A Current-Mode, Dual Slope, Integrated Capacitance-to-Pulse Duration Converter

A capacitance-to-pulse duration converter, specifically designed for interfacing capacitive sensors, is presented. The operating principle is a double slope approach implemented using transconductor-based Miller integrators. The main strengths of the proposed circuit are: 1) intrinsically small sensitivity to temperature; 2) simplicity of trimming offset and gain to correct the sensor parameter spread; and 3) fast wake-up time. The circuit nonidealities are analyzed in order to identify the elements responsible for the residual temperature sensitivity and jitter on the pulse duration. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated by measurements performed on a prototype, designed and fabricated using the 0.35 mum, 3.3 V Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS process BCD6 of STMicroelectronics.     

The Lax representation for an integrable class of relativistic dynamical systems

We exhibit the Lax pair for the class of relativistic dynamical systems recently introduced by Ruijsenaars and Schneider, whose equations of motion read, whereB is an arbitrary constant and the Weierstrass elliptic function.For the 3 academic years 1983–1986     

DFT investigation of structural, electronic, and catalytic properties of diiron complexes related to the [2Fe](H) subcluster of Fe-only hydrogenases

Hydrogenases catalyze the reversible oxidation of dihydrogen to protons and electrons. The structures of two Fe-only hydrogenases have been recently reported [Peters, J. W.; Lanzilotta, W. N.; Lemon, B. J.; Seefeldt, L. C. Science 1998, 282, 1853-1858. Nicolet, Y.; Piras, C.; Legrand, P.; Hatchikian, E. C.; Fontecilla-Camps, J. C. Structure 1999, 7, 13-23], showing that the likely site of dihydrogen activation is the so-called [2Fe](H) cluster, where each Fe ion is coordinated by CO and CN(-) ligands and the two metals are bridged by a chelating S-X(3)-S ligand. Moreover, the presence of a water molecule coordinated to the distal Fe2 center suggested that the Fe2 atom could be a suitable site for binding and activation of H(2). In this contribution, we report a density functional theory investigation of the structural and electronic properties of complexes derived from the [(CO)(CH(3)S)(CN)Fe(II)(mu-PDT)Fe(II)(CO)(2)(CN)](-1) species, which is related to the [2Fe](H) cluster observed in Fe-only hydrogenases. Our results show that the structure of the [2Fe](H) cluster observed in the enzyme does not correspond to a stable form of the isolated cluster, in the absence of the protein. As a consequence, the reactivity of [(CO)(CH(3)S)(CN)Fe(II)(mu-PDT)Fe(II)(CO)(2)(CN)](-1) derivatives in solution may be expected to be quite different from that of the active site of Fe-only hydrogenases. In fact, the most favorable path for H(2) activation involves the two metal atoms and one of the bridging S atoms and is associated with a very low activation energy (5.3 kcal mol(-1)). The relevance of these observations for the catalytic properties of Fe-only hydrogenases is discussed in light of available experimental and theoretical data.     

Density functional theory investigation of the active site of Fe-hydrogenases. systematic study of the effects of redox state and ligands hardness on structural and electronic properties of complexes related to the [2Fe](H) subcluster

Density functional theory has been used to investigate complexes related to the [2Fe](H) subcluster of [Fe]-hydrogenases. In particular, the effects on structural and electronic properties of redox state and ligands with different sigma-donor pi-acceptor character, which replace the cysteine residue coordinated to the [2Fe](H) subcluster in the enzyme, have been investigated. Results show that the structural and electronic properties of fully reduced Fe(I)Fe(I) complexes are strongly affected by the nature of the ligand L, and in particular, a progressive rotation of the Fe(d)(CO)(2)(CN) group, with a CO ligand moving from a terminal to a semibridged position, is observed going from the softest to the hardest ligand. For the partially oxidized Fe(I)Fe(II) complexes, two isomers of similar stability, characterized either by a CO ligand in a terminal or bridged position, have been observed. The switching between the two forms is associated with a spin and charge transfer between the two iron atoms, a feature that could be relevant in the catalytic mechanism of dihydrogen activation. The structure of the fully oxidized Fe(II)Fe(II) models is extremely dependent on the nature of the L ligand; one CO group coordinated to Fe(d) switches from terminal to bridging position going from complexes characterized by neutral to anionic L ligands.     

An automatic procedure for the synthesis and optimization of very low-frequency Gm–C integrators

Fully integrated low frequency filters are critical cells that should be carefully designed in order to avoid excessive area occupation. In this work we propose an automatic procedure capable of optimizing the design of G_m?CC integrators, which constitute the basis of a wide class of G_m?CC filters. The optimization target is minimizing the cell area with constraints on input range and low frequency noise. Lower and upper bounds can be fixed to most quantities and design parameters in order to avoid solutions that are not compatible with the physical limitations of the process. The program has been developed within the MATLAB^? platform, exploiting the optimization toolbox. The effect of several important design parameters on the optimization of low frequency integrators has been investigated using the proposed routine. The strong interaction between noise and low frequency constraints has been demonstrated, showing the impressive impact of strict noise specifications on the occupied area. The actual effectiveness of parameters such as the current division factor or approaches such as flicker noise rejection by means of chopper modulation has been investigated. Examples of integrator synthesis, performed using the proposed procedure configured with the parameters of a commercial CMOS process, are presented. The consistence between the characteristics of the cells and the initial specifications has been checked using electrical simulations showing a maximum discrepancy with the initial specifications of nearly 80%. A semi-manual method to refine the synthesized cells and improve the accuracy is proposed.     

A voltage controlled CMOS current divider with linear characteristic

A compact voltage controlled CMOS current divider is presented. Differently from previous implementations, exploiting the MOSFET translinear characteristics in subthreshold region, the proposed circuit is based on devices operating from moderate to strong inversion. An input current linearity range of nearly a decade is obtained by compensating for the deviations from the ideal drain current square-law approximation through an original empirical approach. The circuit is suitable for use as a building block in analog multipliers and for transconductor continuous tuning. The effectiveness of the proposed configuration is demonstrated by means of electrical simulations, performed on a prototype designed with a commercial process. The robustness of the linearization algorithm with respect to temperature variations is proven.     

Complete wetting on a linear wedge

We have measured the growth of liquid films of Ar adsorbed on well defined arrays of microscopic linear wedges sculpted on thin Si wafers and on a stainless steel disk. On these patterns, a clear cross-over from a planarlike to a geometry dependent growth behavior is observed. This crossover is found to depend on the characteristic wedge size. Near liquid-vapor bulk coexistence, the film mass is observed to diverge as a power law of the chemical potential difference from saturation with an exponent in very good agreement with the value of -2 expected for a linear wedge. This exponent is not affected by the opening angles of the wedges. All these findings are in accordance with a recent scaling theory.     

Development and validation studies for determination of phenylpropanoid‐substituted flavan‐3‐ols in semipurified extract of Trichilia catigua by high‐performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection

The phenolic compounds are the main phytochemical constituents of the bark of Trichilia catigua and are commonly used for medicinal purposes. An HPLC method for the simultaneous quantification of phenolic compounds (procyanidin B2 (PB2), epicatechin (EPC), chinchonains Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, catechin, and chrologenic acid) in T. catigua extract was developed and validated. A suitable chromatographic system was selected, which uses a gradient elution with methanol/ACN (75:25), and water both with 0.05% TFA, as mobile phase, column Luna, 280 nm, and flow 0.4 mL/min. Validation of the analytical method was based on the parameters: linearity, precision, LODs and LOQs, accuracy, robustness, and stability. The method showed linearity for PB2 and EPC, in the range 10–120 μg/mL with good correlation coefficients (>0.996). For precision, the repeatability ranged from 1.89 to 3.23%, and the values for accuracy for PB2 and EPC were 95 and 89%, respectively. The LODs and LOQs for PB2 were 1.36 and 4.12 μg/mL, and for EPC were 2.18 and 6.61 μg/mL, respectively. The method was robust under the conditions employed. The proposed method could be employed for quality assessment of T. catigua, as well as pharmaceutical products.     

High-resolution 2-DE for resolving proteins, protein adducts and complexes in plasma

A 2-DE system has been devised in which proteins are first separated in their native state followed by separation according to mass under denaturing conditions (Nat/SDS-PAGE). Hydrophilic properties of the gel and the presence of dihydroxybisacrylamide in the first dimension allowed a good resolution for high-molecular-weight proteins and maintained interactions. With this method 252 plasma spots have been resolved and 140 have been characterized by MS as isoforms of 60 proteins, a relevant part of which (12) were not detected by traditional 2-D gels or by other nondenaturing 2-D techniques. The list includes complement factors (C4d, C7), coagulation factors (coagulation factor II, fibrin beta), apolipoproteins (apolipoprotein B) and cell debris (vinculin, gelsolin, tropomyosin, dystrobrevin beta, fibrinectin I). Nat/SDS PAGE also allowed separation of nicked forms of albumin, Apo B100 and alpha2-macroglobulin and showed the presence of atypical albumin adducts corresponding to post-translational and oxidation products. Our system provides therefore new tools for resolving proteins, protein aggregates and complexes and amplifies the potentiality of traditional electrophoretic analysis.     

Aziridination of 3-methyl-4-nitro-5-styrylisoxazoles

Herein we describe the preparation of a novel class of isoxazolyl aziridines. The products were obtained exclusively as cis diastereoisomers.