Wide-Dynamic Range Image Sensor Prototype Based On Digital Readout Integrated Circuit

Emerging infrared and visible imaging applications require higher sensitivity, larger pixel array, larger contrast ratio (dynamic range), very low power consumption and faster data readout rate operations all at the same time. Some of these applications are camera surveillance used both in day/night (very bright and dark conditions), medical diagnostics, weather forecasting, and aerial search & rescue operations etc. The digital-pixel focal plane array (DFPA) implemented in this thesis has the capabilities to capture a wide dynamic range of more than 120dB in a single global shutter without saturating the pixels at a huge frame rate of more than 500Hz. An adaptive Integration Window technique has been developed which ensures that we are able to measure such a huge dynamic range using a counter of only 10 bits (this helps us lower the power consumption of the design). This proposed image sensor has been designed, fabricated and tested in 65nm CMOS technology. It has 16 x 16-pixel array with 16 x 9 pixels with an inbuilt Silicon APD for optical testing and 16 x 7 dummy pixels for electrical testing. Our design proposes an off-chip digital calibration technique to cut down the burden on the analog circuitry. The sensor design achieved more than 128dB+ of dynamic range with a DNL/INL of 0.65/1.65 respectively with a power consumption of only 0.58 uW/pixel. The digital calibration scheme successfully cuts down the pixel-pixel variation standard deviations by a factor of 4. The proposed image sensor design should be able to address most of the short-comings of conventional FPAs and provides a one-shot solution to the design of high performance CMOS image sensors

QUANTUM PHENOMENA IN ZERO DIMENSIONS: QUANTUM DOTS

Quantum phenomena in zero dimensions: quantum dots because of many interesting and important applications currently in use by this nanotechnology. The use fulness and application of quantum dots technologically continues to expand and research is striving to bring their benefits to more and more technologically applied fields. SMALLER...smaller...smaller-In the semiconductor industry, this mantra translates to faster...... faster.....faster. The question is, how small can we go? At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the answer may be: as small as quantum dots. Quantum dot has some attractive advantages: long-term photostability, higher fluorescent outcome, narrower fluorescence emission, sensitivity to the electric and magnetic f

Peritonitis – the Eastern experience

Peritonitis is a common emergency encountered by surgeons the world over. This paper aims to provide an overview of the spectrum of peritonitis seen in the East. Studies dealing with the overall spectrum of secondary peritonitis in various countries of this region were identified using Pubmed and Google. These were analyzed for the site and cause of perforation and the mortality. It was observed that perforation of duodenal ulcers was the most the commonly encountered perforations. These are followed by small bowel and appendicular perforations. Colonic perforations were uncommon. The overall mortality ranges between 6–27%

DF 2.0: Designing an automated, privacy preserving, and efficient digital forensic framework

The current state of digital forensic investigation is continuously challenged by the rapid technological changes, the increase in the use of digital devices (both the heterogeneity and the count), and the sheer volume of data that these devices could contain. Although it is not directly related to the performance of Digital Forensic Investigation process, preventing data privacy violations during the process is also a big challenge. The investigator gets full access to the forensic image including suspect\u27s private data which may be sensitive at times as well as entirely unrelated to the given case under investigation. With a notion that privacy preservation and completeness of investigation are contradicting to each other, the digital forensics researchers have provided solutions to address the above-stated challenges that either focus on the effectiveness of the investigation process or the data privacy preservation. However, a generalized approach that preserves data privacy by affecting neither the capabilities of the investigator nor the overall efficiency of the investigation process is still an open problem. In the current work, the authors have proposed a digital forensic framework that uses case information, case profile data and expert knowledge for automation of the digital forensic analysis process; utilizes machine learning for finding most relevant pieces of evidence; and preserves data privacy in such a way that the overall efficiency of the digital forensic investigation process increases without affecting the integrity and admissibility of the evidence. The framework improves validation to enhance transparency in the investigation process. The framework also uses a secure logging mechanism to capture investigation steps to achieve a higher level of accountability. Since the proposed framework introduces significant enhancements to the current investigative practices more like the next version of Digital Forensics, the authors named it `Digital Forensics 2.0\u27, or DF 2.0 in short

Precognition: Automated Digital Forensic Readiness System for Mobile Computing Devices in Enterprises

Enterprises are facing an unprecedented risk of security incidents due to the influx of emerging technologies, like smartphones and wearables. Most of the current Mobile security systems are not maturing in pace with technological advances. They lack the ability to learn and adapt from the past knowledge base. In the case of a security incident, enterprises find themselves underprepared for the lack of evidence and data. The systems are not designed to be forensic ready. There is a need for automated security analysis and forensically ready solution, which can learn and continuously adapt to new challenges, improve efficiency and productivity of the system. In this research, the authors have designed a security analysis and digital forensic readiness system targeted at smartphones and wearables in an enterprise environment. The proposed system detects applications violating security policies, analyzes Android and iOS applications to identify possible vulnerabilities on the server, apply machine learning algorithms to improve the efficiency and accuracy of vulnerability prediction. The System continuously learns from past incidents, proactively collect required information from the devices which can help in digital forensics. Machine learning techniques are applied to the set of features extracted from the decompiled Mobile applications and applications classified based on consisting of one or more vulnerabilities. The system was evaluated in a real-world enterprise environment with 14151 mobile applications and vulnerabilities was predicted with an accuracy of 94.2%. The system can also work on virtual instances of the mobile devices

Wide-Dynamic Range Image Sensor Prototype Based On Digital Readout Integrated Circuit

Emerging infrared and visible imaging applications require higher sensitivity, larger pixel array, larger contrast ratio (dynamic range), very low power consumption and faster data readout rate operations all at the same time. Some of these applications are camera surveillance used both in day/night (very bright and dark conditions), medical diagnostics, weather forecasting, and aerial search & rescue operations etc. The digital-pixel focal plane array (DFPA) implemented in this thesis has the capabilities to capture a wide dynamic range of more than 120dB in a single global shutter without saturating the pixels at a huge frame rate of more than 500Hz. An adaptive Integration Window technique has been developed which ensures that we are able to measure such a huge dynamic range using a counter of only 10 bits (this helps us lower the power consumption of the design). This proposed image sensor has been designed, fabricated and tested in 65nm CMOS technology. It has 16 x 16-pixel array with 16 x 9 pixels with an inbuilt Silicon APD for optical testing and 16 x 7 dummy pixels for electrical testing. Our design proposes an off-chip digital calibration technique to cut down the burden on the analog circuitry. The sensor design achieved more than 128dB+ of dynamic range with a DNL/INL of 0.65/1.65 respectively with a power consumption of only 0.58 uW/pixel. The digital calibration scheme successfully cuts down the pixel-pixel variation standard deviations by a factor of 4. The proposed image sensor design should be able to address most of the short-comings of conventional FPAs and provides a one-shot solution to the design of high performance CMOS image sensors

Radiation therapy combined with intracerebral administration of carboplatin for the treatment of brain tumors

Background: In this study we determined if treatment combining radiation therapy (RT) with intracerebral (i.c.) administration of carboplatin to F98 glioma bearing rats could improve survival over that previously reported by us with a 15 Gy dose (5 Gy × 3) of 6 MV photons.Methods: First, in order to reduce tumor interstitial pressure, a biodistribution study was carried out to determine if pretreatment with dexamethasone alone or in combination with mannitol and furosemide (DMF) would increase carboplatin uptake following convection enhanced delivery (CED). Next, therapy studies were carried out in rats that had received carboplatin either by CED over 30 min (20 μg) or by Alzet pumps over 7 d (84 μg), followed by RT using a LINAC to deliver either 20 Gy (5 Gy × 4) or 15 Gy (7.5 Gy × 2) dose at 6 or 24 hrs after drug administration. Finally, a study was carried out to determine if efficacy could be improved by decreasing the time interval between drug administration and RT.Results: Tumor carboplatin values for D and DMF-treated rats were 9.4 ±4.4 and 12.4 ±3.2 μg/g, respectively, which were not significantly different (P = 0.14). The best survival data were obtained by combining pump delivery with 5 Gy × 4 of X-irradiation with a mean survival time (MST) of 107.7 d and a 43% cure rate vs. 83.6 d with CED vs. 30-35 d for RT alone and 24.6 d for untreated controls. Treatment-related mortality was observed when RT was initiated 6 h after CED of carboplatin and RT was started 7 d after tumor implantation. Dividing carboplatin into two 10 μg doses and RT into two 7.5 Gy fractions, administered 24 hrs later, yielded survival data (MST 82.1 d with a 25% cure rate) equivalent to that previously reported with 5 Gy × 3 and 20 μg of carboplatin.Conclusions: Although the best survival data were obtained by pump delivery, CED was highly effective in combination with 20 Gy, or as previously reported, 15 Gy, and the latter would be preferable since it would produce less late tissue effects.peer-reviewe

The management of large perforations of duodenal ulcers

BACKGROUND: Duodenal ulcer perforations are a common surgical emergency, but literature is silent on the exact definition, incidence, management and complications of large perforations of duodenal ulcers. METHODS: The case files of 162 patients who underwent emergency laparotomy for duodenal ulcer perforations over a period of three years (2001 – 2003) were retrospectively reviewed and sorted into groups based on the size of the perforations – one group was defined as 'small 'perforations (less than 1 cm in diameter), another 'large' (when the perforation was more than 1 cm but less than 3 cms), and the third, 'giant'(when the perforation exceeded 3 cm). These groups of patients were then compared with each other in regard to the patient particulars, duration of symptoms, surgery performed and the outcome. RESULTS: A total of 40 patients were identified to have duodenal ulcer perforations more than 1 cm in size, thus accounting for nearly 25 % of all duodenal ulcer perforations operated during this period. These patients had a significantly higher incidence of leak, morbidity and mortality when compared to those with smaller perforations. CONCLUSION: There are three distinct types of perforations of duodenal ulcers that are encountered in clinical practice. The first, are the 'small' perforations that are easy to manage and have low morbidity and mortality. The second are the 'large' perforations, that are also not uncommon, and omental patch closure gives the best results even in this subset of patients. The word 'giant' should be reserved for perforations that exceed 3 cms in diameter, and these are extremely uncommon