6,191 research outputs found
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Fully-passive switched-capacitor techniques for high performance SAR ADC design
In recent years, SAR ADC becomes more and more popular in various low-power applications such as wireless sensors and low energy radios due to its circuit simplicity, high power efficiency, and scaling compatibility. However, its speed is limited by its successive approximation procedures and its power efficiency greatly reduces with the ADC resolution going beyond 10 bit. To address these issues, this thesis proposes to embed two techniques: 1) compressive sensing (CS) and 2) noise shaping (NS) to a conventional SAR ADC. The realization of both techniques are based on fully-passive switched-capacitor techniques.
CS is a recently emerging sampling paradigm, stating that the sparsity of a signal can be exploited to reduce the ADC sampling rate below the Nyquist rate. Different from conventional CS frameworks which require dedicated analog CS encoders, this thesis proposes a fully-passive CS-SAR ADC architecture which only requires minor modification to a conventional SAR ADC. Two chips are fabricated in a 0.13 ”m process to prove the concept. One chip is a single-channel CS-SAR ADC which can reduce the ADC conversion rate by 4 times, thus reducing the ADC power by 4 times. In many wireless sensing applications, multiple ADCs are commonly required to sense multi-channel signals such as multi-lead ECG sensing and parallel neural recording. Therefore, the other chip is a multi-channel CS-SAR ADC which can simultaneously convert 4-channel signals with a sampling rate of one channelâs Nyquist rate. At 0.8 V and 1 MS/s, both chips achieve an effective Walden FoM of around 5 fJ/conversion-step.
This thesis also proposes a novel NS SAR ADC architecture that is simple, robust and low power for high-resolution applications. Compared to conventional âÎŁ ADCs, it replaces the power-hungry active integrator with a passive integrator which only requires one switch and two capacitors. Compared to previous 1st-order NS SAR ADC works, it achieves the best NS performance and can be easily extended to 2nd-order. A 1st-order 10-bit NS SAR ADC is fabricated in a 0.13 ”m process. Through NS, SNDR increases by 6 dB with OSR doubled, achieving a 12- bit ENOB at OSR = 8. An improved version of a 2nd-order 9-bit NS SAR ADC is designed and simulated in a 40 nm process. The SNDR increases by 10 dB with OSR doubled, achieving a 14-bit ENOB at OSR = 16. At a bandwidth of 312.5 kHz, the Schreier FoM is 181 dB and the Walden FoM is 12.5 fJ/conversion-step, proving that the proposed NS SAR ADC architecture can achieve high resolution and high power efficiency simultaneously.Electrical and Computer Engineerin
Fragmentation of star-forming filaments in the X-shape Nebula of the California molecular cloud
Dense molecular filaments are central to the star formation process, but the
detailed manner in which they fragment into prestellar cores is not yet well
understood. Here, we investigate the fragmentation properties and dynamical
state of several star-forming filaments in the X-shape Nebula region of the
California MC, in an effort to shed some light on this issue. We used
multi-wavelength far-infrared images from Herschel and the getsources and
getfilaments extraction methods to identify dense cores and filaments and
derive their basic properties. We also used a map of
emission from SMT 10m submillimeter telescope to constrain the dynamical state
of the filaments. We identified 10 filaments, as well as 57 dense cores. Two
star-forming filaments (# 8 and # 10) stand out in that they harbor
quasi-periodic chains of dense cores with a typical projected core spacing of
0.15 pc. These two filaments have thermally supercritical line masses and
are not static. Filament~8 exhibits a prominent transverse velocity gradient,
suggesting that it is accreting gas from the parent cloud gas reservoir. In
both cases, the observed (projected) core spacing is similar to the filament
width and significantly shorter than the canonical separation of 4
times the filament width predicted by classical cylinder fragmentation theory.
We suggest that continuous accretion of gas onto the two star-forming
filaments, as well as geometrical bending of the filaments, may account for the
observed core spacing. Our findings suggest that the characteristic
fragmentation lengthscale of molecular filaments is quite sensitive to external
perturbations from the parent cloud, such as gravitational accretion of ambient
material.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Edge Shear Flows and Particle Transport near the Density Limit in the HL-2A Tokamak
Edge shear flow and its effect on regulating turbulent transport have long
been suspected to play an important role in plasmas operating near the
Greenwald density limit . In this study, equilibrium profiles as well as
the turbulent particle flux and Reynolds stress across the separatrix in the
HL-2A tokamak are examined as is approached in ohmic L-mode discharges.
As the normalized line-averaged density is raised, the
shearing rate of the mean poloidal flow drops, and the
turbulent drive for the low-frequency zonal flow (the Reynolds power ) collapses. Correspondingly, the turbulent particle
transport increases drastically with increasing collision rates. The geodesic
acoustic modes (GAMs) gain more energy from the ambient turbulence at higher
densities, but have smaller shearing rate than low-frequency zonal flows. The
increased density also introduces decreased adiabaticity which not only
enhances the particle transport but is also related to a reduction in the
eddy-tilting and the Reynolds power. Both effects may lead to the cooling of
edge plasmas and therefore the onset of MHD instabilities that limit the plasma
density
Monte Carlo Model for Studying the Effects of Melanin Concentrations on Retina Light Absorption
We developed a Monte Carlo model to calculate light absorption in human and mouse retinas. The retina was modeled as a five-layer spherical structure. The effects of melanin concentrations in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choroid layer were studied. Variations of blood content in choroid were also considered in the simulation. Our simulation results indicated that light absorption in neural retina was at least 20% higher in albino subjects than in pigmented subjects under both photobleaching and dark-adapted conditions. It can be four times higher at optical wavelengths corresponding to minimal hemoglobin absorption. The elevated absorption at neural retina was attributed to the light backscattered from the choroid and sclera layers. This simulation model may provide useful information in studying light-induced retina damage
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High-performance artificial micro/nanomachines and their bioapplications
Artificial micro/nanomachines are micrometer or nanometer scale mechanical devices that convert diverse energy sources into controlled mechanical motions. The development and applications of these micro/nanomachines are among the most pressing challenges in the research field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. In this dissertation, we report innovative designs and operations of artificial micro/nanomachines for bioapplications in biochemical sensing, biomolecule capture, drug delivery and release. Based on the electric tweezers, innovative rotary nanomotors are bottom-up assembled with high efficiency from nanoscale building blocks, which are massively fabricated and less than 1 ÎŒm in all dimensions. After assembling, the rotary nanomotors achieve an ultrafast speed up to 18,000 rpm, an ultradurable operation lifetime of 80 hours, and over 1.1 million rotation cycles. To explore diverse alternative energy inputs for nanomotors, we also applied electric tweezers in the guided manipulation of chemical nanomotors: the motions of chemical nanomotors are aligned along the direction of AC electric fields and their speeds are modulated by the DC electric fields. The prowess of the manipulation of chemical nanomotors by the electric tweezers is demonstrated for applications in cargo delivery to designated microdocks and assembling of chemical nanomotors for powering rotary nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) devices. To integrate the function of Raman sensing on the micro/nanomachines, plasmonic nanomotors and bio-photonic-plasmonic micromotors with silver (Ag) nanoparticle coating are designed and fabricated, which provide ultrasensitive detection of biochemicals by Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The plasmonic nanomotors are designed with nanoporous superstructures, providing high capacities of drug loading and large numbers of hotspots. The plasmonic nanomotors also actively manipulate molecules and tune the release rate in electric fields due to the induced electrokinetic effect. The bio-photonic-plasmonic micromotors based on biosilica diatom frustules are applied in the capture and detection of DNA molecules, which are significantly accelerated during the rotation of the micromotors. The fundamental mechanism is investigated and attributed to the reduction of Nernst diffusion layer caused by the rotation. The innovations of artificial micro/nanomachines including concept, design, fabrication, manipulation, and bioapplications in this dissertation, are expected to inspire various research areas including NEMS, nanorobotics, microfluidics, biochemical delivery, and diagnostic sensingMaterials Science and Engineerin
Water extract of Rheum officinale Baill. induces apoptosis in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 and human breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines
Author name used in this publication: De-Jian GuoAuthor name used in this publication: Peter Hoi-Fu Yu2009-2010 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe
Innovative sponge-based moving bed-osmotic membrane bioreactor hybrid system using a new class of draw solution for municipal wastewater treatment
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. For the first time, an innovative concept of combining sponge-based moving bed (SMB) and an osmotic membrane bioreactor (OsMBR), known as the SMB-OsMBR hybrid system, were investigated using Triton X-114 surfactant coupled with MgCl2 salt as the draw solution. Compared to traditional activated sludge OsMBR, the SMB-OsMBR system was able to remove more nutrients due to the thick-biofilm layer on sponge carriers. Subsequently less membrane fouling was observed during the wastewater treatment process. A water flux of 11.38 L/(m2 h) and a negligible reverse salt flux were documented when deionized water served as the feed solution and a mixture of 1.5 M MgCl2 and 1.5 mM Triton X-114 was used as the draw solution. The SMB-OsMBR hybrid system indicated that a stable water flux of 10.5 L/(m2 h) and low salt accumulation were achieved in a 90-day operation. Moreover, the nutrient removal efficiency of the proposed system was close to 100%, confirming the effectiveness of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in the biofilm layer on sponge carriers. The overall performance of the SMB-OsMBR hybrid system using MgCl2 coupled with Triton X-114 as the draw solution demonstrates its potential application in wastewater treatment
Spitzer's Identity and the Algebraic Birkhoff Decomposition in pQFT
In this article we continue to explore the notion of Rota-Baxter algebras in
the context of the Hopf algebraic approach to renormalization theory in
perturbative quantum field theory. We show in very simple algebraic terms that
the solutions of the recursively defined formulae for the Birkhoff
factorization of regularized Hopf algebra characters, i.e. Feynman rules,
naturally give a non-commutative generalization of the well-known Spitzer's
identity. The underlying abstract algebraic structure is analyzed in terms of
complete filtered Rota-Baxter algebras.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure
A parabolic free boundary problem modeling electrostatic MEMS
The evolution problem for a membrane based model of an electrostatically actuated microelectromechanical system (MEMS) is studied. The model describes the dynamics of the membrane displacement and the electric potential. The latter is a harmonic function in an angular domain, the deformable membrane being a part of the boundary. The former solves a heat equation with a right hand side that depends on the square of the trace of the gradient of the electric potential on the membrane. The resulting free boundary problem is shown to be well-posed locally in time. Furthermore, solutions corresponding to small voltage values exist globally in time while global existence is shown not to hold for high voltage values. It is also proven that, for small voltage values, there is an asymptotically stable steady-state solution. Finally, the small aspect ratio limit is rigorously justified
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