21,839 research outputs found
Study of Warm Electron Injection in Double Gate SONOS by Full Band Monte Carlo Simulation
In this paper we investigate warm electron injection in a double gate SONOS
memory by means of 2D full-band Monte Carlo simulations of the Boltzmann
Transport Equation (BTE). Electrons are accelerated in the channel by a
drain-to-source voltage VDS smaller than 3 V, so that programming occurs via
electrons tunneling through a potential barrier whose height has been
effectively reduced by the accumulated kinetic energy. Particle energy
distribution at the semiconductor/oxide interface is studied for different bias
conditions and different positions along the channel. The gate current is
calculated with a continuum-based post-processing method as a function of the
particle distribution obtained from Monte Carlo. Simulation results show that
the gate current increases by several orders of magnitude with increasing drain
bias and warm electron injection can be an interesting option for programming
when short channel effects prohibit the application of larger drain bias
Study on the Extent of the Impact of Data Set Type on the Performance of ANFIS for Controlling the Speed of DC Motor
This paper introduces an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for tracking SEDC motor speed in order to optimize the parameters of the transient speed response by finding out the perfect training data provider for the ANFIS. The controller was adjusted using PI, PD and PIPD to generate data sets to configure the ANFIS rules. The performance of the ANFIS controllers using these the different data sets was investigated. The efficiencies of the three controllers were compared to each other, where the PI, PD, and PIPD configurations were replaced by ANFIS to enhance the dynamic action of the controller. The performance of the proposed configurations was tested under different operating situations. Matlab's Simulink toolbox was used to implement the designed controllers. The resultant responses proved that the ANFIS based on the PIPD dataset performed better than the ANFIS based on the PI and PD data sets. Moreover, the suggested controller showed a rapid dynamic response and delivered better performance under various operating conditions
ANOTHER LOOK AT THE DETERMINANTS OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN MENA COUNTRIES: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION
The paper is concerned with the analysis of the main determinants of foreign direct investment in MENA countries. The estimation is run on the determinants of FDI in our sample which consist of 36 countries. 12 of these countries were in MENA countries and another 24 were the major recipients of FDI in their respective regions in developing countries. By employing a panel data methodology the study investigates whether the determinants of FDI are similar to the other FDI receiving developing countries. The study reveals that the key determinants of FDI inflows in MENA countries are the size of the host economy, the government size, natural resources and the institutional variables. The paper concludes that, countries that are receiving fewer foreign investments could make themselves more attractive to potential foreign investors. So, the policy makers in the MENA region should remove all barriers to trade, develop their financial system and build appropriate institutions.Foreign Direct Investment, Panel Data, Fixed Effects, MENA
Sparse Spectrum Sensing in Infrastructure-less Cognitive Radio Networks via Binary Consensus Algorithms
Compressive Sensing has been utilized in Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs) to
exploit the sparse nature of the occupation of the primary users. Also,
distributed spectrum sensing has been proposed to tackle the wireless channel
problems, like node or link failures, rather than the common (centralized
approach) for spectrum sensing. In this paper, we propose a distributed
spectrum sensing framework based on consensus algorithms where SU nodes
exchange their binary decisions to take global decisions without a fusion
center to coordinate the sensing process. Each SU will share its decision with
its neighbors, and at every new iteration each SU will take a new decision
based on its current decision and the decisions it receives from its neighbors;
in the next iteration, each SU will share its new decision with its neighbors.
We show via simulations that the detection performance can tend to the
performance of majority rule Fusion Center based CRNs
Antibacterial Activity of Novel Cationic Peptides against Clinical Isolates of Multi-Drug Resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius from Infected Dogs
Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is a major cause of skin and soft tissue infections in companion animals and has zoonotic potential. Additionally, methicillin-resistant S. pseudintermedius (MRSP) has emerged with resistance to virtually all classes of antimicrobials. Thus, novel treatment options with new modes of action are required. Here, we investigated the antimicrobial activity of six synthetic short peptides against clinical isolates of methicillin-susceptible and MRSP isolated from infected dogs. All six peptides demonstrated potent antistaphylococcal activity regardless of existing resistance phenotype. The most effective peptides were RRIKA (with modified C terminus to increase amphipathicity and hydrophobicity) and WR-12 (α-helical peptide consisting exclusively of arginine and tryptophan) with minimum inhibitory concentration50 (MIC50) of 1 µM and MIC90 of 2 µM. RR (short anti-inflammatory peptide) and IK8 ‘‘D isoform’’ demonstrated good antimicrobial activity with MIC50 of 4 µM and MIC90 of 8 µM. Penetratin and (KFF)3K (two cell penetrating peptides) were the least effective with MIC50 of 8 µM and MIC90 of 16 µM. Killing kinetics revealed a major advantage of peptides over conventional antibiotics, demonstrating potent bactericidal activity within minutes. Studies with propidium iodide and transmission electron microscopy revealed that peptides damaged the bacterial membrane leading to leakage of cytoplasmic contents and consequently, cell death. A potent synergistic increase in the antibacterial effect of the cell penetrating peptide (KFF)3K was noticed when combined with other peptides and with antibiotics. In addition, all peptides displayed synergistic interactions when combined together. Furthermore, peptides demonstrated good therapeutic indices with minimal toxicity toward mammaliancells. Resistance to peptides did not evolve after 10 passages of S. pseudintermedius at sub-inhibitory concentration. However, the MICs of amikacin and ciprofloxacin increased 32 and 8 fold, respectively; under similar conditions. Taken together, these results support designing of peptide-based therapeutics for combating MRSP infections, particularly for topical application
bdbms -- A Database Management System for Biological Data
Biologists are increasingly using databases for storing and managing their
data. Biological databases typically consist of a mixture of raw data,
metadata, sequences, annotations, and related data obtained from various
sources. Current database technology lacks several functionalities that are
needed by biological databases. In this paper, we introduce bdbms, an
extensible prototype database management system for supporting biological data.
bdbms extends the functionalities of current DBMSs to include: (1) Annotation
and provenance management including storage, indexing, manipulation, and
querying of annotation and provenance as first class objects in bdbms, (2)
Local dependency tracking to track the dependencies and derivations among data
items, (3) Update authorization to support data curation via content-based
authorization, in contrast to identity-based authorization, and (4) New access
methods and their supporting operators that support pattern matching on various
types of compressed biological data types. This paper presents the design of
bdbms along with the techniques proposed to support these functionalities
including an extension to SQL. We also outline some open issues in building
bdbms.Comment: This article is published under a Creative Commons License Agreement
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/.) You may copy, distribute,
display, and perform the work, make derivative works and make commercial use
of the work, but, you must attribute the work to the author and CIDR 2007.
3rd Biennial Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research (CIDR) January
710, 2007, Asilomar, California, US
Interactive boundary element analysis for engineering design.
Structural design of mechanical components is an iterative process that involves multiple stress analysis runs; this can be
time consuming and expensive. Significant improvements in the eciency of this process can be made by increasing the
level of interactivity. One approach is through real-time re-analysis of models with continuously updating geometry. Three
primary areas need to be considered to accelerate the re-solution of boundary element problems. These are re-meshing
the model, updating the boundary element system of equations and re-solution of the system.
Once the initial model has been constructed and solved, the user may apply geometric perturbations to parts of the
model. The re-meshing algorithm must accommodate these changes in geometry whilst retaining as much of the existing
mesh as possible. This allows the majority of the previous boundary element system of equations to be re-used for the
new analysis. For this problem, a GMRES solver has been shown to provide the fastest convergence rate. Further time
savings can be made by preconditioning the updated system with the LU decomposition of the original system. Using
these techniques, near real-time analysis can be achieved for 3D simulations; for 2D models such real-time performance
has already been demonstrated
Implementation of accurate broadband steering vectors for broadband angle of arrival estimation
Motivated by accurate broadband steering vector requirements for applications such as broadband angle of arrival estimation, we review fractional delay filter designs. A common feature across these are their rapidly decreasing performance as the Nyquist rate is approached. We propose a filter bank based approach, which operates standard fractional delay filters on a series of frequency-shifted subband signals, such that they appear in the filters’ lowpass region. We demonstrate the appeal of this approach in simulations
The stereoselective synthesis of the butyrolactone-bridged [8-5-5] tricyclic ring systems of (+/-)-asteriscanolide via the titanium-mediated Hetero-Pauson-Khand reaction
The stereoselective construction of the tricyclic ring system of asteriscanolide from cyclooctadiene has been achieved. The synthesis involves two main steps; the synthesis of the aldehyde precursor(5)and the titanium-mediated cabocyclization of 5 to make the three rings of 43 stereoselectively
- …