A Nonvolatile Organic Memory Device Using ITO Surfaces Modified by Ag‐Nanodots

We report on a single‐layer organic memory device made of poly(N‐vinylcarbazole) embedded between an Al electrode and ITO modified with Ag nanodots (Ag‐NDs). Devices exhibit high ON/OFF switching ratios of 10⁴. This level of performance could be achieved by modifying the ITO electrodes with some Ag‐NDs that act as trapping sites, reducing the current in the OFF state. Temperature dependence of the electrical characteristics suggest that the current of the low‐resistance state can be attributed to Schottky charge tunnelling through low‐resistance pathways of Al particles in the polymer layer and that the high‐resistance state can be controlled by charge trapping by the Al particles and Ag‐NDs.     

Performance modeling and evaluation of data/voice services in wireless networks

Application-level performance is a key to the adoption and success of the CDMA 2000. To predict this performance in advance, a detailed end-to-end simulation model of a CDMA network is built to include application traffic characteristics, network architecture, network element details using the proposed simulation methodology. We assess the user-perceived application performance when a RAN and a CN adopt different transport architectures such as ATM and IP. To evaluate the user-perceived quality of voice service, we compare the end-to-end packet delay for different vocoder schemes such as G.711, G.726 (PCM), G.726 (ADPCM), and vocoder bypass scheme. By the simulation results, the vocoder bypass scenario shows 30% performance improvement over the others. We also compare the quality of voice service with and without DPS scheduling scheme. We know that DPS scheme keep the voice delay bound even if the service traffic is high. For data packet performance, HTTP v.1.1 shows better performance than that of HTTP v.1.0 due to the pipelining and TCP persistent connection. We may conclude that IP transport technology is better solution for higher FER environment since the packet overhead of IP is smaller than that of ATM for web browsing data traffic, while it shows opposite effect to the small size voice packet in RAN architecture. We show that the 3G-1X EV-DO system gives much better packet delay performance than 3G-1X RTT. The main conclusion is that end-to-end application-level performance is affected by various elements and layers of the network and thus it must be considered in all phases of the development process. Jae-Hyun Kim He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, all in computer science and engineering, from Hanyang University, Ansan, Korea, in 1991, 1993, and 1996 respectively. In 1996, he was with the Communication Research Laboratory, Tokyo, Japan, as a Visiting Scholar. From April 1997 to October 1998, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the department of electrical engineering, University of California, Los Angeles. From November 1998 to February 2003, he worked as a member of technical staff in Performance Modeling and QoS management department, Bell laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Holmdel, NJ. He has been with the department of electrical engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea, as an assistant professor since 2003. His research interests include QoS issues and cross layer optimization for high-speed wireless communication. Dr. Kim was the recipient of the LGIC Thesis Prize and Samsung Human-Tech Thesis Prize in 1993 and 1997, respectively. He is a member of the Korean Institute of Communication Sciences (KICS), Korea Institute of Telematics and Electronis (KITE), Korea Information Science Society (KISS), and IEEE. Hyun-Jin Lee received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Ajou University, Suwon, Korea, in 2004, and is working toward the M.S. degree and Ph. D. degree in electrical engineering at Ajou University. He has been awarded Samsung Human-Tech Thesis Prize in 2004. His research interests QoS, especially network optimization and wireless packet scheduling. He is a member of the KICS. Sung-Min Oh received the B.S. and M. S. degrees in electrical engineering form Ajou University, Suwon, Korea, in 2004, and is working toward the Ph. D. degree in electrical engineering at Ajou University. His research interests QoS performance analysis and 4G network. He is a member of the KICS. Sung-Hyun Cho received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from Hanyang University, Korea, in 1995, 1997, and 2001, respectively. From 2001 to 2005, he has been with Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, where he has been engaged in the design and standardization of MAC and upper layers of B3G, IEEE 802.16e, and WiBro systems. He is currently a MAC part leader in the telecommunication R&D center of Samsung Electronics. His research interests include 4G air interface design, radio resource management, cross layer design, and handoff in wireless systems.     

Is there a direct relationship between oral astringency and human salivary protein binding?

For decades, it is believed that astringency is due to the polyphenol-induced complexation of proline-rich salivary proteins in the oral cavity. In order to compare for the first time the human sensory threshold concentrations and the salivary protein binding activity of a series of astringent stimuli, human saliva protein was incubated for 5 min at 37 °C in the presence of astringent food-derived compounds and, after micro-centrifugation, the amount of the target molecules in the supernatant was quantitatively determined by HPLC-UV/Vis. Significant protein binding was observed for (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, (−)-gallocatechin-3-gallate, (+)-gallocatechin, and (−)-catechin-3-gallate, all of which containing at least one galloyl moiety in the molecule and exhibiting rather high sensory thresholds of more than 200 μmol/L. In comparison, (+)-catechin and procyanidin B2, both lacking in any galloyl function, showed only comparatively low binding activity and, most interestingly, quercetin-3-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-d-glucopyranoside and 3-carboxymethyl-indole-1-N-β-d-glucopyranoside did not show any protein binding at all, although the later N- and O-glycosides exhibited extraordinarily low sensory threshold concentrations of less than 0.001 and 0.0003 μmol/L, respectively. The data give some first evidence that the quantity of the non-bound, “free” astringent stimulus in the saliva liquid might be more closely related to the sensory perception of astringency than the amount complexed or precipitated by proteins. It is therefore questionable as to whether oral perception of astringency is related to the complexation and/or precipitation of salivary proteins.     

Übergangene Nachbarn; Erlangung der Parteistellung; Sachlichkeitsgebot

Die Regelung über die Erlangung der Parteistellung übergangener Nachbarn durch Geltendmachung von Einwendungen bis l?ngstens drei Monate nach dem angezeigten Baubeginn ist wegen der Anknüpfung an einen untauglichen Zeitpunkt verfassungswidrig.     

Tunable laser-based design and analysis for fractional lambda switches

Fractional lambda switching (FlambdaS) is a novel approach for traffic management over all-optical networks with sub-wavelength provisioning capability. The unique characteristic of FlambdaS is the utilization of UTC (coordinated universal time) for switching with minimum or no buffers. Several central research issues are still open in FlambdaS and need to be formally defined and analyzed. In this paper, we introduce three novel switch designs that are based on the use of tunable lasers (which can be replaced in the future with wavelength converters). First, the paper presents analytical results of scheduling feasibility, which measures the total number of possible different schedules for each switch design. Then it is shown that the architecture with the highest scheduling feasibility is strictly non blocking in the space domain. Next, the paper provides a closed form analysis of the blocking probability in the time domain, which is applicable for any strictly non-space blocking switch, using combinatorics. In addition, the paper provides measures of the switching hardware complexity, which, for the strictly non-blocking architecture, has the same switching complexity as Clos interconnection network, i.e., O(N'radic(N')) where N' is the number of optical channels.     

Influence of generator load conditions on third-harmonic voltages in generator stator winding

The influence of changes in load conditions of the generator-transformer unit on the operating conditions of the 100% ground-fault protection of the generator stator winding based on the third-harmonic voltages was analyzed. The analyzed stator ground-fault protection system is by ratio of the voltages third harmonic in generator neutral and at the generator terminals. The third-harmonic voltages were determined on the base of the experimental tests (measurements) run in real conditions at changes in active and reactive load conditions of the generator. It was found that mainly the generator active load influences the voltage feeding the measuring element of ground-fault protection. Therefore, determining operating conditions of ground-fault protection the influence of the generator active and reactive load should be deeply considered. This can ensure the proper operation of the ground-fault protection based on the voltage third harmonics in the whole range of the changes in generator load. Considering the influence of changes in generator load on the third-harmonic voltages (feeding measuring element of the protection system) will allow eliminating irregular generator tripping as a result of unselective operation of these protections.     

Learning with belief levels

We study learning of predicate logics formulas from “elementary facts,” i.e. from the values of the predicates in the given model. Several models of learning are considered, but most of our attention is paid to learning with belief levels. We propose an axiom system which describes what we consider to be a human scientist's natural behavior when trying to explore these elementary facts. It is proved that no such system can be complete. However we believe that our axiom system is “practically” complete. Theorems presented in the paper in some sense confirm our hypothesis.     

Softwarekartographie

Zusammenfassung  Anwendungslandschaften in Unternehmen sind langlebige hoch-komplexe Strukturen bestehend aus hunderten bis tausenden von miteinander vernetzten betrieblichen Informationssystemen, die von Personen mit sehr unterschiedlichen Interessen und Erfahrungshintergrund konzipiert, erstellt, modifiziert, betrieben, genutzt und finanziert werden. Die Softwarekartographie zielt darauf ab, die Kommunikation zwischen diesen Personen durch zielgruppenspezifische verst?ndliche graphische Visualisierungen zu unterstützen, die Gesch?fts- und Informatik-Aspekte gleicherma?en berücksichtigen, und die speziell für langfristige und strategische Management-Betrachtungen geeignet sind. In diesem Beitrag fassen wir zun?chst die in der betrieblichen Praxis wohlbekannten Probleme beim Management von Anwendungslandschaften zusammen und diagnostizieren erhebliche Kommunikationsdefizite. Da Anwendungslandschaften als Systeme von Systemen mit Menschen als integrale Systembestandteile zu verstehen sind, werden Karten als attraktiver L?sungsansatz identifiziert und die wesentlichen Konzepte der Softwarekartographie anhand von Beispielen vorgestellt. Dabei werden Querbezüge zu anderen Fachgebieten der Informatik und Wirtschaftsinformatik hergestellt, und die bisherige Nutzung der Forschungsergebnisse in der Praxis gezeigt.     

Miniature in vivo robots for remote and harsh environments

Long-term human space exploration will require contingencies for emergency medical procedures including some capability to perform surgery. The ability to perform minimally invasive surgery (MIS) would be an important capability. The use of small incisions reduces surgical risk, but also eliminates the ability of the surgeon to view and touch the surgical environment directly. Robotic surgery, or telerobotic surgery, may provide emergency surgical care in remote or harsh environments such as space flight, or extremely forward environments such as battlefields. However, because current surgical robots are large and require extensive support personnel, their implementation has remained limited in forward environments, and they would be difficult, or impossible, to use in space flight or on battlefields. This paper presents experimental analysis of miniature fixed-base and mobile in vivo robots to support MIS surgery in remote and harsh environments. The objective is to develop wireless imaging and task-assisting robots that can be placed inside the abdominal cavity during surgery. Such robots will provide surgical task assistance and enable an on-site or remote surgeon to view the surgical environment from multiple angles. This approach is applicable to long-duration space flight, battlefield situations, and for traditional medical centers and other remote surgical locations.     

Modeling wireless fading channels via stochastic differential equations: identification and estimation based on noisy measurements

This paper is concerned with modeling and identification of wireless channels using noisy measurements. The models employed are governed by stochastic differential equations (SDEs) in state space form, while the identification method is based on the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm and Kalman filtering. The algorithm is tested against real channel measurements. The results presented include state space models for the channels, estimates of inphase and quadrature components, and estimates of the corresponding Doppler power spectral densities (DPSDs), from sample noisy measurements. Based on the available measurements, it is concluded that state space models of order two are sufficient for wireless flat fading channel characterization.