Architectures for Silicon Nanoelectronics and Beyond

Although nanoelectronics won't replace CMOS for some time, research is needed now to develop the architectures, methods, and tools to maximally leverage nanoscale devices and terascale capacity. Addressing the complementary architectural and system issues involved requires greater collaboration at all levels. The effective use of nanotechnology calls for total system solutions     

Preparation,characterization and in vitro drug release properties of polytrimethylene carbonate/polyadipic anhydride blend microspheres

Polyadipic anhydride (PAA), an aliphatic polyanhydride, and polytrimethylene carbonate (PTMC), an aliphatic polycarbonate, were synthesized via ring opening polymerization of oxepan‐2,7‐dione and melt‐condensation of trimethylene carbonate (1,3 dioxan‐2‐one), respectively. PTMC–PAA blend microspheres containing different ratios of buprenorphine HCl (2, 5, and 10%) were prepared by an oil‐in‐oil emulsion solvent removal method. Microspheres with different ratios of PTMC–PAA (85/15, 70/30, and 55/45) containing 5% buprenorphine HCl were prepared. Microspheres were spherical with visible cracks and pores on the surface. The average particle size of microspheres was around 200 μm for all microspheres. Drug loading efficiency of PTMC–PAA microspheres (85/15, 70/30, and 55/45) was 97.2, 95.2, and 70.2%, respectively. With the increase in the PTMC ratio, the melting point and the enthalpy of melting were both decreased. The mechanism for drug release from PTMC–PAA blend microspheres were generally a combination of drug diffusion through polymers and biodegradation of the polymers. In first three days, the release from microspheres followed zero order kinetics and was dependent on the PAA content. After three days the drug release from microspheres followed first order kinetics. In conclusion it was demonstrated that buprenorphine HCl release from microspheres could be successfully controlled by using different ratios of PTMC–PAA blends. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 2377–2383, 2006     

Factored Edge-Valued Binary Decision Diagrams

Factored Edge-Valued Binary Decision Diagrams form an extension to Edge-Valued Binary Decision Diagrams. By associating both an additive and a multiplicative weight with the edges, FEVBDDs can be used to represent a wider range of functions concisely. As a result, the computational complexity for certain operations can be significantly reduced compared to EVBDDs. Additionally, the introduction of multiplicative edge weights allows us to directly represent the so-called complement edges which are used in OBDDs, thus providing a one to one mapping of all OBDDs to FEVBDDs. Applications such as integer linear programming and logic verification that have been proposed for EVBDDs also benefit from the extension. We also present a complete matrix package based on FEVBDDs and apply the package to the problem of solving the Chapman-Kolmogorov equations.     

Analytical wide-band modeling of high frequency resistance in integrated spiral inductors

For integrated spiral inductor synthesis, designers and design automation tools require efficient modeling techniques during the initial design space exploration process. In this paper, we introduce an analytical frequency-dependent resistance model for integrated spiral inductors. Based on our resistance formulation, we have developed a systematic technique for creating wide-band circuit models for accurate time domain simulation. The analytical resistance model provides a fast alternative to field solver-based approaches with typical errors of less than 2.6 percent while surpassing the accuracy of several other analytical modeling techniques by an order of magnitude. Furthermore, the wide-band circuit generation technique captures the frequency-dependent resistance of the inductor with typical errors of less than 3.2 percent.     

Parasitic-aware analytical modeling of integrated CMOS inductively degenerated narrow-band low noise amplifiers

In this paper, we present an analytical modeling methodology for fully integrated inductively-degenerated CMOS narrow-band cascode Low Noise Amplifiers (LNA) that captures short channel transistor effects to enable rapid design space exploration in current and future process technologies. The modeling methodology captures the impact of parasitics on passive components, ESD-protection structures, and devices to accurately predict both impedance matching and noise figure. Our modeling is suitable for numerical optimization and fully automated synthesis for LNAs. The results indicate that the methodology models ESD-protected LNA circuits with 47.9% better accuracy in noise figure when compared with several current analytical modeling techniques with four orders of magnitude improvement in simulation time over circuit-level simulation. Given its speed and accuracy, the analytical modeling methodology is well-suited for design space exploration.     

Genetic-based random key generator (GRKG): a new method for generating more-random keys for one-time pad cryptosystem

In this paper, a new algorithm for generating more-randomized keys for symmetrical cipher one-time pad (OTP) according to the linear congruential (LCG) method based on the idea of genetic algorithm is proposed. The method, genetic-based random key generator, is proposed for generating keys for the OTP method with a high degree of key randomness; this adds more strength to the OTP method against breaking this cryptosystem. This algorithm is composed of two parts. Initially, the first population is being generated by LCG method, and then, genetic operators for generating the next populations are being used. Generating random keys with the presented method requires seven-parameter key that increases the security of communication between the transceivers.     

Antimicrobial Property,Antioxidant Capacity,and Cytotoxicity of Essential Oil from Cumin Produced in Iran

ABSTRACT: Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) is one of the commonly used spices in food preparations. It is also used in traditional medicine as a stimulant, a carminative, and an astringent. In this study, we characterized the antimicrobial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities of cumin. E. coli, S. aureus, and S. faecalis were sensitive to various oil dilutions. The total phenol content of the essential oil was estimated to be 33.43 μg GAE/mg of the oil. The oil showed higher antioxidant activity compared with that of BHT and BHA. The cumin essential oil exhibited a dose-dependent scavenging of DPPH radicals and 5.4 μg of the oil was sufficient to scavenge 50% of DPPH radicals/mL. At a concentration of 0.1 μL/mL, oil destructed Hela cells by 79%. The antioxidant activity of cumin essential oil might contribute to its cytotoxic activity. Acute and subchronic toxicity was studied in a 30-d oral toxicity study by administration to Wistar rats of the essential oil. A 17.38% decrease in WBCs count, and 25.77%, 14.24%, and 108.81% increase in hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, and platelet count, respectively, were noted. LDL/HDL ratio was reduced to half, which adds to the nutritional effects of cumin. Thus, cumin with a high phenolic content and good antioxidant activity can be supplemented for both nutritional purposes and preservation of foods.     

Investment Risk Analysis in Airport Parking Facility Development

Although parking revenue is a principal source of income, supply of parking infrastructure at airports is based largely on expected needs. Although that is a rational basis, high investment costs and management fees are requiring developers and financiers to carefully analyze investment risks. This paper focuses on sources of investment risk in airport parking infrastructure development and discusses the application of Monte Carlo simulation to estimate and understand the impacts of cash flow uncertainties on project feasibility. It is shown that cost overruns, which are common in construction project development, have the most significant impact on return risk.     

Introduction of an empirical classification system for evaluating tunneling impact on the discharge of springs (TIS) in the surrounding areas

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Water inflow caused by tunneling can have severe impacts on the springs’ discharge rate. If these impacts have not been predicted...     

Threshold quantum secret sharing between multiparty and multiparty using Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state

We propose a (t, m)?(s, n) threshold quantum secret sharing protocol between multiparty (m members in group 1) and multiparty (n members in group 2) using a sequence of Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states, which is useful and efficient when the parties of communication are not all present. In the protocol, Alice prepares a sequence of GHZ states in one of the eight different states and sends the last two particles to the first agent while other members encode their information on the sequence via unitary transformations. Finally the last member in group 2 measures the qubits. It is shown that this scheme is safe.