Low Voltage Totally Free Flexible RF MEMS Switch With Anti-Stiction System

This paper concerns a new design of RF MEMS switch combined with an innovative process which enable low actuation voltage (<5V) and avoid stiction. First, the structure described with principal design issues, the corresponding anti-stiction system is presented and FEM simulations are done. Then, a short description of the process flow based on two non polymer sacrificial layers. Finally, RF measurements are presented and preliminary experimental protocol and results of anti-stiction validation is detailed. Resulting RF performances are -30dB of isolation and -0.45dB of insertion loss at 10 GHz.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/handle/2042/16838

Insular evolution from an archaeological perspective:A case study of Orkney house mouse

Archaeological material adds a temporal dimension to evolutionary studies, valuable for elucidating long-term population stability and evolutionary shifts for species closely associated with humans. Here a 2D geometric morphometrics approach on first upper molars was applied to modern and archaeological samples to assess the evolution of house mice in Orkney, an archipelago north of Scotland. Modern populations included localities in Orkney, north Scotland and France. Two archaeological sites in Orkney represented the Norse period: Birsay Beachview (Mainland) and Tuquoy (Westray) (10th – 14th/15th centuries AD). The archaeological specimens were larger than modern specimens from similar settings, suggesting processes leading to a recent size decline of Orkney house mice. Molar morphology and associated non-metric traits distinct to the Orkney lineage were already established in the Norse period, as indicated by morphological similarity of the Birsay samples to modern Orkney and north Scotland populations. Human settlement stability likely influences morphological evolution in house mice. The Birsay site, located in Birsay village which has been inhabited since Norse times, may represent the ancestral house mice population in Orkney; while Tuquoy, a settlement abandoned by the end of the medieval period, provided samples different from modern house mice populations in Westray and neighbouring isles

Central venous O2 saturation and venous-to-arterial CO2 difference as complementary tools for goal-directed therapy during high-risk surgery

International audienceIntroduction: Central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO 2) is a useful therapeutic target in septic shock and high-risk surgery. We tested the hypothesis that central venous-to-arterial carbon dioxide difference (P(cv-a)CO 2), a global index of tissue perfusion, could be used as a complementary tool to ScvO 2 for goal-directed fluid therapy (GDT) to identify persistent low flow after optimization of preload has been achieved by fluid loading during high-risk surgery. Methods: This is a secondary analysis of results obtained in a study involving 70 adult patients (ASA I to III), undergoing major abdominal surgery, and treated with an individualized goal-directed fluid replacement therapy. All patients were managed to maintain a respiratory variation in peak aortic flow velocity below 13%. Cardiac index (CI), oxygen delivery index (DO 2 i), ScvO 2 , P(cv-a)CO 2 and postoperative complications were recorded blindly for all patients. Results: A total of 34% of patients developed postoperative complications. At baseline, there was no difference in demographic or haemodynamic variables between patients who developed complications and those who did not. In patients with complications, during surgery, both mean ScvO 2 (78 ± 4 versus 81 ± 4%, P = 0.017) and minimal ScvO 2 (minScvO 2) (67 ± 6 versus 72 ± 6%, P = 0.0017) were lower than in patients without complications, despite perfusion of similar volumes of fluids and comparable CI and DO 2 i values. The optimal ScvO 2 cutoff value was 70.6% and minScvO 2 < 70% was independently associated with the development of postoperative complications (OR = 4.2 (95% CI: 1.1 to 14.4), P = 0.025). P(cv-a)CO 2 was larger in patients with complications (7.8 ± 2 versus 5.6 ± 2 mmHg, P < 10-6). In patients with complications and ScvO 2 ≥71%, P(cv-a)CO 2 was also significantly larger (7.7 ± 2 versus 5.5 ± 2 mmHg, P < 10-6) than in patients without complications. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was 0.785 (95% CI: 0.74 to 0.83) for discrimination of patients with ScvO 2 ≥71% who did and did not develop complications, with 5 mmHg as the most predictive threshold value

A New Four States High Deflection Low Actuation Voltage Electrostatic Mems Switch for RF Applications

This paper presents a new electrostatic MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical System) based on a single high reliability totally free flexible membrane. Using four electrodes, this structure enables four states which allowed large deflections (4µm) with low actuation voltage (7,5V). This design presents also a good contact force and improve the restoring force of the structure. As an example of application, a Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) for 24GHz applications, based on this design, has been simulated

Towards Verifiable Device Drivers: An Approach based on Domain-Specific Languages

Although peripheral devices come out at a frantic pace and require fast releases of drivers, little progress has been made to improve the development of drivers. Too often, this development consists of decoding hardware intricacies, based on ambiguous or incomplete documentation, to determine how to operate a device. Then, assembly-level operations need to be used to interact with the device. These low-level operations make the device driver fairly unreadable and prevent safety properties from being checked. This paper presents a language, named Devil, dedicated to defining the functional interface of a device. More precisely, Devil aims at specifying the access mechanisms, the type and layout of data, and behavioral properties involved in operating a device. The benefit of our approach is that, once compiled, a Devil description implements an interface which models an idealized device and abstracts the hardware intricacies. Unlike a general-purp- ose language, Devil allows a description to be thoroughly verified; this verification greatly improves the safety of the communications with the device. The design of Devil is based on key concepts we identified in analyzing the domain of device drivers. Our language has been used to specify a large number of PC devices including Ethernet, video, sound, interrupt, DMA and mouse controllers

Hallucinations Under Psychedelics and in the Schizophrenia Spectrum: An Interdisciplinary and Multiscale Comparison

The recent renaissance of psychedelic science has reignited interest in the similarity of drug-induced experiences to those more commonly observed in psychiatric contexts such as the schizophrenia-spectrum. This report from a multidisciplinary working group of the International Consortium on Hallucinations Research (ICHR) addresses this issue, putting special emphasis on hallucinatory experiences. We review evidence collected at different scales of understanding, from pharmacology to brain-imaging, phenomenology and anthropology, highlighting similarities and differences between hallucinations under psychedelics and in the schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Finally, we attempt to integrate these findings using computational approaches and conclude with recommendations for future research