A simple technique for high resolution time domain phase noise measurement

A new time domain phase comparator is described. The device uses a novel technique to allow time domain phase measurements to be made with period and time interval counters without the use of offset reference oscillators. The device uses a single reference oscillator and allows measurements with a phase resolution greater than the noise floor of the reference. Data is presented showing a phase resolution of 0.02ps at 5 MHz with a crystal reference. The device has application in measuring the phase stability of systems where approximate phase quadrature can be maintained

The CDC’s Moratorium: Will the New Year Bring About an Eviction Crisis?

The new relief bill has extended the eviction moratorium another month. In this article, Matt Donahoe discusses whether this will provide tenants the necessary protection to avoid an eviction crisis as well as whether the moratorium is an infringement upon a landlord’s constitutional rights.https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lawjournalonline/1054/thumbnail.jp

Human Rights and the War on Terror: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has been entrenched in a civil war for two decades. As in ethnic conflicts in many other post-colonial countries, the different groups of Sri Lanka give loyalty primarily to the group, rather than to the entire country. The Sinhalese majority have slowly populated the government and treated the Tamil minority as a threat to national stability, instead of as candidates for conciliation and power sharing. Consequently, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has taken up arms against the Sinhalese controlled government to fight for an independent homeland in the north and north-east parts of the country in 1983

Assurance and frustration : from Ireland and the Netherlands to Jamestown.

English experience gained from colonization attempts in the New World and in Ireland, as well as military expeditions to the European continent and the New World, helped make Jamestown more successful than any previous English colonial venture in the New World up to that time. Jamestown\u27s early leadership successfully applied the collective English experiences from the Netherlands and Ireland to help the Jamestown colony survive. English experiences in Ireland were instrumental in developing the concepts that led to successful English colonization of North America, but English experiences in the Netherlands also played an important role. In the critical first two-and-a-half years of the colony, a council led by a president ran the colony. From late 1609 until King James I made Jamestown a crown colony in 1624; a series of military governors ran the colony. This leadership and the English experience was the catalyst for Jamestown\u27s survival

Evaluation of the Freshman Seminar Program at Eastern Illinois University and Its Perceived Impact on First-Year Student Development

This study examined the development of first-year college students at Eastern Illinois University in order to determine if student development was strengthened with the assistance of an eight-week Freshman Seminar course. Additionally, this study evaluated the fall semester, 1999 Freshman Seminar course in order to determine students\u27 perceptions of the course and its content both at the start and completion of the course. The research population consisted of first-year students who were enrolled in Freshman Seminar (N = 303) and first-year students who were enrolled in an Introductory Speech Communications (SPC 1310) course, but not enrolled in Freshman Seminar (N = 215). This study incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The locally-developed, quantitative First-Year Student Development Survey (FYSDS) and qualitative Freshman Seminar Survey (FSS), along with the confirmation of a Freshman Focus Group, supported the following results: 1) Based on scores from the FYSDS, student development took place among first-year students during the first eight weeks of college regardless of their enrollment in Freshman Seminar. 2) There was no significant difference in the initial perceived level of student development between Freshman Seminar students and Non-Freshman Seminar students on the FYSDS. 3) At the end of the first eight weeks of college, there was a higher level of student development reported by first-year students who took Freshman Seminar on the FYSDS than first-year students who did not take Freshman Seminar. 4) Students who took Freshman Seminar reported the course to have positively assisted them in their initial transition to college. 5) First-year students who took Freshman Seminar recommended that other incoming first-year students take the course in subsequent years

Engineering poly(ethylene glycol) nanogel coatings: Developments in achieving ultralow protein adsorption and applications as substrates for stem cell culture

The biocompatibility of biomaterials is primarily dictated by the interactions that occur at the material\u27s interface with its biological environment. Proteins irreversibly adsorb to these interfaces within seconds to minutes of exposure, altering their structural conformation, inducing cell adhesion, and activating various cellular responses. To this end, surface modification strategies have been designed in attempts to develop stealth biomaterials or even biomaterials that modulate this response by inducing specific biological reactions. We sought to advance the design of biomaterial surfaces by quantitatively studying protein adsorption to ultralow protein adsorbing surfaces formed from poly(ethylene glycol) nanogel coatings of variable structural and chemical properties. We found that resistance to protein adsorption can be improved by increasing the nanogel coating\u27s surface packing density, which is achievable using orthogonal cross-linking chemistries, such as click chemistry, under phase separation conditions. We also confirmed that PEG and albumin act synergistically within nanogel coatings to resist protein adsorption. As a demonstration of the utility for such protein resistant surfaces, we fabricated improved cell culture substrates with nanogel coatings, by spatially patterning cell adhesion and functionalizing surfaces with specific ligands. These surfaces showed superior potential for driving the direct reprogramming of fibroblasts to cardiomyocytes over the standard stem cell substratum of Matrigel and revealed insight into optimal cellular organizations for cardiomyocyte differentiation. However, we also unexpectedly found that adsorption of laminin to mercaptosilanated glass promotes a relatively high efficiency of cardiomyocyte differentiation. The findings outlined in this dissertation demonstrate that consideration of often overlooked material design parameters, in addition to the choice of material, provides further opportunity for improving biocompatibility. We further demonstrated that the precision control of cell adhesion and substratum signaling provided by these materials has broad potential in biological applications, including stem cell culture

Strip Searches of Students: Addressing the Undressing of Children in Schools and Redressing the Fourth Amendment Violations

This Article exposes the problems created by T.L.O. and its progeny, analyzes the Safford decision, and proposes recommendations for lower courts, legislatures, and local school boards to redress the current strip search crisis in public schools. Part II explains the T.L.O. two-prong test and illustrates the problems the T.L.O. Court and lower courts have had in applying it, specifically in strip search cases. Part III analyzes the Safford opinion and its ramifications. Part IV proposes ways in which lower courts, legislatures, and local school boards can redress the problems created by TL.O. and Saf ford so that officials will no longer be protected when they violate their students\u27 Fourth Amendment rights. Part V concludes that without these changes, schools will be unable to provide a safe learning environment for their students