The New Grid

The New Grid seeks to provide mobile users with an additional method for off-grid communication, or communication without connection to Internet infrastructure. The motivation for this project was to find another alternative to Internet-dependent communication. Current Internet infrastructure is antiquated; it is expensive to maintain and expand, it has numerous vulnerabilities and high-impact points of failure, and can be rendered unusable for lengthy periods of time by natural disasters or other catastrophes. This current grid will eventually need to be replaced by a more modern, scalable, and adaptive infrastructure. The results of the projects research showed that implementing a library to allow for the creation of mobile peer-to-peer mesh networks could serve as a starting point for a transition from current Internet infrastructure to a more scalable, adaptive, and reliable Internet- independent network grid. Development of The New Grid largely followed the Rational Unified Process, in which the development process is split into four phases: requirements gathering, system design, implementation, and testing. Most of fall quarter was spent outlining functional requirements for the system, designing possible methods of implementation, and researching similar solutions that seek to transition mass mobile communication to a newer, more modern network grid. The New Grid differs from similar solutions because it has been implemented as a modular library. Current systems that allow for off-grid mobile connection exist as independent applications with a defined context and predetermined usability scope. We, the design team, found that implementing the system in the form of a modular library has multiple benefits. Primarily, this implementation would allow The New Grid to be deployed as widely as possible. Developers can both write applications around our library as well as include specific modules into existing applications without impacting other modules or introducing additional overhead into a system. Another benefit of deploying the system as a modular library is adaptability. The current, initial stable build of The New Grid uses Bluetooth Low Energy as its backbone for facilitating communication within large networks of mobile devices; however, this library could use any existing or future communication protocol to facilitate connection as long as a hook is written to allow The New Grid to interface with that protocol. Thus, The New Grid is not limited by which connection protocols currently exist, a property that other similar systems do not possess. The New Grid can be used in any application that requires connection between users. The most common applications would likely be messaging, file sharing, or social networking. While developers may find a variety of uses for The New Grid, its primary purpose is to facilitate reliable connection and secure data transfer in an environment with a large user base. Achieving this goal was proven feasible through research and testing the library with a small cluster of Android devices communicating solely with Bluetooth Low Energy. Expanding this group of a few phones to a larger mesh network of hundreds of devices was shown to be feasible through testing the librarys algorithms and protocols on a large network of virtual devices. As long as developers seek to create applications that allow users to communicate independent of Internet infrastructure, The New Grid will allow smartphone users to communicate off-grid and hopefully spur a switch from infrastructure-dependent mobile communication to user-centric, adaptive, and flexible connection

A novel multi-band directional antenna for wireless communications

A novel multiband patch antenna with unidirectional radiation is proposed by integrating resonators in the design. The multiple frequency bands are achieved based on a coupled resonators network. The topology and design methodology are detailed. The patch not only works as the last order resonator of the network but also the radiating element. Using this approach, multiple bands can be achieved without changing the shape of the radiation element. In addition, the operation bands can be adjusted by adjusting the coupling between the resonators. In this work, the four bands are designed at 4.6, 5.05, 5.8 and 6.3 GHz as a proof-of-concept. The prototype is fabricated and tested and measured results agree very well with the simulations, showing an excellent performance in terms of impedance matching, radiation patterns, gains and cross polarization discrimination (XPD)

Nurses' and midwives' perceptions and strategies to cope with perinatal death situations: A systematic literature review

Aim The aim of this paper is to describe the strategies used by nurses and midwives to cope with experiences of dealing with perinatal death and maintain their satisfaction at work. Design Systematic literature review, in accordance with the PRISMA Declaration. Data Sources (2000–2021) Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, CINALH and Dialnet, for articles in English and Spanish from the period between January 2000 and March 2021. Review Methods The outcome of the review was the perceptions of nurses and midwives who have cared for people in a situation of perinatal loss. Results Thirteen studies were identified that evaluated the attitudes, experiences and needs of these healthcare professionals. The combined size of all samples was 2196 participants. Conclusions The negative effects on these professionals' satisfaction with their situation at work could be mitigated by covering their needs for knowledge, experience, and emotional and technical skills to deal with such events. Impact As potential protective factors against dissatisfaction in nurses and midwives during perinatal death experiences, we identified older age and experience in perinatal care and coping strategies based on communicating one's feelings to peers, empathetic listening to the families cared for, training and institutional support.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Huelva / CBUA

Low-Cost Smart Antenna Using Active Frequency Selective Surfaces

Smart antenna is a key technology for advanced wireless systems and one of the most important features of smart antenna is electronically beam scanning or switching. It is highly desirable to reduce the mass, power consumption and cost of smart antennas, as the traditional phased array is always associated with high cost due to the use of many T/R modules and complicated beamforming network (BFN). This paper presents the University of Kent's recent research progress in the field of low-cost smart antenna design using active frequency selective surfaces (AFSS). Firstly, this paper presents a brief review of AFSS based beam-reconfigurable antenna including several recent designs reported by the authors' group. Then, a new high-gain AFSS antenna design with some preliminary results will be presented. This is design achieves higher gain than the reported AFSS antennas. A detailed list of references is given at the end of this paper

Molecular dynamics simulations of nanoindentation and nanotribology

We present results of parallel molecular dynamics simulations of nanoindentation and nanotribology experiments. The models we have developed describe both the sample and the indenter atomistically and model the effect of the cantilevers in an atomic force microscope through the use of springs. We show that the simulations are in good qualitative agreement with experiment and help to elucidate many of the mechanisms that take place during these processes. In particular, we illustrate the role that dislocations play both in nanoindentation and also in stick–slip. Further to this we show how real-time visualization and computational steering have been employed in these simulations to capture the dynamical events that take place

Wideband Differentially-Fed Slot Antenna and Array With Circularly Polarized Radiation for Millimeter-Wave Applications

© 2022 IEEE - All rights reserved. This is the accepted manuscript version of the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2022.3145481A wideband differentially-fed slot antenna is presented for millimeter-wave (mmWave) applications. A novel method of using stepped corner-shaped slot is first utilized to establish the wideband circularly polarized (CP) radiation. In the configuration of corner-shaped slot, two wide open slots at the ends are utilized for effective orthogonal radiation, while the narrow slot at the center is utilized for power transmission and quadrature phase delay. An equivalent circuit is given to illustrate the inner working principle for CP radiation. In addition, square cuts are etched on the four corners of the radiating patches to further increase the axial ratio (AR) and impedance bandwidth. Based on this design concept, the antenna element was first designed and fabricated for performance verification. Then, a 1×4 linear array with beam scanning performance and a 4×4 planar array with high gain and stable radiation were designed and fabricated. Both the simulated and measured results show that the 1×4 linear array and 4×4 planar array can have wide overlapped impedance and AR bandwidths of 30.6% and 33.6% with thickness of 0.16λ0. The advantages of compact size and wide bandwidth make the presented antenna a good candidate for mmWave applications.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Wideband Circularly Polarized Reflectarray Antenna Using Rotational Symmetrical Crossed Dipoles

© 2023 IEEE. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2023.3247943A wideband circularly polarized (CP) reflectarray (RA) antenna using rotational symmetrical crossed dipoles is presented. This is the first time investigating coupled crossed dipoles as the unit cell for wideband reflection bandwidth in the CP RA design. Equivalent circuit analysis shows that when a CP wave impinges on the designed unit cell, two series resonances, and two parallel resonances are simultaneously excited on the crossed dipoles. Owing to these four different resonances, the CP reflection bandwidth is greatly improved and elaborately adjusted by controlling the coupling between the crossed dipoles. The CP reflection bandwidth ratio of the unit cell is enhanced up to 2:1 for $S_{x} < -15$ dB with a thin thickness of $0.12 \lambda {0}$. Based on this unit cell, a wideband -20° collimated CP RA antenna with a circular aperture of 316 unit cells was designed, fabricated, and measured for final performance verification. The measured results show that a wide CP bandwidth of 7.6-15.9 GHz is achieved with the axial ratio (AR) < 3 dB. In addition, the measured 3 dB gain bandwidth is better than 43.7% with a peak realized gain of 26.3 dBic and maximum aperture efficiency (AE) of 58.3%.Peer reviewe

Towards modern post-coma care based on neuroscientific evidence.

peer reviewed[en] BACKGROUND: Understanding the mechanisms underlying human consciousness is pivotal to improve the prognostication and treatment of severely brain-injured patients. Consciousness remains an elusive concept and the identification of its neural correlates is an active subject of research, however recent neuroscientific advances have allowed scientists to better characterize disorders of consciousness. These breakthroughs question the historical nomenclature and our current management of post-comatose patients. METHOD: This review examines the contribution of consciousness neurosciences to the current clinical management of severe brain injury. It investigates the major impact of consciousness disorders on healthcare systems, the scientific frameworks employed to identify their neural correlates and how evidence-based data from neuroimaging research have reshaped the landscape of post-coma care in recent years. RESULTS: Our increased ability to detect behavioral and neurophysiological signatures of consciousness has led to significant changes in taxonomy and clinical practice. We advocate for a multimodal framework for the management of severely brain-injured patients based on precision medicine and evidence-based decisions, integrating epidemiology, health economics and neuroethics. CONCLUSIONS: Major progress in brain imaging and clinical assessment have opened the door to a new era of post-coma care based on standardized neuroscientific evidence. We highlight its implications in clinical applications and call for improved collaborations between researchers and clinicians to better translate findings to the bedside

Wideband Dual-Polarized Antenna with High Selectivity for 5G Sub-6GHz Base Station Applications

A dual-polarized antenna with wide impedance bandwidth and high selectivity is presented for the use of 5G sub-6GHz base stations. By strategically introducing a novel coupled dual-mode grid structure, two additional resonant modes (One is in-band, another one is out-of-band) as well as two radiation nulls can be obtained to enhance the impedance bandwidth and out-of-band rejection level of the widely used tightly coupled cross-dipole antenna. The two radiation nulls introduced by the grid structure are located at the two edges of the desired frequency band. To further improve the gain suppression level in higher out-of-band, a new radiation null is obtained by symmetrically introducing four T-shaped strips. Apart from these additional radiation nulls, this antenna also exhibits two inherent radiation nulls originating from its feed structure and reflector. The measured results demonstrate that the proposed antenna exhibits a wide impedance bandwidth of 39.5% (ranging from 3.07 GHz to 4.58 GHz), excellent isolation of over 31 dB, and a notable out-of-band rejection level exceeding 17.6 dB and 19.2 dB in the frequency bands of 1.7 GHz-2.7 GHz and 4.8 GHz- 5.0 GHz

Wideband Dual-Polarized Filtering Antenna for Base Station Applications

A compact wideband dual-polarized filtering antenna based on tightly coupled cross dipoles is presented in this letter. The enhancement of impedance bandwidth is realized by introducing four impedance equalizers to equalize the input resistances of the two inherent resonant modes of tightly coupled cross dipole antenna. The enhancement of the selectivity is realized by introducing two radiation nulls in 5G sub-6 GHz n77 and n79 bands. The radiation null in n77 band is obtained by introducing the cross strips in the center of the antenna. The radiation null in the n79 band is achieved by the introduction of open-end branches. The manipulation of their key parameters allows for independent control over both radiation nulls. The validity of the antenna's design principle was confirmed by carrying out fabrication and measurements. The results obtained showcase the antenna's broad fractional bandwidth of 63.4% and exceptional port isolation of 31 dB. High out-of-band rejection levels in n77 and n79 bands are also obtained. In addition, since the whole radiator of the presented antenna is coplanar, it offers the advantage of a simple structure and convenient manufacturing, making it highly suitable for the use in base stations operating across multiple bands