A 100-GOPS programmable processor for vehicle vision systems

New generations of automobiles will include driver assistance systems requiring powerful, low-cost processors to handle video/camera applications and to enable fast, convenient application development. Shrinking feature sizes on processors already in development will bring substantial increases in system speed and functionality.     

Correlation Between Structural and Optical Properties of Composite Polymer/Fullerene Films for Organic Solar Cells

We investigate thin poly(3‐hexylthiophene‐2,5‐diyl)/[6,6]‐phenyl C₆₁ butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT/PCBM) films, which are widely used as active layers in plastic solar cells. Their structural properties are studied by grazing‐incidence X‐ray diffraction (XRD). The size and the orientation of crystalline P3HT nanodomains within the films are determined. PCBM crystallites are not detected in thin films by XRD. Upon annealing, the P3HT crystallinity increases, leading to an increase in the optical absorption and spectral photocurrent in the low‐photon‐energy region. As a consequence, the efficiency of P3HT/PCBM solar cells is significantly increased. A direct relation between efficiency and P3HT crystallinity is demonstrated.     

An effect of side chain length on the solution structure of poly(9,9-dialkylfluorene)s in toluene

The effect of side chain length of π-conjugated poly(9,9-dialkylfluorene)s has been studied in semi-dilute (10 mg/mL) toluene solutions using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and ¹H and ²H NMR spectroscopies. Under these conditions, SANS data indicate that poly(9,9-dinonylfluorene) and poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) are dissolved down to the molecule level and appear as elongated one-dimensional chains (length >20-30 nm). In contrast, the shorter side chain polymers exhibit a self-association so that poly(9,9-diheptylfluorene) forms thin sheet-like (∼1 nm) and poly(9,9-dihexylfluorene) thin (∼1 nm) and thick sheet-like (>6 nm) aggregates. ¹H NMR data, together with the density functional theory (DFT) calculations, however, show that this occurs without changes in the conformation of the polymer backbone.     

A unified framework of opening and closure operators with respect to arbitrary fuzzy relations

 This paper is devoted to a general concept of openness and closedness with respect to arbitrary fuzzy relations – along with appropriate opening and closure operators. It is shown that the proposed framework unifies existing concepts, in particular, the one for fuzzy preorderings as well as the triangular norm-based approach to fuzzy mathematical morphology. The author acknowledges support of the K _plus Competence Center Program which is funded by the Austrian Government, the Province of Upper Austria, and the Chamber of Commerce of Upper Austria.     

Notes on waves with negative phase velocity

Negative refraction is a wave phenomenon beyond geometrical optics - it depends on the way waves behave when their phase velocity reaches a zero. Various forms of linear wave processes in media can be concisely described in one wave equation that is inspired by the interpretation of a medium as an effective space-time geometry. Depending on the conformal factor of the effective metric, the waves may show positive or negative refraction. For electromagnetic waves in two-dimensional dielectrics the conformal factor corresponds to the impedance.     

Rates of reinfection with Echinococcus granulosus, Taenia hydatigena, taenia ovis and other cestodes in a rural dog population in Uruguay

Forced thinking is an incompletely understood and rarely described epileptic aura. We studied three patients with forced thinking from left frontal lesions, two neoplastic and one vascular. All three experienced repetitive, intrusive thoughts at the onset of seizures. Their forced thinking was associated with the desire to vocalize, orobuccal movements, and speech arrest. The episodes occurred with other ictal manifestations and responded to antiseizure therapy. These patients suggest that epileptic forced thinking is a heterogeneous phenomenon; forced thinking from left frontal lesions is a manifestation of expressive language and is distinct from experiential thoughts arising from temporal limbic foci.     

Incidence of neoplasms in ages 0-19 y in parts of Sweden with high 137Cs fallout after the Chernobyl accident

An experiment was conducted to elucidate the origin of tetraploids (2n = 4x = 44) of Paragonimus westermani that occur together with diploid (2n = 2x = 22) and triploid (2n = 3x = 33) types in Liaoning Province, the People's Republic of China. Metacercariae of the diploid type, obtained from Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, and those of the triploid type from Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, were mixed and inoculated into dogs and cats. The following results were obtained. The flukes were found in pairs within cysts in random combinations of 2x + 2x, 2x + 3x, and 3x + 3x (7:15:7). Oocytes in the oviduct were at stages from diplotene to metaphase. In a triploid fluke encysted with a diploid fluke, the primary oocytes were intruded by sperms from the diploid fluke. In the primary oocytes of diploid as well as triploid flukes, from diplotene to diakinesis, the homologues of the nucleolar chromosomes were heteromorphic as far as the size of the short arm was concerned. This implies that the triploid is an autotriploid generated in an ancestral diploid population that was polymorphic for the nucleolar chromosome.