by the membrane.