A Simple Top‐Down/Bottom‐Up Approach to Sectored,Ordered Arrays of Nanoscopic Elements Using Block Copolymers

A top‐down/bottom‐up approach is demonstrated by combining electron‐beam (e‐beam) lithography and a solvent annealing process. Micellar arrays of polystyrene‐block‐poly(4‐vinylpyridine) (PS‐b‐P4VP) with a high degree of lateral order can be produced on a surface where sectoring is defined by e‐beam patterning. The e‐beam is used to crosslink the block copolymer (BCP) film immediately after spin‐coating when the BCP is disordered or in a highly ordered solvent‐annealed film. Any patterns can be written into the BCP by crosslinking. Upon exposure to a preferential solvent for the minor component block followed by drying, cylindrical nanopores are generated within the nonexposed areas by a surface reconstruction process, while, in the exposed areas, the films remain unchanged. Nickel nanodot arrays can be placed over selected areas on a surface by thermal evaporation and lift‐off process.     

Low Cost Scan Test by Test Correlation Utilization

Scan-based testing methodologies remedy the testability problem of sequential circuits; yet they suffer from prolonged test time and excessive test power due to numerous shift operations. The correlation among test data along with the high density of the unspecified bits in test data enables the utilization of the existing test data in the scan chain for the generation of the subsequent test stimulus, thus reducing both test time and test data volume. We propose a pair of scan approaches in this paper; in the first approach, a test stimulus partially consists of the preceding stimulus, while in the second approach, a test stimulus partially consists of the preceding test response bits. Both proposed scan-based test schemes access only a subset of scan cells for loading the subsequent test stimulus while freezing the remaining scan cells with the preceding test data, thus decreasing scan chain transitions during shift operations. The proposed scan architecture is coupled with test data manipulation techniques which include test stimuli ordering and partitioning algorithms, boosting test time reductions. The experimental results confirm that test time reductions exceeding 97%, and test power reductions exceeding 99% can be achieved by the proposed scan-based testing methodologies on larger ISCAS89 benchmark circuits.     

Designing,modeling and performance investigation of bio-inspired flow field based DMFCs

In an attempt to improve upon conventional flow fields (e.g., serpentine flow field), Murray's Law was applied to design two different bio-inspired, leaf-shaped flow fields. This law governs the dimensions of natural networks, such as: the veins within plant leaves and human lungs. In this study, the serpentine, the lung, and the two leaf-shaped flow fields were used to form seven different anode–cathode combinations. The experiments focused on the effects of methanol concentration (0.50 M, 0.75 M, and 1.00 M) and the combined effect of methanol and oxygen flow rates (1.3 ml/min methanol and 400 ml/min oxygen, as well as 2 and 3 times both of these flow rates). An analytical model was also developed to help understand the experimental results. The results show that the highest performance could be achieved when the bio-inspired configurations were used on the cathode. The best configuration was the serpentine (anode) – second leaf design (cathode), with a peak power density of 888 W/m². For comparison, a peak power density of 824 W/m² was achieved when the serpentine flow field was used on the anode and cathode. Furthermore, of all the tested configurations, the lung-based flow field provided the lowest performance in all tests.     

Verifying the accuracy of interlocking tables for railway signalling systems using abstract state machines

Railway transportation system is a critical sector where design methods and techniques are defined by international standards in order to reduce possible risks to an acceptable minimum level. CENELEC 50128 strongly recommends the utilization of finite state machines during system modelling stage and formal proof methods during the verification and testing stages of control algorithms. Due to the high importance of interlocking table at the design state of a signalization system, the modelling and verification of interlocking tables are examined in this work. For this purpose, abstract state machines are used as a modelling tool. The developed models have been performed in a generalized structure such that the model control can be done automatically for the interlocking systems. In this study, NuSMV is used at the verification state. Also, the consistency of the developed models has been supervised through fault injection. The developed models and software components are applied on a real railway station operated by Metro Istanbul Co.

     

Seismic earth pressures on flexible cantilever retaining walls with deformable inclusions

In this study, the results of 1-g shaking table tests performed on small-scale flexible cantilever wallmodels retaining composite backfill made of a deformable geofoam inclusion and granular cohesionlessmaterial were presented. Two different polystyrene materials were utilized as deformable inclusions.Lateral dynamic earth pressures and wall displacements at different elevations of the retaining wallmodel were monitored during the tests. The earth pressures and displacements of the retaining wallswith deformable inclusions were compared with those of the models without geofoam inclusions.Comparisons indicated that geofoam panels of low stiffness installed against the retaining wall modelaffect displacement and dynamic lateral pressure profile along the wall height. Depending on the inclusioncharacteristics and the wall flexibility, up to 50% reduction in dynamic earth pressures wasobserved. The efficiency of load and displacement reduction decreased as the flexibility ratio of the wallmodel increased. On the other hand, dynamic load reduction efficiency of the deformable inclusionincreased as the amplitude and frequency ratio of the seismic excitation increased. Relative flexibility ofthe deformable layer （the thickness and the elastic stiffness of the polystyrene material） played animportant role in the amount of load reduction. Dynamic earth pressure coefficients were compared withthose calculated with an analytical approach. Pressure coefficients calculated with this method werefound to be in good agreement with the results of the tests performed on the wall model having lowflexibility ratio. It was observed that deformable inclusions reduce residual wall stresses observed at theend of seismic excitation thus contributing to the post-earthquake stability of the retaining wall. Thegraphs presented within this paper regarding the dynamic earth pressure coefficients versus the wallflexibility and inclusion characteristics may serve for the seismic design of full-scale retaining walls withdeformable polystyren     

对有核与无核多层基板的供电网络分析

由于具有高密度布线能力和相对合理的成本,在特殊用途集成电路(ASI Cs)的倒装封装中使用叠积层式(bui l d-up)有机基板非常受欢迎。典型的叠积层式基板包括核层和其双侧的高密度布线层(叠积层)。核层为封装提供所需刚度,其厚度可以是400μm,600μm,或800μm。新兴的无核基板技术去除了核层,可以提高布线密度,减薄封装,和获得更好的电气性能。本文比较了8层有核与无核基板在31mm和900锡球封装中的核心供电网络(PDN)的性能。在50MHz到2GHz频域内,我们用矢量网络分析仪测得两路高频S参数以分析相应的PDN。测量与模拟结果十分吻合。另外,我们还在时域内模拟计算了PDN对瞬变电流的响应。     

The effects of an iron-catalyzed oxidation system on lipids and proteins of dark muscle fish

The effects of a hydroxyl radical-generating system induced by iron catalyzed oxidation (Fe²⁺/H₂O₂) on lipids and proteins of sardine, Atlantic bonito, anchovy and bluefish were investigated. Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARs, mg malonaldehyde/kg fish muscle) formation was used to evaluate oxidative damage of the lipid in dark muscle fish due to iron catalyzed oxidation. The amount of TBARs was observed to increase significantly in sardine and anchovy as the incubation time increased, while Atlantic bonito and bluefish reached their maximum values of TBARs within the first 3 h of incubation, and after that did not change (p < 0.05). Carbonyl contents (nmol carbonyl/mg protein) of all fish samples measured as an index of protein oxidation were affected differently by the iron-catalyzed oxidation system during incubation. However, significant increases in the carbonyl groups were detected in sardine, Atlantic bonito and bluefish, but not in anchovy as a result of the long incubation time (5 h) (p < 0.05). When comparing to increases Atlantic bonito showed the maximum increase protein carbonyl. The electrophoretic patterns in the presence and absence of β-mercaptoethanol showed that a loss of proteins generally occurred in all fish at the end of incubation, and the greatest alteration in protein bands was observed in anchovy during Fe²⁺-catalyzed oxidation. The bands above 50 kDa disappeared within the first 1 h of incubation. The loss of protein (both high and low molecular weight) may involve disulfide and non-disulfide covalent linking during the iron catalyzed incubation. These data suggest that an increase in TBARs and fragmentation, and a loss of proteins exposed to iron-catalyzed oxidation may explain the oxidative damage of lipids and proteins which causes quality loss and limits the storage life of dark muscle fish.     

Industrial applications of type-2 fuzzy sets and systems: A concise review

Data, as being the vital input of system modelling, contain dissimilar level of imprecision that necessitates different modelling approaches for proper analysis of the systems. Numbers, words and perceptions are the forms of data that has varying levels of imprecision. Existing approaches in the literature indicate that, computation of different data forms are closely linked with the level of imprecision, which the data already have. Traditional mathematical modelling techniques have been used to compute the numbers that have the least imprecision. Type-1 fuzzy sets have been used for words and type-2 fuzzy sets have been employed for perceptions where the level of imprecision is relatively high. However, in many cases it has not been easy to decide whether a solution requires a traditional approach, i.e., type-1 fuzzy approach or type-2 fuzzy approach. It has been a difficult matter to decide what types of problems really require modelling and solution either with type-1 or type-2 fuzzy approach. It is certain that, without properly distinguishing differences between the two approaches, application of type-1 and type-2 fuzzy sets and systems would probably fail to develop robust and reliable solutions for the problems of industry. In this respect, a review of the industrial applications of type-2 fuzzy sets, which are relatively novel to model imprecision has been considered in this work. The fundamental focus of the work has been based on the basic reasons of the need for type-2 fuzzy sets for the existing studies. With this purpose in mind, type-2 fuzzy sets articles have been selected from the literature using the online databases of ISI-Web of Science, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Informaworld, Engineering Village, Emerald and IEEE Xplore. Both the terms “type-2 fuzzy” and “application” have been searched as the main keywords in the topics of the studies to retrieve the relevant works. The analysis on the industrial applications of type-2 fuzzy sets/systems (FSs) in different topics allowed us to summarize the existing research areas and therefore it is expected be useful to prioritize future research topics. This review shows that there are still many opportunities for application of type-2 FSs for several different problem domains. Shortcomings of type-1 FSs can also be considered as an opportunity for the application of type-2 FSs in order to provide a better solution approach for industrial problems.