WWW Home Page Assignments in MIS Courses

The WWW provides a large increase in options available to telecom course instructors. One option is to require that students create home pages on the Web. Each student can be assigned a home page that includes personal information. Or, teams can be assigned. In either case, students will have hands-onexperience with a classic client/server (C/S) application. But, in the case of the WWW, the name client/telecom/servers, or C/T/S, is more accurate. Having such a C/T/S assignment, however, requires instruction on the component material. These requirements lead to the conclusion such assignments are easiest to do in telecom course

Experimental Clock Calibration\\on a Crystal-Free Mote-on-a-Chip

The elimination of the off-chip frequency reference, typically a crystal oscillator, would bring important benefits in terms of size, price and energy efficiency to IEEE802.15.4 compliant radios and systems-on-chip. The stability of on-chip oscillators is orders of magnitude worse than that of a crystal. It is known that as the temperature changes, they can drift more than 50 ppm/{\deg}C. This paper presents the result of an extensive experimental study. First, we propose mechanisms for crystal-free radios to be able to track an IEEE802.15.4 join proxy, calibrate the on-chip oscillators and maintain calibration against temperature changes. Then, we implement the resulting algorithms on a crystal-free platform and present the results of an experimental validation. We show that our approach is able to track a crystal-based IEEE802.15.4-compliant join proxy and maintain the requested radio frequency stability of +/-40 ppm, even when subject to temperature variation of 2{\deg}C/min.Comment: CNERT: Computer and Networking Experimental Research using Testbeds, in conjunction with IEEE INFOCOM 2019, April 29 - May 2, 2019, Paris, Franc

Design gallery browsers based on 2D and 3D graph drawing

Many problems in computer-aided design and graphics involve the process of setting and adjusting input parameters to obtain desirable output values. Exploring different parameter settings can be a difficult and tedious task in most such systems. In the Design GalleryTM (DG) approach, parameter setting is made easier by dividing the task more equitably between user and computer. DG interfaces present the user with the broadest selection, automatically generated and organized, of perceptually different designs that can be produced by varying a given set of input parameters. The DG approach has been applied to several difficult parameter-setting tasks from the field of computer graphics: light selection and placement for image rendering; opacity and color transfer-function specification for volume rendering; and motion control for articulated-figure and particle-system animation. The principal technical challenges posed by the DG approach are dispersion (finding a set of input-parameter vectors that optimally disperses the resulting output values) and arrangement (arranging the resulting designs for easy browsing by the user). We show how effective arrangement can be achieved with 2D and 3D graph drawing. While navigation is easier in the 2D interface, the 3D interface has proven to be surprisingly usable, and the 3D drawings sometimes provide insights that are not so obvious in the 2D drawings.Engineering and Applied Science

Supramolecular peptide composite assemblies: Mimicking biological form and function in synthetic systems

Microtubules (MTs) are dynamic, multifunctional biomaterials that facilitate a range of complex biological process in cells ranging from regulation of cell morphology to separation of chromosomes during cell division to directing the intracellular transport of molecular cargo.1 The remarkable precision, versatility, and dynamic nature of these non-equilibrium structures has motivated our desire to mimic their structure and function in synthetic materials. Here, I will identify a number of the key attributes responsible for MT form and function, and describe our efforts to merge computation and experiment to design, synthesize, and study a family of self-assembling peptides intended to mimic MTs. MTs are self-assembled biological filaments assembled from tightly bound heterodimers of α and β tubulin. These dimers assemble head-to-tail into protofilaments that associate laterally into closed sheets forming the characteristic tubular morphology of the MTs. These tubules are approximately 25 nm in diameter and can be many micrometers long, though the length of the MTs is subject to their dynamic assembly and disassembly within a cell (dynamic instability). Ultimately, both the initial assembly and dynamic instability of MTs are governed by complex electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions between tubulin heterodimers and other functional biomolecules within the cell. These interactions allow biology to effectively program MT form and function to meet the dynamic and evolving needs of a cell. From a synthetic materials perspective, we aim to create simplified peptide or composite peptide molecules capable of similar programmable functional assembly that could similarly be used to facilitate dynamic or adaptable organization of nanomaterials. To guide the design and facilitate understanding of these peptide systems, we utilize a combination of density functional theory (DFT) and self-consistent field theory (SCFT) that can reveal simplified or distilled molecular characteristics needed in an artificial MT scheme. These computational studies have provided insight into the necessary molecular geometries, peptide compositions, and even targeted intermolecular interactions built into our MT-mimetic designs. In particular here, I will describe a collection of simulation-inspired peptides in which we demonstrate that molecular shape, electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding, and solvent interactions influence peptide self assembly into sheets, fibers, ribbons, vesicles and tubules (Figure 1).2,3 Moreover, we show that by creating hybrid or composite compositions containing multiple functionalities, it is possible to control molecular self-assembly through interactions with secondary molecules. For example, select bola-peptide compositions are shown to undergo unique self-assembly in collaboration with the surfactant sodium dodecylsulfate, creating a composite structure that is resistant to enzymatic degradation. In another example, molecules comprising self assembling peptides, such as diphenylalanine, and boronic acid form ribbon-structures whose reversible self-assembly is mediated by binding of polysaccharides to the boronic acids. Just as in the natural MT system, the self-assembly (and disassembly) in these hybrid systems is regulated by molecular shape, electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions, and the programmable response of these molecules to chemical stimuli. Continued development of these hybrid, composite peptide systems is aimed at developing a new class of biomimetic molecular materials which mimic not only the form, but also the underlying function of some of Nature’s most compelling supramolecular creations

Comparison of in situ micromechanical time dependent plasticity techniques: micropillar compression, nanoindentation and micro-tensile tests

Nanocrystalline metals exhibit strongly time-dependent plastic deformation. This results in a high degree of strain-rate sensitivity and susceptibility to creep and relaxation, even at room temperature. With the advent of thin film processing techniques like sputtering and electrodeposition for fabrication of controlled microstructures of nanocrystalline materials, nanoindentation and microcompression techniques are increasingly used to extract time dependent plasticity parameters from stress relaxation, creep and strain rate sensitivity measurements [1, 2]. However, no systematic comparison of the micromechanical experimental techniques (nanoindentation and microcompression) has been performed on the same material to establish the relative merits and consistency of these results with their counterpart “bulk” tests. This poster will present experimental data from micro-tensile, micropillar compression and nanoindentation tests on nanocrystalline nickel at room temperature to directly compare and validate the test results for stress relaxation and strain rate sensitivity measurements. Microcompression and nanoindentation tests were performed on the non-deformed gripper section of the tensile bar to ensure that the same material is interrogated so as to rule out sample-to-sample variations. The extracted time dependent plasticity exponents and apparent activation volumes will be compared for all three test types and the possible rate controlling deformation mechanism(s) will be discussed. It is hoped that this study will conclusively bridge the gap between uniaxial bulk, uniaxial microcompression and triaxial nanoindentation tests

Elevated temperature microcompression transient testing of nanocrystalline materials: Creep, stress relaxation and strain rate jump tests

Traditionally, time-dependent properties of nanocrystalline metals have been measured on bulk samples. With the advent of thin film deposition techniques like sputtering and electrodeposition for fabricating nanocrystalline materials, it has become necessary to adapt bulk mechanical testing for thin films. Nanoindentation has been extensively applied for this purpose, particularly on thin films where conventional testing is difficult or impossible, and has been demonstrated to successfully extract strain rate exponents [1]. However, the interpretation of the indentation results can be difficult due to the complex stress state, and the nearly instantaneous onset of large-strain plasticity. Microcompression, on the other hand, is advantageous due to the relatively simple, well understood uniaxial stress state. In this talk, micro-compression creep, stress relaxation and strain rate sensitivity [2] testing performed on nanocrystalline Ni at elevated temperatures (25-125 °C) will be described. All tests were performed on the same sample to remove sample-to-sample variation and allow direct comparison to help understand the correlation between these three time dependent tests. The observed stress relaxation and creep behaviors were found to be significant at stresses even below the 0.2% offset yield strength. Strain rate jump and creep tests yielded strain rate sensitivity and creep stress exponents as a function of temperature. Elevated temperature studies permit the extraction of activation parameters (activation volume and activation energies) that provide an initial estimate of the footprint of the dominant deformation mechanisms. The activation parameters were compared for all the three tests. Based on the results from these studies, possible rate controlling deformation mechanism(s) will be discussed. Overall, this study aims to bridge the gap between the three time-dependent tests and provides useful insights into developing similar indentation based tests, for creep and stress relaxation measurements in particular

Surviving the Hair Dryer: Continuous Calibration of a Crystal-Free Mote-on-Chip

International audienc

The Very Young Type Ia Supernova 2012cg: Discovery and Early-Time Follow-Up Observations

On 2012 May 17.2 UT, only 1.5 +/- 0.2 d after explosion, we discovered SN 2012cg, a Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) in NGC 4424 (d ~ 15 Mpc). As a result of the newly modified strategy employed by the Lick Observatory SN Search, a sequence of filtered images was obtained starting 161 s after discovery. Utilizing recent models describing the interaction of SN ejecta with a companion star, we rule out a ~1 M_Sun companion for half of all viewing angles and a red-giant companion for nearly all orientations. SN 2012cg reached a B-band maximum of 12.09 +/- 0.02 mag on 2012 June 2.0 and took ~17.3 d from explosion to reach this, typical for SNe Ia. Our pre-maximum brightness photometry shows a narrower-than-average B-band light curve for SN 2012cg, though slightly overluminous at maximum brightness and with normal color evolution (including some of the earliest SN Ia filtered photometry ever obtained). Spectral fits to SN 2012cg reveal ions typically found in SNe Ia at early times, with expansion velocities >14,000 km/s at 2.5 d past explosion. Absorption from C II is detected early, as well as high-velocity components of both Si II 6355 Ang. and Ca II. Our last spectrum (13.5 d past explosion) resembles that of the somewhat peculiar SN Ia 1999aa. This suggests that SN 2012cg will have a slower-than-average declining light curve, which may be surprising given the faster-than-average rising light curve.Comment: re-submitted to ApJL, 4 figures, 1 tabl

A Temperature-Compensated BLE Beacon and 802.15.4-to-BLE Translator on a Crystal-Free Mote

International audienceCrystal-free radios have the potential to revolutionize the IoT: due to their single-chip nature, they are both very cheap (no external components required) and very small (the size of a grain of rice). The Single-Chip Micro Mote (SCμM) is a 2×3×0.3 mm3 crystal-free chip that can communicate with off-the-shelf transceivers over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or IEEE 802.15.4. Setting its communication frequency is challenging because the crystal-free chip can rely only on internal oscillating circuits, which are very susceptible to temperature. Without compensation, a SCμM chip can no longer communicate with an off-the-shelf BLE receiver if the temperature changes by more than 1.25 °C. This paper introduces a two-step temperature compensation method, allowing SCμM to successfully send BLE frames over a 20 °C temperature range. After performing initial calibration during optical bootloading, we use an open-loop linear model to estimate the ambient temperature and continuously tune the mote’s local oscillator (LO) frequency as the temperature changes. We show how the mote can use the intermediate frequency of 802.15.4 frames it receives from nearby off-the-shelf transceivers as a frequency reference to adjust its LO frequency. This compensation method enables SCμM to operate as a tiny BLE beacon, a BLE temperature sensor (for retail or medical applications), or a 802.15.4-to-BLE translation device