Direct Digital Frequency Synthesizer Architecture for Wireless Communication in 90 NM CMOS Technology

Software radio is one promising field that can meet the demands for low cost, low power, and high speed electronic devices for wireless communication. At the heart of software radio is a programmable oscillator called a Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS). DDS has the capabilities of rapid frequency hopping by digital software control while operating at very high frequencies and having sub-hertz resolution. Nevertheless, the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and the read-only-memory (ROM) look-up table, building blocks of the DDS, prevent the DDS to be used in wireless communication because they introduce errors and noises to the DDS and their performances deteriorate at high speed. The DAC and ROM are replaced in this thesis by analog active filters that convert the square wave output of the phase accumulator directly into a sine wave. The proposed architecture operates with a reference clock of 9.09 GHz and can be fully-integrated in 90 nm CMOS technology

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF AIRFLOW AROUND VEHICLE MODELS

This article carries out the numerical simulation of airflow over three dimensional car models using ANSYS Fluent software. The calculations have been performed by using realizable k-e turbulence model. The external airflow field of the simplified BMV M6 model with or without a wing is simulated. Several aerodynamic characteristics such as pressure distribution, velocity contours, velocity vectors, streamlines, turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence dissipation energy are analyzed in this study. The aerodynamic forces acting on the car model is calculated and compared with other authors

EmbryosFormer: Deformable Transformer and Collaborative Encoding-Decoding for Embryos Stage Development Classification

The timing of cell divisions in early embryos during the In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) process is a key predictor of embryo viability. However, observing cell divisions in Time-Lapse Monitoring (TLM) is a time-consuming process and highly depends on experts. In this paper, we propose EmbryosFormer, a computational model to automatically detect and classify cell divisions from original time-lapse images. Our proposed network is designed as an encoder-decoder deformable transformer with collaborative heads. The transformer contracting path predicts per-image labels and is optimized by a classification head. The transformer expanding path models the temporal coherency between embryo images to ensure monotonic non-decreasing constraint and is optimized by a segmentation head. Both contracting and expanding paths are synergetically learned by a collaboration head. We have benchmarked our proposed EmbryosFormer on two datasets: a public dataset with mouse embryos with 8-cell stage and an in-house dataset with human embryos with 4-cell stage. Source code: https://github.com/UARK-AICV/Embryos.Comment: Accepted at WACV 202

Patient Views on Quality of Life and Hospital Care: Results From a Qualitative Study Among Vietnamese Patients With Diabetes

Objectives: This study aimed to fill the gap between Vietnamese diabetic patients' needs and care through a qualitative study asking about their experiences with diabetes and quality of care. Methods: Interviews with five diabetic patients were conducted at a tertiary general hospital located in southern Vietnam. The transcribed data were first subjected to quantitative text analysis using KH Coder to identify major categories of frequently used words, followed by a qualitative analysis of selected cases using the Steps for Coding and Theorization (SCAT) method. Results: The major categories of frequently used words were chronic health conditions, services, facilities, insurance, patient-doctor communication, and medication. SCAT analysis of three selected cases identified six themes: “Disregarding the disease at the early stage,” “Fear of complications,” “Satisfaction with hospital services and medical staff,” “Insurance-related problems,” “Long waiting times,” and “Communication barriers between patients and doctors.” Patients were satisfied with improved hospital facilities and services; however, the overloading of one hospital led to long waiting times and communication difficulties with doctors. Difficulties with health insurance were also observed, and patients were rather passive in disease management and needed to be empowered through improved communication with doctors and other care providers. Conclusion: These findings from our trial of introducing a qualitative study into service evaluation suggest that listening to patients can help health providers learn their perspectives and be more responsive to their needs

Effect of calcium chloride treatment by vacuum infiltration method on texture and shelf life of black cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum cv. OG)

The use of vacuum infiltration in the food industry has several advantages, such as improving the quality, eliminating chemical treatment requirements, stabilizing products, and retaining nutrients during storage and processing. This study was performed to optimize the vacuum level (516-684 mmHg), treatment time (10-20 min), and calcium chloride (CaCl2) concentration (0.58- 1.42%) using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The firmness of black cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum cv. OG) reached an optimum value (1477.81 g/cm2) when fruits were treated at a vacuum level of 637 mmHg with a concentration of CaCl2 1.09% for 17 min. Meanwhile, the firmness was 746 g/cm2 for the control sample, which was dipped in 1.42% CaCl2 solution for 20 min at the atmospheric condition. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of stomata of two samples with/without vacuum treatment were also significantly different. The sample after vacuum treatment at optimum parameters was put into PE and PP bags for storage at 10-12°C. Vacuum-infiltrated tomatoes contained in PE and PP bags had a corresponding storage time of 30 and 28 days. The control samples were maintained for shorter periods, only 22 and 20 days, respectively

Intraoraalilaitteen sirontakartta: Säteilyn sironta intraoraalitutkimuksissa

Hammaslääketieteessä hyödynnetään intraoraalikuvantamista, jolla otetaan röntgenkuvia yksittäisistä hampaista tai hammasryhmistä. Röntgensäteilyn törmätessä potilaaseen osa siitä muuttuu siroavaksi säteilyksi ja leviää lähiympäristöön. Näissä kuvaustilanteissa huoneessa oleskeleva henkilökunta tai potilaan tukihenkilö voi altistua siroavalle säteilylle. Ympäristöön leviävän sironnan suuntaa ja annosmääriä on tärkeä tutkia. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvailla säteilyn sirontaa intraoraalitutkimuksessa sirontakartan avulla. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tuottaa tietoa intraoraalikuvauksessa syntyvästä sironnasta. Tutkimuksesta saatua tietoa voidaan hyödyntää sirontaa käsittelevissä tulevaisuuden tutkimuksissa ja laitteen kanssa toimivan henkilökunnan ja mahdollisten tukihenkilöiden säteilyturvallisuuden edistämisessä. Tutkimus toteutettiin Oulun ammattikorkeakoulun röntgensimulaatiotilassa, jossa järjestettiin simuloitu kuvaustilanne. Kuvauksessa käytettiin Planmeca ProX-intraoraalilaitetta, CIRS ATOM 711-HN-pääfantomia ja RaySafe-säteilymittauslaitteistoa. Mittaukset suoritettiin kolmesta eri kuvausprojektiosta, kolmelta eri korkeudelta ja kolmelta eri etäisyydeltä. Kuvausprojektiot olivat bitewing-kuvaus, yläetuhampaan kuvaus ja alaetuhampaan kuvaus. Tutkimuksessa käytettävät kuvausarvot valittiin kuvausprojektion mukaisesti. Tutkimuksen tuloksena muodostettiin yhdeksän sirontakarttaa. Suurimmat annokset todettiin 114 cm korkeudella kaikissa kuvaprojektioissa aivan röntgenputken vieressä. Suurin arvo oli 564 nGy yläetuhampaan kuvausprojektiossa. Suurin sironta sijoittuu röntgenputken viereen ja primäärikeilan suuntaan kaikissa kolmessa projektioissa. Kuvauskulmalla on merkitystä, koska se muuttaa primäärikeilan ja sironnan suuntaa. Paras tapa vähentää säteilyannosta on etäisyys. Mitatut annokset esitetään asteikolla 0° – 315°, missä 0° on pääfantomin edessä, 90° on oikealla puolella, 180° on takana ja 270° on vasemmalla puolella. Seisomapaikka, jossa saadaan vähiten säteilyä, on etuhampaiden projektioissa 135° tai 225° kulmassa ja bitewing-kuvausprojektiossa 225° kulmassa. Jatkossa olisi mielekästä tutkia tarkemmin vertikaalisen kulman ja horisontaalisen suunnan vaikutusta sirontaan vastaavissa tutkimuksissa. Tulevaisuuden tutkimuksessa voisi selvittää kuinka paljon ja mihin suuntaan annokset muuttuvat kulmaa muuttaessa

Application of endophytic bacterium Bacillus velezensis BTR11 to control bacterial leaf blight disease and promote rice growth

Abstract Background Bacterial leaf blight (BLB) disease caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is one of the most destructive pathogens responsible for severe yield losses in rice. Application of bacterial biocontrol agent (BCA) with plant growth promotion (PGP) abilities is a promising method that alternates current conventional practices to manage BLB disease and increase crop yield. Hence, this study aimed to isolate and identify BCA with PGP abilities from internal plant tissues and rhizosphere soil of healthy and Xoo-infected rice and evaluate their antagonistic and PGP properties under greenhouse and field conditions. Results A total of 14 bacterial isolates were isolated and presented in vitro antagonistic ability against the Xoo. The rice endophytic bacterium strain Bacillius velezensis (BTR11) had the highest antagonistic activity against the Xoo, produced indole acetic acid (IAA), and mineralized nutrients (K and P). The greenhouse experiment revealed that culture broth of strain BTR11 had a high protective effect (72.1%) against the BLB when applied at the protective-fighting mode, i.e., before and after the Xoo infection. Preliminary results of the field experiment showed that a protective effect against the bacterial blight disease was obtained as high as 75–85%, if the strain was used as an additive to the soil for the seedlings in combination with spraying when the disease began in the field. In addition, using the strain BTR11 also increased the rice yield to about 12% more than the un-treatment control. Conclusions The study showed a significant potential for the application of endophytic bacteria in controlling BLB disease, while stimulating plant growth, thus reducing the use of agrochemicals in rice cultivation

Effect of Small Versus Large Clusters of Fish School on the Yield of a Purse-Seine Small Pelagic Fishery Including a Marine Protected Area

International audienceWe consider a fishery model with two sites: (1) a marine protected area (MPA) where fishing is prohibited and (2) an area where the fish population is harvested. We assume that fish can migrate from MPA to fishing area at a very fast time scale and fish spatial organisation can change from small to large clusters of school at a fast time scale. The growth of the fish population and the catch are assumed to occur at a slow time scale. The complete model is a system of five ordinary differential equations with three time scales. We take advantage of the time scales using aggregation of variables methods to derive a reduced model governing the total fish density and fishing effort at the slow time scale. We analyze this aggregated model and show that under some conditions, there exists an equilibrium corresponding to a sustainable fishery. Our results suggest that in small pelagic fisheries the yield is maximum for a fish population distributed among both small and large clusters of school