Remote Steering of Self‐Propelling Microcircuits by Modulated Electric Field

The principles and design of “active” self‐propelling particles that can convert energy, move directionally on their own, and perform a certain function is an emerging multidisciplinary research field, with high potential for future technologies. A simple and effective technique is presented for on‐demand steering of self‐propelling microdiodes that move electroosmotically on water surface, while supplied with energy by an external alternating (AC) field. It is demonstrated how one can control remotely the direction of diode locomotion by electronically modifying the applied AC signal. The swimming diodes change their direction of motion when a wave asymmetry (equivalent to a DC offset) is introduced into the signal. The data analysis shows that the ability to control and reverse the direction of motion is a result of the electrostatic torque between the asymmetrically polarized diodes and the ionic charges redistributed in the vessel. This novel principle of electrical signal‐coded steering of active functional devices, such as diodes and microcircuits, can find applications in motile sensors, MEMs, and microrobotics.     

Synthesis,characterisation and use of 2-tetradecylcyclobutanone together with other cyclobutanones as markers for irradiated liquid whole egg

The synthesis and characterisation of 2-tetradecylcyclobutanone (TCB) is described. Both 2-dodecykyclobutanone and TCB were shown to be present in liquid whole egg irradiated at doses of 2.5 and 10.0 kGy. These compounds were absent from the unirradiated pasteurised samples. Using gas chromatography and infrared spectroscopy, there was also evidence for the presence in irradiated egg of 2-tetradeccnyl- and 2-tetradecadienylyclobutanone which are formed from oleic and linoleic acids, respectively. Authentic standards for these unsaturated cyclobutanones were not available commercially but the presence of 2-tetra-decenylcyclobutanone was substantiated by hydrogenating the egg extracts so converting this unsaturated cyclobutanone to TCB. Saturated and unsaturated cyclobutanones appear to be specific products of irradiation and are potential markers for detection of irradiated liquid egg and probably other fat-containing foods.     

Optimal nonnegative color scanning filters

In this correspondence, the problem of designing color scanning filters for multi-illuminant color recording is considered. The filter transmittances are determined from a minimum-mean-squared orthogonal tristimulus error criterion that minimizes the color error in estimates obtained from noisy recorded data. Nonnegativity constraints essential for physical realizability are imposed on the filter transmittances. In order to demonstrate the significant improvements obtained, the resulting filters are compared with suboptimal filters reported in earlier literature.     

Some soft measures for performance analysis: The “core” dimensions of expert system quality

The post-implementation evaluation of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, multimedia or parallel computing systems which are in operation is a much neglected problem. There is a lack of methods, techniques and tools for the practitioner to analyze the performance such systems. In earlier work, we have presented a framework and methodology that described a socio-technical approach for evaluating expert systems. In short, we determined the features and characteristics of expert systems that are most critical for their “implementation success”. This was the result of empirical evidence from a first-ever field study of expert systems in production. In this paper, specifically tailored to an audience of generalists, we retrospectively put our work into the framework of performance measurement and analysis. The end-result of our investigations is that we have definitional clarity as to how we may alternately evaluate such decision support systems.     

On the uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator of availability with type I censored data

This paper develops the uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator of the pointwise availability with type I censored data. The maximum likelihood estimator has also been highlighted.     

MOSFET substrate current model for circuit simulation

A simple, accurate MOSFET substrate current model suitable for a circuit simulator is presented. The effect of substrate bias on substrate current is modeled without introducing additional parameters. The accuracy of this model is demonstrated by its ability to fit the experimental data for both standard and LDD devices with average errors of less than 6%. The new model is compared with the substrate current models reported in the literature. In addition, the temperature dependence of the substrate current in the range of 0-120°C is also modeled. The new model has been implemented in a circuit-level hot-electron reliability simulator, and the results obtained from simulation of an inverter circuit are presented     

Two new canonic single-CFOA oscillators with single resistor controls

Although a number of single current feedback op-amps (CFOA)-based single-resistance-controlled oscillators (SRCO) have appeared in earlier literature, only six of them are canonic (i.e., requiring only two capacitors and only three resistors). The object of this brief is to add to this list two new canonic single-CFOA-based SRCO configurations. An evaluation of these two new circuits has been carried out and their workability of has been confirmed by experimental results based upon AD844 CFOAs.     

High Performance Process Variations Aware Technique for Sub-threshold 8T-SRAM Cell

The demand of low power high density integrated circuits is increasing in modern battery operated portable systems. Sub-threshold region of MOS transistors is the most desirable region for energy efficient circuit design. The operating ultra-low power supply voltage is the key design constraint with accurate output performance in sub-threshold region. Degrading of the performance metrics in Static random access memory (SRAM) cell with process variation effects are of major concern in sub-threshold region. In this paper, a bootstrapped driver circuit and a bootstrapped driver dynamic body biasing technique is proposed to assist write operation which improves the write-ability of sub-threshold 8T-SRAM cell under process variations. The bootstrapped driver circuit minimizes the write delay of SRAM cell. The bootstrapped driver dynamic body bias increases the output voltage levels by boosting factor therefore increasing in switching threshold voltage of MOS devices during hold and read operation of SRAM latch. The increment in threshold voltage improves the static noise margin and minimizing the process variation effects. Monte-Carlo simulation results with 3 \(\sigma \) Gaussian distributions show the improvements in write delay by 11.25 %, read SNM by 12.20 % and write SNM by 12.57 % in 8T-SRAM cell under process variations at 32 nm bulk CMOS process technology node.     

Triple Band Annular Ring Loaded Stacked Circular Patch Microstrip Antenna

In this paper a novel structure of annular ring loaded stacked circular patch microstrip antenna is theoretically analysed to observe various parameters such as return loss, input impedance, gain, directivity and radiation pattern. It is found that antenna possess three band of operation which signify the compactness and multiband operation of antenna. The antenna is resonating at three operating frequencies 1.720, 2.950, 3.060 GHz. The proposed theory is verified by simulation using Ansoft’s HFSS and theoretical results are in good agreement with simulated results. The antenna is useful for multi-services operations such as WLAN, GSM, UMTS, and WiMAX services.