1,345 research outputs found
Real-Time and High-Accuracy Arctangent Computation Using CORDIC and Fast Magnitude Estimation
This paper presents an improved VLSI (Very Large Scale of Integration) architecture for real-time and high-accuracy computation of trigonometric functions with fixed-point arithmetic, particularly arctangent using CORDIC (Coordinate Rotation Digital Computer) and fast magnitude estimation. The standard CORDIC implementation suffers of a loss of accuracy when the magnitude of the input vector becomes small. Using a fast magnitude estimator before running the standard algorithm, a pre-processing magnification is implemented, shifting the input coordinates by a proper factor. The entire architecture does not use a multiplier, it uses only shift and add primitives as the original CORDIC, and it does not change the data path precision of the CORDIC core. A bit-true case study is presented showing a reduction of the maximum phase error from 414 LSB (angle error of 0.6355 rad) to 4 LSB (angle error of 0.0061 rad), with small overheads of complexity and speed. Implementation of the new architecture in 0.18 µm CMOS technology allows for real-time and low-power processing of CORDIC and arctangent, which are key functions in many embedded DSP systems. The proposed macrocell has been verified by integration in a system-on-chip, called SENSASIP (Sensor Application Specific Instruction-set Processor), for position sensor signal processing in automotive measurement application
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Polyamide Nanocomposites for Selective Laser Sintering
Current polyamide 11 and 12 are lacking in fire retardancy and high strength/high
heat resistance characteristics for a plethora of finished parts that are desired and required
for performance driven applications. It is anticipated that nanomodification of polyamide
11 and 12 will result in enhanced polymer performance, i.e., fire retardancy, high strength
and high heat resistance for polyamide 11 and 12. It is expected that these findings will
expand the market opportunities for polyamide 11 and 12 resin manufacturers.
The objective of this research is to develop improved polyamide 11 and 12 polymers
with enhanced flame retardancy, thermal, and mechanical properties for selective laser
sintering (SLS) rapid manufacturing (RM). A nanophase was introduced into the
polyamide 11 and 12 via twin screw extrusion to provide improved material properties of
the polymer blends. Arkema RILSAN® polyamide 11 molding polymer pellets and
Degussa VESTAMID® L1670 polyamide 12 were examined with three types of
nanoparticles: chemically modified montmorillonite (MMT) organoclays, surface
modified nanosilica, and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) to create polyamide 11 and 12
nanocomposites.
Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
were used to determine the degree of dispersion. Injection molded test specimens were
fabricated for physical, thermal, mechanical properties, and flammability tests. Thermal
stability of these polyamide 11 and 12 nanocomposites was examined by TGA.
Mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, and elongation at break were measured.
Flammability properties were also obtained using the Cone Calorimeter at an external
heat flux of 50 kW/m2. TEM micrographs, physical, mechanical, and flammability
properties are included in the paper. Polyamide 11 and 12 nanocomposites properties are
compared with polyamide 11 and 12 baseline polymers. Based on flammability and
mechanical material performance, selective polymers including polyamide 11
nanocomposites and control polyamide 11 were cryogenically ground into fine powders
and fabricated into SLS parts.Mechanical Engineerin
Injury History in the Collegiate Equestrian Athlete: Part I: Mechanism of Injury, Demographic Data and Spinal Injury
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Equestrian sports are known to have a high risk and rate of injury. While there is injury data available on acute injuries in the equestrian population, it is of a general nature. Within that data appears to be a lack of information on the collegiate equestrian athlete. Thus, the purpose of the current study and this analysis is to describe the demographics and incidence of spinal injuries found in intercollegiate equestrian athlete. Method: A survey was developed with input from each author and implemented in Mach forms. It was sent to 43 equestrian coaches in the Eastern United States who passed it on to their athletes. We estimated 753 athletes would have access to the survey and had a total of 73 respondents. Descriptive statistics were calculated for total number of injuries for each injury category. Results: Demographic information, conditioning activity, riding style, pain medication use, total responses (injuries) per body area and injuries to the spine and pelvis are detailed in tables 1-6. Of interesting note is only 73% of respondents reported having access to or utilizing the schools athletic program as part of their participation on the schools equestrian team. Conclusions and Recommendations: The current study is amongst the first, if not the first, to report specifically on injury patterns and frequency in US collegiate equestrian athletes. There were several findings that from a sports medicine and athletic perspective are concerning. The lack of overall knowledge and research about the equestrian athlete would appear to put it in the same position as cheerleading was 20 years ago. Significantly more sport specific research is needed to improve the health and safety of the athlete
Injury History in the Collegiate Equestrian Athlete: Part II: Head, Upper and Lower Extremities
ABSTRACT
Purpose: Equestrian sports are known to have a high risk and rate of injury. While there is injury data available on acute injuries in the equestrian population, it is of a general nature. Within that data appears to be a lack of information on the collegiate equestrian athlete. Thus, the purpose of the current study and this analysis is to describe the incidence of upper and lower extremity injuries and head injuries, sans concussion, in intercollegiate equestrian athlete. Method: A survey was developed with input from each author and implemented in Mach forms. It was sent to 43 equestrian coaches in the Eastern United States who passed it on to their athletes. We estimated 753 athletes would have access to the survey and had a total of 73 respondents. Descriptive statistics were calculated for total number of injuries for each injury category. Results: Detailed injury information on the upper and lower extremity and head is found in tables 1-10. The upper and lower extremity and head accounted for 15.97, 60.35 and 4.33 percent respectively of the injuries in this group of athletes.Conclusions and Recommendations:The current study is amongst the first, if not the first, to report specifically on injury patterns and frequency in US collegiate equestrian athletes. The data indicate that there is an extremely high incidence of injury in the collegiate equestrian population. The lower extremity is particularly susceptible to injury in the equestrian athletes. The lack of data available in a sport, which can be classified as collision and has the potential for significant, long-standing disability from an early age due to interaction with the horse, is troubling. Significantly more sport specific research is needed to improve the health and safety of these athletes
Reconfigurable logic for hardware IP protection: Opportunities and challenges
Protecting the intellectual property (IP) of integrated circuit (IC) design is becoming a significant concern of fab-less semiconductor design houses. Malicious actors can access the chip design at any stage, reverse engineer the functionality, and create illegal copies. On the one hand, defenders are crafting more and more solutions to hide the critical portions of the circuit. On the other hand, attackers are designing more and more powerful tools to extract useful information from the design and reverse engineer the functionality, especially when they can get access to working chips. In this context, the use of custom reconfigurable fabrics has recently been investigated for hardware IP protection. This paper will discuss recent trends in hardware obfuscation with embedded FPGAs, focusing also on the open challenges that must be necessarily addressed for making this solution viable
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Innovative Selective Laser Sintering Rapid Manufacturing using Nanotechnology
The objective of this research is to develop an improved nylon 11 (polyamide 11) polymer
with enhanced flame retardancy, thermal, and mechanical properties for selective laser sintering
(SLS) rapid manufacturing (RM). A nanophase was introduced into nylon 11 via twin screw
extrusion to provide improved material properties of the polymer blends. Atofina (now known
as Arkema) RILSAN® nylon 11 injection molding polymer pellets was used with three types of
nanoparticles: chemically modified montmorillonite (MMT) organoclays, nanosilica, and carbon
nanofibers (CNF) to create nylon 11 nanocomposites. Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD)
and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to determine the degree of dispersion.
Fifteen nylon 11 nanocomposites and control nylon 11 were fabricated by injection molding.
Flammability properties (using a cone calorimeter with a radiant flux of 50 kW/m2
) and
mechanical properties such as tensile strength and modulus, flexural modulus, elongation at
break were determined for the nylon 11 nanocomposites and compared with the baseline nylon
11. Based on flammability and mechanical material performance, five polymers including four
nylon 11 nanocomposites and a control nylon 11 were cryogenically ground into fine powders
for SLS RM. SLS specimens were fabricated for flammability, mechanical, and thermal
properties characterization. Nylon 11-CNF nanocomposites exhibited the best overall properties
for this study.Mechanical Engineerin
Optimizing the Use of Behavioral Locking for High-Level Synthesis
The globalization of the electronics supply chain requires effective methods to thwart reverse engineering and IP theft. Logic locking is a promising solution, but there are many open concerns. First, even when applied at a higher level of abstraction, locking may result in significant overhead without improving the security metric. Second, optimizing a security metric is application-dependent and designers must evaluate and compare alternative solutions. We propose a meta-framework to optimize the use of behavioral locking during the high-level synthesis (HLS) of IP cores. Our method operates on chip’s specification (before HLS) and it is compatible with all HLS tools, complementing industrial EDA flows. Our meta-framework supports different strategies to explore the design space and to select points to be locked automatically. We evaluated our method on the optimization of differential entropy, achieving better results than random or topological locking: 1) we always identify a valid solution that optimizes the security metric, while topological and random locking can generate unfeasible solutions; 2) we minimize the number of bits used for locking up to more than 90% (requiring smaller tamper-proof memories); 3) we make better use of hardware resources since we obtain similar overheads but with higher security metric
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Intumescent Flame Retardant Polyamide 11 Nanocomposites
Current polyamide 11 and 12 are lacking in fire retardancy and high strength/high heat
resistance characteristics for a plethora of fabricated parts that are desired and required
for performance driven applications. The introduction of selected nanoparticles such as
surface modified montmorillonite (MMT) clay or carbon nanofibers (CNFs), combined
with a conventional intumescent flame retardant (FR) additive into the polyamide
11/polyamide 12 (PA11/PA12) by melt processing conditions has resulted in the
preparation of a family of intumescent polyamide nanocomposites. These intumescent
polyamide 11 and 12 nanocomposites exhibit enhanced polymer performance
characteristics, i.e., fire retardancy, high strength and high heat resistance and are
expected to expand the market opportunities for polyamide 11 and polyamide 12 polymer
manufacturers.
The objective of this research is to develop improved polyamide 11 and 12 polymers with
enhanced flame retardancy, thermal, and mechanical properties for selective laser
sintering (SLS) rapid manufacturing (RM). In the present study, a nanophase was
introduced into the polyamide 11 and combining it with a conventional intumescent FR
additive via twin screw extrusion. Arkema RILSAN® polyamide 11 molding polymer
pellets were examined with two types of nanoparticles: chemically modified
montmorillonite (MMT) organoclays, and carbon nanofibers (CNFs); and Clairant’s
Exolit® OP 1230 intumescent FR additive were used to create a family of FR
intumescent polyamide 11 nanocomposites.
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to determine the degree of
nanoparticles dispersion. Injection molded specimens were fabricated for physical,
thermal, and flammability measurements. Thermal stability of these intumescent
polyamide 11 nanocomposites was examined by TGA. Flammability properties were
obtained using the Cone Calorimeter at an external heat flux of 35 kW/m
2
and UL 94
Test Method. Heat deflection temperatures (HDT) were also measured. TEM
micrographs, physical, thermal, and flammability properties are presented. FR
intumescent polyamide 11 nanocomposites properties are compared with polyamide 11
baseline polymer. Based on flammability and mechanical material performance, selective
polymers including polyamide 11 nanocomposites and control polyamide 11 will be
cryogenically ground into fine powders for SLS RM processing. SLS specimens will be
fabricated for thermal, flammability, and mechanical properties characterization.Mechanical Engineerin
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Flame Retardant Intumescent Polyamide 11 Nanocomposites – Further Study
The objective of this research is to develop improved polyamide 11 and 12 polymers with
enhanced flame retardancy, thermal, and mechanical properties for selective laser sintering
(SLS) rapid manufacturing (RM). In the present study, a nanophase was introduced into the
polyamide 11 and combine with a conventional intumescent flame retardant (FR) additive via
twin screw extrusion. Arkema Rilsan® polyamide 11 molding polymer pellets were used with
two types of nanoparticles such as: chemically modified montmorillonite (MMT) organoclays
and carbon nanofibers (CNFs). Two types of Clariant’s Exolit® OP 1311 and 1312 intumescent
FR additives were used to generate a family of FR intumescent polyamide 11 nanocomposites
with anticipated synergism.Mechanical Engineerin
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