Time-harmonic analysis of grounding system in horizontally stratified multilayer medium

This paper extends an electromagnetic model for time-harmonic analysis of grounding system in horizontally stratified multilayer medium which consists of air and arbitrary number of soil layers. Complete electromagnetic coupling between grounding system segments is taken into account. The model is based on applying the finite element technique to an integral equation formulation. Through an effective approximation of the attenuation and phase shift effects the computation of Sommerfeld integrals has been avoided, which considerably shortens the computational time. The treatment of non-horizontal segments of grounding grid conductors has been resolved by approximating the segment with five current point sources distributed along the segment length. An algorithm for scalar electric potential computation in any soil layers is presented and compared to published results. The effects of approximating a complex heterogeneous earth structure with a homogeneous earth is also analyzed and discussed.     

Analysis of blocking probability in optical burst switched networks

In this article, we study the blocking probability in a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) based asynchronous bufferless optical burst switched (OBS) network, equipped with a bank of wavelength converters. Our analysis encloses two wavelength reservation schemes JIT (just-in-time) and JET (just-enough-time), and two-class data rate. The contribution of our work includes: (i) derivation of an accurate model for blocking probability of lower priority bursts in case of a non-preempted model; (ii) provision of the analytical model for blocking probability calculation in the OBS network, which includes these variables: two signaling schemes, partial wavelength conversion, two-class data, traffic intensity, cross-connect speed, number of wavelengths in WDM fiber, number of fibers in the node, number of wavelength converters, and number of nodes in the path; (iii) simulation results, which show that partial wavelength conversion provide quite satisfactory quality of service. We compare performance in a single OBS node, under various sets of parameter values. The OBS network shows great flexibility in terms of used multiclass data, and there is no dependence on the used higher layer protocol.     

Contributing to sustainability: addressing the core problems

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy -     

Extended vertical lists for temporal pattern mining from multivariate time series

In this paper, the problem of mining complex temporal patterns in the context of multivariate time series is considered. A new method called the Fast Temporal Pattern Mining with Extended Vertical Lists is introduced. The method is based on an extension of the level‐wise property, which requires a more complex pattern to start at positions within a record where all of the subpatterns of the pattern start. The approach is built around a novel data structure called the Extended Vertical List that tracks positions of the first state of the pattern inside records and links them to appropriate positions of a specific subpattern of the pattern called the prefix. Extensive computational results indicate that the new method performs significantly faster than the previous version of the algorithm for Temporal Pattern Mining; however, the increase in speed comes at the expense of increased memory usage.     

Nanomotion Detection Method for Testing Antibiotic Resistance and Susceptibility of Slow‐Growing Bacteria

Infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms and are often severe. Time to fully characterize an infectious agent after sampling and to find the right antibiotic and dose are important factors in the overall success of a patient's treatment. Previous results suggest that a nanomotion detection method could be a convenient tool for reducing antibiotic sensitivity characterization time to several hours. Here, the application of the method for slow‐growing bacteria is demonstrated, taking Bordetella pertussis strains as a model. A low‐cost nanomotion device is able to characterize B. pertussis sensitivity against specific antibiotics within several hours, instead of days, as it is still the case with conventional growth‐based techniques. It can discriminate between resistant and susceptible B. pertussis strains, based on the changes of the sensor's signal before and after the antibiotic addition. Furthermore, minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations of clinically applied antibiotics are compared using both techniques and the suggested similarity is discussed.     

Mixed Lead Halide Passivation of Quantum Dots

Infrared‐absorbing colloidal quantum dots (IR CQDs) are materials of interest in tandem solar cells to augment perovskite and cSi photovoltaics (PV). Today's best IR CQD solar cells rely on the use of passivation strategies based on lead iodide; however, these fail to passivate the entire surface of IR CQDs. Lead chloride passivated CQDs show improved passivation, but worse charge transport. Lead bromide passivated CQDs have higher charge mobilities, but worse passivation. Here a mixed lead‐halide (MPbX) ligand exchange is introduced that enables thorough surface passivation without compromising transport. MPbX–PbS CQDs exhibit properties that exceed the best features of single lead‐halide PbS CQDs: they show improved passivation (43 ± 5 meV vs 44 ± 4 meV in Stokes shift) together with higher charge transport (4 × 10^‐2 ± 3 × 10^‐3 cm² V^‐1 s^‐1 vs 3 × 10^‐2 ± 3 × 10^‐3 cm² V^‐1 s^‐1 in mobility). This translates into PV devices having a record IR open‐circuit voltage (IR V_oc) of 0.46 ± 0.01 V while simultaneously having an external quantum efficiency of 81 ± 1%. They provide a 1.7× improvement in the power conversion efficiency of IR photons (>1.1 µm) relative to the single lead‐halide controls reported herein.     

Synthesis of biodegradable hydroxyethylcellulose cryogels by UV irradiation

Biodegradable macroporous hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) cryogels of good quality and high gel fraction yield (95%) were synthesized via a facile method. The latter involved a relatively fast preparation of homogeneous semidilute solution of polymer and photoinitiator, (4-benzoylbenzyl)trimethylammonium chloride, followed by freezing at a defined negative temperature, an extremely short UV irradiation and subsequent thawing. HEC cryogels were successfully prepared also by using H₂O₂ as a photoinitiator. The effects of the temperature of freezing, the HEC molecular weight and the concentration of HEC solution on the cross-linking efficiency, the swelling ratio and the enzymatic degradation of HEC cryogels were investigated. Due to the cryoconcentration phenomenon, cryogels are formed at substantially low initial concentrations of the studied polymers. The highest values of gel fraction yield are achieved in the 1-2 wt.% concentration range at −20 °C. As a rule, the higher the molecular weight, the greater the gel fraction yield of the resulting cryogels. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis reveals that the interior structure of HEC cryogels is completely different from the conventional HEC hydrogels. HEC cryogels undergo decomposition by the action of cellulase enzyme, however, due to their specific morphology, the rate of degradation is slower compared to the conventional HEC hydrogel of similar gel fraction yield.     

Are conductance plateaus independent events in atomic point contact measurements? A statistical approach

Conductance-elongation curves of gold atomic wires are measured using a scanning tunneling microscope break junction technique at room temperature. Landauer's conductance plateaus are individually identified and statistically analyzed. Both the probabilities to observe and the lengths of the two last plateaus (at conductance values close to 2e(2)/h and 4e(2)/h) are studied. All results converge to show that the occurrences of these two conductance plateaus on a conductance-elongation curve are statistically independent events.