Processing the new world of interactive media

Trimedia is a family of programmable multimedia processors from the Trimedia product group of Philips Semiconductors. This architecture is based upon a high-performances VLIW CPU core. TM-1000 is the first product from a family of multimedia processors based upon the Trimedia architecture. TM-1000 is designed to concurrently process video, audio, graphics, and communication data. TM-1000 consists of a high-performance VLIW-based CPU core, large instruction and data caches, main memory interface, and video, audio and communication related peripherals. TM-1000 is a multimedia system on a chip: high-quality video and audio applications can be implemented in TM-1000 using high-level languages such as “C” and “C++”. The authors mainly focus on the VLIW CPU architecture     

Lecithin‐enhanced biotransformation of cholesterol to androsta‐1,4‐diene‐3,17‐dione and androsta‐4‐ene‐3,17‐dione

A biotransformation process using Mycobacterium sp was studied for androsta‐1, 4‐diene‐3,17‐dione (ADD) and androsta‐4‐ene‐3,17‐dione (AD) production from cholesterol. Cholesterol has a poor solubility in water (～1.8 mg dm^?3 at 25 °C), which makes it difficult to use as the substrate for biotransformation. Lecithin is a mixture of phospholipids of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), which behave like surfactants and can form planar bi‐layer structures in an aqueous medium. Therefore, a small amount of lecithin (<1 g dm^?3) can be used to form stable colloids with cholesterol at a relatively high concentration (20 g dm^?3) in water. In this work, an energy density of 1000 J cm^?3 from sonication was provided to overcome the self‐association of cholesterol and to generate a stable lecithin–cholesterol suspension that could be used for enhanced biotransformation. The lecithin–cholesterol suspension was stable and could withstand typical autoclaving conditions (121 °C, 15 psig, 20 min). In contrast to conventional surfactants, such as Tween 80, that are commonly used to help solubilize cholesterol, lecithin did not change the surface tension of the aqueous solution nor cause any significant foaming problem. Lecithin was also biocompatible and showed no adverse effect on cell growth. Compared with the medium with Tween 80 as the cholesterol‐solubilizing agent, lecithin greatly improved the biotransformation process in regard to its final product yield (～59% w/w), productivity (0.127–0.346 g dm^?3 day^?1), ADD/AD ratio (6.7–8), as well as the long‐term process stability. Cells can be reused in repeated batch fermentations for up to seven consecutive batches, but then lose their bioactivity due to aging problems, possibly caused by product inhibition and nutrient depletion. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

Dynamic response of an electronically shuttered CCD imager

The dynamic response of an electronically shuttered charge-coupled device (CCD) imager to nanosecond voltage pulses has been investigated. Measurements show that the shutter can be dynamically opened and closed in nanosecond times. For the shutter opening, simulations indicate that the collection of photoelectrons occurs in times much shorter than that needed to form the steady-state depletion region under the CCD well. In addition, the shutter closing occurs faster than the reconstitution of the p-buried (shutter) layer. Simulations further indicate that electric fields created in the neutral substrate by the shutter clocks enable photogenerated charge collection/rejection on nanosecond time scales despite the fact that the depletion-region formation and collapse take much longer times.     

Sonochemical destruction of free and metal-binding ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

This study focused on the sonochemical degradation of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and chromium-EDTA complexes. Degradation of the copper(II)-EDTA complex was also investigated as a comparison metal complex. A 90% degradation of a 150-microM EDTA solution with continuous O2-bubbling was shown for the 20-kHz system in approximately 3 h (kpseudo-first order = 1.22 x 10(-2) min-1) and less than 1 h for the 354-kHz system (kpseudo-first order = 5.42 x 10(-2) min-1). These results are consistent with the higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide found in the higher frequency system and an expected oxidation of EDTA in bulk solution. The presence of a chelated metal decreased the rate of degradation at both frequencies. Cr(III)-EDTA degraded the slowest, supporting the theory that the extremely slow ligand exchange rate of chromium is the determining factor in how fast degradation by hydroxyl radical can occur. The 354-kHz system showed a 17% decrease in the original 150-microM Cr(III)-EDTA complex after 3 h of sonication. All of the chromium from the degraded EDTA complex existed as a combination of oxidized Cr(VI) and possibly small amounts of a new Cr(III)-organic complex (Cr(III)-Y). The 20-kHz system showed a similar extent of degradation (16%) after 3 h of sonication, despite lower hydroxyl radical production. Fifty percent of the chromium from the degraded EDTA complex was found as free Cr3+ ion, with the remaining 50% existing as both Cr(III)-Y and Cr(VI). Varying degrees of bulk oxidation, near-bubble thermolysis, and perhaps different degradation pathways at the two frequencies are responsible for these differences.