Hardware-efficient low-power 2-bit ternary ALU design in CNTFET technology

This paper proposes a hardware-efficient low-power 2-bit ternary arithmetic logic unit (TALU) design in carbon nano tube field effect transistor technology. The proposed TALU architecture combines adder-subtractor and Ex-OR cell in one cell, thereby reducing the number of transistors by 71% in comparison with other TALU architecture. Further, the proposed TALU is optimised at transistor level with a new pass-transistor logic-based encoder circuit. Hspice simulation results show that the proposed design attains great advantages in power and power-delay product for addition and multiplication operations than reported designs. For instant, at power supply of 0.9 V, the proposed TALU consumes on average 91% and 95% less energy compared to their existing counterparts, for addition and multiplication operations, respectively.     

Sensing and Field Data Capture for Construction and Facility Operations

Collection of accurate, complete, and reliable field data is not only essential for active management of construction projects involving various tasks, such as material tracking, progress monitoring, and quality assurance, but also for facility and infrastructure management during the service lives of facilities and infrastructure systems. Limitations of current manual data collection approaches in terms of speed, completeness, and accuracy render these approaches ineffective for decision support in highly dynamic environments, such as construction and facility operations. Hence, a need exists to leverage the advancements in automated field data capture technologies to support decisions during construction and facility operations. These technologies can be used not only for acquiring data about the various operations being carried out at construction and facility sites but also for gathering information about the context surrounding these operations and monitoring the workflow of activities during these operations. With this, it is possible for project and facility managers to better understand the effect of environmental conditions on construction and facility operations and also to identify inefficient processes in these operations. This paper presents an overview of the various applications of automated field data capture technologies in construction and facility fieldwork. These technologies include image capture technologies, such as laser scanners and video cameras; automated identification technologies, such as barcodes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags; tracking technologies, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless local area network (LAN); and process monitoring technologies, such as on-board instruments (OBI). The authors observe that although applications exist for capturing construction and facility fieldwork data, these technologies have been underutilized for capturing the context at the fieldwork sites as well as for monitoring the workflow of construction and facility operations.     

Effect of Gd3+ substitution on dielectric properties of nano cobalt ferrite

CoGd_xFe_2 ? xO₄ (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5) nano magnetic ferrite particles were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method. The variation of dielectric parameters like dielectric constant, dielectric loss, capacitance and resistance for different Gd³⁺ compositions has been measured at room temperature for frequency dependence in the range of 100 Hz to 10 MHz using impedance analyzer. Results of measurements reveal strong dependence of dielectric parameters on frequency and Gd³⁺ ion content. Dielectric constant, dielectric loss, capacitance and resistance decrease with increasing frequency for all the CoGd_xFe_2 ? xO₄ compositions. Increase in Gd³⁺ ion composition in material, increases the values of dielectric constant, dielectric loss and capacitance while decreases the electrical resistance of nano-particles. A qualitative explanation is given for the composition and frequency dependence of dielectric parameters.     

Effect of lubricant on the formation of heavy-duty diesel exhaust nanoparticles

The effect of lubricants on nanoparticle formation in heavy-duty diesel exhaust with and without a continuously regenerating diesel particulate filter (CRDPF) is studied. A partial flow sampling system with a particle size distribution measurement starting from 3 nm, approximately, is used. Tests are conducted using four different lubricant formulations, a very low sulfur content fuel, and four steady-state driving modes. A well-documented test procedure was followed for each test. Two different kinds of nanoparticle formation were observed, and both were found to be affected bythe lubricant but in differentway. Without CRDPF, nanoparticles were observed at low loads. No correlation between lubricant sulfur and these nanoparticles was found. These nanoparticles are suggested to form mainly from hydrocarbons. With CRDPF, installed nanoparticles were formed only at high load. The formation correlated positively with the lubricant (and fuel) sulfur level, suggesting that sulfuric compounds are the main nucleating species in this situation. Storage effects of CRDPF had an effect on nanoparticle concentration as the emissions of nanoparticles decreased over time.     

Influence of Speed on the Tribochemical Reaction Products and the Associated Transitions for the Dry Sliding of Silicon Nitride against Steel

Dry sliding of Si₃N₄ against steel has been studied using a pin-on-disk machine as a function of speed at a pressure of 15.5 MPa. Four types of friction and wear behaviors can be observed with associated transition in their values, called regions R1, R2, R3, and R4. R1 (0.1 to 1.25 ms^-1) is associated with high friction as well as the wear rate of the pin and the negligible wear rate of the disk. In R2 (1.25 to 3.5 ms^-1) friction is low and the wear rate of the pin is negligible but the wear rate of the disk is high. The friction and the wear rate of the pin as well as that of the disk are high in R3 (3.5 to 6.5 ms^-1). In R4 (6.5 to 12.0 ms^-1) the friction is low. The wear rate of the pin is similar to that in R3, while that of the disk is very low. SEM, EDXA, XRD, and IR reveal that each of these changes is associated with certain tribochemical interaction. R1 is associated with reaction between Si₃N₄ and water vapor to form hydrated silica (SiO₂·ⁿH₂O), R2 is controlled by softening of SiO₂·ⁿH₂O, R3 is characterized by microfracture and limited formation of Y₂SiO₅, and R4 is associated with increased formation of Y₂SiO₅ and SiO₂.     

Effect of irradiation on the proteinase inhibitor activity and digestibility (in vitro) of safflower oilcake

Trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor activities of safflower oilcake were studied before and after irradiation. The various doses to which samples were exposed ranged from 7 Gy to 10 kGy. The trypsin inhibitor is inactivated at 42 Gy, whereas the chymotrypsin inhibitor remains active, even at the much higher dose of 10 kGy. Thein vitro digestibility values also showed a significant improvement after irradiation. Exposure to a low dose of 42 Gy is sufficient to improve the nutritional value of the oilcake.     

Space‐charge limited conduction in polyaniline films

Polyaniline emeraldine base (PANI‐EB) powder was synthesized by oxidative polymerization of aniline. The PANI‐EB films were prepared by the solution‐casting technique. The temperature‐dependent dc conductivity measured in the range 173–303 K suggests that the PANI‐EB is a quasi‐one‐dimensional disordered conductor. The current‐voltage characteristics of the PANI‐EB films measured in the range 333–383 K showed the SCLC mechanism. The SCLC parameters such as free carrier density (p₀), trap density (p_t), the ratio between free carrier density to the total carrier density (θ), mobility (µ) and the effective hole mobility (µ_eff) were calculated. The activation energy (E_a = 0.32 eV) and the Fermi level (E_F = 0.42 eV) were estimated. As well as these, the trap parameters such as the trap filled limit voltage (V_TFL), the shallow trap density (N_t), the depth of the dominant trap level (E_t ? E_v), the density of states within the hole mobility edge (N_v) and the characteristic energy (E_c) were also calculated and presented. The exponential type of traps distribution with large number of traps was found to be due to the disorder and moisture in the polymer films. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Performance analysis of the minimum variance beamformer

We present an analysis of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) at the output of the minimum variance beamformer. The analysis is based on the assumption that the signals and noise are Gaussian and that the number of samples is large compared to the array size, and it yields an explicit expression for the SINR in terms of the different parameters affecting the performance, including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), interference-to-noise ratio (INR), signal-to-interference ratio (SIR), angular separation between the desired signal and the interference, array size and shape, correlation between the desired signal and the interference, and finite sample size