A Low Voltage Delta-Sigma Fractional Frequency Divider for Multi-band WSN Frequency Synthesizers

A 1 V low voltage delta-sigma fractional-N frequency divider for multi-band (780/868/915 MHz and 2.4 GHz) WSN frequency synthesizers is presented. The frequency divider consists of a dual-modulus prescaler, a pulse-swallow counter and a delta-sigma modulator. The high-speed and low-voltage phase-switching dual-modulus prescaler is used in the frequency divider. Low threshold voltage transistors are applied to overcome low voltage supply and forward phase-switching technique is adopted to prevent glitches. The modified delta-sigma modulator with long output sequence length and less spurs is adopted to minimize the fractional spurs. The frequency divider is designed in 0.18 mm TSMC RF CMOS technology under 1 V supply instead of the standard 1.8 V supply. The total chip area is 1190 mm 485 mm including I/O pads. The post simulation results show the frequency divider operates normally over a wide range of 1.3-5.0 GHz and the core circuit (without test buffers) consumes 2.3 mW

Membrane Contact Demulsification: A Superhydrophobic ZIF-8@rGO Membrane for Water-in-Oil Emulsion Separation

Achieving a water–oil interface imbalance has been identified as a critical factor in the demulsification of water-in-oil emulsions. However, conventional demulsifying membranes generally break the interface balance by depending on a relatively high transmembrane pressure. Here, we present a “contact demulsification” concept to naturally and quickly achieve disruption of the water–oil interface balance. For this purpose, a novel demulsifying membrane with a high flux of the organic component has been developed via the simple vacuum assembly of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8)@reduced graphene oxide (rGO) microspheres (ZGS) on a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) support, followed by immobilization processing in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) crosslinking solution. Due to the micro-nano hierarchies of the ZGS, the prepared ZIF-8@rGO@PDMS/PTFE (ZGPP) membranes feature a unique superhydrophobic surface, which results in a water–oil interface imbalance when a surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsion comes into contact with the membrane surface. Under a low transmembrane pressure of 0.15 bar (15 kPa), such membranes show an excellent separation efficiency (∼99.57%) and a high flux of 2254 L·m−2·h−1, even for surfactant-stabilized nanoscale water-in-toluene emulsions (with an average droplet size of 57 nm). This “contact demulsification” concept paves the way for developing next-generation demulsifying membranes for water-in-oil emulsion separation

Red Teaming Language Model Detectors with Language Models

The prevalence and strong capability of large language models (LLMs) present significant safety and ethical risks if exploited by malicious users. To prevent the potentially deceptive usage of LLMs, recent works have proposed algorithms to detect LLM-generated text and protect LLMs. In this paper, we investigate the robustness and reliability of these LLM detectors under adversarial attacks. We study two types of attack strategies: 1) replacing certain words in an LLM's output with their synonyms given the context; 2) automatically searching for an instructional prompt to alter the writing style of the generation. In both strategies, we leverage an auxiliary LLM to generate the word replacements or the instructional prompt. Different from previous works, we consider a challenging setting where the auxiliary LLM can also be protected by a detector. Experiments reveal that our attacks effectively compromise the performance of all detectors in the study with plausible generations, underscoring the urgent need to improve the robustness of LLM-generated text detection systems.Comment: Preprint. Accepted by TAC

Inherent SM Voltage Balance for Multilevel Circulant Modulation in Modular Multilevel DC--DC Converters

The modularity of a modular multilevel dc converter (MMDC) makes it attractive for medium-voltage distribution systems. Inherent balance of submodule (SM) capacitor voltages is considered as an ideal property, which avoids a complex sorting process based on many measurements thereby reducing costs and enhancing reliability. This article extends the inherent balance concept previously shown for square-wave modulation to a multilevel version for MMDCs. A switching duty matrix dU is introduced: it is a circulant matrix of preset multilevel switching patterns with multiple stages and multiple durations. Inherent voltage balance is ensured with a full-rank dU . Circulant matrix theory shows that this is equivalent to a simplified common factor criterion. A nonfull rank dU causes clusters of SM voltage rather than a single common value, with the clusters indicated by the kernel of the matrix. A generalized coprime criterion is developed into several deductions that serve as practical guidance for design of multilevel circulant modulation. The theoretical development is verified through full-scale simulations and downscaled experiments. The effectiveness of the proposed circulant modulation in achieving SM voltage balance in an MMDC is demonstrated

Chronic kidney disease as a predictive factor for poor prognosis in traumatic brain injury among older adults: a case-control study

ObjectiveTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a highly prevalent neurological disorder that affects a gradually increasing proportion of older adults. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) significantly contributes to global years of life lost, with an estimated one-tenth of the global population affected by CKD. However, it remains unclear whether CKD impacts TBI prognosis. We conducted a case-control study to investigate the clinical outcomes of TBI patients with or without CKD comorbidity and identified the risk factors associated with a poor prognosis.MethodsFrom January 2017 through April 2023, 11 patients with TBI and CKD were included, and 27 control TBI cases with normal kidney function were matched by age, gender, and admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score as the control group.ResultsThe CKD TBI group had a significantly lower GCS score upon discharge (7.1 ± 5.9) compared to the non-CKD TBI group (13.1 ± 2.6) (p < 0.01). ICU stay time and hospitalization expenses were higher in the CKD group than the non-CKD group, though there were no statistical differences. Additionally, patients in the CKD TBI group had a higher frequency of hospital-acquired infections (54.4%) compared with those in the non-CKD TBI group (7.4%) (p < 0.01). The two groups exhibited no differences in hemoglobin levels, albumin levels, or coagulation function. Logistic regression analysis showed that advanced age, low admission GCS score, elevated blood urea, and creatinine levels were associated with a poor neurological prognosis.ConclusionTBI patients comorbid with CKD have a poorer prognosis than those with normal kidney function

A Low-voltage Programmable Frequency Divider with Wide Input Frequency Range

A low-voltage programmable frequency divider with wide input frequency range is fabricated in standard 0.18µm TSMC RF CMOS technology and presented in this paper. Considering the frequency division ratio of dual-modulus prescaler is relatively smaller, a programmable divider with full custom design is used to increase the frequency division ratio and the maximum operating frequency. The frequency division ratio of the programmable frequency divider covers from 64 to 255. And the measured results show that the programmable divider works correctly when the input frequency varies from 0.5 GHz to 6.0 GHz, with 1V supply. Besides, the power consumption is 3.5 mA at the maximum frequency of 6.0 GHz

Medical Assistance in Dying for Multiple Chemical Sensitivities: A System Failure?

We were astonished to read a recent media news item about a 51-year-old woman in Ontario who was offered and accepted medical assistance in dying (MAID) because she was experiencing multiple chemical sensitivities, also known by its preferred diagnostic term, idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI). Reportedly, she could not access appropriate housing. We find this concerning, as providing MAID to individuals with refractory IEI symptoms on the basis of housing unavailability implies that there were no better management options available. This case should prompt ethical reflection on whether our supports for the most vulnerable enable them to maintain basic human dignity, and whether systemic societal action in other ways could better support people with IEI.Nous avons été étonnés de lire un article de presse récent concernant une femme de 51 ans de l’Ontario qui s’est vu proposer et a accepté l’aide médicale à mourir (AMM) parce qu’elle souffrait de polysensibilité chimique, également connue sous son terme diagnostique préféré, intolérance environnementale idiopathique (IEI). Il semblerait qu’elle n’ait pas pu accéder à un logement approprié. Nous trouvons cela préoccupant, car le fait de fournir une MAID à des personnes présentant des symptômes réfractaires d’IEI sur la base de l’indisponibilité du logement implique qu’il n’y avait pas de meilleures options de gestion disponibles. Ce cas devrait susciter une réflexion éthique sur la question de savoir si les aides que nous apportons aux plus vulnérables leur permettent de conserver leur dignité humaine de base, et si une action systémique de la société par d’autres moyens pourrait mieux soutenir les personnes atteintes d’une IEI

News Items About the Use of Medical Assistance in Dying Raise Concerns About the System in Canada

Plusieurs articles récents traitent de cas où l’assistance médicale à mourir semble être demandée non pas parce que la situation médicale est sans espoir en dépit d’un soutien optimal, mais plutôt parce que les soutiens qui pourraient théoriquement être disponibles sont inaccessibles dans la pratique ou, s’ils sont accessibles, sont apparemment insuffisants. Nous discutons de ces développements.Several recent news items discuss cases where medical assistance in dying seems to be sought not because the medical situation is beyond hope despite optimal supports, but rather because supports that could theoretically be available are inaccessible in practice or, if accessible, are apparently insufficient. We discuss these developments