Transfer characteristic of a Goto pair in small-size Josephson junctions

The response of a Goto pair, based on small-size Josephson junctions, to voltage jumps has been studied within the framework of a resistive model. An analytical formula for the time of establishment of the transfer characteristic is obtained and the corresponding estimates are calculated.     

A Beta basis function neural network in CMOS subthreshold mode

Beta basis function neural networks (BBFNNs) are powerful systems for learning and universal approximation. In this paper, we present a hardware implementation of the Beta neuron using the CMOS subthreshold mode. We describe the low power–low voltage analogue Beta neuron circuit. Three main modules are used to realize the electronic Beta function: a logarithmic currentto-voltage converter, a multiplier and an exponential voltage-to-current converter. Simulation results show the validity of our neural hardware implementation. The parameters of the electronic Beta function are controlled independently by current sources. This analogue implementation could be used easily to realize analogue BBFNNs.     

The Sleep Heart Health Study: design, rationale, and methods

The Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS) is a prospective cohort study designed to investigate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and other sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) as risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease. The study is designed to enroll 6,600 adult participants aged 40 years and older who will undergo a home polysomnogram to assess the presence of OSA and other SDB. Participants in SHHS have been recruited from cohort studies in progress. Therefore, SHHS adds the assessment of OSA to the protocols of these studies and will use already collected data on the principal risk factors for cardiovascular disease as well as follow-up and outcome information pertaining to cardiovascular disease. Parent cohort studies and recruitment targets for these cohorts are the following: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (1,750 participants), Cardiovascular Health Study (1,350 participants), Framingham Heart Study (1,000 participants), Strong Heart Study (600 participants), New York Hypertension Cohorts (1,000 participants), and Tucson Epidemiologic Study of Airways Obstructive Diseases and the Health and Environment Study (900 participants). As part of the parent study follow-up procedures, participants will be surveyed at periodic intervals for the incidence and recurrence of cardiovascular disease events. The study provides sufficient statistical power for assessing OSA and other SDB as risk factors for major cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction and stroke.     

Properties of embedding methods for similarity searching in metric spaces

Complex data types-such as images, documents, DNA sequences, etc.-are becoming increasingly important in modern database applications. A typical query in many of these applications seeks to find objects that are similar to some target object, where (dis)similarity is defined by some distance function. Often, the cost of evaluating the distance between two objects is very high. Thus, the number of distance evaluations should be kept at a minimum, while (ideally) maintaining the quality of the result. One way to approach this goal is to embed the data objects in a vector space so that the distances of the embedded objects approximates the actual distances. Thus, queries can be performed (for the most part) on the embedded objects. We are especially interested in examining the issue of whether or not the embedding methods will ensure that no relevant objects are left out. Particular attention is paid to the SparseMap, FastMap, and MetricMap embedding methods. SparseMap is a variant of Lipschitz embeddings, while FastMap and MetricMap are inspired by dimension reduction methods for Euclidean spaces. We show that, in general, none of these embedding methods guarantee that queries on the embedded objects have no false dismissals, while also demonstrating the limited cases in which the guarantee does hold. Moreover, we describe a variant of SparseMap that allows queries with no false dismissals. In addition, we show that with FastMap and MetricMap, the distances of the embedded objects can be much greater than the actual distances. This makes it impossible (or at least impractical) to modify FastMap and MetricMap to guarantee no false dismissals.     

Linear-time border-tracing algorithms for quadtrees

In applications where the quadtree is used as an underlying object representation, a number of basic operations are implemented as a trace along the border of the object's region. A technique is presented that determines a way to shift any given scene (as well as its quadtree), so that the border of all the objects in the scene can be traversed in time proportional to the length of all the borders in the scene (or the number of blocks when the scene is represented as a quadtree). This determination is shown to be performed in time proportional to the length of all the borders in the scene. This allows the direct translation of a number of chain-code algorithms into quadtree algorithms without loss of asymptotic worst-case efficiency. This results in improved worst-case analyses of algorithms that convert chain codes into quadtrees and that perform connected component labeling of images represented as quadtrees.     

A method for the chemical anchoring of carbon nanotubes onto carbon fibre and its impact on the strength of carbon fibre composites

This article proposes an alternative way to use carbon nanotubes to improve the performance of carbon fibre-reinforced composites. A chemical process, based on esterification of surface groups, is used to anchor nanotubes onto carbon fibre surface. Anchored nanotubes form a network surrounding the carbon fibres. After CNT anchoring, the tow is impregnated with an epoxy resin and tensile tests are performed on this minicomposite sample. By enhancing matrix properties and fibre/matrix interface, the CNT network has a significant influence on the composite strength.     

Étude des structures planaires en très hautes fréquences par une nouvelle formulation de la méthode des moments dans le domaine spatial

An efficient analytical integration technique for computation of spatial method of moments (MoM) integrals in conjunction with numerical matched loads is presented. The current distribution on the device is solved by using the well-known Galerkin’s MoM procedure applied to mixed potential integral equation in the spatial domain. The scattering parameters are determined by considering infinite lines at each port where only the fundamental mode is assumed to propagate. The contribution of this work is the development of an integration technique for the computation of spatial domain integrals, that is fast and rigorous. This technique is based on a Taylor series expansion of the integrands involving only polynomial functions. The use of polynomial forms in the integrals leads an immediate analytical integration, and the computation time will be considerably reduced.     

An Algorithm for Perspective Viewing of Objects Represented by Octrees

A new algorithm is presented for viewing three-dimensional objects, represented by an octree, from an arbitrary location. The algorithm generates aperspective view of the objects while eliminating hidden surfaces. The viewer can be located anywhere inside or outside the objects. The algorithm presented in this short notefixes an artifact that is generated by a previously published algorithm due to Meagher when the viewer is located in certain regions in space. The new algorithm traverses the octree in a back-to-front order and recursively chooses correct orders for visiting the sons of non-leaf nodes.