Energy Efficient Hardware Loop Based Optimization for CGRAs

Journal of Signal Processing Systems - Research interest and industry investment in edge computing solutions have increased dramatically in recent years. Consequent quest for balanced performance,...     

Lossless,Passive Transportation of Low Surface Tension Liquids Induced by Patterned Omniphobic Liquidlike Polymer Brushes

Surfaces enabling directional liquid transportation are of great interest for a wide range of applications such as water collection, microfluidics, and heat transfer systems. Surfaces capable of lossless, long-range passive transportation of low surface tension (LST) liquids using wettability patterned, liquidlike coatings with minimal contact angle hysteresis are reported. Lossless LST droplet travel distances over 150 mm are achieved, enabled by a two-phase transportation mechanism: morphological transformation from a bulge to a channel shape, followed by directional transportation along the asymmetrical wedge-shaped channel. The developed surfaces can split, merge, and precisely transport various low-surface tension liquids, including alcohols, alkanes, and solvents. The developed transportation strategy can also enhance LST liquid dropwise condensation through continuous removal of the condensate, even on horizontally positioned surfaces without the assistance of gravity.     

Legal information retrieval for understanding statutory terms

In this work we study, design, and evaluate computational methods to support interpretation of statutory terms. We propose a novel task of discovering sentences for argumentation about the meaning of statutory terms. The task models the analysis of past treatment of statutory terms, an exercise lawyers routinely perform using a combination of manual and computational approaches. We treat the discovery of sentences as a special case of ad hoc document retrieval. The specifics include retrieval of short texts (sentences), specialized document types (legal case texts), and, above all, the unique definition of document relevance provided in detailed annotation guidelines. To support our experiments we assembled a data set comprising 42 queries (26,959 sentences) which we plan to release to the public in the near future in order to support further research. Most importantly, we investigate the feasibility of developing a system that responds to a query with a list of sentences that mention the term in a way that is useful for understanding and elaborating its meaning. This is accomplished by a systematic assessment of different features that model the sentences’ usefulness for interpretation. We combine features into a compound measure that accounts for multiple aspects. The definition of the task, the assembly of the data set, and the detailed task analysis provide a solid foundation for employing a learning-to-rank approach.

     

Optimization of sodium sulfide treatment of rice straw to increase the enzymatic hydrolysis in bioethanol production

The efficiency of sodium sulfide-assisted alkaline pulping for cellulose preparation from Oryza sativa L. rice straw in Vietnam for enzymatic saccharification was investigated. The response surface methodology was used for the determination of optimal technological parameters of alkaline pulping such as active alkali dosage, temperature and time. The optimal technological parameters were established to be active alkali dosage of 7%, treatment temperature of 100 °C and treatment time of 120 min. At these regimes, a maximal sugar yield of 51.8% (over dry rice straw) was obtained. It meant that the saccharification efficiency up to 97.1% could be achieved by using sodium sulfide-assisted alkaline pretreatment method. Addition of sodium sulfide into alkaline pretreatment resulted in higher sugar yield, higher level of depolymerization of lignin and less loss of cellulose. Moreover, liquid hydrolyzate after enzymatic hydrolysis was analyzed by HPLC to determine the compositions of sugar mixture. The fiber morphology in pretreated biomass solid was also revealed by SEM.     

Amplification‐Free Multi‐RNA‐Type Profiling for Cancer Risk Stratification via Alternating Current Electrohydrodynamic Nanomixing

Simultaneous analysis of messenger RNA (mRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)—multi‐RNA‐type profiling—is increasingly crucial in cancer diagnostics. Yet, rapid multi‐RNA‐type profiling is challenging due to enzymatic amplification reliance and RNA‐type‐dependent characteristics. Here, a nanodevice is reported to uniquely use alterable alternating current electrohydrodynamic (ac‐EHD) forces to enhance probe–target hybridization prior to direct native RNA target detection, without target amplification or surface functionalization. To exemplify clinical applicability, noninvasive screening of next‐generation prostate cancer (PCa) RNA biomarkers (of different types) in patient urine samples is performed. A strong correlation between multi‐RNA‐type expression and aggressive PCa is found, and the nanodevice performance is statistically evaluated. It is believed that this miniaturized system exhibits great potential for cancer risk stratification via multi‐RNA‐type profiling.     

Reproducible Enhancement of Fluorescence by Bimetal Mediated Surface Plasmon Coupled Emission for Highly Sensitive Quantitative Diagnosis of Double‐Stranded DNA

Plasmonic enhancement of fluorescence from SYBR Green I conjugated with a double‐stranded DNA (dsDNA) amplicon is demonstrated on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products. Theoretical computation leads to use of the bimetallic (Au 2 nm–Ag 50 nm) surface plasmons due to larger local fields (higher quality factors) than monometallic (Ag or Au) ones at both dye excitation and emission wavelengths simultaneously, optimizing fluorescence enhancement with surface plasmon coupled emission (SPCE). Two kinds of reverse Kretschmann configurations are used, which favor, in signal‐to‐noise ratio, a fluorescence assay that uses optically dense buffer such as blood plasma. The fluorescence enhancement (12.9 fold at maximum) with remarkably high reproducibility (coefficient of variation (CV) < 1%) is experimentally demonstrated. This facilitates credible quantitation of enhanced fluorescence, however unlikely to obtain by localized surface plasmons. The plasmon‐induced optical gain of 46 dB due to SPCE‐active dye molecules is also estimated. The fluorescence enhancement technologies with PCR enables LOD of the dsDNA template concentration of ≈400 fg µL^?1 (CV < 1%), the lowest ever reported in DNA fluorescence assay to date. SPCE also reduces photobleaching significantly. These technologies can be extended for a highly reproducible and sufficiently sensitive fluorescence assay with small volumes of analytes in multiplexed diagnostics.     

Developments in quantitative dimensional synthesis (1970-present): four-bar motion generation

Dimensional synthesis is a type of inverse problem in linkage kinematics where the objective is to calculate the linkage dimensions required to achieve prescribed linkage output motion. Motion generation is a particular category of dimensional synthesis where the objective is to calculate the linkage dimensions required to achieve a group of prescribed link positions. In motion generation for a four-bar linkage, positions are prescribed for the coupler link. While early motion generation methods were primarily qualitative, ongoing advancements in computing hardware and software continue to make quantitative motion generation more practical. By providing overviews of works representative of developments in quantitative four-bar motion generation since 1970, this work is essentially an overview that spans over 40 years of developments in quantitative four-bar motion generation.     

Highly Exposed ?NH2 Edge on Fragmented g-C3N4 Framework with Integrated Molybdenum Atoms for Catalytic CO2 Cycloaddition: DFT and Techno-Economic Assessment

This study focuses on the applicability of single-atom Mo-doped graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) nanosheets which are specifically engineered with high surface area (exfoliated GCN),  NH₂ rich edges, and maximum utilization of isolated atomic Mo for propylene carbonate (PC) production through CO₂ cycloaddition of propylene oxide (PO). Various operational parameters are optimized, for example, temperature (130 °C), pressure (20 bar), catalyst (Mo₂GCN), and catalyst mass (0.1 g). Under optimal conditions, 2% Mo-doped GCN (Mo₂GCN) has the highest catalytic performance, especially the turnover frequency (TOF) obtained, 36.4 h⁻¹ is higher than most reported studies. DFT simulations prove the catalytic performance of Mo₂GCN significantly decreases the activation energy barrier for PO ring-opening from 50–60 to 4.903 kcal mol⁻¹. Coexistence of Lewis acid/base group improves the CO₂ cycloaddition performance by the formation of coordination bond between electron-deficient Mo atom with O atom of PO, while  NH₂ surface group disrupts the stability of CO₂ bond by donating electrons into its low-level empty orbital. Steady-state process simulation of the industrial-scale consumes 4.4 ton h⁻¹ of CO₂ with PC production of 10.2 ton h⁻¹. Techno-economic assessment profit from Mo₂GCN is estimated to be 60.39 million USD year⁻¹ at a catalyst loss rate of 0.01 wt% h⁻¹.