A Novel Nanoparticle‐Based Disposable Electrochemical Immunosensor for Diagnosis of Exposure to Toxic Organophosphorus Agents

A novel disposable electrochemical immunosensor for highly selective and sensitive detection of organophosphorylated butyrylcholinesterase (OP‐BChE), a specific biomarker for exposure to toxic organophosphorus agents, is presented. In this new approach, zirconia nanoparticles (ZrO₂) were employed to selectively capture the OP moiety of OP‐BChE adducts, followed by quantum dot (QD)‐tagged anti‐BChE antibodies for amplified quantification. The captured CdSe‐QD tags can be sensitively detected by stripping voltammetry using an in situ bismuth‐plating method. The OP agent, diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP), was selected to prepare OP‐BChE adducts in various matrices. The formation of OP‐BChE adducts in plasma sample was confirmed using mass spectroscopy. The developed electrochemical immunosensor demonstrates a highly linear voltammetric response over the range of 0.1 to 30 nM OP‐BChE, with a detection limit of 0.03 nM (based on signal/noise = 3), coupled with a good reproducibility (relative standard deviation 4.5%). Moreover, the immunosensor has been validated with biomonitoring of OP‐BChE adducts in the plasma samples. This novel nanoparticle‐based electrochemical immunosensor thus provides an alternative way for designing a sensitive and cost‐effective sensing platform for on‐site screening/evaluating exposure to a variety of OP agents.     

A low-power low-noise CMOS amplifier for neural recording applications

There is a need among scientists and clinicians for low-noise low-power biosignal amplifiers capable of amplifying signals in the millihertz-to-kilohertz range while rejecting large dc offsets generated at the electrode-tissue interface. The advent of fully implantable multielectrode arrays has created the need for fully integrated micropower amplifiers. We designed and tested a novel bioamplifier that uses a MOS-bipolar pseudoresistor element to amplify low-frequency signals down to the millihertz range while rejecting large dc offsets. We derive the theoretical noise-power tradeoff limit - the noise efficiency factor - for this amplifier and demonstrate that our VLSI implementation approaches this limit by selectively operating MOS transistors in either weak or strong inversion. The resulting amplifier, built in a standard 1.5-/spl mu/m CMOS process, passes signals from 0.025Hz to 7.2 kHz with an input-referred noise of 2.2 /spl mu/Vrms and a power dissipation of 80 /spl mu/W while consuming 0.16 mm/sup 2/ of chip area. Our design technique was also used to develop an electroencephalogram amplifier having a bandwidth of 30 Hz and a power dissipation of 0.9 /spl mu/W while maintaining a similar noise-power tradeoff.     

High Response Control of Stator Watts and Vars for Large Wound Rotor Induction Motor Adjustable Speed Drives

Extremely rapid control response (0.01 s) of stator watts and vars has been obtained on a 15 000-hp wound rotor induction machine with a cycloconverter controlled secondary by means of an orthogonal control scheme which linearizes the machine equations and combines both feedforward and feedback error signals. Leading and lagging power factor and positive or negative stator power flow can be smoothly and rapidly controlled over a speed range in excess of ±35 percent of the induction motor synchronous speed. This doubly fed drive may be termed a "Scherbiustat drive" because the wound rotor induction motor secondary power conversion equipment is the static equivalent of the Scherbius machine. This type of a drive does not employ a dc link in the motor secondary power conversion equipment. It should not be confused with a static Kraemer drive which employs a dc link in the frequency conversion process and was so named because of its similarity to the original Kraemer drive which uses a synchronous converter and a dc motor in the secondary power conversion process. Recently obtained field results have verified the original study results discussed herein.     

Evaluating performability: Most probable states and bounds

The number of states examined by most probable state algorithms for performability computations can be reduced dramatically by incorporating simple connectivity-based bounds, even when the performability measure is much more complex than connectivity. Modifications to Yang and Kubat's most probable state method are presented that permit the use of simple auxiliary bounds with only a small effect on the time per iteration. Computational results for a variety of performability measures are given.     

Partial scan flip-flop selection by use of empirical testability

Partial serial scan as a design for testability technique permits automatic generation of high fault coverage tests for sequential circuits with less hardware overhead and less performance degradation than full serial scan. The objective of the partial scan flip-flop selection method proposed here is to obtain maximum fault coverage for the number of scan flip-flops selected. Empirical Testability Difference (ETD), a measure of potential improvement in the testability of the circuit, is used to successively select one or more flip-flops for addition or deletion of scan logic. ETD is calculated by using testability measures based on empirical evaluation of the circuit with the acutal automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) system. In addition, once such faults are known, ETD focuses on the hard-to-detect faults rather than all faults and uses heuristics to permit effective selection of multiple flip-flops without global optimization. Two ETD algorithms have been extensively tested by using FASTEST ATPG [1, 2] on fourteen of the ISCAS89 [3] sequential circuits. The results of these tests indicate that ETD yields, on average, 35% fewer uncovered detectable faults for the same number of scanned flip-flops or 27% fewer scanned flip-flops for comparable fault coverage relative to cycle-breaking methods.This work was performed while the author was with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.     

剥离型聚丙烯-蒙脱土纳米复合材料Ⅰ.Ziegler-Natta/有机改性蒙脱土复合催化剂催化丙烯聚合

采用化学反应法制备了Z ieg ler-Natta/有机咪唑盐改性蒙脱土复合催化剂(简称复合催化剂),并通过丙烯单体原位插层聚合制备了聚丙烯-蒙脱土纳米复合材料。考察了n(A l)∶n(T i)、聚合温度、聚合时间及溶剂种类对复合催化剂的活性及定向催化能力的影响。研究结果表明,与商品化CS-2型Zieg ler-Natta催化剂相比,复合催化剂的活性明显降低,在n(A l)∶n(T i)=100、聚合温度60℃、聚合时间1h、正庚烷为溶剂时,复合催化剂的活性较高,可达78.4kg/(m ol.h)。合成聚丙烯的等规度在85%~97%之间,熔融温度在160℃左右,重均相对分子质量达到(3.6~4.6)×105,相对分子质量分布在6.1~6.6之间。溶剂种类对合成聚丙烯的等规度影响较大。     

Multi-heterojunction large area HgCdTe long wavelength infrared photovoltaic detector for operation at near room temperatures

This paper describes a new multi-heterojunction n ⁺pp photovoltaic infrared photodetector. The device has been developed specifically for operation at temperatures of 200–300K in the long wavelength (8–14 μm) range of the infrared spectrum. The new structure solves the perennial problems of poor quantum efficiency and low dynamic resistance found in conventional long wavelength infrared photovoltaic detectors when operated near room temperature. Computer simulations show that devices with properly optimized multiple heterojunctions are capable of achieving the performance limits imposed by the statistical nature of thermal generation-recombination processes. In order to demonstrate the technology, multiple heterojunction devices have been fabricated on epilayers grown by isothermal vapor phase epitaxy of HgCdTe and in situ As p-type doping. The detector structures were formed using a combination of conventional dry etching, angled ion milling, and angled thermal evaporation for contact metal deposition. These multi-junction n ⁺pp HgCdTe heterostructure devices exhibit performances which make them useful for many applications. D* of optically immersed multiple heterostructure photovoltaic detectors exceeding 10⁸cmHz^1/2/W were measured at λ=10.6 μm and T=300K.     

An optimal algorithm for rectilinear steiner trees for channels with obstacles

The channel rectilinear Steiner tree problem is to construct an optimal rectilinear Steiner tree interconnecting n terminals on the upper shore and the lower shore of a channel without crossing any obstacles inside the channel. However, intersecting boundaries of obstacles is allowed. We present an algorithm that computes an optimal channel rectilinear Steiner tree in O(F₁(k)n + F₂(k)) time, where k is the number of obstacles inside the channel and F₁ and F₂ are exponential functions of k. For any constant k the proposed algorithm runs in O(n) time.     

Deconvoluting Energy Transport Mechanisms in Metal Halide Perovskites Using CsPbBr3 Nanowires as a Model System

Understanding energy transport in metal halide perovskites is essential to effectively guide further optimization of materials and device designs. However, difficulties to disentangle charge carrier diffusion, photon recycling, and photon transport have led to contradicting reports and uncertainty regarding which mechanism dominates. In this study, monocrystalline CsPbBr₃ nanowires serve as 1D model systems to help unravel the respective contribution of energy transport processes in metal-halide perovskites. Spatially, temporally, and spectrally resolved photoluminescence (PL) microscopy reveals characteristic signatures of each transport mechanism from which a robust model describing the PL signal accounting for carrier diffusion, photon propagation, and photon recycling is developed. For the investigated CsPbBr₃ nanowires, an ambipolar carrier mobility of μ = 35 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ is determined, and is found that charge carrier diffusion dominates the energy transport process over photon recycling. Moreover, the general applicability of the developed model is demonstrated on different perovskite compounds by applying it to data provided in previous related reports, from which clarity is gained as to why conflicting reports exist. These findings, therefore, serve as a useful tool to assist future studies aimed at characterizing energy transport mechanisms in semiconductor nanowires using PL.