On the issue of trend and noise in the estimation of extreme rainfall properties.

Up until today extreme rainfall properties are frequently applied in sewer design guidelines. Uncertainty in the estimation of such properties will hence directly influence the dimensions of sewers, structures and pumps. In this paper the issue of potential trend and noise in the estimation is investigated for 6 rain series ranging from 19 to 55 years in duration. Different to recent research that predicts a climate induced-increase in heavy precipitation no clear indication for such trend was found in the investigated historical rain series. Another important aspect is the length of the rain series that is required for the estimation of extreme rainfall properties and the associated uncertainty. The analysis indicates that at least a period of 10 years should be used for the estimation. But even so the possible deviation expressed in terms of the 90 percentile is in the order of 5 to 10% of the 'true value', defined as the value derived when the whole given series is used for the estimation.     

On the effect of spatial variances in historical rainfall time series to CSO performance evaluation.

Historical, high-resolution rain series are the backbone of modern combined sewer overflow (CSO) structure design. These rain series are the input to the computational estimation of the performance of the measures with respect to CSO pollution abatement. However, those historical precipitation measurements are available at only a few locations. Frequently rain series have to be used from gauging stations at a significant distance. In order to judge and to compensate for this influence an estimate between rain characteristics and combined sewer outflow (CSO) performance indicators would be useful. In this paper such correlations have been sought for a collection of 37 rain series covering large areas of Europe. It was found that the mean annual rain volume can explain most of the variances for the performance indicators Number of overflows and CSO volume. For explaining the spatial differences in the efficiency of the CSO structure another rain characteristic, i.e. the maximum event with a return period of one year, is to be used.     

Influence of device engineering on the analog and RF performances of SOI MOSFETs

This work presents a systematic comparative study of the influence of various process options on the analog and RF properties of fully depleted (FD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI), partially depleted (PD) SOI, and bulk MOSFET's with gate lengths down to 0.08 /spl mu/m. We introduce the transconductance-over-drain current ratio and Early voltage as key figures of merits for the analog MOS performance and the gain and the transition and maximum frequencies for RF performances and link them to device engineering. Specifically, we investigate the effects of HALO implantation in FD, PD, and bulk devices, of film thickness in FD, of substrate doping in SOI, and of nonstandard channel engineering (i.e., asymmetric Graded-channel MOSFETs and gate-body contacted DTMOS).     

The Two-Dimensional Clifford-Fourier Transform

Recently several generalizations to higher dimension of the Fourier transform using Clifford algebra have been introduced, including the Clifford-Fourier transform by the authors, defined as an operator exponential with a Clifford algebra-valued kernel. In this paper an overview is given of all these generalizations and an in depth study of the two-dimensional Clifford-Fourier transform of the authors is presented. In this special two-dimensional case a closed form for the integral kernel may be obtained, leading to further properties, both in the L ₁ and in the L ₂ context. Furthermore, based on this Clifford-Fourier transform Clifford-Gabor filters are introduced. AMS subject classification numbers: 42B10, 30G35 Fred Brackx received a diploma degree in mathematics from Ghent University, Belgium, in 1970 and a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the same university in 1973. Since 1984 he is professor for mathematical analysis at Ghent University and currently he is leading the Clifford Research Group. His main interests are function theory and functional analysis for functions with values in quaternion and Clifford algebras. The research covers Clifford distributions, generalized Fourier, Radon and Hilbert transforms, orthogonal polynomials and multi-dimensional wavelets. Nele De Schepper received a diploma degree in mathematics from Ghent University, Belgium, in 2001. Since then she holds an assistantship at the Department of Mathematical Analysis of Ghent University and is a member of the Clifford Research Group. Her main interests are function theory and functional analysis for functions with values in Clifford algebras. The research covers generalized Fourier transforms, orthogonal polynomials and multi-dimensional wavelets. Frank Sommen received a diploma degree in mathematics from Ghent University, Belgium, in 1978, a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the same university in 1980, and a habilitation degree in mathematical analysis in 1984. From 1978 until 1999 he was at the National Fund for Scientific Research (Flanders). Since 2000 he holds a Research professorship at Ghent University. His main interests are function theory and functional analysis for functions with values in quaternion and Clifford algebras. The research covers Clifford distributions, generalized Fourier, Radon and Hilbert transforms, orthogonal polynomials and multi-dimensional wavelets, algebraic analysis, hyperfunctions and radial algebra.     

Desalination by distillation and by reverse osmosis — trends towards the future

As the requirement for fresh water increases worldwide, there is a need for more and more plants that are able to treat non-conventional water sources. Sea water has become an important source of fresh water in many arid regions. This feature provides an overview of recent process improvements in sea water desalination using reverse osmosis, multi-stage flash, multi-effect distillation and electrodialysis. Areas discussed include the use of alternative energy sources (wind energy, solar energy and nuclear energy) for reverse osmosis or distillation processes, and the impact of the different desalination process on the environment. Also covered are the implementation of hybrid processes in sea water desalination, and the pretreatment of desalination plants by pressure-driven membrane processes.     

Light-induced electron spin polarization in the ground state of water-soluble copper porphyrins

Light-induced spin-polarized transient EPR spectra are reported for several water-soluble copper porphyrins. The spectra are assigned to the doublet ground state, with emissive spin polarization resulting from photoexcitation and subsequent electronic relaxation. In contrast to other systems for which polarization of a doublet ground state has been observed, the exchange interactions in the copper porphyrins are strong and the geometry is fixed. It is proposed that intersystem crossing from the photoexcited trip-doublet to the trip-quartet state can lead to net polarization of the spin system and that this polarization is maintained during electronic decay, possibly via charge-transfer and exciplex states. The intensity of the observed spin polarization is essentially independent of the molecular orientation in the external field, but is strongly dependent on the nature of the charged peripheral groups. Possible reasons for this behavior are discussed.     

Quadrature Mismatch Shaping for Digital-to-Analog Converters

Quadrature sigma-delta analog-to-digital converters require a feedback path for both the I and the Q parts of the complex feedback signal. If two separate multibit feedback digital-to-analog converters (DACs) are used, mismatch among the unit DAC elements leads to additional mismatch noise in the output spectrum as well as an I/Q imbalance. This paper proposes new quadrature bandpass (QBP) mismatch shaping techniques. In our approach, the I and Q DACs are merged into one complex DAC, which leads to near-perfect I/Q balance. To select the unit DAC elements of the complex multibit DAC, the well-known butterfly shuffler and tree structure are generalized towards a complex structure, and necessary constraints for their correct functioning are derived. Next, a very efficient first-order QBP shaper implementation is proposed. Finally, the newly presented complex structures are simulated to prove their effectiveness and are compared with each other with respect to performance     

Novel level-identifying circuit for flash multilevel memories

This paper presents a high-speed, small-area circuit specifically designed to identify the levels in the read out operation of a flash multilevel memory. The circuit is based on the analog computation of the Euclidean distance between the current read out from a memory cell and the reference currents that represent the different logic levels. An experimental version of the circuit has been integrated in a standard double-metal 0.7-μm CMOS process with a die area of only 140×100 μm². Operating under a 5-V power supply, this circuit identifies the read-out current of a memory cell, and associates it with the appropriate logic level in 9 ns     

Polymeric prodrugs of mitomycin C designed for tumour tropism and sustained activation

Prodrugs of mitomycin C (MMC) based on soluble poly-[N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-L-glutamine] (pHEG) polymers have been evaluated as tumour-targeted drugs. These materials are designed to exploit the enhanced permeability of tumour vasculature, combining a passive tumour tropism with decreased systemic liberation of free MMC. A tri- or tetrapeptide linkage (e.g. Gly-Phe-Ala-Leu) between pHEG and the aziridine nitrogen of MMC can combine good hydrolytic stability with rapid cleavage by lysosomal enzymes, releasing free MMC. The conjugates showed decreased systemic toxicity and could be administered to mice at a total MMC dose of 15 mg/kg i.v., compared with just 6 mg/kg for free MMC. Conjugates also showed better activity against animal models of established tumours, achieving up to 77% increased life span (ILS) against solid P388 leukaemia, compared with only 23% for free MMC, and up to 121% ILS against solid C26 colorectal carcinoma, compared with no activity for the free drug. Improving the therapeutic index of anticancer drugs by combining tumour tropism with decreased systemic toxicity is a versatile approach that should produce a new generation of improved anticancer agents.