A Stable Low Power Dissipating 9 T SRAM for Implementation of 4 × 4 Memory Array with High Frequency Analysis

Wireless Personal Communications - Today’s high speed data processing and memory storage operations demand immediate data write and retrieval to meet up to benchmark. To act as a volatile or...     

Crack Development in Individually Quick Frozen Cut and Peel Carrots

ABSTRACT:  Crack development during freezing (CDF) is one of the major challenges in individually quick frozen (IQF) cut and peel carrot processing. The effects of processing and freezer storage on crack development were examined on the cut and peel carrot variety, Sugarsnax. Carrot samples were removed from the major processing steps, the trans-slicer, the shaper, the blancher, and the dryer, and examined for crack development by measuring percentage cracked, crack morphology, total soluble solids, moisture levels, and membrane injury index immediately after processing. These parameters were also examined following 20 wk of standard freezer storage for cut and peels. Approximately 2% of nonprocessed carrots were cracked compared to 45% of carrots after the initial trans-slicing stage. As the processing continued, cracking decreased due to the removal of the outer epidermis to 16% of the finished product. This suggests that CDF was initiated at the 1st processing stage. Crack width and depth were 2.3 and 2.6 mm, respectively, at the trans-slicer stage and decreased to 1.1 and 1.8 mm at the end of the line. It was found that CDF was further exacerbated by freezer storage due to inefficient water removal at the dryer stage. Crack width and depth increased to 1.5 and 3.0 mm after 20 wk for freezer storage. Root size also played a role in CDF, suggesting that larger pieces are more susceptible to crack development. Total soluble solid concentrations did not play a role in crack formation during cut and peel processing.     

Vegetation Change in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands: Deviation from the Historical Cycle

Water-level change is integral to the structure and function of Great Lakes coastal wetlands, and many studies document predictable relationships between vegetation and water level. However, anthropogenic stressors, such as invasive species, land-use change, and water-level stabilization, interact to shift the historical cycle (of native vegetation migration up- and down-slope) toward dominance by invasive Typha species. Knowing from earlier studies that water-level stabilization alters the historical vegetation cycle, we asked if similar shifts can occur where water levels are not stabilized. Using historical aerial photographs of three coastal wetlands (in Lake Michigan's Green Bay, Wisconsin), we determined that habitat dominated by Typha species has expanded to eliminate wet meadow habitat. Between 1974 and 1992, linear regressions showed strong, significant relationships of both meadow area (R² ≥ 0.894; p < 0.02) and marsh area (R² ≥ 0.784; p < 0.05) to water level in all three wetlands. In 2000, meadow area was below that predicted by the historical pattern due to the landward advance of marsh habitat during a year of decreasing water levels. In the same period, land use in the wetland watersheds converted from agriculture to urban. Urbanization and the replacement of native Typha latifolia by the invasive hybrid Typha xglauca may have overwhelmed the beneficial impact of water-level fluctuation. The documentation of vegetation shifts, as herein, is an essential step in the process of preserving and restoring ecological integrity.     

Huffman algebras for independent random variables

Based on a rearrangement inequality by Hardy, Littlewood, and Polya, we define two-operator algebras for independent random variables. These algebras are called Huffman algebras since the Huffman algorithm on these algebras produces an optimal binary tree that minimizes the weighted lengths of leaves. Many examples of such algebras are given. For the case with random weights of the leaves, we prove the optimality of the tree constructed by the power-of-2 rule, i.e., the Huffman algorithm assuming identical weights, when the weights of the leaves are independent and identically distributed.     

Preparation and characterization of rubber‐toughened poly(trimethylene terephthalate)/organoclay nanocomposite

Rubber‐toughened poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT)–organoclay nanocomposite (RTPTTCN) was prepared by a melt mixing technique. The rubber‐toughened PTT (RTPTT) was made by blending it with ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM) and with a small amount of maleated EPDM as a compatibilizer. XRD and TEM analysis indicated that the RTPTTCN forms a partially exfoliated nanocomposite. It was observed from SEM analysis that the clay nanoparticles induced a reduction of rubber particle size in the PTT matrix. Tensile and dynamic mechanical analysis indicated that the clay nanoparticles enhance the stiffness of the RTPTT without adversely affecting its toughness. Melt rheological studies revealed that the nanocomposites exhibited strong shear thinning behavior, and a percolated network of the clay particles was formed. It was also observed from DSC that the clay nanoparticles caused an increase in the nonisothermal crystallization temperature of the PTT. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 47:863–870, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers     

IndoorSense: context based indoor pollutant prediction using SARIMAX model

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Indoor air pollutants e.g., Carbon dioxide (CO2), Particulate Matter(PM)2.5, PM10, Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC), etc. have a serious impact on human...     

Advances in vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs): Challenges and road-map for future development

Recent advances in wireless communication technologies and auto-mobile industry have triggered a significant research interest in the field of vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) over the past few years. A vehicular network consists of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications supported by wireless access technologies such as IEEE 802.11p. This innovation in wireless communication has been envisaged to improve road safety and motor traffic efficiency in near future through the development of intelligent transportation system (ITS). Hence, governments, auto-mobile industries and academia are heavily partnering through several ongoing research projects to establish standards for VANETs. The typical set of VANET application areas, such as vehicle collision warning and traffic information dissemination have made VANET an interesting field of mobile wireless communication. This paper provides an overview on current research state, challenges, potentials of VANETs as well as the ways forward to achieving the long awaited ITS.     

A change management framework for macroergonomic field research

With the proliferation of macroergonomic field research, it is time to carefully examine how such research should be managed and implemented. We argue that the importance of attending to high-quality implementation of field research is equal to that of methodological rigor. One way to systematically manage the implementation process is to adopt a change management framework, wherein the research project is conceptualized as an instance of organization-level change. Consequently, principles for successful organization-level change from the literature on change management can be used to guide successful field research implementation. This paper briefly reviews that literature, deriving 30 principles of successful change management, covering topics such as political awareness, assembling the change team, generating buy-in, and management support. For each principle, corresponding suggestions for macroergonomic field research practice are presented. We urge other researchers to further develop and adopt frameworks that guide the implementation of field research.     

Collaborative writing in multiple discourse contexts

Research in computer-supported writing has traditionally compared electronic communication with oral, face-to-face communication to identify the benefits and weaknesses of each, as if they entailed dichotomous choices. In this article, we challenge that view and argue instead that any form of communication and its educational usefulness is shaped by the situation in which it is used, the backgrounds and goals of the participants, the institutional and technological setup, and the intended purpose of the medium. Three modes of communication in one graduate course are examined — oral discussion, synchronous written discussion on a local area network, and asynchronous written postings on an email list set up for the class. It was found that patterns of participation, topic introduction, and topic development differed across the three communication modes, but that the three were interwoven with each other and embedded within the larger classroom context and forms of knowledge creation in the class. Thus, rather than examining different communication media separately, researchers interested in understanding computer-supported collaborative writing need to look at how different media are used to create a meta-medium, which is established by the discourse community involved.     

Efficient deterministic secure quantum communication protocols using multipartite entangled states

We propose two deterministic secure quantum communication protocols employing three-qubit GHZ-like states and five-qubit Brown states as quantum channels for secure transmission of information in units of two bits and three bits using multipartite teleportation schemes developed here. In these schemes, the sender’s capability in selecting quantum channels and the measuring bases leads to improved qubit efficiency of the protocols.