Cons and pros: prison education through the eyes of the prison educated*

ABSTRACT

While much has been written within academic journals about prisoners, rarely is there anything written by prisoners. In this essay, we, a group of prisoners who are earning or have earned college degrees while incarcerated in Texas, address the purpose, merits, and pitfalls of prison education and reform. Written as a response to the essays appearing in this special issue, we discuss our experiences of being othered as inmates, the impact of societal bias against us, our perspectives on prison education, and our own ideas for reforming prisons and making them more humane.     

The location of hydrogen in the kinetics of oxidation of ferrous alloys by superheated steam

The rate of emission of hydrogen from the metal surface and from the oxide surface has been determined during the oxidation of ferrous alloys at 501°C. The kinetics were in accordance with the assumption of a parabolic rate law, and the rate constants were in agreement with those calculated from the thickness of the oxide layer at the end of the reaction. The proportion of hydrogen emitted from the metal to that from the oxide surface showed a dependence on the partial pressure of steam for the 9%Cr-1%Mo alloy at 501°C. The ratio was dependent on the alloy composition, and also on temperature, as shown by results for the 9%Cr-1%Mo alloy at 450 and 552°C. For this alloy, the activation energy and rate constants are consistent with a rate-determining step dependent on cation diffusion. The oxide film is almost impermeable to hydrogen gas. A possible oxidation mechanism is suggested.     

应用工程师问答-4对数放大器(LOGARITHMIC AMPLIFIER)精解

问:我才刚阅读完ADI近期所发表的对数放大器相关技术手册,不过我对于对数放大器究竟是什么仍然感到有些困惑. 答:你并不是唯一感到困惑的人.许多年来,我已经处理过许多的询问,都是有关于对数放大器所执行功能的重点差异,以及在本质上完全不同的设计概念.就让我们这样子开始好了,你希望在对数放大器的输出中看到什么?     

交错操作模数转换器,实现更高的采样率

设计人员经常试图组合多个模数转换器（ADC),以尽量提高有效采样率。尽管快闪转换器(仍然是最快的ADC体系结构)在高速制造工艺诞生之前就已经问世了,但工艺技术的种种限制使早期的快闪转换器速度局限于10～20Msps(Megosamples per second)的范围内。现在,我们拥有了一些允许以千兆赫兹速率采样的工艺速度和体系结构。     

Epitope-Imprinted Nanoparticles as Transforming Growth Factor-β3 Sequestering Ligands to Modulate Stem Cell Fate

Growth factors (GFs) are biomolecules with potent biological effects but inherent limitations hinder their potential as therapeutic agents and cell culture supplements in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (TERM). Biomaterials that sequester endogenous GFs by affinity binding might circumvent such limitations and thus are being increasingly investigated. Here, molecularly imprinted nanoparticles (MINPs) are proposed as specific abiotic ligands for GFs. As a proof of concept, a conformational epitope of transforming growth factor-β3 (TGF-β3) is designed and surface imprinted onto polyacrylamide-based nanoparticles by inverse microemulsion polymerization. It is found that, depending on the polymerization mixture composition, MINPs can recognize and preferentially bind TGF-β3, either in noncompetitive assays or from a complex human fluid (platelet lysate). Substrates functionalized with MINPs are then used for 2D culture of adipose-derived stem cells. Remarkably, gene and protein expression profiles show a marked upregulation of SOX-9, suggesting activation of TGF-β3 signaling pathways without requiring supplementation with exogenous GF. Likewise, culturing these cells in pellets incorporating MINPs previously incubated with platelet lysate results in higher collagen II-rich matrix deposition, compared to pellets incorporating non-imprinted nanoparticles. In summary, results suggest MINPs can be used as cost-effective, stable, and scalable alternative abiotic GF ligands to guide cell fate in TERM applications.     

On the Development of Analogue Sampled-Data Signal Processing

This paper provides a historical perspective on thedevelopment of analogue sampled-data signal processing circuitsand systems. The evolution, role and current trends in the developmentof analogue sampled-data signal processing systems is surveyed.Firstly, the evolution of integrated circuit based techniques,culminating in the ubiquitous switched-capacitor technique istraced. Then the role that analogue sampled-data systems playwithin the context of a general information processing environmentis examined and the required characteristics are identified.Trends in silicon integrated circuit processing technology aresummarised and their impact on sampled analogue circuits areidentified. Finally, the application of analogue current-modetechniques, and in particular switched-currents, to overcomesome of the limitations of previous voltage based approaches,is discussed.     

Growth of CdTe Films on Amorphous Substrates Using CaF<Subscript>2</Subscript> Nanorods as a Buffer Layer

Continuous biaxially textured CdTe films were grown on biaxial CaF₂ buffer layers. The CaF₂ nanorods were grown by oblique angle vapor deposition and possessed a {111} 〈121〉 biaxial texture. The CdTe film was deposited by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Film morphology and the CdTe/CaF₂ interface were studied by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Characterization showed that small CdTe grains formed initially from the CaF₂ surfaces. These small grains then merged into large columnar grains during growth. Analysis revealed that the crystalline orientation of the CdTe film followed the biaxial texture of the CaF₂ nanorods.     

Building maps of local apparent conductivity of the epicardium with a 2-D electrophysiological model of the heart

In this paper, we address the problem of estimating the parameters of an electrophysiological model of the heart from a set of electrical recordings. The chosen model is the reaction-diffusion model on the transmembrane potential proposed by Aliev and Panfilov. For this model of the transmembrane, we estimate a local apparent two-dimensional conductivity from a measured depolarization time distribution. First, we perform an initial adjustment including the choice of initial conditions and of a set of global parameters. We then propose a local estimation by minimizing the quadratic error between the depolarization time computed by the model and the measures. As a first step we address the problem on the epicardial surface in the case of an isotropic version of the Aliev and Panfilov model. The minimization is performed using Brent method without computing the derivative of the error. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated on synthetic electrophysiological measurements. A proof of concept is obtained on real electrophysiological measures of normal and infarcted canine hearts.     

Characterization and Modeling of Laser Micromachined Periodically Corrugated Metallic Terahertz Wire Waveguides

Finite element method simulations of periodically corrugated metal terahertz wire waveguides have been conducted with concurrent analysis done on both the near-field confinement properties and the far-field emission properties at the end of the waveguides. This modeling was used to guide the choice of design parameters for the fabrication of waveguides with laser micromachining. The waveguides were characterized with a fiber-coupled terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and imaging system. The propagation properties as well as the frequency dependent diffraction at the end of the wire waveguides were examined and compared to straight, non-engineered metallic wire waveguides.