Tunable wideband SAW-less receiver front-end in 65 nm CMOS

A surface acoustic wave-less receiver front-end for GSM, TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA standards featuring a novel low noise amplifier (LNA) architecture and harmonic rejection technique is presented. The two-stage LNA uses capacitive feedback in the first stage for wideband input matching. It can operate from 500 MHz up to 2.5 GHz with an S₁₁ below ?15 dB. The harmonic rejection mixer structure operates using two- and four-phase local oscillator signals and is capable of achieving a high harmonic rejection over a wide channel bandwidth. The average harmonic rejection is above 60 dB measured over a 20 MHz LTE channel and above 70 dB over a GSM channel. The mixer structure contains digitally tunable resistor and capacitor banks for precise tuning, causing the peak harmonic rejection in the channel to exceed 80 dB. The precise tuning capability ensures good harmonic rejection in the presence of process mismatch and duty cycle mismatch. The 1-dB received signal compression point with a blocker present at 20/80 MHz offset for low-/high-band is 0 and +2 dBm, respectively. In-band IIP3, and IIP2 are ?14.8 and >49 dBm, respectively, for low-band. For high-band they are ?18.2 and >44 dBm. Implemented in 65 nm CMOS, the complete front-end consumes 80 mW of power.     

Turbo equalization of doubly selective channels

In this paper, turbo equalization for transmission over doubly selective channels is proposed. The maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) algorithm is used for channel detection as well as for channel decoding. The detection/decoding constituents can exchange soft information in an iterative manner resulting in the so‐called turbo equalization. The time‐varying multi‐path fading channel is modeled using the basis expansion model (BEM). In this BEM, the time‐varying channel is viewed as a bank of time‐invariant finite impulse response filters, and the time variation is captured by means of time‐varying complex exponential basis functions. Therefore, the time‐varying transition tables that characterize the time‐varying channel can also follow a similar BEM. The complexity of the MAP channel detector is rather prohibitive for practical applications. This motivates the search for lower‐complexity soft‐output channel detectors. For this purpose, soft‐output linear minimum‐mean square error (LMMSE)‐based channel detectors are proposed for single carrier as well as for multi‐carrier systems. With the use of Gaussian approximation, expressions for the a posteriori and extrinsic log‐likelihood ratios have been derived. The performance of the proposed turbo equalization schemes are evaluated using numerical simulations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optical wave propagation in photonic crystal metamaterials

Metamaterials that provide negative refraction can be implemented in photonic crystals (PhCs) through careful design of the devices. Theoretically, we demonstrate that the dispersion can be altered to achieve negative refraction. This can be done through engineering the geometry of the device as well as selecting appropriate materials. The PhC also demonstrates slow light that facilitate sensing chemicals or biological agents. Using metallic materials such as gold nano-particle enables PhCs to guide optical waves in desired pathways. Also using magnetic materials such as highly doped n-GaAs, we can tune the band gap by changing magnetic field. The simulated results are consistent with some of the previously reported experimental results and give us guidance for future experiments.     

Structure of 5-Amino-4-Arylazopyrazoles in Ethanolic Aqueous Media

The structure and tautomerism of 5-amino-4-arylazopyrazoles (2a-f) are investigated in aqueous media. In solutions of pH>5 these compounds exist as ring N—1 protonated species. At pH>10 they afford anions which are stabilized by delocalization of the negative charge in the ring as well as on the arylazo moiety. Controlled potential electrolysis and polarographic analysis indicate that 2a-f are reduced via a four electron reduction process to triaminopyrazole and the corresponding substituted aniline derivative. A mechanism is suggested and discussed.     

An Optical Chemical Sensor Based on Swellable Dicarboxylate Functionalized Polymer Microspheres for pH Copper and Calcium Determination

An optical chemical sensor based on polymer swelling and shrinking has been studied by way of optical transmission. Polyvinylbenzyl chloride cross-linked with divinylbenzene and derivatized as the dicarboxylate was dispersed as microspheres in a hydrogel membrane. The absorbance was measured vs. the wavelength upon exposing the modified membrane to solutions of varying pH (3.0–9.0). At low pH (3.0), the absorbance had the highest value (1.34), while the absorbance decreased significantly (1.10) when the pH was increased to 9.0, indicating polymer swelling.The modified membrane was also used for sensing metal ions, in particular calcium and copper. Complex formation with the dicarboxylate functionality caused the polymer to shrink. This resulted in an increase in absorbance for a concentration ranging from 1.0×10^–3 to 4.0×10^–3M.     

An analytical framework of 2D diffusion,wave-like,telegraph, and Burgers’ models with twofold Caputo derivatives ordering

The purpose of the current work is to provide an analytical solution framework based on extended fractional power series expansion to solve 2D temporal–spatial fractional differential equations. For this purpose, we first present a new trivariate expansion endowed with twofold Caputo-fractional derivatives ordering, namely \(\alpha ,\,\beta \in (0,1]\), to study the combined effect of fractional derivatives on both temporal and spatial coordinates. Then, by virtue of this expansion, a parallel scheme of the Taylor power series solution method is utilized to extract both closed-form and supportive approximate series solutions of 2D temporal–spatial fractional diffusion, wave-like, telegraph, and Burgers’ models. The obtained closed-form solutions are found to be in harmony with the exact solutions exist in the literature when \(\alpha =\beta =1\), which exhibits the legitimacy and the validity of the proposed method. Moreover, the accuracy of the approximate series solutions is validated using graphical and tabular tools. Finally, a version of Taylor’s Theorem that associated with our proposed expansion is derived in terms of mixed fractional derivatives.     

Beta processes in a high-temperature field and nuclear multibeta decays

Sources of the temperature dependence of rates of nuclear beta processes in matter of massive stars are systematized. Electron and positron beta decays and electron capture (K capture and the capture of unbound electrons) fromexcited nuclear states (thermal decays) are considered along with the photobeta decays from ground and excited nuclear states. The possible quantum degeneracy of an electron gas in matter and the degree of ionization of an atomic K shell in a high-temperature field are taken into account. For a number of multidecay odd-nuclei, the temperature dependences of the ratios of the total rates of their β ^? decays to the sum of the total rates over all of decay modes for the same nuclei are calculated in the range of nuclear temperature from 2 to 3 × 10⁹ K. It is shown that the deviation of this ratio from the experimental value obtained at “normal” temperature may be quite sizable. This circumstance should be taken into account in models that consider the problem of synthesis of nuclei in matter of massive stars.     

Q-value for the Fermi beta-decay of <Superscript>46</Superscript>V

By comparing the Q -values for the ⁴⁶Ti ( ³He , t ⁴⁶V and ⁴⁷Ti ( ³He , t ⁴⁷V reactions to the isobaric analogue states the Q -value for the superallowed Fermi decay of ⁴⁶V has been determined as Q _EC( ^46V ) = (7052.11±0.27) keV. The result is compatible with the values from two recent direct mass measurements but is at variance with the previously most precise reaction Q -value. As additional input quantity we have determined the neutron separation energy S _n( ^47Ti ) = (8880.51±0.25) keV.     

An unstructured finite‐volume method for coupled models of suspended sediment and bed load transport in shallow‐water flows

The aim of this work is to develop a well‐balanced finite‐volume method for the accurate numerical solution of the equations governing suspended sediment and bed load transport in two‐dimensional shallow‐water flows. The modelling system consists of three coupled model components: (i) the shallow‐water equations for the hydrodynamical model; (ii) a transport equation for the dispersion of suspended sediments; and (iii) an Exner equation for the morphodynamics. These coupled models form a hyperbolic system of conservation laws with source terms. The proposed finite‐volume method consists of a predictor stage for the discretization of gradient terms and a corrector stage for the treatment of source terms. The gradient fluxes are discretized using a modified Roe's scheme using the sign of the Jacobian matrix in the coupled system. A well‐balanced discretization is used for the treatment of source terms. In this paper, we also employ an adaptive procedure in the finite‐volume method by monitoring the concentration of suspended sediments in the computational domain during its transport process. The method uses unstructured meshes and incorporates upwinded numerical fluxes and slope limiters to provide sharp resolution of steep sediment concentrations and bed load gradients that may form in the approximate solutions. Details are given on the implementation of the method, and numerical results are presented for two idealized test cases, which demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the method and its applicability in predicting dam‐break flows over erodible sediment beds. The method is also applied to a sediment transport problem in the Nador lagoon.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Operational risk modelling and organizational learning in structured finance operations: a Bayesian network approach

This paper describes the development of a tool, based on a Bayesian network model, that provides posteriori predictions of operational risk events, aggregate operational loss distributions, and Operational Value-at-Risk, for a structured finance operations unit located within one of Australia's major banks. The Bayesian network, based on a previously developed causal framework, has been designed to model the smaller and more frequent, attritional operational loss events. Given the limited availability of risk factor event information and operational loss data, we rely on the elicitation of subjective probabilities, sourced from domain experts. Parameter sensitivity analysis is performed to validate and check the model's robustness against the beliefs of risk management and operational staff. To ensure that the domain's evolving risk profile is captured through time, a formal approach to organizational learning is investigated that employs the automatic parameter adaption features of the Bayesian network model. A hypothetical case study is then described to demonstrate model adaption and the application of the tool to operational loss forecasting by a business unit risk manager.