A report on HIPERLAN standardization

HIPERLAN is the new European standard for radio LANs currently being formulated by ETSI RES10 for operation at 5 GHz and 17 GHz. It will be suitable for radio replacement of wired LANs and for ad hoc networking providing a user data rate of 10–20 Mbit/s. This paper is a review of the work of ETSI RES10 on the formulation of the HIPERLAN standard. The origins of ETSI RES10 are documented. The targets set for HIPERLAN and the problems in achieving these targets are discussed. The paper reviews the technical arguments for and against the proposed solutions to these problems, concentrating on the design of the transmission scheme and the channel access mechanism. The discussions leading to significant decisions about the standard are summarized. If the FCC in the United States of America allocate the equivalent 5 GHz band to unlicensed wireless LAN systems, many of these discussions will be revisited for future standards in this band. The paper will be of interest to anyone in academia or industry wishing to be brought quickly up to date with the state of the standard in order to focus their research or development activities. The paper also gives a general insight into the technical side of the standards formulation process in ETSI.     

Volume rendering of segmented image objects

This paper describes a new method of combining ray-casting with segmentation. Volume rendering is performed at interactive rates on personal computers, and visualizations include both "superficial" ray-casting through a shell at each object's surface and "deep" ray-casting through the confines of each object. A feature of the approach is the option to smoothly and interactively dilate segmentation boundaries along all axes. This ability, when combined with selective "turning off" of extraneous image objects, can help clinicians detect and evaluate segmentation errors that may affect surgical planning. We describe both a method optimized for displaying tubular objects and a more general method applicable to objects of arbitrary geometry. In both cases, select three-dimensional points are projected onto a modified z buffer that records additional information about the projected objects. A subsequent step selectively volume renders only through the object volumes indicated by the z buffer. We describe how our approach differs from other reported methods for combining segmentation with ray-casting, and illustrate how our method can be useful in helping to detect segmentation errors.     

Spectral study and classification of worldwide locations considering several multijunction solar cell technologies

Multi‐junction solar cells are widely used in high‐concentration photovoltaic systems (HCPV) attaining the highest efficiencies in photovoltaic energy generation. This technology is more dependent on the spectral variations of the impinging Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI) than conventional photovoltaics based on silicon solar cells and consequently demands a deeper knowledge of the solar resource characteristics. This article explores the capabilities of spectral indexes, namely, spectral matching ratios (SMR), to spectrally characterize the annual irradiation reaching a particular location on the Earth and to provide the necessary information for the spectral optimization of a MJ solar cell in that location as a starting point for CPV module spectral tuning. Additionally, the relationship between such indexes and the atmosphere parameters, such as the aerosol optical depth (AOD), precipitable water (PW), and air mass (AM), is discussed using radiative transfer models such as SMARTS to generate the spectrally resolved DNI. The network of ground‐based sun and sky‐scanning radiometers AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) is exploited to obtain the atmosphere parameters for a selected bunch of 34 sites worldwide. Finally, the SMR indexes are obtained for every location, and a comparative analysis is carried out for four architectures of triple junction solar cells, covering both lattice match and metamorphic technologies. The differences found among cell technologies are much less significant than among locations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing the performance of crack detection tests for solder joints

This paper presents both modelling and experimental test data to characterise the performance of four non-destructive tests. The focus is on determining the presence and rough magnitude of thermal fatigue cracks within the solder joints for a surface mount resistor on a strip of FR4 PCB. The tests all operate by applying mechanical loads to the PCB and monitoring the strain response at the top of the resistor. The modelling results show that of the four tests investigated, three are sensitive to the presence of a crack in the joint and its magnitude. Hence these tests show promise in being able to detect cracking caused by accelerated testing. The experimental data supports these results although more validation is required.     

Singular value decomposition based fusion for super-resolution image reconstruction

In this paper, we address a super-resolution problem of generating a high-resolution image from low-resolution images. The proposed super-resolution method consists of three steps: image registration, singular value decomposition (SVD)-based image fusion and interpolation. The contribution of this work is two-fold. First we customize an image registration approach using Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), Belief Propagation and Random Sampling Consensus (RANSAC) for super-resolution. Second, we propose SVD-based fusion to integrate the important features from the low-resolution images. The proposed image registration and fusion steps effectively maintain the important features and greatly improve the super-resolution results. Results, for a variety of image examples, show that the proposed method successfully generates high-resolution images from low-resolution images.     

离子注入后品圆清洗带来的材料和掺杂剂损失的测量

对45nm及以下技术节点的逻辑器件嗣造来说,经过次数不断增加的高剂量离子注入光阻层的清洗步骤后,仍保持超浅结（USJ）的完整性非常重要。在PMOS区采用SiGe带来了材料方面的又—挑战。一种新型短循环法可精确测量各种去胶储洗工艺造成的非晶硅或SiGe的损失量。     

Automated segmentation, classification, and tracking of cancer cell nuclei in time-lapse microscopy

Quantitative measurement of cell cycle progression in individual cells over time is important in understanding drug treatment effects on cancer cells. Recent advances in time-lapse fluorescence microscopy imaging have provided an important tool to study the cell cycle process under different conditions of perturbation. However, existing computational imaging methods are rather limited in analyzing and tracking such time-lapse datasets, and manual analysis is unreasonably time-consuming and subject to observer variances. This paper presents an automated system that integrates a series of advanced analysis methods to fill this gap. The cellular image analysis methods can be used to segment, classify, and track individual cells in a living cell population over a few days. Experimental results show that the proposed method is efficient and effective in cell tracking and phase identification.     

Synchronized External Pulsation for Improved Tolerance to Acceleration Stress: Model Studies and Preliminary Experiments

Synchronized external pulsation is proposed as a method to improve tolerance to acceleration stress. This technique uses a modified anti-G suit which is pressurized and depressurized synchronously with the heart cycle. The feasibility of the procedure has been studied using a computer model of the cardiovascular system which includes the effects of Gz stress, and contains simulations of baroreceptor control of heart rate and venous tone. Model predictions indicate that for unprotected subjects, carotid pressure at eye level (ophthalmic artery pressure) decreases to 20 mmHg (beginning of central light loss) at approximately +3.6 Gz. Applying standard anti-G suit pressure to the model increases this level to 5.3 Gz. When synchronized external pulsation of 2 psi is superimposed on the standard anti-G suit pressure, the tolerance to acceleration stress is further augmented by at least 0.9 G above the protection afforded by the standard anti-G suit alone. A set of preliminary experiments on human subjects to test the feasibility of using the technique in the high-G environment has also been carried out. The results under various protection modes compare favorably to the model predictions. Our results suggest that the computer model presented here is a useful tool for studying cardiovascular responses under +GZ stress. It also indicates that using synchronized external pulsation pressure superimposed on the standard anti-G suit pressure may offer extra protection to acceleration stress.     

Learning about learning: patterns of sharing of research knowledge among Education,Border, and Cognitive Science fields

This study explores the patterns of exchange of research knowledge among Education Research, Cognitive Science, and what we call “Border Fields.” We analyze a set of 32,121 articles from 177 selected journals, drawn from five sample years between 1994 and 2014. We profile the references that those articles cite, and the papers that cite them. We characterize connections among the fields in sources indexed by Web of Science (WoS) (e.g., peer-reviewed journal articles and proceedings), and connections in sources that are not (e.g., conference talks, chapters, books, and reports). We note five findings—first, over time the percentage of Education Research papers that extensively cite Cognitive Science has increased, but the reverse is not true. Second, a high percentage of Border Field papers extensively cite and are cited by the other fields. Border Field authors’ most cited papers overlap those most cited by Education Research and Cognitive Science. There are fewer commonalities between Educational research and Cognitive Science most cited papers. This is consistent with Border Fields being a bridge between fields. Third, over time the Border Fields have moved closer to Education Research than to Cognitive Science, and their publications increasingly cite, and are cited by, other Border Field publications. Fourth, Education Research is especially strongly represented in the literature published outside those WoS-indexed publications. Fifth, the rough patterns observed among these three fields when using a more restricted dataset drawn from the WoS are similar to those observed with the dataset lying outside the WoS, but Education Research shows a far heavier influence than would be indicated by looking at WoS records alone.

     

Highly efficient enzyme-functionalized porous zirconia microtubes for bacteria filtration

In contrast to polymer membranes, ceramic membranes offer considerable advantages for safe drinking water provision due to their excellent chemical, thermal, and mechanical endurance. In this study, porous ceramic microtubes made of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) are presented, which are conditioned for bacteria filtration by immobilizing lysozyme as an antibacterial enzyme. In accordance with determined membrane pore sizes of the nonfunctionalized microtube of ≤200 nm, log reduction values (LRV) of nearly 3 (i.e., bacterial retention of 99.9%) were obtained for bacterial retention studies using gram-positive model bacterium Micrococcus luteus. Immobilization studies of lysozyme on the membrane surface reveal an up to six times higher lysozyme loading for the covalent immobilization route as compared to unspecific immobilization. Antibacterial activity of lysozyme-functionalized microtubes was assessed by qualitative agar plate test using Micrococcus luteus as substrate showing that both the unspecific and the covalent lysozyme immobilization enhance the microtubes' antibacterial properties. Quantification of the enzyme activity at flow conditions by photometric assays reveals that the enzyme activities of lysozyme-functionalized microtubes depend strongly on applied flow rates. Intracapillary feeding of bacteria solution and higher flow rates lead to reduced enzyme activities. In consideration of different applied flow rates in the range of 0.2-0.5 mL/min, the total lysozyme activity increases by a factor of 2 for the covalent immobilization route as compared to the unspecific binding. Lysozyme leaching experiments at flow conditions for 1 h show a significant higher amount of washed-out lysozyme (factor 1.7-3.4) for the unspecific immobilization route when compared to the covalent route where the initial level of antibacterial effectiveness could be achieved by reimmobilization with lysozyme. The presented platform is highly promising for sustainable bacteria filtration.