A wideband CPW ring power combiner with low insertion loss and high port isolation

In this paper we present a coplanar waveguide (CPW)-based ring power combiner that exhibits less than 0.8 dB insertion loss, better than 15 dB port match and higher than 22 dB isolation loss over the frequency range from 50 GHz to 100 GHz. Compared with the conventional 2-way Wilkinson combiner, the proposed ring power combiner replaces the resistor between the two input ports with two quasi quarter-wave CPWs, a 180º CPW phase inverter, and two resistors that lead to frequency-insensitive port isolation and wideband port match. The power combiner is realized using an electron beam-based GaAs MMIC process along with simple electron beam airbridge technology. These results agree well with 3D full-wave simulations

Maternal plasma sequencing: a powerful tool towards fetal whole genome recovery

Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal aneuploidies, although challenging, has been achieved through the implementation of novel methodologies such as methylated DNA immunoprecipitation and next generation sequencing technologies. Nevertheless, additional developments are required towards the interpretation of other fetal abnormalities of higher complexity, such as de novo mutations including microdeletion and microduplication syndromes as well as complex diseases. The application of next generation sequencing technologies towards fetal whole genome recovery has demonstrated great potential to achieve the above goal. In a research article published in Genome Medicine, Chen et al. presented a novel approach that allowed more robust and accurate characterization of parental alleles compared with previous studies. This was achieved through a revolutionary strategy based on the use of trios and unrelated individuals that simultaneously targets the interpretation of the fetal haplotype and phenotype in one step. It is hereby shown that the implementation of a more accurate experimental design in combination with proper analytical tools can provide robust noninvasive fetal whole genome recovery with the potential for further developments beyond the DNA level

Eigenvector Approximation Leading to Exponential Speedup of Quantum Eigenvalue Calculation

We present an efficient method for preparing the initial state required by the eigenvalue approximation quantum algorithm of Abrams and Lloyd. Our method can be applied when solving continuous Hermitian eigenproblems, e.g., the Schroedinger equation, on a discrete grid. We start with a classically obtained eigenvector for a problem discretized on a coarse grid, and we efficiently construct, quantum mechanically, an approximation of the same eigenvector on a fine grid. We use this approximation as the initial state for the eigenvalue estimation algorithm, and show the relationship between its success probability and the size of the coarse grid.Comment: 4 page

Monolithic Implementation of a Planar Gunn Diode and a pHEMT

No abstract available

Time--Evolving Statistics of Chaotic Orbits of Conservative Maps in the Context of the Central Limit Theorem

We study chaotic orbits of conservative low--dimensional maps and present numerical results showing that the probability density functions (pdfs) of the sum of $N$ iterates in the large $N$ limit exhibit very interesting time-evolving statistics. In some cases where the chaotic layers are thin and the (positive) maximal Lyapunov exponent is small, long--lasting quasi--stationary states (QSS) are found, whose pdfs appear to converge to $q$--Gaussians associated with nonextensive statistical mechanics. More generally, however, as $N$ increases, the pdfs describe a sequence of QSS that pass from a $q$--Gaussian to an exponential shape and ultimately tend to a true Gaussian, as orbits diffuse to larger chaotic domains and the phase space dynamics becomes more uniformly ergodic.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication as a Regular Paper in the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, on Jun 21, 201

Mechanical and electrochemical deterioration mechanisms in the tribocorrosion of Al alloys in NaCl and in NaNO3 solutions

Tribocorrosion of Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloys was investigated in 0.05 M NaCl and 0.1 M NaNO3 solutions under severe sliding and controlled electrochemical conditions. A simple galvanic coupling model was developed to analyze and quantitatively predict the evolution potential of the open circuit potential during tribocorrosion. According to this model and the obtained results, galvanic coupling was established in the NaNO3 solution within the wear track between passive and mechanically depassivated areas. In the NaCl solution, galvanic coupling was established between the whole depassivated wear track and the surrounding area. This difference was attributed to different mechanical properties of the passive surfaces.The research team was financially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT-Portugal), under a PhD scholarship (SFRH/BD/27911/2006). The authors thank also to Dr. Edith Ariza (University of Minho) and Pierre Mettraux (EPFL) for SEM analysis

Acoustic radiation controls friction: Evidence from a spring-block experiment

Brittle failures of materials and earthquakes generate acoustic/seismic waves which lead to radiation damping feedbacks that should be introduced in the dynamical equations of crack motion. We present direct experimental evidence of the importance of this feedback on the acoustic noise spectrum of well-controlled spring-block sliding experiments performed on a variety of smooth surfaces. The full noise spectrum is quantitatively explained by a simple noisy harmonic oscillator equation with a radiation damping force proportional to the derivative of the acceleration, added to a standard viscous term.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figures. Replaced with version accepted in PR

Academic citizenship and wellbeing: An exploratory cross-cultural study of South African and Swedish academic perceptions

Academic citizenship is, conceptually speaking, closely related to organisational citizenship behaviour, as both concepts can be regarded as consisting essentially of personal co-worker and organisational support behaviours. Academics across the world operate in widely divergent settings in different socioeconomic and political situations and higher education environments. Such differing circumstances might be expected to have a bearing on the priorities that academics face in different countries and the ways academic citizenship is understood. This paper uses a mixed methods approach to analyse perceptions of academic citizenship and employee well-being in one Swedish and one South African university which operate in starkly different socioeconomic circumstances. The findings of the exploratory study suggest that despite wide-ranging differences in socioeconomic environments between the two countries, there is a high degree of common understanding of the form and substance of academic citizenship and its bearing on well-being. Key words Academic citizenship, organisational citizenship behaviour, South African and Swedish universities, well-bein