Modulation of Mechanical Interactions by Local Piezoelectric Effects

Piezoelectricity is a well‐established property of biological materials, yet its functional role has remained unclear. Here, a mechanical effect of piezoelectric domains resulting from collagen fibril organisation is demonstrated, and its role in tissue function and application to material design is described. Using a combination of scanning probe and nonlinear optical microscopy, a hierarchical structuring of piezoelectric domains in collagen‐rich tissues is observed, and their mechanical effects are explored in silico. Local electrostatic attraction and repulsion due to shear piezoelectricity in these domains modulate fibril interactions from the tens of nanometre (single fibril interactions) to the tens of micron (fibre interactions) level, analogous to modulated friction effects. The manipulation of domain size and organisation thus provides a capacity to tune energy storage, dissipation, stiffness, and damage resistance.     

Bandwidth extension in CMOS with optimized on-chip inductors

We present a technique for enhancing the bandwidth of gigahertz broad-band circuitry by using optimized on-chip spiral inductors as shunt-peaking elements. The series resistance of the on-chip inductor is incorporated as part of the load resistance to permit a large inductance to be realized with minimum area and capacitance. Simple, accurate inductance expressions are used in a lumped circuit inductor model to allow the passive and active components in the circuit to be simultaneously optimized. A quick and efficient global optimization method, based on geometric programming, is discussed. The bandwidth extension technique is applied in the implementation of a 2.125-Gbaud preamplifier that employs a common-gate input stage followed by a cascoded common-source stage. On-chip shunt peaking is introduced at the dominant pole to improve the overall system performance, including a 40% increase in the transimpedance. This implementation achieves a 1.6-kΩ transimpedance and a 0.6-μA input-referred current noise, while operating with a photodiode capacitance of 0.6 pF. A fully differential topology ensures good substrate and supply noise immunity. The amplifier, implemented in a triple-metal, single-poly, 14-GHz f_Tmax, 0.5-μm CMOS process, dissipates 225 mW, of which 110 mW is consumed by the 50-Ω output driver stage. The optimized on-chip inductors consume only 15% of the total area of 0.6 mm²      

Effects of a-Si:H resist vacuum-lithography processing on HgCdTe

A vacuum-compatible process for carrying out lithography on Hg_1−xCd_xTe and CdTe films was previously demonstrated. It was shown that hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) could be used as a dry resist by projecting a pattern onto its surface using excimer laser irradiation and then developing that pattern by hydrogen plasma etching. Pattern transfer to an underlying Hg_1−xCd_xTe film was then carried out via Ar/H₂ plasma etching in an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) reactor. Despite the successful demonstration of pattern transfer, the possibility of inducing harmful effects in the Hg_1−xCd_xTe film due to this vacuum lithography procedure had not been explored. Here we present structural and surface compositional analyses of Hg_1−xCd_xTe films at key stages of the a-Si:H vacuum lithography procedure. X-ray diffraction double crystal rocking curves taken before and after a-Si:H deposition and after development etching were identical, indicating that bulk structural changes in the Hg_1−xCd_xTe film are not induced by these processes. Cross-section transmission electron microscopy studies show that laser-induced heating in the 350 nm thick a-Si:H overlayer is not sufficient to cause structural damage in the underlying Hg_1−xCd_xTe surface. In vacuo surface analysis via Auger electron spectroscopy and ion scattering spectroscopy suggest that the hydrogen plasma development process produces Hg-deficient surfaces but does not introduce C contamination. However, after ECR plasma etching into the Hg_1−xCd_xTe film, the measured x value is much closer to that of the bulk.     

Interference Cancelling Codes for Ultra-Reliable Random Access

Combinatorial code designs (CCDs) are proposed as a means for achieving ultra-reliability in the random access channel. In contrast to traditional access protocols that use random repetition coding, we show that by uniquely allocating repetition patterns to users, successful reception may be guaranteed up to a number of simultaneously active users in small frame sizes. Such codes are particularly robust in the low activity region where mission-critical machine-type communication is expected to operate. We also present deterministic codes designed to work in conjunction with successive interference cancellation to further improve reliability. The optimal IC code for frames of 5 access slots is given. Unlike slotted ALOHA, it is shown to limit packet losses to well below the ultra-reliability threshold (10^?5). These error performance gains come at the cost of a strict limitation on the supported user population (11 users in the case of 5 slots). We therefore consider larger frames of 24 slots, and analyse heuristic, low-complexity CCDs with fixed repetition factors that support up to 2024 users. While these are sub-optimal IC codes, significant gains are still observed compared to random codes.     

Effects of pH and acid resistance on the radiation resistance of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli

The effects of pH and the induction of pH-dependent stationary-phase acid resistance on the radiation resistance of Escherichia coli were determined for seven enterohemorrhagic strains and one nonenterohemorrhagic strain. The isolates were grown in acidogenic or nonacidogenic media to pH levels of approximately 4.7 and 7.2, respectively. The cells were then transferred to brain heart infusion (BHI) broth adjusted to pH 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, and 5.5 (with HCl) that was preequilibrated to 2 degrees C, and cultures were then irradiated using a 137Cs source. Surviving cells and the extent of injury were determined by plating on BHI and MacConkey agars both immediately after irradiation and after subsequent storage at 2 degrees C for 7 days. Decreasing the pH of the BHI in which E. coli was irradiated had relatively little effect on the microorganism's radiation resistance. Substantial differences in radiation resistance were noted among strains, and induction of acid resistance consistently increased radiation resistance. Comparison of E. coli levels immediately after irradiation and after 7 days of refrigerated storage suggested that irradiation enhanced pH-mediated inactivation of the pathogen. These results demonstrate that prior growth under conditions that induce a pH-dependent stationary phase cross-protects E. coli against radiation inactivation and must be taken into account when determining the microorganism's irradiation D value.     

Optimization-based design and implementation of multidimensional zero-phase IIR filters

This paper considers multidimensional infinite-impulse response (IIR) filters that are iteratively implemented. The focus is on zero-phase filters with symmetric polynomials in the numerator and denominator of the multivariable transfer function. A rigorous optimization-based design of the filter is considered. Transfer function magnitude specifications, convergence speed requirements for the iterative implementation, and spatial decay of the filter impulse response (which defines the boundary condition influence in the spatial domain of the filtered signal) are all formulated as optimization constraints. When the denominator of the zero-phase IIR filter is strictly positive, these frequency domain specifications can be cast as a linear program and then efficiently solved. The method is illustrated with two two-dimensional IIR filter design examples.     

Robust Beamforming via Worst-Case SINR Maximization

Minimum variance beamforming, which uses a weight vector that maximizes the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), is often sensitive to estimation error and uncertainty in the parameters, steering vector and covariance matrix. Robust beamforming attempts to systematically alleviate this sensitivity by explicitly incorporating a data uncertainty model in the optimization problem. In this paper, we consider robust beamforming via worst-case SINR maximization, that is, the problem of finding a weight vector that maximizes the worst-case SINR over the uncertainty model. We show that with a general convex uncertainty model, the worst-case SINR maximization problem can be solved by using convex optimization. In particular, when the uncertainty model can be represented by linear matrix inequalities, the worst-case SINR maximization problem can be solved via semidefinite programming. The convex formulation result allows us to handle more general uncertainty models than prior work using a special form of uncertainty model. We illustrate the method with a numerical example.     

Processing and characterization of a-Si:H photoresists for a vacuum-compatible photolithography process

The vision of achieving a completely in-vacuum process for fabricating HgCdTe detector arrays is contingent on the availability of a vacuumcompatible photolithography technology. One such technology for vacuum photolithography involves the use of amorphous-hydrogenated Si (a-Si:H) as a photoresist. In this work, we deposit a-Si:H resists via plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition (PECVD) using an Ar-diluted silane precursor. The resists are then patterned via excimer laser exposure and development etched in a hydrogen plasma where etch selectivities between unexposed and exposed regions exceed 600:1. To determine the best conditions for the technique, we investigate the effects of different exposure environments and carry out an analysis of the a-Si:H surfaces before and after development etching. Analysis via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals that the excimer-exposed surfaces are polycrystalline in nature, indicating that the mechanism for pattern generation in this study is based on melting and crystallization. To demonstrate pattern transfer, underlying CdTe films were etched (after development of the resist) in an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma, where etch selectivities of approximately 8:1 have been achieved. The significance of this work is the demonstration of laser-induced poly-Si as an etching mask for vacuum-compatible photolithography.     

Enhanced SNR estimates from direct-sequence spread-spectrum demodulator statistics

Demodulator statistics are used in a binary directsequence spread-spectrum receiver to improve the performance of a well-known signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimate for ratios of the binary symbol energy to one-sided noise density that are below approximately 7 dB. The new estimate requires no pilot symbols, training sequences, data symbol decisions, or channel measurements, and it can be obtained prior to decoding.     

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.