Low-cost, high-efficiency quasi-planar array of waveguide-fed circularly polarized microstrip antennas

A low-cost quasiplanar Ku-band array of circularly polarized microstrip antennas benefiting from a low-loss waveguide feed network is demonstrated (patent pending). The 32 elements of the array which are arranged in a 2-by-16 configuration are subdivided into four two-by-four subarrays. To maintain feed losses and thus the overall noise temperature at a minimum, the subarrays are excited using a one-by-four corporate feed network of hollow metallic waveguides. This network is composed of E-plane components such as Tee-junctions and bends and is manufactured out of only two metallic pieces that accommodate the feed network in the form of milled grooves. Because of insensitivity of the exploited E-plane components to air gaps or slight misalignments, the pieces are secured together with only four screws without welding, braising, or conducting adhesives. Owing to a low-loss foam substrate, the array elements show high circular polarization gain of 9 dBic and wide relative bandwidth of 4%. To achieve circular polarization, use is made of circular patches with two nearly perpendicular perturbations. Using sequential rotation of the elements along with quadrature phase shifting, the axial ratio of the array is reduced to 1 dB over 4% of bandwidth. The measured circular polarization gain of the array amounts to 23 dBic with an aperture efficiency of 63% in the Ku-band of frequencies. The achieved efficiency, which is higher than the reported efficiency for comparable planar arrays with microstrip feed networks, can be credited to the low losses of only 0.2 dB in its waveguide corporate feed. The paper also presents measurement results for an arrangement of two inclined single arrays mounted in parallel. This configuration which has a measured circular polarization gain of 25.7 dBic with an axial ratio of 1 dB is desirable for mobile low-profile antenna systems.     

Institutional research productivity in industrial/organizational psychology.

Updated the report of W. M. Cox and V. Catt (see record 1978-21651-001) by determining the 40 top contributing institutions to the Journal of Applied Psychology, 1976–1982, and assessed the generalizability of productivity rankings based solely on contributions to this journal. A number of industrial and organizational psychologists were asked to indicate all the journals in which psychologists in the field were likely to publish. Five journals suggested by these nominators were used for comparison in the review. A list of the 40 most productive graduate programs based on these 5 journals is included. Results show the inadequacy of Cox and Catt's decision to base productivity ratings solely on contributions to 1 journal. Using 5 journals, 4 programs were catapulted into the top 10 rankings, while 7 programs dropped from top rankings in the Cox study (1970–1975) to below the 65th rank in the present study. Using only the Journal of Applied Psychology contributions, 2 of these programs ranked in the top 10, 1976–1982. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Monitoring of human enteric viruses and coliform bacteria in waters after urban flood in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Floodwaters in Kampung Melayu village, Jakarta, Indonesia, as well as river water and consumable water (including groundwater and tap water) samples in flooded and non-flooded areas, were quantitatively analysed to assess occurrence of viruses and total coliforms and E. coli as bacterial indicators after flooding event. High numbers of enterovirus, hepatitis A virus, norovirus (G1, G2) and adenovirus were detected at high concentration in floodwaters and waters sampled from Ciliwung River which runs across metropolitan Jakarta and is used widely for agriculture and domestic purposes by poor residents. One out of three groundwater wells in the flooded area was contaminated with all viruses tested while no viruses were found in groundwater samples in non-flooded areas and tap water samples. The results revealed that human enteric viruses, especially hepatitis A virus and adenovirus, were prevalent in Jakarta, Indonesia. This study suggested that flooding posed a higher risk of viral infection to the people through contamination of drinking water sources or direct contact with floodwaters.     

Boosting nitrification by membrane-attached biofilm.

Nitrification is a key step for reliable biological nitrogen removal. In order to enhance nitrification in the activated sludge (AS) process, membrane-attached biofilm (MAB) was incorporated in a conventional activated sludge tank. Simultaneous organic carbon removal and nitrification of the MAB incorporated activated sludge (AS + MAB) process was investigated with continuous wastewater treatment. The effluent TOC concentration of AS and the AS + MAB processes were about 6.3 mg/L and 7.9 mg/L, respectively. The TOC removal efficiency of both AS and AS + MAB were above 95% during the wastewater treatment, indicating excellent organic carbon removal performance in both processes. Little nitrification occurred in the AS process. On the contrary, successful nitrification was obtained with the AS + MAB process with nitrification efficiency of about 90%. The volumetric and surface nitrification rates were about 0.14 g/Ld and 6.5 g/m2d, respectively. The results clearly demonstrated that nitrification in the conventional AS process was boosted by MAB. Furthermore, the microfaunal population in the AS + MAB process was different from that in the AS process. The high concentration of rotifers in the AS + MAB process was expected to decrease the generation of excess sludge in the process.     

Optimal algorithms for adjacent side routing

We consider the switchbox routing problem of two-terminal nets in the case when all thek nets lie on two adjacent sides of the rectangle. Our routing model is the standard two-layer model. We develop an optimal algorithm that routes all the nets whenever a routing exists. The routing obtained uses the fewest possible number of vias. A more general version of this problem (adjacent staircase) is also optimally solved.This research was supported in part by NSA Contract No. MDA-904-85H-0015, NSF Grant No. DCR-86-00378, and by NSF Engineering Research Centers Program NSFD CDR 88003012.     

Estimation of failure probability from a bivariate normal stress-strength distribution

Probability (P) of equipment failure consequent upon stress exceeding built-in strength has been estimated assuming a bivariate normal stress-strength distribution. The UMVUE of P when parameters other than the means are known has been derived. An alternative estimator based on maximum likelihood estimates has been proposed in the case when all the five parameters are unknown. Asymptotic variances of both these estimators have been worked out. Some relevant numerical computations have also been reported.     

Sludge reed bed facilities: operation and problems.

Short operating periods and problems with dewatering efficiency, vegetation, mineralisation and odour are primarily caused by incorrect construction of the filter, poor capillary connections, an inadequate number of basins, insufficient basin area and overloading during commissioning and during subsequent operation. Dimensioning should be based on the sludge quality including the dewatering qualities and not solely on calculations of the sludge production. Loading after planting depends on the development level of the vegetation. The loading program should ensure that reed establishment is not impeded and should prevent the sludge residue from growing so quickly horizontally and vertically that the reeds cannot colonise the sludge residue. Overloading results in an anaerobic sludge residue with ensuing methane production. Typically, a sludge reed bed facility with a loading period of maximum 5 days, must be built with 10 basins to permit a rest phase of about 40 days. Facilities with 8 basins, where it is possible to load 1 basin for 7 days, will be able to have a 7-week rest phase before the first basin is loaded again. Facilities with for example 8-13 basins and loading period of between 4 and 10 days are able to achieve rest periods of up to 2 to 2(1/2) months, which results in the optimal evapotranspiration and minerilization. The conditions and thus the possibilities vary depending upon the type of sludge.     

Nanolayered lightweight flexible shields with multidirectional optical transparency

New nanolayered coatings are designed and deposited on flexible plastic substrate having the thickness of 100 /spl mu/m, in order to realize lightweight ultrathin transparent shielding foils. The structure of the coating is optimized considering three figures of merit: the average transmittance in the visible range for normal incidence, the normalized average transmittance for oblique incidence at 550 nm, and the transmittance quality factor. The nanotechnology exploited for the deposition of the transparent metals is the dual ion beam sputtering. Tests of durability, optical transmission, and shielding effectiveness demonstrate that the film has a high adhesion under mechanical solicitation, high resistance against aging, peak transmittance in the visible range higher than 70%, omnidirectional properties in the range 0/spl deg/-60/spl deg/, and shielding effectiveness of 40 dB up to 6 GHz.     

Optimal sequences and sum capacity of symbol asynchronous CDMA systems

The optimal signature sequences that maximize the sum capacity of a direct sequence code-division multiple-access (CDMA) system are characterized in the general case of symbol delay profile and user power constraints. It is shown that the optimal sum capacity of the symbol asynchronous system equals that of the symbol synchronous system with the same user power constraints. With the optimal signature sequence set, the maximum sum capacity is achieved with white Gaussian input signals. The existence of the optimal signature sequence set is proved by the proposal of an explicit construction method for arbitrary user delay profiles and power constraints.     

A new choice of penalty function for robust multiuser detection based on M-estimation

In this letter, we propose a new robust MUD, called /spl alpha/ detector, for non-Gaussian noise. We consider the Gaussian-mixture model for non-Gaussian or impulsive noise. Our technique outperforms the decorrelator and the minimax detectors in highly impulsive noise. The proposed method uses a parametric cost function, where the parameter /spl alpha/ is selected using the difference between the asymptotic variance of estimation error of the /spl alpha/ detector and that of the minimax detector.