Novel CCII-based Field Programmable Analog Array and its Application to a Sixth-Order Butterworth LPF

In this paper, a field programmable analog array (FPAA) is proposed. The proposed FPAA consists of seven configurable analog blocks (CABs) arranged in a hexagonal lattice such that the CABs are directly connected to each other. This structure improves the overall frequency response of the chip by decreasing the parasitic capacitances in the signal path. The CABS of the FPAA is based on a novel fully differential digitally programmable current conveyor (DPCCII). The programmability of the DPCCII is achieved using digitally controlled three-bit MOS ladder current division network. No extra biasing circuit is required to generate specific analog control voltage signals. The DPCCII has constant standby power consumption, offset voltage, bandwidth and harmonic distortions over all its programming range. A sixth-order Butterworth tunable LPF suitable for WLAN/WiMAX receivers is realized on the proposed FPAA. The filter power consumption is 5.4mW from 1V supply; it’s cutoff frequency is tuned from 5.2 MHz to 16.9 MHz. All the circuits are realized using 90nm CMOS technology from TSMC. All simulations are carried out using Cadence

Protective Effect of Ascorbic Acid, Biopropolis and Royal Jelly against Aluminum Toxicity in Rats Magda E. Mahmoud1 and Samaa S. Elsoadaa2*

The present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of ascorbic acid (AA), biopropolis and royal jelly in alleviating the toxicity of Aluminum chloride (AlCl3) on body weight gain, feed efficiency and biochemical parameters in rats with hostological examination of sections from liver and kidney. Thirty female Wistar–Albino rats (160-170 g) were randomly divided into five equal groups of six rats each. As normal drinking water was given to the control group, while the four groups II, III, IV and V received 34 mg AlCl3/ L in drinking water daily. Group II received only AlCl3. Group III, IV and V were administrated orally with ascorbic acid, biopropolis and royal jelly, respectively at a dose 50 mg/kg bw twice a week for 8 weeks. AlCl3 decreased significantly body weight gain and feed efficiency. While treatment of ascorbic acid (AA), propolis and royal plus AlCl3 normalized their to control value. The relative weight (percent of body weight) of liver and kidney increased when compared with control while the brain did not illustrate any change. The level of urea, and the activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were increased, while total protein and albumin were decreased in serum of rats treated with AlCl3. It can be concluded that ascorbic acid, propolis and royal jelly have beneficial influences and could be able to antagonize AlCl3 toxicity. Keywords: Aluminum chloride: toxicity: ascorbic acid: biopropolis: royal jelly: rats

Young LMC clusters: the role of red supergiants and multiple stellar populations in their integrated light and CMDs

The optical integrated spectra of three LMC young stellar clusters (NGC 1984, NGC 1994 and NGC 2011) exhibit concave continua and prominent molecular bands which deviate significantly from the predictions of single stellar population (SSP) models. In order to understand the appearance of these spectra, we create a set of young stellar population (MILES) models, which we make available to the community. We use archival International Ultraviolet Explorer integrated UV spectra to independently constrain the cluster masses and extinction, and rule out strong stochastic effects in the optical spectra. In addition, we also analyze deep colour-magnitude diagrams of the clusters to provide independent age determinations based on isochrone fitting. We explore hypotheses including age-spreads in the clusters, a top-heavy initial mass function, different SSP models and the role of red supergiant stars (RSG). We find that the strong molecular features in the optical spectra can only be reproduced by modeling an increased fraction of about 20 per cent by luminosity of RSG above what is predicted by canonical stellar evolution models. Given the uncertainties in stellar evolution at Myr ages, we cannot presently rule-out the presence of Myr age-spreads in these clusters. Our work combines different wavelengths as well as different approaches (resolved data as well as integrated spectra for the same sample) in order to reveal the complete picture. We show that each approach provides important information but in combination can we better understand the cluster stellar populations.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Email is Evil! Behavioural Responses towards Permission-based Direct Email Marketing and Gender Differences

Purpose This study aims to assess consumers’ beliefs in three Middle Eastern Arab countries regarding attitudinal and behavioural responses towards permission-based direct email marketing (hereafter DEM) and the moderating role of gender in the hypothesised path model. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesised path model by using data collected from 829 respondents. Findings The findings show that attitude was found to fully mediate the relationship between beliefs and behavioural responses towards permission-based DEM. Gender moderates the relationship between beliefs and attitudes and responses to permission-based DEM. Notably, female respondents were found to react more actively when exposed to permission-based DEM. Research limitations/implications Further qualitative research is needed to learn more about how and why individuals develop behavioural intentions in certain ways towards opt-in DEM. In addition, neuropsychology approaches such as eye-tracking are endorsed for future research to gain more insights and conquer biases associated with self-reporting procedures in countries where such technologies are deemed as legal and ethical to be used with human subjects. Practical implications Advertisers promoting products and services in the Middle Eastern Arab context should take further steps to enhance the quality of information (including cultural sensitiveness) and the perceived entertainment value that could be delivered to consumers through permission-based DEM, especially for female internet users. Additionally, this study highly recommends the double opt-in approach to permission-based DEM. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to address the gender role as a moderator of the path depicting the effectiveness of permission-based DEM approach in the Middle East (Arab counties) from beliefs to behavioural responses via attitudes

NONPARAMETRIC TEST FOR UBACT CLASS OF LIFE DISTRIBUTION BASED ON U-STATISTIC

Based on U-statistic, testing exponentially versus used better than aged in convex tail ordering (UBACT) class of life distribution is introduced for complete and cen-sored data. Convergence of the proposed statistic to the normal distribution is proved. Selected critical values are tabulated for sample sizes 5(5)80 for complete data, and (61)(10)(201) for censored data: The Pitman asymptotic relative e¢ ciency of the pro- posed tests to the other classes is studied. A numerical examples in medical science demonstrates practical application of the proposed test

Wave propagation over a beach within a nonlinear theory

Wave propagation over a beach is considered within a nonlinear theory in shallow water. Lagrangian coordinates are used to describe the problem. The solution is expanded in double series involving a small parameter and local oscillations. Two cases are treated: The beach with appreciable inclination on the horizontal (cliff) and the beach of small inclination. We show that finite solutions are obtained, in contrast to the linear theory which involves a logarithmic singularity at the shoreline. For the cliff, it is shown that local oscillations do not appear in the first two orders of approximation, and the incident wave is totally reflected without loss of energy at this order of approximation. The case of an incident wave on the beach is considered. The deformation of this wave is investigated and explicit formulae are obtained for the reflected wave and for the local oscillations, to shed light on the energy transfer due to interaction with the beach

Qualitative aspects of the entanglement in the three-level model with photonic crystals

This communication is an enquiry into the circumstances under which concurrence and phase entropy methods can give an answer to the question of quantum entanglement in the composite state when the photonic band gap is exhibited by the presence of photonic crystals in a three-level system. An analytic approach is proposed for any three-level system in the presence of photonic band gap. Using this analytic solution, we conclusively calculate the concurrence and phase entropy, focusing particularly on the entanglement phenomena. Specifically, we use concurrence as a measure of entanglement for dipole emitters situated in the thin slab region between two semi-infinite one-dimensionally periodic photonic crystals, a situation reminiscent of planar cavity laser structures. One feature of the regime considered here is that closed-form evaluation of the time evolution may be carried out in the presence of the detuning and the photonic band gap, which provides insight into the difference in the nature of the concurrence function for atom-field coupling, mode frequency and different cavity parameters. We demonstrate how fluctuations in the phase and number entropies effected by the presence of the photonic-band-gap. The outcomes are illustrated with numerical simulations applied to GaAs. Finally, we relate the obtained results to instances of any three-level system for which the entanglement cost can be calculated. Potential experimental observations in solid-state systems are discussed and found to be promising.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures: Accepted in Applied Physics B: Laser and Optic

SYNTHESIS AND UTILITY OF NEW POLYCYCLIC COMPOUNDS AS POTENTIAL ANTIMICROBIALS BASED ON CHROMENE MOIETY

Objective: The present research aims to synthesize some new polycyclic compounds including chromene moiety and study their antimicrobial activity. Methods: Several new polycyclic systems including chromene scaffold incorporated with pyridine, pyrimidine, imidazopyrimidine, and imidazodiazocine were achieved via condensation reaction of chromene derivative under the proper condition with various reagents namely; cyanothioacetamide, phenyl isothiocyanate, malononitrile, carbon disulfide, benzaldehyde, triethyl orthoformate, and 1,4-dichlorobutane. Moreover, a chlorodiazenyl chromene derivative was reacted with some substances possessing active–CH2-bridge such as ethyl cyanoacetate and malononitrile to end up with hydrazono compounds. Such compounds were eventually cyclized with hydrazine hydrate to form pyrazole and oxopyrazole derivatives. Moreover, compound 1 was treated with benzoyl acetone, and then followed by cyclization with malononitrile to provide the corresponding 2-amino14-(4-methoxyphenyl)-4-methy-5-phenyl-14H-benzo[5,6] chromeno [2,3H][1,6]naphthyridine-3-carbonitrile (20). Results: The results of the antimicrobial screening in vitro revealed that the inhibition zone (mm) of the synthesized compounds 1-3, 5 and 8 implied their optimum antibacterial activity, while the compounds 4, 6 and 9-13, 15 showed a moderate to weak antibacterial activity against multiple species of B. subtilis, S. aureus, E. coli and P. aeruginosa. In contrast, the compounds 1, 6, 11, 15 showed high antifungal activities against different species of A. flavinand C. albicans, while the other compounds exhibit a moderate to poor antifungal activity. Conclusion: It is remarkable that a series of chromene derivatives synthesized by a simple and available method leads to a molecule of promising antimicrobial activity. Further research is recommended to approve the importance of polycyclic systems for various applications

Inertial amplification of continuous structures: Large band gaps from small masses

Wave motion in a continuous elastic rod with a periodically attached inertial-amplification mechanism is investigated. The mechanism has properties similar to an "inerter" typically used in vehicle suspensions, however here it is constructed and utilized in a manner that alters the intrinsic properties of a continuous structure. The elastodynamic band structure of the hybrid rod-mechanism structure yields band gaps that are exceedingly wide and deep when compared to what can be obtained using standard local resonators, while still being low in frequency. With this concept, a large band gap may be realized with as much as twenty times less added mass compared to what is needed in a standard local resonator configuration. The emerging inertially enhanced continuous structure also exhibits unique qualitative features in its dispersion curves. These include the existence of a characteristic double-peak in the attenuation constant profile within gaps and the possibility of coalescence of two neighbouring gaps creating a large contiguous gap.Comment: Manuscript is under review for journal publicatio

Behavior of RC Wide Beams under Eccentric Loading

Wide beams are one of the widely used structural elements in RC buildings due to the many special features that characterize them. The main objective of this research is to investigate the behavior of wide shallow beams under the effect of eccentric loading acting along their cross sections. To achieve that, an experimental program that consisted of seven wide beams was conducted. All beams were loaded using two concentrated loads at their middle third where the main parameters considered were: the magnitude of the load eccentricity, the longitudinal spacing between shear reinforcement, and the arrangement of the longitudinal reinforcement. Following that, a finite element analysis was performed where the analytical model used was first verified using the data from the experimental program. The results from both the experimental and analytical programs were in good agreement. Then, the finite element analysis was extended through a parametric study where other variables were studies such as the compressive strength of concrete, the transverse spacing between stirrups and the longitudinal reinforcement ratio. The results showed that the value of the load eccentricity, spacing between shear reinforcement, the arrangement of the main reinforcement along the beam cross section, and the compressive strength of concrete significantly affected the torsional resistance of shallow wide beams. Conclusions and recommendations are presented which can be useful for future researchers. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091766 Full Text: PD