Study of thermal bubble motion in microchannel

This paper was presented at the 2nd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2009), which was held at Brunel University, West London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IPEM, the Italian Union of Thermofluid dynamics, the Process Intensification Network, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.The micro capillary pumped loop system (MCPL) is a highly efficient device for heat transfer because the main driving force is a result of thermo-bubbles in micro-channel. In this study, the scaling effect with respect to the dimensional geometry of MCPL was studied for improving the heat transfer performance. The results showed that when a larger heating power was provided by microheater, the growing rate of thermal bubble was faster. Generally speaking, injecting a larger amount of working fluids resulted in faster thermo bubble motion. When the size of channel was scaled down, the nucleation of thermal bubble occurred easily and a positive performance of heat transfer was expected. These findings will be useful to the further optimal design of MCPL.This study is funded by the National Science Council of the Republic of China, Taiwan, under Contract No. NSC- 98-2221-E-197 –018

On the Use of General Non-Linear Detector for a Delay Locked Hoop

This paper presents the performance comparison on the use of general non-linear dectors in a non-coherent delay locked tracking scheme for direct-seuence spreqd-spectrum systems. In the dalay locked loop (DLL), the square law-enevelope detectors are replaced by a full wave (even) nth - law detectors and this scheme is analysed in the presence of additive white gaussian noise. The tracking error of the DLL is compared for different values of n (n=0.5, 1, 2, 3, respectively). The results shows that the tracking error of the DLL can be reduced further in low signal to nose power ratio region by using the full wave (even) nth -law detectors for n<2 when compare with using the square law enevelope detectors (n=2).published_or_final_versio

Half-sine and triangular despreading chip waveforms for coherent delay-locked tracking in DS/SS systems

The performance of a coherent delay-locked tracking scheme for direct-sequence/spread-spectrum systems using half-sine or triangular chip waveforms for early and late despreading sequences is analyzed. The effect of band-limiting on the received signals is considered. Mean time to lose lock (MTLL) and root mean square (rms) tracking error of the delay-locked loop (DLL) are compared with that of a conventional DLL which uses rectangular chip despreading waveforms. Linear and nonlinear (based on the renewal process approach) analyses are employed to evaluate the performance of the DLL. Results show that the use of either the half-sine or triangular chip waveform reduces the rms tracking error and increases the MTLL considerably when the early-late spacing is approximately between 0.7-1.3 chip times. The results apply in particular to the commonly used DLL using one chip early-late spacing. Computer simulation for band-limited signals confirms the analytical results. The use of these despreading chip waveforms also reduces tracking offset in multipath environments.published_or_final_versio

PN code tracking for exponentially weighted chip despreading sequence

This paper presents the code tracking performance on the use of weighted chip despreading PN sequence in a coherent delay locked tracking scheme for direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DS/SS) systems. In the delay locked loop (DLL), the conventional rectangular chip waveform for early and late despreading PN sequences is replaced by weighted exponential chip waveform. The chip weight (γ) is tuned to optimize the DLL performance. The early-late spacing is considered as one chip time. This scheme is analyzed for both ideal and band limited received signals in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise.published_or_final_versio

Policy Implications of Demographic Changes in the VHA Veteran Population Following OEF/OIF

Includes article and tables.The US Department of Defense (DoD) and the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) are the two institutions responsible for the medical care of military personnel and Veterans. DOD major policy and operational personnel changes impact the VA by modifying the characteristics of Veterans presenting at the VA for medical health care. The challenges to VA resulting from DOD changes over the past four decades include managing the large influx to the VA of aging Veterans; accommodating the Veterans from OEF/OIF; responding to the expanded role of female service members in DoD; accepting increased numbers of National Guard and Reserve Components resulting from extended deployment and expanded operational role

A general analytical approach for opportunistic cooperative systems with spatially random relays

This paper investigates an opportunistic cooperative system with multiple relays. The locations of the relays are essentially random due to their unpredictable mobility and are thus assumed to form a spatial Poisson process. A general analytical approach to performance analysis is developed to accommodate the randomness of the locations as well as the underlying channels. The outage probability of the system is derived based on the theory of point processes. In particular, two relay selection criteria, namely the best forward channel selection and the best worse channel selection, are used as examples to illustrate the proposed approach. The accuracy of the analytical results is verified by Monte-Carlo simulations with various system configurations. © 2011 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

On the multiple-access capacity of multitone-CDMA communications

This letter derives a bit-error-probability expression for an asynchronous multitone-code-division multiple access (CDMA) system and shows that the multiple-access (MA) capacity of this system is identical to that of a conventional (single-carrier) direct-sequence spread-spectrum system under conditions of equal bandwidth and equal bit rate. It is also shown that using more subcarriers to increase the processing gain does not increase the MA capacity.published_or_final_versio

A paradox theory lens on proactivity, individual ambidexterity, and creativity:An empirical look

Paradox theory suggests that contradictory demands, like applying current work methods while exploring new ones, should be viewed as dualities with competing and complementary aspects. It advocates for employee ambidexterity, where employees must manage exploitation and exploration. We know little about how personal dispositions affect ambidexterity independently or when interacting with situational factors. Based on a time-lagged survey of 364 employee–supervisor pairs from 74 R&amp;D teams, we found that proactive disposition was positively related to ambidexterity, enhancing creativity. Guided by trait activation theory, we found further that paradoxical supervision and job autonomy enhanced the relationship between proactive disposition and employee ambidexterity and the indirect effect of proactive disposition on creativity via ambidexterity. We discuss these findings' theoretical and practical implications, extending the literature on proactivity, ambidexterity, and paradox theory

Enhanced Resolution in Nanoscale NMR via Quantum Sensing with Pulses of Finite Duration

The nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) color center in diamond is an enormously important platform for the development of quantum sensors, including for single-spin and single-molecule NMR. Detection of weak single-spin signals is greatly enhanced by repeated sequences of microwave pulses; in these dynamicaldecoupling techniques, the key control parameters swept in the experiment are the time intervals, τ, between pulses. Here, we show that, in fact, the pulse duration tp offers a powerful additional control parameter. While a non-negligible tp was previously considered simply a source of experimental error, we elucidate here the underlying quantum dynamics: we identify a landscape of quantum-state crossings which are usually inactive (closed) but may be controllably activated (opened) by adjusting tp from zero. We identify these crossings with recently observed but unexpected dips (so-called spurious dips) seen in the quantum coherence of the N-V spin. With this new understanding, both the position and the strength of these sharp features may be accurately controlled; they coexist with the usual broader coherence dips of short-duration microwave pulses, but their sharpness allows for higher-resolution spectroscopy with quantum diamond sensors, or their analogs