High‐mobility solution‐processed zinc oxide thin films on silicon nitride

A high effective electron mobility of 33 cm² V^–1 s^–1 was achieved in solution‐processed undoped zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films. The introduction of silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) as growth substrate resulted in a mobility improvement by a factor of 2.5 with respect to the commonly used silicon oxide (SiO₂). The solution‐processed ZnO thin films grown on Si₃N₄, prepared by low‐pressure chemical vapor deposition, revealed bigger grain sizes, lower strain and better crystalline quality in comparison to the films grown on thermal SiO₂. These results show that the nucleation and growth mechanisms of solution‐processed films are substrate dependent and affect the final film structure accordingly. The substantial difference in electron mobilities suggests that, in addition to the grain morphology and crystalline structure effects, defect chemistry is a contributing factor that also depends on the particular substrate. In this respect, interface trap densities measured in high‐κ HfO₂/ZnO MOSCAPs were about ten times lower in those fabricated on Si₃N₄ substrates. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

     

Energetic Bio-Activation of Some Organic Molecules and Their Antioxidant Activity in the Pulp of the Moroccan Argan Tree «Argania spinosa L.»

Argania spinosa L. Skeels is an emblematic tree in Morocco, known worldwide for its medicinal and nutritional value. Its fruits contain kernels used to prepare an edible oil, the leaves are used to feed livestock, and its wood is used as fuel. If the oil acquires high importance, the other components of the fruit of the argan are undervalued. Our objective is to invest the waste of the argan industry. Particularly, our study aimed to assess the effect of thermal activation of argan pulp on its therapeutic value, its phenolic profile and its functional and physicochemical properties. After heat treatment, the HPLC analysis for the average total phenolic content varied from 2% to 37%, depending on temperature. The antioxidant activity was increased with heat treatment. Higher values of antioxidant activity, polyphenol and pigment content were recorded at 70 °C. Functional properties analysis indicated that water solubility index and water absorption capacity were significantly affected by heat stress. Physicochemical analysis showed that moisture content, titratable acidity and soluble solids were affected.     

Retrodienic reactions XVII - a general route to allenes gem-diactivated by electroattracting groups

Ketone 6 undergoes Knoevenagel condensation with five malonic derivatives 7, yielding, after flash-thermolysis, the gem-diactivated allenes 1–5 in 20–50 % yields.     

Balancing of an inverted pendulum with a SCARA robot

The balancing act of an inverted pendulum with a robotic manipulator is a classical benchmark for testing modern control strategies in conjunction with fast sensor-guided movements. From the control design perspective, it presents a challenging and difficult problem, as the system is open-loop instable and includes nonlinear effects in the actuators, such as friction, backlash, and elasticity. In addition, the necessity of a sensor system that can measure the inclination angles of the pendulum contributes to the complexity of the balancing problem. The pendulum is projected onto the xz and yz planes of the inertial coordinate system. These projections are treated independently from each other and are controlled individually by a state-space controller in the x and y axes, respectively. The nonlinearities of the robot are compensated by using inverse dynamics and inverse kinematics. A specially developed sensor system allows the contactless measurement of the inclination angles of the pendulum. This system consists of a small magnet, placed at the bottom of the pendulum, and Hall-effect sensors placed inside the end effector     

The Inhibition of the Dissolution of Aluminium in Sodium Hydroxide by Some Organic Phosphorus Compounds

The inhibition of the corrosion of aluminium in 1M sodium hydroxide solution by some cyclodiphosphazane derivatives has been studied using hydrogen evolution technique. The results indicate that the additives reduce the corrosion rate. The inhibitory character of these compounds depends upon the concentration of the inhibitor, as well as on its chemical composition.     

Finite element analysis of gradient coil deformation and vibration in NMR microscopy

Resolution degradation due to gradient coil deformation and vibration in NMR microscopy is investigated using finite element analysis. From the analysis, deformations due to the Lorentz force can be as large as 1-10 mum depending on the gradient strength and coil frame material. Thus, these deformations can be one of the major resolution limiting factors in NMR microscopy. Coil vibration, which depends on the input current waveform and resolution degradation due to time-variant deformation and time-invariant deformation are investigated by numerical simulations.     

Theoretical conformational analysis of opiate peptides Leu-Enkephalin (H-Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Leu-OH) and its two thioamide analogs (H-Tyr-Glyψ[CSNH]Gly-Phe-Leu-OH) and (H-Tyr-Gly-Glyψ[CSNH]Phe-Leu-OH)

In order to find informations on the native structure of the Leu-Enkephalin opiate peptide, the parent peptide and its two thioamide analogs (Thio-Gly2)Leu-Enkephalin and (Thio-Gly3)Leu-Enkephalin were studied by the theoretical method PEPSEA. This comparative conformational analysis showed that the active conformation is a β turn structure centered on Gly3 and Phe4. Moreover, this study showed also that the more active analog (Thio-Gly2)Leu-Enk has a lower tendency to adopt this structure. Consequently, its high activity can only be explained by its long lifetime due to its resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis, following the substitution of the amide linkage by the thioamide one. The weakly active analog (Thio-Gly3)Leu-Enk does not adopt this structure and prefers instead a β turn structure centered on Gly2 and Gly3. This study also confirmed the importance of the distances between the Tyr and Phe residues at positions 1 and 4, and that of the terminal Tyrosine N-H group which must be free of any intramolecular hydrogen bond in order to be available in the molecular recognition process.     

Precoding and power allocation algorithms for device-to-device communication in massive MIMO networks

Device-to-device communication (D2D) and massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems are two emerging technologies that are being considered to improve the performance of next generation wireless cellular systems. In D2D, two mobile nodes communicate directly without traversing the base station (BS). Consequently, interference management, coordination, and/or cancellation techniques have to be adopted to target the problem of mutual interference between the D2D devices and the BS (or the normal mobiles nodes connected to the BS). In this paper, we investigate the problem of BS precoder design and D2D devices power allocation in the downlink of a single-cell network assuming existence of D2D devices as well as massive MIMO at the BS. We propose algorithms to maximize the sum of the achievable data rates of the D2D pairs while maintaining quality of service constraints on the cellular user equipment, which communicate normally with the BS. We also propose two algorithms for the precoding problem; the first is based on semi-definite programming while the second is based on gradient descent algorithms. Moreover, we investigate two solutions for the power allocation problem; the first solves an approximate convex optimization problem iteratively while the second is a suboptimal, but far less complex, heuristic. Finally, we propose a technique to apply the mentioned solutions when only partial channel state information is available at the BS. Simulation results show that the proposed solutions are superior to the conventional precoding and power allocation schemes.     

A 0.5-bit step multi-resolution adjustable-input range reconfigurable noise-shaping TDC using multi-step quantizer gated-ring oscillators

A reconfigurable noise-shaping time-to-digital converter (TDC) with adjustable resolution and input range is presented as a solution to nonlinear multi-input readout systems. By varying the frequency of a multi-step quantizer gated-ring oscillator (MSQ-GRO), the resolution and input range are adjusted without affecting the acquisition time. A prototype of a standalone second-order MASH MSQ-GRO-TDC operating over a 34 μs adjustable input range and covering five resolution modes is presented. The MSQ-GRO frequency changes by a factor of approximately \(\sqrt 2\), thus adjusting the resolution in steps of 0.5-bit. With a 12 MHz sampling frequency, the MSQ-GRO-TDC consumes 0.85 mW from a 1.2 V supply and achieves integrated noise of 42.8 and 1.9 ps_rms in 500 and 1 kHz bandwidths, respectively. The measured resolution is 13.3-to-15.3 bits with a sampling signal of 200 kHz in a 5 kHz bandwidth. The input range/resolution optimization allows up to 51% of power saving under the same supply voltage, thus extending the battery lifetime in portable devices. The MSQ-GRO-TDC is used as a data converter for a nonlinear pressure sensor. It achieves a worst-case resolution of 24.5 μbar_rms. It is realized in a standard 0.13 μm CMOS technology and occupies an area of 0.145 mm².     

Ladder operators for Szego polynomials and related biorthogonal rational functions

We find the raising and lowering operators for orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle introduced by Szego and for their four parameter generalization to biorthogonal rational functions on the unit circle.