A two-stage capacitive-feedback differencing amplifier for temporal contrast IR sensors

This article presents a small-area, ultra low-power, low-mismatch differencing transient amplifier for ROIC pixels of micro-bolometer based temporal contrast IR sensors. The two-stage capacitive-feedback amplifier works in the sub-threshold domain, has a voltage gain of 46 dB, a 3 dB bandwidth of about 10 kHz and consumes 85 nW of static power. The amplifier circuit has been fabricated in a 0.35 μm standard CMOS process and consumes less than 2000 μm² of silicon area, enabling a square pixel size of 50 × 50 μm for the IR sensor array.     

Thermoresponsive Hydrogels as Microniches for Growth and Controlled Release of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

The recently emerging stem-cell artificial niche engineering in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSCs) 3D cultures has provided enormous opportunities to fully utilize the potential of these cells in biomedical applications. Although a fully chemically defined niche environment can supply cells with desirable safety for clinical use, establishing an artificial degradable niche environment for the controlled release of proliferated cells under mild conditions is still a big challenge. Here, an advanced controlled releasable iPSC 3D artificial niche is reported based on dendritic polyglycerol and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-polyethylene glycol polymers via a physical–chemical cogelation strategy. Benefiting from the chemically defined synthetic materials and their precise cooperation by covalent cross-linking and physical phase transition, the cogelation-based artificial niche system can be adjusted with optimal parameters and owns high cell biocompatibility to support the robust production of high quality iPSCs with an excellent expansion efficiency. Moreover, the expanded cells can be released out of their niche environment controllably only by adjusting the temperature. Overall, this controlled release hydrogel scaffold shows great promise in iPSC 3D culture for downstream applications.     

Retracted and replaced: Enabling technologies for the ‘always best connected’ concept

The following article from Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing ‘Enabling technologies for the “always best connected” concept’ by N. Passas, S. Paskalis, A. Kaloxylos, F. Bader, R. Narcisi, E. Tsontsis, A. S. Jahan and H. Aghvami published online on 23 August 2004 in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ) and in print on 2 March 2005 in Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Volume 5 Issue 2 pp 175–191 has been retracted and replaced by agreement between the authors, the journal editors and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The article has been retracted due to the omission of the following contributing authors: M. O'Droma and I. Ganchev who are included as contributing authors in the replacement article. (DOI: 10.1002/wcm.392 )     

3D-Printed Broadband Dielectric Tube Terahertz Waveguide with Anti-Reflection Structure

We demonstrate broadband, low loss, and close-to-zero dispersion guidance of terahertz (THz) radiation in a dielectric tube with an anti-reflection structure (AR-tube waveguide) in the frequency range from 0.2 to 1.0 THz. The anti-reflection structure (ARS) consists of close-packed cones in a hexagonal lattice arranged on the outer surface of the tube cladding. The feature size of the ARS is in the order of the wavelength between 0.2 and 1.0 THz. The waveguides are fabricated with the versatile and cost efficient 3D-printing method. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) measurements as well as 3D finite-difference time-domain simulations (FDTD) are performed to extensively characterize the AR-tube waveguides. Spectrograms, attenuation spectra, effective phase refractive indices, and the group-velocity dispersion parameters β ₂ of the AR-tube waveguides are presented. Both the experimental and numerical results confirm the extended bandwidth and smaller group-velocity dispersion of the AR-tube waveguide compared to a low loss plain dielectric tube THz waveguide. The AR-tube waveguide prototypes show an attenuation spectrum close to the theoretical limit given by the infinite cladding tube waveguide.     

Time-frequency spectral estimation of multichannel EEG using the Auto-SLEX method

In this paper, we apply a new time-frequency spectral estimation method for multichannel data to epileptiform electroencephalography (EEG). The method is based on the smooth localized complex exponentials (SLEX) functions which are time-frequency localized versions of the Fourier functions and, hence, are ideal for analyzing nonstationary signals whose spectral properties evolve over time. The SLEX functions are simultaneously orthogonal and localized in time and frequency because they are obtained by applying a projection operator rather than a window or taper. In this paper, we present the Auto-SLEX method which is a statistical method that 1) computes the periodogram using the SLEX transform, 2) automatically segments the signal into approximately stationary segments using an objective criterion that is based on log energy, and 3) automatically selects the optimal bandwidth of the spectral smoothing window. The method is applied to the intracranial EEG from a patient with temporal lobe epilepsy. This analysis reveals a reduction in average duration of stationarity in preseizure epochs of data compared to baseline. These changes begin up to hours prior to electrical seizure onset in this patient.     

Reliability Potential Of Epoxy Based Encapsulants For Automotive Applications

Automotive under-the-hood electronics often have to withstand temperatures up to 175 °C in combination with harsh environment conditions. This paper gives an overview about the reliability potential of epoxy based encapsulants for automotive applications. Therefore the resistance of epoxy molding compound against typical automotive fluids at temperature of use is analyzed. Six epoxy molding compounds available on the market, showing high temperature automotive potential have been carefully selected to undergo a media resistance testing. For this purpose a dedicated mold tool has been designed and manufactured to prepare these encapsulants for material testing. Thermo-mechanical, mechanical and thermal properties had been determined in initial state directly after molding and after storage in aggressive fluids typical for automotive applications as e.g. gas oil, automatic transmission fluid (ATF), brake fluid or accumulator acid at the respective temperature of use.     

The European project trust—reconfigurable terminals and supporting networks

To date, research into reconfigurable mobile communications has predominantly focussed on the software radio concept, and specifically on the hardware technologies required to move physical layer processing into a programmable environment [1, 2, 3]. Although an interesting and necessary challenge, this only represents a fraction of the overall support and technology required to realise the potential of the concept. Other necessary developments include network/terminal cooperation for seamless inter-standard handoff, QoS management for software download and reconfiguration, a secure software download mechanism, terminal software and mobile radio network architecture supporting terminal reconfiguration, management for software downloads, configuration management, capability negotiation, radio resource management and spectrum allocation policies etc… This paper describes results from the EuropeanIst Trust (Transparently Reconfigurable UbiquitouS Terminal) [4] project concerning user and operator requirements, the proposed overall system environment, security issues, concerted radio resource management, and expected time frame for the development of reconfigurable terminals.     

2D van der Waals Heterojunction of Organic and Inorganic Monolayers for High Responsivity Phototransistors

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures composing of organic molecules with inorganic 2D crystals open the door to fabricate various promising hybrid devices. Here, a fully ordered organic self-assembled monolayer (SAM) to construct hybrid organic–inorganic vdW heterojunction phototransistors for highly sensitive light detection is used. The heterojunctions, formed by layering MoS₂ monolayer crystals onto organic [12-(benzo[b]benzo[4,5]thieno[2,3-d]thiophen-2-yl)dodecyl)]phosphonic acid SAM, are characterized by Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy as well as Kelvin probe force microscopy. Remarkably, this vdW heterojunction transistor exhibits a superior photoresponsivity of 475 A W⁻¹ and enhanced external quantum efficiency of 1.45 × 10⁵%, as well as an extremely low dark photocurrent in the pA range. This work demonstrates that hybridizing SAM with 2D materials can be a promising strategy for fabricating diversified optoelectronic devices with unique properties.