Resilient metal spring network silicone-matrix composite for separable interconnections

Resilient metal spring silicone-matrix conducting composites for separable interconnections in electronics were fabricated by the impregnation of silicone into a preform comprising randomly oriented C-shaped Cu-Be springs and a small proportion of Sn-Pb solder, which served to connect the springs at some of their intersections. Composites containing 6.1-9.8 vol.% total filler exhibited volume electrical resistivity 0.5-1.0 mΩ.cm and contact resistivity (with copper) 11-17 mΩ.cm². A compressive stress of about 30 kPa was needed for the low contact resistivity to be reached. The volume 17-26% and the contact resistivity increased by 5% after heating in air at 130-150°C for seven days. Composites containing <9 vol.% total filler showed no stress relaxation for seven days at 6.0% strain.     

A new predictive search area approach for fast block motion estimation

According to the observation on the distribution of motion differentials among the motion vector of any block and those of its four neighboring blocks from six real video sequences, this paper presents a new predictive search area approach for fast block motion estimation. Employing our proposed simple predictive search area approach into the full search (FS) algorithm, our improved FS algorithm leads to 93.83% average execution-time improvement ratio, but only has a small estimation accuracy degradation. We also investigate the advantages of computation and estimation accuracy of our improved FS algorithm when compared to the edge-based search algorithm of Chan and Siu (see IEEE Trans. Image Processing, vol.10, p.1223-1238, Aug. 2001); experimental results reveal that our improved FS algorithm has 74.33% average execution-time improvement ratio and has a higher estimation accuracy. Finally, we further compare the performance among our improved FS algorithm, the three-step search algorithm, and the block-based gradient descent search algorithm.     

Electrotunable Non‐reciprocal Laser Emission from a Liquid‐Crystal Photonic Device

A liquid crystal (LC) photonic device with an anisotropic optical heterojunction structure has been fabricated. The device has a phase‐retarding nematic LC (NLC) layer sandwiched between two polymer cholesteric LC films with right‐handed helices of different pitches. Electrotunable non‐reciprocal light transmittance and unidirectional circularly polarized (CP) lasing emission have been successfully demonstrated for this device structure. Two left CP (LCP) lasing emission peaks are observed at the edges of the overlapping region between the two photonic bands in the structure and are shifted upon the application of a voltage. In contrast, a non‐reciprocal right CP (RCP) lasing emission peak emerges at one of the band edges and diminishes upon the application of a voltage. These phenomena are interpreted based on the selective reflection of RCP light and the reorientation of the NLC molecules by the application of a voltage.     

Pseudorandomness of Basic Structures in the Block Cipher KASUMI

The notion of pseudorandomness is the theoretical foundation on which to consider the soundness of a basic structure used in some block ciphers. We examine the pseudorandomness of the block cipher KASUMI, which will be used in the next‐generation cellular phones. First, we prove that the four‐round unbalanced MISTY‐type transformation is pseudorandom in order to illustrate the pseudorandomness of the inside round function FI of KASUMI under an adaptive distinguisher model. Second, we show that the three‐round KASUMI‐like structure is not pseudorandom but the four‐round KASUMI‐like structure is pseudorandom under a non‐adaptive distinguisher model.     

De Bruijn cycles for covering codes

A de Bruijn covering code is a q‐ary string S so that every q‐ary string is at most R symbol changes from some n‐word appearing consecutively in S. We introduce these codes and prove that they can have size close to the smallest possible covering code. The proof employs tools from field theory, probability, and linear algebra. Included is a table of the best known bounds on the lengths of small binary de Bruijn covering codes, up to R = 11 and n = 13, followed by several open questions in this area. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2004     

Investigation of chemometric calibration performance based on different chemical matrix and signal-to-noise ratio.

The chemometric calibration performance was systematically investigated by two parameters (changing the chemical matrix as well as the signal-to-noise ratio) of the NIR (near-infrared) spectrum. Three different analytes (hexane, cyclohexane, toluene) were selected and heptane was used as a solvent. The degree of spectral difference significantly affected the calibration performance. The largest structural difference between the analyte and the solvent provided the best calibration result for a given signal-to-noise ratio. Additionally, the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra also directly influenced the calibration performance. Overall, the spectral difference and signal-to-noise ratio were the major factors for governing the chemometric calibration performance, especially in the low-concentration range.     

An isolated ZVS/ZCS flyback converter using the leakage inductanceof the coupled inductor

This paper describes a simple and effective way to modify an existing hard-switched flyback power converter into a circuit with zero-voltage switching (ZVS) and zero-current switching (ZCS). The key improvement is to turn the unattractive features of the coupled inductor leakage inductance and snubber capacitor into attractive ones. The coupled inductor leakage inductance and snubber are used to form a quasi-resonant circuit to facilitate ZVS/ZCS of all power devices. The operating principles of the power converter and experimental results are presented     

A facile non-oxidative method for synthesizing 1,3-disubstituted pyrroles from pyrrolidine and aldehydes

Reactions of pyrrolidine with 2 equiv of aldehydes without any catalyst in a pressurized vessel at 140–200 °C yielded 1,3-disubstituted pyrroles. -Branched aldehydes gave fairly good yields of the corresponding products by this method, which provides a facile non-oxidative procedure for synthesizing 1,3-dialkylpyrroles from inexpensive pyrrolidine and aldehydes.