Synthesis of acicular hydrogoethite (alpha-FeOOH center dot xH(2)O; 0.1 < x < 0.22) particles using morphology controlling cationic additives and magnetic properties of maghemite derived from hydrogoethite

A method for the preparation of acicular hydrogoethite (alpha -FeOOH.xH(2)O, 0.1 < x < 0.22) particles of 0.3-1 mm length has been optimized by air oxidation of Fe( II) hydroxide gel precipitated from aqueous (NH4)(2)Fe(SO4)(2) solutions containing 0.005-0.02 atom% of cationic Pt, Pd or Rh additives as morphology controlling agents. Hydrogoethite particles are evolved from the amorphous ferrous hydroxide gel by heterogeneous nucleation and growth. Preferential adsorption of additives on certain crystallographic planes thereby retarding the growth in the perpendicular direction, allows the particles to acquire acicular shapes with high aspect ratios of 8-15. Synthetic hydrogoethite showed a mass loss of about 14% at similar to 280 degreesC, revealing the presence of strongly coordinated water of hydration in the interior of the goethite crystallites. As evident from IR spectra, excess H2O molecules (0.1- 0.22 per formula unit) are located in the strands of channels formed in between the double ribbons of FeO6 octahedra running parallel to the c- axis. Hydrogoethite particles constituted of multicrystallites are formed with Pt as additive, whereas single crystallite particles are obtained with Pd (or Rh). For both dehydroxylation as well as H-2 reduction, a lower reaction temperature (similar to 220 degreesC) was observed for the former (Pt treated) compared to the latter (Pd or Rh) (similar to 260 degreesC). Acicular magnetite (Fe3O4) was prepared either by reducing hydrogoethite (magnetite route) or dehydroxylating hydrogoethite to hematite and then reducing it to magnetite (hematite- magnetite route). According to TEM studies, preferential dehydroxylation of hydrogoethite along < 010 > leads to microporous hematite. Maghemite (gamma -Fe2O3 (-) (delta), 0 < < 0.25) was obtained by reoxidation of magnetite. The micropores are retained during the topotactic transformation to magnetite and finally to maghemite, whereas cylindrical mesopores are formed due to rearrangement of the oxygen sublattice from hexagonal to cubic close packing during the conversion of hydrogoethite to magnetite and then to maghemite. Accordingly, three different types of maghemite particles are realized: strongly oriented multicrystalline particles, single crystalline acicular particles with micropores or crystallites having mesopores. Higher values of saturation magnetization (<sigma>(s) = 74 emu g(-1)) and coercivity (H-c = 320 Oe) are obtained for single crystalline mesoporous particles. In the other cases, the smaller size of particles and larger distribution of micropores decreases sigma (s) considerably ( < 60 emu g(-1)) due to relaxation effects of spins on the surface atoms as revealed by Mossbauer spectroscopy.

Minimum error solutions of the Boltzmann equation for shock structure

‘Best’ solutions for the shock-structure problem are obtained by solving the Boltzmann equation for a rigid sphere gas by applying minimum error criteria on the Mott-Smith ansatz. The use of two such criteria minimizing respectively the local and total errors, as well as independent computations of the remaining error, establish the high accuracy of the solutions, although it is shown that the Mott-Smith distribution is not an exact solution of the Boltzmann equation even at infinite Mach number. The minimum local error method is found to be particularly simple and efficient. Adopting the present solutions as the standard of comparison, it is found that the widely used v2x-moment solutions can be as much as a third in error, but that results based on Rosen's method provide good approximations. Finally, it is shown that if the Maxwell mean free path on the hot side of the shock is chosen as the scaling length, the value of the density-slope shock thickness is relatively insensitive to the intermolecular potential. A comparison is made on this basis of present results with experiment, and very satisfactory quantitative agreement is obtained.

Hardware implementation of 4x4 DCT/Quantization block using multiplication and error-free algorithm

The 4ÃÂ4 discrete cosine transform is one of the most important building blocks for the emerging video coding standard, viz. H.264. The conventional implementation does some approximation to the transform matrix elements to facilitate integer arithmetic, for which hardware is suitably prepared. Though the transform coding does not involve any multiplications, quantization process requires sixteen 16-bit multiplications. The algorithm used here eliminates the process of approximation in transform coding and multiplication in the quantization process, by usage of algebraic integer coding. We propose an area-efficient implementation of the transform and quantization blocks based on the algebraic integer coding. The designs were synthesized with 90 nm TSMC CMOS technology and were also implemented on a Xilinx FPGA. The gate counts and throughput achievable in this case are 7000 and 125 Msamples/sec.

FREP: A Soft-Error Resilient Pipelined RISC Architecture

Soft error has become one of the major areas of attention with the device scaling and large scale integration. Lot of variants for superscalar architecture were proposed with focus on program re-execution, thread re-execution and instruction re-execution. In this paper we proposed a fault tolerant micro-architecture of pipelined RISC. The proposed architecture, Floating Resources Extended pipeline (FREP), re-executes the instructions using extended pipeline stages. The instructions are re-executed by hybrid architecture with a suitable combination of space and time redundancy.

Modified Stability Checking for On-Line Error Detection

The paper propose a unified error detection technique, based on stability checking, for on-line detection of delay, crosstalk and transient faults in combinational circuits and SEUs in sequential elements. The proposed method, called modified stability checking (MSC), overcomes the limitations of the earlier stability checking methods. The paper also proposed a novel checker circuit to realize this scheme. The checker is self-checking for a wide set of realistic internal faults including transient faults. Extensive circuit simulations have been done to characterize the checker circuit. A prototype checker circuit for a 1mm2 standard cell array has been implemented in a 0.13mum process.

Continous Time Sigma-Delta Modulator Employing a Novel Comparator Architecture

A novel comparator architecture is proposed for speed operation in low voltage environment. Performance comparison with a conventional regenerative comparator shows a speed-up of 41%. The proposed comparator is embedded in a continuous time sigma-delta ADC so as to reduce the quantizer delay and hence minimizes the excess loop delay problem. A performance enhancement of 1dB in the dynamic range of the ADC is achieved with this new comparator. We have implemented this ADC in a standard single-poly 8-Metal 0.13 mum UMC process. The entire system operates at 1.2 V supply providing a dynamic range of 32 dB consuming 720 muW of power and occupies an area of 0.1 mm2.

Maximum Margin Classifiers with Specified False Positive and False Negative Error Rates

This paper addresses the problem of maximum margin classification given the moments of class conditional densities and the false positive and false negative error rates. Using Chebyshev inequalities, the problem can be posed as a second order cone programming problem. The dual of the formulation leads to a geometric optimization problem, that of computing the distance between two ellipsoids, which is solved by an iterative algorithm. The formulation is extended to non-linear classifiers using kernel methods. The resultant classifiers are applied to the case of classification of unbalanced datasets with asymmetric costs for misclassification. Experimental results on benchmark datasets show the efficacy of the proposed method.

Digital Deadbeat Control Tuning for dc-dc Converters Using Error Correlation

This letter proposes a simple tuning algorithm for digital deadbeat control based on error correlation. By injecting a square-wave reference input and calculating the correlation of the control error, a gain correction for deadbeat control is obtained. The proposed solution is simple, it requires a short tuning time, and it is suitable for different DC-DC converter topologies. Simulation and experimental results on synchronous buck converters confirm the properties of the proposed tuning algorithm.

A homobimetallic complex of chromium(0) with a sigma-borane component

The synthesis, characterization, and reactivity of a chromium(0) complex bearing an amine-borane moiety (eta(6)-C(6)H(5)CH(2)NMe(2)center dot BH(3))Cr(CO)(3) (2) is reported. Photolysis of complex 2 results in the elimination of a CO ligand followed by the formation of an intramolecular sigma-borane complex (eta(1)-(eta(6)- C(6)H(5)CH(2)NMe(2)center dot BH(2)-H))Cr(CO)(2) (3). This species was characterized in solution by NMR spectroscopy. Reaction of complex 2 with photochemically generated (OC)(5)Cr(THF) affords a novel homobimetallic sigma-borane complex (OC)(3)Cr(eta(6)-C(6)H(5)CH(2)NMe(2)center dot BH(2)-H-Cr(CO)(5)) (4), wherein one of the BH moieties is bound to the chromium center in an eta(1)-fashion. The sigma-borane complex 4 was isolated in moderate to good yield (72%). The BH(3) fragment in the complexes 3 and 4 are highly dynamic involving exchange of the BH hydrogen bound to the metal with the terminal BH hydrogen atoms. The dynamics has been studied using variable-temperature NMR spectroscopy. Complexes 2 and 4 have been characterized by X-ray crystallography.

0.84 ps Resolution Clock Skew Measurement via Subsampling

An all-digital on-chip clock skew measurement system via subsampling is presented. The clock nodes are sub-sampled with a near-frequency asynchronous sampling clock to result in beat signals which are themselves skewed in the same proportion but on a larger time scale. The beat signals are then suitably masked to extract only the skews of the rising edges of the clock signals. We propose a histogram of the arithmetic difference of the beat signals which decouples the relationship of clock jitter to the minimum measurable skew, and allows skews arbitrarily close to zero to be measured with a precision limited largely by measurement time, unlike the conventional XOR based histogram approach. We also analytically show that the proposed approach leads to an unbiased estimate of skew. The measured results from a 65 nm delay measurement front-end indicate that for an input skew range of +/- 1 fan-out-of-4 (FO4) delay, +/- 3 sigma resolution of 0.84 ps can be obtained with an integral error of 0.65 ps. We also experimentally demonstrate that a frequency modulation on a sampling clock maintains precision, indicating the robustness of the technique to jitter. We also show how FM modulation helps in restoring precision in case of rationally related clocks.

Bounds on Probability of Error in Decision Feedback Equalizers

Evaluation of the probability of error in decision feedback equalizers is difficult due to the presence of a hard limiter in the feedback path. This paper derives the upper and lower bounds on the probability of a single error and multiple error patterns. The bounds are fairly tight. The bounds can also be used to select proper tap gains of the equalizer.

Bounds on Probability of Error Due to Co-Channel Interference

Upper bounds on the probability of error due to co-channel interference are proposed in this correspondence. The bounds are easy to compute and can be fairly tight.

Including the fermion vacuum fluctuations in the (2+1) flavor Polyakov quark-meson model

We consider the (2 + 1) flavor Polyakov quark-meson model and study the effect of including fermion vacuum fluctuations on the thermodynamics and phase diagram. The resulting model predictions are compared to the recent QCD lattice simulations by the HotQCD and Wuppertal-Budapest collaborations. The variation of the thermodynamic quantities across the phase transition region becomes smoother. This results in better agreement with the lattice data. Depending on the value of the mass of the sigma meson, including the vacuum term results in either pushing the critical end point into higher values of the chemical potential or excluding the possibility of a critical end point altogether.

Online Computation of Hysteresis Boundary for Constant Switching Frequency Current-Error Space-Vector-Based Hysteresis Controller for VSI-Fed IM Drives

This paper proposes a current-error space-vector-based hysteresis controller with online computation of boundary for two-level inverter-fed induction motor (IM) drives. The proposed hysteresis controller has got all advantages of conventional current-error space-vector-based hysteresis controllers like quick transient response, simplicity, adjacent voltage vector switching, etc. Major advantage of the proposed controller-based voltage-source-inverters-fed drive is that phase voltage frequency spectrum produced is exactly similar to that of a constant switching frequency space-vector pulsewidth modulated (SVPWM) inverter. In this proposed hysteresis controller, stator voltages along alpha- and beta-axes are estimated during zero and active voltage vector periods using current errors along alpha- and beta-axes and steady-state model of IM. Online computation of hysteresis boundary is carried out using estimated stator voltages in the proposed hysteresis controller. The proposed scheme is simple and capable of taking inverter upto six-step-mode operation, if demanded by drive system. The proposed hysteresis-controller-based inverter-fed drive scheme is experimentally verified. The steady state and transient performance of the proposed scheme is extensively tested. The experimental results are giving constant frequency spectrum for phase voltage similar to that of constant frequency SVPWM inverter-fed drive.

A Comparative Kinetic and Thermodynamic Perspective of the sigma-Competition Model in Escherichia coli

Transcription is the most fundamental step in gene expression in any living organism. Various environmental cues help in the maturation of core RNA polymerase (RNAP; alpha(2)beta beta'omega) with different sigma-factors, leading to the directed recruitment of RNAP to different promoter DNA sequences. Thus it is essential to determine the sigma-factors that affect the preferential partitioning of core RNAP among various a-actors, and the role of sigma-switching in transcriptional gene regulation. Further, the macromolecular assembly of holo RNAP takes place in an extremely crowded environment within a cell, and thus far the kinetics and thermodynamics of this molecular recognition process have not been well addressed. In this study we used a site-directed bioaffinity immobilization method to evaluate the relative binding affinities of three different Escherichia coli sigma-factors to the same core RNAP with variations in temperature and ionic strength while emulating the crowded cellular milieu. Our data indicate that the interaction of core RNAP-sigma is susceptible to changes in external stimuli such as osmolytic and thermal stress, and the degree of susceptibility varies among different sigma-factors. This allows for a reversible sigma-switching from housekeeping factors to alternate sigma-factors when the organism senses a change in its physiological conditions.