Waveguide Bandpass Filters for Millimeter-Wave Radiometers

A fundamental requirement for most mm-wave heterodyne receivers is the rejection of the input image signal which is located close to the local oscillator frequency. For this purpose we use a bandpass filter, which for heterodyne receivers is also called an image rejection filter. In this paper we present a systematic approach to the design of a waveguide bandpass filter with a passband from 100 to 110 GHz and upper rejection bandwidth in the range from 113 to 145 GHz. We consider two non-tunable filter configurations: the first one is relatively selective with 11 sections (poles) whereas the second one is simpler with 5 sections. We used established design equations to propose an initial guess for the geometries of the filters, optimized the geometries, constructed the filters using two different milling methods, measured their transmission and reflection characteristics, and compared the measurements with numerical simulations. Measurements of both filters agree well with simulations in frequency response and rejection bandwidth. The insertion loss of the 11-pole filter is better than 10 dB and that of the 5-pole filter is better than 5 dB. The 11-pole filter has a sharper attenuation roll-off compared with the 5-pole filter. The upper out-of-band rejection is better than 40 dB up to 145 GHz for the 11-pole filter and up to 155 GHz for the 5-pole filter

Vertex-degree-based molecular structure descriptors of benzenoid systems and phenylenes

Several recently published papers report expressions for various vertex-degree-based molecular structure descriptors of benzenoid systems and phenylenes. We deduce here the general expression for these descriptors, and show that a simple and generally valid relation exists between such structure descriptors of phenylenes and their hexagonal squeezes

Constructing NSSD molecular graphs

A graph is said to be non-singular if it has no eigenvalue equal to zero; otherwise it is singular. Molecular graphs that are non-singular and also have the property that all subgraphs of them obtained by deleting a single vertex are themselves singular, known as NSSD graphs, are of importance in the theory of molecular π-electron conductors; NSSD = non-singular graph with a singular deck. Whereas all non-singular bipartite graphs (therefore, the molecular graphs of all closed-shell alternant conjugated hydrocarbons) are NSSD, the non-bipartite case is much more complicated. Only a limited number of non-bipartite molecular graphs have the NSSD property. Several methods for constructing such molecular graphs are presented.peer-reviewe

140-220 GHz Imaging Front-end Based on 250 nm InP/InGaAs/InP DHBT Process

This paper presents a pre-amplified detector receiver based on a 250 nm InP/InGaAs/InP double heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT) process available from the Teledyne scientific. The front end consists of a double slot antenna followed by a five stage low noise amplifier and a detector, all integrated onto the same circuit. Results of measured responsivity and noise are presented. The receiver is characterized through measuring its response to hot (293) and cold (78) K terminations. Measurements of the voltage noise spectrum at the video output of the receiver are presented and can be used to derive the temperature resolution of the receiver for a specific video bandwidth

Antimicrobial Resistance in Enterococcus spp. Isolated from Environmental Samples in an Area of Intensive Poultry Production

Enterococcus spp. from two poultry farms and proximate surface and ground water sites in an area of intensive poultry production were tested for resistance to 16 clinical antibiotics. Resistance patterns were compared to assess trends and possible correlations for specific antimicrobials and levels of resistance. Enterococci were detected at all 12 surface water sites and three of 28 ground water sites. Resistance to lincomycin, tetracycline, penicillin and ciprofloxacin in poultry litter isolates was high (80.3%, 65.3%, 61.1% and 49.6%, respectively). Resistance in the surface water to the same antibiotics was 87.1%, 24.1%, 7.6% and 12.9%, respectively. Overall, 86% of litter isolates, 58% of surface water isolates and 100% of ground water isolates were resistant to more than one antibiotic. Fifty-four different resistance patterns were recognised in isolates obtained from litter and environmental samples and several E. faecium and E. faecalis isolates from litter and environment samples shared the same resistance pattern. Multiple antibiotic resistant (MAR) indices calculated to assess health risks due to the presence of resistant enterococci suggested an increased presence of antibiotics in surface water, likely from poultry sources as no other wastewater contributions in the area were documented