Porous Alumina Based Capacitive MEMS RH Sensor

The aim of a joint research and development project at the BME and HWU is to produce a cheap, reliable, low-power and CMOS-MEMS process compatible capacitive type relative humidity (RH) sensor that can be incorporated into a state-of-the-art, wireless sensor network. In this paper we discuss the preparation of our new capacitive structure based on post-CMOS MEMS processes and the methods which were used to characterize the thin film porous alumina sensing layer. The average sensitivity is approx. 15 pF/RH% which is more than a magnitude higher than the values found in the literature. The sensor is equipped with integrated resistive heating, which can be used for maintenance to reduce drift, or for keeping the sensing layer at elevated temperature, as an alternative method for temperature-dependence cancellation.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838

A study of refurbishment of listed buildings into a new facilities

This research is a study on the refurbishment of old building and heritage building in Malaysia. This research intends to highlight the existing practice on rehabilitation projects in Malaysia with the main focus on guidelines at rehabilitation work stages. Besides that, this research describes building restoration and the process of the renewal and refurbishment of the fabric of a building. The objectives of doing this research are to emphasize the importance of refurbishment in order to reserve an old and historical building without make big changes at the façade and structure of the buildings. This research also important in order to study on the space utilization for internal after the buildings have been refurbished and finally to determine various of commercial building that have been refurbished for a new facilities and find the most rapidly area with the preservation and conservation of buildings. The phase covers a wide span of activities, from the cleaning of the interior or exterior of a buildings Buildings are structures which have, from time to time, particular purposes. They require ongoing maintenance to prevent them falling into disrepair as a result of the ravages of time and use. Building restoration can be thought of as that set of activities which are greater than year-to-year maintenance. This research was held at Malacca, Batu Pahat and Muar. This is because; there is many old building and historical building that constructed during the British Colonial and others. The design gave an aesthetic value to the tourist. Based on this research, Malacca is the most rapid area with a refurbishment development because Malacca was awarded with World Heritage List by UNESCO. It is important for Malacca to maintain their historic and aesthetic value of the buildings. Batu Pahat was found the slowest region in refurbishment development

Investigations on the Luminescence Properties of Quartz and Feldspars Extracted from Loess in the Canterbury Plains, New Zealand South Island

The applicability of the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol, by using the optically stimulated lumi-nescence (OSL) signal of quartz as well as the post-infrared–infrared (pIRIR) signals of polymineral fine grains, namely pIRIR225 and pIRIR290, was assessed for dating loess in New Zealand South Island. OSL signals of quartz grains displayed low sensitivity. However, the application of repeated irradiation/bleaching cycles did not result in an increase in sensitivity; annealing in the 300–500°C temperature range generated the sensitisation of both the 110°C thermoluminescence (TL) peak as well as the OSL signal, likely by activation of yet unidentified luminescence centres. After heating, the quartz signal is comparable to that of ideal samples, but the annealing is precluding successful dating. On the other hand, feldspar infrared-stimulated signals displayed satisfactory properties, al-lowing estimation of ages ranging from 14 ± 1–29 ± 3 ka for the investigated deposit. It was shown that pIRIR225 and pIRIR290 methods have potential for dating loess in the South Island of New Zealand, based on the following observations: (i) Dose recovery tests were successful with recovered-to-given dose ratios with a <10% deviation from unity, (ii) constant residual values of about 4 Gy and about 10 Gy were obtained after exposures for 48 h in the case of pIRIR225 signals and 96 h in the case of pIRIR290 signals, respectively, (iii) while a slight dose-dependence of the residual was reported, and for a dose as large as 1600 Gy the residual values are ≅9 Gy and ≅19 Gy for pIRIR225 and pIRIR290 signals, respectively

NAADP receptors are present and functional in the heart

AbstractAlongside the well-studied inositol 1,4,5 trisphosphate and ryanodine receptors, evidence is gathering that a new intracellular release mechanism, gated by the pyridine nucleotide nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP), is present in numerous organisms, ranging from plant to mammalian cells (reviewed in [1]). Most cells have been shown to express at least two Ca2+-release mechanisms controlled by different messengers, and this can lead to redundancy, convergence, or divergence of responses. One exception appears to be muscle and heart contractile tissues. Here, it is thought that the dominant intracellular channel is the ryanodine receptor, while IP3 receptors are poorly expressed and their role appears to be negligible. We now report that NAADP receptors are functional and abundant in cardiac microsomes. NAADP binds specifically and with high affinity (130 pM and 4 nM) to two sites on cardiac microsomes and releases Ca2+ with an apparent EC50 of 323 ± 14 nM. Furthermore, binding experiments show that this receptor displays both positive and negative cooperativity, a peculiarity unique among intracellular Ca2+ channels. Therefore, we show that the heart possesses multiple mechanisms to increase the complexity of Ca2+ signaling and that NAADP may be integral in the functioning of this organ

The south-western Black Forest and the Upper Rhine Graben Main Border Fault: thermal history and hydrothermal fluid flow

The thermal history of the south-westernmost Black Forest (Germany) and the adjacent Upper Rhine Graben were constrained by a combination of apatite and zircon fission-track (FT) and microstructural analyses. After intrusion of Palaeozoic granitic plutons in the Black Forest, the thermal regime of the studied area re-equilibrated during the Late Permian and the Mesozoic, interrupted by enhanced hydrothermal activity during the Jurassic. At the eastern flank of the Upper Rhine Graben along the Main Border Fault the analysed samples show microstructural characteristics related to repeated tectonic and hydrothermal activities. The integration of microstructural observations of the cataclastic fault gouge with the FT data identifies the existence of repeated tectonic-related fluid flow events characterised by different thermal conditions. The older took place during the Variscan and/or Mesozoic time at temperatures lower than 280°C, whereas the younger was probably contemporary with the Cenozoic rifting of the Upper Rhine Graben at temperatures not higher than 150°

Wavelet-based Characterization of Small-scale Solar Emission Features at Low Radio Frequencies

Low radio frequency solar observations using the Murchison Widefield Array have recently revealed the presence of numerous weak short-lived narrowband emission features, even during moderately quiet solar conditions. These nonthermal features occur at rates of many thousands per hour in the 30.72 MHz observing bandwidth, and hence necessarily require an automated approach for their detection and characterization. Here, we employ continuous wavelet transform using a mother Ricker wavelet for feature detection from the dynamic spectrum. We establish the efficacy of this approach and present the first statistically robust characterization of the properties of these features. In particular, we examine distributions of their peak flux densities, spectral spans, temporal spans, and peak frequencies. We can reliably detect features weaker than 1 SFU, making them, to the best of our knowledge, the weakest bursts reported in literature. The distribution of their peak flux densities follows a power law with an index of −2.23 in the 12–155 SFU range, implying that they can provide an energetically significant contribution to coronal and chromospheric heating. These features typically last for 1–2 s and possess bandwidths of about 4–5 MHz. Their occurrence rate remains fairly flat in the 140–210 MHz frequency range. At the time resolution of the data, they appear as stationary bursts, exhibiting no perceptible frequency drift. These features also appear to ride on a broadband background continuum, hinting at the likelihood of them being weak type-I bursts