Optical scattering of nanocrystalline Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3 films

Optical characterization methods, like spectrophotometry at UV–vis-NIR wavelengths and prism-coupler method, were applied to polycrystalline Pb(Zr_xTi_1?x)O₃ thin films at various thicknesses. Thin films were deposited at room temperature by pulsed laser deposition on MgO (1 0 0) substrates and post-annealed at different temperatures. X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy were used to characterize the crystal structure and surface morphology of the thin films, respectively.Well oscillating transmission with a sharp fall near the absorption edge was found in films with high orientation and low surface roughness. Changes in the surface morphology and crystal orientation were found to modulate optical interference maxima and minima of the transmittance spectra and to increase the width of the TE₀ mode (Δβ ≈ 0.06) indicating an increase in the scattering losses of the films. Single-phase oriented films had sharpest coupling values (Δβ ≈ 0.005) of the TE₀ mode.     

On Design of Parallel Memory Access Schemes for Video Coding

Some of the modern powerful digital signal processors (DSPs) have byte-addressable internal data memory. This property is valuable especially in computationally demanding inter frame video encoding, where data accesses are typically unaligned according to word boundaries. The byte-addressable memory allows load or store command to start accessing from any byte-address, providing at most as many successive bytes from subsequent addresses as data bus can handle in parallel. Maybe the simplest way to construct such a byte-addressable memory is to use N 8-bit memory modules or banks to be accessed in parallel, when N is data bus width in bytes. However, in addition to byte-addressable subsequent bytes, memory consisting of parallel memory modules can provide much more versatile addressing capabilities with reasonable implementation cost. Versatile access formats can significantly reduce the need for data reordering in the register file. At first, we provide motivation for using parallel memory architecture with versatile access formats as an internal on-chip data memory of modern DSP. After this, notations are described and general view of parallel memory design is given. We propose some example parallel data memory architecture designs with data access formats especially helpful in H.263 encoding and MPEG-4 core profile motion and texture encoding. The examples are given for different data bus widths (16, 32, 64, and 128 bits). Finally, performance is shortly compared to other memory architectures and area, delay, and power figures are estimated.Jarno K. Tanskanen was born in Joensuu, Finland in 1975. He studied analog and digital electronics in the Department of Electrical Engineering, and computer architecture in the Department of Information Technology at Tampere University of Technology, where he received his M.Sc. degree in 1999. He is currently working as a research scientist in the Institute of Digital and Computer Systems at TUT. His Dr.Tech. research concerns parallel processing of video compression. jarno.tanskanen@tut.fiReiner Creutzburg received his Diploma in Mathematics in 1976 and attained his Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1984 from the Rostock University, Germany. Prof. Creutzburg has published 3 books, filed 2 patents, and produced approximately 100 articles, preprint, and conference papers. Professional Experience: Since 2000—Part-time Professor for Multimedia technology, Tampere University of Technology, Finland. Since 1992—Full-time Professor of Computer Science, Fachhochschule Brandenburg-University of Applied Sciences, Brandenburg, Germany. 1990 to 1992—Assistant Professor, University of Karlsruhe, Institute of Algorithms and Cognitive Systems, Germany. 1987 to 1989—Head of the Research Section Image Processing. 1986 to 1989—Founder and Head of the International Base Laboratory of Image Processing and Computer Graphics for East European countries at the Central Institute of Cybernetics and Information Processes of the Academy of Sciences (Berlin), Germany. 1976 to 1989—Researcher and Assistant Professor in various Universities and the Academy of Sciences, Central Institute of Cybernetics and Information, Berlin. creutzburg@fh-brandenburg.deJarkko T. Niittylahti was born in Orivesi, Finland, in 1962. He received the M.Sc, Lic.Tech, and Dr.Tech degrees at Tampere University of Technology (TUT) in 1988, 1992, and 1995, respectively. From 1987 to 1992, he was a researcher at TUT. In 1992–93, he was a researcher at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1993–95, he was with Nokia Consumer Electronics, Bochum, Germany, and in 1995–97 with Nokia Research Center, Tampere, Finland. In 1997–2000, he was a Professor at Signal Processing Laboratory, TUT, and in 2000–2002 at Institute of Digital and Computer Systems, TUT. Currently, he is a Docent of Digital Techniques at TUT and the managing director of Staselog Ltd. He is also a co-founder and President of Atostek Ltd. He is interested in designing digital systems and architectures. jarkko.niittylahti@tut.fi     

Programmable SiGe BiCMOS low-pass filter for a multicarrier WCDMA base-station receiver

SiGe BiCMOS low-pass filter for a multicarrier WCDMA base-station receiver is described in this paper. The 4th-order Chebyshev filter with a 0.1-dB passband ripple is designed to drive a high-resolution A/D converter. The −3-dB frequency of the implemented filter can be programmed to four different bandwidths: 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 MHz depending on the number of received WCDMA channels. The filter achieves +9.7-dBV in-band IIP3, +20-dBV out-of-band IIP3, and 8.5-nV/√Hz input-referred noise density with 10-MHz bandwidth. The circuit uses a 2.5 V supply and has been fabricated in a 0.25-μm SiGe BiCMOS process.     

Polyphenol and vitamin C contents in European commercial blackcurrant juice products

Vitamin C and polyphenol contents (anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, phenolic acids and flavonols) were analysed in commercial blackcurrant juice products purchased from various European countries (Finland, Poland, Germany, United Kingdom) using HPLC methods. The aim was to study variation between countries, as well as evaluate the intake of polyphenols from commercial juices. There was significant variation in the contents of polyphenols and vitamin C between countries. Expressed as the ready-to-drink beverages, German, Polish, Finnish and British products averaged anthocyanin contents of 38, 32, 12 and 7.5 mg/2.5 dl, proanthocyanidin contents of 27, 24, 10 and 1.2 mg/2.5 dl, flavonol contents of 16, 15, 5.2 & 1.9 mg/2.5 dl and phenolic acid contents of 12, 8.9, 3.7 and 1.5 mg/2.5 dl, respectively. The mean vitamin C content was highest in British (70 mg/2.5 dl) and lowest in Finnish products (15 mg/2.5 dl). The intake of polyphenols from German and Polish ready-to-drink beverages was clearly higher than that from Finnish, and especially, British beverages.     

Bioprospecting for brewers: Exploiting natural diversity for naturally diverse beers

The burgeoning interest in archaic, traditional, and novel beer styles has coincided with a growing appreciation of the role of yeasts in determining beer character as well as a better understanding of the ecology and biogeography of yeasts. Multiple studies in recent years have highlighted the potential of wild Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces yeasts for production of beers with novel flavour profiles and other desirable properties. Yeasts isolated from spontaneously fermented beers as well as from other food systems (wine, bread, and kombucha) have shown promise for brewing application, and there is evidence that such cross-system transfers have occurred naturally in the past. We review here the available literature pertaining to the use of nonconventional yeasts in brewing, with a focus on the origins of these yeasts, including methods of isolation. Practical aspects of utilizing nondomesticated yeasts are discussed, and modern methods to facilitate discovery of yeasts with brewing potential are highlighted.     

A study on the resolution of a terahertz spectrometer for the assessment of the porosity of pharmaceutical tablets

In this study, the resolution of a time-domain terahertz spectrometer for tablet porosity measurements was estimated using two sets of pharmaceutical tablets. One set consisted of tablets with constant thickness and with porosity as a variable. The other set consisted of tablets with variable thickness and only a relatively small change in porosity. The set with constant thickness was used for the calibration of the terahertz (THz) spectrometer for the porosity measurements, and the resolution of the terahertz spectrometer was estimated using the set with different thicknesses and slightly different porosities. It was shown that a time-domain THz spectrometer is a sensitive device that allows monitoring of minute changes in the porosity of pharmaceutical tablets by detecting the time delay of the THz pulse, which is attributable to different refractive indices within the tablet.     

Anti-icing Behavior of Thermally Sprayed Polymer Coatings

Surface engineering shows an increasing potential to provide a sustainable approach to icing problems. Currently, several passive anti-ice properties adoptable to coatings are known, but further research is required to proceed for practical applications. This is due to the fact that icing reduces safety, operational tempo, productivity and reliability of logistics, industry and infrastructure. An icing wind tunnel and a centrifugal ice adhesion test equipment can be used to evaluate and develop anti-icing and icephobic coatings for a potential use in various arctic environments, e.g., in wind power generation, oil drilling, mining and logistic industries. The present study deals with evaluation of icing properties of flame-sprayed polyethylene (PE)-based polymer coatings. In the laboratory-scale icing tests, thermally sprayed polymer coatings showed low ice adhesion compared with metals such as aluminum and stainless steel. The ice adhesion strength of the flame-sprayed PE coating was found to have approximately seven times lower ice adhesion values compared with metallic aluminum, indicating a very promising anti-icing behavior.     

The effects of operating conditions on emissions from masonry heaters and sauna stoves

Emissions from masonry heaters and sauna stoves were studied. In the sauna stove the production of organic gaseous carbon (OGC) at 10 gC kg^?1 (per kilogram of fuel), carbon monoxide (CO) at 55 g kg^?1, fine particle mass (PM₁) at 5 g kg^?1 and number emissions (N) at 1.8 × 10¹⁵ kg^?1 was higher than in other measured appliances. In a modern technology masonry heater with a unique grate, the emissions were very low: 0.4 gC kg^?1 OGC, 14 g kg^?1 CO and 0.7 g kg^?1 PM₁. Conventional masonry heaters, using small logs, clearly produced higher emissions when compared to using large logs. Doubling the fuel load caused emission factors to increase by up to 4- times (OGC), except for the number emission, which decreased from 4.0 × 10¹⁴ to 2.0 × 10¹⁴ kg^?1. From the conventional masonry heater 90% of the PM was emitted during the firing phase. Its combustion process is different to that in stoves or conventional open fireplaces. The insufficient supply of air, due to too fast pyrolysis, and increased ash release, due to the high combustion temperature, are the main parameters which cause high particle and gas emissions in masonry heaters and sauna stoves.     

Comparing double-step and penalty-based semirecursive formulations for hydraulically actuated multibody systems in a monolithic approach

The simulation of mechanical systems often requires modeling of systems of other physical nature, such as hydraulics. In such systems, the numerical stiffness introduced by the hydraulics can become a significant aspect to consider in the modeling, as it can negatively effect to the computational efficiency. The hydraulic system can be described by using the lumped fluid theory. In this approach, a pressure can be integrated from a differential equation in which effective bulk modulus is divided by a volume size. This representation can lead to numerical stiffness as a consequence of which time integration of a hydraulically driven system becomes cumbersome. In this regard, the used multibody formulation plays an important role, as there are many different procedures for the constraint enforcement and different sets of coordinates to choose from. This paper introduces the double-step semirecursive approach and compares it with a penalty-based semirecursive approach in case of coupled multibody and hydraulic dynamics within the monolithic framework. To this end, hydraulically actuated four-bar and quick-return mechanisms are analyzed as case studies. The two approaches are compared in terms of the work cycle, energy balance, constraint violation, and numerical efficiency of the mechanisms. It is concluded that the penalty-based semirecursive approach has a number of advantages compared with the double-step semirecursive approach, which is in accordance with the literature.